This thesis is concerned with the utilization of object symmety as a cue for segmentation and object recognition. In particular it investigates the problem of detecting 3D bilaterally symmetric objects from affine views. The first part of the thesis investigates the problem of detecting 3D bilateral symmetry within a scene from known point correspondences across two or more affine views. We begin by extending the notion of skewed symmetry to three dimensions, and give a definition in terms of degenerate structure that applies equally to an affine 3D structure or to point correspondences across two or more affine views. We then consider the effects of measurement errors on symmetry detection, and derive an optimal statistical test of degenerate structure, and thereby of 3D-skewed symmetry. We then move on to the problem of searching for 3D skewed symmetric sets within a larger scene. We discuss two approaches to the problem, both of which we have implemented, and we demonstrate fully automatic detection of 3D skewed symmetry on images of uncluttered scenes. We conclude the first part by investing means of verifying the presence of bilateral rather than skewed symmetry in the Euclidean space, by enforcing mutual consistency between multiple skewed symmetric sets, and by drawing on partial knowledge about the camera calibration. The second part of the thesis is concerned with the problem of obtaining feature correspondences across multiple affine views, as required for the detection of symmetry. In particular we investigate the geometric matching constraints that exist between affine views. We start by specilizing the four projective multifocal tensors to the affine case, and use these to carry the bulk of all known projective multi-view matching relations to affine views, unearthing some new relations in the process. Having done that, we address the problem of estimating the affine tensors. We provide a minimal set of constraints on the affine trifocal tensor, and search for ways of estimating the affine tensors from point and line correspondences.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-04-18T15:33:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberta da Cruz Piuco.pdf: 5094425 bytes, checksum: b68193551bc07bd504e42c0ebcc4e3e5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-18T15:33:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberta da Cruz Piuco.pdf: 5094425 bytes, checksum: b68193551bc07bd504e42c0ebcc4e3e5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-21 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / CNPQ – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / INCT-APA - Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia Antártico de Pesquisas Ambientais / Programa Antártico Brasileiro / SECIRM - Secretaria Interministerial para os Recursos do Mar / MMA - Ministério do meio Ambiente / O pinguim-papua (Pygoscelis papua) reproduz a partir de 46°S a 65°S. Apesar de sua ampla distribuição são consumidores costeiros e não migratórios, possuem um alto nível de filopatria e as populações estão restritas a ilhas de reprodução e faixas de forrageamento e apresentam variações contrastantes entre populações. Esta tese tem como objetivos: 1) avaliar as respostas do tamanho da população reprodutiva de pinguim-papua de acordo com fatores climáticos em Stinker Point, Ilha Elefante; 2) identificar o dimorfismo sexual de tamanho em caracteres morfométricos em adultos reprodutores de pinguins-papua em Stinker Point, Ilha Elefante, comparando-se com a técnica de sexagem molecular. Além disso, verificar a variação morfométrica da espécie em três locais do Arquipélago das Shetlands do Sul e comparar com dados da literatura e 3) quantificar um tipo potencial de assimetria em pinguins-papua nas ilhas Elefante e Rei George, caracterizando seus níveis assimétricos como uma forma de avaliar a qualidade do ambiente. A população reprodutiva de pinguim-papua respondeu significativamente ao Índice de Oscilação Antártica e à anomalia de temperatura durante o início do período reprodutivo. Provavelmente pelas variações climáticas extremas interferirem na decisão dos indivíduos de reproduzir ou não em um determinado ano. Na avaliação do dimorfismo sexual, através de medidas morfométricas, o comprimento do bico foi a medida de maior dimorfismo sexual (5,3%) e classificou corretamente 76,7% das aves, sendo em média as fêmeas maiores que os machos. Dentre as medidas morfométricas analisadas, todas apresentaram diferenças entre os locais do Arquipélago das Shetlands do Sul e Península Antártica. Dada a pouca acurácia das funções discriminantes na sexagem e as diferenças das medidas morfométricas conforme a área geográfica de pinguim-papua, é preciso ter cautela ao classificar indivíduos com base em uma única avaliação, de forma que a sexagem molecular apresentou melhor resultado. Quanto ao tipo de assimetria, os níveis observados refletem um padrão de assimetria flutuante (AF), porém sem diferença significativa. A ausência de altos níveis de AF indica que não há níveis cumulativos suficientes de estresses ambientais que pudesse causar distúrbios fisiológicos e alterar a homeostase do desenvolvimento normal nesta espécie na Antártica. / Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) breed from 46ºS to 65ºS. Despite its wide distribution are inshore consumers and non-migratory, have a high level of philopatry and populations are restricted to island breeding and foraging ranges and shown variations contrasting among populations. This thesis aims to: 1) to evaluate the breeding population size responses of the Gentoo penguin according to climate factor at Stinker Point, Elephant Island; 2) to identify the sexual dimorphism of size in the morphometric characteristics of male and female adult Gentoo penguins at Stinker Point, Elephant Island, compared with the technique of molecular sexing. Furthermore, to verify morphometric variation of the specie at three sites f the South Shetlands Archipelago and compare with literature data and 3) to quantify one kind of potential asymmetry in Gentoo penguins, breeding at Elephant and King George Islands and attempt to characterize their extremes of variation as a way of evaluating the current living quality of the environment. The breeding population size of Gentoo penguin responded significantly to the Antarctic Oscillation Index and the temperature anomaly during the early reproductive period. Probably by extreme climatic variations affecting the decision on breeding or skipping breeding in a given year. In the assessment of sexual dimorphism using morphometric characters, the bill length was the larger measure of sexual dimorphism (5.3%) and correctly classified 76.7% of the birds, were found females larger than males. Among the morphometric measurements analyzed, all showed differences among the sites of the South Shetlands Archipelago and Antarctic Peninsula. Given the limited accuracy of the discriminant function sexing and differences of these morphometric measurements according to the geographical area of Gentoo penguin, is necessary have caution to classify individuals based on a single assessment, so that the molecular sexing presented best result. For the type of asymmetry, the levels of asymmetry reflect a fluctuating asymmetry (FA) pattern, however no significant difference. Absence of high levels of observed FA in our study led us to think it indicates there are not sufficient cumulative levels of environmental stresses such that they might cause physiological disturbances and alter the homeostasis of normal development in this species in Antarctica.