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The purpose of this paper is to propose a color-texture classification approach which uses color sensor information and texture features jointly. High accuracy, low noise sensitivity and low computational complexity are specified aims for this proposed approach.

One of the efficient texture analysis operations is local binary patterns (LBP). The proposed approach includes two steps. First, a noise resistant version of color LBP is proposed to decrease its sensitivity to noise. This step is evaluated based on combination of color sensor information using AND operation. In a second step, a significant points selection algorithm is proposed to select significant LBPs. This phase decreases final computational complexity along with increasing accuracy rate.

The proposed approach is evaluated using Vistex, Outex and KTH-TIPS-2a data sets. This approach has been compared with some state-of-the-art methods. It is experimentally demonstrated that the proposed approach achieves the highest accuracy. In two other experiments, results show low noise sensitivity and low computational complexity of the proposed approach in comparison with previous versions of LBP. Rotation invariant, multi-resolution and general usability are other advantages of our proposed approach.

In the present paper, a new version of LBP is proposed originally, which is called hybrid color local binary patterns (HCLBP). HCLBP can be used in many image processing applications to extract color/texture features jointly. Also, a significant point selection algorithm is proposed for the first time to select key points of images.

Addresses the standardization of the measurements and the labels for concepts commonly used in the study of work organizations. As a reference handbook and research tool, seeks to improve measurement in the study of work organizations and to facilitate the teaching of introductory courses in this subject. Focuses solely on work organizations, that is, social systems in which members work for money. Defines measurement and distinguishes four levels: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Selects specific measures on the basis of quality, diversity, simplicity and availability and evaluates each measure for its validity and reliability. Employs a set of 38 concepts ‐ ranging from “absenteeism” to “turnover” as the handbook’s frame of reference. Concludes by reviewing organizational measurement over the past 30 years and recommending future measurement reseach.

The main aim of this paper is to identify whether certain consumers behave irrationally when it comes to select banking products. This paper builds on one of the most significant banking products that is the credit card.

This is an exploratory research paper. Therefore, only descriptive analysis on the differences between three credit card user groups such as the Islamic credit card users, conventional card users and users who decide to use both credit cards, conventional and Islamic, were presented.

The demographic and psychographic factors for the three different groups differ. In addition, there are four factors that influence the credit card selection. The factors are insurance/takaful provided by the credit issuers, cost associated with the credit card, the reward points programme offered and the convenience factors. Furthermore, the study found that three of the factors except insurance/takaful are significantly different between three credit card groups.

This paper is limited to the context of Malaysia and the respondents are mostly from the same ethnic. Therefore, it could not be generalised in the context of other countries and further studies comparing different culture or ethnic could benefit and enrich the topic of study.

The Islamic and conventional banks could focus on several factors influencing customers’ selection and could focus to improve certain lacking areas as perceived by the consumers. The ability to increase the perceptions of the consumers regarding their credit cards will enable their products to be chosen in the market.

There was a significant amount of literature discussed in the Islamic banking selection factors. However, little attention being paid to the selection of a specific bank’s product. This study offers a study that looks into the selection of the credit card offered by the banks in respect to the irrational behaviours of the religious consumers in economic activities as compared to the conventional economists. This paper will contribute to the body of existing literature of banking selection.

This paper aims to examine empirical evidence of the criterion, construct, and face validity of two processes commonly used in selection – selection interviews and assessment centres (ACs) – in the selection of chairs of primary care trusts.

A critical review of the literature and an empirical investigation are undertaken.

Evidence is presented of the reliability and the predictive, construct, and face validity of using a combination of selection interviews and AC methodology in appointments to public office. In the light of the evidence of the potential benefits of using more than one approach, it is suggested that a combination of AC methodology and panel interviews be used in making public sector appointments.

The evidence presented supports the decision of the Appointment Commission to use AC methodology in the selection for positions in public office, and points to ways in which the process could be improved.

The paper provides empirical evidence of the reliability and validity of two methodologies used in selection to posts.

Single-shot multi-category clothing recognition and retrieval play a crucial role in online searching and offline settlement scenarios. Existing clothing recognition methods based on RGBD clothing images often suffer from high-dimensional feature representations, leading to compromised performance and efficiency.

To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel method called Manifold Embedded Discriminative Feature Selection (MEDFS) to select global and local features, thereby reducing the dimensionality of the feature representation and improving performance. Specifically, by combining three global features and three local features, a low-dimensional embedding is constructed to capture the correlations between features and categories. The MEDFS method designs an optimization framework utilizing manifold mapping and sparse regularization to achieve feature selection. The optimization objective is solved using an alternating iterative strategy, ensuring convergence.

Empirical studies conducted on a publicly available RGBD clothing image dataset demonstrate that the proposed MEDFS method achieves highly competitive clothing classification performance while maintaining efficiency in clothing recognition and retrieval.

This paper introduces a novel approach for multi-category clothing recognition and retrieval, incorporating the selection of global and local features. The proposed method holds potential for practical applications in real-world clothing scenarios.

This chapter investigates the predictability of the European monetary policy through the eyes of the professional forecasters from a large investment bank. The analysis is based on forward-looking Actual and Perceived Taylor Rules for the European Central Bank which are estimated in real-time using a newly constructed database for the period April 2000–November 2009. The former policy rule is based on the actual refi rate set by the Governing Council, while the latter is estimated for the bank’s economists using their main point forecast for the upcoming refi rate decision as a dependent variable. The empirical evidence shows that the pattern of the refi rate is broadly well predicted by the professional forecasters even though the latter have foreseen more accurately the increases rather than the policy rate cuts. Second, the results point to an increasing responsiveness of the ECB to macroeconomic fundamentals along the forecast horizon. Third, the rolling window regressions suggest that the estimated coefficients have changed after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in October 2008; the ECB has responded less strongly to macroeconomic fundamentals and the degree of policy inertia has decreased. A sensitivity analysis shows that the baseline results are robust to applying a recursive window methodology and some of the findings are qualitatively unaltered from using Consensus Economics forecasts in the regressions.

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

The purpose of this paper is to identify demographic differences based on how users interact with web applications. The research is needed to develop future systems able to adapt the representation of online information to the user’s specific needs and preferences improving its usability. The following question guides this quest: is there a direct relationship between age and/or gender and interaction?

GOMS (goals, operators, methods, and selection rules) analysis was used to reduce complex interaction tasks into basic operators like pointing, dragging, typing, etc. An experiment was designed to analyse the user performance in the use of these operators through five complex tasks: point-and-click, drag-and-drop, text selection, text edition and menu selection. The sample comprises 592 individuals which took part in the experiment. The performance was analysed using multivariate regression analysis. User laterality and the the user experience were used as control variables.

The factors studied are significant enough to support user classification. The analysis evidenced that men performed significantly better than women when executing interaction pointing and dragging GOMS’s operators, but no significant differences arose with regard to the performance in the typing operators. Older users performed worse in all the interaction tasks. No significant performance differences were detected between left and right-handed users.

The study pretends to lay the ground for developing artificial intelligence-based classification systems (e.g. neural networks, decision trees, etc.) able to detect significant differences in user performance, classifying users according to their age, gender and laterality.

This user profiling would drive the organisation, selection and representation of the online information according to the specific preferences and needs of each user. This would allow the design of new personalisation algorithms able to perform dynamic adaptation of user interfaces in order to improve the usability of online information systems.

This work extends previous research on user performance under a new approach and improved accuracy. First, it relies on the combined and simultaneous analysis of ageing and gender and the use of user laterality and experience as control variables. Second, the use of the GOMS analysis allowed the design of tests that closely resemble the user interaction in online information systems. Third, the size of the sample used in this analysis is much bigger than those used in previous works, allowing a more thorough data analysis which includes the estimation of an advanced model which is quantile regression.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

We review the experimental evidence on risk aversion in controlled laboratory settings. We review the strengths and weaknesses of alternative elicitation procedures, the strengths and weaknesses of alternative estimation procedures, and finally the effect of controlling for risk attitudes on inferences in experiments.