Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Railroad Privatization And Deregulation: Lessons From Three Decades Of Experience Worldwide, Randolph Resor, Philip Laird

Dr Philip Laird

Railroads exist worldwide, on all inhabited continents. The rail industry began nearly 200 years ago as a series of privately financed ventures in the United Kingdom and the United States, but the ownership model rapidly evolved during the 19th Century. By the middle of the 20th Century, railroads in most parts of the world were government-owned.

A Balanced Approach Is Needed For Sydney - Brisbane Freight, Philip Laird

Dr Philip Laird

No abstract provided.

High Speed Rail In Australia - Much Studied And Slow To Start, Philip Laird

Dr Philip Laird

High Speed Rail or HSR with electric passenger trains operating at speeds of 250km/h or more is now operational in 11 countries and has been under recent consideration in Australia for future operation between Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. The paper outlines HSR studies in Australia and conditionally quantifies the potential reduction of aviation fuel use at up to 0.5m litres per annum from the introduction of HSR by 2020 in Australia with a reduction of external costs at $540m per annum by 2020. In addition, HSR in Eastern Australia by 2020 could allow for some 300 slots to be …

Shifting Freight To Rail Could Make The Pacific Highway Safer, Philip G. Laird

Dr Philip Laird

Articulated trucks such as semi-trailers and "B-Doubles" are involved in about 30% of fatal road accidents on the Pacific Highway. As the number of trucks carrying freight between Sydney and Brisbane increases, we will see more tragic incidents like the fatal crash involving a B-Double on 8 January 2012 near Urunga.

Faster Out Of The Station: Asia Surges Ahead On Rail, Philip Laird

Dr Philip Laird

It is interesting to see the progressmade by Asian countries since 2001 in developing high-speed rail (HSR),while Australia is missing out.

Government Rail Asset Sales, And Return To The Public Sector, In New Zealand And Tasmania, Philip G. Laird

Dr Philip Laird

The paper outlines the sale, with a track lease, in 1993 of the state owned New Zealand Railways Corporation to a consortium, TranzRail Holdings formed by the United States and New Zealand interests. It also notes increases in productivity and traffic levels to 1999 with subsequent problems leading to the New Zealand Government agreeing in 2003 to repurchase and rehabilitate the track. The paper then outlines transfer of effective ownership of the trains and related services in 2003 to an Australian company, and in 2008 back to the New Zealand Government at appreciable net cost.After a brief outline of railways …

Column Experiments Carried Out For The Treatment Of Acidic Groundwater In Acid Sulfate Soil Terrain At The Shoalhaven Floodplain, Buddhima Indraratna, Punyama Pathirage, Laura Banasiak, Long Nghiem

Laura J Banasiak Dr

No abstract provided.

Coupled Hydro-Geochemical Modelling Of A Permeable Reactive Barrier For Treating Acidic Groundwater, Buddhima Indraratna, Punyama Pathirage, Kerry Rowe, Laura Banasiak

Laura J Banasiak Dr

This study focuses on coupling geochemistry with geo-hydraulics to enable time-dependent modelling of the remediation of acidic groundwater using an alkaline permeable reactive barrier (PRB). Chemical clogging due to secondary mineral precipitates reduces the porosity and hydraulic conductivity of the reactive medium. The governing equations are incorporated into commercial numerical codes, MODFLOW and RT3D. An original algorithm was developed for RT3D to simulate geochemical reactions occurring in the PRB. The results and the model predictions are in agreement, confirming that the hydraulic conductivity reduction due to mineral precipitation occurs at the start of permeation and continues until halfway through the …

Remediation Of Acidic Groundwater From Acid Sulfate Soil Terrain By Permeable Reactive Barrier Technology, Laura Banasiak, Buddhima Indraratna

Laura J Banasiak Dr

No abstract provided.

Why It’S Worth The Hassle: The Value Of In-Situ Studies When Designing Ubicomp., Yvonne Rogers, Kay Connelly, Lenore Tedesco, William Hazlewood, Andrew Kurtz, Robert Hall, Josh Hursey, Tammy Toscos

Tammy R Toscos

How should Ubicomp technologies be evaluated? While lab studies are good at sensing aspects of human behavior and revealing usability problems, they are poor at capturing context of use. In-situ studies are good at demonstrating how people appropriate technologies in their intended setting, but are expensive and difficult to conduct. Here, we show how they can be used more productively in the design process. A mobile learning device was developed to support teams of students carrying out scientific inquiry in the field. An initial in-situ study showed it was not used in the way envisioned. A contextualized analysis led to …

Activity Sensing In The Wild: A Field Trial Of Ubifit Garden., Sunny Consolvo, David Mcdonald, Tammy Toscos, Mike Chen, Jon Froehlich, Beverly Harrison, Predrag Klasnja, Anthony Lamarca, Louis Legrand, Ryan Libby, Ian Smith, James Landay

Tammy R Toscos

Recent advances in small inexpensive sensors, low-power processing, and activity modeling have enabled applications that use on-body sensing and machine learning to infer people’s activities throughout everyday life. To address the growing rate of sedentary lifestyles, we have developed a system, UbiFit Garden, which uses these technologies and a personal, mobile display to encourage physical activity. We conducted a 3-week field trial in which 12 participants used the system and report findings focusing on their experiences with the sensing and activity inference. We discuss key implications for systems that use on-body sensing and activity inference to encourage physical activity.

Chick Clique: Persuasive Technology To Motivate Teenage Girls To Exercise, Tammy Toscos, Anne Faber, Shunying An, Mona Gandhi

Tammy R Toscos

We are developing a preventative health cell phone application that helps motivate teenage girls to exercise by exploiting their social desire to stay connected with their peers. We targeted girls because they are more likely to become less active throughout adolescence and are more likely to use dangerous techniques for losing weight. The intent of Chick Clique is to provide information at opportune times in order to modify the behaviors of girls and ultimately lead to improved health habits. Our study investigated how collecting, sharing and comparing personal fitness information impacts activity level and health awareness.

“What’S Your Number?” A Survey Of How Parents And Teens Cope With Diabetes In The Context Of Technology Support., Tammy Toscos, Kay Connelly, Yvonne Rogers

Tammy R Toscos

Teenagers make many transitions during adolescence toward adult lifestyles and responsibilities. Teens with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) have the additional burden of assuming responsibility for disease management. The findings reported in this paper represent the perspective of parents and adolescents who are coping with T1D - uncovering various tensions that interfere with the effective use of technology to manage the disease. Predominant themes from a set of semi-structured interviews are used to construct implications for the design of new technology intended to support families coping with T1D.

Using Behavior Change Theory To Understand And Guide Technological Interventions., Tammy Toscos, Kay Connelly

Tammy R Toscos

No abstract provided.

Using Data To Promote Healthy Behavior In Children., Tammy Toscos

Tammy R Toscos

Childhood offers a number of opportunities for parents to shape the health related attitudes and behaviors of their children. The proposed research described in this paper aims to better understand the ways in which a child’s personal health data can be leveraged to educate and provide a transition to healthy adult behaviors. The target population for this project is children with Type 1 Diabetes and their parents but many of the design issues may be relevant to the management of other chronic diseases as well as general health in childhood.

Mobile Applications That Empower People To Monitor Their Personal Health., Kay Connelly, Anne Faber, Yvonne Rogers, Katie A. Siek, Tammy R. Toscos

Tammy R Toscos

Researchers have an opportunity to develop assistive applications that empower people to change unhealthy habits through monitoring their behavior. Mobile applications can enhance self-monitoring by providing real-time feedback and employing persuasive technology. The projects presented demonstrate the potential of persuasive, assistive applications for both chronically ill and healthy individuals.

"…Is It Normal To Be This Sore?": Using An Online Forum To Investigate Barriers To Physical Activity., Tammy Toscos, Sunny Consolvo, David Mcdonald

Tammy R Toscos

The importance of regular physical activity to overall health has been well established, yet U.S. adults are leading increasingly sedentary lives. Research suggests that lowering perceived barriers to physical activity is a critical part of interventions that encourage physical activity. In this paper, we describe the top five barriers—two of which have not been reported as principle barriers in the literature—that emerged from our systematic qualitative coding of an online forum used to support a three month healthy lifestyle intervention. Based on our analysis, we identify design considerations for technologies that encourage and support physical activity. Understanding the needs of …

Encouraging Physical Activity In Teens: Can Technology Help Reduce Barriers To Physical Activity In Adolescent Girls?, Tammy Toscos, Anne Faber, Kay Connelly, Adity Mutsuddi-Upoma

Tammy R Toscos

Physical activity levels of girls decline dramatically during adolescence and may be a contributor to the increasing number of obese teens in the United States. Research has shown that social support is positively correlated with physical activity levels in adolescents, particularly girls. We present the findings from a three week field study of a mobile phone application designed to create a support group for physical activity within an existing social network of adolescent girls. Our findings suggest design considerations for technologies that encourage physical activity for this user group.

ÜBerschussdaten In Retinabildern: Ein Beitrag Zum Datenschutzfreundlichen Entwurf Biometrischer Systeme, Michael Friedewald, Sebastian Wawrzyniak, Frank Pallas

Michael Friedewald

Die Retina ist wegen ihrer Unterscheidungskraft ein vielversprechendes biometrisches Merkmal, das vor allem für sicherheitsrelevante Systeme genutzt wird. Allerdings manifestieren sich auch zahlreiche Erkrankungen durch entsprechende Veränderungen der Retina. Die Nutzung solcher gesundheitsbezogener und für Zwecke der Authentifizierung unnötiger Daten ist daher unbedingt zu vermeiden. Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit der Frage, welche gesundheitsrelevanten Informationen aus Retinabildern gewonnen werden können und welche Konsequenzen dies für den Entwurf biometrischer Systeme hat.

An Outlier Robust Block Bootstrap For Small Area Estimation, Payam Mokhtarian, Ray Chambers

Payam Mokhtarian

Small area inference based on mixed models, i.e. models that contain both fixed and random effects, are the industry standard for this field, allowing between area heterogeneity to be represented by random area effects. Use of the linear mixed model is ubiquitous in this context, with maximum likelihood, or its close relative, REML, the standard method for estimating the parameters of this model. These parameter estimates, and in particular the resulting predicted values of the random area effects, are then used to construct empirical best linear unbiased predictors (EBLUPs) of the unknown small area means. It is now well known …

Managing The Public To Manage Data: Citizen Science And Astronomy, Peter Darch

Peter Darch

Citizen Cyberscience Projects (CCPs) that recruit members of the public as volunteers to process and produce large datasets promise a great deal of benefits to scientists and science. However, if this promise is to be realised, and citizen science-produced datasets are to be widely-used by scientists, it is essential that these datasets win the trust of the scientific community. This task of securing credibility involves, in part, applying standard scientific procedures to clean-up datasets formed by volunteer contributions. However, the management of volunteers’ behaviour in terms of how they contribute also plays a significant role in improving both the quality …

Opening Up A Dark Habitat And Opening Up Data: The Co-Emergence Of Scientific Collaboration, Infrastructure For Data-Sharing, And Data-Sharing Practices, Peter Darch

Peter Darch

Allied to the movement promoting Open Access publishing is the Open Data movement, which aims to facilitate and encourage the open sharing of research data amongst scientists across multiple disciplines and institutions. Studies of scientists’ data practices link barriers to data-sharing with lack of appropriate infrastructure, cultural issues regarding norms and reward structures, and lack of trust amongst researchers. However, there have been fewer studies of actual instances of successful data-sharing. Furthermore, little attention has been paid to the implications of successful data-sharing for the structures of collaborative scientific work.

This paper will present findings from a longitudinal ethnographic case …

I-125 Ropes Eye Plaque Dosimetry: Validation Of A Commercial 3d Ophthalmic Brachytherapy Treatment Planning System And Independent Dose Calculation Software With Gafchromic Ebt3 Films, Joel Poder, Stephanie Corde

Stéphanie Corde

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure the dose distributions for different Radiation Oncology Physics and Engineering Services, Australia (ROPES) type eye plaques loaded with I-125 (model 6711) seeds using GafChromic R EBT3 films, in order to verify the dose distributions in the Plaque SimulatorTM (PS) ophthalmic 3D treatment planning system. The brachytherapy module of RADCALC R was used to independently check the dose distributions calculated by PS. Correction factors were derived from the measured data to be used in PS to account for the effect of the stainless steel ROPES plaque backing on the 3D dose distribution. …

Ces Clinical Trial Article.Pdf, Timothy H. Barclay

Timothy Barclay

Optimum Allocation Of Sample To Strata And Stages With Simple Additional Constraints, Robert Clark, David Steel

Robert Clark

The optimum allocation of a sample to strata and stages in a stratified two-stage design for a simple cost function is well known. In practice there may be reasons to impose simple additional constraints. It is shown how the theory for optimum allocation can be generalized to account for such constraints. A simple way of assessing the effect that each constraint has on the efficiency of the sample design is developed. This general approach allows several additional constraints that are used in practice to be applied. Data from the 1996 redesign of the Australian Monthly Labour Force Survey are used …

Sample Design Using Imperfect Design Data, Robert Clark

Robert Clark

A well-designed sampling plan can greatly enhance the information that can be produced from a survey. Once a broad sample design is identified, specific design parameters such as sample sizes and selection probabilities need to be chosen. This is typically achieved using an optimal sample design, which minimizes the variance of a key statistic or statistics, expressed as a function of design parameters and population characteristics, subject to a cost constraint. In practice, only imprecise estimates of population characteristics are available, but the effects of this variability are usually ignored. A general approach to sample allocation allowing for imprecise design …

Developing The Design Of A Continuous National Health Survey For New Zealand, Robert Clark, Robert Templeton, Anne Mcnicholas

Robert Clark

Background A continuously operating survey can yield advantages in survey management, field operations, and the provision of timely information for policymakers and researchers. We describe the key features of the sample design of the New Zealand (NZ) Health Survey, which has been conducted on a continuous basis since mid-2011, and compare to a number of other national population health surveys. Methods A number of strategies to improve the NZ Health Survey are described: implementation of a targeted dual-frame sample design for better Maori, Pacific, and Asian statistics; movement from periodic to continuous operation; use of core questions with rotating topic …

Student Collaboration Online In A Critical Thinking Course, Bob Schoenberg

Bob Schoenberg

This article identifies several benefits of student online collaboration and describes a number of collaborative tools that can be used without charge. The author also shares with readers several different strategies for promoting collaboration, including some of his personal tips and suggestions, based on his experience of teaching an online course on Critical Thinking at UMass Boston. The author argues that online education offers many opportunities for students to learn a variety of subjects, think critically and work collaboratively. However, for online faculty to be effective in their teaching they need training and experience.

Unpacking The Matthew Effect In Citations, Jian Wang

Jian Wang

Elegy In An American Graveyard, Prose/Poem 3/27/2014, Charles Kay Smith

Charles Kay Smith

An update of Thomas Grey's majestic Elegy In A Country Churchyard. Our Economy is very different and so must be our politics.