The Eurovision St Andrews collection of photographs

This report describes the Eurovision image collection compiled for the ImageCLEF (Cross Language Evaluation Forum) evaluation exercise. The image collection consists of around 30,000 photographs from the collection provided by the University of St Andrews Library. The construction and composition of this unique image collection are described, together with the necessary information to obtain and use the image collection

The relationship of word error rate to document ranking

This paper describes two experiments that examine the relationship of Word Error Rate (WER) of retrieved spoken documents returned by a spoken document retrieval system. Previous work has demonstrated that recognition errors do not significantly affect retrieval effectiveness but whether they will adversely affect relevance judgement remains unclear. A user-based experiment measuring ability to judge relevance from the recognised text presented in a retrieved result list was conducted. The results indicated that users were capable of judging relevance accurately despite transcription errors. This lead an examination of the relationship of WER in retrieved audio documents to their rank position when retrieved for a particular query. Here it was shown that WER was somewhat lower for top ranked documents than it was for documents retrieved further down the ranking, thereby indicating a possible explanation for the success of the user experiment

The impact of the struggle for racial equality in the United States on British racialised relations from 1958 to 1968

During the late 1950s and the 1960s America faced a high level of racial tension. At the same time Britain imposed racially discriminatory immigration controls and passed legislation to outlaw racial discrimination. This thesis asks to what extent the events in the United States had an impact on the response of British institutions to the development of a multi-racial society and increased rate of non-white immigration during these crucial years between the 1958 race riots to the Kenyan Asian crisis. The first part of the thesis examines the background to British perceptions about both the 'special relationship' with the United States and images of African Americans in the period prior to the years under review. It explores the ways in which the white British population was more informed about African Americans than the inhabitants of the colonies, and subsequently the Commonwealth. The following section examines ways in which the press and government drew on the activities of the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of Black Power in the United States during the 1960s to illustrate and support their arguments. It notes the high level of interest in Britainin American news and the increasing sense of concern within press reports and debates in the House that Britain was heading for an American style racial conflict. The third part of the thesis examines four sections of the British population which could be said to have a special interest in this issue: the non-white immigrants themselves; antiimmigrants groups; the religious denominations and British Jews: and organisations which sought to promote racial harmony. The study examines not only the response of these sections of the population to American racial trouble but the ways in which their activities had an impact on British perceptions. As the most concerned sections of the population, their activities were those most frequently reported by the press. In varying degrees, the responses of these sections of the population to the issues of immigration and racial discrimination reflected a growing concern that Britain was following the United States towards racial conflict. This perception was fed by both the press and government action and in turn had an impact on both public opinion and politicians and created a national mood in which debate over these related issues was coloured by the increasingly tense racial situation in the United States. 1967 and 1968 were the years in which this national perception was at its height and witnessed the passage of the Immigration Bill which excluded the entry of Kenyan Asians and the extension of Race Relations legislation. This thesis traces the development ofthis national mood, the significance of which has previously been underestimated

Music Class Offerings Beyond Bands, Choirs, and Orchestras in Nebraska High Schools

As school music programs in the US evolve and adapt to changing demographics, the types of music courses offered have expanded as well. Today, schools offer more courses in music than just bands, choirs, and orchestras. Music appreciation courses, music technology courses, music theory courses, guitar classes, piano classes, and music composition classes are just a few of the types of music classes that can also be found in American high schools. While high school music class options are becoming more diversified, there has been little research done to profile what kinds of music classes are being offered in schools and how prevalent various music courses are. This thesis sought to describe and profile current music classes that fall outside of band, choral, and orchestral music offerings being taught in high schools, and to describe the experiences of music teachers who’ve developed such music classes within the state of Nebraska. Advisor: Rhonda Fuelbert

Intergenerational Transfers as a Link between Overlapping Generations and Ramsey Models

This paper develops a continuous-time model in which intergenerational transfers, di.erent from bequest, serve as a link between the overlapping generations (OLG) model and Ramsey-type model. We show that this theoretical framework covers a range of possible dynamics including the model of perpetual youth and Ramsey model as the two boundary cases. We also prove that, except for the Ramsey case, the new model retains qualitative features of an OLG model: competitive equilibrium can be ine1cient, Ricardian debt neutrality may be violated, and asset bubbles can exist. JEL classi/cation: C61; D91; O41 Mathematics Subject Classi/cation (2000): 91B64, 93C1

The impact of private sector provision on equitable provision of coronary revascularisation

Objective: To investigate the impact of including private sector data on assessments of equity of coronary revascularisation provision using NHS data only. Design: Analyses of Hospital Episodes Statistics and private sector data by age, sex, and PCT of residence. For each PCT, the share of London's total population and revascularisations (all admissions, NHS-funded, and privately-funded admissions) were calculated. GINI coefficients were derived to provide an index of inequality across sub-populations, with parametric bootstrapping to estimate confidence intervals. Setting: London Participants London residents undergoing coronary revascularisation April 2001 - December 2003. Intervention Coronary artery bypass graft or angioplasty Main outcome measures: Directly-standardised revascularisation rates, GINI coefficients. Results: NHS-funded age-standardised revascularisation rates varied from 95.2 to 193.9 per 100,000 and privately funded procedures from 7.6 to 57.6. Although the age distribution did not vary by funding, the proportion of revascularisations among women that were privately funded (11.0%) was lower than among men (17.0%). Privately funded rates were highest in PCTs with the lowest death rates (p=0.053). NHS-funded admission rates were not related to deprivation nor age-standardised deaths rates from coronary heart disease. Privately-funded admission rates were lower in more deprived PCTs. NHS provision was significantly more egalitarian (Gini coefficient 0.12) than the private sector (0.35). Including all procedures was significantly less equal (0.13) than NHS funded care alone. Conclusion: Private provision exacerbates geographical inequalities. Those responsible for commissioning care for defined populations must have access to consistent data on provision of treatment wherever it takes place

All grown up? Market maturity and investment in London's purpose-built student accommodation sector

Purpose: The UK's purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) sector has seen significant institutional investment in recent decades. This paper unpacks contemporary trends and perspectives on the sector. It questions whether PBSA has moved from being an “alternative” to “mainstream” residential asset class, framing the analysis through the lens of market maturity. / Design/methodology/approach: The methods triangulate perspectives drawn from literature on the evolution of PBSA as an asset class with illustrations of investment trends across the UK between 2005 and 2020 using data from Real Capital Analytics (RCA), combined with findings from 40 semi-structured interviews with investors and stakeholders in PBSA in the UK London is the focus of the work, whilst other regional cities are integrated for comparison. / Findings: The results demonstrate that London's PBSA market is ahead of trends currently being replicated in regional cities. However, the regions currently offer greater return potential and opportunities for risk taking compared to London, where yields are compressed, and the market is considered lower risk. The concept of maturity remains useful as a framework for evaluating markets, however a more granular analysis of sectors is necessary to further understand asset classes within sectors. PBSA continues to trade at a premium across the UK; it is considered the most mature residential asset class. / Practical implications: The emergence of PBSA as an asset class continues to play a developing role within the residential sector and UK investment market. Risk, value and local context remain key when integrating PBSA into institutional portfolios, and as the first to consider the UK market from a qualitative research approach, this research provides a snapshot of these influences in 2021. / Originality/value: Our approach offers original insight into investment trends across the UK and is the first to focus reflections on the London market specifically. The research highlights the role of PBSA as a vanguard asset class for investors into residential, situating its growth within the framework of market maturity and drawing out market nuances from interviews

The effect of flight line spacing on radioactivity inventory and spatial feature characteristics of airborne gamma-ray spectrometry data

Airborne Gamma Spectrometry (AGS) is well suited to the mapping of radioactivity in the environment. Flight parameters (e.g. speed and line spacing) directly affect the rate of area coverage, cost, and data quality of any survey. The influences of line spacing have been investigated for data from inter‐tidal, coastal and upland environments with a range of <sup>137</sup>Cs activity concentrations and depositional histories. Estimates of the integrated <sup>137</sup>Cs activity (‘inventory’) within specified areas and the shapes of depositional features were calculated for subsets of the data at different line spacings. Features with dimensions greater than the line spacing show variations in inventory and area of less than 3%, and features with dimensions less than the line spacing show larger variations and a decreased probability of detection. The choice of line spacing for a task is dependent on the dimensions of the features of interest and required edge definition. Options for line spacing for different tasks are suggested. It is noted that for regional mapping, even 5–10 km line spacing can produce useful data