Interactive lounge : an interdisciplinary approach to the design of a gestural interaction device

Among the many new opportunities that digital technologies are enabling are an increased capacity for viewers to interact not only with the program content, but with an increasingly wide array of other digital applications. Within this context this project has developed a new interaction device (incorporating gestural platform technology) and user interfaces to facilitate interactive access to digital media in a lounge room setting. This paper provides an overview of an interdisciplinary design process applied by Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) researchers—in order to develop the device and present in detail its unique features.

Corona discharges on the surfaces of high voltage composite insulators

The degradation of high voltage electrical insulation is a prime factor that can significantly influence the reliability performance and the costs of maintaining high voltage electricity networks. Little information is known about the system of localized degradation from corona discharges on the relatively new silicone rubber sheathed composite insulators that are now being widely used in high voltage applications. This current work focuses on the fundamental principles of electrical corona discharge phenomena to provide further insights to where damaging surface discharges may localize and examines how these discharges may degrade the silicone rubber material. Although water drop corona has been identified by many authors as a major cause of deterioration of silicone rubber high voltage insulation until now no thorough studies have been made of this phenomenon. Results from systematic measurements taken using modern digital instrumentation to simultaneously record the discharge current pulses and visible images associated with corona discharges from between metal electrodes, metal electrodes and water drops, and between waters drops on the surface of silicone rubber insulation, using a range of 50 Hz voltages are inter compared. Visual images of wet electrodes show how water drops can play a part in encouraging flashover, and the first reproducible visual images of water drop corona at the triple junction of water air and silicone rubber insulation are presented. A study of the atomic emission spectra of the corona produced by the discharge from its onset up to and including spark-over, using a high resolution digital spectrometer with a fiber optic probe, provides further understanding of the roles of the active species of atoms and molecules produced by the discharge that may be responsible for not only for chemical changes of insulator surfaces, but may also contribute to the degradation of the metal fittings that support the high voltage insulators. Examples of real insulators and further work specific to the electrical power industry are discussed. A new design concept to prevent/reduce the damaging effects of water drop corona is also presented.

The use of narrative text for injury surveillance research : a systematic review

Objective: To summarise the extent to which narrative text fields in administrative health data are used to gather information about the event resulting in presentation to a health care provider for treatment of an injury, and to highlight best practise approaches to conducting narrative text interrogation for injury surveillance purposes.----- Design: Systematic review----- Data sources: Electronic databases searched included CINAHL, Google Scholar, Medline, Proquest, PubMed and PubMed Central.. Snowballing strategies were employed by searching the bibliographies of retrieved references to identify relevant associated articles.----- Selection criteria: Papers were selected if the study used a health-related database and if the study objectives were to a) use text field to identify injury cases or use text fields to extract additional information on injury circumstances not available from coded data or b) use text fields to assess accuracy of coded data fields for injury-related cases or c) describe methods/approaches for extracting injury information from text fields.----- Methods: The papers identified through the search were independently screened by two authors for inclusion, resulting in 41 papers selected for review. Due to heterogeneity between studies metaanalysis was not performed.----- Results: The majority of papers reviewed focused on describing injury epidemiology trends using coded data and text fields to supplement coded data (28 papers), with these studies demonstrating the value of text data for providing more specific information beyond what had been coded to enable case selection or provide circumstantial information. Caveats were expressed in terms of the consistency and completeness of recording of text information resulting in underestimates when using these data. Four coding validation papers were reviewed with these studies showing the utility of text data for validating and checking the accuracy of coded data. Seven studies (9 papers) described methods for interrogating injury text fields for systematic extraction of information, with a combination of manual and semi-automated methods used to refine and develop algorithms for extraction and classification of coded data from text. Quality assurance approaches to assessing the robustness of the methods for extracting text data was only discussed in 8 of the epidemiology papers, and 1 of the coding validation papers. All of the text interrogation methodology papers described systematic approaches to ensuring the quality of the approach.----- Conclusions: Manual review and coding approaches, text search methods, and statistical tools have been utilised to extract data from narrative text and translate it into useable, detailed injury event information. These techniques can and have been applied to administrative datasets to identify specific injury types and add value to previously coded injury datasets. Only a few studies thoroughly described the methods which were used for text mining and less than half of the studies which were reviewed used/described quality assurance methods for ensuring the robustness of the approach. New techniques utilising semi-automated computerised approaches and Bayesian/clustering statistical methods offer the potential to further develop and standardise the analysis of narrative text for injury surveillance.

The effective and the evocative : reflecting on practice-led research approaches in art and design

Early in the practice-led research debate, Steven Scrivener (2000, 2002) identified some general differences in the approach of artists and designers undertaking postgraduate research. His distinctions centered on the role of the artefact in problem-based research (associated with design) and creative-production research (associated with artistic practice). Nonetheless, in broader discussions on practice-led research, 'art and design' often continues to be conflated within a single term. In particular, marked differences between art and design methodologies, theoretical framing, research goals and research claims have been underestimated. This paper revisits Scrivener's work and establishes further distinctions between art and design research. It is informed by our own experiences of postgraduate supervision and research methods training, and an empirical study of over sixty postgraduate, practice-led projects completed at the Creative Industries Faculty of QUT between 2002 and 2008. Our reflections have led us to propose that artists and designers work with differing research goals (the evocative and the effective, respectively), which are played out in the questions asked, the creative process, the role of the artefact and the way new knowledge is evidenced. Of course, research projects will have their own idiosyncrasies but, we argue, marking out the poles at each end of the spectrum of art and design provides useful insights for postgraduate candidates, supervisors and methodologists alike.

Innovation and the city : a macromarketing approach to industry development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose and demonstrate the relevance of marketing systems, notably the process of product management and innovation, to urban development challenges. Design/methodology/approach – A macromarketing perspective is adopted to construe the city as a product and begin the application of the innovation process to urban management, following the steps commonly proposed for successful innovation in product management. An example of the application of the initial new product development steps of idea generation and opportunity identification is presented. Findings – The innovation process provides guidelines and checkpoints that enable corporations to improve the success rate of their development initiatives. Cities, like corporations, need to innovate in order to maintain their image and functionality, to provide a myriad benefits to their stakeholders and, thereby, to survive and grow. The example here shows how the preliminary NPD steps of idea generation and opportunity identification enrich the process of identifying and analysing new industry opportunities for a city. Practical implications – By conceptualising the city as a multifaceted product, the disciplined planning and evaluation processes pertinent to NPD success become relevant and helpful to practitioners responsible for urban planning, urban development and change. Originality/value – The paper shows how pertinent concepts and processes from marketing can be effectively applied to urban planning and economic development initiatives.

The effect of national governance codes on firm disclosure practices : evidence from analyst earnings forecasts

This study examines whether voluntary national governance codes have a significant effect on company disclosure practices. Two direct effects of the codes are expected: 1) an overall improvement in company disclosure practices, which is greater when the codes have a greater emphasis on disclosure; and 2) a leveling out of disclosure practices across companies (i.e., larger improvements in companies that were previously poorer disclosers) due to the codes new comply-or-explain requirements. The codes are also expected to have an indirect effect on disclosure practices through their effect on company governance practices. The results show that the introduction of the codes in eight East Asian countries has been associated with lower analyst forecast error and a leveling out of disclosure practices across companies. The codes are also found to have an indirect effect on company disclosure practices through their effect on board independence. This study shows that a regulatory approach to improving disclosure practices is not always necessary. Voluntary national governance codes are found to have both a significant direct effect and a significant indirect effect on company disclosure practices. In addition, the results indicate that analysts in Asia do react to changes in disclosure practices, so there is an incentive for small companies and family-owned companies to further improve their disclosure practices.

High porosity chained aggregates from the topsoil of the Lunar regolith Dust

The unusual behaviour of fine lunar regolith like stickiness and low heat conductivity is dominated by the structural arrangement of its finest fraction in the outer-most topsoil layer. Here, we show the previously unknown phenomenon of building a globular 3-D superstructure within the dust fraction of the regolith. New technology, Transmission X-ray Microscopy (TXM) with tomographic reconstruction, reveals a highly porous network of cellular void system in the lunar finest dust fraction aggregates. Such porous chained aggregates are composed of sub-micron in size particles that build cellular void networks. Voids are a few micrometers in diameter. Discovery of such a superstructure within the finest fraction of the lunar topsoil allow building a model of heat transfer which is discussed.

Validation of the WHOQOL-BREF among women following childbirth

Background: There is an increasing interest in measuring quality of life (QOL) in clinical settings and in clinical trials. None of the commonly used QOL instrument have been validated for use postnatally. Aim: To assess the psychometric properties of the 26-item WHOQOL-BREF among women following childbirth. Methods: Using a prospective cohort design we recruited 320 women within the first few days of childbirth. At six weeks postpartum, participants were asked to complete the WHOQOL-BREF, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Index and the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index. Validation of the WHOQOL-BREF included an analysis of internal consistency, discriminate validity, convergent validity and an examination of the domain structure. Results: 221 (69.1%) women returned their six-week questionnaire. All domains of the WHOQOL-BREF met reliability standards (alpha coefficient exceeding 0.70). The questionnaire discriminated well between known groups (depressed and non-depressed women. P = <0.000) and demonstrated satisfactory correlations with the Australian Unity Wellbeing index (r = >0.45). The domain structure of the WHOQOL-BREF was also valid in this population of new mothers, with moderate to high correlation between individual items and the domain structure to which the items were originally assigned. Conclusion: The WHOQOL-BRF is well-accepted and valid instrument in this population and may be used in postnatal clinical settings or for assessing intervention effects in research studies.

Women who miscarry : the effectiveness and clinical utility of the Kessler 10 questionnaire in screening for ongoing psychological distress

Background: Early pregnancy loss has been linked to enduring psychological morbidity. Aims: This study aimed to investigate the utility of the Kessler 10 (K10) questionnaire as a brief screening instrument to identify women at risk for the development of psychiatric diagnoses three months post-miscarriage. Method: Participants were 117 consecutive women presenting at a public hospital emergency department and receiving a diagnosis of miscarriage. Main outcome measures: K10 screen for psychological distress and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders to determine psychiatric diagnoses. Results: A majority of women (81.2%) experienced elevated levels of distress initially, 24.8% in the very high range. They were not at increased risk of psychiatric diagnoses at three months compared with the general population; however, they were significantly more likely to report subsyndromal symptoms at this time compared with the general population. The baseline K10 score was the only significant predictor of distress at follow-up (r = 0.45, P < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic curve shows that a cut-off of 14 on the K10 has suitable sensitivity (97%) and specificity (82%) for predicting ongoing psychological distress in women who miscarry. Conclusions: The K10 is effective in identifying women at risk for ensuring psychological symptoms following miscarriage.

Characterisation of Coal Seam Gas Waters in New Zealand

Coal seam gas (CSG) exploration and development requires the abstraction of significant amounts of water. This is so because gas desorbtion in coal seams takes place only after aquifer pressure has been reduced by prolonged pumping of aquifer water. CSG waters have a specific geochemical signature which is a product of their formation process. These waters have high bicarbonate, high sodium, low calcium, low magnesium, and very low sulphate concentrations. Additionally, chloride concentrations may be high depending on the coal depositional environment. This particular signature is not only useful for exploration purposes, but it also highlights potential environmental issues that can arise as a consequence of CSG water disposal. Since 2002 L&M Coal Seam Gas Ltd and CRL Energy Ltd, have been involved in exploration and development of CSG in New Zealand. Anticipating disposal of CSG waters as a key issue in CSG development, they have been assessing CSG water quality along with exploration work. Coal seam gas water samples from an exploration well in Maramarua closely follow the geochemical signature associated with CSG waters. This has helped to identify CSG potential, while at the same time assessing the chemical characteristics and water generation processes in the aquifer. Neutral pH and high alkalinity suggest that these waters could be easily managed once the sodium and chloride concentrations are reduced to acceptable levels.

New criteria for evaluating methods of identifying hot spots

Identification of hot spots, also known as the sites with promise, black spots, accident-prone locations, or priority investigation locations, is an important and routine activity for improving the overall safety of roadway networks. Extensive literature focuses on methods for hot spot identification (HSID). A subset of this considerable literature is dedicated to conducting performance assessments of various HSID methods. A central issue in comparing HSID methods is the development and selection of quantitative and qualitative performance measures or criteria. The authors contend that currently employed HSID assessment criteria—namely false positives and false negatives—are necessary but not sufficient, and additional criteria are needed to exploit the ordinal nature of site ranking data. With the intent to equip road safety professionals and researchers with more useful tools to compare the performances of various HSID methods and to improve the level of HSID assessments, this paper proposes four quantitative HSID evaluation tests that are, to the authors’ knowledge, new and unique. These tests evaluate different aspects of HSID method performance, including reliability of results, ranking consistency, and false identification consistency and reliability. It is intended that road safety professionals apply these different evaluation tests in addition to existing tests to compare the performances of various HSID methods, and then select the most appropriate HSID method to screen road networks to identify sites that require further analysis. This work demonstrates four new criteria using 3 years of Arizona road section accident data and four commonly applied HSID methods [accident frequency ranking, accident rate ranking, accident reduction potential, and empirical Bayes (EB)]. The EB HSID method reveals itself as the superior method in most of the evaluation tests. In contrast, identifying hot spots using accident rate rankings performs the least well among the tests. The accident frequency and accident reduction potential methods perform similarly, with slight differences explained. The authors believe that the four new evaluation tests offer insight into HSID performance heretofore unavailable to analysts and researchers.

Early relational reasoning and the novice programmer : swapping as the “hello world” of relational reasoning

We report on a longitudinal research study of the development of novice programmers in their first semester of programming. In the third week, almost half of our sample of students could not answer an explain-in-plain-English question, for code consisting of just three assignment statements, which swapped the values in two variables. We regard code that swaps the values of two variables as the simplest case of where a programming student can manifest a SOLO relational response. Our results demonstrate that the problems many students face with understanding code can begin very early, on relatively trivial code. However, using traditional programming exercises, these problems often go undetected until late in the semester. New approaches are required to detect and fix these problems earlier.

Petrology and geochemistry of the Quaternary Caldera-forming, Phonolitic Granadilla Eruption, Tenerife (Canary Islands)

The Granadilla eruption at 600 ka was one of the largest phonolitic explosive eruptions from the Las Cañadas volcano on Tenerife, producing a classical plinian eruptive sequence of a widespread pumice fall deposit overlain by an ignimbrite. The eruption resulted in a major phase of caldera collapse that probably destroyed the shallow-level magma chamber system. Granadilla pumices contain a diverse phenocryst assemblage of alkali feldspar + biotite + sodian diopside to aegirine–augite + titanomagnetite + ilmenite + nosean/haüyne + titanite + apatite; alkali feldspar is the dominant phenocryst and biotite is the main ferromagnesian phase. Kaersutite and partially resorbed plagioclase (oligoclase to sodic andesine) are present in some eruptive units, particularly in pumice erupted during the early plinian phase, and in the Granadilla ignimbrite at the top of the sequence. Associated with the kaersutite and plagioclase are small clots of microlitic plagioclase and kaersutite interpreted as quenched blebs of tephriphonolitic magma within the phonolite pumice. The Granadilla Member has previously been recognized as an example of reverse-then-normal compositional zonation, where the zonation is primarily expressed in terms of substantial variations in trace element abundances with limited major element variation (cryptic zonation). Evidence for cryptic zonation is also provided by the chemistry of the phenocryst phases, and corresponding changes in intensive parameters (e.g. T, f O2, f  H2O). Geothermometry estimates indicate that the main body of phonolite magma had a temperature gradient from 860 °C to ∼790 °C, with hotter magma (≥900 °C) tapped at the onset and terminal phases of the eruption. The reverse-then-normal chemical and thermal zonation reflects the initial tapping of a partially hybridized magma (mixing of phonolite and tephriphonolite), followed by the more sequential tapping of a zoned and relatively large body of highly evolved phonolite at a new vent and during the main plinian phase. This suggests that the different magma types within the main holding chamber could have been laterally juxtaposed, as well as in a density-stratified arrangement. Correlations between the presence of mixed phenocryst populations (i.e. presence of plagioclase and kaersutite) and coarser pumice fall layers suggest that increased eruption vigour led to the tapping of hybridized and/or less evolved magma probably from greater depths in the chamber. New oxygen isotope data for glass and mineral separates preclude syn-eruptive interaction between the vesiculating magma and hydrothermal fluids as the cause of the Sr isotope disequilibrium identified previously for the deposit. Enrichment in radiogenic Sr in the pumice glass has more likely been due to low-temperature exchange with meteoric water that was enriched in 87Sr by sea spray, which may be a common process affecting porous and glassy pyroclastic deposits on oceanic islands.

Transgression and the everyday : art and fashion in the 1970s

Former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren has said that punk fashion truly began in New York. In the 1970s, New York was home to the burgeoning punk scene, Fluxus artists and Andy Warhol’s ‘Factory’. Trace the connections between designers, artists and the musicians who became fashion icons such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, Malcolm McLaren, Richard Hell, Lou Reed, and Andy Warhol with Alice Payne (PhD candidate).

Restrung new chamber festival : an exploration of contemporary string practice

The Restrung New Chamber Festival was a practice-led research project which explored the intricacies of musical relationships. Specifically, it investigated the nature of contemporary string practice, with "New music" at its core. For the purposes of this project, "New music" will be defined in terms of representing a "global sonorous space" (Nancy 2007:12), which Hulse describes as "a spectacular comingling of styles and an unprecedented explosion of creative possibilities" (Hulse n.d.:2). Approaches to staging such an event are contextualised through a comparative analysis with relevant Australian and European festivals. The Restrung model derived inspiration from both art music and popular music festival models, in several aspects. One strategy was to engage audiences through combinations of musical, visual and spatial features. Another strategy was to encourage interaction by audiences with installations, workshops and forums. Restrung represents a new and distinctive model which presented art music within an immersive environment. This exegesis presents an evaluation framework which investigates the relationship between curatorial input and the experiential qualities of the festival. The context of an overview of trends in arts festival curation informs the discussion, as well as approaches to identifying new and receptive audiences. It is expected that the evaluation framework will provide a useful and practical guide for curators working in contemporary string practice, hybrid arts, experimental and cross-art form festival design.