Visual Analysis of Extremely Dense Crowded Scenes

Visual analysis of dense crowds is particularly challenging due to large number of individuals, occlusions, clutter, and fewer pixels per person which rarely occur in ordinary surveillance scenarios. This dissertation aims to address these challenges in images and videos of extremely dense crowds containing hundreds to thousands of humans. The goal is to tackle the fundamental problems of counting, detecting and tracking people in such images and videos using visual and contextual cues that are automatically derived from the crowded scenes. For counting in an image of extremely dense crowd, we propose to leverage multiple sources of information to compute an estimate of the number of individuals present in the image. Our approach relies on sources such as low confidence head detections, repetition of texture elements (using SIFT), and frequency-domain analysis to estimate counts, along with confidence associated with observing individuals, in an image region. Furthermore, we employ a global consistency constraint on counts using Markov Random Field which caters for disparity in counts in local neighborhoods and across scales. We tested this approach on crowd images with the head counts ranging from 94 to 4543 and obtained encouraging results. Through this approach, we are able to count people in images of high-density crowds unlike previous methods which are only applicable to videos of low to medium density crowded scenes. However, the counting procedure just outputs a single number for a large patch or an entire image. With just the counts, it becomes difficult to measure the counting error for a query image with unknown number of people. For this, we propose to localize humans by finding repetitive patterns in the crowd image. Starting with detections from an underlying head detector, we correlate them within the image after their selection through several criteria: in a pre-defined grid, locally, or at multiple scales by automatically finding the patches that are most representative of recurring patterns in the crowd image. Finally, the set of generated hypotheses is selected using binary integer quadratic programming with Special Ordered Set (SOS) Type 1 constraints. Human Detection is another important problem in the analysis of crowded scenes where the goal is to place a bounding box on visible parts of individuals. Primarily applicable to images depicting medium to high density crowds containing several hundred humans, it is a crucial pre-requisite for many other visual tasks, such as tracking, action recognition or detection of anomalous behaviors, exhibited by individuals in a dense crowd. For detecting humans, we explore context in dense crowds in the form of locally-consistent scale prior which captures the similarity in scale in local neighborhoods with smooth variation over the image. Using the scale and confidence of detections obtained from an underlying human detector, we infer scale and confidence priors using Markov Random Field. In an iterative mechanism, the confidences of detections are modified to reflect consistency with the inferred priors, and the priors are updated based on the new detections. The final set of detections obtained are then reasoned for occlusion using Binary Integer Programming where overlaps and relations between parts of individuals are encoded as linear constraints. Both human detection and occlusion reasoning in this approach are solved with local neighbor-dependent constraints, thereby respecting the inter-dependence between individuals characteristic to dense crowd analysis. In addition, we propose a mechanism to detect different combinations of body parts without requiring annotations for individual combinations. Once human detection and localization is performed, we then use it for tracking people in dense crowds. Similar to the use of context as scale prior for human detection, we exploit it in the form of motion concurrence for tracking individuals in dense crowds. The proposed method for tracking provides an alternative and complementary approach to methods that require modeling of crowd flow. Simultaneously, it is less likely to fail in the case of dynamic crowd flows and anomalies by minimally relying on previous frames. The approach begins with the automatic identification of prominent individuals from the crowd that are easy to track. Then, we use Neighborhood Motion Concurrence to model the behavior of individuals in a dense crowd, this predicts the position of an individual based on the motion of its neighbors. When the individual moves with the crowd flow, we use Neighborhood Motion Concurrence to predict motion while leveraging five-frame instantaneous flow in case of dynamically changing flow and anomalies. All these aspects are then embedded in a framework which imposes hierarchy on the order in which positions of individuals are updated. The results are reported on eight sequences of medium to high density crowds and our approach performs on par with existing approaches without learning or modeling patterns of crowd flow. We experimentally demonstrate the efficacy and reliability of our algorithms by quantifying the performance of counting, localization, as well as human detection and tracking on new and challenging datasets containing hundreds to thousands of humans in a given scene

Internet Use Behaviour of the LIS Community in Pakistan

Information and communication technology (ICT) has brought radical and revolutionary changes in all walks of human life during the last three decades. It has played a vital role in the development of a global village. Libraries are also among those organisms which have been affected by ICT and a great deal of impact has been imposed in this field. Advanced countries are naturally ahead in this area like all others; nevertheless, the developing countries are also not far too behind in the use and implementation of these technologies. Internet has not only increased and fastened the communication, but it has also changed the approach, way of thinking and behaviour of human beings. It has both positive and negative effects on the human life at large. This paper examines the Internet access, emailing and instant messaging behaviour, web surfing and usage of online resources by different type of people relevant to library and information services in Pakistan. These different people range to faculty, library practitioners, library support staff with a master’s level education and graduate students of LIS. The paper also presents a brief picture of the time spent online by these people and the online available library tools used by them. The types of websites normally visited during office hours and messengers used for official cum personal communication have also been included in this paper

Enhancing camera surveillance using computer vision: a research note

$\mathbf{Purpose}$ - The growth of police operated surveillance cameras has out-paced the ability of humans to monitor them effectively. Computer vision is a possible solution. An ongoing research project on the application of computer vision within a municipal police department is described. The paper aims to discuss these issues. $\mathbf{Design/methodology/approach}$ - Following the demystification of computer vision technology, its potential for police agencies is developed within a focus on computer vision as a solution for two common surveillance camera tasks (live monitoring of multiple surveillance cameras and summarizing archived video files). Three unaddressed research questions (can specialized computer vision applications for law enforcement be developed at this time, how will computer vision be utilized within existing public safety camera monitoring rooms, and what are the system-wide impacts of a computer vision capability on local criminal justice systems) are considered. $\mathbf{Findings}$ - Despite computer vision becoming accessible to law enforcement agencies the impact of computer vision has not been discussed or adequately researched. There is little knowledge of computer vision or its potential in the field. $\mathbf{Originality/value}$ - This paper introduces and discusses computer vision from a law enforcement perspective and will be valuable to police personnel tasked with monitoring large camera networks and considering computer vision as a system upgrade

Customer Relationship Management Practices in University Libraries of Pakistan

The purpose of this study was to appraise the prevailing status of customer relationship management (CRM) practices in university libraries of Pakistan to increase strong and mutual beneficial relationship with user. Moreover, correlates of CRM practices with types, categories, and geographical locations of university libraries were also explored. This study adopted cross-sectional survey research design using a questionnaire. The survey questionnaire was emailed to the in-charge/head librarians of all 193 university libraries in Pakistan and response rate was 74%. The results were consolidated at the analysis stage. The results have demonstrated that current status of CRM practices (customer focus, organizational focus, customer feedback management) is in the adolescence phase, while information technology infrastructure is inadequate for absolute implantation of CRM programmes and strategies. The data indicate that CRM practices are linked with university libraries types and geographical locations private sector university libraries are concentrating more on organizational focus as compared to public sector while university libraries of Islamabad Capital Territory are having good IT Infrastructure from KPK Province and AJK region respectively. The study suggests that all academic institutions should formulate a clearly specified user care and satisfaction policy. In Pakistan, Information Management / Library & Information Sciences schools and library associations should conduct ongoing training, workshops, seminars, and conferences on CRM strategies, practices, programs, tactics and mechanism, defined in this study. University top management must encourage, provide financial resources and train staff for smooth running and implementation of CRM. Complete IT infrastructure, CRM software and models should be adopted as per market demand. CRM models may be developed for Pakistani university libraries or such models may be opted with some amendments from other pure business CRM models

Investigating Organizational Commitment of Information Professionals working at University Libraries in Pakistan

This study investigated the organizational commitment of information professionals working at university libraries in Pakistan. Survey method was adopted using a questionnaire to collect data from 329 information professionals of Punjab and Islamabad. The questionnaire contained 18-items measure of organizational commitment, developed by Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993), along with certain demographic variables. Each statement was measured on 5-point Likert scale (e.g. 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3= Neutral, 4=Agree, 5= Strongly Agree). The collected data were analysed by applying descriptive as well as inferential statistics in SPSS. Results indicated that information professionals were slightly committed to their organizations and most of these had emotional attachment with the organization. There were no significant mean differences in the index of organizational commitment based on age, gender, sector, area, and continuing education. However, the qualification, designation, experience, employment nature, and salary of the participants appeared to be predictor of organizational commitment. These results are important for university administration especially human resource department who work for retention of productive and committed employees and ensure strategic human resource development. This study would make worthy contribution in the existing research on organizational commitment in general and information professionals in particular

Use of femoral nail with spiral blade in subtrochanteric fractures

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of acute subtrochanteric fractures managed with intramedullary nail and spiral blade fixation of the proximal fragment.Methods: Charts of 33 patients (17 males and 16 females) with acute subtrochanteric fractures operated with intramedullary nail and spiral blade at our institution between March 2006 and February 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. The most common (67%) mechanism of injury was ground-level fall, predominantly involving elderly patients. Results were evaluated in terms of union time, implant failure rate, infection rate and functional outcome.Results: Mean duration of surgery was 2.4 hours and average length of hospital stay was 7 days. Mean radiological healing time was 16 weeks. Good healing occurred in 31 (94%) patients within 6 months of surgery. Uneventful healing occurred in 28 (85%) patients and 3 (9%) had delayed healing requiring dynamization in two patients and bone grafting in one. Implant failure occurred in 2 (6%) patients within 2 months of index surgery requiring repeat surgery. One (3%) patient had varus malunion.Conclusion: Intramedullary nailing with spiral blade is a good option for acute subtrochanteric fractures with promising results. We think that this is a superior device compared to conventional methods of fixation for subtrochanteric fractures

The THUMOS Challenge on Action Recognition for Videos "in the Wild"

Automatically recognizing and localizing wide ranges of human actions has crucial importance for video understanding. Towards this goal, the THUMOS challenge was introduced in 2013 to serve as a benchmark for action recognition. Until then, video action recognition, including THUMOS challenge, had focused primarily on the classification of pre-segmented (i.e., trimmed) videos, which is an artificial task. In THUMOS 2014, we elevated action recognition to a more practical level by introducing temporally untrimmed videos. These also include `background videos' which share similar scenes and backgrounds as action videos, but are devoid of the specific actions. The three editions of the challenge organized in 2013--2015 have made THUMOS a common benchmark for action classification and detection and the annual challenge is widely attended by teams from around the world. In this paper we describe the THUMOS benchmark in detail and give an overview of data collection and annotation procedures. We present the evaluation protocols used to quantify results in the two THUMOS tasks of action classification and temporal detection. We also present results of submissions to the THUMOS 2015 challenge and review the participating approaches. Additionally, we include a comprehensive empirical study evaluating the differences in action recognition between trimmed and untrimmed videos, and how well methods trained on trimmed videos generalize to untrimmed videos. We conclude by proposing several directions and improvements for future THUMOS challenges.Comment: Preprint submitted to Computer Vision and Image Understandin

Does Job Satisfaction Predict Organizational Commitment? An Information Professionals’ Perspective

This study examined the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment among information professionals working at university libraries in Pakistan. A cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire was conducted. The questionnaire contained items related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment along with demographic variables. All the professionals working in university libraries of Punjab and Islamabad were considered as study population. It was decided to collect data from all these professionals. The questionnaire was administered either through personal visits or through email. A total of 329 questionnaires retuned which were used for data analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied for data analysis. The results revealed job satisfaction appeared to be a statistically significant but positive predictor of organization commitment among survey participants. The facets such as promotion, supervision, and job itself also appeared to be the positive correlative of overall organizational commitment. Conversely, the three facets of job satisfaction pay, fringe benefits and colleagues were not significantly correlated with overall organizational commitment as well as with all its facets. These results are useful for human resource departments of universities who work strategically for retention of satisfied and productive employees for their institutions. This study would make worthy contribution in the existing research on library management

Practices in Library Staff Development: A case study of Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (PARD) Library

This study has been conducted to judge and document the initiatives taken for staff development at the library of Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (PARD) to enhance the performance of its employees for effective service delivery. This study also documents the visible change in professional improvement of library staff before and after such initiatives. The paper describes each initiative with explanation and practically applied examples showing its output and results. This is an observational study where the data was collected through personal interviews, table-talks with employees, and annual Performance Evaluation Reports (PERs)of the subjects. Current and retrospective staff of PARD library have participated in this study and provided their candid feedback. The library job, unlike other jobs, is isolated and is limited to perform one-type of job description. Therefore, the library staff are not openly exposed to avail staff development opportunities. The study concludes that techniques (discussed in this paper and practically executed) are useful to develop competencies of library staff in order to be more fruitful. Annual Performance Evaluation Reports, individual interview results, and users’ feedback on overall library performance is evident to shows that staffs, have benefited both personally and professionally from such activities. Staff development activities taken at PARD library has not only developed the skills at individual level but also contributed to achieve the organizational goals. This paper presents original viewpoint by the authors based on the observation, interviews and examining the performance evaluation report of the subject population. A kind of first ever study conducted on development of library staff in Pakistan