Participant-Driven Videography in Park and Protected Area Research

Author(s):  
Chris Zajchowski ◽  
Jessica Fefer ◽  
Caitlin Henry ◽  
Brendan Kane

Research on visitor experiences in protected areas is evolving as advancements in new technologies and social trends emerge. We assert that park and recreation research can be further enhanced through the application and coupling of videography and spatial-temporal metadata. This systematic review explores the use of participant-driven videography across park and recreation research and adjacent disciplines (i.e., tourism, natural resource management) to understand the existing use of participant-driven data coupled with spatial-temporal information. Evidence gleaned from this systematic review reveals that participant-driven videography is a powerful tool for park research, yet its application is limited by authorship, scope and context. This research note provides: 1) insight into how videographic techniques are currently being used to gain unique visitor data; 2) insight into the collection, management, and analysis of unstructured video data; and 3) areas of future park and recreation research that may be informed by this unique approach.

Author(s):  
James Marlatt

ABSTRACT Many people may not be aware of the extent of Kurt Kyser's collaboration with mineral exploration companies through applied research and the development of innovative exploration technologies, starting at the University of Saskatchewan and continuing through the Queen's Facility for Isotope Research. Applied collaborative, geoscientific, industry-academia research and development programs can yield technological innovations that can improve the mineral exploration discovery rates of economic mineral deposits. Alliances between exploration geoscientists and geoscientific researchers can benefit both parties, contributing to the pure and applied geoscientific knowledge base and the development of innovations in mineral exploration technology. Through a collaboration that spanned over three decades, we gained insight into the potential for economic uranium deposits around the world in Canada, Australia, USA, Finland, Russia, Gabon, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Guyana. Kurt, his research team, postdoctoral fellows, and students developed technological innovations related to holistic basin analysis for economic mineral potential, isotopes in mineral exploration, and biogeochemical exploration, among others. In this paper, the business of mineral exploration is briefly described, and some examples of industry-academic collaboration innovations brought forward through Kurt's research are identified. Kurt was a masterful and capable knowledge broker, which is a key criterion for bringing new technologies to application—a grand, curious, credible, patient, and attentive communicator—whether talking about science, business, or life and with first ministers, senior technocrats, peers, board members, first nation peoples, exploration geologists, investors, students, citizens, or friends.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaheh Kashani-Amin ◽  
Ozra Tabatabaei-Malazy ◽  
Amirhossein Sakhteman ◽  
Bagher Larijani ◽  
Azadeh Ebrahim-Habibi

Background: Prediction of proteins’ secondary structure is one of the major steps in the generation of homology models. These models provide structural information which is used to design suitable ligands for potential medicinal targets. However, selecting a proper tool between multiple Secondary Structure Prediction (SSP) options is challenging. The current study is an insight into currently favored methods and tools, within various contexts. Objective: A systematic review was performed for a comprehensive access to recent (2013-2016) studies which used or recommended protein SSP tools. Methods: Three databases, Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus were systematically searched and 99 out of the 209 studies were finally found eligible to extract data. Results: Four categories of applications for 59 retrieved SSP tools were: (I) prediction of structural features of a given sequence, (II) evaluation of a method, (III) providing input for a new SSP method and (IV) integrating an SSP tool as a component for a program. PSIPRED was found to be the most popular tool in all four categories. JPred and tools utilizing PHD (Profile network from HeiDelberg) method occupied second and third places of popularity in categories I and II. JPred was only found in the two first categories, while PHD was present in three fields. Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive insight into the recent usage of SSP tools which could be helpful for selecting a proper tool.


This book is the first to examine the history of imaginative thinking about intelligent machines. As real artificial intelligence (AI) begins to touch on all aspects of our lives, this long narrative history shapes how the technology is developed, deployed, and regulated. It is therefore a crucial social and ethical issue. Part I of this book provides a historical overview from ancient Greece to the start of modernity. These chapters explore the revealing prehistory of key concerns of contemporary AI discourse, from the nature of mind and creativity to issues of power and rights, from the tension between fascination and ambivalence to investigations into artificial voices and technophobia. Part II focuses on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in which a greater density of narratives emerged alongside rapid developments in AI technology. These chapters reveal not only how AI narratives have consistently been entangled with the emergence of real robotics and AI, but also how they offer a rich source of insight into how we might live with these revolutionary machines. Through their close textual engagements, these chapters explore the relationship between imaginative narratives and contemporary debates about AI’s social, ethical, and philosophical consequences, including questions of dehumanization, automation, anthropomorphization, cybernetics, cyberpunk, immortality, slavery, and governance. The contributions, from leading humanities and social science scholars, show that narratives about AI offer a crucial epistemic site for exploring contemporary debates about these powerful new technologies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 5851
Author(s):  
Buket Şengül ◽  
Hamid Mostofi

When considering the sharp growth rate of the use of e-micromobility vehicles, such as e-scooters and e-bikes, it is necessary to investigate whether these emerging modes of transport play a sustainable role in cities in terms of their energy efficiency, emissions, and their relationship with other modes of mobility, such as public transport. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the impacts of e-micromobility through a systematic review of relevant studies in the field of e-scooters and e-bikes. We followed the steps of PRISMA to conduct a systematic literature review, including identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion steps. One hundred forty-six studies were reviewed and compiled, and 29 of these studies were selected for the focus of this review and their research data were synthesized. The impacts of e-micromobilities were categorized into four categories—travel behaviors, energy consumption, environmental impacts, and safety and related regulations. The category of travel behaviors includes the analysis of the purposes of travel, modal shift from different modes of transport to e-micromobility vehicles, average travel time, and distance. In this review, the findings of relevant studies in different cities around world are compared to each other and synthesized to give an insight into the role of e-micromobility in the present and in the future of urban transportation.


Author(s):  
Sean Keane ◽  
Karmun Cheng ◽  
Kaitlyn Korol

In-line inspection (ILI) tools play an important role within integrity management and substantial investment is made to continuously advance performance of the existing technologies and, where necessary, to develop new technologies. Performance measurement is typically focused for the purpose of understanding the measured performance in relation to the ILI vendor specification and for the determination of residual uncertainty regarding pipeline integrity. These performance measures may not provide the necessary insight into what type of investment into a technology is necessary to further reduce residual uncertainty regarding pipeline integrity, and beyond that, what investment, as an operator, results in an effective and efficient reduction in uncertainty. The paper proposes a reliability based approach for investigating uncertainty associated with ultrasonic crack ILI technology for the purpose of identifying efficient investment into the technology that results in an effective and measurable improvement. Typical performance measures and novel performance measurement methods are presented and reviewed with respect to what information they can provide to assist in investment decisions. Finally, general observations are made regarding Enbridge’s experience using ultrasonic crack ILI technology and areas currently being investigated.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Rafael Darque Pinto ◽  
Bruno Peixoto ◽  
Miguel Melo ◽  
Luciana Cabral ◽  
Maximino Bessa

Virtual reality has shown to have great potential as an educational tool when it comes to new learning methods. With the growth and dissemination of this technology, there is a massive opportunity for teachers to add this technology to their methods of teaching a second/foreign language, since students keep showing a growing interest in new technologies. This systematic review of empirical research aims at understanding whether the use of gaming strategies in virtual reality is beneficial for the learning of a second/foreign language or not. Results show that more than half of the articles proved that virtual reality technologies with gaming strategies can be used to learn a foreign language. It was also found that “learning” was the most evaluated dependent variable among the chosen records, augmented reality was the leading technology used, primary education and lower secondary was the most researched school stages, and the most used language to evaluate the use of gamified technology was by far the English language. Given the lack of directed investigation, it is recommended to use these technologies to support second language learning and not entirely replace traditional approaches. A research agenda is also proposed by the authors.


2012 ◽  
Vol 94 (888) ◽  
pp. 1455-1479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Dubois ◽  
Katharine Marshall ◽  
Siobhan Sparkes McNamara

AbstractThe field of humanitarian action is far from static, and the ICRC has worked over the years to evolve and respond to changing needs and changing circumstances. The past several decades have seen a proliferation of humanitarian actors, protracted, complex conflicts, and the rapid rise of new technologies that have significantly impacted how humanitarian work is done. The ICRC has been continually challenged to adapt in this changing environment, and its core work of supporting separated families – through restoration of family links and through support to the families of the missing – provides insight into ways that it has met this challenge and areas in which it may still seek to improve.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyeon Yu ◽  
Angelica de Antonio ◽  
Elena Villalba-Mora

BACKGROUND eHealth and Telehealth play a crucial role in assisting older adults who visit hospitals frequently or who live in nursing homes and can benefit from staying at home while being cared for. Adapting to new technologies can be difficult for older people. Thus, to better apply these technologies to older adults’ lives, many studies have analyzed acceptance factors for this particular population. However, there is not yet a consensual framework to be used in further development and the search for solutions. OBJECTIVE This paper presents an Integrated Acceptance Framework (IAF) for the older user’s acceptance of eHealth, based on 43 studies selected through a systematic review. METHODS We conducted a four-step study. First, through a systematic review from 2010 to 2020 in the field of eHealth, the acceptance factors and basic data for analysis were extracted. Second, we carried out a thematic analysis to group the factors into themes to propose and integrated framework for acceptance. Third, we defined a metric to evaluate the impact of the factors addressed in the studies. Last, the differences amongst the important IAF factors were analyzed, according to the participants’ health conditions, verification time, and year. RESULTS Through the systematic review, 731 studies were founded in 5 major databases, resulting in 43 selected studies using the PRISMA methodology. First, the research methods and the acceptance factors for eHealth were compared and analyzed, extracting a total of 105 acceptance factors, which were grouped later, resulting in the Integrated Acceptance Framework. Five dimensions (i.e., personal, user-technology relational, technological, service-related, environmental) emerged with a total of 23 factors. Also, we assessed the quality of the evidence. And then, we conducted a stratification analysis to reveal the more appropriate factors depending on the health condition and the assessment time. Finally, we assess which are the factors and dimensions that are recently becoming more important. CONCLUSIONS The result of this investigation is a framework for conducting research on eHealth acceptance. To elaborately analyze the impact of the factors of the proposed framework, the criteria for evaluating the evidence from the studies that have extracted factors are presented. Through this process, the impact of each factor in the IAF has been presented, in addition to the framework proposal. Moreover, a meta-analysis of the current status of research is presented, highlighting the areas where specific measures are needed to facilitate e-Health acceptance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake R. Thomas ◽  
Praveena Naidu ◽  
Anna Appios ◽  
Naomi McGovern

The placenta is a fetal-derived organ whose function is crucial for both maternal and fetal health. The human placenta contains a population of fetal macrophages termed Hofbauer cells. These macrophages play diverse roles, aiding in placental development, function and defence. The outer layer of the human placenta is formed by syncytiotrophoblast cells, that fuse to form the syncytium. Adhered to the syncytium at sites of damage, on the maternal side of the placenta, is a population of macrophages termed placenta associated maternal macrophages (PAMM1a). Here we discuss recent developments that have led to renewed insight into our understanding of the ontogeny, phenotype and function of placental macrophages. Finally, we discuss how the application of new technologies within placental research are helping us to further understand these cells.


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