Reputation modelling in citizen science for environmental acoustic data analysis

Citizen Science projects are initiatives in which members of the general public participate in scientific research projects and perform or manage research-related tasks such as data collection and/or data annotation. Citizen Science is technologically possible and scientifically significant. However, as the gathered information is from the crowd, the data quality is always hard to manage. There are many ways to manage data quality, and reputation management is one of the common approaches. In recent year, many research teams have deployed many audio or image sensors in natural environment in order to monitor the status of animals or plants. The collected data will be analysed by ecologists. However, as the amount of collected data is exceedingly huge and the number of ecologists is very limited, it is impossible for scientists to manually analyse all these data. The functions of existing automated tools to process the data are still very limited and the results are still not very accurate. Therefore, researchers have turned to recruiting general citizens who are interested in helping scientific research to do the pre-processing tasks such as species tagging. Although research teams can save time and money by recruiting general citizens to volunteer their time and skills to help data analysis, the reliability of contributed data varies a lot. Therefore, this research aims to investigate techniques to enhance the reliability of data contributed by general citizens in scientific research projects especially for acoustic sensing projects. In particular, we aim to investigate how to use reputation management to enhance data reliability. Reputation systems have been used to solve the uncertainty and improve data quality in many marketing and E-Commerce domains. The commercial organizations which have chosen to embrace the reputation management and implement the technology have gained many benefits. Data quality issues are significant to the domain of Citizen Science due to the quantity and diversity of people and devices involved. However, research on reputation management in this area is relatively new. We therefore start our investigation by examining existing reputation systems in different domains. Then we design novel reputation management approaches for Citizen Science projects to categorise participants and data. We have investigated some critical elements which may influence data reliability in Citizen Science projects. These elements include personal information such as location and education and performance information such as the ability to recognise certain bird calls. The designed reputation framework is evaluated by a series of experiments involving many participants for collecting and interpreting data, in particular, environmental acoustic data. Our research in exploring the advantages of reputation management in Citizen Science (or crowdsourcing in general) will help increase awareness among organizations that are unacquainted with its potential benefits.

Supporting the learning of rapid application development in a database environment

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are computer systems designed to provide individualised help to students, learning in a problem solving context. The difference between an ITS and a Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) system is that an ITS has a Student Model which allows it to provide a better educational environment. The Student Model contains information on what the student knows, and does not know, about the domain being learnt, as well as other personal characteristics such as preferred learning style. This research has resulted in the design and development of a new ITS: Personal Access Tutor (PAT). PAT is an ITS that helps students to learn Rapid Application Development in a database environment. More specifically, PAT focuses on helping students to learn how to create forms and reports in Microsoft Access. To provide an augmented learning environment, PAT’s architecture is different to most other ITSs. Instead of having a simulation, PAT uses a widelyused database development environment (Microsoft Access). This enables the students to ask for help, while developing real applications using real database software. As part of this research, I designed and created the knowledge base required for PAT. This contains four models: the domain, student, tutoring and exercises models. The Instructional Expert I created for PAT provides individualised help to the students to help them correctly finish each exercise, and also proposes the next exercise that a student should work on. PAT was evaluated by students enrolled in the Databases subject at QUT, and by staff members involved in teaching the subject. The results of the evaluation were positive and are discussed in the thesis.

Coal seam gas waters - their geochemical signature and potential environmental implications

Coal Seam Gas (CSG) is a form of natural gas (mainly methane) sorbed in underground coal beds. To mine this gas, wells are drilled directly into an underground coal seam and groundwater (CSG water) is pumped out to the surface. This lowers the downhole piezometric pressure and enables gas desporption from the coal matrix. In the United States, this gas has been extracted commercially since the 1980s. The economic success of US CSG projects has inspired exploration and development in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, Queensland’s Bowen and Surat basins have been the subject of increased CSG development over the last decade. CSG growth in other Australian basins has not matured to the same level but exploration and development are taking place at an accelerated pace in the Sydney Basin (Illawarra and the Hunter Valley, NSW) and in the Gunnedah Basin. Similarly, CSG exploration in New Zealand has focused in the Waikato region (Maramarua and Huntly), in the West Coast region (Buller, Reefton, and Greymouth), and in Southland (Kaitangata, Mataura, and Ohai). Figure 1 shows a Shcoeller diagram with CSG samples from selected basins in Australia, New Zealand, and the USA. CSG water from all of these basins exhibit the same geochemical signature – low calcium, low magnesium, high bicarbonate, low sulphate and, sometimes, high chloride. This water quality is a direct result of specific biological and geological processes that have taken part in the formation of CSG. In general, these processes include the weathering of rocks (carbonates, dolomite, and halite), cation exchange with clays (responsible for enhanced sodium and depleted calcium and magnesium), and biogenic processes (accounting for the presence of high bicarbonate concentrations). The salinity of CSG waters tends to be brackish (TDS < 30000 mg/l) with a fairly neutral pH. These particular characteristics need to be taken into consideration when assessing water management and disposal alternatives. Environmental issues associated with CSG water disposal have been prominent in developed basins such as the Powder River Basin (PRB) in the United States. When disposed on the land or used for irrigation, water having a high dissolved salts content may reduce water availability to crops thus affecting crop yield. In addition, the high sodium, low calcium and low magnesium concentrations increase the potential to disperse soils and significantly reduce the water infiltration rate. Therefore, CSG waters need to be properly characterised, treated, and disposed to safeguard the environment without compromising other natural resources.

Why do policy decision-makers opt for command and control environmental regulation? An economic analysis with special reference to Sri Lanka

This chapter examines why policy decision-makers opt for command and control environmental regulation despite the availability of a plethora of market-based instruments which are more efficient and cost-effective. Interestingly, Sri Lanka has adopted a wholly command and control system, during both the pre and post liberalisation economic policies. This chapter first examines the merits and demerits of command and control and market-based approaches and then looks at Sri Lanka’s extensive environmental regulatory framework. The chapter then examines the likely reasons as to why the country has gone down the path of inflexible regulatory measures and has become entrenched in them. The various hypotheses are discussed and empirical evidence is provided. The chapter also discusses the consequences of an environmentally slack economy and policy implications stemming from adopting a wholly regulatory approach. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the main results.

A new classification and database for stratospheric dust particles

With the increasing number of stratospheric particles available for study (via the U2 and/or WB57F collections), it is essential that a simple, yet rational, classification scheme be developed for general use. Such a scheme should be applicable to all particles collected from the stratosphere, rather than limited to only extraterrestial or chemical sub-groups. Criteria for the efficacy of such a scheme would include: (a) objectivity , (b) ease of use, (c) acceptance within the broader scientific community and (d) how well the classification provides intrinsic categories which are consistent with our knowledge of particle types present in the stratosphere.

Content analysis of international research in geographical and environmental education : eighteen years of academic publishing

This paper examines the history of the IRGEE Journal in terms of its sustainable future. The development of geographical and environmental education is evaluated, as reflected from the articles published in the Journal “International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education” (IRGEE). A content analysis of all papers and forum sections which have appeared in the journal since Volume 1 Number 1 was published in 1992 has been conducted, examining the content of as many as 526 articles. The method was a content analysis, and revealed themes which have experienced an increasing or declining interest over the 18 years of publication of IRGEE (1992-2009), while other themes have remained current during this period. The main findings of this analysis are: a) the total number of articles has increased more than threefold, b) articles related to geographical education (sensu stricto) outweighed those related to environmental education, c) the themes “syllabi, textbooks, curricula” and “values, attitudes” attract the attention of researchers with increasing strength and d) emerging subjects, such as GIS and sustainability have appeared dynamically in the last years.

Statistical and scientometric analysis of international research in geographical and environmental education

Certain statistic and scientometric features of articles published in the journal “International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education” are examined in this paper, for the period 1992-2009, by applying nonparametric statistics and Shannon’s entropy (diversity) formula. The main findings of this analysis are: a) after 2004 the research priorities of researchers in geographical and environmental education seem to have changed, b) “teacher education” has been the most recurrent theme throughout these 18 years, followed by “values & attitudes” and “inquiry & problem solving” c) the themes “GIS” and “Sustainability” were the most “stable” throughout the 18 years, meaning that they maintained their ranks as publication priorities more than other themes, d) citations of IRGEE increase annually, e) the average thematic diversity of articles published during the period 1992-2009 is 82.7% of the maximum thematic diversity (very high), meaning that the Journal has the capacity to attract a wide readership for the 10 themes it has successfully covered throughout the 18 years of its publication.

A survey of tagging techniques for music, speech and environmental sound

Sound tagging has been studied for years. Among all sound types, music, speech, and environmental sound are three hottest research areas. This survey aims to provide an overview about the state-of-the-art development in these areas.We discuss about the meaning of tagging in different sound areas at the beginning of the journey. Some examples of sound tagging applications are introduced in order to illustrate the significance of this research. Typical tagging techniques include manual, automatic, and semi-automatic approaches.After reviewing work in music, speech and environmental sound tagging, we compare them and state the research progress to date. Research gaps are identified for each research area and the common features and discriminations between three areas are discovered as well. Published datasets, tools used by researchers, and evaluation measures frequently applied in the analysis are listed. In the end, we summarise the worldwide distribution of countries dedicated to sound tagging research for years.

Input-orientated data envelopment analysis framework for measuring and decomposing economic, environmental and ecological efficiency : an application to OECD agriculture

This paper presents an input-orientated data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework which allows the measurement and decomposition of economic, environmental and ecological efficiency levels in agricultural production across different countries. Economic, environmental and ecological optimisations search for optimal input combinations that minimise total costs, total amount of nutrients, and total amount of cumulative exergy contained in inputs respectively. The application of the framework to an agricultural dataset of 30 OECD countries revealed that (i) there was significant scope to make their agricultural production systemsmore environmentally and ecologically sustainable; (ii) the improvement in the environmental and ecological sustainability could be achieved by being more technically efficient and, even more significantly, by changing the input combinations; (iii) the rankings of sustainability varied significantly across OECD countries within frontier-based environmental and ecological efficiency measures and between frontier-based measures and indicators.

Social cognitive mediators of the effect of the MobileMums intervention on physical activity

Objective To explore whether improvements in physical activity following the MobileMums intervention were mediated by changes in Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs targeted in the intervention (barrier self efficacy, goal setting skills, outcome expectancy, social support, and perceived environmental opportunity for exercise). This paper also examined if the mediating constructs differed between initial (baseline to 6 weeks) and overall (baseline to 13 weeks) changes in physical activity. Methods Secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial involving 88 postnatal women (<12 months postpartum). Participants were randomized to receive either the 12-week MobileMums intervention or a minimal-contact control condition. Physical activity and proposed mediators were assessed by self-report at baseline, 6 weeks, and 13 weeks. Walking for Exercise frequency was assessed using the Australian Women's Activity Survey and frequency of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was assessed using a single-item question. Results Initial improvements in goal-setting skills mediated the relationship between experimental condition and initial changes in MVPA, αβ (95% CI) = 0.23(0.01, 0.59), and Walking for Exercise, αβ (95% CI) = 0.34(0.06, 0.73). Initial improvements in barrier self efficacy mediated the relationship between experimental condition and initial change in MVPA, αβ (95% CI) = 0.36(0.12, 0.65), but not Walking for Exercise. None of the SCT outcomes significantly mediated the relationship between experimental condition and overall (baseline to 13 weeks) change in frequency of MVPA or Walking for Exercise. Conclusion Future interventions with postnatal women using SCT should target barrier self-efficacy and goal setting skills in order to increase physical activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)