Digital Commons Network^™

Signature-Based Document Retrieval, A. Chalechale, G. Naghdy, Alfred Mertins

Faculty of Informatics - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents a new approach for document image decomposition and retrieval based on connected component analysis and geometric properties of the labeled regions. The database contains document images with Arabic/Persian text combined with English text, headlines, ruling lines, trademark and signature. In particular, Arabic/Persian signature extraction is investigated using special characteristics of the signature that is fairly different from English signatures. A set of efficient, invariant and compact features is extracted for validation purposes using angular-radial partitioning of the signature region. Experimental results show the robustness of the proposed method.

Sketch-Based Image Retrieval Using Angular Partitioning, A. Chalechale, G. Naghdy, Alfred Mertins

Faculty of Informatics - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents a novel approach for sketch-based image retrieval based on low-level features. The approach enables measuring the similarity between a full color image and a simple black and white sketched query and needs no cost intensive image segmentation. The proposed method can cope with images containing several complex objects in an inhomogeneous background. Abstract images are obtained using strong edges of the model image and thinned outline of the sketched image. Angular-spatial distribution of pixels in the abstract images is then employed to extract new compact and effective features using Fourier transform. The extracted features are scale and …

Monitoring Of Wheel Dressing Operations For Precision Grinding, Li Xue, Fazel Naghdy, C. Cook

Faculty of Informatics - Papers (Archive)

In grinding operation, on-line process monitoring of dressing will ensure the quality of the grinding wheel and will achieve reproducible surface finish. The results of a study conducted to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of Acoustic Emission (AE) sensors in online monitoring of dressing is reported. Two aspects of the process are addressed. The first is the detection of undesired wheel conditions, such as an out-of-round wheel and wheel contour errors. The other is improving the surface finish of the ground workpiece by monitoring the dressing parameters. Experimental results indicate that AE signal can be effectively used to identify the …

Combinatorial Constructions Of 3- And 4-Secure Codes, Y. Wang, Jennifer Seberry, Beata J. Wysocki, Tadeusz A. Wysocki, Willy Susilo, Tianbing Xia, Y. Zhao, Le Chung Tran

Faculty of Informatics - Papers (Archive)

In this paper, 3- and 4-secure codes are constructed from combinatorial designs. Both constant weight and non-constant weight codes are shown.

Online Introduction To Information Literacy: Ticking That Box Or Embedding That Attribute??, Robbie Collins, A. Hill

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The University of Wollongong introduced an online compulsory undergraduate Information Literacy Introductory Program (ILIP) in 1999. Extensions and adjustments make ILIP 2003 a requirement for postgraduate coursework students as well as undergraduate students. ILIP is also highly recommended to incoming research students. Such policy initiatives for a compulsory online learning tool raise interesting questions about the interaction of University policy and learning and teaching policy, about the implementation of such policy and about the effectiveness of the tool both alone and as part of a process. This paper suggests that the compulsory ruling has effected the tool’s development and implementation. …

Interpretation And Orientalism: Outing Japan's Sexual Minorities To The English-Speaking World, Mark J. Mclelland

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

The growing visibility of Japanese gay men and lesbians who articulate their identities in a manner similar to activists in the west has been heightened by two recent English books Queer Japan and Coming Out in Japan. While acknowledging the need to listen to a plurality of voices from Japan, this essay critiques the manner in which the coming-out narratives in these books have been framed by their western translators and editors. In the introductions to both books, Japan is (once again) pictured as a feudal and repressive society. In their efforts to let the homosexual subaltern speak, the translators …

New Wine In Old Bottles: A Case Study Of Innovation Territories In 'New World' Wine Production, D. K. Aylward, T. Turpin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This article applies the concept of ‘innovation territories’ to explain the recent export success of the Australian Wine Industry. Recent data collected from four ‘New World’ wine producing countries are contrasted in order to investigate ‘innovation territories’ that in the Australian context transcend geographic and policy boundaries. The international comparison shows that these territories can be mapped and their interaction compared. A major finding from the study is that one of the major contributors to Australia’s success in gaining comparative advantage in this industry is the way local and national investments in R&D have transcended geographic and policy boundaries. Coordination …

Hermite Neural Network Correlation And Application, M. R. Mackenzie, K. Tieu

Faculty of Engineering - Papers (Archive)

A method for obtaining the correlation of two Hermite neural networks is developed. The method is based on the fact that a Hermite function is unchanged by the Fourier transform, which allows an expression for the correlation to be obtained directly from the network weights without the need for the Fourier transform. Comparative results with other neural network correlation methods are presented on simulated radar signals.

Forensic Computing, X. Li, Jennifer Seberry

Faculty of Informatics - Papers (Archive)

Technology is rapidly changing the speed and manner in which people interact with each other and with the world. As technology helps criminals to operate more easily and quickly across borders, so law enforcement capability must continuously improve to keep one step ahead. Computer forensics has become a specialized and accepted investigative technique with its own tools and legal precedents that validate the discipline. Specially designed forensic software is also widely used during the whole process of computer forensic investigation. This article introduces computer forensic and computer evidence, introduces and compares some forensic software, and summarizes its likely future development.

Corporate Governance, The Environment And The Internet, Jane Andrew

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Corporate use of the internet for a variety of business purposes is now commonplace. Owning and occupying internet space is almost essential for publicly traded companies, either as a place to do business or as a place to exchange information about business. It has also been documented that the internet provides a global meeting ground for those interested in social and environmental change. The two ideas are now combining, leading to a situation in which corporations are using their web pages to provide environmental information about their activities as part of their corporate governance strategy. This paper performs an initial …

A Developmental Approach To Teaching Internet Marketing, Rohan Miller, Ray Stace, Gwyneth Howell

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Just as buying and selling over the Internet represents a new frontier for commerce, teaching students how to best use the Internet in marketing presents educators with new challenges and new opportunities. Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of Internet commerce that must be confronted by educators is the general absence of inter-personal communication in customer exchanges. As most Internet marketing takes place using a self-service technology (SST) that enables customers to consume products independent of direct service employee involvement (Meuter, Ostrom, Roundtree and Bitner 2000), it seems inappropriate to teach marketing in an Internet environment by relying on traditional lecture-tutorial …

"Trust Me, I'M A Journalist": Ethics And Journalism Education, I. Richards

Asia Pacific Media Educator

It is no secret that journalism today is in a state of crisis, and that popular perceptions of the ethical standards of the media in general and journalists in particular are an important contributor to this situation. In any serious consideration of contemporary journalism, journalism ethics is centre stage and, for this reason, ethics is also central to journalism education. Yet, while there has been extensive debate and reflection with regard to journalism education generally, there has been surprisingly little serious examination of what journalism students are taught about ethics. This paper argues that a fundamental re-examination of the whole …

Games We Play On Singapore Telly, T. Lim

Asia Pacific Media Educator

In the mid 1990s, Singapore opened its doors to the international broadcasting community. The past four years in particular have seen steady policy-driven liberalisation of its print, television and multimedia industries. This has jumpstarted the local TV production industry and stimulated terrestrial network competition. While the two terrestrial TV networks compete voraciously for a small, fragmented, multilingual and increasingly sophisticated domestic TV audience, the localisation of international TV game show formats like Millionaire and The Weakest Link appear as attractive solutions to consolidate and build the audience base. TV gameshow formats have become one of the ‘formatting’ strategies that this …

New Technologies And Journalism Practice In Nigeria And Ghana, L. Obijiofor

Asia Pacific Media Educator

New technologies are generally perceived as the basic tool for survival in modern society. But the extent of their availability and use, as well as their impact on newspaper journalism practice in West Africa is unknown. This paper presents the results of a study that investigated the impact of new technologies on newspaper journalism practice in two West African countries — Nigeria and Ghana. The study, conducted in five newspapers in the two countries, found that, although a majority of the journalists believed the new technologies have improved the quality of their newspapers, fewer than half of the journalists were …

Mapping The Media: 'Learner-Centred' Orientation To Graduate Employability, C. Spurgeon, P. O'Donnell

Asia Pacific Media Educator

This paper reports on the introduction of media mapping in media education programs in three Australian universities. ‘Media mapping’ aims to integrate students’ theoretical and ‘real world’ knowledge of the media. It involves investigating media organisations, analysing their operations, developing data base profiles and then organising and creating the final representation of the media environment. The purpose and particular applications of media maps are discussed with reference to debates about the role of new media in media education, developments in Australian higher education policy, trends in teaching and learning, and the institutional contexts of two media maps described here. The …

Book Review: Investor Relations (Book 1 Of From Main Street To Cyber Street: Changes In The Practice Of Communication Series), K. Fitch

Asia Pacific Media Educator

Nair, Basskaran (2003)
Investor Relations (Book 1 of From Main Street to Cyber Street: Changes in the Practice of Communication series)
Eastern Universities Press, Singapore,
106pp, ISBN 981 210 224 8

Reviewed by Kate Fitch

In theory, the Internet could help improve communication between corporations and investors and offer better opportunities for transparent and open governance. In practice, however, the case for the Internet enabling comprehensive disclosure and an ongoing dialogue with stakeholders is not so clear. The unprecedented levels of information now available on the Internet make it difficult for an organisation to ‘manage’ information about itself, and its …

Media Role In A K-Economy: Transforming Media Education In Malaysia, Z. Nain

Asia Pacific Media Educator

Since the introduction of television in Malaysia in 1963, the Malaysian media have been deemed by successive governments as a tool to help promote national development plans and strategies. Following the best traditions of the modernization school, ‘development’ was – and still is – measured by economic growth indicators such as gross national product figures and improved transportation system, education and healthcare, among others. One of the major impediments to such development, as often argued, is the ‘counter-productive’ attitude of citizens. Hence, the people need to be informed and persuaded of the need for development as prescribed by the government …

Living On The Edge-Plants And Global Change In Continental And Maritime Antarctica, Sharon A. Robinson, J. Wasley, A. K. Tobin

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems experience some of the most extreme growth conditions on Earth and are characterised by extreme aridity and sub-zero temperatures. Antarctic vegetation is therefore at the physiological limits of survival and, as a consequence, even slight changes to growth conditions are likely to have a large impact, rendering Antarctic terrestrial communities sensitive to climate change. Climate change is predicted to affect the high latitude regions first and most severely. In recent decades, the Antarctic has undergone significant environmental change, including the largest increases in ultraviolet B (UV-B; 290-320nm) radiation levels in the world and, in the maritime region …

Issues In Strategy Classifications In Language Learning: A Framework For Kanji Learning Strategy Research, G. Haththotuwa Gamage

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

A significant amount of research has contributed to our understanding of language learning strategies in the past decade. Orthography-specific characteristics of kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese language) have seen the development of a growing interest in kanji learning strategy research. This paper examines recent trends in language learning strategies in general and identifies unresolved issues related to research in kanji learning strategies. A conceptual framework for further research is discussed in order to assist approaches to kanji learning strategies and research conducted within the area.

Editorial: In This Issue, Eric Loo

Asia Pacific Media Educator

This issue invites media academics to reflect on the traditional conception of ethical media practice, the artificial dichotomy between media studies and journalism, and the trend among university administrators to dilute the significance of professional journalism education, and in some cases to marry journalism with public relations, advertising and communication studies.

Creative Restructuring Of Singapore Media: Research Lacunas, P. Leo

Asia Pacific Media Educator

In February 2002, the Singapore Government initiated ‘Remaking Singapore’ (The Prime Minister’s Office Press Release) as the nation-state faced its worst economic downturn since its Independence in 1965. Amidst this broad effort to fundamentally review Singapore’s strategies for economic growth and survival as a nation, the media sector also underwent a series of restructuring exercises, which began in April 2000 with the introduction of competition between the two core local print and broadcast media players. The broader plan to develop Singapore into a “global media city” was drawn up in the ‘Media 21’ of the ‘Creative Industries Development Strategy’, released …

Reflections: Development Of Australian Journalism Education, L. S. Burns

Asia Pacific Media Educator

The global development of professional education for journalists, since the late nineteenth century, has been primarily driven by reaction to criticism of media practices from politicians and the media publics (Banning 1999 and others). The resulting emphasis on the content of pre-professional programs has tended to come at the expense of considering the ways in which students might also develop professional understanding. There has been long and vigorous debate about what prospective journalists should learn, and what they should not learn, but less attention has been paid to the way professional attitudes and efficacy are developed in students through learning …

Rethinking The Journalism Curriculum In Png, D. Rooney

Asia Pacific Media Educator

This paper reports on the changes Divine Word University in Madang, Papua New Guinea, is making to its journalism curriculum. It has taught journalism since 1979 mainly with an emphasis on journalism craft skills. This model has been replaced by an ideological model that identifies social justice and the need to provide a voice for the voiceless, while holding the powerful to account, as the central issues for journalists. This new mission is aspirational and much work still has to be done on the curriculum. This paper examines the new model and situates it in a number of contexts: the …

Career Potential For New Science Journalists, T. Coyle

Asia Pacific Media Educator

Despite public support for science reportage, science stories are rare in Australian media. The reasons for this are not clear but the net impact is that there are few opportunities for aspiring science journalists in a market that is dominated by a few high-profile individuals. Thus, budding science journalists would probably be best served by trying to create new opportunities and widening the market for science journalism, rather than competing for the few existing niche positions. This study investigates the potential career paths for new science journalists as well as the challenges facing science journalism in Australia.

Mediating And Mass Communicating Sept 11, T. Lee, C. Giles

Asia Pacific Media Educator

This commentary is the result of a research survey conducted with 70 Mass Communication undergraduate students enrolled in a unit simply entitled Mass Communication II at Murdoch University on September 11, 2002 (911). The survey was intended, firstly, to commemorate a possibly over-hyped first anniversary of the Sept.11 attack on New York. Secondly, it aims to find out if students would employ the critical tools of media analyses in thinking about a media event like 911. Students were asked to revisit their reactions following the collapse of the Twin Towers, to consider if the coverage was ‘media overkill’ and to …

How Different Is 'Different'? Australian Country Newspapers And Development Journalism, K. Bowd

Asia Pacific Media Educator

Australian country newspapers demonstrate a focus on their local community or communities which appears to be much stronger than that of their metropolitan counterparts. This focus is generally reflected in an emphasis on local news and the promotion of local concerns, individuals and achievements. The limited literature on country newspapers suggests this emphasis has contributed to country print journalism developing in directions significantly removed from those of contemporary urban journalism. This paper argues that while country newspaper journalism incorporates elements of conventional journalism, it has also evolved in ways which appear to have more in common with non-Western forms of …

Challenging The Business Paradigm In The Interests Of Media Freedom, M. Pearson

Asia Pacific Media Educator

They might be mortal enemies in day to day corporate warfare, but there is one single issue where media outlets stand united. The defence of media freedom. All it takes is the whiff of regulation in the air – an aside by a politician, or a committee’s recommendation for a limit on media powers – and we hear the screams from the leader pages.

Book Review: Hegemony Or Survival: America's Quest For Global Dominance, David Blackall

Asia Pacific Media Educator

Chomsky, Noam (2003)
Hegemony Or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance,
Allen & Unwin, Sydney. 278 pp. ISBN 1 74114 162 1

Reviewed by David Blackall

This book is most likely to polarize readers - those whose arguments are reinforced or those who see it as essentially conspiracy theory. If for some time you have agreed with Noam Chomsky’s journalism and his other books and essays, then you will most likely agree with the pitch on the back cover – “from the world’s foremost intellectual activist, an irrefutable analysis of America’s pursuit of total world domination and the catastrophic consequences …

Data-Driven Market Segmentation - A Structure-Based Conceptual Framework For Management Decision Support, Sara Dolnicar, Friedrich Leisch

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Market segmentation increasingly uses homogeneous groups of consumers determined on the basis of empirical market data as target segments (a posteriori-, data-driven-, post hoc segmentation) rather than splitting individuals according to single, typically socio-demographic or geographic, criteria (a priori-, commen sense segmentation). A vast amount of contributions has been made to improve methodology of identifying or constructing data-based market segments. However, real world data sets often do not contain clearly separated density clusters. Therefore all techniques used in data-based market segmentation can render multiple solutions of similar quality. So far no attempt has been made to construct a framework enabling …

Career Potential For New Science Journalists, Troy Coyle

Faculty of Creative Arts - Papers (Archive)

Despite public support for science reportage, science stories are rare in Australian media. The reasons for this are not clear but the net impact is that there are few opportunities for aspiring science journalists in a market that is dominated by a few high-profile individuals. Thus, budding science journalists would probably be best served by trying to create new opportunities and widening the market for science journalism, rather than competing for the few existing niche positions. This study investigates the potential career paths for new science journalists as well as the challenges facing science journalism in Australia.