An investigation into the use of physical modelling for the prediction of various feature types visible from different view points

This paper describes a general purpose flexible technique which uses physical modelling techniques for determining the features of a 3D object that are visible from any predefined view. Physical modelling techniques are used to determine which of many different types of features are visible from a complete set of viewpoints. The power of this technique lies in its ability to detect and parameterise object features, regardless of object complexity. Raytracing is used to simulate the physical process by which object features are visible so that surface properties (eg specularity, transparency) as well as object boundaries can be used in the recognition process. Using this technique occluding and non-occluding edge based features are extracted using image processing techniques and then parameterised. Features caused by specularity are also extracted and qualitative descriptions for these are defined.

Visible light activated TiO2/microcrystalline cellulose nanocatalyst to destroy organic contaminants in water

Hybrid TiO2/microcrystalline cellulose (MC) nanophotocatalyst was prepared in situ by a facile and simple synthesis utilizing benign precursors such as MC and TiCl4. The as-prepared nanocomposite was characterized by XRD, XPS, BET surface area analyzer, UV–vis DRS and TGA. Surface morphology was assessed by the means of SEM and HR-TEM. Statistics-based factorial design (FD) was adopted to investigate the effect of precursors concentrations and therefore to optimize the nanocomposite synthesis through catalytic adsorption of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions. The results indicated that TiO₂/MC nanocomposites were photocatalytically active in diminishing 40–90% of MB in 4 h.

Predatory vision : 3D imaging and the transformation of screen-space

Despite Wheatstone’s academic interests in the device, the stereoscope languished somewhat as an optical toy. Yet the advent of 3D screen-spaces for home and mass entertainment suggests today’s consumers and practitioners of screen culture hold the view that screen culture will be ‘improved’ through 3D imaging technologies. Like cinema and photography, stereoscopic 3D imaging has the potential to transform visual culture. But what is transformed, as optics and electronic imaging techniques deliver Alice in Wonderland in 3D? This paper links the advent of 3D cinema and TV to the notion that vision is itself a ‘technology of the visual’. As such, our innate binocular stereoacuity is ripe for exploitation by developers of 3D imaging technologies. I argue that contemporary 3D imaging marks an epistemological visual-perceptual shift: toward screenspaces becoming spaces for potential action. Such a shift entails seeing as doing rather than seeing as thinking. 3D imaging exploits binocular vision’s spatial acuity (stereopsis), but is effective only for objects within near distal space. The 3D effect tapers off dramatically for objects only some metres away, because the two retinal images lack significant lateral disparity (difference) to trigger stereopsis: the imagery flattens out and becomes ‘monoscopic’. Information available from conventional 2D media entails a peculiarly unspecified spatiality. Perceptually, the contents of a conventional cinematic screen are like those of a painting: they are situated neither near nor far, and constitute a shared and ambiguous visual space. Our own eyes are like those of a cat: frontally placed for predatory action. The visuality of 3D screen-spaces assumes a perceptuality of the near-by and close at hand, since this is the structure of the visible information to which stereopsis is adapted to respond. Noting the binocular acuity of predatory animals, as well as some etymological links, this paper examines the implications of perceptually ‘capturing’ the sensation of visually solid objects in one’s immediate space. Stereopsis is about decisive action within an immediate environment: but it also presupposes the single viewpoint of an active observer toward which the 3D imagery is targeted.

A study of rural preschool practitioners’ views on young children’s mathematical thinking

The project Mathematical Thinking of Preschool Children in Rural and Regional Australia: Research and Practice aimed to investigate views of preschool practitioners about young children’s mathematical thinking and development. Structured individual interviews were conducted with 64 preschool practitioners from rural areas of three Australian states. The questions focused on five broad themes: children’s mathematics learning, support for mathematics teaching, technology and computers, attitudes and feelings, and assessment and record keeping. We review results from the interview data for each of these themes, discuss their importance, and outline recommendations related to teacher education as well as resource development and research.

Ag/AgCl composite nanoparticles/polyacrylonitrile nanofiber films for visible-light photocatalysis

Ag/AgCl composite nanoparticles/polyacrylonitrile nanofiber films were prepared by electrospinning and subsequent in-situ reduction combining in-situ oxidation strategy. Electrospinning was firstly used to fabricate PAN/AgNO3 composite nanofibers; then the AgNO3 was reduced by in-situ reduction with glycol; finally, an in-situ oxidation between Ag nanoparticles and FeCl3 solution was carried on to prepare the compo-site nanofiber films. The as-prepared materials can be used as high-performance photocatalysts, taking the advantage of the visible-light activity, flexibility, and high photocatalytic kinetics. The present method is helpful for the development of the high-performance membrane based photocatalysts.

The role of contexts and teacher's questioning to enhance students' thinking

This paper discusses results from a design research in line with Realistic Mathematics Education (RME). Daily cycles of design, classroom experiments, and retrospective analysis are enacted in five days of working about division by fractions. Data consists of episodes of video classroom discussions, and samples of students’ work. The focus of discussion and analysis centres on the role of contexts and the role of teachers’ probing questions to elicit students’ thinking. Our findings suggest that contexts that are meaningful for and understandable by students bring out rich mathematical thinking and discussion amongst students. Meaningful contexts combined with teacher’s probing questions - highlighting big mathematical ideas - allow students to attain various approaches at different levels of formal mathematics.

Strategic thinking and the creative process in event management

This thesis asserts that event management requires strategic and creative thinking. This is necessary to envision alternative approaches in an evolving communications landscape. Using a rich, qualitative analysis with one major case study, the conclusion is that events must shift from an operationally led to a strategically informed creative process.

Wurdi Youang : re-thinking myths about landscape and Indigenous science

Despite recent political attempts to re-write the terra nullius myth for Australia, additional Indigenous sub-myth layers about landscape stewardship and cultural knowledge have been substantially overlooked. Pre-contact Indigenous scientific knowledge, landscape architecture strategies, and land stewardship histories and practices have received little legitimate credibility or academic discourse in this rewriting. One sub-myth is that Indigenous Australians have no astronomical scientific expertise and knowledge and that there is no physical evidence of this expertise. Thus, Indigenous Australians possess no ability to translate Dreaming story to astrological configuration, nor explore astronomy. Such is increasingly becoming a myth as it belies a suite of landscape architectural installations and cosmological narratives now being documented and researched. This paper addresses this myth by bringing forth a review of Indigenous cosmological knowledge for south-eastern Australia, with a substantive discussion about archaeo-astronomical evidence. The paper explains the cultural importance of the Wurdi Youang landscape installation for the Wathaurong community, and its role in Australian landscape architectural histories and practice.

Practising research, researching practice : thinking through contemporary dance

Practice as research is now an accepted mode whereby artists can obtain a higher degree in our universities. But what conditions pertain for them there? Daily experiences of the misfit between the university, particularly in its current corporate guise, and the embodied practices upon which I draw have helped me, paradoxically, to clarify certain dance values which can perhaps have wider resonance. These values relate to concepts and ideas that can be found articulated by many practising artists and a number of other thinkers and practitioners including Winnicott, Alexander and Arendt. Focusing on here and now practicalities and issues, such as the nature of the studio floor, this article explores and argues for the importance of aesthetic experience and attention to life as we are living it: to experience, paradox, action, and sensation.