Information preferences for the evaluation of coastal development impacts on ecosystem services: A multi-criteria assessment in the Australian context

Ecosystem based management requires the integration of various types of assessment indicators. Understanding stakeholders' information preferences is important, in selecting those indicators that best support management and policy. Both the preferences of decision-makers and the general public may matter, in democratic participatory management institutions. This paper presents a multi-criteria analysis aimed at quantifying the relative importance to these groups of economic, ecological and socio-economic indicators usually considered when managing ecosystem services in a coastal development context. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is applied within two nationwide surveys in Australia, and preferences of both the general public and decision-makers for these indicators are elicited and compared. Results show that, on average across both groups, the priority in assessing a generic coastal development project is for the ecological assessment of its impacts on marine biodiversity. Ecological assessment indicators are globally preferred to both economic and socio-economic indicators regardless of the nature of the impacts studied. These results are observed for a significantly larger proportion of decision-maker than general public respondents, questioning the extent to which the general public's preferences are well reflected in decision-making processes.

Discourse and assessment

Many contemporary currents in applied linguistics have favored discourse studies within assessment; there have been calls for cross-fertilization with other areas within applied linguistics, critiques of the positivist tradition within language testing research, and the growing impact of Conversation Analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory. This chapter focuses on the resulting increase in discourse-based studies of oral proficiency assessment techniques. These studies initially focused on the traditional oral proficiency interview but have since been extended to new test formats, including paired and group interaction. We discuss the research carried out on a number of factors in the assessment setting, including the role of the interlocutor, candidate, and rater, and the impact of tasks, task performance conditions, and rating criteria. Recent research has also concentrated more specifically on the assessment of pragmatic competence and on the applications of technology within the assessment of spoken language, including the comparability of semidirect and direct methods for such assessment and the use of computer corpora.

Case studies on vibration based damage identification : multi-criteria approach

Vibration based damage identification methods examine the changes in primary modal parameters or quantities derived from modal parameters. As one method may have advantages over the other under some circumstances, a multi-criteria approach is proposed. Case studies are conducted separately on beam, plate and plate-on-beam structures. Using the numerically simulated modal data obtained through finite element analysis software, algorithms based on flexibility and strain energy changes before and after damage are obtained and used as the indices for the assessment of the state of structural health. Results show that the proposed multi-criteria method is effective in damage identification in these structures.

Damage assessment in multiple-girder composite bridge using vibration characteristics

This paper uses dynamic computer simulation techniques to apply a procedure using vibration-based methods for damage assessment in multiple-girder composite bridge. In addition to changes in natural frequencies, this multi-criteria procedure incorporates two methods, namely the modal flexibility and the modal strain energy method. Using the numerically simulated modal data obtained through finite element analysis software, algorithms based on modal flexibility and modal strain energy change before and after damage are obtained and used as the indices for the assessment of structural health state. The feasibility and capability of the approach is demonstrated through numerical studies of proposed structure with six damage scenarios. It is concluded that the modal strain energy method is competent for application on multiple-girder composite bridge, as evidenced through the example treated in this paper.

Service analysis : A critical assessment of the state of the art

The service-orientation paradigm has not only become prevalent in the software systems domain in recent years, but is also increasingly applied on the business level to restructure organisational capabilities. In this paper, we present the results of an extensive literature review of 30 approaches related to service identification and analysis for both domains. Based on the consolidation of a superset of comparison criteria for service-oriented methodologies found in related literature, we compare and evaluate the different characteristics of service engineering methods with a focus on service analysis. Although a close business and IT alignment is regarded as one of the core beneficial promises of service-orientation, our analysis suggests that there is a lack of unified, comprehensive methodology for service identification and analysis integrating and addressing both domains. Thus, we discuss how our results can inform directions for future research in this area.

International review of environmental assessment tools and databases

Existing widely known environmental assessment models, primarily those for Life Cycle Assessment of manufactured products and buildings, were reviewed to grasp their characteristics, since the past several years have seen a significant increase in interest and research activity in the development of building environmental assessment methods. Each method or tool was assessed under the headings of description, data requirement, end-use, assessment criteria (scale of assessment and scoring/ weighting system)and present status

Authentic and conventional assessment in Singapore schools : an empirical study of teacher assignments and student work

This is an empirical examination of the quality of teacher assignments and student work in Singapore schools. Using a theoretical framework based on principles of authentic assessment and intellectual quality, two sets of criteria and scoring rubrics were developed for the training of expert teachers to judge the quality of assignments and student work. Following rigorous training, the inter-rater reliability of expert teacher scoring was high. Samples of teacher assignments and student work were collected in English, social studies, mathematics, and science subject areas from a random stratified sample of 30 elementary schools and 29 high schools. For both grade levels, there were significant differences for the authentic intellectual quality of teachers’ assignments by subject area. Likewise, the differences of authentic intellectual quality for student work were significant and varied by subject area. Subject area effect was large. The correlations between the quality of teachers’ assignment tasks and student work were strong and significant at both grade levels. Where teachers set more intellectually demanding tasks, students were more likely to generate work or artefacts judged to be of higher quality. The findings suggest that teacher professional development in authentic intellectual assessment task design can contribute to the improvement of student learning and performance. It is argued that this will be a key requisite of educational systems like Singapore that are seeking to expand pedagogy and student outcomes beyond a focus on factual and rote knowledge.

Characterising creativity : a holistic methodology for the assessment of creative works

This paper reports on the early stages of a design experiment in educational assessment that challenges the dichotomous legacy evident in many assessment activities. Combining social networking technologies with the sociology of education the paper proposes that assessment activities are best understood as a negotiable field of exchange. In this design experiment students, peers and experts engage in explicit, "front-end" assessment (Wyatt-Smith, 2008) to translate holistic judgments into institutional, and potentiality economic capital without adhering to long lists of pre-set criteria. This approach invites participants to use social networking technologies to judge creative works using scatter graphs, keywords and tag clouds. In doing so assessors will refine their evaluative expertise and negotiate the characteristics of creative works from which criteria will emerge (Sadler, 2008). The real-time advantages of web-based technologies will aggregate, externalise and democratise this transparent method of assessment for most, if not all, creative works that can be represented in a digital format.

The refractive folio : exegesis and assessment in the open studio

Folio submission is universally regarded as the most appropriate means for measuring a student’s performance in the studio. However, developing meaningful and defensible assessment criteria is persistent challenge for all tertiary art educators. In discipline-based studios, the parameters provided by medium and technique provide useful points of reference for assessing creative performance. But how can student performance be evaluated when there is no discipline-based framework to act as a point of reference? The ‘open’ studio approach to undergraduate teaching presents these and other pedagogical challenges. This paper discusses the innovative approaches to studio-based teaching and assessment at QUT. Vital to the QUT open studio model is the studio rationale – an exegetical document that establishes an individualised theoretical framework through which a student’s understandings can be, in part, evaluated. This paper argues that the exegetical folio effectively reconciles the frequently divergent imperatives of creative, professional and academic skills, while retaining the centrality of the studio as a site for the production of new material, processual and conceptual understandings.

Crash Risk Assessment with Cooperative Systems

Crash risk is the statistical probability of a crash. Its assessment can be performed through ex post statistical analysis or in real-time with on-vehicle systems. These systems can be cooperative. Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Systems (CVIS) are a developing research avenue in the automotive industry worldwide. This paper provides a survey of existing CVIS systems and methods to assess crash risk with them. It describes the advantages of cooperative systems versus non-cooperative systems. A sample of cooperative crash risk assessment systems is analysed to extract vulnerabilities according to three criteria: market penetration, over-reliance on GPS and broadcasting issues. It shows that cooperative risk assessment systems are still in their infancy and requires further development to provide their full benefits to road users.

Sustainable urban development : a quadruple bottom line assessment framework

Sustainable development has long been promoted as the best answer to the world's environmental problems. This term has generated mass appeal as it implies that the development of the built environment and its associated resource consumption can both be achieved without jeopardising the natural environment. In the urban context, sustainability issues have been reflected in the pomotion of sustainable urbanisation in a manner that allows future generations to repeat this process. This paper attempts to highlight an increasing urgency in formulating a suitable model for assessing sustainability at urban level, because this is where the bulk of a nation's population reside, and where sustainability problems mostly occur. It will also point out to the increasing importance of governance in facilitating urban sustainability research. This assessment involves the use of physical, social, environmental and goverance aspects in assessing the extent to which development of an urban settlement is sustainable. Specifically, this assessment model is carried out to determine whether or not sustainable urban development pratice is implemented in the provision of residential development, and in particular whether the development of master-planned residential communities have more desireable outcomes compared to traditional residential subdivision.

Damage assessment in structures using vibration characteristics

Changes in load characteristics, deterioration with age, environmental influences and random actions may cause local or global damage in structures, especially in bridges, which are designed for long life spans. Continuous health monitoring of structures will enable the early identification of distress and allow appropriate retrofitting in order to avoid failure or collapse of the structures. In recent times, structural health monitoring (SHM) has attracted much attention in both research and development. Local and global methods of damage assessment using the monitored information are an integral part of SHM techniques. In the local case, the assessment of the state of a structure is done either by direct visual inspection or using experimental techniques such as acoustic emission, ultrasonic, magnetic particle inspection, radiography and eddy current. A characteristic of all these techniques is that their application requires a prior localization of the damaged zones. The limitations of the local methodologies can be overcome by using vibration-based methods, which give a global damage assessment. The vibration-based damage detection methods use measured changes in dynamic characteristics to evaluate changes in physical properties that may indicate structural damage or degradation. The basic idea is that modal parameters (notably frequencies, mode shapes, and modal damping) are functions of the physical properties of the structure (mass, damping, and stiffness). Changes in the physical properties will therefore cause changes in the modal properties. Any reduction in structural stiffness and increase in damping in the structure may indicate structural damage. This research uses the variations in vibration parameters to develop a multi-criteria method for damage assessment. It incorporates the changes in natural frequencies, modal flexibility and modal strain energy to locate damage in the main load bearing elements in bridge structures such as beams, slabs and trusses and simple bridges involving these elements. Dynamic computer simulation techniques are used to develop and apply the multi-criteria procedure under different damage scenarios. The effectiveness of the procedure is demonstrated through numerical examples. Results show that the proposed method incorporating modal flexibility and modal strain energy changes is competent in damage assessment in the structures treated herein.

Context-Based Modelling of Interferometric Signals for the Assessment of Tear-Film Suface Quality

Modelling of interferometric signals related to tear film surface quality is considered. In the context of tear film surface quality estimation in normal healthy eyes, two clinical parameters are of interest: the build-up time, and the average interblink surface quality. The former is closely related to the signal derivative while the latter to the signal itself. Polynomial signal models, chosen for a particular set of noisy interferometric measurements, can be optimally selected, in some sense, with a range of information criteria such as AIC, MDL, Cp, and CME. Those criteria, however, do not always guarantee that the true derivative of the signal is accurately represented and they often overestimate it. Here, a practical method for judicious selection of model order in a polynomial fitting to a signal is proposed so that the derivative of the signal is adequately represented. The paper highlights the importance of context-based signal modelling in model order selection.

Infrastructure Sustainability : Damage Assessment in Multiple-Girder Composite Bridges Using Vibration Characteristics

Assessing the structural health state of urban infrastructure is crucial in terms of infrastructure sustainability. This chapter uses dynamic computer simulation techniques to apply a procedure using vibration-based methods for damage assessment in multiple-girder composite bridges. In addition to changes in natural frequencies, this multi-criteria procedure incorporates two methods, namely, the modal flexibility and the modal strain energy method. Using the numerically simulated modal data obtained through finite element analysis software, algorithms based on modal flexibility and modal strain energy change, before and after damage, are obtained and used as the indices for the assessment of structural health state. The feasibility and capability of the approach is demonstrated through numerical studies of a proposed structure with six damage scenarios. It is concluded that the modal strain energy method is capable of application to multiple-girder composite bridges, as evidenced through the example treated in this chapter.