Regional Planning and Economic Development in the South West Region,Western Australia

Abstract

The paper examines the influence of a regional planning and development authority (the South West Development Authority) on economic growth in the South West Region of Western Australia. Employment and population changes are analysed along sectoral and spatial criteria. The findings show that between 1983 and 1989, the Authority's influence on the creation of employment opportunities was limited, being confined mostly to some gains in the public sector and to the promotion of the region and the city of Bunbury as tourist destinations. This ineffectiveness is associated with a lack of power to attract private and direct public investment to the region.     

Microstructure Evolution as an Effect of Strain Reversal During the Hot Deformation of Microalloyed Steels

Susceptibility of the steel for further cold processing strongly depends on the whole prior history of deformation in the hot working regime.In the industrial hot working processes,e.g.at the roughing stage of hot rolling,or forging,material undergoes complex deformation modes that leads to gradients of both microstructure and properties across the deformed cross-section.Torsion and multiaxial compression tests with different amounts of strain reversals were conducted at elevated temperatures to study the effect of applied strain path on the phenomena occurring during microstructure evolution of Nb-microalloyed steels.Gathered results will provide data for the modification of existing constitutive equations that mostly do not account for the strain path changes.Better through-process modelling will then enable to achieve better properties and quality of the products for further cold processing.     

Synthesis and characterization of {Fe2CuO} clusters as precursors for nanosized catalytic system for Biginelli reaction

The novel μ₃-oxo-bridged heterotrinuclear iron(III)-copper(II) trichloroacetates of the composition [Fe₂CuO(CCl₃COO)₆(THF)₃] (1a) and [Fe₂CuO(CCl₃COO)₆(4-DMAP)₃] (1b) have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography, IR and Mossbauer spectroscopy. These clusters were used as precursors for the synthesis of the nanosized catalytic system (～5–6 nm of γ-Fe₂O₃/CuO), which works as an efficient organic phase catalyst (～0.02 mol%) in a one-pot three component Biginelli synthesis.     

The influence of membrane CO2 separation on the efficiency of a coal-fired power plant

In this paper, the influence of membrane separation of CO₂ from flue gases and the impacts of the whole CCS process (CO₂ separation and compression) on the performance of a coal-fired power plant are studied. First, the effects of the characteristics of the membrane (selectivity and permeability) and the parameters of the process (feed and permeate pressure) on two indices, CO₂ recovery rate and CO₂ purity are analysed. Next, a method for determining the minimum power loss and efficiency loss of the power plant as a function of these calculated indices is described. Then, the power requirements and efficiency loss (up to 15.4 percentage points) because of the CCS installation are calculated. A method for reducing these losses through the integration of the CCS installation with the power plant is also proposed. The main aims of the integration are heat exchange between media and a decrease in the CO₂ temperature before compression. Implementing this process can result in a significant reduction of the efficiency loss by 8 percentage points.     

Interactions of Amyloid-β with Membrane Proteins

In developing and developed countries, an increasing elderly population is observed. This affects the growing percentage of people struggling with neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. Nevertheless, the pathomechanism of this disease is still unknown. This contributes to problems with early diagnosis of the disease as well as with treatment. One of the most popular hypotheses of Alzheimer’s disease is related to the pathological deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) in the brain of ill people. In this paper, we discuss issues related to Aβ and its relationship in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The structure of Aβ and its interaction with the cell membrane are discussed. Not only do the extracellular plaques affect nerve cells, but other forms of this peptide as well.     

Analysis of exoskeleton triglycerides ofLeptinotarsa decemlineata say

The exoskeleton triglyceride fraction isolated from the Colorado beetle,Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, was studied. Analysis of the hydrolysis products and direct capillary column gas chromatography showed that, apart from triglycerides, the fraction contained no diol lipids. The composition of the natural triacylglccerol mixture was assessed by gas chromatography and by field desorption and electron impact mass spectrometry. Triglycerides isolated from the Colorado beetle are typical glycerol triesters, with long chain (mainly oleic or palmitic) fatty acids. The structures of two major components (91%), i.e., trioleoyl glycerol and 1,2-dioleoyl-3-palmitoyl glycerol, were determined.     

Corrosion-passivation processes in a cellular automata based simulation study

A short survey of cellular automata based models for corrosion and passivation phenomena is given. Results of simulations based on the model of spatially separated anodic and cathodic reactions are presented for a cavity development from a point-like damage of a protective layer and from an initially flat unprotected surface. We show some new peculiar examples of the symmetry breaking in the cavity development. The results for the initially flat surface show roughening of the surface at the beginning of the corrosion process. After that, pit merging causes a resmoothing of the surface. An oscillatory behavior of the surface roughness is observed caused by a peninsula formation with subsequent island detachment. These results are obtained in 2D because of computational limitations. We plan simulations in 3D and point out the problems we encounter in their realization.     

Wetting and Interfacial Chemistry of SnZnCu Alloys with Cu and Al Substrates

Wetting of Cu and Al pads by Sn-Zn eutectic-based alloys with 0.5, 1, and 1.5 wt.% of Cu was studied at 250 °C, in the presence of ALU33® flux, with wetting times of 15, 30, 60, and 180 s, respectively. With increasing wetting time the wetting angle decreases only slightly and the angles on Cu pads are higher than those on Al pads. Selected, solidified solder-pad couples were cross-sectioned and subjected to SEM-EDS study of the interfacial microstructure. The results revealed that the microstructure of the SnZnCu/Cu interface is much different from SnZnCu/Al interface. In the first case continuous interlayers are observed while in the latter case there is no interlayer but the alloy dissolves the substrate along grain boundaries.     

Approximation of a multivariable sensor characteristic applied to the carbon monoxide sensor

The transducer applied in sensors and measurement systems often have non-linear characteristics, which may depend on additional factors as temperature, humidity gases flow, etc. Therefore, it is important to find the function describing the dependence between input and output values of a transducer which takes into account all the influencing factors. This paper shows a method which, basing on measured data, allows to establish a multi-variable transducer transfer function.