From grading and preparing harvested vegetables to the tactile probing of a patient 's innermost recesses, mechatronics has become part of our way of life. This cutting-edge volume features the 30 best papers of the 13th International Conference on Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice. Although there is no shortage of theoretical and technical detail in these chapters, they have a common theme in that they describe work that has been applied in practice.

Integrates computer vision, pattern recognition, and AI.

Presents original research that will benefit researchers and professionals in computer vision, pattern recognition, target recognition, machine learning, evolutionary learning, image processing, knowledge discovery and data mining, cybernetics, robotics, automation and psychology

This book presents the thoroughly revised versions of lectures given by leading researchers during the Workshop on Advanced 3D Imaging for Safety and Security in conjunction with the International Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition CVPR 2005, held in San Diego, CA, USA in June 2005. It covers the current state of the art in 3D imaging for safety and security.

This is the first book which informs about recent progress in biomechanics, computer vision and computer graphics - all in one volume. Researchers from these areas have contributed to this book to promote the establishment of human motion research as a multi-facetted discipline and to improve the exchange of ideas and concepts between these three areas. The book combines carefully written reviews with detailed reports on recent progress in research.

Computer security - the protection of data and computer systems from intentional, malicious intervention - is attracting increasing attention. Much work has gone into development of tools to detect ongoing or already perpetrated attacks, but a key shortfall in current intrusion detection systems is the high number of false alarms they produce. This book analyzes the false alarm problem, then applies results from the field of information visualization to the problem of intrusion detection. Four different visualization approaches are presented, mainly applied to data from web server access logs.

Image and Video Encryption provides a unified overview of techniques for encryption of images and video data. This ranges from commercial applications like DVD or DVB to more research oriented topics and recently published material. This volume introduces different techniques from unified viewpoint, then evaluates these techniques with respect to their respective properties (e.g., security, speed.....).

The authors experimentally compare different approaches proposed in the literature and include an extensive bibliography of corresponding published material.

This book deals with various image processing and machine vision problems efficiently with splines and includes: the significance of Bernstein Polynomial in splines, detailed coverage of Beta-splines applications which are relatively new, Splines in motion tracking, various deformative models and their uses. Finally the book covers wavelet splines which are efficient and effective in different image applications.

Computational methodologies of signal processing and imaging analysis, namely considering 2D and 3D images, are commonly used in different applications of the human society. For example, Computational Vision systems are progressively used for surveillance tasks, traf?c analysis, recognition process, inspection p- poses, human-machine interfaces, 3D vision and deformation analysis. One of the main characteristics of the Computational Vision domain is its int- multidisciplinary. In fact, in this domain, methodologies of several more fundam- tal sciences, such as Informatics, Mathematics, Statistics, Psychology, Mechanics and Physics are usually used. Besides this inter-multidisciplinary characteristic, one of the main reasons that contributes for the continually effort done in this domain of the human knowledge is the number of applications in the medical area. For instance, it is possible to consider the use of statistical or physical procedures on medical images in order to model the represented structures. This modeling can have different goals, for example: shape reconstruction, segmentation, registration, behavior interpretation and simulation, motion and deformation analysis, virtual reality, computer-assisted therapy or tissue characterization. The main objective of the ECCOMAS Thematic Conferences on Computational Vision and Medical Image Processing (VIPimage) is to promote a comprehensive forum for discussion on the recent advances in the related ?elds trying to id- tify widespread areas of potential collaboration between researchers of different sciences.

Neural networks are members of a class of software that have the potential to enable intelligent computational systems capable of simulating characteristics of biological thinking and learning. Currently no standards exist to verify and validate neural network-based systems. NASA Independent Verification and Validation Facility has contracted the Institute for Scientific Research, Inc. to perform research on this topic and develop a comprehensive guide to performing V&V on adaptive systems, with emphasis on neural networks used in safety-critical or mission-critical applications.

Methods and Procedures for the Verification and Validation of Artificial Neural Networks is the culmination of the first steps in that research. This volume introduces some of the more promising methods and techniques used for the verification and validation (V&V) of neural networks and adaptive systems. A comprehensive guide to performing V&V on neural network systems, aligned with the IEEE Standard for Software Verification and Validation, will follow this book.

Knowledge Discovery today is a significant study and research area. In finding answers to many research questions in this area, the ultimate hope is that knowledge can be extracted from various forms of data around us. This book covers recent advances in unsupervised and supervised data analysis methods in Computational Intelligence for knowledge discovery. In its first part the book provides a collection of recent research on distributed clustering, self organizing maps and their recent extensions. If labeled data or data with known associations are available, we may be able to use supervised data analysis methods, such as classifying neural networks, fuzzy rule-based classifiers, and decision trees. Therefore this book presents a collection of important methods of supervised data analysis. "Classification and Clustering for Knowledge Discovery" also includes variety of applications of knowledge discovery in health, safety, commerce, mechatronics, sensor networks, and telecommunications.

Recent progress in research, teaching and communication has arisen from the use of new tools in visualization. To be fruitful, visualization needs precision and beauty. This book is a source of mathematical illustrations by mathematicians as well as artists. It offers examples in many basic mathematical fields including polyhedra theory, group theory, solving polynomial equations, dynamical systems and differential topology.
For a long time, arts, architecture, music and painting have been the source of new developments in mathematics. And vice versa, artists have often found new techniques, themes and inspiration within mathematics. Here, while mathematicians provide mathematical tools for the analysis of musical creations, the contributions from sculptors emphasize the role of mathematics in their work.

Motion-Free Super-Resolution is a compilation of very recent work on various methods of generating super-resolution (SR) images from a set of low-resolution images. The current literature on this topic deals primarily with the use of motion cues for the purpose of generating SR images. These cues have, it is shown, their advantages and disadvantages. In contrast, this book shows that cues other than motion can also be used for the same purpose, and addresses both the merits and demerits of these new techniques.

Motion-Free Super-Resolution supersedes much of the lead author 's previous edited volume, "Super-Resolution Imaging," and includes an up-to-date account of the latest research efforts in this fast-moving field. This sequel also features a style of presentation closer to that of a textbook, with an emphasis on teaching and explanation rather than scholarly presentation.

Face detection, because of its vast array of applications, is one of the most active research areas in computer vision. In this book, we review various approaches to face detection developed in the past decade, with more emphasis on boosting-based learning algorithms. We then present a series of algorithms that are empowered by the statistical view of boosting and the concept of multiple instance learning. We start by describing a boosting learning framework that is capable to handle billions of training examples. It differs from traditional bootstrapping schemes in that no intermediate thresholds need to be set during training, yet the total number of negative examples used for feature selection remains constant and focused (on the poor performing ones). A multiple instance pruning scheme is then adopted to set the intermediate thresholds after boosting learning. This algorithm generates detectors that are both fast and accurate. We then present two multiple instance learning schemes for face detection, multiple instance learning boosting (MILBoost) and winner-take-all multiple category boosting (WTA-McBoost). MILBoost addresses the uncertainty in accurately pinpointing the location of the object being detected, while WTA-McBoost addresses the uncertainty in determining the most appropriate subcategory label for multiview object detection. Both schemes can resolve the ambiguity of the labeling process and reduce outliers during training, which leads to improved detector performances. In many applications, a detector trained with generic data sets may not perform optimally in a new environment. We propose detection adaption, which is a promising solution for this problem. We present an adaptation scheme based on the Taylor expansion of the boosting learning objective function, and we propose to store the second order statistics of the generic training data for future adaptation. We show that with a small amount of labeled data in the new environment, the detector's performance can be greatly improved. We also present two interesting applications where boosting learning was applied successfully. The first application is face verification for filtering and ranking image/video search results on celebrities. We present boosted multi-task learning (MTL), yet another boosting learning algorithm that extends MILBoost with a graphical model. Since the available number of training images for each celebrity may be limited, learning individual classifiers for each person may cause overfitting. MTL jointly learns classifiers for multiple people by sharing a few boosting classifiers in order to avoid overfitting. The second application addresses the need of speaker detection in conference rooms. The goal is to find who is speaking, given a microphone array and a panoramic video of the room. We show that by combining audio and visual features in a boosting framework, we can determine the speaker's position very accurately. Finally, we offer our thoughts on future directions for face detection. Table of Contents: A Brief Survey of the Face Detection Literature / Cascade-based Real-Time Face Detection / Multiple Instance Learning for Face Detection / Detector Adaptation / Other Applications / Conclusions and Future Work

Hyperspectral Data Compression provides a survey of recent results in the field of compression of remote sensed 3D data, with a particular interest in hyperspectral imagery. Chapter 1 addresses compression architecture, and reviews and compares compression methods. Chapters 2 through 4 focus on lossless compression (where the decompressed image must be bit for bit identical to the original). Chapter 5, contributed by the editors, describes a lossless algorithm based on vector quantization with extensions to near lossless and possibly lossy compression for efficient browning and pure pixel classification. Chapter 6 deals with near lossless compression while. Chapter 7 considers lossy techniques constrained by almost perfect classification. Chapters 8 through 12 address lossy compression of hyperspectral imagery, where there is a tradeoff between compression achieved and the quality of the decompressed image. Chapter 13 examines artifacts that can arise from lossy compression.

The central object of this book is the measure of geometric quantities describing N a subset of the Euclidean space (E ,), endowed with its standard scalar product. Let us state precisely what we mean by a geometric quantity. Consider a subset N S of points of the N-dimensional Euclidean space E , endowed with its standard N scalar product. LetG be the group of rigid motions of E . We say that a 0 quantity Q(S) associated toS is geometric with respect toG if the corresponding 0 quantity Q[g(S)] associated to g(S) equals Q(S), for all g?G . For instance, the 0 diameter ofS and the area of the convex hull ofS are quantities geometric with respect toG . But the distance from the origin O to the closest point ofS is not, 0 since it is not invariant under translations ofS. It is important to point out that the property of being geometric depends on the chosen group. For instance, ifG is the 1 N group of projective transformations of E , then the property ofS being a circle is geometric forG but not forG , while the property of being a conic or a straight 0 1 line is geometric for bothG andG . This point of view may be generalized to any 0 1 subsetS of any vector space E endowed with a groupG acting on it.

The authors here provide a detailed treatment of the design of robust adaptive controllers for nonlinear systems with uncertainties. They employ a new tool based on the ideas of system immersion and manifold invariance. New algorithms are delivered for the construction of robust asymptotically-stabilizing and adaptive control laws for nonlinear systems. The methods proposed lead to modular schemes that are easier to tune than their counterparts obtained from Lyapunov redesign.

Soft computing represents a collection of techniques, such as neural networks, evolutionary computation, fuzzy logic, and probabilistic reasoning. As - posed to conventional "hard" computing, these techniques tolerate impre- sion and uncertainty, similar to human beings. In the recent years, successful applications of these powerful methods have been published in many dis- plines in numerous journals, conferences, as well as the excellent books in this book series on Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing. This volume is dedicated to recent novel applications of soft computing in multimedia processing. The book is composed of 21 chapters written by experts in their respective fields, addressing various important and timely problems in multimedia computing such as content analysis, indexing and retrieval, recognition and compression, processing and filtering, etc. In the chapter authored by Guan, Muneesawang, Lay, Amin, and Lee, a radial basis function network with Laplacian mixture model is employed to perform image and video retrieval. D. Androutsos, P. Androutsos, Plataniotis, and Venetsanopoulos investigate color image indexing and retrieval within a small-world framework. Wu and Yap develop a framework of fuzzy relevance feedback to model the uncertainty of users' subjective perception in image retrieval.

Networked computers are ubiquitous, and are subject to attack, misuse, and abuse. One method to counteracting this cyber threat is to provide security analysts with better tools to discover patterns, detect anomalies, identify correlations, and communicate their findings. Visualization for computer security (VizSec) researchers and developers are doing just that. VizSec is about putting robust information visualization tools into the hands of human analysts to take advantage of the power of the human perceptual and cognitive processes in solving computer security problems. This volume collects the papers presented at the 4th International Workshop on Computer Security - VizSec 2007.

Since the dawn of the new millennium, robotics has undergone a major transf- mation in scope and dimensions. This expansion has been brought about by the maturityofthe?eldandtheadvancesinitsrelatedtechnologies.Fromapred- inantly industrial focus, robotics has been rapidly expanding into the challenges of the human world. The new generation of robots is expected to safely and dependably cohabit with humans in homes, workplaces, and communities, p- viding support in services, entertainment, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and assistance. Beyond its impact on physical robots, the body of knowledge robotics has produced is revealing a much wider rangeof applications reaching across diverse research areas and scienti?c disciplines, such as: biomechanics, haptics, neu- sciences, virtual prototyping, animation, surgery, and sensor networks among others. In return, the challenges of the new emerging areas are proving an ab- dant source of stimulation and insights for the ?eld of robotics. It is indeed at the intersection of disciplines that the most striking advances happen. The goal of the series of Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR)isto bring, in a timely fashion, the latest advances and developments in robotics on thebasisoftheirsigni?canceandquality.Itisourhopethatthewiderdissemi- tion of research developments will stimulate more exchanges and collaborations among the research community and contribute to further advancement of this rapidly growing ?e

This book approaches the realisation of digital terrain and landscape data through clear and practical examples. From data provision and the creation of revealing analyses to realistic depictions for presentation purposes, the reader is led through the world of digital 3-D graphics. The authors deep knowledge of the scientific fundamentals and many years of experience in 3-D visualization enable them to lead the reader through a complex subject and shed light on previously murky virtual landscapes.

ThisbookattemptstocapturesomeoftheexcitementofaninspiringDagstuhl SeminarinJanuary2007. Theauthorsreportonrecentresearchresultsaswell as opining on future directions for the analysis and visualization of tensor ?elds. Topics range from applications of the analysis of tensor ?elds to purer researchintotheirmathematical andanalytical properties. Oneofthegoalsof thisseminarwastobringtogetherresearchersfromalongthatpure-to-applied disciplinary axis with the hope of fostering new collaborations and research. This book, we hope, will continue to further that goal in a broader context. Providence, Rhode Island, USA David H. Laidlaw Saarbruc ] ken, Saarland, Germany Joachim Weickert August 2008 Contents Part I Models for Di?usion MRI Modelling, Fitting and Sampling in Di?usion MRI Daniel C. Alexander. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Tensors, Polynomials and Models for Directional Data P. G. Batchelor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 A Mixture of Wisharts (MOW) Model for Multi?ber Reconstruction ] Bing Jian, Baba C. Vemuri, and Evren Ozarslan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The Algebra of Fourth-Order Tensors with Application to Di?usion MRI Maher Moakher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Part II Higher-Level Analysis of Di?usion Images Structure-Speci?c StatisticalMappingofWhiteMatterTracts Paul A. Yushkevich, Hui Zhang, Tony J. Simon, and James C. Gee. . . . 83 Analysis of Distance/Similarity Measures for Di?usion Tensor Imaging T. H. J. M. Peeters, P. R. Rodrigues, A. Vilanova, and B. M. ter Haar Romeny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 XContents Part III Tensor Field Visualization Tensor Glyph Warping: Visualizing Metric Tensor Fields using Riemannian Exponential Maps Anders Brun and Hans Knutsson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Interactive Volume Rendering of Di?usion Tensor Data Mario Hlawitschka, Gunther H. Weber, Alfred Anwander, Owen T. Carmichael, Bernd Hamann, and Gerik Scheuermann. . . . . . . . 161 Dense Glyph Sampling for Visualization Louis Feng, Ingrid Hotz, Bernd Hamann, and Kenneth Joy. . . . . . . . . . . ."

At the frontier of research, this book offers complete coverage of human ear recognition. It explores all aspects of 3D ear recognition: representation, detection, recognition, indexing and performance prediction. It uses large datasets to quantify and compare the performance of various techniques. Features and topics include: Ear detection and recognition in 2D image; 3D object recognition and 3D biometrics; 3D ear recognition; Performance comparison and prediction.

One of the grand challenges for computational intelligence and biometrics is to understand how people process and recognize faces and to develop automated and reliable face recognition systems. Biometrics has become the major component in the complex decision making process associated with security applications. The many challenges addressed for face detection and authentication include cluttered environments, occlusion and disguise, temporal changes, and last but not least, robust training and open set testing.

Reliable Face Recognition Methods seeks to comprehensively address the face recognition problem while drawing inspiration and gaining new insights from complementary fields of endeavor such as neurosciences, statistics, signal and image processing, computer vision, and machine learning and data mining. The book examines the evolution of research surrounding the field to date, explores new directions, and offers specific guidance on the most promising venues for future R&D.

With its well-focused approach and clarity of presentation, this new text/reference is an excellent resource for computer scientists and engineers, researchers, and professionals who need to learn about face recognition. In addition, the book is ideally suited to students studying biometrics, pattern recognition, and human-computer interaction.

Many computer scientists, engineers, applied mathematicians, and physicists use geometry theory and geometric computing methods in the design of perception-action systems, intelligent autonomous systems, and man-machine interfaces. This handbook brings together the most recent advances in the application of geometric computing for building such systems, with contributions from leading experts in the important fields of neuroscience, neural networks, image processing, pattern recognition, computer vision, uncertainty in geometric computations, conformal computational geometry, computer graphics and visualization, medical imagery, geometry and robotics, and reaching and motion planning. For the first time, the various methods are presented in a comprehensive, unified manner.

This handbook is highly recommended for postgraduate students and researchers working on applications such as automated learning; geometric and fuzzy reasoning; human-like artificial vision; tele-operation; space maneuvering; haptics; rescue robots; man-machine interfaces; tele-immersion; computer- and robotics-aided neurosurgery or orthopedics; the assembly and design of humanoids; and systems for metalevel reasoning.

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is an integrating technology for supporting a pervasive and transparent infrastructure for implementing smart environments. Such technology is used to enable environments for detecting events and behaviors of people and for responding in a contextually relevant fashion. AmI proposes a multi-disciplinary approach for enhancing human machine interaction. Ambient Intelligence: A Novel Paradigm is a compilation of edited chapters describing current state-of-the-art and new research techniques including those related to intelligent visual monitoring, face and speech recognition, innovative education methods, as well as smart and cognitive environments. The authors start with a description of the iDorm as an example of a smart environment conforming to the AmI paradigm, and introduces computer vision as an important component of the system. Other computer vision examples describe visual monitoring for the elderly, classic and novel surveillance techniques using clusters of cameras installed in indoor and outdoor application domains, and the monitoring of public spaces. Face and speech recognition systems are also covered as well as enhanced LEGO blocks for novel educational purposes. The book closes with a provocative chapter on how a cybernetic system can be designed as the backbone of a human machine interaction.