Hybrid Background Subtraction in Video using Bi-level CodeBook Model

Detection of Objects in Video is a highly demanding area of research. The Background Subtraction Algorithms can yield better results in Foreground Object Detection. This work presents a Hybrid CodeBook based Background Subtraction to extract the foreground ROI from the background. Codebooks are used to store compressed information by demanding lesser memory usage and high speedy processing. This Hybrid method which uses Block-Based and Pixel-Based Codebooks provide efficient detection results; the high speed processing capability of block based background subtraction as well as high Precision Rate of pixel based background subtraction are exploited to yield an efficient Background Subtraction System. The Block stage produces a coarse foreground area, which is then refined by the Pixel stage. The system’s performance is evaluated with different block sizes and with different block descriptors like 2D-DCT, FFT etc. The Experimental analysis based on statistical measurements yields precision, recall, similarity and F measure of the hybrid system as 88.74%, 91.09%, 81.66% and 89.90% respectively, and thus proves the efficiency of the novel system.

Digital Libraries Initiatives in India

Digital library Initiatives in India, models of electronic and print publishing, digitallibrary and funding, chaalenges and oppertunities,digital ibrary initiatives in India, current digital library moedels etc

Spectroscopic Investigation of Tooth Caries and Demineralization

Dental caries persists to be the most predominant oral disease in spite of remarkable progress made during the past half- century to reduce its prevalence. Early diagnosis of carious lesions is an important factor in the prevention and management of dental caries. Conventional procedures for caries detection involve visual-tactile and radiographic examination, which is considered as “gold standard”. These techniques are subjective and are unable to detect the lesions until they are well advanced and involve about one-third of the thickness of enamel. Therefore, all these factors necessitate the need for the development of new techniques for early diagnosis of carious lesions. Researchers have been trying to develop various instruments based on optical spectroscopic techniques for detection of dental caries during the last two decades. These optical spectroscopic techniques facilitate noninvasive and real-time tissue characterization with reduced radiation exposure to patient, thereby improving the management of dental caries. Nonetheless, a costeffective optical system with adequate sensitivity and specificity for clinical use is still not realized and development of such a system is a challenging task.Two key techniques based on the optical properties of dental hard tissues are discussed in this current thesis, namely laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and diffuse reflectance (DR) spectroscopy for detection of tooth caries and demineralization. The work described in this thesis is mainly of applied nature, focusing on the analysis of data from in vitro tooth samples and extending these results to diagnose dental caries in a clinical environment. The work mainly aims to improve and contribute to the contemporary research on fluorescence and diffuse reflectance for discriminating different stages of carious lesions. Towards this, a portable and compact laser-induced fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopic system (LIFRS) was developed for point monitoring of fluorescence and diffuse reflectance spectra from tooth samples. The LIFRS system uses either a 337 nm nitrogen laser or a 404 nm diode laser for the excitation of tooth autofluorescence and a white light source (tungsten halogen lamp) for measuring diffuse reflectance.Extensive in vitro studies were carried out on extracted tooth samples to test the applicability of LIFRS system for detecting dental caries, before being tested in a clinical environment. Both LIF and DR studies were performed for diagnosis of dental caries, but special emphasis was given for early detection and also to discriminate between different stages of carious lesions. Further the potential of LIFRS system in detecting demineralization and remineralization were also assessed.In the clinical trial on 105 patients, fluorescence reference standard (FRS) criteria was developed based on LIF spectral ratios (F500/F635 and F500/F680) to discriminate different stages of caries and for early detection of dental caries. The FRS ratio scatter plots developed showed better sensitivity and specificity as compared to clinical and radiographic examination, and the results were validated with the blindtests. Moreover, the LIF spectra were analyzed by curve-fitting using Gaussian spectral functions and the derived curve-fitted parameters such as peak position, Gaussian curve area, amplitude and width were found to be useful for distinguishing different stages of caries. In DR studies, a novel method was established based on DR ratios (R500/R700, R600/R700 and R650/R700) to detect dental caries with improved accuracy. Further the diagnostic accuracy of LIFRS system was evaluated in terms of sensitivity, specificity and area under the ROC curve. On the basis of these results, the LIFRS system was found useful as a valuable adjunct to the clinicians for detecting carious lesions.

An Inter-digital Capacitive Electrode Modified as a Pressure Sensor

Inter-digital capacitive electrodes working as electric field sensors have been developed for touch panel applications. Evaluation circuits to convert variations in electric fields in such sensors into computer compatible data are commercially available. We report development of an Interdigital capacitive electrode working as a sensitive pressure sensor in the range 0-120 kPa. Essentially it is a touch/proximity sensor converted into a pressure sensor with a suitable elastomer buffer medium acting as the pressure transmitter. The performance of the sensor has been evaluated and reported. Such sensors can be made very economical in comparison to existing pressure sensors. Moreover, they are very convenient to be fabricated into sensor arrays involving a number of sensors for distributed pressure sensing applications such as in biomedical systems.

Performance analysis of FIR digital filter design: RNS versus traditional

Residue Number System (RNS) based Finite Impulse Response (FIR) digital filters and traditional FIR filters. This research is motivated by the importance of an efficient filter implementation for digital signal processing. The comparison is done in terms of speed and area requirement for various filter specifications. RNS based FIR filters operate more than three times faster and consumes only about 60% of the area than traditional filter when number of filter taps is more than 32. The area for RNS filter is increasing at a lesser rate than that for traditional resulting in lower power consumption. RNS is a nonweighted number system without carry propogation between different residue digits.This enables simultaneous parallel processing on all the digits resulting in high speed addition and multiplication in the RNS domain

classification and content based retrieval of digital mammograms and placental sonograms

Image processing has been a challenging and multidisciplinary research area since decades with continuing improvements in its various branches especially Medical Imaging. The healthcare industry was very much benefited with the advances in Image Processing techniques for the efficient management of large volumes of clinical data. The popularity and growth of Image Processing field attracts researchers from many disciplines including Computer Science and Medical Science due to its applicability to the real world. In the meantime, Computer Science is becoming an important driving force for the further development of Medical Sciences. The objective of this study is to make use of the basic concepts in Medical Image Processing and develop methods and tools for clinicians’ assistance. This work is motivated from clinical applications of digital mammograms and placental sonograms, and uses real medical images for proposing a method intended to assist radiologists in the diagnostic process. The study consists of two domains of Pattern recognition, Classification and Content Based Retrieval. Mammogram images of breast cancer patients and placental images are used for this study. Cancer is a disaster to human race. The accuracy in characterizing images using simplified user friendly Computer Aided Diagnosis techniques helps radiologists in detecting cancers at an early stage. Breast cancer which accounts for the major cause of cancer death in women can be fully cured if detected at an early stage. Studies relating to placental characteristics and abnormalities are important in foetal monitoring. The diagnostic variability in sonographic examination of placenta can be overlooked by detailed placental texture analysis by focusing on placental grading. The work aims on early breast cancer detection and placental maturity analysis. This dissertation is a stepping stone in combing various application domains of healthcare and technology.

Digital Preservation - Challenges

Long Term Digital Preservation (LTDP) is a secure and trustworthy mechanism to ingest, process, store, manage, protect, find, access, and interpret digital information such that the same information can be used at some arbitrary point in the future in spite of obsolescence of everything: hardware, software, processes, format, people, etc

Using open source software for digital libraries A case study of CUSAT

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of a digital library at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), India, using DSpace open source software. The study covers the structure, contents and usage of CUSAT digital library. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the possibilities of applying open source in libraries. An evaluative approach is carried out to explore the features of the CUSAT digital library. The Google Analytics service is employed to measure the amount of use of digital library by users across the world. Findings – CUSAT has successfully applied DSpace open source software for building a digital library. The digital library has had visits from 78 countries, with the major share from India. The distribution of documents in the digital library is uneven. Past exam question papers share the major part of the collection. The number of research papers, articles and rare documents is less. Originality/value – The study is the first of its type that tries to understand digital library design and development using DSpace open source software in a university environment with a focus on the analysis of distribution of items and measuring the value by usage statistics employing the Google Analytics service. The digital library model can be useful for designing similar systems

Building Digital. Repository Of Project Reports: A Proposal for cusat

The effective organization and utilisation of resources produced by the students, faculty and research scholars in university departments assume greater significance. Institutional repositories are developed by many institutions to provide resources and materials that support students in their studies. The present study recognizes the value of such a repository in the Engineering and Technology discipline in Cochin University of Science and Technology. The paper explains the need for a digital repository ofproject reports. The authors present a modelfor digital repository, and the organization.and administration of such a repository. The study also analyses the various other factors associated with the proposed depository.

A Faster 2D Technique for the design of Combinational Digital Circuits Using Genetic Algorithm

Combinational digital circuits can be evolved automatically using Genetic Algorithms (GA). Until recently this technique used linear chromosomes and and one dimensional crossover and mutation operators. In this paper, a new method for representing combinational digital circuits as 2 Dimensional (2D) chromosomes and suitable 2D crossover and mutation techniques has been proposed. By using this method, the convergence speed of GA can be increased significantly compared to the conventional methods. Moreover, the 2D representation and crossover operation provides the designer with better visualization of the evolved circuits. In addition to this, a technique to display automatically the evolved circuits has been developed with the help of MATLAB

An Improved Design of Combinational Digital Circuits with Multiplexers using Genetic Algorithm

This paper presents a new approach to the design of combinational digital circuits with multiplexers using Evolutionary techniques. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used as the optimization tool. Several circuits are synthesized with this method and compared with two design techniques such as standard implementation of logic functions using multiplexers and implementation using Shannon’s decomposition technique using GA. With the proposed method complexity of the circuit and the associated delay can be reduced significantly

Measuring the Maturity of Open Source Software for Digital Libraries: a Case Study of DSpace

The assessment of maturity of software is an important area in the general software sector. The field of OSS also applies various models to measure software maturity. However, measuring maturity of OSS being used for several applications in libraries is an area left with no research so far. This study has attempted to fill the research gap. Measuring maturity of software contributes knowledge on its sustainability over the long term. Maturity of software is one of the factors that positively influence adoption. The investigator measured the maturity of DSpace software using Woods and Guliani‟s Open Source Maturity Model-2005. The present study is significant as it addresses the aspects of maturity of OSS for libraries and fills the research gap on the area. In this sense the study opens new avenues to the field of library and information science by providing an additional tool for librarians in the selection and adoption of OSS. Measuring maturity brings in-depth knowledge on an OSS which will contribute towards the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as explained in the Technology Acceptance Model theory.