Building a local design and entrepreneurship ecosystem

Design and creativity are becoming greatly sought out skills in leading industries around the world, big businesses are developing the “Chief Design Officer” to engage with strategic and company shaping discussions. Design as an economic driver is now abundantly clear with companies such as Nike and Apple leading this way of thinking, but how do we as Australian industry capture this and how do we instil “creativity” into our secondary school and university level education to drive the next level of innovation and development. The local region where Deakin University is situated has undergone significant changes in the last 10 years, what was once an economy dominated by oil, automotive and metal production industries has been wound down to a local economy dominated by health, services and education. However, manufacturing and design being the front end of manufacturing is still a key economic driver this study is looking at the embryonic initiatives undertaken to build an ecosystem of design and entrepreneurship in a regional area. Several aspects will be looked at, high school and university student engagement in the process, established SME's and start-up culture. With the establishment of an ecosystem it is believed that success will breed success. With student engagement showing that being creative and playing can yield tangible results, it also gets students comfortable with the element of risk. The efforts of Deakin University is about providing the framework and scaffolding for students to pursue a start-up idea and test it validity. The final part of the ecosystem is for SME's and recent start-ups to share their success stories and acting as mentors as future start-ups emerge. By creating an ecosystem that is driven by design, manufacturing and entrepreneurship key economic outcomes will be generated; a regional area will be more resilient to economic uncertainty and ultimately a cohort of innovative thinkers that will generate value for their community.

WATER USE AND SYSTEM RELIABILITY UNDER DIESELGENERATOR AND SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC POWERED PUMPING SYSTEMS: A CASE STUDY OF SOLLA TOGO

Access to improved potable water sources is recognized as one of the key factors in improving health and alleviating global poverty. In recently years, substantial investments have been made internationally in potable water infrastructure projects, allowing 2.3 billion people to gain access to potable water from 1990-2012. One such project was planned and installed in Solla, Togo, a rural village in the northern part of the country, from 2010-2012. Ethnographic studies revealed that, while the community has access to potable water, an estimated 45% of the village’s 1500 residents still rely on unprotected sources for drinking and cooking. Additionally, inequality in system use based on income level was revealed, with the higher income groups accessing the system more regularly than lower income groups. Cost, as well as the availability of cheaper sources, was identified as the main deterrent from using the new water distribution system. A new water-pricing scheme is investigated here with the intention of making the system accessible to a greater percentage of the population. Since 2012, a village-level water committee has been responsible for operations and maintenance (O&M), fulfilling the community management model that is recommended by many development theorists in order to create sustainable projects. The water committee received post-construction support, mostly in the form of technical support during system breakdowns, from the Togolese Ministry of Water and Sanitation (MWSVH). While this support has been valuable in maintaining a functional water supply system in Solla, the water committee still has managerial challenges, particularly with billing and fee collection. As a result, the water committee has only received 2% - 25% of the fees owed at each private connection and public tap stand, making their finances vulnerable when future repairs and capital replacements are necessary. A new management structure is proposed by the MWSVH that will pay utilities workers a wage and will hire an accountant in order to improve the local management and increase revenue. This proposal is analyzed under the new water pricing schemes that are presented. Initially, the rural water supply system was powered by a diesel-generator, but in 2013, a solar photo-voltaic power supply was installed. The new system proved a fiscal improvement for the village water committee, since it drastically reduced their annual O&M costs. However, the new system pumps a smaller volume of water on a daily basis and did not meet the community’s water needs during the dry season of 2014. A hydraulic network model was developed to investigate the system’s reliability under diesel-generator (DGPS) and solar photovoltaic (PVPS) power supplies. Additionally, a new system layout is proposed for the PVPS that allows pumping directly into the distribution line, circumventing the high head associated with pumping solely to the storage tank. It was determined that this new layout would allow for a greater volume of water to be provided to the demand points over the course of a day, meeting a greater fraction of the demand than with the current layout.

A REMOTE SENSING APPROACH TO CHARACTERIZE THE HYDROGEOLOGY OF MOUNTAINOUS AREAS: APPLICATION TO THE QUITO AQUIFER SYSTEM (QAS), ECUADOR

Climate change, intensive use, and population growth are threatening the availability of water resources. New sources of water, better knowledge of existing ones, and improved water management strategies are of paramount importance. Ground water is often considered as primary water source due to its advantages in terms of quantity, spatial distribution, and natural quality. Remote sensing techniques afford scientists a unique opportunity to characterize landscapes in order to assess groundwater resources, particularly in tectonically influenced areas. Aquifers in volcanic basins are considered the most productive aquifers in Latin America. Although topography is considered the primary driving force for groundwater flows in mountainous terrains, tectonic activity increases the complexity of these groundwater systems by altering the integrity of sedimentary rock units and the overlying drainage networks. Structural controls affect the primary hydraulic properties of the rock formations by developing barriers to flow in some cases and zones of preferential infiltration and subterranean in others. The study area focuses on the Quito Aquifer System (QAS) in Ecuador. The characterization of the hydrogeology started with a lineament analysis based on a combined remote sensing and digital terrain analysis approach. The application of classical tools for regional hydrogeological evaluation and shallow geophysical methods were useful to evaluate the impact of faulting and fracturing on the aquifer system. Given the spatial extension of the area and the complexity of the system, two levels of analysis were applied in this study. At the regional level, a lineament map was created for the QAS. Relationships between fractures, faults and lineaments and the configuration of the groundwater flow on the QAS were determined. At the local level, on the Plateaus region of the QAS, a detailed lineament map was obtained by using high-spatial-resolution satellite imagery and aspect map derived from a digital elevation model (DEM). This map was complemented by the analysis of morphotectonic indicators and shallow geophysics that characterize fracture patterns. The development of the groundwater flow system was studied, drawing upon data pertaining to the aquifer system physical characteristics and topography. Hydrochemistry was used to ascertain the groundwater evolution and verify the correspondence of the flow patterns proposed in the flow system analysis. Isotopic analysis was employed to verify the origin of groundwater. The results of this study show that tectonism plays a very important role for the hydrology of the QAS. The results also demonstrate that faults influence a great deal of the topographic characteristics of the QAS and subsequently the configuration of the groundwater flow. Moreover, for the Plateaus region, the results demonstrate that the aquifer flow systems are affected by secondary porosity. This is a new conceptualization of the functioning of the aquifers on the QAS that will significantly contribute to the development of better strategies for the management of this important water resource.

A DEA-based incentives system for centrally managed multi-unit organisations

In multi-unit organisations such as a bank and its branches or a national body delivering publicly funded health or education services through local operating units, the need arises to incentivize the units to operate efficiently. In such instances, it is generally accepted that units found to be inefficient can be encouraged to make efficiency savings. However, units which are found to be efficient need to be incentivized in a different manner. It has been suggested that efficient units could be incentivized by some reward compatible with the level to which their attainment exceeds that of the best of the rest, normally referred to as “super-efficiency”. A recent approach to this issue (Varmaz et. al. 2013) has used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to measure the super-efficiency of the whole system of operating units with and without the involvement of each unit in turn in order to provide incentives. We identify shortcomings in this approach and use it as a starting point to develop a new DEA-based system for incentivizing operating units to operate efficiently for the benefit of the aggregate system of units. Data from a small German retail bank is used to illustrate our method.

Sustainable tourism practices through the eyes of the tourist: a case study of a tour operator

This internship report aim was to find out the importance of sustainable tourism practices from a tourist point of view. The research study and internship took place at Back-Roads Touring - a tour operator (based in London) that specializes in small group touring for seniors travellers from Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada. Google Forms online questionnaire was used in order to answer the objectives of the study. In total 1322 clients received an online questionnaire out of which 182 filled in the survey. The study had four objectives, however the main focus was to find out which tourism practices ( out of 15 choices) were the most important to the respondents during a Back-Roads Tour and which tourism options (using the same 15 choices) the respondents identify as sustainable tourism options ( objective 2 and 3). The results showed that the respondents valued the most small group touring and having an experienced tour leader, which are the core practices of the company. Furthermore, the respondents were not seeking for more sustainable tourism practices neither willing to donate money to local charities/non- profit organizations. This finding shows that the clients are content with a current model of a tour, are willing to return, however price and quality will be play a key role in the decision. The respondents´ lack of wish to support or donate money to charities /non-profit organizations, could be due to the fact that most of the clients were from middle class thus they did not have enough disposable income. Moreover, one of the objectives of this study was to find out if the clients valued sustainable tourism certification. The results showed that the respondents’ were not aware of the sustainable tourism certification that the company obtained, however slightly over half of the respondents said that the knowledge of the certification has positively influenced them to travel again with a company.

High-resolution monitoring of atmospheric pollutants using a system of low-cost sensors

Increased levels of particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere have contributed to an increase in mortality and morbidity in communities and are the main contributing factor for respiratory health problems in the population. Currently, PM concentrations are sparsely monitored; for instance, a region of over 2200 square kilometers surrounding Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, is monitored using ten sensor stations. This paper proposes to improve the estimation of PM concentration by complementing the existing high-precision but expensive PM devices with low-cost lower precision PM sensor nodes. Our evaluation reveals that local PM estimation accuracies improve with higher densities of low-precision sensor nodes. Our analysis examines the impact of the precision of the lost-cost sensors on the overall estimation accuracy.

A novel operation and control strategy for a standalone hybrid renewable power system

This paper proposes a novel operation and control strategy for a renewable hybrid power system for a standalone operation. The proposed hybrid system consists of a wind turbine, a fuel cell, an electrolyzer, a battery storage unit, and a set of loads. The overall control strategy is based on a two-level structure. The top level is the energy management and power regulation system. Depending on wind and load conditions, this system generates reference dynamic operating points to low level individual subsystems. The energy management and power regulation system also controls the load scheduling operation during unfavorable wind conditions under inadequate energy storage in order to avoid a system blackout. Based on the reference dynamic operating points of the individual subsystems, the local controllers control the wind turbine, fuel cell, electrolyzer, and battery storage units. The proposed control system is implemented in MATLAB Simpower software and tested for various wind and load conditions. Results are presented and discussed.

Rainfall-runoff modeling using dynamic evolving neural fuzzy inference system with online learning

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.Neuro-Fuzzy Systems (NFS) are computational intelligence tools that have recently been employed in hydrological modeling. In many of the common NFS the learning algorithms used are based on batch learning where all the parameters of the fuzzy system are optimized off-line. Although these models have frequently been used, there is a criticism on such learning process as the number of rules are needed to be predefined by the user. This will reduce the flexibility of the NFS architecture while dealing with different data with different level of complexity. On the other hand, online or local learning evolves through local adjustments in the model as new data is introduced in sequence. In this study, dynamic evolving neural fuzzy inference system (DENFIS) is used in which an evolving, online clustering algorithm called the Evolving Clustering Method (ECM) is implemented. ECM is an online, maximum distance-based clustering method which is able to estimate the number of clusters in a data set and find their current centers in the input space through its fast, one-pass algorithm. The 10-minutes rainfall-runoff time series from a small (23.22 km2) tropical catchment named Sungai Kayu Ara in Selangor, Malaysia, was used in this study. Out of the 40 major events, 12 were used for training and 28 for testing. Results obtained by DENFIS were then compared with the ones obtained by physically-based rainfall-runoff model HEC-HMS and a regression model ARX. It was concluded that DENFIS results were comparable to HEC-HMS and superior to ARX model. This indicates a strong potential for DENFIS to be used in rainfall-runoff modeling.

MARS (Media Asset Retrieval System): Puget Sound’s Digital Archive

The MARS (Media Asset Retrieval System) Project is the collaborative effort of public broadcasters,libraries and schools in the Puget Sound region to create a digital online resource that provides access to content produced by public broadcasters via the public libraries. Convergence ConsortiumThe Convergence Consortium is a model for community collaboration, including organizations such as public broadcasters, libraries, museums, and schools in the Puget Sound region to assess the needs of their constituents and pool resources to develop solutions to meet those needs. Specifically, the archives of public broadcasters have been identified as significant resources for the local communities and nationally. These resources can be accessed on the broadcasters websites, and through libraries and used by schools, and integrated with text and photographic archives from other partners.MARS’ goalCreate an online resource that provides effective access to the content produced locally by KCTS (Seattle PBS affiliate) and KUOW (Seattle NPR affiliate). The broadcasts will be made searchable using the CPB Metadata Element Set (under development) and controlled vocabularies (to be developed). This will ensure a user friendly search and navigation mechanism and user satisfaction.Furthermore, the resource can search the local public library’s catalog concurrently and provide the user with relevant TV material, radio material, and books on a given subject.The ultimate goal is to produce a model that can be used in cities around the country.The current phase of the project assesses the community’s need, analyzes the current operational systems, and makes recommendations for the design of the resource.Deliverables• Literature review of the issues surrounding the organization, description and representation of media assets• Needs assessment report of internal and external stakeholders• Profile of the systems in the area of managing and organizing media assetsfor public broadcasting nationwideActivities• Analysis of information seeking behavior• Analysis of collaboration within the respective organizations• Analysis of the scope and context of the proposed system• Examining the availability of information resources and exchangeof resources among users

The Ribatejano pig – rebirth of a local pig population? First results

A former cross between Alentejano (AL) and Bísaro (BI) breeds, called Ribatejano pig (RI), was quite spread in Ribatejo region until half of the last century and was raised in both borders of Tagus River. Besides the renewed interest of this cross nowadays, no performance data is available regarding the RI (ALxBI and BIxAL) animals or their products, which were studied in the frame of project TREASURE1. In order to assess the productive performance of the RI pig, castrated AL, BI, ALxBI and BIxAL pigs (10 from each genotype) raised in traditional free-range system and fed commercial diets ad libitum, were slaughtered at ~65kg LW.

Urban public policies: towards the improvement of landscape ecological system. The case-study of the city of Évora, Portugal.

The Charter of European Planning 2013 presents a Vision for the future of European cities and regions, highlighting the sustainability of cities and the preservation of urban ecosystems, integrating the man-made environment with the natural ecosystems and contribute to the well-being and quality of life of their inhabitants and other stakeholders. Thus, urban public policies are crucial to the improvement of the landscape ecological system, achievable by city planning and design. The paper aims to analyse if public urban policies in Portugal have been integrating strategies and/or guidelines to enhance the ecological system of the landscape. Then, which new perspectives are possible, framed by the recently approved law Bases of Public Policy of Soils, Land Management and Urban Planning (2014). This new law, in contrast with the previous ones, don’t allow reserving land to urbanize, in municipal master plans. Moreover, it is possible to revert land classified for urban purposes in those plans into rustic soils (when it is not yet infra-structured or built). It allows creating new planning and design dynamics, convert several areas and including them in the urban ecological structure, essential to the enhancement of landscape ecological system. This is a filed of work where landscape architecture has huge responsibilities, by associating and harmonize man-made environment with natural systems, enlightening sustainability consistent with conservation and improvement of Nature while contributing to the well-being and quality of life of Man. A sustainability that is ethical, aesthetic, ecological and cultural. The study is supported by a case study – the city of Évora. The ultimate goal is to propose measures to promote larger and better integration of ecological component in urban public policies, framed by the new territorial management law, taking into account and highlighting the specificities of the landscape system – Man and Nature – at the local level.

ECOTURISMO Y DESARROLLO LOCAL EN LA PENÍNSULA DE OSA, COSTA RICA

Este artículo analiza la relación entre ecoturismo y desarrollo local, aborda un enfoque teórico del concepto de ecoturismo y enfatiza su relación práctica con el desarrollo local. Con el objetivo de evaluar profundamente esta relación se presenta la Península de Osa, como caso de estudio. Se estudia la participación comunal como indicador del desarrollo local provocado por el ecoturismo. Además, se muestra una evaluación de los efectos del ecoturismo en el sistema social local. De acuerdo con los resultados de esta investigación, el modelo de ecoturismo que se ha implantado en el área de estudio ha creado las condiciones para una segregación social que facilita una marginación social para los sectores campesinos en el área.ARSTRACTSThis article analyzed the relationship between ecotourism and communities development. It presented a teorethical approach of the ecotourism concepts and the relationship with local development. In order to analysed deeply this relationship, this study is focus in the Osa Península, Costa Rica. This study analized the communities participation in the ecotourism industry as a indicador of the local development. In addition, there are a evaluation of the efect of ecotourism in the social local system. It found the model of ecotourism that has been developed in Osa Península provoque a spacial segregation that creade conditions for the social margination of the peasant in the  study area.

ORDENAMIENTO DEL TERRITORIO LOCAL ASISTIDO A TRAVES DE UN SISTEMA DE INFORMACIÓN GEOGRÁFICA.

El presente artículo muestra la aplicación de un Sistema de Información Geográfica (SIG) con una interfase con manejador de base de datos. El SIG utilizado es de modelo raster sin la capacidad de desarrollar una base de datos descriptiva. La aplicación desarrollada es conocida como Sistema de Información Geográfica para Gobiernos Locales (SIGGLO)y el área donde se implementó fue en el cantón de santo Domingo de la provincia de Heredia. En el apartado Los Planes de ordenamiento Territorial se discute sobre la utilidad que posee este tipo de instrumentos, que regulan el ordenamiento a nivel local y en forma paralela los autores presentan sus inquietudes del porqué los planes reguladores no han tenido el éxito deseado. Posteriormente, se presenta la visión de los autores sobre Los Planes de ordenamiento Manuales vs. Automatizados, el cual permite presentar las ventajas y desventajas que poseen los SiGs para implementar un Plan de Ordenamiento a través de esta tecnología. Seguidamente se presenta en detalle la experiencia obtenida con el SIGGLO, donde se explica la utilización del SIG y de un paquete de digitalización para combinar luego ambos con un manejador de bases de datos. Por último, se presentan una serie de restricciones que tiene el SIGGLO, también las recomendaciones que se deberían considerar al implementar un nuevo proyecto bajo la metodología del SIGGLO. ABSTRACTThe present article presents an application of a data base management system interfacing with a Geographical Information System (GIS). The utilized GIS for the project is a raster based system without the ability to develop a descriptive data base. This system is called Geographical Information System for Local Governments (SIGGLO) and was implemented in the canton of Santo Domingo, Costa Rica. It is mentioned in Territorial Organization Plans the utility that GIS systems have in regulating organization on a local level. In parallel form, the authors present their doubts of why these regulatory plans have not had the desired success. Afterwards, the authors present their vision of an Organization Plan for Manual and Automated functions which permit the presentation of the advantages and disadvantages that contain GIS in order to implement a Organization Plan with these technologies. Following this is a detailed presentation of the experience obtained with SIGGLO and where it is explained the utility of the GIS and of a digitizing software package which was later combined in the data base management system. Finally, a series of restrictions is presented that SIGGLO has which also contains details of recommendations that should be considered upon implementing a new project under the SIGGLO methodology.

PROPUESTA DE ZONIFICACIÓN TURÍSTICA COMO MODELO DE PLANIFICACIÓN TERRITORIAL PARA COMUNIDADES DEL GOLFO DE NICOYA

El proyecto “Diseño de productos y rutas turísticas alternativas para el mejoramiento del nivel de vida de las comunidades locales: el caso del Golfo de Nicoya” tiene como propósitos: la elaboración de un diagnóstico del sistema turístico de las comunidades involucradas, la evaluación del potencial turístico de los recursos y atractivos identificados en las comunidades, el diseño de productos y rutas turísticas, y la realización de una zonificación turística en las áreas de estudio. El presente artículo se centra en la zonificación turística de las comunidades metas, debido a que las variables anteriormente mencionadas son la base para su elaboración. La zonificación toma en cuenta los aspectos que condicionan los procesos de transformación y articulación del turismo en el territorio, desde el papel de los recursos naturales para la implantación turística y la influencia de la estructura territorial y socioeconómica sobre la que se organiza el turismo. Esta permite un mejor análisis del espacio geográfico y diseño de propuestas de desarrollo. En este caso, se identifican elementos homogeneizadores del espacio turístico a partir del diagnóstico de las comunidades, entre ellos se encuentran: la geomorfología, uso del suelo, tipología de recurso y atractivo turístico, la oferta y la demanda turística, entre otros. ABSTRACT The purpose of the project, “Design of Products and Tourist Route Alternatives for Improving the Standard of Living of Local Communities: The Case of the Gulf of Nicoya”, is to diagnose the system of tourism in the communities involved, evaluate the tourist potential of the resources and attractions of the communities, design products and tour routes, and establish tourist zones in the areas of study. This article focuses on the community goals of the tourist zones since the above-mentioned variables are the basis for their development. The zoning takes into account the aspects that condition the process of transforming an area into a tourist zone, from the role natural resources play in establishing tourism to the influence of socioeconomic and territorial structures. This allows a better analysis of the geographic space and design of development proposals. In this case, homogenous elements of the tourist space are identified from diagnosis of the communities, including the geomorphology, land use, typology of resource and tourist attractions, tourist supply and demand and other factors.