\u3ci\u3eFrom Economic Crisis to Reform: IMF Programs in Latin America and Eastern Europe\u3c/i\u3e by Grigore Pop-Eleches (Book Review)

Grigore Pop-Eleches’s book on the interaction of international and domestic determinants of IMF-style reforms in developing countries makes a significant contribution to international and comparative political economy literature. His effort to capture the dynamics of the contentious and complex relationship between the IMF and developing countries/emerging markets inLatin AmericaandEastern Europerepresents mid-range theorizing at its best. The author combines insights from international and comparative political economy literatures to pursue complementary questions. From the international effect perspective: what role do economic crises play in the initiation and implementation of IMF-backed economic reform? Is the IMF impartial in its policy and financial support for countries in need? In what ways do IMF lending patterns reflect the changing demands of international financial markets, as well as the shifting priorities of advanced industrialized democracies (p.2)

“Let Joy Size at God Knows When to God Knows What”: Gerard Manley Hopkins’s Struggle for Comfort, and the Illuminating Nature of Unwarranted Suffering

Gerard Manley Hopkins suffered deeply. His “Terrible Sonnets” are confessional poetry that demonstrate his struggle with his God and with himself. This work analyses the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, starting Noah and ending with Jesus’s promise of a Paraclete, to analyze how both God and Man approach earthly and heavenly comfort. The work will then turn to Hopkins’s poetry to show that Hopkins’s unshakable faith and deep understanding of the Bible is both the cause and the cure of his suffering. This essay concludes that it is only through suffering that Hopkins, like Job, Jesus, and King Lear, is able to achieve both comfort and wisdom

Letter from Robert Hanson to Francis P. Porter

Robert informs Francis that Thomas has been transported home. He shares that many men in the Regiment have become sick or have passed away. The rest are building fortifications before engagement in Corinth.https://digitalcommons.owu.edu/harvey-letters/1081/thumbnail.jp

Robust and efficient people detection with 3-D range data using shape matching

Information about the location of a person is a necessity for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) as it enables the robot to make human aware decisions and facilitates the extraction of further useful information; such as low-level gestures and gaze. This paper presents a robust method for person detection with 3-D range data using shape matching. Projections of the 3-D data onto 2-D planes are exploited to effectively and efficiently represent the data for scene segmentation and shape extraction. Fourier descriptors (FD) are used to describe the shapes and are subsequently classified with a Support Vector Machine (SVM). A database of 25 people was collected and used to test this approach. The results show that the computationally efficient shape features can be used to robustly detect the location of people

Subjective and objective interpretation of tear film interferometry images

Background: Assessment of the tear film is necessary in routine clinical practice because an unstable tear film can hamper the quality of life by causing vision-related problems and compromising the ocular surface. One of the major concerns related to an unstable tear film is dry eye. Many of dry eye patients suffer from a lack of meibum which forms the lipid layer of the tear film. The lipid layer can be graded and interpreted by using interferometry. However, interpretation and grading of this dynamic layer may be inconsistent in terms of inter- and intra- observations. This study investigated the difficulty of consistent, subjective grading of clinical findings, in general.Methods: The interferometry images of 30 subjects captured from different equipment were analyzed subjectively. The agreement between intra-observer repeatability was also measured.Results: A positive Spearman’s correlation of 0.81 was found among different grading patterns observed using the Tearsope to compare right and left eyes. Similarly, a positive Spearman’s correlation of 0.63 was found among different grading patterns observed under interferometer in right and left eye. Correlations were statistically significant, p<0.001. The agreement between intra-observer repeatability calculated using Cohen’s kappa values were also statistically significant, p<0.001.Conclusions: A correlation between the findings of different equipment could not be made due to the differences in wavelengths of incident light and the image details. However, a new grading pattern has been proposed to describe the thickness of various lipid layer patterns observed under Doane’s interferometer

Relevance of Tea Shops and Cafes as Spaces for plot progression in Malayalam Cinema

Currently One of the most significant mass media for communication and storytelling is film. The film uses images, music, and sound effects to convey creative ideas, concepts, and emotions. Through its capability for visual portrayal, films engage, comprehend, and influence audiences. This paper entitled ‘Relevance of Teashops and Cafes as Spaces for Plot Progression in Malayalam Movies’ studies how films especially Malayalam films use the space of teashops and cafes in movies as a space of plot progression. Even though these locations are a necessary component in the production of Malayalam films, the role of teashops and cafes in the making of a film is a less-explored topic. The concept of space is crucial to the creation of films. A perfect setting is necessary for conveying all of the essence of the movie to the audience as well as the core idea of the movie.&nbsp; The movie makes use of space for a variety of things, including setting up sets, filming scenes, and establishing distinct places. When Malayalam movies are taken into consideration the presence of a teashop or a cafe has always been an inevitable part. The locations of teashops and cafes were given a lot of attention in movie narratives, particularly in Malayalam films. In the atmosphere of these places, significant story developments and character growth take place. The teashop settings have been a major part of setting the overall tone and portraying the beauty of the film's setting in the majority of ancient Malayalam films. The cafes in the new Malayalam film function similarly by improving the mood of the film by creating lovely settings. The audience will be drawn to these locations as a result. The study attempts to provide a comprehensive understanding of the significance of teashop and cafe scenes in Malayalam films. The study focuses on the purpose of the teashop and café environments in the development of the story and other significant events in the film's narration. The study will use a qualitative methodology. Six major Malayalam films will be the subject of the analysis. For the study, a content analysis of six films from different periods that prominently featured cafe and teashop settings was chosen