Relationship management as a strategy for supply chain engagement in the civil engineering construction industry

Many studies into construction procurement methods reveal evidence of a need to change the culture and attitude in the construction industry, transition from traditional adversarial relationships to cooperative and collaborative relationships. At the same time there is also increasing concern and discussion on alternative procurement methods, involving a movement away from traditional procurement systems. Relational contracting approaches, such as partnering and relationship management, are business strategies that align the objectives of clients, commercial participants and stakeholders. It provides a collaborative environment and a framework for all participants to adapt their behaviour to project objectives and allows for engagement of those subcontractors and suppliers down the supply chain. The efficacy of relationship management in the client and contractor groups is proven and well documented. However, the industry has a history of slow implementation of relational contracting down the supply chain. Furthermore, there exists little research on relationship management conducted in the supply chain context. This research aims to explore the association between relational contracting structures and processes and supply chain sustainability in the civil engineering construction industry. It endeavours to shed light on the practices and prerequisites for relationship management implementation success and for supply sustainability to develop. The research methodology is a triangulated approach based on Cheung.s (2006) earlier research where questionnaire survey, interviews and case studies were conducted. This new research includes a face-to-face questionnaire survey that was carried out with 100 professionals from 27 contracting organisations in Queensland from June 2008 to January 2009. A follow-up survey sub-questionnaire, further examining project participants. perspectives was sent to another group of professionals (as identified in the main questionnaire survey). Statistical analysis including multiple regression, correlation, principal component factor analysis and analysis of variance were used to identify the underlying dimensions and test the relationships among variables. Interviews and case studies were conducted to assist in providing a deeper understanding as well as explaining findings of the quantitative study. The qualitative approaches also gave the opportunity to critique and validate the research findings. This research presents the implementation of relationship management from the contractor.s perspective. Findings show that the adaption of relational contracting approach in the supply chain is found to be limited; contractors still prefer to keep the suppliers and subcontractors at arm.s length. This research shows that the degree of match and mismatch between organisational structuring and organisational process has an impact on staff.s commitment level and performance effectiveness. Key issues affecting performance effectiveness and relationship effectiveness include total influence between parties, access to information, personal acquaintance, communication process, risk identification, timely problem solving and commercial framework. Findings also indicate that alliance and Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) projects achieve higher performance effectiveness at both short-term and long-term levels compared to projects with either no or partial relationship management adopted.

Developing tools to facilitate integrated reflection

Much has been said and documented about the key role that reflection can play in the ongoing development of e-portfolios, particularly e-portfolios utilised for teaching and learning. A review of e-portfolio platforms reveals that a designated space for documenting and collating personal reflections is a typical design feature of both open source and commercial off-the-shelf software. Further investigation of tools within e-portfolio systems for facilitating reflection reveals that, apart from enabling personal journalism through blogs or other writing, scaffolding tools that encourage the actual process of reflection are under-developed. Investigation of a number of prominent e-portfolio projects also reveals that reflection, while presented as critically important, is often viewed as an activity that takes place after a learning activity or experience and not intrinsic to it. This paper assumes an alternative, richer conception of reflection: a process integral to a wide range of activities associated with learning, such as inquiry, communication, editing, analysis and evaluation. Such a conception is consistent with the literature associated with ‘communities of practice’, which is replete with insight into ‘learning through doing’, and with a ‘whole minded’ approach to inquiry. Thus, graduates who are ‘reflective practitioners’ who integrate reflection into their learning will have more to offer a prospective employer than graduates who have adopted an episodic approach to reflection. So, what kinds of tools might facilitate integrated reflection? This paper outlines a number of possibilities for consideration and development. Such tools do not have to be embedded within e-portfolio systems, although there are benefits in doing so. In order to inform future design of e-portfolio systems this paper presents a faceted model of knowledge creation that depicts an ‘ecology of knowing’ in which interaction with, and the production of, learning content is deepened through the construction of well-formed questions of that content. In particular, questions that are initiated by ‘why’ are explored because they are distinguished from the other ‘journalist’ questions (who, what, when, where, and where) in that answers to them demand explanative, as opposed to descriptive, content. They require a rationale. Although why questions do not belong to any one genre and are not simple to classify — responses can contain motivational, conditional, causal, and/or existential content — they do make a difference in the acquisition of understanding. The development of scaffolding that builds on why-questioning to enrich learning is the motivation behind the research that has informed this paper.

Geostatistical analysis of adult Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) in wheat stored at constant temperatures

Insect monitoring and sampling programmes are used in the stored grains industry for the detection and estimation of insect pests. At the low pest densities dictated by economic and commercial requirements, the accuracy of both detection and abundance estimates can be influenced by variations in the spatial structure of pest populations over short distances. Geostatistical analysis of Rhyzopertha dominica populations in 2 dimensions showed that, in both the horizontal and vertical directions and at all temperatures examined, insect numbers were positively correlated over short (0-5cm) distances, and negatively correlated over longer (≥10cm) distances. Analysis in 3 dimensions showed a similar pattern, with positive correlations over short distances and negative correlations at longer distances. At 35°C, insects were located significantly further from the grain surface than at 25 and 30°C. Dispersion metrics showed statistically significant aggregation in all cases. This is the first research using small sample units, high sampling intensities, and a range of temperatures, to show spatial structuring of R. dominica populations over short distances. This research will have significant implications for sampling in the stored grains industry.

A positive unsettlement: the story of Sakshi Anmatyerre

This article tells the story of the mass marketing on stationery of the work of an artist, Sakshi Anmatyerre, whose claims to an lndigenous heritage and to the authority to paint particular designs, totems and motifs were vigorously contested, leading to the withdrawal of the stationery from sale. The efforts made by the publisher, Steve Parish, to atone for the offence caused to the Anmatyerre people are detailed. The article illustrates some of the issues involved in the commodification and commercial exchange of lndigenous artistic or cultural work - or rather, work which relies upon lndigenous connections for its aesthetic and financial value. The story told in this article is enlightening for what it reveals about the state of unsettlement that characterises debate over the 'appropriate' commercial use of lndigenous intellectual and cultural property, for the ways in which it is possible to achieve restitution when an offence agalnst lndigenous law is alleged, and for the effects the process of seeking restitution has had on the business practices of one company.

An analysis of construction productivity in Malaysia

The construction industry is an industry of major strategic importance. Its level of productivity has a significant effect on national economic growth. Productivity indicators are examined. The indicators consist of labour productivity, capital productivity, labour competitiveness, capital intensity and added value content of data, which are obtained from the published census/biannual surveys of the construction industry between the years 1999 and 2011 from the Department of Statistics of Malaysia. The results indicated that there is an improvement in the labour productivity, but the value-added content is declining. The civil engineering and special trades subsectors are more productive than the residential and non-residential subsectors in terms of labour productivity because machine-for-labour substitution is a more important process in those subsectors. The capital-intensive characteristics of civil engineering and special trade works enable these subsectors to achieve higher added value per labour cost but not the capital productivity. The added value per labour cost is lower in larger organizations despite higher capital productivity. However, the capital intensity is lower and unit labour cost is higher in the larger organizations.

Risk-based approach to the management of on-site wastewater treatment facilities

Background On-site wastewater treatment system (OWTS) siting, design and management has traditionally been based on site specific conditions with little regard to the surrounding environment or the cumulative effect of other systems in the environment. The general approach has been to apply the same framework of standards and regulations to all sites equally, regardless of the sensitivity, or lack thereof, to the receiving environment. Consequently, this has led to the continuing poor performance and failure of on-site systems, resulting in environmental and public health consequences. As a result, there is increasing realisation that more scientifically robust evaluations in regard to site assessment and the underlying ground conditions are needed. Risk-based approaches to on-site system siting, design and management are considered the most appropriate means of improvement to the current standards and codes for on-site wastewater treatment systems. The Project Research in relation to this project was undertaken within the Gold Coast City Council region, the major focus being the semi-urban, rural residential and hinterland areas of the city that are not serviced by centralised treatment systems. The Gold Coast has over 15,000 on-site systems in use, with approximately 66% being common septic tank-subsurface dispersal systems. A recent study evaluating the performance of these systems within the Gold Coast area showed approximately 90% were not meeting the specified guidelines for effluent treatment and dispersal. The main focus of this research was to incorporate strong scientific knowledge into an integrated risk assessment process to allow suitable management practices to be set in place to mitigate the inherent risks. To achieve this, research was undertaken focusing on three main aspects involved with the performance and management of OWTS. Firstly, an investigation into the suitability of soil for providing appropriate effluent renovation was conducted. This involved detailed soil investigations, laboratory analysis and the use of multivariate statistical methods for analysing soil information. The outcomes of these investigations were developed into a framework for assessing soil suitability for effluent renovation. This formed the basis for the assessment of OWTS siting and design risks employed in the developed risk framework. Secondly, an assessment of the environmental and public health risks was performed specifically related the release of contaminants from OWTS. This involved detailed groundwater and surface water sampling and analysis to assess the current and potential risks of contamination throughout the Gold Coast region. Additionally, the assessment of public health risk incorporated the use of bacterial source tracking methods to identify the different sources of fecal contamination within monitored regions. Antibiotic resistance pattern analysis was utilised to determine the extent of human faecal contamination, with the outcomes utilised for providing a more indicative public health assessment. Finally, the outcomes of both the soil suitability assessment and ground and surface water monitoring was utilised for the development of the integrated risk framework. The research outcomes achieved through this project enabled the primary research aims and objects to be accomplished. This in turn would enable Gold Coast City Council to provide more appropriate assessment and management guidelines based on robust scientific knowledge which will ultimately ensure that the potential environmental and public health impacts resulting from on-site wastewater treatment is minimised. As part of the implementation of suitable management strategies, a critical point monitoring program (CPM) was formulated. This entailed the identification of the key critical parameters that contribute to the characterised risks at monitored locations within the study area. The CPM will allow more direct procedures to be implemented, targeting the specific hazards at sensitive areas throughout Gold Coast region.

What are the implications of peri-urban agriculture on food security in Australian cities?

Background: Periurban agriculture refers to agricultural practice occurring in areas with mixed rural and urban features. It is responsible 25% of the total gross value of economic production in Australia, despite only comprising 3% of the land used for agriculture. As populations grows and cities expand, they are constantly absorbing surrounding fringe areas, thus creating a new fringe, further from the city causing the periurban region to constantly shift outwards. Periurban regions are fundamental in the provision of fresh food to city populations and residential (and industrial) expansion taking over agricultural land has been noted as a major worldwide concern. Another major concern around the increase in urbanisation and resultant decrease in periurban agriculture is its potential effect on food security. Food security is the availability or access to nutritionally-adequate, culturally-relevant and safe foods in culturally-appropriate ways. Thus food insecurity occurs when access to or availability of these foods is compromised. There is an important level of connectedness between food security and food production and a decrease in periurban agriculture may have adverse effects on food security. A decrease in local, seasonal produce may result in a decrease in the availability of products and an increase in cost, as food must travel greater distances, incurring extra costs present at the consumer level. Currently, few Australian studies exist examining the change in periurban agriculture over time. Such information may prove useful for future health policy and interventions as well as infrastructure planning. The aim of this study is to investigate changes in periurban agriculture among capital cities of Australia. Methods: We compared data pertaining to selected commodities from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2000-01 and 2005 -2006 Agricultural Census. This survey is distributed online or via mail on a five-yearly basis to approximately 175,000 Agricultural business to ascertain information on a range of factors, such as types of crops, livestock and land preparation practices. For the purpose of this study we compared the land being used for total crops, and cereal , oil seed, legume, fruit and vegetable crops separately. Data was analysed using repeated measures anova in spss. Results: Overall, total area available for crops in urbanised areas of Australia increased slightly by 1.8%. However, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth experienced decreases in the area available for fruit crops by 11%, 5%,and 4% respectively. Furthermore, Brisbane and Perth experienced decreases in land available for vegetable crops by 28% and 14% respectively. Finally, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth experienced decreases in land available for cereal crops by 10 – 79%. Conclusions: These findings suggest that population increases and consequent urban sprawl may be resulting in a decrease in peri-urban agriculture, specifically for several core food groups including fruit, breads and grain based foods. In doing so, access to or availability of these foods may be limited, and the cost of these foods is likely to increase, which may compromise food insecurity for certain sub-groups of the population.

Bone tissue engineering

Currently, well-established clinical therapeutic approaches for bone reconstruction are restricted to the transplantation of autografts and allografts, and the implantation of metal devices or ceramic-based implants to assist bone regeneration. These standard techniques face significant disadvantages. As a result, research has focused on the development of alternative therapeutic concepts aiming to design and engineer unparalleled structural and functional bone grafts. Substantial academic and commercial interest has been sparked in bone engineering methods to stimulate, control and eventually replicate key events of bone regeneration ex vivo. Over the years, this interest has further increased and bone tissue engineering has now become a well-recognized research discipline in the area of regenerative medicine. The following chapter gives an overview of bone tissue engineering principles. It focuses on research related to the combination of scaffolds with multipotent precursor cells, such as bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells or human umbilical cord perivascular cells, and the clinical applications of these tissue engineered bone constructs.

Personalization in tag ontology learning for recommendation making

Due to the explosive growth of the Web, the domain of Web personalization has gained great momentum both in the research and commercial areas. One of the most popular web personalization systems is recommender systems. In recommender systems choosing user information that can be used to profile users is very crucial for user profiling. In Web 2.0, one facility that can help users organize Web resources of their interest is user tagging systems. Exploring user tagging behavior provides a promising way for understanding users’ information needs since tags are given directly by users. However, free and relatively uncontrolled vocabulary makes the user self-defined tags lack of standardization and semantic ambiguity. Also, the relationships among tags need to be explored since there are rich relationships among tags which could provide valuable information for us to better understand users. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for learning tag ontology based on the widely used lexical database WordNet for capturing the semantics and the structural relationships of tags. We present personalization strategies to disambiguate the semantics of tags by combining the opinion of WordNet lexicographers and users’ tagging behavior together. To personalize further, clustering of users is performed to generate a more accurate ontology for a particular group of users. In order to evaluate the usefulness of the tag ontology, we use the tag ontology in a pilot tag recommendation experiment for improving the recommendation performance by exploiting the semantic information in the tag ontology. The initial result shows that the personalized information has improved the accuracy of the tag recommendation.

Joint Ventures Law in Australia (3rd ed.)

Following on from the 2nd edition published in 2005, this new edition updates its predecessor and adds considerable new material as a result of changes in the law generally and commercial approaches to financing joint ventures in particular. Of special note, Financing of Joint Ventures has been completely re-written with considerable additions to take account of the new legislative regimes such as the Personal Property Securities. The impact of climate change legislation has been covered, specifically carbon pricing with additional material on structuring generally and particularly in relation to large joint ventures with governments through Public Private Partnerships. A new Chapter has been added called Resources Joint Ventures and undertakes a thorough analysis of a typical resources joint venture and is heavily cross referenced into the chapter on Default which has also been updated. In addition, International Joint Ventures now includes additional material on structuring and dispute resolution and Joint Ventures and the Competition and Consumer Act has been substantially re-written to take account of 2009 legislative amendments on cartel conduct, and the impact of changes wrought by the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. All other chapters and material has been updated to accommodate other legislative changes and new case law over the seven years since the last edition.

Dynamic performance characteristics of an innovative Hybrid Composite Floor Plate System under human-induced loads

This study explored the dynamic performance of an innovative Hybrid Composite Floor Plate System (HCFPS), composed of Polyurethane (PU) core, outer layers of Glass–fibre Reinforced Cement (GRC) and steel laminates at tensile regions, using experimental testing and Finite Element (FE) modelling. Experimental testing included heel impact and walking tests for 3200 mm span HCFPS panels. FE models of the HCFPS were developed using the FE program ABAQUS and validated with experimental results. HCFPS is a light-weight high frequency floor system with excellent damping ratio of 5% (bare floor) due to the central PU core. Parametric studies were conducted using the validated FE models to investigate the dynamic response of the HCFPS and to identify characteristics that influence acceleration response under human induced vibration in service. This vibration performance was compared with recommended acceptable perceptibility limits. The findings of this study show that HCFPS can be used in residential and office buildings as a light-weight floor system, which does not exceed the perceptible thresholds due to human induced vibrations.

A Tale of Two Marinas

A Tale of Two Marinas: Burnett Heads and Port of Bundaberg This exhibition showcases the work of 4th Year undergraduate Landscape Architecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering students in response to issues of sustainability in Burnett Heads and the Port of Bundaberg. The Burnett Heads & Port of Bundaberg project site, just north of Bargara, is a complex mix of port facilities, urban development, established residential and service areas, coastal conservation and agriculture. The project brief was to prepare a range of strategic planning and environmental management options for future urban and infrastructure development. 4th year undergraduate Landscape Architecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering students worked over one teaching semester with guidance from QUT academics and partner organisations to produce strategic planning, environmental management planning and design options for managing future growth in the area. The project process involved three visits to the site by QUT students and staff. The first visit at the project’s commencement included a formal briefing session with project partners the Burnett Mary Regional Group, Port of Brisbane Corporation, and Queensland Department of Local Government and Planning. Formal and informal community engagement facilitated by the Burnett Heads Progress Association also allowed students to gain some understanding of local values. A second visit mid-project involved a ‘Futures Workshop’ with students and community. This enabled the students to gain the benefit of local knowledge and experience in response to their work-in-progress, and to establish priorities for project completion. It strengthened the relationship between the community and the students. A final exhibition, ‘A Tale of Two Marinas’ was held at the Burnett Progress Hall just prior to completion of the project. The student work exhibited offers a diverse number of alternative options for the future urban development, infrastructure and environmental planning that the partner organisations have used for ongoing consultation.

Review of current fire design rules for cold-formed steel wall systems

Light gauge steel frame wall systems are commonly used in industrial and commercial buildings, and there is a need for simple fire design rules to predict their load capacities and fire resistance ratings. During fire events, the light gauge steel frame wall studs are subjected to non-uniform temperature distributions that cause thermal bowing, neutral axis shift and magnification effects and thus resulting in a combined axial compression and bending action on the studs. In this research, a series of full-scale fire tests was conducted first to evaluate the performance of light gauge steel frame wall systems with eight different wall configurations under standard fire conditions. Finite element models of light gauge steel frame walls were then developed, analysed under transient and steady-state conditions and validated using full-scale fire tests. Using the results from fire tests and finite element analyses, a detailed investigation was undertaken into the prediction of axial compression strength and failure times of light gauge steel frame wall studs in standard fires using the available fire design rules based on Australian, American and European standards. The results from both fire tests and finite element analyses were used to investigate the ability of these fire design rules to include the complex effects of non-uniform temperature distributions and their accuracy in predicting the axial compression strength of wall studs and the failure times. Suitable modifications were then proposed to the fire design rules. This article presents the details of this investigation on the fire design rules of light gauge steel frame walls and the results.

Modelling users' contextual querying behaviour for web image searching

The rapid growth of visual information on Web has led to immense interest in multimedia information retrieval (MIR). While advancement in MIR systems has achieved some success in specific domains, particularly the content-based approaches, general Web users still struggle to find the images they want. Despite the success in content-based object recognition or concept extraction, the major problem in current Web image searching remains in the querying process. Since most online users only express their needs in semantic terms or objects, systems that utilize visual features (e.g., color or texture) to search images create a semantic gap which hinders general users from fully expressing their needs. In addition, query-by-example (QBE) retrieval imposes extra obstacles for exploratory search because users may not always have the representative image at hand or in mind when starting a search (i.e. the page zero problem). As a result, the majority of current online image search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo, and Flickr) still primarily use textual queries to search. The problem with query-based retrieval systems is that they only capture users’ information need in terms of formal queries;; the implicit and abstract parts of users’ information needs are inevitably overlooked. Hence, users often struggle to formulate queries that best represent their needs, and some compromises have to be made. Studies of Web search logs suggest that multimedia searches are more difficult than textual Web searches, and Web image searching is the most difficult compared to video or audio searches. Hence, online users need to put in more effort when searching multimedia contents, especially for image searches. Most interactions in Web image searching occur during query reformulation. While log analysis provides intriguing views on how the majority of users search, their search needs or motivations are ultimately neglected. User studies on image searching have attempted to understand users’ search contexts in terms of users’ background (e.g., knowledge, profession, motivation for search and task types) and the search outcomes (e.g., use of retrieved images, search performance). However, these studies typically focused on particular domains with a selective group of professional users. General users’ Web image searching contexts and behaviors are little understood although they represent the majority of online image searching activities nowadays. We argue that only by understanding Web image users’ contexts can the current Web search engines further improve their usefulness and provide more efficient searches. In order to understand users’ search contexts, a user study was conducted based on university students’ Web image searching in News, Travel, and commercial Product domains. The three search domains were deliberately chosen to reflect image users’ interests in people, time, event, location, and objects. We investigated participants’ Web image searching behavior, with the focus on query reformulation and search strategies. Participants’ search contexts such as their search background, motivation for search, and search outcomes were gathered by questionnaires. The searching activity was recorded with participants’ think aloud data for analyzing significant search patterns. The relationships between participants’ search contexts and corresponding search strategies were discovered by Grounded Theory approach. Our key findings include the following aspects: - Effects of users' interactive intents on query reformulation patterns and search strategies - Effects of task domain on task specificity and task difficulty, as well as on some specific searching behaviors - Effects of searching experience on result expansion strategies A contextual image searching model was constructed based on these findings. The model helped us understand Web image searching from user perspective, and introduced a context-aware searching paradigm for current retrieval systems. A query recommendation tool was also developed to demonstrate how users’ query reformulation contexts can potentially contribute to more efficient searching.