Book Reviews

THE ASSAULT ON PRIVACY. By Arthur R. Miller. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1971. Pp. xiv, 333. $7.95. TRIAL DIPLOMACY. By Alan E. Morrill. Chicago: Court Practice Institute, 1971. Pp. xxix, 1174.$17.50 (Paperback)

Steel Bridge Fabrication Errors Indexed Examples and Solutions: Combining Rules and Cases

This research focuses on the development of a knowledge-based system in the domain of steel bridge fabrication errors using both rule-based reasoning (RBR) and case-based reasoning (CBR). Fabrication error Indexed and Solutions (FIXS) was developed to combine the benefits of two previous research projects: 1) the rule-based Bridge Fabrication error solution eXpert system (BFX), and 2) its case-based counterpart (CB-BFX). Errors that occur during the fabrication of steel bridg~ members can have a costly effect on the performance of a bridge if not repaired properly. FIXS is an effort to provide guidance to the bridge engineer responsible for cost effective solutions in a time sensitive manner. FIXS is implemented in the programming language PROLOG and runs in the Windows environment as a stand-alone application. RBR facilities are provided by the expert system shell MESS (Modest Expert System Shell). Similarly, CBR functions are provided by the simple case-based reasoner shell SCBR (Simple Case Based Reasoning). The application has been designed for addition of new domain knowledge. The addition of new and updated knowledge allows the application to keep pace with changes in the steel bridge design industry and the methods of repairing errors

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry produces accurate high-resolution orthophotos, point clouds and surface models for mapping wetlands

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry has recently become a powerful tool that offers a viable alternative to traditional remote sensing systems, particularly for applications covering relatively small spatial extents. This paper presents results of a study that aimed at investigating the use of UAV photogrammetry as a tool for the mapping of wetlands. A multi-rotor UAV and a digital camera on a motion compensated gimbal mount were utilised for the survey. The survey of the 100ha study area at the Kameelzynkraal farm, Gauteng Province, South Africa took about 2½ hours and the generation of the point cloud about 18 hours. Ground control points (GCPs) were positioned across the site to achieve geometrical precision and georeferencing accuracy. Structure from Motion (SfM) computer vision techniques were used to reconstruct the camera positions, terrain features and to derive ultra-high resolution point clouds, orthophotos and 3D models from the multi-view photos. The results of the geometric accuracy of the data based on the 20 GCPs were 0.018m for the overall and 0.0025m for the vertical root mean squared error (RMSE). The results exceeded our expectations and provided valuable, rapid and accurate mapping of wetlands that can be used for wetland studies and thereby support and enhance associated decision making to secure our future

Ecological labyrinths and myths of the fall: An earth-centred approach to The Lord of the Rings and His Dark Materials

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.Ecological criticism (ecocriticism) bifurcates between two paths that offer alternative definitions of ecology as a structure. One leads to a fixed, cyclical model, the other moves in a dynamic, evolutionary direction. These differences of orientation frame ecocritical responses that appear irreconcilable to each other. This research provides a way of reading the structure of fantasy texts as parallel to ecological structure in a way that brings the two definitions of ecology into dialogue. The divergence in approaches to ecocriticism has caused a chasm to open between the respective ends of an ecocritical spectrum in the polemical positions of deep ecology and ecohumanism. These positions reflect fundamental differences over the structure of ecology and tend toward mutual antagonism. This research addresses division in facilitating dialogue through analysis of structural ecological positions as a binary that creates meaning. Such a comparative approach leads to a nuanced understanding of ecological structure and its articulation through narrative design. The reading draws out structural ecological meaning, highlights inconsistencies and weaknesses, and reconciles divergent polemical positions as complementary. The general principle of reading the quest hero as exemplifying ecological structure has been used by Rachel McCoppin in her analysis of mythological texts to identify ‘botanical heroism’. McCoppin chose to map myths from pre-Darwinian ages to a simple seasonal cycle of nature as her structural model. As such her research does not deal with the complex and nuanced twentieth-century confusion over ecological structure. My research confronts that problem, proposing a method for understanding discontinuities that are, in any case, ecological in nature. I arrived at an alternative to the cycle of nature that articulates the struggle to define a pattern of ecological relationships, in the form of the labyrinth. The labyrinth comprises a dichotomy. On the one hand a unicursal model articulates structure as a series of concentric loops that act as boundaries and lead toward a point of illumination. This model incorporates the cycle of nature within a more complex scheme than McCoppin’s seasonal model of regeneration. On the other hand the labyrinth in multicursal form comprises a maze that resists regularity, replacing certainty with choice leading either to continued progress or dead-ends. The labyrinth as a symbol of alienation, disorientation and confusion captures the ambition of ecological readings of quests to reconcile humanity and nature. I apply the eco- labyrinthine model to my reading of two of the twentieth-centuries most popular quest fantasies, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. The following study shows that an eco-labyrinthine approach to reading modern fantasy quest provides a way of bringing together alternative perspectives of ecological structure in a dialogue that undermines claims to mutual exclusivity. By way of answers the eco-labyrinth provides a spectrum, or continuum, against which to plot inconsistencies. It opens up questions about heroism mapped against an ecological model. This thesis illustrates how an eco-labyrinthine exegesis works in relation to certain texts to reassess their ecocritical meaning. Some of the questions this research raises about how authors engage with ecology, biodiversity and evolution through structural modelling of fictitious worlds, reflected in narrative structure, will necessarily benefit from a lively and continuing debate

Adaption, implementation and evaluation of collaborative service improvements in the testing and result communication process in primary care from patient and staff perspectives : a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Increasing numbers of blood tests are being ordered in primary care settings and the swift and accurate communication of test results is central to providing high quality care. The process of testing and result communication is complex and reliant on the coordinated actions of care providers, external groups in laboratory and hospital settings, and patients. This fragmentation leaves it vulnerable to error and the need to improve an apparently fallible system is apparent. However, primary care is complex and does not necessarily adopt change in a linear and prescribed manner influenced by a range of factors relating to practice staff, patients and organisational factors. To account for these competing perspectives, we worked in conjunction with both staff and patients to develop and implement strategies intended to improve patient satisfaction and increase efficiency of existing processes. METHODS: The study applied the principles of 'experience-based co-design' to identify key areas of weakness and source proposals for change from staff and patients. The study was undertaken within two primary practices situated in South Birmingham (UK) of contrasting size and socio-economic environment. Senior practice staff were involved in the refinement of the interventions for introduction. We conducted focus groups singly constituted of staff and patients at each practice to determine suitability, applicability and desirability alongside the practical implications of their introduction. RESULTS: At each practice four of the six proposals for change were implemented these were increased access to phlebotomy, improved receptionist training, proactive communication of results, and increased patient awareness of the tests ordered and the means of their communication. All were received favourably by both patients and staff. The remaining issues around the management of telephone calls and the introduction of electronic alerts for missing results were not addressed due to constraints of time and available resources. CONCLUSIONS: Approaches to tackling the same area of weakness differed at practices and was determined by individual staff attitudes and by organisational and patient characteristics. The long-term impact of the changes requires further quantitative evaluation

DREAM3: Network Inference Using Dynamic Context Likelihood of Relatedness and the Inferelator

Many current works aiming to learn regulatory networks from systems biology data must balance model complexity with respect to data availability and quality. Methods that learn regulatory associations based on unit-less metrics, such as Mutual Information, are attractive in that they scale well and reduce the number of free parameters (model complexity) per interaction to a minimum. In contrast, methods for learning regulatory networks based on explicit dynamical models are more complex and scale less gracefully, but are attractive as they may allow direct prediction of transcriptional dynamics and resolve the directionality of many regulatory interactions.We aim to investigate whether scalable information based methods (like the Context Likelihood of Relatedness method) and more explicit dynamical models (like Inferelator 1.0) prove synergistic when combined. We test a pipeline where a novel modification of the Context Likelihood of Relatedness (mixed-CLR, modified to use time series data) is first used to define likely regulatory interactions and then Inferelator 1.0 is used for final model selection and to build an explicit dynamical model.Our method ranked 2nd out of 22 in the DREAM3 100-gene in silico networks challenge. Mixed-CLR and Inferelator 1.0 are complementary, demonstrating a large performance gain relative to any single tested method, with precision being especially high at low recall values. Partitioning the provided data set into four groups (knock-down, knock-out, time-series, and combined) revealed that using comprehensive knock-out data alone provides optimal performance. Inferelator 1.0 proved particularly powerful at resolving the directionality of regulatory interactions, i.e. "who regulates who" (approximately of identified true positives were correctly resolved). Performance drops for high in-degree genes, i.e. as the number of regulators per target gene increases, but not with out-degree, i.e. performance is not affected by the presence of regulatory hubs