Spotting the difference : identifying player opponent preferences in FPS games

This paper describes a study designed to understand player responses to artificially intelligent opponents in multi-player First Person Shooter games. It examines the player's ability to tell the difference between artificially intelligent opponents and other human players, and investigates the players' perceptions of these opponents. The study examines player preferences in this regard and identifies the significance of the cues and signs players use to categorise an opponent as artificial or human.

Increasing Food Production Sustainably in a Changing Climate : Understanding the Pressures and Potential

Australian agriculture is faced with the dilemma of increasing food production for a growing domestic and world population while decreasing environmental impacts and supporting the social and economic future of regional communities. The challenge for farmers is compounded by declining rates of productivity growth which have been linked to changes in climate and decreasing investment in agricultural research. The answer must lie in understanding the ecological functionality of landscapes and matching management of agricultural systems and use of natural resources to landscape capacity in a changing climate. A simplified mixed grain and livestock farm case study is used to illustrate the challenges of assessing the potential for shifts in land allocation between commodities to achieve sustainable intensification of nutrition production. This study highlights the risks associated with overly-simplistic solutions and the need for increased investment in research to inform the development of practical strategies for increasing food production in Australian agro-ecosystems while managing the impacts of climate change and addressing climate change mitigation policies.

Computer-based assessments of expected satiety predict behavioural measures of portion-size selection and food intake

Previously, expected satiety (ES) has been measured using software and two-dimensional pictures presented on a computer screen. In this context, ES is an excellent predictor of self-selected portions, when quantified using similar images and similar software. In the present study we sought to establish the veracity of ES as a predictor of behaviours associated with real foods. Participants (N = 30) used computer software to assess their ES and ideal portion of three familiar foods. A real bowl of one food (pasta and sauce) was then presented and participants self-selected an ideal portion size. They then consumed the portion ad libitum. Additional measures of appetite, expected and actual liking, novelty, and reward, were also taken. Importantly, our screen-based measures of expected satiety and ideal portion size were both significantly related to intake (p < .05). By contrast, measures of liking were relatively poor predictors (p > .05). In addition, consistent with previous studies, the majority (90%) of participants engaged in plate cleaning. Of these, 29.6% consumed more when prompted by the experimenter. Together, these findings further validate the use of screen-based measures to explore determinants of portion-size selection and energy intake in humans.

Food policy, dietary intakes and chronic disease in prisons

International research on prisoners demonstrates poor health outcomes, including chronic disease, with the overall burden to the community high. Prisoners are predominantly male and young. In Australia, the average incarceration length is 3 years, sufficient to impact long term health, including nutrition. Food in prisons is highly controlled, yet gaps exist in policy. In most Western countries prisons promote healthy foods, often incongruent with prisoner expectations or wants. Few studies have been conducted on dietary intakes during incarceration in relation to food policy. In this study detailed diet histories were collected on 120/945 men (mean age = 32 years), in a high-secure prison. Intakes were verified via individual purchase records, mealtime observations, and audits of food preparation, purchasing and holdings. Physical measurements (including fasting bloods) were taken and medical records reviewed. Results showed the standard food provided consistent with current dietary guidelines, however limited in menu choice. Diet histories revealed self-funded foods contributing 1–63% of energy (mean = 30%), 0–83% sugar (mean = 38%), 1–77% saturated fats (mean = 31%) and 1–59% sodium (mean = 23%). High levels of modification to food provided was found using minimal cooking amenities and inclusion of self-funded foods and/or foods retained from previous meals. Medical records and physical measurements confirmed markers of chronic disease. This study highlights the need to establish clear guidelines on all food available in prisons if chronic disease risk reduction is a goal. This study has also supported evidenced based food and nutrition policy including menu choice, food quality, quantity and safety as well as type and access to self-funded foods.

Personality & video game genre preferences

This research has been conducted to ascertain whether people with certain personality types exhibit preferences for particular game genres. Four hundred and sixty-six participants completed an online survey in which they described their preference for various game genres and provided measures of personality. Personality types were measured using the five-factor model of personality. Significant relationships between personality types and game genres were found. The results are interpreted in the context of the features of particular game genres and possible matches between personality traits and these features.

Analysis and optimisation of the preferences of decision-makers in black-start group decision-making

As the first stage of power system restoration after a blackout, an optimal black-start scheme is very important for speeding up the whole restoration procedure. Up to now, much research work has been done on generating or selecting an optimal black-start scheme by a single round of decision-making. However, less attention has been paid for improving the final decision-making results through a multiple-round decision-making procedure. In the group decision-making environment, decision-making results evaluated by different black-start experts may differ significantly with each other. Thus, the consistency of black-start decision-making results could be deemed as an important indicator in assessing the black-start group decision-making results. Given this background, an intuitionistic fuzzy distance-based method is presented to analyse the consistency of black-start group decision-making results. Moreover, the weights of black-start indices as well as the weights of decision-making experts are modified in order to optimise the consistency of black-start group decision-making results. Finally, an actual example is served for demonstrating the proposed method.

The use of SMS messaging for physical activity promotion : preferences of Australian adolescents and their parents

OBJECTIVE: Recent increases in youth mobile phone ownership and usage may provide a unique and innovative opportunity for engagement by health promoters, via a familiar and immediately accessible medium. This study investigated adolescents’ and their parents’ preferences for promoting physical activity via means of SMS messaging. METHODS: Adolescents (36 males and 76 females) and their parents (37 males 75 females) were recruited from two non-denominational same-sex private schools, in Brisbane, Australia. The mean age and standard deviation (SD) for adolescents and parents was 14.03 (0.58) and 47.18 (4.65) respectively. Participants responded to a series of questions regarding mobile phone ownership, and preferences for physical activity, school-based physical activity programs, and programs invovling SMS messaging. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and frequency distributions. T-tests were employed to measure gender effect. RESULTS: Overall, 47 (42%) parents desired their child to be more physically active, and were interested for their child to participate in a school-based physical activity program. Of those parents, 16 (34%) parents were interested in their child participating in an SMS-based physical activity program, with 21 (45%) not interested, and 10 (21%) neutral. One hundred and four (95%) adolescents owned a mobile phone, with 84 (82%) of those adolescents wanting to be more physically active. Of those adolescents, 14 (17%) were interested in participating in an SMS-based physical activity program, with 40 (48%) not interested, and 30 (36%) neutral. There was no significant gender effect. CONCLUSIONS: Although SMS messaging may provide an innovative method for youth physical activity promotion, low levels of interest are concerning. These results differ from other studies utilising SMS messaging for the purpose of health promotion, where more positive feedback from participants were reported. A screening process to gauge interest prior to the implementation of any SMS-based health promotion program may prove invaluable toward the success of the program.

Changing tastes in food media : a study of recipe sharing traditions in the food blogging community

Food is inherently cultural yet traditionally overlooked in many disciplines as a topic worthy of serious investigation. This thesis investigates how food, as a topic of interest, is thriving in an online environment through recipe sharing on food blogs. It applies an ethnographic approach to online community studies, providing a rich description of the food blogging community. The thesis demonstrates how the food blogging can be seen as a community. Through a case study focusing on a one recipe shared across many blogs, it also examines the community in action. As the community has grown, it has become more complex, structured and diverse. The thesis examines its evolution and the response of food-related media and other industries to food blogging. The nature of the food blogging community reflects the cultural and social nature of food and the ongoing evolution of recipe sharing through food-related media. Food blogs provide an insight into the eating habits of ‘ordinary’ people, in a more broad-based manner than traditional food-related media such as cookbooks. Beyond this, food blogs are part of wider cultural trends towards DIY, and provide a useful example of the ongoing transformation of food-related media, food culture, and indeed, culture more broadly.

EatChaFood : challenging technology design to slice food waste production

This paper presents work in progress of EatChaFood – a prototype app designed to increase user knowledge of the currently available domestic supply and location of food, with a view to reducing expired household food waste. In order to reap the benefits that EatChaFood can provide we explore ways to overcome manual data entry as a barrier to use. Our user study has to recognise the limitations of the prototype app, and conduct an evaluation of the interaction design built into the app to promote behaviour change. Innovations in the near future such as the automatic scanning of barcodes on food items or photo-recognition will close the gap between perceived prototype usability and usefulness.

Drying condition effects on fluidization quality and fluidization velocity at initial and final stages of cubical particulates for pet food

In this research fluidization behavior of cubical Bovine intestine samples was studied. Bovine intestine samples were heat pump dried at atmospheric pressure and at emperatures below and above the material freezing points. Experiments were conducted to study fluidization characteristics and drying kinetics at different drying conditions. Bovine particles were characterized according to Geldart classification and minimum fluidization velocity was calculated using Ergun Equation and generalized equation for all drying conditions at the beginning of the trials and end of the trials. Walli’s model was used to categorize stability of the fluidization at the beginning and end of the drying for each trial. Walli’s values determined were positive at the beginning and end of all trials indicating stable fluidisation at the beginning and end for each drying condition.

Influence of drying conditions on the moisture diffusion during single stage and two stage fluidized bed drying of bovine intestine for pet food

Bovine intestine samples were heat pump fluidized bed dried at atmospheric pressure and at temperatures below and above the material freezing points equipped with a continuous monitoring system. The investigation of the drying characteristics has been conducted in the temperature range -10~25oC and the airflow in the range 1.5~2.5 m/s. Some experiments were conducted as a single temperature drying experiments and others as two stage drying experiments employing two temperatures. An Arrhenius-type equation was used to interpret the influence of the drying air parameters on the effective diffusivity, calculated with the method of slopes in terms of energy activation, and this was found to be sensitivity of the temperature. The effective diffusion coefficient of moisture transfer was determined by Fickian method using uni-dimensional moisture movement in both moisture, removal by evaporation and combined sublimation and evaporation. Correlations expressing the effective moisture diffusivity and drying temperature are reported.

Effect of moisture and temperature distribution on dried food microstructure and porosity

Dehydration of food materials requires water removal from it. This removal of moisture prevents the growth and reproduction of microorganisms that cause decay and minimizes many of the moisture-driven deterioration reactions (Brennan, 1994). However, during food drying, many other changes occur simultaneously resulting in a modified overall quality (Kompany et al., 1993). Among the physical attributes of dried food material porosity and microstructure are the important ones that can dominant other quality of dried foods (Aguilera et al., 2000). In addition, this two concerned quality attributes affected by process conditions, material components and raw structure of food stuff. In this work, temperature moisture distribution within food materials during microwave drying will be taken into consideration to observe its participation on the microstructure and porosity of the finished product. Apple is the selective materials for this work. Generally, most of the food materials are found in non-uniformed moisture contained condition. To develop non uniform temperature distribution, food materials have been dried in a microwave oven with different power levels (Chua et al., 2000). First of all, temperature and moisture model is simulated by COMSOL Multiphysics. Later on, digital imaging camera and Image Pro Premier software have been deployed to observation moisture distribution and thermal imaging camera for temperature distribution. Finally, Microstructure and porosity of the food materials are obtained from scanning electron microscope and porosity measuring devices respectively . Moisture distribution and temperature during drying influence the microstructure and porosity significantly. Specially, High temperature and moisture contained regions show less porosity and more rupture. These findings support other literatures of Halder et al. (2011) and Rahman et al (1990). On the other hand, low temperature and moisture regions depict uniform microstructure and high porosity. This work therefore assists in better understanding of the role of moisture and temperature distribution to a prediction of micro structure and porosity of dried food materials.

Food insecurity : is it an issue among tertiary students

Insufficient access to food is known to compromise tertiary studies. Students often belong to groups known to have poor food security such as those renting or relying on government payments. The present study administered a cross-sectional survey incorporating the USDA food security survey module (FSSM) to 810 students at a metropolitan university in Brisbane, Australia. One in four students indicated they were food insecure, this being double that previously reported for tertiary students and five times that previously reported for the general population. Factors associated with food insecurity included low income, reliance on government support and renting. Students from food insecure households were twice as likely to report only fair or poor general health and three times as likely to have deferred their studies due to financial difficulties. Further, at least 80 % of these students reported that their studies were compromised. Strategies to alleviate food insecurity among students could improve retention rates and educational outcomes.

Unravelling (e-)government channel selection: A quantitative analysis of individual customer preferences in Germany and Australia

The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of individual differences on service channel selection for e-government services. In a comparative survey of citizens in Germany and Australia (n=1205), we investigate the impact of age, gender, and mobility issues on the selection of personal or mobile communication as channels for service consumption. The results suggest that Australians are more likely to want to use new technology-oriented channels as internet or mobile applications while Germans tend to use classical channels as telephone or in person. Moreover, differences with respect to age, gender, and mobility exist. Implications for practice and issues for future research are discussed.

Indigenous knowledge and IP food security : a review of concepts and cases

Dáwat, Pamahándí, Tawíd, Ságda, Lampísa, Ibabások, Lapát, Panedlák: for most of us gathered here, these are words that we don’t usually use in our daily lives. Others may consider them as exotic, alien, funny and even backward. However, for indigenous kindred among us, these words denote an intimate identity and deep understanding of the world around them. It constitutes a broader knowledge system, be written or otherwise, which guides them in the management of resources within their ancestral land. This paper will provide a brief theoretical framework of the concepts of indigenous knowledge systems—hereinafter called IKS, and indigenous peoples food security, and hopefully a deeper or continued appreciation in the study of both concepts in general.