Results from the implementation of an online color imaging system on industrial snack food production lines are presented. Feature information is extracted from images using multivariate image analysis based on principal component analysis and is used to develop models to predict the coating content and the coating distribution on the products. The imaging system is used to monitor these product quality variables and to detect and diagnose operational problems in the plants. It is also used to directly implement closed-loop feedback control over the coating concentration.

We seek to address current limitations of forensic risk assessments by introducing the first mobile, self-scoring, risk assessment software that relies on neurocognitive testing to predict reoffense. This assessment, run entirely on a tablet, measures decision-making via a suite of neurocognitive tests in less than 30 minutes. The software measures several cognitive and decision-making traits of the user, including impulsivity, empathy, aggression, and several other traits linked to reoffending. Our analysis measured whether this assessment successfully predicted recidivism by testing probationers in a large urban city (Houston, TX, United States) from 2017 to 2019. To determine predictive validity, we used machine learning to yield cross-validated receiveroperator characteristics. Results gave a recidivism prediction value of 0.70, making it comparable to commonly used risk assessments. This novel approach diverges from traditional self-reporting, interview-based, and criminal-records-based approaches, and can also add a protective layer against bias, while strengthening model accuracy in predicting reoffense. In addition, subjectivity is eliminated and time-consuming administrative efforts are reduced. With continued data collection, this approach opens the possibility of identifying different levels of recidivism risk, by crime type, for any age, or gender, and seeks to steer individuals appropriately toward rehabilitative programs. Suggestions for future research directions are provided.

Risk assessment has become a prominent part of the criminal justice system in many jurisdictions, typically relying on structured questions and an interview. This approach, however, may not accurately assess certain psychological concepts correlated with reoffense, such as executive functioning, ability to plan, impulse control, risk-taking, aggression, and empathy. We hypothesized that using rapid-tablet-based neurocognitive tests would pay off in terms of objectivity, precision, and scalability when added to the existing risk assessment structure. We analyzed 240 observations from adult felony offenders from a large urban county in the South assessed by the Texas version of the Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS) risk tool. We identified significant differences in impulse control, planning, and reactive aggression between offenders and reoffenders. By combining these variables with the Texas Risk Assessment System (TRAS), we yielded significant improvements in risk prediction. We hope this will provide new inroads for actuarial assessments of reoffense risk that incorporate direct measurements of individual decision making.

According to conservative estimates, the country spends a minimum of $25,500-$26,000 per year on each person incarcerated [1]. Incarceration also has long-term costs for both offenders and society. For example, a young person with a prison record may be precluded from becoming a citizen who votes, participates in community-building, and contributes to the community. Someone's re-offending (i.e., in the case of recidivism, defined broadly as re-offending with any jailable offense) means social resources were squandered without rehabilitating the offender (i.e., without resulting in future behavior for which one could be arrested). Unfortunately, the United States has high rates of recidivism: two separate Bureau of Justice Statistics studies have found that more than 62 percent of offenders released from prison are rearrested within three years [2, 3]. Society thus achieves minimal rewards in return for its costly expenses, because nearly two-thirds of convicts reoffend and return to the criminal justice system.

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