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Subtropical Fashioning: Examples of Care and Community in Twentieth Century Fashion Systems
No full textSignificant change is required to address the harms caused by the dominant global fashion system, which is characterized by overproduction and overconsumption. Propositions for a changed fashion future include moving to models that have justice, care, and regeneration at their heart. Examples of alternative fashion systems already exist in both past and present. This article proposes that analysis of social history collections in museums can offer insights that demonstrate alternative fashion practices in action. Through narratives of artifacts from the Queensland Museum’s Social History collection, this article traces alternative fashion systems of twentieth century Australia to explore a fashion future that may be sustained. The narratives integrate material and textual analysis to examine the fashion system in which each garment existed, identified in relation to the elements of ‘industry’, ‘change’, and ‘culture’. The three artifacts represent different approaches to how fashion is produced and consumed, and act as proof points for future fashion systems.</p
A Roadmap to Translate Innovative Work Behaviour into Firm Performance: The Case of Vietnamese ICT SMEs
No full textIn today’s rapidly changing and dynamic business landscape, the mantra “Innovate or
perish” has served as a fundamental principle for business success. In this context,
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
have focused strongly on innovation, especially employees’ innovative work behaviour
(IWB), to drive business success. By prioritising employees’ IWB, ICT SMEs can tap into
a rich reservoir of internal talent and knowledge, fostering bottom-up innovation that is
responsive to market demands as well as being adaptable to evolving circumstances.
However, some researchers argue that innovations are inherently associated with
uncertainty and potential for failure, and relying solely on employees’ IWB is insufficient
to secure superior firm performance. This raises an important question about the role
of employees’ IWB on SME’s performance. However, there has been limited attention
directed towards exploring the firm performance implication of employees’ IWB as well
as the mechanisms and conditions translating this individual resource into firm
performance.
Grounded in the overarching perspective of the Resource-Based View (RBV) and
enriched by complementary insights from the Dynamic Capabilities View (DCV) and the
Contingency Theory, this study aims to examine the relationship between employees’
IWB and firm performance. Additionally, this study takes a further step by examining the
mechanisms and conditions that influence this nexus. Specifically, this study investigates
the role of organisational dynamic capabilities (DCs) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO)
as mediators and transformational leadership (TL) as a moderator in the relationship
between employees’ IWB and firm performance.
To achieve these aims, the study employs an explanatory sequential mixed-method
design, encompassing quantitative and qualitative phases. In the first quantitative
phase, questionnaire survey data from 319 Vietnamese ICT SMEs’ managers was
collected and analysed using Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modelling (CBSEM) to test the research model. Subsequently, in the qualitative phase, 26 individual
in-depth interviews were conducted to provide deeper insights into the interesting
findings that emerged during the initial statistical analysis and to expand on the findings
from the quantitative data.
Quantitative findings affirm that, although employees’ IWB does not have a direct
influence on firm performance, it does have an indirect effect on firm performance through2
the sequential mediation of DCs and EO. Additionally, there is a nonsignificant moderating
effect of TL on the relationship between employees’ IWB and firm performance.
Qualitative data analysis further identifies four key reasons that might limit the
effectiveness of employees’ IWB on firm performance, including a lack of resources, a
lack of innovation implementation capabilities, misalignment with strategic orientation
and an unsupportive organisational structure. Additionally, the qualitative results explain
why the sequential effects of DCs and EO are important for linking employees’ IWB to
firm performance, while the moderating role of TL is not significant in ICT SMEs. The
qualitative study also proposes entrepreneurial leadership and innovation climate as
potential moderators in the employees’ IWB–firm performance relationship.
The study contributes to strategic management literature in several ways. First, the study
contributes to the RBV by advocating for a shift beyond mere possession of individuallevel resources, emphasising their effective leverage to enhance firm performance.
Specifically, the integration of micro-level employee innovation resources with macrolevel factors like DCs and EO is proposed as a promising direction to optimise employees’
IWB and improve firm performance. Second, the study adds to DCV by providing more
insights into the role of DCs in an innovation process and firm performance. Accordingly,
by highlighting the sequential mediating role of DCs and EO in linking employees’ IWB
and firm performance, the study enriches our understanding of how DCs, when combined
with other strategic factors, involve in an innovation process to influence firm
performance. Finally, this study contributes to TL literature by revealing that the influence
of TL on employees’ IWB and firm performance is not universally applicable but
contingent upon specific contexts, prompting further investigation into the conditions
under which TL can influence these relationships effectively.
Practically, this study informs ICT SMEs’ managers about the potential barriers that might
limit the effectiveness of employees’ IWB. By recognising these barriers, managers can
devise customised strategies to overcome them and harness the innovative potential of
non-managerial employees effectively, thereby enhancing the firm’s competitive
advantages and overall performance. Additionally, the study provides a roadmap to
translating employees’ IWB into firm performance by integrating strategic tools including
DCs, EO, entrepreneurial leadership and innovation climate. Specific approaches to
cultivate and nurture these strategic factors within the organisation are also
recommended accordingly.</p
Clinical Applications and Mechanisms of Action of Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Tang for Stroke–Related Muscular Numbness and Weakness: Literature Reviews and Computational Analyses
No full textStroke–related numbness and weakness (SRNW) is a common symptom in post–stroke patients. Although SRNW is not a life–threatening condition, over 85% of post–stroke patients experience it. Current management for SRNW includes drug and non–drug interventions, such as pharmaceutical treatments, rehabilitation programs, and alternative therapies. However, these treatments do not fully address SRNW, and some may have adverse consequences. Therefore, some post–stroke patients eventually consider seeking alternative options for managing SRNW. Chinese herbal medicine has historically been used for post–stroke management. Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Tang (HGWT) is one of the herbal formulas that has been widely used for managing SRNW for over 1800 years. However, its mechanisms of action for managing SRNW are not clearly understood. The current research project aimed to review the classical literature, conduct a systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs), evaluate experimental studies, and perform computational analyses to assess the effects and safety of HGWT.
Phase I: A classical literature review of Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Tang
A total of 33 texts in 31 classical books were identified in the comprehensive review of classical literature by searching the compact disc, Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Zhong Hua Yi Dian). This review indicates that HGWT has been used for managing stroke–like signs and symptoms in traditional Chinese medicine. Even though the term “stroke” did not exist in ancient times, stroke–like symptoms were described using terms such as Xue Bi (血痹) and Shen Ti Bu Ren (身体不仁). The Phase I study highlights the primary findings regarding HGWT and its variations used to treat Xue Bi (血痹) and Shen Ti Bu Ren (身体不仁), as mentioned in 24 of the 33 texts. These conditions are recognised as post–stroke symptoms in modern Chinese medicine clinical practice. The original HGWT includes five herbs: Astragali Radix (Huang qi), Paeoniae Radix Alba (Bai shao), Cinnamomum Ramulus (Gui zhi), Jujubae Fructus (Da zao), and Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens (Sheng jiang).
Phases II and III: Reviews of modern clinical and experimental studies
The systematic review of clinical studies, following the methods described in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, indicated that 25 RCTs used HGWT or modified HGWT combined with other interventions and measured a variety of outcome measures. These 25 RCTs were grouped into three categories: shoulder–hand syndrome, hemiplegia, and other symptoms which could not be categorised in the other two. The top three outcome measures were clinical effectiveness rate (n=17), Fugl–Meyer assessment (n=11), and visual analogue scale (n=9). The meta–analyses showed that HGWT or modified HGWT combined with other interventions improved those outcome measures. There was encouraging evidence of HGWT’s beneficial effects as an add–on therapy to other interventions to improve post–stroke management. The five herbs contained in the original HGWT have been frequently used in modern clinical studies.
The experimental studies evaluated HGWT’s therapeutic effects and safety for SRNW through pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, toxicity and phytochemistry profiles. Fourteen studies were included in the review of experimental in vitro and in vivo studies. In a pharmacodynamic study, a cerebral artery thrombosis model in a rat group showed significantly decreased cerebral infarction and vascular injury areas, significantly inhibited platelet aggregation, and significantly improved behavioural disorders after administration of HGWT. Pharmacokinetics studies indicated that rapid absorption in the blood and quick elimination time for five main constituents: paeoniflorin, albiflorin, astragaloside IV, calycosin-7-o-β-d-6-glucoside, and cinnamic acid. Moreover, HGWT was found to be safe in terms of acute toxicity (14 days) and long–term (13 weeks) administration, with no observed toxic reactions.
Phase IV: Computational analyses
Molecular docking was performed between 782 ligands (obtained from HGWT’s chemical compounds) and 19 receptors (identified as SRNW target proteins) using AutoDock Vina. A total of 14,858 docking results were retrieved. The average binding affinity scores of the top three target proteins among the 19 were PDE5A (−6.66 kcal/mol), ESR1 (−6.62 kcal/mol) and ADRB2 (−6.62 kcal/mol). The DZ118–ESR1 (binding affinity score: −11.1 kcal/mol) and HQ068–MAPK3 (binding affinity score: −10.4 kcal/mol) complexes were selected for the molecular dynamics simulations because their complex interactions exhibited the highest binding affinity values.
In molecular dynamics simulations, the DZ118–ESR1 complex reached equilibrium after approximately 50 ns in terms of root mean square deviation. Differences in the RMSF of apo– and ligand–bound ESR1 were observed in regions around the residues Glu339, Arg412, Lys416 and Lys53. The average binding free energy using MM–PBSA showed two major peaks with significant binding energy contributions at Met421 (–10.74 kJ/mol) and Leu525 (–10.02 kJ/mol).
In the HQ068–MAPK3 complex, during molecular dynamics simulations, HQ068 binds closely to the mitogen–activated protein insertion site by forming hydrogen bonds with Ser263, Leu281, Leu284, Ser286 and Lys289 in all three trajectories. This indicates HQ068 promotes mitogen– activated protein kinase insertion by stabilising its binding site. Three major peaks of average binding free energy were observed at Pro264, Gln 266 and Thr288, all of which were predicted to form close contacts with the central hydrophobic part of HQ068. These key residues contributing to the interactions likely play integral roles in the binding of selective modulators. Analyses of the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of the two ligands (DZ118 and HQ068) using Swiss ADME and pkCSM platforms indicated that they are well within the parameters for drug–likeness, oral bioavailability, and safety.
Conclusions
SRNW is the most common symptom in post–stroke patients, and HGWT has been widely used for managing SRNW in both traditional Chinese medicine and modern clinical practices. This project provides a comprehensive understanding of HGWT from traditional to modern perspectives and offers a mechanistic understanding of HGWT on SRNW using computational analysis methods. The DZ118–ESR1 and HQ068–MAPK3 complexes were predicted to be the most bioactive for SRNW. These compounds should be explored as potential agents to alleviate SRNW symptoms in future studies. Experimental studies are recommended to validate the computational results.</p
Biophysical Characterization and Cryopreservation of Mammalian Cells Using Ionic Liquids
No full textIonic liquids (ILs) are a diverse class of solvents which can be selected for task-specific properties, making them attractive alternatives to traditional solvents. To tailor ILs for specific biological applications, it is necessary to understand the structure-property relationships of ILs and their interactions with cells. Here, a selection of carboxylate anion-based ILs were investigated as cryoprotectants, which are compounds added to cells before freezing to mitigate lethal freezing damage. The cytotoxicity, cell permeability, thermal behavior, and cryoprotective efficacy of the ILs were assessed with two model mammalian cell lines. We found that the biophysical interactions, including permeability of the ILs, were influenced by considering the IL pair together, rather than as single species acting independently. All of the ILs tested had high cytotoxicity, but ethylammonium acetate demonstrated good cryoprotective efficacy for both cell types tested. These results demonstrate that despite toxicity, ILs may be suitable for certain biological applications. It also demonstrates that more research is required to understand the contribution of ion pairs to structure-property relationships and that knowing the behavior of a single ionic species will not necessarily predict its behavior as part of an IL.</p
The Investigation and Characterisation of Protein Nanocapsules as an Emerging Nanoparticle Vaccine Delivery System
No full textNanoparticle vaccines are a new class of vaccine formulation utilising submicron particles to deliver vaccine antigens. Nanoparticle vaccines vary in size, shape, composition, and immunogenic properties owing to the diversity of material and formulations available. Particles may be composed of inorganic material such as metal, silica, iron oxide or synthetic polymer, as well as organic materials such as protein, lipid or chitin.
Nanoparticles in sub-micron size ranges of 50-500 nm are readily internalised by dendritic cells which play a key role in antigen processing and presentation, as well as development of strong immune responses and memory formation. The development of biodegradable and biocompatible nanoparticles has promise as a safe and effective vaccine platform to deliver vaccine antigens.
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is an important human pathogen which causes a significant global health burden, infecting an estimated 50% of the global population. Increasing rates of antibiotic resistance have increased efforts towards a viable vaccine against H. pylori. Known antigens such as Urease are key vaccine targets in the development of a vaccine against H. pylori.
In this study, the synthesis of protein ‘nanocapsules’ composed of pure cross-linked Urease subunit A (UreA) antigen was investigated for its potential as an effective vaccine against
H. pylori. A templating system utilising two kinds of silica template (either solid-core mesoporous shell (SC/MS) or fully mesoporous (MS) nanoparticles) immobilises proteins in the mesoporous silica by solution adsorption. Crosslinking proteins in place followed by dissolution of silica template by acid treatment, pure antigen based nanocapsules were synthesised. Previous studies utilising the SC/MS nanoparticle templating system found that antigen nanocapsules were successfully delivered to intracellular compartments in murine dendritic cells (Taki et al., 2020).
Recombinant UreA protein was expressed through a bacterial expression system and purified before infiltration and nanocapsule synthesis. Resulting nanocapsules were characterised structurally and investigated for cytotoxicity and cell uptake in vitro before being assessed as a novel vaccine in mice.
The results of a preliminary mouse trial indicated the efficacy of the SC/MS and MS protein nanocapsules as a vaccine delivery system and were used as the basis for the development of a novel HIV vaccine based on the gp120 antigen of HIV. Results from this study found that SC/MS nanocapsules were able to reduce H. pylori burden in mice, and that two distinct sizes of nanocapsule were successfully synthesised from the HIV protein gp120 indicating that the platform offers a versatile approach to protein delivery. The results of this study indicate that protein nanocapsules have potential to be an effective and immunogenic vaccine platform which can be used to effectively deliver antigen.</p
Using machine learning to assist decision making in the assessment of mental health patients presenting to emergency departments.
No full textOBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the predictability of admissions to a MH inpatient ward using ML models, based on routine data collected during triage in EDs. This research sought to identify the most effective ML model for this purpose while considering the practical implications of model interpretability for clinical use. METHODS: The study utilised existing data from January 2016 to December 2021. After data pre-processing, an exploratory analysis revealed the non-linear nature of the dataset. Six different ML models were tested: Random Forest, XGBoost, CatBoost, k-Nearest Neighbours (kNN), Explainable Boosting Machine (EBM) using InterpretML, and Support Vector Machine using Support Vector Classification (SVC). The performance of these models was evaluated using various metrics including the Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC). RESULTS: Among the models evaluated, the CatBoost model achieved the highest MCC score of 0.1952, demonstrating superior balanced accuracy and predictive power, particularly in correctly identifying positive cases. The InterpretML model also performed well, with an MCC score of 0.1914. While CatBoost showed strong predictive capabilities, its complexity poses challenges for clinical interpretation. Conversely, the InterpretML model, though slightly less powerful, offers better transparency and is more practical for clinical use. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the CatBoost model is a compelling choice for scenarios prioritising the detection of positive cases. However, the InterpretML model's ease of interpretation makes it more suitable for clinical application. Integrating explanation methods like SHAP with non-linear models could enhance model transparency and foster clinician trust. Further research is recommended to refine non-linear models within decision support systems, explore multi-source data integration, understand clinician attitudes towards ML, and develop real-time data collection systems. This study highlights the potential of ML in predicting MH admissions from ED data while stressing the importance of interpretability, ethical considerations, and ongoing validation for successful clinical implementation.</p
Organic UV Filters in Aquatic Ecosystems: Distribution in Port Phillip Bay and Effects on Macroalgae
No full textOrganic UV filters (OUVFs) are synthetic chemicals developed to protect against sunburn, premature skin aging, and skin cancer. They are the active ingredients in sunscreens but are also used in a range of commercial products. Due to their widespread use, OUVFs enter aquatic ecosystems, and have recently come under scrutiny for their potential to harm aquatic species, and bioaccumulate and persist in aquatic environments. Ecotoxicology studies have shown OUVFs may cause oxidative damage, disrupt endocrine activity, alter behaviour, and impair growth, development, and reproduction in various aquatic species. Concerns over the impact of OUVF-containing sunscreens have led to restrictions on their use in some tropical regions and the rise of sunscreens marketed as ‘reef-safe’. These formulations claim to avoid OUVFs considered harmful to coral reefs, however, they are not regulated.
Even with these developments, there is minimal information regarding the environmental concentrations and ecological impacts of OUVFs in Australian marine ecosystems, despite the widespread use of OUVF-containing sunscreen among its population. Furthermore, a lack of comprehensive toxicity data and environmental concentration measurements for many OUVFs
impedes accurate ecological risk assessments, the establishment of protective guidelines, and effective regulatory measures. This thesis addresses critical knowledge gaps by providing novel data on OUVF concentrations in Port Phillip Bay and assessing toxicity in previously unstudied aquatic species.
Chapter 2 (scientometric analysis) and Chapter 3 (systematic review) provide a comprehensive overview of the research field, and a synthesis of research on OUVF toxicity to aquatic species. Chapter 3 covers the effects of 39 OUVFs on 70 aquatic species and assesses the risk to aquatic environments by calculating predicted no-effect concentrations for 22 OUVFs and risk quotients for 12 OUVFs.
A new method of salting‐out assisted liquid–liquid extraction (SALLE) coupled with liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed for simultaneous extraction, separation, and quantification of seven OUVFs (2,4-
dihydroxybenzophenone, 2,2',4,4'-tetrahydroxybenzophenone, 4-Methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC), butyl-methoxy-dibenzoyl methane (B-MDM), octocrylene (OCT), ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC), and oxybenzone (BP-3)) (Chapter 4). The method showed good accuracy (69-127% recovery) and precision ( PQL) and PNECs derived using the assessment factor method
(Chapter 3) indicates potential ecological risk posed by two of the studied OUVFs. Risk quotients were >1 for 4-MBC (RQmax = 14.9, RQmedian = 2.5) and BP-3 (RQmax = 6.8, RQmedian = 2.3); in contrast, RQs for OCT were < 1 (RQmax = 0.3, RQmedian = 0.2), suggesting lower ecological risk. For B-MDM, insufficient toxicity data in the literature prevented the calculation of a PNEC, and consequently, RQs were not determined.
Laboratory experiments were performed to assess the effects of 4-MBC, BP-3, and EHMC on species representing different trophic roles (Chapter 5). These experiments evaluated the effect of exposure on the spore fertilization and rhizoid growth of the macroalga Hormosira banksii (a primary producer), the survival of bryozoan Virididentula dentata (a consumer), and the survival of the brine shrimp Artemia salina (a consumer). BP-3 exhibited the highest toxicity to H. banksii (EC10 = 363 μg/L), while 4-MBC was most toxic to V. dentata (EC10 = 397 μg/L). Various toxicity effect estimates are presented. This study contributes new knowledge, being the first to report on the effects of OUVF on the macroalga H. banksii and a bryozoan.
A detailed study on the acute biochemical and physiological responses of the mature green macroalga Ulva lactuca to BP-3 and OCT was performed (Chapter 6). Results showed that exposure to ≥100 μg/L BP-3 or OCT altered U. lactuca’s metabolomic profiles revealing concentration- and time-dependent changes. Affected metabolic pathways primarily relating to energy metabolism, stress response, and cellular homeostasis. At 72-h, OCT reduced relative growth rate (RGR) by 16 - 28% at 300 – 27,000 μg/L and BP-3 reduced RGR by 20-70% at 100-27,000 μg/L. At environmentally relevant concentrations, U. lactuca showed resilience to short-term exposure with no significant changes in photosynthetic efficiency of photosystem II, chlorophyll concentration, and oxidative stress (malondialdehyde content). The potential for these OUVFs to disrupt cellular metabolomic processes suggests possible compromised growth and fitness under long-term exposure. The findings highlight the need for comprehensive research on chronic exposure effects across diverse macroalgal species to fully understand the
ecological impacts of OUVFs on these important marine primary producers.
This thesis advances our understanding of the potential ecological risks posed by OUVFs to Australian marine environments and marine ecosystems globally. It contributes new knowledge on the effects of the selected OUVFs to species previously unstudied in this context, and it marks the first report of OUVF occurrence in Port Phillip Bay.</p
Privacy-Preserving Models in Edge-Cloud Interplay for Smart Systems
No full textThe progress of leading technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), edge and cloud computing, has catalysed the shift toward smart industries in various verticals, from intelligent banking to healthcare systems. In this regard, edge and cloud computing offer minimal-cost and on-demand computing resources. Service providers offer data analytics services to deliver precise insights to end-users (individuals and organisations), thus improving their business operations. Despite looking promising, data privacy and security issues pose obstacles to adopting such technologies in practice. Trained AI models often keep traces of training data (holds sensitive information), thereby leaking it in case of successful attacks. Considering these issues mentioned earlier, this research aims to develop privacy-preserving edge-cloud-based models while maintaining robust utility and efficiency.
We began this research by designing privacy-preserving data analytical models based on Differential Privacy (DP). DP techniques such as DP-Stochastic Gradient Descent (DP-SGD) provide a robust mechanism to protect individual privacy during the training phase of AI models. The main challenge is the effect of DP noise on the model utility, especially when fine-tuning the deep models compared to the shallow models. In addition, we proposed two other distributed privacy-preserving models tailored to a specific model architecture under DP privacy constraints. We leveraged the service model concept to decompose the big task into several sub-tasks and abstract them as a service to ensure flexibility in the system design. In this context, intelligent analytical services can be divided into small services (microservices) and deployed at the edge server to decrease bandwidth usage and latency.
In the next stage, we adopted hybrid approaches that combined multiple techniques to strengthen privacy by adding multiple layers of protection. In the first proposed Federated Deep Learning (FDL) framework, we leveraged the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) technique to augment medical image data and ensure some privacy. We utilised proxy-server and Homomorphic Encryption (HE) powered model parameter encryption to introduce an extra layer of privacy and ensure the anonymity of participants in FDL. In the second proposed framework, we developed a privacy-preserving face recognition (FR) system by utilising the security features provided by Intel SGX (Software Guard Extensions) technology. First, we utilised a pre-trained Deep learning (DL) model to extract embedding vectors for facial image data. Then, we reduced their dimensions using the principal component analysis (PCA) to ensure some privacy and speed up the computational efficiency of the subsequent analyses. Further, we leveraged Intel SGX to achieve secure distributed training of the extreme learning machine (ELM) model based on the interaction between edge and cloud to reduce computation overhead associated with a centralised approach.
By the end of this research, we focused on integrity to enhance the trustworthiness of the proposed framework through blockchain for better security besides considering privacy. In this respect, we introduced two frameworks. The first framework utilised stacked ensemble learning to train heterogeneous AI models, thus enhancing final detection model performance. Moreover, the integrity of some data exchanges within the framework is maintained using blockchain, while microservices add flexibility to the framework's design. In the second one, we introduced a privacy-preserving network threat detection framework within edge intelligence orchestrated by blockchain technology to address the privacy and security issues of industrial IoT networks. This framework focuses on detecting network attacks while preserving data privacy. We employed the deep autoencoder (DAE) model to mitigate the risk of privacy inference attacks by transforming the network data into a new format. This transformed data was leveraged later to train the machine learning (ML) model in a distributed manner to develop the intrusion detection model.
The proposed frameworks have been evaluated on public benchmark datasets to assess their effectiveness compared to related studies.</p
Multi-Objective Optimization of the Surface Grinding Process for Heat-Treated Steel
No full textThis paper effectively integrates Taguchi, Response Surface Methodology (RSM), and Genetic Algorithm (GA) approaches for both single and multi-objective optimization, delivering low-cost, high-effectiveness solutions for grinding. It examines the effects of three factors—depth of cut in coarse grinding, depth of cut in fine grinding, and the number of spark-outs—on three objectives: surface roughness, grinding time, and the deviation between the desired and actual grinding depth for SKD61 steel. Through in-depth analysis, the paper describes the impact of these factors and their interactions with the responses. It also proposes the optimal parameter setup for each objective. The optimal grinding time is achieved at 950 seconds with a coarse grinding depth of 0.007 mm, fine grinding depth of 0.004 mm, and zero spark-out. The minimal deviation and surface roughness were obtained at 0 mm and 0.144 µm, respectively, using the optimal setup of a coarse grinding depth of 0.004 mm, fine grinding depth of 0.001 mm, and 10 spark-outs. By applying GA, the paper provides a Pareto solution set, offering multiple combinations of optimal factors for minimizing grinding time, deviation, and surface roughness. These solutions serve as useful references for users seeking the best trade-offs in multi-objective scenarios. This paper contributes to improving customer satisfaction by enhancing the quality and efficiency of the machining process while reducing production costs for grinding machines. Its methodology can also be applied to other optimization fields.</p
Sizing up new housing in Victoria: An interdisciplinary perspective on housing sufficiency - Conference Presentation
No full textConference presentation. Abstract: This study seeks to stimulate discussion on metrics for evaluating housing sufficiency. As sufficiency aims to minimise energy and material demand while ensuring essential living standards, achieving Australia’s housing targets will necessitate balancing space allowances and social objectives. However, sufficiency has thus far received scant attention in housing policies, and there is limited understanding of how homes in Victoria adhere to sufficiency principles and how these are influenced by socioeconomic factors. The study examined the relationship between space allowances (m²/person) and social status. FirstRate5 certificate data for 334,077 houses/townhouses and 65,779 apartments across Victoria, Australia, were compared with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Index of Economic Resources and Social (Dis)advantage’s decile rankings at the postcode level. The results showed that social status was positively associated with space allowance in both types of dwellings. Kitchens, total living areas, and floor space for ensuite bathrooms or walk-in wardrobes were considerably larger in houses than in apartments or those considered in social housing design guidelines. Generally, space allowances in new Victorian homes were relatively generous and may be seen as excessive or unfair. Given the variety of construction materials, there is a need for new housing indicators that incorporate environmental and social metrics.</p