THE ‘TAMPA EFFECT’ AUSTRALIAN ASYLUM POLICY IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Australia’s policies towards asylum seekers hit the headlines when it refused to admit those aboard the Tampa in September 2001. This tough stance and the raft of legislation that followed became known as Australia’s “Pacific Solution”. It was clearly intended to deter those who might otherwise arrive by sea or by air to claim asylum in Australia. Several other countries toughened their policies after September the 11th 2001. This paper examines the effects of those policies on the subsequent streams of asylum applications by estimating the effects from panel data using a differences-in-differences approach. We find that the post-Tampa effect for Australia was to cut asylum applications by more than half. In other countries such as New Zealand and the UK, negative policy effects are also found but they are somewhat weaker. We conclude that the deterrent effects of policy are greatest not only when tough policies are enforced but when they are also widely publicised.

Breast tumor diagnosis in digital mammograms

Breast cancer has been classified as the most common cancer in most part of the world [1]. Breast cancer is caused by the growth of the abnormal cells in the breast. Breast cancer not only develops in women but also on men. However, the incidents of breast cancer in women are more common than men. Breast cancer is dangerous and may take away one’s life if there is no early detection and treatment are not done to remove the cancer cell present in the breast. Although the prevention methods for breast cancer may be unclear, it is found out that the earlier the detection and treatment conducted to the patients, the higher the survivability of the patients. Digital mammography is a specific type of breast imaging that uses low-dose x-rays to detect cancer early especially before women experience any symptoms [2]. The early signs of breast cancer can be detected in mammograms. Hence, digital mammograms have been classified as one of the best methods to detect breast cancer. In the studies [2] has shown that digital mammograms produce a better result than film mammograms in a group of young women, premenopausal and perimenopausal women, and women with dense breasts. 335 women were found to be infected with breast cancer in the test. However, there is also a limitation present in digital mammograms. High breast density can affect the performance of diagnosis in digital mammography as it increases the difficulty in finding abnormalities in a mammogram. Digital mammograms are only able to yield the best accuracy in the result for the women who are under the age of 50 and absent from menopause or undergoes menopause in a period of less than one year

The 'Tampa effect' Australian asylum policy in international perspective

Australia’s policies towards asylum seekers hit the headlines when it refused to admit those aboard the Tampa in September 2001. This tough stance and the raft of legislation that followed became known as Australia’s “Pacific Solution”. It was clearly intended to deter those who might otherwise arrive by sea or by air to claim asylum in Australia. Several other countries toughened their policies after September the 11th 2001. This paper examines the effects of those policies on the subsequent streams of asylum applications by estimating the effects from panel data using a differences-in-differences approach. We find that the post-Tampa effect for Australia was to cut asylum applications by more than half. In other countries such as New Zealand and the UK, negative policy effects are also found but they are somewhat weaker. We conclude that the deterrent effects of policy are greatest not only when tough policies are enforced but when they are also widely publicised

Australian asylum policy: the Tampa effect

On 26 August 2001 a Norwegian freighter, the MV Tampa, rescued 433 asylum seekers from their vessel the KM Palapa 1 that was in distress in the stretch of ocean between Christmas Island and the coast of Indonesia. At the insistence of the rescued passengers, the captain of the Tampa asked the Australian government for permission to land them on Christmas Island — a request that was refused. There followed a week-long standoff while the world watched the drama unfold

Breast cancer diagnosis system using hybrid support vector machine-artificial neural network

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer occurring in women. Early detection through mammogram screening can save more women’s lives. However, even senior radiologists may over-diagnose the clinical condition. Machine learning (ML) is the most used technique in the diagnosis of cancer to help reduce human errors. This study is aimed to develop a computer-aided detection (CAD) system using ML for classification purposes. In this work, 80 digital mammograms of normal breasts, 40 of benign and 40 of malignant cases were chosen from the mini MIAS dataset. These images were denoised using median filter after they were segmented to obtain a region of interest (ROI) and enhanced using histogram equalization. This work compared the performance of artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machine (SVM), reduced features of SVM and the hybrid SVM-ANN for classification process using the statistical and gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features extracted from the enhanced images. It is found that the hybrid SVM-ANN gives the best accuracy of 99.4% and 100% in differentiating normal from abnormal, and benign from malignant cases, respectively. This hybrid SVM-ANN model was deployed in developing the CAD system which showed relatively good accuracy of 98%

Erythromycin-induced resistance to clindamycin in Staphylococcus aureus.

PURPOSE: To describe the incidence of erythromycin-induced resistance to clindamycin in a sample of Staphylococcus aureus isolates. METHODS: 100 erythromycin-resistant and clindamycin-sensitive S. aureus were collected as a convenience sample from February to August 2003. Inducible clindamycin resistance was identified using the D-zone disc method. RESULTS: Of the 100 Staphylococcus aureus isolates, 64 were methicillin sensitive (MSSA) and 36 were methicillin resistant (MRSA). Of the 64 MSSA isolates, 22 (34%) had inducible resistance. Of the 36 MRSA isolates, 4 (11%) had inducible resistance. Overall, 26% of these clindamycin sensitive S. aureus isolates, exhibited inducible resistance to clindamycin. CONCLUSIONS: In this sample, MSSA isolates were almost three times more likely to have inducible MLS resistance compared to MRSA isolates. Inducible resistance may compromise the efficacy of clindamycin. The frequency of inducible resistance in this series of "clindamycin sensitive" S. aureus isolates is 26%. It is likely that the true percentage of clindamycin resistance is being underestimated since testing for inducible resistance is not routinely performed

An automated motion detection and reward system for animal training

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The relative eye size, visual cells, cone mosaic and retinal tapetum in the spotted barb Puntius binotatus (Valenciennes, 1842)

The relative eye size, types of visual cell and mosaic, and the existence of retinal tapetum in the eyes of the spotted barb Puntius binotatus were determined to gain baseline information on its visual capability. The P. binotatus acquired relatively larger eye size than the other similar sized freshwater fish species with its retina being contained both cone and rod visual cells (cone ellipsoid to outer nuclei ratio = 1: 5.7). Three types of cone were identified (double-, central single- and corner single- cones), arranging in the square mosaic, and the retinal tapetum was determined to be existed. These results evidenced that the P. binotatus has good visual capability as it possessed both the photopic and scotopic visions. Vision can be the primary sense for the P. binotatus. Further study is needed to gain more information on the vision of this species.   

From Research Prototype to Research Product

Prototypes and prototyping have had a long and important history in the HCI community and have played a highly significant role in creating technology that is easier and more fulfilling to use. Yet, as focus in HCI is expanding to investigate complex matters of human relationships with technology over time in the intimate and contested contexts of everyday life, the notion of a ‘prototype’ may not be fully sufficient to support these kinds of inquiries. We propose the research product as an extension and evolution of the research prototype to support generative inquiries in this emerging research area. We articulate four interrelated qualities of research products—inquiry-driven, finish, fit, and independent—and draw on these qualities to describe and analyze five different yet related design research cases we have collectively conducted over the past six years. We conclude with a discussion of challenges and opportunities for crafting research products and the implications they suggest for future design-oriented HCI research