title: Large-scale automatic species identification

authors: Mo, Jeff

subjects: computer science

abstract: The crowd-sourced Naturewatch GBIF dataset is used to obtain a species classification dataset containing approximately 1.2 million photos of nearly 20 thousand different species of biological organisms observed in their natural habitat. We present a general hierarchical species identification system based on deep convolutional neural networks trained on the NatureWatch dataset. The dataset contains images taken under a wide variety of conditions and is heavily imbalanced, with most species associated with only few images. We apply multi-view classification as a way to lend more influence to high frequency details, hierarchical fine-tuning to help with class imbalance and provide regularisation, and automatic specificity control for optimising classification depth. Our system achieves 55.8% accuracy when identifying individual species and around 90% accuracy at an average taxonomy depth of 5.1—equivalent to the taxonomic rank of “family”—when applying automatic specificity control.

text: Large-scale automatic species identification The crowd-sourced Naturewatch GBIF dataset is used to obtain a species classification dataset containing approximately 1.2 million photos of nearly 20 thousand different species of biological organisms observed in their natural habitat. We present a general hierarchical species identification system based on deep convolutional neural networks trained on the NatureWatch dataset. The dataset contains images taken under a wide variety of conditions and is heavily imbalanced, with most species associated with only few images. We apply multi-view classification as a way to lend more influence to high frequency details, hierarchical fine-tuning to help with class imbalance and provide regularisation, and automatic specificity control for optimising classification depth. Our system achieves 55.8% accuracy when identifying individual species and around 90% accuracy at an average taxonomy depth of 5.1—equivalent to the taxonomic rank of “family”—when applying automatic specificity control.

year: 2017

title: 4u

authors: Hinton, Liam Gene

abstract: I was thirteen the first time I took notice of my body. My girlfriend had left me without citing a reason. I had taken a bath, grabbed a towel and caught myself out the corner of my eye. I have not unnoticed since. Not a minute that passes that I do not consider my physical form. I scour my image in every reflective surface I see. I cup my biceps with my hands. I pull at the fat around my midsection. 
I do not remember much between the ages of thirteen to sixteen. My weight rapidly decreased. I do not remember when I was formally diagnosed but I know I was. I isolated myself, threw school lunches into the bin. Snuck off to the bathroom during class to do push-ups and sit-ups. I only ate to be observed eating.
It is an illness or trauma or condition that has pushed me towards addiction. I have fluctuated between binge-eating then purging, to fasting for days on end. I have ranged from 49 kilograms to 102 and have undergone the paleo diet, the Atkins diet, the ketogenic diet, vegetarian diets and calorie counting. I have taken fat burners, weight gainers, amino acids, creatine and carnitine. I have spent thousands of dollars on various pills and powders. I have ingested salt water to de-hydrate myself. I have slept to skip meals. 
I have thought long and hard about ending my own life. 
4u is a collection of poetry about that. 
4u is also a collection of poetry about everything else. It is about the solace found in the love of others’ bodies. It is about God and language and how both have failed us. About the fear of death and the fear of life. The fear of loneliness and the desire to be alone. It is about how our bodies and their interactions are commodified from within and without. It is about the briefest moments of grace wherein we become each other. The moments when there is no weight to us. 
4u is a dedication or a gift. A giving over to or a sacrifice. An attempt to communicate myself to the world. A bunch of words that are without meaning and completely empty. 			It is 4u.

text: 4u I was thirteen the first time I took notice of my body. My girlfriend had left me without citing a reason. I had taken a bath, grabbed a towel and caught myself out the corner of my eye. I have not unnoticed since. Not a minute that passes that I do not consider my physical form. I scour my image in every reflective surface I see. I cup my biceps with my hands. I pull at the fat around my midsection. 
I do not remember much between the ages of thirteen to sixteen. My weight rapidly decreased. I do not remember when I was formally diagnosed but I know I was. I isolated myself, threw school lunches into the bin. Snuck off to the bathroom during class to do push-ups and sit-ups. I only ate to be observed eating.
It is an illness or trauma or condition that has pushed me towards addiction. I have fluctuated between binge-eating then purging, to fasting for days on end. I have ranged from 49 kilograms to 102 and have undergone the paleo diet, the Atkins diet, the ketogenic diet, vegetarian diets and calorie counting. I have taken fat burners, weight gainers, amino acids, creatine and carnitine. I have spent thousands of dollars on various pills and powders. I have ingested salt water to de-hydrate myself. I have slept to skip meals. 
I have thought long and hard about ending my own life. 
4u is a collection of poetry about that. 
4u is also a collection of poetry about everything else. It is about the solace found in the love of others’ bodies. It is about God and language and how both have failed us. About the fear of death and the fear of life. The fear of loneliness and the desire to be alone. It is about how our bodies and their interactions are commodified from within and without. It is about the briefest moments of grace wherein we become each other. The moments when there is no weight to us. 
4u is a dedication or a gift. A giving over to or a sacrifice. An attempt to communicate myself to the world. A bunch of words that are without meaning and completely empty. 			It is 4u.

year: 2020

title: Factors of desistance in violent offenders: Interpretative phenomenological analysis of the Tai Aroha programme

authors: Beattie, Christopher James

subjects: Desistance

abstract: The phenomenon of desistance from crime is central to the process of rehabilitation. This study examines desistance narratives from the Tai Aroha programme to identify the aspects of participation in a community-based special treatment unit that are effective from the perspective of participants. A review of desistance literature is presented in a New Zealand context. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to present common themes in 64 exit interviews of individuals who completed this programme over a period of 6 years. These themes were compared to the factors of desistance identified in the literature review. The three key concepts that emerged from this study as factors of desistance evident in the Tai Aroha programme were the Morphic Self, Family and Whanau, and Mindfulness. The concept of the Morphic Self is a perspective on the process of identity change as experienced by participants, and is a key product of this research. Three other factors were identified as prerequisites for successful completion of the programme that also therefore contribute to desistance: Motivation, Sobriety, and Peers and Support. Also identified from this research were aspects of the experience termed Elements of Influence, which are the facets of the participants, the programme and the interactions between the two that can be considered in order to improve the delivery of the programme and therefore promote desistance. A distinctive quality of the Tai Aroha programme that was influential in the successful promotion of desistance was its strong commitment to tikanga Māori and the incorporation of these cultural values into the lifestyle and therapeutic approaches adopted by the facilitators.

text: Factors of desistance in violent offenders: Interpretative phenomenological analysis of the Tai Aroha programme The phenomenon of desistance from crime is central to the process of rehabilitation. This study examines desistance narratives from the Tai Aroha programme to identify the aspects of participation in a community-based special treatment unit that are effective from the perspective of participants. A review of desistance literature is presented in a New Zealand context. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to present common themes in 64 exit interviews of individuals who completed this programme over a period of 6 years. These themes were compared to the factors of desistance identified in the literature review. The three key concepts that emerged from this study as factors of desistance evident in the Tai Aroha programme were the Morphic Self, Family and Whanau, and Mindfulness. The concept of the Morphic Self is a perspective on the process of identity change as experienced by participants, and is a key product of this research. Three other factors were identified as prerequisites for successful completion of the programme that also therefore contribute to desistance: Motivation, Sobriety, and Peers and Support. Also identified from this research were aspects of the experience termed Elements of Influence, which are the facets of the participants, the programme and the interactions between the two that can be considered in order to improve the delivery of the programme and therefore promote desistance. A distinctive quality of the Tai Aroha programme that was influential in the successful promotion of desistance was its strong commitment to tikanga Māori and the incorporation of these cultural values into the lifestyle and therapeutic approaches adopted by the facilitators.

year: 2018