Can the AML/CTF systems be evaluated without better data?

The Anti-Money Laundering regime has been important in harmonizing laws and institutions, and has received global political support. Yet there has been minimal effort at evaluation of how well any AML intervention does in achieving its goals. There are no credible estimates either of the total amount laundered (globally or nationally) nor of most of the specific serious harms that AML aims to avert. Consequently, reduction of these is not a plausible outcome measure. There have been few efforts by country evaluators in the FATF Mutual Evaluation Reports (MERs) to acquire qualitative data or seriously analyze either quantitative or qualitative data. We find that data are relatively unimportant in policy development and implementation. Moreover, the long gaps of about 8 years between evaluations mean that widely used ‘country risk’ models for AML are forced still to rely largely on the 3rd Round evaluations whose use of data was minimal and inconsistent. While the 4th round MERs (2014–2022) have made an effort to be more systematic in the collection and analysis of data, FATF has still not established procedures that provide sufficiently informative evaluations. Our analysis of five recent National Risk Assessments (a major component of the new evaluations) in major countries shows little use of data, though the UK is notably better than the others. In the absence of more consistent and systematic data analysis, claims that countries have less or more effective systems will be open to allegations of ad hoc, impressionistic or politicized judgments. This reduces their perceived legitimacy, though this does not mean that the AML efforts and the evaluation processes themselves have no effects

Appraisal the independence of the judiciary in Cameroon in the fight against corruption

This article explores the substantive and institutional independence of the judiciary in Cameroon as laid down by the Constitution in relation to its ability in repressing corruption without interference. This paper adopted doctrinal research methodology approach It is the position of this paper that apart from the Constitutional recognition of judicial independence, no mechanisms have been put inplace to ensure the functional independence of the judiciary thereby subjecting judges to all sorts of pressures with the most grievous being financial, social and political pressures. Also courts operate like deconcentrated services of the Ministry of Justice without any financial autonomy, while the Higher Judicial Council which manages careers and promotion of judges is headed by the President of Republic. As such, we contend that the judiciary cannot effectively fight against corruption because of the absence of real independence. The National Development Strategy for 2020- 2030 has acknowledged that complaints about the independence and  inefficiency of the judiciary are rife. This paper recommends an urgent reform of the judiciary in conformity to international standards on judicial independence. This should be superseded by the Constitutional recognition of the Chief Justice as the Head of judiciary, financial autonomy, automatic system of career management and a significant increase of financial treatment for judges. Key-Words: Corruption, Judiciary, Independence, Tenure, Justice, Judges, Military Court

Delineating International Cooperation in the Fight against Cybercrime in Cameroon

The advent of new technologies and the increase in their use have ushered in a new chapter in how things are being done in contemporary society. Though plausible, it has also paved the way for crimes (cybercrimes) to be committed through electronic means on a global scale. This has greatly undermined the territorial integrity of nations, and it poses a significant problem to the global community in general. Currently, the effect of cybercrime is something the global economy cannot afford to ignore. It has increased security risks of critical infrastructures, brought about massive privacy invasion and attacks on businesses, and state security. It is difficult to stop crimes of this nature since technology is always evolving and the world is becoming more connected. It therefore requires a well-coordinated and concerted effort from governments around the world to contain crimes of this nature. It is in this line of reasoning that the Cameroon government has made significant strides through the 2010 law on cyber security and cyber criminality (Hereafter referred to as the Cyber Law) to foster cooperation with other nations in a bit to curb the spread of cybercrime in Cameroon. Despite so, the efforts are not sufficient and the prevalent nature of these offenses today still largely smashed government efforts to the ground. This paper sets out to examine the efficiency of the measures taken by the Cameroon Government to forge international cooperation with the aim to combat cybercrime

Energy harvesting from the nonlinear oscillations of magnetic levitation

This paper investigates the design and analysis of a novel energy harvesting device that uses magnetic levitation to produce an oscillator with a tunable resonance. The governing equations for the mechanical and electrical domains are derived to show the designed system reduces to the form of a Duffing oscillator under both static and dynamic loads. Thus, nonlinear analyses are required to investigate the energy harvesting potential of this prototypical nonlinear system. Theoretical investigations are followed by a series of experimental tests that validate the response predictions. The motivating hypothesis for the current work was that nonlinear phenomenon could be exploited to improve the effectiveness of energy harvesting devices

Massless Composite Fermions in Two Dimensions and the Overlap

There exist chiral gauge models in two dimensions that have massless composite fermions. Two examples are presented and it is suggested that they be accepted as benchmark test-cases for generic proposals of non-perturbatively regulating chiral gauge theories in any dimension. We apply the overlap to the simpler of the two benchmarks and present the results of a numerical simulation of modest size.Comment: 12 pages, Plain TeX with epsf, 2 PS figure

Molecular Orbital Models of Benzene, Biphenyl and the Oligophenylenes

A two state (2-MO) model for the low-lying long axis-polarised excitations of poly(p-phenylene) oligomers and polymers is developed. First we derive such a model from the underlying Pariser-Parr-Pople (P-P-P) model of pi-conjugated systems. The two states retained per unit cell are the Wannier functions associated with the valence and conduction bands. By a comparison of the predictions of this model to a four state model (which includes the non-bonding states) and a full P-P-P model calculation on benzene and biphenyl, it is shown quantitatively how the 2-MO model fails to predict the correct excitation energies. The 2-MO model is then solved for oligophenylenes of up to 15 repeat units using the density matrix renormalisation group (DMRG) method. It is shown that the predicted lowest lying, dipole allowed excitation is ca. 1 eV higher than the experimental result. The failure of the 2-MO model is a consequence of the fact that the original HOMO and LUMO single particle basis does not provide an adequate representation for the many body processes of the electronic system.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 3 eps figures included using epsf. To appear in Chemical Physics, 199

The need for a marker predicting benefit following cardiovascular disease risk reduction treatment

Developing a robust method to study characteristics of vascular flow using ultrasound may be useful to assess endothelial function and vasodilatation. There are four stages in this proposal. 1.The first stage is to standardise and validate the methodology to enable computational risk flow data and other flow characteristics to be used clinically. (Current Study). Further development of fluid modelling methods will enable particulate haemodynamics to be investigated, and incorporate detailed endothelial structure together with cellular pathways. 2. This should be followed up by studies in different patient groups investigating the association between the derived values and estimated risk (using other methods such as Framingham risk score). 3. Then, associated with underlying cardiovascular risk, prospective studies would be made to establish whether computational flow dynamic data can predict outcome. If successful it could prove to be a very useful marker of benefit following treatment in a clinical setting

The International Alcohol Control Study: Methodology and implementation.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: The International Alcohol Control (IAC) Study is a multi-country collaborative project to assess patterns of alcohol consumption and the impact of alcohol control policy. The aim of this paper is to report the methods and implementation of the IAC. DESIGN AND METHODS: The IAC has been implemented among drinkers 16-65 years in high- and middle-income countries: Australia, England, Scotland, New Zealand, St Kitts and Nevis, Thailand, South Africa, Peru, Mongolia and Vietnam (the latter four samples were sub-national). Two research instruments were used: the IAC survey of drinkers and the Alcohol Environmental Protocol (a protocol for policy analysis). The survey was administered via computer-assisted interview and the Alcohol Environmental Protocol data were collected via document review, administrative or commercial data and key informant interviews. RESULTS: The IAC instruments were readily adapted for cross-country use. The IAC methodology has provided cross-country survey data on key measures of alcohol consumption (quantity, frequency and volume), aspects of policy relevant behaviour and policy implementation: availability, price, purchasing, marketing and drink driving. The median response rate for all countries was 60% (range 16% to 99%). Where data on alcohol available for consumption were available the validity of survey consumption measures were assessed by calculating survey coverage found to be 86% or above. Differential response bias was handled, to the extent it could be, using post-stratification weights. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The IAC study will allow for cross-country analysis of drinking patterns, the relationship between alcohol use and policy relevant behaviour in different countries