Seattle Campus Master Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

This is a SEPA Environmental Impact Statement as required by State regulations for analyzing the potential impacts of implementing the proposed Seattle Campus Master Plan for the University of Washington. Five action alternatives and the No Action Alternative have been analyzed for 15 elements of the environment.

Evaluation of separation management algorithms in Class G airspace

Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in support of government applications has already seen significant growth and the potential for use of UAVs in commercial applications is expected to rapidly expand in the near future. However, the issue remains on how such automated or operator-controlled aircraft can be safely integrated into current airspace. If the goal of integration is to be realized, issues regarding safe separation in densely populated airspace must be investigated. This paper investigates automated separation management concepts in uncontrolled airspace that may help prepare for an expected growth of UAVs in Class G airspace. Not only are such investigations helpful for the UAV integration issue, the automated separation management concepts investigated by the authors can also be useful for the development of new or improved Air Traffic Control services in remote regions without any existing infrastructure. The paper will also provide an overview of the Smart Skies program and discuss the corresponding Smart Skies research and development effort to evaluate aircraft separation management algorithms using simulations involving realworld data communication channels, and verified against actual flight trials. This paper presents results from a unique flight test concept that uses real-time flight test data from Australia over existing commercial communication channels to a control center in Seattle for real-time separation management of actual and simulated aircraft. The paper also assesses the performance of an automated aircraft separation manager.

Interrogating statistical models of music perception

We have developed a new experimental method for interrogating statistical theories of music perception by implementing these theories as generative music algorithms. We call this method Generation in Context. This method differs from most experimental techniques in music perception in that it incorporates aesthetic judgments. Generation In Context is designed to measure percepts for which the musical context is suspected to play an important role. In particular the method is suitable for the study of perceptual parameters which are temporally dynamic. We outline a use of this approach to investigate David Temperley’s (2007) probabilistic melody model, and provide some provisional insights as to what is revealed about the model. We suggest that Temperley’s model could be improved by dynamically modulating the probability distributions according to the changing musical context.

Sapporo World Window : urban interaction through public and private screens

This paper introduces Sapporo World Window, a screen-based application that is currently under development for the new underway passage at the centre of Sapporo City. There are ten large public screens installed in the space, displaying user-generated videos about various aspects of the city and a real-time map that visualises users’ interaction with the city. The application aims to engage the general public by functioning as a unique ‘point of connection’ for socio-cultural and technological interactions, making the space a lively social place where people can have meaningful experiences of interacting with people and places of Sapporo through mobile phones (keitai) and the public screens in the space. This paper first outlines the contextual background and key concept for the application’s design. Then the paper discusses the user interaction processes, technical specifications, and interface design, followed by the conclusions and outlook.

Distributed object tracking with robot and disjoint camera networks

We describe a novel two stage approach to object localization and tracking using a network of wireless cameras and a mobile robot. In the first stage, a robot travels through the camera network while updating its position in a global coordinate frame which it broadcasts to the cameras. The cameras use this information, along with image plane location of the robot, to compute a mapping from their image planes to the global coordinate frame. This is combined with an occupancy map generated by the robot during the mapping process to track the objects. We present results with a nine node indoor camera network to demonstrate that this approach is feasible and offers acceptable level of accuracy in terms of object locations.

Engaging new digital locals with interactive urban screens to collaboratively improve the city

Local governments struggle to engage time poor and seemingly apathetic citizens, as well as the city’s young digital natives, the digital locals. This project aims at providing a lightweight, technological contribution towards removing the hierarchy between those who build the city and those who use it. We aim to narrow this gap by enhancing people’s experience of physical spaces with digital, civic technologies that are directly accessible within that space. This paper presents the findings of a design trial allowing users to interact with a public screen via their mobile phones. The screen facilitated a feedback platform about a concrete urban planning project by promoting specific questions and encouraging direct, in-situ, real-time responses via SMS and twitter. This new mechanism offers additional benefits for civic participation as it gives voice to residents who otherwise would not be heard. It also promotes a positive attitude towards local governments and gathers information different from more traditional public engagement tools.

A Systematic Review of kinematic models used in foot & ankle biomechanics

Over the past decade our understanding of foot function has increased significantly[1,2]. Our understanding of foot and ankle biomechanics appears to be directly correlated to advances in models used to assess and quantify kinematic parameters in gait. These advances in models in turn lead to greater detail in the data. However, we must consider that the level of complexity is determined by the question or task being analysed. This systematic review aims to provide a critical appraisal of commonly used marker sets and foot models to assess foot and ankle kinematics in a wide variety of clinical and research purposes.

Mapping the dynamic of Project Management field : Project Management in action

Focusing on the role within and between organizations of the project management discipline to design and implement strategy, as source of competitive advantage, leads us to question the scientific field behind this discipline. This science should be the basis for the development and use of bodies of knowledge, standards, certification programs, education, and competencies, and beyond this as a source of value for people, organizations, and society. Thus the importance to characterize, define, and understand this field and its underlying strength, basis, and development is paramount. For this purpose we propose to give some insights on the current situation. This will lead us to clarify our epistemological position and demonstrate that both constructivism and positivist approaches are required to seize the full dimension and dynamics of the field.We will referee to sociology of actor-networks and qualitative scientometrics leading to the choice of the co-word analysis method in enabling us to capture the project management field and its dynamics.Results of a study based on the analysis of ABI Inform database will be presented and some future trends and scenarios proposed.

Leveraging value within IT-backed collaborative alliances

Organizations today make radical use of the IT resources to sustain or better their existing competitive position. One such initiative is forming alliances on a shared IT backbone with partners of their value chain. We term these alliances the collaborative organizational structures (COS). Regardless of the nature of engagement with IT resources, organizations will require unique competencies to obtain performance-differentiating value from these IT resources. In a collaborative environment, these competencies would be a result of the synergy between the alliances’ unique competences. We call these the inter-firm IT-related capabilities. The resource centric theoretical frameworks suggest a trajectory of competence development and the structure of inter-firm competencies, but does not inform on the nature of these competencies. We employ an interpretive design to suggest three inter-firm IT-related capabilities for IT-backed collaborative alliances. We discuss these capabilities in this research and suggest that their effectiveness be measured directly against the collaborative rent, and indirectly against the firm-level performance of the alliance partners. This forms a model of leveraging and evaluating value within IT-backed collaborative alliances.

Towards an effective IT governance structure for organizations in developing economies

The pervasive use of IT is prominent amongst organizations in developing economies. However, there is growing evidence that these economies fail to capitalize on their IT investment to transform their organizations to be competitive both locally and globally. IT-related benefits are possible with appropriate governance of the IT-related resources, and we need to broaden our understanding on the IT governance mechanics suitable for organizations in the developing economies. In this study, we adopted an initial interpretive design to obtain a deeper understanding of the IT governance (ITG) environment and conceptions of the stakeholders on effective IT governance structures for the developing economies. We found that the presence of an IT Strategic Planning Committee, Multiple level of authority, and a Forum for informal discussions as the crucial components of an ITG structure in developing economies.