Efficient road detection and tracking for unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract - An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has many applications in a variety of fields. Detection and tracking of a specific road in UAV videos play an important role in automatic UAV navigation, traffic monitoring, and ground–vehicle tracking, and also is very helpful for constructing road networks for modeling and simulation. In this paper, an efficient road detection and tracking framework in UAV videos is proposed. In particular, a graph-cut–based detection approach is given to accurately extract a specified road region during the initialization stage and in the middle of tracking process, and a fast homography-based road-tracking scheme is developed to automatically track road areas. The high efficiency of our framework is attributed to two aspects: the road detection is performed only when it is necessary and most work in locating the road is rapidly done via very fast homography-based tracking. Experiments are conducted on UAV videos of real road scenes we captured and downloaded from the Internet. The promising results indicate the effectiveness of our proposed framework, with the precision of 98.4% and processing 34 frames per second for 1046 x 595 videos on average.

Do the numbers and locations of road-killed anuran carcasses accurately reflect impacts of vehicular traffic?

Road-killed animals are easy and inexpensive to survey, and may provide information about species distributions, abundances, and mortality rates. As with any sampling method, however, we need to explore methodological biases in such data. First, how does an animal's behavior (e.g., use of the center vs. periphery of the road) influence its vulnerability to vehicular traffic? Second, how rapidly do post-mortem processes (scavenging by other animals, destruction or displacement by subsequent vehicles) change the numbers and locations of roadkills? Our surveys of anurans on a highway in tropical Australia show that different anuran species are distributed in different ways across the width of the road, and that locations of live versus dead animals sometimes differ within a species. Experimental trials show that location on the road affects the probability of being hit by a vehicle, with anurans in the middle of the road begin hit 35% more often than anurans on the edges; thus, center-using species are more likely to be hit than edge-using taxa. The magnitude of post-mortem displacement and destruction by subsequent vehicles depended on anuran species and body size. The mean parallel displacement distance was 122.7 cm, and carcasses of thin-skinned species exhibited greater post-mortem destruction. Scavenging raptors removed 73% of carcasses, most within a few hours of sunrise. Removal rates were biased with respect to size and species. Overall, our studies suggest that investigators should carefully evaluate potential biases before using roadkill counts to estimate underlying animal abundances or mortality rates.

An assessment of existing bicycle advisory pavement marking on urban roads

Bicycle advisory treatments are used to advise road users of the potential presence of cyclists and of the location where cyclists may be expected to ride on a road. They include pavement markings, warning signs, guide signs, and as such have no regulatory function. The most common type of bicycle advisory pavement markings is the shared lane marking. Other forms of bicycle advisory pavement marking have also been trialled and used in several local jurisdictions. The bicycle awareness zone is an example of such facility which has been trialled and used in southeast Queensland, Australia since the late 1990s. A bicycle awareness zone is similar to shared lane marking in principle but differs in the type of logo and, in some cases, location of its placement on the road. This study assesses the operational and safety issues at three bicycle awareness zone sites by analysing video-assisted observation data collected in 2011 by Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, Australia. Of the several applications of bicycle awareness zones, this study only covers a particular application where the centre of the bicycle symbol is placed exactly over the parking edge line. Unlike previous studies, which mostly covered before-and-after evaluations of bicycle advisory pavement markings, the focus of this study is to assess whether the placement of bicycle awareness zone symbols has been successful. The aggregated results from video-assisted observational data show that the cyclists did not always track themselves over the centre of the symbols. Rather, both the cyclists' lateral tracking positions and road user interactions varied with the widths of kerbside parallel parking space. Since the bicycle awareness zone symbols are not positioned on the cyclists' desired line of ride on some roads, their operational effectiveness and safety value are questioned.

Association between perception of fault for the crash and function, return to work and health status 1 year after road traffic injury: a registry-based cohort study

Objectives To establish the association between the patient's perception of fault for the crash and 12-month outcomes after non-fatal road traffic injury.Setting Two adult major trauma centres, one regional trauma centre and one metropolitan trauma centre in Victoria, Australia.Participants 2605 adult, orthopaedic trauma patients covered by the state's no-fault third party insurer for road traffic injury, injured between September 2010 and February 2014.Outcome measures EQ-5D-3L, return to work and functional recovery (Glasgow Outcome Scale—Extended score of upper good recovery) at 12 months postinjury.Results After adjusting for key confounders, the adjusted relative risk (ARR) of a functional recovery (0.57, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.69) and return to work (0.92, 95% CI 0.86 to 0.99) were lower for the not at fault compared to the at fault group. The ARR of reporting problems on EQ-5D items was 1.20–1.35 times higher in the not at fault group. Conclusions Patients who were not at fault, or denied being at fault despite a police report of fault, experienced poorer outcomes than the at fault group. Attributing fault to others was associated with poorer outcomes. Interventions to improve coping, or to resolve negative feelings from the crash, could facilitate better outcomes in the future.

Vehicle motion simulators, a key step towards road vehicle dynamics improvement

Real road vehicle tests are time consuming, laborious, and costly, and involve several safety concerns. Road vehicle motion simulators (RVMS) could assist with vehicle testing, and eliminate or reduce the difficulties traditionally associated with conducting vehicle tests. However, such simulators must exhibit a high level of fidelity and accuracy in order to provide realistic and reliable outcomes. In this paper, we review existing RVMS and discuss each of the major RVMS subsystems related to the research and development of vehicle dynamics. The possibility of utilising motion simulators to conduct ride and handling test scenarios is also investigated.

Signs and codes in early childhood: An investigation of young children’s creative approaches to communication

PEOPLE COMMUNICATE AND MAKE meaning through the use of the signs, codes and rules of their community and its language/s. On the way to learning these signs, codes and rules, children often create or invent their own unique and sometimes temporary systems of meaning making. In this paper we use Vygotsky’s concept of semiotic mediation and Bernstein’s code theory to reflect on some examples of children’s creative approaches to communication that involved the creation and use of signs. We will argue that young language learners’ invention of their own languages and creative use of drawing as a form of sign creation are symbolic expressions of their intent to generate and reinforce desired social and cultural situations of learning. We conclude that individuals mediate social and individual functioning in order to make meaning of their world, and argue for a move away from viewing second language learning and emergent writing as static sets of abilities to a more dynamic interpretation.

The Road from Marja: Wounded in Afghanistan, Capt. Erik Quist '99, USMC, sees another side of combat

Marine Corps Capt. Erik Quist ’99 had fought in two wars. Now he fights again as he recovers from severe wounds suffered in Afghanistan.

"Se meu jipe falasse" : a experiência de consumo dos usuários de veículos off road

Este estudo adota a perspectiva experiencial, trazendo a noção de consumo hedônico e de experiência de consumo para o âmbito do marketing e do comportamento do consumidor. Partese do pressuposto de que entender o consumo exige ir além do processo de decisão de compra e admitir que aquilo que os consumidores fazem e a forma como utilizam os bens adquiridos também influencia seus comportamentos. Mas, acima de tudo, exige a visão do consumidor como um indivíduo emocionalmente envolvido com o consumo, processo pelo qual estímulos sensoriais, a imaginação e aspectos emotivos são procurados e apreciados. A investigação teve por objetivo compreender a experiência dos consumidores em situações de uso e consumo dos produtos através da análise dos elementos que a compõem: o contexto, os estímulos sensoriais, os processos cognitivos, as respostas afetivas, as atividades e o processo de avaliação do produto e da experiência em si. A categoria de produtos escolhida foi a de veículos fora-de-estrada, em função do potencial multiuso e da possibilidade de proporcionar desde simples viagens a grandes aventuras. Para atingir os objetivos propostos foi utilizada a Técnica de Elicitação Fotográfica (PET), que permitiu à pesquisadora se aproximar da experiência real vivenciada pelos consumidores através das imagens visuais que os mesmos foram solicitados a trazer para as entrevistas. Os resultados encontrados apontam não apenas para a riqueza e o profundo entendimento a respeito dos consumidores possibilitado pela análise de suas experiências, mas também o quanto a estimulação visual pode ser uma grande aliada dos pesquisadores quando o objetivo da investigação é entender comportamentos de consumo, a relação das pessoas com seus objetos de desejo, as relações sociais que são possibilitadas através das posses e como as experiências em si (e não apenas as características funcionais dos produto) contribuem para a expressão da identidade, auto-conceito e estilo de vida dos consumidores.

Evaluation of electrophoretic profile and albumin quota in the cerebrospinal fluid of dogs with distemper showing or not neurvous signs

Estudaram-se o perfil eletroforético das proteínas liquóricas e a cota de albumina em cães sem e com cinomose na fase neurológica e não-neurológica. A punção da cisterna magna para a obtenção de amostras de liquor realizou-se em 30 cães. Analisaram-se teores de proteínas totais, cota de albumina e fracionamento eletroforético das proteínas liquóricas em gel de agarose. Os resultados foram semelhantes nos cães normais e nos cães com cinomose sem sinais neurológicos e significativamente elevados no grupo de cães com cinomose apresentando sinais neurológicos. O estudo do quadro protéico do líquido cérebroespinhal foi útil e contribuiu significativamente na detecção de lesões ao sistema nervoso central e de danos à barreira hematoencefálica durante a fase neurológica da cinomose.

Molecular diagnosis of Anaplasmataceae organisms in dogs with clinical and microscopical signs of ehrlichiosis

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Impact of Road Clearings on the Movements of Three Understory Insectivorous Bird Species in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Object-Space Road Extraction in Rural Areas Using Stereoscopic Aerial Images

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Three-Dimensional Semiautomatic Road Extraction From a High-Resolution Aerial Image by Dynamic-Programming Optimization in the Object Space

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)