Readiness to meet demand for skills: a study of five growth industries

Overview: This study considers issues pertinent to ensuring the Australian education and training system can respond to emerging skills demand in the following industries: food and agriculture; biotechnology and pharmaceuticals; advanced manufacturing; mining equipment, technology and services; and oil and gas. The report finds a widening gap between education and skills demand and highlights the crucial role of employees in developing a skilled workforce, as well as calling for a shift in thinking about the way skills are generated

Sensitivity of High-Speed Lightwave System Receivers Using InAlAs Avalanche Photodiodes

Calculations based on a rigorous analytical model are carried out to compare the sensitivity of optical receivers that use InP and In0.52Al0.48As avalanche photodiodes (APDs). The model includes the effects of intersymbol interference, tunneling current, avalanche noise and its correlation with the stochastic avalanche duration, dead space, and transimpedance amplifier noise. For a 10-Gb/s system with a bit-error rate of 10-12, the optimum receiver sensitivity predicted for In0.52Al0.48As and InP APDs is -28.6 and -28.1 dBm, respectively, corresponding to a reduction of 11% in optical signal power for receivers using In0.52Al0.48As APDs. Thus, considering overall receiver sensitivity, the improvement offered by In0.52Al0.48As APDs over InP is modest

Cambered and Non-flat Polyethylene Webs Induced by Thickness Variation

One of the most common web defects is web bagginess. Although it appears in most web materials, it is very difficult to categorize since its appearance changes from one case to the other; hence it has been given different definitions by different people. The most general way to define a baggy web is a web that does not lie flat/straight and has an intrinsic length difference across the width of the web. In this study, polyethylene webs were used as the main material to develop an understanding on some of the web bagginess cases through experimentation. Viscoelastic material properties behavior of polyethylene web was also characterized using time-temperature superposition. Digital image acquisition was used to detect web bagginess. With these results, it is now possible to correctly model this defect using a numerical simulation under development by the Web Handling Research Center.Mechanical & Aerospace Engineerin

Optimization of InP APDs for High-Speed Lightwave Systems

Calculations based on a rigorous analytical model are carried out to optimize the width of the indium phosphide avalanche region in high-speed direct-detection avalanche photodiode-based optical receivers. The model includes the effects of intersymbol interference (ISI), tunneling current, avalanche noise, and its correlation with the stochastic avalanche duration, as well as dead space. A minimum receiver sensitivity of -28 dBm is predicted at an optimal width of 0.18 mum and an optimal gain of approximately 13, for a 10 Gb/s communication system, assuming a Johnson noise level of 629 noise electrons per bit. The interplay among the factors controlling the optimum sensitivity is confirmed. Results show that for a given transmission speed, as the device width decreases below an optimum value, increased tunneling current outweighs avalanche noise reduction due to dead space, resulting in an increase in receiver sensitivity. As the device width increases above its optimum value, the receiver sensitivity increases as device bandwidth decreases, causing ISI to dominate avalanche noise and tunneling current shot noise

Emergent order in the kagome Ising magnet Dy3_3Mg2_2Sb3_3O14_{14}

The Ising model-in which degrees of freedom (spins) are binary valued (up/down)-is a cornerstone of statistical physics that shows rich behaviour when spins occupy a highly frustrated lattice such as kagome. Here we show that the layered Ising magnet Dy$_3$Mg$_2$Sb$_3$O$_{14}$ hosts an emergent order predicted theoretically for individual kagome layers of in-plane Ising spins. Neutron-scattering and bulk thermomagnetic measurements reveal a phase transition at ~0.3 K from a disordered spin-ice-like regime to an emergent charge ordered state, in which emergent magnetic charge degrees of freedom exhibit three-dimensional order while spins remain partially disordered. Monte Carlo simulations show that an interplay of inter-layer interactions, spin canting and chemical disorder stabilizes this state. Our results establish Dy$_3$Mg$_2$Sb$_3$O$_{14}$ as a tuneable system to study interacting emergent charges arising from kagome Ising frustration.Work at Cambridge was supported through the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability. The work of J.A.M.P., X.B. and M.M. and facilities at Georgia Tech were supported by the College of Sciences through M.M. start-up funds. J.A.M.P. gratefully acknowledges Churchill College, Cambridge for the provision of a Junior Research Fellowship. H.S.O. acknowledges a Teaching Scholarship (Overseas) from the Ministry of Education, Singapore. J.O.H. is grateful to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for funding. C.C. was supported by EPSRC Grant No. EP/G049394/1, and the EPSRC NetworkPlus on ‘Emergence and Physics far from Equilibrium’. Experiments at the ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source were supported by a beamtime allocation from the Science and Technology Facilities Council. This work utilized facilities at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. Monte Carlo simulations were performed using the Darwin Supercomputer of the University of Cambridge High Performance Computing Service (http://www.hpc.cam.ac.uk/) and the ARCHER UK National Supercomputing Service (http://www.archer.ac.uk/, for which access was provided by an ARCHER Instant Access scheme)

Can an incentive-based intervention increase physical activity and reduce sitting among adults? the ACHIEVE (Active Choices IncEntiVE) feasibility study

BackgroundDespite recent interest in the potential of incentivisation as a strategy for motivating healthier behaviors, little remains known about the effectiveness of incentives in promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behavior, and improving associated health outcomes.This pre-post-test design study investigated the feasibility, appeal and effects of providing non-financial incentives for promoting increased physical activity, reduced sedentary time, and reduced body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure among inactive middle-aged adults.MethodsInactive men (n&thinsp;=&thinsp;36) and women (n&thinsp;=&thinsp;46) aged 40&ndash;65 years were recruited via a not-for-profit insurance fund and participated in a 4 month pre-post design intervention. Baseline and post-intervention data were collected on self-reported physical activity and sitting time (IPAQ-Long), BMI and blood pressure. Participants were encouraged to increase physical activity to 150 mins/week and reduce sedentary behavior by 150 mins/week in progressive increments. Incentives included clothing, recipe books, store gift vouchers, and a chance to win one of four Apple iPad Mini devices. The incentive component of the intervention was supported by an initial motivational interview and text messaging to encourage participants and provide strategies to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviors.ResultsOnly two participants withdrew during the program, demonstrating the feasibility of recruiting and retaining inactive middle-aged participants. While two-thirds of the sample qualified for the easiest physical activity incentive (by demonstrating 100 mins physical activity/week or 100 mins reduced sitting time/week), only one third qualified for the most challenging incentive. Goals to reduce sitting appeared more challenging, with 43% of participants qualifying for the first incentive, but only 20% for the last incentive. More men than women qualified for most incentives. Mean leisure-time physical activity increased by 252 mins/week (leisure-time), with 65% of the sample achieving at least 150 mins/week; and sitting time decreased by 3.1 h/day (both p&thinsp;&lt;&thinsp;0.001) between baseline and follow-up. BMI, systolic and diastolic (men only) blood pressure all significantly decreased. Most participants (50&ndash;85%) reported finding the incentives and other program components helpful/motivating.ConclusionsAcknowledging the uncontrolled design, the large pre-post changes in behavioral and health-related outcomes suggest that the ACHIEVE incentives-based behavior change program represents a promising approach for promoting physical activity and reducing sitting, and should be tested in a randomized controlled trial.<br /

Development of a Real-Time Microchip PCR System for Portable Plant Disease Diagnosis

Rapid and accurate detection of plant pathogens in the field is crucial to prevent the proliferation of infected crops. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process is the most reliable and accepted method for plant pathogen diagnosis, however current conventional PCR machines are not portable and require additional post-processing steps to detect the amplified DNA (amplicon) of pathogens. Real-time PCR can directly quantify the amplicon during the DNA amplification without the need for post processing, thus more suitable for field operations, however still takes time and require large instruments that are costly and not portable. Microchip PCR systems have emerged in the past decade to miniaturize conventional PCR systems and to reduce operation time and cost. Real-time microchip PCR systems have also emerged, but unfortunately all reported portable real-time microchip PCR systems require various auxiliary instruments. Here we present a stand-alone real-time microchip PCR system composed of a PCR reaction chamber microchip with integrated thin-film heater, a compact fluorescence detector to detect amplified DNA, a microcontroller to control the entire thermocycling operation with data acquisition capability, and a battery. The entire system is 25 × 16 × 8 cm(3) in size and 843 g in weight. The disposable microchip requires only 8-µl sample volume and a single PCR run consumes 110 mAh of power. A DNA extraction protocol, notably without the use of liquid nitrogen, chemicals, and other large lab equipment, was developed for field operations. The developed real-time microchip PCR system and the DNA extraction protocol were used to successfully detect six different fungal and bacterial plant pathogens with 100% success rate to a detection limit of 5 ng/8 µl sample

Agony at a Distance : Investigating Digital Witnessing on YouTube

Peer reviewe

Improve Space and Manpower Utilisation

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Rethinking 'risk' and self-management for chronic illness

Self-management for chronic illness is a current high profile UK healthcare policy. Policy and clinical recommendations relating to chronic illnesses are framed within a language of lifestyle risk management. This article argues the enactment of risk within current UK self-management policy is intimately related to neo-liberal ideology and is geared towards population governance. The approach that dominates policy perspectives to ‘risk' management is critiqued for positioning people as rational subjects who calculate risk probabilities and act upon them. Furthermore this perspective fails to understand the lay person's construction and enactment of risk, their agenda and contextual needs when living with chronic illness. Of everyday relevance to lay people is the management of risk and uncertainty relating to social roles and obligations, the emotions involved when encountering the risk and uncertainty in chronic illness, and the challenges posed by social structural factors and social environments that have to be managed. Thus, clinical enactments of self-management policy would benefit from taking a more holistic view to patient need and seek to avoid solely communicating lifestyle risk factors to be self-managed