http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:12844 With the continuing reduction of forces in Europe, it is apparent that the base support structure cannot be maintained at current levels. The purpose of this effort is to develop a methodology to assign US Army units remaining in Europe to installations in an economical manner, and to make recommendations regarding which installations are candidates for deactivation and closure. An integer programming model has been formulated which minimizes annual costs subject to constraints on resources, implementation costs, unit proximity, and support requirements. The model can be used to provide decision makers with insights regarding resource utilization and shortfalls, and costs of implementing various stationing plan alternatives. Model development and data collection issues are discussed. Computational experience is given and techniques used to improve model performance are described. 2013-05-02T04:08:54.302Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2730 The future role of social work is being widely discussed and debated. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly recognised that the 'development of effective strategies to deal with the problem of poverty in South Africa constitutes a challenge to our society' (Phiyega 1992:3). Phiyega (1992:4) saw the need for a 'national anti-poverty programme'. To me, this means social development and I would argue, like may others, that South Africa needs to follow a social development policy model. This, in turn, means that social workers must turn their attention to community development. These matters require serious thought, discussion and debate. This paper aims to add to the debate on a future welfare model for South Africa and on the role of social workers in implementing welfare policy, and to clarify what is meant by social and community development and community work as practised by social workers. 2013-03-04T21:30:03.519Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:12563 This paper addresses the issue of global and semi-global stabilizability of an important class of nonlinear systems, namely, a cascade of a linear, controllable system followed by an asymptotically (even exponentially) stable nonlinear system. Such structure may arise from the normal form of “minimum phase” nonlinear systems that can be rendered input-output linear by feedback. These systems are known to be stabilizable in a local sense. And, in some cases, global stabilizability results have also been obtained. It is also known, however, that when the linear “connection” to the nonlinear system is nonminimum phase, i.e,, it has zeros with positive real part, then global or semi-global stabilizability may be impossible. Indeed, it has been shown that for any given nonminimum phase linear subsystem, there exists an asymptotically stable nonlinear subsystem for which the cascade cannot be globally stabilized. We expand on the understanding of this area by establishing, for a broader class of systems, conditions under which global or semiglobal stabilization is impossible for linear and nonlinear feedback. 2013-02-21T04:30:06.275Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:12201 1. Baroreflex responses to changes in aortic pressure were measured simulataneously in three main coronary regions of awake dogs. 2. Pulsed Doppler flow probes were mounted at prior surgery on the right, circumflex and anterior descending coronary arteries; the animals were placed in complete heart block and the left ventricle was placed. After 2-4 weeks recovery, baroreflexes were evoked by inflating a balloon catheter placed in the mid-thoracic aorta via the femoral arteriotomy. Flow and pressure data were collected at rest, and during acute (8 s) and steady-state (25 s) baroreflex challenge. 3. Changing ventricular rate alone caused a fall in aortic pressure at low rates; however, over the range 60 to 180 b.p.m., circumflex and anterior descending coronary flow and conductance changed directly with ventricular rate, but right coronary flow and conductance remained unchanged. 4. Acute aortic pressure elevation increased flow at 8 s in all beds at all rates. Conductance effects at 60 b.p.m. were negligible in all three beds, but rose at 100 and 180 b.p.m. in the right and circumflex beds. 5. Sustained aortic pressure elevation (25 s) caused flow to return towards control in all beds at all ventricular rates, but in the right coronary at 60 b.p.m. flow fell below control. Conductance at this time was unchanged at all rates in the anterior descending bed, fell modestly in the circumflex, and decreased to below resting in the right coronary bed. 6. Baroreflex control of coronary flow and conductance thus varies between territories, and within territories, depending on ventricular rate. The right coronary bed appears to be regulated by a bidirectional, baroreflex-linked mechanism, which is functionally opposite in action to that found in most vascular beds 2012-12-17T00:20:19.239Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2059 RTSYS is a menu-driven DOS application for the manipulation, analysis, and graphical display of reaction time data. It can be used either in a single-task environment under DOS, with access to a set operating system commands, or as an application under Windows. All functions have contextsensitive help. RTSYS fits the ex-Gaussian distribution to reaction time data without the difficulties usually associated with numerical parameter estimation. Distribution fitting and flexible censoring and rescaling options allow RTSYS to address the problems of reaction time distribution skew and outlying responses with reasonable sample sizes. RTSYS can automatically process multiple input files from experiments with arbitrary designs and produce formatted output of statistics for further processing by graphical and inferential statistical packages. The present article reviews and explains techniques used by RTSYS and provides an overview of the operation of the program. 2012-07-03T01:00:02.548Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:9516 This paper explores the way social development ideals can be promoted through community social work practice. Although community work can enhance social work's involvement in the .field, conventional approaches have failed to embrace a developmental perspective that fosters social change within the context of economic development. Developmental community social work must also address wider issues of poverfY and social injustice and transcend conventional concerns with local organizing and institution building. These arguments are illustrated with reference to a project operated by the Department of Social WOrk at the Universiy of Natal in South Africa. 2012-01-30T05:12:01.736Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:6547 We have used Ca²⁺-sensitive fluorescent dyes to monitor intracellular Ca²⁺ during mitosis in one-cell mouse embryos. We find that fertilized embryos generate Ca²⁺ transients at nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD) and during mitosis. In addition, fertilized embryos arrested in metaphase using colcemid continue to generate Ca²⁺ transients. In contrast, parthenogenetic embryos produced by a 2-h exposure to strontium containing medium do not generate detectable Ca²⁺ transients at NEBD or in mitosis. However, when parthenogenetic embryos are cultured continuously in strontium containing medium Ca²⁺ transients are detected in mitosis but not in interphase. This suggests that mitotic Ca²⁺ transients are detected in the presence of an appropriate stimulus such as fertilization or strontium. The Ca²⁺ transient detected in fertilized embryos is not necessary for inducing NEBD since parthenogenetic embryos undergo nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD). Also the first sign that NEBD is imminent occurs several minutes before the Ca²⁺ transient. The Ca²⁺ transient at NEBD appears to be associated with the nucleus since nuclear transfer experiments show that the presence of a karyoplast from a fertilized embryo is essential. Finally, we show that the intracellular Ca²⁺ chelator Bapta inhibits NEBD in fertilized and parthenogenetic embryos in a dose-dependent manner. These studies show that during mitosis there is an endogenous increase in Ca²⁺ releasing activity that leads to the generation of Ca²⁺ transients specifically during mitosis. The ability of Ca²⁺ buffers to inhibit NEBD regardless of the presence of global Ca²⁺ transients suggests that the underlying cell cycle-associated Ca²⁺ releasing activity may take the form of localized Ca²⁺ transients. 2012-01-30T04:07:39.138Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:680 A mathematical model for entrained flow coal gasification was developed with the objective of predicting the influence of coal properties and gasification conditions on the performance of entrained flow gasifiers operating at pressures up to 21 atmospheres (2.1MPa). The model represents gasifiers as plug flow reactors and therefore neglects any mixing or turbulence effects. Coal properties were predicted through use of correlations from a variety of literature sources and others that were developed from experimental data in the literature. A sensitivity analysis of the model indicated that errors in the calculated values of coal volatile yield, carbon dioxide gasification reactivity and steam gasification may significantly affect the model predictions. Similarly errors in the input values for gasifier wall temperatures and gasifier diameter, when affected by slagging, can cause model prediction errors. Model predictions were compared with experimental gasification results for a range of atmospheric and high pressure gasifiers, the majority of the results being obtained by CSIRO at atmospheric pressure for a range of coals. Predictions were accurate for the majority of atmospheric pressure results over a large range of gas feed mixtures. Due to the limited range of experimental data available for high pressure gasification the capability of the model is somewhat uncertain, although the model provided accurate predictions for the majority of the available results. The model was also used to predict the trends in particle reactions with gasification and the influence of pressure, gasifier diameter and feed coal on gasifier performance. Further research on coal volatile yields, gasification reactivities and gas properties at high temperatures and pressures was recommended to improve the accuracy of model inputs. Additional predictions and model accuracy improvements could be made by extending the model to include fluid dynamics and slag layer modelling. 2011-12-20T23:20:03.533Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:671 This thesis is aimed at analysis of sampled-data feedback systems. Our approach is in the frequency-domain, and stresses the study of sensitivity and complementary sensitivity operators. Frequency-domain methods have proven very successful in the analysis and design of linear time-invariant control systems, for which the importance and utility of sensitivity operators is well-recognized. The extension of these methods to sampled-data systems, however, is not straightforward, since they are inherently time-varying due to the intrinsic sample and hold operations. In this thesis we present a systematic frequency-domain framework to describe sampled-data systems considering full-time information. Using this framework, we develop a theory of design limitations for sampled-data systems. This theory allows us to quantify the essential constraints in design imposed by inherent open-loop characteristics of the analog plant. Our results show that: (i) sampled-data systems inherit the difficulty imposed upon analog feedback design by the plant's non-minimum phase zeros, unstable poles, and time-delays, independently of the type of hold used; (ii) sampled-data systems are subject to additional design limitations imposed by potential non-minimum phase zeros of the hold device; and (iii) sampled-data systems, unlike analog systems, are subject to limits upon the ability of high compensator gain to achieve disturbance rejection. As an application, we quantitatively analyze the sensitivity and robustness characteristics of digital control schemes that rely on the use of generalized sampled-data hold functions, whose frequency-response properties we describe in detail. In addition, we derive closed-form expressions to compute the L2-induced norms of the sampled-data sensitivity and complementary sensitivity operators. These expressions are important both in analysis and design, particularly when uncertainty in the model of the plant is considered. Our methods provide some interesting interpretations in terms of signal spaces, and admit straightforward implementation in a numerically reliable fashion. 2011-12-20T23:10:04.882Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2701 In the design of feedback control systems for linear multivariable plants, insisting on the elimination of coupling in closed-loop is often achieved at the expense of an increase in the multiplicity of infinite and non-minimum phase zeros beyond those of the plant plant. This behaviour is known as the 'cost of decoupling' since these additional zeros are manifested in the time domain by increased rise times and undershoots in step responses. Using partially decoupling controllers, however, it is always possible to obtain closed-loop systems with precisely the same number of infinite and non-minimum phase zeros as the plant, albeit at the expense of a restricted form of transient coupling. This paper uses a generalization of the interactor matrix to generate a class of partially decoupling controllers for square, stable plants in which diagonal decoupling arises as a special case, thereby permitting the designer to trade off speed of response versus the severity of transient interaction. 2011-12-01T23:10:02.422Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:6584 Ca²⁺ release mechanisms in oocytes are highly sensitive and a number of agents including sperm and inositol trisphosphate (IP₃) generate Ca²⁺ transients. Recently it was shown that this sensitivity decreases after fertilization and subsequent entry into the first mitotic cell cycle (Jones et al., Development 121, 3259–3266, 1995). In this study a similar decrease in the ability of IP₃ to cause repetitive Ca²⁺ transients was observed in parthenogenetic embryos following activation with Sr²⁺, ethanol, or cycloheximide. This indicates that the decline in sensitivity of the Ca²⁺ releasing mechanism after oocyte activation is not associated with the fertilizing sperm. A similar decline in IP₃-induced Ca²⁺ release was observed in metaphase II oocytes at 24 hr post hCG or later, although repetitive Ca²⁺ transients were induced in the aged oocytes after in vitro fertilization. Sperm-induced Ca²⁺ transients in aged oocytes were similar in duration and peak amplitude to younger oocytes, 15–18 hr post hCG. However, they showed a much reduced rate of rise which was also observed in younger oocytes after the intracellular stores had been depleted by thapsigargin. The results suggest that factors within the oocyte, such as store size, are important in enabling sperm to generate repetitive Ca²⁺ transients. Also, the Ca²⁺ release processes decline as the oocyte ages as well as after activation. 2010-07-29T00:50:05.276Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:6540 Oogenesis involves the production of an oocyte that can undergo fertilization and support early development. The stimulus that initiates embryogenesis is an increase in the concentration of intracellular Ca²⁺ in the cytoplasm of the oocyte at the time of fertilization. The development of the ability of the oocyte to release Ca²⁺ in response to the fertilizing spermatozoon is an essential step in the process of oogenesis. Mammalian oocytes are particularly useful for studying the development of Ca²⁺ signalling systems, owing to the series of Ca²⁺ oscillations generated at fertilization, compared with the monotonic Ca²⁺ increase seen in nonmammalian species. Recent evidence has revealed that Ca²⁺ release mechanisms are modified during oogenesis. The maximal sensitivity of Ca²⁺ release is reached in the final stages of oocyte maturation, just before the optimal time for fertilization. In this review, we consider the mechanism underlying Ca²⁺ release in mammalian oocytes and discuss how the release mechanisms are modified during oocyte maturation. The tight co-ordination of the differentiation of the Ca²⁺ signalling system with the development of the oocyte provides a means of ensuring successful activation at the time of fertilization. Finally, we consider the consequences for embryo development in circumstances in which the co-ordination is lost. 2010-07-21T06:00:05.325Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:813 In this chapter we wish to provide an account of a recent study into the nature of school-parent-community links and whether such links provide a context for teaching and learning together. The title, not including the question mark, is the current slogan of the Department of School Education in the state of New South Wales (N.S.W.), Australia which is responsible for providing government-controlled education to 750,000 (70% of school-age) students in 2,227 schools, employing 60,000 people. We reshaped the slogan from a statement to a question in order to explore, in real school settings, the implementation of policy intentions for community participation. Recent policy initiatives, internationally and in Australia, have been designed to reform the relationship between schools and community (broadly defined) into one of partnership, but there is little research on the extent of policy-in-use and whether a genuine partnership really is emerging. Yet the immediacy of these issues in public policy suggests there is an urgent need to ascertain, as Glenn (1992) puts it, "who should own the schools?" or how such ownership might operate. 2010-04-27T06:48:33.477Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:812 In Australian educational policy debate, advocacy of choice and diversity has come to be linked to support for educational markets and therefore with educational reform and restructuring associated with 'economic rationalism'. Choice and diversity are better conceived within a framework of democratic educational philosophy and policy and in Australian educational policy development this was the case until the arrival of economic rationalism. Critics of 'choice' in the economic rationalist market context are mistaken to oppose choice as such. The focus should be on the relationship between choice and basic educational values such as participation, experiment and quality of provision. For these values to be realised in a mutually enhancing way, education systems need to promote sets of real options for students and families. 'Choice' is a secondary, or derivative, concept that emerges within this ethical, political and professional context. Markets are one, and only one, method for achieving educational participation, diversity and quality, and are not to be simplistically conflated with advocacy of quality and equity, diversity and choice. 2010-04-27T06:48:31.393Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2638 After occupying Java the Japanese military attempted to redirect the human and the natural resources of Java into their own war effort. In so doing, they heavily relied on the local administrative corps, the pangreh praja (literally: the rulers of the realm). Therefore the Japanese, the pangreh praja and the peasantry are arguably the most important groups that should be studied if we are to understand the Japanese occupation on Javanese society. 2010-04-27T06:44:50.246Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2116 2010-04-27T06:43:35.513Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2102 2010-04-27T06:43:33.823Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2100 2010-04-27T06:43:33.696Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2625 For twenty years, the transaction has been acknowledged as the central abstraction in preventing concurrent applications from corrupting the contents of a database, through errors such as lost update, dirty read or unrepeatable read. The original concurrency control algorithm, strict two-phase locking with shared and exclusive locks, is still widely used in practice, since it is simple to implement and guarantees serializability. Many alternative algorithms have been proposed and, in commercial systems these include variants of keyrange locking to avoid phantoms, and escrow reads to improve throughput on hotspot data. New algorithms continue to appear. These algorithms are usually evaluated by simulation rather than being implemented. 2010-04-27T06:18:59.706Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2070 2010-04-27T06:08:53.870Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2094 2010-04-27T06:08:24.761Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:1057 A response to 'Focus on Learning' by Professor Ken Eltis, Ministerial Committee of Review [NSW] Report. 2010-04-27T06:07:52.077Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:756 The slogan of the New South Wales Department of Education for 1995 and 1996)is "Schools Parents and Community: Teaching and Learning Together." This article is an account of a recent study conducted into the nature of school, parent and community links in an urban community about ten kilometres from the centre of Sydney. The study was particularly interested in whether such links provided an improved context for "teaching and learning together", though this is a tough question to answer. 2010-04-27T06:05:22.245Z ]]>