46,997 research outputs found
Multi-view passive 3D face acquisition device
Approaches to acquisition of 3D facial data include laser scanners, structured
light devices and (passive) stereo vision. The laser scanner and structured light
methods allow accurate reconstruction of the 3D surface but strong light is projected
on the faces of subjects. Passive stereo vision based approaches do not require strong
light to be projected, however, it is hard to obtain comparable accuracy and robustness
of the surface reconstruction. In this paper a passive multiple view approach using
5 cameras in a ’+’ configuration is proposed that significantly increases robustness
and accuracy relative to traditional stereo vision approaches. The normalised cross
correlations of all 5 views are combined using direct projection of points instead of
the traditionally used rectified images. Also, errors caused by different perspective
deformation of the surface in the different views are reduced by using an iterative reconstruction
technique where the depth estimation of the previous iteration is used to
warp the windows of the normalised cross correlation for the different views
Computer-assisted polyp matching between optical colonoscopy and CT colonography: a phantom study
Potentially precancerous polyps detected with CT colonography (CTC) need to
be removed subsequently, using an optical colonoscope (OC). Due to large
colonic deformations induced by the colonoscope, even very experienced
colonoscopists find it difficult to pinpoint the exact location of the
colonoscope tip in relation to polyps reported on CTC. This can cause unduly
prolonged OC examinations that are stressful for the patient, colonoscopist and
supporting staff.
We developed a method, based on monocular 3D reconstruction from OC images,
that automatically matches polyps observed in OC with polyps reported on prior
CTC. A matching cost is computed, using rigid point-based registration between
surface point clouds extracted from both modalities. A 3D printed and painted
phantom of a 25 cm long transverse colon segment was used to validate the
method on two medium sized polyps. Results indicate that the matching cost is
smaller at the correct corresponding polyp between OC and CTC: the value is 3.9
times higher at the incorrect polyp, comparing the correct match between polyps
to the incorrect match. Furthermore, we evaluate the matching of the
reconstructed polyp from OC with other colonic endoluminal surface structures
such as haustral folds and show that there is a minimum at the correct polyp
from CTC.
Automated matching between polyps observed at OC and prior CTC would
facilitate the biopsy or removal of true-positive pathology or exclusion of
false-positive CTC findings, and would reduce colonoscopy false-negative
(missed) polyps. Ultimately, such a method might reduce healthcare costs,
patient inconvenience and discomfort.Comment: This paper was presented at the SPIE Medical Imaging 2014 conferenc
The Three-Dimensional Circumstellar Environment of SN 1987A
We present the detailed construction and analysis of the most complete map to
date of the circumstellar environment around SN 1987A, using ground and
space-based imaging from the past 16 years. PSF-matched difference-imaging
analyses of data from 1988 through 1997 reveal material between 1 and 28 ly
from the SN. Careful analyses allows the reconstruction of the probable
circumstellar environment, revealing a richly-structured bipolar nebula. An
outer, double-lobed ``Peanut,'' which is believed to be the contact
discontinuity between red supergiant and main sequence winds, is a prolate
shell extending 28 ly along the poles and 11 ly near the equator. Napoleon's
Hat, previously believed to be an independent structure, is the waist of this
Peanut, which is pinched to a radius of 6 ly. Interior to this is a cylindrical
hourglass, 1 ly in radius and 4 ly long, which connects to the Peanut by a
thick equatorial disk. The nebulae are inclined 41\degr south and 8\degr east
of the line of sight, slightly elliptical in cross section, and marginally
offset west of the SN. From the hourglass to the large, bipolar lobes, echo
fluxes suggest that the gas density drops from 1--3 cm^{-3} to >0.03 cm^{-3},
while the maximum dust-grain size increases from ~0.2 micron to 2 micron, and
the Si:C dust ratio decreases. The nebulae have a total mass of ~1.7 Msun. The
geometry of the three rings is studied, suggesting the northern and southern
rings are located 1.3 and 1.0 ly from the SN, while the equatorial ring is
elliptical (b/a < 0.98), and spatially offset in the same direction as the
hourglass.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJ Supplements. 38 pages in
apjemulate format, with 52 figure
Diversity of knot solitons in liquid crystals manifested by linking of preimages in torons and hopfions
Topological solitons are knots in continuous physical fields classified by
non-zero Hopf index values. Despite arising in theories that span many branches
of physics, from elementary particles to condensed matter and cosmology, they
remain experimentally elusive and poorly understood. We introduce a method of
experimental and numerical analysis of such localized structures in liquid
crystals that, similar to the mathematical Hopf maps, relates all points of the
medium's order parameter space to their closed-loop preimages within the
three-dimensional solitons. We uncover a surprisingly large diversity of
naturally occurring and laser-generated topologically nontrivial solitons with
differently knotted nematic fields, which previously have not been realized in
theories and experiments alike. We discuss the implications of the liquid
crystal's non-polar nature on the knot soliton topology and how the medium's
chirality, confinement and elastic anisotropy help to overcome the constrains
of the Hobart-Derrick theorem, yielding static three-dimensional solitons
without or with additional defects. Our findings will establish chiral nematics
as a model system for experimental exploration of topological solitons and may
impinge on understanding of such nonsingular field configurations in other
branches of physics, as well as may lead to technological application
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