THE CYCLICAL NATURE OF POLITICS AND THE U.S. FOOD SYSTEM

Agricultural and Food Policy, Political Economy,

Multi-view Face Detection Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

In this paper we consider the problem of multi-view face detection. While there has been significant research on this problem, current state-of-the-art approaches for this task require annotation of facial landmarks, e.g. TSM [25], or annotation of face poses [28, 22]. They also require training dozens of models to fully capture faces in all orientations, e.g. 22 models in HeadHunter method [22]. In this paper we propose Deep Dense Face Detector (DDFD), a method that does not require pose/landmark annotation and is able to detect faces in a wide range of orientations using a single model based on deep convolutional neural networks. The proposed method has minimal complexity; unlike other recent deep learning object detection methods [9], it does not require additional components such as segmentation, bounding-box regression, or SVM classifiers. Furthermore, we analyzed scores of the proposed face detector for faces in different orientations and found that 1) the proposed method is able to detect faces from different angles and can handle occlusion to some extent, 2) there seems to be a correlation between dis- tribution of positive examples in the training set and scores of the proposed face detector. The latter suggests that the proposed methods performance can be further improved by using better sampling strategies and more sophisticated data augmentation techniques. Evaluations on popular face detection benchmark datasets show that our single-model face detector algorithm has similar or better performance compared to the previous methods, which are more complex and require annotations of either different poses or facial landmarks.Comment: in International Conference on Multimedia Retrieval 2015 (ICMR

'Conduct of Conduct' or the Shaping of 'Adequate Dispositions'?:Labour Market and Career Guidance in Four European Countries

International audienceIn this paper, we provide an analysis of the deployment of labour market and career guidance as an instrument of liberal governmental rationality, and hence as a key tool for shaping attitudes suitable for the labour market. We characterize such processes and their effects on both those in receipt of guidance and those delivering it, on the basis of a three-year study in France, Slovenia, Spain and the UK. This leads us to put forward the problematic character of the notion of 'conduct of conduct', especially owing to the conflation implied between adaptation to governmental ends and freedom. We suggest that Max Weber's categories for depicting active adaptation in bureaucratic capitalism provide a more grounded grasp of the processes involved, and that the radical distinction he establishes between adaptation and the possibility of conduct may provide a new basis for conceptualizing resistance to liberal governmental rationality

Energy Conservation in Existing Housing Sites; a Comparative Case Analysis\ud in the Netherlands

The housing sector in the Netherlands is responsible for a significant fraction of primary energy use and CO2 emissions. Great energy conservation opportunities are to be found in the existing housing stock, especially in large renovation projects on existing sites. Energy conservation savings of up to 90% are technically feasible. Despite this, there is little empirical evidence available about processes that influence the achievement of energy conservation goals in such locations. Moreover, no systematic, bottom-up research on the matter is available. This paper attempts to answer questions about the factors – size, direction and significance – that explain variation in the degree of energy conservation. Four main propositions were tested, comprising the following variables: actor characteristics, policy instruments, interorganizational collaboration and context. The study used a comparative research design. Data were collected from eleven existing housing sites where renovation projects had been executed, involving 70 personal interviews, a survey, and the collection of project documents. A mixed methods approach was applied for data analysis. The results show that interorganizational, collaborative efforts, policy instruments and the presence of wealthy housing associations have a positive influence on energy conservation outcomes. The mean energy conservation was slightly less than 40%, and outcomes varied between 26.5% and 69.8%. Strikingly, planning does not have a beneficial influence and the actual outcome is lower than predicted. The results are useful for national and local government policy makers, as they clearly argue that ambitious policy goals should be tempered

Report of the Tanzania Joint Annual Health Sector Review

\ud The fifth annual joint health sector review took place 15-17 March, hosted by the Golden Tulip Hotel. It had been preceded by extensive preparatory work. The “Technical Review” provided an update of progress at district level against the recommendations agreed last year. This, and other documentation to be tabled at the main review were debated in detail at a “pre-meeting” of government and stakeholder representatives held at the Belinda Hotel in late February. Documents tabled for the meeting and presentations are listed at Annex 1. Copies are obtainable from the Health Sector Reform Secretariat, MOH. The main review was very well attended, including senior representatives of various ministries and departments. In a welcome development from previous years, health sector representatives from Regional and District levels also participated. The meeting was characterized by open and lively discussion and debate – a sign that the constructive development relationship with partners continues to mature. The list of participants is reproduced at Annex 5. This report provides a brief record of the proceedings. The timetable for the Review is attached at Annex 2. The first sessions were devoted to reviewing performance over the previous year, with reference to the milestones, the technical review report, achievements and innovations of selected districts, and the health sector performance profile. The general picture which emerges is one of steady progress against objectives. However, owing to the gaps and delays in routine data, this progress has not yet been verified in objective measures of service delivery improvement. Subsequent sessions dealt with priority programmes in more depth, including HIV, malaria, TB, EPI, reproductive health, IMCI and nutrition. In all areas significant challenges remain, in spite of progress to date. In every case there are resource gaps of varying magnitude which will need to be filled if successful scaling up and health impact are to be achieved. Human Resources for Health provided a major focus for presentations and discussions on the second day. This was enriched by perspectives from the President’s Office - Office of Public Service Management (PO-OPSM) and from the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG). A clear consensus emerged that the human resource situation is in crisis. The gap between current staffing requirements and actual staffing stands at 33%. This average masks even more serious gaps in under-served areas of the country and for specific cadres. Attrition of health workers out-strips new recruitment. The health workforce is aging. Production of skilled manpower is not matched with future staffing needs. Recruitment procedures present practical obstacles to filling even those posts for which permits have been issued. Positions in hardship areas are particularly difficult to fill and additional incentives will be needed. The data which substantiates the present crisis, the worsening trend and the future requirements, is already available. The meeting agreed that urgent action and high level collaboration between the relevant parts of government would be needed to address the situation

Cold Storage Data Archives: More Than Just a Bunch of Tapes

The abundance of available sensor and derived data from large scientific experiments, such as earth observation programs, radio astronomy sky surveys, and high-energy physics already exceeds the storage hardware globally fabricated per year. To that end, cold storage data archives are the---often overlooked---spearheads of modern big data analytics in scientific, data-intensive application domains. While high-performance data analytics has received much attention from the research community, the growing number of problems in designing and deploying cold storage archives has only received very little attention. In this paper, we take the first step towards bridging this gap in knowledge by presenting an analysis of four real-world cold storage archives from three different application domains. In doing so, we highlight (i) workload characteristics that differentiate these archives from traditional, performance-sensitive data analytics, (ii) design trade-offs involved in building cold storage systems for these archives, and (iii) deployment trade-offs with respect to migration to the public cloud. Based on our analysis, we discuss several other important research challenges that need to be addressed by the data management community