Blast atlas: a virtual observatory for genomes

Following the completion of the draft Human Genome in 2001, genomic sequence data is becoming available at an accelerating rate, fueled by advances in sequencing and computational technology. Meanwhile, large collections of astronomical and geospatial data have allowed the creation of virtual observatories, accessible throughout the world and requiring only commodity hardware. Through a combination of advances in data management, data mining and visualization, this infrastructure enables the development of new scientific and educational applications as diverse as galaxy classification and real-time tracking of earthquakes and volcanic plumes. In the present paper, we describe steps taken along a similar path towards a virtual observatory for genomes – an immersive three-dimensional visual navigation and query system for comparative genomic data.

The relationship between strategic positioning and perceived value of social networking sites

The use of social networking sites (SNS) by online citizens to share photos, update friends, play games and to connect with the world has exploded, with SNS and blogs now eclipsing email traffic (eMarketer 2009). Just one popular application on one SNS, (Farmville on Facebook) acquired more than 63 million users since its launch in June 2009 (Marketing 2009. The major global social networks are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace, with Facebook claiming that it passed 350 million users in November (Marketing 2009). As usage increases and competition intensifies, the major sites must strategically position themselves to develop a competitive advantage in order to maintain or grow their share of the pie. So how do the major SNS position their brands, and do users perceive significant differences among the big players? This presentation answers these questions by reporting the results of an empirical study of SNS usage by Australian adults. Like other brands, aligning brand positioning strategies with user knowledge and perceptions of SNS is an important ingredient to achieving success (Keller 1993). Furthermore we compare the types of value for three different SNS to identify the relationships between the value derived by users and the stated positioning of the site.

The role of informal networks in providing effective work opportunities for people with an intellectual disability

Being in paid employment is socially valued, and is linked to health, financial security and time use. Issues arising from a lack of occupational choice and control, and from diminished role partnerships are particularly problematic in the lives of people with an intellectual disability. Informal support networks are shown to influence work opportunities for people without disabilities, but their impact on the work experiences of people with disability has not been thoroughly explored. The experience of 'work' and preparation for work was explored with a group of four people with an intellectual disability (the participants) and the key members of their informal support networks (network members) in New South Wales, Australia. Network members and participants were interviewed and participant observations of work and other activities were undertaken. Data analysis included open, conceptual and thematic coding. Data analysis software assisted in managing the large datasets across multiple team members. The insight and actions of network members created and sustained the employment and support opportunities that effectively matched the needs and interests of the participants. Recommendations for future research are outlined.

Virtual communities as tools to support teaching practicum

The impact of Web 2.0 and social networking tools such as virtual communities, on education has been much commented on. The challenge for teachers is to embrace these new social networking tools and apply them to new educational contexts. The increasingly digitally-abled student cohorts and the need for educational applications of Web 2.0 are challenges that overwhelm many educators. This chapter will make three important contributions. Firstly it will explore the characteristics and behaviours of digitally-abled students enrolled in higher education. An innovation of this chapter will be the appli- cation of Bourdieu’s notions of capital, particularly social, cultural and digital capital to understand these characteristics. Secondly, it will present a possible use of a commonly used virtual community, Facebook©. Finally it will offer some advice for educators who are interested in using popular social networking communities, similar to Facebook©, in their teaching and learning.

Full Circle : a collection of prototypes

This exhibition engages with one of the key issues facing the fashion textiles industry in terms of future sustainability: that of the well being of fashion industry workers in Australia and New Zealand (people). This collection formed the basis of my honours dissertation (completed in New Zealand in 2008) which examines the contribution that design can make to sustainable manufacturing; particularly design for local production and consumption. An important aspect this work is the discussion of source, the work suggests that the made in China syndrome (in reference to the current state of over-consumerism in Australia and New Zealand) could be bought to a close through design to minimize waste and maximize opportunity for ‘people’: in this case both garment workers and the SMEs that employ them. The garments reflect the possibilities of focusing on a local approach that could be put into practice by a framework of SMEs that already exist. In addition the design process is highly transferrable and could be put into practice almost anywhere with minimal set up costs and a design ethos that progresses at the same pace as the skills of workers. This collection is a physical and conceptual embodiment of a source local/make local/sell local approach. The collection is an example of design that demonstrates that this is not an unrealistic ideal and is in fact possible through the development of a sustainable industry, in the sense of people, profit and planet, through adoption of a design process model that stops the waste at the source, by making better use of the raw materials and labour involved in making fashion garments. Although the focus of this research appears to centre on people and profit, this kind of source local/make local/sell local approach also has great benefits in terms of environmental sustainability.

Clone detection in repositories of business process models

As organizations reach to higher levels of business process management maturity, they often find themselves maintaining repositories of hundreds or even thousands of process models, representing valuable knowledge about their operations. Over time, process model repositories tend to accumulate duplicate fragments (also called clones) as new process models are created or extended by copying and merging fragments from other models. This calls for methods to detect clones in process models, so that these clones can be refactored as separate subprocesses in order to improve maintainability. This paper presents an indexing structure to support the fast detection of clones in large process model repositories. The proposed index is based on a novel combination of a method for process model decomposition (specifically the Refined Process Structure Tree), with established graph canonization and string matching techniques. Experiments show that the algorithm scales to repositories with hundreds of models. The experimental results also show that a significant number of non-trivial clones can be found in process model repositories taken from industrial practice.

Evangeline Series : An interpretation of Classic Gothic Lolita

This series comprises three artefacts described below: Evangeline: Classic Gothic Lolita [3 piece garment]. Evangeline 2: Classic Gothic Lolita Pullip Doll Costume [2 piece garment]. Evangeline 3: Classic Gothic Lolita Mini Pullip Doll Costume [3 piece garment]. The series was part of an exhibition curated by Kathryn Hardy Bernal entitled: "Loli-Pop: A downtown Auckland view on Japanese street fashion". The exhibition explored the connections between gothic lolita fashion and popular culture. This work reflects on the aspect of collections in respect of the work of Hardy Bernal in relation to the connection between the japanese classic gothic lolita and the doll culture surrounding the movement. The pieces are interconnected and intended to communicate these aspects through a doll like dress worn by a model (Evangeline 1], carrying a doll wearing the same dress [Evangeline 2], carrying a smaller doll again wearing the same dress [Evangeline 3]. The artefacts appeared appeared as a central piece in the exhibition which was held at the War Memorial Museum in Auckland, New Zealand (15 September - 25 November 2007).

Personalized recommender system based on item taxonomy and folksonomy

Item folksonomy or tag information is popularly available on the web now. However, since tags are arbitrary words given by users, they contain a lot of noise such as tag synonyms, semantic ambiguities and personal tags. Such noise brings difficulties to improve the accuracy of item recommendations. In this paper, we propose to combine item taxonomy and folksonomy to reduce the noise of tags and make personalized item recommendations. The experiments conducted on the dataset collected from Amazon.com demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed approaches. The results suggested that the recommendation accuracy can be further improved if we consider the viewpoints and the vocabularies of both experts and users.

Sustainable assessment for large science classes : non-multiple choice, randomised assignments through a Learning Management System

This paper reports on the development of a tool that generates randomised, non-multiple choice assessment within the BlackBoard Learning Management System interface. An accepted weakness of multiple-choice assessment is that it cannot elicit learning outcomes from upper levels of Biggs’ SOLO taxonomy. However, written assessment items require extensive resources for marking, and are susceptible to copying as well as marking inconsistencies for large classes. This project developed an assessment tool which is valid, reliable and sustainable and that addresses the issues identified above. The tool provides each student with an assignment assessing the same learning outcomes, but containing different questions, with responses in the form of words or numbers. Practice questions are available, enabling students to obtain feedback on their approach before submitting their assignment. Thus, the tool incorporates automatic marking (essential for large classes), randomised tasks to each student (reducing copying), the capacity to give credit for working (feedback on the application of theory), and the capacity to target higher order learning outcomes by requiring students to derive their answers rather than choosing them. Results and feedback from students are presented, along with technical implementation details.

Fixing the city one photo at a time : mobile logging of maintenance requests

We have designed a mobile application that takes advantage of the built-in features of smart phones such as camera and GPS that allow users to take geo-tagged photos while on the move. Urban residents can take pictures of broken street furniture and public property requiring repair, attach a brief description, and submit the information as a maintenance request to the local government organisation of their city. This paper discusses the design approach that led to the application, highlights a built-in mechanism to elicit user feedback, and evaluates the progress to date with user feedback and log statistics. It concludes with an outlook highlighting user requested features and our own design aspirations for moving from a reporting tool to a civic engagement tool.

Spatial Sciences Student Awards Recognition : News from School of Urban Development, QUT

Summary of Spatial Sciences (Surveying) Student Prize Ceremony were recently held at The Old Government House - QUT Cultural Precinct. This short industry article briefly outlines the 15 student award descriptions and some photos of 2011 recipients and thanks industry sponsors.

Moving towards a knowledge city? Brisbane's experience in knowledge-based urban development

: In the global knowledge economy, knowledge-intensive industries and knowledge workers are extensively seen as the primary factors to improve the welfare and competitiveness of cities. To attract and retain such industries and workers, cities produce knowledge-based urban development strategies, where such strategising is also an important development mechanism for cities and their economies. This paper investigates knowledge-based urban development strategies of Brisbane, Australia that support generation, attraction, and retention of investment and talent. The paper puts forward a clear understanding on the policy frameworks, and relevant applications of Brisbane’s knowledge-based urban development experience in becoming a prosperous knowledge city, and concludes by providing invaluable insights and directions for other cities seeking knowledge-based urban development.