Analysing audio-recorded data : using computer software applications

Conventional methods of qualitative data analysis require transcription of audio-recorded data prior to conduct of the coding and analysis process. In this paper Alison Hutchinson describes and illustrates an innovative method of data analysis that comprises the use of audio-editing software to save selected audio bytes from digital audio recordings of meetings. The use of a database to code and manage the linked audio files and generate detailed and summary reports, including reporting of code frequencies according to participant code and/or meeting, is also highlighted. The advantage of using this approach in the analysis of audio-recorded data is that the process may be undertaken in the medium in which the data were collected. Though time-consuming, this process negates the need for expensive and time intensive transcription of recorded data.

Exploring the influences on requirements engineering during global software development

Through an interpretive study of global virtual teams, this research has explored the influences on the requirements engineering processes during global software development. Complex layers of explicit and implicit elements in the project environment, including systems methodology, project steering, management commitment and cultural differences, were found to influence these processes.

Exploring the sociotechnical systems perspectives in global software development

Global software development teams expressed dissatisfaction with their structures. Job satisfaction was reduced by the inefficiencies of communication technologies and from the functional structures imposed by the management. This led to a reduced contextual understanding of projects which could be improved if employees were to participate in the work designs.

What's in a name? Software, digital products, and the sale of goods

This article addresses how the advent of trade in computer software, and nowdigital products, has challenged the application of sales law and consumer law.It addresses the law of three jurisdictions: the United Kingdom (‘UK’),Australia and New Zealand. Often, applying the ‘goods’ criterion in theseregimes will be uncontroversial. Nevertheless, modern market conditions havecreated a need to move beyond the existing question of whether softwareconstitutes ‘goods’, and instead to ask how a range of different types of digitalproducts fit into sales law and consumer law regimes. Many legal systems havesettled the software-as-goods question. However, software is only one kind ofcommonly traded digital product. This article argues that other types of digitalproducts — including apps, firmware, digital music and electronic books —should be treated the same way as software by sales law and consumer lawregimes. Recent developments in UK consumer law are also analysed as aninnovative model for reform regarding party rights and obligations in the supplyof digital products.

Agent-Based Hybrid Intelligent Systems: An Agent-Based Framework for Complex Problem Solving

Pt. I. Fundamentals of hybrid intelligent systems and agents -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Basics of hybrid intelligent systems -- 3. Basics of agents and multi-agent systems -- Pt. II. Methodology and framework -- 4. Agent-oriented methodologies -- 5. Agent-based framework for hybrid intelligent systems --6. Matchmaking in middle agents -- Pt. III. Application systems -- 7. Agent-based hybrid intelligent system for financial investment
planning -- 8. Agent-based hybrid intelligent system for data mining -- Pt. IV. Concluding remarks -- 9. The less the more -- App. Sample source codes of the agent-based financial planning system

Quantitative evaluation in health promotion : What's the difference?

This is the third in a series of articles on quantitative evaluation in health promotion written by Damien Jolley for the Health Promotion Journal of Australia. The first of these articles, published in the December 2000 issue, discussed the ideas behind sample surveys and how they can be used to improve evaluation of health promotion initiatives.1 The second, in the April 2001 issue, discussed confidence intervals in more detail and presented some strategies for computing confidence intervals for population percentages, both manually and using appropriate computer software. 2

Who`s complaining? Using MOSAIC to identify the profile of complainants

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to bring together established research in the field of consumer complaint responses: to contextualise this research into the area of complaints about advertising in Australia; and to empirically test the proposition that it is possible to construct a profile
of complainants about advertising in Australia.

Design/methodology/approach – Postcodes obtained from the Advertising Standards Board complaints database were entered into Pacific micro marketing MOSAIC software, which uses data at the postcode level to cluster individuals into homogeneous groups.

Findings – Characteristics shared among consumers who engage in “amplified voicing” include above average income levels, above average disposable income levels, higher than average education levels, professional and associate professional occupations, middle- to late-middle-aged household heads and above average representation of working women. Their interests tend towards culture, technology, entertaining, sport, food and fashion.

Research limitations/implications – Complainants seem to be unrepresentative of those most likely to be disadvantaged by “unacceptable” advertising. It is suggested that it now falls to advertising professionals and marketing academics to encourage greater involvement of all members of Australian society in the current complaints process and build wider understanding of practices that contravene the regulatory system.

Originality/value – This study investigates the effects of advertising on consumers and hence on society in general, and examines the changing nature and structure of the advertising self-regulatory system in Australia. Though based on fieldwork in Australia, it provides an international perspective, and is potentially transferable to other societies.

Determination of cashmere and wool fibre scale frequency by analysing diameter profiles with fast fourier transform

This paper describes a potentially faster and cheaper method of determining fibre scale frequencies. The method uses the single fibre analyser (SIFAN) to  determine the along the fibre diameter profile. This information is then analysed by the Fast Fourier Transform technique using computer software. The paper shows the close association between the mean scale frequencies determined by this method and the traditional approach using SEM.

Policy, preparation, prevention and punishment: one faculty's holistic approach to minimising plagiarism

Most Australian universities have made attempts of various kinds to address plagiarism. Some have responded in recent times with a primary focus on catching and punishing plagiarists, often assisted by computer software packages. Others have taken a more holistic approach incorporating foci on policy, assessment regime and student preparation and education as well as on ensuring appropriate consequences for plagiarists. This paper outlines one example of the latter approach in one Australian university faculty and details the outcomes in terms of policy recommendations and resources to support the approach. The necessity of evidence-based evaluation of attempts to reduce plagiarism in higher education is argued.

lCT and educational (dis) advantage: families, computers and contemporary social and educational inequalities

Because access to new technologies is unequally distributed, there has been considerable debate about the growing gap between the so-called information-rich and information-poor. Such concerns have led to high-profile information technology policy initiatives in many countries. In Australia, in an attempt to 'redress the balance between the information rich and poor' by providing 'equal access to the World Wide Web' (Virtual Communities, 2002), the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Virtual Communities (a computer/software distributor) and Primus (an Internet provider) in late 1999 formed an alliance to offer relatively inexpensive computer and Internet access to union members in order to make 'technology affordable for all Australians' (Virtual Communities, 2002). In this paper, we examine four families, one of which had long-term Information and Communication Technologies (lCT) access, and three of which took advantage of the Virtual Communities offer to get home computer and Internet access for the first time. We examine their engagement with lCT and suggest that previously disadvantaged family members are not particularly advantaged by their access to lCT.

The significance of transfusion in the past as a risk for current hepatitis B and Hepatitis C infection: a study in endoscopy patients

BACKGROUND: The objective was to determine the contribution of transfusion in the past to the risk of current infection with hepatitis B or C among patients attending a large hospital for endoscopic procedures.
STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Blood samples had been tested for hepatitis markers by routine methods. Patients completed a comprehensive risk factor questionnaire and results were analyzed using computer software.
RESULTS: Twenty-seven percent of the 2120 participants in the study received transfusions in the past. There was no increase in prevalence of hepatitis B among those transfused. Compared with nontransfused participants, recipients of blood before the implementation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening in 1990 had a 4.6-fold increased risk of HCV infection, whereas those transfused with screened blood had a 3-fold increased risk. The difference between the odds ratios for patients before and after screening was not significant.
CONCLUSIONS: Because screening has almost completely eliminated HCV from the blood supply, our finding of a continuing association of HCV infection with transfusion was unexpected. It implies that there are significant other nosocomial risks for hepatitis C transmission associated with the clinical situations where patients received blood. These should be actively investigated.

Microworlds and mathematics - make a microworld melody

This article provides step by step instructions to create recognisable melodies using Microworlds melody program. It describes how the program works to create the notes. Through the writing of a program the user can recreate a familiar melody. The program allows the user to include different instruments and rests in the music, as well as the inclusion of a melody gadget which allows the user to hear notes without the programming.

Quantitative evaluation in health promotion : evaluation with confidence

Over the past 10 years or so, confidence intervals have become increasingly recognised in program evaluation and quantitative health measurement generally as the preferred way of reporting the accuracy of statistical estimates. Statisticians have found that the more traditional ways of reporting results - using P-values and hypothesis tests - are often very difficult to interpret and can be misleading. This is particularly the case when sample sizes are small and results are 'negative' (ie P>0.05); in these cases, a confidence interval can communicate much more information about the sample and, by inference, about the population. Despite this trend among statisticians and health promotion evaluators towards the use of confidence intervals, it is surprisingly difficult to find succinct and reasonably simple methods to actually compute a confidence interval. This is particularly the case for proportions or percentages. Much of the data which are analysed in health promotion are binary or categorical, rather than the quantities and continuous variables often found in laboratories or other branches of science, so there is a need for health promotion evaluators to be able to present confidence intervals for percentages or proportions. However, the most popular statistical analysis computer package among health promotion professionals, SPSS does not have a routine to compute a simple confidence interval for a proportion! To address this shortcoming, I present in this paper some fairly simple strategies for computing confidence intervals for population percentages, both manually and using the right computer software.