Robust Super-resolution by Fusion of Interpolated Frames for Color and Grayscale Images

Multi-frame super-resolution (SR) processing seeks to overcome undersampling issues that can lead to undesirable aliasing artifacts in imaging systems. A key factor in effective multi-frame SR is accurate subpixel inter-frame registration. Accurate registration is more difficult when frame-to-frame motion does not contain simple global translation and includes locally moving scene objects. SR processing is further complicated when the camera captures full color by using a Bayer color filter array (CFA). Various aspects of these SR challenges have been previously investigated. Fast SR algorithms tend to have difficulty accommodating complex motion and CFA sensors. Furthermore, methods that can tolerate these complexities tend to be iterative in nature and may not be amenable to real-time processing. In this paper, we present a new fast approach for performing SR in the presence of these challenging imaging conditions. We refer to the new approach as Fusion of Interpolated Frames (FIF) SR. The FIF SR method decouples the demosaicing, interpolation, and restoration steps to simplify the algorithm. Frames are first individually demosaiced and interpolated to the desired resolution. Next, FIF uses a novel weighted sum of the interpolated frames to fuse them into an improved resolution estimate. Finally, restoration is applied to improve any degrading camera effects. The proposed FIF approach has a lower computational complexity than many iterative methods, making it a candidate for real-time implementation. We provide a detailed description of the FIF SR method and show experimental results using synthetic and real datasets in both constrained and complex imaging scenarios. Experiments include airborne grayscale imagery and Bayer CFA image sets with affine background motion plus local motion

Robust Super-resolution by Fusion of Interpolated Frames for Color and Grayscale Images

Multi-frame super-resolution (SR) processing seeks to overcome undersampling issues that can lead to undesirable aliasing artifacts in imaging systems. A key factor in effective multi-frame SR is accurate subpixel inter-frame registration. Accurate registration is more difficult when frame-to-frame motion does not contain simple global translation and includes locally moving scene objects. SR processing is further complicated when the camera captures full color by using a Bayer color filter array (CFA). Various aspects of these SR challenges have been previously investigated. Fast SR algorithms tend to have difficulty accommodating complex motion and CFA sensors. Furthermore, methods that can tolerate these complexities tend to be iterative in nature and may not be amenable to real-time processing. In this paper, we present a new fast approach for performing SR in the presence of these challenging imaging conditions. We refer to the new approach as Fusion of Interpolated Frames (FIF) SR. The FIF SR method decouples the demosaicing, interpolation, and restoration steps to simplify the algorithm. Frames are first individually demosaiced and interpolated to the desired resolution. Next, FIF uses a novel weighted sum of the interpolated frames to fuse them into an improved resolution estimate. Finally, restoration is applied to improve any degrading camera effects. The proposed FIF approach has a lower computational complexity than many iterative methods, making it a candidate for real-time implementation. We provide a detailed description of the FIF SR method and show experimental results using synthetic and real datasets in both constrained and complex imaging scenarios. Experiments include airborne grayscale imagery and Bayer CFA image sets with affine background motion plus local motion

Design Techniques for Energy-Quality Scalable Digital Systems

Energy efficiency is one of the key design goals in modern computing. Increasingly complex tasks are being executed in mobile devices and Internet of Things end-nodes, which are expected to operate for long time intervals, in the orders of months or years, with the limited energy budgets provided by small form-factor batteries. Fortunately, many of such tasks are error resilient, meaning that they can toler- ate some relaxation in the accuracy, precision or reliability of internal operations, without a significant impact on the overall output quality. The error resilience of an application may derive from a number of factors. The processing of analog sensor inputs measuring quantities from the physical world may not always require maximum precision, as the amount of information that can be extracted is limited by the presence of external noise. Outputs destined for human consumption may also contain small or occasional errors, thanks to the limited capabilities of our vision and hearing systems. Finally, some computational patterns commonly found in domains such as statistics, machine learning and operational research, naturally tend to reduce or eliminate errors. Energy-Quality (EQ) scalable digital systems systematically trade off the quality of computations with energy efficiency, by relaxing the precision, the accuracy, or the reliability of internal software and hardware components in exchange for energy reductions. This design paradigm is believed to offer one of the most promising solutions to the impelling need for low-energy computing. Despite these high expectations, the current state-of-the-art in EQ scalable design suffers from important shortcomings. First, the great majority of techniques proposed in literature focus only on processing hardware and software components. Nonetheless, for many real devices, processing contributes only to a small portion of the total energy consumption, which is dominated by other components (e.g. I/O, memory or data transfers). Second, in order to fulfill its promises and become diffused in commercial devices, EQ scalable design needs to achieve industrial level maturity. This involves moving from purely academic research based on high-level models and theoretical assumptions to engineered flows compatible with existing industry standards. Third, the time-varying nature of error tolerance, both among different applications and within a single task, should become more central in the proposed design methods. This involves designing “dynamic” systems in which the precision or reliability of operations (and consequently their energy consumption) can be dynamically tuned at runtime, rather than “static” solutions, in which the output quality is fixed at design-time. This thesis introduces several new EQ scalable design techniques for digital systems that take the previous observations into account. Besides processing, the proposed methods apply the principles of EQ scalable design also to interconnects and peripherals, which are often relevant contributors to the total energy in sensor nodes and mobile systems respectively. Regardless of the target component, the presented techniques pay special attention to the accurate evaluation of benefits and overheads deriving from EQ scalability, using industrial-level models, and on the integration with existing standard tools and protocols. Moreover, all the works presented in this thesis allow the dynamic reconfiguration of output quality and energy consumption. More specifically, the contribution of this thesis is divided in three parts. In a first body of work, the design of EQ scalable modules for processing hardware data paths is considered. Three design flows are presented, targeting different technologies and exploiting different ways to achieve EQ scalability, i.e. timing-induced errors and precision reduction. These works are inspired by previous approaches from the literature, namely Reduced-Precision Redundancy and Dynamic Accuracy Scaling, which are re-thought to make them compatible with standard Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools and flows, providing solutions to overcome their main limitations. The second part of the thesis investigates the application of EQ scalable design to serial interconnects, which are the de facto standard for data exchanges between processing hardware and sensors. In this context, two novel bus encodings are proposed, called Approximate Differential Encoding and Serial-T0, that exploit the statistical characteristics of data produced by sensors to reduce the energy consumption on the bus at the cost of controlled data approximations. The two techniques achieve different results for data of different origins, but share the common features of allowing runtime reconfiguration of the allowed error and being compatible with standard serial bus protocols. Finally, the last part of the manuscript is devoted to the application of EQ scalable design principles to displays, which are often among the most energy- hungry components in mobile systems. The two proposals in this context leverage the emissive nature of Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) displays to save energy by altering the displayed image, thus inducing an output quality reduction that depends on the amount of such alteration. The first technique implements an image-adaptive form of brightness scaling, whose outputs are optimized in terms of balance between power consumption and similarity with the input. The second approach achieves concurrent power reduction and image enhancement, by means of an adaptive polynomial transformation. Both solutions focus on minimizing the overheads associated with a real-time implementation of the transformations in software or hardware, so that these do not offset the savings in the display. For each of these three topics, results show that the aforementioned goal of building EQ scalable systems compatible with existing best practices and mature for being integrated in commercial devices can be effectively achieved. Moreover, they also show that very simple and similar principles can be applied to design EQ scalable versions of different system components (processing, peripherals and I/O), and to equip these components with knobs for the runtime reconfiguration of the energy versus quality tradeoff

Evaluación de la capacidad biocontroladora de cepas nativas de Trichoderma spp sobre Rhizoctonia sp y Fusarium sp en café (Coffea arabica) en condiciones experimentales

Due to the indiscriminate use agrochemicals in conventional agriculture, it is causing pollution problems in theenvironment (soil, air and water), hence the search for alternatives that contribute to agricultural production by agrochemical free sustainable production. This paper studies the biological control of damping off in coffee (Coffeaarabica) by applying antagonistic fungus Trichoderma sp. Under experimental conditions at laboratory facilities ofthe Academic Unit Carmen Pampa Campesina, a community of Carmen Pampa, Township Coroico.The aim of this study was to biologically control the "damping off", they found two genera that cause damping off inseedbed of coffee: Rhizoctonia sp. and Fusarium sp.To determine the percentage of growth and control in the culturemedium, we used the method of counting quarters, where they gave the mycelial growth of antagonistic fungusTrichoderma sp., And the fungal pathogens Rhizoctonia sp. and Fusarium sp.Statistically there was a highly significant difference in the variable growth rate of Trichoderma sp. on pathogenicfungi Rhizoctonia sp. and Fusarium sp. at 3, 6 and 9 days that announces the time factor and treatments areinterdependent. The control variable showed a highly significant difference in the time factor and treatment, but theinteraction shows no significant difference this makes known factors that are independent, so the fungus Trichodermasp. not depend on time in treatment, thus showing its inhibitory power to Rhizoctonia sp. and Fusarium sp .. This testgives references that there is antagonistic fungus control on the fungal pathogens Rhizoctonia sp. and Fusarium sp.Debido al uso indiscriminado agroquímicos, en la agricultura convencional, se esta provocando problemas decontaminación del medio ambiente (suelo, aire y agua), de ahí que, la búsqueda de alternativas que contribuyan a unaproducción agrícola libre de agroquímicos haciendo sostenible la producción. En este trabajo se estudia el controlbiológico del damping off en café (Coffea arabica) aplicando el hongo antagónico Trichoderma sp., en condicionesexperimentales a escala de laboratorio, en instalaciones de la Unidad Académica Campesina Carmen Pampa,comunidad de Carmen Pampa, municipio de Coroico.El objetivo de este trabajo fue controlar biológicamente el “damping off”, se encontraron dos géneros causantes deldamping off en almacigo de café: Rhizoctonia sp. y Fusarium sp. Para determinar el porcentaje de crecimiento ycontrol en el medio de cultivo, se utilizó el método de conteo de cuadrantes, donde se obtuvieron los porcentajes delcrecimiento micelial del hongo antagónico Trichoderma sp.,y de los hongos fitopatógenos Rhizoctonia sp. y Fusariumsp.Estadísticamente existió una diferencia altamente significativa en la variable porcentaje de crecimiento deTrichoderma sp. sobre los hongos patógenos Rhizoctonia sp. y Fusarium sp. a los 3, 6 y 9 días esto da a conocer queel factor tiempo y los tratamientos son dependientes entre sí. La variable de control mostró una diferencia altamentesignificativa en el factor tiempo y tratamiento, pero en la interacción no muestra diferencia significativa esto da aconocer que son independientes los factores, por lo que el hongo Trichoderma sp., no depende del tiempo en lostratamientos, así mostrando su poder inhibidor a Rhizoctonia sp. y Fusarium sp.. Esta prueba da referencias de queexiste control del hongo antagónico sobre los hongos fitopatógenos Rhizoctonia sp. y Fusarium sp

Spatiotemporal Video Quality Assessment Method via Multiple Feature Mappings

Progressed video quality assessment (VQA) methods aim to evaluate the perceptual quality of videos in many applications but often prompt to increase computational complexity. Problems derive from the complexity of the distorted videos that are of significant concern in the communication industry, as well as the spatial-temporal content of the two-fold (spatial and temporal) distortion. Therefore, the findings of the study indicate that the information in the spatiotemporal slice (STS) images are useful in measuring video distortion. This paper mainly focuses on developing on a full reference video quality assessment algorithm estimator that integrates several features of spatiotemporal slices (STSS) of frames to form a high-performance video quality. This research work aims to evaluate video quality by utilizing several VQA databases by the following steps: (1) we first arrange the reference and test video sequences into a spatiotemporal slice representation. A collection of spatiotemporal feature maps were computed on each reference-test video. These response features are then processed by using a Structural Similarity (SSIM) to form a local frame quality.  (2) To further enhance the quality assessment, we combine the spatial feature maps with the spatiotemporal feature maps and propose the VQA model, named multiple map similarity feature deviation (MMSFD-STS). (3) We apply a sequential pooling strategy to assemble the quality indices of frames in the video quality scoring. (4) Extensive evaluations on video quality databases show that the proposed VQA algorithm achieves better/competitive performance as compared with other state- of- the- art methods

3-D Motion Estimation and Wireframe Adaptation Including Photometric Effects for Model-Based Coding of Facial Image Sequences

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We propose a novel formulation where 3-D global and local motion estimation and the adaptation of a generic wireframe model to a particular speaker are considered simultaneously within an optical flow based framework including the photometric effects of the motion. We use a flexible wireframe model whose local structure is characterized by the normal vectors of the patches which are related to the coordinates of the nodes. Geometrical constraints that describe the propagation of the movement of the nodes are introduced, which are then efficiently utilized to reduce the number of independent structure parameters. A stochastic relaxation algorithm has been used to determine optimum global motion estimates and the parameters describing the structure of the wireframe model. Results with both simulated and real facial image sequences are provided

Climate change : impacts on the socio-economic conditions of fishing people in the coastal region of Bangladesh

Climate change has been one of the most critical concerns in recent decades globally. Climate change is predicted to have a range of direct and indirect impacts on marine and freshwater capture fisheries, with implications for fisheries-dependent economies and coastal fishing communities. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world. Being a coastal country where most of its people’s living is heavily dependent on fishing, the socio-economic rights of the coastal fishing people are being conspicuously affected by climate change. The coastal environments particularly at risk include low-lying coastal plains, sandy beaches, coastal wetlands and coral reefs. Socio-economic conditions of fish farmers, especially in the coastal region in Bangladesh, have been severely affected because of climate change. The impacts of climate change are increasing, including natural disasters—such as rise in sea level—climate disasters and ecological imbalances that are the primary culprits in the demolition, deterioration or diminishment of the socio-economic rights of the coastal fishing people in Bangladesh. This research analyses the impacts of climate change on coastal fishing people as well as the significant human rights of coastal fishing people that are affected by climate change. The research examines the causes, impacts on, and the relation between climate change and the socio-economic and environmental rights of the coastal fishing people. This study investigates the existing international laws, declarations, conventions and agreements that are relevant for the mitigation of the impacts of climate change on coastal fishing people. In order to evaluate the current regime, the research also investigates the legal and institutional arrangements for the improvement of the socio-economic and environmental conditions of the coastal people of three other coastal states of the Bay of Bengal (BoB) including India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. This research critically analyses the existing legal frameworks in relation to climate change and climate-induced impacts on the coastal fishing people of Bangladesh. In light of this, this thesis identifies several social and legal drawbacks that are affecting socio-economic conditions of the coastal fishing communities in Bangladesh. Finally, this research proposes recommendations for improving the socio-economic conditions of the coastal fishing people of Bangladesh that could be helpful for policy makers to address the issue more effectively

Three-dimensional facial motion and structure estimation in video coding

Ankara : Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and the Institute of Engineering and Science of Bilkent Univ., 1994.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Bilkent University, 1994.Includes bibliographical references leaves 81-89.We propose a novel formulation where 3-D global and local motion estimation and the adaptation of a generic wire-frame model to a particular speaker are considered simultaneously within an optical flow based framework including the photometric effects of the motion. We use a flexible wire-frame model whose local structure is characterized by the normal vectors of the patches which are related to the coordinates of the nodes. Geometric constraints that describe the propagation of the movement of the nodes are introduced, which are then efficiently utilized to reduce the number of independent structure parameters. A stochastic relaxation algorithm has been used to determine optimum global motion estimates and the parameters describing the structure of the wire-frame model. For the initialization of the motion and structure parameters, a modified feature based algorithm is used whose performance has also been compared with the existing methods. Results with both simulated and real facial image sequences are provided.Bozdağı, GözdePh.D

An investigation of the challenges affecting reading in the foundation phase in rural areas of Bolobedu, Limpopo province

This study aims to investigate the challenges affecting reading in the foundation phase and to explore the different approaches that teachers use to address them. The research is qualitative in nature and used a case study approach. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analyses. Participants were teachers from two different schools in the rural areas of Bolobedu, Limpopo Province of South Africa. The data collected revealed the challenges encountered by teachers in teaching reading in the foundation phase of schooling. I also analysed documents that teachers used in teaching reading. The documents were used to triangulate the data obtained through observations and interviews. Content analysis was used to interpret and make meaning of the data. The findings revealed challenges of a socio-economic nature, parental involvement, family roles, poverty, teacher competency, availability of resources and language barriers leading to barriers to reading. In addressing these challenges, teachers rely on workshops, phase and grade meetings and their personal experiences.Curriculum and Instructional StudiesM. Ed. (Curriculum Studies