An investigation into the use of CCTV footage to improve likeness in facial composites

Facial composites are an important investigative tool and have been used in numerous high-profile cases (e.g. Yorkshire Ripper). Despite this, a great deal of research has indicated that composites often portray very poor facial resemblance to the suspect/target. While some of the difficulties with the older composite systems (e.g. Photofit and Identikit) were due to system design (see e.g. Ellis, Shepherd & Davies, 1975; Davies, Ellis & Shepherd, 1978; Laughery & Fowler (1980), the hit rate for composites constructed with more modern systems (e.g. E-FIT and PROfit) can still be very low (e.g. Frowd et al. 2005). While research has indicated that composite likeness can be improved at test by combining composites from multiple witnesses (e.g. Bennet, Brace, Pike, & Kemp 1999; Bruce, Ness, Hancock, Newman, & Rarity, 2002; Ness, 2003) research on improving composites during construction has produced mixed results

EEG theta and Mu oscillations during perception of human and robot actions.

The perception of others' actions supports important skills such as communication, intention understanding, and empathy. Are mechanisms of action processing in the human brain specifically tuned to process biological agents? Humanoid robots can perform recognizable actions, but can look and move differently from humans, and as such, can be used in experiments to address such questions. Here, we recorded EEG as participants viewed actions performed by three agents. In the Human condition, the agent had biological appearance and motion. The other two conditions featured a state-of-the-art robot in two different appearances: Android, which had biological appearance but mechanical motion, and Robot, which had mechanical appearance and motion. We explored whether sensorimotor mu (8-13 Hz) and frontal theta (4-8 Hz) activity exhibited selectivity for biological entities, in particular for whether the visual appearance and/or the motion of the observed agent was biological. Sensorimotor mu suppression has been linked to the motor simulation aspect of action processing (and the human mirror neuron system, MNS), and frontal theta to semantic and memory-related aspects. For all three agents, action observation induced significant attenuation in the power of mu oscillations, with no difference between agents. Thus, mu suppression, considered an index of MNS activity, does not appear to be selective for biological agents. Observation of the Robot resulted in greater frontal theta activity compared to the Android and the Human, whereas the latter two did not differ from each other. Frontal theta thus appears to be sensitive to visual appearance, suggesting agents that are not sufficiently biological in appearance may result in greater memory processing demands for the observer. Studies combining robotics and neuroscience such as this one can allow us to explore neural basis of action processing on the one hand, and inform the design of social robots on the other

EU biofuels sustainability standards and certification systems - how to seek WTO-compatibility

Biofuels are increasingly being produced and consumed as a partial substitute to fossil-fuel based transport fuels in the fight against climate change. Sustainability criteria have been introduced recently by some countries to help ensure biofuels perform better than fossil fuels environmentally. Concerns have been expressed from various quarters that such criteria could represent World Trade Organisation (WTO)-incompatible barriers to trade. The present paper addresses two specific issues. First, it argues that biofuels can be expected to be treated like any other traded product under WTO law. Thus an importing country could not impose different trade measures dependent on whether the biofuel complied with its sustainability criteria. Second, the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBTA) provides guidance on how to draw up criteria to help ensure WTO compatibility. This cannot guarantee compatibility, but it can help reduce significantly the chances of WTO Members bringing actions against a fellow Member’s biofuels sustainability criteria. There is little direct case law to draw upon but it is argued that, if the TBT guidance is followed, in the long term the absence of case law can be taken as an indication that the sustainability criteria established are WTO-compatible

Consumer preferences and the National Treatment Principle: emerging environmental regulations prompt a new look at an old problem

Should consumers’ preference for ‘green’ products help justify,from a WTO perspective, emerging regulations such as restrictions on trade in non-sustainable biofuels? Despite the role consumer preferences have played in WTO disputes, in association with the ‘ like ’ products concept, there has not been enough focused examination of their specific influence, particularly in disputes on ethical public policy issues, such as environmental or health regulations. To this end, this paper examines key GATT Article III disputes, pointing out that they included attempts both to measure, and also to interpret, consumer preferences. The latter approach becomes more tempting when consumer preferences are difficult to measure; import bans or restrictions associated with ethical public policy regulations can bring about such a situation. A hypothetical dispute about EC biofuels sustainability criteria demonstrates this problem. Options to make the concept of consumer preferences more coherent include limitations on how they can be invoked, and an increased commitment to capturing them through measurement

Are Biotech Crops and Conventional Crops Like Products? An Analysis Under GATT

The transatlantic debate over the use of genetically modified organisms ( GMO s) as food products, with the US as a proponent on one side, and the European Union ( EU ) as an opponent on the other, is set to take center stage. The US has initiated formal legal action under the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement System, charging that the EU violates several agreements of international trade law, including Article III of GATT, an anti-protectionist measure which forbids a country from favoring its own products over imported like products. The US claims that GMOs and conventional crops are like products,, and that the EU moratorium on GMOs thus violates Article III. This iBrief assesses the US like products claim, most notably in light of Asbestos, a recent WTO case which provides important guidance for determining likeness under four criteria

Are Biotech Crops and Conventional Crops Like Products? An Analysis Under GATT

The transatlantic debate over the use of genetically modified organisms ( GMO s) as food products, with the US as a proponent on one side, and the European Union ( EU ) as an opponent on the other, is set to take center stage. The US has initiated formal legal action under the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement System, charging that the EU violates several agreements of international trade law, including Article III of GATT, an anti-protectionist measure which forbids a country from favoring its own products over imported like products. The US claims that GMOs and conventional crops are like products,, and that the EU moratorium on GMOs thus violates Article III. This iBrief assesses the US like products claim, most notably in light of Asbestos, a recent WTO case which provides important guidance for determining likeness under four criteria

Planning hand-arm grasping motions with human-like appearance

© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting /republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other worksFinalista de l’IROS Best Application Paper Award a la 2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, ICROS.This paper addresses the problem of obtaining human-like motions on hand-arm robotic systems performing pick-and-place actions. The focus is set on the coordinated movements of the robotic arm and the anthropomorphic mechanical hand, with which the arm is equipped. For this, human movements performing different grasps are captured and mapped to the robot in order to compute the human hand synergies. These synergies are used to reduce the complexity of the planning phase by reducing the dimension of the search space. In addition, the paper proposes a sampling-based planner, which guides the motion planning ollowing the synergies. The introduced approach is tested in an application example and thoroughly compared with other state-of-the-art planning algorithms, obtaining better results.Peer ReviewedAward-winningPostprint (author's final draft