Title page, abstract and table of contents only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / This thesis is concerned with the core computer vision challenge of obtaining efficient and robust visual tracking of objects over extended image sequences. Effective solutions to this problem are crucial for applications such as smart video surveillance, intelligent human machine interaction, and robotics. Most tracking algorithms can be classified into two major types, namely, probabilistic filtering algorithms and deterministic localisation algorithms. This thesis presents novel enhancements to both types of algorithm. The probabilistic filtering algorithms adopted in visual tracking are mainly based on Kalman filters and particle filters. Whereas Kalman filters are restricted to linear and Gaussian noise models, particle filters can propagate more general distributions, albeit only approximately. This is valuable in visual tracking, as simple models of noise do not suffice. Although particle filter trackers have been quite successful, they too have significant drawbacks. Several strategies are advanced in this thesis to overcome these limitations. Two alternative means are proposed for generating a proposal distribution, which is a key step in particle filtering. These increase the efficiency and robustness of the algorithm in the presence of sudden motion. The particle filter is also extended so as to accommodate multiple cues, such as colour and edge information, affording greater reliability. Additionally, an efficient kernel subspace method is introduced to capture a tracked object's appearance. Finally, a novel method is proposed for tracking the motion of an articulated structure. This significantly improves sampling efficiency, alleviating the curse of dimensionality in Monte Carlo sampling methods. The value of these enhancements is confirmed experimentally. The second part of this thesis concerns the mean shift algorithm, recently advanced as an alternative to stochastic trackers, that seeks the global mode of a suitable density function. A novel, multi-bandwidth mean shift procedure is presented along with a means of accelerating the algorithm. This improved tracker is applied to the problems of object localisation and visual tracking. We empirically show on various data sets that the proposed algorithm reliably finds the true object location when the initial position of the mean shift is far away from the global maximum, in contrast with the conventional mean shift algorithm which can often become trapped in a local maximum. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1229506 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Computer Science, 2006

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The quest of this project is to question and better understand the effects of a widening gap between Middle East and West on Middle Easterners’ experiences and feelings in exile, inbetween. This is to articulate this separation, but also to invent a visual and spatial experience that may enable us to traverse the space of the border. For those not in and of this space, as well as for those in it, a new way of looking may furnish a better understanding of both positions and facilitate communication.

The quest of this project is to question and better understand the effects of a widening gap between Middle East and West on Middle Easterners’ experiences and feelings in exile, inbetween. This is to articulate this separation, but also to invent a visual and spatial experience that may enable us to traverse the space of the border. For those not in and of this space, as well as for those in it, a new way of looking may furnish a better understanding of both positions and facilitate communication.

This research focuses on the retail investor???s perception of the corporate image and reputation of large Mainland enterprises listed in Hong Kong. Such enterprises have grown and are expected to grow, in both number and significance in the local securities market. Despite the effort to align themselves with international business practices, these enterprises are generally still perceived as being less accountable and transparent, and have a less favourable corporate image and reputation when compared to the other blue chip companies listed in Hong Kong. / Our results indicate that only three factors, namely, corporate management and communication, financial prospects, and market presence, significantly influence retail perception. Four implications arise: how companies communicate with retail investors is as important as how companies are perceived to be managed; maximising leadership driven communication, communicating clearly to retail investors the financial prospects of the company and communicating and impressing retail investors with the market presence of the company. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2007

Digital image feature detectors often comprise two stages of processing: an initial filtering phase and a secondary search stage. The initial filtering is designed to accentuate specific feature characteristics or suppress spurious components of the image signal. The second stage of processing involves searching the results for various criteria that will identify the locations of the image features. The local energy feature detection scheme combines the squares of the signal convolved with a pair of filters that are in quadrature with each other. The resulting local energy value is proportional to phase congruency which is a measure of the local alignment of the phases of the signals constituent Fourier components. Points of local maximum phase alignment have been shown to correspond to visual features in the image. The local energy calculation accentuates the location of many types of image features, such as lines, edges and ramps and estimates of local energy can be calculated in multidimensional image data by rotating the quadrature filters to several orientations. The second stage search criterion for local energy is to locate the points that lie along the ridges in the energy map that connect the points of local maxima. In three dimensional data the relatively higher energy values will form films between connecting laments and tendrils. This thesis examines the use of recursive spatial domain filtering to calculate local energy. A quadrature pair of filters which are based on the first derivative of the Gaussian function and its Hilbert transform, are rotated in space using a kernel of basis functions to obtain various orientations of the filters. The kernel is designed to be separable and each term is implemented using a recursive digital filter. Once local energy has been calculated the ridges and surfaces of high energy values are determined using a flooding technique. Starting from the points of local minima we perform an ablative skeletonisation of the higher energy values. The topology of the original set is maintained by examining and preserving the topology of the neighbourhood of each point when considering it for removal. This combination of homotopic skeletonisation and sequential processing of each level of energy values, results in a well located, thinned and connected tracing of the ridges. The thesis contains examples of the local energy calculation using steerable recursive filters and the ridge tracing algorithm applied to two and three dimensional images. Details of the algorithms are contained in the text and details of their computer implementation are provided in the appendices.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-178).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institue of Technology 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-90).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin -- La Crosse, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48).