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Identity construction and collusion in documentary of the Gaelic-speaking community: A filmmaker’s perspective
Get PDFIf Gaelic has been symbolically appropriated to represent Scotland, then it follows that we need to look more closely at the part played by documentary film both of and from the Scottish Hebrides, in furthering the dissemination of what is an idealised and contested identity. As documentary is a negotiated contract between the producer and those they ‘represent’, the discussion needs to consider whether the representation of a Hebridean identity, and by extension a mythical Scottish identity, is constructed by the filmmaker, and if so, how filmic constraints and practices inform this representation. Within this framework is an acknowledgement of the extent to which Hebridean identity has been mediated by books, photographs and films for the past 300 years. This article will deliver the findings of a research project undertaken in the in the Outer Hebrides (also known as the Western Isles and Lewis & Harris). The research investigates the extent to which interviewees themselves collude with documentary makers in presenting a view of the Gael that reflects the Gaelic-speaker’s own self-assigned role as guardian of the land and traditions. As this research marries practice with research, it will present it in a semi-autobiographical style
Competitiveness throughout the seaport-hinterland: a container shipping analysis
Get PDFWith customers looking for the highest level of services and reduction of cost on international trade of goods, shippers have recently begun to focus on the inland leg of containerized import/export, making the competition advance between ‘seaport against seaport’ to ‘seaport-hinterland against seaport-hinterland’. Bearing this in mind, this paper seeks to assess the logistic costs and the import process time in order to identify how these factors influence seaport-hinterland customer’s choice and what is the effect of these factors on the main actors’ competitiveness. In terms of time, the findings indicate that dry ports have been operationally more efficient, with customs and delivery process faster than in seaports and extended gates. In terms of cost we have applied Monte-Carlo simulation in a case study in Brazil to assess stochastically the import cost considering multiple actors as options. The study makes practical contributions, showing the cost-efficient zone for each macro region in the studied area and simulating a hypothetical scenario, where multimodal transportation is a delivery option. Lastly, the study makes theoretical contributions, discussing the competitiveness environment in light of the literature, bringing relevant insights to aid customers’ and practitioners decision-making
Optimisation of Open-habitat Bird Surveys – a report to the Forestry Commission
Get PDFIn the process of offering financial grants to landowners seeking to create new areas of woodland in England, the Forestry Commission (FC) requires surveying of proposed woodland creation sites for breeding birds in order to assess the suitability of sites for woodland creation. FC commissioned a report to analyse existing breeding bird survey data in the interest of determining optimal timing and number of visits required for breeding bird surveys, specifically investigating the effect of reducing survey effort while aiming to maintain survey efficacy. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of a reduced number of surveys at prescribed timings in identifying species richness within a proposed woodland creation site and estimating the density of breeding bird territories, simulating the impact of reduced survey visits at specific timings as per new FC guidance. Reports of breeding bird surveys in England in 2021 and 2022 were initially assessed on their compliance with FC guidance for surveys at woodland proposal sites, quantified based on criteria met by surveys. Species richness analysis sought to compare the number of species detected after five or six survey visits spread across the breeding season (as per FC guidance for 2021 and 2022) with the simulated number of species detected after four randomised visits and four visits following new guidance survey date windows. The proportions of simulated species richness estimates after four randomised visits and four visits within new survey windows relative to species richness after six visits were compared to assess the efficacy of random spacing of surveys against surveys specifically spaced within new survey windows. Estimates of territory densities were determined by assessing mapped survey records to estimate territories within sites for seven bird species of conservation importance and with sufficient data for analysis, comparing estimates derived from six survey visits to mean estimates derived from comparing all four-visit combinations of the six survey visits. Species richness reduced by a mean of 10% with four randomised survey visits and 11% with four visits within the new survey windows, relative to species richness after six survey visits. There was no significant difference between the two methods of four-visit selection, with each method producing similar results. Territory density was found to decrease by a mean of 33% when reducing survey visits from six to four, approximately matching the reduction in survey effort of one third. The proportion of territories still detected after four visits varied widely between species (20-100%) but for the two wader species analysed, curlew Numenius arquata and lapwing Vanellus vanellus, the estimates only dropped just below key thresholds for additional site assessment on two occasions.Overall, our data suggest that the proposed change from six to four visits would have a relatively minor impact on species richness detected relative to the reduction in survey effort. The change in breeding territory density for species considered is predicted to be more substantial, but given the number of visits will still be higher than some widely used wader survey methods, and that in most cases the reduction would not have caused a change in decision-making, this is likely to remain a robust survey approach. The proposed use of defined consecutive survey windows is likely to provide a more even distribution of surveys across the season. Our analyses give a potential framework for future analysis to assess future changes in guidance for breeding bird surveys at woodland creation sites, and to simulate the effects of proposed changes to guidance prior to implementation using existing data
The impact of economic and political imperatives on the successful use of Public-private partnership (PPP) in projects
Get PDFThis study presents empirical research examining how economic and political imperatives impact prospects for successful use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to deliver projects in Saudi Arabia. A conceptual model and several hypotheses are developed. A questionnaire survey obtains data from two hundred and fifty-seven (257) project management practitioners involved in projects being procured using PPP within Saudi Arabia. Data is analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The conclusion is that economic, but not political imperatives moderate the relationship between Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and PPP project success in Saudi Arabia. To an extent, these findings offer a risk-focussed typology for exploring conditions for PPP project success
'To "Meddle Wi' The Thistle"': C. M. Grieve's Scottish Chapbook, The Little Magazine, and the Dilemmas of Scottish Modernism
Get PDFExamines C. M. Grieve’s (Hugh MacDiarmid’s) most important journal enterprise, The Scottish Chapbook, which critics have assumed marks the beginning of a modernist Scottish renaissance. Against this view, this article argues that the range of contributions to the Chapbook were generally not modernist in their formal characteristics, many recalling the Victorian or fin-de-siècle periods. While the Chapbook’s brief lifespan (1922–23) was typical for modernist little magazines, the dilemmas encountered by Grieve’s periodical – restricted finances, lack of avant-garde contributors – are explained here as a side-effect of ‘localist modernism’, a concept explained by Eric B. White
A novel end-to-end deep convolutional neural network based skin lesion classification framework
Get PDFBackground:Skin diseases are reported to contribute 1.79% of the global burden of disease. The accurate diagnosis of specific skin diseases is known to be a challenging task due, in part, to variations in skin tone, texture, body hair, etc. Classification of skin lesions using machine learning is a demanding task, due to the varying shapes, sizes, colors, and vague boundaries of some lesions. The use of deep learning for the classification of skin lesion images has been shown to help diagnose the disease at its early stages. Recent studies have demonstrated that these models perform well in skin detection tasks, with high accuracy and efficiency.Objective:Our paper proposes an end-to-end framework for skin lesion classification, and our contributions are two-fold. Firstly, two fundamentally different algorithms are proposed for segmenting and extracting features from images during image preprocessing. Secondly, we present a deep convolutional neural network model, S-MobileNet that aims to classify 7 different types of skin lesions.Methods:We used the HAM10000 dataset, which consists of 10000 dermatoscopic images from different populations and is publicly available through the International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC) Archive. The image data was preprocessed to make it suitable for modeling. Exploratory data analysis (EDA) was performed to understand various attributes and their relationships within the dataset. A modified version of a Gaussian filtering algorithm and SFTA was applied for image segmentation and feature extraction. The processed dataset was then fed into the S-MobileNet model. This model was designed to be lightweight and was analysed in three dimensions: using the Relu Activation function, the Mish activation function, and applying compression at intermediary layers. In addition, an alternative approach for compressing layers in the S-MobileNet architecture was applied to ensure a lightweight model that does not compromise on performance.Results:The model was trained using several experiments and assessed using various performance measures, including, loss, accuracy, precision, and the F1-score. Our results demonstrate an improvement in model performance when applying a preprocessing technique. The Mish activation function was shown to outperform Relu. Further, the classification accuracy of the compressed S-MobileNet was shown to outperform S-MobileNet.Conclusions:To conclude, our findings have shown that our proposed deep learning-based S-MobileNet model is the optimal approach for classifying skin lesion images in the HAM10000 dataset. In the future, our approach could be adapted and applied to other datasets, and validated to develop a skin lesion framework that can be utilised in real-time
The International Grief Questionnaire (IGQ): A new measure of ICD‐11 prolonged grief disorder
Get PDFProlonged grief disorder (PGD) is included in the 11th version of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD‐11). This study sought to test the validity and reliability of a new brief measure to screen for ICD‐11 PGD—the International Grief Questionnaire (IGQ). The psychometric properties of the IGQ were tested using data collected from two bereaved samples of adults from the United Kingdom (n = 1,012) and Ireland (n = 1,011). Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that a correlated two‐factor model best captured the latent dimensionality of the IGQ in both samples. Estimates of internal reliability were high, whereas the convergent and concurrent validity of the scale were supported through strong associations with external measures. Measurement invariance and differential item functioning testing showed no statistically significant difference in the latent structure of the IGQ nor the functioning of the IGQ items by age, sex, and nationality. For participants who were bereaved for more than 6 months, the rates of probable PGD derived from the IGQ were 10.9% and 15.3% for the Irish and U.K. samples, respectively. The IGQ is a brief, easy‐to‐use, self‐report screening measure that captures all diagnostic criteria of PGD set forth in the ICD‐11. Findings from this study provide initial support for the validity, measurement invariance, and reliability of the IGQ among two national samples
Understanding for whom, under what conditions, and how an integrated approach to atrial fibrillation service delivery works: a realist review
Get PDFAims To understand for whom, under what conditions, and how an integrated approach to atrial fibrillation service delivery works (or does not work).Methods and Results A realist review of integrated approaches to atrial fibrillation service delivery for adult populations aged ≥18 years. An expert panel developed an initial programme theory, searched and screened literature from four databases until October 2022, extracted and synthesised data using realist techniques to create context–mechanism–outcome configurations for integrated approaches to atrial fibrillation service and developed an integrated approach refined programme theory. 5,433 documents were screened and 39 included. The refined programme theory included five context–mechanism–outcome configurations for how clinical and system wide outcomes are affected by the way integrated approaches to atrial fibrillation service delivery are designed and delivered. This review identifies core mechanisms underpinning the already known fundamental components of integrated care. This includes having a central coordinator responsible for service organisation to provide continuity of care across primary and secondary care ensuring services are patient centred. Additionally, a fifth pillar Lifestyle and Risk Factor reduction should be recognised within an AF care pathway. Conclusion It is evident from our provisional theory that numerous factors need to interlink and interact over time to generate a successfully integrated model of care in AF. Stakeholders should embrace this complexity and acknowledge that the learnings from this review are integral to shaping future service delivery in the face of an ageing population and increased prevalence of AF
Overtaking Mechanisms Based on Augmented Intelligence for Autonomous Driving: Datasets, Methods, and Challenges
Get PDFThe field of autonomous driving research has made significant strides towards achieving full automation, endowing vehicles with self-awareness and independent decision-making. However, integrating automation into vehicular operations presents formidable challenges, especially as these vehicles must seamlessly navigate public roads alongside other cars and pedestrians. An intriguing yet relatively underexplored domain within autonomous driving is overtaking. Overtaking involves a dynamic interplay of complex tasks, including precise steering and speed control, rendering it one of the most intricate operations for implementing augmented intelligence driving technologies. Surprisingly, the overtaking of autonomous vehicles remains largely uncharted territory in the context of augmented intelligence for autonomous systems. This void in knowledge beckons researchers to embark on explorations and investigations in this nascent field. Our review paper systematically synthesises overtaking methodologies hinging on computer vision techniques tailored for augmented intelligence autonomous driving scenarios in response to this pressing need. Our analysis encompasses an array of domains central to overtaking in augmented intelligence autonomous vehicles, encompassing Object Detection, Lane/Line Detection, Depth Estimation, Obstacle Detection, Segmentation, and Pedestrian Detection. We meticulously analyze each domain using well-established Multimodal datasets. We assess different models’ performance across various parameters by employing graphical structures, enabling visual comparative analyses. In object detection, YOLOv4 achieves a top performance with 0.90 mAP on the BDD100K dataset. For lane detection, CLRNET excels with the highest F1 score of around 0.96 on the LLAMAS dataset. ViT-Adapter-L leads in segmentation tasks, boasting an impressive mIoU score of 83 on Cityscapes. The Hierarchical Model achieves a superior mAP of 0.90 in road sign detection on the Tsinghua-Tence..
A holistic human activity recognition optimisation using AI techniques
Get PDFBuilding on previous radar-based human activity recognition (HAR), we expand the micro-Doppler signature to 6 domains and exploit each domain with a set of handcrafted features derived from the literature and our patents. An adaptive thresholding method to isolate the region of interest is employed, which is then applied in other domains. To reduce the computational burden and accelerate the convergence to an optimal solution for classification accuracy, a holistic approach to HAR optimisation is proposed using a surrogate model-assisted differential evolutionary algorithm (SADEA-I) to jointly optimise signal processing, adaptive thresholding and classification parameters for HAR. Two distinct classification models are evaluated with holistic optimisation: SADEA-I with support vector machine classifiers (SVM) and SADEA-I with AlexNet. They achieve an accuracy of 89.41% and 93.54%, respectively. This is an improvement of ∼11.3% for SVM and ∼2.7% for AlexNet when compared to the performance without SADEA-I. The effectiveness of our holistic approach is validated using the University of Glasgow human radar signatures dataset. This proof of concept is significant for dimensionality reduction and computational efficiency when facing a multiplication of radar representation domains/feature spaces and transmitting/receiving channels that could be individually tuned in modern radar systems
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