Abstract: Image segmentations aims to partition an image into a set of non-overlapped regions, called segments. Despite the simplicity of the definition, image segmentation raises as a very complex problem in all its stages. The definition of segment is still unclear. When asking to a human to perform a segmentation, this person segments at different levels of abstraction. Some segments might be a single, well-defined texture whereas some others correspond with an object in the scene which might including multiple textures and colors. For this reason, segmentation is divided in bottom-up segmentation and top-down segmentation. Bottom up-segmentation is problem independent, that is, focused on general properties of the images such as textures or illumination. Top-down segmentation is a problem-dependent approach which looks for specific entities in the scene, such as known objects. This work is focused on bottom-up segmentation. Beginning from the analysis of the lacks of current methods, we propose an approach called RAD. Our approach overcomes the main shortcomings of those methods which use the physics of the light to perform the segmentation. RAD is a topological approach which describes a single-material reflectance. Afterwards, we cope with one of the main problems in image segmentation: non supervised adaptability to image content. To yield a non-supervised method, we use a model of saliency yet presented in this thesis. It computes the saliency of the chromatic transitions of an image by means of a statistical analysis of the images derivatives. This method of saliency is used to build our final approach of segmentation: spRAD. This method is a non-supervised segmentation approach. Our saliency approach has been validated with a psychophysical experiment as well as computationally, overcoming a state-of-the-art saliency method. spRAD also outperforms state-of-the-art segmentation techniques as results obtained with a widely-used segmentation dataset show

Abstract: This paper presents the results of the first Challenge of ICDAR 2011 Robust Reading Competition. Challenge 1 is focused on the extraction of text from born-digital images, specifically from images found in Web pages and emails. The challenge was organized in terms of three tasks that look at different stages of the process: text localization, text segmentation and word recognition. In this paper we present the results of the challenge for all three tasks, and make an open call for continuous participation outside the context of ICDAR 2011.

Abstract: Deep understanding of myocardial structure of the heart would unravel crucial knowledge for clinical and medical procedures. The MIOCARDIA project is a multidisciplinary project in cooperation with l'Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau, Clinica la Creu Blanca and Barcelona Supercomputing Center. The ultimate goal of this project is defining a computational model of the myocardium. The model takes into account the deep interrelation between the anatomy and the mechanics of the heart. The paper explains the workflow of the MIOCARDIA project. It also introduces a multiresolution reconstruction technique based on DT-MRI streamlining for simplified global myocardial model generation. Our reconstructions can restore the most complex myocardial structures and provides evidences of a global helical organization.

Abstract: Image based human detection is of paramount interest for different applications. The most promising human detectors rely on discriminatively learnt classifiers, i.e., trained with labelled samples. However, labelling is a manual intensive task, especially in cases like human detection where it is necessary to provide at least bounding boxes framing the humans for training. To overcome such problem, in Marin et al. we have proposed the use of a virtual world where the labels of the different objects are obtained automatically. This means that the human models (classifiers) are learnt using the appearance of realistic computer graphics. Later, these models are used for human detection in images of the real world. The results of this technique are surprisingly good. However, these are not always as good as the classical approach of training and testing with data coming from the same camera and the same type of scenario. Accordingly, in Vazquez et al. we cast the problem as one of supervised domain adaptation. In doing so, we assume that a small amount of manually labelled samples from real-world images is required. To collect these labelled samples we use an active learning technique. Thus, ultimately our human model is learnt by the combination of virtual- and real-world labelled samples which, to the best of our knowledge, was not done before. Here, we term such combined space cool world. In this extended abstract we summarize our proposal, and include quantitative results from Vazquez et al. showing its validity.

Abstract: A main challenge in Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) is determining a termination condition ensuring stabilization close to the optimum in real-world applications. Although for known test functions distribution-based quantities are good candidates (as far as suitable parameters are used), in real-world problems an open question still remains unsolved. How can we estimate an upper-bound for the termination condition value ensuring a given accuracy for the (unknown) EA solution?
We claim that the termination problem would be fully solved if we defined a quantity (depending only on the EA output) behaving like the solution accuracy. The open question would be, then, satisfactorily answered if we had a model relating both quantities, since accuracy could be predicted from the alternative quantity. We present a statistical inference framework addressing two topics: checking the correlation between the two quantities and defining a regression model for predicting (at a given confidence level) accuracy values from the EA output.

Abstract: In this paper we present a computer vision system for daytime vehicle detection and localization, an essential step in the development of several types of advanced driver assistance systems. It has a reduced processing time and high accuracy thanks to the combination of vehicle detection with lane-markings estimation and temporal tracking of both vehicles and lane markings. Concerning vehicle detection, our main contribution is a frame scanning process that inspects images according to the geometry of image formation, and with an Adaboost-based detector that is robust to the variability in the different vehicle types (car, van, truck) and lighting conditions. In addition, we propose a new method to estimate the most likely three-dimensional locations of vehicles on the road ahead. With regards to the lane-markings estimation component, we have two main contributions. First, we employ a different image feature to the other commonly used edges: we use ridges, which are better suited to this problem. Second, we adapt RANSAC, a generic robust estimation method, to fit a parametric model of a pair of lane markings to the image features. We qualitatively assess our vehicle detection system in sequences captured on several road types and under very different lighting conditions. The processed videos are available on a web page associated with this paper. A quantitative evaluation of the system has shown quite accurate results (a low number of false positives and negatives) at a reasonable computation time.

Abstract: This article presents an adaptation of a factorization technique to tackle the photometric stereo problem. That is to recover the surface normals and reflectance of an object from a set of images obtained under different lighting conditions. The main contribution of the proposed approach is to consider pixels in shadow and saturated regions as missing data, in order to reduce their influence to the result. Concretely, an adapted Alternation technique is used to deal with missing data. Experimental results considering both synthetic and real images show the viability of the proposed factorization-based strategy. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 21, 115–119, 2011.

Abstract: The fusion of clinically relevant information coming from different image modalities is an important topic in medical imaging. In particular, different cardiac imaging modalities provides complementary information for the physician: Computer Tomography Angiography (CTA) provides reliable pre-operative information on arteries geometry, even in the presence of chronic total occlusions, while X-Ray Angiography (XRA) allows intra-operative high resolution projections of a specific artery. The non-rigid registration of arteries between these two modalities is a difficult task. In this paper we propose the use of SIFTflow, in registering CTA and XRA images. At the best of our knowledge, this paper proposed SIFTflow as a XRay-CTA registration method for the first time in the literature. To highlight the arteries, so to guide the registration process, the well known Vesselness method has been employed. Results confirm that, to the aim of registration, the arteries must be highlighted and background objects removed as much as possible. Moreover, the comparison with the well known Free Form Deformation technique, suggests that SIFTflow has a great potential in the registration of multi-modal medical images.