Novel Computational Approach to Obtain Contact Angles: Application to Carbon Capture and Storage

Imperial Users onl

Self-Attention Dense Depth Estimation Network for Unrectified Video Sequences

The dense depth estimation of a 3D scene has numerous applications, mainly in robotics and surveillance. LiDAR and radar sensors are the hardware solution for real-time depth estimation, but these sensors produce sparse depth maps and are sometimes unreliable. In recent years research aimed at tackling depth estimation using single 2D image has received a lot of attention. The deep learning based self-supervised depth estimation methods from the rectified stereo and monocular video frames have shown promising results. We propose a self-attention based depth and ego-motion network for unrectified images. We also introduce non-differentiable distortion of the camera into the training pipeline. Our approach performs competitively when compared to other established approaches that used rectified images for depth estimation

CLE Writing Retreat 2015: 8-10 April 2015: Hitchin Priory

The Writing Retreat process began in 2009 when the first retreat was held at Streatley, Oxfordshire. This retreat and that held at Highgate Hall in Northants in 2010 were organised by the University's Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning to produce two internally published books charting different departmental perspectives on the significant curriculum changes introduced during that time. Since 2011 and up to the current event, Writing Retreats have had a different purpose: to produce individually authored articles for externally published academic journals. The three‐day Writing Retreat is the end of a nine‐month, fully supported process. Calls for expressions of interest go out in July, and participants must then pass certain milestones by specific dates. (For example, the abstract must be submitted by a certain date; a first draft must be completed by a certain date.) By adhering to these milestone dates we are able to keep a check on the numbers who apply, but it also serves the function of ensuring that everyone is aware of his or her own target when it comes to the event itself. The Writing Retreat objective forms part of the CLE’s strategy to support the University's ethos of scholarship by encouraging academic writing for publication. Writing Retreats allow particpants the opportunity to dedicate time and concentration to a specific piece of writing with the support of their colleagues. By taking the colleague away from his or her more customary work patterns and rhythms of the working week, the Writing Retreat provides space to focus. Although the three days are busy with activities, workshops and tasks, the focus is very much on completing the paper in question

Reading students' expectations: a talking point

Paper delivered at 'Academic Literacies: Reading in the Academy', Institute of Education, Friday 17 June 2011. This brief paper addresses the issue of graduate and postgraduate learners who have been educated in a language other than English, who subsequently relocate to England to study English. Whether this relocation is for work reasons or for leisure, the challenge of English language acquisition can lead to learner anxiety and a range of issues, including inadvertent peer racism. Using a reflective method and drawing on my own experience of working in FE colleges, HE institutions, privately-owned language schools, and a maximum security prison, I will argue that it is frequently an institution's practice to build a class solely by the existing language attainment of each individual learner (to make a class up of students of approximately the same level of English); and that while this may work well in many cases, the fact that no notice is taken of the individual student's prior attainment in his/her original language can lead to tension if the class is not managed by the tutor. For example, there is often a challenge presented to the tutor of a class comprised of graduates from elsewhere in the world and students of the same level of English who have had no formal education and are in the UK (perhaps) seeking asylum

Taxi: Cabs and Capitalism in New York City

[Excerpt] Three significant events have happened since 2005 when this book was first published. (1) Starting in 2004, die city of New York began advancing the Taxi Technology Enhancement Program (TTE), which would require every yellow taxi in NYC to be fitted with a non-navigational Global Positioning System-based tracking system. Driver opposition to this system grew over the next three years, leading up to a series of strikes in September and October 2007. Even as we go to press, this battle continues. (2) In early 2007, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) became the first independent labor union to become a full member of the New York State Central Labor Council, a historic development with tremendous significance for the labor movement. (3) Finally, based on burgeoning interest and several taxi- organizing initiatives emerging throughout the United States, NYTWA along with the Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania organized a founding meeting of the Taxi Workers International (TWI) in March 2007. All three dramatic events promise long-term effects. In many ways die intertwined nature of these events has given me a more complete understanding of the challenges the contemporary labor movement faces. Accordingly, this Cornell edition carries a new epilogue that not only describes these events arid the actions that surrounded them but also attempts to synthesize them theoretically. The result, I hope, is a compelling conclusion to the book that will open up fresh debates within the labor movement