Infrared spectroscopic investigation of the effects of titania photocatalyst on the degradation of linear low density polyethylene film for commercial applications

There is a need in industry for a commodity polyethylene film with controllable degradation properties that will degrade in an environmentally neutral way, for applications such as shopping bags and packaging film. Additives such as starch have been shown to accelerate the degradation of plastic films, however control of degradation is required so that the film will retain its mechanical properties during storage and use, and then degrade when no longer required. By the addition of a photocatalyst it is hoped that polymer film will breakdown with exposure to sunlight. Furthermore, it is desired that the polymer film will degrade in the dark, after a short initial exposure to sunlight. Research has been undertaken into the photo- and thermo-oxidative degradation processes of 25 ìm thick LLDPE (linear low density polyethylene) film containing titania from different manufacturers. Films were aged in a suntest or in an oven at 50 °C, and the oxidation product formation was followed using IR spectroscopy. Degussa P25, Kronos 1002, and various organic-modified and doped titanias of the types Satchleben Hombitan and Hunstsman Tioxide incorporated into LLDPE films were assessed for photoactivity. Degussa P25 was found to be the most photoactive with UVA and UVC exposure. Surface modification of titania was found to reduce photoactivity. Crystal phase is thought to be among the most important factors when assessing the photoactivity of titania as a photocatalyst for degradation. Pre-irradiation with UVA or UVC for 24 hours of the film containing 3% Degussa P25 titania prior to aging in an oven resulted in embrittlement in ca. 200 days. The multivariate data analysis technique PCA (principal component analysis) was used as an exploratory tool to investigate the IR spectral data. Oxidation products formed in similar relative concentrations across all samples, confirming that titania was catalysing the oxidation of the LLDPE film without changing the oxidation pathway. PCA was also employed to compare rates of degradation in different films. PCA enabled the discovery of water vapour trapped inside cavities formed by oxidation by titania particles. Imaging ATR/FTIR spectroscopy with high lateral resolution was used in a novel experiment to examine the heterogeneous nature of oxidation of a model polymer compound caused by the presence of titania particles. A model polymer containing Degussa P25 titania was solvent cast onto the internal reflection element of the imaging ATR/FTIR and the oxidation under UVC was examined over time. Sensitisation of 5 ìm domains by titania resulted in areas of relatively high oxidation product concentration. The suitability of transmission IR with a synchrotron light source to the study of polymer film oxidation was assessed as the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne, Australia. Challenges such as interference fringes and poor signal-to-noise ratio need to be addressed before this can become a routine technique.

Land Use & Public Transport Accessibility Index (LUPTAI) tool : the development and pilot application of LUPTAI for the Gold Coast

LUPTAI is a decision-aiding tool to enable local and state governments to optimise land use and transport integration. In contrast to mobility between land uses (typically via road), accessibility represents opportunity and choice to reach common land use destinations by public transport and/or walking. LUPTAI uses a GIS-based methodology to quantify and map accessibility to common land use destinations by walking and/or public transport. The tool can be applied to small or large study areas. It can be applied to the current situation in a study area or to future scenarios (such as scenarios involving changes to public transport services, public transport corridors or stations, population density or land use). The tool has been piloted on the Gold Coast and the results are encouraging. This paper outlines the GIS-based methodology and the findings related to this pilot study. The paper demonstrates benefits and possible application of LUPTAI to other urbanised local government areas in Queensland. It also discusses how this accessibility indexing approach could be developed into a decision-support tool to assist local and state government agencies in a range of transport and land-use planning activities.

How can entrepreneurial musicians use electronic social networks to diffuse their music

Principal Topic: ''In less than ten years music labels will not exist anymore.'' Michael Smelli, former Global COO Sony/BMG MCA/QUT IMP Business Lab Digital Music Think Thanks 9 May 2009, Brisbane Big music labels such as EMI, Sony BMG and UMG have been responsible for promoting and producing a myriad of stars in the music industry over the last decades. However, the industry structure is under enormous threat with the emergence of a new innovative era of digital music. Recent years have seen a dramatic shift in industry power with the emergence of Napster and other file sharing sites, iTunes and other online stores, iPod and the MP3 revolution. Myspace.com and other social networking sites are connecting entrepreneurial artists with fans and creating online music communities independent of music labels. In 2008 the digital music business internationally grew by around 25% to 3.7 Billion US-Dollar. Digital platforms now account for around 20% of recorded music sales, up from 15 % in 2007 (IFPI Digital music report 2009). CD sales have fallen by 40% since their peak levels. Global digital music sales totalled an estimated US$ 3 Billion in 2007, an increase of 40% on 2006 figures. Digital sales account for an estimated 15% of global market, up from 11% in 2006 and zero in 2003. The music industry is more advanced in terms of digital revenues than any other creative or entertainment industry (except games). Its digital share is more than twice that of newspapers (7%), films (35) or books (2%). All these shifts present new possibilities for music entrepreneurs to act entrepreneurially and promote their music independently of the major music labels. Diffusion of innovations has a long tradition in both sociology (e.g. Rogers 1962, 2003) and marketing (Bass 1969, Mahajan et al., 1990). The context of the current project is theoretically interesting in two respects. First, the role of online social networks replaces traditional face-to-face word of mouth communications. Second, as music is a hedonistic product, this strongly influences the nature of interpersonal communications and their diffusion patterns. Both of these have received very little attention in the diffusion literature to date, and no studies have investigated the influence of both simultaneously. This research project is concerned with the role of social networks in this new music industry landscape, and how this may be leveraged by musicians willing to act entrepreneurially. Our key research question we intend to address is: How do online social network communities impact the nature, pattern and speed that music diffuses? Methodology/Key Propositions : We expect the nature/ character of diffusion of popular, generic music genres to be different from specialized, niche music. To date, only Moe & Fader (2002) and Lee et al. (2003) investigated diffusion patterns of music and these focus on forecast weekly sales of music CDs based on the advance purchase orders before the launch, rather than taking a detailed look at diffusion patterns. Consequently, our first research questions are concerned with understanding the nature of online communications within the context of diffusion of music and artists. Hence, we have the following research questions: RQ1: What is the nature of fan-to-fan ''word of mouth'' online communications for music? Do these vary by type of artist and genre of music? RQ2: What is the nature of artist-to-fan online communications for music? Do these vary by type of artist and genre of music? What types of communication are effective? Two outcomes from research social network theory are particularly relevant to understanding how music might diffuse through social networks. Weak tie theory (Granovetter, 1973), argues that casual or infrequent contacts within a social network (or weak ties) act as a link to unique information which is not normally contained within an entrepreneurs inner circle (or strong tie) social network. A related argument, structural hole theory (Burt, 1992), posits that it is the absence of direct links (or structural holes) between members of a social network which offers similar informational benefits. Although these two theories argue for the information benefits of casual linkages, and diversity within a social network, others acknowledge that a balanced network which consists of a mix of strong ties, weak ties is perhaps more important overall (Uzzi, 1996). It is anticipated that the network structure of the fan base for different types of artists and genres of music will vary considerably. This leads to our third research question: RQ3: How does the network structure of online social network communities impact the pattern and speed that music diffuses? The current paper is best described as theory elaboration. It will report the first exploratory phase designed to develop and elaborate relevant theory (the second phase will be a quantitative study of network structure and diffusion). We intend to develop specific research propositions or hypotheses from the above research questions. To do so we will conduct three focus group discussions of independent musicians and three focus group discussions of fans active in online music communication on social network sites. We will also conduct five case studies of bands that have successfully built fan bases through social networking sites (e.g. myspace.com, facebook.com). The idea is to identify which communication channels they employ and the characteristics of the fan interactions for different genres of music. We intend to conduct interviews with each of the artists and analyse their online interaction with their fans. Results and Implications : At the current stage, we have just begun to conduct focus group discussions. An analysis of the themes from these focus groups will enable us to further refine our research questions into testable hypotheses. Ultimately, our research will provide a better understanding of how social networks promote the diffusion of music, and how this varies for different genres of music. Hence, some music entrepreneurs will be able to promote their music more effectively. The results may be further generalised to other industries where online peer-to-peer communication is common, such as other forms of entertainment and consumer technologies.

Estimating short and long-term residential demand for electricity : new evidence from Sri Lanka

This study investigates the short-run dynamics and long-run equilibrium relationship between residential electricity demand and factors influencing demand - per capita income, price of electricity, price of kerosene oil and price of liquefied petroleum gas - using annual data for Sri Lanka for the period, 1960-2007. The study uses unit root, cointegration and error-correction models. The long-run demand elasticities of income, own price and price of kerosene oil (substitute) were estimated to be 0.78, - 0.62, and 0.14 respectively. The short-run elasticities for the same variables were estimated to be 032, - 0.16 and 0.10 respectively. Liquefied petroleum (LP) gas is a substitute for electricity only in the short-run with an elasticity 0.09. The main findings of the paper support the following (1) increasing the price of electricity is not the most effective tool to reduce electricity consumption (2) existing subsidies on electricity consumption can be removed without reducing government revenue (3) the long-run income elasticity of demand shows that any future increase in household incomes is likely to significantly increase the demand for electricity and(4) any power generation plans which consider only current per capita consumption and population growth should be revised taking into account the potential future income increases in order to avoid power shortages ill the country.

Survival Power: An Empirical Analysis of Power in a Life and Death Situation

This paper seeks to identify what antecedents of power make it more or less likely for people to survive in a life-threatening situation.In particular, we look at the Titanic disaster as the life or death situation. Maritime disasters can be interpreted as quasi-natural experiments because every person is affected by the shock. True human nature becomes apparent in such a dangerous situation. Five antecedents of power are distinguished: physical strength, economic resources, nationality, social and moral factors. This empirical analysis supports the notion that power is a key determinant in extreme situations of life or death.

Cities in the airports 'shadow' : underlying interests and discretionary power in airport-region development

The previously distinct boundary between airports and their cities has become increasingly blurred as new interests and actors are identified as important stakeholders in the decision making process. As a consequence airport entities are more than ever seeking an integrated existence with their surrounding regions. While current planning strategies provide insights on how to improve and leverage land use planning in and around airports, emerging challenges for implementing and protecting these planning ideals stem from the governance shadows of development decisions. The thesis of this paper is that improving the identification, articulation and consideration of city and airport interests in the development approval process (between planning and implementation) can help avoid outcomes that hinder the ability of cities and their airports to meet their separate/mutual long-term objectives. By applying a network governance perspective to the pilot case study of Brisbane, analysis of overlapping and competing actor interests show how different governance arrangements facilitate (or impede) decision making that protects sustainable ‘airport region’ development. ---------- Contributions are made to airport and city development decision makers through the identification and analysis of effective and ineffective decision making pathways, and to governance literature by way of forwarding empirically derived frameworks for showing how actors protect their interests in the ‘crowded decision making domain’ of airport region development. This work was carried out through the Airport Metropolis Research Project under the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects funding scheme (LP0775225).

E-commerce experiences in the real estate industry : a preliminary study in regional Queensland

Computer systems have become commonplace in most SMEs and technology is increasingly becoming a part of doing business. In recent years, the Internet has become readily available to businesses; consequently there has been growing pressure on SMEs to take up e-commerce. However, e-commerce is perceived by many as being unproven in terms of business benefit. This research aims to determine what, if any, benefits are derived from assimilating e-commerce technologies into SME business processes. This paper presents three in-depth case studies from the Real Estate industry in a regional setting. Overall, findings were positive and identified the following experiences: enhanced business efficiencies, cost benefits, improved customer interactions and increased business return on investment.

Gender

The OED informs us that “gender” has at its root the Latin genus, meaning “race, kind,” and emerges as early as the fifth century as a term for differentiating between types of (especially) people and words. In the following 1500 years, gender appears in linguistic and biological contexts to distinguish types of words and bodies from one another, as when words in Indo-European languages were identified as masculine, feminine, or neuter, and humans were identified as male or female. It is telling that gender has historically (whether overtly or covertly) been a tool of negotiation between our understandings of bodies, and meanings derived from and attributed to them. Within the field of children’s literature studies, as in other disciplines, gender in and of itself is rarely the object of critique. Rather, specific constructions of gender structure understandings of subjectivity; allow or disallow certain behaviors or experiences on the basis of biological sex; and dictate a specific vision of social relations and organization. Critical approaches to gender in children’s literature have included linguistic analysis (Turner-Bowker; Sunderland); analysis of visual representations (Bradford; Moebius); cultural images of females (Grauerholz and Pescosolido); consideration of gender and genre (Christian-Smith; Stephens); ideological (Nodelman and Reimer); psychoanalytic (Coats); discourse analysis (Stephens); and masculinity studies (Nodelman) among others. In the adjacent fields of education and literacy studies, gender has been a sustained point of investigation, often deriving from perceived gendering of pedagogical practices (Lehr) or of reading preferences and competencies, and in recent years, perceptions of boys as “reluctant readers” (Moss). The ideology of patriarchy has primarily come under critical scrutiny 2 because it has been used to locate characters and readers within the specific binary logic of gender relations that historically subordinated the feminine to the masculine. Just as feminism might be broadly defined as resistance to existing power structures, a gendered reading might be broadly defined as a “resistant reading” in that it most often reveals or contests that which a text assumes to be the norm.

The power of a single prototype : sustainable fashion textile design and the prevention of carcinogenic melanoma

Is there a role for prototyping (sketching, pattern making and sampling) in addressing real world problems of sustainability (People, Profit, and Planet), in this case social/healthcare issues, through fashion and textiles research? Skin cancer and related illnesses are a major cause of disfigurement and death in New Zealand and Australia where the rates of Melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer, are four times higher than in the Northern Hemisphere regions of USA, UK and Canada (IARC, 1992). In 2007, AUT University (Auckland University of Technology) Fashion Department and the Health Promotion Department of Cancer Society - Auckland Division (CSA) developed a prototype hat aimed at exploring a barrier type solution to prevent facial and neck skin damage. This is a paradigm shift from the usual medical research model. This paper provides an overview of the project and examines how a fashion prototype has been used to communicate emergent social, environmental, personal, physiological and technological concerns to the trans-disciplinary research team. The authors consider how the design of a product can enhance and support sustainable design practice while contributing a potential solution to an ongoing health issue. Analysis of this case study provides an insight into prototyping in fashion and textiles design, user engagement and the importance of requirements analysis in relation to sustainable development. The analysis and a successful outcome of the final prototype have provided a gateway to future collaborative research and product development.

Responding to sustainability challenge and cost implications in highway construction projects

Highway construction often requires a significant capital input; therefore it often causes serious financial implications for developers, owners and operators. The recent industry-wide focus on sustainability has added a new dimension to the evaluation of highway projects, particularly on the economical scale of ‘going green’. Comprehensive analysis of the whole-of-life highway development that responds to sustainability challenges is one of the primary concerns for stakeholders. Principles of engineering economics and life cycle costing have been used to determine the incremental capacity investments for highway projects. However, the consideration of costs and issues associated with sustainability is still very limited in current studies on highway projects. Previous studies have identified that highway project investments are primarily concerned with direct market costs that can be quantified through life cycle costing analysis (LCCA). But they tend to ignore costs that are difficult to calculate, as those related to environmental and social elements. On a more positive note, these studies proved that the inclusion of such costs is an essential part of the overall development investment and a primary concern for decision making by the stakeholders. This paper discusses a research attempt to identify and categorise sustainability cost elements for highway projects. Through questionnaire survey, a set of sustainability cost elements on highway projects has been proposed. These cost elements are incorporated into the extension of some of the existing Life Cycle Costing Analysis (LCCA) models in order to produce a holistic financial picture of the highway project. It is expected that a new LCCA model will be established to serve as a suitable tool for decision making for highway project stakeholders.

Incorporating sustainability measures in life-cycle financial decision making for highway construction

Public awareness and the nature of highway construction works demand that sustainability measures are first on the development agenda. However, in the current economic climate, individual volition and enthusiasm for such high capital investments do not present as strong cases for decision making as the financial pictures of pursuing sustainability. Some stakeholders consider sustainability to be extra work that costs additional money. Though, stakeholders realised its importance in infrastructure development. They are keen to identify the available alternatives and financial implications on a lifecycle basis. Highway infrastructure development is a complex rocess which requires expertise and tools to evaluate investment options, such as environmentally sustainable features for road and highway development. Life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is a valuable approach for investment decision making for construction works. However, LCCA applications in highway development are still limited. Current models, for example focus on economic issues alone and do not deal with sustainability factors, which are more difficult to quantify and encapsulate in estimation modules. This paper reports the research which identifies sustainability related factors in highway construction projects, in quantitative and qualitative forms of a multi-criteria analysis. These factors are then incorporated into past and proven LCCA models to produce a new long term decision support model. The research via questionnaire, model building, analytical hierarchy processes (AHP) and case studies have identified, evaluated and then processed highway sustainability related cost elements. These cost elements need to be verified by industry before being integrated for further development of the model. Then the Australian construction industry will have a practical tool to evaluate investment decisions which provide an optimum balance between financial viability and sustainability deliverables.

Service quality in the Malaysian fast food industry : an examination using DINESERV

This study addresses calls in the literature for the external validation of Western-based marketing concepts and theory in the East. Using DINESERV, the relationships between service quality, overall service quality perceptions, customer satisfaction, and repurchase intentions in the Malaysian fast food industry are examined. A questionnaire was administered to Malaysian fast food consumers at a large university, resulting in findings that support the five-dimensional nature of DINESERV and three of four proposed hypotheses. This study contributes to knowledge of service quality in developing countries and is the first to examine DINESERV in the Malaysian fast food industry.

Enabling or "real" power and influence in leadership

On the theme of personal development, this conceptual article aims to provoke thought about power and influence in leadership by means of a short excursion into character depictions in J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1966). It is said of mythopoeic literature, the genre of Tolkien’s work, that the very simplicity of the lens “pares away distractions,” “opens the way to unexpected connections,...[and] draws attention to alternative modes of being and thinking” (Greene, 1994, p. 457). Taking the liberty of perceived applicability of Tolkien’s literary genius to motifs on leadership, this article provokes thinking on what constitutes “real” power and influence in leadership. It is contended that demonstrating real power and influence in leadership lies not in coercive tactics of wielding power over others but in withholding usurping power to work with and enable others to achieve worthwhile ends.