Co-Fusion: Real-time Segmentation, Tracking and Fusion of Multiple Objects

In this paper we introduce Co-Fusion, a dense SLAM system that takes a live stream of RGB-D images as input and segments the scene into different objects (using either motion or semantic cues) while simultaneously tracking and reconstructing their 3D shape in real time. We use a multiple model fitting approach where each object can move independently from the background and still be effectively tracked and its shape fused over time using only the information from pixels associated with that object label. Previous attempts to deal with dynamic scenes have typically considered moving regions as outliers, and consequently do not model their shape or track their motion over time. In contrast, we enable the robot to maintain 3D models for each of the segmented objects and to improve them over time through fusion. As a result, our system can enable a robot to maintain a scene description at the object level which has the potential to allow interactions with its working environment; even in the case of dynamic scenes.Comment: International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2017, http://visual.cs.ucl.ac.uk/pubs/cofusion, https://github.com/martinruenz/co-fusio

Do innovation projects with ICT enhance learning? Experiences from case studies in Galician schools

We present a study which analyzes the factors that influence the processes of change in innovation projects with ICT in schools. In the current socio-political and economic context, the demand for innovation is felt across all fields. The educational system is no exception, and schools are expected to hop on board the innovation wagon. Our research involved four cases including a pre-school, two primary schools and a secondary school in Galicia (Spain). A collaborative action research methodology was used in the usual stages: action, observation, and reflection. The factors affecting change in schools are complex and intertwined. The present study focuses on the following three research questions: How do education administration policies affect the development of school innovation processes with ICT? What training and professional development processes are mobilized for the management and evaluation of school innovation projects? And which aspects of school organizational culture change when there are innovation processes with ICT? The findings reveal a strong interconnection among the dimensions analyzed (socio-political context, school organization, teachers, their professional culture and their training and professional development). The difficulties and possibilities associated with each dimension as well as the way they interconnect also come to light. (DIPF/Orig.)Diese Studie dient der Untersuchung von Faktoren, die Veränderungsprozesse in informations- und kommunikationstechnologisch gestützten Schulinnovationsprojekten beeinflussen. In gegenwärtigen gesellschaftspolitischen und ökonomischen Zusammenhängen ist die Forderung nach Innovationen auf allen Feldern spürbar. Das Bildungssystem ist dabei keine Ausnahme und von Schulen wird erwartet, dass sie auf den Innovationszug aufspringen. Die Untersuchung umfasst vier Fälle in Galicien (Spanien): eine Vorschule, zwei Primarschulen sowie eine Sekundarschule. Dem methodische Ansatz der kollaborativen Handlungsforschung gemäß erfolgte die Untersuchung in den Stufen Handlung, Beobachtung und Reflexion. Faktoren, die Veränderungen in Schulen betreffen, sind komplex und miteinander verwoben. Der Studie liegen die drei folgenden Forschungsfragen zugrunde: Wie beeinflussen Strategien der Bildungsadministration die Entwicklung von Schulinnovationsprozessen mit IKT? Welche Aus- und Weiterbildung und welche professionellen Entwicklungsprozesse werden für die Durchführung und Evaluation von Schulinnovationsprojekten bereitgestellt? Und welche Aspekte der schulischen Organisationskultur verändern sich im Zuge informations- und kommunikationstechnologisch gestützter Innovationsprozesse? Die Befunde zeigen starke Querverbindungen zwischen den untersuchten Dimensionen auf (gesellschaftspolitischer Kontext, Schulorganisation, Lehrkräfte sowie deren Berufskultur, Aus- und Weiterbildung). Außerdem erhellen die Ergebnisse die Schwierigkeiten und Möglichkeiten, die mit den einzelnen Dimensionen verbunden sind, sowie die Art und Weisen ihrer Verknüpfung. (DIPF/Orig.

Reasoning on transition from manipulative strategies to general procedures in solving counting problems

We describe the procedures used by 11- to 12-year-old students for solving basic counting problems in order to analyse the transition from manipulative strategies involving direct counting to the use of the multiplication principle as a general procedure in combinatorial problems. In this transition, the students sometimes spontaneously use tree diagrams and sometimes use numerical thinking strategies. We relate the findings of our research to recent research on the representational formats on the learning of combinatorics, and reflect on the didactic implications of these investigations

Janitors, Street Vendors, and Activists: The Lives of Mexican Immigrants in Silicon Valley by Christian Zlolniski

Janitors, Street Vendors, and Activists offers a political economic analysis of the impacts of global restructuring at the local level. Through an ethnographic account of Mexican immigrants in Silicon Valley, Christian Zlolniski demonstrates how the vast movements of capital, labor, and changing technology in the past several decades have radically transformed people’s lives both in the workplace and at home. The author illustrates how Mexican immigrants have become integrated into global sys-tems of production through flexible labor regimes including subcontracting, part-time labor, and informal arrangements outside the formal market. Although these ar-rangements have largely favored Silicon Valley’s high-tech corporations, Zlolniski shows that the exploitative conditions in which Mexicans work also provide contexts through which immigrants have organized both at work and in their communities to challenge these conditions.book review, Mexican immigrants, janitors, street vendors, Zlolniski

Technological Discontinuities and the Comparative Strategic Value of New Capabilites: Evidence from the Comparison of Small- and Large-Molecule Targeted Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery

Traditional creative destruction theories distinguish disruptions as competence-destroying or competence-enhancing to incumbents’ capabilities, with the former case resulting in incumbents’ loss of competitive advantage in in-house R&D performance (even if complementary assets aid in retaining final market share). In this paper, I propose that attention to the extent of competence destruction is necessary but not sufficient for analyses of competitive advantage in R&D through a technological discontinuity. A full analysis requires the comparison of the value added and ease of access (i.e., strategic value) of all capabilities, old and new. In other words, an analysis of competition during a transition requires assessment not only of how many of the old capabilities were lost but also what it takes to acquire the new ones. I find evidence for this proposition in qualitative and quantitative data from the transition of anti-cancer drug discovery from standard chemotherapy to targeted therapies. Among targeted therapies, I compare two variants, small- vs. large-molecule drugs, which though equally competence-destroying to chemotherapy-based drug discovery, differ in that large-molecule drugs require one more new capability: expertise in biopharmaceutical technology. By tracing the origin and evolution of biopharmaceutical technology, as well as its comparative value added, I can show a contrast in results: incumbents led in small-molecule targeted drug discovery; but they fell behind biopharmaceutical technology pioneers in large-molecule targeted drug discovery, where one of the new capabilities (i.e., expertise in biopharmaceutical technology) had higher value added and was more difficult to acquire than other new capabilities.R&D capabilities; incumbents; technological disruption; competence enhancing

Lifting from the Deep: Convolutional 3D Pose Estimation from a Single Image

We propose a unified formulation for the problem of 3D human pose estimation from a single raw RGB image that reasons jointly about 2D joint estimation and 3D pose reconstruction to improve both tasks. We take an integrated approach that fuses probabilistic knowledge of 3D human pose with a multi-stage CNN architecture and uses the knowledge of plausible 3D landmark locations to refine the search for better 2D locations. The entire process is trained end-to-end, is extremely efficient and obtains state- of-the-art results on Human3.6M outperforming previous approaches both on 2D and 3D errors.Comment: Paper presented at CVPR 1