Practising inspired leadership : the use of applied theatre 'prophetical' in the Executive Leadership Development Program for Queensland Health

The Executive Leadership Development Program embarked upon by Queensland Health as a part of the major reform program is discussed. The second stage of the program has begun and the main aim is to ensure leadership development across the organization.

Building a successful partnership to increase affordable rental housing supply in Queensland

Accessibility to housing for low to moderate income groups in Australia has been experiencing a severe decline since 2001. On the supply side, the public sector has been reducing its commitment to the direct provision of public housing. Despite high demand for affordable housing, there has been limited supply generated by non-government housing providers. One possible solution to promote an increase in affordable housing supply, like other infrastructure, is through the development of multi-stakeholder partnerships and private financing. This research aims to identify current issues underlying decision-making criteria for building multi-stakeholder partnerships to deliver affordable housing projects. It also investigates strategies for minimising risk and ensuring the financial outcomes of these partnership arrangements. A mix of qualitative in-depth interviews and quantitative surveys has been used as the main method to explore stakeholder experiences regarding their involvement in partnership arrangements in the affordable housing sector in Queensland. Two sets of interviews were conducted following an exploratory pilot study: one set in 2003-2004 and the other in 2007-2008. There were nineteen respondents representing government, private and not-for-profit organisations in the first stage interviews and surveys. The second stage interviews were focussed on twenty-two housing providers in South East Queensland. Initial analyses have been conducted using thematic and statistical analyses. This study extends the use of existing decision making tools and combines the use of a Soft System Framework to analyse the ideal state questionnaires using qualitative thematic analysis. Soft System Methodology (SSM) has been used to analyse this unstructured complex problem by using systematic thinking to develop a conceptual model and carrying it to the real world situations to solve the problem. This research found that the diversity of stakeholder capability and their level of risk acceptance will allow partnerships to develop the best synergies and a degree of collaboration which achieves the required financial return within acceptable risk parameters. However, some of the negativity attached to future commitment to such partnerships has been found to be the anticipation of a worse outcome than that expected from independent action. Many interviewees agree that housing providers' fear of financial risk and community rejection has been central to dampening their enthusiasm for entering such investment projects. The creation of a mixed-use development structure will mitigate both risk and return as the commercial income will subsidise the affordable housing development and will normalise concentration of marginalised low-income people who live in a prime location with an award winning design. In addition, tenant support schemes and rent-to-buy incentive programs will encourage them to secure their tenancies and significantly reduce the risk of rent arrears and property damage. There is also a breakthrough investment vehicle offered by the social developer which sells the non-physical but financial product to individual and institutional investors to mitigate further financial risk. Finally, this study recommends modification of the current value-for-money framework in favour of broader partnership arrangements which are more closely aligned with risk minimisation strategies.

Modelling and execution of asset management process via workflow automation

An Asset Management (AM) life-cycle constitutes a set of processes that align with the development, operation and maintenance of assets, in order to meet the desired requirements and objectives of the stake holders of the business. The scope of AM is often broad within an organization due to the interactions between its internal elements such as human resources, finance, technology, engineering operation, information technology and management, as well as external elements such as governance and environment. Due to the complexity of the AM processes, it has been proposed that in order to optimize asset management activities, process modelling initiatives should be adopted. Although organisations adopt AM principles and carry out AM initiatives, most do not document or model their AM processes, let alone enacting their processes (semi-) automatically using a computer-supported system. There is currently a lack of knowledge describing how to model AM processes through a methodical and suitable manner so that the processes are streamlines and optimized and are ready for deployment in a computerised way. This research aims to overcome this deficiency by developing an approach that will aid organisations in constructing AM process models quickly and systematically whilst using the most appropriate techniques, such as workflow technology. Currently, there is a wealth of information within the individual domains of AM and workflow. Both fields are gaining significant popularity in many industries thus fuelling the need for research in exploring the possible benefits of their cross-disciplinary applications. This research is thus inspired to investigate these two domains to exploit the application of workflow to modelling and execution of AM processes. Specifically, it will investigate appropriate methodologies in applying workflow techniques to AM frameworks. One of the benefits of applying workflow models to AM processes is to adapt and enable both ad-hoc and evolutionary changes over time. In addition, this can automate an AM process as well as to support the coordination and collaboration of people that are involved in carrying out the process. A workflow management system (WFMS) can be used to support the design and enactment (i.e. execution) of processes and cope with changes that occur to the process during the enactment. So far few literatures can be found in documenting a systematic approach to modelling the characteristics of AM processes. In order to obtain a workflow model for AM processes commonalities and differences between different AM processes need to be identified. This is the fundamental step in developing a conscientious workflow model for AM processes. Therefore, the first stage of this research focuses on identifying the characteristics of AM processes, especially AM decision making processes. The second stage is to review a number of contemporary workflow techniques and choose a suitable technique for application to AM decision making processes. The third stage is to develop an intermediate ameliorated AM decision process definition that improves the current process description and is ready for modelling using the workflow language selected in the previous stage. All these lead to the fourth stage where a workflow model for an AM decision making process is developed. The process model is then deployed (semi-) automatically in a state-of-the-art WFMS demonstrating the benefits of applying workflow technology to the domain of AM. Given that the information in the AM decision making process is captured at an abstract level within the scope of this work, the deployed process model can be used as an executable guideline for carrying out an AM decision process in practice. Moreover, it can be used as a vanilla system that, once being incorporated with rich information from a specific AM decision making process (e.g. in the case of a building construction or a power plant maintenance), is able to support the automation of such a process in a more elaborated way.

Assessing the resilience of potable water supplies in Southeast Queensland Australia

Historically, cities as urban forms have been critical to human development. In 1950, 30% of the world’s population lived in major cities. By the year 2000 this had increased to 47% with further expected growth to 50% by the end of 2007. Projections suggest that city-based densities will edge towards 60% of the global total by 2030. Such rapidly increasing urbanisation, in both developed and developing economies, challenges options for governance and planning, as well as crisis and disaster management. A common issue to the livability of cities as urban forms through time has been access to clean and reliable water supply. This is an issue that is particularly important in countries with arid ecosystems, such as Australia. This paper examines preliminary aspects, and theoretical basis, of a study into the resilience of the (potable) water supply system in Southeast Queensland (SEQ), an area with one of the most significant urban growth rates in Australia. The first stage will be to assess needs and requirements for gauging resilience characteristics of a generic water supply system, consisting of supply catchment, storage reservoir/s and treatment plant/s. The second stage will extend the analysis to examine the resilience of the SEQ water supply system incorporating specific characteristics of the SEQ water grid made increasingly vulnerable due to climate variability and projected impacts on rainfall characteristics and compounded by increasing demands due to population growth. Longer-term findings will inform decision making based on the application of the concept of resilience to designing and operating stand-alone and networked water supply infrastructure systems as well as its application to water resource systems more generally.

The psychosocial factors influencing aggressive driving behaviour

Many drivers in highly motorised countries believe that aggressive driving is increasing. While the prevalence of the behaviour is difficult to reliably identify, the consequences of on-road aggression can be severe, with extreme cases resulting in property damage, injury and even death. This research program was undertaken to explore the nature of aggressive driving from within the framework of relevant psychological theory in order to enhance our understanding of the behaviour and to inform the development of relevant interventions. To guide the research a provisional ‘working’ definition of aggressive driving was proposed encapsulating the recurrent characteristics of the behaviour cited in the literature. The definition was: “aggressive driving is any on-road behaviour adopted by a driver that is intended to cause physical or psychological harm to another road user and is associated with feelings of frustration, anger or threat”. Two main theoretical perspectives informed the program of research. The first was Shinar’s (1998) frustration-aggression model, which identifies both the person-related and situational characteristics that contribute to aggressive driving, as well as proposing that aggressive behaviours can serve either an ‘instrumental’ or ‘hostile’ function. The second main perspective was Anderson and Bushman’s (2002) General Aggression Model. In contrast to Shinar’s model, the General Aggression Model reflects a broader perspective on human aggression that facilitates a more comprehensive examination of the emotional and cognitive aspects of aggressive behaviour. Study One (n = 48) examined aggressive driving behaviour from the perspective of young drivers as an at-risk group and involved conducting six focus groups, with eight participants in each. Qualitative analyses identified multiple situational and person-related factors that contribute to on-road aggression. Consistent with human aggression theory, examination of self-reported experiences of aggressive driving identified key psychological elements and processes that are experienced during on-road aggression. Participants cited several emotions experienced during an on-road incident: annoyance, frustration, anger, threat and excitement. Findings also suggest that off-road generated stress may transfer to the on-road environment, at times having severe consequences including crash involvement. Young drivers also appeared quick to experience negative attributions about the other driver, some having additional thoughts of taking action. Additionally, the results showed little difference between males and females in the severity of behavioural responses they were prepared to adopt, although females appeared more likely to displace their negative emotions. Following the self-reported on-road incident, evidence was also found of a post-event influence, with females being more likely to experience ongoing emotional effects after the event. This finding was evidenced by ruminating thoughts or distraction from tasks. However, the impact of such a post-event influence on later behaviours or interpersonal interactions appears to be minimal. Study Two involved the quantitative analysis of n = 926 surveys completed by a wide age range of drivers from across Queensland. The study aimed to explore the relationships between the theoretical components of aggressive driving that were identified in the literature review, and refined based on the findings of Study One. Regression analyses were used to examine participant emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses to two differing on-road scenarios whilst exploring the proposed theoretical framework. A number of socio-demographic, state and trait person-related variables such as age, pre-study emotions, trait aggression and problem-solving style were found to predict the likelihood of a negative emotional response such as frustration, anger, perceived threat, negative attributions and the likelihood of adopting either an instrumental or hostile behaviour in response to Scenarios One and Two. Complex relationships were found to exist between the variables, however, they were interpretable based on the literature review findings. Factor analysis revealed evidence supporting Shinar’s (1998) dichotomous description of on-road aggressive behaviours as being instrumental or hostile. The second stage of Study Two used logistic regression to examine the factors that predicted the potentially hostile aggressive drivers (n = 88) within the sample. These drivers were those who indicated a preparedness to engage in direct acts of interpersonal aggression on the road. Young, male drivers 17–24 years of age were more likely to be classified as potentially hostile aggressive drivers. Young drivers (17–24 years) also scored significantly higher than other drivers on all subscales of the Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992) and on the ‘negative problem orientation’ and ‘impulsive careless style’ subscales of the Social Problem Solving Inventory – Revised (D’Zurilla, Nezu & Maydeu-Olivares, 2002). The potentially hostile aggressive drivers were also significantly more likely to engage in speeding and drink/drug driving behaviour. With regard to the emotional, cognitive and behavioural variables examined, the potentially hostile aggressive driver group also scored significantly higher than the ‘other driver’ group on most variables examined in the proposed theoretical framework. The variables contained in the framework of aggressive driving reliably distinguished potentially hostile aggressive drivers from other drivers (Nagalkerke R2 = .39). Study Three used a case study approach to conduct an in-depth examination of the psychosocial characteristics of n = 10 (9 males and 1 female) self-confessed hostile aggressive drivers. The self-confessed hostile aggressive drivers were aged 24–55 years of age. A large proportion of these drivers reported a Year 10 education or better and average–above average incomes. As a group, the drivers reported committing a number of speeding and unlicensed driving offences in the past three years and extensive histories of violations outside of this period. Considerable evidence was also found of exposure to a range of developmental risk factors for aggression that may have contributed to the driver’s on-road expression of aggression. These drivers scored significantly higher on the Aggression Questionnaire subscales and Social Problem Solving Inventory Revised subscales, ‘negative problem orientation’ and ‘impulsive/careless style’, than the general sample of drivers included in Study Two. The hostile aggressive driver also scored significantly higher on the Barrett Impulsivity Scale – 11 (Patton, Stanford & Barratt, 1995) measure of impulsivity than a male ‘inmate’, or female ‘general psychiatric’ comparison group. Using the Carlson Psychological Survey (Carlson, 1982), the self-confessed hostile aggressive drivers scored equal or higher scores than the comparison group of incarcerated individuals on the subscale measures of chemical abuse, thought disturbance, anti-social tendencies and self-depreciation. Using the Carlson Psychological Survey personality profiles, seven participants were profiled ‘markedly anti-social’, two were profiled ‘negative-explosive’ and one was profiled as ‘self-centred’. Qualitative analysis of the ten case study self-reports of on-road hostile aggression revealed a similar range of on-road situational factors to those identified in the literature review and Study One. Six of the case studies reported off-road generated stress that they believed contributed to the episodes of aggressive driving they recalled. Intense ‘anger’ or ‘rage’ were most frequently used to describe the emotions experienced in response to the perceived provocation. Less frequently ‘excitement’ and ‘fear’ were cited as relevant emotions. Notably, five of the case studies experienced difficulty articulating their emotions, suggesting emotional difficulties. Consistent with Study Two, these drivers reported negative attributions and most had thoughts of aggressive actions they would like to take. Similarly, these drivers adopted both instrumental and hostile aggressive behaviours during the self-reported incident. Nine participants showed little or no remorse for their behaviour and these drivers also appeared to exhibit low levels of personal insight. Interestingly, few incidents were brought to the attention of the authorities. Further, examination of the person-related characteristics of these drivers indicated that they may be more likely to have come from difficult or dysfunctional backgrounds and to have a history of anti-social behaviours on and off the road. The research program has several key theoretical implications. While many of the findings supported Shinar’s (1998) frustration-aggression model, two key areas of difference emerged. Firstly, aggressive driving behaviour does not always appear to be frustration driven, but can also be driven by feelings of excitation (consistent with the tenets of the General Aggression Model). Secondly, while the findings supported a distinction being made between instrumental and hostile aggressive behaviours, the characteristics of these two types of behaviours require more examination. For example, Shinar (1998) proposes that a driver will adopt an instrumental aggressive behaviour when their progress is impeded if it allows them to achieve their immediate goals (e.g. reaching their destination as quickly as possible); whereas they will engage in hostile aggressive behaviour if their path to their goal is blocked. However, the current results question this assertion, since many of the hostile aggressive drivers studied appeared prepared to engage in hostile acts irrespective of whether their goal was blocked or not. In fact, their behaviour appeared to be characterised by a preparedness to abandon their immediate goals (even if for a short period of time) in order to express their aggression. The use of the General Aggression Model enabled an examination of the three components of the ‘present internal state’ comprising emotions, cognitions and arousal and how these influence the likelihood of a person responding aggressively to an on-road situation. This provided a detailed insight into both the cognitive and emotional aspects of aggressive driving that have important implications for the design of relevant countermeasures. For example, the findings highlighted the potential value of utilising Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with aggressive drivers, particularly the more hostile offenders. Similarly, educational efforts need to be mindful of the way that person-related factors appear to influence one’s perception of another driver’s behaviour as aggressive or benign. Those drivers with a predisposition for aggression were more likely to perceive aggression or ‘wrong doing’ in an ambiguous on-road situation and respond with instrumental and/or hostile behaviour, highlighting the importance of perceptual processes in aggressive driving behaviour.

Pattern recognition using invariants defined from higher order spectra : 2-D image inputs

A new algorithm for extracting features from images for object recognition is described. The algorithm uses higher order spectra to provide desirable invariance properties, to provide noise immunity, and to incorporate nonlinearity into the feature extraction procedure thereby allowing the use of simple classifiers. An image can be reduced to a set of 1D functions via the Radon transform, or alternatively, the Fourier transform of each 1D projection can be obtained from a radial slice of the 2D Fourier transform of the image according to the Fourier slice theorem. A triple product of Fourier coefficients, referred to as the deterministic bispectrum, is computed for each 1D function and is integrated along radial lines in bifrequency space. Phases of the integrated bispectra are shown to be translation- and scale-invariant. Rotation invariance is achieved by a regrouping of these invariants at a constant radius followed by a second stage of invariant extraction. Rotation invariance is thus converted to translation invariance in the second step. Results using synthetic and actual images show that isolated, compact clusters are formed in feature space. These clusters are linearly separable, indicating that the nonlinearity required in the mapping from the input space to the classification space is incorporated well into the feature extraction stage. The use of higher order spectra results in good noise immunity, as verified with synthetic and real images. Classification of images using the higher order spectra-based algorithm compares favorably to classification using the method of moment invariants

Operational performance of low-cost carriers and international airlines : New evidence using a bootstrap truncated regression

Between 2001 and 2005, the US airline industry faced financial turmoil. At the same time, the European airline industry entered a period of substantive deregulation. This period witnessed opportunities for low-cost carriers to become more competitive in the market as a result of these combined events. To help assess airline performance in the aftermath of these events, this paper provides new evidence of technical efficiency for 42 national and international airlines in 2006 using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) bootstrap approach first proposed by Simar and Wilson (J Econ, 136:31-64, 2007). In the first stage, technical efficiency scores are estimated using a bootstrap DEA model. In the second stage, a truncated regression is employed to quantify the economic drivers underlying measured technical efficiency. The results highlight the key role played by non-discretionary inputs in measures of airline technical efficiency.

Analysis of productive performance of crop and animal production systems : an integrated analytical framework

This article presents a two-stage analytical framework that integrates ecological crop (animal) growth and economic frontier production models to analyse the productive efficiency of crop (animal) production systems. The ecological crop (animal) growth model estimates "potential" output levels given the genetic characteristics of crops (animals) and the physical conditions of locations where the crops (animals) are grown (reared). The economic frontier production model estimates "best practice" production levels, taking into account economic, institutional and social factors that cause farm and spatial heterogeneity. In the first stage, both ecological crop growth and economic frontier production models are estimated to calculate three measures of productive efficiency: (1) technical efficiency, as the ratio of actual to "best practice" output levels; (2) agronomic efficiency, as the ratio of actual to "potential" output levels; and (3) agro-economic efficiency, as the ratio of "best practice" to "potential" output levels. Also in the first stage, the economic frontier production model identifies factors that determine technical efficiency. In the second stage, agro-economic efficiency is analysed econometrically in relation to economic, institutional and social factors that cause farm and spatial heterogeneity. The proposed framework has several important advantages in comparison with existing proposals. Firstly, it allows the systematic incorporation of all physical, economic, institutional and social factors that cause farm and spatial heterogeneity in analysing the productive performance of crop and animal production systems. Secondly, the location-specific physical factors are not modelled symmetrically as other economic inputs of production. Thirdly, climate change and technological advancements in crop and animal sciences can be modelled in a "forward-looking" manner. Fourthly, knowledge in agronomy and data from experimental studies can be utilised for socio-economic policy analysis. The proposed framework can be easily applied in empirical studies due to the current availability of ecological crop (animal) growth models, farm or secondary data, and econometric software packages. The article highlights several directions of empirical studies that researchers may pursue in the future.

Efficiency and productivity of Singapore’s manufacturing sector 2001-2010: An analysis using Simar and Wilson’s (2007) bootstrapped truncated approach

This paper seeks to explain the lagging productivity in Singapore’s manufacturing noted in the statements of the Economic Strategies Committee Report 2010. Two methods are employed: the Malmquist productivity to measure total factor productivity change and Simar and Wilson’s (J Econ, 136:31–64, 2007) bootstrapped truncated regression approach. In the first stage, the nonparametric data envelopment analysis is used to measure technical efficiency. To quantify the economic drivers underlying inefficiencies, the second stage employs a bootstrapped truncated regression whereby bias-corrected efficiency estimates are regressed against explanatory variables. The findings reveal that growth in total factor productivity was attributed to efficiency change with no technical progress. Most industries were technically inefficient throughout the period except for ‘Pharmaceutical Products’. Sources of efficiency were attributed to quality of worker and flexible work arrangements while incessant use of foreign workers lowered efficiency.

Improving trust and securing data accessibility for e-health decision making by using data encryption techniques

In the medical and healthcare arena, patients‟ data is not just their own personal history but also a valuable large dataset for finding solutions for diseases. While electronic medical records are becoming popular and are used in healthcare work places like hospitals, as well as insurance companies, and by major stakeholders such as physicians and their patients, the accessibility of such information should be dealt with in a way that preserves privacy and security. Thus, finding the best way to keep the data secure has become an important issue in the area of database security. Sensitive medical data should be encrypted in databases. There are many encryption/ decryption techniques and algorithms with regard to preserving privacy and security. Currently their performance is an important factor while the medical data is being managed in databases. Another important factor is that the stakeholders should decide more cost-effective ways to reduce the total cost of ownership. As an alternative, DAS (Data as Service) is a popular outsourcing model to satisfy the cost-effectiveness but it takes a consideration that the encryption/ decryption modules needs to be handled by trustworthy stakeholders. This research project is focusing on the query response times in a DAS model (AES-DAS) and analyses the comparison between the outsourcing model and the in-house model which incorporates Microsoft built-in encryption scheme in a SQL Server. This research project includes building a prototype of medical database schemas. There are 2 types of simulations to carry out the project. The first stage includes 6 databases in order to carry out simulations to measure the performance between plain-text, Microsoft built-in encryption and AES-DAS (Data as Service). Particularly, the AES-DAS incorporates implementations of symmetric key encryption such as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and a Bucket indexing processor using Bloom filter. The results are categorised such as character type, numeric type, range queries, range queries using Bucket Index and aggregate queries. The second stage takes the scalability test from 5K to 2560K records. The main result of these simulations is that particularly as an outsourcing model, AES-DAS using the Bucket index shows around 3.32 times faster than a normal AES-DAS under the 70 partitions and 10K record-sized databases. Retrieving Numeric typed data takes shorter time than Character typed data in AES-DAS. The aggregation query response time in AES-DAS is not as consistent as that in MS built-in encryption scheme. The scalability test shows that the DBMS reaches in a certain threshold; the query response time becomes rapidly slower. However, there is more to investigate in order to bring about other outcomes and to construct a secured EMR (Electronic Medical Record) more efficiently from these simulations.

Spectrum sensing, detection and optimisation in cognitive radio for non-stationary primary user signals

Cognitive radio is an emerging technology proposing the concept of dynamic spec- trum access as a solution to the looming problem of spectrum scarcity caused by the growth in wireless communication systems. Under the proposed concept, non- licensed, secondary users (SU) can access spectrum owned by licensed, primary users (PU) so long as interference to PU are kept minimal. Spectrum sensing is a crucial task in cognitive radio whereby the SU senses the spectrum to detect the presence or absence of any PU signal. Conventional spectrum sensing assumes the PU signal as ‘stationary’ and remains in the same activity state during the sensing cycle, while an emerging trend models PU as ‘non-stationary’ and undergoes state changes. Existing studies have focused on non-stationary PU during the transmission period, however very little research considered the impact on spectrum sensing when the PU is non-stationary during the sensing period. The concept of PU duty cycle is developed as a tool to analyse the performance of spectrum sensing detectors when detecting non-stationary PU signals. New detectors are also proposed to optimise detection with respect to duty cycle ex- hibited by the PU. This research consists of two major investigations. The first stage investigates the impact of duty cycle on the performance of existing detec- tors and the extent of the problem in existing studies. The second stage develops new detection models and frameworks to ensure the integrity of spectrum sensing when detecting non-stationary PU signals. The first investigation demonstrates that conventional signal model formulated for stationary PU does not accurately reflect the behaviour of a non-stationary PU. Therefore the performance calculated and assumed to be achievable by the conventional detector does not reflect actual performance achieved. Through analysing the statistical properties of duty cycle, performance degradation is proved to be a problem that cannot be easily neglected in existing sensing studies when PU is modelled as non-stationary. The second investigation presents detectors that are aware of the duty cycle ex- hibited by a non-stationary PU. A two stage detection model is proposed to improve the detection performance and robustness to changes in duty cycle. This detector is most suitable for applications that require long sensing periods. A second detector, the duty cycle based energy detector is formulated by integrat- ing the distribution of duty cycle into the test statistic of the energy detector and suitable for short sensing periods. The decision threshold is optimised with respect to the traffic model of the PU, hence the proposed detector can calculate average detection performance that reflect realistic results. A detection framework for the application of spectrum sensing optimisation is proposed to provide clear guidance on the constraints on sensing and detection model. Following this framework will ensure the signal model accurately reflects practical behaviour while the detection model implemented is also suitable for the desired detection assumption. Based on this framework, a spectrum sensing optimisation algorithm is further developed to maximise the sensing efficiency for non-stationary PU. New optimisation constraints are derived to account for any PU state changes within the sensing cycle while implementing the proposed duty cycle based detector.

Structure of the immature retroviral capsid at 8 Å resolution by cryo-electron microscopy

The assembly of retroviruses such as HIV-1 is driven by oligomerization of their major structural protein, Gag. Gag is a multidomain polyprotein including three conserved folded domains: MA (matrix), CA (capsid) and NC (nucleocapsid)(1). Assembly of an infectious virion proceeds in two stages(2). In the first stage, Gag oligomerization into a hexameric protein lattice leads to the formation of an incomplete, roughly spherical protein shell that buds through the plasma membrane of the infected cell to release an enveloped immature virus particle. In the second stage, cleavage of Gag by the viral protease leads to rearrangement of the particle interior, converting the non-infectious immature virus particle into a mature infectious virion. The immature Gag shell acts as the pivotal intermediate in assembly and is a potential target for anti-retroviral drugs both in inhibiting virus assembly and in disrupting virus maturation(3). However, detailed structural information on the immature Gag shell has not previously been available. For this reason it is unclear what protein conformations and interfaces mediate the interactions between domains and therefore the assembly of retrovirus particles, and what structural transitions are associated with retrovirus maturation. Here we solve the structure of the immature retroviral Gag shell from Mason-Pfizer monkey virus by combining cryo-electron microscopy and tomography. The 8-angstrom resolution structure permits the derivation of a pseudo-atomic model of CA in the immature retrovirus, which defines the protein interfaces mediating retrovirus assembly. We show that transition of an immature retrovirus into its mature infectious form involves marked rotations and translations of CA domains, that the roles of the amino-terminal and carboxy-terminal domains of CA in assembling the immature and mature hexameric lattices are exchanged, and that the CA interactions that stabilize the immature and mature viruses are almost completely distinct.

Feasibility of agent-based modelling of articular cartilage including a conceptual representation of its structure

Articular cartilage is a complex structure with an architecture in which fluid-swollen proteoglycans constrained within a 3D network of collagen fibrils. Because of the complexity of the cartilage structure, the relationship between its mechanical behaviours at the macroscale level and its components at the micro-scale level are not completely understood. The research objective in this thesis is to create a new model of articular cartilage that can be used to simulate and obtain insight into the micro-macro-interaction and mechanisms underlying its mechanical responses during physiological function. The new model of articular cartilage has two characteristics, namely: i) not use fibre-reinforced composite material idealization ii) Provide a framework for that it does probing the micro mechanism of the fluid-solid interaction underlying the deformation of articular cartilage using simple rules of repartition instead of constitutive / physical laws and intuitive curve-fitting. Even though there are various microstructural and mechanical behaviours that can be studied, the scope of this thesis is limited to osmotic pressure formation and distribution and their influence on cartilage fluid diffusion and percolation, which in turn governs the deformation of the compression-loaded tissue. The study can be divided into two stages. In the first stage, the distributions and concentrations of proteoglycans, collagen and water were investigated using histological protocols. Based on this, the structure of cartilage was conceptualised as microscopic osmotic units that consist of these constituents that were distributed according to histological results. These units were repeated three-dimensionally to form the structural model of articular cartilage. In the second stage, cellular automata were incorporated into the resulting matrix (lattice) to simulate the osmotic pressure of the fluid and the movement of water within and out of the matrix; following the osmotic pressure gradient in accordance with the chosen rule of repartition of the pressure. The outcome of this study is the new model of articular cartilage that can be used to simulate and study the micromechanical behaviours of cartilage under different conditions of health and loading. These behaviours are illuminated at the microscale level using the socalled neighbourhood rules developed in the thesis in accordance with the typical requirements of cellular automata modelling. Using these rules and relevant Boundary Conditions to simulate pressure distribution and related fluid motion produced significant results that provided the following insight into the relationships between osmotic pressure gradient and associated fluid micromovement, and the deformation of the matrix. For example, it could be concluded that: 1. It is possible to model articular cartilage with the agent-based model of cellular automata and the Margolus neighbourhood rule. 2. The concept of 3D inter connected osmotic units is a viable structural model for the extracellular matrix of articular cartilage. 3. Different rules of osmotic pressure advection lead to different patterns of deformation in the cartilage matrix, enabling an insight into how this micromechanism influences macromechanical deformation. 4. When features such as transition coefficient were changed, permeability (representing change) is altered due to the change in concentrations of collagen, proteoglycans (i.e. degenerative conditions), the deformation process is impacted. 5. The boundary conditions also influence the relationship between osmotic pressure gradient and fluid movement at the micro-scale level. The outcomes are important to cartilage research since we can use these to study the microscale damage in the cartilage matrix. From this, we are able to monitor related diseases and their progression leading to potential insight into drug-cartilage interaction for treatment. This innovative model is an incremental progress on attempts at creating further computational modelling approaches to cartilage research and other fluid-saturated tissues and material systems.

The use of hypnosis in labor and delivery : a preliminary study

Self-hypnosis was taught to 87 obstetric patients (HYP) and was not taught to 56 other patients (CNTRL), all delivered by the same family physician, in order to determine whether the use of self-hypnosis by low-risk obstetric patients leads to fewer technologic interventions during their deliveries or greater satisfaction of parturients with their delivery experience or both. The outcomes of the deliveries of these two groups were compared, and the HYP group was compared to 352 low-risk patients delivered by other family physicians at the same hospital (WCH). Questionnaires were mailed postpartum to 156 patients, all delivered by the same family physician, to determine satisfaction with delivery using the Labor and Delivery Satisfaction Index (LADSI). The hypnosis group showed a significant reduction in the number of epidurals (11.4% less than CNTRL and 17.9% less than WCH, p < 0.05) and the use of intravenous lines (18.5% less for both, p < 0.05). The number of episiotomies was significantly less in the HYP group compared to WCH (15.9%, p < 0.05) and 11.5% less when compared to CNTRL. The tear rate was not statistically different. Combined use of the intervention triad (epidural–forceps–episiotomy) was less for HYP than for CNTRL (15.8% less) and WCH (10.2% less, p < 0.05). More deliveries were done in the labor room with HYP than CNTRL (21%, p < 0.05). The second stage was shortened by 10 min (HYP vs CNTRL). Overall satisfaction of HYP and CNTRL patients was similar and generally favorable.

Integration of Saudi Arabia’s conservative Islamic culture in sustainable housing design

The cities of Saudi Arabia have perhaps the largest growth rates of cities in the Middle East, such that it has become a cause in shortage of housing for mid and low-income families, as is the case in other developing countries. Even when housing is found, it is not sustainable nor is it providing the cultural needs of those families. The aim of this paper is to integrate the unique conservative Islamic Saudi culture into the design of sustainable housing. This paper is part of a preliminary study of an on-going PhD thesis, which utilises a semistructured interview of a panel of nine experts in collecting the data. The interviews consisted of ten questions ranging from general questions such as stating their expertise and work position to more specific question such as listing the critical success factors and/or barriers for applying sustainability to housing in Saudi Arabia. Since the participants were selected according to their experience, the answers to the interview questions were satisfactory where the generation of the survey questions for the second stage in the PhD thesis took place after analysing the participant’s answers to the interview questions. This paper recommends design requirements for accommodating the conservative Islamic Saudi Culture in low cost sustainable houses. Such requirements include achieving privacy through the use of various types of traditional Saudi architectural elements, such as the method of decorative screening of windows, called Mashrabiya, and having an inner courtyard where the house looks inward rather than outward. Other requirements include educating firms on how to design sustainable housing, educating the public on the advantages of sustainable housing and implementing new laws that enforce the utilisation of sustainable methods to housing construction. This paper contributes towards the body of knowledge by proposing initial findings on how to integrate the conservative Islamic culture of Saudi Arabia into the design of a sustainable house specifically for mid and low-income families. This contribution can be implemented on developing countries in the region that are faced with housing shortage for mid and low-income families.