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Photothermal Integration of Multi-Spectral Imaging Data via UAS Improves Prediction of Target Traits in Oat Breeding Trials
Get PDFThe modelling and prediction of important agronomic traits using remotely sensed data is an evolving science and an attractive concept for plant breeders, as manual crop phenotyping is both expensive and time consuming. Major limiting factors in creating robust prediction models include the appropriate integration of data across different years and sites, and the availability of sufficient genetic and phenotypic diversity. Variable weather patterns, especially at higher latitudes, add to the complexity of this integration. This study introduces a novel approach by using photothermal time units to align spectral data from unmanned aerial system images of spring, winter, and facultative oat (Avena sativa) trials conducted over different years at a trial site at Aberystwyth, on the western Atlantic seaboard of the UK. The resulting regression and classification models for various agronomic traits are of significant interest to oat breeding programmes. The potential applications of these findings include optimising breeding strategies, improving crop yield predictions, and enhancing the efficiency of resource allocation in breeding programmes.</p
Improving road safety in rural areas::An examination of the traffic safety climate in rural Wales
Get PDFAlthough there is a body of research conducted on traffic safety and driver behaviors in the UK, studies on traffic safety climate, particularly in rural Wales, are limited. In this study, the effect of traffic safety climate in Wales on several driving-related characteristics was investigated and expected to find a difference between rural and urban Wales. The model investigated the moderator role of rural/urban areas on the relationship between traffic safety climate and driver behaviors, driver anger, anger expression, and driver risk. Using data from 346 participants, we found that drivers in rural areas perceive traffic as having more internal requirements, but also engage in more risk-taking, whereas drivers in urban areas score higher in aggressive violations and verbal aggressive expression. In the following steps, we found links between traffic safety climate and various driver-related outcomes, and this link differs across drivers living in rural and urban areas. These findings suggest the need for tailored strategies to address road safety in rural areas in Wales
Detecting and Mapping Invasive Species Across Riparian Corridors via Object Detection Approaches in UAV Imagery:An Example of Impatiens glandulifera
Get PDFRiparian zones in the United Kingdom have high species diversity but are prone to anthropogenic changes and alien plant invasions, like Impatiens glandulifera . However, identification can be challenging due to poor accessibility or visibility via tree canopies. UAVs provide a means to access previously inaccessible areas and capture imagery of the area. In this study, a method is introduced to identify the flowers of invasive species ( Impatiens glandulifera ) and map their locations using a computer vision framework and oblique image capture methods. The process includes thresholding images, image masking, blurring, ellipsoid shape search, noise reduction, and contour extraction. Locations are determined using camera parameters, EXIF data, and the average flower size, then converted into vector format for GIS software. This method is wrapped into a single executable program named the semi‐automatic thresholding tool (SATT). A validation set of 312 UAV images from the River Elwy, North Wales, showed high precision (79%–96%) and mean average precision (mAP) scores of 73%–86%. This demonstrates that the SATT consistently and correctly identifies Impatiens glandulifera flowers from UAV imagery, making it effective for identifying hotspots and targeting management techniques along riparian corridors. The tool has been wrapped into a single‐file executable program with a graphical user interface, enabling nonexperts to use the tool without the need of any software installation. Overall, the tool obtains consistent detection levels of abundance/or flower density across the study site. The tool also does not require an extensive amount of training data, and the intuitive design of the software enables nonexperts to utilize the tool and modify parameter values to adapt it to their needs
Slipping and Sliding, in Forum on Relational Voices in IR:Pluriversalizing Relationality to Diversifying Relationalities
No full textIf everything is relational, why are relationalities so difficult to grasp? In this forum authors provide insightful and compelling examples on how to engage with -pluriversal- relationalities based on their own (re)search, everyday life experiences or in their academic journeys as IR scholars. This forum takes us not only to different places and times but they relationally challenge notions of space and time. These reflections are lifeforms on their own. They involve multisensorial experiences, smells, textures, sounds, images, but they also call for different IR ethos, with ´more room for breathing´
‘Views for perverts!’:The threat of upskirting in the New Acropolis Museum, Athens
Get PDFThe New Acropolis Museum is the most visited of Greece's numerous museums. Concerns have, however, been regularly expressed by visitors regarding the threat of voyeurism, notably upskirting, within the glass-floored sections of the Museum. This form of gendered violence was recognized as a hazard for female visitors touring many of the galleries soon after the inauguration of the building in 2009. In the years that have followed, the presence of the glass flooring has elicited numerous negative comments, spanning a range of different media, in which serious misgivings have been expressed regarding the environment of voyeuristic potential that exists within the New Acropolis Museum. This paper offers a case study into the long-apparent threat to the personal privacy of anyone wearing skirts and dresses while touring Greece's premier museum, and the problematic design decisions made by the building's architects that created an environment in which visitors have become subjects of the voyeuristic gaze almost as much as the exhibits on display within the galleries of the New Acropolis Museum
Global genomic population structure of wild and cultivated oat reveals signatures of chromosome rearrangements
No full textThe genus Avena consists of approximately 30 wild and cultivated oat species. Cultivated oat is an important food crop, yet the broader genetic diversity within the Avena gene pool remains underexplored and underexploited. Here, we characterize over 9000 wild and cultivated hexaploid oat accessions of global origin using genotyping-by-sequencing and explore population structure using multidimensional scaling and population-based clustering methods. We also conduct analyses to reveal chromosome regions associated with local adaptation, sometimes resulting from large-scale chromosome rearrangements. We report four distinct genetic populations within the wild species A. sterilis, a distinct population of cultivated A. byzantina, and multiple populations within cultivated A. sativa. Some chromosome regions associated with local adaptation are also associated with confirmed structural rearrangements on chromosomes 1A, 1C, 3C, 4C, and 7D. This work provides evidence suggesting multiple polyploid origins, multiple domestications, and/or reproductive barriers amongst Avena populations caused by differential chromosome structure.</p
Ensemble Deep Learning for Real–Bogus Classification with Sky Survey Images
No full textThe discovery of the fifth gravitational wave, GW170817, and its electromagnetic counterpart, resulting from the merger of neutron stars by the LIGO and Virgo teams, marked a major milestone in astronomy. It was the first time that gravitational waves and light from the same cosmic event were observed simultaneously. The LIGO detectors in the United States recorded the signal for 100 s, longer than in previous detections. The merging of neutron stars emits both gravitational and electromagnetic waves across all frequencies—from radio to gamma rays. However, pinpointing the exact source remains difficult, requiring rapid sky scanning to locate it. To address this challenge, the Gravitational-Wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) project was established. It is specifically designed to detect optical light from transient events associated with gravitational waves, enabling faster follow-up observations and a deeper study of these short-lived astronomical phenomena, which appear and disappear quickly in the universe. In astrophysics, it has become more important to find astronomical transient events like supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and stellar flares because they are linked to extreme cosmic processes. However, finding these short-lived events in huge sky survey datasets, like those from the GOTO project, is very hard for traditional analysis methods. This study suggests a deep learning methodology employing Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to enhance transient classification. CNNs are based on how biological vision systems work and how they are structured. They mimic how animal brains hierarchically process visual information, making it possible to automatically find complex spatial patterns in astronomical images. Transfer learning and fine-tuning on pretrained ImageNet models are utilized to emulate adaptive learning observed in biological organisms, enabling swift adaptation to new tasks with minimal data. Data augmentation methods like rotation, flipping, and noise injection mimic changes in the environment to improve model generalization. Dropout and different batch sizes are used to stop overfitting, which is similar to how biological systems use redundancy and noise tolerance. Ensemble learning strategies, such as Soft Voting and Weighted Voting, draw inspiration from collective intelligence in biological systems, integrating multiple CNN models to enhance decision-making robustness. Our findings indicate that this bio-inspired framework substantially improves the precision and dependability of transient detection, providing a scalable solution for real-time applications in extensive sky surveys such as GOTO.</p
Pregnancy Scams as Actionable and Unactionable Fraud in Ghana
No full textPregnancy scams or fraudulent representations of pregnancy – a situation where a woman who knows that she is not pregnant, or has no reason to suspect that she is, deceives her spouse or sexual partner into believing that she is, usually for her own self-interest – have become a common phenomenon in Ghana, and the media is replete with such episodes. However, even though these media publications are useful in bringing this practice to the attention of the public, an analysis of the legal ramifications of, and the criminal justice response to, the phenomenon is virtually non-existent in the academic literature. Drawing on pertinent judicial decisions, statutes and academic literature, the present study offers an exposition of the legal implications of the pregnancy scam phenomenon in contemporary Ghana. It explores the extent to which this type of fraud is (un)actionable, highlighting important legal principles and controversies.</p
Aquinas in Brooklyn:Frank Samperi’s “Objectivist Poetics”
Get PDFFrank Samperi is a neglected twentieth-century American poet who produced a large body of poetry. Affiliated closely with Objectivist poetics through the mentorship of Louis Zukofsky, Samperi’s work is significantly influenced by the Catholic writings of Aquinas and Dante. With a commitment to linguistic self-reflexivity, an ethics of otherness, and a resistance to abstraction and identity thinking, Samperi’s work enhances and expands our understanding of the key traits of Objectivist poetics, often regarded as relying heavily on Judaic ideas and philosophies. As an Italian American Catholic, his poetry also demonstrates an immigrant’s compromise with Americanization, but an equally clear alignment with the emerging American poetic counterculture in the 1960s.</p
New thinking is needed to make the most of formerly improved upland pastures
Get PDFNatural handicaps generally restrict farming in the upland areas to grassland-based livestock systems. Previous UK policies aimed at increasing food security by improving productivity in these regions led to large areas of native grassland being cultivated and replaced by sown pastures. Over time, the grasses and legumes that constituted the mixes introduced have been replaced by unsown grass species, leading to a decline in performance. Advances in plant breeding offer the potential to not only radically improve livestock production efficiencies in marginal areas but to enhance wider ecosystem service provision, including carbon storage and water management. However, a fundamental shift from traditional frameworks for developing and testing new grass and legume varieties is urgently needed if we are to make the necessary changes required to promote the sustainable management of natural resources, encourage nature recovery, adapt to climate change, and support a just transition to zero carbon agriculture