Effects of different surfaces on the perception of prey-generated noise by the Indian false vampire bat Megaderma lyra.

The low- and high-frequency components of a rustling sound, created when prey (freshly killed frog) was jerkily pulled on dry and wet sandy floors and asbestos, were recorded and played back to individual Indian false vampire bats (Megaderma lyra). Megaderma lyra responded with flight toward the speakers and captured dead frogs, that were kept as reward. The spectral peaks were at 8.6, 7.1 and 6.8 kHz for the low-frequency components of the sounds created at the dry, asbestos and wet floors, respectively. The spectral peaks for the high-frequency sounds created on the respective floors were at 36.8,27.2 and 23.3 kHz. The sound from the dry floor was more intense than that of from the other two substrata. Prey movements that generated sonic or ultrasonic sounds were both sufficient and necessary for the bats to detect and capture prey. The number of successful prey captures was significantly greater for the dry floor sound, especially to its high-frequency components. Bat-responses were low to the wet floor and moderate to the asbestos floor sounds. The bats did not respond to the sound of unrecorded parts of the tape. Even though the bats flew toward the speakers when the prey generated sounds were played back and captured the dead frogs we cannot rule out the possibility of M. lyra using echolocation to localize prey. However, the study indicates that prey that move on dry sandy floor are more vulnerable to predation by M. lyra.

Compositional data analysis (CoDA) approaches to distance in information retrieval

Many techniques in information retrieval produce counts from a sample, and it is common to analyse these counts as proportions of the whole - term frequencies are a familiar example. Proportions carry only relative information and are not free to vary independently of one another: for the proportion of one term to increase, one or more others must decrease. These constraints are hallmarks of compositional data. While there has long been discussion in other fields of how such data should be analysed, to our knowledge, Compositional Data Analysis (CoDA) has not been considered in IR. In this work we explore compositional data in IR through the lens of distance measures, and demonstrate that common measures, naïve to compositions, have some undesirable properties which can be avoided with composition-aware measures. As a practical example, these measures are shown to improve clustering. Copyright 2014 ACM.

Risk perception and the public acceptance of drones

Unmanned aircraft, or drones, are a rapidly emerging sector of the aviation industry. There has been limited substantive research, however, into the public perception and acceptance of drones. This paper presents the results from two surveys of the Australian public designed to investigate (a) whether the public perceive drones to be riskier than existing manned aviation, (b) whether the terminology used to describe the technology influences public perception, and (c) what the broader concerns are that may influence public acceptance of the technology. We find that the Australian public currently hold a relatively neutral attitude towards drones. Respondents did not consider the technology to be overly unsafe, risky, beneficial, or threatening. Drones are largely viewed as being of comparable risk to that of existing manned aviation. Further, terminology had a minimal effect on the perception of the risks or acceptability of the technology. The neutral response is likely due to a lack of knowledge about the technology, which was also identified as the most prevalent public concern as opposed to the risks associated with its use. Privacy, military use and misuse (e.g., terrorism) were also significant public concerns. The results suggest that society is yet to form an opinion of drones. As public knowledge increases, the current position is likely to change. Industry communication and media coverage will likely influence the ultimate position adopted by the public, which can be difficult to change once established.

The Australian prehospital pandemic risk perception study and an examination of new public health roles in pandemic response for ambulance services

This report is one of a series of products resulting from a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Urgent Research Grant – Pandemic Influenza [No 409973]. The research targeted two key aspects of planning and preparedness for a human influenza pandemic, namely:

Critical success factors in distance learning construction programs at Central Queensland University : students’ perspective

Distance education has gone through rapid expansion over the years. Many Australian universities are pushing the use of distance education in delivering construction education programs. However, the critical success factors (CSFs) in distance learning construction programs (DLCPs) are not fully understood. More importantly, students’ demographic features may affect the selection of distance education technologies. Situation-matching strategies should therefore be taken by universities or institutions with different student cohorts. A survey is adopted in Central Queensland University (CQU) to identify and rank the critical success factors in a DLCP in Australia where there is a significant number of earner-learners and students with low socioeconomic background. The findings suggest that the most important CSFs include access to computers and internet, reliability of web-based learning sites, high relevance and clarity of learning materials and assessment items, the availability of web-based learning sites that can be easily manipulated, and the capability of the instructors to provide well-structured courses. The findings also suggest that students with low socioeconomic background have more rigorous requirements on interface design, instructors’ support, and the integration of practical components into courses. The results provide good guidance of the design and delivery of DLCPs and will be useful for universities and institutions that are seeking to implement the distance mode in construction education.

Parents’ perception of their children’s participation in physical activity

This paper describes parents' survey and interview responses about their children's participation in physical activity which were collected for the second part of a three phase project funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services: Health Advancement Project through the auspices of ACHPER. In the first phase of the project, an extensive data base was compiled on children's participation in physical activity; the second phase investigated parents' and teachers' perceptions of their children's and students' participation in physical activity. The third phase, which is now underway, will use the first two phases to develop a set of resources with which to advocate for policy, programs and educational strategies to serve the needs of young people in Australia most effectively in relation to physical activity.

Reactive reaching and grasping on a humanoid: Towards closing the action-perception loop on the iCub

We propose a system incorporating a tight integration between computer vision and robot control modules on a complex, high-DOF humanoid robot. Its functionality is showcased by having our iCub humanoid robot pick-up objects from a table in front of it. An important feature is that the system can avoid obstacles - other objects detected in the visual stream - while reaching for the intended target object. Our integration also allows for non-static environments, i.e. the reaching is adapted on-the-fly from the visual feedback received, e.g. when an obstacle is moved into the trajectory. Furthermore we show that this system can be used both in autonomous and tele-operation scenarios.

3D perception for mining robotics

This paper discusses some of the sensing technologies available for guiding robot manipulators for a class of underground mining tasks including drilling jumbos, bolting arms, shotcreters or explosive chargers. Data acquired with such sensors, in the laboratory and underground, is presented.

The messaging kettle: Prototyping connection over a distance between adult children and older parents

A prototype "messaging kettle" is described. The connected kettle aims to foster communication and engagement with an older friend or relative who lives remotely, during the routine of boiling the kettle. We describe preliminary encounters and findings from demonstrating a working prototype in morning tea gatherings of people in their 50s-late 70s and from introducing it into the homes of two people in their 80s who live on another continent. Key findings are that: The concept of keeping in touch around a "habituated object" such as a kettle was well received; Simple and varied interaction modalities that allow asymmetric forms of communication are needed; Designing for use across different time zones requires attention; And, that even when augmenting a habituated object, the process of introduction, appropriation and habituation still needs significant attention and investigation.

Fuzzy-DL perception for multi-robot systems

For future planetary robot missions, multi-robot-systems can be considered as a suitable platform to perform space mission faster and more reliable. In heterogeneous robot teams, each robot can have different abilities and sensor equipment. In this paper we describe a lunar demonstration scenario where a team of mobile robots explores an unknown area and identifies a set of objects belonging to a lunar infrastructure. Our robot team consists of two exploring scout robots and a mobile manipulator. The mission goal is to locate the objects within a certain area, to identify the objects, and to transport the objects to a base station. The robots have a different sensor setup and different capabilities. In order to classify parts of the lunar infrastructure, the robots have to share the knowledge about the objects. Based on the different sensing capabilities, several information modalities have to be shared and combined by the robots. In this work we propose an approach using spatial features and a fuzzy logic based reasoning for distributed object classification.

An application of fuzzy DL-Based semantic perception to soil container classification

Semantic perception and object labeling are key requirements for robots interacting with objects on a higher level. Symbolic annotation of objects allows the usage of planning algorithms for object interaction, for instance in a typical fetchand-carry scenario. In current research, perception is usually based on 3D scene reconstruction and geometric model matching, where trained features are matched with a 3D sample point cloud. In this work we propose a semantic perception method which is based on spatio-semantic features. These features are defined in a natural, symbolic way, such as geometry and spatial relation. In contrast to point-based model matching methods, a spatial ontology is used where objects are rather described how they "look like", similar to how a human would described unknown objects to another person. A fuzzy based reasoning approach matches perceivable features with a spatial ontology of the objects. The approach provides a method which is able to deal with senor noise and occlusions. Another advantage is that no training phase is needed in order to learn object features. The use-case of the proposed method is the detection of soil sample containers in an outdoor environment which have to be collected by a mobile robot. The approach is verified using real world experiments.

Motorcyclist hazard perception research: The last 10 years

Motorcycle trauma is a serious issue in Queensland and throughout Australia; the fatality rate per 100 million kilometres travelled for motorcycle riders in Australia is nearly 30 times the rate for drivers of other vehicles (Australian Transport Safety Bureau, 2002). In 2009, the then Queensland Transport (later the Department of Transport and Main Roads or TMR) appointed CARRS-Q to provide a three-year program of Road Safety Research Services for Motorcycle Rider Safety. Funding for this research originated from the Motor Accident Insurance Commission who had the uncommon foresight to fund such a comprehensive program of research.

Weight-related risk perception among healthy and overweight pregnant women: A cross-sectional study

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate weight-related risk perception in early pregnancy and to compare this perception between women commencing pregnancy healthy weight and overweight. Study design Pregnant women (n=664) aged 29±5 (mean±s.d.) years were recruited from a metropolitan teaching hospital in Australia. A self-administered questionnaire was completed at around 16 weeks of gestation. Height measured at baseline and self-reported pre-pregnancy weight were used to calculate body mass index. Cross-sectional analysis was conducted. Differences between groups were assessed using chi-squared tests for categorical variables and t-tests or Mann–Whitney U tests for continuous variables depending on distribution. Result Excess gestational weight gain (GWG) during pregnancy was more important in leading to health problems for women or their child compared with pre-pregnancy weight. Personal risk perception for complications was low for all women, although overweight women had slightly higher scores than healthy-weight women (2.4±1.0 vs 2.9±1.0; P<0.001). All women perceived their risk for complications to be below that of an average pregnant woman. Conclusion Women should be informed of the risk associated with their pre-pregnancy weight (in the case of maternal overweight) and excess GWG. If efforts to raise risk awareness are to result in preventative action, this information needs to be accompanied by advice and appropriate support on how to reduce risk.

The influence of financial risk tolerance and risk perception on individual investment decision-making in a financial advice context

The aim of this thesis is to examine how risk tolerance and risk perception, two important but often misunderstood constructs, jointly influence client investment decisions in a financial advice context. By distinguishing the roles of these two risk constructs in client decision-making, in this thesis a new direction in studying financial/investment risks is provided while practice and regulation in the financial services industry is potentially informed. Based on the literature relating to risks and individual decision-making, a theoretical framework is developed and relevant hypotheses are tested in two studies with financial adviser clients in Australia. Results reveal that financial risk tolerance influences asset allocation both directly and indirectly through risk perception. The intervening role of risk perception suggests that risk tolerance affects how clients perceive the riskiness of an investment product which influences client decision-making.