Improving Iris Recognition through Quality and Interoperability Metrics

The ability to identify individuals based on their iris is known as iris recognition. Over the past decade iris recognition has garnered much attention because of its strong performance in comparison with other mainstream biometrics such as fingerprint and face recognition. Performance of iris recognition systems is driven by application scenario requirements. Standoff distance, subject cooperation, underlying optics, and illumination are a few examples of these requirements which dictate the nature of images an iris recognition system has to process. Traditional iris recognition systems, dubbed stop and stare , operate under highly constrained conditions. This ensures that the captured image is of sufficient quality so that the success of subsequent processing stages, segmentation, encoding, and matching are not compromised. When acquisition constraints are relaxed, such as for surveillance or iris on the move, the fidelity of subsequent processing steps lessens.;In this dissertation we propose a multi-faceted framework for mitigating the difficulties associated with non-ideal iris. We develop and investigate a comprehensive iris image quality metric that is predictive of iris matching performance. The metric is composed of photometric measures such as defocus, motion blur, and illumination, but also contains domain specific measures such as occlusion, and gaze angle. These measures are then combined through a fusion rule based on Dempster-Shafer theory. Related to iris segmentation, which is arguably one of the most important tasks in iris recognition, we develop metrics which are used to evaluate the precision of the pupil and iris boundaries. Furthermore, we illustrate three methods which take advantage of the proposed segmentation metrics for rectifying incorrect segmentation boundaries. Finally, we look at the issue of iris image interoperability and demonstrate that techniques from the field of hardware fingerprinting can be utilized to improve iris matching performance when images captured from distinct sensors are involved

Deep Fingerprint Matching from Contactless to Contact Fingerprints for Increased Interoperability

Contactless fingerprint matching is a common form of biometric security today. Most smartphones and associated apps now let users opt into using this form of biometric security. However, it’s difficult to match a finger-photo to a fingerprint because of perspective distortion occurring at the edges of the finger-photo, so direct matching using conventional methods will not be as accurate due to a lack of sufficient matching minutiae points. To address this issue, we propose a deep model, Perspective Distortion Rectification Model (PDRM), to estimate the fingerprint correspondence for finger-photo images in order to recover more minutiae points. Not only do we determine the feasibility of matching synthesized fingerprints from finger-photos, but we also show that matching a finger-photo to a fingerprint directly is possible by using our proposed Coupled Generative Adversarial Network (CpGAN) verifier. The results from our PDRM show that our method for creating synthetic fingerprints from finger-photos provides a more accurate matching (AUC=96.4%, EER= 8.9%) than just using the same commercial matcher to match finger-photo and fingerprints directly (AUC=92.1%, EER=15.7%). Finally, our proposed CpGAN verifier provides the best matching accuracy with AUC=98.4% and EER=6.3%

Challenges in Implementing a Portable Patient Identification System for Ubiquitous Healthcare in Developing Countries

Patient identification in healthcare information systems (HIS) is often claimed to have been solved by globally accepted information representation standards. This paper illustrates that unfortunately the patient identification problem is not entirely solvable by standards and ubiquitous computing, especially in developing countries. The issue is investigated in the significant context of infectious and drug-resistant diseases within a healthcare facility located in a developing country. The paper investigates and systematises the patient identification issues found, followed by identifying the likely root causes and challenges. This is followed by the definition of a high-level list of the most relevant HIS requirements that could assist in addressing the non-trivial patient identification conundrum, thus clearing the way towards the design and implementation of the next generation pervasive healthcare-enabling HIS

JISC Final Report: IncReASe (Increasing Repository Content through Automation and Services)

The IncReASe (Increasing Repository Content through Automation and Services) was an eighteen month project (subsequently extended to twenty months) to enhance White Rose Research Online (WRRO)1. WRRO is a shared repository of research outputs (primarily publications) from the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York; it runs on the EPrints open source repository platform. The repository was created in 2004 and had steady growth but, in common with many other similar repositories, had difficulty in achieving a “critical mass” of content and in becoming truly embedded within researchers’ workflows. The main aim of the IncReASe project was to assess ingestion routes into WRRO with a view to lowering barriers to deposit. We reviewed the feasibility of bulk import of pre-existing metadata and/or full-text research outputs, hoping this activity would have a positive knock-on effect on repository growth and embedding. Prior to the project, we had identified researchers’ reluctance to duplicate effort in metadata creation as a significant barrier to WRRO uptake; we investigated how WRRO might share data with internal and external IT systems. This work included a review of how WRRO, as an institutional based repository, might interact with the subject repository of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The project addressed four main areas: (i) researcher behaviour: we investigated researcher awareness, motivation and workflow through a survey of archiving activity on the university web sites, a questionnaire and discussions with researchers (ii) bulk import: we imported data from local systems, including York’s submission data for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), and developed an import plug-in for use with the arXiv2 repository (iii) interoperability: we looked at how WRRO might interact with university and departmental publication databases and ESRC’s repository. (iv) metadata: we assessed metadata issues raised by importing publication data from a variety of sources. A number of outputs from the project have been made available from the IncReASe project web site http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/increase/. The project highlighted the low levels of researcher awareness of WRRO - and of broader open access issues, including research funders’ deposit requirements. We designed some new publicity materials to start to address this. Departmental publication databases provided a useful jumping off point for advocacy and liaison; this activity was helpful in promoting awareness of WRRO. Bulk import proved time consuming – both in terms of adjusting EPrints plug-ins to incorporate different datasets and in the staff time required to improve publication metadata. A number of deposit scenarios were developed in the context of our work with ESRC; we concentrated on investigating how a local deposit of a research paper and attendant metadata in WRRO might be used to populate ESRC’s repository. This work improved our understanding of researcher workflows and of the SWORD protocol as a potential (if partial) solution to the single deposit, multiple destination model we wish to develop; we think the prospect of institutional repository / ESRC data sharing is now a step closer. IncReASe experienced some staff recruitment difficulties. It was also necessary to adapt the project to the changing IT landscape at the three partner institutions – in particular, the introduction of a centralised publication management system at the University of Leeds. Although these factors had some impact on deliverables, the aims and objectives of the project were largely achieved

An HGIS Approach to Land-Use/Land-Cover Change in the Blanice Watershed, Czech Republic

In the South Bohemian region of the Czech Republic, the landscape is distinguished by a network of long narrow fields bordered by hedgerows clustered in small groups. These unique clusters of hedgerows have been interacting with their environment, effectively mitigating erosion, since they were first established in the High Middle Ages. In this research project I used historical maps to characterize land-use and land-cover (LULC) change relating to hedgerow features in one cadastral territory in the Blanice Watershed. Using georeferenced historical maps from 1837 and 1952, and unreferenced historical maps from 1837 to 1953, I compared the historical LULC to the current LULC within the cadastral territory of Křišťanovice. From 1837 to present-day Křišťanovice, the percentage of farmed land has decreased from 59.9% to 25.8%, while the percentage of forested area has increased from 26.6% to 61.9%. These changes reflect historical trends in land management as well as the impact of social and political changes on the environment. This project is also a methodological and epistemological exploration of a Historical GIS approach to research, and the methods developed to conduct LULC change analysis reflect these theoretical components. The results of this research provide a spatiotemporal HGIS analysis of LULC change, a workflow for applying the HGIS methods developed for this research, and a geodatabase for the storage, classification, and visualization of historical LULC data

Enabling the Development and Implementation of Digital Twins : Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality

Welcome to the 20th International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality (CONVR 2020). This year we are meeting on-line due to the current Coronavirus pandemic. The overarching theme for CONVR2020 is "Enabling the development and implementation of Digital Twins". CONVR is one of the world-leading conferences in the areas of virtual reality, augmented reality and building information modelling. Each year, more than 100 participants from all around the globe meet to discuss and exchange the latest developments and applications of virtual technologies in the architectural, engineering, construction and operation industry (AECO). The conference is also known for having a unique blend of participants from both academia and industry. This year, with all the difficulties of replicating a real face to face meetings, we are carefully planning the conference to ensure that all participants have a perfect experience. We have a group of leading keynote speakers from industry and academia who are covering up to date hot topics and are enthusiastic and keen to share their knowledge with you. CONVR participants are very loyal to the conference and have attended most of the editions over the last eighteen editions. This year we are welcoming numerous first timers and we aim to help them make the most of the conference by introducing them to other participants

Lifecycle and generational application of automated updates to MDA EIS applications

EIS applications are complex and present significant costs and issues during upgrades which can lead user organisations to defer or abandon potential upgrades and cause them to miss out on the business benefits of the upgrade. Our ongoing development of temporal meta-data EIS applications [1] seeks to avoid or minimise the majority of these upgrade issues by standardising all update procedures to become an updated set or stream of meta-data changes that will be sequentially applied to implement each individual meta-data change in order, for all changes between the previous and current meta-data models. This update process removes the need from vendors to produce version specific update programs, and fully automates the end user’s meta-data EIS application update processes. Collision detection with third party customisations to meta-data EIS application, known as Variant Logic, will be greatly simplified as any potential conflict will be precisely identified in advance, reducing any compatibility effort for the customisations and ensuring timely availability for inclusion with the streamlined meta-data update. The effort for major EIS updates can be drastically reduced from often months down to days or less with the meta-data update process. Our ongoing development of temporal meta-data EIS applications [1] seeks to avoid or minimise the majority of these upgrade issues by standardising all update procedures to become an updated set or stream of meta-data changes that will be sequentially applied to implement each individual meta-data change in order, for all changes between the previous and current meta-data models. This update process removes the need from vendors to produce version specific update programs, and fully automates the end user’s meta-data EIS application update processes.Collision detection with third party customisations to meta-data EIS application, known as Variant Logic, will be greatly simplified as any potential conflict will be precisely identified in advance, reducing any compatibility effort for the customisations and ensuring timely availability for inclusion with the streamlined meta-data update. The effort for major EIS updates can be drastically reduced from often months down to days or less with the meta-data update process

Interactive topographic web mapping using scalable vector graphics

Large scale topographic maps portray detailed information about the landscape. They are used for a wide variety o f purposes. USGS large scale topographic maps at 1:24,000 have been traditionally distributed in paper form. With the advent of the Internet, these maps can now be distributed electronically. Instead of common raster format presentation, the solution presented here is based on a vector approach. The vector format provides many advantages compared to the use of a raster-based presentation. This research shows that Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a promising technology for delivering high quality interactive topographic maps via the Internet, both in terms o f graphic quality and interactivity. A possible structure for the SVG map document is proposed. Interactive features such as toggling thematic layers on and off, UTM coordinate readout for x, y, and z (elevation) were developed as well. Adding this type of interactivity can help to better extract information from a topographic map. A focus group analysis with the online SVG topographic map shows a high-level of user acceptance