ISSS608 2017-18 T3 Assign Suhas Awasthi
"Cheep" Shots?
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Overview
Mistford is a mid-size city is located to the southwest of a large nature preserve. The city has a small industrial area with four light-manufacturing endeavours. Mitch Vogel is a post-doc student studying ornithology at Mistford College and has been discovering signs that the number of nesting pairs of the Rose-Crested Blue Pipit, a popular local bird due to its attractive plumage and pleasant songs, is decreasing! The decrease is sufficiently significant that the Pangera Ornithology Conservation Society is sponsoring Mitch to undertake additional studies to identify the possible reasons. Mitch is gaining access to several datasets that may help him in his work. This study aims at discovering some insights to support Mitch's claim.
Mini-Challenge 1
Claims that the Rose-Crested Blue Pipit are healthy and vibrant across the whole preserve are a key component of Kasios' position against the work done by grad student Mitch from last year. Other data sources are needed to further investigate the birds' situation.
A recent study results suggested that the Kasios Furniture manufacturing company may have been a primary contributor to the apparent reduction of the number of nesting pairs of the Rose-Crested Blue Pipit, a favorite bird of Mistford residents and Boonsong Lekagul Nature Preserve visitors. Kasios supposedly used the banned substance Methylosmolene in their manufacturing process. They surreptitiously dumped process waste in the northeast region of the Preserve (mini-challenge 1 from 2017) and Methylosmolene was detected in their smokestack emissions (mini-challenge 2 from 2017). Kasios now claims that the analysis was flawed and biased. To combat these conclusions, Kasios has launched their own “investigation” into the Pipit situation, and they are now reporting that there are plenty of Rose-crested Blue Pipits happily living and nesting in the Preserve. To back up this claim, they have provided a set of Pipit bird calls, recently recorded across the Preserve, with locations of where they were recorded. Clearly, they claim, the Pipits are a thriving population, and Kasios will provide even more supporting evidence as their investigation proceeds. In last year’s Challenge, an ornithology grad student from Mistford College named Mitch Vogel discovered the plight of the Pipit and carried out an investigation. Normally, we would call on Mitch again to help validate Kasios’ claim. Unfortunately, Mitch is working far from Mistford in a remote area without internet access for an extended time and cannot be easily reached! The Pangera Ornithology Conservation Society, who sponsored Mitch last year, is at their wit’s end at what to do about this turn of events. The townsfolk and Preserve rangers seem satisfied that the recordings back up Kasios’ claims. Mistford College does not have another Pipit expert they can call upon for help. But, they do have a collection of bird calls from the Preserve that has been vetted by various ornithology groups as having accurate identifications. They have heard that new techniques from machine learning and visual analytics can be applied to situations like this. Perhaps, the calls could be classified and analyzed using these technologies, and reviewed when Mitch returns.
