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Segmentation of left ventricle in 2D echocardiography using deep learning
Get PDFThe segmentation of Left Ventricle (LV) is currently carried out manually by the experts, and the automation of this process has proved challenging due to the presence of speckle noise and the inherently poor quality of the ultrasound images. This study aims to evaluate the performance of different state-of-the-art Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) segmentation models to segment the LV endocardium in echocardiography images automatically. Those adopted methods include U-Net, SegNet, and fully convolutional DenseNets (FC-DenseNet). The prediction outputs of the models are used to assess the performance of the CNN models by comparing the automated results against the expert annotations (as the gold standard). Results reveal that the U-Net model outperforms other models by achieving an average Dice coefficient of 0.93 ± 0.04, and Hausdorff distance of 4.52 ± 0.9
Book of beasties: championing mental health in schools
Get PDFSchool leaders need to be better supported to make informed decisions about strategies to promote mental health and to help pupils who are experiencing difficulties. One tool for doing this is ‘Book of Beasties: The mental wellness card game’. Book of Beasties (BoB) is a mental wellness card game targeted at primary school children. It is underpinned by the belief that every child should have the confidence to talk openly about their emotions and mental health. BoB aims to de-stigmatise mental health, promote wellbeing and raise emotional literacy
Clarifying street culture: integrating a diversity of opinions and voices
No full textScholarly fields are meant to be dynamic to accommodate new information that is infused with old. One of these areas is the notion, subject, subfield and process of street culture. Despite the frequency of its usage in the social sciences, urban planning, and selected areas of the visual arts, rarely is the term street culture defined and when it is, the definitions are often conceptually lacking. This article synthesizes current ideas about the study of street culture by examining six major questions that street culture researchers currently grapple with. The article outlines suggestions for improving scholarship in this field
Effect of partial replacement of coarse aggregate by polystyrene balls on the shear behaviour of deep beams with web openings
Get PDFThirteen specimens were experimentally tested under single midspan concentrated loads to study the shear behavior of lightweight concrete (LWC) and normal weight concrete (NWC) deep beams with web openings. In this research, the term LWC refers to the concrete obtained by partially replacing aggregate by polystyrene foam balls not the concrete containing lightweight aggregate. This resulted in a weight reduction of LWC beams in this research by approximately 30 % compared to NWC compartments. The studied variables were the dimensions and location of openings, transverse reinforcement ratio, and shear span to depth ratio (a/d). It was found that the overall shear behavior and failure mode for LWC deep beams are comparable to those of the NWC specimens. This is very promising and encouraging to build lighter deep beams of similar structural behaviour as that of NWC deep beams. Dimensions of the openings have a significant effect on the behaviour of failure and shear strength of LWC and NWC deep beams. It was found that increasing the depth of the opening from 20 % to 40 % of the beam depth led to a reduction in the ultimate load by up to 46.4 %. Finite element modelling of the test beams was carried out to verify numerical results versus experimental work and both were very well correlated. In addition, a parametric study was conducted to assess the effect of internal stiffening around openings in deep beams. The maximum enhancement in the shear capacity was approximately 30 % for beams, internally strengthened by additional reinforcement on the perimeter of openings compared to the beams without any reinforcement around the openings. Strut-and-Tie model (STM) was carried out as a rational approach to predict the shear behaviour of studied beams. It was found that STM underestimates the shear of the studied beams compared to experimental results for different tested beams but the agreement between both of them was acceptable. It is recommended that the depth of opening should not exceed 20 % of the depth of the deep beam and if the depth of opening is more than that or lies in the shear span it is highly recommended to strengthen the opening internally by additional reinforcement around its perimeter
Angle specific isokinetic metrics highlight strength training needs of elite youth soccer players
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to assess traditional and angle-specific isokinetic strength of eccentric knee flexors (eccKF) and concentric knee extensors (conKE) between senior professional and youth soccer players. 34 male soccer players (17 senior and 17 youth) were recruited for bilateral assessments at 180, 270 and 60°∙s-1. Peak torque (PT), dynamic control ratio (DCR), angle of peak torque (APT), functional range (FR), angle specific torque (AST) and angle specific DCR (DCRAST) were compared. EccKF and conKE PT (P = 0.782) and DCR (P = 0.508) were not different between groups across all angular velocities. Significant differences were identified for eccKF APT (P = 0.018) and FR (P = 0.006), DCRAST at 270°∙s-1 (P = 0.031) and in AST data recorded across angular velocities for eccKF and conKE (P = 0.003). Traditional strength measures were not sensitive to playing age, with implications for misinterpretation in training prescription. In contrast, AST data did differentiate between ages. Strength deficits which highlight the muscle contraction type, angular velocity and joint angle can be manipulated within an individualized training intervention. Given the relevance to injury aetiology, this study highlights potential implications for improved assessment strategies to inform training prescription for performance and injury prevention. Given the high number of injuries in adolescent soccer players, and in line with previous recommendations, practitioners should consider utilising more informed and specific strength and conditioning practices at younger ages
An evaluation of group reminiscence arts sessions for people with dementia living in care homes
Get PDFDementia has been identified as one of the major challenges in the 21st Century. The detrimental effects of dementia can jeopardise personhood, thus person-centred interventions including reminiscence and arts practice have been recommended as tools to promote social inclusion and improve the quality of life. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of group reminiscence arts sessions for people living with dementia in care homes (residential and nursing homes) using a comparative and time series design to collect data on quality of life. The intervention was conducted in six care homes in London over a period of 24 weeks and compared with six care homes not receiving the intervention (control). Dementia Care Mapping was used as the primary data collection instrument to measure positive behaviours and rate quality of life before, during and after group reminiscence arts sessions. The evaluation team observed the sessions at three-weekly intervals. Statistical modelling found that positive behaviours and quality of life of care home residents participating in group reminiscence arts sessions increased over the 24-week period. Well-being increased sharply during each session and plateaued at 50 minutes with a sustained positive effect after the sessions. On a longer timescale, well-being and quality of life increased slowly and steadily from one session to the next. The findings were statistically significant (p < 0.001). The study concludes that group reminiscence arts sessions can have a positive and sustained impact on the quality of life of people with dementia. However, the evidence on the sustainability of the effect over time remains unknown. More research is needed to assess in much greater depth the association between quality of life and group reminiscence arts sessions
Another London, another point of view: the use of defamiliarisation to elicit empathy in the reader for the white working-class protagonist in another London and their ‘real-world’ equivalents
Get PDFIn literary fiction, white working-class characters are often represented as part of a homogenised group, complete with stereotypical behaviours and characteristics. Using Fredric Jameson’s theory of the ideologeme to identify representational tropes of white working-class characters, this article analyses the juxtaposition of free-indirect discourse and first-person narration in Another London as a defamiliarisation technique to expose the ideologemes of white working-class literary representation. It then examines how, using practice-based research methodologies, the novel attempts to elicit empathy in the reader for the protagonist - an individuated white working-class character – and by doing so challenge the reader’s assumptions about the lifestyles of members of this group. The reader’s literary experience can translate into ‘real-world’ changes in their perception of, and assumptions about, the behaviours and lifestyles of members of the white working class, thereby challenging stereotypical representations in mainstream media and politics, as well as literature.
Another London is a novel written as the creative component of a PhD Creative Writing. Set on a council estate in East London, it follows the social and psychological development of a white working-class boy into adulthood as he lives through fictionalised parallels of real-life events, which force him to confront his own ethnic and class identity
The worlding of light and air: Dufaycolor and Selochrome in the 1930s
Get PDFDuring the 1930s, new photographic technologies and practices addressed the difficulties of dealing with different kinds of climate, in Britain and her colonies. This article draws on archival material associated with two brands of photographic film manufactured in England by Ilford Limited: Selochrome and Dufaycolor. It describes these films as involved in a process of ‘worlding’, and as part of a ‘photography complex’ which produces the tropics and the British seaside as testing grounds for photography. Worlding involves the harnessing of light and air, the recalibration of bodies, the redistribution of sensory experiencs and the production of new materialities
Sex and ethnic differences in global psychological distress before couple therapy
Get PDFFirst stand: A couples’ distress is associated with their inability to effectively communicate and successfully resolve problems. But are there any differences in levels of psychological distress between men and women of different ethnic backgrounds? This study offers a quantitative account of the effect of sex and ethnicity on the levels of psychological distress in heterosexual couples
Proactive edge caching in content-centric networks with massive dynamic content requests
Get PDFEdge computing is a promising infrastructure evolution to reduce traffic loads and support low-latency communications. Furthermore, content-centric networks provide a natural solution to cache contents at edge nodes. However, it is a challenge for edge nodes to handle massive and highly dynamic content requests by users, and if without an efficient content caching strategy, the edge nodes will encounter high traffic load and latency due to increasing retrieval from content providers. This paper formulates a proactive edge caching problem to minimize the content retrieval cost at edge nodes. We exploit the inherent content caching and request aggregation mechanism in the content-centric networks to jointly minimize traffic load and content retrieval delay cost generated by the massive and dynamic content requests. We develop a Q-learning algorithm, which is an online optimal caching strategy, as it is adaptable to dynamic content popularity and content request intensity, and derive the long-term minimization of the content retrieval cost. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve a lower content retrieval cost compared with several baseline caching schemes