Learning processes in creative service teams : towards a dynamic systems theory

The fastest-growing segment of jobs in the creative sector are in those firms that provide creative services to other sectors (Hearn, Goldsmith, Bridgstock, Rodgers 2014, this volume; Cunningham 2014, this volume). There are also a large number of Creative Services (Architecture and Design, Advertising and Marketing, Software and Digital Content occupations) workers embedded in organizations in other industry sectors (Cunningham and Higgs 2009). Ben Goldsmith (2014, this volume) shows, for example, that the Financial Services sector is the largest employer of digital creative talent in Australia. But why should this be? We argue it is because ‘knowledge-based intangibles are increasingly the source of value creation and hence of sustainable competitive advantage (Mudambi 2008, 186). This value creation occurs primarily at the research and development (R and D) and the marketing ends of the supply chain. Both of these areas require strong creative capabilities in order to design for, and to persuade, consumers. It is no surprise that Jess Rodgers (2014, this volume), in a study of Australia’s Manufacturing sector, found designers and advertising and marketing occupations to be the most numerous creative occupations. Greg Hearn and Ruth Bridgstock (2013, forthcoming) suggest ‘the creative heart of the creative economy […] is the social and organisational routines that manage the generation of cultural novelty, both tacit and codified, internal and external, and [cultural novelty’s] combination with other knowledges […] produce and capture value’. 2 Moreover, the main “social and organisational routine” is usually a team (for example, Grabher 2002; 2004).

Training-free probability models for whole-image based place recognition

Whole-image descriptors such as GIST have been used successfully for persistent place recognition when combined with temporal filtering or sequential filtering techniques. However, whole-image descriptor localization systems often apply a heuristic rather than a probabilistic approach to place recognition, requiring substantial environmental-specific tuning prior to deployment. In this paper we present a novel online solution that uses statistical approaches to calculate place recognition likelihoods for whole-image descriptors, without requiring either environmental tuning or pre-training. Using a real world benchmark dataset, we show that this method creates distributions appropriate to a specific environment in an online manner. Our method performs comparably to FAB-MAP in raw place recognition performance, and integrates into a state of the art probabilistic mapping system to provide superior performance to whole-image methods that are not based on true probability distributions. The method provides a principled means for combining the powerful change-invariant properties of whole-image descriptors with probabilistic back-end mapping systems without the need for prior training or system tuning.

Towards bio-inspired place recognition over multiple spatial scales

This paper presents a new multi-scale place recognition system inspired by the recent discovery of overlapping, multi-scale spatial maps stored in the rodent brain. By training a set of Support Vector Machines to recognize places at varying levels of spatial specificity, we are able to validate spatially specific place recognition hypotheses against broader place recognition hypotheses without sacrificing localization accuracy. We evaluate the system in a range of experiments using cameras mounted on a motorbike and a human in two different environments. At 100% precision, the multiscale approach results in a 56% average improvement in recall rate across both datasets. We analyse the results and then discuss future work that may lead to improvements in both robotic mapping and our understanding of sensory processing and encoding in the mammalian brain.

Towards condition-invariant, top-down visual place recognition

In this paper we present a novel place recognition algorithm inspired by recent discoveries in human visual neuroscience. The algorithm combines intolerant but fast low resolution whole image matching with highly tolerant, sub-image patch matching processes. The approach does not require prior training and works on single images (although we use a cohort normalization score to exploit temporal frame information), alleviating the need for either a velocity signal or image sequence, differentiating it from current state of the art methods. We demonstrate the algorithm on the challenging Alderley sunny day – rainy night dataset, which has only been previously solved by integrating over 320 frame long image sequences. The system is able to achieve 21.24% recall at 100% precision, matching drastically different day and night-time images of places while successfully rejecting match hypotheses between highly aliased images of different places. The results provide a new benchmark for single image, condition-invariant place recognition.

Can water security be achieved in the urban environment through the implementation of the Neo Institutional theory government regulation and legislation?

The research seeks to address the current global water crisis and the built environments effect on the increasing demand for sustainability and water security. The fundamental question in determining the correct approach for water security in the built environment is whether government regulation and legislation could provide the framework for sustainable development and the conscious shift providing that change is the only perceivable option, there is no alternative. This article will attempt to analyse the value of the neo institutional theory as a method for directing individuals and companies to conform to water saving techniques. As is highlighted throughout the article, it will be investigated whether an incentive verse punishment approach to government legislations and regulations would provide the framework required to ensure water security within the built environment. Individuals and companies make certain choices or perform certain actions not because they fear punishment or attempt to conform; neither do they do so because an action is appropriate or feels some sort of social obligation. Instead, the cognitive element of neo institutionalism suggests that individuals make certain choices because they can conceive no alternative. The research seeks to identify whether sustainability and water security can become integrated into all aspects of design and architecture through the perception that 'there is no alternative.' This report seeks to address the omission of water security in the built environment by reporting on a series of investigations, interviews, literature reviews, exemplars and statistics relating to the built environment and the potential for increased water security. The results and analysis support the conclusions that through the support of government and local council, sustainability in the built environment could be achieved and become common practice for developments. Highlighted is the approach required for water management systems integration into the built environment and how these can be developed and maintained effectively between cities, states, countries and cultures.

Motivating domestic energy conservation through comparative feedback in mobile applications and social networking sites

The progress of technology has led to the increased adoption of energy monitors among household energy consumers. While the monitors available on the market deliver real-time energy usage feedback to the consumer, the form of this data is usually unengaging and mundane. Moreover, it fails to address consumers with different motivations and needs to save and compare energy. This master‟s thesis project presents a study that seeks to inform design guidelines for differently motivated energy consumers. The focus of the research is on comparative feedback supported by a community of energy consumers. In particular, the discussed comparative feedback types are explanatory comparison, temporal self-comparison, norm comparison, one-on-one comparison and ranking, whereby the last three support exploring the potential of socialising energy-related feedback in social networking sites, such as Facebook. These feedback types were integrated in EnergyWiz – a mobile application that enables users to compare with their past performance, neighbours, contacts from social networking sites and other EnergyWiz users. The application was developed through a theory-driven approach and evaluated in personal, semi-structured interviews which provided insights on how motivation-related comparative feedback should be designed. It was also employed in expert focus group discussions which resulted in defining opportunities and challenges before mobile, social energy monitors. The findings have unequivocally shown that users with different motivations to compare and to conserve energy have different preferences for comparative feedback types and design. It was established that one of the most influential factors determining design factors is the people users compare to. In addition, the research found that even simple communication strategies in Facebook, such as wall posts and groups can contribute to engagement with energy conservation practices. The concept of mobility of the application was evaluated as positive since it provides place and time-independent access to the energy consumption data.

Local Commons : communicating local issues through place-based interventions

Due to the numerous possibilities of voicing concerns and the flood of data we are exposed to, local issues are at a risk of being overlooked. Following a research agenda proposed by Foth et al. (2013), this thesis explored the possible contributions of situated digital and tangible media for communicating local issues. Making use of the location of an issue could thereby not only allow to reach the targeted audience but also for a deeper involvement of citizens. Through the development of a design intervention in public space, called Local Commons, the benefits of this approach were investigated. Therefore, the intervention combined digital and tangible media in order to engage the public to contribute and debate different perspectives on a given local issue. The interaction with the intervention was thereby twofold. First, the intervention invited the audience to submit images of their perspectives on the issue, which were displayed on a public screen. Via tangible buttons in front of the screen, the audience then had the possibility to agree or disagree to the displayed perspectives, creating a space for deliberation. In a field study, the concept was subsequently tested and evaluated. The results of this study, although not generalisable, supported the chosen approach of this thesis.

The role and contribution of the Queensland public sector employed nurse educator : a grounded theory study

This thesis applied a grounded theory methodology to generate a theoretical understanding of the challenging and ambiguous dimensions of the contemporary role of the public-sector nurse educator within Australia. New knowledge provides a useful structure to examine nurse educator support and mechanisms to foster constructive workplace learning, collaborative relationships and effective contributions to better health care.

Career Development in Childhood and Adolescence

"In the past few years, many career theorists have noted the dearth of literature in the area of career development in childhood and adolescence. A growing need for integrating theory and research on the early stages of vocational development within a systemic, life-span developmental approach has been articulated. This volume, the first book dedicated to career development of children and adolescents, provides a broad and comprehensive overview of the current knowledge about the key career processes that take place in this age group. Each of the eighteen chapters represents an in-depth examination of a specific aspect of career development with a focus on integrating modern career theory and ongoing research and further developing theory-practice connections in understanding child and adolescent career behaviour. Twenty-six authors, leading experts from eight countries, provide a state-of-the-art summary of the current thinking in the field and outline directions for future empirical work and practice."--publisher website

Theory-based self-management programs for promoting recovery in community-dwelling stroke survivors : a systematic review

Background Post-stroke recovery is demanding. Increasing studies have examined the effectiveness of self-management programs for stroke survivors. However no systematic review has been conducted to summarize the effectiveness of theory-based stroke self-management programs. Objectives The aim is to present the best available research evidence about effectiveness of theory-based self-management programs on community-dwelling stroke survivors’ recovery. Inclusion criteria Types of participants All community-residing adults aged 18 years or above, and had a clinical diagnosis of stroke. Types of interventions Studies which examined effectiveness of a self-management program underpinned by a theoretical or conceptual framework for community-dwelling stroke survivors. Types of studies Randomized controlled trials. Types of outcomes Primary outcomes included health-related quality of life and self-management behaviors. Secondary outcomes included physical (activities of daily living), psychological (self-efficacy, depressive symptoms), and social outcomes (community reintegration, perceived social support). Search Strategy A three-step approach was adopted to identify all relevant published and unpublished studies in English or Chinese. Methodological quality The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for experimental studies. Data Collection A standardized JBI data extraction form was used. There was no disagreement between the two reviewers on the data extraction results. Data Synthesis There were incomplete details about the number of participants and the results in two studies, which makes it impossible to perform meta-analysis. A narrative summary of the effectiveness of stroke self-management programs is presented. Results Three studies were included. The key issues of concern in methodological quality included insufficient information about random assignment, allocation concealment, reliability and validity of the measuring instruments, absence of intention-to-treat analysis, and small sample sizes. The three programs were designed based on the Stanford Chronic Disease Self-management program and were underpinned by the principles of self-efficacy. One study showed improvement in the intervention group in family and social roles three months after program completion, and work productivity at six months as measured by the Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SSQOL). The intervention group also had an increased mean self-efficacy score in communicating with physicians six months after program completion. The mean changes from baseline in these variables were significantly different from the control group. No significant difference was found in time spent in aerobic exercise between the intervention and control groups at three and six months after program completion. Another study, using SSQOL, showed a significant interaction effect by treatment and time on family roles, fine motor tasks, self-care, and work productivity. However there was no significant interaction by treatment and time on self-efficacy. The third study showed improvement in quality of life, community participation, and depressive symptoms among the participants receiving the stroke self-management program, Stanford Chronic Disease Self-management program, or usual care six months after program completion. However, there was no significant difference between the groups. Conclusions There is inconclusive evidence about the effectiveness of theory-based stroke self-management programs on community-dwelling stroke survivors’ recovery. However the preliminary evidence suggests potential benefits in improving stroke survivors’ quality of life and self-efficacy.

A stochastic thermostat algorithm for coarse-grained thermomechanical modeling of large-scale soft matters : theory and application to microfilaments

As all-atom molecular dynamics method is limited by its enormous computational cost, various coarse-grained strategies have been developed to extend the length scale of soft matters in the modeling of mechanical behaviors. However, the classical thermostat algorithm in highly coarse-grained molecular dynamics method would underestimate the thermodynamic behaviors of soft matters (e.g. microfilaments in cells), which can weaken the ability of materials to overcome local energy traps in granular modeling. Based on all-atom molecular dynamics modeling of microfilament fragments (G-actin clusters), a new stochastic thermostat algorithm is developed to retain the representation of thermodynamic properties of microfilaments at extra coarse-grained level. The accuracy of this stochastic thermostat algorithm is validated by all-atom MD simulation. This new stochastic thermostat algorithm provides an efficient way to investigate the thermomechanical properties of large-scale soft matters.

Towards an Australian Indigenous women's standpoint theory : a methodological tool

In this article I outline an Australian Indigenous women's standpoint theory. I argue that an Indigenous women's standpoint generates problematics informed by our knowledges and experiences. Acknowledging that Indigenous women's individual experiences will differ due to intersecting oppressions produced under social, political, historical and material conditions that we share consciously or unconsciously. These conditions and the sets of complex relations that discursively constitute us in the everyday are also complicated by our respective cultural differences and the simultaneity of our compliance and resistance as Indigenous sovereign female subjects.

Early childhood Australia's Best of Sustainability : Research, Practice and Theory

ECA Best of Sustainability: Research, theory and practice by Elliott, Edwards, Davis and Cutter-MacKenzie collates a range of key articles focussing on sustainability from past editions of the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood and Every Child. Sustainable service operation and promoting children’s responsibility and care for the environment are now part of the National Quality Standards and more importantly, all early childhood services must engage with sustainability in this time of increasing global environmental concerns. The publication documents the best of research, theory and practice to date and questions where has early childhood education for sustainability come from and more importantly, where is it going? There are multiple possibilities for educators, researchers, policy makers and managers to take action in early childhood settings for an environmentally sustainable future.

Using GPS technology to (re)-examine operational definitions of 'neighbourhood' in place-based health research

BACKGROUND Inconsistencies in research findings on the impact of the built environment on walking across the life course may be methodologically driven. Commonly used methods to define 'neighbourhood', from which built environment variables are measured, may not accurately represent the spatial extent to which the behaviour in question occurs. This paper aims to provide new methods for spatially defining 'neighbourhood' based on how people use their surrounding environment. RESULTS Informed by Global Positioning Systems (GPS) tracking data, several alternative neighbourhood delineation techniques were examined (i.e., variable width, convex hull and standard deviation buffers). Compared with traditionally used buffers (i.e., circular and polygon network), differences were found in built environment characteristics within the newly created 'neighbourhoods'. Model fit statistics indicated that exposure measures derived from alternative buffering techniques provided a better fit when examining the relationship between land-use and walking for transport or leisure. CONCLUSIONS This research identifies how changes in the spatial extent from which built environment measures are derived may influence walking behaviour. Buffer size and orientation influences the relationship between built environment measures and walking for leisure in older adults. The use of GPS data proved suitable for re-examining operational definitions of neighbourhood.

QUT Architecture Film Studio (Aus)

Research Statement: An urban film produced by Luke Harrison Mitchell Benham, Sharlene Anderson, Tristan Clark. RIVE NOIR explores the film noir tradition, shot on location in a dark urban space between high-rises and the river, sheltered by a highway. With an original score and striking cinematography, Rive Noir radically transforms the abandoned river’s edge through the production of an amplified reality ordinarily unseen in the Northbank. The work produced under my supervision was selected to appear in the Expanded Architecture Research Group’s International Architecture Film Festival and Panel Discussion in Sydney: The University of Sydney and Carriageworks Performance Space, 06 November 2011. QUT School of Design research submission was selected alongside exhibits by AA School of Architecture, London; The Bartlett School of Architecture, London; University of The Arts, London; Arrhaus School of Architecture, Denmark; Dublin as a Cinematic City, Ireland; Design Lab Screen Studio, Australia; and Sona Cinecity, The University of Melbourne. The exhibit included not only the screening of the film but the design project that derived from and extended the aesthetics of the urban film. The urban proposal and architectural intervention that followed the film was subsequently published in the Brisbane Times, after the urban proposal won first place in The Future of Brisbane architecture competition, which demonstrates the impact of the research project as a whole. EXPANDED ARCHITECTURE 2011 - 6th November Architecture Film Night + Panel Discussion @ Performance Space CarriageWorks was Sydney's first International Architectural Film Festival. With over 40 architectural films by local and international artists, film makers and architects. It was followed by Panel Discussion of esteemed academics and artists working in the field of architectural film.