A Prototype of Mathematical Treatment of Pen Pressure Data for Signature Verification

A prototype using simple mathematical treatment of the pen pressure data recorded by a digital pen movement recording device was derived. In this study, a total of 48 sets of signature and initial specimens were collected. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to compare the data of the pen pressure patterns. From the 820 pair comparisons of the 48 sets of genuine signatures, a high degree of matching was found in which 95.4% (782 pairs) and 80% (656 pairs) had rPA > 0.7 and rPA > 0.8, respectively. In the comparison of the 23 forged signatures with their corresponding control signatures, 20 of them (89.2% of pairs) had rPA values < 0.6, showing a lower degree of matching when compared with the results of the genuine signatures. The prototype could be used as a complementary technique to improve the objectivity of signature examination and also has a good potential to be developed as a tool for automated signature identification.     

Predictors of sex offender treatment dropout: psychopathy,sex offender risk,and responsivity implications

Abstract

We examined sex offender treatment dropout predictors, in particular, the relationship of psychopathy and sex offender risk to treatment dropout in a sample of 154 federally incarcerated sex offenders treated in a high intensity sex offender treatment program. Demographic, criminal history, mental health and treatment-related data as well as data on risk assessment measures including the Static 99, Violence Risk Scale – Sexual Offender version (VRS-SO), and Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R) were collected. Logistic regression and discriminant function analyses were used to identify predictors that made significant and unique contributions to dropout among all the variables under study. The Emotional facet of Factor 1 of the PCL-R and never being married were found to be the most salient predictors of treatment dropout and correctly identified about 70% of the cases. The implications of the findings for managing treatment dropout and for the treatment of psychopathic offenders are discussed.     

The predictive and convergent validity of a psychometric battery used to assess sexual offenders in a treatment programme: an 18-year follow-up

Abstract

This study examined sex offender risk and treatment change based on a battery of psychometric assessment measures administered to 267 treated adult Canadian federal sex offenders followed up an average 18 years post release. Several significant pre–post changes that were frequently moderate in magnitude (d>.50) were observed across these measures. A factor analysis of the psychometric battery generated three broad need domains consistent with the extant literature that were labelled Socioemotional Functioning, Anger/Hostility, and Misogynist Attitudes. The three need domains and a Need Total, created by their summation, converged with the Violence Risk Scale—Sexual Offender version (VRS-SO; Wong, Olver, Nicholaichuk, & Gordon, 2003) in conceptually meaningful ways and predicted sexual and violent recidivism to varying degrees. Raw measurements of change obtained from pre-to posttreatment frequently bore weak and non-significant relationships to outcome. However, after creating standardised residual change scores to control for pre-treatment score, treatment changes in the individual measures, need domains and Need Total improved significantly in their prediction of reductions in general and sexual violence.     

Some notes on the validation of VRS-SO static scores

ABSTRACT

The present study was a psychometric examination of Violence Risk Scale-Sexual Offender version (VRS-SO; Wong, S., Olver, M. E., Nicholaichuk, T. P., & Gordon, A. (2003 Wong, S., Olver, M. E., Nicholaichuk, T. P., & Gordon, A. (2003). The violence risk scale: Sexual offender version (VRS-SO). Saskatoon: Regional Psychiatric Centre and University of Saskatchewan. [Google Scholar]). The violence risk scale: Sexual offender version (VRS-SO). Saskatoon: Regional Psychiatric Centre and University of Saskatchewan) static item scores in a Canadian multisite sample of 668 treated adult male sexual offenders. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of 13 nonredundant Static-99R and VRS-SO static items generated three factors labelled Youthful Aggression, Sexual Criminality, and General Criminality. The factor and total scores converged with Static-99R and VRS-SO dynamic factor scores. Scores on the VRS-SO static items, EFA-derived factors, and total score each significantly predicted 5- and 10-year sexual, violent, and general recidivism through ROC analyses. Cox regression survival analyses showed all three factors uniquely predicted sexual recidivism to varying degrees in the overall sample; however, only Youthful Aggression and General Criminality uniquely significantly predicted violent and general recidivism in the overall sample and among sexual offender subgroups. Implications for theory, clinical practice, and instrument refinement are discussed.     

Health care finance in the US: Past,present, and future

Presently the US is the only major industrialized nation that does not insure universal access to health care for all of its citizens. Although the US spends one out of every eight dollars on health care, over one-eighth of all Americans lack basic health insurance coverage. Another concern is health care cost inflation. The quest for comprehensive health care coverage for all Americans began shortly after the turn of the century and has received varying degrees of support since then. Since the historical course of health policy in the US has followed an evolutionary rather than revolutionary course, unless consistent policies are developed to rationalize the incentives facing consumers, providers, and insurers, alike, the future path of American health policy will continue to be characterized by disjointed incrementalism. National health insurance can provide decision makers with a tool to structure and focus the American health care system. In order for cost control measures to be effective they must be coordinated with measures to promote universal access, and vice versa. NHI can be a catalyst to focus attention on the dual goals of access to care and cost containment.     

Money-laundering in Southeast Asia: liberalism and governmentality at work

This article discusses the diffusion of a regulatory system against money-laundering in Southeast Asia. To this end, the article reconstructs how the Financial Action Task Force has securitised the issue of money-laundering into a global problem requiring a global solution and how this has spread to developing nations. The article seeks to demonstrate how these international norms and practices spread and are transformed into national law within Southeast Asia. The article further shows that these transformations reflect an increasing level of multilateral cooperation within the region and that this phenomena can be better understood as the articulation of a global expression of governmentality where a set of strategies and policing techniques emerges to effect control.     

Chinese influence,U.S. linkages,or neither? Comparing regime changes in Myanmar and Thailand

This study examines the potential influence of foreign linkages on regime outcomes by comparing Myanmar and Thailand. Linkages with the West are supposed to facilitate democratization, whereas those with autocracies usually promote regime survival. This study focuses on Myanmar and Thailand’s linkages with the U.S. and China, which at first sight seem to demonstrate the hypothesized effects. Myanmar gradually liberalized while strengthening its Western linkages, whereas Thailand experienced democratic breakdown amid a shift in alignment from the U.S. to China. However, in-depth analysis suggests that the influence of foreign linkages on domestic political change was minimal and that the relationship may very well be endogenous. The findings of this study call for a more careful theorization and handling of the external factors in studies of regime change and highlight the importance of simultaneously analyzing democratic and autocratic linkages.     

Genetic polymorphism at three STR loci--CSF1PO, HUMTHO1 and TPOX, and the AMP-FLP locus D1S80 for the Chinese population in Hong Kong

Allele frequencies for three STR loci, namely, CSF1PO, HUMTHO1 and TPOX, and the AMP-FLP locus D1S80 were obtained from a sample of 351 unrelated Chinese in Hong Kong.     

Allele frequencies for nine STR loci in Beijing Chinese

Allele frequencies for nine STR loci namely, D3S1358, HUMvWA, HUMFIBRA/FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317 and D7S820 were obtained from a sample of 198 unrelated Chinese in Beijing, China.