Human Skull Repairing Technologies Based on Heat Kernels

在人类学与法医学中，专家们常常利用发掘得到的头骨来还原死者生前的 面貌。由于自然环境的侵蚀与人为的破坏，挖掘出额骨骼往往呈碎片状，并且 在面部等包含丰富几何信息的区域出现破洞、裂隙等数据丢失的问题，直接对 这些碎片进行分析处理是十分困难的。随着三维扫描技术的发展，三维扫描仪 能够将实际的头骨扫描成电子数据存储在计算机内，并利用几何处理技术来对 头骨模型进行还原和修复，还原得到的头骨模型为后续的分析处理工作带来极 大的便利。因此，做为脸部重建的预处理程序，头骨模型的的还原与修复是计 算机图形学的重要研究课题，本文针对计算机环境下的头骨碎片拼接与破洞修 补提出了解决方法。 本文介...With the development of science and technology, facial reconstruction based on human skull is integrated by many disciplines, and has been continuously evolving and developing. To protect the original skull from any damaging, skulls are usually transformed into digital data by 3D scanner and stored in computers as triangle mesh. Skulls are sometimes fragmented; facial regions with rich geometr...学位：工程硕士院系专业：信息科学与技术学院_控制工程学号：2322010115321

Effective 3D Geometric Matching for Data Restoration and Its Forensic Application

3D geometric matching is the technique to detect the similar patterns among multiple objects. It is an important and fundamental problem and can facilitate many tasks in computer graphics and vision, including shape comparison and retrieval, data fusion, scene understanding and object recognition, and data restoration. For example, 3D scans of an object from different angles are matched and stitched together to form the complete geometry. In medical image analysis, the motion of deforming organs is modeled and predicted by matching a series of CT images. This problem is challenging and remains unsolved, especially when the similar patterns are 1) small and lack geometric saliency; 2) incomplete due to the occlusion of the scanning and damage of the data. We study the reliable matching algorithm that can tackle the above difficulties and its application in data restoration. Data restoration is the problem to restore the fragmented or damaged model to its original complete state. It is a new area and has direct applications in many scientific fields such as Forensics and Archeology. In this dissertation, we study novel effective geometric matching algorithms, including curve matching, surface matching, pairwise matching, multi-piece matching and template matching. We demonstrate its applications in an integrated digital pipeline of skull reassembly, skull completion, and facial reconstruction, which is developed to facilitate the state-of-the-art forensic skull/facial reconstruction processing pipeline in law enforcement

A Survey of Geometric Analysis in Cultural Heritage

We present a review of recent techniques for performing geometric analysis in cultural heritage (CH) applications. The survey is aimed at researchers in the areas of computer graphics, computer vision and CH computing, as well as to scholars and practitioners in the CH field. The problems considered include shape perception enhancement, restoration and preservation support, monitoring over time, object interpretation and collection analysis. All of these problems typically rely on an understanding of the structure of the shapes in question at both a local and global level. In this survey, we discuss the different problem forms and review the main solution methods, aided by classification criteria based on the geometric scale at which the analysis is performed and the cardinality of the relationships among object parts exploited during the analysis. We finalize the report by discussing open problems and future perspectives

Profiling the most highly cited scholars from China: Who they are. To what extent they are interdisciplinary

Since the beginning of the 21st century, an increasing number of Chinese researchers have joined the ranks of the world’s top scientists. Some international organizations have observed this phenomenon and ranked the world’s top Chinese researchers. However, investigation of highly cited interdisciplinary research (IDR) scholars is insufficient, although IDR tends to have a greater social impact. Looking at the top 2% of the world’s Chinese scholars, this study analyzes the structural attributes of IDR by those top scholars in detail using network analysis, cluster analysis, block modeling, and quadratic assignment procedure analysis. The results show that the proportion of highly cited scholars in technical categories is higher than in social categories. The fields of artificial intelligence and image processing, oncology and carcinogenesis, plus neurology and neurosurgery serve as bridges across disciplines, with materials, energy, and artificial intelligence and image processing having higher eigenvector centrality. The field of social sciences has the widest range of IDR activities, but cooperation within this field is low. Forty-two of the world’s first-class universities are in China, and of the world’s top 2% scholars who come from China, 46.3% work for these institutions. The research themes of highly cited academics from World First-Class universities in China are most similar to the themes of scholars from universities in China with first-class academic disciplines. There are differences between non-university and university scholars in terms of research topics. It is suggested that the government can promote a triple-helix effect (public institute, industrial enterprise, and research school) so that organizations of different natures can produce synergistic effects.

Image Processing Applications in Real Life: 2D Fragmented Image and Document Reassembly and Frequency Division Multiplexed Imaging

In this era of modern technology, image processing is one the most studied disciplines of signal processing and its applications can be found in every aspect of our daily life. In this work three main applications for image processing has been studied. In chapter 1, frequency division multiplexed imaging (FDMI), a novel idea in the field of computational photography, has been introduced. Using FDMI, multiple images are captured simultaneously in a single shot and can later be extracted from the multiplexed image. This is achieved by spatially modulating the images so that they are placed at different locations in the Fourier domain. Finally, a Texas Instruments digital micromirror device (DMD) based implementation of FDMI is presented and results are shown. Chapter 2 discusses the problem of image reassembly which is to restore an image back to its original form from its pieces after it has been fragmented due to different destructive reasons. We propose an efficient algorithm for 2D image fragment reassembly problem based on solving a variation of Longest Common Subsequence (LCS) problem. Our processing pipeline has three steps. First, the boundary of each fragment is extracted automatically; second, a novel boundary matching is performed by solving LCS to identify the best possible adjacency relationship among image fragment pairs; finally, a multi-piece global alignment is used to filter out incorrect pairwise matches and compose the final image. We perform experiments on complicated image fragment datasets and compare our results with existing methods to show the improved efficiency and robustness of our method. The problem of reassembling a hand-torn or machine-shredded document back to its original form is another useful version of the image reassembly problem. Reassembling a shredded document is different from reassembling an ordinary image because the geometric shape of fragments do not carry a lot of valuable information if the document has been machine-shredded rather than hand-torn. On the other hand, matching words and context can be used as an additional tool to help improve the task of reassembly. In the final chapter, document reassembly problem has been addressed through solving a graph optimization problem

Big Hole (41TV2161): Two Stratigraphically Isolated Middle Holocene Components in Travis County, Texas Volume I

During April and May 2006, an archeological team from the Cultural Resources Section of the Planning, Permitting and Licensing Practice of TRC Environmental Corporation’s (TRC) Austin office conducted geoarcheological documentation and data recovery excavations at prehistoric site 41TV2161 (CSJ: 0440-06-006). Investigations were restricted to a 70 centimeter (cm) thick target zone between ca. 220 and 290 cm below surface (bs) on the western side of site 41TV2161 – the Big Hole site in eastern Travis County, Texas. This cultural investigation was necessary under the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the implementing regulations of 36CRF Part 800 and the Antiquities Code of Texas (Texas Natural Resource Code, Title 9, Chapter 191 as amended) to recover a sample of the significant cultural materials prior to destruction by planned construction of State Highway 130 (SH 130). The latter by a private construction firm – Lone Star Infrastructure. This necessary data recovery was for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Environmental (ENV) Affairs Division under a Scientific Services Contract No. 577XXSA003 (Work Authorization No. 57701SA003). Over the years since the original award, multiple work authorizations between TxDOT and TRC were implemented and completed towards specific aspects of the analyses and reporting. The final analyses and report were conducted under contract 57-3XXSA004 (Work Authorization 57-311SA004). All work was under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 4064 issued by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) to J. Michael Quigg. Initially, an archeological crew from Hicks & Company encountered site 41TV2161 during an intensive cultural resource inventory conducted south of Pearce Lane along the planned construction zone of SH 130 in the fall of 2005. Following the initial site discovery, archeologists expanded their investigations to the west across the SH 130 right-of-way, and completed excavation of 10 backhoe trenches, 13 shovel tests, and 11 test units at site 41TV2161. The investigations encountered at least seven buried cultural features and 1,034 artifacts, some in relatively good context. The survey and testing report to TxDOT presented their findings and recommendations (Campbell et al. 2006). The ENV Affairs Division of TxDOT and the THC reviewed the initial findings and recommendations, and determined site 41TV2161 was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and as State Antiquities Landmark as the proposed roadway development was to directly impact this important site and further excavations were required. Subsequently, TRC archeologists led by Paul Matchen (Project Archeologist) and J. Michael Quigg (Principal Investigator) initiated data recovery excavations through the mechanical-removal of between 220 and 250 cm of sediment from a 30-by-40 meter (m) block area (roughly 3,000 m3). This was conducted to allow hand-excavations to start just above the deeply buried, roughly 70 cm thick targeted zone of cultural material. Mechanical stripping by Lone Star Infrastructure staff created a large hole with an irregular bottom that varied between 220 and 260 cmbs. To locate specific areas to initiate hand-excavations within the mechanically stripped area, a geophysical survey that employed ground penetrating radar (GPR) was conducted by Tiffany Osburn then with Geo-Marine in Plano, Texas. Over a dozen electronic anomalies were detected through the GPR investigation. Following processing, data filtering, and assessment, Osburn identified and ranked the anomalies for investigation. The highest ranked anomalies (1 through 8) were thought to have the greatest potential to represent cultural features. Anomalies 1 through 6 were selected and targeted through hand-excavations of 1-by-1 m units that formed continuous excavation blocks of various sizes. Blocks were designated A, B, C, D, E, and F. The type, nature, quantity, and context of encountered cultural materials in each block led the direction and expansion of each excavation block as needed. In total, TRC archeologists hand-excavated 38.5 m3 (150 m2) from a vertically narrow target zone within this deep, multicomponent and stratified prehistoric site. Hand-excavation in the two largest Blocks, B and D (51 m2 and 62 m2 respectively), revealed two vertically separate cultural components between roughly 220 and 290 cmbs. The younger component was restricted to Block B and yielded a Bell/Andice point and point base, plus a complete Big Sandy point. These points were associated with at least eight small burned rock features, one cluster of ground stone tools, limited quantities of lithic debitage, few formal chipped and ground stone tools, and a rare vertebrate faunal assemblage. Roughly 20 to 25 cm below the Bell/Andice component in Block B and across Block D was a component identified by a single corner-notched Martindale dart point. This point was associated with a scattered burned rocks, three charcoal stained hearth features, scattered animal, bird, and fish bones, mussel shells, and less than a dozen formal chipped and ground stone tools. Both identified components contained cultural materials in good stratigraphic context with high spatial integrity. Significant, both were radiocarbon dated by multiple charcoal samples to a narrow 200-year period between 5250 and 5450 B.P. during the middle Holocene. With exception of the well-preserved faunal assemblages, perishable materials were poorly preserved in the moist silty clay loam. Charcoal lacked structure and was reduced to dark stains. Microfossils (e.g., phytoliths and starch gains) were present, although in very limited numbers and deteriorated conditions. The four much smaller Blocks (A, C, E, and F) yielded various quantities of cultural material and features, but these blocks also lacked sufficient charcoal dates and diagnostic artifacts Those artifacts and samples were left unassigned and analyzed separately from the Bell/Andice and Martindale components. The two well-defined components in Blocks B and D are the focus of this technical report. The components provide very significant data towards understanding rare and poorly understood hunter-gatherer populations during late stages of the Altithermal climate period. This final report builds upon the interim report submitted to TxDOT (Quigg et al. 2007) that briefly described the methods, excavations, preliminary findings, initial results from six feasibility studies, and proposed an initial research design for data analyses. Context and integrity of the cultural materials in the two identified components was excellent. This rare circumstance combined with detailed artifact analyses, solid documentation of their ages through multiple radiocarbon dates, and multidisciplinary approach to analyses, allowed significant insights and contributions concerning the two populations involved. Results provide a greater understanding of human behaviors during a rarely identified time in Texas Prehistory. The cultural materials and various collected samples were temporarily curated at TRC’s Austin laboratory. Following completion of analyses and acceptance of this final report, the artifacts, paper records, photographs, and electronic database were permanently curated at the Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS) at Texas State University in San Marcos

Report on shape analysis and matching and on semantic matching

In GRAVITATE, two disparate specialities will come together in one working platform for the archaeologist: the fields of shape analysis, and of metadata search. These fields are relatively disjoint at the moment, and the research and development challenge of GRAVITATE is precisely to merge them for our chosen tasks. As shown in chapter 7 the small amount of literature that already attempts join 3D geometry and semantics is not related to the cultural heritage domain. Therefore, after the project is done, there should be a clear ‘before-GRAVITATE’ and ‘after-GRAVITATE’ split in how these two aspects of a cultural heritage artefact are treated.This state of the art report (SOTA) is ‘before-GRAVITATE’. Shape analysis and metadata description are described separately, as currently in the literature and we end the report with common recommendations in chapter 8 on possible or plausible cross-connections that suggest themselves. These considerations will be refined for the Roadmap for Research deliverable.Within the project, a jargon is developing in which ‘geometry’ stands for the physical properties of an artefact (not only its shape, but also its colour and material) and ‘metadata’ is used as a general shorthand for the semantic description of the provenance, location, ownership, classification, use etc. of the artefact. As we proceed in the project, we will find a need to refine those broad divisions, and find intermediate classes (such as a semantic description of certain colour patterns), but for now the terminology is convenient – not least because it highlights the interesting area where both aspects meet.On the ‘geometry’ side, the GRAVITATE partners are UVA, Technion, CNR/IMATI; on the metadata side, IT Innovation, British Museum and Cyprus Institute; the latter two of course also playing the role of internal users, and representatives of the Cultural Heritage (CH) data and target user’s group. CNR/IMATI’s experience in shape analysis and similarity will be an important bridge between the two worlds for geometry and metadata. The authorship and styles of this SOTA reflect these specialisms: the first part (chapters 3 and 4) purely by the geometry partners (mostly IMATI and UVA), the second part (chapters 5 and 6) by the metadata partners, especially IT Innovation while the joint overview on 3D geometry and semantics is mainly by IT Innovation and IMATI. The common section on Perspectives was written with the contribution of all

Long View (41RB112): Data Recovery of Two Plains Village Period Components in Roberts County, Texas, Volume 1

This archeological data recovery investigation in Roberts County in the northeastern panhandle of Texas was necessitated by the proposed widening of State Highway 70 (CSJ: 0490-04-037) by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Amarillo District. This proposed highway rehabilitation program will directly impact a roughly 10 meter (m, 30 ft.) wide north-south section of prehistoric site 41RB112, the Long View site. This site consists of two horizontally distinct Plains Village period occupations shallowly buried along a linear interfluvial ridge between two small tributary creeks to the Canadian River in the midslope of this broad, dissected valley. This site was initially discovered by TxDOT archeologist, Dennis Price in June 2004 during an archeological inventory of the proposed 9.7 kilometer (6 mile) section north of the Canadian River in response to the planned highway rehabilitation program. Based on Mr. Price’s discovery of multiple artifact classes in buried context he recommended this site be assessed for its eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under criterion d and possible designation as a State Archeological Landmark (SAL) per the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and other related legislation. Following the Texas Historical Commissions concurrence with that recommendation, TxDOT through the Environmental (ENV) Affairs Division, contracted to TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) under an existing Scientific Services Contract No. 57XXSA006 and issued a Work Authorization to TRC of Austin to conduct the site eligibility assessment. During a site visit by TxDOT geoarcheologist James Abbott and TRC archeologist Mike Quigg in February 2005, the site boundaries were expanded to nearly 300 meters (m) along the proposed area of potential effect (APE). Investigative strategies were devised to assess the Long View site. In May 2005, TRC’s archeologists from Austin conducted archeological testing for a NRHP and SAL eligibility assessment investigation at 41RB112. The assessment along the 10-m-wide by 300-m-long APE was accomplished by hand-excavating 28 1-by-1 m units (totaling 16.8 m3), hand-excavating four narrow ca. 30 centimeter (cm) wide trenches (two in each area totaling nearly 32 linear meters), as well as cleaning and inspecting 28 m of existing road cut exposures. These investigations determined that cultural materials clustered at the northern and southern ends (Areas A and C respectively) of the site with nearly 120 m of noncultural bearing deposits (Area B) between the two concentrations. A 4-m-wide mechanically bladed fireguard paralleled the existing fenceline throughout the length of the APE and disturbed much of the near surface materials in that zone. The opposite, eastern side of the highway was investigated through the excavation of six 50-by-50 cm shovel tests, surface, and road cut inspection. Based on the results from the hand-excavations and various collections conducted during the site assessment, it became apparent that the two ends (Areas A and C) of the Long View site in TxDOT’s proposed APE contained well-defined cultural components in the top 50 cmbs. Each end appeared to represent habitation remains from single occupation episodes with potential structures, restricted to a narrow time period of less than 100 years between uncalibrated 630 and 710 B.P. of the Plains Village period. Rodent and natural disturbances had vertically displaced some small cultural objects within the sandy deposits, but the restricted period of occupation to roughly a 100 year period reduces this impact. TRC recommended the site was eligible for listing on the National Register and as a State Landmark. The Texas Historical Commissions concurred with that recommendation, and subsequently the ENV Affairs Division of TxDOT, again contracted to TRC under an existing Scientific Services Contract No. 575XXSA008 and issued a Work Authorization to TRC Austin to perform the mitigation of the proposed impacts. Data recovery investigations were conducted during August through November 2006 along the western side of the existing highway. The previously identified northern-Area A and southern–Area C areas with high concentrations of cultural materials were targeted. These investigations began with a thorough geophysical survey that employed three noninvasive electrical detective instruments across Areas A and C anticipating to detect the locations of subsurface cultural features to target by hand-excavations. Some excavations targeted the detected anomalies, whereas others targeted previously identified features. In the end, hand-excavated blocks were completed in Areas A and C. The excavations totaled 128 m2 in Area A and 93 m2 in Area C for a grand total of 221 m2 or 103.4 m3. In conjunction with the archeological excavations, geoarcheological investigations focused on defining the age and development of the natural Holocene sediments that contained the cultural materials. The geoarcheological assessment included detailed stratigraphic documentation of site and near site deposits, sediment texture characterization, soil thin sections, magnetic susceptibility, multiple chemical analyses (organic, calcium, and phosphorus). Detailed stratigraphic data was also collected at two rare pithouse structures to pursue construction and filling episodes. The excavations yielded significant and diverse cultural assemblages from the two occupations assigned Component A and C. Both components are attributed to the Plains Village period with two discrete occupations dating to uncalibrated 460 to 535 B.P. (cal A.D. 1398 to 1447) in Component A and 530 to 700 B.P. (cal A.D. 1280 to 1437) in Component C. The two assemblages are significant not only in their diversity and quality of materials but also in the information they yielded. This report represents one of the first complete documents to present the entire cultural assemblage from a single site for this time period and region. The total recovered assemblage includes 157 formal chipped and ground stone tools, 226 informal tools, 3,414 pieces of lithic debitage, over 6,400 faunal fragments (1.4 kg), some 1,541 ceramic sherds, 1,790 burned rocks, at least 116 macrobotanical samples that includes 16 maize cobs, two human burials, and remains of a third, juvenile scattered along a previously bladed fireguard, 32 intact cultural features that include two rare pithouses, and other cultural debris related to these two campsites. The human remains and associated artifacts will be repatriated in accord with the requirements of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). A suite of 10 technical analyses directed at mostly the cultural assemblages included; use-wear, phytolith, diatom, petrography, macrobotanical, starch grain, instrumental neutron activation, bison bone isotopes, obsidian sourcing, radiocarbon and optical stimulated dating. This data was used to address 11 specific research questions concerning these Plains Village period occupations. Not only does the cultural debris contribute to our understanding of the time period but the geoarcheological information obtained explains the conditions and how the materials were preserved, and inform us concerning the past depositional environment in this immediate area. The combined information contributes to a significant understanding to a specific part of the Plains Village cultures in the Texas panhandle. Following the acceptance of the final report by the TxDOT and the Texas Historical Commission these cultural materials and all the documentation from the combined investigations will be permanently curated at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. The curated materials will provide important data that can be researched by interested parties in the future

Tube and Sheet Metal Forming Processes and Applications

At present, the manufacturing industry is focused on the production of lighter weight components with better mechanical properties and always fulfilling all the environmental requirements. These challenges have caused a need for developing manufacturing processes in general, including obviously those devoted in particular to the development of thin-walled metallic shapes, as is the case with tubular and sheet metal parts and devices.This Special Issue is thus devoted to research in the fields of sheet metal forming and tube forming, and their applications, including both experimental and numerical approaches and using a variety of scientific and technological tools, such as forming limit diagrams (FLDs), analysis on formability and failure, strain analysis based on circle grids or digital image correlation (DIC), and finite element analysis (FEA), among others.In this context, we are pleased to present this Special Issue dealing with recent studies in the field of tube and sheet metal forming processes and their main applications within different high-tech industries, such as the aerospace, automotive, or medical sectors, among others