A comprehensive, but simple-to-use software package for executing a range of standard numerical analysis and operations used in quantitative paleontology has been developed. The program, called PAST (PAleontological STatistics), runs on standard Windows computers and is available free of charge. PAST integrates spreadsheet-type data entry with univariate and multivariate statistics, curve fitting, timeseries analysis, data plotting, and simple phylogenetic analysis. Many of the functions are specific to paleontology and ecology, and these functions are not found in standard, more extensive, statistical packages. PAST also includes fourteen case studies (data files and exercises) illustrating use of the program for paleontological problems, making it a complete educational package for courses in quantitative methods.

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Past: paleontological statistical software package for education and data analysis

Registration is a fundamental task in image processing used to match two or more pictures taken, for example, at different times, from different sensors, or from different viewpoints. Virtually all large systems which evaluate images require the registration of images, or a closely related operation, as an intermediate step. Specific examples of systems where image registration is a significant component include matching a target with a real-time image of a scene for target recognition, monitoring global land usage using satellite images, matching stereo images to recover shape for autonomous navigation, and aligning images from different medical modalities for diagnosis.Over the years, a broad range of techniques has been developed for various types of data and problems. These techniques have been independently studied for several different applications, resulting in a large body of research. This paper organizes this material by establishing the relationship between the variations in the images and the type of registration techniques which can most appropriately be applied. Three major types of variations are distinguished. The first type are the variations due to the differences in acquisition which cause the images to be misaligned. To register images, a spatial transformation is found which will remove these variations. The class of transformations which must be searched to find the optimal transformation is determined by knowledge about the variations of this type. The transformation class in turn influences the general technique that should be taken. The second type of variations are those which are also due to differences in acquisition, but cannot be modeled easily such as lighting and atmospheric conditions. This type usually effects intensity values, but they may also be spatial, such as perspective distortions. The third type of variations are differences in the images that are of interest such as object movements, growths, or other scene changes. Variations of the second and third type are not directly removed by registration, but they make registration more difficult since an exact match is no longer possible. In particular, it is critical that variations of the third type are not removed. Knowledge about the characteristics of each type of variation effect the choice of feature space, similarity measure, search space, and search strategy which will make up the final technique. All registration techniques can be viewed as different combinations of these choices. This framework is useful for understanding the merits and relationships between the wide variety of existing techniques and for assisting in the selection of the most suitable technique for a specific problem.

A survey of image registration techniques

The Nature of Remote Sensing: Introduction. Remote Sensing. Information Extraction from Remote-Sensing Images. Spectral Factors in Remote Sensing. Spectral Signatures. Remote-Sensing Systems. Optical Sensors. Temporal Characteristics. Image Display Systems. Data Systems. Summary. Exercises. References. Optical Radiation Models: Introduction. Visible to Short Wave Infrared Region. Solar Radiation. Radiation Components. Surface-Reflected. Unscattered Component. Surface-Reflected. Atmosphere-Scattered Component. Path-Scattered Component. Total At-Sensor. Solar Radiance. Image Examples in the Solar Region. Terrain Shading. Shadowing. Atmospheric Correction. Midwave to Thermal Infrared Region. Thermal Radiation. Radiation Components. Surface-Emitted Component. Surface-Reflected. Atmosphere-Emitted Component. Path-Emitted Component. Total At-Sensor. Emitted Radiance. Total Solar and Thermal Upwelling Radiance. Image Examples in the Thermal Region. Summary. Exercises. References. Sensor Models: Introduction. Overall Sensor Model. Resolution. The Instrument Response. Spatial Resolution. Spectral Resolution. Spectral Response. Spatial Response. Optical PSFopt. Image Motion PSFIM. Detector PSFdet. Electronics PSFel. Net PSFnet. Comparison of Sensor PSFs. PSF Summary for TM. Imaging System Simulation. Amplification. Sampling and Quantization. Simplified Sensor Model. Geometric Distortion. Orbit Models. Platform Attitude Models. Scanner Models. Earth Model. Line and Whiskbroom ScanGeometry. Pushbroom Scan Geometry. Topographic Distortion. Summary. Exercises. References. Data Models: Introduction. A Word on Notation. Univariate Image Statistics. Histogram. Normal Distribution. Cumulative Histogram. Statistical Parameters. Multivariate Image Statistics. Reduction to Univariate Statistics. Noise Models. Statistical Measures of Image Quality. Contrast. Modulation. Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). Noise Equivalent Signal. Spatial Statistics. Visualization of Spatial Covariance. Covariance with Semivariogram. Separability and Anisotropy. Power Spectral Density. Co-occurrence Matrix. Fractal Geometry. Topographic and Sensor Effects. Topography and Spectral Statistics. Sensor Characteristics and Spectral Stastistics. Sensor Characteristics and Spectral Scattergrams. Summary. Exercises. References. Spectral Transforms: Introduction. Feature Space. Multispectral Ratios. Vegetation Indexes. Image Examples. Principal Components. Standardized Principal Components (SPC) Transform. Maximum Noise Fraction (MNF) Transform. Tasseled Cap Tranformation. Contrast Enhancement. Transformations Based on Global Statistics. Linear Transformations. Nonlinear Transformations. Normalization Stretch. Reference Stretch. Thresholding. Adaptive Transformation. Color Image Contrast Enhancement. Min-max Stretch. Normalization Stretch. Decorrelation Stretch. Color Spacer Transformations. Summary. Exercises. References. Spatial Transforms: Introduction. An Image Model for Spatial Filtering. Convolution Filters. Low Pass and High Pass Filters. High Boost Filters. Directional Filters. The Border Region. Characterization of Filtered Images. The Box Filter Algorithm. Cascaded Linear Filters. Statistical Filters. Gradient Filters. Fourier Synthesis. Discrete Fourier Transforms in 2-D. The Fourier Components. Filtering with the Fourier Transform. Transfer Functions. The Power Spectrum. Scale Space Transforms. Image Resolution Pyramids. Zero-Crossing Filters. Laplacian-of-Gaussian (LoG) Filters. Difference-of-Gaussians (DoG) Filters.Wavelet Transforms. Summary. Exercises. References. Correction and Calibration: Introduction. Noise Correction. Global Noise. Sigma Filter. Nagao-Matsuyama Filter. Local Noise. Periodic Noise. Distriping 359. Global,Linear Detector Matching. Nonlinear Detector Matching. Statistical Modification to Linear and Nonlinear Detector. Matching. Spatial Filtering Approaches. Radiometric Calibration. Sensor Calibration. Atmospheric Correction. Solar and Topographic Correction. Image Examples. Calibration and Normalization of Hyperspectral Imagery. AVIRIS Examples. Distortion Correction. Polynomial Distortion Models. Ground Control Points (GCPs). Coordinate Transformation. Map Projections. Resampling. Summary. Exercises References. Registration and Image Fusion: Introduction. What is Registration? Automated GCP Location. Area Correlation. Other Spatial Features. Orthrectification. Low-Resolution DEM. High-Resolution DEM. Hierarchical Warp Stereo. Multi-Image Fusion. Spatial Domain Fusion. High Frequency Modulation. Spectral Domain Fusion. Fusion Image Examples. Summary. Exercises. References. Thematic Classification: Introduction. The Importance of Image Scale. The Notion of Similarity. Hard Versus Soft Classification. Training the Classifier. Supervised Training. Unsupervised Training. K-Means Clustering Algorithm. Clustering Examples. Hybrid Supervised/Unsupervised Training. Non-Parametric Classification Algorithms. Level-Slice. Nearest-Mean. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Back-Propagation Algorithm. Nonparametric Classification Examples. Parametric Classification Algorithms. Estimation of Model-Parameters. Discriminant Functions. The Normal Distribution Model. Relation to the Nearest-Mean Classifier. Supervised Classification Examples and Comparison to Nonparametric Classifiers. Segmentation. Region Growing. Region Labeling. Sub-Pixel Classification. The Linear Mixing Model. Unmixing Model. Hyperspectral Image Analysis. Visualization of the Image Cube. Feature Extraction. Image Residuals. Pre-Classification Processing and Feature Extraction. Classification Algorithms. Exercises. Error Analysis. Multitemporal Images. Summary. References. Index.

Remote sensing, models, and methods for image processing

We are now in the midst of a revolution in morphometric methodology. The new approaches are more effective in capturing information about the shape of an organism and result in more powerful statistical procedures for testing for differences in s shape. They are also more effective in enabling a researcher to visualize differences in shape and in suggesting simple traditional measurements that could be used in future studies. In this review we emphasize applications to exploratory studies in taxonomy and evolution.

Charles R. Giardina

Papers

Elliptic Fourier features of a closed contour

Morphological methods in image and signal processing

Accuracy of curve approximation by harmonically related vectors with elliptical loci

Image processing : continuous to discrete

Mathematical Methods for Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems