Abstract: Tagged magnetic resonance is a very usefull and unique tool that provides a complete local and global knowledge of the left ventricle (LV) motion. In this article we introduce a method capable of tracking and segmenting the LV. Spectral methods are applied in order to obtain the so called HARP images which encode information about movement and are the base for LV point-tracking. For segmentation we use Active Shapes (ASM) that model LV shape variation in order to overcome possible local misplacements of the boundary. We finally show experiments on both synthetic and real data which appear to be very promising.

Abstract: This paper proposes a guidance in the process of choosing and using the parameters of elasticity of a snake in order to obtain a precise segmentation. A new two step procedure is defined based on upper and lower bounds on the parameters. Formulas, by which these bounds can be calculated for real images where parts of the contour may be missing, are presented. Experiments on segmentation of bone structures in X-ray images have verified the usefulness of the new procedure.

Abstract: This paper deals with the recognition of symbols and structural textures in architectural plans using string matching techniques. A plan is represented by an attributed graph whose nodes represent characteristic points and whose edges represent segments. Symbols and textures can be seen as a set of regions, i.e. closed loops in the graph, with a particular arrangement. The search for a symbol involves a graph matching between the regions of a model graph and the regions of the graph representing the document. Discriminating a texture means a clustering of neighbouring regions of this graph. Both procedures involve a similarity measure between graph regions. A string codification is used to represent the sequence of outlining edges of a region. Thus, the similarity between two regions is defined in terms of the string edit distance between their boundary strings. The use of string matching allows the recognition method to work also under presence of distortion.

Abstract: Los sistemas actuales de reconocimiento automático del lenguaje oral se basan en dos etapas básicas de procesado: la parametrización, que extrae la evolución temporal de los parámetros que caracterizan la voz, y el reconocimiento propiamente dicho, que identifica la cadena de palabras de la elocución recibida con ayuda de los modelos que representan el conocimiento adquirido en la etapa de aprendizaje. Tomando como línea divisoria la palabra, dichos modelos son de tipo acústicofonético o gramatical. Los primeros caracterizan las palabras incluidas en el vocabulario de la aplicación o tarea a la que está orientado el sistema de reconocimiento, usando a menudo para ello modelos de unidades de habla de extensión inferior a la palabra, es decir, de unidades subléxicas. Por otro lado, la gramática incluye el conocimiento acerca de las combinaciones permitidas de palabras para formar las frases o su probabilidad. Queda fuera del esquema la denominada comprensión del habla, que utiliza adicionalmente el conocimiento semántico y pragmático para captar el significado de la elocución de entrada al sistema a partir de la cadena (o cadenas alternativas) de palabras que suministra el reconocedor.

Abstract: Empirical and mechanistic models differ in their approaches to the analysis of pharmacological effect. Whereas the parameters of the former are not physical constants those of the latter embody the nature, often complex, of biology. Empirical models are exclusively used for curve fitting, merely to characterize the shape of the E/[A] curves. Mechanistic models, on the contrary, enable the examination of mechanistic hypotheses by parameter simulation. Regretfully, the many parameters that mechanistic models may include can represent a great difficulty for curve fitting, representing, thus, a challenge for computational method development. In the present study some empirical and mechanistic models are shown and the connections, which may appear in a number of cases between them, are analyzed from the curves they yield. It may be concluded that systematic and careful curve shape analysis can be extremely useful for the understanding of receptor function, ligand classification and drug discovery, thus providing a common language for the communication between pharmacologists and medicinal chemists.