Latest revision as of 13:11, 3 August 2018

Project Description

Throughout Marquette University's 10-week summer REU program, Computation Across the Disciplines, I will be researching applications of graph theory to computer vision and image segmentation problems. More specifically, I hope to be able to utilize the graph-cut technique in order to isolate images of the heart and its components from CT scans provided by local hospitals. I will be working under the guidance of Dr. Naveen Bansal.

Week 1 (5/29 - 6/1)

Tuesday 5/29

• Attended REU orientation
• Met briefly with Dr. Bansal to begin planning the summer's research

Wednesday 5/30

• Read introduction to Neural Networks: a Comprehensive Foundation
• Met with Dr. Bansal and graduate student to begin learning about statistical applications to image segmentation

Thursday 5/31

• Met with graduate student to obtain preliminary research publications
• Met with Dr. Bansal to clarify research goals and outline the structure of the project
• Read several research articles and located five articles for further reading

Friday 6/1

• Familiarized myself with several graph-theoretic terms and concepts, in preparation for future research
• Completed Fast Approximate Energy Minimization via Graph Cuts (Boykov et al.)
• Located and obtained the Ford-Fulkerson publication on flow networks in Memorial Library

Week 2 (6/4 - 6/8)

Monday 6/4

• Completed Interactive Graph Cuts for Optimal Boundary & Region Segmentation of Objects in N-D Images (Boykov et al.)
• Completed An Omptimal Graph Theoretic Approach to Data Clustering: Theory and Its Applications to Image Segmentation (Wu et al.)
• Began Graph Cuts and Efficient N-D Image Segmentation (Boykov et al.)

Tuesday 6/5

• Completed Graph Cuts and Efficient N-D Image Segmentation (Boykov et al.)
• Completed Normalized Cuts and Image Segmentation (Shi et al.)

Wednesday 6/6

• Began writing code for GraphCut algorithm, completed about 350 lines

Thursday 6/7

• Finished a rough draft of the GraphCut algorithm, totaling about 700 lines
• Attended weekly REU luncheon and learned about the do's and don't's of research presentations
• Met with Dr. Bansal to give a progress report and discuss next steps
• Completed module 1 of the Responsible Conduct of Research training

Friday 6/8

• Completed modules 2 and 3 of the Responsible Conduct of Research training
• Began to modify GraphCut algorithm (fixing various syntax errors and adding small improvements)

Week 3 (6/11 - 6/15)

Monday 6/11

• Continued to fix GraphCut algorithm
• Found more efficient storage for Graph data structure
• Fixed several initialization errors
• Added several fringe cases onto the algorithm, now totals about 1200 lines
• Finished second draft of GraphCut algorithm

Tuesday 6/12

• Met with grad student to discuss generalities of GraphCut algorithm
• Worked with grad student to implement algorithm

Wednesday 6/13

• Attended the Ethics in Research training session, proctored by Dr. Brylow

Thursday 6/14

• Continued revisions of GraphCut algorithm in preparation for its first test run
• Met with Dr. Bansal for our weekly progress report
• Took preliminary steps to obtain image data for future use with the GraphCuts algorithm
• Sought out different implementations of the max-flow/min-cut algorithm to compare to (and possibly combine with) my current GraphCut algorithm

Friday 6/15

• Continued to modify GraphCut algorithm
• Added condensation method to GraphCut algorithm in an attempt to conserve memory

Week 4 (6/18 - 6/22)

Monday 6/18

• Read An Experimental Comparison of Min-Cut/Max-Flow Algorithms for Energy Minimization in Vision (Boykov et al.)
• Modified GraphCut algorithm based on Boykov's active node method of operation
• The GraphCut algorithm is approaching completion, should be ready for testing by next week

Tuesday 6/19

• Fixed several syntax and arithmetical errors in the GraphCut algorithm
• Met with Dr. Bansal and graduate student to obtain image segmentation data set
• With new image data as reference, I began to write main method for reading in image and implementing the graphCut method (completed about 600 lines)

Wednesday 6/20

• Completed code for handling the graphics of the GraphCut algorithm, algorithm now totals about 2500 lines
• Encountered import errors involving the graphics package, began to search for an appropriate library download

Thursday 6/21

• Began to create a new Java library to handle graphics of GraphCut
• Acquired necessary source code for new library from GitHub
• Attended weekly REU luncheon to share progress and attended a presentation on computer science education
• Met with Dr. Bansal for our weekly progress report and showed him the GraphCut algorithm as it currently stands

Friday 6/22

• Continued to work on constructing graphics library from source code

Week 5 (6/25 - 6/29)

Monday 6/25

• Finished constructing the graphics library from source code
• Began to fix residual errors resulting from new graphics library
• Began to prepare presentation for Thursday's midterm presentation

Tuesday 6/26

• Continued fixing residual errors resulting from new graphics library
• Continued to work on presentation for Thursday's midterm presentation

Wednesday 6/27

• Finished rough draft of midterm presentation
• Began practicing midterm presentation and making appropriate modifications
• Continued fixing residual errors resulting from new graphics library

Thursday 6/28

• Finished final edits of midterm presentation
• Attended the weekly REU luncheon and presented my midterm presentation

Friday 6/29

• Finished fixing residual errors resulting from new graphics library
• Finished debugging GraphCut algorithm
• Prepared main method of GraphCut algorithm for testing on imagery

Week 6 (7/2 - 7/6)

Monday 7/2

• Began writing main method of GraphCut algorithm
• Finished constructing handling of GraphCut class within the main method
• Struggled to construct handling of Graph_Cut class (graphics implementation) within the main method

Tuesday 7/3

• Finished first instance of main method
• Performed a trial run of the completed GraphCut algorithm, but trial was unsuccessful
• Began to read through pertinent code to search for sources of error
• Began to do background reading/research on GUIs in order to better understand the graphics packages and library of the GraphCut algorithm

Thursday 7/5

• Continued to search code for sources of error in GraphCut algorithm
• Concluded that the error must be coming from the Graph_Cut class
• Attended the weekly REU luncheon and listened to a Latex tutorial
• Met with Dr. Bansal for our weekly progress report

Friday 7/6

• Continued to search code for sources of error in Graph_Cut class
• Continued with background reading on GUIs

Week 7 (7/9 - 7/13)

Monday 7/9

• Continued searching code for error
• Fixed minor error regarding instance variables in the main method, but algorithm still did not run properly

Tuesday 7/10

• Continued to search code for error
• Overhauled the main method, fixing all but one (crucial) error
• Ran a test of the GraphCut algorithm, was able to open the gui window, but was unable to add to it any content
• After reworking main method, entire algorithm is now error-free, and yet it now fails to build

Wednesday 7/11

• Located and fixed several errors in GraphCut algorithm
• Identified several class cast exceptions and began searching through different packages to find solutions

Thursday 7/12

• Identified one class cast exception that was indirectly causing nearly all other such exceptions in the algorithm
• Sought out solutions to this originating class cast exception
• Attended weekly REU luncheon
• Met with Dr. Bansal for our weekly progress report

Friday 7/13

• Discovered that the originating class cast exception may have been caused by an import error with the graphics library
• Began making appropriate changes to graphics library

Week 8 (7/16 - 7/20)

Monday 7/16

• Finished making documentation and import corrections to graphics library
• Began fixing newfound inconsistencies between updated graphics library and GraphCut algorithm

Tuesday 7/17

• Began putting together poster for REU poster presentation in two weeks

Wednesday 7/18

• Continued working on poster
• Met with Dr. Bansal to discuss recent challenges pertaining to GraphCut algorithm and also to get feedback/ideas for poster and report

Thursday 7/19

• Put finishing touches on poster
• Attended weekly REU luncheon
• Continued to fix inconsistencies between updated graphics library and GraphCut algorithm

Friday 7/20

• Revised certain elements of poster after realizing dimensions needed to be adjusted
• Continued to fix inconsistencies between updated graphics library and GraphCut algorithm
• began outline and formatting of research paper (due 8/3)

Week 9 (7/23 - 7/27)

Monday 7/23

• Continued outlining and writing research paper
• Finished rough drafts of the introduction and background on graph theory subsection
• Began writing the applications of graph theory subsection
• Continued debugging GraphCut algorithm

Tuesday 7/24

• Finished writing the applications of graph theory subsection
• Finished writing the algorithm introduction, as well as the algorithm overview subsection
• Continued debugging GraphCut algorithm

Wednesday 7/25

• Completed the current status and challenges subsection
• Completed the conclusions section
• Began the abstract
• Began reviewing the paper and making minor edits
• Continued debugging GraphCut algorithm

Thursday 7/26

• Continued to review and edit paper
• Added visual aids (with captions) to both the graph theory and algorithm sections
• Attended the weekly REU luncheon
• Received printed poster and began to prepare for poster presentation on Monday
• Continued debugging GraphCut algorithm

Friday 7/27

• Continued to review and edit paper
• Began working on final presentation
• Continued debugging GraphCut algorithm

Week 10 (7/30 - 8/3)

Monday 7/30

• Presented poster during the morning presentation session
• Finished rough draft of final paper, sent it to Dr. Bansal for critiques/feedback
• Continued debugging GraphCut algorithm

Tuesday 7/31

• Finished final presentation slides, began practicing for Wednesday/Thursday presentation
• Continued debugging GraphCut algorithm

Wednesday 8/1

• Final presentation before REU students and mentors
• Continued debugging GraphCut algorithm

Thursday 8/2

• Continued to edit final paper
• Continued debugging GraphCut algorithm

Friday 8/3

• Finalized and submitted paper