Digital Commons Network^™

A Communications Policy Perspective On Ctc Sustainability In Regional Australia: Normative Assumptions, Commercial Viability And Social Good, William Tibben

Dr William Tibben

This paper investigates the influence of the normative assumptions that can be associated with the Community Technology Centers (CTCs) scheme in New South Wales, Australia during the period 2000-2005 (CTC@NSW). It does this by developing an analytical framework based on Australian communications policy to assess case study accounts of selected CTCs. In drawing conclusions about the normative assumptions that guided the implementation of the CTC@NSW scheme, the sufficiency of market based development strategies are questioned when challenging economic circumstances suggest the need for ongoing strategic assistance from government.

Assessing The Impact Of Increased Air Conditioner Load On Power Quality In Australia, Lianne Mollier, D A. Robinson, Sarath Perera, Victor J. Gosbell, Frank Bucca

Dr Duane Robinson

Measurements of performance of existing technology air conditioner systems with regards to their impact on power quality in LV distribution systems are presented. Three types of split-phase air conditioners are studied including direct on line starting, soft starter and inverter fed units. Results of testing and subsequent calculations illustrate that the direct on line and soft starter units do not meet compliance requirements of the relevant standard, and as penetration of air conditioners increases, voltage fluctuations may become a significant problem in some LV distribution systems in Australia.

Issues Affecting Power Engineering Undergraduate Education In Australia, D A. Robinson, Victor J. Gosbell

Dr Duane Robinson

Recent changes to the electric power industry through deregulation and restructuring have had a considerable effect on power engineering education internationally. A number of Australian universities have also noticed a decline in the number of students interested in power engineering subjects, leading to the fewer graduates with power engineering knowledge. With a reduction in graduates and a perception of an aging workforce a shortage of suitably qualified power engineers for industry may be imminent. This paper provides discussion on the current status of university power engineering education within Australia and includes results from a recent Australia-wide survey of the university …

The Application Of Iec 61000-3-6 To Mv Systems In Australia, Victor J. Gosbell, D A. Robinson, Sarath Perera, Alex Baitch

Dr Duane Robinson

IEC 61000-3-6 [1] comprises a number of stages and tests to determine harmonic emission allowances for customers connected to MV or HV networks. Of particular importance is the section concerning loads distributed along a feeder, each having a different fault level. Although a common situation, the treatment given in the IEC standard is poorly described, being largely illustrated by one atypical example. This allows simplifying assumptions to be made which are invalid in practical cases. This paper outlines a more general approach that is relatively easy to apply.

Predicting Avian Distributions To Evaluate Spatiotemporal Overlap With Locust Control Operations In Eastern Australia, Judit K. Szabo, Pamela J. Davy, Michael Hooper, Lee Astheimer

Dr Pamela Davy

Locusts and grasshoppers cause considerable economic damage to agriculture worldwide. The Australian Plague Locust Commission uses multiple pesticides to control locusts in eastern Australia. Avian exposure to agricultural pesticides is of conservation concern, especially in the case of rare and threatened species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the probability of pesticide exposure of native avian species during operational locust control based on knowledge of species occurrence in areas and times of application. Using presence-absence data provided by the Birds Australia Atlas for 1998 to 2002, we developed a series of generalized linear models to predict avian occurrences …

Promises And Successful Practice In It Governance: A Survey Of Australian Senior It Managers, Terrence Coleman, Akemi Takeoka Chatfield

Dr Akemi Chatfield

In a global, digital economy, companies increasingly depend on IT for timely information sharing, effective operational control, rapid innovation, speed to market, and customer satisfaction. On the other hand, recent global financial crisis and economic recessions encourage trends for increased managerial scrutiny to reduce IT spending and to increase business value of IT. Globally, concepts of IT governance (ITG) have proliferated as a solution for improving IT management under business uncertainty and rapid technological change. However, empirical research on organisational ITG practice still is lacking and urgently required. This paper, therefore, presents survey results on ITG practice from a perspective …

Aged Care It In Australia-The Past, Present And Future, Ping Yu

Dr Ping Yu

This paper reviews the development of aged care IT innovations in Australia in the past decade. It starts with a brief description of the establishment of the Aged Care eConnect project by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing to promote aged care IT. This is followed by a snapshot of the aged care associations' and research groups' promotional activities. The roles of government, industry peak bodies, aged care providers, aged care IT application providers and researchers for the diffusion of aged care IT innovations are analysed.

Decent Work, Older Workers And Vulnerability In The Economic Recession: A Comparative Study Of Australia, The United Kingdom, And The United States, Susan Bisom-Rapp, Andrew D. Frazer, Malcolm Sargeant

Andrew Frazer

In countries with aging populations, the global recession presents unique challenges for older workers, and compels an assessment of how they are faring. To this end, the International Labour Organization's concept of decent work provides a useful metric or yardstick. Decent work, a multifaceted conception, assists in revealing the interdependence of measures needed to secure human dignity across the course of working lives. With this in mind, in three English-speaking, common law countries - Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States - this article considers several decent work principles applicable to older workers and provides evaluations in light of …

Linking Primary Health Care Researchers In South Australia: A Network Strategy, Sarnet, Raechel L. Waters, Kathryn M. Weston, Elizabeth Farmer

Elizabeth Farmer

In response to the changing definitions of primary care delivery there is a growing need for research to be practitioner-driven and multidisciplinary. This paper addresses the strategies used to enhance multidisciplinary participation and capacity building in research in the South Australian Primary Health Care Research Network (SARNet). This network has 198 members currently. Membership is strongly multidisciplinary and spans all levels of research expertise. The services offered by the network are member-driven and include competitive bursary funding for research and evaluation skills development, writing groups, training events, access to web-based resources and information, special interest groups, and email alerts. Potential …

Australia's Maritime Challenges And Priorities: Recent Developments And Future Prospects, Robin M. Warner

Robin Warner

Australia, witb its lengthy coastline, vast maritime jurisdiction and multiple offshore territories, undoubtedly fits the description of a maritime nation: but it was not until the issue of Australia's Oceans Policy in 1998 Ihat a comprehensive statement of Australia's maritime challenges and priorities emerged at the Federal Government level. The Oceans Policy arliculated a diverse array of challenges and priorities relating to Australia's maritime interests, including the conservation of marine biological diversity, the maintenance of ecologically sustainable fisheries, the prevention of marine pollution, the development of lhe offshore petroleum and minerals industry, the definition or Australia's maritime juridiction and the …

Potential Reduction In Energy Use From A High Speed Rail Network In Australia, Philip Laird

Dr Philip Laird

High Speed Rail or HSR with electric passenger trains using steel wheels on steel rails with maximum operating speeds of 250km/h or more is now operational in 12 countries. It is now under review in Australia. The paper considers energy use on the 10 top routes of the Melbourne-Sydney and Sydney-Brisbane corridors and finds that HSR was in place by 2020, HSR could reduce the use of aviation fuel by over 450 million litres each year. External costs and Sydney airport issues are also noted.

Adaptive Reuse Potential: An Examination Of Differences Between Urban And Non-Urban Projects, Li-Yin Shen, Craig Langston

Craig Langston

Purpose - Adaptive reuse of existing building stock that has reached the end of its useful life, but not its physical life, is an important ingredient in the necessary adaptation of the constructed environmentdue to the impact of climate change and the need to conserve valuable resources into the future. This paper aims to advance previous research that has developed a means to predict adaptive reuse potential (ARP).Design/methodology/approach - This study is conducted by comparing ARP (ARP) between urban and non-urban settings drawn from case studies in both Hong Kong and Australia. The resultsare also compared to a database of …

Comparing International Construction Performance, Craig Langston

Craig Langston

The measurement of construction performance is a vexed problem. Despite much research effort, there remains little agreement over what to measure and how to measure it. The problem is made even more complicated by the desire to benchmark national industry performance against that of other countries. As clearly construction cost forms part of the analysis, the mere adjustment of cost data to an ‘international currency’ has undermined past attempts to draw any meaningful conclusions. This paper proposes a new method for comparing international construction performance, and in so doing integrates cost with time and quality to determine ratios capable of …

Assessing The Impact Of Increased Air Conditioner Load On Power Quality In Australia, Lianne Mollier, D A. Robinson, Sarath Perera, Victor J. Gosbell, Frank Bucca

Associate Professor Sarath Perera

Measurements of performance of existing technology air conditioner systems with regards to their impact on power quality in LV distribution systems are presented. Three types of split-phase air conditioners are studied including direct on line starting, soft starter and inverter fed units. Results of testing and subsequent calculations illustrate that the direct on line and soft starter units do not meet compliance requirements of the relevant standard, and as penetration of air conditioners increases, voltage fluctuations may become a significant problem in some LV distribution systems in Australia.

The Application Of Iec 61000-3-6 To Mv Systems In Australia, Victor J. Gosbell, D A. Robinson, Sarath Perera, Alex Baitch

Associate Professor Sarath Perera

IEC 61000-3-6 [1] comprises a number of stages and tests to determine harmonic emission allowances for customers connected to MV or HV networks. Of particular importance is the section concerning loads distributed along a feeder, each having a different fault level. Although a common situation, the treatment given in the IEC standard is poorly described, being largely illustrated by one atypical example. This allows simplifying assumptions to be made which are invalid in practical cases. This paper outlines a more general approach that is relatively easy to apply.

The Acceptance Of A Clinical It Innovation By The Care Givers In Residential Aged Care 11-Weeks After The Software Implementation In Australia, Ping Yu, Hui Yu, Yi Mu

Professor Yi Mu

End user acceptance and satisfaction with a new IT innovation is the pre-requisite for the successful introduction of this IT solutino into an organization. More than 70 per cent of health IT projects have failed to a certain extent because of its failure to satisfy the functional or non-functional requirements of the end users and thus were not accepted by them. To date, there is no sound evidence to suggest that clinical IT solutions will bring in benefits for a residential aged care facility. This is a real concern for aged care management in investment in clinical IT solutions in …

Do Organisational Characteristics Explain The Differences Between Drivers Of Ict Adoption In Rural And Urban General Practices In Australia, Robert C. Macgregor, Peter N. Hyland, Charles Harvie

Associate Professor Peter Hyland

A number of studies have compared general medical practices in rural locations with those in urban locations. Some of these studies have concentrated on the reasons why a GP might choose to work in a rural or urban setting. Others have examined the type of work required to be undertaken by medical professionals. Increasing use of information and communications technology (ICT) in medical practices has led to some studies examining their use in rural as well as urban settings. However, little if any research has examined whether ICT adoption drivers differ between rural and urban GPs based on their organisational …

The Development And Evaluation Of The Australian Child And Adolescent Recommended Food Score: A Cross-Sectional Study, Skye Marshall, Jane Watson, Tracy Burrows, Maya Guest, Clare E. Collins

Skye Marshall

The Third Way: Prevention And Compensation Of Work Injury In Victoria, Australia, Peter S. Barth, H. Allan Hunt, Alan Clayton, Ralph Mcginn, Robert W. Klein, Terrance J. Bogyo

H. Allan Hunt

No abstract provided.

Victorian Workers' Compensation System: Review And Analysis, Volume I, H. Allan Hunt, Peter S. Barth, Terrance J. Bogyo, Alan Clayton, Robert W. Klein, Ralph W. Mcginn

H. Allan Hunt

No abstract provided.

Victorian Workers' Compensation System: Review And Analysis, Volume Ii, H. Allan Hunt, Peter S. Barth, Alan Clayton, Ralph W. Mcginn

H. Allan Hunt

No abstract provided.

Workers' Compensation Insurance In North America: Lessons For Victoria?, H. Allan Hunt, Robert W. Klein

H. Allan Hunt

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Propensity Of Chinese University Students For Leisure Travel Within Australia, Yun Zhang, Lois Burgess, Gregory M. Kerr

Lois Burgess

The provision of education to international students in Australia is increasingly important tothe higher education sector as well as other industry sectors including tourism. Althoughprevious studies have identified the contributions of international students to tourism, thereare limited studies investigating leisure travel behaviour based on student nationality andsegments within nationalities. As the first stage of a broader study, this research by way ofopen-ended interviews, investigates the propensity of Chinese university students to travelwithin Australia. By way of qualitative data analysis the findings reveal a number ofparadoxes which need to be addressed in further research to better understand the attitudesand behaviours of …

Is The Rising Cost Of Education Uniform Across All Of Australia's Capital Cities?, Abbas Valadkhani, Shima Hassan Zadeh Forughi, Amir Arjomandi

Amir Arjomandi

This paper compares and contrasts the aggregate cost of education in Australia with the cost of education in each of its eight capital cities surveyed in the Consumer Price Index. It appears that education is becoming a relatively more expensive item among Australian households with rising substantial differences across various geographical areas. Over the last three decades on average the Australian economy witnessed an overall annual inflation rate of 4.2 per cent, whereas the growth of education cost was 7.3 per cent per annum. It is interesting to note that the rising cost of education was not the same across …

Taxation And The Australian Superannuation System: An International Comparison, Corinne Cortese, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This study demonstrates the taxation burden applied to Australian superannuation. The superannuation schemes and supporting taxation systems of five OECD countries are reviewed. A hypothetical scenario is applied to demonstrate the imbalance of the Australian system relative to comparable nations. Given concerns about the aging population, this research supports calls for further reforms to the taxation of superannuation in Australia, highlighting the need to make superannuation taxation policies more consistent with government efforts to encourage superannuation savings and self-funded retirement.

Fractionation Of Sedimentary Arsenic From Port Kembla Harbour, Nsw, Australia, Glennys A. O'Brien, William E. Price, Bryan E. Chenhall, Muhammad Damris

William E. Price

The binding of arsenic in sediments of the heavily industrialised Port Kembla Harbour, NSW, Australia, has been investigated. Both dredge and core samples have been used to develop a sieving/sequential extraction (SE) procedure. Dredge samples included oxic surficial and deeper anoxic sediment. The main core sample analysed was 18 cm deep, sliced at 2 cm intervals. Sediment was sieved to three size ranges (250 microm) and each of these was then subjected to a four step SE, sequentially solubilizing arsenic as ion exchangeable, 1 M HCl soluble, NH(2)OH.HCl soluble, and strong oxidising acid soluble. Concentrations of 50-500 mg As kg(-1) …

Book Review: "Troubled Waters: Confronting The Water Crisis In Australia's Cities" By Patrick Troy (Ed.), Leah M. Gibbs

Leah Maree Gibbs

Troubled Waters is a collection of essays edited by Patrick Troy, Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. The papers are contributed by a multidisciplinary group of authors, from the fields of economics, history, geography, environmental and social policy and law. As a result, the book does not present a single theoretical or methodological approach and in this regard it is refreshing. The book is published by the ANU E Press; a publisher that makes academic output from the ANU freely available from its website, as well as for purchase through …

The Paradoxical Food Buying Behaviour Of Parents: Insights From The Uk And Australia, Gary I. Noble, Sandra C. Jones, Danielle Mcvie, Laura Mcdermott, Martine Stead

Gary Noble

AbstractPurpose - This article aims to explore the apparent paradox between the nutritional knowledge ofparents of pre-school children and their actual food purchase and preparation behaviour.Design/methodology/approach - Two separate qualitative data collection exercises wereconducted, an exploratory focus group study in the UK and a projective technique study in Australia.Findings - The UK study found that, despite believing that vegetables were good for children'shealth, mothers also perceived that it was extremely difficult to encourage children to eat them. Theresults of Australian study suggest that the purchase of unhealthy "treats" or "bribes" is explainedthrough the concept of "expediency" whereas what this study …

Using Lidar To Assess The Effect Of Fire And Floods On Upland Peat Bogs, Waterfall Gully, Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia, Javier Leon Patino, Solomon Buckman, Robert P. Bourman, Rowena Morris, Katherine C. Brownlie

Solomon Buckman Dr.

A flood exceeding the 100 year average recurrence interval in November 2005 led to the failure of an upland peat bog in Waterfall Gully. The area is prone to severe bushfire and flood events and the control dam at the base of First Falls was filled with sediment sourced from Wilson Bog. A resistant quartzite bar at Fourth Falls has formed a natural constriction point against which burnt logs and debris have collected following previous fire events forming a natural dam resulting in sediment/peat accumulation upstream. The failure of the bog was inevitable as the vegetative material in the log-jam …

Age And Origin Of Alluvial Sediments Within And Flanking The Mt Lofty Ranges, Southern South Australia: A Late Quaternary Archive Of Climate And Environmental Change, D Banerjee, N F. Alley, R P. Bourman, S Buckman, J R. Prescott

Solomon Buckman Dr.

No abstract provided.