Cesare Valenti

Symmetry operators in computer vision

Abstract Symmetry plays a remarkable role in perception problems. For example, peaks of brain activity are measured in correspondence with visual patterns showing symmetry . Relevance of symmetry in vision was already noted by Koler in 1929. Here, properties of a symmetry operator are reported and a new algorithm to measure local symmetries is proposed. Its performance is tested on segmentation of complex visual patterns and the classification of sparse images.

Local operators to detect regions of interest

Abstract The performance of a visual system is strongly influenced by the information processing that is done in the early vision phase. The need exists to limit the computation on areas of interest to reduce the total amount of data and their redundancy. This paper describes a new method to drive the attention during the analysis of complex scenes. Two new local operators, based on the computation of local moments and symmetries, are combined to drive the selection. Experimental results on real data are also reported.

Sparse Distributed Representation of Odors in a Large-scale Olfactory Bulb Circuit

In the olfactory bulb, lateral inhibition mediated by granule cells has been suggested to modulate the timing of mitral cell firing, thereby shaping the representation of input odorants. Current experimental techniques, however, do not enable a clear study of how the mitral-granule cell network sculpts odor inputs to represent odor information spatially and temporally. To address this critical step in the neural basis of odor recognition, we built a biophysical network model of mitral and granule cells, corresponding to 1/100th of the real system in the rat, and used direct experimental imaging data of glomeruli activated by various odors. The model allows the systematic investigation and generation of testable hypotheses of the functional mechanisms underlying odor representation in the olfactory bulb circuit. Specifically, we demonstrate that lateral inhibition emerges within the olfactory bulb network through recurrent dendrodendritic synapses when constrained by a range of balanced excitatory and inhibitory conductances. We find that the spatio-temporal dynamics of lateral inhibition plays a critical role in building the glomerular-related cell clusters observed in experiments, through the modulation of synaptic weights during odor training. Lateral inhibition also mediates the development of sparse and synchronized spiking patterns of mitral cells related to odor inputs within the network, with the frequency of these synchronized spiking patterns also modulated by the sniff cycle.

An automated image analysis methodology for classifying megakaryocytes in chronic myeloproliferative disorders

This work describes an automatic method for discrimination in microphotographs between normal and pathological human megakaryocytes and between two kinds of disorders of these cells. A segmentation procedure has been developed, mainly based on mathematical morphology and wavelet transform, to isolate the cells. The features of each megakaryocyte (e.g. area, perimeter and tortuosity of the cell and its nucleus, and shape complexity via elliptic Fourier transform) are used by a regression tree procedure applied twice: the first time to find the set of normal megakaryocytes and the second to distinguish between the pathologies. The output of our classifier has been compared to the interpretation provided by the pathologists and the results show that 98.4% and 97.1% of normal and pathological cells, respectively, have testified an excellent classification. This study proposes a useful aid in supporting the specialist in the classification of megakaryocyte disorders.

Content-based indexing of image and video databases by global and shape features

Indexing and retrieval methods based on the image content are required to effectively use information from the large repositories of digital images and videos currently available. Both global (colour, texture, motion, etc.) and local (object shape, etc.) features are needed to perform a reliable content based retrieval. We present a method for automatic extraction of global image features, like colour and motion parameters, and their use for data restriction in video database querying. Further retrieval is therefore accomplished, in a restricted set of images, by shape feature (skeleton, local symmetry moments, correlation, etc.) local search. The proposed indexing methodology has been developed and tested inside JACOB, a prototypal system for content-based video database querying.

A memetic algorithm for binary image reconstruction

This paper deals with a memetic algorithm for the reconstruction of binary images, by using their projections along four directions. The algorithm generates by network flows a set of initial images according to two of the input projections and lets them evolve toward a solution that can be optimal or close to the optimum. Switch and compactness operators improve the quality of the reconstructed images which belong to a given generation, while the selection of the best image addresses the evolution to an optimal output.

Detection of regions of interest via the Pyramid Discrete Symmetry Transform

Pyramid computation has been introduced to design efficient vision algorithms [1], [2] based on both top-down and bottom-up strategies. It has been also suggested by biological arguments that show a correspondence between pyramids architecture and the mammalian visual pathway, starting from the retina and ending in the deepest layers of the visual cortex.

Keypoint descriptor matching with context-based orientation estimation ☆

Abstract This paper presents a matching strategy to improve the discriminative power of histogram-based keypoint descriptors by constraining the range of allowable dominant orientations according to the context of the scene under observation. This can be done when the descriptor uses a circular grid and quantized orientation steps, by computing or providing a global reference orientation based on the feature matches. The proposed matching strategy is compared with the standard approaches used with the SIFT and GLOH descriptors and the recent rotation invariant MROGH and LIOP descriptors. A new evaluation protocol based on an approximated overlap error is presented to provide an effective analysis in the case of non-planar scenes, thus extending the current state-of-the-art results.

A genetic algorithm for discrete tomography reconstruction

The aim of this paper is the description of an experiment carried out to verify the robustness of two different approaches for the reconstruction of convex polyominoes in discrete tomography. This is a new field of research, because it differs from classic computerized tomography, and several problems are still open. In particular, the stability problem is tackled by using both a modified version of a known algorithm and a new genetic approach. The effect of both, instrumental and quantization noises has been considered too.

Shape-based features for cat ganglion retinal cells classification

This article presents a quantitative and objective approach to cat ganglion cell characterization and classification. The combination of several biologically relevant features such as diameter, eccentricity, fractal dimension, influence histogram, influence area, convex hull area, and convex hull diameter are derived from geometrical transforms and then processed by three different clustering methods (Wards hierarchical scheme, K-means and genetic algorithm), whose results are then combined by a voting strategy. These experiments indicate the superiority of some features and also suggest some possible biological implications.