Establishing virtual production as a research and teaching activity at QUT

Located within the Creative Industries Faculty, the Animation team at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) recently acquired a full-body inertial motion capture system. Our research to date has been predominantly concerned with interdisciplinary practice and the benefits this could bring to undergraduate teaching. From early experimental tests it was identified that there was a need to develop a framework for best practice and an efficient production workflow to ensure the system was being used to its full potential. Through our ongoing investigation we have identified at least three areas that stand to have long-term benefits from universities engaging in motion capture related research activity. This includes interdisciplinary collaborative research, undergraduate teaching and improved production processes. The following paper reports the early stages of our research, which explores the use of a full-body inertial motion capture (MoCap) solution in collaboration with performing artists.

Objectifying the Subjective : Assessment and Feedback in Creative Arts Studio Learning and Teaching

This paper examines the Assessment and Feedback aspects of Studio Teaching as Creative Arts pedagogy. Prompted by USQ’s newly offered Bachelor of Creative Arts (BCA), the author has developed an Assessment Matrix specifically designed to satisfy a number of imperatives, including: • ‘objectifying’ the subjective aspects of creative practice as assessable coursework/research • providing the means by which accurate, detailed, personalised and confidential feedback may be provided to students individually • providing consistent, accurate, meaningful assessment records for student, lecturer, and institution • ensuring consistency, continuity, and transparency of assessment processes and records to satisfy quality audits • minimising marking and assessment time, whilst maximising assessment integrity and depth • requiring only basic level skills and knowledge of a computer application already in common use (Microsoft Excel) • adaptability to a range of creative courses ‐ across disciplines This Assessment Matrix has been in development (and trialled) since January 2009.

Learning and teaching epidemiology with audience response technology

Background The learning and teaching of epidemiology is core to many public health programs. Many students find the content of epidemiology, and specifically risk of bias assessment, challenging to learn. Howbeit, learning is enhanced when knowledge is able to be acquired from an active-learning, hands-on experience. Methods The innovative use of wireless audience response technology “clickers” was incorporated into the lectures of the university’s post-graduate epidemiology units and the tailored epidemiological modules delivered for professional disciplines (e.g. optometry). Clickers were used to apply several pedagogical approaches of active learning including peer-instruction and real-world simulation. Students were also assessed for their gain in knowledge within the lecture (pre-post) and their perceptions of how the use of clickers helped them learn. The routine university-wide end of semester Insight Survey provided further information of the student’s satisfaction with the approach. Results The technology was useful in identifying deficits of knowledge of key concepts either before or after instruction. Where key concepts were re-tested post-lecture, as expected, knowledge increased significantly and provided immediate feed-back to students. Across the lecture series, typically 85% of students identified the technology helped them learn, increased their opportunity to interact with the lecturer, and recommend their use for future classes. The Insight Survey report identified 93% of respondents identified the unit in which clickers were consistently used provided good learning opportunities. Numerous student comments supported the teaching method. Conclusions Epidemiological subject matter lends itself to incorporation of audience response technology. The use of the technology to facilitate interactive voting provides an instant response and participation of everyone to enhance the classroom experience. The pedagogical approach increases students’ knowledge and increases their satisfaction with the unit.

Religion, Charity and Human Rights

For the first time in 400 years a number of leading common law nations have, fairly simultaneously, embarked on charity law reform leading to an encoding of key definitional matters in charity legislation. This book provides an analysis of international case law developments on the ever growing range of issues now being generated by clashes between human rights, religion and charity law. Kerry O'Halloran identifies and assesses the agenda of 'moral imperatives', such as abortion and gay marriage that delineate the legal interface and considers their significance for those with and those without religious belief. By assessing jurisdictional differences in the law relating to religion/human rights/charity the author provides a picture of the evolving 'culture wars' that now typify and differentiates societies in western nations including the USA, England and Wales, Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Porohyperelastic finite element model for the kangaroo humeral head cartilage based on experimental study and the consolidation theory

Solid-extracellular fluid interaction is believed to play an important role in the strain-rate dependent mechanical behaviors of shoulder articular cartilages. It is believed that the kangaroo shoulder joint is anatomically and biomechanically similar to human shoulder joint and it is easy to get in Australia. Therefore, the kangaroo humeral head cartilage was used as the suitable tissue for the study in this paper. Indentation tests from quasi-static (10-4/sec) to moderately high strain-rate (10-2/sec) on kangaroo humeral head cartilage tissues were conduced to investigate the strain-rate dependent behaviors. A finite element (FE) model was then developed, in which cartilage was conceptualized as a porous solid matrix filled with incompressible fluids. In this model, the solid matrix was modeled as an isotropic hyperelastic material and the percolating fluid follows Darcy’s law. Using inverse FE procedure, the constitutive parameters related to stiffness, compressibility of the solid matrix and permeability were obtained from the experimental results. The effect of solid-extracellular fluid interaction and drag force (the resistance to fluid movement) on strain-rate dependent behavior was investigated by comparing the influence of constant, strain dependent and strain-rate dependent permeability on FE model prediction. The newly developed porohyperelastic cartilage model with the inclusion of strain-rate dependent permeability was found to be able to predict the strain-rate dependent behaviors of cartilages.

The Australian prehospital pandemic risk perception study and an examination of new public health roles in pandemic response for ambulance services

This report is one of a series of products resulting from a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Urgent Research Grant – Pandemic Influenza [No 409973]. The research targeted two key aspects of planning and preparedness for a human influenza pandemic, namely:

Robots, the internet and teaching history in the age of the NBN and the Australian curriculum

Have you ever wished you were Doctor Who and could pop yourself and your students into a Tardis and teleport them to an historical event or to meet a historical figure? We all know that unfortunately time travel is not (yet) possible, but maybe student and teacher teleportation just might be – sort of. Over the past few centuries and in lieu of time travel our communities have developed museums as a means of experiencing some of our history...

Rediscovering law students as citizens: Critical thinking and the public value of legal education

In a series of publications over the last decade, Australian National University Professor Margaret Thornton has documented a disturbing change in the nature of legal education. This body of work culminates in a recently published book based on interviews with 145 legal academics in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada. In it, Thornton describes a feeling of widespread unease among legal academics that society, government, university administrators and students themselves are moving away from viewing legal education as a public good which benefits both students and society. Instead, legal education is increasingly being viewed as a purely private good, for consumption by the student in the quest for individual career enhancement.

Association between the interleukin 23 receptor and ankylosing spondylitis is confirmed by a new UK case-control study and meta-analysis of published series

Objectives. It has been shown previously that IL-23R variants are associated with AS. We conducted an extended analysis in the UK population and a meta-analysis with the previously published studies, in order to refine these IL-23R associations with AS. Methods. The UK case-control study included 730 new cases and 1331 healthy controls. In the extended study, the 730 cases were combined with 1088 published cases. Allelic associations were analysed using contingency tables. In the meta-analysis, 3482 cases and 3150 controls from four different published studies and the new UK cases were combined. DerSimonian-Laird test was used to calculate random effects pooled odds ratios (ORs). Results. In the UK case-control study with new cases, four of the eight SNPs showed significant associations, whereas in the extended UK study, seven of the eight IL-23R SNPs showed significant associations (P < 0.05) with AS, maximal with rs11209032 (P < 10-5, OR 1.3), when cases with IBD and/or psoriasis were excluded. The meta-analysis showed significant associations with all eight SNPs; the strongest associations were again seen not only with rs11209032 (P = 4.06 × 10-9, OR ∼1.2) but also with rs11209026 (P < 10-10, OR ∼0.6). Conclusions. IL-23R polymorphisms are clearly associated with AS, but the primary causal association(s) is(are) still not established. These polymorphisms could contribute either increased or decreased susceptibility to AS; functional studies will be required for their full evaluation. Additionally, observed stronger associations with SNPs rs11209026 and rs11465804 upon exclusion of IBD and/or psoriasis cases may represent an independent association with AS. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

Productivity of the suffixes -ness and -ity in 17th-century English letters : A sociolinguistic approach

Tässä työssä tutkitaan englannin kielen substantiivijohtimien -ness ja -ity produktiivisuutta 1600-luvulla kirjoitetuissa kirjeissä. Näitä lähes synonyymisiä johtimia käytetään yleensä merkitykseltään abstraktien substantiivien muodostamiseen adjektiiveista (esim. productive 'produktiivinen' > productiveness tai productivity 'produktiivisuus'). Johtimista -ity on lainautunut englantiin ranskasta ja myöhemmin myös latinasta; se on sekä fonologialtaan että semantiikaltaan läpinäkymättömämpi kuin kotoperäinen -ness. Lisäksi -ity-johdinta on käytetty enimmäkseen formaaleissa tilanteissa ja tieteellisissä teksteissä, kun taas -ness on ollut yleiskäyttöisempi. Tutkielman lähestymistapa on sosiolingvistinen: oletetaan, että johtimien produktiivisuus (eli valmius muodostaa uusia johdoksia) voi vaihdella eri sosiaaliryhmissä. Sosiolingvistiikkaa ei ole aiemmin juurikaan sovellettu produktiivisuuden tutkimiseen. Tutkimusaineistona on Helsingin yliopiston VARIENG-tutkimusyksikön laatima Corpus of Early English Correspondence, varhaisista englanninkielisistä kirjeistä koostuva korpus eli elektroninen tekstikokoelma, joka on suunniteltu historiallisen sosiolingvistiikan tarpeisiin. Korpuksen 1600-luvun kirjeitten yhteenlaskettu pituus on noin 1,4 miljoonaa sanaa, ja ne on kirjoitettu vuosina 1600-1681. Tutkielman tärkeimpänä produktiivisuusmittarina käytetään johtimien avulla muodostettujen eri sanojen eli tyyppien lukumäärää. Hypoteesina on, että -ity-tyyppien määrä on keskimääräistä pienempi huonosti koulutettujen sosiaaliryhmien kirjeissä. Näitä olivat 1600-luvulla naiset sekä alhaisimmat yhteiskuntaryhmät, kuten talonpojat ja käsityöläiset. Johtimen -ness tyyppimäärissä ei odoteta esiintyvän sosiolingvististä variaatiota. Tutkielmassa käsitellään myös tyyppimäärien vertailuun liittyviä metodologisia ongelmia. Koska vaikkapa naisilta ja miehiltä on eri määrä dataa, ei heidän tyyppimääriään voida suoraan verrata keskenään. Esimerkiksi tyyppimäärien normalisointi tuhatta sanaa kohti ei myöskään ole mahdollista, koska tyyppien lukumäärä ei kasva lineaarisesti korpuksen kasvaessa. Tutkielmassa esitetään kielitieteessä harvoin käytetty tilastotieteellinen menetelmä, jonka avulla korpuksen eri osista saatuja tyyppimääriä voidaan verrata koko korpukseen ja testata, ovatko ne tilastollisesti merkittävän pieniä tai suuria. Toisin kuin monet yleisemmät menetelmät, tämä tyyppikertymiin ja permutaatiotesteihin perustuva metodi ei vaadi yksinkertaistavien oletuksien tekemistä. Tutkimustulokset vahvistavat hypoteesin oikeaksi: naisten -ity-tyyppien lukumäärä on tilastollisesti merkittävän alhainen, kun taas -ness-tyyppien määrissä ei ole tilastollisesti merkittäviä eroja. Alhaisimpien yhteiskuntaryhmien osalta tuloksia ei saada, koska niiltä on korpuksessa liian vähän dataa. Analyysissä paljastuu myös yllättävä eroavaisuus: korpuksen ajallisesti ensimmäisessä puoliskossa (1600-1639) on merkittävän vähän -ity-tyyppejä. Tämä voidaan tulkita kielelliseksi muutokseksi: -ity-johtimen produktiivisuus kasvaa kirjeissä 1600-luvun aikana. Saattaa olla, että johtimen produktiivisuus on ensin kasvanut formaalimmissa tekstilajeissa, joista lisääntynyt käyttö on sitten levinnyt myös kirjeisiin, ehkäpä 1640-luvun sisällissodan synnyttämien kontaktiverkostojen siivittämänä. Tuloksien perusteella voidaan sanoa, että sosiolingvistinen vaihtelu on merkittävä tekijä ainakin joittenkin johtimien produktiivisuudessa, joten vaihtelua on syytä tutkia enemmänkin. Tutkimuksessa käytetty metodi mahdollistaa osakorpuksien tyyppimäärien luotettavan vertailun melko pienissäkin korpuksissa, joten se soveltuu hyvin niin historialliseen kielitieteeseen kuin sosiolingvistiikkaankin.

En förutbestämd sanning : Barnamord och delaktighet i 1700-talets Finland belysta genom kön, kropp och social kontroll

The study analyses the prevention or endorsing of the crime of infanticide in Finland 1702 1807, rather than the result. Also the impacts of the female body, biology of childbirth and experiences of pregnancy are examined, together with insights from modern medical research. Circumstances are reconstructed by a critical reading of judicial records on all levels of the judicial system. In all 269 cases of infanticide and 142 accessory crimes within the jurisdiction of the Turku court of appeal are studied, with particular focus on exceptionally well recorded cases of 83 accused women and 41 women and men accused of being party to the crime. Secondary sources are medical and jurisprudential writings, the public debate on infanticide, broadsheets and letters asking the King for pardon. Infanticide was considered murder by law. Unmarried women were predetermined as the main culprits. Nevertheless, deliberate infanticides were rare and committed mostly in accomplice. The majority of the infanticides studied were cases where inexperienced and unmarried women accidentally had given birth alone and usually to a dead child. Unaware that the pain they were experiencing was in fact a labour, the accused women instinctively sought solitude to push out the child. Some misunderstood the birth as an urgent need to defecate. The unexpected delivery ended in hiding the baby without remorse. This crime was promoted by several factors in Finnish rural culture, amongst others that also married women hid their pregnancy. The immediate household members did not necessarily know about the childbirth and failed to help the woman. This typical pattern in most cases of infanticide in 18th century Finland is also recorded in modern cases of unknown pregnancies. Fear of accountability prevented witnesses testifying to the actual course of events. The truth remained elusive. With only a few exceptions, the women were sentenced to death or imprisonment. The majority of those accused of accomplice were acquitted. However, too harsh sentences for accidents affected the reporting of the crime. Criminal politics failed to curtail infanticide as the crime was unsatisfactorily addressed by law, society and the judicial system.