Approximate Membership Localization within a Web-Based Join Framework

In this paper, we propose a search-based approach to join two tables in the absence of clean join attributes. Non-structured documents from the web are used to express the correlations between a given query and a reference list. To implement this approach, a major challenge we meet is how to efficiently determine the number of times and the locations of each clean reference from the reference list that is approximately mentioned in the retrieved documents. We formalize the Approximate Membership Localization (AML) problem and propose an efficient partial pruning algorithm to solve it. A study using real-word data sets demonstrates the effectiveness of our search-based approach, and the efficiency of our AML algorithm.

Towards a service framework for remote sales support via augmented reality

Real-time sales assistant service is a problematic component of remote delivery of sales support for customers. Solutions involving web pages, telephony and video support prove problematic when seeking to remotely guide customers in their sales processes, especially with transactions revolving around physically complex artefacts. This process involves a number of services that are often complex in nature, ranging from physical compatibility and configuration factors, to availability and credit services. We propose the application of a combination of virtual worlds and augmented reality to create synthetic environments suitable for remote sales of physical artefacts, right in the home of the purchaser. A high level description of the service structure involved is shown, along with a use case involving the sale of electronic goods and services within an example augmented reality application. We expect this work to have application in many sales domains involving physical objects needing to be sold over the Internet.

Developing a conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the integration of entrepreneurship and strategy to develop a conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship. The framework is developed through an analysis of theory and refined through an examination of practice. Design/methodology/approach: This framework is considered in the context of potentially entrepreneurial and strategic activity undertaken by 12 of the 17 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) operating in New Zealand in 2006-2007. Based on a review of documents, observation, and interviews with SOE executives, cases of 12 SOE activities were analysed to compare and contrast strategic entrepreneurship in practice. Findings: The findings reveal distinct elements within the four activities classified as strategic entrepreneurship, activities, such as leveraging from core skills and resources from a strategic perspective, and innovation from an entrepreneurial perspective. Originality/value: This study is one of the first to examine the nature of strategic entrepreneurship in practice and the associated financial returns.

Development of the rural statistical sustainability framework tool

It is important to promote a sustainable development approach to ensure that economic, environmental and social developments are maintained in balance. Sustainable development and its implications are not just a global concern, it also affects Australia. In particular, rural Australian communities are facing various economic, environmental and social challenges. Thus, the need for sustainable development in rural regions is becoming increasingly important. To promote sustainable development, proper frameworks along with the associated tools optimised for the specific regions, need to be developed. This will ensure that the decisions made for sustainable development are evidence based, instead of subjective opinions. To address these issues, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), through an Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage grant, has initiated research into the development of a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework (RSSF) to aid sustainable decision making in rural Queensland. This particular branch of the research developed a decision support tool that will become the integrating component of the RSSF. This tool is developed on the web-based platform to allow easy dissemination, quick maintenance and to minimise compatibility issues. The tool is developed based on MapGuide Open Source and it follows the three-tier architecture: Client tier, Web tier and the Server tier. The developed tool is interactive and behaves similar to a familiar desktop-based application. It has the capability to handle and display vector-based spatial data and can give further visual outputs using charts and tables. The data used in this tool is obtained from the QUT research team. Overall the tool implements four tasks to help in the decision-making process. These are the Locality Classification, Trend Display, Impact Assessment and Data Entry and Update. The developed tool utilises open source and freely available software and accounts for easy extensibility and long-term sustainability.

Effect of cold water immersion on repeated cycling performance and limb blood flow

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of cold water immersion (CWI) and active recovery (ACT) on resting limb blood flow, rectal temperature and repeated cycling performance in the heat. Ten subjects completed two testing sessions separated by 1 week; each trial consisted of an initial all-out 35-min exercise bout, one of two 15-min recovery interventions (randomised: CWI or ACT), followed by a 40-min passive recovery period before repeating the 35-min exercise bout. Performance was measured as the change in total work completed during the exercise bouts. Resting limb blood flow, heart rate, rectal temperature and blood lactate were recorded throughout the testing sessions. There was a significant decline in performance after ACT (mean (SD) −1.81% (1.05%)) compared with CWI where performance remained unchanged (0.10% (0.71%)). Rectal temperature was reduced after CWI (36.8°C (1.0°C)) compared with ACT (38.3°C (0.4°C)), as was blood flow to the arms (CWI 3.64 (1.47) ml/100 ml/min; ACT 16.85 (3.57) ml/100 ml/min) and legs (CW 4.83 (2.49) ml/100 ml/min; ACT 4.83 (2.49) ml/100 ml/min). Leg blood flow at the end of the second exercise bout was not different between the active (15.25 (4.33) ml/100 ml/min) and cold trials (14.99 (4.96) ml/100 ml/min), whereas rectal temperature (CWI 38.1°C (0.3°C); ACT 38.8°C (0.2°C)) and arm blood flow (CWI 20.55 (3.78) ml/100 ml/min; ACT 23.83 (5.32) ml/100 ml/min) remained depressed until the end of the cold trial. These findings indicate that CWI is an effective intervention for maintaining repeat cycling performance in the heat and this performance benefit is associated with alterations in core temperature and limb blood flow.

Applying a social justice framework to ensure good practice in monitoring student learning engagement

A current Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) funded action research project aims to provide a set of practical resources founded on a social justice framework, to guide good practice for monitoring student learning engagement (MSLE) in higher education. The project involves ten Australasian institutions, eight of which are engaged in various MSLE type projects. A draft framework, consisting of six social justice principles which emerged from the literature has been examined with reference to the eight institutional approaches for MSLE in conjunction with the personnel working on these initiatives during the first action research cycle. The cycle will examine the strategic and operational implications of the framework in each of the participating institutions. Cycle 2 will also build capacity to embed the principles within the institutional MSLE program and will identify and collect examples and resources that exemplify the principles in practice. The final cycle will seek to pilot the framework to guide new MSLE initiatives. In its entirety, the project will deliver significant resources to the sector in the form of a social justice framework for MSLE, guidelines and sector exemplars for MSLE. As well as increasing the awareness amongst staff around the criticality of transition to university (thereby preventing attrition) and the significance of the learning and teaching agenda in enhancing student engagement, the project will build leadership capacity within the participating institutions and provide a knowledge base and institutional capacity for the Australasian HE sector to deploy the deliverables that will safeguard student learning engagement At this early stage of the project the workshop session provides an opportunity to discuss and examine the draft set of social justice principles and to discuss their potential value for the participants’ institutional contexts. Specifically, the workshop will explore critical questions associated with the principles.

Developing a social justice framework to ensure good practice in higher education

The concept of student engagement is a key factor in student achievement and retention and Australasian universities have a range of initiatives aimed at monitoring and intervening with students who are at risk of disengaging. Given the aspirations about widening participation, it is absolutely critical that these initiatives are designed to enable success for all students, particularly those for whom social and cultural disadvantage have been a barrier. Consequently, these types of initiatives must be consistent with the concept of social justice and a set of principles would provide this philosophical foundation for the sector. An Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project that involves ten Australasian universities, is designing of a suite of resources for the sector which will include: (1) a set of principles for good practice in MSLE, (2) a good practice guide for the design and implementation of institutional MSLE policy and practice, and (3) a collection of resources for and exemplars of good practice to be taken up by the sector. This workshop session will provide an opportunity for participants to examine the draft set of principles and to discuss their potential value for the participants’ institutional contexts. Australian Learning and Teaching Council Competitive Grant CG10-1730 2010-2012: Good practice for safeguarding student learning engagement in higher education institutions.

An integrated framework to assess financial reward systems in construction projects

Motivation is a major driver of project performance. Despite team member ability to deliver successful project outcomes if they are not positively motivated to pursue joint project goals, then performance will be constrained. One approach to improving the motivation of project organizations is by offering a financial reward for the achievement of set performance standards above a minimum required level. However, little investigation has been undertaken into the features of successful incentive systems as a part of an overall delivery strategy. With input from organizational management literature, and drawing on the literature covering psychological and economic theories of motivation, this paper presents an integrated framework that can be used by project organizations to assess the impact of financial reward systems on motivation in construction projects. The integrated framework offers four motivation indicators which reflect key theoretical concepts across both psychological and economic disciplines. The indicators are: (1) Goal Commitment, (2) Distributive Justice, (3) Procedural Justice, and (4) Reciprocity. The paper also interprets the integrated framework against the results of a successful Australian social infrastructure project case study and identifies key learning’s for project organizations to consider when designing financial reward systems. Case study results suggest that motivation directed towards the achievement of incentive goals is influenced not only by the value placed on the financial reward for commercial benefit, but also driven by the strength of the project initiatives that encourage just and fair dealings, supporting the establishment of trust and positive reciprocal behavior across a project team. The strength of the project relationships was found to be influenced by how attractive the achievement of the goal is to the incentive recipient and how likely they were to push for the achievement of the goal. Interestingly, findings also suggested that contractor motivation is also influenced by the fairness of the performance measurement process and their perception of the trustworthiness and transparency of their client. These findings provide the basis for future research on the impact of financial reward systems on motivation in construction projects. It is anticipated that such research will shed new light on this complex topic and further define how reward systems should be designed to promote project team motivation. Due to the unique nature of construction projects with high levels of task complexity and interdependence, results are expected to vary in comparison to previous studies based on individuals or single-entity organizations.

Development and validation of novel methods for microbial source tracking based on Escherichia coli as an indicator of water quality

Microbial pollution in water periodically affects human health in Australia, particularly in times of drought and flood. There is an increasing need for the control of waterborn microbial pathogens. Methods, allowing the determination of the origin of faecal contamination in water, are generally referred to as Microbial Source Tracking (MST). Various approaches have been evaluated as indicatorsof microbial pathogens in water samples, including detection of different microorganisms and various host-specific markers. However, until today there have been no universal MST methods that could reliably determine the source (human or animal) of faecal contamination. Therefore, the use of multiple approaches is frequently advised. MST is currently recognised as a research tool, rather than something to be included in routine practices. The main focus of this research was to develop novel and universally applicable methods to meet the demands for MST methods in routine testing of water samples. Escherichia coli was chosen initially as the object organism for our studies as, historically and globally, it is the standard indicator of microbial contamination in water. In this thesis, three approaches are described: single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) screening using high resolution melt analysis (HRMA) methods and phage detection development based on CRISPR types. The advantage of the combination SNP genotyping and CRISPR genes has been discussed in this study. For the first time, a highly discriminatory single nucleotide polymorphism interrogation of E. coli population was applied to identify the host-specific cluster. Six human and one animal-specific SNP profile were revealed. SNP genotyping was successfully applied in the field investigations of the Coomera watershed, South-East Queensland, Australia. Four human profiles [11], [29], [32] and [45] and animal specific SNP profile [7] were detected in water. Two human-specific profiles [29] and [11] were found to be prevalent in the samples over a time period of years. The rainfall (24 and 72 hours), tide height and time, general land use (rural, suburban), seasons, distance from the river mouth and salinity show a lack of relashionship with the diversity of SNP profiles present in the Coomera watershed (p values > 0.05). Nevertheless, SNP genotyping method is able to identify and distinquish between human- and non-human specific E. coli isolates in water sources within one day. In some samples, only mixed profiles were detected. To further investigate host-specificity in these mixed profiles CRISPR screening protocol was developed, to be used on the set of E. coli, previously analysed for SNP profiles. CRISPR loci, which are the pattern of previous DNA coliphages attacks, were considered to be a promising tool for detecting host-specific markers in E. coli. Spacers in CRISPR loci could also reveal the dynamics of virulence in E. coli as well in other pathogens in water. Despite the fact that host-specificity was not observed in the set of E. coli analysed, CRISPR alleles were shown to be useful in detection of the geographical site of sources. HRMA allows determination of ‘different’ and ‘same’ CRISPR alleles and can be introduced in water monitoring as a cost-effective and rapid method. Overall, we show that the identified human specific SNP profiles [11], [29], [32] and [45] can be useful as marker genotypes globally for identification of human faecal contamination in water. Developed in the current study, the SNP typing approach can be used in water monitoring laboratories as an inexpensive, high-throughput and easy adapted protocol. The unique approach based on E. coli spacers for the search for unknown phage was developed to examine the host-specifity in phage sequences. Preliminary experiments on the recombinant plasmids showed the possibility of using this method for recovering phage sequences. Future studies will determine the host-specificity of DNA phage genotyping as soon as first reliable sequences can be acquired. No doubt, only implication of multiple approaches in MST will allow identification of the character of microbial contamination with higher confidence and readability.

Sustainability and urban settlements: urban metabolism as a framework for achieving sustainable development

Urban settlements, with their role as economic and governance nerve centres, are rapidly expanding in size and in consumption of resources, and consequently have significant impacts on the environment. The transition to an ‘eco-city’ - an urban settlement that adopts the goals and principles in the urban metabolism model - needs to occur to meet the challenges posed by a multitude of pressures including population growth, climate change and resource depletion. Thus, the adoption and integration of ‘sustainable development’ into the management of urban growth is one of the most critical governance issues for urban settlements. A framework in which sustainable development can be achieved is through the lenses of the established theoretical concept of ‘urban metabolism’. The key facet of the proposed ‘Integrated Urban Metabolism Framework’ is the provision of a platform whereby different fields can appreciate, absorb and learn from other areas, to increase the understanding of where each and every one of the pieces fit together in order to create a larger, holistic approach to the currently stagnant problem of unsustainable development.

To have your caveat and claim it, too : steps to take to protect an interest in land or water allocation

Caveats as protection for unregistered interests - lapsing and non-lapsing caveats - caveator - use only in appropriate circumstances

A study of abrasive water jet characteristics by CFD simulation

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for ultrahigh velocity waterjets and abrasive waterjets (AWJs) are established using the Fluent 6 flow solver. Jet dynamic characteristics for the flow downstream from a very fine nozzle are then simulated under steady state, turbulent, two-phase and three-phase flow conditions. Water and particle velocities in a jet are obtained under different input and boundary conditions to provide an insight into the jet characteristics and a fundamental understanding of the kerf formation process in AWJ cutting. For the range of downstream distances considered, the results indicate that a jet is characterised by an initial rapid decay of the axial velocity at the jet centre while the cross-sectional flow evolves towards a top-hat profile downstream.

A geographical analysis of the role of water supply and sanitation in the risk of helminth infections of children in West Africa

Background We investigated the geographical variation of water supply and sanitation indicators (WS&S) and their role to the risk of schistosomiasis and hookworm infection in school age children in West Africa. The aim was to predict large-scale geographical variation in WS&S, quantify the attributable risk of S. haematobium, S. mansoni and hookworm infections due to WS&S and identify communities where sustainable transmission control could be targeted across the region. Methods National cross-sectional household-based demographic health surveys were conducted in 24,542 households in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali, in 2003–2006. We generated spatially-explicit predictions of areas without piped water, toilet facilities and finished floors in West Africa, adjusting for household covariates. Using recently published helminth prevalence data we developed Bayesian geostatistical models (MGB) of S. haematobium, S. mansoni and hookworm infection in West Africa including environmental and the mapped outputs for WS&S. Using these models we estimated the effect of WS&S on parasite risk, quantified their attributable fraction of infection, and mapped the risk of infection in West Africa. Findings Our maps show that most areas in West Africa are very poorly served by water supply except in major urban centers. There is a better geographical coverage for toilet availability and improved household flooring. We estimated smaller attributable risks for water supply in S. mansoni (47%) compared to S. haematobium (71%), and 5% of hookworm cases could be averted by improving sanitation. Greater levels of inadequate sanitation increased the risk of schistosomiasis, and increased levels of unsafe water supply increased the risk of hookworm. The role of floor type for S. haematobium infection (21%) was comparable to that of S. mansoni (16%), but was significantly higher for hookworm infection (86%). S. haematobium and hookworm maps accounting for WS&S show small clusters of maximal prevalence areas in areas bordering Burkina Faso and Mali smaller. The map of S. mansoni shows that this parasite is much more wide spread across the north of the Niger River basin than previously predicted. Interpretation Our maps identify areas where the Millennium Development Goal for water and sanitation is lagging behind. Our results show that WS&S are important contributors to the burden of major helminth infections of children in West Africa. Including information about WS&S as well as the “traditional” environmental risk factors in spatial models of helminth risk yielded a substantial gain both in model fit and at explaining the proportion of spatial variance in helminth risk. Mapping the distribution of infection risk adjusted for WS&S allowed the identification of communities in West Africa where integrative preventive chemotherapy and engineering interventions will yield the greatest public health benefits.