Near real-time flood detection in urban and rural areas using high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar images

A near real-time flood detection algorithm giving a synoptic overview of the extent of flooding in both urban and rural areas, and capable of working during night-time and day-time even if cloud was present, could be a useful tool for operational flood relief management. The paper describes an automatic algorithm using high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data that builds on existing approaches, including the use of image segmentation techniques prior to object classification to cope with the very large number of pixels in these scenes. Flood detection in urban areas is guided by the flood extent derived in adjacent rural areas. The algorithm assumes that high resolution topographic height data are available for at least the urban areas of the scene, in order that a SAR simulator may be used to estimate areas of radar shadow and layover. The algorithm proved capable of detecting flooding in rural areas using TerraSAR-X with good accuracy, and in urban areas with reasonable accuracy. The accuracy was reduced in urban areas partly because of TerraSAR-X’s restricted visibility of the ground surface due to radar shadow and layover.

Specialization of right temporo-parietal junction for mentalizing and its relation to social impairments in autism

Over the last 25years, "mindblindness" (deficits in representing mental states) has been one of the primary explanations behind the hallmark social-communication difficulties in autism spectrum conditions (ASC). However, highlighting neural systems responsible for mindblindness and their relation to variation in social impairments has remained elusive. In this study we show that one of the neural systems responsible for mindblindness in ASC and its relation to social impairments is the right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ). Twenty-nine adult males with ASC and 33 age and IQ-matched Controls were scanned with fMRI while making reflective mentalizing or physical judgments about themselves or another person. Regions of interest within mentalizing circuitry were examined for between-group differences in activation during mentalizing about self and other and correlations with social symptom severity. RTPJ was the only mentalizing region that responded atypically in ASC. In Controls, RTPJ was selectively more responsive to mentalizing than physical judgments. This selectivity for mentalizing was not apparent in ASC and generalized across both self and other. Selectivity of RTPJ for mentalizing was also associated with the degree of reciprocal social impairment in ASC. These results lend support to the idea that RTPJ is one important neural system behind mindblindness in ASC. Understanding the contribution of RTPJ in conjunction with other neural systems responsible for other component processes involved in social cognition will be illuminating in fully explaining the hallmark social-communication difficulties of autism.

A near real-time algorithm for flood detection in urban and rural areas using high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar images

A near real-time flood detection algorithm giving a synoptic overview of the extent of flooding in both urban and rural areas, and capable of working during night-time and day-time even if cloud was present, could be a useful tool for operational flood relief management and flood forecasting. The paper describes an automatic algorithm using high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data that assumes that high resolution topographic height data are available for at least the urban areas of the scene, in order that a SAR simulator may be used to estimate areas of radar shadow and layover. The algorithm proved capable of detecting flooding in rural areas using TerraSAR-X with good accuracy, and in urban areas with reasonable accuracy.

Near real-time flood detection in urban and rural areas using high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar images

A near real-time flood detection algorithm giving a synoptic overview of the extent of flooding in both urban and rural areas, and capable of working during night-time and day-time even if cloud was present, could be a useful tool for operational flood relief management. The paper describes an automatic algorithm using high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data that builds on existing approaches, including the use of image segmentation techniques prior to object classification to cope with the very large number of pixels in these scenes. Flood detection in urban areas is guided by the flood extent derived in adjacent rural areas. The algorithm assumes that high resolution topographic height data are available for at least the urban areas of the scene, in order that a SAR simulator may be used to estimate areas of radar shadow and layover. The algorithm proved capable of detecting flooding in rural areas using TerraSAR-X with good accuracy, classifying 89% of flooded pixels correctly, with an associated false positive rate of 6%. Of the urban water pixels visible to TerraSAR-X, 75% were correctly detected, with a false positive rate of 24%. If all urban water pixels were considered, including those in shadow and layover regions, these figures fell to 57% and 18% respectively.

Piezotolerant small-colony variants with increased thermotolerance, antibiotic susceptibility, and low invasiveness in a clonal Staphylococcus aureus population

Following a pressure treatment of a clonal Staphylococcus aureus culture with 400 MPa for 30 min, piezotolerant variants were isolated. Among 21 randomly selected survivors, 9 were piezotolerant and all formed small colonies on several agar media. The majority of the isolates showed increased thermotolerance, impaired growth, and reduced antibiotic resistance compared to the wild type. However, several nonpiezotolerant isolates also demonstrated impaired growth and the small-colony phenotype. In agglutination tests for the detection of protein A and fibrinogen, the piezotolerant variants showed weaker agglutination reactions than the wild type and the other isolates. All variants also showed defective production of the typical S. aureus golden color, a characteristic which has previously been linked with virulence. They were also less able to invade intestinal epithelial cells than the wild type. These S. aureus variants showed phenotypic similarities to previously isolated Listeria monocytogenes piezotolerant mutants that contained mutations in ctsR. Because of these similarities, possible alterations in the ctsR hypermutable regions of the S. aureus variants were investigated through amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis. No mutations were identified, and subsequently we sequenced the ctsR and hrcA genes of three representative variants, finding no mutations. This work demonstrates that S. aureus probably possesses a strategy resulting in an abundance of multiple-stressresistant variants within clonal populations. This strategy, however, seems to involve genes and regulatory mechanisms different from those previously reported for L. monocytogenes. We are in the process of identifying these mechanisms.

Organisational semiotics methods to assess organisational readiness for internal use of social media

The paper presents organisational semiotics (OS) as an approach for identifying organisational readiness factors for internal use of social media within information intensive organisations (IIO). The paper examines OS methods, such as organisational morphology, containment analysis and collateral analysis to reveal factors of readiness within an organisation. These models also help to identify the essential patterns of activities needed for social media use within an organisation, which can provide a basis for future analysis. The findings confirmed many of the factors, previously identified in literature, while also revealing new factors using OS methods. The factors for organisational readiness for internal use of social media include resources, organisational climate, processes, motivational readiness, benefit and organisational control factors. Organisational control factors revealed are security/privacy, policies, communication procedures, accountability and fallback.

ATD: a multiplatform for semiautomatic 3-D detection of kidneys and their pathology in real time

This research presents a novel multi-functional system for medical Imaging-enabled Assistive Diagnosis (IAD). Although the IAD demonstrator has focused on abdominal images and supports the clinical diagnosis of kidneys using CT/MRI imaging, it can be adapted to work on image delineation, annotation and 3D real-size volumetric modelling of other organ structures such as the brain, spine, etc. The IAD provides advanced real-time 3D visualisation and measurements with fully automated functionalities as developed in two stages. In the first stage, via the clinically driven user interface, specialist clinicians use CT/MRI imaging datasets to accurately delineate and annotate the kidneys and their possible abnormalities, thus creating “3D Golden Standard Models”. Based on these models, in the second stage, clinical support staff i.e. medical technicians interactively define model-based rules and parameters for the integrated “Automatic Recognition Framework” to achieve results which are closest to that of the clinicians. These specific rules and parameters are stored in “Templates” and can later be used by any clinician to automatically identify organ structures i.e. kidneys and their possible abnormalities. The system also supports the transmission of these “Templates” to another expert for a second opinion. A 3D model of the body, the organs and their possible pathology with real metrics is also integrated. The automatic functionality was tested on eleven MRI datasets (comprising of 286 images) and the 3D models were validated by comparing them with the metrics from the corresponding “3D Golden Standard Models”. The system provides metrics for the evaluation of the results, in terms of Accuracy, Precision, Sensitivity, Specificity and Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) so as to enable benchmarking of its performance. The first IAD prototype has produced promising results as its performance accuracy based on the most widely deployed evaluation metric, DSC, yields 97% for the recognition of kidneys and 96% for their abnormalities; whilst across all the above evaluation metrics its performance ranges between 96% and 100%. Further development of the IAD system is in progress to extend and evaluate its clinical diagnostic support capability through development and integration of additional algorithms to offer fully computer-aided identification of other organs and their abnormalities based on CT/MRI/Ultra-sound Imaging.

Stakeholder inclusivity in social and environmental report assurance

Purpose – The purpose of the research was to discover the process of social and environmental report assurance (SERA) and thereby evaluate the benefits, extent of stakeholder inclusivity and/or managerial capture of SERA processes and the dynamics of SERA as it matures. Design/methodology/approach – This paper used semi-structured interviews with 20 accountant and consultant assurors to derive data, which were then coded and analysed, resulting in the identification of four themes. Findings – This paper provides interview evidence on the process of SERA, suggesting that, although there is still managerial capture of SERA, stakeholders are being increasingly included in the process as it matures. SERA is beginning to provide dual-pronged benefits, adding value to management and stakeholders simultaneously. Through the lens of Freirian dialogic theory, it is found that SERA is starting to display some characteristics of a dialogical process, being stakeholder inclusive, demythologising and transformative, with assurors perceiving themselves as a “voice” for stakeholders. Consequently, SERA is becoming an important mechanism for driving forward more stakeholder-inclusive SER, with the SERA process beginning to transform attitudes of management towards their stakeholders through more stakeholder-led SER. However, there remain significant obstacles to dialogic SERA. The paper suggests these could be removed through educative and transformative processes driven by assurors. Originality/value – Previous work on SERA has involved predominantly content-based analysis on assurance statements. However, this paper investigates the details of the SERA process, for the first time using qualitative interview data.