John C. Russ

The image processing handbook (2nd ed.)

A device for injecting medicament without the use of a needle is disclosed wherein medicament is expelled from the device at high pressure, caused to break the skin of a patient, and appropriately forced into the patients body. A preferred embodiment of the present invention is a jet injector having a piston slidably movable within a medicament chamber to selectively change the volume of the medicament chamber and a mechanism for advancing the piston including releasably held springs which may be compressed by a winding mechanism or pressurized fluid. Medicament is provided to the medicament chamber from a medicament container mounted on the injector by a container holder assembly including flexible fingers that can be caused to grasp the pierceable cap of the medicament container. Medicament is then selectively directed from the medicament container to the medicament chamber by valving which, in a first position, interacts with a safety to provide air to the medicament container during the filling of the medicament chamber and, in a second position, allows injection into the patient while the safety prevents movement of the valve member from the second position during injection and simultaneously blocks air communication to the medicament container.

Image Processing Handbook, Fourth Edition

From the Publisher: Image Processing Handbook covers methods for two different purposes: Improving the visual appearance of images to a human viewerPreparing images for measurement of the features and structures present. The handbook presents an extensive collection of image processing tools, enabling the user of computer-based system to understand those methods provided in packaged software and to program additions needed for particular applications. Comparisons are presented of different algorithms that may be used for similar purposes, including a selection of representative pictures from light and electron microscopes as well as macroscopic, satellite, and astronomical images. Image Processing Handbook examines the rapid, powerful developments in graphic information, covering the array of concepts and techniques in high-end imaging software. With balanced, complete descriptions, the text outlines frequency space methods with extensive mathematical presentation and spatial domain processing. This handbook teaches by example -- by seeing what various operations do to representative images, the reader will discover how and why to use them. The text encourages the reader to use its information with a real source of images and a computer-based system as well as to freely experiment with different methods to determine the most appropriate for his or her particular needs.To facilitate the learning process, Reindeer Games in Charlotte, North Carolina, offers The Image Processing Tool Kit, a CD-ROM containing more than 150 images and more than 150 Photoshop-compatible plug-ins that implement the algorithms discussed. This revision of the established standard acts as a singular resource for professionals in the medical, biological, and materials sciences as well as a range of engineering venues, including electrical and computer engineering, optical engineering, telecommunications, and artificial intelligence.

Image Analysis Of Food Microstructure

INTRODUCTION STEREOLOGY The need for stereology Unfolding size distribution Volume fraction Surface area Design of experiments Topological properties Other stereological techniques IMAGE ACQUISITION Scanners Digital cameras Scanning microscopes File formats Color adjustment Color space coordinates Color channels Optimum image contrast Removing noise Nonuniform illumination Image distortion and focus PROCESSING AND ENHANCEMENT Improving local contrast Image sharpening Rank-based filters Edge finding Texture Directionality Finding features in images Image combinations Thresholding Automatic threshold settings using the histogram Automatic threshold settings using the image Other thresholding approaches Color image thresholding Manual marking BINARY IMAGES Erosion and dilation The Euclidean distance map Separating touching features Boolean combinations Using grids for measurement Using markers to select features Combined Boolean operations Region outlines as selection criteria Skeletonization Fiber images Skeletons and feature shape Measuring distance and location with the EDM Summary FEATURE MEASUREMENT Counting Size measurement Size distributions Comparisons Edge correction Brightness and color measurement Location Gradients Shape Identification Conclusions COLOR PLATES (insert)

Fractal dimension measurement of engineering surfaces

Many types of engineered surfaces have been observed to exhibit a fractal geometry. In some cases, modeling the generation of the surfaces predicts this and provides correlation between the dimension and history and properties of the surfaces. The complex process of machining precision surfaces does not yet lend itself to such detailed modeling, but observations of the correlations between production methods and surface dimension, independent of material type and hardness, offer encouragement.

Automatic discrimination of features in grey-scale images

Automatic setting of discriminator thresholds to select features from grey‐scale images is desirable to reduce variations due to operator variability, and to adapt to changing illumination or sample characteristics. This can be carried out in several ways. One locates minima in the original brightness histogram. For images in which minima are absent or poorly defined other techniques are preferred. Settings that minimize the change in total feature area or perimeter with changes in the threshold setting are suitable for a wide variety of images. After processing to extract edges a fixed percentage of the number of pixels in the image may be useful.

Image processing in a general purpose microcomputer

Video images from light and electron microscopes can be acquired in ‘digital’ form within a personal computer, using standard peripherals and interfaces. In addition to providing for measurement of such images (counting of features by size class, integration of density, etc.) the stored image can be processed in a variety of ways. Using techniques known in the image processing field but only recently practical in such small computers, smoothing of the grey‐scale information, sharpening of edges, extraction of texture information, directional derivatives, and shifts of grey scale can be applied. Combination of images with previous ones stored on disk is especially useful for electron and X‐ray images from SEM. The system described carried out all operations in software, typically requiring times of 1–20 s per image which should be practical in many microscopy laboratories.

Fractal analysis of erosion surfaces

Fractal analysis of steady-state erosion surfaces generated by erodents of widely different hardnesses on single crystal sapphire shows surprising similarities in spite of a large difference in erosion rates and single impact morphology. This study quantifies the surfaces in terms of the surface texture measurements using recently developed image analysis techniques. The interpretation for such similarities is that a single mechanism of material removal is operative for all erodents. The differences are explained in terms of the efficiency of crack initiation in the target by the two erodents.

Computer-aided quantitative microscopy

Abstract Microscopy of materials specimens can provide important quantitative information about microstructures that can be related to processing history and composition on the one hand, and to properties and service performance on the other. Simple visual observation of images is not adequate to extract the important parameters, and is easily confused by the natural variability of the structure and the unfamiliarity of looking at three-dimensional structures in two-dimensional sections. Stereological tools to relate the two- and three-dimensional parameters are well developed. The use of computers makes it practical to perform image processing to extract the parameters and to carry out the appropriate calculations. The steps may be broken down for convinience into acquisition of images, processing of the gray-scale (or color) information, discrimination to select the features of interest, editing to correct defects, measurement of either feature-specific or global parameters, and interpretation. Examples of each are shown using a variety of materials specimens, using images from light and electron microscopes.

Classical Stereological Measures

This chapter reviews the most commonly used stereological measurements. More detailed discussions and derivations may be found in the collection of traditional texts in the field (Saltykov, 1958; DeHoff and Rhines, 1968; Underwood, 1970; Weibel, 1978; Kurzydlowski and Ralph, 1995; Howard and Reed, 1998). Each section of the chapter focuses on a manual stereological measurement. In each case, the procedure is illustrated with a microstructure and a superimposed grid.

Chaos in the classroom: Exposing gifted elementary school children to chaos and fractals

A unit of study for gifted 4th and 5th graders is described on the subject of mathematical periodicity and chaos and the underlying physical processes which produce these phenomena. A variety of hands-on experiments and the use of various data analysis tools and computer aids provide students with powerful raw material for their analysis, interpretation, and understanding. The concepts of simple periodic motion (e.g., a pendulum), complex superposition of motions (e.g., the vibrations in musical instruments), and chaotic sequences (e.g., stock prices) are covered, with numerous practical examples. Opportunities to involve related activities emphasizing language arts, history, and graphic art are included. The student response to the material is documented.