The lost experiment in exploration and exploitation

This paper focuses on James March’s 1991 article on ‘Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning’, which is now the seventh most highly cited paper in management and organisation studies. March’s paper is based on a computer program that simulates the collective and individual learning of a group of fifty individuals. The largely forgotten story that this paper re-calls is the real-life experiment that March, in large part, designed and conducted when he was the new ‘boy Dean’ of the School of Social Sciences in the University of California at Irvine between 1964 and 1969. Taken together, both stories illuminate important moments in the history of organisation studies. The comparison suggests that March’s model, which was probably the first simulation of an organisation learning, also worked to constitute rather than model the phenomenon.

Development and Evaluation of a Computer-Based, Self-Management Tool for People Recently Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes

Aim. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a computer-based, dietary, and physical activity self-management program for people recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. 
Methods. The computer-based program was developed in conjunction with the target group and evaluated in a 12-week randomised controlled trial (RCT). Participants were randomised to the intervention (computer-program) or control group (usual care). Primary outcomes were diabetes knowledge and goal setting (ADKnowl questionnaire, Diabetes Obstacles Questionnaire (DOQ)) measured at baseline and week 12. User feedback on the program was obtained via a questionnaire and focus groups. Results. Seventy participants completed the 12-week RCT (32 intervention, 38 control, mean age 59 (SD) years). After completion there was a significant between-group difference in the “knowledge and beliefs scale” of the DOQ. Two-thirds of the intervention group rated the program as either good or very good, 92% would recommend the program to others, and 96% agreed that the information within the program was clear and easy to understand. 
Conclusions. The computer-program resulted in a small but statistically significant improvement in diet-related knowledge and user satisfaction was high. With some further development, this computer-based educational tool may be a useful adjunct to diabetes self-management.

The Visual Arts as a Canvas for Teaching Computer Programming

We explore the relationships between the construction of a work of art and the crafting of a computer program in Java and suggest that the structure of paintings and drawings may be used to teach the fundamental concepts of computer programming. This movement "from Art to Science", using art to drive computing, complements the common use of computing to inform art. We report on initial experiences using this approach with undergraduate and postgraduate students. An embryonic theory of the correspondence between art and computing is presented and a methodology proposed to develop this project further.

Accessible Immersion Metrics (AIM) for Second Language Acquisition : A Constructivist Innovation for the ESL Classroom

Abstract: This study was designed to validate a constructivist learning framework, herein referred to as Accessible Immersion Metrics (AIM), for second language acquisition (SLA) as well as to compare two delivery methods of the same framework. The AIM framework was originally developed in 2009 and is proposed as a “How to” guide for the application of constructivist learning principles to the second language classroom. Piloted in 2010 at Champlain College St-Lambert, the AIM model allows for language learning to occur, free of a fixed schedule, to be socially constructive through the use of task-based assessments and relevant to the learner’s life experience by focusing on the students’ needs rather than on course content.||Résumé : Cette étude a été principalement conçu pour valider un cadre d'apprentissage constructiviste, ci-après dénommé Accessible Immersion Metrics - AIM, pour l'acquisition d'une langue seconde - SLA. Le cadre de l'AIM est proposé comme un mode d'emploi pour l'application des principes constructivistes à l'apprentissage d’une langue seconde. Créé en 2009 par l'auteur, et piloté en 2010 au Collège Champlain St-Lambert, le modèle de l'AIM permet l'apprentissage des langues à se produire, sans horaire fixe et socialement constructive grâce à l'utilisation des évaluations alignées basées sur des tâches pertinentes à l'expérience de vie de l'étudiant en se concentrant sur les besoins des élèves plutôt que sur le contenu des cours.

Page Composition using PPML as a Link-editing Script

The advantages of a COG (Component Object Graphic) approach to the composition of PDF pages have been set out in a previous paper [1]. However, if pages are to be composed in this way then the individual graphic objects must have known bounding boxes and must be correctly placed on the page in a process that resembles the link editing of a multi-module computer program. Ideally the linker should be able to utilize all declared resource information attached to each COG. We have investigated the use of an XML application called Personalized Print Markup Language (PPML) to control the link editing process for PDF COGs. Our experiments, though successful, have shown up the shortcomings of PPML's resource handling capabilities which are currently active at the document and page levels but which cannot be elegantly applied to individual graphic objects at a sub-page level. Proposals are put forward for modifications to PPML that would make easier any COG-based approach to page composition.

Soft computing based parameter identification in pavements and geomechanical systems

Accurate estimation of road pavement geometry and layer material properties through the use of proper nondestructive testing and sensor technologies is essential for evaluating pavement’s structural condition and determining options for maintenance and rehabilitation. For these purposes, pavement deflection basins produced by the nondestructive Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) test data are commonly used. The nondestructive FWD test drops weights on the pavement to simulate traffic loads and measures the created pavement deflection basins. Backcalculation of pavement geometry and layer properties using FWD deflections is a difficult inverse problem, and the solution with conventional mathematical methods is often challenging due to the ill-posed nature of the problem. In this dissertation, a hybrid algorithm was developed to seek robust and fast solutions to this inverse problem. The algorithm is based on soft computing techniques, mainly Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Genetic Algorithms (GAs) as well as the use of numerical analysis techniques to properly simulate the geomechanical system. A widely used pavement layered analysis program ILLI-PAVE was employed in the analyses of flexible pavements of various pavement types; including full-depth asphalt and conventional flexible pavements, were built on either lime stabilized soils or untreated subgrade. Nonlinear properties of the subgrade soil and the base course aggregate as transportation geomaterials were also considered. A computer program, Soft Computing Based System Identifier or SOFTSYS, was developed. In SOFTSYS, ANNs were used as surrogate models to provide faster solutions of the nonlinear finite element program ILLI-PAVE. The deflections obtained from FWD tests in the field were matched with the predictions obtained from the numerical simulations to develop SOFTSYS models. The solution to the inverse problem for multi-layered pavements is computationally hard to achieve and is often not feasible due to field variability and quality of the collected data. The primary difficulty in the analysis arises from the substantial increase in the degree of non-uniqueness of the mapping from the pavement layer parameters to the FWD deflections. The insensitivity of some layer properties lowered SOFTSYS model performances. Still, SOFTSYS models were shown to work effectively with the synthetic data obtained from ILLI-PAVE finite element solutions. In general, SOFTSYS solutions very closely matched the ILLI-PAVE mechanistic pavement analysis results. For SOFTSYS validation, field collected FWD data were successfully used to predict pavement layer thicknesses and layer moduli of in-service flexible pavements. Some of the very promising SOFTSYS results indicated average absolute errors on the order of 2%, 7%, and 4% for the Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) thickness estimation of full-depth asphalt pavements, full-depth pavements on lime stabilized soils and conventional flexible pavements, respectively. The field validations of SOFTSYS data also produced meaningful results. The thickness data obtained from Ground Penetrating Radar testing matched reasonably well with predictions from SOFTSYS models. The differences observed in the HMA and lime stabilized soil layer thicknesses observed were attributed to deflection data variability from FWD tests. The backcalculated asphalt concrete layer thickness results matched better in the case of full-depth asphalt flexible pavements built on lime stabilized soils compared to conventional flexible pavements. Overall, SOFTSYS was capable of producing reliable thickness estimates despite the variability of field constructed asphalt layer thicknesses.

Aplicación de SPEA2 al cálculo de esquemas de dosificación para el tratamiento quimioterapéutico del cáncer

En este trabajo se aborda la aplicación de SPEA2, un método para optimización multiobjetivo, al cálculo de un esquema de dosificación para el tratamiento quimioterapéutico de una masa tumoral; entiéndase por esquema de dosificación la especificación del o de los agentes cito-tóxicos, sus dosis y tiempos en que deben administrarse. El problema de optimización aquí resuelto es uno multiobjetivo, pues el esquema de dosificación a calcularse debe minimizar no solo el tamaño del tumor, sino también la toxicidad remanente al término del tratamiento, su costo, etc. El SPEA2 es un algoritmo genético que aplica el criterio de Pareto; por lo tanto, lo que calcula es una aproximación a la frontera de Pareto, soluciones de entre las cuales el usuario puede escoger la “mejor”. En el proceso de esta investigación se construyó SoT-Q, una herramienta de software que consiste de dos módulos principales: un optimizador para calcular los esquemas de dosificación óptimos, y un simulador para aplicar dichos esquemas a un paciente (simulado) con masa tumoral; el funcionamiento del simulador se basa en un modelo fármaco-dinámico que representa el tumor. El programa SoT-Q podría en el futuro -una vez extensamente probado y depurado- asistir a médicos oncólogos en la toma de decisiones respecto a tratamientos quimioterapéuticos; o podría servir también como ayuda pedagógica en el entrenamiento de nuevos profesionales de la salud. Los resultados obtenidos fueron muy buenos; en todos los casos de prueba utilizados se logró reducir de manera significativa tanto el tamaño del tumor como la toxicidad remanente al término del tratamiento; en algunos casos la reducción fue de tres órdenes de magnitud.

Experiencia de la Escuela de Bibliotecología, Documentación e Información en el Desarrollo de Bases de Datos con el Programa Computacional Microisis Versión 3.0

En el campo bibliotecológico para desarrollar instrumentos de trabajo que nos permitan comunicarnos con las demás unidades y clientes de información, debemos pensar en normalizar nuestros procesos.Normalizar, en el sentido más amplio, significa seguir reglas que hagan un registro uniforme en cualquier lugar del mundo. Esto se logra mediante la aplicación de códigos y normas que han sido aceptadas internacionalmente por los organismos creados para este fin.El valor de la normalización estriba en evitar la duplicación de los esfuerzos de la catalogación en las diferentes unidades de información documental y facilitar el intercambio de datos bibliográficos tan pronto como sea posible. También, cosiste en darle al cliente la posibilidad de localizar la información en un a forma homogénea que obvie las barreras idiomáticas.

Transport in the blood of an anti-tumor water-soluble rutheniun cyclopentadienyl complex: a fluorescence study on albumin binding

Dissertação de mestrado, Qualidade em Análises, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2014

Análise e Prevenção de avarias de um veio de manivelas de um motor Pielstick

Na engenharia mecânica há cada vez mais necessidade de utilizar e de prever o comportamento das máquinas térmicas, mais propriamente dos motores de combustão interna, em especial na área da manutenção e da prevenção de falha num dos componentes vitais de um motor a 4 tempos: o veio de manivelas. Esta situação já tem sido bastante observada na indústria mecânica naval, nomeadamente na Marinha Portuguesa e, devido ao seu elevado grau de importância no desempenho de qualquer motor, decidiu-se focar o trabalho desta tese no estudo dos motores a diesel S.E.M.T Pielstick das unidades navais da Marinha Portuguesa, mais especificamente das corvetas da classe “João Coutinho” e da classe “ Baptista de Andrade”, devido ao historial de ocorrência de falhas no veio de manivelas nesta classe de navios e em outras da Marinha Portuguesa. Para efetuar este estudo, utilizaram-se todos os dados relativos ao historial de ocorrências de falhas destes motores, bem como todos os dados disponíveis do fabricante destes motores, por forma a reproduzir da forma mais fiável possível um modelo tridimensional do veio de manivelas no programa de modelação informática CAD Solidworks®, e possibilitar a análise cinemática do veio de manivelas. Desta forma, foi possível simular as condições de funcionamento do motor, assim como analisar e determinar a causa de falha do veio de manivelas, visando prolongar a vida útil dos veios de manivelas, contribuindo não só para menores custos de manutenção mas também para o aumento da operacionalidade destes navios.

Healthcare Computer Reasoning Addressing Chronically Ill Societies Using IoT: Deep Learning AI to the Rescue of Home-Based Healthcare

The authors present a proposal to develop intelligent assisted living environments for home based healthcare. These environments unite the chronical patient clinical history sematic representation with the ability of monitoring the living conditions and events recurring to a fully managed Semantic Web of Things (SWoT). Several levels of acquired knowledge and the case based reasoning that is possible by knowledge representation of the health-disease history and acquisition of the scientific evidence will deliver, through various voice based natural interfaces, the adequate support systems for disease auto management but prominently by activating the less differentiated caregiver for any specific need. With these capabilities at hand, home based healthcare providing becomes a viable possibility reducing the institutionalization needs. The resulting integrated healthcare framework will provide significant savings while improving the generality of health and satisfaction indicators.

Diversity of accuracy profiles for absolute pitch recognition

Most advanced musicians are able to identify and label a heard pitch if given an opportunity to compare it to a known reference note. This is called ‘relative pitch’ (RP). A much rarer skill is the ability to identify and label a heard pitch without the need for a reference. This is colloquially referred to as ‘perfect pitch’, but appears in the academic literature as ‘absolute pitch’ (AP). AP is considered by many as a remarkable skill. As people do not seem able to develop it intentionally, it is generally regarded as innate. It is often seen as a unitary skill and that a set of identifiable criteria can distinguish those who possess the skill from those who do not. However, few studies have interrogated these notions. The present study developed and applied an interactive computer program to map pitch-labelling responses to various tonal stimuli without a known reference tone available to participants. This approach enabled the identification of the elements of sound that impacted on AP. Pitch-labelling responses of 14 participants with AP were recorded for their accuracy. Each participant’s response to the stimuli was unique. Their accuracy of labelling varied across dimensions such as timbre, range and tonality. The diversity of performance between individuals appeared to reflect their personal musical experience histories.

Integrating hardware and software information flow analyses

Security-critical communications devices must be evaluated to the highest possible standards before they can be deployed. This process includes tracing potential information flow through the device's electronic circuitry, for each of the device's operating modes. Increasingly, however, security functionality is being entrusted to embedded software running on microprocessors within such devices, so new strategies are needed for integrating information flow analyses of embedded program code with hardware analyses. Here we show how standard compiler principles can augment high-integrity security evaluations to allow seamless tracing of information flow through both the hardware and software of embedded systems. This is done by unifying input/output statements in embedded program execution paths with the hardware pins they access, and by associating significant software states with corresponding operating modes of the surrounding electronic circuitry.

Designing for engagement : building IT systems

Context The School of Information Technology at QUT has recently undertaken a major restructuring of their Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) course. Some of the aims of this restructuring include a reduction in first year attrition and to provide an attractive degree course that meets both student and industry expectations. Emphasis has been placed on the first semester in the context of retaining students by introducing a set of four units that complement one another and provide introductory material on technology, programming and related skills, and generic skills that will aid the students throughout their undergraduate course and in their careers. This discussion relates to one of these four fist semester units, namely Building IT Systems. The aim of this unit is to create small Information Technology (IT) systems that use programming or scripting, databases as either standalone applications or web applications. In the prior history of teaching introductory computer programming at QUT, programming has been taught as a stand alone subject and integration of computer applications with other systems such as databases and networks was not undertaken until students had been given a thorough grounding in those topics as well. Feedback has indicated that students do not believe that working with a database requires programming skills. In fact, the teaching of the building blocks of computer applications have been compartmentalized and taught in isolation from each other. The teaching of introductory computer programming has been an industry requirement of IT degree courses as many jobs require at least some knowledge of the topic. Yet, computer programming is not a skill that all students have equal capabilities of learning (Bruce et al., 2004) and this is clearly shown by the volume of publications dedicated to this topic in the literature over a broad period of time (Eckerdal & Berglund, 2005; Mayer, 1981; Winslow, 1996). The teaching of this introductory material has been done pretty much the same way over the past thirty years. During this period of time that introductory computer programming courses have been taught at QUT, a number of different programming languages and programming paradigms have been used and different approaches to teaching and learning have been attempted in an effort to find the golden thread that would allow students to learn this complex topic. Unfortunately, computer programming is not a skill that can be learnt in one semester. Some basics can be learnt but it can take many years to master (Norvig, 2001). Faculty data typically has shown a bimodal distribution of results for students undertaking introductory programming courses with a high proportion of students receiving a high mark and a high proportion of students receiving a low or failing mark. This indicates that there are students who understand and excel with the introductory material while there is another group who struggle to understand the concepts and practices required to be able to translate a specification or problem statement into a computer program that achieves what is being requested. The consequence of a large group of students failing the introductory programming course has been a high level of attrition amongst first year students. This attrition level does not provide good continuity in student numbers in later years of the degree program and the current approach is not seen as sustainable.

The manipulation of apoptosis-related genes to generate resistance to Fusarium wilt and water stress in banana

Bananas are susceptible to a diverse range of biotic and abiotic stresses, many of which cause serious production constraints worldwide. One of the most destructive banana diseases is Fusarium wilt caused by the soil-borne fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc). No effective control strategy currently exists for this disease which threatens global banana production. Although disease resistance exists in some wild bananas, attempts to introduce resistance into commercially acceptable bananas by conventional breeding have been hampered by low fertility, long generation times and association of poor agronomical traits with resistance genes. With the advent of reliable banana transformation protocols, molecular breeding is now regarded as a viable alternative strategy to generate disease-resistant banana plants. Recently, a novel strategy involving the expression of anti-apoptosis genes in plants was shown to result in resistance against several necrotrophic fungi. Further, the transgenic plants showed increased resistance to a range of abiotic stresses. In this thesis, the use of anti-apoptosis genes to generate transgenic banana plants with resistance to Fusarium wilt was investigated. Since water stress is an important abiotic constraint to banana production, the resistance of the transgenic plants to water stress was also examined. Embryogenic cell suspensions (ECS) of two commercially important banana cultivars, Grand Naine (GN) and Lady Finger (LF), were transformed using Agrobacterium with the anti-apoptosis genes, Bcl-xL, Bcl-xL G138A, Ced-9 and Bcl- 2 3’ UTR. An interesting, and potentially important, outcome was that the use of anti-apoptosis genes resulted in up to a 50-fold increase in Agrobacterium-mediated transformation efficiency of both LF and GN cells over vector controls. Regenerated plants were subjected to a complete molecular characterisation in order to detect the presence of the transgene (PCR), transcript (RT-PCR) and gene product (Western blot) and to determine the gene copy number (Southern blot). A total of 36 independently-transformed GN lines (8 x Bcl-xL, 5 x Bcl-xL G138A, 15 x Ced-9 and 8 x Bcl-2 3’ UTR) and 41 independently-transformed LF lines (8 x Bcl-xL, 7 x BclxL G138A, 13 x Ced-9 and 13 x Bcl-2 3’ UTR) were identified. The 41 transgenic LF lines were multiplied and clones from each line were acclimatised and grown under glasshouse conditions for 8 weeks to allow monitoring for phenotypic abnormalities. Plants derived from 3 x Bcl-xL, 2 x Ced-9 and 5 x Bcl-2 3’ UTR lines displayed a variety of aberrant phenotypes. However, all but one of these abnormalities were off-types commonly observed in tissue-cultured, non-transgenic banana plants and were therefore unlikely to be transgene-related. Prior to determining the resistance of the transgenic plants to Foc race 1, the apoptotic effects of the fungus on both wild-type and Bcl-2 3’ UTR-transgenic LF banana cells were investigated using rapid in vitro root assays. The results from these assays showed that apoptotic-like cell death was elicited in wild-type banana root cells as early as 6 hours post-exposure to fungal spores. In contrast, these effects were attenuated in the root cells of Bcl-2 3’ UTR-transgenic lines that were exposed to fungal spores. Thirty eight of the 41 transgenic LF lines were subsequently assessed for resistance to Foc race 1 in small-plant glasshouse bioassays. To overcome inconsistencies in rating the internal (vascular discolouration) disease symptoms, a MatLab-based computer program was developed to accurately and reliably assess the level of vascular discolouration in banana corms. Of the transgenic LF banana lines challenged with Foc race 1, 2 x Bcl-xL, 3 x Ced-9, 2 x Bcl-2 3’ UTR and 1 x Bcl-xL G138A-transgenic line were found to show significantly less external and internal symptoms than wild-type LF banana plants used as susceptible controls at 12 weeks post-inoculation. Of these lines, Bcl-2 3’ UTR-transgenic line #6 appeared most resistant, displaying very mild symptoms similar to the wild-type Cavendish banana plants that were included as resistant controls. This line remained resistant for up to 23 weeks post-inoculation. Since anti-apoptosis genes have been shown to confer resistance to various abiotic stresses in other crops, the ability of these genes to confer resistance against water stress in banana was also investigated. Clonal plants derived from each of the 38 transgenic LF banana plants were subjected to water stress for a total of 32 days. Several different lines of transgenic plants transformed with either Bcl-xL, Bcl-xL G138A, Ced-9 or Bcl-2 3’ UTR showed a delay in visual water stress symptoms compared with the wild-type control plants. These plants all began producing new growth from the pseudostem following daily rewatering for one month. In an attempt to determine whether the protective effect of anti-apoptosis genes in transgenic banana plants was linked with reactive oxygen species (ROS)-associated programmed cell death (PCD), the effect of the chloroplast-targeting, ROS-inducing herbicide, Paraquat, on wild-type and transgenic LF was investigated. When leaf discs from wild-type LF banana plants were exposed to 10 ìM Paraquat, complete decolourisation occurred after 48 hours which was confirmed to be associated with cell death and ROS production by trypan blue and 3,3-diaminobenzidine (DAB) staining, respectively. When leaf discs from the transgenic lines were exposed to Paraquat, those derived from some lines showed a delay in decolourisation, suggesting only a weak protective effect from the transgenes. Finally, the protective effect of anti-apoptosis genes against juglone, a ROS-inducing phytotoxin produced by the causal agent of black Sigatoka, Mycosphaerella fijiensis, was investigated. When leaf discs from wild-type LF banana plants were exposed to 25 ppm juglone, complete decolourisation occurred after 48 hours which was again confirmed to be associated with cell death and ROS production by trypan blue and DAB staining, respectively. Further, TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling (TUNEL) assays on these discs suggested that the cell death was apoptotic. When leaf discs from the transgenic lines were exposed to juglone, discs from some lines showed a clear delay in decolourisation, suggesting a protective effect. Whether these plants are resistant to black Sigatoka is unknown and will require future glasshouse and field trials. The work presented in this thesis provides the first report of the use of anti-apoptosis genes as a strategy to confer resistance to Fusarium wilt and water stress in a nongraminaceous monocot, banana. Such a strategy may be exploited to generate resistance to necrotrophic pathogens and abiotic stresses in other economically important crop plants.