ICIAP 2011

The International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing (ICIAP ) is a series of conferences organized biennially by the Italian Member Society (GIRPR) of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR). This edition was jointly organized by the Faculty of Preservation of Cultural Heritage of the Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, and the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science (DIMI) of the University of Udine.

The aim of these conferences is to bring together international researchers for the presentation and discussion of the most recent advances in the fields of pattern recognition, image analysis, and image processing. Therefore, the main topics covered were as follows: Image Analysis and Processing, Pattern Recognition and Vision, Multimodal Interaction and Multimedia Processing, and Applications to Cultural Heritage.

175 Papers were submitted, each of which was refereed by two members of the Program Committee. 121 Contributions were accepted, whose presentation at the conference was divided into 10 oral sessions (44 papers) and three poster sessions, one for each day of the conference (77 papers).

The rate of acceptance of the work was 68%, slightly higher than in previous editions of ICIAP, with a small but significant increase in the number of contributions received since the previous edition. ICIAP 2011 had 197 participants coming from 27 countries, fifty of them being young students. Given the current shortage of research funding, this result is considered positive.

ICIAP 2011 took place in the great hall of the Palazzo dei Congressi in Ravenna, made available by the Flaminia Foundation for the promotion and development of the University in Ravenna, the poster sessions were held in the foyer that surrounds the conference room.

The program included a special session on Low-level Color Image Processing, organized by M. Emre Celebi, Bogdan Smolka, Gerald Schaefer, and Raimondo Schettini, IAPR Fellow; a demo session with the participation of companies and academic institutions; and four invited talks:

1. IAPR Distinguished Speaker, Jake K. Aggarwal (IAPR Fellow, University of Texas, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, USA) presented Recognition of Human Activities.

2. Horst Bunke (IAPR Fellow, University of Bern, Institute of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Switzerland) discussed Bridging the Gap Between Structural and Statistical Pattern Recognition

3. Roberto Cipolla (University of Cambridge Department of Engineering, UK) gave a talk on Novel applications of 3D Shape from Uncalibrated Images, and

4. Kevin Karplus (University of California, Santa Cruz, Department of Biomolecular Engineering, USA) spoke on Bioinformatics Methods .

Three tutorials were held, respectively, on Image and Video Descriptors by Abdenour Hadid, on Beyond Features: Similarity-Based Pattern Analysis and Recognition by Edwin R. Hancock, IAPR Fellow, Marcello Pelillo, IAPR Fellow, and Vittorio Murino, IAPR Fellow, and finally on Video Analytics on Reactive Camera Networks by Christian Micheloni.

The social events ICIAP 2011 consisted of an opening cocktail reception, a social dinner in the 15th century Villa Malagola and its historical park, photographic and painting exhibitions provided by the students of the Faculty of Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Sara Armaroli, Donatella Lombardo and Liu Wan, with the Art & Vision theme. Moreover, the premiere of 3D animation films—entitled, respectively, “From Ravenna to Venice - Film-making for the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage and the Environment”, “The Roman Harbor of Classe”, and “Do not Violate Mother Earth”—were given, illustrated by the authors Eleonora Cavallini, Giuseppe Rossini, and Bibi Bozzato. Guided tours of the main monuments of Ravenna, listed by UNESCO, were organized for accompanying persons.

At the banquet, the Caianiello Prize, established in memory of Prof. E. Caianiello and awarded to the best article by a young author, was presemted tp Marcel Spehr for his contribution “Sum-of-superellipses - parameter Model for a Low Amplitude Spectra of Natural Images.” The IAPR Best Paper Award for the best paper presented at the conference, was attributed to the work on Reconstruction for Improving 3D Digital Art Preservation, presented by J. Santos Jr., O. Bellon, L. Silva and A. Vrubel.

Finally, on the fringes of ICIAP 2011, a satellite conference was held at the prestigious Order of the Matha House (the first settlement of higher education in Ravenna, dating from the late Middle Age), namely the 1st International Workshop on Pattern Recognition in Proteomics, Structural Biology and Bioinformatics - PR PS BB 2011, organized by Virginio Cantoni, IAPR Fellow, and myself within the activities of the TC Bioinformatics GIRPR group. The workshop, attended by many researchers, was divided into an introduction part with two invited talks, by Kevin Karplus on “Better than Chance: The Importance of Null Models” and Rita Casadio (University of Bologna) on “Large Scale Annotation of Proteins with Labeling Methods”, and a second one with 12 oral presentations. The proceedings will be published in a special issue of Nuovo Cimento C, and some works will form the basis of another special issue of the European Physical Journal Plus, dedicated to "New Tools and Methods for Pattern Recognition in Complex Biological Systems".

In conclusion, thanks to all the participants and the people engaged in the organization—too numerous to mention them all—who contributed to the success of ICIAP 2011; in particular, thanks are due to the Italian Group of Researchers affiliated with the International Association for Pattern Recognition (GIRPR) for having granted the opportunity to hold their biennial conference in Ravenna, and the International Association For Pattern Recognition (IAPR) for the endorsement given to ICIAP 2011.