Responses to racism : a taxonomy of coping styles used by aboriginal Australians

The author takes up the challenge from social psychologists to explore the coping responses of those who experience racism. Previous attempts to provide taxonomies of responses to racism-discrimination-oppression are reviewed. An analysis of data derived from semistructured interviews conducted with 34 Indigenous Australians that explored experiences of racism and emotional and behavioral responses is reported, and a taxonomy of coping made up of 3 broad categories is presented. The defining feature of these categories is the purpose of the responses contained therein: to defend the self, to control or contain the reaction, or to confront the racism. It is argued that this may be a more useful way to understand responses to racism than taxonomies previously proposed.

Phylogenetic relationships of the globally distributed freshwater prawn genus Macrobrachium (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae): biogeography, taxonomy, and the convergent evolution of abbreviated larval development

There has hitherto been little research into evolutionary and taxonomic relationships amongst species of the freshwater prawn genus Macrobrachium Bate across its global distribution. Previous work by the authors demonstrated that the endemic Australian species did not evolve from a single ancestral lineage. To examine whether other regional Macrobrachium faunas also reflect this pattern of multiple origins, the phylogeny of 30 Macrobrachium species from Asia, Central/South America and Australia was inferred from mitochondrial 16S rRNA sequences. Phylogenetic relationships demonstrate that, despite some evidence for regional diversification, Australia, Asia and South America clearly contain Macrobrachium species that do not share a common ancestry, suggesting that large-scale dispersal has been a major feature of the evolutionary history of the genus. The evolution of abbreviated larval development (ALD), associated with the transition from an estuarine into a purely freshwater lifecycle, was also mapped onto the phylogeny and was shown to be a relatively homoplasious trait and not taxonomically informative. Other taxonomic issues, as well as the evolutionary origins of Macrobrachium, are also discussed.

A taxonomy and mapping of computer-based critiquing tools

Critics have emerged in recent times as a specific tool feature to support users in computer-mediated tasks. These computer-supported critics provide proactive guidelines or suggestions for improvement to designs, code, and other digital artifacts. The concept of a critic has been adopted in various domains, including medical, programming, software engineering, design sketching, and others. Critics have been shown to be an effective mechanism for providing feedback to users. We propose a new critic taxonomy based on extensive review of the critic literature. The groups and elements of our critic taxonomy are presented and explained collectively with examples, including the mapping of 13 existing critic tools, predominantly for software engineering and programming education tasks to the taxonomy. We believe this critic taxonomy will assist others in identifying, categorizing, developing, and deploying computer-supported critics in a range of domains.

Feature nodes : an interaction construct for sharing initiative in design exploration

Exploration with formal design systems comprises an iterative process of specifying problems, finding plausible and alternative solutions, judging the validity of solutions relative to problems and reformulating problems and solutions. Recent advances in formal generative design have developed the mathematics and algorithms to describe and perform conceptual design tasks. However, design remains a human enterprise: formalisms are part of a larger equation comprising human computer interaction. To support the user in designing with formal systems, shared representations that interleave initiative of the designer and the design formalism are necessary. The problem of devising representational structures in which initiative is sometimes taken by the designer and sometimes by a computer in working on a shared design task is reported in this paper. To address this problem, the requirements, representation and
implementation of a shared interaction construct, the feature node, is
described. The feature node facilitates the sharing of initiative in formulating and reformulating problems, generating solutions, making
choices and navigating the history of exploration.

Some unusual applications of the `Error-bar` feature in Excel spreadsheets

This paper demonstrates how the "error-bar" feature can be used to extend the utility of "worldware" spreadsheet packages in producing high-quality graphs for university teaching and learning, and for research. To further utilize the advantages of spreadsheets in university education, this paper seeks to overcome some of the earlier reservations about the lack of scientific plotting capabilities of spreadsheet applications. Specific examples of educational material in the areas of enzyme kinetics, vibrational spectroscopy, vibronic spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry are discussed. It is argued that, where practical, university educators should use "worldware" packages to prepare teaching aids, since these would better prepare their students for future employment. The use of software features for purposes that were not envisioned by the programmers has additional educational benefits in fostering flexibility and innovation. Other graphing packages can also use the "error-bar" feature in a manner similar to that described here for Excel.

Molecular taxonomy and phylogenetics of some species of Australian palaemonid shrimps

The evolutionary history and classification of the palaemonid shrimps has been the subject of constant speculation and debate. At present, all major systematic treatments have been based on morphological characteristics. To help resolve the phylogenetic relationships, and thus enable the creation of a classification system that reflects evolutionary history, a region of the 16S mitochondrial rRNA gene was sequenced for a number of Australian Palaemonidae. The resulting phylogenetic analyses indicated the presence of major anomalies in the current classification of Australian Palaemonidae. Significantly, three species belonging to three separate genera, Macrobrachium intermedium, Palaemon serenus, and Palaemonetes australis, are closely related, with genetic differences more characteristic with that of congeneric species. The results also demonstrate non-monophyly in Australian palaemonids with respect to both Palaemonetes and Macrobrachium.

The taxonomy and phylogeny of the Cherax destructor complex (Decapoda : Parastacidae) examined using mitochondrial 16S sequences

This study uses nucleotide sequences from the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene to investigate the taxonomy and phylogeny of freshwater crayfish belonging to the 'Cherax destructor' complex. The sequencing of an approximately 440-bp fragment of this gene region from freshwater crayfish sampled from 14 locations identified significant haplotype diversity. Phylogenetic analysis found three distinct clades that correspond to the species C. rotundus, C. setosus and C. destructor. C. rotundus is largely confined to Victoria, and C. setosus is restricted to coastal areas north of Newcastle in New South Wales. C. destructor is widely distributed in eastern Australia and shows significant phylogeographic structure, with three well supported clades. None of these clades, however, correspond to species previously recognised as C. esculus, C. davisi or C. albidus. The failure to genetically distinguish these morphologically defined species is consistent with reproductive information and morphological plasticity relating to habitat similar to that documented for other Cherax species.

Molecular phylogeny of the Cheilodactylidae and Latridae (Perciformes: Cirrhitoidea) with notes on taxonomy and biogeography

Phylogenetic relationships among cheilodactylid and latrid fishes were estimated from cytochrome oxidase I and cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA sequences. Two South African cheilodactylids, Cheilodactylus fasciatus and Cheilodactylus pixi, were divergent from the remaining members of their genus and family, and the monophyly of these groups was rejected based on parametric bootstrap analysis. As C. fasciatus is the nominal species for the genus and family, widespread taxonomic reassignment is implicated for the remaining 12 and 17 members of these groups, respectively. As these 17 cheilodactylids are not genetically or morphologically distinct from the latrids, it is proposed that the Latridae should be expanded to encompass them. The inferred relationships among those Cheilodactylus requiring generic reassignment were largely unresolved, and hence few recommendations can be made regarding their placement. Divergence time estimates indicate that chance oceanic dispersal subsequent to Gondwanan fragmentation best explains the Southern Hemisphere radiation of cheilodactylids.

Re-examination of the taxonomy of the macrobrachium australiense holthuis (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) species-complex: molecular evidence for a single species

The freshwater shrimp Macrobrachium australiense is distributed throughout the majority of inland, north-west, north-east and eastern drainages. Owing to the large amount of morphological divergence, both between and within catchments, this species has proven to be taxonomically difficult and, until recently, consisted of three separate species, each with subsequent subspecies. This study uses nucleotide sequences from the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene region to investigate the genetic relationships between populations and confirm the taxonomic status of M. australiense. The results from sequencing an approximately 450-bp fragment from this gene region from M. australiense sampled from 12 locations across inland, eastern and northern Australia identified very little variation. The variation found between 16S M. australiense haplotypes is much less than that found between Macrobrachium species, indicating that it is in fact a single species. The results are concordant with a recent morphological revision of Australian species in which nominal taxa of the M. australiense complex were synonymised.

Penetration testing professional ethics : a conceptual model and taxonomy

In an environment where commercial software is continually patched to correct security flaws, penetration testing can provide organisations with a realistic assessment of their security posture. Penetration testing uses the same principles as criminal hackers to penetrate corporate networks and thereby verify the presence of software vulnerabilities. Network administrators can use the results of a penetration test to correct flaws and improve overall security. The use of hacking techniques, however, raises several ethical questions that centre on the integrity of the tester to maintain professional distance and uphold the profession. This paper discusses the ethics of penetration testing and presents our conceptual model and revised taxonomy.

Fault detection in a cold forging process through feature extraction with a neural network

This paper investigates the application of neural networks to the recognition of lubrication defects typical to an industrial cold forging process employed by fastener manufacturers. The accurate recognition of lubrication errors, such as coating not being applied properly or damaged during material handling, is very important to the quality of the final product in fastener manufacture. Lubrication errors lead to increased forging loads and premature tool failure, as well as to increased defect sorting and the re-processing of the coated rod. The lubrication coating provides a barrier between the work material and the die during the drawing operation; moreover it needs be sufficiently robust to remain on the wire during the transfer to the cold forging operation. In the cold forging operation the wire undergoes multi-stage deformation without the application of any additional lubrication. Four types of lubrication errors, typical to production of fasteners, were introduced to a set of sample rods, which were subsequently drawn under laboratory conditions. The drawing force was measured, from which a limited set of features was extracted. The neural network based model learned from these features is able to recognize all types of lubrication errors to a high accuracy. The overall accuracy of the neural network model is around 98% with almost uniform distribution of errors between all four errors and the normal condition.

The rough sets feature selection for trees recognition in color aerial images using genetic algorithms

Selecting a set of features which is optimal for a given task is the problem which plays an important role in a wide variety of contexts including pattern recognition, images understanding and machine learning. The concept of reduction of the decision table based on the rough set is very useful for feature selection. In this paper, a genetic algorithm based approach is presented to search the relative reduct decision table of the rough set. This approach has the ability to accommodate multiple criteria such as accuracy and cost of classification into the feature selection process and finds the effective feature subset for texture classification . On the basis of the effective feature subset selected, this paper presents a method to extract the objects which are higher than their surroundings, such as trees or forest, in the color aerial images. The experiments results show that the feature subset selected and the method of the object extraction presented in this paper are practical and effective.

Dissecting computer fraud : from definitional issues to a taxonomy

Computer frauds, while less dramatic than crimes of violence, can inflict significant damage at community, organizational or individual level. In order to properly quantify and mitigate the risk, computer frauds needs to be well understood. In this paper, in a conceptual-analytical research approach, we propose a dissection of computer fraud. First, we look into the elements of an offense, the act of fraud in general, than explain what is and what is not computer fraud. Next, from a prevention perspective, we propose a taxonomy of computer fraud with respect to perpetration platform, and to perpetration method. We believe that our contributions extend the existing knowledge of the phenomenon, and can assist those fighting computer fraud to better understand it and to design means of preventing and reporting it.

A taxonomy of penetration testing ethics

In an environment where commercial software is continually patched to correct security flaws, penetration testing can provide organisations with a realistic assessment of their security posture. Penetration testing uses the same principles as criminal hackers to penetrate corporate networks and thereby verify the presence of software vulnerabilities. Network administrators can use the results of a penetration test to correct flaws and improve overall security. The use of hacking techniques, however, raises several ethical questions that centre on the integrity of the tester to maintain professional distance and uphold the profession. This paper discusses the ethics of penetration testing and presents our conceptual model and revised taxonomy.