Finger-Knuckle-Print Verification Based on Band-Limited Phase-Only Correlation

13th International Conference on Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns, CAIP 2009, Munster, 2-4 September 2009This paper investigates a new automated personal authentication technique using finger-knuckle-print (FKP) imaging. First, a specific data acquisition device is developed to capture the FKP images. The local convex direction map of the FKP image is then extracted, based on which a coordinate system is defined to align the images and a region of interest (ROI) is cropped for feature extraction and matching. To match two FKPs, we present a Band-Limited Phase-Only Correlation (BLPOC) based method to register the images and further to evaluate their similarity. An FKP database is established to examine the performance of the proposed method, and the promising experimental results demonstrated its advantage over the existing finger-back surface based biometric systems.Department of ComputingRefereed conference pape

Finger Knuckle Based Biometric Identifier Using Principal Component Analysis, Feature Extraction and K-NN Classifier

Amidst several biometric measures, the figure knuckle surface is becoming a preferred choice of researchers due to its natural ease of reproducibility and verification. For any purpose of personal identification or crime analysis, figure knuckles surface do not need to be a voluntarily presented, they get exposed naturally. Specific line pattern on the figure knuckle surfaces can be used as effective biometric measure on their own or in combination with other biometrics. Present paper demonstrates the development of a figure knuckle based biometric identification system. The system incorporates principal component analysis (PCA) for feature extraction out of pre-processed and enhanced input image as extracted from knuckle surface video capture. Secondly the system employs k-nn classifier as personal identification algorithm. The system has been tested, verified and validated with many sample test experiments. The paper illustrates the working of the system with detailed intermittent snapshots

Building a Strong Undergraduate Research Culture in African Universities

Africa had a late start in the race to setting up and obtaining universities with research quality fundamentals. According to Mamdani [5], the first colonial universities were few and far between: Makerere in East Africa, Ibadan and Legon in West Africa. This last place in the race, compared to other continents, has had tremendous implications in the development plans for the continent. For Africa, the race has been difficult from a late start to an insurmountable litany of problems that include difficulty in equipment acquisition, lack of capacity, limited research and development resources and lack of investments in local universities. In fact most of these universities are very recent with many less than 50 years in business except a few. To help reduce the labor costs incurred by the colonial masters of shipping Europeans to Africa to do mere clerical jobs, they started training ―workshops‖ calling them technical or business colleges. According to Mamdani, meeting colonial needs was to be achieved while avoiding the ―Indian disease‖ in Africa -- that is, the development of an educated middle class, a group most likely to carry the virus of nationalism. Upon independence, most of these ―workshops‖ were turned into national ―universities‖, but with no clear role in national development. These national ―universities‖ were catering for children of the new African political elites. Through the seventies and eighties, most African universities were still without development agendas and were still doing business as usual. Meanwhile, governments strapped with lack of money saw no need of putting more scarce resources into big white elephants. By mid-eighties, even the UN and IMF were calling for a limit on funding African universities. In today‘s African university, the traditional curiosity driven research model has been replaced by a market-driven model dominated by a consultancy culture according to Mamdani (Mamdani, Mail and Guardian Online). The prevailing research culture as intellectual life in universities has been reduced to bare-bones classroom activity, seminars and workshops have migrated to hotels and workshop attendance going with transport allowances and per diems (Mamdani, Mail and Guardian Online). There is need to remedy this situation and that is the focus of this paper