Portable high‐resolution automated 3D imaging for footwear and tire impression capture

The forensic science community raised the need for improved evidence recognition, collection, and visualization analytical instrumentation for field and laboratory use. While the 3D optical techniques for imaging static objects have been extensively studied, there is still a major gap between current knowledge and collecting high‐quality footwear and tire impression evidence. Among optical means for 3D imaging, digital fringe projection (DFP) techniques reconstruct 3D shape from phase information, achieving camera‐pixel spatial resolution. This paper presents a high‐resolution 3D imaging technology using DFP techniques dedicated to footwear and tire impression capture. We developed fully automated software algorithms and a graphical user interface (GUI) that allow anyone without training to operate for high‐quality 3D data capture. We performed accuracy evaluations and comparisons comparing with the commercial high‐end 3D scanner and carried out qualitative tests for various impressions comparing with the current practices. Overall, our technology achieves similar levels of accuracy and resolution with a high‐end commercially available 3D scanner, while having the merits of being (1) more affordable; (2) much easier to operate; and (3) more robust. Compared with the current practice of casting, our technology demonstrates its superiority because it (1) is non‐destructive; (2) collects more evidence detail than casts, especially when an impression is fragile; (3) requires less time and money to collect each piece of evidence; and (4) results in a digital file that can easily be shared with other examiners.     

Sino-South Korean economic cooperation: An analysis of domestic and foreign entanglements

One of the most explicit manifestations of post-Mao China’s pragmatic foreign policy has been the significant shift in Beijing’s position vis-à-vis Seoul from a “non-policy” todefacto economic diplomacy. Despite the extent of cooperative endeavors, Sino-South Korean economic relations have been circumscribed by various domestic and external factors. While a further intensification of the cooperative relationship is projected for the second decade of Sino-South Korean economic diplomacy, the actual materialization of such prospects depends on how China and South Korea are going to maintain economic complementarity. More importantly, it also depends on when and how China is going to accommodate politically its economic relations with South Korea by resolving the issue of “two Koreas,” thus maximizing the potential benefits from its ties with Seoul and simultaneously minimizing the negative effects from the entanglements of various domestic and foreign factors.     

Evidence-based prevention strategies of suicide behavior in the world: implications for Slovenia

In this review we consider how Slovenia could consider tackling its high rate of suicide (overall 29 per 100,000, 46 in males, 13 in females). First, we consider the evidence for risk factors that may contribute to Slovenia's high rate of suicide. Second, we describe the interventions to try to reduce the impact of these factors and the evidence for such interventions. We categorize interventions in terms of their operation at either the population level or that of high-risk groups. However, it should be borne in mind that settings often assumed to provide access to population groups, such as general practice and schools, do not reach some people who are likely to be at high risk; for example those who have dropped out of school or who have been excluded from a GP's list. We focus particularly on those for high-risk groups, as a number of East-European countries with high suicide rates such as Slovenia, Hungary, and the Baltic republics are currently considering a shift toward more community-based mental health services. The provision of community mental health services in Slovenia would provide an opportunity to study their impact on the suicide rate. However, we conclude that their development should be accompanied by other initiatives operating at population levels. This multilevel approach acknowledges the complexity of the etiology of suicide, the impossibility of reaching all those at risk through services and the lack of strong evidence for any one intervention.     

Voter polarisation and party responsiveness: Why parties emphasise divided issues,but remain silent on unified issues

How does voter polarisation affect party responsiveness? Previous research has shown that political parties emphasise political issues that are important to their voters. However, it is posited in this article that political parties are not equally responsive to citizen demands across all issue areas. The hypothesis is that party responsiveness varies considerably with the preference configuration of the electorate. More specifically, it is argued that party responsiveness increases with the polarisation of issues among voters. To test these theoretical expectations, party responsiveness is analysed across nine West European countries from 1982 until 2013. Data on voter attention and voter preferences with regard to specific policy issues from a variety of national election studies is combined with Comparative Manifestos Project data on parties' emphasis of these issues in their election manifestos. The findings have major implications for understanding party competition and political representation in Europe.     

Transportation Access,Rental Vouchers,and Neighborhood Satisfaction: Evidence From the Moving to Opportunity Experiment

The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is designed in part to expand the neighborhood choices of assisted households, thereby enabling assisted households to find a living environment that simultaneously meets their housing and neighborhood preferences. While several studies have examined the impact of rental subsidies on neighborhood satisfaction, few have examined whether access to adequate transportation enables HCV recipients to locate housing in more desirable locations. This article relies on data from the Moving to Opportunity experiment to examine the impact of transportation access, rental housing vouchers, and geographic constraints on neighborhood satisfaction. We find that access to both vehicles and public transit positively influences neighborhood satisfaction, and the influence of vehicle access varies with transit proximity. These findings point to the importance of transportation in helping low-income assisted renter households locate housing in more desirable neighborhoods.     

Branding K-REDD+ and its implications for South Korea's middle power diplomacy

ABSTRACT

The need for new and stronger middle power diplomacy is growing as global challenges are increasingly governed by various horizontal inter- and trans-national networks. Climate change is one of the most complex and urgent global challenges that require collective action, and it is an issue for which more middle power leadership is greatly needed. The Republic of Korea (ROK) has been successful in becoming a primary actor in green growth governance, and its success has been attributed to its strategic middlepowermanship, integrating both material and ideational contents. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in tropical developing countries has been lauded as an immediate and effective solution to mitigate climate change. ROK's unique history of forest transition before rapid economic growth highlights the fact that improving forest management is possible even with imperfect governance, rapid population growth, and low economic development. The lessons learned from ROK's forest transition can be developed as a distinct contribution to the international effort to address forest-related impacts on climate change, and offer an important opportunity for ROK to play a constructive role and achieve enhanced stature within the international community.     

全球领导力发展与国际青年交流项目的关系

本文介绍了青年全球领导力发展的影响因素,指出这些因素与国际交流的关系,从而提出国际交流项目的实施对青年全球领导力形成的促进作用,并通过文献研究及问卷调查,对全球领导力发展与国际青年交流项目的关系进行了定一量分析,得出二者的正相关关系,认为应该为本国青年提供多领域、专门化的国际交流项目,以促进青年全球意识的形成.     

How common is "parking" among Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries? Evidence from the 1999 change in the earnings level of substantial gainful activity

Fewer Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries have their earnings suspended or terminated because of work than those who are actually working, partly because beneficiaries "park" earnings at a level below substantial gainful activity (SGA) to retain benefits. We assess the extent of parking by exploiting the 1999 change in the SGA earnings level from $500 to $700 monthly for nonblind beneficiaries using a difference-indifference analysis that compares two annual cohorts of beneficiaries who completed their trial work period, one that was affected by the SGA change and one that was not. Our impact estimates, along with results from other sources, suggest that from 0.2 to 0.4 percent of all DI beneficiaries were parked below the SGA level in the typical month from 2002 through 2006. The SGA change did not yield any difference in mean earnings, although it did result in a small reduction in months spent off of the rolls because of work.