Quo Vadis? Reliable and Practical Rule Extraction from Neural Networks

Rule extraction from neural network algorithms have been investigated for two decades and there have been significant applications. Despite this level of success, rule extraction from neural network methods are generally not part of data mining tools, and a significant commercial breakthrough may still be some time away. This paper briefly reviews the state-of-the-art and points to some of the obstacles, namely a lack of evaluation techniques in experiments and larger benchmark data sets. A significant new development is the view that rule extraction from neural networks is an interactive process which actively involves the user. This leads to the application of assessment and evaluation techniques from information retrieval which may lead to a range of new methods.

Female genital mutilation : legal, attitudinal and practical reform

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice common in many Islamic societies. It involves the deliberate, non-therapeutic physical modification of young girls’ genitalia. FGM can take several forms, ranging from less damaging incisions to actual removal of genitalia and narrowing or even closing of the vagina. While often thought to be required by religion, FGM both predates and has no basis in the Koran. Rather, it is a cultural tradition, motivated by a patriarchal social desire to control female bodies to ensure virginity at marriage (preserving family honour), and to prevent infidelity by limiting sexual desire. In the USA and Australia in 2010, peak medical bodies considered endorsing the medical administration of a ‘lesser’ form of FGM. The basis for this was pragmatic: it would be preferable to satisfy patients’ desire for FGM in medically-controlled conditions, rather than have these patients seek it, possibly in more severe forms, under less safe conditions. While arguments favouring medically-administered FGM were soon overcome, the prospect of endorsing FGM illuminated the issue in these two Western countries and beyond. This paper will review the nature of FGM, its physical and psychological health consequences, and Australian laws prohibiting FGM. Then, it will scan recent developments in Africa, where FGM has been made illegal by a growing number of nations and by the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 2003 (the Maputo Protocol), but is still proving difficult to eradicate. Finally, based on arguments derived from theories of rights, health evidence, and the historical and religious contexts, this paper will ask whether an absolute human right against FGM can be developed.

Legal, cultural and practical developments in responding to female genital mutilation : can an absolute human right emerge?

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice involving the deliberate, non-therapeutic physical modification of young girls’ genitalia. FGM can take several forms, ranging from smaller incisions, to removal of the clitoris and labia, and narrowing or even closing of the vagina. FGM predates and has no basis in the Koran, or any other religious text. Rather, it is a cultural tradition, particularly common in Islamic societies in regions of Africa, motivated by a patriarchal society’s desire to control female bodies and lives. The primary reason for this desire for control is to ensure virginity at marriage, thereby preserving family honour, within a patriarchal social structure where females’ value as persons is intrinsically connected to, and limited to, their worth as virgin brides. Recent efforts at legal prohibition and practical eradication in a growing number of African nations mark a significant turning point in how societies treat females. This shift in cultural power has been catalysed by a concern for female health, but it has also been motivated by an impulse to promote the human rights of girls and women. Although FGM remains widely practiced and there is much progress yet to be made before its eradication, the rights-based approach which has grown in strength embodies a marked shift in cultural power which reflects progress in women’s and children’s rights in the Western world, but which is now being applied in a different cultural context. This chapter reviews the nature of FGM, its prevalence, and health consequences. It discusses recent legal, cultural and practical developments, especially in African nations. Finally, this chapter raises the possibility that an absolute human right against FGM may emerge.

Public health psychology : a conceptual and practical framework

Increasingly, the development of public health infrastructures requires psychology to reevaluate its contribution to public health at local, national and global levels. Already familiar to some psychologists, particularly those in community psychology and health promotion, the expansion of public health has implications for psychology in terms of knowledge/practice and working differently in multidisciplinary settings. In this article, I provide a critical overview of the implications of the historical and international development of health psychology and the changing nature of public health to strengthen the establishment of public health psychology. A conceptual and practical framework is proposed in which public health psychology theory, methods and practice are considered as well as its relevance to the health social sciences more generally.

Framing fashion curation : a theoretical, historical and practical perspective

This research project frames an emerging field – fashion curation – through a theoretical, historical, and practical enquiry. Recent decades have seen fashion curation grow rapidly as a form of praxis and an area of academic attention, predominantly in museums and universities. Within this context, two major models for conceptualising the role of the fashion curator have emerged: the institutional and the independent curator. This project proposes and applies a third model: the adjunct fashion curator. In developing this model my project seeks to move the growing dialogue around fashion curation away from exclusively focusing on the museum. By proposing a third curatorial model for fashion, this research draws on the past of fashion display and exhibition for its context, while simultaneously exploring the adjunct model through my curatorial practice. The impact of sites of display, the role of gender, and the relationship between art and fashion are explored as pivotal themes in the development of fashion curation and thus provide contextual grounding for the proposal of the adjunct curatorial model. Alongside a theoretical and historical account of fashion curation, I conduct a practice-led inquiry that explores these themes through five exhibition projects and one photographic series. I argue that the introduction and application of the adjunct model enables curatorial practitioners to sensitively work around the dominant museum model, and circumvent the divide between institutional and independent curation. Introducing the adjunct model allows the curator to develop personalised narratives relating to the experience of fashion and clothing as an exhibited phenomenon in a variety of institutional and non-institutional sites. Hence this research project contributes to a developing field by proposing a valuable and nuanced model for fashion curation.

The structured and practical approach in development of decision support system for consultant selection in public sector infrastructure project

Nowadays, most of the infrastructure development projects undertaken are complex in nature. Practically, public clients who do not have a good understanding of the design and management may suffer severe losses, especially for infrastructure projects. There is a need for luring the right consultant to secure client's investment in infrastructure developments. Throughout the project life cycle, consultants play vital role from the inception to completion stage of a project. A few studies in Malaysia show that infrastructure projects involving irrigation and drainage have experience problems such as poor workmanship, delay and cost overrun due to the consultant's inability or the client incompetence of recruiting consultants in time. This highlights the need of aided decision making and an efficient system to select the best consultant by using Decision Support System (DSS). On the other hand, recent trends reveal that most DSS in construction only concentrate on decision model development. These models are impractical and unused as they are complicated or difficult for laymen such as project managers to utilize. Thus, this research attempts to develop an efficient DSS for consultant selection namely consultDeSS. Driven by the motivation and research aims, this study deployed Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) dominant with a combination of case studies at the Malaysian Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID). Two real projects involving irrigation and drainage infrastructure were used to design, implement and evaluate the artefact. The 3-tier consultDeSS was revised after the evaluation and the design was significantly improved based on user feedback. By developing desirable tools that fit client's needs will enhance the productivity and minimize conflict within groups and organisations. The tool is more usable and efficient compared to previous studies in construction. Thus, this research has demonstrated a purposeful artefact with a practical and valid structured development approach that is applicable in a variety of problems in construction discipline.

Theoretical and practical issues in team teaching a large undergraduate class

Attempts by universities to provide an improved learning environment to students have led to an increase in team-teaching approaches in higher education. While the definitions of team-teaching differ slightly, the benefits of team-teaching have been cited widely in the higher education literature. By tapping the specialist knowledge of a variety of staff members, students are exposed to current and emerging knowledge in different fields and topic areas; students are also able to understand concepts from a variety of viewpoints. However, while there is some evidence of the usefulness of team-teaching, there is patchy empirical support to underpin how well students appreciate and adapt to team-teaching approaches. This paper reports on the team-teaching approaches adopted in the delivery of an introductory journalism and communication course at the University of Queensland. The success of the approaches is examined against the background of quantitative and qualitative data. The study found that team-teaching is generally very well received by undergraduate students because they value the diverse expertise and teaching styles they are exposed to. Despite the positive feedback, students also complained about problems of continuity and cohesiveness.

Advancing nursing practice : redefining the theoretical and practical integration of knowledge

Aim The aim of this paper is to offer an alternative knowing-how knowing-that framework of nursing knowledge, which in the past has been accepted as the provenance of advanced practice. Background The concept of advancing practice is central to the development of nursing practice and has been seen to take on many different forms depending on its use in context. To many it has become synonymous with the work of the advanced or expert practitioner; others have viewed it as a process of continuing professional development and skills acquisition. Moreover, it is becoming closely linked with practice development. However, there is much discussion as to what constitutes the knowledge necessary for advancing and advanced practice, and it has been suggested that theoretical and practical knowledge form the cornerstone of advanced knowledge. Design The design of this article takes a discursive approach as to the meaning and integration of knowledge within the context of advancing nursing practice. Method A thematic analysis of the current discourse relating to knowledge integration models in an advancing and advanced practice arena was used to identify concurrent themes relating to the knowing-how knowing-that framework which commonly used to classify the knowledge necessary for advanced nursing practice. Conclusion There is a dichotomy as to what constitutes knowledge for advanced and advancing practice. Several authors have offered a variety of differing models, yet it is the application and integration of theoretical and practical knowledge that defines and develops the advancement of nursing practice. An alternative framework offered here may allow differences in the way that nursing knowledge important for advancing practice is perceived, developed and coordinated. Relevance to clinical practice What has inevitably been neglected is that there are various other variables which when transposed into the existing knowing-how knowing-that framework allows for advanced knowledge to be better defined. One of the more notable variables is pattern recognition, which became the focus of Benner’s work on expert practice. Therefore, if this is included into the knowing-how knowing-that framework, the knowing-how becomes the knowledge that contributes to advancing and advanced practice and the knowing-that becomes the governing action based on a deeper understanding of the problem or issue.

Justice in human research ethics : a conceptual and practical guide

One of the core values to be applied by a body reviewing the ethics of human research is justice. The inclusion of justice as a requirement in the ethical review of human research is relatively recent and its utility had been largely unexamined until debates arose about the conduct of international biomedical research in the late 1990s. The subsequent amendment of authoritative documents in ways that appeared to shift the meaning of conceptions of justice generated a deal of controversy. Another difficulty has been that both the theory and the substance of justice that are applied by researchers or reviewers can be frequently seen to be subjective. Both the concept of justice – whether distributive or commutative - and what counts as a just distribution or exchange – are given different weight and meanings by different people. In this paper, the origins and more recent debates about the requirement to consider justice as a criterion in the ethical review of human research are traced, relevant conceptions of justice are distinguished and the manner in which they can be applied meaningfully in the ethical review all human research is identified. The way that these concepts are articulated in, and the intent and function of, specific paragraphs of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (NHMRC, ARC, UA, 2007) (National Statement) is explained. The National Statement identifies a number of issues that should be considered when a human research ethics committee is reviewing the justice aspects of an application. It also provides guidance to researchers as to how they can show that there is a fair distribution of burdens and benefits in the participant experience and the research outcomes. It also provides practical guidance to researchers on how to think through issues of justice so that they can demonstrate that the design of their research projects meets this ethical requirement is also provided

The ethics, aesthetics and practical politics of ownership in co-creative media

What is ‘best practice’ when it comes to managing intellectual property rights in participatory media content? As commercial media and entertainment business models have increasingly come to rely upon the networked productivity of end-users (Banks and Humphreys 2008) this question has been framed as a problem of creative labour made all the more precarious by changing employment patterns and work cultures of knowledge-intensive societies and globalising economies (Banks, Gill and Taylor 2014). This paper considers how the problems of ownership are addressed in non-commercial, community-based arts and media contexts. Problems of labour are also manifest in these contexts (for example, reliance on volunteer labour and uncertain economic reward for creative excellence). Nonetheless, managing intellectual property rights in collaborative creative works that are created in community media and arts contexts is no less challenging or complex than in commercial contexts. This paper takes as its focus a particular participatory media practice known as ‘digital storytelling’. The digital storytelling method, formalised by the Centre for Digital Storytelling (CDS) from the mid-1990s, has been internationally adopted and adapted for use in an open-ended variety of community arts, education, health and allied services settings (Hartley and McWilliam 2009; Lambert 2013; Lundby 2008; Thumin 2012). It provides a useful point of departure for thinking about a range of collaborative media production practices that seek to address participation ‘gaps’ (Jenkins 2006). However the outputs of these activities, including digital stories, cannot be fully understood or accurately described as user-generated content. For this reason, digital storytelling is taken here to belong to a category of participatory media activity that has been described as ‘co-creative’ media (Spurgeon 2013) in order to improve understanding of the conditions of mediated and mediatized participation (Couldry 2008). This paper reports on a survey of the actual copyrighting practices of cultural institutions and community-based media arts practitioners that work with digital storytelling and similar participatory content creation methods. This survey finds that although there is a preference for Creative Commons licensing a great variety of approaches are taken to managing intellectual property rights in co-creative media. These range from the use of Creative Commons licences (for example, Lambert 2013, p.193) to retention of full copyrights by storytellers, to retention of certain rights by facilitating organisations (for example, broadcast rights by community radio stations and public service broadcasters), and a range of other shared rights arrangements between professional creative practitioners, the individual storytellers and communities with which they collaborate, media outlets, exhibitors and funders. This paper also considers how aesthetic and ethical considerations shape responses to questions of intellectual property rights in community media arts contexts. For example, embedded in the CDS digital storytelling method is ‘a critique of power and the numerous ways that rank is unconsciously expressed in engagements between classes, races and gender’ (Lambert 117). The CDS method privileges the interests of the storyteller and, through a transformative workshop process, aims to generate original individual stories that, in turn, reflect self-awareness of ‘how much the way we live is scripted by history, by social and cultural norms, by our own unique journey through a contradictory, and at times hostile, world’ (Lambert 118). Such a critical approach is characteristic of co-creative media practices. It extends to a heightened awareness of the risks of ‘story theft’ and the challenges of ownership and informs ideas of ‘best practice’ amongst creative practitioners, teaching artists and community media producers, along with commitments to achieving equitable solutions for all participants in co-creative media practice (for example, Lyons-Reid and Kuddell nd.). Yet, there is surprisingly little written about the challenges of managing intellectual property produced in co-creative media activities. A dialogic sense of ownership in stories has been identified as an indicator of successful digital storytelling practice (Hayes and Matusov 2005) and is helpful to grounding the more abstract claims of empowerment for social participation that are associated with co-creative methods. Contrary to the ‘change from below’ philosophy that underpins much thinking about co-creative media, however, discussions of intellectual property usually focus on how methods such as digital storytelling contribute to the formation of copyright law-compliant subjects, particularly when used in educational settings (for example, Ohler nd.). This also exposes the reliance of co-creative methods on the creative assets storytellers (rather than on the copyrighted materials of the media cultures of storytellers) as a pragmatic response to the constraints that intellectual property right laws impose on the entire category of participatory media. At the level of practical politics, it also becomes apparent that co-creative media practitioners and storytellers located in copyright jurisdictions governed by ‘fair use’ principles have much greater creative flexibility than those located in jurisdictions governed by ‘fair dealing’ principles.

Growing men's health: Broadening the conceptual and practical agenda

It still surprises those of us working on men’s issues that it has taken so long to realise – and that there is so little real grassroots support and advocacy for – men’s health as a legitimate domain in public health. The men’s movement – such as it is (see Connell 2005/1995) – goes back to the late 1970s; the gay men’s movement started earlier and the gay men’s health movement has been better organised and articulated since then (if one understands and concedes the central place that HIV/AIDS has taken during the last 28 years). What men’s health will become, what it will include, redefine and incorporate in the next ten years is interesting to consider.

Establishing the conceptual and practical foundations of a new form of theatre for development: Theatre in conversations

This research was developed between Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) over two years investigating ways in which theatre for development could be held accountable for the claims it makes especially in PNG. The motivation to improve theatre for development (TfD) practice was triggered by the desire to enhance the democratic processes of collaboration and co–creativity often lacking in TfD activity in Papua New Guinea. Through creative practice as research and reflective processes, working with established and experienced local community theatre practitioners, a new form of theatre for development, Theatre in Conversations evolved. This form integrated three related genres of TfD including process drama, community theatre and community conversations. The suitability and impact of Theatre in Conversations was tested in three remote villages in PNG. Findings and outputs from the study have the potential to be used by theatre for development practitioners in other countries.

Public Health Psychology: A Conceptual and Practical Framework

Introduction For many years concern for public health has transcended the boundaries of the medical sciences and epidemiology. For the last 50 years or so psychologists have been increasingly active in this field. Recently, psychologists have not only begun to see the need to take action to mould health promoting behaviours in individuals, but have also pointed out the need to join in an effort to develop appropriate social, political, economic and institutional conditions which would help to improve the state of public health. Psychologists have postulated the need to distinguish a new subdiscipline of psychology called public health psychology which, together with other disciplines, would further the realization of this goal. In the following article the historical and international context of health psychology and the changing nature of public health are put forward as having important implications for the establishment of a ‘public health psychology’. These implications are addressed in later sections of the article through the description of conceptual and practical framework of public health psychology in which theory, methods and practice are considered. Many aspects of the conceptual and practical framework of public health psychology have relevance to the health social sciences more generally and forming a basis for interdisciplinary work. The framework of public health psychology, together with the obstacles that need to be overcome, are critically examined within an overall approach that contends it is necessary to increase and improve the contribution of health psychology to public health.