Understanding spatial media

Over the past decade a new set of spatial and locative technologies have been rolled out, including online, interactive mapping tools with accompanying application programming interfaces (APIs), interactive virtual globes, user-generated spatial databases and mapping systems, locative media, urban dashboards and citizen reporting geo-systems; and geodesign and architectural and planning tools. In addition, social media produces spatial (meta)data that can be analysed geographically. These technologies, their practices, and the effects they engender have been referred to in a number of ways, including the geoweb, neogeography, volunteered geographic information (VGI), and locative media, which collectively constitute spatial media. This chapter untangles and defines these terms before setting out the transformative effects of spatial media with respect to some fundamental geographic and social concepts: spatial data/information; mapping; space and spatiality; mobility, spatial practices and spatial imaginaries; and knowledge politics. We conclude by setting out some questions for further consideration

AIMs: a new strategy to control physical aging and gas transport in mixed-matrix membranes

The effect of controlling interactions between the components in a mixed-matrix membrane at the molecular level has been explored. A systematic series of soluble metal–organic polyhedra (MOPs) of varying external organic chain length were prepared and applied within polymer membranes to produce anti-aging intercalated membranes (AIMs). Use of a soluble porous additive allowed for intimate mixing between the polymer and the porous additive, eliminating the formation of non-selective gas transport voids at the interface, typically found in traditional mixed-matrix membranes. Moreover, the molecular interaction thus created provided a valuable tool for tailoring the physical aging rates of the membranes. Aging was slowed by a factor of three with the optimal tBu-MOP additive, and viscosity measurements revealed they held the strongest MOP–polymer interaction, confirming the utility of the AIMs approach. MOP loading was therefore able to be optimized for the maximum anti-aging effect by monitoring the relative change in viscosity. Absolute gas permeability scaled with the MOP external organic chain length, revealing solubility-driven diffusion.Melanie Kitchin, Jesse Teo, Kristina Konstas, Cher Hon Lau, Christopher J. Sumby, Aaron W. Thornton, Christian J. Doonan, and Matthew R. Hil

Roadmaps to Utopia: Tales of the Smart City

Notions of the Smart City are pervasive in urban development discourses. Various frameworks for the development of smart cities, often conceptualized as roadmaps, make a number of implicit claims about how smart city projects proceed but the legitimacy of those claims is unclear. This paper begins to address this gap in knowledge. We explore the development of a smart transport application, MotionMap, in the context of a £16M smart city programme taking place in Milton Keynes, UK. We examine how the idealized smart city narrative was locally inflected, and discuss the differences between the narrative and the processes and outcomes observed in Milton Keynes. The research shows that the vision of data-driven efficiency outlined in the roadmaps is not universally compelling, and that different approaches to the sensing and optimization of urban flows have potential for empowering or disempowering different actors. Roadmaps tend to emphasize the importance of delivering quick practical results. However, the benefits observed in Milton Keynes did not come from quick technical fixes but from a smart city narrative that reinforced existing city branding, mobilizing a growing network of actors towards the development of a smart region. Further research is needed to investigate this and other smart city developments, the significance of different smart city narratives, and how power relationships are reinforced and constructed through them

A novel infrared video surveillance system using deep learning based techniques

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via the DOI in this record.This paper presents a new, practical infrared video based surveillance system, consisting of a resolution-enhanced, automatic target detection/recognition (ATD/R) system that is widely applicable in civilian and military applications. To deal with the issue of small numbers of pixel on target in the developed ATD/R system, as are encountered in long range imagery, a super-resolution method is employed to increase target signature resolution and optimise the baseline quality of inputs for object recognition. To tackle the challenge of detecting extremely low-resolution targets, we train a sophisticated and powerful convolutional neural network (CNN) based faster-RCNN using long wave infrared imagery datasets that were prepared and marked in-house. The system was tested under different weather conditions, using two datasets featuring target types comprising pedestrians and 6 different types of ground vehicles. The developed ATD/R system can detect extremely low-resolution targets with superior performance by effectively addressing the low small number of pixels on target, encountered in long range applications. A comparison with traditional methods confirms this superiority both qualitatively and quantitativelyThis work was funded by Thales UK, the Centre of Excellence for Sensor and Imaging System (CENSIS), and the Scottish Funding Council under the project “AALART. Thales-Challenge Low-pixel Automatic Target Detection and Recognition (ATD/ATR)”, ref. CAF-0036. Thanks are also given to the Digital Health and Care Institute (DHI, project Smartcough-MacMasters), which partially supported Mr. Monge-Alvarez’s contribution, and to the Royal Society of Edinburgh and National Science Foundation of China for the funding associated to the project “Flood Detection and Monitoring using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, which partially covered Dr. Casaseca-de-la-Higuera’s, Dr. Luo’s, and Prof. Wang’s contribution. Dr. Casaseca-de-la-Higuera would also like to acknowledge the Royal Society of Edinburgh for the funding associated to project “HIVE”

Randomized clinical trial of DTaP5-HB-IPV-Hib vaccine administered concomitantly with meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccines during the primary infant series.

BACKGROUND: Concomitant administration of vaccines simplifies delivery. DTaP5-HB-IPV-Hib is a fully liquid, combination vaccine against 6 diseases. This study evaluated the compatibility of DTaP5-HB-IPV-Hib with 2 different meningococcus group C conjugate (MCC) vaccines in infants. METHODS: In a phase 3, open-label study, 284 healthy infants from 11 UK centres received DTaP5-HB-IPV-Hib at age 2, 3, and 4 months; 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) at 2 and 4 months; a Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)-MCC vaccine and a measles/mumps/rubella vaccine at 12 months. Participants were randomised 1:1 to receive either an MCC-detoxified tetanus toxin vaccine (MCC-TT; n = 141) or an MCC-Corynebacterium diphtheriae CRM197 protein vaccine (MCC-CRM; n = 143) at 3 and 4 months. The primary outcome was seroprotection rate (SPR) to MCC (percent with rabbit complement serum bactericidal antibody titer ≥8). RESULTS: Per protocol analysis, MCC SPRs were 100 and 96.4 one month after the first dose, 100 and 99.1 after the second dose, and 100 and 97.3 after the third (booster) dose of MCC in the MCC-TT and MCC-CRM groups, respectively. One month after all 3 doses of DTaP5-HB-IPV-Hib, immunoglobulin G anti-polyribosylribitol phosphate SPRs (% ≥0.15 µg/mL) were 97.8 in the MCC-TT group and 100 in the MCC-CRM group; anti-hepatitis B antigen SPRs (% ≥10 mIU/mL) were 96.8 and 96.3 in the MCC-TT and MCC-CRM groups, respectively. All participants were seroprotected against diphtheria and tetanus (≥0.01 IU/mL) and poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 (≥8 dilution), and seroresponse rates to all pertussis antigens were ≥90.4%. Two vaccine-related serious adverse events (transient severe abdominal pain and crying) occurred concomitantly in 1 participant in the MCC-CRM group. Adverse event rates were similar to other studies of DTaP5-HB-IPV-Hib, with pyrexia ≥38 °C in 10.9% of participants following any dose. CONCLUSIONS: DTaP5-HB-IPV-Hib can be effectively used in a 2-, 3-, and 4-month infant priming schedule when given with 2 doses of MCC

Understanding spatial media

Over the past decade a new set of spatial and locative technologies have been rolled out, including online, interactive mapping tools with accompanying application programming interfaces (APIs), interactive virtual globes, user-generated spatial databases and mapping systems, locative media, urban dashboards and citizen reporting geo-systems; and geodesign and architectural and planning tools. In addition, social media produces spatial (meta)data that can be analysed geographically. These technologies, their practices, and the effects they engender have been referred to in a number of ways, including the geoweb, neogeography, volunteered geographic information (VGI), and locative media, which collectively constitute spatial media. This chapter untangles and defines these terms before setting out the transformative effects of spatial media with respect to some fundamental geographic and social concepts: spatial data/information; mapping; space and spatiality; mobility, spatial practices and spatial imaginaries; and knowledge politics. We conclude by setting out some questions for further consideration

Understanding spatial media

Over the past decade a new set of spatial and locative technologies have been rolled out, including online, interactive mapping tools with accompanying application programming interfaces (APIs), interactive virtual globes, user-generated spatial databases and mapping systems, locative media, urban dashboards and citizen reporting geo-systems; and geodesign and architectural and planning tools. In addition, social media produces spatial (meta)data that can be analysed geographically. These technologies, their practices, and the effects they engender have been referred to in a number of ways, including the geoweb, neogeography, volunteered geographic information (VGI), and locative media, which collectively constitute spatial media. This chapter untangles and defines these terms before setting out the transformative effects of spatial media with respect to some fundamental geographic and social concepts: spatial data/information; mapping; space and spatiality; mobility, spatial practices and spatial imaginaries; and knowledge politics. We conclude by setting out some questions for further consideration