Abstract: On September 8, 2001 around 2 h UT, the largest uranian moon, Titania, occulted Hipparcos star 106829 (alias SAO 164538, a V=7.2, K0 III star). This was the first-ever observed occultation by this satellite, a rare event as Titania subtends only 0.11 arcsec on the sky. The star's unusual brightness allowed many observers, both amateurs or professionals, to monitor this unique event, providing fifty-seven occultations chords over three continents, all reported here. Selecting the best 27 occultation chords, and assuming a circular limb, we derive Titania's radius: View the MathML source (1-σ error bar). This implies a density of View the MathML source using the value View the MathML source derived by Taylor [Taylor, D.B., 1998. Astron. Astrophys. 330, 362–374]. We do not detect any significant difference between equatorial and polar radii, in the limit View the MathML source, in agreement with Voyager limb image retrieval during the 1986 flyby. Titania's offset with respect to the DE405 + URA027 (based on GUST86 theory) ephemeris is derived: ΔαTcos(δT)=−108±13 mas and ΔδT=−62±7 mas (ICRF J2000.0 system). Most of this offset is attributable to a Uranus' barycentric offset with respect to DE405, that we estimate to be: View the MathML source and ΔδU=−85±25 mas at the moment of occultation. This offset is confirmed by another Titania stellar occultation observed on August 1st, 2003, which provides an offset of ΔαTcos(δT)=−127±20 mas and ΔδT=−97±13 mas for the satellite. The combined ingress and egress data do not show any significant hint for atmospheric refraction, allowing us to set surface pressure limits at the level of 10–20 nbar. More specifically, we find an upper limit of 13 nbar (1-σ level) at 70 K and 17 nbar at 80 K, for a putative isothermal CO2 atmosphere. We also provide an upper limit of 8 nbar for a possible CH4 atmosphere, and 22 nbar for pure N2, again at the 1-σ level. We finally constrain the stellar size using the time-resolved star disappearance and reappearance at ingress and egress. We find an angular diameter of 0.54±0.03 mas (corresponding to View the MathML source projected at Titania). With a distance of 170±25 parsecs, this corresponds to a radius of 9.8±0.2 solar radii for HIP 106829, typical of a K0 III giant.

Abstract: This work develops a new architecture for multiple-target tracking in unconstrained dynamic scenes, which consists of a detection level which feeds a two-stage tracking system. A remarkable characteristic of the system is its ability to track several targets while they group and split, without using 3D information. Thus, special attention is given to the feature-selection and appearance-computation modules, and to those modules involved in tracking through groups. The system aims to work as a stand-alone application in complex and dynamic scenarios. No a-priori knowledge about either the scene or the targets, based on a previous training period, is used. Hence, the scenario is completely unknown beforehand. Successful tracking has been demonstrated in well-known databases of both indoor and outdoor scenarios. Accurate and robust localisations have been yielded during long-term target merging and occlusions.

Abstract: Traffic sign classification represents a classical application of multi-object recognition processing in uncontrolled adverse environments. Lack of visibility, illumination changes, and partial occlusions are just a few problems. In this paper, we introduce a novel system for multi-class classification of traffic signs based on error correcting output codes (ECOC). ECOC is based on an ensemble of binary classifiers that are trained on bi-partition of classes. We classify a wide set of traffic signs types using robust error correcting codings. Moreover, we introduce the novel β-correction decoding strategy that outperforms the state-of-the-art decoding techniques, classifying a high number of classes with great success.

Abstract: Bioabsorbable drug-eluting coronary stents present a very promising improvement to the common metallic ones solving some of the most important problems of stent implantation: the late restenosis. These stents made of poly-L-lactic acid cause a very subtle acoustic shadow (compared to the metallic ones) making difficult the automatic detection and measurements in images. In this paper, we propose a novel approach based on a cascade of GentleBoost classifiers to detect the stent struts using structural features to code the information of the different subregions of the struts. A stochastic gradient descent method is applied to optimize the overall performance of the detector. Validation results of struts detection are very encouraging with an average F-measure of 81%.

Abstract: Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (Cardiac MRI) has become a gold standard diagnostic technique for the assessment of cardiac mechanics, allowing the non-invasive calculation of left ventric- ular long axis longitudinal shortening (LVLS) and absolute myocardial torsion (AMT) between basal and apical left ventricular slices, a movement directly related to the helicoidal anatomic disposition of the myocardial fibers. The aim of this study is to determine AMT and LVLS behaviour and normal values from a group of healthy subjects. A group of 21 healthy volunteers (15 males) (age: 23–55 y.o., mean:30.7 ± 7.5) were prospectively included in an obser- vational study by Cardiac MRI. Left ventricular rotation (degrees) was calculated by custom-made software (Harmonic Phase Flow) in consecutive LV short axis planes tagged cine-MRI sequences. AMT was determined from the difference between basal and apical planes LV rotations. LVLS (%) was determined from the LV longitudinal and horizontal axis cine-MRI images. All the 21 cases studied were interpretable, although in three cases the value of the LV apical rotation could not be determined. The mean rotation of the basal and apical planes at end-systole were -3.71° ± 0.84° and 6.73° ± 1.69° (n:18) respectively, resulting in a LV mean AMT of 10.48° ± 1.63° (n:18). End-systolic mean LVLS was 19.07 ± 2.71%. Cardiac MRI allows for the calculation of AMT and LVLS, fundamental functional components of the ventricular twist mechanics conditioned, in turn, by the anatomical helical layout of the myocardial fibers. These values provide complementary information about systolic ventricular function in relation to the traditional parameters used in daily practice.

Abstract: A novel technique for missing data matrix rank estimation is presented. It is focused on matrices of trajectories, where every element of the matrix corresponds to an image coordinate from a feature point of a rigid moving object at a given frame; missing data are represented as empty entries. The objective of the proposed approach is to estimate the rank of a missing data matrix in order to fill in empty entries with some matrix completion method, without using or assuming neither the number of objects contained in the scene nor the kind of their motion. The key point of the proposed technique consists in studying the frequency behaviour of the individual trajectories, which are seen as 1D signals. The main assumption is that due to the rigidity of the moving objects, the frequency content of the trajectories will be similar after filling in their missing entries. The proposed rank estimation approach can be used in different computer vision problems, where the rank of a missing data matrix needs to be estimated. Experimental results with synthetic and real data are provided in order to empirically show the good performance of the proposed approach.