Designing a mobile social tool that moderates drinking

A novel mobile social networking tool uses peer support to facilitate responsible drinking among young women. Focus group reports indicate that the tool’s design is easy to use and its functionalities would help peers reduce risk during drinking sessions.

School connectedness: Student voices examine power and subjectivity

Ideally, school would be a place where all students felt that they belonged. However, the reality is that many students feel as though they do not belong to their school community. Alienated or disaffected students are an endemic problem in schools in Australia, affecting the whole school community, as well as life chances for the students themselves after school. The crux of this matter, we believe, are the tensions between the desire to connect to the school community, and the frustration experienced by some students as a result of their subjectification by the school system. Perhaps students that we tend to identify as alienated or disaffected in their schools may be resisting the accepted negotiations of power that underpin the school system.

Modulating power and 'new weapons': Taking aim at the education revolution

This paper looks at the emergent performative culture seducing education in the Australian context. It links this corporate discourse to Deleuzean theorising of control societies to postulate that what we are experiencing is a new form of power relations – that of the modulating mechanisms of power. These modulating mechanisms overlay disciplinary power such that the self is modulated through the amplification and frequencies of the instruments of modulation: the simulation, the categorical sorting and the sample. These instruments are increasingly utilised within the performative culture of the Australian Federal Government’s Education Revolution as examples of the performative ‘terror’ or the abstraction of the self from the terrain in which they move. Finally, some new weapons are suggested that may offer preliminary and tentative ‘movement’ in deterritorialising ways through the enclosed spaces of mass, compulsory school and the policy that shapes it.

The good student: Subjectivities, power and schooling

Schools are places where student subjectivities are negotiated and contested in a variety of spaces. This paper argues that schools organise the possibilities for student subjectivities through a set of discourses that construct idealised notions of the good student. Whilst some discourses occur across educational sites, in practice these sets of discourses construct a unique vision of the good student in each specific school site. This vision is articulated in a variety of ways in each school, however, the result is that each student is enmeshed within a complex nexus of power relations that they can contest, negotiate or accept. Most of the time, students engage in a swirling set of subjectivities that encompasses these possibilities in various ways at various times. This paper problematises commonsense notions of the good student at one school site. One intent is to give voice to the lived experience of students who find themselves the site of these technologies of power. These technologies construct a set of commonsense expectations of schools - amongst which is the desire to produce the good student. Another is to use a Foucaultean analysis that rejects the good/bad binary that underpins many commonsense understandings of what students should be.

Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's Early History. Volume 3: Covert 'Professionalism': The Power of the Wealthy Clubs 1886 to 1890

This volume continues the story of football in Marvellous Melbourne during the 1880s. At this time the VFA continued to expand as Melbourne’s boom continued apace. In 1886 Port Melbourne, Prahran, St Kilda, Footscray and South Williamstown joined the competition, and the Ballarat clubs Ballarat, Ballarat Imperial and South Ballarat were also contending for the VFA premiership. In 1886 matches were divided into four quarters, goal umpires waved two flags to announce a goal, and time clocks and bells were employed to mark the end of quarters. Victoria also played inter-colonial matches against New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia. VFA secretary T.S. Marshall was at the forefront of fighting the game’s turn towards professionalism, but although it was illegal to pay players, the practice continued. The period 1886 to 1890 also set the stage for the eventual formation of the Victorian Football League, for by the end of the 1880s the Victorian Football Association had become in effect a two-tier competition. The most popular clubs in the VFA, South Melbourne, Geelong, Carlton and Essendon collected the lion’s share of the gate money, which they used to build their wealth and entrench their position as the dominant Victorian teams. The lower tier clubs had to make do with paltry gate money and season fixtures that advantaged the strong clubs. In these fixtures the strong clubs elected to play each other first to increase their gate money, and only deemed to play the poorer clubs at the start of the season. This led to an increasing divide between the VFA’s rich and poor, and by 1890 South Williamstown and Prahran merged with Williamstown and St Kilda respectively, University dropped out of senior ranks, and the Ballarat clubs were excluded from competing for the VFA premiership, which left 12 senior clubs until Collingwood’s emergence in 1892. At this time, no team was as powerful as South Melbourne, which experienced the greatest success in the club’s VFA and VFL history when it collected triple premiership crowns in 1888, 1889, and 1890. South Melbourne was a most ambitious club and spearheaded the move towards professionalism, although this could not be made public. The fine teams it produced at this time contained some of the greatest players of the era, such as Peter Burns, “Sonny” Elms and “Dinny” McKay, and it looked after players with health insurance, jobs, inter-colonial trips, and other incentives. Geelong’s premiership in 1886 was perhaps its greatest triumph, but this success was followed by a premiership drought that would last for 39 years. Carlton remained one of Victorian football’s power clubs, and after securing the premiership in 1887 continued to compete for top honours. As always, the game became ever more popular and world record crowds of over 30,000 attended matches between South Melbourne, Carlton, Geelong and Essendon.

Sport across cultures: Applications of the human capital model in refugee communities

When working with the world’s most vulnerable populations there are questions surrounding the salience of physical activity promotion programs given the multitude of basic needs that must first be met. Indeed, physical activity may be a low priority for individuals seeking safety, reunification with loved ones, and food for their families, as a subsistence lifestyle makes excess weight gain, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease irrelevant. Yet, when working with people from a refugee background for whom these challenges all too frequently apply, opportunities for sport and activity have repeatedly surfaced as desirable and needed, yet are utterly deficient. If we conceptualize physical activity purely as a chronic disease prevention tool, its significance within under-resourced communities is most assuredly lost; however, if we harness the power of physical activity to serve as an agent of positive social change, then it instantly becomes more meaningful and necessary.

Real time maximum power conversion tracking and resonant frequency modification for high power piezoelectric ultrasound transducer

Piezoelectric ultrasound transducers are commonly used to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy and vice versa. The transducer performance is highly affected by the frequency at which it is excited. If excitation frequency and main resonant frequency match, transducers can deliver maximum power. However, the problem is that main resonant frequency changes in real time operation resulting in low power conversion. To achieve the maximum possible power conversion, the transducer should be excited at its resonant frequency estimated in real time. This paper proposes a method to first estimate the resonant frequency of the transducer and then tunes the excitation frequency accordingly in real time. The measurement showed a significant difference between the offline and real time resonant frequencies. Also, it was shown that the maximum power was achieved at the resonant frequency estimated in real time compare to the one measured offline.

Design and fabrication of linear pixel arrays for organic photovoltaic modules to achieve scalable power output

We describe a design and fabrication method to enable simpler manufacturing of more efficient organic solar cell modules using a modified flat panel deposition technique. Many mini-cell pixels are individually connected to each other in parallel forming a macro-scale solar cell array. The pixel size of each array is optimized through experimentation to maximize the efficiency of the whole array. We demonstrate that integrated organic solar cell modules with a scalable current output can be fabricated in this fashion and can also be connected in series to generate a scalable voltage output.

Hampson type heat-exchanger technology and economic evaluation for LNG re- gasification and power generation At LNG receiving terminals

The system for high utilization of LNG cold energy is proposed by use of process simulator. The proposed design is a closed loop system, and composed by a Hampson type heat exchanger, turbines, pumps and advanced humid air turbine (AHAT) or Gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC). Its heat sources are Boil-off gas and cooling water for AHAT or GTCC. The higher cold exergy recovery to power can be about 38 to 56% as compared to the existing cold power generation of about 20% with a Rankine cycle of a single component. The advantage of the proposed system is to reduce the number of heat exchangers. Furthermore, the environmental impact is minimized because the proposed design is a closed loop system. A life cycle comparative cost is calculated to demonstrate feasibility of the proposed design. The development of the Hampson type exchangers is expected to meet the key functional requirements and will result in much higher LNG cold exergy recovery and the overall system performance i.e. re-gasification. Additionally, the proposed design is expected to provide flexibility to meet different gas pressure suited for the deregulation of energy system in Japan and higher reliability for an integrated boil-off gas system.

A 4D automatic simulation tool for construction resource planning: A case study

Purpose Traditional construction planning relies upon the critical path method (CPM) and bar charts. Both of these methods suffer from visualization and timing issues that could be addressed by 4D technology specifically geared to meet the needs of the construction industry. This paper proposed a new construction planning approach based on simulation by using a game engine. Design/methodology/approach A 4D automatic simulation tool was developed and a case study was carried out. The proposed tool was used to simulate and optimize the plans for the installation of a temporary platform for piling in a civil construction project in Hong Kong. The tool simulated the result of the construction process with three variables: 1) equipment, 2) site layout and 3) schedule. Through this, the construction team was able to repeatedly simulate a range of options. Findings The results indicate that the proposed approach can provide a user-friendly 4D simulation platform for the construction industry. The simulation can also identify the solution being sought by the construction team. The paper also identifies directions for further development of the 4D technology as an aid in construction planning and decision-making. Research limitations/implications The tests on the tool are limited to a single case study and further research is needed to test the use of game engines for construction planning in different construction projects to verify its effectiveness. Future research could also explore the use of alternative game engines and compare their performance and results. Originality/value The authors proposed the use of game engine to simulate the construction process based on resources, working space and construction schedule. The developed tool can be used by end-users without simulation experience.

Generating benefits and negotiating tensions through an international doctoral forum: A sociological analysis

Workshops and seminars are widely-used forms of doctoral training. However, research with a particular focus on these forms of doctoral training is sporadic in the literature. There is no, if any, such research concerning the international context and participants’ own voices. Mindful of these lacunae in the literature, we write the current paper as a group of participants in one of a series of doctoral forums co-organised annually by Beijing Normal University, China and Queensland University of Technology, Australia. The paper voices our own experiences of participation in the doctoral forum. Data were drawn from reflections, journals, and group discussions of all 12 student and academic participants. These qualitative data were organised and analysed through Bourdieu’s notions of capital and field. Findings indicate that the doctoral forum created enabling and challenging social fields where participants accrued and exchanged various forms of capital and negotiated transient and complex power relations. In this respect, the sociological framework used provides a distinctive theoretical tool to conceptualise and analyse the benefits and tensions of participation in the doctoral forum. Knowledge built and lessons learned through our paper will provide implications and recommendations for future planning of, and participation in, the doctoral forum series and similar activities elsewhere.

Letter: Brain natriuretic peptide is a potentially useful screening tool for the detection of cardiovascular disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a significantly higher risk of coronary heart disease, despite being less likely to report symptoms of angina, and are more likely to experience unrecognised myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death than non-RA controls.1 Furthermore, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction has been described in up to 40% of patients with RA.2...

Droplet digital PCR as a useful tool for the quantitative detection of Enterovirus 71

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a contagious viral disease that frequently affects infants and children and present with blisters and flu-like symptoms. This disease is caused by a group of enteroviruses such as enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus A16 (CA16). However, unlike other HFMD causing enteroviruses, EV71 have also been shown to be associated with more severe clinical manifestation such as aseptic meningitis, brainstem and cerebellar encephalitis which may lead to cardiopulmonary failure and death. Clinically, HFMD caused by EV71 is indistinguishable from other HFMD causing enteroviruses such as CA16. Molecular diagnosis methods such as the use of real-time PCR has been used commonly for the identification of EV71. In this study, two platforms namely the real-time PCR and the droplet digital PCR were compared for the detection quantitation of known EV71 viral copy number. The results reveal accurate and consistent results between the two platforms. In summary, the droplet digital PCR was demonstrated to be a promising technology for the identification and quantitation of EV71 viral copy number.

Impacts of wind power integration on small signal stability and low frequency oscillation characteristics of interconnected power systems

为研究风电并网对互联系统低频振荡的影响,基于完整的双馈风电机组模型,定性分析了两区域互联系统在风电机组并网前后阻尼特性的变化情况.从双馈风电机组并网输送距离、并网容量、互联系统联络线传送功率、是否加装电力系统稳定器等多个方面,多角度分析了风电场并网对互联系统小干扰稳定及低频振荡特性的影响.之后,以两个包括两个区域的电力系统为例,进行了系统的计算分析和比较.结果表明,有双馈风电机组接入的互联电力系统,在不同运行模式下,双馈风电机组的并网输送距离、出力水平、联络线传送功率对低频振荡模式的影响在趋势和程度上均有显著差异,这样在对风电场进行入网规划、设计和运行时就需要综合考虑这些因素的影响.

Mobile medical applications for melanoma risk assessment: False assurance or valuable tool?

With the smartphone revolution, consumer-focused mobile medical applications (apps) have flooded the market without restriction. We searched the market for commercially available apps on all mobile platforms that could provide automated risk analysis of the most serious skin cancer, melanoma. We tested 5 relevant apps against 15 images of previously excised skin lesions and compared the apps' risk grades to the known histopathologic diagnosis of the lesions. Two of the apps did not identify any of the melanomas. The remaining 3 apps obtained 80% sensitivity for melanoma risk identification; specificities for the 5 apps ranged from 20%-100%. Each app provided its own grading and recommendation scale and included a disclaimer recommending regular dermatologist evaluation regardless of the analysis outcome. The results indicate that autonomous lesion analysis is not yet ready for use as a triage tool. More concerning is the lack of restrictions and regulations for these applications.