Statistical M-Estimation and Consistency in Large Deformable Models for Image Warping

The problem of defining appropriate distances between shapes or images and modeling the variability of natural images by group transformations is at the heart of modern image analysis. A current trend is the study of probabilistic and statistical aspects of deformation models, and the development of consistent statistical procedure for the estimation of template images. In this paper, we consider a set of images randomly warped from a mean template which has to be recovered. For this, we define an appropriate statistical parametric model to generate random diffeomorphic deformations in two-dimensions. Then, we focus on the problem of estimating the mean pattern when the images are observed with noise. This problem is challenging both from a theoretical and a practical point of view. M-estimation theory enables us to build an estimator defined as a minimizer of a well-tailored empirical criterion. We prove the convergence of this estimator and propose a gradient descent algorithm to compute this M-estimator in practice. Simulations of template extraction and an application to image clustering and classification are also provided

Hydrothermal treatment of rough rice: effect of processing conditions on product attributes

A method involving hydration, tempering and heating steps is presented to process rough rice as alternative to traditional parboiling with pressure steam. The effects of temperature (66–84 °C), tempering time (60–420 min) and heating time (30–180 min) on gelatinization degree and milling yield were analyzed by response surface method (RSM). A maximum value of gelatinization degree (37.0 %) and milling yield of 67.7 % were reached with a process temperature of 84 °C using tempering and heating times of 178 and 104 min respectively. A slight reduction of crystallinity (14 %) and a significant improvement of nutritional value with increments of 150 and 60 % in riboflavin and calcium contents were obtained in comparison with control (untreated rice). Hardness and adhesiveness of processed rice were intermediate between those of control and completely gelatinized rice. The proposed method, with lower temperature requirements than traditional parboiling, is presented to obtain an alternative product, expanding consumer choices.Fil: Bello, Marcelo O.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Loubes, María Ana. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Aguerre, Roberto Jorge. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Luján; ArgentinaFil: Tolaba, Marcela Patricia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentin

l1 penalty for Ill-Posed Inverse Problems

International audienc

Producers’ playground: the British Film Producers Association and international film festivals in the post-war period

The article explores how the process of film selection was conducted on the national level in Britain in order to shed light on the notion of ‘programming along national lines’ from the perspective of countries participating in international film events such as the Cannes film festival. In Britain, such participation was seen as an opportunity by both film producers and the government to present British films on the international stage, away from the American and the colonial ones. The intense and often confused debates as to whether the UK should participate in international film festivals at all and which films should be selected reflected the dynamics of British film industry. Seen from the perspective of these debates Britain’s participation in the international film festivals becomes a significant episode in the industry’s history. The struggles surrounding the representation of Britain on the international film festival circuit reveal yet another trend within the history of the British film industry, in particular its production sector – namely, which of these modestly budgeted indigenous films could best represent Britain at international film festivals and to what end exactly