A tool for fast ground truth generation for object detection and tracking from video

Object detection and tracking is one of the most important components in computer vision applications. To carefully evaluate the performance of detection and tracking algorithms, it is important to develop benchmark data sets. One of the most tedious and error-prone aspects when developing benchmarks, is the generation of the ground truth. This paper presents FAST-GT (FAst Semi-automatic Tool for Ground Truth generation), a new generic framework for the semiautomatic generation of ground truths. FAST-GT reduces the need for manual intervention thus speeding-up the ground-truthing process

RASW: A run-time adaptive sliding window to improve Viola-Jones object detection

Abstract—In recent years accurate algorithms for detecting objects in images have been developed. Among these algorithms, the object detection scheme proposed by Viola and Jones gained great popularity, especially after the release of high-quality face classifiers by the OpenCV group. However, as any other slidingwindow based object detector, it is affected by a strong increase in the computational cost as the size of the scene grows. Especially in real-time applications, a search strategy based on a sliding window can be computationally too expensive. In this paper, we propose an efficient approach to adapt at run time the sliding window step size in order to speed-up the detection task without compromising the accuracy. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed Run-time Adaptive Sliding Window (RASW) in improving the performance of Viola-Jones object detection by providing better throughput-accuracy tradeoffs. When comparing our approach with the OpenCV face detection implementation, we obtain up to 2.03x speedup in frames per second without any loss in accuracy

Knowledge and Health Care resource allocation: CME/CPD course guidelines-based efficacy

Background: Most Health Care Systems consider Continuing Medical Education a potential tool to improve quality of care and reduce disease management costs. Its efficacy in general practitioners needs to be further explored. Objective: This study assesses the effectiveness of a one-year continuing medical education/continuing professional development course for general practitioners, regarding the improvement in knowledge of ARIA and GINA guidelines and compliance with them in asthma management. Methods: Sixty general practitioners, covering 68,146 inhabitants, were randomly allocated to continuing medical education/continuing professional development (five residential events + four short distance-learning refresher courses over one year) or no training. Participants completed a questionnaire after each continuing medical education event; key questions were repeated at least twice. The Local Health Unit prescription database was used to verify prescription habits (diagnostic investigations and pharmacological therapy) and hospitalizations over one year before and after training. Results: Fourteen general practitioners (46.7%) reached the cut-off of 50% attendance of the training courses. Knowledge improved significantly after training (p<0.001, correct answers to key questions +13%). Training resulted in pharmaceutical cost containment (trained general practitioners +0.5% vs controls +18.8%) and greater attention to diagnosis and monitoring (increase in spirometry +63.4%, p<0.01). Conclusion: This study revealed an encouraging impact of educational events on improvement in general practitioner knowledge of guidelines and daily practice behavioral changes. Long-term studies of large populations are required to assess the effectiveness of education on the behavior of physicians in asthma management, and to establish the best format for educational events

Knowledge and health care resource allocation: CME/CPD course guidelines-based efficacy.

BACKGROUND: Most health care systems consider continuing medical education a potential tool to improve quality of care and reduce disease management costs. Its efficacy in general practitioners needs to be further explored. OBJECTIVE: This study assesses the effectiveness of a one-year continuing medical education/continuing professional development course for general practitioners, regarding the improvement in knowledge of ARIA and GINA guidelines and compliance with them in asthma management. METHODS: Sixty general practitioners, covering 68,146 inhabitants, were randomly allocated to continuing medical education/continuing professional development (five residential events +four short distance-learning refresher courses over one year) or no training. Participants completed a questionnaire after each continuing medical education event; key questions were repeated at least twice. The Local Health Unit prescription database was used to verify prescription habits (diagnostic investigations and pharmacological therapy) and hospitalizations over one year before and after training. RESULTS: Fourteen general practitioners (46.7%) reached the cut-off of 50% attendance of the training courses. Knowledge improved significantly after training (p < 0.001, correct answers to key questions +13%). Training resulted in pharmaceutical cost containment (trained general practitioners +0.5% vs. controls +18.8%) and greater attention to diagnosis and monitoring (increase in spirometry +63.4%, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: This study revealed an encouraging impact of educational events on improvement in general practitioner knowledge of guidelines and daily practice behavioral changes. Long-term studies of large populations are required to assess the effectiveness of education on the behavior of physicians in asthma management, and to establish the best format for educational events

Digital circuit realization of piecewise affine functions with non-uniform resolution: theory and FPGA implementation

none3This brief proposes a digital circuit architecture implementing a class of continuous piecewise-affine (PWA) functions. The work rests on a previous architecture realizing PWA functions with uniform resolution. By using PWA mapping that can be implemented through a few simple functional blocks, it is possible to extend the representation capabilities of the architecture to PWA functions with nonuniform resolution. After defining the mapping and the corresponding functional blocks, the proposed architecture is implemented in a field-programmable gate array, and a simple example is shown.POGGI T; COMASCHI F; M. STORACEPoggi, T; Comaschi, F; Storace, Marc

RASW : a Run-time Adaptive Sliding Window to Improve Viola-Jones object detection.

Abstract—In recent years accurate algorithms for detecting objects in images have been developed. Among these algorithms, the object detection scheme proposed by Viola and Jones gained great popularity, especially after the release of high-quality face classifiers by the OpenCV group. However, as any other slidingwindow based object detector, it is affected by a strong increase in the computational cost as the size of the scene grows. Especially in real-time applications, a search strategy based on a sliding window can be computationally too expensive. In this paper, we propose an efficient approach to adapt at run time the sliding window step size in order to speed-up the detection task without compromising the accuracy. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed Run-time Adaptive Sliding Window (RASW) in improving the performance of Viola-Jones object detection by providing better throughput-accuracy tradeoffs. When comparing our approach with the OpenCV face detection implementation, we obtain up to 2.03x speedup in frames per second without any loss in accuracy