Posture Recognition Using the Interdistances Between Wearable Devices

Recognition of user's postures and activities is particularly important, as it allows applications to customize their operations according to the current situation. The vast majority of available solutions are based on wearable devices equipped with accelerometers and gyroscopes. In this article, a different approach is explored: The posture of the user is inferred from the interdistances between the set of devices worn by the user. Interdistances are first measured by using ultra-wideband transceivers operating in two-way ranging mode and then provided as input to a classifier that estimates current posture. An experimental evaluation shows that the proposed method is effective (up to ∼98.2% accuracy), especially when using a personalized model. The method could be used to enhance the accuracy of activity recognition systems based on inertial sensors

Las aportaciones de plataformas como Netflix y las series al aprendizaje de la criminología. Análisis desde una perspectiva crítica

Memoria ID-0160. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2017-2018

El aprendizaje del derecho a través de la realización de debates

Memoria ID-170. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2010-2011.El objetivo principal de este proyecto era conseguir que el estudiante adquiriera una serie de conocimientos a través de la preparación de un debate en el que los diferentes grupos de las diferentes asignaturas defenderían posturas contrapuestas para intentar convencer al resto de sus compañeros o al profesor de que su planteamiento es el más idóneo, no solo por la calidad de los argumentos utilizados sino también por la forma en que los mismos se han expuesto, ya que se habría formado previamente al estudiante en técnicas de expresión oral y de lenguaje verbal y no verbal

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

A CASE STUDY OF COLLAPSE DURING THE 2009 L’AQUILA (ITALY) EARTHQUAKE

A number of masonry and reinforced concrete (RC) buildings suffered failure during the magnitude Mw 6.3 earthquake that struck the city of L’Aquila (Italy) on April 6 2009. Many of the RC buildings were designed and built between the late fifties and the early seventies. The partial collapse of the “Casa dello Studente” (Student House) building in L’Aquila, with its high death toll of eight students killed and one suffering serious injury, is paragdimatic on one hand of the possible fragility of reinforced concrete construction of that period, on the other hand of failure due to an adverse sequence of events. The legal authority appointed a forensic team, lead by the first author, for investigating the causes and the mechanism of the collapse. During a six-months period, the team had a unique chance to analyze in a thorough way the collapse causes. The joint efforts of the forensic team led to a complete explanation of the collapse and highlighted the sequence of missed opportu- nities that let this happen. Collapse took place within part of the North wing trough a twofold mechanism: a weak-story mechanism, which involved collapse of all the columns at the first story, and the complete collapse of three columns located close to the floor center. The two mechanisms were due to an initial design error, never discovered during the subsequent ren- ovations of the building, whose effects were adversely amplified by a non-structural fire-proof wall inserted in recent times to comply with fire safety requirements. This imposed unforeseen strength and ductility requirements on members not specifically designed for this. This paper presents some of the result of the studies that, not strictly necessary for legal reasons, were only performed after completing the report for the legal authority. Nonlinear analyses are adopted to highlight the role of each of the factors listed above which lead to the structural failure

Modeling real-time data and contextual information from workouts in eCoaching platforms to predict users’ sharing behavior on Facebook

eCoaching platforms have become powerful tools to support users in their day-to-day physical routines. More and more research works show that motivational factors are strictly linked with the user inclination to share her fitness achievements on social media platforms. In this paper, we tackle the problem of analyzing and modeling users' contextual information and real-time training data by exploiting state-of-the-art classification algorithms, to predict if a user will share her current running workout on Facebook. By analyzing user's performance, collected by means of an eCoaching platform for runners, and crossing them with contextual information such as the weather, we are able to predict with a high accuracy if the user will post or not on Facebook. Given the positive impact that social media posts have in these scenarios, understanding what are the conditions that lead a user to post or not, can turn the output of the classification process into actionable knowledge. This knowledge can be exploited inside eCoaching platforms to model user behavior in broader and deeper ways, to develop novel forms of intervention and favor users' motivation on the long term

Morphological, chemical and genetic diversity of wild myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) populations in Sicily.

Myrtus communis L. is a shrub widespread in the Mediterranean area. The interest in this species is growing, mainly due to its pharmacological and aromatic properties. The overexploitation of wild populations induced increasing degradation of plant cover with serious risk of loss of genetic diversity. This research explored the morphological, chemical, and genetic diversity of wild myrtle populations in Sicily, with the aim to provide a first characterization of a core collection of 36 accessions from 7 localities for future domestication programs. Amplified fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting generated 152 polymorphic fragments. STRUCTURE analysis identified three genetic clusters (A, B, and C) corresponding to specific geographical origin. Analysis of molecular variance estimated a quite high overall fixation index (FST = 0.332). Misilmeri and Ispica were the more divergent populations (FST = 0.502), while M. Pellegrino and Scopello revealed the lowest FST (0.153). The relationships between genetic, morphological, and biometric data were investigated. Significant correlation between genetic clusters and bush shape/plant growth behavior was found (P &lt; 0.005). Moreover, morphological traits such as leaf, fruit, and seed size were significantly correlated to Clusters B and C. Leaves’ secondary metabolite profiles were evaluated based on antioxidant activity and total tannin and phenol concentrations. High antioxidant activity differences were recorded using DPPH (21.4–35.5 mmol Trolox/100 g DW) and ABTS (24.2–39.5 mmol Trolox/100 g DW) methods. A low variability was observed among populations regarding phenol (2466–3800 mg catechin equivalents/100 g DW) and total tannin contents (93.9–262.3 mg catechin equivalents/100 g DW). Results indicated that multiple approaches based on genetic, morphological, and chemical traits might allow the characterization of natural myrtle diversity

The collapse of the "Casa dello Studente" during the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila

The building hosting an University dorm and named “Casa dello Studente” was erected between 1965 and 1967 for a mixed use (residential/commercial). The plan of the residential part, in the upper four stories, was subdivided in three wings, connected through the stairwell. Ground story and a first basement were common to all the wings; a second underground level was below the South wing only. In 1979 the building was bought by an University Institution to be used as a student house. A wide refurbishment intervention, not covering the structural system, was performed during the years 1999-2005. During the April 6, 2009 earthquake of L’Aquila a partial collapse took place, limited to the North wing. Two distinct collapse zones were detected in the wing: the failure of all the columns at the ground floor, with a soft/weak story mechanism, and that of three columns along the height of the building. It was thus necessary both to explain the collapse sequence and to determine its causes. The factors possibly leading to the failure have been examined with a multidisciplinary approach: studies were extended to the concrete properties, to the ground motion experienced at site and to the dynamic behavior of the building in both the original and the final configuration