Commodity Trade Stabilization Through International Agreements

We introduce a simple and efficient procedure for the segmentation of rigidly moving objects, imaged under an affine camera model. For this purpose we revisit the theory of "linear combination of views" (LCV), proposed by Ullman and Basri [20], which states that the set of 2d views of an object undergoing 3d rigid transformations, is embedded in a low-dimensional linear subspace that is spanned by a small number of basis views. Our work shows, that one may use this theory for motion segmentation, and cluster the trajectories of 3d objects using only two 2d basis views. We therefore propose a practical motion segmentation method, built around LCV, that is very simple to implement and use, and in addition is very fast, meaning it is well suited for real-time SfM and tracking applications. We have experimented on real image sequences, where we show good segmentation results, comparable to the state-of-the-art in literature. If we also consider computational complexity, our proposed method is one of the best performers in combined speed and accuracy. © 2011. The copyright of this document resides with its authors

Teaching Policy Instrument Choice in Environmental Law: The Five P’s

Abstract. We introduce a method to combine the color channels of an image to a scalar valued image. Linear combinations of the RGB chan-nels are constructed using the Fisher-Trace-Information (FTI), defined as the trace of the Fisher information matrix of the Weibull distribu-tion, as a cost function. The FTI characterizes the local geometry of the Weibull manifold independent of the parametrization of the distribution. We show that minimizing the FTI leads to contrast enhanced images, suitable for segmentation processes. The Riemann structure of the man-ifold of Weibull distributions is used to design optimization methods for finding optimal weight RGB vectors. Using a threshold procedure we find good solutions even for images with limited content variation. Ex-periments show how the method adapts to images with widely varying visual content. Using these image dependent de-colorizations one can ob-tain substantially improved segmentation results compared to a mapping with pre-defined coefficients

Ressenyes

A. PANIAGUA, ; R. BRYANT and T. KIZOS (eds.), The Political Ecology of Depopulation: Inequality, Landscape and People. Saragossa: CEDDAR, 2012

El projecte CLICO presenta les seves conclusions

El projecte internacional CLICO (Climate Change, Hydro Conflicts and Human security), liderat per l'ICTA, ha reunit a Nicòsia (Xipre), investigadors de 14 institucions per donar a conèixer i debatre els resultats dels estudis realitzats al llarg de tres anys en diverses àrees del Mediterrani, Orient Mitjà i del Sahel per investigar les dimensions socials del canvi climàtic i en particular els conflictes relacionats amb l'aigua. Els investigadors indiquen que el canvi climàtic juga per ara un paper secundari en l'origen i l'agreujament d'aquests conflictes i fa una crida a evitar discursos polítics que els vinculin directament sens considerar el paper d'altres factors polítics i socioeconòmics.El proyecto internacional CLICO (Climate Change, Hydro Conflicts and Human security), liderado por el ICTA, ha reunido en Nicosia (Chipre) a investigadores de 14 instituciones los días 10 y 11 de diciembre para presentar y debatir los resultados de los estudios realizados a lo largo de tres años en varias áreas del Mediterráneo, Oriente Medio y Sahel para investigar las dimensiones sociales del cambio climático, y en particular los conflictos relacionados con el agua. Los investigadores indican que el cambio climático juega de momento un papel secundario en el origen o agravamineto de estos conflictos y hace un llamamiento a evitar discursos políticos que los vinculen directamente, sin considerar el papel de otros factores políticos y socio-económicos.The international project CLICO (Climate Change, Hydro Conflicts and Human security), led by ICTA, united researchers from 14 institutions in Nicosia on 10 and 11 December to present and debate the results of studies on water, conflict and security conducted in the past three years in a variety of locations in the Mediterranean, Middle East and the Sahel. The CLICO project explored the social dimensions of climate change and in particular, conflicts related to water, and the threats this may pose for national and human security. The results found that climate change plays a secondary role -at least for the time being- in the origin or aggravation of social conflicts linked to water and that political discourses must avoid directly linking them without first taking into account other political and socio-economic factors

Pose-invariant, model-based object recognition, using linear combination of views and Bayesian statistics

This thesis presents an in-depth study on the problem of object recognition, and in particular the detection of 3-D objects in 2-D intensity images which may be viewed from a variety of angles. A solution to this problem remains elusive to this day, since it involves dealing with variations in geometry, photometry and viewing angle, noise, occlusions and incomplete data. This work restricts its scope to a particular kind of extrinsic variation; variation of the image due to changes in the viewpoint from which the object is seen. A technique is proposed and developed to address this problem, which falls into the category of view-based approaches, that is, a method in which an object is represented as a collection of a small number of 2-D views, as opposed to a generation of a full 3-D model. This technique is based on the theoretical observation that the geometry of the set of possible images of an object undergoing 3-D rigid transformations and scaling may, under most imaging conditions, be represented by a linear combination of a small number of 2-D views of that object. It is therefore possible to synthesise a novel image of an object given at least two existing and dissimilar views of the object, and a set of linear coefficients that determine how these views are to be combined in order to synthesise the new image. The method works in conjunction with a powerful optimization algorithm, to search and recover the optimal linear combination coefficients that will synthesize a novel image, which is as similar as possible to the target, scene view. If the similarity between the synthesized and the target images is above some threshold, then an object is determined to be present in the scene and its location and pose are defined, in part, by the coefficients. The key benefits of using this technique is that because it works directly with pixel values, it avoids the need for problematic, low-level feature extraction and solution of the correspondence problem. As a result, a linear combination of views (LCV) model is easy to construct and use, since it only requires a small number of stored, 2-D views of the object in question, and the selection of a few landmark points on the object, the process which is easily carried out during the offline, model building stage. In addition, this method is general enough to be applied across a variety of recognition problems and different types of objects. The development and application of this method is initially explored looking at two-dimensional problems, and then extending the same principles to 3-D. Additionally, the method is evaluated across synthetic and real-image datasets, containing variations in the objects’ identity and pose. Future work on possible extensions to incorporate a foreground/background model and lighting variations of the pixels are examined

Origin Related Intellectual Property Rights as Best Policy Option for the Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions

PhDOver the past few decades, the protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) has generated lively debates within the international community and the questions of whether TCEs should be protected by Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and if so how, have been of increasing practical concern for TCEs holders and national policyrnakers in various countries. To date, however, work on the protection of TCEs has progressed slowly, and little has emerged in the way of concrete, binding law. Moreover, those instruments proposed as solutions appear unable to meet the range of concerns raised by TCEs holders and culturally-rich developing countries. Concerns raised by TCEs holders can be classified into four main categories. Firstly, they stress the difficulties they encounter in preventing and/or controlling the commercial use of their TCEs by third parties and in benefiting from this commercial isation themselves. Secondly, they express concerns about the inappropriate and offensive use of their TCEs. Thirdly, they wish to be attributed for their TCEs as well as have the possibility to object to any false attribution. Finally, they emphasise the need to ensure the identification and preservation of existing TCEs as well as their promotion, dissemination and continued evolution. The protection of TCEs was initially envisaged on a copyright model, because of the similarity of subject matter between copyright law and TCEs. However, although copyright law seems well suited to meet some of the needs and objectives of TCEs holders, it is limited in its potential for protecting TCEs. This thesis argues that "origin related intellectual property rights", such as trade marks, certification and collective marks and geographical indications, as well as passing off and laws against misrepresentation appear to be conceptually best suited for the protection of TCEs, because of their specific nature and characteristics. Such characteristics include the fact that they are usually produced within a community, which is often linked to a specific place, and according to traditional methods and know how transmitted from generation to generation, often using raw material from sustainable resources. In addition, this method of protection also seems to accommodate the fact that TCEs are usually already in the public 2 Abstract domain and to take into consideration some of the aims of TCEs holders such as the fact that they would like a protection that is unlimited in time. A system of protection based on origin related IPRs could offer practical advantages for TCEs holders since such category of rights used as such or with minor adaptations would enable them to obtain quick, practical and effective protection. In addition, there would be no need for the creation of a new sui generis IP or IP related system, which would take a long time to establish and may not be politically feasible anyway. The proposed approach will admittedly not address all the concerns of TCEs holders, but it will provide a balanced and workable compromise solution that could satisfy most of their concerns and policy objectives