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2013

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Using Semiotic Resources When Building Images Of The Part-Whole Model Of Fractions, Paula M. Mildenhall Jan 2013

Using Semiotic Resources When Building Images Of The Part-Whole Model Of Fractions, Paula M. Mildenhall

Research outputs 2013

This paper reports an exploration in to the use of a combination of semiotic resources when teaching the part- whole model of fractions. The study involved a single case study of one class teacher and six students in an Australian primary classroom. Using video as the predominate research tool it was possible to describe how gesture and language were combined with two and three dimensional representations of folding paper, fraction walls and number lines to build images that appeared to enhance student understanding of the part- whole of fractions. I conjecture that the variety semiotic resources including gesture should have …

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Modelling The Volatility-Timing Of Funds Under Cpf Investment Theme, X Shen, Albert K. Tsui, Zhaoyong Zhang Jan 2013

Modelling The Volatility-Timing Of Funds Under Cpf Investment Theme, X Shen, Albert K. Tsui, Zhaoyong Zhang

Research outputs 2013

The performance measure of funds has been an important topic in the past few decades. In recent years the conditional models on return and volatility have become popular in studying the funds’ performance measure, but most of these studies focus on the US funds and a few on the Asian-based funds. The purpose of this study is to examine the volatility-timing performance of Singapore-based funds under the CPF (Central Provident Fund) Investment Scheme and non-CPF linked funds by taking into account of the currency risk effect on internationally managed funds. The CPF investment scheme was introduced in 1986 by the …

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Forecasting Singapore Economic Growth With Mixed-Frequency Data, A. Tsui, C.Y. Xu, Zhaoyong Zhang Jan 2013

Forecasting Singapore Economic Growth With Mixed-Frequency Data, A. Tsui, C.Y. Xu, Zhaoyong Zhang

Research outputs 2013

In this paper we intend to forecast the economic growth of Singapore by employing mixed frequency data. This study is motivated by the following observations: macroeconomic variables are the important indicators of the economic performance, but they are normally available at low frequencies, e.g. quarterly for GDP and monthly for inflation. In contrast, the financial variables such as stock returns are available at high frequency, and often the asset prices are forward-looking and believed to contain useful information about future economic developments (Stock and Watson 2003). It is therefore an interesting question to raise whether or not one can use …

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Modelling The Term Structure Of Japanese Bond Yields With The Nelson-Siegel Model, A. Tsui, J.X. Wu, Zhaoyong Zhang Jan 2013

Modelling The Term Structure Of Japanese Bond Yields With The Nelson-Siegel Model, A. Tsui, J.X. Wu, Zhaoyong Zhang

Research outputs 2013

The Nelson-Siegel (1987) (NS) model has been credited for its high efficacy in the in-sample fitting and out-of-sample forecasting of the term structures of interest rates. The term structure of interest rates, popularly known as the yield curve, is a static function that relates the time-to-maturity to the yield-to maturity for a sample of bonds at a given point in time. The conventional way of measuring the term structure is by means of the spot rate curve, or yield curve, on zero-coupon bonds. Yet in reality, the entire term structure is not directly observable, which gives rise to the need …

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Firewatch: Community Engagement And The Communication Of Bushfire Information, Donell J. Holloway, Lelia R. Green Jan 2013

Firewatch: Community Engagement And The Communication Of Bushfire Information, Donell J. Holloway, Lelia R. Green

Research outputs 2013

Successive bushfire inquiries in Australia have called for authorities to more effectively harness and disseminate bushfire information. Recommendations from these inquiries suggest a new approach to bushfires involving greater co-ordination, in which home dwellers, emergency fire services and government work more closely together and acknowledge that education, safety, planning and emergency management can be effective responses to the threat of bushfire. Policymakers and community members are seeking to revise bushfire protocols and access new sources of authoritative information, which may help guide public responses. Nonetheless, the effective communication of information regarding bushfires still seems to be problematic (Department of Justice, …

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Tessitura Changes In Music Theatre Repertoire For The Soprano Voice, Linda J. Barcan Jan 2013

Tessitura Changes In Music Theatre Repertoire For The Soprano Voice, Linda J. Barcan

Research outputs 2013

While the term tessitura is often poorly defined and loosely applied, certain statements about its application to singers and their repertoire may be made. For vocal repertoire, tessitura refers to the prevailing note or range of notes in a vocal line. For singers, it refers to the area in which the voice is most comfortably resonant. The definition most frequently used to capture the concept in relation to both singer and repertoire is the range of pitches where a voice or song “sits”. While attempts have been made to quantify tessitura, most references to this term remain largely subjective. This …

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Keys From The Past: Unlocking The Power Of Eighteenth-Century Contrapuntal Pedagogies, Jonathan R. Paget, Stewart J. Smith Jan 2013

Keys From The Past: Unlocking The Power Of Eighteenth-Century Contrapuntal Pedagogies, Jonathan R. Paget, Stewart J. Smith

Research outputs 2013

How did eighteenth-century musicians learn to compose, and how were they able to produce musical works with such comparative ease and fluency? What were the strategies at play that enabled even the most workman-like of composers to produce vast amounts of competent music, and how was it possible for almost any professional keyboard player to improvise a passable fugue? It is only recently that scholars have sought the answers to such questions. Groundbreaking work by Gjerdigen (1988; 2007a), Porter (2000; 2002), Renwick (1995), and others, provides a fascinating glimpse of the working methods of eighteenth-century musicians, and also offers implications …

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Free-Space Optics For High Speed Reconfigurable Card-To-Card Optical Interconnects, Ke Wang, Ampalavanpillai Nirmalathas, Christina Lim, Efstratios Skafidas, Kamal Alameh Jan 2013

Free-Space Optics For High Speed Reconfigurable Card-To-Card Optical Interconnects, Ke Wang, Ampalavanpillai Nirmalathas, Christina Lim, Efstratios Skafidas, Kamal Alameh

Research outputs 2013

High-speed card-to-card optical interconnects are highly demanded in high-performance computing and data centers. Compared with other solutions, free-space optical interconnects have the capability of providing both reconfigurability and flexibility. In this paper we propose and experimentally demonstrate a free-space based reconfigurable optical interconnect architecture and it is capable of connecting cards located both inside the same rack as well as in different racks. Results show that 3xiO Gb/s data transmission is achieved with a worst-case receiver sensitivity better than -9.38 dBm.

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Interest Rate Sensitivities Of Externally And Internally Managed Australian Reits, Jaime L. Yong, Abhay Singh Jan 2013

Interest Rate Sensitivities Of Externally And Internally Managed Australian Reits, Jaime L. Yong, Abhay Singh

Research outputs 2013

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in Australia experienced tremendous growth and investor interest following the crash of unlisted property funds in the 1990s. Since 2001, management structures have shifted from external property management to an internally advised model. The sector’s returns had been notably rewarding up till the Global Financial Crisis but rising costs of debt and years of aggressive borrowing to fund expansions have eroded the values of REITs. Externally managed trusts had relatively higher levels of debt than their internally managed counterparts thus increasing the sensitivities to interest rate risks. Yet internally managed REITs engage in a wider …

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Dependence Estimation And Controlled Cvar Portfolio Optimization Of A Highly Kurtotic Australian Mining Sample Of Stocks, Jose Arreola Hernandez, David E. Allen, Robert Powell Jan 2013

Dependence Estimation And Controlled Cvar Portfolio Optimization Of A Highly Kurtotic Australian Mining Sample Of Stocks, Jose Arreola Hernandez, David E. Allen, Robert Powell

Research outputs 2013

The drivers of mining stock prices are known to be several. Sharp spikes on the stocks return distribution have been linked to the presence of unusually high volatility signifying the presence of high levels of kurtosis. The accurate measurement of the stocks’ underlying co-movements for more accurate CVaR portfolio optimization requires, therefore, the utilization of sophisticated and specific-specialized techniques which could adequately capture and model these characteristics. Here this issue is addressed by applying statistical-graphical models for dependence estimation. Twenty mining stocks, out of the 801 listed in the ASX as of December 2012, have been selected for the analysis …

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Primary Sector Volatility And Default Risk In Indonesia, David E. Allen, Ray R. Boffey, Akhmad R. Kramadibrata, Robert Powell, Abhay Singh Jan 2013

Primary Sector Volatility And Default Risk In Indonesia, David E. Allen, Ray R. Boffey, Akhmad R. Kramadibrata, Robert Powell, Abhay Singh

Research outputs 2013

The Indonesian market is a critical market to the South East Asian region, being that region’s largest economy. The primary sectors of the Indonesian economy, incorporating Agriculture and Mining, are of critical importance to the country, representing approximately one quarter of GDP and providing nearly 40% of the nation’s employment. Mining and Agriculture stock returns significantly outperformed the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) composite index in the five years leading up to Global Financial Crisis (GFC), and experienced savage falls during the GFC. Against this background, we examine the market and credit risk of these sectors during the pre-GFC, GFC and …

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Intraday Volatility Forecast In Australian Equity Market, Abhay Singh, David E. Allen, Robert Powell Jan 2013

Intraday Volatility Forecast In Australian Equity Market, Abhay Singh, David E. Allen, Robert Powell

Research outputs 2013

On the afternoon of May 6, 2010 Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plunged about 1000 points (about 9%) in a matter of minutes before rebounding almost as quickly. This was the biggest one day point decline on an intraday basis in the DJIA’s history. An almost similar dramatic change in intraday volatility was observed on April 4, 2000 when DJIA dropped by 4.8%. These historical events present very compelling argument for the need of robust econometrics models which can forecast intraday asset volatility. There are numerous models available in the finance literature to model financial asset volatility. Various Autoregressive Conditional …

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The Ethical Dilemmas Of Local Government Planners In Western Australia, Timothy J. Perkins, Julie A. Crews Jan 2013

The Ethical Dilemmas Of Local Government Planners In Western Australia, Timothy J. Perkins, Julie A. Crews

Research outputs 2013

This paper presents a study of ethical dilemmas faced by planners in local government in the Perth Metropolitan Region (PMR), Western Australia. A qualitative methodology has been adopted to identify planners’ personal and organisational values and the ethical dilemmas they face in their role. Local government planning officers operate in a complex political environment in which their decisions include various stakeholder interests such as private developers, local businesses, environmentalists and government authorities. As such, planners face potential competing interests which challenge their own values and compete with their professional obligations relating to planning practice and governance. Planners from urban-fringe, inner-city …

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A Dynamic Credit Ratings Model, David E. Allen, Robert Powell, Abhay Singh Jan 2013

A Dynamic Credit Ratings Model, David E. Allen, Robert Powell, Abhay Singh

Research outputs 2013

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) provided overwhelming evidence of the problems caused by inadequate credit ratings. Losses and problem loans experienced by banks over this period were staggering. Yet many of the securitized sub-prime parcels which were widely seen as an underlying cause of the GFC, as well as corporate obligors who experienced severe difficulties during the GFC, retained extremely strong external credit ratings. They may have had low perceived risk at the time of rating, but as circumstances changed, the ratings stayed static and became far removed from the underlying risk. A key problem is that the external credit …

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Digital Representation Of Visual Artworks For High-Stakes Assessment, Christopher P. Newhouse Jan 2013

Digital Representation Of Visual Artworks For High-Stakes Assessment, Christopher P. Newhouse

Research outputs 2013

The collection and marking of student artwork across a large jurisdiction such as Western Australia is challenging where the work is submitted to a central location to be marked by experts and returned to students. An alternative approach would be to submit digital representations of the artworks online for marking. However, to give a valid and reliable measure the representations would need to be of adequate quality. Further, judgements of artworks are necessarily subjective giving concern about the reliability of marking for high-stakes assessment. The comparative pairs method of marking lends itself to addressing this problem and is feasible where …

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Ict In The Australian Curriculum, Christopher P. Newhouse Jan 2013

Ict In The Australian Curriculum, Christopher P. Newhouse

Research outputs 2013

The new Australian Curriculum aims to be suitable for the needs of 21st Century society and as such has explicitly defined a number of key roles to digital technologies. This should provide opportunities for schools and teachers to build on past reforms and prepare for the future. Over the past few years I have had various roles contributing to the development of sections of the Australian Curriculum, specifically the Technologies curriculum area, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) general capability, and the embedding of ICT use across some of the curriculum areas. In this paper I explain my personal understanding …

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Security, Control And Deviance: Mapping The Security Domain And Why It Matters, Jeffrey D. Corkill, Michael P. Coole Jan 2013

Security, Control And Deviance: Mapping The Security Domain And Why It Matters, Jeffrey D. Corkill, Michael P. Coole

Research outputs 2013

Security is one of the foundations on which a stable and cohesive society is built. It is this security that allows citizens to go about their daily lives with freedom and certainty,affording them the ability to make their own choices as to what they do. Yet it may be argued that security is a concept that is misunderstood and perceived in a myriad of ways by the various stratum of society. Since the tragic events of 9 September 2001, security has become a much used and abused term. Law and legislation have been changed and enacted to protectand control the …

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Work Integrated Learning: A Whole Of Curriculum Approach, Catharine Andre, Beverley A. Ewens, Fiona Foxall Jan 2013

Work Integrated Learning: A Whole Of Curriculum Approach, Catharine Andre, Beverley A. Ewens, Fiona Foxall

Research outputs 2013

The School of Nursing and Midwifery at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia is currently developing an innovative work integrated learning masters to service the needs of students and industry. As this paper details, the program is aimed at Registered Nurses and Midwives to support and develop the skills to conceptualise and implement a work integrated program of study, the products of which are then used as recognised assessment items. Unlike many other work integrated learning initiatives, this curriculum is entirely work integrated learning based with early units of study providing students with the foundational skills and conceptual understanding required to …

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The Road To Damascus Leads To One Infinite Loop: An Introspective Adventure Into Apple Computer Customer Evangelism, Nathalie S. Collins Jan 2013

The Road To Damascus Leads To One Infinite Loop: An Introspective Adventure Into Apple Computer Customer Evangelism, Nathalie S. Collins

Research outputs 2013

This paper draws on a literature review, conceptual development and an introspective narrative to explore “quintessence” and Customer Evangelism (CE). Quintessence, a mystical connection between the customer and a product, elevates a profane product experience to the sacred. This paper argues that the quintessential moment, the root of the Customer Evangelism conversion experience, awakens or redirects a propensity toward evangelistic behaviour. As the moment of conversion, quintessence is as pivotal as it is mystical. Tourism entities can attempt to nurture a seemingly religious experience, and for some entities quintessence is an unexpected by-product. An introspective narrative, through one of the …

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Towards A Folk Taxonomy Of Popular New Media Marketing Terms, Nathalie S. Collins, Jamie Murphy Jan 2013

Towards A Folk Taxonomy Of Popular New Media Marketing Terms, Nathalie S. Collins, Jamie Murphy

Research outputs 2013

Word of Mouth and Brand Community Marketing terms have emerged to describe particular people and their effectiveness in promoting messages, particularly with the emergence of social media. The development of the terms and their use are concurrent in academic literature, industry literature and popular culture. Furthermore, it is common for these terms to converge, borrowing meanings, connotations and subtexts. This paper explores five key community marketing terms−Geek, Maven, Alpha User, Evangelist and Fanboy−and develops term classifications and relationships into a folk taxonomy. Tourism and hospitality practitioners and academics can use the taxonomy for word of mouth activities and research.

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Access To Training And Development In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises: Employee's Perspectives, Pattanee Susomrith, Alan J. Coetzer Jan 2013

Access To Training And Development In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises: Employee's Perspectives, Pattanee Susomrith, Alan J. Coetzer

Research outputs 2013

This paper provides an overview of a proposed study that aims to identify the perceived factors that prevent employees from initiating requests and participating in formal external employer-funded training and development opportunities within small and medium enterprises. While training and development has the potential to improve an employee's remuneration and increase their employability, the level of training and development in small and medium enterprises is well below that of larger organisations. Although the small business owners retain the final decision regarding employee access to training and development, the outcome is also dependent upon employees' decisions to intiate requests to participate …

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Mining Workers Ability To Identify Hazards Using A Picture Survey, Susanne T. Bahn Jan 2013

Mining Workers Ability To Identify Hazards Using A Picture Survey, Susanne T. Bahn

Research outputs 2013

This paper presents the first phase on a study investigating the skills of workers in the resource sector at their safety induction to identify workplace hazards. This study questioned the ability of managers and employees to identify workplace hazards correctly (phase 1) and to determine the processes that can be used to increase hazard identification skills (phase 2). Fifty-four completed surveys that contained 6 pictures displaying complex and hazardous work environments in an underground mine in WA are analysed. The analysis sought to determine the average number of hazards that each participant could identify out of a possible 10 in …

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Risk Blindness Among Temporary Migrant Workers In Australia, Susanne T. Bahn Jan 2013

Risk Blindness Among Temporary Migrant Workers In Australia, Susanne T. Bahn

Research outputs 2013

Workers can suffer from risk blindness in that they fail to recognise workplace hazards or their severity, thereby jeopardising their health and safety and their organisation’s performance. This problem is exacerbated in organisations who employ temporary migrant workers because not only do ‘home country’ cultural factors influence the way they understand and see risks; more critically the temporary nature of their work contract can reduce their commitment, and perceived responsibility, to acknowledge risk. The result of which could expose temporary migrant and domestic workers to increased incidents of work-related injury, disease and fatalities. This paper presents this problem through the …

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Improving Safety Culture: The Impact Of The Construction Induction Training On The Construction Industry In Western Australia, Susanne T. Bahn, Llandis G. Barratt-Pugh Jan 2013

Improving Safety Culture: The Impact Of The Construction Induction Training On The Construction Industry In Western Australia, Susanne T. Bahn, Llandis G. Barratt-Pugh

Research outputs 2013

Australia strives to be a world leader in safety practice however improving safety cultures to reduce work-related injuries in the hazardous environment of the construction industry is a continual challenge. It is particularly difficult in Western Australia (WA) where the industry is engaging with the second development boom this century, often in isolated locations, and simultaneously adapting to the national harmonisation of OHS regulations. In 2006, Worksafe WA introduced mandatory certification in safety awareness training for all employees, before they could begin work on a construction site. This paper reviews the impact of this training on the construction industry, presenting …

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Workers On Temporary 457 Visas: Challenges They Face When Working In The Western Australian Resources Sector, Susanne T. Bahn, Llandis G. Barratt-Pugh, Ghialy Choy Lee Yap Jan 2013

Workers On Temporary 457 Visas: Challenges They Face When Working In The Western Australian Resources Sector, Susanne T. Bahn, Llandis G. Barratt-Pugh, Ghialy Choy Lee Yap

Research outputs 2013

As a response to the shortage of specialised workers in the Western Australian (WA) resources sector, business has resorted to employing workers on temporary 457 visas. This paper provides an insight into some of the challenges workers on 457 visas reported while working in Australia in a study that collected data in 2012. While the study focussed on costs and benefits of employing workers on 457 visas to business, the migrant worker and the larger Australian community, part of the data included the social and financial costs to these workers. It is this data that is reported in this paper. …

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The Unmet Promise Of Occupational Health And Safety Harmonisation: Continued Complexity For Small, Multi-Jurisdictional Firms, Susanne T. Bahn, Susan Mayson, Rowena Barrett, Llandis G. Barratt-Pugh Jan 2013

The Unmet Promise Of Occupational Health And Safety Harmonisation: Continued Complexity For Small, Multi-Jurisdictional Firms, Susanne T. Bahn, Susan Mayson, Rowena Barrett, Llandis G. Barratt-Pugh

Research outputs 2013

Harmonisation of state-based occupational health and safety (OHS) regimes is a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) initiative designed to ‘cut red tape’ for Australian firms. However Western Australia’s, South Australia’s and Victoria’s lack of harmonisation makes it problematic for firms that conduct business in multiple jurisdictions. In this paper we investigate what impacts harmonisation has on firms generally and specifically smaller, multi-jurisdictional firms. First, we look at the requirements of the model WHS Act and what it said about managerial responsibilities for OHS. We focus on the due diligence clause which places personal liability on company directors or persons conducting …

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An Exploratory Study Of Factors Influencing The Participation In Training And Development Of Engineers In Small Businesses, Pattanee Susomrith, Alan J. Coetzer Jan 2013

An Exploratory Study Of Factors Influencing The Participation In Training And Development Of Engineers In Small Businesses, Pattanee Susomrith, Alan J. Coetzer

Research outputs 2013

The provision of workforce training and development (T&D) has the potential to provide benefits to both employers and employees. However, employees in small businesses receive less access to T&D than employees in large businesses. Prior research into reasons for the relatively low levels of employee participation in formal T&D in small businesses has typically involved surveys of owner-manager opinions regarding ‘barriers’ to T&D. This study explored factors influencing employee participation in T&D from the perspective of employees. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 15 employees in small engineering businesses. Consistent with the main aim of exploratory research, the study …

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Harmonisation Of Construction Health And Safety Laws In Australia, Manikam Pillay Jan 2013

Harmonisation Of Construction Health And Safety Laws In Australia, Manikam Pillay

Research outputs 2013

For over four decades all states and territories in Australia have maintained their own and separate set of laws for the management of health and safety risks in construction. This resulted in at least ten different sets of health and safety legislation. Responding to calls for national uniformity, a harmonised set of laws wer issued in 2011 by the Federal Government, in the form of Model Work Health and safety Act and Regulations. These, together with industry-specific codes of practice, are expected to provide construction organisations their first ever common set of standards and benchmarks across the states and territories …

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The Optimisation Of A Turbulent Swirl Nozzle Using Cfd, Brett K. Thomas, Zahir U. Ahmed, Yasir M. Al-Abdeli, Miccal T. Matthews Jan 2013

The Optimisation Of A Turbulent Swirl Nozzle Using Cfd, Brett K. Thomas, Zahir U. Ahmed, Yasir M. Al-Abdeli, Miccal T. Matthews

Research outputs 2013

Swirl is imparted into free and impinging nozzle flows as well as jet flames to affect convective heat transfer, fluid mixing or flame stability. At the nozzle exit plane, the emerging flow strongly influences downstream flow development and so factors which impact upon the emitted flow are worthy of study. This paper presents preliminary CFD analyses into the effect of design parameters and operational settings on the emerging flow at the exit plane for a swirl nozzle (Remax~30,500). The research was conducted in the premanufacture stage to optimise the nozzle. Swirl is aerodynamically generated using multiple tangential ports located upstream …

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Multi-Component Adsorption Of Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, And Xylene From Aqueous Solutions By Montmorillonite Modified With Tetradecyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide, Heshmatola Nourmoradi, Mehdi Khiadani, Mahnaz Nikaeen Jan 2013

Multi-Component Adsorption Of Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, And Xylene From Aqueous Solutions By Montmorillonite Modified With Tetradecyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide, Heshmatola Nourmoradi, Mehdi Khiadani, Mahnaz Nikaeen

Research outputs 2013

Multicomponent adsorption of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) was assessed in aqueous solutions by montmorillonite modified with tetradecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (TTAB-Mt). Batch experiments were conducted to determine the influences of parameters including loading rates of surfactant, contact time, pH, adsorbate concentration, and temperature on the adsorption efficiency. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) were used to determine the adsorbent properties. Results showed that the modification of the adsorbent via the surfactant causes structural changes of the adsorbent. It was found that the optimum adsorption condition achieves with the surfactant loading rate of 200 of the cation …

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