Category / Research themes

Cloud and Weather Simulation for Computer Graphics

Featured academics, PG research, Research news

We would like to invite you to the next research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

Speaker: Leigh McLoughlinresults_cumulo_2

Title: Cloud and Weather Simulation for Computer Graphics

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 2nd March 2016

Room: P302, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract:

In this talk I will discuss my work on cloud simulation for computer graphics. This work was designed to provide a means of simulating clouds and weather features, such as rain, using desktop graphics hardware. This involves elements of meteorology, numerical weather simulation and computational fluid dynamics, taken from the sciences and adapted to meet the more artistic requirements of computer graphics in which an element of control is required and the laws of physics may be wilfully disobeyed. The result is a lightweight physically-inspired cloud simulation scheme, capable of emulating the dynamic properties of cloud formation and weather effects.

We hope to see you there.

 

Post-Doc Research Opportunities in Politics at BU

BU research, EU, Research Training

The Centre for Politics and Media Research in the Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University welcomes interest from recently qualified post-doctoral researchers to come and work in the Centre as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow.

Research projects of interest are:

  • Political talk and the online public sphere
  • Global citizenship, public engagement with global affairs and political participation (particularly engagement via digital media)
  • The media framing of politics and its impacts
  • The politics of public space
  • Extremist politics, security and social cohesion, fundamentalism, freedom of speech

Specialist skills training we can offer at Bournemouth University:

  • Quantitative and qualitative methodologies
  • Web platform and social media data capture and analysis
  • Mass media data capture and analysis
  • Psychological and sociological approaches to the study of politics
  • Consumer behaviour/psychology approaches to the study of political participation

Full details about the call can be found at the below link.

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/2226-msca-if-2016.html

Initial expressions of interest should be sent to the Centre Director, Dr Darren Lilleker (dlilleker@bournemouth.ac.uk) including a summary of the proposed research project and accompanying curriculum vitae.

The planned opening of the call is April 12th 2016 with a submission deadline of 14th September 2016.

Political Studies Association: Sport and Politics Conference 2016

conferences

PSA-logoDept visual

Political Studies Association: Sport and Politics Conference 2016

Conference theme: Social Justice

Sport, Politics and Social Justice

The Department of Sport and Physical Activity are pleased to be hosting this years PSA Sport Special Interest Groiup Conference on the 4th and 5th March at the Executive Business Centre.

This is the 10th anniversary of this academic group and the conference has gradually grown to become an international event with papers being presented by academics from the USA, Turkey, Poland, Hong Kong and the UK.

The conference will aim to unpack and interrogate some of the ideas concerning Sport, as a cultural form par excellence, its inherent political nature, andwhat can only be described as an ambiguous relationship with social justice. Governments and international sports organisations often cite the commonly held precepts of social justice – fairness and/or entitlement – as key aspects and determinants of political bargaining and policymaking concerning sport.

Some might claim that it is the supposed virtue of justice that sits at the heart of sport that gives it such special value manifest in the use of sport in initiatives such as crime prevention, community development and health promotion.

Others might argue that within a wider cultural politics, sport can be understood as an insidious site through which various discourses are appropriated and mobilised in regard to the organisation and discipline of daily life and, from this perspective, that sport may do very little to champion an orientation towards social justice, equality and inclusion.

The Sport, Politics and Social Justice Conference 2016 will provide a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary examination of these issues and more. The conference will explore the inter-relationship between sport, politics and social justice by drawing on research from a variety of academic fields, including: politics, political science, sociology, social policy, political philosophy, criminology, community and youth work, history, law, geography, and sport studies.

If you are interested and would like to attend please contact the conference Chair Andrew Adams +

 

Involving patients and the public in your research. Registration for NIHR webinar now open!

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Training and Coordinating Centre will be hosting a live one hour webinar about involving patients and the public in research on Tuesday 23 February at 11am.

This is an introductory webinar for researchers with little or no experience of patient and public involvement (PPI). This webinar is aimed at aspiring NIHR trainees and early career researchers.

This webinar will include:

  • An overview of what PPI is and why it is important in research
  • Why PPI is important to the NIHR and how best to demonstrate PPI in an application – including signposts to NIHR resources around PPI
  • Q&A session

The webinar will be presented by Philippa Yeeles, Director of Involvement and Engagement at the NIHR Central Commissioning Facility alongside Anne-Laure Donskoy, an NIHR Panel Member and independent researcher.

You can register for the webinar via the following link:

bit.ly/PPIwebinar2016

New NHS article by BU Visiting Faculty Minesh Khashu

open access, Publishing

FileLaptopImageDataManagement-1024x1024Minesh Khashu (BU Visiting Faculty and clinician in Poole Hospital) and Jeremy Scrivens published their third instalment of a series of online papers on the NHS.  This contribution is called ‘Can We Heal an Ailing Healthcare System? Part 3’.  They deep dive into this idea of transformation through a strengths-based approach.   They consider how we can build an NHS Social Movement by bringing the whole system together to inquire into and extend NHS’s Positive Core.  The blog (online paper) can be accessed here!

For more information you can also follow the two authors on Twitter: Minesh Khashu(@mkrettiwt) & Jeremy Scrivens (@jeremyscrivens)

 

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

A series of co-incidents

BU research, international, Publishing, Uncategorized

Over 25 years ago during my PhD research comparing the organisation of midwifery and maternity care in the Netherlands and the Northeast of Scotland I wrote a chapter comparing the history of maternity care in the two countries.  I needed to write this not, as I thought at the time, to improve my thesis, but for myself to help me as a sociologist to help understand these historical developments.

In the process of researching the history of midwifery in the Netherlands I found a commemorative book by Drenth (1998) celebrating the centenary of the Dutch midwifery organisation. In this book is a footnote stating that the first chair of the KNOV (Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives), Ms Francijntje de Kadt, lived and worked in the town of Vlaardingen in the late 19th to early 20th century (Drenth 1998). This note caught my eyes as I am born and bred in Vlaardingen.

Francijntje de Kadtlaan in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands

Francijntje de Kadtlaan in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands

After a bit more searching and a visit to the archives of the town of Vlaardingen I managed to dig up a little more about Francijntje de Kadt, but not an awful lot. During a family visit to the Netherlands I visited the archives of Vlaardingen to see what information they had about her. The archivist immediately recognised the name of Francijntje de Kadt, since genealogists keep finding her name as the midwife listed on their ancestors’ birth certificates. However, the archivist did not know that Francijntje de Kadt had been the first chair of the Dutch Mmidwifery organisation from its establishment in 1898 till 1926. At that point I decided to apply for a small travel grant in the History of Medicine from the Wellcome Trust. That application was successful, awarding a travel grant of £ 1,050 in 2001. My research in various archives in the Netherlands resulted in two papers (in Dutch) about Francijntje de Kadt, one in a local history journal (van Teijlingen 2003a) and one in the Dutch midwifery journal (2003b) and one about the collapse in 1921 of the midwives’ first pension fund (van Teijlingen 2002). This was for a while the end of my career as an amateur historian due to my busy day job as a health researcher and MSc coordinator at the University of Aberdeen.

Many years later (2010) I ended up talking to the burgomaster of Vlaardingen at the reception organised by the town to celebrate the fact that my father had been awarded the Dutch equivalent of an OBE. Over a drink I asked the burgomaster what the process was for suggesting a new street name in Vlaardingen. He suggested I write to the Street Name Committee with a justification why Francijntje de Kadt deserved a street name. With my recommendation I sent this committee my two Dutch publications. A few months later the secretary to the Street Name Committee wrote to say that my proposal had been accepted and that her name would be given to a street in a new development of the former local hospital grounds.

Then in mid-2015 a Dutch historian Eva Moraal came to Vlaardingen with her partner on a day trip and they ended up walking through the Francijntje de Kadtlaan. She read the subscript on the street sign (see photo) and thought ‘This woman need to have an encyclopaedia entry!’ A few days later she emailed me at Bournemouth University for further information on the live, work and achievements of Francijntje de Kadt to help her write a piece for the encyclopaedia. Two months ago Eva Moraal (2015) published her very nice contribution on Francijntje de Kadt.

So what started as a small historical study as an introduction chapter of a PhD thesis in Medical Sociology ended up with a ‘forgotten’ national midwifery leader having a street named after her in the town she spent most of her working live and her own entry in the encyclopaedia, Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland (in Dutch: Online Women’s Lexicon of the Netherlands). What is even more interesting that this otherwise chronologically logical story is based on three major co-incidents: first, spotting a footnote in commemorative book about Vlaardingen. If Francijntje de Kadt had lived and worked anywhere else in the Netherlands other than my birthplace I would not have paid much attention. Secondly, speaking to the burgomaster of Vlaardingen and having a conversation in which street names cropped up, and thirdly, Eva Moraal who just happened to walk through the Francijntje de Kadtlaan, reading the street sign, and thinking this is an historical figure who needs better recognition.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

References:

Drenth, P. (1998) 1898-1998. Honderd jaar vroedvrouwen verenigd, Bilthoven: KNOV.

Moraal, E. (2015) Kadt, Francijntje de, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Kadt

van Teijlingen, E. (2002) Ondergang eerste pensioenfonds voor vroedvrouwen (in Dutch: Decline of the first pension fund for midwives), Tijdschrift voor Verloskundigen (in Dutch: Journal for Midwives), 27(12): 684.

van Teijlingen, E.R. (2003a) Berichten – Francijntje de Kadt (1858-1929), Tijdschrift voor Verloskundigen (in Dutch: Journal for Midwives), 28(12): 630-633.

van Teijlingen, E.R. (2003b) Francijntje de Kadt (1858-1929). Vroedvrouw te Vlaardingen en eerste voorzitter van de Nederlandsche vroedvrouwenvereeniging, Tijd-schrift (in Dutch: Time-Magazine) 88: 14-23.

The use of technology to provide physical interaction experiences for cognitively able young people who have complex physical disabilities

BU research, PG research, Research communication, staff profile pages

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

 

Title: The use of technology to provide physical interaction experiences for cognitively able young people who have complex physical disabilities

ShivaSpeaker: Mark Moseley (a post graduate researcher from the Centre for Digital Entertainment (CDE) based in the Faculty of Media and Communication)

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 17th February 2016

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract:

Young people who have severe physical disabilities and good cognition may face many barriers to learning, communication, personal development, physical interaction and play experiences. Physical interaction and play are known to be important components of child development, but this group currently has few suitable ways in which to achieve this.

 

Technology can help to facilitate such experiences. This research aims to develop a technology-based tool to provide this group with the potential for physical interaction and physical play, in order to develop their knowledge of spatial concepts. This tool will utilise eye-gaze technology, robotics and haptic feedback (artificial sensation).

 

This presentation will explain the rationale behind this research as well as the aims and approach used in the development of a proposed tool.

 

 

We hope to see you there.

 

New taskforce launched to combat fraud across the UK

Research news

Dr Lee-Ann Fenge – Deputy Director NCPQSW
lfenge@bournemouth.ac.uk

The Home Office is setting up a new taskforce to combat financial fraud which will include banks, the police and government officials http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35536322

This is a response to the growing recognition that financial fraud is undermining business and the wider economy. There has been a growth in particular types of financial fraud in the last year including online banking fraud which rose by 48% in 2014. Another growth area for fraud has been the CEO or ‘bogus boss’ fraud, where staff are instructed to transfer money for a specific reason out of a company account, believing the instruction to come from a senior member of staff. Although the development of a national taskforce is positive and to be welcomed, the emphasis of this taskforce appears to be on financial fraud affecting business, and the risk is that the impact of financial scams which affect the general public might get overlooked.

Financial scams and in particular mass marketing fraud is a growing problem and can affect anyone. These types of financial scams are often targeted at older people and vulnerable groups, and the risk of becoming a victim of fraud can increase if the individual is lonely or socially isolated. The National Scams Team have identified that victims of scam mail have an average age of 74 and have typically lost more than £1,000 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34489206

Victims of mass marketing type fraud are often placed on so-called “suckers lists” and their details are then sold on to other fraudsters, increasing their risk of becoming a victim of fraud again. Those who become victims of mass marketing fraud often do not report it and therefore the true scale of the problem is unknown. However scam involvement can cause long lasting damage to an individual’s health and well-being.

Lee-ann blogsmaller

The NCPQSW is undertaking research with the National Scams Team into the problems posed by mass marketing fraud, and in particular ways of protecting those most at risk. The Care Act (2014) has recognised the risks posed by financial abuse/crime on individuals and places a statutory responsibility on local authorities to take a lead in safeguarding those at risk. This requires collaboration from key agencies involved in identifying and protecting victims of financial scams, including the police, trading standards, the financial sector, local authorities and health care.

We believe it is important that certain groups are recognised as being at increased risk of scam involvement, and those with dementia find it difficult to understand risk and apply caution to decision making due to their cognitive deficits and reduced financial capability. This makes people with dementia at increased risk of responding to scams. Therefore banks and other financial institutions should have a ‘duty to care’ for those with cognitive impairments who may make an ‘unwise decision’ a result of their cognitive state rather than simply an unwise decision.

If you want to find out more about the work of the NCPQSW please visit our website http://www.ncpqsw.com/

Publications

Olivier, S., Burls, T., Fenge, L., Brown, K. (2015) “Winning and losing”: vulnerability to mass marketing fraud, The Journal of Adult Protection, 17:6, 360 – 370.

Olivier, S., Burls, T., Fenge, L., Brown, K. (in press) Safeguarding Adults and Mass Marketing Fraud – perspectives from the Police, Trading Standards and the Voluntary Sector, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law.

Creative England – Interest free business loans now open for applications

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team

creativeengland1_0

Creative England would  like to hear from creative digital companies who need anything from £50k – £200k in order to grow their business.

Eligible companies include those across content creation, games, tech and digital based in any of the English regions outside of Greater London. The interest-free loan is repaid over 3 years, and must be matched 50:50 with an alternative source of finance.

For more information please read the  FAQ’s and application guidelines.

You can also get in touch with kate.adam@creativeengland.co.uk for any further questions.

If you’re not sure if a Business Loan is quite right for the stage your company is at, then take a look at the  Equity Investment Programme, offering £40k – £100k of equity investment for digital SME’s.

Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network (CHAIN) Demonstration 23rd March 2016

BU research

CHAIN – Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online mutual support network for people working in health and social care. It gives people a simple and informal way of contacting each other to exchange ideas and share knowledge.

The online Directory can be used to identify and communicate with other members. You might wish to do this to draw from their experience, or to elicit an opinion on an issue or something you are doing. Or you might wish to find collaborators or liaise with fellow-travellers or people with specific skills or interests for a wide range of purposes. You can do this quickly and easily with CHAIN, and part of the advantage is that the people you find will usually be happy to help you if they can.

A representative from CHAIN will be visiting BU on 23rd March at 2:30pm in Wollstone Lecture Theatre, Bournemouth House (BG10) to demonstrate how to make the most of being part of the network. All staff are welcome to attend, and please pass the invitation on to your final year students who may be interested in learning more about what CHAIN has to offer.

Contact Lisa Gale-Andrews at lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk to book your place.

New paper by Dr Julie Robson in the Journal of Business Research

BU research, Research news, Research themes

JRobson1

Dr Julie Robson (based in FoM) has had her article ‘ Senior management perceptions of aspirational groups: A study of the UK general insurance market’ published in the Journal of Business Research. The paper, co-authored by Professor Hans van der Heijden at the University of Sussex, draws insight from consumer marketing on aspirational groups to explore the composition and structure of aspirational groups compared to strategic groups in a market setting. The findings contribute to knowledge on strategy formation by highlighting the important role aspirational groups play in understanding competitive market movements.

An Artistic Stippling Technique for Animated 3D Models

BU research, Featured academics, Research news

We would like to invite you to a visiting scholar research seminar by Dr. Dongwann Kang next Tuesday afternoon.

ArtisticStippling

Title:         An Artistic Stippling Technique for Animated 3D Models

Date:         Tuesday 9th February 2016

Time:         3-4PM

Location: P302

Biography

Dongwann Kang received his Ph.D. degree in Chung-Ang University, South Korea in 2013. He also received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from Chung-Ang University in 2006 and 2008. He was the research fellow in Chung-Ang University from Mar. 2013 to Jun. 2015. Now, he is a visiting researcher in the SciTech, Bournemouth University, UK. His research interests include artistic stylization, emotional computing, image manipulation and GPU processing.

Abstract

Stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists. ‘Hedcut’ is a stippling style for newspaper illustrations. Specifically, this technique, which combines stippling and line drawing, employs a directional stipple pattern similar to cross- hatching. Unlike traditional stippling methods that represent the tone of a subject by the density of the stipples, hedcut evenly distributes stipples with such a directional pattern and adjusts the size and tone of the stipples. In this presentation, I present a hedcut rendering method for animated 3D models that satisfies these characteristics. To maintain frame-to-frame coherency in animations, I introduce a texture mapping-based stippling method. I execute a quadrangulation that captures the geometric structure of the surface, and obtain directional stipples by mapping a two-directional patterned texture onto each quad mesh. For even distribution of texture-mapped stipples on screen space, I propose a texture generation and mapping method that adjusts the number of stipples on the texture depending on the viewpoint.

Optimal 3D surface reconstruction from few 2D images

BU research, Featured academics, staff profile pages

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

 

Speaker: Dr Simant Prakoonwit (Associate Professor Of Games Technology at BU)

Title: Optimal 3D surface reconstruction from few 2D images

 

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PMOptimal 3D surface reconstruction from few 2D images

Date: Wednesday 3rd February 2016

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract:

The talk will discuss a possible method to use a small number, e.g. 5, of conventional 2D images to reconstruct multiple 3D object surfaces. Each object’s edge contours in images are automatically identified. Sparse optimal 3D landmark points of each bone are automatically reconstructed by pairing the 2D images. The reconstructed landmark point distribution on a surface is approximately optimal covering main characteristics of the surface. A surface growing method or a statistical shape model, dense point distribution model can then be used to fit the reconstructed optimal landmarks vertices to reconstruct a full surface of each object separately.

 

 

We hope to see you there.

 

CEMP Research Awarded EPSRC Extension Grant

BU research, student research

EPSRC_logocemp-logo

CEMP Researcher Phil Wilkinson has been awarded a grant by the EPSRC to develop further impact of CEMP’s Digital Capabilities project with Samsung. The grant will fund digital engagement activities with community outreach practitioners, educators, and academics with a focus on ‘Digital Families’.  The seminars will also be live-streamed online through G-Hangouts.

Phil worked with Julian McDougall and Mark Readman on the CEMP / Samsung project and his broader ‘Researcher in Residence’ work at IPACA forms part of his doctoral research in BU’s Centre for Digital Entertainment.