Virion : new media and the development of the discursive museum

The historical rhetoric established with the very first public art museums declared that the purpose of such institutions was to provide a space where art could be accessible to all citizens. However contrary to this aim, studies show that art museums are one of the least accessed cultural institutions in the western world. The prevailing consensus for this can be attributed to the perception that museums are elitist, irrelevant and restricted to a small and privileged group. The focus of this research project is to address the issues that lead to these perceptions, and to identify possible curatorial strategies to encourage greater access to, and participation in the visual arts. This will be done through designing and curating an open submission exhibition that utilises new media technologies to increase access and dialogue between artists and audiences. This is part of a hybrid practice-based methodology that also includes scholarly research to critically investigate a number of historical and contemporary theories concerned with public museums and approaches to curatorial practice. This research will culminate in the development of Virion, an Internet based exhibition that aims to develop a curatorial model that facilitates open and democratic participation in arts practice from a diverse public audience.

Resource allocation and scheduling of multiple composite web services in cloud computing using cooperative coevolution genetic algorithm

In cloud computing, resource allocation and scheduling of multiple composite web services is an important and challenging problem. This is especially so in a hybrid cloud where there may be some low-cost resources available from private clouds and some high-cost resources from public clouds. Meeting this challenge involves two classical computational problems: one is assigning resources to each of the tasks in the composite web services; the other is scheduling the allocated resources when each resource may be used by multiple tasks at different points of time. In addition, Quality-of-Service (QoS) issues, such as execution time and running costs, must be considered in the resource allocation and scheduling problem. Here we present a Cooperative Coevolutionary Genetic Algorithm (CCGA) to solve the deadline-constrained resource allocation and scheduling problem for multiple composite web services. Experimental results show that our CCGA is both efficient and scalable.

Hybrid light-emitting diodes based on flexible sheets of mass-produced ZnO nanowires

We report the production of free-standing thin sheets made up of mass-produced ZnO nanowires and the application of these nanowire sheets for the fabrication of ZnO/organic hybrid light-emitting diodes in the manner of assembly. Different p-type organic semiconductors are used to form heterojunctions with the ZnO nanowire film. Electroluminescence measurements of the devices show UV and visible emissions. Identical strong red emission is observed independent of the organic semiconductor materials used in this work. The visible emissions corresponding to the electron transition between defect levels within the energy bandgap of ZnO are discussed.

Identity management : strengthening one-time password authentication through usability

Usability in HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) is normally understood as the simplicity and clarity with which the interaction with a computer program or a web site is designed. Identity management systems need to provide adequate usability and should have a simple and intuitive interface. The system should not only be designed to satisfy service provider requirements but it has to consider user requirements, otherwise it will lead to inconvenience and poor usability for users when managing their identities. With poor usability and a poor user interface with regard to security, it is highly likely that the system will have poor security. The rapid growth in the number of online services leads to an increasing number of different digital identities each user needs to manage. As a result, many people feel overloaded with credentials, which in turn negatively impacts their ability to manage them securely. Passwords are perhaps the most common type of credential used today. To avoid the tedious task of remembering difficult passwords, users often behave less securely by using low entropy and weak passwords. Weak passwords and bad password habits represent security threats to online services. Some solutions have been developed to eliminate the need for users to create and manage passwords. A typical solution is based on generating one-time passwords, i.e. passwords for single session or transaction usage. Unfortunately, most of these solutions do not satisfy scalability and/or usability requirements, or they are simply insecure. In this thesis, the security and usability aspects of contemporary methods for authentication based on one-time passwords (OTP) are examined and analyzed. In addition, more scalable solutions that provide a good user experience while at the same time preserving strong security are proposed.

Investigation of methods for increasing the energy efficiency on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS)

In recent years, development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has become a significant growing segment of the global aviation industry. These vehicles are developed with the intention of operating in regions where the presence of onboard human pilots is either too risky or unnecessary. Their popularity with both the military and civilian sectors have seen the use of UAVs in a diverse range of applications, from reconnaissance and surveillance tasks for the military, to civilian uses such as aid relief and monitoring tasks. Efficient energy utilisation on an UAV is essential to its functioning, often to achieve the operational goals of range, endurance and other specific mission requirements. Due to the limitations of the space available and the mass budget on the UAV, it is often a delicate balance between the onboard energy available (i.e. fuel) and achieving the operational goals. This thesis presents an investigation of methods for increasing the energy efficiency on UAVs. One method is via the development of a Mission Waypoint Optimisation (MWO) procedure for a small fixed-wing UAV, focusing on improving the onboard fuel economy. MWO deals with a pre-specified set of waypoints by modifying the given waypoints within certain limits to achieve its optimisation objectives of minimising/maximising specific parameters. A simulation model of a UAV was developed in the MATLAB Simulink environment, utilising the AeroSim Blockset and the in-built Aerosonde UAV block and its parameters. This simulation model was separately integrated with a multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA) optimiser and a Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) solver to perform single-objective and multi-objective optimisation procedures of a set of real-world waypoints in order to minimise the onboard fuel consumption. The results of both procedures show potential in reducing fuel consumption on a UAV in a ight mission. Additionally, a parallel Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System (HEPS) on a small fixedwing UAV incorporating an Ideal Operating Line (IOL) control strategy was developed. An IOL analysis of an Aerosonde engine was performed, and the most efficient (i.e. provides greatest torque output at the least fuel consumption) points of operation for this engine was determined. Simulation models of the components in a HEPS were designed and constructed in the MATLAB Simulink environment. It was demonstrated through simulation that an UAV with the current HEPS configuration was capable of achieving a fuel saving of 6.5%, compared to the ICE-only configuration. These components form the basis for the development of a complete simulation model of a Hybrid-Electric UAV (HEUAV).

Engaging middle school students in context-based science : One teacher's approach

In Australia, there is a crisis in science education with students becoming disengaged with canonical science in the middle years of schooling. One recent initiative that aims to improve student interest and motivation without diminishing conceptual understanding is the context-based approach. Contextual units that connect the canonical science with the students’ real world of their local community have been used in the senior years but are new in the middle years. This ethnographic study explored the learning transactions that occurred in one 9th grade science class studying an Environmental Science unit for 11 weeks. Data were derived from field notes, audio and video recorded conversations, interviews, student journals and classroom documents with a particular focus on two selected groups of students. Data were analysed qualitatively through coding for emergent themes. This paper presents an outline of the program and discussion of three assertions derived from the preliminary analysis of the data. Firstly, an integrated, coherent sequence of learning experiences that included weekly visits to a creek adjacent to the school enabled the teacher to contextualise the science in the students’ local community. Secondly, content was predominantly taught on a need-to-know basis and thirdly, the lesson sequence aligned with a model for context-based teaching. Research, teaching and policy implications of these results for promoting the context-based teaching of science in the middle years are discussed.

Coupling hybrid-game strategies with particle swarm optimisation for multi-objective high lift systems design optimisation

This paper investigates the High Lift System (HLS) application of complex aerodynamic design problem using Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) coupled to Game strategies. Two types of optimization methods are used; the first method is a standard PSO based on Pareto dominance and the second method hybridises PSO with a well-known Nash Game strategies named Hybrid-PSO. These optimization techniques are coupled to a pre/post processor GiD providing unstructured meshes during the optimisation procedure and a transonic analysis software PUMI. The computational efficiency and quality design obtained by PSO and Hybrid-PSO are compared. The numerical results for the multi-objective HLS design optimisation clearly shows the benefits of hybridising a PSO with the Nash game and makes promising the above methodology for solving other more complex multi-physics optimisation problems in Aeronautics.

Advanced Computational Intelligence System for inverse aeronautical design optimisation

Abstract—Computational Intelligence Systems (CIS) is one of advanced softwares. CIS has been important position for solving single-objective / reverse / inverse and multi-objective design problems in engineering. The paper hybridise a CIS for optimisation with the concept of Nash-Equilibrium as an optimisation pre-conditioner to accelerate the optimisation process. The hybridised CIS (Hybrid Intelligence System) coupled to the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tool and one type of Computer Aided Design(CAD) system; GiD is applied to solve an inverse engineering design problem; reconstruction of High Lift Systems (HLS). Numerical results obtained by the hybridised CIS are compared to the results obtained by the original CIS. The benefits of using the concept of Nash-Equilibrium are clearly demonstrated in terms of solution accuracy and optimisation efficiency.