Municipal solid waste management in Pudong New Area, China.

The increase in population, the rapid economic growth and the rise in community living standards accelerate municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in developing cities. This problem is especially serious in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, China. The daily amount of MSW generated in Pudong was about 1.11 kg per person in 2006. According to the current population growth trend, the solid waste quantity generated will continue to increase with the city's development. In this paper, we describe a waste generation and composition analysis and provide a comprehensive review of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in Pudong. Some of the important aspects of waste management, such as the current status of waste collection, transport and disposal in Pudong, will be illustrated. Also, the current situation will be evaluated, and its problems will be identified.

Novel device DeeDee for neuromotor control with augmented reality and multiparametric sensors fusion.

This paper deals with a new device for neuromotor control analysis, which is used for sport performances, neurodegenerative diseases, stress detection and alcohol and drugs detection with Police checks.

Illumination normalization of face image based on illuminant direction estimation and improved Retinex.

Illumination normalization of face image for face recognition and facial expression recognition is one of the most frequent and difficult problems in image processing. In order to obtain a face image with normal illumination, our method firstly divides the input face image into sixteen local regions and calculates the edge level percentage in each of them. Secondly, three local regions, which meet the requirements of lower complexity and larger average gray value, are selected to calculate the final illuminant direction according to the error function between the measured intensity and the calculated intensity, and the constraint function for an infinite light source model. After knowing the final illuminant direction of the input face image, the Retinex algorithm is improved from two aspects: (1) we optimize the surround function; (2) we intercept the values in both ends of histogram of face image, determine the range of gray levels, and stretch the range of gray levels into the dynamic range of display device. Finally, we achieve illumination normalization and get the final face image. Unlike previous illumination normalization approaches, the method proposed in this paper does not require any training step or any knowledge of 3D face and reflective surface model. The experimental results using extended Yale face database B and CMU-PIE show that our method achieves better normalization effect comparing with the existing techniques.

Early detection and evaluation of waste through sensorized containers for a collection monitoring application.

The present study describes a novel application for use in the monitoring of municipal solid waste, based on distributed sensor technology and geographical information systems. Original field testing and evaluation of the application were carried out in Pudong, Shanghai (PR China). The local waste management system in Pudong features particular requirements related to the rapidly increasing rate of waste production. In view of the fact that collected waste is currently deployed to landfills or to incineration plants within the context investigated, the key aspects to be taken into account in waste collection procedures include monitoring of the overall amount of waste produced, quantitative measurement of the waste present at each collection point and identification of classes of material present in the collected waste. The case study described herein focuses particularly on the above mentioned aspects, proposing the implementation of a network of sensorized waste containers linked to a data management system. Containers used were equipped with a set of sensors mounted onto standard waste bins. The design, implementation and validation procedures applied are subsequently described. The main aim to be achieved by data collection and evaluation was to provide for feasibility analysis of the final device. Data pertaining to the content of waste containers, sampled and processed by means of devices validated on two purpose-designed prototypes, were therefore uploaded to a central monitoring server using GPRS connection. The data monitoring and management modules are integrated into an existing application used by local municipal authorities. A field test campaign was performed in the Pudong area. The system was evaluated in terms of real data flow from the network nodes (containers) as well as in terms of optimization functions, such as collection vehicle routing and scheduling. The most important outcomes obtained were related to calculations of waste weight and volume. The latter data were subsequently used as parameters for the routing optimization of collection trucks and material density evaluation.