Robust Tracking of Multiple People Using Two Widely Separated Cameras

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Londo

Re-examination on the role of the state in the development of Taiwan’s small and medium-sized enterprises, 1950- 2000: the state, market and social institution

Much research has been devoted to the story of Taiwan’s post-war economic development. The neo-classical economists argue that its government created a free market economy which led to rapid economic growth. The revisionists, Robert Wade and Alice Amsden, address the role of the state in formulating and leading the economic miracle. One of the characteristics of the Taiwanese economy was that the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were found in great numbers (around 90%) in Taiwanese manufacturing industry. These SMEs were export-oriented and contributed greatly to the export growth in the 1970s and the 1980s. The success of the Taiwanese manufacturing SMEs was usually attributed to the market and the development policies which the state established and enforced. However, the existing literature ignores (1) the further development of the SMEs after the late 1980s; (2) the role which Taiwanese society played in the rise and the development of the SMEs. This ignorance over-estimates the role of the state in the development of the SMEs in the post-war era. The present dissertation reexamines the argument of the neo-classical economists and the revisionists by finding a historical pattern and tracing the further development of the SMEs after the late 1980s. To what extent did the market established by the state and the state development policy supported the rise and the development of the Taiwanese manufacturing SMEs from 1950 to 1980? What puts into question the influences of the state on the SMEs after the late 1980s? Why did the state have limited influences on the SMEs after the late 1980s? The dissertation finds that Wade and Amsden over-estimated the role of the state in the rise and development of the SMEs by explaining the limited influences of the state on the SMEs after the late 1980s. The research, by clarifying the relation of the state, market and social institutions from the historical pattern, demonstrates that the social institutions are adapted to the changing environment and continuously provided important financial sources to facilitate the SMEs’ business operations from 1950 to 2000

Different blog use, different participation

Though it seems to be more popular for most people to discuss some issues with their friends on the micro blogs such as Twitter or community websites such as Facebook, there is still a doubt that these websites would play a role to facilitate civic engagement or promote the frequency for talking about public affairs. It is said that the success of Obama‟s case did intrigue politicians‟ attention for the effect of blog in Taiwan. That is why the study should be traced to the experiences of blog in America. There are some surveys which improved that the number of blogs have grown since 2001(Levy, 2002; Henning, 2003). In this case, Wallsten (2007) indicated that political blogs seems to have been grown faster than other types of blogs. In order to find the relationship between blog use and political participation, this study will focus on political blogs. Researchers pointed that the role of blog has become an open forum for users to address issues(Bruns, 2006; Cristol, 2002; Wall, 2006) and some researchers further claimed that blogs have been portrayed as political outlets (Kerbel and Bloom, 2005; Sweetser and Kaid, 2008; Trammell et al., 2006b) where allow users to express their self-perspective and access to different perspectives on an issue (Herring et al., 2004; Trammell and Keshelashvili, 2005; Papacharissi, 2004; Thompson, 2003). In brief, blog users also play a key role in the blog world. For this reason, the study will explore the connotation of blog users and further examine the relationship between blog use and political participation. But it seems to be less studies about types of blog users that could assess the effects of communication on blogs more precisely. To target more real supporters, this article will categorize the types of users into three kinds and measure the extent to their separate behavior which linked to political participation. --

Effects of Persuasive Claims on Desirability and Impulse Purchase Behavior

Group buying websites are getting increasingly popular in the recent years. These websites typically work with merchants to offer group deals at attractive prices. They need a pre-determined minimum number of buyers for a deal before that deal is on. It is therefore important for marketers to understand how they can encourage consumers to buy these online group deals early. Using the right persuasive claims that reflect a deal’s scarcity or popularity can help in heuristics information processing and shape a consumer’s desirability in that deal. This desirability can in turn tempt him or her to purchase immediately. As consumers are usually not informed of the deals prior to visiting the group buying websites, such buys can be termed as “impulse purchases”, i.e. unplanned or unintended buys. In particular, we investigate how one’s need-for-uniqueness can influence the effectiveness of these persuasive claims. In view of the snob and bandwagon effects, marketers learn to appreciate which persuasive claims work better for what type of consumers

Business activities, competitive advantages, ownership types of the textile and apparel industries in China

Abstract from short.pdf."July 2010.""A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri--Columbia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science."Thesis supervisor: Dr. Jung Ha-Brookshire.This study was designed to gain a deep and timely understanding about the stature of current textile and apparel (T&A) manufacturers in China whose industry appears to be in the transition from the growth to the full mature phase of the industry life cycle. The findings revealed that the T&A industries in China seem to be in transition from the growth to full mature phase of the industry life cycle. Firms seem to be shifting their business bases from manufacturing to retailing, designing, and marketing, while emphasizing more on general operational, organizational knowledge, and learning resources than physical and financial resources. Firms with foreign-ownership or foreign partnership were more likely engaged in non-manufacturing business activities. The findings may help investors identify key products, services, and resources to be prepared for success in today's T&A industries in China.Includes bibliographical references (pages 64-68)

Singular solutions for divergence-form elliptic equations involving regular variation theory: Existence and classification

We generalise and sharpen several recent results in the literature regarding the existence and complete classification of the isolated singularities for a broad class of nonlinear elliptic equations of the form \begin{equation} -{\rm div}\,(\mathcal A(|x|) \,|\nabla u|^{p-2} \nabla u)+b(x)\,h(u)=0\quad \text{in } B_1\setminus\{0\}, \end{equation} where $B_r$ denotes the open ball with radius $r>0$ centred at zero in $\mathbb{R}^N$ $(N\geq 2)$. We assume that $\mathcal{A} \in C^1(0,1]$, $b\in C(\bar{B_1}\setminus\{0\})$ and $h\in C[0,\infty)$ are positive functions associated with regularly varying functions of index $\vartheta$, $\sigma$ and $q$ at $0$, $0$ and $\infty$ respectively, satisfying $q>p-1>0$ and $\vartheta-\sigma<p<N+\vartheta$. We prove that the condition $b(x) \,h(\Phi)\not \in L^1(B_{1/2})$ is sharp for the removability of all singularities at zero for the positive solutions of our problem, where $\Phi$ denotes the "fundamental solution" of $-{\rm div}\,(\mathcal A(|x|)\, |\nabla u|^{p-2} \nabla u)=\delta_0$ (the Dirac mass at zero) in $B_1$, subject to $\Phi|_{\partial B_1}=0$. If $b(x) \,h(\Phi)\in L^1(B_{1/2})$, we show that any non-removable singularity at zero for a positive solution to our equation is either weak (i.e., $\lim_{|x|\to 0} u(x)/\Phi(|x|)\in (0,\infty)$) or strong ($\lim_{|x|\to 0} u(x)/\Phi(|x|)=\infty$). The main difficulty and novelty of this paper, for which we develop new techniques, come from the explicit asymptotic behaviour of the strong singularity solutions in the critical case, which had previously remained open even for $\mathcal{A}=1$. We also study the existence and uniqueness of the positive solution to our problem with a prescribed admissible behaviour at zero and a Dirichlet condition on $\partial B_1$

‘Paris, Japan and modernity: a vexed ratio

This essay uses mobility as a way to tackle the nominal question, “Is Paris Still the Capital of the Nineteenth Century?” By examining the illustrated travel narratives of two Frenchmen in Japan, Émile Guimet, founder of the eponymous museum of Asian art in Paris, and the artist Félix Régamey, who accompanied him on his tour in 1876, I argue that travel and transport provide a vehicle through which to challenge the centrality of Paris, and by extension, the West in the nineteenth century. By moving our attention to Japan, we can better understand the changing balance of power between East and West in the nineteenth century, and the contested terms of center and periphery that have preoccupied recent scholars in the humanities and social sciences

Crowdsourcing avant la lettre: Henri Cordier and French Sinology, ca. 1875-1925

This article argues that the French sinologist Henri Cordier (1849-1926) used his private correspondence with a vast international network of diplomats, administrators, missionaries, writers and scholars of every field of Asian studies between the 1870s until his death in 1926 to produce knowledge about China. Indeed, his unpublished correspondence, housed in the Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France in Paris, demonstrates a collaborative knowledge production on a global scale long before the digital revolution. Moreover, Cordier’s letters further show his correspondents giving him guidance or professional mentoring at a crucial moment in the development and professionalization of European sinology