Verkehrsmonitoring mit Hilfe von Radarfernerkundung

Für die Zukunft wird eine Zunahme an Verkehr prognostiziert, gleichzeitig herrscht ein Mangel an Raum und finanziellen Mitteln, um weitere Straßen zu bauen. Daher müssen die vorhandenen Kapazitäten durch eine bessere Verkehrssteuerung sinnvoller genutzt werden, z.B. durch Verkehrsleitsysteme. Dafür werden räumlich aufgelöste, d.h. den Verkehr in seiner flächenhaften Verteilung wiedergebende Daten benötigt, die jedoch fehlen. Bisher konnten Verkehrsdaten nur dort erhoben werden, wo sich örtlich feste Meßeinrichtungen befinden, jedoch können damit die fehlenden Daten nicht erhoben werden. Mit Fernerkundungssystemen ergibt sich die Möglichkeit, diese Daten flächendeckend mit einem Blick von oben zu erfassen. Nach jahrzehntelangen Erfahrungen mit Fernerkundungsmethoden zur Erfassung und Untersuchung der verschiedensten Phänomene auf der Erdoberfläche wird nun diese Methodik im Rahmen eines Pilotprojektes auf den Themenbereich Verkehr angewendet. Seit Ende der 1990er Jahre wurde mit flugzeuggetragenen optischen und Infrarot-Aufnahmesystemen Verkehr beobachtet. Doch bei schlechten Wetterbedingungen und insbesondere bei Bewölkung, sind keine brauchbaren Aufnahmen möglich. Mit einem abbildenden Radarverfahren werden Daten unabhängig von Wetter- und Tageslichtbedingungen oder Bewölkung erhoben. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, inwieweit mit Hilfe von flugzeuggetragenem synthetischem Apertur Radar (SAR) Verkehrsdaten aufgenommen, verarbeitet und sinnvoll angewendet werden können. Nicht nur wird die neue Technik der Along-Track Interferometrie (ATI) und die Prozessierung und Verarbeitung der aufgenommenen Verkehrsdaten ausführlich dargelegt, es wird darüberhinaus ein mit dieser Methodik erstellter Datensatz mit einer Verkehrssimulation verglichen und bewertet. Abschließend wird ein Ausblick auf zukünftige Entwicklungen der Radarfernerkundung zur Verkehrsdatenerfassung gegeben.

Still/moving images. Il rapporto dialettico tra cinema e fotografia nelle pratiche artistiche contemporanee.

Tra le plurime conseguenze dell’avvento del digitale, la riarticolazione dei rapporti tra immagine statica e immagine in movimento è certamente una delle più profonde. Sintomatica dei cambiamenti in atto sia nei film studies sia nella storia dell’arte, tale riarticolazione richiede un ripensamento dei confini disciplinari tradizionali entro cui il cinema e la fotografia sono stati affrontati come oggetti di studio separati e distinti. Nell’adottare un approccio molteplice, volto a comprendere prospettive provenienti dalla New Film History e dalla media archaeology, dalla teoria dell’arte e dagli studi visuali, questo lavoro esplora l’esistenza di una relazione dialettica tra il cinema e la fotografia intesa in modo duplice: come tensione costitutiva tra due media indissolubilmente connessi – non tanto in considerazione di un medesimo principio realistico di rappresentazione quanto, piuttosto, in virtù di uno scambio incessante nella modellizzazione di categorie quali il tempo, il movimento, l’immobilità, l’istante, la durata; come istanza peculiare della pratica artistica contemporanea, paradigma di riferimento nella produzione estetica di immagini. La tesi si suddivide in tre capitoli. Il primo si concentra sul rapporto tra l’immobilità e il movimento dell’immagine come cifra in grado di connettere l’estetica delle attrazioni e la cronofotografia a una serie di esperienze filmiche e artistiche prodotte nei territori delle avanguardie. Il secondo capitolo considera l’emergenza, dagli anni Novanta, di pratiche artistiche in cui l’incontro intermediale tra film e fotografia fornisce modelli di analisi volti all’indagine dell’attuale condizione estetica e tecnologica. Il terzo offre una panoramica critica su un caso di studio, la GIF art. La GIF è un formato digitale obsoleto che consente di produrre immagini che appaiono, simultaneamente, come fisse e animate; nel presente lavoro, la GIF è discussa come un medium capace di contraddire i confini attraverso cui concepiamo l’immagine fissa e in movimento, suggerendo, inoltre, un possibile modello di pensiero storico-cronologico anti-lineare.

Cooperative Cognitive Wireless Networks over TV White and Gray Spaces

Wireless networks rapidly became a fundamental pillar of everyday activities. Whether at work or elsewhere, people often benefits from always-on connections. This trend is likely to increase, and hence actual technologies struggle to cope with the increase in traffic demand. To this end, Cognitive Wireless Networks have been studied. These networks aim at a better utilization of the spectrum, by understanding the environment in which they operate, and adapt accordingly. In particular recently national regulators opened up consultations on the opportunistic use of the TV bands, which became partially free due to the digital TV switch over. In this work, we focus on the indoor use of of TVWS. Interesting use cases like smart metering and WiFI like connectivity arise, and are studied and compared against state of the art technology. New measurements for TVWS networks will be presented and evaluated, and fundamental characteristics of the signal derived. Then, building on that, a new model of spectrum sharing, which takes into account also the height from the terrain, is presented and evaluated in a real scenario. The principal limits and performance of TVWS operated networks will be studied for two main use cases, namely Machine to Machine communication and for wireless sensor networks, particularly for the smart grid scenario. The outcome is that TVWS are certainly interesting to be studied and deployed, in particular when used as an additional offload for other wireless technologies. Seeing TVWS as the only wireless technology on a device is harder to be seen: the uncertainity in channel availability is the major drawback of opportunistic networks, since depending on the primary network channel allocation might lead in having no channels available for communication. TVWS can be effectively exploited as offloading solutions, and most of the contributions presented in this work proceed in this direction.

The changing epidemiology of spinal trauma: a 13-year review from a Level I trauma centre

Spinal injuries secondary to trauma are a major cause of patient morbidity and a source of significant health care expenditure. Increases in traffic safety standards and improved health care resources may have changed the characteristics and incidence of spinal injury. The purpose of this study was to review a single metropolitan Level I trauma centre's experience to assess the changing characteristics and incidence of traumatic spinal injuries and spinal cord injuries (SCI) over a 13-year period.

Congenital retinal macrovessels: description of three cases and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Congenital retinal macrovessels are large aberrant branches of retinal arteries or veins that cross the macula. We present three patients with a unilateral congenital retinal macrovessel and we conduct a review of the literature. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A 22-year-old man complaining of chronic headache as well as two other men, 18 and 23 years old, respectively, during a routine ophthalmological examination, were found with a unilateral congenital retinal macrovessel each. A thorough ophthalmological examination was performed, including colour fundus photography in all three patients and fluorescein angiography in two of the patients. We followed them up for five years. THERAPY AND OUTCOME: Investigation revealed a unilateral venous congenital retinal macrovessel in all patients. Clinical findings and visual acuity remained unchanged throughout the entire follow-up period. No complications were recorded. CONCLUSIONS: Congenital retinal macrovessels are rare and they tend to remain stable. Visual acuity is preserved in most cases. Complications occur only occasionally and have been described in the literature. Differential diagnosis from other arteriovenous malformations affecting multiple organs is necessary.

Riding the Escalator: How Dangerous is it Really?

INTRODUCTION About 10,000 escalator-related injuries per year result in emergency department treatment in the United States. Since the 1990s, a steady increase has been reported, but few statistics on escalator-related injuries have been published worldwide. We have therefore analyzed escalator accident statistics in admissions to our hospital in Switzerland since 2000. METHODS Using retrospective electronic patient chart analysis, we included in our study patients >16 years treated over an 11-year period. We categorized patients in terms of gender, age and associated risk factors, and classified accidents according to day, time, location and cause. Resulting trauma was categorized according to type and location. We divided post-admission treatment into surgical and conservative, and into treatment as an outpatient, in a short-stay unit, or as a hospital admission. Women and men were compared using Fisher's exact test. RESULTS We identified 173 patients with 285 discrete injuries. Of these, 87 patients (50%) were women. Fifty-three (61%) of the women and 38 (44%) of the men were >60 years old (P = 0.033). Fifty percent of the men (43/86) of the men, but only 7% (6/87) of the women showed signs of alcohol intoxication (P < 0.0001). Accidents in women occurred predominantly on Tuesdays (19/87; 22%) between 12pm and 6pm (35/87; 40%), and in men on Saturdays (16/86; 19%) between 6pm and 12am (29/86; 34%; P = 0.0097). Sixty-two percent (44/71) of the accidents were in public transport facilities and 30% (21/71) in shopping centers. The majority of injuries in women were to the lower extremities (49/87; 56%), while most accidents in men were to the head and neck (51/86; 59%; P = 0.0052). About half (90; 52%) of the patients were treated conservatively. Almost half of all patients (76, 44%) required hospital admission. Of those, 45% left the hospital within 24 hours of admission (short stay unit) and 55% stayed longer than 24 hours. CONCLUSION Escalator accidents can result in severe trauma. Significant gender differences in escalator accidents have been observed. Alcohol intoxication and age are significant risk factors in escalator-related accidents and might be possible targets for preventive measures.

Familia, redes y poder en la Guardia de Luján durante la década de 1820

El arraigo familiar y las redes sociales serán los factores que se privilegiarán en esta investigación que abordará la cuestión de la construcción del edificio de la Justicia de Paz en la campaña bonaerense. A partir del violento episodio que generó el desplazamiento de un Juez de Paz, indagaremos el capital relacional de los jueces y sus familias para demostrar que la organización la Justicia de Paz utilizó redes existentes, que hundían sus raíces en tiempos coloniales, dando cuenta de que primaron continuidades más que rupturas en el transito del estado colonial al independiente. Pero además, se tratará de percibir en el comportamiento político de esta comunidad, el peso de la densa urdimbre que se construyó a través del matrimonio y que vinculó a gran parte de los vecinos de la Guardia de Luján.

Familia, redes y poder en la Guardia de Luján durante la década de 1820

El arraigo familiar y las redes sociales serán los factores que se privilegiarán en esta investigación que abordará la cuestión de la construcción del edificio de la Justicia de Paz en la campaña bonaerense. A partir del violento episodio que generó el desplazamiento de un Juez de Paz, indagaremos el capital relacional de los jueces y sus familias para demostrar que la organización la Justicia de Paz utilizó redes existentes, que hundían sus raíces en tiempos coloniales, dando cuenta de que primaron continuidades más que rupturas en el transito del estado colonial al independiente. Pero además, se tratará de percibir en el comportamiento político de esta comunidad, el peso de la densa urdimbre que se construyó a través del matrimonio y que vinculó a gran parte de los vecinos de la Guardia de Luján.

Familia, redes y poder en la Guardia de Luján durante la década de 1820

El arraigo familiar y las redes sociales serán los factores que se privilegiarán en esta investigación que abordará la cuestión de la construcción del edificio de la Justicia de Paz en la campaña bonaerense. A partir del violento episodio que generó el desplazamiento de un Juez de Paz, indagaremos el capital relacional de los jueces y sus familias para demostrar que la organización la Justicia de Paz utilizó redes existentes, que hundían sus raíces en tiempos coloniales, dando cuenta de que primaron continuidades más que rupturas en el transito del estado colonial al independiente. Pero además, se tratará de percibir en el comportamiento político de esta comunidad, el peso de la densa urdimbre que se construyó a través del matrimonio y que vinculó a gran parte de los vecinos de la Guardia de Luján.

Video analysis based vehicle detection and tracking using an MCMC sampling framework

This article presents a probabilistic method for vehicle detection and tracking through the analysis of monocular images obtained from a vehicle-mounted camera. The method is designed to address the main shortcomings of traditional particle filtering approaches, namely Bayesian methods based on importance sampling, for use in traffic environments. These methods do not scale well when the dimensionality of the feature space grows, which creates significant limitations when tracking multiple objects. Alternatively, the proposed method is based on a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach, which allows efficient sampling of the feature space. The method involves important contributions in both the motion and the observation models of the tracker. Indeed, as opposed to particle filter-based tracking methods in the literature, which typically resort to observation models based on appearance or template matching, in this study a likelihood model that combines appearance analysis with information from motion parallax is introduced. Regarding the motion model, a new interaction treatment is defined based on Markov random fields (MRF) that allows for the handling of possible inter-dependencies in vehicle trajectories. As for vehicle detection, the method relies on a supervised classification stage using support vector machines (SVM). The contribution in this field is twofold. First, a new descriptor based on the analysis of gradient orientations in concentric rectangles is dened. This descriptor involves a much smaller feature space compared to traditional descriptors, which are too costly for real-time applications. Second, a new vehicle image database is generated to train the SVM and made public. The proposed vehicle detection and tracking method is proven to outperform existing methods and to successfully handle challenging situations in the test sequences.

Homography-based ground plane detection using a single on-board camera

This study presents a robust method for ground plane detection in vision-based systems with a non-stationary camera. The proposed method is based on the reliable estimation of the homography between ground planes in successive images. This homography is computed using a feature matching approach, which in contrast to classical approaches to on-board motion estimation does not require explicit ego-motion calculation. As opposed to it, a novel homography calculation method based on a linear estimation framework is presented. This framework provides predictions of the ground plane transformation matrix that are dynamically updated with new measurements. The method is specially suited for challenging environments, in particular traffic scenarios, in which the information is scarce and the homography computed from the images is usually inaccurate or erroneous. The proposed estimation framework is able to remove erroneous measurements and to correct those that are inaccurate, hence producing a reliable homography estimate at each instant. It is based on the evaluation of the difference between the predicted and the observed transformations, measured according to the spectral norm of the associated matrix of differences. Moreover, an example is provided on how to use the information extracted from ground plane estimation to achieve object detection and tracking. The method has been successfully demonstrated for the detection of moving vehicles in traffic environments.

Risk assessment of the spanish national railway system

The principal risks in the railway industry are mainly associated with collisions, derailments and level crossing accidents. An understanding of the nature of previous accidents on the railway network is required to identify potential causes and develop safety systems and deploy safety procedures. Risk assessment is a process for determining the risk magnitude to assist with decision-making. We propose a three-step methodology to predict the mean number of fatalities in railway accidents. The first is to predict the mean number of accidents by analyzing generalized linear models and selecting the one that best fits to the available historical data on the basis of goodness-offit statistics. The second is to compute the mean number of fatalities per accident and the third is to estimate the mean number of fatalities. The methodology is illustrated on the Spanish railway system. Statistical models accounting for annual and grouped data for the 1992-2009 time period have been analyzed. After identifying the models for broad and narrow gauges, we predicted mean number of accidents and the number of fatalities for the 2010-18 time period.

Development of a methodology and tool to evaluate the impact of ICT measures on road transport emissions

The paper presents the main elements of a project entitled ICT-Emissions that aims at developing a novel methodology to evaluate the impact of ICT-related measures on mobility, vehicle energy consumption and CO2 emissions of vehicle fleets at the local scale, in order to promote the wider application of the most appropriate ICT measures. The proposed methodology combines traffic and emission modelling at micro and macro scales. These will be linked with interfaces and submodules which will be specifically designed and developed. A number of sources are available to the consortium to obtain the necessary input data. Also, experimental campaigns are offered to fill in gaps of information in traffic and emission patterns. The application of the methodology will be demonstrated using commercially available software. However, the methodology is developed in such a way as to enable its implementation by a variety of emission and traffic models. Particular emphasis is given to (a) the correct estimation of driver behaviour, as a result of traffic-related ICT measures, (b) the coverage of a large number of current vehicle technologies, including ICT systems, and (c) near future technologies such as hybrid, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles. The innovative combination of traffic, driver, and emission models produces a versatile toolbox that can simulate the impact on energy and CO2 of infrastructure measures (traffic management, dynamic traffic signs, etc.), driver assistance systems and ecosolutions (speed/cruise control, start/stop systems, etc.) or a combination of measures (cooperative systems).The methodology is validated by application in the Turin area and its capacity is further demonstrated by application in real world conditions in Madrid and Rome.

Efficient algorithms for dynamic probabilistic safety assessment. An application to convex damage domain.

The design of nuclear power plant has to follow a number of regulations aimed at limiting the risks inherent in this type of installation. The goal is to prevent and to limit the consequences of any possible incident that might threaten the public or the environment. To verify that the safety requirements are met a safety assessment process is followed. Safety analysis is as key component of a safety assessment, which incorporates both probabilistic and deterministic approaches. The deterministic approach attempts to ensure that the various situations, and in particular accidents, that are considered to be plausible, have been taken into account, and that the monitoring systems and engineered safety and safeguard systems will be capable of ensuring the safety goals. On the other hand, probabilistic safety analysis tries to demonstrate that the safety requirements are met for potential accidents both within and beyond the design basis, thus identifying vulnerabilities not necessarily accessible through deterministic safety analysis alone. Probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) methodology is widely used in the nuclear industry and is especially effective in comprehensive assessment of the measures needed to prevent accidents with small probability but severe consequences. Still, the trend towards a risk informed regulation (RIR) demanded a more extended use of risk assessment techniques with a significant need to further extend PSA’s scope and quality. Here is where the theory of stimulated dynamics (TSD) intervenes, as it is the mathematical foundation of the integrated safety assessment (ISA) methodology developed by the CSN(Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear) branch of Modelling and Simulation (MOSI). Such methodology attempts to extend classical PSA including accident dynamic analysis, an assessment of the damage associated to the transients and a computation of the damage frequency. The application of this ISA methodology requires a computational framework called SCAIS (Simulation Code System for Integrated Safety Assessment). SCAIS provides accident dynamic analysis support through simulation of nuclear accident sequences and operating procedures. Furthermore, it includes probabilistic quantification of fault trees and sequences; and integration and statistic treatment of risk metrics. SCAIS comprehensively implies an intensive use of code coupling techniques to join typical thermal hydraulic analysis, severe accident and probability calculation codes. The integration of accident simulation in the risk assessment process and thus requiring the use of complex nuclear plant models is what makes it so powerful, yet at the cost of an enormous increase in complexity. As the complexity of the process is primarily focused on such accident simulation codes, the question of whether it is possible to reduce the number of required simulation arises, which will be the focus of the present work. This document presents the work done on the investigation of more efficient techniques applied to the process of risk assessment inside the mentioned ISA methodology. Therefore such techniques will have the primary goal of decreasing the number of simulation needed for an adequate estimation of the damage probability. As the methodology and tools are relatively recent, there is not much work done inside this line of investigation, making it a quite difficult but necessary task, and because of time limitations the scope of the work had to be reduced. Therefore, some assumptions were made to work in simplified scenarios best suited for an initial approximation to the problem. The following section tries to explain in detail the process followed to design and test the developed techniques. Then, the next section introduces the general concepts and formulae of the TSD theory which are at the core of the risk assessment process. Afterwards a description of the simulation framework requirements and design is given. Followed by an introduction to the developed techniques, giving full detail of its mathematical background and its procedures. Later, the test case used is described and result from the application of the techniques is shown. Finally the conclusions are presented and future lines of work are exposed.

Evaluación de la pertinencia de maestrías en ingeniería : aplicación en la Universidad de Piura, Perú

La formación de postgrado en ingeniería es muy importante para mejorar la competitividad y lograr el desarrollo en los países. Para ello es necesaria una fuerte vinculación de la universidad con su entorno socio económico de modo que los objetivos que se plantea en sus programas formativos sean coherentes con las necesidades reales de los beneficiarios: los estudiantes, la universidad y la comunidad. Es decir, los programas deben ser pertinentes. Y en los países en vías de desarrollo este tema es aún más importante. Se necesita modelos de evaluación que midan este grado de adecuación entre los objetivos de los programas con las necesidades de los estudiantes y las partes interesadas. Sin embargo, los modelos de evaluación existentes tienen principalmente fines de acreditación y están diseñados para evaluar la eficacia, es decir si los resultados obtenidos están de acuerdo con la misión y los objetivos planteados. Su objetivo no es medir la pertinencia. Esta investigación tiene como objetivo diseñar un modelo de evaluación de la pertinencia de maestrías en ingeniería y aplicarlo a un caso concreto. Se trata de maestrías que ya están en funcionamiento y son dictadas en una universidad en un país en desarrollo. Para diseñar el modelo se define primero el concepto de pertinencia de una maestría en ingeniería haciendo una revisión bibliográfica y consultando a expertos en los temas de pertinencia de la educación superior y formación en postgrado en ingeniería. Se utiliza una definición operativa que facilita luego la identificación de factores e indicadores de evaluación. Se identifica dos tipos de pertinencia: local y global. La pertinencia global está relacionada con la inserción de la maestría en el sistema global de producción de conocimiento. La pertinencia local tiene tres dimensiones: la personal, relacionada con la satisfacción de necesidades de los estudiantes, la institucional, relacionada con las necesidades e intereses de la universidad que acoge a la maestría y la pertinencia social, ligada a la satisfacción de necesidades y demandas de la comunidad local y nacional. El modelo diseñado es aplicado en la maestría en Ingeniería Civil con mención en Ingeniería Vial de la Universidad de Piura, Perú lo que permite obtener conclusiones para su aplicación en otras maestrías. ABSTRACT Graduate engineering education is very important to improve competitiveness and achieve development in countries. It is necessary a strong linkage between university and its socio economic environment, so that programs objectives are consistent with the real needs of the students, university and community. That is to say programs must be relevant. And in developing countries this issue is very important. Evaluation models to measure the degree of adequacy between the programs objectives with the needs of students and stakeholders is needed. However, existing evaluation models have mainly the purpose of accreditation and are designed to evaluate the efficacy. They evaluate if the results are consistent with the mission and objectives. Their goal is not to measure the relevance. This work aimed to design a model for evaluating the relevance of master's degrees in engineering and applied to a specific case. They must be masters already in operation and are taught at a university in a developing country. In order to build the model, first concept of relevance of a master's degree in engineering was defined. Literature was reviewed and we consulted experts on issues of relevance of higher education and graduate engineering education. An operational definition is used to facilitate the identification of factors and evaluation indicators. Local and global: two types of relevance were identified. The global relevance is related to the inclusion of Master in the global system of knowledge production. The local relevance has three dimensions: personal, related to meeting students' needs, institutional, related to the needs and interests of university that houses the Master and social relevance, linked to the satisfaction of needs and demands of local and national community. The designed model is applied to the Master degree in Civil Engineering with a major in Traffic Engineering of Universidad de Piura, Peru which allowed to obtain conclusions for application in other masters.