The Effect of Database Type on Face Recognition Performance for Surveillance Applications

Face recognition is one of the most important biometric approaches due to its potential applications in surveillance monitoring and access control. This paper presents a PCA and SVM based face recognition system for surveillance application. A proposed training database selection criteria suitable for surveillance application which consist of 1 mean image per distance class from all the available database sessions is also used for the face recognition system. In this study, the ChokePoint database, specifically the grayscale (PPG) and colored (MPCI) versions of the ChokePoint database, were selected for this work. The objectives of this work is to investigate the effect of the using different training data as well as using different similarity matching method on face recognition for surveillance application. It was found that regardless of the type of databases used, the recognition output pattern on different training data selection criteria was found to be similar. It was also found that regardless of the similarity matching method used, the face recognition system also shows the same recognition performance pattern. The experiment suggests that the proposed training database selection criteria will give similar recognition performance regardless of databases type or face recognition technique used. Overall, the ChokePoint colour database (MPCI) gives better recognition performance than the ChokePoint grayscale database (PPG). Finally, it can be concluded that using 1 mean image per class from all the available database sessions (Case-6) is better compared to using 1 image per class that are randomly selected from all the database sessions (Case-4). Even though a straight comparison between this work proposed system and several published system is not meaningful as different face recognition approaches and experiment criteria are used, nevertheless, this work proposed method performs with 100% recall and reject recognition rate

114th Congress

This report outlines an array of homeland security issues that may come before the 114th Congress. After a brief discussion of the definitions of homeland security, the homeland security budget, and the role of homeland security actors in the intelligence community, the report divides the specific issues into four broad categories: Counterterrorism and Security Management, Border Security and Trade, Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery, and DHS Management Issues

Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association, Vol. 57, No. 3

Court Review, the quarterly journal of the American Judges Association, invites the submission of unsolicited, original articles, essays, and book reviews. Court Review seeks to provide practical, useful information to the working judges of the United States and Canada. In each issue, we hope to provide information that will be of use to judges in their everyday work, whether in highlighting new procedures or methods of trial, court, or case management, providing substantive information regarding an area of law likely to be encountered by many judges, or by providing background information (such as psychology or other social science research) that can be used by judges in their work. Guidelines for the submission of manuscripts for Court Review are set forth on page 151 of this issue. Court Review reserves the right to edit, condense, or reject material submitted for publication

Super-resolution pipeline for fast adjudication in watchlist screening

Abstract — Although still-to-video face recognition is an impor-tant function in watchlist screening, state-of-the-art systems often yield limited performance due to camera inter-operability and to variations in capture conditions. Therefore, the visual comparison of faces captured in unconstrained low-quality videos against a matching high-quality reference facial still image captured under controlled conditions is required in many surveillance applica-tions to limit the number of costly false matches. To improve the visual appearance of faces captured in videos, this paper presents a new super-resolution (SR) pipeline that is suitable for fast adjudication of face-matches produced by an automated system. In this pipeline, face quality measures are used to rank and select face captures belonging to a facial trajectory, and multi-image SR iteratively enhances the appearance of a super-resolved face image. Face selection is optimized and registered using graphical models. Experiments with the Chokepoint dataset show that the proposed pipeline efficiently produces super-resolved face images by ranking best quality ROIs in a trajectory. To select the best face captures for SR, this pipeline exploits a strong correlation existing between pose and sharpness quality measurements

The Politics of Knowledge and the Reciprocity Gap in the Governance of Intellectual Property Rights

ABSTRACT This study examines the politics of knowledge benefit-sharing within the re-regulatory framework of the Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement which entered into force in 1995 under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The thesis argues that TRIPS both represents a mainstream legal mechanism for states and organisations to govern ideas through trade, and is characterised by a commercial direction away from multilateralism to bilateralism. In its post-implementation phase, this situation has seen the strongest states and corporations consolidate extensive markets in knowledge goods and services. Through analyses of the various levels of international and national governance within the competitive knowledge structure of international political economy (IPE), this study argues that the politicisation of intellectual property has resulted in the dislocation of reciprocity from its normative roots in fairness and trade equity. In conducting this enquiry the research focuses on the political manifestations of intellectual property consistent with long-standing epistemic considerations of reciprocity to test the extent to which the intrinsic public good value of knowledge and its importance to human societies can be reconciled with the privatisation of public forms of knowledge related to discoveries and innovations. This thesis draws on Becker's virtue-theoretic model of reciprocity premised on normative obligations to social life to ground its claim that an absence of substantive reciprocal requirements capable of sustaining equivalent returns and rewards is detrimental, both theoretically and practically, to the intrinsic socio-cultural foundation and public good value of knowledge. The conceptual framework of reciprocity defined and developed in this study challenges the materialist controlling authority and proprietary ownership vested in intellectual property law. A new conceptual approach proposed through reciprocity, and provoked by on-going debates about IP recognition, knowledge protection, access and distribution is advanced to counter strengthened and expanded IPRs. Theories of knowledge and property drawn from political philosophies are employed to test whether reciprocity is sufficiently robust enough, or even capable of, encompassing the gap between capital and applied science. This thesis argues that hyper-capitalism at global, national and local levels, accompanied by the boundless accumulation of technology, closes down competition both compromising IP as private rights and the viability of their governance. The political implications of the protection and enforcement of private rights through IP is examined in two key chapters utilising empirical data in relation to traditional knowledge (TK) and reciprocity; the first sets the parameters of TK and the second explores aspects of Māori knowledge systems and reciprocity directed at identifying national and local issues of significance to the debates on IP governance. As a viable direction for knowledge governance this thesis concludes that the gap between the re-regulatory trade framework of intellectual property on the one hand, and reciprocity on the other, requires closing to ameliorate the detrimental disruptions to democratic integrity, fairness and trade equity for significant numbers of communities and peoples around the world

Federal Register

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii

Developing Freedom: The Sustainable Development Case for Ending Modern Slavery, Forced Labour, Human Trafficking

This project aimed to establish and promote a clear case for the global development community to prioritize anti-slavery and anti-trafficking in development programming and policies. Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7 commits states to fight modern slavery as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Target 8.7 underpins rallying efforts including Alliance 8.7 and the UK-initiated Call to Action. Buy-in to the Call to Action is growing (currently around 70 countries), but implementation through the global development system has so far been limited. Major development actors (e.g. UN country teams, OECD DAC and the World Bank) are notably absent. Why? One reason may be that the development case for fighting modern slavery has not yet been well articulated. The direct ‘pay off’ to governments and business from fighting modern slavery has not been well explained. Many governments see little reward for the costs involved in taking on the vested domestic political, transnational corporate and sometimes criminal interests that sustain modern slavery. And many corporate interests still see anti-slavery as a philanthropic exercise and cost centre, not as a profit strategy. The ‘return on investment’ has not been well identified. This project seeks to provide evidence-based materials that will begin to fill this gap, making a clear and strong ‘development case’ for fighting modern slavery

Federal Register

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii