Understanding Concepts of Efficiency and Effectiveness in Architectural Facilities Space Planning and Design

Although contemporary literature treats efficiency and effectiveness extensively, virtually no objective understanding of both is found in architectural facilities space planning and design. It is imperative that both concepts are definitively explained as they apply to these disciplines. Hence, the contemporary views of both concepts are reviewed and attempts made to interpret them within more amenable contexts. The objectives are (1) to objectively elucidate the factual differences between efficiency and effectiveness; and (2) to contribute to their better understanding in architectural facilities space planning and design. Diagrammatic and mathematical means are engaged to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness in these fields.

Investigating the distribution of acacia longifolia ssp. sophorae in south-west Victoria using satellite remote sensing and GIS

Mapping and analysis of the distribution of environmental weeds is an important component of strategic weed management. Such information is particularly important in managing 'native invaders', where invasion characteristics must be clearly understood prior to any management action being taken. This paper reports on an investigation of the current distribution of the native invader Acacia longifolia ssp. sophorae (Labill.) Court (coast wattle) in south-west Victoria, using remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Coast wattle was successfully mapped from Landsat ETM imagery using a supervised classification procedure, with 82%, of coast wattle shown on the map accurately depicting coast wattle on the ground. An estimated 11,448 ha were classified as supporting coast wattle, representing 12% of native vegetation in the study area. A more detailed GIS analysis in the Lower Glenelg National Park revealed coast wattle has invaded a limited number of vegetation types, and is more prevalent close to roads and within management zones associated with disturbance. The current regional extent of the species means widespread control is unlikely; hence the immediate focus should be on preventing further spread into areas where it is currently absent. Landsat imagery also proved to be a successful tool for mapping large scale coast wattle distribution, and could be used in long-term monitoring of the species.

Globalizing time and space : temporal and spatial considerations in discourses of globalization

Globalization discourse is concerned with the effects of spatial change—changes in the shape, scale and extensity or social processes— and the effects of temporal change—particularly changes to, or away from, modernity. By drawing together both axes of change, globalization discourse suggests a way of navigating this tension. However, it is argued here that most globalization theories accord primacy to one of these axes, which results in them being conflated. As a result, globalization theories are often presented in highly systemic terms and downplay the diversity of social processes.

Modelling and testing of long range battery electric vehicle performance

There are two significant issues facing road transport in the medium to long term: the depletion of cheap oil reserves and the need to reduce carbon emissions. A long term solution for passenger cars could be the introduction of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). However, one of the main problems associated with the current generation of BEVs is their short range relative to conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.

To investigate this issue, a long range battery electric vehicle, the UltraCommuter (UC), was constructed by the University of Waikato in partnership with HybridAuto Ltd. This paper describes the development, modelling and testing of the UC and its performance in the 2007 World Solar Challenge.

HIV vaccine rationale, design and testing

A central obstacle to the design of a global HIV vaccine is viral diversity. Antigenic differences in envelope proteins result in distinct HIV serotypes, operationally defined such that antibodies raised against envelope molecules from one serotype will not bind envelope molecules from a different serotype. The existence of serotypes has presented a similar challenge to vaccine development against other pathogens. In such cases, antigenic diversity has been addressed by vaccine design. For example, the poliovirus vaccine includes three serotypes of poliovirus, and Pneumovax® presents a cocktail of 23 pneumococcal variants to the immune system. It is likely that a successful vaccine for HIV must also comprise a cocktail of antigens. Here, data relevant to the development of cocktail vaccines, designed to harness diverse, envelope-specific Bcell and T-cell responses, are reviewed.

It blasted me into space : intoxication and an ethics of pleasure

O'Malley and Valverde point out that in the 21st century, pleasure is a warrantable motive for drug and alcohol use only when it is attached to the idea of moderation. This presents a problem for those researchers who wish to theorise about those individuals who use drugs deliberately to induce intoxication. This paper uses unconventional means to come to an understanding of intoxication, it uses the stories of interviewed former heroin addicts, published autobiographies, biographies and even some fictional accounts to come to an understanding of the. difficulties of dealing with intoxication and the drug-using subject, it also uses the accounts that Michel Foucault gave about his own use of drugs and its relationship to an ethics of pleasure and resistance. The article uses theories of risk and edgework to understand the underlying meanings of intoxication to many drug users.

The country’s not what it used to be : research participants’ understandings of space, place and identity in rural Victoria

This chapter explores the various ways in which research participants from rural areas located in country Victoria, Australia, construct and reconstruct their understandings of themselves and their rural spaces in terms of place and identity. This chapter draws upon the data of two separate research projects that bought together a variety of researchers and research participants either growing up in, working in, or studying in rural areas.

Hybrid image segmentation using fuzzy clustering algorithms satellite imagery searching and retrieval

Satellite image processing is a complex task that has received considerable attention from many researchers. In this paper, an interactive image query system for satellite imagery searching and retrieval is proposed. Like most image retrieval systems, extraction of image features is the most important step that has a great impact on the retrieval performance. Thus, a new technique that fuses color and texture features for segmentation is introduced. Applicability of the proposed technique is assessed using a database containing multispectral satellite imagery. The experiments demonstrate that the proposed segmentation technique is able to improve quality of the segmentation results as well as the retrieval performance.

The third space : Metaphor and the disturbing observer

This book is a collaboration with a poet,a painter and two literary critics/philosophers. It is an investigation into aesthetics and examines and presents the possibilities for a poet and a painter in going beyond appropriating words and images from practitioners within their respective verbal and visual fields. In this book, the poet and the painter have been placed in a dialogic position to each other. This book attempts to create further meaning in the positioning of poems alongside paintings. It is a book about the processes of creativity, the making of art, the irresolvable dilemma of attempting to create from a world from which one cannot separate. The subject matter deals with art processes when attempting to re-discover lost identities with a focus on historical, psychological and political contexts