Adaptive Image Restoration: Perception Based Neural Nework Models and Algorithms.

Abstract This thesis describes research into the field of image restoration. Restoration is a process by which an image suffering some form of distortion or degradation can be recovered to its original form. Two primary concepts within this field have been investigated. The first concept is the use of a Hopfield neural network to implement the constrained least square error method of image restoration. In this thesis, the author reviews previous neural network restoration algorithms in the literature and builds on these algorithms to develop a new faster version of the Hopfield neural network algorithm for image restoration. The versatility of the neural network approach is then extended by the author to deal with the cases of spatially variant distortion and adaptive regularisation. It is found that using the Hopfield-based neural network approach, an image suffering spatially variant degradation can be accurately restored without a substantial penalty in restoration time. In addition, the adaptive regularisation restoration technique presented in this thesis is shown to produce superior results when compared to non-adaptive techniques and is particularly effective when applied to the difficult, yet important, problem of semi-blind deconvolution. The second concept investigated in this thesis, is the difficult problem of incorporating concepts involved in human visual perception into image restoration techniques. In this thesis, the author develops a novel image error measure which compares two images based on the differences between local regional statistics rather than pixel level differences. This measure more closely corresponds to the way humans perceive the differences between two images. Two restoration algorithms are developed by the author based on versions of the novel image error measure. It is shown that the algorithms which utilise this error measure have improved performance and produce visually more pleasing images in the cases of colour and grayscale images under high noise conditions. Most importantly, the perception based algorithms are shown to be extremely tolerant of faults in the restoration algorithm and hence are very robust. A number of experiments have been performed to demonstrate the performance of the various algorithms presented

THE COURTS, THE PRESS, AND THE PUBLIC

It was with especial gratification that I accepted this invitation to speak. It is a pleasure to be with you, and it affords me an opportunity to contribute to a discussion of matters that are of great importance to your profession and my own and to the public. Perhaps I should not thus separate myself from your profession. I am still at least nominally a member of the bar, and though it is many years since I last appeared in court I have a keen and sympathetic interest in legal matters and enjoy my contacts with the bench and bar of Michigan. Still, I can hardly be called a lawyer; indeed, I am classified as a lay member of the Judicial Council, and my outlook today is primarily that of a journalist. In short, my professional standing is somewhat amphibious, as Blackstone used to say - which increases my sympathy with both professions and perhaps also tends to make me more critical of both than I should be if my allegiance were wholly undivided

Building capacity for professional development: the development of teachers as facilitators in Ghana

In low and middle income countries, cascade models of teacher professional development are often used as routes to educational reform. In these models, external agents deliver professional development which is then disseminated by in-country facilitators. However, little is known about how to support facilitators of professional development, particularly in low and middle income countries. In this study, we report on a model of capacity building for professional development in Ghana. In the context of a large-scale programme of science teacher professional development, a group of Ghanaian teachers gradually assumed responsibility for professional development facilitation, working alongside experienced facilitators from the UK. Using interviews focussed on a storyline technique, we explore the experiences of the Ghanaian teachers as they reflected on their roles. We found the teachers’ epistemological beliefs about teaching were coherent with those of the programme and suggest that this may be an important factor in the success of cascade models of professional development. The teachers gained self-confidence and improved their knowledge and skills of teaching and of professional development facilitation. We propose that this is useful learning for all facilitators and that the model described here is one which is potentially useful for capacity building in other contexts

Design of an engineering curriculum and 12 STEM modules for the Thai Basic Education Ministry (OBEC)

The Centre for Science Education (CSE), a part of the Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University was invited by the Ministry of Education (OBEC) in Thailand to review the STEM provision in Thailand with particular reference to the performance of gifted and talented students and to create an Engineering Curriculum and a set of STEM modules which would integrate with existing subjects. This project is part-funded by the Newton Fund in Thailand. The key outputs of the project are a review of the existing STEM curriculum, the creation of a compatible Engineering subject and the formulation of supplementary courses for 195 Gifted schools which have a focus on STEM. The report would also identify barriers to successful implementation and suggest a monitoring and evaluation approach that would match the initiative’s aims. In August 2016 a team from CSE delivered a three day workshop in Bangkok. The workshop introduced the new Engineering Curriculum and the STEM modules to 50 teachers drawn from the 195 STEM specialist schools. The workshop also provided some professional development input for the teachers about how to create modules in the new Engineering Curriculum and techniques for working with gifted and talented students

Reef fish carbonate production assessments highlight regional variation in sedimentary significance (article)

This is the final published version.Available from GSA via the DOI in this record.The dataset associated with this article is located in ORE at: https://doi.org/10.24378/exe.485Recent studies show that all marine bony fish produce mud-sized (<63 µm) carbonate at rates relevant to carbonate sediment budgets, thus adding to the debate about the often enigmatic origins of fine-grained marine carbonates. However, existing production data are geographically and taxonomically limited, and because different fish families are now known to produce different carbonate polymorphs—an issue relevant to predicting their preservation potential—these limitations represent an important knowledge gap. Here we present new data from sites in the Western Pacific Ocean, based on an analysis of 45 fish species. Our data show that previously reported production outputs (in terms of rates and family-specific mineralogies) are applicable across different biogeographic regions. On this basis, we model carbonate production for nine coral reef systems around Australia, with production rates averaging 2.1–9.6 g m–2 yr–1, and up to 105 g m–2 yr–1 at discrete sites with high fish biomass. With projected production rates on lower-latitude reefs up to two-fold higher, these outputs indicate that carbonate production rates by fish can be comparable with other fine-grained carbonate-producing taxa such as codiacean algae. However, carbonates produced by Australian reef fish assemblages are dominated by a highly unstable amorphous polymorph; a marked contrast to Caribbean assemblages in which Mg calcite dominates. These findings highlight important regional differences in the sedimentary relevance and preservation potential of fish carbonates as a function of historical biogeographic processes that have shaped the world’s marine fish faunas.Salter, Perry, and Wilson were funded through Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grants NE/K003143/1 and NE/G010617/1. Harborne was funded through NERC fellowship NE/F015704/1 and Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowship DE120102459

Engineering Thailand : design of an engineering curriculum and 12 STEM modules for the Thai Basic Education (OBEC).

The Centre for Science Education (CSE), a part of the Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University was invited by the Ministry of Education (OBEC) in Thailand to review the STEM provision in Thailand with particular reference to the performance of gifted and talented students and to create an Engineering Curriculum and a set of STEM modules which would integrate with existing subjects. This project is part-funded by the Newton Fund in Thailand. The key outputs of the project are a review of the existing STEM curriculum, the creation of a compatible Engineering subject and the formulation of supplementary courses for 195 Gifted schools which have a focus on STEM. The report would also identify barriers to successful implementation and suggest a monitoring and evaluation approach that would match the initiative’s aims. In August 2016 a team from CSE delivered a three day workshop in Bangkok. The workshop introduced the new Engineering Curriculum and the STEM modules to 50 teachers drawn from the 195 STEM specialist schools. The workshop also provided some professional development input for the teachers about how to create modules in the new Engineering Curriculum and techniques for working with gifted and talented students

A resource-poor developmental diet reduces adult aggression in male Drosophila melanogaster

Aggressive behaviours occur throughout the animal kingdom and agonistic contests often govern access to resources. Nutrition experienced during development has the potential to influence aggressive behaviours in adults through effects on growth, energy budgets and an individual’s internal state. In particular, resource-poor developmental nutrition might decrease adult aggression by limiting growth and energy budgets, or alternatively might increase adult aggression by enhancing motivation to compete for resources. However, the direction of this relationship – and effects of developmental nutrition experienced by rivals - remains unknown in most species, limiting understanding of how early life environments contribute to variation in aggression. We investigated these alternative hypotheses by assessing male-male aggression in adult fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, that developed on a low-, medium- or high-resource diet, manipulated via yeast content. We found that a low-resource developmental diet reduced the probability of aggressive lunges in adults, as well as threat displays against rivals that developed on a low-resource diet. These effects appeared to be independent of diet-related differences in body mass. Males performed relatively more aggression on a central food patch when facing rivals of a low-resource diet, suggesting that developmental diet affects aggressive interactions through social effects in addition to individual effects. Our finding that resource-poor developmental diets reduce male-male aggression in D. melanogaster is consistent with the idea that resource budgets mediate aggression and in a mass-independent manner. Our study improves understanding of the links between nutrition and aggression