Anti-money laundering policy: A response to the activity of criminals or of agencies?

The narrative within this chapter is built around the twin agencies of the FSA and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and their role in AML, recognising that both agencies now exist in a different form. Thus we consider the ‘matrimonial’ relationship between the regulators and the regulated entity that is internal to the financial markets. We further consider how both relate to the police enforcement agency, an agency that is external to the financial markets and in our metaphor is the silent jealous lover. It is the external enforcement agency that we suggest to be the ultimate beneficiary of the outcome of their joint compliance effort. This is played out through the regulatory ‘rituals’ that define the terms of engagement for the different sides, where each knows the rules, how they should be adhered to and both benefit from their continued existence; tending towards a mutual support for the status quo. Indeed, their relationship can be viewed as that of a married couple where the initial ardour has long since departed but they stay together in mutual tolerance because their history is jointly constructed and co-dependent such that one could no longer envisage life without the other. It considers evidence from a range of material taken from public sources and uses for illustration, previously unpublished data that has been collected from three semi structured interviews that were conducted in June and July 2009 with Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs) based respectively, in a financial institution, a firm of accountants and from within the gaming industry. These were selected as representative of the range of professions that fall within the AML regulatory framework

Fast, Dense Feature SDM on an iPhone

In this paper, we present our method for enabling dense SDM to run at over 90 FPS on a mobile device. Our contributions are two-fold. Drawing inspiration from the FFT, we propose a Sparse Compositional Regression (SCR) framework, which enables a significant speed up over classical dense regressors. Second, we propose a binary approximation to SIFT features. Binary Approximated SIFT (BASIFT) features, which are a computationally efficient approximation to SIFT, a commonly used feature with SDM. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithm on an iPhone 7, and show that we achieve similar accuracy to SDM

Learning Background-Aware Correlation Filters for Visual Tracking

Correlation Filters (CFs) have recently demonstrated excellent performance in terms of rapidly tracking objects under challenging photometric and geometric variations. The strength of the approach comes from its ability to efficiently learn - "on the fly" - how the object is changing over time. A fundamental drawback to CFs, however, is that the background of the object is not be modelled over time which can result in suboptimal results. In this paper we propose a Background-Aware CF that can model how both the foreground and background of the object varies over time. Our approach, like conventional CFs, is extremely computationally efficient - and extensive experiments over multiple tracking benchmarks demonstrate the superior accuracy and real-time performance of our method compared to the state-of-the-art trackers including those based on a deep learning paradigm

Coherence and linewidth of a continuously pumped atom laser at finite temperature

A continuous-wave atom laser formed by the outcoupling of atoms from a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) potentially has a range of metrological applications. However, in order for the device to be truly continuous, a mechanism to replenish the atoms in the BEC is required. Here we calculate the temporal coherence properties of a continuously pumped atom laser beam outcoupled from a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate that is replenished from a reservoir at finite temperature. We find that the thermal fluctuations of the condensate can significantly decrease the temporal coherence of the output beam due to atomic interactions between the trapped BEC and the beam, and this can impact the metrological usefulness of the device. We demonstrate that a Raman outcoupling scheme imparting a sufficient momentum kick to the atom laser beam can lead to a significantly reduced linewidth

Warming by 1°C drives species and assemblage level responses in Antarctica’s marine shallows

Forecasting assemblage-level responses to climate change remains one of the greatest challenges in global ecology [1 , 2 ]. Data from the marine realm are limited because they largely come from experiments using limited numbers of species [3 ], mesocosms whose interior conditions are unnatural [4 ], and long-term correlation studies based on historical collections [5 ]. We describe the first ever experiment to warm benthic assemblages to ecologically relevant levels in situ. Heated settlement panels were used to create three test conditions: ambient and 1°C and 2°C above ambient (predicted in the next 50 and 100 years, respectively [6]). We observed massive impacts on a marine assemblage, with near doubling of growth rates of Antarctic seabed life. Growth increases far exceed those expected from biological temperature relationships established more than 100 years ago by Arrhenius. These increases in growth resulted in a single “r-strategist” pioneer species (the bryozoan Fenestrulina rugula) dominating seabed spatial cover and drove a reduction in overall diversity and evenness. In contrast, a 2°C rise produced divergent responses across species growth, resulting in higher variability in the assemblage. These data extend our ability to expand, integrate, and apply our knowledge of the impact of temperature on biological processes to predict organism, species, and ecosystem level ecological responses to regional warming

Effect of scandium triflate on the RAFT copolymerization of methyl acrylate and vinyl acetate controlled by an acid/base “switchable” chain transfer agent

Modulation of the activity of an acid/base switchable dithiocarbamate RAFT agent, cyanomethyl (4-fluorophenyl)(pyridin-4-yl)carbamodithioate, with the Lewis acid scandium triflate (Sc(OTf)3) was investigated to examine the ability to deliver improved control over RAFT copolymerizations involving both more-activated and less-activated monomers—specifically the copolymerization of methyl acrylate (MA) and vinyl acetate (VAc). The introduction of either 0.5 or 1 mol equiv of Sc(OTf)3, with respect to RAFT agent, into a RAFT copolymerization of MA and VAc provides substantially improved control resulting in significantly reduced molar mass dispersities (Đ) (∼1.1–1.3) than achieved in its absence (Đ ∼ 1.3–1.4). Furthermore, similar introduction of Sc(OTf)3 into MA homopolymerization mediated by the same RAFT agent also delivered polymers of very low Đ (∼1.15). Sc(OTf)3 was also found to lower the rate of polymerization and alter the copolymerization reactivity ratios for MA and VAc. Increasing the Lewis acid concentration provides enhanced incorporation of the less active monomer, VAc, into the copolymers ([Sc(OTf)3]/[RAFT] = 0, rMA = 4.04, rVAc = 0.032; [Sc(OTf)3]/[RAFT] = 0.5, rMA = 3.08, rVAc = 0.17; [Sc(OTf)3]/[RAFT] = 1, rMA = 2.68, rVAc = 0.62). Carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis of preparative samples confirm the enhanced VAc incorporation with increased levels of Sc(OTf)3. Importantly the inclusion of Sc(OTf)3 does not deleteriously affect the thiocarbonylthio end-groups of the RAFT polymers, with high end-group fidelity being observed in all copolymerizations

Experiences of the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community in the University Setting

Background: Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals face daily challenges in higher education due to a lack of gender-inclusive resources. This shortcoming is rooted in the minimal knowledge about what barriers affect this population. Aims: The aims of this study were to identify fitness-related barriers faced by the transgender community in higher education and emphasize the need to develop fitness standards for the transgender population to reduce those barriers in higher education. Methods: Participants completed one or both aspects of this study. A survey was sent to students to gather information about experiences in fitness at a university and how it relates to their gender. Several of the survey respondents then agreed to participate in a series of fitness assessments to evaluate muscular strength, endurance, and body composition. Results: Seventy-nine students responded to the survey (n = 68 cisgender females, n = 5 cisgender males, n = 2, non-binary, n = 4 transgender males). Proportionally, more transgender and non-binary people (84%) felt that gendered fitness standards did not apply to them when compared to cisgender people (31%). Further, more transgender and non-binary respondents (50%) reported that they were not comfortable working out in all areas of their gym when compared to the cisgender respondents (37%). Twenty-eight students participated in the fitness assessment. The BOD POD assessment of body composition utilizes gender to calculate body fat percentage. When using both male and female classifications, results were not different, meaning the estimated body fat percentage was calculated as the same despite a different gender in the calculation. Conclusions: This study begins to identify fitness-related barriers faced by the transgender community in higher education. Additionally, these small-scale results provide a starting point for future research on developing gender-neutral fitness standards

Global insect decline is the result of wilful political failure:A battle plan for entomology

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment assessed ecosystem change, human wellbeing and scientific evidence for sustainable use of biological systems. Despite intergovernmental acknowledgement of the problem, global ecological decline has continued, including declines in insect biodiversity, which has received much media attention in recent years. Several roadmaps to averting biological declines have failed due to various economic and political factors, and so biodiversity loss continues, driven by several interacting human pressures. Humans are innately linked with nature but tend to take it for granted. The benefits we gain from the insect world are broad, yet aversion or phobias of invertebrates are common, and stand firmly in the path of their successful conservation. Providing an integrated synthesis for policy teams, conservation NGOs, academic researchers and those interested in public engagement, this article considers: (1) The lack of progress to preserve and protect insects. (2) Examples relating to insect decline and contributions insects make to people worldwide, and consequently what we stand to lose. (3) How to engage the public, governmental organizations and researchers through “insect contributions to people” to better address insect declines. International political will has consistently acknowledged the existence of biodiversity decline, but apart from a few narrow cases of charismatic megafauna, little meaningful change has been achieved. Public values are reflected in political willpower, the progress being made across the world, changing views on insects in the public should initiate a much-needed political sea-change. Taking both existing activity and required future actions, we outline an entomologist's “battle plan” to enormously expand our efforts and become the champions of insect conservation that the natural world needs