The researcher’s perspective on procuring public works projects

Purpose: As part of a comprehensive research study looking at implementing PPPs, interviews with experienced researchers were conducted to realize their views on private sector involvement in public works projects. Design / methodology / approach: Amongst these interviews, five were launched with academics from Hong Kong and Australia, and two were conducted with Legislative Councillors of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (HKSAR) government. Findings: The interview findings show that both Hong Kong and Australian interviewees had previously conducted some kind of research in the field of PPP. The interviewees highlighted that “Different risk profiles” and “Private sector more innovative / efficient” were the main differences between projects that were procured by PPP and traditionally. Other differences include risk transfer. In a PPP arrangement the public sector passes on a substantial amount of the project risks to the private sector, whereas in a traditional case the public sector would take the largest responsibility in bearing these risks. Another common feature of the private sector is that they tend to be more efficient and innovative when compared to the public sector hence their expertise is often reflected in PPP projects. The interviewees agreed that the key performance indicators for PPP projects were unique depending on the individual project. The critical success factors mentioned by both groups of interviewees included “Transparent process”, “Project dependent” and “Market need”. Due to the fact that PPP projects tend to be large scaled costly projects, adequate transparency in the process is necessary in order to demonstrate that a fair selection and tendering process is conducted. A market need for the project is also important to ensure that the project will be financially secure and that the private sector can make a reasonable profit to cover their project expenditure. Originality / value: The findings from this study have enabled a comparative analysis between the views of researchers in two completely different jurisdictions. With the growing popularity to implement PPP projects, it is believed that the results presented in this paper would be of interest to the industry at large.

Health protection

Our understanding of how the environment can impact human health has evolved and expanded over the centuries, with concern and interest dating back to ancient times. For example, over 4000 years ago, a civilisation in northern India tried to protect the health of its citizens by constructing and positioning buildings according to strict building laws, by having bathrooms and drains, and by having paved streets with a sewerage system (Rosen 1993). In more recent times, the ‘industrial revolution’ played a dominant role in shaping the modern world, and with it the modern public health system. This era was signified by rapid progress in technology, the growth of transportation and the expansion of the market economy, which lead to the organisation of industry into a factory system. This meant that labour had to be brought to the factories and by the 1820s, poverty and social distress (including overcrowding and infrequent sewage and garbage disposal) was more widespread than ever. These circumstances, therefore, lead to the rise of the ‘sanitary revolution’ and the birth of modern public health (Rosen 1993). The sanitary revolution has also been described as constituting the beginning of the first wave of environmental concern, which continued until after World War 2 when major advances in engineering and chemistry substantially changed the face of industry, particularly the chemical sector. The second wave of environmental concern came in the mid to late 20th century and was dominated by the environmental or ecology movement. A landmark in this era was the 1962 publication of the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. This identified for the first time the dramatic effects on the ecosystem of the widespread use of the organochlorine pesticide, DDT. The third wave of environmental concern commenced in the 1980s and continues today. The accelerated rate of economic development, the substantial increase in the world population and the globalisation of trade have dramatically changed the production methods and demand for goods in both developed and developing countries. This has lead to the rise of ‘sustainable development’ as a key driver in environmental planning and economic development (Yassi et al 2001). The protection of health has, therefore, been a hallmark of human history and is the cornerstone of public health practice. This chapter introduces environmental health and how it is managed in Australia, including a discussion of the key generic management tools. A number of significant environmental health issues and how they are specifically managed are then discussed, and the chapter concludes by discussing sustainable development and its links with environmental health.

QUT Medical Engineering Research Facility (MERF) annual report 2009

DIRECTOR’S OVERVIEW by Professor Mark Pearcy This report for 2009 is the first full year report for MERF. The development of our activities in 2009 has been remarkable and is testament to the commitment of the staff to the vision of MERF as a premier training and research facility. From the beginnings in 2003, when a need was identified for the provision of specialist research and training facilities to enable close collaboration between researchers and clinicians, to the realisation of the vision in 2009 has been an amazing journey. However, we have learnt that there is much more that can be achieved and the emphasis will be on working with the university, government and external partners to realise the full potential of MERF by further development of the Facility. In 2009 we conducted 28 workshops in the Anatomical and Surgical Skills Laboratory providing training for surgeons in the latest techniques. This was an excellent achievement for the first full year as our reputation for delivering first class facilities and support grows. The highlight, perhaps, was a course run via our video link by a surgeon in the USA directing the participants in MERF. In addition, we have continued to run a small number of workshops in the operating theatre and this promises to be an avenue that will be of growing interest. Final approval was granted for the QUT Body Bequest Program late in 2009 following the granting of an Anatomical Accepting Licence. This will enable us to expand our capabilities by provide better material for the workshops. The QUT Body Bequest Program will be launched early in 2010. The Biological Research Facility (BRF) conducted over 270 procedures in 2009. This is a wonderful achievement considering less then 40 were performed in 2008. The staff of the BRF worked very hard to improve the state of the old animal house and this resulted in approval for expanded use by the ethics committees of both QUT and the University of Queensland. An external agency conducted an Occupational Health and Safety Audit of MERF in 2009. While there were a number of small issues that require attention, the auditor congratulated the staff of MERF on achieving a good result, particularly for such an early stage in the development of MERF. The journey from commissioning of MERF in 2008 to the full implementation of its activities in 2009 has demonstrated the potential of this facility and 2010 will be an exciting year as its activities are recognised and further expanded building development is pursued.

Lateral distortional buckling design rules for back to back LiteSteel beams

A new cold-formed steel beam, known as the LiteSteel Beam (LSB), has the potential to transform the low-rise building industry. The new beam is effectively a channel section with two rectangular hollow flanges and a slender web, and is manufactured using a simultaneous cold-forming and electric resistance welding process. Research into the flexural behaviour of single LSB members showed that the LSBs are susceptible to lateral distortional buckling effects and their moment capacities are significantly reduced for intermediate spans. Build-up LSB sections are expected to improve their flexural capacity and to enhance their applications. They are also likely to mitigate the detrimental effects of lateral distortional buckling observed with single LSB members of intermediate spans. However, the behaviour of build up beams is not well understood. Currently available design rules were found to be inadequate to predict the member moment capacities of back to back LSBs. Therefore a research project based on both experimental and numerical studies was undertaken to investigate the flexural behaviour of back to back LSBs with various longitudinal connection spacings under a uniform moment. New design rules were developed using the moment capacity data obtained using finite element analyses and experimental tests. This paper presents the details of the development of design rules for the back to back LSB sections.

Business process extensibility

Vendors provide reference process models as consolidated, off-the-shelf solutions to capture best practices in a given industry domain. Customers can then adapt these models to suit their specific requirements. Traditional process flexibility approaches facilitate this operation, but do not fully address it as they do not sufficiently take controlled change guided by vendors’ reference models into account. This tension between the customer’s freedom of adapting reference models, and the ability to incorporate with relatively low effort vendor-initiated reference model changes, thus needs to be carefully balanced. This paper introduces process extensibility as a new paradigm for customising reference processes and managing their evolution over time. Process extensibility mandates a clear recognition of the different responsibilities and interests of reference model vendors and consumers, and is concerned with keeping the effort of customer-side reference model adaptations low while allowing sufficient room for model change.

Sustainable futures : the new design landscape

Design talks LOUDLY!!! Is a series of interactive presentations exploring issues and opportunities involving professional design. These seminars are organised by the Industrial Design Network Queensland (IDnetQLD) in coordination with the Design Institute of Australia (DIA). This event was held at the State Library of Queensland (SLQ) with invited public presentations by a panel of industry experts from Brisbane City Council, Sims Recycling Solutions and BEST Futures. The second seminar "Sustainable Futures: The New Design Landscape" highlighted to design professionals the positive effect the design industry can achieve in moving towards a sustainable future. A series of presentations from specialist speakers outlined the new generation of design and how design can surf the sustainable shift. A product’s journey from concept to creation and a life beyond was presented and discussed as a basis of designing for sustainability. The intent of the seminar was to inject a brand new sense of purpose into the design world through inspiring designers to find solutions which move forward into this new sustainable landscape.

An assessment of construction labour productivity in Malaysia

The construction industry is one of major strategic importance. Its level of productivity has a significant effect on national economic growth. The analysis of published census/biannual surveys of construction by the Department of Statistics of Malaysia shows that Malaysia managed to achieve construction labour productivity growth between 1996 and 2005 despite increases in cost per employee. The decrease in unit labour costs is attributed to the value added improvement per worker through the increase in capital intensity. The marginal decline in capital productivity is due to the gestation period and the overcapacity of the industry. The civil engineering sub-sector recorded the highest labour productivity and is the most labour competitive in terms of unit labour cost and added value per labour cost. The residential sub-sectors recorded greatest change in the productivity indicators between 1996 and 2005.

Testing a tri-partite contingent model of engineering cultures : a pilot study

For some time there has been a growing awareness of organizational culture and its impact on the functioning of engineering and maintenance departments. Those wishing to implement contemporary maintenance regimes (e.g. condition based maintenance) are often encouraged to develop “appropriate cultures” to support a new method’s introduction. Unfortunately these same publications often fail to specifically articulate the cultural values required to support those efforts. In the broader literature, only a limited number of case examples document the cultural values held by engineering asset intensive firms and how they contribute to their success (or failure). Consequently a gap exists in our knowledge of what engineering cultures currently might look like, or what might constitute a best practice engineering asset culture. The findings of a pilot study investigating the perceived ideal characteristics of engineering asset cultures are reported. Engineering managers, consultants and academics (n=47), were surveyed as to what they saw were essential attributes of both engineering cultures and engineering asset personnel. Valued cultural elements included those orientated around continuous improvement, safety and quality. Valued individual attributes included openness to change, interpersonal skills and conscientiousness. The paper concludes with a discussion regarding the development of a best practice cultural framework for practitioners and engineering managers.

Structural behaviour and design of cold-formed steel beams at elevated temperatures

Cold-formed steel members are extensively used in the building construction industry, especially in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. In recent times, fire safety has become important in structural design due to increased fire damage to properties and loss of lives. However, past research into the fire performance of cold-formed steel members has been limited, and was confined to compression members. Therefore a research project was undertaken to investigate the structural behaviour of compact cold-formed steel lipped channel beams subject to inelastic local buckling and yielding, and lateral-torsional buckling effects under simulated fire conditions and associated section and member moment capacities. In the first phase of this research, an experimental study based on tensile coupon tests was undertaken to obtain the mechanical properties of elastic modulus and yield strength and the stress-strain relationship of cold-formed steels at uniform ambient and elevated temperatures up to 700oC. The mechanical properties deteriorated with increasing temperature and are likely to reduce the strength of cold-formed beams under fire conditions. Predictive equations were developed for yield strength and elastic modulus reduction factors while a modification was proposed for the stressstrain model at elevated temperatures. These results were used in the numerical modelling phases investigating the section and member moment capacities. The second phase of this research involved the development and validation of two finite element models to simulate the behaviour of compact cold-formed steel lipped channel beams subject to local buckling and yielding, and lateral-torsional buckling effects. Both models were first validated for elastic buckling. Lateral-torsional buckling tests of compact lipped channel beams were conducted at ambient temperature in order to validate the finite element model in predicting the non-linear ultimate strength behaviour. The results from this experimental study did not agree well with those from the developed experimental finite element model due to some unavoidable problems with testing. However, it highlighted the importance of magnitude and direction of initial geometric imperfection as well as the failure direction, and thus led to further enhancement of the finite element model. The finite element model for lateral-torsional buckling was then validated using the available experimental and numerical ultimate moment capacity results from past research. The third phase based on the validated finite element models included detailed parametric studies of section and member moment capacities of compact lipped channel beams at ambient temperature, and provided the basis for similar studies at elevated temperatures. The results showed the existence of inelastic reserve capacity for compact cold-formed steel beams at ambient temperature. However, full plastic capacity was not achieved by the mono-symmetric cold-formed steel beams. Suitable recommendations were made in relation to the accuracy and suitability of current design rules for section moment capacity. Comparison of member capacity results from finite element analyses with current design rules showed that they do not give accurate predictions of lateral-torsional buckling capacities at ambient temperature and hence new design rules were developed. The fourth phase of this research investigated the section and member moment capacities of compact lipped channel beams at uniform elevated temperatures based on detailed parametric studies using the validated finite element models. The results showed the existence of inelastic reserve capacity at elevated temperatures. Suitable recommendations were made in relation to the accuracy and suitability of current design rules for section moment capacity in fire design codes, ambient temperature design codes as well as those proposed by other researchers. The results showed that lateral-torsional buckling capacities are dependent on the ratio of yield strength and elasticity modulus reduction factors and the level of non-linearity in the stress-strain curves at elevated temperatures in addition to the temperature. Current design rules do not include the effects of non-linear stress-strain relationship and therefore their predictions were found to be inaccurate. Therefore a new design rule that uses a nonlinearity factor, which is defined as the ratio of the limit of proportionality to the yield stress at a given temperature, was developed for cold-formed steel beams subject to lateral-torsional buckling at elevated temperatures. This thesis presents the details and results of the experimental and numerical studies conducted in this research including a comparison of results with predictions using available design rules. It also presents the recommendations made regarding the accuracy of current design rules as well as the new developed design rules for coldformed steel beams both at ambient and elevated temperatures.

Force-controlled automatic microassembly of tissue engineering scaffolds

This paper presents an automated system for 3D assembly of tissue engineering (TE) scaffolds made from biocompatible microscopic building blocks with relatively large fabrication error. It focuses on the pin-into-hole force control developed for this demanding microassembly task. A beam-like gripper with integrated force sensing at a 3 mN resolution with a 500 mN measuring range is designed, and is used to implement an admittance force-controlled insertion using commercial precision stages. Visual-based alignment followed by an insertion is complemented by a haptic exploration strategy using force and position information. The system demonstrates fully automated construction of TE scaffolds with 50 microparts whose dimension error is larger than 5%.

IT-enhanced communication protocols for building project management

Purpose – Building project management requires real time flow of information between all the project team members or the supply chain members. In the present scenario, when project participants are geographically separated, adoption of Information Communication Technology (ICT) enables such effective communication. But strategic adoption of ICT requires that all the supply chain members follow the accepted methods of communication or the communication protocols. The majority of the construction organizations are small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This research, therefore, proposes to focus on developing IT-enhanced communication protocols for building project management by SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – The research adopts a sequential mixed methods approach, where data collection and analysis are conducted in both the quantitative and qualitative phases of research. Findings – The protocols are proposed as a “Strategic Model for Enhancing ICT Diffusion in Building Projects”. The framework for the model is discussed at three levels of study, i.e industry, organization, and people. Practical implications – While the research was conducted in an Indian context, the research outcome is envisaged to be widely applicable in other countries with due considerations. Originality/value – The developed framework has implications for national level bodies and academic institutions, organizations, people or project managers and is applicable at the international level after due considerations.

Modelling and control of a large quadrotor robot

Typical quadrotor aerial robots used in research weigh inlMMLBox and carry payloads measured in hundreds of grams. Several obstacles in design and control must be overcome to cater for expected industry demands that push the boundaries of existing quadrotor performance. The X-4 Flyer, a 4 kg quadrotor with a 1 kg payload, is intended to be prototypical of useful commercial quadrotors. The custom-built craft uses tuned plant dynamics with an onboard embedded attitude controller to stabilise flight. Independent linear SISO controllers were designed to regulate flyer attitude. The performance of the system is demonstrated in indoor and outdoor flight.

The design and evaluation of a mobile sensor/actuator network for autonomous animal control

This paper investigates a mobile, wireless sensor/actuator network application for use in the cattle breeding industry. Our goal is to prevent fighting between bulls in on-farm breeding paddocks by autonomously applying appropriate stimuli when one bull approaches another bull. This is an important application because fighting between high-value animals such as bulls during breeding seasons causes significant financial loss to producers. Furthermore, there are significant challenges in this type of application because it requires dynamic animal state estimation, real-time actuation and efficient mobile wireless transmissions. We designed and implemented an animal state estimation algorithm based on a state-machine mechanism for each animal. Autonomous actuation is performed based on the estimated states of an animal relative to other animals. A simple, yet effective, wireless communication model has been proposed and implemented to achieve high delivery rates in mobile environments. We evaluated the performance of our design by both simulations and field experiments, which demonstrated the effectiveness of our autonomous animal control system.

Dragline automation - a decade of development : shared autonomy for improving mining equipment productivity

Draglines are massive machines commonly used in surface mining to strip overburden, revealing the targeted minerals for extraction. Automating some or all of the phases of operation of these machines offers the potential for significant productivity and maintenance benefits. The mining industry has a history of slow uptake of automation systems due to the challenges contained in the harsh, complex, three-dimensional (3D), dynamically changing mine operating environment. Robotics as a discipline is finally starting to gain acceptance as a technology with the potential to assist mining operations. This article examines the evolution of robotic technologies applied to draglines in the form of machine embedded intelligent systems. Results from this work include a production trial in which 250,000 tons of material was moved autonomously, experiments demonstrating steps towards full autonomy, and teleexcavation experiments in which a dragline in Australia was tasked by an operator in the United States.

Use of advanced technology videotapes in the delivery of structual engineering courses

A teaching and learning development project is currently under way at Queensland University of Technology to develop advanced technology videotapes for use with the delivery of structural engineering courses. These tapes consist of integrated computer and laboratory simulations of important concepts, and behaviour of structures and their components for a number of structural engineering subjects. They will be used as part of the regular lectures and thus will not only improve the quality of lectures and learning environment, but also will be able to replace the ever-dwindling laboratory teaching in these subjects. The use of these videotapes, developed using advanced computer graphics, data visualization and video technologies, will enrich the learning process of the current diverse engineering student body. This paper presents the details of this new method, the methodology used, the results and evaluation in relation to one of the structural engineering subjects, steel structures.