The impacts of power outages on the residents of contemporary multistorey apartment buildings in subtropical environments

With significant population growth experienced in South East Queensland over the past two decades and a high rate of growth expected to continue in coming decades, the Queensland Government is promoting urban consolidation planning policies to manage growth sustainably. Multi-residential buildings will play an important role in facilitating the increased densities which urban consolidation policies imply. However, a major flood event in January 2011 has brought to light the vulnerability of certain types of multi-residential typologies to power outages. The crisis conditions exposed how contemporary building design and construction practices, coupled with regulatory and planning issues, appear to have compromised the resilience and habitability of multi-storey residential buildings. In the greater urban area of Brisbane, Queensland, the debilitating dependence that certain types of apartment buildings have on mains electricity was highlighted by residents’ experiences of the Brisbane River flood disaster, before, during and after the event. This research examined high density residential buildings in West End, Brisbane, an inner city suburb which was severely affected by the flood and is earmarked for significant urban densification under the Brisbane City Plan. Medium-to-high-density residential buildings in the suburb were mapped in flooded and non-flooded locations and a database containing information about the buildings was created. Parameters included date of construction, number of storeys, systems of access and circulation, and potential for access to natural light and ventilation for habitable areas. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with residents involved in the owners’ management committees of several buildings to verify information the mapping could not provide. The interviews identified a number of critical systems failures due to power outage which had a significant impact on residents’ wellbeing, comfort and safety. Building services such as lifts, running water, fire alarms, security systems and air-conditioning ceased to operate when power was disconnected to neighbourhoods and buildings in anticipation of rising flood waters. Lack of access to buildings and dwellings, lack of safety, lack of building security, and lack of thermal comfort affected many residents whether or not their buildings were actually subjected to inundation, with some buildings rendered uninhabitable for a prolonged period. The extent of the impact on residents was dramatically influenced by the scale and type of building inhabited, with those dwelling in buildings under a 25m height limit, with a single lift, found to be most affected. The energy-dependency and strong trend of increasing power demands of high-rise buildings is well-documented. Extended electricity outages such as the one brought about by the 2011 flood in Queensland are likely to happen more frequently than the 50-year average of the flood event itself. Electricity blackouts can result from a number of man-made or natural causes, including shortages caused by demand exceeding supply. This paper highlights the vulnerability of energy-dependent buildings to power outages and investigates options for energy security for occupants of multi-storey buildings and makes recommendations to increase resilience and general liveability in multi-residential buildings in the subtropics through design modifications.

Performance reporting : assessing the annual reports of Malaysian local authorities

There have been calls for Malaysian local authorities to be more transparent and accountable in the discharge of their functional responsibilities. This study empirically evaluates the extent and quality of current performance reporting by local authorities. The disclosure of relevant information for discharging accountability obligations, as defined by a broad range of stakeholders, falls short of best practice. Therefore, the performance of Malaysian local authorities lacks transparency. The findings could assist in the development of more comprehensive guidelines for local authority reporting and raise awareness of information stakeholders expect to be reported in the context of accountability

Living through extreme weather events and natural disasters: How resilient are our high-rise high-density typologies?

The inner city Brisbane suburbs of the West End peninsula are poised for redevelopment. Located within walking distance to CBD workplaces, home to Queensland’s highest value cultural precinct, and high quality riverside parklands, there is currently a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redevelop parts of the suburb to create a truly urban neighbourhood. According to a local community association, local residents agree and embrace the concept of high-density living, but are opposed to the high-rise urban form (12 storeys) advocated by the City’s planning authority (BCC, 2011) and would prefer to see medium-rise (5-8 storeys) medium-density built form. Brisbane experienced a major flood event which inundated the peninsula suburbs of West End in summer January 2011. The vulnerability of taller buildings to the vagaries of climate and more extreme weather events and their reliance on main electricity was exposed when power outages immediately before, during and after the flood disaster seriously limited occupants’ access and egress when elevators were disabled. Not all buildings were flooded but dwellings quickly became unliveable due to disabled air-conditioning. Some tall buildings remained uninhabitable for several weeks after the event. This paper describes an innovative design research method applied to the complex problem of resilient, sustainable neighbourhood form in subtropical cities, in which a thorough comparative analysis of a range of multiple-dwelling types has revealed the impact that government policy regarding design of the physical environment has on a community’s resilience. The outcomes advocate the role of climate-responsive design in averting the rising human capital and financial costs of natural disasters and climate change.

The Authority of Influence : Women and Power in Burmese History

This book explores the relationship between gender and power in Burmese history from pre-colonial times to the present day and aims to identify the sources, nature and limitations of women’s power. The study takes as its starting point the apparent contradiction that, though Burmese women historically enjoyed relatively high social status and economic influence, for the most part they remained conspicuously absent from positions of authority in formal religious, social and political institutions. The book thus examines the concept of ‘family’ in Burmese political culture, and reveals how some women were able to gain political influence through their familial connections with powerful men, even while cultural models of ‘correct’ female behaviour prevented most women from attaining official positions of political authority. The study also considers how various influences – Buddhism, colonialism, nationalism, modernisation and militarism – shaped Burmese concepts of gender and power, with important implications for how women were able to exercise social, economic and political influence. The book explores how the effects of prolonged armed conflict, economic isolation and political oppression have constrained opportunities for women to attain power in contemporary Burma, and examines opportunities opened up by the pro-democracy movement and recent focus on women's issues and rights for women to exercise influence both inside Burma and in exile. Using an interdisciplinary approach that draws on feminist, anthropological and social science discourses, placing them within an historical framework, the author offers a broad understanding of how power is obtained and exercised in Burma in order to reassess historical representations of Burmese women and so provide a more comprehensive and inclusive understanding of power relations in historical and contemporary Burma.

Experimental evaluation of the culture performance of three exotic and a ‘local’ Giant Freshwater Prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii, De Man 1879) culture strain in Fiji

Giant freshwater prawn (GFP; Macrobrachium rosenbergii) aquaculture has expanded rapidly since 1990. Most local culture industries, however, have developed in an unsystematic way. Fiji has a small culture industry producing the ‘Anuenue’ strain; however, performance of this strain has never been systematically evaluated. Recently, some Fijian farmers have reported declines in stock productivity. The current project evaluated the relative performance of three exotic strains with different genetic backgrounds from Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, against the ‘local’ strain in Fiji in a 4 × 3 replicated pond trial experiment. A total of 5827 prawns were harvested after 143 days growout. Individual growth rate and relative survival of the Fiji strain were not statistically different from any of the introduced strains, but Vietnam strain was superior to that of the Malaysia strain. Genetic diversity showed significant differences in variability among strains, with the Malaysian strain displaying the lowest genetic diversity. Indonesia strain showed that females were reaching maturation earlier than other strains and were smaller in size. This study suggests that Malaysian and Indonesian strains would constitute a poor choice for Fiji, whereas the Vietnam strain consistently performed well on all criteria measured. High variation among replicate ponds within strains unfortunately confounded among-strain variation.

The impact of fatigue caused by sprint running on the median power frequency of the hamstring muscle group

Hamstring strain injuries (HSI) are the predominant non-contact injury in many sports. Intermittent running has been shown to result in preferential reductions in eccentric hamstring strength, which increase the risk of sustaining a HSI. The eccentric specific nature of this decline in hamstring function implicates central mechanisms, as peripheral fatigue mechanisms tend to impact upon both concentric and eccentric contractions modes. However, neural function of the hamstrings, such as the median power frequency (MPF) of the surface electromyography signal has yet to be examined in the fatigued hamstring following intermittent sprint running. AIM: To determine the impact of fatigue induced by intermittent sprinting on the MPF of the medial and lateral hamstring muscles. METHODS: Fifteen recreationally active males completed 18 × 20m overground sprints. Maximal strength (concentric and eccentric knee flexor and concentric knee extensor) was determined isokinetically at the velocities of ±180.s-1 and ±60.s- while hamstring muscle activation was assessed using surface electromyography, before and 15 minutes after the running protocol. RESULTS: Overground intermittent running caused a significant reduction in eccentric knee flexor strength (27.2 Nm; 95% CI = 11.2 to 43.3; p=0.0001) but not concentric strength (9.3 Nm; 95% CI = -6.7 to 25.3; P=0.6361). Following the overground running, MPF of the lateral hamstrings showed a significant decline eccentrically (0.86; 95% CI = 0.59 to 1.54; P=0.038) and concentrically (0.76; 95%CI = 0.66 to 0.83; P=0.039). Similar declines in MPF were also noted in the medial hamstrings eccentrically (1.54; 95% CI = 0.59 to 7.9; P=0.005) and concentrically (1.18; 95% CI = 0.44 to 6.8; P=0.040). CONCLUSION: Whilst sprint running induced fatigue led to a eccentric specific reduction in knee flexor torque, MPF was suppressed across both contraction modes. This would indicate that factors associated with the decline in MPF do not appear to explain the contraction mode-specific loss of strength after intermittent sprints. This would implicate other central mechanisms, such as declines in voluntary activation, in explaining the eccentric specific decline in strength seen following sprint running.

Drugs and local chemical mediators

10.1 Histamine and cytokines 10.1.1 Actions of histamine 10.1.2 Drugs that modify the actions of histamine 10.1.3 Cytokines 10.2 Eicosanoids 10.2.1 Cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipooxygenase system 10.2.2 Actions of eicosanoids 10.2.3 Drugs that modify the actions of eicosanoids 10.2.3.1 Inhibit phospholipase A2 10.2.3.2 Non-selective cyclooxygenase inhibitors 10.2.3.3 Selective COX-2 inhibitors 10.2.3.4 Agonists at prostaglandin receptors 10.2.3.5 Leukotriene receptor antagonists 10.3. 5-Hydroxtryptamine (serotonin), nitric oxide, and endothelin 10.3.1 5-HT and migraine 10.3.2 5-HT and the gastrointestinal tract 10.3.3 Nitric oxide and angina 10.3.4 Nitric oxide and erectile dysfunction 10.3.5 Endothelin and pulmonary hypertension

Local hormones

Local hormones or autocoids are chemical mediators that are secreted by one group of cells to affect the function of other nearby cells. This eChapter covers a diverse range of these mediators, their physiological effects, pathological implications and clinical use of drugs and other agents that target these systems...

Forging the heteroglossic citizen : articulating local, national, regional and global horizons in the Australian Curriculum

This article offers a discourse analysis comparing selected articles in the national press over the consultative period for Phase 1 subjects in the new Australian Curriculum, with rationales prefacing official Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority documents. It traces how various versions of Australia, its ‘nation-ness’ and its future citizens have been taken up in the final product. The analysis uses Lemke's analytic elaboration of Bakhtin's concept of heteroglossia and its derivative, intertextuality. It identifies a range of intertextual thematic formations around ‘nation’, ‘history’, ‘citizen’ and ‘curriculum’ circulating in the public debates, then traces their presence in official curriculum documents. Rather than concluding that these themes are contradictory and incoherent, the conclusion asks how these multiple dialogic facets of Australian nation-ness potentially offer a better response to complex times than any coherent monologic orthodoxy might.

An index of best practice performance reporting for Malaysian local authorities

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify stakeholders’ expectations of information to be conveyed in local authorities’ annual reports and to develop an index of best practice performance reporting. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes the development of a disclosure index emphasizing the public interest aspect of reporting and the need to provide relevant and meaningful information to stakeholders. The index was crafted from a public accountability perspective and based on the expectations of stakeholders as reconciled and validated by a Delphi panel of experts. Findings – The wide scope of information that was dentified as being important for disclosure by local authorities is consistent with the public accountability paradigm which requires the reporting of comprehensive information (both financial and non financial), about the condition, performance, activities and progress of the entity. Originality/value – The research posits a model of best practice performance reporting for Malaysian, and other, local authorities to meet the need for greater accountability by these entities.

Power-law viscous materials for analogue experiments: New data on the rheology of highly-filled silicone polymers

The selection of appropriate analogue materials is a central consideration in the design of realistic physical models. We investigate the rheology of highly-filled silicone polymers in order to find materials with a power-law strain-rate softening rheology suitable for modelling rock deformation by dislocation creep and report the rheological properties of the materials as functions of the filler content. The mixtures exhibit strain-rate softening behaviour but with increasing amounts of filler become strain-dependent. For the strain-independent viscous materials, flow laws are presented while for strain-dependent materials the relative importance of strain and strain rate softening/hardening is reported. If the stress or strain rate is above a threshold value some highly-filled silicone polymers may be considered linear visco-elastic (strain independent) and power-law strain-rate softening. The power-law exponent can be raised from 1 to ~3 by using mixtures of high-viscosity silicone and plasticine. However, the need for high shear strain rates to obtain the power-law rheology imposes some restrictions on the usage of such materials for geodynamic modelling. Two simple shear experiments are presented that use Newtonian and power-law strain-rate softening materials. The results demonstrate how materials with power-law rheology result in better strain localization in analogue experiments.

Accuracy of FEM and BEM for electromagnetic flux calculations in high power applications

The development and design of electric high power devices with electromagnetic computer-aided engineering (EM-CAE) software such as the Finite Element Method (FEM) and Boundary Element Method (BEM) has been widely adopted. This paper presents the analysis of a Fault Current Limiter (FCL), which acts as a high-voltage surge protector for power grids. A prototype FCL was built. The magnetic flux in the core and the resulting electromagnetic forces in the winding of the FCL were analyzed using both FEM and BEM. An experiment on the prototype was conducted in a laboratory. The data obtained from the experiment is compared to the numerical solutions to determine the suitability and accuracy of the two methods.

Broadband today : the role of Australian local government authorities

The paper seeks to clarify the role of Local Government Authorities in facilitating the Australian digital economy. It does this by analysing responses to the 2012 BTA, NBN and Digital Economy Survey. This reveals the level of recognition by LGAs of relevant issues; their level of use of federal, state and other programs designed to enable end user engagement; and other actions LGAs are undertaking to enable their regional digital economies. The analysis reinforces the significant role of LGAs in the future of Australia’s digital economy and identifies areas where assistance may be required.

Network interactions and performance of a multi-function IEC 61850 process bus

New substation technology, such as non-conventional instrument transformers,and a need to reduce design and construction costs, are driving the adoption of Ethernet based digital process bus networks for high voltage substations. Protection and control applications can share a process bus, making more efficient use of the network infrastructure. This paper classifies and defines performance requirements for the protocols used in a process bus on the basis of application. These include GOOSE, SNMP and IEC 61850-9-2 sampled values. A method, based on the Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP) and virtual local area networks, is presented that separates management and monitoring traffic from the rest of the process bus. A quantitative investigation of the interaction between various protocols used in a process bus is described. These tests also validate the effectiveness of the MSTP based traffic segregation method. While this paper focusses on a substation automation network, the results are applicable to other real-time industrial networks that implement multiple protocols. High volume sampled value data and time-critical circuit breaker tripping commands do not interact on a full duplex switched Ethernet network, even under very high network load conditions. This enables an efficient digital network to replace a large number of conventional analog connections between control rooms and high voltage switchyards.