The Evolution of First Person Vision Methods: A Survey

The emergence of new wearable technologies such as action cameras and smart-glasses has increased the interest of computer vision scientists in the First Person perspective. Nowadays, this field is attracting attention and investments of companies aiming to develop commercial devices with First Person Vision recording capabilities. Due to this interest, an increasing demand of methods to process these videos, possibly in real-time, is expected. Current approaches present a particular combinations of different image features and quantitative methods to accomplish specific objectives like object detection, activity recognition, user machine interaction and so on. This paper summarizes the evolution of the state of the art in First Person Vision video analysis between 1997 and 2014, highlighting, among others, most commonly used features, methods, challenges and opportunities within the field.Comment: First Person Vision, Egocentric Vision, Wearable Devices, Smart Glasses, Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Human-machine Interactio

Topological mass in seven dimensions and dualities in four dimensions

The massive topologically and self dual theories en seven dimensions are considered. The local duality between these theories is established and the dimensional reduction lead to the different dualities for massive antisymmetric fields in four dimensions.Comment: 7 page

Application of large area SiPMs for the readout of a plastic scintillator based timing detector

In this study an array of eight 6 mm x 6 mm area SiPMs was coupled to the end of a long plastic scintillator counter which was exposed to a 2.5 GeV/c muon beam at the CERN PS. Timing characteristics of bars with dimensions 150 cm x 6 cm x 1 cm and 120 cm x 11 cm x 2.5 cm have been studied. An 8-channel SiPM anode readout ASIC (MUSIC R1) based on a novel low input impedance current conveyor has been used to read out and amplify SiPMs independently and sum the signals at the end. Prospects for applications in large-scale particle physics detectors with timing resolution below 100 ps are provided in light of the results

Lévy-Ito Models in Finance

We present an overview of the broad class of financial models in which the prices of assets are L évy-Ito processes driven by an n-dimensional Brownian motion and an independent Poisson random measure. The Poisson random measure is associated with an n-dimensional Lévy process. Each model consists of a pricing kernel, a money market account, and one or more risky assets. We show how the excess rate of return above the interest rate can be calculated for risky assets in such models, thus showing the relationship between risk and return when asset prices have jumps. The framework is applied to a variety of asset classes, allowing one to construct new models as well as interesting generalizations of familiar models

Application of large area SiPMs for the readout of a plastic scintillator based timing detector

In this study an array of eight 6 mm x 6 mm area SiPMs was coupled to the end of a long plastic scintillator counter which was exposed to a 2.5 GeV/c muon beam at the CERN PS. Timing characteristics of bars with dimensions 150 cm x 6 cm x 1 cm and 120 cm x 11 cm x 2.5 cm have been studied. An 8-channel SiPM anode readout ASIC (MUSIC R1) based on a novel low input impedance current conveyor has been used to read out and amplify SiPMs independently and sum the signals at the end. Prospects for applications in large-scale particle physics detectors with timing resolution below 100 ps are provided in light of the results

Thermodynamics of protein folding: a random matrix formulation

The process of protein folding from an unfolded state to a biologically active, folded conformation is governed by many parameters e.g the sequence of amino acids, intermolecular interactions, the solvent, temperature and chaperon molecules. Our study, based on random matrix modeling of the interactions, shows however that the evolution of the statistical measures e.g Gibbs free energy, heat capacity, entropy is single parametric. The information can explain the selection of specific folding pathways from an infinite number of possible ways as well as other folding characteristics observed in computer simulation studies.Comment: 21 Pages, no figure

‘I Stand Like A Woman’: Empowerment and Human Rights in the Context of Community-Based Reintegration of Girl Mothers Formerly Associated With Fighting Forces and Armed Groups

This article describes a multi-year participatory action research (PAR) study with young women and girls who were formerly associated with armed groups in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and northern Uganda and had children of their own during the conflict and with young mothers considered by their community to be especially vulnerable. Following a review of the literature on empowerment and human rights, the authors use examples from the PAR study to explore how empowerment and human rights relate in the context of reintegration of the most vulnerable members of society. In this context, the realization of rights and empowerment are inextricably linked as part of an iterative process. However, empowerment has been a necessary starting point for this population to experience improvements in their ability to lead dignified lives and have their rights respected. Implications for child protection and reintegration programmes are discussed