Understanding community receptivity to water re-use: Ku-ring-gai Council case study.

This social research project investigated community receptivity to using rainwater and greywater as alternative domestic water sources. It was focused in the Ku-ring-gai local government area in northern Sydney, and involved a household questionnaire followed by community leader interviews and resident focus groups. Trends, such as a prolonged drought and increasing population, compound the current crisis and concern facing Sydney's available water supply. Substitution of domestic potable water has been promoted as part of the solution. The research results revealed that community receptivity was highest for external uses, such as watering gardens and flushing toilets, and progressively decreased with increasing personal contact. Receptivity to greywater reuse fell more rapidly with the community believing there was a higher health risk associated with its use. Gender and cultural background were revealed as significant variables and give insight into the design of strategies to target these demographic groups. This evidence provides a reliable stocktake of current receptivity revealing that the community has good awareness and positive association with water reuse for many household activities. This now needs to be harnessed through programs targeted at developing skills, resources and motivation for new water reuse practices and technologies across diverse social groupings.     

Stickiness, Functionality, and Microstructure of Food Powders

Three major aspects of food powder are described and discussed. Stickiness is one issue that can cause production and product handling difficulties. Stickiness has been interpreted in a number of ways and thus measured differently. Functionality of the primary (single) particles or agglomerated powders is of practical interest to the consumers. The desired quality will have to be matched or exceeded by the powder manufacturers. Finally, microstructure provides a key linkage between the production and the functionality. Its formation has impacts on both the stickiness and functionality.     

Surface structure of spherical gamma-alumina

Smoke produced by arcing of two aluminium rods in air is found to be composed of gamma-alumina spheres with a size range of 6 to 500 nm. While most particles are solid, single crystals with many exhibiting complicated stacking faulting and twinning, some are hollow. In appropriately clean conditions the surface is observed to be complicated, with the steps in some areas being directly related to the alumina lattice. Heating in air at 1150° C for 48 h transforms the sphere morphology of gamma to plate-and-block type alpha-alumina. Direct evidence of surface diffusion during this transformation is observed.     

Regeneration studies on nickel molybdate catalysts used for the upgrading of coal-derived liquids

Nickel molybdate catalysts used in several different upgrading reactions of coal-derived materials from low-rank Australian coals have been regenerated and their activity assessed using a number of physical and chemical techniques. Regeneration of spent coked catalysts for 20 hours in air at 450°C was sufficient to restore chemical hydrogenation activity to catalyst used for pre-asphaltene, asphaltene and oil upgrading, provided poisoning of the catalyst surface by other impurities, principally chlorine-containing molecules, had not occurred.     

Laser turn-on delay and chirp noise effects in Gb/sintensity-modulated direct-detection systems

This paper describes a new IM/DD optical transmission system simulation which incorporates the impact of laser diode stochastic turn-on effects on system performance. Using this simulation, experimentally observed error rate floors, due to inappropriate laser diode biasing, can be theoretically modelled and predicted, for the first time     

Repair evaluation of concrete cracks using surface and through-transmission wave measurements

Surface opening cracks are common defects in large civil structures like bridges. They allow penetration of water or other agents that result in loss of durability earlier than expected. Their repair can be conducted by the injection of epoxy material that seals the crack sides keeping out any aggressive substances in addition to the recovery of strength. In order to evaluate crack parameters before impregnation as well as to determine the final repair effectiveness, a combination of Rayleigh and longitudinal waves is applied. Rayleigh waves demonstrate the filling condition of the material into the shallow layer near the surface while tomography using longitudinal waves through the thickness yields information about the area inside the structure. Wave propagation dispersion features are exploited by the proposed tomography at different frequencies, demonstrating that higher frequencies lead to more accurate characterization.     

Service quality and ERP implementation: A conceptual and empirical study of semiconductor-related industries in Taiwan

This paper examines the effectiveness of the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in improving service quality in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry by assessing the expectations and the perceptions of service quality from the perspectives of both upstream manufacturers and downstream customers. The study first establishes a modified service quality gap model incorporating: (i) the downstream customers’ expectations and perceptions, and (ii) the upstream manufacturers’ perceptions of the customers’ expectations and perceptions. An empirical study by questionnaire survey is then undertaken to investigate the gaps proposed in the research model. The results show that service quality gaps do exist in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry between upstream manufacturers that are implementing ERP and their downstream customers. The study shows that the proposed model provides valuable guidance to manufacturers with respect to the prevention, detection, and elimination of the demonstrated service quality gaps. The model thus helps manufacturers to evaluate the contribution of various ERP modules to improved customer satisfaction with service quality and also provides guidance on improvement strategies to enhance service quality by eliminating quality gaps.     

An oxygen sensor based on the semiconducting properties of (U0.3Y0.7)O2−x

Urania-yttria fluorite solid solutions with a U/Y ratio below 0.33/0.67 and having n-type conductivity are suggested as oxygen sensing materials. The electrical properties of one composition, (U_0.3Y_0.7)O_2–x , have been studied in detail. The resistance of this composition follows a (pO₂) ⁿ relationship over an oxygen concentration range of 0.1 to 100% and shows long-term stability. The value ofn decreases with increase in temperature (0.23 at 400° to 0.15 at 800°C), but is reproducible for a large number of specimens. A method for determining oxygen partial pressure in hot gases using these urania-yttria solid solutions as the sensing material is described.     

The formation of β′-sialon from a montmorillonite-polyacrylonitrile composite by carbothermal reduction: an NMR,TGA, XRD and EM study

The products of carbothermal reduction in N₂ of a nanocomposite between dodecylammonium-exchanged montmorillonite and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) have been studied by solid-state ²⁷Al and ²⁹SiNMR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and thermogravimetry. Comparison with analogous reactions involving sodium-exchanged montmorillonite and dodecylammonium-exchanged montmorillonite (without PAN) shows that in the presence of PAN, the formation of silica, cordierite or mullite is almost completely suppressed. The only crystalline phase detected between 1000 and 1300 °C was a -sialon, having a much higher SiAl ratio (7.051) than that of the precursor clay (2.441). Reduction of the octahedral AlO₆ begins near 1200 °C, forming increasing amounts of Al(N,O)₄ tetrahedra with temperature, so that by 1600 °C, complete reduction to AlN₄ (i.e. bulk AlN) has occurred. In contrast, reduction of the tetrahedral SiO₄ is appreciable at 1100 °C, and is almost complete (SiN₄ tetrahedra only) by 1200 °C. No intermediate Si(N,0)₄ environments are found. By 1600 °C, only the SiC₄ environment (i.e. bulk SiC) remains. A mechanism is suggested, involving the formation of alternating slabs of an amorphous aluminosilicate and carbon at 1000 °C, followed by diffusion of silicon from the outer regions of the aluminosilicate band towards the centre, and sequential reduction of Si(OSi)₄ and Si(OSi)₃ (OAl) groups.