Digital Commons Network^™

E-Government, Audit Opinion, And Performance Of Local Government Administration In Indonesia, Bambang Sutopo, Trisninik Ratih Wulandari, Arum Kusumaningdyah Adiati, Dany Adi Saputra

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

Local governments (LGs) have an important role in providing services to the community. Nevertheless, some local governments still show relatively low performance. Scores of e-government implementation and audit opinions obtained by some local governments are also relatively low. This study examines whether there are relationships between e-government, the dimensions of e-government, and audit opinion and the performance of the local government administration. There are five dimensions of the e-government i.e. policy, institutions, infrastructure, applications, and planning. The sample used in this study includes 246 local governments from 2012 to 2014. Using regression analysis, the results of this study show that …

Impacts Of Mergers And Acquisitions On Acquirer Banks’ Performance, Burhan Ali Shah, Niaz Khan

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

This study investigates the effects of mergers and acquisitions (M & A) on the operating performance of the acquirer banks in Pakistan. For this purpose, a sample of 18 transactions, involving acquirer banks, listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange, is used. The Financial Ratio Analysis (FRA) is used to determine the effects of M & A. The significance of change in the operating performances is tested through a paired sample t-test. The results indicate deterioration in the performances of the acquirer banks in the post-merger period.

The Links Among Characteristics, Controls And Performance Of Inter-Firm Innovation Projects, Maria Cadiz Dyball, Andy Wang

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study aims to explore the effects of: (1) the project characteristics of asset specificity, uncertainty and complexity on the performance of, and, the use of formal and social controls in inter-firm innovation projects, and, (2) the use of formal and social controls on the performance of inter-firm innovation projects. In addition, the mediating role of the use of formal and social controls in the relationships between the characteristics and performance of inter-firm innovation projects is also examined. Survey data from 75 organisations in innovation-active industries in Australia were analysed using the structural equation modelling with the Partial Least Square …

Structure-Property Relationships Of Organic Electrolytes And Their Effects On Li/S Battery Performance, Mohammad Kaiser, Shulei Chou, Hua-Kun Liu, Shi Xue Dou, Chunsheng Wang, Jiazhao Wang

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Electrolytes, which are a key component in electrochemical devices, transport ions between the sulfur/carbon composite cathode and the lithium anode in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). The performance of a LSB mostly depends on the electrolyte due to the dissolution of polysulfides into the electrolyte, along with the formation of a solid-electrolyte interphase. The selection of the electrolyte and its functionality during charging and discharging is intricate and involves multiple reactions and processes. The selection of the proper electrolyte, including solvents and salts, for LSBs strongly depends on its physical and chemical properties, which is heavily controlled by its molecular structure. In …

Performing Under Pressure: Exploring The Psychological State Underlying Clutch Performance In Sport, Christian F. Swann, Lee Crust, Patricia C. Jackman, Stewart A. Vella, Mark S. Allen, Richard J. Keegan

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Clutch performance is improved performance under pressure. However little research has examined the psychological state experienced by athletes in these situations. Therefore, this study qualitatively examined the subjective experience underlying clutch performance across a range of sports (e.g., team, individual) and standards (Olympic to recreational athletes). Sixteen athletes (Mage = 27.08 years; SD = 6.48) took part in in-depth, semi-structured interviews primarily after an exceptional performance (M = 4.38 days later; SD = 3.14). Data were analysed inductively and thematically. Clutch states involved 12 characteristics, including heightened and deliberate concentration, intense effort, and heightened awareness, which distinguished the experience of …

Impact Of Structural Design Solutions On The Energy And Thermal Performance Of An Australian Office Building, Mehdi Robati, Georgios Kokogiannakis, Timothy J. Mccarthy

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Concrete is a heavyweight construction material whose high thermal mass could increase the thermal storage capacity of a building envelope and in turn affect indoor thermal comfort. Selecting an appropriate method for concrete construction and form could also affect the total energy performance and thermal comfort of a building, a fact that is often overlooked by structural engineers. This study presents the results of energy simulations of the potential impact that concrete construction forms, in particular two slab types, and structural materials have on the energy consumption of archetypal commercial office buildings in five major Australia cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, …

Performance Simulation Of A Ground Source Heat Pump System Integrated With Solar Photovoltaic Thermal Collectors For Residential Application, Lei Xia, Zhenjun Ma, Georgios Kokogiannakis

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper presents the simulation and performance evaluation of a ground source heat pump (GSHP) system integrated with water-based solar photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collectors for residential buildings. A dynamic simulation system is developed using TRNSYS and used to facilitate the performance evaluation of the system. A 20-year life-time performance simulation is performed under three operation scenarios with different sizes of the PVT collectors. The results showed that the performance of the system is highly dependent on the size of the PVT collectors. Furthermore, an economic analysis is carried out to determine the optimum size of the PVT collectors for the …

The Effect Of Imputing Missing Clinical Attribute Values On Training Lung Cancer Survival Prediction Model Performance, Mohamed S. Barakat, Matthew Field, Aditya K. Ghose, David Stirling, Lois C. Holloway, Shalini K. Vinod, Andre Dekker, David Thwaites

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

According to the estimations of the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research in Cancer, lung cancer is the most common cause of death from cancer worldwide. The last few years have witnessed a rise in the attention given to the use of clinical decision support systems in medicine generally and in cancer in particular. These can predict patients' likelihood of survival based on analysis of and learning from previously treated patients. The datasets that are mined for developing clinical decision support functionality are often incomplete, which adversely impacts the quality of the models developed and the decision …

Ag-Mg Antisite Defect Induced High Thermoelectric Performance Of Α-Mgagsb, Zhenzhen Feng, Jihua Zhang, Yuli Yan, Guangbiao Zhang, Chao Wang, Chengxiao Peng, Fengzhu Ren, Yuan Xu Wang, Zhenxiang Cheng

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Engineering atomic-scale native point defects has become an attractive strategy to improve the performance of thermoelectric materials. Here, we theoretically predict that Ag-Mg antisite defects as shallow acceptors can be more stable than other intrinsic defects under Mg-poor-Ag/Sb-rich conditions. Under more Mg-rich conditions, Ag vacancy dominates the intrinsic defects. The p-type conduction behavior of experimentally synthesized ¿-MgAgSb mainly comes from Ag vacancies and Ag antisites (Ag on Mg sites), which act as shallow acceptors. Ag-Mg antisite defects significantly increase the thermoelectric performance of ¿-MgAgSb by increasing the number of band valleys near the Fermi level. For Li-doped ¿-MgAgSb, under more …

Ultra-Light And Flexible Pencil-Trace Anode For High Performance Potassium-Ion And Lithium-Ion Batteries, Zhixin Tai, Yajie Liu, Qing Zhang, Tengfei Zhou, Zaiping Guo, Hua-Kun Liu, Shi Xue Dou

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Engineering design of battery configurations and new battery system development are alternative approaches to achieve high performance batteries. A novel flexible and ultra-light graphite anode is fabricated by simple friction drawing on filter paper with a commercial 8B pencil. Compared with the traditional anode using copper foil as current collector, this innovative current-collector-free design presents capacity improvement of over 200% by reducing the inert weight of the electrode. The as-prepared pencil-trace electrode exhibits excellent rate performance in potassium-ion batteries (KIBs), significantly better than in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), with capacity retention of 66% for the KIB vs. 28% for the LIB …

Influence Of Geogrid On The Drying Shrinkage Performance Of Concrete Pavements, Abbas Sahib Abd-Ali Al-Hedad, Ebony Bambridge, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of geogrid on the drying shrinkage behaviour of concrete pavements. For this purpose, two categories of concrete specimens were prepared and tested by drying them within the controlled environmental conditions, for 56 days. The first category of specimens included casting and testing nine concrete prism specimens having dimensions of 75 x 75 x 280 mm. These specimens were divided into three groups. The first group included three unreinforced concrete prism specimens and taken as references. The second group consisted of three concrete prism specimens reinforced with a single biaxial geogrid …

Proeva: Runtime Proactive Performance Evaluation Based On Continuous-Time Mardov Chains, Guoxin Su, Taolue Chen, Yuan Feng, David Rosenblum

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Software systems, especially service-based software systems, need to guarantee runtime performance. If their performance is degraded, some reconfiguration countermeasures should be taken. However, there is usually some latency before the countermeasures take effect.

Performance Evaluation Of A Novel Frost-Free Air-Source Heat Pump Integrated With Phase Change Materials (Pcms) And Dehumidification, Zhihua Wang, Fenghao Wang, Zhenjun Ma, Chun Li, Yibo Xu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Air-source heat pump (ASHP) has been widely used in domestic and commercial buildings because of its energy savings, high efficiency and environmental friendliness. However, the heating capacity of an ASHP system is greatly influenced by the frost accumulation on the surface of the outdoor exchanger. To solve this problem, a novel frost-free ASHP system, integrating with Phase Change Materials (PCMs) and dehumidification, has been developed. In this paper, the schematic design of this system is first presented. The effect of the match relationship between the desiccant materials and PCM thermal energy storage on the performance of the novel system is …

Thermal Performance Evaluation Of An Integrated Photovoltaic Thermal-Phase Change Material System Using Taguchi Method, Haoshan Ren, Wenye Lin, Zhenjun Ma, Wenke Fan

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper presents the performance evaluation of an integrated photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector-phased change material (PCM) thermal energy storage (TES) system. The PVT collectors can generate both electricity and low-grade thermal energy during the daytime, and the thermal energy generated can be temporarily stored in the PCM TES unit and used for space heating during the night-time. Taguchi method and analysis of variance are used for the simulation design and data analysis, respectively. The thermal performance of the proposed system was evaluated in terms of the useful energy stored in the TES system. The results showed that the outlet air …

Capillary-Induced Ge Uniformly Distributed In N-Doped Carbon Nanotubes With Enhanced Li-Storage Performance, Haipeng Guo, Boyang Ruan, Lili Liu, Lei Zhang, Zhanliang Tao, Shulei Chou, Jiazhao Wang, Hua-Kun Liu

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Germanium (Ge) is a prospective anode material for lithium-ion batteries, as it possesses large theoretical capacity, outstanding lithium-ion diffusivity, and excellent electrical conductivity. Ge suffers from drastic capacity decay and poor rate performance, however, owing to its low electrical conductivity and huge volume expansion during cycling processes. Herein, a novel strategy has been developed to synthesize a Ge at N-doped carbon nanotubes (Ge at N-CNTs) composite with Ge nanoparticles uniformly distributed in the N-CNTs by using capillary action. This unique structure could effectively buffer large volume expansion. When evaluated as an anode material, the Ge at N-CNTs demonstrate enhanced cycling …

Relative Effectiveness Of Computer-Supported Jigsaw Ii, Stad And Tai Cooperative Learning Strategies On Performance, Attitude, And Retention Of Secondary School Students In Physics, Amosa Isiaka Gambari, Mudasiru Olalere Yusuf

Journal of Peer Learning

This study investigated the relative effectiveness of computer-supported cooperative learning strategies on the performance, attitudes, and retention of secondary school students in physics. A purposive sampling technique was used to select four senior secondary schools from Minna, Nigeria. The students were allocated to one of four groups: Students Team Achievement Division (STAD), Jigsaw II, Team-Assisted Individualisation (TAI), or Individualised Computer Instruction (ICI). Computer-Assisted Learning Package (CALP) on physics was used as the treatment instrument and the Physics Achievement Test (PAT) and Physics Attitude Scale (PAS) were used as outcome measures. Analysis of Covariance and the Scheffe post-hoc test were used …

Empty Gesture: Artists' Labour Insocially Engaged Art, Sarah Rodigari

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Utilising a practice-based research approach, this thesis interrogates the contingent nature of immaterial labour between artist, institution and audience to better understand the transformative potential of socially engaged art. Coined by art historian Claire Bishop in her 2006 essay, The Social Turn: Collaboration and its Discontents, the term ‘social turn’ refers to a rise in popularity of exhibiting socially engaged art across institutions, art fairs, and biennials over the last thirty years. These practices have historically generated a space for re-thinking art’s potential to critique dominant social and political structures. However, Bishop, along with theorists Shannon Jackson, Bojana Kunst and …

The Effects Of Supplier Development, Relationship Variables And Market Orientation On Performance Improvement In The Indonesian Automotive Industry, Meylianti Sulungbudi

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

In today’s dynamic market, firms are encouraged to establish beneficial collaborations to maximise their value creation in the supply chain by developing unique supply chain strengths. Despite their popularity, supplier development efforts have not always been a success story. This current study seeks to enhance the understanding of successful supplier development by developing and testing a model of supplier development success.

Based on the dynamic capability view, the relational view and the investment model, as well as a review of the supplier development and market orientation literature, the study investigates how: (1) market orientation moderates the relationship between supplier development …

Dynamic Capabilities, Institutions And Firm Performance Of Firms Responding To Climate Change: The Case Of Australia And South Africa, Augustine Manatsa

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Limited research has evaluated how the adoption of proactive climate change strategies impacts firm performance, more so a good understanding of the organisational components that link such strategies to performance. For this reason, the relationship between climate change strategies and other corporate strategies and how they could enhance firm performance is not well understood. In this study, organisational capabilities that underlie a firm’s ability to generate and enhance performance by adopting proactive climate change strategies is pursued. The study develops and tests a model of dynamic capabilities enhancing firm performance through the development of proactive climate change strategies. Results from …