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19 results (View BibTeX file of all listed publications)

2009

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ISocRob-MSL 2009 Team Description Paper for Middle Sized League

Lima, P., Santos, J., Estilita, J., Barbosa, M., Ahmad, A., Carreira, J.

13th Annual RoboCup International Symposium 2009, July 2009 (techreport)

Abstract
This paper describes the status of the ISocRob MSL roboticsoccer team as required by the RoboCup 2009 qualification procedures.Since its previous participation in RoboCup, the ISocRob team has car-ried out significant developments in various topics, the most relevantof which are presented here. These include self-localization, 3D objecttracking and cooperative object localization, motion control and rela-tional behaviors. A brief description of the hardware of the ISocRobrobots and of the software architecture adopted by the team is also in-cluded.

[BibTex]

2009

Lima, P., Santos, J., Estilita, J., Barbosa, M., Ahmad, A., Carreira, J. ISocRob-MSL 2009 Team Description Paper for Middle Sized League 13th Annual RoboCup International Symposium 2009, July 2009 (techreport)

[BibTex]

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Fields of Experts

Roth, S., Black, M. J.

International Journal of Computer Vision (IJCV), 82(2):205-29, April 2009 (article)

Abstract
We develop a framework for learning generic, expressive image priors that capture the statistics of natural scenes and can be used for a variety of machine vision tasks. The approach provides a practical method for learning high-order Markov random field (MRF) models with potential functions that extend over large pixel neighborhoods. These clique potentials are modeled using the Product-of-Experts framework that uses non-linear functions of many linear filter responses. In contrast to previous MRF approaches all parameters, including the linear filters themselves, are learned from training data. We demonstrate the capabilities of this Field-of-Experts model with two example applications, image denoising and image inpainting, which are implemented using a simple, approximate inference scheme. While the model is trained on a generic image database and is not tuned toward a specific application, we obtain results that compete with specialized techniques.

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]

Roth, S., Black, M. J. Fields of Experts International Journal of Computer Vision (IJCV), 82(2):205-29, April 2009 (article)

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]

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Automatic recognition of rodent behavior: A tool for systematic phenotypic analysis

Serre, T.*, Jhuang, H*., Garrote, E., Poggio, T., Steele, A.

CBCL paper #283/MIT-CSAIL-TR #2009-052., MIT, 2009 (techreport)

pdf [BibTex]

Serre, T.*, Jhuang, H*., Garrote, E., Poggio, T., Steele, A. Automatic recognition of rodent behavior: A tool for systematic phenotypic analysis CBCL paper #283/MIT-CSAIL-TR #2009-052., MIT, 2009 (techreport)

pdf [BibTex]

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Left Ventricular Regional Wall Curvedness and Wall Stress in Patients with Ischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Liang Zhong, Yi Su, Si Yong Yeo, Ru San Tan Dhanjoo Ghista, Ghassan Kassab

American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 296(3):H573-84, 2009 (article)

Abstract
Geometric remodeling of the left ventricle (LV) after myocardial infarction is associated with changes in myocardial wall stress. The objective of this study was to determine the regional curvatures and wall stress based on three-dimensional (3-D) reconstructions of the LV using MRI. Ten patients with ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) and 10 normal subjects underwent MRI scan. The IDCM patients also underwent delayed gadolinium-enhancement imaging to delineate the extent of myocardial infarct. Regional curvedness, local radii of curvature, and wall thickness were calculated. The percent curvedness change between end diastole and end systole was also calculated. In normal heart, a short- and long-axis two-dimensional analysis showed a 41 +/- 11% and 45 +/- 12% increase of the mean of peak systolic wall stress between basal and apical sections, respectively. However, 3-D analysis showed no significant difference in peak systolic wall stress from basal and apical sections (P = 0.298, ANOVA). LV shape differed between IDCM patients and normal subjects in several ways: LV shape was more spherical (sphericity index = 0.62 +/- 0.08 vs. 0.52 +/- 0.06, P < 0.05), curvedness at end diastole (mean for 16 segments = 0.034 +/- 0.0056 vs. 0.040 +/- 0.0071 mm(-1), P < 0.001) and end systole (mean for 16 segments = 0.037 +/- 0.0068 vs. 0.067 +/- 0.020 mm(-1), P < 0.001) was affected by infarction, and peak systolic wall stress was significantly increased at each segment in IDCM patients. The 3-D quantification of regional wall stress by cardiac MRI provides more precise evaluation of cardiac mechanics. Identification of regional curvedness and wall stresses helps delineate the mechanisms of LV remodeling in IDCM and may help guide therapeutic LV restoration.

[BibTex]

Liang Zhong, Yi Su, Si Yong Yeo, Ru San Tan Dhanjoo Ghista, Ghassan Kassab Left Ventricular Regional Wall Curvedness and Wall Stress in Patients with Ischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 296(3):H573-84, 2009 (article)

[BibTex]

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A Curvature-Based Approach for Left Ventricular Shape Analysis from Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Si Yong Yeo, Liang Zhong, Yi Su, Ru San Tan, Dhanjoo Ghista

Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 47(3):313-322, 2009 (article)

Abstract
It is believed that left ventricular (LV) regional shape is indicative of LV regional function, and cardiac pathologies are often associated with regional alterations in ventricular shape. In this article, we present a set of procedures for evaluating regional LV surface shape from anatomically accurate models reconstructed from cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) images. LV surface curvatures are computed using local surface fitting method, which enables us to assess regional LV shape and its variation. Comparisons are made between normal and diseased hearts. It is illustrated that LV surface curvatures at different regions of the normal heart are higher than those of the diseased heart. Also, the normal heart experiences a larger change in regional curvedness during contraction than the diseased heart. It is believed that with a wide range of dataset being evaluated, this approach will provide a new and efficient way of quantifying LV regional function.

link (url) [BibTex]

Si Yong Yeo, Liang Zhong, Yi Su, Ru San Tan, Dhanjoo Ghista A Curvature-Based Approach for Left Ventricular Shape Analysis from Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 47(3):313-322, 2009 (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

2007

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Learning static Gestalt laws through dynamic experience

Ostrovsky, Y., Wulff, J., Sinha, P.

Journal of Vision, 7(9):315-315, ARVO, June 2007 (article)

Abstract
The Gestalt laws (Wertheimer 1923) are widely regarded as the rules that help us parse the world into objects. However, it is unclear as to how these laws are acquired by an infant's visual system. Classically, these “laws” have been presumed to be innate (Kellman and Spelke 1983). But, more recent work in infant development, showing the protracted time-course over which these grouping principles emerge (e.g., Johnson and Aslin 1995; Craton 1996), suggests that visual experience might play a role in their genesis. Specifically, our studies of patients with late-onset vision (Project Prakash; VSS 2006) and evidence from infant development both point to an early role of common motion cues for object grouping. Here we explore the possibility that the privileged status of motion in the developmental timeline is not happenstance, but rather serves to bootstrap the learning of static Gestalt cues. Our approach involves computational analyses of real-world motion sequences to investigate whether primitive optic flow information is correlated with static figural cues that could eventually come to serve as proxies for grouping in the form of Gestalt principles. We calculated local optic flow maps and then examined how similarity of motion across image patches co-varied with similarity of certain figural properties in static frames. Results indicate that patches with similar motion are much more likely to have similar luminance, color, and orientation as compared to patches with dissimilar motion vectors. This regularity suggests that, in principle, common motion extracted from dynamic visual experience can provide enough information to bootstrap region grouping based on luminance and color and contour continuation mechanisms in static scenes. These observations, coupled with the cited experimental studies, lend credence to the hypothesis that static Gestalt laws might be learned through a bootstrapping process based on early dynamic experience.

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

2007

Ostrovsky, Y., Wulff, J., Sinha, P. Learning static Gestalt laws through dynamic experience Journal of Vision, 7(9):315-315, ARVO, June 2007 (article)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Neuromotor prosthesis development

Donoghue, J., Hochberg, L., Nurmikko, A., Black, M., Simeral, J., Friehs, G.

Medicine & Health Rhode Island, 90(1):12-15, January 2007 (article)

Abstract
Article describes a neuromotor prosthesis (NMP), in development at Brown University, that records human brain signals, decodes them, and transforms them into movement commands. An NMP is described as a system consisting of a neural interface, a decoding system, and a user interface, also called an effector; a closed-loop system would be completed by a feedback signal from the effector to the brain. The interface is based on neural spiking, a source of information-rich, rapid, complex control signals from the nervous system. The NMP described, named BrainGate, consists of a match-head sized platform with 100 thread-thin electrodes implanted just into the surface of the motor cortex where commands to move the hand emanate. Neural signals are decoded by a rack of computers that displays the resultant output as the motion of a cursor on a computer monitor. While computer cursor motion represents a form of virtual device control, this same command signal could be routed to a device to command motion of paralyzed muscles or the actions of prosthetic limbs. The researchers’ overall goal is the development of a fully implantable, wireless multi-neuron sensor for broad research, neural prosthetic, and human neurodiagnostic applications.

pdf [BibTex]

Donoghue, J., Hochberg, L., Nurmikko, A., Black, M., Simeral, J., Friehs, G. Neuromotor prosthesis development Medicine & Health Rhode Island, 90(1):12-15, January 2007 (article)

pdf [BibTex]

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On the spatial statistics of optical flow

Roth, S., Black, M. J.

International Journal of Computer Vision, 74(1):33-50, 2007 (article)

Abstract
We present an analysis of the spatial and temporal statistics of "natural" optical flow fields and a novel flow algorithm that exploits their spatial statistics. Training flow fields are constructed using range images of natural scenes and 3D camera motions recovered from hand-held and car-mounted video sequences. A detailed analysis of optical flow statistics in natural scenes is presented and machine learning methods are developed to learn a Markov random field model of optical flow. The prior probability of a flow field is formulated as a Field-of-Experts model that captures the spatial statistics in overlapping patches and is trained using contrastive divergence. This new optical flow prior is compared with previous robust priors and is incorporated into a recent, accurate algorithm for dense optical flow computation. Experiments with natural and synthetic sequences illustrate how the learned optical flow prior quantitatively improves flow accuracy and how it captures the rich spatial structure found in natural scene motion.

pdf preprint pdf from publisher [BibTex]

Roth, S., Black, M. J. On the spatial statistics of optical flow International Journal of Computer Vision, 74(1):33-50, 2007 (article)

pdf preprint pdf from publisher [BibTex]

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Assistive technology and robotic control using MI ensemble-based neural interface systems in humans with tetraplegia

Donoghue, J. P., Nurmikko, A., Black, M. J., Hochberg, L.

Journal of Physiology, Special Issue on Brain Computer Interfaces, 579, pages: 603-611, 2007 (article)

Abstract
This review describes the rationale, early stage development, and initial human application of neural interface systems (NISs) for humans with paralysis. NISs are emerging medical devices designed to allowpersonswith paralysis to operate assistive technologies or to reanimatemuscles based upon a command signal that is obtained directly fromthe brain. Such systems require the development of sensors to detect brain signals, decoders to transformneural activity signals into a useful command, and an interface for the user.We review initial pilot trial results of an NIS that is based on an intracortical microelectrode sensor that derives control signals from the motor cortex.We review recent findings showing, first, that neurons engaged by movement intentions persist in motor cortex years after injury or disease to the motor system, and second, that signals derived from motor cortex can be used by persons with paralysis to operate a range of devices. We suggest that, with further development, this form of NIS holds promise as a useful new neurotechnology for those with limited motor function or communication.We also discuss the additional potential for neural sensors to be used in the diagnosis and management of various neurological conditions and as a new way to learn about human brain function.

pdf preprint pdf from publisher DOI [BibTex]

Donoghue, J. P., Nurmikko, A., Black, M. J., Hochberg, L. Assistive technology and robotic control using MI ensemble-based neural interface systems in humans with tetraplegia Journal of Physiology, Special Issue on Brain Computer Interfaces, 579, pages: 603-611, 2007 (article)

pdf preprint pdf from publisher DOI [BibTex]

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Denoising archival films using a learned Bayesian model

Moldovan, T. M., Roth, S., Black, M. J.

(CS-07-03), Brown University, Department of Computer Science, 2007 (techreport)

pdf [BibTex]

Moldovan, T. M., Roth, S., Black, M. J. Denoising archival films using a learned Bayesian model (CS-07-03), Brown University, Department of Computer Science, 2007 (techreport)

pdf [BibTex]

2006

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Implicit Wiener Series, Part II: Regularised estimation

Gehler, P., Franz, M.

(148), Max Planck Institute, 2006 (techreport)

pdf [BibTex]

2006

Gehler, P., Franz, M. Implicit Wiener Series, Part II: Regularised estimation (148), Max Planck Institute, 2006 (techreport)

pdf [BibTex]

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HumanEva: Synchronized video and motion capture dataset for evaluation of articulated human motion

Sigal, L., Black, M. J.

(CS-06-08), Brown University, Department of Computer Science, 2006 (techreport)

pdf abstract [BibTex]

Sigal, L., Black, M. J. HumanEva: Synchronized video and motion capture dataset for evaluation of articulated human motion (CS-06-08), Brown University, Department of Computer Science, 2006 (techreport)

pdf abstract [BibTex]

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Bayesian population decoding of motor cortical activity using a Kalman filter

Wu, W., Gao, Y., Bienenstock, E., Donoghue, J. P., Black, M. J.

Neural Computation, 18(1):80-118, 2006 (article)

Abstract
Effective neural motor prostheses require a method for decoding neural activity representing desired movement. In particular, the accurate reconstruction of a continuous motion signal is necessary for the control of devices such as computer cursors, robots, or a patient's own paralyzed limbs. For such applications, we developed a real-time system that uses Bayesian inference techniques to estimate hand motion from the firing rates of multiple neurons. In this study, we used recordings that were previously made in the arm area of primary motor cortex in awake behaving monkeys using a chronically implanted multielectrode microarray. Bayesian inference involves computing the posterior probability of the hand motion conditioned on a sequence of observed firing rates; this is formulated in terms of the product of a likelihood and a prior. The likelihood term models the probability of firing rates given a particular hand motion. We found that a linear gaussian model could be used to approximate this likelihood and could be readily learned from a small amount of training data. The prior term defines a probabilistic model of hand kinematics and was also taken to be a linear gaussian model. Decoding was performed using a Kalman filter, which gives an efficient recursive method for Bayesian inference when the likelihood and prior are linear and gaussian. In off-line experiments, the Kalman filter reconstructions of hand trajectory were more accurate than previously reported results. The resulting decoding algorithm provides a principled probabilistic model of motor-cortical coding, decodes hand motion in real time, provides an estimate of uncertainty, and is straightforward to implement. Additionally the formulation unifies and extends previous models of neural coding while providing insights into the motor-cortical code.

pdf preprint pdf from publisher abstract [BibTex]

Wu, W., Gao, Y., Bienenstock, E., Donoghue, J. P., Black, M. J. Bayesian population decoding of motor cortical activity using a Kalman filter Neural Computation, 18(1):80-118, 2006 (article)

pdf preprint pdf from publisher abstract [BibTex]

1999

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Parameterized modeling and recognition of activities

Yacoob, Y., Black, M. J.

Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 73(2):232-247, 1999 (article)

Abstract
In this paper we consider a class of human activities—atomic activities—which can be represented as a set of measurements over a finite temporal window (e.g., the motion of human body parts during a walking cycle) and which has a relatively small space of variations in performance. A new approach for modeling and recognition of atomic activities that employs principal component analysis and analytical global transformations is proposed. The modeling of sets of exemplar instances of activities that are similar in duration and involve similar body part motions is achieved by parameterizing their representation using principal component analysis. The recognition of variants of modeled activities is achieved by searching the space of admissible parameterized transformations that these activities can undergo. This formulation iteratively refines the recognition of the class to which the observed activity belongs and the transformation parameters that relate it to the model in its class. We provide several experiments on recognition of articulated and deformable human motions from image motion parameters.

pdf pdf from publisher DOI [BibTex]

1999

Yacoob, Y., Black, M. J. Parameterized modeling and recognition of activities Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 73(2):232-247, 1999 (article)

pdf pdf from publisher DOI [BibTex]

1997

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Recognizing facial expressions in image sequences using local parameterized models of image motion

Black, M. J., Yacoob, Y.

Int. Journal of Computer Vision, 25(1):23-48, 1997 (article)

Abstract
This paper explores the use of local parametrized models of image motion for recovering and recognizing the non-rigid and articulated motion of human faces. Parametric flow models (for example affine) are popular for estimating motion in rigid scenes. We observe that within local regions in space and time, such models not only accurately model non-rigid facial motions but also provide a concise description of the motion in terms of a small number of parameters. These parameters are intuitively related to the motion of facial features during facial expressions and we show how expressions such as anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, and sadness can be recognized from the local parametric motions in the presence of significant head motion. The motion tracking and expression recognition approach performed with high accuracy in extensive laboratory experiments involving 40 subjects as well as in television and movie sequences.

pdf pdf from publisher abstract video [BibTex]

1996

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Estimating optical flow in segmented images using variable-order parametric models with local deformations

Black, M. J., Jepson, A.

IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 18(10):972-986, October 1996 (article)

Abstract
This paper presents a new model for estimating optical flow based on the motion of planar regions plus local deformations. The approach exploits brightness information to organize and constrain the interpretation of the motion by using segmented regions of piecewise smooth brightness to hypothesize planar regions in the scene. Parametric flow models are estimated in these regions in a two step process which first computes a coarse fit and estimates the appropriate parameterization of the motion of the region (two, six, or eight parameters). The initial fit is refined using a generalization of the standard area-based regression approaches. Since the assumption of planarity is likely to be violated, we allow local deformations from the planar assumption in the same spirit as physically-based approaches which model shape using coarse parametric models plus local deformations. This parametric+deformation model exploits the strong constraints of parametric approaches while retaining the adaptive nature of regularization approaches. Experimental results on a variety of images indicate that the parametric+deformation model produces accurate flow estimates while the incorporation of brightness segmentation provides precise localization of motion boundaries.

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]

1996

Black, M. J., Jepson, A. Estimating optical flow in segmented images using variable-order parametric models with local deformations IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 18(10):972-986, October 1996 (article)

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]

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On the unification of line processes, outlier rejection, and robust statistics with applications in early vision

Black, M., Rangarajan, A.

International Journal of Computer Vision , 19(1):57-92, July 1996 (article)

Abstract
The modeling of spatial discontinuities for problems such as surface recovery, segmentation, image reconstruction, and optical flow has been intensely studied in computer vision. While “line-process” models of discontinuities have received a great deal of attention, there has been recent interest in the use of robust statistical techniques to account for discontinuities. This paper unifies the two approaches. To achieve this we generalize the notion of a “line process” to that of an analog “outlier process” and show how a problem formulated in terms of outlier processes can be viewed in terms of robust statistics. We also characterize a class of robust statistical problems for which an equivalent outlier-process formulation exists and give a straightforward method for converting a robust estimation problem into an outlier-process formulation. We show how prior assumptions about the spatial structure of outliers can be expressed as constraints on the recovered analog outlier processes and how traditional continuation methods can be extended to the explicit outlier-process formulation. These results indicate that the outlier-process approach provides a general framework which subsumes the traditional line-process approaches as well as a wide class of robust estimation problems. Examples in surface reconstruction, image segmentation, and optical flow are presented to illustrate the use of outlier processes and to show how the relationship between outlier processes and robust statistics can be exploited. An appendix provides a catalog of common robust error norms and their equivalent outlier-process formulations.

pdf pdf from publisher DOI [BibTex]

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Mixture Models for Image Representation

Jepson, A., Black, M.

PRECARN ARK Project Technical Report ARK96-PUB-54, March 1996 (techreport)

Abstract
We consider the estimation of local greylevel image structure in terms of a layered representation. This type of representation has recently been successfully used to segment various objects from clutter using either optical ow or stereo disparity information. We argue that the same type of representation is useful for greylevel data in that it allows for the estimation of properties for each of several different components without prior segmentation. Our emphasis in this paper is on the process used to extract such a layered representation from a given image In particular we consider a variant of the EM algorithm for the estimation of the layered model and consider a novel technique for choosing the number of layers to use. We briefly consider the use of a simple version of this approach for image segmentation and suggest two potential applications to the ARK project

pdf [BibTex]

Jepson, A., Black, M. Mixture Models for Image Representation PRECARN ARK Project Technical Report ARK96-PUB-54, March 1996 (techreport)

pdf [BibTex]

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The robust estimation of multiple motions: Parametric and piecewise-smooth flow fields

Black, M. J., Anandan, P.

Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 63(1):75-104, January 1996 (article)

Abstract
Most approaches for estimating optical flow assume that, within a finite image region, only a single motion is present. This single motion assumption is violated in common situations involving transparency, depth discontinuities, independently moving objects, shadows, and specular reflections. To robustly estimate optical flow, the single motion assumption must be relaxed. This paper presents a framework based on robust estimation that addresses violations of the brightness constancy and spatial smoothness assumptions caused by multiple motions. We show how the robust estimation framework can be applied to standard formulations of the optical flow problem thus reducing their sensitivity to violations of their underlying assumptions. The approach has been applied to three standard techniques for recovering optical flow: area-based regression, correlation, and regularization with motion discontinuities. This paper focuses on the recovery of multiple parametric motion models within a region, as well as the recovery of piecewise-smooth flow fields, and provides examples with natural and synthetic image sequences.

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]

Black, M. J., Anandan, P. The robust estimation of multiple motions: Parametric and piecewise-smooth flow fields Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 63(1):75-104, January 1996 (article)

pdf pdf from publisher [BibTex]