Automatic white blood cell segmentation using stepwise merging rules and gradient vector flow snake

This study aims at proposing a new stained WBC (white blood cell) image segmentation method using stepwise merging rules based on mean-shift clustering and boundary removal rules with a GVF (gradient vector flow) snake. This paper proposes two different schemes for segmenting the nuclei and cytoplasm of WBCs, respectively. For nuclei segmentation, a probability map is created using a probability density function estimated from samples of WBC's nuclei and sub-images cropped to include a nucleus based on the fact that nuclei have a salient color against the background and red blood cells. Mean-shift clustering is then performed for region segmentation, and a stepwise merging scheme applied to merge particle clusters with a nucleus. Meanwhile, for cytoplasm segmentation, morphological opening is applied to a green image to boost the intensity of the granules and canny edges detected within the sub-image. The boundary edges and noise edges are then removed using removal rules, while a GVF snake is forced to deform to the cytoplasm boundary edges. When evaluated using five different types of stained WBC, the proposed algorithm produced accurate segmentation results for most WBC types.     

Fringe projection profilometry with nonparallel illumination: a least-squares approach

Under a nonparallel illumination condition, fringe patterns projected on an object have unequal fringe spacing that would introduce a nonlinear carrier phase component. This Letter describes a nonlinear carrier removal technique based on a least-squares approach. In contrast with conventional methods, the proposed algorithm would not magnify phase measurement uncertainty, nor does it require direct estimation of system geometrical parameters. The theoretical expression of the carrier phase function on the reference is derived and expanded in a power series. The unknown coefficients in the series are determined by a least-squares method. By subtracting the calculated carrier phase function from the unwrapped phase map, the phase distribution of the object profile is obtained.     

A unified approach for least-squares surface fitting

This paper presents a novel approach for least-squares fitting of complex surface to measured 3D coordinate points by adjusting its location and/or shape. For a point expressed in the machine reference frame and a deformable smooth surface represented in its own model frame, a signed point-to-surface distance function is defined,and its increment with respect to the differential motion and differential deformation of the surface is derived. On this basis, localization, surface reconstruction and geometric variation characterization are formulated as a unified nonlinear least-squares problem defined on the product space SE(3)×m. By using Levenberg-Marquardt method, a sequential approximation surface fitting algorithm is developed. It has the advantages of implementational simplicity, computational efficiency and robustness. Applications confirm the validity of the proposed approach.     

A unified approach for least-squares surface fitting

This paper presents a novel approach for least-squares fitting of complex surface to measured 3D coordinate points by adjusting its location and/or shape. For a point expressed in the machine reference frame and a deformable smooth surface represented in its own model frame, a signed point-to-surface distance function is defined, and its increment with respect to the differential motion and differential deformation of the surface is derived. On this basis, localization, surface reconstruction and geometric variation characterization are formulated as a unified nonlinear least-squares problem defined on the product space SE(3) × R ^m . By using Levenberg-Marquardt method, a sequential approximation surface fitting algorithm is developed. It has the advantages of implementational simplicity, computational efficiency and robustness. Applications confirm the validity of the proposed approach.     

Calculation of ion transport beam lines with stepwise change in beam parameters

Diaphragms or slits (to limit the size of the ion beam) and degraders (to reduce the kinetic energy of ions) are often used in beam lines for ion transport. When an ion beam travels through these elements, parameters such as rms sizes, angle, and momentum spread change abruptly. This fact should be taken into account in calculating the subsequent sections of the beam line. Formulas are derived for determining new parameters of the ion beam immediately after its passage through those elements. The results of calculations are given regarding the transport of different kinds of heavy ions in the beam lines of the U400M cyclotron of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions intended for testing electronic microchips.     

Comment on "Fringe projection profilometry with nonparallel illumination: a least-squares approach"

We comment on the recent Letter by Chen and Quan [Opt. Lett.30, 2101 (2005)] in which a least-squares approach was proposed to cope with the nonparallel illumination in fringe projection profilometry. It is noted that the previous mathematical derivations of the fringe pitch and carrier phase functions on the reference plane were incorrect. In addition, we suggest that the variation of carrier phase along the vertical direction should be considered.     

An application of the least-squares method to system parameters extraction from experimental data

We explore the possibility and the limits of extracting the parameters of the model from simulated logistic and Henon time series. For the models considered, the least-squares approach provides accurate values of the recurrence order and polynomial degree along with the model parameters. We found that the number of data points increases the accuracy of the estimation only for noise-free data. With the white noise added to the data, the accuracy could not be improved above a certain threshold that is almost independent of the number of data points. The additive noise flattened the global minimum of the least-squares function such that above a noise threshold it is no longer possible to discern the optimum values of the recurrence order and/or polynomial degree. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.     

近红外光谱定量分析的新方法:半监督最小二乘支持向量回归机

在近红外光谱定量分析中,样品化学值测定的准确度是运用数学模型进行定量分析精确度的理论极限。但能够准确获取化学值的样品数量比较少,许多模型在建模时只考虑这部分样品数据,而不考虑大量的无化学值的样品数据。针对该问题,本文在LS-SVR的基础上,提出了可以同时利用有化学值(标签)和无化学值样品数据的半监督LS-SVR(S2LS-SVR)模型。类似于LS-SVR,该模型也只需求解一个线性方程组。最后,以烤烟样品数据集为实验材料,建立了四种样品成分(总糖、还原糖、总氮和烟碱)的定量分析模型。四种样品成分的预测值与实际值的平均误差分别为6.62%,7.56%,6.11%和8.20%,相关系数分别为0.974 1,0.973 3,0.923 0和0.948 6。经分析比较发现S2LS-SVR模型优于PLS和LS-SVR,从而验证了S2LS-SVR模型的可行性和有效性。     

Room acoustical parameters: A factor analysis approach

In this study, we determined the most representative acoustical parameters for halls intended for verbal or music audition. Our study was carried out in nine halls of different shapes and designed for different uses. We measured the impulse response at a great number of points (many more than the minimum required by the ISO 3382 norm). From a physical viewpoint, all halls are enclosed three-dimensional areas. Our work hypothesis is that objective (measurable) acoustical parameters, or a combination of such parameters, must provide the acoustical information specific to each hall and must make it possible to grade each hall. Factor analysis was used to obtain these grading parameters and the considerable number of measurements we determined guaranteed the application of this type of analysis. The convergence provides corroboration of the main correlations between parameters. A group of orthogonal parameters was thus obtained, made up of three factors that group the parameters used by different outstanding researchers. These factors provide a clear acoustical interpretation. We have termed the first of these “intelligibility” as it contains intelligibility parameters; the second is associated with spaciousness; the third and last parameter has been termed “strength” as it is a linear combination of the parameters that measure the amplification (G) and the bass ratio (BR). The optimal scores of these factors for different uses of halls make it possible to grade any hall, independently of its shape, for its corresponding use.     

首次测到引力波

100年前爱因斯坦广义相对论预言引力波。它可形象地看作弯曲时空中的涟漪;天体物理过程越激烈,引力波辐射越强。当引力波传播时,时空将在垂直于传播方向挤压和拉伸。一般要发现这种极其微小的变化是非常困难的。LIGO 干涉仪臂长4 km;2015年升级改造后非常灵敏,能够检测到比原子核尺寸小得多的臂长变化。通过分析LIGO记录到的数据,美国和欧洲的科学家们推断：已经成功探测到两个黑洞合并产生的引力波。这一对黑洞距地球约13 亿光年;并合前约为太阳质量的36和29倍,并合后形成一个约62倍太阳质量黑洞。     

Electron paramagnetic resonance: Nonlinear least-squares fitting of the Hamiltonian parameters from powder spectra with the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm

In many instances, the deduction of spectroscopic parameters from electron paramagnetic resonance spectra depends on spectrum simulation and parameter optimization. We have developed two software packages based on the approximate formulae of Iwasaki for the calculation of line positions and on the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm for nonlinear least-squares optimization. Our software applies to systems having an anisotropicg-tensor and an arbitrary number of hyperfine interactions with nuclei. They are written in the FORTRAN 77 programming language. At present, neither the nuclear quadrupolar interaction nor the nuclear Zeeman interaction terms are handled. The programs CRISAJU and EPRPOWDERFIT apply to the cases of single crystals and powders, respectively. For use in the latter, thanks to the software ODYSSEE which implements automatic differentiation of algorithms, an ancillary subroutine, which contributes to the performance of the optimization, was created automatically.     

Estimating parameters in stochastic systems: A variational Bayesian approach

This work is concerned with approximate inference in dynamical systems, from a variational Bayesian perspective. When modelling real world dynamical systems, stochastic differential equations appear as a natural choice, mainly because of their ability to model the noise of the system by adding a variation of some stochastic process to the deterministic dynamics. Hence, inference in such processes has drawn much attention. Here a new extended framework is derived that is based on a local polynomial approximation of a recently proposed variational Bayesian algorithm. The paper begins by showing that the new extension of this variational algorithm can be used for state estimation (smoothing) and converges to the original algorithm. However, the main focus is on estimating the (hyper-) parameters of these systems (i.e. drift parameters and diffusion coefficients). The new approach is validated on a range of different systems which vary in dimensionality and non-linearity. These are the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, the exact likelihood of which can be computed analytically, the univariate and highly non-linear, stochastic double well and the multivariate chaotic stochastic Lorenz ’63 (3D model). As a special case the algorithm is also applied to the 40 dimensional stochastic Lorenz ’96 system. In our investigation we compare this new approach with a variety of other well known methods, such as the hybrid Monte Carlo, dual unscented Kalman filter, full weak-constraint 4D-Var algorithm and analyse empirically their asymptotic behaviour as a function of observation density or length of time window increases. In particular we show that we are able to estimate parameters in both the drift (deterministic) and the diffusion (stochastic) part of the model evolution equations using our new methods.     

Estimation of confidence intervals for the nonlinear parameters of a least-squares fit. Application to cholesteryl nonanoate data

The need for fitting experimental data with a model containing nonlinear parameters occurs frequently. Estimates for the confidence intervals of the nonlinear parameters are occasionally stated, however the method of determination, if any, is rarely explained. Plots of the error surface near the minimum are popular but contain little information. Taylor's series expansion about a good estimate of the solution yields a convergent procedure for nonlinear fitting and a covariance matrix useful for estimation of the parameter confidence intervals. In order to make the advantages of this approach explicit, the data of Pindak and coworkers on the divergence of the cholesteric pitch in cholesteryl nonanoate near the smectic-A phase transition have been reanalyzed. Three-and five-parameter fits yield estimates of 0.674±0.005 and 0.702±0.035, respectively, for the critical exponentv. The results indicate that the validity of the published estimate ofv=0.675±0.025 depends on the independent measurement of two of the five model parameters originally proposed. The influence of weighting factors and highly correlated expansion functions is also demonstrated. A preliminary account of this paper was presented to the Summer Meeting of the AAPT, Boone, N. C., June 20–22, 1974, AAPT Announcer4, No. 2, 30 (1974).     

Automated photoelasticity: weighted least-squares determination of field stresses

The three-wavelength approach to phase-stepping photoelasticity as developed by the author is extended to determine automatically full-field stress tensor values. The only need for the user to calibrate the results is to give the material fringe value and the value of a stress at a single point. Four phase-stepped images illuminated by three wavelengths of light, that differ by prescribed increments, are collected using a semi-circular polariscope and an RGB CCD camera. A ramped phase map for the isochromatic parameter (α) is produced in the wrapped range −π/2<απ/2 that can be calibrated automatically. The value of the isoclinic angle (θ) is determined in the wrapped range −π/4<θπ/4. A discrete cosine transform algorithm has been developed to separate the stresses into Cartesian components. A convenience of the method is that accurate results can be obtained using a least-squares error minimisation process. The results obtained from experimental testing of a disc-in-compression specimen using transmission photoelasticity presented in comparison with theoretical solutions demonstrate the accuracy of the new approach.