The identification of individuals by observational gait analysis using closed circuit television footage

This study investigated the ability of individuals with experience in gait analysis to identify people by observing features of gait recorded by closed circuit television cameras (CCTV). Seven experienced analysts each viewed five samples of footage. Each sample showed a “target walker” and five “suspect walkers.” The task of the experienced analysts was to determine which, if any, of the “suspect walkers” was the “target walker.” All of the participant “walkers” wore identical loose fitting clothing to mask anatomical and body contour features, and balaclavas to obscure facial features. The overall results showed that the experienced analysts made a correct decision in 124 of 175 cases (71%), significantly better than would have been expected to have occurred by chance (p < 0.05). A significant variation in correct decisions (p < 0.05) was shown to occur between the various angles from which the footage was recorded, footage recorded in the saggital plane showing the highest number of correct decisions. Significantly more correct decisions (p < 0.05) were also shown to occur when the footage of the “target walker” and that of the “suspect walker” were taken from the same angle. The results suggest that individuals with experience in gait analysis perform well in the comparative identification of suspects from CCTV footage, and therefore do have a role to play as expert witnesses in this field.     

Developing Countries and the Implementation of CITES: The Mexican Experience

A key issue for the success of international conventions regulating biodiversity conservation is to understand the different philosophical positions of each party for initially acceding to that convention, and for the measures each party takes to implement that convention. This paper documents policies for wildlife trade regulation in Mexico from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, with emphasis on the process of CITES implementation. Mexico was slow to adopt environmental policies, but when Mexico did recognize wider environmental concerns, the prospect of acceding to CITES was not considered because of existing bans on all wildlife trade in native species. However, Mexico could not control the illegal trade of wild species during the 1980s. Mexico acceded to CITES in 1991 mainly in response to international pressure and to bilateral pressure while seeking to join a free trade agreement. The step of joining CITES was taken without clear analysis about the consequences of being a party to the Convention. Between 1992 and 1996, Mexico had no clear policy about its role within CITES. The period from 1997 to 2001 witnessed an improved legal and administrative structure and a greater internal coordination between the institutions involved with CITES. Mexico has now improved its policy toward international wildlife trade.     

The Pacific Rim

Korea: Managing the Industrial Transition, Vol. 1: The Conduct of Industrial Policy. By D.M. Leipziger and others (World Bank Country Study). Washington: World Bank, 1987. Pp.xiv + 182. US$10. ISBN 0 8312 0887 4.

Public Intervention and Industrial Restructuring in China, India and the Republic of Korea. By Amiya Kumar Bagchi. New Delhi: International Labour Organization (Asian Employment Programme, ARTEP), 1987. Pp.xii + 162. US$8. ISBN 92 2 105774 7.

Policy Options for the Singapore Economy. By Lim Chong Wan and Associates. Singapore: McGraw Hill, 1988. Pp.xv + 499. US$29.95. ISBN 0 07 099133 2.

The Political Economy of the New Asian Industrialism. Edited by Frederic C. Deyo. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1987. Pp.252. US$32.95 + $14.25. ISBN 0 8014 9449 4.

Financing East Asia's Success: Comparative Financial Development in Eight East Asian Countries. By Michael T. Skully and George J. Viksnins. London: Macmillan Press in association with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1987. Pp.xii + 242. £29.50. ISBN 0 333 42655 X.     

Intellectual property issues in joint ventures and collaborations

Legal context: The IP issues involved in forming, operating, and (inevitably)terminating a joint venture or collaboration are much more numerousthan would typically apply to a straightforward investment inan organic growth, or on a merger or acquisition. The pitfallsare also more insidious. Key points: The author approaches the topic within the commercial context,discussing the commercial rationale behind joint ventures andcollaborations and the life cycle of a joint venture or collaboration. The article explores the four key stages of a joint ventureor collaboration: (1) pre-contract stage: confidentiality andtrade secrets; due diligence; structural considerations; (2)formation stage: assignment and licensing of existing rights;the terms of transfer; valuation of IP contributions; (3) durationstage: future contribution of existing and future backgroundrights; ownership and exploitation of foreground rights; maintenanceand protection of rights; and (4) termination stage: providingfor both unexpected and expected events. The article also provides advice as to avoiding the pitfallsof joint ownership: understanding the differences between jurisdictions;potential problems; and avoiding the banana skins. Practical significance: Joint ventures and collaborations are widely used across a rangeof industry sectors, but particularly high-tech sectors, suchas pharma/bio, information technology, and communications, inwhich IP rights are particularly important. Parties consistently cite the loss of background IP rights asa major risk in joint venture collaborations, and dealing withIP that is generated in the course of a joint venture or collaborationcan also present particular problems, particularly if it isto be used or owned jointly by more than one party.     

The Ubiquitous Book Review

If case-notes are considered to be a lowly form of legal literature, book reviews could come even lower. Law book-reviews, whenever themselves the subject of legal commentary, are seen to be done badly. Lacking the discipline of the legal opinion, law-book reviewing ranges between the pedantic and the perfunctory, with room for indulgence in the personal and the polemic. There are no established techniques for law-book reviewing. There are no criteria for critical appreciation. Law-book reviewing, which lacks any discernable ground-rules, proceeds intuitively without reference to explicit standards or established expertise. This is odd because the literary tradition of book-reviewing was first established by a lawyer whose concept was that of putting books on legal trial. The literary review is thus strongly grounded in legal method. The present shortcomings of the law-book review denote not only literary shortcomings but also failures of legal method. The conventional law review provides the evidence, no less than it carries much of the blame for the decline in law-book reviewing. One obvious standard of reference for the declining law-book review continues to be the higher forms of literary review. This standard calls for renewed interest in law and literature.     

Models of liberty: Berlins's ‘Two Concepts’

According To Sir Isaiah Berlin; (a) freedom is an essentially ‘negative’ concept; (b) one's freedom can only be limited deliberately, by another person or persons; (c) the impersonal operation of a natural force, such as gravity, cannot be said to limit freedom; (d) the impersonal operation of a market force cannot be said to limit freedom. I argue that all four claims are false and that (b), (c), and (d) are logically incornsistent with (a). There would be less point to inevitably somewhat ‘picky’ exercise were it not for the fact that Berlin's account of freedom exemplifies a well-entrenched and influential orthodoxy. The fact is made particularly apparent by the prominent role played by assumption (d) in defences of the ‘free market’. I go on to discus this.     

Australia's National Broadband Network – A cybersecure critical infrastructure?

In 2009 the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN) began to be rolled out across Australia. The Australian NBN is the largest infrastructure project in Australia's history since the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme from 1949 to 1972 and it has a projected cost of between AU$37 billion and AU$43 billion. Its purposes are to provide high speed broadband connectivity to 93% of Australia's homes and businesses, to enhance productivity, to improve the delivery of education, tele-medicine and regional connectivity and to form the basis of the Australian telecommunications network for the 21st Century. However, the project does not have bi-partisan support and has been affected by high-level management changes and anticipated cost over-runs.     

Ignorance in Bliss: Modeling Knowledge of Rights in Marriage and Cohabitation

We live our lives against an extensive backdrop of legal rights and responsibilities, yet a growing number of studies indicates low levels of public legal literacy. In the context of opposite‐sex cohabitation and marriage law, this study employs new survey data from the United Kingdom to explore, in detail, how many and which people are ignorant of the law, and what are the nature and origins of erroneous beliefs. We find that people's beliefs about both cohabitation and marriage law are frequently wrong. They are also strikingly similar, and reflect the divergence of social attitudes from the law. Our findings are consistent with the notion that legal literacy links to salience of issue. They are also consistent with recent public legal education initiatives that affected public understanding of cohabitation law, but we argue that social attitudes and the intransigence of erroneous beliefs generally present significant challenges to such initiatives.