Robust Shoeprint Retrieval Method Based on Local‐to‐Global Feature Matching for Real Crime Scenes

In this study, an automatic and robust crime scene shoeprint retrieval method is proposed. As most shoeprints left at crime scenes are randomly partial and noisy, crime scene shoeprint retrieval is a challenging task. To handle partial, noisy shoeprint images, we employ denoising deep belief network (DBN) to extract local features and use spatial pyramid matching (SPM) to obtain a local‐to‐global matching score. In this study, 536 query shoeprint images from crime scenes and a large scale database containing 34,768 shoeprint images are used to evaluate the retrieval performance. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms other state‐of‐the‐art methods in terms of retrieval accuracy, feature dimension, and retrieval speed. The proposed method achieves a cumulative match score (CMS) of 65.67% at top 10 which is 5.60% higher than the second best performing method.     

Informal Employment in Developing Economies: Multiple Heterogeneity

This paper contributes to the literature on the nature of informal employment in developing economies. Drawing on the model with essential heterogeneity, it offers a list of scenarios describing the behavioural patterns which informal workers follow. The list nests not only classical patterns of a rationed formal sector versus an integrated labour market, but also different patterns of rationing. Using non-parametric techniques and data from a few African economies with different levels of development, the paper proposes empirical case studies fitting various informality schemes. Developing economies show disparate patterns of allocation of workers and various patterns of rationing.     

Islamist Communities on VKontakte: Identification Mechanisms and Network Structure

Abstract

This article examines the presence of extremist online communities on the Russian social network VKontakte following the tightening by Russian federal аuthorities of internet counter-extremism policies and censorship. Extremist communities were detected using linguistic markers for extremist attitudes and radical violence. The study of socio-demographic data and network metrics of Islamist extremist communities reveals some general tendencies in the Russian context: a majority of female participants, a highly decentralised community network structure, radical Salafism as the mainstream ideology and covert proselytisation through the discussion of Islamic theology and lifestyle issues that are not in themselves extremist.     

The Most and the Least International: The City and the Countryside in Azerbaijan and Armenia from the Early 1960s to January 1990

Abstract

The essay examines the effects of Soviet nationalities policy on Armenians living in Baku, the capital of the Azerbaijani SSR, and on ethnic Azerbaijanis in Kyzyl-Shafag, an Azerbaijani village in the Armenian SSR. A series of interviews were conducted with members of these two communities to explore some of the results of Soviet nationalities policy. Although the residents of Baku emphasised the multinational character of the city, they nevertheless conceded that ethnicity played an important role in their lives, even at the level of everyday practices. The same also applies for the Azerbaijanis in the far less cosmopolitan Armenian countryside, where ethnic boundaries remained largely impenetrable. Soviet language, with its essentialist categories that separated people into internally homogeneous groups, could not have been more appropriate for this purpose.     

评俄罗斯社会经济中期发展纲要

俄罗斯联邦政府制定的俄罗斯社会经济中期发展纲要 (2 0 0 3— 2 0 0 5年 )明确规定的目标是 :保证人民生活水平的不断提高、实现经济的高速增长、缩小社会各阶层的贫富差距、在国际事务中继续加强国家的经济和政治作用。实现这些目标的前提和基本条件是大幅度提高俄罗斯的竞争力 ,包括国家管理、企业经营和“人力资本”的竞争力     

The International Committee of the Red Cross and International Human Rights Law

Throughout a considerable part of its history, the InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has customarily refrainedfrom invoking international human rights law, for reason ofthis law's alleged politicisation. However, the changing characterof armed conflicts and other situations of violence where theICRC is currently operating have prompted it to set a frameworkfor making some limited use of selected and applicable humanrights, for the purpose of reinforcing the protection and assistanceit provides. This article examines how the ICRC may use humanrights in this way during armed conflicts, through the prismof international humanitarian law, as well as the conditionsfor their invocation in accordance with relevant ICRC doctrines.