John W. Fisher

Bio: John W. Fisher is an academic researcher from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Graphical model & Mutual information. The author has an hindex of 42, co-authored 188 publications receiving 7355 citations. Previous affiliations of John W. Fisher include University of Florida.

Nonparametric belief propagation for self-localization of sensor networks

Abstract: Automatic self-localization is a critical need for the effective use of ad hoc sensor networks in military or civilian applications. In general, self-localization involves the combination of absolute location information (e.g., from a global positioning system) with relative calibration information (e.g., distance measurements between sensors) over regions of the network. Furthermore, it is generally desirable to distribute the computational burden across the network and minimize the amount of intersensor communication. We demonstrate that the information used for sensor localization is fundamentally local with regard to the network topology and use this observation to reformulate the problem within a graphical model framework. We then present and demonstrate the utility of nonparametric belief propagation (NBP), a recent generalization of particle filtering, for both estimating sensor locations and representing location uncertainties. NBP has the advantage that it is easily implemented in a distributed fashion, admits a wide variety of statistical models, and can represent multimodal uncertainty. Using simulations of small to moderately sized sensor networks, we show that NBP may be made robust to outlier measurement errors by a simple model augmentation, and that judicious message construction can result in better estimates. Furthermore, we provide an analysis of NBP's communications requirements, showing that typically only a few messages per sensor are required, and that even low bit-rate approximations of these messages can be used with little or no performance impact.

Face recognition with image sets using manifold density divergence

Abstract: In many automatic face recognition applications, a set of a person's face images is available rather than a single image. In this paper, we describe a novel method for face recognition using image sets. We propose a flexible, semi-parametric model for learning probability densities confined to highly non-linear but intrinsically low-dimensional manifolds. The model leads to a statistical formulation of the recognition problem in terms of minimizing the divergence between densities estimated on these manifolds. The proposed method is evaluated on a large data set, acquired in realistic imaging conditions with severe illumination variation. Our algorithm is shown to match the best and outperform other state-of-the-art algorithms in the literature, achieving 94% recognition rate on average.

A nonparametric statistical method for image segmentation using information theory and curve evolution

Abstract: In this paper, we present a new information-theoretic approach to image segmentation. We cast the segmentation problem as the maximization of the mutual information between the region labels and the image pixel intensities, subject to a constraint on the total length of the region boundaries. We assume that the probability densities associated with the image pixel intensities within each region are completely unknown a priori, and we formulate the problem based on nonparametric density estimates. Due to the nonparametric structure, our method does not require the image regions to have a particular type of probability distribution and does not require the extraction and use of a particular statistic. We solve the information-theoretic optimization problem by deriving the associated gradient flows and applying curve evolution techniques. We use level-set methods to implement the resulting evolution. The experimental results based on both synthetic and real images demonstrate that the proposed technique can solve a variety of challenging image segmentation problems. Furthermore, our method, which does not require any training, performs as good as methods based on training.

Face Recognition from Long-Term Observations

Abstract: We address the problem of face recognition from a large set of images obtained over time - a task arising in many surveillance and authentication applications. A set or a sequence of images provides information about the variability in the appearance of the face which can be used for more robust recognition. We discuss different approaches to the use of this information, and show that when cast as a statistical hypothesis testing problem, the classification task leads naturally to an information-theoretic algorithm that classifies sets of images using the relative entropy (Kullback-Leibler divergence) between the estimated density of the input set and that of stored collections of images for each class. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm on two medium-sized data sets of approximately frontal face images, and describe an application of the method as part of a view-independent recognition system.

Deep Learning

Abstract: Deep learning is a form of machine learning that enables computers to learn from experience and understand the world in terms of a hierarchy of concepts. Because the computer gathers knowledge from experience, there is no need for a human computer operator to formally specify all the knowledge that the computer needs. The hierarchy of concepts allows the computer to learn complicated concepts by building them out of simpler ones; a graph of these hierarchies would be many layers deep. This book introduces a broad range of topics in deep learning. The text offers mathematical and conceptual background, covering relevant concepts in linear algebra, probability theory and information theory, numerical computation, and machine learning. It describes deep learning techniques used by practitioners in industry, including deep feedforward networks, regularization, optimization algorithms, convolutional networks, sequence modeling, and practical methodology; and it surveys such applications as natural language processing, speech recognition, computer vision, online recommendation systems, bioinformatics, and videogames. Finally, the book offers research perspectives, covering such theoretical topics as linear factor models, autoencoders, representation learning, structured probabilistic models, Monte Carlo methods, the partition function, approximate inference, and deep generative models. Deep Learning can be used by undergraduate or graduate students planning careers in either industry or research, and by software engineers who want to begin using deep learning in their products or platforms. A website offers supplementary material for both readers and instructors.

Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning

Abstract: Probability Distributions.- Linear Models for Regression.- Linear Models for Classification.- Neural Networks.- Kernel Methods.- Sparse Kernel Machines.- Graphical Models.- Mixture Models and EM.- Approximate Inference.- Sampling Methods.- Continuous Latent Variables.- Sequential Data.- Combining Models.

Unsupervised Representation Learning with Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks

Abstract: In recent years, supervised learning with convolutional networks (CNNs) has seen huge adoption in computer vision applications. Comparatively, unsupervised learning with CNNs has received less attention. In this work we hope to help bridge the gap between the success of CNNs for supervised learning and unsupervised learning. We introduce a class of CNNs called deep convolutional generative adversarial networks (DCGANs), that have certain architectural constraints, and demonstrate that they are a strong candidate for unsupervised learning. Training on various image datasets, we show convincing evidence that our deep convolutional adversarial pair learns a hierarchy of representations from object parts to scenes in both the generator and discriminator. Additionally, we use the learned features for novel tasks - demonstrating their applicability as general image representations.

An experimental comparison of min-cut/max- flow algorithms for energy minimization in vision

Abstract: Minimum cut/maximum flow algorithms on graphs have emerged as an increasingly useful tool for exactor approximate energy minimization in low-level vision. The combinatorial optimization literature provides many min-cut/max-flow algorithms with different polynomial time complexity. Their practical efficiency, however, has to date been studied mainly outside the scope of computer vision. The goal of this paper is to provide an experimental comparison of the efficiency of min-cut/max flow algorithms for applications in vision. We compare the running times of several standard algorithms, as well as a new algorithm that we have recently developed. The algorithms we study include both Goldberg-Tarjan style "push -relabel" methods and algorithms based on Ford-Fulkerson style "augmenting paths." We benchmark these algorithms on a number of typical graphs in the contexts of image restoration, stereo, and segmentation. In many cases, our new algorithm works several times faster than any of the other methods, making near real-time performance possible. An implementation of our max-flow/min-cut algorithm is available upon request for research purposes.

Graphical Models, Exponential Families, and Variational Inference

Abstract: The formalism of probabilistic graphical models provides a unifying framework for capturing complex dependencies among random variables, and building large-scale multivariate statistical models. Graphical models have become a focus of research in many statistical, computational and mathematical fields, including bioinformatics, communication theory, statistical physics, combinatorial optimization, signal and image processing, information retrieval and statistical machine learning. Many problems that arise in specific instances — including the key problems of computing marginals and modes of probability distributions — are best studied in the general setting. Working with exponential family representations, and exploiting the conjugate duality between the cumulant function and the entropy for exponential families, we develop general variational representations of the problems of computing likelihoods, marginal probabilities and most probable configurations. We describe how a wide variety of algorithms — among them sum-product, cluster variational methods, expectation-propagation, mean field methods, max-product and linear programming relaxation, as well as conic programming relaxations — can all be understood in terms of exact or approximate forms of these variational representations. The variational approach provides a complementary alternative to Markov chain Monte Carlo as a general source of approximation methods for inference in large-scale statistical models.