3D measures exploitation for a monocular semi-supervised fall detection system

Falls have been reported as the leading cause of injury-related visits to emergency departments and the primary etiology of accidental deaths in elderly. Thus, the development of robust home surveillance systems is of great importance. In this article, such a system is presented, which tries to address the fall detection problem through visual cues. The proposed methodology utilizes a fast, real-time background subtraction algorithm, based on motion information in the scene and pixels intensity, capable to operate properly in dynamically changing visual conditions, in order to detect the foreground object. At the same time, it exploits 3D space’s measures, through automatic camera calibration, to increase the robustness of fall detection algorithm which is based on semi-supervised learning approach. The above system uses a single monocular camera and is characterized by minimal computational cost and memory requirements that make it suitable for real-time large scale implementations.     

Immunotherapy as a Therapeutic Strategy for Gastrointestinal Cancer—Current Treatment Options and Future Perspectives

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer constitutes a highly lethal entity among malignancies in the last decades and is still a major challenge for cancer therapeutic options. Despite the current combinational treatment strategies, including chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy, and targeted therapies, the survival rates remain notably low for patients with advanced disease. A better knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that influence tumor progression and the development of optimal therapeutic strategies for GI malignancies are urgently needed. Currently, the development and the assessment of the efficacy of immunotherapeutic agents in GI cancer are in the spotlight of several clinical trials. Thus, several new modalities and combinational treatments with other anti-neoplastic agents have been identified and evaluated for their efficiency in cancer management, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive cell transfer, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy, cancer vaccines, and/or combinations thereof. Understanding the interrelation among the tumor microenvironment, cancer progression, and immune resistance is pivotal for the optimal therapeutic management of all gastrointestinal solid tumors. This review will shed light on the recent advances and future directions of immunotherapy for malignant tumors of the GI system.     

Variational stability of infinite-dimensional optimal control problems

In this paper we examine the variational stability of infinite-dimensional optimal control problems governed by nonlinear evolution equations. Our tools are the Kuratowski—Mosco convergence of sets and the corresponding τ-convergence of functions. We prove the τ-convergence of cost functional and the convergence of the values of the problems, and we examine the variational stability of the solution and reachable sets. These results are then applied to a sequence of nonlinear parabolic distributed-parameter optimal control problems     

A New Methodology for Efficient Classification of Multispectral Satellite Images Using Neural Network Techniques

A methodology based on self-organizing feature maps and indexing techniques for time and memory efficient neural network training and classification of large volumes of remotely sensed data is presented. Results on land-cover classification of multispectral satellite images using two popular neural models show orders of magnitude of speedup with respect to both training and classification times. The generality of the proposed methodology is demonstrated with a dramatic improvement of the classification time of the k-nearest neighbors statistical classifier.     

Effect of NiO-to-Ni Transformation on Conductivity and Structure of Yttria-Stabilized ZrO2

The conductivity and structure of 8-mol%-yttria-stabilized zirconia with additions of nickel oxide has been investigated, both in the as-prepared state and after reduction of NiO in hydrogen. During reduction at 1000°C, the conductivity decreases by 40%–50% and most of the NiO dissolved in the zirconia is exsolved in the form of nickel particles. This is accompanied by the formation of tetragonal zirconia precipitates of size 10–40 nm and by an increase in the lattice parameter. On reoxidation in air at 1000°C, the change in lattice parameter is partly reversed, but the conductivity shows no further changes.     

Ubiquitous Agents for Ambient Ecologies

The cost of state-of-the-art devices and robots is critical for the uptake of Ambient Intelligence (AmI). One way to utilize low-cost hardware for both devices and robots is to run smart software remotely as agents deployed on computationally rich environments. In this context, the devices and the robots can be seen as the Avatars of agents, while the way devices and agents are related may be considered as an Ambient Ecology. We show how the application of a middleware platform called EVATAR realizes this vision by exemplifying the main issues with a multi-robot and a smart-home scenarios.     

Control of Canal Flow by Adjoint Sensitivity Method

A new method for control of unsteady flow in open channels is presented. Control is achieved using an iterative approach, the Broyden, Fletcher, Goldfarb, and Shanno quasi-Newton method that utilizes an adjoint sensitivity method to efficiently compute gradient information. The adjoint equations are derived from the differential form of the full shallow-water equations in one dimension and the resulting sensitivies allow a wide class of flows to be controlled. In addition, the adjoint sensitivity method permits both scheduled and adaptive flow control to be achieved. Application of the method to scheduled flow control is presented.     

Comparing hybrid learning with traditional approaches on learning the Microsoft Office Power Point 2003 program in tertiary education

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a hybrid learning approach to deliver a computer science course concerning the Microsoft office PowerPoint 2003 program in comparison to delivering the same course content in the form of traditional lectures. A hundred and seventy-two first year university students were randomly assigned into two teaching method groups: traditional lecture instruction (TLI) and hybrid lecture instruction (HLI). Each group received six 95-min periods of instruction divided into 4 sections: a) 5-min brief outline of the key learning points, b) 40-min lecture on general knowledge c) 45-min constructivist-inspired learning activities and d) 5-min summary on key learning points. In the beginning and the end of this study students completed a 17-item multiple choice knowledge test. Two-way analysis of variances (ANOVA), with repeated measures on the last factor, were conducted to determine effect of method groups (TLI, HLI) and measures (pre-test, post-test) on knowledge test. The measures main effect was significant, as well as the groups x measures interaction effect. Two independent-samples t test were conducted to follow up the significant interaction. Differences in mean ratings of knowledge performance between the two teaching groups were not significantly different at first measure, while the TLI method group yielded a significantly lower mean rating at second measure. The findings indicated that HLI approach might be a superior option for undergraduate students on learning the Microsoft office PowerPoint 2003 program.     

Atomically Thin Mica Flakes and Their Application as Ultrathin Insulating Substrates for Graphene

By mechanical exfoliation, it is possible to deposit atomically thin mica flakes down to single‐monolayer thickness on SiO₂/Si wafers. The optical contrast of these mica flakes on top of a SiO₂/Si substrate depends on their thickness, the illumination wavelength, and the SiO₂ substrate thickness, and can be quantitatively accounted for by a Fresnel‐law‐based model. The preparation of atomically thin insulating crystalline sheets will enable the fabrication of ultrathin, defect‐free insulating substrates, dielectric barriers, or planar electron‐tunneling junctions. Additionally, it is shown that few‐layer graphene flakes can be deposited on top of a previously transferred mica flake. Our transfer method relies on viscoelastic stamps, as used for soft lithography. A Raman spectroscopy study shows that such an all‐dry deposition technique yields cleaner and higher‐quality flakes than conventional wet‐transfer procedures based on lithographic resists.