Measurement of standby power for selected electrical appliances in Australia

High growth in the uptake of electrical appliances is accounting for a significant increase in electricity consumption globally. In some developed countries, standby energy alone may account for about 10% of residential electricity use. The standby power for many appliances used in Australia is still well above the national goal of 1 W or less. In this paper, field measurements taken of standby power and operating power for a range of electrical appliances are presented. It was found that the difference between minimum value and maximum value of standby power could be quite large, up to 22.13 W for home theatre systems, for example. With the exception of home audio systems, however, the annual operating energy used by most electrical appliances was generally greater than the annual standby energy. Consumer behaviour and product choice can have a significant impact on standby power and operating power, which influences both energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions.

Interaction of natural survival instincts and internalized social norms exploring the Titanic and Lusitania disasters

To understand human behavior, it is important to know under what conditions people deviate from selfish rationality. This study explores the interaction of natural survival instincts and internalized social norms using data on the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania. We show that time pressure appears to be crucial when explaining behavior under extreme conditions of life and death. Even though the two vessels and the composition of their passengers were quite similar, the behavior of the individuals on board was dramatically different. On the Lusitania, selfish behavior dominated (which corresponds to the classical homo oeconomicus); on the Titanic, social norms and social status (class) dominated, which contradicts standard economics. This difference could be attributed to the fact that the Lusitania sank in 18 minutes, creating a situation in which the short-run flight impulse dominates behavior. On the slowly sinking Titanic (2 hours, 40 minutes), there was time for socially determined behavioral patterns to re-emerge. To our knowledge, this is the first time that these shipping disasters have been analyzed in a comparative manner with advanced statistical (econometric) techniques using individual data of the passengers and crew. Knowing human behavior under extreme conditions allows us to gain insights about how varied human behavior can be depending on differing external conditions.

Introduction

The 1990s saw the United Nations, the militaries of key member states, and NGOs increasingly entangled in the complex affairs of disrupted states. Whether as deliverers of humanitarian assistance or as agents of political, social, and civic reconstruction, whether in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, or East Timor, these actors have had to learn ways of interacting with each other in order to optimize the benefits for the populations they seek to assist. Yet the challenges have proved daunting. Civil and military actors have different organizational cultures and standard operating procedures and are confronted with the need to work together to perform tasks to which different actors may attach quite different priorities. From Civil Strife to Civil Society explores the nature of these challenges, blending the experience of scholars and practitioners. It is underpinned by an understanding that recovery from disruption is a laborious process that can easily be de-railed. The first part of the book offers a rigorous examination of the dimensions of state disruption and the roles of the international community in responding to it; the second part looks at military doctrine for dealing with disorder and humanitarian emergencies; the third part examines mechanisms for ending violence and delivering justice in post-conflict times; the fourth part investigates the problems of rebuilding trust and promoting democracy; the fifth part deals with the reconstitution of the rule of law; while the sixth and seventh parts address the reestablishment of social and civil order.

Metal Contaminants in Leachate from Sanitary Landfills

The uncontrolled disposal of solid wastes poses an immediate threat to public health and a long term threat to the environmental well being of future generations. Solid waste is waste resulting from human activities that is solid and unwanted (Peavy et al., 1985). If unmanaged, dumped solid wastes generate liquid and gaseous emissions that are detrimental to the environment. This can lead to a serious form of contamination known as metal contamination, which poses a risk to human health and ecosystems. For example, some heavy metals (cadmium, chromium compounds, and nickel tetracarbonyl) are known to be highly toxic, and are aggressive at elevated concentrations. Iron, copper, and manganese can cause staining, and aluminium causes depositions and discolorations. In addition, calcium and magnesium cause hardness in water causing scale deposition and scum formation. Though not a metal but a metalloid, arsenic is poisonous at relatively high concentrations and when diluted at low concentrations causes skin cancer. Normally, metal contaminants are found in a dissolved form in the liquid percolating through landfills. Because average metal concentrations from full-scale landfills, test cells, and laboratory studies have tended to be generally low, metal contamination originating from landfills is not generally considered a major concern (Kjeldsen et al., 2002; Christensen et al., 1999). However, a number of factors make it necessary to take a closer look at metal contaminants from landfills. One of these factors relates to variability. Landfill leachate can have different qualities depending on the weather and operating conditions. Therefore, at one moment in time, metal contaminant concentrations may be quite low, but at a later time these concentrations could be quite high. Also, these conditions relate to the amount of leachate that is being generated. Another factor is biodiversity. It cannot be assumed that a particular metal contaminant is harmless to flora and fauna (including micro organisms) just because it is harmless to human health. This has significant implications for ecosystems and the environment. Finally, there is the moral factor. Because uncertainty surrounds the potential effects of metal contamination, it is appropriate to take precautions to prevent it from taking place. Consequently, it is necessary to have good scientific knowledge (empirically supported) to adequately understand the extent of the problem and improve the way waste is being disposed of

Rationalizing the SER spectra of bacteria

The SER spectra of riboflavin and FAD are identical and are resonance enhanced at 514 or 532 nm. Signals from FAD/ riboflavin dominated SER spectra whenever these compounds were present with proteins or bacteria. SER spectra of very different bacteria such as Pseudomonas. aeruginosa, Bacillu. subtilis and Geobacillus. stearothermophilus were dominated by signals from FAD, even when these bacteria were added to a preformed colloid. The SERS signal of FAD is greatly reduced at 785 nm, and SER spectra of bacteria excited at 785 nm are quite different than those collected at 514 or 532 nm. This supports the assignment of the peaks in the 514 nm SER spectra of bacteria to FAD rather to amino acids or N-acetylglucosamine. The SER spectra of certain mixes of adenine and FAD showed similar changes to those of bacteria when the excitation was changed from 514/532 nm to 785 nm. The ratio of colloid: bacteria was of critical important for obtaining good SER spectra, and the addition of sodium sulfate was also beneficial. Removal of EPS from bacteria before analysis facilitated interaction with the silver surface, and may be a useful step to include in identification protocols.

Visualisation modelling in 3D of an alluvial aquifer system at a valley-wide scale to understand groundwater status : Lockyer, QLD

Visualisation provides a method to efficiently convey and understand the complex nature and processes of groundwater systems. This technique has been applied to the Lockyer Valley to aid in comprehending the current condition of the system. The Lockyer Valley in southeast Queensland hosts intensive irrigated agriculture sourcing groundwater from alluvial aquifers. The valley is around 3000 km2 in area and the alluvial deposits are typically 1-3 km wide and to 20-35 m deep in the main channels, reducing in size in subcatchments. The configuration of the alluvium is of a series of elongate “fingers”. In this roughly circular valley recharge to the alluvial aquifers is largely from seasonal storm events, on the surrounding ranges. The ranges are overlain by basaltic aquifers of Tertiary age, which overall are quite transmissive. Both runoff from these ranges and infiltration into the basalts provided ephemeral flow to the streams of the valley. Throughout the valley there are over 5,000 bores extracting alluvial groundwater, plus lesser numbers extracting from underlying sandstone bedrock. Although there are approximately 2500 monitoring bores, the only regularly monitored area is the formally declared management zone in the lower one third. This zone has a calibrated Modflow model (Durick and Bleakly, 2000); a broader valley Modflow model was developed in 2002 (KBR), but did not have extensive extraction data for detailed calibration. Another Modflow model focused on a central area river confluence (Wilson, 2005) with some local production data and pumping test results. A recent subcatchment simulation model incorporates a network of bores with short-period automated hydrographic measurements (Dvoracek and Cox, 2008). The above simulation models were all based on conceptual hydrogeological models of differing scale and detail.

12 fingers or one, it’s how you play? Genetic discrimination in the Australian workforce

For quite some time, debate has raged about what the human race can and should do with its knowledge of genetics. We are now nearly 60 years removed from the work of Watson and Crick who determined the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), yet our opinions as how best to employ scientific knowledge of the human genome, remain as diverse and polarised as ever. Human judgment is often shaped and coloured by popular media and culture, so it should come as no surprise that box office movies such as Gattaca (1997) continue to play a role in informing public opinion on genetics. In order to perform well at the box office, movies such as Gattaca take great liberty in sensationalising (and even distorting) the implications that may result from genetic screening and testing. If the public’s opinion on human genetics is strongly derived from the box office and popular media, then it is no wonder that the discourse on human genetics is couched in the polar parlances of future utopias or future dystopias. When legislating in an area like genetic discrimination in the workforce, we must be mindful of not overplaying the causal link between genetic predisposition towards a disability and an employee’s ability to perform the inherent requirements of their job. Genetic information is ultimately about people, it is not about genes. Genetic discrimination is ultimately about actions, it is not about the intrinsic value of genetic information.

Stereotypes of Taiwanese salespeople at the service interface

Stereotypes of salespeople are common currency in US media outlets and research suggests that these stereotypes are uniformly negative. However, there is no reason to expect that stereotypes will be consistent across cultures. The present paper provides the first empirical examination of salesperson stereotypes in an Asian country, specifically Taiwan. Using accepted psychological methods, Taiwanese salesperson stereotypes are found to be twofold, with a negative stereotype being quite congruent with existing US stereotypes, but also a positive stereotype, which may be related to the specific culture of Taiwan.

The play's the thing? : Hamlet, Slings & Arrows, and the authority of theatrical consumption

This paper reads season 1 of the critically-acclaimed Canadian television series “Slings & Arrows” (2003). This six-episode series is set in a fictionalised version of the Stratford Festival, and tells the story of a plagued production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It follows the play’s rehearsal after the death of the festival’s artistic director; Geoffrey Tennant (himself a plagued Hamlet) takes over the role of director, and must face his past in order to produce a Hamlet that will save the festival, redeem his reputation, and repair his interpersonal relationships. Drawing on popular and theatrical understandings of Shakespeare’s play, the series negotiates tropes of metatheatre, filiality, cultural production and consumption, in order to demonstrate the ongoing relevance and legitimacy of “Shakespeare” in the twenty-first century. The “Slings & Arrows” narrative revolves around the doubled-plot of Hamlet and the experiences of the company mounting Hamlet. In quite obvious ways, the show thus thematises ways in which Shakespeare can be used to read one’s own life and world. In the broader sense, however, the show also offers theatre/performance as a catalyst for affect. In doing so, the show functions as a relatively straight adaptation of Hamlet, and a metatheatrical/metafictional commentary on the functions of Hamlet within contemporary culture. In Shakespeare’s play, the production of “The Mouse-Trap” proves, both to Hamlet and the audience, the legitimacy of the ghost’s claims. Similarly, in “Slings & Arrows”, the successful performance of Hamlet legitimises Geoffrey’s position as artistic director of the festival, and affirms for the viewer the value of Shakespearean production in contemporary culture. In each text, theatre/performance enables and legitimises a son carrying out a dead father’s wishes in order to restore or reproduce socio-cultural order. The metatheatrics of these gestures engage the reader/viewer in a self-reflexive process whereby the ‘value’ of theatre is thematised and performed, and the consumer is positioned as the arbiter and agent of that value: complicit in its production even as they are the site of its consumption.

A regional construction R&D evaluation system for China

Expenditure on R&D in the China construction industry has been relatively low in comparison with many developed countries for a number of years – a situation considered to be a major barrier to the industry’s competitiveness in general and unsatisfactory industry development of the 31 regions involved. A major problem with this is the lack of a sufficiently sophisticated method of objectively evaluating R&D activity in what are quite complex circumstances considering the size and regional differences that exist in this part of the world. A regional construction R&D evaluation system (RCRES) is presented aimed at rectifying the situation. This is based on 12 indicators drawn from the Chinese Government’s R&D Inventory of Resources in consultation with a small group of experts in the field, and further factor analysed into three groups. From this, the required evaluation is obtained by a simple formula. Examination of the results provides a ranking list of the R&D performance of each of the 31 regions, indicating a general disproportion between coastal and inland regions and highlighting regions receiving special emphasis or currently lacking in development. The understanding on this is vital for the future of China’s construction industry.

Dussertite BaFe3+3(AsO4)2(OH)5 : a Raman spectroscopic study of a hydroxy-arsenate mineral

The mineral dussertite, a hydroxy-arsenate mineral of formula BaFe3+3(AsO4)2(OH)5, has been studied by Raman complimented with infrared spectroscopy. The spectra of three minerals from different origins were investigated and proved quite similar, although some minor differences were observed. In the Raman spectra of Czech dussertite, four bands are observed in the 800 to 950 cm-1 region. The bands are assigned as follows: the band at 902 cm-1 is assigned to the (AsO4)3- ν3 antisymmetric stretching mode, at 870 cm-1 to the (AsO4)3- ν1 symmetric stretching mode, and both at 859 cm-1 and 825 cm-1 to the As-OM2+/3+ stretching modes/and or hydroxyls bending modes. Raman bands at 372 and 409 cm-1 are attributed to the ν2 (AsO4)3- bending mode and the two bands at 429 and 474 cm-1 are assigned to the ν4 (AsO4)3- bending mode. An intense band at 3446 cm-1 in the infrared spectrum and a complex set of bands centred upon 3453 cm-1 in the Raman spectrum are attributed to the stretching vibrations of the hydrogen bonded (OH)- units and/or water units in the mineral structure. The broad infrared band at 3223 cm-1 is assigned to the vibrations of hydrogen bonded water molecules. Raman spectroscopy identified Raman bands attributable to (AsO4)3- and (AsO3OH)2- units.

Flower animals

The coral reefs around the world may be likened to canaries down the mineshaft of global warming. These sensitive plant-like animals have evolved for life in tropical seas. Their needs are quite specific – not too cold, not too hot. A rise of as little as one degree Celsius is enough to cause some bleaching of these colourful jewels of the sea. Many climate models indicate we can expect sea temperature increases of between two and six degrees Celsius. Research - such as that detailed in a 2004 report by the University of Queensland’s Centre for Marine Studies – indicates that by the year 2050 most of the worlds major reef systems will be dead. Many of us have heard this kind of information, but it remains difficult to comprehend. It’s almost impossible to imagine the death of the Great Barrier Reef. Some six to nine thousand years old and visible from space, it is the world’s largest structure created by living organisms. Yet whilst it is hard to believe, this gentle, sensitive giant is at grave risk because it cannot adapt quickly enough to the changes in the environment. This cluster of fluffy felt brain coral sculptures are connected in real time to temperature data collected by monitoring stations within the Great Barrier Reef, that form part of the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s Great Barrier Reed Ocean Observing System. These corals display illumination patterns showing changes in sea temperature at Heron Reef, one of the 2,900 reefs that comprise the Great Barrier Reef. Their spectrum of colour ranges from cool hues, through warm tones to bright white when temperatures exceed those that tropical corals are able to tolerate over sustained periods. The Flower Animals also blush in colour and make sound when people come within close proximity. In a reef, fishes and other creatures generate significant amounts of sound. These cacophonies are considered an indicator of reef health, and are used by reef fish to determine where they can best live and forage.

Engaging operations management students by designing the unit with industry focus

Operations management is an area concerned with the production of goods and services ensuring that business operations are efficient in utilizing resource and effective to meet customer requirements. It deals with the design and management of products, processes, services and supply chains and considers the acquisition, development, and effective and efficient utilization of resources. Unlike other engineering subjects, content of these units could be very wide and vast. It is therefore necessary to cover the content that is most related to the contemporary industries. It is also necessary to understand what engineering management skills are critical for engineers working in the contemporary organisations. Most of the operations management books contain traditional Operations Management techniques. For example ‘inventory management’ is an important topic in operations management. All OM books deal with effective method of inventory management. However, new trend in OM is Just in time (JIT) delivery or minimization of inventory. It is therefore important to decide whether to emphasise on keeping inventory (as suggested by most books) or minimization of inventory. Similarly, for OM decisions like forecasting, optimization and linear programming most organisations now a day’s use software. Now it is important for us to determine whether some of these software need to be introduced in tutorial/ lab classes. If so, what software? It is established in the Teaching and Learning literature that there must be a strong alignment between unit objectives, assessment and learning activities to engage students in learning. Literature also established that engaging students is vital for learning. However, engineering units (more specifically Operations management) is quite different from other majors. Only alignment between objectives, assessment and learning activities cannot guarantee student engagement. Unit content must be practical oriented and skills to be developed should be those demanded by the industry. Present active learning research, using a multi-method research approach, redesigned the operations management content based on latest developments in Engineering Management area and the necessity of Australian industries. The redesigned unit has significantly helped better student engagement and better learning. It was found that students are engaged in the learning if they find the contents are helpful in developing skills that are necessary in their practical life.

Songs of Resilience

The chapters of this book form a persuasive chorus of social practices that advocate the use of music to build a capacity for resilience in individuals and groups. As a whole they exemplify music projects that share common features aligned with an ecological view of reform in health, education and social work systems. Internationally renowned and early career academics have collaborated with practitioners to sing ‘Songs of Resilience’; some of which are narratives that report on the effects of music practices for a general population, and some are based on a specific approach, genre or service. Others are quite literally ‘songs’ that demonstrate aspects of resilience in action. The book makes the connection between music and resilience explicit by posing the following questions—Do music projects in education, health and social services build a measurable capacity for resilience amongst individuals? Can we replicate these projects’ outcomes to develop a capacity for resilience in diverse cultural groups? Does shared use of the term ‘resilience’ help to secure funding for innovative musical activities that provide tangible health, education and social outcomes?

Entertaining the E Word : Barrie Kosky's On Ecstasy [A Review]

A review of Barrie Kosky's essay, On Ecstasy : Most of us describe the E word as a pleasant, out of this world experience—a type of boundless, artificial joy, deliberately induced by some kind of technicoloured drug. For others, it is that “lovey dovey” feeling. A spinning ceiling. Anything Lindt. For sensualist and soup connoisseur Barrie Kosky, it is easier than this. Being On Ecstasy involves, quite simply, his grandmother's chicken specialty—something warm and golden, surrendered with vegetables and a side of transcendental bliss. “A soup that took you to the beginning and end of time itself. A dazzling, pure, clear rhapsody” (7).