This and the next few blogs on the topic of our dealings with ecosystems are longer than usual and are probably only for ecologists and environmental managers. They get complicated in places so to quote my favourite blogger (Roger Cicala) “Warning; these are Geek Level 3 blogs”. To many ecologists these will be controversial. Continue reading
By Dr Tomas Holderness & Dr Etienne Turpin
The early June release of the PetaJakarta.org White Paper marked the end of the first phase of the ground breaking research program. Continue reading
I first came across the idea of distributed infrastructure systems when we began planning the CSIRO Australia Energy Flagship in 2001-2. The full flowering of these innovations has taken more than a decade to come to fruition and, even now, for reasons I shall discuss, not all aspects of the concept have been implemented in energy networks around the world. Nevertheless, despite impediments, the basic concept is emerging rapidly. Continue reading
In a series of books and papers Andreas Wagner has explored the basis of the robustness of living organisms: his discoveries have been breaking new ground. In books like Robustness and evolvability of living systems (2005), and The arrival of the fittest (2015), he has shown how living organisms depend for their survival on genetic and metabolic networks which possess modularity and distributed robustness. Continue reading
By Associate Professor Rodney Clarke
All major approaches used to analyse tweets (statistical and machine learning) proceed from the segmentation and classification of lexical items (words). An alternative approach involving computer-based grammars is rarely used because they do not scale well to the dimensions necessary for the analysis of PetaJakarta tweet traffic. All current approaches are syntactic and asemantic. They are incapable of addressing questions concerning how citizens are actually using social media platforms during emergencies because they are incapable of explaining how language is structured for use. Continue reading
By Research Fellow Nagesh Shukla
Diabetes is spreading all around the world as an unprecedented epidemic. According to a report from International Diabetes Federation, in 2011, 366 million people had diabetes and by 2030 this will have risen to 552 million (8.3% compared to 9.9% of the adult population, respectively). Continue reading
By Honorary Professorial Fellow Les Hosking
Everyday there are references in the print, electronic and social media regarding fossil fuels, renewable energy, carbon abatement, climate change, environmental effects, energy prices and the many impacts associated with these important topics. As a very simple overview of the dichotomy of opinions on these issues, there exists a fundamental debate as to why, how, when and at what cost should Australia respond by doing anything, or lead, or follow the world in transitioning from energy sourced from fossil fuel to energy sourced from renewable and sustainable energy sources. Continue reading
As Dr Nick Winder has pointed out, since the 1970s we have found ourselves more and more having to comprehend and deal with recursive, open, non-stationary and evolving entities that we have come to call systems or “systems of systems.” Continue reading
Australia had a bonanza of major reports handed down in the past week commissioned by the Federal government on the challenges and opportunities for the nation to retain its position as one of the most liveable places on earth. Continue reading
By Professor John Sören Petersson
In today’s world with ever more systems and services constantly released, designing human-machine interaction is a must. The problem with interaction design is not that we are not good at interaction. Social skills vary across individuals, but seeing two strangers, possibly even without a mutual language, making up a mutual understanding step-by-step clearly indicates the human ability to interact and thus to shape interaction. Continue reading
