Multivariate Nonparametric Estimation of the Pickands Dependence Function using Bernstein Polynomials

Many applications in risk analysis, especially in environmental sciences, require the estimation of the dependence among multivariate maxima. A way to do this is by inferring the Pickands dependence function of the underlying extreme-value copula. A nonparametric estimator is constructed as the sample equivalent of a multivariate extension of the madogram. Shape constraints on the family of Pickands dependence functions are taken into account by means of a representation in terms of a specific type of Bernstein polynomials. The large-sample theory of the estimator is developed and its finite-sample performance is evaluated with a simulation study. The approach is illustrated by analyzing clusters consisting of seven weather stations that have recorded weekly maxima of hourly rainfall in France from 1993 to 2011

Association of mid-infrared solar plages with Calcium K line emissions and magnetic structures

Solar mid-IR observations in the 8-15 micrometer band continuum with moderate angular resolution (18 arcseconds) reveal the presence of bright structures surrounding sunspots. These plage-like features present good association with calcium CaII K1v plages and active region magnetograms. We describe a new optical setup with reflecting mirrors to produce solar images on the focal plane array of uncooled bolometers of a commercial camera preceded by germanium optics. First observations of a sunspot on September 11, 2006 show a mid-IR continuum plage exhibiting spatial distribution closely associated with CaII K1v line plage and magnetogram structures. The mid-IR continuum bright plage is about 140 K hotter than the neighboring photospheric regions, consistent with hot plasma confined by the magnetic spatial structures in and above the active regionComment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted by PAS

Biological Properties of IRIM, the Iridium(III) Analogue of (Imidazolium (Bisimidazole) Tetrachlororuthenate) (ICR)

Some biological aspects of the new complex imidazolium bisimidazole tetrachloro iridate(III)-IRIM- the iridium(III) analogue of ICR, were considered. More in detail the conformational effects produced by IRIM on DNA and the cytotoxic properties of IRIM on some selected human cell lines were measured. Dialysis experiments and DNA thermal denaturation studies are suggestive of poor binding of IRIM to DNA; formation of interstrand crosslinks is not observed. In any case CD measurements suggest that addition of increasing amounts of IRIM to calf thymus DNA results into significant spectral changes, that are diagnostic of a direct interaction with DNA. A number of experiments carried out on the A2780 human ovarian carcinoma, B16 murine melanoma, MCF7 and TS mammary adenocarcinoma tumor cell lines strongly point out that IRIM does not exhibit significant growth inhibition effects within the concentration range 10-4-10-6 M. It is suggested that the lower biological effects of IRIM compared to ICR are a consequence of the larger kinetic inertness of the iridium(III) center with respect to ruthenium(III)

Audio Splicing Detection and Localization Based on Acquisition Device Traces

In recent years, the multimedia forensic community has put a great effort in developing solutions to assess the integrity and authenticity of multimedia objects, focusing especially on manipulations applied by means of advanced deep learning techniques. However, in addition to complex forgeries as the deepfakes, very simple yet effective manipulation techniques not involving any use of state-of-the-art editing tools still exist and prove dangerous. This is the case of audio splicing for speech signals, i.e., to concatenate and combine multiple speech segments obtained from different recordings of a person in order to cast a new fake speech. Indeed, by simply adding a few words to an existing speech we can completely alter its meaning. In this work, we address the overlooked problem of detection and localization of audio splicing from different models of acquisition devices. Our goal is to determine whether an audio track under analysis is pristine, or it has been manipulated by splicing one or multiple segments obtained from different device models. Moreover, if a recording is detected as spliced, we identify where the modification has been introduced in the temporal dimension. The proposed method is based on a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) that extracts model-specific features from the audio recording. After extracting the features, we determine whether there has been a manipulation through a clustering algorithm. Finally, we identify the point where the modification has been introduced through a distance-measuring technique. The proposed method allows to detect and localize multiple splicing points within a recording

Comparison of 30 THz impulsive burst time development to microwaves, H-alpha, EUV, and GOES soft X-rays

The recent discovery of impulsive solar burst emission in the 30 THz band is raising new interpretation challenges. One event associated with a GOES M2 class flare has been observed simultaneously in microwaves, H-alpha, EUV, and soft X-ray bands. Although these new observations confirm some features found in the two prior known events, they exhibit time profile structure discrepancies between 30 THz, microwaves, and hard X-rays (as inferred from the Neupert effect). These results suggest a more complex relationship between 30 THz emission and radiation produced at other wavelength ranges. The multiple frequency emissions in the impulsive phase are likely to be produced at a common flaring site lower in the chromosphere. The 30 THz burst emission may be either part of a nonthermal radiation mechanism or due to the rapid thermal response to a beam of high-energy particles bombarding the dense solar atmosphere.Comment: accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysic

La enseñanza del fútbol sala en la formación de futuros profesionales de la Educación Física: la aproximación entre la teoría y la práctica

El trabajo describe una actividad realizada en la asignatura de fútbol sala del curso de formación de profesorado en Educación Física de la Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS) en Brasil. Los estudiantes impartieron clases de fútbol sala para niñas con edad entre los 11 y los 14 años en los centros de enseñanza de la ciudad de Caxias do Sul y su región. El objetivo de la actividad fue proporcionar a los futuros profesionales un mayor acercamiento a la realidad con la cual se deberán enfrentar en un futuro muy cercano, produciendo una formación más significativa y relevante. Al final del curso, después de los 18 partidos semanales previstos, más las clases para las chicas, los estudiantes respondieron un pequeño cuestionario adaptado en la escala de Likert sobre la importancia de la experiencia práctica para su formación. Los resultados determinaron que 7% de los alumnos del curso consideraron que la experiencia de enseñanza con las chicas presentó poca importancia para su formación como profesionales de Educación Física. Por otra parte 16% han considerado importante la actividad práctica. 37% dijeron que la experiencia fue bastante importante y 40% han respondido que la actividad fue de fundamental importancia. Ninguno contestó que la actividad fue nada importante. Así, concluimos que la utilización de esa metodología y experiencia didáctica ha permitido la reducción de las discrepancias entre la teoría y práctica existentes en las asignaturas de carácter práctico en los cursos de formación del profesorado

A bright impulsive solar burst detected at 30 THz

Ground- and space-based observations of solar flares from radio wavelengths to gamma-rays have produced considerable insights but raised several unsolved controversies. The last unexplored wavelength frontier for solar flares is in the range of submillimeter and infrared wavelengths. Here we report the detection of an intense impulsive burst at 30 THz using a new imaging system. The 30 THz emission exhibited remarkable time coincidence with peaks observed at microwave, mm/submm, visible, EUV and hard X-ray wavelengths. The emission location coincides with a very weak white-light feature, and is consistent with heating below the temperature minimum in the atmosphere. However, there are problems in attributing the heating to accelerated electrons. The peak 30 THz flux is several times larger than the usual microwave peak near 9 GHz, attributed to non-thermal electrons in the corona. The 30 THz emission could be consistent with an optically thick spectrum increasing from low to high frequencies. It might be part of the same spectral component found at sub-THz frequencies whose nature remains mysterious. Further observations at these wavelengths will provide a new window for flare studies.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journal, March 23, 201

Advanced 3D modeling versus Building Information Modeling: the case study of Palazzo Ettoreo in Sacile (Italy)

This paper presents an experience of 3D modeling starting from laser scanning data and following two alternative approaches: the first one, called \u201cAdvanced 3D modeling\u201d, based on an original meshing algorithm, while the second make use of Revit BIM software. The case study in Palace Ettoreo in Sacile (Pordenone, Italy), constructed in Renaissance Venetian style in the 16th century: it has a trapezoid plan and is developed on three floors, with the ground one endowing a portico on two fa\ue7ades. The palace has been surveyed by two terrestrial laser scanners: a Riegl Z420i for 5 external scans and a FARO Photon 120 for 53 internal scans; also a topographic surveying of 270 targets have been carried out. The final TLS cloud has 1,4 billions of points. The Advanced 3D modeling has produced a \u201csmart\u201d mesh, allowing also to model the elements with deformations (out of plumb, bulges and troughs). Moreover, this model drastically reduce the stored data: the whole palace is modeled by 111.496 polygons only. The modeling with Revit follows the classical flowchart where the principal architectonical elements are gradually composed: this HBIM process has required a strong manual work in exploiting the available parametric objects and/or in the definition of new objects. Comparing the two models with respect the points cloud, both have evidenced advantages and limitations: therefore, the best solution is a process involving their combination. At the beginning, the Advanced 3D modeling is performed onto the points cloud, so well exploiting the segmentation tools and the smart meshing of the surfaces preserving any geometrical irregularity. Such obtained model allows metrical and morphological evaluation on the various structural and architectonical elements. Afterwards, this very light model becomes the entry data for the modeling in BIM environment, where also the shape of irregular elements are so imported

Система обнаружения с беспроводной зарядкой на основе катушки с крестовидной перемычкой и активной системой управления аккумулятором

The article presents a detection system with spider web coil-based wireless charging. Commonly available metal detectors are sold as handheld systems, which enable only progressive, lengthy, time-consuming search. Importantly, a part of the investigated area can thus be easily missed, and the probability that a metal object will not be found increases substantially. This problem, however, is eliminable via the automatic position tracking mode embedded in the solution obtained through our research. The proposed system facilitates using the spider web coil simultaneously for wireless charging and metal detection by pulse induction. The topology of the detector can emit variable pulse lengths, thus allowing the device to detect more types of metal and to adapt itself to the permeability of the soil. The coil has a branch in a relevant part of the winding to reduce undesirable electromagnetic interference during the charging. On the transmitting side of the topology, impedance matching is included to maintain the maximum spatial gap variability. By changing the position of the receiving side, the output voltage changes; therefore, a high efficiency DC/DC converter is employed. The individual battery cells demonstrate different internal resistances, requiring us to apply a new method to balance the cells voltage. The system can be utilized on self-guided vehicles or drones; advantageously, a GPS resending the coordinates to a mesh radio allows for accurate positioning. With the mesh topology, potential cooperation between the multiple systems is possible. The setup utilizes the same coil for wireless power transfer and detection.В статье представлена система обнаружения с беспроводной зарядкой на основе катушки с крестообразной перемычкой. Обычно доступные металлоискатели продаются в виде переносных систем, которые позволяют осуществлять только постепенный, длительный и трудоемкий поиск. Важно отметить, что часть исследуемой зоны, таким образом, может быть легко пропущена, и вероятность того, что металлический объект не будет найден, существенно возрастает. Эта проблема устраняется с помощью автоматического режима отслеживания местоположения, встроенного в решение, полученное в результате наших исследований. Предлагаемая система облегчает одновременное использование катушки с крестообразной перемычкой для беспроводной зарядки и обнаружения металла с помощью импульсной индукции. Топология детектора может излучать переменную длину импульсов, что позволяет устройству обнаруживать больше типов металлов и адаптироваться к проницаемости почвы. Катушка имеет ответвление в соответствующей части обмотки, чтобы уменьшить нежелательные электромагнитные помехи во время зарядки. На передающей стороне топологии включено согласование импеданса для поддержания максимальной изменчивости пространственного зазора. При изменении положения приемной стороны изменяется выходное напряжение, поэтому используется высокоэффективный преобразователь постоянного тока в постоянный. Отдельные элементы батареи демонстрируют различные внутренние сопротивления, что требует применения нового метода для балансировки напряжения элементов. Система может быть использована на самонаводящихся транспортных средствах или беспилотных летательных аппаратах; GPS, успешно отправляющие координаты на многоканальное радио, обеспечивают точное позиционирование. При наличии многоканальной топологии возможно потенциальное сотрудничество между разнообразными системами. В установке используется одна и та же катушка для беспроводной передачи и обнаружения энергии