A portable stereo vision system for whole body surface imaging

This paper presents a whole body surface imaging system based on stereo vision technology. We have adopted a compact and economical configuration which involves only four stereo units to image the frontal and rear sides of the body. The success of the system depends on a stereo matching process that can effectively segment the body from the background in addition to recovering sufficient geometric details. For this purpose, we have developed a novel sub-pixel, dense stereo matching algorithm which includes two major phases. In the first phase, the foreground is accurately segmented with the help of a predefined virtual interface in the disparity space image, and a coarse disparity map is generated with block matching. In the second phase, local least squares matching is performed in combination with global optimization within a regularization framework, so as to ensure both accuracy and reliability. Our experimental results show that the system can realistically capture smooth and complete whole body shapes with high accuracy.     

An experimental study on the applicability of evolutionary algorithms to craniofacial superimposition in forensic identification

Photographic supra-projection is a forensic process that aims to identify a missing person from a photograph and a skull found. One of the crucial tasks throughout all this process is the craniofacial superimposition which tries to find a good fit between a 3D model of the skull and the 2D photo of the face. This photographic supra-projection stage is usually carried out manually by forensic anthropologists. It is thus very time consuming and presents several difficulties. In this paper, we aim to demonstrate that real-coded evolutionary algorithms are suitable approaches to tackle craniofacial superimposition. To do so, we first formulate this complex task in forensic identification as a numerical optimization problem. Then, we adapt three different evolutionary algorithms to solve it: two variants of a real-coded genetic algorithm and the state of the art evolution strategy CMA-ES. We also consider an existing binary-coded genetic algorithm as a baseline. Results on several superimposition problems of real-world identification cases solved by the Physical Anthropology lab at the University of Granada (Spain) are considered to test our proposals.     

Pricing schemes for digital content with DRM mechanisms

In this paper, utilizing game-theoretic model, we examine the impact of collaborative structure, content quality, and network environment on the development of pricing scheme and DRM protection policy of digital content. DRM protection level decreases and pirating activities becomes relatively tolerable as the content provider and platform provider operate collaboratively. Depending on the market structure, higher content quality may strengthen or weaken the adoption of DRM. However, it would seem that, as the network environment becomes more decentralized and uncontrolled, weaker DRM protection should be a better strategy.     

The role of goal awareness and information technology self-efficacy on job satisfaction of healthcare system users

This paper investigates the influence of goal awareness and IT self-efficacy on job satisfaction based on the motivation sequence model, goal-setting theory, and social cognitive theory. Using a large-scale field survey of healthcare enterprise resource planning (ERP) system users (n?=?352), this study investigates these relationships and provides important insight to healthcare ERP system researchers and managers. Both goal awareness and IT self-efficacy influence positive job satisfaction of healthcare ERP system users, as expected. Furthermore, the influence of goal awareness is stronger when the role of ERP systems is highly perceived for decision-making of the job. There was no interaction effect between goal awareness and IT self-efficacy in the post hoc analysis. The model is significantly supported by the empirical test with the large number of field data from healthcare ERP system users in the healthcare company. Practical and academic implications are discussed in the paper.     

计算机辅助外科手术空间配准技术的研究

医学图像和实际手术空间的配准问题是计算机辅助外科手术技术的一个重要的研究热点,它能够帮助医生选择最佳手术路径和减小手术损伤,实现手术的方便快捷和微创,提高手术成功率。主要研究了一种基于ICP算法的计算机辅助外科手术中空间配准技术,通过获取实验模型的空间坐标信息,进行点集配准,找到最优旋转矩阵和最优平移向量。并通过仿真实验给出了模拟的配准结果,仿真试验结果表明,ICP算法配准精度高,适用于计算机辅助外科手术。     

The thin plate spline robust point matching (TPS-RPM) algorithm: A revisit

This paper reviews the TPS-RPM algorithm (Chui and Rangarajan, 2003) for robustly registering two sets of points and demonstrates from a theoretical point of view its inherent limited performance when outliers are present in both point sets simultaneously. A double-sided outlier handling approach is proposed to overcome this limitation with a rigorous mathematical proof as the underlying theoretical support. This double-sided outlier handling approach is proved to be equivalent to the original formulation of the point matching problem. For a practical application, we also extend the TPS-RPM algorithms to non-rigid image registration by registering two sets of sparse features extracted from images. The intensity information of the extracted features are incorporated into feature matching in order to reduce the impact from outliers. Our experiments demonstrate the double-sided outlier handling approach and the efficiency of intensity information in assisting outlier detection.     

Matlab和C++接口中函数注册的实现

函数注册在Matlab和C 接口中起着重要的作用。在介绍函数注册作用的基础上 ,详细分析了函数注册的过程及应当注意的问题 ,并给出了一种实现函数注册的最简单的方法。用实例展示了函数注册的具体实现过程。     

Pore segmentation of cement-based materials from backscattered electron images

A technique to segment pores from a normal backscattered electron (BSE) image of cement-based materials is presented. The upper threshold grey level for porosity is determined from the inflection point of the cumulative brightness histogram of the BSE image. This represents a critical point where a small incremental grey value will cause a sudden increase in thresholded area, a condition termed as overflow. The proposed technique was found to be more consistent and reliable than existing methods. Significantly fewer images are required to achieve a satisfactory level of statistical confidence for quantifying porosity.     

Combining kriging, multispectral and multimodal microscopy to resolve malaria-infected erythrocyte contents

In this communication, we demonstrate how kriging, combine with multispectral and multimodal microscopy can enhance the resolution of malaria-infected images and provide more details on their composition, for analysis and diagnosis. The results of this interpolation applied to the two principal components of multispectral and multimodal images illustrate that the examination of the content of Plasmodium falciparum infected human erythrocyte is improved.     

A collaborative platform for cognitive decision making in the Knowledge Society

Two key aspects of the Knowledge Society are the interconnection between the actors involved in the decision making processes and the importance of the human factor, particularly the citizen’s continuous learning and education. This paper presents a new module devoted to knowledge extraction and diffusion that has been incorporated into a previously developed decision making tool concerning the Internet and related with the multicriteria selection of a discrete number of alternatives (PRIOR-Web). Quantitative and qualitative procedures using data and text mining methods have been employed in the extraction of knowledge. Graphical visualisation tools have been incorporated in the diffusion stage of the methodological approach suggested when dealing with decision making in the Knowledge Society. The resulting collaborative platform is being used as the methodological support for the cognitive democracy known as e-cognocracy.