Analysis of the perceptual quality performance of different HEVC coding tools

Each new video encoding standard includes encoding techniques that aim to improve the performance and quality of the previous standards. During the development of these techniques, PSNR was used as the main distortion metric. However, the PSNR metric does not consider the subjectivity of the human visual system, so that the performance of some coding tools is questionable from the perceptual point of view. To further explore this point, we have developed a detailed study about the perceptual sensibility of different HEVC video coding tools. In order to perform this study, we used some popular objective quality assessment metrics to measure the perceptual response of every single coding tool. The conclusion of this work will help to determine the set of HEVC coding tools that provides, in general, the best perceptual response

Low-Complexity 3D-DWT video encoder applicable to IPTV

3D-DWT encoders are good candidates for applications like professional video editing, IPTV video surveillance, live event IPTV broadcast, multispectral satellite imaging, HQ video delivery, etc., where a frame must be reconstructed as fast as possible. However, the main drawback of the algorithms that compute the 3D-DWT is the huge memory requirement in practical implementations. In this paper, and in order to considerably reduce the memory requirements of this kind of video encoders, we present a new 3D-DWT video encoder based on (a) the use of a novel frame-based 3D-DWT transform that avoids video sequence partitioning in Groups Of Pictures (GOP) and (b) a very fast run-length encoder. Furthermore, an exhaustive evaluation of the proposed encoder (3D-RLW) has been performed, analyzing the sensibility of the ¿lters employed in the 3D-DWT transform and comparing the evaluation results with other video encoders in terms of R/D, coding/decoding delay and memory consumptionThanks to Spanish Ministry of Education and Science under grants DPI2007-66796-C03-03 for funding.López ., O.; Piñol ., P.; Martinez Rach, MO.; Perez Malumbres, MJ.; Oliver Gil, JS. (2011). Low-Complexity 3D-DWT video encoder applicable to IPTV. Signal Processing: Image Communication. 26(7):358-369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.image.2011.01.008S35836926

Monitoring pest insect traps by means of low-power image sensor technologies

Monitoring pest insect populations is currently a key issue in agriculture and forestry protection. At the farm level, human operators typically must perform periodical surveys of the traps disseminated through the field. This is a labor-, time- and cost-consuming activity, in particular for large plantations or large forestry areas, so it would be of great advantage to have an affordable system capable of doing this task automatically in an accurate and a more efficient way. This paper proposes an autonomous monitoring system based on a low-cost image sensor that it is able to capture and send images of the trap contents to a remote control station with the periodicity demanded by the trapping application. Our autonomous monitoring system will be able to cover large areas with very low energy consumption. This issue would be the main key point in our study; since the operational live of the overall monitoring system should be extended to months of continuous operation without any kind of maintenance (i.e., battery replacement). The images delivered by image sensors would be time-stamped and processed in the control station to get the number of individuals found at each trap. All the information would be conveniently stored at the control station, and accessible via Internet by means of available network services at control station (WiFi, WiMax, 3G/4G, etc.). © 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This work was partially funded by Ministry of Education and Science grants CTM2011-29691-C02-01, TIN2011-28435-C03-01 and TIN2011-27543-C03-03.López ., O.; Martinez Rach, MO.; Migallon ., H.; Pérez Malumbres, MJ.; Bonastre Pina, AM.; Serrano Martín, JJ. (2012). Monitoring pest insect traps by means of low-power image sensor technologies. Sensors. 12(11):15801-15819. doi:10.3390/s121115801S15801158191211Shelton, A. M., & Badenes-Perez, F. R. (2006). CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS OF TRAP CROPPING IN PEST MANAGEMENT. Annual Review of Entomology, 51(1), 285-308. doi:10.1146/annurev.ento.51.110104.150959Jiang, J.-A., Tseng, C.-L., Lu, F.-M., Yang, E.-C., Wu, Z.-S., Chen, C.-P., … Liao, C.-S. (2008). A GSM-based remote wireless automatic monitoring system for field information: A case study for ecological monitoring of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 62(2), 243-259. doi:10.1016/j.compag.2008.01.005http://www.memsic.comAl-Saqer. (2011). Red Palm Weevil (Rynchophorus Ferrugineous, Olivier) Recognition by Image Processing Techniques. American Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences, 6(3), 365-376. doi:10.3844/ajabssp.2011.365.376http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/cc1110f32.pdfhttp://www.comedia.com.hkOliver, J., & Perez Malumbres, M. (2008). On the Design of Fast Wavelet Transform Algorithms With Low Memory Requirements. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 18(2), 237-248. doi:10.1109/tcsvt.2007.91396

On the Performance of video quality assessment metrics under different compression and packet llss scenariov

[EN] When comparing the performance of video coding approaches, evaluating different commercial video encoders, or measuring the perceived video quality in a wireless environment, Rate/distortion analysis is commonly used, where distortion is usually measured in terms of PSNR values. However, PSNR does not always capture the distortion perceived by a human being. As a consequence, significant efforts have focused on defining an objective video quality metric that is able to assess quality in the same way as a human does. We perform a study of some available objective quality assessment metrics in order to evaluate their behavior in two different scenarios. First, we deal with video sequences compressed by different encoders at different bitrates in order to properly measure the video quality degradation associated with the encoding system. In addition, we evaluate the behavior of the quality metrics when measuring video distortions produced by packet losses in mobile ad hoc network scenarios with variable degrees of network congestion and node mobility. Our purpose is to determine if the analyzed metrics can replace the PSNR while comparing, designing, and evaluating video codec proposals, and, in particular, under video delivery scenarios characterized by bursty and frequent packet losses, such as wireless multihop environments.This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science under Grant no. TIN2011-27543-C0303.S.Martinez-Rach, MO.; Pinol, P.; Lopez, OM.; Perez Malumbres, M.; Oliver Gil, JS.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM. (2014). On the Performance of video quality assessment metrics under different compression and packet llss scenariov. Scientific World Journal. 2014:1-18. doi:10.1155/2014/743604S118201

Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents’ growth and development

Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was <1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified

Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents’ growth and development

AbstractOptimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was &lt;1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified.</jats:p

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI 2 SD above the median). Findings From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/images/research_banner_face_lab_290.jpgunderweight or thinness. Interpretation The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesity

Error Resilient Coding Techniques for Video Delivery over Vehicular Networks

Nowadays, more and more vehicles are equipped with communication capabilities, not only providing connectivity with onboard devices, but also with off-board communication infrastructures. From road safety (i.e., multimedia e-call) to infotainment (i.e., video on demand services), there are a lot of applications and services that may be deployed in vehicular networks, where video streaming is the key factor. As it is well known, these networks suffer from high interference levels and low available network resources, and it is a great challenge to deploy video delivery applications which provide good quality video services. We focus our work on supplying error resilience capabilities to video streams in order to fight against the high packet loss rates found in vehicular networks. So, we propose the combination of source coding and channel coding techniques. The former ones are applied in the video encoding process by means of intra-refresh coding modes and tile-based frame partitioning techniques. The latter one is based on the use of forward error correction mechanisms in order to recover as many lost packets as possible. We have carried out an extensive evaluation process to measure the error resilience capabilities of both approaches in both (a) a simple packet error probabilistic model, and (b) a realistic vehicular network simulation framework. Results show that forward error correction mechanisms are mandatory to guarantee video delivery with an acceptable quality level , and we highly recommend the use of the proposed mechanisms to increase even more the final video quality