Optimized Image Resizing Using Seam Carving and Scaling

International audienceWe present a novel method for content-aware image resizing based on optimization of a well-defined image distance function, which preserves both the important regions and the global visual effect (the background or other decorative objects) of an image. The method operates by joint use of seam carving and image scaling. The principle behind our method is the use of a bidirectional similarity function of image Euclidean distance (IMED), while cooperating with a dominant color descriptor (DCD) similarity and seam energy variation. The function is suitable for the quantitative evaluation of the resizing result and the determination of the best seam carving number. ifferent from the previous simplex-modeapproaches, our method takes the advantages of both discrete and continuous methods. The technique is useful in image resizing for both reduction/retargeting and enlarging. We also show that this approach can be extended to indirect image resizing

Privacy and Data Protection Practices of Digital Lending Apps in Kenya

The Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) has been studying the impact of digital identities on society.  This has included policy research on the legal and technical aspects of the national digital ID system Huduma Namba under which the Government is integrating all its identification documents. This research shows that the national digital identity system also integrates with privately issued digital identities such as mobile phone numbers and social media accounts.   We anticipate that as national digital ID uses increase, so will the linkage with private systems. This is already evident from e-government services, where payments for Government services, such as passport applications, drivers’ licences, national health insurance and hospital bills in public hospitals are made using mobile money platforms. We also appreciate that private digital ID is more developed and has more uses than national digital ID. For example, a 2019 survey, undertaken by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), estimates that access to financial products had risen from 26.7% in 2006 to 89% of the population in 2019. This is attributed partly to the availability of digital products such as “mobile banking, agency banking, digital finance and mobile apps”.  These products make use of personal data, which broadly falls under digital identities. This study seeks to understand the privacy implications of digital ID by looking at digital lending apps

Preserving Trustworthiness and Confidentiality for Online Multimedia

Technology advancements in areas of mobile computing, social networks, and cloud computing have rapidly changed the way we communicate and interact. The wide adoption of media-oriented mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets enables people to capture information in various media formats, and offers them a rich platform for media consumption. The proliferation of online services and social networks makes it possible to store personal multimedia collection online and share them with family and friends anytime anywhere. Considering the increasing impact of digital multimedia and the trend of cloud computing, this dissertation explores the problem of how to evaluate trustworthiness and preserve confidentiality of online multimedia data. The dissertation consists of two parts. The first part examines the problem of evaluating trustworthiness of multimedia data distributed online. Given the digital nature of multimedia data, editing and tampering of the multimedia content becomes very easy. Therefore, it is important to analyze and reveal the processing history of a multimedia document in order to evaluate its trustworthiness. We propose a new forensic technique called ``Forensic Hash", which draws synergy between two related research areas of image hashing and non-reference multimedia forensics. A forensic hash is a compact signature capturing important information from the original multimedia document to assist forensic analysis and reveal processing history of a multimedia document under question. Our proposed technique is shown to have the advantage of being compact and offering efficient and accurate analysis to forensic questions that cannot be easily answered by convention forensic techniques. The answers that we obtain from the forensic hash provide valuable information on the trustworthiness of online multimedia data. The second part of this dissertation addresses the confidentiality issue of multimedia data stored with online services. The emerging cloud computing paradigm makes it attractive to store private multimedia data online for easy access and sharing. However, the potential of cloud services cannot be fully reached unless the issue of how to preserve confidentiality of sensitive data stored in the cloud is addressed. In this dissertation, we explore techniques that enable confidentiality-preserving search of encrypted multimedia, which can play a critical role in secure online multimedia services. Techniques from image processing, information retrieval, and cryptography are jointly and strategically applied to allow efficient rank-ordered search over encrypted multimedia database and at the same time preserve data confidentiality against malicious intruders and service providers. We demonstrate high efficiency and accuracy of the proposed techniques and provide a quantitative comparative study with conventional techniques based on heavy-weight cryptography primitives

Management and communication of archaeological artefacts and architectural heritage using digital IS. What today? What next?

In this paper, we reviewed 20 years of development of 3D based IS to support archaeological and AH artefact knowledge, management and communication and their theoretical work basis. In detail, we illustrated our experiences showing the advantages and limits we had observed after extensive use. In conclusion, we have illustrated a new paradigm based on IoT-related technologies, potentially able to overcome existing problems, and the theoretical foundation of the new framework that has been designed, the concept of the Smart Cultural Object, sources and recipients of advanced information and related technological underpinning

What Consumers Don’t Know They’re Giving Away (Data and Privacy Concerns)

The modern world leverages technology and information captured by it in ways the inventors of these technologies likely never imagined. Phones and other devices are gathering information about consumers in the background when they do not even realize it. Pew Research Center found that about 77% of Americans own a smartphone and 88% use the internet. This mass access to technology and information tracking raises many privacy concerns. Basic demographic information is being tracked as well as more in-depth information like shopping tendencies, financial information, and information about known associates. While most of this data is being used for marketing and other functional purposes, the question is raised if the information is truly secure and only in the hands of the companies that consumers give it to. With consumers readily giving out personal information and also biometric data (such as fingerprint and Face ID) freely to companies like Apple, it makes some consumers worry about how safely their information is being guarded. Consumers are also worried as artificial intelligence becomes mainstream with products like Google Home and Amazon Echo embedded into the average consumer’s home. Some people may not realize the risks of data collection and the importance of regulation in mitigating those risks. This paper will paint a better picture of the issue and educate consumers so that they are informed when they go online and when they vote. Today, consumers are overwhelmed with legal disclosures and technical information on the subject and this paper will make the vast amount of knowledge digestible and easy to read. A better understanding of the risks will hopefully convince consumers that the issue is important enough to get them to change their privacy settings and to vote for congressmen who want data privacy regulation. This paper does not serve to warn against targeted marketing and having personalized ads. Instead it warns consumers about not knowing the full range of uses of their data. Whether their data is being shared with third parties, used for ulterior purposes, or is not secure in databases, consumers need to know. With regulation, companies will be held more accountable and will have to treat consumer data with more care and put in more safety precautions to prevent theft or hacking. Regulation may seem daunting or unnecessary, and with any new regulation there will be naysayers, but hopefully most will see the benefit and public good. For example, it was not until the 1950s that seat belts in automobiles started being included by the manufacturer. They were not even required to be installed until 1968. However, the mandated use of seatbelts for drivers was not enforced until each state made their own laws on the matter. In 1984, New York was the first state to make a seat belt law requiring drivers to use them. Over the following 11 years, almost all of the other states created seat belt laws of their own. This issue was initially met with indifference and drivers did not see a need to wear the belts. Over time, data has proven the effectiveness and lifesaving benefits that seat belts provide. Over half of people today that die from car crashes are people that did not have on their seat belts (CDC: Motor Vehicles Safety, 2011). Seat belts and other vehicle safety measures and regulations are the reason why driving is much safer today than it was over 40 years ago (The History of Seat Belts, 2019). While some may not see the need for data privacy regulations today, they may see them in the years to come. Will the number of data breaches be lower with regulation? Will consumer information be more secure? These questions will only be answered with regulation. Hopefully, with regulation consumers will see evidence in the need for privacy regulations in the number of data breaches lowering and more transparency in data usage. This report will examine the following topics: (1) the trust consumers have in the companies they give information to; (2) what information is being collected and what are companies doing with it; (3) what can happen when data is in the wrong hands; (4) companies attitudes towards data privacy; and (5) current regulation on consumer data privacy. The purpose of this thesis project is to collect information available on the subjects and to create a digestible summary for the everyday consumer to easily read and understand. The problem currently is there is so much information available, but it is spread all over the internet with no clear connections. This paper will connect the information to educate the consumer and show them the importance in protecting their data and voting for legislation to regulate privacy in corporate use of personal data

Examining Facebook As A Digitally Immersive Language Environment For French Language Learners

This quasi-experimental study examined the impact of interactions with native French language Facebook posts on beginning French language learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) and their attitudes towards the target language and culture in a university setting. In addition, the degree of interaction, by participants, with the French language Facebook posts was recorded and analyzed. This study was conducted during the Spring 2013 semester at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Participants in this study were recruited from two sections of FRE 1120, Elementary French Language and Civilization I. Native French language Facebook posts were “pushed” to participants’ personal Facebook News Feeds over the course of four weeks, with posts pushed on weekdays only and Facebook polls asking for participant feedback on Fridays. Two instruments were used in this study to obtain participants’ demographic information and to measure willingness to communicate as well attitudes towards the target language and culture. In addition, the researcher gathered observational data directly from Facebook. Data were analyzed using a Split-plot ANOVA and descriptive statistics. A total of 26 participants completed the study, with 14 participants in the control group and 12 participants in the treatment group. Both sections of FRE 1120 were conducted in a traditional, face-to-face format and were taught by the same instructor. Results indicated that participants’ willingness to communicate in French and their attitudes towards the target language and culture were not iv significantly impacted by interaction with native French language Facebook posts. The level of Facebook-facilitated interactions in all areas, including “Liking,” Sharing,” and “Commenting” was low. Self-reported interactions, including reading, viewing and translating of French language Facebook posts; Reading and viewing posts (such as simply viewing a photo) was the most frequently reported interaction, with “Commenting” and “Sharing” was the least common interaction. Opportunities for future research are numerous and include increasing the size of the sample, increasing the length of the study, and selected participants’ who are more advanced in their mastery of the target language. The potential of social network sites to serve as digitally immersive environments for foreign language learners should be explored in more depth and across various languages