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Establishing hybrid deep learning models for regional daily rainfall time series forecasting in the United Kingdom
Get PDFAccurate daily rainfall predictions are becoming increasingly important, particularly in the era of changing climate conditions. These predictions are essential for various sectors, including agriculture, water resource management, flood preparedness, and pollution monitoring. This study delves into the complex relationship between meteorological data, with a focus on the accurate forecasting of rainfall by identifying the impact of temperature variations on rainfall patterns in different regions of the United Kingdom (UK). The meteorological data was collected from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and covers daily observations from January 1, 1981, to July 31, 2023, in four distinct regions of the UK: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The main objective of this research is to introduce hybrid deep learning models, namely Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) with Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) with Long Short Term Memory (LSTM), for predicting daily rainfall using time-series data from the four UK countries, specifically designed for daily rainfall forecasting of four regions in the UK. The models are fine-tuned using the hyperparameter optimisation method. Comprehensive performance evaluations, including Loss Function, Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE), are employed to compare the effectiveness of our proposed hybrid models with established baseline models, including LSTM, stacked LSTM, and Bidirectional LSTM. Additionally, a visual analysis of actual and predicted rainfall data is conducted to identify the most proficient forecasting model for each region. Results reveal that the proposed hybrid models consistently outperform other models in terms of both quantitative performance metrics and visual assessments across all four regions in the UK. This research contributes to improved rainfall forecasting methodologies, which are critical for sustainable agricultural practices and resource management
Undergraduate and postgraduate strength and conditioning courses in the united kingdom: a report study
Get PDFIn the United Kingdom (UK), a degree in strength and conditioning (S&C) or an associated discipline is a common requirement for obtaining a professional S&C certification and employment as a S&C coach. However, limited research has comprehensively reviewed undergraduate and postgraduate S&C degrees in the UK, which this study aimed to do. A search for S&C degrees was conducted via two directories. In total, 20 undergraduate and 29 postgraduate courses were identified. All course information, including module titles, was extracted. Course information was assessed using frequency analysis and module titles via open coding. Entry requirements for undergraduate degrees ranged from 80–120 UCAS points, and a 2:1–2:2 degree classification for postgraduate degrees. Almost half of undergraduate S&C degrees were considered ‘multidisciplinary’ and included other topics (e.g., BSc S&C and rehabilitation). Over half of the undergraduate degrees offered a foundation year, and 59% of postgraduate degrees offered a non-academic entry option. Overall, 50% of undergraduate degrees could be completed as full-time or part-time, which increased to 79% at postgraduate level. Placement modules were compulsory across undergraduate degrees (except for one) and featured to a lesser extent at the postgraduate level. The most common modules at the undergraduate level focused on anatomy and physiology, S&C, biomechanics and movement analysis, research, and academic and professional skills. The least common modules were motor learning and control, business, and sociology. Differences were observed with postgraduate degrees, given an increased focus on modules associated with research, S&C, and academic and professional skills. This information may help higher education providers to evaluate, revise, and develop S&C courses; awarding associations further enhance recognition and accreditation pathways for S&C degrees; potential employers tailor job descriptions and specifications to align with graduate capabilities; and prospective students gain insight into each course, potentially informing their course choice(s)
The assessment challenge of social and collaborative learning in higher education
No full textThere is a general tension between the individualised nature of current assessment practices in higher education and a collaborative approach to learning. This results in many dilemmas for educators as they try to balance academic integrity concerns and student preferences with social or collaborative assessment practices, including peer assessment, group assignments and direct assessment of teamwork or collaboration. This paper argues that focussing on singular assessment tasks or experiences tends to lead to marginal effects. Rather, we suggest that the collaborative must be normalised within course structures: experiences of groupwork, peer learning and other forms of working with others should be commonplace and expected. We look to curricula to provide students with assessable tasks from many rich collaborative experiences, avoid issues of perceived and actual inequity and allow for risk and possible failure. We suggest that grading as presently enacted inhibits collaborative processes and that trust needs to be recognised as central and core to collaborative approaches. The challenges of assessing social and collaborative learning require holistic course wide attention that communicates to both students and colleagues that learning necessarily goes beyond the individual
Ambulatory electrocardiogram (AECG) analysis service evaluation
No full textBackground: AECGs are essential diagnostic tools in cardiology. However, the time required for their analysis is not well-documented. Efficient analysis is critical for timely patient outcomes, yet factors such as staff well-being and workplace distractions can influence this process. Understanding and optimising these factors is essential to improving service delivery.
Aims: Establish the average duration required to analyse an AECG, setting a benchmark for future assessments. Identify and quantify obstacles hindering efficient analysis and propose solutions to mitigate them.
Methods: This study conducted a service evaluation at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust Cardiology Department. Over a two-month period, an anonymous online survey was administered to staff, collecting data on the duration of analysis and identifying potential barriers to efficient analysis.
Results: The survey had 48 responses, with an 82% completion rate. The average time required for analysis was 19 minutes. However, analysis sessions were extended by an hour on average due to administrative tasks, workplace distractions, and complex cases. Significant barriers included clinic preparation and staff coverage (p<0.05), which contributed to prolonged analysis times and impacted overall service efficiency.
Conclusions: These findings can inform service planning in this and other cardiology departments, potentially leading to enhanced efficiency and better patient outcomes. Optimising staff rota’s and clinic templates in consideration with the average analysis time is beneficial. Improving department layout to minimise distractions and adopting a paperless system to reduce administrative burdens are key aims in streamlining the analysis process in this department
The social license to operate across the energy industry: lessons for low-carbon energy from oil and gas
Get PDFThis chapter will consider the similarities and differences between the local acceptance challenges facing the oil and gas industry, and renewable alternatives such as onshore wind. The chapter will explore the literature relating to the Social License to Operate in the Oil and Gas field, and identify the key lessons which can be extracted and applied to other sources of energy. Community engagement and transparency, community benefit and local content shall all be considered as opportunities for new energy initiatives to gain legitimacy among local communities
Threshold signature in off-chain components to manage inter-chain transactions
Get PDFBlockchain is now a widespread technology. However,
achieving mass adoption for specific applications requires
overcoming several challenges inherent to the use of distributed algorithms and cryptographic primitives, which are central to blockchain technology. One of the main obstacles is interoperability between different blockchains, as each blockchain acts as an isolated environment. To address the interoperability problem, it is essential to use off-chain processes capable of interconnecting the blockchains in question. If the interconnected blockchains are private or consortium-based, attention must be paid to both the confidentiality of the data exchanged and the authority of those authorised to operate on them. We propose a novel approach in which each blockchain implements its own off-chain component. Each off-chain component does not communicate with the others and uses a threshold digital signature scheme as cryptographic proof aimed at improving the control and management of inter-chain transactions, alongside computational complexity reductions
Improving the administrative environment to boost international student enrollment in Georgia
No full textThis report ultimately provides strategic recommendations designed to increase the number of international students in Georgia. Its primary focus is to address current inefficiencies in administrative processes and policies related to student recruitment, university applications, visa procurement, and residency procedures. Overall, the goal here is to enhance the attractiveness and operational efficiency of Georgia's higher education system, thereby supporting economic growth and strengthening international ties by streamlining processes, reducing bureaucratic barriers, and creating a more welcoming environment for international students
Apartheid in the digital outdoors? An analysis of the Instagram content of outdoor brands in the US, UK and Scandinavia
Get PDFThe outdoors offers widely understood health and wellbeing benefits and provides an unparalleled resource for the realisation and projection of identity, from the personal to the national. Yet access to the outdoors in the countries of the global North is manifestly unequal, with BIPOC communities typically much less likely than their white counterparts to participate in outdoor leisure activities such as hiking, trail running, cycling, climbing, etc. This study revisits the hypothesis that outdoors media plays a central role in perpetuating what Martin (2004) terms “apartheid in the Great Outdoors” by performing a content analysis of the Instagram posts of the top 10 outdoor brands in the US, Scandinavia and UK between the spring and summer seasons of 2020 – a period when the global pandemic restricted access to the outdoors at the same time as the Black Lives Matter movement raised awareness of systemic racial inequalities. The analysis reveals that whilst there is a purposeful response to calls to diversify the outdoors in the representational strategies of US outdoor brands, this is not the case in the UK and Scandinavia. In these locations the digital outdoors and its associated leisure identities remain overwhelmingly white, young, straight, and able-bodied
Can you credit it? Towards a process for ascribing credit to apprenticeships in England
Get PDFPurpose – Apprenticeships in England, while defined by level and typical duration, are not quantified regarding the number of learning hours required to achieve the outcomes specified, as with other regulated qualifications and accredited programmes. This paper proposes an approach to ascribe credit to apprenticeships recognising both on-and-off-the-job learning to remove some of the existing barriers to accessing higher education (HE) and the professions.
Design/methodology/approach – A mixed methodological approach resulting in a total learning hours/ credit value was proposed.
Findings – There is significant HE-wide confusion regarding the amount of learning/training that is required to complete apprenticeships in England. Whilst sector guidance made it clear that there was no prescribed method to ascribe credit to qualifications, programmes, modules, units or apprenticeships by drawing out the core principles within current practice, a key outcome of this project was the development of a method to ascribe a credit value to apprenticeships.
Research limitations/implications – There is potential to support further research into the recognition of prior learning as a specialised pedagogy and for reflecting on apprenticeship practice in other roles and sectors. Practical implications – Whilst the project underpinning this paper focused on the healthcare sector, the method used to ascribe credit to the level-3 healthcare support worker apprenticeship was not sector specific and can therefore be applied to apprenticeships within other contexts providing more widespread benefits to workforce development.
Social implications – Policy makers must ensure that employers and providers are clear that the minimum statutory off-the-job hours constitute an apprentice employment entitlement, which must not be conflated with total apprenticeship learning hours requirements. This recommended policy clarification could assist in simplifying the process required for ascribing credit to apprenticeships and at the same time support a move towards better and more consistent recognition of the value of apprenticeship learning.
Originality/value – It is a first attempt to ascribe a credit value to an apprenticeship in England for the specific purpose of facilitating progression to HE
Integrale Konzeption zur Lösung der «Flächenfalle» im Schweizer Möbelhandel
Get PDFContinually rising online sales, declining visitors, increasing sales space and negative development in Swiss home furnishings over the past 10 years mean reduced sales space profitability. Many Swiss furniture retailers fall into a "floor space trap" where business-crucial sales space is becoming too expensive. Poor market growth and the strong consolidation of recent years demonstrate the relevance of this topic. Save for the "pure onliner" on the Swiss market, there have been no important new business models or even disruptive approaches.
The Swiss market’s development is being driven by the macroeconomic environment, the megatrends of digitalisation and sustainability, and potential new business models. Digitalisation particularly has a significant influence on the customer journey and severely affects brick-andmortar retail, which has largely lost its role as a source of information and inspiration. The innovation activities of retailers in Swiss home furnishings are primarily limited to the goal of increasing efficiency, with barely any scope for pursuing disruptive approaches. Companies are also developing their business model changes mostly internally, without involving third parties.
Business Model Innovation (BMI) has been identified as a suitable instrument for improving competitiveness. However, BMI is little used in the furniture trade due to methodological, organisational and cultural deficits, along with insufficient market knowledge.
The retail sector’s biggest challenges are improving competitiveness, the shortage of skilled workers and technological developments. BMI was not identified as a methodology used in practice to overcome these challenges.
An in-depth analysis of the customer journey at the transition point between the inspiration and purchase phase is recommended, using primary data. An exemplary business model for the Swiss home furnishings market can represent an important contribution to specific research. The resulting recommendations and their practical justifications are essentially based on a framework for overcoming the floor space trap at a strategic level. In five steps, retailers gain practical, feasible 29.12.2023 Seite 2 von 2 recommendations, supplemented by operational recommendations supporting the specific implementation of the framework. The core aspect of these recommendations for action is the dual business approach (2 S-curves)