PEDESTRIAN SEGMENTATION FROM COMPLEX BACKGROUND BASED ON PREDEFINED POSE FIELDS AND PROBABILISTIC RELAXATION

The wide use of cameras enables the availability of a large amount of image frames that can be used for people counting or to monitor crowds or single individuals for security purposes. These applications require both, object detection and tracking. This task has shown to be challenging due to problems such as occlusion, deformation, motion blur, and scale variation. One alternative to perform tracking is based on the comparison of features extracted for the individual objects from the image. For this purpose, it is necessary to identify the object of interest, a human image, from the rest of the scene. This paper introduces a method to perform the separation of human bodies from images with changing backgrounds. The method is based on image segmentation, the analysis of the possible pose, and a final refinement step based on probabilistic relaxation. It is the first work we are aware that probabilistic fields computed from human pose figures are combined with an improvement step of relaxation for pedestrian segmentation. The proposed method is evaluated using different image series and the results show that it can work efficiently, but it is dependent on some parameters to be set according to the image contrast and scale. Tests show accuracies above 71%. The method performs well in other datasets, where it achieves results comparable to stateof-the-art approaches

Digital image processing for prognostic and diagnostic clinical pathology

When digital imaging and image processing methods are applied to clinical diagnostic and prognostic needs, the methods can be seen to increase human understanding and provide objective measurements. Most current clinical applications are limited to providing subjective information to healthcare professionals rather than providing objective measures. This Thesis provides detail of methods and systems that have been developed both for objective and subjective microscopy applications. A system framework is presented that provides a base for the development of microscopy imaging systems. This practical framework is based on currently available hardware and developed with standard software development tools. Image processing methods are applied to counter optical limitations of the bright field microscope, automating the system and allowing for unsupervised image capture and analysis. Current literature provides evidence that 3D visualisation has provided increased insight and application in many clinical areas. There have been recent advancements in the use of 3D visualisation for the study of soft tissue structures, but its clinical application within histology remains limited. Methods and applications have been researched and further developed which allow for the 3D reconstruction and visualisation of soft tissue structures using microtomed serial histological sections specimens. A system has been developed suitable for this need is presented giving considerations to image capture, data registration and 3D visualisation, requirements. The developed system has been used to explore and increase 3D insight on clinical samples. The area of automated objective image quantification of microscope slides presents the allure of providing objective methods replacing existing objective and subjective methods, increasing accuracy and rsducinq manual burden. One such existing objective test is DNA Image Ploidy which seeks to characterise cancer by the measurement of DNA content within individual cell nuclei, an accepted but manually burdensome method. The main novelty of the work completed lies in the development of an automated system for DNA Image Ploidy measurement, combining methods for automatic specimen focus, segmentation, parametric extraction and the implementation of an automated cell type classification system. A consideration for any clinical image processing system is the correct sampling of the tissue under study. VVhile the image capture requirements for both objective systems and subjective systems are similar there is also an important link between the 3D structures of the tissue. 3D understanding can aid in decisions regarding the sampling criteria of objective tests for as although many tests are completed in the 2D realm the clinical samples are 3D objects. Cancers such as Prostate and Breast cancer are known to be multi-focal, with areas of seeming physically, independent areas of disease within a single site. It is not possible to understand the true 3D nature of the samples using 2D micro-tomed sections in isolation from each other. The 3D systems described in this report provide a platform of the exploration of the true multi focal nature of disease soft tissue structures allowing for the sampling criteria of objective tests such as DNA Image Ploidy to be correctly set. For the Automated DNA Image Ploidy and the 3D reconstruction and visualisation systems, clinical review has been completed to test the increased insights provided. Datasets which have been reconstructed from microtomed serial sections and visualised with the developed 3D system area presented. For the automated DNA Image Ploidy system, the developed system is compared with the existing manual method to qualify the quality of data capture, operational speed and correctness of nuclei classification. Conclusions are presented for the work that has been completed and discussion given as to future areas of research that could be undertaken, extending the areas of study, increasing both clinical insight and practical application

Durabilité des matériaux cimentaires soumis aux acides organiques : résistance chimique, mécanique et de corrosion

Dans la foulée de la mondialisation, le développement agricole a été axé selon un seul critère, celui de l’intensification des facteurs de production. Ce qui est responsable du paradigme de l’agriculture intensive au détriment des considérations environnementales. Les effluents stockés dans des ouvrages de rétention en béton subissent des transformations sous l’action des bactéries et sont le siège de la production d’acide organique, agents potentiellement agressifs pour la matrice cimentaire. Ce travail avait pour vocation principale la détermination de la formulation adéquate du liant résistant en milieu agricole. L’ensemble des essais réalisés vise à décortiquer les paramètres contrôlant la durabilité de la matrice cimentaire face à l’agressivité des acides organiques des effluents d’élevage. À cette fin, des échantillons de pâtes et/ou mortiers de liants ordinaires et spéciaux ont été immergés dans une solution d’acide acétique simulant l’agressivité des effluents d’élevage. L’influence des ajouts cimentaires suivants : laitier, métakaolin, fumée de silice et cendre volant, a été mis en œuvre. Des essais de lixiviation et d’immersion ont été réalisés. Dans un premier temps, nous nous sommes intéressés à la résistance chimique des pâtes tout en décortiquant les mécanismes de dégradation des matrices cimentaires. Des analyses par porosimétrie au mercure, absorption atomique, diffraction des rayons-x (DRX) ont été réalisées. Les résultats montrent que l’attaque se traduit par une zonation chimique et minéralogique. La durabilité des liants ordinaires ainsi que du ciment alumineux est limitée sachant que l’effet de la durée de cure s’avère primordiale surtout pour les liants à hydratation latente. Dans un second temps, nous nous sommes intéressés à la quantification des phases anhydres et des hydrates des liants présentant les meilleures performances chimiques. La quantification des anhydres a été réalisée par dissolution chimique, résonance magnétique nucléaire (R.M.N.) et traitement d’images. Par contre, la quantification des hydrates a été réalisée par thermogravimétrie (T.G.A.). Les résultats montrent que la stabilité des phases est dépendante des leurs compositions chimiques. L’évaluation de la résistance à la compression de cubes de mortiers sains et dégradés en solution acide a montré une amélioration nette principalement du mortier contenant du métakaolin par rapport au mortier ordinaire. Le suivi du temps d’initiation de la corrosion des armatures des mortiers au laitier et des mortiers au métakaolin a été réalisé par des mesures électrochimiques non-destructives (potentiel de corrosion, polarisation linéaire). Les mortiers au métakaolin présentent les temps d’initiation les plus longs contrairement à ceux au laitier où la forte porosité des échantillons favorisant des chemins de percolation de la solution agressive même à des cures avancées, rend l’initiation de la corrosion des armatures presque immédiate.In the wake of the globalization, agricultural development has focused on a single criterion, the intensification of production factors. Therfore, the paradigm of intensive agriculture at the expense of environmental considerations was founded. Effluent stored in concrete retention structures are transformed under the action of bacteria to organic acids, potentially aggressive agents to the cement matrix. This work was mainly designed to determine the adequate formulation of the resistant binder in an agricultural environment. All the realized tests aim to define parameters that control the durability of the cement matrix submitted to the aggressiveness of organic acid of manure. Cement pastes and/or mortars samples of ordinary and special binders was immersed in an acetic acid solution simulating the aggressiveness of manure. The influence of mineral additions include: slag, metakaolin, silica fume and fly ash has been implemented. Leaching and immersion tests have been achieved. Initially, we were interested on the chemical resistance of pastes by analyzing the degradation mechanisms of cement matrix. The analyses were performed by mercury intrusion porosimetry, atomic absorption and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that acidic attack results in a chemical and mineralogical zonation. The durability of ordinary binders and alumina cement is limited given that the effect of the curing period is essential especially for binders having a latent hydration. We were also interested to the quantification of the anhydrous and hydrate phases for binders having the best chemical performance. The quantification of the anhydrous phases was realized by chemical dissolution, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and image processing. However, the quantification of the hydrates was realized by thermogravimetry (T.G.A.). The results show that stability of phases is dependent on their chemical compositions. The evaluation of the compressive strength of sound and altered mortar cubes showed a marked improvement mainly for mortar containing metakaolin compared to the ordinary mortar. The evolution of corrosion of reinforced mortars containing slag or metakaolin was followed by non-destructive electrochemical measurements (corrosion potential and linear polarization). Metakaolin mortars present the best resistance to initiation of corrosion. However, the high porosity of samples containing slag, favoring paths of percolation of acid solution even in advanced cured time, makes the initiation of reinforcement corrosion almost immediately

Image segmentation functional model

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