Computation of ECG signal features using MCMC modelling in software and FPGA reconfigurable hardware

Computational optimisation of clinically important electrocardiogram signal features, within a single heart beat, using a Markov-chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method is undertaken. A detailed, efficient data-driven software implementation of an MCMC algorithm has been shown. Initially software parallelisation is explored and has been shown that despite the large amount of model parameter inter-dependency that parallelisation is possible. Also, an initial reconfigurable hardware approach is explored for future applicability to real-time computation on a portable ECG device, under continuous extended use.

Bioeconomic modelling and risk assessment of tiger prawn (Penaeus esculentus) stock enhancement in Exmouth Gulf, Australia

A bioeconomic model was developed to evaluate the potential performance of brown tiger prawn stock enhancement in Exmouth Gulf, Australia. This paper presents the framework for the bioeconomic model and risk assessment for all components of a stock enhancement operation, i.e. hatchery, grow-out, releasing, population dynamics, fishery, and monitoring, for a commercial scale enhancement of about 100 metric tonnes, a 25% increase in average annual catch in Exmouth Gulf. The model incorporates uncertainty in estimates of parameters by using a distribution for the parameter over a certain range, based on experiments, published data, or similar studies. Monte Carlo simulation was then used to quantify the effects of these uncertainties on the model-output and on the economic potential of a particular production target. The model incorporates density-dependent effects in the nursery grounds of brown tiger prawns. The results predict that a release of 21 million 1 g prawns would produce an estimated enhanced prawn catch of about 100 t. This scale of enhancement has a 66.5% chance of making a profit. The largest contributor to the overall uncertainty of the enhanced prawn catch was the post-release mortality, followed by the density-dependent mortality caused by released prawns. These two mortality rates are most difficult to estimate in practice and are much under-researched in stock enhancement.

Entrepreneurship education in non-business schools : best practice for Australian contexts of knowledge and innovation communities (Final Report)

In the current era of global economic instability, business and industry have already identified a widening gap between graduate skills and employability. An important element of this is the lack of entrepreneurial skills in graduates. This Teaching Fellowship investigated two sides of a story about entrepreneurial skills and their teaching. Senior players in the innovation commercialisation industry, a high profile entrepreneurial sector, were surveyed to gauge their needs and experiences of graduates they employ. International contexts of entrepreneurship education were investigated to explore how their teaching programs impart the skills of entrepreneurship. Such knowledge is an essential for the design of education programs that can deliver the entrepreneurial skills deemed important by industry for future sustainability. Two programs of entrepreneurship education are being implemented at QUT that draw on the best practice exemplars investigated during this Fellowship. The QUT Innovation Space (QIS) focuses on capturing the innovation and creativity of students, staff and others. The QIS is a physical and virtual meeting and networking space; a connected community enhancing the engagement of participants. The Q_Hatchery is still embryonic; but it is intended to be an innovation community that brings together nascent entrepreneurial businesses to collaborate, train and support each other. There is a niche between concept product and business incubator where an experiential learning environment for otherwise isolated ‘garage-at-home’ businesses could improve success rates. The QIS and the Q_Hatchery serve as living research laboratories to trial the concepts emerging from the skills survey. The survey of skills requirements of the innovation commercialisation industry has produced a large and high quality data set still being explored. Work experience as an employability factor has already emerged as an industry requirement that provides employee maturity. Exploratory factor analysis of the skills topics surveyed has led to a process-based conceptual model for teaching and learning higher-order entrepreneurial skills. Two foundational skills domains (Knowledge, Awareness) are proposed as prerequisites which allow individuals with a suite of early stage entrepreneurial and behavioural skills (Pre-leadership) to further leverage their careers into a leadership role in industry with development of skills around higher order elements of entrepreneurship, management in new business ventures and progressing winning technologies to market. The next stage of the analysis is to test the proposed model through structured equation modelling. Another factor that emerged quickly from the survey analysis broadens the generic concept of team skills currently voiced in Australian policy documents discussing the employability agenda. While there was recognition of the role of sharing, creating and using knowledge in a team-based interdisciplinary context, the adoption and adaptation of behaviours and attitudes of other team members of different disciplinary backgrounds (interprofessionalism) featured as an issue. Most undergraduates are taught and undertake teamwork in silos and, thus, seldom experience a true real-world interdisciplinary environment. Enhancing the entrepreneurial capacity of Australian industry is essential for the economic health of the country and can only be achieved by addressing the lack of entrepreneurial skills in graduates from the higher education system. This Fellowship has attempted to address this deficiency by identifying the skills requirements and providing frameworks for their teaching.

Identifying the key sociocultural influences on drinking behavior in high and moderate binge-drinking countries and the public policy implications

Despite considerable state investment and initiatives, binge drinking is still a major behavioral problem for policy makers and communities in many parts of the world. Furthermore, the practice of bingeing on alcohol seems to be spreading to young people in countries traditionally considered to have moderate drinking behaviors. Using a sociocultural lens and a framework of sociocultural themes from previous literature to develop propositions from their empirical study, the authors examine binge-drinking attitudes and behaviors among young people from high and moderate binge-drinking countries. The authors then make proposals regarding how policy makers can use social marketing more effectively to contribute to behavior change. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 91 respondents from 22 countries who were studying in two high binge-drinking countries at the time. The results show support for three contrasting sociocultural propositions that identify influences on binge drinking across these countries.

Modelling airport passenger group dynamics using an agent-based method

This thesis investigates the influence of passenger group dynamics on passengers' behaviour in an international airport. A simulation model is built to analyse passengers' behaviour during airport departure processes and during an emergency event. Results from the model showed that passengers' group dynamics have significant influences on the performance and utilisation of airport services. The agent-based model also provides a convenient way to investigate the effectiveness of space design and service allocations, which may contribute to the enhancement of passenger airport experiences.

Aspects of Keno modelling

In two earlier papers, an intricate Jackpot structure and analysis of pseudo-random numbers for Keno in the Australian state of Queensland circa 2000 were described. Aspects of the work were also reported at an international conference . Since that time, many aspects of the game in Australia have changed. The present paper presents more up-to-date details of Keno throughout the states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. A much simpler jackpot structure is now in place and this is described. Two add-ons or side-bets to the game are detailed: the trivial Heads or Tails and the more interesting Keno Bonus, which leads to consideration of the subset sum problem. The most intricate structure is where Heads or Tails and Keno Bonus are combined, and here, the issue of independence arises. Closed expressions for expected return to player (ERTP) are presented in all cases.

Analysis and modelling of the hydraulic conductivity in aquitards : application to the Galilee Basin and the Great Artesian Basin, Australia

In large sedimentary basins with layers of different rocks, the groundwater flow between aquifers depends on the hydraulic conductivity (K) of the separating low-permeable rocks, or aquitards. Three methods were developed to evaluate K in aquitards for areas with limited field data: • Coherence and harmonic analysis: estimates the regional-scale K based on water-level fluctuations in adjacent aquifers. • Cokriging and Bayes' rule: infers K from downhole geophysical logs. • Fluvial process model: reproduces the lithology architecture of sediment formations which can be converted to K. These proposed methods enable good estimates of K and better planning of further drillholes.

The activation, appropriation and practices of student-equity policy in Australian higher education

Current national reforms in Australian higher education have prioritised efforts to reduce educational disadvantage within a vernacular expression of neoliberal education policy. Student-equity policy in universities is enmeshed in a set of competitive student recruitment relations. This raises practice-based tensions as universities strive to meet specific institutional targets for low-socio-economic status (SES) and Indigenous student participation, whilst broadening participation more generally within the sector. This paper seeks empirically to trace the activation and appropriation of federal policy through two sites of higher education policy practices: a state government-sponsored equity practitioner body and two differently positioned universities, Dawson and McIllwraith, as they engage with low-SES schools. Working together Dorothy Smith’s insights into the textually mediated activation of local practices, Levinson and colleagues’ concept of the local appropriation of authorised policy, and Bourdieu’s notion of the contested field, we demonstrate that the generation of state level and institutionally specific policies for student-equity practices not only articulates to federal policy, but also appropriates the ruling relations of mandated policy. Further, the scope of these creative local appropriations is organised within a hierarchical academic field through which particular institutional imperatives, as well as the needs of low-SES students, are negotiated. The analysis demonstrates the vernacularisation of policy in the national rearticulation of global discourses, in appropriation at the level of the state body and in the practices of equity workers.

The subset sum problem in Keno modelling

Aspects of Keno modelling throughout the Australian states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria are discussed: the trivial Heads or Tails and the more interesting Keno Bonus, which leads to consideration of the subset sum problem. The most intricate structure is where Heads or Tails and Keno Bonus are combined, and here, the issue of independence arises. Closed expressions for expected return to player are presented in each case.

An exploration of the extent, use and success in the application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the UK construction industry

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been regarded as a one stop shop capable of addressing the ills of the construction industry. Yet, while some firms have accepted BIM as a new way to work and gone on to record success, others (which have not so done) have raised such questions as: ‘How is BIM defined? Is it a tool or a process? Which kinds and sizes of organisations stand to benefit from BIM?’ These questions form the basis of this research. Hence, having explored the relevant body of literature, this research investigates three organisations within the UK – described as the earliest adopters of BIM – and considers how they have fared in terms of project performance in the years since adopting BIM; focusing on project cost, delivery time and quality achievement. This investigation also probed two of the leading voices in BIM in the UK in search of the much needed answers. The findings of the research show that successful projects executed in the organisations that have used BIM is predicated on its adoption as a process, rather than as a tool of technology; a process that changes the way work in the construction industry is typically done. Moreover, the successes recorded in the firms researched give credence to project success consequent upon adopting BIM. Nevertheless, the findings of this research show that the cornerstone of this success is leadership-driven innovation.

Numerical modelling of an imping jet

Impinging flow occurs when a fluid impacts a comparatively solid boundary upon which divergence occurs. A perfect example of an impinging flow is the impact and divergence of air at ground level during a thunderstorm outflow. The importance of modelling thunderstorm outflows, and in particular the downburst is now well-known to the wind engineering community and research into many of its characteristics is underway throughout the world. The reader is directed to the text by Fujita [I] for an introduction to downburst concepts and theory.

CFD and experimental modelling of an impinging jet for thunderstorm downburst simulation

A thunderstorm downburst in its simplest form can be modelled as a steady flow impinging air jet. Although this simplification neglects some important atmospheric and physical parameters it has proven to be a useful tool for understanding the kinematics of these events. Assuming this simple impinging jet model also allows numerical models to be developed which can be directly compared with experimental results to validate the use of CFD. Confidence gained from these simulations will allow the use of more complex atmospheric impinging jet models that cannot be directly validated. Thunderstorm downbursts are important for wind engineers because in many parts of the world they produce the design wind speeds used in design standards, but are not structurally represented in these documents.

Modelling of arc welding : the importance of including the arc plasma in the computational domain

We present results of computational simulations of tungsten-inert-gas and metal-inert-gas welding. The arc plasma and the electrodes (including the molten weld pool when necessary) are included self-consistently in the computational domain. It is shown, using three examples, that it would be impossible to accurately estimate the boundary conditions on the weld-pool surface without including the arc plasma in the computational domain. First, we show that the shielding gas composition strongly affects the properties of the arc that influence the weld pool: heat flux density, current density, shear stress and arc pressure at the weld-pool surface. Demixing is found to be important in some cases. Second, the vaporization of the weld-pool metal and the diffusion of the metal vapour into the arc plasma are found to decrease the heat flux density and current density to the weld pool. Finally, we show that the shape of the wire electrode in metal-inert-gas welding has a strong influence on flow velocities in the arc and the pressure and shear stress at the weld-pool surface. In each case, we present evidence that the geometry and depth of the weld pool depend strongly on the properties of the arc.

The cost-effectiveness of total laparoscopic hysterectomy compared to total abdominal hysterectomy for the treatment of early stage endometrial cancer

Objective To summarise how costs and health benefits will change with the adoption of total laparoscopic hysterectomy compared to total abdominal hysterectomy for the treatment of early stage endometrial cancer. Design Cost-effectiveness modelling using the information from a randomised controlled trial. Participants Two hypothetical modelled cohorts of 1000 individuals undergoing total laparoscopic hysterectomy and total abdominal hysterectomy. Outcome measures Surgery costs; hospital bed days used; total healthcare costs; quality-adjusted life years; and net monetary benefits. Results For 1000 individuals receiving total laparoscopic hysterectomy surgery, the costs were $509 575 higher, 3548 hospital fewer bed days were used and total health services costs were reduced by $3 746 221. There were 39.13 more quality-adjusted life years for a 5 year period following surgery. Conclusions The adoption of total laparoscopic hysterectomy is almost certainly a good decision for health services policy makers. There is 100% probability that it will be cost saving to health services, a 86.8% probability that it will increase health benefits and a 99.5% chance that it returns net monetary benefits greater than zero.