A search for sources of preferential attachment phenomena in e-business

This paper presents and empirical study in which we examine the process of preserential attachment as it applies to business enterprises on the World Wide Web.  Using randomly selected business Web pages as nodes and their inbound links as edges, we explre the role of parked domain names in link creation and preferential attachment at very granular levels.  Our research leads us to the conclusion that the abundance of parked domain name sites does not present a plausible explanation for preferential attachment.

Partners in crime : collusive corruption and search

This paper analyzes corruption as a collusive act which requires the participation of two willing partners. An agent intending to engage in a corrupt act must search for a like-minded partner. When many people in the economy are corrupt, such a search is more likely to be fruitful. Thus when an agent engages in a search, he raises the net benefit of searching for other similar agents in the economy, creating an externality. This introduces a non-convexity in the model, which consequently has multiple equilibria. The economy can be in stable equilibrium with a high or low level of corruption.

Starting from the high-corruption equilibrium, a sufficient increase in vigilance triggers a negative cascade, leading the economy to a new equilibrium in which no agent finds it profitable to search for corrupt partners. The no-corruption equilibrium continues to be stable if vigilance is then relaxed. This suggests that the correct way to deal with corruption is to launch a ``big push'' with large amounts of resources. Once the level of corruption declines, these resources can be withdrawn.

Sea search : a community-based citizen science monitoring program for Victoria, Australia, Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries

Community involvement in monitoring Victoria’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) engages coastal volunteers in looking after their marine ‘front yards”. The Management Strategy for Victoria’s System of Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries dedicates an entire theme to community engagement with core key performance areas. This includes community participation. The Sea Search community based monitoring program was developed in 2003 to engage volunteers in meaningful ecological data collection for future sustainability of Victoria’s MPAs. Deakin University, an academic institute, and Parks Victoria, the management agency for Victoria’s MPAs, through a research partner program, trialled three different habitat monitoring methodologies. The trails assessed volunteer ability to collect scientific data, and social science aspects for their involvement in a community-based monitoring program. Information collected by volunteers, feeds directly into their local MPA management strategies to address issues such as climate change, introduced pests and human impacts and natural ecological variation.

The Sea Search program addresses the two action programmes, Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, created at the United Nations Earth Summit, held in 1992. Both documents highlight the need for community engagement and capacity building for sustainability, health and integrity of the earth. Involvement in the Sea Search program builds the volunteer’s capacity by learning scientific skills, interacting with other like minded community members, and creating relationships with all organisations involved in the delivery of the program. In this regard, Sea Search is a citizen science program involving all sectors in society by promoting public-interest and research for decision making and planning of Victoria’s system of Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries.

Wireless estimation of canine pose for search and rescue

In this paper we discuss the use of accelerometers and Bluetooth to monitor canine pose in the context of common poses observed in urban search and rescue dogs. We discuss the use of the canine pose system in a disaster environment, and propose techniques for determining canine pose. In addition we discuss the challenges with this approach in such environments. The paper presents the experimental results obtained from the heavy urban search and rescue disaster simulation, where experiments were conducted using multiple canines, which show that angles can be derived from acceleration readings. Our experiments show that similar angles were measured for each of the poses, even when measured on multiple USAR canines of varying size. We also found measurable and consistent differences between each of the poses, making them clearly distinguishable from one another, again even when comparing with different USAR canines.

What's in a name : using a cue diagnosticity framework to understand consumer product search behaviour

Drawing from the cue diagnosticity framework, this study investigates consumer preference for gathering information about different product attributes. We predict that more specific attributes are more diagnostic and hence will be of greater value to a consumer who is in the process of undertaking a product selection. We test this hypothesis in an online product selection task where respondents can access four different product attributes: brand name, store name, price and warranty. We find that respondents choose to first obtain, almost equally, either brand or price information. We also find part confirmation for the hypothesis that an attribute is more likely to be chosen if it is perceived as having a greater variability in the market.

How should we measure indigenous entrepreneurship? A search for explanatory variables

In Canada and elsewhere around the world Indigenous Peoples are struggling to rebuild their ‘nations’ and improve the socioeconomic circumstances of their people. We are embarking on a program of research in an effort to understand this phenomenon and to inform the process. In this paper we (i) explore the approach to development being adopted by Indigenous people in Canada; (ii) conduct a preliminary literature review; (iii) identify input indicators of entrepreneurship and business development capacity, process measures of development activity and an output indicator of development effectiveness and (v) identify the information available from secondary sources relating to these indicators and the gaps in information that will have to be filled by primary research.

In search of a name for lesbians who mother their non-biological children

We are interested in how language has been used in the literature to describe and define the role and relationship of non-birth lesbian mothers to their children. Although previous researchers and clinicians have presented strong cases for a variety of descriptions, there is little agreement about what language best reflects and, indeed, legitimizes this relationship. We have previously argued that “the search for a definitive term is unlikely to bear fruit” (Brown & Perlesz, 2007), and, in this article, we revisit the variety of labels used and explore the implications of this language. Language is not only determined by social and individual understandings of mothering and parenting, but is also influenced by pathways to lesbian parenting and negotiated roles and relationships within families.  Language has the power not only to acknowledge and affirm but also to negate and render invisible the position and distinctive contribution of lesbian mothers who have not given birth to their children.

Spatial and temporal disparities in aurally aided visual search

Research over the last decade has shown that auditorily cuing the location of visual targets reduces the time taken to locate and identify targets for both free-field and virtually presented sounds. The first study conducted for this thesis confirmed these findings over an extensive region of free-field space. However, the number of sound locations that are measured and stored in the data library of most 3-D audio spatial systems is limited, so that there is often a discrepancy in position between the cued and physical location of the target. Sampling limitations in the systems also produce temporal delays in which the stored data can be conveyed to operators. To investigate the effects of spatial and temporal disparities in audio cuing of visual search, and to provide evidence to alleviate concerns that psychological research lags behind the capabilities to design and implement synthetic interfaces, experiments were conducted to examine (a) the magnitude of spatial separation, and (b) the duration of temporal delay that intervened between auditory spatial cues and visual targets to alter response times to locate targets and discriminate their shape, relative to when the stimuli were spatially aligned, and temporally synchronised, respectively. Participants listened to free-field sound localisation cues that were presented with a single, highly visible target that could appear anywhere across 360° of azimuthal space on the vertical mid-line (spatial separation), or extended to 45° above and below the vertical mid-line (temporal delay). A vertical or horizontal spatial separation of 40° between the stimuli significantly increased response times, while separations of 30° or less did not reach significance. Response times were slowed at most target locations when auditory cues occurred 770 msecs prior to the appearance of targets, but not with similar durations of temporal delay (i.e., 440 msecs or less). When sounds followed the appearance of targets, the stimulus onset asynchrony that affected response times was dependent on target location, and ranged from 440 msecs at higher elevations and rearward of participants, to 1,100 msecs on the vertical mid-line. If targets appeared in the frontal field of view, no delay of acoustical stimulation affected performance. Finally, when conditions of spatial separation and temporal delay were combined, visual search times were degraded with a shorter stimulus onset asynchrony than when only the temporal relationship between the stimuli was varied, but responses to spatial separation were unaffected. The implications of the results for the development of synthetic audio spatial systems to aid visual search tasks was discussed.

Keeper of the faith : Jim Cairns and the search for a good society

Reassesses the public career of James Ford Cairns and his impact on Australian society over the past 50 years. Particularly focuses upon the development of Cairns' thinking on social change and locates that development within the context of the Labor Party's ideological evolution since WWII.

The holy grail : the search for the optimal gaar

The sustainability of a taxation system relies in part in reducing effective tax avoidance as far as is possible. Tax avoidance impacts on the economy both because it results in revenue loss and because it diverts people into devising, marketing and implementing avoidance arrangements, rather than engaging in economically productive activities. Revenue losses in turn weaken the government's ability to formulate and implement fiscal policies. Moreover, the very integrity of a tax system, necessary for its long-term sustainability, is attacked by tax avoidance. The goal of equity is undermined by tax avoidance as typically these schemes are accessed by the wealthy. Thus, tax avoidance results in an unfair shift in the tax burden to the less wealthy in society. As one commentator recently noted, combating 'tax avoidance ... will serve to lessen the overall burden on all taxpayers'. Further, legislative responses to tax avoidance increase the complexity of a taxation scheme. Tax avoidance schemes also undermine the neutrality of a taxation system by distorting trade and investment decisions. Thus, tax avoidance attacks every aspect of a fair, and hence, sustainable, taxation system.