Extraction of newspaper headlines from microfilm for automatic indexing
This paper proposes a document image analysis system that extracts newspaper headlines from microfilm images with a view to providing automatic indexing for news articles in microfilm. A major challenge in achieving this is the poor image quality of microfilm as most images are usually inadequately illuminated and considerably dirty. To overcome the problem we propose a new effective method for separating characters from noisy background since conventional threshold selection techniques are inadequate to deal with this kind of image. A run length smoothing algorithm is then applied to the headline extraction. Experimental results confirm the validity of the approach.

title: Document Flattening through Grid Modeling and Regularization
abstract: For document images captured by a digital camera, perspective and geometric distortions make it hard to recognize the document content properly. In this paper, we propose an integrated document restoration technique, which is capable of removing perspective and geometric distortions, and producing a flattened and fronto-parallel text image that is friendly to the generic OCR systems. The proposed document restoration is accomplished through grid modeling, which divides camera images into multiple quadrilateral grids using vertical text directions and the x lines and base lines. The global distortions are then removed through grid regularization that transforms the quadrilateral grids together with the pixel contents to the regular square grids. Experimental results show the proposed method is fast and easy for implementation

title: Chart analysis and recognition in document images
abstract: Hidden Markov models are a probabilistic modeling tool for time series data. It has been successfully applied to many areas, such as speech recognition, hand-written character recognition, etc. In this paper, we present a novel statistical approach using ergodic hidden Markov models to recognize scientific charts. We also present a newly developed feature extraction method for chart images. Unlike traditional primitive-based diagram recognition method, our approach need not recognize the graphic primitives in charts thus bypassing the recognition error problem caused by the inaccurate primitive extraction that is also a major obstacle to the construction of a general chart recognition system.

title: Motion deblurring for optical character recognition
abstract: This paper investigates the problem of blurring caused by motion during image capture of text documents. Motion blurring prevents proper optical character recognition of the document text contents. One area of such applications is to deblur name card images obtained from handheld cameras. In this paper, a complete motion deblurring procedure for document images has been proposed. The method handles both uniform linear motion blur and uniform acceleration motion blur. Experiments on synthetic and real-life blurred images prove the feasibility and reliability of this algorithm provided that the motion is not too irregular. The restoration procedure consumes only small amount of computation time.

title: Correcting document image warping based on regression of curved text lines
abstract: Image warping is a common problem when one scans or photocopies a document page from a thick bound volume, resulting in shading and curved text lines in the spine area of the bound volume. This will not only impair readability, but will also reduce the OCR accuracy. Further to our earlier attempt to correct such images, this paper proposes a simpler connected component analysis and regression technique. Compared to our earlier method, the present system is computationally less expensive and is resolution independent too. The implementation of the new system and improvement of OCR accuracy are presented in this paper.

title: Improving Pronoun Resolution Using Statistics-Based Semantic Compatibility Information
abstract: In this paper we focus on how to improve pronoun resolution using the statistics-based semantic compatibility information. We investigate two unexplored issues that influence the effectiveness of such information: statistics source and learning framework. Specifically, we for the first time propose to utilize the web and the twin-candidate model, in addition to the previous combination of the corpus and the single-candidate model, to compute and apply the semantic information. Our study shows that the semantic compatibility obtained from the web can be effectively incorporated in the twin-candidate learning model and significantly improve the resolution of neutral pronouns.

title: Functional Principles of Registry-based Service Discovery
abstract: As service discovery protocols (SDP) are becoming increasingly important for ubiquitous computing, they must behave according to predefined principles. We present the functional principles of service discovery for robust, registry-based service discovery. A methodology to guarantee adherence to these principles is provided and illustrated by formal verification of the principles against FRODO, an SDP built for the home environment. We show that, to make behavioral guarantees, an SDP has to be robust against network disturbances, and cannot rely only on the network layer

title: Exploiting Hidden Convexity For Flexible And Robust Resource Allocation In Cellular Networks
abstract: A systematic approach to solve seemingly nonconvex resource allocation problems in wireless cellular networks is studied in this paper. By revealing and exploiting the hidden convexity in the problem formulations, we obtain solutions that can tackle a variety of objective functions, provide robustness to resource allocations such as power, and be obtained often through distributed algorithms. The advantages of such flexibility and robustness are demonstrated through comparisons with the state-of-the-art in recent research literature. First we show how to distributively solve a variety of resource allocation problems in CDMA and interference limited CDMA channels with quality of service constraints, such as meeting minimum queueing delay or energy per bit requirement. Then, for uplink transmission in a CDMA cellular network, we propose an optimal power control scheme with congestion-aware active link protection. In particular, the tradeoff between power expenditure and the protection margin of the SIR-balancing power algorithm is optimized.

title: The use of bigrams to enhance text categorization
abstract: In this paper, we present an efficient text categorization algorithm that generates bigrams selectively by looking for ones that have an especially good chance of being useful. The algorithm uses the information gain metric, combined with various frequency thresholds. The bigrams, along with unigrams, are then given as features to two different classifiers: Naive Bayes and maximum entropy. The experimental results suggest that the bigrams can substantially raise the quality of feature sets, showing increases in the break-even points and F1 measures. The McNemar test shows that in most categories the increases are very significant. Upon close examination of the algorithm, we concluded that the algorithm is most successful in correctly classifying more positive documents, but may cause more negative documents to be classified incorrectly.

title: Comparison-Shopping Websites: An Empirical Investigation on the Influence of Decision Aids and Information Load on Consumer Decision-Making Behavior
abstract: Rapid advances in Internet commerce technology have brought about the emergence of comparison-shopping Websites, which act as agents to consolidate vast amounts of product information. Researchers have traditionally focused on incorporating the latest database interrogation technology and investigating the economic implications of the existence of comparison-shopping Websites. Little attention has been paid to understanding whether the decision aids provided are capable of assisting a consumer in managing a large quantity of information or, more importantly, are compatible with the decision-making behavior of the consumer. This study surveys several successful comparison-shopping Websites, enumerates two comercially successful forms of decision aids (i.e., screening and sorting), and examines their effects on decision effectiveness under different information loads. Based on a 3×2×2 factorial controlled experiment, we had three major findings. First, more sophisticated screening aids that assist a consumer in filtering a large quantity of information do not necessarily improve decision effectiveness. Surprisingly, our results even suggest that in some circumstances the opposite could be true. Second, the results indicate that the effectiveness of decision aids, to a large extent, depends on the information load. Third, decision makers are adaptive. One may supplement the absence of more sophisticated screening aids with the sorting aid.

title: A Distributed Throttling Approach for Handling High Bandwidth Aggregates
abstract: Public-access networks need to handle persistent congestion and overload caused by high bandwidth aggregates that may occur during times of flooding-based DDoS attacks or flash crowds. The often unpredictable nature of these two activities can severely degrade server performance. Legitimate user requests also suffer considerably when traffic from many different sources aggregates inside the network and causes congestion. This paper studies a family of algorithms that "proactively" protect a server from overload by installing rate throttles in a set of upstream routers. Based on an optimal control setting, we propose algorithms that achieve throttling in a distributed and fair manner by taking important performance metrics into consideration, such as minimizing overall load variations. Using ns-2 simulations, we show that our proposed algorithms 1) are highly adaptive by avoiding unnecessary parameter configuration, 2) provide max-min fairness for any number of throttling routers, 3) respond very quickly to network changes, 4) are extremely robust against extrinsic factors beyond the system control, and 5) are stable under given delay bounds.