Hepatocellular carcinoma: Prospective assessments of the T-factor with CT,US, and MR imaging

The capabilities of computed tomography (CT), ultrasonography (US), and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging were studied in order to determine the role of each of these noninvasive examinations for estimating the T-factor of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Fifty-one patients with surgically proven HCCs received CT (50 patients), US (46 patients), and MR (44 patients). The images of CT, US, and MR were prospectively evaluated for main tumor size, intrahepatic metastases, and vascular invasion, which compose the T-factor of HCC, and compared to pathological results. The sizes of the main tumor were estimated correctly by all examinations. For estimating intrahepatic metastases, US (74%) and MR (73%) were superior to CT (65%). For estimating portal invasion, CT (79%) was superior to US (70%) and MR (66%), because CT could demonstrate the segmental staining caused by portal invasion. The estimates of hepatic venous invasion were difficult during any of the examinations. We conclude that presurgical evaluations of the T-factor require the use of US and CT or MR and CT.     

An Algorithm of Recommending Apposite ID Photos

This article proposes an algorithm to recommend apposite ID photos for users by judging the photo of which the facial expression is apposite or not as the ID photo. Microsoft’s Kinect sensor is used for taking photos. Parts of the face, such as eyes, nose, and mouth, are analyzed as explanatory variables for judging face expression. Some body coordinate information such as head and shoulders is used to trim the photos. Neural networks and support vector machines are employed and compared to our proposed method. To achieve accurate results, ten examinees including specialized staff are selected for taking ID photo used for training models. A series of experiments are conducted to examine the validity. As a result, the accuracy of neural networks is better than that of the support vector machine. Furthermore, we analyze and discuss the difference between system results and specialized staffs’ opinions.

     

The Japanese financial system in comparative perspective

Major elements of financial market structure in Japan and the U. S. are compared for the postwar period. It is found that the ratio of financial liabilities of the nonfinancial sector to GNP rose continuously in Japan, but was stable in the U. S. Intermediation was deeper in Japan than in the U. S., and the Japanese government's chief role was as an intermediary rather than as borrower or regulator. There was more competition in deposit collection in Japan than in the U. S. It is hypothesized that the depth and competition in Japanese financial structure helped raise savings, investment, and GNP growth.     

Personal Authentication Using a Kinect Sensor

This article proposes a new approach to personal authentication by exploring the features of a person’s face and voice. Microsoft’s Kinect sensor is used for facial and voice recognition. Parts of the face including the eyes, nose, and mouth, etc., are analyzed as position vectors. For voice recognition, a Kinect microphone array is adopted to record personal voices. Mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients, logarithmic power, and related values involved in the analysis of personal voice are also estimated from the voices. Neural networks,support vector machines and principal components analysis are employed and compared for personal authentication. To achieve accurate results, 20 examinees were selected for face and voice data used for training the authentication models. The experimental results show that the best accuracy is achieved when the model is trained by a support vector machine using both facial and voice features.     

The effectiveness of German controls on capital inflow

Zusammenfassung Die Wirksamkeit der deutschen Kapitaleinfuhrkontrollen. —In diesem Aufsatz werden die Wirkungen der deutschen Ma\nahmen zur Kontrolle von Kapitalimporten auf die kurzfristigen Kapitalbewegungen in der deutschen Zahlungsbilanz gesch?tzt. Der Untersuchung wird ein allgemeines Portfolio-Gleichgewichtsmoden für internationale Kapitalbewegungen zugrunde gelegt, das die Autoren bei anderer Gelegenheit entwickelt haben. Mit Hilfe eines solchen Modells ist es m?glich zu prüfen, ob die Wirkungen der Kapitaleinfuhrkontrollen auf die Zahlungsbilanz nicht vielleicht durch Bewegungen von Posten ausgeglichen werden, die keiner unmittelbaren Kontrolle unterliegen. Es ist die Grundpr?misse der Analyse, da\ diese ausgleichenden Bewegungen für die Beurteilung der allgemeinen Wirksamkeit einer bestimmten Methode der Kapitalverkehrskontrolle wesentlich sind. W?hrend es der Hauptzweck der Arbeit ist, die direkten und indirekten Wirkungen der deutschen Kontrollen —auf bestimmte Posten der deutschen Zahlungsbilanz und auf die gesamten Kapitalbewegungen —zu quantifizieren, werden auch einige zus?tzliche Tests bezüglich spezifischer Wirkungen dieser Kontrollen durchgeführt. Insbesondere wird versucht, ihren Einflu\ auf die deutschen und die Eurodollar-Zinss?tze abzusch?tzen. Die Ergebnisse scheinen die Behauptung zu stützen, da\ die deutschen Ma\nahmen zur Kapitalverkehrskontrolle zwar im Hinblick auf eine bedeutende Reihe von Posten der Kapitalbilanz wirksam waren, ihre Wirkung aber durch Gegenbewegungen bei Posten, die entweder nicht kontrolliert oder nicht ganz eingeschr?nkt waren, untergraben wurde.

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Résumé L’efficacité des contróles allemands sur l’influx des capitaux. —Dans cet article nous estimons les effets du programme allemand de contr?le des capitaux sur les transactions des capitaux à court terme dans la balance des paiements allemande. L’investigation est conduite sur la base d’un modèle d'équilibre général de portefeuille des flux internationaux des capitaux développé par les auteurs à l’autre occasion. En utilisant un tel modèle il est possible d’examiner si les effets des contr?les des capitaux sur la balance des paiements peuvent être réduit par des mouvements des composantes pas contr?lées. C’est la prémisse principale de notre analyse que ces mouvements contrecourants sont essentiels d’évaluer l’efficacité générale d’une méthode particulière du contr?le des capitaux. Pendant que le but primaire de cet article est la quantification des effets directs et indirects des contr?les allemands —sur les composantes particulières de la balance des paiements allemande aussi bien que sur les flux des capitaux agrégés —nous conduisons aussi quelques tests supplémentaires de lveffet de ces contr?les. Spécifiquement nous essayons de mesurer ses effets sur les taux d’intérêt allemands et d’eurodollar. Les résultats semblent supporter la dispute qu’en étant effectif au regard d’un nombre important des composantes dans le compte des capitaux, l’efficacité du programme allemand de contrle des capitaux était minée par un mouvement contrecourant des composantes pas contr?lées ou pas entièrement restreintes.

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Resumen La efectividad de los contrles alemanes sobre el influjo de capital. —En este artfculo se estiman los efectos de los programas alemanes de control de capital sobre la transacciones de capital de corto plazo en la balanza de pagos de Alemania. La investigación se lleva a cabo sobre la basis de un modelo de portafolio de equilibrio general para flujos de capital internacional desarrollado por los autores en otra ocasión. Por medio de este modelo es posible examinar si los efectos del control de capital sobre la balanza de pagos pueden ser compensados por movimientos en items no afectos a un control directo. La premisma básica de nuestro análisis es que estos movimientos neutralizadores son esenciales para evaluar la efectividad general de un método particular de control de capital. Mientras que el propósito primordial de este artículo es la cuantificación de los efectos directos e indirectos de los controles alemanes —sobre items particulares de la balanza de pagos de Alemania como también sobre flujos de capital agregados — se realizan además varios tests suplementarios sobre el impacto de estos controles. Específicamente, se hace un intento para medir el impacto sobre las tasas de interés de Alemania y el mercado eurodólar. Los resultados parecen apoyar el argumente, que mientras que el programa alemán de control de capital fue efectivo con respecte a una amplia gama de items en la cuenta de capital, su efectividad fue socavada por movimientos neutralizadores en items que no estaban controlados o que no estaban enteramente restringidos.

     

Personal Identification Through Pedestrians’ Behavior

This article focuses on a new approach for personal identification by exploring the features of pedestrian behavior. The recent progress of a motion capture sensor system enables personal identification using human behavioral data observed from the sensor. Kinect is a motion sensing input device developed by Microsoft for Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Personal identification using the Microsoft Kinect sensor (hereafter referred to as Kinect) is presented in this study. Kinect is used to estimate body sizes and the walking behaviors of pedestrians. Body sizes such as height and width, and walking behavior such as joint angles and stride lengths, for example, are used as explanatory variables for personal identification. An algorithm for the personal identification of pedestrians is defined by a traditional neural network and by a support vector machine. In the numerical experiments, pictures of body sizes and the walking behaviors are captured from fifteen examinees through Kinect. The walking direction of pedestrians was specified as 0°, 90°, 180°, and 225°, and then the accuracies were compared. The results indicate that identification accuracy was best when the walking direction was 180°. In addition, the accuracy of the vector machine was better than that of the neural network.