Book review "Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation by Tom Sito , The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2013"

As a Lecturer of Animation History and 3D Computer Animator, I received a copy of Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation by Tom Sito with an element of anticipation in the hope that this text would clarify the complex evolution of Computer Graphics (CG). Tom Sito did not disappoint, as this text weaves together the multiple development streams and convergent technologies and techniques throughout history that would ultimately result in modern CG. Universities now have students who have never known a world without computer animation and many students are younger than the first 3D CG animated feature film, Toy Story (1996); this text is ideal for teaching computer animation history and, as I would argue, it also provides a model for engaging young students in the study of animation history in general. This is because Sito places the development of computer animation within the context of its pre-digital ancestry and throughout the text he continues to link the discussion to the broader history of animation, its pioneers, technologies and techniques...

Incorporating human-factors in car-following models : a review of recent developments and research needs

Over the past decades there has been a considerable development in the modeling of car-following (CF) behavior as a result of research undertaken by both traffic engineers and traffic psychologists. While traffic engineers seek to understand the behavior of a traffic stream, traffic psychologists seek to describe the human abilities and errors involved in the driving process. This paper provides a comprehensive review of these two research streams. It is necessary to consider human-factors in {CF} modeling for a more realistic representation of {CF} behavior in complex driving situations (for example, in traffic breakdowns, crash-prone situations, and adverse weather conditions) to improve traffic safety and to better understand widely-reported puzzling traffic flow phenomena, such as capacity drop, stop-and-go oscillations, and traffic hysteresis. While there are some excellent reviews of {CF} models available in the literature, none of these specifically focuses on the human factors in these models. This paper addresses this gap by reviewing the available literature with a specific focus on the latest advances in car-following models from both the engineering and human behavior points of view. In so doing, it analyses the benefits and limitations of various models and highlights future research needs in the area.

Responsible reconstruction : The architect's role

This paper investigates the role of the architect in post-disaster reconstruction and questions their ability to facilitate per- manent building solutions. There is an ever-increasing population of refugees and internally displaced persons due to disasters and conflicts who have a basic need for shelter. To date, housing solutions for such people has tended to focus on short-term, temporary shelter solutions that have been largely unsuccessful. This increasing demand for shelter has led to an emerging group of architects skilled in post-disaster reconstruction. These architects acknowledge that shelter is critical to survival, but believe architects should focus on rebuilding in a manner that is quick, durable but permanent. They believe that an architect skilled in post-disaster reconstruction can produce solutions that meet the requirement of the emergency phase, through to semi-permanent and even permanent homes, without wasting time and money on interim shelters. Case Study Research was used to examine and evaluate the assistance provided by Emergency Architects Australia (EAA) to the Kei Gold community in the Solomon Islands after the 2007 earthquake and tsunami. The results indicate that an architect’s response to a disaster must go beyond providing temporary shelter; they must create permanent building solutions that respond to the site and the culture while servicing the needs of the communi- ty. The vernacular reconstruction methods implemented by EAA in Kei Gold Village have been successful in develop- ing permanent housing solutions. Further research and development is required to gain a broader understanding of the role of the architect in disasters of varying scales and typologies.

The OHS regulatory challenges posed by agency workers: evidence from Australia

The purpose of this research is to analyse the problems for occupational health and safety (OHS)regulators posed by agency work/leased labour (also known as labour hire in Australasia), using Australian evidence. The analysis is based on an examination of prosecutions involving labour hire firms along with other documentary records (union, industry and government reports and guidance material). The study also draws on interviews with approximately 200 regulatory officials, employers and union representatives since 2001 and workplace visits with 40 OHS inspectors in 2004‐2005.The triangular relationship entailed in labour leasing, in combination with the temporary nature of most placements, poses serious problems for government agencies in terms of enforcing OHS standards notwithstanding a growing number of successful prosecutions for breaches of legislative duties by host and labour leasing firms. Research to investigate these issues in other countries and compare findings with those for Australia is required, along with assessing the effectiveness of new enforcement initiatives. The paper assesses existing regulatory responses and highlights the need for new regulatory strategies to combat the problems posed by labour. The OHS problems posed by agency work have received comparatively little attention. The paper provides insights into the specific problems posed for OHS regulators and how inspectorates are trying to address them.

Edible materials in design fabrication

Current practice based research explores the organic properties of edible materials such as rice-paper to contemplate possible material usage from garment manufacture, landscape interventions and temporary architectural canopies/facades. Research outcomes have been published through The International Conference on Designing Food and Designing for Food, London 2012, and in Burke, Anthony + Reinmuth, Gerard (Eds.) (2012) 'Formations: New Practices in Australian Architecture.' Australian Pavilion 13th International Architecture Exhibition la biennale di Venezia.

Jugglers Arts Space Containers

The design and installation for the Jugglers Arts Space Containers was an invited commission by Jugglers Arts Space for the Containveral Festival at Northshore Hamilton (EDQ). The community festival involved a suite of custom designed and fitted shipping containers for the use by retailers and arts groups alike, focusing upon re-use and low cost design fabrication approaches. Containerval, inspired from shipping container projects such as Sean Goodsell's 'Future Shack' (1985-2001)and Buchan Group's Re:Start Mall, Christchurch (2011), celebrated design testing and exploration of found and recyclable materials to plan and enrich an otherwise severe hardstand area formally attached to Portside docks. The design proposed use of 4 containers, planned to focus on both the interior displays and external in-between spaces, for live performance of Jugglers Arts Space artists. Experimentation of recyclable materials such as onion bags and plastic milk bottles, informed the development of innovative low-cost canopies which sutured the containers together. The Containerval Festival contributed to the now highly successful 'Eat Street Markets' at Hamilton Northshore.

Suggestions for the next wave of BPM research : strengthening the theoretical core and exploring the protective belt

In this essay, I present a reflective and generative analysis of Business Process Management research, in which I analyze process management and the surrounding research program from the viewpoint of a theoretical paradigm embracing analytical, empirical, explanatory and design elements. I argue that this view not only reconciles different perceptions of BPM and different research streams, but that it also informs ways in which the BPM research program could develop into a much richer, more inclusive and overall more significant body of work than it has to date. I define three perspectives on a BPM research agenda, give several examples of exciting existing research, and offer key opportunities for further research that can (a) strengthen the core of BPM, (b) generate novel theory from BPM in relevant and topical big issue domains, and (c) explore more rigorously and comprehensively the protective belt of BPM assumptions that much of the present research abides by. The essay ends with some recommendations for continuing the debate about what constitutes BPM and some suggestions for how future research in this area might be carried out.

After Darkly Catwalk Design, QUT Fashion Graduate Showcase 2013

QUT Fashion collaborated with QUT Interior Design to design the Catwalk for the After Darkly Graduate Fashion Show 2013. The ephemeral work (catwalk canopy) was developed through a collaboration between the authors based upon an undergraduate interior design unit 'Filmic Interiors'. The unit exploited the potential of film to influence, understand, and develop novel interior spaces – particularly through consideration of mise en scene, cinematic effects and atmospheric design strategies engaged by key film directors. The design outcome represented a hybridisation of student design proposals, contemplating both film and emerging fashion collections from QUT fashion graduate class of 2013. The creative work built upon material experimentation research explored by the designers either through prior QUT interior design units ('Strange Spaces') or through previous practice ‘Making Strange’(1). The work explored a number of iterations each testing material qualities and associated immaterial cinematic affects. The final catwalk proposed a unique design, which posited the spectators centrally within the space, encircled by a hand formed flexible material canopy used as an entrance for the fashion collections. The proposal exploited the malleable yet tensile character of the canopy to inform a temporary installation, intensified further through a varied program of sceno-graphic lighting. (1) Lindquist, M. & Pytel, A. (2013)

Barbadocladius Cranston & Krosch, a new genus of Orthocladiinae (Diptera : Chironomidae) from South America.

Barbadocladius n. gen. is erected and described in larval, pupal and adult stages for two species: B. andinus sp. nov. and B. limay sp. nov., from Andean streams. The larva is distinctive by virtue of the very large ventromental 'beard' and the anterior parapods with a 'sleeve' of hooklets in addition to apical pectinate claws. The pupa has hooklets on some tergal and sternal intersegmental membranes. The adult, reported only in teneral specimens has hairy eyes, no antennal apical strong seta, no acrostichals, bare and unmarked wings, cylindrical 4th tarsomere subequal in length to the 5th, pulvilli about half the claw length, and hypopygium with anal point, lacking a virga. Molecular phylogenetic analysis eliminates relationships directly to the Eukiefferiella complex (which also have pupal hooklets), or to the Cricotopus group (adults also with hairy eyes), suggesting instead a sister group relationship to a suite of predominantly austral genera of Orthocladiinae.

Nursing casualisation and communication : a critical ethnography

Aim The aim was to explore the relationship between nursing casualization and the culture of communication for nurses in a healthcare facility. Background Casualization, or non-standard work, is the use of temporary, contract, part-time and casual labour. An increase in casual labour has been part of a global shift in work organization aimed at creating a more flexible and cheaper workforce. It has been argued that flexibility of labour has enabled nurses to manage both non-work related needs and an increasingly complex work environment. Yet no research has explored casualization and how it impacts on the communication culture for nurses in a healthcare facility. Design Critical ethnography. Methods Methods included observation, field notes, formal interviews and focus groups. Data collection was undertaken over the 2 years 2008–2009. Results The concepts of knowing and belonging were perceived as important to nursing teamwork and yet the traditional time/task work model, designed for a full-time workforce, marginalized non-standard workers. The combination of medical dominance and traditional stereotyping of the nurse and work as full-time shaped the behaviours of nurses and situated casual workers on the periphery. The overall finding was that entrenched systemic structures and processes shaped the physical and cultural dimensions of a contemporary work environment and contributed to an ineffective communication culture. Conclusion Flexible work is an important feature of contemporary nursing. Traditional work models and nurse attitudes and practices have not progressed and are discordant with a contemporary approach to nursing labour management.

An investigation into the effect of infrastructure on fly-in fly-out mining workers

Objective: To explore fly-in fly-out (FIFO) mining workers' attitudes towards the leisure time they spend in mining camps, the recreational and social aspects of mining camp culture, the camps' communal and recreational infrastructure and activities, and implications for health. Design: In-depth semistructured interviews. Setting: Individual interviews at locations convenient for each participant. Participants: A total of seven participants, one female and six males. The age group varied within 20–59 years. Marital status varied across participants. Main outcome measures: A qualitative approach was used to interview participants, with responses thematically analysed. Findings highlight how the recreational infrastructure and activities at mining camps impact participants' enjoyment of the camps and their feelings of community and social inclusion. Results: Three main areas of need were identified in the interviews, as follows: (i) on-site facilities and activities; (ii) the role of infrastructure in facilitating a sense of community; and (iii) barriers to social interaction. Conclusion: Recreational infrastructure and activities enhance the experience of FIFO workers at mining camps. The availability of quality recreational facilities helps promote social interaction, provides for greater social inclusion and improves the experience of mining camps for their temporary FIFO residents. The infrastructure also needs to allow for privacy and individual recreational activities, which participants identified as important emotional needs. Developing appropriate recreational infrastructure at mining camps would enhance social interactions among FIFO workers, improve their well-being and foster a sense of community. Introducing infrastructure to promote social and recreational activities could also reduce alcohol-related social exclusion.

Vocal repertoire of the New Zealand kea parrot Nestor notabilis

The unique alpine-living kea parrot Nestor notabilis has been the focus of numerous cognitive studies, but its communication system has so far been largely neglected. We examined 2,884 calls recorded in New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Based on audio and visual spectrographic differences, these calls were categorised into seven distinct call types: the non-oscillating ‘screech’ contact call and ‘mew’; and the oscillating ‘trill’, ‘chatter’, ‘warble’ and ‘whistle’; and a hybrid ‘screech-trill’. Most of these calls contained aspects that were individually unique, in addition to potentially encoding for an individual’s sex and age. Additionally, for each recording, the sender’s previous and next calls were noted, as well as any response given by conspecifics. We found that the previous and next calls made by the sender were most often of the same type, and that the next most likely preceding and/or following call type was the screech call, a contact call which sounds like the ‘kee-ah’ from which the bird’s name derives. As a social bird capable of covering large distances over visually obstructive terrain, long distance contact calls may be of considerable importance for social cohesion. Contact calls allow kea to locate conspecifics and congregate in temporary groups for social activities. The most likely response to any given call was a screech, usually followed by the same type of call as the initial call made by the sender, although responses differed depending on the age of the caller. The exception was the warble, the kea’s play call, to which the most likely response was another warble. Being the most common call type, as well as the default response to another call, it appears that the ‘contagious’ screech contact call plays a central role in kea vocal communication and social cohesion

Long-tailed bats' use of a Pinus radiata stand in Kinleith Forest : Recommendations for monitoring

Targeted monitoring of threatened species within plantations is becoming more important due to forest certification programmes’ requirement to consider protection of threatened species, and to increase knowledge of the distribution of species. To determine patterns of long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) activity in different habitat structures, with the aim of improving the likelihood of detection by targeting monitoring, we monitored one stand of 26 year-old Pinus radiata over seven months between December 2007 and June 2008 in Kinleith Forest, an exotic plantation forest centred around Tokoroa, South Waikato, New Zealand. Activity was determined by acoustic recording equipment, which is able to detect and record bats’ echolocation calls. We monitored activity from sunset to sunrise along a road through the stand, along stand edges, and in the interior of the stand. Bats were recorded on 80% of the 35 nights monitored. All activity throughout the monitoring period was detected on the edge of the stand or along the road. No bats were detected within the interior of the stand. Bat activity was highest along the road through the stand (40.4% of all passes), followed by an edge with stream running alongside (35.2%), along the road within a skidsite (19.8%), and along an edge without a stream (4.6%). There was a significant positive relationship between bat pass rate (bat passes h-1) and the feeding buzz rate (feeding buzzes h-1) indicating that bat activity was associated with feeding and not just commuting. Bat feeding activity was also highest along the road through the stand (59.2% of feeding buzzes), followed by the road within the skidsite (30.6%), and along the stream-side edge (10.2%). No feeding buzzes were recorded in either the interior or along the edge without the stream. Differences in overall feeding activity were significant only between the road and edge and between edges with and without a stream. Bat activity was detected each month and always by the second night of monitoring, and in this stand was highest during April. We recommend targeted monitoring for long-tailed bats be focused on road-side and stand edge habitat, and along streams, and that monitoring take place for at least three nights to maximise probability of detection.

Importance of knowledge management processes in a project-based organization : a case study of research enterprise

Knowledge Management (KM) is vital factor to successfully undertake projects. The temporary nature of projects necessitates employing useful KM practices for tackling issues such as knowledge leakiness and rework. The Project Management Office (PMO) is a unit within organizations to facilitate and oversee organizational projects. Project Management Maturity Models (PMMM) shows the development of PMOs from immature to mature levels. The existing PMMMs have focused on discussing Project Management (PM) practices, however, the management of project knowledge is yet to be addressed, at various levels of maturity. This research project was undertaken to investigate the mentioned gap for addressing KM practices at the existing PMMMs. Due to the exploratory and inductive nature of this research, qualitative methods were chosen as the research methodology. In total, three cases selected from different industries: research; mining and government organizations, to provide broad categories for research and research questions were examined using the developed framework. This paper presents the partial findings of undertaken investigation of the research organisation with the lowest level of maturity. The result shows that knowledge creation and capturing are the most important processes, while knowledge transferring and reusing are not as important as the other two processes. In addition, it was revealed that provision of “knowledge about client” and “project management knowledge” are the most important types of knowledge that are required at this level of maturity. In conclusion, the outcomes of this paper shall provide powerful guidance to PMOs at lowest level of maturity from KM point of view.

Androgen-targeted therapy-induced epithelial mesenchymal plasticity and neuroendocrine transdifferentiation in prostate cancer : an opportunity for intervention

Androgens regulate biological pathways to promote proliferation, differentiation, and survival of benign and malignant prostate tissue. Androgen receptor (AR) targeted therapies exploit this dependence and are used in advanced prostate cancer to control disease progression. Contemporary treatment regimens involve sequential use of inhibitors of androgen synthesis or AR function. Although targeting the androgen axis has clear therapeutic benefit, its effectiveness is temporary, as prostate tumor cells adapt to survive and grow. The removal of androgens (androgen deprivation) has been shown to activate both epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and neuroendocrine transdifferentiation (NEtD) programs. EMT has established roles in promoting biological phenotypes associated with tumor progression (migration/invasion, tumor cell survival, cancer stem cell-like properties, resistance to radiation and chemotherapy) in multiple human cancer types. NEtD in prostate cancer is associated with resistance to therapy, visceral metastasis, and aggressive disease. Thus, activation of these programs via inhibition of the androgen axis provides a mechanism by which tumor cells can adapt to promote disease recurrence and progression. Brachyury, Axl, MEK, and Aurora kinase A are molecular drivers of these programs, and inhibitors are currently in clinical trials to determine therapeutic applications. Understanding tumor cell plasticity will be important in further defining the rational use of androgen-targeted therapies clinically and provides an opportunity for intervention to prolong survival of men with metastatic prostate cancer.