Managing the Magic behind the Movies. ACAMP: The Applicability of Agile Project Management to the Visual Effects Industry

Visual effects (VFX) are a cornerstone of modern filmmaking, yet research into their management approaches is still significantly limited. Agile project management (APM) is widely seen as being the most effective project management approach in technology-reliant, and innovative environments, all of which are characteristics commonly found in the VFX industry. We conducted a series of interviews to understand the extent to which APM techniques have been applied in the VFX industry, considering the theoretical transferability of APM to such non-software focused, creative teams. The interviews were conducted with a range of VFX professionals who differed in country of origin, seniority, background, gender, and the size of the companies they worked for. We identified an overall alignment of current management practice to core APM axioms, yet there is only a partial adoption of an existing formalised agile methodologies. We also identified a consistent set of adaptive and responsive PM practices across a diverse range of companies. We hypothesise that there exists a previously unidentified incarnation of Agile we have named Adapted Creative Agile Management of Projects (ACAMP)

Strategic planning methodology to evaluate low probability/high consequence tanker oil spills, using the Gulf of Mexico as a test area

Typescript (photocopy).Major oil spills from tankers represent a significant problem to companies involved in the shipment of oil by sea as tanker owners of cargo owners. When the supertanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground in 1978 off the coast of France, 230,000 tons of oil were spilled with resulting damage claims in excess of $2 billion. The risk of a major oil spill belongs to a group of risks called low probability/high consequence risks. These risks are typified by limited data availability (due to the low level of occurrence) and also by extremely high costs if the event occurs. This dissertation develops a methodology which allows companies to evaluate their level of exposure to the consequences of major oil spills. To illustrate how this model can be operationalized, the Gulf of Mexico is used as a test area. The Gulf was selected because of the high level of tanker traffic and U.S. petroleum industry activity in the area, and also because of the presence of competing uses of the Gulf which include commercial fishing and coastal tourism. The results from operationalizing the evaluation methodology suggest important conclusions. In terms of a purely cost-effective oriented analysis of alternatives for dealing with oil spills, companies are expected to prefer obtaining insurance, followed by efforts to lower the level of potential liability through favorable legislation. In constrast, however, the public is expected to prefer measures that actually reduce the frequency and severity of oil spills, followed by an acceptance of insurance alternatives, with the public tending to reject legislative limits on liability. The findings also demonstrate that companies will gravitate to differing alternatives depending upon company size and level of activity in an area. Finally, there can be expected to be a number of changes in coming years which will require companies to reconsider their existing strategies for dealing with spill risks

Decision-making in brains and robots - the case for an interdisciplinary approach

Reinforcement Learning describes a general method for trial-and-error learning, and has emerged as a dominant framework both for optimal control in autonomous robots, and understanding decision-making in the brain. Despite their common roots, however, these two fields have evolved largely independently. In this perspective we consider how each now face problems that could potentially be addressed by insights from the other, and argue that an interdisciplinary approach could greatly accelerate progress in both

Keeping prisoners out of prison: the role of higher education in keeping Aboriginal Australians out of our prison system

An effective way to keep people out of prison is to stop prisoners from reoffending. In Australia, 77% of Aboriginal prisoners have been under sentence previously, as compared to around 50% for non-Aboriginal Australians. Many who end up in prison have had little opportunity to engage with education or have had negative schooling experiences. This is particularly true of Aboriginal prisoners who are half as likely to finish year 12 as non-Aboriginal Australians. With encouragement and support, these people may take the opportunity to engage with education during incarceration. This paper reports on an Australian-government-funded project, Making the Connection which facilitates participation in digital higher education in prisons with a view to reducing recidivism, particularly for Aboriginal Australians. Participation in education can help those incarcerated to develop critical thinking skills, digital literacies and the capacity for self-reflection. In addition, it promotes the prospects for employment on release and promotes positive connection to community and families. This helps reduce the risk of reoffending upon release, by equipping people with the cognitive tools to engage constructively with families, communities and an increasingly digital society. Most correctional jurisdictions prohibit the use of the internet by prisoners, yet most universities are increasingly reliant on the online provision of programs. This often results in the further marginalisation of those who are already marginalised, including prisoners. The Making the Connection project is developing internet-independent digital technologies and a suite of higher education programs that will enable Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal prisoners to engage with higher education

On the Prediction of Growth Curves

1 online resource (PDF, 33 pages

Applications of Growth Curve Prediction

1 online resource (PDF, 22 pages

Growth Curve Prediction

1 online resource (PDF, 30 pages

Neural correlates of mentalizing-related computations during strategic interactions in humans

Competing successfully against an intelligent adversary requires the ability to mentalize an opponent's state of mind to anticipate his/her future behavior. Although much is known about what brain regions are activated during mentalizing, the question of how this function is implemented has received little attention to date. Here we formulated a computational model describing the capacity to mentalize in games. We scanned human subjects with functional MRI while they participated in a simple two-player strategy game and correlated our model against the functional MRI data. Different model components captured activity in distinct parts of the mentalizing network. While medial prefrontal cortex tracked an individual's expectations given the degree of model-predicted influence, posterior superior temporal sulcus was found to correspond to an influence update signal, capturing the difference between expected and actual influence exerted. These results suggest dissociable contributions of different parts of the mentalizing network to the computations underlying higher-order strategizing in humans