Geographic determinants of Australian foreign direct investments

The volume of investment that has flowed from Australia into the outside world, and its implications for economic policy, has attracted substantial policy debate among Australian policy makers, particularly in the context of regionalisation of the world economy. Using hypotheses from investment demand model and new trade theory we investigate if market size, its growth rate, openness, regional economic integration, language and cultural similarity and the availability of knowledge capital have any impact in attracting Australian investments offshore. Our results suggest that countries which are open, have a large domestic market and stable macro-economic environment tend to attract most Australian FDI. Regional integration, and the similarity in language and culture do not have any effect in attracting FDI from Australia. This result has a significant policy implications not only for Australia, but also for other countries who are increasingly engaged in forming trading blocs like Australia-US free trade agreements (AUSFTA)

Ontology based contextualization and context constraints management in web service processes

The flexibility and dynamism of service-based applications impose shifting the validation process to runtime; therefore, runtime monitoring of dynamic features attached to service-based systems is becoming an important direction of research that motivated the definition of our work. We propose an ontology based contextualization and a framework and techniques for managing context constraints in a Web service process for dynamic requirements validation monitoring at process runtime. Firstly, we propose an approach to define and model dynamic service context attached to composition and execution of services in a service process at run-time. Secondly, managing context constraints are defined in a framework, which has three main processes for context manipulation and reasoning, context constraints generation, and dynamic instrumentation and validation monitoring of context constraints. The dynamic requirements attached to service composition and execution are generated as context constraints. The dynamic service context modeling is investigated based on empirical analysis of application scenarios in the classical business domain and analysing previous models in the literature. The orientation of context aspects in a general context taxonomy is considered important. The Ontology Web Language (OWL) has many merits on formalising dynamic service context such as shared conceptualization, logical language support for composition and reasoning, XML based interoperability, etc. XML-based constraint representation is compatible with Web service technologies. The analysis of complementary case study scenarios and expert opinions through a survey illustrate the validity and completeness of our context model. The proposed techniques for context manipulation, context constraints generation, instrumentation and validation monitoring are investigated through a set of experiments from an empirical evaluation. The analytical evaluation is also used to evaluate algorithms. Our contributions and evaluation results provide a further step towards developing a highly automated dynamic requirements management system for service processes at process run-time

Constraint integration and violation handling for BPEL processes

Autonomic, i.e. dynamic and fault-tolerant Web service composition is a requirement resulting from recent developments such as on-demand services. In the context of planning-based service composition, multi-agent planning and dynamic error handling are still unresolved problems. Recently, business rule and constraint management has been looked at for enterprise SOA to add business flexibility. This paper proposes a constraint integration and violation handling technique for dynamic service composition. Higher degrees of reliability and fault-tolerance, but also performance for autonomously composed WS-BPEL processes are the objectives

Context constraint integration and validation in dynamic web service compositions

System architectures that cross organisational boundaries are usually implemented based on Web service technologies due to their inherent interoperability benets. With increasing exibility requirements, such as on-demand service provision, a dynamic approach to service architecture focussing on composition at runtime is needed. The possibility of technical faults, but also violations of functional and semantic constraints require a comprehensive notion of context that captures composition-relevant aspects. Context-aware techniques are consequently required to support constraint validation for dynamic service composition. We present techniques to respond to problems occurring during the execution of dynamically composed Web services implemented in WS-BPEL. A notion of context { covering physical and contractual faults and violations { is used to safeguard composed service executions dynamically. Our aim is to present an architectural framework from an application-oriented perspective, addressing practical considerations of a technical framework

Context modeling and constraints binding in web service business processes

Context awareness is a principle used in pervasive services applications to enhance their exibility and adaptability to changing conditions and dynamic environments. Ontologies provide a suitable framework for context modeling and reasoning. We develop a context model for executable business processes { captured as an ontology for the web services domain. A web service description is attached to a service context profile, which is bound to the context ontology. Context instances can be generated dynamically at services runtime and are bound to context constraint services. Constraint services facilitate both setting up constraint properties and constraint checkers, which determine the dynamic validity of context instances. Data collectors focus on capturing context instances. Runtime integration of both constraint services and data collectors permit the business process to achieve dynamic business goals

Dynamic integration of context model constraints in web service processes

Autonomic Web service composition has been a challenging topic for some years. The context in which composition takes places determines essential aspects. A context model can provide meaningful composition information for services process composition. An ontology-based approach for context information integration is the basis of a constraint approach to dynamically integrate context validation into service processes. The dynamic integration of context constraints into an orchestrated service process is a necessary direction to achieve autonomic service composition

Distributed aspect-oriented service composition for business compliance governance with public service processes

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) offers a technical foundation for Enterprise Application Integration and business collaboration through service-based business components. With increasing process outsourcing and cloud computing, enterprises need process-level integration and collaboration (process-oriented) to quickly launch new business processes for new customers and products. However, business processes that cross organisations’ compliance regulation boundaries are still unaddressed. We introduce a distributed aspect-oriented service composition approach, which enables multiple process clients hot-plugging their business compliance models (business rules, fault handling policy, and execution monitor) to BPEL business processes

Primary health care service delivery by international actors in humanitarian emergencies

Primary health care (PHC) is usually the first point of contact people have with a country's health system. The aim of PHC is to provide comprehensive, accessible, community-based care that meets the health needs of individuals throughout their lifetime. Humanitarian emergencies (HEs) are characterised by an inability of affected populations to cope with an event using their own resources. In HEs, international actors often provide humanitarian assistance to affected populations. The majority of health services are delivered at the PHC level. In fact, approximately 90% of the activity of the largest humanitarian medical actor, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), is conducted at the PHC level each year. Despite the significance of PHC activity in HEs, there are currently no established guidelines for the humanitarian community on service implementation, particularly related to the context, national health system capacity and the expectations of affected communities. The overarching aim of this thesis is to provide empirical evidence to describe the PHC system of a HE from the perspective of international actors. To achieve this aim, I addressed three key research questions: 1. What is currently known about how PHC services are delivered in HEs by international actors? 2. How do key concepts of PHC apply in a HE? and 3. What does a health systems approach look like with respect to PHC delivery in a HE? To answer the first question, I undertook a scoping narrative literature review of peer-reviewed literature from 1978 to 2016 and grey literature from 2013 to 2018. I included primary reports of PHC interventions delivered in the acute phase of a HE by international actors, and analysed these interventions against an existing PHC framework. I found that the PHC system collapses during a HE, that international actors delivered PHC services according to their own capacity, setting their own aims and objectives, and that little consideration was given to community empowerment in service delivery. I used field visits to MSF projects in northern Nigeria and Lebanon as case studies to answer the second research question. In northern Nigeria, a visit and realist analysis of a MSF maternal health care project highlighted the importance of understanding the 'context' of an intervention, particularly the role of PHC in comprehensively addressing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. In the Bekaa valley region of Lebanon, I used routinely collected patient data on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) from four MSF PHC clinics to investigate the concepts of geographic accessibility, availability of facilities, adjustment to population health needs and continuity of care for patients seeking NCD care. I found that access to care was dependent on context, that there was a relationship between continuity of care and access to a clinic, and that humanitarian access plays a key role in these settings. The final research question was answered using principles of complex adaptive systems theory and the findings from the case studies. I developed a conceptual framework to explain the dynamic relationship between the national health system of a country, the system created by international actors and that of individuals and communities affected by a HE. The findings presented in this thesis have important implications for practice and further research. International health actors working in HEs need to better understand the context in which PHC services are delivered to provide effective and relevant health care. The principles of PHC are relevant in HEs, however they need to be adapted. If we are to achieve the goals of the Declaration of Astana to 'leave no one behind', we must place greater emphasis on understanding the inter-dependent relationships between the national health system, international actors and communities themselves

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF FOUNDATION CONFIGURATIONS ON DYNAMIC RESPONSES OF WIND TOWER

This experimental project is to study on the effect of foundation for offshore wind tower on dynamic responses due to wind load. Power Spectral Density (PSD) is developed as spectrum energy from acceleration motion of structure in order to determine the effect of foundation configurations. The characteristics of offshore support structure could be described on the spectrum energy during applying wind load. The experimental study is required to collect the acceleration motion of structure before developing spectrum energy by using MATLAB software in order to analyze a characteristic of structure due to the effect of structure from wind load and provide offshore model of wind tower including controlling all environmental factor during testing. The fabrication of offshore wind tower model is to construct with a scale down from actual wind tower. There are three types of foundation which are involved in this experimental study such as monopile, tripod and jacket foundation. The effect of foundation configurations could be developed as the preliminary design. Dynamic responses will be measured at the wind tower and offshore support structure in order to produce the effective data collection and enhance dynamic analysis of foundation in this study