VOA标准英语2012--New App Helps ID Altered Fingerprints

 New App Helps ID Altered Fingerprints²

Altered state
Biting the pads off fingertips or surgically³ replacing the fingerprints with toe prints might seem like drastic measures but Anil Jain, a biometrics expert and professor at Michigan State University, says these efforts at deception⁴ are becoming increasingly common.
“People who go through this process, which can be both expensive and painful, would want to do this only for high-valued scenarios⁵ and not for cashing a check for $50," Jain says. "So the most common uses of this fingerprint¹ alteration⁶ is people who are seeking asylum⁷ in the United States or in Europe, because if they have a prior criminal record, they will probably not be granted asylum.”
Popular crime dramas lead many to believe it's easy to confirm a person's identity from a fingerprint. In reality, it's not so simple. A number of factors make identification difficult: whether information has been entered into a specific database, if the specimen⁸ is smudged or a partial print, and if that print has been altered.
An app for that
Very little research has been done in this last category. Existing software can alert law enforcement if the print image quality is poor. But that isn't much help because many altered prints are of good quality.
Jain's graduate student, Soweon Yoon, was part of a team that designed a precise algorithm that helps software systems identify altered prints.
“The most important feature for fingerprint matching is called minutiae⁹. So minutiae refers to [a] ridge¹⁰ ending point and [a] ridge bifurcation point," Yoon says. "From typical fingerprint impression, we can extract 100 minutiae per each finger.”
While patterns on most of our fingers flow in curves and loops, those who have altered fingerprints have abrupt¹¹, discontinued lines. That generates an unusually high number of minutiae points.
“You can imagine if someone makes a cut here, they will generate a lot of ridge ending points, so that generates [an] excessive number of minutiae,” Yoon says.
While it may seem easy enough to look at a set of fingerprints and tell if it has been altered, Jain says it’s not practical.
“Some of these databases are extremely, extremely large. So the FBI database is an example, has about 70 million subjects. That means there are 700 million fingerprint images if each person has 10 fingers. And so there is no way anybody could manually check whether there are altered fingerprints or not.”
Eliminating the guesswork
As it analyzes¹² images, the application does not identify people, it simply alerts officials to an anomaly, so they can perform a secondary inspection¹³. And, Jain says, it also takes the guesswork out of determining whether or not a print has been altered.
“Different human experts will have different degrees of proficiency¹⁴ in identifying (prints), and they get tired and so their decisions are not necessarily going to be consistent. Whereas a computer algorithm is going to be consistently behaving, there is no subjectivity¹⁵ in it once you tune¹⁶ it, it’s going to behave in the same way.”
The application also helps distinguish between accidental and intentional¹⁷ alterations¹⁸. Most accidents result in scars on only a few fingers. If there are changes in five or more, that was most likely done on purpose.
The methods for altering fingerprints are becoming more sophisticated every day. Back in 1934, the infamous¹⁹ American bank robber John Dillinger burned his fingers with acid, hoping to evade²⁰ identification and capture.
According to Yoon, today's criminals use everything from making a Z-shaped cut on the finger pad and switching the skin flaps, to creating temporary silicon²¹ overlays, and even triple print switches.
“Recently, three people were charged because of this fingerprint alteration. So one was the patient who received a surgery and then the second one was the broker²², and the third one was the physician who performed that surgery.”
Michigan State University has licensed²³ the new application to Morpho, a leading biometrics identification firm based in Paris. The company, which supplies software systems to many of the world's top law enforcement agencies, expects it will be able to market the application easily and quickly.
Meanwhile, Jain and his team are developing algorithms and software, which will one day be able to recover and rebuild fingerprints from altered samples.

1 fingerprint   

n.指纹；vt.取...的指纹

参考例句：

• The fingerprint expert was asked to testify at the trial.指纹专家应邀出庭作证。
• The court heard evidence from a fingerprint expert.法院听取了指纹专家的证词。

2 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 surgically   

adv. 外科手术上, 外科手术一般地

参考例句：

• Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
• To bypass this impediment an almost mature egg cell is removed surgically. 为了克服这一障碍，通过手术，取出一个差不多成熟的卵细胞。

4 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。

5 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 alteration   

n.变更，改变；蚀变

参考例句：

• The shirt needs alteration.这件衬衣需要改一改。
• He easily perceived there was an alteration in my countenance.他立刻看出我的脸色和往常有些不同。

7 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

8 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

9 minutiae   

n.微小的细节，细枝末节；（常复数）细节，小事( minutia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the minutiae of the contract 合同细节
• He had memorized the many minutiae of the legal code. 他们讨论旅行的所有细节。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

11 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

12 analyzes   

v.分析( analyze的第三人称单数 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• This approach analyzes management by studying experience usually through cases. 这个学派通常从实例获得经验，用以分析管理。 来自辞典例句
• The econometrician analyzes statistical data. 经济计量学者要分析统计材料。 来自辞典例句

13 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

14 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

15 subjectivity   

n.主观性（主观主义）

参考例句：

• In studying a problem,we must shun subjectivity.研究问题，忌带主观性。
• 'Cause there's a certain amount of subjectivity involved in recreating a face.因为在重建面部的过程中融入了太多的主观因素？

16 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

17 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。

18 alterations   

n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变

参考例句：

• Any alterations should be written in neatly to the left side. 改动部分应书写清晰，插在正文的左侧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code. 基因突变是指DNA 密码的改变。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

20 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

21 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

22 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

23 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？