University of Los Andes

About: University of Los Andes is a education organization based out in Bogotá, Colombia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 17616 authors who have published 25555 publications receiving 413463 citations.

Learning to Segment Moving Objects in Videos

Abstract: We segment moving objects in videos by ranking spatio-temporal segment proposals according to "moving objectness": how likely they are to contain a moving object. In each video frame, we compute segment proposals using multiple figure-ground segmentations on per frame motion boundaries. We rank them with a Moving Objectness Detector trained on image and motion fields to detect moving objects and discard over/under segmentations or background parts of the scene. We extend the top ranked segments into spatio-temporal tubes using random walkers on motion affinities of dense point trajectories. Our final tube ranking consistently outperforms previous segmentation methods in the two largest video segmentation benchmarks currently available, for any number of proposals. Further, our per frame moving object proposals increase the detection rate up to 7\% over previous state-of-the-art static proposal methods.

Advancing Science and Policy Through a Coordinated International Study of Physical Activity and Built Environments: IPEN Adult Methods

Abstract: Background: National and international strategies to increase physical activity emphasize environmental and policy changes that can have widespread and long-lasting impact. Evidence from multiple countries using comparable methods is required to strengthen the evidence base for such initiatives. Because some environment and policy changes could have generalizable effects and others may depend on each country’s context, only international studies using comparable methods can identify the relevant differences. Methods: Currently 12 countries are participating in the International Physical Activity and the Environment Network (IPEN) study. The IPEN Adult study design involves recruiting adult participants from neighborhoods with wide variations in environmental walkability attributes and socioeconomic status (SES). Results: Eleven of twelve countries are providing accelerometer data and 11 are providing GIS data. Current projections indicate that 14,119 participants will provide survey data on built environments and physical activity and 7145 are likely to provide objective data on both the independent and dependent variables. Though studies are highly comparable, some adaptations are required based on the local context. Conclusions: This study was designed to inform evidencebased international and country-specific physical activity policies and interventions to help prevent obesity and other chronic diseases that are high in developed countries and growing rapidly in developing countries.

The Great American Biotic Interchange revisited

Abstract: The “Great American Biotic Interchange” (GABI) is regarded as a defining event in the biogeography of the Americas. It is hypothesized to have occurred when the Isthmus of Panama closed ca three million years ago (Ma), ending the isolation of South America and permitting the mixing of its biota with that of North America. This view of the GABI is based largely upon the animal fossil record, but recent molecular biogeographic studies of plants that show repeated instances of long-distance dispersal over major oceanic barriers suggest that perhaps the land bridge provided by the isthmus may have been less necessary for plant migration. Here we show that plants have significantly earlier divergence time estimates than animals for historical migration events across the Isthmus of Panama region. This difference in timing indicates that plants had a greater propensity for dispersal over the isthmus before its closure compared with animals. The GABI was therefore asynchronous for plants and animals, which has fundamental implications for the historical assembly of tropical biomes in the most species-rich forests on the planet.

Evidence for transverse-momentum- and pseudorapidity-dependent event-plane fluctuations in PbPb and pPb collisions

Abstract: A systematic study of the factorization of long-range azimuthal two-particle correlations into a product of single-particle anisotropies is presented as a function of pT and nu of both particles and as a function of the particle multiplicity in PbPb and pPb collisions. The data were taken with the CMS detector for PbPb collisions at root sNN = 2.76 TeV and pPb collisions at root sNN = 5.02 TeV, covering a very wide range of multiplicity. Factorization is observed to be broken as a function of both particle pT and nu. When measured with particles of different pT, the magnitude of the factorization breakdown for the second Fourier harmonic reaches 20% for very central PbPb collisions but decreases rapidly as the multiplicity decreases. The data are consistent with viscous hydrodynamic predictions, which suggest that the effect of factorization breaking is mainly sensitive to the initial-state conditions rather than to the transport properties (e.g., shear viscosity) of the medium. The factorization breakdown is also computed with particles of different nu. The effect is found to be weakest for mid-central PbPb events but becomes larger for more central or peripheral PbPb collisions, and also for very-high-multiplicity pPb collisions. The nu-dependent factorization data provide new insights to the longitudinal evolution of the medium formed in heavy ion collisions.

Teacher-child relationships and the development of academic and behavioral skills during elementary school: a within- and between-child analysis.

Abstract: Despite recent growth in research highlighting the potential of teacher–child relationships to promote children’s development during the early years of school, questions remain about the importance of these relationships across elementary school. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (N = 1,364), this study examines between- and within-child associations between teacher–child relationship quality and children’s academic achievement and behavior problems from kindergarten (ages 4–6 years) through 5th grade (ages 9–11 years). Results suggest that increases in teacher–child relationship quality are associated with improvements in teacher-reported academic skills and reductions in behavior problems consistently throughout elementary school. As children progressed from kindergarten through fifth grade, the importance of teacher–child relationship quality is unchanging.