Digital human modelling for vehicle design and manufacturing

Digital human modelling (DHM) has today matured from research into industrial application. In the automotive domain, DHM has become a commonly used tool in virtual prototyping and human-centred product design. While this generation of DHM supports the ergonomic evaluation of new vehicle design during early design stages of the product, by modelling anthropometry, posture, motion or predicting discomfort, the future of DHM will be dominated by CAE methods, realistic 3D design, and musculoskeletal and soft tissue modelling down to the micro-scale of molecular activity within single muscle fibres. As a driving force for DHM development, the automotive industry has traditionally used human models in the manufacturing sector (production ergonomics, e.g. assembly) and the engineering sector (product ergonomics, e.g. safety, packaging). In product ergonomics applications, DHM share many common characteristics, creating a unique subset of DHM. These models are optimised for a seated posture, interface to a vehicle seat through standardised methods and provide linkages to vehicle controls. As a tool, they need to interface with other analytic instruments and integrate into complex CAD/CAE environments. Important aspects of current DHM research are functional analysis, model integration and task simulation. Digital (virtual, analytic) prototypes or digital mock-ups (DMU) provide expanded support for testing and verification and consider task-dependent performance and motion. Beyond rigid body mechanics, soft tissue modelling is evolving to become standard in future DHM. When addressing advanced issues beyond the physical domain, for example anthropometry and biomechanics, modelling of human behaviours and skills is also integrated into DHM. Latest developments include a more comprehensive approach through implementing perceptual, cognitive and performance models, representing human behaviour on a non-physiologic level. Through integration of algorithms from the artificial intelligence domain, a vision of the virtual human is emerging.

(Un)doing gender : ways of being in an age of uncertainty

Children’s literature has conventionally and historically been concerned with identity and the often tortuous journey to becoming a subject who is generally older and wiser, a journey typically characterised by mishap, adventure, and detours. Narrative closure in children’s and young adult novels and films typically provides a point of self-realisation or self-actualisation, whereby the struggles of finding one’s “true” identity have been overcome. In this familiar coming-of-age narrative, there is often an underlying premise of an essential self that will emerge or be uncovered. This kind of narrative resolution provides readers with a reassurance that things will work for the best in the end, which is an enduring feature of children’s literature, and part of liberal-humanism’s project of harmonious individuality. However, uncertainty is a constant that has always characterised the ways lives are lived, regardless of best-laid plans. Children’s literature provides a field of narrative knowledge whereby readers gain impressions of childhood and adolescence, or more specifically, knowledge of ways of being at a time in life, which is marked by uncertainty. Despite the prevalence of children’s texts which continue to offer normative ways of being, in particular, normative forms of gender behaviour, there are texts which resist the pull for characters to be “like everyone else” by exploring alternative subjectivities. Fiction, however, cannot be regarded as a source of evidence about the material realities of life, as its strength lies in its affective and imaginative dimensions, which nevertheless can offer readers moments of reflection, recognition, or, in some cases, reality lessons. As a form of cultural production, contemporary children’s literature is highly responsive to social change and political debates, and is crucially implicated in shaping the values, attitudes and behaviours of children and young people.

Dose response relationships between physical activity, walking and health-related quality of life in mid-age and older women

Background Although physical activity is associated with health-related quality of life (HRQL), the nature of the dose-response relationship remains unclear. This study examined the concurrent and prospective dose-response relationships between total physical activity (TPA) and (only) walking with HRQL in two age cohorts of women. Methods Participants were 10,698 women born in 1946-1951 and 7,646 born in 1921-1926, who completed three mailed surveys for the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. They reported weekly TPA minutes (sum of walking, moderate, and vigorous minutes). HRQL was measured with the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 Health Status Survey (SF-36). Linear mixed models, adjusted for socio-demographic and health-related variables, were used to examine associations between TPA level (none, very low, low, intermediate, sufficient, high, and very high) and SF-36 scores. For women who reported walking as their only physical activity, associations between walking and SF-36 scores were also examined. Results Curvilinear trends were observed between TPA and walking with SF-36 scores. Concurrently, HRQL scores increased significantly with increasing TPA and walking, in both cohorts, with increases less marked above sufficient activity levels. Prospectively, associations were attenuated although significant and meaningful improvements in physical functioning and vitality were observed across most TPA and walking categories above the low category. Conclusion For women in their 50s-80s without clinical depression, greater amounts of TPA are associated with better current and future HRQL, particularly physical functioning and vitality. Even if walking is their only activity, women, particularly those in their 70s-80s, have better health-related quality of life.

Community participation in the development of digital radio : the Australian experience

The participation of the community broadcasting sector in the development of digital radio provides a potentially valuable opportunity for non-market, end user-driven experimentation in the development of these new services in Australia. However this development path is constrained by various factors, some of which are specific to the community broadcasting sector and others that are generic to the broader media and communications policy, industrial and technological context. This paper filters recent developments in digital radio policy and implementation through the perspectives of community radio stakeholders, obtained through interviews, to describe and analyse these constraints. The early stage of digital community radio presented here is intended as a baseline for tracking the development of the sector as digital radio broadcasting develops. We also draw upon insights from scholarly debates about citizens media and participatory culture to identify and discuss two sets of opportunities for social benefit that are enabled by the inclusion of community radio in digital radio service development. The first arises from community broadcasting’s involvement in the propagation of the multi-literacies that drive new digital economies, not only through formal and informal multi- and trans-media training, but also in the ‘co-creative’ forms of collaborative and participatory media production that are fostered in the sector. The second arises from the fact that community radio is uniquely placed — indeed charged with the responsibility — to facilitate social participation in the design and operation of media institutions themselves, not just their service outputs.

Digital Disruption : Cinema Moves Online

Digital Disruption: Cinema Moves On-line helps to make sense of what has happened in the short but turbulent history of on-line moving image distribution. It provides a realistic assessment of both the genuine and the not-so-promising methods that have been experimented in response to the disruptions that moving from ‘analogue dollars’ to ‘digital cents’ have provoked in the film industry. Paying close attention to how the Majors have dealt – often unsuccessfully – with the challenges it poses, it also focuses closely on the innovations and practices that have taken place beyond the mainstream, showcasing important entrepreneurial innovations such as Mubi, Jaman, Withoutabox and IMDb. Written by leading academic commentators and experts close to the fluctuating fortunes of the industry, Digital Disruption: Cinema Moves On-line is an indispensable guide to the changes currently facing film and its audiences.

The uses of multilingualism in digital culture : the case of inter-language linking

Language-use has proven to be the most complex and complicating of all Internet features, yet people and institutions invest enormously in language and crosslanguage features because they are fundamental to the success of the Internet’s past, present and future. The thesis takes into focus the developments of the latter – features that facilitate and signify linking between or across languages – both in their historical and current contexts. In the theoretical analysis, the conceptual platform of inter-language linking is developed to both accommodate efforts towards a new social complexity model for the co-evolution of languages and language content, as well as to create an open analytical space for language and cross-language related features of the Internet and beyond. The practiced uses of inter-language linking have changed over the last decades. Before and during the first years of the WWW, mechanisms of inter-language linking were at best important elements used to create new institutional or content arrangements, but on a large scale they were just insignificant. This has changed with the emergence of the WWW and its development into a web in which content in different languages co-evolve. The thesis traces the inter-language linking mechanisms that facilitated these dynamic changes by analysing what these linking mechanisms are, how their historical as well as current contexts can be understood and what kinds of cultural-economic innovation they enable and impede. The study discusses this alongside four empirical cases of bilingual or multilingual media use, ranging from television and web services for languages of smaller populations, to large-scale, multiple languages involving web ventures by the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Special Broadcasting Service Australia, Wikipedia and Google. To sum up, the thesis introduces the concepts of ‘inter-language linking’ and the ‘lateral web’ to model the social complexity and co-evolution of languages online. The resulting model reconsiders existing social complexity models in that it is the first that can explain the emergence of large-scale, networked co-evolution of languages and language content facilitated by the Internet and the WWW. Finally, the thesis argues that the Internet enables an open space for language and crosslanguage related features and investigates how far this process is facilitated by (1) amateurs and (2) human-algorithmic interaction cultures.

African Burkitt Lymphoma: Age-Specific Risk and Correlations with Malaria Biomarkers

African Burkitt lymphoma is an aggressive B-cell, non-Hodgkin lymphoma linked to Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Malaria biomarkers related to onset of African Burkitt lymphoma are unknown. We correlated age-specific patterns of 2,602 cases of African Burkitt lymphoma (60% male, mean ± SD age = 7.1 ± 2.9 years) from Uganda, Ghana, and Tanzania with malaria biomarkers published from these countries. Age-specific patterns of this disease and mean multiplicity of P. falciparum malaria parasites, defined as the average number of distinct genotypes per positive blood sample based on the merozoite surface protein-2 assessed by polymerase chain reaction, were correlated and both peaked between 5 and 9 years. This pattern, which was strong and consistent across regions, contrasted parasite prevalence, which peaked at 2 years and decreased slightly, and geometric mean parasite density, which peaked between 2 and 3 years and decreased sharply. Our findings suggest that concurrent infection with multiple malaria genotypes may be related to onset of African Burkitt lymphoma.

Re-engaging marginalized youth through digital music production: performance, audience and evaluation

This paper presents two case studies of marginalised youth experimenting with digital music production in flexible education settings. The cases were drawn from a three-year study of alternative assessment in flexible learning centres that enrol 650+ students who have left formal schooling in Queensland, Australia. The cases are framed in reference to the literature on cultural studies approaches to education and the digital arts. Each case describes the student’s histories, cultural background and experiences, music productions, evidence of learning and re-engagement with education. Findings document how digital music production can re-engage and extend participation among students who have left formal education. They do so by theorising the online judgements and blog comments about the digital music production as a social field of exchange. It also raises critical questions about the adequacy of current approaches to evaluating and accounting for the learning and development of such youth, especially where this has occurred through creative arts and digital production.

Windows

In this video, words emerge out of an abstract, ‘digital’, animated horizon line. The words are accompanied by a female voice-over who narrates a seductive relaxation and visualization activity. This work examines the nature of consciousness and identity in a contemporary context. It mixes the languages of meditation, new age philosophy and pop-psychology. Drawing on Zygmunt Bauman’s theoretical work on “liquid modernity”, this work questions how and where we find space for contemplation and reflection in a contemporary context increasingly defined by temporary social bonds and consumer choices.

Kiss

In an age of mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter and online dating, interactions in mediated environments often outnumber face to face encounters. Kiss is an interactive light artwork by artists Priscilla Bracks & Gavin Sade. Kiss reacts to people standing in front of the artwork looking at each other - the moment before kissing. Without interaction the work generates a seductive, ambient, red lighting display, that creates the restful sense of staring into a fire. A fleeting response of white light – like sparks flying in the air – occurs the moment before two faces touch. These sparks are visible in peripheral vision, but fade when the kissing couple turns to look at the work. This moment - as two people look at each other - is a primal moment when two people recognise each other. Face to face encounters with another person are a privileged phenomenon in which the other person's presence and proximity are strongly felt. Kiss does not respond to every instance of a kiss or a look. Its recognition algorithms are fussy, selecting some faces and not others. As in life it’s difficult to tell why sparks fly with some people but not with others. For some this will be felt as a glitch. “This machine should be part of my social life!” But it does promote trial and error, asking viewers to be intimate in public and look at each other for longer than otherwise socially normal. 10 minutes continuous eye contact is said in most cases to arouse sexual feelings in both parties. But even if we don’t look that long, a short time may be all that is needed to explore the face of the person we are looking at. We see that they are human like us. We experience beauty, difference, discomfort, perhaps even nervous laughing, before turning to a more intimate moment of recognition.

Standardisation of digital human models

Digital human models (DHM) have evolved as useful tools for ergonomic workplace design and product development, and found in various industries and education. DHM systems which dominate the market were developed for specific purposes and differ significantly, which is not only reflected in non-compatible results of DHM simulations, but also provoking misunderstanding of how DHM simulations relate to real world problems. While DHM developers are restricted by uncertainty about the user need and lack of model data related standards, users are confined to one specific product and cannot exchange results, or upgrade to another DHM system, as their previous results would be rendered worthless. Furthermore, origin and validity of anthropometric and biomechanical data is not transparent to the user. The lack of standardisation in DHM systems has become a major roadblock in further system development, affecting all stakeholders in the DHM industry. Evidently, a framework for standardising digital human models is necessary to overcome current obstructions.

Mature age students in transition : factors contributing to their success in first year

Every February new mature age students attend an orientation to University workshop for non-school leavers. The results of an end of semester follow up questionnaire sent to attendees was collated and the main factors contributing to and detracting from first year success are presented in this paper.

In search of the Korean digital wave

This article sets the context for this special themed issue on the 'Korean digital wave' by considering the symbiotic relationship between digital technologies, their techniques and practices, their uses and the affordances they provide, and Korea's 'compressed modernity' and swift industrialisation. It underscores the importance of interrogating a range of groundbreaking developments and innovations within Korea's digital mediascapes, and its creative and cultural industries, in order to gain a complex understanding of one of Australia's most significant export markets and trading partners. Given the financial and political commitment in Australia to a high-speed broadband network that aims to stimulate economic and cultural activity, recent technological developments in Korea, and the double-edged role played by government policy in shaping the 'Korean digital wave', merit close attention from media and communications scholars.

Digital intermediary: Korean transnational cinema

Since censorship was lifted in Korea in 1996, collaboration between Korean and foreign filmmakers has grown in both extent and visibility. Korean films have been shot in Australia, New Zealand and mainland China, while the Korean digital post-production and visual effects firms behind blockbusters infused with local effects have gone on to work with filmmakers from greater China and Hollywood Korean cinema has become known for its universal storylines, genre experimentation and high production values. The number of exported Korean films has increased, as has the number of Korean actors starring in films made in other countries. Korea has hosted major international industry events. These milestones have facilitated an unprecedented international expansion of the Korean film industry. With the advent of the 'digital wave in Korea the film industry's transition to digital production practices this expansion has accelerated Korean film agencies the pillars of the national cinema have played important parts in this internationalisation, particularly in promoting Korean films and filmmakers outside Korea and in facilitating international events in Korea itself Yet, for the most part, projects involving Korean filmmakers working in partnership with filmmakers from other countries are the products of individuals and businesses working outside official channels. That is, they are often better understood as 'transnational rather than 'national' or 'international' projects. In this article, we focus on a range of collaborations involving Korean, Australian, New Zealand and Chinese filmmakers and firms. These collaborations highlight some of the forces that have shaped the digital wave in the Korean film industry, and illustrate the increasingly influential role that the 'digital expertise of Korean filmmakers is playing in film industries, both regionally and around the world.

Globalization, media policy and regulatory design : rethinking the Australian media classification scheme

This paper considers the debate about the relationship between globalization and media policy from the perspective provided by a current review of the Australian media classification scheme. Drawing upon the author’s recent experience in being ‘inside’ the policy process, as Lead Commissioner on the Australian National Classification Scheme Review, it is argued that theories of globalization – including theories of neoliberal globalization – fail to adequately capture the complexities of the reform process, particularly around the relationship between regulation and markets. The paper considers the pressure points for media content policies arising from media globalization, and the wider questions surrounding media content policies in an age of media convergence.