From the Publisher: 
The accessible presentation of this book gives both a general view of the entire computer vision enterprise and also offers sufficient detail to be able to build useful applications. Users learn techniques that have proven to be useful by first-hand experience and a wide range of mathematical methods. A CD-ROM with every copy of the text contains source code for programming practice, color images, and illustrative movies. Comprehensive and up-to-date, this book includes essential topics that either reflect practical significance or are of theoretical importance. Topics are discussed in substantial and increasing depth. Application surveys describe numerous important application areas such as image based rendering and digital libraries. Many important algorithms broken down and illustrated in pseudo code. Appropriate for use by engineers as a comprehensive reference to the computer vision enterprise.

Computer vision : a modern approach = 计算机视觉 : 一种现代的方法

Beginning with Banz (1981), I review 30 years of research on the size effect in equity returns. Since Fama and French (1992), there has been a vigorous, ongoing debate on whether the size premium is a compensation for systematic risk. Since the late 1990s, research on the size effect has been characterized by two developments that are seemingly contradictory. At last, theoretical models have emerged in which the size effect arises endogenously as a result of systematic risk. However, recent empirical studies assert that the size effect has disappeared after the early 1980s. In this review, I address this disconnect between recent theoretical and empirical research.

Is Size Dead? A Review of the Size Effect in Equity Returns

Background Arboviral infections are a public health concern and an escalating problem worldwide. Estimating the burden of these diseases represents a major challenge that is complicated by the large number of unapparent infections, especially those of dengue fever. Serological surveys are thus required to identify the distribution of these diseases and measure their impact. Therefore, we undertook a scoping review of the literature to describe and summarize epidemiological practices, findings and insights related to seroprevalence studies of dengue, chikungunya and Zika virus, which have rapidly expanded across the globe in recent years. Methodology/Principal findings Relevant studies were retrieved through a literature search of MEDLINE, WHOLIS, Lilacs, SciELO and Scopus (2000 to 2018). In total, 1389 publications were identified. Studies addressing the seroprevalence of dengue, chikungunya and/or Zika written in English or French and meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included. In total, 147 studies were included, from which 185 data points were retrieved, as some studies used several different samples. Most of the studies were exclusively conducted on dengue (66.5%), but 16% were exclusively conducted on chikungunya, and 7 were exclusively conducted on Zika; the remainder were conducted on multiple arboviruses. A wide range of designs were applied, but most studies were conducted in the general population (39%) and in households (41%). Although several assays were used, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were the predominant test used (77%). The temporal distribution of chikungunya studies followed the virus during its rapid expansion since 2004. The results revealed heterogeneity of arboviruses seroprevalence between continents and within a given country for dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses, ranging from 0 to 100%, 76% and 73% respectively. Conclusions/Significance Serological surveys provide the most direct measurement for defining the immunity landscape for infectious diseases, but the methodology remains difficult to implement. Overall, dengue, chikungunya and Zika serosurveys followed the expansion of these arboviruses, but there remain gaps in their geographic distribution. This review addresses the challenges for researchers regarding study design biases. Moreover, the development of reliable, rapid and affordable diagnosis tools represents a significant issue concerning the ability of seroprevalence surveys to differentiate infections when multiple viruses co-circulate.

Current challenges and implications for dengue, chikungunya and Zika seroprevalence studies worldwide: A scoping review.

The Indian Subcontinent has emerged as a scene of many mosquito-borne infectious diseases, including malaria and dengue fever. After the 1990s, the rate of malaria declined owing largely to preventive measures, but at the same time dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) were increasing in the region. Outbreaks were recorded in all countries of the Indian Subcontinent with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on the forefront and suffering from the largest number of cases and deaths. We discuss annual cases of DF/DHF in these four countries and possible factors involved in DF outbreaks. We also discuss prevalent serotypes in this region where data suggest the emergence of DEN2 and DEN3 as the most dominant and lethal serotypes. Climate is an important factor influencing DF outbreaks, and rainfall, temperature and humidity play a pivotal role in DF outbreaks. Finally the economic impact of DF/DHF cases is discussed showing that direct and indirect economic loss due to DF/DHF reaches millions of USD each year.

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Dengue fever in the Indian subcontinent: an overview

https://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/16030.pdf

Assessing the impact of oil returns on emerging stock markets: A panel data approach for ten Central and Eastern European Countries

The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) of Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965), and Black (1972) (SLB) states that, in equilibrium, the expected return on a security is a positive linear function of its beta, and beta suffice to describe the cross-section of expected returns. The empirical studies on the validity of the positive beta-return relationship of the SLB model have been extensively carried out for the past four decades using average realized stock returns and an index of security returns to proxy for expected returns of stocks and market portfolio respectively. Early studies have supported the positive linear relationship between beta and return (e.g., Lintner (1965)). However, studies conducted after Fama and MacBeth (1973) (FM) have found inconsistent evidence on this relationship. For example, Fama and French (1992) conclude that the relationship between beta and average return is flat. In the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), Nimal and Horimoto (2005) report that the beta and average return relationship is not significant in all months and even it is negatively significant in non-January months in some periods. Also in Sri Lankan context Samarakoon (1997) finds negative beta-return relationship and Anuradha (2008) reports insignificant beta-return relation in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The question is whether the inconsistent evidence on the relationship between beta and average return is sufficient to conclude that the movements of realized return are not systematically related with their betas1). Pettengill, The Conditional Relation between Beta and Returns

The Conditional Relation between Beta and Returns

The pattern of dengue in Sri Lanka changed after 1989, with an exponential increase in the incidence of DHF. In 2004, a major epidemic of dengue infection occurred in Sri Lanka, which accounted for 15 457 cases and 88 deaths. The findings from recent studies on dengue are outlined here, which highlight the implications with regard to the management and control of this infection in the country.

Synopsis of Findings from Recent Studies on Dengue in Sri Lanka

Dengue is a growing public health problem globally, including in Sri Lanka. The severity of dengue infection is influenced by the serotype/genotype of the infecting virus, previous exposure of the patient to dengue virus infections, and the age of the patient. Mild and sub-clinical infections are not reported and many clinical diagnoses are not confirmed by laboratory testing. Hence, there are no clear data concerning the proportion of the Sri Lankan population which is susceptible to infection. To elicit this information, blood samples from 313 children up to the age of 17 years, randomly selected from four schools in Colombo district, with no evidence of a recent dengue infection or a family recollection of a dengue infection, were collected. These were tested for the presence of anti-dengue virus antibodies by indirect ELISA. The study brought out that 34% of the children had evidence of inapparent infection with a flavivirus, most probably dengue virus. The majority of children in Colombo district have not been infected with dengue virus despite the presence of both the virus and the mosquito vectors.

Seroprevalence of Anti-dengue Virus Antibodies in Children in Colombo District, Sri Lanka

At present most of the organizational Information systems are formed using several heterogeneous distributed systems. Relevant information might be maintained in several distributed systems. “Openness” is the basic and the most important property of a distributed system for intercommunication. It describes how systems can be extended to be inter-operated with other systems. So many standards and protocols are developed for sharing data. Among several available standards and protocols, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) web-service is becoming popular. However, these standards and protocols have limitations when it is necessary to transfer different formats of information between heterogeneous systems. The new protocol that is introduced in this research is based on human communication and conversation techniques. Rather than in system communication, human communication gives the upper hand for the two parties by enabling a meaningful communication exchange. This new protocol is built upon the SOAP protocol for online communications. It is designed in such a way, that most of the drawbacks of existing protocols and standards are eliminated. This new information transfer protocol is bundled with security features and better performance mechanism. It also can handle a communication process even when one party is rapidly changing, and hence it allows continuous system developments independent of the communication interface. Heterogeneous systems will be able to use this new protocol to exchange their information in a more effective and flexible manner.

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Universal Communication Interface Through Web Services for Heterogeneous Systems With Dynamic System Life Cycle

This paper presents a methodology for rotation invariant image registration technique using Radon transform. Image based operations such as desktop scanning is performed in a domain which is vulnerable mainly to geometric attacks such as rotation. For this task we have employed radon transformation to correct any image rotation which can be either clockwise or counter clockwise in image scanning. Moreover, this method utilizes image processing techniques such Canny edge detection and morphological operations on binary images, such as thickening. The experimental results prove the effectiveness of the algorithm for correcting the amount of rotation.

Sri Lanka

Papers

The Conditional Relation between Beta and Returns

Synopsis of Findings from Recent Studies on Dengue in Sri Lanka

Seroprevalence of Anti-dengue Virus Antibodies in Children in Colombo District, Sri Lanka

Universal Communication Interface Through Web Services for Heterogeneous Systems With Dynamic System Life Cycle

Rotation invariant image registration with radon transform