New horizons, new homes

Working with 12 journalism students plus a research assistant, producer/director Romano conducted five community focus groups and discussions with 80 people on the street. These provided the themes and concepts and the creative approaches for each program. Each was structured around one of the emergent themes; all programs offered different voices rather than coming to a single conclusion. New Horizons, New Homes aired over three weeks n Radio 4EB and was entered into the 2005 UN Media Peace Award where it won the Best Radio Category ahead of ABC and SBS. The UN commended the way in which the programs brought together a wide base of research to create a better understanding in the community on this issue. This project did not just improve the accuracy and social inclusiveness of reporting. It applied principles of deliberative democracy in the creation of journalism that enhances citizens’ deliberative potential on complex social issues

Performance space to performance place

The focus of this paper questions how the performance place was transformed to a performance space. This major change in distinction holds an ongoing significance to the development of the actors, scenographers, animators, writers and film directors craft within current digitally mediated and interactive performance environments. As part of this discussion this paper traces the crucial seed of the revolution that transformed modern scenographic practice from the droll of the romantic realism of the Victorian stage to the open potential of the performance environment of today. This is achieved through close readings on the practical work of Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia as well as the scenographic discussions of Chris Baugh.

A world elsewhere : virtual reality, motion capture and early modern theatre

This paper investigates virtual reality representations of the 1599 Boar’s Head Theatre and the Rose Theatre, two renaissance places and spaces. These models become a “world elsewhere” in that they represent virtual recreations of these venues in as much detail as possible. The models are based on accurate archeological and theatre historical records and are easy to navigate particularly for current use. This paper demonstrates the ways in which these models can be instructive for reading theatre today. More importantly we introduce human figures onto the stage via motion capture which allows us to explore the potential between space, actor and environment. This facilitates a new way of thinking about early modern playwrights’ “attitudes to locality and localities large and small”. These venues are thus activated to intersect productively with early modern studies so that the paper can test the historical and contemporary limits of such research.

?ot I (What I?) - Re_Designing Beckett

This research explores a new approach to Beckett’s Not I, a work in which the spectator is asked to focus primarily on a human mouth suspended in space eight feet off the ground. The digital reconstitution of the x, y and z axes in Beckett's work has been retitled "?ot I". In "?ot I", the prescribed x, y and z axes of the original have been re-spatialised environmentally, physically and aurally to create an invigorated version of the text. In this work, it is primarily the reconstitution of spatial dynamics and time that are explored. An adaption and series of responses to Samuel Beckett's "Not I", first performed at Melbourne University and Deakin Motion.Lab, Deakin University, 2007

The Patches program : supporting the development of Malaysian pre-service teachers' academic literacy

The Patches program involves Malaysian pre-service teachers working closely with Australian pre-service teachers on a series of academic and intercultural communication tasks. A recurring problem for international students is the challenge to develop social relationships with Australian students. Similarly, it is often difficult for Australian students to step outside their accustomed social worlds to establish relationships with international students. The Patches Program supported rich cross-cultural social and academic exchanges among the students facilitating the development of students' academic literacy skills, their knowledge of self and knowledge of learning, and their skills in cross-cultural communication.

Strategy in developing cell based therapy for large bone

Regeneration of osseous defects by tissue-engineering approach provides a novel means of treatment utilizing cell biology, materials science, and molecular biology. The concept of in vitro cultured osteoblasts having an ability to induce new bone formation has been demonstrated in the critical size defects using small animal models. The bone derived cells can be incorporated into bioengineered scaffolds and synthesize bone matrix, which on implantation can induce new bone formation. In search of optimal cell delivery materials, the extracellular matrix as cell carriers for the repair and regeneration of tissues is receiving increased attention. We have investigated extracellular matrix formed by osteoblasts in vitro as a scaffold for osteoblasts transplantation and found a mineralized matrix, formed by human osteoblasts in vitro, can initiate bone formation by activating endogenous mesenchymal cells. To repair the large bone defects, osteogenic or stem cells need to be prefabricated in a large three dimensional scaffold usually made of synthetic biomaterials, which have inadequate interaction with cells and lead to in vivo foreign body reactions. The interstitial extracellular matrix has been applied to modify biomaterials surface and identified vitronectin, which binds the heparin domain and RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) sequence can modulate cell spreading, migration and matrix formation on biomaterials. We also synthesized a tri-block copolymer, methoxy-terminated poly(ethylene glycol)(MPEG)-polyL-lactide(PLLA)-polylysine(PLL) for human osteoblasts delivery. We identified osteogenic activity can be regulated by the molecular weight and composition of the triblock copolymers. Due to the sequential loss of lineage differentiation potential during the culture of bone marrow stromal cells that hinderers their potential clinical application, we have developed a clonal culture system and established several stem cell clones with fast growing and multi-differentiation properties. Using proteomics and subtractive immunization, several differential proteins have been identified and verified their potential application in stem cell characterization and tissue regeneration

Diversity in action : minority group media and social change

This audio magazine, written by Melissa Giles, features three Brisbane-based media organisations: Radio 4RPH, Queensland Pride and 98.9FM. [#1 - INTRODUCTION - read by Sara Cowling]----- [#2 - RADIO 4RPH: SHARING THE WORD - read by Ellen-Maree Elliot (and Sara Cowling)]----- [#3 - QUEENSLAND PRIDE: OUT IN THE STREET - read by Dominique Wiehahn (and Sara Cowling)]----- [#4 - 98.9FM: BREAKING THE MOULD - read by Paige Ross (and Sara Cowling)]----- [#5 - CONCLUSION - read by Sara Cowling]

Tracing the influence of non-narrative film and expanded cinema sound on experimental music

This study surveys and interrogates key conceptual frameworks and artistic practises that flow through the distinct but interconnected traditions of non-narrative film and experimental music, and examines how these are articulated in my own creative sound practise.

GOMA Birthday Song

This work was commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery to mark the fifth birthday of the Gallery of Modern Art. The brief was quite open, with the only directive to make the work complement the major exhibition "we miss you magic land!" by Perth artists, Pip & Pop (Tanya Schultz and Nicole Andrijevic). This musical work draws on a similarly otherworldly, childlike theme, influenced in part by the cinematic world of Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka.

methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol) modified poly(L-lactide) enhanced cell affinity of human bone marrow stromal cells by the upregulation of 1-cadherin and delta-2-catenin

Poly(l-lactide) (PLLA), a versatile biodegradable polymer, is one of the most commonly-used materials for tissue engineering applications. To improve cell affinity for PLLA, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was used to develop diblock copolymers. Human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs) were cultured on MPEG-b-PLLA copolymer films to determine the effects of modification on the attachment and proliferation of hBMSC. The mRNA expression of 84 human extracellular matrix (ECM) and adhesion molecules was analyzed using RT-qPCR to understand the underlying mechanisms. It was found that MPEG-b-PLLA copolymer films significantly improved cell adhesion, extension, and proliferation.This was found to be related to the significant upregulation of two adhesion genes, CDH1 and CTNND2, which encode 1-cadherin and delta-2-catenin, respectively, two key components for the cadherin-catenin complex. In summary, MPEG-b-PLLA copolymer surfaces improved initial cell adhesion by stimulation of adhesion molecule gene expression.

The contribution of sport and performance psychology to coaching

The role of the sport and performance psychologists offers an historical base to many of the conceptualizations, strategies and tools currently utilized by coaches and coaching psychologists. The world of elite sport and performance offers little room for negativity, little tolerance for cognitions, emotions and behaviours that are less than optimal; in an environment that sets high expectation, makes obvious comparisons and is driven by competition; all within inflexible timelines and with harsh consequences for those that don’t make the grade. From this context the presenters will reflect on their development, challenges and expertise; offering ideas and tools that translate into the coaching arena.

Feathers

Recording produced for The Lady Electronica project

An efficient and robust system for multi-person event detection in real world indoor surveillance scenes

Due to the popularity of security cameras in public places, it is of interest to design an intelligent system that can efficiently detect events automatically. This paper proposes a novel algorithm for multi-person event detection. To ensure greater than real-time performance, features are extracted directly from compressed MPEG video. A novel histogram-based feature descriptor that captures the angles between extracted particle trajectories is proposed, which allows us to capture motion patterns of multi-person events in the video. To alleviate the need for fine-grained annotation, we propose the use of Labelled Latent Dirichlet Allocation, a “weakly supervised” method that allows the use of coarse temporal annotations which are much simpler to obtain. This novel system is able to run at approximately ten times real-time, while preserving state-of-theart detection performance for multi-person events on a 100-hour real-world surveillance dataset (TRECVid SED).

The monadic environment : evoking emotion and memory in participatory performance

This practice-led research project examined the audience experience of immersive environments in participatory performance. Drawing upon the work of artist Ilya Kabakov, Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space (1964) and Leibniz's theory of the monad, the study investigated how an immersive space can be constructed to evoke emotion and memory recall in participants. The research consisted of two cycles of creative experimentation resulting in the presentation of a final piece entitled Dulcet. The research contributes new terminology to the discourse surrounding the participant experience in immersive environments, specifically space-as-memory, the role of ambiguity in spatial design and the construct of the monadic environment.

Taking the right road to somewhere

What do you with a teenager that no high school in Queensland wants sitting in its classrooms? A child that's disruptive, violent, who won't turn up? Who, it seems, the system has given up on? Any police officer, or child welfare worker will tell you what's likely to happen... a story with an unhappy ending, usually involving brushes with the law and then jail. But a unique project being run in Brisbane is trying to break that cycle.