On using gait to enhance frontal face extraction

Visual surveillance finds increasing deployment formonitoring urban environments. Operators need to be able to determine identity from surveillance images and often use face recognition for this purpose. In surveillance environments, it is necessary to handle pose variation of the human head, low frame rate, and low resolution input images. We describe the first use of gait to enable face acquisition and recognition, by analysis of 3-D head motion and gait trajectory, with super-resolution analysis. We use region- and distance-based refinement of head pose estimation. We develop a direct mapping to relate the 2-D image with a 3-D model. In gait trajectory analysis, we model the looming effect so as to obtain the correct face region. Based on head position and the gait trajectory, we can reconstruct high-quality frontal face images which are demonstrated to be suitable for face recognition. The contributions of this research include the construction of a 3-D model for pose estimation from planar imagery and the first use of gait information to enhance the face extraction process allowing for deployment in surveillance scenario

On Using Gait Biometrics to Enhance Face Pose Estimation

Many face biometrics systems use controlled environments where subjects are viewed directly facing the camera. This is less likely to occur in surveillance environments, so a process is required to handle the pose variation of the human head, change in illumination, and low frame rate of input image sequences. This has been achieved using scale invariant features and 3D models to determine the pose of the human subject. Then, a gait trajectory model is generated to obtain the correct the face region whilst handing the looming effect. In this way, we describe a new approach aimed to estimate accurate face pose. The contributions of this research include the construction of a 3D model for pose estimation from planar imagery and the first use of gait information to enhance the face pose estimation process

Principal arc analysis on direct product manifolds

We propose a new approach to analyze data that naturally lie on manifolds. We focus on a special class of manifolds, called direct product manifolds, whose intrinsic dimension could be very high. Our method finds a low-dimensional representation of the manifold that can be used to find and visualize the principal modes of variation of the data, as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) does in linear spaces. The proposed method improves upon earlier manifold extensions of PCA by more concisely capturing important nonlinear modes. For the special case of data on a sphere, variation following nongeodesic arcs is captured in a single mode, compared to the two modes needed by previous methods. Several computational and statistical challenges are resolved. The development on spheres forms the basis of principal arc analysis on more complicated manifolds. The benefits of the method are illustrated by a data example using medial representations in image analysis.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOAS370 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Elementary bounds on Poincare and log-Sobolev constants for decomposable Markov chains

We consider finite-state Markov chains that can be naturally decomposed into smaller ``projection'' and ``restriction'' chains. Possibly this decomposition will be inductive, in that the restriction chains will be smaller copies of the initial chain. We provide expressions for Poincare (resp. log-Sobolev) constants of the initial Markov chain in terms of Poincare (resp. log-Sobolev) constants of the projection and restriction chains, together with further a parameter. In the case of the Poincare constant, our bound is always at least as good as existing ones and, depending on the value of the extra parameter, may be much better. There appears to be no previously published decomposition result for the log-Sobolev constant. Our proofs are elementary and self-contained.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051604000000639 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

NF-{kappa}B-dependent induction of microRNA miR-146, an inhibitor targeted to signaling proteins of innate immune responses

Activation of mammalian innate and acquired immune responses must be tightly regulated by elaborate mechanisms to control their onset and termination. MicroRNAs have been implicated as negative regulators controlling diverse biological processes at the level of posttranscriptional repression. Expression profiling of 200 microRNAs in human monocytes revealed that several of them (miR-146a/b, miR-132, and miR-155) are endotoxin-responsive genes. Analysis of miR-146a and miR-146b gene expression unveiled a pattern of induction in response to a variety of microbial components and proinflammatory cytokines. By means of promoter analysis, miR-146a was found to be a NF-{kappa}B-dependent gene. Importantly, miR-146a/b were predicted to base-pair with sequences in the 3' UTRs of the TNF receptor-associated factor 6 and IL-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 genes, and we found that these UTRs inhibit expression of a linked reporter gene. These genes encode two key adapter molecules downstream of Toll-like and cytokine receptors. Thus, we propose a role for miR-146 in control of Toll-like receptor and cytokine signaling through a negative feedback regulation loop involving down-regulation of IL-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 and TNF receptor-associated factor 6 protein levels

PROGRAM AND NONPROGRAM WHEAT ACREAGE RESPONSES TO PRICES AND RISK

Wheat acreage responses to expected wheat price and price risk are reversed for program and nonprogram-planted acreage in the northern plains, central plains, southern plains, and U.S. Expected wheat price has a strong negative effect on program-complying wheat acreage. Government support prices have a positive effect on program-complying and program-planted acreage. Price risk has a positive effect on program-complying wheat acreage and a negative effect on nonprogram-planted acreage. Estimated price elasticities are higher than in studies where risk was ignored.Demand and Price Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty,

The Natives are Restless: Meeting the Diversity and Needs of Millennial Students in a Large Undergraduate Unit

Today’s students are referred to as ‘digital natives’. But what does it mean to be digitally native? How does the digital nativeness affect the way student learn and we teach? This paper examines the key characteristics of Millennial students, and outlines teaching and learning strategies. A modular structure was implemented in first year undergraduate unit to trial the new strategies. Challenges and successes of the trial are described

Press Any Key: Repositioning digital literacy as an enabler for self-regulated learning

Millennial students are often seen as digital experts. This generalisation implicitly assumes that millennial students are equipped with necessary digital literacy skills to undertake their university learning such as searching curriculum-based information. But are they? And what is digital literacy and how can it be embed in teaching and learning? This paper examines the key characteristics of a contemporary view and multiplicity of digital literacy. An implementation of digital literacies in a first year undergraduate unit is described