Search results for: Image Quality Assessment
4988 Development and Evaluation of a Dynamic Cardiac Phantom for use in Nuclear Medicine
Authors: Marcos A. Dullius, Ramon C. Fernandes, Divanízia N. Souza
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The aim of this study was to develop a dynamic cardiac phantom for quality control in myocardial scintigraphy. The dynamic heart phantom constructed only contained the left ventricle, made of elastic material (latex), comprising two cavities: one internal and one external. The data showed a non-significant variation in the values of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) obtained by varying the heart rate. It was also possible to evaluate the ejection fraction (LVEF) through different arrays of image acquisition and to perform an intercomparison of LVEF by two different scintillation cameras. The results of the quality control tests were satisfactory, showing that they can be used as parameters in future assessments. The new dynamic heart phantom was demonstrated to be effective for use in LVEF measurements. Therefore, the new heart simulator is useful for the quality control of scintigraphic cameras.
Keywords: sheart, nuclear medicine, phantom
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25004987 Confirming the Identity of the Individual Using Remote Assessment in E-learning
Authors: Olaf Hallan Graven, Lachlan MacKinnon
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One major issue that is regularly cited as a block to the widespread use of online assessments in eLearning, is that of the authentication of the student and the level of confidence that an assessor can have that the assessment was actually completed by that student. Currently, this issue is either ignored, in which case confidence in the assessment and any ensuing qualification is damaged, or else assessments are conducted at central, controlled locations at specified times, losing the benefits of the distributed nature of the learning programme. Particularly as we move towards constructivist models of learning, with intentions towards achieving heutagogic learning environments, the benefits of a properly managed online assessment system are clear. Here we discuss some of the approaches that could be adopted to address these issues, looking at the use of existing security and biometric techniques, combined with some novel behavioural elements. These approaches offer the opportunity to validate the student on accessing an assessment, on submission, and also during the actual production of the assessment. These techniques are currently under development in the DECADE project, and future work will evaluate and report their use..Keywords: E-learning, remote identification, assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14374986 A Holistic Conceptual Measurement Framework for Assessing the Effectiveness and Viability of an Academic Program
Authors: Munir Majdalawieh, Adam Marks
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In today’s very competitive higher education industry (HEI), HEIs are faced with the primary concern of developing, deploying, and sustaining high quality academic programs. Today, the HEI has well-established accreditation systems endorsed by a country’s legislation and institutions. The accreditation system is an educational pathway focused on the criteria and processes for evaluating educational programs. Although many aspects of the accreditation process highlight both the past and the present (prove), the “program review” assessment is "forward-looking assessment" (improve) and thus transforms the process into a continuing assessment activity rather than a periodic event. The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual measurement framework for program review to be used by HEIs to undertake a robust and targeted approach to proactively and continuously review their academic programs to evaluate its practicality and effectiveness as well as to improve the education of the students. The proposed framework consists of two main components: program review principles and the program review measurement matrix.Keywords: Academic program, program review principles, curriculum development, accreditation, evaluation, assessment, review measurement matrix, program review process, information technologies supporting learning, learning/teaching methodologies and assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10824985 Landscape Assessment of the Dam and Motorway Networks that Provide Visual and Recreational Opportunities: Case Study of Artvin, Turkey
Authors: Banu Karaşah, Derya Sarı
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Nature constantly changes as a result of human necessities. This change mostly feels in natural water sources which are reconstructed with an effect of dams and motorways. In other respects, visual quality of the landscape gets a new and different character during and after the construction of dams and motorways. Changing and specialization new landscapes will be very important to protection-usage balance to explore sustainable usage facilities. The main cause of the selection of Artvin city is that it has very important geographical location and one of the most attraction points in the World with its biodiversity, conservation areas and natural landscape characteristics. Many hydroelectric station and 7 dams are situated, 3 of them have already been built on the Çoruh River in the province of Artvin. As a result of dams, motorways route were reshaped and the ways which have already changed because of elevation is directly affected several of natural destruction. In contrast, many different reservoirs in Coruh Basin provide new vista point that has high visual quality. In this study, we would like to evaluate with sustainable landscape design in 76 km river corridor, which is mainly based on Deriner, Borçka and Muratlı Dams and determination of their basin-lakes recreational potential and opportunities. Lastly, we are going to give some suggestion about the potential of the corridor.Keywords: Artvin, dam reservoirs, landscape assessment, river corridor, visual quality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19634984 Irrigation Water Quality Evaluation Based on Multivariate Statistical Analysis: A Case Study of Jiaokou Irrigation District
Authors: Panpan Xu, Qiying Zhang, Hui Qian
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Groundwater is main source of water supply in the Guanzhong Basin, China. To investigate the quality of groundwater for agricultural purposes in Jiaokou Irrigation District located in the east of the Guanzhong Basin, 141 groundwater samples were collected for analysis of major ions (K+, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, SO42-, Cl-, HCO3-, and CO32-), pH, and total dissolved solids (TDS). Sodium percentage (Na%), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), magnesium hazard (MH), and potential salinity (PS) were applied for irrigation water quality assessment. In addition, multivariate statistical techniques were used to identify the underlying hydrogeochemical processes. Results show that the content of TDS mainly depends on Cl-, Na+, Mg2+, and SO42-, and the HCO3- content is generally high except for the eastern sand area. These are responsible for complex hydrogeochemical processes, such as dissolution of carbonate minerals (dolomite and calcite), gypsum, halite, and silicate minerals, the cation exchange, as well as evaporation and concentration. The average evaluation levels of Na%, RSC, MH, and PS for irrigation water quality are doubtful, good, unsuitable, and injurious to unsatisfactory, respectively. Therefore, it is necessary for decision makers to comprehensively consider the indicators and thus reasonably evaluate the irrigation water quality.
Keywords: Irrigation water quality, multivariate statistical analysis, groundwater, hydrogeochemical process.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5684983 Adaptive Anisotropic Diffusion for Ultrasonic Image Denoising and Edge Enhancement
Authors: Shujun Fu, Qiuqi Ruan, Wenqia Wang, Yu Li
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Utilizing echoic intension and distribution from different organs and local details of human body, ultrasonic image can catch important medical pathological changes, which unfortunately may be affected by ultrasonic speckle noise. A feature preserving ultrasonic image denoising and edge enhancement scheme is put forth, which includes two terms: anisotropic diffusion and edge enhancement, controlled by the optimum smoothing time. In this scheme, the anisotropic diffusion is governed by the local coordinate transformation and the first and the second order normal derivatives of the image, while the edge enhancement is done by the hyperbolic tangent function. Experiments on real ultrasonic images indicate effective preservation of edges, local details and ultrasonic echoic bright strips on denoising by our scheme.
Keywords: anisotropic diffusion, coordinate transformation, directional derivatives, edge enhancement, hyperbolic tangent function, image denoising.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19004982 Effect Comparison of Speckle Noise Reduction Filters on 2D-Echocardigraphic Images
Authors: Faten A. Dawood, Rahmita W. Rahmat, Suhaini B. Kadiman, Lili N. Abdullah, Mohd D. Zamrin
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Echocardiography imaging is one of the most common diagnostic tests that are widely used for assessing the abnormalities of the regional heart ventricle function. The main goal of the image enhancement task in 2D-echocardiography (2DE) is to solve two major anatomical structure problems; speckle noise and low quality. Therefore, speckle noise reduction is one of the important steps that used as a pre-processing to reduce the distortion effects in 2DE image segmentation. In this paper, we present the common filters that based on some form of low-pass spatial smoothing filters such as Mean, Gaussian, and Median. The Laplacian filter was used as a high-pass sharpening filter. A comparative analysis was presented to test the effectiveness of these filters after being applied to original 2DE images of 4-chamber and 2-chamber views. Three statistical quantity measures: root mean square error (RMSE), peak signal-to-ratio (PSNR) and signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) are used to evaluate the filter performance quantitatively on the output enhanced image.
Keywords: Gaussian operator, median filter, speckle texture, peak signal-to-ratio
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19954981 A Nonoblivious Image Watermarking System Based on Singular Value Decomposition and Texture Segmentation
Authors: Soroosh Rezazadeh, Mehran Yazdi
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In this paper, a robust digital image watermarking scheme for copyright protection applications using the singular value decomposition (SVD) is proposed. In this scheme, an entropy masking model has been applied on the host image for the texture segmentation. Moreover, the local luminance and textures of the host image are considered for watermark embedding procedure to increase the robustness of the watermarking scheme. In contrast to all existing SVD-based watermarking systems that have been designed to embed visual watermarks, our system uses a pseudo-random sequence as a watermark. We have tested the performance of our method using a wide variety of image processing attacks on different test images. A comparison is made between the results of our proposed algorithm with those of a wavelet-based method to demonstrate the superior performance of our algorithm.Keywords: Watermarking, copyright protection, singular value decomposition, entropy masking, texture segmentation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17634980 Maximizer of the Posterior Marginal Estimate for Noise Reduction of JPEG-compressed Image
Authors: Yohei Saika, Yuji Haraguchi
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We constructed a method of noise reduction for JPEG-compressed image based on Bayesian inference using the maximizer of the posterior marginal (MPM) estimate. In this method, we tried the MPM estimate using two kinds of likelihood, both of which enhance grayscale images converted into the JPEG-compressed image through the lossy JPEG image compression. One is the deterministic model of the likelihood and the other is the probabilistic one expressed by the Gaussian distribution. Then, using the Monte Carlo simulation for grayscale images, such as the 256-grayscale standard image “Lena" with 256 × 256 pixels, we examined the performance of the MPM estimate based on the performance measure using the mean square error. We clarified that the MPM estimate via the Gaussian probabilistic model of the likelihood is effective for reducing noises, such as the blocking artifacts and the mosquito noise, if we set parameters appropriately. On the other hand, we found that the MPM estimate via the deterministic model of the likelihood is not effective for noise reduction due to the low acceptance ratio of the Metropolis algorithm.Keywords: Noise reduction, JPEG-compressed image, Bayesian inference, the maximizer of the posterior marginal estimate
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19884979 Highly Scalable, Reversible and Embedded Image Compression System
Authors: Federico Pérez González, Iñaki Goiricelaia Ordorika, Pedro Iriondo Bengoa
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A new method for low complexity image coding is presented, that permits different settings and great scalability in the generation of the final bit stream. This coding presents a continuoustone still image compression system that groups loss and lossless compression making use of finite arithmetic reversible transforms. Both transformation in the space of color and wavelet transformation are reversible. The transformed coefficients are coded by means of a coding system in depending on a subdivision into smaller components (CFDS) similar to the bit importance codification. The subcomponents so obtained are reordered by means of a highly configure alignment system depending on the application that makes possible the re-configure of the elements of the image and obtaining different levels of importance from which the bit stream will be generated. The subcomponents of each level of importance are coded using a variable length entropy coding system (VBLm) that permits the generation of an embedded bit stream. This bit stream supposes itself a bit stream that codes a compressed still image. However, the use of a packing system on the bit stream after the VBLm allows the realization of a final highly scalable bit stream from a basic image level and one or several enhance levels.
Keywords: Image compression, wavelet transform, highlyscalable, reversible transform, embedded, subcomponents.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14134978 Reversible Medical Image Watermarking For Tamper Detection And Recovery With Run Length Encoding Compression
Authors: Siau-Chuin Liew, Siau-Way Liew, Jasni Mohd Zain
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Digital watermarking in medical images can ensure the authenticity and integrity of the image. This design paper reviews some existing watermarking schemes and proposes a reversible tamper detection and recovery watermarking scheme. Watermark data from ROI (Region Of Interest) are stored in RONI (Region Of Non Interest). The embedded watermark allows tampering detection and tampered image recovery. The watermark is also reversible and data compression technique was used to allow higher embedding capacity.Keywords: data compression, medical image, reversible, tamperdetection and recovery, watermark.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20784977 Image Thresholding for Weld Defect Extraction in Industrial Radiographic Testing
Authors: Nafaâ Nacereddine, Latifa Hamami, Djemel Ziou
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In non destructive testing by radiography, a perfect knowledge of the weld defect shape is an essential step to appreciate the quality of the weld and make decision on its acceptability or rejection. Because of the complex nature of the considered images, and in order that the detected defect region represents the most accurately possible the real defect, the choice of thresholding methods must be done judiciously. In this paper, performance criteria are used to conduct a comparative study of thresholding methods based on gray level histogram, 2-D histogram and locally adaptive approach for weld defect extraction in radiographic images.
Keywords: 1D and 2D histogram, locally adaptive approach, performance criteria, radiographic image, thresholding, weld defect.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23424976 Image Enhancement Algorithm of Photoacoustic Tomography Using Active Contour Filtering
Authors: Prasannakumar Palaniappan, Dong Ho Shin, Chul Gyu Song
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The photoacoustic images are obtained from a custom developed linear array photoacoustic tomography system. The biological specimens are imitated by conducting phantom tests in order to retrieve a fully functional photoacoustic image. The acquired image undergoes the active region based contour filtering to remove the noise and accurately segment the object area for further processing. The universal back projection method is used as the image reconstruction algorithm. The active contour filtering is analyzed by evaluating the signal to noise ratio and comparing it with the other filtering methods.
Keywords: Contour filtering, linear array, photoacoustic tomography, universal back projection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18394975 A Real-Time Image Change Detection System
Authors: Madina Hamiane, Amina Khunji
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Detecting changes in multiple images of the same scene has recently seen increased interest due to the many contemporary applications including smart security systems, smart homes, remote sensing, surveillance, medical diagnosis, weather forecasting, speed and distance measurement, post-disaster forensics and much more. These applications differ in the scale, nature, and speed of change. This paper presents an application of image processing techniques to implement a real-time change detection system. Change is identified by comparing the RGB representation of two consecutive frames captured in real-time. The detection threshold can be controlled to account for various luminance levels. The comparison result is passed through a filter before decision making to reduce false positives, especially at lower luminance conditions. The system is implemented with a MATLAB Graphical User interface with several controls to manage its operation and performance.Keywords: Image change detection, Image processing, image filtering, thresholding, B/W quantization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25634974 A Proposal for U-City (Smart City) Service Method Using Real-Time Digital Map
Authors: SangWon Han, MuWook Pyeon, Sujung Moon, DaeKyo Seo
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Recently, technologies based on three-dimensional (3D) space information are being developed and quality of life is improving as a result. Research on real-time digital map (RDM) is being conducted now to provide 3D space information. RDM is a service that creates and supplies 3D space information in real time based on location/shape detection. Research subjects on RDM include the construction of 3D space information with matching image data, complementing the weaknesses of image acquisition using multi-source data, and data collection methods using big data. Using RDM will be effective for space analysis using 3D space information in a U-City and for other space information utilization technologies.
Keywords: RDM, multi-source data, big data, U-City.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8054973 Power Quality Evaluation of Electrical Distribution Networks
Authors: Mohamed Idris S. Abozaed, Suliman Mohamed Elrajoubi
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Researches and concerns in power quality gained significant momentum in the field of power electronics systems over the last two decades globally. This sudden increase in the number of concerns over power quality problems is a result of the huge increase in the use of non-linear loads. In this paper, power quality evaluation of some distribution networks at Misurata - Libya has been done using a power quality and energy analyzer (Fluke 437 Series II). The results of this evaluation are used to minimize the problems of power quality. The analysis shows the main power quality problems that exist and the level of awareness of power quality issues with the aim of generating a start point which can be used as guidelines for researchers and end users in the field of power systems.
Keywords: Power Quality Disturbances, Power Quality Evaluation, Statistical Analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31994972 Fast Wavelet Image Denoising Based on Local Variance and Edge Analysis
Authors: Gaoyong Luo
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The approach based on the wavelet transform has been widely used for image denoising due to its multi-resolution nature, its ability to produce high levels of noise reduction and the low level of distortion introduced. However, by removing noise, high frequency components belonging to edges are also removed, which leads to blurring the signal features. This paper proposes a new method of image noise reduction based on local variance and edge analysis. The analysis is performed by dividing an image into 32 x 32 pixel blocks, and transforming the data into wavelet domain. Fast lifting wavelet spatial-frequency decomposition and reconstruction is developed with the advantages of being computationally efficient and boundary effects minimized. The adaptive thresholding by local variance estimation and edge strength measurement can effectively reduce image noise while preserve the features of the original image corresponding to the boundaries of the objects. Experimental results demonstrate that the method performs well for images contaminated by natural and artificial noise, and is suitable to be adapted for different class of images and type of noises. The proposed algorithm provides a potential solution with parallel computation for real time or embedded system application.Keywords: Edge strength, Fast lifting wavelet, Image denoising, Local variance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20284971 Image Sensor Matrix High Speed Simulation
Authors: Z. Feng, V. Viswanathan, D. Navarro, I. O'Connor
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This paper presents a new high speed simulation methodology to solve the long simulation time problem of CMOS image sensor matrix. Generally, for integrating the pixel matrix in SOC and simulating the system performance, designers try to model the pixel in various modeling languages such as VHDL-AMS, SystemC or Matlab. We introduce a new alternative method based on spice model in cadence design platform to achieve accuracy and reduce simulation time. The simulation results indicate that the pixel output voltage maximum error is at 0.7812% and time consumption reduces from 2.2 days to 13 minutes achieving about 240X speed-up for the 256x256 pixel matrix.
Keywords: CMOS image sensor, high speed simulation, image sensor matrix simulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20134970 An Evaluation of Tourism Education in Nigeria’s Higher Institutions
Authors: Eldah Ephraim Buba
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This paper evaluated the quality of tourism education in Nigeria higher education. The problem of poor quality of tourism education in Nigeria’s higher institutions prompted the study. Archival research was used with evaluation reports as secondary data, twenty evaluation reports for different polytechnics from the National board for technical education (NBTE) from 1995-2012 were assessed. The evidence from the documents shows that the quality of teaching and evaluation is fair. The programmes resources are fairly good, and most of the teachers do not have a postgraduate qualification in tourism related courses. It is therefore recommended that the institutions running tourism programmes in Nigeria need to introduce self -assessment of programmes and not rely on the NBTE accreditation which comes up in three years. Also there is need for a staff development policy that will encourage Tourism educators to further their education; The Tertiary Educational Trust Fund (TETFUND) should focus on developing staff of tourism education because it is an area of study in Nigeria that lacks qualified personnel. With the way higher institution in Nigeria are finding interest in tourism programmes, having good quality programmes will not only produce better professionals but it will help in offering better services in the industry and maximizing the impacts of the business.
Keywords: Education, evaluation tourism, quality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9244969 An Improved C-Means Model for MRI Segmentation
Authors: Ying Shen, Weihua Zhu
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Medical images are important to help identifying different diseases, for example, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to investigate the brain, spinal cord, bones, joints, breasts, blood vessels, and heart. Image segmentation, in medical image analysis, is usually the first step to find out some characteristics with similar color, intensity or texture so that the diagnosis could be further carried out based on these features. This paper introduces an improved C-means model to segment the MRI images. The model is based on information entropy to evaluate the segmentation results by achieving global optimization. Several contributions are significant. Firstly, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used for achieving global optimization in this model where fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm (FCMA) is not capable of doing that. Secondly, the information entropy after segmentation is used for measuring the effectiveness of MRI image processing. Experimental results show the outperformance of the proposed model by comparing with traditional approaches.
Keywords: Magnetic Resonance Image, C-means model, image segmentation, information entropy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9184968 Encryption Image via Mutual Singular Value Decomposition
Authors: Adil Al-Rammahi
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Image or document encryption is needed through egovernment data base. Really in this paper we introduce two matrices images, one is the public, and the second is the secret (original). The analyses of each matrix is achieved using the transformation of singular values decomposition. So each matrix is transformed or analyzed to three matrices say row orthogonal basis, column orthogonal basis, and spectral diagonal basis. Product of the two row basis is calculated. Similarly the product of the two column basis is achieved. Finally we transform or save the files of public, row product and column product. In decryption stage, the original image is deduced by mutual method of the three public files.
Keywords: Image cryptography, Singular values decomposition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20864967 Image Segment Matching Using Affine- Invariant Regions
Authors: Ibrahim El rube'
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In this paper, a method for matching image segments using triangle-based (geometrical) regions is proposed. Triangular regions are formed from triples of vertex points obtained from a keypoint detector (SIFT). However, triangle regions are subject to noise and distortion around the edges and vertices (especially acute angles). Therefore, these triangles are expanded into parallelogramshaped regions. The extracted image segments inherit an important triangle property; the invariance to affine distortion. Given two images, matching corresponding regions is conducted by computing the relative affine matrix, rectifying one of the regions w.r.t. the other one, then calculating the similarity between the reference and rectified region. The experimental tests show the efficiency and robustness of the proposed algorithm against geometrical distortion.Keywords: Image matching, key point detection, affine invariant, triangle-shaped segments.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18904966 Medical Image Edge Detection Based on Neuro-Fuzzy Approach
Authors: J. Mehena, M. C. Adhikary
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Edge detection is one of the most important tasks in image processing. Medical image edge detection plays an important role in segmentation and object recognition of the human organs. It refers to the process of identifying and locating sharp discontinuities in medical images. In this paper, a neuro-fuzzy based approach is introduced to detect the edges for noisy medical images. This approach uses desired number of neuro-fuzzy subdetectors with a postprocessor for detecting the edges of medical images. The internal parameters of the approach are optimized by training pattern using artificial images. The performance of the approach is evaluated on different medical images and compared with popular edge detection algorithm. From the experimental results, it is clear that this approach has better performance than those of other competing edge detection algorithms for noisy medical images.Keywords: Edge detection, neuro-fuzzy, image segmentation, artificial image, object recognition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12824965 The Application of Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) on the Czech Financial Market
Authors: Jana Chvalkovska, Petr Jansky, Petr Teply
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The impact assessment in its various forms has recently become a very important part of policy-making and legislation in many different countries. Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) is yet another set of analytical methods deployed in the legislation of the European Union, of many developed countries as well as in many developing ones such as Mexico, Malaysia and Philippines. The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical background for economic models in regulatory impact assessment and an overview of their application especially on the financial market in the Czech Republic. We found out an inadequate application of these models, what makes room for further research in this field.Keywords: regulatory impact assessment, RIA, impact evaluation, building societies, Czech Republic
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14604964 Reversible, Embedded and Highly Scalable Image Compression System
Authors: Federico Pérez González, Iñaki Goirizelaia Ordorika, Pedro Iriondo Bengoa
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In this work a new method for low complexity image coding is presented, that permits different settings and great scalability in the generation of the final bit stream. This coding presents a continuous-tone still image compression system that groups loss and lossless compression making use of finite arithmetic reversible transforms. Both transformation in the space of color and wavelet transformation are reversible. The transformed coefficients are coded by means of a coding system in depending on a subdivision into smaller components (CFDS) similar to the bit importance codification. The subcomponents so obtained are reordered by means of a highly configure alignment system depending on the application that makes possible the re-configure of the elements of the image and obtaining different importance levels from which the bit stream will be generated. The subcomponents of each importance level are coded using a variable length entropy coding system (VBLm) that permits the generation of an embedded bit stream. This bit stream supposes itself a bit stream that codes a compressed still image. However, the use of a packing system on the bit stream after the VBLm allows the realization of a final highly scalable bit stream from a basic image level and one or several improvement levels.Keywords: Image compression, wavelet transform, highly scalable, reversible transform, embedded, subcomponents.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13014963 Retrospective Synthetic Focusing with Correlation Weighting for Very High Frame Rate Ultrasound
Authors: Chang-Lin Hu, Yao-You Cheng, Meng-Lin Li
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The need of high frame-rate imaging has been triggered by the new applications of ultrasound imaging to transient elastography and real-time 3D ultrasound. Using plane wave excitation (PWE) is one of the methods to achieve very high frame-rate imaging since an image can be formed with a single insonification. However, due to the lack of transmit focusing, the image quality with PWE is lower compared with those using conventional focused transmission. To solve this problem, we propose a filter-retrieved transmit focusing (FRF) technique combined with cross-correlation weighting (FRF+CC weighting) for high frame-rate imaging with PWE. A restrospective focusing filter is designed to simultaneously minimize the predefined sidelobe energy associated with single PWE and the filter energy related to the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). This filter attempts to maintain the mainlobe signals and to reduce the sidelobe ones, which gives similar mainlobe signals and different sidelobes between the original PWE and the FRF baseband data. Normalized cross-correlation coefficient at zero lag is calculated to quantify the degree of similarity at each imaging point and used as a weighting matrix to the FRF baseband data to further suppress sidelobes, thus improving the filter-retrieved focusing quality.
Keywords: retrospective synthetic focusing, high frame rate, correlation weighting.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18524962 Data Hiding in Images in Discrete Wavelet Domain Using PMM
Authors: Souvik Bhattacharyya, Gautam Sanyal
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Over last two decades, due to hostilities of environment over the internet the concerns about confidentiality of information have increased at phenomenal rate. Therefore to safeguard the information from attacks, number of data/information hiding methods have evolved mostly in spatial and transformation domain.In spatial domain data hiding techniques,the information is embedded directly on the image plane itself. In transform domain data hiding techniques the image is first changed from spatial domain to some other domain and then the secret information is embedded so that the secret information remains more secure from any attack. Information hiding algorithms in time domain or spatial domain have high capacity and relatively lower robustness. In contrast, the algorithms in transform domain, such as DCT, DWT have certain robustness against some multimedia processing.In this work the authors propose a novel steganographic method for hiding information in the transform domain of the gray scale image.The proposed approach works by converting the gray level image in transform domain using discrete integer wavelet technique through lifting scheme.This approach performs a 2-D lifting wavelet decomposition through Haar lifted wavelet of the cover image and computes the approximation coefficients matrix CA and detail coefficients matrices CH, CV, and CD.Next step is to apply the PMM technique in those coefficients to form the stego image. The aim of this paper is to propose a high-capacity image steganography technique that uses pixel mapping method in integer wavelet domain with acceptable levels of imperceptibility and distortion in the cover image and high level of overall security. This solution is independent of the nature of the data to be hidden and produces a stego image with minimum degradation.Keywords: Cover Image, Pixel Mapping Method (PMM), StegoImage, Integer Wavelet Tranform.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28534961 Peer Assessment in the Context of Project-Based Learning Online
Authors: Y. Benjelloun Touimi, N. Faddouli, S. Bennani, M. Khalidi Idrissi
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The pedagogy project has been proven as an active learning method, which is used to develop learner-s skills and knowledge.The use of technology in the learning world, has filed several gaps in the implementation of teaching methods, and online evaluation of learners. However, the project methodology presents challenges in the assessment of learners online. Indeed, interoperability between E-learning platforms (LMS) is one of the major challenges of project-based learning assessment. Firstly, we have reviewed the characteristics of online assessment in the context of project-based teaching. We addressed the constraints encountered during the peer evaluation process. Our approach is to propose a meta-model, which will describe a language dedicated to the conception of peer assessment scenario in project-based learning. Then we illustrate our proposal by an instantiation of the meta-model through a business process in a scenario of collaborative assessment on line.Keywords: Online project based learning, meta-model, peer assessment process.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23724960 The Bodybuilding Passage to the Act of the Adolescent
Authors: L. Chikhani, H. Issa
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Objective: this work focuses on bodybuilding as narcissistic inscription of the relational dynamic of the ego and the body, in this sense we think that this symptomatic adolescent act highlights a defective image of the body, leading, by a sadistic passage exercized on the split body, to an Ego/body-ideal. Method: Semi structured interviews with 16 adolescents between 15 and 18 years old allowed us to highlight a lexical field related to the body and the excessiveness in sports;also, the administration of TAT to a bodybuilder (17 years old) for more than 2 years. Results: - Defectiveness in the structuration of the body image; the future bodybuilder will be fixated to the image of the narcissistic misrecognition. - Unsatisfying object relation, implicating incompleteness in the process of subjectivation. - Narcissistic and corporealizedego ideal leading the adolescent to a sadistic pathology directed toward one-s own body as a compensatory defense.
Keywords: Bodybuilding, body image, narcissism, object relation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28044959 Computer-Based Assessment of Pre-assigned Individual Education Plans in Special Education
Authors: Yasar Guneri Sahin, Mehmet Cudi Okur
Abstract:
Assessment of IEP (Individual Education Plan) is an important stage in the area of special education. This paper deals with this problem by introducing computer software which process the data gathered from application of IEP. The software is intended to be used by special education institution in Turkey and allows assessment of school and family trainings. The software has a user friendly interface and its design includes graphical developer tools.Keywords: Disabled individual, software for education, assessment of education, special education.
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