A picture is worth a thousand words : content-based image retrieval techniques

In my dissertation I investigate techniques for improving the state of the art in content-based image retrieval. To place my work into context, I highlight the current trends and challenges in my field by analyzing over 200 recent articles. Next, I propose a novel paradigm called __artificial imagination__, which gives the retrieval system the power to imagine and think along with the user in terms of what she is looking for. I then introduce a new user interface for visualizing and exploring image collections, empowering the user to navigate large collections based on her own needs and preferences, while simultaneously providing her with an accurate sense of what the database has to offer. In the later chapters I present work dealing with millions of images and focus in particular on high-performance techniques that minimize memory and computational use for both near-duplicate image detection and web search. Finally, I show early work on a scene completion-based image retrieval engine, which synthesizes realistic imagery that matches what the user has in mind.LEI Universiteit LeidenNWOImagin

To what extent can knowledge management systems build and reinforce consensus around initiatives for change?: A self-reflective analysis of professional practice

This thesis reports on my attempts to \u27re-align\u27 the purpose, behaviour and underlying culture of a large military organisation through heuristic, self reflective enquiry - to \u27find its future\u27 - with and through its people. I use the word re-align with great care as I recognised that change would have been too ambitious and would (probably have) result(ed) in failure. Whilst I cannot claim total success, I have made new and valuable discoveries in knowledge elicitation and methods of integrating the views of a large number of people to \u27build and reinforce consensus around initiatives for change\u27. In the process of completing this research I developed a novel approach to strategic planning/policy making that advances the ends, ways and means construct of decision-making into a purer and more refined approach. One that anchors these elements firmly to the organisation and its environment simultaneously through a knowledge management system, enabling the strengths and weaknesses within the organisation to be drawn into sharp focus - an effects based planning approach. I have also fused together the more systematic and disciplined approaches embodied within a knowledge management system with existing and more creative scenario planning/future focussed methods. Thus allowing organisations to undertake \u27self-constructed\u27 audits that have an immediate interest or are situated well into their future, doubling its value as a planning device. As I report, the methods have been presented at the highest levels of Defence, attracting interest from the Australian Minister of Defence. The New Zealand Defence Force, Naval Warfare Development Command of the United States Navy and Australia\u27s Chief of Air Force have also expressed an interest in the potential of an effects-based orientation to planning and policy-making. Whether the concepts and underpinning ideas become established, leading to the discovery of a post-modem military is uncertain. What is clear is that there is a definite move away from a pre-occupation with the means, or the things that are done, towards a more comprehensive understanding of what are we trying to make happen as a guiding principle. This is certainly of value within military \u27organisations and has potential for others involved in complex problem-solving in social settings. A heuristic, self-reflective approach has enriched this search for focussed and \u27change-finding\u27 knowledge, allowing a more purposeful, complete and forthright account of the involvement of others

Paying attention to the evidence: a comparison of perception and decision making processes in novice and experienced scene of crime officers using eye tracking in simulated crime scene scenarios

Research on crime scene investigation has strongly focused on the technical aspects of the process, while cognitive aspects (searching, reasoning and perception) have often been overlooked. Textbooks on forensic sciences tend to focus on identifying and processing evidence, and the use of equipment while it can be argued that cognitive factors in processing such evidence and using equipment are equally important. This thesis studies the cognitive aspects of crime scene investigation by comparing eye movement patterns in experts and novices. Studies in various domains, including surgery, sports, and chess playing have shown that eye movements differ between experts and novices, providing a tool towards a more objective assessment of skill than is possible with peer assessment. In four experiments eye movements of experts and novices were examined during (1) inspection of photographs of crime scenes on a computer screen (2) a change blindness task on crime and non-crime scene images, (3) active exploration of a simulated crime scene and (4) the assessment of emotional crime and natural scenes. While some trends in eye movement differences, such as a tendency on longer fixation durations and a broader focus on the overall scene and less on the direct evidence could be found in experts compared to novices, differences between experts and novices were considerably smaller than in other domains, despite the broad range of measures extracted from the data. This lack of clear expertise effects may relate to the rather diverse range of perceptual layouts of crime scenes, reducing possible top-down effects of expertise on the deployment of attention. The results will be discussed with a view of possible directions of future research in this domain

Public Salience and International Financial Regulation. Explaining the International Regulation of OTC Derivatives, Rating Agencies, and Hedge Funds

What explains the shift towards greater direct public oversight of financial markets in international financial regulation that has characterized the response to the global financial crisis of 2007-2010? Over this period, the main international financial regulatory bodies have abandoned the market-based mechanisms that had informed their approach towards the regulation of different financial domains in the years before the crisis and significantly expanded the perimeter of state-based regulation. However, the extent and the timing of this shift cannot be regarded only as the by-product of the crisis, nor they can be explained by the existing interpretations of the political determinants of international regulatory policies. This study builds upon existing state-centric explanations of international regulatory policies, but it goes beyond these works by exploring how the preferences of the most influential countries in response to the crisis have been influenced by variations in the degree of public salience of different financial domains. More specifically, this study argues that the lasting increase in the public salience of financial regulatory policies in the US and different European countries since the last quarter of 2008 has created strong incentives for elected officials in these countries to challenge the market-based approach that had emerged in the decade and half before the crisis and to directly interfere in the international regulatory agenda. In order to explain this shift, this study will analyse the evolution in the international governance of three sets of markets and institutions that have occupied an important position in the international regulatory agenda in recent years: 1) OTC derivatives; 2) rating agencies; 3) hedge funds. Besides making an empirical contribution to the literature on the politics of international financial regulation, this study also contributes theoretically to this literature by deepening our understanding of the nexus between international regulatory coordination and domestic public opinion