A distributed services based conference planner application using software agents, grid services and web services

This demonstration highlights the applications of our research work i.e. second generation (Scalable Fault Tolerant Agent Grooming Environment - SAGE) Multi Agent System, Integration of Software Agents and Grid Computing and Autonomous Agent Architecture in the Agent Platform. It is a conference planner application that uses collaborative effort of services deployed geographically wide in different technologies i.e. Software Agents, Grid computing and Web services to perform useful tasks as required. Copyright 2005 ACM.

An efficient and light-weight multi-tasking model to achieve Intra-Agent concurrency for SAGE

Multi-agent systems implicate a high degree of concurrency at both the Inter- and Intra-Agent levels. Scalable, fault tolerant, Agent Grooming Environment (SAGE), the second generation, FIPA compliant MAS requires a built in mechanism to achieve both the Inter- and Intra-Agent concurrency. This paper dilates upon an attempt to provide a reliable, efficient and light-weight solution to provide intra-agent concurrency with-in the internal agent architecture of SAGE. It addresses the issues related to using the JAVA threading model to provide this level of concurrency to the agent and provides an alternative approach that is based on an eventdriven, concurrent and user-scalable multi-tasking model for the agent's internal model. The findings of this paper show that our proposed approach is suitable for providing an efficient and lightweight concurrent task model for SA GE and considerably outweighs the performance of multithreaded tasking model based on JAVA in terms of throughput and efficiency. This has been illustrated using the practical implementation and evaluation of both models. © 2004 IEEE.

A collaborative multi-agent based conference planner application using web and grid services

Distributed Collaborative Computing services have taken over centralized computing platforms allowing the development of distributed collaborative user applications. These applications enable people and computers to work together more productively. Multi-Agent System (MAS) has emerged as a distributed collaborative environment which allows a number of agents to cooperate and interact with each other in a complex environment. We want to place our agents in problems whose solutions require the collation and fusion of information, knowledge or data from distributed and autonomous information sources. In this paper we present the design and implementation of an agent based conference planner application that uses collaborative effort of agents which function continuously and autonomously in a particular environment. The application also enables the collaborative use of services deployed geographically wide in different technologies i.e. Software Agents, Grid computing and Web service. The premise of the application is that it allows autonomous agents interacting with web and grid services to plan a conference as a proxy to their owners (humans). © 2005 IEEE.

The present attitude of African youth towards entrepreneurship

It is widely known that entrepreneurship plays a crucial role within the economy. As the African economy needs rapid development and growth, this paper investigates the present attitude of African youth towards new business creation and entrepreneurship. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used, and 204 people participated in the study. The participants were accessed via social media such as Facebook (pages and groups), LinkedIn (groups), Twitter, and WhatsApp. The results reveal that African youth have positive attitudes and that they are entrepreneurially active and ready to take risks, provided that they can be self-dependent. Similarly, the results show that entrepreneurship education is much needed to improve innovative start-ups in Africa.

Ecology, population genetics and conservation of the African violet

The ongoing rapid fragmentation of tropical forests is a major threat to global biodiversity. This is because many of the tropical forests are so-called biodiversity 'hotspots', areas that host exceptional species richness and concentrations of endemic species. Forest fragmentation has negative ecological and genetic consequences for plant survival. Proposed reasons for plant species' loss in forest fragments are, e.g., abiotic edge effects, altered species interactions, increased genetic drift, and inbreeding depression. To be able to conserve plants in forest fragments, the ecological and genetic processes that threaten the species have to be understood. That is possible only after obtaining adequate information on their biology, including taxonomy, life history, reproduction, and spatial and genetic structure of the populations. In this research, I focused on the African violet (genus Saintpaulia), a little-studied conservation flagship from the Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests hotspot of Tanzania and Kenya. The main objective of the research was to increase understanding of the life history, ecology and population genetics of Saintpaulia that is needed for the design of appropriate conservation measures. A further aim was to provide population-level insights into the difficult taxonomy of Saintpaulia. Ecological field work was conducted in a relatively little fragmented protected forest in the Amani Nature Reserve in the East Usambara Mountains, in northeastern Tanzania, complemented by population genetic laboratory work and ecological experiments in Helsinki, Finland. All components of the research were conducted with Saintpaulia ionantha ssp. grotei, which forms a taxonomically controversial population complex in the study area. My results suggest that Saintpaulia has good reproductive performance in forests with low disturbance levels in the East Usambara Mountains. Another important finding was that seed production depends on sufficient pollinator service. The availability of pollinators should thus be considered in the in situ management of threatened populations. Dynamic population stage structures were observed suggesting that the studied populations are demographically viable. High mortality of seedlings and juveniles was observed during the dry season but this was compensated by ample recruitment of new seedlings after the rainy season. Reduced tree canopy closure and substrate quality are likely to exacerbate seedling and juvenile mortality, and, therefore, forest fragmentation and disturbance are serious threats to the regeneration of Saintpaulia. Restoration of sufficient shade to enhance seedling establishment is an important conservation measure in populations located in disturbed habitats. Long-term demographic monitoring, which enables the forecasting of a population s future, is also recommended in disturbed habitats. High genetic diversities were observed in the populations, which suggest that they possess the variation that is needed for evolutionary responses in a changing environment. Thus, genetic management of the studied populations does not seem necessary as long as the habitats remain favourable for Saintpaulia. The observed high levels of inbreeding in some of the populations, and the reduced fitness of the inbred progeny compared to the outbred progeny, as revealed by the hand-pollination experiment, indicate that inbreeding and inbreeding depression are potential mechanisms contributing to the extinction of Saintpaulia populations. The relatively weak genetic divergence of the three different morphotypes of Saintpaulia ionantha ssp. grotei lend support to the hypothesis that the populations in the Usambara/lowlands region represent a segregating metapopulation (or metapopulations), where subpopulations are adapting to their particular environments. The partial genetic and phenological integrity, and the distinct trailing habit of the morphotype 'grotei' would, however, justify its placement in a taxonomic rank of its own, perhaps in a subspecific rank.

IASDR 2015 Interplay Exhibition 2-5 NOV 2015

It has been said that we are living in a golden age of innovation. New products, systems and services aimed to enable a better future, have emerged from novel interconnections between design and design research with science, technology and the arts. These intersections are now, more than ever, catalysts that enrich daily activities for health and safety, education, personal computing, entertainment and sustainability, to name a few. Interactive functions made possible by new materials, technology, and emerging manufacturing solutions demonstrate an ongoing interplay between cross-disciplinary knowledge and research. Such interactive interplay bring up questions concerning: (i) how art and design provide a focus for developing design solutions and research in technology; (ii) how theories emerging from the interactions of cross-disciplinary knowledge inform both the practice and research of design and (iii) how research and design work together in a mutually beneficial way. The IASDR2015 INTERPLAY EXHIBITION provides some examples of these interconnections of design research with science, technology and the arts. This is done through the presentation of objects, artefacts and demonstrations that are contextualised into everyday activities across various areas including health, education, safety, furniture, fashion and wearable design. The exhibits provide a setting to explore the various ways in which design research interacts across discipline knowledge and approaches to stimulate innovation. In education, Designing South African Children’s Health Education as Generative Play (A Bennett, F Cassim, M van der Merwe, K van Zijil, and M Ribbens) presents a set of toolkits that resulted from design research entailing generative play. The toolkits are systems that engender pleasure and responsibility, and are aimed at cultivating South African’s youth awareness of nutrition, hygiene, disease awareness and prevention, and social health. In safety, AVAnav: Avalanche Rescue Helmet (Jason Germany) delivers an interactive system as a tool to contribute to reduce the time to locate buried avalanche victims. Helmet-mounted this system responds to the contextual needs of rescuers and has since led to further design research on the interface design of rescuing devices. In apparel design and manufacturing, Shrinking Violets: Fashion design for disassembly (Alice Payne) proposes a design for disassembly through the use of beautiful reversible mono-material garments that interactively responds to the challenges of garment construction in the fashion industry, capturing the metaphor for the interplay between technology and craft in the fashion manufacturing industry. Harvest: A biotextile future (Dean Brough and Alice Payne), explores the interplay of biotechnology, materiality and textile design in the creation of sustainable, biodegradable vegan textile through the process of a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY). SCOBY is a pellicle curd that can be harvested, machine washed, dried and cut into a variety of designs and texture combinations. The exploration of smart materials, wearable design and micro-electronics led to creative and aesthetically coherent stimulus-reactive jewellery; Symbiotic Microcosms: Crafting Digital Interaction (K Vones). This creation aims to bridge the gap between craft practitioner and scientific discovery, proposing a move towards the notion of a post-human body, where wearable design is seen as potential ground for new human-computer interactions, affording the development of visually engaging multifunctional enhancements. In furniture design, Smart Assistive chair for older adults (Chao Zhao) demonstrates how cross-disciplinary knowledge interacting with design strategies provide solution that employed new technological developments in older aged care, and the participation of multiple stakeholders: designers, health care system and community based health systems. In health, Molecular diagnosis system for newborns deafness genetic screening (Chao Zhao) presents an ambitious and complex project that includes a medical device aimed at resolving a number of challenges: technical feasibility for city and rural contexts, compatibility with standard laboratory and hospital systems, access to health system, and support the work of different hospital specialists. The interplay between cross-disciplines is evident in this work, demonstrating how design research moves forward through technology developments. These works exemplify the intersection between domains as a means to innovation. Novel design problems are identified as design intersects with the various areas. Research informs this process, and in different ways. We see the background investigation into the contextualising domain (e.g. on-snow studies, garment recycling, South African health concerns, the post human body) to identify gaps in the area and design criteria; the technologies and materials reviews (e.g. AR, biotextiles) to offer plausible technical means to solve these, as well as design criteria. Theoretical reviews can also inform the design (e.g. play, flow). These work together to equip the design practitioner with a robust set of ‘tools’ for design innovation – tools that are based in research. The process identifies innovative opportunity and criteria for design and this, in turn, provides a means for evaluating the success of the design outcomes. Such an approach has the potential to come full circle between research and design – where the design can function as an exemplar, evidencing how the research-articulated problems can be solved. Core to this, however, is the evaluation of the design outcome itself and identifying knowledge outcomes. In some cases, this is fairly straightforward that is, easily measurable. For example the efficacy of Jason Germany’s helmet can be determined by measuring the reduced response time in the rescuer. Similarly the improved ability to recycle Payne’s panel garments can be clearly determined by comparing it to those recycling processes (and her identified criteria of separating textile elements!); while the sustainability and durability of the Brough & Payne’s biotextile can be assessed by documenting the growth and decay processes, or comparative strength studies. There are however situations where knowledge outcomes and insights are not so easily determined. Many of the works here are open-ended in their nature, as they emphasise the holistic experience of one or more designs, in context: “the end result of the art activity that provides the health benefit or outcome but rather, the value lies in the delivery and experience of the activity” (Bennet et al.) Similarly, reconfiguring layers of laser cut silk in Payne’s Shrinking Violets constitutes a customisable, creative process of clothing oneself since it “could be layered to create multiple visual effects”. Symbiotic Microcosms also has room for facilitating experience, as the work is described to facilitate “serendipitous discovery”. These examples show the diverse emphasis of enquiry as on the experience versus the product. Open-ended experiences are ambiguous, multifaceted and differ from person to person and moment to moment (Eco 1962). Determining the success is not always clear or immediately discernible; it may also not be the most useful question to ask. Rather, research that seeks to understand the nature of the experience afforded by the artefact is most useful in these situations. It can inform the design practitioner by helping them with subsequent re-design as well as potentially being generalizable to other designers and design contexts. Bennett et. al exemplify how this may be approached from a theoretical perspective. This work is concerned with facilitating engaging experiences to educate and, ultimately impact on that community. The research is concerned with the nature of that experience as well, and in order to do so the authors have employed theoretical lenses – here these are of flow, pleasure, play. An alternative or complementary approach to using theory, is using qualitative studies such as interviews with users to ask them about what they experienced? Here the user insights become evidence for generalising across, potentially revealing insight into relevant concerns – such as the range of possible ‘playful’ or experiences that may be afforded, or the situation that preceded a ‘serendipitous discovery’. As shown, IASDR2015 INTERPLAY EXHIBITION provides a platform for exploration, discussion and interrogation around the interplay of design research across diverse domains. We look forward with excitement as IASDR continues to bring research and design together, and as our communities of practitioners continue to push the envelope of what is design and how this can be expanded and better understood with research to foster new work and ultimately, stimulate innovation.

A Haplotype at the UCP1 Gene Locus Contributes to Genetic Risk for Type 2 Diabetes in Asian Indians (CURES-72)

Background: The gene encoding for uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) is considered to be a candidate gene for type 2 diabetes because of its role in thermogenesis and energy expenditure. The objective of the study was to examine whether genetic variations in the UCP1 gene are associated with type 2 diabetes and its related traits in Asian Indians. Methods: The study subjects, 810 type 2 diabetic subjects and 990 normal glucose tolerant (NGT) subjects, were chosen from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiological Study (CURES), an ongoing population-based study in southern India. The polymorphisms were genotyped using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) was estimated from the estimates of haplotypic frequencies. Results: The three polymorphisms, namely -3826A -> G, an A -> C transition in the 5'-untranslated region (UTR) and Met229Leu, were not associated with type 2 diabetes. However, the frequency of the A-C-Met (-3826A -> G-5'UTR A -> C-Met229Leu) haplotype was significantly higher among the type 2 diabetic subjects (2.67%) compared with the NGT subjects (1.45%, P < 0.01). The odds ratio for type 2 diabetes for the individuals carrying the haplotype A-C-Met was 1.82 (95% confidence interval, 1.29-2.78, P = 0.009). Conclusions: The haplotype, A-C-Met, in the UCP1 gene is significantly associated with the increased genetic risk for developing type 2 diabetes in Asian Indians.

Conference Report: International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade Conference (IIFET) 2014

The 17th Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET) was held in Brisbane in July 2014. IIFET is the principal international association for fisheries economics, and the biennial conference is an opportunity for the best fisheries economists in the world to meet and share their ideas. The conference was organised by CSIRO, QUT, UTAS, University of Adelaide and KG Kailis Ltd. This is the first time the conference has been held in Australia. The conferences covered a wide range of topics of relevance to Australia. These included studies of fishery management systems around the world, identified key issues in aquaculture and marine biodiversity conservation, and provided a forum for new modelling and theoretical approaches to analysing fisheries problems to be presented. The theme of the conference was Towards Ecosystem Based Management of Fisheries: What Role can Economics Play? Several sessions were dedicated to modelling socio-ecological systems, and two keynote speakers were invited to present the latest thinking in the area. In this report, the key features of the conference are outlined.

East Asian audio-visual collaboration and the global expansion of Chinese media

In recent years, many of the world’s leading media producers, screenwriters, technicians and investors, particularly those in the Asia-Pacific region, have been drawn to work in the People's Republic of China (hereafter China or Mainland China). Media projects with a lighter commercial entertainment feel – compared with the heavy propaganda-oriented content of the past – have multiplied, thanks to the Chinese state’s newfound willingness to consider collaboration with foreign partners. This is no more evident than in film. Despite their long-standing reputation for rigorous censorship, state policymakers are now encouraging Chinese media entrepreneurs to generate fresh ideas and to develop products that will revitalise the stagnant domestic production sector. It is hoped that an increase in both the quality and quantity of domestic feature films, stimulated by an infusion of creativity and cutting-edge technology from outside the country, will help reverse China’s ‘cultural trade deficit’ (wenhua maoyi chizi) (Keane 2007).

Leveraging Partially Enhanced Scan for Improved Observability in Delay Fault Testing

Enhanced Scan design can significantly improve the fault coverage for two pattern delay tests at the cost of exorbitantly high area overhead. The redundant flip-flops introduced in the scan chains have traditionally only been used to launch the two-pattern delay test inputs, not to capture tests results. This paper presents a new, much lower cost partial Enhanced Scan methodology with both improved controllability and observability. Facilitating observation of some hard to observe internal nodes by capturing their response in the already available and underutilized redundant flip-flops improves delay fault coverage with minimal or almost negligible cost. Experimental results on ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits show significant improvement in TDF fault coverage for this new partial enhance scan methodology.

Quantification of impact of a cricket ball

The cricket is one of most popular games in the Asian subcontinent and its popularity is increasing every day. The issue of replacement of the cricket ball amidst the matches is always an uncomfortable situation for teams, umpires and even supporters. At present the basis of the replacement is solely on the judgement, experience and expertise of the umpires, which is subjective, controversial and debatable. In this paper, we have attempted a new approach to quantify the number of impacts or impact factor of a 4-piece leather ball used in the Intemational one-day and test cricket matches. This gives a more objective and scientific basis/ criteria for the replacement of the ball. Here, we have used a well known and widely used Thermal Infra-Red (TIR) imaging to capture the dynamics of the thermal profice of the cricket ball, which has been heated for about 15 seconds. The idea behind this approach is the simple observation that an old ball (ball with a few impacts) has different thermal signature/profice compared to the that of a new ball. This could be due to the change in the surface profice and internal structure, minor de-shaping, opening of seam etc. The TIR video and its frames, which is inherently noisy, are restored using Hebbian learning based FIR (sic), which performs optimal smoothing in relatively less number of iteration. We have focussed on the hottest region of the ball i.e., the inner core and tracked its thermal profice dynamics. Finally we have used multi layer perceptron model (MLP) to quantify the impact factor with fairly good accuracy.

Multi-Tone Testing of Linear and Nonlinear Analog Circuits using Polynomial Coefficients

A method of testing for parametric faults of analog circuits based on a polynomial representation of fault-free function of the circuit is presented. The response of the circuit under test (CUT) is estimated as a polynomial in the applied input voltage at relevant frequencies in addition to DC. Classification or Cur is based on a comparison of the estimated polynomial coefficients with those of the fault free circuit. This testing method requires no design for test hardware as might be added to the circuit fly some other methods. The proposed method is illustrated for a benchmark elliptic filter. It is shown to uncover several parametric faults causing deviations as small as 5% from the nominal values.

Asia literate schooling in the Asian century [Book review]

In her introduction to this edited collection, Christine Halse lays out the purpose of the book as being about addressing three questions for education in contemporary times: What does Asia literacy mean?; Why is it important?; and How might or ought schools do Asia literacy? As a literacy educator it was these three questions that led to my interest in first reading and then reviewing the book. On numerous occasions I’ve felt the expectation that an expertise in Asia literacy should be a part of my toolbox. And yet I’ve always considered Asia literacy to be the responsibility of those who profess to know about – or have some expertise in – history, politics, or studies of society. But here was an edited collection with chapters from a variety of scholars who have informed my work over many years, framing schooling as a noun that could be described qualitatively as more or less Asia literate. As such, I took on the challenge to open up to these ideas and to the opportunity to think again about literacy and the use of this term in pairings such as Asia literacy. I had my own question to add to those of the editor. Can, or even should, literacy be used to describe the skills, capacities and understandings required for citizens to “reflect and explore cultural differences in the Asian region” (Asia Literacy Teachers’ Association of Australia, n.d.) in ways that support engagement within and with Asian peoples and their cultures?