A study of the classification of low-dimensional data with supervised manifold learning

Supervised manifold learning methods learn data representations by preserving the geometric structure of data while enhancing the separation between data samples from different classes. In this work, we propose a theoretical study of supervised manifold learning for classification. We consider nonlinear dimensionality reduction algorithms that yield linearly separable embeddings of training data and present generalization bounds for this type of algorithms. A necessary condition for satisfactory generalization performance is that the embedding allow the construction of a sufficiently regular interpolation function in relation with the separation margin of the embedding. We show that for supervised embeddings satisfying this condition, the classification error decays at an exponential rate with the number of training samples. Finally, we examine the separability of supervised nonlinear embeddings that aim to preserve the low-dimensional geometric structure of data based on graph representations. The proposed analysis is supported by experiments on several real data sets

Robust Face Representation and Recognition Under Low Resolution and Difficult Lighting Conditions

This dissertation focuses on different aspects of face image analysis for accurate face recognition under low resolution and poor lighting conditions. A novel resolution enhancement technique is proposed for enhancing a low resolution face image into a high resolution image for better visualization and improved feature extraction, especially in a video surveillance environment. This method performs kernel regression and component feature learning in local neighborhood of the face images. It uses directional Fourier phase feature component to adaptively lean the regression kernel based on local covariance to estimate the high resolution image. For each patch in the neighborhood, four directional variances are estimated to adapt the interpolated pixels. A Modified Local Binary Pattern (MLBP) methodology for feature extraction is proposed to obtain robust face recognition under varying lighting conditions. Original LBP operator compares pixels in a local neighborhood with the center pixel and converts the resultant binary string to 8-bit integer value. So, it is less effective under difficult lighting conditions where variation between pixels is negligible. The proposed MLBP uses a two stage encoding procedure which is more robust in detecting this variation in a local patch. A novel dimensionality reduction technique called Marginality Preserving Embedding (MPE) is also proposed for enhancing the face recognition accuracy. Unlike Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), which project data in a global sense, MPE seeks for a local structure in the manifold. This is similar to other subspace learning techniques but the difference with other manifold learning is that MPE preserves marginality in local reconstruction. Hence it provides better representation in low dimensional space and achieves lower error rates in face recognition. Two new concepts for robust face recognition are also presented in this dissertation. In the first approach, a neural network is used for training the system where input vectors are created by measuring distance from each input to its class mean. In the second approach, half-face symmetry is used, realizing the fact that the face images may contain various expressions such as open/close eye, open/close mouth etc., and classify the top half and bottom half separately and finally fuse the two results. By performing experiments on several standard face datasets, improved results were observed in all the new proposed methodologies. Research is progressing in developing a unified approach for the extraction of features suitable for accurate face recognition in a long range video sequence in complex environments

Robust Image Recognition Based on a New Supervised Kernel Subspace Learning Method

Fecha de lectura de Tesis Doctoral: 13 de septiembre 2019Image recognition is a term for computer technologies that can recognize certain people, objects or other targeted subjects through the use of algorithms and machine learning concepts. Face recognition is one of the most popular techniques to achieve the goal of figuring out the identity of a person. This study has been conducted to develop a new non-linear subspace learning method named “supervised kernel locality-based discriminant neighborhood embedding,” which performs data classification by learning an optimum embedded subspace from a principal high dimensional space. In this approach, not only is a nonlinear and complex variation of face images effectively represented using nonlinear kernel mapping, but local structure information of data from the same class and discriminant information from distinct classes are also simultaneously preserved to further improve final classification performance. Moreover, to evaluate the robustness of the proposed method, it was compared with several well-known pattern recognition methods through comprehensive experiments with six publicly accessible datasets. In this research, we particularly focus on face recognition however, two other types of databases rather than face databases are also applied to well investigate the implementation of our algorithm. Experimental results reveal that our method consistently outperforms its competitors across a wide range of dimensionality on all the datasets. SKLDNE method has reached 100 percent of recognition rate for Tn=17 on the Sheffield, 9 on the Yale, 8 on the ORL, 7 on the Finger vein and 11on the Finger Knuckle respectively, while the results are much lower for other methods. This demonstrates the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method