Reliable Gait Recognition Using 3D Reconstructions and Random Forests – An Anthropometric Approach

Photogrammetric measurements of bodily dimensions and analysis of gait patterns in CCTV are important tools in forensic investigations but accurate extraction of the measurements are challenging. This study tested whether manual annotation of the joint centers on 3D reconstructions could provide reliable recognition. Sixteen participants performed normal walking where 3D reconstructions were obtained continually. Segment lengths and kinematics from the extremities were manually extracted by eight expert observers. The results showed that all the participants were recognized, assuming the same expert annotated the data. Recognition based on data annotated by different experts was less reliable achieving 72.6% correct recognitions as some parameters were heavily affected by interobserver variability. This study verified that 3D reconstructions are feasible for forensic gait analysis as an improved alternative to conventional CCTV. However, further studies are needed to account for the use of different clothing, field conditions, etc.     

The role of donors: how to combine sector programme support with devolution? A comment from a practitioner to James Wunsch: ‘decentralization,local governance and “recentralization” in Africa’

An Erratum has been published for this article in Public Administration and Development 22(1) 2002, 95. In commenting on ‘Decentralization, Local Governance and ‘Recentralization’ in Africa’ (Wunsch, 2001 ), this article concurs with the general thesis of Wunsch that the actual implementation as distinct from the rhetoric of decentralization in Africa has featured lingering central retention of power and resources and that genuine local control over important services and investments remains elusive. However, there is evidence that this is not invariably the case and that donors may have decisive roles to play in encouraging local assertiveness in the medium term in providing leverage for change through budget support and technical assistance to civic education, training local councillors, monitoring local government elections and encouraging local government associations to put to the test the national commitment to genuine local governance. These roles include helping to ensure the transparency of central transfers and, as in Uganda and Malawi for example, assisting with the development of intermediary fiscal mechanisms in this regard. Learning from such promising experiences will be vital in nurturing the longer term optimism heralded by Wunsch. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring psychopathic traits in children through self-report. The development of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory-Child Version

The current article investigates whether self-reports of children provide reliable and valid information concerning psychopathic personality traits and behaviours. For this purpose, we developed a downward extension of an existing adolescent self-report measure; the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory [YPI; Andershed, H., Kerr, M., Stattin, H., & Levander, S. (2002). Psychopathic traits in non-referred youths: Initial test of a new assessment tool. In E.S. Blaauw, L. (Ed.), Psychopaths: Current international perspectives (pp. 131-158): The Hague: Elsevier], called the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory-Child Version (YPI-CV). The reliability and validity of the YPI-CV were tested in n=360 children from the general population. The YPI-CV had good internal consistency and a three factor structure similar to the original adolescent version. Test-retest reliability over a 6-month period was adequate. In validating the instrument, both self, teacher and peer report were used. The convergent and divergent validity of the three YPI-CV dimensions was examined by relating each of them to an external criterion measures assessing the same construct. It was concluded that psychopathic traits can be measured reliably and meaningfully through self-report in 9 to 12 year olds and that the YPI-CV is potentially a useful instrument for doing so.     

The precarious practice of forensic psychiatric risk assessments

The development of forensic psychiatric risk assessments is discussed from a clinical point of view using the example of Sweden. A central task in forensic psychiatry has traditionally been to identify dangerous, mentally disordered subjects considered to be prone to commit violent acts. Over time, “dangerousness” has been reworded into “risk”. Nevertheless, such assessments have generally been based on the psychiatric factors characterising the individual patient, while group interaction, situational factors, or social and cultural circumstances, such as the availability of alcohol and drugs, have been largely overlooked. That risk assessments have a focused on people with a diagnosis of “mental disorder” and been used as grounds for coercive measures and integrity violations has somehow been accepted as a matter of course in the public and political debate. Even the basic question whether offenders with a mental disorder are really more prone to criminal recidivism than other offenders seems to have been treated light-handedly and dealt with merely by epidemiological comparisons between groups of persons with broad ranges of psychosocial vulnerability and the general population. Legal texts, instructions and guidelines from the authorities in charge are often vague and general, while actors in the judicial system seem to put their trust in psychiatric opinions. The exchange of professional opinions, general public expectations, and judicial decision processes poses a huge risk for misunderstandings based on divergent expectations and uses of terminology.     

Continuity of aggressive antisocial behavior from childhood to adulthood: The question of phenotype definition

Aiming to clarify the adult phenotype of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), the empirical literature on its childhood background among the disruptive behaviour disorders, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), or hyperkinetic conduct disorder (HKCD), was reviewed according to the Robins and Guze criteria for nosological validity. At least half of hyperactive children develop ODD and about a third CD (i.e. AD/HD + CD or HKCD) before puberty. About half of children with this combined problem constellation develop antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) in adulthood. Family and adoption/twin studies indicate that AD/HD and CD share a high heritability and that, in addition, there may be specific environmental effects for criminal behaviours. “Zones of rarity” delineating the disorders from each other, or from the normal variation, have not been identified. Neurophysiology, brain imaging, neurochemistry, neurocognition, or molecular genetics have not provided “external validity” for any of the diagnostic categories used today. Deficient mental functions, such as inattention, poor executive functions, poor verbal learning, and impaired social interaction (empathy), seem to form unspecific susceptibility factors. As none of today's proposed syndromes (e.g. AD/HD or psychopathy) seems to describe a natural category, a dimensional behavioural phenotype reflecting aggressive antisocial behaviours assessed by numbers of behaviours, the severity of their consequences and how early is their age at onset, which will be closely related to childhood hyperactivity, would bring conceptual clarity, and may form the basis for further probing into mental, cognitive, biological and treatment-related co-varying features.     

Populism and Connectivism: An Analysis of the Sanders and Trump Nomination Campaigns

This paper is an analysis of the Trump and Sanders’ campaigns for the presidential nomination of their respective parties. It studies the structure of the relationship between the campaign and its supporters through communication on each candidate’s Facebook page. While both campaigns have been termed populist, we differentiate populism from connectivism and develop an account of a connective campaign as a species of connective action. Whereas populism is predicated on a singular people, connectivity involves the acceptance and recognition of difference as a resource for political activity. Whereas populism involves a hierarchical authority relationship, connectivity is based on a reciprocal authority relationship. Finally, populism articulates an anti-establishment demand while connective campaigns demand for citizens to have the capacity for consequential engagement with political life. The empirical results demonstrate that connectivism and populism are distinct in practice and that these attributes hang together as two separate concepts. Further, we find that Trump’s campaign communications emphasize populist themes, for Sanders such themes are limited and in the shadow of connectivism.     

Civil society institutions or semi-public agencies? State regulation of parties and voluntary organizations in Norway

The relationship between the Norwegian State on the one hand, and political parties and voluntary organizations on the other, has traditionally been based on mutual trust. To assess the claim that civil society institutions are developing towards ‘semi-public agencies’, we review state regulation of Norwegian voluntary organizations and political parties. The State does demand more accountability and transparency in return for public funding, but many aspects are also regulated scarcely or not at all. This indicates that substantial mutual trust remains. This relationship might be characterized as a partnership based on interdependence, rather than colonization.     

Institutional Trust in Contemporary Moscow

Levels of institutional trust in Russia are amongst the lowest in the world. As yet, however, little research has focused on this phenomenon at the sub-national level. The current study examines trust in social and political institutions among citizens in Moscow in 2004. Results showed that levels of institutional trust are extremely low and that there were only three institutions (the church, president and hospitals) that were more trusted than distrusted. Moreover, although the effects of some demographic and other independent variables on trust stretched across institutions, several variables had a unique impact in terms of trust in the president.     

The Myth of Female Credit Discrimination in African Manufacturing

Abstract

We examine credit constraint differentials between male and female manufacturing entrepreneurs using firm data from 16 sub-Saharan Africa countries. Small enterprises owned by female entrepreneurs are less likely to be credit constrained compared to their male counterparts, while this is reversed for medium-sized enterprises. A generalised Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition shows that the gap is predominantly a pure gender effect. We argue that this finding is mainly due to female favouritism in loans to micro and small firms because the gap is reversed for medium-sized enterprises and because we find no sign of superior female entrepreneurial performance in observable indicators.     

US politics and World Bank IDA-lending

Abstract

This paper studies the role of US political factors in the allocation of World Bank concessional lending, where US political interests are proxied by voting similarity in the United Nations General Assembly on issues identified as important by the US Department of State. In contrast to previous studies we find that the US exerted a significant influence on IDA lending during the period 1993–2000. We demonstrate that the influence was both statistically as well as economically significant. Finally, we demonstrate that our result is robust with respect to the omission of the IDA Country Performance Rating index.