A scalable cloud Platform for Active healthcare monitoring applications
- Balasubramanian, Venki, Stranieri, Andrew
- Authors: Balasubramanian, Venki , Stranieri, Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 2014 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services, IC3e 2014; Melbourne, Australia; 10th-12th December 2014 p. 93-98
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Continuous, remote monitoring of patients using wearable sensors can facilitate early detection of many conditions and can help to manage the growing healthcare crisis worldwide. A remote patient monitoring application consists of many emerging services such as wireless wearable sensor configuration, patient registration and authentication, collaborative consultation of doctors, storage and maintenance of electronic health record. The provision of these services requires the development and maintenance of a remote healthcare monitoring application (HMA) that includes a body area wireless sensor network (BASWN) and Health Applications (HA) to detect specific health issues. In addition, the deployment of HMAs for different hospitals is not easily scalable owing to the heterogeneous nature of hardware and software involved. Cloud computing overcomes this aspect by allowing simple and easy maintenance of ICT infrastructure. In this work, we report a real-time-like cloud based architecture known as Assistive Patient monitoring cloud Platform for Active healthcare applications (AppA) using a delegate pattern. The built AppA is highly scalable and capable of spawning new instances based on monitoring requirements from the health care providers, and are aligned with scalable economic models. © 2014 IEEE.
- Authors: Balasubramanian, Venki , Stranieri, Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 2014 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services, IC3e 2014; Melbourne, Australia; 10th-12th December 2014 p. 93-98
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Continuous, remote monitoring of patients using wearable sensors can facilitate early detection of many conditions and can help to manage the growing healthcare crisis worldwide. A remote patient monitoring application consists of many emerging services such as wireless wearable sensor configuration, patient registration and authentication, collaborative consultation of doctors, storage and maintenance of electronic health record. The provision of these services requires the development and maintenance of a remote healthcare monitoring application (HMA) that includes a body area wireless sensor network (BASWN) and Health Applications (HA) to detect specific health issues. In addition, the deployment of HMAs for different hospitals is not easily scalable owing to the heterogeneous nature of hardware and software involved. Cloud computing overcomes this aspect by allowing simple and easy maintenance of ICT infrastructure. In this work, we report a real-time-like cloud based architecture known as Assistive Patient monitoring cloud Platform for Active healthcare applications (AppA) using a delegate pattern. The built AppA is highly scalable and capable of spawning new instances based on monitoring requirements from the health care providers, and are aligned with scalable economic models. © 2014 IEEE.
Analysis of end-to-end delay characteristics for various packets in IEC 61850 substation communications system
- Das, Narottam, Ma, Wu, Islam, Syed
- Authors: Das, Narottam , Ma, Wu , Islam, Syed
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: 25th Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2015, Wollongong, Australia; 27th-30th September 2015 p. 1-5
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Substation plays an important role in power system communications for safe and reliable operation of entire power networks. Substation communication networks are connected with various substation intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), which is substation systems lifeblood and the system availability is decided by its real-Time performance. International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC) has been developed the standards based on object-oriented technologies for substation automation. IEC 61850 protocol has been applied widely in substation communication applications. It presents new challenges to realtime performance simulation and testing of protective relays. In this paper, an optimized network engineering tool (OPNET) or Riverbed modeler simulation tool/ software has been used for the modeling of IED in substation level network. Based on the simulation results, different types of data stream have been discussed, such as, periodic data stream, random data stream and burst data steam. The typical studies using these models, to construct substation automation system (SAS) network on the OPNET modeler or Riverbed modeler was made to reveal the impact of each affecting parameter or factor to the real-Time performance of substation communications system, which is also incorporated in this report.
- Description: 2015 Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference: Challenges for Future Grids, AUPEC 2015
- Authors: Das, Narottam , Ma, Wu , Islam, Syed
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: 25th Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2015, Wollongong, Australia; 27th-30th September 2015 p. 1-5
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Substation plays an important role in power system communications for safe and reliable operation of entire power networks. Substation communication networks are connected with various substation intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), which is substation systems lifeblood and the system availability is decided by its real-Time performance. International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC) has been developed the standards based on object-oriented technologies for substation automation. IEC 61850 protocol has been applied widely in substation communication applications. It presents new challenges to realtime performance simulation and testing of protective relays. In this paper, an optimized network engineering tool (OPNET) or Riverbed modeler simulation tool/ software has been used for the modeling of IED in substation level network. Based on the simulation results, different types of data stream have been discussed, such as, periodic data stream, random data stream and burst data steam. The typical studies using these models, to construct substation automation system (SAS) network on the OPNET modeler or Riverbed modeler was made to reveal the impact of each affecting parameter or factor to the real-Time performance of substation communications system, which is also incorporated in this report.
- Description: 2015 Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference: Challenges for Future Grids, AUPEC 2015
AppA : Assistive patient monitoring cloud platform for active healthcare applications
- Balasubramanian, Venki, Stranieri, Andrew, Kaur, Ranjit
- Authors: Balasubramanian, Venki , Stranieri, Andrew , Kaur, Ranjit
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 9th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, ACM IMCOM 2015; Bali, Indonesia; 8th-10th January 2015
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Continuous, remote monitoring of patients using wearable sensors can facilitate early detection of many conditions and can help to manage the growing healthcare crisis worldwide. A remote patient monitoring application consists of many emerging services such as wireless wearable sensor configuration, patient registration and authentication, collaborative consultation of doctors, storage and maintenance of electronic health record. The provision of these services requires the development and maintenance of a remote healthcare monitoring application (HMA) that includes a body area wireless sensor network (BASWN) and Health Applications (HA) to detect specific health issues. In addition, the deployment of HMAs for different hospitals is not easily scalable owing to the heterogeneous nature of hardware and software involved. Cloud computing overcomes this aspect by allowing simple and easy maintenance of ICT infrastructure. In this work, we report a realtime- like cloud based architecture known as Assistive Patient monitoring cloud Platform for Active healthcare applications (AppA) using a delegate pattern. The built AppA is highly scalable and capable of spawning new instances based on the monitoring requirements from the health care providers, and is aligned with scalable economic models.
- Authors: Balasubramanian, Venki , Stranieri, Andrew , Kaur, Ranjit
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 9th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, ACM IMCOM 2015; Bali, Indonesia; 8th-10th January 2015
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Continuous, remote monitoring of patients using wearable sensors can facilitate early detection of many conditions and can help to manage the growing healthcare crisis worldwide. A remote patient monitoring application consists of many emerging services such as wireless wearable sensor configuration, patient registration and authentication, collaborative consultation of doctors, storage and maintenance of electronic health record. The provision of these services requires the development and maintenance of a remote healthcare monitoring application (HMA) that includes a body area wireless sensor network (BASWN) and Health Applications (HA) to detect specific health issues. In addition, the deployment of HMAs for different hospitals is not easily scalable owing to the heterogeneous nature of hardware and software involved. Cloud computing overcomes this aspect by allowing simple and easy maintenance of ICT infrastructure. In this work, we report a realtime- like cloud based architecture known as Assistive Patient monitoring cloud Platform for Active healthcare applications (AppA) using a delegate pattern. The built AppA is highly scalable and capable of spawning new instances based on the monitoring requirements from the health care providers, and is aligned with scalable economic models.
Business advisor knowledge and knowledge transference : A conceptual framework
- Labas, Alan, Courvisanos, Jerry, Henson, Sam
- Authors: Labas, Alan , Courvisanos, Jerry , Henson, Sam
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 28th Annual SEAANZ Conference Proceedings; Melbourne, Australia; 1st-3rd July 2015. p. 1-17
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Prior studies raise the question of how business advisors’ knowledge affects the provision of advice to small business. This paper recognises there is limited understanding of ‘how knowledge is connected to action’ and asks the question of how to research such an issue. A conceptual framework is derived from the literature to guide future empirical analysis exploring small business advisor knowledge and its transference. Two theories underpin this framework and illustrate the important role external advisors play in small business knowledge development - the theory of outside assistance as a knowledge resource, and theory of guided preparation as a guide to action based on advisor knowledge. The framework is underpinned by a critical realist methodology that allows actors (i.e. small business advisors) to operate in a changing environment. This critical realist philosophical lens enables the framework to uncover causal relationship between professional small business advisor knowledge foundations and knowledge transference.
- Authors: Labas, Alan , Courvisanos, Jerry , Henson, Sam
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 28th Annual SEAANZ Conference Proceedings; Melbourne, Australia; 1st-3rd July 2015. p. 1-17
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Prior studies raise the question of how business advisors’ knowledge affects the provision of advice to small business. This paper recognises there is limited understanding of ‘how knowledge is connected to action’ and asks the question of how to research such an issue. A conceptual framework is derived from the literature to guide future empirical analysis exploring small business advisor knowledge and its transference. Two theories underpin this framework and illustrate the important role external advisors play in small business knowledge development - the theory of outside assistance as a knowledge resource, and theory of guided preparation as a guide to action based on advisor knowledge. The framework is underpinned by a critical realist methodology that allows actors (i.e. small business advisors) to operate in a changing environment. This critical realist philosophical lens enables the framework to uncover causal relationship between professional small business advisor knowledge foundations and knowledge transference.
Designing for planned emergence in multi-agent systems
- Keogh, Kathleen, Sonenberg, Liz
- Authors: Keogh, Kathleen , Sonenberg, Liz
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 10th International Conference on Coordination, Organizations, Institutions and Norms in Agent Systems, COIN 2014; Paris; France; 6 May 2016 through 6 May 2016 Vol. 9372, p. 97-113
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: We present an approach for designing organization-oriented multi-agent systems (MASs) to allow improvisation at run time when agents are not available to exactly match the original organizational design structure. Working with system components from an existing MAS organizational meta-model, OJAzzIC, the approach sets out five stages for the design process. We illustrate the design approach with an incident response scenario implemented in the Blocks World for Teams (BW4T) environment, and show how agents at runtime can improvise- for example they can adopt tasks even if those tasks do not precisely match a predefined role. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.
- Authors: Keogh, Kathleen , Sonenberg, Liz
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 10th International Conference on Coordination, Organizations, Institutions and Norms in Agent Systems, COIN 2014; Paris; France; 6 May 2016 through 6 May 2016 Vol. 9372, p. 97-113
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: We present an approach for designing organization-oriented multi-agent systems (MASs) to allow improvisation at run time when agents are not available to exactly match the original organizational design structure. Working with system components from an existing MAS organizational meta-model, OJAzzIC, the approach sets out five stages for the design process. We illustrate the design approach with an incident response scenario implemented in the Blocks World for Teams (BW4T) environment, and show how agents at runtime can improvise- for example they can adopt tasks even if those tasks do not precisely match a predefined role. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.
Disconnection time and sequence of rooftop PVs under short-circuit faults in low voltage networks
- Yengejeh, Hadi, Shahnia, Farhad, Islam, Syed
- Authors: Yengejeh, Hadi , Shahnia, Farhad , Islam, Syed
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: North American Power Symposium, NAPS 2015; Charlotte, United States; 4th-6th October 2015 p. 1-6
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper presents an analysis on the disconnection time of single-phase rooftop PVs, located in a three-phase four-wire low voltage distribution feeder after a line-to-ground short-circuit fault on the low voltage feeder. The paper aims to evaluate and discuss the disconnection time and sequence of PVs in a network with 100% PV penetration level. The impact of different parameters such as the location of the fault, impedance of the fault and the ratio of PVs generation capacity to the load demand are considered. Furthermore, the effect of the system earthing in the form of multiple earthed neutral and non-effectively grounded systems are evaluated on the PVs disconnection time. The analyses intend to figure out the conditions under which the PVs in the feeder may fail to disconnect after a line-to-ground fault and keep feeding the fault. The analyses are carried out in PSCAD/EMTDC software.
- Authors: Yengejeh, Hadi , Shahnia, Farhad , Islam, Syed
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: North American Power Symposium, NAPS 2015; Charlotte, United States; 4th-6th October 2015 p. 1-6
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper presents an analysis on the disconnection time of single-phase rooftop PVs, located in a three-phase four-wire low voltage distribution feeder after a line-to-ground short-circuit fault on the low voltage feeder. The paper aims to evaluate and discuss the disconnection time and sequence of PVs in a network with 100% PV penetration level. The impact of different parameters such as the location of the fault, impedance of the fault and the ratio of PVs generation capacity to the load demand are considered. Furthermore, the effect of the system earthing in the form of multiple earthed neutral and non-effectively grounded systems are evaluated on the PVs disconnection time. The analyses intend to figure out the conditions under which the PVs in the feeder may fail to disconnect after a line-to-ground fault and keep feeding the fault. The analyses are carried out in PSCAD/EMTDC software.
Enterprise RTOs in Australia: An overview from research data
- Smith, Erica, Smith, Andy, Walker, Andrew
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Smith, Andy , Walker, Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: AVETRA, Sydney, 8th-10th April, 2015
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper reports on overview data from a national research project funded through the Australian Research Council Linkage program. The research question for the project as a whole was 'How do qualifications delivered by enterprises contribute to improved skill levels and other benefits for companies, workers and the nation?' The research was carried out with the support of the Enterprise RTO Association. Enterprise registered training organisations (RTOs) are companies that are accredited to deliver qualifications to their own workers. These 250 RTOs have to meet the same registration and quality standards as institutional training providers. The project as a whole included qualitative and quantitative components. It included longitudinal case studies in eight enterprise RTOs. This paper reports on part of the quantitative research. It presents findings and preliminary analysis of two surveys of enterprise RTOs (2012 and 2014), and a 2013 learner survey undertaken in the case study RTOs. The enterprise RTO surveys included a range of questions about the enterprise itself, and about the RTO's qualifications, learners, and training methods. The learner survey asked respondents about their views about training and outcomes. The response rates for the surveys were 35.7 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, with a representative distribution across industry areas. The paper provides a snapshot of the operations of enterprise RTOs and the views of those gaining qualifications in this context. Published abstract.
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Smith, Andy , Walker, Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: AVETRA, Sydney, 8th-10th April, 2015
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper reports on overview data from a national research project funded through the Australian Research Council Linkage program. The research question for the project as a whole was 'How do qualifications delivered by enterprises contribute to improved skill levels and other benefits for companies, workers and the nation?' The research was carried out with the support of the Enterprise RTO Association. Enterprise registered training organisations (RTOs) are companies that are accredited to deliver qualifications to their own workers. These 250 RTOs have to meet the same registration and quality standards as institutional training providers. The project as a whole included qualitative and quantitative components. It included longitudinal case studies in eight enterprise RTOs. This paper reports on part of the quantitative research. It presents findings and preliminary analysis of two surveys of enterprise RTOs (2012 and 2014), and a 2013 learner survey undertaken in the case study RTOs. The enterprise RTO surveys included a range of questions about the enterprise itself, and about the RTO's qualifications, learners, and training methods. The learner survey asked respondents about their views about training and outcomes. The response rates for the surveys were 35.7 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, with a representative distribution across industry areas. The paper provides a snapshot of the operations of enterprise RTOs and the views of those gaining qualifications in this context. Published abstract.
Fast intermode selection for HEVC video coding using phase correlation
- Podder, Pallab, Paul, Manoranjan, Murshed, Manzur, Chakraborty, Subrata
- Authors: Podder, Pallab , Paul, Manoranjan , Murshed, Manzur , Chakraborty, Subrata
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: 2014 International Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications, DICTA 2014; Wollongong, Australia; 25th-27th November 2014 p. 1-8
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130103670
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The recent High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard demonstrates higher rate-distortion (RD) performance compared to its predecessor H.264/AVC using different new tools especially larger and asymmetric inter-mode variable size motion estimation and compensation. This requires more than 4 times computational time compared to H.264/AVC. As a result it has always been a big concern for the researchers to reduce the amount of time while maintaining the standard quality of the video. The reduction of computational time by smart selection of the appropriate modes in HEVC is our motivation. To accomplish this task in this paper, we use phase correlation to approximate the motion information between current and reference blocks by comparing with a number of different binary pattern templates and then select a subset of motion estimation modes without exhaustively exploring all possible modes. The experimental results exhibit that the proposed HEVC-PC (HEVC with Phase Correlation) scheme outperforms the standard HEVC scheme in terms of computational time while preserving-the same quality of the video sequences. More specifically, around 40% encoding time is reduced compared to the exhaustive mode selection in HEVC. © 2014 IEEE.
- Description: 2014 International Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications, DICTA 2014
- Authors: Podder, Pallab , Paul, Manoranjan , Murshed, Manzur , Chakraborty, Subrata
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: 2014 International Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications, DICTA 2014; Wollongong, Australia; 25th-27th November 2014 p. 1-8
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130103670
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The recent High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard demonstrates higher rate-distortion (RD) performance compared to its predecessor H.264/AVC using different new tools especially larger and asymmetric inter-mode variable size motion estimation and compensation. This requires more than 4 times computational time compared to H.264/AVC. As a result it has always been a big concern for the researchers to reduce the amount of time while maintaining the standard quality of the video. The reduction of computational time by smart selection of the appropriate modes in HEVC is our motivation. To accomplish this task in this paper, we use phase correlation to approximate the motion information between current and reference blocks by comparing with a number of different binary pattern templates and then select a subset of motion estimation modes without exhaustively exploring all possible modes. The experimental results exhibit that the proposed HEVC-PC (HEVC with Phase Correlation) scheme outperforms the standard HEVC scheme in terms of computational time while preserving-the same quality of the video sequences. More specifically, around 40% encoding time is reduced compared to the exhaustive mode selection in HEVC. © 2014 IEEE.
- Description: 2014 International Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications, DICTA 2014
High performance communication redundancy in a digital substation based on IEC 62439-3 with a station bus configuration
- Kumar, Shantanu, Das, Narottam, Islam, Syed
- Authors: Kumar, Shantanu , Das, Narottam , Islam, Syed
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: 25th Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2015; Wollongong, Australia; 27th-30th September 2015 p. 1-5
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: High speed communication is critical in a digital substation from protection, control and automation perspectives. Although International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC) 61850 standard has proven to be a reliable guide for the substation automation and communication systems, yet it has few shortcomings in offering redundancies in the protection architecture, which has been addressed better in IEC 62439-3 standard encompassing Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) and High-Availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR). Due to single port failure, data losses and interoperability issues related to multi-vendor equipment, IEC working committee had to look beyond IEC 61850 standard. The enhanced features in a Doubly Attached Node components based on IEC 62439-3 provides redundancy in protection having two active frames circulating data packets in the ring. These frames send out copies in the ring and should one of the frame is lost, the other copy manages to reach the destination node via an alternate path, ensuring flawless data transfer at a significant faster speed using multi-vendor equipment and fault resilient circuits. The PRP and HSR topologies provides higher performance in a digitally protected substation and promise better future over the IEC 61850 standard due to its faster processing capabilities, increased availability and minimum delay in data packet transfer and wireless communication in the network. This paper exhibits the performance of PRP and HSR topologies focusing on the redundancy achievement within the network and at the end nodes of a station bus ring architecture, based on IEC 62439-3.
- Authors: Kumar, Shantanu , Das, Narottam , Islam, Syed
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: 25th Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2015; Wollongong, Australia; 27th-30th September 2015 p. 1-5
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: High speed communication is critical in a digital substation from protection, control and automation perspectives. Although International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC) 61850 standard has proven to be a reliable guide for the substation automation and communication systems, yet it has few shortcomings in offering redundancies in the protection architecture, which has been addressed better in IEC 62439-3 standard encompassing Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) and High-Availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR). Due to single port failure, data losses and interoperability issues related to multi-vendor equipment, IEC working committee had to look beyond IEC 61850 standard. The enhanced features in a Doubly Attached Node components based on IEC 62439-3 provides redundancy in protection having two active frames circulating data packets in the ring. These frames send out copies in the ring and should one of the frame is lost, the other copy manages to reach the destination node via an alternate path, ensuring flawless data transfer at a significant faster speed using multi-vendor equipment and fault resilient circuits. The PRP and HSR topologies provides higher performance in a digitally protected substation and promise better future over the IEC 61850 standard due to its faster processing capabilities, increased availability and minimum delay in data packet transfer and wireless communication in the network. This paper exhibits the performance of PRP and HSR topologies focusing on the redundancy achievement within the network and at the end nodes of a station bus ring architecture, based on IEC 62439-3.
Looking beyond people, equipment and environment : Is a systems theory model of accident causation required to understand injuries and near misses during outdoor activities?
- Goode, Natassia, Salmon, Paul, Lenne, Michael, Finch, Caroline
- Authors: Goode, Natassia , Salmon, Paul , Lenne, Michael , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 6th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (Ahfe 2015) and the Affiliated Conferences, Ahfe 2015; Las Vegas, USA; 26th-30th July 2015; published in Procedia Manufacturing Vol. 3, p. 1125-1131
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1058737
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The National Incident Database (NID) provides a standardised, industry-wide, approach to incident reporting for the outdoor sector in New Zealand (NZ). The aim of this study was to determine whether the NID contributing factor categories (i. e. people, equipment and environment) are sufficient for classifying the data that has been collected on accident causation by the NID, or whether a systems theory framework is required. A sample of injury and near miss reports (n = 228) were extracted from the NID and analysed. All contributing factors identified were classified according to Rasmussen's (1997) Risk Management Framework (RRMF), which was adapted to describe the " led outdoor activity system". In total, 58 different contributing factor categories were identified across the 228 incidents. Factors were classified across all levels of the framework, which indicates that the NID categories are inadequate. The findings also demonstrate that RRMF is appropriate for classifying the contributing factors involved in less severe injuries and near misses that do not have in-depth investigations associated with them. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
- Authors: Goode, Natassia , Salmon, Paul , Lenne, Michael , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 6th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (Ahfe 2015) and the Affiliated Conferences, Ahfe 2015; Las Vegas, USA; 26th-30th July 2015; published in Procedia Manufacturing Vol. 3, p. 1125-1131
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1058737
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The National Incident Database (NID) provides a standardised, industry-wide, approach to incident reporting for the outdoor sector in New Zealand (NZ). The aim of this study was to determine whether the NID contributing factor categories (i. e. people, equipment and environment) are sufficient for classifying the data that has been collected on accident causation by the NID, or whether a systems theory framework is required. A sample of injury and near miss reports (n = 228) were extracted from the NID and analysed. All contributing factors identified were classified according to Rasmussen's (1997) Risk Management Framework (RRMF), which was adapted to describe the " led outdoor activity system". In total, 58 different contributing factor categories were identified across the 228 incidents. Factors were classified across all levels of the framework, which indicates that the NID categories are inadequate. The findings also demonstrate that RRMF is appropriate for classifying the contributing factors involved in less severe injuries and near misses that do not have in-depth investigations associated with them. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Stress associated with commencing university : A comparison of metropolitan and rural and regional students
- March, Evita, Van Doorn, George, Howell, Jacqui, Moore, Kathleen
- Authors: March, Evita , Van Doorn, George , Howell, Jacqui , Moore, Kathleen
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 7th Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium p. 27-38
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Most people find times of transition stressful, such as commencing a new job or moving house. In this study, our aim was to investigate stress reported by students as they commenced university. Specifically, we aimed to investigate whether stress levels and perceived social support levels differed among students (i.e., metropolitan and rural and regional) who moved house to commence university and those who did not. Results from 551 students (144 males) indicated that 88% of all students rated the level of stress associated with commencing university as being above the mid-point on a 5-pt Likert scale. The stress of commencing university was higher among rural and regional students who left home to study than it was among metropolitan students who shifted house. In addition, the stress associated with moving house significantly predicted both metropolitan and rural and regional students’ ratings on the stress of commencing university. There were no group differences in perceptions of available social support when commencing university. Results of this study, especially for rural and regional students, are discussed in terms of student welfare, and ways to ameliorate the potential stress and depression associated with commencing university and shifting house.
- Authors: March, Evita , Van Doorn, George , Howell, Jacqui , Moore, Kathleen
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 7th Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium p. 27-38
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Most people find times of transition stressful, such as commencing a new job or moving house. In this study, our aim was to investigate stress reported by students as they commenced university. Specifically, we aimed to investigate whether stress levels and perceived social support levels differed among students (i.e., metropolitan and rural and regional) who moved house to commence university and those who did not. Results from 551 students (144 males) indicated that 88% of all students rated the level of stress associated with commencing university as being above the mid-point on a 5-pt Likert scale. The stress of commencing university was higher among rural and regional students who left home to study than it was among metropolitan students who shifted house. In addition, the stress associated with moving house significantly predicted both metropolitan and rural and regional students’ ratings on the stress of commencing university. There were no group differences in perceptions of available social support when commencing university. Results of this study, especially for rural and regional students, are discussed in terms of student welfare, and ways to ameliorate the potential stress and depression associated with commencing university and shifting house.
The inclusion of women in Nepalese forestry governance : Perspectives from feminist institutionalism
- Wagle, Radha, Pillay, Soma, Wright, Wendy
- Authors: Wagle, Radha , Pillay, Soma , Wright, Wendy
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Managing for Peak Performance, 29th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference (ANZAM 2015); Queenstown, New Zealand; 2nd-4th December 2015 p. 1-16
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: There is a large body of literature which acknowledges that women play vital roles in protecting and managing forest resources around the world (Agarwal, 2010b; Colfer, 2013; FAO, 2006, 2007; Mai, Mwangi, & Wan, 2011; Sewell Jr, 1992). Despite their contributions to forest management, women are still largely excluded from decision making roles in forestry organizations, especially in developing countries (FAO, 2007). As a result, most of the forestry related decisions are made by males, resulting in the marginalisation of women’s interests in forest management and minimizing the potential contributions of women (ABS, 2013; Christie & Giri, 2011; Lidestav, 2010). The history of forest management in Nepal typifies this gender bias in forestry governance (Christie & Giri, 2011; Giri & Faculty, 2008). While men are actively involved in decision making processes within formal environmental organizations and institutions, women are more likely to be involved at informal and grass root levels, including as an unpaid labour force (Agarwal, 2010b). Before the introduction of community based forestry programs, the Nepalese Ministry of Forests and its subsidiaries (referred to here as the forest bureaucracy) was the major organization responsible for governing the forestry sector. After the introduction and advancement of community based forest management programs, and the entry of civil society, donor and other private sector organizations, the scope and nature of forestry governance has been extended in Nepal. Although, this shift in paradigm opened space for the entry of women into different forestry institutions, the under representation of women in forest bureaucracy (still a major part of forestry governance) still continues. Nepalese rural women have low literacy rates and little involvement in public spheres. As a result there is limited access, for women working at the grassroots level, to national level policy making, planning and implementation. It is usually assumed that professional women bring women’s issues and interests into forestry policy and programmes on behalf of grassroots level women. This representation is not always effective (Giri and Faculty, 2008, Agarwal, 2010b). Government forestry institutions represent the country in participating in different national and international forestry agendas including climate change. If ‘grassroots’ women’s agendas are excluded from decision making processes in regard to environment related agendas, the solutions proposed for environmental problems may be ineffective or only partially effective (WOCAN, 2012). This paper examines the existing legislative measures and institutional practices that facilitate or constrain the role of women in Nepalese forestry institutions. This study also investigates how the gendered institutional norms and values associated with forest-governing institutions, such as forest bureaucracies, shape the nature and extent of women’s involvement in decision making processes in the Nepalese forest bureaucracy. We use Feminist Institutionalism (FI) to examine the effect of the gendered nature of forestry institutions, policies and practices that shape the role of women in forest bureaucracy. We extend New Institutionalism (NI) by incorporating feminist perspectives to forestry governance. In exploring why the gender mainstreaming of legislative measures and practices has not been wholly effective, it is important to examine the informal norms and values within an institution. These act to shape both the behaviour of the individual and political outcomes. Since forestry is highly gendered sector based on different social norms and values, NI is considered a good approach to study those institutions. New Institutionalism is a cutting theme which crosses various disciplines, and holds the interest of historians, sociologists, economists, political scientists and social theorists (Goodin, 1996). New Institutionalism was constructed as a progressive version of older, descriptive approaches to institutionalism in order to understand the role of formal and informal rules which affect the political behaviour of individuals (Gherardi, 1996). This paper examines opportunities and challenges involved in: a) promoting women’s participation in forest governance; and b) establishing an influential role for women in forestry governance. To date, researchers using the approach of institutionalism have not adequately considered the gender perspective, especially within the context of developing countries (Tripp, 2007). This study will therefore extend NI further through theoretical and practical insights, relating gendered issues to NI and particularly its sub-branch, FI.
The inclusion of women in Nepalese forestry governance : Perspectives from feminist institutionalism
- Authors: Wagle, Radha , Pillay, Soma , Wright, Wendy
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Managing for Peak Performance, 29th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference (ANZAM 2015); Queenstown, New Zealand; 2nd-4th December 2015 p. 1-16
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: There is a large body of literature which acknowledges that women play vital roles in protecting and managing forest resources around the world (Agarwal, 2010b; Colfer, 2013; FAO, 2006, 2007; Mai, Mwangi, & Wan, 2011; Sewell Jr, 1992). Despite their contributions to forest management, women are still largely excluded from decision making roles in forestry organizations, especially in developing countries (FAO, 2007). As a result, most of the forestry related decisions are made by males, resulting in the marginalisation of women’s interests in forest management and minimizing the potential contributions of women (ABS, 2013; Christie & Giri, 2011; Lidestav, 2010). The history of forest management in Nepal typifies this gender bias in forestry governance (Christie & Giri, 2011; Giri & Faculty, 2008). While men are actively involved in decision making processes within formal environmental organizations and institutions, women are more likely to be involved at informal and grass root levels, including as an unpaid labour force (Agarwal, 2010b). Before the introduction of community based forestry programs, the Nepalese Ministry of Forests and its subsidiaries (referred to here as the forest bureaucracy) was the major organization responsible for governing the forestry sector. After the introduction and advancement of community based forest management programs, and the entry of civil society, donor and other private sector organizations, the scope and nature of forestry governance has been extended in Nepal. Although, this shift in paradigm opened space for the entry of women into different forestry institutions, the under representation of women in forest bureaucracy (still a major part of forestry governance) still continues. Nepalese rural women have low literacy rates and little involvement in public spheres. As a result there is limited access, for women working at the grassroots level, to national level policy making, planning and implementation. It is usually assumed that professional women bring women’s issues and interests into forestry policy and programmes on behalf of grassroots level women. This representation is not always effective (Giri and Faculty, 2008, Agarwal, 2010b). Government forestry institutions represent the country in participating in different national and international forestry agendas including climate change. If ‘grassroots’ women’s agendas are excluded from decision making processes in regard to environment related agendas, the solutions proposed for environmental problems may be ineffective or only partially effective (WOCAN, 2012). This paper examines the existing legislative measures and institutional practices that facilitate or constrain the role of women in Nepalese forestry institutions. This study also investigates how the gendered institutional norms and values associated with forest-governing institutions, such as forest bureaucracies, shape the nature and extent of women’s involvement in decision making processes in the Nepalese forest bureaucracy. We use Feminist Institutionalism (FI) to examine the effect of the gendered nature of forestry institutions, policies and practices that shape the role of women in forest bureaucracy. We extend New Institutionalism (NI) by incorporating feminist perspectives to forestry governance. In exploring why the gender mainstreaming of legislative measures and practices has not been wholly effective, it is important to examine the informal norms and values within an institution. These act to shape both the behaviour of the individual and political outcomes. Since forestry is highly gendered sector based on different social norms and values, NI is considered a good approach to study those institutions. New Institutionalism is a cutting theme which crosses various disciplines, and holds the interest of historians, sociologists, economists, political scientists and social theorists (Goodin, 1996). New Institutionalism was constructed as a progressive version of older, descriptive approaches to institutionalism in order to understand the role of formal and informal rules which affect the political behaviour of individuals (Gherardi, 1996). This paper examines opportunities and challenges involved in: a) promoting women’s participation in forest governance; and b) establishing an influential role for women in forestry governance. To date, researchers using the approach of institutionalism have not adequately considered the gender perspective, especially within the context of developing countries (Tripp, 2007). This study will therefore extend NI further through theoretical and practical insights, relating gendered issues to NI and particularly its sub-branch, FI.
Use of Scenari-Aid to aid maintenance of stuttering therapy outcomes
- Swift, Michelle, Meredith, Grant, McCuloch, Julia, Turville, Christopher
- Authors: Swift, Michelle , Meredith, Grant , McCuloch, Julia , Turville, Christopher
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 10th Oxford Dysfluency Conference, ODC 2014, , Oxford, United kingdom, 17 - 20 July, 2014 In Procedia -Social and Behavioural Sciences Vol. 193, p. 253-260
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- Description: Scenari-Aid is a free online tool providing real-world simulation activities. This study investigated if using Scenari-Aid improves maintenance of stuttering therapy outcomes. An ABAB single subject design (A: pre-access and withdrawal; B: Scenari-Aid access) was used. Post-treatment gains in communication attitude and social participation were maintained 6-months post-treatment. Some improvements in weekly measures were present from A1 to B1 but there were no changesfrom B1 to A2 or A2 to B2. The participant reported using Scenari-Aid to aid initial desensitisation and then only occasionally. Further research is necessary to clarify the role of Scenari-Aid in the maintenance of treatment gains.
- Authors: Swift, Michelle , Meredith, Grant , McCuloch, Julia , Turville, Christopher
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 10th Oxford Dysfluency Conference, ODC 2014, , Oxford, United kingdom, 17 - 20 July, 2014 In Procedia -Social and Behavioural Sciences Vol. 193, p. 253-260
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Scenari-Aid is a free online tool providing real-world simulation activities. This study investigated if using Scenari-Aid improves maintenance of stuttering therapy outcomes. An ABAB single subject design (A: pre-access and withdrawal; B: Scenari-Aid access) was used. Post-treatment gains in communication attitude and social participation were maintained 6-months post-treatment. Some improvements in weekly measures were present from A1 to B1 but there were no changesfrom B1 to A2 or A2 to B2. The participant reported using Scenari-Aid to aid initial desensitisation and then only occasionally. Further research is necessary to clarify the role of Scenari-Aid in the maintenance of treatment gains.
A novel video coding scheme using a scene adaptive non-parametric background model
- Chakraborty, Subrata, Paul, Manoranjan, Murshed, Manzur, Ali, Mortuza
- Authors: Chakraborty, Subrata , Paul, Manoranjan , Murshed, Manzur , Ali, Mortuza
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 16th IEEE International Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing, MMSP 2014 p. 1-6
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130103670
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- Description: Video coding techniques utilising background frames, provide better rate distortion performance by exploiting coding efficiency in uncovered background areas compared to the latest video coding standard. Parametric approaches such as the mixture of Gaussian (MoG) based background modeling has been widely used however they require prior knowledge about the test videos for parameter estimation. Recently introduced non-parametric (NP) based background modeling techniques successfully improved video coding performance through a HEVC integrated coding scheme. The inherent nature of the NP technique naturally exhibits superior performance in dynamic background scenarios compared to the MoG based technique without a priori knowledge of video data distribution. Although NP based coding schemes showed promising coding performances, they suffer from a number of key challenges - (a) determination of the optimal subset of training frames for generating a suitable background that can be used as a reference frame during coding, (b) incorporating dynamic changes in the background effectively after the initial background frame is generated, (c) managing frequent scene change leading to performance degradation, and (d) optimizing coding quality ratio between an I-frame and other frames under bit rate constraints. In this study we develop a new scene adaptive coding scheme using the NP based technique, capable of solving the current challenges by incorporating a new continuously updating background generation process. Extensive experimental results are also provided to validate the effectiveness of the new scheme.
- Authors: Chakraborty, Subrata , Paul, Manoranjan , Murshed, Manzur , Ali, Mortuza
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 16th IEEE International Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing, MMSP 2014 p. 1-6
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130103670
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Video coding techniques utilising background frames, provide better rate distortion performance by exploiting coding efficiency in uncovered background areas compared to the latest video coding standard. Parametric approaches such as the mixture of Gaussian (MoG) based background modeling has been widely used however they require prior knowledge about the test videos for parameter estimation. Recently introduced non-parametric (NP) based background modeling techniques successfully improved video coding performance through a HEVC integrated coding scheme. The inherent nature of the NP technique naturally exhibits superior performance in dynamic background scenarios compared to the MoG based technique without a priori knowledge of video data distribution. Although NP based coding schemes showed promising coding performances, they suffer from a number of key challenges - (a) determination of the optimal subset of training frames for generating a suitable background that can be used as a reference frame during coding, (b) incorporating dynamic changes in the background effectively after the initial background frame is generated, (c) managing frequent scene change leading to performance degradation, and (d) optimizing coding quality ratio between an I-frame and other frames under bit rate constraints. In this study we develop a new scene adaptive coding scheme using the NP based technique, capable of solving the current challenges by incorporating a new continuously updating background generation process. Extensive experimental results are also provided to validate the effectiveness of the new scheme.
A quadtree-based scaled boundary finite element method for crack propagation modelling
- Ooi, Ean Tat, Man, Hou, Natarajan, Sundararajan, Song, Chongmin, Tin-Loi, Francis
- Authors: Ooi, Ean Tat , Man, Hou , Natarajan, Sundararajan , Song, Chongmin , Tin-Loi, Francis
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 23rd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, Byron Bay, NSW, 9-12 December, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, p. 813-818
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- Reviewed:
- Description: The quadtree is a hierarchical-type data structure where each parent is recursively divided into four children. This structure makes it particularly efficient for adaptive mesh refinement in regions with localised gradients. Compared with unstructured triangles, mesh generation is more efficient using quadtree decompositions. The finite number of patterns in the quadtree decomposition makes it efficient for data storage and retrieval. Motivated by these advantages, a crack propagation modelling approach using a quadtree-based scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) is developed. Starting from the formulation of an arbitrary n-sided polygon element, each quadrant in the quadtree mesh is treated as a polygon within the framework of the SBFEM. Special techniques to treat the hanging nodes are not necessary. Moreover, the SBFEM enables accurate calculation of the stress intensity factors directly from its solutions without local mesh refinement or asymptotic enrichment functions. When a crack propagates, it is only necessary to split each quadrant cut by the crack into two. These quadrants are polygons that can be directly modelled by the SBFEM. Changes to the mesh are minimal. The efficiency of this approach is demonstrated using numerical benchmarks.
- Authors: Ooi, Ean Tat , Man, Hou , Natarajan, Sundararajan , Song, Chongmin , Tin-Loi, Francis
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 23rd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, Byron Bay, NSW, 9-12 December, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, p. 813-818
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The quadtree is a hierarchical-type data structure where each parent is recursively divided into four children. This structure makes it particularly efficient for adaptive mesh refinement in regions with localised gradients. Compared with unstructured triangles, mesh generation is more efficient using quadtree decompositions. The finite number of patterns in the quadtree decomposition makes it efficient for data storage and retrieval. Motivated by these advantages, a crack propagation modelling approach using a quadtree-based scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) is developed. Starting from the formulation of an arbitrary n-sided polygon element, each quadrant in the quadtree mesh is treated as a polygon within the framework of the SBFEM. Special techniques to treat the hanging nodes are not necessary. Moreover, the SBFEM enables accurate calculation of the stress intensity factors directly from its solutions without local mesh refinement or asymptotic enrichment functions. When a crack propagates, it is only necessary to split each quadrant cut by the crack into two. These quadrants are polygons that can be directly modelled by the SBFEM. Changes to the mesh are minimal. The efficiency of this approach is demonstrated using numerical benchmarks.
A technique for parallel share-frequent sensor pattern mining from wireless sensor networks
- Rashid, Md. Mamunur, Gondal, Iqbal, Kamruzzaman, Joarder
- Authors: Rashid, Md. Mamunur , Gondal, Iqbal , Kamruzzaman, Joarder
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 14th Annual International Conference on Computational Science, ICCS 2014; Cairns, Australia; 10th-12th June 2014; published in Procedia Computer Science p. 124-133
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: WSNs generate huge amount of data in the form of streams and mining useful knowledge from these streams is a challenging task. Existing works generate sensor association rules using occurrence frequency of patterns with binary frequency (either absent or present) or support of a pattern as a criterion. However, considering the binary frequency or support of a pattern may not be a sufficient indicator for finding meaningful patterns from WSN data because it only reflects the number of epochs in the sensor data which contain that pattern. The share measure of sensorsets could discover useful knowledge about numerical values associated with sensor in a sensor database. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new type of behavioral pattern called share-frequent sensor patterns by considering the non-binary frequency values of sensors in epochs. To discover share-frequent sensor patterns from sensor dataset, we propose a novel parallel technique. In this technique, we develop a novel tree structure, called parallel share-frequent sensor pattern tree (PShrFSP-tree) that is constructed at each local node independently, by capturing the database contents to generate the candidate patterns using a pattern growth technique with a single scan and then merges the locally generated candidate patterns at the final stage to generate global share-frequent sensor patterns. Comprehensive experimental results show that our proposed model is very efficient for mining share-frequent patterns from WSN data in terms of time and scalability.
- Authors: Rashid, Md. Mamunur , Gondal, Iqbal , Kamruzzaman, Joarder
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 14th Annual International Conference on Computational Science, ICCS 2014; Cairns, Australia; 10th-12th June 2014; published in Procedia Computer Science p. 124-133
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: WSNs generate huge amount of data in the form of streams and mining useful knowledge from these streams is a challenging task. Existing works generate sensor association rules using occurrence frequency of patterns with binary frequency (either absent or present) or support of a pattern as a criterion. However, considering the binary frequency or support of a pattern may not be a sufficient indicator for finding meaningful patterns from WSN data because it only reflects the number of epochs in the sensor data which contain that pattern. The share measure of sensorsets could discover useful knowledge about numerical values associated with sensor in a sensor database. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new type of behavioral pattern called share-frequent sensor patterns by considering the non-binary frequency values of sensors in epochs. To discover share-frequent sensor patterns from sensor dataset, we propose a novel parallel technique. In this technique, we develop a novel tree structure, called parallel share-frequent sensor pattern tree (PShrFSP-tree) that is constructed at each local node independently, by capturing the database contents to generate the candidate patterns using a pattern growth technique with a single scan and then merges the locally generated candidate patterns at the final stage to generate global share-frequent sensor patterns. Comprehensive experimental results show that our proposed model is very efficient for mining share-frequent patterns from WSN data in terms of time and scalability.
Aerodynamic drag measurements of FIFA-approved footballs
- Alam, Firoz, Chowdhury, Harun, George, Steven, Mustary, Israt, Zimmer, Gary
- Authors: Alam, Firoz , Chowdhury, Harun , George, Steven , Mustary, Israt , Zimmer, Gary
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 2014 Conference of the International Sports Engineering Association p. 703-708
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Increasing technological advancements and demand for performance compel the ball manufacturers to introduce new designs. Construction of spherical footballs has been significantly changed over the years since 1970 from 32-panel leather stitched ball to 8-panel synthetic thermally bonded modern football. Despite being most popular game in the world, no data is available on aerodynamic properties of recently FIFA approved balls such as Adidas Cafusa (thermally bonded 32-panel), Nike Maxim (32- panel stitched), Umbro Neo (14-panel stitched, and Mitre Ultimax (26-panel stitched) footballs. Hence, the primary objective of this study was to determine aerodynamic drag of these balls and compare the findings with other balls introduced in late 2000. The aerodynamic forces were measured experimentally for a range of wind speeds in wind tunnel environment and their nondimensional coefficients were determined and compared. Additionally, a field test was also carried out to understand the perception of professional footballers.
- Authors: Alam, Firoz , Chowdhury, Harun , George, Steven , Mustary, Israt , Zimmer, Gary
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 2014 Conference of the International Sports Engineering Association p. 703-708
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Increasing technological advancements and demand for performance compel the ball manufacturers to introduce new designs. Construction of spherical footballs has been significantly changed over the years since 1970 from 32-panel leather stitched ball to 8-panel synthetic thermally bonded modern football. Despite being most popular game in the world, no data is available on aerodynamic properties of recently FIFA approved balls such as Adidas Cafusa (thermally bonded 32-panel), Nike Maxim (32- panel stitched), Umbro Neo (14-panel stitched, and Mitre Ultimax (26-panel stitched) footballs. Hence, the primary objective of this study was to determine aerodynamic drag of these balls and compare the findings with other balls introduced in late 2000. The aerodynamic forces were measured experimentally for a range of wind speeds in wind tunnel environment and their nondimensional coefficients were determined and compared. Additionally, a field test was also carried out to understand the perception of professional footballers.
Assessing change in floodplain wetland condition in the Murray Darling Basin
- Authors: Gell, Peter , Reid, Michael
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Symposium on Australia-China Wetland Network Research Partnership; Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS) Nanjing, China; 23rd-28th December 2014 p. 27-35
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Lowland Australian rivers and their floodplains have been affected by the progressive introduction of agriculture, flow regulation and invasive exotic species for more than a century. In the context of this complex suite of stressors, our capacity to understand and mitigate the causes of ecosystem change is limited by the lack of historical records of the condition of ecosystems over the past 200 to 300 years. However, records of change over this critical time period can be established through analysis of sedimentary records. Such records can be used to provide benchmarks of the range of natural conditions prior to European settlement and, by providing a long time series of conditions, enhanced capacity to detect trends and trajectories of change. Over the past two decades, more than 50 sediment records from billabongs, lagoons and waterholes throughout the Murray-Darling Basin have been subject to palaeoecological analysis. The picture that emerges from these studies is of ecosystems that have undergone substantial ecological change in response to human activities; however, there are also intriguing differences in the timing and nature of change experienced by aquatic ecosystems in different parts of the Murray-Darling Basin. These patterns of ecosystem response appear to reflect underlying differences in the resilience of these ecosystems in relation to different anthropogenic stressors, which, in turn, may result in contrasting hydrologic, geomorphologic and climatic contexts. This paper presents an attempt to systematically compile and summarise the palaeoecological evidence of change in the aquatic ecosystems of the Murray-Darling Basin and, in so doing, shed light on what the principal drivers of change are in floodplain wetlands across the basin, and hence provide guidance as to how these systems can be best preserved and restored.
- Authors: Gell, Peter , Reid, Michael
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Symposium on Australia-China Wetland Network Research Partnership; Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS) Nanjing, China; 23rd-28th December 2014 p. 27-35
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Lowland Australian rivers and their floodplains have been affected by the progressive introduction of agriculture, flow regulation and invasive exotic species for more than a century. In the context of this complex suite of stressors, our capacity to understand and mitigate the causes of ecosystem change is limited by the lack of historical records of the condition of ecosystems over the past 200 to 300 years. However, records of change over this critical time period can be established through analysis of sedimentary records. Such records can be used to provide benchmarks of the range of natural conditions prior to European settlement and, by providing a long time series of conditions, enhanced capacity to detect trends and trajectories of change. Over the past two decades, more than 50 sediment records from billabongs, lagoons and waterholes throughout the Murray-Darling Basin have been subject to palaeoecological analysis. The picture that emerges from these studies is of ecosystems that have undergone substantial ecological change in response to human activities; however, there are also intriguing differences in the timing and nature of change experienced by aquatic ecosystems in different parts of the Murray-Darling Basin. These patterns of ecosystem response appear to reflect underlying differences in the resilience of these ecosystems in relation to different anthropogenic stressors, which, in turn, may result in contrasting hydrologic, geomorphologic and climatic contexts. This paper presents an attempt to systematically compile and summarise the palaeoecological evidence of change in the aquatic ecosystems of the Murray-Darling Basin and, in so doing, shed light on what the principal drivers of change are in floodplain wetlands across the basin, and hence provide guidance as to how these systems can be best preserved and restored.
Assessment FOR learning in secondary maths, without take-home marking workshop
- Authors: Ernst, Heather
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Maths Rocks MAV 51st Annual Conference 2014
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Authors: Ernst, Heather
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Maths Rocks MAV 51st Annual Conference 2014
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
Automated analysis of performance and energy consumption for cloud applications
- Chen, Feifei, Grundy, John, Schneider, Jean-Guy, Yang, Yun, He, Qiang
- Authors: Chen, Feifei , Grundy, John , Schneider, Jean-Guy , Yang, Yun , He, Qiang
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Proceedings of the 5th ACM/SPEC international conference on Performance engineering p. 39-50
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: In cloud environments, IT solutions are delivered to users via shared infrastructure. One consequence of this model is that large cloud data centres consume large amounts of energy and produce significant carbon footprints. A key objective of cloud providers is thus to develop resource provisioning and management solutions at minimum energy consumption while still guaranteeing Service Level Agreements (SLAs). However, a thorough understanding of both system performance and energy consumption patterns in complex cloud systems is imperative to achieve a balance of energy efficiency and acceptable performance. In this paper, we present StressCloud, a performance and energy consumption analysis tool for cloud systems. StressCloud can automatically generate load tests and profile system performance and energy consumption data. Using StressCloud, we have conducted extensive experiments to profile and analyse system performance and energy consumption with different types and mixes of runtime tasks. We collected fine-grained energy consumption and performance data with different resource allocation strategies, system configurations and workloads. The experimental results show the correlation coefficients of energy consumption, system resource allocation strategies and workload, as well as the performance of the cloud applications. Our results can be used to guide the design and deployment of cloud applications to balance energy and performance requirements.
- Authors: Chen, Feifei , Grundy, John , Schneider, Jean-Guy , Yang, Yun , He, Qiang
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Proceedings of the 5th ACM/SPEC international conference on Performance engineering p. 39-50
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: In cloud environments, IT solutions are delivered to users via shared infrastructure. One consequence of this model is that large cloud data centres consume large amounts of energy and produce significant carbon footprints. A key objective of cloud providers is thus to develop resource provisioning and management solutions at minimum energy consumption while still guaranteeing Service Level Agreements (SLAs). However, a thorough understanding of both system performance and energy consumption patterns in complex cloud systems is imperative to achieve a balance of energy efficiency and acceptable performance. In this paper, we present StressCloud, a performance and energy consumption analysis tool for cloud systems. StressCloud can automatically generate load tests and profile system performance and energy consumption data. Using StressCloud, we have conducted extensive experiments to profile and analyse system performance and energy consumption with different types and mixes of runtime tasks. We collected fine-grained energy consumption and performance data with different resource allocation strategies, system configurations and workloads. The experimental results show the correlation coefficients of energy consumption, system resource allocation strategies and workload, as well as the performance of the cloud applications. Our results can be used to guide the design and deployment of cloud applications to balance energy and performance requirements.