Adaptive Silhouette Extraction In Dynamic Environments Using Fuzzy Logic

Extracting a human silhouette from an image is the enabling step for many high-level vision processing tasks, such as human tracking and activity analysis. In a previous paper, we addressed some of the challenges in silhouette extraction and human tracking in a real-world unconstrained environment where the background is complex and dynamic. We extracted features from image regions, accumulated the feature information over time, fused high-level knowledge with low-level features, and built a time-varying background model. A problem with our system is that by adapting the background model, objects moved by a human are difficult to handle. In order to reinsert them into the background, we run the risk of cutting off part of the human silhouette, such as in a quick arm movement. In this paper, we develop a fuzzy logic inference system to detach the silhouette of a moving object from the human body. Our experimental results demonstrate that the fuzzy inference system is very efficient and robust.The authors are grateful for the support from NSF ITR grant IIS-0428420 and the U.S. Administration on Aging, under grant 90AM3013

Recognizing Falls from Silhouettes

A major problem among the elderly involves falling. The recognition of falls from video first requires the segmentation of the individual from the background. To ensure privacy, segmentation should result in a silhouette that is a binary map indicating only the body position of the individual in an image. We have previously demonstrated a segmentation method based on color that can recognize the silhouette and detect and remove shadows. After the silhouettes are obtained, we extract features and train hidden Markov models to recognize future performances of these known activities. In this paper, we present preliminary results that demonstrate the usefulness of this approach for distinguishing between a few common activities, specifically with fall detection in mind.The authors were partially supported by NSF ITR grant IIS-0428420 and the U.S. Administration on Aging, under grant 90AM3013

A Real-time System for In-home Activity Monitoring of Elders

In this paper, we propose a real-time system for in-home activity monitoring and functional assessment for elder care. We describe the development of the whole system which could be used to assist the independent living of elders and improve the efficiency of eldercare practice. With this system, data is collected, silhouettes extracted, features further analyzed and visualized into graphs from which eldercare professionals are able to understand massive video monitoring data within a short period of time. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system is efficient in indoor elder activities monitoring and easily utilized by eldercare professionals.This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health under grant 1R21AG026412-01A2

Effective elastic properties of a van der Waals molecular monolayer at a metal surface

Adsorbing anthracene on a Cu(111) surface results in a wide range of complex and intriguing superstructures spanning a coverage range from 1 per 17 to 1 per 15 substrate atoms. In accompanying first-principles density-functional theory calculations we show the essential role of van der Waals interactions in estimating the variation in anthracene adsorption energy and height across the sample. We can thereby evaluate the compression of the anthracene film in terms of continuum elastic properties, which results in an effective Young\u27s modulus of 1.5 GPa and a Poisson ratio approximate to 0.1. These values suggest interpretation of the molecular monolayer as a porous material-in marked congruence with our microscopic observations

TigerPlace, a State-Academic-Private Project to Revolutionize Traditional Long Term Care

This is a preprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in the Journal of Housing for the Elderly 2008, copyright Taylor & Francis. Journal of Housing for the Elderly is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0276-3893&volume=22&issue=1&spage=66 DOI:10.1080/02763890802097045The Aging in Place Project at the University of Missouri (MU) required legislation in 1999 and 2001 to be fully realized. An innovative home health agency was initiated by the Sinclair School of Nursing specifically to help older adults age in place in the environment of their choice. In 2004, an innovative independent living environment was built and is operated by a private long term care company, as a special facility where residents can truly age in place and never fear being moved to a traditional nursing home unless they choose to do so. With care provided by the home care agency with registered nurse care coordination services, residents receive preventative and early illness recognition assistance that have markedly improved their lives. Evaluation of aging in place reveal registered nurse care coordination improves outcomes of cognition, depression, activities of daily living, incontinence, pain, and shortness of breath as well as delaying or preventing nursing home placement. Links with MU students, faculty, and nearly every school or college on campus enrich the lives of the students and residents of the housing environment. Research projects are encouraged and residents who choose to participate are enjoying helping with developing cutting technology to help other seniors age in place.The authors wish to acknowledge the organizations and staff who made the AIP project possible: Americare of Sikeston, MO; TigerPlace staff; Sinclair Home Care staff; MU Sinclair School of Nursing faculty and deans; MU administration; Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services staff; Missouri state legislature (in particular, Tim Harlan of Columbia, MO); and all the friends and families who have supported those who implemented this pioneering effort

Reconstructions of biomass burning from sediment charcoal records to improve data-model comparisons

The location, timing, spatial extent, and frequency of wildfires are changing rapidly in many parts of the world, producing substantial impacts on ecosystems, people, and potentially climate. Paleofire records based on charcoal accumulation in sediments enable modern changes in biomass burning to be considered in their long-term context. Paleofire records also provide insights into the causes and impacts of past wildfires and emissions when analyzed in conjunction with other paleoenvironmental data and with fire models. Here we present new 1000 year and 22 000 year trends and gridded biomass burning reconstructions based on the Global Charcoal Database version 3, which includes 736 charcoal records (57 more than in version 2). The new gridded reconstructions reveal the spatial patterns underlying the temporal trends in the data, allowing insights into likely controls on biomass burning at regional to global scales. In the most recent few decades, biomass burning has sharply increased in both hemispheres, but especially in the north, where charcoal fluxes are now higher than at any other time during the past 22 000 {years}. We also discuss methodological issues relevant to data-model comparisons, and identify areas for future research. Spatially gridded versions of the global dataset from GCDv3 are provided to facilitate comparison with and validation of global fire simulations

Comparison of Ion Balance and Nitrogen Metabolism in Old and Young Leaves of Alkali-Stressed Rice Plants

BACKGROUND: Alkali stress is an important agricultural contaminant and has complex effects on plant metabolism. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the alkali stress has different effects on the growth, ion balance, and nitrogen metabolism in old and young leaves of rice plants, and to compare functions of both organs in alkali tolerance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The results showed that alkali stress only produced a small effect on the growth of young leaves, whereas strongly damaged old leaves. Rice protected young leaves from ion harm via the large accumulation of Na(+) and Cl(-) in old leaves. The up-regulation of OsHKT1;1, OsAKT1, OsHAK1, OsHAK7, OsHAK10 and OsHAK16 may contribute to the larger accumulation of Na(+) in old leaves under alkali stress. Alkali stress mightily reduced the NO(3)(-) contents in both organs. As old leaf cells have larger vacuole, under alkali stress these scarce NO(3)(-) was principally stored in old leaves. Accordingly, the expression of OsNRT1;1 and OsNRT1;2 in old leaves was up-regulated by alkali stress, revealing that the two genes might contribute to the accumulation of NO(3)(-) in old leaves. NO(3)(-) deficiency in young leaves under alkali stress might induce the reduction in OsNR1 expression and the subsequent lacking of NH(4)(+), which might be main reason for the larger down-regulation of OsFd-GOGAT and OsGS2 in young leaves. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results strongly indicated that, during adaptation of rice to alkali stress, young and old leaves have distinct mechanisms of ion balance and nitrogen metabolism regulation. We propose that the comparative studies of young and old tissues may be important for abiotic stress tolerance research

Polymorphisms of XRCC4 are involved in reduced colorectal cancer risk in Chinese schizophrenia patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genetic factors related to the regulation of apoptosis in schizophrenia patients may be involved in a reduced vulnerability to cancer. XRCC4 is one of the potential candidate genes associated with schizophrenia which might induce colorectal cancer resistance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To examine the genetic association between colorectal cancer and schizophrenia, we analyzed five SNPs (rs6452526, rs2662238, rs963248, rs35268, rs2386275) covering ~205.7 kb in the region of XRCC4.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed that two of the five genetic polymorphisms showed statistically significant differences between 312 colorectal cancer subjects without schizophrenia and 270 schizophrenia subjects (rs6452536, p = 0.004, OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.44-0.86; rs35268, p = 0.028, OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.05-2.26). Moreover, the haplotype which combined all five markers was the most significant, giving a global <it>p </it>= 0.0005.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data firstly indicate that XRCC4 may be a potential protective gene towards schizophrenia, conferring reduced susceptibility to colorectal cancer in the Han Chinese population.</p

Detecting One-Hundred-Year Environmental Changes in Western China Using Seven-Year Repeat Photography

Due to its diverse, wondrous plants and unique topography, Western China has drawn great attention from explorers and naturalists from the Western World. Among them, Ernest Henry Wilson (1876 –1930), known as ‘Chinese’ Wilson, travelled to Western China five times from 1899 to 1918. He took more than 1,000 photos during his travels. These valuable photos illustrated the natural and social environment of Western China a century ago. Since 1997, we had collected E.H. Wilson's old pictures, and then since 2004, along the expedition route of E.H. Wilson, we took 7 years to repeat photographing 250 of these old pictures. Comparing Wilson's photos with ours, we found an obvious warming trend over the 100 years, not only in specific areas but throughout the entire Western China. Such warming trend manifested in phenology changes, community shifts and melting snow in alpine mountains. In this study, we also noted remarkable vegetation changes. Out of 62 picture pairs were related to vegetation change, 39 indicated vegetation has changed to the better condition, 17 for degraded vegetation and six for no obvious change. Also in these photos at a century interval, we found not only rapid urbanization in Western China, but also the disappearance of traditional cultures. Through such comparisons, we should not only be amazed about the significant environmental changes through time in Western China, but also consider its implications for protecting environment while meeting the economic development beyond such changes