Exploring emotions on #auspol : polarity, conservativism and public performance in the Twitter debate on Australian politics

The affective communication patterns of conversations on Twitter can provide insights into the culture of online communities. In this paper we apply a combined quantitative and qualitative approach to investigate the structural make-up and emotional content of tweeting activity around the hashtag #auspol (for Australian politics) in order to highlight the polarity and conservativism that characterise this highly active community of politically engaged individuals. We document the centralised structure of this particular community, which is based around a deeply committed core of contributors. Through in-depth content analysis of the tweets of participants to the online debate we explore the communicative tone, patterns of engagement and thematic drivers that shape the affective character of the community and their effect on its cohesiveness. In this way we provide a comprehensive account of the complex techno-social, linguistic and cultural factors involved in conversations that are shaped in the Twittersphere.

International entrepreneurship and firm performance over economic crisis

Small and medium firms (SMEs) that operate in global markets are vulnerable to external shocks in uncertain, hostile and volatile business environments given their limited resources and inexperience. In such environments entrepreneurial firms respond by making strategic choices to mitigate such vulnerabilities. This research examines one such important strategic choice – entrepreneurial posturing and its link to financial performance in Finnish SMEs during the global financial crisis. Findings suggest that the dimensions of entrepreneurial posturing have a differential effect on firm performance depending upon the severity of the business environment as well as the firm’s degree of internationalization. Implications for theory and practice are discussed and directions for future research provided.

An evaluation of the culture performance of two Macrobrachium species in Vanuatu: the exotic M. rosenbergii and the indigenous M. lar

Fisheries and aquaculture are important for food security, income generation and are critical to long term sustainability of many countries. Freshwater prawns have been harvested in the streams and creeks in Vanuatu, however due to over-exploitation catches have declined in recent years. To satisfy high demand for this product, Vanuatu government intends to establish economically viable small-scale aquaculture industries. The current project showed that wild Macrobrachium lar in Vanuatu constitute a single population for management purposes and that M. rosenbergii grows much faster than M. lar in simple pond grow-out systems, hence is a better species for culture in Vanuatu.

RMAA safety performance : how does it compare with Greenfield projects?

Gross value of cons truction work in the repair , maintenance, minor alte ration and addition (RMAA) sector in Hong Kong has expanded dramatically by 58% from 1998 to 2007, accounting for over 53% of the whole construction market in 2007. Unfortunately, the portion of industrial accidents arising from this sector also increased substantially during the same period. It is important to improve the safety performance of the RMAA sector. This paper has set out the objectives to examine safety statistics of RMAA works; to compare them with those of green field projects; and more importantly, to highlight potential hurdles en countered in the process of comparison and finally to provide effective recommendations for overcoming these impediments. To strive for continuous safety improvement of RMAA works, comparable safety statistics should be compiled for this sector.

Laboratory study on the performance of recycled concrete aggregates blended with reclaimed asphalt pavement as pavement granular material

Production of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) from construction and demolition (C&D) waste has become popular all over the world since the availability of land spaces are limited to dispose. Therefore it is important to seek alternative applications for RCA. The use of RCA in base and sub-base layers in granular pavement is a viable solution. In mechanistic pavement design, rutting (permanent deformation) is considered as the major failure mechanisms of the pavement. The rutting is the accumulation of permanent deformation of pavement layers caused by the repetitive vehicle load. In Queensland, Australia, it is accepted to have the maximum of 20% of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in RCA and therefore, it is important to investigate the effect of RAP on the permanent deformation properties of RCA. In this study, a series of repeated load triaxial (RLT) tests were conducted on RCA blended with different percentage of RAP to investigate the permanent deformation and resilient modulus properties of RCA. The vertical deformation and resilient modulus values were used to determine the response of RCA for the cyclic loading under standard pressure and loading conditions.

Direct detection of additives and degradation products from polymers by liquid extraction surface analysis employing chip-based nanospray mass spectrometry

RATIONALE: Polymer-based surface coatings in outdoor applications experience accelerated degradation due to exposure to solar radiation, oxygen and atmospheric pollutants. These deleterious agents cause undesirable changes to the aesthetic and mechanical properties of the polymer, reducing its lifetime. The use of antioxidants such as hindered amine light stabilisers (HALS) retards these degradative processes; however, mechanisms for HALS action and polymer degradation are poorly understood. METHODS: Detection of the HALS TINUVINW123 (bis(1-octyloxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl) sebacate) and the polymer degradation products directly from a polyester-based coil coating was achieved by liquid extraction surface analysis (LESA) coupled to a triple quadrupole QTRAPW 5500 mass spectrometer. The detection of TINUVINW123 and melamine was confirmed by the characteristic fragmentation pattern observed in LESA-MS/MS spectra that was identical to that reported for authentic samples. RESULTS: Analysis of an unstabilised coil coating by LESA-MS after exposure to 4 years of outdoor field testing revealed the presence of melamine (1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triamine) as a polymer degradation product at elevated levels. Changes to the physical appearance of the coil coating, including powder-like deposits on the coating's surface, were observed to coincide with melamine deposits and are indicative of the phenomenon known as polymer ' blooming'. CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, in situ detection of analytes from a thermoset polymer coating was accomplished without any sample preparation, providing advantages over traditional extraction-analysis approaches and some contemporary ambient MS methods. Detection of HALS and polymer degradation products such as melamine provides insight into the mechanisms by which degradation occurs and suggests LESA-MS is a powerful new tool for polymer analysis. Copyright (C) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The development of a simple multi-nodal tool to identify performance issues in existing commercial buildings

Australia’s building stock includes many older commercial buildings with numerous factors that impact energy performance and indoor environment quality. The built environment industry has generally focused heavily on improving physical building design elements for greater energy efficiency (such as retrofits and environmental upgrades), however there are noticeable ‘upper limits’ to performance improvements in these areas. To achieve a stepchange improvement in building performance, the authors propose that additional components need to be addressed in a whole of building approach, including the way building design elements are managed and the level of stakeholder engagement between owners, tenants and building managers. This paper focuses on the opportunities provided by this whole-of-building approach, presenting the findings of a research project undertaken through the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) in Australia. Researchers worked with a number of industry partners over two years to investigate issues facing stakeholders at base building and tenancy levels, and the barriers to improving building performance. Through a mixed-method, industry-led research approach, five ‘nodes’ were identified in whole-of-building performance evaluation, each with interlinking and overlapping complexities that can influence performance. The nodes cover building management, occupant experience, indoor environment quality, agreements and culture, and design elements. This paper outlines the development and testing of these nodes and their interactions, and the resultant multi-nodal tool, called the ‘Performance Nexus’ tool. The tool is intended to be of most benefit in evaluating opportunities for performance improvement in the vast number of existing low-performing building stock.

Greening Buildings : How can the performance of existing commercial buildings be improved?

Efforts to improve the performance of commercial buildings have often focused on encouraging green design, construction and building operation; however, the business case is not very compelling if considering the energy cost savings alone. In recent years green building has been driven by a sense that it will improve the productivity of occupants, something with even greater economic returns than energy savings. Reducing energy demand in commercial buildings in a way that encourages greater productivity is not yet well understood as it involves a set of complex and interdependent factors. This project investigates these factors and focuses on the performance of and interaction between: green design elements, indoor environment quality, tenant/ leasing agreements and culture, occupant experience, and building management practices.

Biophilic urbanism : harnessing natural elements to enhance the performance of constructed assets

Creating climate resilient, low-carbon urban environments and assets is a policy goal of many governments and city planners today, and an important issue for constructed asset owners. Stakeholders and decision makers in urban environments are also responding to growing evidence that cities need to increase their densities to reduce their footprint in the face of growing urban populations. Meanwhile, research is highlighting the importance of balancing such density with urban nature, to provide a range of health and wellbeing benefits to residents as well as to mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of heavily built up, impervious urban areas. Concurrently achieving this suite of objectives requires the coordination and cooperation of multiple stakeholder groups, with urban development and investment increasingly involving many private and public actors. Strategies are needed that can provide ‘win-win’ outcomes to benefit these multiple stakeholders, and provide immediate benefits while also addressing the emerging challenges of climate change, resource shortages and urban population growth. Within this context, ‘biophilic urbanism’ is emerging as an important design principle for buildings and urban areas. Through the use of a suite of natural design elements, biophilic urbanism has the potential to address multiple pressures related to climate change, increasing urban populations, finite resources and human’s inherent need for contact with nature. The principle directs the creation of urban environments that are conducive to life, delivering a range of benefits to stakeholders including building owners, occupiers and the surrounding community. This paper introduces the principle of biophilic urbanism and discusses opportunities for improved building occupant experience and performance of constructed assets, as well as addressing other sustainability objectives including climate change mitigation and adaptation. The paper presents an emerging process for considering biophilic design opportunities at different scales and highlights implications for the built environment industry. This process draws on findings of a study of leading cities internationally and learnings related to economic and policy considerations. This included literature review, two stakeholder workshops, and extensive industry consultation, funded by the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre through core project partners Western Australian Department of Finance, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Townsville City Council CitySolar Program, Green Roofs Australasia, and PlantUp.

Performance-based structural fire design and testing of structures

Fire incident in buildings is common in Hong Kong and this could lead to heavy casualties due to its high population density, so the fire safety design of the framed structure is an important research topic. This paper describes a computer tool for determination of capacity of structural safety against various fire scenarios and the well-accepted second-order direct plastic analysis is adopted for simulation of material yielding and buckling. A computer method is developed to predict structural behaviour of bare steel framed structures at elevated temperatures but the work can be applied to structures made of other materials. These effects of thermal expansion and material degradation due to heating are required to be considered in order to capture the actual behavior of the structure under fire. Degradation of material strength with increasing temperature is included by a set of temperature-stress-strain curves according to BS5950 Part 8 mainly, which implicitly allows for creep deformation. Several numerical and experimental verifications of framed structures are presented and compared against solutions by other researchers. The proposed method allows us to adopt the truly performance-based structural fire analysis and design with significant saving in cost and time.

Entrepreneurial bricolage and young firm performance : the moderating effect of team composition

Many young firms face significant resource constraints during attempts to develop and grow. One promising theory that explicitly links to resource constraints is bricolage: a construct developed by Levi Strauss (1967). Bricolage aligns with notions of resourcefulness: using what’s on hand, through making do, and recombining resources for new or novel purposes. In this paper we further theorize and test the moderating effects of ownership team composition on bricolage and firm performance. Our findings suggest that team size, strong network ties, and functionality enhance the effects of bricolage in young firm performance.

Organizational factors impacting on patient satisfaction : a cross sectional examination of service climate and linkages to nurses' effort and performance

Background Patient satisfaction is influenced by the setting in which patients are treated and the employees providing care. However, to date, limited research has explained how health care organizations or nurses influence patient satisfaction. Objectives The purpose of this study was to test the model that service climate would increase the effort and performance of nursing groups and, in turn, increase patient satisfaction. Method This study incorporated data from 156 nurses, 28 supervisors, and 171 patients. A cross-sectional design was utilized to examine the relationship between service climate, nurse effort, nurse performance and patient satisfaction. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the proposed relationships. Results Service climate was associated with the effort that nurses directed towards technical care and extra-role behaviors. In turn, the effort that nurses exerted predicted their performance, as rated by their supervisors. Finally, task performance was a significant predictor of patient satisfaction. Conclusions This study suggests that both hospital management and nurses play a role in promoting patient satisfaction. By focusing on creating a climate for service, health care managers can improve nursing performance and patient satisfaction with care.

The impacts of FOREX fluctuations on construction business performance : an organisational capabilities perspective

Construction projects are a high risk business activity. When undertaking projects in an international context, it is further complicated by the risk of fluctuations in the foreign exchange rates (FOREX). Construction business performance is affected by these fluctuations. They affect progress and cause delays, which in turn create problems for subcontractors, namely cost overruns, disputes, arbitration, total abandonment and litigation. FOREX fluctuations also cause the price of raw materials to increase, leading the cost overruns. Managing FOREX risk is critical and past research have focused on the need for adequate insurance, careful planning and management, and foreign exchange futures hedging to overcome issues that have been caused by the FOREX risk. Analysis of FOREX risk in international construction business usually focused only on issues at the project level. There is currently lack of understanding of Organisational Capabilities (OC) to manage the impacts of FOREX risk, which when examined, are seen in isolation. This paper attempts to bridge the gap by discussing the impacts of FOREX fluctuations on the international construction business. The focus is on the OC perspective and the need to develop OC framework to mitigate the risk in sustaining construction business performance.

Assessment of driving-related performance in chronic whiplash using an advanced driving simulator

Driving is often nominated as problematic by individuals with chronic whiplash associated disorders (WAD), yet driving-related performance has not been evaluated objectively. The purpose of this study was to test driving-related performance in persons with chronic WAD against healthy controls of similar age, gender and driving experience to determine if driving-related performance in the WAD group was sufficiently impaired to recommend fitness to drive assessment. Driving-related performance was assessed using an advanced driving simulator during three driving scenarios; freeway, residential and a central business district (CBD). Total driving duration was approximately 15 min. Five driving tasks which could cause a collision (critical events) were included in the scenarios. In addition, the effect of divided attention (identify red dots projected onto side or rear view mirrors) was assessed three times in each scenario. Driving performance was measured using the simulator performance index (SPI) which is calculated from 12 measures. z-Scores for all SPI measures were calculated for each WAD subject based on mean values of the control subjects. The z-scores were then averaged for the WAD group. A z-score of ≤−2 indicated a driving failing grade in the simulator. The number of collisions over the five critical events was compared between the WAD and control groups as was reaction time and missed response ratio in identifying the red dots. Seventeen WAD and 26 control subjects commenced the driving assessment. Demographic data were comparable between the groups. All subjects completed the freeway scenario but four withdrew during the residential and eight during the CBD scenario because of motion sickness. All scenarios were completed by 14 WAD and 17 control subjects. Mean z-scores for the SPI over the three scenarios was statistically lower in the WAD group (−0.3 ± 0.3; P < 0.05) but the score was not below the cut-off point for safe driving. There were no differences in the reaction time and missed response ratio in divided attention tasks between the groups (All P > 0.05). Assessment of driving in an advanced driving simulator for approximately 15 min revealed that driving-related performance in chronic WAD was not sufficiently impaired to recommend the need for fitness to drive assessment.

Experimental study on creep and shrinkage of high-performance ultra-lightweight cement composite of 60 MPa

Creep and shrinkage behaviour of an ultra lightweight cement composite (ULCC) up to 450 days was evaluated in comparison with those of a normal weight aggregate concrete (NWAC) and a lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) with similar 28-day compressive strength. The ULCC is characterized by low density < 1500 kg/m3 and high compressive strength about 60 MPa. Autogenous shrinkage increased rapidly in the ULCC at early-age and almost 95% occurred prior to the start of creep test at 28 days. Hence, majority of shrinkage of the ULCC during creep test was drying shrinkage. Total shrinkage of the ULCC during the 450-day creep test was the lowest compared to the NWAC and LWAC. However, corresponding total creep in the ULCC was the highest with high proportion attributed to basic creep (≥ ~90%) and limited drying creep. The high creep of the ULCC is likely due to its low elastic modulus. Specific creep of the ULCC was similar to that of the NWAC, but more than 80% higher than the LWAC. Creep coefficient of the ULCC was about 47% lower than that of the NWAC but about 18% higher than that of the LWAC. Among five creep models evaluated which tend to over-estimate the creep coefficient of the ULCC, EC2 model gives acceptable prediction within +25% deviations. The EC2 model may be used as a first approximate for the creep of ULCC in the designs of steel-concrete composites or sandwich structures in the absence of other relevant creep data.