Path+Ways. Towards best practice bridging and Indigenous participation through regional dual-sector universities

Regional and remote Indigenous students are underrepresented in both higher education and vocational education and training. Enabling education courses are important in lifting participation rates and potentially in encouraging mobility between the sectors, yet there is a clear lack of evidence underpinning their development. This report provides an overview of the data collection and analysis activities undertaken via a research project funded by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. The project purpose was to explore current practices dealing with Indigenous enabling courses, particularly in the context of regional, dual-sector universities. In particular, the project examined how these programs vary by institution (and region) in terms of structure, mode and ethos of offering; and direct and indirect impacts of these initiatives on Indigenous student participation and attainment; with a view to designing a best practice framework and implementation statement. Through its focus on students accessing Indigenous and mainstream enabling education, the project focussed on range of equity groups including those of low socio-economic status (both school leaver and mature-age categories), regional and/or remote students, Indigenous students and students with disability.

Agenda-Setting Revisited: Social Media and Sourcing in Mainstream Journalism

In political journalism, the battle over agenda-setting between journalists and their sources has been described using many metaphors and concepts. Herbert Gans saw it as a dance where the two parties competed for leadership, arguing that sources usually got the lead. We address the question of how social media, in particular Twitter, contribute to media agenda-building and agenda-setting by looking at how tweets are sourced in election campaign coverage in Australia, Norway and Sweden. Our findings show that the popularity of elite political sources is a common characteristic across all countries and media. Sourcing from Twitter reinforces the power of the political elites to set the agenda of the news media – they are indeed “still leading the dance”. Twitter content travels to the news media as opinions, comments, announcements, factual statements, and photos. Still, there are variations that must be explained both by reference to different political and cultural characteristics of the three countries, as well as by the available resources and journalistic profiles of each media outlet.

Design and evaluation of a dual-microcomputer shared memory system with a shared I/O bus

The design, implementation and evaluation are described of a dual-microcomputer system based on the concept of shared memory. Shared memory is useful for passing large blocks of data and it also provides a means to hold and work with shared data. In addition to the shared memory, a separate bus between the I/O ports of the microcomputers is provided. This bus is utilized for interprocessor synchronization. Software routines helpful in applying the dual-microcomputer system to realistic problems are presented. Performance evaluation of the system is carried out using benchmarks.

A linear ramp control circuit using two LM 556 dual timers

A simple linear ramp control circuit, suitable for use with force-commutated thyrister circuits is discussed here. The circuit is based on only two IM 558 dual timer iCs, operating from a single 15 V supply. The reset terminals facilitate inhibition of the output of any stage. The use of this circuit in a thyristor chopper operating at 400 Hz 13 described.

A dual-slope analogue-to-digital converter for generating polynomials

A new digital polynomial generator using the principle of dual-slope analogue-to-digital conversion is proposed. Techniques for realizing a wide range of integer as well as fractional coefficients to obtain the desired polynomial have been discussed. The suitability of realizing the proposed polynomial generator in integrated circuit form is also indicated.

Dual Power Multiple Access with Multipacket Reception using Local CSI

Contention-based multiple access is a crucial component of many wireless systems. Multiple-packet reception (MPR) schemes that use interference cancellation techniques to receive and decode multiple packets that arrive simultaneously are known to be very efficient. However, the MPR schemes proposed in the literature require complex receivers capable of performing advanced signal processing over significant amounts of soft undecodable information received over multiple contention steps. In this paper, we show that local channel knowledge and elementary received signal strength measurements, which are available to many receivers today, can actively facilitate multipacket reception and even simplify the interference canceling receiver¿s design. We introduce two variants of a simple algorithm called Dual Power Multiple Access (DPMA) that use local channel knowledge to limit the receive power levels to two values that facilitate successive interference cancellation. The resulting receiver structure is markedly simpler, as it needs to process only the immediate received signal without having to store and process signals received previously. Remarkably, using a set of three feedback messages, the first variant, DPMA-Lite, achieves a stable throughput of 0.6865 packets per slot. Using four possible feedback messages, the second variant, Turbo-DPMA, achieves a stable throughput of 0.793 packets per slot, which is better than all contention algorithms known to date.

Moving European research on work and ageing forward: Overview and agenda

This paper summarizes the state of affairs of European research on ageing and work. After a close inspection of the age construct, an overview is presented of research in four areas: the relationship between age and HR-policies, early retirement, age and performance/employability, age and health/well-being. The overview results in a research agenda on work and ageing and in recommendations for practice.

Employee green behavior: A theoretical framework, multilevel review, and future research agenda

We propose a conceptual model based on person–environment interaction, job performance, and motivational theories to structure a multilevel review of the employee green behavior (EGB) literature and agenda for future research. We differentiate between required EGB prescribed by the organization and voluntary EGB performed at the employees’ discretion. The review investigates institutional-, organizational-, leader-, team-, and employee-level antecedents and outcomes of EGB and factors that mediate and moderate these relationships. We offer suggestions to facilitate the development of the field, and call for future research to adopt a multilevel perspective and to investigate the outcomes of EGB.

On the Solution of Certain Simultaneous Pairs of Dual Integral Equations

Mit einer direkten Methode, bei der der Erdelyi-Kober- und der modifizierte Hankel-Operator Anwendung finden, werden gewisse Systeme aus zwei bzw. drei Paaren dualer Integralgleichungen mit Bessel-Kernen in geschlossener Form gelöst. Für bestimmte Funktionenklassen und Ordnungen der Bessel-Funktionen ist die Vorgehensweise angebrachter und geeigneter als die bereits existierenden Methoden.

Novel modulation strategy for a CLC resonant dual active bridge

This paper proposes a novel modulation strategy for a phase controlled Capacitor-Inductor-Capacitor (CLC) Resonant Dual Active Bridge (RDAB). The proposed modulation strategy improves the soft turn-on, Zero-Current-Switching (ZCS) and Zero-Voltage-Switching (ZVS) range of the converter while only minimally increasing the required reactive currents in the ac link. A mathematical analysis of the proposed modulation scheme is presented along with a theoretical loss comparison between several modulation strategies. The proposed modulation strategy was implemented and the experimental results are presented.

Dual Drug Delivery Microcapsules via Layer-by-Layer Self-Assembly

The integration of hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs in the polymer microcapsule offers the possibility of developing a new drug delivery system that combines the best features of these two distinct classes of material. Recently, we have reported the encapsulation of an uncharged water-insoluble drug in the polymer membrane. The hydrophobic drug is deposited using a layer-by-layer (LbL) technique, which is based on the sequential adsorption of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes onto a charged substrate. In this paper, we report the encapsulation of two different drugs, which are invariably different in structure and in their solubility in water. We have characterized these dual drug vehicular capsules by confocal laser scanning microscopy, atomic force microscopy, visible microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The growth of a thin film on a flat substrate by LbL was monitored by UV−vis spectra. The desorption kinetics of two drugs from the thin film was modeled by a second-order rate model.

Using Big Data to manage safety-related risk in the upstream oil and gas industry: A research agenda

Despite considerable effort and a broad range of new approaches to safety management over the years, the upstream oil & gas industry has been frustrated by the sector’s stubbornly high rate of injuries and fatalities. This short communication points out, however, that the industry may be in a position to make considerable progress by applying “Big Data” analytical tools to the large volumes of safety-related data that have been collected by these organizations. Toward making this case, we examine existing safety-related information management practices in the upstream oil & gas industry, and specifically note that data in this sector often tends to be highly customized, difficult to analyze using conventional quantitative tools, and frequently ignored. We then contend that the application of new Big Data kinds of analytical techniques could potentially reveal patterns and trends that have been hidden or unknown thus far, and argue that these tools could help the upstream oil & gas sector to improve its injury and fatality statistics. Finally, we offer a research agenda toward accelerating the rate at which Big Data and new analytical capabilities could play a material role in helping the industry to improve its health and safety performance.

(v, k, λ) Configurations and self-dual codes

The incidence matrix of a (v, k, λ) configuration is used to construct a (2v, v) and a (2v + 2, v + 1) self-dual code. If the incidence matrix is a circulant, the codes obtained are quasi-cyclic and extended quasi-cyclic, respectively. The weight distributions of some codes of this type are obtained.