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Optimizing Process Parameters for Surface Grinding of Heated-Treated Steel: A Combination Approach Utilizing Response Surface Methodology and Taguchi Method
No full textThis paper aims to optimize the grinding parameters of a surface grinding machine through the combined application of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and Taguchi Design. The research investigates the impact of input factors, including the depth of cut in coarse grinding, depth of cut in fine grinding, and number of spark-out, on the quality of heat-treated steel specimens. The selected objective for this study is surface roughness (Ra) minimization. To streamline the experiment process and minimize time requirements, the Taguchi approach was adopted, utilizing an L9 orthogonal array in conjunction with the application of a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. The obtained experimental data is further analyzed using statistical techniques and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to formulate a generalized model equation for this research. The experimental results conclusively demonstrate that the proposed approach can optimize the grinding parameters of the surface grinder, leading to enhanced quality and efficiency of the grinding process with low cost and fewer experiments. The research can be an effective and practical reference for potential research directions and future applications
Wearing fashion images: reimagining fashion images through material and participatory fashion practices
No full textWearing Fashion-Images investigates how material and participatory fashion practices, involving garments and wearers, can critique and expand the narrow frame of representation typically promoted by visual fashion-images. The research proposes that while the fashion industry predominantly employs visual fashion-images to market fashion-products to wearers – idealising, automating, and commodifying how they see themselves – that material and participatory fashion practices can be activated by wearers to reimagine these images for themselves.
These ideas are explored across a series of practice-based projects that iteratively combine visual, material, and participatory image-making methods, including photography, digital manipulation, printmaking, scanning, pattern-cutting, machine-sewing, collage, décollage, and wearing. These outcomes – which include both fashion-images and image-making apparatuses – are likewise critically interpreted through visual, material, and participatory theories including Vilém Flusser’s critical photographic theory, Barthesian semiotics, and practice-based research in which clothes are positioned as tools.
The outcomes of the study contribute to fashion-practice by demonstrating that: i) that garments function representationally as material fashion-images, ii) that garments can be activated as participatory image-making apparatuses, and iii) that wearing is an accessible image-making practice with which wearers can fashion their own representations.</p
Life-Cycle Sustainability Analysis of Construction and Demolition Wood Waste to Achieve Circular Economy
No full textA substantial amount of construction and demolition wood waste (CDWW) is generated during construction, renovation, and demolition. This wood waste contains untreated, treated, or engineered wood products and other contaminants from the construction and demolition waste stream, which is exceedingly difficult to repurpose. Around 20-30% of wood waste is generated during residential construction, and this amount of wood waste is mainly landfilled, contributing to severe environmental effects.
In Australia, around 2.3 million tons of wood waste is generated annually, and the construction and demolition sector are the second largest contributor. This wastage can be utilised to produce value-added products, which will help reduce the pressure on virgin material and divert the waste from landfill disposal. Therefore, the reduction, reuse, and recycling of CDWW and promoting of a circular economy (CE) are urgent needs as they comprise waste minimisation and efficient recovery of resources for sustainable development.
Although much research is found in the literature on CDWW end-of-life (EOL) management, most studies focus on an environmental viewpoint that ignores the social and economic aspects of the CDWW recycling processes, and research on CE implementation considering each life-cycle stage of CDWW is still scarce. Thus, this study aims to identify the best EOL for CDWW to implement CE and how to improve the recovery rate and waste management performance for CDWW in the Australian context. This research also explored the life-cycle stages of CDWW to achieve sustainable development by investigating the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the CDWW recycling process. The core contribution of this study is providing a life-cycle sustainability assessment model incorporating environmental, economic, and social assessments for CDWW end-of-life management.
An extensive literature review was first conducted, where we endeavoured to integrate CE in CDWW to identify the waste management strategies involved in the life-cycle phases of CDWW. After that, a questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the waste management practices of wood waste in the Australian context and to compare the amount and sources of timber waste, current practices to minimise timber waste, and reusing or repurposing timber waste, obtained from the viewpoints of residential builders.
Afterwards, a semi-structured interview was conducted with stakeholders involved in waste management to identify industry experts' perceptions of waste minimisation and collect environmental, economic, and social life-cycle assessment data. A total of 106 survey responses and 230 interviews were conducted for data collection. Again, 15 residential constructions were considered for a case study, from which waste generation data was collected. This study also developed a novel environment impact assessment model, economic assessment model, and social impact assessment model for CDWW in light of the CE value retention process model. The developed models are implemented through a case study, where five EOL scenarios were analysed, such as two engineered products (particleboard, glulam) and three non-engineered products (garden mulch, incineration, landfill disposal), considering mixed and separate bin collection methods. The multi-criteria decision-making technique is used in this study to integrate the environmental, economic, and social impacts of CDWW recycling for life-cycle sustainability assessment.
The literature review revealed that CE for CDWW is essential and has more significant growth potential. The questionnaire survey results highlighted that the volume builders' (builds 51-100 or more houses/annum) timber waste management practices are more environment-friendly than medium (builds11-50 houses/annum) and small builders (1-10 houses/annum), and that small builders generate at least three times more waste than volume and medium builders. It has also been revealed that timber flooring construction is responsible for significant timber waste (18% of total timber flooring). In contrast, timber roof produces 2-3 % wastage (if prefabricated) and 10% wastage for wall framing. The interview results disclosed that the designers are the first contributors to waste minimisation if they use building information modelling in the pre-construction stage. It has also been revealed that subjective attitudes and personal reluctance to exercise waste mitigation strategies are key barriers to industry practices.
The developed environmental, economic, and social impact assessment models can identify the environmental, economic, and social hotspots for CDWW EOL scenarios. The environmental impact assessment results revealed that material recovery is preferred over energy recovery for wood waste to promote CE. Suppose timber is collected in a separate bin during construction. In that case, the wood recovery rate is almost thrice that of a mixed bin collection, and it will significantly reduce landfill disposal by 72%. A separate bin collection method can reduce global warming potential by 169.4 kg CO2 eq (28% reduction/ ton) and 157.9 kg CO2 eq (25% reduction/ton) per ton of particleboard and glulam production compared to the mixed bin method. An 8626 kg of particleboard was produced using the separate bin collection method. In contrast, only 3834 kg of particleboard was obtained from the mixed bin method from 15 residential building constructions' wood waste.
The life-cycle cost analysis revealed that the net profit margin for per ton particleboard production was 46.3%, utilising the separate bin method, which had the highest profit margin compared to other recycling scenarios. The social impact assessment result revealed that the separate bin collection and sorting method improves the social impacts, especially in health safety and security and labour rights sub-categories, by up to 50% compared to the traditional mixed bin collection method. For the integrated assessment, the life-cycle sustainability assessment model is capable of efficient decision-making considering the three pillars of sustainability.
The study's outcome provides a scientific background for wood waste EOL management to implement a CE. The developed model in this study contributes to boosting the CE and sustainability for utilising wood waste generated from residential construction. The study demonstrates enhanced knowledge and understanding of timber waste management practices, strategies, solutions, and life-cycle sustainability assessment for residential construction. Developing a framework based on life-cycle sustainability assessment incorporating environmental, economic, and social studies will help improve the recycling process's material recovery and energy consumption rates. The developed models in this study can be utilised in other waste management scenarios in further research.</p
Plain English and Multilingual Government Communication
No full textThis report explains why translating and interpreting have been included as core considerations in the Plain English Policy of the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care (Health). Typically, translating and interpreting do not appear in such policies, and the idea that plain English supports goals of multilingualism and multiculturalism is a relatively new justification for its advocacy. Therefore, this report first summarises existing scholarship, which provides a theoretical basis for connecting plain English with translation and interpreting. Second, it presents firsthand data collected on this link in Australia in 2023. Researchers surveyed non-English speakers to evaluate their views of documents translated from plain English government communications into various languages, compared to documents not drafted according to these principles. Overall, the report suggests that strong empirical and theoretical foundations support the idea that translating and interpreting are fundamentally enhanced by plain English principles. Health’s policy, which incorporates these principles, therefore advances the communication aims of the government, meets the information needs of non-English-speaking Australians, and supports the professionalism of interpreting and translation professions. This report addresses each of these benefits in turn.</p
La Salle des Taureux
No full textResearch Background La Salle des Taureux emerges from Dwyer and Yore's 2023 Glasshouse/Stonehouse residency in Chenaud, France, where they studied the Lascaux cave replicas and their reproductive logic. This collaborative installation responds to the Paleolithic painted caves, which were closed in 1955 due to visitor damage and subsequently replicated multiple times to satisfy public demand for embodied encounters with mysterious ancient imagery. The work combines wall painting, sculptural installation, sound, and performance remnants to create a queer, pop-shamanic pilgrimage site that explores how significant images, symbols, and practices transform through ritual re-making across vast temporal spans. Research Contribution This collaboration advances understanding of how iconic forms and ritualized bodily experiences evolve through repetition and appropriation. Dwyer's occult-inflected mysticism intersects with Yore's Catholic-kitsch sensibility and Warholian grasp of ritual reproduction, creating new methodologies for engaging with deep cultural history. The work reimagines Lascaux's enigmatic "shaft scene"—depicting a bird-human figure with prominent erection—alongside references to shamanic practices, queer activism (ACT UP's pink triangle), and folk-religious traditions (fèves from King Cake). By tracing the bull's metamorphosis into abstract symbols and letter forms (aleph to the letter A), the installation demonstrates how sacred images continuously transform while retaining vital significance, proposing that contemporary popular culture participates in ancient mystical practices whether consciously acknowledged or not. Research Significance La Salle des Taureux offers critical insights into how art spaces might facilitate transcendent experience in an era of polite, distanced observation. The work addresses tensions between intense shamanic practices—originally created in altered states within claustrophobic, low-oxygen, psychoactive environments—and contemporary white cube aesthetics. This research questions whether the continuous churn of cultural repetition and metamorphosis can sustain genuine spiritual engagement through material and visual culture, revealing how the deep past echoes through present-day forms of consumption, devotion, and embodied performance.</p
Unravelling Copyright Dilemma of AI-Generated News and Its Implications for the Institution of Journalism: The Cases of US, EU, and China
No full textThis study adopts a multiple-case study design to address ‘Does copyright law protect automated news, and if so, how’ in three jurisdictions: the United States, the European Union and China. Through doctrinal legal analysis of the copyright laws and document analysis of policy reports, corporate responses and other empirical evidence, this study has found that the three copyright regimes differ substantively with regard to both formal texts and informal enforcement of copyright claims to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated news. In the United States, there has been a policy silence. In the European Union (EU), eager regulators have rushed to enact premature laws and failed policy patchwork. In China, the state is instrumentalising both laws and journalism to further its own interests. These findings suggest that current regulatory frameworks in all cases have led to a weakening of the institution of copyright, which, in turn, has contributed to the deinstitutionalisation of journalism and the institutionalisation of algorithms.</p
The Role of School Career Development Practitioners in Advocating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Careers Through Vocational Education and Training
No full textAustralian government labour market information and the empirical literature indicate a growing number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) roles require future employees. Of these STEM careers, many are pursued through obtaining qualifications in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector. Barriers faced by people pursuing STEM careers, including those from diverse backgrounds, are prevalent in the literature. As there has been an identified need for more students to pursue STEM careers, and maintain their STEM career post-education, the role of the school career development practitioner (SCDP) is vital in ensuring that students are well-prepared for undertaking STEM careers. The researcher explored what specific duties are involved in the SCDP role, when providing this career guidance, and the challenges faced by the SCDP. Career adaptability of the SCDPs was investigated, which is one psychosocial construct that affects the provision of career guidance. The researcher also investigated the sociocultural influences impacting the career adaptability of SCDPs. These sociocultural influences provided a current perspective to determine how SCDPs contribute to the career guidance provision of STEM careers. The researcher investigated the kinds of capabilities associated with career adaptability that are required to support students. This approach adopted to frame the analysis is Career Construction Theory, with an exploration into how SCDPs construct their understanding of their roles as practitioners, and guide their students’ decision making. Career construction theory has been drawn upon to investigate the micro and macro factors impacting on the resources available to SCDPs to perform their duties. In order to support school students when pursuing VET STEM careers, and in order to reduce attrition and to increase retention in STEM careers (Lexis, et al., 2021), I investigated the ways in which SCDPs adapt to challenges in the role. Support mechanisms to overcome these challenges were also investigated. Career adaptability is the mechanism investigated. A convergent parallel mixed methods research design was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data from the research participants aiming to investigate the SCDP’s career adaptability. Of the Australian SCDP population (N≅ 5,000), SCDPs were invited (n≅ 1,000) to participate in a survey (n=177), and interview (n=9) to determine how their career adaptability influences their career guidance. The SCDPs completed a career assessment instrument and survey, which were analysed to determine their career adaptability. An exploratory factor analysis was completed to determine which factors were the most influential on the SCDPs’ career adaptability. Reliability tests were also conducted, with a MANOVA statistical test used to investigate statistically significant differences in the SCDPs’ resultant career adaptability factors. Descriptive statistics were also used to analyse the data sample. The qualitative data was analysed thematically, identifying both the psychosocial and sociocultural influences on the SCDPs’ career adaptability. The findings from the present study offer theoretical and practical implications, recommending strategies to enhance SCDPs’ roles in supporting students pursuing STEM careers through a VET pathway. The findings indicate that the SCDPs’ career adaptability significantly affects their ability to provide career guidance, thereby helping to build a future balanced STEM workforce in Australia.</p
Anthophilia
No full textBackgroundAnthophilia is a four-screen video installation written, directed, and produced by the lead researcher. While nature documentaries have explored bee behavior in general contexts (Dohrn, 2021; Nelson, 2020), few large-scale video installations have investigated the science of bees through representations of their perceptual experience. This research addresses the question: Can a physically immersive, multiscreen video installation serve as an effective medium for engaging audiences with the science of bees and their ecological significance?ContributionAnthophilia presents scientifically accurate representations of bee vision within a four-screen video installation, designed to engage and educate museum visitors. The work investigates more-than-human perception, plant-pollinator relationships, and environmental consciousness through interdisciplinary collaboration between filmmaker-artists and animal scientists. Our team explored how principles of bee perception and flower pollination could be effectively communicated through large-scale video installation in museum contexts. The video materials, including 3D flower models, are grounded in scientific data collected from two field sites in Victoria, Australia.SignificanceAnthophilia represents a rare instance of scientifically accurate bee vision rendering within an immersive video art installation accessible to general museum audiences. The project was commissioned by Buttress Studios ($15K) for the major exhibition 'Bees: A Story of Survival' at the World Museum, UK (National Museums Liverpool), running from 4 May 2024 to 28 September 2025. Anthophilia will tour internationally with the exhibition to museums in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand through 2027.</p
A Review of Training Procedures for Simulated Engine Failure after Take-Off Exercises with Twin-Engine Aircraft under 5700 ft
No full textEngine failure after take-off (or one engine being inoperative) is an exercise conducted as part of multi-engine flight training and on-going competency checking. To prepare pilots to manage a real in-flight emergency, this exercise has traditionally been conducted immediately after take-off. This has led to increased risks of fatal accidents due to the reduced height at which these exercises are typically conducted. Yet, there is variation in the heights stipulated in training procedures published by different stakeholders worldwide. Additionally, the conduct of the exercise has resulted in fatal accidents worldwide. This paper aims to review the previous literature on aviation training and aviation occurrence data to determine what empirical data exists to support the method of conducting simulated engine failures. Peer-reviewed academic publications on aviation training, aviation occurrence databases such as aviation investigation reports, and guidance materials published by aviation authorities on simulated training exercises will be included in this paper. It was found that the previous research on these exercises has focused on the transfer of motion cues or pilot responses to abnormal situations, but did not include specific data comparing pilot performance at different heights above ground level. A review of aviation occurrences found that actual engine failures occurred at higher heights that those used in simulated engine failures. A comparison of the guidance published by aviation authorities identified variations in the minimum altitude published and differing justifications for the minimum height chosen. Future research is needed to compare pilot performance during simulated engine failures to determine the ideal height to conduct the exercise to be representative of an actual engine failure while maintaining safety margins.</p
Exploring the interwoven relationship: Property rights, financial freedom, government regulation, and stock market fluctuations in emerging economies - A novel system GMM perspective
No full textThis study delves into the impact of formal institutions on stock market volatility within a selection of emerging economies. Specifically, it examines the role that formal institutions play in shaping this volatility. To accomplish our goal, we analyze panel data from 46 emerging nations spanning the years 2000-2019, utilizing system generalized method of moments (GMM), as well as random and fixed effect models for our estimations. The findings of this research validate the existence of a significant association between formal institutions and stock market volatility. Likewise, through dynamic panel estimation, we discover that formal institutions such as property rights, financial freedom, and government regulations have a notable negative effect on stock market volatility. Consequently, this study implies that formal institutions play a crucial role in reducing stock market volatility in emerging economies, fostering their development. The insights gained from this research encourage policymakers to view formal institutions as key influencers of stock market volatility. These results offer valuable guidance for emerging nations.</p