A critical analysis of business process management education and alignment with industry demand : an Australian perspective

Business Process Management (BPM) is accepted globally as an organizational approach to enhance productivity and drive cost efficiencies. Studies confirm a shortage of BPM skilled professionals with limited opportunities to develop the required BPM expertise. This study investigates this gap starting from a critical analysis of BPM courses offered by Australian universities and training institutions. These courses were analyzed and mapped against a leading BPM capability framework to determine how well current BPM education and training offerings in Australia address the core capabilities required by BPM professionals globally. To determine the BPM skill-sets sought by industry, online recruitment advertisements were collated, analyzed, and mapped against this BPM capability framework. The outcomes provide a detailed overview on the alignment of available BPM education/training and industry demand. These insights are useful for BPM professionals and their employers to build awareness of the BPM capabilities required for a BPM mature organization. Universities and other training institutions will benefit from these results by understanding where demand is, where the gaps are, and what other BPM education providers are supplying. This structured comparison method could continue to provide a common ground for future discussion across university-industry boundaries and continuous alignment of their respective practices.

Development of empirical equations for irradiance profile of a standard parabolic trough collector using Monte Carlo ray tracing technique

Irradiance profile around the receiver tube (RT) of a parabolic trough collector (PTC) is a key effect of optical performance that affects the overall energy performance of the collector. Thermal performance evaluation of the RT relies on the appropriate determination of the irradiance profile. This article explains a technique in which empirical equations were developed to calculate the local irradiance as a function of angular location of the RT of a standard PTC using a vigorously verified Monte Carlo ray tracing model. A large range of test conditions including daily normal insolation, spectral selective coatings and glass envelop conditions were selected from the published data by Dudley et al. [1] for the job. The R2 values of the equations are excellent that vary in between 0.9857 and 0.9999. Therefore, these equations can be used confidently to produce realistic non-uniform boundary heat flux profile around the RT at normal incidence for conjugate heat transfer analyses of the collector. Required values in the equations are daily normal insolation, and the spectral selective properties of the collector components. Since the equations are polynomial functions, data processing software can be employed to calculate the flux profile very easily and quickly. The ultimate goal of this research is to make the concentrating solar power technology cost competitive with conventional energy technology facilitating its ongoing research.

Cultural content matters: A critical sociology of language and literacy curriculum

A theoretical rationale, policy analysis and research agenda for a critical sociology of language and literacy curriculum, outlining the agenda for a political economy of textbooks.

Keep ahead of the workforce development curve through the establishment of standardised training for rail incident investigators

The Australasian rail industry lacks a consistently accepted standard of minimal training necessary to perform rail incident investigations. Current Australasian courses do not offer the breadth of development required for a comprehensive career pathway in incident investigation (Biggs, Banks & Dovan, 2012; Short, Kains & Harris, 2010).

Critical discourse analysis

This chapter outlines the reasons why discourse analysis is an important dimension of critical social work practice. It brings to the forefront the very significant new contributions that sociologists focusing on the politics of recognition and redistribution, such as Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth, can make in casting a "new politics of critical social work". In making this case, it begins by discussing some key developments in discourse theory and analysis within the social sciences and how they relate to the normative concerns of social work, specifically social justice and its multiple interpretations. Developing an appropriate analytical framework for social work practice can be difficult because there are conflicting and overlapping definitions of discourse formulated from various theoretical and disciplinary standpoints (Fairclough, 1992; Macdonnell, 1991). There are many different accounts of discourse that have developed in the social sciences, which is partly a result of recent interest in discourse theory among a wide range of academic disciplines. Whether language has assumed more of a central focus as a result of increased academic interest, or whether there has been an increase in the social importance of language in the operations of power is open to question...

Brisbane Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram : empirical findings on network partitioning and incident detection

The Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) relates space-mean density and flow, and the existence with dynamic features was confirmed in congested urban network in downtown Yokohama with real data set. Since the MFD represents the area-wide network traffic performances, studies on perimeter control strategies and an area traffic state estimation utilizing the MFD concept has been reported. However, limited works have been reported on real world example from signalised arterial network. This paper fuses data from multiple sources (Bluetooth, Loops and Signals) and develops a framework for the development of the MFD for Brisbane, Australia. Existence of the MFD in Brisbane arterial network is confirmed. Different MFDs (from whole network and several sub regions) are evaluated to discover the spatial partitioning in network performance representation. The findings confirmed the usefulness of appropriate network partitioning for traffic monitoring and incident detections. The discussion addressed future research directions

A Human identification technique using images of the iris and wavelet transform

A new approach for recognizing the iris of the human eye is presented. Zero-crossings of the wavelet transform at various resolution levels are calculated over concentric circles on the iris, and the resulting one-dimensional (1-D) signals are compared with model features using different dissimilarity functions.

The protease inhibitor JO146 demonstrates a critical role for CtHtrA for Chlamydia trachomatis reversion from penicillin persistence

The Chlamydia trachomatis serine protease HtrA (CtHtrA) has recently been demonstrated to be essential during the replicative phase of the chlamydial developmental cycle. A chemical inhibition strategy (serine protease inhibitor JO146) was used to demonstrate this essential role and it was found that the chlamydial inclusions diminish in size and are lost from the cell after CtHtrA inhibition without formation of viable elementary bodies. The inhibitor (JO146) was used in this study to investigate the role of CtHtrA for penicillin persistence and heat stress model conditionscultures for Chlamydia trachomatis. JO146 addition during penicillin persistence resulted in only minor reductions (~1 log) in the final viable infectious yield after persistent Chlamydia were reverted from persistence. However, JO146 treatment during the reversion and recovery from penicillin persistence was completely lethal for Chlamydia trachomatis. JO146 was completely lethal when added either during heat stress conditions, or during the recovery from heat stress conditions. These data together indicate that CtHtrA has essential roles during some stress environments (heat shock), recovery from stress environments (heat shock and penicillin persistence), as well as the previously characterised essential role during the replicative phase of the chlamydial developmental cycle. Thus, CtHtrA is an essential protease with both replicative phase and stress condition functions for Chlamydia trachomatis.

An evaluation of clinical procedures used in dental implant treatment in posterior maxilla using flapless technique

This study was a measure forward in cultivating the scientific basis for an approach to examine clinical procedure in Flapless dental implant surgery. The thesis is based on: the systematic review, retrospective study of flapless implants, and in vivo study on the osseo-integration in osteoporotic rats. Dr Doan investigated "clinical procedures used in dental implant treatment in posterior maxilla using flapless technique". The work has yielded significant contributions to the area of implant flapless surgery and its effects on osteoporotic patients having implants in the posterior maxilla.

Analysis of interrelationships between critical waste factors in office building retrofit projects using interpretive structural modelling

The number of office building retrofit projects is increasing. These projects are characterised by processes which have a close relationship with waste generation and therefore demand a high level of waste management. In a preliminary study reported separately, we identified seven critical factors of on-site waste generation in office building retrofit projects. Through semi-structured interviews and Interpretive Structural Modelling, this research further investigated the interrelationships among these critical waste factors, to identify each factor’s level of influence on waste generation and propose effective solutions for waste minimization. “Organizational commitment” was identified as the fundamental issue for waste generation in the ISM system. Factors related to plan, design and construction processes were found to be located in the middle levels of the ISM model but still had significant impacts on the system as a whole. Based on the interview findings and ISM analysis results, some practical solutions were proposed for waste minimization in building retrofit projects: (1) reusable and adaptable fit-out design; (2) a system for as-built drawings and building information; (3) integrated planning for retrofitting work process and waste management; and (4) waste benchmarking development for retrofit projects. This research will provide a better understanding of waste issues associated with building retrofit projects and facilitate enhanced waste minimization.

Constructing a clinical decision-making framework for image-guided radiotherapy using a Bayesian Network

A decision-making framework for image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) is being developed using a Bayesian Network (BN) to graphically describe, and probabilistically quantify, the many interacting factors that are involved in this complex clinical process. Outputs of the BN will provide decision-support for radiation therapists to assist them to make correct inferences relating to the likelihood of treatment delivery accuracy for a given image-guided set-up correction. The framework is being developed as a dynamic object-oriented BN, allowing for complex modelling with specific sub-regions, as well as representation of the sequential decision-making and belief updating associated with IGRT. A prototype graphic structure for the BN was developed by analysing IGRT practices at a local radiotherapy department and incorporating results obtained from a literature review. Clinical stakeholders reviewed the BN to validate its structure. The BN consists of a sub-network for evaluating the accuracy of IGRT practices and technology. The directed acyclic graph (DAG) contains nodes and directional arcs representing the causal relationship between the many interacting factors such as tumour site and its associated critical organs, technology and technique, and inter-user variability. The BN was extended to support on-line and off-line decision-making with respect to treatment plan compliance. Following conceptualisation of the framework, the BN will be quantified. It is anticipated that the finalised decision-making framework will provide a foundation to develop better decision-support strategies and automated correction algorithms for IGRT.

Measuring exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation using a dosimetric technique : understanding participant compliance issues

Personal ultraviolet dosimeters have been used in epidemiological studies to understand the risks and benefits of individuals' exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR). We investigated the types and determinants of non-compliance associated with a protocol for use of polysulphone UVR dosimeters. In the AusD Study, 1,002 Australian adults (aged 18-75 years) were asked to wear a new dosimeter on their wrist each day for 10 consecutive days to quantify their daily exposure to solar UVR. Of the 10,020 dosimeters distributed, 296 (3%) were not returned or used (Type I non-compliance) and other usage errors were reported for 763 (8%) returned dosimeters (Type II non-compliance). Type I errors were more common in participants with predominantly outdoor occupations. Type II errors were reported more frequently on the first day of measurement; weekend days or rainy days; and among females; younger people; more educated participants or those with outdoor occupations. Half (50%) the participants reported a non-compliance error on at least one day during the 10-day period. However, 92% of participants had at least 7 days of usable data without any apparent non-compliance issues. The factors identified should be considered when designing future UVR dosimetry studies.