Digital Commons Network^™

An Adaptive Design Approach For Geothermal Plant With Changing Resource Characteristics, M Imroz Sohel, Mathieu Sellier, Susan Krumdieck

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Geothermal power plants are designed for optimal utilization of geothermal resource. However, geothermal fields typically undergo significant changes in resource characteristics such as pressure, temperature and steam quality over their life span. With appropriate reservoir modelling it is possible to predict the future resource characteristics of a geothermal field to a reasonable degree of accuracy. We propose a new adaptive design approach that would allow geothermal power plants to take into account the change of resource characteristics that occur over a 30-40 years time horizon based on the results of reservoir modelling. Currently, it is difficult and expensive to modify …

Approach To Multiple Pulmonary Nodules: A Case Report And Review Of Literature, Farshid Niknam, Jiezhong Chen, Sarbar Napaki, Morteza Aghmesheh

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Chest X-ray and CT examinations often find pulmonary nodules that could be malignant or benign. A case is presented and discussed here in order to improve diagnosis and management of pulmonary nodules. A 62-year-old lady was found to have multiple pulmonary nodules by X-ray when she complained of a cough and fever. This was confirmed by a CT scan. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) of one of the lung lesions reported scant atypical epithelial cells that stained positive for TTF-1 and cytokeratin 7, but negative for cytokeratin 20. Thus, it was suspicious for large cell carcinoma. A videothoracoscopic lung biopsy and …

Implementing A Sustainability Balanced Scorecard 'Dashboard' Approach To Assess Organisational Legitimacy, Tairan (Kevin) Huang, Matthew P. Pepper, Graham D. Bowrey

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and determine the contributing factors which influence the contents of a firm‟s sustainability reporting through combined social and environmental accounting and management perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes the disclosed sustainability indicators of a major Australian financial institution, Westpac, through the application of the research method content analysis. The theoretical framework will be shaped by the consideration of legitimacy theory and the Balanced Scorecard approach.

Findings: The results indicate that the four perspectives of a traditional Balanced Scorecard are related to the main sources of influential inputs to Westpac‟s …

Including The Public In Pandemic Planning: A Deliberative Approach, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer, Jackie M. Street, Wendy Rogers, Rodney Givney, John R. Moss, Janet E. Hiller

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background Against a background of pandemic threat posed by SARS and avian H5N1 influenza, this study used deliberative forums to elucidate informed community perspectives on aspects of pandemic planning. Methods Two deliberative forums were carried out with members of the South Australian community. The forums were supported by a qualitative study with adults and youths, systematic reviews of the literature and the involvement of an extended group of academic experts and policy makers. The forum discussions were recorded with simultaneous transcription and analysed thematically. Results Participants allocated scarce resources of antiviral drugs and pandemic vaccine based on a desire to …

A State-Based Knowledge Representation Approach For Information Logical Inconsistency Detection In Warning Systems, Jun Ma, Guangquan Zhang, Jie Lu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Detecting logical inconsistency in collected information is a vital function when deploying a knowledge-based warning system to monitor a specific application domain for the reason that logical inconsistency is often hidden from seemingly consistent information and may lead to unexpected results. Existing logical inconsistency detection methods usually focus on information stored in a knowledge base by using a well-defined general purpose knowledge representation approach, and therefore cannot fulfill the demands of a domain-specific situation. This paper first proposes a state-based knowledge representation approach, in which domain-specific knowledge is expressed by combinations of the relevant objects' states. Based on this approach, …

A Multi-Resolution Approach To Learning With Overlapping Communities, Lei Tang, Xufei Wang, Huan Liu, Lei Wang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The recent few years have witnessed a rapid surge of par- ticipatory web and social media, enabling a new laboratory for studying human relations and collective behavior on an unprecedented scale. In this work, we attempt to harness the predictive power of social connections to determine the preferences or behaviors of individuals such as whether a user supports a certain political view, whether one likes one product, whether he/she would like to vote for a presidential candidate, etc. Since an actor is likely to participate in mul- tiple dierent communities with each regulating the actor's behavior in varying degrees, and …

Balanced Truncation Of Linear Second-Order Systems: A Hamiltonian Approach, Carsten Hartmann, Valentina-Mira Vulcanov, Christof Schutte

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

We present a formal procedure for structure-preserving model reduction of linear second-order and Hamiltonian control problems that appear in a variety of physical contexts, e.g., vibromechanical systems or electrical circuit design. Typical balanced truncation methods that project onto the subspace of the largest Hankel singular values fail to preserve the problem's physical structure and may suffer from lack of stability. In this paper, we adopt the framework of generalized Hamiltonian systems that covers the class of relevant problems and that allows for a generalization of balanced truncation to second-order problems. It turns out that the Hamiltonian structure, stability, and passivity …

Simulation Of Macroscopic Deformation Using A Sub-Particle Dem Approach, Leela Kempton, David J. Pinson, Sheng Chew, Paul Zulli, Aibing Yu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

A limitation in numerical modelling of the ironmaking blast furnace is the lack of ability to quantify the effects of particle deformation and subsequent loss of porosity arising from the softening and melting of ferrous materials. Previous attempts to consider deformation focussed solely on the macroscopic effects such as resistance to gas flow, with an assumed decrease in porosity proportional to temperature. Instead, it is proposed to approximate particle scale deformation using a modified subparticle Discrete Element Method approach, where each 'ore' particle is represented using an agglomerate of discrete elements with temperature dependent properties. Cohesive forces binding the agglomerate …

Mapping Science Subjects: A Ground Up Approach, Glennys A. O'Brien, Lorna Jarrett, Emily Rose Purser, Christine A. Brown

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The need to clearly demonstrate the components and outcomes of a curriculum is a major factor in the drive for quality assurance manifest across the tertiary education sector. This project is a detailed gathering of commentary and data about the subjects offered in the Faculty of Science, UOW. The project aims to provide a means of tracking concept and skill development through curricula, to identify sharable resources and teaching practice, to clarify support needs and to provide a means for storing and maintaining an ongoing record of commentary and data about each subject. The investigative approach is a type of …

Towards Accounting Students Workplace Preparedness: A Unique Internship Approach, Bonnie Amelia Dean, Graham D. Bowrey, Michael D. Clements

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Undergraduate accounting students would benefit from the combined learning approach of simultaneous classroom and workplace experience to better prepare them for the challenges of industry. In the absence of teachers, subjects and assessment, students need to know how to learn by reflecting on their workplace knowledge and skills, both for professional growth and development, and to adapt to an ever-changing workplace environment. This paper presents a unique internship programme for business students, focusing on their learning beyond the classroom. The Commerce Internship Programme (CIP) developed and implemented at the University of Wollongong, Australia, offers a model for enhancing student engagement …

A Botanical Approach To Managing Obesity, Dilip Ghosh

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

metabolic syndrome in check like obesity. There are few drugs in the market to ameliorate or prevent obesity but there are the costs, efficacy and side effects to consider. For centuries people across the countries have been using natural products and plant based dietary supplements for weight control. The current review will consists of one South Asian herb, Garcinia cambogia and one Chinese herb, Magnolia officinalis.

The Effects Of Currency Appreciation On Share Market Return: Ardl Approach, Gary G. Tian, Shiguang Ma

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study employs the ARDL cointegrating approach to examine the impact of financial liberalization on the relationships between three Chinese main bilateral exchange rates and its share market performance. We discovered that a long-term equilibrium relationship measured by cointegration has emerged between the exchange rate of the RMB against the Japanese Yen and, to a lesser extent, the exchange rate against both the US dollar and Hong Kong dollar and the Shanghai Composite Index since 2005 when the Chinese exchange rate regime changed from a peg system to a more flexible managed floating system. We found that the exchange rate …

Influenza Virus Antigenic Variation, Host Antibody Production And New Approach To Control Epidemics, Jiezhong Chen, Yi-Mo Deng

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Influenza is an infectious disease and can lead to life-threatening complications like pneumonia. The disease is caused by three types of RNA viruses called influenza types A, B and C, each consisting of eight negative single-stranded RNA-segments encoding 11 proteins. Current annual vaccines contain two type A strains and one type B strain and are capable of inducing strong antibody responses to both the surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) and the neuraminidase (NA). While these vaccines are protective against vaccine viruses they are not effective against newly emerging viruses that contain antigenic variations known as antigenic drift and shift. In nature, …

A Hybrid Approach To Estuary Modelling, O. Gould, J. Hinwood, Errol J. Mclean

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

A hybrid model incorporating process and system modelling characteristics has been developed and applied to the evolution of a theoretical estuary with a small lake basin, partially enclosed by a barrier with an entrance open to the sea. The one-dimensional model is capable of modelling changes in sedimentation both spatially and temporally and hence, tracks changes in crosssection dimensions along the estuary. The model structure is a series of linked modules to solve the hydrodynamics, the sediment transport equation and a distribution of the sediment to bed and bank. An evolution simulation was conducted for a generic coastal lagoon over …

Where's The Harm? A Social Marketing Approach To Reframing 'Problem' Drinking Cultures, M Carrigan, Andrew Lindridge, S Macaskill, D Eadie, R Gordon, D Heim

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Alcohol consumption is often linked to a broad range of social and health problems, yet alcohol also plays a fundamental role in social bonding between people. This paper considers the potential of social marketing to contribute to alcohol consumption reduction and reframe social norms that encourage ‘problem’ drinking. Based on qualitative research with a variety of Scottish drinkers, the paper emphasises how and why a better understanding of the culturally bound meanings of alcohol (e.g. social identity, self-concept) are of crucial importance to inform any social marketing approach to reframing excessive drinking.

Accounting For Emission Rights: An Environmental Ethics Approach, Emma Zhang-Debreceny, Mary A. Kaidonis, Lee Moerman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

We argue that the International Accounting Standard Board's difficulty in arriving at a standard for accounting for emission rights, which is central to Emission Trading Schemes, is an opportunity to re-examine the issues from an environmental ethics approach. We critically evaluate the IASB approach which privileges profits, and views emission rights as tradeable entitlements to pollute. We consider social ecology, an example of an environmental ethical perspective which holds that humans' survival and the environment's sustainability are inextricably linked. We conclude that social ecology can inform accounting standard setters about the accounting treatment of emissions rights.

A Best Practice Approach To Cultural Competence Training, Bronwyn L. Lumby, Terri Farrelly

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

What has been commonly termed ‘Cultural Awareness Training’ has been a popular method utilised by organisations targeting employees, to improve the cultural appropriateness of their service delivery. Policy shifts and evaluation findings have seen the expectations and ideals of such training evolve from mere ‘Awareness’ to more of a ‘Cultural Competence’ focus, addressing not only knowledge, but also behaviour.

Opportunities For Interactivity In Public Health Websites: A Content Analysis Approach, Sumayya Banna, Helen M. Hasan, Joseph A. Meloche

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The Internet has many advantages over other media in the provision of information services in the area of public health. However many designers are not yet taking full advantage of its potential for interactivity. This paper examines the development of interactivity in public health websites in the increasingly important area of Palliative Care. Content analysis is used here to map the interactivity in a sample of 30 existing websites along with Heeter’s six dimensions (content and availability of choice, effort users must exert, responsiveness to the users, and the ease of adding information, monitoring the information and the system use, …

A Knowledge Mapping Approach To Facilitate Strategic Human Resource And Knowledge Management, Debbie Richards, Peter R. Massingham, Peter Busch

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A key challenge facing organisations is how to effectively connect employees who seek knowledge with those who have the necessary knowledge. From case studies conducted in three separate knowledge intensive organisations, briefly introduced in this paper, we found that locating and measuring expertise were major challenges with no current satisfactory solutions. We offer a method to map intellectual capital within organisations distinct from previous expertise location methods in several significant ways. First, it includes the measurement of knowledge value within the context of the organisation's strategy and activities. Second, it addresses concerns with existing methods such as subjectivity associated with …

Investigative Methods And Tools: Developing An Integrated Approach To Critical Thinking, Evidence-Based Medicine And Biostatistics, Tam C. Ha, Frank Starmer

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Each day's work, whether a clinician, researcher or homemaker, focuses on investigative strategies and problem solving. Investigative methods and problem solving are rarely addressed formally in a medical school curriculum. Our goal with Investigative Methods and Tools was to convey to future clinician-scientists the skills to be able to confidently deal with information whether acquired from a patient, medical literature or in the laboratory. Our strategy is to convey to students major components of the investigative process including chasing curiosity, visualisation, modelling, experimental design and analysis. In addition, we depart from the traditional "jargon compliant" statistical vocabulary and focused on …

An Agent-Oriented Approach To Support Change Propagation In Software Evolution, Hoa K. Dam

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Software maintenance and evolution is arguably a lengthy and expensive phase in the life cycle of a software system. A critical issue at this phase is change propagation: given a set of primary changes that have been made to software, what additional secondary changes are needed? Although many approaches have been proposed, automated change propagation is still a significant technical challenge in software maintenance and evolution. This paper presents a Ph.D. research in the final stages of developing and evaluating a novel, agent-based, framework to support semi-automated change propagation in evolving software systems.

Enhancing Information Flow In A Retail Supply Chain Using Rfid And The Epc Network: A Proof-Of-Concept Approach, Samuel Fosso Wamba, Harold Boeck

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

RFID technology and the Electronic Product Code (EPC) network have attracted considerable interest from businesses and academics in recent years. The interest is even stronger in the retail industry where firms such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Tesco, Target and Metro AG are capitalizing on the potential of these technologies. Based on a field study conducted in a three-layer retail supply chain, this paper tests several scenarios integrating Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and the EPC network and evaluates, in a laboratory setting, their potential as enablers of information flow within a retail supply chain. Using an "open-loop" adoption strategy, our …

Linking Attitudes And Demographics In A Tourist Segmentation Model - A Two-Stage Approach, Uraiporn Kattiyapornpong, Kenneth E. Miller

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Segmentation has been widely studied in tourism research e.g. Dolnicar (2004). Dawley (2006) points that commonly used segmentation variables such as demographics lead to identifiable segments which are not actionable while other useful approaches e.g. psychographics, are actionable but not identifiable. The objective of this paper is to develop a two-stage linkage approach to segmentation whereby cluster analysis using psychographic variables is conducted within demographic group. Demographic groups are selected based on propensity to travel. This research utilizes data generated from a cross-sectional self-completed survey of 49,105 Australian respondents on travel and tourism. The managerial usefulness of this segmentation is …

A Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Approach To Users, Usability And Usefulness, Helen M. Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper takes an historical overview of the field of Human-Computer Interaction. Itdescribes how the cognitive psychology emphasis on user involvement in systemsdevelopment of the 1980s reached its limit by the early 1990s. At this point the focus shifted onto support for the tasks of users using computer-based systems in real contexts, a focus that ideally suits the mobile, ubiquitous and social technologies of the new millennium. The Cultural-Historical Activity Theory provides an appropriate framework for understanding this phenomenon and is adopted in this paper to present the work, over a seven year period, of a usability laboratory grounded in …

An Alternative Approach To Coal Mine Site Water Management: A Case Study On West Cliff Colliery, Antony Volcich, Stephen A. Short, Adrian C. Hutton, Robert John Morrison

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The provision of water supply, its usage and discharge, are major concerns for all mines, often accounting for a significant portion of the daily running costs. To reduce these costs, mines will collect as much site runoff as possible, and recycle the water whenever economically feasible. The constant recycling of on-site waters can mean that, over time, the levels of salinity, acidity or alkalinity, or other contaminants may build up within the internal water management system to a point which may lead to problems with licensed discharge requirements. This project investigated the water quality at West Cliff Colliery, in order …

Recovery Of Time-Dependent Parameters Of A Black-Scholes-Type Equation: An Inverse Stieltjes Moment Approach, Marianito R. Rodrigo, Rogemar S. Mamon

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

We show that the problem of recovering the time-dependent parameters of an equation of Black-Scholes type can be formulated as an inverse Stieltjes moment problem. An application to the problem of implied volatility calculation in the case when the model parameters are time varying is provided and results of numerical simulations are presented.

Partnership With Partial Commitment: A Game Theoretic Approach, Amnon Levy

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper derives the Nash-equilibrium degrees of commitment to a partnership where lack of full commitment fuels suspicion and increases potential losses for partners. The Nash-equilibrium commitment of each partner increases with her internal return, quitting cost and costs of being deserted and with her counterpart's external return and intrinsic capacity to detect lack of full commitment, but diminishes with her external return and intrinsic capacity to detect her counterpart's lack of full commitment and with her counterpart's internal return, quitting cost and costs of being deserted.

The Ofdm-Idma Approach To Wireless Communication Systems, Li Ping, Qinghua Guo, Jun Tong

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This article outlines the basic principles of OFDM-IDMA. Comparisons with other alternative technologies such as OFDM-CDMA and OFDMA are provided. Some attractive features of OFMD-IDMA are explained, including low-cost iterative multi-user detection, flexible rate adaptation, frequency diversity, and significant advantages regarding spectral and power efficiency. © 2007 IEEE.

Maintaining Social Marketing's Relevance: A Dualistic Approach, Gary I. Noble

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

There have been calls amongst academics and practitioners to move social marketing 'upstream'. This paper attempts to clarify what upstream social marketing is, its appropriate relationship with ‘downstream’ social marketing and how both approaches can be combined into a suitable theoretical framework. The paper argues that neither up or downstream social marketing is superior and suggests that a dual, synergistic approach is needed. This argument is supported through reference to current social marketing interventions in the areas of road safety and childhood obesity. The paper concludes by suggesting that Polonsky, Carlson and Fry’s (2003) ‘harm chain’ concept may be a …

A Numerical Approach To Evaluate The Fatigue Life Of Monolimb, Nian-Zhong Chen, Winson Lee, Ming Zhang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Monolimb refers to a transtibial prosthesis with the prosthetic socket and the shank being molded into one piece of thermoplastic material. Shank flexibility of a monolimb can improve gait and comfort. However, fatigue failure of monolimbs under cyclic walking load is an important concern. This study is to evaluate the fatigue life of a monolimb designed for a transtibial amputee, based on finite element analysis, the statistical Miner's rule and reliability analysis. Stress uncertainty due to modeling error and the scatter in fatigue test data were considered. Results indicated that the accuracy of fatigue life evaluation of monolimb depends significantly …