School of Computing Science

Twitter, a micro-blogging service, has been generating a large amount of data every minute as it gives people chance to express their thoughts and feelings quickly and clearly about any topics. To obtain the desired information from these available big data, it requires high-performance parallel computing tools along with machine learning algorithms' support. Emerging big data processing frameworks (e.g. Hadoop) can handle such big data effectively. In this paper, we, firstly introduce a novel approach to automatically classify Twitter data obtained from British Geological Survey (BGS), collected using some specific keywords such as landslide, landslides, mudslide, landfall, land-slip, soil sliding, based on tweet post date and the countries where tweets are posted using MapReduce algorithm. We then propose a model to distinguish the tweets if they are landslides-related using Na¨ıveNa¨ıve-Bayes machine learning algorithm with n-Grams language model on Mahout. This paper also describes an algorithm for the pre-processing steps to make the semi-structured Twitter text data ready for classification. The proposed methods are useful for the BGS and other interested people to be able to see the name and number of the countries where the tweets are sent, the number of tweets sent from each country, the dates and time intervals of the tweets, and to classify the tweets whether they are related to landslides.

In platelets, splicing and translation occur in the absence of a nucleus. However, the integrity and stability of mRNAs derived from megakaryocyte progenitor cells remain poorly quantified on a transcriptome-wide level. As circular RNAs (circRNAs) are resistant to degradation by exonucleases, their abundance relative to linear RNAs can be used as a surrogate marker for mRNA stability in the absence of transcription. Here we show that circRNAs are enriched in human platelets 17- to 188-fold relative to nucleated tissues and 14- to 26-fold relative to samples digested with RNAse R to selectively remove linear RNA. We compare RNAseq read depths inside and outside circRNAs to provide in silico evidence of transcript circularity, show that exons within circRNAs are enriched on average 12.7 times in platelets relative to nucleated tissues and identify 3162 genes significantly enriched for circRNAs, including some where all RNAseq reads appear to be derived from circular molecules. We also confirm that this is a feature of other anucleate cells through transcriptome sequencing of mature erythrocytes, demonstrate that circRNAs are not enriched in cultured megakaryocytes, and demonstrate that linear RNAs decay more rapidly than circRNAs in platelet preparations. Collectively, these results suggest that circulating platelets have lost >90% of their progenitor mRNAs and that translation in platelets occurs against the backdrop of a highly degraded transcriptome. Finally, we find that transcripts previously classified as products of reverse transcriptase template switching are both enriched in platelets and resistant to decay, countering the recent suggestion that up to 50% of rearranged RNAs are artifacts.

In this paper, we present a two-part study. The first part was a cultural appreciation study. Through this study, we explored the specific approach of cross-cultural aesthetic appreciation and mapped out the potential insights for a prototype design. In the second part, we carried out a design-led study. We designed a tablet application and conducted focus group studies to explore the interactive technology that assists in the support of cross-cultural audiences' aesthetic appreciation and engagement of traditional Chinese painting. Based on these findings, we went on to further explore an approach of interactive engagement which is specific to supporting cross-cultural appreciation, while also reflecting upon the interactive design suggestions for the development of aesthetic appreciation to offer various transferable insights to the Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) community.

This paper explores my research interests in the use of interactive digital media as an innovative platform for supporting transcultural understanding of intangible Chinese cultural heritage. Using traditional Chinese puppetry as my research subject, we aim to foster stronger transcultural appreciation of Chinese intangible culture, weakening the transcultural barriers to understanding and by engaging transcultural audiences more deeply in a critical reading of traditional Chinese cultures.

The interpretation and understanding of physical gestures play a significant role in various forms of art. Interactive technology and digital devices offer a plethora of opportunities for personal gesture-based experience and they assist in the creation of collaborative artwork. In this study, three prototypes for use with different digital devices (digital camera, PC camera, and Kinect) were designed. Subsequently, a series of workshops were conducted and in-depth interviews with participants from different cultural and occupational backgrounds. The latter were designed to explore how to specifically design personalised gesture-based expressions and how to engage the creativity of the participants in their gesture-based experiences. The findings indicated that, in terms of gesture-based interaction, the participants preferred to engage with the visual traces that were displayed at specific timings in multi-experience spaces. Their gesture-based interactions could effectively support non-verbal emotional expression. In addition, the participants were shown to be strongly inclined to combine their personal stories and emotions into their own gesture-based artworks. Based on the participants’ different cultural and occupational backgrounds, their artistic creation could be spontaneously formed.

The digital heritage sector has become a highly significant part of the development of cultural heritage. Cultural organisations are increasingly using interactive technology to support the understanding of cultural heritage. This research aims to provide an approach for digital cultural heritage researchers and digital museologists to establish an appropriate position within digital cultural heritage. In this paper, the authors have undertaken a qualitative evaluation of data based on interviews, workshops and fieldwork focusing on potential transcultural audiences, and Chinese/non- Chinese puppetry stakeholders. From these findings, the authors have presented several design suggestions for cultural preservation to surmount transcultural barriers.

From a perspective of safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, this paper discusses how to enhance the appreciation of traditional Chinese painting through the support of interactive technology. The author analyses extensive yet current case studies based on the findings from the interactive appreciation of and engagement with paintings. The author then summarises four aspects of how to design interactive technology in order to support the appreciation of and engagement with traditional Chinese paintings: (1) deepening the aesthetic understanding of traditional Chinese paintings should not be a neglected aspect during the design process; (2) current case studies have not considered distinguishing the user experience between professional artists and amateurs (who are unskilled at painting); (3) it is vital to exploit interactive technology to improve the originality and subtlety of traditional Chinese painting; and (4) employing interactive systems to engage users in participatory appreciation (through encouraging them to talk about art or discussing their understanding of it) could provide potential design insights for future studies.

In this paper we explore possible negative drawbacks in the use of wearable sensors, i.e., wearable devices used to detect different kinds of activity, e.g., from step and calories counting to heart rate and sleep monitoring. These technologies, which in the latter years witnessed a rapid development in terms of accuracy and diffusion, are now available on different platforms at reasonable prices and can lead to an healthier behavior in people using them. Nevertheless, we will try to investigate possibly harming behaviors related to these devices. We will provide different scenarios in which wearable sensors, in connection with social media, data mining, or other technologies, could prove harmful for their users.