Economic issues in funding and supplying public sector information

In May 2005, a research team began to investigate whether designing and implementing a whole-of-government information licensing framework was possible. This framework was needed to administer copyright in relation to information produced by the government and to deal properly with privately-owned copyright on which government works often rely. The outcome so far is the design of the Government Information Licensing Framework (GILF) and its gradual uptake within a number of Commonwealth and State government agencies. However, licensing is part of a larger issue in managing public sector information (PSI); and it has important parallels with the management of libraries and public archives. Among other things, managing the retention and supply of PSI requires an ability to search and locate information, ability to give public access to the information legally, and an ability to administer charges for supplying information wherever it is required by law. The aim here is to provide a summary overview of pricing principles as they relate to the supply of PSI.

Crowd Counting Using Multiple Local Features

In public venues, crowd size is a key indicator of crowd safety and stability. Crowding levels can be detected using holistic image features, however this requires a large amount of training data to capture the wide variations in crowd distribution. If a crowd counting algorithm is to be deployed across a large number of cameras, such a large and burdensome training requirement is far from ideal. In this paper we propose an approach that uses local features to count the number of people in each foreground blob segment, so that the total crowd estimate is the sum of the group sizes. This results in an approach that is scalable to crowd volumes not seen in the training data, and can be trained on a very small data set. As a local approach is used, the proposed algorithm can easily be used to estimate crowd density throughout different regions of the scene and be used in a multi-camera environment. A unique localised approach to ground truth annotation reduces the required training data is also presented, as a localised approach to crowd counting has different training requirements to a holistic one. Testing on a large pedestrian database compares the proposed technique to existing holistic techniques and demonstrates improved accuracy, and superior performance when test conditions are unseen in the training set, or a minimal training set is used.

Economic issues in funding and supplying public sector information [Presentation slides]

PowerPoint presentation by Dr John S Cook at the Spatially Enabled Government Summit 2009, Mapping the Future of Interoperability, Data Collection & Data Management for Operational Excellence within Australian Government, held on 24-27 August, 2009 at the Marque Hotel, Canberra, ACT

Scene invariant crowd counting for real-time surveillance

Automated crowd counting allows excessive crowding to be detected immediately, without the need for constant human surveillance. Current crowd counting systems are location specific, and for these systems to function properly they must be trained on a large amount of data specific to the target location. As such, configuring multiple systems to use is a tedious and time consuming exercise. We propose a scene invariant crowd counting system which can easily be deployed at a different location to where it was trained. This is achieved using a global scaling factor to relate crowd sizes from one scene to another. We demonstrate that a crowd counting system trained at one viewpoint can achieve a correct classification rate of 90% at a different viewpoint.

Crowd counting using group tracking and local features

In public venues, crowd size is a key indicator of crowd safety and stability. In this paper we propose a crowd counting algorithm that uses tracking and local features to count the number of people in each group as represented by a foreground blob segment, so that the total crowd estimate is the sum of the group sizes. Tracking is employed to improve the robustness of the estimate, by analysing the history of each group, including splitting and merging events. A simplified ground truth annotation strategy results in an approach with minimal setup requirements that is highly accurate.

Learning and teaching from the edge to centre stage : Critical factors in embedding sustainable university-wide engagement in external awards and grants funding initiatives.

Teaching awards, grants and fellowships are strategies used to recognise outstanding contributions to learning and teaching, encourage innovation, and to shift learning and teaching from the edge to centre stage. Examples range from school, faculty and institutional award and grant schemes to national schemes such as those offered by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the United States, and the Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning in higher education in the United Kingdom. The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has experienced outstanding success in all areas of the ALTC funding since the inception of the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in 2004. This paper reports on a study of the critical factors that have enabled sustainable and resilient institutional engagement with ALTC programs. As a lens for examining the QUT environment and practices, the study draws upon the five conditions of the framework for effective dissemination of innovation developed by Southwell, Gannaway, Orrell, Chalmers and Abraham (2005, 2010): 1. Effective, multi-level leadership and management 2. Climate of readiness for change 3. Availability of resources 4. Comprehensive systems in institutions and funding bodies 5. Funding design The discussion on the critical factors and practical and strategic lessons learnt for successful university-wide engagement offer insights for university leaders and staff who are responsible for learning and teaching award, grant and associated internal and external funding schemes.

Alone against the crowd: Individual differences in referees' ability to cope under pressure

This paper contributes to the recent debate about the role of referees in the home advantage phenomenon. Specifically, it aims to provide a convincing answer to the newly posed question of the existence of individual differences among referees in terms of the home advantage (Boyko, Boyko, & Boyko, 2007; Johnston, 2008). Using multilevel modelling on a large and representative dataset we find that (1) the home advantage effect differs significantly among referees, and (2) this relationship is moderated by the size of the crowd. These new results suggest that a part of the home advantage is due to the effect of the crowd on the referees, and that some referees are more prone to be influenced by the crowd than others. This provides strong evidence to indicate that referees are a significant contributing factor to the home advantage. The implications of these findings are discussed both in terms of the relevant social psychological research, and with respect to the selection, assessment, and training of referees.

Funding and employment conditions : critical issues for Australian music therapy beyond 2009

As the Australian Journal of Music Therapy celebrates its 20th year of publication, it is evident that the profession of music therapy in Australia, has made substantial progress over these last 20 years. Jobs are regularly advertised on the website, there is a greater public awareness of what music therapy is, there are government recognised salary awards applicable in several states of the country, working conditions have generally improved, and many Australian music therapists are recognised on the international stage as leaders in their field of expertise. You can even go to a party and tell someone you are a music therapist and there is a good chance they will say 'oh yeah, I know someone who does that at the hospital / school / community centre / nursing home' instead of saying 'oh, so like, a what?'. Despite the impressive leaps and bounds that have been made, and the success of many programs in Australia to date, there is still a great deal of room for improvement. What are the critical issues ahead for the development of music therapy in Australia? In particular, how do music therapists develop going forward and secure funding for clinical initiatives? In reflecting on this question, this article identifies two key areas, amongst the many, that can be addressed by music therapists over the next 20 years: funding and employment conditions. Examples from the national early intervention music therapy program 'Sing and Grow' are used to illustrate the potential impact of addressing these two issues on the positive development of the profession into the future.

Scene invariant crowd counting

This paper describes a scene invariant crowd counting algorithm that uses local features to monitor crowd size. Unlike previous algorithms that require each camera to be trained separately, the proposed method uses camera calibration to scale between viewpoints, allowing a system to be trained and tested on different scenes. A pre-trained system could therefore be used as a turn-key solution for crowd counting across a wide range of environments. The use of local features allows the proposed algorithm to calculate local occupancy statistics, and Gaussian process regression is used to scale to conditions which are unseen in the training data, also providing confidence intervals for the crowd size estimate. A new crowd counting database is introduced to the computer vision community to enable a wider evaluation over multiple scenes, and the proposed algorithm is tested on seven datasets to demonstrate scene invariance and high accuracy. To the authors' knowledge this is the first system of its kind due to its ability to scale between different scenes and viewpoints.

Funding grant proposals for scientific research : retrospective analysis of scores by members of grant review panel

Objectives: To quantify randomness and cost when choosing health and medical research projects for funding. Design: Analysis of retrospective data from grant review panels. Setting: The National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia. Participants/Data: All panel members’ scores for grant proposals submitted in 2009. Main outcome measure: The proportion of grant proposals that were always, sometimes and never funded after accounting for random variability arising from variation in panel members’ scores; the cost-effectiveness of different size assessment panels. Results: 59% of 620 funded grants were sometimes not funded when random variability was accounted for. Only 9% of grant proposals were always funded, 61% were never funded and 29% were sometimes funded. The extra cost per grant effectively funded from the most effective system was $18,541. Conclusions: Allocating funding for scientific research in health and medicine is costly and somewhat random. There are many useful research questions to be addressed that could improve current processes.

An assessment of development funding for new housing post GFC in Queensland, Australia

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify changes in bank lending criteria due to the GFC and to explore the associated impacts on new housing supply in Queensland, Australia. Design/methodology/approach: This research involves a survey of each of Australia’s big four banks, as well as two prominent arrangers of development finance. Data on key lending criteria was collected: Pre GFC, during the GFC, and GFC recovery stage. Findings: The GFC has resulted in a retraction of funds available for residential development. The few institutions lending are filtering out only the best credit risks by way of constrictive loan covenants including: low loan to value ratios, high cash equity requirements, regional “no go” zones, and demonstrated borrower track record. The ability of developers to proceed with new housing developments is being constrained by their inability to obtain sufficient finance. Research limitations/implications: This research uses survey data, together with an understanding of the project finance process to extrapolate impacts on the residential development industry across Queensland. No regional or sub-market analysis is included. Future research will include subsequent surveys to track any loosening of credit policies over time and sub-market sector analysis. Practical implications: The inability to obtain project finance is identified as a key constraint to new housing supply. This research will inform policy makers and provide important quantitative evidence of the importance of availability of development finance in the housing supply chain. Social implications: Queensland is facing a supply shortfall, which if not corrected, may lead to upward pressure on house prices and falling housing affordability. Originality/value: There is very little academic research on development funding. This research is unique in linking bank lending criteria to new housing supply and demonstrating the impact on the development industry.

Scene invariant crowd counting and crowd occupancy analysis

In public places, crowd size may be an indicator of congestion, delay, instability, or of abnormal events, such as a fight, riot or emergency. Crowd related information can also provide important business intelligence such as the distribution of people throughout spaces, throughput rates, and local densities. A major drawback of many crowd counting approaches is their reliance on large numbers of holistic features, training data requirements of hundreds or thousands of frames per camera, and that each camera must be trained separately. This makes deployment in large multi-camera environments such as shopping centres very costly and difficult. In this chapter, we present a novel scene-invariant crowd counting algorithm that uses local features to monitor crowd size. The use of local features allows the proposed algorithm to calculate local occupancy statistics, scale to conditions which are unseen in the training data, and be trained on significantly less data. Scene invariance is achieved through the use of camera calibration, allowing the system to be trained on one or more viewpoints and then deployed on any number of new cameras for testing without further training. A pre-trained system could then be used as a ‘turn-key’ solution for crowd counting across a wide range of environments, eliminating many of the costly barriers to deployment which currently exist.

Problem-solving courts, therapeutic jurisprudence and the constitution : if two is company, is three a crowd?

Court costs, resource-intensive trials, booming prison populations and the obduracy of recidivism rates all present as ugly excesses of the criminal law adversarial paradigm. To combat these excesses, problem-solving courts have evolved with an edict to address the underlying issues that have caused an individual to commit a crime. When a judge seeks to help a problem-solving court participant deal with issues like addiction, mental health or poverty, they are performing a very different role to that of a judicial officer in the traditional court hierarchy. They are no longer the removed, independent arbiter — a problem-solving court judge steps into the ‘arena’ with the participant and makes active use of their judicial authority to assist in rehabilitation and positive behavioural change. Problem-solving court judges employing the principles of therapeutic jurisprudence appreciate that their interaction with participants can have therapeutic and anti-therapeutic consequences. This article will consider how the deployment of therapeutic measures (albeit with good intention) can lead to the behavioural manifestation of partiality and bias on the part of problem-solving court judges. Chapter III of the Commonwealth Constitution will then be analysed to highlight why the operation and functioning of problem solving courts may be deemed unconstitutional. Part IV of this article will explain how a problem-solving court judge who is not acting impartially or independently will potentially contravene the requirements of the Constitution. It will finally be suggested that judges who possess a high level of emotional intelligence will be the most successful in administering an independent and impartial problem solving court.

Two sides of seeking funding : grants and deposit funds

Before even thinking of approaching charitable trusts for funding, consideration needs to be given to a whole range of issues. As with many endeavours, preparation paves the way for success...

How to work the crowd : a snapshot of barriers and motivations to crowdfunding

Introduction This study is a snapshot of Australian donor motivations and donor barriers to crowdfunding, and provides some indicative recommendations on ways the uptake of crowdfunding in the creative industries might increase. It is based upon a literature review and semi-structured interviews with 17 stakeholders who have used crowdfunding in Australia, including: creative producers seeking funds; financial crowdfunding donors; Artsupport Australia mentors of artists who are using crowdfunding; and crowdfunding site stakeholders. About the report Artsupport Australia commissioned the Queensland University of Technology Creative Industries team to produce a report on trends related to crowdfunding, particularly identifying barriers and motivations that might be associated with it. Artsupport Australia suggested a list of interview candidates, based on those individuals’ knowledge or experience with crowdfunding, to provide a better understanding of perceptions of this emerging practice, and to inform discussions on whether it is a useful revenue generating mechanism for the cultural sector.