GASP: Guitars with ambisonic spatial performance

‘Guitars with Ambisonic Spatial Performance’ (GASP) is an ongoing project where our expertise in surround sound algorithmic research is combined with off-the-shelf hardware and bespoke software to create a spatial multichannel surround guitar performance system. This poster was funded through the ‘Undergraduate Research Scholarship Scheme’ (URSS) and presented at the University of Derby Buxton Campus 10th Annual Learning & Teaching conference on Wednesday 1st July 2015. The theme being ‘Students as Partners: Linking Teaching, Research and Enterprise’. The poster was also utilised as a contribution to the Creative Technologies Research Group (CTRG) ‘Sounds in Space’ symposium held at the University of Derby in June 2015, at which three pieces of multichannel guitar recordings were demonstrated.‘Undergraduate Research Scholarship Scheme’ (URSS) University of Derb

Problematising upstream technology through speculative design: the case of quantified cats and dogs

There is growing interest in technology that quantifies aspects of our lives. This paper draws on critical practice and speculative design to explore, question and problematise the ultimate consequences of such technology using the quantification of companion animals (pets) as a case study. We apply the concept of ‘moving upstream’ to study such technology and use a qualitative research approach in which both pet owners, and animal behavioural experts, were presented with, and asked to discuss, speculative designs for pet quantification applications, the design of which were extrapolated from contemporary trends. Our findings indicate a strong desire among pet owners for technology that has little scientific justification, whilst our experts caution that the use of technology to augment human-animal communication has the potential to disimprove animal welfare, undermine human-animal bonds, and create human-human conflicts. Our discussion informs wider debates regarding quantification technology

Productivity pathways: climate-adjusted production frontiers for the Australian broadacre cropping industry

This study introduces two advances to the aggregate productivity index methodology typically employed by ABARES. First, it accounts for the effects of climate variability on measured productivity by matching spatial climate data to individual farms in the ABARES farm surveys database. Second, a farm-level production frontier estimation technique is employed to facilitate the decomposition of productivity change into several key components, including technical change and technical efficiency change. The study makes use of farm-level data from the ABARES Australian agricultural and grazing industries survey database. An unbalanced panel dataset is constructed containing 13 430 observations (4255 farms) over the period 1977–78 to 2007–08. Spatial climate data, including winter and summer seasonal rainfall and average maximum and minimum temperatures, were obtained via the Australian Water Availability Project. These data were mapped to individual farms using Geographic Information System methods. The study employed stochastic frontier analysis methods to estimate a production frontier with time varying technical efficiency effects of the form proposed by Battese and Coelli (1992). Production frontiers are estimated for each of the three major Grains Research and Development Corporation regions: southern, northern and western. Selected climate variables are shown to display a high degree of explanatory power over farm output. The results confirm that deterioration in average climate conditions has contributed significantly to the decline in estimated productivity over the post-2000 period. Technical change is shown to be the primary driver of productivity growth in the industry in the long run, offset by a gradual decline in technical efficiency. After controlling for climate variability, a gradual decline in the rate of technical change is still observed.Productivity Analysis,

Association of obesity and fat distribution in the Finnish population

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.Body weight is closely related to several known cardiovascular risk factors and may also have an independent effect on the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). The cardiovascular risk factor levels of the Finnish population have been assessed in Finland since 1972, though in the beginning the surveys were done to evaluate the North Karelia Project, which was a community-based preventive program and a National cardiovascular risk factors monitoring system was developed to assess the effectiveness of the national strategy. The purpose of this report was to examine cross-sectional data to assess the independent contribution of Body mass index (BMI) and Waist-hip-ratio (WHR) to the risk of Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and to find out the importance of WHR for the incidence of chronic diseases in 4110 Finnish men and 4084 Finnish women between the ages 25-74 years old who were participants in the 1997 examinations of FINMONICA-Project and were not treated for with cardiovascular medication. BMI was used as a measure of obesity and WHR as fat distribution measurements and both were adjusted for age, on cholesterols, and blood pressures in separate models for men and women in the data. Obesity were estimated from body weight, height and the body fat from skinfold-thickness measurements. The analysis is confined to the relationships between the risk factors and this risk factors was divided into two groups, the first consisting of the operational measures of cholesterols level and blood pressures respectively High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), Non high density lipoprotein cholesterol (NHDL), Ratio of HDL and NHDL (HNR), Systollinen blood pressure (SYS1) and Diastollinen blood pressure (DIAS1), while the second consist of obesity (BMI) and body fat (WHR). The analysis was done to study the interaction effect of obesity and body fat on cholesterols level and blood pressures. BMI and WHR interaction effect was only significant in NHDL (P > 0.0071) and almost significant in HNR (P > 0.0789) in men and no significant interaction in women. This gender difference could easily have been overlooked if gender had been included in the analyses of variance as an explanatory factor

An Augmented Reality Game using Face Recognition Technology

In this paper, we explore the coupling of mobile facial recognition technology with the exploitation of non-players as a powerful mechanic in locative augmented reality games. A prototype game is presented which asks players to "capture" the likeness of members of the public. Driven by free-to-play models, and inspired by the phenomenal success of Pokémon GO, we have created an experience where players hunt for and "capture" real creatures in a real world

Managing Multiple Identities to Combat Stigmatisation in the Digital Age

It has long been identified that people consciously curate, manage and maintain multiple online individual identities based on characteristics such as race, gender, and societal status; research has also established that people may choose to emphasise one such identity other another as a means to avoid stigmatisation, discrimination and stereotyping. The rise of online state, corporate, and peer surveillance however threatens to disrupt this process by modelling, categorising and restraining identity to that which has been surveilled. We posit that new anti-surveillance tactics may emerge that allow users the freedom to manage and switch their identities in ways that seek to maintain social justice and counteract discrimination

Problematising upstream technology through speculative design: the case of quantified cats and dogs

There is growing interest in technology that quantifies aspects of our lives. This paper draws on critical practice and speculative design to explore, question and problematise the ultimate consequences of such technology using the quantification of companion animals (pets) as a case study. We apply the concept of "moving upstream" to study such technology and use a qualitative research approach in which both pet owners, and animal behavioural experts, were presented with, and asked to discuss, speculative designs for pet quantification applications, the design of which were extrapolated from contemporary trends. Our findings indicate a strong desire among pet owners for technology that has little scientific justification, whilst our experts caution that the use of technology to augment human-animal communication has the potential to disimprove animal welfare, undermine human-animal bonds, and create human-human conflicts. Our discussion informs wider debates regarding quantification technology

Equivariant Euler characteristics and K-homology Euler classes for proper cocompact G-manifolds

Let G be a countable discrete group and let M be a smooth proper cocompact G-manifold without boundary. The Euler operator defines via Kasparov theory an element, called the equivariant Euler class, in the equivariant K-homology of M. The universal equivariant Euler characteristic of M, which lives in a group U^G(M), counts the equivariant cells of M, taking the component structure of the various fixed point sets into account. We construct a natural homomorphism from U^G(M) to the equivariant KO-homology of M. The main result of this paper says that this map sends the universal equivariant Euler characteristic to the equivariant Euler class. In particular this shows that there are no `higher' equivariant Euler characteristics. We show that, rationally, the equivariant Euler class carries the same information as the collection of the orbifold Euler characteristics of the components of the L-fixed point sets M^L, where L runs through the finite cyclic subgroups of G. However, we give an example of an action of the symmetric group S_3 on the 3-sphere for which the equivariant Euler class has order 2, so there is also some torsion information.Comment: Published in Geometry and Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTVol7/paper16.abs.htm