Innovation

Innovation can be defined broadly to include the development and uptake of new technology, the introduction of new products, the utilisation of new market opportunities and the implementation of new business processes including new forms of work organisation or management structures and approaches. Innovation, or the commercial application of new knowledge, is of increasing importance to economic competitiveness given the growth in production and trade in high technology industries and knowledge intensive service sectors such as business services (Edquist, Hommen and McKelvey 2001). An important field of innovation in modern economies is associated with the rapid development and application of information and communications technologies (ICTs). ICTs constitute an increasing share of value added, growth and employment and also impact on employment and productivity in other industry sectors. The structural transformation of modern economies associated with ICTs has led to an increase in the importance of information and knowledge resources (rather than physical capital) as inputs or factors of production. Technology and product innovations are often given central attention in innovation research, however, organisational and managerial changes have been recognised as critical. Over the last two decades, understandings of the nature and process of innovation have advanced significantly. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a view that innovation resulted from basic research, or in essence that scientific research acted as a 'push' for innovation. As such there was a great deal of emphasis on formal research and development, undertaken either by governments or research and development units within business organisations. Radical innovations involving new products and new technological trajectories were thought to derive from basic research (Freeman 1995).

Characterisation of Ni carbonate-bearing minerals by UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy

Four nickel carbonate-bearing minerals from Australia have been investigated to study the effect of Ni for Mg substitution. The spectra of nullaginite, zaratite, widgiemoolthalite and takovite show three main features in the range of 26,720–25,855 cm−1 (ν1-band), 15,230–14,740 cm−1 (ν2-band) and 9,200–9,145 cm−1 (ν3-band) which are characteristic of divalent nickel in six-fold coordination. The Crystal Field Stabilization Energy (CFSE) of Ni2+ in the four carbonates is calculated from the observed 3A2g(3F) → 3T2g(3F) transition. CFSE is dependent on mineralogy, crystallinity and chemical composition (Al/Mg-content). The splitting of the ν1- and ν3-bands and non-Gaussian shape of ν3-band in the minerals are the effects of Ni-site distortion from regular octahedral. The effect of structural cation substitutions (Mg2+, Ni2+, Fe2+ and trivalent cations, Al3+, Fe3+) in the carbonate minerals is noticed on band shifts. Thus, electronic bands in the UV–Vis–NIR spectra and the overtones and combination bands of OH and carbonate ion in NIR show shifts to higher wavenumbers, particularly for widgiemoolthalite and takovite.

Optical absorption, infrared, Raman and EPR spectral studies on natural Iowaite mineral

Natural iowaite, magnesium–ferric oxychloride mineral having light green color originating from Australia has been characterized by EPR, optical, IR, and Raman spectroscopy. The optical spectrum exhibits a number of electronic bands due to both Fe(III) and Mn(II) ions in iowaite. From EPR studies, the g values are calculated for Fe(III) and g and A values for Mn(II). EPR and optical absorption studies confirm that Fe(III) and Mn(II) are in distorted octahedral geometry. The bands that appear both in NIR and Raman spectra are due to the overtones and combinations of water and carbonate molecules. Thus EPR, optical, and Raman spectroscopy have proven most useful for the study of the chemistry of natural iowaite and chemical changes in the mineral.

Identifying work related injuries : comparison of methods for interrogating text fields

Background: Work-related injuries in Australia are estimated to cost around $57.5 billion annually, however there are currently insufficient surveillance data available to support an evidence-based public health response. Emergency departments (ED) in Australia are a potential source of information on work-related injuries though most ED’s do not have an ‘Activity Code’ to identify work-related cases with information about the presenting problem recorded in a short free text field. This study compared methods for interrogating text fields for identifying work-related injuries presenting at emergency departments to inform approaches to surveillance of work-related injury.---------- Methods: Three approaches were used to interrogate an injury description text field to classify cases as work-related: keyword search, index search, and content analytic text mining. Sensitivity and specificity were examined by comparing cases flagged by each approach to cases coded with an Activity code during triage. Methods to improve the sensitivity and/or specificity of each approach were explored by adjusting the classification techniques within each broad approach.---------- Results: The basic keyword search detected 58% of cases (Specificity 0.99), an index search detected 62% of cases (Specificity 0.87), and the content analytic text mining (using adjusted probabilities) approach detected 77% of cases (Specificity 0.95).---------- Conclusions The findings of this study provide strong support for continued development of text searching methods to obtain information from routine emergency department data, to improve the capacity for comprehensive injury surveillance.

A cross cultural examination of consumer behaviour and GM food products : results from Australian and South Korean female consumers

The call for the cross cultural examination and validation of commonly accepted relationships within consumer behaviour is strengthening. Consequently, this paper seeks to address this call by examining consumer risk perceptions, reliance on country of origin information and willingness to buy Genetically Modified (GM) food products on Australian and South Korean consumers. Findings indicate a number of cross cultural similarities and differences that have both theoretical and practical implications.

Willingness to buy GM food products : the role of uncertainty orientation, consumer risk perceptions and information search in consumers from Australia

Genetically modified (GM) food products are the source of much controversy and in the context of consumer behaviour, the way in which consumers perceive such food products is of paramount importance both theoretically and practically. Despite this, relatively little research has focused on GM food products from a consumer perspective, and as such, this study seeks to better understand what effects consumer willingness to buy GM food products in Australian consumers.

Selective growth of carbon nanotubes on bare silicon : MWNT sinthesys on patterned substrates without predeposition of metal catalyst

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are expected to become the ideal constituent of many technologes, in particular for future generation electronics. This considerable interest is due to their unique electrical and mechanical properties. They show indeed super-high current-carrying capacity, ballistic electron transport and good field-emission properties. Then, these superior features make CNTs the most promising building blocks for electronic devices, as organic solar cells and organic light emitting devices (OLED). By using Focused Ion Beam (FIB) patterning it is possible to a obtain a high control on position, relative distances and diameter of CNTs. The present work shows how to grow three-dimensional architecture made of vertical-aligned CNTs directly on silicon. Thanks to the higher activity of a pre-patterned surface the synthesis process results very quick, cheap and simple. Such large area growths of CNTs could be used in preliminary test for application as electrodes for organic solar cells.

A new future for growth factor complexes as wound therapies?

Background: Topical administration of growth factors (GFs) has displayed some potential in wound healing, but variable efficacy, high doses and costs have hampered their implementation. Moreover, this approach ignores the fact that wound repair is driven by interactions between multiple GFs and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. The Problem: Deep dermal partial thickness burn (DDPTB) injuries are the most common burn presentation to pediatric hospitals and also represent the most difficult burn injury to manage clinically. DDPTB often repair with a hypertrophic scar. Wounds that close rapidly exhibit reduced scarring. Thus treatments that shorten the time taken to close DDTPB’s may coincidently reduce scarring. Basic/Clinical Science Advances: We have observed that multi-protein complexes comprised of IGF and IGF-binding proteins bound to the ECM protein vitronectin (VN) significantly enhance cellular functions relevant to wound repair in human skin keratinocytes. These responses require activation of both the IGF-1R and the VN-binding αv integrins. We have recently evaluated the wound healing potential of these GF:VN complexes in a porcine model of DDTPB injury. Clinical Care Relevance: This pilot study demonstrates that GF:VN complexes hold promise as a wound healing therapy. Enhanced healing responses were observed after treatment with nanogram doses of the GF:VN complexes in vitro and in vivo. Critically healing was achieved using substantially less GF than studies in which GFs alone have been used. Conclusion: These data suggest that coupling GFs to ECM proteins, such as VN, may ultimately prove to be an improved technique for the delivery of novel GF-based wound therapies.

A modified quality control method for manufacturing process in mask industry

Masks are widely used in different industries, for example, traditional metal industry, hospitals or semiconductor industry. Quality is a critical issue in mask industry as it is related to public health and safety. Traditional quality practices for manufacturing process have some limitations in implementing them in mask industries. This paper aims to investigate the suitability of Six Sigma quality control method for the manufacturing process in the mask industry to provide high quality products, enhancing the process capacity, reducing the defects and the returned goods arising in a selected mask manufacturing company. This paper suggests that modifications necessary in Six Sigma method for effective implementation in mask industry.

An adaptive local meshfree updated Lagrangian approach for large deformation analysis of metal forming

The large deformation analysis is one of major challenges in numerical modelling and simulation of metal forming. Because no mesh is used, the meshfree methods show good potential for the large deformation analysis. In this paper, a local meshfree formulation, based on the local weak-forms and the updated Lagrangian (UL) approach, is developed for the large deformation analysis. To fully employ the advantages of meshfree methods, a simple and effective adaptive technique is proposed, and this procedure is much easier than the re-meshing in FEM. Numerical examples of large deformation analysis are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the newly developed nonlinear meshfree approach. It has been found that the developed meshfree technique provides a superior performance to the conventional FEM in dealing with large deformation problems for metal forming.