Auspices

Poem about global warming, eco-criticism, the pastoral myth.

Snowy Owl

Poem.

Testimonial

Print poem

Crow

Poem.

Fishing for Eels

Poem.

The Botanist at his Mother's Grave

In this poem about processing human grief, I consciously drew on eco-critical theory – (Wilson 1992, Bate 2000) – and Darwinian literary theory (Carroll 2004) to explore the tension between ideas of the ‘natural’ apprehended through the senses, and poststructuralist ideas of the construction of reality through language.

Time-aware topic recommendation based on micro-blogs

Topic recommendation can help users deal with the information overload issue in micro-blogging communities. This paper proposes to use the implicit information network formed by the multiple relationships among users, topics and micro-blogs, and the temporal information of micro-blogs to find semantically and temporally relevant topics of each topic, and to profile users' time-drifting topic interests. The Content based, Nearest Neighborhood based and Matrix Factorization models are used to make personalized recommendations. The effectiveness of the proposed approaches is demonstrated in the experiments conducted on a real world dataset that collected from Twitter.com.

How activation, entanglement, and searching a semantic network contribute to event memory

Free association norms indicate that words are organized into semantic/associative neighborhoods within a larger network of words and links that bind the net together. We present evidence indicating that memory for a recent word event can depend on implicitly and simultaneously activating related words in its neighborhood. Processing a word during encoding primes its network representation as a function of the density of the links in its neighborhood. Such priming increases recall and recognition and can have long lasting effects when the word is processed in working memory. Evidence for this phenomenon is reviewed in extralist cuing, primed free association, intralist cuing, and single-item recognition tasks. The findings also show that when a related word is presented to cue the recall of a studied word, the cue activates it in an array of related words that distract and reduce the probability of its selection. The activation of the semantic network produces priming benefits during encoding and search costs during retrieval. In extralist cuing recall is a negative function of cue-to-distracter strength and a positive function of neighborhood density, cue-to-target strength, and target-to cue strength. We show how four measures derived from the network can be combined and used to predict memory performance. These measures play different roles in different tasks indicating that the contribution of the semantic network varies with the context provided by the task. We evaluate spreading activation and quantum-like entanglement explanations for the priming effect produced by neighborhood density.

Neighbourhood disadvantage, individual-level socioeconomic position, and self-reported chronic arthritis : a cross-sectional multilevel study

Objective: To examine the association between individual- and neighborhood-level disadvantage and self-reported arthritis. Methods: We used data from a population-based cross-sectional study conducted in 2007 among 10,757 men and women ages 40–65 years, selected from 200 neighborhoods in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia using a stratified 2-stage cluster design. Data were collected using a mail survey (68.5% response). Neighborhood disadvantage was measured using a census-based composite index, and individual disadvantage was measured using self-reported education, household income, and occupation. Arthritis was indicated by self-report. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Results: The overall rate of self-reported arthritis was 23% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 22–24). After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, arthritis prevalence was greatest for women (odds ratio [OR] 1.5, 95% CI 1.4–1.7) and in those ages 60–65 years (OR 4.4, 95% CI 3.7–5.2), those with a diploma/associate diploma (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.6), those who were permanently unable to work (OR 4.0, 95% CI 3.1–5.3), and those with a household income <$25,999 (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.7–2.6). Independent of individual-level factors, residents of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods were 42% (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2–1.7) more likely than those in the least disadvantaged neighborhoods to self-report arthritis. Cross-level interactions between neighborhood disadvantage and education, occupation, and household income were not significant. Conclusion: Arthritis prevalence is greater in more socially disadvantaged neighborhoods. These are the first multilevel data to examine the relationship between individual- and neighborhood-level disadvantage upon arthritis and have important implications for policy, health promotion, and other intervention strategies designed to reduce the rates of arthritis, indicating that intervention efforts may need to focus on both people and places.

Optimally increasing secure connectivity in multihop wireless ad hoc networks

We consider the problem of how to maximize secure connectivity of multi-hop wireless ad hoc networks after deployment. Two approaches, based on graph augmentation problems with nonlinear edge costs, are formulated. The first one is based on establishing a secret key using only the links that are already secured by secret keys. This problem is in NP-hard and does not accept polynomial time approximation scheme PTAS since minimum cutsets to be augmented do not admit constant costs. The second one is based of increasing the power level between a pair of nodes that has a secret key to enable them physically connect. This problem can be formulated as the optimal key establishment problem with interference constraints with bi-objectives: (i) maximizing the concurrent key establishment flow, (ii) minimizing the cost. We show that both problems are NP-hard and MAX-SNP (i.e., it is NP-hard to approximate them within a factor of 1 + e for e > 0 ) with a reduction to MAX3SAT problem. Thus, we design and implement a fully distributed algorithm for authenticated key establishment in wireless sensor networks where each sensor knows only its one- hop neighborhood. Our witness based approaches find witnesses in multi-hop neighborhood to authenticate the key establishment between two sensor nodes which do not share a key and which are not connected through a secure path.

The role of human factors when evaluating information accountability for eHealth systems

The availability of health information is rapidly increasing; its expansion and proliferation is inevitable. At the same time, breeding of health information silos is an unstoppable and relentless exercise. Information security and privacy concerns are therefore major barriers in the eHealth socio-eco system. We proposed Information Accountability as a measurable human factor that should eliminate and mitigate security concerns. Information accountability measures would be practicable and feasible if legislative requirements are also embedded. In this context, information accountability constitutes a key component for the development of effective information technology requirements for health information system. Our conceptual approach to measuring human factors related to information accountability in eHealth is presented in this paper with some limitations.

Bargara Pasturage Reserve : Future Visions

Bargara Pasturage Reserve: Future Visions This exhibition showcases the work of Postgraduate Landscape Architecture and final year Undergraduate Civil and Environmental Engineering students in response to issues of sustainability in a coastal wetland known as the Bargara Pasturage Reserve; an exemplar of the many issues facing sensitive coastal places in Queensland today. The 312ha Pasturage Reserve at Bargara is the only biofilter between the pressures of Bargara’s urban and tourism expansion, surrounding sugarcane farming, and the Great Sandy Marine Park, including the largest concentration of nesting marine turtles on the eastern Australian mainland. This ephemeral wetland, while struggling to fulfil its coastal biofiltration function, is also in high demand for passive recreation, and the project partners’ priorities were to meet both of these challenges. The students were required to plan and design for the best balance possible amongst, but not limited to: wetland and coastal ecological health, enhancement of cultural heritage and values, sustainable urban development, and local economic health. To understand these challenges, QUT staff and students met with partners, visited and analysed the Pasturage Reserve, spent time in and around Bargara talking to locals and inviting dialogue with Indigenous representatives and the South Sea Islander community. We then went home to Brisbane to undertake theoretical and technical research, and then worked to produce 11 Strategic Plans, 2 Environmental Management Plans and 33 Detailed Designs. One group of students analysed the Bargara coastal landscape as an historical and ongoing series of conversations between ecological systems, cultural heritage, community and stakeholders. Another group identified the landscape as neither ‘urban,’ ‘rural,’ nor ‘natural,’ instead identifying it metaphorically as a series of layered thematic ‘fields’ such as water, conservation, reconciliation, and educational fields. These landscape analyses became the organising mechanisms for strategic planning. An outstanding Strategic Plan was produced by Zhang, Lemberg and Jensen, entitled Metanoia, which means to ‘make a change as the result of reflection on values’. Three implementation phases of “flow”, “flux”, and “flex” span twenty-five years, and present a vision a coastal and marine research and conservation hub, with a focus on coastal wetland function, turtle habitat and coral reef conservation. An Environmental Management Plan by Brand and Stickland focuses on protecting and improving wetland biodiversity and habitat quality, and increasing hydrological and water quality function; vital in a coastal area of such high conservation value. After the planning phase, students individually developed detailed design proposals responsive to their plans. From Metanoia, Zhang concentrated on wetland access and interpretation, proposing four focal places to form the nucleus of a wider pattern of connectivity, and to encourage community engagement with coastal environmental management and education. Jensen tackled the thorny issue of coastal urban development, proposing a sensitive staged eco-village model which maintains both ecological and recreational connectivity between the wetland and the marine environment. This project offered QUT’s partners many innovative options to inform their future planning. BSC, BMRG and Oceanwatch Australia are currently engaged in the investigation of on-ground opportunities drawing on these options.

Recent emergence of dengue virus serotype 4 in French Polynesia results from multiple introductions from other south pacific islands

BACKGROUND: Infection by dengue virus (DENV) is a major public health concern in hundreds of tropical and subtropical countries. French Polynesia (FP) regularly experiences epidemics that initiate, or are consecutive to, DENV circulation in other South Pacific Island Countries (SPICs). In January 2009, after a decade of serotype 1 (DENV-1) circulation, the first cases of DENV-4 infection were reported in FP. Two months later a new epidemic emerged, occurring about 20 years after the previous circulation of DENV-4 in FP. In this study, we investigated the epidemiological and molecular characteristics of the introduction, spread and genetic microevolution of DENV-4 in FP. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Epidemiological data suggested that recent transmission of DENV-4 in FP started in the Leeward Islands and this serotype quickly displaced DENV-1 throughout FP. Phylogenetic analyses of the nucleotide sequences of the envelope (E) gene of 64 DENV-4 strains collected in FP in the 1980s and in 2009-2010, and some additional strains from other SPICs showed that DENV-4 strains from the SPICs were distributed into genotypes IIa and IIb. Recent FP strains were distributed into two clusters, each comprising viruses from other but distinct SPICs, suggesting that emergence of DENV-4 in FP in 2009 resulted from multiple introductions. Otherwise, we observed that almost all strains collected in the SPICs in the 1980s exhibit an amino acid (aa) substitution V287I within domain I of the E protein, and all recent South Pacific strains exhibit a T365I substitution within domain III. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study confirmed the cyclic re-emergence and displacement of DENV serotypes in FP. Otherwise, our results showed that specific aa substitutions on the E protein were present on all DENV-4 strains circulating in SPICs. These substitutions probably acquired and subsequently conserved could reflect a founder effect to be associated with epidemiological, geographical, eco-biological and social specificities in SPICs.

Environments for Healthy Living (EFHL) Griffith Birth Cohort Study : background and methods

The health of an individual is determined by the interaction of genetic and individual factors with wider social and environmental elements. Public health approaches to improving the health of disadvantaged populations will be most effective if they optimise influences at each of these levels, particularly in the early part of the life course. In order to better ascertain the relative contribution of these multi-level determinants there is a need for robust studies, longitudinal and prospective in nature, that examine individual, familial, social and environmental exposures. This paper describes the study background and methods, as it has been implemented in an Australian birth cohort study, Environments for Healthy Living (EFHL): The Griffith Study of Population Health. EFHL is a prospective, multi-level, multi-year longitudinal birth cohort study, designed to collect information from before birth through to adulthood across a spectrum of eco-epidemiological factors, including genetic material from cord-blood samples at birth, individual and familial factors, to spatial data on the living environment. EFHL commenced the pilot phase of recruitment in 2006 and open recruitment in 2007, with a target sample size of 4000 mother/infant dyads. Detailed information on each participant is obtained at birth, 12-months, 3-years, 5-years and subsequent three to five yearly intervals. The findings of this research will provide detailed evidence on the relative contribution of multi-level determinants of health, which can be used to inform social policy and intervention strategies that will facilitate healthy behaviours and choices across sub-populations.

Driver perceptions of the benefits of reducing their driving speed on safety, emissions, and stress and road rage

The existing literature shows driving speed significantly affects levels of safety, emissions, and stress in driving. In addition, drivers who feel tense when driving have been found to drive more slowly than others. These findings were mostly obtained from crash data analyses or field studies, and less is known regarding driver perceptions of the extent to which reducing their driving speed would improve road safety, reduce their car’s emissions, and reduce stress and road rage. This paper uses ordered probit regression models to analyse responses from 3538 Queensland drivers who completed an online RACQ survey. Drivers most strongly agreed that reducing their driving speed would improve road safety, less strongly agreed that reducing their driving speed would reduce their car’s emissions and least strongly agreed that reducing their driving speed would reduce stress and road rage. Younger drivers less strongly agreed that these benefits would occur than older drivers. Drivers of automatic cars and those who are bicycle commuters agreed more to these benefits than other drivers. Female drivers agreed more strongly than males on improving safety and reducing stress and road rage. Type of fuel used, engine size, driving experience, and distance driven per week were also found to be associated with driver perceptions, although these were not found to be significant in all of the regression models. The findings from this study may help in developing targeted training or educational measures to improve drivers’ willingness to reduce their driving speed.