Security in wireless sensor networks : issues and challenges

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are employed in numerous applications in different areas including military, ecology, and health; for example, to control of important information like the personnel position in a building, as a result, WSNs need security. However, several restrictions such as low capability of computation, small memory, limited resources of energy, and the unreliable channels employ communication in using WSNs can cause difficulty in use of security and protection in WSNs. It is very essential to save WSNs from malevolent attacks in unfriendly situations. Such networks require security plan due to various limitations of resources and the prominent characteristics of a wireless sensor network which is a considerable challenge. This article is an extensive review about problems of WSNs security, which examined recently by researchers and a better understanding of future directions for WSN security.

A little learning is a dangerous thing: Factors influencing the increased identification of special educational needs from the perspective of education policymakers and school practitioners

This article considers the increased identification of special educational needs in Australia’s largest education system from the perspectives of senior public servants, regional directors, principals, school counsellors, classroom teachers, support class teachers, learning support teachers and teaching assistants (n = 30). While their perceptions of an increase generally align with the story told by official statistics, participants’ narratives reveal that school-based identification of special educational needs is neither art nor science. This research finds that rather than an objective indication of the number and nature of children with SEN, official statistics may be more appropriately viewed as a product of funding eligibility and the assumptions of the adults who teach, refer and assess children who experience difficulties in school and with learning.

The Artful Interpretation of Science through Picture Books

Science picture books offer pleasurable and educational reading experiences. These texts open up opportunities for cross-curriculum teaching and learning and a means for developing students’ visual literacy skills, aesthetic appreciation, and higher level thinking skills. Picture books demonstrate how one mode or semiotic system (visual and verbal) mediates the other, often complementing, extending, and filling-in the gaps between words and images. Students’ meaning making is further extended when they can understand the subtleties and effects (and affects) of the visual elements of art and design, and the different styles of writing and language use.

Destined to design? How and why Australian women choose to study industrial design

Despite over three decades of legislation and initiatives designed to tackle the traditional gender divide in the science, technology and design fields, only a quarter of the registered architects in Australia are women. There are no statistics available for other design disciplines, with little known about why women choose design as a career path and who or what influences this decision. This qualitative research addresses this knowledge gap, through semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with 19 Australian women who completed an industrial (product) design degree. Thematic analysis revealed three key themes: childhood aptitude and exposure; significant experiences and people; and design as a serendipitous choice. The findings emphasise the importance of early exposure to design as a potential career choice, highlighting the critical role played by parents, teachers, professionals and social networks.

Volatile organic compounds: Characteristics, distribution and sources in urban schools

Long term exposure to organic pollutants, both inside and outside school buildings may affect children’s health and influence their learning performance. Since children spend significant amount of time in school, air quality, especially in classrooms plays a key role in determining the health risks associated with exposure at schools. Within this context, the present study investigated the ambient concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in 25 primary schools in Brisbane with the aim to quantify the indoor and outdoor VOCs concentrations, identify VOCs sources and their contribution, and based on these; propose mitigation measures to reduce VOCs exposure in schools. One of the most important findings is the occurrence of indoor sources, indicated by the I/O ratio >1 in 19 schools. Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation was used to identify common sources of VOCs and source contribution was calculated using an Absolute Principal Component Scores technique. The result showed that outdoor 47% of VOCs were contributed by petrol vehicle exhaust but the overall cleaning products had the highest contribution of 41% indoors followed by air fresheners and art and craft activities. These findings point to the need for a range of basic precautions during the selection, use and storage of cleaning products and materials to reduce the risk from these sources.

Complete-linkage clustering for voice activity detection in audio and visual speech

We propose a novel technique for conducting robust voice activity detection (VAD) in high-noise recordings. We use Gaussian mixture modeling (GMM) to train two generic models; speech and non-speech. We then score smaller segments of a given (unseen) recording against each of these GMMs to obtain two respective likelihood scores for each segment. These scores are used to compute a dissimilarity measure between pairs of segments and to carry out complete-linkage clustering of the segments into speech and non-speech clusters. We compare the accuracy of our method against state-of-the-art and standardised VAD techniques to demonstrate an absolute improvement of 15% in half-total error rate (HTER) over the best performing baseline system and across the QUT-NOISE-TIMIT database. We then apply our approach to the Audio-Visual Database of American English (AVDBAE) to demonstrate the performance of our algorithm in using visual, audio-visual or a proposed fusion of these features.

Ideologies and their points of view

It is well known that different arguments appeal to different people. We all process information in ways that are adapted to be consistent with our underlying ideologies. These ideologies can sometimes be framed in terms of particular axes or dimensions, which makes it possible to represent some aspects of an ideology as a region in the kind of vector space that is typical of many generalised quantum models. Such models can then be used to explain and predict, in broad strokes, whether a particular argument or proposal is likely to appeal to an individual with a particular ideology. The choice of suitable arguments to bring about desired actions is traditionally part of the art or science of rhetoric, and today's highly polarised society means that this skill is becoming more important than ever. This paper presents a basic model for understanding how different goals will appeal to people with different ideologies, and thus how different rhetorical positions can be adopted to promote the same desired outcome. As an example, we consider different narratives and hence actions with respect to the environment and climate change, an important but currently highly controversial topic.

Designing experiences with wearables : A case study exploring the blurring boundaries of art, design, technology, culture and distance

This paper details a workshop aimed at exploring opportunities for experience design through wearable art and design concepts. Specifically it explores the structure of the workshop with respect to facilitating learning through technology in the development of experiential wearable art and design. A case study titled Cloud Workshop: Wearables and Wellbeing; Enriching connections between citizens in the Asia-Pacific region was initiated through a cooperative partnership between Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Griffith University (GU). Digital technologies facilitated collaboration through an inter-disciplinary, inter-national and inter- cultural approach (Facer & Sandford, 2010) between Australia and Hong Kong. Students cooperated throughout a two-week period to develop innovative wearable concepts blending art, design and technology. An unpacking of the approach, pedagogical underpinning and final outcomes revealed distinct educational benefits as well as certain learning and technological challenges of the program. Qualitative feedback uncovered additional successes with respect to student engagement and enthusiasm, while uncovering shortcomings in the delivery and management of information and difficulties with cultural interactions. Potential future versions of the program aim to take advantage of the positives and overcome the limitations of the current pedagogical approach. It is hoped the case study will become a catalyst for future workshops that blur the boundaries of art, design and technology to uncover further benefits and potentials for new outcomes in experience design.

Herrat, jätkät ja sotataito : Kansalaissotilas- ja ammattisotilasarmeijan rakentuminen 1920- ja 1930-luvulla

Gentlemen, Lads and the Art of War The Construction of Citizen Soldier- and Professional Soldier Armies into the Miracle of the Winter War During the 1920s and 1930s The Miracle of the Winter War was not a myth - at least according to them, who were making that miracle to happen. This study is not just about the Armed Forces and society, but moreover a study about civil society inside the organization of armed forces. Conscription kept Finnish military organization (and is still keeping) very closely connected with civil society and therefore there is no need to locate the possible critical misunderstandings brought by two different identity-based approaches. The great performance of the Armed Forces during the Second World War was not made of superior art of war. It was not the high level of discipline either. Art of war is basically a (deep level) cultural level equation that has more to do with culturally absorbed schemes of meaning making than rational decision-making. Naturally attrition based approach to effect-making directed the organizational methods in attrition based organisational practices, where there were only minor possibilities to practice any manoeuvre-based organisational behaviour. The practice and method of leadership lent similarly to the attrition-based thinking, which directed the organisational cultural thoughts towards composition that confirmed antagonism between gentlemen and lads . This setting has been absorbed and learned through cultural socialisation and was therefore not a product of the military organisation itself. The Finnish Armed Forces included two different communities (gentlemen and lads) within the same organisation as there were both the official and the unofficial organisations presented. This caused problems as they both made meaning-making processes simultaneously. These organisations had their own overlapping and in most cases also contradictory social meanings. The unofficial organisation has been overshadowed by the vast number of studies concerning the official organisation. The main reason for this systematic neglect is based on the reality of the attitudes and living conditions of the micro-level organisation which produced (perhaps) too realistic and repulsive viewpoints that are presenting a picture of a national level identity process in a way that is separating it from the ideals made to verify the ethos of national values. Complaining, griping, grumbling and moaning are usually situated in a category of abnormal and unwanted behaviour. However, within the context of a citizen soldier army community this was more of a characteristic feature of that organisation (in Finland) and therefore it was crucially important to locate the context of that abnormal behaviour. According to this study, it was not a malicious act but moreover seriously formed efforts in trying to use common sense in the chaos citizen soldiers faced when they were uniformed and placed in an unfamiliar process of disciplinary measures and frictions and competition between different ranks. There is much evidence that reinforces the argument that what seemed to be the most unconventional behaviour was finally the most efficient in a sense of military performance.

Displaying and celebrating the "other": A study of the mission, scope, and roles of ethnic museums in Los Angeles

In the last thirty years, ethnic museums have mushroomed in American cities. Although this is certainly a national phenomenon, it has been particularly evident in Los Angeles. In this paper we examine the genesis and evolution of these emerging institutions. We survey the mission, scope, and role of ethnic museums in Los Angeles, and we contrast them with the stated mission and scope of “mainstream” museums in the city. We further present case studies of three Los Angeles ethnic museums. The museums vary considerably in the ways they perceive their role in the community, the city, and the nation and in the preservation and display of ethnic culture. At their best, ethnic museums serve to make new art and histories more accessible and visible and provide a forum in which to debate contemporary issues of politics and identity. The paper highlights some of the tensions faced by ethnic museums as they seek to define their audience and role(s) in multi-ethnic, twenty-first century Los Angeles.

The potential benefits of divergent thinking and metacognitive skills in STEAM learning: A discussion paper

In the wake of an almost decade long economic downturn and increasing competition from developing economies, a new agenda in the Australian Government for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and research has emerged as a national priority. However, to art and design educators, the pervasiveness and apparent exclusivity of STEM can be viewed as another instance of art and design education being relegated to the margins of curriculum (Greene, 1995). In the spirit of interdisciplinarity, there have been some recent calls to expand STEM education to include the arts and design, transforming STEM into STEAM in education (Maeda, 2013). As with STEM, STEAM education emphasises the connections between previously disparate disciplines, meaning that education has been conceptualised in different ways, such as focusing on the creative design thinking process that is fundamental to engineering and art (Bequette & Bequette, 2012). In this article, we discuss divergent creative design thinking process and metacognitive skills, how, and why they may enhance learning in STEM and STEAM.

Desenvolvimento do clube de história da matemática: um diálogo das ciências humanas com a matemática

Este trabalho apresenta uma pesquisa sobre a utilização da História da Matemática no ensino básico do Colégio Militar do Rio de Janeiro CMRJ através de manifestações artísticas, fazendo uso, principalmente, do teatro,para que alunos percebam a matemática como uma ciência temporal, humana e sujeita a interferências políticas e sociais e, dessa forma, desenvolver a criticidade, aumentar a sensibilidade e o senso de solidariedade. A partir de um tema da história envolvendo fatos matemáticos os alunos pesquisam, escrevem uma peça teatral e encenam para um público formado por pessoas da comunidade escolar. Como a intenção é tornar essa prática efetiva, a pesquisa culmina na fundação do Clube de História da Matemática, espaço onde, espera-se, atividades recorrentes sejamdesenvolvidas, atraindo alunos afetos tanto às ciências humanas e sociais como às ciências exatas. Realiza-se um estudo de caso com observação participante, por ser o autor também professor do CMRJ. Este estudo busca referência teórica principalmente em autores relacionados à História da Matemática, Arte na Educação, gestão democrática, relações de poder e na legislação vigente. A pesquisa aponta a importância do trabalho com a história e com a arte e nos leva a concluir que, para formar cidadãos participativos e críticos, o primeiro passo é a sociedade tornar-se participativa e crítica, sendo a escola o principal locuspara tal formação.

Many-Valued Logic and Qualitative Modelling of Electrical Circuits

Lee M.H., Many-Valued Logic and Qualitative Modelling of Electrical Circuits, in Proc. QR?2000, 14th Int. Workshop on Qualitative Reasoning, Morelia, Mexico June 3rd - 7th 2000.

Rough sets, their extensions and applications

Q. Shen and R. Jensen, 'Rough sets, their extensions and applications,' International Journal of Automation and Computing (IJAC), vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 217-218, 2007.