An Ai-Powered 3-D Facial Recognition Framework for Crime Intelligence using Reconstructive and Predictive Techniques

Police use of facial recognition tends to be divided between stand-alone biometric tools and discrete dashboards for analysing crime, with very little integration between who appears in images and how patterns of crime develop. At the same time, mainstream 2-D recognition models are brittle under CCTV conditions, where pose, blur, compression and occlusion are common. This dissertation explores the feasibility of a 3-D aware facial analytics pipeline to enhance its robustness on unconstrained imagery, and how its outcomes can be fused with the results of crime trend analytics in a research-only prototype. The proposed framework comprises YOLOv8s person/weapon detector, landmark, FLAME-based 3-D ReconstructionNet trained on AFLW2000-3D, and RecognitionNet trained on 530 FaceScrub actor/actress public individuals. RecognitionNet generates 512-D embeddings using an LDA-reduced 256-D version and tests using closed set identification, verification ROC, robustness and explainability tools (Grad-CAM, region occlusion). Nevertheless, a comparison suite is provided where these embeddings are compared to Buffalo InsightFace features using k-NN classification, perclass diagnostics and UMAP visualisation. Crime-trend analytics built from anonymised UK open police data in Facebook/Meta Prophet, with the use of a full-stack investigator dashboard feeding from REST endpoints. Governance components simulate the automated DPIA, encryption and audit logging as well as bias monitoring over male/female FaceScrub partitions. Experiments demonstrate that the 3-D reconstruction stage has low vertex and landmark errors, as well as being stable to moderate pose and occlusion. RecognitionNet has moderate closed-set accuracy but good verification performance (AUC > 0.83) and is much better than the Buffalo baseline in terms of the k-NN embedding quality on the project’s domain. Prophet is able to capture the clear structure of season crime and support hotspot-style visualisation within the frontend. Bias monitoring reveals small but nonnegligible differences in demographic performance, which argues in favour of continuous fairness measurement. The work shows that the technical feasibility of an integrated 3-D facial recognition and crime analytics stack based on public, anonymised data is possible, but also highlights the various barriers to be overcome in terms of legal, ethical, and data quality considerations, before the creation of any operational solution

A Technology-Mediated Tool (FiF) and Foreign Language Learners: DevelopingEFL Learners’ Oral Proficiency at a Chinese Higher Vocational College

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the Technology-Mediated Tool (FiF) on the development of English oral proficiency of EFL students in higher vocational colleges in China. The research began with a survey of students' attitudes towards the technology-mediated tool, and then a 20-week experimental follow-up study was conducted. During the research process, a mixed explanatory sequential research method was adopted, including questionnaire surveys, student interviews, teacher interviews, recording of students’ autonomous learning and formative assessment records, English oral proficiency tests, focus groups, etc. The study found that behind the students’ willingness to accept the technology-mediated tool lies concerns such as being forced to use it or being afraid of not using it and receiving poor evaluations. Students expressed concerns and a sense of burden regarding the large-scale top-down implementation of various technology tools in teaching, learning, and management in Chinese higher education. The experimental study found that the Technology-Mediated Tool has a certain positive supportive effect on the English oral proficiency of vocational college students in aspects such as pronunciation, output length, and fluency, but has little effect on deep language abilities such as consistency, completeness, and compliance of oral expression. This makes us realise that language development is the result of learners’ long-term efforts, rather than being solely dependent on technology. Additionally, it was found that the technology-mediated learning tools have no positive impact on students’ willingness to participate in class, emotional improvement, and confidence enhancement in the classroom. Instead, students feel stressed and express that they often have to use the tools meaninglessly in class to meet the requirements of the institution or the teacher. This indicates that when technology tools do not meet the needs of students or are not implemented in a standardised manner, they not only do not have a positive effect but also have a reverse effect. These findings offer advice to teachers, institution managers, and higher-level decision-makers. Furthermore, students have also expressed dissatisfaction with the tool itself, and have also put forward expectations for improvement, especially in terms of the accuracy of evaluation, the targeted nature of feedback, and the provision of training materials that are consistent with the working scenarios of higher vocational students. The developers of the tool should pay attention to these aspects

What School-Based Strategies are Most Effective in Preventing Obesity Among Primary School Children in the United Kingdom

Background: Childhood obesity remains a significant public health challenge in the United Kingdom, with persistently high prevalence rates and marked socio-economic inequalities. Schools are increasingly positioned as key settings for obesity prevention due to their reach, structure, and potential to influence children’s health behaviours at an early stage. However, evidence regarding the effectiveness of school-based childhood obesity prevention programmes remains mixed, and less is known about how contextual and implementation factors shape programme outcomes in practice. The aim of this study was to critically evaluate the effectiveness of school-based obesity prevention programmes for primary school children in the United Kingdom through a systematic literature review. Methodology: A systematic search of relevant academic databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and PsycINFO) was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines, and ten UK-based studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies were selected using the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome) framework. The review predominantly synthesised qualitative evidence, alongside one mixed-methods study. Methodological quality was appraised using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist for qualitative studies and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) for the mixed-methods study. Results: A thematic synthesis approach, guided by Braun and Clarke’s framework, was employed to analyse the findings. Four overarching themes were identified: (1) school capacity and resources, (2) stakeholder engagement and shared responsibility, (3) programme implementation, fidelity and adaptation, and (4) sensitivity, communication and weight stigma. The findings indicate that while school-based programmes can positively influence health related behaviours, their effectiveness is strongly shaped by organisational capacity, leadership support, staff confidence, parental engagement, and the need for sensitive, non-stigmatising approaches. Conclusion: The review concludes that school-based obesity prevention programmes are unlikely to achieve sustained impact in isolation. Greater structural support, curriculum integration, staff training, and collaborative approaches involving families and wider systems are required to enhance effectiveness, equity, and long-term sustainability

The Common Law Duty of Confidence and the Use of Information in Healthcare in Wales

This thesis describes how information that is subject to the common law duty of confidence can be shared lawfully in the National Health Service in Wales. The complexities of modern healthcare and the exploitation of data to improve service provision necessitate a clearer understanding of the duty of confidence to ensure that information is shared lawfully. Guidance produced by the health service and professional bodies assists healthcare professionals and health service staff in making decisions around using information to ensure compliance with legal and ethical frameworks when everyday tasks are being performed. However, they lack a comprehensive legal perspective, potentially inhibiting lawful information sharing. The Law Commission highlighted that this issue extends beyond the NHS to the wider public service. There is an absence of detailed legal guidance that focuses on the common law duty of confidence, specifically in relation to the National Health Service in Wales. There are no texts that examine the provisions under section 251 of the National Health Service Act 2006 to create regulation. There are no studies that explain how statutory functions can confer powers to enable bodies to lawfully collect and use information that is subject to the duty of confidence. Employing doctrinal and empirical legal research methodologies, this thesis reviews primary legal resources and interprets them following established legal research methods to ensure an accurate representation of the law without social biases. The research aims to clarify misunderstandings and confusions around the duty of confidence and will be utilised in other work to create a comprehensive legal framework for healthcare professionals and organisations in Wales

Planet, People, and Profit: How Green Supply Chain Management Practices Drive Employee Work Engagement and Firm Performance

Despite the widespread adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices, existing research offers conflicting evidence regarding their impact on firm performance, highlighting the importance of investigating the underlying mechanisms that allow firms to fully capture the value of such investments. Moreover, prior studies have largely overlooked the influence of GSCM practices on employee work engagement, which may serve as critical mechanisms through which these practices translate into improved firm performance. To address this, this study examines the relationships between internal (i.e., internal environment management, eco‐design, and investment recovery) and external (i.e., green purchasing and customer collaboration) GSCM practices and firm operational performance and the mediating role of employees' work engagement. To this end, we employed a multi‐informant data collection design in which GSCM practices and firm operational performance were assessed by managers, while work engagement was captured directly from employees from the 121 surveyed manufacturing firms, thereby enhancing measurement accuracy and the overall roundness of the results. The analysis revealed that internal GSCM practices have a positive impact on firm operational performance, while external GSCM practices do not. Unexpectedly, we found that internal GSCM practices do not increase employees' work engagement, whilst external GSCM practices do. However, employees' work engagement fully mediates the relationship between external GSCM practices and firm operational performance. This study advances the literature by exploring the impact of GSCM on employee‐level outcome and explaining how it influences performance through driving employees' work engagement

Gazing at Other Animals: A Deconstruction of the Anthropocentric Gaze in the Representation of Apex Predators

This research deconstructs representations of large apex predator animals within film and wildlife documentaries, examining the influence of mainstream narratives on public perceptions of wildlife behaviour. Through the cultural studies field of Critical Animal Media Studies (CAMS), the research considers the influence of film genres, and the plethora of representations disseminated to the public through film and wildlife documentaries and the influence these representations have upon a human understanding of non-human animals. Animals have appeared throughout the media as variations of the ‘other’, constructed and produced as a result of anthropocentric ideas. This research analyses apex predator representations within the context of anthropocentrism, a perspective that places the human at the centre of experience and knowledge. Anthropocentrism is a concept integrally linked to the human gaze, a mode of viewing that produces an anthropocentric perception of non-human animals. Using CAMS literature, this research also establishes parallels between non-human animals and historically oppressed groups, using the theory of the male gaze developed by British feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey to consider the impact of a subjugating gaze on perceptions of the non-human animal in films and wildlife documentaries. These perspectives will be elucidated and applied in three case studies: The Monstrous Other, The Anthropomorphic Other and The Companion Other, focusing on representations of sharks, bears, and wolves in mainstream media. The selected representations articulate how the anthropocentric gaze has influenced a cultural understanding and knowledge of apex predators by classifying such representations into three different iterations of the ‘other’. The research hypothesis suggests that if we critically view representations of apex predators using CAMS and a critique of anthropocentric methods, then a more accurate perception of animals may be established in the visuals and narratives seen in films and wildlife documentaries. The practice-based research presents a series of approaches and strategies for filmmakers that deconstruct anthropocentric modes of looking at apex predators. The research suggests that in order to improve viewers’ understanding of non-human animals, filmmakers should reject human centred representations and alternatively adopt more rigorous strategies and modes of thought that resist the hierarchical dynamics of the anthropocentric gaze

Chapter 4: Cyprus in the Twelfth and Eleventh Centuries BCE

The 12th -11th century BC marks the transition between the Late Bronze Age (LBA) occupation of Cyprus and the very different social world of the Early Iron Age. The final phase of the LBA is marked by a series of violent destructions, the abandonment of major urban centres and rural communities throughout the island, and a subsequent dramatic shift in settlement pattern. Alongside this there is a clear break in material production on the island – in particular within the field of pottery production, and significant changes in funerary and ritual practice. Within the wider East Mediterranean context, the period is characterized by a breakdown in international maritime trade, the disappearance of the major palace economies and overarching empire states, and significant population movement. The extent to which Cyprus was directly affected by these changes is debated, in particular the presence of Mycenaean colonising communities; certainly, there is some evidence that the island’s significant copper trade persisted, albeit not at the same scale as during the LBA, and there is evidence for continued cultural and trading links with the island of Crete and the Philistine communities of the southern Levant. By the end of the 11th century the surviving communities occupied a very different social and economic world. This chapter will explore the context of these changes on Cyprus: the evidence for the establishment of new communities ancestral to the Iron Age city kingdoms, using settlement and cemetery archaeology, the changing material world of the new settlements, external contact beyond the island and evidence for the earliest Phoenician trading and/or colonising activity on the island. In particular it will examine the degree to which the island might be considered to be a part of the emerging world of Iron Age Greece

Towards A Theological Understanding of Muirchú’s Vita Patricii

This thesis aims to theologically interpret Muirchú’s Vita Patricii by virtue of its content and structure while situating it within the wider spiritual landscape of its time of composition. While previous theological studies of Muirchú’s Life have focused on specific sections, the present study examines the Life as a whole and seeks to outline a theological vision which Muirchú endeavours to communicate to his audience. To accomplish this, a set of theologically driven questions are posed, such as: how does the content and structure undergird the theological message? Can a central theme be identified within the text that would unify both the structure and theological meaning? What may the spiritual impact of this have been upon the original audience? To fulfil the aims of this study a mixed-methodological approach is used which first analyses the text via discourse analysis and comparative analysis, then sets the text within its literary and historical context by looking at biblical allusions and hagiographical motifs, and finally, demonstrates how each section connects to the theological vision of the Life and how the implications therein could be received by the perceived audience. Through the implementation of the mixed-methodological approach, it is shown how the theme of the coming of the Kingdom of God and the subsequent reversal of the curse undergirds and informs the narrative and structure of the Life. Additionally, a variety of suggestions are given as to how the audience would have responded to Muirchú’s theological vision as a gens electi

Through The Eyes of Students, How Can International Boarding Schools Become a ‘Home Away from Home’? Exploring Lived Experiences of Boarding Students’ Transition Into an International Boarding School.

This thesis explores the lived experiences of international boarding students at an elite boarding school in the UK and examines how such schools can become a ‘home away from home’. Existing literature is limited, often focusing on ex-boarders’ retrospective accounts, single-nationality groups, residential rather than boarding contexts or the negative consequences of boarding, with little attention to contemporary, real-time student voices. This study addresses this gap through a qualitative case study design, incorporating fifteen semi-structured interviews with students and an extensive document analysis of school policies, induction materials, handbooks, house guides, routines and government guidance. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, and findings were interpreted through Bowlby’s Attachment Theory to understand how students’ emotional and social needs are met within the boarding environment. Analysis identified four interrelated themes underpinning students’ sense of home: human attachments, time and space, prior preparation and positive attitude. Transition emerged as an ongoing process that intersects with each of these themes. Human attachments were identified as the central organising element, with the remaining themes shaping the conditions through which emotional security, belonging and resilience are developed. Document analysis revealed areas of both alignment and tension with these themes, highlighting strengths in routines and wellbeing policies alongside inconsistencies and reactive elements within some guidance. Interpreted through the lens of Attachment Theory, the findings underscore the foundational role of relational connections, with the other themes acting to support and reinforce these processes. The study concludes that international boarding schools can foster environments that feel like a ‘home away from home’ when attention is given to these interdependent themes and when school practices and policies are aligned with attachment-informed principles. The thesis offers recommendations for practice, including attachment-aware staff training, coherent induction and pre-arrival preparation, structured routines and spaces and fostering a positive attitude, making an important contribution to the contemporary debate on modern boarding education