Evaluating the use of a very large-scale presentation and collaboration framework

In this paper we describe the use and evaluation of CubIT, a multi-user, very large-scale presentation and collaboration framework. CubIT is installed at the Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Cube facility. The “Cube” is an interactive visualisation facility made up of five very large-scale interactive multi-panel wall displays, each consisting of up to twelve 55-inch multi-touch screens (48 screens in total) and massive projected display screens situated above the display panels. The paper outlines the unique design challenges, features, use and evaluation of CubIT. The system was built to make the Cube facility accessible to QUT’s academic and student population. CubIT enables users to easily upload and share their own media content, and allows multiple users to simultaneously interact with the Cube’s wall displays. The features of CubIT are implemented via three user interfaces, a multi-touch interface working on the wall displays, a mobile phone and tablet application and a web-based content management system. The evaluation reveals issues around the public use and functional scope of the system.

The role of metacognition in the development of EFL learners’ listening skill

This study investigated the impact of metacognitive instruction on the listening skill, and metacognitive knowledge of a group of male students (N = 30) who were learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Iran. The study participants spoke Persian as a first language and were high-intermediate EFL learners. The participants received a guided lesson plan in metacognition (planning, monitoring, and evaluation) through a pedagogical cycle approach over a semester (eight weeks). International English Language Testing System listening tests (practice) were used to track the participants’ listening performance. Participants also completed a Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire, which examined their use of metacognitive awareness when engaged in listening tasks. Results indicated that the students improved their listening skill after being taught about metacognition; however, no significant use of metacognitive awareness was reported. This study concludes with a discussion of some potential implications, and provides scope for future research.

A multi-hierarchical motorway ramp signalling strategy

Ramp signalling is an access control for motorways, in which a traffic signal is placed at on-ramps to regulate the rate of vehicles entering the motorway and thus to preserve the motorway capacity. In general, ramp signalling algorithms fall into two categories: local control and coordinated control by their effective scope. Coordinated ramp signalling strategies make use of measurements from the entire motorway network to operate individual ramp signals for the optimal performances at the network level. This study proposes a multi-hierarchical strategy for coordinated ramp signalling. The strategy is structured in two layers. At the higher layer with a longer update interval, coordination group is assembled and disassembled based on the location of high-risk breakdown flow. At the lower layer with a shorter update interval, individual ramps are hired to serve the coordination and are also released based on the prevailing congestion level on the ramp. This strategy is modelled and applied to the northbound Pacific Motorway micro-simulation platform (AIMSUN). The simulation results show an effective congestion mitigation of the proposed strategy.

CIB White Paper on IDDS Integrated Design & Delivery Solutions

CIB is developing a priority theme, now termed Improving Construction and Use through Integrated Design & Delivery Solutions (IDDS). The IDDS working group for this theme adopted the following definition: Integrated Design and Delivery Solutions use collaborative work processes and enhanced skills, with integrated data, information, and knowledge management to minimize structural and process inefficiencies and to enhance the value delivered during design, build, and operation, and across projects. The design, construction, and commissioning sectors have been repeatedly analysed as inefficient and may or may not be quite as bad as portrayed; however, there is unquestionably significant scope for IDDS to improve the delivery of value to clients, stakeholders (including occupants), and society in general, simultaneously driving down cost and time to deliver operational constructed facilities. Although various initiatives developed from computer‐aided design and manufacturing technologies, lean construction, modularization, prefabrication and integrated project delivery are currently being adopted by some sectors and specialisations in construction; IDDS provides the vision for a more holistic future transformation. Successful use of IDDS requires improvements in work processes, technology, and people’s capabilities to span the entire construction lifecycle from conception through design, construction, commissioning, operation, refurbishment/ retrofit and recycling, and considering the building’s interaction with its environment. This vision extends beyond new buildings to encompass modifications and upgrades, particularly those aimed at improved local and area sustainability goals. IDDS will facilitate greater flexibility of design options, work packaging strategies and collaboration with suppliers and trades, which will be essential to meet evolving sustainability targets. As knowledge capture and reuse become prevalent, IDDS best practice should become the norm, rather than the exception.

The role of the ethnic enclave in facilitating immigrant business performance and social integration

Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs, known the world over for their successful business practices (Kee, 1994), tend to start businesses within their ethnic enclave. But in a move away from multiculturalism, host countries increasingly fear that immigration and asylum pose a threat to social integration resulting in a lack of social cohesion and a plethora of government programs (Cheong, Edwards, Goulbourne & Solomos, 2007). For many immigrant entrepreneurs, the EE is an integral part of their social and cultural context and the location where ethnic resources reside (Logan, Alba & Stults, 2003). Immigrant entrepreneurs can harness the networks for labor and customers through various ties in their EE (Portes and Zhou, 1996). Yang, Ho and Chang (2010) illustrate in their paper that the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs (IE) were able to utilize ethnic network resources as their social capital in order to reduce transaction costs and thus enhance business performance. Tilly (1990) explains that immigrants’ reliance on such networks for business or other information minimizes the socioeconomic hardships they would experience in host countries (Raijman & Tienda, 2000). Acquiring jobs in ethnic businesses and establishing businesses within an EE may facilitate migrants’ social integration into the host country (Tian & Shan, 1999). Although an EE has distinct economic advantages for immigrant entrepreneurs, Sequeira and Rasheed (2006: 367) argue that ‘Exclusive reliance on strong ties within the immigrant enclave has a negative effect on growth outside the enclave community.’ Similarly, Drori, Honig and Ginsberg (2010: 20) also propose that ‘The greater the reliance of transnational entrepreneurs on ethnic (versus societal) embedded resources and network structure, the narrower their possibilities of expanding the scope of their business.’ This research asks, ‘What is the role of the ethnic enclave in facilitating immigrant business growth and social integration? This project has the following important aims: A1 To better understand the role of IE, in particular Chinese IE in the Australian economy A2 To investigate the role of the EE in facilitating or inhibiting immigrant business performance A3 To understand how locating their firm inside or outside of the EE will affect the IE’s embeddedness in co-ethnic and nonco-ethnic networks and social integration A4 To understand how an IE’s social network affects business performance and social integration

The business case for transmedia

For transmedia to be acknowledged as worthy of investment by the business world, and even by those considering a career in development of transmedia creative products, there first needs to be established a business case for the concept. This chapter seeks to inform transmedia advocates about the concept of value and the ROI of transmedia more generally. While it is by no means a template or formula for measurement of value, it is a reminder to transmedia professionals and theorists, that intangible benefits are neither valueless nor unquantifiable. The chapter is divided into four sections: 1. Definitions of transmedia – concept and scope of transmedia, expressed in a manner that is intelligible for a business audience. 2. Value and cost – discussion of the terms from an economic perspective. 3. Audience interaction and collaborative content development – discussion of how feedback and engagement systems of transmedia have facilitated rich experiences which offer more than mere content and audience reach outputs. 4. ROI metrics for transmedia – measurable criteria for articulation of value to business investors.

Measuring and influencing physical activity with Smartphone technology : a systematic review

Background Rapid developments in technology have encouraged the use of smartphones in physical activity research, although little is known regarding their effectiveness as measurement and intervention tools. Objective This study systematically reviewed evidence on smartphones and their viability for measuring and influencing physical activity. Data Sources Research articles were identified in September 2013 by literature searches in Web of Knowledge, PubMed, PsycINFO, EBSCO, and ScienceDirect. Study Selection The search was restricted using the terms (physical activity OR exercise OR fitness) AND (smartphone* OR mobile phone* OR cell phone*) AND (measurement OR intervention). Reviewed articles were required to be published in international academic peer-reviewed journals, or in full text from international scientific conferences, and focused on measuring physical activity through smartphone processing data and influencing people to be more active through smartphone applications. Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods Two reviewers independently performed the selection of articles and examined titles and abstracts to exclude those out of scope. Data on study characteristics, technologies used to objectively measure physical activity, strategies applied to influence activity; and the main study findings were extracted and reported. Results A total of 26 articles (with the first published in 2007) met inclusion criteria. All studies were conducted in highly economically advantaged countries; 12 articles focused on special populations (e.g. obese patients). Studies measured physical activity using native mobile features, and/or an external device linked to an application. Measurement accuracy ranged from 52 to 100 % (n = 10 studies). A total of 17 articles implemented and evaluated an intervention. Smartphone strategies to influence physical activity tended to be ad hoc, rather than theory-based approaches; physical activity profiles, goal setting, real-time feedback, social support networking, and online expert consultation were identified as the most useful strategies to encourage physical activity change. Only five studies assessed physical activity intervention effects; all used step counts as the outcome measure. Four studies (three pre–post and one comparative) reported physical activity increases (12–42 participants, 800–1,104 steps/day, 2 weeks–6 months), and one case-control study reported physical activity maintenance (n = 200 participants; >10,000 steps/day) over 3 months. Limitations Smartphone use is a relatively new field of study in physical activity research, and consequently the evidence base is emerging. Conclusions Few studies identified in this review considered the validity of phone-based assessment of physical activity. Those that did report on measurement properties found average-to-excellent levels of accuracy for different behaviors. The range of novel and engaging intervention strategies used by smartphones, and user perceptions on their usefulness and viability, highlights the potential such technology has for physical activity promotion. However, intervention effects reported in the extant literature are modest at best, and future studies need to utilize randomized controlled trial research designs, larger sample sizes, and longer study periods to better explore the physical activity measurement and intervention capabilities of smartphones.

Narratives of possession : reading for saga authorship

The aim of this thesis is to show how character analysis can be used to approach conceptions of saga authorship in medieval Iceland. The idea of possession is a metaphor that is adopted early in the thesis, and is used to describe Icelandic sagas as works in which traditional material is subtly interpreted by medieval authors. For example, we can say that if authors claim greater possession of the sagas, they interpret, and not merely record, the sagas' historical information. On the other hand, tradition holds onto its possession of the narrative whenever it is not possible for an author to develop his own creative and historical interests. The metaphor of possession also underpins the character analysis in the thesis, which is based on the idea that saga authors used characters as a vehicle by which to possess saga narratives and so develop their own historical interests. The idea of possession signals the kinds of problems of authorship study which are addressed here, in particular, the question of the authors' sense of saga writing as an act either of preservation or of creation. While, in that sense, the thesis represents an additional voice in a long-standing debate about the saga writers' relation to their source materials, I argue against a clear-cut distinction between creative and non-creative authors, and focus instead on the wide variation in authorial control over saga materials. This variation suggests that saga authorship is a multi-functional activity, or one which co-exists with tradition. Further, by emphasising characterisation as a method, I am adding to the weight of scholarship that seeks to understand the sagas in terms of their literary effects. The Introduction and chapter one lay out the theoretical scope of this thesis. My aim in these first two sections is to inform the reader of the type of critical questions that arise when authorship is approached in relation to characterisation, and to suggest an interpretive framework with which to approach these questions. In the Introduction this aim manifests as a brief discussion of the application of the term "authorship" to the medieval Icelandic corpus, a definition of the scope of this study, and an introduction to the connections, made throughout this thesis, between saga authors, the sagas' narrative style, and the style of characterisation in the sagas. Chapter one is a far more detailed discussion of our ability to make these connections. In particular, the chapter develops the definition of the analytical term "secondary authorship" that I introduce in order to delineate the type of characterisation that is of most interest in this thesis. "Secondary authorship" is a literary term that aims to sharpen our approach to saga authors' relationship to their characters by focusing on characters who make representations about the events of the saga. The term refers to any instance in which characters behave in a manner that resembles the creativity, interpretation, and understanding associated with authorship more generally. Character analysis cannot, however, be divorced from socio-historical approaches to the saga corpus. Most importantly, the sagas themselves are socio-historical representations that claim some degree of truth value. This claim that the sagas make by implication about their historicity is the starting point of a discussion of authorship in medieval Iceland. Therefore, at the beginning of chapter one I discuss some of the approaches to the social context of saga writing. This discussion serves as an introduction to both the culture of saga writing in medieval Iceland and to the nature of the sagas' historical perspective, and reflects my sense that literary interpretations of the sagas cannot be isolated from the historical discourses that frame them. The chapter also discusses possession, which, as I note above, is used alongside the concept of secondary authorship to describe the saga authors' relationship with the stories and characters of the past. At the close of chapter one, I offer a preliminary list the various functions of saga authorship, and give some examples of secondary authorship. From this point I am able to tie my argument about secondary authorship to specific examples from the sagas. Chapter two examines the effect of family obligations and domestic points of view in the depiction of characters' choices and conception of themselves. The examples that are given in that chapter - from Gisla saga Súrssonar and Íslendinga saga - are the first of a number of textual analyses that demonstrate the application of the concepts of secondary authorship and possession of saga narratives. The relationship between narratives about national and domestic matters shows how authorial creativity in the area of kinship obligation provides the basis for the saga's development of historical themes. Thus, the two major case studies given in chapter two tie authorial engagement with characters to the most influential social institution in early and medieval Iceland, the family. The remaining chapters represent similar attempts to relate authorial possession of saga characters to central socio-historical themes in the sagas, such as the settlement process in early Iceland and its influence on the development of regional political life (chapter three). Likewise, the strong authorial interest in an Icelander's journey to Norway in Heimskringla is presented as evidence of the author's use of a saga character to express an Icelandic interpretation of Norwegian history and to promote a sense that Iceland shared the ownership of regal history with Norway (chapter four). In that authorial engagement with the Icelander abroad, we witness saga characterisation being used as a basis for historical interpretation and the means by which foreign traditions and influence, not least the narratives of royal lives and of the Christianisation, are claimed as part of medieval Icelanders' self-conception. While saga authors observe the conventions of saga narration, characters are often subtly positioned as the authors' interpretive mirrors, especially clear than when they act as secondary authors. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Brennu- Njáls saga, which contains many characters who voice the author's claim to interpret the past. Even Hrútr Herjólfsson, through his remarkable perception of events and his conspicuous comments about them, acts as a secondary author by enabling the author to emphasise the importance of the disposition of characters. In Laxdœla saga and Þorgils saga ok Hafliða, authorial interest in characters' perception is matched by the thematising of learning, from the inception of knowledge as prophecy or advice to complete understanding by saga characters (chapter six). In Þorgils saga skarða, a character's inner development from an excessively ambitious and politically ruthless youth to a Christian leader killed by his kinsman allows the author to shape a political life into a lesson about leadership and the community's ability to moderate and contain the behaviour of extraordinary individuals. The portrayal draws on methods of characterisation that we can identify in Grettis saga Ásmundarson, Fóstbrœðra saga, and Orkneyinga saga. A comparison of the characterisation of figures with intense political or military ambitions suggests that saga authors were interested in the community's ability to balance their strength and ability with a degree of social moderation. The discussion of these sagas shows that character study can be used to analyse how the saga authors added their own voice to the voices passed down to medieval Icelanders in traditional narratives. Authorial engagement with characters allowed inherited traditions about early Norway and Iceland and records of thirteenth century events to be transformed into sophisticated historical works with highly creative elements. Through secondary authorship, saga authors took joint-possession of narratives and contested the power of tradition in setting the interpretive framework of a saga.

Formation of blood clot on biomaterial implants influences bone healing

The first step in bone healing is forming a blood clot at injured bones. During bone implantation, biomaterials unavoidably come into direct contact with blood, leading to a blood clot formation on its surface prior to bone regeneration. Despite both situations being similar in forming a blood clot at the defect site, most research in bone tissue engineering virtually ignores the important role of a blood clot in supporting healing. Dental implantology has long demonstrated that the fibrin structure and cellular content of a peri-implant clot can greatly affect osteoconduction and de novo bone formation on implant surfaces. This paper reviews the formation of a blood clot during bone healing in related to the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) gels. It is implicated that PRP gels are dramatically altered from a normal clot in healing, resulting conflicting effect on bone regeneration. These results indicate that the effect of clots on bone regeneration depends on how the clots are formed. Factors that influence blood clot structure and properties in related to bone healing are also highlighted. Such knowledge is essential for developing strategies to optimally control blood clot formation, which ultimately alter the healing microenvironment of bone. Of particular interest are modification of surface chemistry of biomaterials, which displays functional groups at varied composition for the purpose of tailoring blood coagulation activation, resultant clot fibrin architecture, rigidity, susceptibility to lysis, and growth factor release. This opens new scope of in situ blood clot modification as a promising approach in accelerating and controlling bone regeneration.

Practice and procedure : Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 s56

In Amos v Brisbane City Council [2005] QCA 433 the Queensland Court of Appeal was called upon to determine the scope of s56 of the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002. The decision makes it clear that the section does not provide a complete code governing awards of damages and does not deprive the court of power to award costs against a plaintiff who fails to succeed on liability.

STI-GMaS : an open-source environment for simulation of sexually-transmitted infections

Background Sexually-transmitted pathogens often have severe reproductive health implications if treatment is delayed or absent, especially in females. The complex processes of disease progression, namely replication and ascension of the infection through the genital tract, span both extracellular and intracellular physiological scales, and in females can vary over the distinct phases of the menstrual cycle. The complexity of these processes, coupled with the common impossibility of obtaining comprehensive and sequential clinical data from individual human patients, makes mathematical and computational modelling valuable tools in developing our understanding of the infection, with a view to identifying new interventions. While many within-host models of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) are available in existing literature, these models are difficult to deploy in clinical/experimental settings since simulations often require complex computational approaches. Results We present STI-GMaS (Sexually-Transmitted Infections – Graphical Modelling and Simulation), an environment for simulation of STI models, with a view to stimulating the uptake of these models within the laboratory or clinic. The software currently focuses upon the representative case-study of Chlamydia trachomatis, the most common sexually-transmitted bacterial pathogen of humans. Here, we demonstrate the use of a hybrid PDE–cellular automata model for simulation of a hypothetical Chlamydia vaccination, demonstrating the effect of a vaccine-induced antibody in preventing the infection from ascending to above the cervix. This example illustrates the ease with which existing models can be adapted to describe new studies, and its careful parameterisation within STI-GMaS facilitates future tuning to experimental data as they arise. Conclusions STI-GMaS represents the first software designed explicitly for in-silico simulation of STI models by non-theoreticians, thus presenting a novel route to bridging the gap between computational and clinical/experimental disciplines. With the propensity for model reuse and extension, there is much scope within STI-GMaS to allow clinical and experimental studies to inform model inputs and drive future model development. Many of the modelling paradigms and software design principles deployed to date transfer readily to other STIs, both bacterial and viral; forthcoming releases of STI-GMaS will extend the software to incorporate a more diverse range of infections.

Engagement as dialogue : presenting a pragmatic perspective

‘Engagement’ is one of the buzzwords of 21st century public relations theory and practice. Yet the concept of engagement remains frustratingly nebulous and intangible, lacking clear definition and consistent use. This paper suggests that the concept of dialogue can provide public relations practitioners and academics with a framework for defining engagement that allows deep insights into the range of ideas and contexts it covers. Specifically, this paper argues for the use of a pragmatic practitioner perspective on dialogue as a lens through which to study engagement. Current literature clearly articulates the normative and prescriptive perspectives on dialogue in public relations, but leaves the story of the reality of the practitioner experience of dialogue largely untold. New research tells this ‘missing’ story of the practitioner perspective on dialogue, which in turn offers some insights into the forms and functions of engagement in practice. Dialogue is seen as encompassing three different types of public relations practice: informing stakeholders of organisational decisions and receiving their feedback; consulting with stakeholders on the strategies and tactics used by organisations to achieve their chosen goals; and including stakeholder input in the making of decisions on what organisational goals should be. Adopting this pragmatic practitioner perspective on dialogue to view engagement provides scaffolding that is strong enough to encourage development of a consistent definition of its meaning; while still allowing the freedom and scope necessary to develop deep and rich understanding of the phenomenon.

Cultural impact on e-service use in Saudi Arabia : the need for service oriented culture

This paper reports the results of a mixed method approach to answer: To what extent do cultural values impact on e-service use in Saudi Arabia, and if so how? This paper will firstly, introduce the importance of culture and define the aspects of Saudi culture with focus on our scope: the need for Service Oriented Culture. It will then, briefly, describe the method used and present the qualitative and quantitative findings related to the need for Service Oriented Culture. This research aims to cover a gap in the literature by investigating to what extent the presence of Service Oriented Culture, as one of Saudi Arabia’s cultural values, impacts on e-service use in Saudi Arabia. Surprisingly, the tested hypothesis was rejected: the presence of Service Oriented Culture is not a positive predictor of Intention to Use e-services in Saudi Arabia. It is evidenced that consideration of the impact of the cultural values will mainly contribute to the enhancement of ICTs implementation and use.

Emergency healthcare of the future

Emergency healthcare is a high profile component of modern healthcare systems, which over the past three decades has fundamentally transformed in many countries. However, despite this rapid development, and associated investments in service standards, there is a high level of concern with the performance of emergency health services relating principally to system wide congestion. The factors driving this problem are complex but relate largely to the combined impact of growing demand, expanded scope of care and blocked access to inpatient beds. These factors are unlikely to disappear in the medium term despite the National Emergency Access Target. The aim of this article is to stimulate a conversation about the future design and functioning of emergency healthcare systems; examining what we understand about the problem and proposing a rationale that may underpin future strategic approaches. This is also an invitation to join the conversation.

The responsibility to protect in the Asia-Pacific region

In 2005, governments around the world unanimously agreed to the principle of the responsibility to protect (R2P), which holds that all states have a responsibility to protect their populations from genocide and mass atrocities, that the international community should assist them to fulfil this duty, and that the international community should take timely and decisive measures to protect populations from such crimes when their host state fails to do so. Progressing R2P from words to deeds requires international consensus about the principle’s meaning and scope. To achieve a global consensus on this, we need to better understand the position of governments around the world, including in the Asia-Pacific region, which has long been associated with an enduring commitment to a traditional concept of sovereignty. The present article contributes to such an endeavour through its three sections. The first part charts the nature of the international consensus on R2P and examines the UN secretary-general’s approach. The second looks in detail at the positions of the Asia-Pacific region’s governments on the R2P principle. The final part explores the way forward for progressing the R2P principle in the Asia-Pacific region.