Underpinning practice-based creative research with quality supervision

In the past few years, there has been some interestingdebate on the notion of postgraduate research by the exegesis route, which is currently the most favoured approach to higher degree qualification in the creative arts arena. The production of an artwork, which is accompanied by scholarly written exposition, has become a well-accepted way in which cultural and social knowledge is generated within the creative disciplines. Some problems, however, still remain with the quality supervision of creative arts postgraduate students because of the concurrent requirements of having a supervisor with a significant reputation in the student's field of creative endeavour and the skills to advise on the preparation of the scholarly document that expounds on the creative work. In addition, because of the recent history of the exegesis route to higher degrees, there are relatively few experienced research staff in creative arts departments. At the University of Ballarat's Arts Academy, we have been developing an approachto the supervisionof creative Masters and Doctoral exegeses in the context of small staff numbers, a wide variety of practice areas, and a relatively large number of enrolled students. Results to date have been encouraging, and this paper will report on the way in which we are attempting to provide each studnet with the best educational experience possible and produce world-class creative higher degree graduates within a school that has a limited financial and personnel resource baseE

Towards developing a service delivery improvement model for the Malaysian Hotel sector / Johanudin Lahap, G. Barry O'Mahony and Jim Sillitoe

The Malaysian hotel industry has experienced significant growth in the last 10 years and many hotels in Malaysia are now opulent, new hotels achieving the highest standards of presentation. However, service delivery often lags behind the physical environment, struggles to meet international standards and ergo the expectations ofinternational guests. There are diverse views among service quality researchers as to how to improve service delivery standards. Consequently, this study seeks to develop an appropriate service delivery improvement model that provides a framework that can be used to attract, train, motivate and retain hotel employees. Within the literature many strategies have been presented that are designed to enhance both products and services in a variety of contexts. Among the better known ofthese are Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma (SS), SERVQUAL (SQ), the Relationship Marketing paradigm (RM), Internal Marketing (1M) and Internal Market Orientation (IMO). The general view among scholars, however, is that there is a link between employee satisfaction and job performance. This article examines and analyses the most significant elements of various product and service improvement models, and presents a revised service delivery improvement model as afirst step in customising a modelfor the Malaysian hotel sector. The research concludes that a number of these elements are critical to service improvement, the authors note that the implementation of such a model will need to be further developed with assistance from industry stakeholders in Malaysia

The role of love stories in Romance Scams : A qualitative analysis of fraudulent profiles

The Online Romance Scam is a very successful scam which causes considerable financial and emotional damage to its victims. In this paper, we provide a perspective that might be helpful to explain the success of this scam. In a similar way to the "The Nigerian letter", we propose that the scam techniques appeal to strong emotions, which are clearly involved in Romantic relationships. We also assume that the same success factors found in normal relationships contribute to the success of the romance scam. In an exploratory study using a qualitative analysis of fraudulent profiles from an international dating website, we examined this assumption. The findings show that personal affinities related to personal romantic imaginations, which are described by personal love stories, play an important role in the success of a romance scam. © 2016 International Journal of Cyber Criminology (IJCC)

Health effects associated with inhalation of airborne arsenic arising from mining operations

Arsenic in dust and aerosol generated by mining, mineral processing and metallurgical extraction industries, is a serious threat to human populations throughout the world. Major sources of contamination include smelting operations, coal combustion, hard rock mining, as well as their associated waste products, including fly ash, mine wastes and tailings. The number of uncontained arsenic-rich mine waste sites throughout the world is of growing concern, as is the number of people at risk of exposure. Inhalation exposures to arsenic-bearing dusts and aerosol, in both occupational and environmental settings, have been definitively linked to increased systemic uptake, as well as carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health outcomes. It is therefore becoming increasingly important to identify human populations and sensitive sub-populations at risk of exposure, and to better understand the modes of action for pulmonary arsenic toxicity and carcinogenesis. In this paper we explore the contribution of smelting, coal combustion, hard rock mining and their associated waste products to atmospheric arsenic. We also report on the current understanding of the health effects of inhaled arsenic, citing results from various toxicological, biomedical and epidemiological studies. This review is particularly aimed at those researchers engaged in the distinct, but complementary areas of arsenic research within the multidisciplinary field of medical geology. © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

An investigation of the effects of stage of ensilage on Nassella neesiana seeds, for reducing seed viability and injury to livestock

The noxious weed Nassella neesiana is established on a wide range of productive land throughout southeastern Australia. N. neesiana seeds, when mature, are sharp, causing injury to livestock, thus posing a problem in fodder bales. To reduce infestations of agricultural weeds in situ, production of silage from weed-infested pastures is practised as part of integrated weed management (IWM). However, there is little data to demonstrate whether this process is useful to reduce infestations or the harmful properties of N. neesiana. Therefore, the minimum duration of ensilage required to reduce the viability of N. neesiana seeds was investigated, both with and without addition of ensilage inoculants in this process. Also, the decreasing propensity of the seeds to injure livestock, after various times and conditions of ensilage, was assessed. Ensilage inoculant reduced seed germination probability to zero after 35 days. When no inoculant was added, zero viability was achieved after 42 days. A qualitative assessment of the hardness of ensilaged seeds found seed husks were softer (and therefore safer) after 42 days, whether inoculant was used or not. Therefore, we suggest that both the viability of N. neesiana seeds and hardness of seed casings are significantly reduced after 42 days, thereby reducing the risks of seed dispersal and injury to livestock

Investigations into the effects of elevated carbon dioxide and drought on the growth and physiology of carpet weed (Galenia pubescens Eckl. & Zeyh.)

The present study aimed to examine the interactive effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and drought stress on the growth and some of the physiological processes of Galenia pubescens. Photosynthetic rate of plants increased under elevated CO2 concentration, however drought caused significant reduction in net photosynthetic rate by (45% in 400 ppm CO2) and (27% in 700 ppm CO2) after five days simulating the drought treatment when compared with well-watered plants. Plants grown under elevated CO2 level and well-watered produced a greater biomass (17.5 ± 0.5 g per plant) compared to the plants which were grown under the ambient CO2 concentration

A Distinctive Pd-Hg Signature in Detrital Gold Derived from Alkalic Cu-Au Porphyry Systems

This study comprises the first systematic classification of native gold geochemistry within alkalic porphyry Cu-Au systems and the placer expression of such systems. The geochemistry and mineral associations of gold from four alkalic porphyry deposits in British Columbia, Canada (Afton, Mount Milligan, Mount Polley and Copper Mountain) have been compared to comment on the likely detrital gold expression of similar systems globally. Populations of gold grains collected from in situ hypogene mineralization as well as fluvial deposits downstream of these deposits have been characterized in terms of their alloy composition (Au, Ag, Cu, Hg, and Pd) and associated mineral inclusions. These data are combined to generate a ‘microchemical signature’. Gold compositions vary according to the alteration zone within a porphyry system. Previous compositional studies of gold in porphyry systems have focused on the most economically important ore associated with potassic alteration, wherein native gold hosted either by bornite or chalcopyrite comprises tiny blebs (typically 5-20 μm), containing detectable Cu in the gold alloy to a maximum of around 5% but quite variable (2-30 wt.%) Ag. The presence of such grains have been confirmed in hypogene ore from the four systems studied, but they have been shown to be compositionally distinct from detrital gold collected from nearby fluvial placers which exhibit a strong Pd and Hg signature, both in the alloy and as mineral inclusions. Several workers have described late stage veins associated with alkalic porphyries which contain distinctive Pd-Hg bearing minerals in association with other sulphides and sulphosalts. This unusual mineralogy has been observed in the mineral inclusion suites of populations of detrital gold grains collected in the environs of the porphyry systems. We conclude that whilst the micron-scale Cu-rich gold grains formed in potassically altered rocks are in general too small to be recovered during routine sediment sampling, those formed in later stage hydrothermal systems are larger, and exhibit a distinctive microchemical signature which may be differentiated from those of gold formed in other mineralizing systems. Consequently, compositional studies of detrital gold could underpin a mineral indicator methodology in the exploration for alkalic porphyry Cu-Au deposits

Facilitating 'organisational learning' in a learning institution'

The term ‘organisational learning’ was popularised by Peter Senge in ‘The Fifth Discipline’, his seminal book from 1990. Since then, the term has become widely accepted among those interested in organisational learning and change management. However, partly due to the somewhat ambiguous situation which arises in a university which is a ‘learning organisation’ in a different sense, academic staff may experience some confusion when this term is used in a higher education institutional context. Further, the embedded notions of single- and double-loop learning and tacit and explicit knowledge, which are features of organisational learning, are not widely understood by those affected by organisational learning initiatives, leading again to some unintended confusion of purpose in situations of change

Quantifying values : A sampling methodology for use in assessing the impacts on tourism, local community, and businesses of Victoria's marine protected areas

A sampling methodology has been devised to facilitate the selection of a purposeful sample of marine parks and sanctuaries for the investigation of their impacts on tourism, local community, and businesses. The methodology is based on multiattribute utility theory used for comparing complex alternatives in decision making and takes into account those key attributes of Victoria's 13 marine national parks and 11 marine sanctuaries that have been identified through both published and draft management plans, government policies, and relevant strategies. The attributes are: tourism services, activities, community engagement, visitation, values, interpretation, access, location, conservation significance, and regional context. Values of each marine protected area are quantified and establishment of a total attribute value score for a "typical area" enables the comparison between individual marine parks and sanctuaries. To strengthen the methodology, a panel of independent experts representing tourism, local government, and community organizations were invited to express their views with regard to these attributes, and their responses have been incorporated into the research

Perspectives on instituting change management in large organisations

Abstract: Australian universities are currently undergoing significant and deep-seated change to their funding models through their relationship to Federal government social development and research agendas. Consequently, changes are being instituted at all levels of university activity. Such changes are often accompanied by considerable disruption to traditional and accepted practices. This has had the effect of introducing unanticipated institutional difficulties and is causing some significant levels of personal uncertainty for staff. We suggest that such difficulties might be mitigated by more effective, efficient and transparent change management strategies