Abstract: Handwritten word-spotting is traditionally viewed as an image matching task between one or multiple query word-images and a set of candidate word-images in a database. This is a typical instance of the query-by-example paradigm. In this article, we introduce a statistical framework for the word-spotting problem which employs hidden Markov models (HMMs) to model keywords and a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) for score normalization. We explore the use of two types of HMMs for the word modeling part: continuous HMMs (C-HMMs) and semi-continuous HMMs (SC-HMMs), i.e. HMMs with a shared set of Gaussians. We show on a challenging multi-writer corpus that the proposed statistical framework is always superior to a traditional matching system which uses dynamic time warping (DTW) for word-image distance computation. A very important finding is that the SC-HMM is superior when labeled training data is scarce—as low as one sample per keyword—thanks to the prior information which can be incorporated in the shared set of Gaussians.

Abstract: Color is a powerful visual cue for many computer vision applications such as image segmentation and object recognition. However, most of the existing color models depend on the imaging conditions affecting negatively the performance of the task at hand. Often, a reflection model (e.g., Lambertian or dichromatic reflectance) is used to derive color invariant models. However, those reflection models might be too restricted to model real-world scenes in which different reflectance mechanisms may hold simultaneously. Therefore, in this paper, we aim to derive color invariance by learning from color models to obtain diversified color invariant ensembles. First, a photometrical orthogonal and non-redundant color model set is taken on input composed of both color variants and invariants. Then, the proposed method combines and weights these color models to arrive at a diversified color ensemble yielding a proper balance between invariance (repeatability) and discriminative power (distinctiveness). To achieve this, the fusion method uses a multi-view approach to minimize the estimation error. In this way, the method is robust to data uncertainty and produces properly diversified color invariant ensembles. Experiments are conducted on three different image datasets to validate the method. From the theoretical and experimental results, it is concluded that the method is robust against severe variations in imaging conditions. The method is not restricted to a certain reflection model or parameter tuning. Further, the method outperforms state-of- the-art detection techniques in the field of object, skin and road recognition.

Abstract: One of the biggest drawbacks related to the use of CT scanners is the cost (in memory and in time) associated. In this project many methods to simulate their functioning, but in a more feasible way (taking an industrial point of view), will be studied.
The main group of techniques that are being used are the one entitled as ’back-projection’. The concept behind is to simulate the X ray emission in CT scans by lines that cross with the image we want to reconstruct.
In the first part of this document euclidean geometry is used to face the tasks of projec- tion and back-projection. After analysing the results achieved it has been proved that this approach does not lead to a fully perfect reconstruction (and also has some other problems related to running time and memory cost). Because of this in the second part of the document ’Filtered Back-projection’ method is introduced in order to improve the results.
Filtered Back-projection methods rely on mathematical transforms (Fourier, Radon) in order to provide more accurate results that can be obtained in much less time. The main cause of this better results is the use of a filtering process before the back-projection in order to avoid high frequency-caused errors.
As a result of this project two different implementations (one for each approach) had been implemented in order to compare their performance.

Abstract: Pedestrian accidents are one of the leading preventable causes of death. In order to reduce the number of accidents, in the last decade the pedestrian protection systems have been introduced, a special type of advanced driver assistance systems, in witch an on-board camera explores the road ahead for possible collisions with pedestrians in order to warn the driver or perform braking actions. As a result of the variability of the appearance, pose and size, pedestrian detection is a very challenging task. So many techniques, models and features have been proposed to solve the problem. As the appearance of pedestrians varies signicantly as a function of distance, a system based on multiple classiers specialized on diferent depths is likely to improve the overall performance with respect to a typical system based on a general detector. Accordingly, the main aim of this work is to explore the eect of the distance in pedestrian detection. We have evaluated three pedestrian detectors (HOG, HAAR and EOH) in two dierent databases (INRIA and Daimler09) for two dierent sizes (small and big). By a extensive set of experiments we answer to questions like which datasets and evaluation methods are the most adequate, which is the best method for each size of the pedestrians and why or how do the method optimum parameters vary with respect to the distance

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: Given a set of graphs, the median graph has been theoretically presented as a useful concept to infer a representative of the set. However, the computation of the median graph is a highly complex task and its practical application has been very limited up to now. In this work we present two major contributions. On one side, and from a theoretical point of view, we show new theoretical properties of the median graph. On the other side, using these new properties, we present a new approximate algorithm based on the genetic search, that improves the computation of the median graph. Finally, we perform a set of experiments on real data, where none of the existing algorithms for the median graph computation could be applied up to now due to their computational complexity. With these results, we show how the concept of the median graph can be used in real applications and leaves the box of the only-theoretical concepts, demonstrating, from a practical point of view, that can be a useful tool to represent a set of graphs.

Abstract: In this paper, a Cognitive Vision System (CVS) is presented, which explains the human behaviour of monitored scenes using natural-language texts. This cognitive analysis of human movements recorded in image sequences is here referred to as Human Sequence Evaluation (HSE) which defines a set of transformation modules involved in the automatic generation of semantic descriptions from pixel values. In essence, the trajectories of human agents are obtained to generate textual interpretations of their motion, and also to infer the conceptual relationships of each agent w.r.t. its environment. For this purpose, a human behaviour model based on Situation Graph Trees (SGTs) is considered, which permits both bottom-up (hypothesis generation) and top-down (hypothesis refinement) analysis of dynamic scenes. The resulting system prototype interprets different kinds of behaviour and reports textual descriptions in multiple languages.

Abstract: In this paper we evaluate four graph distance measures. The analysis is performed for document retrieval tasks. For this aim, different kind of documents are used which include line drawings (symbols), ancient documents (ornamental letters), shapes and trademark-logos. The experimental results show that the performance of each grahp distance measure depends on the kind of data and the graph representation technique.