Image Metamorphosis with Scattered Feature Constraints
This paper describes an image metamorphosis technique to handle scattered feature constraints specified with points, polylines, and splines. Solutions to the following three problems are presented: feature specification, warp generation, and transition control. We demonstrate the use of snakes to reduce the burden of feature specification. Next, we propose the use of multilevel free-form deformations (MFFD) to compute C/sup 2/-continuous and one-to-one mapping functions among the specified features. The resulting technique, based on B-spline approximation, is simpler and faster than previous warp generation methods. Furthermore, it produces smooth image transformations without undesirable ripples and foldovers. Finally, we simplify the MFFD algorithm to derive transition functions to control geometry and color blending. Implementation details are furnished and comparisons among various metamorphosis techniques are presented.

title: Mesh parameterization with a virtual boundary
abstract: Parameterization of a 3D triangular mesh is a fundamental problem in various applications of meshes. The convex combination approach is widely used for parameterization because of its good properties, such as fast computation and one-to-one embedding. However, the approach has a drawback: most boundary triangles have high distortion in the embedding compared with interior ones. In this paper, we present an extension of the convex combination approach that resolves the drawback by using a virtual boundary. Since the virtual boundary is fixed onto a given convex polygon instead of the real boundary, the real boundary triangles can better reflect the shape of the corresponding 3D triangles. The proposedapproach obtains a parameterization of a 3D mesh with less d istortion than with the original convex combination approach.

title: Motion retargeting and evaluation for VR-based training of free motions
abstract: Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as one of the important and effective tools for education and training. Most VR-based training systems are situation based, where the trainees are trained for discrete decision making in special situations presented by the VR environments. In contrast, this paper discusses the application of VR to a different class of training, for learning free motion, often required in sports and the arts. We propose a VR-based motion-training framework that contains an intuitive motion-guiding interface, posture-oriented motion retargeting, and an evaluation and advice scheme for corrective feedback. Applications of the proposed framework to simple fencing training and a dance imitation game are demonstrated .

title: Out-of-Core Remeshing of Large Polygonal Meshes
abstract: We propose an out-of-core method for creating semi-regular surface representations from large input surface meshes. Our approach is based on a streaming implementation of the MAPS remesher of Lee et al. Our remeshing procedure consists of two stages. First, a simplification process is used to obtain the base domain. During simplification, we maintain the mapping information between the input and the simplified meshes. The second stage of remeshing uses the mapping information to produce samples of the output semi-regular mesh. The out-of-core operation of our method is enabled by the synchronous streaming of a simplified mesh and the mapping information stored at the original vertices. The synchronicity of two streaming buffers is maintained using a specially designed write strategy for each buffer. Experimental results demonstrate the remeshing performance of the proposed method, as well as other applications that use the created mapping between the simplified and the original surface representations

title: Feature sensitive mesh segmentation with mean shift
abstract: Feature sensitive mesh segmentation is important for many computer graphics and geometric modeling applications. In this paper, we develop a mesh segmentation method, which is capable of producing high-quality shape partitioning. It respects fine shape features and works well on various types of shapes, including natural shapes and mechanical parts. The method combines a procedure for clustering mesh normals with a modification of the mesh clarification technique. For clustering of mesh normals, we adopt Mean Shift, a powerful general purpose technique for clustering scattered data. We demonstrate advantages of our method by comparing it with two state-of-the-art mesh segmentation techniques.

title: Motif analysis of noisy regular textures
abstract: A regular texture contains a periodic arrangement of a determinable pattern. Motifs of a regular texture are the minimal parallelogrammic sub-regions that can reproduce the texture by tiling. A motif extracted from a regular texture can be used for texture reproduction, texture recognition, and texture compression. However, it is not simple to accurately capture a motif of a regular texture, as the motif may be non-rectangular or arranged in an arbitrary direction. Moreover, when the texture contains additive noises, such as are created by the scanning process, motif analysis becomes more difficult. In this paper, we present an algorithm to obtain a motif of a noisy regular texture in O( mn log mn ) time, where m × n is the size of the texture. The analysis examples demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can robustly derive motifs of noisy regular textures.

title: An Accurate Instruction-Level Energy Consumption Model for Embedded RISC Processors
abstract: Energy consumption of software is becoming an increasingly important issue in designing mobile embedded systems where batteries are used as the main power source. As a consequence, recently, a number of promising techniques have been proposed to optimize software for reduced energy consumption. Such low-power software techniques require an energy consumption model that can be used to estimate or predict the energy consumed by software. We propose a technique to derive an accurate energy consumption model at the instruction level, combining an empirical method and a statistical analysis technique. The result of the proposed approach is given by a model equation that characterizes energy behavior of software based on the properties of the instructions. Experimental results show that the model equation can accurately estimate the energy consumption of random instruction sequences, with an average error of 2.5%

title: High Quality Perceptual Steganographic Techniques
abstract: Recently, several steganographic algorithms for two-color binary images have been proposed [16,1,14,2]. In this paper, we propose steganographic algorithms which embeds a secret message into bitmap images and palette-based images. To embed a message, the suggested algorithm divides a bitmap image into bit-plane images from LSB-plane to MSB-plane for each pixel, and considers each bit-plane image as a binary one. The algorithm splits each bit-plane image into m × n blocks, and embeds a r-bit(\(r = \lfloor {\rm log_2}(mn + 1) \rfloor - 1\)) message into the block. And our schemes embed a message to every bit-plane from LSB to MSB to maximize the amount of embedded message and to minimize the degradation. The schemes change at most two pixels in each block. Therefore, the maximal color changes of the new algorithm are much smaller than other bit-plane embedding schemes’ such as the sequential substitution schemes [10,7,11].

title: Calculative-based trust and social welfare
abstract: Trust building has been acknowledged as one of the critical factor for the success of e-commerce. However, few sources of trust were identified in online transaction. This paper tries to fill the gap by investigating calculative-based trust. Specifically, an infinitely repeated game model is built to illustrate how strangers in online transaction build trust relationship based on the calculation of their own benefits. Furthermore, we relate the strategies of trading parties to social welfare and provide policy implications on how to control the cheating behaviors without jeopardizing social welfare.

title: SILENT: serialized low energy transmission coding for on-chip interconnection networks
abstract: On-chip source-synchronous serial communication has many advantages over multi-bit parallel communication in the aspects of skew, crosstalk area cost, wiring difficulty, and clock synchronization. However, the serial wire tends to dissipate more energy than parallel bus due to the bit multiplexing. We propose a coding method to reduce the transmission energy of the serial communication by minimizing the number of transitions on the serial wire. We demonstrate the significant energy saving in a multimedia application, 3D graphics. We also apply the coding technique to a CMOS SoC implementation which integrates various processing units with packet switched on-chip networks.

title: Context Awarable Self-configuration System for Distributed Resource Management
abstract: Today's system administrator is forced to perform individual configuration and maintenance tasks (i.e. installation, reconfiguration, update) on numerous systems, in various formats. These tasks are time-consuming and labor intensive. Several research projects have attempted to resolve these issues with the development of an integrated, centralized management system. However, many tasks are still left to the system administrator for manual handling. A customized configuration system that reflects comprehensive context has not yet been fully realized. This paper proposes a context aware self-configuration system by employing multi-agents to collectively gather contextual information based on the system resources and user's system usage patterns. This proposed system, then analyzes the collected information and performs automatic configuration as and when required. This system will allow not only enable automation of the previously manual tasks, but also allow, in effect, a more customized configuration.