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IIMS NEWS November – December 2005

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Being the newsletter of The Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences

Assembled with care by Freda Mickisch with the vital assistance of Merrill Bowers, the contributors and readers

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Contents

From the Head of IIMS............................................................. 1 News of the people .................................................................... 3 IT support team responsibilities................................................ 5 Award for Massey University students ..................................... 5 Musical news............................................................................. 6 Dates in history ......................................................................... 6 Research news and views.......................................................... 7 Python: An introduction............................................................ 8 Research at IIMS..................................................................... 10 Music review ........................................................................... 12 Are you a true-blue New Zealander?...................................... 13 Hospital window ..................................................................... 14 Poetry corner .......................................................................... 14 Laughter lines ......................................................................... 15 People puzzle .......................................................................... 18 Caption contest ....................................................................... 19 Notices..................................................................................... 20

Thanks to all who have enriched our lives with contributions to the IIMS Newsletter 2005

Happy holidays

From the Head of IIMS

The year that was It has been quite a year for IIMS. We had six new staff arrivals: Alona Ben-Tal, Anil Malhotra, Tanya Evans, Fakhrul Alam, Napoleon Reyes, and Tony Norris. Three staff who have given great service to the Institute have retired: Den Pain, Sue Pritchard and Lorri O'Brien.

The 2005 IIMS Teaching Awards went to Yow-Tzong Yeh and Judy Le Heron, while Chris Scogings was voted Albany Lecturer of the Year by the Campus's students. The SECAT results for IIMS teachers were mostly of very high quality, and the effort put into, and the pride taken in, our teaching is evident.

Mick Roberts was promoted to Professor (in Mathematical Biology), Heath James and Winston Sweatman were promoted to Senior Lecturers, while M. Rashid and Chris Scogings were elevated to SL Range 2. Several others were accelerated in their respective ranges. Jeff Hunter graduated DSc, while Cynthia Wang


gained her PhD. Tong Liu has now completed all the requirements for her Masters degree: congratulations, Tong!

Dedication of staff to promotion of our disciplines was again evident at the Open Day. Thanks to Elena Calude, who spent a good deal of time cajoling, liaising and enabling staff and postgrads to show their wares. Elena also did a good deal of work to ensure that the subject brochures were produced on time and that they gave a "good look" for IIMS.

The conference activity "at home" was high. MISG 2005, IWMS'05 and the 2005 IIMS Postgraduate Conference were all very successful. Graeme Wake, Jeff Hunter and the Postgrads all did fine jobs organizing the meetings, while Nikki, Freda, Vanessa and Merrill provided countless hours of support.

Amanda Elvin took out the Aitken Prize for best student talk at the NZ Mathematics Colloquium, while Sharleen Harper received a commendation. Indeed, postgraduate activity is booming; Dennis Viehland, IIMS Postgraduate Coordinator, can take a good deal of credit for that.

The Marsden grant round produced an excellent result for Ian Bond and Winston Sweatman, who pulled in the largest grant of the 2005 round; Alona Ben-Tal and Beatrix Jones gained FastStart funding. In addition, IIMS researchers gained 6 MURF grants, as well as a smattering of TIF, MoH and FRST moneys. The PBRF has focused our attention on research activity, and those portfolios!

The IIMS News has gone from strength to strength, thanks to the contributors, but mainly due to the enthusiasm and diligence of Freda Mickisch.

The infrastructural support that the IT group provide to us all is essential to an IT & computer-oriented institute such as ours, and their skills and diligence are much appreciated. Anil and his "gang" of Samir, James and Stephen have divided their various duties into a set of roles which are listed elsewhere in this issue, and which will make it easier to know whom to contact for what.

Some in the Institute have done their part to ensure that life goes on. Congratulations once again to Megan and Tony Richardson, Heath James and Christie, and Vanessa Harris and Michael for the production of James, Cooper

and Isaac respectively. It must be the "IIMS Year of the Boy"!

Our End of Year/Christmas Lunch was a great event. The mixing (not matching) of diners was an inspired move and produced new conversations at high decibel levels. Well done, and thanks to Nikki and Merrill, who spent a good deal of time getting it organized.

In particular, I pay tribute to Merrill, who brings such a broad palette of professional skills (including patience) to helping to ensure that the Institute runs well. There are few who could match her breadth of ability to run the administration, financial oversight, recruitment, personal well-being, social, and many other aspects of an Institute like ours which contains staff and students with such a wide variety of abilities, aspirations, interests and behaviours. She is a valuable colleague, and I personally appreciate her commonsense, unfailing good humour, and willingness to make sure my feet are kept firmly on the ground.

Staff news Comings and goings

* Welcome to Professor Tony Norris, who has now taken up the Chair in Information System. Tony's study is QA2.20. Tony is now taking over the role of Discipline Leader for Information Systems. I thank Dave Parsons who has undertaken this duty for the last year. I know that Dave will be a great help to Tony as he settles into his new position (and that Dave will be pleased to share!).

* Guan Yue Hong has now returned after a year away in Singapore: welcome back, Guan Yue!

* Welcome to several Summer Scholars, who are helping with research activities during the next couple of months or so:

- Mathematics students Mark Olsen, Haydn Cooper and Qing Zhang are working with Gaven Martin and Tatiana Evans.

- Computer Science students Anton Gerdelan and Ravi Chemudugunta are working with Napoleon Reyes and André Barczak respectively.

- Information Systems students Sebastian Schröder and Joshua Newnham are working with Dave Parsons.

* Farewell to Dr Heng Huat Chan, who has been here in IIMS for most of the year working with Shaun Cooper, has now returned to Singapore.


We wish you well, Heng Huat, and thank you for your contributions to the life and well-being of IIMS and the Mathematics enterprise here.

* Dr Mark Harmer, who has spent the last year with IIMS working with Gaven Martin as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Mathematics, will be leaving in late January to take up a research position in Canberra. Thanks for your company, Mark. In particular, thanks for all the help you have provided to postgraduate students. You are a good example to them.

* In February, the two new Senior Lecturers in Information Systems, Dr Rosemary Stockdale and Dr Brian Whitworth, will arrive to take up their appointments.

A new Centre

* Congratulations to Rezaul Hasan, who is the proud Director of a new research center based in IIMS:

- Centre for Research in Analogue & VLSI MicrosystEm Design (to be shortly and affectionately known as CRAVE)

CRAVE already has some funding from our DVC, Professor John Raine, and the Centre will be a great launching pad for research funding applications. Well done, Rezaul.

And 2006 is now so close! Take pride in the good parts of 2005. Try not to regret the bad bits; instead, determine to make 2006 a good year. Optimism is infectious.

I wish everyone happy times during your Christmas celebrations and (take your pick) a relaxing and/or stimulating New Year break. Look after yourself, your family and your friends. If you travel, do so safely. I look forward to next year with IIMS.

Robert McKibbin

News of the people by Merrill Bowers

Merrill Bowers collates this material on general news relating to IIMS people.

Vanessa and Michael Harris…

A big congratulations to Vanessa, Michael and Sebastian. Vanessa gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy on Friday 9 December 2005. His name is Isaac and he weighed a rather large 9 pound!!!

Everyone is doing great and Sebastian just loves his new baby brother and is covering him with lots of kisses!!!

Nikki Luke’s son shines…

Jackson (Nikki's son) last week won Sports person of the year for his touch rugby competition. He has been playing this term with his school team against 20 local primary schools. He was selected for this award from around 180 other touch players. He is very proud of himself as are his mum and John. Not a bad way to finish primary school before heading off to the new Albany Junior High.


Graeme and Elizabeth (Lil) Wake… celebrated their Ruby (40th) wedding in Eastbourne, Wellington on 11 December.. This is exactly where they were married while Graeme was a PhD student at VUW on 11 December 1965. Lil spent their honeymoon typing a first draft of Graeme's thesis (this was the pre-computer era remember)!! "Nothing much has changed in the last 40 years" says Lil..

IIMS Christmas Lunch… Merrill Bowers and Nikki Luke organised a great lunch for IIMS staff at Long Bay Restaurant, Long Bay, North Shore, Auckland on 15 December 2005. It was a very social time and enjoyed by all as the following photos tell…

Tuck-in time at Long Bay Restaurant

Deck-the-halls with… Nikki Luke did us proud with Christmas decorations for our IIMS Reception area this year. Just look…

Quad A CoS Administration staff, Michelle Herbert and Juna Pokhrel made sure that Quad A staff didn’t miss out on the spirit of the season with their decorations …


IT support team responsibilities Recently there have been some changes in the IT support team responsibilities. The details of the distribution of responsibilities in order to assist you to contact the appropriate IT consultant for your requirements, are given below.

Anil Malhotra, IT Support Manager

• Overall IT management and planning for IIMS

• Budgeting and procurement of hardware and software resources for IIMS

• Account control for IIMS computing budget • Technical planning and advice on IT

environment and centrally pooled resources • Co-ordination and planning for creation of

paper environments • Control user registration and access related

issues • Security and disaster recovery process for

IIMS • Co-ordination with ITS for IT Services

support to IIMS • Escalation of issues handled by IT

consultants

James Chai, IT Consultant

• Provide support for IIMS staff and PhD students located in QA Building

• Manage back up service for all IIMS staff and PhD students

• Administer the Helix cluster (MPI, PBS, PGI CDK)

• Administer the Sisters cluster (MPI, PBS, Matlab, Mathmatica, Maple)

• Administer the ims-alb-nt1 server (S_PLUS licence server)

• Administer the Java Server for Vodafone project

• Backup Administrator for Oracle Server • Back-up for Stephen, in his absence

Samir Bishay, IT Consultant

• Provide support for CE staff and all post doctoral fellows in IIMS Building

• Manage and support all IIMS Labs in IIMS building

• Support for Computer Engineering projects and postgraduate students

• Administer Oracle Server • Administer Opnet Server

• Backup to Stephen for support to Maths, Statistics and General Staff

• Backup for Anil

Stephen Ford, IT Consultant

• Provide support to Maths, Statistics and General Staff

• Administer Double Helix • Manage and develop the IIMS website • Support the development of IIMS web

technologies requirements (WebCT, www, etc)

• Manage MSDN software • Assist in creation and maintenance of paper

environments • Back-up for James or Samir, in their absence.

Award for Massey University students by Ellen Rose

Greentree International Awards Massey University Student Team a $500 Prize for the Best Jade Project Bruce Ge, Shaun Williams, Min Han and Tony Liu comprised the winning team in a competition sponsored by Greentree International Ltd. The students competed with other student groups in a postgraduate course on object-oriented software development, taught by Dr Ellen Rose, at the Massey University, Albany campus. The students used the Jade programming language and object-oriented database to implement their project design. The projects were judged on criteria that included the incorporation of recommended object-oriented design principles, fault tolerance, usability and creativity in producing an innovative solution.


From left to right: Bruce (Xiaoting) Ge, Stephen Sims (Director R&D, Greentree International), Ellen Rose (157.751 Course Coordinator), Min Han, Tony (Jiangtao) Liu and Shaun Williams.

Stephen Sims, Director of Research & Development for Greentree International Ltd. presented each student with a certificate and an award of cash for a job well done. Greentree International was recently recognised by Managing Information Strategies (MIS) Magazine, a leading IT management magazine, as a global top 25 ‘Rising Star’ as part of their annual Strategic 100 list of IT innovators. Greentree plans to continue this new relationship with Massey University and to run this student competition again next year.

Greentree International has built a powerful, easily customised, and cost-effective business system, “Greentree” by applying sound principles of object orientation. Their choice of Jade as a development platform has enhanced their ability to develop the Greentree business software in a rapid and robust manner. This directly translates to savings for their customers through deploying a single technology to license maintain and support.

Musical news by Peter Kay

David, our youngest son, who has been the chief testing officer for his father's music scoring program, and who will soon start testing the recent alpha release of the GUI version (muse) to destruction, has recently had his contract as fourth horn with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra renewed for a further year.

There are usually two or four horns on stage at any one time. However some pieces require an extra horn to assist the First (or Principal) horn – called the "bumper". Fourth horn sits on the far left of the horn section, as the audience views the stage. First horn sits on the right, but if there is a bumper, they will sit on the far right. The first horn plays the highest notes, and fourth horn the lowest, but the second and third horns do not necessarily follow in descending order. Mahler's great eighth Symphony, the "Symphony of a thousand" employs 8 horns.

It can be quite confusing who is who, even to the conductor! At the end of a piece, the conductor may well ask certain members of the orchestra to stand up to receive a special ovation

from the audience for a job well-done. Last year, after one particularly fine performance the conductor pointed at the fourth horn to stand, much to the amusement of the rest of the section.

David, who has been playing fourth horn or bumper horn this year, was a little disappointed that he was not required when a rather famous opera singer came to New Zealand recently, but decided that, rather than miss an opportunity to hear the great man in person, he would go and just sit in on the closed rehearsal. As the bumper horn has long periods of not playing, he assumed he would not be noticed, so taking his horn with him he sat quietly in the bumper seat, and found out what an interesting experience it is to have a world famous name making sure that the orchestra does exactly what he wants.

However the ruse didn't work exactly to plan. At one point in the practice all four horns played out in grand unison, and the orchestra was soon stopped. "If we have five horns, why aren't five horns playing?" and looking at David told him to play his horn!

David will now be able to tell his grandchildren the story of the day when Luciano Pavarotti invited him to "play your horn".

Dates in history by Chris Scogings

6th December 1917 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Thursday, 6th December 1917, dawned bright and clear in Halifax. World War I raged in Europe, and the port city was busy with the movement of war ships carrying troops, supplies and munitions. At about 8am that morning, the French ship Mont Blanc was heading up the harbour to moor, awaiting a convoy to accompany her across the Atlantic. A convoy was essential as this small, barely seaworthy vessel was carrying a full cargo of explosives. Stored in the holds, or simply stacked on deck, were 35 tons of benzol, 300 rounds of ammunition, 10 tons of gun cotton, 2,300 tons of picric acid (used in explosives) and 200 tons of TNT.

As the Mont Blanc headed towards the docks the Imo, a much larger and faster ship, was headed in the opposite direction towards the open sea. As they passed each other in a narrow section of


the harbour, due to a series of misread signals, the Imo turned and sliced into the side of the Mont Blanc. The impact cut a wedge in the Mont Blanc's side, struck a rain of sparks and started a fire.

The crew of the Mont Blanc, aware of their cargo, immediately took to the lifeboats, screaming warnings that no one heeded. They rowed away, leaving the now furiously burning ship to drift towards Halifax docks, propelled in that direction by the Imo's impact. The Mont Blanc drifted by a pier, brushing it and setting it ablaze. Members of the Halifax Fire Department responded quickly, and were positioning their engine next to the nearest hydrant when the Mont Blanc disintegrated in a blinding white flash, creating the biggest man-made explosion before the nuclear age. It was 9:05am.

Over 1,900 people were killed immediately and within a year the figure had climbed to well over 2,000. Around 9,000 more were injured, many permanently. 325 acres, almost all of north-end Halifax, were destroyed. Much of what was not immediately levelled burned to the ground, aided by winter stockpiles of coal in cellars. As for the Mont Blanc, all 3,000 tons of it were shattered into little pieces that were blasted far and wide. The barrel of one of the cannons landed over 5km away and part of the anchor weighing over half a ton flew 3km in the opposite direction. Windows shattered 80km away, and the shock wave was even felt in Cape Breton, 430km to the north-east.

There were about 20 minutes between the collision and the explosion at 9:05. It was enough time for spectators, including many children, to run to the waterfront to watch the ship burning, thus coming into close range. It was enough time for others to gather at windows, and thus an exceptionally large number of people were injured by flying glass and over 1,000 unfortunate survivors sustained eye damage. Not surprisingly, hospitals were unable to cope with so many wounded. There was also a desperate need for housing, and the misery was compounded by the blizzard that struck the city the following day, dumping 40cm of snow over the ruins.

Relief efforts were soon set in motion and money poured in from as far away as China and New Zealand. The Canadian government gave $18 million, the British government almost $5 million, but most Halifax citizens remember the generosity of the state of Massachusetts, which donated $750,000 in money and goods and gave

unstintingly in volunteer assistance through the Massachusetts-Halifax Relief Committee. To this day, Halifax sends an annual Christmas tree to the city of Boston in gratitude.

Gradually, Halifax was put back together, though nothing could compensate for lost lives. Within two months over 1,500 victims had been buried, some unidentified. The remaining victims were discovered only in the spring as excavation was made easier. A relief committee was set up to provide clothing, money and furniture, and this committee existed for almost 59 years. There are still a few survivors of the blast receiving pensions from the Relief Committee's fund.

Three thousand houses were repaired in the first seven weeks and, in January, temporary apartments were being constructed at the rate of one every hour. Rebuilding continued apace, and a few months later, construction started on 328 houses in the area bordered by Young, Agricola, Duffus and Gottingen Streets. These houses were built from cement blocks known as hydrostones, and (with a design unusually forward-thinking for the time) had gardens with trees in front, and modern plumbing and electricity. This area, still known as the Hydrostone, is now considered one of the more attractive and desirable parts of Halifax in which to live.

Every 6th December at 9am a memorial service is held at Fort Needham, close to where the Mont Blanc exploded.

Research news and views by Ken Hawick

Continuing our series of enlightening articles about tools and technologies, this month we have an excellent description of the Python scripting language by Tony Meyer. Scripting languages are typically supported by a virtual machine model. This just means that someone writes a software emulator that runs on a particular platform, and the programming language is implemented to run on a "pretend" or virtual computer layer. Python and Java are probably the two most currently well known virtual machine languages, although as may be revealed in future articles, tools that some of us may be more familiar with like Matlab also use this trick.


The end result of this virtuality is that it is increasingly easy to build "high-level" tools that are portable across different computer hardware and operating systems. Last month we had an article by Heath James on the Mac OSX operating systems. We will no doubt return to other operating systems later in this series, but for now think high level and enjoy Tony's article.

As some of you may know, the Institute is about to develop its Strategic Plan for the next 3-year period (and with a longer 6-year view over the next PBRF assessment period). Producing plans is always a fun exercise and as part of this effort, in the New Year I would like to look more closely at the interdisciplinary research opportunities across the Institute. To that end I hope to commission some articles on some of the research projects and programmes already in operation and on those we might aim at initiating. Something to think about for 2006.

Python: An introduction by Tony Meyer

“The long-term usefulness of a language comes not in its ability to support clever hacks, but from how well and how unobtrusively it supports the day-to-day work of programming. The day-to-day work of programming consists not of writing new programs, but mostly reading and modifying existing ones.”1

Python (named after the television series Monty Python's Flying Circus) is an open-source programming language. Almost any Linux installation will include Python and it is installed with recent versions of Mac OS X; Windows users will most likely need to install Python themselves; a simple-to-use installer is available at http://python.org/download. Python has been used to develop many large software projects (e.g. by Honeywell2, Industrial Light and

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Magic3, Maya4, Disney5, BitTorrent6, Nokia7) and is also extensively used by Google8.

Python is sometimes referred to as a “scripting programming language”; however, it is more properly called a high level dynamic programming language, as “scripting language” implies a language whose primary use is the control of some other application (e.g. JavaScript is a scripting language used to control a web browser). Python is a multi-paradigm language, allowing coders to use several styles of coding, such as object orientation, structured programming, functional programming, aspect-oriented programming, and design by contract. Python is dynamically type-checked, has dynamic name resolution, and uses garbage collection for memory management.

“Ugly programs are like ugly suspension bridges: they're much more liable to collapse than pretty ones, because the way humans (especially engineer-humans) perceive beauty is intimately related to our ability to process and understand complexity. A language that makes it hard to write elegant code makes it hard to write good code.” 9.

Python is a language designed for writing beautiful code. Python is designed to be clear and easy to read, even for people not familiar with the language. In addition, it’s designed so that you can generate working code as fast as you can type; whereas in other languages you often write something that doesn’t actually match your mental representation of the problem. When you are able to write working code nearly as fast as you can type, it generally means that you’ve achieved mastery of the language – but this generally occurs within hours for users learning Python.

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An example Python program, which converts temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celsius is:

# "import" is much like "import" in Java, or "#include" in C/C++ import sys # If no arguments were given, print a helpful message. if len(sys.argv) == 1: print "Usage: celsius.py temp1 temp2 ..." sys.exit() # Loop over the arguments. for arg in sys.argv[1:]: try: # Convert the string to a floating point number. fahrenheit = float(arg) except ValueError: print i, "is not a numeric value." else: # Convert to celsius. celsius = (fahrenheit - 32) * 5 / 9.0 # Print out the answer, rounding to one decimal place. # u"°C" is a unicode string, which can display characters # like the degree character. print round(fahrenheit, 1), u"°F =", round(celsius, 1), u"°C" The standard Python interpreter also supports an interactive mode in which expressions can be entered one at a time, and the result of their evaluation is seen immediately. This is a boon for those learning the language and experienced developers alike: snippets of code can be tested in interactive mode before integrating them into a program proper.

Significant indentation: “the whitespace thing” Python’s most famous aspect is its use of the off-side rule to delimit program blocks; it is one aspect of Python syntax that many programmers otherwise unfamiliar with Python have heard of, since it is nearly unique among currently widespread languages.

In “free-format” languages, which use the block structure ultimately derived from ALGOL10, blocks of code are surrounded with punctuation (e.g. {}) or keywords (e.g. begin/end); however, by convention programmers indent the code within a block from the surrounding code. Python instead uses this indentation itself to indicate the run of a block. For example, compare a recursive factorial function in C and Python:

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Factorial function in C: int fac(int x) { if (x == 0) { return 1; } else { return x * fac(x-1); } } Factorial function in Python: def fac(x): if x == 0: return 1 else: return x * fac(x-1) When ALGOL was new, it was a major development to have “free-form” languages in which only symbols mattered and not their position on the line. However, “the whitespace thing” is simply the enforcement of a convention that programmers in ALGOL-style languages already follow anyway – without the arguments about exactly what the convention is (e.g. should the brace be on a line by itself?), and without the potential for misleading indentation (familiar to anyone who has read student assignments).

Data types and structures One of the other main strengths of Python is the broad range of built-in data types. As well as conventional integer and floating point


arithmetic, it transparently supports strings, arbitrarily large integers, complex numbers, and has support for arbitrarily precise decimal numbers. Python also includes several built-in container types, which come in two basic forms: sequences and mappings. In general a container is an object that contains other objects in a way that is easily referenced or indexed.

These essentially provide the same functionality as the container types in the C++ Standard Template Library, but are built-in, simpler to use, and can contain any type of object (including multiple unrelated types in the same container) without having to use pointers (there are, in fact, no pointers in Python). There are several types of built-in containers: lists (which can be used as stacks or queues), tuples (put simply, immutable lists), dictionaries (which map keys to values, much like a mathematical function), and sets (like sets in mathematics).

Standard Library Python is a “batteries included” language; it has a large standard library, which makes it well suited to many tasks. The standard library is particularly well tailored to writing network applications, systems programming, and text processing. Modules for creating graphical user interfaces, connecting to relational databases, and manipulating regular expressions are also included.

The standard library is one of Python's greatest strengths. The bulk of it is cross-platform, meaning that even heavily leveraged Python programs can often run on Linix, Windows, Macintosh, and other platforms without change.

There is also a large pool of well-designed open source tools for database connectivity, PDF generation, and other tasks. Of particular interest to engineers, scientists, and others who consider programming a necessary evil is SciPy11. SciPy includes extensions that provide very fast numerical calculations, as well as modules for information theory functions, Cluster of Workstations parallel programming, fast Fourier transforms, genetic algorithms, reading MATLAB files, numeric integration, interpolation, optimization, signal processing, statistical functions, LAPACK12-based linear

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algebra, and sparse matrix support. Helix users might also wish to use PyMPI13, which provides MPI14 functionality (with a small overhead, but in a much simpler way to using MPI in C).

Research at IIMS

Reported for October/November 2005. Cat 1 - Refereed Journal Papers

Begg, R., Wall, D. J. N., & Wake, G. C. (2005). On a functional equation model of transient cell growth. Mathematical Medicine and Biology, IMA Journal, 22, pp 371-390.

Hunter, J. J. Stationary distributions and mean first passage times of perturbed Markov chains. Tenth Special Issue on Linear Algebra and Statistics, (Part 2), Linear Algebra and its Applications, 2005. Accepted June 2005.

Cat 5 - Refereed Conference Papers

Barczak, A. L. C., Johnson, M. J. and Messom, C. H. (2005). A mobile parallel platform for real-time object recognition. In L. Jennings (Ed.), Proceedings of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Conference (ENZCon05), pp 153-158. December 14-15, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland, NZ: Auckland. ISBN 0-473-10634-5.

Hasan, S. M. R. (2005) A CMOS low noise pre-amplifier for ultra-wide-band RF receiver. In the proceedings of the International Federation for Information Processing WG 10.5 Conference on Very Large Scale Integration System-on-Chip (VLSI-SoC 2005), October 17-19, Perth, Western Australia.

Hasan, S. M. R. (2005). A high efficiency 3GHz 24-dBm CMOS linear power amplifier for RF application. In the proceedings of 5th International Workshop on Systems-on-chip for Real-time applications (IWSOC'05), July 19-21, Alberta, Canada. IEEE Computer Society.

Hasan, S. M. R. (2005). A novel wide-swing wide-bandwidth scalable low-voltage analog CMOS multiplier for communication signal processing. In Len Jennings (Ed.), Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics

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Engineers Region Ten Conference (TENCON), pp 31-34, November 14-15, Institute of Electrical and Electronics, Engineers Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland, NZ.

Hasan, S. M. R. (2005). A fifth order LC Butterworth tuned CMOS low noise pre-amplifier for ultrawideband RF receiver. In Len Jennings (Ed.), Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Region Ten Conference (TENCON), pp 25-29, November 14-15, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland, NZ

Jeong, J., & Moir, T. J., Kepstrum approach to real-time speech-enhancement methods using two microphones to be presented at the Int Conference on Sensing Technology, Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Luxton, A. W. & Hasan, S. M. R. (2005). A low power high gain CMOS folded cascode amplifier. In Len Jennings (Ed.), Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Region Ten Conference (TENCON), pp 47-50, November 14-15, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland, NZ.

Qi, Z., & Moir, T. J. (2005). An automotive three-microphone voice activity detector and noise canceller. Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing (ISSNIP), December 5-8, Melbourne, Australia. To be presented.

Rose, E. (2005). Synthesizing process theories of information systems development: a conceptual framework based on Giddens' theories of structuration and self-identity In Anne de Bruin and Nitha Palakshappa (Eds.), Qualitative Research in Business Symposium, 7 pages, October 28, Massey University, Auckland, NZ.

Rose, E. and Nehring, N. (2005). An exploratory study of security vulnerability revealed by Google hacking: How vulnerable are we? In Matthew Warren (Ed.), 6th Australian Information Warfare & Security Conference (CD-ROM Proceedings), 10 pages, November 25-26, Deakin University, Waterfront Campus, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.

Senaratne, G. G., Keam, R. B., Sweatman, W. L. and Wake, G. C. (2005). A new approach to breast tumour detection using microwave frequencies: A two-dimensional model. In the Proceedings of the International Conference on

Sensing Technology (ICST 2005), TC3, pp 460-465, November 21-23, Palmerston North, NZ.

Cat 6 – Non-Refereed Journal Papers

Calude, E. (2005). Report on natural processes and models of computation. The Bulletin of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS), 87, pp 226-227, June 16–18, Bologna, Italy.

Requires password:

https://www.eatcs.org/bulletin/protected/beatcs87.pdf

Category 8 - Book Review

Ryu, H. (2005). The Human Factor: Revolutionizing he way people live with technology. Information, Communication & Society, 8(3), pp 417-432.

Category 13 – Software

Kay, P. (2005). Muse Application. A GUI front end to the Music program, Windows, http://www.massey.ac.nz/~pkay , P.Kay.

Category 14 – Addresses to professional bodies

Barczak, A. L. C., Johnson, M. J. and Messom, C. H. (2005). A mobile parallel platform for real-time object recognition. Electrical and Computer Engineering Conference (ENZCon05), December 14-15, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland, NZ.

Hasan, S. M. R. (2005). A CMOS low noise pre-amplifier for ultra-wide-band RF receiver. International Federation for Information Processing WG 10.5 Conference on Very Large Scale Integration System-on-Chip (VLSI-SoC 2005), October 17-19, Perth, Western Australia.

Jeong, J., & Moir, T. J., Kepstrum approach to real-time speech-enhancement methods using two microphones to be presented at the Int Conference on Sensing Technology, November 21-23rd 2005, Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Qi, Z., & Moir, T. J. (2005). An automotive three-microphone voice activity detector and noise canceller. Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing (ISSNIP), December 5-8, Melbourne, Australia. To be presented.

Rose, E. (2005). State of the art and tricks of the trade: Structural equation modeling Structural Equation Modeling and Theory Development; A Research Symposium November 29, Marketing


Group Research Series, Massey University, Auckland, NZ.

Senaratne, G. G., Keam, R. B., Sweatman, W. L. and Wake, G. C. (2005). A new approach to breast tumour detection using microwave frequencies: A two-dimensional model. International Conference on Sensing Technology (ICST 2005), November 21-23, Palmerston North, NZ.

Roberts, M. G. (2005). Is R0 all it’s cracked up to be? Seminar, September 21, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.

Roberts, M. G. (2005). Is R0 all it’s cracked up to be? Seminar, October 19, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, UK.

Roberts, M. G. (2005). Some issues in mathematical epidemiology. Seminar, November 18, OCIAM (Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics), Oxford, UK.

Roberts, M. G. (2005). Is R0 all it’s cracked up to be? Seminar, November 22, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

Roberts, M. G. (2005). Is R0 all it’s cracked up to be? Seminar, November 23, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.

Wake, G. C. (2005). Mathematical modelling of cell-growth: tumours and plankton. New Fellows Seminar, Royal Society of New Zealand, November 16, Wellington, NZ.

Category 15 – Extension activity

Wake, G. C. (2005). (Plenary Chair), International Night, Orewa Rotary Meeting, November 29, Orewa, Auckland, NZ.

Category 19 – Radio, television and newsprint interviews

Wake, G. C. (2005, November). Mathematics-in-Industry [Newsprint article]. Guest writer in the Fulbright New Zealand Quarterly, p.5.

Accepted

Evans, T. High distance Heegaard splittings of 3-manifolds Topology and its Applications. Accepted for publication.

Ryu, H. Noddy's guide to mode problems. Interfaces. Accepted 2005.

Ryu, H. (2006). Walkthroughs in web usability: cognitive, activity, and heuristic walkthrough in Human Computer Interaction Research in Web Design and Evaluation. To be published in March 2006.

Music review submitted by Shaun Cooper

'Aerial' maneuvers lift Kate Bush out of hiatus

By Glenn Gamboa (Newsday) Singing the phone book would be too cliché.

On her new double album, "Aerial" (Columbia), Kate Bush sings the value of pi carried out to 116 decimal places. And she does it with the same mix of beauty and eccentricity that made "Wuthering Heights" and "Running Up That Hill" so memorable.

In "Pi," Bush sings, "Eight two threeeeeeee, zeroooo, six six zero four seven zero nine," in a way that not only sounds lovely, but also enhances the song's meditation on trying to categorize something infinite.

Yes, it's been 11 years since Bush released her last album "The Red Shoes", but not much has changed in her music, which is all still built around the piano and her extraordinary voice, or her writing, which is still, well, uniquely Kate.

"Aerial" is divided into two albums - a collection of disparate songs called "A Sea of Honey" and a suite of songs designed to represent one day called "A Sky of Honey".

"A Sea of Honey" is an odd mix of styles and ideas. It opens with the first single, "King of the Mountain", a reggae-tinged dream about Elvis Presley still being alive, followed by "Pi". There's also "Bertie", a Renaissance-styled tribute to her 6-year-old son, and "Joanni", a synthesized, Genesis-ish tribute to Joan of Arc, while "How To Be Invisible" sounds like a mellowed version of Talking Heads.

It is "Mrs. Bartolozzi" that stands out the most, though, as Bush sings about cleaning over piano riffs that are reminiscent of Phil Collins' "Against All Odds". The imagery gets a bit sexual before she starts singing, "Washing machine!" as if it has suddenly made her very happy.


"A Sky of Honey" is far more laid back, with pretty, calming sounds filling "An Architect's Dream" and "A Painter's Link". By the time Bush's fictitious day ends, things start getting more exciting, with the sweeping dance rhythms of "Nocturn" and the birdcalls and laughs of the title track.

Outside of the classic "Hounds of Love", "Aerial" is Bush's most ambitious and best executed album, a shining example of how experimentation and memorable melodies work well together.

Source of article (unfortunately link to article now unavailable):

http://www.newsday.com/

Listen to a sample at:

http://www.juno.co.uk/artists/Kate+Bush/

Song lyrics at:

http://www.norbry.net/kate-bush/song/pi.html

Are you a true-blue New Zealander? submitted by Dave Wilton

The NZ Herald recently featured an article that advises that the UK Government is bringing in a test that evaluates the “British-ness” of applicants for UK residency or citizenship. The Herald then went on to suggest a similar test for New Zealand – reproduced here for “internationals” who aspire to be Kiwi and also for locals to see if they really measure up.

Correct answers will appear in next month’s IIMS News. However, anyone who desperately wants to know how well they’ve done can fill in their answers on a Scantron card & send it, with a $20 advance-marking fee, to Dave Wilton in QA 2.01.

1. Winston Peters lost his electoral seat in this year’s general election. Is he now:

a) Unemployed?

b) Used-car salesman?

c) Foreign minister?

2. Who sings: “I’m a little fire engine …”?

a) Fluke

b) Flake

c) Flock

d) Flick

3. Name the waitress blamed for poisoning the All Blacks before the 1995 Rugby World Cup final against South Africa.

4. What is Fred Dagg’s real name?

5. Fill in the blank: “If it weren’t for ya …….. where would ya be?”

6. What is “kai”?

a) A small kite

b) A Greek letter

c) Food

d) A mathematical symbol

7. What is the plural of the word “Maori”?

8. Who was the batsman who had to face Trevor Chappell’s underarm delivery? (Hint: he also kicked the winning penalty for the All Blacks against Wales in 1978.)

9. Who succeeded Buck Shelford as the All Black number eight after he got dropped? (correct answer compulsory).

10. Name five things colloquially known as “kiwi”.

Supplementary question for those wishing to gain employment at IIMS (correct answer compulsory).

11. “Massey” is a:

NZ Prime Minister

West Auckland suburb

NZ university

All of the above

None of the above.


Hospital window submitted by Sena

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every colour and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by.

Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it. In his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.

He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.

It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

Epilogue:

There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.

Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled.

If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy.

"Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present."

The origin of this is unknown.

Poetry corner submitted by Freda Mickisch

My partner Jim, and daughter Jennifer, sent me a poem each, to share with you this holiday season…

From Jim…

Minstrels a Christmas Poem

by William Wordsworth

The minstrels played their Christmas tune

To-night beneath my cottage-eaves;

While, smitten by a lofty moon,

The encircling laurels, thick with leaves,

Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen,

That overpowered their natural green.


Through hill and valley every breeze

Had sunk to rest with folded wings:

Keen was the air, but could not freeze,

Nor check, the music of the strings;

So stout and hardy were the band

That scraped the chords with strenuous hand.

And who but listened?--till was paid

Respect to every inmate's claim,

The greeting given, the music played

In honour of each household name,

Duly pronounced with lusty call,

And "Merry Christmas" wished to all.

And

From Jennifer

I Keep My Snowman In The Freezer

by Ian McMillan

I keep my snowman in the freezer

Just behind the pies

He likes it there, he told me so

I can see it in his eyes.

I made him on a cold, cold morning

When the snow was fresh and deep

Now he sits in the freezer

Near the fish that we got cheap.


And look at him each day.

If I’d left him in the garden

He’d simply have melted away.

But now he’s like my Grandma

Living somewhere safe and nice;

He’s in a frosty, snowy palace

On a throne of coldest ice.


Near a lump of frozen beef

And I’ve got a treat for him in August:

I’m taking him to Tenerife!

(Please send in a poem or two that you would like to share.)

Laughter lines

sent in by Freda Mickisch…

A family was on its way to the hospital where the 16-year-old daughter was scheduled to undergo a tonsillectomy. During the ride, the teenager and her parents talked about how the procedure would be performed.

‘Mum,' the teenager asked, 'how are they going to keep my mouth open during the surgery?'

Without hesitation, she said, 'They're going to give you a phone.'�

and…

sent in by Stephen Ford…

Three accountants and three engineers were to take a train from London to a company conference in Birmingham. At the station, the three accountants each bought a ticket. However, only one of the engineers paid up.

The accountants said, "There are three of you, you need three tickets!"

The engineers replied, "This is innovation in action. Watch and learn, mortals!"

Upon boarding the train, all three engineers crammed into a toilet and shut the door to wait for the ticket inspector. As the inspector passed the toilet, he knocked on the door and said "tickets please!" The door opened a crack, a hand emerged and gave the ticket to the inspector, who took it and continued on his way. The engineers duly emerged and took their seats for the rest of the five-hour journey.


The accountants were duly impressed, yet jealous. "Six can play at that game" they decided.

And so for the ten-hour return journey only one accountant bought a ticket. However, this time, the engineers bought none!

The accountants said "You need at least one ticket!"

The engineers replied "Our technology is in a constant state of development. We do not imitate, we innovate. Watch and learn, mortals!"

Upon boarding once more, the accountants crammed into one toilet and the engineers crammed into the toilet next door. Once the train had left the station, an engineer quietly opened the door of their toilet and knocked on the accountants' door.

"Tickets please!" he said.

and…

sent in by Dave Wilton…

1.Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2.A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

3.Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

4.A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

5.A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: “A beer please, and one for the road."

6.Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

7."Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'" That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common?" Well, "It's Not Unusual."

8.Two cows are standing next to each other in a field. Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you,” says Dolly. "It's true, no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

9.Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

10.I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

Thought for the month:

The success of every appliance depends upon the intelligence with which it is used.

A ‘classic’ sent in by Sam Alexander

Try this link:

http://blueballfixed.ytmnd.com/

Something to look at in the hols sent in by Barry McDonald

The website http://www.despair.com/ has come to my attention.

Some designs are ... beautifully provocative?

Just what you love – Knock Knock jokes…

Knock Knock Who's there ? Snow Snow who ? Snow business like show business ! Knock Knock Who's there ? Donut Donut who ? Donut open till Christmas ! Knock Knock Who's there ? Avery Avery who ? Avery merry Christmas !


Knock Knock Who's there ? Holly Holly who ? Holly-days are here again ! Knock Knock Who's there ? Igloo Igloo who ? Igloo Suzie like I knew Suzie... ! Knock Knock Who's there ? Mary Mary who ? Mary Christmas ! Knock, Knock! Who's there? Carol singers! Carol singers! Do you know what flaming time of night it is? No, But if you hum it we'll sing it! Knock! Knock!

Who's there? Rabbit! Rabbit who? Rabbit up neatly, it's a present! Knock! Knock! Who's there? Wendy! Wendy who? Wendy red red robin comes bob bob bobbin along! Knock! Knock! Who's there? Police! Police who? Police don't make me eat brussel sprouts this year! Knock! Knock! Who's there? Wanda! Wanda who? Wanda know what you're getting for Christmas?

That’s all folks – more fun next issue.


People puzzle submitted by someone

Last Issue This one was a real puzzle for you all….so many attempts but not

one correct guess. It’s Peter Kay. Has the length of his shorts changed? No, I don’t think so!

IIMS Newsletter will be back next year with some more cute ones….

Electronic copies to

[email protected]

or I will scan a printed photo.


Caption contest

Last Issue

Thanks to ‘anonymous’ for this month’s caption…

Farhad and Ian (plus innocent bystander) …

Farhad is saying, “Sooooo Ian, from which of your newly discovered planets did this ‘tripodal alien’ originate?’’

For next year 2006…

Hope you find some interesting photos of our staff for the Caption contest. Please send them to

[email protected] or [email protected]

So be on the lookout and keep the digital cameras clicking….


Notices

Postgraduate Diary

27 February 2006: Postgraduate Orientation for 2006 academic year

$30,000 for computer scholarships

The New Zealand Computer Society, in conjunction with IBM NZ Ltd, InternetNZ, Computing NZ, and ITCRA, is offering 12 scholarships of $2500 each to students from school leaver through to postgraduate level. The scholarships are open to students studying an ICT/computing related full-time degree course at a university or degree-accredited polytechnic. The aim is to encourage and support New Zealand students studying towards a career in computing. An online application form and full details may be found on the NZCS website (http://www.nzcs.org.nz/scholarships) or email [email protected]. Applications close on February 14, 2006.

MISG 2006 Organised by the

Centre for Mathematics in Industry Massey University

Auckland - New Zealand Monday 30 January - Friday 3 February 2006

Massey University (Albany) – Auckland

Director: Professor Graeme Wake

Deputy Directors: Professor Mark McGuinness (VUW) Dr Winston Sweatman (MU) Administrator: Nikki Luke

Please note:

Free registration must be completed this week (Week beginning 19 December 2005)


Happy Holidays

IIMS Newsletter contributions…

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