Behaviour v structure : Tribunal’s AGL Energy merger authorisation

Section 95AT of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA) provides that the Tribunal may grant an authorisation to acquire shares or assets that would otherwise contravene s 50. Section 95AT was inserted by the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Act 2006 (Cth) and commenced on 1 January 2007. In Application for Authorisation of Macquarie Generation by AGL Energy Limited, (AGL Energy) the Tribunal has for the first time granted AGL Energy Limited (AGL) a conditional authorisation to acquire the assets of Macquarie Generation from the NSW Government.

Protein-energy malnutrition exists and is associated with negative outcomes in morbidly obese hospital patients

Prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), food intake inadequacy and associated health-related outcomes in morbidly obese (Body Mass Index ≥ 40 kg/m2) acute care patients are unknown. This study reports findings in morbidly obese participants from the Australasian Nutrition Care Day Survey (ANCDS) conducted in 2010. The ANCDS was a cross-sectional survey involving acute care patients from 56 Australian and New Zealand hospitals. Hospital-based dietitians evaluated participants’ nutritional status (defined by Subjective Global Assessment, SGA) and 24-hour food intake (as 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the offered food). Three months later, outcome data, including length of stay (LOS) and 90-day in-hospital mortality, were collected. Of the 3122 participants, 4% (n = 136) were morbidly obese (67% females, 55 ± 14 years, BMI: 48 ± 8 kg/m2). Eleven percent (n = 15) of the morbidly obese patients were malnourished, and most (n = 11/15, 73%)received standard hospital diets without additional nutritional support. Malnourished morbidly obese patients had significantly longer LOS and greater 90-day in-hospital mortality than well-nourished counterparts (23 days vs. 9 days, p = 0.036; 14% vs. 0% mortality, p = 0.011 respectively). Thirteen morbidly obese patients (10%) consumed only 25% of the offered meals with a significantly greater proportion of malnourished (n = 4, 27%) versus well-nourished (n = 9, 7%) (p = 0.018). These results provide new knowledge on the prevalence of PEM and poor food intake in morbidly obese patients in Australian and New Zealand hospitals. For the first time internationally, the study establishes that PEM is significantly associated with negative outcomes in morbidly obese patients and warrants timely nutritional support during hospitalisation.

Reproducibility of subjective appetite ratings and ad libitum test meal energy intake in overweight and obese males

Background To determine whether changes in appetite and energy intake (EI) can be detected and play a role in the effectiveness of interventions, it is necessary to identify their variability under normal conditions. We assessed the reproducibility of subjective appetite ratings and ad libitum test meal EI after a standardised pre-load in overweight and obese males. Methods Fifteen overweight and obese males (BMI 30.3 ± 4.9 kg/m2, aged 34.9 ± 10.6 years) completed two identical test days, 7 days apart. Participants were provided with a standardised fixed breakfast (1676 kJ) and 5 h later an ad libitum pasta lunch. An electronic appetite rating system was used to assess subjective ratings before and after the fixed breakfast, and periodically during the postprandial period. EI was assessed at the ad libitum lunch meal. Sample size estimates for paired design studies were calculated. Results Appetite ratings demonstrated a consistent oscillating pattern between test days, and were more reproducible for mean postprandial than fasting ratings. The correlation between ad libitum EI on the two test days was r = 0.78 (P < 0.01). Using a paired design and a power of 0.8, a minimum of 12 participants would be needed to detect a 10 mm change in 5 h postprandial mean ratings and 17 to detect a 500 kJ difference in ad libitum EI. Conclusion Intra-individual variability of appetite and ad libitum test meal EI in overweight and obese males is comparable to previous reports in normal weight adults. Sample size requirements for studies vary depending on the parameter of interest and sensitivity needed.

An alternative approach to setting a mill

The conventional approach to setting a milling unit is essentially based on the desire to achieve a particular bagasse moisture content or fibre fill in each nip of the mill. This approach relies on the selection of the speed at which the mill will operate for the selected fibre rate. There is rarely any checking that the selected speed or the selected fibre fill is achieved and the same set of assumptions is generally carried over to use again in the next year. The conventional approach largely ignores the fact that the selection of mill settings actually determines the speed at which the mill will operate. Making an adjustment with the intent of changing the performance of the mill often also changes the speed of the mill as an unintended consequence. This paper presents an alternative approach to mill setting. The approach discussed makes use of mill feeding theory to define the relationship between fibre rate, mill speed and mill settings and uses that theory to provide an alternative means of determining the settings in some nips of the mill. Mill feeding theory shows that, as the feed work opening reduces, roll speed increases. The theory also shows that there is an optimal underfeed opening and Donnelly chute exit opening that will minimise roll speed and that the current South African guidelines appear to be well away from those optimal values.

The special branch : governing mentalities through alternative-site placement

"…one should try to locate power at the extreme points of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character." (Foucault, 1980, p.97) Studies of schooling practices as techniques deriving from a particular art of governing that Foucault (2003b) called ‘governmentality’ have shown how psychopathologising discourses work to construct particular student-subjects and legitimise various practices of exclusion (Gram, 2007b). Here I extend this work to consider the use of alternative-site placement as an intensification in response to governmentality being put ‘at risk’. Governing ‘at a distance’ conjures an illusion of individual freedom which relies on the production of subjects who ‘choose’ to make choices that are consistent with the aspirations of government. In this chapter, it is argued that the designation of a child as ‘disorderly’ legitimises the intrusion of state into the private domain of the family via the Trojan horse of early intervention. This is enabled by the psy-sciences, whose technologies and aims amount to the moral retraining of ‘improper’ future-citizens who, in choosing to choose otherwise, threaten to make visible invisible relations of power. Alternative-site placement in special schools running intensive behaviour modification programs allows for a ‘redoubled insistence’ (Ewald, 1992) of these norms and limits that a ‘disorderly’ child threatens to transgress.

Renewing the Sustainable Energy Curriculum – Providing Internationally Relevant Skills for a Carbon Constrained Economy : Final Report 2014

The aims of the project were to scope and develop sustainable energy curriculum frameworks for Australian higher education Institutions that meet the needs of Australian and international student graduates and employers, both now and into the near future. The focus was on student centred learning and outcomes and to support graduates with the knowledge, skills and generic attributes required to work in the rapidly expanding sustainable energy industry in Australia and globally. The outputs of the project are designed to be relevant to specialist Sustainable Engineering and Energy Studies programs, as well as conventional engineering, science and humanities and social science programs that have a sustainable energy focus or major.

Renewing the Sustainable Energy Curriculum : Curriculum Frameworks and Guidance for Course Delivery

This guide is to support institutions in developing and teaching tertiary level programmes for sustainable energy professionals. Ongoing curriculum renewal is more difficult but vital for multidisciplinary courses preparing graduates to work in a specialised rapidly changing field. After more than 15 years of offering tertiary level “sustainable energy” qualifications in Australian Universities there was a clear need to assess how these courses are taught and develop curriculum frameworks to guide Universities designing/redesigning programs and courses to provide graduates with the relevant skills, knowledge and attributes (capabilities) seen by graduates and employers as required to work in this rapidly changing field. This guide presents the sustainable energy curriculum frameworks developed by the “Renewing the sustainable energy curriculum – providing internationally relevant skills for a carbon constrained economy” project, which was conducted over a two-and-a-quarter year period.

The impact of Cool Roof applications on energy performance : results from Australian sub-tropical and tropical field studies

Cool roof coatings are identified by their solar reflectance index. They have been reported to have multiple benefits, the extent of which are strongly dependent on the peculiarities of the local climate, building stock and electricity network. This paper presents measured and simulated data from residential, educational and commercial buildings involved in recent field trials in Australia. The purpose of the field trials was to evaluate the impact of such coatings on electricity demand and load and to assess their potential application to improve comfort whilst avoiding the need for air conditioners. Measured reductions in temperature, power (kW) and energy (kWh) were used to develop a predictive model that correlates ambient temperature distribution profiles, building demand reduction profiles and electricity network peak demand times. Combined with simulated data, the study indicates the types of buildings that could be targeted in Demand Management programs for the mutual benefit of electricity networks and building occupants.

Developing affordable and sustainable housing through energy, transport, and building utility integration

Housing affordability and sustainable development are not polarised ideologies as both are necessary with increasing urbanisation. We must bridge the gap between current median house pricing and target affordable house pricing whilst pursuing sustainability. This paper examines the potential of initial construction cost and ongoing utilities and transport cost reduction through the integration of sustainable housing design and transit oriented development principles in a Commuter Energy and Building Utilities System (CEBUS). It also introduces current research on the development of a Dynamic Simulation Model for CEBUS applications in the Australian property development and construction industry.

Aggregating energy supply and demand

Energy usage in general, and electricity usage in particular, are major concerns internationally due to the increased cost of providing energy supplies and the environmental impacts of electricity generation using carbon-based fuels. If a "systems" approach is taken to understanding energy issues then both supply and demand need to be considered holistically. This paper examines two research projects in the energy area with IT tools as key deliverables, one examining supply issues and the other studying demand side issues. The supply side project used hard engineering methods to build the models and software, while the demand side project used a social science approach. While the projects are distinct, there was an overlap in personnel. Comparing the knowledge extraction, model building, implementation and interface issues of these two deliverables identifies both interesting contrasts and commonalities.

Integrating PV systems into distribution networks with battery energy storage systems

Integrating Photovoltaic (PV) systems with battery energy storage in the distribution network will be essential to allow for continued uptake of domestic PV system installations. With increasing concerns regarding environmental and climate change issues, incorporating sources of renewable energy into power networks across the world will be key for a sustainable future. Australia is well placed to utilise solar energy as a significant component of its future energy generation and within the last 5 years there has been a rapid growth in the penetration levels seen by the grid. This growth of PV systems is causing a number of issues including intermittency of supply, negative power flow and voltage rises. Using the simulator tool GridLAB-D with a model of a typical South-East Queensland (SEQ) 11 kV distribution feeder, the effect of various configurations of PV systems have been offset with Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). From this, combinations of PV and storage that are most effective at mitigating the issues were explored.

Real-time price based home energy management scheduler

With the recent development of advanced metering infrastructure, real-time pricing (RTP) scheme is anticipated to be introduced in future retail electricity market. This paper proposes an algorithm for a home energy management scheduler (HEMS) to reduce the cost of energy consumption using RTP. The proposed algorithm works in three subsequent phases namely real-time monitoring (RTM), stochastic scheduling (STS) and real-time control (RTC). In RTM phase, characteristics of available controllable appliances are monitored in real-time and stored in HEMS. In STS phase, HEMS computes an optimal policy using stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) to select a set of appliances to be controlled with an objective of the total cost of energy consumption in a house. Finally, in RTC phase, HEMS initiates the control of the selected appliances. The proposed HEMS is unique as it intrinsically considers uncertainties in RTP and power consumption pattern of various appliances. In RTM phase, appliances are categorized according to their characteristics to ease the control process, thereby minimizing the number of control commands issued by HEMS. Simulation results validate the proposed method for HEMS.