Perceptions and expectations for learning and development for older workers within Queensland local government councils : a case study

Current literature warns organisations about a global ageing phenomenon. Workplace ageing is causing a diminishing work pool which has consequences for a sustainable workforce in the future. This phenomenon continues to impact on local government councils in Australia. Australia has one of the world’s most rapidly ageing populations, and there is evidence that Australian local government councils are already resulting in an unsustainable workforce. Consequently, this research program investigated the role of older workers in the Queensland local government workplace in enabling them to extend their working lives towards transitional employment and a sustainable workforce in the future. Transitional Employment is intended as a strategy for enabling individuals to have greater control over their employment options and their employability during the period leading to their final exit from the workforce. There was no evidence of corporate support for older workers in Queensland local government councils other than tokenistic government campaigns encouraging organisations to "better value their older workers". (Queensland Government, 2007d, p.6). TE is investigated as a possible intervention for older workers in the future. The international and national literature review reflected a range of matters impacting on current older workers in the workforce and barriers preventing them from accessing services towards extending their employment beyond the traditional retirement age (60 years) as defined by the Australian Government; an age when individuals can access their superannuation. Learning and development services were identified as one of those barriers. There was little evidence of investment in or consistent approaches to supporting older workers by organisations. Learning and development services appeared at best to be ad hoc, reactive to corporate productivity and outputs with little recognition of the ageing phenomenon (OECD, 2006, p.23) and looming skills and labour shortages (ALGA, 2006, p. 19). Themes from the literature review led to the establishment of three key research questions: 1. What are the current local government workforce issues impacting on skills and labour retention? 2. What are perceptions about the current workplace environment? And, 3. What are the expectations about learning and development towards extending employability of older workers within the local government sector? The research questions were explored by utilising three qualitative empirical studies, using some numerical data for reporting and comparative analysis. Empirical Study One investigated common themes for accessing transitional employment and comprised two phases. A literature review and Study One data analysis enabled the construction of an initial Transitional Employment Model which includes most frequent themes. Empirical Study Two comprised focus groups to further consider those themes. This led to identification of issues impacting the most on access to learning and development by older workers and towards a revised TEM. Findings presented majority support for transitional employment as a strategy for supporting older workers to work beyond their traditional retirement age. Those findings are presented as significant issues impacting on access to transitional employment within the final 3-dimensionsal TEM. The model is intended as a guide for responding to an ageing workforce by local government councils in the future. This study argued for increased and improved corporate support, particularly for learning and development services for older workers. Such support will enable older workers to maintain their employability and extend their working lives; a sustainable workforce in the future.

Local on-ramp queue management strategy with mainline speed recovery

Ramp metering is an effective motorway control tool beneficial for mainline traffic, but the long on-ramp queues created interfere with surface traffic profoundly. This study deals with the conflict between mainline benefits and thecosts of on-ramp and surface traffic. A novel local on-ramp queue management strategy with mainline speed recovery is proposed. Microscopic simulation is used to test the new strategy and compare it with other strategies. Simulation results reveal that the ramp metering with queue management strategy provides a good balance between the mainline and on-ramp performances.

Adatom CCV Auger rates via the local density of states

In this letter the core-core-valence Auger transitions of an atomic impurity, both in bulk or adsorbed on a jellium-like surface, are computed within a DFT framework. The Auger rates calculated by the Fermi golden rule are compared with those determined by an approximate and simpler expression. This is based on the local density of states (LDOS) with a core hole present, in a region around the impurity nucleus. Different atoms, Na and Mg, solids, Al and Ag, and several impurity locations are considered. We obtain an excellent agreement between KL1V and KL23V rates worked out with the two approaches. The radius of the sphere in which we calculate the LDOS is the relevant parameter of the simpler approach. Its value only depends on the atomic species regardless of the location of the impurity and the type of substrate. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Urban transit quality of service : user perception and behaviour

Despite its potential multiple contributions to sustainable policy objectives, urban transit is generally not widely used by the public in terms of its market share compared to that of automobiles, particularly in affluent societies with low-density urban forms like Australia. Transit service providers need to attract more people to transit by improving transit quality of service. The key to cost-effective transit service improvements lies in accurate evaluation of policy proposals by taking into account their impacts on transit users. If transit providers knew what is more or less important to their customers, they could focus their efforts on optimising customer-oriented service. Policy interventions could also be specified to influence transit users’ travel decisions, with targets of customer satisfaction and broader community welfare. This significance motivates the research into the relationship between urban transit quality of service and its user perception as well as behaviour. This research focused on two dimensions of transit user’s travel behaviour: route choice and access arrival time choice. The study area chosen was a busy urban transit corridor linking Brisbane central business district (CBD) and the St. Lucia campus of The University of Queensland (UQ). This multi-system corridor provided a ‘natural experiment’ for transit users between the CBD and UQ, as they can choose between busway 109 (with grade-separate exclusive right-of-way), ordinary on-street bus 412, and linear fast ferry CityCat on the Brisbane River. The population of interest was set as the attendees to UQ, who travelled from the CBD or from a suburb via the CBD. Two waves of internet-based self-completion questionnaire surveys were conducted to collect data on sampled passengers’ perception of transit service quality and behaviour of using public transit in the study area. The first wave survey is to collect behaviour and attitude data on respondents’ daily transit usage and their direct rating of importance on factors of route-level transit quality of service. A series of statistical analyses is conducted to examine the relationships between transit users’ travel and personal characteristics and their transit usage characteristics. A factor-cluster segmentation procedure is applied to respodents’ importance ratings on service quality variables regarding transit route preference to explore users’ various perspectives to transit quality of service. Based on the perceptions of service quality collected from the second wave survey, a series of quality criteria of the transit routes under study was quantitatively measured, particularly, the travel time reliability in terms of schedule adherence. It was proved that mixed traffic conditions and peak-period effects can affect transit service reliability. Multinomial logit models of transit user’s route choice were estimated using route-level service quality perceptions collected in the second wave survey. Relative importance of service quality factors were derived from choice model’s significant parameter estimates, such as access and egress times, seat availability, and busway system. Interpretations of the parameter estimates were conducted, particularly the equivalent in-vehicle time of access and egress times, and busway in-vehicle time. Market segmentation by trip origin was applied to investigate the difference in magnitude between the parameter estimates of access and egress times. The significant costs of transfer in transit trips were highlighted. These importance ratios were applied back to quality perceptions collected as RP data to compare the satisfaction levels between the service attributes and to generate an action relevance matrix to prioritise attributes for quality improvement. An empirical study on the relationship between average passenger waiting time and transit service characteristics was performed using the service quality perceived. Passenger arrivals for services with long headways (over 15 minutes) were found to be obviously coordinated with scheduled departure times of transit vehicles in order to reduce waiting time. This drove further investigations and modelling innovations in passenger’ access arrival time choice and its relationships with transit service characteristics and average passenger waiting time. Specifically, original contributions were made in formulation of expected waiting time, analysis of the risk-aversion attitude to missing desired service run in the passengers’ access time arrivals’ choice, and extensions of the utility function specification for modelling passenger access arrival distribution, by using complicated expected utility forms and non-linear probability weighting to explicitly accommodate the risk of missing an intended service and passenger’s risk-aversion attitude. Discussions on this research’s contributions to knowledge, its limitations, and recommendations for future research are provided at the concluding section of this thesis.

Developing a sustainability impact assessment framework for local urban planning

In order to meet the land use and infrastructure needs of the community with the additional challenges posed by climate change and a global recession, it is essential that Queensland local governments test their proposed integrated land use and infrastructure plans to ensure the maximum achievement of triple-bottom line sus-tainability goals. Extensive regulatory impact assessment systems are in place at the Australian and state government levels to substantiate and test policy and legislative proposals, however no such requirement has been extended to the local government level. This paper contends that with the devolution of responsibility to local government and growing impacts of local government planning and development assessment activities, impact assessment of regulatory planning instruments is appropriate and overdue. This is particularly so in the Queensland context where local governments manage metropolitan and regional scale responsibilities and their planning schemes under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 integrate land use and infrastructure planning to direct development rights, the spatial allocation of land, and infrastructure investment. It is critical that urban planners have access to fit-for-purpose impact assessment frameworks which support this challenging task and address the important relationship between local planning and sustainable urban development. This paper uses two examples of sustainability impact assessment and a case study from the Queensland local urban planning context to build an argument and potential starting point for impact assessment in local planning processes.

Analytical benchmark solutions for steel frame structures subject to local buckling effects

Application of "advanced analysis" methods suitable for non-linear analysis and design of steel frame structures permits direct and accurate determination of ultimate system strengths, without resort to simplified elastic methods of analysis and semi-empirical specification equations. However, the application of advanced analysis methods has previously been restricted to steel frames comprising only compact sections that are not influenced by the effects of local buckling. A research project has been conducted with the aim of developing concentrated plasticity methods suitable for practical advanced analysis of steel frame structures comprising non-compact sections. This paper contains a comprehensive set of analytical benchmark solutions for steel frames comprising non-compact sections, which can be used to verify the accuracy of simplified concentrated plasticity methods of advanced analysis. The analytical benchmark solutions were obtained using a distributed plasticity shell finite element model that explicitly accounts for the effects of gradual cross-sectional yielding, longitudinal spread of plasticity, initial geometric imperfections, residual stresses, and local buckling. A brief description and verification of the shell finite element model is provided in this paper.

Calligraphy and causation : two obstetric management cases - Hirst v Sydney South West Area Health and King v Western Sydney local health network

Two recent decisions of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in the context of obstetric management have highlighted firstly, the importance of keeping legible, accurate and detailed medical records; and secondly, the challenges faced by those seeking to establish causation, particularly where epidemiological evidence is relied upon...

Histogram of weighted local directions for gait recognition

In this paper, we explore the effectiveness of patch-based gradient feature extraction methods when applied to appearance-based gait recognition. Extending existing popular feature extraction methods such as HOG and LDP, we propose a novel technique which we term the Histogram of Weighted Local Directions (HWLD). These 3 methods are applied to gait recognition using the GEI feature, with classification performed using SRC. Evaluations on the CASIA and OULP datasets show significant improvements using these patch-based methods over existing implementations, with the proposed method achieving the highest recognition rate for the respective datasets. In addition, the HWLD can easily be extended to 3D, which we demonstrate using the GEV feature on the DGD dataset, observing improvements in performance.

Mining temporal and spatial travel regularities for transit planning

Smart Card data from Automated Fare Collection system has been considered as a promising source of information for transit planning. However, literature has been limited to mining travel patterns from transit users and suggesting the potential of using this information. This paper proposes a method for mining spatial regular origins-destinations and temporal habitual travelling time from transit users. These travel regularity are discussed as being useful for transit planning. After reconstructing the travel itineraries, three levels of Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Application with Noise (DBSCAN) have been utilised to retrieve travel regularity of each of each frequent transit users. Analyses of passenger classifications and personal travel time variability estimation are performed as the examples of using travel regularity in transit planning. The methodology introduced in this paper is of interest for transit authorities in planning and managements

Local development planning and community empowerment in decentralised Indonesia : the role of local planning in improving self organising capabilities of local communities in Takalar, Indonesia

This study investigates the role of development planning in empowering rural communities in Indonesia’s decentralised era. Evidence is produced that the combination of procedural justice in planning development and social learning in its implementation can assist self-organisation and help empower local communities. Significant benefits are shown to result in: the acquisition and use of collective resources; the development of shared knowledge, skills, values and trust; community leadership; and the development of social networks. Two features of this empowerment model are community-based planning, utilising participatory rural appraisal at the level of the natural village, and the organisation of collective action. These are shown to be effective ways of incorporating procedural justice and social learning in self organisation and community empowerment.

A microscopic simulation model to estimate bus rapid transit station bus capacity

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) station is the interface between passengers and services. The station is crucial to line operation as it is typically the only location where buses can pass each other. Congestion may occur here when buses maneuvering into and out of the platform lane interfere with bus flow, or when a queue of buses forms upstream of the platform lane blocking the passing lane. Further, some systems include operation where express buses do not observe the station, resulting in a proportion of non-stopping buses. It is important to understand the operation of the station under this type of operation and its effect on BRT line capacity. This study uses microscopic traffic simulation modeling to treat the BRT station operation and to analyze the relationship between station bus capacity and BRT line bus capacity. First, the simulation model is developed for the limit state scenario and then a statistical model is defined and calibrated for a specified range of controlled scenarios of dwell time characteristics. A field survey was conducted to verify the parameters such as dwell time, clearance time and coefficient of variation of dwell time to obtain relevant station bus capacity. The proposed model for BRT bus capacity provides a better understanding of BRT line capacity and is useful to transit authorities in BRT planning, design and operation.

Mapping local solutions to entrenched transport problems: Key lessons regarding the use of geographical information technologies in community mapping with disadvantaged communities

There is an increasing interest in the use of information technology as a participatory planning tool, particularly the use of geographical information technologies to support collaborative activities such as community mapping. However, despite their promise, the introduction of such technologies does not necessarily promote better participation nor improve collaboration. In part this can be attributed to a tendency for planners to focus on the technical considerations associated with these technologies at the expense of broader participation considerations. In this paper we draw on the experiences of a community mapping project with disadvantaged communities in suburban Australia to highlight the importance of selecting tools and techniques which support and enhance participatory planning. This community mapping project, designed to identify and document community-generated transport issues and solutions, had originally intended to use cadastral maps extracted from the government’s digital cadastral database as the foundation for its community mapping approach. It was quickly discovered that the local residents found the cadastral maps confusing as the maps lacked sufficient detail to orient them to their suburb (the study area). In response to these concerns and consistent with the project’s participatory framework, a conceptual base map based on resident’s views of landmarks of local importance was developed to support the community mapping process. Based on this community mapping experience we outline four key lessons learned regarding the process of community mapping and the place of geographical information technologies within this process.

Design LED innovation to rejuvenate local food systems and healthy communities : an emerging research agenda

Food Sovereignty (food freedom) is about empowering people to develop their own local food system. Food Sovereignty challenges designers to enable people to innovate the local food system, rather than having a food system which is dictated by corporate interests and failed business ethics. Communities are realising the potential for design to assist in the innovation process, and add strategic value to potentially localise the food system. Design Led Innovation (DLI) offers a strategic framework to address large-scale cultural, systemic and economic changes. The DLI approach empowers communities to take organised action to achieve a healthy, prosperous and happy way of life. DLI can assist with business models in the business world and it is evident this approach can assist with creating social change too. This paper presents on an emerging research agenda aimed to assist designer’s focus from individuals and systems to communities and urban problems. This paper also presents the research proposition that DLI and service design coupled with social entrepreneurial ventures such as local food projects and creative community inventions, have the potential to enable social innovation for healthy and happy communities.

Local plastic mechanisms in thin steel plates under in-plane compression

Thin-walled steel plates subjected to in-plane compression develop two types of local plastic mechanism, namely the roof-shaped mechanism and the so-called flip-disc mechanism, but the intriguing question of why two mechanisms should develop was not answered until recently. It was considered that the location of first yield point shifted from the centre of the plate to the midpoint of the longitudinal edge depending on the b/t ratio, imperfection level, and yield stress of steel, which then decided the type of mechanism. This paper has verified this hypothesis using analysis and laboratory experiments. An elastic analysis using Galerkin's method to solve Marguerre's equations was first used to determine the first yield point, based on which the local plastic mechanism/imperfection tolerance tables have been developed which give the type of mechanism as a function of b/t ratio, imperfection level and yield stress of steel. Laboratory experiments of thin-walled columns verified the imperfection tolerance tables and thus indirectly the hypothesis. Elastic and rigid-plastic curves were them used to predict the effect on the ultimate load due to the change of mechanism. A finite element analysis of selected cases also confirmed the results from simple analyses and experiments.

Local buckling behaviour of steel plate elements supported by a plastic foam material

Sandwich panels comprising steel facings and a polystyrene foam core are increasingly used as roof and wall claddings in buildings in Australia. When they are subjected to loads causing bending and/or axial compression, the steel plate elements of their profiled facing are susceptible to local buckling. However, when compared to panels with no foam core, they demonstrate significantly improved local buckling behaviour because they are supported by foam. In order to quantify such improvements and to validate the use of available design buckling stress formulae, an investigation using finite element analyses and laboratory experiments was carried out on steel plates that are commonly used in Australia of varying yield stress and thickness supported by a polystyrene foam core. This paper presents the details of this investigation, the buckling results and their comparison with available design buckling formulae.