16,708 research outputs found
Service-oriented models for audiovisual content storage
No full textWhat are the important topics to understand if involved with storage services to hold digital audiovisual content? This report takes a look at how content is created and moves into and out of storage; the storage service value networks and architectures found now and expected in the future; what sort of data transfer is expected to and from an audiovisual archive; what transfer protocols to use; and a summary of security and interface issues
Dimensionality Reduction for the Purposes of Automatic Pattern Classification
No full textPattern classification is a common technique used in a variety of applications. From simple tasks, such as password acceptance, to more complex tasks, such as identication by biometrics, speech recognition, and text recognition. As a result, a large number of pattern classification algorithms have emerged, allowing computers to perform these tasks. However, these techniques become less eective when excessive data on a given object is provided in comparison to the number of samples required to train. As a result, much research has been placed in nding ecient methods of reducing the dimensionality of the data while maintaining maximum classification accuracy.
Dimensionality reduction aims to maximize the spread between samples of dierent classes, and mimimumize the spread between samples of the same class. A variety of methods aiming to do this have been reported in the literature. The most common methods of dimensionality reduction are Linear Discriminant Analysis and its variants. These typically focus on the spread of all the data, without regard to how spread out sections of the data already are. Few methods disregard the spread of data that is already
spread out, but these are not so commonly accepted. While the classication accuracy is often better using these techniques, the computational time is often a large obstacle.
This thesis will investigate several methods of dimensionality reduction, and then discuss algorithms to improve upon the existing algorithms. These algorithms utilize techniques that can be implemented on any hardware, making them suitable for any form of hardware.Thesis (Masters)Master of Philosophy (MPhil)School of Microelectronic EngineeringScience, Environment, Engineering and TechnologyFull Tex
From Primordialism to Peace Journalism: Lessons from Reporting Transitional Violence in Indonesia from the Late New Order to Early Reformasi
No full textSince the fall of Communism, ethno-religious violence and ‘ethnic cleansing’ have become mainstay of news media reporting. Self-critical journalists increasingly question their professional role in exacerbating violent disintegration and ask how they can do journalism to assist the peaceful resolution of conflict.
Due to its own difficult journey to nationhood, fear of a disintegrating state has been central to Indonesia’s political development and something of a national pathology. This was particularly apparent during the political crisis in the late 1990s when the historical repression and manipulation of ethnic and religious difference returned to haunt the state at its moment of weakness. The communal bloodletting was most intense in its eastern periphery where the politically marginal, economically neglected province of Maluku exploded in religious hatred and war.
Communal enmity was poorly explained by the national print media centred in Jakarta. Focusing on the underlying political dynamics that triggered and prolonged group violence was mostly avoided. So the story of the Maluku conflagration became either an anodyne description of official views, without immediacy, depth, complexity and human context; or newspapers funnelled ‘primordialist’ war rhetoric from militants to their national audiences.
The disquiet Indonesian journalists felt at being professional chroniclers of their homeland’s violent disintegration or unwitting facilitators of its collapse has led to a re-thinking of professional responsibility and an ethical movement known as ‘peace journalism’. This thesis explores the political origins and production of ‘primordialism’ in media narratives on Maluku to understand the opportunities for and most effective trajectories of peace journalism in Indonesia.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School of HumanitiesArts, Education and LawFull Tex
Life-History Traits and the Functional Diversity of Australian Freshwater Fish
No full textAustralian freshwaters are home to approximately 256 fish species from 36 families, many of which are endemic to the country and considered threatened, vulnerable or rare in the wild. In part this is due to a long history of continental isolation where increasing aridity and flow unpredictability have given rise to a fish fauna characterised by a unique association of life-history traits (i.e. characteristics of an organism that contribute to its fitness or performance, and which allow it to function in the environment) in order to cope with natural variation in environmental seasonality, stability and predictability. My thesis presents an assessment of life- history traits and the functional diversity (the range and value of organismal characteristics) of Australian freshwater fish at multiple spatial scales (i.e. continental, river basin, catchment and population scales), with an emphasis on phylogenetic relationships, environmental determinants and conservation biology.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Griffith School of EnvironmentScience, Environment, Engineering and TechnologyFull Tex
John Howard delivers inaugural Asia Lecture
No full textThe former Prime Minister delivered a compelling analysis in an hour-long speech at the Queensland Conservatorium in the first Asia Lecture hosted by the Griffith Asia Institute. Author Stephen O\u27Grady reviewed a speech by the Honourable John Howard OM AC at Griffith University. 
The Chamber Music Pianist: An Exploration of the Skills Required by Pianists Working in Small Ensembles
No full textThis document is submitted in conjunction with a creative portfolio of audio recordings for the Doctorate of Musical Arts program at Griffith University. An analysis of chamber music production from a practicing pianist’s perspective is at the core of this research. From a personalised viewpoint it explores the unique set of skills that a chamber music pianist calls upon for their work, specifically those distinct from the pianist in the role of soloist or accompanist. This practice-led project combines self-reflexive writing with data drawn from semi-structured interviews with fourteen international professional pianists. Overall, this research was driven by a desire to induce appreciation of the complex and demanding occupation of the chamber music pianist and the skills required to master this role. It aims to add to the currently limited information available on the subject and demonstrate why focused, distinct study of the skills needed for the preparing, rehearsing and performing of chamber music should be seen as an indispensable part of any pianist’s education.Thesis (Professional Doctorate)Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)Queensland ConservatoriumArts, Education and LawFull Tex
Segregation Land Law and Post-Apartheid Land Reform in South Africa
No full textScope of the work and sequence of material
The published worksl and additional work2 deal with the following topics and
themes under the subject of apartheid land law and reform:-
• The legal historical antecedents of racial segregation land law;
• The development of modern apartheid land legislation from 1910 to the
1980's;
• A descriptive model to explain the complexities of apartheid land law as it
existed by 1990;
• An analysis and discussion of the major issues for post-apartheid land reform,
and the dilemmas inherent in the choices;
• An examination and critique of the land-related claims in the predominant
political manifesto of the major liberation movement (the Freedom Charter of
the African National Congress);
• A critique of land reform solutions proposed by prominent social scientists in
South Africa;
• An assessment of developments in land affairs in the period immediately
prior to the advent of rapid political change from about 1991 until the
elections in 1994;
• An appraisal of the issues and themes in South African land reform from a
comparative perspective, with particular emphasis on land reform in Latin
America;
• An analysis of post-apartheid land reform to date, with emphasis on (1) the
role of law in land reform and (2) the role of land in social reconstruction.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy by Publication (PhD)Griffith Law SchoolArts, Education and LawFull Tex
Interpreting the Feeding Ecology of Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whales through Biochemical Assessment
No full textSouthern hemisphere humpback whales are high-fidelity krill predators relying on high Antarctic krill biomass to survive and undergo successful reproduction. During the austral summer, humpback whales consume large quantities of krill and build up their blubber reserves. The rest of the year is spent migrating to temperate waters and back while relying on accumulated energy reserves. This expected reliance on Antarctic krill underpins our understanding of Southern hemisphere humpback populations. Their Northern hemisphere counterparts are however known to be more flexible in their feeding habits, and recent work has shown that the Southern hemisphere populations are capable of a certain feeding plasticity, with multiple visual reports of supplementary feeding during the migration, and evidence of anomalous feeding observed in baleen plates. Due to the dependency of Antarctic krill on sea-ice duration and extent for its larval recruitment, the entire Antarctic sea-ice ecosystem is expected to destabilise in a changing climate. The resulting effects on high-fidelity krill predators, such as humpback whales, are unknown. Detailed, long-term information regarding current and past diet, migration and metabolism of humpback whales are needed to successfully assess possible trophodynamic variability, and to differentiate between the natural feeding plasticity of this species and population responses to climate driven environmental change. This thesis aims to evaluate whether Australian humpback whale populations display feeding plasticity in their prey choice and/ or feeding locations.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Griffith School of EnvironmentScience, Environment, Engineering and TechnologyFull Tex
Phase Spectrum Based Speech Processing and Spectral Energy Estimation for Robust Speech Recognition
No full textSpeech is the dominant mode of communication between humans; simple to learn, easy to use and integral for modern life. Given the importance of speech, development of a human-machine speech interface has been greatly anticipated. This challenging task is encapsulated in the digital speech processing research field. In this dissertation, two specific areas of research are considered: 1) the use of short-time Fourier spectral phase in digital speech processing and 2) use of the minimum mean square error spectral energy estimator for environment-robust automatic speech recognition. In speech processing and modelling, the short-time Fourier spectral phase has been considered of minor importance. This is because classic psychoacoustic experiments have shown speech intelligibility to be closely related to short-time Fourier spectral magnitude. Given this result, it is unsurprising that the majority of speech processing literature has involved exploitation of the short-time magnitude spectrum. Despite this, recent studies have shown useful information can be extracted from the spectral phase of speech. As a result, it is now known that spectral phase possesses much of the same intelligibility information as spectral magnitude. It is this avenue of research that is explored in greater detail within this dissertation. In particular, we investigate two phase derived quantities – the short-time instantaneous frequency spectrum and the short-time group delay spectrum. The properties of both spectra are investigated mathematically and empirically, identifying the relationship between known speech features and the underlying phase spectrum. We continue the investigation by examining two related quantities – the instantaneous frequency deviation and the group delay deviation. As a result of this research, two novel phase-based spectral representations are proposed, both of which show a high degree information applicable to speech processing.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Griffith School of EngineeringScience, Environment, Engineering and TechnologyFull Tex
Thermal and Habitat Characteristics of a Headwater Fish Species: Predicting Population Success Under Climate Change
No full textStreams are becoming increasingly fragmented by anthropogenic impacts related to altered thermal and hydrological regimes, dispersal barriers, land-use, introductions of non-native fish, habitat degradation, and altered disturbance regimes. Furthermore, relatively little is known about the ecology and spatio-temporal dynamics of a large proportion of freshwater fish populations and assemblages, making their conservation challenging. The general goal of my research was to improve ecological understanding of the drivers of fish distribution in upland streams, using the threatened Northern river blackfish (Gadopsis marmoratus - hereinafter blackfish) in the upper Condamine River and Spring Creek tributaries in Queensland, as a case study. While blackfish are still widespread throughout the Murray Darling Basin, anecdotal evidence suggests that historically, they were widely distributed throughout the entire upper catchment of the
Condamine River, extending into the lowlands. In addition, results from contemporary research suggests that these fish may now be restricted to headwaters and tributaries. The aim of my research was to identify the variables that influence blackfish distribution in this upland system. More specifically, I tested the hypothesis that these fish are thermally restricted to their current habitat range. I asked whether there are different processes governing their occurrence versus abundance, and whether these vary between life-stages. In addition to examining static population structure I also examined the environmental determinants of juvenile recruitment in this system, and examined the spatial scales at which these take place.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Griffith School of EnvironmentScience, Environment, Engineering and TechnologyFull Tex
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