Whole-body vibration exposure in sport: four relevant cases

This study investigates the whole-body vibration exposure in kite surfing, alpine skiing, snowboarding and cycling. The vibration exposure was experimentally evaluated following the ISO 2631 guidelines. Results evidenced that the most critical axis is the vertical one. The weighted vibration levels are always larger than 2.5 m/s² and the vibration dose values are larger than 25 m/s^1.75. The exposure limit values of the EU directive are reached after 8–37 min depending on the sport. The vibration magnitude is influenced by the athletes’ speed, by their skill level and sometimes by the equipment. The large vibration values suggest that the practice of sport activities may be a confounding factor in the aetiology of vibration-related diseases.     

Texture Mapping Real‐World Objects with Hydrographics

In the digital world, assigning arbitrary colors to an object is a simple operation thanks to texture mapping. However, in the real world, the same basic function of applying colors onto an object is far from trivial. One can specify colors during the fabrication process using a color 3D printer, but this does not apply to already existing objects. Paint and decals can be used during post‐fabrication, but they are challenging to apply on complex shapes. In this paper, we develop a method to enable texture mapping of physical objects, that is, we allow one to map an arbitrary color image onto a three‐dimensional object. Our approach builds upon hydrographics, a technique to transfer pigments printed on a sheet of polymer onto curved surfaces. We first describe a setup that makes the traditional water transfer printing process more accurate and consistent across prints. We then simulate the transfer process using a specialized parameterization to estimate the mapping between the planar color map and the object surface. We demonstrate that our approach enables the application of detailed color maps onto complex shapes such as 3D models of faces and anatomical casts.     

Mocking Ads through Mobile Web Services

The need for creativity is ubiquitous, and mobile devices connected to Web services can help us. Linguistic creativity is widely used in advertisements to surprise us, to get our attention, and to stick concepts in our memory. However, creativity can also be used as a defense. When we walk in the street, we are overwhelmed by messages that try to get our attention with any persuasive device at hand. As messages get ever more aggressive, often our basic cognitive defenses—trying not to perceive those messages—are not sufficient. One advanced defensive technique is based on transforming the perceived message into something different (for instance, making use of irony or hyperbole) from what was originally meant in the message. In this article, we describe an implemented application for smartphones, which creatively modifies the linguistic expression in a virtual copy of a poster encountered on the street. The mobile system is inspired by the subvertising practice of countercultural art.     

A cubic regularization algorithm for unconstrained optimization using line search and nonmonotone techniques

In recent years, cubic regularization algorithms for unconstrained optimization have been defined as alternatives to trust-region and line search schemes. These regularization techniques are based on the strategy of computing an (approximate) global minimizer of a cubic overestimator of the objective function. In this work we focus on the adaptive regularization algorithm using cubics (ARC) proposed in Cartis et al. [Adaptive cubic regularisation methods for unconstrained optimization. Part I: motivation, convergence and numerical results, Mathematical Programming A 127 (2011), pp. 245–295]. Our purpose is to design a modified version of ARC in order to improve the computational efficiency preserving global convergence properties. The basic idea is to suitably combine a Goldstein-type line search and a nonmonotone accepting criterion with the aim of advantageously exploiting the possible good descent properties of the trial step computed as (approximate) minimizer of the cubic model. Global convergence properties of the proposed nonmonotone ARC algorithm are proved. Numerical experiments are performed and the obtained results clearly show satisfactory performance of the new algorithm when compared to the basic ARC algorithm.     

NetCluster: A clustering-based framework to analyze internet passive measurements data

Internet measured data collected via passive measurement are analyzed to obtain localization information on nodes by clustering (i.e., grouping together) nodes that exhibit similar network path properties. Since traditional clustering algorithms fail to correctly identify clusters of homogeneous nodes, we propose the NetCluster novel framework, suited to analyze Internet measurement datasets. We show that the proposed framework correctly analyzes synthetically generated traces. Finally, we apply it to real traces collected at the access link of Politecnico di Torino campus LAN and discuss the network characteristics as seen at the vantage point.     

Titans’ revenge: Detecting Zeus via its own flaws

Malware is one of the main threats to the Internet security in general, and to commercial transactions in particular. However, given the high level of sophistication reached by malware (e.g. usage of encrypted payload and obfuscation techniques), malware detection tools and techniques still call for effective and efficient solutions. In this paper, we address a specific, dreadful, and widely diffused financial malware: Zeus.The contributions of this paper are manifold: first, we propose a technique to break the encrypted malware communications, extracting the keystream used to encrypt such communications; second, we provide a generalization of the proposed keystream extraction technique. Further, we propose Cronus, an IDS that specifically targets Zeus malware. The implementation of Cronus has been experimentally tested on a production network, and its high quality performance and effectiveness are discussed. Finally, we highlight some principles underlying malware—and Zeus in particular—that could pave the way for further investigation in this field.