Capturing Archaeological Performance on Digital Video: Implications for Teaching and Learning Archaeology

In 2009 we produced a series of edited video clips to demonstrate practical methods to archaeology students at the University of Sydney in Australia. The videos were made publicly accessible via YouTube and incorporated into teaching of an undergraduate archaeological field methods course in 2010 and 2011. Our paper outlines staff experiences of making and using the videos for teaching and discusses results of student questionnaire feedback about the videos and the course. The results provide insight into the effectiveness of different ways of teaching practical archaeology in a context of large class sizes and limited resources and the potential of using digital video technologies to communicate archaeology to students and other audiences.Denis Gojak, Banksia Archaeology & Heritage Pty. Ltd. University of Sydney, Faculty of Arts, Small Teaching Infrastructure and Equipment Scheme Grant 2009

UTILISING NETWORKED WORKSTATIONS TO ACCELERATE DATABASE QUERIES

The rapid growth in the size of databases and the advances made in Query Languages has resulted in increased SQL query complexity submitted by users, which in turn slows down the speed of information retrieval from the database. The future of high performance database systems lies in parallelism. Commercial vendors´ database systems have introduced solutions but these have proved to be extremely expensive. This paper investagetes how networked resources such as workstations can be utilised by using Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) to Optimise Database Query Execution. An investigation and experiments of the scalability of the PVM are conducted. PVM is used to implement palallelism in two separate ways: (i) Removes the work load for deriving and maintaining rules from the data server for Semantic Query Optimisation, therefore clears the way for more widespread use of SQO in databases [16], [5]. (ii) Answers users queries by a proposed Parallel Query Algorithm PQA which works over a network of workstations, coupled with a sequential Database Management System DBMS called PostgreSql on the prototype called Expandable Server Architecture ESA [11], [12], [21], [13]. Experiments have been conducted to tackle the problems of Parallel and Distributed systems such as task scheduling, load balance and fault tolerance

Involving patients and carers in developing the radiotherapy curriculum: enhancing compassion

Background:: This article describes a collaborative project that aimed to develop a patient-centred curriculum in radiotherapy. In the wake of the Francis report in 2013 and a call for compassion to be a central tenet of health programmes, the project was a timely opportunity to enhance the radiotherapy curriculum. Methods:: Collaboration between university staff and patients and carers using the service improvement model Plan-Do-Study-Act was the method employed for the curriculum project. Two key discussion forums helped shape the curriculum plan, with module and course evaluation continuing to inform developments. Results:: The key outcome of the project is that it has shaped the 'care' theme evident in the current undergraduate programme. Co-production methods resulted in the development of a range of shared classroom activities that focus on experiences, care values and communication strategies. The new curriculum has evaluated positively and the impact of learning is demonstrated both in the classroom and clinical setting. The project team have also influenced recruitment processes and patient and carer involvement in programme approval is embedded. Conclusion:: Working together, with patients and carers is an ideal method to enhance the curriculum and reflect the requirements in practice of current health and social care professions. Further developments in student assessment are planned

Probing IoT-based consumer services: ‘Insights’ from the Connected Shower

This paper presents findings from the deployment of a technology probe – the connected shower – and implications for the development of ‘living services’ or autonomous context-aware consumer-oriented IoT services that exploit sensing to gain consumer ‘insight’ and drive personalised service innovation. It contributes to the literature on water sustainability and the potential role and barriers to the adoption of smart showers in domestic life. It also contributes to our understanding of context, which enables user activity to be discriminated and elaborated thereby furnishing the ‘insight’ living services require for their successful operation. Problematically, however, our study shows that context is not a property of sensor data. Rather than provide contextual insights into showering, the sensor data requires contextualisation to discriminate and elaborate user activity. Thus, in addition to examining the potential of the connected shower in everyday life, we consider how sensor data is contextualised through the doing of data work and the relevance of its interactional accomplishment and organisation to the design of living services

The Connected Shower: Studying Intimate Data in Everyday Life

This paper presents the design and field study of the Connected Shower, a bespoke IoT device that captures water flow, temperature, shower-head movement, and shower product weight. We deployed the device in six UK homes for a week to understand the use of 'intimate data' as captured by IoT systems. Findings from our contextual interviews unpack a) how such intimate data is collaboratively made sense of by accounting for the social order of showering practices as part and parcel of everyday routines; b) how the data makes details of showering accountable to their partners; c) how people reason about sharing intimate data both with third parties and their partners. Our study shows that intimate data is not intimate per se, nor is intimacy a property of the data, but is an interactional outcome arising from the articulation of shower practices to their co-present partners. Thus, judgments as to whether the data is too sensitive, private, or intimate to share are contingent on situated sense-making and therefore subject to change; however, there was a general consensus that sharing intimate data with service providers was acceptable if the data was sufficiently abstract and anonymised. We discuss challenges in the design of trustworthy data-driven IoT systems, and how they need to be warranted to be both acceptable and adopted into our intimate practices

Higher order moments of the density field in a parameterized sequence of non-gaussian theories

We calculate the higher order moments in a sequence of models where the initial density fluctuations are drawn from a chi^2_nu distribution with a power-law power spectrum. For large values of nu the distribution is approximately gaussian, and we reproduce the values known from perturbation theory. As \nu is lowered the distribution becomes progressively more non-gaussian, approximating models with rare, high-amplitude peaks. The limit nu=1 is a realization of recently proposed isocurvature models for producing early galaxy formation where the density perturbations are quadratic in a gaussian field.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, to appear in MNRA

Probing IoT-based consumer services: 'insights' from the connected shower

This paper presents findings from the deployment of a technology probe-the connected shower-and implications for the development of 'living services' or autonomous context-aware consumer-oriented IoT services that exploit sensing to gain consumer 'insight' and drive personalised service innovation. It contributes to the literature on water sustainability and the potential role and barriers to the adoption of smart showers in domestic life. It also contributes to our understanding of context, which enables user activity to be discriminated and elaborated thereby furnishing the 'insight' living services require for their successful operation. Problematically, however, our study shows that context is not a property of sensor data. Rather than provide contextual insights into showering, the sensor data requires contextualisation to discriminate and elaborate user activity. Thus, in addition to examining the potential of the connected shower in everyday life, we consider how sensor data is contextualised through the doing of data work and the relevance of its interactional accomplishment and organisation to the design of living services

An excess Ra-226 chronology for deep-sea sediments from Saanich Inlet, British Columbia

To further explore the efficacy of 226Ra(excess) dating for deep-sea sediments, previously dated varve sediments from Saanich Inlet were investigated. Ages obtained using 226Ra(excess) are comparable to the varve ages in the upper 20-25 m of the sedimentary record, but radiometric ages for those sediments older than c. 4000 yr BP are significant underestimates. This results from major changes in sedimentation within Saanich Inlet around 4000 yr BP linked to rising sea levels, with younger sediments characterised by a higher biogenic contribution resulting from the establishment of an anoxic fjord environment. The older sediments were deposited in a shallow water inlet characterised by variable Ra mass balance and non-radiogenic losses. Therefore, while 226Ra(excess) can produce reliable dates, its application may be limited where the relative significance of authigenic and allogenic input and bottom water anoxia have been variable and where closed-system behaviour is compromised