Modeling and analysis of a novel variable-speed cage induction generator

This paper introduces a novel cage induction generator and presents a mathematical model, through which its behavior can be accurately predicted. The proposed generator system employs a three-phase cage induction machine and generates single-phase and constant-frequency electricity at varying rotor speeds without an intermediate inverter stage. The technique uses any one of the three stator phases of the machine as the excitation winding and the remaining two phases, which are connected in series, as the power winding. The two-series-connected-and-one-isolated (TSCAOI) phase winding configuration magnetically decouples the two sets of windings, enabling independent control. Electricity is generated through the power winding at both sub- and super-synchronous speeds with appropriate excitation to the isolated single winding at any frequency of generation. A dynamic mathematical model, which accurately predicts the behavior of the proposed generator, is also presented and implemented in MATLAB/Simulink. Experimental results of a 2-kW prototype generator under various operating conditions are presented, together with theoretical results, to demonstrate the viability of the TSCAOI power generation. The proposed generator is simple and capable of both storage and retrieval of energy through its excitation winding and is expected to be suitable for applications, such as small wind turbines and microhydro systems.

Association of increased basement membrane invasiveness with absence of estrogen receptor and expression of vimentin in human breast cancer cell lines

Lack of estrogen receptor (ER) and presence of vimentin (VIM) associate with poor prognosis in human breast cancer. We have explored the relationships between ER, VIM, and invasiveness in human breast cancer cell lines. In the matrigel outgrowth assay, ER+/VIM- (MCF-7, T47D, ZR-75-1), and ER-/VIM- (MDA-MB-468, SK-Br-3) cell lines were uninvasive, while ER-/VIM+ (BT549, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-435, MDA-MB-436, Hs578T) lines formed invasive, penetrating colonies. Similarly, ER-/VIM+ cell lines were significantly more invasive than either the ER+/VIM- or ER-/VIM- cell lines in the Boyden chamber chemoinvasion assay. Invasive activity in nude mice was only seen with ER-/ VIM+ cell lines MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-435 and MDA-MB-436. Hs578T cells (ER-/VIM+) showed hematogenous dissemination to the lungs in one of five mice, but lacked local invasion. The ER-/VIM+ MCF-7ADR subline was significantly more active than the MCF-7 cells in vitro, but resembled the wild-type MCF-7 parent in in vivo activity. Data from these cell lines suggest that human breast cancer progression results first in the loss of ER, and subsequently in VIM acquisition, the latter being associated with increased metastatic potential through enhanced invasiveness. The MCF-7ADR data provide evidence that this transition can occur in human breast cancer cells. Vimentin expression may provide useful insights into mechanisms of invasion and/or breast cancer cell progression.

Invasive and metastatic properties of MCF-7 cells and ras(H)-transfected MCF-7 cell lines

In vitro invasion and in vivo metastasis assays were performed with a panel of MCF-7 cells transfected with isogenic constructs of mutated ras(H) genes. Both increased levels of ras(H) expression and ras(H) oncogene activation increased activity of derivative cell lines in in vitro invasion assays. In vivo formation of spontaneous metastases was assessed after intradermal inoculation of MCF-7 cells in the vicinity of the mammary fat pads of ovariectomized nude mice. No metastases were seen in the absence of estradiol treatment of the mice. With estradiol supplementation of the mice both the ras(H)-transfected and control transfected cell lines gave a higher incidence of metastases than parental MCF-7 cells. Prolonged treatment of mice with exogenous estradiol (60 days vs. 21 days) resulted in more frequent metastases to liver and lung at the end of the 90-day observation period. In contrast to activated ras(H)-gene enhancement of metastatic capacity of rodent fibroblast and epithelial cell lines, there was no correlation of ras(H) expression with in vivo metastatic capacity of a human mammary carcinoma cell line.

The continuing decline of science and mathematics enrolments in Australian high schools

Is there a crisis in Australian science and mathematics education? Declining enrolments in upper secondary Science and Mathematics courses have gained much attention from the media, politicians and high-profile scientists over the last few years, yet there is no consensus amongst stakeholders about either the nature or the magnitude of the changes. We have collected raw enrolment data from the education departments of each of the Australian states and territories from 1992 to 2012 and analysed the trends for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, two composite subject groups (Earth Sciences and Multidisciplinary Sciences), as well as entry, intermediate and advanced Mathematics. The results of these analyses are discussed in terms of participation rates, raw enrolments and gender balance. We have found that the total number of students in Year 12 increased by around 16% from 1992 to 2012 while the participation rates for most Science and Mathematics subjects, as a proportion of the total Year 12 cohort, fell (Biology (-10%), Chemistry (-5%), Physics (-7%), Multidisciplinary Science (-5%), intermediate Mathematics (-11%), advanced Mathematics (-7%) in the same period. There were increased participation rates in Earth Sciences (+0.3%) and entry Mathematics (+11%). In each case the greatest rates of change occurred prior to 2001 and have been slower and steadier since. We propose that the broadening of curriculum offerings, further driven by students' self-perception of ability and perceptions of subject difficulty and usefulness, are the most likely cause of the changes in participation. While these continuing declines may not amount to a crisis, there is undoubtedly serious cause for concern.

Indie 100 2013

The Independent Music Project is centred around the development and creation of new music, and includes research into copyright, business models of the future, new technologies, and new audiences. The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New digital technologies have made the production, distribution, and promotion of recorded music accessible to anyone with a personal computer. People can now make high-quality digital copies of music and distribute them globally within minutes. Even bastions of the established industries, such as EMI and Columbia, are struggling to make sense of the new industry terrain. The whole employment picture has changed just as radically for people who wish to make a living from music. In Australia, many of the avenues that provided employment for musicians have either disappeared or dramatically shrunk. The advertising industry no longer provides the level of employment it used to prior to the Federal deregulation of the industry in 1992. In many places, new legislative pressures on inner-city and suburban venues have diminished the number of performance spaces that musicians can work in. Just as quickly, new sectors have opened to professional musicians: computer games, ringtones, sound-enabled toys and web advertising all present new opportunities to the enterprising musician. The opportunity to distribute music internationally without being signed to a major label is very attractive to many aspiring and established professionals. No doubt the music industry will face many more challenges as technologies continue to change, as global communication gets easier and faster, and as the challenges to copyright proliferate and change. These challenges cannot be successfully met on a single front. They require research and expertise from all sectors being affected, and this is why the independent music project (IMP) exists.

Indie 100 2014

The Independent Music Project is centred around the development and creation of new music, and includes research into copyright, business models of the future, new technologies, and new audiences. The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New digital technologies have made the production, distribution, and promotion of recorded music accessible to anyone with a personal computer. People can now make high-quality digital copies of music and distribute them globally within minutes. Even bastions of the established industries, such as EMI and Columbia, are struggling to make sense of the new industry terrain. The whole employment picture has changed just as radically for people who wish to make a living from music. In Australia, many of the avenues that provided employment for musicians have either disappeared or dramatically shrunk. The advertising industry no longer provides the level of employment it used to prior to the Federal deregulation of the industry in 1992. In many places, new legislative pressures on inner-city and suburban venues have diminished the number of performance spaces that musicians can work in. Just as quickly, new sectors have opened to professional musicians: computer games, ringtones, sound-enabled toys and web advertising all present new opportunities to the enterprising musician. The opportunity to distribute music internationally without being signed to a major label is very attractive to many aspiring and established professionals. No doubt the music industry will face many more challenges as technologies continue to change, as global communication gets easier and faster, and as the challenges to copyright proliferate and change. These challenges cannot be successfully met on a single front. They require research and expertise from all sectors being affected, and this is why the independent music project (IMP) exists.

Spatial and temporal patterns of locally-acquired dengue transmission in northern Queensland, Australia, 1993-2012

BACKGROUND: Dengue has been a major public health concern in Australia since it re-emerged in Queensland in 1992-1993. We explored spatio-temporal characteristics of locally-acquired dengue cases in northern tropical Queensland, Australia during the period 1993-2012. METHODS: Locally-acquired notified cases of dengue were collected for northern tropical Queensland from 1993 to 2012. Descriptive spatial and temporal analyses were conducted using geographic information system tools and geostatistical techniques. RESULTS: 2,398 locally-acquired dengue cases were recorded in northern tropical Queensland during the study period. The areas affected by the dengue cases exhibited spatial and temporal variation over the study period. Notified cases of dengue occurred more frequently in autumn. Mapping of dengue by statistical local areas (census units) reveals the presence of substantial spatio-temporal variation over time and place. Statistically significant differences in dengue incidence rates among males and females (with more cases in females) (χ(2) = 15.17, d.f.  = 1, p<0.01). Differences were observed among age groups, but these were not statistically significant. There was a significant positive spatial autocorrelation of dengue incidence for the four sub-periods, with the Moran's I statistic ranging from 0.011 to 0.463 (p<0.01). Semi-variogram analysis and smoothed maps created from interpolation techniques indicate that the pattern of spatial autocorrelation was not homogeneous across the northern Queensland. CONCLUSIONS: Tropical areas are potential high-risk areas for mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue. This study demonstrated that the locally-acquired dengue cases have exhibited a spatial and temporal variation over the past twenty years in northern tropical Queensland, Australia. Therefore, this study provides an impetus for further investigation of clusters and risk factors in these high-risk areas.

Power and paradigms : the Dutch response to pressures for shareholder value

In recent years, research aimed at identifying and relating the antecedents and consequences of diffusing organizational practices/ideas has turned its attention to debating the international adoption and implementation of the Anglo-American model of corporate governance, i.e., a shareholder-value-orientation (SVO). While financial economists characterize the adoption of an SVO as necessary and performance-enhancing, behavioral scientists have disputed such claims, invoking institutional contingencies in the appropriateness of an SVO. Our study seeks to provide some resolution to the debate by developing an overarching socio-political perspective that links the antecedents and consequences of the adoption of the contested practice of SVO. We test our framework using extensive longitudinal data from 1992-2006 from the largest listed corporations in the Netherlands, and we find a negative relationship between SVO adoption and subsequent firm performance, although this effect is attenuated when accompanied by greater SVO-alignment among major owners and a firm’s visible commitment to an SVO. This study extends prior research on the diffusion of contested organizational practices that has taken a socio-political perspective by offering an original contingency perspective that addresses how and why the misaligned preferences of corporate owners will affect (i) a company’s inclination to espouse an SVO, and (ii) the performance consequences of such misalignment.This study suggests when board members are considering the adoption of new ideas/practices (e.g., SVO), they should consider the contextual fitness of the idea/practice with the firm’s owners and their interests.

Across the divide - Criminology as other: Observations on the construction of the field

In 1978 Donald Cressey commented on an emerging division in the study of crime with some scholars concentrating on the development of a “crime fi ghting coalition” and others concerned with the processes associated with “making laws, breaking laws, and the reaction to the breaking of laws” (1978: 175). Since Cressey’s paper, many others have refl ected on the distinction between criminology and the sociology of crime and deviance (Akers, 1992; Garland, 1999; Garland & Sparks, 2000; Konty, 2007). But does such a distinction actually exist? Adopting a pragmatic position, the immediate answer is yes, if we assume that these categories have substance on the basis that they are grounded in everyday beliefs, institutional preferences and research practice (Konty, 2007). Moreover, these are viable categories in that some people studying crime label themselves criminologists (or are given this label by others) while others prefer or are given the label sociologist. Of course, there are further labels that may apply to persons studying crime, which include psychologist, penologist, biologist, chemist, and so on. One could argue that such labels are unimportant, however, it remains that these categories have a practical character. For criminology and the sociology of crime in particular, scholarly discourse frames these categories as oppositional (Bader et al., 1996.; Bendle, 1989; Laub & Sampson, 1991; Sibley, 2002) and to the extent that this has occurred, the categories have social relevance.

John Andrews : Architecture a Performing Art

The distinguished Australian architect surveys his career and examines how his architectural theories are expressed in his designs.

Measuring attitudes in translation: a study of Nokia business reports

Background Contemporary Finnish, spoken and written, reveals loanwords or foreignisms in the form of hybrids: a mixture of Finnish and foreign syllables (alumiinivalua). Sometimes loanwords are inserted into the Finnish sentence in their raw form just as they are found in the source language (pulp, after sales palvelu). Again, sometimes loanwords are calques, which appear Finnish but are spelled and pronounced in an altogether foreign manner (Protomanageri, Promenadi kampuksella). Research Questions What role does Finnish business translation play in the migration of foreignisms into Finnish if we consider translation "as a construct of solutions determined by the ideological constraints and conflicts characterizing the target culture" (Robyns 1992: 212)? What attitudes do the Finns display toward the presence of foreignisms in their language? What socio-economic or ideological conditions (Bassnett 1994: 321) are responsible for these attitudes? Are these conditions dynamic? What tools can be used to measure such attitudes? This dissertation set out to answer these and similar questions. Attitudes are imperialist (where otherness is both denied and transformed), defensive (where otherness is acknowledged, transformed, and vilified), transdiscursive (a neutral attitude to both otherness and transformation), or finally defective (where alien migration is acknowledged and "stimulated") (Robyns 1994: 60). Methodology The research method follows Rose's schema (1984: 8): (a) take an existing theory, (b) develop from it a proposition specific enough to be tested, (c) devise a scheme that tests this proposition, (d) carry through the scheme in practice, (e) draw up results and discuss conclusions in relation to the original theory. In other words, the method attempts an explanation of a Finnish social phenomenon based on systematic analyses of translated evidence (Lewins 1992: 4) whereby what really matters is the logical sequence that connects the empirical data to the initial research questions raised above and, ultimately to its conclusion (Yin 1984: 29). Results This research found that Finnish translators of the Nokia annual reports used a foreignism whenever possible such as komponentin instead of rakenneosa, or investoida instead of sijoittaa, and often without any apparent justification (Pryce 2003: 203-12) more than the translator's personal preference. In the old documents (minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors of Osakeyhtio H. Saastamoinen, Ltd. dated 5 July 1912-1917, a NOPSA booklet (1932), Enzo-Gutzeit-Tornator Oy document (1938), Imatra Steel Oy Annual Report 1964, and Nokia Oy Annual Report 1946), foreignisms under Haugen's (1950: 210-31) Classification #1 occurred an average of 0.6 times, while in the new documents (Nokia 1998 translated Annual Reports) they occurred an average of 6.5 times. That big difference, suggests transdiscursive and defective attitudes in Finnish society toward the other. In the 1850s, Finnish attitudes toward alien persons and cultures were hardened, intolerant and prohibitive because language politics were both nascent and emerging, and Finns adopted a defensive stance (Paloposki 2002: 102 ff) to protect their cultural and national treasures such as language and folklore. Innovation The innovation here is that no prior doctoral level research measured Finnish attitudes toward foreignisms using a business translation approach. This is the first time that Haugen's classification has been modified and applied in target language analysis. It is hoped that this method would be replicated in similar research in the future. Applications For practical applications, researchers with interest in languages, language development, language influences, language ideologies, and power structures that affect national language policies will find this thesis useful, especially the model for collecting, grouping, and analyzing foreignisms that has been demonstrated here. It is intended to document for posterity current attitudes of Finns toward the other as revealed in business translations from 1912-1964, and in 1998. This way, future language researchers would be able to explore a time-line of Finnish language development and attitudes toward the other. Communication firms may also find this research interesting. In future, could the model we adopted be used to analyze literary texts or religious texts for example? Future Trends Though business documents show transdiscursive attitudes, other segments of Finnish society may show defensive or imperialist attitudes. When the ideology of industrialization changes in the future, will Finnish attitudes toward the other change as well? Will it then be possible to use the same kind of analytical tools to measure Finnish attitudes? More broadly, will linguistic change continue in the same direction of transdiscursive attitudes, or will the change slow down or even reverse into xenophobic attitudes? Is this our model culture-specific or can it be used in the context of other cultures? Conclusion There is anger against foreignisms in Finland as newspaper publications and television broadcasts show, but research shows that a majority of Finns consider foreignisms and the languages from which they come as sources of enrichment for Finnish culture (Laitinen 2000, Eurobarometer series 41 of July 1994, 44 of Spring 1996, 50 of Autumn 1998). Ideologies of industrialization and globalization in Finland have facilitated transdiscursive tendencies. When Finland's political ideology was intolerant toward foreign influences in the 1850s because Finland was in the process of consolidating her nascent country and language, attitudes toward the importation of loanwords also became intolerant. Presently, when industrialization and globalization became the dominant ideologies, we see a shift in attitudes toward transdiscursive tendencies. Ideology is usually unseen and too often ignored by translation researchers. However, ideology reveals itself as the most powerful factor affecting language attitudes in a target culture. Key words Finnish, Business Translation, Ideology, Foreignisms, Imperialist Attitudes, Defensive Attitudes, Transdiscursive Attitudes, Defective Attitudes, the Other, Old Documents, New Documents.

Role of Diadegma semiclausum (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in controlling Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae): Cage exclusion experiments and direct observation

We evaluated the role of the larval parasitoid, Diadegma semiclausum Hellén (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), in controlling Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) by cage exclusion experiments and direct field observation during the winter season in southern Queensland, Australia. The cage exclusion experiment involved uncaged, open cage and closed cage treatments. A higher percentage (54-83%) of P. xylostella larvae on sentinel plants were lost in the uncaged treatment than the closed (4-9%) or open cage treatments (11-29%). Of the larvae that remained in the uncaged treatment, 72-94% were parasitized by D. semiclausum, much higher than that in the open cage treatment (8-37% in first trial, and 38-63% in second trial). Direct observations showed a significant aggregation response of the field D. semiclausum populations to high host density plants in an experimental plot and to high host density plots that were artificially set-up near to the parasitoid source fields. The degree of aggregation varied in response to habitat quality of the parasitoid source field and scales of the manipulated host patches. As a result, density-dependence in the pattern of parasitism may depend on the relative degree of aggregation of the parasitoid population at a particular scale. A high degree of aggregation seems to be necessary to generate density-dependent parasitism by D. semiclausum. Integration of the cage exclusion experiment and direct observation demonstrated the active and dominant role of this parasitoid in controlling P. xylostella in the winter season. A biologically based IPM strategy, which incorporates the use of D. semiclausum with Bt, is suggested for the management of P. xylostella in seasons or regions with a mild temperature.