Reflections on Narrative and Cultural Humility

This chapter reviews the literature on East/West cultural differences in light of the author’s experience in China. It considers the nuances of the individualist/collectivistic binary description of cultures and contests this as a meaningful distinction, arguing that these are on a continuum, with elements of both at every point. It makes a strong case for the importance of cultural humility, which involves being open to surprise and nurturing curiosity about how others think and construe their experience in their own terms, through their own narratives. It means learning to recognize our own taken-for-granted assumptions. Narrative sheds a more illuminating light on culture than abstractions and has the possibility of representing culture with vividness and respect for profound differences.

Improved ORB Algorithm Using Three-Patch Method and Local Gray Difference

This paper presents an improved Oriented Features from Accelerated Segment Test (FAST) and Rotated BRIEF (ORB) algorithm named ORB using three-patch and local gray difference (ORB-TPLGD). ORB takes a breakthrough in real-time aspect. However, subtle changes of the image may greatly affect its final binary description. In this paper, the feature description generation is focused. On one hand, instead of pixel patch pairs comparison method used in present ORB algorithm, a three-pixel patch group comparison method is adopted to generate the binary string. In each group, the gray value of the main patch is compared with that of the other two companion patches to determine the corresponding bit of the binary description. On the other hand, the present ORB algorithm simply uses the gray size comparison between pixel patch pairs, while ignoring the information of the gray difference value. In this paper, another binary string based on the gray difference information mentioned above is generated. Finally, the feature fusion method is adopted to combine the binary strings generated in the above two steps to generate a new feature description. Experiment results indicate that our improved ORB algorithm can achieve greater performance than ORB and some other related algorithms.

COMPACT AND HYBRID FEATURE DESCRIPTION FOR BUILDING EXTRACTION

Building extraction in aerial orthophotos is crucial for various applications. Currently, deep learning has been shown to be successful in addressing building extraction with high accuracy and high robustness. However, quite a large number of samples is required in training a classifier when using deep learning model. In order to realize accurate and semi-interactive labelling, the performance of feature description is crucial, as it has significant effect on the accuracy of classification. In this paper, we bring forward a compact and hybrid feature description method, in order to guarantees desirable classification accuracy of the corners on the building roof contours. The proposed descriptor is a hybrid description of an image patch constructed from 4 sets of binary intensity tests. Experiments show that benefiting from binary description and making full use of color channels, this descriptor is not only computationally frugal, but also accurate than SURF for building extraction.

Correction force for releasing crack tip element with XFEM and only discontinuous enrichment

This paper deals with numerical crack propagation and makes use of the extended finite element method in the case of explicit dynamics. The advantage of this method is the absence of remeshing. The use of XFEM with Heaviside functions only gives a binary description of the crack tip element: cut or not. Here, we modify the internal forces with a correction force in order to smoothly release the tip element while the virtual crack tip travels through an element. This avoids creating non physical stress waves and improves the accuracy of the evaluation of the stress intensity factors during propagation.

The Treaty of Waitangi and the Control of Language by R Dawson

Richard Dawson The Treaty of Waitangi and the Control of Language (Institute of Policy Studies, Wellington, 2001). Paperback, 255 pages, $NZ29. This article is a book review of Richard Dawson's The Treaty of Waitangi and the Control of Language. In his book, Dawson argued that there was a Crown monopoly over the language of the Treaty. Therefore, Dawson called for a balanced dialogue between the Crown and Māori. However, Opie argues that such a binary description of power is problematic and instead adopts Michel Foucault's bottom-up description of power which allows for a more nuanced view of the respective identities of the Crown and Māori.