How the west was once: vegetation change in south-west Queensland from 1930 to 1995

Conflicting perceptions of past and present rangeland condition and limited historical data have led to debate regarding the management of vegetation in pastoral landscapes both internationally and in Australia. In light of this controversy we have sought to provide empirical evidence to determine the trajectory of vegetational change in a semi-arid rangeland for a significant portion of the 20th century using a suite of proxy measures. Ambathala Station, approximately 780 km west of Brisbane, in the semi-arid rangelands of south-western Queensland, Australia. We excavated stratified deposits of sheep manure which had accumulated beneath a shearing shed between the years 1930 and 1995. Multi-proxy data, including pollen and leaf cuticle analyses and analysis of historical aerial photography were coupled with a fine resolution radiocarbon chronology to generate a near annual history of vegetation on the property and local area. Aerial photography indicates that minor (< 5%) increases in the density of woody vegetation took place between 1951 and 1994 in two thirds of the study area not subjected to clearing. Areas that were selectively or entirely cleared prior to the 1950s (approximately 16% of the study area) had recovered to almost 60% of their original cover by the 1994 photo period. This slight thickening is only partially evident from pollen and leaf cuticle analyses of sheep faeces. Very little change in vegetation is revealed over the nearly 65 years based on the relative abundances of pollen taxonomic groups. Microhistological examination of sheep faeces provides evidence of dramatic changes in sheep diet. The majority of dietary changes are associated with climatic events of sustained above-average rainfall or persistent drought. Most notable in the dietary analysis is the absence of grass during the first two decades of the record. In contrast to prevailing perceptions and limited research into long-term vegetation change in the semi-arid areas of eastern Australia, the record of vegetation change at the Ambathala shearing shed indicates only a minor increase in woody vegetation cover and no decrease in grass cover on the property over the 65 years of pastoral activity covered by the study. However, there are marked changes in the abundance of grass cuticles in sheep faeces. The appearance and persistence of grass in sheep diets from the late 1940s can be attributed to the effects of periods of high rainfall and possibly some clearing and thinning of vegetation. Lower stock numbers may have allowed grass to persist through later drought years. The relative abundances of major groups of plant pollen have not changed significantly over the past 65 years.

Formal change impact analyses for emulated control software

Processor emulators are a software tool for allowing legacy computer programs to be executed on a modern processor. In the past emulators have been used in trivial applications such as maintenance of video games. Now, however, processor emulation is being applied to safety-critical control systems, including military avionics. These applications demand utmost guarantees of correctness, but no verification techniques exist for proving that an emulated system preserves the original system’s functional and timing properties. Here we show how this can be done by combining concepts previously used for reasoning about real-time program compilation, coupled with an understanding of the new and old software architectures. In particular, we show how both the old and new systems can be given a common semantics, thus allowing their behaviours to be compared directly.

The systems theory framework of career development and counseling: Connecting theory and practice

The practice of career counseling has been derived from principles of career theory and counseling theory. In recent times, the fields of both career and counseling theory have undergone considerable change. This article details the move toward convergence in career theory, and the subsequent development of the Systems Theory Framework in this domain. The importance of this development to connecting theory and practice in the field of career counseling is discussed.

Managing change and time in dynamic workflow processes

Business environments have become exceedingly dynamic and competitive in recent times. This dynamism is manifested in the form of changing process requirements and time constraints. Workflow technology is currently one of the most promising fields of research in business process automation. However, workflow systems to date do not provide the flexibility necessary to support the dynamic nature of business processes. In this paper we primarily discuss the issues and challenges related to managing change and time in workflows representing dynamic business processes. We also present an analysis of workflow modifications and provide feasibility considerations for the automation of this process.

Incremental model transformation for the evolution of model-driven systems

Model transformations are an integral part of model-driven development. Incremental updates are a key execution scenario for transformations in model-based systems, and are especially important for the evolution of such systems. This paper presents a strategy for the incremental maintenance of declarative, rule-based transformation executions. The strategy involves recording dependencies of the transformation execution on information from source models and from the transformation definition. Changes to the source models or the transformation itself can then be directly mapped to their effects on transformation execution, allowing changes to target models to be computed efficiently. This particular approach has many benefits. It supports changes to both source models and transformation definitions, it can be applied to incomplete transformation executions, and a priori knowledge of volatility can be used to further increase the efficiency of change propagation.

Maintaining the change: Studying and supporting teaching for new learning

Teacher educators who advocate new learning approaches hope that their graduates will address the needs of digitally and globally sophisticated students. A critical, enquiry-based framework for teaching attempts to unravel many traditional assumptions about learning, assumptions which continue to shape preservice teachers’ practices even through early career years. Evidence in relation to effective take up of New Learning education approaches by graduates is sparse. This paper will explore how three teacher educators attempt to wrestle with ways New Learning frameworks can transform outmoded yet embedded views in beginning teachers. They ask: Can changed approaches be consolidated and mobilised against some of the adverse conditions that predominate in schools? And if this is possible, what support might be required for beginning teachers who are struggling to implement a change process

Use of fundus imaging in quantification of age-related macular change

This review will discuss the use of manual grading scales, digital photography, and automated image analysis in the quantification of fundus changes caused by age-related macular disease. Digital imaging permits processing of images for enhancement, comparison, and feature quantification, and these techniques have been investigated for automated drusen analysis. The accuracy of automated analysis systems has been enhanced by the incorporation of interactive elements, such that the user is able to adjust the sensitivity of the system, or manually add and remove pixels. These methods capitalize on both computer and human image feature recognition and the advantage of computer-based methodologies for quantification. The histogram-based adaptive local thresholding system is able to extract useful information from the image without being affected by the presence of other structures. More recent developments involve compensation for fundus background reflectance, which has most recently been combined with the Otsu method of global thresholding. This method is reported to provide results comparable with manual stereo viewing. Developments in this area are likely to encourage wider use of automated techniques. This will make the grading of photographs easier and cheaper for clinicians and researchers. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding policy implementation processes as self-organizing systems

Implementation studies and related research in organizational theory can be enhanced by drawing on the field of complex systems to understand better and, as a consequence, more successfully manage change. This article reinterprets data previously published in the British Journal of Management to reveal a new contribution, that policy implementation processes should be understood as a self-organizing system in which adaptive abilities are extremely important for stakeholders. In other words, national policy is reinterpreted at the local level, with each local organization uniquely mixing elements of national policy with their own requirements making policy implementation unpredictable and more sketchy. The original article explained different paces and directions of change in terms of traditional management processes: leadership, politics, implementation and vision. By reinterpreting the data, it is possible to reveal that deeper level processes, which are more emergent, are also at work influencing change, which the authors label possibility space. Implications for theory, policy and practice are identified.

Casemix accounting systems and medical coding:organisational actors balanced on "leaky black boxes"

The adoption of DRG coding may be seen as a central feature of the mechanisms of the health reforms in New Zealand. This paper presents a story of the use of DRG coding by describing the experience of one major health provider. The conventional literature portrays casemix accounting and medical coding systems as rational techniques for the collection and provision of information for management and contracting decisions/negotiations. Presents a different perspective on the implications and effects of the adoption of DRG technology, in particular the part played by DRG coding technology as a part of a casemix system is explicated from an actor network theory perspective. Medical coding and the DRG methodology will be argued to represent ``black boxes''. Such technological ``knowledge objects'' provide strong points in the networks which are so important to the processes of change in contemporary organisations.

Structural change in apartheid era South Africa:1975-93

This paper examines the sources of structural changes in output growth of South Africa's economy over 1975-93 using a decomposition method within the inputoutput (IO) framework for analysing output changes from a demand side perspective. It decomposes output growth into private consumption, government consumption, investment and export components and also measures the impact of import substitution and changes in intermediate input use (as indicated by changes in IO coefficients). It is found that, before 1981, overall output growth was multi-components driven with all the above components contributing positively to economic growth. However, the collapse of investment demand is by far the single largest factor contributing to the economic stagnation that categorizes the post-1981 period.

From national innovation systems to national innovation capacity:internationalisation and technology transfer perspectives

The last decade or so has witnessed the emergence of the national innovation system (NIS) phenomenon. Since then, many scholars have investigated NIS and its implementation in different countries. However, there are very few investigations into the relationship between the NIS of a country and its national innovation capacity. This paper aims to make a contribution in this area by examining the link that currently exists between these two topics. Whilst examining this relationship, we also explore internationalisation and technology transfer, being cognate areas that have been investigated during the same period. This follows our assertion that the link between NIS and national innovation capacity is the mechanism of internationalisation and technology transfer. The NIS approach was introduced in the late 1980s (see Freeman, 1987; Dosi et al., 1988) and further elaborated later (see Lundvall, 1992; Nelson, 1993; Edquist, 1997). In essence, a country?s NIS is a historically grown subsystem of the entire national economy consisting of organisations and institutions which play a major role in the innovative activity in the country. In the NIS approach, interactions within organisations as well as the interplay between organisations and institutions are of central importance. The NIS approach has been used to reveal the structure of the innovation processes and the main actors involved in them in industrialised and emerging countries. Although the national focus remains strong, it has been accompanied by studies seeking to analyse the notion of systems of innovation at an international level and at a sub-national scale (Archibugi et al., 1999). Dosi in the edition of Archibugi et al. (1999) argues that the general background of the discussion of national systems is the observation of non-random distributions across countries of: corporate capabilities; organisational forms; strategies; and ultimately revealed performances, in terms of production efficiency and inputs productivities, rates of innovation, rates of adoption/diffusion of innovation themselves, dynamics of market shares on the world markets, growth of income and employment. They also mention that there are several approaches to NIS. Nelson (1993) focuses upon the specificities of national institutions and policies supporting directly or indirectly innovation, diffusion and skills accumulation. Patel and Pavitt (1991) have stressed the links between the national patterns of technological accumulation and the competencies and innovative strategies of a few major national companies. Amable et al (1997) and Soskice (1993) and Zysman (1994) focus on the specifics of national institutions including, for example, the forms of organization, financial and labour markets, training institutions, forms of state intervention in the economy etc. However, the most common reference is by Lundvall (1992) who argues that the focus on the national level is associated with the fact that national economies vary according to their production system and their institutional framework and these differences are in turn strengthened by different historical experiences, language and culture. On the other hand, the national innovation capability consists of abilities to create and carry new technological possibilities through to economic practice. The term covers a wide range of activities from capability to invent to capability to innovate and to capability to improve existing technology beyond the original design parameters (Kim, 1997). The term innovation is often associated by many with technological change at international frontiers. However, technological capability is not the same as innovation capability. Technological capability refers to assimilation, use, adaptation, and change to existing technologies. It also enables the creation of new technologies and development of new products and processes in response to changing economic environments. It denotes operational command over knowledge (Kim, 1997). It is manifested not merely by the knowledge possessed, but, more important, by the uses to which that knowledge can be put and by the proficiency with which it is applied in the activities of investment and production and in the creation of new knowledge (Westphal et al., 1985). Therefore, the analytical framework that is used in this paper is based on the way a country derives from its NIS a national innovation capacity. There are two perspectives that are identified on this way. These are internationalisation and technology transfer. Even though NIS is not directly related to national innovation capacity, to achieve national innovation capacity from NIS, the country should have the ability for technology transfer. Technology transfer is a link between these two phenomena. On the other hand, internationalisation can be either the input or the output of the relationship between NIS and national innovation capability. If a company is investing in a country because of its national innovation capacity, this can be regarded as an input to the relationship between NIS and national innovation capacity. If this company is investigating the national innovation capacity of a country then, for its internationalisation, the national innovation capacity should be important, which in turn means this company is active in innovation and innovation is also an important success factor. The interrelationship between the investment of the company and the NIS of the country (assuming that the country is competent and competitive in technology transfer) will generate and improve that country?s national innovation capacity. This is the output of internationalisation from the relationship between NIS and national innovation capacity. When companies are evaluating whether to internationalise, they investigate certain factors in the countries in which they are considering to invest. The ability to transfer technology is dependent on ability to adopt a new technology and also on the learning derived from this technology. If countries wish to attract innovation related investment they need to show their ability to have a NIS and also the capability to transfer technology. Without the technology transfer capability, the NIS is not functioning. Therefore, companies that internationalise will investigate the factors common to NIS, technology transfer, and their business needs. Through this paper we will demonstrate this link though its mechanisms. Our research will be through extensive literature review and identifying relevant aspects of previous research carried out by the authors. It will investigate certain factors of different countries that are successful in attracting innovation related foreign direct investment. Through these, we will point out the factors that are important for the link and mechanisms of NIS and national innovation capability.

The effect of flow regimes in the distillation of systems containing two liquid phases

Single phase solutions containing three components have been observed to exhibit foaminess near a single to two liquid phase boundary. It was seen, in a sintered plate column under mass transfer conditions, that distillation systems where the liquid appeared as one phase in one part of a column and two phases in another part, exhibited foaminess when the liquid concentration was near the one phase to two phase boundary. Various ternary systems have been studied in a 50 plate. 30mm i.d. Oldershaw column and it was observed that severe foaming occurred in the middle section of the column near the one liquid phase to two liquid phase boundary and no foaming occurred at the end of the column where liquid was either one phase or two phase. This is known as Ross type foam. Mass transfer experiments with Ross type ternary systems have been carried out in a perspex simulator with small and large hole diameter trays. It was observed that by removal of the more volatile component, Ross type foam did not build up on the tray. Severe entrainment of liquid was observed in all cases leading to a 'dry' tray, even with a low free area small diameter hole tray which was expected to produce a bubbly mixture. Entrainment was more severe for high gas superficial velocities and large hole diameters. This behaviour is quite different from the build up of foam observed when one liquid phase/two liquid phase Ross systems were contacted with air above a small sintered disc or with vapour in an Oldershaw distillation column. This observation explains why distillation columns processing mixtures which change from one liquid phase to two liquid phases (or vice versa) must be severely derated to avoid flooding. Single liquid phase holdups at the spray to bubbly transition were measured using a perspex simulator similar to that of Porter & Wong (17). i.e. with no liquid cross flow. A light transmission technique was used to measure the transition from spray regime to bubbly regime. The effect of tray thickness and the ratio of hole diameter to tray thickness on the transition was evaluated using trays of the same hole diameter and free area but having thickness of 2.38 mm, 4 mm, and 6.35 mm. The liquid holdup at the transition was less with the thin metal trays. This result may be interpreted by the theory of Lockett (101), which predicts the transition liquid holdup in terms of the angle of the gas iet leaving the holes in the sieve plate. All the existing correlations have been compared and none were found to be satisfactory and these correlations have been modified in view of the experimental results obtained. A new correlation has been proposed which takes into account the effect of the hole diameter to tray thickness ratio on the transition and good agreement was obtained between the experimental results and the correlated values of the liquid holdup at the transition. Results have been obtained for two immiscible liquids [kerosene and water] on trays to determine whether foaming can be eliminated by operating in the spray regime. Kerosene was added to a fixed volume of water or water was added to a fixed volume of kerosene. In both cases, there was a transition from spray to bubbly. In the water fixed system. the liquid holdup at the transition was slightly less than the pure kerosene system. Whilst for the kerosene fixed system, the transition occurred at much lower liquid holdups. Trends In the results were similar to those for single liquid phase. New correlations have been proposed for the two cases. It has been found that Ross type foams, observed in a sintered plate column and in the Oldershaw column can be eliminated by either carrying out the separation in a packed column or by the addition of defoaming additives.

The design of fault tolerant software for loosely coupled distributed systems

Requirements for systems to continue to operate satisfactorily in the presence of faults has led to the development of techniques for the construction of fault tolerant software. This thesis addresses the problem of error detection and recovery in distributed systems which consist of a set of communicating sequential processes. A method is presented for the `a priori' design of conversations for this class of distributed system. Petri nets are used to represent the state and to solve state reachability problems for concurrent systems. The dynamic behaviour of the system can be characterised by a state-change table derived from the state reachability tree. Systematic conversation generation is possible by defining a closed boundary on any branch of the state-change table. By relating the state-change table to process attributes it ensures all necessary processes are included in the conversation. The method also ensures properly nested conversations. An implementation of the conversation scheme using the concurrent language occam is proposed. The structure of the conversation is defined using the special features of occam. The proposed implementation gives a structure which is independent of the application and is independent of the number of processes involved. Finally, the integrity of inter-process communications is investigated. The basic communication primitives used in message passing systems are seen to have deficiencies when applied to systems with safety implications. Using a Petri net model a boundary for a time-out mechanism is proposed which will increase the integrity of a system which involves inter-process communications.