Contributions to unsupervised and supervised learning with applications in digital image processing

311 p. : il.[EN]This Thesis covers a broad period of research activities with a commonthread: learning processes and its application to image processing. The twomain categories of learning algorithms, supervised and unsupervised, have beentouched across these years. The main body of initial works was devoted tounsupervised learning neural architectures, specially the Self Organizing Map.Our aim was to study its convergence properties from empirical and analyticalviewpoints.From the digital image processing point of view, we have focused on twobasic problems: Color Quantization and filter design. Both problems have beenaddressed from the context of Vector Quantization performed by CompetitiveNeural Networks. Processing of non-stationary data is an interesting paradigmthat has not been explored with Competitive Neural Networks. We have statesthe problem of Non-stationary Clustering and related Adaptive Vector Quantizationin the context of image sequence processing, where we naturally havea Frame Based Adaptive Vector Quantization. This approach deals with theproblem as a sequence of stationary almost-independent Clustering problems.We have also developed some new computational algorithms for Vector Quantizationdesign.The works on supervised learning have been sparsely distributed in time anddirection. First we worked on the use of Self Organizing Map for the independentmodeling of skin and no-skin color distributions for color based face localization. Second, we have collaborated in the realization of a supervised learning systemfor tissue segmentation in Magnetic Resonance Imaging data. Third, we haveworked on the development, implementation and experimentation with HighOrder Boltzmann Machines, which are a very different learning architecture.Finally, we have been working on the application of Sparse Bayesian Learningto a new kind of classification systems based on Dendritic Computing. This lastresearch line is an open research track at the time of writing this Thesis

Data-driven approaches for interactive appearance editing

This thesis proposes several techniques for interactive editing of digital content and fast rendering of virtual 3D scenes. Editing of digital content - such as images or 3D scenes - is difficult, requires artistic talent and technical expertise. To alleviate these difficulties, we exploit data-driven approaches that use the easily accessible Internet data (e. g., images, videos, materials) to develop new tools for digital content manipulation. Our proposed techniques allow casual users to achieve high-quality editing by interactively exploring the manipulations without the need to understand the underlying physical models of appearance. First, the thesis presents a fast algorithm for realistic image synthesis of virtual 3D scenes. This serves as the core framework for a new method that allows artists to fine tune the appearance of a rendered 3D scene. Here, artists directly paint the final appearance and the system automatically solves for the material parameters that best match the desired look. Along this line, an example-based material assignment approach is proposed, where the 3D models of a virtual scene can be "materialized" simply by giving a guidance source (image/video). Next, the thesis proposes shape and color subspaces of an object that are learned from a collection of exemplar images. These subspaces can be used to constrain image manipulations to valid shapes and colors, or provide suggestions for manipulations. Finally, data-driven color manifolds which contain colors of a specific context are proposed. Such color manifolds can be used to improve color picking performance, color stylization, compression or white balancing.Diese Dissertation stellt Techniken zum interaktiven Editieren von digitalen Inhalten und zum schnellen Rendering von virtuellen 3D Szenen vor. Digitales Editieren - seien es Bilder oder dreidimensionale Szenen - ist kompliziert, benötigt künstlerisches Talent und technische Expertise. Um diese Schwierigkeiten zu relativieren, nutzen wir datengesteuerte Ansätze, die einfach zugängliche Internetdaten, wie Bilder, Videos und Materialeigenschaften, nutzen um neue Werkzeuge zur Manipulation von digitalen Inhalten zu entwickeln. Die von uns vorgestellten Techniken erlauben Gelegenheitsnutzern das Editieren in hoher Qualität, indem Manipulationsmöglichkeiten interaktiv exploriert werden können ohne die zugrundeliegenden physikalischen Modelle der Bildentstehung verstehen zu müssen. Zunächst stellen wir einen effizienten Algorithmus zur realistischen Bildsynthese von virtuellen 3D Szenen vor. Dieser dient als Kerngerüst einer Methode, die Nutzern die Feinabstimmung des finalen Aussehens einer gerenderten dreidimensionalen Szene erlaubt. Hierbei malt der Künstler direkt das beabsichtigte Aussehen und das System errechnet automatisch die zugrundeliegenden Materialeigenschaften, die den beabsichtigten Eigenschaften am nahesten kommen. Zu diesem Zweck wird ein auf Beispielen basierender Materialzuordnungsansatz vorgestellt, für den das 3D Model einer virtuellen Szene durch das simple Anführen einer Leitquelle (Bild, Video) in Materialien aufgeteilt werden kann. Als Nächstes schlagen wir Form- und Farbunterräume von Objektklassen vor, die aus einer Sammlung von Beispielbildern gelernt werden. Diese Unterräume können genutzt werden um Bildmanipulationen auf valide Formen und Farben einzuschränken oder Manipulationsvorschläge zu liefern. Schließlich werden datenbasierte Farbmannigfaltigkeiten vorgestellt, die Farben eines spezifischen Kontexts enthalten. Diese Mannigfaltigkeiten ermöglichen eine Leistungssteigerung bei Farbauswahl, Farbstilisierung, Komprimierung und Weißabgleich

New Fundamental Technologies in Data Mining

The progress of data mining technology and large public popularity establish a need for a comprehensive text on the subject. The series of books entitled by "Data Mining" address the need by presenting in-depth description of novel mining algorithms and many useful applications. In addition to understanding each section deeply, the two books present useful hints and strategies to solving problems in the following chapters. The contributing authors have highlighted many future research directions that will foster multi-disciplinary collaborations and hence will lead to significant development in the field of data mining

Region of attraction analysis for adaptive control of wing rock system

This paper introduces a numerical method for region of attraction (ROA) estimation of the adaptive control system in polynomial form. A classical adaptive controller with sigma modification on suppressing the wing rock motion is revisited. Using the nonlinear analysis technique based on the sum of squares optimization, ROA of the origin is computed with respect to the potential measurement error. The obtained result gives a solid guarantee on the allowable initial conditions where the adaptive controller is still able to suppress the wing rock motion. It provides confidence for the adaptive controller operating under some unforeseen conditions in practice

Partitionnement des images hyperspectrales de grande dimension spatiale par propagation d'affinité

The interest in hyperspectral image data has been constantly increasing during the last years. Indeed, hyperspectral images provide more detailed information about the spectral properties of a scene and allow a more precise discrimination of objects than traditional color images or even multispectral images. High spatial and spectral resolutions of hyperspectral images enable to precisely characterize the information pixel content. Though the potentialities of hyperspectral technology appear to be relatively wide, the analysis and the treatment of these data remain complex. In fact, exploiting such large data sets presents a great challenge. In this thesis, we are mainly interested in the reduction and partitioning of hyperspectral images of high spatial dimension. The proposed approach consists essentially of two steps: features extraction and classification of pixels of an image. A new approach for features extraction based on spatial and spectral tri-occurrences matrices defined on cubic neighborhoods is proposed. A comparative study shows the discrimination power of these new features over conventional ones as well as spectral signatures. Concerning the classification step, we are mainly interested in this thesis to the unsupervised and non-parametric classification approach because it has several advantages: no a priori knowledge, image partitioning for any application domain, and adaptability to the image information content. A comparative study of the most well-known semi-supervised (knowledge of number of classes) and unsupervised non-parametric methods (K-means, FCM, ISODATA, AP) showed the superiority of affinity propagation (AP). Despite its high correct classification rate, affinity propagation has two major drawbacks. Firstly, the number of classes is over-estimated when the preference parameter p value is initialized as the median value of the similarity matrix. Secondly, the partitioning of large size hyperspectral images is hampered by its quadratic computational complexity. Therefore, its application to this data type remains impossible. To overcome these two drawbacks, we propose an approach which consists of reducing the number of pixels to be classified before the application of AP by automatically grouping data points with high similarity. We also introduce a step to optimize the preference parameter value by maximizing a criterion related to the interclass variance, in order to correctly estimate the number of classes. The proposed approach was successfully applied on synthetic images, mono-component and multi-component and showed a consistent discrimination of obtained classes. It was also successfully applied and compared on hyperspectral images of high spatial dimension (1000 × 1000 pixels × 62 bands) in the context of a real application for the detection of invasive and non-invasive vegetation species.Les images hyperspectrales suscitent un intérêt croissant depuis une quinzaine d'années. Elles fournissent une information plus détaillée d'une scène et permettent une discrimination plus précise des objets que les images couleur RVB ou multi-spectrales. Bien que les potentialités de la technologie hyperspectrale apparaissent relativement grandes, l'analyse et l'exploitation de ces données restent une tâche difficile et présentent aujourd'hui un défi. Les travaux de cette thèse s'inscrivent dans le cadre de la réduction et de partitionnement des images hyperspectrales de grande dimension spatiale. L'approche proposée se compose de deux étapes : calcul d'attributs et classification des pixels. Une nouvelle approche d'extraction d'attributs à partir des matrices de tri-occurrences définies sur des voisinages cubiques est proposée en tenant compte de l'information spatiale et spectrale. Une étude comparative a été menée afin de tester le pouvoir discriminant de ces nouveaux attributs par rapport aux attributs classiques. Les attributs proposés montrent un large écart discriminant par rapport à ces derniers et par rapport aux signatures spectrales. Concernant la classification, nous nous intéressons ici au partitionnement des images par une approche de classification non supervisée et non paramétrique car elle présente plusieurs avantages: aucune connaissance a priori, partitionnement des images quel que soit le domaine applicatif, adaptabilité au contenu informationnel des images. Une étude comparative des principaux classifieurs semi-supervisés (connaissance du nombre de classes) et non supervisés (C-moyennes, FCM, ISODATA, AP) a montré la supériorité de la méthode de propagation d'affinité (AP). Mais malgré un meilleur taux de classification, cette méthode présente deux inconvénients majeurs: une surestimation du nombre de classes dans sa version non supervisée, et l'impossibilité de l'appliquer sur des images de grande taille (complexité de calcul quadratique). Nous avons proposé une approche qui apporte des solutions à ces deux problèmes. Elle consiste tout d'abord à réduire le nombre d'individus à classer avant l'application de l'AP en agrégeant les pixels à très forte similarité. Pour estimer le nombre de classes, la méthode AP utilise de manière implicite un paramètre de préférence p dont la valeur initiale correspond à la médiane des valeurs de la matrice de similarité. Cette valeur conduisant souvent à une sur-segmentation des images, nous avons introduit une étape permettant d'optimiser ce paramètre en maximisant un critère lié à la variance interclasse. L'approche proposée a été testée avec succès sur des images synthétiques, mono et multi-composantes. Elle a été également appliquée et comparée sur des images hyperspectrales de grande taille spatiale (1000 × 1000 pixels × 62 bandes) avec succès dans le cadre d'une application réelle pour la détection des plantes invasives

CIRA annual report FY 2017/2018

Reporting period April 1, 2017-March 31, 2018