Property development cycle and acquisition strategies

This presenation is part of the UDIA (Qld) Property Development Essentials program, which is a two-day introductory course designed for new entrants to the property industry. The course provides practical advice and direction for those looking to take the first steps into the development industry. This presentation identifies economic factors and their influence on land acquisitions, as well as providing an understanding the property development and business cycles and their impacts on acquisition strategies (long v. short term projects)

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.

Analysis of primary user duty cycle impact on spectrum sensing performance

Spectrum sensing is considered to be one of the most important tasks in cognitive radio. Many sensing detectors have been proposed in the literature, with the common assumption that the primary user is either fully present or completely absent within the window of observation. In reality, there are scenarios where the primary user signal only occupies a fraction of the observed window. This paper aims to analyse the effect of the primary user duty cycle on spectrum sensing performance through the analysis of a few common detectors. Simulations show that the probability of detection degrades severely with reduced duty cycle regardless of the detection method. Furthermore we show that reducing the duty cycle has a greater degradation on performance than lowering the signal strength.

Public accountability : the perceived usefulness of school annual reports

Annual reports are an important component of New Zealand schools’ public accountability. Through the annual report the governance body informs stakeholders about school aims, objectives, achievements, use of resources, and financial performance. This paper identifies the perceived usefulness of the school annual report to recipients and the extent to which it serves as an instrument of accountability and/or decision-usefulness. The study finds that the annual report is used for a variety of purposes, including: to determine if the school has conducted its activities effectively and achieved stated objectives and goals; to examine student achievements; to assess financial accountability and performance; and to make decisions about the school as a suitable environment for their child/children. Nevertheless, the study also finds that other forms of communication are more important sources of information about the school than the annual report which is seen to fall short of users’ required qualities of understandability, reliability and readability. It would appear imperative that policy makers review the functional role of the school annual report which is a costly document to prepare. Further, school managers need to engage in alternative means to communicate sufficient and meaningful information in the discharge of public accountability.

Analytical modeling and sensitivity analysis for travel time estimation on signalized urban networks

This paper presents a model for estimation of average travel time and its variability on signalized urban networks using cumulative plots. The plots are generated based on the availability of data: a) case-D, for detector data only; b) case-DS, for detector data and signal timings; and c) case-DSS, for detector data, signal timings and saturation flow rate. The performance of the model for different degrees of saturation and different detector detection intervals is consistent for case-DSS and case-DS whereas, for case-D the performance is inconsistent. The sensitivity analysis of the model for case-D indicates that it is sensitive to detection interval and signal timings within the interval. When detection interval is integral multiple of signal cycle then it has low accuracy and low reliability. Whereas, for detection interval around 1.5 times signal cycle both accuracy and reliability are high.

Life-cycle management of construction projects based on virtual prototyping technology

Life-cycle management (LCM) has been employed in the management of construction projects for many years in order to reduce whole life cost, time, risk and improve the service to owners. However, owing to lack of an effective information sharing platform, the current LCM of construction projects is not effectively used in the construction industry. Based upon the analysis of the information flow of LCM, a virutal prototyping (VP)-based communication and collaboration information platform is proposed. Following this, the platform is customized using DASSAULT sofware. The whole process of implementing the VP-based LCM are also discussed and, from a simple case study, it is demonstrated that the VP-based communication and collaboration information platform is an effective tool to support the LCM of construction projects.

Reconciling the supply of and demand for carbon cycle science in the US agricultural sector

When asking the question, ``How can institutions design science policies for the benefit of decision makers?'' Sarewitz and Pielke Sarewitz, D., Pielke Jr., R.A., this issue. The neglected heart of science policy: reconciling supply of and demand for science. Environ. Sci. Policy 10] posit the idea of ``reconciling supply and demand of science'' as a conceptual tool for assessment of science programs. We apply the concept to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) carbon cycle science program. By evaluating the information needs of decision makers, or the ``demand'', along with the supply of information by the USDA, we can ascertain where matches between supply and demand exist, and where science policies might miss opportunities. We report the results of contextual mapping and of interviews with scientists at the USDA to evaluate the production and use of current agricultural global change research, which has the stated goal of providing ``optimal benefit'' to decision makers on all levels. We conclude that the USDA possesses formal and informal mechanisms by which scientists evaluate the needs of users, ranging from individual producers to Congress and the President. National-level demands for carbon cycle science evolve as national and international policies are explored. Current carbon cycle science is largely derived from those discussions and thus anticipates the information needs of producers. However, without firm agricultural carbon policies, such information is currently unimportant to producers. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The importance of environmental issues and costs in Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for highway projects

Sustainability has been increasingly recognised as an integral part of highway infrastructure development. In practice however, the fact that financial return is still a project’s top priority for many, environmental aspects tend to be overlooked or considered as a burden, as they add to project costs. Sustainability and its implications have a far-reaching effect on each project over time. Therefore, with highway infrastructure’s long-term life span and huge capital demand, the consideration of environmental cost/ benefit issues is more crucial in life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). To date, there is little in existing literature studies on viable estimation methods for environmental costs. This situation presents the potential for focused studies on environmental costs and issues in the context of life-cycle cost analysis. This paper discusses a research project which aims to integrate the environmental cost elements and issues into a conceptual framework for life cycle costing analysis for highway projects. Cost elements and issues concerning the environment were first identified through literature. Through questionnaires, these environmental cost elements will be validated by practitioners before their consolidation into the extension of existing and worked models of life-cycle costing analysis (LCCA). A holistic decision support framework is being developed to assist highway infrastructure stakeholders to evaluate their investment decision. This will generate financial returns while maximising environmental benefits and sustainability outcome.

The urban water cycle : towards integrated resource management and more sustainable water management systems

The increasing scarcity of water in the world, along with rapid population increase in urban areas, gives reason for concern and highlights the need for integrating water and wastewater management practices. The uncontrolled growth in urban areas has made planning, management and expansion of water and wastewater infrastructure systems very difficult and expensive. In order to achieve sustainable wastewater treatment and promote the conservation of water and nutrient resources, this chapter advocates the need for a closed-loop treatment system approach, and the transformation of the traditional linear treatment systems into integrated cyclical treatment systems. The recent increased understanding of integrated resource management and a shift towards sustainable management and planning of water and wastewater infrastructure are also discussed.

Stress and coping among migrant labourers in urban Vietnam : an adaptation cycle and health vulnerabilities

Rural-urban migration continues to grow in many developing countries including Vietnam. The experience of stress and coping associated with this process may vary for people from different circumstances. However, there has been little research on migrants to date. This study adopts a qualitative approach to research on unregistered, male, migrant freelance labourers in urban Vietnam and to explore factors contributing to stress and coping among this population. The study revealed an array of stressors related to migrants' life experiences in urban space, including physical, financial and social factors. Coping was diverse, including problem-focused coping (PFC) and emotion-focused coping (EFC), pro-social and anti-social, active and passive. Less active and anti-social coping appeared common. Together, weak social network and lack of support from formal systems placed coping and adaptation in a cyclic relationship. The results highlight a multi-disciplinary approach to help cope and adapt effectively for these men.

EduBuilding: material selection from life cycle costing sensitivity

Life Cycle Cost Analysis provides a form of synopsis of the initial and consequential costs of building related decisions. These cost figures may be implemented to justify higher investments, for example, in the quality or flexibility of building solutions through a long term cost reduction. The emerging discipline of asset mnagement is a promising approach to this problem, because it can do things that techniques such as balanced scorecards and total quantity cannot. Decisions must be made about operating and maintaining infrastructure assets. An injudicious sensitivity of life cycle costing is that the longer something lasts, the less it costs over time. A life cycle cost analysis will be used as an economic evaluation tool and collaborate with various numbers of analyses. LCCA quantifies incurring costs commonly overlooked (by property and asset managers and designs) as replacement and maintenance costs. The purpose of this research is to examine the Life Cycle Cost Analysis on building floor materials. By implementing the life cycle cost analysis, the true cost of each material will be computed projecting 60 years as the building service life and 5.4% as the inflation rate percentage to classify and appreciate the different among the materials. The analysis results showed the high impact in selecting the floor materials according to the potential of service life cycle cost next.