An enhanced explicit rate algorithm for ABR traffic control in ATM networks

A high performance, low computational complexity rate-based flow control algorithm which can avoid congestion and achieve fairness is important to ATM available bit rate service. The explicit rate allocation algorithm proposed by Kalampoukas et al. is designed to achieve max–min fairness in ATM networks. It has several attractive features, such as a fixed computational complexity of O(1) and the guaranteed convergence to max–min fairness. In this paper, certain drawbacks of the algorithm, such as the severe overload of an outgoing link during transient period and the non-conforming use of the current cell rate field in a resource management cell, have been identified and analysed; a new algorithm which overcomes these drawbacks is proposed. The proposed algorithm simplifies the rate computation as well. Compared with Kalampoukas's algorithm, it has better performance in terms of congestion avoidance and smoothness of rate allocation.

Australian data breach notification : avoiding the State/Federal overlap

Mandatory data breach notification has become a matter of increasing concern for law reformers. In Australia, this issue was recently addressed as part of a comprehensive review of privacy law conducted by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) which recommended a uniform national regime for protecting personal information applicable to both the public and private sectors. As in all federal systems, the distribution of powers between central and state governments poses problems for national consistency. In the authors’ view, a uniform approach to mandatory data breach notification has greater merit than a ‘jurisdiction specific’ approach epitomized by US state-based laws. The US response has given rise to unnecessary overlaps and inefficiencies as demonstrated by a review of different notification triggers and encryption safe harbors. Reviewing the US response, the authors conclude that a uniform approach to data breach notification is inherently more efficient.

Fumaric acid monoethyl ester-functionalized poly(D,L-Lactide)/N-vinyl-2- pyrrolidone Resins for the preparation of tissue engineering scaffolds by stereolithography

Polymer networks were prepared by photocross-linking fumaric acid monoethyl ester (FAME) functionalized, three-armed poly(D,L-lactide) oligomers using Af-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) as diluent and comonomer. The use of NVP together with FAME-functionalized oligomers resulted in copolymerization at high rates, and networks with gel contents in excess of 90 were obtained. The hydrophilicity of the poly(D,L-lactide) networks increases with increasing amounts of NVP, networks containing 50 wt of NVP absorbed 40 of water. As the amount of NVP was increased from 30 to 50 wt , the Young's modulus after equilibration in water decreased from 0.8 to 0.2 GPa, as opposed to an increase from 1.5 to 2.1 GPa in the dry state. Mouse preosteoblasts readily adhered and spread onto all prepared networks. Using stereolithography, porous structures with a well-defined gyroid architecture were prepared from these novel materials. This allows the preparation of tissue engineering scaffolds with optimized pore architecture and tunable material properties.

Detecting attacks in encrypted networks using secret-sharing schemes

Secret-sharing schemes describe methods to securely share a secret among a group of participants. A properly constructed secret-sharing scheme guarantees that the share belonging to one participant does not reveal anything about the shares of others or even the secret itself. Besides being used to distribute a secret, secret-sharing schemes have also been used in secure multi-party computations and redundant residue number systems for error correction codes. In this paper, we propose that the secret-sharing scheme be used as a primitive in a Network-based Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) to detect attacks in encrypted Networks. Encrypted networks such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) fully encrypt network traffic which can include both malicious and non-malicious traffic. Traditional NIDS cannot monitor such encrypted traffic. We therefore describe how our work uses a combination of Shamir's secret-sharing scheme and randomised network proxies to enable a traditional NIDS to function normally in a VPN environment.

Stakeholder engagement by governance networks

As the problems involving infrastructure delivery have become more complex and contentious, there has been an acknowledgement that these problems cannot be resolved by any one body working alone. This understanding has driven multi-sectoral collaboration and has led to an expansion of the set of actors, including stakeholders, who are now involved in delivery of infrastructure projects and services. However, more needs to be understood about how to include stakeholders in these processes and ways of developing the requisite combination of stakeholders to achieve effective outcomes. This thesis draws on stakeholder theory and governance network theory to obtain insights into how three multi-level networks within the Roads Alliance in Queensland engage with stakeholders in the delivery of complex and sensitive infrastructure services and projects. New knowledge about stakeholders will be obtained by testing a model of Stakeholder Salience and Engagement which combines and extends the stakeholder identification and salience theory, ladder of stakeholder management and engagement and the model of stakeholder engagement and moral treatment of stakeholders. By applying this model, the broad research question: “Who or what decides how stakeholders are engaged by governance networks delivering public outcomes?” will be addressed. The case studies will test a theoretical model of stakeholder salience and engagement which links strategic decisions about stakeholder salience with the quality and quantity of engagement strategies for engaging different types of stakeholders. A multiple embedded case study design has been selected as the overall approach to explore, describe, explain and evaluate how stakeholder engagement occurs in three governance networks delivering road infrastructure in Queensland. The research design also incorporates a four stage approach to data collection: observations, stakeholder analysis, telephone survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The outcomes of this research will contribute to and extend stakeholder theory by showing how stakeholder salience impacts on decisions about the types of engagement processes implemented. Governance network theory will be extended by showing how governance networks interact with stakeholders through the concepts of stakeholder salience and engagement. From a practical perspective this research will provide governance networks with an indication of how to optimise engagement with different types of stakeholders. 2

Project-based organisations : overcoming lack of trust and social networks within small and medium project teams

In sustainable development projects, as well as other types of projects, knowledge transfer is important for the organisations managing the project. Nevertheless, knowledge transfer among employees does not happen automatically and it has been found that the lack of social networks and the lack of trust among employees are the major barriers to effective knowledge transfer. Social network analysis has been recognised as a very important tool for improving knowledge transfer in the project environment. Transfer of knowledge is more effective where it depends heavily on social networks and informal dialogue. Based on the theory of social capital, social capital consists of two parts: conduits network and resource exchange network. This research studies the relationships among performance, the resource exchange network (such as the knowledge network) and the relationship network (such as strong ties network, energy network, and trust network) at the individual and project levels. The aim of this chapter is to present an approach to overcoming the lack of social networks and lack of trust to improve knowledge transfer within project-based organisations. This is to be done by identifying the optimum structure of relationship networks and knowledge networks within small and medium projects. The optimal structure of the relationship networks and knowledge networks is measured using two dimensions: intra-project and inter-project. This chapter also outlines an extensive literature review in the areas of social capital, knowledge management and project management, and presents the conceptual model of the research approach.

Properties of photo-cured poly(D,L-lactide) networks

Poly(D,L-lactide) is a degradable polymer with a long history of use in medical applications. It is strong and stiff and degrades over the course of months into lactic acid, a body-own substance. In the field of tissue engineering it is commonly used to fabricate scaffolds. Stereolithography is a high resolution rapid prototyping technique by which designed 3D objects can be built using photo-initiated radical polymerisations. Poly(D,Llactide) (PDLLA) networks can be obtained by photopolymerisation of oligomers functionalised with unsaturated groups. In this work, PDLLA oligomers of varying architectures (arm lengths, numbers of arms) were synthesised and end-functionalised with methacrylate groups. These macromers were photo-crosslinked in solution to yield PDLLA networks of different architectures. The influence of the network architecture on its physical properties was studied.

Designing for participation in local social ridesharing networks : grass roots prototyping of IT systems

This abstract explores the possibility of a grass roots approach to engaging people in community change initiatives by designing simple interactive exploratory prototypes for use by communities over time that support shared action. The prototype is gradually evolved in response to community use, fragments of data gathered through the prototype, and participant feedback with the goal of building participation in community change initiatives. A case study of a system to support ridesharing is discussed. The approach is compared and contrasted to a traditional IT systems procurement approach.

V2V/V2I augmented maps : state-of-the-art and contribution to real-time crash risk assessment

A number of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are currently being released on the market, providing safety functions to the drivers such as collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control or enhanced night-vision. These systems however are inherently limited by their sensory range: they cannot gather information from outside this range, also called their “perceptive horizon”. Cooperative systems are a developing research avenue that aims at providing extended safety and comfort functionalities by introducing vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) wireless communications to the road actors. This paper presents the problematic of cooperative systems, their advantages and contributions to road safety and exposes some limitations related to market penetration, sensors accuracy and communications scalability. It explains the issues of how to implement extended perception, a central contribution of cooperative systems. The initial steps of an evaluation of data fusion architectures for extended perception are exposed.

Impact of embeddedness in co-ethnic & non co-ethnic networks on business performance : evidence from Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia

This paper investigates the research question ‘What is the effect of co-ethnic and non coethnic networking on business performance in Chinese immigrant businesses?’ The research will discuss key themes such as the extent to which Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs are embedded in co-ethnic and non co-ethnic networks and the affect of embeddedness on business performance, such as the entrepreneur’s satisfaction and business growth. Research on immigrant entrepreneurship has emerged as an important new area of inquiry within the field of entrepreneurship. The increased importance of the subject is due in part to major immigrant receiving countries, such as Australia, the United States and Canada, experiencing a high growth rate in their immigrant population. Reflecting on the existing research on immigrant entrepreneurship, it was decided to investigate the role of embeddedness on entrepreneurial business performance. This research seeks to identify the impact of embeddedness in co-ethnic and non co-ethnic networks on business performance of Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia. Chinese immigrant restaurant entrepreneurs in southeast Queensland, Australia were studied. The result expands on existing research on immigrant entrepreneurship, since the majority of immigrant entrepreneurship studies have been conducted on the United States and Canada immigrant experiences, but few have been conducted in the Australian immigrant entrepreneur context. This thesis also adds empirical testing to a research area with little empirical testing. The results indicated that embeddedness in the co-ethnic network is positively related to business performance measured by both growth and satisfaction. Embeddedness in the non co-ethnic network of the Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia did not show a similar pattern in accordance with studies conducted in the United States and Canada. This result is interesting and creates the opportunity for future research employing a comparative study.

Strategic entrepreneurship in New Zealand's state-owned enterprises : underlying elements and financial implications

The concept of strategic entrepreneurship has received increased attention over the past ten yeras. Viewed as the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategy this field of research is populated by conceptual studies which focus mainly on the nature and perceived benefits of strategic entrepreneurship. Similarly the study of entrepreneurship in a public sector context has gained increasing support in recent years but also remains underexplored. To address these gaps this thesis considers : what are the underlying elements and financial implications of strategic entrepreneurship in New Zealand's state-owned enterprises, New Zealand's SOE sector comprising 17 government-owned,commercially focused organisations, is considered to be a prime subject for this research. Well known for their implementation of new public management, many New Zealand SOEs have also been publicly recognised as both innovative and entrepreneurial. The research question is addressed by first developing a preliminary framework of strategic entrepreneurship from literature on entrepreneurhsip and strategy. The framework is then examined in the context of case studies on activity.

Enabling 21st century learning spaces : practical interpretations of the MCEETYA Learning Spaces Framework at Bounty Boulevard State School, Queensland, Australia

While the Queensland and Australian Governments have recognised the importance of new spaces for teaching and learning, particularly with the Rudd Government's Building the Education Revolution, the practical implementation of new spaces is largely left to schools and even individual teachers. This article proposes a theory for the consideration of 21st century learning spaces in relation to the learner, desired knowledge and understanding, digital technology and digital pedagogy. New and emerging learning spaces at Bounty Boulevard State School are analysed and critiqued through an analysis of the guiding principles offered by the 'Learning in an Online World: Learning Spaces Framework' (MCEETYA, 2008) publication, including flexibility, inclusivity, collaboration, creativity and efficiency. The argument put forward in this article is that 21st century learning spaces can be enabled while acknowledging barriers of resourcing and current ICT infrastructure.

Channel-aware routing in MANETs with route handoff

In wireless mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), packet transmission is impaired by radio link fluctuations. This paper proposes a novel channel adaptive routing protocol which extends the Ad-hoc On-Demand Multipath Distance Vector routing protocol (AOMDV) to accommodate channel fading. Specifically, the proposed Channel Aware AOMDV (CA-AOMDV) uses the channel average non-fading duration as a routing metric to select stable links for path discovery, and applies a preemptive handoff strategy to maintain reliable connections by exploiting channel state information. Using the same information, paths can be reused when they become available again, rather than being discarded. We provide new theoretical results for the downtime and lifetime of a live-die-live multiple path system, as well as detailed theoretical expressions for common network performance measures, providing useful insights into the differences in performance between CA-AOMDV and AOMDV. Simulation and theoretical results show that CA-AOMDV has greatly improved network performance over AOMDV.

Silly Citizenship

This paper traces historical changes in the concept of citizenship, in order to show how it has shifted from a state enterprise to a form of self-organising, user-created, ludic association, modelled by online social networks in which children - formally non-citizens but crucial to the continuing and changing discursive practices of citizenship-formation - are active agents. The implications of this 'silly' citizenship for communication scholarship are considered.

Augmenting public urban spaces : the impact of the digital future on the design of public urban spaces

Social media digital and technologies surround us. We are moving into an age of ubiquitous (that is everywhere) computing. New media and information and communication technologies already impact on many aspects of everyday life including work, home and leisure. These new technologies are influencing the way that we develop social networks; understand places and location; how we navigate our cities; how we provide information about utilities and services; developing new ways to engage and participate in our communities, in planning, in governance and other decisions. This paper presents the initial findings of the impacts that digital communication technologies are having on public urban spaces. It develops a contextual review the nexus between urban planning and technological developments with examples and case studies from around the world to highlight some of the potential directions for urban planning in Queensland and Australia. It concludes with some thought provoking discussion points for urban planners, architects, designers and placemakers on the future of urban informatics and urban design, questions such as: how technology can enhance ‘place’, how technology can be used to improve public participation, and how technology will change our requirements of public places?