A novel semi-fragile forensic watermarking scheme for remote sensing images

Peer-reviewedA semi-fragile watermarking scheme for multiple band images is presented. We propose to embed a mark into remote sensing images applying a tree structured vector quantization approach to the pixel signatures, instead of processing each band separately. The signature of themmultispectral or hyperspectral image is used to embed the mark in it order to detect any significant modification of the original image. The image is segmented into threedimensional blocks and a tree structured vector quantizer is built for each block. These trees are manipulated using an iterative algorithm until the resulting block satisfies a required criterion which establishes the embedded mark. The method is shown to be able to preserve the mark under lossy compression (above a given threshold) but, at the same time, it detects possibly forged blocks and their position in the whole image.Se presenta un esquema de marcas de agua semi-frágiles para múltiples imágenes de banda. Proponemos incorporar una marca en imágenes de detección remota, aplicando un enfoque de cuantización del vector de árbol estructurado con las definiciones de píxel, en lugar de procesar cada banda por separado. La firma de la imagen hiperespectral se utiliza para insertar la marca en el mismo orden para detectar cualquier modificación significativa de la imagen original. La imagen es segmentada en bloques tridimensionales y un cuantificador de vector de estructura de árbol se construye para cada bloque. Estos árboles son manipulados utilizando un algoritmo iteractivo hasta que el bloque resultante satisface un criterio necesario que establece la marca incrustada. El método se muestra para poder preservar la marca bajo compresión con pérdida (por encima de un umbral establecido) pero, al mismo tiempo, detecta posiblemente bloques forjados y su posición en la imagen entera.Es presenta un esquema de marques d'aigua semi-fràgils per a múltiples imatges de banda. Proposem incorporar una marca en imatges de detecció remota, aplicant un enfocament de quantització del vector d'arbre estructurat amb les definicions de píxel, en lloc de processar cada banda per separat. La signatura de la imatge hiperespectral s'utilitza per inserir la marca en el mateix ordre per detectar qualsevol modificació significativa de la imatge original. La imatge és segmentada en blocs tridimensionals i un quantificador de vector d'estructura d'arbre es construeix per a cada bloc. Aquests arbres són manipulats utilitzant un algoritme iteractiu fins que el bloc resultant satisfà un criteri necessari que estableix la marca incrustada. El mètode es mostra per poder preservar la marca sota compressió amb pèrdua (per sobre d'un llindar establert) però, al mateix temps, detecta possiblement blocs forjats i la seva posició en la imatge sencera

Metadata for describing learning scenarios under European Higher Education Area paradigm

In this paper we identify the requirements for creating formal descriptions of learning scenarios designed under the European Higher Education Area paradigm, using competences and learning activities as the basic pieces of the learning process, instead of contents and learning resources, pursuing personalization. Classical arrangements of content based courses are no longer enough to describe all the richness of this new learning process, where user profiles, competences and complex hierarchical itineraries need to be properly combined. We study the intersection with the current IMS Learning Design specification and the additional metadata required for describing such learning scenarios. This new approach involves the use of case based learning and collaborative learning in order to acquire and develop competences, following adaptive learning paths in two structured levels

Sustainable City: architecture, art and machine.

Abstract: The use of digital technology in architecture and art is associated often with the collaboration of interdisciplinary teams in participatory and experimental spaces, especially in the Media Lab model or its variants, such as the City Lab, Living Lab, the New Media Art and even the World Wide Lab. This is a model that combines the premises of the technological and innovation hand advanced users and whose clear precedents are, on the one hand, Russian Constructivism, and decades later the MIT hand Nicholas Negroponte. In the first case, in the Constructivism, there may be mentioned emblematic examples such as the Experimental Laboratory Building Kinetics of Proletkult in Moscow, Workshops Higher Education Arts and Techniques (VKHUTEMAS) founded in 1920, or the Group of Constructivists in Action the Institute of Artistic Culture (1921). The second case, the model Media Lab, Media Laboratory English acronym, translated as "Media Lab", originated in 1985 within the "Group of Architecture and Machines". The group has its immediate precedent in the draft Computer Aided Design (1959-1967), funded to maximize military power and whose director was Douglas T. Ross; it was addressing the man-machine complementary binding and design computationally, with a direct applicability of the technology. This model will be adopted by the architects of the Institute to raise new urban proposals based on component technology and social utopias. Also within the Media Lab, emerged in the late nineties, the term Living Lab hand WJ Mitchell and referred to urban planning using digital tools and with the involvement of the people themselves, albeit with different "degrees of citizen participation". This ever-closer union between man and machine is the direct consequence of the unstoppable digital revolution that is transforming the ways of city planning. Resumen: El uso de tecnología digital en arquitectura y arte va asociado, con frecuencia, a la colaboración de equipos interdisciplinares en espacios participativos y experimentales, especialmente en el modelo Media Lab o sus variantes, como el City Lab, el Living Lab, el New Media Art e incluso el World Wide Lab. Se trata de un modelo que aúna las premisas de lo tecnológico y la innovación, de la mano de usuarios avanzados y cuyos precedentes claros son, por un lado, el Constructivismo ruso, y décadas después el MIT de la mano de Nicholas Negroponte. En el primer caso, dentro del Constructivismo, pueden citarse ejemplos emblemáticos como el Laboratorio Experimental de Construcciones Cinéticas del Proletkult en Moscú, los Talleres de Enseñanza Superior de las Artes y las Técnicas (VKHUTEMAS) fundados en 1920, o el Grupo de Constructivistas en Acción del Instituto de Cultura Artística (1921). El segundo caso, el modelo Media Lab, acrónimo del inglés Media Laboratory, traducido como “Laboratorio de medios de comunicación”, tiene su origen en 1985 en el seno del “Grupo de Arquitectura y Máquinas”. Dicho grupo tiene su precedente inmediato en el Proyecto de Diseño Asistido por Computador (1959-67), financiado para maximizar el poderío bélico y cuyo director fue Douglas T. Ross; se trataba de abordar la unión complementaria hombre-máquina y el diseño en términos computacionales, con una aplicabilidad directa de la tecnología. Este modelo será adoptado por los arquitectos del Instituto para plantear nuevas propuestas urbanas basadas en la componente tecnológica y en utopías sociales. También en el seno del Media Lab, surge, a finales de los noventa, el término Living Lab de la mano de W. J. Mitchell y referido a planificación urbana mediante herramientas digitales y con la implicación de los propios habitantes, si bien con diferentes “grados de participación ciudadana”. Esta unión cada vez más estrecha entre hombre y máquina es la consecuencia directa de la imparable revolución digital que está transformando los modos de planificación de las ciudades.Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

On the energy potential of daytime radiative cooling for urban heat island mitigation

The objective of this paper is to present the potential of daytime radiative cooling materials as a strategy to mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect. To evaluate the cooling potential of daytime radiative cooling materials, 15 theoretical materials and seven existing materials were simulated: two radiative cooling materials, a coolmaterial, two white paints, a thermochromic paint and a construction material. The novelty of this study is that it shows that the optimal spectral characteristics of radiative cooling materials depending on the climate conditions and the type of application. A sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of each wavelength emissivity on the ability to achieve sub-ambient radiative cooling. The sensitivity analysis comprised a total of 90 theoretical materials with 15 different wavelength combinations and 6 emissivity values. The heat transfer model, which includes conduction, convection, and radiation, was developed using a spectrally-selective sky model. Two conditions were considered: a very conductive surface and a highly insulated one. All the materials were simulated in two cities that suffer from the Urban Heat Island effect—Phoenix and Sydney. The mean surface temperature reduction achieved was 5.30 ◦C in Phoenix and 4.21 ◦C in Sydney. The results presented suggest that the type of application (active or passive) is a determinant factor in the design of radiative cooling materials. Modifying the spectra of the materials led to a substantial change in the cooling potential. A material that performs well in a dry climate as a passive solution could perform poorly as an active solution.Laura Carlosena would like to acknowledge the funding of the Government of Navarre for an industrial Ph.D. research grant "Doctorados industriales 2018–2020" file number 0011-1408-2017-000028 at the University of the Basque Country that takes place in the R + D department of Alonso Hernández & asociados arquitectura S.L

Thermal-optical analysis for the measurement of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) in ambient air a literature review

Thermal-optical analysis is currently under consideration by the European standardization body (CEN) as the reference method to quantitatively determine organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in ambient air. This paper presents an overview of the critical parameters related to the thermal-optical analysis including thermal protocols, critical factors and interferences of the methods examined, method inter-comparisons, inter-laboratory exercises, biases and artifacts, and reference materials. The most commonly used thermal protocols include NIOSH-like, IMPROVE_A and EUSAAR_2 protocols either with light transmittance or reflectance correction for charring. All thermal evolution protocols are comparable for total carbon (TC) concentrations but the results vary significantly concerning OC and especially EC concentrations. Thermal protocols with a rather low peak temperature in the inert mode like IMPROVE_A and EUSAAR_2 tend to classify more carbon as EC compared to NIOSH-like protocols, while charring correction based on transmittance usually leads to smaller EC values compared to reflectance. The difference between reflectance and transmittance correction tends to be larger than the difference between different thermal protocols. Nevertheless, thermal protocols seem to correlate better when reflectance is used as charring correction method. The difference between EC values as determined by the different protocols is not only dependent on the optical pyrolysis correction method, but also on the chemical properties of the samples due to different contributions from various sources. The overall conclusion from this literature review is that it is not possible to identify the "best" thermal-optical protocol based on literature data only, although differences attributed to the methods have been quantified when possible.This work was undertaken under Mandate M/503 “Standardisation mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI in support of the implementation of the Ambient Air Quality Legislation”, ENX “Ambient air – Measurement of airborne lemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) in PM 2.5 deposited on filters”.EUR 1,920 APC fee funded by the EC FP7 Post-Grant Open Access PilotPeer reviewe

Viabilidad de los indicadores recomendados por la Unión Europea en el ámbito de España relativos a la renovación de edificios

La rehabilitación energética de los edificios es una de las principales claves para alcanzar los objetivos de descarbonización de la Unión Europea definidos en la European Green Deal. Para proceder a ellos, una de las herramientas es la Directiva relativa a la eficiencia energética de edificios (Directiva UE 2018/844), la “Energy Performance of Buildings Directive” (EPBD), incluyendo el marco de evaluación basado en Indicadores de Progreso Mensurables (IPM) agrupados en dominios mediante la Recomendación (UE) 2019/786 de la comisión de 8 de mayo de 2019 relativa a la renovación de edificios. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la viabilidad de los Indicadores de Progreso Mensurables (IPM) propuestos por la Unión Europea en el ámbito del estado español, estableciendo una visión crítica de la aplicabilidad del marco de evaluación propuesto. En conclusión, la viabilidad de los Indicadores de Progreso Mensurables (IPM) propuestos por la Unión Europea en el estado español presentan varias barreras como puede ser la fragmentación de los datos, la medicación insuficiente y el acceso limitado a ellos. Por otra parte, también se muestran oportunidades para poder mejorar la evaluación de la rehabilitación de los edificios mediante el desarrollo de nuevas herramientas y recursos para la recopilación de datos, entre otros, la monitorización de edificios, “machine-learning” y el pasaporte de renovación del edificio

PM speciation and sources in Mexico during the MILAGRO-2006 Campaign

International audienceLevels of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 and chemical speciation of PM10 and PM2.5 were measured during the MILAGRO campaign (1st to 31st March 2006, but extended in some cases until 6th April) at four urban, one suburban, two rural background and two rural sites, with different degree of industrial influence, in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) and adjacent regions. PM10 and PM2.5 daily levels varied between 50?56?g/m3 and 24?46?g/m3 at the urban sites, 22?35?g/m3 and 13?25?g/m3 at the rural sites, and 75?g/m3 and 31?g/m3 at the industrial hotspot, lower than those recorded at some Asian mega-cities and similar to those recorded at other Latin American cities. At the urban sites, hourly PM2.5 and PM1 concentrations showed a marked impact of road traffic emissions (at rush hours), with levels of coarse PM remaining elevated during daytime. At the suburban and rural sites different PM daily patterns were registered according to the influence of the pollution plume from MCMA, and also of local soil resuspension. The speciation studies showed that mineral matter accounted for 25?27% of bulk PM10 at the urban sites and a higher proportion (up to 43%) at the suburban and rural sites. This pattern is repeated in PM2.5, with 15% at urban and 28% at suburban and rural sites. Carbonaceous compounds accounted for a significant proportion at the urban and industrial sites (32?46% in PM10, and 51?55% in PM2.5), markedly reduced at the suburban and rural sites (16?23% in PM10, and 30% in PM2.5). The secondary inorganic aerosols accounted for 10?20% of bulk PM10 at urban, suburban, rural and industrial sites, with a higher proportion (40%) at the industrial background site. A relatively high proportion of nitrate in rural sites was present in the coarse fraction. Typically anthropogenic elements (As, Cr, Zn, Cu, Pb, Sn, Sb, Ba, among others) showed considerably high levels at the urban sites; however levels of particulate Hg and crustal trace elements (Rb, Ti, La, Sc, Ga) were generally higher at the suburban site. Principal component analysis identified three major common factors: crustal, regional background and road traffic. Moreover, some specific factors were obtained for each site

Effects of sources and meteorology on particulate matter in the Western Mediterranean Basin: an overview of the DAURE campaign

DAURE (Determination of the Sources of Atmospheric Aerosols in Urban and Rural Environments in the Western Mediterranean) was a multidisciplinary international field campaign aimed at investigating the sources and meteorological controls of particulate matter in the Western Mediterranean Basin (WMB). Measurements were simultaneously performed at an urban-coastal (Barcelona, BCN) and a rural-elevated (Montseny, MSY) site pair in NE Spain during winter and summer. State-of-the-art methods such as 14C analysis, proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry, and high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometry were applied for the first time in the WMB as part of DAURE. WMB regional pollution episodes were associated with high concentrations of inorganic and organic species formed during the transport to inland areas and built up at regional scales. Winter pollutants accumulation depended on the degree of regional stagnation of an air mass under anticyclonic conditions and the planetary boundary layer height. In summer, regional recirculation and biogenic secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formation mainly determined the regional pollutant concentrations. The contribution from fossil sources to organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) and hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol concentrations were higher at BCN compared with MSY due to traffic emissions. The relative contribution of nonfossil OC was higher at MSY especially in summer due to biogenic emissions. The fossil OC/EC ratio at MSY was twice the corresponding ratio at BCN indicating that a substantial fraction of fossil OC was due to fossil SOA. In winter, BCN cooking emissions were identified as an important source of modern carbon in primary organic aerosol