Cristina Oprea

Automatic lesion segmentation for melanoma diagnostics in macroscopic images

Detailed segmentation of pigmented skin lesions is an important requirement in computer aided applications for melanoma assessment. In particular, accurate segmentation is necessary for image-guided evaluation of skin lesions characteristics. In this paper, we present a new approach of histogram thresholding for detailed segmentation of skin lesions based on histogram analysis of the saturation color component in the hue-saturation-value (HSV) color space. The proposed technique is specifically developed with the aim to handle the complex variability of features for macroscopic color images taken in uncontrolled environment. A dataset of 30 cases with manual segmentation was used for evaluation. We compare our results with two of most important existing segmentation techniques. For similarity report between automatic and manual segmentation we used dice similarity coefficient (DSC), the true detection rate (TDR), and the false positive rate (FPR). Experimental results show that the proposed method has high precision and low computational complexity.

Cutaneous melanoma risk evaluation through digital image processing

Melanoma is the most aggressive type of human cancer but also the most likely to be cured if detected in its early stages. The risk of skin lesions to turn into melanoma can be easily evaluated by dermatologists using a non-invasive procedure called dermoscopy. This paper addresses the issue of melanoma risk evaluation through digital processing of macroscopic skin lesions images. The main goal of our research is the development of an application for tracking the time evolution of skin lesions and evaluating the risk of these lesions to turn into melanoma. The first step in the evaluation process is the extraction of the pigmented skin lesions by means of image segmentation. The two objectives presented in this paper are the determination of the best suited segmentation method in terms of computational complexity and the evaluation of the color space used for digital image representation in order to obtain good initial segmentation results.

Digital watermarking and segmentation of macroscopic pigmented skin lesions images

This work presents the use of digital watermarking for applications of automated pigmented skin lesions assessment. Automated skin lesion assessment by digital image processing of macroscopic pigmented skin lesion (MPLS) images uses lesion characteristics for malignant risk computation. The accuracy of the computed risk level is increased when additional information is taken into consideration: age, gender, skin type, position of the lesions on body, and the presence of multiple and similar lesions. We propose a digital watermarking scheme for embedding relevant patient information into the color MPSL image. The preliminary experimental results are promising, and suggest that the proposed watermarking scheme is suitable for this type of application.

Inland waterway ports nodal attraction indices relevant in development strategies on regional level

Present paper aims to propose a set of ranking indices and related criteria, concerning mainly spatial analysis, for the inland waterway port, with special view on inland ports of Danube. Commonly, the attraction potential of a certain transport node is assessed by its spatial accessibility indices considering both spatial features of the location provided by the networks that connect into that node and its economic potential defining the level of traffic flows depending on the economic centers of its hinterland. Paper starts with a overview of the critical needs that are required for potential sites to become inland waterway ports and presents nodal functions that coexist at different levels, leading to a port hierarchy from the points of view of: capacity, connection to hinterland, traffic structure and volume. After a brief review of the key inland waterway port ranking criterion, a selection of nodal attraction measures is made. Particular considerations for the Danube inland port case follows proposed methodology concerning indices of performance for network scale and centrality. As expected, the shorter the distance from an inland port to the nearest access point the greater accessibility. Major differences in ranking, dependent on selected criterion, were registered.