State of Energy Efficiency Education in Australian Technical & Further Education (TAFE) : A Report to the Australian Government Skills for the Carbon Challenge Initiative, The Natural Edge Project (TNEP), Queensland University of Technology

The Australian Government’s Skills for the Carbon Challenge (SCC) initiative aims to accelerate industry and the education sectors response to climate change. As part of the SCC initiative, the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIICCSRTE) provided funding to investigate the state of energy efficiency education in engineering-related Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Programs. The following document reports on the outcomes of a multi-stage consultation project that engaged with participants from over 80% of TAFE institutions across Australia with the aim of supporting and enhancing future critical skills development in this area. Specifically, this report presents the findings of a national survey, based on a series of TAFE educator focus groups, conducted in May 2013 aimed at understanding the experiences and insights of Australian TAFE educators teaching engineering-related courses. Responses were received from 224 TAFE Educators across 50 of the 61 TAFE institutions in Australia (82% response rate).

Exploring subscription renewal intention of operational cloud enterprise systems-a socio-technical approach

Despite the fact that customer retention is crucial for providers of cloud enterprise systems, only little attention has been directed towards investigating the antecedents of subscription renewal in an organizational context. This is even more surprising, as cloud services are usually offered as subscription-based pricing models with the (theoretical) possibility of immediate service cancellation, strongly opposing classical long-term IT-Outsourcing contracts or license-based payment plans of on premise enterprise systems. To close this research gap an empirical study was undertaken. Firstly, a conceptual model was drawn from theories of social psychology, organizational system continuance and IS success. The model was subsequently tested using survey responses of senior management within companies which adopted cloud enterprise systems. Gathered data was then analysed using PLS. The results indicate that subscription renewal intention is influenced by both – social-related and technology-specific factors – which are able to explain 50.4% of the variance in the dependent variable. Beneath the cloud enterprise systems specific contributions, the work advances knowledge in the area of organizational system continuance, as well as IS success.

Improving the railway’s understanding of accident causation through an integrated approach to human factors analysis and technical safety data recording

This paper describes a safety data recording and analysis system that has been developed to capture safety occurrences including precursors using high-definition forward-facing video from train cabs and data from other train-borne systems. The paper describes the data processing model and how events detected through data analysis are related to an underlying socio-technical model of accident causation. The integrated approach to safety data recording and analysis insures systemic factors that condition, influence or potentially contribute to an occurrence are captured both for safety occurrences and precursor events, providing a rich tapestry of antecedent causal factors that can significantly improve learning around accident causation. This can ultimately provide benefit to railways through the development of targeted and more effective countermeasures, better risk models and more effective use and prioritization of safety funds. Level crossing occurrences are a key focus in this paper with data analysis scenarios describing causal factors around near-miss occurrences. The paper concludes with a discussion on how the system can also be applied to other types of railway safety occurrences.

The technical efficiency of the Japanese banks : non-radial directional performance measurement with undesirable output

The paper analyses technical efficiency of the Japanese banks from 2000 to 2007. The estimation technique is based on the Russell directional distance function that takes into consideration not only desirable outputs but also an undesirable output that is represented by non-performing loans (NPLs). The results indicate that NPLs remain a significant burden as for banks' performance. We show that banks' inputs have to be utilised more efficiently, particularly labour and premises. We also argue that a further restructuring process is needed in the segment of Regional Banks. We conclude that the Japanese banking system is still far away from being fully consolidated and restructured.

Heterogeneity on the technical efficiency in Japanese airports

This paper evaluates the production activities of Japanese airports by using a finite mixture model that allows controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. In doing so, a stochastic frontier latent class model, which allows the existence of different technologies, is adopted to estimate production frontiers. This procedure not only enables the identification of different groups of Japanese airports but also permits the analysis of their production efficiency. The main result is that there are two groups of Japanese airports, both following completely different "technologies" to obtain passengers and cargo, suggesting that business strategies need to be adapted to the characteristics of the airports. Some managerial implications are developed.

Technical efficiency, regulation and heterogeneity in Japanese airports

In this paper, the random stochastic frontier model is used to estimate the technical efficiency of Japanese airports, with regulation and heterogeneity included in the variables. The airports are ranked according to their productivity for the period 1987-2005 and homogeneous and heterogeneous variables in the cost function are disentangled. Policy implications are derived.

Technical Action Research

This entry into the SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research outlines the history, purpose and orientation of what has been termed 'technical action research'. The primary purpose of technical action research (commonly referred to as TAR) is improving the outcomes of a practice or intervention, with the focus of the inquiry process typically determined by parties external to those directly involved in the practice.

Thought balloon : Dr Christy Dena

In this interview, we discuss the basics of transmedia storytelling and lessons for creatives considering making the jump to a transmedia project.

Implications of differences in technical efficiency of fishing boats for capacity measurement and reduction

Capacity measurement and reduction is a major international issue to emerge in the new millennium. However, there has been limited assessment of the success of capacity reduction schemes (CRS). In this paper, the success of a CRS is assessed for a European fishery characterised by differences in efficiency levels of individual boats. In such a fishery, given it is assumed that the least efficient producers are the first to exit through a CRS, the reduction in harvesting capacity is less than the nominal reduction in physical fleet capacity. Further, there is potential for harvesting capacity to increase if remaining vessels improve their efficiency.

Citizen’s right to the digital city: Urban interfaces, activism, and placemaking

Edited by thought leaders of the fields of urban informatics and urban interaction design, this book brings together case studies and examples from around the world to discuss the role that urban Interfaces, citizen action, and city making play in the quest to create and maintain not only secure and resilient, but productive, sustainable, and liveable urban environments. The book debates the impact of these trends on theory, policy, and practice. The chapters in this book are sourced from blind peer reviewed contributions by leading researchers working at the intersection of the social / cultural, technical / digital, and physical / spatial domains of urbanism scholarship. The book appeals not only to research colleagues and students, but also to a vast number of practitioners in the private and public sector interested in accessible accounts that clearly and rigorously analyse the affordances and possibilities of urban interfaces, mobile technology, and location-based services to engage people towards open, smart and participatory urban environments.

A framework for model integration and holistic modelling of socio-technical systems

This paper presents a layered framework for the purposes of integrating different Socio-Technical Systems (STS) models and perspectives into a whole-of-systems model. Holistic modelling plays a critical role in the engineering of STS due to the interplay between social and technical elements within these systems and resulting emergent behaviour. The framework decomposes STS models into components, where each component is either a static object, dynamic object or behavioural object. Based on existing literature, a classification of the different elements that make up STS, whether it be a social, technical or a natural environment element, is developed; each object can in turn be classified according to the STS elements it represents. Using the proposed framework, it is possible to systematically decompose models to an extent such that points of interface can be identified and the contextual factors required in transforming the component of one model to interface into another is obtained. Using an airport inbound passenger facilitation process as a case study socio-technical system, three different models are analysed: a Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) model, Hybrid Queue-based Bayesian Network (HQBN) model and an Agent Based Model (ABM). It is found that the framework enables the modeller to identify non-trivial interface points such as between the spatial interactions of an ABM and the causal reasoning of a HQBN, and between the process activity representation of a BPMN and simulated behavioural performance in a HQBN. Such a framework is a necessary enabler in order to integrate different modelling approaches in understanding and managing STS.

Food for Thought (Next Wave Festival)

Food for Thought embraces the notion that a revolution can start at the dinner table. Drawing inspiration from Judy Chicago’s seminal artwork ‘The Dinner Party’, LEVEL Artist Run Initiative hosted a series of dinner party events in order to create vibrant discussions concerning the role of women and feminism in the twenty-first century. The work consisted of a reading room, four dinner party events, and four public talks covering the topics: 'Women and the arts';'Generations: plurality and difference'; 'Women in the media'; and 'How can art contribute to political change for women in the 21st century?'

The good, the bad, and the efficient: Productivity, efficiency, and technical change in the airline industry, 2004–11

This study models the joint production of desirable and undesirable output production (that is, CO2 emissions) of airlines. The Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index is employed to measure productivity growth when undesirable output production is incorporated into the production model. The results show that pollution abatement activities of airlines lowers productivity growth, which suggests that the traditional approach of measuring productivity growth, which ignores CO2 emissions, overstates ‘true’ productivity growth. The reliability of the results is also tested and verified using confidence intervals based on bootstrapping.

Modelling of Electric Fields

South Africa has an electrical transmission grid of over 25 000 km of overhead power lines with voltages of 132 kV to 765 kV. The grid has been largely designed and built by the power utility, Eskom. This book embodies the planning philosophies, design principles and construction practices of Eskom. It is the culmination of decades of thought, study, research and the practical experience of many overhead power line engineers and researchers. The book covers the main aspects of overhead power line design and construction, from electrical first principles, system planning, insulation co-ordination (including live line working), mechanical design through to environmental impact management and power line communications. The content emphasises the need for close interaction between all technical disciplines involved and the importance of optimising designs for economy and performance. Additional challenges in South Africa are the relatively high altitude of the interior plateau (1 000 m to 1 700 m above sea level), severe lightning in some areas and long transmission distances. The book explains how these factors are accommodated in modern designs. Other advanced work covered includes the use and understanding of polymeric insulators, the judicious reduction of phase-to-phase spacings and the adoption of guyed structures.