Ensemble classification and signal image processing for genus Gyrodactylus (Monogenea)

This thesis presents an investigation into Gyrodactylus species recognition, making use of machine learning classification and feature selection techniques, and explores image feature extraction to demonstrate proof of concept for an envisaged rapid, consistent and secure initial identification of pathogens by field workers and non-expert users. The design of the proposed cognitively inspired framework is able to provide confident discrimination recognition from its non-pathogenic congeners, which is sought in order to assist diagnostics during periods of a suspected outbreak. Accurate identification of pathogens is a key to their control in an aquaculture context and the monogenean worm genus Gyrodactylus provides an ideal test-bed for the selected techniques. In the proposed algorithm, the concept of classification using a single model is extended to include more than one model. In classifying multiple species of Gyrodactylus, experiments using 557 specimens of nine different species, two classifiers and three feature sets were performed. To combine these models, an ensemble based majority voting approach has been adopted. Experimental results with a database of Gyrodactylus species show the superior performance of the ensemble system. Comparison with single classification approaches indicates that the proposed framework produces a marked improvement in classification performance. The second contribution of this thesis is the exploration of image processing techniques. Active Shape Model (ASM) and Complex Network methods are applied to images of the attachment hooks of several species of Gyrodactylus to classify each species according to their true species type. ASM is used to provide landmark points to segment the contour of the image, while the Complex Network model is used to extract the information from the contour of an image. The current system aims to confidently classify species, which is notifiable pathogen of Atlantic salmon, to their true class with high degree of accuracy. Finally, some concluding remarks are made along with proposal for future work

Comparison of Faster R-CNN and YOLOv5 for Overlapping Objects Recognition

يعد تصنيف الجسم المتداخل أحد التحديات الرئيسية التي يواجهها الباحثون الذين يعملون في اكتشاف الأشياء والتعرف عليها. معظم الخوارزميات المتاحة التي تم تطويرها قادرة فقط على تصنيف أو التعرف على الأشياء التي تكون إما منفصلة بشكل فردي عن بعضها البعض أوجسم  واحد في مشهد (مشاهد) ، ولكن لا تتداخل مع اجسام  أدوات المطبخ. في هذا المشروع ، تم اقتراح خوارزميات Faster R-CNN و YOLOv5 لاكتشاف وتصنيف جسم متداخل في منطقة المطبخ. تم تطبيق YOLOv5 و Faster R-CNN على االاجسام المتداخلة حيث من المتوقع أن يتمكن المرشح أو النواة من فصل االجسم المتداخل في الطبقة المخصصة لتطبيق النماذج. تم استخدام قاعدة بيانات الصور المعيارية لأدوات المطبخ وأدوات المطبخ المتداخلة من الإنترنتااجسام مرجعية أساسية. تم تعيين مجموعات التقييم والتدريب / التحقق عند 20٪ و 80٪ على التوالي. قام هذا المشروع بتقييم أداء هذه التقنيات وتحليل نقاط قوتها وسرعاتها بناءً على الدقة والدقة ودرجةF1.  خلصت نتائج التحليل في هذا المشروع إلى أن YOLOv5 ينتج مربعات إحاطة دقيقة بينما يكتشف Faster R-CNN المزيد من االاجسام. في بيئة اختبار مماثلة ، يُظهر YOLOv5 أداءً أفضل من خوارزمية R-CNN الأسرع. بعد التشغيل في نفس البيئة، حصل هذا المشروع على دقة 0.8912 (89.12٪) لـ YOLOv5 و 0.8392 (83.92٪) لـ Faster R-CNN ، بينما كانت قيمة الخسارة 0.1852 لـ YOLOv5 و 0.2166 لأسرع  R-CNN. تعد المقارنة بين هاتين الطريقتين هي الأكثر حداثة ولم يتم تطبيقها مطلقًا في الكائنات المتداخلة وخاصة أدوات المطبخ.Classifying an overlapping object is one of the main challenges faced by researchers who work in object detection and recognition. Most of the available algorithms that have been developed are only able to classify or recognize objects which are either individually separated from each other or a single object in a scene(s), but not overlapping kitchen utensil objects. In this project, Faster R-CNN and YOLOv5 algorithms were proposed to detect and classify an overlapping object in a kitchen area.  The YOLOv5 and Faster R-CNN were applied to overlapping objects where the filter or kernel that are expected to be able to separate the overlapping object in the dedicated layer of applying models. A kitchen utensil benchmark image database and overlapping kitchen utensils from internet were used as base benchmark objects. The evaluation and training/validation sets are set at 20% and 80% respectively. This project evaluated the performance of these techniques and analyzed their strengths and speeds based on accuracy, precision and F1 score. The analysis results in this project concluded that the YOLOv5 produces accurate bounding boxes whereas the Faster R-CNN detects more objects. In an identical testing environment, YOLOv5 shows the better performance than Faster R-CNN algorithm. After running in the same environment, this project gained the accuracy of 0.8912(89.12%) for YOLOv5 and 0.8392 (83.92%) for Faster R-CNN, while the loss value was 0.1852 for YOLOv5 and 0.2166 for Faster R-CNN. The comparison of these two methods is most current and never been applied in overlapping objects, especially kitchen utensils

Machine learning with multistage classifiers for identification of of ectoparasite infected mud crab genus Scylla

Recently, the mud-crab farming can help the rural population economically. However, the existing parasite in the mud-crabs could interfere the long live of the mud-crabs. Unfortunately, the parasite has been identified to live in hundreds of mud-crabs, particularly it happened in Terengganu Coastal Water, Malaysia. This study investigates the initial identification of the parasite features based on their classes by using machine learning techniques. In this case, we employed five classifiers i.e logistic regression (LR), k-nearest neighbors (kNN), Gaussian Naive Bayes (GNB), support vector machine (SVM), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). We compared these five classfiers to best performance of classification of the parasites. The classification process involving three stages. First, classify the parasites into two classes (normal and abnormal) regardless of their ventral types. Second, classified sexuality (female or male) and maturity (mature or immature). Finally, we compared the five classifiers to identify the species of the parasite. The experimental results showed that GNB and LDA are the most effective classifiers for carrying out the initial classification of the rhizocephalan parasite within the mud crab genus Scylla

A New Fingerprint Enhancement Approach Using Image Fusion of Histogram Equalisation and Skeleton

Fingerprint classification is a technique used to assign fingerprints into five established classes namely Whorl, Left loop, Right loop, Arch and Tented Arch based on their ridge structures and singular points’ trait. Although some progresses have been made thus far to improve accuracy rates, problem arises from ambiguous fingerprints is far from over, especially in large intra-class and small inter-class variations. Poor quality images including blur, dry, wet, low-contrast, cut, scarred and smudgy, are equally challenging. As a good start of work, fingerprint image enhancement has been focused on this study. It begins with greyscale normalization, followed by histogram equalization, binarization, skeletonization and ends with image fusion, which eventually produces high quality images with clear ridge flows. 27,000 fingerprint images acquired from The National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) Special Database 14, which is de facto dataset for experimental in this study. With the multi-type enhancement method, the fingerprint images became clearly visible

The use of least significant bit (LSB) and knight tour algorithm for image steganography of cover image

Steganography is one of the method to communicate in a hidden way. In another word, steganography literally means the practice of hiding messages or information within another data. Previous studies have proposed various steganography techniques using different approaches including Least Significant Bit (LSB), Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). However, different approaches still have its own weaknesses. Therefore image stenography using Knight Tour Algorithm with Least Significant Bit (LSB) technique is presented. The main objective is to improve the security factor in the stego image. Basically, the proposed technique is divided into two parts which are the sender and receiver side. Then, steganalysis which is a type of attack on stenography algorithm is used to detect the secret message in the cover image by the statistical analysis of pixel values. Chi Square Statistical Attach which is one of the type of steganalysis is used to detect these near-equal Po Vs in images and bases the probability of embedding on how close to equal the even pixel values and their corresponding odd pixel values are in the test image. The Knight Tour Algorithm is applied due to the common Least Significant Bit technique that is weak in security and easily decoded by outsider

Optimization of discrete wavelet transform features using artificial bee colony algorithm for texture image classification

Selection of appropriate image texture properties is one of the major issues in texture classification. This paper presents an optimization technique for automatic selection of multi-scale discrete wavelet transform features using artificial bee colony algorithm for robust texture classification performance. In this paper, an artificial bee colony algorithm has been used to find the best combination of wavelet filters with the correct number of decomposition level in the discrete wavelet transform.  The multi-layered perceptron neural network is employed as an image texture classifier.  The proposed method tested on a high-resolution database of UMD texture. The texture classification results show that the proposed method could provide an automated approach for finding the best input parameters combination setting for discrete wavelet transform features that lead to the best classification accuracy performance

Multi-stage classification of Gyrodactylus species using machine learning and feature selection techniques

This study explores the use of multi-stage machine learning based classifiers and feature selection techniques in the classification and identification of fish parasites. Accurate identification of pathogens is a key to their control and as a proof of concept, the monogenean worm genus Gyrodactylus, economically important pathogens of cultured fish species, an ideal test-bed for the selected techniques. Gyrodactylus salaris is a notifiable pathogen of salmonids and a semi-automated / automated method permitting its confident species discrimination from other non-pathogenic species is sought to assist disease diagnostics during periods of a suspected outbreak. This study will assist pathogen management in wild and cultured fish stocks, providing improvements in fish health and welfare and accompanying economic benefits. Multi-stage classification is proposed as a solution to this problem because use of a single classifier is not sufficient to ensure that all the species are accurately classified. The results show that Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) with 21 features is the best classifier for performing the initial classification of Gyrodactylus species. This first stage classification which allocates specimens to species-groups is then followed by a second or subsequent round of classification using additional classifiers to allocate species to their true class within the species-groups

The use of ASM feature extraction and machine learning for the discrimination of members of the fish ectoparasite genus gyrodactylus

Active Shape Models (ASM) are applied to the attachment hooks of several species of Gyrodactylus, including the notifiable pathogen G. salaris, to classify each species to their true species type. ASM is used as a feature extraction tool to select information from hook images that can be used as input data into trained classifiers. Linear (i.e. LDA and KNN) and non-linear (i.e. MLP and SVM) models are used to classify Gyrodactylus species. Species of Gyrodactylus, ectoparasitic monogenetic flukes of fish, are difficult to discriminate and identify on morphology alone and their speciation currently requires taxonomic expertise. The current exercise sets out to confidently classify species, which in this example includes a species which is notifiable pathogen of Atlantic salmon, to their true class with a high degree of accuracy. The findings from the current exercise demonstrates that data subsequently imported into a K-NN classifier, outperforms several other methods of classification (i.e. LDA, MLP and SVM) that were assessed, with an average classification accuracy of 98.75%