Image Parsing with a Wide Range of Classes and Scene-Level Context

This paper presents a nonparametric scene parsing approach that improves the overall accuracy, as well as the coverage of foreground classes in scene images. We first improve the label likelihood estimates at superpixels by merging likelihood scores from different probabilistic classifiers. This boosts the classification performance and enriches the representation of less-represented classes. Our second contribution consists of incorporating semantic context in the parsing process through global label costs. Our method does not rely on image retrieval sets but rather assigns a global likelihood estimate to each label, which is plugged into the overall energy function. We evaluate our system on two large-scale datasets, SIFTflow and LMSun. We achieve state-of-the-art performance on the SIFTflow dataset and near-record results on LMSun.Comment: Published at CVPR 2015, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 2015 IEEE Conference o

Hyperuniform disordered phononic structures

We demonstrate the existence of large phononic band gaps in designed hyperuniform (isotropic) disordered two-dimensional (2D) phononic structures of Pb cylinders in epoxy matrix. The phononic band gaps in hyperuniform disordered phononic structures are comparable to band gaps of similar periodic structures, for both out-of-plane and in-plane polarizations. A large number of localized modes is identified near the band edges, as well as, diffusive transmission throughout the rest of the frequency spectrum. Very high-Q cavity modes for both out-of-plane and in-plane polarizations are formed by selectively removing a single cylinder out of the structure. Efficient waveguiding with almost 100% transmission trough waveguide structures with arbitrary bends is also presented. We expand our results to thin three-dimensional layers of such structures and demonstrate effective band gaps related to the respective 2D band gaps. Moreover, the drop in the Q factor for the three-dimensional structures is not more than three orders of magnitude compared to the 2D ones

A Brief Analysis of the Administration Costs of National Social Protection Systems in EU Member States

AbstractThe complex issues associated with the term European Social Model was analyzed in terms of administration costs that European Union member states incur to assure the operation of social protection schemes. The study shows that there is a high heterogeneity both in terms of the amount (share of GDP) allocated by member states through social protection systems (or welfare systems) and in terms of administration costs of these systems. In the last part of the article was presented an econometric analysis based on panel data regression in which administration costs of social protection systems was used as an endogenous variable and employment, unemployment and real GDP growth rate as explanatory variables

The First Doges of Venice, Representatives of the Byzantine Administration

The purpose of this study is to present the origins of the Venetian rulers and the relationship of the first doges with the Byzantine Empire. The fact that the first doges were officials of the Byzantine administration is an obvious form of Byzantine civilization over Venice. On the other hand, the accentuation of the Byzantine matrix of the Venetian doge is capable of shedding light on the role the doges have on universal history. The fact that the Doges adopted the ideological hegemony of the Byzantine emperors, as well as numerous forms of protocol and ceremony, inspired the Venetian rulers to impose the North-Adriatic state as the main economic force of the Mediterranean Sea. The special status that Venice acquired on the Byzantine route explains today's separatist tendency of the Veneto region, which also includes Venice. As all these tendencies find the answer in the past, it is necessary to research some important aspects of the relationship between Byzantium and Venice during the Middle Ages. Keywords: Venice, Byzantine Empire, Doges, Middle Age

Fine-Grained Product Class Recognition for Assisted Shopping

Assistive solutions for a better shopping experience can improve the quality of life of people, in particular also of visually impaired shoppers. We present a system that visually recognizes the fine-grained product classes of items on a shopping list, in shelves images taken with a smartphone in a grocery store. Our system consists of three components: (a) We automatically recognize useful text on product packaging, e.g., product name and brand, and build a mapping of words to product classes based on the large-scale GroceryProducts dataset. When the user populates the shopping list, we automatically infer the product class of each entered word. (b) We perform fine-grained product class recognition when the user is facing a shelf. We discover discriminative patches on product packaging to differentiate between visually similar product classes and to increase the robustness against continuous changes in product design. (c) We continuously improve the recognition accuracy through active learning. Our experiments show the robustness of the proposed method against cross-domain challenges, and the scalability to an increasing number of products with minimal re-training.Comment: Accepted at ICCV Workshop on Assistive Computer Vision and Robotics (ICCV-ACVR) 201

The Internet as a business environment in Romania

In an ever-developing society, a strong, viable economy is vital for any country that seeks to survive on the global market and to provide upwardly decent living standards for its citizens. Recognizing the above mentioned points as mandatory, but also prompted in its actions by the European community of which it recently became a member, Romania is taking steps to develop its electronic commerce to meet 21st century global standards. Some of the more important legal measures that have aided the development of e-commerce in Romania include the liberalization of telecommunications, the validation of electronic documents, the creation of customer protection services and regulations and the facilitation of electronic fund transfer through debit/credit cards. The obstacles encountered in the implementation of e-commercial transactions are manifold. The small number of users that can access the Internet from home and the people’s mistrust and lack of familiarity with e commercial transactions are only a few of the hindrances setting back their development in Romania. Emanating from the present study are numerous solutions for the improvement and popularization of Romanian e-commerce which would raise awareness about the advantages of electronic commerce on the Romanian business scene.e-commerce, e-banking, usage, factors

When The Flag Goes By

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/2716/thumbnail.jp

Parametric Deformation of Discrete Geometry for Aerodynamic Shape Design

We present a versatile discrete geometry manipulation platform for aerospace vehicle shape optimization. The platform is based on the geometry kernel of an open-source modeling tool called Blender and offers access to four parametric deformation techniques: lattice, cage-based, skeletal, and direct manipulation. Custom deformation methods are implemented as plugins, and the kernel is controlled through a scripting interface. Surface sensitivities are provided to support gradient-based optimization. The platform architecture allows the use of geometry pipelines, where multiple modelers are used in sequence, enabling manipulation difficult or impossible to achieve with a constructive modeler or deformer alone. We implement an intuitive custom deformation method in which a set of surface points serve as the design variables and user-specified constraints are intrinsically satisfied. We test our geometry platform on several design examples using an aerodynamic design framework based on Cartesian grids. We examine inverse airfoil design and shape matching and perform lift-constrained drag minimization on an airfoil with thickness constraints. A transport wing-fuselage integration problem demonstrates the approach in 3D. In a final example, our platform is pipelined with a constructive modeler to parabolically sweep a wingtip while applying a 1-G loading deformation across the wingspan. This work is an important first step towards the larger goal of leveraging the investment of the graphics industry to improve the state-of-the-art in aerospace geometry tools