Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Using Remotely-Sensed Fuel Connectivity Patterns As A Tool For Fire Danger Monitoring, Gabriele Caccamo, Laurie A. Chisholm, Ross A. Bradstock, Marjetta L. Puotinen

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Spatial connectivity of areas of dry fuels is considered a significant influence on the incidence of large fires. Precipitation patterns can dynamically affect fuel connectivity through controls on the distribution of dry fuels. Spatio-temporal monitoring of precipitation-driven variations in dry fuel connectivity patterns could therefore offer the potential to monitor fire danger. In this paper we present an innovative graph theoretic-based approach to monitor fire danger using remotely sensed patterns of dry fuel connectivity. We analysed the temporal evolution of dry fuel connectivity in south-eastern Australia during recent fire seasons. The analysis showed that rapid changes in the connectivity of …

Acoustic Emission Monitoring Of Split Formation During Charpy Impact Testing Of High Strength Steel, Andrii Kostryzhev, R B. Punch, Claire L. Davis, Martin Strangwood

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring has been used to detect split formation during room temperature low blow Charpy impact testing of high strength thick strip steels. The AE signal analysis identified separate signals originating from hammer impact, plastic deformation (verified using Charpy impact testing on mild steel with no splits) and split initiation/growth. The presence of splits was confirmed by sectioning and fractography, and the splits were brittle in nature. A possible correlation between the AE signal features and fracture mode is presented.

An Indoor Localisation And Motion Monitoring System To Determine Behavioural Activity In Dementia Afflicted Patients In Aged Care, Matthew D'Souza, Montserrat Ros, Mohanraj Karunanithi

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Dementia is highly prevalent among the older population. Most patients with dementia are admitted to an aged care facility due to wandering behaviour which tends to result in dangerous scenarios such as straying away from the facility and being seriously injured. Due to the decreasing availability of carers in aged care, there is a need to prioritise monitoring of patients that have a severe case of wondering. The challenge is to allow carers to monitor the status of such patients in terms of position localisation and motion behavioural status, in real-time. The long term behavioural analysis of such patients would …

Remote Real-Time Monitoring Of Subsurface Landfill Gas Migration, Cormac Fay, Aiden R. Doherty, Stephen T. Beirne, F Collins, C Foley, John Healy, Breda M. Kiernan, Hyowon Lee, Damien Maher, D Orpen, Thomas Phelan, Zhengwei Qiu, Kirk Zhang, Cathal Gurrin, Brian Corcoran, Noel E. O'Connor, A F Smeaton, D Diamond

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The cost of monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from landfill sites is of major concern for regulatory authorities. The current monitoring procedure is recognised as labour intensive, requiring agency inspectors to physically travel to perimeter borehole wells in rough terrain and manually measure gas concentration levels with expensive hand-held instrumentation. In this article we present a cost-effective and efficient system for remotely monitoring landfill subsurface migration of methane and carbon dioxide concentration levels. Based purely on an autonomous sensing architecture, the proposed sensing platform was capable of performing complex analytical measurements in situ and successfully communicating the data remotely to a …

The Camamu Basin Offshore Environmental Monitoring Through Remote Sensing, Rafael Cabral Carvalho, Augusto M. Netto, Carlos A. Lentini

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

In this paper, multispectral remote sensing data from MODIS-Aqua were used to caracterize the Camamu offshore basin and to monitor 6 production wells located in the Manati field, eastern Brazil, showing their great potential for environmental monitoring for the oil drilling and gas industries. Results were based on the interpretation of SST, Chlorophyll-a and K490 derived from the Aqua satellite passes on march 4th and july 12th, as well as, monthly time series for each of these geophysical parameters. SST values show an opposite behaviour when compared to Chlorophyll-a and K490, with the last two parameters changing one order of …

Strategies To Address Iodine Deficiency In Australia Require Ongoing Monitoring And Surveillance, Heather Yeatman, Karen E. Charlton

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

A Method For Monitoring Ink Homogeneity, Xinshi Luo, Siva Balakrishnan, Gerhard F. Swiegers

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

An important concern when developing new inks containing novel, bulk, solid-state additives is to ensure consistency during the printing process. In particular, the additives should not build up on the rollers, blankets or plates during printing. In this work we describe a method for detecting such events and quantitatively monitoring, in real time, the consistency of developmental inks during commercial printing processes. The technique employs a two-component mixture of emissive nanoparticles whose ratio becomes variable in a non-homogeneous environment. Even tiny variations in the ratio can be readily and dynamically detected in real time using a fibre-optic equipped fluorescence microspectrometer. …

Plasma Cholinesterase Characteristics In Native Australian Birds: Significance For Monitoring Avian Species For Pesticide Exposure, Karen J. Fildes, Judit K. Szabo, Lee Astheimer, Michael Hooper, William A. Buttemer

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides are applied throughout Australia to control agricultural pests. Blood plasma cholinesterase (ChE) activity is a sensitive indicator of exposure to organophosphorus insecticides in vertebrates. To aid biomonitoring and provide reference data for wildlife pesticide-risk assessment, plasma acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activities were characterised in nine species of native bird: King Quails (Excalfactoria chinensis), Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), White-plumed Honeyeaters (Lichenostomas penicillatus), Yellow-throated Miners (Manorina flavigula), Willie Wagtails (Rhipidura leucophrys), Australian Reed-Warblers (Acrocephalus australis), Brown Songlarks (Cincloramphus cruralis), Double-barred Finches (Taeniopygia bichenovii) and Australasian Pipits (Anthus novaeseelandiae). Plasma ChE activities in all species were within the range of most …

Evaluation Of A Low Cost Wireless Chemical Sensor Network For Environmental Monitoring, Jer Hayes, Stephen Beirne, King-Tong Lau, Dermot Diamond

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We present work on the development and testing of a low-cost wireless chemical sensor network (WCSN) for monitoring irritant/toxic gases in the environment. The WCSN used in this work takes advantage of recent advances in low power wireless communication platforms and uses colorimetric sensors to detect the presence of certain target gases. This sensor network adopts a star configuration and performs one way RF communications from individual sensor nodes to the base-station. Each node in the network is composed of a multiple sensor platform that measures light intensity, temperature and motion. The light sensor was used as the chemical sensing …

Geant4 Simulation For Lhc Radiation Monitoring, M Glaser, S Guatelli, B Mascialino, M Moll, M G. Pia, F Ravotti

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Monitoring radiation background is a crucial task for the operation of LHC experiments. A project is in progress at CERN for the optimisation of the radiation monitors for LHC experiments. A simulation system based on Geant4, designed to assist the engineering optimisation of LHC radiation monitor detectors, is presented. Various detector packaging configurations are studied through their Geant4-based simulation, and their behaviour is compared.

Realtime Display Of Landslide Monitoring Data, Russ Pennell, D. Ruberu, P. Flentje

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

In areas of high landslide risk, dangerous situations can develop rapidly. The system described here provides near real-time landslide information via the web to researchers, emergency personnel and others assisting them to assess developing risks. Remote field stations collect data continuously and download this to a central site at varying intervals via mobile phone. Processing and display software written using the ASP.NET framework stores the data in directly-graphable form and displays graphs in response to web requests. Design challenges included the changing nature of the instruments in the field, resolved by the use of user-editable configuration files that allowed for …

Monitoring And Evaluation Of The Effective Implementation Of The Foundation Phase (Meeifp) Project Across Wales, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Kathy Sylva, Janet Laugharne, Emmajane Milton, Frances Charles

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The Foundation Phase (FP) is a Welsh Assembly Government, national reform covering the combined 3-5 Early Years and Key Stage 1 provision (children aged between three and seven). In September 2004, the first stage of the pilot commenced in 41 pilot settings across the 22 local authorities in Wales for 3-5 year olds only. The 41 pilot settings will continue in 2005-2006 with Year 1 children (and some Year 2 children where mixed classes are operating) coming on board in the maintained sector and similarly Year 2 in 2006-2007.

The Foundation Phase proposes a continuum of learning for children from …

Identifying And Monitoring Changes In Special Educational Needs In The Early Years, Karen Hanna, Edward Melhuish, Louise Quinn, Kathy Sylva, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Pam Sammons, Brenda Taggart

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This longitudinal study assesses the attainment and development of children followed from the age of 3 until the end of Key Stage 1 (age 8). Over 700 children were recruited to the study during 1998 and 1999 from 80 pre-school centres in Northern Ireland. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to explore the effects of pre-school experience on children's cognitive attainment and social/behavioural development at entry to school and any continuing effects on such outcomes up to 8 years of age. In addition to the effects of pre-school experience, the study investigates the contribution to children's development of individual …

Environmental (Re)Education And Local Environmental Knowledge: Statutory Ground-Based Monitoring And Pastoral Culture In Central Australia, Nicholas J. Gill

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Ground-based monitoring of rangeland condition is common in Australian pastoral administration systems. In the Northern Territory, such monitoring is officially seen as a key plank of sustainable pastoral land use. In the NT and elsewhere, these monitoring schemes have sought to increase participation by pastoralists. Involvement of pastoralists in monitoring is theoretically an educative process that will cause pastoralists to more critically examine their management practices. Critical perspectives on the relationship between rangelands science/extension and pastoralist knowledge systems and concerns, however, suggest that pastoralists’ reception of such monitoring schemes will be influenced by a range of social contexts, including the …

Low Cost Technology For Monitoring Sustainable Development, R John Morrison, Ursula Kaly, Alifereti Tawake, Batiri Thaman

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The term 'sustainable development' first appeared in a significant way in the World Conservation Strategy (IUCN 1980), but the basic ideas had been discussed much earlier. 'Ecologically sustainable development' became particularly popular after the publication of Our Common Future, the Brundtland report (WCED 1987). Many agencies claim that their work is highly dependent on, or governed by, sustainable development or sustainability principles. One of the major problems with the concept of sustainability, however, is that, while many people claim to be utilising sustainability principles, there is often little evidence to confirm this. Supporting data are frequently absent, perhaps because …