Colour image processing and texture analysis on images of porterhouse steak meat

This paper outlines two colour image processing and texture analysis techniques applied to meat images and assessment of error due to the use of JPEG compression at image capture. JPEG error analysis was performed by capturing TIFF and JPEG images, then calculating the RMS difference and applying a calibration between block boundary features and subjective visual JPEG scores. Both scores indicated high JPEG quality. Correction of JPEG blocking error was trialled and found to produce minimal improvement in the RMS difference. The texture analysis methods used were singular value decomposition over pixel blocks and complex cell analysis. The block singular values were classified as meat or non- meat by Fisher linear discriminant analysis with the colour image processing result used as ‘truth.’ Using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis, an area under the ROC curve of 0.996 was obtained, demonstrating good correspondence between the colour image processing and the singular values. The complex cell analysis indicated a ‘texture angle’ expected from human inspection

Optical full Hadamard matrix multiplexing and noise effects: errata

The model for Poisson random noise under Hadamard multiplexing is revised. The new model accounts for the variation of the Hadamard multiplexed measurements, as well as the previously considered variation due to Poisson fluctuations. A numerical simulation matches the model prediction within uncertainty

Comparison of various methods to delineate blood vessels in retinal images

The blood vessels in the human retina are easily visualisable via digital fundus photography and provide an excellent window to the health of a patient affected by diseases of blood circulation such as diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy is identifiable through lesions of the vessels such as narrowing of the arteriole walls, beading of venules into sausage like structures and new vessel growth as an attempt to reperfuse ischaemic regions. Automated quantification of these lesions would be beneficial to diabetes research and to clinical practice, particularly for eye-screening programmes for the detection of eye-disease amongst diabetic persons

Optical full Hadamard matrix multiplexing and noise effects

Hadamard multiplexing provides a considerable SNR boost over additive random noise but Poisson noise such as photon noise reduces the boost. We develop the theory for full H-matrix Hadamard transform imaging under additive and Poisson noise effects. We show that H-matrix encoding results in no effect on average on the noise level due to Poisson noise sources while preferentially reducing additive noise. We use this result to explain the wavelength-dependent varying SNR boost in a Hadamard hyperspectral imager and argue that such a preferential boost is useful when the main noise source is indeterminant or varying

The Presentation of Child Trafficking in the UK:an old and new moral panic

This article explores the ways in which the highly emotive subject of child trafficking has been, and currently is, presented in the UK. It does so by examining the way the issue has been tackled at two moments in time: the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century. We argue that, although the trafficking of children is clearly both undesirable and unacceptable, the reaction to this issue in the UK has been out of proportion to the problem itself. The reaction, we propose, is best understood as a moral panic that must be interrogated if we are to offer a helpful response to what is a serious social problem. A sense of historical perspective is, we believe, helpful in this regard

Moral Panics, Claims-Making and Child Protection in the UK

This paper brings sociological theory on moral panics to a discussion of child protection social work in the UK. We begin by considering the extent to which policy and practice may be susceptible to distortion by ‘claims-making’, the influence of which, we will argue, casts a rarely explored and less understood influence on the service's practice and direction. We conclude that claims-making has had a detrimental effect on child protection, contributing to a coarsening of attitudes towards families in child protection work, a retreat from preventative practice and a deterioration in relationships between social workers, service users and members of the public more generally

Retinal Vessel Segmentation Using the 2-D Morlet Wavelet and Supervised Classification

We present a method for automated segmentation of the vasculature in retinal images. The method produces segmentations by classifying each image pixel as vessel or non-vessel, based on the pixel's feature vector. Feature vectors are composed of the pixel's intensity and continuous two-dimensional Morlet wavelet transform responses taken at multiple scales. The Morlet wavelet is capable of tuning to specific frequencies, thus allowing noise filtering and vessel enhancement in a single step. We use a Bayesian classifier with class-conditional probability density functions (likelihoods) described as Gaussian mixtures, yielding a fast classification, while being able to model complex decision surfaces and compare its performance with the linear minimum squared error classifier. The probability distributions are estimated based on a training set of labeled pixels obtained from manual segmentations. The method's performance is evaluated on publicly available DRIVE and STARE databases of manually labeled non-mydriatic images. On the DRIVE database, it achieves an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.9598, being slightly superior than that presented by the method of Staal et al.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures and 1 table. Accepted for publication in IEEE Trans Med Imag; added copyright notic

Outcome of ATP-based tumor chemosensitivity assay directed chemotherapy in heavily pre-treated recurrent ovarian carcinoma

BACKGROUND: We wished to evaluate the clinical response following ATP-Tumor Chemosensitivity Assay (ATP-TCA) directed salvage chemotherapy in a series of UK patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The results are compared with that of a similar assay used in a different country in terms of evaluability and clinical endpoints. METHODS: From November 1998 to November 2001, 46 patients with pre-treated, advanced ovarian cancer were given a total of 56 courses of chemotherapy based on in-vitro ATP-TCA responses obtained from fresh tumor samples or ascites. Forty-four patients were evaluable for results. Of these, 18 patients had clinically platinum resistant disease (relapse < 6 months after first course of chemotherapy). There was evidence of cisplatin resistance in 31 patients from their first ATP-TCA. Response to treatment was assessed by radiology, clinical assessment and tumor marker level (CA 125). RESULTS: The overall response rate was 59% (33/56) per course of chemotherapy, including 12 complete responses, 21 partial responses, 6 with stable disease, and 15 with progressive disease. Two patients were not evaluable for response having received just one cycle of chemotherapy: if these were excluded the response rate is 61%. Fifteen patients are still alive. Median progression free survival (PFS) was 6.6 months per course of chemotherapy; median overall survival (OAS) for each patient following the start of TCA-directed therapy was 10.4 months (95% confidence interval 7.9-12.8 months). CONCLUSION: The results show similar response rates to previous studies using ATP-TCA directed therapy in recurrent ovarian cancer. The assay shows high evaluability and this study adds weight to the reproducibility of results from different centre

Problem gambling: a suitable case for social work?

Problem gambling attracts little attention from health and social care agencies in the UK. Prevalence surveys suggest that 0.6% of the population are problem gamblers and it is suggested that for each of these individuals, 10–17 other people, including children and other family members, are affected. Problem gambling is linked to many individual and social problems including: depression, suicide, significant debt, bankruptcy, family conflict, domestic violence, neglect and maltreatment of children and offending. This makes the issue central to social work territory. Yet, the training of social workers in the UK has consistently neglected issues of addictive behaviour. Whilst some attention has been paid in recent years to substance abuse issues, there has remained a silence in relation to gambling problems. Social workers provide more help for problems relating to addictions than other helping professions. There is good evidence that treatment, and early intervention for gambling problems, including psycho-social and public health approaches, can be very effective. This paper argues that problem gambling should be moved onto the radar of the social work profession, via inclusion on qualifying and post-qualifying training programmes and via research and dissemination of good practice via institutions such as the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). Keywords: problem gambling; addictive behaviour; socia

Social Work and Pornography:some ethical considerations

On the back of recent high-profile cases, the subject of internet pornography has become the focus of media and political attention. Social workers are increasingly likely to be drawn into this issue through requirements to provide courts with reports or taking child protection decisions relating to clients' use of child or, potentially, extreme pornography. Within a risk paradigm, they may look for answers based on technical and ‘scientific’ knowledge. We argue here that pornography is, first and foremost, an ethical issue. This article offers a preliminary exploration of some of the ethical issues it raises. We take as a starting point that whatever we might personally think about it, pornography is a fact of everyday life. Yet, in the current political and social climate it has become deeply moralised. We argue that social workers might legitimately adopt a range of value positions in relation to pornography that these need to be opened up to ethical debate