DCTNet : A Simple Learning-free Approach for Face Recognition

PCANet was proposed as a lightweight deep learning network that mainly leverages Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to learn multistage filter banks followed by binarization and block-wise histograming. PCANet was shown worked surprisingly well in various image classification tasks. However, PCANet is data-dependence hence inflexible. In this paper, we proposed a data-independence network, dubbed DCTNet for face recognition in which we adopt Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) as filter banks in place of PCA. This is motivated by the fact that 2D DCT basis is indeed a good approximation for high ranked eigenvectors of PCA. Both 2D DCT and PCA resemble a kind of modulated sine-wave patterns, which can be perceived as a bandpass filter bank. DCTNet is free from learning as 2D DCT bases can be computed in advance. Besides that, we also proposed an effective method to regulate the block-wise histogram feature vector of DCTNet for robustness. It is shown to provide surprising performance boost when the probe image is considerably different in appearance from the gallery image. We evaluate the performance of DCTNet extensively on a number of benchmark face databases and being able to achieve on par with or often better accuracy performance than PCANet.Comment: APSIPA ASC 201

Goods and services tax (GST) on construction capital cost and housing property price

Good and Service Tax (GST) an indirect broad-based conswnpti.on tax. Following with the implementation of GST in Malaysia on 1st April 2015, it is suspected that the construction capital cost and housing property price will increase accordingly. This study is aim to review the GST effect associated on construction capital cost and it influences towards housing developer and housing property price. Additionally, this study highlights what was the developer point of view on the GST given to them and also the housing price further proposes initiatives to the housing developers. Argument of GST effect is useful for the public administrators so that to re-consider the rate of GST and also beneficial to the construction parties to account with the GST implementation. As conclusion, this study review that GST do give an impact towards the construction capital cost, housing developer and housing property price in terms of knock-on effect

Stacking-based Deep Neural Network: Deep Analytic Network on Convolutional Spectral Histogram Features

Stacking-based deep neural network (S-DNN), in general, denotes a deep neural network (DNN) resemblance in terms of its very deep, feedforward network architecture. The typical S-DNN aggregates a variable number of individually learnable modules in series to assemble a DNN-alike alternative to the targeted object recognition tasks. This work likewise devises an S-DNN instantiation, dubbed deep analytic network (DAN), on top of the spectral histogram (SH) features. The DAN learning principle relies on ridge regression, and some key DNN constituents, specifically, rectified linear unit, fine-tuning, and normalization. The DAN aptitude is scrutinized on three repositories of varying domains, including FERET (faces), MNIST (handwritten digits), and CIFAR10 (natural objects). The empirical results unveil that DAN escalates the SH baseline performance over a sufficiently deep layer.Comment: 5 page

Goods and services tax (GST) on construction capital cost and housing property price

Good and Service Tax (GST) an indirect broad-based conswnpti.on tax. Following with the implementation of GST in Malaysia on 1st April 2015, it is suspected that the construction capital cost and housing property price will increase accordingly. This study is aim to review the GST effect associated on construction capital cost and it influences towards housing developer and housing property price. Additionally, this study highlights what was the developer point of view on the GST given to them and also the housing price further proposes initiatives to the housing developers. Argument of GST effect is useful for the public administrators so that to re-consider the rate of GST and also beneficial to the construction parties to account with the GST implementation. As conclusion, this study review that GST do give an impact towards the construction capital cost, housing developer and housing property price in terms of knock-on effect

The Psychological Attraction Approach to Accounting and Disclosure Policy

We offer here the psychological attraction approach to accounting and disclosure rules, regulation, and policy as a program for positive accounting research. We suggest that psychological forces have shaped and continue to shape rules and policies in two different ways. (1) Good Rules for Bad Users: rules and policies that provide information in a form that is useful for users who are subject to bias and cognitive processing constraints. (2) Bad Rules: superfluous or even pernicious rules and policies that result from psychological bias on the part of the ‘designers’ (managers, users, auditors, regulators, politicians, or voters). We offer some initial ideas about psychological sources of the use of historical costs, conservatism, aggregation, and a focus on downside outcomes in risk disclosures. We also suggest that psychological forces cause informal shifts in reporting and disclosure regulation and policy, which can exacerbate boom/bust patterns in financial markets.Investor psychology; accounting regulation; disclosure policy; salience; omission bias; scapegoating; limited attention; overconfidence; conservatism; loss aversion; accrual; smoothing; mental accounting; historical cost; risk disclosure; value-at-risk

Fish and fisheries in the Sesan River Basin: catchment baseline, fisheries section

The present report was prepared for the Water and Food Challenge Program project “Optimizing the management of a cascade of reservoirs at the catchment level” (MK3). It constitutes the baseline assessment of fish and fisheries in the Sesan River Basin. The objective of the MK3 project is to contribute knowledge and recommendations so that cascades of reservoirs corresponding to hydropower dams in the Mekong Basin are managed in ways that are more fair and equitable for all water users. This project seeks to understand at the catchment scale the cumulative upstream and downstream consequences of management decisions taken for multiple reservoirs. Revised rules for water storage infrastructure management will in particular take into account fisheries and agricultural potential as well as hydropower ge

Thought and Behavior Contagion in Capital Markets

Prevailing models of capital markets capture a limited form of social influence and information transmission, in which the beliefs and behavior of an investor affects others only through market price, information transmission and processing is simple (without thoughts and feelings), and there is no localization in the influence of an investor on others. In reality, individuals often process verbal arguments obtained in conversation or from media presentations, and observe the behavior of others. We review here evidence concerning how these activities cause beliefs and behaviors to spread, affect financial decisions, and affect market prices; and theoretical models of social influence and its effects on capital markets. Social influence is central to how information and investor sentiment are transmitted, so thought and behavior contagion should be incorporated into the theory of capital markets.capital markets; thought contagion; behavioral contagion; herd behavior; information cascades; social learning; investor psychology; accounting regulation; disclosure policy; behavioral finance; market efficiency; popular models; memes