Computer Vision has graduated from a research tool in early 1960s to a mature discipline today. The developments in cameras, computers and memory have contributed in part to this maturing of computer vision. Namely, there is an explosive growth in the number of cameras in public places, the speed of computers has increased significantly and the price of memory has spectacularly decreased. The word camera may be used in a very broad sense since the imaging modalities range from the usual cameras imaging a visual intensity image to thermal image and laser range image. In addition, several applications of computer vision technology are contributing to the solution of a diverse set of societal problems.

Human activities

At The University of Texas at Austin, we are pursuing a number of projects on human activity understanding and face/emotion recognition. Professor Aggarwal will present his research on modeling and recognition of actions and interactions, and human and object interactions. The
object may be a piece of luggage, a car or an unmovable object like a fence. The applications considered include monitoring of: human activities in public places, identification of abandoned baggage and face and emotion recognition. The issues considered in these problems will illustrate the richness of ideas involved and the difficulties associated with understanding human activities. Application of the above research to monitoring and surveillance will be discussed together with actual examples and their solutions.

Roberto Caldelli will present an application for digital terrestrial television, which allows a user, in possession of the electronic health card (CSE) of the Region of Tuscany, to consult with their Electronic Health Record (ESF) on TV at home. The identity of the user, owner of the CSE, is ensured through a process of client authentication, defined by the Tuscany Region, based on a protocol which provides for asymmetric encryption, HTTPS connection and X509 certificates.

Roberto Caldelli

The application allows to view personal health information in a simple and immediate manner, without the need to provide a smart-card reader and having to install special libraries.

This application is a sample implementation for the supply of value-added services through a strong authentication technique, which can be used in other application scenarios that need to provide, safely, personal information.

The thesis work presented is part of a larger project named Autistic Behavior & Computer-based Didactic & Software (ABCDSW).

The mission of the project is the definition of an educational methodology (according to the model Applied Behavior Analysis – ABA), and the development of open source software tools to enhance and improve, in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, the learning process for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) also through sharing of knowledge.

Fabio Ceccarelli

The need for unconventional learning programs for children with these syndromes coupled to the attraction that most of them have in the technology (mobile phones, computers and other electronic devices) has led to consider the use of computers as means to enhance learning. Starting from this idea, and using a multidisciplinary team, have been defined the main objectives to be achieved:

• definition (and development) of a specific educational methodology to be effective and efficient for children with ASD;
• creation of ad hoc educational software modules for children affected by autism, in the range of 2-6 years;
• development of tools to monitor the level of learning of children during therapy with educators / parents.