280,508 research outputs found
Content based image pose manipulation
No full textThis thesis proposes the application of space-frequency transformations to the domain of pose estimation in images. This idea is explored using the Wavelet Transform with illustrative applications in pose estimation for face images, and images of planar scenes. The approach is based
on examining the spatial frequency components in an image, to allow the inherent scene symmetry balance to be recovered. For face images with restricted pose variation (looking left or right), an algorithm is proposed to maximise this symmetry in order to transform the image
into a fronto-parallel pose. This scheme is further employed to identify the optimal frontal facial pose from a video sequence to automate facial capture processes. These features are an important pre-requisite in facial recognition and expression classification systems. The under
lying principles of this spatial-frequency approach are examined with respect to images with planar scenes. Using the Continuous Wavelet Transform, full perspective planar transformations are estimated within a featureless framework. Restoring central symmetry to the wavelet
transformed images in an iterative optimisation scheme removes this perspective pose. This advances upon existing spatial approaches that require segmentation and feature matching, and frequency only techniques that are limited to affine transformation recovery. To evaluate the proposed techniques, the pose of a database of subjects portraying varying yaw orientations is estimated and the accuracy is measured against the captured ground truth information. Additionally, full perspective homographies for synthesised and imaged textured planes are estimated. Experimental results are presented for both situations that compare favourably with existing techniques in the literature
Between Development and Social Policies: The Impact of European Structural Funds in Objective 1 Regions
No full textRodriguez-Pose A. and Fratesi U. (2004) Between development and social policies: the impact of European Structural Funds in Objective 1 regions, Reg. Studies 38, 97-113. European regional support has grown in parallel with European integration. The funds targeted at achieving greater economic and social cohesion and reducing disparities within the European Union (EU) have more than doubled in relative terms since the end of the 1980s, making development policies the second most important policy area in the EU. The majority of the development funds have been earmarked for Objective 1 regions, i.e. regions where GDP per capita is below the 75% threshold of the EU average. However, the European development policies have come under increasing criticism based on two facts: the lack of upward mobility of assisted regions; and the absence of regional convergence. This paper assesses, using cross-sectional and panel data analyses, the failure so far of European development policies to fulfil their objective of delivering greater economic and social cohesion by examining how European Structural Fund support is allocated among different development axes in Objective 1 regions. We find that, despite the concentration of development funds on infrastructure and, to a lesser extent, on business support, the returns to commitments on these axes are not significant. Support to agriculture has short-term positive effects on growth, but these wane quickly, and only investment in education and human capital - which only represents about one-eight of the total commitments - has medium-term positive and significant returns.Development policy, Structural Funds, Convergence, Cohesion, Objective 1, European Union, Politique de developpement, Fonds structurels, Convergence, Cohesion, Objectif 1, Union europeenne, Entwicklungspolitik, Strukturfond, Konvergenz, Kohasion, Objektiv 1, Europaische Union, Politica de desarrollo, Fondos Estructurales, Convergencia, Cohesion, Objectivo 1, Union Europea,
Mountains in a flat world: why proximity still matters for the location of economic activity
No full textThomas Friedman (2005, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) argues that the expansion of trade, the internationalization of firms, the galloping process of outsourcing and the possibility of networking are creating a 'flat world': a level playing field where individuals are empowered and better off. This paper challenges this view of the world by arguing that not all territories have the same capacity to maximize the benefits and opportunities and minimize the risks linked to globalization. Numerous forces are coalescing in order to provoke the emergence of urban 'mountains' where wealth, economic activity and innovative capacity agglomerate. The interactions of these forces in the close geographical proximity of large urban areas give shape to a much more complex geography of the world economy. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.
I cicli economici e l’emergere delle economie assistite nella periferia dell’Europa meridionale
No full textOn Using Gait Biometrics to Enhance Face Pose Estimation
No full textMany face biometrics systems use controlled environments where subjects are viewed directly facing the camera. This is less likely to occur in surveillance environments, so a process is required to handle the pose variation of the human head, change in illumination, and low frame rate of input image sequences. This has been achieved using scale invariant features and 3D models to determine the pose of the human subject. Then, a gait trajectory model is generated to obtain the correct the face region whilst handing the looming effect. In this way, we describe a new approach aimed to estimate accurate face pose. The contributions of this research include the construction of a 3D model for pose estimation from planar imagery and the first use of gait information to enhance the face pose estimation process
Filtered Pose Graph for Efficient Kinect Pose Reconstruction
No full textBeing marker-free and calibration free, Microsoft Kinect is nowadays widely used in many motion-based applications, such as user training for complex industrial tasks and ergonomics pose evaluation. The major problem of Kinect is the placement requirement to obtain accurate poses, as well as its weakness against occlusions. To improve the robustness of Kinect in interactive motion-based applications, real-time data driven pose reconstruction has been proposed. The idea is to utilize a database of accurately captured human poses as a prior to optimize the Kinect recognized ones, in order to estimate the true poses performed by the user. The key research problem is to identify the most relevant poses in the database for accurate and efficient reconstruction. In this paper, we propose a new pose reconstruction method based on modelling the pose database with a structure called Filtered Pose Graph, which indicates the intrinsic correspondence between poses. Such a graph not only speeds up the database poses selection process, but also improves the relevance of the selected poses for higher quality reconstruction. We apply the proposed method in a challenging environment of industrial context that involves sub-optimal Kinect placement and a large amount of occlusion. Experimental results show that our real-time system reconstructs Kinect poses more accurately than existing methods
Explaining the scarce returns of European structural policies from a New Economic Geography perspective
No full textThis chapter has analysed the impact of EU development policies in inducing greater economic cohesion in the EU, with special focus on Objective 1 regions. The evidence that convergence has happened at country level, but that lagging regions have generally failed to catch up has been investigated with particular attention paid to the effects of Structural Fund expenditure. The results have highlighted that the Objective 1 commitments have been unbalanced towards infrastructure and business support, and that the economic returns of these development axes have been limited. New economic geography models – despite their diversity – provide some potential explanations for this. Investment in transport infrastructure, in particular, is contributing to greater economic agglomeration, making any change to the present equilibrium situation difficult. Moreover, the improvement of transport infrastructure can itself be a reason for increasing agglomeration and disparities. NEG models point out that infrastructure linking different regions usually tends to favour those regions endowed with a stronger productive fabric, and thus further reinforce agglomeration. This also contributes to explain why the expenditure in human capital, which goes in the direction of providing local economies with better skills to overcome some of the endowment shortcomings of the periphery, has been the only axis to provide significant and durable growth effects in Objective 1 regions
Infrastructure and regional growth in the European Union
No full textTransport infrastructure has represented one of the cornerstones of development and cohesion strategies in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere in the world. However, despite the considerable funds devoted to it, its impact remains controversial. This paper revisits the question of to what extent transport infrastructure endowment – proxied by regional motorways – has contributed to regional growth in the EU between 1990 and 2004. It analyses infrastructure in relationship to other factors which may condition economic growth, such as innovation, migration, and the local ‘social filter’, taking also into account the geographical component of intervention in transport infrastructure and innovation. The results of the two-way fixed-effect (static) and difference GMM (dynamic) panel data regressions indicate that infrastructure endowment is a relatively poor predictor of economic growth and that regional growth in the EU results from a combination of an adequate ‘social filter’, good innovation capacity, both in the region and in neighbouring areas, and a region's capacity to attract migrants. The meagre returns of infrastructure endowment on economic growth raise interesting questions about the opportunity costs of further infrastructure investments across most of Western Europe
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