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Abstract: In this paper, we kernelize conventional clustering algorithms from a novel point of view. Based on the fully mathematical proof, we first demonstrate that kernel KMeans (KKMeans) is equivalent to kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) prior to the conventional KMeans algorithm. By using KPCA as a preprocessing step, we also generalize Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to its kernel version, the kernel GMM (KGMM). Consequently, conventional clustering algorithms can be easily kernelized in the linear feature space instead of a nonlinear one. To evaluate the newly established KKMeans and KGMM algorithms, we utilized them to the problem of semantic object extraction (segmentation) of color images. Based on a series of experiments carried out on a set of color images, we indicate that both KKMeans and KGMM can offer more elaborate output than the conventional KMeans and GMM, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a novel algorithm for computing graph edit distance (GED) in image categorization. This algorithm is purely structural, i.e., it needs only connectivity structure of the graph and does not draw on node or edge attributes. There are two major contributions: (1) Introducing edge direction histogram (EDH) to characterize shape features of images. It is shown that GED can be employed as distance of EDHs. This algorithm is completely independent on cost function which is difficult to be defined exactly. (2) Computing distance of EDHs with earth mover distance (EMD) which takes neighborhood bins into account so as to compute distance of EDHs correctly. A set of experiments demonstrate that the newly presented algorithm is available for classifying and clustering images and is immune to the planar rotation of images. Compared with GED from spectral seriation, our algorithm can capture the structure change of graphs better and consume 12.79% time used by the former one. The average classification rate is 5% and average clustering rate is 25% higher than the spectral seriation method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: -Means algorithm and its variations are known to be fast clustering algorithms. However, they are sensitive to the choice of starting points and inefficient for solving clustering problems in large data sets. Recently, a new version of the -means algorithm, the global -means algorithm has been developed. It is an incremental algorithm that dynamically adds one cluster center at a time and uses each data point as a candidate for the -th cluster center. Results of numerical experiments show that the global -means algorithm considerably outperforms the -means algorithms. In this paper, a new version of the global -means algorithm is proposed. A starting point for the -th cluster center in this algorithm is computed by minimizing an auxiliary cluster function. Results of numerical experiments on 14 data sets demonstrate the superiority of the new algorithm, however, it requires more computational time than the global -means algorithm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Image hiding is a technique that embeds the important images into a cover image such that the important images are imperceptible and can be securely transmitted to the receiver. In such research, the common goals are to enlarge the embedding capacity as much as possible since the visual quality of the cover image is degraded slightly and to keep high visual quality of the important images when they are extracted from the stego image. In this paper, we propose an image-hiding method based on the two-codebook combination, the three-phase block matching procedure, and the modulus substitution. The proposed method can achieve these benefits: (1) multiple, relatively large important images can be embedded into a relatively small cover image; (2) the quality of the stego image after embedding the secret data is not distorted significantly; (3) the important images have an acceptable visual quality after they are extracted. The experimental results also show that the proposed method is more flexible than previous methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recently, Lin and Tsai and Yang et al. proposed secret image sharing schemes with steganography and authentication, which divide a secret image into the shadows and embed the produced shadows in the cover images to form the stego images so as to be transmitted to authorized recipients securely. In addition, these schemes also involve their authentication mechanisms to verify the integrity of the stego images such that the secret image can be restored correctly. Unfortunately, these schemes still have two shortcomings. One is that the weak authentication cannot well protect the integrity of the stego images, so the secret image cannot be recovered completely. The other shortcoming is that the visual quality of the stego images is not good enough. To overcome such drawbacks, in this paper, we propose a novel secret image sharing scheme combining steganography and authentication based on Chinese remainder theorem (CRT). The proposed scheme not only improves the authentication ability but also enhances the visual quality of the stego images. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme is superior to the previously existing methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we propose a method to evaluate segmentation cuts for handwritten touching digits. The idea of this method is to work as a filter in segmentation-based recognition system. This kind of system usually rely on over-segmentation methods, where several segmentation hypotheses are created for each touching group of digits and then assessed by a general-purpose classifier. The novelty of the proposed methodology lies in the fact that unnecessary segmentation cuts can be identified without any attempt of classification by a general-purpose classifier, reducing the number of paths in a segmentation graph, what can consequently lead to a reduction in computational cost. An cost-based approach using ROC (receiver operating characteristics) was deployed to optimize the filter. Experimental results show that the filter can eliminate up to 83% of the unnecessary segmentation hypothesis and increase the overall performance of the system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the application of dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs) to the recognition of degraded characters. DBNs are an extension of one-dimensional hidden Markov models (HMMs) which can handle several observation and state sequences. In our study, characters are represented by the coupling of two HMM architectures into a single DBN model. The interacting HMMs are a vertical HMM and a horizontal HMM whose observable outputs are the image columns and image rows, respectively. Various couplings are proposed where interactions are achieved through the causal influence between state variables. We compare non-coupled and coupled models on two tasks: the recognition of artificially degraded handwritten digits and the recognition of real degraded old printed characters. Our models show that coupled architectures perform more accurately on degraded characters than basic HMMs, the linear combination of independent HMM scores, as well as discriminative methods such as support vector machines (SVMs). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The overproduce-and-choose strategy, which is divided into the overproduction and selection phases, has traditionally focused on finding the most accurate subset of classifiers at the selection phase, and using it to predict the class of all the samples in the test data set. It is therefore, a static classifier ensemble selection strategy. In this paper, we propose a dynamic overproduce-and-choose strategy which combines optimization and dynamic selection in a two-level selection phase to allow the selection of the most confident subset of classifiers to label each test sample individually. The optimization level is intended to generate a population of highly accurate candidate classifier ensembles, while the dynamic selection level applies measures of confidence to reveal the candidate ensemble with the highest degree of confidence in the current decision. Experimental results conducted to compare the proposed method to a static overproduce-and-choose strategy and a classical dynamic classifier selection approach demonstrate that our method outperforms both these selection-based methods, and is also more efficient in terms of performance than combining the decisions of all classifiers in the initial pool. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we propose lazy bagging (LB), which builds bootstrap replicate bags based on the characteristics of test instances. Upon receiving a test instance , LB trims bootstrap bags by taking into consideration ''s nearest neighbors in the training data. Our hypothesis is that an unlabeled instance''s nearest neighbors provide valuable information to enhance local learning and generate a classifier with refined decision boundaries emphasizing the test instance''s surrounding region. In particular, by taking full advantage of ''s nearest neighbors, classifiers are able to reduce classification bias and variance when classifying . As a result, LB, which is built on these classifiers, can significantly reduce classification error, compared with the traditional bagging (TB) approach. To investigate LB''s performance, we first use carefully designed synthetic data sets to gain insight into why LB works and under which conditions it can outperform TB. We then test LB against four rival algorithms on a large suite of 35 real-world benchmark data sets using a variety of statistical tests. Empirical results confirm that LB can statistically significantly outperform alternative methods in terms of reducing classification error. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper focuses on two problems in camera calibration with one-dimensional (1D) objects: (a) to find out the general motion patterns well suited for solving the calibration problem, and (b) to improve the robustness and accuracy of the method. Firstly, a sufficient and necessary condition for the solvability of 1D calibration with general motions is proved. Then the special motion of tossing a 1D object is provided as an example to illustrate the correctness and feasibility of this condition. After that some practical issues on obtaining the solution are inspected. By avoiding singularities, the precision and robustness of the method are improved: the relative mean errors are reduced to less than 5% at the noise level of one pixel which surpasses the state-of-the-art methods of the same category. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Synthetic pattern generation is one of the strategies to overcome the curse of dimensionality, but it has its own drawbacks. Most of the synthetic pattern generation techniques take more time than simple classification. In this paper, we propose a new strategy to reduce the time and memory requirements by applying prototyping as an intermediate step in the synthetic pattern generation technique. Results show that through the proposed strategy, classification can be done much faster without compromising much in terms of classification accuracy, in fact for some cases it gives better accuracy in lesser time. The classification time and accuracy can be balanced according to available memory and computing power of a system to get the best possible results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]