Supporting service discovery, querying and interaction in ubiquitous computing environments.

In this paper, we contend that ubiquitous computing environments will be highly heterogeneous, service rich domains. Moreover, future applications will consequently be required to interact with multiple, specialised service location and interaction protocols simultaneously. We argue that existing service discovery techniques do not provide sufficient support to address the challenges of building applications targeted to these emerging environments. This paper makes a number of contributions. Firstly, using a set of short ubiquitous computing scenarios we identify several key limitations of existing service discovery approaches that reduce their ability to support ubiquitous computing applications. Secondly, we present a detailed analysis of requirements for providing effective support in this domain. Thirdly, we provide the design of a simple extensible meta-service discovery architecture that uses database techniques to unify service discovery protocols and addresses several of our key requirements. Lastly, we examine the lessons learnt through the development of a prototype implementation of our architecture

Empirical Challenges in Organizational Aesthetics Research: Towards a Sensual Methodology

Despite growing scholarly interest in aesthetic dimensions of organizational life, there is a lack of literature expressly engaging with the methodological mechanics of 'doing aesthetics research'. This article addresses that gap. It begins with an overview of the conceptual idiosyncrasies of 'aesthetics' as a facet of human existence and maps out the challenges these pose for empirical research methodology. A review of methodological approaches adopted to date in empirical studies of organizational aesthetics is then presented. The remainder of the article draws on the author's experiences and suggests methods and techniques to address both conceptual and practical challenges encountered during the execution of an organizational aesthetics research project. The article calls for a firmer focus on the aesthetic experiences of organizational members in addition to those of researchers and concludes with some suggestions as to the future of such 'sensual methodologies' </jats:p

Representing environmental harm and resistance on Twitter: The case of the TAP pipeline

This research explores a new methodological path for doing green cultural criminological research via social media. It provides original case-study data and aims to stimulate further empirical and theoretical debate. In particular, the study explores how Twitter users have represented the harms related to an ongoing pipeline project in Italy (referred to as TAP), and the resistance to those harms. To these ends, it offers a virtual and visual ethnography of Twitter posts and posted images

Validation of ultrasonic velocity estimates of wood properties in discs of radiata pine

Abstract Background Measurement of microfibril angle (MFA) in the S2 layer of the cell walls of wood using speed of sound in wood has become a common way to estimate wood stiffness and stability. Measurements across the radius of a disc can be critical, but sonic testing needs to be validated against direct measurements of MFA. Methods A robotic machine that uses two transducers to detect the speed of sound through discs of wood from tree stems was validated by comparing its measurements with wood MFA, air-dry density, and modulus of elasticity assessed by X-ray diffractometry through the “Silviscan” system. Results Ultrasonic velocity (USV) was highly correlated with MFA but not with air-dry density. Variable moving averages were assessed in order to estimate the resolution of the USV measurements, and it appeared that the diameter of the swath detected by the transducers was between 23 and 30 mm. Conclusions It was concluded that MFA in wood samples can be assessed rapidly and cheaply using USV measurements but at lower resolution than assessments using X-ray diffractometry

Factors associated with suicidal thoughts in a large community study of older adults

BACKGROUND: Thoughts about death and self-harm in old age have been commonly associated with the presence of depression, but other risk factors may also be important. AIMS: To determine the independent association between suicidal ideation in later life and demographic, lifestyle, socioeconomic, psychiatric and medical factors. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted of a communityderived sample of 21 290 adults aged 60–101 years enrolled from Australian primary care practices. We considered that participants endorsing any of the four items of the Depressive Symptom Inventory – Suicidality Subscale were experiencing suicidal thoughts. We used standard procedures to collect demographic, lifestyle, psychosocial and clinical data. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. RESULTS: The 2-week prevalence of suicidal ideation was 4.8%. Male gender, higher education, current smoking, living alone, poor social support, no religious practice, financial strain, childhood physical abuse, history of suicide in the family, past depression, current anxiety, depression or comorbid anxiety and depression, past suicide attempt, pain, poor selfperceived health and current use of antidepressants were independently associated with suicidal ideation. Poor social support was associated with a population attributable fraction of 38.0%, followed by history of depression (23.6%), concurrent anxiety and depression (19.7%), prevalent anxiety (15.1%), pain (13.7%) and no religious practice (11.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Prevalent and past mood disorders seem to be valid targets for indicated interventions designed to reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviour. However, our data indicate that social disconnectedness and stress account for a larger proportion of cases than mood disorders. Should these associations prove to be causal, then interventions that succeeded in addressing these issues would contribute the most to reducing suicidal ideation and, possibly, suicidal behaviour in later life.Osvaldo P. Almeida, Brian Draper, John Snowdon, Nicola T. Lautenschlager, Jane Pirkis, Gerard Byrne, Moira Sim, Nigel Stocks, Leon Flicker and Jon J. Pfaf