Averting uncertainty : a practical guide to physical activity research in Australian schools

Preventative health has become central to contemporary health care, identifying youth physical activity as a key factor in determining health and functioning. Schools offer a unique research setting due to distinctive methodological circumstances. However, school-based researchers face several obstacles in their endeavour to complete successful research investigations; often confronted with complex research designs and methodological procedures that are not easily amenable to school contexts. The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical guide for teachers (both teacher educators and teaching practitioners) seeking to conduct physical activity-based research in Australian school settings, as well as discuss research practices. The research enabling process has been divided into six phases: preparation; design; outcome measures; procedures; participants; and feedback. Careful planning and consideration must be undertaken prior to the commencement of, and during the research process, due to the complex nature of school settings and research processes that exist in the Australian context.

Using natural user interfaces for collaborative process modelling in virtual environments

Modelling business processes for analysis or redesign usually requires the collaboration of many stakeholders. These stakeholders may be spread across locations or even companies, making co-located collaboration costly and difficult to organize. Modern process modelling technologies support remote collaboration but lack support for visual cues used in co-located collaboration. Previously we presented a prototype 3D virtual world process modelling tool that supports a number of visual cues to facilitate remote collaborative process model creation and validation. However, the added complexity of having to navigate a virtual environment and using an avatar for communication made the tool difficult to use for novice users. We now present an evolved version of the technology that addresses these issues by providing natural user interfaces for non-verbal communication, navigation and model manipulation.

Encapsulation of transition metal species into zeolites and molecular sieves as redox catalysts: Part I-preparation and characterisation of nanosized TiO2, CdO and ZnO semiconductor particles anchored in NaY zeolite

In this paper, we report the preparation and characterisation of nanometer-sized TiO2, CdO, and ZnO semiconductor particles trapped in zeolite NaY. Preparation of these particles was carried out via the traditional ion exchange method and subsequent calcination procedure. It was found that the smaller cations, i.e., Cd2+ and Zn2+ could be readily introduced into the SI′ and SII′ sites located in the sodalite cages, through ion exchange; while this is not the case for the larger Ti species, i.e., Ti monomer [TiO]2+ or dimer [Ti2O3]2+ which were predominantly dispersed on the external surface of zeolite NaY. The subsequent calcination procedure promoted these Ti species to migrate into the internal surface of the supercages. These semiconductor particles confined in NaY zeolite host exhibited a significant blue shift in the UV-VIS absorption spectra, in contrast to the respective bulk semiconductor materials, due to the quantum size effect (QSE). The particle sizes calculated from the UV-VIS optical absorption spectra using the effective mass approximation model are in good agreement with the atomic absorption data.

The impact of organisational culture in project selection process : case of public infrastructure project in Indonesia

The thesis develops an Organisational Culture (OC) based framework for potentially improving the current practice of the infrastructure project selection process (PSP) in Indonesia, particularly for regional road projects. This framework is developed to address the suggestion emanating from the research that there is a need for strengthening the relevant organisational culture dimensions and making changes to current organisational culture profiles to support the effectiveness of the decision-making process of the current PSP. The findings not only benefit existing knowledge but also provide practical contributions for those decision-makers within the Indonesian regional government that are involved in PSP, i.e. by raising the awareness of the influence and the role of organisational culture.

Simultaneous determination by UPLC-ESI-MS of scoparone, capillarisin, rhein, and emodin in rat urine after oral administration of Yin Chen Hao Tang preparation

A simple, sensitive, and validated method was developed for simultaneous determination of scoparone, capillarisin, rhein, and emodin in rat urine by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). The urinary samples were analyzed on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 1.7 microm 2.1x50 mm column. Scoparone, capillarisin, rhein, and emodin in rat urine were simultaneously analyzed with good separation. The lower limits of detection were 6.0, 9.0, 7.0, and 3.0 ng/mL, and the lower limits of quantification were 20.0, 33.0, 24.0, and 12.0 ng/mL for scoparone, capillarisin, rhein, and emodin, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD) were less than 9%. The intra- and inter-accuracies were found to be in the range of 94.14-104.54% for scoparone, 101.72-107.34% for capillarisin, 95.24-103.59% for rhein, and 101.32-107.82% for emodin at three concentration levels. The absolute recoveries for scoparone, capillarisin, rhein, and emodin were not less than 77.0%. The developed method has been applied to determine scoparone, capillarisin, rhein, and emodin in rat urine after oral administration of Yin Chen Hao Tang preparation, a traditional Chinese medicine formulation widely used in China for treatment of jaundice and liver disorders.

Supporting context-aware process design : learnings from a design science study

Recent studies have started to explore context-awareness as a driver in the design of adaptable business processes. The emerging challenge of identifying and considering contextual drivers in the environment of a business process are well understood, however, typical methods and models for business process design do not yet consider this context. In this paper, we describe our work on the design of a method framework and appropriate models to enable a context-aware process design approach. We report on our ongoing work with an Australian insurance provider and describe the design science we employed to develop innovative and useful artifacts as part of a context-aware method framework. We discuss the utility of these artifacts in an application in the claims handling process at the case organization.

Simultaneous determination of 6,7-dimethylesculetin and geniposide in rat plasma and its application to pharmacokinetic studies of Yin Chen Hao Tang preparation

A method for the rapid and simultaneous determination of 6,7-dimethylesculetin (CAS 120-08-1) and geniposide (CAS 24512-63-8) in rat plasma has been developed, using validated high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with solid phase extraction (SPE). The HPLC analysis was performed on a commercially available column (200 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) with acetonitrile-methanol-0.1% aqueous formic acid as mobile phase and the UV detection at 343 nm and 238 nm for 6,7-dimethylesculetin and geniposide, respectively. The calibration curves for 6,7-dimethylesculetin and geniposide were linear over the range 0.4-25.6 microg/mL and 1.12-71.68 microg/mL, respectively. The lower limits of quantitation were 0.40 microg/ mL and 1.12 microg/mL, and the lower limits of detection were 0.06 microg/mL and 0.09 microg/ mL, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day precision for 6,7-dimethylesculetin and geniposide were < 5%, whereas the absolute recovery percentages were > 74%. A successful application of the developed HPLC analysis was demonstrated for the pharmacokinetic study of a Traditional Chinese Medicine formula of Yin Chen Hao Tang preparation.

Development and use of risk adjusted statistical process control tools for the monitoring and improvement of clinical outcomes in interventional cardiology

This thesis explored the development of statistical methods to support the monitoring and improvement in quality of treatment delivered to patients undergoing coronary angioplasty procedures. To achieve this goal, a suite of outcome measures was identified to characterise performance of the service, statistical tools were developed to monitor the various indicators and measures to strengthen governance processes were implemented and validated. Although this work focused on pursuit of these aims in the context of a an angioplasty service located at a single clinical site, development of the tools and techniques was undertaken mindful of the potential application to other clinical specialties and a wider, potentially national, scope.

Using natural user interfaces for collaborative process modelling in virtual environments

A demo video showing the BPMVM prototype using several natural user interfaces, such as multi-touch input, full-body tracking and virtual reality.

Peer review : a professional development process for librarians

Peer review is a reflective process which allows us to formalise, and gain maximum benefit from, collegial feedback on our professional performance. It is also a process that encourages us to engage in cycles of planning, acting, recording and reflection which are familiar components of action learning and action research. Entering into these cycles within the peer-review framework is a powerful and cost-effective means of facilitating professional development which is readily adapted to the library context. In 1996, a project implementing peer review, in order to improve client interaction at the reference desk, was completed at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) Library. For that project we developed a set of guidelines for library staff involved in peer review. These guidelines explained the value of peer review, and described its principles and purposes. We also devised strategies to assist staff as they prepared for the experience of peer review, engaged in the process and reflected on the outcomes. A number of benefits were identified; the peer-review process enhanced team spirit, enhanced client-orientation, and fostered collaborative efforts in improving the reference service. It was also relatively inexpensive to implement. In this paper we will discuss the nature of peer review and its importance to library and information professionals. We will also share the guidelines we developed, and discuss the implementation and outcomes of the peer review project at the University of Southern Queensland. We will conclude by discussing the benefits perceived and the issues that arose in the USQ context, and by suggesting a range of other aspects of library service in which peer-review could be implemented.

Second international workshop on theory and applications of process visualization

The representation of business process models has been a continuing research topic for many years now. However, many process model representations have not developed beyond minimally interactive 2D icon-based representations of directed graphs and networks, with little or no annotation for information overlays. In addition, very few of these representations have undergone a thorough analysis or design process with reference to psychological theories on data and process visualization. This dearth of visualization research, we believe, has led to problems with BPM uptake in some organizations, as the representations can be difficult for stakeholders to understand, and thus remains an open research question for the BPM community. In addition, business analysts and process modeling experts themselves need visual representations that are able to assist with key BPM life cycle tasks in the process of generating optimal solutions. With the rise of desktop computers and commodity mobile devices capable of supporting rich interactive 3D environments, we believe that much of the research performed in computer human interaction, virtual reality, games and interactive entertainment have much potential in areas of BPM; to engage, provide insight, and to promote collaboration amongst analysts and stakeholders alike. We believe this is a timely topic, with research emerging in a number of places around the globe, relevant to this workshop. This is the second TAProViz workshop being run at BPM. The intention this year is to consolidate on the results of last year's successful workshop by further developing this important topic, identifying the key research topics of interest to the BPM visualization community.

Improving the statistical preparation for measuring soil N2O flux by closed chamber

Nitrous oxide emissions from soil are known to be spatially and temporally volatile. Reliable estimation of emissions over a given time and space depends on measuring with sufficient intensity but deciding on the number of measuring stations and the frequency of observation can be vexing. The question of low frequency manual observations providing comparable results to high frequency automated sampling also arises. Data collected from a replicated field experiment was intensively studied with the intention to give some statistically robust guidance on these issues. The experiment had nitrous oxide soil to air flux monitored within 10 m by 2.5 m plots by automated closed chambers under a 3 h average sampling interval and by manual static chambers under a three day average sampling interval over sixty days. Observed trends in flux over time by the static chambers were mostly within the auto chamber bounds of experimental error. Cumulated nitrous oxide emissions as measured by each system were also within error bounds. Under the temporal response pattern in this experiment, no significant loss of information was observed after culling the data to simulate results under various low frequency scenarios. Within the confines of this experiment observations from the manual chambers were not spatially correlated above distances of 1 m. Statistical power was therefore found to improve due to increased replicates per treatment or chambers per replicate. Careful after action review of experimental data can deliver savings for future work.

Conceptual fashion : design, practice and process

While Conceptual fashion design practices have been a pervasive influence in fashion since the early 1980s, there is little academic analysis that might explain how they are distinct from conventional fashion design practices. In addition, fashion practitioners have not historically contributed to fashion research. As a result, contemporary fashion practitioners have difficulty setting critical contexts and expanding their creative work as there is little relevant literature available from practitioner perspectives. This project uses practice-led research to develop a discourse for understanding Conceptual fashion design process and how it relates to more conventional fashion design practices. In this exegesis I use Conceptual art as a lens to expand understandings of Conceptual fashion and my own creative practice. This analysis demonstrates that there are valuable connections to be drawn between Conceptual art and Conceptual fashion practice. In particular, these connections reveal the differences between the way Conceptual and more conventional fashion designers relate to the conceptual and the visual in their design process. This exploration demonstrates that while fashion is a visual field, Conceptual fashion designers produce a more ‘intellectual’ type of fashion that uses the visual to communicate ideas that question the nature of fashion. I explore the relevance of these ideas through application and experimentation in my creative practice projects by drawing from systems and rules identified in the work of early Conceptual artists and contemporary Conceptual fashion designers.

Academics and activists in the policy process : engagement with Australian media inquiries 2011-13

After its narrow re-election in June 2010, the Australian Labor government undertook a series of public inquiries into reform of Australian media, communications and copyright laws. One important driver of policy reform was the government’s commitment to building a National Broadband Network (NBN), and the implications this had for existing broadcasting and telecommunications policy, as it would constitute a major driver of convergence of media and communications access devices and content platforms. These inquiries included: the Convergence Review of media and communications legislation; the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) review of the National Classification Scheme; the Independent Media Inquiry (Finkelstein Review) into Media and Media Regulation; and the ALRC review of Copyright and the Digital Economy. One unusual feature of this review process, discussed in the paper, was the degree to which academics were involved in the process, not simply as providers of expert opinion, but as review chairs seconded from their universities. This paper considers the role played by activist groups in all of these inquiries and their relationship to the various participants in the inquiries, as well as the implications of academics being engaged in such inquiries, not simply as activist-scholars, but as those primarily responsible for delivering policy review outcomes. The latter brings to the forefront issues arising in from direct engagement with governments and state agencies themselves, which challenges traditional understandings of the academic community as “critical outsiders” towards such policy processes.

Unpacking the venture creation process

This paper investigates the dimensions of time and effort and how these factors impact on the venture creation process in Australia. Findings of interest in this paper include: • First and foremost business planning is used as a thinking tool within the boundaries of the firm. • Business planning is more strongly associated with firms that are more ambitious, being built by teams, draw on more experience or education. • Industry characteristics in part drive the duration required for venture creation. Manufacturing and Agriculture based firms seemingly take longer timeframes than other industries. Extended venture creation times frames are also associated with firms that aim to bring more novel concepts to market.