Search results

Recent trends have seen an upward surge in the number of foreign students coming to study in Australia but most of them have chosen to stay in metropolitan cities. Recognising that foreign students studying in regional Australia are making a significant contribution to regional development, regional universities have put in plans to compete with their metropolitan counterparts for these students. The purpose of this paper is to investigate variables related to issues in quality of research, quality of teaching, life style, local cultures, spending patterns, student background, infrastructures etc in order to find out what factors determine the attractiveness for foreign students to come to study in a regional area, in particular to La Trobe University, Bendigo campus.

A survey that forms the backbone of the study was administered to all foreign students, who study in Bendigo, in order to answer this research question.

Based on the findings from the survey, it was found that regional universities have advantages over their metropolitan counterparts in costs, safety and environment etc.

A direct economic benefit of over one million dollars was realised by the city of Bendigo but there was potential to increase to three million dollars. Some recommendations were also provided for future development policy useful for the University, the governments, and regional centres’ economy.

Although educational export has become a vital part of the Australian economy, very few studies, if any, have examined the magnitude of the economic impacts that have been brought about by international students to regional Australia. To sustain the healthy economic growth of regional centres in Australia, a significant number of international students must be maintained so as to bring the wealth that is becoming so indispensable in order to maintain such sustainable growth. The international students will also bring with them the cultural diversity that otherwise is lacking in regional cities compared to other major cities in Australia. This study seeks to address and quantify the degree and extent of the economic impacts to Bendigo, an important regional city in Victoria. Factors that influence the decisions before the international students actually come to Australia are also examined together with what cultural activities they get involved in when they are here. The findings can provide measurable outputs for decision makers to direct necessary resources appropriately in order to sustain the growth of this industry and to develop strategies to address some problems related to the continuing growth of this industry.

The aim is to investigate and group the strategic motives that firms engage in cooperative R&D by exploring a new method.

Four theories are adopted to explain the motives and they are cited as the base to categorize the motives into four factors. A survey questionnaire of participants in the aluminum industry is used to examine the empirical prevalence and clustering of these different categories of strategic motives. Factor analysis is used to test this measurement modeling.

The results of the confirmatory factor analysis support this grouping of strategic motives as reliable and valid method. Research limitations/implications – The techniques used in this study when applied to group other motives or other similar issues could produce useful information in business and management research. Moreover, the theories employed in this research can help in hypothesis development and the relationship test between the factors and the formation of R&D alliances.

The incentives such as strategic motives and the formation of R&D alliances studied in this paper can be used to investigate how they might be related to the aluminum or any other industry characteristics.

This paper contributes to the modeling of measurement model in management by exploring a new method.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of Cu content and T6 heat treatment on the mechanical properties and the tribological performance of SiCp/Al-Si-Cu-Ni-Mg hybrid composites at an elevated temperature.

The stir casting method was used to synthesize SiCp/Al-12Si-xCu-1Ni-1Mg (x = 2, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5 Wt.%) composites containing 20 vol% SiC. The hardness and tensile strength of the aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) at room temperature and elevated temperature were studied, and the wear mechanism was investigated using scanning electron microscopic and energy dispersive spectroscopy.

Results indicate that the hardness and tensile strength of the AMCs are affected significantly by T6 heat treatment and Cu content. The high-temperature friction and wear mechanism of AMCs is the composite wear mechanism of oxidation wear, adhesion wear, abrasive wear, peeling wear, high-temperature softening and partial melting. Among them, adhesion wear, high-temperature matrix softening and local melting are the main wear mechanisms.

The influence mechanism of Cu content on the hardness, tensile strength and high temperature resistance of AMCs was explained by microstructure. And the results further help to explore the application of AMCs in high temperature.

The practice of renovation and construction of university libraries is flourishing, but how to attract readers to use the library is an issue that urgently needs to be explored. Spatial cognition is a subjective judgment of a person's tendency to take action in the future and implies behavioral intention. Based on the sensory–image–cognition relationship, a theoretical model of university library readers' spatial cognition is conducted, and the influencing factors and mechanisms of spatial cognition are explored based on empirical data to provide theoretical references for spatial practices in university libraries.

A visual and art-based mental map approach is introduced based on a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire is mainly used for the specific evaluation of spatial use and the breakdown of the detailed elements, while the mental map method is mainly used for the evaluation of readers' spatial cognition. Relevant empirical data are collected from the library of the Zhejiang University of Technology.

The results indicate that readers' spatial sensory experience and mental imagery have positive effects on readers' behavior via the mediator spatial cognition, readers' spatial sensory experience and mental imagery have a positive effect on readers' spatial cognition and spatial cognition has a significant effect on readers' behavior.

The main contribution of this study is to construct a theoretical model of readers' spatial cognition and to explore the factors that have an impact on spatial cognition and the influence of cognition on behavior. This provides a more rational and in-depth thinking paradigm for the study of university library space and provides theoretical references for library practice.

Cemented conglomerate accumulation is a weak and heterogeneous medium that occurs in western China. It consists mainly of argillaceous cement that loses strength rapidly upon contact with water, leading to collapse instability failure. Its deformation failure mechanism is complex and poorly understood. In this paper, the erosion failure mechanism of cemented conglomerate accumulation is investigated.

The collapse failure process after erosion of the slope foot for typical cemented conglomerate accumulation is studied based on field investigation using the particle discrete element method. And how the medium composition, slope angle and cementation degree influence the failure mode and process of the cemented conglomerate accumulation is examined.

The foot erosion of slope induces a tensile failure that typically manifests as “erosion at the foot of slope – tensile cracking at the back edge of slope top – integral collapse.” The collapse failure is more likely to occur when the cemented conglomerate accumulation has a higher rock content, a steeper slope angle or a weaker cementation degree.

A model based on rigid blocks and disk particles to simulate the cemented conglomerate accumulation is developed. It shows that the hydraulic erosion at the foot of the slope resulted in a different failure mechanism than that of general slopes. The results can inform the stability management, disaster prevention and mitigation of similar slopes.

This paper aims to introduce the history and major achievement of the Chinese private enterprise survey (CPES), which is one of the most enduring large-scale nationwide sample surveys in China, providing important micro firm-level data for understanding and studying the development of Chinese enterprises and entrepreneurs over the past 26 years.

The main body of this paper is based on a bibliometric analysis of all literature using CPES until 2017.

This paper discusses problems that users may encounter during data mining. By doing so, it can assist other researchers to get a better understanding of what has been done (e.g. journals, topics, scholars and institutions) and do their research in a more targeted way.

As members of the survey project team, the authors also take a prospect of the future data design and use, as well as offer some suggestions about how to use the CPES data to improve high-quality development and business environment evaluation in China.

This paper is the first to provide an overall picture of academic papers in China and abroad that have used the CPES data.

This paper describes the organic geochemical characteristics and their roles on barium enrichment in the No. 2 Coal from Huanglong Jurassic Coalfield, China. A total of 18 bench samples were taken from Huangling Mine 2. The average content of barium (3701 mg/kg) was about 23 times higher than that of common world coals. Terrestrial higher plants were the main coal-forming parent material. Relying on the parameters of OEP, Pr/Ph and so on, there is little correlation between organic geochemical characteristics and barium enrichment. Therefore, organic material has little influence on the process of coal-forming and the enrichment of barium.

This study aims to optimize the preparation conditions and modify the nanofiltration (NF) membranes to prepare high-performance polysulfone/sulfonated polysulfone composite nanofiltration (PSF/SPSF-NF) membranes through interfacial polymerization.

Investigating the impacts of anhydrous piperazine (PIP) concentration, trimesoyl chloride (TMC) concentration and basement membrane type on NF membrane performance, the optimal membrane was prepared. In addition, nano-SiO₂ was added to the active separation layer to modify the NF membranes.

The comprehensive performance of PSF/SPSF-NF membranes was optimized when the concentration of PIP was 0.75 Wt.% and the concentration of TMC was 0.15 Wt.%, at which time the water flux was 66.1 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹ and the retention rate of Na₂SO₄ was 98.1%. The comprehensive performance of polysulfone/sulfonated polysulfone-SiO₂ nanofiltration (PSF/SPSF-SiO₂-NF) membranes was optimized when the blending ratio of nano-SiO₂ to PIP was 2:3, with a pure water flux of 81.9 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹ and a Na₂SO₄ retention rate of 95.9%. Compared to polysulfone nanofiltration (PSF-NF) membranes and PSF/SPSF-NF membranes, NF membranes with nano-SiO₂ increased the flux recovery rate by 22.9% and 8.7%.

PSF/SPSF-SiO2-NF membrane exhibits excellent antifouling properties.

There is currently no literature available on the preparation of NF membranes using polysulfone/sulfonated polysulfone (PSF/SPFS) as a substrate. This provides a method for modifying NF membranes, starting with the modification of the basement membrane and then modifying the active separation layer.