Fast and slow resonant triads in the two layer rotating shallow water equations

In this paper we examine triad resonances in a rotating shallow water system when there are two free interfaces. This allows for an examination in a relatively simple model of the interplay between baroclinic and barotropic dynamics in a context where there is also a geostrophic mode. In contrast to the much-studied one-layer rotating shallow water system, we find that as well as the usual slow geostrophic mode, there are now two fast waves, a barotropic mode and a baroclinic mode. This feature permits triad resonances to occur between three fast waves, with a mixture of barotropic and baroclinic modes, an aspect which cannot occur in the one-layer system. There are now also two branches of the slow geostrophic mode with a repeated branch of the dispersion relation. The consequences are explored in a derivation of the full set of triad interaction equations, using a multi-scale asymptotic expansion based on a small amplitude parameter. The derived nonlinear interaction coefficients are confirmed using energy and enstrophy conservation. These triad interaction equations are explored with an emphasis on the parameter regime with small Rossby and Froude numbers

Network meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies identifies and ranks the optimal diagnostic tests and thresholds for healthcare policy and decision making

Objective: Network meta-analyses have extensively been used to compare the effectiveness of multiple interventions for healthcare policy and decision-making. However, methods for evaluating the performance of multiple diagnostic tests are less established. In a decision-making context, we are often interested in comparing and ranking the performance of multiple diagnostic tests, at varying levels of test thresholds, in one simultaneous analysis. Study design and setting: Motivated by an example of cognitive impairment diagnosis following stroke, we synthesized data from 13 studies assessing the efficiency of two diagnostic tests: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), at two test thresholds: MMSE <25/30 and <27/30, and MoCA <22/30 and <26/30. Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, we fitted a bivariate network meta-analysis model incorporating constraints on increasing test threshold, and accounting for the correlations between multiple test accuracy measures from the same study. Results: We developed and successfully fitted a model comparing multiple tests/threshold combinations while imposing threshold constraints. Using this model, we found that MoCA at threshold <26/30 appeared to have the best true positive rate, whilst MMSE at threshold <25/30 appeared to have the best true negative rate. Conclusion: The combined analysis of multiple tests at multiple thresholds allowed for more rigorous comparisons between competing diagnostics tests for decision making

A GPU Implementation for Two-Dimensional Shallow Water Modeling

In this paper, we present a GPU implementation of a two-dimensional shallow water model. Water simulations are useful for modeling floods, river/reservoir behavior, and dam break scenarios. Our GPU implementation shows vast performance improvements over the original Fortran implementation. By taking advantage of the GPU, researchers and engineers will be able to study water systems more efficiently and in greater detail.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

Sources of Military Change:Emulation, Politics, and Concept Development in UK Defence

Judging by its doctrinal publications, the UK Defence establishment stands poised to begin a process of unprecedented change. The language of ‘multi-domain’ thinking is prominent within this discourse and is identified as being a key vehicle via which UK Defence will deliver upon its programme of reform. This article seeks to offer an initial evaluation of these claims and to assess them in light of the burgeoning literatures on Western defence ‘transformation’ and military innovation that have emerged since the early 2000s. We argue that ‘multi-domain’ thinking reflects a form of ‘cosmetic’ emulation by the British Defence establishment and that its appearance within UK doctrine has been driven more by internal politics than by a clearly thought-through adoption of a new form of military practice.</p

Diversity Gain? An exploration of inclusive and exclusive perceptions in Early Years settings in England

This article explores inclusive and exclusive perceptions within early years practice settings in England. Inclusion is understood to involve the acknowledgement and celebration of difference, rather than its problematisation. A deficit-based discourse regarding diversity is challenged and the concept of diversity gain is explored within this context. A small scale, scoping study was undertaken involving seven early years practice settings. The study involved the use of a critical communicative methodological approach due to its focus on exploration and listening with a view to understanding. The results and data analysis supplied three key findings. Firstly, it was shown that practitioners are able to articulate their understanding of diversity gain and a desire for inclusion to a far greater extent than the parents involved in the settings. Secondly, it was shown that parental involvement within the settings is fundamental to authentic inclusion. Finally, it was shown that practitioners felt that there was a distinct lack of resources, including funding, time and expertise, to support inclusive practice appropriately

Addressing environmental and atmospheric challenges for capturing high-precision thermal infrared data in the field of astro-ecology

Using thermal infrared detectors mounted on drones, and applying techniques from astrophysics, we hope to support the field of conservation ecology by creating an automated pipeline for the detection and identification of certain endangered species and poachers from thermal infrared data. We test part of our system by attempting to detect simulated poachers in the field. Whilst we find that we can detect humans hiding in the field in some types of terrain, we also find several environmental factors that prevent accurate detection, such as ambient heat from the ground, absorption of infrared emission by the atmosphere, obscuring vegetation and spurious sources from the terrain. We discuss the effect of these issues, and potential solutions which will be required for our future vision for a fully automated drone-based global conservation monitoring system.Comment: Published in Proceedings of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018. 8 pages, 3 figure

Place-Based Pathways to Sustainability: Exploring Alignment between Geographical Indications and the Concept of Agroecology Territories in Wales

Geographical Indications (GIs) are regarded as important endogenous rural development mechanisms by the European Union. GIs have proven successful for some producers in some regions, delivering higher added value and safeguarding a product&rsquo;s identity and heritage through the notion of terroir. Within the context of a gradual &ldquo;greening&rdquo; of GIs, this paper opens up questions about what potential they might have for transitions to agroecology territories, which are spaces engaged in a transition process towards sustainable agri-food systems. Using the Food and Agricultural Organization&rsquo;s 10 elements of agroecology as a lens, we discuss whether GIs can serve as levers in delivering sustainable agri-food transitions, drawing on the case of the devolved nation of Wales. We base our narrative on a content analysis of GI product specification documents and data from interviews with GI stakeholders. Our case study illustrates that the discourse within the regulatory framework of some Welsh GIs has shifted from one of technicality towards the integration of some agroecology elements in more recent GI product specifications. In this respect, we argue that there is evidence of a &ldquo;first generation&rdquo; and &ldquo;second generation&rdquo; assortment of GIs in Wales. However, any potential for levering an overall transition within this scheme towards an agroecology territory remains constrained by the piecemeal embedding of agroecology. The incorporation of agroecology is emerging primarily from the ground-up&mdash;driven by independent organizational and place-based collective action, but unaccompanied, as yet, by any parallel shift amongst supporting administrative and regulatory authorities. We also discuss the importance of reflexive governance if GIs are to be viable pathways for sustainability transitions. As such, the capacity for GIs to facilitate quality-led place-based food systems that enhance increasingly threatened environmental resources is contingent upon stakeholders adopting a territorial, reflexive governance approach

Cultural democracy at the frontiers of patronage:public-interest art versus promotional culture

In Brave New World Revisited Aldous Huxley observed that ‘genius has been the servant of tyranny and art has advertised the merits of the local cult’ (Huxley 1958). Regarding the complex relationship between art and society, Huxley argued that democracies need to identify good art in the making rather than retrospectively. Drawing also on Raymond Williams’ analysis of the limits imposed on dialogue by representative democracy (Williams 1980), this article considers the data from our pilot ethnography on the prospects for cultural democracy in the arts. Private patronage and largely unaccountable interests presently influence the use of public money; spending is guided towards the logic of individual or organisational self-promotion and an overwhelmingly promotional culture which serves different types of governance, whether authoritarian or democratic. By incorporating private patronage and non-western gift-economics many critical dialogues springing from the arts are contoured by their origins in elite social and political courtship (Bourdieu 1977; Burke [1790] 1997; Schiller [1794] 1994). Here we show how aesthetics remain a key to twenty-first century statecraft. Noting the effects of top-down patronage, whether in the direct manipulation of dialogue or in the more indirect tailoring of critique, the premise of our research is that if widening participation in the arts matters, it matters first and foremost in decision making about spending. Our study tests the deliberative capacities of randomised citizen juries as patrons financially empowered to commission public-interest arts projects on controversial themes and across contested frontiers of sovereignty or cultural identity. We consider our initial findings from the comparison of deliberation in non-randomised control groups and in randomised juries. We discuss the potentially positive role of randomised citizen juries as ‘jolts’ of equality and pluralism at the level of cultural governance (Connolly 2017). We also outline the main political, institutional, and professional blockages and impediments to the democratic integration of such empowered dialogical encounters

Cultural democracy at the frontiers of patronage:public-interest art versus promotional culture

In Brave New World Revisited Aldous Huxley observed that ‘genius has been the servant of tyranny and art has advertised the merits of the local cult’ (Huxley 1958). Regarding the complex relationship between art and society, Huxley argued that democracies need to identify good art in the making rather than retrospectively. Drawing also on Raymond Williams’ analysis of the limits imposed on dialogue by representative democracy (Williams 1980), this article considers the data from our pilot ethnography on the prospects for cultural democracy in the arts. Private patronage and largely unaccountable interests presently influence the use of public money; spending is guided towards the logic of individual or organisational self-promotion and an overwhelmingly promotional culture which serves different types of governance, whether authoritarian or democratic. By incorporating private patronage and non-western gift-economics many critical dialogues springing from the arts are contoured by their origins in elite social and political courtship (Bourdieu 1977; Burke [1790] 1997; Schiller [1794] 1994). Here we show how aesthetics remain a key to twenty-first century statecraft. Noting the effects of top-down patronage, whether in the direct manipulation of dialogue or in the more indirect tailoring of critique, the premise of our research is that if widening participation in the arts matters, it matters first and foremost in decision making about spending. Our study tests the deliberative capacities of randomised citizen juries as patrons financially empowered to commission public-interest arts projects on controversial themes and across contested frontiers of sovereignty or cultural identity. We consider our initial findings from the comparison of deliberation in non-randomised control groups and in randomised juries. We discuss the potentially positive role of randomised citizen juries as ‘jolts’ of equality and pluralism at the level of cultural governance (Connolly 2017). We also outline the main political, institutional, and professional blockages and impediments to the democratic integration of such empowered dialogical encounters