Power quality improvements in low voltage distribution networks containing distributed energy resources

In this thesis various schemes using custom power devices for power quality improvement in low voltage distribution network are studied. Customer operated distributed generators makes a typical network non-radial and affect the power quality. A scheme considering different algorithm of DSTATCOM is proposed for power circulation and islanded operation of the system. To compensate reactive power overflow and facilitate unity power factor, a UPQC is introduced. Stochastic analysis is carried out for different scenarios to get a comprehensive idea about a real life distribution network. Combined operation of static compensator and voltage regulator is tested for the optimum quality and stability of the system.

Porosity: Establishing the relationship between drying parameters and dried food quality [SpringerBriefs in Food, Health, and Nutrition]

The preservation technique of drying offers a significant increase in the shelf life of food materials, along with the modification of quality attributes due to simultaneous heat and mass transfer. Variations in porosity are just one of the microstructural changes that take place during the drying of most food materials. Some studies found that there may be a relationship between porosity and the properties of dried foods. However, no conclusive relationship has yet been established in the literature. This paper presents an overview of the factors that influence porosity, as well as the effects of porosity on dried food quality attributes. The effect of heat and mass transfer on porosity is also discussed along with porosity development in various drying methods. After an extensive review of the literature concerning the study of porosity, it emerges that a relationship between process parameters, food qualities, and sample properties can be established. Therefore, we propose a hypothesis of relationships between process parameters, product quality attributes, and porosity.

Blood in our hearts or blood on our hands? The viscosity, vitality and validity of Aboriginal 'blood talk'

Blood metaphors abound in everyday social discourse among both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. However, ‘Aboriginal blood talk’, more specifically, is located within a contradictory and contested space in terms of the meanings and values that can be attributed to it by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. In the colonial context, blood talk operated as a tool of oppression for Aboriginal people via blood quantum discourses, yet today, Aboriginal people draw upon notions of blood, namely bloodlines, in articulating their identities. This paper juxtaposes contemporary Aboriginal blood talk as expressed by Aboriginal people against colonial blood talk and critically examines the ongoing political and intellectual governance regarding the validity of this talk in articulating Aboriginalities.

Leading or managing? Assistant Regional Directors, School Performance, in Queensland

Purpose Education reform aimed at achieving improved student learning is a demanding challenge for leaders and managers at all levels of education across the globe. In 2010, the position of Assistant Regional Directors, School Performance (ARD-SP), was established to positively impact upon student learning across public schools in Queensland, Australia. This study explores the perceptions of the role and leadership understandings of ARDs in Queensland in order to understand more fully the tensions and opportunities they face within this reasonably newly created position. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study is based on interviews with 18 Assistant Regional Directors and two of their supervisors to gauge a better understanding of the nature of the role as it relates to leadership and management in the Queensland context. Findings Interview data revealed three key themes pertaining to the nature of the role and these were performance, supervision, and professional challenges. A key finding was that the notion of supervision was experienced as problematic for ARDs-SP. Research limitations/implications This study has limitations and these include a sample that focused on Assistant Regional Directors within one State of Australia and one schooling system (i.e. public education); and interviews were the primary data collection source. Originality/value Although there have been studies of supervisors of principals (referred to as superintendents, directors) in other countries and other systems, this study is a first to explore the tensions and opportunities faced by executive leaders in Queensland.

Leadership to support quality improvement in Vietnamese higher education

The impetus for the study reported in this paper is the Higher Education (HE) reform agenda outlined by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). The paper reports on phase one of a mixed method research; a quantitative approach using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) to investigate the Vietnamese HE leaders’ leadership styles. The MLQ survey was administered to approximately 190 senior managers in State HE institutions in Mekong Delta region in Vietnam (nine of colleges). The psychometrics of the MLQ for the Vietnamese sample confirmed the reliability and validity of the instrument with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.779. A CFA was conducted and all factor structures were stable and consistent. The demographic variables were used to analyse patterns of leadership behaviours by the different sub-groups. The findings suggest that leaders who have different educational background and different gender in Mekong Delta region, Vietnam do not differ significantly in their perceptions about leadership factors.

Life storytelling at the ABC: Challenges of 'giving the audience a voice' in the context of public service media

Life storytelling projects have become an important means through which public service media institutions such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are seeking to foster audience participation and involve particular cohorts in the creation and distribution of broadcast content. This paper contributes to the wider conversation on audience participation within public service media intuitions (PSMs), and focuses on the opportunities and challenges that arise within life storytelling projects that are facilitated by these institutions, and that aim to ‘give voice’ to members of ‘the audience’. In particular, it focuses on two of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s current life storytelling projects: ABC Open and Heywire.

The innovation imperative: The relationships between team climate, innovation, and performance in research and development teams

A team’s climate for innovation has been shown to be important for innovation in management and work teams. This article investigates the relationship of team climate with project team innovation and performance in research and development organizations. It is argued that the relationship between team climate and innovation will be stronger for research teams than development teams as research teams have greater scope for creating novel and innovative ideas. A sample of 193 scientists and technologists in 20 research teams and 18 development teams were measured on their team’s climate for innovation, team performance, and six indicators of innovation. Research and development teams showed similar ratings for team climate and for measures of innovation. However, the relationships between team climate and individual and team innovation were stronger for research teams than development teams. These findings are significant for fostering innovativeness and innovation in knowledge work teams.

A rare view: Barbara Hatley’s new book documents a career-long study of, and passion for performance in Central Java

Javanese Performances on an Indonesian Stage: Contesting Culture, Embracing Change, is Barbara Hatley’s first book about the performing arts in Indonesia, a topic that piqued her interest while undergoing a masters program at Yale University in the late 1960s. In this sense, it is a landmark study, for Hatley has since become very well known in Indonesianist circles, especially among those with an interest in matters of culture, popular and elite. Until recently, her writings on Indonesian performing arts have only been available in the form of journal articles and book chapters...

Diffusion indices on magnetic resonance imaging and neuropsychological performance in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

Background: Magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) shows promise in the early detection of microstructural pathophysiological changes in the brain. Objectives: To measure microstructural differences in the brains of participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared with an age-matched control group using an optimised DTI technique with fully automated image analysis tools and to investigate the correlation between diffusivity measurements and neuropsychological performance scores across groups. Methods: 34 participants (17 participants with MCI, 17 healthy elderly adults) underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based DTI. To control for the effects of anatomical variation, diffusion images of all participants were registered to standard anatomical space. Significant statistical differences in diffusivity measurements between the two groups were determined on a pixel-by-pixel basis using gaussian random field theory. Results: Significantly raised mean diffusivity measurements (p<0.001) were observed in the left and right entorhinal cortices (BA28), posterior occipital-parietal cortex (BA18 and BA19), right parietal supramarginal gyrus (BA40) and right frontal precentral gyri (BA4 and BA6) in participants with MCI. With respect to fractional anisotropy, participants with MCI had significantly reduced measurements (p<0.001) in the limbic parahippocampal subgyral white matter, right thalamus and left posterior cingulate. Pearson's correlation coefficients calculated across all participants showed significant correlations between neuropsychological assessment scores and regional measurements of mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy. Conclusions: DTI-based diffusivity measures may offer a sensitive method of detecting subtle microstructural brain changes associated with preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

Effects of temperature and salinity on growth performance in cultured Tra catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) in Vietnam

This project is a step towards assessing the effects of climate change on the tra catfish industry in Vietnam. The methods were designed to evaluate possible effects of salinity and temperature increase and their interaction on fish physiological parameters, growth performance, survival and the expression of stress related genes. Results indicated that tra had higher overall performance at 35oC with 6ppt salinity and therefore should cope with moderate predicted outcomes of climate change for the region. The experiments were mostly conducted in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam - the centre of the tra catfish industry with the cooperation of Can Tho University – Can Tho City – Vietnam.

A candidate gene association study for growth performance in an improved Giant Freshwater Prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) culture line

A candidate gene approach using type I single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers can provide an effective method for detecting genes and gene regions that underlie phenotypic variation in adaptively significant traits. In the absence of available genomic data resources, transcriptomes were recently generated in Macrobrachium rosenbergii to identify candidate genes and markers potentially associated with growth. The characterisation of 47 candidate loci by ABI re-sequencing of four cultured and eight wild samples revealed 342 putative SNPs. Among these, 28 SNPs were selected in 23 growth-related candidate genes to genotype in 200 animals selected for improved growth performance in an experimental GFP culture line in Vietnam. The associations between SNP markers and individual growth performance were then examined. For additive and dominant effects, a total of three exonic SNPs in glycogen phosphorylase (additive), heat shock protein 90 (additive and dominant) and peroxidasin (additive), and a total of six intronic SNPs in ankyrin repeats-like protein (additive and dominant), rolling pebbles (dominant), transforming growth factor-β induced precursor (dominant), and UTP-glucose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase 2 (dominant) genes showed significant associations with the estimated breeding values in the experimental animals (P =0.001−0.031). Individually, they explained 2.6−4.8 % of the genetic variance (R2=0.026−0.048). This is the first large set of SNP markers reported for M. rosenbergii and will be useful for confirmation of associations in other samples or culture lines as well as having applications in marker-assisted selection in future breeding programs.

Feedback on student performance in the workplace: The role of workplace supervisors

This chapter highlights the im portance of feedback in work - integrated learning (WIL) , the key role of workplace supervisors, and the importance of continuous improvement in systems to support feedback processes. The paper proposes a definition of feedback and formative feedback, as well as approaches for providing industry feedback in W I L . It further reports on a case analysis based on workplace supervisors providing feedback to students in engineering and urban development , yielding certain insights into student pe rformance in the workplace, and m ore importantly, hi ghlighting the need to enhance the use of feedback processes. This is requir ed in a context where delivering feedback in WIL is generally acknowledge d to be complex, and where the role of the industry supervisor in appraising the performance of the student in the workplace needs to be very c learly defined in order for supervisor s ’ feedback to have optimal impact. F eedback in WIL i s set against the bac kdrop of recognizing the importance and complexity of stakeholder engagement in WIL in general, and the intricacy associated with the provision of feedback from industry supervisors in particular. Student self - assessment is briefly considered as a fu rther dimension of their participation in providing feedback on their own performance in the workplace . ( Asia - Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, Special Issue, 2014, 15 (3 ), 241 - 25 2

Does size matter? An assessment of quota market evolution and performance in the Great Barrier Reef fin-fish fishery

In fisheries managed using individual transferable quotas (ITQs) it is generally assumed that quota markets are well-functioning, allowing quota to flow on either a temporary or permanent basis to those able to make best use of it. However, despite an increasing number of fisheries being managed under ITQs, empirical assessments of the quota markets that have actually evolved in these fisheries remain scarce. The Queensland Coral Reef Fin-Fish Fishery (CRFFF) on the Great Barrier Reef has been managed under a system of ITQs since 2004. Data on individual quota holdings and trades for the period 2004-2012 were used to assess the CRFFF quota market and its evolution through time. Network analysis was applied to assess market structure and the nature of lease-trading relationships. An assessment of market participants’ abilities to balance their quota accounts, i.e., gap analysis, provided insights into market functionality and how this may have changed in the period observed. Trends in ownership and trade were determined, and market participants were identified as belonging to one out of a set of seven generalized types. The emergence of groups such as investors and lease-dependent fishers is clear. In 2011-2012, 41% of coral trout quota was owned by participants that did not fish it, and 64% of total coral trout landings were made by fishers that owned only 10% of the quota. Quota brokers emerged whose influence on the market varied with the bioeconomic conditions of the fishery. Throughout the study period some quota was found to remain inactive, implying potential market inefficiencies. Contribution to this inactivity appeared asymmetrical, with most residing in the hands of smaller quota holders. The importance of transaction costs in the operation of the quota market and the inequalities that may result are discussed in light of these findings

A model to assess the impact of innovation activity on project performance in consulting engineering firms

A holistic consideration of innovation and associated activities is still very new to consulting engineering firms. This research will have benefits for both industry and academia. The final outcome of this research is a prioritised decision making innovation model that can be used by consulting engineering firms to make informed decisions by investing in appropriate innovation activities that positively impact project performance. This helps by using an informed approach towards investing rather than 'hit-and-miss' trialling.