Corners, squares and urban identities: perceptions, attitudes and values

In February 2000, the new Victorian Labor Government announced that they were removing the western shard from Lab Architecture Studio's winning Melbourne Federation Square design. then under construction. The specific 'contested terrain' at the intersection of Flinders Street and Swanston Street Walk. Melbourne, allows the exploration of the politics of place construction over time, through an examination of Young and Jackson's Hotel [1861]. St Paul's Cathedral [1886). Flinders Street Station [1912]. the Westin Hotel [1999) and Federation Square. This site brings together architectural and social history, questions public space and identity, and looks at Melburnian's perceptions, attitudes and values. It further demonstrates that the fragmentation of the professions, and fragmentary histories. lead to the preservation of 'bits' of architecture and the destruction of the urban/landscape context, jeopardizing the Identity of place.

Monotone approximation of aggregation operators using least squares splines

The need for monotone approximation of scattered data often arises in many problems of regression, when the monotonicity is semantically important. One such domain is fuzzy set theory, where membership functions and aggregation operators are order preserving. Least squares polynomial splines provide great flexbility when modeling non-linear functions, but may fail to be monotone. Linear restrictions on spline coefficients provide necessary and sufficient conditions for spline monotonicity. The basis for splines is selected in such a way that these restrictions take an especially simple form. The resulting non-negative least squares problem can be solved by a variety of standard proven techniques. Additional interpolation requirements can also be imposed in the same framework. The method is applied to fuzzy systems, where membership functions and aggregation operators are constructed from empirical data.

Least squares splines with free knots: global optimization approach

Splines with free knots have been extensively studied in regard to calculating the optimal knot positions. The dependence of the accuracy of approximation on the knot distribution is highly nonlinear, and optimisation techniques face a difficult problem of multiple local minima. The domain of the problem is a simplex, which adds to the complexity. We have applied a recently developed cutting angle method of deterministic global optimisation, which allows one to solve a wide class of optimisation problems on a simplex. The results of the cutting angle method are subsequently improved by local discrete gradient method. The resulting algorithm is sufficiently fast and guarantees that the global minimum has been reached. The results of numerical experiments are presented.

'Motor magic' : evaluation of a community capacity-building approach to supporting the development of preschool children (part 2)

Background and Aims: This paper is the second in a series of two that presents and discusses an exploratory evaluation study of the 'Motor Magic' program conducted in Adelaide, South Australia.

Methods: A realist evaluation approach was used, and two focus groups (one with parents and one with kindergarten staff) were held to identify program outcomes and to develop and refine key hypotheses about how these outcomes occurred.

Results and Conclusions: Results for kindergarten staff involved in the program are presented and discussed in this paper, including improved early identification and early intervention for children with, or at risk of, fine motor developmental difficulties; increased confidence in the effectiveness of their practice with these children; improved practice of kindergarten staff with both targeted and all children; improved empathy with, and support for, parents; and increased interagency links and ongoing advocacy for further resources. These results suggest that the program provides an effective model for building the capacity of kindergarten staff to support children with, or at risk of, developmental difficulties.

Shape preserving approximation using least squares splines

Least squares polynomial splines are an effective tool for data fitting, but they may fail to preserve essential properties of the underlying function, such as monotonicity or convexity. The shape restrictions are translated into linear inequality conditions on spline coefficients. The basis functions are selected in such a way that these conditions take a simple form, and the problem becomes non-negative least squares problem, for which effecitive and robust methods of solution exist. Multidimensional monotone approximation is achieved by using tensor-product splines with the appropriate restrictions. Additional inter polation conditions can also be introduced. The conversion formulas to traditional B-spline representation are provided.

The contagious magic of James Cook in Captain-Cook's cottage

It is widely known that the so-called Cooks' Cottage in Fitzroy Gardens, relocated from Yorkshire to Melbourne in 1934, was never inhabited by Captain James Cook. Yet a subliminal nationalism, sustained by the ancient traditions of contagious magic, feeds the conviction that the dwelling must be directly connected to Australia's foundation hero — a relic that the great man touched — or else it is meaningless. This paper tracks a sequence of managerial–interpretive strategies derived from a chronology of knowledge systems to make meanings at the cottage. It introduces evidence of the original shape of the building in its Great Ayton location, and observes the consequences on management and interpretation of an older demolition and consequent rebuilding of only half the cottage in Melbourne. Much turns on changing ideas about authenticity, as management strategies fail to engage the popular taste for a hero via the magic of faith. The result is a set of opposing principles in presenting the cottage: the role of the historical record as it has enlarged, and the desires of visitors who expect a simple connection between myth and materiality.

Should partial least squares be used for analysing psychological constructs?

This paper critically examines an analytical tool - partial least squares regression, or P LS - that is increasingly being used in the academic business literature to validate measures of psychological constructs, and to test hypotheses based on these. The paper provides a contextual and historical review of the resurgence of P LS, and explores several of the claims made by its developers and supporters when it was first promoted in the 1980s, and, more recently, when it reappeared in the information systems literature. Many claims appear plausible but rest on non-mainstream uses of terms and concepts taken from the psychometric field. The paper also canvasses why P LS is a poor analytical tool for research that involves psychological constructs.

The occult mind: magic in theory and practice

Review of Lehrich Christopher's "The occult mind: magic theory and practice".

Structural characterization of conducting polypyrrole using 13C cross-polarization/magic-angle spinning solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (n.m.r.) has been used to study polypyrrole and N-substituted polypyrrole in the solid state. The extent of oxidation appears to be counterion-dependent; in particular, the quinoid structure appears favoured in the films prepared with dodecyl sulfate. Resonances associated with the quinoid unit are lost upon reduction of the polypyrrole film, which supports the idea that the quinoid structure is associated with the oxidized form of polypyrrole. N-substituted polypyrroles have a more distinct resonance at 110 ppm, which is linked to lower degrees of oxidation or charge delocalization in these systems. The decrease in conductivity of polypyrrole upon thermal ageing in air is associated with both the loss of counterion (‘thermal dedoping’) and the decomposition of the quinoid structure in the polymer backbone. There is no indication of carbonyl formation in the solid-state n.m.r. spectra obtained in the present study.

Partial least squares and principal components analysis of wine vintage by high performance liquid chromatography with chemiluminescence detection

HPLC with acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence detection was employed to analyse 17 Cabernet Sauvignon wines across a range of vintages (1971–2003). Partial least squares regression analysis and principal components analysis was used in order to investigate the relationship between wine composition and vintage. Tartaric acid, vanillic acid, catechin, sinapic acid, ethyl gallate, myricetin, procyanadin B and resveratrol were found to be important components in terms of differences between the vintages.

The magic circle and the mobility of play

Convergent media and communication technologies have changed what it means for games to be mobile, but play has a mobility of its own that often goes unacknowledged. This article draws together emerging theory from debates in game studies on the separation of the experience of gameplay from the everyday. It examines the metaphor of the ‘magic circle’ and analyses how play, as a mode of experience, is mobilized across dimensions of hardware and software, extending the functions of games beyond the imagining of designers and manufacturers. The article considers what the mobility of play indicates for the player in the creation and management of identity online in the light of game studies consolidation of the magic circle through Goffman’s Frame Analysis. It sees new opportunities in the play of Zombie Media and the role of digital game artifacts in the presentation of the gamer persona, recasting Benjamin and Baudelaire’s flaˆneur as the ‘gameur’.

Optimal hedge ration with moving least squares - an empirical study using Indian single stock futures data

The use of commodity, currency and stock index futures to hedge risky exposures in the underlying assets is well documented in financial literature. However single stock futures are a relatively new addition to the family of futures and as such, academic research on its use as a hedging tool is relatively thin. In this study we have explored the efficacy of two different methodological approaches that may be applied when hedging a long position in the underlying stock with a single stock future. We use daily trading data covering years 2002 to 2007 from the Indian market, where single stock futures have been really thriving in terms of volume of trade, to extract the optimal hedge ratios using both static OLS as well as 30-day, 60-day and 90-day moving least squares. The method of moving least squares has been in use by market practitioners for some time primarily as a trend analysis and charting tool. Our results indicate that the moving least squares approach outperforms the static OLS in terms of the hedging efficiency, which has been measured by the root mean square hedging error.