Video-based road commentary training improves hazard perception of young drivers in a dual task

This study used a video-based hazard perception dual task to compare the hazard perception skills of young drivers with middle aged, more experienced drivers and to determine if these skills can be improved with video-based road commentary training. The primary task required the participants to detect and verbally identify immediate hazard on video-based traffic scenarios while concurrently performing a secondary tracking task, simulating the steering of real driving. The results showed that the young drivers perceived fewer immediate hazards (mean = 75.2%, n = 24, 19 females) than the more experienced drivers (mean = 87.5%, n = 8, all females), and had longer hazard perception times, but performed better in the secondary tracking task. After the road commentary training, the mean percentage of hazards detected and identified by the young drivers improved to the level of the experienced drivers and was significantly higher than that of an age and driving experience matched control group. The results will be discussed in the context of psychological theories of hazard perception and in relation to road commentary as an evidence-based training intervention that seems to improve many aspects of unsafe driving behaviour in young drivers.

Simulation architecture for cooperative ITS applications and augmented perception

Cooperative Systems provide, through the multiplication of information sources over the road, a lot of potential to improve the safety of road users, especially drivers. However, developing cooperative ITS applications requires additional resources compared to non-cooperative applications which are both time consuming and expensive. In this paper, we present a simulation architecture aimed at prototyping cooperative ITS applications in an accurate and detailed, close-to-reality environment; the architecture is designed to be modular and generalist. It can be used to simulate any type of CS applications as well as augmented perception. Then, we discuss the results of two applications deployed with our architecture, using a common freeway emergency braking scenario. The first application is Emergency Electronic Brake Light (EEBL); we discuss improvements in safety in terms of the number of crashes and the severity of crashes. The second application compares the performance of a cooperative risk assessment using an augmented map against a non-cooperative approach based on local-perception only. Our results show a systematic improvement of forward warning time for most vehicles in the string when using the augmented-map-based risk assessment.

Insect odour perception: recognition of odour components by flower foraging moths

Odours emitted by flowers are complex blends of volatile compounds. These odours are learnt by flower-visiting insect species, improving their recognition of rewarding flowers and thus foraging efficiency. We investigated the flexibility of floral odour learning by testing whether adult moths recognize single compounds common to flowers on which they forage. Dual choice preference tests on Helicoverpa armigera moths allowed free flying moths to forage on one of three flower species; Argyranthemum frutescens (federation daisy), Cajanus cajan (pigeonpea) or Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco). Results showed that, (i) a benzenoid (phenylacetaldehyde) and a monoterpene (linalool) were subsequently recognized after visits to flowers that emitted these volatile constituents, (ii) in a preference test, other monoterpenes in the flowers' odour did not affect the moths' ability to recognize the monoterpene linalool and (iii) relative preferences for two volatiles changed after foraging experience on a single flower species that emitted both volatiles. The importance of using free flying insects and real flowers to understand the mechanisms involved in floral odour learning in nature are discussed in the context of our findings.

Tracing the influence of non-narrative film and expanded cinema sound on experimental music

This study surveys and interrogates key conceptual frameworks and artistic practises that flow through the distinct but interconnected traditions of non-narrative film and experimental music, and examines how these are articulated in my own creative sound practise.

Beat-mixing Rock music: Rock and electronic dance music merge to create the Manarays

This research introduces the proposition that Electronic Dance Music’s beat-mixing function could be implemented to create immediacy in other musical genres. The inclusion of rhythmic sections at the beginning and end of each musical work created a ‘DJ friendly’ environment. The term used in this thesis to refer to the application of beat-mixing in Rock music is ‘ClubRock’. Collaboration between a number of DJs and Rock music professionals applied the process of beat-mixing to blend Rock tracks to produce a continuous ClubRock set. The DJ technique of beat-mixing Rock music transformed static renditions into a fluid creative work. The hybridisation of the two genres, EDM and Rock, resulted in a contribution to Rock music compositional approaches and the production of a unique Rock album; Manarays—Get Lucky.

Perception and reality : meeting Australia’s physical activity guidelines for 12-18 year olds

Governments regularly publish empirically derived minimum physical activity (PA) guidelines for youth, in response to the ongoing trend of youth physical inactivity. The purpose of this investigation was to explore parents’ awareness of the national PA guidelines for youth, and adolescents’ and their parents’ perceptions of adolescent PA, and compare these to self-reported adolescent PA. A total of 115 adolescents (aged 12-14) and their parents completed questionnaire assessments. Parents responded to questions concerning their awareness of the national PA guidelines, and whether they believed their child to be sufficiently active. Adolescents completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents, and questions concerning their perceived level of PA. Adolescents were deemed sufficiently active if they participated in an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA each day. Overall, 104 (90.4%) adolescents and their parents had complete data sets and were included in the analysis. Of the 45 (43.3%) sufficiently and 59 (56.7%) insufficiently active adolescents, 42 (93%) and 41 (69.5%) respectively believed that they were active enough for good general health. Additionally, 41 (91.1%) parents of active and 44 (74.6%) parents of inactive adolescents either agreed or strongly agreed that their child participates in sufficient PA for good general health. Twenty-four (53.3%) parents of active adolescents were unaware of the national PA guidelines, with 10 (22.2%) neither aware or unaware, and 11 (24.4%) aware. Similar results were found for the parents of inactive adolescents with 31 (52.5%) unaware, 17 (28.8%) neither aware or unaware, and 11 (18.6%) aware. These results suggest that the youth PA guidelines are being inadequately received by both adolescents, and their parents. Opportunities to effectively communicate these guidelines such as embedment in curriculum for adolescents, or the dissemination of materials for parents, should be maximised by appropriate authorities.

Urban transit quality of service : user perception and behaviour

Despite its potential multiple contributions to sustainable policy objectives, urban transit is generally not widely used by the public in terms of its market share compared to that of automobiles, particularly in affluent societies with low-density urban forms like Australia. Transit service providers need to attract more people to transit by improving transit quality of service. The key to cost-effective transit service improvements lies in accurate evaluation of policy proposals by taking into account their impacts on transit users. If transit providers knew what is more or less important to their customers, they could focus their efforts on optimising customer-oriented service. Policy interventions could also be specified to influence transit users’ travel decisions, with targets of customer satisfaction and broader community welfare. This significance motivates the research into the relationship between urban transit quality of service and its user perception as well as behaviour. This research focused on two dimensions of transit user’s travel behaviour: route choice and access arrival time choice. The study area chosen was a busy urban transit corridor linking Brisbane central business district (CBD) and the St. Lucia campus of The University of Queensland (UQ). This multi-system corridor provided a ‘natural experiment’ for transit users between the CBD and UQ, as they can choose between busway 109 (with grade-separate exclusive right-of-way), ordinary on-street bus 412, and linear fast ferry CityCat on the Brisbane River. The population of interest was set as the attendees to UQ, who travelled from the CBD or from a suburb via the CBD. Two waves of internet-based self-completion questionnaire surveys were conducted to collect data on sampled passengers’ perception of transit service quality and behaviour of using public transit in the study area. The first wave survey is to collect behaviour and attitude data on respondents’ daily transit usage and their direct rating of importance on factors of route-level transit quality of service. A series of statistical analyses is conducted to examine the relationships between transit users’ travel and personal characteristics and their transit usage characteristics. A factor-cluster segmentation procedure is applied to respodents’ importance ratings on service quality variables regarding transit route preference to explore users’ various perspectives to transit quality of service. Based on the perceptions of service quality collected from the second wave survey, a series of quality criteria of the transit routes under study was quantitatively measured, particularly, the travel time reliability in terms of schedule adherence. It was proved that mixed traffic conditions and peak-period effects can affect transit service reliability. Multinomial logit models of transit user’s route choice were estimated using route-level service quality perceptions collected in the second wave survey. Relative importance of service quality factors were derived from choice model’s significant parameter estimates, such as access and egress times, seat availability, and busway system. Interpretations of the parameter estimates were conducted, particularly the equivalent in-vehicle time of access and egress times, and busway in-vehicle time. Market segmentation by trip origin was applied to investigate the difference in magnitude between the parameter estimates of access and egress times. The significant costs of transfer in transit trips were highlighted. These importance ratios were applied back to quality perceptions collected as RP data to compare the satisfaction levels between the service attributes and to generate an action relevance matrix to prioritise attributes for quality improvement. An empirical study on the relationship between average passenger waiting time and transit service characteristics was performed using the service quality perceived. Passenger arrivals for services with long headways (over 15 minutes) were found to be obviously coordinated with scheduled departure times of transit vehicles in order to reduce waiting time. This drove further investigations and modelling innovations in passenger’ access arrival time choice and its relationships with transit service characteristics and average passenger waiting time. Specifically, original contributions were made in formulation of expected waiting time, analysis of the risk-aversion attitude to missing desired service run in the passengers’ access time arrivals’ choice, and extensions of the utility function specification for modelling passenger access arrival distribution, by using complicated expected utility forms and non-linear probability weighting to explicitly accommodate the risk of missing an intended service and passenger’s risk-aversion attitude. Discussions on this research’s contributions to knowledge, its limitations, and recommendations for future research are provided at the concluding section of this thesis.

The Music Industry : Music in the Cloud, 1st edition

"The music industry is going through a period of immense change brought about in part by the digital revolution. What is the role of music in the age of computers and the internet? How has the music industry been transformed by the economic and technological upheavals of recent years, and how is it likely to change in the future? This is the first major study of the music industry in the new millennium. Wikström provides an international overview of the music industry and its future prospects in the world of global entertainment. He illuminates the workings of the music industry, and captures the dynamics at work in the production of musical culture between the transnational media conglomerates, the independent music companies and the public." -- back cover Table of Contents Introduction: Music in the Cloud Chapter 1: A Copyright Industry. Chapter 2: Inside the Music Industry Chapter 3: Music and the Media Chapter 4: Making Music - An Industrial or Creative Process Chapter 5: The Social and Creative Music Fan Chapter 6: Future Sounds

Sound Musicianship : Understanding the Crafts of Music

Sound Musicianship is a book for music educators and musicians about musicianship—about musical skills, abilities, habits, sensibilities and understandings. Musicianship is explored as a form of craftsmanship. Like most crafts, music requires a balance of theoretical knowledge and practical skills that contribute to a highly tuned ability to appreciate and express music. In particular, the book explores general trends that influence musicianship in the twenty-first century, such as an increased reliance on digital media, greater awareness of the neurological basis for musical behaviour, a renewed interest in connections between bodily movements and musical expression, and increased cultural plurality resulting from more frequent travel, increased levels of migration and ubiquitous telecommunications. The book has a deliberate focus on the developmental aspects of musicianship, which will benefit those hoping to advance their own music learning or that of others. It includes a diverse range of views and perspectives on musicianship and is organised into five sections. The first four sections explore the implications of music understood as sound, experience, motion and culture, respectively. In these sections, leading researchers and thinkers outline important issues and debates that are relevant to developing the crafts of music making and they share insights into recent trends and understandings. The final section of the book looks at educational considerations and provides a series of case studies that document innovative approaches to developing musicianship. Readers will encounter some new, interesting and thought-provoking ideas within these pages. As we move further into the twenty-first century—with all the opportunities and challenges for music making it brings—the requirement to review our concepts of musicianship training will intensify, and the definition of a “sound basis” for a contemporary musicianship will evolve. This book is intended to help stimulate and inform that evolutionary process.

The adventure of the refrain : composing with improvised music

This practice-based inquiry investigates the process of composing notated scores using improvised solos by saxophonists John Butcher and Anthony Braxton. To compose with these improvised sources, I developed a new method of analysis and through this method I developed new compositional techniques in applying these materials into a score. This method of analysis and composition utilizes the conceptual language of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari found in A Thousand Plateaus. The conceptual language of Deleuze and Guattari, in particular the terms assemblage, refrain and deterritorialization are discussed in depth to give a context for the philosophical origins and also to explain how the language is used in reference to improvised music and the compositional process. The project seeks to elucidate the conceptual language through the creative practice and in turn for the creative practice to clarify the use of the conceptual terminology. The outcomes of the research resulted in four notated works being composed. Firstly, Gravity, for soloist and ensemble based on the improvisational language of John Butcher and secondly a series of 3 studies titled Transbraxton Studies for solo instruments based on the improvisational-compositional language of Anthony Braxton. The implications of this research include the application of the analysis method to a number of musical contexts including: to be used in the process of composing with improvised music; in the study of style and authorship in solo improvisation; as a way of analyzing group improvisation; in the analysis of textural music including electronic music; and in the analysis of music from different cultures—particularly cultures where improvisation and per formative aspects to the music are significant to the overall meaning of the work. The compositional technique that was developed has further applications in terms of an expressive method of composing with non-metered improvised materials and one that merges well with the transcription method developed of notating pitch and sounds to a timeline. It is hoped that this research can open further lines of enquiry into the application of the conceptual ideas of Deleuze and Guattari to the analysis of more forms of music.

Sharing the news : Dissemination of links to Australian news sites on Twitter

Social media adoption in Australia, which provides the geographic focus for this chapter, has been rapid and substantial (ABC News, 2010) – possibly because of the considerable dispersal of the Australian population across the continent, as well as the significant distance of the country from many of its closest partner nations. Social media can play an important role in strengthening and maintaining interpersonal and professional relationships in spite of such physical distance; in particular, social media services are now well-recognised as important tools for the dissemination of news across many developed nations. Hermida (2010) and Burns (2010) both speak of Twitter as a medium for “ambient news”, for example: always-on, operating as a steady stream in the background and at the edge of users’ conscious perception. Much as ambient music is designed to do, it comes to the fore when notable events (such as major breaking news) lead to an increase in volume and demand a greater level of attention from users.

"Ruby's Music Festival" : developing problem solving skills using online scenarios and creating opportunities to feed forward

One of the characteristics of good teaching is giving the highest quality feedback on student work but the term “feedback” is most commonly associated with summative assessment given by a teacher after work is completed. The student can often be a passive participant in the process. This article looks at the implementation of web based scenarios completed by students prior to summative assessment with the objective of improving legal problem solving skills. It examines the design process and the implementation of the problem solving activity and the approach to teaching and learning taken in the new law unit of which it is part. We argue that such activities are effective tools to feed forward and reflect on the implications for the effective teaching of law in higher education.

Prediction and proactivity in real-time interactive music systems

We advocate for the use of predictive techniques in interactive computer music systems. We suggest that the inclusion of prediction can assist in the design of proactive rather than reactive computational performance partners. We summarize the significant role prediction plays in human musical decisions, and the only modest use of prediction in interactive music systems to date. After describing how we are working toward employing predictive processes in our own metacreation software we reflect on future extensions to these approaches.

Comparison of Motorists’ and Cyclists’ perception of bicycle safety

Increasing the modal share of public transit systems has become paramount in aiding the reduction on the excessive reliance of personal motor vehicles. More so the need to increase the share of active modes of transport such as the use of bicycles, therefore there is an ever increasing need to use bicycles both on shared pedestrian paths and on-road cycling. The risk to cyclist, or consequently the perception of the risk from both cyclists and motorists alike, is an important factor to increase the use of this transport mode. This paper investigates perception of bicycle safety by conducting a survey and analysing the survey data to understand how participants with different backgrounds perceive the risks of cycling for transport. Contributing factors to people’s perception of bicycle safety were identified and compared across different road user groups, based upon which recommendations were made on how to improve bicycle safety.

Parents’ perception about children’s academic stress and child care related issues

The present study intends to understand the parents' perception about children's academic stress and child care related issues. A group of 139 parents, 68 fathers and 71 mothers, participated in the study voluntarily and they were selected following convenience sampling technique. In order to achieve the objective of the study, a specially designed semi-structured questionnaire was used. Findings disclosed that about one-third of the fathers (29.4%) and one-tenth of the mothers (9.9%) frankly admitted that they could not provide quality care and guidance to their children and in this regard significant difference was observed between fathers and mothers (p<.05). More than four-fifth of the parents stated that they should be friendly with their children so that children feel comfortable to share their personal issues with them. More than one-fifth fathers (27.9%) and one-fourth mothers (16.9%) applied corporal punishment as they believed it is necessary to discipline them and/or for better academic performance.