Motion capture and human pose reconstruction from a single-view video sequence

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We propose a framework to reconstruct the 3D pose of a human for animation from a sequence of single-view video frames. The framework for pose construction starts with background estimation and the performer's silhouette is extracted using image subtraction for each frame. Then the body silhouettes are automatically labeled using a model-based approach. Finally, the 3D pose is constructed from the labeled human silhouette by assuming orthographic projection. The proposed approach does not require camera calibration. It assumes that the input video has a static background, it has no significant perspective effects, and the performer is in an upright position. The proposed approach requires minimal user interaction. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Risk Model Development and Validation for Prediction of Coronary Artery Aneurysms in Kawasaki Disease in a North American Population.

Background Accurate prediction of coronary artery aneurysms ( CAAs ) in patients with Kawasaki disease remains challenging in North American cohorts. We sought to develop and validate a risk model for CAA prediction. Methods and Results A binary outcome of CAA was defined as left anterior descending or right coronary artery Z score ≥2.5 at 2 to 8 weeks after fever onset in a development cohort (n=903) and a validation cohort (n=185) of patients with Kawasaki disease. Associations of baseline clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic variables with later CAA were assessed in the development cohort using logistic regression. Discrimination (c statistic) and calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow) of the final model were evaluated. A practical risk score assigning points to each variable in the final model was created based on model coefficients from the development cohort. Predictors of CAAs at 2 to 8 weeks were baseline Z score of left anterior descending or right coronary artery ≥2.0, age <6 months, Asian race, and C-reactive protein ≥13 mg/ dL (c=0.82 in the development cohort, c=0.93 in the validation cohort). The CAA risk score assigned 2 points for baseline Z score of left anterior descending or right coronary artery ≥2.0 and 1 point for each of the other variables, with creation of low- (0-1), moderate- (2), and high- (3-5) risk groups. The odds of CAA s were 16-fold greater in the high- versus the low-risk groups in the development cohort (odds ratio, 16.4; 95% CI , 9.71-27.7 [ P<0.001]), and >40-fold greater in the validation cohort (odds ratio, 44.0; 95% CI, 10.8-180 [ P<0.001]). Conclusions Our risk model for CAA in Kawasaki disease consisting of baseline demographic, laboratory, and echocardiographic variables had excellent predictive utility and should undergo prospective testing

Optical Flow Estimation versus Motion Estimation

Optical flow estimation is often understood to be identical to dense image based motion estimation. However, only under certain assumptions does optical flow coincide with the projection of the actual 3D motion to the image plane. Most prominently, transparent and glossy scene-surfaces or changes in illumination introduce a difference between the motion of objects in the world and the apparent motion. In this paper we summarize the types of problems occuring in this field and show examples for illustration

Altered Neurocircuitry in the Dopamine Transporter Knockout Mouse Brain

The plasma membrane transporters for the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine modulate the dynamics of these monoamine neurotransmitters. Thus, activity of these transporters has significant consequences for monoamine activity throughout the brain and for a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Gene knockout (KO) mice that reduce or eliminate expression of each of these monoamine transporters have provided a wealth of new information about the function of these proteins at molecular, physiological and behavioral levels. In the present work we use the unique properties of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to probe the effects of altered dopaminergic dynamics on meso-scale neuronal circuitry and overall brain morphology, since changes at these levels of organization might help to account for some of the extensive pharmacological and behavioral differences observed in dopamine transporter (DAT) KO mice. Despite the smaller size of these animals, voxel-wise statistical comparison of high resolution structural MR images indicated little morphological change as a consequence of DAT KO. Likewise, proton magnetic resonance spectra recorded in the striatum indicated no significant changes in detectable metabolite concentrations between DAT KO and wild-type (WT) mice. In contrast, alterations in the circuitry from the prefrontal cortex to the mesocortical limbic system, an important brain component intimately tied to function of mesolimbic/mesocortical dopamine reward pathways, were revealed by manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI). Analysis of co-registered MEMRI images taken over the 26 hours after introduction of Mn^(2+) into the prefrontal cortex indicated that DAT KO mice have a truncated Mn^(2+) distribution within this circuitry with little accumulation beyond the thalamus or contralateral to the injection site. By contrast, WT littermates exhibit Mn^(2+) transport into more posterior midbrain nuclei and contralateral mesolimbic structures at 26 hr post-injection. Thus, DAT KO mice appear, at this level of anatomic resolution, to have preserved cortico-striatal-thalamic connectivity but diminished robustness of reward-modulating circuitry distal to the thalamus. This is in contradistinction to the state of this circuitry in serotonin transporter KO mice where we observed more robust connectivity in more posterior brain regions using methods identical to those employed here

Urine proteomics for discovery of improved diagnostic markers of Kawasaki disease

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology. Absence of definitive diagnostic markers limits the accuracy of clinical evaluations of suspected KD with significant increases in morbidity. In turn, incomplete understanding of its molecular pathogenesis hinders the identification of rational targets needed to improve therapy. We used high-accuracy mass spectrometry proteomics to analyse over 2000 unique proteins in clinical urine specimens of patients with KD. We discovered that urine proteomes of patients with KD, but not those with mimicking conditions, were enriched for markers of cellular injury such as filamin and talin, immune regulators such as complement regulator CSMD3, immune pattern recognition receptor muclin, and immune cytokine protease meprin A. Significant elevations of filamin C and meprin A were detected in both the serum and urine in two independent cohorts of patients with KD, comprised of a total of 236 patients. Meprin A and filamin C exhibited superior diagnostic performance as compared to currently used markers of disease in a blinded case-control study of 107 patients with suspected KD, with receiver operating characteristic areas under the curve of 0.98 (95% confidence intervals [CI] of 0.97–1 and 0.95–1, respectively). Notably, meprin A was enriched in the coronary artery lesions of a mouse model of KD. In all, urine proteome profiles revealed novel candidate molecular markers of KD, including filamin C and meprin A that exhibit excellent diagnostic performance. These disease markers may improve the diagnostic accuracy of clinical evaluations of children with suspected KD, lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets, and allow the development of a biological classification of Kawasaki disease

The Ontology of Security and its Implications for Maritime Security

A substantial number of state and non-state actors have published strategies for maritime security and governance in the last decade. These strategies have been criticized in the sense that they do not reflect the ever-changing nature of security context. The critics mostly deal with adaptation to new risks and threats from an anthropocentric perspective. This study instead focuses on the comparison of the classical and post-classical ontologies of security. It assumes that the classical ontology of security enables certain assumptions while ignoring others. Thus, an ontological critique appears to be a necessity to address the security concerns of the complex global security context adequately. With this, this paper contributes to Christian Bueger’s maritime security matrix from a paradigm-oriented approach. As a result, the paper makes a case for the post-classical ontology of security and defines its main features as diffusion, interrelation, adaptation, non-linearity, and inclusiveness. This paper concludes that the ontological turn would be an asset for sustainable maritime security governance

The contribution of the study of religion and nature to adaptive co-management in polycentric climate governance

The latest developments in climate change science and policy counter the traditional political and economic global structure. In this paper, approaching climate change as a collective action problem, I focused on adaptive co-management (ACM) as an innovative management concept. I assumed that the ACM might help us to inaugurate an inclusive social-ecological contract among humans, and between humans and other species. With the aim of enhancing the concept of adaptive co-management, I benefitted from the analytical studies conducted in the field of religion and nature. I first reviewed the literatures on adaptive co-management, and on religion and nature. Further, I elaborated the concepts of religion, religiosity, and Homo religiosus as well as the development of the religion and nature discipline. I then scrutinized the religious dimension of the ACM, and evaluated the religious challenges to it, using the findings of selected studies. Finally, I discussed the implications of the human mind’s comprehension of (ecological) reality. The conceptual discussion confirmed by the findings indicated that the hegemonic regime of truth still rests on an egocentric cosmology, and this attitude is independent of whether it relies on monotheistic faith or positivist science. In either case, human beings display the characteristics of Homo religiosus, connecting to reality in a dogmatic way

Cosmology of the Ergene River Pollution

The Ergene River has a length of 283 km within the European part of Turkey, which is also known as the Thrace Region, and its river basin area is 14,945.85 km2 that consists of agricultural lands noted for high fertility. It is born from Tekirdag, one of the three provinces of the region; passes through Kirklareli; and unites with the Evros River, the transboundary water connecting Greece and Turkey, in Edirne. Both rivers disembogue themselves into the Aegean Sea from the Saros Bay, which became one of the eighteen specially protected environment areas in 2010 due to its considerable biological diversity and seawater quality. However, the anti-ecological practices induced by industrialization and urbanization policies since the 1970s have had hazardous effects on the Ergene River ecosystems entirely, and particularly on the ground and surface waters. Benefitting from the related literature that has emerged since then, I aim to focus here on the pollution of the Ergene River as an outcome of the hegemonic cosmology in Turkey