Quantitative indices for anti-human trafficking policies: based on reports of the U.S. State Department and the Council of Europe

Quantitative ratings of policies of national governments are an important tool for the monitoring of compliance with international standards in many domains. In this article we present a global index of anti-human trafficking policies developed by a research consortium using the TIP country reports of the U.S. State Department (the 3P index) and an index based on the reports of the monitoring body of the Council of Europe Convention against Human Trafficking (GRETA). Although the global 3P index gives more favorable ratings to most European countries than the GRETA-based index, a moderately strong correlation was found between the two indices. This is an encouraging result lending support to the validity of the assessments of both monitoring mechanisms as well as to their transformation into quantitative scores. We also demonstrate that the detailed GRETA-based index can be used to identify best practices in anti-trafficking policies and specific areas where these policies are most in need of improvement, e.g. legal aid and compensation for victims. Our analyses of the relationships between the various items of the index revealed positive correlations between the existence of units of specialized prosecutors and the numbers of convictions of traffickers. Our paper, then, demonstrates the potential of quantitative indices of counter human trafficking policies as tools for both effective monitoring of the implementation of international standards and for analytical purposes.     

Face recognition as a function of distance and illumination: A practical tool for use in the courtroom

Abstract

This paper describes a practical courtroom tool that provides insight in face recognition accuracy as a function of distance and illumination. Subjects were shown 3/4 target portraits with an exposition time of 12 seconds, immediately followed by a target-absent or target-present lineup of six full-face portraits. Subjects were asked to identify the target. Seven distances (3 to 40 meter) and nine illumination levels (0.3 to 3000 lux) were used which resulted in a 7?9 matrix, with in the cells a hit score and a false alarm score. From these rough data several other measures were derived, like d-prime, diagnostic value and some idealised scores. The scores represent the upper margins of recognition accuracy with the memory component reduced to a minimum. The results clearly indicate a systematic increase of recognition performance with decreasing distance and increasing illumination. The end result is a practical rule of thumb, the Rule of Fifteen: Even in ideal conditions the desired diagnostic value of 15 is reached at not more than 15 meters, not less than 15 lux.     

Part one: Turnitin and the perils of entering the evil house of cheat at cheathouse.com

Abstract

Plagiarism is one of the most serious offences in the academic world. It has occurred as long as there have been teachers and students, but the recent growth of the Internet has made the problem much worse. Recent studies indicate that approximately 30% of all students may be plagiarising on every written assignment they complete. The “information technology revolution” is almost always presented as having cataclysmic consequences for education. In post‐secondary circles, perhaps the most commonly apprehended cataclysm is “Internet plagiarism”. Academics at all British universities and colleges can now test students’ work for cheating using the anti‐plagiarism program Turnitin. The program, run by the Joint Information Systems Committee and thought to be the first national system of its kind, offers free advice and a plagiarism detection service to all further education institutions in the UK. This article will try to: first, define exactly what plagiarism is; second, give examples and reports on samples of the new plagiarism detection software; and finally suggest strategies that lecturers can use before turning to the new software.