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Credible service selection in cloud environments
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 185-207.1. Introduction -- 2. Literature review -- 3. Cloud selection based on subjective assessments and objective assessments -- 4. Cloud service selection based on contextual assessments -- 5. Evaluating cloud users’ credibility of providing assessments -- 6. CCCloud : context-aware and credible cloud service selection -- 7. An incentive mechanism for eliciting continual and truthful assessments -- 8. Conclusion.With the development of the Internet, cloud computing has become the most popular paradigm for on-demand provision of computing resources and service solutions. Due to the high flexibility of cloud computing, a myriad of cloud-based services are designed and implemented to satisfy consumers’ diverse needs, and thus new challenges have arisen in cloud service selection. One big challenge is how to select the most suitable cloud service for potential consumers according to their customized requirements. Another big challenge is how to perform cloud service selection with high effectiveness and accuracy, i.e., identifying unreasonable assessments and eliciting credible assessments. This thesis aims to systematically investigate the above two challenges of cloud service selection. The main contributions of this thesis are summarized as follows:In prior studies, cloud service selection usually depends on quantitative performance analysis without considering cloud consumers’ opinions on service performance. This causes a problem that some vital performance aspects, which can hardly be evaluated through objective monitoring and testing, e.g., data privacy and after-sales services, are ignored in cloud service selection. To solve this problem, we propose a novel model of cloud service selection by aggregating both subjective assessments from ordinary cloud consumers and objective assessments extracted through quantitative analysis. By comparing and aggregating such assessments, the result of service selection can reflect the overall quality of a cloud service with less bias caused by unreasonable assessments.We further consider the contexts of cloud assessments and cloud service requesters in our proposed model. In this model, a cloud consumer is allowed to specify under what condition (e.g., specify a particular location or a particular period of time) he/she would like to consume a cloud service. Then the service selection is carried out based on the consumer’s context. In this way, our cloud service selection model can more effectively reflect potential cloud consumers’customized requirements.In order to improve the accuracy of cloud service selection, we propose a novel approach to evaluate the credibility of cloud assessments. Considering the dynamic nature of cloud services, the proposed approach is based on the continual assessments over time, and thus has the ability to not only evaluate the dynamic performance of cloud services, but also resist user collusion of providing malicious assessments. Through this approach, more credible assessments are selected as input for further cloud service selection.In addition to the assessment credibility evaluation, we have found another way to further improve the accuracy of cloud service selection. We propose a novel incentive mechanism, through which a cloud user would have sufficient incentives to provide continual and truthful assessments of cloud services. This would benefit both the dynamic evaluation of cloud performance and the further cloud service selection. Furthermore, the proposed incentive mechanism allows users to provide uncertain assessments when they are not sure about the real performance of cloud services, rather than providing untruthful or arbitrary assessments which may greatly affect the accuracy of service selection.All the models, approaches and mechanism proposed in this thesis have been validated and evaluated through sufficient experiments and theoretical analysis. The results have demonstrated that the proposed approaches and mechanisms outperform the existing work of cloud service selection.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xviii, 207 pages) diagrams, graphs, table
Discourses of ethnic accommodation: issues of othering in Indonesia
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 181-196.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. A multi-perspectival approach to discourses of ethnic accommodation : from ontology to methodology -- Chapter 3. The socio-historical perspective : the construction of the Chinese Other -- Chapter 4. The semiotic perspective : the politics of ethnic accommodation -- Chapter 5. The participants’ perspective : the social reality of ethnic accommodation -- Chapter 6. The participants' perspective : the social psychology of ethnicaccommodation -- Chapter 7. The analyst’s perspective : the integrated strategies of ethnic accommodation -- Chapter 8. Conclusions.This discourse-based research investigates discourses of ethnic accommodation within the context of ethnic othering of Chinese Indonesians in Indonesia. The overriding purposes of this research are twofold, to identify and illuminate discursive indications of ethnic accommodation; and to formulate actions that can be taken to reduce the effects of othering so as to create more accommodative environments, particularly through discursive means.The research adopts a multi-perspectival approach by incorporating multiple analytical perspectives with relevant theories, methods and data and by taking interdiscursivity as a key apparatus in the research. Integrating the principles of discourse analysis, ethnography and social psychology as its theoretical and methodological underpinnings, the research incorporates five studies representing four analytical perspectives: (1) the social historical perspective; (2) the semiotic perspective; (3) the participants’ perspective; and (4) the analyst’s perspective. Two types of data are examined, namely, government policies and narratives of personal experience which are drawn from three key sites, i.e. schools, churches, and businesses. By incorporating the micro and macro dimensions of discourse, all the perspectives are embraced as a unified whole in order to provide grounded and all-embracing explanations, rather than simple descriptions or interpretations, of situated discursive practices of ethnic accommodation.The discourse analytical findings of the five studies can be synthesized into two main points, which are best explained within the social historical context of the construction of the Chinese Other under three Indonesian regimes, the Old Order, the New Order, and the Reform. Firstly, with respect to indications of ethnic accommodation, the semiotic perspective suggests that, at the state level, Indonesia has ideologically moved away from othering and towards accommodation of Chinese Indonesians. This ideological change is enacted by the Reform regime and is demonstrated through the foregrounding of human rights protection and the annulment of othering practices through the Reform policies. The participants’ perspective articulates the societal level of ethnic accommodation. Participants’ perceptions of social reality can be distilled into four interconnected focal themes – equality, acceptance, tolerance, and trust. Within these themes, the Reform period is perceived as more accommodative than the New Order era, although some traces of subtle forms of othering practices are still evident. In reacting to social reality due to othering, participants demonstrate positive behaviours, e.g. hard work and resilience, to overcome it and, to manage their relations with the majority society, embrace adaptation into mainstream society while retaining aspects of their Chinese identity. These behaviours, this research argues, may contribute to fostering the accommodation of Chinese Indonesians within that wider Indonesian society.Secondly, this research argues for the urgency of further practical actions in order to address the gaps between the ideal and real world, or the state and societal level, of ethnic accommodation so as to create ethnically accommodative environments. The research proposes relevant discursive actions to constitute ‘integrated strategies of ethnic accommodation’ which, it is argued, can be effective if implemented by and through various levels of society – the state, organizations, and individuals; and targeted at and practised by both the minority and majority groups. These actions flow from a key finding that has emerged in this research, i.e. achieving ethnic accommodation entails political support by the government, social change in society, and behavioural change by individuals.In this research, ethnic accommodation emerges as a complex, contested, and coconstructed social phenomenon, particularly within its political, social and psychological dimensions. The research concludes by suggesting that discourse analysis, through a multiperspectival approach, offers an overarching resource for addressing social problems of ethnic accommodation and for reflection that is of practical relevance for the Indonesian government, Indonesian society at large, and Chinese Indonesians in particular.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (x, 197, 3 pages) diagram
Samuel Marsden, blinkered visionary: a re-examination of his character and circumstances through the study of his sermons
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 286-299.Introduction -- Chapter One. The Rev. Samuel Marsden’s sermons : the physical nature of his sermons held in the Library of Moore Theological College Sydney -- Chapter Two. Marsden's debt to Simeon -- Chapter Three. The sermons : background, morphology, themes and comparisons -- Chapter Four. What Marsden's sermons reveal about the local context -- Chapter Five. The New Zealand mission -- Chapter Six. Marsden and Macquarie : a deteriorating relationship highlighted by the sermon following the death of Ellis Bent.Many people have written about the Rev Samuel Marsden, from old time hagiographers to modern day pottery experts and all those in between. There are those who, in writing any history of colonial New South Wales, have blindly accepted a negative legend developed by Marsden’s opponents. There are those who have written hagiography and those who have attempted a more balanced assessment. And yet there remains a gaping hole in the literature. None of Marsden’s opponents and none of his friends have had any significant interaction with the one activity Marsden himself declared to be his primary focus. Despite a large body of Marsden’s sermons available to us, there has been a surprising lack of study of and interaction with them. Through an examination of all these known sermons of Marsden this dissertation discusses what Marsden said in his own preaching about many of the controversial issues he faced. This discussion reveals some of the complexities of Marsden’s character. In various collections there are 135 sermons in all. There are 98 in the Moore College collection, 25 in the Family Collection and the remainder scattered in ones and twos in various libraries and archives in Australia and New Zealand.Polarisations that have led individuals to be avid supporters or decided enemies of Marsden have been far too simplistic. To some extent these faults may have been redressed if there had been more interaction with Marsden’s preaching. Where some scholars have made attempts at a more balanced study of Marsden even they have fallen at critical points and failed to understand him because they also have not interacted with his preaching. The things Marsden has said in his sermons give a deeper understanding of his personality and motivations than has previously been available to us. A study of his sermons alerts us to arguably the greatest influences on him, remedying some mistakes made by previous biographers. A study of his sermons opens to us a better understanding of his character and circumstances, allowing a more balanced understanding of the man so that we are not polarised to see him just as the ‘Flogging Parson’ or as the ‘Apostle to the Māori’. His preaching shows that he is both of these and much in between.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (299 pages
Circuit model for single-energy-level trap centers in FETs
No full textA circuit implementation of a single-energy-level trap center in an FET is presented. When included in transistor models it explains the temperature-potential-dependent time constants seen in the circuit manifestations of charge trapping, being gate lag and drain overshoot. The implementation is suitable for both time-domain and harmonic-balance simulations. The proposed model is based on the Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) statistics of the trapping process. The results of isothermal pulse measurements performed on a GaN HEMT are presented. These measurement allow characterizing charge trapping in isolation from the effect of self-heating. These results are used to obtain the parameters of the proposed model.9 page(s
Halo detection via large-scale Bayesian inference
No full textWe present a proof-of-concept of a novel and fully Bayesian methodology designed to detect haloes of different masses in cosmological observations subject to noise and systematic uncertainties. Our methodology combines the previously published Bayesian large-scale structure inference algorithm, HAmiltonian Density Estimation and Sampling algorithm (hades), and a Bayesian chain rule (the Blackwell–Rao estimator), which we use to connect the inferred density field to the properties of dark matter haloes. To demonstrate the capability of our approach, we construct a realistic galaxy mock catalogue emulating the wide-area 6-degree Field Galaxy Survey, which has a median redshift of approximately 0.05. Application of hades to the catalogue provides us with accurately inferred three-dimensional density fields and corresponding quantification of uncertainties inherent to any cosmological observation. We then use a cosmological simulation to relate the amplitude of the density field to the probability of detecting a halo with mass above a specified threshold. With this information, we can sum over the hades density field realisations to construct maps of detection probabilities and demonstrate the validity of this approach within our mock scenario. We find that the probability of successful detection of haloes in the mock catalogue increases as a function of the signal to noise of the local galaxy observations. Our proposed methodology can easily be extended to account for more complex scientific questions and is a promising novel tool to analyse the cosmic large-scale structure in observations.16 page(s
A Picture of health? Animal use and the Faraday traditional medicine market, South Africa
No full textEthnopharmacological relevance The use of animals and plants as traditional remedies for both medical afflictions and social or cultural issues (symbolism) has a long history in South Africa and a reasonably large proportion of the population will consult a traditional healer during their life-time. Compared to plants, the use of animal parts in traditional medicine and folklore is poorly documented. Methods We interviewed 32 traders from South Africa's largest traditional medicine market, the Faraday Street market in Johannesburg, of which only 20 consented to supplying some species use information. Traders are particularly protective of the medicinal properties of their wares. Given the sensitive nature of this information (12 traders declined to be interviewed), we were only able to gather data on their perceived uses and no data on dosages, efficacy, or individual turn-over of products. We assessed the trade of animal parts from the perspective of consumer needs by analysing use-categories (e.g. headaches, strokes, skin problems, bad luck, etc.) and the degree of informant consensus in the selection of fauna to treat certain conditions. Results We documented 301 uses for animal parts from 52 species and 18 'morphospecies' that we allocated to 122 broad-use categories. Overall, reptiles and mammals were the most frequently used taxa in traditional medicine and some species had multiple uses (i.e., appeared in multiple use-categories) including crocodiles, lizards generally, chameleons, striped polecats, elephants and jackals. Animals were mostly used for 'strength' (physical or overcoming fear), but also as love charms, warding off bad luck or bad spirits or improving one's luck. Only 36% of our categories were medicinal (e.g., headaches, skin problems, swollen feet, etc.). We also found a high rate of non-disclosure of uses per species (a mean 86% of traders did not reveal information on the use of a species), and a variable degree of consensus between the traders on what particular species are actually used for. Conclusions We suggest that traditional medicine markets provide a unique opportunity to gauge the health and symbolic or personal issues representative of a large sector of society. What's more, we recommend that researchers be more mindful in the way that use information is reported. We also highlight the potentially serious threat of traditional medicine to species that may be particularly vulnerable by virtue of their restricted distribution or predictable behaviour.9 page(s
Associations between social competence, emotion regulation, language skills, and cultural orientations
No full textThesis by publication.Includes bibliographical references.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Social-emotional adjustment of Chinese immigrant children in Western countries -- Chapter 3. Bilingualism and development of social competence of English language learners : a review -- Chapter 4. Methods -- Chapter 5. Social competence and language skills in Mandarin-English bilingual preschoolers : moderation effect of emotion regulation -- Chapter 6. Social competence, cultural orientations and gender differences : a study of Mandarin-English bilingual preschoolers -- Chapter 7. Interpretation of errors made by Mandarin-speaking children on the Preschool Language Scales – 5th edition screening test -- Chapter 8. Relationships between proficiency with grammatical morphemes and emotion regulation : a study of Mandarin-English preschoolers -- Chapter 9. Conclusion.Social competence is important to preschool children because it is closely related to their social adjustment and taken as a fundamental element of their school readiness. To date, no studies have examined social competence of Mandarin-English bilingual preschoolers from the perspectives of emotion regulation, language skills and cultural orientations. This PhD project was designed to address these issues. The project includes a major study (Study 1) and a smaller-scale study (Study 2) conducted two years after Study 1.Study 1 was designed to investigate how emotion regulation, language skills, and cultural orientations were associated with social competence. Ninety-six children who spoke Mandarin at home and aged between 36 and 69 months were recruited from 15 childcare centres in northwest Sydney. Social competence was measured by teachers’ reports on the Behaviour Assessment System for Children - second edition (BASC-2) with four composites: Externalizing, Internalizing, Behavioural Symptoms and Adaptive Skills. Positive Emotion Regulation and Emotion Dysregulation were measured using the Disappointing Gift (DG) task and teacher report on the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC). Mandarin and English language skills were measured with standardised language tests. Host and heritage cultural orientations were measured with modified General Ethnicity Questionnaires. The results indicate Positive Emotion Regulation, Emotion Dysregulation, and English skills were associated with social competence. In addition, Positive Emotion Regulation buffered the effects of limited English proficiency on Behavioural Symptoms but Emotion Dysregulation reduced the effects of English skills on Adaptive Skills. Host culture orientation was negatively associated with Internalizing, Behavioural Symptoms and positively with Adaptive Skills. Associations between host cultural orientation and social competence were stronger in girls than in boys. Heritage cultural orientation was not associated with any composite of the BASC-2 either in the overall sample or by gender.Study 2 was designed to examine how proficient Mandarin-speaking children were in English morphemes of plurals and tense and whether positive emotion regulation was positively associated with proficiency in the morphemes. It is important to conduct such an investigation because findings have the potential to provide suggestions for morpheme learning and improving emotion regulation abilities. Eighteen children aged 48-64 months were recruited from seven childcare centres in northwest Sydney. Elicitation was used to test proficiency in plurals and tense. Positive emotion regulation was assessed by the ERC and the DG. The results show that plurals and tense presented great difficulties to the participants and positive emotion regulation measured by the ERC was positively associated with tense scores.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (286 pages) diagrams, table
The lost discourses of international economic rights: a critical approach to the construction of human rights
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 271-294.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. A theoretical understanding of hegemony and world orders -- Chapter 3. The historical lineage of twentieth century rights discourse -- Chapter 4. Human rights, the US, and international activism:1941–1962 -- Chapter 5. International human rights activism between 1963 and1976 : the escalation of concurrent social forces -- Chapter 6. Economic rights and the presidency of Jimmy Carter -- Chapter 7. The legacy of Carter's human rights doctrine -- Chapter 8. Conclusion.In the epoch of globalizing capitalism, has the exclusion of economic rights from the hegemonic definition of human rights been the natural result of the progression of liberalism, or has it been due to a more complex interaction between social forces and economic structures? Anchored by a Gramscian understanding of historical blocs, this thesis traces the history of ‘rights’ discours efrom the exclusionary ‘rights of man’ of the colonial period, to the ‘human rights’ under international law at the opening of pax americana, and the upheaval of pax americana’s decline. The dialectical relationship between ideas, material conditions and institutions in the formation of historical structures, developed by Robert W Cox, provides a methodological framework for this study. Taking a historical materialist approach to historical structures, this thesis argues that the post-coldwar human rights doctrine has its roots in the 1970’s.This thesis explores the challenges to material, ideological and institutional hegemony of the United States in the 1970’s, orienting human rights activism at the United Nations, including the call for the New International Economic Order and Resolution 32/130 of 1977, within this paradigm. It argues that the Carter administration, constrained by the prevailing structures, used the agency within those constraints to transform US human rights policy. That transformation promoted civil and political rights as ‘human’ rights, and relegated economic rights to a ‘basic needs’ approach. Carter's human rights policy was shaped, in part, in response to the Non-Aligned Movement - both in its diplomatic role, and its deliberate definition of human rights. This thesis works to situate the human rights doctrine within the transition from pax americana to ‘hyperliberalism’, conceptualising human rights as a political and socio-cultural project, necessarily bound to the economic, and compatible with the universalising hegemony of transnational capital.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (viii, 294 pages
Social cognition and relational aggression: an investigation of the cognitive bases of preschoolers' aggressive behaviour
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 208-240.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Study of aggression -- Chapter 3. Relational aggression in young children -- Chapter 4. Factors that influe4nce relational aggression -- Chapter 5. Methodological approach -- Chapter 6. Study One. Teacher and parent beliefs about aggression -- Chapter 7. Study Two. Preschool children’s use of aggression and socio-psychological wellbeing factors -- Chapter 8. Study Three. Understanding the intentionality and function of young children’s aggressive behaviour -- Chapter 9. Study Four. Children’s normative beliefs and behavioural responses to aggression -- Chapter 10. Discussion and implications.Young children’s social cognitive understanding of aggression and reasons for engaging in aggressive behaviour are often overlooked in aggression research. It is often assumed that preschool age children do not have the cognitive capacity to explain or justify their behaviour and there remains a paucity of appropriate measures of young children’s social cognitive understanding of aggression. The aim of this study was to address preschool age children’s use of relational aggression and the social cognitive processes that may underlie these behaviours through the development of a ‘preschooler-friendly’ measure with a view to understanding the reasons why children engage in aggression, as well as children’s normative beliefs about, and behavioural responses to, relational and physical provocation. The study also assessed teacher and parent normative beliefs about, and intervention responses for different types of aggression to determine the relationship between children’s cognitive processing and ecological factors. This study aimed to extend research by examining the socio-psychological factors of relationally and physically aggressive children in an Australian sample.A representative sample of preschool age children (N = 68) participated in this study, yielding two subgroups compromising highly relationally aggressive (n = 9) and typically developing (n = 7) children. The identification of two subgroups allowed for differences in relationally aggressive and typically developing children’s social cognitive processing to be examined. This study found that relational aggression was viewed as more acceptable by teachers and parents compared to physical aggression and these normative beliefs were accompanied by more passive intervention strategies in response to relational aggression. Relational and physical aggression predicted both functionally adaptive and maladaptive socio-psychological factors in this sample of preschool age children. The newly developed measure was able to identify differences in the social cognitive explanations and responses to provocation of relationally aggressive and typically developing children. Highly relationally aggressive children were more likely to recommend prosocial problem solving responses and have higher quality social interactions with peers and adults, whereas typically developing children recommended typical aggressive responses to provocation. The significance of these results for understanding the development of aggression and implications for early school based interventions are discussed.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xii, 295 pages) graphs, table