3,685 research outputs found
Leaf segmentation and tracking using probabilistic parametric active contours
Active contours or snakes are widely used for segmentation and tracking. These techniques require the minimization of an energy function, which is generally a linear combination of a data fit term and a regularization term. This energy function can be adjusted to exploit the intrinsic object and image features. This can be done by changing the weighting parameters of the data fit and regularization term. There is, however, no rule to set these parameters optimally for a given application. This results in trial and error parameter estimation. In this paper, we propose a new active contour framework defined using probability theory. With this new technique there is no need for ad hoc parameter setting, since it uses probability distributions, which can be learned from a given training dataset
Image processing for plastic surgery planning
This thesis presents some image processing tools for plastic surgery planning. In particular,
it presents a novel method that combines local and global context in a probabilistic
relaxation framework to identify cephalometric landmarks used in Maxillofacial plastic
surgery. It also uses a method that utilises global and local symmetry to identify abnormalities
in CT frontal images of the human body. The proposed methodologies are
evaluated with the help of several clinical data supplied by collaborating plastic surgeons
MSPKmerCounter: A Fast and Memory Efficient Approach for K-mer Counting
A major challenge in next-generation genome sequencing (NGS) is to assemble
massive overlapping short reads that are randomly sampled from DNA fragments.
To complete assembling, one needs to finish a fundamental task in many leading
assembly algorithms: counting the number of occurrences of k-mers (length-k
substrings in sequences). The counting results are critical for many components
in assembly (e.g. variants detection and read error correction). For large
genomes, the k-mer counting task can easily consume a huge amount of memory,
making it impossible for large-scale parallel assembly on commodity servers.
In this paper, we develop MSPKmerCounter, a disk-based approach, to
efficiently perform k-mer counting for large genomes using a small amount of
memory. Our approach is based on a novel technique called Minimum Substring
Partitioning (MSP). MSP breaks short reads into multiple disjoint partitions
such that each partition can be loaded into memory and processed individually.
By leveraging the overlaps among the k-mers derived from the same short read,
MSP can achieve astonishing compression ratio so that the I/O cost can be
significantly reduced. For the task of k-mer counting, MSPKmerCounter offers a
very fast and memory-efficient solution. Experiment results on large real-life
short reads data sets demonstrate that MSPKmerCounter can achieve better
overall performance than state-of-the-art k-mer counting approaches.
MSPKmerCounter is available at http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~yangli/MSPKmerCounte
Recognizing Speech in a Novel Accent: The Motor Theory of Speech Perception Reframed
The motor theory of speech perception holds that we perceive the speech of
another in terms of a motor representation of that speech. However, when we
have learned to recognize a foreign accent, it seems plausible that recognition
of a word rarely involves reconstruction of the speech gestures of the speaker
rather than the listener. To better assess the motor theory and this
observation, we proceed in three stages. Part 1 places the motor theory of
speech perception in a larger framework based on our earlier models of the
adaptive formation of mirror neurons for grasping, and for viewing extensions
of that mirror system as part of a larger system for neuro-linguistic
processing, augmented by the present consideration of recognizing speech in a
novel accent. Part 2 then offers a novel computational model of how a listener
comes to understand the speech of someone speaking the listener's native
language with a foreign accent. The core tenet of the model is that the
listener uses hypotheses about the word the speaker is currently uttering to
update probabilities linking the sound produced by the speaker to phonemes in
the native language repertoire of the listener. This, on average, improves the
recognition of later words. This model is neutral regarding the nature of the
representations it uses (motor vs. auditory). It serve as a reference point for
the discussion in Part 3, which proposes a dual-stream neuro-linguistic
architecture to revisits claims for and against the motor theory of speech
perception and the relevance of mirror neurons, and extracts some implications
for the reframing of the motor theory
The Mole & The Snake
This article starts from the Foucaultanian notions of biopower and discipline, deal- ing with the strategies of the modern and contemporary capitalism. Introducing the term biopower into his research, Foucault is alluding to a series of transformations re- lated to the capitalist system: life enters into the scope of power in terms of \u201ccontrolled insertion of bodies\u201d in the social apparatus of production, as well as in terms of an \u201cadaptation of population phenomena to economic processes\u201d. It involves the exchange of services on which the Fordist social pact was founded in the twentieth century. The life that is claimed in and against the relationship of capital concerns \u201cneeds\u201d that refer to a \u201cconcrete essence of man\u201d. In the undeniable awareness of a \u201ctriangulation\u201d between sovereignty, discipline and biopower, the author, as a criterion for reading the dynamics of contemporary power, analyzes the theme of control referring to Deleuze. This is de- lineated in the double form of \u201cbiopolitical algorithms\u201d and of the normalization that by means of the selection and targeted processing of big data and information packages, incessantly produced by social activity in and on the network, capture forms of life at the service of capitalism
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