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Noha Elfiky. (2012). Compact, Adaptive and Discriminative Spatial Pyramids for Improved Object and Scene Classification (Jordi Gonzalez, & Xavier Roca, Eds.). Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey, .
Abstract: The release of challenging datasets with a vast number of images, requires the development of efficient image representations and algorithms which are able to manipulate these large-scale datasets efficiently. Nowadays the Bag-of-Words (BoW) is the most successful approach in the context of object and scene classification tasks. However, its main drawback is the absence of the important spatial information. Spatial pyramids (SP) have been successfully applied to incorporate spatial information into BoW-based image representation. Observing the remarkable performance of spatial pyramids, their growing number of applications to a broad range of vision problems, and finally its geometry inclusion, a question can be asked what are the limits of spatial pyramids. Within the SP framework, the optimal way for obtaining an image spatial representation, which is able to cope with it’s most foremost shortcomings, concretely, it’s high dimensionality and the rigidity of the resulting image representation, still remains an active research domain. In summary, the main concern of this thesis is to search for the limits of spatial pyramids and try to figure out solutions for them.
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Marco Pedersoli. (2012). Hierarchical Multiresolution Models for fast Object Detection (Jordi Gonzalez, & Xavier Roca, Eds.). Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey, .
Abstract: The ability to automatically detect and recognize objects in unconstrained images is becoming more and more critical: from security systems and autonomous robots, to smart phones and augmented reality, intelligent devices need to understand the meaning of images as a composition of semantic objects. This Thesis tackles the problem of fast object detection based on template models. Detection consists of searching for an object in an image by evaluating the similarity between a template model and an image region at each possible location and scale. In this work, we show that using a template model representation based on a multiple resolution hierarchy is an optimal choice that can lead to excellent detection accuracy and fast computation. We implement two different approaches that make use of a hierarchy of multiresolution models: a multiresolution cascade and a coarse-to-fine search. Also, we extend the coarse-to-fine search by introducing a deformable part-based model that achieves state-of-the-art results together with a very reduced computational cost. Finally, we specialize our approach to the challenging task of pedestrian detection from moving vehicles and show that the overall quality of the system outperforms previous works in terms of speed and accuracy.
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Bhaskar Chakraborty. (2012). Model free approach to human action recognition (Jordi Gonzalez, & Xavier Roca, Eds.). Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey, .
Abstract: Automatic understanding of human activity and action is very important and challenging research area of Computer Vision with wide applications in video surveillance, motion analysis, virtual reality interfaces, video indexing, content based video retrieval, HCI and health care. This thesis presents a series of techniques to solve the problem of human action recognition in video. First approach towards this goal is based on a probabilistic optimization model of body parts using Hidden Markov Model. This strong model based approach is able to distinguish between similar actions by only considering the body parts having major contributions to the actions. In next approach, we apply a weak model based human detector and actions are represented by Bag-of-key poses model to capture the human pose changes during the actions. To tackle the problem of human action recognition in complex scenes, a selective spatio-temporal interest point (STIP) detector is proposed by using a mechanism similar to that of the non-classical receptive field inhibition that is exhibited by most oriented selective neuron in the primary visual cortex. An extension of the selective STIP detector is applied to multi-view action recognition system by introducing a novel 4D STIPs (3D space + time). Finally, we use our STIP detector on large scale continuous visual event recognition problem and propose a novel generalized max-margin Hough transformation framework for activity detection
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Parichehr Behjati Ardakani. (2022). Towards Efficient and Robust Convolutional Neural Networks for Single Image Super-Resolution (Jordi Gonzalez, Xavier Roca, & Pau Rodriguez, Eds.). Ph.D. thesis, , .
Abstract: Single image super-resolution (SISR) is an important task in image processing which aims to enhance the resolution of imaging systems. Recently, SISR has witnessed great strides with the rapid development of deep learning. Recent advances in SISR are mostly devoted to designing deeper and wider networks to enhance their representation learning capacity. However, as the depth of networks increases, deep learning-based methods are faced with the challenge of computational complexity in practice. Moreover, most existing methods rarely leverage the intermediate features and also do not discriminate the computation of features by their frequencial components, thereby achieving relatively low performance. Aside from the aforementioned problems, another desired ability is to upsample images to arbitrary scales using a single model. Most current SISR methods train a dedicated model for each target resolution, losing generality and increasing memory requirements. In this thesis, we address the aforementioned issues and propose solutions to them: i) We present a novel frequency-based enhancement block which treats different frequencies in a heterogeneous way and also models inter-channel dependencies, which consequently enrich the output feature. Thus it helps the network generate more discriminative representations by explicitly recovering finer details. ii) We introduce OverNet which contains two main parts: a lightweight feature extractor that follows a novel recursive framework of skip and dense connections to reduce low-level feature degradation, and an overscaling module that generates an accurate SR image by internally constructing an overscaled intermediate representation of the output features. Then, to solve the problem of reconstruction at arbitrary scale factors, we introduce a novel multi-scale loss, that allows the simultaneous training of all scale factors using a single model. iii) We propose a directional variance attention network which leverages a novel attention mechanism to enhance features in different channels and spatial regions. Moreover, we introduce a novel procedure for using attention mechanisms together with residual blocks to facilitate the preservation of finer details. Finally, we demonstrate that our approaches achieve considerably better performance than previous state-of-the-art methods, in terms of both quantitative and visual quality.
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Debora Gil. (2004). Geometric Differential Operators for Shape Modelling (Jordi Saludes i Closa, & Petia Radeva, Eds.). Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey, Barcelona (Spain).
Abstract: Medical imaging feeds research in many computer vision and image processing fields: image filtering, segmentation, shape recovery, registration, retrieval and pattern matching. Because of their low contrast changes and large variety of artifacts and noise, medical imaging processing techniques relying on an analysis of the geometry of image level sets rather than on intensity values result in more robust treatment. From the starting point of treatment of intravascular images, this PhD thesis ad- dresses the design of differential image operators based on geometric principles for a robust shape modelling and restoration. Among all fields applying shape recovery, we approach filtering and segmentation of image objects. For a successful use in real images, the segmentation process should go through three stages: noise removing, shape modelling and shape recovery. This PhD addresses all three topics, but for the sake of algorithms as automated as possible, techniques for image processing will be designed to satisfy three main principles: a) convergence of the iterative schemes to non-trivial states avoiding image degeneration to a constant image and representing smooth models of the originals; b) smooth asymptotic behav- ior ensuring stabilization of the iterative process; c) fixed parameter values ensuring equal (domain free) performance of the algorithms whatever initial images/shapes. Our geometric approach to the generic equations that model the different processes approached enables defining techniques satisfying all the former requirements. First, we introduce a new curvature-based geometric flow for image filtering achieving a good compromise between noise removing and resemblance to original images. Sec- ond, we describe a new family of diffusion operators that restrict their scope to image level curves and serve to restore smooth closed models from unconnected sets of points. Finally, we design a regularization of snake (distance) maps that ensures its smooth convergence towards any closed shape. Experiments show that performance of the techniques proposed overpasses that of state-of-the-art algorithms.
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David Guillamet. (2004). Statistical Local Appearance Models for Object Recognition (Jordi Vitria, Ed.). Ph.D. thesis, , .
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David Masip. (2005). Face Classification Using Discriminative Features and Classifier Combination (Jordi Vitria, Ed.). Ph.D. thesis, , .
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Xavier Baro. (2009). Probabilistic Darwin Machines: A New Approach to Develop Evolutionary Object Detection (Jordi Vitria, Ed.). Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey, .
Abstract: Ever since computers were invented, we have wondered whether they might perform some of the human quotidian tasks. One of the most studied and still nowadays less understood problem is the capacity to learn from our experiences and how we generalize the knowledge that we acquire. One of that unaware tasks for the persons and that more interest is awakening in different scientific areas since the beginning, is the one that is known as pattern recognition. The creation of models that represent the world that surrounds us, help us for recognizing objects in our environment, to predict situations, to identify behaviors... All this information allows us to adapt ourselves and to interact with our environment. The capacity of adaptation of individuals to their environment has been related to the amount of patterns that are capable of identifying.
This thesis faces the pattern recognition problem from a Computer Vision point of view, taking one of the most paradigmatic and extended approaches to object detection as starting point. After studying this approach, two weak points are identified: The first makes reference to the description of the objects, and the second is a limitation of the learning algorithm, which hampers the utilization of best descriptors.
In order to address the learning limitations, we introduce evolutionary computation techniques to the classical object detection approach.
After testing the classical evolutionary approaches, such as genetic algorithms, we develop a new learning algorithm based on Probabilistic Darwin Machines, which better adapts to the learning problem. Once the learning limitation is avoided, we introduce a new feature set, which maintains the benefits of the classical feature set, adding the ability to describe non localities. This combination of evolutionary learning algorithm and features is tested on different public data sets, outperforming the results obtained by the classical approach.
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Santiago Segui. (2011). Contributions to the Diagnosis of Intestinal Motility by Automatic Image Analysis (Jordi Vitria, Ed.). Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey, .
Abstract: In the early twenty first century Given Imaging Ltd. presented wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) as a new technological breakthrough that allowed the visualization of
the intestine by using a small, swallowed camera. This small size device was received
with a high enthusiasm within the medical community, and until now, it is still one
of the medical devices with the highest use growth rate. WCE can be used as a novel
diagnostic tool that presents several clinical advantages, since it is non-invasive and
at the same time it provides, for the first time, a full picture of the small bowel morphology, contents and dynamics. Since its appearance, the WCE has been used to
detect several intestinal dysfunctions such as: polyps, ulcers and bleeding. However,
the visual analysis of WCE videos presents an important drawback: the long time
required by the physicians for proper video visualization. In this sense and regarding
to this limitation, the development of computer aided systems is required for the extensive use of WCE in the medical community.
The work presented in this thesis is a set of contributions for the automatic image
analysis and computer-aided diagnosis of intestinal motility disorders using WCE.
Until now, the diagnosis of small bowel motility dysfunctions was basically performed
by invasive techniques such as the manometry test, which can only be conducted at
some referral centers around the world owing to the complexity of the procedure and
the medial expertise required in the interpretation of the results.
Our contributions are divided in three main blocks:
1. Image analysis by computer vision techniques to detect events in the endoluminal WCE scene. Several methods have been proposed to detect visual events
such as: intestinal contractions, intestinal content, tunnel and wrinkles;
2. Machine learning techniques for the analysis and the manipulation of the data
from WCE. These methods have been proposed in order to overcome the problems that the analysis of WCE presents such as: video acquisition cost, unlabeled data and large number of data;
3. Two different systems for the computer-aided diagnosis of intestinal motility
disorders using WCE. The first system presents a fully automatic method that
aids at discriminating healthy subjects from patients with severe intestinal motor disorders like pseudo-obstruction or food intolerance. The second system presents another automatic method that models healthy subjects and discriminate them from mild intestinal motility patients.
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Agata Lapedriza. (2009). Multitask Learning Techniques for Automatic Face Classification (Jordi Vitria, & David Masip, Eds.). Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey, .
Abstract: Automatic face classification is currently a popular research area in Computer Vision. It involves several subproblems, such as subject recognition, gender classification or subject verification.
Current systems of automatic face classification need a large amount of training data to robustly learn a task. However, the collection of labeled data is usually a difficult issue. For this reason, the research on methods that are able to learn from a small sized training set is essential.
The dependency on the abundance of training data is not so evident in human learning processes. We are able to learn from a very small number of examples, given that we use, additionally, some prior knowledge to learn a new task. For example, we frequently find patterns and analogies from other domains to reuse them in new situations, or exploit training data from other experiences.
In computer science, Multitask Learning is a new Machine Learning approach that studies this idea of knowledge transfer among different tasks, to overcome the effects of the small sample sized problem.
This thesis explores, proposes and tests some Multitask Learning methods specially developed for face classification purposes. Moreover, it presents two more contributions dealing with the small sample sized problem, out of the Multitask Learning context. The first one is a method to extract external face features, to be used as an additional information source in automatic face classification problems. The second one is an empirical study on the most suitable face image resolution to perform automatic subject recognition.
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Jorge Bernal, & David Vazquez (Eds.). (2013). Computer vision Trends and Challenges.
Abstract: This book contains the papers presented at the Eighth CVC Workshop on Computer Vision Trends and Challenges (CVCR&D'2013). The workshop was held at the Computer Vision Center (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), the October 25th, 2013. The CVC workshops provide an excellent opportunity for young researchers and project engineers to share new ideas and knowledge about the progress of their work, and also, to discuss about challenges and future perspectives. In addition, the workshop is the welcome event for new people that recently have joined the institute.
The program of CVCR&D is organized in a single-track single-day workshop. It comprises several sessions dedicated to specific topics. For each session, a doctor working on the topic introduces the general research lines. The PhD students expose their specific research. A poster session will be held for open questions. Session topics cover the current research lines and development projects of the CVC: Medical Imaging, Medical Imaging, Color & Texture Analysis, Object Recognition, Image Sequence Evaluation, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Machine Vision, Document Analysis, Pattern Recognition and Applications. We want to thank all paper authors and Program Committee members. Their contribution shows that the CVC has a dynamic, active, and promising scientific community.
We hope you all enjoy this Eighth workshop and we are looking forward to meeting you and new people next year in the Ninth CVCR&D.
Keywords: CVCRD; Computer Vision
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Marçal Rusiñol. (2009). Geometric and Structural-based Symbol Spotting. Application to Focused Retrieval in Graphic Document Collections (Josep Llados, Ed.). Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey, .
Abstract: Usually, pattern recognition systems consist of two main parts. On the one hand, the data acquisition and, on the other hand, the classification of this data on a certain category. In order to recognize which category a certain query element belongs to, a set of pattern models must be provided beforehand. An off-line learning stage is needed to train the classifier and to offer a robust classification of the patterns. Within the pattern recognition field, we are interested in the recognition of graphics and, in particular, on the analysis of documents rich in graphical information. In this context, one of the main concerns is to see if the proposed systems remain scalable with respect to the data volume so as it can handle growing amounts of symbol models. In order to avoid to work with a database of reference symbols, symbol spotting and on-the-fly symbol recognition methods have been introduced in the past years.
Generally speaking, the symbol spotting problem can be defined as the identification of a set of regions of interest from a document image which are likely to contain an instance of a certain queriedn symbol without explicitly applying the whole pattern recognition scheme. Our application framework consists on indexing a collection of graphic-rich document images. This collection is
queried by example with a single instance of the symbol to look for and, by means of symbol spotting methods we retrieve the regions of interest where the symbol is likely to appear within the documents. This kind of applications are known as focused retrieval methods.
In order that the focused retrieval application can handle large collections of documents there is a need to provide an efficient access to the large volume of information that might be stored. We use indexing strategies in order to efficiently retrieve by similarity the locations where a certain part of the symbol appears. In that scenario, graphical patterns should be used as indices for accessing and navigating the collection of documents.
These indexing mechanism allow the user to search for similar elements using graphical information rather than textual queries.
Along this thesis we present a spotting architecture and different methods aiming to build a complete focused retrieval application dealing with a graphic-rich document collections. In addition, a protocol to evaluate the performance of symbol
spotting systems in terms of recognition abilities, location accuracy and scalability is proposed.
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Agnes Borras. (2009). Contributions to the Content-Based Image Retrieval Using Pictorial Queries (Josep Llados, Ed.). Ph.D. thesis, Ediciones Graficas Rey, Bellaterra.
Abstract: The broad access to digital cameras, personal computers and Internet, has lead to the generation of large volumes of data in digital form. If we want an effective usage of this huge amount of data, we need automatic tools to allow the retrieval of relevant information. Image data is a particular type of information that requires specific techniques of description and indexing. The computer vision field that studies these kind of techniques is called Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). Instead of using text-based descriptions, a system of CBIR deals on properties that are inherent in the images themselves. Hence, the feature-based description provides a universal via of image expression in contrast with the more than 6000 languages spoken in the world.
Nowadays, the CBIR is a dynamic focus of research that has derived in important applications for many professional groups. The potential fields of application can be such diverse as: the medical domain, the crime prevention, the protection of the intel- lectual property, the journalism, the graphic design, the web search, the preservation of cultural heritage, etc.
The definition on the role of the user is a key point in the development of a CBIR application. The user is in charge to formulate the queries from which the images are retrieved. We have centered our attention on the image retrieval techniques that use queries based on pictorial information. We have identified a taxonomy composed by four main query paradigms: query-by-selection, query-by-iconic-composition, query- by-sketch and query-by-paint. Each one of these paradigms allows a different degree of user expressivity. From a simple image selection, to a complete painting of the query, the user takes control of the input in the CBIR system.
Along the chapters of this thesis we have analyzed the influence that each query paradigm imposes in the internal operations of a CBIR system. Moreover, we have proposed a set of contributions that we have exemplified in the context of a final application.
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Josep Llados, Daniel Lopresti, & Seiichi Uchida (Eds.). (2021). 16th International Conference, 2021, Proceedings, Part III (Vol. 12823). LNCS. Springer Cham.
Abstract: This four-volume set of LNCS 12821, LNCS 12822, LNCS 12823 and LNCS 12824, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition, ICDAR 2021, held in Lausanne, Switzerland in September 2021. The 182 full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 340 submissions, and are presented with 13 competition reports.
The papers are organized into the following topical sections: document analysis for literature search, document summarization and translation, multimedia document analysis, mobile text recognition, document analysis for social good, indexing and retrieval of documents, physical and logical layout analysis, recognition of tables and formulas, and natural language processing (NLP) for document understanding.
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Josep Llados, Daniel Lopresti, & Seiichi Uchida (Eds.). (2021). 16th International Conference, 2021, Proceedings, Part IV (Vol. 12824). LNCS. Springer Cham.
Abstract: This four-volume set of LNCS 12821, LNCS 12822, LNCS 12823 and LNCS 12824, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition, ICDAR 2021, held in Lausanne, Switzerland in September 2021. The 182 full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 340 submissions, and are presented with 13 competition reports.
The papers are organized into the following topical sections: document analysis for literature search, document summarization and translation, multimedia document analysis, mobile text recognition, document analysis for social good, indexing and retrieval of documents, physical and logical layout analysis, recognition of tables and formulas, and natural language processing (NLP) for document understanding.
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