Developing an engaging IT degree

Curriculum renewal is a constant activity in Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS), Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Computer Science (CS). Guiding documents from curriculum authorities such as AIS, IEEE and ACM assist in this process, as do those from professional societies, but these are often out of date when the institution seeks to refresh its approaches to learning, and position its graduates for emerging roles and technologies. This paper describes and discusses a curriculum renewal project undertaken in response to changing government requirements,student interests and the adoption of a learner-centric, active learning paradigm utilizing new physical collaborative learning facilities. This paper presents the stimulus for change, describes the use of reference resources and discusses the resulting degree structure, its majors and learning approaches.

Linkages among the US energy futures markets

This study investigates the price linkage among the US major energy sources, considering structural breaks in time series, to provide information for diversifying the US energy sources. We find that only a weak linkage sustains among crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, coal, natural gas, uranium and ethanol futures prices. This implies that the US major energy source markets are not integrated as one primary energy market. Our tests also reveal that uranium and ethanol futures prices have very weak linkages with other major energy source prices. This indicates that the US energy market is still at a stage where none of the probable alternative energy source markets are playing the role as substitute or complement markets for the fossil fuel energy markets.

Correlations and volatility spillovers across commodity and stock markets: Linking energies, food, and gold

This paper employs a VAR-GARCH model to investigate the return links and volatility transmission between the S&P 500 and commodity price indices for energy, food, gold and beverages over the turbulent period from 2000 to 2011. Understanding the price behavior of commodity prices and the volatility transmission mechanism between these markets and the stock exchanges are crucial for each participant, including governments, traders, portfolio managers, consumers, and producers. For return and volatility spillover, the results show significant transmission among the S&P 500 and commodity markets. The past shocks and volatility of the S&P 500 strongly influenced the oil and gold markets. This study finds that the highest conditional correlations are between the S&P 500 and gold index and the S&P 500 and WTI index. We also analyze the optimal weights and hedge ratios for commodities/S&P 500 portfolio holdings using the estimates for each index. Overall, our findings illustrate several important implications for portfolio hedgers for making optimal portfolio allocations, engaging in risk management and forecasting future volatility in equity and commodity markets. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Tests on price linkage between the U.S. and Japanese gold and silver futures markets

We tested the price linkage, the law of one price (LOP) condition, and the causality of the price linkage between the U.S. and Japanese gold and silver futures markets with consideration of structural breaks in the price series. The LOP condition did not hold for both the gold and silver markets when structural breaks were not considered but it sustained in some periods when it was tested for the break periods. We found from the causality test that the price linkage between the U.S. and Japanese gold and silver futures markets were led by the U.S. market.

Stock prices of clean energy firms, oil and carbon markets : a vector autoregressive analysis

Recent discussions of energy security and climate change have attracted significant attention to clean energy. We hypothesize that rising prices of conventional energy and/or placement of a price on carbon emissions would encourage investments in clean energy firms. The data from three clean energy indices show that oil prices and technology stock prices separately affect the stock prices of clean energy firms. However, the data fail to demonstrate a significant relationship between carbon prices and the stock prices of the firms.

A robust methodology for developing an operational systems view of mine water interactions

The Minerals Council of Australia’s (MCA) Water Accounting Framework (WAF) is an industry lead initiative to enable cross company communication and comparisons of water management performance. The WAF consists of two models, the Input-Output Model that represents water interactions between an operation and its surrounding environment and the Operational Model that represents water interactions within an operation. Recently, MCA member companies have agreed to use the Input-Output Model to report on their external water interactions in Australian operations, with some adopting it globally. The next step will be to adopt the Operational Model. This will expand the functionality of the WAF from corporate reporting to allowing widespread identification of inefficiencies and to connect internal and external interactions. Implementing the WAF, particularly the Operational Model, is non-trivial. It can be particularly difficult for operations that are unfamiliar with the WAF definitions and methodology, lack information pertaining to flow volumes or contain unusual configurations. Therefore, there is a need to help industry with its implementation. This work presents a step-by-step guide to producing the Operational Model. It begins by describing a methodology for implementing the Operational Model by describing the identification of pertinent objects (stores, tasks and treatments), quantification of flows, aggregation of objects and production of reports. It then discusses how the Operational Model can represent a series of challenging scenarios and how it can be connected with Input-Output Model to improve water management.

Testing the international linkage in the platinum-group metal futures markets

This study tests whether an international market exists in the platinum-group metal (PGM) futures markets. For this purpose, we tested the law of one price (LOP) and the causality between the U.S. and Japanese platinum and palladium futures markets. We also performed the test when structural breaks are considered. Long-run price relationships were found in both platinum and palladium markets but the LOP only sustained in the palladium market. The causality test revealed that it is the U.S. market that leads the price to transmit information between the U.S. and Japanese markets. Structural breaks had large impacts on the test results, suggesting that incorporating breaks is important when investigating the international price linkage in the PGM futures markets.

Price linkages in the copper futures, primary, and scrap markets

This study investigates how markets for different levels of copper purity are interrelated by testing the long-run price linkage and causalities among the copper futures, primary, copper scrap, and brass scrap markets. It is expected that copper markets that deal with high purity levels, such as the futures, primary, and copper scrap markets, have a long-run relationship. However, brass scrap markets where copper with a lower purity is traded may not have a price linkage with other copper markets. The results reveal that a long-run relationship holds between the futures, primary, and copper scrap markets but the brass scrap market does not have a long-run relationship with the other markets. From the short-run and long-run causality tests, we determine that the futures market plays an important role in transmitting price information to other copper markets while such information flow is not found for the brass scrap market.

Environment and productivities in developed and developing countries : the case of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide

We propose a productivity index for undesirable outputs such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and measure it using data from 51 developed and developing countries over the period 1971-2000. About half of the countries exhibit the productivity growth. The changes in the productivity index are linked with their respective per capita income using a semi-parametric model. Our results show technological catch up of low-income countries. However, overall productivities both of SO2 and CO2 show somewhat different results.

A hard slog, not a leap frog : globalization and sustainability transitions in developing Asia

How does globalization influence transitions toward more sustainable socio-technical regimes in the developing world? This paper argues that transformations of regimes, the networks and institutions governing technological and environmental practices in an industry, can be positively influenced by globalization but it depends on how global forces interact with local socio-political landscapes-the political-economic institutions, values, and regulations broadly guiding an economy and its relationship to the environment. We evaluate these relationships through a comparison of two kinds of socio-political landscapes-the neo-liberal export-led development model commonly found in the developing world and the uniquely Asian capitalist developmental state. We first show how the neo-liberal model overemphasizes the power of market forces to facilitate upgrading and more sustainable industrialization. We then argue that capitalist developmental states in East and Southeast Asia have been better able to harness global economic forces for technological and sustainability transitions through an openness to trade and investment and effective public-private institutions able to link cleaner technologies and environmental standards to production activities in firms. We buttress this argument with firm-level evidence showing the evolution of socio-technical regimes in two industries-cement and electronics. The case studies demonstrate how interactions with OECD firms can contribute to environmental technique effects provided the socio-political landscape is amenable to changes in an industry's regime. Ultimately, we find the process of transition to be complex and contingent; a hard slog not a leap frog toward a potentially more sustainable future. We close by considering the limitations on the capitalist developmental state model and with comments about what else needs to be learned about globalization's role in sustainability transitions.

Proposing and developing the definition and conceptual framework for healthcare resilience to cope with disasters

Building healthcare resilience is an important step towards creating more resilient communities to better cope with future disasters. To date, however, there appears to be little literature on how the concept of healthcare resilience should be defined and operationalized with a conceptual framework. This article aims to build a comprehensive healthcare disaster management approach guided by the concept of resilience. Methods: Google and major health electronic databases were searched to retrieve critical relevant publications. A total of 61 related publications were included, to provide a comprehensive overview of theories and definitions relevant to disaster resilience. Results and Discussions: Resilience is an inherent and adaptive capacity to cope with future uncertainty, through multiple strategies with all hazards approaches, in an attempt to achieve a positive outcome with linkage and cooperation. Healthcare resilience can be defined as the capability of healthcare organisations to resist, absorb, and respond to the shock of disasters while maintaining the most essential functions, then recover to their original state or adapt to a new state. It can be assessed by criteria, namely: robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness; and a complex of key dimensions, namely: vulnerability and safety, disaster resources and preparedness, continuity of essential health services, recovery and adaptation. Conclusions: This new concept places healthcare organisations’ disaster capabilities, management tasks, activities and disaster outcomes together into a comprehensive whole view, using an integrated approach and establishing achievable goals.

Developing an evaluation framework for hospital disaster resilience : tertiary hospitals of Shandong Province, China

This thesis provided a definition and conceptual framework for hospital disaster resilience; it used a mixed-method, including an empirical study in tertiary hospitals of Shandong Province in China, to devise an assessment instrument for measuring hospital resilience. The instrument is the first of its type and will allow hospitals to measure their resilience levels. The concept of disaster resilience has gained prominence in the light of the increased impact of various disasters. The notion of resilience encompasses the qualities that enable the organisation or community to resist, respond to, and recover from the impact of disasters. Hospital resilience is essential as it provides 'lifeline' services which minimize disaster impact. This thesis has provided a framework and instrument to evaluate the level of hospital resilience. Such an instrument could be used to better understand hospital resilience, and also as a decision-support tool for its promoting strategies and policies.

“Privilege to Kill” phenomenon on developing countries’ roads : a preliminary case study of China

This study aims to examine the severe consequences of traffic crashes related to a special group of drivers in China, which is called the “Second Rich & Powerful Generation” (SRPG). The unique driving behaviors and attitudes of this special group are intertwined with the general cultural and social environment in China. To investigate the difference of traffic crash consequences between drivers who belong to SRPG and general driver population, injuries and fatalities in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 were compared. Results consistently showed that while no significant difference was detected between these two groups in terms of injuries, fatalities per crash caused by SRPG were significantly larger than that caused by general driver population. Findings from our study clearly demonstrate the complexity of road safety issues in developing countries, and can also be used to develop road safety improvement strategies tailored to SRPG.

Synthesizing form and data : developing practices for student engagement and learning

We explore the relationship between form and data as a design agenda and learning strategy for novice visual information designers. Our students are university seniors in digital, visual design but novices to information design, manipulation and interpretation. We describe design strategies developed to scaffold sophisticated aesthetic and conceptual engagement despite limited understanding of the domain of designing with information. These revolve around an open-ended design project where students created a physical design from data of their choosing and research. The accompanying learning strategies concern this relationship between data and form to investigate it materially, formally and through ideation. Exemplifying student works that cross media and design domains are described.