Abstract
Video can be a valuable source of information for monitoring first responders during operations in the field. In this paper we propose the MonitorMe, an application that supports online video monitoring of first responders. MonitorMe allows capturing video from a personal perspective, using a smartphone camera, and sending it to a remote observer. In order to reduce battery consumption and bandwidth usage, MonitorMe modulates the video frame rate according to the user activity/speed. The latter are estimated using the smartphone built-in accelerometer. The results have shown the potential of MonitorMe as a reliable non-GPS solution, which can be used for remote online monitoring of first responders in action. © 2013 IEEE.

Abstract

Abstract
This paper presents a drum transcription algorithm adjusted to the constraints of real-time audio. We introduce an instance filtering (IF) method using sub-band onset detection, which improves the performance of a system having at its core a feature-based K-nearest neighbor classifier (KNN). The architecture proposed allows for adapting different parts of the algorithm for either bass drum, snare drum or hi-hat cymbals. The open-source system is implemented in the graphic programming languages Pure Data (PD) and Max MSP, and aims to work with a large variety of drum sets. We evaluated its performance on a database of audio samples generated from a well known collection of midi drum loops randomly matched with a diverse collection of drum sets. Both of the evaluation stages, testing and validation, show an improvement in the performance when using the instance filtering algorithm.

Abstract
Distributed Computing is becoming more and more led by technological and application advances. Many works consider new computing models compared to the classical closed model with a fixed number of participants and strong hypothesis on communication and structuration. Indeed, it is hard to imagine some application or computational activity and process that falls outside Distributed Computing. Internet and the web (e.g. social networks, clouds) are becoming the main application field for distributed computing. In addition to the classical challenges that developers have to face (asynchrony and failures) they have to deal with load balancing, malicious and selfish behaviors, mobility, heterogeneity and the dynamic nature of participating processes. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.

Abstract
Causality plays a central role as a building block in solving important problems in distributed systems, such as replication, debugging, group communication and global snapshots. To be useful, causality must be realised by actual mechanisms that can track it and encode it. Existing causality tracking mechanisms, such as vector clocks and version vectors, rely on mappings from globally unique identifiers to integer counters. In a system with a well known set of entities these identifiers can be pre-configured and given distinct positions in a vector or distinct names in a mapping. Identity management is more problematic in dynamic systems, with a large and highly variable number of entities, being worsened when network partitions occur. Present solutions for causality tracking are not appropriate to these increasingly common scenarios. This work introduces novel causality tracking mechanisms that can be used in scenarios with a dynamic number of entities. These allow completely decentralised creation of entities (processes or replicas) with no need for global identifiers or global coordination. These mechanisms have a variable size representation that adapts automatically to the number of entities, growing or shrinking appropriately. This book is the published version of the second half of my PhD thesis, and focus its discourse on causality tracking for disconnected and semi-connected distributed systems.

Abstract
Molinate is a thiocarbamate herbicide used worldwide in rice crop protection. As with other pesticides, molinate is a recognized environmental pollutant, detected in soils, irrigation water, or rivers and bio-accumulated by some wildlife forms. For this reason, and in spite of its low toxicity to humans, environmental protection measures, which include reduction of use and/or remediation processes, are recommended. Due to its physic-chemical properties, molinate can easily disperse and react in the environment, originating diverse transformation products, some with increased toxicity. In spite of being a xenobiotic compound, molinate can also suffer microbial transformation by bacteria or fungi, sometimes serving as nutrient and energy source. In an attempt to isolate microorganisms to be used in the bioremediation of molinate-contaminated sites, a mixed culture, dominated by the actinobacterium Gulosibacter molinativorax ON4(T), was recovered from the runoff of a molinate-producing plant. Beyond a promising tool to decontaminate molinate-polluted sites, this culture also brought interesting insights into the biology of the degradation of this herbicide. In this review, an overview of the distribution and properties of molinate as environmental contaminant, the capability of microorganisms to transform this herbicide, and some reflections about possible bioremediation approaches are made.