Natural convection in a triangular enclosure due to non-uniform cooling on top

Natural convection in a triangular enclosure subject to non-uniformly cooling at the inclined surfaces and uniformly heating at the base is investigated numerically. The numerical simulations of the unsteady flows over a range of Rayleigh numbers and aspect ratios are carried out using Finite Volume Method. Since the upper surface is cooled and the bottom surface is heated, the air flow in the enclosure is potentially unstable to Rayleigh Benard instability. It is revealed that the transient flow development in the enclosure can be classified into three distinct stages; an early stage, a transitional stage and a steady stage. It is also found that the flow inside the enclosure strongly depends on the governing parameters, Rayleigh number and aspect ratio. The asymmetric behaviour of the flow about the geometric centre line is discussed in detailed. The heat transfer through the roof and the ceiling as a form of Nusselt number is also reported in this study.

Declining youth membership : the views of union officials

Across the industrialized west there has been a sharp decline in union membership (Frege and Kelly2003, Peetz 2002). Even more alarming are the lower unionization rates of young people and the steeper decline in these rates compared to older workers (Serrano and Waddington 2000). At the same time increasing numbers of young people still at school are participating in the labour market. There have been a number of explorations internationally of young people's union membership, but most either track membership decline over time, comparing adult and youth union density (Blanden and Machin 2003, Bryson et al. 2005, Haynes, Vowles and Boxall 2005, Canny 2002, OECD 2006), explore the general experience of young people in the labour market (for example, Lizen, Bolton and Pole 1999) or examine young people's view of unions (for example, Bulbeck 2008). This chapter however takes a different approach, exploring union officials' constructions of 'the problem' of low union density amongst youth. While the data in this study was obtained from Australia, the Australian context has strong similarities with those in other industrialized economies, not least because globalization has meant the spread of neo-liberal industrial relations (IR) policies and structures. Assuming that unions have choices open to them as to how they recruit and retain young people, it is important to analyse officials' construction of 'the problem', as this affects union strategizing and action.

A majority experience: young people’s encounters with the labour market

Young people are frequently the focus of study in social science. Education, employment, leisure, criminality and family life are all spheres within which the different experiences of young people have been examined (Pollock 2008). A still relatively small, but expanding strand of this broader scholarship addressing youth-related issues is a body of theoretical and empirical literature which focuses on young people's participation in work. This growing interest in young people's employment has followed a significant shift in many western societies. Younger and much larger numbers of young people, still engaged in full time education, are entering the formal labour market. Indeed, in many countries, employment is a majority experience for children (Hobbs and McKechnie 1997), and for young people in general. While in such work there has been a tendency to blur definitional lines, here we adopt the term 'young people' which incorporates the definitions of 'children' as those under 18 years and 'youth' as those under 24 (UN n.d.).

Mixed convection laminar flow along a horizontal plate subject to streamwise sinusoidal surface temperature

Mixed convection of a two-dimensional laminar incompressible flow along a horizontal flat plate with streamwise sinusoidal surface temperature has been numerically investigated for different values of Rayleigh number and Reynolds number for constant values of Prandtl number, amplitude and frequency of periodic temperature. The numerical scheme is based on the finite element method adapted to rectangular non-uniform mesh elements by a non-linear parametric solution algorithm. The fluid considered in this study is air. The results are obtained for the Rayleigh number and Reynolds number ranging from 102 to 104 and 1 to 100, respectively, with constant physical properties for the fluid medium considered. Velocity and temperature profiles, streamlines, isotherms, and average Nusselt numbers are presented to observe the effect of the investigating parameters on fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics. The present results show that the convective phenomena are greatly influenced by the variation of Rayleigh numbers and Reynolds number.

No longer Singaporean : visibilising the everyday contestations of identities

In the past decade or so, the citizens of Singapore have been vigorously urged by the state to turn their cultural and linguistic affinities with China to economic advantage. At the same time, the city-state has opened its doors to selected, skilled migrants from Asia including many of those from mainland and Greater China. These concurrent emphases have coincided with the trend and growing numbers of Singaporeans heading overseas for one reason or another. Through a reflexive journey sparked by a recent visit, I argue in this paper that the resultant change in the makeup of its population produces tensions that may well have important repercussions for a nation that is constitutionally multiethnic though pragmatically meritocratic. However, because these frictions find form only in everyday, pedestrian practices, they are often dismissed or ignored. It is my contention that as the stage on which innocuous, creeping shifts in social identities are enacted, finessed and (re)embedded into social imaginaries, these everyday contestations of identities need to studied for indications of what is at stake.

Effect of differentially heating and consequent transient behaviour for natural convection within an enclosure of sinusoidal corrugated side walls

Unsteady natural convection due to differentially heating of the sinusoidal corrugated side walls of a modified square enclosure has been numerically investigated. The fluid inside the enclosure is air, initially as quiescent. The flat top and bottom surfaces are considered as adiabatic. The numerical scheme is based on the finite element method adapted to triangular non-uniform mesh element by a non-linear parametric solution algorithm. The results are obtained for the Rayleigh number, Ra ranging from 1e+05 to 1e+08 for different corrugation amplitude and frequency with constant physical properties for the fluid medium considered. The streamlines, isotherms and average Nusselt numbers are presented to observe the effect of sudden heating and its consequent transient behavior on fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics for the range of governing parameters. The present results show that the transient phenomena are greatly influenced by the variation of the aforementioned parameters.

Web searcher interaction with the Dogpile.com metasearch engine

Metasearch engines are an intuitive method for improving the performance of Web search by increasing coverage, returning large numbers of results with a focus on relevance, and presenting alternative views of information needs. However, the use of metasearch engines in an operational environment is not well understood. In this study, we investigate the usage of Dogpile.com, a major Web metasearch engine, with the aim of discovering how Web searchers interact with metasearch engines. We report results examining 2,465,145 interactions from 534,507 users of Dogpile.com on May 6, 2005 and compare these results with findings from other Web searching studies. We collect data on geographical location of searchers, use of system feedback, content selection, sessions, queries, and term usage. Findings show that Dogpile.com searchers are mainly from the USA (84% of searchers), use about 3 terms per query (mean = 2.85), implement system feedback moderately (8.4% of users), and generally (56% of users) spend less than one minute interacting with the Web search engine. Overall, metasearchers seem to have higher degrees of interaction than searchers on non-metasearch engines, but their sessions are for a shorter period of time. These aspects of metasearching may be what define the differences from other forms of Web searching. We discuss the implications of our findings in relation to metasearch for Web searchers, search engines, and content providers.

Design and design thinking in business and management education and development

Design and design thinking have been identified as making valuable contributions to business and management and the numbers of higher education programs that teach design thinking to business students, managers and executives are growing. However multiple definitions of design thinking and the range of perspectives have created some confusion about potential pathways. This paper examines notions of design and design thinking and uses these definitions to identify themes in higher educational programs. We present the findings from an initial exploratory investigation of design and design thinking in higher education business programs and define four distinct educational approaches around human centred innovation, integrative thinking, design management and design as strategy. Potential directions for management education programs are presented.

Central Queensland Mining Supplies Pty Ltd v Columbia Steel Casting Co Ltd

In Central Queensland Mining Supplies Pty Ltd v Columbia Steel Casting Co Ltd [2011] QSC 183 Applegarth J considered complaints made by the defendant about the approach the plaintiff had taken in its endeavour to comply with its disclosure obligation under r 211 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld). The judgment also provides an indication of the direction the court is taking in relation to disclosure and document management in matters involving large numbers of documents.

Market Trend Analysis of Purpose Built Office (PBO) in Malaysia

The purpose of this paper is to explore the trend of Purpose Built Office (PBO) supply and occupancy in Malaysia. In achieving this, the number of PBO supply by the private sector in the market is compared with the government sector to gain an understanding of the current emerging market for the PBO. There have been limited studies in Malaysia comparing the trend supply and occupancy of PBOs by both sectors. This paper outcome will illustrate the needs for public sector asset management in Malaysia, particularly for PBOs. An analytical framework is developed using time series to measure the level of supply and occupancy of PBO by both sectors, indicating the percentage of government’s PBO compared to the total numbers of PBOs in the market from 2004 to 2010

Mathematical modelling of tumour-induced angiogenesis

The growth of solid tumours beyond a critical size is dependent upon angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from an existing vasculature. Tumours may remain dormant at microscopic sizes for some years before switching to a mode in which growth of a supportive vasculature is initiated. The new blood vessels supply nutrients, oxygen, and access to routes by which tumour cells may travel to other sites within the host (metastasize). In recent decades an abundance of biological research has focused on tumour-induced angiogenesis in the hope that treatments targeted at the vasculature may result in a stabilisation or regression of the disease: a tantalizing prospect. The complex and fascinating process of angiogenesis has also attracted the interest of researchers in the field of mathematical biology, a discipline that is, for mathematics, relatively new. The challenge in mathematical biology is to produce a model that captures the essential elements and critical dependencies of a biological system. Such a model may ultimately be used as a predictive tool. In this thesis we examine a number of aspects of tumour-induced angiogenesis, focusing on growth of the neovasculature external to the tumour. Firstly we present a one-dimensional continuum model of tumour-induced angiogenesis in which elements of the immune system or other tumour-cytotoxins are delivered via the newly formed vessels. This model, based on observations from experiments by Judah Folkman et al., is able to show regression of the tumour for some parameter regimes. The modelling highlights a number of interesting aspects of the process that may be characterised further in the laboratory. The next model we present examines the initiation positions of blood vessel sprouts on an existing vessel, in a two-dimensional domain. This model hypothesises that a simple feedback inhibition mechanism may be used to describe the spacing of these sprouts with the inhibitor being produced by breakdown of the existing vessel's basement membrane. Finally, we have developed a stochastic model of blood vessel growth and anastomosis in three dimensions. The model has been implemented in C++, includes an openGL interface, and uses a novel algorithm for calculating proximity of the line segments representing a growing vessel. This choice of programming language and graphics interface allows for near-simultaneous calculation and visualisation of blood vessel networks using a contemporary personal computer. In addition the visualised results may be transformed interactively, and drop-down menus facilitate changes in the parameter values. Visualisation of results is of vital importance in the communication of mathematical information to a wide audience, and we aim to incorporate this philosophy in the thesis. As biological research further uncovers the intriguing processes involved in tumourinduced angiogenesis, we conclude with a comment from mathematical biologist Jim Murray, Mathematical biology is : : : the most exciting modern application of mathematics.

Breaching the standardised assessment boundary : assessment for learning as a field of exchange

The introduction of the Australian curriculum, the use of standardised testing (e.g. NAPLAN) and the My School website are couched in a context of accountability. This circumstance has stimulated and in some cases renewed a range of boundaries in Australian Education. The consequences that arise from standardised testing have accentuated the boundaries produced by social reproduction in education which has led to an increase in the numbers of students disengaging from mainstream education and applying for enrolment at the Edmund Rice Education Australia Flexible Learning Centre Network (EREAFLCN). Boundaries are created for many young people who are denied access to credentials and certification as a result of being excluded from or in some way disengaging from standardised education and testing. Young people who participate at the EREAFLCN arrive with a variety of forms of cultural capital that are not valued in current education and employment fields. This is not to say that these young people’s different forms of cultural capital have no value, but rather that such funds of knowledge, repertoires and cultural capital are not valued by the majority of powerful agents in educational and employment fields. How then can the qualitative value of traditionally unorthodox - yet often intricate, ingenious, and astute - versions of cultural capital evident in the habitus of many young people be made to count, be recognised, be valuated? Can a process of educational assessment be a field of capital exchange and a space which breaches boundaries through a valuating process? This paper reports on the development of an innovative approach to assessment in an alternative education institution designed for the re-engagement of ‘at risk’ youth who have left formal schooling. A case study approach has been used to document the engagement of six young people, with an educational approach described as assessment for learning as a field of exchange across two sites in the EREAFLCN. In order to capture the broad range of students’ cultural and social capital, an electronic portfolio system (EPS) is under trial. The model draws on categories from sociological models of capital and reconceptualises the eportfolio as a sociocultural zone of learning and development. Results from the trial show a general tendency towards engagement with the EPS and potential for the attainment of socially valued cultural capital in the form of school credentials. In this way restrictive boundaries can be breached and a more equitable outcome achieved for many young Australians.

Towards general capabilities through technology : assessment for learning as a field of exchange

The introduction of the Australian curriculum, the use of standardised testing (e.g. NAPLAN) and the My School website have stimulated and in some cases renewed a range of boundaries for young people in Australian Education. Standardised testing has accentuated social reproduction in education with an increase in the numbers of students disengaging from mainstream education and applying for enrolment at the Edmund Rice Education Australia Flexible Learning Centre Network (EREAFLCN). Many young people are denied access to credentials and certification as they become excluded from standardised education and testing. The creativity and skills of marginalised youth are often evidence of general capabilities and yet do not appear to be recognised in mainstream educational institutions when standardised approaches are adopted. Young people who participate at the EREAFLCN arrive with a variety of forms of cultural capital, frequently utilising general capabilities, which are not able to be valued in current education and employment fields. This is not to say that these young people‟s different forms of cultural capital have no value, but rather that such funds of knowledge, repertoires and cultural capital are not valued by the majority of powerful agents in educational and employment fields. How then can the inherent value of traditionally unorthodox - yet often intricate, ingenious, and astute-versions of cultural capital evident in the habitus of many young people be made to count, be recognised, be valuated?Can a process of educational assessment be a field of capital exchange and a space which crosses boundaries through a valuating process? This paper reports on the development of an innovative approach to assessment in an alternative education institution designed for the re engagement of „at risk‟ youth who have left formal schooling. A case study approach has been used to document the engagement of six young people, with an educational approach described as assessment for learning as a field of exchange across two sites in the EREAFLCN. In order to capture the broad range of students‟ cultural and social capital, an electronic portfolio system (EPS) is under trial. The model draws on categories from sociological models of capital and reconceptualises the eportfolio as a sociocultural zone of learning and development. Results from the trial show a general tendency towards engagement with the EPS and potential for the attainment of socially valued cultural capital in the form of school credentials. In this way restrictive boundaries can be breached and a more equitable outcome achieved for many young Australians.

Helping undergraduate students across disciplines and cultures actively engage and collaborate as equal members of a community of scholars : peer review within an e-learning environment

At the international level, the higher education sector is currently being subjected to increased calls for public accountability and the current move by the OECD to rank universities based on the quality of their teaching and learning outcomes. At the national level, Australian universities and their teaching staff face numerous challenges including financial restrictions, increasing student numbers and the reality of an increasingly diverse student population. The Australian higher education response to these competing policy and accreditation demands focuses on precise explicit systems and procedures which are inflexible and conservative and which ignore the fact that assessment is the single biggest influence on how students approach their learning. By seriously neglecting the quality of student learning outcomes, assessment tasks are often failing to engage students or reflect the tasks students will face in the world of practice. Innovative assessment design, which includes new paradigms of student engagement and learning and pedagogically based technologies have the capacity to provide some measure of relief from these internal and external tensions by significantly enhancing the learning experience for an increasingly time-poor population of students. That is, the assessment process has the ability to deliver program objectives and active learning through a knowledge transfer process which increases student participation and engagement. This social constructivist view highlights the importance of peer review in assisting students to participate and collaborate as equal members of a community of scholars with both their peers and academic staff members. As a result of increasing the student’s desire to learn, peer review leads to more confident, independent and reflective learners who also become more skilled at making independent judgements of their own and others' work. Within this context, in Case Study One of this project, a summative, peer-assessed, weekly, assessment task was introduced in the first “serious” accounting subject offered as part of an undergraduate degree. The positive outcomes achieved included: student failure rates declined 15%; tutorial participation increased fourfold; tutorial engagement increased six-fold; and there was a 100% student-based approval rating for the retention of the assessment task. However, in stark contrast to the positive student response, staff issues related to the loss of research time associated with the administration of the peer-review process threatened its survival. This paper contributes to the core conference topics of new trends and experiences in undergraduate assessment education and in terms of innovative, on-line, learning and teaching practices, by elaborating the Case Study Two “solution” generated to this dilemma. At the heart of the resolution is an e-Learning, peer-review process conducted in conjunction with the University of Melbourne which seeks to both create a virtual sense of belonging and to efficiently and effectively meet academic learning objectives with minimum staff involvement. In outlining the significant level of success achieved, student-based qualitative and quantitative data will be highlighted along with staff views in a comparative analysis of the advantages and disadvantages to both students and staff of the staff-led, peer review process versus its on-line counterpart.

Developing a Second Life virtual field trip for university students : an action research approach

Background: Integrating 3D virtual world technologies into educational subjects continues to draw the attention of educators and researchers alike. The focus of this study is the use of a virtual world, Second Life, in higher education teaching. In particular, it explores the potential of using a virtual world experience as a learning component situated within a curriculum delivered predominantly through face-to-face teaching methods. Purpose: This paper reports on a research study into the development of a virtual world learning experience designed for marketing students taking a Digital Promotions course. The experience was a field trip into Second Life to allow students to investigate how business branding practices were used for product promotion in this virtual world environment. The paper discusses the issues involved in developing and refining the virtual course component over four semesters. Methods: The study used a pedagogical action research approach, with iterative cycles of development, intervention and evaluation over four semesters. The data analysed were quantitative and qualitative student feedback collected after each field trip as well as lecturer reflections on each cycle. Sample: Small-scale convenience samples of second- and third-year students studying in a Bachelor of Business degree, majoring in marketing, taking the Digital Promotions subject at a metropolitan university in Queensland, Australia participated in the study. The samples included students who had and had not experienced the field trip. The numbers of students taking part in the field trip ranged from 22 to 48 across the four semesters. Findings and Implications: The findings from the four iterations of the action research plan helped identify key considerations for incorporating technologies into learning environments. Feedback and reflections from the students and lecturer suggested that an innovative learning opportunity had been developed. However, pedagogical potential was limited, in part, by technological difficulties and by student perceptions of relevance.