389 research outputs found
Students' experiences and expectations of technologies: an Australian study designed to inform planning and development decisions
No full textThe pace of technological change accompanied by an evolution in social, work-based and study behaviours and norms poses particular challenges for universities as they strive to develop high quality and sustainable technology-rich learning environments. Maintaining currency with the latest advances is resource intensive, hence the costs incurred in upgrading existing and introducing new technologies need to be carefully weighed up against the potential benefits to students. This calls for a multidimensional approach to planning, with the student voice being an important dimension. Three Australian universities have recently completed a project to gain a better understanding of students\u27 experiences and expectations of technologies in everyday life and for study purposes. The LMS and 25 other technologies ranging from established university offerings (email, learning management systems) to freely available social networking technologies (YouTube, Facebook) were surveyed. More than 10,000 students responded. This paper discusses the development of the survey and presents the broad trends that have emerged in relation to the current use of technologies and desired future use of these for learning purposes. The implications of the survey findings for developing institutional infrastructure to engage students and support their learning are highlighted
The Pleasure in Liberation — with adrienne maree brown
No full textadrienne maree brown is a writer. She is currently the writer-in-residence at the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute.adrienne is the author of Grievers (the first novella in a trilogy on the Black Dawn imprint), Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation, We Will Not Cancel Us and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds and the co-editor of Octavia\u27s Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements and How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office. She is the cohost of the How to Survive the End of the World, Octavia\u27s Parables and Emergent Strategy podcasts. adrienne is rooted in Detroit. Resources: - adrienne\u27s website – https://adriennemareebrown.net/ - adrienne\u27s Twitter – https://twitter.com/Adriennemaree - Octavia\u27s Brood – https://www.akpress.org/octavia-s-brood.html - Pleasure Activism – https://www.akpress.org/pleasure-activism.html - Emergent Strategy – https://www.akpress.org/emergentstrategy.html - Audre Lorde\u27s "The Uses of the Erotic" essay — https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/11881_Chapter_5.pdf - Public Reading and Dialogue on Octavia Butler and the Future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSMZbgo0XZA
Smart Farming with AI: Comparative Evaluation of CNN Models for Tomato Leaf Disease Classification
No full textTomato is a major agricultural crop cultivated worldwide; however, its production is severely threatened by a wide range of plant diseases, necessitating accurate and timely detection methods. In recent years, neural network–based computer software and mobile applications have emerged as effective tools for plant disease detection. In this study, three advanced convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures—ResNet-50, DenseNet-121, and InceptionV3—are comparatively analyzed to evaluate their effectiveness in identifying and classifying tomato diseases using the PlantVillage dataset. To enhance model robustness against real-world variability, comprehensive image preprocessing and data augmentation techniques were employed, including rotation, horizontal and vertical flipping, rescaling, shear transformation, and zooming. A systematic hyperparameter tuning strategy was adopted by experimenting with various combinations of learning rates, batch sizes, and optimizers to optimize training performance. Experimental results demonstrate that hyperparameter optimization significantly improves classification accuracy, with the ResNet-50 model achieving the highest accuracy of 98.2%, along with superior F1-score, precision, and recall values. DenseNet-121 and InceptionV3 also exhibited strong performance, although their results were comparatively lower than those obtained with ResNet-50. These findings underscore the effectiveness of transfer learning and fine-tuning strategies in the development of automated systems for plant disease detection and classification. The study highlights the strong potential of CNN-based architectures for scalable and accurate disease detection, offering valuable support to farmers for early diagnosis and improved crop management. Furthermore, the study identifies future research directions, including deployment under real field conditions and the exploration of additional deep learning architectures
The Palaeoproterozoic global carbon cycle: insights from the Loch Maree Group, NW Scotland
No full textTwo Palaeoproterozoic events have particularly interested Earth scientists. These are the global Lomagundi–Jatuli Event, the greatest magnitude positive carbonate carbon isotope excursion in Earth history, and the Shunga Event, the world’s largest organic carbon burial event. Analysis of newly acquired high-resolution C–O isotope data and U–Pb zircon geochronology refine understanding of carbon isotope characteristics and timing of deposition of the Palaeoproterozoic Loch Maree Group of NW Scotland. Petrographic examination reveals a basal unconformity between the Loch Maree Group and Archaean basement, permitting a stratigraphy and younging direction to be assigned. Detrital zircon ages from immediately above the unconformity are dated at c. 2.3 Ga. δ13Ccarbonate data on two temporally discrete carbonate packages range from c. +15 to 2‰ in the older unit and c. 2 to −5‰ in the younger carbonate unit. Current age constraints indicate that the Loch Maree Group is too young to be fully coeval with the Lomagundi–Jatuli Event but is within the age range of the Shunga Event. This revives consideration of a straightforward mass-balance process involving burial of organic carbon as an explanation for at least some of the C-cycle perturbations of Palaeoproterozoic time.
Supplementary Material: Sample descriptions from the Loch Maree Group, geochemical data, sample preparation and geochronology data are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18865
Movements for equality The nature of equality politics in Britain
No full textSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DX196855 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
Assessment of pulmonary function in childhood neuromuscular weakness
No full textDeposited with permission of the author. © 2004 Leanne Maree Gauld.Children with neuromuscular weakness may have severe or progressive weakness that results in pulmonary restriction. Weakness can also result in spinal deformity that worsens the pulmonary restriction. Corrective spinal surgery carries significant respiratory risk. Accurate respiratory assessment is important for pre-operative risk assessment. Aims: 1) to evaluate the current clinical practice of pulmonary function testing and their role in respiratory assessment in children with neuromuscular weakness undergoing corrective spinal surgery and 2) to develop a precise method of predicting pulmonary function tests in children with neuromuscular weakness
Treatment of comorbidity
No full textCormorbity means the co-occurrence of one or more diseases or disorders in an individual. The National Comorbity Project aims to highlight this type of comorbity and identify appropriate strategies and policies responses.\u
Architectural Design for Data Security in Cloud-based Big Data Systems
No full textالتصميم المعماري للنظام هو عملية إبداعية بعد كل شيء. المتطلبات غير الوظيفية وبنية البرامج لها علاقة قوية. يعد أمن النظام أحد الشواغل الكبيرة وهو حاجة ومتطلب غير وظيفي. يجب أن يعتمد الأسلوب والهيكل المعماري المختاران للنظام على متطلبات النظام غير الوظيفية. تُستخدم تقنيات البيانات الضخمة لتخزين كميات هائلة من البيانات التشغيلية في المجال العام. تم اقتراح مخططات هيكل وسلوك النظام التي تستخدم تصميمًا معماريًا آمنًا لنظام يعمل عبر السحابة. تم التحقيق في مكونات مختلفة من البيانات الضخمة في هذا العمل البحثي نظرًا لخطورة القضايا الأمنية التي تركز على الخصوصية والسرية. يعد تأمين البيانات عبر السحابة التي يتم الاستعانة بمصادر خارجية لها مصدر قلق متزايد. هناك مسؤولو قواعد بيانات ضارة من الخارج ومن الداخل يمكنهم الوصول إلى البيانات الخاصة والحساسة وتعديلها ، وبالتالي يمكن أن يكون مزود خدمة قاعدة البيانات مخادعًا. آليات الأمان مطلوبة بالضرورة لحماية البيانات الحساسة الموجودة على السحابات العامة. على مستوى التطبيق ، يضمن الحل المقترح خصوصية وسرية البيانات الموجودة على السحابة. تم إجراء اختبارات مكثفة ، وكانت نتائج هذا البحث كما يلي: كشفت النتائج المسجلة عن اختلافات ذات دلالة إحصائية في النص العادي ومحتويات الوسائط المتعددة (أي الصوت والفيديو) مع قياس الوقت بالمللي ثانية لمجموعات البيانات الصغيرة والمتوسطة والكبيرة.Architecture design of system is creative process after all. Non-functional requirements and software architecture have a strong relationship. Security of system is one of great concern and it is a non-functional need and requirement. The architectural style and structure chosen for a system should be based on the non-functional system requirements. Big Data technologies are used to store handles huge amounts of operational data in the public domain. Structure and behavior diagrams of the system is proposed that use a secure architectural design for a system that works over the cloud. Different components of Big Data have been investigated in this research work due to the seriousness of security issues focus on privacy and confidentiality. The security of data over the cloud being outsourced is a growing concern. There are outsider and insider malicious database administrators who can gain access and modify private and sensitive data therefore database service provider can be deceitful. Security mechanisms are necessarily required to protect sensitive data residing on public clouds. At the application level, the proposed solution ensures privacy and confidentiality of data at rest over the cloud. Extensive tests have been carried out, and the results of this research work are as follows that the recorded results revealed statistically significant variations in plaintext and multimedia contents (i.e., audio and video) with time measured in milliseconds for small, medium, and large datasets.
Wellbeing for children with a disability in New Zealand: A search for meaning by Maree Kirk
No full textThis thesis explores the meaning of wellbeing for children with a disability in New Zealand, an area of social policy that has been largely unexamined. Focusing on the school environment, three questions are addressed: What does wellbeing mean for children with a disability? What factors influence it? Are current policy frameworks which address child wellbeing relevant to the wellbeing of children with a disability? The research involved qualitative data collection from nine purposively selected participants: children with a disability, their parents and key informants involved in service provision and policy development.
A critical review of international and national literature on definitions of wellbeing and disability, and on existing data sources, is followed by a socio-demographic profile of children with a disability in New Zealand. Qualitative findings are interpreted in relation to current New Zealand social policy initiatives and frameworks - New Zealand's Agenda for Children, the Whole Child Approach and the Key Settings Model - as well as the theoretical perspectives of social solidarity, wellbeing, the ecological theory of human development and discourses of disability.
Findings indicate that the concept of wellbeing as applied to all New Zealand children is also relevant to children with a disability. The difference however, lies in the factors which ultimately influence whether the various dimensions of wellbeing will actually be experienced by children with a disability. For these children, communication as a dimension of wellbeing for example, is influenced by language skill acquisition, which in turn depends upon allocation of appropriate and adequate resourcing of the child's learning environment.
The conclusion drawn is that policy frameworks, principles and social indicators addressing child wellbeing, are inconsistently applied with regard to children with a disability. New Zealand's Agenda for Children which promotes an ecological approach to child wellbeing would benefit from further adaptation to reflect the needs of this specific child population. The notion of wellbeing for children with a disability needs further development for the purpose of knowledge building, and to ensure clearer articulation between processes of policy development, service provision, and resource allocation
The politics of influence: the work of the Country Women's Association of Victoria incorporated in the public sphere
No full textDeposited with permission of the author. © 1997 Dr. Karen Maree CrookThis research is focussed on the organisational, structural and leadership dimensions of the Country Women's Association of Victoria. The thesis seeks to examine the nature of the CWA's influence as one of Australia's most successful women's organisations, and to assess its prospects for the future. The CWA is Australia's largest women's organisations and it has extensive international links and a long history of effective lobbying on behalf of rural women and their families. The Association has been an active participant in the Australian political process, influencing public policy and the political agenda, and encouraging civic participation by women. It has provided leadership roles and effective political strategies for women, particularly isolated rural women
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