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                       IAPR TC-11 Newsletter
                            March 2013
                     http://www.iapr-tc11.org

========== Contents ========================================================

* Message from the Editor

* Dates 'n' Deadlines
  - IWCF 2014, Stockholm, Sweden			March 31
  - IDIPS 2014, Fourni Island, Greece			April 30

* New and Recently Published Datasets

* Call for Papers
  - 36th German Conference on Pattern Recognition (GCPR)
    September 2-5, 2014, Münster, Germany
  - 6th IAPR Int. Workshop on Computational Forensics (IWCF)
    August 24, 2014, Stockholm, Sweden

* Call for Participation
  - ICFHR 2014 Competitions
  - 2nd Int. Document Image Processing Summer School (IDIPS 2014, update)

* Call for Papers: IJDAR Special Issue on Robust Reading (repost)

* Call for Dataset Submissions

* Call for Contributions

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========== Message from the Editor =========================================

Welcome to the March edition of our TC-11 newsletter. This edition brings
to you the Calls for Papers for the German Conference on Pattern Recognition
(GCPR 2014), which explicitly invites papers on Document Analysis, and for the
Workshop on Computational Forensics (IWCF 2014) organized by TC-6. In addition,
you will find below the Call for Participation for competitions to be held
in conjunction with the Int. Conference on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition
(ICFHR 2014) and an update on the Call for Participation for the 2nd Int.
Document Image Processing Summer School (IDIPS 2014).

Gernot A. Fink, IAPR-TC11 Newsletter Editor
Gernot.Fink@udo.edu

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========== Dates 'n' Deadlines =============================================

Event/Location/Web:		Event Date:	Deadline (paper submission):
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* IWCF 2014, Stockholm, Sweden		August 24		March 31
  (http://www.isical.ac.in/~iwcf2014)

* IDIPS 2014, Fourni Island, Greece	May 26-30		April 30
  (http://samosweb.aegean.gr/idips2014/)			(max. 40 part.)

* GCPR 2014, Münster, Germany		September 2-5		May 11
  http://cvpr.uni-muenster.de/GCPR2014/

* DAS 2014, Tours, France		April 7-10		- passed -
  (http://das2014.univ-tours.fr/)

* ICPR 2014, Stockholm, Sweden		August 24-28		- passed -
  (http://www.icpr2014.org/)

* ICFHR 2014, Heraklion, Crete, Greece	September 1-4 		- passed -
  (http://www.icfhr2014.org/)

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========== New and Recently Published: TC-11 Datasets ======================

Dataset:	Main Purpose:					Published:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* CROHME	Recognition of Online HW Math Expressions	2/2014
		(more than 10k expressions from 100s of writers)     

  http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php/CROHME:_Competition_on_Recogntion_of_Online_Handwritten_Mathematical_Expressions

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For a list of all datasets available visit:
http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php/Datasets_List

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========== Call for Papers: GCPR 2014 ======================================

	36th German Conference on Pattern Recognition
	(GCPR 2014, formerly DAGM Symposium)
	September 2-5, 2014, Münster, Germany
	http://cvpr.uni-muenster.de/GCPR2014/
	---------------------------------------------

GCPR 2014 is the 36th annual symposium of the German Association
for Pattern Recognition (DAGM, www.dagm.de). This conference series
was among the oldest and largest domestic conferences on
pattern recognition, machine learning, image processing, and
computer vision. The conference language is English. To reflect
the internationalization of the annual DAGM symposia in the past years,
the former name "DAGM Symposium" has been changed to
German Conference on Pattern Recognition (GCPR) in 2013.

The conference addresses recent advances in theory, methodology,
and applications of pattern recognition. Authors are invited to submit
high-quality papers presenting previously unpublished work.
In the long tradition of this conference series, the single track
program and poster sessions will provide ample opportunity for
open-minded discussions and interaction. The conference will also
include tutorials, workshops, and a Young Researchers' Forum.

The scope of GCPR 2014 includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:
* Image/video processing, analysis, and computer vision
* Machine learning and pattern recognition
* Mathematical foundations, statistical data analysis and models
* Computational photography and confluence of vision and graphics
* Biomedical image processing and analysis
* Document analysis
* Biometrics
* Applications

All submissions (LNCS format, max. 10 pages) will be subject to
a double-blind review process. The conference proceedings will be
published in the Springer LNCS series. The best contributions will
receive GCPR awards.

Invited speakers:
- Ernesto Estrada, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
- Markus Gross, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
- Ron Kikinis, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

C^3V (Challenges and Chances for Computer Vision) Tutorials:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to Biomedical Imaging
- Throwing Computer Vision Overboard: How to Handle Underwater Light Attenuation and Refraction

Important dates:
Paper submission: 	  May 11, 2014
Author notification:	  July 7, 2014
Final manuscript due: 	  July 27, 2014

Xiaoyi Jiang (General Chair)
Joachim Hornegger, Reinhard Koch (Program Chairs)

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========== Call for Papers: IWCF 2014 ======================================

	*Final Call for Papers: IWCF 2014 *
	Sixth IAPR International Workshop on Computational Forensics (IWCF)
	August 24, 2014
	Stockholm, Sweden

*Organized by* IAPR Technical Committee (TC-6) on Computational Forensics

Post-Proceedings will be published by Springer as an LNCS volume

http://www.isical.ac.in/~iwcf2014


* CALL FOR PAPERS *

With the advent of high-end technology, fraudulent efforts are on rise in
many areas of our daily life, may it be fake paper documents, forgery in
the digital domain or copyright infringement. In solving the related
criminal cases use of pattern recognition (PR) principles is also gaining
an important place because of their ability in successfully assisting the
forensic experts to solve many of such cases. The workshops on
Computational Forensics generally aims at addressing the theoretical and
practical issues related to this field, i.e. role of PR techniques for
analysing problems in forensics.


The 6th International Workshop on Computational Forensics (IWCF) will put
emphasis on forged document analysis both in hardcopy and digital medium.
Analysis of handwriting or signature, detection of change in original
documents, writer/speaker identification and verification and copyright
violation will be discussed at length. Effort is to bring the people
together who are working on these issues in different areas including
document and speech processing, music analysis, digital security, forensic
sciences, etc. Some broad areas, though not limited to, of the workshop
are:

   - Detection of fake documents
   - Authentication of security documents
   - Change detection
   - Copyright protection
   - Encryption and watermarking
   - Digital forensics
   - Handwriting and Speech analysis
   - Face, Palm, and Iris recognition

Like in the previous years, the workshop will be a place for elaborate
discussion of the academic and industrial works, documenting the advances
in the related field and creating mutual collaboration on related areas.
Interaction among practitioners and academic researchers will receive
special attention in this workshop.

* Paper Submission *

All submissions will be fully peer reviewed. The post-proceedings, which
will include accepted papers and posters, will be published by *Springer as
an LNCS volume*.  Full details on the preparation of submissions can be
found on the conference
web site http://www.isical.ac.in/~iwcf2014/submission

 * Submission Dates *

Proposal for Shared Task: November 15, 2013 (Acceptance notification: Nov.
22, 2013)

Submission site open: January 13, 2014 (Site opened)

Paper Submission deadline: March 14, 2014 Extended to March 31, 2014

Notification of acceptance: April 21, 2014

Camera-ready submission and Early-bird registration: May 21, 2014

Submission deadline for post-conference proceedings: October, 2014



* Shared task/competition*

The IWCF 2014 Recognition of Android Malware Patterns (RAMP) competition
aims to strengthen the efforts in developing techniques, tools and
algorithms analysis of Android malwares. The task has been configured as a
pattern analysis based problem. Therefore, the competition encourages
pattern recognition community to come up with out of the box and innovative
solutions for malware analysis. The details of this competition can be
found at the workshop website.


* Organising Committee *

*Workshop Chairs*:      Utpal Garain (Indian Statistical Institute)

                                           Faisal Shafait (The University
of Western Australia)


* *Program Committee* *

Ali Dehghantanha, Malaysia.

Arun Ross, USA.

C.J. Veenman, The Netherlands.

David Doermann, USA.

Hiroshi Sako, Japan.

Jean-Marc Ogier, France.

Josep LLadós, Spain.

Karthik Nandakumar, Singapore.

Katrin Franke, Norway.

Marcus Liwicki, Switzerland.

Massimo Tistarelli, Italy.

Muhammad Imran Malik, Germany.

Rajesh Kumar, India.

Sagur N. Srihari, USA.

Sergio Damas, Spain.

Thomas Walmann, Norway.

Venu Govindaraju, USA.

Yoshinori Akao, Japan.

Zeno Geradts, The Netherlands.

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========== Call for Participation: ICFHR 2014 Competitions =================


	ICFHR 2014 -ANNOUNCEMENT OF COMPETITIONS

 

	The 14th International Conference on Frontiers in
	Handwriting Recognition (ICFHR 2014)

Venue: Creta Maris Beach Resort, Hersonissos, Crete Island, Greece

Dates: September 1-4, 2014

Website: http://www.icfhr2014.org/


The ICFHR 2014 Organizing Committee with pleasure invites participations to
the following competitions: 


1. Competition on Handwritten Digit String Recognition in Challenging Datasets
   Organizers: Robert Sablatnig, Markus Diem, Stefan Fiel, Florian Kleber, José
   M. Saavedra, Juan M. Barrios, Mauricio Palma, David Contreras, Luiz S.
   Oliveira
   Competition URL:  <http://www.orand.cl/en/icfhr2014-hdsr/>
   http://www.orand.cl/en/icfhr2014-hdsr/

2. Handwritten Text Recognition on a tranScriptorium Dataset (HTRtS)
   Organizers: Joan Andreu Sánchez, Verónica Romero, Alejandro H. Toselli,
   Enrique Vidal
   Competition URL:  <http://www.transcriptorium.eu/~htrcontest/>
   http://www.transcriptorium.eu/~htrcontest/

3. Competition on Recognition of Handwritten Mathematical Expressions
   (CROHME)
   Organizers: Harold Mouchère, Christian Viard-Gaudin, Richard Zanibbi, Utpal
   Garain
   Competition URL:  <http://www.isical.ac.in/~crohme/index.html>
   http://www.isical.ac.in/~crohme/index.html

4. 1st Edition of the Arabic Writer Identification Competition using
   AHTID/MW and KHATT Databases
   Organizers: Fouad Slimane, Sameh Awaida, Anis Mezghani, Mohammad Tanvir
   Parvez, Slim Kanoun, Sabri A. Mahmoud, Volker Märgner
   Competition URL:  <http://www.ifn.ing.tu-bs.de/news/icfhr2014/>
   http://www.ifn.ing.tu-bs.de/news/icfhr2014/

5. ANWRESH-2014 - Competition on Word Recognition from Segmented Historical
   Documents 
   Organizers: Shawn Reid, Jack Reese and Michael Murdock
   Competition URL:  <http://collections.ancestry.com/ANWRESH-2014>
   http://collections.Ancestry.com/ANWRESH-2014

6. Handwritten Document Image Binarization COmpetition (H-DIBCO 2014)
   Organizers: Konstantinos Ntirogiannis, Basilis Gatos, Ioannis Pratikakis
   Competition URL:  <http://users.iit.demokritos.gr/~kntir/HDIBCO2014/>
   http://users.iit.demokritos.gr/~kntir/HDIBCO2014/

7. Handwritten Keyword Spotting Competition (H-KWS 2014)
   Organizers: Ioannis Pratikakis, Konstantinos Zagoris, Basilis Gatos,
   Georgios Louloudis, Nikolaos Stamatopoulos
   Competition URL:  <http://vc.ee.duth.gr/h-kws2014/>
   http://vc.ee.duth.gr/h-kws2014/

For more information please visit the URLs of the competitions.


============================================================================


========== Call for Participation: IDIPS 2014 ==============================

	2nd Internationdal Document Image Processing Summer School (IDIPS2014)
	Fourni Island, Greece - May 26-30, 2014
	http://samosweb.aegean.gr/idips2014/


SPONSORING by
IAPR
IAPR TC10
IAPR TC11

After the successful first Summer School on Document Image Processing
(IDIPS2013), (http://www.iapr.org/docs/newsletter-2013-03.pdf p.13-14) the
second Summer School on Document Image Processing (IDIPS2014) aims to provide
both an objective overview and an in-depth analysis of the state-of-the-art of
the Document Analysis Systems (DAS) and their current open issues. The courses
will be delivered by world-renowned researchers in the field and relevant
companies, covering both theoretical and practical aspects of real problems of
Document Analysis Systems, as well as examples of successful applications. This
year, the school aims to provide an attractive opportunity for 40 young
researchers, post-graduate and PhD students. The participants will benefit from
direct interaction and discussions with the renowned speakers and practice on
real problems.

The Summer School registration (300 Euros IAPR members - 400 Euros other) will
cover attendance, dinners, coffee breaks, social events and transfer from Samos
airport and back. The accommodation, in special offers for the Summer School,
starts from 15 euro per room & night
(http://samosweb.aegean.gr/idips2014/index.php/accomodation).

Important Dates
---------------

APPLICATION: 1/1/14 - 30/4/14 or up to 40 persons (no extension possible)
Acceptance Notification:  10 days after the application
Local Arrangements Information available by: 15 May 2014
Summer School: 26-30 May 2014


Organization

Apostolos Antonacopoulos<http://www.primaresearch.org/people/aa/>, PRImA, University of Salford

David Doermann<http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/people/doermann>, University of Maryland

Ergina Kavallieratou<http://www.icsd.aegean.gr/lecturers/kavallieratou/>, University of the Aegean

Josep Llados<http://www.cvc.uab.es/personal2.asp?id=66>, CVC, University Autonoma de Barcelona

Daniel Lopresti<http://www.cse.lehigh.edu/~lopresti>, Lehigh University

Jean-Marc Ogier<http://l3i.univ-larochelle.fr/Ogier-Jean-Marc.html>, Universite de La Rochelle

Ioannis Pratikakis<http://utopia.duth.gr/~ipratika/>, Democritus University of Thrace

Efstathios Stamatatos<http://www.icsd.aegean.gr/lecturers/stamatatos/>, University of the Aegean

Irini Stathi<http://www.ct.aegean.gr/people/iristathi>, University of the Aegean

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========== Call for Papers: IJDAR Special Issue on Robust Reading ==========

	Special Issue on Robust Reading - International Journal on
	Document Analysis and Recognition

 

Aims and Scope

------------------------

Document Image Analysis (DIA) was established to address the need for the
automated analysis of scanned paper documents, but has evolved to
incorporate a great variety of text containers including digital-born (Web
and email) images, scene images, and video sequences. These types of text
containers introduce a range of new challenges for document image analysis,
stemming from perspective distortions, a large variety of fonts and
backgrounds, anti-aliasing, and compression artefacts. Addressing the need
of reading textual content in such domains entails a paradigm shift in the
document analysis field that calls for a change in the definition of
"document" to include complex unconstrained text containers, as opposed to
the traditional scanned paper document. The IJDAR Special Issue on Robust
Reading invites original work on topics related to the detection, extraction
and recognition of textual content in such complex unconstrained text
containers. 

 

Topics of Interest 

------------------------

The list of topics includes but is not limited to: 

- Scene text localisation, segmentation, and recognition 

- Reading scene and/or overlaid text in video sequences 

- Text localisation, segmentation, and recognition in born-digital images 

- Restoration of camera captured documents (dewarping, deblurring, etc.) 

- Quality estimation and degradation modelling of camera-captured text 

- Performance evaluation and metrics 

- Applications such as translation, reading text for the blind, etc 

- Graphical content interpretation in complex settings 

 

 

Submission Process 

------------------------

Authors are encouraged to submit high-quality, original work that has
neither appeared in, nor is under consideration by, other journals. All
submissions will be peer reviewed subject to the standards of the journal.
Manuscripts based on previously published conference papers must be extended
substantially. Manuscripts should be submitted to:
http://www.editorialmanager.com/ijda/. All submissions are strictly limited
to 15 pages in IJDAR format. Detailed instructions are available on the
IJDAR website. Please select "S.I.: Robust Reading" in the menu "Choose
Article Type" after clicking on "Submit new manuscript". The submission site
will open on 1st May, 2014. 

 

Important Dates 

------------------------

Paper submission (hard deadline)            01 Jun 2014 

First notifications                         01 Aug 2014 

Submission of revised papers                01 Oct 2014 

Acceptance notifications                    01 Nov 2014 

Camera ready papers due                     15 Nov 2014 

Issue published                             Mar 2015 

 

Guest Editors

------------------------

Faisal Shafait, The University of Western Australia, Australia
(faisal.shafait@uwa.edu.au)

Dimosthenis Karatzas, Computer Vision Centre, Spain (dimos@cvc.uab.es)

Seiichi Uchida, Kyushu University, Japan (uchida@ait.kyushu-u.ac.jp)

Masakazu Iwamura, Osaka Prefecture University, Japan
(masa@cs.osakafu-u.ac.jp)

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========== Call for Dataset Submissions ====================================

We would like to remind you that the TC10 and TC11 welcome contributions of
new datasets or other resources related to the community. We would like to
particularly encourage authors of articles that introduce new datasets,
software or other material to submit such material to TC11 for hosting.

Please check the TC11 site on information about how to submit datasets for
archiving ( <http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php/Datasets>
http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php/Datasets) also feel free to
contact Marcus Liwicki, the TC11 dataset curator, for any doubts you
might have on the process.

Marcus Liwicki, TC-11 Dataset Curator
liwicki@dfki.uni-kl.de

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========== Call for Contributions ==========================================

This newsletter needs your support in order to provide useful information
to the TC11 community. Therefore, please contribute relevant news by sending
a short notice to the newsletter editor Gernot A. Fink <Gernot.Fink@udo.edu>.

Such news could be the obvious announcements of conferences and workshops,
job opportunities, reports on past conferences, book reviews, or anything
that might be of interest to a wider audience involved in the construction of
reading systems.

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========== Subscription Information ========================================

This newsletter is sent to subscribers of the IAPR TC11 mailing list. To 
manage your subscription, please visit the mailing list homepage at:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=IAPR-TC11

The homepage for IAPR TC11 is http://www.iapr-tc11.org

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