Knowledge-based urban development processes of an emerging knowledge city : Brisbane, Australia

In the global knowledge economy, to attract and retain knowledge-intensive industries and workers, cities produce various development strategies. Such strategising is an important development mechanism for cities to complete their transformation into knowledge cities. This paper discusses the critical connections between knowledge city foundations and integrated knowledge-based urban development strategies, and scrutinises Brisbane’s strategies in attracting and retaining investment and talent. The paper introduces a knowledge-based urban development assessment framework and uses this framework to provide a clearer understanding of Brisbane’s knowledge-based development processes and knowledge city transformation experience. The assessment framework particularly focuses on examining Brisbane’s four development processes, institutional, economic, socio-cultural and urban development, in detail. The findings reveal that although Brisbane is still in early stages of its transformation into a fully-fledged knowledge city, global orientation and achievements of Brisbane in strategising knowledge-based urban development are noteworthy.

State of the art and future challenges for information literacy research

This short paper focuses on strategic issues and important research questions.

Formation mechanisms of secondary organic aerosols in relation to laser printer emissions

Due to their large surface area, complex chemical composition and high alveolar deposition rate, ultrafine particles (UFPs) (< 0.1 ìm) pose a significant risk to human health and their toxicological effects have been acknowledged by the World Health Organisation. Since people spend most of their time indoors, there is a growing concern about the UFPs present in some indoor environments. Recent studies have shown that office machines, in particular laser printers, are a significant indoor source of UFPs. The majority of printer-generated UFPs are organic carbon and it is unlikely that these particles are emitted directly from the printer or its supplies (such as paper and toner powder). Thus, it was hypothesised that these UFPs are secondary organic aerosols (SOA). Considering the widespread use of printers and human exposure to these particles, understanding the processes involved in particle formation is of critical importance. However, few studies have investigated the nature (e.g. volatility, hygroscopicity, composition, size distribution and mixing state) and formation mechanisms of these particles. In order to address this gap in scientific knowledge, a comprehensive study including state-of-art instrumental methods was conducted to characterise the real-time emissions from modern commercial laser printers, including particles, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ozone (O3). The morphology, elemental composition, volatility and hygroscopicity of generated particles were also examined. The large set of experimental results was analysed and interpreted to provide insight into: (1) Emissions profiles of laser printers: The results showed that UFPs dominated the number concentrations of generated particles, with a quasi unimodal size distribution observed for all tests. These particles were volatile, non-hygroscopic and mixed both externally and internally. Particle microanalysis indicated that semi-volatile organic compounds occupied the dominant fraction of these particles, with only trace quantities of particles containing Ca and Fe. Furthermore, almost all laser printers tested in this study emitted measurable concentrations of VOCs and O3. A positive correlation between submicron particles and O3 concentrations, as well as a contrasting negative correlation between submicron particles and total VOC concentrations were observed during printing for all tests. These results proved that UFPs generated from laser printers are mainly SOAs. (2) Sources and precursors of generated particles: In order to identify the possible particle sources, particle formation potentials of both the printer components (e.g. fuser roller and lubricant oil) and supplies (e.g. paper and toner powder) were investigated using furnace tests. The VOCs emitted during the experiments were sampled and identified to provide information about particle precursors. The results suggested that all of the tested materials had the potential to generate particles upon heating. Nine unsaturated VOCs were identified from the emissions produced by paper and toner, which may contribute to the formation of UFPs through oxidation reactions with ozone. (3) Factors influencing the particle emission: The factors influencing particle emissions were also investigated by comparing two popular laser printers, one showing particle emissions three orders of magnitude higher than the other. The effects of toner coverage, printing history, type of paper and toner, and working temperature of the fuser roller on particle number emissions were examined. The results showed that the temperature of the fuser roller was a key factor driving the emission of particles. Based on the results for 30 different types of laser printers, a systematic positive correlation was observed between temperature and particle number emissions for printers that used the same heating technology and had a similar structure and fuser material. It was also found that temperature fluctuations were associated with intense bursts of particles and therefore, they may have impact on the particle emissions. Furthermore, the results indicated that the type of paper and toner powder contributed to particle emissions, while no apparent relationship was observed between toner coverage and levels of submicron particles. (4) Mechanisms of SOA formation, growth and ageing: The overall hypothesis that UFPs are formed by reactions with the VOCs and O3 emitted from laser printers was examined. The results proved this hypothesis and suggested that O3 may also play a role in particle ageing. In addition, knowledge about the mixing state of generated particles was utilised to explore the detailed processes of particle formation for different printing scenarios, including warm-up, normal printing, and printing without toner. The results indicated that polymerisation may have occurred on the surface of the generated particles to produce thermoplastic polymers, which may account for the expandable characteristics of some particles. Furthermore, toner and other particle residues on the idling belt from previous print jobs were a very clear contributing factor in the formation of laser printer-emitted particles. In summary, this study not only improves scientific understanding of the nature of printer-generated particles, but also provides significant insight into the formation and ageing mechanisms of SOAs in the indoor environment. The outcomes will also be beneficial to governments, industry and individuals.

Predicting employee intentions to support organizational change : an examination of identification processes during a re-brand

This study examined if organizational identification can account for the mechanisms by which two-change management practices (communication and participation) influence employees’ intentions to support change. The context was a sample of 82 hotel employees in the early stages of a re-brand. Identification with the new hotel fully mediated the relationship between communication and adaptive and proactive intentions to support change, as well as between participation and proactive intentions.

Digital reflections on learning : a monograph by students of Digital Pedagogies, Semester 2, 2011

Learning a digital tool is often a hidden process. We tend to learn new tools in a bewildering range of ways. Formal, informal, structured, random, conscious, unconscious, individual, group strategies, may all play a part, but are often lost to us in the complex and demanding processes of learning. But when we reflect carefully on the experience, some patterns and surprising techniques emerge. This monograph presents the thinking of four students in MDN642, Digital Pedagogies, where they have deliberately reflected on the mental processes at work as they learnt a digital technology of their choice.

Crowded Diphosphinomethane Ligands in Catalysis: [(R2PCH2PR′2-κ2P)-NiR″]+ Cations for Ethylene Polymerization without Activators

The preparation of a series of nickel dichloride complexes with bulky diphosphinomethane chelate ligands R2PCH2PR′2 is reported. Reaction with the appropriate Grignard reagent leads to the corresponding dimethyl and dibenzyl complexes. Cationic monomethyl and mono-η3-benzyl complexes are generated from these dialkyl complexes by protonation with [H(OEt2)2]+[B(3,5-(CF3)2C6H3)4]−, while the complex [(dtbpm κ2P)Ni(η3-CH(CH2Ph)Ph]+[B(3,5-(CF3)2C6H3)4]−is obtained from protonation of the Ni(0) olefin complex (dtbpm-κ2P)N(η2-trans-stilbene). Crystal structures of examples of dichlorides, dimethyl, dibenzyl, cationic methyl, and cationic η3-benzyl complexes are reported. Solutions of the cations polymerize ethylene under mild conditions and without the necessity of an activating agent, to form polyethylene having high molecular weights and low degrees of chain branching. In comparison to the Ni methyl cations, the η3-benzyl cation complexes are more stable and somewhat less active but still very efficient in C2H4 polymerization. The effect on the resulting polyethylene of varying the substituents R, R′ on the phosphine ligand has been examined, and a clear trend for longer chain PE with less branching in the presence of more bulky substituents on the diphosphine has been found. Density functional calculations have been used to examine the rapid suprafacial η3 to η3 haptotropic shift processes of the[(R2PCH2PR′2)Ni] fragment and the η3−η1 change of the coordination mode of the benzyl group required for polymerization in those cations.

Problematising the processes of participation in networks : working through the rhetoric

Participation in networks, both as a concept and process, is widely supported in environmental education as a democratic and equitable pathway to individual and social change for sustainability. However, the processes of participation in networks are rarely problematized. Rather, it is assumed that we inherently know how to participate in networks. This assumption means that participation is seldom questioned. Underlying support for participation in networks is a belief that it allows individuals to connect in new and meaningful ways, that individuals can engage in making decisions and in bringing about change in arenas that affect them, and that they will be engaging in new, non-hierarchical and equitable relationships. In this paper we problematize participation in networks. As an example we use research into a decentralized network – described as such in its own literature - the Queensland Environmentally Sustainable Schools Initiative Alliance in Australia – to argue that while network participants were engaged and committed to participation in this network, 'old' forms of top-down engagement and relationships needed to be unlearnt. This paper thus proposes that for participation in decentralized networks to be meaningful, new learning about how to participate needs to occur.

State of Origin : Queensland Crown Leasehold - lessons from New South Wales

Throughout Australia freehold land interests are protected by statutory schemes which grant indefeasibility of title to registered interests. Queensland freehold land interests are protected by Torrens system established by the Land Title Act 1994. However, no such protection exists for Crown land interests. The extent of Queensland occupied under some form of Crown tenure, in excess of 70%, means that Queensland Crown land users are disadvantaged when compared to freehold land users. This article examines the role indefeasibility of title has in protecting interests in Crown land. A comparative analysis is undertaken between Queensland and New South Wales land management frameworks to determine whether interests in crown land are adequately protected in Queensland.

Reflecting on the ‘Dream Circle’ : urban Indigenous education processes designed for student and community empowerment

The ‘Dream Circle’ is a space designed by and operated through Indigenous educator footprints as a safe space for the school’s deadly jarjums (Indigenous children). The ‘Dream Circle’ uses a kinnected methodology drawing on the rich vein of Murri cultural knowledges and Torres Strait Islander supports within the local community to provide a safe and supportive circle. The ‘Dream Circle’ operates on a school site in the Logan area as an after school homework and cultural studies class. The ‘Dream Circle’ embodies practices and ritualises processes which ensure cultural safety and integrity. In this way the ‘Dream Circle’ balances the measures that Sarra (2005) purports are the stronger, smarter realities needed for positive change in Indigenous education.

Peer state assessment of TxDOT maintenance program and practices, part II : test section survey findings and recommendations

This paper presents a road survey as part of a workshop conducted by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to evaluate and improve the maintenance practices of the Texas highway system. Directors of maintenance from six peer states (California, Kansas, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, and Washington) were invited to this 3-day workshop. One of the important parts of this workshop was a Maintenance Test Section Survey (MTSS) to evaluate a number of pre-selected one-mile roadway sections. The workshop schedule allowed half a day to conduct the field survey and 34 sections were evaluated. Each of the evaluators was given a booklet and asked to rate the selected road sections. The goals of the MTSS were to: 1. Assess the threshold level at which maintenance activities are required as perceived by the evaluators from the peer states; 2. Assess the threshold level at which maintenance activities are required as perceived by evaluators from other TxDOT districts; and 3. Perform a pilot evaluation of the MTSS concept. This paper summarizes the information obtained from survey and discusses the major findings based on a statistical analysis of the data and comments from the survey participants.

Performance recordivity : studio music in a live context

A broad range of positions is articulated in the academic literature around the relationship between recordings and live performance. Auslander (2008) argues that “live performance ceased long ago to be the primary experience of popular music, with the result that most live performances of popular music now seek to replicate the music on the recording”. Elliott (1995) suggests that “hit songs are often conceived and produced as unambiguous and meticulously recorded performances that their originators often duplicate exactly in live performances”. Wurtzler (1992) argues that “as socially and historically produced, the categories of the live and the recorded are defined in a mutually exclusive relationship, in that the notion of the live is premised on the absence of recording and the defining fact of the recorded is the absence of the live”. Yet many artists perform in ways that fundamentally challenge such positions. Whilst it is common practice for musicians across many musical genres to compose and construct their musical works in the studio such that the recording is, in Auslander’s words, the ‘original performance’, the live version is not simply an attempt to replicate the recorded version. Indeed in some cases, such replication is impossible. There are well known historical examples. Queen, for example, never performed the a cappella sections of Bohemian Rhapsody because it they were too complex to perform live. A 1966 recording of the Beach Boys studio creation Good Vibrations shows them struggling through the song prior to its release. This paper argues that as technology develops, the lines between the recording studio and live performance change and become more blurred. New models for performance emerge. In a 2010 live performance given by Grammy Award winning artist Imogen Heap in New York, the artist undertakes a live, improvised construction of a piece as a performative act. She invites the audience to choose the key for the track and proceeds to layer up the various parts in front of the audience as a live performance act. Her recording process is thus revealed on stage in real time and she performs a process that what would have once been confined to the recording studio. So how do artists bring studio production processes into the live context? What aspects of studio production are now performable and what consistent models can be identified amongst the various approaches now seen? This paper will present an overview of approaches to performative realisations of studio produced tracks and will illuminate some emerging relationships between recorded music and performance across a range of contexts.

Stability of hydrotalcites formed from Bayer refinery environmental control processes

Bauxite refinery residues (red mud) are derived from the Bayer process by the digestion of crushed bauxite in concentrated sodium hydroxide at elevated temperatures and pressures. This slurry residue, if untreated, is unsuitable for discharge directly into the environment and is usually stored in tailing dams. The liquid portion has the potential for discharge, but requires pre-treatment before this can occur. The seawater neutralisation treatment facilitates a significant reduction in pH and dissolved metal concentrations, through the precipitation of hydrotalcite-like compounds and some other Mg, Ca, and Al hydroxide and carbonate minerals. The hydrotalcite-like compounds, precipitated during seawater neutralisation, also remove a range of transition metals, oxy-anions and other anionic species through a combination of intercalation and adsorption reactions: smaller anions are intercalated into the hydrotalcite matrix, while larger molecules are adsorbed on the particle surfaces. A phenomenon known as ‘reversion’ can occur if the seawater neutralisation process is not properly controlled. Reversion causes an increase in the pH and dissolved impurity levels of the neutralised effluent, rendering it unsuitable for discharge. It is believed that slow dissolution of components of the red mud residue and compounds formed during the neutralisation process are responsible for reversion. This investigation looked at characterising natural hydrotalcite (Mg6Al2(OH)16(CO3)∙4H2O) and ‘Bayer’ hydrotalcite (synthesised using the seawater neutralisation process) using a variety of techniques including X-ray diffraction, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. This investigation showed that Bayer hydrotalcite is comprised of a mixture of 3:1 and 4:1 hydrotalcite structures and exhibited similar chemical characteristic to the 4:1 synthetic hydrotalcite. Hydrotalcite formed from the seawater neutralisation of Bauxite refinery residues has been found not to cause reversion. Other components in red mud were investigated to determine the cause of reversion and this investigation found three components that contributed to reversion: 1) tricalcium aluminate, 2) hydrocalumite and 3) calcium hydroxide. Increasing the amount of magnesium in the neutralisation process has been found to be successful in reducing reversion.

Collaboration features in current BPM tools

In cross-organizational, distributed environments, Business Process Management requires collaborative technologies to facilitate the process of discovering, modeling, and improving business processes across geographical and organizational boundaries. This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of collaborative business process modeling that is based on a review of literature and a case study of three selected modelling tools. The application of the framework reveals that current process modeling tools consider different perspectives on collaboration, and that the included features are orthogonal. This paper informs practitioners about the state of the art in tool support for collaborative process modelling. It also informs vendors about opportunities to enhance the technology support. For research, our paper paper informs social aspects of BPM technology through its explicit focus on the collaboration of BPM stakeholders in the process of distributed modeling.

Program your city : designing an urban integrated open data API

Cities accumulate and distribute vast sets of digital information. Many decision-making and planning processes in councils, local governments and organisations are based on both real-time and historical data. Until recently, only a small, carefully selected subset of this information has been released to the public – usually for specific purposes (e.g. train timetables, release of planning application through websites to name just a few). This situation is however changing rapidly. Regulatory frameworks, such as the Freedom of Information Legislation in the US, the UK, the European Union and many other countries guarantee public access to data held by the state. One of the results of this legislation and changing attitudes towards open data has been the widespread release of public information as part of recent Government 2.0 initiatives. This includes the creation of public data catalogues such as data.gov.au (U.S.), data.gov.uk (U.K.), data.gov.au (Australia) at federal government levels, and datasf.org (San Francisco) and data.london.gov.uk (London) at municipal levels. The release of this data has opened up the possibility of a wide range of future applications and services which are now the subject of intensified research efforts. Previous research endeavours have explored the creation of specialised tools to aid decision-making by urban citizens, councils and other stakeholders (Calabrese, Kloeckl & Ratti, 2008; Paulos, Honicky & Hooker, 2009). While these initiatives represent an important step towards open data, they too often result in mere collections of data repositories. Proprietary database formats and the lack of an open application programming interface (API) limit the full potential achievable by allowing these data sets to be cross-queried. Our research, presented in this paper, looks beyond the pure release of data. It is concerned with three essential questions: First, how can data from different sources be integrated into a consistent framework and made accessible? Second, how can ordinary citizens be supported in easily composing data from different sources in order to address their specific problems? Third, what are interfaces that make it easy for citizens to interact with data in an urban environment? How can data be accessed and collected?

Homo- and heteronuclear meso,meso-(E)-Ethene-1,2-diyl-Linked Diporphyrins : preparation, X-ray crystal structure, electronic absorption and emission spectra and density functional theory calculations

Homo-and heteronuclear meso,meso-(E)-ethene-1,2-diyl-linked diporphyrins have been prepared by the Suzuki coupling of porphyrinylboronates and iodovinylporphyrins. Combinations comprising 5,10,15-triphenylporphyrin (TriPP) on both ends of the ethene-1,2-diyl bridge M 210 (M 2=H 2/Ni, Ni 2, Ni/Zn, H 4, H 2Zn, Zn 2) and 5,15-bis(3,5-di-tert-butylphenyl)porphyrinato-nickel(II) on one end and H 2, Ni, and ZnTriPP on the other (M 211), enable the first studies of this class of compounds possessing intrinsic polarity. The compounds were characterized by electronic absorption and steady state emission spectra, 1H NMR spectra, and for the Ni 2 bis(TriPP) complex Ni 210, single crystal X-ray structure determination. The crystal structure shows ruffled distortions of the porphyrin rings, typical of Ni II porphyrins, and the (E)-C 2H 2 bridge makes a dihedral angle of 50° with the mean planes of the macrocycles. The result is a stepped parallel arrangement of the porphyrin rings. The dihedral angles in the solid state reflect the interplay of steric and electronic effects of the bridge on interporphyrin communication. The emission spectra in particular, suggest energy transfer across the bridge is fast in conformations in which the bridge is nearly coplanar with the rings. Comparisons of the fluorescence behaviour of H 410 and H 2Ni10 show strong quenching of the free base fluorescence when the complex is excited at the lower energy component of the Soret band, a feature associated in the literature with more planar conformations. TDDFT calculations on the gas-phase optimized geometry of Ni 210 reproduce the features of the experimental electronic absorption spectrum within 0.1 eV. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.