A new model for information literacy provision: how to balance cost and quality in an economic downturn

In this time of swingeing cuts in higher education, the Open University Library has focused creative energy on making efficiency savings while still providing a top quality e-service. The Open University’s quarter of a million part-time students are distance learners whose information literacy skills are developed and progressed as an integral part of teaching materials delivered within a VLE. This paper will focus on one of the Library’s contributions to the Open University’s strategic aims: to continue the process of transferring traditional information skills to the end-user by developing a range of new and re-usable generic tools and resources, in this example by creating a repository of core re-usable information literacy learning activities to cover each skill as set out in the Library’s information literacy framework. The Library’s Information Literacy (LIL) site provides short chunks of learning to be used in modules and degree courses in a flexible way. The pedagogy is aligned to the level of study, i.e. increasing independence in searching for, finding, evaluating and managing information, progressing from undergraduate to Masters level. The paper will outline the process costing of writing and re-versioning learning activities, how we measured the savings made in production costs of new modules, and the impact of the drive to produce less OU academic authored bespoke material by integrating either core generic IL activities or re-versioning generic material for re-use within particular subject contexts. Finally, the paper will set out how the benefits of providing students with a consistent IL experience, and making cost savings were ‘sold’ by our team of librarians to faculties of academics largely intent on writing all their own teaching materials from scratch for every module

Classification of ordered texture images using regression modelling and granulometric features

Structural information available from the granulometry of an image has been used widely in image texture analysis and classification. In this paper we present a method for classifying texture images which follow an intrinsic ordering of textures, using polynomial regression to express granulometric moments as a function of class label. Separate models are built for each individual moment and combined for back-prediction of the class label of a new image. The methodology was developed on synthetic images of evolving textures and tested using real images of 8 different grades of cut-tear-curl black tea leaves. For comparison, grey level co-occurrence (GLCM) based features were also computed, and both feature types were used in a range of classifiers including the regression approach. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the granulometric moments over GLCM-based features for classifying these tea images

Morphological granulometry for classification of evolving and ordered texture images.

In this work we investigate the use of morphological granulometric moments as texture descriptors to predict time or class of texture images which evolve over time or follow an intrinsic ordering of textures. A cubic polynomial regression was used to model each of several granulometric moments as a function of time or class. These models are then combined and used to predict time or class. The methodology was developed on synthetic images of evolving textures and then successfully applied to classify a sequence of corrosion images to a point on an evolution time scale. Classification performance of the new regression approach is compared to that of linear discriminant analysis, neural networks and support vector machines. We also apply our method to images of black tea leaves, which are ordered according to granule size, and very high classification accuracy was attained compared to existing published results for these images. It was also found that granulometric moments provide much improved classification compared to grey level co-occurrence features for shape-based texture images

Modeling of evolving textures using granulometries

This chapter describes a statistical approach to classification of dynamic texture images, called parallel evolution functions (PEFs). Traditional classification methods predict texture class membership using comparisons with a finite set of predefined texture classes and identify the closest class. However, where texture images arise from a dynamic texture evolving over time, estimation of a time state in a continuous evolutionary process is required instead. The PEF approach does this using regression modeling techniques to predict time state. It is a flexible approach which may be based on any suitable image features. Many textures are well suited to a morphological analysis and the PEF approach uses image texture features derived from a granulometric analysis of the image. The method is illustrated using both simulated images of Boolean processes and real images of corrosion. The PEF approach has particular advantages for training sets containing limited numbers of observations, which is the case in many real world industrial inspection scenarios and for which other methods can fail or perform badly. [41] G.W. Horgan, Mathematical morphology for analysing soil structure from images, European Journal of Soil Science, vol. 49, pp. 161–173, 1998. [42] G.W. Horgan, C.A. Reid and C.A. Glasbey, Biological image processing and enhancement, Image Processing and Analysis, A Practical Approach, R. Baldock and J. Graham, eds., Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 37–67, 2000. [43] B.B. Hubbard, The World According to Wavelets: The Story of a Mathematical Technique in the Making, A.K. Peters Ltd., Wellesley, MA, 1995. [44] H. Iversen and T. Lonnestad. An evaluation of stochastic models for analysis and synthesis of gray-scale texture, Pattern Recognition Letters, vol. 15, pp. 575–585, 1994. [45] A.K. Jain and F. Farrokhnia, Unsupervised texture segmentation using Gabor filters, Pattern Recognition, vol. 24(12), pp. 1167–1186, 1991. [46] T. Jossang and F. Feder, The fractal characterization of rough surfaces, Physica Scripta, vol. T44, pp. 9–14, 1992. [47] A.K. Katsaggelos and T. Chun-Jen, Iterative image restoration, Handbook of Image and Video Processing, A. Bovik, ed., Academic Press, London, pp. 208–209, 2000. [48] M. K¨oppen, C.H. Nowack and G. R¨osel, Pareto-morphology for color image processing, Proceedings of SCIA99, 11th Scandinavian Conference on Image Analysis 1, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, pp. 195–202, 1999. [49] S. Krishnamachari and R. Chellappa, Multiresolution Gauss-Markov random field models for texture segmentation, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 6(2), pp. 251–267, 1997. [50] T. Kurita and N. Otsu, Texture classification by higher order local autocorrelation features, Proceedings of ACCV93, Asian Conference on Computer Vision, Osaka, pp. 175–178, 1993. [51] S.T. Kyvelidis, L. Lykouropoulos and N. Kouloumbi, Digital system for detecting, classifying, and fast retrieving corrosion generated defects, Journal of Coatings Technology, vol. 73(915), pp. 67–73, 2001. [52] Y. Liu, T. Zhao and J. Zhang, Learning multispectral texture features for cervical cancer detection, Proceedings of 2002 IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: Macro to Nano, pp. 169–172, 2002. [53] G. McGunnigle and M.J. Chantler, Modeling deposition of surface texture, Electronics Letters, vol. 37(12), pp. 749–750, 2001. [54] J. McKenzie, S. Marshall, A.J. Gray and E.R. Dougherty, Morphological texture analysis using the texture evolution function, International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence, vol. 17(2), pp. 167–185, 2003. [55] J. McKenzie, Classification of dynamically evolving textures using evolution functions, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Strathclyde, UK, 2004. [56] S.G. Mallat, Multiresolution approximations and wavelet orthonormal bases of L2(R), Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 315, pp. 69–87, 1989. [57] S.G. Mallat, A theory for multiresolution signal decomposition: the wavelet representation, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 11, pp. 674–693, 1989. [58] B.S. Manjunath and W.Y. Ma, Texture features for browsing and retrieval of image data, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 18, pp. 837–842, 1996. [59] B.S. Manjunath, G.M. Haley and W.Y. Ma, Multiband techniques for texture classification and segmentation, Handbook of Image and Video Processing, A. Bovik, ed., Academic Press, London, pp. 367–381, 2000. [60] G. Matheron, Random Sets and Integral Geometry, Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1975

Target Zones and Exchange Rates: An Empirical Investigation

In this paper we develop an empirical model of exchange rates in a target zone. The model is general enough to nest most theoretical and empirical models in the existing literature. We find evidence of two types of jumps in exchange rates. Realignment jumps are those that are associated with the periodic realignments of the target zone and within-the-band jumps are those that can be accommodated within the current target zone. The exchange rate may jump outside the current target zone band, in the case of a realignment, but when no jump occurs the target zone is credible (there is zero probability of a realignment) and the exchange rate must stay within the band. We incorporate jumps, in general, by conditioning the distribution of exchange rate changes on a jump variable where the probability and size of a jump vary over time as a function of financial and macroeconomic variables. With this more general model, we revisit the empirical evidence from the European Monetary System regarding the conditional distribution of exchange rate changes, the credibility of the system, and the size of the foreign exchange risk premia. In contrast to some previous findings, we conclude that the FF/DM rate exhibits considerable non-linearities, realignments are predictable and the credibility of the system did not increase after 1987. Moreover, our model implies that the foreign exchange risk premium becomes large during speculative crises. A comparison with the Deutschemark/Dollar rate suggests that an explicit target zone does have a noticeable effect on the time-series behavior of exchange rates.