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Advanced Mineral Deposit Mapping via Deep Learning and SVM Integration With Remote Sensing Imaging Data
Get PDFAutomating mineral delineation and rock type analysis using remote sensing imaging data is a critical application of machine learning. Traditional machine learning methods often struggle with accuracy and precise map generation. This study aims to enhance performance through a refined deep learning model. In this work, we present a deep learning pipeline to map the mineral deposits in the study area. Initially, we apply a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to a specialized mineral dataset to map mineral deposits within the study area. Subsequently, we build a hybrid model combining deep CNN layers with a support vector machine (SVM). This merger significantly improves classification accuracy from an initial 92.7% to 95.3%. In our approach, CNN layers function as feature extractors while the SVM serves as the classification model. Moreover, we conduct an evaluation of the SVM using polynomial kernels of degrees 3, 6, 9, and 12. The results indicate that the SVM with a degree of 12 achieved the highest classification accuracy, followed by degrees 9, 6, and 3. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method for classifying remote sensing imaging data, showcasing its potential for advancing mineral delineation and rock type analysis
Aeromonas dhakensis: A Zoonotic Bacterium of Increasing Importance in Aquaculture
Get PDFAeromonas dhakensis is increasingly recognised to be an important pathogen responsible for disease losses in warm-water aquaculture and, similar to several other Aeromonas species, it can infect humans. Knowledge of A. dhakensis is accumulating, but this species remains relatively under-investigated compared to its close relative, Aeromonas hydrophila. The significance of A. dhakensis may have been overlooked in disease events of aquatic animals due to issues with reliable identification. Critical to appreciating the importance of this pathogen is the application of dependable molecular tools that enable accurate identification and discrimination from A. hydrophila and other motile aeromonads. This review aims to synthesise the key literature on A. dhakensis, particularly with relevance to aquaculture, including knowledge of the bacterium derived from disease case studies in aquatic hosts. Identification methods and strain phylogeny are discussed, with accurate detection important for prompt diagnosis and for distinguishing strains with heightened virulence. Increasing evidence suggests that A. dhakensis may be more virulent than A. hydrophila and correct identification is required to determine the zoonotic risks posed, which includes concerns for antibiotic-resistant strains. This review provides an impetus to improve species identification in the future and screen strain collections of presumptive Aeromonas spp. retrospectively to reveal the true prevalence and impact of A. dhakensis in aquaculture, the environment, and healthcare settings
Does Brexit make Scottish (and Welsh) independence movements less viable? An exploration of the relationship between EU membership and minority nationalism in the UK
Get PDFThe consequences of the UK’s exit from the European Union have been much discussed, including the relationship between these developments and the UK’s territorial future. This article seeks to contribute to this debate, focusing on the Scottish and Welsh independence movements. It argues that the European Union has been key to the growing viability of these movements over recent decades, providing both an external means of validation to their overriding objective of independence, and a practical support mechanism for its pursuit outside of the context of national politics. Further, it argues that both movements have successfully exploited international institutions and networks to further their goals. Brexit, therefore, in depriving them of such avenues and halting their European institutionalisation presents a threat to their ongoing viability and harms the technical feasibility of Scottish and Welsh independence. These findings significantly disrupt the assumption that the rupture of Brexit makes Scottish (or indeed Welsh) independence more likely, let alone inevitable
Burns and the Borders of Poetry in the Letters of James Wodrow and Samuel Kenrick
Get PDFThe rich and lengthy correspondence (1750–1810) between the Ayrshire minister, James Wodrow, and his friend Samuel Kenrick contains four pairs of letters which discuss how much local knowledge was required to understand and appreciate the Scots poetry of Robert Burns, located in their own ongoing conversation about the transferability of language beyond borders. Wodrow was deeply embedded in the church and social life of Burns’s Ayrshire, while Kenrick, a Welshman living in England, also had substantial roots in the southwest of Scotland. Their discussions present an example of informal but informed literary criticism in the Enlightenment, beyond the circles of the celebrated literati or published reviewers
Coaching Generation Z: Practice from a different perspective and base
Get PDFFirst paragraph: We would like to sincerely thank Gould et al. (Citation2023) for their considered and reflexive response to our commentary. Stating that they took a pragmatic approach to trying to understand the phenomenon of coaching Gen Z athletes, trying to answer questions for a very applied audience, Gould et al. outlined several areas of agreement, as well as some areas of strong disagreement. In terms of alignment, Gould et al. reiterated that a more diverse sample (currently, single sport; high economic status) is needed and alerted readership to a forthcoming second study that involves interviewing college coaches and athletes from different sports. They were appreciative of the critical literature that we introduced and concurred that researchers should employ a range of frameworks to understand the topic of generation going forward. There were other areas of consensus. These included the need for greater emphasis on the possibility of generational stereotyping, being cognizant of the potential for generational power imbalances, and acknowledging the critically important role of the environment in the contextualization of knowledge and knowledge utilization. In particular though, Gould et al. disagreed with our assertion that ‘generation’ could be a conceptually problematic or oversimplified category for analysis. They also rejected our assertions of objectivism and determinism, as well as the observation that some coach participants in their descriptions almost seemed to pathologize young people’s behavior in the form of negative, problematizing generalizations. Overall, in spite of several concerns we presented (e.g., definitional and conceptual unclarity, mixed evidence, limited predictability, the possibility of generational concepts to do harm and conflate explanatory phenomenon), Gould et al. retain a steadfast overall faith in the their construct of generation and study of it; drawing on their own observations to make useful clarifications and additional reflections on the original article and using recent work by Jean Twenge to dispel concerns and to argue for the continued usefulness of studying generations
Survival and transfer potential of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium colonising polyethylene microplastics in contaminated agricultural soils
Get PDFAgricultural environments are becoming increasingly contaminated with plastic pollution. Plastics in the environment can also provide a unique habitat for microbial biofilm, termed the ‘plastisphere’, which can also support the persistence of human pathogens such as Salmonella. Human enteric Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium can enter agricultural environments via flooding or from irrigation with contaminated water. Using soil mesocosms we quantified the ability of S. Typhimurium to persist on microplastic beads in two agriculturally relevant soils, under ambient and repeat flood scenarios. S. Typhimurium persisted in the plastisphere for 35 days in both podzol and loamy soils; while during multiple flood events was able to survive in the plastisphere for up to 21 days. S. Typhimurium could dissociate from the plastisphere during flooding events and migrate through soil in leachate, and importantly could colonise new plastic particles in the soil, suggesting that plastic pollution in agricultural soils can aid S. Typhimurium persistence and facilitate further dissemination within the environment. The potential for increased survival of enteric human pathogens in agricultural and food production environments due to plastic contamination poses a significant public health risk, particularly in potato or root vegetable systems where there is the potential for direct contact with crops
Weighting factors for LCA - A new set from a global survey
No full textPurpose: This paper provides global weights (weighting factors) for the three endpoint impact categories (Areas of Protection, AoPs) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Life Cycle Initiative's "Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators and Methods" (GLAM) project, namely human health, ecosystem quality, and natural resources and ecosystem services. Methods: A Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was conducted to elicit the preferences of respondents on the GLAM AoPs and they were then used calculate the respective weights. Responses were obtained from a subset of countries pertaining to each income level defined by the World Bank (i.e., low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high). The adimensional (between 0 and 1) weights were derived using two different approaches: econometric and Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). The econometric approach obtained weights by transforming the estimated preference parameters from a multinomial logit model. The MCDA approach obtained weights representing the vectors that best reconstitute the choices of each individual, using linear programming to fit an additive value function. Results: When considering responses from all income groups, the weights from the econometric approach are 0.42, 0.31 and 0.26 for human health, ecosystem quality, and natural resources and ecosystem services, respectively. Following the same order for the AoPs, the weights from the MCDA approach are 0.41, 0.32, and 0.27. For high income countries, ecosystem quality has the highest weight; for upper-middle-income countries ecosystem quality and human health have the same weights using the econometric approach, while in the MCDA approach human health is weighted higher than ecosystem quality. For the two lower income country groups the priority is given to human health with both approaches. Recommendations for the use of these weights are also provided, as well as comparison with other existing weights. Conclusion: The two methods obtained similar weights overall, although with some differences when disaggregated by income groups. The weights proposed in this paper are suitable for decision makers or users who want to use survey-derived weights for endpoint-based LCA, when using the AoPs of GLAM. These weights can be used in projects where the decision makers do not want to or have no resources to identify a set of weights themselves, or when decision makers are not involved.Output Status: Forthcomin
Plastics and the Hidden Majority: Conservation Implications for a Threatened UK Freshwater Fish
No full textHumanity is currently operating outside the planetary boundary for novel entities, with plastic pollution emerging as a significant concern. Global plastic mass, including current use and plastic waste, is estimated at double the mass of all living animal biomass. River sediments can accumulate microplastic contamination, with particularly high contamination in urban hydrometric areas. Higher loadings of microplastic contamination have been observed in sediments compared to the water column and areas with both depositional habitats and low water velocity. Lamprey larvae burrow in depositional freshwater sediments for up to seven years and feed on deposited organic matter. Despite this overlap, the extent of microplastic contamination in lamprey larvae, to the best of my knowledge, has not been documented.
Few would say that lamprey species are charismatic, it’s parasitic life stages, unusual image and contrasting management views globally result in these species falling low on the priority list. However, this important ecosystem engineer, protected across Europe is one which this thesis aims to bring front and centre. Considerable knowledge gaps present both research opportunities and challenges. To date management and research efforts have focused on the upstream migration of adult lamprey, due to the threats from anthropogenic barriers. Certainly, an important factor in the conservation of lamprey across Europe, however there is a lack of research into other emerging threats to this primitive species. This thesis has filled in knowledge gaps concerning the exposure of lamprey larvae to microplastic contamination and the ecotoxicological effects associated with such exposure.
The research develops novel methods to optimise the isolation of microplastic particles from complex organic tissue, microplastics identification and automated data analysis. The findings suggest that microplastic contamination is present in wild lamprey populations from Scottish rivers, with different age classes of larvae ingesting distinctive polymer types. To understand whether exposure to microplastics leads to identifiable effects in lamprey, behavioural and developmental end points were considered in experimental systems. These studies suggest microplastic exposure elicits impacts on larvae behaviour and early development. The results obtained from can be used to support further research and to aid development of future studies aimed at conservation management of this ecologically important species
Women's experiences and views of routine assessment for anxiety in pregnancy and after birth: A qualitative study
Get PDFBackground Anxiety in pregnancy and postnatally is highly prevalent but under-recognized. To identify perinatal anxiety, assessment tools must be acceptable to women who are pregnant or postnatal. Methods A qualitative study of women's experiences of anxiety and mental health assessment during pregnancy and after birth and views on the acceptability of perinatal anxiety assessment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 41 pregnant or postnatal women. Results were analysed using Sekhon et al.'s acceptability framework, as well as inductive coding of new or emergent themes. Results Women's perceptions of routine assessment for perinatal anxiety were generally favourable. Most participants thought assessment was needed and that the benefits outweighed potential negative impacts, such as unnecessary referrals to specialist services. Six themes were identified of: (1) Raising awareness; (2) Improving support; (3) Surveillance and stigma; (4) Gatekeeping; (5) Personalized care and (6) Trust. Assessment was seen as a tool for raising awareness about mental health during the perinatal period and a mechanism for normalizing discussions about mental health more generally. However, views on questionnaire assessments themselves were mixed, with some participants feeling they could become an administrative ‘tick box’ exercise that depersonalizes care and does not provide a space to discuss mental health problems. Conclusion Routine assessment of perinatal anxiety was generally viewed as positive and acceptable; however, this was qualified by the extent to which it was informed and personalized as a process. Approaches to assessment should ideally be flexible, tailored across the perinatal period and embedded in continuity of care
Explaining a Staff Rostering Problem using Partial Solutions
No full textThere are many critical optimisation tasks that metaheuris-tic approaches have been shown to be able to solve effectively. Despite promising results, users might not trust these algorithms due to their intrinsic lack of interpretability. This paper demonstrates the use of ex-plainability to resolve this issue by producing human-interpretable insights that focus on simplicity, fitness and linkage. Our explainability approach revolves around the concept of Partial Solutions , which assist in breaking up the solutions of optimisation problems into smaller components. We first expand upon our previous research proposing the technique, and then provide a use case on the Staff Ros-tering task: a large and otherwise uninterpretable optimisation problem with ethical implications due to its direct impact on humans. The explanations consist in rota assignments for interacting groups of workers, along with the reasons why they are interacting. Lastly, some experiments are used to ascertain that the algorithms work as intended and for hyperparameter tuning. The results suggest that our methodology is capable of presenting in-sightful information for the Staff Rostering problem, by producing both local explanations of solutions and global explanations of the problem definition.Output Status: Forthcomin
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