Monumental Amnesia: Reading the Spatial Narratives Written by Contemporary Urban Landscapes This thesis analyses the spatial stories inscribed into urban landscapes by monuments. Differentiating between officially sanctioned, symbolic, and everyday monuments, this thesis theorises the narratological space composed by these objects: static, imagined and transitional, respectively. It argues that monumental sites are spaces of forgetting, rather than remembering, characterised through invisibility, opacity and mystification. Infused with paradox, monuments simultaneously reveal and conceal the histories and urban memories they are expected to commemorate. The discussion then turns to contemporary art, in particular memory installations, as a practice that counters the mystification inherent within urban space, actively exposing alternative pasts and memories. The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first analyses the contemporary, officially sanctioned monuments of Vilnius, Lithuania that celebrate an ancient nationalism, alongside two neighboring sculpture parks that display retired Soviet icons, with a particular focus on Gintaris Karosas?? sculpture Infotree LNK. The second chapter theorises symbolic monuments, and focuses on the Japanese theme park Tobu World Square as a curiosity cabinet where the contemporary spatial practice, identified by Anthony Giddens, of ??disembedding?? is performed in miniature. It concludes with a discussion of Susan Norrie??s DVD installation of the park ENOLA. The third chapter examines everyday monuments, focusing on the industrial ruins of Manchester to unravel the archival aspects of these monuments and their gentrification. It closes with a study of Cornelia Parker??s installation Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View. Through these urban case studies and accompanying memory installations, the thesis explores how urban monuments disguise certain histories and memories of a city, and how art can reclaim alternative stories and memories from urban amnesia.

Statistics computation over data streams is often required by many applications, including processing of relational type queries, data mining and high speed network management. Among various s tatistics, order statistics computation is one of the most challenging, and is employed in many real applications, such as web ranking aggregation and log mining, sensor data analysis, trends and fleeting opportunities detection in stock markets and load balanced data partitioning for distributed computation. In this thesis, we investige three important problems in computing order statistics over data streams: 1. Computing rank queries over data streams with relative error guarantee. 2. Computing rank queries over data streams with duplication. 3. Computing top-k ranked queries on the sliding window. We first consider the problem of continuously maintaining order sketches over data streams with a relative rank error guarantee ε. Two space-efficient and onescan randomised algorithms are developed. And they are immediately applicable to approximately compute quantiles over data stream with relative error guarantee ε and significantly improve the space bound of previous work. In many real applications including data streams, data elements may be observed and recorded multiple times. Without uniqueness assumption on observed data elements, many conventional statistics computation problems need to be reinvestigated. To address the problem of order statistics computation against data streams with duplicate, we develop a novel, space-efficient one scan theoretical framework, based on an existing technique for counting distinct elements, to continuously maintain sketches so that rank-based queries can be approximately processed with a relative error guarantee ε. Moreover, we also propose two timeefficient algorithms. Finally, we study the problem of computing top-k ranked queries over the sliding window. Based on the observation that the K-Skyband of the elements is the minimal candidate set for the top-k ranked queries with arbitrary monotone preference functions where k ≤ K, we develop novel algorithms to continuously maintain the K-Skyband over the sliding window. Efficient query algorithm is presented to support the massive top-k ranked queries in real time.

Touch, as it is conventionally conceived, appears to be lacking in Japanese intimate relationships. Physical or visible forms of intimate touch are generally relegated to particular body practices or contexts such as co-bathing and co-sleeping, and are usually uncharacteristic of everyday experiences of intimacy. Instead, Japanese relationships are commonly defined in terms of subtle forms of communication, such as ishin denshin (heart-to-heart communication) and ittaikan (feelings of oneness), where feelings are expected to be inferred. However, it is unclear as to how such forms manifest feelings of closeness in the first place. This study opens up these feelings of closeness through exploring the embodied experience and tangible connection in the intimate spaces of the Japanese family. It describes a relational experience of space, depth and touch that is beyond the scope of conventional theories of the body. Drawing on Japanese sociologies of the body as well as other sociological tools that are relevant to everyday Japanese experiences, this study also offers universal contributions to the understandings of how touch can exist as a manifestation of intimacy. The first part of the thesis introduces the reader to the critical concepts and theories driving the study. The key ideas and understandings of Japanese relationships are also considered, leading to the suggestion that a conceptual understanding of embodiment will add to such literature. Part One concludes with a specific investigation of my field research on intimacy in Japan. The second part of the thesis explores how skinship (intimacy through touch) exists and feels in Japanese parent-child and marital relationships. A theory of touch is developed, via Japanese relationships, which is not restricted to physical or visible forms of touch. Described as touching at depth, this theory explores alternative ways of understanding experiences of intimacy that are not necessarily linked to tactile feeling or spatial closeness. Although bodily forms of touch exist in some relationships, other relational states become significant to feelings of connectedness, particularly as the child grows older. The third part of the thesis explores this shift, along with how the Japanese child adapts to the world, when their initial ways of touching no longer exist. Emphasis here is not just on primary 'home‘ relationships, but also on teacher-child relationships, and the way familial relationships shift as the child moves back and forth between the home and world. It becomes clear in Part Three that touch becomes felt differently as the child grows older and feels their significance and connection with the world in more encompassing ways.

The Quaternary megafauna of Southeast Asia are among the world’s poorest known. Throughout the Pleistocene, continental collisions, active volcanic systems and fluctuations in sea level have had dramatic effects on the region's geography, from southern China to Indonesia. Many Southeast Asian megafauna experienced geographical range reduction or complete extinction during that interval. This thesis explores the relative influence of environmental change and human interaction in these extinctions. There is currently no direct evidence to suggest that humans had a negative impact on Southeast Asian megafauna until the Holocene. Rather, extinctions and geographical range reduction experienced by megafauna are likely to have resulted from of loss of suitable habitats, in particular the loss of more open habitats. Environmental change throughout the Pleistocene of Southeast Asia is reconstructed on the basis of discriminant functions analysis of megafauna from twenty-seven Southeast Asian Quaternary sites, as well as Gongwangling, an early Pleistocene hominin site previously interpreted as paleoarctic. The discriminant functions were defined on the basis of species lists drawn from modern Asian nature reserves and national parks, and were analysed using both taxonomic and phylogeny-free variables. Biases present in these species lists were mitigated against using a range of multivariate techniques. The reconstructions show that Pleistocene environments in Southeast Asia varied from open (e.g. savannah), mixed (woodland) and closed (e.g. rainforest) habitats. Changes in habitats through time are likely to have been driven, at least in part, by changes in sea-level, in turn related to oscillations between glacial and interglacial conditions. The environmental changes associated with these oscillations are likely to have adversely affected many of Southeast Asia’s megafauna. The Toba super-eruption (~74kya) is unlikely to have been responsible for any of the megafauna extinctions of the Late Pleistocene.

This thesis is broadly concerned with the representation of the environment of a mobile robot and the modelling of its motion. An attempt has been made to address some issues of the laser scan matching for global self-localization and map building. Different methods for the interpretation of sensor information have been investigated. Mobile robots have many applications in transportation, surveillance, health care and mining etc. For a successful navigation, the representation of the environment is crucial. The robot environment interaction is very complex in practice. Many factors contribute to this complexity, such as the electromechanical hardware structure and complex controlling and navigational programming modules. Above all however, it is the environment itself which is usually very complex. The perception model is the most important component of the navigation system of a mobile robot, at the core of which is the representation of the environment. Environment parameters are difficult to model and simplistic models are used in various position estimation techniques. However, for true autonomous navigation, the environment should be represented in a more dense fashion and the interpretation should be straightforward. The robot interacts with its environment using sensors. The sensory information provides clues about the location of the robot but the interpretion of this information is very challenging. Some type of model or a mathematical description of the environment is required for any meaningful interpretation and for making critical navigational decisions when a new observation arrives. The second key component of a navigation system is a motion model. Due to structural and software complexity the behaviour of a robot is rarely repeatable under the same motion commands. This can be attributed to many factors such as slippage, wear and tear of wheels at different rates, floor conditions or obstacle negotiation strategies. This means that motion commands have an associated uncertainty and need statistical treatment. Similarly the processing of raw laser data, although highly desirable, is computationally very expensive and therefore we usually need to make a trade off and extract some features from this data, despite losing some of the information. In this thesis we investigated three core issues of motion modelling, perception (or observation) modelling and scan correlation. Some auxiliary issues have also been addressed, such as the extraction of features from laser data and a broader classification of the environment suitable for certain situations. In regard to environment representation, we used the geometrical form of representation and tried to extract some statistical formulation. This method suggests to capture the environment model in a statistical form before the start of navigation when the map is known. The detailed parametric representation of the environment is obtained along with a proposal for a laser scan matching method based on geometrical line and corner features. The geometrical representation is based on some features extracted from raw laser data. This is considered a compact and easily implementable form, which was one of the objectives of our research, however utilisation of all the sensory information is still desirable and we have also investigated this issue. The models have been tested thoroughly on simulations and with real data in laboratory and office-like indoor environments. Laser scan matching is a technique of position estimation based on matching two laser scans taken at the initial and final positions of the robot. We also presented a method to find out the degree of match between two laser scans. At the end of the thesis, the scan correlation has been used to find the most reliable landmarks in the environment. This approach filters out the nuisance landmarks which increase the size of matrices in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping algorithms. An improved computational efficiency was of primary concern and a main focus of this research. All the methods proposed in this thesis, such as feature extraction, broader classification, parametric formulation, line segment based scan matching and the scan matching for measurement updates address the computational issues in a fundamental way by using an appropriate formulation of the problem.

Folate is an important B vitamin in the daily diet. It is not known to what extent naturally occurring folates in the mixed diet is bioavailable. Knowledge on to what extent the natural folates are absorbed would be best studied in a population that is not exposed to any folate fortificant. The aim of the present study was to study the bioavailability of dietary 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) in a whole day??s mixed diet relative to supplemental 5-MTHF in a selected Indian population. A dietary survey (n=200) conducted in South India, revealed a mean total intake of folate of 277+ 92.3 μg/day (which is nearly 3 times higher than the current Indian Recommended Dietary Intake set to 100 μg/day) based on the actual analysis of foods collected from a typical diet using a trienzyme technique followed by the microbiological assay. Further, the individual folate forms present in the foods were also analysed using a newly developed Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry LC-MS/MS). Quantification of folates was performed using internal standards. Good linearity was observed between 2-100 ng/Injection (Injection volume-100 μL, R2: 0.98) that was suitable for analysis of foods (cereal, pulse, vegetables, milk based preparations and fruit) and blood samples (serum folate and erythrocyte folate) for use in bioavailability study. The folate intakes were reported to be higher (429+ 68.7 μg/day) when the individual foods from the diet were analysed using the LC-MS/MS technique when compared to the values generated using microbiological assay. LC-MS/MS analysis revealed that the Indian diets were predominant in 5-MTHF and the important sources being cereals, pulses and vegetables. 22 human volunteers, aged 18-25 years were recruited in India to study the bioavailability of 5-MTHF. A randomized trial (12 weeks) was designed, where the subjects consumed 400 g 5-MTHF/day in the form of as supplemental drink or an experimental diet (400 g/day) consisting predominantly 5-MTHF (90%). Relative bioavailability of 5-MTHF was calculated by comparing the responses to food folate in relation to supplemental 5-MTHF, as indicated by the biomarkers. The relative bioavailability of food folate predominant in 5-MTHF was 41% based on serum folate indicator and 47% based on erythrocyte folate status. A mean increase of 60% was observed in the erythrocyte folate levels of the subjects consuming diets predominant in 5-MTHF in 12 weeks. Diets predominant in 5-MTHF have a good potential in improving the folate status of the population.

The Transplanted Bush: Dislocation, Desire and the Domestic takes as its theme the idea of the Australian bush and seeks new ways to represent it within the traditions of Australian figurative landscape painting. The research identifies ways to disrupt the bush brand, a paradigm that has played a significant and romantic role in the construction of Australian national identity, as a rallying point for nationalist sentiment and to sell Australia to the world as a unique tourist destination. The bush, as a space that is anti-city, an idea that generally relies on a British genealogy, and one that is constructed according to hetero-normative strategies, is significant in the creation of Australian identity because it is widely regarded as the real Australia. Real in this context has somehow become distorted to mean those parts of our nation that make us distinct from the rest of the world, while continuing to reflect the values and aspirations of a dominant culture and its heroic history of colonising and domesticating a strange land. The overriding focus of this investigation has been to determine to what extent it is possible to reconceptualize the bush brand so that it can accommodate new themes of identity, particularly in relation to gender and sexuality. This research adopts the position that the bush is an idea that has relied heavily upon myths, legends and mono-cultural perspectives for its construction and, as a result, is open to negotiation. Consequently, this investigation takes place at the very heart of the bush paradigm, within its grand master narratives, by engaging with its symbols and signifiers. It reviews the ideological and representational role played by the traditional model of Australian figurative landscape painting, and considered how it can be reinvested with new signs, symbols, motifs, colours and ideas. By developing and introducing a new vocabulary of signs and symbols that erodes the distinctions between the bush, the urban and the domestic, this research disrupts the internal logic and coherence of the bush brand.

Do western management practices and beliefs and Chinese business practices complement or substitute each other in the emerging world of Chinese business? This thesis explores the interaction between two central ideas in western and Chinese thinking about the way business should be done ??? between the western emphasis on market orientation as the key to profitable growth, and the Chinese reliance on traditional networks embodied in the concept of guanxi. These two variables are embedded in a broader model of strategic decision making in order to identify moderating factors that may influence performance outcomes. Following pretests and in-depth interviews, in 2003 a sample of 152 businesses was drawn in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang area from two industries, the electronics industry and the textile/garment industry. Low response rates and a small sample were two important limiting factors. Two broad analytical approaches were used. The first made use of graphical smoothing methodology, an approach that facilitates the identification of complex non-linear interactions among the variables. The second used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) where a linear structure is imposed on the relationships among the variables, allowing simultaneous consideration of the full variable set together with an analysis of fit and measurement error, while the graphical smoothing non-linear method was effectively limited to three variables at a time. The graphical analysis suggested the existence of nonlinearities in many relationships, and found a positive interaction between guanxi and market orientation in influencing performance, and that both were in that sense complements rather than substitutes. The SEM analysis suggested that while there were some indirect links between guanxi, market orientation and performance, these were relatively weak, (although the use of guanxi with other managers was a factor in market orientation), and that the primary driver of performance was the strength of the competitive advantage possessed by the firm. This factor directly impacted market orientation, indirectly affected guanxi and accounted for much of the observed correlation between the two cultural variables, guanxi and market orientation, and performance.

From a regulatory point of view, the main objective of acute toxicity testing is to classify chemicals according to their intrinsic toxicity. This is conventionally conducted on the basis of the animal LD50 methods however, this test has been widely criticised. Moreover, conventional toxicity testing focuses on single chemicals and often human exposures are to more than one chemical. This research study had two main objectives. The first was to investigate the accuracy of selected in vitro tests for predicting the acute toxic action of chemicals in rodents and humans, and in predicting the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) categories. The second was to explore the relevance of in vitro tests in determining the nature of toxicological interactions (i.e. additive, antagonistic and synergistic) among binary and ternary chemical mixtures. A battery of cytotoxicity tests (MTS, NRU, LDH and ATP) assays were used to determine the toxicity of 21 chemicals spread across the GHS categories where mercuric chloride (GHS category 1) was the most toxic chemical and glycerol (GHS unclassified) the least toxic. Significant differences for the majority of test chemicals were found among all assays, highlighting the need for a battery of in vitro tests measuring different endpoints. The NRU assay was found to be a more sensitive measure of toxicity for most chemicals and predicted all of the GHS categories. In general, in vitro IC50 values correlated well with in vivo rodent (LD50); human acute toxicity (LDL0 and LC) data and published in vitro data. In addition, in vitro NOEC values correlated well with published TLV. Selected assays (MTS, NRU) were applied to binary (15) and ternary (5) chemical mixtures. Mixtures were prepared at mixture ratios proportional to the potency of individual components. Experimental data was used to assess the predictive capabilities of two approaches (mathematical model and concentration addition) commonly used by regulatory agencies which assume additive effect. However, all three interactions (antagonism, synergism and additivity) where observed in this study. These results suggest that these interactions cannot be excluded from toxicological risk assessments. The methods developed and information obtained from this study provide a comprehensive comparison between selected in vitro assays for assessing the toxicity of chemicals and their mixtures.

Successful implementation of any technology requires acceptance by the users. Numerous studies in the area of information technology acceptance, based on wellknown theories have been conducted to examine technology acceptance models and predict user adoption/acceptance behaviour. There are several studies dealing with patients??? acceptance of different telemedicine applications, but few about the patients??? acceptance of home telecare. Most existing studies are not based on a strong theoretical framework. In this study, based on an extensive literature review and preliminary qualitative data, a theoretical model of the effect of Home Telecare Management System (HTMS) characteristics and psychological variables associated with technophobia on patients??? acceptance of HTMS is proposed. The proposed model is an augmented Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of Davis (1986), which is called Home Telecare Management System acceptance model (HTMS-AM), in which TAM has been augmented by two constructs: HTMS anxiety and HTMS self-efficacy. The model is proposed to improve our understanding regarding patients??? acceptance of HTMS, which may lead to successful design and implementation of home telecare systems. In addition, it can be used as a theoretical basis to evaluate new generations of HTMS in terms of users acceptance in the early stage of their design and development even prior to implementation. In order to test the reliability and validity of the measures, video demonstrations of a home telecare system and demonstration of a system prototype to potential users was employed. To propose the HTMS-AM the following five stages were taken: 1. General well-known theoretical models of human behaviour from psychology and technology acceptance models from information technology were reviewed to create a basic template for the proposed model. 2. A preliminary study (focus group interviews, Chapter 5) was conducted to assess patients??? perceptions of HTMS. 3. Based on an extensive literature review and findings from preliminary qualitative studies, HTMS acceptance model was proposed, to improve our understanding about factors, which may affect patients??? intention to use HTMS. Several adaptations were applied in the model to be applicable in the HTMS context, such as augmenting the model with HTMS self-efficacy and HTMS anxiety constructs. 4. To measure the different psychological variables in the proposed model, valid and reliable measures from previous studies were used. However the preliminary study was used to develop measures, which did not exist in the literature. 5. These measures were tested in the final study. The subjects were patients who had been affected with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) and/or Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COPD). Given the chronic nature of these diseases, the necessity for extended monitoring and management and frequent admission to hospitals due to worsening health status, these patients were deemed the most appropriate candidates for the HTMS. Further studies with more cases need to be conducted to test the actual model in which the impact of HTMS characteristics, psychological and demographic factors associated with technophobia upon intention to use the HTMS and the correlation of these factors with each other in appropriate healthcare settings.