Journal articles on the topic 'Polynomial Identity Testing (PIT)'

We show that for the blackbox polynomial identity testing (PIT) problem it suffices to study circuits that depend only on the first extremely few variables. One needs only to consider size-s degree-s circuits that depend on the firstlog○c svariables (where c is a constant and composes a logarithm with itself c times). Thus, the hitting-set generator (hsg) manifests a bootstrapping behavior—a partial hsg against very few variables can be efficiently grown to a complete hsg. A Boolean analog, or a pseudorandom generator property of this type, is unheard of. Our idea is to use the partial hsg and its annihilator polynomial to efficiently bootstrap the hsg exponentially w.r.t. variables. This is repeated c times in an efficient way. Pushing the envelope further we show that (i) a quadratic-time blackbox PIT for 6,913-variate degree-s size-s polynomials will lead to a “near”-complete derandomization of PIT and (ii) a blackbox PIT for n-variate degree-s size-s circuits insnδtime, forδ<1/2, will lead to a near-complete derandomization of PIT (in contrast,sntime is trivial). Our second idea is to study depth-4 circuits that depend on constantly many variables. We show that a polynomial-time computable,O(s1.49)-degree hsg for trivariate depth-4 circuits bootstraps to a quasipolynomial time hsg for general polydegree circuits and implies a lower bound that is a bit stronger than that of Kabanets and Impagliazzo [Kabanets V, Impagliazzo R (2003)Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing STOC ’03].

A maximum linear matroid parity set is called a basic matroid parity set, if its size is the rank of the matroid. We show that determining the existence of a common base (basic matroid parity set) for linear matroid intersection (linear matroid parity) is in NC2, provided that there are polynomial number of common bases (basic matroid parity sets). For graphic matroids, we show that finding a common base for matroid intersection is in NC2, if the number of common bases is polynomial bounded. To our knowledge, these algorithms are the first deterministic NC algorithms for matroid intersection and matroid parity. We also give a new RNC2 algorithm that finds a common base for graphic matroid intersection. We prove that if there is a black-box NC algorithm for Polynomial Identity Testing (PIT), then there is an NC algorithm to determine the existence of a common base (basic matroid parity set) for linear matroid intersection (linear matroid parity).

The AKS algorithm is an important breakthrough in showing that primality testing of an integer can be done in polynomial time. In this paper, we study the optimization of its runtime. Namely, given a finite cardinality set of alphabets of a deterministic polynomial runtime Turing machine and the number of strings of an arbitrary input integer whose primality is to be tested as the system parameters, we consider the randomized AKS primality testing function as the objective function. Under randomization of the system parameters, we have shown that there are definite signatures of the local and global instabilities in the AKS algorithm. We observe that instabilities occur at the extreme limits of the parameters. It is worth mentioning that Fermat’s little theorem and Chinese remaindering help with the determination of the underlying stability domains. On the other hand, in the realm of the randomization theory, our study offers fluctuation theory structures of the AKS primality testing of an integer through its maximum number of irreducible factors. Finally, our optimization theory analysis anticipates a class of real-world applications for future research and developments, including optimal online security, system optimization and its performance improvements, (de)randomization techniques, and beyond, e.g., polynomial time primality testing, identity testing, machine learning, scientific computing, coding theory, and other stimulating optimization problems in a random environment.

Powerful skew arithmetic circuits are introduced. These are skew arithmetic circuits with variables, where input gates can be labeled with powers [Formula: see text] for binary encoded numbers [Formula: see text]. It is shown that polynomial identity testing for powerful skew arithmetic circuits belongs to [Formula: see text], which generalizes a corresponding result for (standard) skew circuits. Two applications of this result are presented: (i) Equivalence of higher-dimensional straight-line programs can be tested in [Formula: see text]; this result is even new in the one-dimensional case, where the straight-line programs produce words. (ii) The compressed word problem (or circuit evaluation problem) for certain wreath products of finitely generated abelian groups belongs to [Formula: see text]. Using the Magnus embedding, it follows that the compressed word problem for a free metabelian group belongs to [Formula: see text].

The positive definiteness of even-order weakly symmetric tensors plays important roles in asymptotic stability of time-invariant polynomial systems. In this paper, we establish two Brauer-type Z-eigenvalue inclusion sets with parameters by Z-identity tensors, and show that these inclusion sets are sharper than existing results. Based on the new Z-eigenvalue inclusion sets, we propose some sufficient conditions for testing the positive definiteness of even-order weakly symmetric tensors, as well as the asymptotic stability of time-invariant polynomial systems. The given numerical experiments are reported to show the efficiency of our results.

Near-term quantum computers are expected to work in an environment where each operation is noisy, with no error correction. Therefore, quantum-circuit optimizers are applied to minimize the number of noisy operations. Today, physicists are constantly experimenting with novel devices and architectures. For every new physical substrate and for every modification of a quantum computer, we need to modify or rewrite major pieces of the optimizer to run successful experiments. In this paper, we present QUESO, an efficient approach for automatically synthesizing a quantum-circuit optimizer for a given quantum device. For instance, in 1.2 minutes, QUESO can synthesize an optimizer with high-probability correctness guarantees for IBM computers that significantly outperforms leading compilers, such as IBM's Qiskit and TKET, on the majority (85%) of the circuits in a diverse benchmark suite. A number of theoretical and algorithmic insights underlie QUESO: (1) An algebraic approach for representing rewrite rules and their semantics. This facilitates reasoning about complex symbolic rewrite rules that are beyond the scope of existing techniques. (2) A fast approach for probabilistically verifying equivalence of quantum circuits by reducing the problem to a special form of polynomial identity testing . (3) A novel probabilistic data structure, called a polynomial identity filter (PIF), for efficiently synthesizing rewrite rules. (4) A beam-search-based algorithm that efficiently applies the synthesized symbolic rewrite rules to optimize quantum circuits.

A new IoT authentication protocol is presented to address the security deficiencies in the Z-Wave protocol. The new protocol is based on Diameter and includes authentication/authorization module, billing module, and secure communication module. According to the characteristics of IoT devices, the relevant algorithms are optimized, and the key agreement scheme based on elliptic curve algorithm and the symmetric encryption scheme based on AES and RC4 are introduced, which enhances the security of the protocol and also improves the system performance. The speed of response reduces the energy consumption of the system. Aiming at solving the problem that the existing polynomial-based key predistribution management scheme is limited by the key sharing rate between the nodes and the network connectivity rate, a quadratic-based wireless sensor key management scheme is proposed. The scheme breaks through the existing idea of building a shared key with a binary t-order symmetric polynomial, introduces a multivariate asymmetric quadratic polynomial, and utilizes the relationship between the quadratic eigenvalues and eigenvectors. The analysis proves that the quadratic form can be orthogonally diagonalized and uses it to generate key information, and nodes realize identity authentication by exchanging key information. The establishment of an independent and unique session key with the neighbor node is completed. The security performance analysis and simulation results show that, compared with the existing key management schemes, the scheme has great improvements in anti-capture property, connectivity, scalability, communication overhead, and storage overhead. After a series of functional tests, the enterprise information system based on the SaaS platform in this paper basically met the design requirements and finally realized the networking of the enterprise information management process and the sharing of information. Each functional module of the system can be used normally. When the input and output are wrong, the system will have a correct prompt. The buttons and various controls of the system can work normally, meeting the requirements of functional testing. Each document of the system is correct and complete, and the language description and logic meet the needs of users and meet the requirements of document testing. The test results show that the interface of the system is friendly and easy to operate and the performance of the system is stable, which is basically in line with the needs of users and achieves the design goal of this system.

We propose computer-assisted techniques for helping with pedagogy in Algebra. In particular, given a proof problem p (of the form “Left-hand-side-term = Right-hand-side-term”), we show how to automatically generate problems that are similar to p. We believe that such a tool can be used by teachers in making examinations where they need to test students on problems similar to what they taught in class, and by students in generating practice problems tailored to their specific needs. Our first insight is that we can generalize p syntactically to a query Q that implicitly represents a set of problems [[Q]] (which includes p). Our second insight is that we can explore the space of problems [[Q]] automatically, use classical results from polynomial identity testing to generate only those problems in [[Q]] that are correct, and then use pruning techniques to generate only unique and interesting problems. Our third insight is that with a small amount of manual tuning on the query Q, the user can interactively guide the computer to generate problems of interest to her. We present the technical details of the above mentioned steps, and also describe a tool where these steps have been implemented. We also present an empirical evaluation on a wide variety of problems from various sub-fields of algebra including polynomials, trigonometry, calculus, determinants etc. Our tool is able to generate a rich corpus of similar problems from each given problem; while some of these similar problems were already present in the textbook, several were new!

The notion of probabilistic computation dates back at least to Turing, who also wrestled with the practical problems of how to implement probabilistic algorithms on machines with, at best, very limited access to randomness. A more recent line of research, known as derandomization, studies the extent to which randomness is superfluous. A recurring theme in the literature on derandomization is that probabilistic algorithms can be simulated quickly by deterministic algorithms, if one can obtain impressive (i.e. superpolynomial, or even nearly exponential) circuit size lower bounds for certain problems. In contrast to what is needed for derandomization, existing lower bounds seem rather pathetic. Here, we present two instances where ‘pathetic’ lower bounds of the form n 1+ ϵ would suffice to derandomize interesting classes of probabilistic algorithms. We show the following: — If the word problem over S 5 requires constant-depth threshold circuits of size n 1+ ϵ for some ϵ >0, then any language accepted by uniform polynomial size probabilistic threshold circuits can be solved in subexponential time (and, more strongly, can be accepted by a uniform family of deterministic constant-depth threshold circuits of subexponential size). — If there are no constant-depth arithmetic circuits of size n 1+ ϵ for the problem of multiplying a sequence of n 3×3 matrices, then, for every constant d , black-box identity testing for depth- d arithmetic circuits with bounded individual degree can be performed in subexponential time (and even by a uniform family of deterministic constant-depth AC 0 circuits of subexponential size).

Vibrio cholerae is a major etiological agent of human diarrhoea and has become epidemic across the world in the recent past. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of V. cholerae from dairy excreta along with antimicrobial resistant status of the isolates. A total 50 samples were collected from 50 different household manure pit located at Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) surrounding area, Mymensingh. Alkaline peptone water was used for enrichment of the samples followed by inoculation onto thiosulfate citrate bile salt sucrose (TCBS) agar media for the isolation of Vibrio spp., which were further confirmed via Vibrio genus specific molecular assay. Biochemical tests were performed to identify V. cholerae from the isolates of Vibrio spp. Out of 50 samples 17 (34%) were confirmed as Vibrio spp. as they produced characteristic yellow colonies on TCBS agar and had found to possess recombinase A gene that confirmed the identity of Vibrio spp. From this 17 Vibrio isolates, 6 (12% in total from 50 samples) were identified as V. cholerae based on different biochemical tests. All the isolates fermented glucose, maltose, sucrose and mannitol with the production of only acid. The isolates were positive in oxidase, gelatinase, methyl-red (MR) and indole test, but negative in case of voges-proskaure (VP) test. In antimicrobial susceptibility testing, V. cholerae isolates showed 100% sensitivity to gentamycin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline with moderate sensitivity to ciprofloxacin and co-trimoxazole. A high level of resistance was observed to ampicillin (100%) followed by moderate resistance to erythromycin and imipenem. In the present study about 33.33% (n = 2) of 6 isolated V. cholerae were found to be multidrug resistant (MDR) as they demonstrated resistant against 3 antimicrobial agents. The findings of this study substantiate the presence of MDR V. cholerae in the dairy excreta, which indicates the role of domestic animals to serve as a reservoir that might pose a health risk to human. Hygienic management of animal waste is needed to reduce the burden of human illness. Asian Australas. J. Biosci. Biotechnol. 2021, 6 (1), 40-49

The article aims to introduce new finds of the Late Bronze Age from Mokhnach П settlement site at the Sіverskyi Donets river. Two archaeological object (pits 27 and 40) can be dated back to the Late Bronze Age. Finds are presented mostly by pottery sherds (31 units) discovered mostly in the excavation pit 1. The research program of the pottery assemblage includes account of its planographic distribution, distribution due to the type of sherds, analysis of shape, ornamentation, size, surface finishing, plastic raw material and paste recipes of vessels. Morphological and ornamentation classifications were built on the basis of the scheme developed on materials of Mosolovka site and the settlements of middle flew of Sіverskyi Donets river. Research of the plastic raw material and paste recipes was conducted using visual microscopic analysis, abridged MGR-analysis and thin-section analysis. Pottery assemblage includes 4 % of the total number of fragments discovered during excavations. Five pottery forms were identified: restricted and unrestricted jars, pot-like vessels, pots and ribbed vessels. Orifice diameters of jars, pot-like vessels and pots vary from 38.0 to 21.5 cm. Ribbed vessels on average are smaller than mentioned types and form to groups by size (with orifice diameters of 25 and 15—16 cm). Three techniques and nine elements of ornamentation were identified. Make-up of both surfaces prevails, fine-toothed comb treatment and coarse-toothed comb treatment of Pokrovka type are also presented. Two pottery fabrics can be distinguished in the assemblage with the naked eye. Five pottery samples were selected for purposes of technological analysis. Observations were conducted using the microscope on cross-cuts and fresh breaks of sherds before and after re-firing. Consequently two groups by features of plastic raw material and two paste recipes were identified. Both paste recipes include grog as an intentional addition. Due to method of the abridged Matrix Group by Refiring (MGR) analysis the samples were re-fired in controlled conditions up to from 1100 to 1200 °C. The results showed the identity of the matrix of all samples — non-calcareous, slightly over-melted (sovM). Their local production is suggested. The thin-section analysis allowed to clarify technological features of the samples with raw material type 1, paste type 1. Analyzed ceramic materials present traditions of the Wood-framed Graves entity. They mark new settlement site of the developed stage of the Wood-framed Graves entity and can be dated back to XVII—XVІ BC. Small size of the ceramic assemblage restricts its informative capacity. The importance of the research lies in testing the program of complex analysis of ceramic assemblages.

We show that there is an equation of degree at most poly( n ) for the (Zariski closure of the) set of the non-rigid matrices: that is, we show that for every large enough field \(\mathbb {F} \) , there is a non-zero n 2 -variate polynomial \(P \in \mathbb {F}[x_{1, 1}, \ldots, x_{n, n}] \) of degree at most poly( n ) such that every matrix M which can be written as a sum of a matrix of rank at most n /100 and a matrix of sparsity at most n 2 /100 satisfies P ( M ) = 0. This confirms a conjecture of Gesmundo, Hauenstein, Ikenmeyer and Landsberg [9] and improves the best upper bound known for this problem down from exp ( n 2 ) [9, 12] to poly( n ). We also show a similar polynomial degree bound for the (Zariski closure of the) set of all matrices M such that the linear transformation represented by M can be computed by an algebraic circuit with at most n 2 /200 edges (without any restriction on the depth). As far as we are aware, no such bound was known prior to this work when the depth of the circuits is unbounded. Our methods are elementary and short and rely on a polynomial map of Shpilka and Volkovich [21] to construct low degree “universal” maps for non-rigid matrices and small linear circuits. Combining this construction with a simple dimension counting argument to show that any such polynomial map has a low degree annihilating polynomial completes the proof. As a corollary, we show that any derandomization of the polynomial identity testing problem will imply new circuit lower bounds. A similar (but incomparable) theorem was proved by Kabanets and Impagliazzo [11].

A graph $G$ is called self-ordered (a.k.a asymmetric) if the identity permutation is its only automorphism. Equivalently, there is a unique isomorphism from $G$ to any graph that is isomorphic to $G$. We say that $G=(V,E)$ is robustly self-ordered if the size of the symmetric difference between $E$ and the edge-set of the graph obtained by permuting $V$ using any permutation $\pi:V\to V$ is proportional to the number of non-fixed-points of $\pi$. In this work, we initiate the study of the structure, construction and utility of robustly self-ordered graphs. We show that robustly self-ordered bounded-degree graphs exist (in abundance), and that they can be constructed efficiently, in a strong sense. Specifically, given the index of a vertex in such a graph, it is possible to find all its neighbors in polynomial-time (i.e., in time that is poly-logarithmic in the size of the graph). We also consider graphs of unbounded degree, seeking correspondingly unbounded robustness parameters. We again demonstrate that such graphs (of linear degree) exist (in abundance), and that they can be constructed efficiently, in a strong sense. This turns out to require very different tools. Specifically, we show that the construction of such graphs reduces to the construction of non-malleable two-source extractors (with very weak parameters but with some additional natural features). We demonstrate that robustly self-ordered bounded-degree graphs are useful towards obtaining lower bounds on the query complexity of testing graph properties both in the bounded-degree and the dense graph models. One of the results that we obtain, via such a reduction, is a subexponential separation between the query complexities of testing and tolerant testing of graph properties in the bounded-degree graph model.

Introduction Almost all industries in Australia today have adopted digital media in some way. However, uses in large scale activities such as mining may seem to be different from others. This article looks at mining practices with a media studies approach, and concludes that, just as many other industries, mining and media have converged. Many Australian mine sites are adopting new media for communication and control to manage communication, explore for ore bodies, simulate forces, automate drilling, keep records, and make transport and command robotic. Beyond sharing similar digital devices for communication and computation, new media in mining employ characteristic digital media operations, such as numerical operation, automation and managed variability. This article examines the implications of finding that some of the most material practices have become mediated by new media. Mining has become increasingly mediated through new media technologies similar to GPS, visualisation, game remote operation, similar to those adopted in consumer home and mobile digital media. The growing and diversified adoption of digital media championed by companies like Rio Tinto aims not only ‘improve’ mining, but to change it. Through remediating practices of digital mining, new media have become integral powerful tools in prospective, real time and analytical environments. This paper draws on two well-known case studies of mines in the Pilbara and Western NSW. These have been documented in press releases and media reports as representing changes in media and mining. First, the West Angelas mines in the Pilbara is an open cut iron ore mine introducing automation and remote operation. This mine is located in the remote Pilbara, and is notable for being operated remotely from a control centre 2000km away, near Perth Airport, WA. A growing fleet of Komatsu 930E haul trucks, which can drive autonomously, traverses the site. Fitted with radars, lasers and GPS, these enormous vehicles navigate through the open pit mine with no direct human control. Introducing these innovations to mine sites become more viable after iron ore mining became increasingly profitable in the mid-2000s. A boom in steel building in China drove unprecedented demand. This growing income coincided with a change in public rhetoric from companies like Rio Tinto. They pointed towards substantial investments in research, infrastructure, and accelerated introduction of new media technologies into mining practices. Rio Tinto trademarked the term ‘Mine of the future’ (US Federal News Service 1), and publicised their ambitious project for renewal of mining practice, including digital media. More recently, prices have been more volatile. The second case study site is a copper and gold underground mine at Northparkes in Western NSW. Northparkes uses substantial sensing and control, as well as hybrid autonomous and remote operated vehicles. The use of digital media begins with prospecting, and through to logistics of transportation. Engineers place explosives in optimal positions using computer modelling of the underground rock formations. They make heavy use of software to coordinate layer-by-layer use of explosives in this advanced ‘box cut’ mine. After explosives disrupt the rock layer a kilometre underground, another specialised vehicle collects and carries the ore to the surface. The Sandvik loader-hauler-dumper (LHD) can be driven conventionally by a driver, but it can also travel autonomously in and out of the mine without a direct operator. Once it reaches a collection point, where the broken up ore has accumulated, a user of the surface can change the media mode to telepresence. The human operator then takes control using something like a games controller and multiple screens. The remote operator controls the LHD to fill the scoop with ore. The fully-loaded LHD backs up, and returns autonomously using laser senses to follow a trail to the next drop off point. The LHD has become a powerful mediator, reconfiguring technical, material and social practices throughout the mine. The Meanings of Mining and Media Are Converging Until recently, mining and media typically operated ontologically separately. The media, such as newspapers and television, often tell stories about mining, following regular narrative scripts. There are controversies and conflicts, narratives of ecological crises, and the economics of national benefit. There are heroic and tragic stories such as the Beaconsfield mine collapse (Clark). There are new industry policies (Middelbeek), which are politically fraught because of the lobbying power of miners. Almost completely separately, workers in mines were consumers of media, from news to entertainment. These media practices, while important in their own right, tell nothing of the approaching changes in many other sectors of work and everyday life. It is somewhat unusual for a media studies scholar to study mine sites. Mine sites are most commonly studied by Engineering (Bellamy & Pravica), Business and labour and cultural histories (McDonald, Mayes & Pini). Until recently, media scholarship on mining has related to media institutions, such as newspapers, broadcasters and websites, and their audiences. As digital media have proliferated, the phenomena that can be considered as media phenomena has changed. This article, pointing to the growing roles of media technologies, observes the growing importance that media, in these terms, have in the rapidly changing domain of mining. Another meaning for ‘media’ studies, from cybernetics, is that a medium is any technology that translates perception, makes interpretations, and performs expressions. This meaning is more abstract, operating with a broader definition of media — not only those institutionalised as newspapers or radio stations. It is well known that computer-based media have become ubiquitous in culture. This is true in particular within the mining company’s higher ranks. Rio Tinto’s ambitious 2010 ‘Mine of the Future’ (Fisher & Schnittger, 2) program was premised on an awareness that engineers, middle managers and senior staff were already highly computer literate. It is worth remembering that such competency was relatively uncommon until the late 1980s. The meanings of digital media have been shifting for many years, as computers become experienced more as everyday personal artefacts, and less as remote information systems. Their value has always been held with some ambivalence. Zuboff’s (387-414) picture of loss, intimidation and resistance to new information technologies in the 1980s seems to have dissipated by 2011. More than simply being accepted begrudgingly, the PC platform (and variants) has become a ubiquitous platform, a lingua franca for information workers. It became an intimate companion for many professions, and in many homes. It was an inexpensive, versatile and generalised convergent medium for communication and control. And yet, writers such as Gregg observe, the flexibility of networked digital work imposes upon many workers ‘unlimited work’. The office boundaries of the office wall break down, for better or worse. Emails, utility and other work-related behaviours increasingly encroach onto domestic and public space and time. Its very attractiveness to users has tied them to these artefacts. The trail that leads the media studies discipline down the digital mine shaft has been cleared by recent work in media archaeology (Parikka), platform studies (Middelbeek; Montfort & Bogost; Maher) and new media (Manovich). Each of these redefined Media Studies practices addresses the need to diversify the field’s attention and methods. It must look at more specific, less conventional and more complex media formations. Mobile media and games (both computer-based) have turned out to be quite different from traditional media (Hjorth; Goggin). Kirschenbaum’s literary study of hard drives and digital fiction moves from materiality to aesthetics. In my study of digital mining, I present a reconfigured media studies, after the authors, that reveals heterogeneous media configurations, deserving new attention to materiality. This article also draws from the actor network theory approach and terminology (Latour). The uses of media / control / communications in the mining industry are very complex, and remain under constant development. Media such as robotics, computer modelling, remote operation and so on are bound together into complex practices. Each mine site is different — geologically, politically, and economically. Mines are subject to local and remote disasters. Mine tunnels and global prices can collapse, rendering active sites uneconomical overnight. Many technologies are still under development — including Northparkes and West Angelas. Both these sites are notable for their significant use of autonomous vehicles and remote operated vehicles. There is no doubt that the digital technologies modulate all manner of the mining processes: from rocks and mechanical devices to human actors. Each of these actors present different forms of collusion and opposition. Within a mining operation, the budgets for computerised and even robotic systems are relatively modest for their expected return. Deep in a mine, we can still see media convergence at work. Convergence refers to processes whereby previously diverse practices in media have taken on similar devices and techniques. While high-end PCs in mining, running simulators; control data systems; visualisation; telepresence, and so on may be high performance, ruggedised devices, they still share a common platform to the desktop PC. Conceptual resources developed in Media Ecology, New Media Studies, and the Digital Humanities can now inform readings of mining practices, even if their applications differ dramatically in size, reliability and cost. It is not entirely surprising that some observations by new media theorists about entertainment and media applications can also relate to features of mining technologies. Manovich argues that numerical representation is a distinctive feature of new media. Numbers have always already been key to mining engineering. However, computers visualise numerical fields in simulations that extend out of the minds of the calculators, and into visual and even haptic spaces. Specialists in geology, explosives, mechanical apparatuses, and so on, can use plaftorms that are common to everyday media. As the significance of numbers is extended by computers in the field, more and more diverse sources of data provide apparently consistent and seamless images of multiple fields of knowledge. Another feature that Manovich identifies in new media is the capacity for automation of media operations. Automation of many processes in mechanical domains clearly occurred long before industrial technologies were ported into new media. The difference with new media in mine sites is that robotic systems must vary their performance according to feedback from their extra-system environments. For our purposes, the haul trucks in WA are software-controlled devices that already qualify as robots. They sense, interpret and act in the world based on their surroundings. They evaluate multiple factors, including the sensors, GPS signals, operator instructions and so on. They can repeat the path, by sensing the differences, day after day, even if the weather changes, the track wears away or the instructions from base change. Automation compensates for differences within complex and changing environments. Automation of an open-pit mine haulage system… provides more consistent and efficient operation of mining equipment, it removes workers from potential danger, it reduces fuel consumption significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and it can help optimize vehicle repairs and equipment replacement because of more-predictable and better-controlled maintenance. (Parreire and Meech 1-13) Material components in physical mines tend to become modular and variable, as their physical shape lines up with the logic of another of Manovich’s new media themes, variability. Automatic systems also make obsolete human drivers, who previously handled those environmental variations, for better or for worse, through the dangerous, dull and dirty spaces of the mine. Drivers’ capacity to control repeat trips is no longer needed. The Komatsu driverless truck, introduced to the WA iron ore mines from 2008, proved itself to be almost as quick as human drivers at many tasks. But the driverless trucks have deeper advantages: they can run 23 hours each day with no shift breaks; they drive more cautiously and wear the equipment less than human drivers. There is no need to put up workers and their families up in town. The benefit most often mentioned is safety: even the worst accident won’t produce injuries to drivers. The other advantage less mentioned is that autonomous trucks don’t strike. Meanwhile, managers of human labour also need to adopt certain strategies of modulation to support the needs and expectations of their workers. Mobile phones, televisions and radio are popular modes of connecting workers to their loved ones, particularly in the remote and harsh West Angelas site. One solution — regular fly-in-fly out shifts — tends also to be alienating for workers and locals (Cheshire; Storey; Tonts). As with any operations, the cost of maintaining a safe and comfortable environment for workers requires trade-offs. Companies face risks from mobile phones, leaking computer networks, and espionage that expose the site to security risks. Because of such risks, miners tend be subject to disciplinary regimes. It is common to test alcohol and drug levels. There was some resistance from workers, who refused to change to saliva testing from urine testing (Latimer). Contesting these machines places the medium, in a different sense, at the centre of regulation of the workers’ bodies. In Northparkes, the solution of hybrid autonomous and remote operation is also a solution for modulating labour. It is safer and more comfortable, while also being more efficient, as one experienced driver can control three trucks at a time. This more complex mode of mediation is necessary because underground mines are more complex in geology, and working environments to suit full autonomy. These variations provide different relationships between operators and machines. The operator uses a games controller, and watches four video views from the cabin to make the vehicle fill the bucket with ore (Northparkes Mines, 9). Again, media have become a pivotal element in the mining assemblage. This combines the safety and comfort of autonomous operation (helping to retain staff) with the required use of human sensorimotor dexterity. Mine systems deserve attention from media studies because sites are combining large scale physical complexity with increasingly sophisticated computing. The conventional pictures of mining and media rarely address the specificity of subjective and artefactual encounters in and around mine sites. Any research on mining communication is typically within the instrumental frames of engineering (Duff et al.). Some of the developments in mechanical systems have contributed to efficiency and safety of many mines: larger trucks, more rock crushers, and so on. However, the single most powerful influence on mining has been adopting digital media to control, integrate and mining systems. Rio Tinto’s transformative agenda document is outlined in its high profile ‘Mine of the Future’ agenda (US Federal News Service). The media to which I refer are not only those in popular culture, but also those with digital control and communications systems used internally within mines and supply chains. The global mining industry began adopting digital communication automation (somewhat) systematically only in the 1980s. Mining companies hesitated to adopt digital media because the fundamentals of mining are so risky and bound to standard procedures. Large scale material operations, extracting and processing minerals from under the ground: hardly to be an appropriate space for delicate digital electronics. Mining is also exposed to volatile economic conditions, so investing in anything major can be unattractive. High technology perhaps contradicts an industry ethos of risk-taking and masculinity. Digital media became domesticated, and familiar to a new generation of formally educated engineers for whom databases and algorithms (Manovich) were second nature. Digital systems become simultaneously controllers of objects, and mediators of meanings and relationships. They control movements, and express communications. Computers slide from using meanings to invoking direct actions over objects in the world. Even on an everyday scale, computer operations often control physical processes. Anti-lock Braking Systems regulate a vehicle’s braking pressure to avoid the danger when wheels lock-up. Or another example, is the ATM, which involves both symbolic interactions, and also exchange of physical objects. These operations are examples of the ‘asignifying semiotic’ (Guattari), in which meanings and non-meanings interact. There is no operation essential distinction between media- and non-media digital operations. Which are symbolic, attached or non-consequential is not clear. This trend towards using computation for both meanings and actions has accelerated since 2000. Mines of the Future Beyond a relatively standard set of office and communications software, many fields, including mining, have adopted specialised packages for their domains. In 3D design, it is AutoCAD. In hard sciences, it is custom modelling. In audiovisual production, it may be Apple and Adobe products. Some platforms define their subjectivity, professional identity and practices around these platforms. This platform orientation is apparent in areas of mining, so that applications such as the Gemcom, Rockware, Geological Database and Resource Estimation Modelling from Micromine; geology/mine design software from Runge, Minemap; and mine production data management software from Corvus. However, software is only a small proportion of overall costs in the industry. Agents in mining demand solutions to peculiar problems and requirements. They are bound by their enormous scale; physical risks of environments, explosive and moving elements; need to negotiate constant change, as mining literally takes the ground from under itself; the need to incorporate geological patterns; and the importance of logistics. When digital media are the solution, there can be what is perceived as rapid gains, including greater capacities for surveillance and control. Digital media do not provide more force. Instead, they modulate the direction, speed and timing of activities. It is not a complete solution, because too many uncontrolled elements are at play. Instead, there are moment and situations when the degree of control refigures the work that can be done. Conclusions In this article I have proposed a new conception of media change, by reading digital innovations in mining practices themselves as media changes. This involved developing an initial reading of the operations of mining as digital media. With this approach, the array of media components extends far beyond the conventional ‘mass media’ of newspapers and television. It offers a more molecular media environment which is increasingly heterogeneous. It sometimes involves materiality on a huge scale, and is sometimes apparently virtual. The mining media event can be a semiotic, a signal, a material entity and so on. It can be a command to a human. It can be a measurement of location, a rock formation, a pressure or an explosion. The mining media event, as discussed above, is subject to Manovich’s principles of media, being numerical, variable and automated. In the mining media event, these principles move from the aesthetic to the instrumental and physical domains of the mine site. The role of new media operates at many levels — from the bottom of the mine site to the cruising altitude of the fly-in-fly out aeroplanes — has motivated significant changes in the Australian industry. When digital media and robotics come into play, they do not so much introduce change, but reintroduce similarity. This inversion of media is less about meaning, and more about local mastery. Media modulation extends the kinds of influence that can be exerted by the actors in control. In these situations, the degrees of control, and of resistance, are yet to be seen. Acknowledgments Thanks to Mining IQ for a researcher's pass at Mining Automation and Communication Conference, Perth in August 2012. References Bellamy, D., and L. 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