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2026 Articolo in rivista open access

A parametric family of polynomial wavelets for signal and image processing

Mariantonia Cotronei ; Woula Themistoclakis ; Marc Van Barel

This paper investigates the potential applications of a parametric family of polynomial wavelets that has been recently introduced starting from de la Vallée Poussin (VP) interpolation at Cheby- shev nodes. Unlike classical wavelets, which are constructed on the real line, these VP wavelets are defined on a bounded interval, offering the advantage of handling boundaries naturally while maintaining computational efficiency. In addition, the structure of these wavelets enables the use of fast algorithms for decomposition and reconstruction. Furthermore, the flexibility offered by a free parameter allows a better control of localized singularities, such as edges in images. On the basis of previous theoretical foundations, we show the effectiveness of the VP wavelets for basic signal denoising and image compression, emphasizing their potential for more advanced signal and image processing tasks.

Image compression, Signal denoising, Polynomial wavelets
2025 Articolo in rivista open access

De la Vallée Poussin filtered polynomial approximation on the half–line

On the half line, we introduce a new sequence of near-best uniform approximation polynomials, easily computable by the values of the approximated function at a truncated number of Laguerre zeros. Such approximation polynomials come from a discretization of filtered Fourier–Laguerre partial sums, which are filtered using a de la Vallée Poussin (VP) filter. They have the peculiarity of depending on two parameters: a truncation parameter that determines how many of the n Laguerre zeros are considered, and a localization parameter, which determines the range of action of the VP filter we will apply. As n→∞, under simple assumptions on such parameters and the Laguerre exponents of the involved weights, we prove that the new VP filtered approximation polynomials have uniformly bounded Lebesgue constants and uniformly convergence at a near–best approximation rate, for any locally continuous function on the semiaxis. The numerical experiments have validated the theoretical results. In particular, they show a better performance of the proposed VP filtered approximation versus the truncated Lagrange interpolation at the same nodes, especially for functions a.e. very smooth with isolated singularities. In such cases, we see a more localized approximation and a satisfactory reduction of the Gibbs phenomenon.

De la Vallée Poussin means Filtered approximation Laguerre polynomials Polynomial approximation
2024 Articolo in rivista open access

On solving some Cauchy singular integral equations by de la Vallée Poussin filtered approximation

The paper deals with the numerical solution of Cauchy Singular Integral Equations based on some non standard polynomial quasi-projection of de la Vallée Poussin type. Such kind of approximation presents several advantages over classical Lagrange interpolation such as the uniform boundedness of the Lebesgue constants, the near-best order of uniform convergence to any continuous function, and a strong reduction of Gibbs phenomenon. These features will be inherited by the proposed numerical method which is stable and convergent, and provides a near-best polynomial approximation of the sought solution by solving a well conditioned linear system. The numerical tests confirm the theoretical error estimates and, in case of functions subject to Gibbs phenomenon, they show a better local approximation compared with analogous Lagrange projection methods.

Cauchy singular integral equations Polynomial approximation De la Vallée Poussin approximation
2024 Articolo in rivista open access

Approximation of the Hilbert transform on the half–line

The paper concerns the weighted Hilbert transform of locally continuous functions on the semiaxis. By using a filtered de la Vallée Poussin type approximation polynomial recently introduced by the authors, it is proposed a new “truncated” product quadrature rule (VP- rule). Several error estimates are given for different smoothness degrees of the integrand ensuring the uniform convergence in Zygmund and Sobolev spaces. Moreover, new estimates are proved for the weighted Hilbert transform and for its approximation (L-rule) by means of the truncated Lagrange interpolation at the same Laguerre zeros. The theoretical results are validated by the numerical experiments that show a better performance of the VP-rule versus the L-rule.

De la Vallée Poussin means Filtered approximation Hilbert transform Polynomial approximation Quadrature rules
2024 Articolo in rivista open access

A new kernel method for the uniform approximation in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces

Themistoclakis W. ; Barel M. V.

We are concerned with the uniform approximation of functions of a generic reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). In this general context, classical approximations are given by Fourier orthogonal projections (if we know the Fourier coefficients) and their discrete versions (if we know the function values on well-distributed nodes). In case such approximations are not satisfactory, we propose to improve the approximation using the same data but combined with a new kernel function. For the resulting (both continuous and discrete) new approximations, theoretical estimates and concrete examples are given.

Interpolation Kernel approximation methods Lebesgue constants Reproducing kernels Uniform approximation
2024 Articolo in rivista restricted access

A generalization of Floater–Hormann interpolants

Themistoclakis W. ; Van Barel M.

In this paper the interpolating rational functions introduced by Floater and Hormann are generalized leading to a whole new family of rational functions depending on γ, an additional positive integer parameter. For γ=1, the original Floater–Hormann interpolants are obtained. When γ>1 we prove that the new rational functions share a lot of the nice properties of the original Floater–Hormann functions. Indeed, for any configuration of nodes in a compact interval, they have no real poles, interpolate the given data, preserve the polynomials up to a certain fixed degree, and have a barycentric-type representation. Moreover, we estimate the associated Lebesgue constants in terms of the minimum (h∗) and maximum (h) distance between two consecutive nodes. It turns out that, in contrast to the original Floater–Hormann interpolants, for all γ>1 we get uniformly bounded Lebesgue constants in the case of equidistant and quasi-equidistant nodes configurations (i.e., when h∼h∗). For such configurations, as the number of nodes tends to infinity, we prove that the new interpolants (γ>1) uniformly converge to the interpolated function f, for any continuous function f and all γ>1. The same is not ensured by the original FH interpolants (γ=1). Moreover, we provide uniform and pointwise estimates of the approximation error for functions having different degrees of smoothness. Numerical experiments illustrate the theoretical results and show a better error profile for less smooth functions compared to the original Floater–Hormann interpolants.

Blending function Floater–Hormann interpolant Rational approximation
2024 Articolo in rivista open access

A note on generalized Floater–Hormann interpolation at arbitrary distributions of nodes

Themistoclakis W. ; Van Barel M.

The paper is concerned with a generalization of Floater–Hormann (briefly FH) rational interpolation recently introduced by the authors. Compared with the original FH interpolants, the generalized ones depend on an additional integer parameter γ>1, that, in the limit case γ=1 returns the classical FH definition. Here we focus on the general case of an arbitrary distribution of nodes and, for any γ>1, we estimate the sup norm of the error in terms of the maximum (h) and minimum (h∗) distance between two consecutive nodes. In the special case of equidistant (h=h∗) or quasi–equidistant (h≈h∗) nodes, the new estimate improves previous results requiring some theoretical restrictions on γ which are not needed as shown by the numerical tests carried out to validate the theory.

Barycentric rational interpolation Linear rational interpolation Rational approximation
2023 Articolo in rivista open access

Image Scaling by de la Vallée-Poussin Filtered Interpolation

We present a new image scaling method both for downscaling and upscaling, running with any scale factor or desired size. The resized image is achieved by sampling a bivariate polynomial which globally interpolates the data at the new scale. The method's particularities lay in both the sampling model and the interpolation polynomial we use. Rather than classical uniform grids, we consider an unusual sampling system based on Chebyshev zeros of the first kind. Such optimal distribution of nodes permits to consider near-best interpolation polynomials defined by a filter of de la Vallée-Poussin type. The action ray of this filter provides an additional parameter that can be suitably regulated to improve the approximation. The method has been tested on a significant number of different image datasets. The results are evaluated in qualitative and quantitative terms and compared with other available competitive methods. The perceived quality of the resulting scaled images is such that important details are preserved, and the appearance of artifacts is low. Competitive quality measurement values, good visual quality, limited computational effort, and moderate memory demand make the method suitable for real-world applications.

Image downscaling Image upscaling de la Vallée-Poussin interpolation Chebyshev nodes
2023 Articolo in rivista open access

Filtered polynomial interpolation for scaling 3D images

Image scaling methods allows us to obtain a given image at a different, higher (upscaling) or lower (downscaling), resolution with the aim of preserving as much as possible the original content and the quality of the image. In this paper, we focus on interpolation methods for scaling three-dimensional grayscale images. Within a unified framework, we introduce two different scaling methods, respectively based on the Lagrange and filtered de la Vall\'ee Poussin type interpolation at the 1st kind's Chebyshev zeros. In both cases, using a non-standard sampling model, we take (via tensor product) the associated trivariate polynomial interpolating the input image. It represents a continuous approximate 3D image to resample at the desired resolution. Using discrete linf and l2 norms, we theoretically estimate the error achieved in output, showing how it depends on the error in input and on the smoothness of the specific image we are processing. Finally, taking the special case of medical images as a case study, we experimentally compare the performances of the proposed methods among them and with the classical multivariate cubic and Lanczos interpolation methods.

Image resizing image downscaling image upscaling Lagrange interpolation filtered VP interpolation de la Vallée Poussin means Chebyshev nodes
2023 Articolo in rivista open access

An Open Image Resizing Framework for Remote Sensing Applications and beyond

Image resizing (IR) has a crucial role in remote sensing (RS), since an image's level of detail depends on the spatial resolution of the acquisition sensor; its design limitations; and other factors such as (a) the weather conditions, (b) the lighting, and (c) the distance between the satellite platform and the ground targets. In this paper, we assessed some recent IR methods for RS applications (RSAs) by proposing a useful open framework to study, develop, and compare them. The proposed framework could manage any kind of color image and was instantiated as a Matlab package made freely available on Github. Here, we employed it to perform extensive experiments across multiple public RS image datasets and two new datasets included in the framework to evaluate, qualitatively and quantitatively, the performance of each method in terms of image quality and statistical measures.

image resizing image downscaling remote sensing image upscaling remote sensing applications
2023 Presentazione / Comunicazione non pubblicata (convegno, evento, webinar...) metadata only access

Localized approximation by rational interpolation at equidistant nodes

Themistoclakis W ; Van Barel M

We consider the problem of interpolating a given function on arbitrary configurations of nodes in a compact interval, with a special focus on the case of equidistant or quasi-equidistant nodes. In this case, instead of polynomial interpolation, a family of rational interpolants introduced by Floater and Hormann in [2] turns out to be very useful . Such interpolants (briefly FH interpolants) generalize Berrut's rational interpolation [1] introducing a fixed integer parameter d >= 1 to speed up the convergence getting, in theory, arbitrarily high approximation orders. In this talk we will further generalize by presenting a whole new family of rational interpolants that depend on an additional parameter ? ? N. When ? = 1 we get the original FH interpolants. For ? > 1 we will see that the new interpolants share a lot of the interesting properties of the original FH interpolants (no real poles, baryentric-type representation, high rates of approximation). But, in addition, we get uniformly bounded Lebesgue constants and a more localized approximation of less smooth functions, compared to the original FH interpolation.

Rational interpolation
2023 Presentazione / Comunicazione non pubblicata (convegno, evento, webinar...) metadata only access

Generalizing Floater Hormann interpolation

Themistoclakis W ; Van Barel M

As known, polynomial interpolation is not advisable in the case of equidistant nodes, given the exponential growth of the Lebesgue constants and the consequent stability problems. In [1] Floater and Hormann introduce a family of rational interpolants (briefly FH interpolants) depending on a fixed integer parameter d >= 1. They are based on any configuration of the nodes in [a, b], have no real poles and approximation order O(h^{d+1}) for functions in C^{d+2}[a, b], where h denotes the maximum distance between two consecutive nodes. FH interpolants turn out to be very useful for equidistant or quasi-equidistant configurations of nodes when the Lebesgue constants present only a logarithmic growth as the number of nodes increases [2, 3]. In this talk, we introduce a generalization of FH interpolants depending on an additional parameter ? ? N. If ? = 1 we get the classical FH interpolants, but taking ? > 1 we succeed in getting uniformly bounded Lebesgue constants for quasi-equidistant configurations of nodes. Moreover, in comparison with the original FH interpolants, we show that the new interpolants present a much better error prole when the function is less smooth.

Rational interpolation uniform convergence Lebesgue constants
2022 Articolo in rivista restricted access

Filtered integration rules for finite weighted Hilbert transforms

A product quadrature rule, based on the filtered de la Vallée Poussin polynomial approximation, is proposed for evaluating the finite weighted Hilbert transform in [-1,1]. Convergence results are stated in weighted uniform norm for functions belonging to suitable Besov type subspaces. Several numerical tests are provided, also comparing the rule with other formulas known in literature.

Besov spaces de la Vallée Poussin means Filtered approximation Finite Hilbert transform Polynomial approximation Quadrature rules
2022 Articolo in rivista restricted access

Lagrange-Chebyshev Interpolation for image resizing

Image resizing is a basic tool in image processing, and in literature, we have many methods based on different approaches, which are often specialized in only upscaling or downscaling. In this paper, independently of the (reduced or enlarged) size we aim to get, we approach the problem at a continuous scale where the underlying function representing the image is globally approximated by its Lagrange-Chebyshev I kind interpolation polynomial corresponding to suitable (tensor product) grids of first kind Chebyshev zeros. This is a well-known approximation tool widely used in many applicative fields due to the optimal behavior of the related Lebesgue constants. Here we aim to show how Lagrange-Chebyshev interpolation can be fruitfully applied also for resizing any digital image in both downscaling and upscaling at any desired size. The performance of the proposed method has been tested in terms of the standard SSIM (Structured Similarity Index Measurement) and PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) metrics. The results indicate that, in upscaling, it is almost comparable with the classical Bicubic resizing method with slightly better metrics, but in downscaling a much higher performance has been observed in comparison with Bicubic and other recent methods too. Moreover, for all downscaling cases with an odd scale factor, we give a theoretical estimate of the MSE (Mean Squared Error) of the output image produced by our method, stating that it is certainly null (hence PSNR equals infinite and SSIM equals one) if the input image's MSE is null.

Image resizing Image downscaling Image upscaling Lagrange interpolation Chebyshev nodes
2022 Presentazione / Comunicazione non pubblicata (convegno, evento, webinar...) metadata only access

De la Vallée Poussin interpolation method for image resizing

The aim of this talk is to show how de la Vallee Poussin type interpolation based on Chebyshev zeros of rst kind, can be applied to resize an arbitrary color digital image. In fact, using such kind of approximation, we get an image scaling method running for any desired scaling factor or size, in both downscaling and upscaling. The peculiarities and the performance of such method will be discussed.

Image resizing Lagrange interpolation Chebyshev zeros de la Vallée Poussin filtered-interpolation
2022 Articolo in rivista restricted access

Filtered integration rules for finite weighted Hilbert transforms II

This paper is the continuation of a previous work where the authors have introduced a new class of quadrature rules for evaluating the finite Hilbert transform. Such rules are product type formulae based on the filtered de la Vallée Poussin (shortly VP) type approximation. Here, we focus on some particular cases of interest in applications and show that further results can be obtained in such special cases. In particular, we consider an optimal choice of the quadrature nodes for which explicit formulae of the quadrature weights are given and sharper error estimates are stated.

Hilbert transform de la Vallée Poussin polynomial approximation Quadrature rules
2021 Articolo in rivista restricted access

On the filtered polynomial interpolation at Chebyshev nodes

The paper deals with a special filtered approximation method, which originates interpolation polynomials at Chebyshev zeros by using de la Vallée Poussin filters. In order to get an optimal approximation in spaces of locally continuous functions equipped with weighted uniform norms, the related Lebesgue constants have to be uniformly bounded. In previous works this has already been proved under different sufficient conditions. Here, we complete the study by stating also the necessary conditions to get it. Several numerical experiments are also given to test the theoretical results and make comparisons to Lagrange interpolation at the same nodes.

Chebyshev nodes; De la Vallée Poussin mean; Filtered approximation; Gibbs phenomenon; Lebesgue constant; Polynomial interpolation
2021 Articolo in rivista open access

Some numerical applications of generalized Bernstein Operators

In this paper, some recent applications of the so-called Generalized Bernstein polynomials are collected. This polynomial sequence is constructed by means of the samples of a continuous function f on equispaced points of [0; 1] and depends on an additional parameter which can be suitable chosen in order to improve the rate of convergence to the function f, as the smoothness of f increases, overcoming the well-known low degree of approximation achieved by the classical Bernstein polynomials or by the piecewise polynomial approximation. The applications considered here deal with the numerical integration and the simultaneous approximation. Quadrature rules on equidistant nodes of [0; 1] are studied for the numerical computation of ordinary integrals in one or two dimensions, and usefully employed in Nyström methods for solving Fredholm integral equations. Moreover, the simultaneous approximation of the Hilbert transform and its derivative (the Hadamard transform) is illustrated. For all the applications, some numerical details are given in addition to the error estimates, and the proposed approximation methods have been implemented providing numerical tests which confirm the theoretical estimates. Some open problems are also introduced.

Approximation by polynomials; Bernstein polynomials; Fredholm integral equations on uniform grids; Numerical integration on uniform grids
2021 Articolo in rivista restricted access

Some remarks on filtered polynomial interpolation at Chebyshev nodes

The present paper concerns filtered de la Vallée Poussin (VP) interpolation at the Chebyshev nodes of the four kinds. This approximation model is interesting for applications because it combines the advantages of the classical Lagrange polynomial approximation (interpolation and polynomial preserving) with the ones of filtered approximation (uniform boundedness of the Lebesgue constants and reduction of the Gibbs phenomenon). Here we focus on some additional features that are useful in the applications of filtered VP interpolation. In particular, we analyze the simultaneous approximation provided by the derivatives of the VP interpolation polynomials. Moreover, we state the uniform boundedness of VP approximation operators in some Sobolev and Hölder-Zygmund spaces where several integro-differential models are uniquely and stably solvable.

De la Valleé Poussin filtered interpolation Chebyshev nodes Simultaneous approximation Lebsgue constants Uniform error estimates Sobolev and Hölder-Zygmund spaces
2021 Poster in Atti di convegno metadata only access

A new product integration rule for the finite Hilbert transform

For the finite weighted Hilbert transform we consider two different product integration rules, the VP rule and the L-rule, based on the same nodes and obtained by approximating the density function with filtered de la Vallée Poussin and classical Lagrange interpolation polynomials, respectively. The L-rule is well known and widely studied. The VP rule is here introduced and we will prove the convergence in suitable weighted uniform spaces. Hence we will examine the performance of both the product rules, showing that in case of density functions that have some pathologies (peaks, cusps, etc.) localized in isolated points, VP rules inherit the good properties of the filtered de la Vallée Poussin type approximation, providing better performances than L-rules.

Finite Hilbert transform quadrature rules Lagrange interpolation Filtered de la Vallée Poussin approximation