bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Review of the Fund's Financing Role in Member Countries
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

This paper raises and discusses issues related to how the Fund provides financial assistance to its members. It is part of the strategic review to ensure the Fund remains relevant and effective. The objective is not to increase Fund lending, but to make sure the Fund has the right instruments and policies to help all of its members—with appropriate protection of Fund resources—as they integrate into a world of growing and increasingly complex cross-border flows. Other institutions (including major central banks and the World Bank) also are retooling their lending instruments and in the process grappling with similar issues. The paper offers a high-level view of the issues and does not make specific policy proposals. Policy proposals will be presented in follow-up papers, some of which are planned for Board discussion later in 2008.
Review of the Fund's Strategy on Overdue Financial Obligations
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

This paper reviews progress under the Fund’s strengthened cooperative strategy on overdue financial obligations. Total arrears to the Fund declined by SDR 552 million since the last review, owing largely to the clearance of arrears by Liberia in March 2008. While Sudan’s payments in excess of its new obligations falling due to the Fund also contributed to the decline, arrears by Somalia and Zimbabwe increased further. The majority of the arrears to the Fund (85 percent) were to the General Resources Account (GRA).
Report of the Executive Board Working Group on IMF Corporate Governance
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

On May 21, 2008, the Executive Board discussed the report of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) on “Aspects of IMF Corporate Governance – Including the Role of the Executive Board”. The Joint Statement issued by the Executive Board and the Managing Director following the Board discussion noted that many of the issues raised by the IEO were complex and interrelated. Furthermore, the follow-up discussion would require the engagement of all parties at many different levels, involving not only the Executive Board and Management, but also the Fund’s membership and other stakeholders more broadly.
This report presents the recommendations of the Working Group, based on work carried out during June-July 2008. The proposed detailed work plan in Table 1 is an integral part of this report. Section II of the report describes the work streams. Section III discusses issues beyond the IEO report and proposes a monitoring process. Section IV presents the recommendations.
Application of Structural Conditionality - 2008 Annual Report
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

This report provides an update, based on objective indicators, of the application of structural conditionality in Fund-supported programs. Such annual reports on structural conditionality are one element of the management implementation plan (MIP) prepared in response to the Board-endorsed recommendations made in the IEO evaluation of Structural Conditionality in IMF-Supported Programs. This annual report covers Fund arrangements approved during the period 1995–2007 (and their reviews through April 30, 2008), extending therefore the dataset contained in the recent IEO report by about three years (from 2005 to 2007). In addition, this report examines experience with Policy Support Instruments (PSIs), which were introduced in October 2005, and thus not covered in the IEO evaluation.
Training as Part of Capacity Building - Report on IMF Training During 2007
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

This Report provides statistical detail on IMF training for member country officials during calendar year 2007. Section I describes the distribution of training by provider, venue, and region. Section II presents information on the courses delivered through the INS program and the distribution of that training by curriculum area. Drawing on the recently integrated database on IMF training (Box 1), it also lists the courses that IMF departments and the regional technical assistance centers delivered outside the INS program.
Update on the Financing of the Fund's Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member Countries
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

This paper provides a semi-annual review of the status of financing for PRGFESF lending, HIPC and MDRI debt relief, and an update on the mobilization of resources for the subsidization of emergency assistance to PRGF-eligible countries. The last review was completed by the Executive Board on September 26, 2007.
Report of the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on a New Income and Expenditure Framework for the International Monetary Fund
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

The October 2007 Communiqué of the IMFC called on the Executive Board to develop specific proposals on a new income model and a new expenditure framework by the time of the 2008 Spring Meetings. On April 7, 2008, the Executive Board endorsed a new income model for the Fund and considered a new medium-term budgetary envelope for financial years 2009–11, which includes deep spending cuts, and approved administrative, restructuring, and capital budgets for financial year 2009. As a key element of this new income-expenditure framework, the Executive Board ecommended the adoption by the Board of Governors of an amendment of the Articles of Agreement to expand the Fund’s investment authority. The Executive Board’s recommendation was sent to the Board of Governors, with the voting period running through 6:00 p.m., Washington time, May 5, 2008.
The Recent Financial Turmoil - Initial Assessment, Policy Lessons, and Implications for Fund Surveillance
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

In response to the IMFC’s October 2007 communiqué, IMF staff has sought to assess the causes of the present turbulence and draw tentative lessons in order to inform its future bilateral and multilateral surveillance work. This effort has involved close collaboration with the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) and its working groups, as well as consultation with the private sector, national authorities, standard setters, and other bodies.
Review of Access Policy in the Credit Tranches and Under the Extended Fund Facility and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, and Exceptional Access Policy
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

This paper reviews the Fund’s access policy under its main financing facilities in the General Resources Account (GRA) and under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). It responds to the Board’s request for a periodic review of the access policy, that is, the rules and practices that govern the amount of financing the Fund makes available to its members.
Key Trends in Implementation of the IMF'sTransparency Policy -- 2008
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

At the time of the 2005 review of the IMF's transparency policy, it was agreed that information on key trends in implementation of the transparency policy would be circulated to the Board regularly, along with lists indicating the publication status of reports discussed by the Board.

The set of tables provided in this report updates the last Key Trends with information on documents published through December 2007. An update will continue to be issued annually to the Executive Board.
Evolving Monetary Policy Frameworks in Low-Income and Other Developing Countries — Background Paper — Country Experiences
Authors:   International Monetary Fund
Published: October 2019

This background paper focuses on the experiences of evolving monetary policy frameworks in nine individual countries and three thematic groupings of countries.

The country case studies are complemented by analyses of common issues faced by countries in currency unions in the CFA franc zone, selected resource rich countries, and advanced economies and emerging markets during their modernization process of monetary policy regimes.
Finally, the background paper also contains a discussion on the benefits of effective communication in conducting monetary policy.
Unified quantitative observation of coexisting volcanic sulfur dioxide and sulfate aerosols using ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
Authors: Sellitto Pasquale , Guermazi Henda , Carboni Elisa , Siddans Richard , Burton Mike
Published: October 2019

Abstract. We developed an optimal-estimation algorithm to simultaneously retrieve, for the first time, coexisting volcanic gaseous SO2 and sulfate aerosols (SA) from ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) observations. These effluents, both linked to magmatic degassing process and subsequent atmospheric evolution processes, have overlapping spectral signatures leading to mutual potential interferences when retrieving one species without considering the other. We show that significant overestimations may be introduced in SO2 retrievals if the radiative impact of coexistent SA is not accounted for, which may have impacted existing SO2 long-term series, e.g. from satellite platforms. The method was applied to proximal observations at Masaya volcano, where SO2 and SA concentrations, and SA acidity, were retrieved. A gas-to-particle sulfur partitioning of 400 and a strong SA acidity (sulfuric acid concentration: 65 %) were found, consistent with past in situ observations at this volcano. This method is easily exportable to other volcanoes to monitor magma extraction processes and the atmospheric sulfur cycle in the case of ash-free plumes.
Vertical distribution of planktonic foraminifera in the Subtropical South Atlantic: depth hierarchy of controlling factors
Authors: Lessa Douglas , Morard Raphaël , Jonkers Lukas , Venancio Igor M. , Reuter Runa , Baumeister Adrian , Albuquerque Ana Luiza , Kucera Michal
Published: October 2019

Abstract. Temperature appears to be the best predictor of species composition of planktonic foraminifera communities, making it possible to use their fossil assemblages to reconstruct sea surface temperature (SST) variation in the past. However, the role of other environmental factors potentially modulating the spatial and vertical distribution of planktonic foraminifera species is poorly understood. This is especially relevant for environmental factors affecting the subsurface habitat. If such factors play a role, changes in the abundance of deeper dwelling species may not solely reflect SST variation. In order to constrain the effect of subsurface parameters on species composition, we here characterize the vertical distribution of living planktonic foraminifera community across the subtropical South Atlantic Ocean, where SST variability is small but the subsurface water mass structure changes dramatically. Four planktonic foraminifera communities could be identified across the top 700 m of the E–W transect. Gyre and Agulhas Leakage faunas were predominantly composed of Globigerinoides ruber, Globigerinoides tenellus, Trilobatus sacculifer, Globoturborotalita rubescens, Globigerinella calida, Tenuitella iota and Globigerinita glutinata, and only differed in terms of relative abundances (community composition). Upwelling fauna was dominated by Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, Neogloboquadrina incompta, Globorotalia crassaformis and Globorotalia inflata. Thermocline fauna was dominated by Tenuitella fleisheri, Globorotalia truncatulinoides and Globorotalia scitula in the western side, and by G. scitula in the eastern side of the basin. The largest part of the standing stock was consistently found in the surface layer, but SST was not the main predictor of species composition, neither for the total fauna at each station nor in analyses considering each depth layer separately. Instead, we identified a consistent vertical pattern in parameters controlling species composition at different depths, in which the parameters appear to reflect different aspects of the pelagic habitat. Whereas productivity appears to dominate in the mixed layer (0–60 m), physical-chemical parameters are important at depth immediately below (60–100 m), followed by parameters related to the degradation of organic matter (100–300 m), and parameters describing the dissolved oxygen availability (> 300 m). These results indicate that the seemingly straightforward relationship between assemblage composition and SST in sedimentary assemblages reflects vertically and seasonally integrated processes that are only indirectly linked to SST. This also implies that fossil assemblages of planktonic foraminifera should also contain a signature of subsurface processes, which could be used for paleoceanographic reconstructions.
Extreme waves analysis based on atmospheric patterns classification: an application along the Italian coast
Authors: De Leo Francesco , Solari Sebastián , Besio Giovanni
Published: October 2019

Abstract. The identification of homogeneous populations of data prior to perform Extreme Value Analysis (EVA) is advisable in all fields of sciences. When performing EVA on sea storms, it is also recommended to have an insight on the atmospheric processes behind the occurrence of the extremes, as this might facilitate the interpretation and ultimately use of the results. In this work, a bottom-up approach for the identification and classification of the atmospheric processes producing extreme wave conditions is revisited, and applied to several locations among the Italian buoy network. A methodology is given for classifying samples of significant wave height peaks in homogeneous subsets, and for the computation of the overall extreme values distribution starting from the distributions fitted to each single subset. From the obtained results, it is concluded that the proposed methodology is capable of identifying clearly differentiated subsets driven by homogeneous atmospheric processes, and it allows to estimate high return-period quantiles consistent with those resulting from the usual EVA. Two well-known cyclonic systems are identified as most likely responsible of the extreme conditions detected in the investigated locations. These systems are analysed in the context of the Mediterranean sea atmospheric climatology, and compared with those figured out by previous researches developed in similar frameworks.
Fracturing and crystal plastic behaviour of garnet under seismic stress in the dry lower continental crust (Musgrave Ranges, Central Australia)
Authors: Hawemann Friedrich , Mancktelow Neil , Wex Sebastian , Pennacchioni Giorgio , Camacho Alfredo
Published: October 2019

Abstract. Garnet is a high-strength mineral compared to other common minerals such as
quartz and feldspar in the felsic crust. In felsic mylonites, garnet
typically occurs as porphyroclasts that mostly evade crystal plastic
deformation, except under relatively high-temperature conditions. The
microstructure of granulite facies garnet in felsic lower-crustal rocks of
the Musgrave Ranges (Central Australia) records both fracturing and
crystal plastic deformation. Granulite facies metamorphism at
∼1200 Ma generally dehydrated the rocks and produced millimetre-sized
garnets in peraluminous gneisses. A later ∼550 Ma overprint
under sub-eclogitic conditions (600–700 ∘C, 1.1–1.3 GPa)
developed mylonitic shear zones and abundant pseudotachylyte, coeval with
the neocrystallization of fine-grained, high-calcium garnet. In the
mylonites, granulite facies garnet porphyroclasts are enriched in calcium
along rims and fractures. However, these rims are locally narrower than
otherwise comparable rims along original grain boundaries, indicating the
contemporaneous diffusion and fracturing of garnet. The fractured garnets
exhibit internal crystal plastic deformation, which coincides with areas of
enhanced diffusion, usually along zones of crystal lattice distortion and
dislocation walls associated with subgrain rotation recrystallization.
The fracturing of garnet under dry lower-crustal conditions, in an otherwise
viscously flowing matrix, requires transient high differential stress, most
likely related to seismic rupture, consistent with the coeval development of
abundant pseudotachylyte.
Highlights.
Garnet is deformed by fracturing and crystal plasticity under dry lower-crustal conditions. Ca diffusion profiles indicate multiple generations of fracturing. Diffusion is promoted along zones of higher dislocation density. Fracturing indicates transient high-stress (seismic) events in the lower continental crust.
Taking Down Statues
Authors: Lund Matthew
Published: October 2019

In 2018, demands to remove a statue of James Marion Sims – the inventor of the vaginal speculum and a number of revolutionary surgical techniques – continue a recent trend that has seen a re-evaluation of the legacy of the man known as the “father of gynecology” as well as other historical figures. His innovations, which revolutionized women’s surgical care, came as the result of horrific experimentation on slave women. Despite the availability of anaesthetic agents, he used none during his experiments. One of his subjects was operated on thirty times. Beginning in the late 20th century, revisionist historians started to draw attention to his unethical and inhumane experiments and have begun to view him not as a medical pioneer but as an oppressor. However, in textbooks as well as in the academic literature, the medical community continues to hold a predominantly positive and uncritical view of Sims and his experiments. In this paper, a brief history of Sims’ surgical experiments and contributions to gynecology is described. His surgical legacy is discussed, and contemporaneous and modern reactions to his experiments are compared. Finally, a brief discussion of the relevance of historical mistreatment on the healthcare of vulnerable populations is provided.
Emprendimiento femenino y financiación social: un estudio comparado
Authors: García Villalobos Juan Carlos , Villaseca Morales David , González Pérez Susana
Published: October 2019

En el actual entorno económico mundial organismos como la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE) o el Banco Mundial reconocen el emprendimiento de nuevos negocios como un motor de crecimiento indiscutible y a los mecanismos financieros para ponerlo en práctica como determinantes. La literatura económica desde hace tiempo viene estudiando los procesos de emprendimiento desde diferentes perspectivas; aunque no tanto atendiendo al género de quien toma la iniciativa empresarial y a las singularidades de esta circunstancia, ya que hay situaciones que pueden llegar a condicionar la puesta en marcha de negocios por mujeres como el menor acceso a la financiación bancaria frente a sus homólogos masculinos, lo que puede justificar una menor actividad emprendedora. En ámbitos específicos como el emprendimiento social, donde el componente del lucro se ajusta con la dimensión social y medioambiental del proyecto, se pone de manifiesto esta situación. El presente artículo se centra en la demanda de financiación por parte de las emprendedoras a partir de tres bloques de análisis. En el primero, se estudian las necesidades de recursos financieros de las emprendedoras frente a los emprendedores con el propósito de establecer si hay diferencias relevantes, contrastando si las primeras precisan menos financiación que los segundos a la hora de llevar a cabo iniciativas empresariales. En el siguiente bloque, se analizan las fuentes de financiación principal declaradas por las emprendedoras de 69 países en la encuesta del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), identificando varios clústeres relevantes con resultados diversos. Esto último hace posible, para terminar, contrastar empíricamente las diferencias en las fuentes principales expresadas por hombres y mujeres para financiar sus negocios.
AUTO WARS
Authors: KUCUK YILMAZ Ayse , YILMAZ Mehmet
Published: October 2019

by Ayse KUCUK YILMAZ (Author) & by Mehmet YILMAZ (Author)
Development of a riding-type fully automatic transplanter for vegetable plug seedlings
Authors: Han Luhua , Mao Hanping , Hu Jianping , Kumi Francis
Published: October 2019

Aim of study: The aim of this study was to develop a riding-type fully automatic vegetable seedling transplanter enabling continuous transplanting work on 2 rows simultaneously with plug seedlings fed automatically.Material and methods: In design, the transplanter consists of a 4-wheel drive system, a seedling pick-up mechanism, a seedling feeding mechanism, a rotation discharging mechanism, a 2-row planting mechanisms, and a multi-source control unit. The 4-wheel drive system is a riding type well adapting to slops. The seedling pick-up mechanism could extract several seedlings at a time from the tray cells conveyed by the feeding mechanism, and then transfer them to the rotation discharging mechanism where they would be released into the 2-row planting mechanisms. The multi-source control unit was constructed to carry out the flexible automation of seedling transplanting. Being the first prototype, the performance tests under actual production conditions were conducted on a vegetable base.Main results: The testing results showed that the developed fully automatic transplanter could well grasp seedlings from the trays, transfer them, discharge them, and plant them into the ground. The success ratio in picking up seedlings and the qualified percent in planting seedlings were all up to 90%, and the coefficient of variation of plant spacing was less than 5% at the working speed of 60 plants row-1 min-1.Research highlights: The overall planting effects could well meet the requirements of agronomy cultivation, and the quality of automatic transplanting was satisfactory
Wanneer worden gemeenten gezien als waardevol?
Authors: Douglas Scott , ’t Hart Paul
Published: October 2019

When are local governments seen as valuable?

This article explores how we can gain insight into the quality of local government with the help of the public value perspective. The public value perspective does not evaluate government through generalised standards or benchmarks, but through the judgments of the actors involved in the policy. This approach could do better justice to the unique context of different governments, such as different local governments. The public value perspective, however, is hampered by the competing expectations that actors have of public policy and their generally negative bias towards the government. Based on 71 interviews with local actors in six municipalities, we show how the public value approach does indeed yields many different and critical perspectives, even within municipalities that are considered successful by national experts. However, we also show which connections exist between these seemingly competing perspectives and how sombre judgments about past governance are actually influenced by optimistic ambitions for the future.
A War Poet in Absentia: the Year 1918 in Jaroslav Hašek’s Literary Output
Authors: Boutan Jean
Published: October 2019

This article purports to give an outline of the major evolutions in Hašek’s literary output around the year 1918, a year that saw not only the end of the world war, but also, for the writer himself, the start of the Russian civil war. The Russian Revolution meant for Hašek, as he wrote in 1918, the transition from a “war between States” – or “war between Empires” – to a “war of the proletariat against capitalism”. The lack of safe information about Hašek’s biography during this short, yet crucial, period of his life does not still prevent us from retracing the repercussions of the great events of 1918 on the east front – the fall of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the founding myth of the Czechoslovakian Legion and the beginnings of the Soviet Union – in the literary works of an author who has been taxed for being a renegade to each of the three aforementioned causes. The particular issue of Švejk’s maturation during the war may help us to put the year 1918 into a perspective with the end (though, only to some extent) of the conflicts and the beginning (however protracted) of the post-war period. Whereas the novel was about the Good Soldier’s bursting into the conflict, this article observes Hašek himself, walking out of the world war.
Niemcy w Warszawie po raz pierwszy. Nowsze opracowania na temat niemieckiej okupacji 1915–1918
Authors: Górny Maciej
Published: October 2019

The article describes the newer works devoted to the occupation of Polish lands, especially of Warsaw during World War I. Recently, this subject, so far neglected, has drown the attention of numerous scientists, both from Poland and from abroad. Their point of view is different not only from the older perspectives, but also from the perspectives of slightly newer works on the other occupied areas and emphasizing the connection between the experience of the Great War and genocide during World War II. In the most precious fragments, the new historiography gives a very wide image of social life, in which the proper place is taken by previously marginalised social groups. Differently from the older works, the policy of the occupants on the Polish lands is not treated only as a unilateral dictate, but rather as a dynamic process of negotiation, in which the strength and position of each of the (many) sides has been changed. And, this change is accompanied by the new arrangements concerning almost all aspects of the German policy and the conditions of living during World War I.
Exploring temporal contexts for neighborhood-based models in Session-Based Recommender Systems
Authors: Domingos Gabriel B. , Lovatto Igor , Takata Matheus , Manzato Marcelo
Published: October 2019

Recent works in the field of Recommender Systems have focused in making recommendations using only information about accessed items in an active user session, since the user’s preferences can be very specific to the context of the session. Despite the increasing interest in deep neural network models in the Recommender Systems in general, simpler models, such as neighborhood-based collaborative filtering ones, have been outperforming these more complex models in the session-based scenario. However, in order to soften known scalability problems in neighborhood-based models, sampling strategies during the recommendation process have been proposed, showing that some session contexts such as recency of neighbor sessions can improve the recommendation in some domains. Therefore this project explores the effect of different temporal contexts that can easily be captured from an anonymous user session, such as the hour of the day and day of the week, as alternatives to the established sampling methods.
Using IoT technologies to develop a low-cost smart medicine box
Authors: Silva Danyllo V. da , Gonçalves Taisa G. , Pires Paulo F.
Published: October 2019

Internet of Things (IoT) is a paradigm that has provided improvements for the day-to-day of society. This paradigm has been applied in several domains such as ambient assisted living (AAL), energy, transportation, environmental, urban monitoring, and healthcare. In the healthcare domain, IoT offers many advantages, such as enable continuous health monitoring, improve quality life and comfort, among others. A kind of IoT application in this domain is smart medicine box, a device that provides medicines treatment monitoring of users. It allows health professionals to verify users’ treatment compliance and supports decision-making. Most of the smart medicine box projects found in the literature are still expensive and do not address some characteristics of IoT systems such as scalability, latency, time to response, among others. Taking into account this scenario, this work proposes a low-cost IoT system prototype to support users during their medicines manipulation. The proposal employs edge-computing concept to add intermediate layer improving the communication among devices and services.
Bentham Obras: Um Sistema de Gestão Inteligente para a Construção Civil
Authors: Batista Iesus , Feitosa Alice , Douglas Luan , Oliveira Renato , Gurgel Matheus , Bezerra Arthur , Oliveira Carina , Braga Reinaldo
Published: October 2019

Nowadays, construction management is the main challenge for civil engineering corporations mainly due to the large number of information collected daily. In parallel, the adoption of paper based resources in the management process increases the chances of obtaining inefficient results. Besides that, it is important to care about environmental aspects, where each construction must be less harmful to nature. In this context, this paper presents Bentham Obras, a system based onWeb and Mobile platforms that provides several management processes, such as financial monitoring, work schedule, task execution control and contract accomplishment. After using the system for a period of 8 months, civil engineering corporations that have adopted the system highlighted the important aspects brought by Bentham Obras in the construction management.
Providing multi-user in NCL with userAgent and UserProfile
Authors: Barreto Fábio , Montevecchi Eyre Brasil B. , Abreu Raphael , Santos Joel A. F. dos , Muchaluat-Saade Debora C.
Published: October 2019

This proposal consists of adding a new language module named Users to provide multi-user support in NCL, proposing three new NCL elements: userBase, userAgent and userProfile. user-Base is used for declaring user and their profiles. userAgent identifies a user and userProfile represents a description of the user’s profile. Each userAgent is associated with only one userProfile, and together, they allow representing a unique user. The user description with its specific characteristics can be loaded from a profile specified with the Resource Description Framework (RDF) standard, for example.
H.761 Support of an SVG Media Type
Authors: Guedes Alan L. V. , Colcher Sergio
Published: October 2019

The H.761 standard defines that the NCL media object that is required in a Ginga-NCL implementation is the hypertext markup language (HTML)-based media object. Such HTML media object considerable use of memory and data transmission. Therefore, it is useful for devices with considerable memory and with a broadband connection. However, it is not recommended for scenarios with low bitrate and contrast memory, such as the digital radio device. In such cases, the NCL application used data should be minimum. For such scenarios, the use of graphic media, such as png and jpg, can consume considerable data. We propose that an SVG engine should also be required to support such cases.
A Novel Information Fusion Method for Vision Perception and Location of Intelligent Industrial Robots
Authors: Jin Shoufeng , Lin Qiangqiang , Yang Jian , Bie Yu , Tian Mingrui , Li Zhixiong
Published: October 2019

An improved SURF (Speeded-Up Robust Feature） algorithm is proposed to deal with the time-consuming and low precision of positioning of industrial robot. Hessian matrix determinant is used to extract feature points from the target image and a multi-scale spatial pyramid is constructed. The location and scale value of feature points are determined by neighbourhood non-maximum suppression method. The direction of feature points is defined as directional feature descriptors by the binary robust independent elementary feature (BRIEF). The progressive sample consensus (PROSAC) is used to carry out second precise matching and remove mismatching points based on the Hamming distance. Then, an affine transformation model is established to describe the relationship between the template and target images. Centroid coordinates of the target can be obtained based on the affine transformation. Comparative tests were carried out to demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively improve the recognition rate and positioning accuracy of the industrial robots. The average time consuming is less than 0.2 s, the matching accuracy is 96 %, and the positioning error of the robot is less than 1.5 mm. Therefore, the proposed method has practical application importance.
Minimizing Capacitance Value of Interleaved Power Factor Corrected Boost Converter for Battery Charger in Electric Vehicles
Authors: Turksoy Omer , Yilmaz Unal , Teke Ahmet
Published: October 2019

A dynamic voltage compensator (DVC) technique is presented for the minimizing of the capacitance value of the interleaved power factor corrected (PFC) boost converter for the battery charger in electric vehicles. This technique is based on eliminating the ripple on the capacitor by creating a voltage in the opposite direction as well as the amount of ripple on the capacitor. With the proposed method, the capacitance value is reduced by approximately five times. Reducing the size of the capacitor also provides the use of film-capacitors with a longer life. The other contribution of this study is designing a faster and more stable fully-digital control system, instead of the commonly used analogue controller of interleaved PFC boost converter. A 3.3 kW interleaved PFC boost converter is designed to verify the effect of the designed dynamic voltage compensator and digital controller.
Hardware Acceleration of Sparse Oblique Decision Trees for Edge Computing
Authors: Teodorovic Predrag , Struharik Rastislav
Published: October 2019

This paper presents a hardware accelerator for sparse decision trees intended for FPGA applications. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first accelerator of this type. Beside the hardware accelerator itself, a novel algorithm for induction of sparse decision trees is also presented. Sparse decision trees can be attractive because they require less memory resources and can be more efficiently processed using specialized hardware compared to traditional oblique decision trees. This can be of significant interest, particularly, in the edge-based applications, where memory and compute resources as well as power consumption are severely constrained. The performance of the proposed sparse decision tree induction algorithm as well as developed hardware accelerator are studied using standard benchmark datasets obtained from the UCI Machine Learning Repository database. The results of the experimental study indicate that the proposed algorithm and hardware accelerator are very favourably compared with some of the existing solutions.
Fractional-Order Phase Shifters with Constant Magnitude Frequency Responses
Authors: Sotner Roman , Langhammer Lukas , Jerabek Jan , Ushakov Peter A. , Dostal Tomas
Published: October 2019

This contribution presents and experimentally analyzes the idea how to reach the constant magnitude as well as the phase response in the fractional-order (FO) phase when shifting two-ports. The straightforward method employing the automatic gain control circuit (AGC) in a cascade after so-called constant phase block approximating FO integrator or differentiator is studied. The variable gain amplifier utilized in AGC and simple RC-based FO constant phase elements (approximating capacitors with order alpha = 1/4 and alpha = 1/2 as an example) connected in the feedback of operational amplifier-based integrator are established in the experimental setup. The operation indicated in three decades (between 100 Hz and 100 kHz) is evaluated. The known solutions of the standard FO phase shifting circuits are discussed and generally compared with the features obtained in this paper, together with the supposed effects of AGC on their performances.
Research on Ground of Penetrating Radar in the Coal Mine Detecting: A Case Study of Application in Huaibei Coal Mine
Authors: Ma Yongsheng , Shen Jinsong , Su Benyu , Ma Yanyan , Sun Qilong
Published: October 2019

Although many geophysical techniques have been used to detect the disaster geological anomalous body in the Huaibei coal mine company, there are still many mining disasters happening. The main reason is that the coal seam is rich of water in Huaibei coal areas. If the ground water connects with tunnels, it will cause the flood to collapse the coal seam. However, these dangerous geological bodies usually are very hided from the viewpoint of traditional electromagnetic and seismic methods. Due to the great difference of permittivity between the water-bearing rock and the surrounding rock, the high frequency electromagnetic wave can be received by a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to detect the water-bearing rocks. Hence, we try to employ the high frequency electromagnetic wave to detect the water-bearing rock, which frequently results in a coal mining disaster. Firstly, the numerical simulations based on the theory research and its` effectivity analysis are done. Then, the method is used for the coal mine of Huaibei Company. Finally, the comparison between the detected results and the geological drilling information indicates the detection effectiveness of the GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) in the coal mine tunnel.
Quality Evaluation of Voice Transmission Using BPL Communication System in MV Mine Cable Network
Authors: Debita Grzegorz , Falkowski-Gilski Przemyslaw , Habrych Marcin , Miedzinski Bogdan , Wandzio Janusz , Jedlikowski Przemyslaw
Published: October 2019

This article presents results of a quality evaluation study, considering voice transmission in a 6 kV medium voltage cable network using the BPL (Broadband over Power Line) communication system. The tests are carried out under real mining conditions for the selected power cable without voltage, earthed at both sides. Such a method of monitoring work conditions is of great importance, especially during a disaster. Power cables are potentially resistant to mechanical damage and, thus, ensure continuity of transmission, also, in cases of electricity stoppage and partial damage (interruption) of the phase conductors. The voice transmission quality is tested for a relatively low bitrate of 8 kbps–48 kbps using both induction and mixed induction-capacitive coupling with the power cable. Such a solution should provide both reliable and high-quality services, considering clear and understandable voice messages to people. The quality evaluation is carried out on a group of 15 people aged between 25–35 years old. The tested signal samples consist of voice messages in British English, German, and Polish. On the basis of the investigated results, respective conclusions are formulated.
Subclass Separation of White Blood Cell Images Using Convolutional Neural Network Models
Authors: Togacar Mesut , Ergen Burhan , Sertkaya Mehmet Emre
Published: October 2019

The white blood cells produced in the bone marrow and lymphoid tissue known as leucocytes are an important part of the immune system to protect the body against foreign invaders and infectious disease. These cells, which do not have color, have a few days or several weeks of life. A lot of clinic experience is required for a doctor to detect the amount of white blood cells in human blood and classify it. Thus, early and accurate diagnosis can be made in the formation of various disease types, including infection on the immune system, such as anemia and leukemia, while evaluating and determining the disease of a patient. The white blood cells can be separated into four subclasses, such as Eosinophil, Lymphocyte, Monocyte, and Neutrophil. This study focuses on the separation of the white blood cell images by the classification process using convolutional neural network models, which is a deep learning model. A deep learning network, which is slow in the training step due to the complex architecture, but fast in the test step, is used for the feature extraction instead of intricate methods. For the subclass separation of white blood cells, the experimental results show that the AlexNet architecture gives the correct recognition rate among the convolutional neural network architectures tested in the study. Various classifiers are performed on the features derived from the AlexNet architecture to evaluate the classification performance. The best performance in the classification of white blood cells is given by the quadratic discriminant analysis classifier with the accuracy of 97.78 %.
Jiné výdělečné činnosti státních zaměstnanců: výkon činnosti rozhodce zaměstnancem státní správy a ve srovnání s dalšími činnostmi (znalecká činnost, tlumočnická činnost aj.)
Authors: Bělohlávek Alexander J.
Published: October 2019

V tomto článku se autor zaměřuje na možnost výkonu funkce rozhodce státními zaměstnanci vykonávajícími státní správu, a to s ohledem na úpravu případné další výdělečné činnosti zejména v režimu zákona č. 234/2014 Sb. o státní službě. Pozornost je věnována zejména podrobnému výkladu ustanovení § 81 odst. 2 zákona č. 234/2014 Sb. o státní službě, stejně jako obecným předpokladům výkonu funkce rozhodce státním zaměstnancem vykonávajícím státní správu především v návaznosti na specifika rozhodčího řízení a rozhodcovské činnosti. Autor nejprve v obecné části krátce popisuje postavení rozhodce a stran v rozhodčím řízení s přihlédnutím k povinnostem státního zaměstnance, charakterizuje činnost rozhodce v kontextu českého právního řádu a poskytuje podrobný přehled kvalifikačních předpokladů, které pro rozhodce stanovuje zákon o rozhodčím řízení. V hlavní části je podrobně pojednána možnost výkonu rozhodcovské činnosti státním zaměstnancem. Autor zkoumá východiska a účel úpravy ustanovení § 81 odst. 2 zákona č. 234/2014 Sb. o státní službě a porovnává postavení státních zaměstnanců se zákonnou úpravou dalších osob, které jsou ve služebním poměru k České republice, jakož i dalších osob, u kterých zákon omezuje možnost výkonu jiných činností. S ohledem na zákonnou úpravu rozhodcovské činnosti, stejně jako s ohledem na zkoumaný historický vývoj ustanovení nyní obsaženého v § 81 odst. 2 zákona č. 234/2014 Sb. o státní službě, jeho účel, systematiku v českém právním řádu, porovnání s obdobnými ustanoveními jiných předpisů, jakož i racionální a ústavně konformní možnosti jeho aplikace autor uzavírá, že činnost rozhodce není výdělečnou činností ve smyslu § 81 odst. 2 zákona o státní službě. Státní zaměstnanci konající státní službu tak nepotřebují k výkonu této činnosti souhlas příslušného služebního orgánu. Výkon rozhodcovské činnosti však nesmí ohrozit výkon jejich povinností vyplývajících z výkonu státní správy.
Four Ways of Thinking about Race
Authors: Hardimon Michael O. ,   The Harvard Review of Philosophy
Published: October 2019

This essay presents four ways of thinking about race. They consist of four related but distinct race concepts: the racialist concept of race, which is the traditional, pernicious, essentialist, and hierarchical concept of race; the concept of socialrace, which is the antiracist concept of race as a social construction; the minimalist concept of race, which is the deflationary concept of biological race that represents race as a matter of color, shape and geographical ancestry; and the populationist concept of race, the race concept that represents races as populations, deriving from geographically separated and reproductive isolated founding populations. Taken together, the four concepts can help us better navigate our way through the murky conceptual domain of “race.”
Can Thomism and Pragmatism Cooperate?
Authors: Stango Marco ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: October 2019

The paper explores the possibility of philosophical cooperation between Thomism and American Pragmatism by resurrecting a largely forgotten debate between Wilmon Henry Sheldon and Jacques Maritain. The discussion focuses primarily on two topics: the compatibility between a substance ontology and a pragmatist-evolutionary ontology, and the compatibility between the scholastic and the pragmatist theories of truth. The paper claims that, if we bring Peirce’s version of pragmatism into the picture, cooperation is not only possible but likely to be fruitful.
What is Contemplation?
Authors: Calogero Stephen ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: October 2019

The argument is developed by drawing on the thought of Søren Kierkegaard, Eric Voegelin, and Bernard Lonergan. Contemplation is possible because the self is constituted by self-presence in its engagement with being. Self-presence does not precede one’s engagement with being and is not an alternative to this engagement, but is the unique mode of human participation in being. Immersed in the frenetic give and take of the world, one is present to oneself. Self-presence also includes the unique quality of human existence in tension between the immanent and transcendent. The contemplative experience is characterized by awe, humility, joy, and mystery. In contemplation, one cedes for a time the practical preoccupations evoked by the pull of immanence and gives way to the questing disposition—what the Greeks called wonder—toward transcendence. Contemplation is the questing disposition of self-presence toward being.
Middle Theory in Professional Ethics
Authors: Uglietta John ,   Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum
Published: October 2019

In professional ethics, focus on ethical theory fails to offer practical advice and focus on individual cases fails to develop adequate ethical understanding. There is a wide gap between abstract moral theories and concrete professional cases. To understand professional ethics, we must pay more attention to this gap and the middle level of theory that we find there. This middle theory brings abstract principles closer to practical cases by considering and incorporating the goals, circumstances, customs and other established social practices and compromises of particular professions. Understanding the complex systems of individual professions is quite important morally as such systems can alter our ethical duties dramatically. Therefore, adequate consideration of professional ethics requires a thorough understanding of philosophical ethics and of the nature of the specific profession concerned. However, recognizing the importance of this middle area will require us to reconsider how we teach, and who teaches, professional ethics.
Filosofia, ética e política de origem africana egípcia
Authors: Moraes Marcelo José Derzi
Published: October 2019

Esse texto procura desmistificar a imagem acerca do Egito Antigo constituída a partir de um racismo epistemológico por filósofos e egiptólogos europeus. Faremos uma releitura de autores antigos e contemporâneos a fim de demonstrar que o Egito africano sofrera um epistemicídio, tendo suas produções filosóficas, políticas e éticas, obliteradas por uma mentalidade racista que negava qualquer tipo de produção intelectual do povo negro africano.
O que pode Elegbara? Filosofias do corpo e sabedorias de fresta
Authors: Rufino Luiz
Published: October 2019

Este artigo invoca Exu/Elegbara, esfera de saber negro-africana transladada nos fluxos da diáspora, como princípio explicativo de mundo, potência criativa e disponibilidade conceitual para pensar filosofias montadas e paridas no/pelo corpo. Nesse sentindo, a corporeidade como parte da problemática do conhecimento investe na reflexão e crítica das questões epistemológicas como étnico-raciais. Assim, via giros enunciativos e os conceitos de cruzo, incorporação e mandinga investe-se em um debate que atenta para questões da ordem do racismo epistêmico, colonialidade do ser/saber e a emergência de outras pedagogias no combate as injustiças sociais e cognitivas.
GLOBAL TRADE IMBALANCES – AN ANALYSIS BEFORE AND AFTER THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS
Authors: Trivić Jelena
Published: October 2019

The scope of this paper is to define thenotion of global imbalances as well as to present theamounts of trade imbalances of the world's largest tradersin the period before and in the aftermath of the globaleconomic crisis. Although the global economic crisis hassomewhat corrected high deficits, or surpluses of the world'slargest traders, data show that after the recovery of worldtrade after the global economic crisis, there is a resumptionof trade imbalances in these countries. The global tradeimbalances of the world's largest traders are shown inabsolute terms as the difference between the import andexport of goods, but also in relative terms expressed as ashare of the surplus or deficit in the gross domestic productof each country. It is important to point out that thirteencountries whose trade imbalances are represented in thispaper, either individually or as aggregated within a group ofcountries, make up over half of the world's total trade ingoods.