Alan C. Bovik

Bio: Alan C. Bovik is an academic researcher from University of Texas at Austin. The author has contributed to research in topics: Image quality & Video quality. The author has an hindex of 102, co-authored 837 publications receiving 96088 citations. Previous affiliations of Alan C. Bovik include University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign & University of Sydney.

Generating a statistical shape model of the AIDS virus spike

Abstract: We introduce a method to automatically extract the spike features of the AIDS virus imaged through an electron microscope. This method detects the location of the spikes and extracts a sub-volume enclosing the spike with a sensitivity of 80%. The extracted spikes are further aligned and combined to build a 4D statistical shape model, where each voxel in the shape model is assigned a probability density function. This is a fully automated process that can extract sub-volumes of the AIDS virus spike making it possible to build a statistical model without the need for any user supervision. The AIDS virus spike is the primary target of drug design as it is directly involved in infecting host cells. We envision that this new tool will significantly enhance the overall process of shape analysis of the AIDS virus spike imaged through the electron microscope.

StereoscopicInterpretationofLow-DoseBreastTomosynthesis Projection Images

Abstract: Thepurposeofthisstudywastoevaluatestereoscopic perception of low-dose breast tomosynthesis projection images. In this Institutional Review Board exempt study, craniocaudal breast tomosynthesis cases (N=47), consisting of 23 biopsy- proven malignant mass cases and 24 normal cases, were retrospectively reviewed. A stereoscopic pair comprised of two projection images that were ±4° apart from the zero angle projection was displayed on a Planar PL2010M stereoscopic display (Planar Systems, Inc., Beaverton, OR, USA). An experienced breast imager verified the truth for each case stereoscopically. A two-phase blinded observer study was conducted. In the first phase, two experienced breast imagers rated their ability to perceive 3D information using a scale of 1-3 descriptors. In the second phase, four experienced breast imagers were asked to make a binary decision on whether they saw a mass for which they would initiate a diagnostic workup or not and also report the location of the mass and provide a confidence score in the range of 0-100. The sensitivity and the specificity of the lesion detection task were evaluated. The results from our study suggest that radiologists who can perceive stereo can reliably interpret breast tomosynthesis projection images using stereoscopic viewing.

Evaluating Foveated Video Quality Using Entropic Differencing

Abstract: Virtual Reality is regaining attention due to recent advancements in hardware technology. Immersive images / videos are becoming widely adopted to carry omnidirectional visual information. However, due to the requirements for higher spatial and temporal resolution of real video data, immersive videos require significantly larger bandwidth consumption. To reduce stresses on bandwidth, foveated video compression is regaining popularity, whereby the space-variant spatial resolution of the retina is exploited. Towards advancing the progress of foveated video compression, we propose a full reference (FR) foveated image quality assessment algorithm, which we call foveated entropic differencing (FED), which employs the natural scene statistics of bandpass responses by applying differences of local entropies weighted by a foveation-based error sensitivity function. We evaluate the proposed algorithm by measuring the correlations of the predictions that FED makes against human judgements on the newly created 2D and 3D LIVE-FBT-FCVR databases for Virtual Reality (VR). The performance of the proposed algorithm yields state-of-the-art as compared with other existing full reference algorithms. Software for FED has been made available at: this http URL

66‐1: Invited Paper: Trends in Perception of Displayed 3D Stereoscopic Content

Abstract: I will discuss a variety of topics related to the perception of displayed digital stereoscopic 3D (S3D) content. An underlying theme of my discussion is the fact that 3D visual signals (stereo pairs and their associated disparity/depth maps) obey lawful statistical behavior that can be reliably modeled. These models supply powerful statistical priors that can be used to understand the perception of displayed 3D visual content. Some of the specific topics include recent work on 3D visual attention, specifically a form of 3D reverse saliency that could be relevant to S3D picture compression, quality modeling, and discomfort assessment; understanding and predicting perceived 3D quality when viewing S3D content; creating 3D content from 2D content in a naturalistic way. Throughout, my discussion will be at a fairly high-level, allowing me to connect a number of related topics.

Snakules: Snakes that seek spicules on mammography

Abstract: We present a new method called “snakules” for the annotation of spicules on mammography. Snakules employs parametric open-ended snakes that are deployed in a region around a suspect spiculated mass location that has been identified by a radiologist or a computer-aided detection (CADe) algorithm. The set of convergent snakules deform, grow and adapt to the true spicules in the image, by an attractive process of curve evolution and motion that optimizes the local matching energy. Our results from an initial observer study involving an experienced radiologist demonstrate the strong potential of the method as an image analysis technique to improve the specificity of CADe algorithms.

Image quality assessment: from error visibility to structural similarity

Abstract: Objective methods for assessing perceptual image quality traditionally attempted to quantify the visibility of errors (differences) between a distorted image and a reference image using a variety of known properties of the human visual system. Under the assumption that human visual perception is highly adapted for extracting structural information from a scene, we introduce an alternative complementary framework for quality assessment based on the degradation of structural information. As a specific example of this concept, we develop a structural similarity index and demonstrate its promise through a set of intuitive examples, as well as comparison to both subjective ratings and state-of-the-art objective methods on a database of images compressed with JPEG and JPEG2000. A MATLAB implementation of the proposed algorithm is available online at http://www.cns.nyu.edu//spl sim/lcv/ssim/.

A wavelet tour of signal processing

Abstract: Introduction to a Transient World. Fourier Kingdom. Discrete Revolution. Time Meets Frequency. Frames. Wavelet Zoom. Wavelet Bases. Wavelet Packet and Local Cosine Bases. An Approximation Tour. Estimations are Approximations. Transform Coding. Appendix A: Mathematical Complements. Appendix B: Software Toolboxes.

Image-to-Image Translation with Conditional Adversarial Networks

Abstract: We investigate conditional adversarial networks as a general-purpose solution to image-to-image translation problems. These networks not only learn the mapping from input image to output image, but also learn a loss function to train this mapping. This makes it possible to apply the same generic approach to problems that traditionally would require very different loss formulations. We demonstrate that this approach is effective at synthesizing photos from label maps, reconstructing objects from edge maps, and colorizing images, among other tasks. Moreover, since the release of the pix2pix software associated with this paper, hundreds of twitter users have posted their own artistic experiments using our system. As a community, we no longer hand-engineer our mapping functions, and this work suggests we can achieve reasonable results without handengineering our loss functions either.

Image-to-Image Translation with Conditional Adversarial Networks

Abstract: We investigate conditional adversarial networks as a general-purpose solution to image-to-image translation problems. These networks not only learn the mapping from input image to output image, but also learn a loss function to train this mapping. This makes it possible to apply the same generic approach to problems that traditionally would require very different loss formulations. We demonstrate that this approach is effective at synthesizing photos from label maps, reconstructing objects from edge maps, and colorizing images, among other tasks. Indeed, since the release of the pix2pix software associated with this paper, a large number of internet users (many of them artists) have posted their own experiments with our system, further demonstrating its wide applicability and ease of adoption without the need for parameter tweaking. As a community, we no longer hand-engineer our mapping functions, and this work suggests we can achieve reasonable results without hand-engineering our loss functions either.

Phd by thesis

Abstract: Deposits of clastic carbonate-dominated (calciclastic) sedimentary slope systems in the rock record have been identified mostly as linearly-consistent carbonate apron deposits, even though most ancient clastic carbonate slope deposits fit the submarine fan systems better. Calciclastic submarine fans are consequently rarely described and are poorly understood. Subsequently, very little is known especially in mud-dominated calciclastic submarine fan systems. Presented in this study are a sedimentological core and petrographic characterisation of samples from eleven boreholes from the Lower Carboniferous of Bowland Basin (Northwest England) that reveals a >250 m thick calciturbidite complex deposited in a calciclastic submarine fan setting. Seven facies are recognised from core and thin section characterisation and are grouped into three carbonate turbidite sequences. They include: 1) Calciturbidites, comprising mostly of highto low-density, wavy-laminated bioclast-rich facies; 2) low-density densite mudstones which are characterised by planar laminated and unlaminated muddominated facies; and 3) Calcidebrites which are muddy or hyper-concentrated debrisflow deposits occurring as poorly-sorted, chaotic, mud-supported floatstones. These