Measuring sustainability performance within the Australian energy industry

Sustainability has become crucial for the energy industry as projects in this industry are extensively large and complex and have significant impacts on the environment, community and economy. It demands the energy industry to proactively incorporate sustainability ideas and commit to sustainable project development. This study aims to investigate how the Australian energy industry responds to sustainability requirements and in particular what indicators used to measure sustainability performance. To achieve this, content analysis of sustainability reports, vision statements and policy statements of Australian energy companies listed in the 2013 PLATTS Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings and government reports relating to sustainability has been conducted. The findings show that the energy companies extensively discuss sustainability aspects within three dimensions, i.e. community, environment, and economy. Their primary goals in sustainability are supplying cleaner energy for future, and doing business in a way that improves outcomes for shareholders, employees, business partners and the communities. In particular, energy companies have valued the employees of the business as a one of the key area that needs to be considered. Furthermore, the energy industry has become increasingly aware of the importance of measuring sustainability performance to achieve sustainability goals. A number of sustainability indicators have been developed on the basis of the key themes beyond economic measures. It is envisaged that findings from this research will help stakeholders in the energy industry to adopt different indicators to evaluate and ultimately achieve sustainability performance.

On the growth process of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 absorber layer formed by selenizing Cu–ZnS–SnS precursors and its photovoltaic performance

Sputtering and subsequent sulfurization(orselenization)is one of the methods that have been extensively employed to fabricate Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) thin films. However, there are limited reports on the effect of precursor stacking order of the sputtered source materials on the properties of the synthesized CZTSSe films. In this work,the morphology and crystallization process of the CZTSSe films which were prepared by selenizing Cu–ZnS–SnS precursor layers with different stacking sequences and the adhesion property between the as-synthesized CZTSSe layer and Mosubstrate have been thoroughly investigated. It has been found that the growth of CZTSSe material and the morphology of the film strongly depend on the location of Culayer in the precursor film. The formation of CZTSSe starts from the diffusion of Cu–Se to Sn(S,Se)layert o form Cu–Sn–(S,Se) compound,followed by the reaction with Zn(S,Se). The investigation of themorphology of the CZTSSe films has shown that large grains are formed in the film with the precursor stacking order of Mo/SnS/ZnS/Cu,which is attributed to a bottom-to-top growth mechanism. In contrast, the film made from a precursor with a stacking sequence of Mo/ZnS/ SnS/Cu is mainly consisted of small grains due to a top-to-bottom growth mechanism. The best CZTSSe solar cell with energy conversion efficiency of3.35%has been achieved with the selenized Mo/ZnS/ SnS/Cu film, which is attributed to a good contact between the absorber layer and the Mosubstrate.

Network security metrics and performance for healthcare systems management

While enhanced cybersecurity options, mainly based around cryptographic functions, are needed overall speed and performance of a healthcare network may take priority in many circumstances. As such the overall security and performance metrics of those cryptographic functions in their embedded context needs to be understood. Understanding those metrics has been the main aim of this research activity. This research reports on an implementation of one network security technology, Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), to assess security performance. This research simulates sensitive healthcare information being transferred over networks, and then measures data delivery times with selected security parameters for various communication scenarios on Linux-based and Windows-based systems. Based on our test results, this research has revealed a number of network security metrics that need to be considered when designing and managing network security for healthcare-specific or non-healthcare-specific systems from security, performance and manageability perspectives. This research proposes practical recommendations based on the test results for the effective selection of network security controls to achieve an appropriate balance between network security and performance

Experimental studies on the performance of rail joints with modified wheel/railhead contact

Rail joints are provided with a gap to account for thermal movement and to maintain electrical insulation for the control of signals and/or broken rail detection circuits. The gap in the rail joint is regarded as a source of significant problems for the rail industry since it leads to a very short rail service life compared with other track components due to the various, and difficult to predict, failure modes – thus increasing the risk for train operations. Many attempts to improve the life of rail joints have led to a large number of patents around the world; notable attempts include strengthening through larger-sized joint bars, an increased number of bolts and the use of high yield materials. Unfortunately, no design to date has shown the ability to prolong the life of the rail joints to values close to those for continuously welded rail (CWR). This paper reports the results of a fundamental study that has revealed that the wheel contact at the free edge of the railhead is a major problem since it generates a singularity in the contact pressure and railhead stresses. A design was therefore developed using an optimisation framework that prevents wheel contact at the railhead edge. Finite element modelling of the design has shown that the contact pressure and railhead stress singularities are eliminated, thus increasing the potential to work as effectively as a CWR that does not have a geometric gap. An experimental validation of the finite element results is presented through an innovative non-contact measurement of strains. Some practical issues related to grinding rails to the optimal design are also discussed.

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

Disguising the performance of M-games in social marketing

Despite the explosion of mobile games (m-games) and the uptake of games as a social marketing tool for behaviour change, little is known about which game attributes (design factors within a game) are preferred by consumers for social marketing m-games. This research reports the findings of four focus groups (n=23) to propose three new categories of game attributes along with seven preferred game attributes for social marketing m-games. These results provide a unique contribution to social marketing theory given the goal of a social marketing m-game game is both entertainment and behaviour change. Further, the findings suggest strategies for practitioners seeking to develop, design and build social marketing m-games.

Ambidextrous leadership and employees' self-reported innovative performance: The role of exploration and exploitation behaviors

The ambidexterity theory of leadership for innovation proposes that leaders' opening and closing behaviors positively predict employees' exploration and exploitation behaviors, respectively. The interaction of exploration and exploitation behaviors, in turn, is assumed to influence employee innovative performance, such that innovative performance is highest when both exploration and exploitation behaviors are high. The goal of this study was to provide the first empirical test of these hypotheses at the individual employee level. Results based on self-report data provided by 388 employees were consistent with ambidexterity theory, even after controlling for employee reports of their leaders' transformational and transactional leadership behaviors as well as employees' openness to experience, conscientiousness, and positive affect. The findings extend previous research on ambidexterity at the team and organizational levels and suggest a possible way for leaders to enhance employee self-reported innovative performance.

Multijurisdictional fisheries performance reporting: How Australia’s nationally standardised approach to assessing stock status compares

Australian marine wild-capture fisheries are managed by eight separate jurisdictions. Traditionally, fishery status reports have been produced separately by most of these jurisdictions, assessing the fish stocks they manage, and reporting on the effectiveness of their fisheries management. However, the format, the type of stock status assessments, the thresholds and terminology used to describe stock status and the classification frameworks have varied over time and among jurisdictions. These differences complicate efforts to understand stock status on a national scale. They also create potential misunderstanding among the wider community about how to interpret information on the status of fish stocks, and the fisheries management and science processes more generally. This is especially true when considering stocks that are shared across two or more jurisdictional boundaries. A standardised approach was developed in 2011 leading to production of the first national Status of key Australian fish stocks reports in 2012, followed by a second edition in 2014 (www.fish.gov.au). Production of these reports was the first step towards a broader national approach to reporting on the performance of Australian fisheries for target species and for wider ecosystem and socioeconomic consequences. This paper outlines the challenges associated with moving towards national performance reporting for target fish stocks and Australia’s successes so far. It also outlines the challenges ahead, in particular those relating to reporting more broadly on the status of entire fisheries. Comparisons are drawn between Australia and New Zealand and more broadly between Australia and other countries.

Dual yolk-shell structure of carbon and silica-coated silicon for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

Silicon batteries have attracted much attention in recent years due to their high theoretical capacity, although a rapid capacity fade is normally observed, attributed mainly to volume expansion during lithiation. Here, we report for the first time successful synthesis of Si/void/SiO2/void/C nanostructures. The synthesis strategy only involves selective etching of SiO2 in Si/SiO2/C structures with hydrofluoric acid solution. Compared with reported results, such novel structures include a hard SiO2-coated layer, a conductive carbon-coated layer, and two internal void spaces. In the structures, the carbon can enhance conductivity, the SiO2 layer has mechanically strong qualities, and the two internal void spaces can confine and accommodate volume expansion of silicon during lithiation. Therefore, these specially designed dual yolk-shell structures exhibit a stable and high capacity of 956 mA h g−1 after 430 cycles with capacity retention of 83%, while the capacity of Si/C core-shell structures rapidly decreases in the first ten cycles under the same experimental conditions. The novel dual yolk-shell structures developed for Si can also be extended to other battery materials that undergo large volume changes.

Performance modulation of α-MnO2 nanowires by crystal facet engineering

Modulation of material physical and chemical properties through selective surface engineering is currently one of the most active research fields, aimed at optimizing functional performance for applications. The activity of exposed crystal planes determines the catalytic, sensory, photocatalytic, and electrochemical behavior of a material. In the research on nanomagnets, it opens up new perspectives in the fields of nanoelectronics, spintronics, and quantum computation. Herein, we demonstrate controllable magnetic modulation of α-MnO 2 nanowires, which displayed surface ferromagnetism or antiferromagnetism, depending on the exposed plane. First-principles density functional theory calculations confirm that both Mn- and O-terminated α-MnO2(1 1 0) surfaces exhibit ferromagnetic ordering. The investigation of surface-controlled magnetic particles will lead to significant progress in our fundamental understanding of functional aspects of magnetism on the nanoscale, facilitating rational design of nanomagnets. Moreover, we approved that the facet engineering pave the way on designing semiconductors possessing unique properties for novel energy applications, owing to that the bandgap and the electronic transport of the semiconductor can be tailored via exposed surface modulations.

Human rights performance disclosure by companies having operations in high risk countries: Evidence from Australian mineral sector

The aim of this study is to explore whether Australian mineral companies operating in high human rights risk countries provide more human rights disclosures than companies operating in low risk countries. A content analysis instrument containing 88 specific human rights performance items derived from a number of international human rights guidelines has been developed to investigate the annual reports, social responsibility reports and corporate websites of the top 50 Australian mineral companies (2010/2011). The findings show that human rights performance disclosures by companies with operations in high human rights risk countries are significantly higher than companies with operations in the low risk countries. By disclosing extended human rights performance information, companies operating in high risk countries appear to ease community concerns about human rights violations. The finding is consistent with legitimacy theory which posits that organisations respond to community concerns in relation to particular social issues.

Reengaging, reenacting and reenvisaging discourses of disaster through public space performance: Austerity, art, and the art of protest

This paper offers a mediation on disaster, recovery, resilience, and restoration of balance, in both a material and a metaphorical sense, when ‘disaster’ befalls not the body politic of the nation but the body personal. In the past few decades, of course, artists, activists and scholars have deliberately tried to avoid describing personal, physical and phenomenological experiences of the disabled body in terms of difficulty and disaster. This has been part of a political move, from a medical model, in which disability, disease and illness are positioned as personal catastrophes, to a social model, in which disability is positioned as a social construct that comes from systems, institutions and infrastructure designed to exclude different bodies. It is a move that is responsible for a certain discomfort people with disabilities, and artists with disabilities, today feel towards performances that deploy disability as a metaphor for disaster, from Hijikata, to Theatre Hora. In the past five years, though, this particular discourse has begun rising again, particularly as people with disabilities fact their own anything but natural disasters as a result of the austerity measures now widespread across the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere. Measures that threaten people’s ability to live, and take part in social and institutional life, in any meaningful way. Measures that, as artist Katherine Araniello notes, also bring additional difficulty, danger, and potential for disaster as they ripple outwards across the tides of familial ties, threatening family, friends, and careers who become bound up in the struggle to do more with less. In this paper, I consider how people with disabilities use performance, particularly public space interventionalist performance, to reengage, renact and reenvisage the discourse of national, economic, environmental or other forms of disaster, the need for austerity, the need to avoid providing people with support for desires and interests as well as basic daily needs, particularly when fraud and corruption is so right, and other such ideas that have become an all too unpleasant reality for many people. Performances, for instance, like Liz Crow’s Bedding Out, where she invited people into her bed – for people with disabilities a symbolic space, which necessarily becomes more a public living room restaurant, office and so forth than a private space when poor mobility means they spend much time it in – to talk about their lives, their difficulties, and dealing with austerity. Or, for instance, like the Bolshy Divas, who mimic public and political policy, reports and advertising paranoia to undermine their discourses about austerity. I examine the effects, politics and ethics of such interventions, including examination of the comparative effect of highly bodied interventions (like Crow’s) and highly disembodied interventions (like the Bolshy Diva’s) in discourses of difficulty, disaster and austerity on a range of target spectator communities.

Student performance in field education placements: The findings of a 6-year Australian study of admissions data

This article reports on a 6-year study that examined the association between pre-admission variables and field placement performance in an Australian bachelor of social work program (N=463). Very few of the pre-admission variables were found to be significantly associated with performance. These findings and the role of the admissions process are discussed. In addition to the usual academic criteria, the authors urge schools to include a focus on nonacademic criteria during the admissions process and the ongoing educational program.

The effect of traffic shaping in efficiently providing end-to-end performance guarantees

This paper reports new results concerning the capabilities of a family of service disciplines aimed at providing per-connection end-to-end delay (and throughput) guarantees in high-speed networks. This family consists of the class of rate-controlled service disciplines, in which traffic from a connection is reshaped to conform to specific traffic characteristics, at every hop on its path. When used together with a scheduling policy at each node, this reshaping enables the network to provide end-to-end delay guarantees to individual connections. The main advantages of this family of service disciplines are their implementation simplicity and flexibility. On the other hand, because the delay guarantees provided are based on summing worst case delays at each node, it has also been argued that the resulting bounds are very conservative which may more than offset the benefits. In particular, other service disciplines such as those based on Fair Queueing or Generalized Processor Sharing (GPS), have been shown to provide much tighter delay bounds. As a result, these disciplines, although more complex from an implementation point-of-view, have been considered for the purpose of providing end-to-end guarantees in high-speed networks. In this paper, we show that through ''proper'' selection of the reshaping to which we subject the traffic of a connection, the penalty incurred by computing end-to-end delay bounds based on worst cases at each node can be alleviated. Specifically, we show how rate-controlled service disciplines can be designed to outperform the Rate Proportional Processor Sharing (RPPS) service discipline. Based on these findings, we believe that rate-controlled service disciplines provide a very powerful and practical solution to the problem of providing end-to-end guarantees in high-speed networks.

Enhanced Performance of Discharge Plasma in Raw Engine Exhaust Treatment-Operation under Different Temperatures and Loads

This paper reports improved performance of discharge plasma in raw engine exhaust treatment. For the purpose of investigation, both filtered and raw diesel engine exhaust were separately treated by the discharge plasma. In raw exhaust environment, the discharge plasma exhibits a superior performance with regard to NOx removal, energy consumption and formation of by-products. In this study, experiments were conducted at conditions of different temperatures and loads.