Guest editorial: Introduction to the special issue on modern control for computer games.

A typical gaming scenario, as developed in the past 20 years, involves a player interacting with a game using a specialized input device, such as a joystic, a mouse, a keyboard, etc. Recent technological advances and new sensors (for example, low cost commodity depth cameras) have enabled the introduction of more elaborated approaches in which the player is now able to interact with the game using his body pose, facial expressions, actions, and even his physiological signals. A new era of games has already started, employing computer vision techniques, brain-computer interfaces systems, haptic and wearable devices.

Regularized kernel discriminant analysis with a robust kernel for face recognition and verification.

We propose a robust approach to discriminant kernel-based feature extraction for face recognition and verification. We show, for the first time, how to perform the eigen analysis of the within-class scatter matrix directly in the feature space. This eigen analysis provides the eigenspectrum of its range space and the corresponding eigenvectors as well as the eigenvectors spanning its null space.

Improved 2D vector field estimation using probabilistic weights.

We consider the application of tomography to the reconstruction of two-dimensional vector fields. The most practical sensor configuration in such problems is the regular positioning along the boundary of the reconstruction domain. However, such a configuration does not result in uniform distribution in the Radon parameter space, which is a necessary requirement to achieve accurate reconstruction results.

Cephalometric landmarks identification using probabilistic relaxation.

In this paper, we develop methodology to locate cephalometric landmarks on X-ray images based on probabilistic relaxation, which combines local contextual information from the general shape of the bones of the head (used as measurements specific to each landmark in the form of its shape context) and relational information, expressing the relative position of the landmarks with respect to each other.

Virtual sensors for 2D vector field tomography.

We consider the application of tomography to the reconstruction of 2-D vector fields. The most convenient sensor configuration in such problems is the regular positioning along the domain boundary. However, the most accurate reconstructions are obtained by sampling uniformly the Radon parameter domain rather than the border of the reconstruction domain.

Nonlinear non-negative component analysis algorithms.

In this paper, general solutions for nonlinear non-negative component analysis for data representation and recognition are proposed. Motivated by a combination of the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) algorithm and kernel theory, which has lead to a recently proposed NMF algorithm in a polynomial feature space, we propose a general framework where one can build a nonlinear non-negative component analysis method using kernels, the so-called projected gradient kernel non-negative matrix factorization (PGKNMF). In the proposed approach, arbitrary positive definite kernels can be adopted while at the same time it is ensured that the limit point of the procedure is a stationary point of the optimization problem.

Attentional vs computational complexity measures in observing paintings.

Because of the great heterogeneity of subjects and styles, esthetic perception delineates a special and elusive field of research in vision, which represents an interesting challenge for cognitive science tools. With specific regard to the role of visual complexity, in this paper we present an experiment aimed to measure this dimension in a heterogeneous set of paintings. We compared perceived time complexity measures - based on a temporal estimation paradigm - with physical and statistical properties of the paintings, obtaining a strong correlation between psychological and computational results.

Improved 2-D vector field reconstruction using virtual sensors and the Radon transform.

This paper describes a method that allows one to recover both components of a 2-D vector field based on boundary information only, by solving a system of linear equations. The analysis is carried out in the digital domain and takes advantage of the redundancy in the boundary data, since these may be viewed as weighted sums of the local vector field's Cartesian components. Furthermore, a sampling of lines is used in order to combine the available measurements along continuous tracing lines with the digitised 2-D space where the solution is sought.

Performance prediction using EEG and trial-invariant characteristic signals.

One of the most important parts of all applications trying to discriminate between a person's different mental tasks using their recorded EEG data is the process of feature construction. A common practice for this is to exploit an apriori knowledge about the nature of the mental processes of interest and their impact on the EEG signals. However, the use of features constructed in this way is restricted to applications concerning the corresponding mental processes.

Automatic extraction of local axis of bone symmetry in CT images.

We present an algorithm that extracts local axis of symmetry in CT images automatically. The proposed method combines registration and extraction of bone contours to generate the desired symmetry axis. The method consists of several stages: first extracting the bone contours of the images by using an active contour method, then finding grossly an axis that allows the division of the image into two parts, loosely called 'half' images, but with the understanding that they are not exactly the two halves of the image but rather the two halves of the depicted object.

Axon tracing in the adult rat optic nerve and tract after intravitreal injection of MnDPDP using a semiautomatic segmentation technique.

Purpose: To develop and validate an objective technique for 3D segmentation of manganese-enhanced MR images of the optic nerve/tract (ON) in adult rats to improve contrast-to-noise (CNR) calculations and use the technique to ascertain if manganese dipyridoxyl diphosphate (MnDPDP) gives sufficient Mn(2+) enhancement compared to MnCl(2) when used for functional imaging of the visual pathway.

Materials And Methods: Intravitreous injection of the manganese-releasing MR contrast agent MnDPDP (30 nmol Mn(2+)) was performed to trace the ON in adult rats (n = 4). A positive control group of rats (n = 5) received a standard preparation of MnCl(2) (200 nmol Mn(2+)), while gadodiamide (1500 nmol Gd(3+)) was administered in negative control rats (n = 2).

Design of a wire-mesh collimator for gamma cameras.

This paper presents a model of a wire-mesh collimator for a gamma camera that produces images of comparable quality as those produced with the conventional multihole collimator, but has about half the weight of the multihole collimator. The gamma camera and the collimator are simulated using the MCNPX code. Two final configurations of the wire-mesh collimator are proposed, and their performance is compared with other wire-mesh collimators and with the multihole collimator, using a point source, a planar square source, and two point sources, all in water.

The "invaders" algorithm: range of values modulation for accelerated correlation.

In this paper, we present an algorithm that allows the simultaneous calculation of several cross correlations. The algorithm works by shifting the range of values of different images/signals to occupy different orders of magnitude and then combining them to form a single composite image/signal. Because additional signals are placed in the space usually occupied by a single signal, we call this the "invaders algorithm," to imply that extra signals invade the space that normally belongs to a single signal.

Three-dimensional nonlinear invisible boundary detection.

The human vision system can discriminate regions which differ up to the second-order statistics only. We present an algorithm designed to reveal "hidden" boundaries in gray level images, by computing gradients in higher order statistics of the data. We demonstrate it by applying it to the identification of possible "hidden" boundaries of glioblastomas as manifest themselves in three-dimensional (3-D) MRI scans, using a model driven approach.

Affine parameter estimation from the trace transform.

In this paper, we assume that we are given the images of two segmented objects, one of which may be an affinely distorted version of the other, and wish to recover the values of the parameters of the affine transformation between the two images. The images may also differ by the overall level of illumination. The multiplicative constant of such difference may also be recovered.

Image registration using the Walsh transform.

This paper presents a new algorithm which can be used to register images of the same or different modalities, e.g., images with multiple channels, such as X-rays, temperature or elevation, or simply images of different spectral bands.

Affine invariant features from the trace transform.

The trace transform is a generalization of the Radon transform that allows one to construct image features that are invariant to a chosen group of image transformations. In this paper, we propose a methodology and appropriate functionals that can be computed from the image function and which can be used to calculate features invariant to the group of affine transforms. We demonstrate the usefulness of the constructed image descriptors in retrieving images from an image database and compare it with relevant state-of-the-art object retrieval methods.

Detection of structural differences between the brains of schizophrenic patients and controls.

This paper investigates the validity of the null hypothesis: there are no structural differences between the brains of schizophrenic and normal control subjects that manifest themselves in MRI-T(2) data and distinguish the two populations in a statistically significant way. The data used refer to 21 schizophrenic patients and 19 normal controls, matched for age, sex and social background. The methodology used is based on three-dimensional texture analysis, which is used to quantify anisotropy in the data at scales of the order of a few millimetres.