Colour local feature fusion for image matching and recognition

This thesis investigates the use of colour information for local image feature extraction. The work is motivated by the inherent limitation of the most widely used state of the art local feature techniques, caused by their disregard of colour information. Colour contains important information that improves the description of the world around us, and by disregarding it; chromatic edges may be lost and thus decrease the level of saliency and distinctiveness of the resulting grayscale image. This thesis addresses the question of whether colour can improve the distinctive and descriptive capabilities of local features, and if this leads to better performances in image feature matching and object recognition applications. To ensure that the developed local colour features are robust to general imaging conditions and capable for real-world applications, this work utilises the most prominent photometric colour invariant gradients from the literature. The research addresses several limitations of previous studies that used colour invariants, by implementing robust local colour features in the form of a Harris-Laplace interest region detection and a SIFT description which characterises the detected image region. Additionally, a comprehensive and rigorous evaluation is performed, that compares the largest number of colour invariants of any previous study. This research provides for the first time, conclusive findings on the capability of the chosen colour invariants for practical real-world computer vision tasks. The last major aspect of the research involves the proposal of a feature fusion extraction strategy, that uses grayscale intensity and colour information conjointly. Two separate fusion approaches are implemented and evaluated, one for local feature matching tasks and another approach for object recognition. Results from the fusion analysis strongly indicate, that the colour invariants contain unique and useful information that can enhance the performance of techniques that use grayscale only based features

Towards real-time stereoscopic image rectification for 3D visualization

This paper describes a method for stereoscopic rectification with geometric distortion minimisation, to generate suitable image pairs for 3D viewing applications. The current state of the art technique is not optimal as it lacks appropriate mathematical constraints. We present a new approach that enforces the same distortion minimisation criterion with more computational e±ciency whilst also achieving superior distortion removal. Detailed mathematical expressions have been developed that fully constrain the system to facilitate the use of faster and more accurate non-linear optimisation algorithms. Appropriate rectification transforms can then be defined at speeds suitable for real-timeimplementation

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Alteration of barrier properties, stratum corneum ceramides and microbiome composition in response to lotion application on cosmetic dry skin

Xerosis, commonly referred to as dry skin, is a common dermatological condition affecting almost a third of the population. Successful treatment of the condition traditionally involves the application of cosmetic products facilitating the moisturisation of the skin with a range of ingredients including glycerol and fatty acids. While the effectiveness of these treatments is not in question, limited information exists on the impact on the skin microbiome following use of these products and the improvement in skin hydration. Here, we describe improvements in skin barrier properties together with increased levels of cholesterol, ceramides and long-chain fatty acids following application of Body Lotion. Concomitant alterations in the skin microbiome are also seen via 16S rRNA metataxonomics, in combination with both traditional and novel informatics analysis. Following 5 weeks of lotion use, beneficial skin bacteria are increased, with improvements in microbiome functional potential, and increases in pathways associated with biosynthesis of multiple long chain fatty acids