Fair flow control of ABR service by per-VC virtual queuing

In this paper, a rate-based flow control scheme based upon per-VC virtual queuing is proposed for the Available Bit Rate (ABR) service in ATM. In this scheme, each VC in a shared buffer is assigned a virtual queue, which is a counter. To achieve a specific kind of fairness, an appropriate scheduler is applied to the virtual queues. Each VC's bottleneck rate (fair share) is derived from its virtual cell departure rate. This approach of deriving a VC's fair share is simple and accurate. By controlling each VC with respect to its virtual queue and queue build-up in the shared buffer, network congestion is avoided. The principle of the control scheme is first illustrated by max–min flow control, which is realised by scheduling the virtual queues in round-robin. Further application of the control scheme is demonstrated with the achievement of weighted fairness through weighted round robin scheduling. Simulation results show that with a simple computation, the proposed scheme achieves the desired fairness exactly and controls network congestion effectively.

Embracing Philosophy and Raising the Standard of Pre-service Teacher Education Programs

In this chapter, a rationale is developed for incorporating philosophy into teacher training programs as a means of both preparing quality teachers for the 21st century and meeting the expectations detailed in the professional standards established by the statutory authority that regulates the profession in Queensland, the Queensland College of Teaching is presented. Furthermore, in-service teachers from Buranda State School, a Brisbane primary school that has been successfully teaching philosophy to its students for over 10 years, shares their experiences of teaching philosophy and how it has enhanced student learning and the quality of teaching and professionalism of the teachers. Finally, the implications of embedding philosophy into teacher training programs are explored in terms of developing the personal integrity of beginning teachers.

The Patches program : supporting the development of Malaysian pre-service teachers' academic literacy

The Patches program involves Malaysian pre-service teachers working closely with Australian pre-service teachers on a series of academic and intercultural communication tasks. A recurring problem for international students is the challenge to develop social relationships with Australian students. Similarly, it is often difficult for Australian students to step outside their accustomed social worlds to establish relationships with international students. The Patches Program supported rich cross-cultural social and academic exchanges among the students facilitating the development of students' academic literacy skills, their knowledge of self and knowledge of learning, and their skills in cross-cultural communication.

Evaluation on service quality of railway timetable

From the business viewpoint, the railway timetable is a list of the products presented by the railway transportation operators to the customers, specifying the schedules of all the train services on a railway line or network. In order to evaluate the quality of the train service schedules, a number of indices are proposed in this paper. These indices primarily take the passengers’ needs, such as waiting time, transfer time and transport capacity into consideration. Delay rate is usually used in post-evaluation. In this study, we propose to give an evaluation on the probability that the scheduled train services are likely to be delayed and the recovery ability of the timetable after delay has occurred. The evaluation identifies the possible problems in the services, such as excessive waiting time, non-seamless transfer, and high possibility of delay. This paper also discusses the improvement of these problems through certain adjustments on the timetable. The indices for evaluation and the adjustment method on timetable are then applied to a case study on the Hu-Ning-Hang railway in China, followed by the discussions of the merits of the proposed indices for timetable evaluation and possible improvement.

The impact of socialisation on graduates’ public service motivation : a mixed method study

There is a renaissance of interest in public service motivation in public management research. Moynnihan and Pandey (2007) assert that public service motivation (PSM) has significant practical relevance as it deals with the relationship between motivation and the public interest. There is a need to explore employee needs generated by public service motivation in order to attract and retain a high calibre cadre of public servants (Gabris & Simo, 1995). Such exploration is particularly important beyond the American context which has dominated the literature to date (Taylor, 2007; Vandenabeele, Scheepers, & Hondeghem, 2006; Vandenabeele & Van de Walle, 2008).

Cultural influences on IS service quality perceptions

While Information services function’s (ISF) service quality is not a new concept and has received considerable attention for over two decades, cross-cultural research of ISF’s service quality is not very mature. The author argues that the relationship between cultural dimensions and the ISF’s service quality dimensions may provide useful insights for how organisations should deal with different cultural groups. This paper will show that ISF’s service quality dimensions vary from one culture to another. The study adopts Hofstede’s (1980, 1991) typology of cultures and the “zones of tolerance” (ZOT) service quality measure reported by Kettinger & Lee (2005) as the primary commencing theory-base. In this paper, the author hypothesised and tested the influences of culture on users’ service quality perceptions and found strong empirical support for the study’s hypotheses. The results of this study indicate that as a result of their cultural characteristics, users vary in both their overall service quality perceptions and their perceptions on each of the four dimensions of ZOT service quality.

Co-creation in business service lifecycle management

Co-creation between customers and providers has recently gained more attention by business service providers as a promising endeavour. The different perspectives of co-creation - innovation, sourcing and marketing - are well deployed. From a provider’s point of view, the question of how to manage business services with respect to co-creation is vitally important. However, service engineering and service lifecycle management typically take a mostly internal, closed-loop approach, although a logical implication of acknowledging the value co-creation perspective on “service” would be to leverage customer and other stakeholder competences to the full extent. This paper aims at reconciling the perspectives of co-creation and makes a contribution by analysing where and how co-creation can be effectively utilised throughout the various stages of a generic business service lifecycle. The result will be a framework guiding companies in using co-creation when managing their business services.

Self-service technology and the moderating effects of consumer characteristics

The incidence of self-service technology, where the consumer delivers the service themselves using technology, is increasing in the service encounter. One area that is under-explored is the potential impact of self-service technology on consumer satisfaction and affective commitment. Accordingly, this paper presents an empirical study that investigates the relative impact of self-service technology on consumer satisfaction (both overall and transaction-specific) and affective commitment, accounting for the moderating effects of consumer characteristics. The results highlight the importance of personal service for evaluations of satisfaction and commitment, and the importance of social competency as a moderator in this relationship. An understanding of these consumer perceptions will allow organisations to develop strategies to deliver the services expected by their consumers, improving consumer satisfaction and commitment.

Stereotypes of Taiwanese salespeople at the service interface

Stereotypes of salespeople are common currency in US media outlets and research suggests that these stereotypes are uniformly negative. However, there is no reason to expect that stereotypes will be consistent across cultures. The present paper provides the first empirical examination of salesperson stereotypes in an Asian country, specifically Taiwan. Using accepted psychological methods, Taiwanese salesperson stereotypes are found to be twofold, with a negative stereotype being quite congruent with existing US stereotypes, but also a positive stereotype, which may be related to the specific culture of Taiwan.

Researching professionals and online social networking : toward a professional doctorate

The professional doctorate is a degree that is specifically designed for professionals investigating real world problems and relevant issues for a profession, industry and/ or the community. The study on which this paper is based sought to track the scholarly skill development of a cohort of professional doctoral students who commenced their course in January 2008 at an Australian University. Via an initial survey and two focus groups held six months apart, the study aimed to determine if there had been any qualitative shifts in students’ understandings, expectations and perceptions regarding this developing knowledge and skills. Three key findings has emerged from this study were: (i) the appropriateness of using a blended learning approach for this doctoral cohort; (ii) the challenges of using wikis as an online technology of creating communities of practice: and (iii) that the transition from student to scholar is a process that is unlikely to be achieved in a short time frame.

Catch me if you can : the effective service of bankruptcy documents in a changing world

This article discusses some recent judicial decisions to assist legal practitioners to overcome some of the problems encountered when serving Bankruptcy Notices and Creditor’s Petitions. Some of the issues covered in the discussion are: What the valid last-known address of the debtor can be, whether a Bankruptcy Notice can be validly served by email on a debtor who is located outside Australia, whether service of a Bankruptcy Notice is valid when the debtor is outside Australia when service on the debtor occurs in Australia, whether the creditor’s failure to obtain leave for service of a Bankruptcy Notice can be excused, what can be done regarding personal service of a Creditor’s Petition when a debtor is outside Australia and whether the Court can set aside a sequestration order. The article goes on to place the issues in the context of broader bankruptcy policies noting that effective service of bankruptcy documents is challenging in a world where mobility of debtors is global and new modes of communication ever changing.

The cultural economy moment?

This paper explores the rise of cultural economy as a key organising concept over the 2000s. While it has intellectual precursors in political economy, sociology and postmodernism, it has been work undertaken in the fields of cultural economic geography, creative industries, the culture of service industries and cultural policy where it has come to the forefront, particularly around whether we are now in a ‘creative economy’. While work undertaken in cultural studies has contributed to these developments, the development of neo-liberalism as a meta-concept in critical theory constitutes a substantive barrier to more sustained engagement between cultural studies and economics, as it rests upon a caricature of economic discourse. The paper draws upon Michel Foucault’s lectures on neo-liberalism to indicate that there are significant problems with the neo-Marxist account hat became hegemonic over the 2000s. The paper concludes by identifying areas such as the value of information, the value of networks, motivations for participation in online social networks, and the impact of business cycles on cultural sectors as areas of potentially fruitful inter-disciplinary engagement around the nature of cultural economy.

Not yet the Internet election : online media, political commentary and the 2007 Australian federal election

This paper undertakes an overview of two developments in online media that coincided with the 'year-long campaign' that was the 2007 Australian Federal election. It discusses the relatively successful use of the Internet and social media in the 'Kevin07' Australian Labor Party campaign, and contrasts this to the Liberal-National Party's faltering use of You Tube for policy announcements. It also notes the struggle for authority in interpreting polling data between the mainstream media and various online commentators, and the 'July 12 incident' at The Australian, where it engaged in strong denunciation of alleged biases and prejudices among bloggers and on political Web sites. It concludes with consideration of some wider implication for political communication and the politics-media relationship, and whether we are seeing trends towards dispersal and diversification characterising the 'third age' of political communication.

From e-Government to online deliberative democracy

This brief presentation considered the possibilities and limitations of strategies to promote electronic democracy pursued so far. In particular it indicated that the problems encountered have only been in part due to technological limitations or even a lack of political will. The stronger set of issues concerns the question of 'why participate?', and how to best facilitate this. The capacity to extent the principals of deliberative democracy through online media is briefly canvassed in the presentation.