Audio and video processing for automatic TV advertisement detection

As a partner in the Centre for Digital Video Processing, the Visual Media Processing Group at Dublin City University conducts research and development in the area of digital video management. The current stage of development is demonstrated on our Web-based digital video system called Físchlár [1,2], which provides for efficient recording, analyzing, browsing and viewing of digitally captured television programmes. In order to make the browsing of programme material more efficient, users have requested the option of automatically deleting advertisement breaks. Our initial work on this task focused on locating ad-breaks by detecting patterns of silent black frames which separate individual advertisements and/or complete ad-breaks in most commercial TV stations. However, not all TV stations use silent, black frames to flag ad-breaks. We therefore decided to attempt to detect advertisements using the rate of shot cuts in the digitised TV signal. This paper describes the implementation and performance of both methods of ad-break detection

Towards identifying factors underlying readiness for online learning: an exploratory study

To test the potential value of McVay\u27s (2000) Readiness for Online Learning questionnaire for research and practice, the instrument was administered to 107 undergraduate university students drawn from a range of courses in the United States and Australia. The questionnaire was subjected to a reliability analysis and a factor analysis. The instrument fared well in the reliability analysis, and yielded a two-factor structure that was readily interpretable in a framework of existing theory and research. Factors identified were &quot;Comfort with e-learning&quot; and &quot;Self-management of learning.&quot; It is suggested that the instrument is useful for both research and practice, but would be enhanced through further work on 5 of the 13 items. Additionally, further work is required to establish predictive validity.<br /

Age Differences in Central (Semantic) and Peripheral Processing: The importance of Considering Both Response Times and Errors

In this project we examined the effect of adult age on visual word recognition by using combined reaction time (RT) and accuracy methods based on the Hick–Hyman law. This was necessary because separate Brinley analyses of RT and errors resulted in contradicting results. We report the results of a lexical decision task experiment (with 96 younger adults and 97 older adults). We transformed the error data into entropy and then predicted RT by using entropy values separately for exposure duration (thought to influence peripheral processes) and word frequency (thought to influence central processes). For exposure duration, the entropy–RT functions indicate that older adults show higher intercepts and slopes than do younger adults, suggesting an encoding decrement for older adults. However, for word frequency, older adults show higher intercepts but not steeper slopes than younger adults. Older adults thus show a peripheral processing decrement but not a central processing decrement for lexical decision

Age Differences in Central (Semantic) and Peripheral Processing: The importance of Considering Both Response Times and Errors

In this project we examined the effect of adult age on visual word recognition by using combined reaction time (RT) and accuracy methods based on the Hick–Hyman law. This was necessary because separate Brinley analyses of RT and errors resulted in contradicting results. We report the results of a lexical decision task experiment (with 96 younger adults and 97 older adults). We transformed the error data into entropy and then predicted RT by using entropy values separately for exposure duration (thought to influence peripheral processes) and word frequency (thought to influence central processes). For exposure duration, the entropy–RT functions indicate that older adults show higher intercepts and slopes than do younger adults, suggesting an encoding decrement for older adults. However, for word frequency, older adults show higher intercepts but not steeper slopes than younger adults. Older adults thus show a peripheral processing decrement but not a central processing decrement for lexical decision

A 5,000-Year Fire History in the Strait of Georgia Lowlands, British Columbia, Canada

Improved knowledge of long-term fire regimes and climate-fire-human relationships are important for effective management of forested ecosystems. In this study, we use two, high-resolution sedimentary-charcoal records to provide new, mid to late Holocene fire histories for the driest forests in south coastal British Columbia, Canada: Somenos Lake in the Moist Maritime Coastal Douglas Fir (CDFmm) forests on southeastern Vancouver Island and Chadsey Lake in the Dry Maritime Coastal Western Hemlock (CWHdm) forests in the central Fraser Valley. Peak fire frequency at Somenos Lake in southeast Vancouver Island was highest prior to 3,500 cal yr BP at 9.5 fires per 1,000 years (at ~4,500 cal yr BP), with a mean fire return interval of 188 years (122–259) and 24 fire peaks for the 4,855 year record. Peak fire frequency at Chadsey Lake in the Fraser Valley of the Lower Mainland of BC was highest (5.9) at 2,736 cal yr BP but fairly uniform from ~4,300 to 2,500 cal yr BP. The mean fire return interval at Chadsey Lake was 214 years (150–285) with 15 fire peaks for the ~4,258 year record. The fire history for Chadsey Lake appears to be strongly tied to broad regional climate patterns for the region whereas the variability in the Somenos Lake fire record displays a more complex pattern likely the result of the interplay between climatic and anthropogenic factors. Our results show how different age models using long- vs. short-term temporal scales of analysis can affect fire history interpretation and highlight the importance of considering spatial variability when interpreting mechanisms driving fire activity in this region

‘Trying to pin down jelly’ - exploring intuitive processes in quality assessment for meta-ethnography

Background: Studies that systematically search for and synthesise qualitative research are becoming more evident in health care, and they can make an important contribution to patient care. However, there is still no agreement as to whether, or how we should appraise studies for inclusion. We aimed to explore the intuitive processes that determined the ‘quality’ of qualitative research for inclusion in qualitative research syntheses. We were particularly interested to explore the way that knowledge was constructed. Methods: We used qualitative methods to explore the process of quality appraisal within a team of seven qualitative researchers funded to undertake a meta-ethnography of chronic non-malignant musculoskeletal pain. Team discussions took place monthly between October 2010 and June 2012 and were recorded and transcribed. Data was coded and organised using constant comparative method. The development of our conceptual analysis was both iterative and collaborative. The strength of this team approach to quality came from open and honest discussion, where team members felt free to agree, disagree, or change their position within the safety of the group. Results: We suggest two core facets of quality for inclusion in meta-ethnography - (1) Conceptual clarity; how clearly has the author articulated a concept that facilitates theoretical insight. (2) Interpretive rigour; fundamentally, can the interpretation ‘be trusted?’ Our findings showed that three important categories help the reader to judge interpretive rigour: (ii) What is the context of the interpretation? (ii) How inductive is the interpretation? (iii) Has the researcher challenged their interpretation? Conclusions: We highlight that methods alone do not determine the quality of research for inclusion into a meta-ethnography. The strength of a concept and its capacity to facilitate theoretical insight is integral to meta-ethnography, and arguably to the quality of research. However, we suggest that to be judged ‘good enough’ there also needs to be some assurance that qualitative findings are more than simply anecdotal. Although our conceptual model was developed specifically for meta-ethnography, it may be transferable to other research methodologies