Police Body Worn Cameras and Privacy: Retaining Benefits While Reducing Public Concerns

Recent high-profile incidents of police misconduct have led to calls for increased police accountability. One proposed reform is to equip police officers with body worn cameras, which provide more reliable evidence than eyewitness accounts. However, such cameras may pose privacy concerns for individuals who are recorded, as the footage may fall under open records statutes that would require the footage to be released upon request. Furthermore, storage of video data is costly, and redaction of video for release is time-consuming. While exempting all body camera video from release would take care of privacy issues, it would also prevent the public from using body camera footage to uncover misconduct. Agencies and lawmakers can address privacy problems successfully by using data management techniques to identify and preserve critical video evidence, and allowing non-critical video to be deleted under data-retention policies. Furthermore, software redaction may be used to produce releasable video that does not threaten the privacy of recorded individuals

The digital data processing concepts of the LOFT mission

The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT) is one of the five mission candidates that were considered by ESA for an M3 mission (with a launch opportunity in 2022 - 2024). LOFT features two instruments: the Large Area Detector (LAD) and the Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The LAD is a 10 m 2 -class instrument with approximately 15 times the collecting area of the largest timing mission so far (RXTE) for the first time combined with CCD-class spectral resolution. The WFM will continuously monitor the sky and recognise changes in source states, detect transient and bursting phenomena and will allow the mission to respond to this. Observing the brightest X-ray sources with the effective area of the LAD leads to enormous data rates that need to be processed on several levels, filtered and compressed in real-time already on board. The WFM data processing on the other hand puts rather low constraints on the data rate but requires algorithms to find the photon interaction location on the detector and then to deconvolve the detector image in order to obtain the sky coordinates of observed transient sources. In the following, we want to give an overview of the data handling concepts that were developed during the study phase.Comment: Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 91446

Environmental assessment for the Satellite Power System (SPS): Studies of honey bees exposed to 2.45 GHz continuous wave electromagnetic energy

Post treatment brood development was normal and teratological effects were not detected at exposures of 3 to 50 mw sq cm for 30 minutes. Post treatment survival, longevity, orientation, navigation, and memory of adult bees were also normal after exposures of 3 to 50 mw sq cm for 30 minutes. Post treatment longevity of confined bees in the laboratory was normal after exposures of 3 to 50 mw sq cm for 24 hours. Thermoregulation of brood nest, foraging activity, brood rearing, and social interaction were not affected by chronic exposure to 1 mw sq cm during 28 days. In dynamic behavioral bioassays the frequency of entry and duration of activity of unrestrained, foraging adult bees was identical in microwave exposed areas versus control areas

Methods for the Translocation of the Yellow Lampmussel (\u3cem\u3eLampsilis cariosa\u3c/em\u3e) and the Tidewater Mucket (\u3cem\u3eLeptodea ochracea\u3c/em\u3e) in the Fort Halifax Dam Impoundment of the Sebasticok River, Maine

Translocation from areas where habitat alterations are proposed can be an important mussel conservation tool. Pending removal of the Fort Halifax dam on the Sebasticook River in Maine potentially would result in extensive mortality of two statelisted threatened species of mussels, yellow lampmussels (Lampsilis cariosa) and tidewater muckets (Leptodea ochracea), which occur in the impoundment above the dam. My study assessed populations of these two species in the impoundment, and determined the effects of within- and between-waterbody translocations on survival. I conducted a qualitative survey of the Fort Halifax dam impoundment in 2004 to determine locations of these two species and a quantitative survey near the upper end of the impoundment in 2005 where the greatest numbers of these species occur. Estimated densities in survey plots were 0.05-1.1/m2 for yellow lampmussels and 0.0-0.41/m2 for tidewater muckets. In a 2004 pilot study, I translocated a co-occurring common species, eastern lampmussel (Lampsilis radiata radiata), within the impoundment and to two other sites in the watershed, Unity Pond and Sandy Stream. Recapture rates for 2005-2006 were 34- 83% (0-9% mortality). As part of this effort, I used Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags to track translocated mussels to assess the feasibility of this monitoring tool. Numbers of recaptured mussels differed among study sites; however, at all sites I found more tagged mussels with PIT pack searches with visual confirmation (72-80%) than with visual searches alone (30-47%). PIT tags offer improved recapture of translocated mussels and increased accuracy of post-translocation monitoring. I repeated the experiment in 2005 with yellow lampmussels and tidewater muckets. I recaptured 57- 90% of yellow lampmussels (0-7% mortality) and 30-86% of tidewater muckets (4-6% mortality) using PIT pack searches with visual confirmation. In Sandy Stream, sediment is redistributed annually with high late winter-early spring flows, which carry debris and stream-dwelling organisms downstream toward Unity Pond. I found 71% of recaptured eastern lampmussels \u3e100 m from their October 2004 locations, and two yellow lampmussels and four tidewater muckets were 30-100 m downstream from their August 2005 locations. Yellow lampmussels and tidewater muckets in Sandy Stream were also significantly smaller than those found in the Sebasticook River. Although tidewater muckets and yellow lampmussels occur in this stream, the unstable stream bottom and high muskrat predation potentially threaten their survival, making this site unsuitable for translocating mussels from the Sebasticook River. I found greatest densities of yellow lampmussels and tidewater muckets in boulder and cobble substrate in the upper 1.5 km of the impoundment. This area is least likely to be reconfigured following dam removal; the channel should be stable during dewatering and may be a refuge for all mussel species. Mussels in this section could then repopulate the newly formed channel once it stabilizes in the middle of the impoundment. As long as care is taken to protect mussels during dewatering by translocating exposed mussels to the stable channel in the upper end of the impoundment, restoration of lotic habitat throughout the formerly impounded area will benefit yellow lampmussels and tidewater muckets in the long-term

Analysis of honeybee drone activity during the mating season in northwestern argentina

Males in Hymenopteran societies are understudied in many aspects and it is assumed that they only have a reproductive function. We studied the time budget of male honey bees, drones, using multiple methods. Changes in the activities of animals provide important information on biological clocks and their health. Yet, in nature, these changes are subtle and often unobservable without the development and use of modern technology. During the spring and summer mating season, drones emerge from the hive, perform orientation flights, and search for drone congregation areas for mating. This search may lead drones to return to their colony, drift to other colonies (vectoring diseases and parasites), or simply get lost to predation. In a low percentage of cases, the search is successful, and drones mate and die. Our objective was to describe the activity of Apis mellifera drones during the mating season in Northwestern Argentina using three methods: direct observation, video recording, and radio frequency identification (RFID). The use of RFID tagging allows the tracking of a bee for 24 h but does not reveal the detailed activity of drones. We quantified the average number of drones’ departure and arrival flights and the time outside the hive. All three methods confirmed that drones were mostly active in the afternoon. We found no differences in results between those obtained by direct observation and by video recording. RFID technology enabled us to discover previously unknown drone behavior such as activity at dawn and during the morning. We also discovered that drones may stay inside the hive for many days, even after initiation of search flights (up to four days). Likewise, we observed drones to leave the hive for several days to return later (up to three days). The three methods were complementary and should be considered for the study of bee drone activity, which may be associated with the diverse factors influencing hive health.Fil: Ayup, María Marta. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Gärtner, Philipp. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional; ArgentinaFil: Agosto Rivera, José L.. Universidad de Puerto Rico; Puerto RicoFil: Marendy, Peter. University of Tansmania. School Of Technology, Environments And Design ; AustraliaFil: de Souza, Paulo. University of Tansmania. School Of Technology, Environments And Design ; AustraliaFil: Galindo Cardona, Alberto. Fundación Miguel Lillo; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; Argentin