Voice integrated systems

The program at Naval Air Development Center was initiated to determine the desirability of interactive voice systems for use in airborne weapon systems crew stations. A voice recognition and synthesis system (VRAS) was developed and incorporated into a human centrifuge. The speech recognition aspect of VRAS was developed using a voice command system (VCS) developed by Scope Electronics. The speech synthesis capability was supplied by a Votrax, VS-5, speech synthesis unit built by Vocal Interface. The effects of simulated flight on automatic speech recognition were determined by repeated trials in the VRAS-equipped centrifuge. The relationship of vibration, G, O2 mask, mission duration, and cockpit temperature and voice quality was determined. The results showed that: (1) voice quality degrades after 0.5 hours with an O2 mask; (2) voice quality degrades under high vibration; and (3) voice quality degrades under high levels of G. The voice quality studies are summarized. These results were obtained with a baseline of 80 percent recognition accuracy with VCS

How useful is thematic analysis as an elicitation technique for analyzing video of human gait in forensic podiatry?

The aim of this study was to evaluate how useful thematic analysis is in the elicitation of observations of gait from a video recording. This was undertaken by providing a video recording of human gait to “novice” and “expert” podiatry students. The observations were explored using the qualitative tool of thematic analysis. The exploration of human gait using this technique gave a rich abundance of information and demonstrated that a basic level of experience or knowledge is required to provide a simple description of human gait. With more expertise came a richer description of observation of human gait by the “expert” group compared to basic observations by the “novice” group. Thematic analysis allows the use of language and the depth of the information to be evaluated when observing human gait from a video recording

A comparison of types and thicknesses of adhesive felt padding in the reduction of peak plantar pressure of the foot: a case report

Introduction: This case report will have implications for any area of medicine that aims to redistribute plantar pressure away from a particular area of the foot. This could be for example in the short-term care of people with diabetes, people who have insensate feet and people with poor blood supply to the foot coupled with plantar ulceration. The aim of the study was to investigate which type and thickness of Hapla felt padding is the most effective at redistributing plantar pressure of the foot. This case report is the first of its kind. Case presentation: The participant was a healthy 50-year-old white man with a high peak plantar pressure over the second metatarsal head of both feet; he required removal of a plantar callus on a periodic basis. Conclusions: The reader should note that different types of Hapla felt padding provide different forms of redistribution of plantar pressure on the foot. In the clinic it may be useful to measure peak plantar pressure using F-Scan before deciding on the most appropriate type of felt padding

New spaces of food justice

‘Food is fundamental to life’ (Sbicca 2012, 456) and this shared need establishes food as a site of potential for connective and convivial practices and relations. Yet, when we realise that more than one billion people are undernourished worldwide (Food Ethics Council 2010), despite the fact that the world produces enough food to feed billions more than the current global population of seven billion (Holt-Gimenez et al. 2012), the social, political, economic and environmental challenges posed by contemporary food systems start to become apparent. Given current global production levels – whether we agree with the social and environmental implications of these or not – it is clear that malnutrition rates worldwide are not simply an indicator of agricultural praxis but demonstrate the continued, broader social and structural issues of access, equity and justice. Recognising that many feel increasingly disenfranchised from formal political representation, marginalised by a hegemonic neoliberal capitalism or disconnected from ‘healthy’ social or environmental relations, food offers an opportunity to re-engage individuals and society with critical questions and practices of justice because, as Allen (2008, 159) notes, ‘no other public issue is as accessible to people in their daily lives as that of food justice. Everyone – regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or social class – eats. We are all involved and we are all implicated’. The multiplicity of ways in which we can engage with food – including growing, buying, eating, cooking, writing, processing, marketing, selling and watching – enacts its radical potential as a set of dynamic socio-material relations (Alkon 2013; Alkon et al. 2013) that can both conform to and subvert existing practices and understandings, enabling food to ‘speak’ to many different people in a range of different contexts. Although this multiplicity has its dangers (Heynen, Kurtz, and Trauger 2012), it also means that food matters and matters in complex and diverse ways: ‘It rallies people and it often induces unexpected changes in society’ (Van der Ploeg 2013, 999)

Street Crime in London: Deterrence, Disruption and Displacement

In early 2002 the Government implemented the Street Crime Initiative (SCI) in response to a rapid rise in street crime and growing public and media concern. The report examines the nature of street crime in the capital during 2001/02 and the early stages of the government initiative designed to tackle it. The study takes an innovative approach combining offence statistics, information gathered from interviews with offenders and those involved in the Street Crime Initiative (SCI) and crime mapping techniques to assess the impact of the SCI. It pays particular attention to how these offences can displace into other forms of crime or shift across time or place. It was precisely these issues which led the Government Office for London ultimately to commission this study in order to understand the nature of street crime across the London region

Can a computer expert system aid the process of clinical decision-making in podiatry?

The aim of this research was to invetigate the clinical decision-making processes used in podiatry and hence to investigate if a computer expert system could be used to aid the process of clinical decision-making. This was achieved through a sequence of four empirical studies. The initial study used card sorts to investigate seven expert podiatrists’ perceptions of and attitudes toward diagnostic aids, and in particular how podiatrists viewed expert systems. The results showed that expert systems are perceived as different in kind from other diagnostic aids such as X-rays or blood tests. The second study was conducted using one expert and one novice podiatrist and used a task analysis to investigate the types of tasks and skills undertaken by a podiatrist during the diagnosis of a patient in different clinical environments. The results indicate that the work is highly schematised and involves routine tasks such as nail care and callus reduction. In clinic, podiarists perform many tasks quickly. There was little difference between the number of tasks per minute undertaken in a general clinic and the number of tasks in a specialist diabetes clinic. Considering the speed of diagnosis, it is postulated that both expert and novice podiatrists’ use of schemata, pattern matching, and tacit and implicit knowledge dominates their diagnostic activity during consultations. The third study focused on how clinical reasoning and decision-making occur during consultations with a patient. Think-aloud protocols were used to investigate the differences in the clinical reasoning process between five expert and nine novice podiatrists. The speed of diagnosis and general lack of causal assertions suggest that use of schemata and tacit knowledge dominate the diagnosis process for both experts and novices. In a general setting, the novices produced four common clinical reasoning themes. These indicate that pattern recognition is a common method of diagnosis. However, there was an increase in the number of clinical reasoning themes used by experts in a specialist setting, indicating novice—expert differences. The fourth study used laddering interviews on a mixture of twelve NHS and private podiatrists to investigate why podiatrists used certain clinical reasoning themes. A hierarchical value map was derived, showing that, at an initial response level to the laddering questions, certain values were important: the palpation of the foot, building a picture of the foot condition, and being able to use clinical reasoning frequently and immediately. The emphases on palpation and immediacy of reasoning suggest that an expert system is unlikely to serve podiatrists’ needs in clinics. This research has provided a new understanding of the clinical reasoning processes used in podiatry. A podiatrist has a very busy timeline when diagnosing a patient and predominantly uses (and values) tacit knowledge, implicit learning, and compiled skills during consultations. There is little evidence for the need or desire for an expert system in clinical podiatry practice. However, if such an expert system were to be created, then: (a) it would have to be fast and non-intrusive so it can fit into a very busy consultation timeline, (b) it would need a knowledge base that could account for diagnosis of foot and leg conditions based on pattern recognition, and (c) it might be most valuable in the form of a decision support system for professional development that included the full range of expert diagnostic theme

A comparison of the length and width of static inked two-dimensional bare footprints found on a hard compared to a soft surface.

In forensic intelligence-gathering it would be useful to evaluate if there are differences between static inked bare footprints captured on hard surfaces compared to soft surfaces. This was undertaken using samples from 30 undergraduate students. Initially a static footprint was taken for each participant on a hard surface and this was followed by a static footprint on a soft surface. On both occasions, the participants stood on an inkless mat and then on reactive paper, creating a two-dimensional print. The Reel method was used to analyse each footprint and the print was measured to see whether a difference existed between length and width (forefoot and rearfoot width) on a hard surface compared to a soft surface. The conclusion from this study was there is a statistically significant increase in length and width of a static bare footprint on a soft surface as opposed to a hard surface. If a forensic footprint examiner compares static bare footprints found on a soft surface and compares them to a static bare footprint of the same foot taken later, then the increase in both length and width of the footprints on a soft surface should be considered in the evaluation