Rental choice and housing policy realignment in transition : post-privatization challenges in the Europe and Central Asia region

Massive privatizations of housing in Europe and Central Asia transition countries have significantly reduced rental tenure choice, threatening to impede residential mobility. Policymakers are intensifying their search for adequate policy responses aimed at broadening tenure choice for more household categories through effective rental housing alternatives in the social and private sectors. While the social alternative requires substantial and well-balanced subsidies, the private alternative will not grow unless rent, management, and tax reforms are boldly implemented and housing privatization truly completed.Urban Housing,Housing&Human Habitats,Municipal Financial Management,Public Sector Management and Reform,Non Bank Financial Institutions

Accelerating video frames classification with metric based scene segmentation

ABSTRACT: This paper addresses the problem of the efficient classification of images in a video stream in cases, where all of the video has to be labeled. Realizing the similarity of consecutive frames, we introduce a set of simple metrics to measure that similarity. To use these observations for decreasing the number of necessary classifications, we propose a scene segmentation algorithm. Performed experiments have evaluated the acquired scene sizes and classification accuracy resulting from the usage of different similarity metrics with our algorithm. As a result, we have identified those metrics from the considered set, which show the best characteristics for usage in scene segmentation

An Overview of Image Analysis Techniques in Endoscopic Bleeding Detection

ABSTRACT:Authors review the existing bleeding detection methods focusing their attention on the image processing techniques utilised in the algorithms. In the article, 18 methods were analysed and their functional components were identified. The authors proposed six different groups, to which algorithms' components were assigned: colour techniques, reflecting features of pixels as individual values, texture techniques, considering spatial dependencies between pixels, contour techniques for edges and contours, segmentation techniques for dividing images into meaningful regions, decision mechanisms for final interpretation of the image and other techniques that do not match any of the introduced groups. Authors conclude that the algorithms could be still improved by applying more complete sets of techniques to address the importance of visual features of endoscopic bleeding. Also, improvement is possible in the area of decisive classifiers

Institutional Real Estate Investment Practices: Swedish and United States Experiences

In recent years, institutional real estate investment activity has experienced major changes in many countries throughout the world. In Sweden, large-scale investment projects have increasingly been dominated by several major financial institutions. As in other places, real estate investment analysis in Sweden has undergone considerable change in terms of rigor, focus, and perspective. This study is the first effort ever to systematically assess the current situation in the market for commercial real estate in Sweden. The study presents the results of a comprehensive 1988 survey of over 200 commercial real estate investment participants in Sweden including insurance companies, pension funds, construction firms, property management firms, and investment companies. The survey results are compared with results reported in the United States and elsewhere within the corporate and real estate capital budgeting literatures. The results reported here can thus be compared cross-sectionally as well as over time across numerous dimensions.

A Dominant Mutation in mediator of paramutation2, One of Three Second-Largest Subunits of a Plant-Specific RNA Polymerase, Disrupts Multiple siRNA Silencing Processes

Paramutation involves homologous sequence communication that leads to meiotically heritable transcriptional silencing. We demonstrate that mop2 (mediator of paramutation2), which alters paramutation at multiple loci, encodes a gene similar to Arabidopsis NRPD2/E2, the second-largest subunit of plant-specific RNA polymerases IV and V. In Arabidopsis, Pol-IV and Pol-V play major roles in RNA–mediated silencing and a single second-largest subunit is shared between Pol-IV and Pol-V. Maize encodes three second-largest subunit genes: all three genes potentially encode full length proteins with highly conserved polymerase domains, and each are expressed in multiple overlapping tissues. The isolation of a recessive paramutation mutation in mop2 from a forward genetic screen suggests limited or no functional redundancy of these three genes. Potential alternative Pol-IV/Pol-V–like complexes could provide maize with a greater diversification of RNA–mediated transcriptional silencing machinery relative to Arabidopsis. Mop2-1 disrupts paramutation at multiple loci when heterozygous, whereas previously silenced alleles are only up-regulated when Mop2-1 is homozygous. The dramatic reduction in b1 tandem repeat siRNAs, but no disruption of silencing in Mop2-1 heterozygotes, suggests the major role for tandem repeat siRNAs is not to maintain silencing. Instead, we hypothesize the tandem repeat siRNAs mediate the establishment of the heritable silent state—a process fully disrupted in Mop2-1 heterozygotes. The dominant Mop2-1 mutation, which has a single nucleotide change in a domain highly conserved among all polymerases (E. coli to eukaryotes), disrupts both siRNA biogenesis (Pol-IV–like) and potentially processes downstream (Pol-V–like). These results suggest either the wild-type protein is a subunit in both complexes or the dominant mutant protein disrupts both complexes. Dominant mutations in the same domain in E. coli RNA polymerase suggest a model for Mop2-1 dominance: complexes containing Mop2-1 subunits are non-functional and compete with wild-type complexes

TEORIA WZMOCNIENIA JEDNOFOLIOWEGO DETEKTORA Z GAZOWYM POWIELANIEM ELEKTRONÓW

Gain prediction theory of single foil Gas Electron Multiplier detector was developed. Gas electron multiplier (GEM) detector with single foil was developed. Soft X-ray spectra with an energy of 5.9 keV emitted by the isotope Fe-55 were measured. On this basis, the dependence of gain and energy resolution from the detector voltage was determined. The simple theory of gain dependence on various detector parameters was developed. Preliminary results of the study confirmed the potential usefulness of the GEM detector as a substitute for the multiwire proportional chamber.Opracowano teorię wzmocnienia jednofoliowego detektora z gazowym powielaniem elektronów. Opracowano detektor z gazowym powielaniem elektronów z pojedynczą folią. Zmierzono widmo miękkiego promieniowania X, o energii 5,9 keV, emitowanego przez izotop Fe-55. Na tej podstawie wyznaczono zależność wzmocnienia i energetycznej zdolności rozdzielczej od napięcia zasilającego detektor. Opracowano prosta teorią zależności wzmocnienia od różnych parametrów detektora. Wstępne rezultaty badań potwierdzają potencjalną przydatność detektora GEM jako substytutu wielodrutowej komory proporcjonalnej

Karol Estreicher’s Chronicle of the Jagiellonian University Library 1811-1905

This article presents a little known book, discovered in the collections of the Jagiellonian Library by its former head Karol Estreicher the Elder. The Chronicle of the Jagiellonian University Library is a comprehensive report covering the period between 1811 (the beginnings of the modern university library go back to the early 19th century) and 1905, the year when its author retired. The Chronicle’s Appendix contains additional information about Hugo Kołlataj’s reforms in the late18th century and records of the step-by-step amalgamation of the book collections which belonged to individual Colleges into a single stock. The Chronicle recounts the history of the Library when Cracow was part of the the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Jagiellonian University functionned as an Austrian institution. Another, later Appendix, probably written by Fryderyk Papee, covers the period of World War I and the early postwar years (until 1925). It was then that it was renamed Jagiellonian Library, a name fi rst introduced by Karol Estreicher. The Chronicle is a unique record of the work of its librarians as well the contribution of its author. It documents the support it received from an impressively large number of contemporary Polish scientists, art and book collectors, patrons of the arts, activists, patriots, politicians, civil servants and members of the clergy of all denominations. The network of the Library’s benefactors extended to Galicia, other parts of Poland, and Polish expatriate communities in Europe and overseas. Thanks to the data in the Chronicle we are able to fi nd out about a community of librarians, whose work and names would otherwise have been obliterated by time. Finally, the Chronicle also brings information about important acquisitions, chiefl y books, and their donors, as well as rare books and periodicals purchased by Karol Estreicher

Regulatory framework for expropriation of real property in Poland

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Issues in Expropriation reviews the contemporary major issues involving expropriation (eminent domain/compulsory purchase) in an international context. Expropriation is a right reserved to all governments, and, thus, it has an impact on all societies. This book, the first of its kind, considers the essential issues from the point of view of both developing and developed countries, and their needs for major infrastructure projects. The content covers major issues, principles and policies and includes the experiences of and examples from different countries and regions, including Australia, Asia, China, Europe, India and the USA. Rather than providing an in-depth examination of individual countries’ legal systems, the book focuses on international issues, and also provides a reflection on how national experiences can be related to global needs. Key themes include: • Nature and quantum of compensation • Land rights and the acquisition of traditional land rights • Issues surrounding ‘public interest’ • Alternatives to expropriation • The future: “good practice”, debate and reform