AI in Production: Video Analysis and Machine Learning for Expanded Live Events Coverage

In common with many industries, TV and video production is likely to be transformed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), with software and algorithms assisting production tasks that, conventionally, could only be carried out by people. Expanded coverage of a diverse range of live events is particularly constrained by the relative scarcity of skilled people, and is a strong use case for AI-based automation. This paper describes recent BBC research into potential production benefits of AI algorithms, using visual analysis and other techniques. Rigging small, static UHD cameras, we have enabled a one-person crew to crop UHD footage in multiple ways and cut between the resulting shots, effectively creating multi-camera HD coverage of events that cannot accommodate a camera crew. By working with programme makers to develop simple deterministic rules and, increasingly, training systems using advanced video analysis, we are developing a system of algorithms to automatically frame, sequence and select shots, and construct acceptable multicamera coverage of previously untelevised types of event

AFLP analysis reveals high genetic diversity but low population structure in Coccidioides posadasiiisolates from Mexico and Argentina

BACKGROUND: Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii cause coccidioidomycosis, a disease that is endemic to North and South America, but for Central America, the incidence of coccidioidomycosis has not been clearly established. Several studies suggest genetic variability in these fungi; however, little definitive information has been discovered about the variability of Coccidioides fungi in Mexico (MX) and Argentina (AR). Thus, the goals for this work were to study 32 Coccidioides spp. isolates from MX and AR, identify the species of these Coccidioides spp. isolates, analyse their phenotypic variability, examine their genetic variability and investigate the Coccidioides reproductive system and its level of genetic differentiation. METHODS: Coccidioides spp. isolates from MX and AR were taxonomically identified by phylogenetic inference analysis using partial sequences of the Ag2/PRA gene and their phenotypic characteristics analysed. The genetic variability, reproductive system and level of differentiation were estimated using AFLP markers. The level of genetic variability was assessed measuring the percentage of polymorphic loci, number of effective allele, expected heterocygosity and Index of Association (I(A)). The degree of genetic differentiation was determined by AMOVA. Genetic similarities among isolates were estimated using Jaccard index. The UPGMA was used to contsruct the corresponding dendrogram. Finally, a network of haplotypes was built to evaluate the genealogical relationships among AFLP haplotypes. RESULTS: All isolates of Coccidioides spp. from MX and AR were identified as C. posadasii. No phenotypic variability was observed among the C. posadasii isolates from MX and AR. Analyses of genetic diversity and population structure were conducted using AFLP markers. Different estimators of genetic variability indicated that the C. posadasii isolates from MX and AR had high genetic variability. Furthermore, AMOVA, dendrogram and haplotype network showed a small genetic differentiation among the C. posadasii populations analysed from MX and AR. Additionally, the I(A) calculated for the isolates suggested that the species has a recombinant reproductive system. CONCLUSIONS: No phenotypic variability was observed among the C. posadasii isolates from MX and AR. The high genetic variability observed in the isolates from MX and AR and the small genetic differentiation observed among the C. posadasii isolates analysed, suggest that this species could be distributed as a single genetic population in Latin America

Traumatic brain injury rates and sequelae: A comparison of prisoners with a matched community sample in Australia

Aim: To compare rates of past reported traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a prisoner sample with those in a control group drawn from the same location of usual residence. Method: The prisoner group comprised a consecutive sample of men (n=200) received into custody and screened by face-to-face interview. The control group comprised men (n=200) matched for location of usual residence screened by telephone interview. Participants were asked about past TBIs and screened for drug and alcohol abuse, impulsivity and dissocial personality disorder. Results: Eighty-two per cent of prisoners and 71.5% of community participants reported at least one past TBI of any severity (i.e. with or without a loss of consciousness (LOC)) and 64.5% of prisoners and 32.2% of community participants reported at least one TBI associated with a LOC. Prisoners were more likely to report persisting side-effects of TBI and were much more likely to screen positive for impulsivity and dissocial personality disorder. Multivariate analyses found no significant association between TBI frequency or severity and custody/community group membership. Conclusions: High reported rates of TBI in prisoner populations may reflect the excess of socio-demographic risk factors for TBI. Results of the current study do not support a role for TBI as causally related to criminal conduct

Reducing impulsivity in repeat violent offenders: an open label trial of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

Background: The association between serotonergic dysfunction and aggression hasprompted the use of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as a means of controllingimpulsive violent behaviour. The aim of the current study was to examine the feasibilityof using an SSRI to treat impulsivity in a group of repeat violent offenders.Methods: Potential participants were recruited from three magistrates ’ court complexes inthe Sydney metropolitan area and all had histories of violent offending (at least one priorconviction for a violent offence). Those who scored highly on the Barratt Impulsivity Scale(BIS-11), passed medical and psychiatric evaluations and consented to treatment wereprescribed sertraline (Zoloft) over a three month period.Results: Thirty-four individuals commenced the trial, with 20 completing the three month intervention.Reductions were observed across a range of behavioural measures from baseline to3 months: impulsivity (35%), irritability (45%), anger (63%), assault (51%), verbal-assault(40%), indirect-assault (63%), and depression (62%). All those who completed the three monthtrial requested to continue sertraline under the supervision of their own medical practitioner.Conclusion: Our fi ndings suggest that treating impulsive violent individuals in the criminaljustice system with an SSRI is a potential treatment opportunity for this population. Anadequately powered randomized control trial of this intervention is warranted.Key words:

Passing Propinquities in the Multicultural City: the everyday encounters of bus passengering

This paper examines how intercultural relations are continuously developed, destroyed, and remade in the practice of everyday bus travel. Through an ethnographic study of one bus route across Birmingham, UK, the paper explores the formation of relational practices on the move and the bodily orientations, public codes of conduct, material cultures, habits and affects through which they are formed. In particular, this paper gives specific attention to the tacit obligations of public travel and how such obligations both produce and sustain tolerance of others across a journey, to further reveal the multifaceted nature and workings of multicultural intimacies on the ground. In so doing, the paper responds to recent calls to politically revalorise public mobility spaces as key sites of encounter and identity formation, to position the bus as a crucial site of everyday multiculture through which wider processes of differentiation and exclusion are experienced and further understood