Employing of Object Tracking System in Public Surveillance Cameras to Enforce Quarantine and Social Distancing Using Parallel Machine Learning Techniques

Like many countries, Jordan has resorted to lockdown in an attempt to contain the outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19). A set of precautions such as quarantines, isolations, and social distancing were taken in order to tackle its rapid spread of Covid-19. However, the authorities were facing a serious issue with enforcing quarantine instructions and social distancing among its people. In this paper, a social distancing mentoring system has been designed to alert the authorities if any of the citizens violated the quarantine instructions and to detect the crowds and measure their social distancing using an object tracking technique that works in real-time base. This system utilises the widespread surveillance cameras that already exist in public places and outside many residential buildings. To ensure the effectiveness of this approach, the system uses cameras deployed on the campus of Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan. The results showed the efficiency of this system in tracking people and determining the distances between them in accordance with public safety instructions. This work is the first approach to handle the classification challenges for moving objects using a shared-memory model of multicore techniques. Keywords: Covid-19, Parallel computing, Risk management, Social distancing, Tracking system.

Loosening the Marriage Bond: Divorce in New Zealand, c.1890s - c.1950s

<p>Based on a detailed examination of 2,195 divorce case files generated by applications to the Wellington Supreme Court, the study explores the changing frequency and character of the divorcing population in New Zealand between 1898, when the grounds for divorce were extended under the Divorce Act, until c.1959. The end point is set by access limits to divorce case files, the beginning of Marriage Guidance, and the establishment of a 'normal' pattern of divorce following the postwar spike. The study examines how and why New Zealanders divorced in increasing numbers over the period. In particular, it looks at the increase in divorce during and after the two world wars. The rate peaked in the immediate postwar years and remaining at levels about those pre-1914 and pre-1939.The study also looks at how war contributed to an underlying and on going change in attitudes towards marriage and divorce, not solely attributable to the immediate crisis of enlistment. The study explores the social and cultural factors influencing the decision to divorce including gender, class, religion, and the desire for, or presence of, children. Among other factors, it inquires into the reason why those who divorced in New Zealand were primarily working class, in contrast to their English counterparts, reflecting different class-based perceptions of morality and respectability. It will explore the growing emphasis on sexual pleasure and on women's attainment of social and sexual rights as contributing to the increase in divorce. The public nature of divorce proceedings through this period, with cases being heard in open court and few limits on newspaper reporting, operated as a means of social control and public surveillance. The discussion focuses on how the courts contributed to the construction of definitions of normative behaviour of husbands and wives, judged individuals' abilities to be suitable mothers and fathers and awarded custody of children. The court also adjudicated issues of acceptable and illicit sexual behaviour with gender expectations as part of the considerations. Although those who flouted expected marital norms could risk ostracism or public condemnation, the thesis also shows that this power diminished as divorce became more common. The thesis concludes with an examination of marriage guidance as a public recognition both of the potential for divorce and of the belief that marriages took effort to maintain and that advice and guidance support could help 'unstable' marriages regain stability. In the post-World War II period there was also an acknowledgement that some marriages could not be 'saved' with divorce being the only alternative. Regardless, of such interventions, the changes in attitudes about divorce, made divorce an increasingly acceptable solution to unhappy marriages. Divorce, as this thesis will argue, did not 'break' the marriage bonds but rather, loosened them.</p>

Loosening the Marriage Bond: Divorce in New Zealand, c.1890s - c.1950s

<p>Based on a detailed examination of 2,195 divorce case files generated by applications to the Wellington Supreme Court, the study explores the changing frequency and character of the divorcing population in New Zealand between 1898, when the grounds for divorce were extended under the Divorce Act, until c.1959. The end point is set by access limits to divorce case files, the beginning of Marriage Guidance, and the establishment of a 'normal' pattern of divorce following the postwar spike. The study examines how and why New Zealanders divorced in increasing numbers over the period. In particular, it looks at the increase in divorce during and after the two world wars. The rate peaked in the immediate postwar years and remaining at levels about those pre-1914 and pre-1939.The study also looks at how war contributed to an underlying and on going change in attitudes towards marriage and divorce, not solely attributable to the immediate crisis of enlistment. The study explores the social and cultural factors influencing the decision to divorce including gender, class, religion, and the desire for, or presence of, children. Among other factors, it inquires into the reason why those who divorced in New Zealand were primarily working class, in contrast to their English counterparts, reflecting different class-based perceptions of morality and respectability. It will explore the growing emphasis on sexual pleasure and on women's attainment of social and sexual rights as contributing to the increase in divorce. The public nature of divorce proceedings through this period, with cases being heard in open court and few limits on newspaper reporting, operated as a means of social control and public surveillance. The discussion focuses on how the courts contributed to the construction of definitions of normative behaviour of husbands and wives, judged individuals' abilities to be suitable mothers and fathers and awarded custody of children. The court also adjudicated issues of acceptable and illicit sexual behaviour with gender expectations as part of the considerations. Although those who flouted expected marital norms could risk ostracism or public condemnation, the thesis also shows that this power diminished as divorce became more common. The thesis concludes with an examination of marriage guidance as a public recognition both of the potential for divorce and of the belief that marriages took effort to maintain and that advice and guidance support could help 'unstable' marriages regain stability. In the post-World War II period there was also an acknowledgement that some marriages could not be 'saved' with divorce being the only alternative. Regardless, of such interventions, the changes in attitudes about divorce, made divorce an increasingly acceptable solution to unhappy marriages. Divorce, as this thesis will argue, did not 'break' the marriage bonds but rather, loosened them.</p>

PUBLIC POLICY MEETS PUBLIC SURVEILLANCE

This research examines cases of several ‘smart cities’ deploying camera technologies, particularly those augmented by AI and video data capture. Constituent groups including technology companies, city government employees, and a variety of citizen groups both directly and indirectly shape the policies for using these systems and the data they produce, presaging how society might deal with the escalating presence of the Internet of Things. The social shaping of technology approach contributes to the research's conceptual foundations while a political economy perspective frames a consideration of the ethical dynamics in play. The study investigates how seven urban communities frame and articulate the values and dangers of such systems operating in networked environments. Using archival data from official documents, the press, local and State ordinances, the study concludes that police interests have been significant drivers of these systems, alongside new environmental and management promises for improved cost savings. Public engagement practices vary, but in general are either nonexistent or anemic. Oversight practices likewise are under-developed. provides a descriptive picture of how cities view and experience this surveillance infrastructure and highlights of the policy problems associated with the city surveillance systems.

Does Danger Level Affect Bystander Intervention in Real-Life Conflicts? Evidence From CCTV Footage

In real-life violence, bystanders can take an active role in de-escalating conflict and helping others. Recent meta-analytical evidence of experimental studies suggests that elevated danger levels in conflicts facilitate bystander intervention. However, this finding may lack ecological validity because ethical concerns prohibit exposing participants to potentially harmful situations. Using an ecologically valid method, based on an analysis of 80 interpersonal conflicts unobtrusively recorded by public surveillance cameras, the present study confirms that danger is positively associated with bystander intervention. In the presence of danger, bystanders were 19 times more likely to intervene than in the absence of danger. It extends this knowledge by discovering that incremental changes in the severity level of the danger (low, medium, and high), however, were not associated with bystander intervention. These findings confirm the importance of further investigating the role of danger for bystander intervention, in larger samples, and involving multiple types of real-life emergencies.

Risk Identification and Prediction for COVID-19 Mortality

This paper studies several key metrics for COVID-19 using a public surveillance system data set. It compares the difference between two case fatality rates: the naive case fatality rate, which has been frequently mentioned in media outlets, and one which is the sample estimate for the mortality rate. A logistic regression model is applied to modeling the daily mortality rate. The conclusion is that time, gender, age and some of their interactions, appear to have a significant impact on the mortality rate; the daily mortality rate has been decreasing since the outbreak; males older than 60 has been the most vulnerable group. The receiver operating characteristics curve and the curve under the area show that the proposed logistic model is capable of predicting the outcome of a reported case with accuracy as high as 89%. These findings are helpful in assessing the magnitude of the risk posed by the COVID-19 virus to certain groups, predicting outcome severity, and optimally allocating medical resources such as intensive care units and ventilators.

The art of “DIVI-nation” – predicting tomorrow’s ICU capacities from today’s infection numbers

<p>Preventing the health system from collapse has been repeatedly stated as one of the main objectives for the German containment policy for SARS COV 2. The exact relation between infections recorded in the public surveillance system maintained by the German center for disease control (RKI) and data on hospital occupation published by the German association for intensive care an emergency medicine (DIVI) has not been analyzed to date. Using a stepwise approach as described in the paper a linear regression model based on recorded infections with known disease onset was found to be the most suitable predictor for the number of ICU patients with a positive test for SARS COV 2 one month later. The model showed an excellent model fit with nearly 90% explained variance and reliable prediction of the maximum when applied to data beyond the construction dataset. Still, the number of additional patients with a diagnosis of COVID 19 does not necessarily mean a reduction of ICU capacities in the same dimension. Based on a examination of interrelations between parameters published in the DIVI registry it is concluded that a temporary reorganization of hospital care for SARS COV 2 positive patients would probably help to mitigate the risks coming with increasing infection rates.</p>

The art of “DIVI-nation” – predicting tomorrow’s ICU capacities from today’s infection numbers

<p>Preventing the health system from collapse has been repeatedly stated as one of the main objectives for the German containment policy for SARS COV 2. The exact relation between infections recorded in the public surveillance system maintained by the German center for disease control (RKI) and data on hospital occupation published by the German association for intensive care an emergency medicine (DIVI) has not been analyzed to date. Using a stepwise approach as described in the paper a linear regression model based on recorded infections with known disease onset was found to be the most suitable predictor for the number of ICU patients with a positive test for SARS COV 2 one month later. The model showed an excellent model fit with nearly 90% explained variance and reliable prediction of the maximum when applied to data beyond the construction dataset. Still, the number of additional patients with a diagnosis of COVID 19 does not necessarily mean a reduction of ICU capacities in the same dimension. Based on a examination of interrelations between parameters published in the DIVI registry it is concluded that a temporary reorganization of hospital care for SARS COV 2 positive patients would probably help to mitigate the risks coming with increasing infection rates.</p>