Information and communication technology for E-regions

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are essential components of the knowledge economy, and have an immense complementary role in innovation, education, knowledge creation, and relations with government, civil society, and business within city regions. The ability to create, distribute, and exploit knowledge has become a major source of competitive advantage, wealth creation, and improvements in the new regional policies. Growing impact of ICTs on the economy and society, rapid application of recent scientific advances in new products and processes, shifting to more knowledge-intensive industry and services, and rising skill requirements have become crucial concepts for urban and regional competitiveness. Therefore, harnessing ICTs for knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) has a significant impact on urban and regional growth (Yigitcanlar, 2005). In this sense, e-region is a novel concept utilizing ICTs for regional development. Since the Helsinki European Council announced Turkey as a candidate for European Union (EU) membership in 1999, the candidacy has accelerated the speed of regional policy enhancements and adoption of the European regional policy standards. These enhancements and adoption include the generation of a new regional spatial division, NUTS-II statistical regions; a new legislation on the establishment of regional development agencies (RDAs); and new orientations in the field of high education, science, and technology within the framework of the EU’s Lisbon Strategy and the Bologna Process. The European standards posed an ambitious new agenda in the development and application of contemporary regional policy in Turkey (Bilen, 2005). In this sense, novel regional policies in Turkey necessarily endeavor to include information society objectives through efficient use of new technologies such as ICTs. Such a development seeks to be based on tangible assets of the region (Friedmann, 2006) as well as the best practices deriving from grounding initiatives on urban and local levels. These assets provide the foundation of an e-region that harnesses regional development in an information society context. With successful implementations, the Marmara region’s local governments in Turkey are setting the benchmark for the country in the implementation of spatial information systems and e-governance, and moving toward an e-region. Therefore, this article aims to shed light on organizational and regional realities of recent practices of ICT applications and their supply instruments based on evidence from selected local government organizations in the Marmara region. This article also exemplifies challenges and opportunities of the region in moving toward an e-region and provides a concise review of different ICT applications and strategies in a broader urban and regional context. The article is organized in three parts. The following section scrutinizes the e-region framework and the role of ICTs in regional development. Then, Marmara’s opportunities and challenges in moving toward an e-region are discussed in the context of ICT applications and their supply instruments based on public-sector projects, policies, and initiatives. Subsequently, the last section discusses conclusions and prospective research.

Is journalism best located in the creative arts or as a communication discipline?

This paper considers the implications of journalism research being located within the Field of Research associated with the creative arts and writing in the recent Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) evaluations. While noting that this classification does capture a significant trajectory in Australian journalism research, it also points to some anomalous implications of understanding journalism as an arts discipline, given its historical co-location in universities with communications disciplines, and the mutually reinforcing relationships between the two fields.

Deterministic diffraction loss modelling for novel broadband communication in rural environments

This paper presents a deterministic modelling approach to predict diffraction loss for an innovative Multi-User-Single-Antenna (MUSA) MIMO technology, proposed for rural Australian environments. In order to calculate diffraction loss, six receivers have been considered around an access point in a selected rural environment. Generated terrain profiles for six receivers are presented in this paper. Simulation results using classical diffraction models and diffraction theory are also presented by accounting the rural Australian terrain data. Results show that in an area of 900 m by 900 m surrounding the receivers, path loss due to diffraction can range between 5 dB and 35 dB. Diffraction loss maps can contribute to determine the optimal location for receivers of MUSA-MIMO systems in rural areas.

Communication and transformation through collaboration: Rethinking drawing activities in early childhood.

This article is a study of the arts in early childhood as a way of learning, for both children and their teachers. The author suggests that drawing can be a powerful tool for collaborative approaches to pedagogy. When teachers draw with children, pathways of communication can be opened, and the collaborative exercise can trigger processes of transformation for both adult and child. In order to present challenges to more traditional, hands-off pedagogical practices in arts education, this article is an account of reflexive arts pedagogies, and how they can work to improve communication and understandings between adults and children. Within the educational contexts of Australian preschooling and primary schooling, the author examines the process of collaborative drawing, and how this can enable a process of transformation. Her analysis, and the accompanying examples of reflexive practices, combine complementary lenses, socio-cultural and postmodern, that she sees as working in harmony to produce new possibilities, in arts education in particular, and, more broadly, in early childhood education.

The relationship between building characteristics and the chemical composition of surface films found on glass windows in Brisbane, Australia

Films found on the windows of residential buildings have been studied. The main aim of the paper was to assess the roles of the films in the accumulation of potentially toxic chemicals in residential buildings. Thus the elemental and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compositions of the surface films from the glass windows of eighteen residential buildings were examined. The presence of sample amounts of inorganic elements (4.0–1.2 × 106 μg m−2) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the films (BDL - 620.1 ng m−2) has implications for human exposure and the fate of pollutants in the urban environment. To facilitate the interpretation of the results, data matrices consisting of the chemical composition of the films and the building characteristics were subjected to multivariate data analysis methods, and these revealed that the accumulation of the chemicals was strongly dependent on building characteristics such as the type of glass used for the window, the distance from a major road, age of the building, distance from an industrial activity, number of smokers in the building and frequency of cooking in the buildings. Thus, building characteristics which minimize the accumulation of pollutants on the surface films need to be encouraged.

The benefits of not managing change and not communicating : towards a complex systems view of communication in evolving organisations

The relationship between change in organisations and communication about change in organisations can be analysed as a particular case of a general debate in social theory about the extent to which reality is socially constructed. Social constructivists emphasise the role of language in the construction of social realities, enacted through controlling the message agenda; material determinists assert that economic and social structural factors are more constitutive of reality as seen in strategies emphasising structural and resource interventions. Here we define a third view of language and materiality - one that leads to the potential for a reflexive, experimental approach to change based on the view that organisations are complex evolving systems.

Widening the context for interdisciplinary social research : SFL as a method for sociology, anthropology, and communication research

In this paper, I show clear links between the theoretical underpinnings of SFL and those of specific sociological, anthropological, and communication research traditions. My purpose in doing so is to argue that SFL is an excellent interdisciplinary research method for the social sciences, especially considering the emergent form of political economy being touted by new media enthusiasts: the so called knowledge (or information) economy. To demonstrate the flexibility and salience of SFL in diverse traditions of social research, and as evidence of its ability to be deployed as a flexible research method across formerly impermeable disciplinary and social boundaries, I use analyses from my doctoral research, relating these - theoretically speaking - to specific research traditions in sociology, communication, and anthropology.

Generalized binomial Tau-leap method for biochemical kinetics incorporating both delay and intrinsic noise

The delay stochastic simulation algorithm (DSSA) by Barrio et al. [Plos Comput. Biol.2, 117–E (2006)] was developed to simulate delayed processes in cell biology in the presence of intrinsic noise, that is, when there are small-to-moderate numbers of certain key molecules present in a chemical reaction system. These delayed processes can faithfully represent complex interactions and mechanisms that imply a number of spatiotemporal processes often not explicitly modeled such as transcription and translation, basic in the modeling of cell signaling pathways. However, for systems with widely varying reaction rate constants or large numbers of molecules, the simulation time steps of both the stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA) and the DSSA can become very small causing considerable computational overheads. In order to overcome the limit of small step sizes, various τ-leap strategies have been suggested for improving computational performance of the SSA. In this paper, we present a binomial τ- DSSA method that extends the τ-leap idea to the delay setting and avoids drawing insufficient numbers of reactions, a common shortcoming of existing binomial τ-leap methods that becomes evident when dealing with complex chemical interactions. The resulting inaccuracies are most evident in the delayed case, even when considering reaction products as potential reactants within the same time step in which they are produced. Moreover, we extend the framework to account for multicellular systems with different degrees of intercellular communication. We apply these ideas to two important genetic regulatory models, namely, the hes1 gene, implicated as a molecular clock, and a Her1/Her 7 model for coupled oscillating cells.

What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate! Improving Communication between Tertiary to Primary Care for Chronic Heart Failure Patients

Background:  The aims of this study were to determine the documentation of pharmacotherapy optimization goals in the discharge letters of patients with the principal diagnosis of chronic heart failure. Methods:  A retrospective practice audit of 212 patients discharged to the care of their local general practitioner from general medical units of a large tertiary hospital. Details of recommendations regarding ongoing pharmacological and non-pharmacological management were reviewed. The doses of medications on discharge were noted and whether they met current guidelines recommending titration of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers. Ongoing arrangements for specialist follow up were also reviewed. Results:  The mean age of patients whose letters were reviewed was 78.4 years (standard deviation ± 8.6); 50% were men. Patients had an overall median of six comorbidities and eight regular medications on discharge. Mean length of stay for each admission was 6 days. Discharge letters were posted a median of 4 days after discharge, with 25% not posted at 10 days. No discharge letter was sent in 9.4% (20) of the cases. Only six (2.8%) letters had any recommendations regarding future titration of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and 6.6% (14) for beta-blockers. Recommendations for future non-pharmacological management, for example, diuretic action plans, regular weight monitoring and exercise plans were not found in the letters in this audit. Conclusion:  Hospital discharge is an opportunity to communicate management plans for treatment optimization effectively, and while this opportunity is spurned, implementation gaps in the management of cardiac failure will probably remain.