The benefits and costs of controlling rivers - building dams, controlling floods, extracting water - are constantly contested. Modifying rivers has brought great benefit to communities, fulfilling important community goals - supporting profitable commercial activities and providing a basis for vibrant communities. However modifying rivers has also had negative consequences - in particular, a decline in the quality and quantity of water. These impacts have undermined valued aspects of rivers (such as fish habitat) and have also caused decline in commercial activities (such as fishing and floodplain grazing). This thesis explores the ways that these contending perceptions of modification work out on the ground in rural communities. How are the benefits of modification recognised? How are the negative consequences of modification noticed and measured? Under what conditions are the benefits of modification reassessed? These are important questions in the current moment as our society reassesses the past modification of rivers and attempts to move towards more sustainable use of natural resources. This thesis explores this topic by undertaking in depth case-studies of two distinctive riverine environments: one coastal, the Clarence River in luscious coastal northern New South Wales; and one inland, the Balonne River, at the top of the Murray-Darling Basin, in semi-arid south-west Queensland. The case studies explore responses to modification of the rivers in two periods: the post-war decades - a time of widespread support for modification, and recent decades - a time of widespread recognition of the negative consequences of development. The thesis investigates perceptions of modification at three different scales: (i) groups within localities - the ways that modification is perceived by local groups with contrasting physical and conceptual interactions with the rivers (such as graziers, fishers, irrigators, Aboriginal people, ecologists and engineers); (ii) regional communities - which are constituted by groups with differing interests, and (iii) governments - which have the role of managing the long-term health of the economy and the environment, despite the long-term goals often being contested. This thesis provides insights into the ways that our complex society grapples with the possibility, and effects, of modifying the natural environment. This thesis suggests that local conditions - the actual local physical environment and local social conditions - shape the ways that modification of rivers is supported, challenged and reassessed. However, both local social conditions and the environment are constantly changing, often in surprising ways. Therefore outcomes are always an interaction between different levels of interest groups and the environment itself.

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Engineering. / This research has analysed the economy-wide impacts of carbon tax as a policy option to reduce the rate of growth of carbon-dioxide emissions from the electricity sector in Australia. These impacts are analysed for energy and non energy sectors of the economy. An energy-oriented Input–Output framework, with ‘flexible’ production functions, based on Translog and Cobb-Douglas formulations, is employed for the analysis of various impacts. Further, two alternative conceptions of carbon tax are considered in this research, namely, based on Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) and Shared Responsibility Principle (SRP). In the first instance, the impacts are analysed, for the period 2005–2020, for tax levels of $10 and $20 per tonne of CO2, in a situation of no a-priori limit on CO2 emissions. The analysis shows that CO2 emissions from the electricity sector, when carbon tax is based on PPP, would be 211 and 152 Mt, for tax levels of $10 and $20, respectively (as compared to 250 Mt in the Base Case scenario, that is, the business-as-usual-case). The net economic costs, corresponding with these tax levels, expressed in present value terms, would be $27 and $49 billion, respectively, over the period 2005-2020. These economic costs are equivalent to 0.43 and 0.78 per cent of the estimated GDP of Australia. Further, most of the economic burden, in this instance, would fall on the electricity sector, particularly coal-fired electricity generators – large consumers of direct fossil fuel. On the other hand, in the case of a carbon tax based on SRP, CO2 emissions would be 172 and 116 Mt, for tax levels of $10 and $20, respectively. The corresponding net economic costs would be $47 (0.74 per cent of GDP) and $84 (1.34 per cent of GDP) billion, respectively, with significant burden felt by the commercial sector – large consumers of indirect energy and materials whose production would contribute to CO2 emissions. Next, the impacts are analysed by placing an a-priori limit on CO2 emissions from the electricity sector – equivalent to 108 per cent of the 1990 level (that is, 138 Mt), by the year 2020. Two cases are analysed, namely, early action (carbon tax introduced in 2005) and deferred action (carbon tax introduced in 2010). In the case of early action, the analysis suggests, carbon tax of $25 and $15, based on PPP and SRP, respectively, would be required to achieve the above noted emissions target. The corresponding tax levels in the case of deferred action are $51 and $26, respectively. This research also shows that the net economic costs, in the case of early action, would be $32 billion (for PPP) and $18 billion (for SRP) higher than those in the case of deferred action. However, this research has demonstrated, that this inference is largely due to the selection of particular indicator (that is, present value) and the relatively short time frame (that is, 2005–2020) for analysis. By extending the time frame of the analysis to the year 2040, the case for an early introduction of carbon tax strengthens. Overall, the analysis in this research suggests that an immediate introduction of carbon tax, based on SRP, is the most attractive approach to reduce the rate of growth of CO2 emissions from the electricity sector and to simultaneously meet economic and social objectives. If the decision to introduce such a tax is deferred, it would be rather difficult to achieve not only environmental objectives but economic and social objectives as well.

As information systems become more complex it is infeasible for a non-expert to understand how the information system has evolved. Accurate models of these systems and the changes occurring to them are required for interpreters to understand, reason over, and learn from evolution of these systems. Ontologies purport to model the semantics of the domain encapsulated in the system. Existing approaches to using ontologies do not capture the rationale for change but instead focus on the direct differences between one version of a model and the subsequent version. Some changes to ontologies are caused by a larger context or goal that is temporally separated from each specific change to the ontology. Current approaches to supporting change in ontologies are insufficient for reasoning over changes and allow changes that lead to inconsistent ontologies. / In this thesis we examine the existing approaches and their limitations and present a four-level classification system for models representing change. We address the shortcomings in current techniques by introducing a new approach, augmenting ontologies with operations for capturing and representing change. In this approach changes are represented as a series of connected, related and non-sequential smaller changes. The new approach improves on existing approaches by capturing root causes of change, by representing causal relationships between changes linking temporally disconnected changes to a root cause and by preventing inconsistencies in the evolution of the ontology. The new approach also explicitly links changes in an ontology to the motivating real-world changes. We present an abstract machine that defines the execution of operations on ontologies. A case study is then used to explain the new approach and to demonstrate how it improves on existing ways of supporting change in ontologies. The new approach is an important step towards providing ontologies with the capacity to go beyond representing an aspect of a domain to include ways in which that representation can change.

As information systems become more complex it is infeasible for a non-expert to understand how the information system has evolved. Accurate models of these systems and the changes occurring to them are required for interpreters to understand, reason over, and learn from evolution of these systems. Ontologies purport to model the semantics of the domain encapsulated in the system. Existing approaches to using ontologies do not capture the rationale for change but instead focus on the direct differences between one version of a model and the subsequent version. Some changes to ontologies are caused by a larger context or goal that is temporally separated from each specific change to the ontology. Current approaches to supporting change in ontologies are insufficient for reasoning over changes and allow changes that lead to inconsistent ontologies. / In this thesis we examine the existing approaches and their limitations and present a four-level classification system for models representing change. We address the shortcomings in current techniques by introducing a new approach, augmenting ontologies with operations for capturing and representing change. In this approach changes are represented as a series of connected, related and non-sequential smaller changes. The new approach improves on existing approaches by capturing root causes of change, by representing causal relationships between changes linking temporally disconnected changes to a root cause and by preventing inconsistencies in the evolution of the ontology. The new approach also explicitly links changes in an ontology to the motivating real-world changes. We present an abstract machine that defines the execution of operations on ontologies. A case study is then used to explain the new approach and to demonstrate how it improves on existing ways of supporting change in ontologies. The new approach is an important step towards providing ontologies with the capacity to go beyond representing an aspect of a domain to include ways in which that representation can change.

The extensive development of change management has offered organizations appropriate strategies, effective approaches and useful concepts to realise the anticipated change. The latest change manifestation that is being given major attention by public organizations is Electronic Government, which is realised through the expansion of Information Technology and the evolution of the Internet. / This research has found that the Electronic Government initiative has affected organisational change, particularly in the areas of Strategy, Structure and People. As a result, the performance of the organization has also improved. Therefore, the Electronic Government initiative has had an impact on organisational performance. The results of this research show that Electronic Government intervenes in and affects these three variables independently or/and collectively. Any change in one variable will influence the others and this change can take place in two ways. A model framework is proposed to illustrate this interdependency of all three variables of Strategy, Structure and People within an organization, and the intervention of Electronic Government. The new theoretical framework could contribute to the overall understanding of the intervention of Electronic Government in the organisational change process and its impact on organizational performance. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2005

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The IPCC Third Assessment report (IPCC 2001a) concludes that Australia has significant vulnerability to the changes in temperature and rainfall projected over the next decades to 100 years. Agriculture and natural resources were two of the key sectors identified as likely to be strongly affected. Climate change will add to the existing, substantial pressures on Australia’s grape and wine industry sector. Vineyards have a life of thirty plus years so right now, when selecting vineyard sites, or when managing existing vineyards, consideration of the changing climate is prudent. (For complete abstract open document)