Designing collaborative e-learning for the net generation

The designer of higher education programs is on the cusp of some very exciting resource development particularly in the area of postgraduate coursework. Part of this is because of the new learner, a millennial or net generation learner who is time-poor, a networker with strong inclinations towards social or community knowledge pooling and a multiple media literacy which is comfortable in virtual worlds and with visual emphasis. The other element is the perceived changing role of the university or higher education in the transfer of knowledge, moving from a transmission or narrative model to learner-centred and performative approaches. This has been highlighted by greater emphasis on experiential learning methodologies, and the development of action learning practices. The nexus of these two influences, the new learner and the higher education response to delivering learning, may be elaborated further from learning theory which seems to be moving beyond social constructivist approaches, or certainly encompassing what is referred to as connectivism.

This may be a new theoretical approach, or it could simply be an organic growth in meeting the needs of large numbers of higher education student participants who perceive a degree as a skills-based workplace preparation. Whatever the theoretical underpinning may be, the large numbers of learners moving to postgraduate coursework or more workplace oriented programs and subjects has thrown out the challenge to instructional designers to provide just-in-time, relevant and socially transferred learning with strong creative and imaginative engagement.

The case studies incorporated in this paper provide two separate approaches to these challenges - one is a workplace oriented postgraduate team project in a Masters in Communication, the other provides a virtual simulation for developing creative and professional writing skills at postgraduate levels. They both provide perspectives on the net generation learner and collaborative and connected learning models.

Prototyping real-time systems using Petri net and object-oriented models

The objective of the research for this thesis is to develop techniques in order to build an executable model of a real-time system. This model is to be used early in the development of the system not only to detect errors in the specification of the system but also to validate expectations of the developer as to the operation of the system. A graphical specification of a real-time system called the transformation schema was chosen to be used to build the model. Two executable models of a real-time system are described.

Neural net device for IED gas identification

Most of the embedded systems that detect gases today are for specific types and indicate the levels of the gas present with their standard sensors. We introduce here an adaptable system that can detect and distinguish the type of gas in a volatile environment such as searching for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). This is achieved with a small device mounted on a mobile robot through the use of an algorithm that is an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The input layer to the ANN is an array of environmental and gas sensors. The small device, comprising of a multilayer circuit board with sensors in a rugged lightweight case, mounts on the mobile robot and communicates the gaseous data to the robot.

The ANN is implemented in the hardware of a FPGA with the control of the ANN being achieved through the configurable processor and memory. Calibration and testing of the device involves the training of device and the ANN with specific target gases. The Accuracy of the device is validated through lab testing against high-end gas test instruments with known concentrations of gases.

Building nature’s safety net 2011 : the state of protected areas for Australia’s ecosystems and wildlife.

This report is the third in a series with the two previous reports published in 2006 and 2008. This report details major conservation initiatives that have occurred in Australia since the last report, in which data was current to 2006, and highlights emerging issues. A major enhancement on previous reports is the inclusion of ecosystem and threatened species gap analyses, and the reporting on Australia's protected area systems on both land and sea. We define a minimum standard for an adequate, representative, and comprehensive reserve system by sampling ecosystem and species level diversity. Using the latest protected area and national species and ecosystem spatial data, we quantify the gaps: those areas needing to move from the current reserve system to one which meets the minimum standard. We also use data provided by various parks agencies, from responses to a questionnaire or as published by the agencies, to detail financial investments in protected areas, and estimate the investment levels needed to fill the documented gaps. We also identify critical policy changes needed to more effectively fill the identified gaps.

The CDM-Net project : the development, implementation and evaluation of a broadband-based network for managing chronic disease

Background. In Australia most chronic disease management is funded by Medicare Australia through General Practitioner Management Plans (GPMPs) and Team Care Arrangements (TCAs). Identified barriers may be reduced effectively using a broadband-based network known as the Chronic Disease Management Service (CDMS).

Aims. To measure the uptake and adherence to CDMS, test CDMS, and assess the adherence of health providers and patients to GPMPs and TCAs generated through CDMS.

Methods. A single cohort before and after study.

Results. GPMPs and TCAs increased. There was no change to prescribed medicines or psychological quality of life. Attendance at allied health professionals increased, but decreased at pharmacies. Overall satisfaction with CDMS was high among GPs, allied health professionals, and patients.

Conclusion. This study demonstrates proof of concept, but replication or continuation of the study is desirable to enable the impact of CDMS on diabetes outcomes to be determined.

Implied volatility smiles, option mispricing and net buying pressure : evidence around the global financial crisis

Using the recent global financial crisis as an exogenous setting, we examine the presence and source of implied volatility smile phenomena in Australian S&P ASX 200 index options. We find a pronounced implied volatility smile for index puts in both bull and bear markets and a smile for index calls in the bear but not bull market. Implied volatilities of out-of-the money puts tend to be upwards biased whilst those of calls tend to be downwards biased. We also find that the bias in implied volatilities yields excess returns based on unhedged and delta-neutral trading strategies, suggesting that implied volatilities are related to option mispricing. Net buying pressure from market participants appears to be a source of mispricing in the case of out-of-the-money index puts with excess demand particularly pronounced during the bull period before the global financial crisis unfolded.

Development of an online intervention for bipolar disorder. www.moodswings.net.au

We describe the development process and completed structure, of a self-help online intervention for bipolar disorder, known as MoodSwings (www.moodswings.net.au). The MoodSwings program was adapted as an Internet intervention from an efficacious and validated face-to-face, group-based psychosocial intervention. The adaptation was created by a psychologist, who had previously been involved with the validation of the face-to-face program, in collaboration with website designers. The project was conducted under the supervision of a team of clinician researchers. The website is available at no cost to registered participants. Self-help modules are accessed sequentially. Other features include a mood diary and a moderated discussion board. There has been an average of 1,475,135 hits on the site annually (2008 and 2009), with some 7400 unique visitors each year. A randomised controlled trial based on this program has been completed. Many people with bipolar disorder are accepting of the Internet as a source of treatment and, once engaged, show acceptable retention rates. The Internet appears to be a viable means of delivering psychosocial self-help strategies.

Mind change optimal learning of Bayes net structure

This paper analyzes the problem of learning the structure of a Bayes net (BN) in the theoretical framework of Gold’s learning paradigm. Bayes nets are one of the most prominent formalisms for knowledge representation and probabilistic and causal reasoning. We follow constraint-based approaches to learning Bayes net structure, where learning is based on observed conditional dependencies between variables of interest (e.g., “X is dependent on Y given any assignment to variable Z”). Applying learning criteria in this model leads to the following results. (1) The mind change complexity of identifying a Bayes net graph over variables V from dependency data is |V| 2 , the maximum number of edges. (2) There is a unique fastest mind-change optimal Bayes net learner; convergence speed is evaluated using Gold’s dominance notion of “uniformly faster convergence”. This learner conjectures a graph if it is the unique Bayes net pattern that satisfies the observed dependencies with a minimum number of edges, and outputs “no guess” otherwise. Therefore we are using standard learning criteria to define a natural and novel Bayes net learning algorithm. We investigate the complexity of computing the output of the fastest mind-change optimal learner, and show that this problem is NP-hard (assuming P = RP). To our knowledge this is the first NP-hardness result concerning the existence of a uniquely optimal Bayes net structure.