The old face of 'new' social networks : the republic of letters as a virtual community

This paper explores the idea of virtual participation through the historical example of the republic of letters in early modern Europe (circa 1500-1800). By reflecting on the construction of virtuality in a historical context, and more specifically in a pre-digital environment, this paper calls attention to accusations of technological determinism in ongoing research concerning the affordances of the Internet and related media of communication. It argues that ‘the virtual’ is not synonymous with ‘the digital’ and suggests that, in order to articulate what is novel about modern technologies, we must first understand the social interactions underpinning the relationships which are facilitated through those technologies. By analysing the construction of virtuality in a pre-digital environment, this paper thus offers a baseline from which scholars might consider what is different about the modes of interaction and communication being engaged in via modern media.

A comprehensive condition monitoring of modern railway

The demand for high quality rail services in the twenty-first century has put an ever increasing demand on all rail operators. In order to meet the expectation of their patrons, the maintenance regime of railway systems has to be tightened up, the track conditions have to be well looked after, the rolling stock must be designed to withstand heavy duty. In short, in an ideal world where resources are unlimited, one needs to implement a very rigorous inspection regime in order to take care of the modem needs of a railway system [1]. If cost were not an issue, the maintenance engineers could inspect the train body by the most up-to-date techniques such as ultra-sound examination, x-ray inspection, magnetic particle inspection, etc. on a regular basis. However it is inconceivable to have such a perfect maintenance regime in any commercial railway. Likewise, it is impossible to have a perfect rolling stock which can weather all the heavy duties experienced in a modem railway. Hence it is essential that some condition monitoring schemes are devised to pick up potential defects which could manifest into safety hazards. This paper introduces an innovative condition monitoring system for track profile and, together with an instrumented car to carry out surveillance of the track, will provide a comprehensive railway condition monitoring system which is free from the usual difficulty of electromagnetic compatibility issues in a typical railway environment

A framework for reasoning about inherent parallelism in modern object-oriented languages

With the emergence of multi-core processors into the mainstream, parallel programming is no longer the specialized domain it once was. There is a growing need for systems to allow programmers to more easily reason about data dependencies and inherent parallelism in general purpose programs. Many of these programs are written in popular imperative programming languages like Java and C]. In this thesis I present a system for reasoning about side-effects of evaluation in an abstract and composable manner that is suitable for use by both programmers and automated tools such as compilers. The goal of developing such a system is to both facilitate the automatic exploitation of the inherent parallelism present in imperative programs and to allow programmers to reason about dependencies which may be limiting the parallelism available for exploitation in their applications. Previous work on languages and type systems for parallel computing has tended to focus on providing the programmer with tools to facilitate the manual parallelization of programs; programmers must decide when and where it is safe to employ parallelism without the assistance of the compiler or other automated tools. None of the existing systems combine abstraction and composition with parallelization and correctness checking to produce a framework which helps both programmers and automated tools to reason about inherent parallelism. In this work I present a system for abstractly reasoning about side-effects and data dependencies in modern, imperative, object-oriented languages using a type and effect system based on ideas from Ownership Types. I have developed sufficient conditions for the safe, automated detection and exploitation of a number task, data and loop parallelism patterns in terms of ownership relationships. To validate my work, I have applied my ideas to the C] version 3.0 language to produce a language extension called Zal. I have implemented a compiler for the Zal language as an extension of the GPC] research compiler as a proof of concept of my system. I have used it to parallelize a number of real-world applications to demonstrate the feasibility of my proposed approach. In addition to this empirical validation, I present an argument for the correctness of the type system and language semantics I have proposed as well as sketches of proofs for the correctness of the sufficient conditions for parallelization proposed.

Palaeoecology of the Mount Etna bat fauna, coastal Eastern Queensland

Global warming is already threatening many animal and plant communities worldwide, however, the effect of climate change on bat populations is poorly known. Understanding the factors influencing the survival of bats is crucial to their conservation, and this cannot be achieved solely by modern ecological studies. Palaeoecological investigations provide a perspective over a much longer temporal scale, allowing the understanding of the dynamic patterns that shaped the distribution of modern taxa. In this study twelve microchiropteran fossil assemblages from Mount Etna, central-eastern Queensland, ranging in age from more than 500,000 years to the present day, were investigated. The aim was to assess the responses of insectivorous bats to Quaternary environmental changes, including climatic fluctuations and recent anthropogenic impacts. In particular, this investigation focussed on the effects of increasing late Pleistocene aridity, the subsequent retraction of rainforest habitat, and the impact of cave mining following European settlement at Mount Etna. A thorough examination of the dental morphology of all available extant Australian bat taxa was conducted in order to identify the fossil taxa prior to their analysis in term of species richness and composition. This detailed odontological work provided new diagnostic dental characters for eighteen species and one genus. It also provided additional useful dental characters for three species and seven genera. This odontological analysis allowed the identification of fifteen fossil bat taxa from the Mount Etna deposits, all being representatives of extant bats, and included ten taxa identified to the species level (i.e., Macroderma gigas, Hipposideros semoni, Rhinolophus megaphyllus, Miniopterus schreibersii, Miniopterus australis, Scoteanax rueppellii, Chalinolobus gouldii, Chalinolobus dwyeri, Chalinolobus nigrogriseus and Vespadelus troughtoni) and five taxa identified to the generic level (i.e., Mormopterus, Taphozous, Nyctophilus, Scotorepens and Vespadelus). Palaeoecological analysis of the fossil taxa revealed that, unlike the non-volant mammal taxa, bats have remained essentially stable in terms of species diversity and community membership between the mid-Pleistocene rainforest habitat and the mesic habitat that occurs today in the region. The single major exception is Hipposideros semoni, which went locally extinct at Mount Etna. Additionally, while intensive mining operations resulted in the abandonment of at least one cave that served as a maternity roost in the recent past, the diversity of the Mount Etna bat fauna has not declined since European colonisation. The overall resilience through time of the bat species discussed herein is perhaps due to their unique ecological, behavioural, and physiological characteristics as well as their ability to fly, which have allowed them to successfully adapt to their changing environment. This study highlights the importance of palaeoecological analyses as a tool to gain an understanding of how bats have responded to environmental change in the past and provides valuable information for the conservation of threatened modern species, such as H. semoni.

Factors affecting somatic embryogenesis and transformation in modern plant breeding

Somatic embryogenesis and transformation systems are indispensable modern plant breeding components since they provide an alternative platform to develop control strategies against the plethora of pests and diseases affecting many agronomic crops. This review discusses some of the factors affecting somatic embryogenesis and transformation, highlights the advantages and limitations of these systems and explores these systems as breeding tools for the development of crops with improved agronomic traits. The regeneration of non-chimeric transgenic crops through somatic embryogenesis with introduced disease and pest-resistant genes for instance, would be of significant benefit to growers worldwide.

Board network characteristics and company performance in Sweden : the case of Gnosjö companies and their board members in southern Sweden

When managers of entrepreneurial companies typically talk about strategies, they first consider what products to make and secondly where to locate the business. The entrepreneurial companies locate in rural areas because of a wish to maintain a certain lifestyle, or because they can combine a resource available there with certain knowledge or interest that they have (Getz and Nilsson, 2004). In addition, many managers of entrepreneurial companies are confident in locating in a rural area, because there often is economic and social structure supportive of local corporate governance. The most central part of corporate governance is the board of directors. In an entrepreneurial company in a rural area, such members of boards are most likely to be individuals in dominant positions influential in the local economy.

The Brisbane Cordon scheme : part A - preliminary investigation

It could be said that road congestion is one of the most significant problems within any modern metropolitan area. For several decades now, around the globe, congestion in metropolitan areas has been worsening for two main reasons. Firstly, road congestion has significantly increased due to a higher demand for road space because of growth in populations, economic activity and incomes (Hensher & Puckett, 2007). This factor, in conjunction with a significant lack of investment in new road and public transport infrastructure, has seen the road network capacities of cities exceeded by traffic volumes and thus, resulted in increased traffic congestion. This relentless increase in road traffic congestion has resulted in a dramatic increase in costs for both the road users and ultimately the metropolitan areas concerned (Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics, 2007). In response to this issue, several major cities around the world, including London, Stockholm and Singapore, have implemented congestion-charging schemes in order to combat the effects of road congestion. A congestion-charging scheme provides a mechanism for regulating traffic flows into the congested areas of a city, whilst simultaneously generating public revenue that can be used to improve both the public transport and road networks of the region. The aim of this paper was to assess the concept of congestion-charging, whilst reflecting on the experiences of various cities that have already implemented such systems. The findings from this paper have been used to inform the design of a congestion-charging scheme for the city of Brisbane in Australia in a supplementary study (Whitehead, Bunker, & Chung, 2011). The first section of this paper examines the background to road congestion; the theory behind different congestion-charging schemes; and the various technologies involved with the concept. The second section of this paper details the experiences, in relation to implementing a congestion-charging scheme, from the city of Stockholm in Sweden. This research has been crucial in forming a list of recommendations and lessons learnt for the design of a congestion-charging scheme in Australia. It is these recommendations that directly inform the proposed design of the Brisbane Cordon Scheme detailed in Whitehead et al. (2011).

Pre-digital Virtuality: Early Modern Scholars and the Republic of Letters

This chapter explores the idea of virtual participation through the historical example of the republic of letters in early modern Europe (circa 1500-1800). By reflecting on the construction of virtuality in a historical context, and more specifically in a pre-digital environment, it calls attention to accusations of technological determinism in ongoing research concerning the affordances of the Internet and related media of communication. It argues that ‘the virtual’ is not synonymous with ‘the digital’ and suggests that, in order to articulate what is novel about modern technologies, we must first understand the social interactions underpinning the relationships which are facilitated through those technologies. By analysing the construction of virtuality in a pre-digital environment, this chapter thus offers a baseline from which scholars might consider what is different about the modes of interaction and communication being engaged in via modern media.

Perspectives on the effectiveness of the late night liquor trading lockout legislative provision

The effectiveness of ‘the lockout policy’ integrated within a broader police enforcement strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm, in and around late-night licensed premises, in major drinking precincts was examined. First response operational police (n= 280) recorded all alcohol and non alcohol-related incidents they attended in and around late-night liquor trading premises. A before and after study design was used, with police completing modified activity logs prior to and following the introduction of the lockout policy in two policing regions: Gold Coast (n = 12,801 incidents); Brisbane City/Fortitude Valley (n = 9,117 incidents). Qualitative information from key stakeholders (e.g., Police, Security Staff & Politicians n = 20) was also obtained. The number of alcohol-related offences requiring police attention was significantly reduced in some policing areas and for some types of offences (e.g., sex offences, street disturbances, traffic incidents. However, there was no variation for a number of other offence categories (e.g., assault). Interviews with licensees revealed that although all were initially opposed to the lockout policy, most perceived benefits from its introduction. This study was the first of its kind to comprehensively examine the impact of a lockout policy and provides supportive evidence for the effectiveness of the lockout policy as integrating positively with police enforcement to enhance public safety in some areas in and around late-night liquor trading premises.

Is Dawkins a modern-day Nicodemus?

This article applies a Wittgensteinian approach to the examination of the intelligibility of religious belief, in the wake of the recent attack on the Judeo-Christian religion by Richard Dawkins's book The God Delusion. The article attempts to show that Dawkins has confused religion with superstition, and that while Dawkins's arguments are decisive in the case of superstition, they do not successfully show religion to be a delusion. Religious belief in God is not like belief in the existence of a planet, and genuine religious faith is not like the belief in something for which there is not yet enough evidence, like belief in dark matter. The Christian doctrines of the resurrection and eternal life are misconstrued if they are understood as factual claims because they are then merely shallow superstitions, and not the great religious riddles they are meant to be.