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Reconcilable differences:Using retrospective photogrammetry to bridge the divide between analogue and digital site data collected during long-term excavation projects
Get PDFOver the last 30 years, high-resolution site documentation has rapidly developed, with analogue drawings and film photography being replaced with high-precision digital recordings. Today, most archaeological field data sets are produced using digital tools that store spatial and visual information in various digital formats directly, i.e., born-digital. A fully digital workflow makes the process of combining, comparing, and integrating field datasets quicker, easier, and potentially more analytically powerful. However, at sites where both analogue and born-digital data sets have been produced, additional procedural digitization steps are required before full data interoperability is achieved. In cases where the archaeological sites have a long excavation history, multiple generations of analogue and digital site documentation techniques have often been used, making it particularly challenging to physically reconstruct an excavated site based on its archival material. The Middle Stone Age site of Blombos Cave, South Africa, is a prime example of this type of challenging situation. This site features a more than 3-meter-deep and well-preserved archaeological sequence dated to between 300 and 100 000 years ago. Since it was initially excavated in 1991, multiple archaeological campaigns have been carried out (>15), and the excavations are still ongoing. The field documentation from Blombos Cave has, over the years, produced varied but rich datasets that have never been integrated into a single, coherent, and accessible archive. In this paper we evaluate the changes in excavation protocol at Blombos Cave over time, and we use this knowledge to digitally integrate and map the various stages of excavation within a three-dimensional framework using digital photogrammetry and archival photographs. The archaeological and analytical value of this approach is exemplified through multiple case studies, in which we demonstrate how and why the merging of old and new archaeological field data can lead to new results, specifically by offering more complete mapping and more accurate and analytically dynamic visualisations. The research history at Blombos Cave is not unique or site-specific. Our approach would be applicable to a wide variety of sites and contexts where long-running excavations have produced a mix of analogue and digital field data
Sustainability challenges in medical equipment donations to low- and middle-income countries
Get PDFAccess to medical equipment (ME) is an essential component of the healthcare infrastructure. Due to the high manufacturing cost, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) rely on donations from high-resource settings to meet their demand for ME. International organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have prescribed guidelines for sustainable donations. A few research studies have assessed current donation practices’ compliance with new and used ME. This study aims to investigate commonly recurring challenges and compile practical recommendations for ME donation programs in LMICs. To validate the findings from the literature review, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three different types of recipients across Pakistan and Sierra Leone. There are some obstacles affecting this sustainable ME donation program. These hurdles can be overcome by strict compliance with the official WHO guidelines, empowering the recipient through communication and policy, establishing vital metrics, and developing sustainable long-term donor-recipient relationships, and by comprehensive evaluation of the impact of all the stakeholders in the ME ecosystem. This study concludes that well-established guidelines and policies are critical to successful ME donation programs
The Terminator’s Vision of AI Warfare Is Now Reality
Get PDFForty years after The Terminator warned us about killer robots, AI-powered drones and autonomous weapons are being deployed in real-world conflicts. From Gaza to Ukraine, the dystopian future of machine warfare isn’t just science fiction anymore
Cyborg Études, co-created by Alex Ho, Zubin Kanga, Elayce Ismail and Gillian Tan
Get PDFCyborg Etudes, co-created by Alex Ho, Zubin Kanga, Elayce Imsail (text) and Gillian Tan (live video). The work combines two industry partner technologies: the Genki Wave (sensor ring) and Showsync (live video effects). With this combination, the movement of the pianist is able to control the visuals. The work also explores the concept of double-consciousness, where immigrants need to find two different types of language and identities with their original and adopted cultures.The work was performed at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival to an audience of 80, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 (with a weekly audience of 1.9 million)
The Evolution or Revolution of European Insolvency Law
Get PDFThe theme of the twentieth INSOL Europe Academic forum, held on 2-3 October 2024 was “The Evolution or Revolution of European Insolvency Law”. The book includes seven contributions delivered at the conference, with topics ranging from insolvency and climate change, pre-packaged administration procedures, cross-border insolvency issues and directors' duties
Topological Analogues of the Tutte polynomial and their Decompositions
Get PDFThe Tutte polynomial is one of the most influential graph polynomials, whose importance stems from all of the combinatorial and structural information it captures about a graph. Not only that, but the polynomial itself has been subject to much study due to its inherent well-behaved structure and universal nature. In recent years, much interest has been shown in finding an analogue of the Tutte polynomial for graphs embedded in surfaces, resulting in a plethora of topological graph polynomials. There is now an active body of research into these polynomials, the combinatorial information of the embedded graph that they capture, and the properties and structure they exhibit.This thesis consists of three parts. The first part, Chapters 1–3, paints a picture of what is already known. It provides an overview of topological graphs, how to represent them, and their polynomials, along with notable results across their development in the literature. In the second part, Chapter 4, we unify a recent divergence in the development of topological Tutte polynomials to obtain a new polynomial for embedded graphs that encapsulates the properties of its predecessors. Notably, this new topological graph polynomial possesses a Universality Property, meaning that any graph parameter satisfying a specified set of deletion-contraction relations is a specialisation of this polynomial. A natural consequence of this is a recursive method for counting the number of flows and tensions (i.e., proper colourings) in an embedded graph. The final part, Chapters 5 and 6, provides several tensor product formulae that split well-known topological Tutte polynomials by decomposing a larger graph into smaller graphs that are “multiplied” together. These formulae mirror a result of Brylawski for the Tutte polynomial, which is known for its applications as a computational aid and in understanding the complexity of the Tutte polynomial
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