Robotics for the mining industry

The mining industry is highly suitable for the application of robotics and automation technology since the work is both arduous and dangerous. However, while the industry makes extensive use of mechanisation it has shown a slow uptake of automation. A major cause of this is the complexity of the task, and the limitations of existing automation technology which is predicated on a structured and time invariant working environment. Here we discuss the topic of mining automation from a robotics and computer vision perspective — as a problem in sensor based robot control, an issue which the robotics community has been studying for nearly two decades. We then describe two of our current mining automation projects to demonstrate what is possible for both open-pit and underground mining operations.

Shared book reading by parents with young children: Evidence-based practice

There is considerable recognition that shared book reading helps develop young children's early reading and literacy skills. Home is an important context in which children first start to develop their early literacy skills. This paper reviews Australian and international literature of shared book-reading intervention pertaining to the effects of two different strategies (dialogic reading and print referencing) on young children's early literacy skills. Further, a brief summary of findings of a recent Australian study are presented that showed some significant effects of shared reading on children's early literacy skills. This research used a pragmatic RCT (randomised controlled trial) to investigate a combination of these two forms of shared book-reading home intervention with parents and their children enrolled in the Prep year of school in Queensland. The paper concludes with a discussion of the significance of the findings and implications for parents and teachers to use an evidence-based approach to help children develop early literacy skills.

Book Review: "Gender and Global Justice edited by Alison M. Jaggar, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014"

Hidden aspects of assumed gender-neutral global policies and transnational institutions that have “systematically disparate and often burdensome consequences for specific groups of women in both the global North and the global South” (10) are the focus of Gender and Global Justice edited by Alison M Jagger. In response to the frequent neglect of gender in considerations of moral philosophy in global issues, the chapters assembled in this edited collection highlight the manifold ways in which our attention to a broad range of questions of justice at a global level is enhanced by close attention to the gendered dimensions of injustice and inequality.

Mechanical Behavior of Nanostructured Materials

This Special Issue presents recent research advances in various aspects of advanced nanomaterials including synthesis, micro- and nanostructures, mechanical properties, modeling, and applications for material nanotechnology community. In particular, it aims to reflect recent advances in mechanical behaviors, for example, stiffness, strength, ductility, fatigue, and wear resistance, of various nanomaterials including nanocrystalline, inorganic, nonmetallic nanomaterials, composites with nanosized fillers, and biomaterials with nanosized structures. The role of this Special Issue is to bridge the gaps among fabrication techniques, experimental techniques, numerical modeling, and applications for some new nanomaterials and to investigate some key issues related to the mechanical properties of the nanomaterials. It brings together researchers working at the frontier of the mechanical behavior of nanomaterials...

Food futures: Three provocations to challenge HCI interventions

Our contemporary concerns about food range from food security to agricultural sustainability to getting dinner on the table for family and friends. This book investigates food issues as they intersect with participatory Internet culture--blogs, wikis, online photo- and video-sharing platforms, and social networks in efforts to bring about a healthy, socially inclusive, and sustainable food future. Focusing on our urban environments provisioned with digital and network capacities, and drawing on such "bottom-up" sociotechnical trends as DIY and open source, the chapters describe engagements with food and technology that engender (re-)creative interactions.

Re/membering Pedagogical Spaces

Educational spaces across the world largely continue to be designed with little variance from the traditional industrial classroom model, and pedagogies seem stuck somewhere between the Sage-on-the-Stage, lecture-dominated paradigm, and the Guide-on-the-Side, in which the instructor acts primarily as an aide watching, encouraging, and monitoring students working on projects individually or in groups. Rather than “reinventing the wheel,” the authors argue for an academic environment based on the British coffee house or French café of the 18th and 19th centuries. Not only should this 21st-century classroom offer an innovative melding of space and technology but also introduce a new pedagogical model. The Meddler-in-the-Middle model repositions the teacher and students as co-facilitators in the creation and use of knowledge in an environment where bodies move seamlessly in and out of collegial collaborations filled with free-to-fail open debate.

Applying digital product memories in industrial production

Industrial production and supply chains face increased demands for mass customization and tightening regulations on the traceability of goods, leading to higher requirements concerning flexibility, adaptability, and transparency of processes. Technologies for the ’Internet of Things' such as smart products and semantic representations pave the way for future factories and supply chains to fulfill these challenging market demands. In this chapter a backend-independent approach for information exchange in open-loop production processes based on Digital Product Memories DPMs is presented. By storing order-related data directly on the item, relevant lifecycle information is attached to the product itself. In this way, information handover between several stages of the value chain with focus on the manufacturing phase of a product has been realized. In order to report best practices regarding the application of DPM in the domain of industrial production, system prototype implementations focusing on the use case of producing and handling a smart drug case are illustrated.

Participatory action research for civic engagement

The future of civic engagement is characterised by both technological innovation as well as new technological user practices that are fuelled by trends towards mobile, personal devices; broadband connectivity; open data; urban interfaces; and, cloud computing. These technology trends are progressing at a rapid pace, and have led global technology vendors to package and sell the ‘Smart City’ as a centralized service delivery platform predicted to optimize and enhance cities’ key performance indicators – and generate a profitable market. The top-down deployment of these large and proprietary technology platforms have helped sectors such as energy, transport, and healthcare to increase efficiencies. However, an increasing number of scholars and commentators warn of another ‘IT bubble’ emerging. Along with some city leaders, they argue that the top-down approach does not fit the governance dynamics and values of a liberal democracy when applied across sectors. A thorough understanding is required, of the socio-cultural nuances of how people work, live, play across different environments, and how they employ social media and mobile devices to interact with, engage in, and constitute public realms. Although the term ‘slacktivism’ is sometimes used to denote a watered down version of civic engagement and activism that is reduced to clicking a ‘Like’ button and signing online petitions, we believe that we are far from witnessing another Biedermeier period that saw people focus on the domestic and the non-political. There is plenty of evidence to the contrary, such as post-election violence in Kenya in 2008, the Occupy movements in New York, Hong Kong and elsewhere, the Arab Spring, Stuttgart 21, Fukushima, the Taksim Gezi Park in Istanbul, and the Vinegar Movement in Brazil in 2013. These examples of civic action shape the dynamics of governments, and in turn, call for new processes to be incorporated into governance structures. Participatory research into these new processes across the triad of people, place and technology is a significant and timely investment to foster productive, sustainable, and livable human habitats. With this chapter, we want to reframe the current debates in academia and priorities in industry and government to allow citizens and civic actors to take their rightful centerpiece place in civic movements. This calls for new participatory approaches for co-inquiry and co-design. It is an evolving process with an explicit agenda to facilitate change, and we propose participatory action research (PAR) as an indispensable component in the journey to develop new governance infrastructures and practices for civic engagement. This chapter proposes participatory action research as a useful and fitting research paradigm to guide methodological considerations surrounding the study, design, development, and evaluation of civic technologies. We do not limit our definition of civic technologies to tools specifically designed to simply enhance government and governance, such as renewing your car registration online or casting your vote electronically on election day. Rather, we are interested in civic media and technologies that foster citizen engagement in the widest sense, and particularly the participatory design of such civic technologies that strive to involve citizens in political debate and action as well as question conventional approaches to political issues (DiSalvo, 2012; Dourish, 2010; Foth et al., 2013). Following an outline of some underlying principles and assumptions behind participatory action research, especially as it applies to cities, we will critically review case studies to illustrate the application of this approach with a view to engender robust, inclusive, and dynamic societies built on the principles of engaged liberal democracy. The rationale for this approach is an alternative to smart cities in a ‘perpetual tomorrow,’ (cf. e.g. Dourish & Bell, 2011), based on many weak and strong signals of civic actions revolving around technology seen today. It seeks to emphasize and direct attention to active citizenry over passive consumerism, human actors over human factors, culture over infrastructure, and prosperity over efficiency. First, we will have a look at some fundamental issues arising from applying simplistic smart city visions to the kind of a problem a city is (cf. Jacobs, 1961). We focus on the touch points between “the city” and its civic body, the citizens. In order to provide for meaningful civic engagement, the city must provide appropriate interfaces.

Exploring Environmental Stewardship Through Data-Driven Practices

What potential do artists working with environmental data in public space have for producing new forms of engagement with local environmental conditions? Operating on the edge of heavy bureaucracy, these types of data-driven artistic experiments probe the politics of environmental metrics and explore methods of engaging audiences with issues of environmental health. This discussion considers a small collection of cases studies representative of this growing field of practice. These are works by Natalie Jeremijenko and The Living, Tega Brain and Keith Deverell. The case studies considered are examples of strategic design, works that soften, reveal and potentially shift existing regulations and bureaucratic norms. In doing so they open up new possibilities and questions as to what the smart city is and how it might be realised.

The Library beyond (just) the book: Collaboration and co-working spaces for new technology and new technological practices

Libraries have often been first adopters of many new technological innovations, such as, punch cards, computers, barcodes, and e-book readers. It is thus not surprising that many libraries have embraced the advent of the internet as an opportunity to move away from just being repositories of books, towards becoming ideas stores and local network hubs for entrepreneurial thinking and new creative practices. This presentation will look at the case of “The Edge” – an initiative of the State Library of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, to establish a digital culture centre and learning environment deliberately designed for the co-creation and co-construction of knowledge. This initiative illustrates the potential role of libraries as testing grounds for new technologies and technological practices, which is particularly relevant in the context of the NBN rollout across Australia. It also provides an example of new engagement strategies for innovative co-working spaces that are a vital element in a trend that sees professionals, creatives and designers leave their traditional places of work and embrace the city as their office.

An upstream open reading frame is essential for feedback regulation of ascorbate biosynthesis in arabidopsis

Ascorbate (vitamin C) is an essential antioxidant and enzyme cofactor in both plants and animals. Ascorbate concentration is tightly regulated in plants, partly to respond to stress. Here, we demonstrate that ascorbate concentrations are determined via the posttranscriptional repression of GDP-l-galactose phosphorylase (GGP), a major control enzyme in the ascorbate biosynthesis pathway. This regulation requires a cis-acting upstream open reading frame (uORF) that represses the translation of the downstream GGP open reading frame under high ascorbate concentration. Disruption of this uORF stops the ascorbate feedback regulation of translation and results in increased ascorbate concentrations in leaves. The uORF is predicted to initiate at a noncanonical codon (ACG rather than AUG) and encode a 60- to 65-residue peptide. Analysis of ribosome protection data from Arabidopsis thaliana showed colocation of high levels of ribosomes with both the uORF and the main coding sequence of GGP. Together, our data indicate that the noncanonical uORF is translated and encodes a peptide that functions in the ascorbate inhibition of translation. This posttranslational regulation of ascorbate is likely an ancient mechanism of control as the uORF is conserved in GGP genes from mosses to angiosperms.

Phenomenology and Extreme Sports in Natural Landscapes

Husserl reminded us of the imperative to return to the Lebensweldt, or life-world. He was preoccupied with the crisis of Western science which alienated the experiencing self from the world of immediate experience. Immediate experience provides a foundation for what it means to be human. Heidegger, building upon these ideas, foresaw a threat to human nature in the face of ‘technicity’. He argued for a return to a relationship between ‘authentic self’ and nature predicated upon the notion of ‘letting be’ in which humans are open to the mystery of being. Self and nature are not conceived as alienated entities but as aspects of a single entity. In modern times, separation between self and the world is further evidenced by scientific rational modes of being exemplified through consumerism and the incessant use of screen-based technology which dominate human experience. In contrast, extreme sports provide an opportunity for people to return to the life-world by living in relation to the natural world. Engagement in extreme sports enables a return to authenticity as we rediscover self as part of nature.

Open access spatial data and collaboration

On 19 June 2015, representatives from over 40 Australian research institutions gathered in Canberra to launch their Open Data Collections. The one day event, hosted by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS), showcased to government and a range of national stakeholders the rich variety of data collections that have been generated through the Major Open Data Collections (MODC) project. Colin Eustace attended the showcase for QUT Library and presented a poster that reflected the work that he and Jodie Vaughan generated through the project. QUT’s Blueprint 4, the University’s five-year institutional strategic plan, outlines the key priorities of developing a commitment to working in partnership with industry, as well as combining disciplinary strengths with interdisciplinary application. The Division of Technology, Information and Learning Support (TILS) has undertaken a number of Australian National Data Service (ANDS) funded projects since 2009 with the aim of developing improved research data management services within the University to support these strategic aims. By leveraging existing tools and systems developed during these projects, the Major Open Data Collection (MODC) project delivered support to multi-disciplinary collaborative research activities through partnership building between QUT researchers and Queensland government agencies, in order to add to and promote the discovery and reuse of a collection of spatially referenced datasets. The MODC project built upon existing Research Data Finder infrastructure (which uses VIVO open source software, developed by Cornell University) to develop a separate collection, Spatial Data Finder (https://researchdatafinder.qut.edu.au/spatial) as the interface to display the spatial data collection. During the course of the project, 62 dataset descriptions were added to Spatial Data Finder, 7 added to Research Data Finder and two added to Software Finder, another separate collection. The project team met with 116 individual researchers and attended 13 school and faculty meetings to promote the MODC project and raise awareness of the Library’s services and resources for research data management.

Sneak peek: Dance audience relationships during open rehearsals

Over the past decade there has been a surge of interest in behind-the-scenes events from mainstream dance companies and audiences alike. Online videos, open classes, open rehearsals, and backstage tours all provide insights for audiences about daily life in a dance company and how dance work is made. This article focuses on the use of open rehearsals in studio sites and investigates audience experience and relationship with dancers during these events. Applying Clare Dyson’s (2010) scales of audience engagement, I analyse two open rehearsal models that I observed as an audience participant in 2013: Friends Open Days with English National Ballet (London), and Inner Workings with Chunky Move (Melbourne). Through this analysis, open rehearsals emerge as an experience with elements reminiscent of both the traditional presentation paradigm and non-traditional presentation models. Elements such as close audience-dancer proximity, authenticity, and experiences in liminal sites, such as staircases and green rooms, present the possibility of new audience-dancer relationship within the mainstream dance company context.