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Resizing of digital images is needed in various applications, such as transmission of images over communication channels varying widely in their bandwidths, display at different resolutions depending on the resolution of a display device, etc. In this work, we propose a modification of a recently proposed elegant image resizing algorithm by Dugad and Ahuja [1]. We have also extended their approach and our modified versions to color images and studied their performances at different levels of compressions for an image. Our proposed modified algorithms, in general, perform better than the earlier method in most cases. Though there is a marginal increase in the computation required in image-halving, the computation overhead of the proposed modification is higher compared to the Dugad-Ahuja algorithm in the case of doubling the images. Index Terms-Discrete cosine transform (DCT), image resizing, JPEG image compression standard, subband DCT.

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This paper proposes a new electronic mobility cane (EMC) for providing obstacle detection and way-finding assistance to the visually impaired people. The main feature of this cane is that it constructs the logical map of the surrounding environment to deduce the priority information. It provides a simplified representation of the surrounding environment without causing any information overload. It conveys this priority information to the subject by using intuitive vibration, audio or voice feedback. The other novel features of the EMC are staircase detection and nonformal distance scaling scheme. It also provides information about the floor status. It consists of a low power embedded system with ultrasonic sensors and safety indicators. The EMC was subjected to series of clinical evaluations in order to verify its design and to assess its ability to assist the subjects in their daily-life mobility. Clinical evaluations were performed with 16 totally blind and four low vision subjects. All subjects walked controlled and the real-world test environments with the EMC and the traditional white cane. The evaluation results and significant scores of subjective measurements have shown the usefulness of the EMC in vision rehabilitation services.