View Independent Vehicle Make, Model and Color Recognition Using Convolutional Neural Network

This paper describes the details of Sighthound's fully automated vehicle make, model and color recognition system. The backbone of our system is a deep convolutional neural network that is not only computationally inexpensive, but also provides state-of-the-art results on several competitive benchmarks. Additionally, our deep network is trained on a large dataset of several million images which are labeled through a semi-automated process. Finally we test our system on several public datasets as well as our own internal test dataset. Our results show that we outperform other methods on all benchmarks by significant margins. Our model is available to developers through the Sighthound Cloud API at https://www.sighthound.com/products/cloudComment: 7 Page

Evaluación del confort térmico urbano por medio de la temperatura fisiológica equivalente (PET), en la ciudad de Mendoza

La climatología urbana se ha dedicado a estudiar los balances de energía de la ciudad a fin de establecer las relaciones de temperatura y humedad en su entorno. Debido a la fuerte interacción entre el hombre y el ambiente construido, la ciudad puede modificar el balance térmico establecido. El presente trabajo estudia el confort biometeorológico bajo diversas condiciones constructivas y de verde urbano de la ciudad de Mendoza. Para lo cual se han recopilado datos de dos años de mediciones simultáneas entre diferentes puntos. Uno de los indicadores bioclimáticos actualmente más usado es el PET (Physiological Equivalent Temperature). Se presenta el uso de PET el cual muestra diferencias de hasta 15ºC entre zonas bajo la corona de especies arbóreas y zonas hormigonadas. Se concluye en la necesidad de seleccionar y preservar especies arbóreas debido a su rol en la disminución de la radiación directa y consecuentemente mejora del confort.Urban climatology has been devoted to study the energy balances of the city to establish the relationship of temperature and humidity in their environment. Due to the strong interaction between man and the built environment the city can change the established heat balance. This paper studies the biometeorological comfort in the city of Mendoza under various constructive conditions and urban green spaces. These conditions were analyzed using meteorological data of simultaneous measurements between different points for a two years period. One of the most widely used bioclimatic indicators is currently the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). We report the use of PET which shows differences up to 15 °C between areas under the crown of tree species and paved areas. The conclusion reinforces the need to select and preserve urban tree species due to its role in reducing the direct radiation and in improving the urban thermal comfort.Asociación Argentina de Energías Renovables y Medio Ambiente (ASADES

Evaluación del confort térmico urbano por medio de la temperatura fisiológica equivalente (PET), en la ciudad de Mendoza

La climatología urbana se ha dedicado a estudiar los balances de energía de la ciudad a fin de establecer las relaciones de temperatura y humedad en su entorno. Debido a la fuerte interacción entre el hombre y el ambiente construido, la ciudad puede modificar el balance térmico establecido. El presente trabajo estudia el confort biometeorológico bajo diversas condiciones constructivas y de verde urbano de la ciudad de Mendoza. Para lo cual se han recopilado datos de dos años de mediciones simultáneas entre diferentes puntos. Uno de los indicadores bioclimáticos actualmente más usado es el PET (Physiological Equivalent Temperature). Se presenta el uso de PET el cual muestra diferencias de hasta 15ºC entre zonas bajo la corona de especies arbóreas y zonas hormigonadas. Se concluye en la necesidad de seleccionar y preservar especies arbóreas debido a su rol en la disminución de la radiación directa y consecuentemente mejora del confort.Urban climatology has been devoted to study the energy balances of the city to establish the relationship of temperature and humidity in their environment. Due to the strong interaction between man and the built environment the city can change the established heat balance. This paper studies the biometeorological comfort in the city of Mendoza under various constructive conditions and urban green spaces. These conditions were analyzed using meteorological data of simultaneous measurements between different points for a two years period. One of the most widely used bioclimatic indicators is currently the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). We report the use of PET which shows differences up to 15 °C between areas under the crown of tree species and paved areas. The conclusion reinforces the need to select and preserve urban tree species due to its role in reducing the direct radiation and in improving the urban thermal comfort.Asociación Argentina de Energías Renovables y Medio Ambiente (ASADES

Evaluación del confort térmico urbano por medio de la temperatura fisiológica equivalente (PET), en la ciudad de Mendoza

La climatología urbana se ha dedicado a estudiar los balances de energía de la ciudad a fin de establecer las relaciones de temperatura y humedad en su entorno. Debido a la fuerte interacción entre el hombre y el ambiente construido, la ciudad puede modificar el balance térmico establecido. El presente trabajo estudia el confort biometeorológico bajo diversas condiciones constructivas y de verde urbano de la ciudad de Mendoza. Para lo cual se han recopilado datos de dos años de mediciones simultáneas entre diferentes puntos. Uno de los indicadores bioclimáticos actualmente más usado es el PET (Physiological Equivalent Temperature). Se presenta el uso de PET el cual muestra diferencias de hasta 15ºC entre zonas bajo la corona de especies arbóreas y zonas hormigonadas. Se concluye en la necesidad de seleccionar y preservar especies arbóreas debido a su rol en la disminución de la radiación directa y consecuentemente mejora del confort.Urban climatology has been devoted to study the energy balances of the city to establish the relationship of temperature and humidity in their environment. Due to the strong interaction between man and the built environment the city can change the established heat balance. This paper studies the biometeorological comfort in the city of Mendoza under various constructive conditions and urban green spaces. These conditions were analyzed using meteorological data of simultaneous measurements between different points for a two years period. One of the most widely used bioclimatic indicators is currently the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). We report the use of PET which shows differences up to 15 °C between areas under the crown of tree species and paved areas. The conclusion reinforces the need to select and preserve urban tree species due to its role in reducing the direct radiation and in improving the urban thermal comfort.Asociación Argentina de Energías Renovables y Medio Ambiente (ASADES

Depth Data Error Modeling of the ZED 3D Vision Sensor from Stereolabs

The ZED camera is binocular vision system that can be used to provide a 3D perception of the world. It can be applied in autonomous robot navigation, virtual reality, tracking, motion analysis and so on. This paper proposes a mathematical error model for depth data estimated by the ZED camera with its several resolutions of operation. For doing that, the ZED is attached to a Nvidia Jetson TK1 board providing an embedded system that is used for processing raw data acquired by ZED from a 3D checkerboard. Corners are extracted from the checkerboard using RGB data, and a 3D reconstruction is done for these points using disparity data calculated from the ZED camera, coming up with a partially ordered, and regularly distributed (in 3D space) point cloud of corners with given coordinates, which are computed by the device software. These corners also have their ideal world (3D) positions known with respect to the coordinate frame origin that is empirically set in the pattern. Both given (computed)  coordinates from the camera’s data and known (ideal) coordinates of a corner can, thus, be compared for estimating the error between the given and ideal point locations of the detected corner cloud. Subsequently, using a curve fitting technique, we obtain the equations that model the RMS (Root Mean Square) error. This procedure is repeated for several resolutions of the ZED sensor, and at several distances. Results showed its best effectiveness with a maximum distance of approximately sixteen meters, in real time, which allows its use in robotic or other online applications

A beam-beam monitoring detector for the MPD experiment at NICA

The Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) is to be installed at the Nuclotron Ion Collider fAcility (NICA) of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). Its main goal is to study the phase diagram of the strongly interacting matter produced in heavy-ion collisions. These studies, while providing insight into the physics of heavy-ion collisions, are relevant for improving our understanding of the evolution of the early Universe and the formation of neutron stars. In order to extend the MPD trigger capabilities, we propose to include a high granularity beam-beam monitoring detector (BE-BE) to provide a level-0 trigger signal with an expected time resolution of 30 ps. This new detector will improve the determination of the reaction plane by the MPD experiment, a key measurement for flow studies that provides physics insight into the early stages of the reaction. In this work, we use simulated Au+Au collisions at NICA energies to show the potential of such a detector to determine the event plane resolution, providing further redundancy to the detectors originally considered for this purpose namely, the Fast Forward Detector (FFD) and the Hadron Calorimeter (HCAL). We also show our results for the time resolution studies of two prototype cells carried out at the T10 beam line at the CERN PS complex.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Updated to published version with added comments and correction

Cardiac Insulin Resistance in Subjects With Metabolic Syndrome Traits and Early Subclinical Atherosclerosis.

OBJECTIVE Experimental evidence suggests that metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with changes in cardiac metabolism. Whether this association occurs in humans is unknown. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS 821 asymptomatic individuals from the Progression of Early Subclinical Atherosclerosis (PESA) study (50.6 [46.9-53.6] years, 83.7% male) underwent two whole-body 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-magnetic resonance (18F-FDG PET-MR) 4.8 ± 0.6 years apart. Presence of myocardial 18F-FDG uptake was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. No myocardial uptake was grade 0, while positive uptake was classified in grades 1-3 according to target-to-background ratio tertiles. RESULTS One hundred fifty-six participants (19.0%) showed no myocardial 18F-FDG uptake, and this was significantly associated with higher prevalence of MetS (29.0% vs. 13.9%, P < 0.001), hypertension (29.0% vs. 18.0%, P = 0.002), and diabetes (11.0% vs. 3.2%, P < 0.001), and with higher insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR, 1.64% vs. 1.23%, P < 0.001). Absence of myocardial uptake was associated with higher prevalence of early atherosclerosis (i.e., arterial 18F-FDG uptake, P = 0.004). On follow-up, the associations between myocardial 18F-FDG uptake and risk factors were replicated, and MetS was more frequent in the group without myocardial uptake. The increase in HOMA-IR was associated with a progressive decrease in myocardial uptake (P < 0.001). In 82% of subjects, the categorization according to presence/absence of myocardial 18F-FDG uptake did not change between baseline and follow-up. MetS regression on follow-up was associated with a significant (P < 0.001) increase in myocardial uptake. CONCLUSIONS Apparently healthy individuals without cardiac 18F-FDG uptake have higher HOMA-IR and higher prevalence of MetS traits, cardiovascular risk factors, and early atherosclerosis. An improvement in cardiometabolic profile is associated with the recovery of myocardial 18F-FDG uptake at follow-up.The PESA study is funded by the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) and Santander Bank. B.I. is supported by the European Commission (grant numbers 819775 and 945118), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019- 110369RB-I00), and by the Red Madrilena de ~ Nanomedicina en Imagen Molecular-Comunidad de Madrid (S2017/BMD-3867 RENIM-CM). A.D. is an Alfonso Martin Escudero fellow and is scientifically supported by La Caixa Foundation. The CNIC is supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MCIN), and the Pro CNIC Foundation, and is a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence (grant CEX2020-001041-S funded by MICIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033).S

JASON-1 CALVAL experiences in Cape of Begur and Ibiza island

The direct and indirect calibration experiences made at the Cape of Begur area in 1999, 2000 and 2002, for Topex/Poseidon and at the Ibiza island in 2003 have contributed to the international campaigns made at Harvest (USA), Corsica (France) and Bass (Australia). The main objective of IBIZA 2003 campaign has been the determination of the instantaneous sea surface/marine geoid gradient along Jason-1 tracks using a GPS catamaran and a network of GPS located in Portinatx and Ibiza and San Antonio harbours. The marine geoid will be used to relate the tide gauge coastal data with the altimeter data. We present the first results obtained with static and kinematic analysis of the data using different softwares.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version