Stability of some segmentation methods based on markov random fields for analysis of aero and space images

The paper is devoted to the stability of image segmentation methods based on Markov random fields for analysis of aero and space image with a Gaussian noise and blur. Segmentation problem is formulated in terms of finding a Bayes labeling of an Markov random field with maximum of a posteriori probability by the method of "simulated annealing". We study stability of variants of the algorithm using the Metropolis and Gibbs sampling, the system of neighborhoods with 8 and 24 neighbors and various coefficients of temperature reduction. © 2014 Evgeny Pavlyuk

Hidden Markov random field and FRAME modelling for TCA-image analysis

Tooth Cementum Annulation (TCA) is an age estimation method carried out on thin cross sections of the root of human teeth. Age is computed by adding the tooth eruption age to the count of annual incremental lines that are called tooth rings and appear in the cementum band. Algorithms to denoise and segment the digital image of the tooth section are considered a crucial step towards computer-assisted TCA. The approach pursued in this paper relies on modelling the images as hidden Markov random fields, where gray values are assumed to be pixelwise conditionally independent and normally distributed, given a hidden random field of labels. These unknown labels have to be estimated to segment the image. To account for long-range dependence among the observed values and for periodicity in the placement of tooth rings, the Gibbsian label distribution is specified by a potential function that incorporates macro-features of the TCA-image (a FRAME model). Estimation of the model parameters is carried out by an EM-algorithm that exploits the mean field approximation of the label distribution. Segmentation is based on the predictive distribution of the labels given the observed gray values. KEYWORDS: EM, FRAME, Gibbs distribution, (hidden) Markov random field, mean field approximation, TCA

Estimating the granularity coefficient of a Potts-Markov random field within an MCMC algorithm

This paper addresses the problem of estimating the Potts parameter B jointly with the unknown parameters of a Bayesian model within a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. Standard MCMC methods cannot be applied to this problem because performing inference on B requires computing the intractable normalizing constant of the Potts model. In the proposed MCMC method the estimation of B is conducted using a likelihood-free Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. Experimental results obtained for synthetic data show that estimating B jointly with the other unknown parameters leads to estimation results that are as good as those obtained with the actual value of B. On the other hand, assuming that the value of B is known can degrade estimation performance significantly if this value is incorrect. To illustrate the interest of this method, the proposed algorithm is successfully applied to real bidimensional SAR and tridimensional ultrasound images