Point Set Registration method in computer vision is aimed to find accurate transformation paramet... more Point Set Registration method in computer vision is aimed to find accurate transformation parameters which register or match two sets of points when their correspondences are unknown. In this report, an astrophysics based algorithm Gravitational Approach (GA) for rigid point set registration is proposed which analytically solves the correspondences matching by estimating correct and accurate transformation parameters assuming all points are moving in a viscous space. We formulate GA as a modified N-Body problem which is scalable and massively parallizable. Modified N-body problem in combination with orthogonal Procrustes problem resolves transformation iteratively.
Lying at the junction of Asia's mightiest mountain ranges − the Himalayas, Karakoram, Hindu K... more Lying at the junction of Asia's mightiest mountain ranges − the Himalayas, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, and Tine Shan − the individual valleys of the Pamir Mountains share a rich and common flora, fauna, and geography. The residents of the Pamirs, given their remoteness combined with high rates of poverty, have traditionally relied on local plants with purportedly medicinal value to treat sicknesses. Environmental, political, social, and economic developments over the past century, though, have had a negative impact on this traditional system of medicine. Thus, this study has sought to document indigenous knowledge of these medicinal plants − including their varying names, preparations, and usages − as well as the availability of these plants and the knowledge of residents in preparing the resultant medicines. To this end, over the past four years, information on the previous and current status of medicinal plants and their trends in natural habitat have been collected and documented ...
3D reconstruction of deformed objects from a single monocular 2D image is still a challenging top... more 3D reconstruction of deformed objects from a single monocular 2D image is still a challenging topic.Current methods either require reference template frame, dense correspondences, or tracking points. Those methods are still not able to recostruct 3D scene in challenging stiuations e.g., occlusion, illumination change, pespective distortion. In this work, we propose a new hybrid approach for monocular non-rigid 3D reconstruction employing deep neural network which we call Hybrid Deformation Model Network(HDMNet). We train the network with sequential deformation state of a non-rigid object. HDM-Net uses contour, texture and shading on 2D single image as clue information of 3D geometry reconstruction. We demonstrate the robustness of HDM-Net against noise, texture change, and illumination position changes. We also show its successful generalisability of 3D coordinates regression for unknown deformation states.
Approximately 70-85% of Afghanistan’s territory is used as rangelands. The rangelands in the Cent... more Approximately 70-85% of Afghanistan’s territory is used as rangelands. The rangelands in the Central Highlands of Afghanistan form the major summer pastures for a great number of livestock and are thus crucial for country’s farming system, which is based on a combination of sedentary farming and migratory livestock keeping. They are the source areas for some of the major rivers in the region, including the Amu, Kabul, and Helmand rivers. In addition, the highland rangelands are key habitats for Afghanistan’s rich biodiversity.
Women's rights have always been a subject of dispute in different societies. In the opin... more Women's rights have always been a subject of dispute in different societies. In the opinion of most people, in spite of the differences of time, place, race, color and religion, the main responsibility of women is to bear, cherish and make her child reach the age of puberty. But in reality, ...
Recovery of correspondences between point sets which differ by some non-rigid transformation is a... more Recovery of correspondences between point sets which differ by some non-rigid transformation is an ill-posed problem. Many existing methods underperform on noisy or corrupted input data. In this study, a novel physics-based approach -- Non-Rigid Gravitational Approach (NRGA) -- for non-rigid point set registration is introduced which is robust to the mentioned artifacts. Thereafter, a distributed N-body simulation and iterative Procrustes alignment non-rigidly transform and register the template point set. Furthermore, in the force field evolution, per-point Gaussian curvature serves as a shape matching descriptor whereas the displacement fields are regularized by coherent collective motion. The optimal alignment is referred to as the state of minimum gravitational potential energy between the point sets. A thorough experimental evaluation and comparison are provided with widely used state-of-the-art methods on 2D and 3D data sets. Experiments show NRGA's robustness against unif...
This article introduces a new physics-based method for rigid point set alignment called Fast Grav... more This article introduces a new physics-based method for rigid point set alignment called Fast Gravitational Approach (FGA). In FGA, the source and target point sets are interpreted as rigid particle swarms with masses interacting in a globally multiply-linked manner while moving in a simulated gravitational force field. The optimal alignment is obtained by explicit modeling of forces acting on the particles as well as their velocities and displacements with second-order ordinary differential equations of n-body motion. Additional alignment cues can be integrated into FGA through particle masses. We propose a smooth-particle mass function for point mass initialization, which improves robustness to noise and structural discontinuities. To avoid the quadratic complexity of all-to-all point interactions, we adapt a Barnes-Hut tree for accelerated force computation and achieve quasilinear complexity. We show that the new method class has characteristics not found in previous alignment met...
Pastoralism and predation are two major concomitantly known facts and matters of concern for cons... more Pastoralism and predation are two major concomitantly known facts and matters of concern for conservation biologists worldwide. Pastoralist-predator conflict constitutes a major social-ecological concern in the Pamir mountain range encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, and affects community attitudes and tolerance toward carnivores. Very few studies have been conducted to understand the dynamics of livestock predation by large carnivores like snow leopards (Panthera uncia) and wolves (Canis lupus), owing to the region's remoteness and inaccessibility. This study attempts to assess the intensity of livestock predation (and resulting perceptions) by snow leopards and wolves across the Afghani, Pakistani, and Tajik Pamir range during the period January 2008-June 2012. The study found that livestock mortality due to disease is the most serious threat to livestock (an average 3.5 animal heads per household per year) and ultimately to the rural economy (an average of US$352 per household per year) as compared to predation (1.78 animal heads per household per year, US$191) in the three study sites. Overall, 1419 (315 per year) heads of livestock were reportedly killed by snow leopards (47%) and wolves (53%) in the study sites. People with comparatively smaller landholdings and limited earning options, other than livestock rearing, expressed negative attitudes toward both wolves and snow leopards and vice versa. Education was found to be an effective solution to dilute people's hatred for predators. Low public tolerance of the wolf and snow leopard in general explained the magnitude of the threat facing predators in the Pamirs. This will likely continue unless tangible and informed conservation measures like disease control and predation compensation programs are taken among others.
Aziz Ali Dad ____________________________________________________________________________________... more Aziz Ali Dad _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction This essay attempts to examine the critique of Orientalism1 in India by Subaltern Studies Group. It explains how Orientalist discourse was constructed and constituted as imperial knowledge in South Asian context. In order to understand the critique of Orientalism by the subaltern studies’ scholars, it is imperative to locate their epistemological stance towards Orientalism within the broader debate of modernity and postmodernity. Following the postmodernist espousal of plurality of truth, a subaltern study announces the end of singular truth presented by knowledge and endorsed by power. The critical engagement of scholars of subaltern studies with universalistic and Eurocentric views of knowledge takes place mainly in the domain of history because mostly history is viewed as a vehicle to express the hegemonic ideas of Europe.
Atti ai sensi art. 49 dello Statuto funzioni consultive Servizi di base e funzioni delegate ai ... more Atti ai sensi art. 49 dello Statuto funzioni consultive Servizi di base e funzioni delegate ai sensi dell'art.50 dello Statuto
Point Set Registration method in computer vision is aimed to find accurate transformation paramet... more Point Set Registration method in computer vision is aimed to find accurate transformation parameters which register or match two sets of points when their correspondences are unknown. In this report, an astrophysics based algorithm Gravitational Approach (GA) for rigid point set registration is proposed which analytically solves the correspondences matching by estimating correct and accurate transformation parameters assuming all points are moving in a viscous space. We formulate GA as a modified N-Body problem which is scalable and massively parallizable. Modified N-body problem in combination with orthogonal Procrustes problem resolves transformation iteratively.
Lying at the junction of Asia's mightiest mountain ranges − the Himalayas, Karakoram, Hindu K... more Lying at the junction of Asia's mightiest mountain ranges − the Himalayas, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, and Tine Shan − the individual valleys of the Pamir Mountains share a rich and common flora, fauna, and geography. The residents of the Pamirs, given their remoteness combined with high rates of poverty, have traditionally relied on local plants with purportedly medicinal value to treat sicknesses. Environmental, political, social, and economic developments over the past century, though, have had a negative impact on this traditional system of medicine. Thus, this study has sought to document indigenous knowledge of these medicinal plants − including their varying names, preparations, and usages − as well as the availability of these plants and the knowledge of residents in preparing the resultant medicines. To this end, over the past four years, information on the previous and current status of medicinal plants and their trends in natural habitat have been collected and documented ...
3D reconstruction of deformed objects from a single monocular 2D image is still a challenging top... more 3D reconstruction of deformed objects from a single monocular 2D image is still a challenging topic.Current methods either require reference template frame, dense correspondences, or tracking points. Those methods are still not able to recostruct 3D scene in challenging stiuations e.g., occlusion, illumination change, pespective distortion. In this work, we propose a new hybrid approach for monocular non-rigid 3D reconstruction employing deep neural network which we call Hybrid Deformation Model Network(HDMNet). We train the network with sequential deformation state of a non-rigid object. HDM-Net uses contour, texture and shading on 2D single image as clue information of 3D geometry reconstruction. We demonstrate the robustness of HDM-Net against noise, texture change, and illumination position changes. We also show its successful generalisability of 3D coordinates regression for unknown deformation states.
Approximately 70-85% of Afghanistan’s territory is used as rangelands. The rangelands in the Cent... more Approximately 70-85% of Afghanistan’s territory is used as rangelands. The rangelands in the Central Highlands of Afghanistan form the major summer pastures for a great number of livestock and are thus crucial for country’s farming system, which is based on a combination of sedentary farming and migratory livestock keeping. They are the source areas for some of the major rivers in the region, including the Amu, Kabul, and Helmand rivers. In addition, the highland rangelands are key habitats for Afghanistan’s rich biodiversity.
Women's rights have always been a subject of dispute in different societies. In the opin... more Women's rights have always been a subject of dispute in different societies. In the opinion of most people, in spite of the differences of time, place, race, color and religion, the main responsibility of women is to bear, cherish and make her child reach the age of puberty. But in reality, ...
Recovery of correspondences between point sets which differ by some non-rigid transformation is a... more Recovery of correspondences between point sets which differ by some non-rigid transformation is an ill-posed problem. Many existing methods underperform on noisy or corrupted input data. In this study, a novel physics-based approach -- Non-Rigid Gravitational Approach (NRGA) -- for non-rigid point set registration is introduced which is robust to the mentioned artifacts. Thereafter, a distributed N-body simulation and iterative Procrustes alignment non-rigidly transform and register the template point set. Furthermore, in the force field evolution, per-point Gaussian curvature serves as a shape matching descriptor whereas the displacement fields are regularized by coherent collective motion. The optimal alignment is referred to as the state of minimum gravitational potential energy between the point sets. A thorough experimental evaluation and comparison are provided with widely used state-of-the-art methods on 2D and 3D data sets. Experiments show NRGA's robustness against unif...
This article introduces a new physics-based method for rigid point set alignment called Fast Grav... more This article introduces a new physics-based method for rigid point set alignment called Fast Gravitational Approach (FGA). In FGA, the source and target point sets are interpreted as rigid particle swarms with masses interacting in a globally multiply-linked manner while moving in a simulated gravitational force field. The optimal alignment is obtained by explicit modeling of forces acting on the particles as well as their velocities and displacements with second-order ordinary differential equations of n-body motion. Additional alignment cues can be integrated into FGA through particle masses. We propose a smooth-particle mass function for point mass initialization, which improves robustness to noise and structural discontinuities. To avoid the quadratic complexity of all-to-all point interactions, we adapt a Barnes-Hut tree for accelerated force computation and achieve quasilinear complexity. We show that the new method class has characteristics not found in previous alignment met...
Pastoralism and predation are two major concomitantly known facts and matters of concern for cons... more Pastoralism and predation are two major concomitantly known facts and matters of concern for conservation biologists worldwide. Pastoralist-predator conflict constitutes a major social-ecological concern in the Pamir mountain range encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, and affects community attitudes and tolerance toward carnivores. Very few studies have been conducted to understand the dynamics of livestock predation by large carnivores like snow leopards (Panthera uncia) and wolves (Canis lupus), owing to the region's remoteness and inaccessibility. This study attempts to assess the intensity of livestock predation (and resulting perceptions) by snow leopards and wolves across the Afghani, Pakistani, and Tajik Pamir range during the period January 2008-June 2012. The study found that livestock mortality due to disease is the most serious threat to livestock (an average 3.5 animal heads per household per year) and ultimately to the rural economy (an average of US$352 per household per year) as compared to predation (1.78 animal heads per household per year, US$191) in the three study sites. Overall, 1419 (315 per year) heads of livestock were reportedly killed by snow leopards (47%) and wolves (53%) in the study sites. People with comparatively smaller landholdings and limited earning options, other than livestock rearing, expressed negative attitudes toward both wolves and snow leopards and vice versa. Education was found to be an effective solution to dilute people's hatred for predators. Low public tolerance of the wolf and snow leopard in general explained the magnitude of the threat facing predators in the Pamirs. This will likely continue unless tangible and informed conservation measures like disease control and predation compensation programs are taken among others.
Aziz Ali Dad ____________________________________________________________________________________... more Aziz Ali Dad _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction This essay attempts to examine the critique of Orientalism1 in India by Subaltern Studies Group. It explains how Orientalist discourse was constructed and constituted as imperial knowledge in South Asian context. In order to understand the critique of Orientalism by the subaltern studies’ scholars, it is imperative to locate their epistemological stance towards Orientalism within the broader debate of modernity and postmodernity. Following the postmodernist espousal of plurality of truth, a subaltern study announces the end of singular truth presented by knowledge and endorsed by power. The critical engagement of scholars of subaltern studies with universalistic and Eurocentric views of knowledge takes place mainly in the domain of history because mostly history is viewed as a vehicle to express the hegemonic ideas of Europe.
Atti ai sensi art. 49 dello Statuto funzioni consultive Servizi di base e funzioni delegate ai ... more Atti ai sensi art. 49 dello Statuto funzioni consultive Servizi di base e funzioni delegate ai sensi dell'art.50 dello Statuto
Uploads
Papers by Aziz Ali