The development of a Java based GIS viewing tool : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Technology in Information Engineering at Massey University

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) industry sources quote the ratio of power users to casual users at 1000:1, within New Zealand this figure has been found to be 30:1. The casual user is often under-supported, with slow and cumbersome viewing tools. This project implements a full data download system in Java for use with Genasys (New Zealand) GIS software. Three components were developed; a vector data handler, an image download system, and a database client. These components were integrated to form a powerful client that offered a significant performance increase over the "server based" client. The image download system outperformed the "server based" client by over 400%. The vector data handler outperformed the "server based" client by over 50%, while the database client was over 250% quicker. GIS users rated all components to be of significant benefit, offering improved performance over their current GIS viewing tools. The work completed in this thesis provides Genasys (New Zealand) a useful tool to enable powerful, fast and stable Java based GIS viewing clients. Keywords: GIS, Java, computer graphics, image pyramid

On Bioelectric Algorithms

Cellular bioelectricity describes the biological phenomenon in which cells in living tissue generate and maintain patterns of voltage gradients across their membranes induced by differing concentrations of charged ions. A growing body of research suggests that bioelectric patterns represent an ancient system that plays a key role in guiding many important developmental processes including tissue regeneration, tumor suppression, and embryogenesis. This paper applies techniques from distributed algorithm theory to help better understand how cells work together to form these patterns. To do so, we present the cellular bioelectric model (CBM), a new computational model that captures the primary capabilities and constraints of bioelectric interactions between cells and their environment. We use this model to investigate several important topics from the relevant biology research literature. We begin with symmetry breaking, analyzing a simple cell definition that when combined in single hop or multihop topologies, efficiently solves leader election and the maximal independent set problem, respectively - indicating that these classical symmetry breaking tasks are well-matched to bioelectric mechanisms. We then turn our attention to the information processing ability of bioelectric cells, exploring upper and lower bounds for approximate solutions to threshold and majority detection, and then proving that these systems are in fact Turing complete - resolving an open question about the computational power of bioelectric interactions

Prototyping Worlds:Emergent Technologies in the Aerial Age

This paper takes its point of departure in the years leading up to, and shortly after, the outbreak of World War One; a period that saw the emergence of Europe’s first aeroplanes. It argues that the production of new aerial objects required not just imaginative leaps in technology, but also the making of possible futures into which such technologies could fit. In order to elaborate this argument, the paper engages with the life and work of J.C.H Ellehammer, the Danish inventor-entrepreneur who claimed the honour of being the first man to fly in Europe in 1906. Through an examination of Ellehammer’s heterogeneous activities and practices, I argue that his initial aerial prototypes are ‘not-quite-yet-flying machines.’ As technologies of anticipation they model, or rehearse, a version of the future through which such machines could become more acceptable to a sceptical public and find their place within a broader national discourse on flying. This is based upon a particular reading of the prototype as both an epistemic object and an epistemic culture, and upon a rendering of prototyping as an analytic that approaches the craft and agency of objects in particular ways

Prototyping Worlds: Emergent Technologies in the Aerial Age

This paper takes its point of departure in the years leading up to, and shortly after, the outbreak of World War One; a period that saw the emergence of Europe’s first aeroplanes. It argues that the production of new aerial objects required not just imaginative leaps in technology, but also the making of possible futures into which such technologies could fit. In order to elaborate this argument, the paper engages with the life and work of J.C.H Ellehammer, the Danish inventor-entrepreneur who claimed the honour of being the first man to fly in Europe in 1906. Through an examination of Ellehammer’s heterogeneous activities and practices, I argue that his initial aerial prototypes are ‘not-quite-yet-flying machines.’ As technologies of anticipation they model, or rehearse, a version of the future through which such machines could become more acceptable to a sceptical public and find their place within a broader national discourse on flying. This is based upon a particular reading of the prototype as both an epistemic object and an epistemic culture, and upon a rendering of prototyping as an analytic that approaches the craft and agency of objects in particular ways