Performing composition : developing a computer assisted composition system through live coding performance

This thesis maps the author's journey from a music composition practice to a composition and performance practice. The work involves the development of a software library for the purpose of encapsulating compositional ideas in software, and realising these ideas in performance through a live coding computer music practice. The thesis examines what artistic practice emerges through live coding and software development, and does this permit a blurring between the activities of music composition and performance. The role that software design plays in affecting musical outcomes is considered to gain an insight into how software development contributes to artistic development. The relationship between music composition and performance is also examined to identify the means by which engaging in live coding and software development can bring these activities together. The thesis, situated within the discourse of practice led research, documents a journey which uses the experience of software development and performance as a means to guide the direction of the research. The journey serves as an experiment for the author in engaging an hitherto unfamiliar musical practice, and as a roadmap for others seeking to modify or broaden their artistic practice.

Assessing the impact of floods and flood legislation on residential property prices

The changing development and population sprawl in major cities, especially those located in high rainfall areas, has resulted in the need to review and re-assess potential flood impacts in these cities. In many cases these new flood lines and flood maps have placed residential property that was previously considered to be flood free to now be considered to be potentially flood liable. Previous research based in Sydney and the UK has identified the fact that residential property that has been subject to flooding has a decreased price and higher investment risk than flood free property in the same location. These studies have also shown that the greatest impact on residential property subject to flooding is just following a flood event. In June 2009, Brisbane City Council released revised flood maps for the Greater Brisbane region and these maps have identified areas that have not previously been considered flood liable. This paper will analyse the sale performance of flood liable streets in the main flood areas of Brisbane over the period January 1990 through to June 2009, to determine the variation in price for these flood liable areas to the residential property immediately adjoining them. The average sale price will be tracked on both a geographic location and socio-economic basis.

Spatial cognition for robots

The paper discusses robot navigation from biological inspiration. The authors sought to build a model of the rodent brain that is suitable for practical robot navigation. The core model, dubbed RatSLAM, has been demonstrated to have exactly the same advantages described earlier: it can build, maintain, and use maps simultaneously over extended periods of time and can construct maps of large and complex areas from very weak geometric information. The work contrasts with other efforts to embody models of rat brains in robots. The article describes the key elements of the known biology of the rat brain in relation to navigation and how the RatSLAM model captures the ideas from biology in a fashion suitable for implementation on a robotic platform. The paper then outline RatSLAM's performance in two difficult robot navigation challenges, demonstrating how a cognitive robotics approach to navigation can produce results that rival other state of the art approaches in robotics.

Persistent navigation and mapping using a biologically inspired SLAM system

The challenge of persistent navigation and mapping is to develop an autonomous robot system that can simultaneously localize, map and navigate over the lifetime of the robot with little or no human intervention. Most solutions to the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem aim to produce highly accurate maps of areas that are assumed to be static. In contrast, solutions for persistent navigation and mapping must produce reliable goal-directed navigation outcomes in an environment that is assumed to be in constant flux. We investigate the persistent navigation and mapping problem in the context of an autonomous robot that performs mock deliveries in a working office environment over a two-week period. The solution was based on the biologically inspired visual SLAM system, RatSLAM. RatSLAM performed SLAM continuously while interacting with global and local navigation systems, and a task selection module that selected between exploration, delivery, and recharging modes. The robot performed 1,143 delivery tasks to 11 different locations with only one delivery failure (from which it recovered), traveled a total distance of more than 40 km over 37 hours of active operation, and recharged autonomously a total of 23 times.

Classifying an opponent’s behaviour in robot soccer

This paper illustrates the prediction of opponent behaviour in a competitive, highly dynamic, multi-agent and partially observable environment, namely RoboCup small size league robot soccer. The performance is illustrated in the context of the highly successful robot soccer team, the RoboRoos. The project is broken into three tasks; classification of behaviours, modelling and prediction of behaviours and integration of the predictions into the existing planning system. A probabilistic approach is taken to dealing with the uncertainty in the observations and with representing the uncertainty in the prediction of the behaviours. Results are shown for a classification system using a Naïve Bayesian Network that determines the opponent’s current behaviour. These results are compared to an expert designed fuzzy behaviour classification system. The paper illustrates how the modelling system will use the information from behaviour classification to produce probability distributions that model the manner with which the opponents perform their behaviours. These probability distributions are show to match well with the existing multi-agent planning system (MAPS) that forms the core of the RoboRoos system.

Achieving cooperation in a distributed multi-robot team

DMAPS (Distributed Multi-Agent Planning System) is a planning system developed for distributed multi-robot teams based on MAPS (Multi-Agent Planning System). MAPS assumes that each agent has the same global view of the environment in order to determine the most suitable actions. This assumption fails when perception is local to the agents: each agent has only a partial and unique view of the environment. DMAPS addresses this problem by creating a probabilistic global view on each agent by fusing the perceptual information from each robot. The experimental results on consuming tasks show that while the probabilistic global view is not identical on each robot, the shared view is still effective in increasing performance of the team.

Experiments in outdoor operation of RatSLAM

This paper shows initial results in deploying the biologically inspired Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping system, RatSLAM, in an outdoor environment. RatSLAM has been widely tested in indoor environments on the task of producing topologically coherent maps based on a fusion of odometric and visual information. This paper details the changes required to deploy RatSLAM on a small tractor equipped with odometry and an omnidirectional camera. The principal changes relate to the vision system, with others required for RatSLAM to use omnidirectional visual data. The initial results from mapping around a 500 m loop are promising, with many improvements still to be made.

Experience mapping : producing spatially continuous environment representations using RatSLAM

RatSLAM is a system for vision-based Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) inspired by models of the rodent hippocampus. The system can produce stable representations of large complex environments during robot experiments in both indoor and outdoor environments. These representations are both topological and metric in nature, and can involve multiple representations of the same place as well as discontinuities. In this paper we describe a new technique known as experience mapping that can be used online with the RatSLAM system to produce world representations known as experience maps. These maps group together multiple place representations and are spatially continuous. A number of experiments have been conducted in simulation and a real world office environment. These experiments demonstrate the high degree to which experience maps are representative of the spatial arrangement of the environment.

Effect of representation size and visual ambiguity on RatSLAM system performance

RatSLAM is a vision-based SLAM system based on extended models of the rodent hippocampus. RatSLAM creates environment representations that can be processed by the experience mapping algorithm to produce maps suitable for goal recall. The experience mapping algorithm also allows RatSLAM to map environments many times larger than could be achieved with a one to one correspondence between the map and environment, by reusing the RatSLAM maps to represent multiple sections of the environment. This paper describes experiments investigating the effects of the environment-representation size ratio and visual ambiguity on mapping and goal navigation performance. The experiments demonstrate that system performance is weakly dependent on either parameter in isolation, but strongly dependent on their joint values.

Biologically inspired visual landmark processing for simultaneous localization and mapping

This paper illustrates a method for finding useful visual landmarks for performing simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). The method is based loosely on biological principles, using layers of filtering and pooling to create learned templates that correspond to different views of the environment. Rather than using a set of landmarks and reporting range and bearing to the landmark, this system maps views to poses. The challenge is to produce a system that produces the same view for small changes in robot pose, but provides different views for larger changes in pose. The method has been developed to interface with the RatSLAM system, a biologically inspired method of SLAM. The paper describes the method of learning and recalling visual landmarks in detail, and shows the performance of the visual system in real robot tests.

The problem child in Australian patent law : "fair" basing

The concept of "fair basing" is widely acknowledged as a difficult area of patent law. This article maps the development of fair basing law to demonstrate how some of the difficulties have arisen. Part I of the article traces the development of the branches of patent law that were swept under the nomenclature of "fair basing" by British legislation in 1949. It looks at the early courts' approach to patent construction, examines the early origin of fair basing and what it was intended to achiever. Part II of the article considers the modern interpretation of fair basing, which provides a striking contrast to its historical context. Without any consistent judicial approach to construction the doctrine has developed inappropriately, giving rise to both over-strict and over-generous approaches.

Elliptic curves, group law, and efficient computation

This thesis is about the derivation of the addition law on an arbitrary elliptic curve and efficiently adding points on this elliptic curve using the derived addition law. The outcomes of this research guarantee practical speedups in higher level operations which depend on point additions. In particular, the contributions immediately find applications in cryptology. Mastered by the 19th century mathematicians, the study of the theory of elliptic curves has been active for decades. Elliptic curves over finite fields made their way into public key cryptography in late 1980’s with independent proposals by Miller [Mil86] and Koblitz [Kob87]. Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), following Miller’s and Koblitz’s proposals, employs the group of rational points on an elliptic curve in building discrete logarithm based public key cryptosystems. Starting from late 1990’s, the emergence of the ECC market has boosted the research in computational aspects of elliptic curves. This thesis falls into this same area of research where the main aim is to speed up the additions of rational points on an arbitrary elliptic curve (over a field of large characteristic). The outcomes of this work can be used to speed up applications which are based on elliptic curves, including cryptographic applications in ECC. The aforementioned goals of this thesis are achieved in five main steps. As the first step, this thesis brings together several algebraic tools in order to derive the unique group law of an elliptic curve. This step also includes an investigation of recent computer algebra packages relating to their capabilities. Although the group law is unique, its evaluation can be performed using abundant (in fact infinitely many) formulae. As the second step, this thesis progresses the finding of the best formulae for efficient addition of points. In the third step, the group law is stated explicitly by handling all possible summands. The fourth step presents the algorithms to be used for efficient point additions. In the fifth and final step, optimized software implementations of the proposed algorithms are presented in order to show that theoretical speedups of step four can be practically obtained. In each of the five steps, this thesis focuses on five forms of elliptic curves over finite fields of large characteristic. A list of these forms and their defining equations are given as follows: (a) Short Weierstrass form, y2 = x3 + ax + b, (b) Extended Jacobi quartic form, y2 = dx4 + 2ax2 + 1, (c) Twisted Hessian form, ax3 + y3 + 1 = dxy, (d) Twisted Edwards form, ax2 + y2 = 1 + dx2y2, (e) Twisted Jacobi intersection form, bs2 + c2 = 1, as2 + d2 = 1, These forms are the most promising candidates for efficient computations and thus considered in this work. Nevertheless, the methods employed in this thesis are capable of handling arbitrary elliptic curves. From a high level point of view, the following outcomes are achieved in this thesis. - Related literature results are brought together and further revisited. For most of the cases several missed formulae, algorithms, and efficient point representations are discovered. - Analogies are made among all studied forms. For instance, it is shown that two sets of affine addition formulae are sufficient to cover all possible affine inputs as long as the output is also an affine point in any of these forms. In the literature, many special cases, especially interactions with points at infinity were omitted from discussion. This thesis handles all of the possibilities. - Several new point doubling/addition formulae and algorithms are introduced, which are more efficient than the existing alternatives in the literature. Most notably, the speed of extended Jacobi quartic, twisted Edwards, and Jacobi intersection forms are improved. New unified addition formulae are proposed for short Weierstrass form. New coordinate systems are studied for the first time. - An optimized implementation is developed using a combination of generic x86-64 assembly instructions and the plain C language. The practical advantages of the proposed algorithms are supported by computer experiments. - All formulae, presented in the body of this thesis, are checked for correctness using computer algebra scripts together with details on register allocations.

Technical report : acoustic analysis of the natural environment

This technical report is concerned with one aspect of environmental monitoring—the detection and analysis of acoustic events in sound recordings of the environment. Sound recordings offer ecologists the potential advantages of cheaper and increased sampling. An acoustic event detection algorithm is introduced that outputs a compact rectangular marquee description of each event. It can disentangle superimposed events, which are a common occurrence during morning and evening choruses. Next, three uses to which acoustic event detection can be put are illustrated. These tasks have been selected because they illustrate quite different modes of analysis: (1) the detection of diffuse events caused by wind and rain, which are a frequent contaminant of recordings of the terrestrial environment; (2) the detection of bird calls using the spatial distribution of their component events; and (3) the preparation of acoustic maps for whole ecosystem analysis. This last task utilises the temporal distribution of events over a daily, monthly or yearly cycle.

Spaces of hybridity : creating a sense of belonging through spatial awareness

When the colonisers first came to Australia there was an urgent desire to map, name and settle. This desire, in part, stemmed from a fear of the unknown. Once these tasks were completed it was thought that a sense of identity and belonging would automatically come. In Anglo-Australian geography the map of Australia was always perceived in relationship to the larger map of Europe and Britain. The quicker Australia could be mapped the quicker its connection with the ‘civilised’ world could be established. Official maps could be taken up in official history books and a detailed monumental history could begin. Australians would feel secure in where they were placed in the world. However, this was not the case and anxieties about identity and belonging remained. One of the biggest hurdles was the fear of the open spaces and not knowing how to move across the land. Attempts to transpose colonisers’ use of space onto the Australian landscape did not work and led to confusion. Using authors who are often perceived as writers of national fictions (Henry Lawson, Barbara Baynton, Patrick White, David Malouf and Peter Carey) I will reveal how writing about space becomes a way to create a sense of belonging. It is through spatial knowledge and its application that we begin to gain a sense of closeness and identity. I will also look at how one of the greatest fears for the colonisers was the Aboriginal spatial command of the country. Aborigines already had a strongly developed awareness of spatial belonging and their stories reveal this authority (seen in the work of Lorna Little, Mick McLean) Colonisers attempted to discredit this knowledge but the stories and the land continue to recognise its legitimacy. From its beginning Australian spaces have been spaces of hybridity and the more the colonisers attempted to force predetermined structures onto these spaces the more hybrid they became.

Technical report : acoustic analysis of the natural environment

This technical report is concerned with one aspect of environmental monitoring—the detection and analysis of acoustic events in sound recordings of the environment. Sound recordings offer ecologists the potential advantages of cheaper and increased sampling. An acoustic event detection algorithm is introduced that outputs a compact rectangular marquee description of each event. It can disentangle superimposed events, which are a common occurrence during morning and evening choruses. Next, three uses to which acoustic event detection can be put are illustrated. These tasks have been selected because they illustrate quite different modes of analysis: (1) the detection of diffuse events caused by wind and rain, which are a frequent contaminant of recordings of the terrestrial environment; (2) the detection of bird calls using the spatial distribution of their component events; and (3) the preparation of acoustic maps for whole ecosystem analysis. This last task utilises the temporal distribution of events over a daily, monthly or yearly cycle.