The Future of Synthetic Securitization: A Comment on Bell & Dawson

Datorseende är ett snabbt växande, tvärvetenskapligt forskningsområde vars tillämpningar tar en allt mer framskjutande roll i dagens samhälle. Med ett ökat intresse för datorseende ökar också behovet av att kunna kontrollera kameror kopplade till datorseende system. Vid Linköpings tekniska högskola, på avdelningen för datorseende, har ramverket EDSDK++ utvecklats för att fjärrstyra digitala kameror tillverkade av Canon Inc. Ramverket är mycket omfattande och innehåller en stor mängd funktioner och inställningsalternativ. Systemet är därför till stor del ännu relativt oprövat. Detta examensarbete syftar till att utveckla ett demonstratorsystem till EDSDK++ i form av ett enkelt active vision system, som med hjälp av ansiktsdetektion i realtid styr en kameratilt, samt en kamera monterad på tilten, till att följa, zooma in och fokusera på ett ansikte eller en grupp av ansikten. Ett krav var att programbiblioteket OpenCV skulle användas för ansiktsdetektionen och att EDSDK++ skulle användas för att kontrollera kameran. Dessutom skulle ett API för att kontrollera kameratilten utvecklas. Under utvecklingsarbetet undersöktes bl.a. olika metoder för ansiktsdetektion. För att förbättra prestandan användes multipla ansiktsdetektorer, som med hjälp av multitrådning avsöker en bild parallellt från olika vinklar. Såväl experimentella som teoretiska ansatser gjordes för att bestämma de parametrar som behövdes för att kunna reglera kamera och kameratilt. Resultatet av arbetet blev en demonstrator, som uppfyllde samtliga krav.Computer vision is a rapidly growing, interdisciplinary field whose applications are taking an increasingly prominent role in today's society. With an increased interest in computer vision there is also an increasing need to be able to control cameras connected to computer vision systems. At the division of computer vision, at Linköping University, the framework EDSDK++ has been developed to remotely control digital cameras made by Canon Inc. The framework is very comprehensive and contains a large amount of features and configuration options. The system is therefore largely still relatively untested. This thesis aims to develop a demonstrator to EDSDK++ in the form of a simple active vision system, which utilizes real-time face detection in order to control a camera tilt, and a camera mounted on the tilt, to follow, zoom in and focus on a face or a group of faces. A requirement was that the OpenCV library would be used for face detection and EDSDK++ would be used to control the camera. Moreover, an API to control the camera tilt was to be developed. During development, different methods for face detection were investigated. In order to improve performance, multiple, parallel face detectors using multithreading, were used to scan an image from different angles. Both experimental and theoretical approaches were made to determine the parameters needed to control the camera and camera tilt. The project resulted in a fully functional demonstrator, which fulfilled all requirements

Why Didn’t Subprime Investors Demand a (Much Larger) Lemons Premium?

The subprime crisis would never have occurred had investors not been such enthusiastic consumers of subprime securities. The investors now say, somewhat self-servingly (but probably correctly), that they did not understand the securities -- securities for which they were willing to pay very high prices. Investors\u27 willingness to purchase these securities on terms that were favorable to the sellers, and unfavorable to them, presents a considerable puzzle. Investors do not want to miss out on the next big thing

Tax Lawyers are People Too

When tax lawyers are shown to have been particularly successful in limiting or even eliminating their clients\u27 tax liability, there is often an outcry, including for more law. But law\u27s ability to deal with these problems is limited, for many reasons, including one less remarked upon than it should be: There is a continuum, from the (Almost?) Over the Edge Envelope Pushing tax lawyer to the Old Venerable Risk-Hating tax lawyer with, of course, most people falling somewhere along the continuum. Benefits to the (Almost?) Over the Edge Envelope Pushing lawyer might include living dangerously on the edge of detection, being more clever than her competitors in coming up with a brilliant shelter idea, being clever in avoiding detection, or the like. For the Old Venerable RiskHating lawyer, no such benefits would be available and the associated costs would loom large. Indeed, something that would be a cost to Venerable - say, appearing on the front page of the newspaper as somebody who had designed an aggressive shelter - might be a benefit to Envelope Pusher. Envelope Pushing is not always bad: the law doesn\u27t always get things right. But it is certainly not always good. Regulatory interventions should be designed taking into account that different people approach tax compliance with different mindsets

The cationic region of Rhes mediates its interactions with specific Gβ subunits

Ras homologue enriched in striatum (Rhes) is a small monomeric G protein which functions in a variety of cellular processes, including attenuation of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)signalling. There have been many studies into the effects of Rhes, but there is no molecular information about how Rhes might bring about these effects. Rhes shares striking sequence homology to AGS1 (activator of G protein signalling 1) and we considered whether the two proteins function in similar ways. AGS1 binds to the Gβ1 subunit of heterotrimeric G proteins and we have used yeast two-hybrid studies to show that Rhes binds selectively to Gβ1, Gβ2 and Gβ3 subunits. Binding to the Gβ subunits involves the cationic regions of AGS1 and Rhes, and we used Rhes-AGS1 chimeras to show that their different cationic regions determine the Gβ-specificity of the interactions. Possible implications of this interaction for the activity of Rhes are discussed

Anxiogenic behaviours and cognitions in parents of anxious children: Effects of a guided parent-delivered treatment programme.

Parent involvement in treatment programmes for child anxiety disorders aims to change the parental behaviours and cognitions implicated in the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety disorders. However, very few studies have included parental behaviours and cognitions as outcomes, and the methodological shortcomings of those that have, preclude clear conclusions. This study aimed to provide the first comprehensive examination of change in parental behaviours and cognitions after a guided parent-delivered cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) programme compared to a waitlist control. The association between change in parental behaviours and cognitions with child treatment outcome was also considered. Eighty-eight children aged 7 to 12 years old with a diagnosed anxiety disorder were randomised to either an 8-week guided parent-delivered CBT programme (n=41) or waitlist control group (n=47). None of the parents met diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. Observational measures of parental behaviours whilst their child completed an anxiety-provoking task were taken before and after the intervention. Parent expectations were also measured of their child’s and own response in the laboratory task, as well as for hypothetical situations that were ambiguous for whether or not they presented a threat. The treatment programme was not associated with greater change in parental behaviours compared to the waitlist control. After the treatment programme there was a change in specific parental cognitions, in that parents perceived themselves and their child to have more control in hypothetical threat ambiguous situations. Change in parental behaviour and cognition was not significantly associated with child treatment outcomes. The results suggest that guided parent-delivered CBT can increase parental self-efficacy in the management of child anxiety. However, the absence of any association of treatment with other parental cognitions or behaviours questions the salience of parental change in the treatment of childhood anxiety disorders

Justification Norms Under Uncertainty: A Preliminary Inquiry

People making decisions under uncertainty may need to justify those decisions to their reputational community. This Essay considers when and how the potential need to justify might lead a decision-maker to employ a methodology better suited to yielding a justifiable choice that may not be the best choice. When a decision involves uncertainty, the possible outcomes and probabilities are not known. A broad consensus about a methodology that produces a good decision often may not exist. But norms will often arise as to acceptable methodologies - that is, methodologies that will be accepted as justifiable if justification is needed. The norms instantiate considerable stickiness - after all, the best way to demonstrate that something is (typically) “done” is to show that relevant others “do it.” This Essay identifies a particular pathology associated with the practice of favoring a justifiable decision over a “good” one, and argues that this pathology can have significant negative consequences. The main example discussed is the volume of subprime securities purchased. Other examples include the process by which CEOs are selected, and decisions regarding contract terms in complex business contracts. justification, norms, herding, uncertainty, ris