Sculpture alcove, Kangaroo Point House, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Alcove to deck, with timber handrail in foreground.

Sculpture alcove, Kangaroo Point House, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Alcove to deck, as seen from garden.

Crow's nest, Kangaroo Point House, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Deck and seating overlooking the river.

Crow's nest, Kangaroo Point House, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Deck and seating overlooking river.

Outdoor room, Kangaroo Point House, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Looking towards section of original house from outdoor room area. Hand-made spotted gum columns on edge of outdoor room on right.

Crow's nest, Kangaroo Point House, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Deck and seating overlooking river.

Battened roof to outdoor room, Kangaroo Point House, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Timber battened concave roof and supporting structure over outdoor room area.

Outdoor room, Kangaroo Point House, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Dining setting, sculptures, timber columns and curved roof in outdoor room

Crow's nest, Kangaroo Point House, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Structure to underside of deck and seating area.

Two times three little pigs: Dysfluency, cognitive complexity and autism

This paper presents an analysis of dysfluencies in two oral tellings of a familiar children's story by a young boy with autism. Thurber & Tager-Flusberg (1993) postulate a lower degree of cognitive and communicative investment to explain a lower frequency of non-grammatical pauses observed in elicited narratives of children with autism in comparison to typically developing and intellectually disabled controls. we also found a very low frequency of non-grammatical pauses in our data, but indications of high engagement and cognitive and communicative investment. We point to a wider range of disfluencies as indicators of cognitive load, and show that the kind and location of dysfluencies produced may reveal which aspects of the narrative task are creating the greatest cognitive demand: here, mental state ascription, perspectivization, and adherence to story schema. This paper thus generates analytical options and hypotheses that can be explored further in a larger population of children with autism and typically developing controls.

The interaction between technologies and society: Lessons learnt from 160 evolutionary years of online news services

In mapping the evolutionary process of online news and the socio-cultural factors determining this development, this paper has a dual purpose. First, in reworking the definition of “online communication”, it argues that despite its seemingly sudden emergence in the 1990s, the history of online news started right in the early days of the telegraphs and spread throughout the development of the telephone and the fax machine before becoming computer-based in the 1980s and Web-based in the 1990s. Second, merging macro-perspectives on the dynamic of media evolution by DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach (1989) and Winston (1998), the paper consolidates a critical point for thinking about new media development: that something technically feasible does not always mean that it will be socially accepted and/or demanded. From a producer-centric perspective, the birth and development of pre-Web online news forms have been more or less generated by the traditional media’s sometimes excessive hype about the power of new technologies. However, placing such an emphasis on technological potentials at the expense of their social conditions not only can be misleading but also can be detrimental to the development of new media, including the potential of today’s online news.

Parameter setting and statistical learning

Three main models of parameter setting have been proposed: the Variational model proposed by Yang (2002; 2004), the Structured Acquisition model endorsed by Baker (2001; 2005), and the Very Early Parameter Setting (VEPS) model advanced by Wexler (1998). The VEPS model contends that parameters are set early. The Variational model supposes that children employ statistical learning mechanisms to decide among competing parameter values, so this model anticipates delays in parameter setting when critical input is sparse, and gradual setting of parameters. On the Structured Acquisition model, delays occur because parameters form a hierarchy, with higher-level parameters set before lower-level parameters. Assuming that children freely choose the initial value, children sometimes will miss-set parameters. However when that happens, the input is expected to trigger a precipitous rise in one parameter value and a corresponding decline in the other value. We will point to the kind of child language data that is needed in order to adjudicate among these competing models.

A hybrid probabilistic criterion for market-based transmission expansion planning

Market-based transmission expansion planning gives information to investors on where is the most cost efficient place to invest and brings benefits to those who invest in this grid. However, both market issue and power system adequacy problems are system planers’ concern. In this paper, a hybrid probabilistic criterion of Expected Economical Loss (EEL) is proposed as an index to evaluate the systems’ overall expected economical losses during system operation in a competitive market. It stands on both investors’ and planner’s point of view and will further improves the traditional reliability cost. By applying EEL, it is possible for system planners to obtain a clear idea regarding the transmission network’s bottleneck and the amount of losses arises from this weak point. Sequentially, it enables planners to assess the worth of providing reliable services. Also, the EEL will contain valuable information for moneymen to undertake their investment. This index could truly reflect the random behaviors of power systems and uncertainties from electricity market. The performance of the EEL index is enhanced by applying Normalized Coefficient of Probability (NCP), so it can be utilized in large real power systems. A numerical example is carried out on IEEE Reliability Test System (RTS), which will show how the EEL can predict the current system bottleneck under future operational conditions and how to use EEL as one of planning objectives to determine future optimal plans. A well-known simulation method, Monte Carlo simulation, is employed to achieve the probabilistic characteristic of electricity market and Genetic Algorithms (GAs) is used as a multi-objective optimization tool.

Micromanipulation of chloroplasts using optical tweezers

This paper describes experiments using optical tweezers to probe chloroplast arrangement, shape and consistency in cells of living leaf tissue and in suspension. Dual optical tweezers provided two-point contact on a single chloroplast or two-point contact on two adhered chloroplasts for manipulation in suspension. Alternatively, a microstirrer consisting of a birefringent particle trapped in an elliptically polarized laser trap was used to induce motion and tumbling of a selected chloroplast suspended in a solution. We demonstrate that displacement of chloroplasts inside the cell is extremely difficult, presumably due to chloroplast adhesion to the cytoskeleton and connections between organelles. The study also confirms that the chloroplasts are very thin and extremely cup-shaped with a concave inner surface and a convex outer surface.