Emergent task-specific object semantics through distributed experience networks

Autonomous development of sensorimotor coordination enables a robot to adapt and change its action choices to interact with the world throughout its lifetime. The Experience Network is a structure that rapidly learns coordination between visual and haptic inputs and motor action. This paper presents methods which handle the high dimensionality of the network state-space which occurs due to the simultaneous detection of multiple sensory features. The methods provide no significant increase in the complexity of the underlying representations and also allow emergent, task-specific, semantic information to inform action selection. Experimental results show rapid learning in a real robot, beginning with no sensorimotor mappings, to a mobile robot capable of wall avoidance and target acquisition.

Residential satisfaction in inner urban higher-density Brisbane, Australia : role of dwelling, neighbours and neighbourhood

Increasing the population density of urban areas is a key policy strategy to sustainably manage growth, but many residents often view higher density living as an undesirable long-term housing option. Thus, this research explores the predictors of residential satisfaction in inner urban higher-density (IUHD) environments, surveying 636 IUHD residents in Brisbane, Australia about the importance of dwelling, neighbours and neighbourhood. Relationships with immediate neighbours did not predict residential satisfaction, but features of the neighbourhood and dwelling were critical, specifically satisfaction with dwelling position, design and facilities, and social contacts (family and friends) in the neighbourhood. Identifying the factors that influence residential satisfaction in IUHD will assist with both planning and design, helping ensure a lower resident turnover rate and greater uptake of high density living.

Measuring neighbourhood sustainability performance: an indexing model for Gold Coast City, Australia

The aim of this research is to develop an indexing model to evaluate sutainability performance of urban settings, in order to assess environmental impacts of urban development and to provide planning agencies an indexing model as a decision support tool to be used in curbing negative impacts of urban development. Indicator-based sustainability assessment is embraced as the method. Neigbourhood-level urban form and transport related indicators are derived from the literature by conducting a content analysis and finalised via a focus group meeting. The model is piloted on three suburbs of Gold Coast City, Australia. Final neighbourhood level sustainability index score was calculated by employing equal weighting schema. The results of the study show that indexing modelling is a reasonably practical method to measure and visualise local sustainability performance, which can be employed as an effective communication and decision making tool.

The validation of the rating for subdivision neighbourhood sustainability design (RSNSD) In Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), Thailand

In recent years, the problems resulting from unsustainable subdivision development have become significant problems in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), Thailand. Numbers of government departments and agencies have tried to eliminate the problems by introducing the rating tools to encourage the higher sustainability levels of subdivision development in BMR, such as the Environmental Impact Assessment Monitoring Award (EIA-MA) and the Thai’s Rating for Energy and Environmental Sustainability of New construction and major renovation (TREES-NC). However, the EIA-MA has included the neighbourhood designs in the assessment criteria, but this requirement applies to large projects only. Meanwhile, TREES-NC has focused only on large scale buildings such as condominiums, office buildings, and is not specific for subdivision neighbourhood designs. Recently, the new rating tool named “Rating for Subdivision Neighbourhood Sustainability Design (RSNSD)” has been developed. Therefore, the validation process of RSNSD is still required. This paper aims to validate the new rating tool for subdivision neighbourhood design in BMR. The RSNSD has been validated by applying the rating tool to eight case study subdivisions. The result of RSNSD by data generated through surveying subdivisions will be compared to the existing results from the EIA-MA. The selected cases include of one “Excellent Award”, two “Very Good Award”, and five non-rated subdivision developments. This paper expects to prove the credibility of RSNSD before introducing to the real subdivision development practises. The RSNSD could be useful to encourage higher sustainability subdivision design level, and then protect the problems from further subdivision development in BMR.

A semantics-based approach to querying process model repositories

As business process management technology matures, organisations acquire more and more business process models. The resulting collections can consist of hundreds, even thousands of models and their management poses real challenges. One of these challenges concerns model retrieval where support should be provided for the formulation and efficient execution of business process model queries. As queries based on only structural information cannot deal with all querying requirements in practice, there should be support for queries that require knowledge of process model semantics. In this paper we formally define a process model query language that is based on semantic relationships between tasks. This query language is independent of the particular process modelling notation used, but we will demonstrate how it can be used in the context of Petri nets by showing how the semantic relationships can be determined for these nets in such a way that state space explosion is avoided as much as possible. An experiment with three large process model repositories shows that queries expressed in our language can be evaluated efficiently.

Topological map induction using neighbourhood information of places

In topological mapping, perceptual aliasing can cause different places to appear indistinguishable to the robot. In case of severely corrupted or non-available odometry information, topological mapping is difficult as the robot is challenged with the loop-closing problem; that is to determine whether it has visited a particular place before. In this article we propose to use neighbourhood information to disambiguate otherwise indistinguishable places. Using neighbourhood information for place disambiguation is an approach that neither depends on a specific choice of sensors nor requires geometric information such as odometry. Local neighbourhood information is extracted from a sequence of observations of visited places. In experiments using either sonar or visual observations from an indoor environment the benefits of using neighbourhood clues for the disambiguation of otherwise identical vertices are demonstrated. Over 90% of the maps we obtain are isomorphic with the ground truth. The choice of the robot’s sensors does not impact the results of the experiments much.

Semantics-based web service discovery using information retrieval techniques

This paper demonstrates an experimental study that examines the accuracy of various information retrieval techniques for Web service discovery. The main goal of this research is to evaluate algorithms for semantic web service discovery. The evaluation is comprehensively benchmarked using more than 1,700 real-world WSDL documents from INEX 2010 Web Service Discovery Track dataset. For automatic search, we successfully use Latent Semantic Analysis and BM25 to perform Web service discovery. Moreover, we provide linking analysis which automatically links possible atomic Web services to meet the complex requirements of users. Our fusion engine recommends a final result to users. Our experiments show that linking analysis can improve the overall performance of Web service discovery. We also find that keyword-based search can quickly return results but it has limitation of understanding users’ goals.

The Neighbourhood Disputes Resolution Act 2011 (Qld) and disclosure issues

This article examines the recently introduced Neighbourhood Disputes Resolution Act 2011 (Qld). The operation of the Act is considered as it impacts upon the responsibility of neighbours for dividing fences and trees as well as disclosure obligations associated with sale transactions. A particular focus of the article is the interrelationship of the disclosure obligations imposed by the Act with the operation of standard contractual warranties in Queensland.

Operational semantics of aspects in business process management

Aspect orientation is an important approach to address complexity of cross-cutting concerns in Information Systems. This approach encapsulates these concerns separately and compose them to the main module when needed. Although there a different works which shows how this separation should be performed in process models, the composition of them is an open area. In this paper, we demonstrate the semantics of a service which enables this composition. The result can also be used as a blueprint to implement the service to support aspect orientation in Business Process Management area.

Understanding neighbourhood liveability for older urban Australians

As with other major developed cities, the sub-tropical and fastest growing Australian capital city of Brisbane has adopted policies designed to increase residential densities and meet the liveability and sustainability goal of decreasing car dependence and greenhouse gas emissions. This goal hinges on a pedestrian friendly environment and walkable proximity to satisfy everyday needs. While older people are particularly attracted to sub-tropical urban environments, there has been little empirical evidence linking liveability satisfaction and perceived and actual use of older people’s urban neighbourhood. Using qualitative (diaries and in-depth interviews) and quantitative (Global Positioning Systems and Geographical Information Systems mapping) liveability research data this paper explores whether high density supports liveability and is sustainable for older people living in a sub-tropical urban environment. This paper links satisfaction and perceived use of the sub-tropical urban Brisbane environment with actual mapped characteristics and use. Linking the two methods (both quantitative and qualitative) is important in obtaining a greater understanding of human behaviour and the lived world of older urban Australians and in providing a wider picture of sub-tropical urban neighbourhoods for a significant population group within those neighbourhoods. What emerges from the research is an uneven standard of design, provision of amenities and maintenance of the public realm which negatively impacts on local neighbourhood participation by older urban Australians. By highlighting these issues this research furthers the understanding of design factors which make the sub-tropical urban neighbourhood more liveable and sustainable for older people and will inform actionable and implementable policies, programs and designs.

Experiences of neighbourhood walkability among older Australians living in high density inner-city areas

Walking as an out-of-home mobility activity is recognised for its contribution to healthy and active ageing. The environment can have a powerful effect on the amount of walking activity undertaken by older people, thereby influencing their capacity to maintain their wellbeing and independence. This paper reports the findings from research examining the experiences of neighbourhood walking for 12 older people from six different inner-city high density suburbs, through analysis of data derived from travel diaries, individual time/space activity maps (created via GPS tracking over a seven-day period and GIS technology), and in-depth interviews. Reliance on motor vehicles, the competing interests of pedestrians and cyclists on shared pathways and problems associated with transit systems, public transport, and pedestrian infrastructure emerged as key barriers to older people venturing out of home on foot. GPS and GIS technology provide new opportunities for furthering understanding of the out-of-home mobility of older populations.