Building an Australian user community for VIVO

The Australian National Data Service (ANDS) was established in 2008 and aims to: influence national policy in the area of data management in the Australian research community; inform best practice for the curation of data, and, transform the disparate collections of research data around Australia into a cohesive collection of research resources One high profile ANDS activity is to establish the population of Research Data Australia, a set of web pages describing data collections produced by or relevant to Australian researchers. It is designed to promote visibility of research data collections in search engines, in order to encourage their re-use. As part of activities associated with the Australian National Data Service, an increasing number of Australian Universities are choosing to implement VIVO, not as a platform to profile information about researchers, but as a 'metadata store' platform to profile information about institutional research data sets, both locally and as part of a national data commons. To date, the University of Melbourne, Griffith University, the Queensland University of Technology, and the University of Western Australia have all chosen to implement VIVO, with interest from other Universities growing.

Years 2 to 6 students' ability to generalise : models, representations and theory for teaching and learning

Over the last three years, in our Early Algebra Thinking Project, we have been studying Years 3 to 5 students’ ability to generalise in a variety of situations, namely, compensation principles in computation, the balance principle in equivalence and equations, change and inverse change rules with function machines, and pattern rules with growing patterns. In these studies, we have attempted to involve a variety of models and representations and to build students’ abilities to switch between them (in line with the theories of Dreyfus, 1991, and Duval, 1999). The results have shown the negative effect of closure on generalisation in symbolic representations, the predominance of single variance generalisation over covariant generalisation in tabular representations, and the reduced ability to readily identify commonalities and relationships in enactive and iconic representations. This chapter uses the results to explore the interrelation between generalisation and verbal and visual comprehension of context. The studies evidence the importance of understanding and communicating aspects of representational forms which allowed commonalities to be seen across or between representations. Finally the chapter explores the implications of the studies for a theory that describes a growth in integration of models and representations that leads to generalisation.

Using biological motion to enhance the conspicuity of roadway workers

This study examined whether the conspicuity of road workers at night can be enhanced by distributing retroreflective strips across the body to present a pattern of biological motion (biomotion). Twenty visually normal drivers (mean age = 40.3 years) participated in an experiment conducted at two open-road work sites (one suburban and one freeway) at night-time. At each site, four road workers walked in place wearing a standard road worker night vest either (a) alone, (b) with additional retroreflective strips on thighs, (c) with additional retroreflective strips on ankles and knees, or (d) with additional retroreflective strips on eight moveable joints (full biomotion). Participants, seated in stationary vehicles at three different distances (80 m, 160 m, 240 m), rated the relative conspicuity of the four road workers. Road worker conspicuity was maximized by the full biomotion configuration at all distances and at both sites. The addition of ankle and knee markings also provided significant benefits relative to the standard vest alone. The effects of clothing configuration were more evident at the freeway site and at shorter distances. Overall, the full biomotion configuration was ranked to be most conspicuous and the vest least conspicuous. These data provide the first evidence that biomotion effectively enhances conspicuity of road workers at open-road work sites.

Modest visual impairments and headlamp glare reduce pedestrian visability at night

Background: This study investigated the effects of experimentally induced visual impairment, headlamp glare and clothing on pedestrian visibility. Methods: 28 young adults (M=27.6±4.7 yrs) drove around a closed road circuit at night while pedestrians walked in place at the roadside. Pedestrians wore either black clothing, black clothing with a rectangular vest consisting of 1325 cm2 of retroreflective tape, or the same amount of tape positioned on the extremities in a configuration that conveyed biological motion (“biomotion”). Visual impairment was induced by goggles containing either blurring lenses, simulated cataracts, or clear lenses; visual acuity for the cataract and blurred lens conditions was matched. Drivers pressed a response pad when they first recognized that a pedestrian was present. Sixteen participants drove around the circuit in the presence of headlamp glare while twelve drove without glare. Results: Visual impairment, headlamp glare and pedestrian clothing all significantly affected drivers’ ability to recognize pedestrians (p<0.05). The simulated cataracts were more disruptive than blur, even though acuity was matched across the two manipulations. Pedestrians were recognized more often and at longer distances when they wore “biomotion” clothing than either the vest or black clothing, even in the presence of visual impairment and glare. Conclusions: Drivers’ ability to see and respond to pedestrians at night is degraded by modest visual impairments even when vision meets driver licensing requirements; glare further exacerbates these effects. Clothing that includes retroreflective tape in a biological motion configuration is relatively robust to visual impairment and glare.

Perceptions of visability and conspicuity of biomotion clothing configuration for road workers at road work sites

Aims: This study determined whether the visibility benefits of positioning retroreflective strips in biological motion configurations were evident at real world road worker sites. ---------- Methods: 20 visually normal drivers (M=40.3 years) participated in this study that was conducted at two road work sites (one suburban and one freeway) on two separate nights. At each site, four road workers walked in place wearing one of four different clothing options: a) standard road worker night vest, b) standard night vest plus retroreflective strips on thighs, c) standard night vest plus retroreflective strips on ankles and knees, d) standard night vest plus retroreflective strips on eight moveable joints (full biomotion). Participants seated in stationary vehicles at three different distances (80m, 160m, 240m) rated the relative conspicuity of the four road workers using a series of a standardized visibility and ranking scales. ---------- Results: Adding retroreflective strips in the full biomotion configuration to the standard night vest significantly (p<0.001) enhanced perceptions of road worker visibility compared to the standard vest alone, or in combination with thigh retroreflective markings. These visibility benefits were evident at all distances and at both sites. Retroreflective markings at the ankles and knees also provided visibility benefits compared to the standard vest, however, the full biomotion configuration was significantly better than all of the other configurations. ---------- Conclusions: These data provide the first evidence that the benefits of biomotion retroreflective markings that have been previously demonstrated under laboratory and closed- and open-road conditions are also evident at real work sites.

1960s Fashion Minimalism

Fashion in London in the 1960s is often remembered as an exciting time of experimentation and bold choices, as well as the simple tailored lines of the mini skirt, A-line dress and trouser suit. Join Angela Finn (PhD Candidate) for a look at iconic designers from the 1960s in relation to the development of fashion ‘minimalism’. This lecture is part of the Material Culture: Illustrated Lecture Series run in tandem with The Valentino Exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia.

Uncertainty and innovation in fashion design

Generally speaking, psychologists have suggested three traditional views of how people cope with uncertainty. They are the certainty maximiser, the intuitive statistician-economist and the knowledge seeker (Smithson, 2008). In times of uncertainty, such as the recent global financial crisis, these coping methods often result in innovation in industry. Richards (2003) identifies innovation as different from creativity in that innovation aims to transform and implement rather than simply explore and invent. An examination of the work of iconic fashion designers, through case study and situational analysis, reveals that coping with uncertainty manifests itself in ways that have resulted in innovations in design, marketing methods, production and consumption. In relation to contemporary fashion, where many garments look the same in style, colour, cut and fit (Finn, 2008), the concept of innovation is an important one. This paper explores the role of uncertainty as a driver of innovation in fashion design. A key aspect of seeking knowledge, as a mechanism to cope with this uncertainty, is a return to basics. This is a problem for contemporary fashion designers who are no longer necessarily makers and therefore do not engage with the basic materials and methods of garment construction. In many cases design in fashion has become digital, communicated to an unseen, unknown production team via scanned image and specification alone. The disconnection between the design and the making of garments, as a result of decades of off-shore manufacturing, has limited the opportunity for this return to basics. The authors argue that the role of the fashion designer has become about the final product and as a result there is a lack of innovation in the process of making: in the form, fit and function of fashion garments. They propose that ‘knowledge seeking’ as a result of uncertainty in the fashion industry, in particular through re-examination of the methods of making, could hold the key to a new era of innovation in fashion design.

Self-reported driving difficulty by persons with Hemianopia and Quadrantanopia

Purpose: To compare self-reported driving difficulty by persons with hemianopic or quadrantanopic field loss with that reported by age-matched drivers with normal visual fields; and to examine how their self- reported driving difficulty compares to ratings of driving performance provided by a certified driving rehabilitation specialist(CDRS). Method: Participants were 17 persons with hemianopic field loss, 7 with quadrantanopic loss, and 24 age-matched controls with normal visual fields, all of whom had current drivers’ licenses. Information was collected via questionnaire regarding driving difficulties experienced in 21 typical driving situations grouped into 3 categories(involvement of peripheral vision, low visibility conditions, and independent mobility). On-road driving performance was evaluated by a CDRS using a standard assessment scale. Results: Drivers with hemianopic and quadrantanopic field loss expressed significantly more difficulty with driving maneuvers involving peripheral vision and independent mobility, compared to those with normal visual fields. Drivers with hemianopia and quadrantanopia who were rated as unsafe to drive based upon an on-road assessment by the CDRS were no more likely to report driving difficulty than those rated as safe. Conclusion: This study highlights aspects of driving that hemianopic or quadrantanopic persons find particularly problematic, thus suggesting areas that could be focused on driving rehabilitation. Some drivers with hemianopia or quadrantanopia may inappropriately view themselves as good drivers when in fact their driving performance is unsafe as judged by a driving professional.

Shouting from the rooftops : Queer digital storytelling for social impact

This chapter explores some of the practical and theoretical obstacles and opportunities for self-expression experienced by a group of Queer Dig- ital Storytellers who primarily make and distribute their stories online. “Queer” in this chapter encompasses a diverse range of gender and sexual identities and perspectives on same, including the heterosexual children of queer parents and heterosexual parents of queer children. As such it is also used as a unifying moniker by participants in the Rainbow Family Tree case study that is examined in this chapter. The Digital Storytellers in this case study are largely motivated by a desire to have an impact on social attitudes towards gender and sexuality, both in their personal province of friends and family, and in public domains constituted of unknown or invisible audiences. The privacy and publicity dilemmas that will be considered arise out of positioning personal stories in the public domain and the quandaries that emerge from an activist desire to speak truth to power that is located across a wide cross section of audiences.

Bouncing back : the role of design in facilitating students to understand and deal with adversity

After state-wide flooding and a category-5 tropical cyclone, three-quarters of the state of Queensland was declared a disaster zone in early 2011. This deluge of adversity had a significant impact on university students, a few weeks prior to the start of the academic semester. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that design plays in facilitating students to understand and respond to, adversity. The participants of this study were second and fourth year architectural design students at a large Australian University, in Queensland. As a part of their core architectural design studies, students were required to provide architectural responses to the recent catastrophic events in Queensland. Qualitative data was obtained through student surveys, work design work submitted by students and a survey of guests who attending an exhibition of the student work. The results of this research showed that the students produced more than just the required set of architectural drawings, process journals and models, but also recognition of the important role that the affective dimension of the flooding event and the design process played in helping them to both understand and respond to, adversity. They held the ‘real world’ experience and practical aspect of the assessment in higher regard than their typical focus on aesthetics and the making of iconic design. Perhaps most importantly, the students recognised that this process allowed them to have a voice, and a means to respond to adversity through the powerful language of design.

Characteristics of airborne ultrafine and coarse particles during the Australian dust storm of 23 September 2009

Particle number concentrations and size distributions, visibility and particulate mass concentrations and weather parameters were monitored in Brisbane, Australia, on 23 September 2009, during the passage of a dust storm that originated 1400 km away in the dry continental interior. The dust concentration peaked at about mid-day when the hourly average PM2.5 and PM10 values reached 814 and 6460 µg m-3, respectively, with a sharp drop in atmospheric visibility. A linear regression analysis showed a good correlation between the coefficient of light scattering by particles (Bsp) and both PM10 and PM2.5. The particle number in the size range 0.5-20 µm exhibited a lognormal size distribution with modal and geometrical mean diameters of 1.6 and 1.9 µm, respectively. The modal mass was around 10 µm with less than 10% of the mass carried by particles smaller than 2.5 µm. The PM10 fraction accounted for about 68% of the total mass. By mid-day, as the dust began to increase sharply, the ultrafine particle number concentration fell from about 6x103 cm-3 to 3x103 cm-3 and then continued to decrease to less than 1x103 cm-3 by 14h, showing a power-law decrease with Bsp with an R2 value of 0.77 (p<0.01). Ultrafine particle size distributions also showed a significant decrease in number during the dust storm. This is the first scientific study of particle size distributions in an Australian dust storm.

‘Just stupid drama queens’ : how police constrain, regulate, and punish the public visibilities of sexual/gender diversity as out of place

Using interview data on LGBT young peoples’ policing experiences, I argue policing practices work to constrain public visibilities of sexual and gender diversity in public spaces. Police actions recounted by LGBT young people suggest the workings of a certain kind of visuality (Mason, 2002) and evidenced more subtle actions that sought to constrain, regulate, and punish public visibilities of sexual and gender diversity. Aligning with the work of sexualities academics and theorists, this paper suggests that, like violence is itself a bodily spectacle from which onlookers come to know things, policing works to subtly constrain public visibilities of “queerness”. Policing interactions with LGBT young people serves the purpose of visibly yet unverifiably (Mason, 2002) regulating displays of sexual and gender diversity in public spaces. The paper concludes noting how police actions are nonetheless visible and therefore make knowable to the public the importance of keeping same sex intimacy invisible in public spaces.

Different inflections

Australia has often been defined by its landscape – actual, romanticized, imagined – iconic images and experiences taken up by artists in a myriad of ways. This paper examines inter/intra cultural practices of three Australian dance companies and their directors, and how they inflect images of Australia in different ways. Each artist brings perspectives from their particular hybridized cultural and ethnic backgrounds as well as their formative dance experiences. In their practices, notions of landscape embrace physical, metaphorical and spiritual dimensions. Kai Tai Chan, who founded the One Extra Company in 1976, pioneered accessible and confronting intercultural dance theatre in Australia from the 1970s to the 1990s, challenging our notions of what it is to be Australian. A Chinese Malay who came to Australia to study architecture, he stayed to create a significant body of work in which different cultural frameworks became lenses through which to explore stories of ordinary lives and experiences, revealing complexities of the human condition and larger social-political issues. Spiritual connections feature strongly in the practice of another Chinese Malay Australian, Tony Yap. Here the landscape is an inner one influenced by a form of Malaysian trance dance known as the sen-siao (“spirit cloud”) tradition. Yap has forged a unique space in the Australian dance and theatre scene, exploring a movement language informed by psycho-physical research, Asian shamanistic trance dance, Butoh, voice and visual design. Whilst primarily a solo performer, his practice includes collaborations with Asian diasporic as well as Anglo Australian cross-cultural visual and sound artists. His work is situated in a metaphysical rather than socio political context. In contrast, the newest company to emerge on the intercultural Australian stage is Polytoxic, reflecting a Pacific rather than Asian inflection. Key members, Fa’alafi and Efeso Fa’anana (both of Samoan descent) and Leah Shelton (of Anglo-Saxon descent), aim to critique the exoticism and cultural kitsch that often accompanies representations of the Pacific islands, with a pastiche of street dance, cabaret and contemporary techniques, blended with traditional Polynesian vocabulary. A parallel aim is to provide audiences with insights into the traditions and history of Samoa from the perspective of the artists as contemporary Australians. This examination, spanning three decades of inter/intra cultural practices, reveals stylistic, generational and philosophical differences with a commonality of variously inflected notions of landscape, spirituality and identity.

A burning issue : fashion and sun protection

The 'dick' tog, a briefs-style male swimsuit as it is colloquially referred to, is linked to Australia's national identity with overtly masculine bronzed 'Aussie' bodies clothed in this iconic apparel. However, the reality is, our hunger for worshiping the sun and the addiction to a beach culture is tempered by the pragmatic need to cover up and wear neck-to-knee, or more apt, head-to-toe sun protective clothing. Australia, in particular the state of Queensland, has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world; nevertheless, even after wide-ranging public programs for sun safety awareness many people still continue to wear designs that provide minimal sun protection. This paper will examine issues surrounding fashion and sun safe clothing. It will be proposed that in order to have effective community adoption of sun safe practices it is critical to understand the important role that fashion plays in determining sun protective behaviour.

‘Spotty Dick’ : a research experiment to test design suitability for the use of jewelled spot matrix patterns for UV aware men’s swimwear

The great male Aussie cossie is growing spots. The ‘dick’ tog, as it is colloquially referred to, is linked to Australia’s national identify with overtly masculine bronzed Aussie bodies clothed in this iconic apparel. Yet the reality is our hunger for worshiping the sun and the addiction to a beach lifestyle is tempered by the pragmatic need for neck-to-knee, or more apt head-to-toe, swimwear. Spotty Dick is an irreverent play on male swimwear – it experiments with alternate modes to sheath the body with Lyrca in order to protect it from searing UV’s and at the same time light-heartedly fools around with texture and pattern; to be specific, black Scharovsky crystals, jewelled in spot patterns - jewelled clothing is not characteristically aligned to menswear and even less so to the great Aussie cossie. The crystals form a matrix of spots that attempt to provoke a sense of mischievousness aligned to the Aussie beach larrikin. Ironically, spot patterns are in itself a form of a parody, as prolonged sun exposure ages the skin and sun spots can occur if appropriate sun protection is not used. ‘Spotty Dick’ – a research experiment to test design suitability for the use of jewelled spot matrix patterns for UV aware men’s swimwear. The creative work was paraded at 56 shows, over a 2 week period, and an estimated 50,000 people viewed the work.