The mechanics of microdamage and microfracture in trabecular bone

This thesis presents a study using mechanical testing techniques combined with advanced computational methods to examine the mechanics of bone. It contributes novel observations and analysis of how bones fail at the microscopic level, which will be valuable in furthering our understanding and the treatment of bone damage in health and disease, including osteoporosis.

The University of Queensland St Lucia campus 1.22 MW photovoltaic array

At the time of its official opening on 15 July 2011, The University of Queensland 1.22 MW array was the largest flat-panel PhotoVoltaic (PV) array in Australia. This PV array consists of over 5000 Trina Solar 240 Wp polycrystalline silicon PV modules installed across four rooftops at the St Lucia campus. Grid connection was achieved with 85 12.5 kW three phase and four 5 kW single phase grid connect inverters manufactured by Power-One. The site also includes one 8.4 kWp SolFocus concentrating solar 2 axis tracking PV array. Site wide monitoring and data logging of all DC, AC and environmental quantities will allow this array to be a rich source of research data. The site will also include a 200 kW 400 kWh zinc bromine energy storage system by Redflow, and associated power quality metering and monitoring. This paper presents highlights of the project feasibility study which included a site survey, shading analysis, and technology and triple bottom line assessment. A detailed description of the final technical implementation including discussion of alterative options considered is given. Finally, example initial data showing yield, trends and early example experimental results are presented.

A grand challenge : reflecting on university science curriculum design, collaborative partnerships and integration of information literacy skills

In 2012, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) committed to the massive project of revitalizing its Bachelor of Science (ST01) degree. Like most universities in Australia, QUT has begun work to align all courses by 2015 to the requirements of the updated Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) which is regulated by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). From the very start of the redesigned degree program, students approach scientific study with an exciting mix of theory and highly topical real world examples through their chosen “grand challenge.” These challenges, Fukushima and nuclear energy for example, are the lenses used to explore science and lead to 21st century learning outcomes for students. For the teaching and learning support staff, our grand challenge is to expose all science students to multidisciplinary content with a strong emphasis on embedding information literacies into the curriculum. With ST01, QUT is taking the initiative to rethink not only content but how units are delivered and even how we work together between the faculty, the library and learning and teaching support. This was the desired outcome but as we move from design to implementation, has this goal been achieved? A main component of the new degree is to ensure scaffolding of information literacy skills throughout the entirety of the three year course. However, with the strong focus on problem-based learning and group work skills, many issues arise both for students and lecturers. A move away from a traditional lecture style is necessary but impacts on academics’ workload and comfort levels. Therefore, academics in collaboration with librarians and other learning support staff must draw on each others’ expertise to work together to ensure pedagogy, assessments and targeted classroom activities are mapped within and between units. This partnership can counteract the tendency of isolated, unsupported academics to concentrate on day-to-day teaching at the expense of consistency between units and big picture objectives. Support staff may have a more holistic view of a course or degree than coordinators of individual units, making communication and truly collaborative planning even more critical. As well, due to staffing time pressures, design and delivery of new curriculum is generally done quickly with no option for the designers to stop and reflect on the experience and outcomes. It is vital we take this unique opportunity to closely examine what QUT has and hasn’t achieved to be able to recommend a better way forward. This presentation will discuss these important issues and stumbling blocks, to provide a set of best practice guidelines for QUT and other institutions. The aim is to help improve collaboration within the university, as well as to maximize students’ ability to put information literacy skills into action. As our students embark on their own grand challenges, we must challenge ourselves to honestly assess our own work.

Luxury brand identity : the influence of mobile digital technology

This thesis examined the influence of mobile digital technology on the brand identity of luxury brands. Specifically it focused on the use of mobile applications by automobile, hotel and beauty brands and compared the perceptions of marketing managers with consumers on how mobile applications influenced luxury brand identity and image. Outcomes of this research included a model to depict the ongoing process between mobile-mediated luxury brand identity and image, and a typology of luxury brand mobile applications listing key features of mobile-mediated luxemosphere. Overall findings suggest that the influence of mobile applications on luxury brand identity has been negative, as their brand image appeared to be degraded, resulting in diminishing the brand identity.

Managing the transition : the role of optimism and self-efficacy for first-year Australian university students

Students making the transition from high school to university often encounter many stressors and new experiences. Many students adjust successfully to university; however, some students do not, often resulting in attrition from the university and mental health issues. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the effects that optimism, self-efficacy, depression, and anxiety have on an individual's life stress and adaptation to university. Eighty-four first-year, full-time students from the Queensland University of Technology (60 female, 24 male) who had entered university straight from high school completed the study. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing their levels of optimism, self-efficacy, depression, anxiety, perceived level of life stress and adaptation to university. In line with predictions, results showed that optimism, depression, and anxiety each had a significant relationship with students’ perceived level of stress. Furthermore, self-efficacy and depression had a significant relationship with adaptation to university. We conclude that students with high levels of optimism and low levels of depression and anxiety will adapt better when making the transition from high school to university. In addition, students with high levels of self-efficacy and low levels of depression will experience less life stress in their commencement year of university. The implications of this study are outlined.

University of Glasgow (qirdcsuog) at TREC Crowdsourcing 2011 : TurkRank-network-based worker ranking in crowdsourcing

For TREC Crowdsourcing 2011 (Stage 2) we propose a networkbased approach for assigning an indicative measure of worker trustworthiness in crowdsourced labelling tasks. Workers, the gold standard and worker/gold standard agreements are modelled as a network. For the purpose of worker trustworthiness assignment, a variant of the PageRank algorithm, named TurkRank, is used to adaptively combine evidence that suggests worker trustworthiness, i.e., agreement with other trustworthy co-workers and agreement with the gold standard. A single parameter controls the importance of co-worker agreement versus gold standard agreement. The TurkRank score calculated for each worker is incorporated with a worker-weighted mean label aggregation.

Community arts and appropriate internet technology : participation, materiality, and the ethics of sustainability in the digitally networked era

This thesis delivers new knowledge about how Australian community arts practices of appropriate technology are shifting due to the internet. It reconfigures the sector's incumbent ethics of sustainability in response to emerging concerns about how the internet's material politics are affecting cultural participation.

Development of gas sensing technology for ground and airborne applications powered by solar energy : methodology and experimental results

Monitoring gases for environmental, industrial and agricultural fields is a demanding task that requires long periods of observation, large quantity of sensors, data management, high temporal and spatial resolution, long term stability, recalibration procedures, computational resources, and energy availability. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are currently representing the best alternative to monitor large, remote, and difficult access areas, as these technologies have the possibility of carrying specialised gas sensing systems, and offer the possibility of geo-located and time stamp samples. However, these technologies are not fully functional for scientific and commercial applications as their development and availability is limited by a number of factors: the cost of sensors required to cover large areas, their stability over long periods, their power consumption, and the weight of the system to be used on small UAVs. Energy availability is a serious challenge when WSN are deployed in remote areas with difficult access to the grid, while small UAVs are limited by the energy in their reservoir tank or batteries. Another important challenge is the management of data produced by the sensor nodes, requiring large amount of resources to be stored, analysed and displayed after long periods of operation. In response to these challenges, this research proposes the following solutions aiming to improve the availability and development of these technologies for gas sensing monitoring: first, the integration of WSNs and UAVs for environmental gas sensing in order to monitor large volumes at ground and aerial levels with a minimum of sensor nodes for an effective 3D monitoring; second, the use of solar energy as a main power source to allow continuous monitoring; and lastly, the creation of a data management platform to store, analyse and share the information with operators and external users. The principal outcomes of this research are the creation of a gas sensing system suitable for monitoring any kind of gas, which has been installed and tested on CH4 and CO2 in a sensor network (WSN) and on a UAV. The use of the same gas sensing system in a WSN and a UAV reduces significantly the complexity and cost of the application as it allows: a) the standardisation of the signal acquisition and data processing, thereby reducing the required computational resources; b) the standardisation of calibration and operational procedures, reducing systematic errors and complexity; c) the reduction of the weight and energy consumption, leading to an improved power management and weight balance in the case of UAVs; d) the simplification of the sensor node architecture, which is easily replicated in all the nodes. I evaluated two different sensor modules by laboratory, bench, and field tests: a non-dispersive infrared module (NDIR) and a metal-oxide resistive nano-sensor module (MOX nano-sensor). The tests revealed advantages and disadvantages of the two modules when used for static nodes at the ground level and mobile nodes on-board a UAV. Commercial NDIR modules for CO2 have been successfully tested and evaluated in the WSN and on board of the UAV. Their advantage is the precision and stability, but their application is limited to a few gases. The advantages of the MOX nano-sensors are the small size, low weight, low power consumption and their sensitivity to a broad range of gases. However, selectivity is still a concern that needs to be addressed with further studies. An electronic board to interface sensors in a large range of resistivity was successfully designed, created and adapted to operate on ground nodes and on-board UAV. The WSN and UAV created were powered with solar energy in order to facilitate outdoor deployment, data collection and continuous monitoring over large and remote volumes. The gas sensing, solar power, transmission and data management systems of the WSN and UAV were fully evaluated by laboratory, bench and field testing. The methodology created to design, developed, integrate and test these systems was extensively described and experimentally validated. The sampling and transmission capabilities of the WSN and UAV were successfully tested in an emulated mission involving the detection and measurement of CO2 concentrations in a field coming from a contaminant source; the data collected during the mission was transmitted in real time to a central node for data analysis and 3D mapping of the target gas. The major outcome of this research is the accomplishment of the first flight mission, never reported before in the literature, of a solar powered UAV equipped with a CO2 sensing system in conjunction with a network of ground sensor nodes for an effective 3D monitoring of the target gas. A data management platform was created using an external internet server, which manages, stores, and shares the data collected in two web pages, showing statistics and static graph images for internal and external users as requested. The system was bench tested with real data produced by the sensor nodes and the architecture of the platform was widely described and illustrated in order to provide guidance and support on how to replicate the system. In conclusion, the overall results of the project provide guidance on how to create a gas sensing system integrating WSNs and UAVs, how to power the system with solar energy and manage the data produced by the sensor nodes. This system can be used in a wide range of outdoor applications, especially in agriculture, bushfires, mining studies, zoology, and botanical studies opening the way to an ubiquitous low cost environmental monitoring, which may help to decrease our carbon footprint and to improve the health of the planet.

In vitro and in vivo assessment of bioactive composite scaffolds fabricated via additive manufacturing technology

Additive manufacturing (AM) technology was implemented together with new composite material comprising a synthetic materials, namely, polycaprolactone and bioactive glass with the ultimate aim of the production of an off-the-shelf composite bone scaffold product with superior bone regeneration capacity in a cost effective manner. Our studies indicated that the composite scaffolds have huge potential in promoting bone regeneration. It is our contention that owing to the fruits of such innovative efforts, the field of bone regeneration can metamorphose into a technology platform that allows clinicians worldwide to create tissue-engineered bone with economies of scale in the years to come.

Performance Measurement in Perspective: An exploratory study of Australian foundations’ approaches to performance measurement

Performance measurement in Australian philanthropic foundations is a hot topic. Foundation staff and board members are concerned with striking the right balance between their need for information with which to assess the effectiveness of their grant-making programs, and the costs in both time and money for grantees. Influenced by normative pressures, the increasing size and professionalism of the Australian philanthropic sector, and trends from the U.S.A and the U.K, foundations are talking amongst themselves, seeking expert advice and training, consulting with grantees and trying different approaches. Many resources examine methods of data collection, measurement or analysis. Our study instead treads into less charted but important territory: the motivations and values that are shaping the debate about performance measurement. In a series of 40 interviews with foundations from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, we asked whether they felt under pressure to measure performance and if so, why. We queried whether everyone in the foundation shared the same views on the purposes of performance measurement; and the ways in which the act of performance measurement changed their grant-making, their attitude to risk, their relationship with grantees and their collaborations with other funders. Unsurprisingly, a very diverse set of approaches to performance measurement were revealed.

Designing fashion : an exploration of practitioner research within the university environment

This thesis positions practitioner research within the emerging discipline of fashion and disputes that practitioner knowledge of fashion is predominantly tacit. This research contributes to the understanding of practitioner knowledge and proposes an object based model of practitioner research as an alternative to existing practice-led methodologies. The thesis theorises fashion objects as a site of significant knowledge and argues their potential to record and communicate fashion knowledge and disseminate practice-led research.

Experiences in becoming a paramedic : a qualitative study examining the professional socialisation of university qualified paramedics

This thesis used qualitative methods to investigate the professional socialisation of university educated paramedics from Australia and the United Kingdom. The study tested existing professional socialisation theories, taken from other health disciplines, against the paramedical context and developed of a specific model depicting the professional socialisation of university educated paramedics.