Assessment of the suitability of public mobile data networks for aircraft telemetry and control purposes

This paper provides a review of the state of the art relevant work on the use of public mobile data networks for aircraft telemetry and control proposes. Moreover, it describes the characterisation for airborne uses of the public mobile data communication systems known broadly as 3G. The motivation for this study was the explore how this mature public communication systems could be used for aviation purposes. An experimental system was fitted to a light aircraft to record communication latency, line speed, RF level, packet loss and cell tower identifier. Communications was established using internet protocols and connection was made to a local server. The aircraft was flown in both remote and populous areas at altitudes up to 8500 ft in a region located in South East Queensland, Australia. Results show that the average airborne RF levels are better than those on the ground by 21% and in the order of - 77dbm. Latencies were in the order of 500ms (1/2 the latency of Iridium), an average download speed of 0.48Mb/s, average uplink speed of 0.85Mb/s, a packet of information loss of 6.5%. The maximum communication range was also observed to be 70km from a single cell station. The paper also describes possible limitations and utility of using such communications architecture for both manned and unmanned aircraft systems.

Elements of public asset management framework for local governments in developing countries

There is a widespread recognition to the need of better manage municipal property in most cities in the world. Structural problems across regional, state, and territorial governments that have legal powers to own and maintain real property are similar, regardless of the level of development of each country. Start from a very basic level of property inventory records. The need for better manage to the local government owned property is the result of widespread decentralisation initiatives that often have devolved huge property portfolios from central to local governments almost “overnight”. At the same time municipal or regional governments were and continue to be unprepared to deal with multiple issues related to the role of property owners and managers. The lack of discussion of public asset management especially the elements that should be incorporated in the framework creates an important challenge to study the discipline of public asset management further. The aim of this paper is to study the practices of public asset management in developed countries, especially the elements of public asset management framework, and its transferability to developing countries. A case study was selected and conducted to achieve this aim. They involved interviews and a focus group. The study found that in public asset management framework, proper asset identification, public asset needs analysis, asset life cycle and performance measurements are an important element that should be incorporated in the framework. Those elements are transferable and applicable to developing countries’ local governments. Finally, findings from this study provide useful input for the local government policy makers, scholars and asset management practitioners to establish a public asset management framework toward more efficient and effective local governments in managing their assets as well as increasing public services quality.

The impact of managers' characteristics on the use of public relations strategy : an exploratory study in Queensland schools

While previous positive and normative studies have focused on the role public relations should play in organisations and the need for management in all organisations to attend to public relations (Cutlip et al., 2006), there has been little discussion in the public relations literature on why or how managers choose to enact public relations strategies for their organisations. If the discipline of public relations is to cement itself as a management function, then researchers must gain a better understanding of managers themselves given that they are the ones who decide if and how public relations strategies should be employed in the organisation. This study has sought to explore evidence of a relationship between management characteristics and their impact on decisions managers make when choosing which public relations strategies to adopt in response to changes in the organisation’s operating environment. This exploratory research study has been conducted within a specific context of schools in Queensland, Australia. Queensland schools have been facing a number of changes within their operating environment due to changes in Federal funding models in Australia’s education system. This study used an exploratory, qualitative approach to understand the management characteristics demonstrated by managers in schools and how these have impacted on the selection of public relations strategies for responding to their changing and increasingly competitive environment. The unit of analysis for this research study was principals in State (government) schools and in non-government schools. Ten principals were interviewed from four different types of schools in Queensland – the more traditional, elite, private schools (GPS Schools); other Independent Schools; Catholic Schools; and State (or public) schools. These interviews were analysed for quantitative comparisons of the managers’ characteristics across the different schools (in terms of the number of principals in each age bracket, those holding postgraduate qualifications, years of experience etc.); and for qualitative data to provide a greater sense of their understanding of public relations. The 10 schools were selected within a geographic area from Brisbane’s inner city to its outer western suburbs to include an element of competition amongst those managers being interviewed. A detailed review of government, school and other public documents was also conducted to gain an insight into the environment in which principals made decisions about public relations strategy to respond to increasing competition. This study found support for the literature on the relationship between management characteristics and strategy. However, there was also variation in findings warranting further investigation of the literature on the relationship between management characteristics and strategy in a school setting. Key relationships found in this study were between: management characteristics themselves; age and the use of public relations strategies; and gender and the use of public relations strategies. There was also evidence of support for the literature linking the impact that the combination of managers’ age, education and experience had on the use of public relations strategies. While this study was exploratory in nature, it did reveal a number of areas that require further investigation to gain a deeper understanding of how and why managers choose public relations strategies as a response to changes in their operating environment. It also provided a different framework to gain a better understanding of managers’ understanding and support of public relations in schools, which, in conjunction with an analysis of their management characteristics, will hopefully allow public relations scholars and practitioners alike gain an understanding of how and why managers use public relations strategies.

The application of public asset management in Indonesian local government : a case study in South Sulawesi Province

Purpose To identify the challenges faced by local government in Indonesia when adopting a Public Asset Management Framework. Design A Case Study in South Sulawesi Provincial Government was used as the approach to achieving the research objective. The case study involved two data collection techniques - interviews and document analysis. Findings The result of the study indicates there are significant challenges that the Indonesian local government need to manage when adopting a public asset management framework. Those challenges are: absence of an institutional and legal framework to support the asset management application; non-profit principle of public assets; multiple jurisdictions involved in the public asset management processes; the complexity of local government objectives; unavailability of data for managing public property; and limited human resources. Research Limitation This research is limited to one case study. It is a preliminary study from larger research that uses multiple case studies. The main research also investigates opportunities for local government by adopting and implementing public asset management. Originality/Value Findings from this study provide useful input for the policy makers, academics and asset management practitioners in Indonesia to establish a public asset management framework resulting in efficient and effective organizations, as well as an increase of public services quality. This study has a potential application for other developing countries.

Augmenting public urban spaces : the impact of the digital future on the design of public urban spaces

Social media digital and technologies surround us. We are moving into an age of ubiquitous (that is everywhere) computing. New media and information and communication technologies already impact on many aspects of everyday life including work, home and leisure. These new technologies are influencing the way that we develop social networks; understand places and location; how we navigate our cities; how we provide information about utilities and services; developing new ways to engage and participate in our communities, in planning, in governance and other decisions. This paper presents the initial findings of the impacts that digital communication technologies are having on public urban spaces. It develops a contextual review the nexus between urban planning and technological developments with examples and case studies from around the world to highlight some of the potential directions for urban planning in Queensland and Australia. It concludes with some thought provoking discussion points for urban planners, architects, designers and placemakers on the future of urban informatics and urban design, questions such as: how technology can enhance ‘place’, how technology can be used to improve public participation, and how technology will change our requirements of public places?

Delivering value for money in the procurement of public sector major infrastructure : a new first-order decision making model

The significant challenge faced by government in demonstrating value for money in the delivery of major infrastructure resolves around estimating costs and benefits of alternative modes of procurement. Faced with this challenge, one approach is to focus on a dominant performance outcome visible on the opening day of the asset, as the means to select the procurement approach. In this case, value for money becomes a largely nominal concept and determined by selected procurement mode delivering, or not delivering, the selected performance outcome, and notwithstanding possible under delivery on other desirable performance outcomes, as well as possibly incurring excessive transaction costs. This paper proposes a mind-set change in this particular practice, to an approach in which the analysis commences with the conditions pertaining to the project and proceeds to deploy transaction cost and production cost theory to indicate a procurement approach that can claim superior value for money relative to other competing procurement modes. This approach to delivering value for money in relative terms is developed in a first-order procurement decision making model outlined in this paper. The model developed could be complementary to the Public Sector Comparator (PSC) in terms of cross validation and the model more readily lends itself to public dissemination. As a possible alternative to the PSC, the model could save time and money in preparation of project details to lesser extent than that required in the reference project and may send a stronger signal to the market that may encourage more innovation and competition.

Knowledge management strategy for the Building Division, Queensland Department of Public Works

This paper describes the background and methodology developed and employed in undertaking research developing a Knowledge Management Strategy for a key construction focused government agency. This paper reviews this methodology and examines a likely Knowledge Management Strategy. Two central objectives structure this Case Study: 1. Identify categories of important information generated by the Building Division, Queensland Department of Public Works in its service delivery to internal and external stake-holders, and 2. Formulate an appropriate and targeted Knowledge Management Strategy to meet the needs of the Queensland Building Capital Works program. The structure of this paper includes: *Description of the Queensland construction industry setting *Review the relevant literature *Design an appropriate research methodology *Analyse results *Formulate conclusions, contributions and implications of the targeted strategy.

Characterisation of public mobile data networks for aeronautical telemetry purposes

This paper describes the characterisation for airborne uses of the public mobile data communication systems known broadly as 3G. The motivation for this study was to explore how this mature public communication systems could be used for aviation purposes. An experimental system was fitted to a light aircraft to record communication latency, line speed, RF level, packet loss and cell tower identifier. Communications was established using internet protocols and connection was made to a local server. The aircraft was flown in both remote and populous areas at altitudes up to 8500ft in a region located in South East Queensland, Australia. Results show that the average airborne RF levels are better than those on the ground by 21% and in the order of -77 dbm. Latencies were in the order of 500 ms (1/2 the latency of Iridium), an average download speed of 0.48 Mb/s, average uplink speed of 0.85 Mb/s, a packet of information loss of 6.5%. The maximum communication range was also observed to be 70km from a single cell station. The paper also describes possible limitations and utility of using such a communications architecture for both manned and unmanned aircraft systems.

The meaning of 'material prejudice'

As dictated by s 213 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld), the seller of a proposed lot is required to provide the buyer with a disclosure statement before the contract is entered into. Where the seller subsequently becomes aware that information contained in the disclosure statement was inaccurate when the contract was entered into or the disclosure statement would not be accurate if now given as a disclosure statement, the seller must, within 14 days, give the buyer a further statement rectifying the inaccuracies in the disclosure statement. Provided the contract has not been settled, where a further statement varies the disclosure statement to such a degree that the buyer would be materially prejudiced if compelled to complete the contract, the buyer may cancel the contract by written notice given to the seller within 14 days, or a longer period as agreed between the parties, after the seller gives the buyer the further statement. The term ‘material prejudice’ was considered by Wilson J in Wilson v Mirvac Queensland Pty Ltd.

Queensland Court of Appeal opines on the meaning of 'material prejudice'

The decision of Wilson J in Wilson v Mirvac Queensland Pty Ltd was the subject of an article in an earlier edition of this journal. At that time, it was foreshadowed that the decision was to be taken on appeal. The decision of the Court of Appeal in Mirvac Queensland Pty Ltd v Wilson is considered in this article.

Open content licensing of public sector information and the risk of tortious liability for Australian Governments

There has been an increasing interest by governments worldwide in the potential benefits of open access to public sector information (PSI). However, an important question remains: can a government incur tortious liability for incorrect information released online under an open content licence? This paper argues that the release of PSI online for free under an open content licence, specifically a Creative Commons licence, is within the bounds of an acceptable level of risk to government, especially where users are informed of the limitations of the data and appropriate information management policies and principles are in place to ensure accountability for data quality and accuracy.