Joint Learning of Fully Connected Network Models in Lifting Based Image Coders.

The optimization of prediction and update operators plays a prominent role in lifting-based image coding schemes. In this paper, we focus on learning the prediction and update models involved in a recent Fully Connected Neural Network (FCNN)-based lifting structure. While a straightforward approach consists in separately learning the different FCNN models by optimizing appropriate loss functions, jointly learning those models is a more challenging problem. To address this problem, we first consider a statistical model-based entropy loss function that yields a good approximation to the coding rate. Then, we develop a multi-scale optimization technique to learn all the FCNN models simultaneously. For this purpose, two loss functions defined across the different resolution levels of the proposed representation are investigated. While the first function combines standard prediction and update loss functions, the second one aims to obtain a good approximation to the rate-distortion criterion. Experimental results carried out on two standard image datasets, show the benefits of the proposed approaches in the context of lossy and lossless compression.

Dynamic Neural Network for Lossy-to-Lossless Image Coding.

Lifting-based wavelet transform has been extensively used for efficient compression of various types of visual data. Generally, the performance of such coding schemes strongly depends on the lifting operators used, namely the prediction and update filters. Unlike conventional schemes based on linear filters, we propose, in this paper, to learn these operators by exploiting neural networks. More precisely, a classical Fully Connected Neural Network (FCNN) architecture is firstly employed to perform the prediction and update. Then, we propose to improve this FCNN-based Lifting Scheme (LS) in order to better take into account the input image to be encoded. Thus, a novel dynamical FCNN model is developed, making the learning process adaptive to the input image contents for which two adaptive learning techniques are proposed. While the first one resorts to an iterative algorithm where the computation of two kinds of variables is performed in an alternating manner, the second learning method aims to learn the model parameters directly through a reformulation of the loss function. Experimental results carried out on various test images show the benefits of the proposed approaches in the context of lossy and lossless image compression.

Physical Activity Recognition Based on a Parallel Approach for an Ensemble of Machine Learning and Deep Learning Classifiers.

Human activity recognition (HAR) by wearable sensor devices embedded in the Internet of things (IOT) can play a significant role in remote health monitoring and emergency notification to provide healthcare of higher standards. The purpose of this study is to investigate a human activity recognition method of accrued decision accuracy and speed of execution to be applicable in healthcare. This method classifies wearable sensor acceleration time series data of human movement using an efficient classifier combination of feature engineering-based and feature learning-based data representation. Leave-one-subject-out cross-validation of the method with data acquired from 44 subjects wearing a single waist-worn accelerometer on a smart textile, and engaged in a variety of 10 activities, yielded an average recognition rate of 90%, performing significantly better than individual classifiers. The method easily accommodates functional and computational parallelization to bring execution time significantly down.

An Auxiliary Variable Method for Markov Chain Monte Carlo Algorithms in High Dimension.

In this paper, we are interested in Bayesian inverse problems where either the data fidelity term or the prior distribution is Gaussian or driven from a hierarchical Gaussian model. Generally, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms allow us to generate sets of samples that are employed to infer some relevant parameters of the underlying distributions. However, when the parameter space is high-dimensional, the performance of stochastic sampling algorithms is very sensitive to existing dependencies between parameters. In particular, this problem arises when one aims to sample from a high-dimensional Gaussian distribution whose covariance matrix does not present a simple structure. Another challenge is the design of Metropolis-Hastings proposals that make use of information about the local geometry of the target density in order to speed up the convergence and improve mixing properties in the parameter space, while not being too computationally expensive. These two contexts are mainly related to the presence of two heterogeneous sources of dependencies stemming either from the prior or the likelihood in the sense that the related covariance matrices cannot be diagonalized in the same basis. In this work, we address these two issues. Our contribution consists of adding auxiliary variables to the model in order to dissociate the two sources of dependencies. In the new augmented space, only one source of correlation remains directly related to the target parameters, the other sources of correlations being captured by the auxiliary variables. Experiments are conducted on two practical image restoration problems-namely the recovery of multichannel blurred images embedded in Gaussian noise and the recovery of signal corrupted by a mixed Gaussian noise. Experimental results indicate that adding the proposed auxiliary variables makes the sampling problem simpler since the new conditional distribution no longer contains highly heterogeneous correlations. Thus, the computational cost of each iteration of the Gibbs sampler is significantly reduced while ensuring good mixing properties.

A wavelet-based regularized reconstruction algorithm for SENSE parallel MRI with applications to neuroimaging.

To reduce scanning time and/or improve spatial/temporal resolution in some Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) applications, parallel MRI acquisition techniques with multiple coils acquisition have emerged since the early 1990s as powerful imaging methods that allow a faster acquisition process. In these techniques, the full FOV image has to be reconstructed from the resulting acquired undersampled k-space data. To this end, several reconstruction techniques have been proposed such as the widely-used SENSitivity Encoding (SENSE) method. However, the reconstructed image generally presents artifacts when perturbations occur in both the measured data and the estimated coil sensitivity profiles. In this paper, we aim at achieving accurate image reconstruction under degraded experimental conditions (low magnetic field and high reduction factor), in which neither the SENSE method nor the Tikhonov regularization in the image domain give convincing results. To this end, we present a novel method for SENSE-based reconstruction which proceeds with regularization in the complex wavelet domain by promoting sparsity. The proposed approach relies on a fast algorithm that enables the minimization of regularized non-differentiable criteria including more general penalties than a classical ℓ(1) term. To further enhance the reconstructed image quality, local convex constraints are added to the regularization process. In vivo human brain experiments carried out on Gradient-Echo (GRE) anatomical and Echo Planar Imaging (EPI) functional MRI data at 1.5T indicate that our algorithm provides reconstructed images with reduced artifacts for high reduction factors.

Satellite image restoration in the context of a spatially varying point spread function.

In this paper, we consider a deconvolution problem where the point spread function (PSF) of the optical imaging system varies between different spatial locations, thus leading to a spatially varying blur. This problem arises, for example, in synthetic aperture instruments and in wide-field optical systems. Unlike the classical deconvolution context where the PSF is assumed to be spatially invariant, the problem cannot be easily solved in the Fourier domain. We propose here an iterative algorithm based on convex optimization techniques and a wavelet frame regularization. This approach allows restoration of the image, taking into account the properties of the blur operator, the latter being known.

Vector lifting schemes for stereo image coding.

Many research efforts have been devoted to the improvement of stereo image coding techniques for storage or transmission. In this paper, we are mainly interested in lossy-to-lossless coding schemes for stereo images allowing progressive reconstruction. The most commonly used approaches for stereo compression are based on disparity compensation techniques. The basic principle involved in this technique first consists of estimating the disparity map. Then, one image is considered as a reference and the other is predicted in order to generate a residual image. In this paper, we propose a novel approach, based on vector lifting schemes (VLS), which offers the advantage of generating two compact multiresolution representations of the left and the right views. We present two versions of this new scheme. A theoretical analysis of the performance of the considered VLS is also conducted. Experimental results indicate a significant improvement using the proposed structures compared with conventional methods.

Quantification of microarchitecture bone junctions based on a dual tree M-band wavelet decomposition.

Osteoporosis shows itself both in a reduction of the bone mass and a degradation of the microarchitecture of the bone tissue. To this respect, radiographies of the calcaneus are used to analyze both the texture and the structure of the bone thanks to sophisticated image processing tools. In this paper, we propose a method for evaluating the number of junctions in the imaged microarchitecture. The first novelty of this paper is the evaluation of this number from a multiresolution representation resulting from Dual Tree M -band decompositions. Its appealing advantage is its great directional selectivity. The second contribution of our work relies on the statistical procedure we apply to separate between Osteoporotic Patients (OP) and Control Patients (CP). Classification and statistical tests conducted on a set of radiographies with their own ground truth corroborate the advantage of the proposed method.

Building robust wavelet estimators for multicomponent images using Stein's principle.

Multichannel imaging systems provide several observations of the same scene which are often corrupted by noise. In this paper, we are interested in multispectral image denoising in the wavelet domain. We adopt a multivariate statistical approach in order to exploit the correlations existing between the different spectral components. Our main contribution is the application of Stein's principle to build a new estimator for arbitrary multichannel images embedded in additive Gaussian noise. Simulation tests carried out on optical satellite images show that the proposed method outperforms conventional wavelet shrinkage techniques.