Adaptive-threshold region merging via path scanning

Region merging algorithms commonly produce results that are seen to be far below the current commonly accepted state-of-the-art image segmentation techniques. The main challenging problem is the selection of an appropriate and computationally efficient method to control resolution and region homogeneity. In this paper we present a region merging algorithm that includes a semi-greedy criterion and an adaptive threshold to control segmentation resolution. In addition we present a new relative performance indicator that compares algorithm performance across many metrics against the results from human segmentation. Qualitative (visual) comparison demonstrates that our method produces results that outperform existing leading techniques.

Stopping rules in Bayesian adaptive threshold estimation

Threshold estimation with sequential procedures is justifiable on the surmise that the index used in the so-called dynamic stopping rule has diagnostic value for identifying when an accurate estimate has been obtained. The performance of five types of Bayesian sequential procedure was compared here to that of an analogous fixed-length procedure. Indices for use in sequential procedures were: (1) the width of the Bayesian probability interval, (2) the posterior standard deviation, (3) the absolute change, (4) the average change, and (5) the number of sign fluctuations. A simulation study was carried out to evaluate which index renders estimates with less bias and smaller standard error at lower cost (i.e. lower average number of trials to completion), in both yes–no and two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) tasks. We also considered the effect of the form and parameters of the psychometric function and its similarity with themodel function assumed in the procedure. Our results show that sequential procedures do not outperform fixed-length procedures in yes–no tasks. However, in 2AFC tasks, sequential procedures not based on sign fluctuations all yield minimally better estimates than fixed-length procedures, although most of the improvement occurs with short runs that render undependable estimates and the differences vanish when the procedures run for a number of trials (around 70) that ensures dependability. Thus, none of the indices considered here (some of which are widespread) has the diagnostic value that would justify its use. In addition, difficulties of implementation make sequential procedures unfit as alternatives to fixed-length procedures.

Stochastic analysis of epidemics on adaptive time varying networks

Many studies investigating the effect of human social connectivity structures (networks) and human behavioral adaptations on the spread of infectious diseases have assumed either a static connectivity structure or a network which adapts itself in response to the epidemic (adaptive networks). However, human social connections are inherently dynamic or time varying. Furthermore, the spread of many infectious diseases occur on a time scale comparable to the time scale of the evolving network structure. Here we aim to quantify the effect of human behavioral adaptations on the spread of asymptomatic infectious diseases on time varying networks. We perform a full stochastic analysis using a continuous time Markov chain approach for calculating the outbreak probability, mean epidemic duration, epidemic reemergence probability, etc. Additionally, we use mean-field theory for calculating epidemic thresholds. Theoretical predictions are verified using extensive simulations. Our studies have uncovered the existence of an ``adaptive threshold,'' i.e., when the ratio of susceptibility (or infectivity) rate to recovery rate is below the threshold value, adaptive behavior can prevent the epidemic. However, if it is above the threshold, no amount of behavioral adaptations can prevent the epidemic. Our analyses suggest that the interaction patterns of the infected population play a major role in sustaining the epidemic. Our results have implications on epidemic containment policies, as awareness campaigns and human behavioral responses can be effective only if the interaction levels of the infected populace are kept in check.

Adaptive Scalable SVD Unit for Fast Processing of Large LSE Problems

Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is a key linear algebraic operation in many scientific and engineering applications. In particular, many computational intelligence systems rely on machine learning methods involving high dimensionality datasets that have to be fast processed for real-time adaptability. In this paper we describe a practical FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) implementation of a SVD processor for accelerating the solution of large LSE problems. The design approach has been comprehensive, from the algorithmic refinement to the numerical analysis to the customization for an efficient hardware realization. The processing scheme rests on an adaptive vector rotation evaluator for error regularization that enhances convergence speed with no penalty on the solution accuracy. The proposed architecture, which follows a data transfer scheme, is scalable and based on the interconnection of simple rotations units, which allows for a trade-off between occupied area and processing acceleration in the final implementation. This permits the SVD processor to be implemented both on low-cost and highend FPGAs, according to the final application requirements.

Image acquisition and manipulation protocols for CT-PET fusion to improve the accuracy of gross tumour volume localisation for 3D conformal radiotherapy for lung cancer

Aims: To develop clinical protocols for acquiring PET images, performing CT-PET registration and tumour volume definition based on the PET image data, for radiotherapy for lung cancer patients and then to test these protocols with respect to levels of accuracy and reproducibility. Method: A phantom-based quality assurance study of the processes associated with using registered CT and PET scans for tumour volume definition was conducted to: (1) investigate image acquisition and manipulation techniques for registering and contouring CT and PET images in a radiotherapy treatment planning system, and (2) determine technology-based errors in the registration and contouring processes. The outcomes of the phantom image based quality assurance study were used to determine clinical protocols. Protocols were developed for (1) acquiring patient PET image data for incorporation into the 3DCRT process, particularly for ensuring that the patient is positioned in their treatment position; (2) CT-PET image registration techniques and (3) GTV definition using the PET image data. The developed clinical protocols were tested using retrospective clinical trials to assess levels of inter-user variability which may be attributed to the use of these protocols. A Siemens Somatom Open Sensation 20 slice CT scanner and a Philips Allegro stand-alone PET scanner were used to acquire the images for this research. The Philips Pinnacle3 treatment planning system was used to perform the image registration and contouring of the CT and PET images. Results: Both the attenuation-corrected and transmission images obtained from standard whole-body PET staging clinical scanning protocols were acquired and imported into the treatment planning system for the phantom-based quality assurance study. Protocols for manipulating the PET images in the treatment planning system, particularly for quantifying uptake in volumes of interest and window levels for accurate geometric visualisation were determined. The automatic registration algorithms were found to have sub-voxel levels of accuracy, with transmission scan-based CT-PET registration more accurate than emission scan-based registration of the phantom images. Respiration induced image artifacts were not found to influence registration accuracy while inadequate pre-registration over-lap of the CT and PET images was found to result in large registration errors. A threshold value based on a percentage of the maximum uptake within a volume of interest was found to accurately contour the different features of the phantom despite the lower spatial resolution of the PET images. Appropriate selection of the threshold value is dependant on target-to-background ratios and the presence of respiratory motion. The results from the phantom-based study were used to design, implement and test clinical CT-PET fusion protocols. The patient PET image acquisition protocols enabled patients to be successfully identified and positioned in their radiotherapy treatment position during the acquisition of their whole-body PET staging scan. While automatic registration techniques were found to reduce inter-user variation compared to manual techniques, there was no significant difference in the registration outcomes for transmission or emission scan-based registration of the patient images, using the protocol. Tumour volumes contoured on registered patient CT-PET images using the tested threshold values and viewing windows determined from the phantom study, demonstrated less inter-user variation for the primary tumour volume contours than those contoured using only the patient’s planning CT scans. Conclusions: The developed clinical protocols allow a patient’s whole-body PET staging scan to be incorporated, manipulated and quantified in the treatment planning process to improve the accuracy of gross tumour volume localisation in 3D conformal radiotherapy for lung cancer. Image registration protocols which factor in potential software-based errors combined with adequate user training are recommended to increase the accuracy and reproducibility of registration outcomes. A semi-automated adaptive threshold contouring technique incorporating a PET windowing protocol, accurately defines the geometric edge of a tumour volume using PET image data from a stand alone PET scanner, including 4D target volumes.

Ground target detection, classification and sensor fusion in distributed fiber seismic sensor network - art. no. 683015

This paper describes the ground target detection, classification and sensor fusion problems in distributed fiber seismic sensor network. Compared with conventional piezoelectric seismic sensor used in UGS, fiber optic sensor has advantages of high sensitivity and resistance to electromagnetic disturbance. We have developed a fiber seismic sensor network for target detection and classification. However, ground target recognition based on seismic sensor is a very challenging problem because of the non-stationary characteristic of seismic signal and complicated real life application environment. To solve these difficulties, we study robust feature extraction and classification algorithms adapted to fiber sensor network. An united multi-feature (UMF) method is used. An adaptive threshold detection algorithm is proposed to minimize the false alarm rate. Three kinds of targets comprise personnel, wheeled vehicle and tracked vehicle are concerned in the system. The classification simulation result shows that the SVM classifier outperforms the GMM and BPNN. The sensor fusion method based on D-S evidence theory is discussed to fully utilize information of fiber sensor array and improve overall performance of the system. A field experiment is organized to test the performance of fiber sensor network and gather real signal of targets for classification testing.

Pipeline Architecture and Parallel Computation-Based Real-Time Stereovision Tracking System for Surgical Navigation

This paper studies the development of a real-time stereovision system to track multiple infrared markers attached to a surgical instrument. Multiple stages of pipeline in field-programmable gate array (FPGA) are developed to recognize the targets in both left and right image planes and to give each target a unique label. The pipeline architecture includes a smoothing filter, an adaptive threshold module, a connected component labeling operation, and a centroid extraction process. A parallel distortion correction method is proposed and implemented in a dual-core DSP. A suitable kinematic model is established for the moving targets, and a novel set of parallel and interactive computation mechanisms is proposed to position and track the targets, which are carried out by a cross-computation method in a dual-core DSP. The proposed tracking system can track the 3-D coordinate, velocity, and acceleration of four infrared markers with a delay of 9.18 ms. Furthermore, it is capable of tracking a maximum of 110 infrared markers without frame dropping at a frame rate of 60 f/s. The accuracy of the proposed system can reach the scale of 0.37 mm RMS along the x- and y-directions and 0.45 mm RMS along the depth direction (the depth is from 0.8 to 0.45 m). The performance of the proposed system can meet the requirements of applications such as surgical navigation, which needs high real time and accuracy capability.

Pipeline Architecture and Parallel Computation-Based Real-Time Stereovision Tracking System for Surgical Navigation

This paper studies the development of a real-time stereovision system to track multiple infrared markers attached to a surgical instrument. Multiple stages of pipeline in field-programmable gate array (FPGA) are developed to recognize the targets in both left and right image planes and to give each target a unique label. The pipeline architecture includes a smoothing filter, an adaptive threshold module, a connected component labeling operation, and a centroid extraction process. A parallel distortion correction method is proposed and implemented in a dual-core DSP. A suitable kinematic model is established for the moving targets, and a novel set of parallel and interactive computation mechanisms is proposed to position and track the targets, which are carried out by a cross-computation method in a dual-core DSP. The proposed tracking system can track the 3-D coordinate, velocity, and acceleration of four infrared markers with a delay of 9.18 ms. Furthermore, it is capable of tracking a maximum of 110 infrared markers without frame dropping at a frame rate of 60 f/s. The accuracy of the proposed system can reach the scale of 0.37 mm RMS along the x- and y-directions and 0.45 mm RMS along the depth direction (the depth is from 0.8 to 0.45 m). The performance of the proposed system can meet the requirements of applications such as surgical navigation, which needs high real time and accuracy capability.

A Distributed Outstar Network for Spatial Pattern Learning

The distributed outstar, a generalization of the outstar neural network for spatial pattern learning, is introduced. In the outstar, signals from a source node cause weights to learn and recall arbitrary patterns across a target field of nodes. The distributed outstar replaces the outstar source node with a source field of arbitrarily many nodes, whose activity pattern may be arbitrarily distributed or compressed. Learning proceeds according to a principle of atrophy due to disuse, whereby a path weight decreases in joint proportion to the transmitted path signal and the degree of disuse of the target node. During learning, the total signal to a target node converges toward that node's activity level. Weight changes at a node are apportioned according to the distributed pattern of converging signals. Three synaptic transmission functions, by a product rule, a capacity rule, and a threshold rule, are examined for this system. The three rules are computationally equivalent when source field activity is maximally compressed, or winner-take-all. When source field activity is distributed, catastrophic forgetting may occur. Only the threshold rule solves this problem. Analysis of spatial pattern learning by distributed codes thereby leads to the conjecture that the unit of long-term memory in such a system is an adaptive threshold, rather than the multiplicative path weight widely used in neural models.

Spatial Pattern Learning, Catastophic Forgetting and Optimal Rules of Synaptic Transmission

It is a neural network truth universally acknowledged, that the signal transmitted to a target node must be equal to the product of the path signal times a weight. Analysis of catastrophic forgetting by distributed codes leads to the unexpected conclusion that this universal synaptic transmission rule may not be optimal in certain neural networks. The distributed outstar, a network designed to support stable codes with fast or slow learning, generalizes the outstar network for spatial pattern learning. In the outstar, signals from a source node cause weights to learn and recall arbitrary patterns across a target field of nodes. The distributed outstar replaces the outstar source node with a source field, of arbitrarily many nodes, where the activity pattern may be arbitrarily distributed or compressed. Learning proceeds according to a principle of atrophy due to disuse whereby a path weight decreases in joint proportion to the transmittcd path signal and the degree of disuse of the target node. During learning, the total signal to a target node converges toward that node's activity level. Weight changes at a node are apportioned according to the distributed pattern of converging signals three types of synaptic transmission, a product rule, a capacity rule, and a threshold rule, are examined for this system. The three rules are computationally equivalent when source field activity is maximally compressed, or winner-take-all when source field activity is distributed, catastrophic forgetting may occur. Only the threshold rule solves this problem. Analysis of spatial pattern learning by distributed codes thereby leads to the conjecture that the optimal unit of long-term memory in such a system is a subtractive threshold, rather than a multiplicative weight.

Sequential anomaly detection in the presence of noise and limited feedback

This paper describes a methodology for detecting anomalies from sequentially observed and potentially noisy data. The proposed approach consists of two main elements: 1) filtering, or assigning a belief or likelihood to each successive measurement based upon our ability to predict it from previous noisy observations and 2) hedging, or flagging potential anomalies by comparing the current belief against a time-varying and data-adaptive threshold. The threshold is adjusted based on the available feedback from an end user. Our algorithms, which combine universal prediction with recent work on online convex programming, do not require computing posterior distributions given all current observations and involve simple primal-dual parameter updates. At the heart of the proposed approach lie exponential-family models which can be used in a wide variety of contexts and applications, and which yield methods that achieve sublinear per-round regret against both static and slowly varying product distributions with marginals drawn from the same exponential family. Moreover, the regret against static distributions coincides with the minimax value of the corresponding online strongly convex game. We also prove bounds on the number of mistakes made during the hedging step relative to the best offline choice of the threshold with access to all estimated beliefs and feedback signals. We validate the theory on synthetic data drawn from a time-varying distribution over binary vectors of high dimensionality, as well as on the Enron email dataset. © 1963-2012 IEEE.

New enhancements to cut, fade, and dissolve detection processes in video segmentation

We present improved algorithms for cut, fade, and dissolve detection which are fundamental steps in digital video analysis. In particular, we propose a new adaptive threshold determination method that is shown to reduce artifacts created by noise and motion in scene cut detection. We also describe new two-step algorithms for fade and dissolve detection, and introduce a method for eliminating false positives from a list of detected candidate transitions. In our detailed study of these gradual shot transitions, our objective has been to accurately classify the type of transitions (fade-in, fade-out, and dissolve) and to precisely locate the boundary of the transitions. This distinguishes our work from other early work in scene change detection which tends to focus primarily on identifying the existence of a transition rather than its precise temporal extent. We evaluate our improved algorithms against two other commonly used shot detection techniques on a comprehensive data set, and demonstrate the improved performance due to our enhancements.

On a Microcomputer Implementation of an Intrusion-detection Algorithm

The main objective of this paper is to discuss various aspects of implementing a specific intrusion-detection scheme on a micro-computer system using fixed-point arithmetic. The proposed scheme is suitable for detecting intruder stimuli which are in the form of transient signals. It consists of two stages: an adaptive digital predictor and an adaptive threshold detection algorithm. Experimental results involving data acquired via field experiments are also included.

Automatic Reduction of Artifacts in EEG-Signals

Electroencephalograms (EEG) are often contaminated with high amplitude artifacts limiting the usability of data. Methods that reduce these artifacts are often restricted to certain types of artifacts, require manual interaction or large training data sets. Within this paper we introduce a novel method, which is able to eliminate many different types of artifacts without manual intervention. The algorithm first decomposes the signal into different sub-band signals in order to isolate different types of artifacts into specific frequency bands. After signal decomposition with principal component analysis (PCA) an adaptive threshold is applied to eliminate components with high variance corresponding to the dominant artifact activity. Our results show that the algorithm is able to significantly reduce artifacts while preserving the EEG activity. Parameters for the algorithm do not have to be identified for every patient individually making the method a good candidate for preprocessing in automatic seizure detection and prediction algorithms.

Skin Lesion Extraction And Its Application

In this thesis, I study skin lesion detection and its applications to skin cancer diagnosis. A skin lesion detection algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm is based color information and threshold. For the proposed algorithm, several color spaces are studied and the detection results are compared. Experimental results show that YUV color space can achieve the best performance. Besides, I develop a distance histogram based threshold selection method and the method is proven to be better than other adaptive threshold selection methods for color detection. Besides the detection algorithms, I also investigate GPU speed-up techniques for skin lesion extraction and the results show that GPU has potential applications in speeding-up skin lesion extraction. Based on the skin lesion detection algorithms proposed, I developed a mobile-based skin cancer diagnosis application. In this application, the user with an iPhone installed with the proposed application can use the iPhone as a diagnosis tool to find the potential skin lesions in a persons' skin and compare the skin lesions detected by the iPhone with the skin lesions stored in a database in a remote server.