Contours in Motion

My practice-led research explores and maps workflows for generating experimental creative work involving inertia based motion capture technology. Motion capture has often been used as a way to bridge animation and dance resulting in abstracted visuals outcomes. In early works this process was largely done by rotoscoping, reference footage and mechanical forms of motion capture. With the evolution of technology, optical and inertial forms of motion capture are now more accessible and able to accurately capture a larger range of complex movements. The creative work titled “Contours in Motion” was the first in a series of studies on captured motion data used to generating experimental visual forms that reverberate in space and time. With the source or ‘seed’ comes from using an Xsens MVN - Inertial Motion Capture system to capture spontaneous dance movements, with the visual generation conducted through a customised dynamics simulation. The aim of the creative work was to diverge way from a standard practice of using particle system and/or a simple re-targeting of the motion data to drive a 3d character as a means to produce abstracted visual forms. To facilitate this divergence a virtual dynamic object was tether to a selection of data points from a captured performance. The proprieties of the dynamic object were then adjusted to balance the influences from the human movement data with the influence of computer based randomization. The resulting outcome was a visual form that surpassed simple data visualization to project the intent of the performer’s movements into a visual shape itself. The reported outcomes from this investigation have contributed to a larger study on the use of motion capture in the generative arts, furthering the understanding of and generating theories on practice.

Secure coprocessor-based private information retrieval without periodical preprocessing

Early works on Private Information Retrieval (PIR) focused on minimizing the necessary communication overhead. They seemed to achieve this goal but at the expense of query response time. To mitigate this weakness, protocols with secure coprocessors were introduced. They achieve optimal communication complexity and better online processing complexity. Unfortunately, all secure coprocessor-based PIR protocols require heavy periodical preprocessing. In this paper, we propose a new protocol, which is free from the periodical preprocessing while offering the optimal communication complexity and almost optimal online processing complexity. The proposed protocol is proven to be secure.

An intervention to discourage Australian mothers from unnecessarily exposing their babies to the sun for therapeutic reasons

Parents play a key role in children’s sun-protective behaviour, with good sun-protective habits established early tending to be sustained. We designed a maternity hospital-based educational intervention to reduce myths that could result in mothers intentionally sunning their babies. Interviews were conducted with two cross-sections of healthy post-partum inpatients in the maternity ward of a large regional public hospital. The first group (n¼106) was recruited before the commencement of educational in-services for maternity nursing staff; the second group (n¼203) was interviewed after the last staff in-service session. More pre-intervention than post-intervention women reported they would expose their baby to sunlight to: treat suspected jaundice (28.8% vs. 13.3%; p<0.001) or help their baby’s skin adapt to sunlight (10.5% vs. 2.5%; p¼0.003). Fewer post-intervention women indicated they would sun themselves to treat breastfeeding-associated sore/cracked nipples (7.6% vs. 2%; p¼0.026). This educational intervention should be used to educate parents, health professionals and students

The biology of breast tumor progression : acquisition of hormone independence and resistance to cytotoxic drugs

Many breast tumors appear to follow a predictable clinical pattern, being initially responsive to endocrine therapy and to cytotoxic chemotherapy but ultimately exhibiting a phenotype resistant to both modalities. Using the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line as an example of an 'early' phenotype (estrogen and progesterone receptor positive, steroid responsive, low metastatic potential), we have isolated and characterized a series of hormone-independent but hormone-responsive variants (MIII and MCF7/LCC1). However, these variants remain responsive to both antiestrogens and cytotoxic drugs (methotrexate and colchicine). MIII and MCF7/LCCl cells appear to mimic some of the critical aspects of the early progression to a more aggressive phenotype. An examination of the phenotype of these cells suggests that some hormone-independent breast cancer cells are derived from hormone-dependent parental cells. The development of a hormone-independent phenotype can arise independently of acquisition of a cytotoxic drug resistant phenotype.

A combinatorial approach to anonymous membership broadcast

A set system (X, F ) with X= {x 1,...,x m}) and F = {B1...,B n }, where B i ⊆ X, is called an (n, m) cover-free set system (or CF set system) if for any 1 ≤ i, j, k ≤ n and j ≠ k, |B i >2 |B j ∩ B k | +1. In this paper, we show that CF set systems can be used to construct anonymous membership broadcast schemes (or AMB schemes), allowing a center to broadcast a secret identity among a set of users in a such way that the users can verify whether or not the broadcast message contains their valid identity. Our goal is to construct (n, m) CF set systems in which for given m the value n is as large as possible. We give two constructions for CF set systems, the first one from error-correcting codes and the other from combinatorial designs. We link CF set systems to the concept of cover-free family studied by Erdös et al in early 80’s to derive bounds on parameters of CF set systems. We also discuss some possible extensions of the current work, motivated by different application.

When to pull the plug and when to take the plunge : timing strategic decisions about new ventures

It is not uncommon for firms to explore a new venture under the belief it will generate profits, only to find out later that although costs accumulated, profits did not materialize. To manage the high level of uncertainty involved in this process, new ventures are generally designed as vehicles of exploration (Wu, 2012) that allow for a staged investment of resources, starting with small initial investments that can be scaled up or discontinued as uncertainty is resolved over time (Folta, 1998; Li and Chi, 2013). As such, new ventures provide firms a vehicle by which they can probe an uncertain future (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1997) without fully committing early on to an irreversible course of action (Folta, Johnson, and O’Brien, 2006). Our focus in the present paper is on the timing of strategic decisions that firms make regarding their exploration ventures. Prior research in the fields of entrepreneurship, real options reasoning, and decision speed has demonstrated a link between the timing of making decisions and performance (Baum and Wally, 2003; Eisenhardt, 1989; Judge and Miller, 1991). The antecedents to the timing of decisions, however, are less understood and pose an interesting dilemma.

The N170 observed ‘in the wild’: robust event-related potentials to faces in cluttered dynamic visual scenes

As a social species in a constantly changing environment, humans rely heavily on the informational richness and communicative capacity of the face. Thus, understanding how the brain processes information about faces in real-time is of paramount importance. The N170 is a high temporal resolution electrophysiological index of the brain's early response to visual stimuli that is reliably elicited in carefully controlled laboratory-based studies. Although the N170 has often been reported to be of greatest amplitude to faces, there has been debate regarding whether this effect might be an artifact of certain aspects of the controlled experimental stimulation schedules and materials. To investigate whether the N170 can be identified in more realistic conditions with highly variable and cluttered visual images and accompanying auditory stimuli we recorded EEG 'in the wild', while participants watched pop videos. Scene-cuts to faces generated a clear N170 response, and this was larger than the N170 to transitions where the videos cut to non-face stimuli. Within participants, wild-type face N170 amplitudes were moderately correlated to those observed in a typical laboratory experiment. Thus, we demonstrate that the face N170 is a robust and ecologically valid phenomenon and not an artifact arising as an unintended consequence of some property of the more typical laboratory paradigm.

Quantification of gammaH2AX foci in response to ionising radiation

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), which are induced by either endogenous metabolic processes or by exogenous sources, are one of the most critical DNA lesions with respect to survival and preservation of genomic integrity. An early response to the induction of DSBs is phosphorylation of the H2A histone variant, H2AX, at the serine-139 residue, in the highly conserved C-terminal SQEY motif, forming gammaH2AX(1). Following induction of DSBs, H2AX is rapidly phosphorylated by the phosphatidyl-inosito 3-kinase (PIKK) family of proteins, ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), DNA-protein kinase catalytic subunit and ATM and RAD3-related (ATR)(2). Typically, only a few base-pairs (bp) are implicated in a DSB, however, there is significant signal amplification, given the importance of chromatin modifications in DNA damage signalling and repair. Phosphorylation of H2AX mediated predominantly by ATM spreads to adjacent areas of chromatin, affecting approximately 0.03% of total cellular H2AX per DSB(2,3). This corresponds to phosphorylation of approximately 2000 H2AX molecules spanning approximately 2 Mbp regions of chromatin surrounding the site of the DSB and results in the formation of discrete gammaH2AX foci which can be easily visualized and quantitated by immunofluorescence microscopy(2). The loss of gammaH2AX at DSB reflects repair, however, there is some controversy as to what defines complete repair of DSBs; it has been proposed that rejoining of both strands of DNA is adequate however, it has also been suggested that re-instatement of the original chromatin state of compaction is necessary(4-8). The disappearence of gammaH2AX involves at least in part, dephosphorylation by phosphatases, phosphatase 2A and phosphatase 4C(5,6). Further, removal of gammaH2AX by redistribution involving histone exchange with H2A.Z has been implicated(7,8). Importantly, the quantitative analysis of gammaH2AX foci has led to a wide range of applications in medical and nuclear research. Here, we demonstrate the most commonly used immunofluorescence method for evaluation of initial DNA damage by detection and quantitation of gammaH2AX foci in gamma-irradiated adherent human keratinocytes(9)

Some comparison on whole-proteome phylogeny of large dsDNA viruses based on dynamical language approach and feature frequency profiles method

There has been a growing interest in alignment-free methods for phylogenetic analysis using complete genome data. Among them, CVTree method, feature frequency profiles method and dynamical language approach were used to investigate the whole-proteome phylogeny of large dsDNA viruses. Using the data set of large dsDNA viruses from Gao and Qi (BMC Evol. Biol. 2007), the phylogenetic results based on the CVTree method and the dynamical language approach were compared in Yu et al. (BMC Evol. Biol. 2010). In this paper, we first apply dynamical language approach to the data set of large dsDNA viruses from Wu et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2009) and compare our phylogenetic results with those based on the feature frequency profiles method. Then we construct the whole-proteome phylogeny of the larger dataset combining the above two data sets. According to the report of The International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), the trees from our analyses are in good agreement to the latest classification of large dsDNA viruses.

Out of the Box Festival for 3 to 8 year olds (Artistic Director)

The Out of the Box Festival was founded in 1994 by the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and has been held biannually ever since both within and around the centre in what is now known as the Cultural Precinct at Southbank. It is unique in Australia in that it caters entirely to children aged 8 years and under, with a highly curated program of ticketed performance events, workshops and free arts-based events. It is attended by school and kindergarten groups and by families, and besides engaging children in high quality arts experiences, the festival is also a platform for advocating the developmental and educational benefits of the arts for children. Dr Mark Radvan was the artistic director of the 2008 festival, with responsibility for developing the curatorial direction of each festival, for creating and programming its events, and for working with festival partners The Queensland Art Gallery, The Queensland Museum, The State Library of Queensland and The Queensland Theatre Company. Radvan designed selected and commissioned works to demonstrate how the arts create memorable, celebratory and immersive experiences that stimulate children’s imagination, their curiosity and confidence about the material world and the cultures of its people. A core event was an outdoor music and dance performance space featuring entirely Indigenous performers that was not only the beating heart of the festival, but served to underlie the importance of mainstreaming awareness of our first peoples in the increasingly culturally diverse communities of children attending.

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.

Pituitary volume and early treatment response in drug-naïve first-episode psychosis patients

BACKGROUND: An early response to antipsychotic treatment in patients with psychosis has been associated with a better course and outcome. However, factors that predict treatment response are not well understood. The onset of schizophrenia and related disorders has been associated with increased levels of stress and hyper-activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This study examined whether pituitary volume at the onset of psychosis may be a potential predictor of early treatment response in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients. METHODS: We investigated the relationship between baseline pituitary volume and symptomatic treatment response over 12 weeks using mixed model analysis in a sample of 42 drug-naïve or early treated FEP patients who participated in a controlled dose-finding study of quetiapine fumarate. Logistic regression was used to examine predictors of treatment response. Pituitary volume was measured from magnetic resonance imaging scans that were obtained upon entry into the trial. RESULTS: Larger pituitary volume was associated with less improvement in overall psychotic symptoms (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) P=0.031) and positive symptoms (BPRS positive symptom subscale P=0.010). Regardless of gender, patients with a pituitary volume at the 25th percentile (413 mm(3)) were approximately three times more likely to respond to treatment by week 12 than those at the 75th percentile (635 mm(3)) (odds ratio=3.07, CI: 0.90-10.48). CONCLUSION: The association of baseline pituitary volumes with early treatment response highlights the importance of the HPA axis in emerging psychosis. Potential implications for treatment strategies in early psychosis are discussed.

Putting an "end" to the motor cortex representations of action words

Language processing is an example of implicit learning of multiple statistical cues that provide probabilistic information regarding word structure and use. Much of the current debate about language embodiment is devoted to how action words are represented in the brain, with motor cortex activity evoked by these words assumed to selectively reflect conceptual content and/or its simulation. We investigated whether motor cortex activity evoked by manual action words (e.g., caress) might reflect sensitivity to probabilistic orthographic-phonological cues to grammatical category embedded within individual words. We first review neuroimaging data demonstrating that nonwords evoke activity much more reliably than action words along the entire motor strip, encompassing regions proposed to be action category specific. Using fMRI, we found that disyllabic words denoting manual actions evoked increased motor cortex activity compared with non-body-part-related words (e.g., canyon), activity which overlaps that evoked by observing and executing hand movements. This result is typically interpreted in support of language embodiment. Crucially, we also found that disyllabic nonwords containing endings with probabilistic cues predictive of verb status (e.g., -eve) evoked increased activity compared with nonwords with endings predictive of noun status (e.g., -age) in the identical motor area. Thus, motor cortex responses to action words cannot be assumed to selectively reflect conceptual content and/or its simulation. Our results clearly demonstrate motor cortex activity reflects implicit processing of ortho-phonological statistical regularities that help to distinguish a word's grammatical class.

Optimum position of steel outrigger system for high rise composite buildings subjected to wind loads

The responses of composite buildings under wind loads clearly become more critical as the building becomes taller, less stiff and more lightweight. When the composite building increases in height, the stiffness of the structure becomes more important factor and introduction to belt truss and outrigger system is often used to provide sufficient lateral stiffness to the structure. Most of the research works to date is limited to reinforced concrete building with outrigger system of concrete structure, simple building plan layout, single height of a building, one direction wind and single level of outrigger arrangement. There is a scarcity in research works about the effective position of outrigger level on composite buildings under lateral wind loadings when the building plan layout, height and outrigger arrangement are varied. The aim of this paper is to determine the optimum location of steel belt and outrigger systems by using different arrangement of single and double level outrigger for different size, shape and height of composite building. In this study a comprehensive finite element modelling of composite building prototypes is carried out, with three different layouts (Rectangular, Octagonal and L shaped) and for three different storey (28, 42 and 57-storey). Models are analysed for dynamic cyclonic wind loads with various combination of steel belt and outrigger bracings. It is concluded that the effectiveness of the single and double level steel belt and outrigger bracing are varied based on their positions for different size, shape and height of composite building.

Learning Chinese as a Heritage Language: An Australian Perspective

Summary: This book explores the fascinating topic of heritage language learning, looking in particular at Chinese Australians' learning of Chinese. The author studies the investment, challenges and benefits of heritage language learning across varied contexts including school, work, home and in the community. The book investigates how Chinese Australians navigate and negotiate their Chineseness and how resources are used to support their learning. The book is based on a mixed methods study which uses Bourdieu's sociological theory, and offers implications for sociologists of language and education, Chinese heritage language learners and teachers, as well as language and cultural policy makers. Review: This book is a compelling account of the habitus of Chineseness in a world of mobility. It offers up a plethora of insights into the implication of heritage language learning in the constitution of Chinese identity; it makes available a sophisticated mixed methods approach for using the thinking tools of Pierre Bourdieu; it adds to these tools a nuanced cultural dimension. Karen Dooley, Queensland University of Technology, Australia In our increasingly trans-migratory world, language can be central to cultural identity. Dr Mu’s research breaks new ground by adapting Bourdieu’s insights to examine how cultural identity (‘Chinese-ness’) is linguistically learned and practiced in Australia. His remarkable book will interest educators and researchers grappling with how language pertains to identity. Tom Strong, University of Calgary, Canada A thought-provoking, highly engaging work that has deftly shown how Bourdieusian framework can be applied in the research field of literacy education and Heritage Language learning. A must-read for those interested in overseas Chinese communities and Heritage Language learning across various immigrant communities in general! Liang Du, Beijing Normal University, China