Morphological operators for very low bit rate video coding

This paper deals with the use of some morphological tools for video coding at very low bit rates. Rather than describing a complete coding algorithm, the purpose of this paper is to focus on morphological connected operators and segmentation tools that have proved to be attractive for compression.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Enhancing the Connection Between Academic Advising, Admissions, and a DPT Program Within the Same Institution

Background Limited data exists on matriculation from an undergraduate program to a DPT program within the same institution. Academic advising and admissions influnce students\u27 educational experiences and academic path throughout a student\u27s education. Various marketing strategies exist to attract potential students to a graduate program. Purpose Investigate academic advisors\u27 and admission staff knowledge, practice, and resources in regard to the DPT program within the same institution. Identify desired resources to optimize the connectedness between the undergraduate programs and DPT program in the same institution. Participants 5 Academic Advisors 9 Admissions Staff Members Methods Qualitative data collection via surveys and focus groups. Triangulation of data, coding, and development of themes. Action research strategies used to create tangible products and resources. Results Participants were neutral to somewhat confident in advising students on GPA, GRE, and prerequisite course requirements. Over 80 percent of the advisors and admissions staff were neutral to not confident in advising UG students on the unique features of the DPT program, demonstrating a need for additional resources and action (Figure 1). Participants expressed desire for resources to provide to UG students including informational sessions and tours, student testimonials, a DPT resource guide and training for staff (Figure 2.) Conclusion Data revealed several opportunities to enhance the connection between stakeholder groups. Participants have rudimentary understanding of the institution\u27s DPT program, but lacked depth and overall confidence. Based on results and literature, the following resources will be created: In-person and virtual informational sessions and tours Targeted Marketing Student testimonials DPT student brand ambassadors Implications Additional tools and resources will augment participants\u27 existing knowledge of the DPT program. A variety of marketing tools are recommended to attract students to the DPT program, including social media and virtual resources

Nonparametric Edge Detection in Speckled Imagery

We address the issue of edge detection in Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery. In particular, we propose nonparametric methods for edge detection, and numerically compare them to an alternative method that has been recently proposed in the literature. Our results show that some of the proposed methods display superior results and are computationally simpler than the existing method. An application to real (not simulated) data is presented and discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication in Mathematics and Computers in Simulatio

B-Spline Snakes: A Flexible Tool for Parametric Contour Detection

We present a novel formulation for B-spline snakes that can be used as a tool for fast and intuitive contour outlining. We start with a theoretical argument in favor of splines in the traditional formulation by showing that the optimal, curvature-constrained snake is a cubic spline, irrespective of the form of the external energy field. Unfortunately, such regularized snakes suffer from slow convergence speed because of a large number of control points, as well as from difficulties in determining the weight factors associated to the internal energies of the curve. We therefore propose an alternative formulation in which the intrinsic scale of the spline model is adjusted a priori; this leads to a reduction of the number of parameters to be optimized and eliminates the need for internal energies (i.e., the regularization term). In other words, we are now controlling the elasticity of the spline implicitly and rather intuitively by varying the spacing between the spline knots. The theory is embedded into a multi-resolution formulation demonstrating improved stability in noisy image environments. Validation results are presented, comparing the traditional snake using internal energies and the proposed approach without internal energies, showing the similar performance of the latter. Several biomedical examples of applications are included to illustrate the versatility of the method

Variational guidewire tracking using phase congruency

We present a novel method to track a guidewire in cardiac x-ray video. Using variational calculus, we derive differential equations that deform a spline, subject to intrinsic and extrinsic forces, so that it matches the image data, remains smooth, and preserves an a priori length. We analytically derive these equations from first principles, and show how they include tangential terms, which we include in our model. To address the poor contrast often observed in x-ray video, we propose using phase congruency as an image-based feature. Experimental results demonstrate the success of the method in tracking guidewires in low contrast x-ray video

Centered Pyramids

Quadtree-like pyramids have the advantage of resulting in a multiresolution representation where each pyramid node has four unambiguous parents. Such a centered topology guarantees a clearly defined up-projection of labels. This concept has been successfully and extensively used in applications of contour detection, object recognition and segmentation. Unfortunately, the quadtree-like type of pyramid has poor approximation powers because of the employed piecewise-constant image model. This paper deals with the construction of improved centered image pyramids in terms of general approximation functions. The advantages of the centered topology such a symmetry, consistent boundary conditions and accurate up-projection of labels are combined with a more faithful image representation at coarser pyramid levels. We start by introducing a general framework for the design of least squares pyramids using the standard filtering and decimation tools. We give the most general explicit formulas for the computation of the filter coefficients by any (well behaving) approximation function in both the continuous $(L _{ \infty } )$ and the discrete $(l _{ \infty } )$ norm. We then define centered pyramids and provide the filter coefficients for odd spline approximation functions. Finally, we compare the centered pyramid to the ordinary one and highlight some applications

Multigradient field-active contour model for multilayer boundary detection of ultrasound rectal wall image

Extraction and reconstruction of rectal wall structures from an ultrasound image is helpful for surgeons in rectal clinical diagnosis and 3-D reconstruction of rectal structures from ultrasound images. The primary task is to extract the boundary of the muscular layers on the rectal wall. However, due to the low SNR from ultrasound imaging and the thin muscular layer structure of the rectum, this boundary detection task remains a challenge. An active contour model is an effective high-level model, which has been used successfully to aid the tasks of object representation and recognition in many image-processing applications. We present a novel multigradient field active contour algorithm with an extended ability for multiple-object detection, which overcomes some limitations of ordinary active contour models—"snakes." The core part in the algorithm is the proposal of multigradient vector fields, which are used to replace image forces in kinetic function for alternative constraints on the deformation of active contour, thereby partially solving the initialization limitation of active contour for rectal wall boundary detection. An adaptive expanding force is also added to the model to help the active contour go through the homogenous region in the image. The efficacy of the model is explained and tested on the boundary detection of a ring-shaped image, a synthetic image, and an ultrasound image. The experimental results show that the proposed multigradient field-active contour is feasible for multilayer boundary detection of rectal wal

Multiresolution Approximation Using Shifted Splines

We consider the construction of least squares pyramids using shifted polynomial spline basis functions. We derive the pre- and post-filters as a function of the degree n and the shift parameter Δ. We show that the underlying projection operator is entirely specified by two transfer functions acting on the even and odd signal samples, respectively. We introduce a measure of shift-invariance and show that the most favorable configuration is obtained when the knots of the splines are centered with respect to the grid points (i.e., Δ=1/2 when n is odd, and Δ=0 when n is even). The worst case corresponds to the standard multiresolution setting where the spline spaces are nested