Text Classification with Imperfect Hierarchical Structure Knowledge

Many real world classification problems involve classes organized in a hierarchical tree-like structure. However in many cases the hierarchical structure is ignored and each class is treated in isolation or in other words the class structure is flattened (Dumais and Chen, 2000). In this paper, we propose a new approach of incorporating hierarchical structure knowledge by cascading it as an additional feature for Child level classifier. We posit that our cascading model will outperform the baseline “flat” model. Our empirical experiment provides strong evidences supporting our proposal. Interestingly, even imperfect hierarchical structure knowledge would also improve classification performance

Fertile soil for Structural Funds? A panel data analysis of the conditional effectiveness of European cohesion policy Author-Name: Sjef Ederveen

Structural funds are the most intensively used policy instrument by the European Union to promote economic growth in its member states and to speed up the process of convergence. This paper empirically explores the effectiveness of European Structural Funds by means of a panel data analysis for 13 countries in the European Union. We show that ? on average ? Structural Funds are ineffective. For countries with the ?right? institutions, however, Structural Funds are effective. The latter result is obtained for a wide range of conditioning variables, such as openness, institutional quality, corruption and indicators for good governance. JEL codes: F35, F36, O11, O40, O52, R58 Keywords: European Cohesion Policy, policy effectiveness, economic growth, European Union

A Multiple-Objects Recognition Method Based on Region Similarity Measures: Application to Roof Extraction from Orthophotoplans

In this paper, an efficient method for automatic and accurate detection of multiple objects from images using a region similarity measure is presented. This method involves the construction of two knowledge databases: The first one contains several distinctive textures of objects to be extracted. The second one is composed with textures representing background. Both databases are provided by some examples (training set) of images from which one wants to recognize objects. The proposed procedure starts by an initialization step during which the studied image is segmented into homogeneous regions. In order to separate the objects of interest from the image background, an evaluation of the similarity between the regions of the segmented image and those of the constructed knowledge databases is then performed. The proposed approach presents several advantages in terms of applicability, suitability and simplicity. Experimental results obtained from the method applied to extract building roofs from orthophotoplans prove its robustness and performance over popular methods like K Nearest Neighbours (KNN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM)

Constructing a price deflator for R&D: calculating the price of knowledge investments as a residual

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Explaining agricultural and agrarian policies in developing countries

Political outcomes - such as agricultural taxation, subsidization, and the provision of public goods - result from political bargaining among interest groups. Such bargaining is likely to be efficiency-enhancing and growth-enhancing when equally powerful interest groups - aware of the economywide budget constraint and know the economic implications of different policy options - participate, and when impartial institutions are available to enforce decisions. The greater the deviation from these conditions, the greater the potential for efficiency-reducing outcomes, the costs of which will generally fall disproportionately on politically underrepresented or powerless groups. Material conditions of agriculture production - such as spatial dispersion, seasonal work cycles, covariance of risk, and the associated market imperfections - exacerbate the difficulties faced by small producers to engage in collective action. So, despite being generally the economically most efficient form of production, family farmers'ability to counteract the political influence of rural elites and urban dwellers is extremely limited. Lack of independent institutions and clearly defined property rights - and the presence of organizational residues - not only reduce peasants'bargaining power but may also make it more profitable for powerful groups to prefer rent seeking to productive activities. How can these undesirable outcomes be avoided, and how can sustainable policy changes be initiated? Experience indicates that fiscal crises of the state, often triggered or aggravated by an external shock, can cause lasting changes of policies and institutions. By forcing the state to devolve some of its power in exchange for financial assistance to meet its immediate needs, such a crisis can give rise to the emergence of independent legal, political, and economic institutions that are maintained even once the crisis has subsided, External actors that provide resources in terms of crisis and at the same time enhance the scope for politically least vocal parts of civil society to participate in political discourse can have a significant impact on changing policy. The paper discusses in detail the implications for research as well as for policy advice.Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Health Economics&Finance

Fear of China: Is there a future for manufacturing in Latin America?

China’s emergence has raised pointed questions about the future of manufacturing in Latin America. Once saw as its economic future, the viability of this activity in the region has long been challenged by traditional trade theory and, in practical terms, by at least three generations of Asian Tigers. China and its “unlimited supply of labor”, rapid productivity growth, scale, and extremely interventionist state has brought the practical challenge to unprecedented levels. This paper, using mainly descriptive production and trade statistics, looks at the nature of this challenge and its implications. It begins by dealing with a central issue: Does manufacturing still matter for Latin America’s development? It argues that even though there are other options that should be exploited, the region cannot afford to completely turn its back to a well-proven road to development. It then moves on to examine the scope and nature of the Chinese challenge. It shows that endowments, productivity, scale and the government role, all work together to make China a formidable competitor. The importance of this challenge is confirmed by an analysis of the trade data, which suggests a small impact so far, but a trend that should make Latin American policy makers uncomfortable in their seats. The paper concludes by discussing, in general terms, the (difficult) policy options available.Latin America, China, Manufacturing