Professional indemnity insurance, performance and pre-emptive negligence: The impact of ‘non-claims’

As part of Australian licensing requirements professional valuers are required to maintain a level of professional indemnity insurance. A core feature of any insurance cover is that the insured has an obligation to notify their insurer of both actual and potential claims. An actual claim clearly will impact upon future policies and premiums paid. Notification of a potential claim, whether or not the notification crystallises into an actual claim, also can have an impact upon the insured’s claims history and premiums. The Global Financial Crisis continues to impact upon business practices and land transactions both directly and indirectly. The Australian valuation profession is not exempt from this impact. One example of this ongoing impact is reflected in a worrying practice engaged in by some financial institutions in respect of their loan portfolios. That is, even though the mortgagor is not in default, some institutions are pre-emptively issuing notices of demand regarding potential losses. Further, in some instances such demands are based only on mass appraisal valuations without specific consideration being given to the individual lot in question. The author examines the impact of this practice for the valuation profession and seeks to provide guidance for the appropriate handling of such demands.

Disability performance in Australia

In disability arts, as in so many things, Australia has both its own cultural specificities, as well as the cultural followings that come with being a colonised country. In Australia, our colonial legacy, multiculturalism, and Asia-Pacific location have always made our relation to our own arts and culture fraught, the subject of ongoing aesthetic, cultural and political contestation. We have historically suffered from what Phillips (2006) calls a ‘cultural cringe’, in which we worry about the individuality, value and volume of our arts and culture compared to others, and this comes up again and again in commentary to this day...

Social media, audiences, and audience co-creativity in contemporary performance: Restoring balance?

Producers, technicians, performers, audiences and critics are all critical components of the performing arts ecology – critical components of an ecosystem that have to come together into some sort of productive relationship if the performing arts are to be vital, viable and successful. Different performance practices developed in different times, spaces and places do, of course, connect these players in different ways as part of their attempt to achieve their own definition of success, be it based on entertainment, educational, expression, empowerment, or something else. In some contemporary performance practices, social media platforms, applications and processes are seen to have significant potential to restore balance to the relationship between performer and audience, providing audiences with more power to participate in a performance event. In this paper, I investigate prevailing assumptions about social media’s power to democratise performance practice, or, at least, develop more co-creative performance practices in which producers, performers and audiences participate actively before, during and after the event. I focus, in particular, on the use of social media as a means of developing a participatory aesthetic in which an audience member is asked to contribute to the cast of characters, plot or progression of a performance. Although diverse – from performances streamed online, to performances that offer transmedia components the audience can use to learn more about character, context and plot online, to performances that incorporate online voting, liking or linking, to performances that unfold fully online on websites, blogs, microblogs or other social media platforms – what a lot of uses of social media in contemporary performance today share is a desire to encourage audiences to reflect on their role in making, and making meaning, of the event. In this paper I interrogate if, and if so how, this democratises or develops deeper levels of co-creativity in the relationship between producers, performers and audiences.

Playing Pranks: Traditions, communities & co-creative cultural performance practice

Pranks, hoaxes and practical jokes are co-creative cultural performance practices that appear across times, contexts and cultures. These practices include everyday play amongst families, friends and coworkers, entertainment programs such as Prank Patrol, Punked or Scare Tactics, and aesthetic and activist pranks perpetrated by situationist artists, guerrilla artists, and, most recently, culture ‘jammers’ or ‘hackers’ intent on turning capitalist systems back on themselves. Although it can, in common usage, describe almost any show off behaviour, a prank in the strictest definition of the term is a performance that deploys a very specific set of strategies. It is an act of trickery, mischief, or deceit, that must be taken as real, and momentarily cause real fear, anger or worry for an unwitting spectator-become-performer, who is meant to play along until the trick is revealed and their response can be represented back to the prankster, other spectators, or society as a whole, either for the sake of entertainment or for the sake of commentary on a cultural phenomenon. A prank, in this sense, deliberately blurs the boundaries between daily and dramatic performance. It creates a moment of uncertainty, in which both the prankster’s ability to be creative, clever, or culturally astute, and the prankee’s ability to play along, discern the trick, discern the point of the trick, and, in the end, be duped, be a good sport, or even play/pay the prankster back, are both put to the test. In this paper, I consider a number of pranking traditions popular where I am in Australia, from the community-building pranks of footballers, bucks parties and ‘drop bear’ tales told to tourists, to the more controversial pranks of radio shock jocks, activists and artists. I use performance, spectatorship and ethical theory to examine the engagement between prankster, pranked spectator, and other spectators, in this most distinctive sort of community-driven performance practice, and the way it builds and breaks status, social and other sorts of relationships within and between specific communities.

Four years on: Are the gazelles still running? A longitudinal study of firm performance after a period of rapid growth

This article examines variations in performance between fast-growth – the so-called gazelle – firms. Specifically, we investigate how the level of growth affects future profitability and how this relationship is moderated by firm strategy. Hypotheses are developed regarding the moderated growth–profitability relationship and are tested using longitudinal data from a sample of 964 Danish gazelle firms. We find a positive relationship between growth and profitability among gazelle firms. This relationship is moderated, however, by market strategy; it is stronger for firms pursuing a broad market strategy rather than a niche strategy. This study contributes to the current literature by providing a more nuanced view of the growth–profitability relationship and investigating the potential for the future performance of gazelle firms.

Performance evaluation of non-thermal plasma on particulate matter, ozone and CO2 correlation for diesel exhaust emission reduction

This study is seeking to investigate the effect of non-thermal plasma technology in the abatement of particulate matter (PM) from the actual diesel exhaust. Ozone (O3) strongly promotes PM oxidation, the main product of which is carbon dioxide (CO2). PM oxidation into the less harmful product (CO2) is the main objective whiles the correlation between PM, O3 and CO2 is considered. A dielectric barrier discharge reactor has been designed with pulsed power technology to produce plasma inside the diesel exhaust. To characterise the system under varied conditions, a range of applied voltages from 11 kVPP to 21kVPP at repetition rates of 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 kHz, have been experimentally investigated. The results show that by increasing the applied voltage and repetition rate, higher discharge power and CO2 dissociation can be achieved. The PM removal efficiency of more than 50% has been achieved during the experiments and high concentrations of ozone on the order of a few hundreds of ppm have been observed at high discharge powers. Furthermore, O3, CO2 and PM concentrations at different plasma states have been analysed for time dependence. Based on this analysis, an inverse relationship between ozone concentration and PM removal has been found and the role of ozone in PM removal in plasma treatment of diesel exhaust has been highlighted.

Performance-Based Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Acceptance Procedures for In-Place Soil Testing Phase 3

One of the objectives of this study was to evaluate soil testing equipment based on its capability of measuring in-place stiffness or modulus values. As design criteria transition from empirical to mechanistic-empirical, soil test methods and equipment that measure properties such as stiffness and modulus and how they relate to Florida materials are needed. Requirements for the selected equipment are that they be portable, cost effective, reliable, a ccurate, and repeatable. A second objective is that the selected equipment measures soil properties without the use of nuclear materials.The current device used to measure soil compaction is the nuclear density gauge (NDG). Equipment evaluated in this research included lightweight deflectometers (LWD) from different manufacturers, a dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP), a GeoGauge, a Clegg impact soil tester (CIST), a Briaud compaction device (BCD), and a seismic pavement analyzer (SPA). Evaluations were conducted over ranges of measured densities and moistures.Testing (Phases I and II) was conducted in a test box and test pits. Phase III testing was conducted on materials found on five construction projects located in the Jacksonville, Florida, area. Phase I analyses determined that the GeoGauge had the lowest overall coefficient of variance (COV). In ascending order of COV were the accelerometer-type LWD, the geophone-type LWD, the DCP, the BCD, and the SPA which had the highest overall COV. As a result, the BCD and the SPA were excluded from Phase II testing.In Phase II, measurements obtained from the selected equipment were compared to the modulus values obtained by the static plate load test (PLT), the resilient modulus (MR) from laboratory testing, and the NDG measurements. To minimize soil and moisture content variability, the single spot testing sequence was developed. At each location, test results obtained from the portable equipment under evaluation were compared to the values from adjacent NDG, PLT, and laboratory MR measurements. Correlations were developed through statistical analysis. Target values were developed for various soils for verification on similar soils that were field tested in Phase III. The single spot testing sequence also was employed in Phase III, field testing performed on A-3 and A-2-4 embankments, limerock-stabilized subgrade, limerock base, and graded aggregate base found on Florida Department of Transportation construction projects. The Phase II and Phase III results provided potential trend information for future research—specifically, data collection for in-depth statistical analysis for correlations with the laboratory MR for specific soil types under specific moisture conditions. With the collection of enough data, stronger relationships could be expected between measurements from the portable equipment and the MR values. Based on the statistical analyses and the experience gained from extensive use of the equipment, the combination of the DCP and the LWD was selected for in-place soil testing for compaction control acceptance. Test methods and developmental specifications were written for the DCP and the LWD. The developmental specifications include target values for the compaction control of embankment, subgrade, and base materials.

The impact of simulated astigmatism on functional measures of visual performance

Uncorrected refractive error, including astigmatism, is a leading cause of reversible visual impairment. While the ability to perform vision-related daily activities is reduced when people are not optimally corrected, only limited research has investigated the impact of uncorrected astigmatism. Given the capacity to perform vision-related daily activities involves integration of a range of visual and cognitive cues, this research examined the impact of simulated astigmatism on visual tasks that also involved cognitive input. The research also examined whether the higher levels of complexity inherent in Chinese characters makes them more susceptible to the effects of astigmatism. The effects of different powers of astigmatism, as well as astigmatism at different axes were investigated in order to determine the minimum level of astigmatism that resulted in a decrement in visual performance.

Bricolage and early stage firm performance

Bricolage is one way firms innovate in the midst of resource constraints. In this thesis bricolage in entrepreneurial firms is investigated as is its impact on firm performance. The research provides empirical tests of bricolage and firm performance and tests environmental dynamism and team compositions as moderating effects that impact the bricolage-performance relationship. The limits of bricolage during firm creation are also explored. This research offers several novel theoretical contributions and some suggestions for entrepreneurs who typically use bricolage in attempts of firm creation.

Investigating the impact of project definition clarity on project performance: Structural equation modeling study

Having a clear project definition is crucial for successful construction projects. It affects design quality, project communication between stakeholders and final project performance in terms of cost, schedule and quality. This study examines the relationship between project definition and final project performance through a structural equation model comprising 4 latent constructs and 6 path hypotheses using data from a questionnaire survey of 120 general contractors in the Malaysian construction industry. The results show that in the study population, all three items impact the project performance, but the link between design quality and project performance is indirect. Instead, the clarity of project definition affects project performance indirectly through design quality and project communication and design quality affects project performance indirectly through project communication. The primary contribution is to provide quantitative confirmation of the more general statements made in the literature from around the world and therefore adds to and consolidates existing knowledge. Practical implications derived from the finding are also proposed for various project stakeholders. Furthermore, as lack of the clarity of project definition is a very common occurrence in construction projects globally, these findings have important ramifications for all construction projects in expanding and clarifying existing knowledge on what is needed for the successful delivery of construction projects.

Field performance of in-service cast iron water reticulation pipe buried in reactive clay

Field monitoring is an important means for understanding soil behaviour and its interaction with buried structures such as pipeline. This paper details the successful instrumentation of a section of an in-service cast iron water main buried in an area of reactive clay where frequent water pipe breakage has been observed. The instrumentation included measurement of pipe strain; pipe water pressure and temperature; soil pressure, temperature, moisture content and matric suction, as well as the meteorological conditions on site. The data generally indicated that changes in soil temperature, suction and moisture content were directly related to the local climatic variations. The suction and moisture content data indicated that the soil profile at the site down to around 700 mm, and probably down to 1000 mm, is affected by changes in surface weather, while soil conditions below this depth appear to be more stable. Analysis of pipe strain indicated that the pipe behaves like a cantilever beam, with the top experiencing predominantly tensile strains during summer. Subsequently, these trends reduce to compressive strains as soil swelling occurs due to increase of moisture content with the onset of winter.

Rallying the troops or beating the horses? How project-related demands can lead to either high performance or abusive supervision

In today's high-pressure work environment, project managers are often forced to “do more with less.” We argue that this imperative can lead project managers to engage in either high-performance or abusive supervision behaviors. To understand this process, we develop a model and associated propositions linking a project manager's cognitive appraisal of project-related demands to high-performance work practices versus abusive supervision behaviors—both of which impact three project outcomes: stakeholder relationships, people-related project success factors, and employee well-being. We propose that the choice between high-performance work practices and abusive supervision behaviors is moderated by a project manager's personal resources (psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and dark triad personality).

Visual demands of modern primary classrooms and the impact of refractive anomalies on academic performance

This research investigated the visual demands in modern primary school classrooms and also the impact of common refractive anomalies on a child's ability to perform academic-related tasks. The results showed that relatively high levels of visual acuity, contrast demand and sustained accommodative-convergence are required to perform optimally in the modern classroom environment. It was also demonstrated that relatively low magnitudes of uncorrected refractive error may have a detrimental impact on children's ability to perform academic-related activities at school, with sustained near work further exacerbating this effect. These findings have important implications for both eye care practitioners and education authorities.

Experimental evaluation of the performance of 2×2 MIMO-OFDM for vehicle-to-infrastructure communications

In this paper, a novel 2×2 multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) testbed based on an Analog Devices AD9361 highly integrated radio frequency (RF) agile transceiver was specifically implemented for the purpose of estimating and analyzing MIMO-OFDM channel capacity in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) environments using the 920 MHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. We implemented two-dimensional discrete cosine transform-based filtering to reduce the channel estimation errors and show its effectiveness on our measurement results. We have also analyzed the effects of channel estimation error on the MIMO channel capacity by simulation. Three different scenarios of subcarrier spacing were investigated which correspond to IEEE 802.11p, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial (DVB-T)(2k) standards. An extensive MIMO-OFDM V2I channel measurement campaign was performed in a suburban environment. Analysis of the measured MIMO channel capacity results as a function of the transmitter-to-receiver (TX-RX) separation distance up to 250 m shows that the variance of the MIMO channel capacity is larger for the near-range line-of-sight (LOS) scenarios than for the long-range non-LOS cases, using a fixed receiver signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) criterion. We observed that the largest capacity values were achieved at LOS propagation despite the common assumption of a degenerated MIMO channel in LOS. We consider that this is due to the large angular spacing between MIMO subchannels which occurs when the receiver vehicle rooftop antennas pass by the fixed transmitter antennas at close range, causing MIMO subchannels to be orthogonal. In addition, analysis on the effects of different subcarrier spacings on MIMO-OFDM channel capacity showed negligible differences in mean channel capacity for the subcarrier spacing range investigated. Measured channels described in this paper are available on request.

What is the available evidence concerning relative performance of different designs of mixed-species plantings for smallholder and community forestry in the tropics? A systematic map protocol

Background There has been growing interest in mixed species plantation systems because of their potential to provide a range of socio-economic and bio-physical benefits which can be matched to the diverse needs of smallholders and communities. Potential benefits include the production of a range of forest products for home and commercial use; improved soil fertility especially when nitrogen fixing species are included; improved survival rates and greater productivity of species; a reduction in the amount of damage from pests or disease; and improved biodiversity and wildlife habitats. Despite these documented services and growing interest in mixed species plantation systems, the actual planting areas in the tropics are low, and monocultures are still preferred for industrial plantings and many reforestation programs because of perceived higher economic returns and readily available information about the species and their silviculture. In contrast, there are few guidelines for the design and management of mixed-species systems, including the social and ecological factors of successful mixed species plantings. Methods This protocol explains the methodology used to investigate the following question: What is the available evidence for the relative performance of different designs of mixed-species plantings for smallholder and community forestry in the tropics? This study will systematically search, identify and describe studies related to mixed species plantings across tropical and temperate zones to identify the social and ecological factors that affect polyculture systems. The objectives of this study are first to identify the evidence of biophysical or socio-economic factors that have been considered when designing mixed species systems for community and smallholder forestry in the tropics; and second, to identify gaps in research of mixed species plantations. Results of the study will help create guidelines that can assist practitioners, scientists and farmers to better design mixed species plantation systems for smallholders in the tropics.