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A global assessment of BirdNET performance: Differences among continents, biomes, and species
Full text linkRecent advances in machine learning have accelerated automated species detection across diverse ecological domains, enabling large-scale, non-invasive monitoring of biodiversity. In ornithological research, the combination of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) and rapidly-developing novel identification tools such as BirdNET—a deep learning–based sound recognition algorithm—offers new opportunities for surveying vocally active bird communities. Here, we present the first worldwide evaluation of BirdNET using 4224 one-minute recordings from 67 sites across all continents annotated by local experts. More specifically, we assessed the capacity of BirdNET to accurately identify individual vocalizations and characterize bird communities based on the automated analysis of passively collected soundscapes. We further analyzed how its performance varies across continents, biomes, species, and minimum confidence thresholds. The proportion of correct BirdNET predictions (precision) was generally high and consistent across continents (range: 0.57–0.71) and biomes (range: 0.55–0.76). In contrast, the proportion of vocalizations successfully detected (recall) was generally lower and more heterogeneous across continents (range: 0.24–0.52) and biomes (range: 0.34–0.72), reflecting differences in species coverage and local ecological context. BirdNET predictive power, as measured by the Precision-Recall Area Under the Curve (PR AUC; higher values indicating better performance), was highest in North America, Oceania, and Europe (range: 0.16–0.23), moderate in Central/South America (0.13), and lowest in Africa and Asia (range: 0.03–0.04). Species-specific analyses revealed substantial heterogeneity in detection accuracy, with optimal confidence thresholds varying widely by species and analytical goal. Our results establish a global reference point for BirdNET reliability and highlight where algorithmic refinement and expanded acoustic sampling are most needed
Enhancing undergraduate nurses’ online learning engagement: A mixed methods study
Full text linkAimTo evaluate a structured, student-focused online learning environment (OLE) for delivering applied sciences for nursing.BackgroundOnline learning can impair the learning experience for students, but it promotes flexible access to study.DesignA mixed-methods study was used to explore and analyze students’ experiences and preferences for two different delivery models. The original online module space consisted of an information repository. The new OLE was a structured bioscience for nursing module, designed to scaffold student learning to achieve learning outcomes using a variety of different methods to support diverse learning styles. Outcome measures used were student satisfaction, student assessments and qualitative data from module feedback questionnaires and focus groups.MethodsQuestionnaires on the OLE experience were administered to students (n = 52) and results compared with previous module feedback. Two student focus groups (n = 7) explored these responses in more depth.ResultsA redesigned OLE, with student learning as its focus, improved student engagement with the module space. Interactive learning experiences made students feel better prepared for assessment. Students gained greater digital capabilities by using the OLE. The flexibility and potential to re-watch teaching sessions was welcomed.ConclusionsOLEs should be designed collaboratively with learning technologists and regularly reviewed to avoid overwhelming students with irrelevant or outdated materials. Flexible, online learning is ubiquitous, requiring a user-friendly and effective OLE for nursing students
Educational safeguarding measures to prevent radicalisation: does the devil lie in the detail?
Full text linkIncorporation of Prevent Duty Guidance (PDG) into existing educational safeguarding processes from 2015 in England and Wales has proven controversial. For some, the integration of counter-extremism measures into extant safeguarding portfolios constitutes a natural extension of anticipatory security strategies, consistent with current trends in new public management and has been comfortably assimilated by educators. For others, the PDG erroneously responsibilises teachers into implementing frontline national security strategy and renders them accountable for preventing radicalisation without adequate training, guidance or support. In this article, we examine the findings of surveys and studies in the field to elucidate how and why such polarised viewpoints have emerged, arguing that a tendency to gravitate in either “accept” or “reject” camps has obscured vital and fundamental issues about the ways in which the PDG is understood, negotiated and enacted by educators. In order to move debates beyond entrenched binaries of whether educators “accept” or “reject” Prevent safeguarding duties, we bring to the surface some of the more complex problems and issues for educators involved in translating security policy into practice in educational contexts. Through an evaluation of Prevent’s evolution, the pressures shaping compliance and some of the unintended consequences of its application, we encourage concentration on the quandaries and dilemmas that arise for educators in “doing” Prevent. Our analysis is designed to promote greater understanding of both the key gaps that have emerged between policy and implementation, and the specific areas of concern that have hampered effective implementation of safeguarding practices to counter-extremism
Can the Adoption of Circular Economy Practices Foster Supply Chain Resilience and Performance Improvements?
Full text linkWhile a growing literature is showing interest in the circular economy (CE) paradigm, there is still a lack of consensus on whether the adoption of CE practices can help to cope with supply risks arising from an increasingly uncertain business environment in order to increase supply chain resilience (SCRES) and improve a firm's performance. Through a survey of Italian enterprises engaged with CE practices, this study aims to fill this literature gap, investigating whether the adoption of CE practices can initiate a path of increased SCRES, which can lead firms to improve their overall performance, thus proactively responding to environments characterised by high levels of supply risk. This study contributes to the debates about the paths connecting CE practices and firms' performance, especially in the context of vulnerabilities and disturbances, empirically demonstrating how firms might exploit the potential of CE by investing in SCRES. This study sheds light on the relationship between CE and SCRES, particularly underlying the most relevant paths of relationships between CE and those SCRES capabilities that can lead to performance improvements, particularly when the level of supply risk increases
Category trouble: AI’s queer problem
Full text linkThis essay subjects AI algorithms and code more broadly to a critical code studies analysis to argue that coding architecture in its current form is unable to accommodate queerly fluid visions of the world because of the elemental importance of categories for code to function. I first demonstrate how coding is necessarily a categorical enterprise, whose condition of possibility depends on eliminating uncertainty and in-betweenness. Then, I turn to an analysis of image recognition models (specifically, the convolutional neural network LeNet) and the word embedding architecture of large language models to show the strategies with which these models encode fundamentally ambiguous and fluid concepts through fixed and clearly demarcated categories. Finally, I apply the insights from the classification and generative models examined to a case study of recommendation algorithms in social media to demonstrate the real-life effects of their categorical logic. Ultimately, those effects amount to the construction of digital worlds that exclude fluidity and enforce strict boundaries between people and identifications, siloing different groups and silencing alternative perspectives. To achieve a more just vision for the future, then—one that respects and furthers the coexistence of diverse, uncertain, and shifting views of identity and belonging—it will be paramount to fundamentally rethink the structures of contemporary AI models
She's Not Posh: Reclaiming Chick Lit for Working Class, Northern Voices
No full textThis practice-based PhD comprises a novel with complementary critical and reflective discourses. The novel engages with and reimagines the conventions of “chick lit” to foreground Northern working-class female voices, offering a subversive and socially engaged development of the genre. Through a chick lit lens which I have developed, the narrative explores how prose fiction can document, represent, and critique the lived experience of young women in the workplace. Rooted in my own professional experience within the Further Education (FE) sector in England, the novel interrogates the intersections of class, regional identity, and gender. It examines how these factors shape and complicate the politics of labour in an undervalued and often overlooked employment sector. The accompanying critical discourses reflect on the creative process and contextualise the work within the broader literary and cultural frameworks. They argue for the legitimacy of chick lit as a site of literary inquiry and advocate for the inclusion of working-class perspectives within the genre.Together, the creative and critical components of this thesis propose that chick lit, when informed by personal and socio-political realities, can serve as a powerful platform for articulating the challenges faced by women in contemporary work environments, and argues that chick lit has significant validity within academia; it is not a ‘”throwaway genre” as often perceived, rather it has scale and reach. This research contributes to the evolving field of working-class literary studies and opens new avenues for the representation of marginalised voices within popular fiction
Professionals' Knowledge and Experiences of Supplementary Breast Cancer Screening in Women with Dense Breasts across Europe: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Inform Best Practice
Full text linkBreast cancer remains the most diagnosed cancer among women in Europe.Dense breast tissue, present in approximately 40–50% of women undergoingmammographic screening, significantly reduces the sensitivity of full-field digitalmammography and independently increases the risk of developing breastcancer. Although supplemental imaging can improve cancer detection in thispopulation, substantial variability exists across European countries in terms ofclinical practice, implementation of guidelines, and healthcare professionals'awareness. This doctoral study aimed to address these disparities and informbest practice through a multi-phase, mixed-methods research approach.The study was conducted in four sequential phases. Phase 1 involved asystematic review and meta-analysis of the literature evaluating the diagnosticperformance of supplementary imaging modalities, including magneticresonance imaging (MRI), digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), automated breastultrasound (ABUS), hand-held ultrasound (HHUS), molecular breast imaging(MBI) and contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM). Phase 2 consisted ofqualitative semi-structured interviews with clinical radiologists, radiographersand managers across Europe, exploring their knowledge, experiences, andchallenges related to implementing supplemental imaging during screening.Phase 3 employed an online survey to quantify current screening practices,awareness of existing guidelines, and professionals' willingness and readinessto adopt supplemental imaging. Phase 4 integrated findings from the previousphases to develop evidence-based recommendations for harmonising screeningpractices for women with dense breasts across Europe.The findings revealed widespread inconsistency in the adoption of supplementalscreening, gaps in knowledge and training among professionals, and substantialbarriers including limited resources, lack of standardised protocols, and unclearnational guidance. While most professionals recognised the limitations ofmammography in dense breasts, their access to and use of supplementalimaging varied greatly.This research highlights the need for more consistent and equitable breastcancer screening policies. The evidence-based recommendations developedthrough this study offer a practical framework for enhancing clinical practice,supporting guideline implementation, and ultimately improving screeningoutcomes for women with dense breast tissue throughout Europe
Controlled low density monolayers by supramolecular templating from radical grafting reactions
No full textElectro-grafting using aryldiazonium cations to functionalise surfaces of electrodes is a well-established electrochemical technique. This technique is used to form thin, organic, covalently bonded films on surfaces of electrodes. The reaction proceeds through reductive generation of an aryl radical which then forms a covalent bond with the surface. However, since aryldiazonium cations are a highly reactive species that form free radicals upon reduction. These free radicals then react with aryl groups already bound to the surface. This leads to ill-defined multilayer films that are unsuitable for many applications, due to the high resistance created at the electrode surface when there is a multilayer film on the surface. Here we investigate the use of a crown ether ring (dibenzo-21-crown-7) as a protecting template to form an organic monolayer using diazonium chemistry on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode. The crown template can associate aryl amines (p-phenylenediamine and 4-aminomethyl aniline) in a non-competitive solvent. After diazotisation (of a second amine group para to the crown-binding amine) the complex is grafted to the surface. The protecting crown template prevents further aryl radicals from attacking the already surface bound aryl groups, with the crown acting as a protecting sacrificial template. Therefore, multilayers will not be able form at the surface of the electrode. After grafting the crown can be removed revealing a well-defined monolayer. The association between the dibenzo-21-crown- 7 template and the aniline precursor is shown through 1H NMR spectroscopy, giving strong evidence of the expected association between these species. After grafting, the surface of the electrode was characterised before and after crown removal by cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results are compared to a modified electrode not utilising the templating strategy and show the templating method leads to lower density (likely monolayer) films
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