Shape indexing using self-organizing maps

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to generate the topology-preserving mapping of structural shapes using self-organizing maps (SOMs). The structural information of the geometrical shapes is captured by relational attribute vectors. These vectors are quantised using an SOM. Using this SOM, a histogram is generated for every shape. These histograms are treated as inputs to train another SOM which yields a topology-preserving mapping of the geometric shapes. By appropriately choosing the relational vectors, it is possible to generate a mapping that is invariant to some chosen transformations, such as rotation, translation, scale, affine, or perspective transformations. Experimental results using trademark objects are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed methodology.     

Combining stationary wavelet transform and self-organizing maps for brain MR image segmentation

This study presents an image segmentation system that automatically segments and labels T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance (MR) images. The method is based on a combination of unsupervised learning algorithm of the self-organizing maps (SOM) and supervised learning vector quantization (LVQ) methods. Stationary wavelet transform (SWT) is applied to the images to obtain multiresolution information for distinguishing different tissues. Statistical information of the different tissues is extracted by applying spatial filtering to the coefficients of SWT. A multidimensional feature vector is formed by combining SWT coefficients and their statistical features. This feature vector is used as input to the SOM. SOM is used to segment images in a competitive unsupervised approach and an LVQ system is used for fine-tuning. Results are evaluated using Tanimoto similarity index and are compared with manually segmented images. Quantitative comparisons of our system with the other methods on real brain MR images using Tanimoto similarity index demonstrate that our system shows better segmentation performance for the gray matter while it gives average results for white matter.     

Bankruptcy analysis with self-organizing maps in learning metrics

We introduce a method for deriving a metric, locally based on the Fisher information matrix, into the data space. A self-organizing map (SOM) is computed in the new metric to explore financial statements of enterprises. The metric measures local distances in terms of changes in the distribution of an auxiliary random variable that reflects what is important in the data. In this paper the variable indicates bankruptcy within the next few years. The conditional density of the auxiliary variable is first estimated, and the change in the estimate resulting from local displacements in the primary data space is measured using the Fisher information matrix. When a self-organizing map is computed in the new metric it still visualizes the data space in a topology-preserving fashion, but represents the (local) directions in which the probability of bankruptcy changes the most.     

Co-adaptation of self-organizing maps by evolution and learning

This paper proposes two co-adaptation schemes of self-organizing maps that incorporate the Kohonen's learning into the GA evolution in an attempt to find an optimal vector quantization codebook of images. The Kohonen's learning rule used for vector quantization of images is sensitive to the choice of its initial parameters and the resultant codebook does not guarantee a minimum distortion. To tackle these problems, we co-adapt the codebooks by evolution and learning in a way that the evolution performs the global search and makes inter-codebook adjustments by altering the codebook structures while the learning performs the local search and makes intra-codebook adjustments by making each codebook's distortion small. Two kinds of co-adaptation schemes such as Lamarckian and Baldwin co-adaptation are considered in our work. Simulation results show that the evolution guided by a local learning provides the fast convergence, the co-adapted codebook produces better reconstruction image quality than the non-learned equivalent, and Lamarckian co-adaptation turns out more appropriate for the VQ problem.     

基于变化检测的视频对象分割方案

由于运行时平均法建立的背景随更新系数的不同而波动,提出了一种新的更新系数选择方法,并利用了基于分块代替基于像素的帧差处理方法来减少差分技术对噪声的敏感性。在研究背景差分容易把背景中变化大的部分判决为运动物体,而帧间差分容易把运动物体中缓慢变化的部分判为背景的基础上,提出了一种新的帧间差分、背景差分和边缘检测相结合的视频对象分割方案。实验结果表明,新方案实时性高,分割得到的视频对象相对于单独使用帧间差分或背景差分的效果有明显的改进。     

Dynamic muscle fatigue detection using self-organizing maps

Wavelets are used for the processing of signals that are non-stationary and time varying. The electromyogram (EMG) contains transient signals related to muscle activity. Wavelet coefficients are proposed as features for identifying muscle fatigue. By observing the approximation coefficients it is shown that their amplitude follows closely the muscle fatigue development. The proposed method for detecting fatigue is automated by using neural networks. The self-organizing map (SOM) has been used to visualize the variation of the approximation wavelet coefficients and aid the detection of muscle fatigue. The results show that a 2D SOM separates EMG signatures from fresh and fatigued muscles, thus providing a visualization of the onset of fatigue over time. The map is able to detect if muscles have recovered temporarily. The system is adaptable to different subjects and conditions since the techniques used are not subject or workload regime specific.     

Shades of green: A psychographic segmentation of the green consumer in Kuwait using self-organizing maps

This study uses self-organizing maps (SOM) to examine the effect of various psychographic and cognitive factors on green consumption in Kuwait. SOM is a machine learning method that can be used to explore patterns in large and complex datasets for linear and non-linear patterns. The results show that major variables affecting green consumption are related to altruistic values, environmental concern, environmental knowledge, skepticism towards environmental claims, attitudes toward green consumption, and intention to buy green products. The study also shows that SOM models are capable of improving clustering quality while extracting valuable information from multidimensional data.     

A filter based neuron model for adaptive incremental learning of self-organizing maps

In this work a learning algorithm is proposed for the formation of topology preserving maps. In the proposed algorithm the weights are updated incrementally using a higher-order difference equation, which implements a low-pass digital filter. It is shown that by suitably choosing the filter the learning process can adaptively follow a specific dynamic. Numerical results, for time-varying and static distributions, show the potential of the proposed method for unsupervised learning.     

基于全局运动估计的视频对象分割算法

视频全局运动(摄像机运动)所表现的视频序列之间的时间相关性,较其它视频特征更能表达视频序列的高层语义信息.为了能够有效快速的得到视频的全局运动,通过对视频运动估计方法的研究,提出了一种新的基于奇异值分解(SVD)的视频全局运动估计算法.该方法首先通过块匹配法得到局部运动场,利用矩阵的奇异值分解估计全局运动参数,然后运用形态学运动滤波得到前景运动目标的粗略掩摸图像,最后综合利用此掩摸图像和边缘信息分割出运动目标.试验表明,提出的算法能够分割出具有全局运动特征的视频序列中的运动目标.     

Feature extraction and image segmentation using self-organizing networks

Feature extraction and image segmentation (FEIS) are two primary goals of almost all image-understanding systems. They are also the issues at which we look in this paper. We think of FEIS as a multilevel process of grouping and describing at each level. We emphasize the importance of grouping during this process because we believe that many features and events in real images are only perceived by combining weak evidence of several organized pixels or other low-level features. To realize FEIS based on this formulation, we must deal with such problems as how to discover grouping rules, how to develop grouping systems to integrate grouping rules, how to embed grouping processes into FEIS systems, and how to evaluate the quality of extracted features at various levels. We use self-organizing networks to develop grouping systems that take the organization of human visual perception into consideration. We demonstrate our approach by solving two concrete problems: extracting linear features in digital images and partitioning color images into regions. We present the results of experiments on real images.     

Asynchronous self-organizing maps

A recently defined energy function which leads to a self-organizing map is used as a foundation for an asynchronous neural-network algorithm. We generalize the existing stochastic gradient approach to an asynchronous parallel stochastic gradient method for generating a topological map on a distributed computer system (MIMD). A convergence proof is presented and simulation results on a set of problems are included. A practical problem using the energy function approach is that a summation over the entire network is required during the computation of updates. Using simulations we demonstrate effective algorithms that use efficient sampling for the approximation of these sums.     

Identification of trends from patents using self-organizing maps

Patent users such as governments, inventors, and manufacturing organizations strive to identify the directions in which new technology is advancing, and their goal is to outline the boundaries of existing knowledge. The paper analyzes patent knowledge to identify research trends. A model based on knowledge extraction from patents and self-organizing maps for knowledge representation is presented. The model was tested on patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The experiments show that the method provides both an overview of the directions of the trends and a drill-down perspective of current trends.     

3D object segmentation using B-Surface

3D object segmentation is important in computer vision such as target detection in biomedical image analysis. A new method, called B-Surface algorithm, is generated for 3D object segmentation. An improved 3D external force field combined with the normalized GVF is utilized. After the initialization of a surface model near the target, B-Surface starts to deform to locate the boundary of the object. First, it overcomes the difficulty that comes from analyzing 3D volume image slice by slice. And the speed of B-Surface deformation is enhanced since the internal forces are not needed to compute in every iteration deformation step. Next, the normal at every surface point can be calculated easily since B-Surface is a continuous deformable model. And it has the ability to achieve high compression ratio (ratio of data to parameters) by presenting the whole surface with only a relatively small number of control points. Experimental results and analysis are presented in this paper. We can see that the B-Surface algorithm can find the surface of the target efficiently.     

Dynamic learning from multiple examples for semantic object segmentation and search

We present a novel “dynamic learning” approach for an intelligent image database system to automatically improve object segmentation and labeling without user intervention, as new examples become available, for object-based indexing. The proposed approach is an extension of our earlier work on “learning by example,” which addressed labeling of similar objects in a set of database images based on a single example. The proposed dynamic learning procedure utilizes multiple example object templates to improve the accuracy of existing object segmentations and labels. Multiple example templates may be images of the same object from different viewing angles, or images of related objects. This paper also introduces a new shape similarity metric called normalized area of symmetric differences (NASD), which has desired properties for use in the proposed “dynamic learning” scheme, and is more robust against boundary noise that results from automatic image segmentation. Performance of the dynamic learning procedures has been demonstrated by experimental results.     

基于Snake模型的视频对象分割和跟踪算法

视频对象的分割是基于内容的视频处理中重要的组成部分。提出并实现了一种半自动视频对象分割和跟踪算法。算法主要基于Williams活动轮廓模型，通过求取轮廓点的局部能量最小值对轮廓线进行更新。轮廓扩张技术用来追踪变形的轮廓边缘。通过对轮廓中心点运动的统计，预测对象的运动方向和大小。实验仿真结果表明，这种改进的Snake算法能够收缩到图像的凹陷部分，而且能较好地跟踪视频对象的运动。     

Quantitative measures for self-organizing topographic maps

Self-organizing topographic maps have found many applications as systems capable of unsupervised learning. They are based on the competitive learning algorithm applied to low-dimensional (in practice one, two or three-dimensional) structure of artificial neurons. The iterative algorithm used for competitive learning converges slowly and is computationally very intensive. In this paper, direct mapping on the continuous space based on the minimization principle is used to map the high-dimensional input data to the low-dimensional target space. The problem of finding the best low-dimensional representation of the data is reduced to a minimization problem or to the solution of a system of nonlinear algebraic equations.     

Internet-based remote supervision of industrial processes using self-organizing maps

In upcoming years, the strategies for maintenance, traceability, management and operation of productive processes will demand the use of novel information and communication technologies. Supervisory systems in these new scenarios will have to be able to integrate large volumes of information and knowledge coming both from local and remote points of large processes. These systems will therefore require new tools for management and integration of information and knowledge. In this work, the authors present an internet-based remote supervision system of industrial processes that incorporates powerful data and knowledge visualization tools based on self-organizing maps (SOM). This architecture adds an intermediate layer (database) to the well-known client and server layers, that isolates the client part from the industrial process, allowing to incorporate the required data management and neural network processing tasks. Remote users have access to advanced information visualization tools based on SOM, including both static visualizations, such as component planes or distance maps, and dynamical ones, such as residuals and state trajectory, allowing the interpretation of knowledge extracted by the SOM as well as the analysis and detection of possible abnormal conditions. This architecture has been validated through the supervision of an industrial pilot plant.     

Process control of time-varying systems using parameter-less self-organizing maps

Traditional control charts, such as Hotelling’s T², are effective in detecting abnormal patterns. However, most control charts do not take into account a time-varying property in a process. In the present study, we propose a parameter-less self-organizing map-based control chart that can handle a situation in which changes occur in the distribution or parameter of the target observations. The control limits of the proposed chart are determined by estimating the empirical level of significance on the percentile using the bootstrap method. Experimental results obtained by using simulated data and actual process data from the manufacturing process for a thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed algorithm.