Engraftment outcomes after HPC co-culture with mesenchymal stromal cells and osteoblasts

Haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation is an established cell-based therapy for a number of haematological diseases. To enhance this therapy, there is considerable interest in expanding HSCs in artificial niches prior to transplantation. This study compared murine HSC expansion supported through co-culture on monolayers of either undifferentiated mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) or osteoblasts. Sorted Lineage− Sca-1+ c-kit+ (LSK) haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HPC) demonstrated proliferative capacity on both stromal monolayers with the greatest expansion of LSK shown in cultures supported by osteoblast monolayers. After transplantation, both types of bulk-expanded cultures were capable of engrafting and repopulating lethally irradiated primary and secondary murine recipients. LSKs co-cultured on MSCs showed comparable, but not superior, reconstitution ability to that of freshly isolated LSKs. Surprisingly, however, osteoblast co-cultured LSKs showed significantly poorer haematopoietic reconstitution compared to LSKs co-cultured on MSCs, likely due to a delay in short-term reconstitution. We demonstrated that stromal monolayers can be used to maintain, but not expand, functional HSCs without a need for additional haematopoietic growth factors. We also demonstrated that despite apparently superior in vitro performance, co-injection of bulk cultures of osteoblasts and LSKs in vivo was detrimental to recipient survival and should be avoided in translation to clinical practice.

Exploring the international market selection of small to medium sized enterprises

Research into the international market selection (IMS) of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) commonly identifies psychic distance and networks as being the most important determinants of a firm’s IMS. Whether regional factors, such as bilateral and multilateral regional integration, are important as determinants of IMS is not well understood. This paper utilises a multiple case study method through in-depth interviews to investigate, in the context of the current business environment, how important regionalisation, psychic distance and networks are as determinants of IMS among SMEs in the food and beverage industries within Australia and Malaysia. The study found regional considerations to be important to the IMS of Malaysian but not Australian firms, while psychic distance was considered an important determinant on IMS by only half of the sampled firms. The role of networks, however, was considered the most important determinant of IMS among all the sampled firms.

Defining expected cost for the air conditioning to avoid a price spike of electricity market under DSR model

This work presents a demand side response model (DSR) which assists small electricity consumers, through an aggregator, exposed to the market price to proactively mitigate price and peak impact on the electrical system. The proposed model allows consumers to manage air-conditioning when as a function of possible price spikes. The main contribution of this research is to demonstrate how consumers can minimise the total expected cost by optimising air-conditioning to account for occurrences of a price spike in the electricity market. This model investigates how pre-cooling method can be used to minimise energy costs when there is a substantial risk of an electricity price spike. The model was tested with Queensland electricity market data from the Australian Energy Market Operator and Brisbane temperature data from the Bureau of Statistics during hot days on weekdays in the period 2011 to 2012.

Successful outcomes in vocational education and training courses and mathematics: how pedagogy and expectations influence achievement

This paper reports on a four year Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project titled Skilling Indigenous Queensland, conducted in regional areas of Queensland, Australia from 2009 to 2013. The project sought to investigate Vocational Education and Training (VET) and teaching, Indigenous learners’ needs, employer culture and expectations and community culture and expectations to identify best practice in numeracy teaching for Indigenous VET learners. Specifically it focused on ways to enhance the teaching and learning of courses and the associated mathematics in such courses to benefit learners and increase their future opportunities of employment. To date thirty - nine teachers/trainers/teacher aides and two hundred and thirty - one students consented to participate in the project. Nine VET courses offered in schools and Technical and Further Education Institutes (TAFE) were nominated to be the focus on the study. This paper focuses on student questionnaire responses and interview responses from teachers/trainers one high school principal and five students as a result of these processes, the findings indicated that VET course teachers work hard to adopt contextualising strategies to their teaching; however this process is not always straight forward because of the perceptions of how mathematics has been taught and learned by trainers and teachers. Further teachers, trainers and students have high expectations of one another with the view to successful outcomes from the courses.

The role of the market sub-system and the socio-technical sub-system in innovation and firm performance : a dynamic capabilities approach

Organizational learning has been studied as a key factor in firm performance and internationalization. Moving beyond the past emphasis on market learning, we develop a more complete explanation of learning, its relationship to innovation, and their joint effect on early internationalization. We theorize that, driven by the founders’ international vision, early internationalizing firms employ a dual subsystem of dynamic capabilities: a market subsystem consisting of market-focused learning capability and marketing capability, and a socio-technical subsystem comprised of network learning capability and internally focused learning capability. We argue that innovation mediates the proposed relationship between the dynamic capability structure and early internationalization. We conduct case studies to develop the conceptual framework and test it in a field survey of early internationalizing firms from Australia and the United States. Our findings indicate a complex interplay of capabilities driving innovation and early internationalization. We provide theoretical and practical implications and offer insights for future research.

Evolving a design driven ‘hybrid’ research approach to inform and advance sustainable outcomes in the built environment sector

A significant reduction in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a priority, and the preservation of existing building stock presents a significant opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of our built environment. Within this ‘wicked’ problem context, and moving beyond the ad hoc and incremental performance improvements that have been made to date, collaborative and multidisciplinary efforts are required to find rapid and transformational solutions. Design has emerged as a strategic and redirective practice, and lessons can therefore be learned about transformation and potentially applied in the built environment. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a pragmatic and novel research approach for undertaking such applied design driven research. This paper begins with a discussion of key contributions from design science (rational) and action research (reflective) philosophies in creating an emerging methodological ‘hybrid design approach’. This research approach is then discussed in relation to its application to specific research exploring the processes, methods and lessons from design in heritage building retrofit projects. Drawing on both industry and academic knowledge to ensure relevance and rigour, it is anticipated that the hybrid design approach will be useful for others tackling such complex wicked problems that require context-specific solutions.

A game theoretical approach to construction safety in the Repair, Maintenance, Alteration and Addition (RMAA) sector

Safety has long been a problem in the construction industry. Repair, maintenance, alteration and addition (RMAA) sector has emerged to play an important role in the construction industry. It accounted for 53% of the total construction market in Hong Kong in 2007. Safety performance of the RMAA words has been alarming. Statistics indicate that the percentage of fatal industrial accidents arising from RMAA work in Hong Kong was over 56% in 2006 while the remaining 44% was from new works. Effective safety measures to address the safety problems and improve safety performance of the RMAA sector are urgently needed. Unsafe behaviour has been attributed to one of the major causes of accidents. Traditional cost-benefit analysis of workers' safety behaviour seems to be inadequate. This paper proposes to adopt a game theoretical approach to analyse safety behaviour of RMAA workers. Game theory is concerned with the decision-making process in situations where outcomes depend upon choices made by one or more players. A game theoretical model between contractor and worker has been proffered. Mathematical analysis of this game model has been done and implications of the analysis have been discussed.

Improving construction management : an investigation into the influences of effective stakeholder involvement on project quality outcomes

This research has developed a framework to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of stakeholder involvement during the early planning stages of residential construction projects, in order to improve many of the quality issues that occur during the construction phases of such projects. A mixed methods approach (survey, interviews and case studies) was employed to collect the required data. It is expected that with development, this framework can bring some significant benefits to future construction projects in terms of reducing rework and wastage, improving timely delivery and avoiding disputes. The research is also anticipated to produce three high impact journal articles.

Self-regulation from birth to age seven : associations with maternal mental health, parenting, and social, emotional and behavioural outcomes for children

Self-regulation refers to our individual capacities to regulate our behaviours, emotions, and thoughts, with these skills developing rapidly across early childhood. This thesis examined sleep, emotional, and cognitive regulation development, and related parental influences, for children participating in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Important longitudinal associations among children's self-regulation, maternal mental health, parenting, and later behaviour problems for children were also investigated. A unique contribution of this research was a prevalence estimate of early childhood self-regulation problems in Australian children that was documented for the first time.

Comparing different approach and avoidance models of learning and personality in the prediction of work, university, and leadership outcomes

Jackson (2005) developed a hybrid model of personality and learning, known as the learning styles profiler (LSP) which was designed to span biological, socio-cognitive, and experiential research foci of personality and learning research. The hybrid model argues that functional and dysfunctional learning outcomes can be best understood in terms of how cognitions and experiences control, discipline, and re-express the biologically based scale of sensation-seeking. In two studies with part-time workers undertaking tertiary education (N equals 137 and 58), established models of approach and avoidance from each of the three different research foci were compared with Jackson's hybrid model in their predictiveness of leadership, work, and university outcomes using self-report and supervisor ratings. Results showed that the hybrid model was generally optimal and, as hypothesized, that goal orientation was a mediator of sensation-seeking on outcomes (work performance, university performance, leader behaviours, and counterproductive work behaviour). Our studies suggest that the hybrid model has considerable promise as a predictor of work and educational outcomes as well as dysfunctional outcomes.

The effects of transformational leadership behaviors on follower outcomes : an identity-based analysis

The aim of this study was to explore two of the mechanisms by which transformational leaders have a positive influence on followers. It examined the mediating role of follower’s leader and group identification on the associations among different transformational leader behaviours and follower job satisfaction and supervisor-rated job performance. One hundred and seventy-nine healthcare employees and 44 supervisors participated in the study. The results from multilevel structural equation modelling provided results that partially supported the predicted model. Identification with the leader significantly mediated the positive associations between supportive leadership, intellectual stimulation, personal recognition, in the prediction of job satisfaction and job performance. Leader identification also mediated the relationship between supportive leadership, intellectual stimulation, personal recognition, and group identification. However, group identification did not mediate the associations between vision leadership and inspirational communication, in the prediction of job satisfaction and job performance. The results highlight the role of individualized forms of leadership and leader identification in enhancing follower outcomes.

Sustainability outcomes of infrastructure sustainability rating schemes for road projects

The construction and operation of infrastructure assets can have significant impact on society and the region. Using a sustainability assessment framework can be an effective means to build sustainability aspects into the design, construction and operation of infrastructure assets. The conventional evaluation processes and procedures for infrastructure projects do not necessarily measure the qualitative/quantitative effectiveness of all aspects of sustainability: environment, social wellbeing and economy. As a result, a few infrastructure sustainability rating schemes have been developed with a view to assess the level of sustainability attained in the infrastructure projects. These include: Infrastructure Sustainability (Australia); CEEQUAL (UK); and Envision (USA). In addition, road sector specific sustainability rating schemes such as Greenroads (USA) and Invest (Australia) have also been developed. These schemes address several aspects of sustainability with varying emphasis (weightings) on areas such as: use of resources; emission, pollution and waste; ecology; people and place; management and governance; and innovation. The attainment of sustainability of an infrastructure project depends largely on addressing the whole-of-life environmental issues. This study has analysed the rating schemes’ coverage of different environmental components for the road infrastructure under the five phases of a project: material, construction, use, maintenance and end-of-life. This is based on a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) system boundary. The findings indicate that there is a need for the schemes to consider key (high impact) life cycle environmental components such as traffic congestion during construction, rolling resistance due to surface roughness and structural stiffness of the pavement, albedo, lighting, and end-of-life management (recycling) to deliver sustainable road projects.

'Music eScape': mHealth application

Research Background Young people’s avid use of mobile technologies in daily life has led to an increase in the design and research on mHealth (mobile health) interventions targeting young people. ‘Music eScape’ is a mobile based mood regulation app that uses an innovative approach to promoting young people’s wellbeing using music. Research Question The design, research, development and evaluation of ‘Music eScape’ addressed a number of research questions from across the fields of Psychology and Interactive and Visual Design. The specific design research question addressed was: How can interaction and visual design be utilized to promote and enable young people to effectively regulate their mood using music and how can the new design further promote their experience of empowerment, control and agency over actively directing their mood journey? Research Contribution Innovation and New Knowledge Through its unique visual interface design and interactivity, the application presents a novel approach to promoting young people’s wellbeing using music and a specific function that allows users to ‘draw’ their mood journey in order to generate a playlist. The mobile app is the first to contain a function that enables users to plan their mood journey and exercise a sense of agency, intentional choice and control over the mood shift and by extension, their wellbeing. The feature ‘drawing’ interface was designed by Oksana Zelenko using participatory design research and Russell’s circumplex model of affect (1980) to inform the key visual design concept and underpinning interaction design. Research Significance The significance of the design research component within the larger interdisciplinary practices that have informed ‘Music eScape’ (e.g. field of psychology, reported through journal articles and other related outcomes), is the unique visual and interactive presentation of participant data and music therapy research within the app interface and interaction design which improves and increases young people’s engagement with the health messages it contains. The industry quality standard is further demonstrated by the launch on Apple iTunes. This demonstrates the application meets the high professional requirements for national release and meets international standards. The app also creates a new benchmark for the quality of health apps on the market as it marks the industry release of a trialled evidence-based mHealth intervention co-designed with young people.

Physical activity and population health outcomes

SMA members Neville Owen, Adrian Bauman, Wendy Brown and Stewart Trost have recently been awarded two NHMRC grants for research which will focus on understanding and influencing physical activity to improve population health outcomes. They were awarded under the Capital Building for Population Health scheme and the Program Grants scheme. The total value of the grants is 86.5 million over five years. The new grants will allow the researchers to conduct rigorous behavioural and epidemiological research which will inform the development of innovative primary and secondary prevention initiatives and determine their effectiveness. This is important, because physical activity is significantly implicated in the prevention and management of established chronic health problems such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and some forms of cancer. It also has a key role to play in addressing the growing epidemic of childhood and adult obesity, and in the maintenance of functional well-being with age. However, in recent years, physical activity levels in Australia have declined, indicating that the net sum of all our efforts to encourage physical activity participation require renewed and innovative efforts. The proposed research programs will be based on the researchers' cross-disciplinary backgrounds in exercise physiology, psychology, health promotion and epidemiology, and will be integrated across four main domains:..