Blind Image Blur Assessment Using Singular Value Similarity and Blur Comparisons

The increasing number of demanding consumer image applications has led to increased interest in no-reference objective image quality assessment (IQA) algorithms. In this paper, we propose a new blind blur index for still images based on singular value similarity. The algorithm consists of three steps. First, a re-blurred image is produced by applying a Gaussian blur to the test image. Second, a singular value decomposition is performed on the test image and re-blurred image. Finally, an image blur index is constructed based on singular value similarity. The experimental results obtained on four simulated databases to demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has high correlation with human judgment when assessing blur or noise distortion of images.     

Research on Similarity Measurement for Texture Image Retrieval

A complete texture image retrieval system includes two techniques: texture feature extraction and similarity measurement. Specifically, similarity measurement is a key problem for texture image retrieval study. In this paper, we present an effective similarity measurement formula. The MIT vision texture database, the Brodatz texture database, and the Outex texture database were used to verify the retrieval performance of the proposed similarity measurement method. Dual-tree complex wavelet transform and nonsubsampled contourlet transform were used to extract texture features. Experimental results show that the proposed similarity measurement method achieves better retrieval performance than some existing similarity measurement methods.     

Ligand Binding Site Similarity Identification Based on Chemical and Geometric Similarity

The similarity comparison of binding sites based on amino acid between different proteins can facilitate protein function identification. However, Binding site usually consists of several crucial amino acids which are frequently dispersed among different regions of a protein and consequently make the comparison of binding sites difficult. In this study, we introduce a new method, named as chemical and geometric similarity of binding site (CGS-BSite), to compute the ligand binding site similarity based on discrete amino acids with maximum-weight bipartite matching algorithm. The principle of computing the similarity is to find a Euclidean Transformation which makes the similar amino acids approximate to each other in a geometry space, and vice versa. CGS-BSite permits site and ligand flexibilities, provides a stable prediction performance on the flexible ligand binding sites. Binding site prediction on three test datasets with CGS-BSite method has similar performance to Patch-Surfer method but outperforms other five tested methods, reaching to 0.80, 0.71 and 0.85 based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, respectively. It performs a marginally better than Patch-Surfer on the binding sites with small volume and higher hydrophobicity, and presents good robustness to the variance of the volume and hydrophobicity of ligand binding sites. Overall, our method provides an alternative approach to compute the ligand binding site similarity and predict potential special ligand binding sites from the existing ligand targets based on the target similarity.     

基于区域相似性测量的CT／PET图像配准

图像配准在临床诊断中有重要意义,针对这一问题已经提出了许多方法。本文以区域相似性匹配测度,运用改进的分割方法,结合Powell寻优算法实现了CT／PET多模医学图像配准。实验结果表明,该算法易于实现,配准速度快、精度高,鲁棒性较好。     

SSVEP Extraction Based on the Similarity of Background EEG

Steady-state Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP) outperforms the other types of ERPs for Brain-computer Interface (BCI), and thus it is widely employed. In order to apply SSVEP-based BCI to real life situations, it is important to improve the accuracy and transfer rate of the system. Aimed at this target, many SSVEP extraction methods have been proposed. All these methods are based directly on the properties of SSVEP, such as power and phase. In this study, we first filtered out the target frequencies from the original EEG to get a new signal and then computed the similarity between the original EEG and the new signal. Based on this similarity, SSVEP in the original EEG can be identified. This method is referred to as SOB (Similarity of Background). The SOB method is used to detect SSVEP in 1s-length and 3s-length EEG segments respectively. The accuracy of detection is compared with its peers computed by the widely-used Power Spectrum (PS) method and the Canonical Coefficient (CC) method. The comparison results illustrate that the SOB method can lead to a higher accuracy than the PS method and CC method when detecting a short period SSVEP signal.     

Generalized Baum-Welch Algorithm Based on the Similarity between Sequences

The profile hidden Markov model (PHMM) is widely used to assign the protein sequences to their respective families. A major limitation of a PHMM is the assumption that given states the observations (amino acids) are independent. To overcome this limitation, the dependency between amino acids in a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) which is the representative of a PHMM can be appended to the PHMM. Due to the fact that with a MSA, the sequences of amino acids are biologically related, the one-by-one dependency between two amino acids can be considered. In other words, based on the MSA, the dependency between an amino acid and its corresponding amino acid located above can be combined with the PHMM. For this purpose, the new emission probability matrix which considers the one-by-one dependencies between amino acids is constructed. The parameters of a PHMM are of two types; transition and emission probabilities which are usually estimated using an EM algorithm called the Baum-Welch algorithm. We have generalized the Baum-Welch algorithm using similarity emission matrix constructed by integrating the new emission probability matrix with the common emission probability matrix. Then, the performance of similarity emission is discussed by applying it to the top twenty protein families in the Pfam database. We show that using the similarity emission in the Baum-Welch algorithm significantly outperforms the common Baum-Welch algorithm in the task of assigning protein sequences to protein families.     

Graphical Representation and Similarity Analysis of DNA Sequences Based on Trigonometric Functions

In this paper, we propose two four-base related 2D curves of DNA primary sequences (termed as F-B curves) and their corresponding single-base related 2D curves (termed as A-related, G-related, T-related and C-related curves). The constructions of these graphical curves are based on the assignments of individual base to four different sinusoidal (or tangent) functions; then by connecting all these points on these four sinusoidal (tangent) functions, we can get the F-B curves; similarly, by connecting the points on each of the four sinusoidal (tangent) functions, we get the single-base related 2D curves. The proposed 2D curves are all strictly non degenerate. Then, a 8-component characteristic vector is constructed to compare similarity among DNA sequences from different species based on a normalized geometrical centers of the proposed curves. As examples, we examine similarity among the coding sequences of the first exon of beta-globin gene from eleven species, similarity of cDNA sequences of beta-globin gene from eight species, and similarity of the whole mitochondrial genomes of 18 eutherian mammals. The experimental results well demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Spatially Pooled Contrast Responses Predict Neural and Perceptual Similarity of Naturalistic Image Categories

The visual world is complex and continuously changing. Yet, our brain transforms patterns of light falling on our retina into a coherent percept within a few hundred milliseconds. Possibly, low-level neural responses already carry substantial information to facilitate rapid characterization of the visual input. Here, we computationally estimated low-level contrast responses to computer-generated naturalistic images, and tested whether spatial pooling of these responses could predict image similarity at the neural and behavioral level. Using EEG, we show that statistics derived from pooled responses explain a large amount of variance between single-image evoked potentials (ERPs) in individual subjects. Dissimilarity analysis on multi-electrode ERPs demonstrated that large differences between images in pooled response statistics are predictive of more dissimilar patterns of evoked activity, whereas images with little difference in statistics give rise to highly similar evoked activity patterns. In a separate behavioral experiment, images with large differences in statistics were judged as different categories, whereas images with little differences were confused. These findings suggest that statistics derived from low-level contrast responses can be extracted in early visual processing and can be relevant for rapid judgment of visual similarity. We compared our results with two other, well- known contrast statistics: Fourier power spectra and higher-order properties of contrast distributions (skewness and kurtosis). Interestingly, whereas these statistics allow for accurate image categorization, they do not predict ERP response patterns or behavioral categorization confusions. These converging computational, neural and behavioral results suggest that statistics of pooled contrast responses contain information that corresponds with perceived visual similarity in a rapid, low-level categorization task.     

基于PACS的医学图像压缩

从PACS和DICOM的定义出发,对基于PACS的医学图像压缩的要求和算法等方面作了阐述,还介绍了JPEG2000在医学图像压缩中的优势。     

Registration Error and Intensity Similarity Based Label Fusion for Segmentation

Background

Label fusion is a core step of Multi-Atlas Segmentation (MAS), which has a decisive effect on segmentation results. Although existed strategies using image intensity or image shape to fuse labels have got acceptable results, there is still necessity for further performance improvement. Here, we propose a new label fusion strategy, which considers the joint information of intensity and registration quality.

AGFA Drystar 5500干式相机图像质量控制

在医院集中式DICOM医用打印系统中,一台高速DICOM打印机往往连接着多台DICOM主机。由于各主机对输出图像的质量要求不同,如何在打印机端适应主机的要求,控制打印图像质量,是得到令人满意的胶片输出的医用图像的关键。本文以AGFADrystar5500干式相机为例探讨该DICOM医用打印机的图像控制原理和方法,以及在临床上的实际应用。     

基于小波分析的医学图像的处理

医学图像的好坏直接影响着医生对病情的诊断和治疗,因此利用数字图像处理等技术对医学图像进行有效的处理,已成为医学图像处理研究和开发的一大热点.小波分析是对傅立叶变换的继承和发展,在医学影像领域有着广阔的应用前景.介绍了二维离散小波变换的一般形式,在图像分解的基础上,利用小波分析对医学图像进行去噪和增强处理,能够有效的改善图像质量,有利于医生对病情的诊断和治疗.     

基于Snake模型的医学图像分割

基于Snake模型的图像分割技术是近年来图像处理领域的研究热点之一。Snake模型承载上层先验知识并融合了图像的底层特征,针对医学图像的特殊性,能有效地应用于医学图像的分割中。本文对各种基于Snake模型的改进算法和进化模型进行了研究,并重点梳理了最新的研究成果,以利于把握基于Snake模型的医学图像分割方法的脉络和发展方向。     

Assortative Pairing Based on Contact Call Similarity in Budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus

A trait typical of parrots, but rare in other groups of birds, is the acquisition of new learned calls (acquired by copying conspecifics) throughout an individual's lifetime. The significance of this distinctive psittacid trait is not understood. In budgerigars, females preferentially affiliate with unfamiliar males whose contact calls resemble their own during brief dyadic choice trials; also, in forced‐pair situations, contact call similarity of members of pairs increases as a result of a male tendency to imitate his mate's call type. The functions of budgerigar call imitation and preference for pre‐pairing similarity are currently unknown. Moreover, as budgerigar pair formation occurs over a span of days or weeks, it is important to determine whether birds in breeding colonies assort and proceed to breed on the basis of pre‐pairing contact call similarity, and whether high levels of call similarity are maintained after pair formation is complete. To explore these questions, we recorded contact calls of male and female budgerigars before and after they were placed into an aviary equipped for breeding. As predicted, birds paired assortatively based on pre‐pairing call similarity. Once birds had paired, their calls converged further in acoustic structure, as previous work had led us to expect. However, after eggs were laid and the males began to feed their mates, the calls of mated birds diverged, suggesting that there might be some cost to maintenance of shared calls. Male care‐giving correlated with the degree to which his pre‐pairing calls resembled those of his mate, but not with the similarity achieved through convergence. These results suggest that female budgerigars may use a male's pre‐pairing call similarity as a predictor of paternal investment. The questions of why such similarity predicts male care‐giving, and why calls converge following initial pairing activities, require further work.     

Particle Pollution Estimation Based on Image Analysis

Exposure to fine particles can cause various diseases, and an easily accessible method to monitor the particles can help raise public awareness and reduce harmful exposures. Here we report a method to estimate PM air pollution based on analysis of a large number of outdoor images available for Beijing, Shanghai (China) and Phoenix (US). Six image features were extracted from the images, which were used, together with other relevant data, such as the position of the sun, date, time, geographic information and weather conditions, to predict PM_2.5 index. The results demonstrate that the image analysis method provides good prediction of PM_2.5 indexes, and different features have different significance levels in the prediction.     

基于3-D图形表示的DNA序列的相似性分析

基于DNA序列的3D图形表示,通过L／L矩阵的规范化最大特征值组成的3维向量来刻画了DNA序列,并基于这种方法,用β-globin基因的第一个外显子分析了11个物种的相似性问题。     

自适应指数加权互信息配准医学图像的测度及相应算法

为配准医学图像,本文提出了一种新的自适应指数加权的互信息(Adaptive Exponential Weighted Mutual Informa- tion,AEWMI)测度,分析表明:通过对互信息(Mutual Information,MI)测度进行指数加权可以提高测度曲线的峰值尖锐性和平滑性;而指数的权值则可以通过评估待配准图像的质量和分辨率大小来自适应确定。仿真实验结果在验证分析结果的同时也表明,基于本文AEWMI测度的配准方案,对图像噪声、分辨率差异等有较高的鲁棒性,且可有效地提高配准的成功率。     

基于DTW距离的DNA序列相似性分析

在DNA序列相似性的研究中,通常采用的动态规划算法对空位罚分函数缺乏理论依据而带有主观性,从而取得不同的结果,本文提出了一种基于DTW（Dynamic Time Warping,动态时间弯曲）距离的DNA序列相似性度量方法可以解决这一问题．通过DNA序列的图形表示把DNA序列转化为时间序列,然后计算DTW距离来度量序列相似度以表征DNA序列属性,得到能够比较DNA序列相似性度量方法,并用这个方法比较分析了七种东亚钳蝎神经毒素（Buthusmartensi Karsch neurotoxin）基因序列的相似性,验证了该度量方法的有效性和准确性．