Real-Time Computational Gigapixel Multi-Camera Systems

The standard cameras are designed to truthfully mimic the human eye and the visual system. In recent years, commercially available cameras are becoming more complex, and offer higher image resolutions than ever before. However, the quality of conventional imaging methods is limited by several parameters, such as the pixel size, lens system, the diffraction limit, etc. The rapid technological advancements, increase in the available computing power, and introduction of Graphics Processing Units (GPU) and Field-Programmable-Gate-Arrays (FPGA) open new possibilities in the computer vision and computer graphics communities. The researchers are now focusing on utilizing the immense computational power offered on the modern processing platforms, to create imaging systems with novel or significantly enhanced capabilities compared to the standard ones. One popular type of the computational imaging systems offering new possibilities is a multi-camera system. This thesis will focus on FPGA-based multi-camera systems that operate in real-time. The aim of themulti-camera systems presented in this thesis is to offer a wide field-of-view (FOV) video coverage at high frame rates. The wide FOV is achieved by constructing a panoramic image from the images acquired by the multi-camera system. Two new real-time computational imaging systems that provide new functionalities and better performance compared to conventional cameras are presented in this thesis. Each camera system design and implementation are analyzed in detail, built and tested in real-time conditions. Panoptic is a miniaturized low-cost multi-camera system that reconstructs a 360 degrees view in real-time. Since it is an easily portable system, it provides means to capture the complete surrounding light field in dynamic environment, such as when mounted on a vehicle or a flying drone. The second presented system, GigaEye II , is a modular high-resolution imaging system that introduces the concept of distributed image processing in the real-time camera systems. This thesis explains in detail howsuch concept can be efficiently used in real-time computational imaging systems. The purpose of computational imaging systems in the form of multi-camera systems does not end with real-time panoramas. The application scope of these cameras is vast. They can be used in 3D cinematography, for broadcasting live events, or for immersive telepresence experience. The final chapter of this thesis presents three potential applications of these systems: object detection and tracking, high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, and observation of multiple regions of interest. Object detection and tracking, and observation of multiple regions of interest are extremely useful and desired capabilities of surveillance systems, in security and defense industry, or in the fast-growing industry of autonomous vehicles. On the other hand, high dynamic range imaging is becoming a common option in the consumer market cameras, and the presented method allows instantaneous capture of HDR videos. Finally, this thesis concludes with the discussion of the real-time multi-camera systems, their advantages, their limitations, and the future predictions

Crimp, Microstructure, and Biomechanics: Analyzing the Eye Using Polarized Light Microscopy

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is the main risk factor for glaucoma, though sensitivity to IOP varies widely. A leading theory states that the breadth of sensitivity is due to the biomechanical variability between eyes. According to this theory, biomechanically weak eyes suffer glaucoma at lower IOPs whereas robust eyes withstand higher IOPs without glaucomatous neural tissue damage. Therefore, in order to prevent, diagnose, and treat glaucoma, we need to have a better understanding of ocular biomechanics. Ocular biomechanics are intimately tied to the anisotropy and nonlinearity of eye tissue. Both of these macroscale properties are largely determined by the organization of collagen, the main load-bearing component of the eye. The anisotropy is related to the mesoscale collagen structure, whereas the nonlinearity is related to the microstructural collagen fiber waviness or crimp. Although many have studied the collagen anisotropy, few studies of ocular crimp exist. Hence, the microstructural basis for eye biomechanics remains unclear, precluding a mechanistic assessment and understanding of individual sensitivity to IOP. The main goal of this project was to characterize the collagen crimp in the eye. The lack of information on ocular crimp stems largely from the absence of a suitable imaging technique that can quantify ocular crimp with high resolution over a wide field-of-view. We established a method using polarized light microscopy (PLM) to quantify collagen fiber orientation in the eye and characterized the accuracy, repeatability, and robustness of our method. We then used PLM to characterize the crimp distribution in the eye. We also characterized how the crimp differed in eyes fixed at different IOPs and tracked how ocular crimp changed with stretch. Our studies revealed many complex aspects of collagen architecture in the eye, including the existence of fibers that are arranged radially around the optic nerve head and highly uniform crimp in the lamina cribrosa and cornea. Our findings helped elucidate the role of crimp in determining eye biomechanics and provided insight into collagen patterns that play a central role in the pathophysiology of glaucoma

Arts practice and process: a basis for a pedagogical approach to art education focused on issues of social relevance

Karen Argus examined a creative arts practice's potential for teaching visual art. Arts education derived from knowledge based in art is more effective (Sullivan & Gu 2017). This research analyses visual art practice from beginning to end for potential application to visual arts pedagogy in future research

Development of a novel method of fabric manufacture for design practice (an investigation of fibre on yarn surface entanglement)

Textiles are one of mankind’s most used products, the earliest references are to the use of plants and then animal skins, these resources were the main source of shelter and protection for the body. Currently, textile fabrics are produced either using yarns or fibres, yarns are manufactured using two ancient fabric construction practices known as knitting and weaving whereas fibres are based on fibre bonding or fibre entangling; the resultant fabrics are known as nonwoven. Since the origin of textiles, the manufacturing techniques have continued to utilise these three methods: weaving, knitting and nonwoven. This thesis demonstrates the development of a novel technique to manufacture textile fabrics, which I call ‘Fibre on Yarn Surface Entanglement’ (FOYSE). The registered process FOYSE® has been initiated through testing methods to consider how to entangle, and to explore scale and design applications. Two textile structures and tools to create them have been pioneered and these demonstrate suitability for fabric surfaces commonly used for woven and knitted textiles. The first material is registered as Zephlinear® and the second is trademarked as Hover-TexTM. These innovative textiles are an ideal structure to accommodate future demands caused by advancing technology within industry. Zephlinear is a structure suitable to support smart and intelligent textiles as demand grows for advancing wearable fabrics. Hover Tex is an ideal structure to accommodate the demand for sustainable activewear. Mixed methods is the methodology used in this research. Tensile testing provided quantitative data and structured questionnaires were used to provide qualitative data. Twelve samples underwent tensile tests and were confirmed to meet the British Test Standard ISO 2062. Each sample showed slight variations in results. For example, two samples tested in the weft direction showed a difference of 40% strain capacity. It was assumed the irregularity was the result of differing quantities of fibre on the yarn surface used for entanglement. The results from the qualitative data provided information on how individuals understood the variance of fabrics manufactured by FOYSE in relation to known fabric surfaces. In addition to the development of a novel technology, this thesis also introduces novel tools and techniques. The FOYSE production process provides advancement to knowledge regarding how fabric from yarn can be assembled into textiles outside of the two known construction methods. Therefore, the present work introduces a fourth class of fabric surface. Thus, removing the limitations of the three known methods of manufacturing textiles. In addition, this thesis demonstrates a proof of concept for novel tools and machinery used to speed up and automate the FOYSE manufacturing process

A flexible access platform for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery

Advances in Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) are driven by the clinical demand to reduce the invasiveness of surgical procedures so patients undergo less trauma and experience faster recoveries. These well documented benefits of MIS have been achieved through parallel advances in the technology and instrumentation used during procedures. The new and evolving field of Flexible Access Surgery (FAS), where surgeons access the operative site through a single incision or a natural orifice incision, is being promoted as the next potential step in the evolution of surgery. In order to achieve similar levels of success and adoption as MIS, technology again has its role to play in developing new instruments to solve the unmet clinical challenges of FAS. As procedures become less invasive, these instruments should not just address the challenges presented by the complex access routes of FAS, but should also build on the recent advances in pre- and intraoperative imaging techniques to provide surgeons with new diagnostic and interventional decision making capabilities. The main focus of this thesis is the development and applications of a flexible robotic device that is capable of providing controlled flexibility along curved pathways inside the body. The principal component of the device is its modular mechatronic joint design which utilises an embedded micromotor-tendon actuation scheme to provide independently addressable degrees of freedom and three internal working channels. Connecting multiple modules together allows a seven degree-of-freedom (DoF) flexible access platform to be constructed. The platform is intended for use as a research test-bed to explore engineering and surgical challenges of FAS. Navigation of the platform is realised using a handheld controller optimised for functionality and ergonomics, or in a "hands-free" manner via a gaze contingent control framework. Under this framework, the operator's gaze fixation point is used as feedback to close the servo control loop. The feasibility and potential of integrating multi-spectral imaging capabilities into flexible robotic devices is also demonstrated. A force adaptive servoing mechanism is developed to simplify the deployment, and improve the consistency of probe-based optical imaging techniques by automatically controlling the contact force between the probe tip and target tissue. The thesis concludes with the description of two FAS case studies performed with the platform during in-vivo porcine experiments. These studies demonstrate the ability of the platform to perform large area explorations within the peritoneal cavity and to provide a stable base for the deployment of interventional instruments and imaging probes

Quilting the lesbian archive: quilt making as an affective methodology for re-visioning the lesbian archive

There is no lesbian archive in the UK; lesbian materials are clustered and dispersed in vastly divergent kinds of archives. In this context of fragmentation and loss this thesis uses practice-based research to establish quilt making as an affective methodology for revisioning the lesbian archive materials in Britain. Through the embodied methodology of auto-ethnography this thesis pays close attention to the material, and the affective resonances of the lesbian archive; making my own queer desires and longings explicit. Rather than a chronological or topographical ordering of archive materials, I present three kinds of archival encounter: the institutional (Vera Holme Collection: The Women’s Library at London School of Economics), the domestic (the private collection of photographer Phyllis Christopher, and the community (The Lesbian Archive and Information Centre Collection at Glasgow Women’s Library). Lastly, the thesis coins the concept of ‘the archival loop’ used to examine the archive of the Rebel Dykes that shifts between categories, defiantly in motion. The project presents a new body of quilted artworks that identify the under-researched imagery, symbolism, and visual cultures of lesbian communities in the 20th century. Through this specifically lesbian vernacular and a technical focus on digital embroidery, the works expand on traditional and feminist quilting practices. I offer a critique of the dominance of access and visibility as the primary tactics for liberating the lesbian archive (Castle, 1993; Jagose, 1994; Traub, 2016). Instead presenting quilt making as an affective strategy for piecing together fragments of the archive, whilst leaving space for the unknown and unseen. The quilt is established as both an act of ‘re-visioning’ and ‘femmage’ both of which are feminist strategies that turn towards the historical, in order to re-assemble the contemporary strategies for survival in a patriarchal world. Through a femme-ethical methodology that prioritises embellished aesthetics, emotional vulnerability, and an ethics of reciprocity the quilt not only re-visions the lesbian archive, but becomes an active contributor to the archive. Through this act of becoming the archive: I establish the archive as an active/activist site for intergenerational intimacy and collaboration that has the potential for new lesbian imaginaries and communities to form

Embodiment and the Arts: Views from South Africa

Embodiment and the Arts: Views from South Africa presents a diversity of views on the nature and status of the body in relation to acting, advertisements, designs, films, installations, music, photographs, performance, typography, and video works. Applying the methodologies of phenomenology, hermeneutic phenomenology, embodied perception, ecological psychology, and sense-based research, the authors place the body at the centre of their analyses. The cornerstone of the research presented here is the view that aesthetic experience is active and engaged rather than passive and disinterested. This novel volume offers a rich and diverse range of applications of the paradigm of embodiment to the arts in South Africa.Publishe

Promoting Healthy Body Image Through the Costume Design Process

This paper focuses on incorporating healthy body image and body awareness into two aspects of teaching costume design; the research and rendering phase, and the fitting and design realization process. Using Lisa Loomer’s The Waiting Room, a play exploring the body modification of three women from different cultures and time periods as a basis for research and character analysis, students begin to understand the cultural, social, and political frameworks behind significant historical fashion trends, and to translate that information into a design that communicates the same messages on a contemporary body to a contemporary audience. As students begin to research each culture and time period, they are tasked with finding ways to relate to the characters through common feelings of body confinement and dysmorphia, for example, finding commonalities between the Chinese practice of foot binding, Victorian corsetry, and modern day plastic surgery. Advanced student designers, when given the opportunity to realize their designs, are challenged with promoting healthy body image through their sketches and in fittings with performers. By addressing the way costume sketching is taught and steering away from 9-head fashion sketches, student designers are better able to demonstrate a full understanding of character, and the performer who is represented in the sketch is more likely to relate to the design and see it as an attainable image. In preparation for fittings, student designers are coached on how to address and clothe varying body types and are then guided through the fitting. Designers learn to see and dress each performer’s body without judgment or cultural bias, while maintaining the significant style lines and aesthetics a particular production, time period, and culture requires

Prediction of elastic behaviour and initial failure of textile composites

When a component is produced from textile reinforcement, it is well known that the reinforcement conforms to the shape of the tooling, predominantly by in-plane shear deformation. Current structural analysis techniques for composite components frequently neglect the effects of this deformation on subsequent mechanical properties. In this thesis the effects of shear deformation in the reinforcement on mechanical properties of the composite are shown to be significant, both for flat laminates with uniform reinforcement deformation, and for a component where deformation changes over the geometry. Methods are developed to predict the elastic behaviour and initial failure of components manufactured from textile reinforced composites, giving consideration to reinforcement deformation. One of the main objectives is to employ techniques which are purely predictive wherever possible, such that experimental test data are required principally for validation, rather than as input to the models. Implementation is performed in a modular fashion such that alternative models may be substituted at any stage in the procedure without affecting subsequent stages. Micromechanics models are employed to predict the properties of unidirectional composites from fibre and matrix properties and experimental validation is performed. A failure criterion is employed to determine lamina failure under biaxial loading. A simple model for woven fabric stiffness is implemented and extended to predict failure. Classical laminate theory is used to predict elastic and failure behaviour of angle-ply laminates; predictions are subsequently validated against experimental data. Material property and compaction models are incorporated into a draping simulation software tool which is used to create input files for structural analysis of components using layered shell finite elements, thought to be the most rigorous technique for textile composite components published to date. Results are shown to agree well with experimental data. To give full consideration of reinforcement geometry, initial studies of finite element modelling of the repeating unit cell are performed, whereupon the benefits and disadvantages of this technique are highlighted

January 26, 2004

The Breeze is the student newspaper of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia