MarsCAPE: Mars Communicated through an Augmented, Physical Environment

In the last decade, vast amounts of planetary science data has been made available publicly often focused on Mars. Such data is typically disseminated via the web and made available through screen-based visualisations. However, this approach can make it difficult to convey the broader context of a feature of interest or the spatial arrangement of surface phenomena. To better support learning and engagement, we present and evaluate MarsCAPE: Mars Communicated through an Augmented, Physical Environment. MarsCAPE consists of physical models of the surface of Mars, augmented by projected information and visualizations. To assess its learning and engagement value, a structured workshop and formal evaluation were conducted. Participants reported a significant increase in knowledge, found the models engaging, and exhibited natural learning without prompting. Systems such as MarsCAPE have potential to provide an interesting, educational way for the public to access planetary data that goes beyond the capabilities of on-screen visualizations

Analysing Slavery through Satellite Technology: How Remote Sensing Could Revolutionise Data Collection to Help End Modern Slavery

An estimated 40.3 million people are enslaved globally across a range of industries. Whilst these industries are known, their scale can hinder the fight against slavery. Some industries using slave labour are visible in satellite imagery, including mining, brick kilns, fishing and shrimp farming. Satellite data can provide supplementary details for large scales which cannot be easily gathered on the ground. This paper reviews previous uses of remote sensing in the humanitarian and human rights sectors and demonstrates how Earth Observation as a methodology can be applied to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal target 8.7

Earth observation and machine learning to meet Sustainable Development Goal 8.7: mapping sites associated with slavery from space

A large proportion of the workforce in the brick kilns of the Brick Belt of Asia are modern-day slaves. Work to liberate slaves and contribute to UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 would benefit from maps showing the location of brick kilns. Previous work has shown that brick kilns can be accurately identified and located visually from fine spatial resolution remote-sensing images. Furthermore, via crowdsourcing, it would be possible to map very large areas. However, concerns over the ability to maintain a motivated crowd to allow accurate mapping over time together with the development of advanced machine learning methods suggest considerable potential for rapid, accurate and repeatable automated mapping of brick kilns. This potential is explored here using fine spatial resolution images of a region of Rajasthan, India. A contemporary deep-learning classifier founded on region-based convolution neural networks (R-CNN), the Faster R-CNN, was trained to classify brick kilns. This approach mapped all of the brick kilns within the study area correctly, with a producer’s accuracy of 100%, but at the cost of substantial over-estimation of kiln numbers. Applying a second classifier to the outputs substantially reduced the over-estimation. This second classifier could be visual classification, which, as it focused on a relatively small number of sites, should be feasible to acquire, or an additional automated classifier. The result of applying a CNN classifier to the outputs of the original classification was a map with an overall accuracy of 94.94% with both low omission and commission error that should help direct anti-slavery activity on the ground. These results indicate that contemporary Earth observation resources and machine learning methods may be successfully applied to help address slavery from space

Slavery from Space: Demonstrating the role for satellite remote sensing to inform evidence-based action related to UN SDG number 8

The most recent Global Slavery Index estimates that there are 40.3 million people enslaved globally. The UN’s Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goal number 8, section 8.7 specifically refers to the issue of forced labour: ending modern slavery and human trafficking, including child labour, in all forms by 2025. Although there is a global political commitment to ending slavery, one of the biggest barriers to doing so is having reliable and timely, spatially explicit and scalable data on slavery activity. The lack of these data compromises evidence-based action and policy formulation. Thus, to meet the challenge of ending modern slavery new and innovative approaches, with an emphasis on efficient use of resources (including financial) are needed. This paper demonstrates the fundamental role of remote sensing as a source of evidence. We provide an estimate of the number of brick kilns across the ‘Brick Belt’ that runs across south Asia. This is important because these brick kilns are known sites of modern-day slavery. This paper reports the first rigorous estimate of the number of brick kilns present and does so using a robust method that can be easily adopted by key agencies for evidence-based action (i.e. NGOs etc) and is based on freely available and accessible remotely sensed data. From this estimate we can not only calculate the scale of the slavery problem in the Brick Belt, but also calculate the impact of slavery beyond that of the enslaved people themselves, on, for example, environmental change and impacts on ecosystem services – this links to other Sustainable Development Goals. As the process of achieving key Sustainable Development Goal targets will show, there are global benefits to ending slavery - this will mean a better world for everyone: safer, greener, more prosperous, and more equal. This is termed here a Freedom Dividend

Citizen Science for Earth Observation (Citzens4EO): Understanding Current Use in the UK

The role of Earth observation (EO) data in addressing societal problems from environmental through to humanitarian should not be understated. Recent innovation in EO means provision of analysis ready data and data cubes, which allows for rapid use of EO data. This in combination with processing technologies such as Google Earth Engine and open source algorithms/software for EO data integration and analyses has afforded an explosion of information to answer research questions and/or inform policy making. However, there is still a need for both training and validation data within EO projects – often this can be challenging to obtain. It has been suggested that citizen science can help here to provide these data, yet there is some perceived hesitancy in using citizen science within EO projects. This paper reports on the Citizen Science 4 EO (Citizens4EO) project that aimed to obtain an in-depth understanding of researchers’ and practitioners’ experiences with citizen science data in EO within the UK. Through a mixed methods approach (online and in-depth surveys and a spotlight case study) it was found that although the benefits of using citizen science data in EO projects were many (and highlighted in the spotlighted “Slavery from Space” case study), there were a number of common concerns around using citizen science. These were around the mechanics of deploying citizen science and the unreliability of a potentially misinformed or undertrained citizen base. As such, comparing the results of this study with those of a similar survey undertaken in 2016, it is apparent that progress towards optimising citizen science use in EO has been incremental but positive with evidence of the realisation of the benefits of citizen science for EO (Citizens4EO). As such, we conclude by offering priority action areas to support further use of citizen science by the EO community within the UK, which ultimately should be adopted further afield

Slavery from space: demonstrating the role for satellite remote sensing to inform evidence-based action related to UN SDG Number 8

The most recent Global Slavery Index estimates that there are 40.3 million people enslaved globally. The UN’s Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goal number 8, section 8.7 specifically refers to the issue of forced labour: ending modern slavery and human trafficking, including child labour, in all forms by 2025. Although there is a global political commitment to ending slavery, one of the biggest barriers to doing so is having reliable and timely, spatially explicit and scalable data on slavery activity. The lack of these data compromises evidence-based action and policy formulation. Thus, to meet the challenge of ending modern slavery new and innovative approaches, with an emphasis on efficient use of resources (including financial) are needed. This paper demonstrates the fundamental role of remote sensing as a source of evidence. We provide an estimate of the number of brick kilns across the ‘Brick Belt’ that runs across south Asia. This is important because these brick kilns are known sites of modern-day slavery. This paper reports the first rigorous estimate of the number of brick kilns present and does so using a robust method that can be easily adopted by key agencies for evidence-based action (i.e. NGOs etc) and is based on freely available and accessible remotely sensed data. From this estimate we can not only calculate the scale of the slavery problem in the Brick Belt, but also calculate the impact of slavery beyond that of the enslaved people themselves, on, for example, environmental change and impacts on ecosystem services – this links to other Sustainable Development Goals. As the process of achieving key Sustainable Development Goal targets will show, there are global benefits to ending slavery - this will mean a better world for everyone: safer, greener, more prosperous, and more equal. This is termed here a Freedom Dividend

Task workflow design and its impact on performance and volunteers' subjective preference in virtual citizen science

Virtual citizen science platforms allow non-scientists to take part in scientific research across a range of disciplines. What they ask of volunteers varies considerably in terms of task type, variety, user judgement required and user freedom, which has received little direct investigation. A study was performed with the Planet Four: Craters project to investigate the effect of task workflow design on both volunteer experience and the scientific results they produce. Participants' feedback through questionnaire responses indicated a preference for interfaces providing greater autonomy and variety, with free-text responses suggesting that autonomy was the more important. This did not translate into improved performance however, with the most autonomous interface not resulting in significantly better performance in data volume, agreement or accuracy compared to other less autonomous interfaces. The interface with the least number of task types, variety and autonomy resulted in the greatest data coverage. Agreement, both between participants and with the expert equivalent, was significantly improved when the interface most directly afforded tasks that captured the required underlying data (i.e. crater position or diameter). The implications for the designers of virtual citizen science platforms is that they have a balancing act to perform, weighing up the importance of user satisfaction, the data needs of the science case and the resources that can be committed both in terms of time and data reduction

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Profile of and risk factors for poststroke cognitive impairment in diverse ethno-regional groups

OBJECTIVE: To address the variability in prevalence estimates and inconsistencies in potential risk factors for poststroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) using a standardized approach and individual participant data (IPD) from international cohorts in the Stroke and Cognition Consortium (STROKOG) consortium. METHODS: We harmonized data from 13 studies based in 8 countries. Neuropsychological test scores 2 to 6 months after stroke or TIA and appropriate normative data were used to calculate standardized cognitive domain scores. Domain-specific impairment was based on percentile cutoffs from normative groups, and associations between domain scores and risk factors were examined with 1-stage IPD meta-analysis. RESULTS: In a combined sample of 3,146 participants admitted to hospital for stroke (97%) or TIA (3%), 44% were impaired in global cognition and 30% to 35% were impaired in individual domains 2 to 6 months after the index event. Diabetes mellitus and a history of stroke were strongly associated with poorer cognitive function after covariate adjustments; hypertension, smoking, and atrial fibrillation had weaker domain-specific associations. While there were no significant differences in domain impairment among ethno-racial groups, some interethnic differences were found in the effects of risk factors on cognition. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the high prevalence of PSCI in diverse populations, highlights common risk factors, in particular diabetes mellitus, and points to ethno-racial differences that warrant attention in the development of prevention strategies.OBJECTIVE: To address the variability in prevalence estimates and inconsistencies in potential risk factors for poststroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) using a standardized approach and individual participant data (IPD) from international cohorts in the Stroke and Cognition Consortium (STROKOG) consortium. METHODS: We harmonized data from 13 studies based in 8 countries. Neuropsychological test scores 2 to 6 months after stroke or TIA and appropriate normative data were used to calculate standardized cognitive domain scores. Domain-specific impairment was based on percentile cutoffs from normative groups, and associations between domain scores and risk factors were examined with 1-stage IPD meta-analysis. RESULTS: In a combined sample of 3,146 participants admitted to hospital for stroke (97%) or TIA (3%), 44% were impaired in global cognition and 30% to 35% were impaired in individual domains 2 to 6 months after the index event. Diabetes mellitus and a history of stroke were strongly associated with poorer cognitive function after covariate adjustments; hypertension, smoking, and atrial fibrillation had weaker domain-specific associations. While there were no significant differences in domain impairment among ethnoracial groups, some interethnic differences were found in the effects of risk factors on cognition. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the high prevalence of PSCI in diverse populations, highlights common risk factors, in particular diabetes mellitus, and points to ethnoracial differences that warrant attention in the development of prevention strategies.Peer reviewe

Current commands for high-efficiency torque control of DC shunt motor

The current commands for a high-efficiency torque control of a DC shunt motor are described. In the proposed control method, the effect of a magnetic saturation and an armature reaction are taken into account by representing the coefficients of an electromotive force and a torque as a function of the field current, the armature current and the revolving speed. The current commands at which the loss of the motor drive system becomes a minimum are calculated as an optimal problem. The proposed control technique of a motor is implemented on the microprocessor-based control system. The effect of the consideration of the magnetic saturation and the armature reaction on the produced torque and the minimisation of the loss are discussed analytically and experimentally </p