Changes in the Australian Commonwealth departmental machinery of government 1928-1982

The Commonwealth departmental machinery of government is changed by using Orders in Council to create, abolish or change the name of departments. Since 1906 governments have utilised a particular form of Order in Council, the Administrative Arrangements Order (AAO), as the means to reallocate functions between departments for administration. After 1928 successive governments from Scullin to Fraser gradually streamlined and increasingly used the formal processes for the executive to change departmental arrangements and the practical role of Parliament, in the process of change, virtually disappeared. From 1929 to 1982, 105 separate departments were brought into being, as new departments or through merger, and 91 were abolished, following the merger of their functions in one way or another with other departments. These figures exclude 6 situations where the change was simply that of name alone. Several hundred less substantial transfers of responsibilities were also made between departments. This dissertation describes, documents and analyses all these changes. The above changes can be distilled down to 79 events termed primary decisions. Measures of the magnitude of change arising from the decisions are developed with 157.25 units of change identified as occurring during the period, most being in the Whitlam and Fraser periods. The reasons for the changes were assessed and classified as occurring for reasons of policy, administrative logic or cabinet comfort. 47.2% of the units of change were attributed to policy, 34.9% to administrative logic, 17% to cabinet comfort. Further conclusions are drawn from more detailed analysis of the change and the reasons for the changes.

Mixing metaphors : differences in the language and understanding of development policy in the Pacific Islands

The use of metaphors in the Pacific Islands reveal a discourse of representation and containment, which emphasizes ‘smallness’ in geographic, political and cultural aspects of development. Heather Wallace contrasts the language and strategies used by policymakers, particularly from Australia, to the understanding and knowledge of Pacific Islanders.

Optimization of mixing parameters through a water model for metal matrix composites synthesis

The influence of the mixing parameters on the synthesis of Al–SiCp reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) by the stir casting technique is investigated through a water model. The effects of some important mixing parameters such as impeller blade angle, rotating speed, direction of impeller rotation and effect of baffles are investigated and optimized. The results have shown that the axial concentration variation of natural graphite during stirring in the presence of four vertical baffles is 1.0 wt% against in the absence of baffles it is increased to 2.3 wt%. The variations observed in natural graphite concentration in water during mixing are in close agreement with the earlier modeling and limited experimental studies reported on the real molten aluminum–SiC system. Semi-empirical correlations arrived at between the dimensionless numbers for stirred water – natural graphite slurries are Po = Re−0.0545 Fr−1.099 and Po = Re−0.0219 Fr−1.0382 for clockwise and counter clockwise rotation respectively.

A microfluidic electroosmotic mixer and the effect of potential and frequency on its mixing efficiency

This paper presents the design and numerical simulation of a T-shape microfluidic electroosmotic micromixer. It is equipped with six microelectrodes that are embedded in the side surfaces of the microchannel. The electrode array consists of two sets of three 20 ¿m and 60 ¿m microelectrodes arranged in the form of two opposing triangles. Numerical analysis of electric potential and frequency effects on mixing efficiency of the micromixer is carried out by means of two sets of simulations. First, the electric potential is kept at 2 V while the frequency is varied within 10-50 Hz. The highest achieved mixing efficiency is 96% at 22 Hz. Next, the frequency is kept at 30 Hz whilst the electric potential is varied within 1-5 V. The best achieved mixing efficiency is 97% at 3 V.

Mixing characterisation for a serpentine microchannel equipped with embedded barriers

This paper describes the design, simulation, fabrication and experimental analysis of a passive micromixer for the mixing of biological solvents. The mixer consists of a T-junction, followed by a serpentine microchannel. the serpentine has three arcs, each equipped with circular barriers that are patterned as two opposing triangles. >The barriers are engineered to induce periodic perturbations in the flow field and enhance the mixing. CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) method is applied to optimise the geometric variables of the mixer before fabrication. The mixer is made from PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) using photo- and soft-lithography techniques. Experimental measurements are performed using yellow and blue food dyes as the mixing fluids. The mixing is measured by analysing the composition of the flow's colour across the outlet channel. The performance of the mixer is examined in a wide range of flow rates from 0.5 to 10 µl/min. Mixing efficiencies of higher than 99.4% are obtained in the experiments confirming the results of numerical simulations. The proposed mixer can be employed as a part of lab-on-a-chip for biomedical applications.

Influence of mechanical mixing rates on sludge characteristics and membrane fouling in MBRs

The influence of shear intensity (G) induced by mechanical mixing on activated sludge characteristics as well as membrane fouling propensity in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) was investigated. Four MBRs were operated at different mechanical mixing conditions. The control reactor (MBR0) was operated with aeration only supplemented by mechanical stirring at 150, 300, and 450 rpm in MBR150, MBR300, and MBR450, respectively. It was found that the MBR300 demonstrated minimum rate of membrane fouling. The fouling potential of the MBR300 mixed liquor was lowest characterized by the specific cake resistance and the normalized capillary suction time (CSTN). Moreover, it was found that the mean particle size reduced with an increase in the shear intensity. These results reveal that membrane fouling can be significantly mitigated by appropriate shear stress on membrane fibers induced by mechanical mixing condition.

'Without fists' : age-mixing and its influence on safety and criminal contamination in women's prisons

Prisons are often considered to be places where violence and intimidation prevail, and where young prisoners are at risk of victimisation from adult prisoners. For this reason, youth in custody are housed separately from adult offenders in most Western jurisdictions. In New Zealand, for a variety of reasons, a separate facility for young women in custody is not provided as it is for young men. Therefore, researchers were able to conduct a study to investigate the experience of age-mixing from the point of view of young women in custody. Dominant notions of what constitutes contamination and who perpetrates violence in the custodial setting have been challenged as a result of analysis of this data. In fact, young women who were age-mixed in custody asserted that age-mixing has the effect of decreasing the degree and impact of the prevailing violent culture.