Remote estimation of target height using unmanned air vehicles (UAVs)

Dissertation presented as partial requirement for obtaining the Master’s degree in Information Management, with a specialization in Business Intelligence and Knowledge ManagementEstimation of target height from videos is used for several applications, such as monitoring agricultural plants growth or, within surveillance scenarios, supporting the identification of persons of interest. Several studies have been conducted in this domain but, in almost all the cases, only fixed cameras were considered. Nowadays, lightweight UAVs are often employed for remote monitoring and surveillance activities due to their mobility capacity and freedom for camera orientation. This paper focuses on how the height could be swiftly performed with a gimballed camera installed into a UAV using a pinhole camera model after camera calibration and image distortion compensation. The model is tailored for UAV applications outdoor and generalized for any camera orientations defined by Euler angles. The procedure was tested with real data collected with a regular-market lightweight quad-copter. The data collected was also used to make an uncertainty analysis associated with the estimation. Finally, since the height of a person who is not standing perfectly vertical can be derived by relationships between body parts or human face features ratio, this paper proposes to retrieve the pixel spacing measured along the vertical target, called here Vertical Sample Distance (VSD), to quickly measure vertical sub-portions of the target

The Common Agricultural Policy SIMulation (CAPSIM) Model: Dairy Reform and Western Balkan Countries Accession Scenarios

The aim of this study is to provide and describe a multicommodity analysis able to focus and investigate two EU relevant agricultural policy aspects: the dairy reform and the enlargement to Western Balkan countries. The analysis is carried out using the Common Agricultural Policy SIMulation (CAPSIM) model developed in the early 1980s by EuroCARE and the University of Bonn on behalf of DG ESTAT. The model is further upgraded for this study in order to analyse the effects of the Health Check decisions on the EU dairy market as well as the impact of the EU enlargement towards Western Balkans countries. Key results of the main quota expiry scenario for 2020 are that milk production would increase by 3.1% in the EU-27 whereas milk prices would drop by 7.3%. Accession effects in the Western Balkan countries would originate in some convergence to EU prices, in technology transfer which would increase yields, and in CAP components introduced on the Western Balkan like milk quotas or decoupled payments.JRC.J.5-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

Spatial pattern of landslides in Swiss Rhone Valley

The present study analyses the spatial pattern of quaternary gravitational slope deformations (GSD) and historical/present-day instabilities (HPI) inventoried in the Swiss Rhone Valley. The main objective is to test if these events are clustered (spatial attraction) or randomly distributed (spatial independency).Moreover, analogies with the cluster behaviour of earthquakes inventoried in the same area were examined. The Ripley's K-function was applied to measure and test for randomness. This indicator allows describing the spatial pattern of a point process at increasing distance values. To account for the non-constant intensity of the geological phenomena, a modification of the K-function for inhomogeneous point processes was adopted. The specific goal is to explore the spatial attraction (i.e. cluster behaviour) among landslide events and between gravitational slope deformations and earthquakes. To discover if the two classes of instabilities (GSD and HPI) are spatially independently distributed, the cross K-function was computed. The results show that all the geological events under study are spatially clustered at a well-defined distance range. GSD and HPI show a similar pattern distribution with clusters in the range 0.75-9 km. The cross K-function reveals an attraction between the two classes of instabilities in the range 0-4 km confirming thatHPI are more prone to occur within large-scale slope deformations. The K-function computed for GSD and earthquakes indicates that both present a cluster tendency in the range 0-10 km, suggesting that earthquakes could represent a potential predisposing factor which could influence the GSD distribution.Fil: Tonini, Marj. Universite de Lausanne; SuizaFil: Pedrazzini, Andrea. Universite de Lausanne; SuizaFil: Penna, Ivanna Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos; Argentina. Universite de Lausanne; SuizaFil: Jaboyedoff, Michel. Universite de Lausanne; Suiz

Star formation rates and masses of z ~ 2 galaxies from multicolour photometry

Fitting synthetic spectral energy distributions (SED) to the multi-band photometry of galaxies to derive their star formation rates (SFR), stellar masses, ages, etc. requires making a priori assumptions about their star formation histories (SFH). A widely adopted parameterization of the SFH, the so-called tau-models where SFR goes as e^{-t/tau) is shown to lead to unrealistically low ages when applied to star forming galaxies at z ~ 2, a problem shared by other SFHs when the age is left as a free parameter in the fitting. This happens because the SED of such galaxies, at all wavelengths, is dominated by their youngest stellar populations, which outshine the older ones. Thus, the SED of such galaxies conveys little information on the beginning of star formation. To cope with this problem, we explore a variety of SFHs, such as constant SFR and inverted-tau models - with SFR as e^{+t/tau) - along with various priors on age, including assuming that star formation started at high redshift in all the galaxies. We find that inverted-tau models with such latter assumption give SFRs and extinctions in excellent agreement with the values derived using only the UV part of the SED. These models are also shown to accurately recover the SFRs and masses of mock galaxies at z ~ 2 constructed from semi-analytic models. All other explored SFH templates do not fulfil these two test. In particular, direct-tau models with unconstrained age in the fitting procedure overstimate SFRs and underestimate stellar mass, and would exacerbate an apparent mismatch between the cosmic evolution of the volume densities of SFR and stellar mass. We conclude that for high-redshift star forming galaxies an exponentially increasing SFR with a high formation redshift is preferable to other forms of the SFH so far adopted in the literature.Comment: 19 pages, 28 figures, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in pres

Spatial pattern of landslides in Swiss Rhone Valley

The present study analyses the spatial pattern of quaternary gravitational slope deformations (GSD) and historical/present-day instabilities (HPI) inventoried in the Swiss Rhone Valley. The main objective is to test if these events are clustered (spatial attraction) or randomly distributed (spatial independency). Moreover, analogies with the cluster behaviour of earthquakes inventoried in the same area were examined. The Ripley's K-function was applied to measure and test for randomness. This indicator allows describing the spatial pattern of a point process at increasing distance values. To account for the non-constant intensity of the geological phenomena, a modification of the K-function for inhomogeneous point processes was adopted. The specific goal is to explore the spatial attraction (i.e. cluster behaviour) among landslide events and between gravitational slope deformations and earthquakes. To discover if the two classes of instabilities (GSD and HPI) are spatially independently distributed, the cross K-function was computed. The results show that all the geological events under study are spatially clustered at a well-defined distance range. GSD and HPI show a similar pattern distribution with clusters in the range 0.75-9km. The cross K-function reveals an attraction between the two classes of instabilities in the range 0-4km confirming that HPI are more prone to occur within large-scale slope deformations. The K-function computed for GSD and earthquakes indicates that both present a cluster tendency in the range 0-10km, suggesting that earthquakes could represent a potential predisposing factor which could influence the GSD distribution

implementation of the virtual camber transformation into the open source software qblade validation and assessment

Abstract Thanks to the renewed interest in vertical-axis wind turbines, research efforts are devoted at improving the accuracy of present simulation tools, many of which are underdeveloped if compared to those for horizontal-axis turbines. In particular, recent studies demonstrated that a correction for the "virtual camber" effect has a major impact on the simulation. In cycloidal motion indeed the blade aerodynamics are equivalent to those of a virtually-transformed airfoil with a camber line defined by its arc of rotation. In this study, the implementation of a specific module to account for the virtual camber effect in the Open-Source code QBlade is presented. The effectiveness of the model is then validated by four 1-blade and a full 3-blade H-Darrieus turbines, for which both experimental measurements and detailed CFD calculations were available. A sensitivity analysis on the impact of the virtual camber correction on the accuracy of a low-order simulation model has been carried out as a function of the chord-to-radius ratio and the airfoil thickness-to-chord ratio. Reference thresholds for the model applicability are presented for both variables

Carpometacarpal subchondral cysts due to repetitive movements in shoemaker: A case report

Abstrac

Work-related stress and bullying: gender differences and forensic medicine issues in the diagnostic procedure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The attention of international agencies and scientific community on bullying and work-related stress is increasing. This study describes the gender differences found in victims of bullying and work-related stress in an Italian case series and analyzes the critical issues in the diagnostic workup.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between 2001 and 2009 we examined 345 outpatients (148 males, 197 females; mean age: 41 ± 10.49) for suspected psychopathological work-related problems. Diagnosis of bullying was established using international criteria (ICD-10 and DSM-IV).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After interdisciplinary diagnostic evaluation (Occupational Medicine Unit, Psychology and Psychiatry Service), the diagnosis of bullying was formulated in 35 subjects, 12 males and 23 females (2 cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and 33 of Adjustment Disorder). Fifty-four (20 males, 34 females) suffered from work-related anxiety, while work-unrelated Adjustment Disorder and other psychiatric disorders were diagnosed in 7 and 112 subjects, respectively. Women between 34 and 45 years showed a high prevalence (65%) of "mobbing syndrome" or other work-related stress disorders.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>At work, women are more subject to harassment (for personal aspects related to emotional and relational factors) than men. The knowledge of the phenomenon is an essential requisite to contrast bullying; prevention can be carried out only through effective information and training of workers and employers, who have the legal obligation to preserve the integrity of the mental and physical status of their employees during work.</p