Use of Noise to Augment Training Data: A Neural Network Method of Mineral-Potential Mapping in Regions of Limited Known Deposit Examples.

One of the main factors that affects the performance ofMLPneural networks trained using the backpropagation algorithm in mineral-potential mapping is the paucity of deposit relative to barren training patterns. To overcome this problem, random noise is added to the original training patterns in order to create additional synthetic deposit training data. Experiments on the effect of the number of deposits available for training in the Kalgoorlie Terrane orogenic gold province show that both the classification performance of a trained network and the quality of the resultant prospectivity map increase significantly with increased numbers of deposit patterns. Experiments are conducted to determine the optimum amount of noise using both uniform and normally distributed random noise. Through the addition of noise to the original deposit training data, the number of deposit training patterns is increased from approximately 50 to 1000. The percentage of correct classifications significantly improves for the independent test set as well as for deposit patterns in the test set. For example, using≥40% uniform random noise, the test-set classification performance increases from 67.9% and 68.0% to 72.8% and 77.1% (for test-set overall and test-set deposit patterns, respectively). Indices for the quality of the resultant prospectivity map, (i.e. D/A, D≥(D/A), where Dis the percentage of deposits and Ais the percentage of the total area for the highest prospectivity map-class, and area under an ROC curve) also increase from 8.2, 105, 0.79 to 17.9, 226, 0.87, respectively. Increasing the size of the training-stop data set results in a further increase in classification performance to 73.5%, 77.4%, 14.7, 296, 0.87 for test-set overall and test-set deposit patterns, D/A, D≥(D/A), and area under the ROC curve, respectively

Civic learning in conversation: The common ground of difference

Publisher’s embargo period: Embargo set on 01.03.2019 by SR (TIS)

Time, timing, talking and training : findings from an exploratory action research study to improve quality of end of life care for minority ethnic kidney patients

Background. With an ageing and increasingly diverse population at risk from rising levels of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, including kidney complications, there is a need to provide quality care at all stages in the care pathway including at the end of life and to all patients. Aim. This study purposively explored South Asian patients' experiences of kidney end of life care to understand how services can be delivered in a way that meets diverse patient needs. Methods. Within an action research design 14 focus groups (45 care providers) of kidney care providers discussed the recruitment and analysis of individual interviews with 16 South Asian kidney patients (eight men, eight women). Emergent themes from the focus groups were analysed thematically. The research took place at four UK centres providing kidney care to diverse populations: West London, Luton, Leicester and Bradford. Results. Key themes related to time and the timing of discussions about end of life care and the factors that place limitations on patients and providers in talking about end of life care. Lack of time and confidence of nurses in areas of kidney care, individual attitudes and workforce composition influence whether and how patients have access to end of life care through kidney services. Conclusion. Training, team work and time to discuss overarching issues (including timing and communication about end of life) with colleagues could support service providers to facilitate access and delivery of end of life care to this group of patients.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

From genomes to systems

A report on the 2nd Conference of the Consortium for Post-Genome Science (CPGS) 'Genomes to Systems', Manchester, UK, 1-3 September 2004

Connecting fish, flows and habitats on lowland river floodplains

Connectivity between river and floodplain habitats is important to many lowland river fishes enabling them to complete their life cycle, maximise growth potential and minimise early life-history mortality. There is increasing recognition of this need and in regulated systems, increasing sophistication of management processes and infrastructure around environmental water allocations to facilitate this connectivity. Providing connecting flows with limited water resources often means prioritising watering one area over another; so comparative evaluation of fish movement, growth and productivity can be important to demonstrate success. In the Great Darling Anabranch, we used directional-netting, measures of whole stream productivity and fish otolith growth and body condition analysis to investigate benefits of connecting flows in 500km of restored ephemeral river channel alongside the same factors in an alternative flow-path, the Darling River. The Hattah Lakes, a complex of regulated, lowland-river floodplain lakes can be filled using large, purpose built environmental pumps; transferring water and fish recruits from the Murray River to productive floodplain habitats. We investigated the lateral movement of resident fish during filling and draw-down of the lakes, using acoustic tags in a native fish species, Golden perch (Macquaria ambigua) and an invasive fish, Carp (Cyprinus carpio). We generated regular movement-trajectories for tagged fish using interpolation, then tested observations against null models to evaluate individual and group movements against a one-dimensional behavioural hypothesis; “do fish move towards or away from the river in response to draw-down or filling?” Results are assisting natural resource managers develop designs for environmental watering hydrographs for connecting flows in large anabranch channels and floodplain lakes

Reconnaissance Analysis of Lake Condition in East-Central Minnesota.

MLMIS #5022

The soft quiescent spectrum of the transiently accreting 11 Hz X-ray pulsar in the globular cluster Terzan 5

We report on the quiescent X-ray properties of the recently discovered transiently accreting 11 Hz X-ray pulsar in the globular cluster Terzan 5. Using two archival Chandra observations, we demonstrate that the quiescent spectrum of this neutron star low-mass X-ray binary is soft and can be fit to a neutron star atmosphere model with a temperature of kT^inf~73 eV. A powerlaw spectral component is not required by the data and contributes at most ~20% to the total unabsorbed 0.5-10 keV flux of ~9E-14 erg/cm2/s. Such a soft quiescent spectrum is unusual for neutron stars with relatively high inferred magnetic fields and casts a different light on the interpretation of the hard spectral component, which is often attributed to magnetic field effects. For a distance of 5.5 kpc, the estimated quiescent thermal bolometric luminosity is ~6E32 erg/s. If the thermal emission is interpreted as cooling of the neutron star, the observed luminosity requires that the system is quiescent for at least ~100 years. Alternatively, enhanced neutrino emissions can cool the neutron star to the observed quiescent luminosity.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter