Anomaly Detection, Rule Adaptation and Rule Induction Methodologies in the Context of Automated Sports Video Annotation.

Automated video annotation is a topic of considerable interest in computer vision due to its applications in video search, object based video encoding and enhanced broadcast content. The domain of sport broadcasting is, in particular, the subject of current research attention due to its fixed, rule governed, content. This research work aims to develop, analyze and demonstrate novel methodologies that can be useful in the context of adaptive and automated video annotation systems. In this thesis, we present methodologies for addressing the problems of anomaly detection, rule adaptation and rule induction for court based sports such as tennis and badminton. We first introduce an HMM induction strategy for a court-model based method that uses the court structure in the form of a lattice for two related modalities of singles and doubles tennis to tackle the problems of anomaly detection and rectification. We also introduce another anomaly detection methodology that is based on the disparity between the low-level vision based classifiers and the high-level contextual classifier. Another approach to address the problem of rule adaptation is also proposed that employs Convex hulling of the anomalous states. We also investigate a number of novel hierarchical HMM generating methods for stochastic induction of game rules. These methodologies include, Cartesian product Label-based Hierarchical Bottom-up Clustering (CLHBC) that employs prior information within the label structures. A new constrained variant of the classical Chinese Restaurant Process (CRP) is also introduced that is relevant to sports games. We also propose two hybrid methodologies in this context and a comparative analysis is made against the flat Markov model. We also show that these methods are also generalizable to other rule based environments

A conceptual model for city branding based on semiotics

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Currently change in cities is accelerating intricately and diversely because of technological advances, information floods, increased openness, and the rising standard of living. While city development depended on the activation of urban marketing, a city of importance and recognition is highlighted as one brand. To increase city brand value, it has become necessary to study the brand equity held by cities and to develop a strategy based on a new approach. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a city brand can be developed and through which kind of method. Therefore, the phenomenon of a city was investigated and analysed based on semiotics underpinning the communication of all phenomenon. The purpose of this research was to suggest a new perspective for city branding strategy and to develop a conceptual model for a city branding strategy that is an improvement on the strategies being used by industry and in academia. The proposed perspective is based on semiotics which is the analysis of the interaction between general objects and cultural phenomena. The conceptual model takes elements constituting a city and identifies the core categories comprising branding. From this, it is clear that sustainable city branding is possible, as city assets are developed and brand value is formed. The conceptual model of the city branding process has been positively evaluated through three case studies and five in-depth interviews with experts. The proposed model provides the basis for a city research plan and a tool for the management of the city branding process. The conceptual model offers several advantages as shown below:1. A holistic view of city branding strategy development; 2. A new perspective of city interpretation through semiotics; 3. An understanding of the interaction between city users (residents and visitors) and city with a cognition process and associated image; 4. A clarification of the roles of all component elements within the city branding strategy; 5. An integration of the component elements and core categories for city branding; 6. A new approach to city branding strategy through the conceptual model. Therefore, this research presents a robust theoretical basis for developing a new city branding strategy through the conceptual model

The impact of negative events in scenic spots on tourists' behavioral intention: an analysis from the perspective of event system theory

Tourism is an important economic activity in China representing about 11.04% of GDP and 10.29% of total employment. In recent years, negative events occurred frequently in Chinese tourism spots, especially in scenic spots, and tended to be promptly divulgated through social networks. The impact of these fast-running news on tourism activity is still to be appraised. This study reviews the literature on negative events, and e-word-of-mouth effects, jointly with personality characteristic theory, and consumer behavior intentions to address the impact of negative events on tourism. The study contributes to the existent knowledge by using the event theory system framework to explore how negative events affect tourists’ intentions concerning visiting places where negative events took place. The results are meaningful both theoretically and practically, showing that, on the one hand, the dimensions of space and intensity proposed by the event theory system have a significant impact on tourists’ behavior and, on another hand, tourists’ personality, namely risk-taking tendencies and openness, has a significant impact on tourists' willingness to recommend. Further, the study addresses its limitations and proposes management contributions, and future directions of research.O turismo é uma atividade muito importante na China representando cerca de 11.04% do seu PIB e 10.29% do seu emprego total. Recentemente, acontecimentos negativos têm ocorrido com frequência em locais turísticos, especialmente em locais de espetáculos, e têm sido rapidamente difundidos através das redes sociais. O impacto sobre a atividade turística destas notícias aceleradas está ainda por avaliar. Este trabalho revê a literatura sobre acontecimentos negativos e efeitos de difusão eletrónica "boca-a-boca", em conjunto com a teoria da personalidade e das intenções de consumo, para analisar o impacto de acontecimentos negativos no turismo. O estudo contribui para a literatura existente ao usar o quadro do "event theory system" para explorar como os acontecimentos negativos afetam as decisões dos turistas em visitar os locais onde estes ocorreram. Os resultados são significativos, quer do ponto de vista teórico, quer prático, demonstrando, por um lado, que as dimensões espaço e intensidade sugeridas pelo "event theory system" têm impacto significativo no comportamento dos turistas e, por outro, que a personalidade dos turistas, nomeadamente a sua tendência para aceitar o risco e a sua abertura, tem um impacto significativo na sua vontade de recomendar os locais afetados pelos acontecimentos negativos. Adicionalmente, o estudo discute as suas limitações e propõe contribuições para o processo de gestão, bem como linhas de investigação futuras

An Evolutionary Approach to Adaptive Image Analysis for Retrieving and Long-term Monitoring Historical Land Use from Spatiotemporally Heterogeneous Map Sources

Land use changes have become a major contributor to the anthropogenic global change. The ongoing dispersion and concentration of the human species, being at their orders unprecedented, have indisputably altered Earth’s surface and atmosphere. The effects are so salient and irreversible that a new geological epoch, following the interglacial Holocene, has been announced: the Anthropocene. While its onset is by some scholars dated back to the Neolithic revolution, it is commonly referred to the late 18th century. The rapid development since the industrial revolution and its implications gave rise to an increasing awareness of the extensive anthropogenic land change and led to an urgent need for sustainable strategies for land use and land management. By preserving of landscape and settlement patterns at discrete points in time, archival geospatial data sources such as remote sensing imagery and historical geotopographic maps, in particular, could give evidence of the dynamic land use change during this crucial period. In this context, this thesis set out to explore the potentials of retrospective geoinformation for monitoring, communicating, modeling and eventually understanding the complex and gradually evolving processes of land cover and land use change. Currently, large amounts of geospatial data sources such as archival maps are being worldwide made online accessible by libraries and national mapping agencies. Despite their abundance and relevance, the usage of historical land use and land cover information in research is still often hindered by the laborious visual interpretation, limiting the temporal and spatial coverage of studies. Thus, the core of the thesis is dedicated to the computational acquisition of geoinformation from archival map sources by means of digital image analysis. Based on a comprehensive review of literature as well as the data and proposed algorithms, two major challenges for long-term retrospective information acquisition and change detection were identified: first, the diversity of geographical entity representations over space and time, and second, the uncertainty inherent to both the data source itself and its utilization for land change detection. To address the former challenge, image segmentation is considered a global non-linear optimization problem. The segmentation methods and parameters are adjusted using a metaheuristic, evolutionary approach. For preserving adaptability in high level image analysis, a hybrid model- and data-driven strategy, combining a knowledge-based and a neural net classifier, is recommended. To address the second challenge, a probabilistic object- and field-based change detection approach for modeling the positional, thematic, and temporal uncertainty adherent to both data and processing, is developed. Experimental results indicate the suitability of the methodology in support of land change monitoring. In conclusion, potentials of application and directions for further research are given

Research on the Legal Problems of Official Marks of Proof Attributes in China

Since the introduction of Measures for the Protection of Official Marks (Draft for Opinion), the attention to official marks has increased in China, but the concept, nature, classification and relationship between official marks and trademarks have not been sorted out clearly. This paper starts from the classification of official signs, selects the official signs with certification attributes as the main research object, clarifies the relationship between such official marks and other related signs, analyses the current situation of their use and management, and puts forward suggestions to improve the laws and regulations on official marks

Gaming myth: an exploration of video gaming, heritage, and identity creation in contemporary Cuba

This thesis examines the relationship between video games and the creation and sustainment of local, national, and personal myths in contemporary Cuba. This thesis examines traditional notions of myth, particularly those which relate to culture and heritage. At the same time, it will analyse the evolving role which video games, and technology more generally, play in our lives, and how new technologies affect the creation and propagation of myth in personal and national narratives. This thesis will then go on to give an overview of the historical context of Cuba, a nation in which myth continues to play a fundamental role in the national narrative, and explore how video games are an increasingly central element of these narratives. This thesis asks whether video games and computing can tell us anything of note about Cuban culture, and whether the games which are being played and developed in Cuba are part of a broader cultural and historical tradition which shapes Cuba as it is today. This thesis answers both of these questions in the affirmative, and demonstrates the significant impact which video games have had upon Cuba (particularly the more rural and remote parts of the country). This thesis also examines the question of whether gaming in Cuba might provide us with any practical or theoretical approaches to gaming which might be missing from the existing literature, and brings to the fore the lessons which Cuba’s unique circumstances hold for the furthering of the study of video games as an academic discipline. In order to support these assertions, the final chapter of this thesis is dedicated to a case study of the rural province of Granma. Using original interviews and fieldwork, this chapter combines the extensive historical and theoretical considerations which have been laid out in the preceding chapters, and applies them to the contemporary Cuban context. This thesis makes an original contribution to both the fields of Cuban studies and video game theory. Video game studies have traditionally been Western-centric, and have all but ignored countries such as Cuba. Whilst previous works have explored the role of myth within Cuba and gaming separately, this is the first work to study the manner in which myth underpins both video gaming and Cuban culture as a symbiotic whole

What remains is the book: The idea of the book in and around electronic space

The purpose of this study is to question the idea of the book in general and how this idea is transforming in electronic space, understood as a space of flows as distinct to a space of places (Castells, 1989, p. 349). In order to question the idea of the book in electronic space we must begin at its ending, or more specifically, at a point in the histories of the book that is widely understood as representing a closing of a parenthesis - that began with the invention of the printing press, up to the end of print—spanning some 500 years, beginning half way through the 15th century in Western Europe

Book review of " Giuseppina Pellegrino and Alessandro Mongili (eds.) Information Infrastructure(s): Boundaries, Ecologies, Multiplicity, Cam- bridge, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014, pp. 337"

book revie

Social Policies and Institutional Reform in Post-COVID Cuba

The economic crisis in the wake of the COVID pandemic is putting Cuba's socialism to a severe test. The government in Havana has added a fundamental reform of the economy, institutional structure and social policies to the agenda. This volume brings together contributions from leading international experts as well as from the island itself, analysing the economic, political and social challenges Cuba is facing today

Cyber Security

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 17th International Annual Conference on Cyber Security, CNCERT 2021, held in Beijing, China, in AJuly 2021. The 14 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 51 submissions. The papers are organized according to the following topical sections: ​data security; privacy protection; anomaly detection; traffic analysis; social network security; vulnerability detection; text classification