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Improved bare bones particle swarm optimization based on cauchy distribution and its application in spectral reconstruction
No full textIn view of the shortcomings that particle swarm optimization is easy to fall into local optima and difficult to solve complex problems, the combination of Gaussian distribution and Cauchy distribution was used in the position updating formula to improve the particle diversity, and Cauchy perturbation was added to the swarm optimal position to further improve its global searching ability. In the experiment, ten benchmark test functions were used to test two proposed modifications in the study, and compared with the four classical particle swarm algorithms, the results show that the proposed algorithm had high solving accuracy and good solving stability, especially in solving complex functions. The proposed algorithm was utilized in spectral reconstruction based on wideband multi-illuminant imaging. The experimental results confirm that comparing with the classical PSO algorithm, the proposed algorithm is good at searching for global optimum especially for complicated engineering problems
Endoscopic image classification using vision transformers
No full textConvolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have been the state-of-the-art techniques applied in the field of medical imaging for numerous image processing tasks. Recently, vision transformer networks are emerging as another technique, complementing current CNNs in the medical field providing on-par performance while also having a number of unique characteristics that may be useful for medical image processing. While CNNs have been predominantly applied to artefact detection and classification in endoscopic images, ViT has been sparsely applied in this area. Additionally, both CNN and ViT have been sparingly applied to colour misalignment artefact classification. In this work, we, therefore, explore the application of Vision Transformer (ViT) in the classification of artefacts in endoscopic images of the gastrointestinal tract organs. Furthermore, the performance of ViT is compared to that of CNN in the classification of colour misalignment artefacts. Our customised ViT model, based on DeiT (Data-efficient image Transformers), has obtained an accuracy of 96.33% as compared to the CNN based Inceptionv3 model with an accuracy of 78.67% and InceptionResNetv2 with 76.67%. The results demonstrate that when pretrained on ImageNet, ViT offer better performance than CNNs in colour misalignment artefact classification. This is due to the ability of ViT to better depict the relationship between image pixels through self-attention weights. Moreover, the built-in self-attention mechanism offers fresh insight into the decision-making processes of the model
The Climate Solutions Symposium: Accelerating Climate Action for a Sustainable Future [Moderated panel discussion]
No full textModerator: Stephen Kin
UN Sustainable Development Goals: a rubric to evaluate sincerity for implementing long-term sustainability pledges
No full textThis paper proposes a simple rubric for evaluating the sincerity of long-term or multigenerational sustainability pledges. Corporate executives and heads of state are increasingly making ambitious pledges towards sustainable development goals. These are generally in response to pressure from civil society or a more socially-conscious generation of consumers. However, there is also growing concern that these pledges will be stalled or withdrawn once pressure has abated or the year's financial targets have been met. The sincerity for sustainability is critical in addressing global issues such as climate change, multi-national crime, immigration, hunger, and peace, which need global collaboration. Without a mechanism to forecast the likely outcome of a multilateral agreement, these pledges may eventually be found to be empty promises, without consequence for those that made them. Accordingly, this paper developed using the methodology of a critical examination of relevant literature propounds a rubric to help evaluate the sincerity of pledges to advance the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs) and which may be applied to many other situations upon refinement
Exploring an HR practitioner's perspective on human capital development and its evolvement in the COVID-19 context
No full textKotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Limited ((in short, Kotak Life) is one of India’s fastest-growing insurance companies in India. It is well regarded as a reputed, admired and sustainable company that believes in and practices the value of being ‘people-friendly’. Hence, the company invests significant time, effort and money in developing its employees. In this interview, we explore an HR practitioner’s perspective on human capital development and its evolvement in the COVID-19 context in India. Specifically, we interviewed the Senior Vice President Human Resources and Head Organisation Capability and Development and, DE&I of Kotak Life to understand the human capital development process at Kotak Life Insurance. Given that this interview was conducted during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, we also explored how the human capital development process was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and, thus, appropriately modified through the medium of digitalisation
Evaluating mental health decision units in acute care pathways (DECISION): a quasi-experimental, qualitative and health economic evaluation
Get PDFBackground
People experiencing mental health crises in the community often present to emergency departments and are admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Because of the demands on emergency department and inpatient care, psychiatric decision units have emerged to provide a more suitable environment for assessment and signposting to appropriate care.
Objectives
The study aimed to ascertain the structure and activities of psychiatric decision units in England and to provide an evidence base for their effectiveness, costs and benefits, and optimal configuration.
Design
This was a mixed-methods study comprising survey, systematic review, interrupted time series, synthetic control study, cohort study, qualitative interview study and health economic evaluation, using a critical interpretive synthesis approach.
Setting
The study took place in four mental health National Health Service trusts with psychiatric decision units, and six acute hospital National Health Service trusts where emergency departments referred to psychiatric decision units in each mental health trust.
Participants
Participants in the cohort study (n = 2110) were first-time referrals to psychiatric decision units for two 5-month periods from 1 October 2018 and 1 October 2019, respectively. Participants in the qualitative study were first-time referrals to psychiatric decision units recruited within 1 month of discharge (n = 39), members of psychiatric decision unit clinical teams (n = 15) and clinicians referring to psychiatric decision units (n = 19).
Outcomes
Primary mental health outcome in the interrupted time series and cohort study was informal psychiatric hospital admission, and in the synthetic control any psychiatric hospital admission; primary emergency department outcome in the interrupted time series and synthetic control was mental health attendance at emergency department. Data for the interrupted time series and cohort study were extracted from electronic patient record in mental health and acute trusts; data for the synthetic control study were obtained through NHS Digital from Hospital Episode Statistics admitted patient care for psychiatric admissions and Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency for emergency department attendances. The health economic evaluation used data from all studies.
Relevant databases were searched for controlled or comparison group studies of hospital-based mental health assessments permitting overnight stays of a maximum of 1 week that measured adult acute psychiatric admissions and/or mental health presentations at emergency department. Selection, data extraction and quality rating of studies were double assessed. Narrative synthesis of included studies was undertaken and meta-analyses were performed where sufficient studies reported outcomes.
Results
Psychiatric decision units have the potential to reduce informal psychiatric admissions, mental health presentations and wait times at emergency department. Cost savings are largely marginal and do not offset the cost of units. First-time referrals to psychiatric decision units use more inpatient and community care and less emergency department-based liaison psychiatry in the months following the first visit. Psychiatric decision units work best when configured to reduce either informal psychiatric admissions (longer length of stay, higher staff-to-patient ratio, use of psychosocial interventions), resulting in improved quality of crisis care or demand on the emergency department (higher capacity, shorter length of stay). To function well, psychiatric decision units should be integrated into the crisis care pathway alongside a range of community-based support.
Limitations
The availability and quality of data imposed limitations on the reliability of some analyses.
Future work
Psychiatric decision units should not be commissioned with an expectation of short-term financial return on investment but, if appropriately configured, they can provide better quality of care for people in crisis who would not benefit from acute admission or reduce pressure on emergency department.
Study registration
The systematic review was registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews as CRD42019151043
Myths about myths? A commentary on Thomas (2020) and the question of jury rape myth acceptance
No full textThis commentary responds to claims that research by Cheryl Thomas ‘shows’ no problem with rape myths in English and Welsh juries. We critique the claim on the basis of ambiguous survey design, a false distinction between ‘real’ jurors and other research participants, the conflation of attitudes in relation to abstract versus applied rape myths, and misleading interpretation of the data. Ultimately, we call for a balanced appraisal of individual studies by contextualising them against the wider literature
Analytical pluralism: an application to the exploration of adult attachment
No full textThis chapter presents an innovative qualitative methodological approach to the study of adult attachment through illustration and discussion of a study that explored the attachment behaviours of a couple relationship across the transition to second-time parenthood. An analytical pluralistic approach was adopted to view the complexities of adult attachment from multi-dimensional perspectives. This approach recognises the plurality of epistemological and ontological paradigms underlying each of the qualitative methods, thus better promoting insight tailored to these complex experiences. The study used several methods of data collection and then applied different methods of analyses to all the data: narrative analysis to understand how participants drew on their perceived contexts to (re)construct their identities and attachment behaviours in the stories they told and psychosocial readings allowing insight into how the participants made sense of their attachment behaviours, particularly in terms of their emotional and social interactions with the world. The analytical plurality highlights the complex variation in adult attachment and how this affected the relationship dynamics. This chapter demonstrates how the application of analytical pluralism challenges traditional views of attachment as fixed and brings new insight into relational experiences by considering them fluid and dynamic processes, informed by context and subjective meaning-making
Palestine Comedy Club: PalCom
No full textPresentation, workshop, panel discussion and stand-up comedy performances as part of the PalArt Festival at Rich Mix, London (supported by Amnesty International).
I directed the performances and co-wrote comedy material in English; led the stand-up comedy workshop and demonstration on our working practices for creating comedy performances in Palestine and the UK; participated in panel discussions about the development of the project and the impact of the work as performance, community engagement and knowledge exchange
Director training and education: models from Brazil and the UK
Get PDFThis paper presents a conversation that took place via Zoom on 6 September 2022, between Adriana Schneider Alcure and Bruce Adams, curated by Pedro de Senna. In it, Alcure and Adams discuss their experiences, respectively, at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and Middlesex University, London (MDX). Both universities offer BA courses in theatre directing, but follow very different models. Both universities also offer MAs in Theatre Arts (MDX) and ‘Artes da Cena’ (UFRJ), with similar interdisciplinary ethea. Mediated by de Senna’s experience of both cultural contexts, Adams and Alcure talk about commonalities and differences, addressing two key pedagogical questions: in what ways can directing be taught, if at all? And: what is the role of theatre (and theatre directors) in society? The conversation is not directly transcribed, but edited and organised by de Senna, drawing on the themes explored, and addresses contemporary theatre director training from an intercultural perspective. The exchange touches on questions of academic and artistic labour, student cohorts, curriculum design, interdisciplinarity; and the relationship between ‘training’ and ‘education’, when it comes to the performing arts in general, and theatre directing in particular: are these terms even adequate? It is clear that these questions are imbricated with those relating to the purpose of, and access to, the arts and education more broadly, in societies that, while very different, have more in common than might at first be acknowledged