Critique of network management systems and their practicality

Networks have become an integral part of the computing landscape, forming a global interconnection of a staggering number of heterogeneous systems and services. Current research focuses on policy based management and autonomous systems and involves the utilisation of very different languages and technologies in concert. This paper examines four current proposals for autonomous network management and analyses them using architectural modelling, against a measure of practicality, as expressed by scalability, reliability and maintainability. © 2010 IEEE

Creative-destructivism : a Delphi study of the current South African business environment

Abstract: In an attempt to remain financially viable, modern day organisations are forced to destabilise traditional business methodologies and principles. The dynamic interplay between the efforts of the conserving institutions, i.e. society at large and the disruptors, i.e. the organisations, within the business environment may be defined in terms of the Schumpeterian notion of ‘creative-destructivism’. Within the context of the creative-destructive environment, it is postulated that no individual or organisation will ever have complete information, knowledge or fore-knowledge of how the environment will shape and change in the near future. The South African economy is not exempt from the aforesaid notion. The research will contextualise the current South African business environment, by means of a Delphi study with the results offering insight into the management of the creative-destructive environment

Architecting information : a Delphi study of South African perspective

Abstract: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has transformed society at large, with the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) revolutionising the access, flow and use of information within the societal context. For organisations to maintain and increase their competitive stance within the market, attention should be focused on how the information is structured within the organisational context. Considering information may be regarded as the catalysts of change within the economy, the objective of this research is to determine how important the architecture of information is to organisations operating in South Africa. The research design utilised to answer the question is based on a pragmatic ontological stance. Building onto the ontological stance, the research employs an abductive epistemological assumption to rationalise the nature of knowledge..

Q fever through consumption of unpasteurised milk and milk products – a risk profile and exposure assessment

Q fever is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii which is endemic in cattle, sheep and goats in much of the world, including the United Kingdom (UK). There is some epidemiological evidence that a small proportion of cases in the developed world may arise from consumption of unpasteurised milk with less evidence for milk products such as cheese. Long maturation at low pH may give some inactivation in hard cheese, and viable C. burnetii are rarely detected in unpasteurised cheese compared to unpasteurised milk. Simulations presented here predict that the probability of exposure per person to one or more C. burnetii through the daily cumulative consumption of raw milk in the UK is 04203. For those positive exposures, the average level of exposure predicted is high at 1266 guinea pig intraperitoneal infectious dose 50% units (GP_IP_ID50) per person per day. However, in the absence of human dose–response data, the case is made that the GP_IP_ID50 unit represents a very low risk through the oral route. The available evidence suggests that the risks from C. burnetii through consumption of unpasteurised milk and milk products (including cheese) are not negligible but they are lower in comparison to transmission via inhalation of aerosols from parturient products and livestock contact

Safety intelligence : An exploration of senior managers' characteristics

Peer reviewedPostprin

Evaluation of coursework information access and sharing on smart devices by postgraduate students

Background: There is a growing trend for students to use their smart devices to share coursework information and access social media platforms. Although smart devices have been in existence and used by the students for several years, very little has been documented on the coursework information accessed and shared on smart devices. Objectives: The study focused on investigating academic activities in terms of students’ coursework information accessing and sharing, which include the type of information they use their smart devices for and the frequency of using their smart devices to access coursework information and sources of information. The study also identified challenges that students come across while accessing and sharing coursework information. Method: The mixed-method sequential research approach was used to collect data using questionnaires and interviews. The quantitative phase involved the collection and analysis of data using questionnaires. Questionnaires were sent online to the entire population of 255 students who had completed their workshops and were not on campus any more, as well as a paper format questionnaire that was handed out to the 60 MCom first-year students who were still attending their workshops on campus. A total of 315 questionnaires were sent to the students. There were 61 online questionnaires and 51 paper questionnaires returned. Therefore, a total of 112 questionnaires were returned. The qualitative phase involved the collection and analysis of data using interviews with 10 participants. Results: The results revealed that students used their smart devices for accessing and sharing coursework activities such as announcements, handouts, lecture notes and articles. Bibliographic references, group discussion notes, online articles and book lists were accessed and shared frequently by participants. Students used their smart devices frequently to access sources of information such as Blackboard, academic databases and Google Scholar. Conclusion: The implications and contributions of the study are that although students use their smart devices regularly, there is a need for institutions to understand the type of information that is gathered and shared using smart devices. As students also access social media platforms they need to understand the implications of relevant policies

Motivation as a predictor of outcomes in school-based humanistic counselling

Recent years have seen a growth in the provision of counselling within UK secondary schools, and research indicates that it is associated with significant reductions in psychological distress. However, little is known about the moderators and mediators of positive therapeutic benefit. In the field of adult mental health, motivation has been found to be one of the strongest predictors of therapeutic outcomes, and it was hypothesised that this may also be a predictor of outcomes for young people in school-based counselling services. To assess the relationship between young people’s motivation for counselling and its effectiveness within a secondary school setting. Eighty-one young people (12 - 17 years old) who attended school-based humanistic counselling services in Scotland. Clients completed a measure of motivation for counselling at the commencement of their therapeutic work and a measure of psychological wellbeing at the commencement and termination of counselling. Motivation for counselling was not found to be significantly related to outcomes. The results indicate that the association between motivation and outcomes may be weaker in young people as compared with adults. However, a number of design factors may also account for the non-significant findings: insufficient participants, marginal reliability of the motivation measure and social desirability effects

A design of experiments (DoE) approach to optimize cryogel manufacturing for tissue engineering applications

Marine origin polymers represent a sustainable and natural alternative to mammal counterparts regarding the biomedical application due to their similarities with proteins and polysaccharides present in extracellular matrix (ECM) in humans and can reduce the risks associated with zoonosis and overcoming social- and religious-related constraints. In particular, collagen-based biomaterials have been widely explored in tissue engineering scaffolding applications, where cryogels are of particular interest as low temperature avoids protein denaturation. However, little is known about the influence of the parameters regarding their behavior, i.e., how they can influence each other toward improving their physical and chemical properties. Factorial design of experiments (DoE) and response surface methodology (RSM) emerge as tools to overcome these difficulties, which are statistical tools to find the most influential parameter and optimize processes. In this work, we hypothesized that a design of experiments (DoE) model would be able to support the optimization of the collagen-chitosan-fucoidan cryogel manufacturing. Therefore, the parameters temperature (A), collagen concentration (B), and fucoidan concentration (C) were carefully considered to be applied to the Boxâ Behnken design (three factors and three levels). Data obtained on rheological oscillatory measurements, as well as on the evaluation of antioxidant concentration and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration, showed that fucoidan concentration could significantly influence collagen-chitosan-fucoidan cryogel formation, creating a stable internal polymeric network promoted by ionic crosslinking bonds. Additionally, the effect of temperature significantly contributed to rheological oscillatory properties. Overall, the condition that allowed us to have better results, from an optimization point of view according to the DoE, were the gels produced at −80ºC and composed of 5% of collagen, 3% of chitosan, and 10% fucoidan. Therefore, the proposed DoE model was considered suitable for predicting the best parameter combinations needed to develop these cryogels.This research was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for Ph.D. fellowship (D.N.C.) under the scope of the doctoral program Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells, ref. PD/BD/143044/2018, for postdoctoral fellowship (C.G.), ref. SFRH/BPD/94277/2013. This work has been partially funded by ERDF under the scope of the Atlantic Area Program through project EAPA_151/2016 (BLUEHUMAN)

Public perceptions of, and responses to, desalination in Australia : a report on findings

Desalination as a method of ensuring a rainfall independent source of potable water has become an increasingly favourable option for Australian governments, particularly over the last decade or so. This is especially true for metropolitan areas. The social acceptability of new sources of water, however, impacts on the readiness with which publics accept changed or augmented water supplies. Researchers at Deakin University, Victoria University and Murdoch University, with funding from the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia (NCEDA), have conducted a study of public attitudes to desalination in Australia. This report outlines the results of the 18 month project, which comprises three sections. The cornerstone of the project is a national survey (n=3077), conducted by Datacol Research. The second component of the study consists of focus groups in the vicinity of three existing or developing desalination plants: Wonthaggi (Victoria), Port Stanvac (South Australia), and Kwinana (Western Australia). The third component of the study presented in this report involves interviews with desalination scientists and other technical experts, in relation to their attitudes to communication with lay publics