Accurate automatic localization of surfaces of revolution for self-calibration and metric reconstruction

In this paper, we address the problem of the automatic metric reconstruction Surface of Revolution (SOR) from a single uncalibrated view. The apparent contour and the visible portions of the imaged SOR cross sections are extracted and classified. The harmonic homology that models the image projection of the SOR is also estimated. The special care devoted to accuracy and robustness with respect to outliers makes the approach suitable for automatic camera calibration and metric reconstruction from single uncalibrated views of a SOR. Robustness and accuracy are obtained by embedding a graph-based grouping strategy (Euclidean Minimum Spanning Tree) into an Iterative Closest Point framework for projective curve alignment at multiple scales. Classification of SOR curves is achieved through a 2-dof voting scheme based on a pencil of conics novel parametrization. The main contribution of this work is to extend the domain of automatic single view reconstruction from piecewise planar scenes to scenes including curved surfaces, thus allowing to create automatically realistic image models of man-made objects. Experimental results with real images taken from the internet are reported, and the effectiveness and limitations of the approach are discussed

Reconstruction of surface of revolution from multiple uncalibrated views: a bundle-adjustment approach

This paper addresses the problem of recovering the 3D shape of a surface of revolution from multiple uncalibrated perspective views. In previous work, we have exploited the invariant properties of the surface of revolution and its silhouette to recover the contour generator and hence the meridian of the surface of revolution from a single uncalibrated view. However, there exists one degree of freedom in the reconstruction which corresponds to the unknown orientation of the revolution axis of the surface of revolution. In this paper, such an ambiguity is removed by estimating the horizon, again, using the image invariants associated with the surface of revolution. A bundle-adjustment approach is then proposed to provide an optimal estimate of the meridian when multiple uncalibrated views of the same surface of revolution are available. Experimental results on real images are presented, which demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.postprintThe 6th Asian Conference on Computer Vision (ACCV 2004), Jeju, Korea, 27-30 January 2004. In Proceedings of the 6th Asian Conference on Computer Vision, 2004, v. 1, p. 378-38

Investigation And Development Of Flattening Algorithms For Curved Latent Fingerprint Images

Fingerprint had been used to identify a person due to its uniqueness and unchangeable throughout life. However, latent fingerprint acquisition normally being performed on uneven or noisy surface with poor contrast, causing fingerprint minutiae point extracted appear to be inaccurate and affect the result of fingerprint matching. Thus, latent fingerprint required image to be pre-process and enhance before latent search. In order to increase latent matching accuracy, geometry rectification is needed to correct distortion in fingerprint images due to uneven surfaces. This research will investigate and develop flattening algorithm that can be adapted to latent fingerprint images on cylindrical surface. The boundary of an image is required to detect the curvature of an image that need to be flattened. Boundary of interested area can be acquired using a predefined algorithm or define by user using interactive drawing. The flattening algorithm required mapping from cylindrical coordinate to image coordinate. Since curved image appears to be rectangular shape, parabolic approximation and ellipse approximation are being used to design algorithms for flattening. Experimental results prove that algorithm that applies ellipse equation to flatten fingerprint images able to increase the quality of the minutiae. However, measurement results for horizontal axes shows that the distortion in horizontal axis is not being well taken care of. In summary, both algorithms developed able to flatten curved latent fingerprint images with the assumption that image that needs to be flattened is vertical cylindrical shape and boundary of cylinder must be detectable. Algorithm that applies ellipse approximation provides better performance as compared with the algorithm that developed based on parabolic approximation

Development of Optical Devices for Digital Medicine

Department of Biomedical EngineeringAdvances of technology have made a revolution that interconnects industrial devices and fuses the boundaries of digital, physical and biological spaces. These technologies such as cloud computing, 3D printing technology, big data, internet of things (IOT), artificial intelligence (AI), and maturity of system integrations have been improved every year, changing our daily life quickly in intelligent and convenient ways. In this days, these explosions of technology, changing the way we live and think, is referred to 4th industrial revolution. As we know, every industry is affected by the new waves of technologies, digitalization and connectivity, and the biomedical or medical field is no exception. Healthcare fields have benefited mostly from recent technical improvements, revolutionizing the medical systems in many terms in cost-effective ways. Particularly, ???digital medicine??? has been recently came into the limelight as one of the uprising fields. In digital medicine, traditional medical devices and diagnostic programs have become miniaturized, digitalized, and automated. As taking advantages of digital medicine, specific fields related to digital pathology, point-of-care (POC) diagnostics, and application of deep learning or machine learning technologies have shown the great potentials not only in biomedical academia but also in the revenues of their markets. It allows to connect devices, hospital equipment, and to accelerate efficiencies in health service such as diagnosis, and to reduce the cost of services. Moreover, interconnection between advanced technologies has been improved the access of healthcare to the places where hospital or medical services are limited. Furthermore, artificial intelligence has shown promising results related to disease screening especially using medical images. Although fields in digital medicine are prospering, still there are limitations that needs to be overcome in order to provide further advanced health services to patients in the various situations. In digital pathology, improvements of microscopic technologies, internets, and storage capabilities have reduced the time-consuming processes. The simple transformation of microscopic image to digital have successfully alternated many limitations in the analogue histopathology workflow to efficient and cost saving ways. However, tissue staining is currently referred as one of the bottleneck that makes workflow still lengthy, labor-intensive, and costly. In the POC diagnostic fields, various digitalized portable smartphone-based diagnostic devices have been introduced as alternatives to conventional medical services. These devices have provided the quality assurance of diagnostics by taking advantages of sharing, and quantitative analysis of digital information. However, most of these works have been focused on replacing diagnostic process which mostly done in laboratory settings. As medical imaging devices and trained clinicians or practitioners are limited, there are also high demands on clinical imaging-based diagnostics in developing countries. In this thesis, computational microscope using patterned NIR illumination was developed for label-free quantitative differential phase tissue imaging to bypass the staining process of the pathology workflow. This system overcame the limitations found in the conventional quantitative differential phase contrast in a LED array microscope, allowing to captured light scattering and absorbing specimen while maintaining weak object approximation. Moreover, portable endoscope system was developed integrating the additive production technologies (3D printing), ICT, and optics for POC diagnostics. This innovative POC endoscope demonstrated comparable imaging capability to that of commercialized clinical endoscope system. Furthermore, deep learning and machine learning models have been trained and applied to each devices, respectively. Generative adversarial network (GAN) was applied to our NIR-based QPI system to virtually stain the label-free QPI which look comparable to image that is captured from bright field microscope using labeled tissue. Lastly, POC automated cervical cancer screening system was developed utilizing smartphone-based endoscope system as well as training the machine learning algorithm. 3-5% of acetic acid was applied to the suspicious lesion and its reaction was captured before and after application using smartphone endoscope. This screening system enables to extract the features of cancers and informs the possibility of cancer from endoscopic images.clos

Big Hole (41TV2161): Two Stratigraphically Isolated Middle Holocene Components in Travis County, Texas Volume I

During April and May 2006, an archeological team from the Cultural Resources Section of the Planning, Permitting and Licensing Practice of TRC Environmental Corporation’s (TRC) Austin office conducted geoarcheological documentation and data recovery excavations at prehistoric site 41TV2161 (CSJ: 0440-06-006). Investigations were restricted to a 70 centimeter (cm) thick target zone between ca. 220 and 290 cm below surface (bs) on the western side of site 41TV2161 – the Big Hole site in eastern Travis County, Texas. This cultural investigation was necessary under the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the implementing regulations of 36CRF Part 800 and the Antiquities Code of Texas (Texas Natural Resource Code, Title 9, Chapter 191 as amended) to recover a sample of the significant cultural materials prior to destruction by planned construction of State Highway 130 (SH 130). The latter by a private construction firm – Lone Star Infrastructure. This necessary data recovery was for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Environmental (ENV) Affairs Division under a Scientific Services Contract No. 577XXSA003 (Work Authorization No. 57701SA003). Over the years since the original award, multiple work authorizations between TxDOT and TRC were implemented and completed towards specific aspects of the analyses and reporting. The final analyses and report were conducted under contract 57-3XXSA004 (Work Authorization 57-311SA004). All work was under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 4064 issued by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) to J. Michael Quigg. Initially, an archeological crew from Hicks & Company encountered site 41TV2161 during an intensive cultural resource inventory conducted south of Pearce Lane along the planned construction zone of SH 130 in the fall of 2005. Following the initial site discovery, archeologists expanded their investigations to the west across the SH 130 right-of-way, and completed excavation of 10 backhoe trenches, 13 shovel tests, and 11 test units at site 41TV2161. The investigations encountered at least seven buried cultural features and 1,034 artifacts, some in relatively good context. The survey and testing report to TxDOT presented their findings and recommendations (Campbell et al. 2006). The ENV Affairs Division of TxDOT and the THC reviewed the initial findings and recommendations, and determined site 41TV2161 was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and as State Antiquities Landmark as the proposed roadway development was to directly impact this important site and further excavations were required. Subsequently, TRC archeologists led by Paul Matchen (Project Archeologist) and J. Michael Quigg (Principal Investigator) initiated data recovery excavations through the mechanical-removal of between 220 and 250 cm of sediment from a 30-by-40 meter (m) block area (roughly 3,000 m3). This was conducted to allow hand-excavations to start just above the deeply buried, roughly 70 cm thick targeted zone of cultural material. Mechanical stripping by Lone Star Infrastructure staff created a large hole with an irregular bottom that varied between 220 and 260 cmbs. To locate specific areas to initiate hand-excavations within the mechanically stripped area, a geophysical survey that employed ground penetrating radar (GPR) was conducted by Tiffany Osburn then with Geo-Marine in Plano, Texas. Over a dozen electronic anomalies were detected through the GPR investigation. Following processing, data filtering, and assessment, Osburn identified and ranked the anomalies for investigation. The highest ranked anomalies (1 through 8) were thought to have the greatest potential to represent cultural features. Anomalies 1 through 6 were selected and targeted through hand-excavations of 1-by-1 m units that formed continuous excavation blocks of various sizes. Blocks were designated A, B, C, D, E, and F. The type, nature, quantity, and context of encountered cultural materials in each block led the direction and expansion of each excavation block as needed. In total, TRC archeologists hand-excavated 38.5 m3 (150 m2) from a vertically narrow target zone within this deep, multicomponent and stratified prehistoric site. Hand-excavation in the two largest Blocks, B and D (51 m2 and 62 m2 respectively), revealed two vertically separate cultural components between roughly 220 and 290 cmbs. The younger component was restricted to Block B and yielded a Bell/Andice point and point base, plus a complete Big Sandy point. These points were associated with at least eight small burned rock features, one cluster of ground stone tools, limited quantities of lithic debitage, few formal chipped and ground stone tools, and a rare vertebrate faunal assemblage. Roughly 20 to 25 cm below the Bell/Andice component in Block B and across Block D was a component identified by a single corner-notched Martindale dart point. This point was associated with a scattered burned rocks, three charcoal stained hearth features, scattered animal, bird, and fish bones, mussel shells, and less than a dozen formal chipped and ground stone tools. Both identified components contained cultural materials in good stratigraphic context with high spatial integrity. Significant, both were radiocarbon dated by multiple charcoal samples to a narrow 200-year period between 5250 and 5450 B.P. during the middle Holocene. With exception of the well-preserved faunal assemblages, perishable materials were poorly preserved in the moist silty clay loam. Charcoal lacked structure and was reduced to dark stains. Microfossils (e.g., phytoliths and starch gains) were present, although in very limited numbers and deteriorated conditions. The four much smaller Blocks (A, C, E, and F) yielded various quantities of cultural material and features, but these blocks also lacked sufficient charcoal dates and diagnostic artifacts Those artifacts and samples were left unassigned and analyzed separately from the Bell/Andice and Martindale components. The two well-defined components in Blocks B and D are the focus of this technical report. The components provide very significant data towards understanding rare and poorly understood hunter-gatherer populations during late stages of the Altithermal climate period. This final report builds upon the interim report submitted to TxDOT (Quigg et al. 2007) that briefly described the methods, excavations, preliminary findings, initial results from six feasibility studies, and proposed an initial research design for data analyses. Context and integrity of the cultural materials in the two identified components was excellent. This rare circumstance combined with detailed artifact analyses, solid documentation of their ages through multiple radiocarbon dates, and multidisciplinary approach to analyses, allowed significant insights and contributions concerning the two populations involved. Results provide a greater understanding of human behaviors during a rarely identified time in Texas Prehistory. The cultural materials and various collected samples were temporarily curated at TRC’s Austin laboratory. Following completion of analyses and acceptance of this final report, the artifacts, paper records, photographs, and electronic database were permanently curated at the Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS) at Texas State University in San Marcos

The role and function of “tokens” and sealing practices in the neolithic of the Near East: The question of early recording systems, symbolic storage, precursors to writing, gaming, or monitoring devices in the world’s first villages.

The Neolithic in the Near East was a crucial transitional period, evidencing the appearance of the world’s first permanent farming villages, alongside significant changes in social structure, subsistence and artistic expression. This thesis focuses on an enigmatic artefact type; small, geometric clay objects, or “tokens”. “Tokens” appear in the 10th millennium BC, and by the late Neolithic they are present in abundance at large numbers of sites across the region, yet absent at others. The timing of the appearance of “tokens” is significant; however, until recently, the potential importance of these objects was often unrecognised. Schmandt-Besserat’s research (1992a, 1992b, 1996) represents the only comprehensive study on the subject. She claims “tokens” are mnemonic recording devices, appearing to meet the administrative needs of the first sedentary farming communities, eventually developing into the world’s earliest known written script. Though her interpretation is widely accepted, her evidence hails entirely from sites distant in space and time from where these objects initially appeared, and there is no solid evidence supporting the notion that Neolithic “tokens” formed a unified agricultural administrative framework. This thesis considers the classification, form and function of “tokens”, as well as their temporal and spatial distribution across sites, their find contexts and the relationship between them, sealings and stamp seals. It re-evaluates the validity of Schmandt-Besserat’s theory alongside alternative interpretations, including children’s toys, gaming pieces, administrative counting aids, and more complex accounting tools. Almost 3,000 “tokens” from three well documented case-study sites (Boncuklu Höyük, Çatalhöyük, Tell Sabi Abyad) and twenty less complete assemblages were studied in detail, recording their shape, dimensions, manufacture, use-wear, the find contexts, associated objects and the characteristics of the sites where they are found. This was complimented by a broader level survey charting the presence, number or absence of “tokens” at fifty-six additional sites. This study has shown that there is no correlation between “token” distribution according to region, time period, site size, or on-site activities. The range of shapes, degree of standardization and assemblage composition varies greatly from site to site, with little regional, temporal or other correlation. Variability is also evidenced in the nature of sites yielding “tokens”, and the immediate contexts in which they are found (e.g. refuse contexts, domestic contexts, administrative contexts, possible ritual contexts). Their generally large numbers when present, variability of deposition, high proportion found in disposal contexts, their simple shape and often crude appearance proves “tokens” were quickly and easily made, and disposed of as readily. All evidence supports the interpretation of “tokens” as multi-functional artefacts, fulfilling a variety of uses within and across settlements. Though sometimes used in accounting, they were not created to administer agricultural produce and were not part of a unified symbolic system. As objects they operated with fluidity of function and interpretation, with imbued value and meaning

AXMEDIS 2007 Conference Proceedings

The AXMEDIS International Conference series has been established since 2005 and is focused on the research, developments and applications in the cross-media domain, exploring innovative technologies to meet the challenges of the sector. AXMEDIS2007 deals with all subjects and topics related to cross-media and digital-media content production, processing, management, standards, representation, sharing, interoperability, protection and rights management. It addresses the latest developments and future trends of the technologies and their applications, their impact and exploitation within academic, business and industrial communities

Craniodental Adaptation and Homoplasy in Early Mammals

For the first two-thirds of their over 180-million-year history, mammals left a sparse fossil record. Often the only direct evidence of these early forms are small and unassociated craniodental fragments. Despite these limitations, the three chapters of this thesis support the effectiveness of this type of material for estimating the functional and autecological capacities in Mesozoic mammals, through high resolution imaging and morphometric analysis of the molariform dentition. Each of the three chapters is a self-contained study addressing separate topics relating to the evolution of dental and petrosal morphology. The common thread between all sections is that variation in craniodental structure among Mesozoic lineages is greater than would be expected based only on the disparity seen among extant small mammals. This is a result of both the more “modern” dynamics of dental evolution in more Mesozoic mammalian lineages than historically appreciated (Chapters 1 and 3), and the more “primitive” morphology of the inner ear, even in groups very closely related to extant crown therians (Chapter 2). In both cases, the craniodental morphologies described are outside the range of variation seen in extant species. Chapter 1 describes several new specimens from the herbivorous stem-therian mammal Reigitherium, from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. These newly available specimens demonstrate that the herbivorous molar morphology seen in Reigitherium is derived from the more plesiomorphic tuberculosectorial pattern seen in the South American endemic group Meridiolestida. Chapter 2 presents descriptions and analysis of the internal structure of three stem therian petrosal bones from the Late Jurassic of North America, and middle Cretaceous of Mongolia. Within the comparative context of labyrinthine endocast evolution, it can be determined that many of the advanced features of modern therian hearing likely developed only after their divergence from their common ancestor with the fossil groups described here. Finally, Chapter 3 presents a macroevolutionary analysis of lower molariform shape change across a large sample of early mammaliaforms, using high-level morphometric methods. The results of this analysis suggest that the stochastic processes controlling the shape evolution of lower molariforms in crown Mammalia are shared across a wide range of “triconodont”, “symmetrodont”, and “tribosphenic” Mesozoic taxa