Globally networked public spheres? The Australian media reaction to WikiLeaks

The global release of 250,000 US Embassy diplomatic cables to selected media sites worldwide through the WikiLeaks website, was arguably the major global media event of 2010. As well as the implications of the content of the cables for international politics and diplomacy, the actions of WikiLeaks and its controversial editor-in-chief, the Australian Julian Assange, bring together a range of arguments about how the media, news and journalism are being transformed in the 21st century. This paper will focus on the reactions of Australian online news media sites to the release of the diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, including both the online sites of established news outlets such as The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, the ABC’s The Drum site, and online-only sites such as Crikey, New Matilda and On Line Opinion. The study focuses on opinion and commentary rather than straight news reportage, and analysis is framed around three issues: WikiLeaks and international diplomacy; implications of WikiLeaks for journalism; and WikiLeaks and democracy, including debates about the organisation and the ethics of its own practice. It also whether a “WikiLeaks Effect” has wider implications for how journalism is conducted in the future, particularly the method of ‘redaction’ of large amounts of computational data.

Advanced Computational Intelligence System for inverse aeronautical design optimisation

Abstract—Computational Intelligence Systems (CIS) is one of advanced softwares. CIS has been important position for solving single-objective / reverse / inverse and multi-objective design problems in engineering. The paper hybridise a CIS for optimisation with the concept of Nash-Equilibrium as an optimisation pre-conditioner to accelerate the optimisation process. The hybridised CIS (Hybrid Intelligence System) coupled to the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tool and one type of Computer Aided Design(CAD) system; GiD is applied to solve an inverse engineering design problem; reconstruction of High Lift Systems (HLS). Numerical results obtained by the hybridised CIS are compared to the results obtained by the original CIS. The benefits of using the concept of Nash-Equilibrium are clearly demonstrated in terms of solution accuracy and optimisation efficiency.

A sequential Monte Carlo approach to design for population pharmacokinetics studies

Here we present a sequential Monte Carlo approach that can be used to find optimal designs. Our focus is on the design of phase III clinical trials where the derivation of sampling windows is required, along with the optimal sampling schedule. The search is conducted via a particle filter which traverses a sequence of target distributions artificially constructed via an annealed utility. The algorithm derives a catalogue of highly efficient designs which, not only contain the optimal, but can also be used to derive sampling windows. We demonstrate our approach by designing a hypothetical phase III clinical trial.

Indigenous studies in all schools

Cherbourg State School is approximately 300 km northwest of Brisbane. It is situated in an Aboriginal community at Cherbourg with approximately 250 students. At the Cherbourg State School, the aim was to generate good academic outcomes for all students from kindergarten to Year 7 and to nurture a strong and positive sense of what it means to be Aboriginal in today's society. In this paper, I will discuss modernism and postmodernism in indigenous studies and how this has impacted on the design and development of the Indigenous Studies Programme at the Cherbourg State School. The programme was designed to provide students with the opportunity to learn about the history of Indigenous people from Indigenous voices and provide an understanding of the impact of invasion and the consequences on the lives of Indigenous people, in the past and present. The stories from the elders and members of their own community provided knowledge that allowed students to challenge Aboriginal identity by taking on existing perceptions so that they could be better processed and understood.

A node-based smoothed conforming point interpolation method (NS-CPIM) for elasticity problems

This paper formulates a node-based smoothed conforming point interpolation method (NS-CPIM) for solid mechanics. In the proposed NS-CPIM, the higher order conforming PIM shape functions (CPIM) have been constructed to produce a continuous and piecewise quadratic displacement field over the whole problem domain, whereby the smoothed strain field was obtained through smoothing operation over each smoothing domain associated with domain nodes. The smoothed Galerkin weak form was then developed to create the discretized system equations. Numerical studies have demonstrated the following good properties: NS-CPIM (1) can pass both standard and quadratic patch test; (2) provides an upper bound of strain energy; (3) avoid the volumetric locking; (4) provides the higher accuracy than those in the node-based smoothed schemes of the original PIMs.

Molecular structural studies of the amorphous mineral pitticite Fe, AsO4, SO4, H2O

Some minerals are colloidal and show no X-ray diffraction patterns. Vibrational spectroscopy offers one of the few methods for the assessment of the structure of these types of mineral. Among this group of minerals is pitticite simply described as Fe, AsO4, SO4, H2O. The objective of this research is to determine the molecular structure of the mineral pitticite using vibrational spectroscopy. Raman microscopy offers a useful method for the analysis of such colloidal minerals. Raman and infrared bands are attributed to the , and water stretching vibrations. The Raman spectrum is dominated by a very intense sharp band at 983 cm−1 assigned to the symmetric stretching mode. A strong Raman band at 1041 cm−1 is observed and is assigned to the antisymmetric stretching mode. Low intensity Raman bands at 757 and 808 cm−1 may be assigned to the antisymmetric and symmetric stretching modes. Raman bands observed at 432 and 465 cm−1 are attributable to the doubly degenerate ν2(SO4)2- bending mode.

Scene invariant crowd counting and crowd occupancy analysis

In public places, crowd size may be an indicator of congestion, delay, instability, or of abnormal events, such as a fight, riot or emergency. Crowd related information can also provide important business intelligence such as the distribution of people throughout spaces, throughput rates, and local densities. A major drawback of many crowd counting approaches is their reliance on large numbers of holistic features, training data requirements of hundreds or thousands of frames per camera, and that each camera must be trained separately. This makes deployment in large multi-camera environments such as shopping centres very costly and difficult. In this chapter, we present a novel scene-invariant crowd counting algorithm that uses local features to monitor crowd size. The use of local features allows the proposed algorithm to calculate local occupancy statistics, scale to conditions which are unseen in the training data, and be trained on significantly less data. Scene invariance is achieved through the use of camera calibration, allowing the system to be trained on one or more viewpoints and then deployed on any number of new cameras for testing without further training. A pre-trained system could then be used as a ‘turn-key’ solution for crowd counting across a wide range of environments, eliminating many of the costly barriers to deployment which currently exist.

Overview of methods used in cross-cultural comparisons of menopausal symptoms and their determinants : Guidelines for Strengthening the Reporting of Menopause and Aging (STROMA) studies

This paper reviews the methods used in cross-cultural studies of menopausal symptoms with the goal of formulating recommendations to facilitate comparisons of menopausal symptoms across cultures. It provides an overview of existing approaches and serves to introduce four separate reviews of vasomotor, psychological, somatic, and sexual symptoms at midlife. Building on an earlier review of cross-cultural studies of menopause covering time periods until 2004, these reviews are based on searches of Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Google Scholar for English-language articles published from 2004 to 2010 using the terms “cross cultural comparison” and “menopause.” Two major criteria were used: a study had to include more than one culture, country, or ethnic group and to have asked about actual menopausal symptom experience. We found considerable variation across studies in age ranges, symptom lists, reference period for symptom recall, variables included in multivariate analyses, and the measurement of factors (e.g., menopausal status and hormonal factors, demographic, anthropometric, mental/physical health, and lifestyle measures) that influence vasomotor, psychological, somatic and sexual symptoms. Based on these reviews, we make recommendations for future research regarding age range, symptom lists, reference/recall periods, and measurement of menopausal status. Recommendations specific to the cross-cultural study of vasomotor, psychological, somatic, and sexual symptoms are found in the four reviews that follow this introduction.

An experimental and computational investigation of performance of Green Gully for reusing stormwater

A new stormwater quality improvement device (SQID) called ‘Green Gully’ has been designed and developed in this study with an aim to re-using stormwater for irrigating plants and trees. The main purpose of the Green Gully is to collect road runoff/stormwater, make it suitable for irrigation and provide an automated network system for watering roadside plants and irrigational areas. This paper presents the design and development of Green Gully along with experimental and computational investigations of the performance of Green Gully. Performance (in the form of efficiency, i.e. the percentage of water flow through the gully grate) was experimentally determined using a gully model in the laboratory first, then a three dimensional numerical model was developed and simulated to predict the efficiency of Green Gully as a function of flow rate. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT was used for the simulation. GAMBIT was used for geometry creation and mesh generation. Experimental and simulation results are discussed and compared in this paper. The predicted efficiency was compared with the laboratory measured efficiency. It was found that the simulated results are in good agreement with the experimental results.

Organizations as distinction generating and processing systems: Niklas Luhmann's contribution to organization studies

Niklas Luhmann's theory of social systems has been widely influential in the German-speaking countries in the past few decades. However, despite its significance, particularly for organization studies, it is only very recently that Luhmann's work has attracted attention on the international stage as well. This Special Issue is in response to that. In this introductory paper, we provide a systematic overview of Luhmann's theory. Reading his work as a theory about distinction generating and processing systems, we especially highlight the following aspects: (i) Organizations are processes that come into being by permanently constructing and reconstructing themselves by means of using distinctions, which mark what is part of their realm and what not. (ii) Such an organizational process belongs to a social sphere sui generis possessing its own logic, which cannot be traced back to human actors or subjects. (iii) Organizations are a specific kind of social process characterized by a specific kind of distinction: decision, which makes up what is specifically organizational about organizations as social phenomena. We conclude by introducing the papers in this Special Issue. Copyright © 2006 SAGE.

A task-oriented approach to search engine usability studies

Usability is a multi-dimensional characteristic of a computer system. This paper focuses on usability as a measurement of interaction between the user and the system. The research employs a task-oriented approach to evaluate the usability of a meta search engine. This engine encourages and accepts queries of unlimited size expressed in natural language. A variety of conventional metrics developed by academic and industrial research, including ISO standards,, are applied to the information retrieval process consisting of sequential tasks. Tasks range from formulating (long) queries to interpreting and retaining search results. Results of the evaluation and analysis of the operation log indicate that obtaining advanced search engine results can be accomplished simultaneously with enhancing the usability of the interactive process. In conclusion, we discuss implications for interactive information retrieval system design and directions for future usability research. © 2008 Academy Publisher.

Lingodroids : studies in spatial cognition and language

The Lingodroids are a pair of mobile robots that evolve a language for places and relationships between places (based on distance and direction). Each robot in these studies has its own understanding of the layout of the world, based on its unique experiences and exploration of the environment. Despite having different internal representations of the world, the robots are able to develop a common lexicon for places, and then use simple sentences to explain and understand relationships between places even places that they could not physically experience, such as areas behind closed doors. By learning the language, the robots are able to develop representations for places that are inaccessible to them, and later, when the doors are opened, use those representations to perform goal-directed behavior.

Patient-Specific Modeling of Scoliosis

Current complication rates for adolescent spinal deformity surgery are unacceptably high and in order to improve patient outcomes, the development of a simulation tool which enables the surgical strategy for an individual patient to be optimized is necessary. In this chapter we will present our work to date in developing and validating patient-specific modeling techniques to simulate and predict patient outcomes for surgery to correct adolescent scoliosis deformity. While these simulation tools are currently being developed to simulate adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients, they will have broader applications in simulating spinal disorders and optimizing surgical planning for other types of spine surgery. Our studies to date have highlighted the need for not only patient-specific anatomical data, but also patient-specific tissue parameters and biomechanical loading data, in order to accurately predict the physiological behaviour of the spine. Even so, patient-specific computational models are the state-of-the art in computational biomechanics and offer much potential as a pre-operative surgical planning tool.

Computational approaches to the visual validation of 3D virtual environments

Virtual environments can provide, through digital games and online social interfaces, extremely exciting forms of interactive entertainment. Because of their capability in displaying and manipulating information in natural and intuitive ways, such environments have found extensive applications in decision support, education and training in the health and science domains amongst others. Currently, the burden of validating both the interactive functionality and visual consistency of a virtual environment content is entirely carried out by developers and play-testers. While considerable research has been conducted in assisting the design of virtual world content and mechanics, to date, only limited contributions have been made regarding the automatic testing of the underpinning graphics software and hardware. The aim of this thesis is to determine whether the correctness of the images generated by a virtual environment can be quantitatively defined, and automatically measured, in order to facilitate the validation of the content. In an attempt to provide an environment-independent definition of visual consistency, a number of classification approaches were developed. First, a novel model-based object description was proposed in order to enable reasoning about the color and geometry change of virtual entities during a play-session. From such an analysis, two view-based connectionist approaches were developed to map from geometry and color spaces to a single, environment-independent, geometric transformation space; we used such a mapping to predict the correct visualization of the scene. Finally, an appearance-based aliasing detector was developed to show how incorrectness too, can be quantified for debugging purposes. Since computer games heavily rely on the use of highly complex and interactive virtual worlds, they provide an excellent test bed against which to develop, calibrate and validate our techniques. Experiments were conducted on a game engine and other virtual worlds prototypes to determine the applicability and effectiveness of our algorithms. The results show that quantifying visual correctness in virtual scenes is a feasible enterprise, and that effective automatic bug detection can be performed through the techniques we have developed. We expect these techniques to find application in large 3D games and virtual world studios that require a scalable solution to testing their virtual world software and digital content.

Reduced variance in monozygous twins for multiple MR parameters : implications for disease studies and the genetic basis of brain structure

Twin studies offer the opportunity to determine the relative contribution of genes versus environment in traits of interest. Here, we investigate the extent to which variance in brain structure is reduced in monozygous twins with identical genetic make-up. We investigate whether using twins as compared to a control population reduces variability in a number of common magnetic resonance (MR) structural measures, and we investigate the location of areas under major genetic influences. This is fundamental to understanding the benefit of using twins in studies where structure is the phenotype of interest. Twenty-three pairs of healthy MZ twins were compared to matched control pairs. Volume, T2 and diffusion MR imaging were performed as well as spectroscopy (MRS). Images were compared using (i) global measures of standard deviation and effect size, (ii) voxel-based analysis of similarity and (iii) intra-pair correlation. Global measures indicated a consistent increase in structural similarity in twins. The voxel-based and correlation analyses indicated a widespread pattern of increased similarity in twin pairs, particularly in frontal and temporal regions. The areas of increased similarity were most widespread for the diffusion trace and least widespread for T2. MRS showed consistent reduction in metabolite variation that was significant in the temporal lobe N-acetylaspartate (NAA). This study has shown the distribution and magnitude of reduced variability in brain volume, diffusion, T2 and metabolites in twins. The data suggest that evaluation of twins discordant for disease is indeed a valid way to attribute genetic or environmental influences to observed abnormalities in patients since evidence is provided for the underlying assumption of decreased variability in twins.