ALBERT

Beschreibung: ERA-PLANET is a wide European network comprised of 118 researchers from 35 partner institutions located in 18 countries, aiming to strengthen the European Research Area in the domain of Earth Observation (EO) in coherence with the European participation to the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) and the program for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation, COPERNICUS. It will provide more accurate, comprehensive, and authoritative information to policy and decision-makers in key societal benefit areas (SBAs), under the umbrellas of dedicated projects in the topics of: smart cities and resilient societies; resource efficiency and environmental management; global changes and environmental treaties; polar areas and natural resources. ERA-PLANET will provide advanced decision support tools and technologies aimed to better monitor our global environment and share the information and knowledge in different domains of EO by launching joint transnational calls along the above four strands. The concept of the project that tackles with strand 1, as well as an example of a specific application fitting in, are described, aspiring to promote and coordinate the “smart-city” approach into a European network of cities and non-European follower cities, serving the need for a common approach to enhance environmental and societal resilience to air pollution, urban growth, and urban heat islands, as well as other natural/manmade stresses and relevant impacts. This is achieved through the synergy among technology, government, and society, while at the same time creating bridges between local/national initiatives with GEO/GEOSS, COPERNICUS, and other smart cities and GEO relevant projects. The project addresses initiatives in European cities but also specific issues dealing with air quality management in other parts of the world. Finally, it places major emphasis on fully exploiting key-enabling technologies and firmly addressing interoperability issues, in the context of big “smart city” data, and open science.

Beschreibung: Indoor user localization and tracking are instrumental to a broad range of services and applications in the Internet of Things (IoT) and particularly in Body Sensor Networks (BSN) and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) scenarios. Due to the widespread availability of IEEE 802.11, many localization platforms have been proposed, based on the Wi-Fi Received Signal Strength (RSS) indicator, using algorithms such as K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) and Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE). In this paper, we introduce a hybrid method that combines the simplicity (and low cost) of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and the popular 802.11 infrastructure, to improve the accuracy of indoor localization platforms. Building on KNN, we propose a new positioning algorithm (dubbed i-KNN) which is able to filter the initial fingerprint dataset (i.e., the radiomap), after considering the proximity of RSS fingerprints with respect to the BLE devices. In this way, i-KNN provides an optimised small subset of possible user locations, based on which it finally estimates the user position. The proposed methodology achieves fast positioning estimation due to the utilization of a fragment of the initial fingerprint dataset, while at the same time improves positioning accuracy by minimizing any calculation errors.

Beschreibung: In the near future, the fifth-generation wireless technology is expected to be rolled out, offering low latency, high bandwidth and multiple antennas deployed in a single access point. This ecosystem will help further enhance various location-based scenarios such as assets tracking in smart factories, precise smart management of hydroponic indoor vertical farms and indoor way-finding in smart hospitals. Such a system will also integrate existing technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), WiFi and other network infrastructures. In this respect, 5G precise indoor localization using heterogeneous IoT technologies (Zigbee, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, BLE, etc.) is a challenging research area. In this work, an experimental 5G testbed has been designed integrating C-RAN and IoT networks. This testbed is used to improve both vertical and horizontal localization (3D Localization) in a 5G IoT environment. To achieve this, we propose the DEep Learning-based co-operaTive Architecture (DELTA) machine learning model implemented on a 3D multi-layered fingerprint radiomap. The DELTA begins by estimating the 2D location. Then, the output is recursively used to predict the 3D location of a mobile station. This approach is going to benefit use cases such as 3D indoor navigation in multi-floor smart factories or in large complex buildings. Finally, we have observed that the proposed model has outperformed traditional algorithms such as Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN).

Beschreibung: The Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) is a local dilation of the abdominal aorta and it is a cause for serious concern because of the high mortality associated with its rupture. Consequently, the understanding of the phenomena related to the creation and the progression of an AAA is of crucial importance. In this work, the complicated interaction between the blood flow and the AAA wall is numerically examined using a fully coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) method. The study investigates the possible link between the dynamic behavior of an AAA and the blood viscosity variations attributed to the haematocrit value, while it also incorporates the pulsatile blood flow, the non-Newtonian behavior of blood and the hyperelasticity of the arterial wall. It was found that blood viscosity has no significant effect on von Mises stress magnitude and distribution, whereas there is a close relation between the haematocrit value and the Wall Shear Stress (WSS) magnitude in AAAs. This WSS variation can possibly alter the mechanical properties of the arterial wall and increase its growth rate or even its rupture possibility. The relationship between haematocrit and dynamic behavior of an AAA can be helpful in designing a patient specific treatment.

Beschreibung: The term “biomedical engineering” refers to the application of the principles and problem-solving techniques of engineering to biology and medicine [...]

Beschreibung: The Currywongaun and Doughruagh masses of northern Connemara represent a section through a syntectonic, partially layered intrusion formed of ultrabasic cumulates all having plagioclase of around An94. Differentiation and contamination of the magma from which these cumulates were precipitated ultimately produced an acid residuum which was responsible for the hydrous metasomatism of the earlier formed ultrabasic rocks resulting in the extensive formation of quartz-amphibole-anorthite gneisses in the petrogenetically ‘upper’ parts of the intrusion. Coexisting Ca-rich and Ca-poor amphiboles in the gneisses are interpreted as ‘frozen’ reaction intermediates that were in local equilibrium. The bulk-rock chemical data presented confirm that the compositions of the quartz-rich gneisses can be attributed almost entirely to the addition of Si to the ultrabasic rocks, coupled with the removal of Mg and Ca. The data also suggest that Zr, which reaches around 1000 ppm in some of the gneisses, may have been ‘mobile’ under these conditions of hydrothermal metasomatism.

Beschreibung: The albitisation of pelitic metasediments to form adinoles adjacent to minor mafic intrusions has in the past been attributed to Na-bearing metasomatizing fluids emanating from the intrusions themselves. The chemistry and mineralogy of adinoles associated with dykes forming a high-intensity swarm in the Tallaght area, County Dublin, Ireland, confirms a metasomatic origin for the adinoles described, with Na and to a lesser extent Ca introduced into the country rocks at the expense of K. We suggest, however, that the source of the metasomatizing fluids was external to the dykes — possibly involving a hydrothermal system driven by an underlying magma reservoir that was parental to the dykes and also contributed volatiles to the hydrothermal system by degassing. Heat flow from the dykes was instrumental in promoting the reaction between muscovite in the country rock pelites and the Na(Ca)-bearing fluids to form albite, temperatures of ∼350°C in the country rocks within a metre of the contact being indicated. The mechanism of adinolization proposed is shown to be compatible with recent experimental work on the hydrothermal alteration of greywackes and basalts and also with the likely temperature gradients adjacent to dykes.

Beschreibung: Strongly peraluminous, cordierite-bearing anatectic dacites from the offshore Tertiary Erlend volcanic centre, north of the Shetland Isles, are shown to contain graphite which is interpreted as being essentially a restite phase inherited from carbonaceous pelitic source rocks. The form and characteristics of the graphite are documented and graphite geothermometry applied to establish that the graphite records a minimum peak temperature of ∼800°C, confirming that temperatures at which anatexis occurs were attained. The different morphological forms of graphite observed suggest the possibility that minor amounts of fluid-deposited graphite may also be present. The chemistry of the Erlend dacites is compared with that of other known examples of graphite-bearing peraluminous silicic igneous rocks and briefly with experimentally generated peraluminous liquid compositions. The Erlend source rocks were probably subjected to a higher degree of partial melting than has occurred in the petrogenesis of many other anatectic peraluminous silicic rocks.

Beschreibung: SummaryLate-stage acid pegmatites veining the predominantly ultrabasic Currywongaun-Doughruagh intrusion are frequently associated with amphibole-rich reaction borders in the adjacent wall-rocks. The chemical and mineralogical changes resulting from reaction between an acid pegmatite vein and the orthopyroxenite wall-rock are assessed from chemical analyses of rocks and microprobe analyses of the amphiboles forming the zoned reaction border. The main chemical change was the addition of H2O to the wall-rock; otherwise the formation of the anthophyllite and hornblende of the reaction border from pyroxene was virtually isochemical. Enrichment in other chemical species, notably Ca and AI, was restricted to the region close to the interface between the reactants. This inhibited style of reaction is attributed to the initial marginal crystallization of the acid pegmatite melt acting as a barrier to subsequent metasomatic interchange.