12190727
Appearance Characterization of Linear Lambertian Objects, Generalized Photometric Stereo, and Illumination-Invariant Face Recognition
Traditional photometric stereo algorithms employ a Lambertian reflectance model with a varying albedo field and involve the appearance of only one object. In this paper, we generalize photometric stereo algorithms to handle all appearances of all objects in a class, in particular the human face class, by making use of the linear Lambertian property. A linear Lambertian object is one which is linearly spanned by a set of basis objects and has a Lambertian surface. The linear property leads to a rank constraint and, consequently, a factorization of an observation matrix that consists of exemplar images of different objects (e.g., faces of different subjects) under different, unknown illuminations. Integrability and symmetry constraints are used to fully recover the subspace bases using a novel linearized algorithm that takes the varying albedo field into account. The effectiveness of the linear Lambertian property is further investigated by using it for the problem of illumination-invariant face recognition using just one image. Attached shadows are incorporated in the model by a careful treatment of the inherent nonlinearity in Lambert's law. This enables us to extend our algorithm to perform face recognition in the presence of multiple illumination sources. Experimental results using standard data sets are presented
1717304
Shape Regression Machine
We present a machine learning approach called shape regression machine (SRM) to segmenting in real time an anatomic structure that manifests a deformable shape in a medical image. Traditional shape segmentation methods rely on various assumptions. For instance, the deformable model assumes that edge defines the shape; the Mumford-Shah variational method assumes that the regions inside/outside the (closed) contour are homogenous in intensity; and the active appearance model assumes that shape/appearance variations are linear. In addition, they all need a good initialization. In contrast, SRM poses no such restrictions. It is a two-stage approach that leverages (a) the underlying medical context that defines the anatomic structure and (b) an annotated database that exemplifies the shape and appearance variations of the anatomy. In the first stage, it solves the initialization problem as object detection and derives a regression solution that needs just one scan in principle. In the second stage, it learns a nonlinear regressor that predicts the nonrigid shape from image appearance. We also propose a boosting regression approach that supports real time segmentation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of SRM using experiments on segmenting the left ventricle endocardium from an echocardiogram of an apical four chamber view.
8505547
Face recognition from video: a CONDENSATION approach
The aim of this work is to investigate how to exploit the temporal information in a video sequence for the task of face recognition. Following the approach in (Li and Chellappa, 2000), we propose a probabilistic model parameterized by a tracking state vector and a recognizing identity variable, simultaneously characterizing the kinematics and identity of humans. We then invoke a CONDENSATION (Isard and Blake, 1996) approach to provide a numerical solution to the model. Once the joint posterior distribution of the state vector and the identity variable is estimated, we marginalize it over the state vector to yield a robust estimate of the posterior distribution of the identity variable. Due to the propagation of identity and dynamics, a degeneracy in the posterior distribution of the identity variable is achieved to give improved recognition. This evolving behavior is characterized using changes in entropy. The effectiveness of this approach is illustrated using experimental results on low-resolution video data.
8965145
A robust algorithm for probabilistic human recognition from video
Human recognition from video requires solving the two tasks, recognition and tracking, simultaneously. This leads to a parameterized time series state space model, representing both motion and identity of the human. Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithms, like Condensation, can be developed to offer numerical solutions to this model. However in outdoor environments, the solution is more likely to diverge from the foreground, causing failures in both recognition and tracking. In this paper we propose an approach for tackling this problem by incorporating the constraint of temporal continuity in the observations. Experimental results demonstrate improvements over its Condensation counterpart.
15470334
Probabilistic recognition of human faces from video
Recognition of human faces using a gallery of still or video images and a probe set of videos is systematically investigated using a probabilistic framework. In still-to-video recognition, where the gallery consists of still images, a time series state space model is proposed to fuse temporal information in a probe video, which simultaneously characterizes the kinematics and identity using a motion vector and an identity variable, respectively. The joint posterior distribution of the motion vector and the identity variable is estimated at each time instant and then propagated to the next time instant, Marginalization over the motion vector yields a robust estimate of the posterior distribution of the identity variable. A computationally efficient sequential importance sampling (SIS) algorithm is developed to estimate the posterior distribution. Empirical results demonstrate that, due to the propagation of the identity variable over time, a degeneracy in posterior probability of the identity variable is achieved to give improved recognition. The gallery is generalized to videos in order to realize video-to-video recognition. An exemplar-based learning strategy is adopted to automatically select video representatives from the gallery, serving as mixture centers in an updated likelihood measure. The SIS algorithm is applied to approximate the posterior distribution of the motion vector, the identity variable, and the exemplar index, whose marginal distribution of the identity variable produces the recognition result. The model formulation is very general and it allows a variety of image representations and transformations. Experimental results using images/videos collected at UMD, NIST/USF, and CMU with pose/illumination variations illustrate the effectiveness of this approach for both still-to-video and video-to-video scenarios with appropriate model choices.
41942332
Exemplar-Based Face Recognition from Video
A new exemplar-based probabilistic approach for face recognition in video sequences is presented. The approach has two stages: First, Exemplars, which are selected representatives from the raw video, are automatically extracted from gallery videos. The exemplars are used to summarize the gallery video information. In the second part, exemplars are then used as centers for probabilistic mixture distributions for the tracking and recognition process. A particle method is used to compute the posteriori probabilities. Probabilistic methods are attractive in this context as they allow a systematic handling of uncertainty and an elegant way for fusing temporal information.Contrary to some previous video-based approaches, our approach is not limited to a certain image representation. It rather enhances known ones, such as the PCA, with temporal fusion and uncertainty handling. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of each of the two stages. We tested this approach on more than 100 training and testing sequences, with 25 different individuals.
12104793
Planning for code buffer management in distributed virtual execution environments
Virtual execution environments have become increasingly useful in system implementation, with dynamic translation techniques being an important component for performance-critical systems. Many devices have exceptionally tight performance and memory constraints (e.g., smart cards and sensors in distributed systems), which require effective resource management. One approach to manage code memory is to download code partitions on-demand from a server and to cache the partitions in the resource-constrained device (client). However, due to the high cost of downloading code and re-translation, it is critical to intelligently manage the code buffer to minimize the overhead of code buffer misses. Yet, intelligent buffer management on the tightly constrained client can be too expensive. In this paper, we propose to move code buffer management to the server, where sophisticated schemes can be employed. We describe two schemes that use profiling information to direct the client in caching code partitions. One scheme is designed for workloads with stable run-time behavior, while the other scheme adapts its decisions for workloads with unstable behaviors. We evaluate and compare our schemes and show they perform well, compared to other approaches, with the adaptive scheme having the best performance overall.
7007263
The rich-club phenomenon in the Internet topology
We show that the Internet topology at the autonomous system (AS) level has a rich-club phenomenon. The rich nodes, which are a small number of nodes with large numbers of links, are very well connected to each other. The rich-club is a core tier that we measured using the rich-club connectivity and the node-node link distribution. We obtained this core tier without any heuristic assumption between the ASs. The rich-club phenomenon is a simple qualitative way to differentiate between power law topologies and provides a criterion for new network models. To show this, we compared the measured rich-club of the AS graph with networks obtained using the Baraba/spl acute/si-Albert (BA) scale-free network model, the Fitness BA model and the Inet-3.0 model.
815725
Virtual Execution Environments: Support and Tools
In today's dynamic computing environments, the available resources and even underlying computation engine can change during the execution of a program. Additionally, current trends in software development favor the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of dynamically loaded components and libraries. Because of these trends, there has been increased research interest in virtual execution environments (VEEs) for delivering adaptable software suitable for today's rapidly changing, heterogeneous computing environments. In this project, we have been investigating tools and techniques to support implementation of VEEs using software dynamic translation (SDT). This paper highlights some of our recent results. One significant result is that we have developed novel translation techniques that reduce the memory and runtime overhead of SDT to negligible levels. We have also developed innovative debugging and instrumentation tools for SDT-based software environments. Together, these results make SDT-based systems viable for solving a wide range of pressing problems. The paper concludes with a discussion of how SDT may offer a solution to one such problem-inherent process variation in emerging chip multiprocessors.
25346055
Almost Covers Of 2-Arc Transitive Graphs
Let Γ be a G-symmetric graph whose vertex set admits a nontrivial G-invariant partition ℬ with block size v. Let Γℬ be the quotient graph of Γ relative to ℬ and Γ[B,C] the bipartite subgraph of Γ induced by adjacent blocks B,C of ℬ. In this paper we study such graphs for which Γℬ is connected, (G, 2)-arc transitive and is almost covered by Γ in the sense that Γ[B,C] is a matching of v-1 ≥ 2 edges. Such graphs arose as a natural extremal case in a previous study by the author with Li and Praeger. The case Γℬ ≅Kv+1 is covered by results of Gardiner and Praeger. We consider here the general case where Γℬ ≇Kv+1, and prove that, for some even integer n ≥ 4, Γℬ is a near n-gonal graph with respect to a certain G-orbit on n-cycles of Γℬ. Moreover, we prove that every (G, 2)-arc transitive near n-gonal graph with respect to a G-orbit on n-cycles arises as a quotient Γℬ of a graph with these properties. (A near n-gonal graph is a connected graph Σ of girth at least 4 together with a set ℰ of n-cycles of Σ such that each 2-arc of Σ is contained in a unique member of ℰ.)
13349007
Greedy Algorithms for Client Assignment in Large-Scale Distributed Virtual Environments
Distributed Virtual Environments (DVEs), such as online games, military simulations, collaborative design, etc., are very popular nowadays. To support large-scale DVEs, a multi-server architecture is usually employed, and the virtual world is partitioned into multiple zones for load distribution. The client assignment problem arises when assigning the participating clients to the servers. Current approaches usually assign clients to servers according to the locations of clients in the virtual world, i.e., clients interacting in the same zone of the virtual world will be assigned to the same server. This approach may degrade the interactivity of DVEs if the network delay from a client to its assigned server is large. In this paper, we formulate the client assignment problem, and propose two algorithms to assign clients to servers in a more efficient way. The proposed algorithms are based on the heuristics developed for the well-known Terminal Assignment problem. Simulation results with the BRITE Internet Topology Generator show that our algorithms are effective in enhancing the interactivity of DVEs.