The implications of creative industries for regional outcomes

As the 21st century progresses, the most successful economies and societies will be creative ones. Worldwide, governments are producing strategies to encourage the development of creative industries and to strengthen the role of knowledge cities nationally and internationally. There is a significant policy discussion regarding the role of creative clusters in strengthening local economies and significant energy has been expended discussing the many positive outcomes of such developments. This article takes these issues as a starting point and considers the role of creative industries within broader concerns regarding uneven metropolitan development. By developing a typology of jobs across Australia’s metropolitan regions, the article will consider the broad social and economic impacts of uneven development of creative industry jobs between metropolitan regions and also the implications for individual metropolitan regions and policy outcomes.

Investigating erythemal UV exposure and vitamin D production in the urban canyon

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) results in both damaging and beneficial health outcomes. Excessive UV exposure has been linked to many skin and eye problems, but moderate exposure induces vitamin D production. It has been reported that humans receive 90-95% of their vitamin D from production that starts after UV exposure. Although it is possible to acquire vitamin D through dietary supplementation, the average person receives very little in this manner. Therefore, since most people acquire their vitamin D from synthesis after exposure to UV from sunlight, it is very important to understand the different environments in which people encounter UV. This project measured UV radiation and in-vitro vitamin D production in the urban canyon and at a nearby suburban location. The urban canyon is an environment consisting of tall buildings and tropospheric air pollution, which have an attenuating effect on UV. Typically, UV measurements are collected in areas outside the urban canyon, meaning that at times studies and public recommendations do not accurately represent the amount of UV reaching street-level in highly urbanized areas. Understanding of UV exposure in urban canyons becomes increasingly important as the number of people working and living in large cities steadily increases worldwide. This study was conducted in the central business district (CBD) of Brisbane, Australia, which models the urban canyons of large cities around the world in that it boasts a great number of tall buildings, including many skyscrapers, meaning that most areas only see a small amount of direct sunlight each day. During the winter of 2007 measurements of UV radiation and in-vitro vitamin D production were collected in the CBD and at a suburban site approximately 2.5km outside the CBD. Air pollution data was obtained from a central CBD measurement site. Data analysis showed that urban canyon measurements of both UV radiation and in-vitro vitamin D production were significantly lower than those collected at the suburban site. These results will aid both future researchers and policy makers in better understanding human UV exposure in Brisbane’s CBD and other urban canyons around the world.

In the mouth of the imagination : positioning children as co-researchers and co-artists to create a professional children's theatre production

In recent decades a number of Australian artists and teacher/artists have given serious attention to the creation of performance forms and performance engagement models that respect children’s intelligence, engage with themes of relevance, avoid the cliche´s of children’s theatre whilst connecting both sincerely and playfully with current understandings of the way in which young children develop and engage with the world. Historically a majority of performing arts companies touring Australian schools or companies seeking schools to view a performance in a dedicated performance venue engage with their audiences in what can be called a ‘drop-in drop-out’ model. A six-month practice-led research project (The Tashi Project) which challenged the tenets of the ‘drop-in drop-out’ model has been recently undertaken by Sandra Gattenhof and Mark Radvan in conjunction with early childhood students from three Brisbane primary school classrooms who were positioned as co-researchers and co-artists. The children, researchers and performers worked in a complimentary relationship in both the artistic process and the development of product.

Quality-based benefit design in health insurance : the impact of a product benefit design change on the utilisation of oral health services by members of a private health insurance fund in regional and rural New South Wales, Australia

Objective: To examine the impact on dental utilisation following the introduction of a participating provider scheme (Regional and Rural Oral Health Program {RROHP)). In this model dentists receive higher third party payments from a private health insurance fund for delivering an agreed range of preventive and diagnostic benefits at no out-ofpocket cost to insured patients. Data source/Study setting: Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia (HCF) dental claims for all members resident in New South Wales over the six financial years from l99811999 to 200312004. Study design: This cohort study involves before and after analyses of dental claims experience over a six year period for approximately 81,000 individuals in the intervention group (HCF members resident in regional and rural New South Wales, Australia) and 267,000 in the control group (HCF members resident in the Sydney area). Only claims for individuals who were members of HCF at 31 December 1997 were included. The analysis groups claims into the three years prior to the establishment of the RROHP and the three years subsequent to implementation. Data collection/Extraction methods: The analysis is based on all claims submitted by users of services for visits between 1 July 1988 and 30 June 2004. In these data approximately 1,000,000 services were provided to the intervention group and approximately 4,900,000 in the control group. Principal findings: Using Statistical Process Control (SPC) charts, special cause variation was identified in total utilisation rate of private dental services in the intervention group post implementation. No such variation was present in the control group. On average in the three years after implementation of the program the utilisation rate of dental services by regional and rural residents of New South Wales who where members of HCF grew by 12.6%, over eight times the growth rate of 1.5% observed in the control group (HCF members who were Sydney residents). The differences were even more pronounced in the areas of service that were the focus of the program: diagnostic and preventive services. Conclusion: The implementation of a benefit design change, a participating provider scheme, that involved the removal of CO-payments on a defined range of preventive and diagnostic dental services combined with the establishment and promotion of a network of dentists, appears to have had a marked impact on HCF members' utilisation of dental services in regional and rural New South Wales, Australia.

A database ATP simulated waveforms of shunt reactor switching cases with vacuum breakers on motor circuits

This paper presents a database ATP (Alternative Transient Program) simulated waveforms for shunt reactor switching cases with vacuum breakers in motor circuits following interruption of the starting current. The targeted objective is to provide multiple reignition simulated data for diagnostic and prognostic algorithms development, but also to help ATP users with practical study cases and component data compilation for shunt reactor switching. This method can be easily applied with different data for the different dielectric curves of circuit-breakers and networks. This paper presents design details, discusses some of the available cases and the advantages of such simulated data.

Individual firms and regional business clusters : the HRM advantage in rent generation

Much of the literature on clusters has focused on the economic advantages of clusters and how these can be achieved in terms of competition, regional development and local spillovers. Some studies have focused at the level of the individual firm however human resource management (HRM) in individual clustered firms has received scant attention. This paper innovatively utilises the extended Resource Based View (RBV) of the firm as a framework to conceptualise the human resource processes of individual firms within a cluster. RBV is argued as a useful tool as it explains external rents outside a firm’s boundaries. The paper concludes that HRM can assist in generating rents for firms and clusters more broadly when the function supports valuable interfirm relationships important for realising inter-firm advantages.

Impeding good governance implementation in Indonesian regional government : the effect of a bureaucratic generation gap

The implementation of ‘good governance’ in Indonesia’s regional government sector became a central tenet in governance research following the introduction of the national code for governance in 2006. The code was originally drafted in 1999 as a response to the Asian financial crises and many cases of unearthed corruption, collusion, and nepotism. It was reviewed in 2001 and again in 2006 to incorporate relevant political, economical, and social developments. Even though the national code exists along with many regional government decrees on good governance, the extent of implementation of the tenets of good governance in Indonesia’s regional government is still questioned. Previous research on good governance implementation in Indonesian regional government (Mardiasmo, Barnes and Sakurai, 2008) identified differences in the nature and depth of implementation between various Indonesian regional governments. This paper analyses and extends this recent work and explores key factors that may impede the implementation and sustained application of governance practices across regional settings. The bureaucratic culture of Indonesian regional government is one that has been shaped for over approximately 30 years, in particular during that of the Soeharto regime. Previous research on this regime suggests a bureaucratic culture with a mix of positive and negative aspects. On one hand Soeharto’s regime resulted in strong development growth and strong economic fundamentals, resulting in Indonesia being recognised as one of the Asian economic tigers prior to the 1997 Asian financial crises. The financial crises however revealed a bureaucratic culture that was rife with corruption, collusion, and nepotism. Although subsequent Indonesian governments have been committed to eradicating entrenched practices it seems apparent that the culture is ingrained within the bureaucracy and eradication of it will take time. Informants from regional government agree with this observation, as they identify good governance as an innovative mechanism and to implement it will mean a deviation from the “old ways.” Thus there is a need for a “changed” mind set in order to implement sustained governance practices. Such an exercise has proven to be challenging so far, as there is “hidden” resistance from within the bureaucracy to change its ways. The inertia of such bureaucratic cultures forms a tension against the opportunity for the implementation of good governance. From this context an emergent finding is the existence of a ‘bureaucratic generation gap’ as an impeding variable to enhanced and more efficient implementation of governance systems. It was found that after the Asian financial crises the Indonesian government (both at national and regional level) drew upon a wider human resources pool to fill government positions – including entrants from academia, the private sector, international institutions, foreign nationals and new graduates. It suggested that this change in human capital within government is at the core of this ‘inter-generational divide.’ This divergence is exemplified, at one extreme, by [older] bureaucrats who have been in-position for long periods of time serving during the extended Soeharto regime. The “new” bureaucrats have only sat in their positions since the end of Asian financial crisis and did not serve during Soeharto’s regime. It is argued that the existence of this generation gap and associated aspects of organisational culture have significantly impeded modernising governance practices across regional Indonesia. This paper examines the experiences of government employees in five Indonesian regions: Solok, Padang, Gorontalo, Bali, and Jakarta. Each regional government is examined using a mixed methodology comprising of on-site observation, document analysis, and iterative semi-structured interviewing. Drawing from the experiences of five regional governments in implementing good governance this paper seeks to better understand the causal contexts of variable implementation governance practices and to suggest enhancements to the development of policies for sustainable inter-generational change in governance practice across regional government settings.

On feasibility of regional frequency-based emergency control plans

Decentralized and regional load-frequency control of power systems operating in normal and near-normal conditions has been well studied; and several analysis/synthesis approaches have been developed during the last few decades. However in contingency and off-normal conditions, the existing emergency control plans, such as under-frequency load shedding, are usually applied in a centralized structure using a different analysis model. This paper discusses the feasibility of using frequency-based emergency control schemes based on tie-line measurements and local information available within a control area. The conventional load-frequency control model is generalized by considering the dynamics of emergency control/protection schemes and an analytic approach to analyze the regional frequency response under normal and emergency conditions is presented.

Learning through collaboration and co-production in the Singapore film industry : opportunities for development

Co-production and strategic partnerships may generate valuable learning opportunities for firms to access to the knowledge and expertise of their partners. Such sharing and transfer of knowledge has become an increasingly common way for organising corporate finance and resources. However, not all collaborations result in a net positive experience for both partners. It can be a zero-sum game in which the partner learning the fastest dominates the relationship. In some cases, failure to gain access to partner knowledge results in unequal benefits accruing from such alliances. By examining the Singapore film industry from a learning perspective and taking into account particular forms of alliances, the study contributes to our understanding of the potential benefit and challenges of coproduction as a strategy for development.

Developing knowledge precincts in regional towns: opportunities and challenges

While extensive literature exists on knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) focusing on large metropolitan cities, there is a paucity of literature looking into similar developments in small regional towns. The major aim of the paper is to examine the nature and potential for building knowledge precincts in regional towns. Through a review of extant literature on knowledge precincts, five key value elements and principles for development are identified. These principles are then tested and applied to a case study of the small town of Cooroy in Noosa, Australia. The Cooroy Lower Mill Site and its surroundings are the designated location for what may be called a community-based creative knowledge precinct. The opportunities and challenges for setting up a creative knowledge precinct in Cooroy were examined. The study showed that there is a potential to develop Cooroy with the provision of cultural and learning facilities, partnerships with government, business and educational institutions, and networking with other creative and knowledge precincts in the region. However, there are also specific challenges relating to the development of a knowledge precinct within the regional town and these relate to critical mass, competition and governance.

Phylogenetic placement of the sugarcane orange rust pathogen Puccinia kuehnii in a historical and regional context

Sugarcane orange rust, caused by Puccinia kuehnii, was once considered a minor disease in the Australian sugar industry. However, in 2000 a new race of the pathogen devastated the high-performing sugarcane cultivar Q124, and caused the industry Aus$150–210 million in yield losses. At the time of the epidemic, very little was known about the genetic and pathogenic diversity of the fungus in Australia and neighbouring sugar industries. DNA sequence data from three rDNA regions were used to determine the genetic relationships between isolates within two P. kuehnii collections. The first collection comprised only recent Australian field isolates and limited sequence variation was detected within this population. In the second study, Australian isolates were compared with isolates from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, China and historical herbarium collections. Greater sequence variation was detected in this collection and phylogenetic analyses grouped the isolates into three clades. All isolates from commercial cane fields clustered together including the recent Australianfield isolates and the Australian historical isolate from 1898.The other two clades included rust isolates from wild and garden canes in Indonesia and PNG. These rusts appeared morphologically similar to P. kuehnii and could potentially pose a quarantine threat to the Australian sugar industry. The results have revealed greater diversity in sugarcane rusts than previously thought.

Adaptive load shedding and regional protection

The requirement for improved efficiency whilst maintaining system security necessitates the development of improved system analysis approaches and the development of advanced emergency control technologies. Load shedding is a type of emergency control that is designed to ensure system stability by curtailing system load to match generation supply. This paper presents a new adaptive load shedding scheme that provides emergency protection against excess frequency decline, whilst minimizing the risk of line overloading. The proposed load shedding scheme uses the local frequency rate information to adapt the load shedding behaviour to suit the size and location of the experienced disturbance. The proposed scheme is tested in simulation on a 3-region, 10-generator sample system and shows good performance.

Digital media literacy : connecting young people’s identities, creative production and learning about video games

This chapter outlines examples of classroom activities that aim to make connections between young people’s everyday experiences with video games and the formal high school curriculum. These classroom activities were developed within the emerging field of digital media literacy. Digital media literacy combines elements of ‘traditional’ approaches to media education with elements of technology and information education (Buckingham, 2007; Warschauer, 2006). It is an educational field that has gained significant attention in recent years. For example, digital media literacy has become a significant objective for media policy makers in response to the increased social and cultural roles of new media technologies and controversies associated with young people’s largely unregulated online participation. Media regulators, educational institutions and independent organizations1 in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have developed digital media literacy initiatives that aim to provide advice to parents, teachers and young people.

QoS-aware reference station placement for regional network RTK

Network RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) is a technology that is based on GPS (Global Positioning System) or more generally on GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) measurements to achieve centimeter-level accuracy positioning in real-time. Reference station placement is an important problem in the design and deployment of network RTK systems as it directly affects the quality of the positioning service and the cost of the network RTK systems. This paper identifies a new reference station placement for network RTK, namely QoS-aware regional network RTK reference station placement problem, and proposes an algorithm for the new reference station placement problem. The algorithm can always produce a reference station placement solution that completely covers the region of network RTK.