(UN) Ethical practices and ethical dilemmas in universities : Academic leaders' perceptions

In this paper we report on the qualitative component of a study that explored middle level academic leaders’ experiences of (un)ethical practices and ethical dilemmas in their daily work. An electronic survey was distributed to academic leaders from universities across three Australian states. There are three major findings in this study. First, the messy context of universities is providing a fertile ground for ethical dilemmas to flourish. Second, the two main categories of unethical practices identified by participants were academic dishonesty and inappropriate behaviour towards staff and students. Third, the ethical dilemmas that emerged focused on the academic leaders’ strong sense of professional ethics that were in conflict with an ethic of care, supervisors’ directives, and the rules and policies of the organisation.

Intraurban rail access : Policy implications of five revealed perspectives from a Q-sorting exercise in three Australian cities

This project advances current understanding of intra-urban rail passengers and their travel experiences in order to help rail industry leaders tailor policy approaches to fit specific, relevant segments of their target population. Using a Q sorting technique and cluster analysis, our preliminary research identified five perspectives occurring in a small sample of rail passengers, who varied in their frequency and location of rail travel as well as certain socio-demographic characteristics. Revealed perspectives (named to capture the gist of their content) included: ‘Rail Travel is About the Destination, Not the Journey’; ‘Despite Challenges, Public Transport is Still the Best Option’; ‘Rail Travel is Fine’; ‘Rail Travel? So Far, So Good’; and ‘Bad Taste for Rail Travel’. This paper discusses each of the perspectives in detail, and considers them in terms of tailored policy implications. An overarching finding from this study is that improving railway travel ‘access’ requires attention to physical, psychological, financial, and social facets of accessibility. For example, designing waiting areas to be more socially functional and comfortable has the potential to increase ridership by addressing social forms of access, decreasing perceived wait times, and making time at the station feel like time well spent. Even at this preliminary stage, the Q sorting technique promises to provide a valuable, holistic albeit fine-grained analysis of passenger attitudes and experiences that will assist industry efforts to increase ridership.

Eat Cook Grow : Mixing Human-Computer Interactions with Human-Food Interactions

Food has been a major agenda in political, socio-cultural, and environmental domains throughout history. The significance of food has been particularly highlighted in recent years with the growing public awareness of the unfolding impacts of climate change, challenging our understanding, practice, and expectations of our relationship with food. Parallel to this development has been the rise of web applications such as blogs, wikis, video and photo sharing sites, and social networking systems that are arguably more open, collaborative, and personalisable. These so-called ‘Web 2.0’ technologies have contributed to a more participatory Internet experience than what had previously been possible. An increasing number of these social applications are now available on mobile technologies where they take advantage of device-specific features such as sensors, location and context awareness, further expanding potential for the culture of participation and creativity. This international volume assembles a diverse collection of book chapters that contribute towards exploring and better understanding the opportunities and challenges provided by tools, interfaces, methods, and practices of social and mobile technology to enable engagement with people and creativity in the domain of food in contemporary society. It brings together an international group of academics and practitioners from a diverse range of disciplines such as computing and engineering, social sciences, digital media and human-computer interaction to critically examine a range of applications of social and mobile technology, such as social networking, mobile interaction, wikis, twitter, blogging, mapping, shared displays and urban screens, and their impact to foster a better understanding and practice of environmentally, socio-culturally, economically, and health-wise sustainable food culture.

Linking three-dimensional geological modelling and multivariate statistical analysis to define groundwater chemistry baseline and identify inter-aquifer connectivity within the Clarence-Moreton Basin, Southeast Queensland, Australia

The Clarence-Moreton Basin (CMB) covers approximately 26000 km2 and is the only sub-basin of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) in which there is flow to both the south-west and the east, although flow to the south-west is predominant. In many parts of the basin, including catchments of the Bremer, Logan and upper Condamine Rivers in southeast Queensland, the Walloon Coal Measures are under exploration for Coal Seam Gas (CSG). In order to assess spatial variations in groundwater flow and hydrochemistry at a basin-wide scale, a 3D hydrogeological model of the Queensland section of the CMB has been developed using GoCAD modelling software. Prior to any large-scale CSG extraction, it is essential to understand the existing hydrochemical character of the different aquifers and to establish any potential linkage. To effectively use the large amount of water chemistry data existing for assessment of hydrochemical evolution within the different lithostratigraphic units, multivariate statistical techniques were employed.

Effects of type 2 diabetes behavioural telehealth interventions on glycaemic control and adherence : a systematic review

We reviewed the effect of behavioural telehealth interventions on glycaemic control and diabetes self-management in patients with type 2 diabetes. The databases CINAHL, Medline and psychINFO were searched in August 2012. Journal articles were selected that had been published in English with a randomized controlled trial design using a usual care comparison group, and in which the primary intervention component was delivered by telehealth. Relevant outcome measures were glycaemic control and one or more of the following diabetes self-care areas: diet, physical activity, blood glucose self-monitoring (BGSM) or medication adherence. Interventions were excluded if they were primarily based on telemonitoring. The search retrieved 1027 articles, from which 49 were selected based on their title and abstract. Fourteen articles (reporting 13 studies) met the eligibility criteria for inclusion. Four studies reported significant improvements in glycaemic control. Five of eight studies on dietary adherence reported significant treatment effects, as did five of eight on physical activity, four of nine on blood glucose self-monitoring, and three of eight on medication adherence. Overall, behavioural telehealth interventions show promise in improving the diabetes self-care and glycaemic control of people with type 2 diabetes.

An evolutionary computation approach to three-dimensional path planning for unmanned aerial vehicles with tactical and kinematic constraints

This paper presents a novel evolutionary computation approach to three-dimensional path planning for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with tactical and kinematic constraints. A genetic algorithm (GA) is modified and extended for path planning. Two GAs are seeded at the initial and final positions with a common objective to minimise their distance apart under given UAV constraints. This is accomplished by the synchronous optimisation of subsequent control vectors. The proposed evolutionary computation approach is called synchronous genetic algorithm (SGA). The sequence of control vectors generated by the SGA constitutes to a near-optimal path plan. The resulting path plan exhibits no discontinuity when transitioning from curve to straight trajectories. Experiments and results show that the paths generated by the SGA are within 2% of the optimal solution. Such a path planner when implemented on a hardware accelerator, such as field programmable gate array chips, can be used in the UAV as on-board replanner, as well as in ground station systems for assisting in high precision planning and modelling of mission scenarios.

Learning landscapes 2.0 : warning - assembly required

Twenty first century learners operate in organic, immersive environments. A pedagogy of student-centred learning is not a recipe for rooms. A contemporary learning environment is like a landscape that grows, morphs, and responds to the pressures of the context and micro-culture. There is no single adaptable solution, nor a suite of off-the-shelf answers; propositions must be customisable and infinitely variable. They must be indeterminate and changeable; based on the creation of learning places, not restrictive or constraining spaces. A sustainable solution will be un-fixed, responsive to the life cycle of the components and materials, able to be manipulated by the users; it will create and construct its own history. Learning occurs as formal education with situational knowledge structures, but also as informal learning, active learning, blended learning social learning, incidental learning, and unintended learning. These are not spatial concepts but socio-cultural patterns of discovery. Individual learning requirements must run free and need to be accommodated as the learner sees fit. The spatial solution must accommodate and enable a full array of learning situations. It is a system not an object. Three major components: 1. The determinate landscape: in-situ concrete 'plate' that is permanent. It predates the other components of the system and remains as a remnant/imprint/fossil after the other components of the system have been relocated. It is a functional learning landscape in its own right; enabling a variety of experiences and activities. 2. The indeterminate landscape: a kit of pre-fabricated 2-D panels assembled in a unique manner at each site to suit the client and context. Manufactured to the principles of design-for-disassembly. A symbiotic barnacle like system that attaches itself to the existing infrastructure through the determinate landscape which acts as a fast growth rhizome. A carapace of protective panels, infinitely variable to create enclosed, semi-enclosed, and open learning places. 3. The stations: pre-fabricated packages of highly-serviced space connected through the determinate landscape. Four main types of stations; wet-room learning centres, dry-room learning centres, ablutions, and low-impact building services. Entirely customised at the factory and delivered to site. The stations can be retro-fitted to suit a new context during relocation. Principles of design for disassembly: material principles • use recycled and recyclable materials • minimise the number of types of materials • no toxic materials • use lightweight materials • avoid secondary finishes • provide identification of material types component principles • minimise/standardise the number of types of components • use mechanical not chemical connections • design for use of common tools and equipment • provide easy access to all components • make component size to suite means of handling • provide built in means of handling • design to realistic tolerances • use a minimum number of connectors and a minimum number of types system principles • design for durability and repeated use • use prefabrication and mass production • provide spare components on site • sustain all assembly and material information

Exploring partnership : the experience of HCAP

This report summarises the participatory action research (PAR) undertaken as part of the Homelessness Community Action Planning (HCAP) project implemented across seven regions in Queensland in 2011 and 2012. The HCAP is a component of the Queensland strategy for the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness, and is funded for three years (2010-2013). The report identifies and analyses factors which facilitated or constrained the development of Government- NGO partnerships at regional and state levels in HCAP. The study supports the view that the HCAP partnership between the Queensland Government and the Community Services Sector is working and likely to be productive.

Asset health prediction using the explicit hazard model

The ability to estimate the asset reliability and the probability of failure is critical to reducing maintenance costs, operation downtime, and safety hazards. Predicting the survival time and the probability of failure in future time is an indispensable requirement in prognostics and asset health management. In traditional reliability models, the lifetime of an asset is estimated using failure event data, alone; however, statistically sufficient failure event data are often difficult to attain in real-life situations due to poor data management, effective preventive maintenance, and the small population of identical assets in use. Condition indicators and operating environment indicators are two types of covariate data that are normally obtained in addition to failure event and suspended data. These data contain significant information about the state and health of an asset. Condition indicators reflect the level of degradation of assets while operating environment indicators accelerate or decelerate the lifetime of assets. When these data are available, an alternative approach to the traditional reliability analysis is the modelling of condition indicators and operating environment indicators and their failure-generating mechanisms using a covariate-based hazard model. The literature review indicates that a number of covariate-based hazard models have been developed. All of these existing covariate-based hazard models were developed based on the principle theory of the Proportional Hazard Model (PHM). However, most of these models have not attracted much attention in the field of machinery prognostics. Moreover, due to the prominence of PHM, attempts at developing alternative models, to some extent, have been stifled, although a number of alternative models to PHM have been suggested. The existing covariate-based hazard models neglect to fully utilise three types of asset health information (including failure event data (i.e. observed and/or suspended), condition data, and operating environment data) into a model to have more effective hazard and reliability predictions. In addition, current research shows that condition indicators and operating environment indicators have different characteristics and they are non-homogeneous covariate data. Condition indicators act as response variables (or dependent variables) whereas operating environment indicators act as explanatory variables (or independent variables). However, these non-homogenous covariate data were modelled in the same way for hazard prediction in the existing covariate-based hazard models. The related and yet more imperative question is how both of these indicators should be effectively modelled and integrated into the covariate-based hazard model. This work presents a new approach for addressing the aforementioned challenges. The new covariate-based hazard model, which termed as Explicit Hazard Model (EHM), explicitly and effectively incorporates all three available asset health information into the modelling of hazard and reliability predictions and also drives the relationship between actual asset health and condition measurements as well as operating environment measurements. The theoretical development of the model and its parameter estimation method are demonstrated in this work. EHM assumes that the baseline hazard is a function of the both time and condition indicators. Condition indicators provide information about the health condition of an asset; therefore they update and reform the baseline hazard of EHM according to the health state of asset at given time t. Some examples of condition indicators are the vibration of rotating machinery, the level of metal particles in engine oil analysis, and wear in a component, to name but a few. Operating environment indicators in this model are failure accelerators and/or decelerators that are included in the covariate function of EHM and may increase or decrease the value of the hazard from the baseline hazard. These indicators caused by the environment in which an asset operates, and that have not been explicitly identified by the condition indicators (e.g. Loads, environmental stresses, and other dynamically changing environment factors). While the effects of operating environment indicators could be nought in EHM; condition indicators could emerge because these indicators are observed and measured as long as an asset is operational and survived. EHM has several advantages over the existing covariate-based hazard models. One is this model utilises three different sources of asset health data (i.e. population characteristics, condition indicators, and operating environment indicators) to effectively predict hazard and reliability. Another is that EHM explicitly investigates the relationship between condition and operating environment indicators associated with the hazard of an asset. Furthermore, the proportionality assumption, which most of the covariate-based hazard models suffer from it, does not exist in EHM. According to the sample size of failure/suspension times, EHM is extended into two forms: semi-parametric and non-parametric. The semi-parametric EHM assumes a specified lifetime distribution (i.e. Weibull distribution) in the form of the baseline hazard. However, for more industry applications, due to sparse failure event data of assets, the analysis of such data often involves complex distributional shapes about which little is known. Therefore, to avoid the restrictive assumption of the semi-parametric EHM about assuming a specified lifetime distribution for failure event histories, the non-parametric EHM, which is a distribution free model, has been developed. The development of EHM into two forms is another merit of the model. A case study was conducted using laboratory experiment data to validate the practicality of the both semi-parametric and non-parametric EHMs. The performance of the newly-developed models is appraised using the comparison amongst the estimated results of these models and the other existing covariate-based hazard models. The comparison results demonstrated that both the semi-parametric and non-parametric EHMs outperform the existing covariate-based hazard models. Future research directions regarding to the new parameter estimation method in the case of time-dependent effects of covariates and missing data, application of EHM in both repairable and non-repairable systems using field data, and a decision support model in which linked to the estimated reliability results, are also identified.

Sustainable infrastructure operations : a review of assessment schemes and decision support

Infrastructure forms a vital component in supporting today’s way of life and has a significant role or impact on economic, environmental and social outcomes of the region around it. The design, construction and operation of such assets are a multi-billion dollar industry in Australia alone. Another issue that will play a major role in our way life is that of climate change and the greater concept of sustainability. With limited resources and a changing natural world it is necessary for infrastructure to be developed and maintained in a manner that is sustainable. In order to achieve infrastructure sustainability in operations it is necessary for there to be: a sustainability assessment scheme that provides a scientifically sound and realistic approach to measuring an assets level of sustainability; and, systems and tools to support the making of decisions that result in sustainable outcomes by providing feedback in a timely manner. Having these in place will then help drive the consideration of sustainability during the decision making process for infrastructure operations and maintenance. In this paper we provide two main contributions; a comparison and review of sustainability assessment schemes for infrastructure and their suitability for use in the operations phase; and, a review of decision support systems/tools in the area of infrastructure sustainability in operations. For this paper, sustainability covers not just the environment, but also finance/economic and societal/community aspects as well. This is often referred to as the Triple Bottom Line and forms one of the three dimensions of corporate sustainability [Stapledon, 2004].

Three dimensional simulation of a parabolic trough concentrator thermal collector

Parabolic Trough Concentrators (PTC) are the most proven solar collectors for solar thermal power plants, and are suitable for concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) applications. PV cells are sensitive to spatial uniformity of incident light and the cell operating temperature. This requires the design of CPV-PTCs to be optimised both optically and thermally. Optical modelling can be performed using Monte Carlo Ray Tracing (MCRT), with conjugate heat transfer (CHT) modelling using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to analyse the overall designs. This paper develops and evaluates a CHT simulation for a concentrating solar thermal PTC collector. It uses the ray tracing work by Cheng et al. (2010) and thermal performance data for LS-2 parabolic trough used in the SEGS III-VII plants from Dudley et al. (1994). This is a preliminary step to developing models to compare heat transfer performances of faceted absorbers for concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) applications. Reasonable agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data confirms the reliability of the numerical model. The model explores different physical issues as well as computational issues for this particular kind of system modeling. The physical issues include the resultant non-uniformity of the boundary heat flux profile and the temperature profile around the tube, and uneven heating of the HTF. The numerical issues include, most importantly, the design of the computational domain/s, and the solution techniques of the turbulence quantities and the near-wall physics. This simulation confirmed that optical simulation and the computational CHT simulation of the collector can be accomplished independently.

Reasoning about component similarity in building product models from the construction perspective

Identifying the design features that impact construction is essential to developing cost effective and constructible designs. The similarity of building components is a critical design feature that affects method selection, productivity, and ultimately construction cost and schedule performance. However, there is limited understanding of what constitutes similarity in the design of building components and limited computer-based support to identify this feature in a building product model. This paper contributes a feature-based framework for representing and reasoning about component similarity that builds on ontological modelling, model-based reasoning and cluster analysis techniques. It describes the ontology we developed to characterize component similarity in terms of the component attributes, the direction, and the degree of variation. It also describes the generic reasoning process we formalized to identify component similarity in a standard product model based on practitioners' varied preferences. The generic reasoning process evaluates the geometric, topological, and symbolic similarities between components, creates groupings of similar components, and quantifies the degree of similarity. We implemented this reasoning process in a prototype cost estimating application, which creates and maintains cost estimates based on a building product model. Validation studies of the prototype system provide evidence that the framework is general and enables a more accurate and efficient cost estimating process.

Pulling apart the mid to late Cenozoic magmatic record of the Gulf of California : no room for the Comondú Arc

Understanding the link between tectonic-driven extensional faulting and volcanism is crucial from a hazard perspective in active volcanic environments, while ancient volcanic successions provide records on how volcanic eruption styles, compositions, magnitudes and frequencies can change in response to extension timing, distribution and intensity. Significantly, incorrect tectonic interpretations can be made when the spatial-temporal-compositional trends of, and source contributions to magmatism are not properly considered. This study draws on intimate relationships of volcanism and extension preserved in the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) and Gulf of California (GoC) regions of western Mexico. Here, a major Oligocene rhyolitic ignimbrite “flare-up” (>300,000 km3) switched to a dominantly bimodal and mixed effusive-explosive volcanic phase in the Early Miocene (~100,000 km3), associated with distributed extension and opening of numerous grabens. Rhyolitic dome fields were emplaced along graben edges and at intersections of cross-graben and graben-parallel structures during early stages of graben development. Concomitant with this change in rhyolite eruption style was a change in crustal source as revealed by zircon chronochemistry with rapid rates of rhyolite magma generation due to remelting of mid- to upper crustal, highly differentiated igneous rocks emplaced during earlier SMO magmatism. Extension became more focused ~18 Ma resulting in volcanic activity being localised along the site of GoC opening. This localised volcanism (known as the Comondú “arc”) was dominantly effusive and andesite-dacite in composition. This compositional change resulted from increased mixing of basaltic and rhyolitic magmas rather than fluid flux melting of the mantle wedge above the subducting Guadalupe Plate. A poor understanding of space-time relationships of volcanism and extension has thus led to incorrect past tectonic interpretations of Comondú-age volcanism.

Large igneous provinces and silicic large igneous provinces : progress in our understanding over the last 25 years

Large Igneous Provinces are exceptional intraplate igneous events throughout Earth’s history. Their significance and potential global impact is related to the total volume of magma intruded and released during these geologically brief events (peak eruptions are often within 1-5 Myrs duration) where millions to tens of millions of cubic kilometers of magma are produced. In some cases, at least 1% of the Earth’s surface has been directly covered in volcanic rock, being equivalent to the size of small continents with comparable crustal thicknesses. Large Igneous Provinces are thus important, albeit episodic episodes of new crust addition. However, most magmatism is basaltic so that contributions to crustal growth will not always be picked up in zircon geochronology studies that better trace major episodes of extension-related silicic magmatism and the silicic Large Igneous Provinces. Much headway has been made on our understanding of these anomalous igneous events over the last 25 years, driving many new ideas and models. This includes their: 1) global spatial and temporal distribution, with a long-term average of one event approximately every 20 Myrs, but a clear clustering of events at times of supercontinent break-up – Large Igneous Provinces are thus an integral part of the Wilson cycle and are becoming an increasingly important tool in reconnecting dispersed continental fragments; 2) compositional diversity that in part reflects their crustal setting of ocean basins, and continental interiors and margins where in the latter setting, LIP magmatism can be silicicdominant; 3) mineral and energy resources with major PGE and precious metal resources being hosted in these provinces, as well as magmatism impacting on the hydrocarbon potential of volcanic basins and rifted margins through enhancing source rock maturation, providing fluid migration pathways, and trap formation; 4) biospheric, hydrospheric and atmospheric impacts, with Large Igneous Provinces now widely regarded as a key trigger mechanism for mass extinctions, although the exact kill mechanism(s) are still being resolved; 5) role in mantle geodynamics and thermal evolution of the Earth, by potentially recording the transport of material from the lower mantle or core-mantle boundary to the Earth's surface and being a fundamental component in whole mantle convection models; and 6) recognition on the inner planets where the lack of plate tectonics and erosional processes and planetary antiquity means that the very earliest record of LIP events during planetary evolution may be better preserved than on Earth.

Consequences of extensional tectonics on volcanic eruption style, compositions and source regions : new insights from the southern Sierra Madre Occidental and Gulf of California regions, western Mexico

Understanding the link between tectonic-driven extensional faulting and volcanism is crucial from a hazard perspective in active volcanic environments, while ancient volcanic successions provide records on how volcanic eruption styles, compositions, magnitudes and frequencies can change in response to extension timing, distribution and intensity. This study draws on intimate relationships of volcanism and extension preserved in the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) and Gulf of California (GoC) regions of western Mexico. Here, a major Oligocene rhyolitic ignimbrite “flare-up” (>300,000 km3) switched to a dominantly bimodal and mixed effusive-explosive volcanic phase in the Early Miocene (~100,000 km3), associated with distributed extension and opening of numerous grabens. Rhyolitic dome fields were emplaced along graben edges and at intersections of cross-graben and graben-parallel structures during early stages of graben development. Concomitant with this change in rhyolite eruption style was a change in crustal source as revealed by zircon chronochemistry with rapid rates of rhyolite magma generation due to remelting of mid- to upper crustal, highly differentiated igneous rocks emplaced during earlier SMO magmatism. Extension became more focused ~18 Ma resulting in volcanic activity being localised along the site of GoC opening. This localised volcanism (known as the Comondú “arc”) was dominantly effusive and andesite-dacite in composition. This compositional change resulted from increased mixing of basaltic and rhyolitic magmas rather than fluid flux melting of the mantle wedge above the subducting Guadalupe Plate. A poor understanding of space-time relationships of volcanism and extension has thus led to incorrect past tectonic interpretations of Comondú-age volcanism.