Network traffic clustering using random forest proximities

The recent years have seen extensive work on statistics-based network traffic classification using machine learning (ML) techniques. In the particular scenario of learning from unlabeled traffic data, some classic unsupervised clustering algorithms (e.g. K-Means and EM) have been applied but the reported results are unsatisfactory in terms of low accuracy. This paper presents a novel approach for the task, which performs clustering based on Random Forest (RF) proximities instead of Euclidean distances. The approach consists of two steps. In the first step, we derive a proximity measure for each pair of data points by performing a RF classification on the original data and a set of synthetic data. In the next step, we perform a K-Medoids clustering to partition the data points into K groups based on the proximity matrix. Evaluations have been conducted on real-world Internet traffic traces and the experimental results indicate that the proposed approach is more accurate than the previous methods.

Spatial ecology of an apex predator over an urban to forest gradient

This research focused on predicting habitat suitability for the Powerful Owl over an urbanization gradient. Zones along the gradient provided different proportions of habitat for this species and tied in with availability of key resources. Urban environments provided limited habitat for the Powerful Owl and may potentially be acting as ecological traps.

Forest of gestures : video installation and performance work

Invitation to contribute to Alexander Harrisions' program 'What's Coming' resulted in 'Forest of Gestures' a 3 channel video projection and installation with a live feed component

Under the forest and Ladyswamp ( a radio play and a sonic poem)

'Under the Forest'  and 'Ladyswamp' are audio recordings created in collaboration with musician/ sound artist Tom Kazas. As the first outputs of the ongoing Lyrebird project (fully documented at writingfix.com.au) both works reinvent history in artistic form. At the same time they consider the aftermath of inappropriate farming techniques, representing the sense of disconnection the settlers immediately have from any historical continuity or indigenous relationship to land. In focussing on a regional area in Victoria and the stories that emerge from here, this practice-led research has implications for all other regional areas in countries throughout a world in a time of climate change. The two pieces, linked by the flow of water from the upper catchment of the Tarwin River, to the river flats near the South Gippsland coast, embody the presence of location via poetic means; the flow is from erosion to silt: of land becoming water, becoming land. In the sound design the locations are also represented poetically without losing the actuality of their haunting geography.
The two audio works were first presented at the Double Dialogues Conference: 'The 21st century - The Event, The Subject, The Artwork', Fiji, 2012, and are published in In/Stead, Issue 4, 2013 alongside a discursive article, ‘Under the forest & Ladyswamp: a radio play & a sonic poem’. Extracts of the audio appear on Youtube. The process of ‘Ladyswamp’ appears on an educational video currently in production by Deakin University.