Familiarity based unified visual attention model for fast and robust object recognition

Even though visual attention models using bottom-up saliency can speed up object recognition by predicting object locations, in the presence of multiple salient objects, saliency alone cannot discern target objects from the clutter in a scene. Using a metric named familiarity, we propose a top-down method for guiding attention towards target objects, in addition to bottom-up saliency. To demonstrate the effectiveness of familiarity, the unified visual attention model (UVAM) which combines top-down familiarity and bottom-up saliency is applied to SIFT based object recognition. The UVAM is tested on 3600 artificially generated images containing COIL-100 objects with varying amounts of clutter, and on 126 images of real scenes. The recognition times are reduced by 2.7× and 2×, respectively, with no reduction in recognition accuracy, demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of the familiarity based UVAM.     

基于Bayes与多层Bayes估计的WSN链路选择算法

无线传感器网络（WSN）节点能量有限,采用传统的链路选择的方法（经验法）进行链路选择,需要发送大量的数据包作为测试样本,这在WSN中是不合适的。设计了两种基于Bayes估计与一种基于多层Bayes估计的WSN链路选择算法,分别记为BLSP-B1、BLSP-B2、BLSP-HE。仿真实验发现,在小样本的条件下,BLSP-B1、BLSP-B2、BLSP-HE选择高质量的链路的概率比经验法要高出10%～20%,其中BLSP-HE算法最稳健,性能较好。     

基于视觉显著熵与Object Bank特征的图像记忆性模型

为了提高图像的记忆性预测能力,提出了一种基于视觉显著熵与改进的Object Bank特征的图像记忆性自动预测方法。该方法改进了传统的Object Bank特征,提取图像的视觉显著熵特征,利用支持向量回归机(SVR)训练得到图像的记忆性预测模型。实验结果表明,在预测准确性方面,所提方法比现有的方法的相关系数高出3个百分点。所提出的模型可以应用于图像的记忆性预测、图像检索排序、广告评价分析等方向。     

Articulatory feature recognition using dynamic Bayesian networks

We describe a dynamic Bayesian network for articulatory feature recognition. The model is intended to be a component of a speech recognizer that avoids the problems of conventional “beads-on-a-string” phoneme-based models. We demonstrate that the model gives superior recognition of articulatory features from the speech signal compared with a state-of-the-art neural network system. We also introduce a training algorithm that offers two major advances: it does not require time-aligned feature labels and it allows the model to learn a set of asynchronous feature changes in a data-driven manner.     

The degree of human visual attention in the visual search

Human beings can obtain visual information in parallel through the retina, but they cannot pay attention to all the information at the same time. In psychological studies, the human characteristics of visual attention have often been investigated by analyzing the characteristics of the visual search task. Previous studies suggested that the information features of the visual search task are processed in parallel at early stages of processing. However, the authors consider that these features are not processed completely in parallel, and have a reciprocal action to each other. In order to clarify the reciprocal action of the features in a visual search and the continuity of visual attention, the characteristics of reaction times were measured with changing forms of visual stimuli. The experimental results suggested that the reaction time changed when the features of the visual stimuli in the visual search task changed. This means that the features are affected by each other. Furthermore, continuity of reciprocal action is also suggested, and the degree of visual attention is decided by this continuity. The results provided significant basic data to support our proposed mathematical model of visual attention. This work was presented, in part, at the Fourth International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 19–22, 1999     

机械臂视觉伺服系统中的高精度实时特征提取

以机械臂视觉伺服系统为背景,立体视觉所需要的特征点为目标,提出一种基于颜色块的实时特征提取方法．特征点的定位分为粗定位和精定位两个过程,粗定位用来跟踪目标颜色块,精定位在粗定位的基础上,切出小图像并提取目标轮廓,利用犓犔变换对轮廓点进行分类,并通过最小二乘法对边缘点进行拟合．根据直线方程计算顶点的亚像素精度坐标,为下一步的目标位姿测量提供基础．实验结果验证了该方法的有效性．     

Bayesian shape model for facial feature extraction and recognition

A facial feature extraction algorithm using the Bayesian shape model (BSM) is proposed in this paper. A full-face model consisting of the contour points and the control points is designed to describe the face patch, using which the warping/normalization of the extracted face patch can be performed efficiently. First, the BSM is utilized to match and extract the contour points of a face. In BSM, the prototype of the face contour can be adjusted adaptively according to its prior distribution. Moreover, an affine invariant internal energy term is introduced to describe the local shape deformations between the prototype contour in the shape domain and the deformable contour in the image domain. Thus, both global and local shape deformations can be tolerated. Then, the control points are estimated from the matching result of the contour points based on the statistics of the full-face model. Finally, the face patch is extracted and normalized using the piece-wise affine triangle warping algorithm. Experimental results based on real facial feature extraction demonstrate that the proposed BSM facial feature extraction algorithm is more accurate and effective as compared to that of the active shape model (ASM).     

A Bayesian approach for object classification based on clusters of SIFT local features

Several methods have been presented in the literature that successfully used SIFT features for object identification, as they are reasonably invariant to translation, rotation, scale, illumination and partial occlusion. However, they have poor performance for classification tasks. In this work, SIFT features are used to solve object class recognition problems in images using a two-step process. In its first step, the proposed method performs clustering on the extracted features in order to characterize the appearance of the different classes. Then, in the classification step, it uses a three layer Bayesian network for object class recognition. Experiments show quantitatively that clusters of SIFT features are suitable to represent classes of objects. The main contributions of this paper are the introduction of a Bayesian network approach in the classification step to improve performance in an object class recognition task, and a detailed experimentation that shows robustness to changes in illumination, scale, rotation and partial occlusion.     

基于腿部三角特征的贝叶斯步态识别方法

提出了一种基于步态序列中腿部三角特征的步态表示方法,在这种特征上用改进的朴素贝叶斯分类方法进行步态识别。选取步幅最大、最小两种情况下的姿态作为关键帧,用三角型模拟其腿部特征,提取三角型模型参数作为步态特征,识别时先分别用KNN和一种改进的N-best取得属性值在训练数据中的对应数值,然后用贝叶斯分类方法识别。在NLPR数据库上使用留一校验方法进行算法验证,实验证明该方法简单快速,而且取得了比较理想的识别效果。     

基于支持向量机特征选择的贝叶斯网结点序

目前较常采用搜索打分方法进行贝叶斯网络结构学习,该方法需要首先依据参与者的经验来确定网络的结点顺序,主观性较强,限制了它的实际应用。基于支持向量机特征选择的方法,可以按照各个结点对叶结点的影响能力进行排序,从而直接从数据中通过学习得出结点顺序,避免了人为因素的影响。实验结果验证了该方法的有效性。     

基于稀疏贝叶斯学习的个人信用评估

针对传统信用评估方法分类精度低、特征可解释性差等问题,提出了一种使用稀疏贝叶斯学习方法来进行个人信用评估的模型(SBLCredit)。SBLCredit充分利用稀疏贝叶斯学习的优势,在添加的特征权重的先验知识的情况下进行求解,使得特征权重尽量稀疏,以此实现个人信用评估和特征选择。在德国和澳大利亚真实信用数据集上,SBLCredit方法的分类精度比传统的K近邻、朴素贝叶斯、决策树和支持向量机平均提高了4.52%,6.40%,6.26%和2.27%。实验结果表明,SBLCredit分类精度高,选择的特征少,是一种有效的个人信用评估方法。     

Efficient Discriminant Viewpoint Selection for Active Bayesian Recognition

This paper presents a novel viewpoint selection criterion for active object recognition and pose estimation whose key advantage resides in its low computational cost with respect to current popular approaches in the literature. The proposed observation selection criterion associates high utility with observations that predictably facilitate distinction between pairs of competing hypotheses by a Bayesian classifier. Rigorous experimentation of the proposed approach was conducted on two case studies, involving synthetic and real data, respectively. The results show the proposed algorithm to perform better than a random navigation strategy in terms of the amount of data required for recognition while being much faster than a strategy based on mutual information, without compromising accuracy.     

Statistical modeling and feature selection for seismic pattern recognition

Application of pattern recognition techniques to reflection seismic data is difficult for several reasons. The amount of available training data is limited by the degree of well control in the area and may not be sufficient. In contrast, seismic data sets are often extremely large, necessitating the use of the smallest possible feature set to allow quick and efficient processing. In this paper, a method to generate synthetic training data is described, which alleviates the problem of insufficient training data. A means is provided for injecting a priori geologic knowledge into the classifier, including well logs. Finally, a feature evaluation algorithm using a performance metric related to the Bayes probability of error is outlined and applied to the training data to identify effective feature sets.     

Object-based visual attention for computer vision

In this paper, a novel model of object-based visual attention extending Duncan's Integrated Competition Hypothesis [Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London B 353 (1998) 1307-1317] is presented. In contrast to the attention mechanisms used in most previous machine vision systems which drive attention based on the spatial location hypothesis, the mechanisms which direct visual attention in our system are object-driven as well as feature-driven. The competition to gain visual attention occurs not only within an object but also between objects. For this purpose, two new mechanisms in the proposed model are described and analyzed in detail. The first mechanism computes the visual salience of objects and groupings; the second one implements the hierarchical selectivity of attentional shifts. The results of the new approach on synthetic and natural images are reported.     

Spatially aware feature selection and weighting for object retrieval

Many recent image retrieval methods are based on the “bag-of-words” (BoW) model with some additional spatial consistency checking. This paper proposes a more accurate similarity measurement that takes into account spatial layout of visual words in an offline manner. The similarity measurement is embedded in the standard pipeline of the BoW model, and improves two features of the model: i) latent visual words are added to a query based on spatial co-occurrence, to improve query recall; and ii) weights of reliable visual words are increased to improve the precision. The combination of these methods leads to a more accurate measurement of image similarity. This is similar in concept to the combination of query expansion and spatial verification, but does not require query time processing, which is too expensive to apply to full list of ranked results. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method on three public datasets.     

Optimal Bayesian estimation and control scheme for gear shaft fault detection

Fault detection and diagnosis of gear transmission systems have attracted a lot of attention in recent years, but there are very few papers dealing with the early detection of shaft cracks. In this paper, a new methodology for predicting failures of a gear shaft system is presented. The time synchronous averaging (TSA) method is applied to the gear shaft vibration data, and the wavelet transform technique is then used to obtain quantitative indicators of gear shaft deterioration. System deterioration is modeled as a hidden, 3-state continuous-time homogeneous Markov process. States 0 and 1, which are not observable, represent healthy and unhealthy system conditions, respectively. Only the failure state 2 is assumed to be observable. The computed quantities, which are stochastically related to the system state, are chosen as the observation process in the hidden Markov modeling framework. The objective is to develop a method for optimally predicting impending system failures, which maximizes the long-run expected average system availability per unit time. Model parameters are estimated using the EM algorithm and an optimal Bayesian fault prediction scheme is proposed. The entire procedure is illustrated using real gear shaft vibration data.     

Bayesian testing for non-linearity in volatility modeling

Neural networks provide a tool for describing non-linearity in volatility processes of financial data and help to answer the question “how much” non-linearity is present in the data. Non-linearity is studied under three different specifications of the conditional distribution: Gaussian, Student-t and mixture of Gaussians. To rank the volatility models, a Bayesian framework is adopted to perform a Bayesian model selection within the different classes of models. In the empirical analysis, the return series of the Dow Jones Industrial Average index, FTSE 100 and NIKKEI 225 indices over a period of 16 years are studied. The results show different behavior across the three markets. In general, if a statistical model accounts for non-normality and explains most of the fat tails in the conditional distribution, then there is less need for complex non-linear specifications.     

A hierarchical feature fusion framework for adaptive visual tracking

A Hierarchical Model Fusion (HMF) framework for object tracking in video sequences is presented. The Bayesian tracking equations are extended to account for multiple object models. With these equations as a basis a particle filter algorithm is developed to efficiently cope with the multi-modal distributions emerging from cluttered scenes. The update of each object model takes place hierarchically so that the lower dimensional object models, which are updated first, guide the search in the parameter space of the subsequent object models to relevant regions thus reducing the computational complexity. A method for object model adaptation is also developed. We apply the proposed framework by fusing salient points, blobs, and edges as features and verify experimentally its effectiveness in challenging conditions.