Numerical Mathematics: Theory , Methods and Applications Special issue on Image Processing and Computer Vision

Preface Special Issue on Image Processing and Computer Vision Current developments in imaging and multimedia technologies and rapid advances in vision research have led to an explosive growth in the interdisciplinary field of imaging science. Mathematical and numerical techniques applied to vision and imaging problems llead to the solution of challenging problems and innovative applications. Its vast application area touches many important industry fields that are important for our daily life include medical imaging and analysis, media formation and processing, internet communication, virtual reality, geophysical prospection and remote sensing as well as vision and data understanding. This special issue focuses on the latest efforts and results in addressing numerical image processing and shape analysis issues. These articles cover in depth many of the mathematical techniques used in image processing and computer vision, including segmentation, surface registration and matching, image denoising and deblurring. They highlight a diverse array of mathematical and numerical approaches: state-of-the-art algorithms for numerical schemes for image processing and vision analysis. Also described are cutting-edge methods for image registration and segmentation—indispensable steps in advanced image and vision applications. The content of this special issue gives a good introduction and coverage of the newest developments in this field. We hope that the contents of this issue will pique the interest of mathematicians as well as real practitioners and imagers alike. The articles in this special issue grow out from talks and contributions given at the SSVM 2011 (Third International Conference on Scale Space and Variational Methods In Computer Vision) as well as other contributions from our call for the special issue. All the articles have gone through a rigorous review procedure that is the same as other regular articles for the journal. The guest editors would like to thank the authors for their contributions to the special issue and all the reviewers who provided their constructive criticism, thorough reviews, and their valuable time. We are also grateful to the journal editorial staff for their help in the preparation of this special issue. Fiorella Sgallari University of Bologna Xue-Cheng Tai University of Bergen