Paper-based mixed reality sketch augmentation as a conceptual design support tool

This undergraduate student paper explores usage of mixed reality techniques as support tools for conceptual design. A proof-of-concept was developed to illustrate this principle. Using this as an example, a small group of designers was interviewed to determine their views on the use of this technology. These interviews are the main contribution of this paper. Several interesting applications were determined, suggesting possible usage in a wide range of domains. Paper-based sketching, mixed reality and sketch augmentation techniques complement each other, and the combination results in a highly intuitive interface.

Building boundaries on boundary objects : a field study of a ubicomp tool in a design studio

In this paper, we provide the results of a field study of a Ubicomp system called CAM (Cooperative Artefact Memory) in a Product Design studio. CAM is a mobile-tagging based messaging system that allows designers to store relevant information onto their design artefacts in the form of messages, annotations and external web links. From our field study results, we observe that the use of CAM adds another shared ‘space’ onto these design artefacts – that are in their natural settings boundary objects themselves. In the paper, we provide several examples from the field illustrating how CAM helps in the design process.

The development of a simple multi-nodal tool to identify performance issues in existing commercial buildings

Australia’s building stock includes many older commercial buildings with numerous factors that impact energy performance and indoor environment quality. The built environment industry has generally focused heavily on improving physical building design elements for greater energy efficiency (such as retrofits and environmental upgrades), however there are noticeable ‘upper limits’ to performance improvements in these areas. To achieve a stepchange improvement in building performance, the authors propose that additional components need to be addressed in a whole of building approach, including the way building design elements are managed and the level of stakeholder engagement between owners, tenants and building managers. This paper focuses on the opportunities provided by this whole-of-building approach, presenting the findings of a research project undertaken through the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) in Australia. Researchers worked with a number of industry partners over two years to investigate issues facing stakeholders at base building and tenancy levels, and the barriers to improving building performance. Through a mixed-method, industry-led research approach, five ‘nodes’ were identified in whole-of-building performance evaluation, each with interlinking and overlapping complexities that can influence performance. The nodes cover building management, occupant experience, indoor environment quality, agreements and culture, and design elements. This paper outlines the development and testing of these nodes and their interactions, and the resultant multi-nodal tool, called the ‘Performance Nexus’ tool. The tool is intended to be of most benefit in evaluating opportunities for performance improvement in the vast number of existing low-performing building stock.

A Triple Bottom Line Planning Tool for Measuring Sustainability : A Systems Approach to Sustainability Using the Australian Dairy Industry as a Case Study

Sustainability is a key driver for decisions in the management and future development of organisations and industries. However, quantifying and comparing sustainability across the triple bottom line (TBL) of economy, environment and social impact, has been problematic. There is a need for a tool which can measure the complex interactions within and between the environmental, economic and social systems which affect the sustainability of an industry in a transparent, consistent and comparable way. The authors acknowledge that there are currently numerous ways in which sustainability is measured and multiple methodologies in how these measurement tools were designed. The purpose of this book is to showcase how Bayesian network modelling can be used to identify and measure environmental, economic and social sustainability variables and to understand their impact on and interaction with each other. This book introduces the Sustainability Scorecard, and describes it through a case study on sustainability of the Australian dairy industry. This study was conducted in collaboration with the Australian dairy industry.

Visualization : A powerful tool for effective teaching of dynamics

Dynamics is an essential core engineering subject and it is considered as one of the hardest subjects in the engineering discipline. Many students acknowledged that Dynamics is very hard to understand and comprehend the abstract concepts through traditional teaching methods with normal tutorials and assignments. In this study, we conducted an investigation on the application of visualization technique to help students learning the unit with the fundamental theory displayed in the physical space. The research was conducted based on the following five basic steps of Action Learning Cycle including: Identifying problem, Planning action, Implementing, Evaluating, and Reporting. Through our studies, we have concluded that visualization technique can definitely help students in learning and comprehending the abstract theories and concepts of Dynamics.

Using visualization tool to help engineering students learning dynamics

Dynamics is an essential core engineering subject. It includes high level mathematical and theoretical contents, and basic concepts which are abstract in nature. Hence, Dynamics is considered as one of the hardest subjects in the engineering discipline. To assist our students in learning this subject, we have conducted a Teaching & Learning project to study ways and methods to effectively teach Dynamics based on visualization techniques. The research project adopts the five basic steps of Action Learning Cycle. It is found that visualization technique is a powerful tool for students learning Dynamics and helps to break the barrier of students who perceived Dynamics as a hard subject.

Validation tool for traction force microscopy

Traction force microscopy (TFM) is commonly used to estimate cells’ traction forces from the deformation that they cause on their substrate. The accuracy of TFM highly depends on the computational methods used to measure the deformation of the substrate and estimate the forces, and also on the specifics of the experimental set-up. Computer simulations can be used to evaluate the effect of both the computational methods and the experimental set-up without the need to perform numerous experiments. Here, we present one such TFM simulator that addresses several limitations of the existing ones. As a proof of principle, we recreate a TFM experimental set-up, and apply a classic 2D TFM algorithm to recover the forces. In summary, our simulator provides a valuable tool to study the performance, refine experimentally, and guide the extraction of biological conclusions from TFM experiments.

Built heritage management systems : the framework of a digital tool for the conservation of Brisbane City Hall

Brisbane City Hall (BCH) is arguably one of Brisbane’s most notable and iconic buildings. Serving as the public’s central civic and municipal building since 1930, the importance of this heritage listed building to cultural significance and identity is unquestionable. This attribute is reflected within the local government, with a simplified image of the halls main portico entrance supplying Brisbane City Council with its insignia and trademark signifier. Regardless of these qualities, this building has been neglected in a number of ways, primarily in the physical sense with built materials, but also, and just as importantly, through inaccurate and undocumented works. Numerous restoration and renovation works have been undertaken throughout BCH’s lifetime, however the records of these amendments are far and few between. Between 2010 and 2013, BCH underwent major restoration works, the largest production project undertaken on the building since its initial construction. Just prior to this conservation process, the full extent of the buildings deterioration was identified, much of which there was little to no original documentation of. This has led to a number of issues pertaining to what investigators expected to find within the building, versus what was uncovered (the unexpected), which have resulted directly from this lack of data. This absence of record keeping is the key factor that has contributed to the decay and unknown deficiencies that had amassed within BCH. Accordingly, this raises a debate about the methods of record keeping, and the need for a more advanced process that is able to be integrated within architectural and engineering programs, whilst still maintaining the ability to act as a standalone database. The immediate objective of this research is to investigate the restoration process of BCH, with focus on the auditorium, to evaluate possible strategies to record and manage data connected to building pathology so that a framework can be developed for a digital heritage management system. The framework produced for this digital tool will enable dynamic uses of a centralised database and aims to reduce the significant data loss. Following an in-depth analysis of this framework, it can be concluded that the implementation of the suggested digital tool would directly benefit BCH, and could ultimately be incorporated into a number of heritage related built form.

Ozonolysis of phospholipid double bonds during electrospray ionization : A new tool for structure determination

Phospholipids are the key structural component of cell membranes, and recent advances in electrospray ionization mass spectrometry provide for the fast and efficient analysis of these compounds in biological extracts.1-3 The application of electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) to phospholipid analysis has demonstrated several key advantages over the more traditional chromatographic methods, including speed and greater structural information.4 For example, the ESI-MS/MS spectrum of a typical phospholipidsparticularly in negative ion modesreadily identifies the carbon chain length and the degree of unsaturation of each of the fatty acids esterified to the parent molecule.5 A critical limitation of conventional ESI-MS/MS analysis, however, is the inability to uniquely identify the position of double bonds within the fatty acid chains. This is especially problematic given the importance of double bond position in determining the biological function of lipid classes.6 Previous attempts to identify double bond position in intact phospholipids using mass spectrometry employ either MS3 or offline chemical derivatization.7-11 The former method requires specialized instrumentation and is rarely applied, while the latter methods suffer from complications inherent in sample handling prior to analysis. In this communication we outline a novel on-line approach for the identification of double bond position in intact phospholipids. In our method, the double bond(s) present in unsaturated phospholipids are cleaved by ozonolysis within the ion source of a conventional ESI mass spectrometer to give two chemically induced fragment ions that may be used to unambiguously assign the position of the double bond. This is achieved by using oxygen as the electrospray nebulizing gas in combination with high electrospray voltages to initiate the formation of an ozoneproducing.

Development of a dose assessment tool for the auditing of radiotherapy treatment dosimetric quality

The reporting and auditing of patient dose is an important component of radiotherapy quality assurance. The manual extraction of dose-volume metrics is time consuming and undesirable when auditing the dosimetric quality of a large cohort of patient plans. A dose assessment application was written to overcome this, allowing the calculation of various dose-volume metrics for large numbers of plans exported from treatment planning systems. This application expanded on the DICOM-handling functionality of the MCDTK software suite. The software extracts dose values in the volume of interest by using a ray casting point-in-polygon algorithm, where the polygons have been defined by the contours in the RTSTRUCT file...

Learning and development opportunities as a tool for the retention of volunteers : a motivation perspective

The growing reliance on volunteers in Australia has heightened the need for non-profit organisations to retain these valuable resources. However, the current literature on volunteer retention is limited. One potential way volunteers can be retained is by providing learning and development opportunities (LDOs). This study investigates the relationship between volunteer perceptions of LDOs, their motivations for volunteering, and retention. Analyses revealed significant main effects for LDOs and volunteer motivations on retention and several interactive effects demonstrating that LDOs can have differential effects on retention depending on the reasons for volunteering.

Measuring multidisciplinary team effectiveness in a ward-based healthcare setting : development of the Team Functioning Assessment Tool

Nontechnical skills relating to team functioning are vital to the effective delivery of patient care and safety. In this study, we develop a reliable behavioral marker tool for assessing nontechnical skills that are critical to the success of ward-based multidisciplinary healthcare teams. The Team Functioning Assessment Tool (TFAT) was developed and refined using a literature review, focus groups, card-sorting exercise, field observations, and final questionnaire evaluation and refinement process. Results demonstrated that Clinical Planning, Executive Tasks, and Team Relations are important facets of effective multidisciplinary healthcare team functioning. The TFAT was also shown to yield acceptable inter-rater agreement.

Measuring ward-based multidisciplinary healthcare team functioning : a validation study of the Team Functioning Assessment Tool (TFAT)

The team functioning assessment tool (TFAT) has been shown to be a reliable behavioral marker tool for assessing nontechnical skills that are critical to the success of ward-based healthcare teams. This paper aims to refine and shorten the length of the TFAT to improve usability, and establish its reliability and construct validity. Psychometric testing based on 110 multidisciplinary healthcare teams demonstrated that the TFAT is a reliable and valid tool for measuring team members’ nontechnical skills in regards to Clinical Planning, Executive Tasks, and Team Functioning. Providing support for concurrent validity, high TFAT ratings were predicted by low levels of organizational constraints and high levels of group potency. There was also partial support for the negative relationships between time pressure, leadership ambiguity, and TFAT ratings. The paper provides a discussion on the applicability of the tool for assessing multidisciplinary healthcare team functioning in the context of improving team effectiveness and patient safety for ward-based hospital teams.

The Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS): A new tool to measure the quality of health mobile applications

Smartphone technology provides free or inexpensive access to mental health and wellbeing resources. As a result the use of mobile applications for these purposes has increased significantly in recent years. Yet, there is currently no app quality assessment alternative to the popular ‘star’-ratings, which are often unreliable. This presentation describes the development of the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) a new measure for classifying and rating the quality of mobile applications. A review of existing literature on app and web quality identified 25 published papers, conference proceedings, and online resources (published since 1999), which identified 372 explicit quality criteria. Qualitative analysis identified five broad categories of app quality rating criteria: engagement, functionality, aesthetics, information quality, and overall satisfaction, which were refined into the 23-item MARS. Independent ratings of 50 randomly selected mental health and wellbeing mobile apps indicated the MARS had excellent levels of internal consistency (α = 0.92) and inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.85). The MARS provides practitioners and researchers with an easy-to-use, simple, objective and reliable tool for assessing mobile app quality. It also provides mHealth professionals with a checklist for the design and development of high quality apps.

Strategic IMC : from abstract concept to marketing management tool

Although integrated marketing communication (IMC) has progressed towards midrange maturity level, its full-scale adoption has been impeded by a lack of consensus on its defining constructs. The purpose of this study is to move from abstraction to define the construct of strategic integration (SI) and develop this into a management tool, thus making an important contribution to both the theory and practice of IMC. Drawing from both IMC and strategic management literature, the construct of SI is operationalised into a number of key factors and a well-cited management model, Fuchs’ ‘integration valuator’ is explored as the starting point of a measurement tool for IMC. To do this, a Delphi study invites the scrutiny of an expert panel of world-leading IMC researchers and practitioners. The panel validated the model construction process,redefined overarching constructs and key factors with a high degree of consensus, supported a process measure, suggested a weighted evaluation measure and recognised the importance of developing such a measure. They delivered clear and consistent imperatives guiding model development. The result is a measure of SI that evaluates organisational proficiency and diagnoses the integration of IMC campaigns. It also advances theory by providing a better understanding of the construct of SI.