New Generation Rollingstock Depot: Case Study Report

This report summarises the findings of a case study on Queensland’s New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) Project carried out as part of SBEnrc Project 2.34 Driving Whole-of-life Efficiencies through BIM and Procurement. This case study is one of three exemplar projects studied in order to leverage academic research in defining indicators for measuring tangible and intangible benefits of Building Information Modelling (BIM) across a project’s life-cycle in infrastructure and buildings. The NGR is an AUD 4.4 billion project carried out under an Availability Payment Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the Queensland Government and the Bomabardier-led QTECTIC consortium comprising Bombardier Transportation, John Laing, ITOCHU Corporation and Aberdeen Infrastructure Investments. BIM has been deployed on the project from conceptual stages to drive both design and the currently ongoing construction at the Wulkuraka Project Site. This case study sourced information from a series of semi-structured interviews covering a cross-section of key stakeholders on the project. The present research identified 25 benefits gained from implementing BIM processes and tools. Some of the most prominent benefits were those leading to improved outcomes and higher customer satisfaction such as improved communications, data and information management, and coordination. There were also a number of expected benefits for future phases such as: • Improved decision making through the use of BIM for managing assets • Improved models through BIM maturity • Better utilisation of BIM for procurement on similar future projects • New capacity to specify the content of BIM models within contracts There were also three benefits that were expected to have been achieved but were not realised on the NGR project. These were higher construction information quality levels, better alignment in design teams as well as project teams, and capability improvements in measuring the impact of BIM on construction safety. This report includes individual profiles describing each benefit as well as the tools and processes that enabled them. Four key BIM metrics were found to be currently in use and six more were identified as potential metrics for the future. This case study also provides insights into challenges associated with implementing BIM on a project of the size and complexity of the NGR. Procurement aspects and lessons learned for managers are also highlighted, including a list of recommendations for developing a framework to assess the benefits of BIM across the project life-cycle.

Evaluation of Australian Performing Arts Market 2014-2018 REPORT TWO APAM inter-year report 2015 DECEMBER

The report follows up on data and trends tabled in August 2015 that collected data from two key sources – six identified case study productions that have been tracked for eighteen months, and an online survey delivered to all APAM 2014 delegates. The comparative report has been constructed through an analysis of data reported from the August 2015 and the most recent online survey to all 2104 PM delegates conducted in late November 2015. The report highlights six key trends emerging from the data: The majority of survey respondents will return to APAM 2016; The central reason for attending is the networking opportunities the Market affords; Respondents are confident that a range of new relationships forged at the Market will afford long-term interest and buying opportunities and that as a result of the 2014 event, real touring outcomes were realised for some respondents; Respondents would like to see greater attention to a greater number of networking activities within the program to enable touring outcomes; The multi-venue model is still of concern, and is a recurrent issue from earlier surveys; The level of expense incurred by producers to present work at APAM. Throughout the report, extracted data from the online survey responses will be tabled to develop a narrative in response to the key research aims outlined in the Brisbane Powerhouse Tender document (2011). A full version of the collated responses to the survey questions can be found in the appendices of the report.

Writing the Digital Futures Report 2014-2105 Arts Queensland

The Writing the Digital Futures project brings together international knowledge and expertise in digital writing to cement Queensland as a centre of innovation in writing and publishing within Australia. The purpose of the digital futures project is to change community and professional perceptions of storytelling and publishing in a digital age, with particular emphasis on transmedia/multi-platform storytelling.

Design and Simulation of a Solar Powered UAV for Remote Sensing Tasks Technical Report

This research deals with the development of a Solar-Powered UAV designed for remote sensing, in particular to the development of the autopilot sub-system and path planning. The design of the Solar-Powered UAS followed a systems engineering methodology, by first defining system architecture, and selecting each subsystem. Validation tests and integration of autopilot is performed, in order to evaluate the performances of each subsystem and to obtain a global operational system for data collection missions. The flight tests planning and simulation results are also explored in order to verify the mission capabilities using an autopilot on a UAS. The important aspect of this research is to develop a Solar-Powered UAS for the purpose of data collection and video monitoring, especially data and images from the ground; transmit to the GS (Ground Station), segment the collected data, and afterwards analyze it with a Matlab code.

Report on Red Light Camera Program: Operation from July 1988 to December 1989

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (excerpts) The red light camera (RLC) program commenced in July 1988, with five cameras operating at 15 sites in metropolitan Adelaide. This report deals with the first eighteen months of operation, to December 1989. A number of recommendations have been made… PROGRAM EVALUATION … In 1989 dollars, the program was estimated to have achieved an accident reduction benefit of $1.4m in the first 12 months of operation, which is almost twice the benefit expected using the assumptions made when selecting the sites. (There are 8 recommendations, mostly specific to the particular program characteristics)

The Red Light Camera Evaluation - Interim Report - July 1985

Red light cameras were introduced in August 1983 to deter run-the-red offences and therefore to reduce the incidence of right-angle accidents at signalised intersections in Melbourne. This report was prepared after two years of operation of the program. It provides a detailed account of the technical aspects of the program, but does not provide any detailed, evaluative analyses of accident data.

The Victorian 260 cc Legislation. Evaluation Report Using Accident Data to December, 1982.

Learner and first year probationary motorcyclists are over-represented in traffic accidents, being involved about four times as often as full motorcycle licence holders in relation to their numbers. In an attempt to reduce this over-involvement, the Victorian Government amended the law in 1979 to restrict learner and first year probationary motorcyclists to motorcycles with engine capacities of less than 260 cc. This paper reports an evaluation which showed that casualty rates for learner and first year probationers began to decrease from mid 1979 and continued to do so until the end of 1980. A further analysis indicated that compared to full licence holder casualties, learner permit casualties were about 40% less than expected while first year probationary casualties were about 39% lower.

Queensland pharmacist immunisation pilot phase 1 pharmacist vaccination - Influenza final report

The results of the pilot demonstrated that a pharmacist delivered vaccinations services is feasible in community pharmacy and is safe and effective. The accessibility of the pharmacist across the influenza season provided the opportunity for more people to be vaccinated, particularly those who had never received an influenza vaccine before. Patient satisfaction was extremely high with nearly all patients happy to recommend the service and to return again next year. Factors critical to the success of the service were: 1. Appropriate facilities 2. Competent pharmacists 3. Practice and decision support tools 4. In-­‐store implementation support We demonstrated in the pilot that vaccination recipients preferred a private consultation area. As the level of privacy afforded to the patients increased (private room vs. booth), so did the numbers of patients vaccinated. We would therefore recommend that the minimum standard of a private consultation room or closed-­‐in booth, with adequate space for multiple chairs and a work / consultation table be considered for provision of any vaccination services. The booth or consultation room should be used exclusively for delivering patient services and should not contain other general office equipment, nor be used as storage for stock. The pilot also demonstrated that a pharmacist-­‐specific training program produced competent and confident vaccinators and that this program can be used to retrofit the profession with these skills. As vaccination is within the scope of pharmacist practice as defined by the Pharmacy Board of Australia, there is potential for the universities to train their undergraduates with this skill and provide a pharmacist vaccination workforce in the near future. It is therefore essential to explore appropriate changes to the legislation to facilitate pharmacists’ practice in this area. Given the level of pharmacology and medicines knowledge of pharmacists, combined with their new competency of providing vaccinations through administering injections, it is reasonable to explore additional vaccines that pharmacists could administer in the community setting. At the time of writing, QPIP has already expanded into Phase 2, to explore pharmacists vaccinating for whooping cough and measles. Looking at the international experience of pharmacist delivered vaccination, we would recommend considering expansion to other vaccinations in the future including travel vaccinations, HPV and selected vaccinations to those under the age of 18 years. Overall the results of the QPIP implementation have demonstrated that an appropriately trained pharmacist can deliver safely and effectively influenza vaccinations to adult patients in the community. The QPIP showed the value that the accessibility of pharmacists brings to public health outcomes through improved access to vaccinations and the ability to increase immunisation rates in the general population. Over time with the expansion of pharmacist vaccination services this will help to achieve more effective herd immunity for some of the many diseases which currently have suboptimal immunisation rates.

Validity of a self-report recall tool for estimating sedentary behaviour in adults

BACKGROUND Sedentary behavior is continuing to emerge as an important target for health promotion. The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of a self-report use of time recall tool, the Multimedia Activity Recall for Children and Adults (MARCA) in estimating time spent sitting/lying, compared with a device-based measure. METHODS Fifty-eight participants (48% female, [mean±standard deviation] 28±7.4 years of age, 23.9±3.05 kg/m2) wore an activPAL device for 24-h and the following day completed the MARCA. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) were used to analyse convergent validity of the adult MARCA compared with activPAL estimates of total sitting/lying time. Agreement was examined using Bland-Altman plots. RESULTS According to activPAL estimates, participants spent 10.4 hr/day [standard deviation (SD)=2.06] sitting or lying down while awake. The correlation between MARCA and activPAL estimates of total sit/lie time was r=0.77 (95% confidence interval = 0.64-0.86; p<0.001). Bland-Altman analyses revealed a mean bias of +0.59 hr/day with moderately wide limits of agreement (-2.35 hours to +3.53 hr/day). CONCLUSIONS This study found a moderate to strong agreement between the adult MARCA and the activPAL, suggesting that the MARCA is an appropriate tool for the measurement of time spent sitting or lying down in an adult population.

Electronic Building Passport - Final Report: Project 2 National Energy Efficient Building Project Phase 2

The National Energy Efficient Building Project (NEEBP) Phase One report, published in December 2014, investigated “process issues and systemic failures” in the administration of the energy performance requirements in the National Construction Code. It found that most stakeholders believed that under-compliance with these requirements is widespread across Australia, with similar issues being reported in all states and territories. The report found that many different factors were contributing to this outcome and, as a result, many recommendations were offered that together would be expected to remedy the systemic issues reported. To follow up on this Phase 1 report, three additional projects were commissioned as part of Phase 2 of the overall NEEBP project. This Report deals with the development and piloting of an Electronic Building Passport (EBP) tool – a project undertaken jointly by pitt&sherry and a team at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) led by Dr Wendy Miller. The other Phase 2 projects cover audits of Class 1 buildings and issues relating to building alterations and additions. The passport concept aims to provide all stakeholders with (controlled) access to the key documentation and information that they need to verify the energy performance of buildings. This trial project deals with residential buildings but in principle could apply to any building type. Nine councils were recruited to help develop and test a pilot electronic building passport tool. The participation of these councils – across all states – enabled an assessment of the extent to which these councils are currently utilising documentation; to track the compliance of residential buildings with the energy performance requirements in the National Construction Code (NCC). Overall we found that none of the participating councils are currently compiling all of the energy performance-related documentation that would demonstrate code compliance. The key reasons for this include: a major lack of clarity on precisely what documentation should be collected; cost and budget pressures; low public/stakeholder demand for the documentation; and a pragmatic judgement that non-compliance with any regulated documentation requirements represents a relatively low risk for them. Some councils reported producing documentation, such as certificates of final completion, only on demand, for example. Only three of the nine council participants reported regularly conducting compliance assessments or audits utilising this documentation and/or inspections. Overall we formed the view that documentation and information tracking processes operating within the building standards and compliance system are not working to assure compliance with the Code’s energy performance requirements. In other words the Code, and its implementation under state and territory regulatory processes, is falling short as a ‘quality assurance’ system for consumers. As a result it is likely that the new housing stock is under-performing relative to policy expectations, consuming unnecessary amounts of energy, imposing unnecessarily high energy bills on occupants, and generating unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, Councils noted that the demand for documentation relating to building energy performance was low. All the participant councils in the EBP pilot agreed that documentation and information processes need to work more effectively if the potential regulatory and market drivers towards energy efficient homes are to be harnessed. These findings are fully consistent with the Phase 1 NEEBP report. It was also agreed that an EBP system could potentially play an important role in improving documentation and information processes. However, only one of the participant councils indicated that they might adopt such a system on a voluntary basis. The majority felt that such a system would only be taken up if it were: - A nationally agreed system, imposed as a mandatory requirement under state or national regulation; - Capable of being used by multiple parties including councils, private certifiers, building regulators, builders and energy assessors in particular; and - Fully integrated into their existing document management systems, or at least seamlessly compatible rather than a separate, unlinked tool. Further, we note that the value of an EBP in capturing statistical information relating to the energy performance of buildings would be much greater if an EBP were adopted on a nationally consistent basis. Councils were clear that a key impediment to the take up of an EBP system is that they are facing very considerable budget and staffing challenges. They report that they are often unable to meet all community demands from the resources available to them. Therefore they are unlikely to provide resources to support the roll out of an EBP system on a voluntary basis. Overall, we conclude from this pilot that the public good would be well served if the Australian, state and territory governments continued to develop and implement an Electronic Building Passport system in a cost-efficient and effective manner. This development should occur with detailed input from building regulators, the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB), councils and private certifiers in the first instance. This report provides a suite of recommendations (Section 7.2) designed to advance the development and guide the implementation of a national EBP system.

Meltdown - a tool for classification and analysis of DSF data

An application that translates raw thermal melt curve data into more easily assimilated knowledge is described. This program, called ‘Meltdown’, performs a number of data remediation steps before classifying melt curves and estimating melting temperatures. The final output is a report that summarizes the results of a differential scanning fluorimetry experiment. Meltdown uses a Bayesian classification scheme, enabling reproducible identification of various trends commonly found in DSF datasets. The goal of Meltdown is not to replace human analysis of the raw data, but to provide a sensible interpretation of the data to make this useful experimental technique accessible to naïve users, as well as providing a starting point for detailed analyses by more experienced users.

Healthy waterways social science research report 2015

Healthy Waterways aims to protect and enhance the condition of waterways across 19 catchment local government areas in Queensland. It does this by seeking to influence the decisions and actions – including social lifestyle choices – of community members who interact with these waterways. It then monitors the waterways in the 19 catchments to gauge the impact of these decisions and actions. Each year, Healthy Waterways produces a report on its activities and their impact on the condition of the waterways they are monitoring. This research will contribute to understanding the social component of that report, specifically the attitudinal and behavioural components that underpin social expectations and actions towards protecting and supporting local waterways in communities across the 19 catchment local government areas in Queensland.

Child abuse and neglect: A socio-legal study of mandatory reporting in Australia - Report for the Australian Government

This report presents the results of a national study exploring the law and practice of mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. Government administrative data over a decade (2003-2012) were accessed and analysed to map trends in reporting of different types of child abuse and neglect (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) by different reporter groups (both mandated reporters e.g., police, teachers, doctors, nurses depending on the jurisdiction, and non-mandated reporters e.g., family members, neighbours, depending on the jurisdiction), and the outcomes of these reports (whether investigated, and whether substantiated or not). The study was funded by the Australian Government and administered through the Government of Victoria.

Child Abuse and Neglect: A Socio-legal Study of Mandatory Reporting in Australia - Report for the ACT Government

This report presents the results of a study exploring the law and practice of mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect in the Australian Capital Territory. Government administrative data over a decade (2003-2012) were accessed and analysed to map trends in reporting of different types of child abuse and neglect (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) by different reporter groups (both mandated reporters e.g., police, teachers, doctors, nurses depending on the jurisdiction, and non-mandated reporters e.g., family members, neighbours, depending on the jurisdiction), and the outcomes of these reports (whether investigated, and whether substantiated or not). The study was funded by the Australian Government and administered through the Government of Victoria.