This thesis is divided into four Phases. The aim of each phase is to identify facial creases useful in human identification.In Phase 1, creases were analysed on peri- and post-embalmed cadavers in CAHID to establish whether or not there is any change to crease with facial bloating. Embalming was chosen to simulate effects seen on a bloated face during decomposition. The results suggested that creases are quite resilient and changes were only detected relating to creases located on the periphery of the face, particularly at areas where the skin is thick, such as at the cheek region. Two new creases not classified in literature were identified on the face; these creases were called vertical superciliary arch lines and the lateral nose crease. Manifestations of these creases were also seen on faces in Phase 2 and 3 of the research. Phase 2 focused on the application of facial creases for the identification of living individuals. Volunteers were obtained from the University of Aberdeen and University of Dundee. Phase 2 was divided further into Phase 2a and Phase 2b. Phase 2a focused on matching creases from video and photograph sources while Phase 2b focused on matching creases from 3D surface scans to face photographs. A higher match rate was obtained for Phase 2a, where the shadows of the creases on two different sources were similar, as compared to the 3D to 2D analysis in Phase 2b. A Bayesian conclusion scale was utilised to categorise the conclusion.Research in Phase 3 focused on establishing facial crease correlation with skull morphology. Material for the research was obtained from William Bass skeletal collection at the University of Tennessee which provided ante-mortem face photographs with related 3D skull surface scans. Superimposition of the creases on the face photographs with the skulls was conducted to enable the visual analysis of the crease location. The qualitative analysis indicated that the infraorbital crease follows the outline of the orbits in 52% of the total subjects. No correlation was obtained between the nasolabial fold (NLF) and the bony surface inferior to the location of the crease. However, the depth of the selected skeletal region indicated the NLF was detected in 95% of the subjects. Quantitative analysis was carried out with the aid of geometric morphometrics (GMM) to analyse the maxilla morphology to establish whether the morphology indicated crease morphology. Geometric morphometric analysis indicated that people with a strong NLF had a long and narrow maxillary region.The conclusions obtained in Phase 3 were tested through a blind study in Phase 4. Analyses of the NLF and infraorbital crease were conducted on the Helmer skull collection available in CAHID. Ten skulls were provided to the researcher for analysis without related ante-mortem photographs. Once analyses were completed, the ante-mortem photographs were supplied and conclusions were obtained by comparing the crease reconstruction to the face photograph. Correct reconstruction was obtained in six of the ten specimens (60%). One case was inconclusive due to poor photograph quality though the location of the crease region appeared to be correct. The three inaccurate results showed an overestimation of the NLF strength, though the location of the crease manifestation was correct.

Palmar flexion crease matching is a method for verifying or establishing identity. New methods of palmprint identification, that complement existing identification strategies, or reduce analysis and comparison times, will benefit palmprint identification communities worldwide. To this end, this thesis describes new methods of manual and automated palmar flexion crease identification, that can be used to identify palmar flexion creases in online palmprint images. In the first instance, a manual palmar flexion crease identification and matching method is described, which was used to compare palmar flexion creases from 100 palms, each modified 10 times to mimic some of the types of alterations that can be found in crime scene palmar marks. From these comparisons, using manual palmar flexion crease identification, results showed that when labelled within 10 pixels, or 3.5 mm, of the palmar flexion crease, a palmprint image can be identified with a 99.2% genuine acceptance rate and a 0% false acceptance rate. Furthermore, in the second instance, a new method of automated palmar flexion crease recognition, that can be used to identify palmar flexion creases in online palmprint images, is described. A modified internal image seams algorithm was used to extract the flexion creases, and a matching algorithm, based on kd-tree nearest neighbour searching, was used to calculate the similarity between them. Results showed that in 1000 palmprint images from 100 palms, when compared to manually identified palmar flexion creases, a 100% genuine acceptance rate was achieved with a 0.0045% false acceptance rate. Finally, to determine if automated palmar flexion crease recognition can be used as an effective method of palmprint identification, palmar flexion creases from two online palmprint image data sets, containing images from 100 palms and 386 palms respectively, were automatically extracted and compared. In the first data set, that is, for images from 100 palms, an equal error rate of 0.3% was achieved. In the second data set, that is, for images from 386 palms, an equal error rate of 0.415% was achieved.

Thin structures exist as one dimensional slender objects (hairs, tendrils, telephone cords, etc.) and two dimensional thin sheets (tree leaves, Mobius bands, eggshells, etc.). Geometric and material nonlinearities can conspire together to create complex phenomena in thin structures. This dissertation studies snap-through, multi-stability, and localization in thin rods and sheets through a combination of experiments and numerics. The first work experimentally explores the multi-stability and bifurcations of buckled elastic strips subject to clamping and lateral end translations, and compares these results with numerical continuation of a perfectly anisotropic Kirchhoff rod model. It is shown that this naive Kirchhoff rod model works surprisingly well as an organizing framework for thin bands with various widths. Thin sheets prefer to bend rather than to stretch because of the high cost of stretching energy. Knowing the bending response of thin sheets can aid in simulating deformations such as creasing. The second work introduces an exact pure bending linkage mechanism for potential use in a bend tester that measures the moment-curvature relationship of soft sheets and filaments. Mechanical rotary pleating is a bending-deformation-dominant process that deforms nonwoven materials into zigzag filter structures. The third work studies what combinations of processing and material parameters lead to successful rotary pleating. The rotary pleating process is formulated as a multi-point variable-arc-length boundary value problem for an inextensible rod, with a moment-curvature constitutive law, such as might be measured by a bend tester, as input. Through parametric studies, this work generates pleatability surfaces that may help avoid pleating failure in the real pleating process. Creased thin sheets are generally bistable. The final work of this dissertation studies bistability of creased thin disks under the removal of singularities. A hole is cut in the disk and, through numerical continuation of an inextensible strip model, this work studies how the crease stiffness, crease angle, and hole geometry affect the bistability. / Doctor of Philosophy / Thin structures are those that have at least one dimension smaller than the other dimensions, such as hairs, telephone cords, and tree leaves, to name just a few. They can generate rich mechanical behaviors (e.g., snapping, crumpling) and complex shapes. A simple example is to rotate the two ends of a thin strip that has been deformed into an arch. Snapping will happen at a certain rotation angle. The first work studies snapping behaviors of thin bands subject to rotations and displacements at the two ends. This work employs a mechanical model based on force and moment balance on a spatial curve to solve the shapes of thin strips and capture the rich snapping behaviors. It is much harder to stretch a thin sheet than to bend it, which can be easily seen by deforming a piece of paper. The physics behind this is that stretching requires more energy than bending in thin objects. Knowing the bending response of thin sheets can aid in simulating deformations of thin structures. The second work introduces a new pure bending mechanism that can subject a sheet to pure bending and measure its bending response through a moment-curvature relationship. Thin sheets find broad applications in engineering. Mechanical pleating is a long-standing technique that deforms thin sheets into zigzag filter structures, but the mechanics behind it is unclear. The third work studies a rotary pleating process and aims to answer a basic question: What combinations of processing and material parameters lead to successful pleating? This work employs a one-dimensional model of an inextensible rod, with a moment-curvature constitutive law as input. The moment-curvature relationship of pleating materials can be measured by the pure bending mechanism developed in the second work. Thin sheets with prescribed crease patterns can create complicated and targeted shapes, such as origami (paper folding) and kirigami (paper cutting). A simple creased thin sheet is bistable: A stable configuration can be obtained by inverting the crease, which leads to a conical vertex/singularity. The fourth work of this dissertation finds that the bistability of creased thin sheets will be destroyed if a large hole is made around the vertex. This work studies the loss of bistability of creases under removal of singularities by quantifying how the hole size, hole geometry, and other factors such as the crease angle and crease stiffness affect the bistability.

Drilled shafts are cylindrical, cast-in-place concrete deep foundation elements. Their construction involves drilled excavation of soil or rock using large diameter augers, and placement of the necessary reinforcing steel in the excavation followed by concreting. Where a high water table is encountered, drilling slurry is used to support the excavation walls and concreting is tremie-placed. Even though the history of drilled shaft construction goes back to the 1950s, the occurrence of anomalies persists in the form of soil inclusions, reduction in shaft cross-sectional area and exposure of reinforcement. One of the main reasons for the anomalies is attributed to the kinematics of concrete flowing radially from within the reinforcing cage to the surrounding annulus/concrete cover region. In view of this radial component of concrete flow and thus radially flowing interfaces between the concrete and slurry, the region outside the cage is more likely to contain veins of poorly cemented or high water-cement ratio material. These veins contain trapped slurry, which oftentimes consists of bentonite, jeapordizing the integrity of the shafts. This research program focuses on the numerical evaluation of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) for drilled shaft application by taking into account realistic non-Newtonian concrete flow properties and the shaft structural blockages. For this objective, a 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the concrete flow in the shaft excavation is developed in ANSYS-Fluent. As a precursor to 3-D modeling, 2-D CFD modeling is carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics. In both 2-D and 3-D models, the Volume of Fluid method is used for computing the motion of the interface between the concrete and the drilling slurry. The models predict the flow patterns and volume fraction of concrete and slurry. The results are encouraging as the flow pattern from the simulation shows both horizontal and vertical creases in the concrete cover region. Moreover the flow pattern shows the concrete head differential developed between the inside and the outside the reinforcement cage. Further, the 3-D model is evaluated by studying the influence of the size of drilled shaft and arrangement of the bars and the results obtained are realistic. With this 3-D model developed as a tool, the simulation of SCC and the normal standard concrete (NC) flow in drilled shaft concreting are studied in terms of creases and concrete head differential encountered in the flow. From the simulation, it is observed that in the flow pattern of SCC, the creases are very few compared to the one obtained from the flow pattern of NC. Moreover, the concrete head differential in the flow pattern of SCC is much less, than the head differential obtained from the flow pattern of NC flow. In the case of SCC, the head differential encountered about one inch. In the case of NC, the concrete head differential is 4-inch when the vertical rebars are spaced at 7-inch apart and 10-inch when the rebars are placed at 3.5-inch apart. Based on this numerical evaluation of SCC flow in the drilled shaft excavation, it is concluded that the performance of SCC is better than the performance of NC in filling the cover annular region of drilled shafts.

<p>This thesis states that cracks and scars, referred to as Secondary Creases, in fingerprint images can be used as means for aiding and complementing fingerprint recognition, especially in cases where there is not enough clear data to use traditional methods such as minutiae based or correlation techniques. A Gabor filter bank is used to extract areas with linear patterns, where after the Hough Transform is used to identify secondary creases in a r, theta space. The methods proposed for Secondary Crease extraction works well, and provides information about what areas in an image contains usable linear pattern. Methods for comparison is however not as robust, and generates False Rejection Rate at 30% and False Acceptance Rate at 20% on the proposed dataset that consists of bad quality fingerprints. In short, our methods still makes it possible to make use of fingerprint images earlier considered unusable in fingerprint recognition systems.</p>

This thesis states that cracks and scars, referred to as Secondary Creases, in fingerprint images can be used as means for aiding and complementing fingerprint recognition, especially in cases where there is not enough clear data to use traditional methods such as minutiae based or correlation techniques. A Gabor filter bank is used to extract areas with linear patterns, where after the Hough Transform is used to identify secondary creases in a r, theta space. The methods proposed for Secondary Crease extraction works well, and provides information about what areas in an image contains usable linear pattern. Methods for comparison is however not as robust, and generates False Rejection Rate at 30% and False Acceptance Rate at 20% on the proposed dataset that consists of bad quality fingerprints. In short, our methods still makes it possible to make use of fingerprint images earlier considered unusable in fingerprint recognition systems.

La reconstruction 3D monoculaire déformable est le problème général d'estimation de forme 3D d'un objet déformable à partir d'images 2D. Plusieurs scénarios ont émergé : le Shape-from-Template (SfT) et le Non-Rigid Structure-from-Motion (NRSfM) sont deux approches qui ont été grandement étudiées pour leur applicabilité. La première utilise une seule image qui montre un objet se déformant et un patron (une forme 3D texturée de l'objet dans une pose de référence). La seconde n'utilise pas de patron, mais utilise plusieurs images et estime la forme 3D dans chaque image. Les deux approches s'appuient sur le mouvement de points de correspondances entre les images et sur des a priori de déformations, restreignant ainsi leur utilisation à des surfaces texturées qui se déforment de manière lisse. Cette thèse fait avancer l'état de l'art du SfT et du NRSfM dans deux directions. La première est l'étude du SfT dans le cas de patrons 1D (c’est-à-dire des courbes comme des cordes et des câbles). La seconde direction est le développement d'algorithmes de SfT et de NRSfM qui exploitent plusieurs indices visuels et qui résolvent des cas réels et complexes non-résolus précédemment. Nous considérons des déformations isométriques et reconstruisons la partie extérieure de l'objet. Les contributions techniques et scientifiques de cette thèse sont divisées en quatre parties.La première partie de cette thèse étudie le SfT curvilinéaire, qui est le cas du patron curvilinéaire plongé dans un espace 2D ou 3D. Nous proposons une analyse théorique approfondie et des solutions pratiques pour le SfT curvilinéaire. Malgré son apparente simplicité, le SfT curvilinéaire s'est avéré être un problème complexe : il ne peut pas être résolu à l'aide de solutions locales non-holonomes d'une équation différentielle ordinaire et ne possède pas de solution unique, mais un nombre fini de solutions ambiguës. Une contribution technique majeure est un algorithme basé sur notre théorie, qui génère toutes les solutions ambiguës. La deuxième partie de cette thèse traite d'une limitation des méthodes de SfT : la reconstruction de plis. Cette limitation vient de la parcimonie de la contrainte de mouvement et de la régularisation. Nous proposons deux contributions qui s'appuient sur un cadre de minimisation d'énergie non-convexe. Tout d'abord, nous complétons la contrainte de mouvement avec une contrainte robuste de bord. Ensuite, nous modélisons implicitement les plis à l'aide d'une représentation dense de la surface basée maillage et d'une contrainte robuste de lissage qui désactive automatiquement le lissage de la courbure sans connaître a priori la position des plis.La troisième partie de cette thèse est dédiée à une autre limitation du SfT : la reconstruction de surfaces peu texturées. Cette limitation vient de la difficulté d'obtenir des correspondances (parcimonieuses ou denses) sur des surfaces peu texturées. Comme l'ombrage révèle les détails sur des surfaces peu texturées, nous proposons de combiner l'ombrage avec le SfT. Nous présentons deux contributions. La première est une initialisation en cascade qui estime séquentiellement la déformation de la surface, l'illumination de la scène, la réponse de la caméra et enfin les albédos de la surface à partir d'images monoculaires où la surface se déforme. La seconde est l'intégration de l'ombrage à notre précédent cadre de minimisation d'énergie afin de raffiner simultanément les paramètres photométriques et de déformation.La dernière partie de cette thèse relâche la connaissance du patron et aborde deux limitations du NRSfM : la reconstruction de surfaces peu texturées avec des plis. Une contribution majeure est l'extension du second cadre d'optimisation pour la reconstruction conjointe de la forme 3D de la surface sur toutes les images d'entrée et des albédos de la surface sans en connaître un patron. / Monocular deformable 3D reconstruction is the general problem of recovering the 3D shape of a deformable object from monocular 2D images. Several scenarios have emerged: the Shape-from-Template (SfT) and the Non-Rigid Structure-from-Motion (NRSfM) are two approaches intensively studied for their practicability. The former uses a single image depicting the deforming object and a template (a textured 3D shape of this object in a reference pose). The latter does not use a template, but uses several images and recovers the 3D shape in each image. Both approaches rely on the motion of correspondences between the images and deformation priors, which restrict their use to well-textured surfaces which deform smoothly. This thesis advances the state-of-the-art in SfT and NRSfM in two main directions. The first direction is to study SfT for the case of 1D templates (i.e. curved, thin structures such as ropes and cables). The second direction is to develop algorithms in SfT and NRSfM that exploit multiple visual cues and can solve complex, real-world cases which were previously unsolved. We focus on isometric deformations and reconstruct the outer part of the object. The technical and scientific contributions of this thesis are divided into four parts. The first part of this thesis studies the case of a curvilinear template embedded in 2D or 3D space, referred to Curve SfT. We propose a thorough theoretical analysis and practical solutions for Curve SfT. Despite its apparent simplicity, Curve SfT appears to be a complex problem: it cannot be solved locally using exact non-holonomic partial differential equation and is only solvable up to a finite number of ambiguous solutions. A major technical contribution is a computational solution based on our theory, which generates all the ambiguous solutions.The second part of this thesis deals with a limitation of SfT methods: reconstructing creases. This is due to the sparsity of the motion constraint and regularization. We propose two contributions which rely on a non-convex energy minimization framework. First, we complement the motion constraint with a robust boundary contour constraint. Second, we implicitly model creases with a dense mesh-based surface representation and an associated robust smoothing constraint, which deactivates curvature smoothing automatically where needed, without knowing a priori the crease location. The third part of this thesis is dedicated to another limitation of SfT: reconstructing poorly-textured surfaces. This is due to correspondences which cannot be obtained so easily on poorly-textured surfaces (either sparse or dense). As shading reveals details on poorly-textured surfaces, we propose to combine shading and SfT. We have two contributions. The first is a cascaded initialization which estimates sequentially the surface's deformation, the scene illumination, the camera response and then the surface albedos from deformed monocular images. The second is to integrate shading to our previous energy minimization framework for simultaneously refining deformation and photometric parameters.The last part of this thesis relaxes the knowledge of the template and addresses two limitations of NRSfM: reconstructing poorly-textured surfaces with creases. Our major contribution is an extension of the second framework to recover jointly the 3D shapes of all input images and the surface albedos without any template.

Veckbildning i bitumenbaserade tätskiktmattor är ett problem som är känt i branschen. Problemet uppstår oftast på underlagstak av trä som är byggda under årets fuktigaste period, oktober-november, och vecken börjar då att bildas i slutet av våren i takt med den ökande solinstrålningen. Vecken bildas när underlagstaket torkar ut och krymper, det leder till att tätskiktets infästningspunkter skjuts ihop och ett materialöverskott av tätskiktsmatta bildas – ett tillräckligt stort materialöverskott visar sig i form av ett veck. Idag kan veckbildningen leda till att tätskiktsmattor måste bytas ut av estetiska skäl. Denna rapport utreder vilka faktorer som påverkar risken för veckbildning. Rörelser i både trä och tätskikt har studerats. Träets rörelser är direkt beroende av dess fuktkvot, när träet torkar ut krymper det också. För att utreda de faktorer som påverkar träets fuktighet har fuktberäknings-programmet WUFI använts. WUFI har nyttjats för att göra en parameterstudie där olika parametrar har jämförts, till exempel: platser i landet, inbyggnadsfuktkvoter, tidpunkter för inbyggnad etc. Till skillnad från de flesta andra material krymper bitumenbaserade tätskikt initialt till följd av uppvärmning från solen. Hur träet och tätskiktet påverkar varandra till följd av deras inbördes rörelser har utretts i form av en hypotes. Antagandet utgår från att tätskiktets mekaniska infästningspunkter i underlagstaket är en viktig del - ju kortare avstånd mellan infästningspunkterna, desto högre är risken för veckbildning. Beräkningar, utifrån antagandet, har gjorts för att kunna jämföra olika utföranden med varandra. Faktorer som leder till minskad risk för veckbildning är att minska fuktkvotsändringen och därmed fuktrörelserna genom att bygga tak med så låg inbyggnadsfuktkvot som möjligt, till exempel genom att bygga under våren/sommaren. Vid byggnation under höst/vinter kan fuktkvoten hållas nere med en avfuktare. Att använda takplywood i stället för råspont leder till minskade rörelser i underlagstaket. En annan åtgärd som skulle minska risken för veckbildning är att öka den maximalt tillåtna krympningen i tätskiktet. / Creasing in roofing membranes is a problem that is familiar in the industry. The issue usually occurs on wooden roof deckings constructed during the wettest period of the year, October-November. The creases then begin to form at the end of the spring due to the increasing solar radiation. When the roof decking dries out and shrinks, the creases start to form. The shrinking leads to the attachment points of the roofing membrane getting pushed together. That creates an excess of material - a sufficiently large surplus of material appears in the form of a crease. Today, the formation of creases can lead to roofing membranes having to get replaced for aesthetic reasons. This report investigates the factors that affect the risk of creasing. Both the movement in the wood and the roofing membrane have been examined. The wood's motions are directly dependent on its moisture content. When the wood is drying, it's also shrinking. The moisture calculation program WUFI has been used to investigate the factors that affect the wood's moisture. The investigation is in the form of a parameter study where different parameters have been compared, for example, places in the country, built-in moisture ratios, built-in times, and more. Unlike most other materials, bituminous roofing membranes initially shrink due to heating from the sun. How the wood and the roofing membrane affect each other as a result of their respective movements has been investigated in the form of a hypothesis. It assumes that the mechanical attachment points of the roofing membrane in the roof decking are of importance - the shorter the distance between the attachment points, the higher the risk of creases. Calculations, based on the assumption, have been made to compare different roofing components with each other. Factors that lead to a reduced risk of creasing are to reduce the moisture ratio change and thus the moisture movements by building roofs with as low a built-in moisture ratio as possible, for example, by constructing in the spring/summer. When constructing during autumn/winter, the moisture ratio can be kept down with a dehumidifier. Using roof plywood instead of tongued and grooved board leads to reduced movements in the roof decking. Another measure that would reduce the risk of creasing is to increase the maximum allowable shrinkage in the roofing membrane.