Abstract During abrasive flap wheel grinding, flaps may fail and tear prematurely. Such flap tears increase local tool flexibility and can impair the uniformity of material removal in automated grinding processes. To ensure process reliability, this paper proposes a novel computer vision approach for the automated detection and quantification of flap tears using deep learning. The processing pipeline is based on images showing the radial tool structure, followed by a geometric normalization that transforms the flap arrangement into a linear coordinate system. A YOLOv8-based object detection model is employed to localize abrasive flaps. To overcome class imbalances, a hybrid approach is implemented where the neural network performs a robust one-class detection, while the final distinction between intact flaps and stubs is achieved through deterministic, scale-invariant post-processing filters. The system was validated on a dataset including various tool diameters, grit sizes, and wear conditions. For tools within the trained distribution, the system achieved 96.5% classification accuracy and a Mean Absolute Error of 0.14 and 0.12 for flap and stub counts. However, performance is limited when encountering significant geometric domain shifts, such as larger tool diameters. The results demonstrate that the combination of deep learning and geometric heuristics provides a robust basis for automated flap tear detection in industrial flap wheel grinding applications. 1 Introduction Abrasive flap wheels are widely used for repair tasks or finishing of complex workpieces due to their high compliance [1, 2]. However, this compliance comes at the cost of high mechanical stress on the individual flaps, making tool wear a critical factor for process stability. In addition to grit wear and geometric change of the flap profile due to flap load, flaps may tear and detach prematurely. Ongoing investigations indicate that flap tears increase vibrations and localized loss of tool stiffness due to missing mutual support between
Aug 15, 2026 · via link.springer.com
A 55-year-old voter, Sharafa Lasisi, has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission to resolve the failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System to recognise his face, saying he should not be disenfranchised. Lasisi made the appeal on Saturday while attempting to vote at Polling Unit 006, Ward 04, in the Isale/Oke-Afo area of Ikirun, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun State. The voter said he had made several attempts to have his face verified by the BVAS machine but was unsuccessful. He said election officials attributed the difficulty to network problems and advised him to return later. Lasisi said he followed the advice and returned to the polling unit, only to encounter the same problem. He said, “My name is Sharafa Lasisi. I am from Alamisi Unit 6. I am 55 years old. I have been to where they are supposed to verify my face but they said the network isn’t letting the verification go through. “They said I should go and eat at home. I went and came back and it still didn’t go through. I want them to help me so I will be able to cast my vote also.” The development came as voters continued to turn out across polling units in the ongoing Osun State governorship election. Lasisi urged the electoral authorities to intervene and ensure that he was allowed to exercise his franchise.:::
Aug 15, 2026 · via punchng.com
Dolby Vision 2 HDR May Be Available on Current 4K Blu-ray Players The introduction of Dolby Vision 2, a new high dynamic range (HDR) technology, has raised questions regarding its compatibility with existing 4K Blu-ray players. While the system may be activated via firmware updates, each manufacturer must decide whether to implement this feature. Reports from TechRadar have revealed that so far, only Sony has confirmed that it will not be updating its Blu-ray player lineup to include support for Dolby Vision 2. In a statement, Sony said, "We do not plan to provide a software/firmware update to support Dolby Vision 2 on the current Blu-ray player lineup." This stance is noteworthy, particularly as Sony has not released a new standalone Blu-ray player in recent years, apart from a minor update. The upcoming PlayStation 6 is also expected to lack a 4K Blu-ray drive, casting further doubt on the future of the 4K Blu-ray format. Other manufacturers, such as Panasonic and Magnetar, have not responded to inquiries regarding their plans for Dolby Vision 2 support. Dolby Vision 2 technology is optimised for specific televisions that are equipped with modern processors. However, 4K Blu-ray players can theoretically support this new HDR format through a firmware update that allows them to transmit the appropriate data to compatible TVs. It is important to note that the content itself must also be encoded in Dolby Vision 2 to take full advantage of its features, meaning existing discs will not benefit unless new editions are released. Nonetheless, improvements may still be noticeable on Dolby Vision 2-ready televisions, even without a firmware update. The new technology promises enhanced visual experiences, including new image processing capabilities and a content recognition system aimed at delivering a more authentic representation of the creatorâs vision. While Dolby Vision 2 is
Aug 15, 2026 · via indianewsnetwork.com
Separating fact from fiction on automatic license plate readers | Opinion
Sidney Wordell
Guest columnist
Aug. 15, 2026, 6:05 a.m. ET
Every Rhode Island police chief has the same mission: keeping their community safe and giving victims the justice they deserve. To do that, our departments must have access to modern tools that help solve crimes, locate dangerous offenders and find endangered people quickly.
One of those tools is automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology.
Aug 15, 2026 · via providencejournal.com
Abstract Tongue images are increasingly employed as diagnostic data in intelligent clinical systems. However, the storage and bandwidth costs of high-resolution image data can reduce diagnostic efficiency, making image compression a critical tool for balancing data fidelity, transmission cost, and retrieval latency. General-purpose methods fail to fully exploit the cross-channel correlations and smooth textures of tongue images, leading this study to propose a lossless compression algorithm based on a residual prediction framework. The compression pipeline comprises four stages: First, integer lifting performs reversible color transformation, eliminating interchannel redundancy. Second, an enhanced LOCO-I model incorporating gradient detection and “Left-fused” mode captures smooth tongue textures. Third, an S-shaped scan reorders residuals to preserve spatial locality. Finally, cross-channel differential type mapping, dynamic bit-width packing, and hybrid entropy coding mitigate statistical redundancy. Experimental results across three tongue datasets demonstrate that the proposed algorithm exceeds the compression ratios of standard methods by 6%, 9% and 1%, respectively. It significantly outperforms standard PNG and JPEG 2000 formats while maintaining a decoding latency comparable to QOI. Furthermore, generalization tests on endoscopic images of colonic polyps, retinal fundus images, and dermatological images show compression improvements of 7%, 5% and 6%, respectively. The proposed method achieves a robust balance between high compression efficiency and low-latency decoding while ensuring faithful reconstruction within practical engineering constraints. Funding This work was supported by the National Science and Technology Innovation 2030 Major Program (Grant No. 2025ZD0544900), entitled “Research on Early Warning Technology for Colorectal Cancer Based on Multi-dimensional Analysis System of Traditional Chinese Medicine Tongue”; and the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. KYCX25_2274), entitled “Research on Model Compression Algorithms for Medical Image Recognition”. Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Additional information Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in
Aug 15, 2026 · via nature.com
JLG to Advance Future Vision with Nextera Robotics Oshkosh Corp., a global industrial technology company that develops purpose-built vehicles, equipment and services, and parent company of JLG Industries, has made a strategic equity investment in Nextera Robotics. "Our investment in Nextera is a confirmation of our belief in their technology, and our partnership will help Nextera accelerate its mission to connect the construction job site,” said Mahesh Narang, executive vice president, Oshkosh Corp., and president, Oshkosh Access segment, which is primarily aerial equipment maker JLG. Nextera develops autonomous technologies that create updated digital maps of active construction sites using visual AI and autonomous robotics. These digital representations provide project teams with timely insights into project progress, quality and safety, helping identify issues earlier and improve decision-making throughout the construction process. "Nextera has developed unique technology across visual image recognition using AI, Bluetooth mesh technology and use cases for jobsite autonomy," said Shashank Bhatia, chief technology officer, Oshkosh Access segment. “We will explore using these technologies in future JLG products to advance our strategy of developing products for the job site of the future." As part of the relationship, JLG will support Nextera's commercialization efforts through customer engagement, field validation and application expertise. In turn, Nextera's technology platform complements JLG's technology roadmap and can expand how connected equipment creates value on the job site. Nextera Robotics is a Boston-based technology company developing autonomous robotics and AI solutions for the construction industry. For more information about JLG products and services, visit JLG.com. Source: JLG Industries About the Author Michael Roth Editor Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental
Aug 15, 2026 · via rermag.com
Tools to evade AI-powered surveillance: Are they effective? You might cover or obscure your face, but that can get you in trouble with the cops. - Privacy activists are developing tools to evade facial recognition as police surveillance networks expand across the United States. - Bill Swearingen says his noRecognition pattern blocked Flock cameras after 31 million tests and a Def Con demonstration. - Masks, infrared eyewear, makeup, and adversarial clothing can disrupt some systems, but each has limits and legal risks. - New systems using gait and body-shape analysis may identify people even when faces are hidden or unclear. Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff. With concern over ever-smarter yet often poorly regulated facial recognition software growing worldwide, a clan of privacy activists and researchers is building tools that can fool such invasive surveillance-enabling technology. Roughly 1 in every 3 American adults is indexed in police facial recognition networks. “Most never consented, were never informed, and have no way to opt out,” says Bill Swearingen, a cyber professional from Kansas City. “Their faces were scraped from driver's license photos, mugshot databases, and public records, then fed into AI systems that can identify them in real time from any camera feed.” Since AI is error-prone, the systems produce much higher match rates for darker-skinned individuals. Check if your data has been leaked This, of course, means that people who, at least in the US, already face the most aggressive policing, are “also the people most likely to be wrongly identified by the technology justifying that policing,” Swearingen points out. 31 million tests and a pattern Indeed, the world already looks pretty dystopian. The cameras built by ambitious cop-friendly companies like Flock Safety are everywhere now (and the CEO wants more), and the databases are vast: we didn’t opt-in,
Aug 14, 2026 · via cybernews.com
A man who was wrongfully arrested and held in the St. Louis County Jail for two years sued
Christopher Gatlin alleged Thursday in an amended complaint that his arrest and indictment were the product of shoddy police work, poor training, police misconduct, and the use of a defective facial recognition program developed by Amazon for law enforcement use, known as the Rekognition program.
Gatlin originally filed the lawsuit in January 2025, but amended the complaint to name Amazon as a defendant ...
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Aug 14, 2026 · via news.bloomberglaw.com
MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) -- A rally was held Friday outside Madison Square Garden over the venue's use of facial recognition technology. Demonstrators say the practice raises serious privacy concerns and question how the Garden uses the information it gathers about its guests. They are now urging lawmakers to take action and ban the venue from using the technology. City Council member Shahana Hanif and other advocates against the overuse of surveillance cameras in New York City say it's time to pass a law banning the technology in stores, restaurants and entertainment venues such as MSG and Radio City Music Hall - both run by James Dolan "For years, MSG owner James Dolan has doubled down on using facial recognition to scan anyone entering his venues and banning individuals that he dislikes," said Michelle Dahl with the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. "In one widely reported case, a mother was turned away from Radio City Music Hall, simply because she worked at a law firm involved in litigation against Dolan. She was there chaperoning her Girl Scout troop and posed no security threat." Hanif is now sponsoring one law that would ban such biometric data collection. A second law would also prohibit landlords from using it. But both have faced pushback, especially from small businesses who say it's a security tool to prevent crime, and police often rely on surveillance videos to find dangerous criminals. But regarding the alleged overuse of scanning at MSG, supporters of a ban argue it's not only invasive but also selective. Surveillance cameras were turned off for Taylor Swift's wedding. "So clearly, this technology is not actually that necessary for security," Dahl said. The bill's sponsor says it's gaining momentum at City Hall. "You should not have to give up your sensitive biometric data to walk into
Aug 14, 2026 · via abc7ny.com
Canada’s place in the history of artificial intelligence runs deeper than the country’s recent investment announcements. Long before ChatGPT made AI a household subject, Geoffrey Hinton at the University of Toronto, Yoshua Bengio at the Université de Montréal and Richard Sutton at the University of Alberta were developing ideas that became foundations of the field. Hinton and Bengio shared the 2018 Turing Award for their breakthroughs in deep learning, while Sutton shared the 2024 award for his foundational work on reinforcement learning. Hinton’s Toronto team, including Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever, also developed AlexNet, the 2012 system that demonstrated the potential of neural networks in image recognition and helped accelerate the current AI era. Canada followed this scientific leadership with an early institutional bet. In 2017, it launched what the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) describes as the world’s first national AI strategy, supporting research institutes in Toronto, Montreal, and Edmonton and strengthening Canada’s ability to attract leading researchers. That inheritance still matters, although the character of the competition has changed. Advanced algorithms now depend on a physical foundation of specialized chips, enormous amounts of electricity, cooling systems, and the facilities that bring them together. Canada helped establish the intellectual foundations of modern AI. Its next challenge is converting that legacy into lasting technological and economic capacity. What a data centre actually does The physical capacity behind AI sits in data centres: highly engineered facilities containing rows of powerful servers, storage systems, and networking equipment. AI-focused centres connect thousands of specialized processors—most commonly graphics processing units, or GPUs—so they can divide a demanding calculation and work on it simultaneously. These machines carry out two broad stages of AI. During training, they process enormous datasets to build and refine a model. During inference, a trained model applies what it has
Aug 14, 2026 · via thehub.ca
Ohio State football announced new in-stadium changes for home games ahead of the 2026 college football season, including the expansion of its facial recognition check-in software and the option for fans to rent single-game padded seatbacks. The facial recognition software, called Express Entry, was introduced during the 2025 season as an optional service that allowed students (and some fans in "premium" areas) to skip lines and use dedicated gates with facial scanners to enter. Ohio State described the 2025 rollout as "successful" and plans to expand Express Entry to certain public gates for the upcoming season. With last year's introduction, Ohio State became the second school in the country to use Express Entry after the University of Florida, which fully implemented the service throughout its stadium in August 2025. Motz Group contractors install a new playing surface at Ohio Stadium featuring Shaw Sports Turf’s Forge Series™ system on July 22, 2026. The new field will continue to be sponsored by Safelite and will be in place for the 2026 football season. (Doral Chenoweth/Columbus Dispatch) David Lenert (left) and Paul Malernee cut up souvenir pieces of turf as contractors install a new playing surface at Ohio Stadium featuring Shaw Sports Turf’s Forge Series system on July 22, 2026. The new field will continue to be sponsored by Safelite and will be in place for the 2026 football season. People who take a stadium tour are welcome to take home a piece of the turf while supplies last. (Doral Chenoweth/Columbus Dispatch) Motz Group contractors install a new playing surface at Ohio Stadium featuring Shaw Sports Turf’s Forge Series™ system on July 22, 2026. The new field will continue to be sponsored by Safelite and will be in place for the 2026 football season. (Doral Chenoweth/Columbus Dispatch) Motz Group contractors install a new
Aug 14, 2026 · via sports.yahoo.com
The final Castro area-bar currently using Patronscan is pausing using the technology to take pictures of patrons entering during peak hours, but will retain the ID scan function. That function verifies whether a government-issued identification is valid. Nick Kealy, a gay man who is manager of The Mix at 4086 18th Street, is frustrated at the blowback the bar has received for using Patronscan to take pictures to verify IDs as part of the entry process. Criticism has come as some have stated the technology involves facial recognition, which Patronscan denies. Kealy’s announcement comes after Badlands and Toad Hall, the other two LGBTQ bars that used Patronscan, paused the technology entirely last week. A meeting August 12 convened by gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s office about the use of the technology didn’t include any of the bars involved. (Mandelman is away on vacation, but his staff held the meeting.) As a result of the meeting, a survey has been sent to Castro area bars and nightclubs. “This has gotten out of hand,” Kealy stated in a letter to the B.A.R. August 13, referring to controversy over the cameras, which he argued helps keep the bar’s employees safe. “We will always listen to legitimate concerns, but we will not surrender their safety to hypothetical scenarios, misinformation, or inaccurate claims about technology that has clearly made our workplace safer. We have a responsibility to the people who work for us, and we will not be bullied or pressured into compromising their safety. We will not overlook that responsibility to satisfy critics who refuse to engage with the facts, no matter how loud they get.” Privacy group Fight for the Future characterized Patronscan as running “AI face scanners,” and called for a boycott of the businesses using it, after a June 10
Aug 14, 2026 · via ebar.com
A week of "Dump Big Tech" protests Demonstrations across the US this week targeted tech company headquarters, elected officials, and data center construction sites. • 3 min read TL;DR: Protesters in the US popped up outside tech company headquarters, congressional offices, and data center sites this week as part of a movement dubbed “Dump Big Tech.” The demonstrators called for stricter AI regulations, an end to federal Big Tech partnerships, and energy and water usage caps for data centers. What happened: Though it’s a big-tent movement that brings together many activist groups, all the demonstrations (there have been more than 20 so far) focused on the omni-cause that is AI. Outside OpenAI’s Washington, DC, lobbying hub on Monday, more than 30 student protesters lambasted the company’s outsized influence on the US government. On the streets surrounding Palantir’s New York City headquarters on Wednesday, approximately 100 people condemned the company for licensing its facial recognition technology to ICE. On Thursday, near Sen. John Fetterman’s Philadelphia office, protesters called for greater regulation around Big Tech companies. And today, groups are demonstrating outside OpenAI’s office in Washington state and the offices of elected officials in Nevada. Growing discontent: Numerous public opinion polls show that Americans aren’t happy with data centers, and facial recognition technology—from Flock’s cameras to Customs agents using surveillance tech to track their exes—is receiving significant backlash. This week’s protesters cited fear of the government’s Big Brother-esque technological powers. “We know that Palantir is surveilling a lot of people. […] That’s a big fear, that a lot of our data and our identities [will] be tracked,” Jennifer, one of the protesters in NYC who declined to share her last name over safety concerns, told Tech Brew. “People are also seeing the ways in which their [electric] bills are going up, the
Aug 14, 2026 · via techbrew.com
Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming stem cell and developmental biology, offering new strategies to analyze, interpret and optimize complex, dynamic systems such as organoids and stem cell-derived embryo models. In this Perspective, we chart the integration of AI into image-based analysis of stem cell systems, highlighting how deep learning, convolutional neural networks and emerging foundation models enable automated classification, segmentation and phenotyping at increasing scale and precision. We showcase applications in phenotyping, drug screening and mechanistic discovery, including real-time fate prediction and the identification of hidden morphological signatures linked to differentiation and disease. Practical challenges, including limited annotated data, model interpretability and live imaging constraints, are examined alongside future opportunities, such as multimodal integration, real-time experimental steering and protocol optimization. Altogether, we argue that AI is not merely an analytical tool, but a discovery engine that enhances reproducibility, accelerates insight and brings us closer to a mechanistic understanding of self-organization in complex stem cell-derived systems. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access options Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any time Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per year only $21.58 per issue Buy this article - Purchase on SpringerLink - Instant access to the full article PDF. USD 39.95 Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Similar content being viewed by others References - Cortes, C. & Vapnik, V. Support-vector networks. Mach. Learn. 20, 273–297 (1995). - Lever, J., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. Logistic regression. Nat. Methods 13, 541–542 (2016). - Hartigan, J. A. & Wong, M. A. Algorithm AS 136: a K-means clustering algorithm. Appl. Stat. 28, 100–108 (1979). - Lukonin, I. et al. Phenotypic landscape
Aug 14, 2026 · via nature.com
Challenge to facial recognition at protests to be examined by Supreme Court of India India’s Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the deployment of facial recognition technology (FRT) and other biometric surveillance tech by police at protest venues. A report from the Deccan Herald says the writ petition is linked to demonstrations by the Cockroach Janta Party, the student-led movement that has shaken up Indian politics in recent months. The piece names two facial recognition providers, Aditya Infotech Ltd. and Dimension NXG Pvt Ltd., that supported police facial recognition deployments in Delhi. Aditya Infotech maps faces while the Dimension system tracks vehicles. ‘Indiscriminate biometric surveillance’ unconstitutional Petitioners say the biometric data was collected without consent and stored by the private firms in violation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 – arguing that Delhi Police “conducted extensive biometric surveillance in a complete legal vacuum,” using automated live facial recognition through CCTV cameras, drones, and a mobile command and control vehicle. “The petition highlighted the use of real-time facial recognition via the ‘Ikshana’ vehicle and ‘AjnaLens’ smart spectacles, along with fingerprint matching through the ‘Abhigyan’ mobile application,” says the Herald. The Cockroach Janta Party’s rise presents a challenge to the established regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and fears of government surveillance of protests are rooted in real political crackdowns. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana have taken up the writ petition for examination. The inclusion of smart glasses in Delhi police’s surveillance arsenal raises more questions about the safety of Meta’s controversial offering in the market. This month, two Florida sheriff’s offices purchased Meta smart glasses; reporting on the story, Biometric Update’s Anthony Kimery writes that it demonstrates that “consumer equipment capable of taking photographs, recording audio and video, and transmitting
Aug 14, 2026 · via biometricupdate.com
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Aug 14, 2026 · via dallasnews.com
Vadzo Imaging Validates Real Time Dynamic ROI in Falcon-235CGS AR0235 Global Shutter USB Camera Vadzo Imaging's Falcon-235CGS is a 2MP Global Shutter USB Camera built on the Onsemi AR0235 HyperLux SG sensor, pairing simultaneous full pixel exposure with Dynamic ROI windowing so embedded vision teams can trade sensor area for frame rate without touching the optical path. Delivering 1920 x 1200 color output across a UVC-compliant USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface, this AR0235 2MP Global Shutter Color USB Camera is engineered for high-speed machine vision, robotics, sports analytics, and industrial inspection where motion artifact-free capture is a hard system requirement FORT WORTH, Texas, August 14, 2026 (Newswire.com) - Vadzo Imaging, a provider of embedded vision camera products, today announces the launch of the Falcon-235CGS, an AR0235 2MP Global Shutter Color USB Camera engineered for OEM teams that need geometrically accurate frames at acquisition rates full frame readout cannot sustain. The Falcon-235CGS exposes every pixel in a single integration period and allows the active readout window to be resized and repositioned while the stream is running, giving integrators direct control over resolution, frame rate, and bus bandwidth inside one plug-and-play module. The Two Constraints That Limit High Speed Vision Systems Every vision system that images a moving subject meets the same two constraints at the sensor level. The first is the shutter architecture. A rolling shutter sensor reads pixel rows in sequence, so the top of the frame is captured at a different instant than the bottom. When the subject moves during that interval, the frame is skewed, and every measurement derived from it carries a spatial error that no correction fully removes. On a conveyor running at 1.5 meters per second, a readout interval of a few milliseconds displaces the bottom of the frame by several millimeters, and gauging, optical
Aug 14, 2026 · via newswire.com
Officials say Flock Safety cameras asset for local law enforcement despite national concerns When a group of criminals on a multistate theft spree stopped at the Jasper Ulta, swiped testers from the displays, and bolted out the door, a witness was able to describe the vehicle to a responding Jasper Police Officer. That officer passed the information along to Jasper Detective Sgt. Greg Brescher, who entered the description into the Flock Safety database. He found that one of the 22 cameras deployed throughout Dubois County had captured an image of the vehicle, including the license plate number. From this, Brescher was also able to determine where the suspects were heading. “We actually tracked them down on their way to Evansville, and we notified Evansville PD and Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Department,” Brescher explained. “Vanderburgh County found them on the interstate, pulled them over, and detained them for us until we brought them back to Jasper.” The criminal activity had begun in Florida with multiple Ulta stores being hit across several states as they traveled to Indiana. “Hillsborough County, Florida knew who they were,” Brescher said. The group was suspected of at least $50,000 in retail theft in the Florida county. “We know of at least three other cities that are investigating this same group of three people,” Brescher added. Using the Flock Safety cameras, Jasper Police stopped the crime spree about 45 minutes after they hit the Ulta. According to Brescher, the cameras seemingly allowed them to track the trio in real time. The cameras have been used extensively by all the local departments. In Ferdinand, the Flock Safety cameras there have helped locate and apprehend an individual suspected of a murder in Texas, solve a hit-and-run of a local business, and capture the individuals involved in a snatch-and-grab at the
Aug 14, 2026 · via duboiscountyfreepress.com
Live Facial Recognition technology leads to two arrests for breaches of Sexual Harm Prevention Orders in Stockport By Livia Gregor 14th Aug 2026 Greater Manchester Police were able to make two arrests for breaches of Sexual Harm Prevention Orders in Stockport thanks to Live Facial Recognition (LFR) equipment. The equipment scans people's faces with alerts triggered for pre-registered reasons – such as when people are wanted, missing or subject to an order. On Wednesday (12 August), officers were deployed to Stockport town centre with LFR as part of the local neighbourhood team's wider work addressing problems in the area. Greater Manchester Police said: "Specific operations – including the ongoing ASB-smashing Operation Rimini – has resulted in dozens of arrests and countless charges over the last year, while vital work with partners has helped address the core roots of many problems." During the four hour deployment, thousands of faces were scanned, with four triggering alerts. Images of faces that do not trigger alerts are deleted almost instantly. All future deployments can be viewed on the Greater Manchester Police website. The four alerts triggered on Wednesday were all for people with Sexual Harm Prevention Orders in place – with two men – aged 38 and 41– subsequently being arrested on suspicion of breaching the conditions of their respective order. LFR has been used at events across Manchester from concerts to football matches and is utilised in town centres to create an extra layer of security for local people. Inspector Jason Holmwood, from our Stockport district, said: "Our Live Facial Recognition deployment in Stockport on 12 August delivered positive results, with two arrests made and a significant amount of constructive engagement with members of the public. "The technology is a valuable tool that helps us locate wanted individuals and protect our communities, while
Aug 14, 2026 · via stockport.nub.news
For a long time I mixed all of this up. Exactly one thing was clear in my head: there's SFT, where you train the model to predict token after token. After that it turned into soup. RLHF, PPO, DPO, RLVR, GRPO, reward model, value function. A pile of three- and four-letter acronyms all orbiting "fine-tuning", and it was never clear which one was a cousin of which, and which was from a different universe entirely. I'm an ML Engineer. My job isn't to "explain how someone else's paper works", it's to design an architecture for a task, train it, ship it to production, and measure whether the business metric actually moved. From that seat, what I was missing was one simple map: what comes after what, what here is supervised and what is real RL, and why a reward model has nothing to do with RL. This article is that map. By the end you'll have what I was missing: what post-training is made of, where the line runs between "we trained a reward model" and "we spun the policy with RL", and how DPO differs from RLHF in plain terms rather than by a symbol in a formula. The big picture: post-training is not a single button First, notation. Let x be the prompt and y the completion (what the model generated in response). Almost everything below is a function of the pair (x, y). How it actually goes: 1. Pretraining. Teach the model language and the general skill of continuing text. It's not an assistant yet, just a giant autocomplete. 2. SFT (a.k.a. IFT, instruction tuning). Teach it not to keep continuing the sentence but to answer in a question-answer format. This is the foundation, nothing downstream works without it. 3. Preference alignment (RLHF). We want the model
Aug 14, 2026 · via hackernoon.com