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Significant research has been carried out in terms of development of new bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) instruments; however, there is still little research available regarding spectral BRDF measurements of human skin. This study aims to investigate the variation in human skin reflectance using a new fibre optic-based spectral-BRDF measurement device.

Design of this system mainly involves use of multiple fibre optics to illuminate and detect light reflected from a sample, whereas a hemispherical dome was 3D printed to mount the fibres at various slant/tilt angles. To investigate the spectral differences in BRDF of human skin, 3 narrowband filters in the visible spectrum were used, whereas measurements were taken from the back of the hand for Caucasian and Asian skin types.

The experiments demonstrate that the BRDF of human skin varies with wavelengths in the visible spectrum and it is also different for Caucasian and Asian skin types. Both skin types exhibit off-specular reflection with increase in angle of incidence and show less variation with respect to viewing angles when the angle of incidence is normal to the surface.

A database of spectral BRDF measurements of human skin will help not only in creating realistic skin renderings but also in development of novel skin reflectance models for biomedical and machine vision applications. The measurements would also provide means to validate the predictions from existing light transport/spectral simulation models for human skin and will ultimately help in the accurate diagnosis and simulation of various skin disorders.

The proposed system provides fast scatter measurements by utilising multiple fibres to detect light simultaneously at different angles while also allowing easy switching between incident light directions. Due to its flexible design and contact-based measurements, the device is independent of errors due to sample movements and does not require any image registration. Also, measurements taken from the device show that the BRDF of skin varies significantly in the visible spectrum and it is different for Caucasian and Asian skin types.

This paper aims to introduce an unsupervised modular approach for eye centre localisation in images and videos following a coarse-to-fine, global-to-regional scheme. The design of the algorithm aims at excellent accuracy, robustness and real-time performance for use in real-world applications.

A modular approach has been designed that makes use of isophote and gradient features to estimate eye centre locations. This approach embraces two main modalities that progressively reduce global facial features to local levels for more precise inspections. A novel selective oriented gradient (SOG) filter has been specifically designed to remove strong gradients from eyebrows, eye corners and self-shadows, which sabotage most eye centre localisation methods. The proposed algorithm, tested on the BioID database, has shown superior accuracy.

The eye centre localisation algorithm has been compared with 11 other methods on the BioID database and six other methods on the GI4E database. The proposed algorithm has outperformed all the other algorithms in comparison in terms of localisation accuracy while exhibiting excellent real-time performance. This method is also inherently robust against head poses, partial eye occlusions and shadows.

The eye centre localisation method uses two mutually complementary modalities as a novel, fast, accurate and robust approach. In addition, other than assisting eye centre localisation, the SOG filter is able to resolve general tasks regarding the detection of curved shapes. From an applied point of view, the proposed method has great potentials in benefiting a wide range of real-world human-computer interaction (HCI) applications.

This paper aims to review state of the art of techniques for dimensioning chronic wounds, and validate the possibilities of employing a new proposed optical imaging approach for general task of wound assessment.

Current techniques used for quantifying wound surface are reviewed and evaluated from various perspectives to exam their usability in wound care clinical settings. A photometric stereo (PS) approach will be identified and verified to work as an alternative solution to better satisfy practical requirements on quantifying the dimension of real and mocked wounds.

Both contact and contactless approaches provide some useful functions for wound management; however, new imaging modalities are still required for achieving good portability, affordability and applicability in assisting decision-making in clinical settings. The PS approach can work as a potential solution to provide these functionalities as well as dense geometrical and color texture information of measured areas. The experiments demonstrate that the new approach is able to conveniently produce comparable results to those from latest stereo vision-based techniques.

This work proposed and initially verified the potential of PS technique for the task of wound measurement. Substantial improvements on the prototype and more clinical trials are still required to validate the new technique before it is accepted as a tool for practical wound measurement.

This new PS approach has good potential to reliably measure the dimension of wounds as well as recover their color texture which could contain additional valuable information for predicting a healing procedure for those wound occurring deeper underneath the skin surface.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.

What is it about academia anyway? We profess to hate it, spend endless amounts of time complaining about it, and yet we in academia will do practically anything to stay. The pay may be low, job security elusive, and in the end, it's not the glamorous work we envisioned it would be. Yet, it still holds fascination and interest for us. This is an article about American academic fiction. By academic fiction, I mean novels whosemain characters are professors, college students, and those individuals associated with academia. These works reveal many truths about the higher education experience not readily available elsewhere. We learn about ourselves and the university community in which we work.

What proof have the public, independent of the assertions of the makers, that all the firms whose products are sold indifferently by the shopkeepers use only the best materials; or, indeed, that a large number of the articles sold are not mixtures more or less objectionable or fraudulent ? This, in effect, is the question put by a writer in a West of England newspaper, and it might be used as a text upon which to write a lengthy homily on the adulteration question and on the astonishing gullibility of the public. As a matter of fact the only evidence of the character and quality of food and other products, in regard to which there is no independent guarantee, is that which is afforded by the standing of the makers, and to some extent of the firms which offer them for sale. And this evidence cannot, under any circumstances, be looked upon as constituting proof. The startling allegations so commonly put forward by advertisers with respect to their wares, while they may be ineffective in so far as thinking people are concerned, must nevertheless be found pecuniarily advantageous since the expense involved in placing them under the eyes of the public would otherwise hardly be incurred. Many of these advertised allegations are, of course, entirely unjustifiable, or are incapable of proof. It may be hoped that the lavish manner in which they are set out, and their very extravagance, may, in time, result in producing a general effect not contemplated by the advertisers. In the meantime it cannot be too often pointed out that proof, such as that which is required for the satisfaction of the retailer and for the protection of the public, can only be obtained by the exercise of an independent control, and, in certain cases, by the maintenance of efficient independent inspection in addition, so that a guarantee of a character entirely different to that which may be offered, even by a firm of the highest eminence, may be supplied.

So far as the various British Food and Drugs Acts are concerned, the meaning of “sophistication” or “adulteration,” which includes “substitution,” is now very wide.

This paper aims to provide a critical perspective on emergent issues in the Trump era directly or indirectly relevant to academic archives. It describes current operational characteristics and trends in academic archives and considers the implications of the “Trump Effect” on academic archives in support of higher education.

The author examines archival studies literature pertaining to academic archives in combination with recent research and reporting on Trump Administration higher education policy to argue for increased professional awareness and vigilance.

The author asserts that Trump Administration rhetoric and policies aimed at remaking American higher education and undermining democratic norms pose a threat to academic archives as institutions that support learning, memory and historical accountability.

This paper adds to scholarly discussions in the library and information studies and archival studies fields about the merits of neutrality, the legacy of memory institutions and the obligation of information professionals to take a stance on difficult issues. Additionally, there are few (if any) sources that discuss the role of academic archives specifically in the contemporary political context.

LIBRARIANSHIP is an established profession, international in scope, and currently passing through a period of acute shortage of trained personnel. The City of Liverpool, situated at the gate‐way of the New World, has given its School of Librarian‐ship some of the elements of its international character, while the current dearth of librarians has given it the opportunity to expand.

Voicing concerns and suggestions is crucial for preventing medical errors and improving patient safety. Research suggests that hierarchy in health-care teams impair open communication. Hierarchy, however, can vary with changing team composition, particularly during acute care situations where more senior persons join the team later on. The purpose of this study is to investigate how changes in hierarchy and leadership were associated with nurses’ voice frequency and nurses’ time to voice during simulated acute care situations.

This study’s sample consisted of 78 health-care providers (i.e. nurses, residents and consultants) who worked in 39 teams performing complex clinical scenarios in the context of interprofessional, simulation-based team training. Scenarios were videotaped and communication behaviour was coded using a systematic coding scheme. To test the hypotheses, multilevel regression analyses were conducted.

Hierarchy and leadership had no significant effect on nurses’ voice frequency. However, there were significant relationships between nurses’ time to voice and both hierarchy (γ = 30.00, p = 0.002; 95 per cent confidence interval [CI] = 12.43; 47.92) as well as leadership (γ = 0.30, p = 0.001; 95 per cent CI = 0.12; 0.47). These findings indicate that when more physicians are present and leadership is more centralised, more time passes until the first nurses’ voice occurred.

This study specifies previous findings on the relationships between hierarchy, leadership and nurses’ voice. Our findings suggest that stronger hierarchy and more centralised leadership delay nurses’ voice but do not affect the overall frequency of voice.