2490163
Cartoon animation and morphing by using the wavelet curve descriptor
Proposes a framework for cartoon animation and morphing by using a hierarchical planar curve descriptor based on the wavelet transform. To facilitate the animation task, the authors first model the motion of curves with the Lagrangian dynamic equation where the multiscale curve is driven by internal and external forces. The spatial and frequency localization property of the wavelet representation results in a virtually decoupled Lagrangian equation and, as a result, the computation is greatly simplified. The motion parameters, which contain the kinematic information of the control points, are extracted from motions of real video images. They are then used to generate motion sequences of similar nature. The authors also examine a highly automatic algorithm for non-self-intersecting contour morphing. Experiments of the proposed algorithms are conducted to demonstrate their performance.<<ETX>>
1584599
Embedded coding of 3D graphic models
A progressive compression method which encodes a 3D graphic models into an embedded bit stream is investigated. The coder first encodes the coarsest resolution of the model, and then includes the information of finer details gradually. A rate-distortion model is used in the integration of different types of bit streams into a single embedded bit stream to optimize the overall coding performance. This embedding property can be applied to progressive transmission, multi-resolution editing and level-of-detail control. Numerical experiments are provided to demonstrate the excellent rate-distortion performance of the proposed method.
448363
A multiscale error diffusion technique for digital halftoning
A new digital halftoning technique based on multiscale error diffusion is examined. We use an image quadtree to represent the difference image between the input gray-level image and the output halftone image. In iterative algorithm is developed that searches the brightest region of a given image via "maximum intensity guidance" for assigning dots and diffuses the quantization error noncausally at each iteration. To measure the quality of halftone images, we adopt a new criterion based on hierarchical intensity distribution. The proposed method provides very good results both visually and in terms of the hierarchical intensity quality measure.
14807272
Progressive compression of 3D graphic models
A progressive coding method which encodes a 3D graphic model into an embedded bit stream is investigated in this research. The coder first encodes the coarsest resolution of the model, and then includes the finer details gradually. The embedding property allows the decoder to terminate the decoding at an arbitrary position in the compressed bit stream, and a more accurate model can be obtained when more bits are decoded. Numerical experiments are provided to demonstrate the excellent rate distortion performance and progressive compression performance of the new method.
28495632
Iterative signal extrapolation algorithms with wavelets
A generalized Papoulis-Gerchberg (PG) algorithm for signal extrapolation based on the wavelet representation has been recently proposed by Xia, Kuo and Zhang. In this research, we first show that the generalized PG algorithm converges to the minimum norm solution when the wavelet bases are semi-orthogonal (or known as the prewavelet). However, the generalized PG algorithm converges slowly in numerical implementation. To accelerate the convergence rate, we formulate the discrete signal extrapolation problem os a two-step process and apply the steepest descent and conjugate gradient methods for its solution. Numerical experiments are given to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithms.<<ETX>>
9519178
Progressive image indexing and retrieval based on embedded wavelet coding
A complete wavelet-based image storage and indexing system is proposed in this research. The proposed indexing features take account of the color, brightness, texture, frequency, and spatial information of a given query image. All features can be naturally extracted as a byproduct during the image compression. Since coding and indexing are integrated in an unified framework in the proposed system, the database management is greatly simplified. Extensive experimental results are given to demonstrate the retrieval performance of the new approach.
12709015
Motion-compensated frame interpolation scheme for H.263 codec
A fast block-based motion-compensated frame interpolation (FMCI) scheme was proposed in our previous work. FMCI does not require any motion search in the decoder so that the complexity is low enough to achieve frame rate increase in real time. To further improve the visual quality, we propose two add-on schemes to enhance FMCI in this research. They are the adaptive frame skip (AFS) scheme applied at the encoder and the hybrid frame interpolation (HFI) scheme which incorporates both frame repetition and FMCI at the decoder. By adopting these two add-on features, the enhanced FMCI method is made more robust to allow smooth playback.
24413432
A hybrid BMC/OBMC motion compensation scheme
In this paper, we propose a hybrid scheme which incorporates the block motion compensation (BMC) scheme in the overlapped block motion compensation (OBMC) scheme. The main objective of this hybrid scheme is to improve a pure OBMC system with a lower motion bit rate and a lower search complexity while retaining about the same PSNR level. With this scheme, the encoder can determine the block mode under the tradeoff of complexity and visual quality. Furthermore, the motion bit rate can be reduced by smoothing the motion field of BMC blocks during motion search. Experimental results show that the complexity of both the encoder and the decoder is reduced while the visual quality remains as good as the pure OBMC system.
8893789
Phoolproof Phishing Prevention
Phishing, or web spoofing, is a growing problem: the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) received almost 14,000 unique phishing reports in August 2005, a 56% jump over the number of reports in December 2004 [3]. For financial institutions, phishing is a particularly insidious problem, since trust forms the foundation for customer relationships, and phishing attacks undermine confidence in an institution. 
 
Phishing attacks succeed by exploiting a user's inability to distinguish legitimate sites from spoofed sites. Most prior research focuses on assisting the user in making this distinction; however, users must make the right security decision every time. Unfortunately, humans are ill-suited for performing the security checks necessary for secure site identification, and a single mistake may result in a total compromise of the user's online account. Fundamentally, users should be authenticated using information that they cannot readily reveal to malicious parties. Placing less reliance on the user during the authentication process will enhance security and eliminate many forms of fraud. 
 
We propose using a trusted device to perform mutual authentication that eliminates reliance on perfect user behavior, thwarts Man-in-the-Middle attacks after setup, and protects a user's account even in the presence of keyloggers and most forms of spyware.We demonstrate the practicality of our system with a prototype implementation.
12549772
Designing an evaluation method for security user interfaces: lessons from studying secure wireless network configuration
: / 28 Ten or 20 years ago, evaluating security products was not as much of a problem as it is today. Systems were managed by people able—and willing—to master the complexities. However, with the proliferation of personal computing devices and network connectivity in the home, systems are now regularly managed by nonexperts. Each system needs to be secured by each user in each home. Therefore designing effective, unbiased evaluation methods for consumer products is one of the first steps in improving both users’ experiences and their security practices. Evaluating the usability of security is a challenge. A common question evaluators face is: “How do I test whether users will configure and use a product securely?” In this article, we outline problems we encountered in evaluating secure wireless network configuration and examine the assumptions many user study methods make, but which may not hold for security.