Interesting faces: A graph-based approach for finding people in news

Cataloged from PDF version of article.In this study, we propose a method for finding people in large news photograph and video collections. Our method exploits the multi-modal nature of these data sets to recognize people and does not require any supervisory input. It first uses the name of the person to populate an initial set of candidate faces. From this set, which is likely to include the faces of other people, it selects the group of most similar faces corresponding to the queried person in a variety of conditions. Our main contribution is to transform the problem of recognizing the faces of the queried person in a set of candidate faces to the problem of finding the highly connected sub-graph (the densest component) in a graph representing the similarities of faces. We also propose a novel technique for finding the similarities of faces by matching interest points extracted from the faces. The proposed method further allows the classification of new faces without needing to re-build the graph. The experiments are performed on two data sets: thousands of news photographs from Yahoo! news and over 200 news videos from TRECVid2004. The results show that the proposed method provides significant improvements over textbased methods. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserve

Expansionary contractions and fiscal free lunches: too good to be true?

This paper builds a framework to jointly examine the possibility of both `expansionary fiscal contractions' (austerity increasing output) and fiscal free lunches' (expansions reducing government debt), arguments supported by the austerity and stimulus camps, respectively, in recent debates. We propose a new metric quantifying the budgetary implications of fiscal action, a key aspect of fiscal policy particularly at the monetary zero lower bound. We find that austerity needs to be highly persistent and credible to be expansionary, and stimulus temporary, responsive and well-targeted in order to lower debt. We conclude that neither are likely, especially during periods of economic distress

Managing public debt in the UK

The Covid-19 pandemic that emerged in early 2020 quickly turned into an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions. The UK, one of the worst affected countries, suffered 9.9 per cent drop in output in 2020, the deepest recession in 300 years.4 The required public health expenditure in the fight against the coronavirus and the ballooning cost of support programs to both the households and businesses led to a sharp rise in government spending.5 When combined with the significant drop in tax revenues following the contraction in economic activity, the surge in spending pushed the debt burden to levels previously unseen in peace times. This article assesses the evolution of government debt in the UK both in recent past as well as over the last century to put the current escalation in indebtedness into context. We then present the sources of debt consolidation both in general, and in the UK context. Finally, we provide an evaluation of likely scenarios for debt management in the UK in its transitioning to a post-Covid-19 world

Reduction of spindle vibrations in milling machine by active magnetic bearing

In this study, a three-dimensional dynamic model of a milling machine is proposed. The cutting forces of the face milling process were obtained according to the cutting parameters by means of computer simulations and experiment. The cutting forces excited the dynamic model of the system. Relative displacements of the contact point of the cutting tool and the workpiece were obtained by using forced vibration analysis. These displacements affected machining accuracy of the milling machine. Therefore, radial and axial electromagnetic bearings were designed for the active control of the system and they were adapted on the spindle of the milling machine. Thereby the electromagnetic force produced around the rotating spindle reduced vibration amplitude of the cutting tool. The system was operated with and without active control and both these cases were compared. It was revealed that active control diminished cutting tool vibrations and improved machining performanc

Employment Protection Laws and Corporate Cash Holdings

We study how employment protection laws (EPLs) affect corporate cash-holding decision. By exploiting within-country changes in EPLs across 20 OECD countries as a source of variation in labor adjustment costs, we show that following an increase in the stringency of EPLs, firms’ cash holdings increase significantly. This relationship is stronger for firms with high labor turnover, no multinational presence, or financial constraints, indicating that labor adjustment cost raising distress risk is the mechanism in play. Cash buffers created by firms faced with stricter EPLs help them mitigate the under investment problem in subsequent episodes of industry-wide distress. Consistent with this precautionary motive, the market’s valuation of excess cash is positively associated with the EPL strictness. We further demonstrate that the response of cash policy to changes in EPLs is distinct from that of debt policy or investment policy. Our evidence highlights the role of interaction between labor market and financial frictions in determining the level and the value of corporate cash

Automatic License Plate Location and Recognition Algorithm for Color Images

An automatic car license plate location and recognition system has a great importance in today's industrial world for intelligent transport systems. Any automatic license plate location and recognition system has two main stages: (1) the license plate location and (2) the license plate recognition (LPR). The license plate location is the most important stage in the LPR systems which affects the system's accuracy, directly. Most of the previous methods are based on gray images but the color information is also an important factor to locate the license plate. In this project, we propose a novel license plate location algorithm for color images. The proposed algorithm is based on the brake lights and headlights of car. At the recognition stage, a well known and accepted character recognition algorithm has been used

Social science sequestered

Greenhouse gas removal (GGR) raises many cultural, ethical, legal, social, and political issues, yet in the growing area of GGR research, humanities and social sciences (HASS) research is often marginalized, constrained and depoliticised. This global dynamic is illustrated by an analysis of the UK GGR research programme. This dynamic matters for the knowledge produced and for its users. Without HASS contributions, too narrow a range of perspectives, futures and issues will be considered, undermining or overpromising the prospects for the responsible development of GGR (and threatening worse side-effects), and limiting our understanding of why and how policy demands GGR solutions in the first place. In response, we present policy principles for bringing HASS fully into GGR research, organized around three themes: (1) HASS-led GGR research, (2) Opening up GGR futures, and (3) The politics of GGR futures.We acknowledge funding from the UK GGR programme, under several specific grants: NE/P019838/1, NE/P019900/1, NE/P019951/1, NE/P019668/1, and NE/P01982X/1

Nitrogen and sulfur deprivation differentiate lipid accumulation targets of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) have inter-related and distinct impacts on microalgal metabolism; with N starvation having previously been reported to induce elevated levels of the biodiesel feedstock material triacylglycerol (TAG), while S deprivation is extensively studied for its effects on biohydrogen production in microalgae.1,2 We have previously demonstrated that N- and S-starved cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii display different metabolic trends, suggesting that different response mechanisms exist to compensate for the absence of those two elements.3 We used C. reinhardtii CC-124 mt(-) and CC-125 mt(+) strains to test possible metabolic changes related to TAG accumulation in response to N and S deprivation, considering that gamete differentiation in this organism is mainly regulated by N.4 Our findings contribute to the understanding of microalgal response to element deprivation and potential use of element deprivation for biodiesel feedstock production using microalgae, but much remains to be elucidated on the precise contribution of both N and S starvation on microalgal metabolism. © 2012 Landes Bioscience

Reduction of spindle vibrations in milling machine by active magnetic bearing

In this study, a three-dimensional dynamic model of a milling machine is proposed. The cutting forces of the face milling process were obtained according to the cutting parameters by means of computer simulations and experiment. The cutting forces excited the dynamic model of the system. Relative displacements of the contact point of the cutting tool and the workpiece were obtained by using forced vibration analysis. These displacements affected machining accuracy of the milling machine. Therefore, radial and axial electromagnetic bearings were designed for the active control of the system and they were adapted on the spindle of the milling machine. Thereby the electromagnetic force produced around the rotating spindle reduced vibration amplitude of the cutting tool. The system was operated with and without active control and both these cases were compared. It was revealed that active control diminished cutting tool vibrations and improved machining performanc