Abstract
Color and color differences are critical aspects in many image processing and computer vision applications. A paradigmatic example is object segmentation, where color distances can greatly influence the performance of the algorithms. Metrics for color difference have been proposed in the literature, including the definition of standards such as CIEDE2000, which quantifies the change in visual perception of two given colors. This standard has been recommended for industrial computer vision applications, but the benefits of its application have been impaired by the complexity of the formula. This paper proposes a new strategy that improves the usability of the CIEDE2000 metric when a maximum acceptable distance can be imposed. We argue that, for applications where a maximum value, above which colors are considered to be different, can be established, then it is possible to reduce the amount of calculations of the metric, by preemptively analyzing the color features. This methodology encompasses the benefits of the metric while overcoming its computational limitations, thus broadening the range of applications of CIEDE2000 in both the computer vision algorithms and computational resource requirements.

Abstract
The automotive industry is currently focusing on automation in their vehicles, and perceiving the surroundings of an automobile requires the ability to detect and identify objects, events and persons, not only from the outside of the vehicle but also from the inside of the cabin. This constitutes relevant information for defining intelligent responses to events happening on both environments. This work presents a new method for in-vehicle monitoring of passengers, specifically the task of real-time face detection in thermal images, by applying transfer learning with YOLOv3. Using this kind of imagery for this purpose brings some advantages, such as the possibility of detecting faces during the day and in the dark without being affected by illumination conditions, and also because it's a completely passive sensing solution. Due to the lack of suitable datasets for this type of application, a database of in-vehicle images was created, containing images from 38 subjects performing different head poses and at varying ambient temperatures. The tests in our database show an AP50 of 99.7% and an AP of 78.5%.

Abstract
The present demographic trends point to an increase in aged population and chronic diseases which symptoms can be alleviated through rehabilitation. The applicability of passive 3D reconstruction for motion tracking in a rehabilitation context was explored using a stereo camera. The camera was used to acquire depth and color information from which the 3D position of predefined joints was recovered based on: kinematic relationships, anthropometrically feasible lengths and temporal consistency. Finally, a set of quantitative measures were extracted to evaluate the performed rehabilitation exercises. Validation study using data provided by a marker based as ground-truth revealed that our proposal achieved errors within the range of state-of-the-art active markerless systems and visual evaluations done by physical therapists. The obtained results are promising and demonstrate that the developed methodology allows the analysis of human motion for a rehabilitation purpose.

Abstract
One of the most difficult scenarios for unsupervised segmentation of moving objects is found in nighttime videos where the main challenges are the poor illumination conditions resulting in low-visibility of objects, very strong lights, surface-reflected light, a great variance of light intensity, sudden illumination changes, hard shadows, camouflaged objects, and noise. This paper proposes a novel method, coined COLBMOG (COLlinearity Boosted MOG), devised specifically for the foreground segmentation in nighttime videos, that shows the ability to overcome some of the limitations of state-of-the-art methods and still perform well in daytime scenarios. It is a texture-based classification method, using local texture modeling, complemented by a color-based classification method. The local texture at the pixel neighborhood is modeled as an..-dimensional vector. For a given pixel, the classification is based on the collinearity between this feature in the input frame and the reference background frame. For this purpose, a multimodal temporal model of the collinearity between texture vectors of background pixels is maintained. COLBMOG was objectively evaluated using the ChangeDetection.net (CDnet) 2014, Night Videos category, benchmark. COLBMOG ranks first among all the unsupervised methods. A detailed analysis of the results revealed the superior performance of the proposed method compared to the best performing state-of-the-art methods in this category, particularly evident in the presence of the most complex situations where all the algorithms tend to fail.

Abstract
Color comparison is a key aspect in many areas of application, including industrial applications, and different metrics have been proposed. In many applications, this comparison is required to be closely related to human perception of color differences, thus adding complexity to the process. To tackle this, different approaches were proposed through the years, culminating in the CIEDE2000 formulation. In our previous work, we showed that simple color properties could be used to reduce the computational time of a color similarity decision process that employed this metric, which is recognized as having high computational complexity. In this paper, we show mathematically and experimentally that these findings can be adapted and extended to the recently proposed CIEDE2000 PF metric, which has been recommended by the CIE for industrial applications. Moreover, we propose new efficient models that not only achieve lower error rates, but also outperform the results obtained for the CIEDE2000 metric.

Abstract
The implementation of fast dedicated processor for block matching motion estimation based on cumulants matching criteria implies the optimization of all of its components. Special care should be spent with the multiply-accumulate unit that is the core of many digital signal processing systems. Therefore, its optimization may be of outmost importance, specially if a significative number of such units are present in the platform. In this paper, the minimization of the size of one such unit is provided for a specific application, although the results have relevance in other scenarios.