Digital Commons Network^™

An Analytic Approach To Spectral Flow In Von Neumann Algebras, M-T Benameur, Alan L. Carey, John Phillips, Adam C. Rennie, Fyodor A. Sukochev, K P. Wojciechowski

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The analytic approach to spectral flow is about ten years old. In that time it has evolved to cover an ever wider range of examples. The most critical extension was to replace Fredholm operators in the classical sense by Breuer-Fredholm operators in a semifinite von Neumann algebra. The latter have continuous spectrum so that the notion of spectral flow turns out to be rather more difficult to deal with. However quite remarkably there is a uniform approach in which the proofs do not depend on discreteness of the spectrum of the operators in question. The first part of this paper …

An Agent-Oriented Approach To Change Propagation In Software Evolution, Khanh Hoa Dam, Michael Winikoff, Lin Padgham

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Software maintenance and evolution are inevitable activities since almost all software that is useful and successful stimulates user-generated requests for change and improvements. One of the most critical problems in software maintenance and evolution is to maintain consistency between software artefacts by propagating changes correctly. Although many approaches have been proposed, automated change propagation is still a significant technical challenge in software engineering. In this paper we present a novel, agent-oriented approach to deal with change propagation in evolving software systems that are developed using the Prometheus methodology. A metamodel with a set of the Object Constraint Language (OCL) rules …

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 …

A Contextual Approach To Design And Development Of Interfaces For Search Engines, Using Activity Theory As The Basis For Informing Design Decisions, Joseph A. Meloche, Li Cheng

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The goal of this study is to support the design of more effective search engines. The research presented in this chapter investigates the design of search engines in the context of information seeking
activities. This study is also informed by Activity Theory and considers Information Seeking to be a Keystone Activity. This improvement in search engine design takes into consideration the context of users, and elicits and captures users' explicit and implied requirements. The study uses Q-methodology to elicit the subjective understanding of the participants thought the phases provided by the methodology. This entails collecting, sorting and analysis of detailed …

Understanding Tensions And Conflict: A Phases Of Learning Approach To Family Business, Ken Moores, Mary Barrett

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Tensions inevitably arise from time to time in most business settings. But in family businesses these tensions potentially can be especially acute and even result in the cessation of the enterprise. These tensions manifest at various times and for many reasons but they generally arise when the business is undergoing a transition. Understanding these transitions and how to prepare for them enable family business leaders to lessen the threats to survival. In this paper we present results from our research into the transitions that Australian family firms typically experience and how they influence four key stages of learning for family …

The Development Of A User Self-Help Knowledge Management System For Help Desk: Deployment Of Knowledge Management Approach And Software Agent Technology, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Most help desks have admitted their call volume has increased in the past decade while “help unavailable when needed” is the major reason for service delivery failure and user dissatisfaction. The habit of calling help desk for simple problems has prompted the investigation of transferring part of first-level troubleshooting duty from help desk to user. This research proposes the development of user self-help knowledge management system that allows user to solve simple and routine technical enquiries. The proposed approach incorporates software agent to allow autonomous handling of enquiries so that the most appropriate solution and user communication can be facilitated.

A Multi-Agent Approach Towards Collaborative Supply Chain Management, Xin Li, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Supply chain collaboration has become a critical success factor for supply chain management and effectively improves the performance of organizations in various industries. Supply chain collaboration builds on information sharing, collaborative planning and execution. Information technology is an important enabler of collaborative supply chain management. Many information systems have been developed for supply chain management from legacy systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) into the newly developed advanced planning and scheduling system (APS) and e-commerce solutions. However, these systems do not provide sufficient support to achieve collaborative supply chain. Recently, intelligent agent technology and multi-agent system (MAS) have received a …

Location Quotients And Shift-Share Analysis: A Low Cost Approach To Regional Development Planning, Ann Hodgkinson

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Location quotient and shift-share analysis are traditional and somewhat old fashioned methods for regional development analysis.

A Mission-Centric Approach To Financial Ratio Analysis In The Nonprofit Sector, Anne Abraham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are melting pots combining mission, members and money. Given that the mission of a nonprofit organisation is the reason for its existence, it is appropriate to focus on financial resources in their association with mission and with the individuals who are served by that mission [1] [2] [3]. Measurement of financial performance by ratio analysis helps identify organisational strengths and weaknesses by detecting financial anomalies and focusing attention on issues of organisational importance [4].

Questions have been raised that relate the performance of NPOs to their fmancial resources, their mission and their membership. Addressing these questions is …

Collaboration In Supply Chain: A Multi-Agent Approach, Xin Li, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Supply chain collaboration has become a critical success factor for supply chain management. Supply chain collaboration builds on information sharing, collaborative planning and execution. Many information systems have been developed for supply chain management. However, these systems do not sufficiently support collaborative supply chain. Recently, intelligent agent technology has received a great potential in supporting transparency in information flows and modeling the dynamic supply chain for collaborative supply chain. This paper explores the similarities between multi-agent system and supply chain to investigate the appropriateness of multi-agent based technology to model supply chain system and support collaborative supply chain planning and …

Modelling The Impact Of China's Wto Membership On Its Investment And Growth: A New Flexible Keynesian Approach, Van Hoa Tran

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The standard theories of economics, international finance, transnational corporations, and within the accouting framework of the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA93) or earlier stipulate that investment plays a crucial role in influencing microenconomic activity, national ouput growth and economic development.

A Framework Of Ontology Revision On The Semantic Web: A Belief Revision Approach, Seung Hwan Kang, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The focus of the research in ontologies shifts from ontology representation to ontology evolution perspectives that become an important field of ontology research. Even though ontology refers to specification of conceptualisation that provides a useful way to represent the semantics of the Web resources, there is a still need for maintaining and handling ontologies. Because ontologies may change as a result of accepting new information, when this occurs, ontology needs to be revised. However the new information may contradict what was initially defined in the ontology when ontology revision is performed. To discuss this revision perspective, this research proposes an …

Dynamic Channel Allocation For Mobile Cellular Systems Using A Control Theoretical Approach, Yaya Wei, Chuang Lin, Raad Raad, Fengyuan Ren

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The guard channel scheme in wireless mobile networks has attracted and is still drawing research interest owing to easy implementation and flexible control. Dynamic guard channel schemes have already been proposed in the literature to adapt to varying traffic load. This paper presents a novel control-theoretic approach to dynamically reserve guard channels called PI-Guard Channel (PI-GC) controller that maintains the handoff blocking probability (HBP) to a predefined value; while it still improves the channel resource utilization.

Computer-Mediated Communication And The Italian News: An Integrated Approach To Foreign Language Learning, Mariolina Pais Marden

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes a project which integrated email communication between native speakers (NS) and non-native speakers (NNS) and the Italian daily broadcast telegiornale (tg) in the context of foreign language learning. For one semester students of Italian at the University of Wollongong regularly watched the Italian telegiornale and met once a week to discuss it with the instructor and the rest of the class. As part of the project learners participated in one-to-one email interactions with selected NS of Italian and discussed a range of topics presented in the news. This paper discusses some of the key characteristics of the …

A Practical Guide To Assessing Clinical Decision-Making Skills Using The Key Features Approach, Elizabeth Farmer, Gordon Page

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

Aim  This paper in the series on professional assessment provides a practical guide to writing key features problems (KFPs). Key features problems test clinical decision-making skills in written or computer-based formats. They are based on the concept of critical steps or ‘key features’ in decision making and represent an advance on the older, less reliable patient management problem (PMP) formats.

Method  The practical steps in writing these problems are discussed and illustrated by examples. Steps include assembling problem-writing groups, selecting a suitable clinical scenario or problem and defining its key features, writing the questions, selecting question response formats, preparing scoring …

Macro-Econometric Modeling For An Oil Dependent Economy: An Instruments-Targets Approach For The Uae Economy, Ajit Karnik, Cedwyn Fernandes

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study constructs a macro-econometric model to analyze the problems of regions that exhibit dependence on non-renewable resources (e.g. oil). The role of th eoil sector in the UAE and the extent to which it subsidizes the rest of the economy is evaluated. The macro-econometric model constructed consists of four sectors, has 25 equations and is evaluated and calibrated employing dynamic simulation techniques. Counter =factual and policy experiments are carried out and the instruments-targets approach is used to analyze the impact of the oil sector. The paper highlights the continued dependence of the UAE economy on oil and the urgency …

Fish Recolonization In Temperate Australian Rockpools: A Quantitative Experimental Approach, Shane Griffiths, Ronald West, Andrew R. Davis, Ken Russell

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

Understanding recolonization processes of intertidal fish assemblages is integral for predicting the consequences of significant natural or anthropogenic impacts on the intertidal zone. Recolonization of experimentally defaunated intertidal rockpools by fishes at Bass Point, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, was assessed quantitatively by using one long-term and two short-term studies. Rockpools of similar size and position at four sites within the intertidal zone were repeatedly defaunated of their fish fauna after one week, one month, and three months during two short-term studies in spring and autumn (5 months each), and every six months for the long-term study (12 months). Fish …

Web-Mediated Communication (Wmc) And Social Interaction: A Social Psychological Approach, Koo Won Suh, Helen Hasan, Paul K. Couchman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

It can be argued that social interaction is a critical factor in understanding Web-mediated communication. While the concept and domain of social interaction has been studied in several disciplines they are underdeveloped in the current Web-enabled environment. This paper adopts a social psychological point of view of conceptual and operational issues in relation to social interaction. Through a review of the literature, two domains of social interaction are identified: task and socio-emotional interaction. The literature review also addresses some problems in defmition related to socio-emotional interaction. In an attempt to fill the gap between conceptual and operational defmitions of social …

Replacing Traditional Lectures, Tutorials And Exams With A Knowledge Building Community (Kbc): A Constructivist, Problem-Based Approach To Pre-Service Primary Teacher Education, Brian L. Cambourne, Julie Kiggins, Brian Ferry

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper reports on a journey that begun in 1997 when a small group in the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong agreed to trial an alternative model of teacher education known as the Knowledge Building Community (KBC) Project. This alternative model of teacher education was based upon three learning principles, community learning, school-based learning and problem-based learning. Since the first students began in 1999 the original model has undergone several revisions and is now best described as a ?negotiated-evaluation-of-a-non-negotiable-curriculum-based-on-a-constructivist-model-of-learning-and-knowledge-building?. The aim of the KBC Program has been to deal with the perennial problem of contextualising students' professional …

A Multifaceted Approach To Distributed Communities Of Learning And Practice, Helen Hasan, Kate Crawford

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In the electronic age, locally-driven regeneration of the concept of community could be enabled by a flexible, multifaceted model where new information and communication technologies are the catalyst. However technology, no matter how advanced, is far from providing the complete answer and it is essential to take an integrated socio-technical approach to this issue. This paper reports on two cases that are part of ongoing research into distributed communities, framing them as phases of an activity system in expansive learning cycles in the context of a program of innoyatiye learning. This research d!monstrates that such communities are viable. with a …

Intersections: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Media, Identity, And Place, Tanja Dreher

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

This paper explores ongoing projects and research focused on themes of media, community, identity, and place in Sydney's westem suburbs. Fairfield is promoted as Australia's most culturally diverse local-Govermment area. Many community organisations and the local Council are involved in cultural productions that aim to both challenge the misrepresentations of mainstream media and to provide positive self-representations. My research examines media representations as a cultural resource for identity construction and for negotiations of community and place. My approach draws on media studies, cultural studies, geography, and sociology to conceptualise Fairfield as the site of as ymbolic struggle to define the …

Intersections: A Transdisciplinary Approach To Media, Identity And Place, Tanja Dreher

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines Cabramatta as an intersection of many cultural flows and diverse experiences and argues for a transdisciplinary approach and a focus on place to adequately grasp and analyse the comlexity of media and social relations in culturally diverse contexts.

Structured, Holistic Approach For Research Planning (Sharp), Karen E. Charlton, Marjanka Schmidt

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

This paper looks at the use of the Structured, Holistic Approach for Research Planning. This method was followed by group members at the Urban Nutrition Action workshop. A report of the outcomes is presented.

A Geometric Approach For Three-Phase Load Balancing In Distribution Networks, Kashem M. Muttaqi, Velappa Ganapathy, G B. Jasmon

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

No abstract provided.

Landslide Risk Assessment - Development Of A Hazard Consequence Approach, Chit Ko Ko, Phillip N. Flentje, Robin N. Chowdhury

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Several Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessment methods have been developed and used in the State of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The Rail Services Australia Geotechnical Services and the Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW have each developed Risk Assessment procedures suitable to their own specific needs. A generic risk management methodology is presented in the Australian Standard/New Zealand Standard (AS/NZS) 4360:1995. An approach similar to the (AS/NZS) 4360:1995 Risk Management Standard has been applied by a NSW State Emergency Services geotechnical team (which included one of the writers) to 191 problem sites in the Wollongong Area, following a major …

A Systematic Approach To Improving University Teaching, Max Gillett, Maureen E. Bell

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Traditionally the Australian system of higher education has evaluated and rewarded universities on the basis of their research output. In recent years, however, there has been a Significant move to evaluate and acknowledge excellence in teaching. Consequently many institutions have established policies and programs for the improvement of teaching. Centres for staff development, graduate award courses and research programs for research on teaching and learning have appeared in universities across the country (Martin & Ramsden, 1994).

In this context several interesting developments have occurred at the University of Wollongong. First, several initiatives were designed to identify and reward good teaching. …

Statistical Image Algebra: A Bayesian Approach, Jennifer L. Davidson, Noel A. Cressie

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

A mathematical structure used to express image processing transforms, the AFATL image algebra has proved itself useful in a wide variety of applications. The theoretical foundation for the image algebra includes many important constructs for handling a wide variety of image processing problems: questions relating to linear and nonlinear transforms, including decomposition techniques [9], [5]; mapping of transformations to computer architectures [8], [4]; neural networks [1 1], [6]; recursive transforms [10]; and data manipulation on hexagonal arrays. However, statistical notions have been included only on a very elementary level in [12], and on a more sophisticated level in [2]. In …