1,213 research outputs found
Configural and featural information in facial-composite images
No full textEyewitnesses are often invited to construct a facial composite, an image created of the person they saw commit a crime that is used by law enforcement to locate criminal suspects. In the current paper, the effectiveness of composite images was investigated from traditional feature systems (E-FIT and PRO-fit), where participants (face constructors) selected individual features to build the face, and a more recent holistic system (EvoFIT), where they ‘evolved' a composite by repeatedly selecting from arrays of complete faces. Further participants attempted to name these composites when seen as an unaltered image, or when blurred, rotated, linearly stretched or converted to a photographic negative. All of the manipulations tested reduced correct naming of the composites overall except (i) for a low level of blur, for which naming improved for holistic composites but reduced for feature composites, and (ii) for 100% linear stretch, for which a substantial naming advantage was observed. Results also indicated that both featural (facial elements) and configural (feature spacing) information was useful for recognition in both types of composite system, but highly-detailed information was more accurate in the feature-based than the holistic method. The naming advantage of linear stretch was replicated using a forensically more-practical procedure with observers viewing an unaltered ¬composite sideways. The work is valuable to police practitioners and designers of facial-composite systems
EvoFIT: A Holistic, Evolutionary Facial Imaging System
No full textThis thesis details the development and evaluation of a new photofitting approach. The motivation for this work is that current photofit systems used by the police - whether manual or computerized - do not appear to work very well. Part of the problem with these approaches is they involve a single facial representation that necessitates a verbal interaction. When a multiple presentation is considered, our innate ability to recognize faces is capitalized (and the potentially disruptive effect of the verbal component is reduced). The approach works by employing Genetic Algorithms to evolve a small group of faces to be more like a desired target. The main evolutionary influence is via user input that specifies the similarity of the presented images with the target under construction.
The thesis follows three main phases of development. The first involves a simple system modelling the internal components of a face (eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth) containing features in a fixed relationship with each other. The second phase applies external facial features (hair and ears) along with an appropriate head shape and changes in the relationship between features. That the underlying model is based on Principal Components Analysis captures the statistics of how faces vary in terms of shading, shape and the relationship between features. Modelling was carried out in this way to create more realistic looking photofits and to guard against implausible featural relationships possible with traditional approaches. The encouraging results of these two sections prompted the development of a full photofit system: EvoFIT. This software is shown to have continued promise both in the lab and in a real case. Future work is directed particularly at resolving issues concerning the anonymity of the database faces and the creation of photofits from the subject's memory of a target
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Letter from C.D. Darlington to Janaki Ammal, 18 January, 1960
No full textLetter from C.D. Darlington to Janaki Ammal. Darlington requests information on criminal castes, which he ultimately used for a section of his controversial trilogy of books, Genetics and Man (1953), The Evolution of Man and Society (1969) and the Little Universe of Man (1978). These books have subsequently received criticism for biological determinism, because of the unsubstantiated emphasis that they placed on biological causes of social behaviour.
Author: C.D. Darlington
Date: 18 January, 1960
Source: Bodleian Library Archives, Folder: MS DARLINGTON/J114
(C) Reproduced with Permission of C.D. Darlington's family</p
A suitable girl : Daṇḍin and a meal on the banks of the Kāverī
No full textIn the sixth ucchvāsa of the Daśakumāracarita, Daṇḍin narrates a short story in which a young man coming from Kāñcī is in search for a bride. He finds the suitable girl in a town on the banks of the Kāverī; her beauty is a sign of auspiciousness, and she proves to be able to cook a full meal only with the aid of a limited amount of rice. As for the meal, the passage is extremely interesting from a documentary point of view, because it describes its preparation in full detail. As well known, Daṇḍin is a Pallava poet, who writes around 700 CE; Kāñcī was the Pallava capital at that time, and the full story appears to take place in Pallava territory. The author must know the recipes he is describing quite well. But, besides providing a pleasant short novel, he almost surely had other aims as well. Daṇḍin is always very precise in locating the adventures of his characters, who quite often are of dubious morality. It is most probable that this perfect wife, and the ‘pure’ meal proposed, are also to be read as a way to extol the virtuous women and the Brahmanic customs of the Pallava country, and thus of the Dravidian South
Change is in the Cards: Competition in the Canadian Debit Card Market
No full textAs new entrants arrive in Canada’s debit card market, rule changes are needed to ensure a level playing field, and to enhance the potential benefits of competition for consumers and merchants. In a study released today, the author assesses the implications of the rapidly changing debit payment landscape. Bergevin makes recommendations for action to ensure that consumers and merchants are protected and that the system can evolve to serve them even better.financial services, debit card market, VISA, MasterCard, Interac
Le prime coordinate giurisprudenziali sulla c.d. "opposizione alla perquisizione negativa"
No full textLa Corte di cassazione fornisce le prime coordinate interpretative sulla c.d. “opposizione alla perquisizione negativa”. La disamina della sentenza pone all’interprete questioni piuttosto serie, che l’autore si propone di esaminare, riflettendo sull’oggetto del sindacato giurisdizionale condotto dal g.i.p., sulla base documentale di quel giudizio, sulla esperibilità del ricorso per cassazione avverso l’ordinanza così adottata, nonché sull’applicabilità del rimedio alle c.d. “perquisizioni speciali”.The Italian Court of Cassation provides the first interpretative coordinates about the remedy so-called ‘Opposition to the negative search’. The judgement leads the jurist to reflect on serious issues, which the author proposes to explain, by examining the object of the judicial review conducted by the judge, the documentary basis of that judgement, the admissibility of the appeal to the Court of Cassation against the judge’s decision, as well as the applicability of the remedy to the so-called ‘special searches’
Lagging Behind: Productivity and the Good Fortune of Canadian Provinces
No full textThe good fortune of bountiful natural resources is not enough to ensure rising incomes for Canadians in the long term. Growing labour productivity is the most important determinant of future economic welfare and on that measure, Canada is falling behind its major trading partners. Increasing labour productivity does not mean workers working harder for less money, a common canard. It means more investment in one of three factors: 1) human capital (education or other learning); 2) physical capital (plants or other infrastructure); or 3) technology. Just as an individual’s income is in the long-run dependent on how productive he or she is, so too is that of the nation as a whole. If Canada fails to improve its productivity, the incomes of both individual Canadians and the nation as a whole will fall behind those of other developed countries.Economic Growth and innovation, Canadian provinces, labour productivity
What Does it Cost Society to Raise a Dollar of Tax Revenue? The Marginal Cost of Public Funds
No full textThe marginal cost of public funds measures the welfare loss a society incurs in raising an additional dollar of tax revenue. Tax increases distort economic decisions and erode tax bases because of tax avoidance and tax evasion by taxpayers. This Commentary uses econometric estimates of the effects of higher provincial tax rates on the provinces’ corporate income tax, personal income tax, and sales tax bases to calculate the marginal cost of public funds (MCF) for these taxes. The results indicate that the cost of increasing provincial tax revenues through a corporate tax rate increase is very high, and in some provinces, corporate tax rate reductions in 2006 would have increased the present value of the provincial government’s total tax revenues. The results also suggest that significant welfare gains would accrue from reducing provincial corporate income tax rates. As well, increasing provincial corporate and personal income tax rates can cause significant reductions in federal tax revenues because the federal and provincial governments levy taxes on the same tax bases. Finally, Canada’s system of the equalization grants might reduce the perceived MCF of recipient provinces.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, marginal cost of public funds (MCF)
Aboriginal Education in Quebec: A Benchmarking Exercise
No full textQuebec’s Aboriginal poverty is severe, and the large gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal education levels is the most important factor in explaining it. In the report, the author examines the relationship between education levels and employment for Quebec Aboriginals. Comparing outcomes within the province’s Aboriginal identity groups to results for other Quebecers, and for Canadians overall, Richards finds that the province’s Aboriginal education outcomes rank below the Canadian average, which itself is disturbingly low. Richards makes six broad recommendations to address the crisis in Aboriginal education – in Quebec and the rest of Canada.The Education Papers, Canada, Quebec, Aboriginals, education, employment
Go Big or Go Home: Priorities for the Canada-EU Economic and Trade Agreement
No full textA comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) is both desirable and possible. For Canada, an agreement with the EU is a strategic opportunity to significantly diversify the market for its high-value-added goods, services and skills, to increase the attractiveness of its economy for investors, and to make a statement that it is ready to engage with other important trade partners on reducing barriers to mutually beneficial trade and investment. This is important in light of both the failure of the Doha round of WTO talks and the existence of other important trade negotiations undertaken by Canada’s key trade partners.International Economic Policy, comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA), Canada, European Union (EU)
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