Use and Influence of Creative Ideas and Requirements for a Work-Integrated Learning System

In this paper, we describe a creativity workshop that was used in a large research project, called APOSDLE, to generate creative ideas and requirements for a work-integrated learning system. We present an analysis of empirical data collected during and after the workshop. On the basis of this analysis, we conclude that the work-shop was an efficient way of generating ideas for future system development. These ideas, on average, were used at least as much as requirements from other sources in writing use cases, and 18 months after the workshop were seen to have a similar degree of influence on the project to other requirements. We make some observations about the use of more and less creative ideas, and about the techniques used to generate them. We end with suggestions for further work

Modal decomposition of a propagating matter wave via electron ptychography

We employ ptychography, a phase-retrieval imaging technique, to show experimentally for the first time that a partially coherent high-energy matter (electron) wave emanating from an extended source can be decomposed into a set of mutually independent modes of minimal rank. Partial coherence significantly determines the optical transfer properties of an electron microscope and so there has been much work on this subject. However, previous studies have employed forms of interferometry to determine spatial coherence between discrete points in the wavefield. Here we use the density matrix to derive a formal quantum mechanical description of electron ptychography and use it to measure a full description of the spatial coherence of a propagating matter wavefield, at least to the within the fundamental uncertainties of the measurements we can obtain

Multi-slice ptychographic tomography

Ptychography is a form of Coherent Diffractive Imaging, where diffraction patterns are processed by iterative algorithms to recover an image of a specimen. Although mostly applied in two dimensions, ptychography can be extended to produce three dimensional images in two ways: via multi-slice ptychography or ptychographic tomography. Ptychographic tomography relies on 2D ptychography to supply projections to conventional tomographic algorithms, whilst multi-slice ptychography uses the redundancy in ptychographic data to split the reconstruction into a series of axial slices. Whilst multi-slice ptychography can handle multiple-scattering thick specimens and has a much smaller data requirement than ptychographic tomography, its depth resolution is relatively poor. Here we propose an imaging modality that combines the benefits of the two approaches, enabling isotropic 3D resolution imaging of thick specimens with a small number of angular measurements. Optical experiments validate our proposed method

WASP: weighted average of sequential projections for ptychographic phase retrieval

We introduce the weighted average of sequential projections, or WASP, an algorithm for ptychography. Using both simulations and real-world experiments, we test this new approach and compare performance against several alternative algorithms. These tests indicate that WASP effectively combines the benefits of its competitors, with a rapid initial convergence rate, robustness to noise and poor initial conditions, a small memory footprint, easy tuning, and the ability to reach a global minimum when provided with noiseless data. We also show how WASP can be parallelised to split operation across several different computation nodes

StreetWise: A valid ecology for a serious game in a secure forensic mental health setting

To ascertain their readiness to be discharged from care, secure forensic mental health service users are often given restricted access to their local communities. However, this can be stressful for the service user and expose the public to potential risks. Therefore, new research was undertaken to explore whether a computer-based serious game could enable service users to explore their responses to community based risk situations in a safe environment. Creating a serious game for use in a secure forensic mental health setting is itself both novel and problematic, and the initial research sought to test the feasibility and acceptance of the game. This paper reports first results from working with service users to develop a prototype game that accurately describes their experiences and expectations to lay the foundations for a clinically effective tool and achieve acceptance

StreetWise: developing a serious game to support forensic mental health service users’ preparation for discharge: a feasibility study

Forensic Mental Health [FMH] services are tasked with ensuring public safety whilst supporting service user recovery and reintegration into wider society. Due to past histories of offending behaviour, FMH service users are often detained under the Mental Health Act (2007) within secure settings where they are monitored and their freedom and self-governance is limited. Restricted community access makes risk assessment and skill development for community living problematic. The measures of control and security inherent within FMH services pose a challenge to social integration and recovery, whereby users feel empowered with self-efficacy to work towards their own goals with hope and optimism (Simpson & Penney, 2011). Additionally, detention in secure services leads to isolation from the community which adds risk and stigma to the complexity of the service users’ journey of recovery. This feasibility study explores how new technologies may be used to support FMH service users on their journey to recovery. A prototype serious game was co-produced with FMH service users with the aim of enabling service users to engage safely with community based scenarios and begin to develop skills for community living and consider self-management in risky situations whilst detained within a secure environment

Characterizing a spatial light modulator using ptychography

Ptychography is used to characterize the phase response of a spatial light modulator (SLM). We use the technique to measure and correct the optical curvature and the gamma curve of the device. Ptychography’s unique ability to extend field of view is then employed to test performance by mapping the phase profile generated by a test image to subpixel resolution over the entire active region of the SLM

'StreetWise: a valid ecology for a serious game in a secure forensic mental health setting'

To ascertain their readiness to be discharged from care, secure forensic mental health service users are often given restricted access to their local communities. However, this can be stressful for the service user and expose the public to potential risks. Therefore, new research was undertaken to explore whether a computer-based serious game could enable service users to explore their responses to community based risk situations in a safe environment. Creating a serious game for use in a secure forensic mental health setting is itself both novel and problematic, and the initial research sought to test the feasibility and acceptance of the game. This paper reports first results from working with service users to develop a prototype game that accurately describes their experiences and expectations to lay the foundations for a clinically effective tool and achieve acceptance

Statistics of selectively neutral genetic variation

Random models of evolution are instrumental in extracting rates of microscopic evolutionary mechanisms from empirical observations on genetic variation in genome sequences. In this context it is necessary to know the statistical properties of empirical observables (such as the local homozygosity for instance). Previous work relies on numerical results or assumes Gaussian approximations for the corresponding distributions. In this paper we give an analytical derivation of the statistical properties of the local homozygosity and other empirical observables assuming selective neutrality. We find that such distributions can be very non-Gaussian.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure