Video Object Detection with an Aligned Spatial-Temporal Memory

We introduce Spatial-Temporal Memory Networks for video object detection. At its core, a novel Spatial-Temporal Memory module (STMM) serves as the recurrent computation unit to model long-term temporal appearance and motion dynamics. The STMM's design enables full integration of pretrained backbone CNN weights, which we find to be critical for accurate detection. Furthermore, in order to tackle object motion in videos, we propose a novel MatchTrans module to align the spatial-temporal memory from frame to frame. Our method produces state-of-the-art results on the benchmark ImageNet VID dataset, and our ablative studies clearly demonstrate the contribution of our different design choices. We release our code and models at http://fanyix.cs.ucdavis.edu/project/stmn/project.html

Background modeling for video sequences by stacked denoising autoencoders

Nowadays, the analysis and extraction of relevant information in visual data flows is of paramount importance. These images sequences can last for hours, which implies that the model must adapt to all kinds of circumstances so that the performance of the system does not decay over time. In this paper we propose a methodology for background modeling and foreground detection, whose main characteristic is its robustness against stationary noise. Thus, stacked denoising autoencoders are applied to generate a set of robust characteristics for each region or patch of the image, which will be the input of a probabilistic model to determine if that region is background or foreground. The evaluation of a set of heterogeneous sequences results in that, although our proposal is similar to the classical methods existing in the literature, the inclusion of noise in these sequences causes drastic performance drops in the competing methods, while in our case the performance stays or falls slightly.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Co-creativity Evaluation Analysis: C2Learn project delierable No. D5.4.2

Deliverable 5.4.2 is the final installment of a document describing the outcomes of qualitative and quantitative Co-creativity Evaluation Analysis of data and information gathered through the pilot activities (M21, M30 and M36 cycles), following the methodology defined by T2.3. Led by the UEDIN team, in close collaboration with OU, EA and BMBF it sets out in detail the qualitative and quantitative analysis performed, according to the defined conceptual foundations and assessment methodology of the project (D2.3.1-2), leading to a synthesis of the pilot findings. This is complemented by a review of the Socratic Dialogue tool, in light of the pilot findings

Co-creativity Evaluation Analysis: C2Learn project delierable No. D5.4.2

Deliverable 5.4.2 is the final installment of a document describing the outcomes of qualitative and quantitative Co-creativity Evaluation Analysis of data and information gathered through the pilot activities (M21, M30 and M36 cycles), following the methodology defined by T2.3. Led by the UEDIN team, in close collaboration with OU, EA and BMBF it sets out in detail the qualitative and quantitative analysis performed, according to the defined conceptual foundations and assessment methodology of the project (D2.3.1-2), leading to a synthesis of the pilot findings. This is complemented by a review of the Socratic Dialogue tool, in light of the pilot findings

Background modeling by shifted tilings of stacked denoising autoencoders

The effective processing of visual data without interruption is currently of supreme importance. For that purpose, the analysis system must adapt to events that may affect the data quality and maintain its performance level over time. A methodology for background modeling and foreground detection, whose main characteristic is its robustness against stationary noise, is presented in the paper. The system is based on a stacked denoising autoencoder which extracts a set of significant features for each patch of several shifted tilings of the video frame. A probabilistic model for each patch is learned. The distinct patches which include a particular pixel are considered for that pixel classification. The experiments show that classical methods existing in the literature experience drastic performance drops when noise is present in the video sequences, whereas the proposed one seems to be slightly affected. This fact corroborates the idea of robustness of our proposal, in addition to its usefulness for the processing and analysis of continuous data during uninterrupted periods of time.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Antibacterial Properties of a Tri-Sodium Citrate Modified Glass Polyalkenoate Cement

Primary deep infection following joint replacement surgery accounts for 7% of all revisions. Glass polyalkenoate cements (GPCs) have previously been shown to exhibit antibacterial properties. The present study had two objectives. The first was to determine if addition of tri-sodium citrate (TSC) to the powder phase of an Al-free GPC (0.04 SrO-0.12 CaO-0.36 ZnO-0.48 SiO2, by mole fraction) enhanced the resultant cement\u27s antibacterial properties against three strains of bacteria that are commonly found in periprosthetic sites following total joint replacements (TJRs); namely, E. coli, B. fragilis, and S. epidermidis. Four cement sets were prepared, which contained 0 wt% TSC (control), 5 wt% TSC, 10 wt% TSC, and 15 wt% TSC. All the TSC-modified cements were found to exhibit large inhibition zones against all the bacterial strains, especially the cement containing 15 wt% TSC against E. coli. The antibacterial properties of the TSC containing GPCs are attributed to the release of Zn and Na ions from the cements and the presence of the TSC. The second objective was to investigate if, when a modified GPC is embedded in a bovine bone model, ionic transfer occurs. It was found that Zn ions migrated from the cement to the surrounding bone, particularly at the cement-bone interface. This is a desirable outcome as Zn ions are known to play a vital role in both bone metabolism and the regeneration of healthy bone. The present results point to the potential clinical benefits of using TSC-modified GPCs in TJRs. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

The ROTSE-III Robotic Telescope System

The observation of a prompt optical flash from GRB990123 convincingly demonstrated the value of autonomous robotic telescope systems. Pursuing a program of rapid follow-up observations of gamma-ray bursts, the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) has developed a next-generation instrument, ROTSE-III, that will continue the search for fast optical transients. The entire system was designed as an economical robotic facility to be installed at remote sites throughout the world. There are seven major system components: optics, optical tube assembly, CCD camera, telescope mount, enclosure, environmental sensing & protection and data acquisition. Each is described in turn in the hope that the techniques developed here will be useful in similar contexts elsewhere.Comment: 19 pages, including 4 figures. To be published in PASP in January, 2003. PASP Number IP02-11

The Dark Side of ROTSE-III Prompt GRB Observations

We present several cases of optical observations during gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) which resulted in prompt limits but no detection of optical emission. These limits constrain the prompt optical flux densities and the optical brightness relative to the gamma-ray emission. The derived constraints fall within the range of properties observed in GRBs with prompt optical detections, though at the faint end of optical/gamma flux ratios. The presently accessible prompt optical limits do not require a different set of intrinsic or environmental GRB properties, relative to the events with prompt optical detections.Comment: ApJ accepted. 20 pages in draft manuscript form, which includes 6 pages of tables and 2 figure

The Effect of Glass Synthesis Route on Mechanical and Physical Properties of Resultant Glass Ionomer Cements

Glass ionomer cements (GICs) have potential orthopaedic applications. Solgel processing is reported as having advantages over the traditional melt-quench route for synthesizing the glass phase of GICs, including far lower processing temperatures and higher levels of glass purity and homogeneity. This work investigates a novel glass formulation, BT 101 (0.48 SiO2-0.36 ZnO-0.12 CaO-0.04 SrO) produced by both the melt-quench and the solgel route. The glass phase was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine whether the material was amorphous and differential thermal analysis (DTA) to measure the glass transition temperature (Tg). Particle size analysis (PSA) was used to determine the mean particle size and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the structure and composition of the glass. Both glasses, the melt-quench BT 101 and the solgel BT 101, were mixed with 50 wt% polyacrylic acid (Mw, 80,800) and water to form a GIC and the working time (Tw) and the setting time (Ts) of the resultant cements were then determined. The cement based on the solgel glass had a longer Tw (78 s) as compared to the cement based on the melt derived glass (19 s). Ts was also much longer for the cement based on the solgel (1,644 s) glass than for the cement based on the melt-derived glass (25 s). The cements based on the melt derived glass produced higher strengths in both compression (σc) and biaxial flexure (σf), where the highest strength was found to be 63 MPa in compression, at both 1 and 7 days. The differences in setting and mechanical properties can be associated to structural differences within the glass as determined by XPS which revealed the absence of Ca in the solgel system and a much greater concentration of bridging oxygens (BO) as compared to the melt-derived system. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC