Brisbane floods : a traffic and transport perspective

Flood-besieged Brisbane residents were forced to watch the monster river consume their homes and livelihoods then see the receding water leave behind a putrid, tar-like sludge. The rains formed by multiple low pressure systems over Central Queensland caused chaos over the Christmas and New Year break for many parts of Queensland.

Identifying good re-engagement practice : case studies from Brisbane North and West Youth Connections action research

This report summarises the action research undertaken by the Brisbane North and West Youth Connections Consortium during 2010 and facilitated by staff from QUT. The Consortium consists of a lead agency which undertakes both program coordination and direct service delivery (Brisbane Youth Service) and four other agencies across the region who undertake direct service delivery. Funds for Youth Connections are provided by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. This report describes and analyses the participatory action research (PAR) undertaken in 2011, including eight case studies exploring questions seen as important to the re-engagement of young people in education and training.

The Brisbane Cordon scheme : part A - preliminary investigation

It could be said that road congestion is one of the most significant problems within any modern metropolitan area. For several decades now, around the globe, congestion in metropolitan areas has been worsening for two main reasons. Firstly, road congestion has significantly increased due to a higher demand for road space because of growth in populations, economic activity and incomes (Hensher & Puckett, 2007). This factor, in conjunction with a significant lack of investment in new road and public transport infrastructure, has seen the road network capacities of cities exceeded by traffic volumes and thus, resulted in increased traffic congestion. This relentless increase in road traffic congestion has resulted in a dramatic increase in costs for both the road users and ultimately the metropolitan areas concerned (Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics, 2007). In response to this issue, several major cities around the world, including London, Stockholm and Singapore, have implemented congestion-charging schemes in order to combat the effects of road congestion. A congestion-charging scheme provides a mechanism for regulating traffic flows into the congested areas of a city, whilst simultaneously generating public revenue that can be used to improve both the public transport and road networks of the region. The aim of this paper was to assess the concept of congestion-charging, whilst reflecting on the experiences of various cities that have already implemented such systems. The findings from this paper have been used to inform the design of a congestion-charging scheme for the city of Brisbane in Australia in a supplementary study (Whitehead, Bunker, & Chung, 2011). The first section of this paper examines the background to road congestion; the theory behind different congestion-charging schemes; and the various technologies involved with the concept. The second section of this paper details the experiences, in relation to implementing a congestion-charging scheme, from the city of Stockholm in Sweden. This research has been crucial in forming a list of recommendations and lessons learnt for the design of a congestion-charging scheme in Australia. It is these recommendations that directly inform the proposed design of the Brisbane Cordon Scheme detailed in Whitehead et al. (2011).

The Brisbane Cordon scheme : part B - investigation into feasibility and effects

As detailed in Whitehead, Bunker and Chung (2011), a congestion-charging scheme provides a mechanism to combat congestion whilst simultaneously generating revenue to improve both the road and public transport networks. The aim of this paper is to assess the feasibility of implementing a congestion-charging scheme in the city of Brisbane in Australia and determine the potential effects of this initiative. In order to so, a congestion-charging scheme was designed for Brisbane and modelled using the Brisbane Strategic Transport Model with a base line year of 2026. This paper argues that the implementation of this initiative would prove to be effective in reducing the cities road congestion and increasing the overall sustainability of the region.

The life-history and relationships of ‘Orthocladius’ pictipennis Freeman (Diptera: Chironomidae)

The previously unknown larva and pupa of ‘Orthocladius’ pictipennis Freeman have been found, and associated by molecular means. Pharate pupae (males within pupae) allow the link to the described adult. We describe the larva and pupa, and provide short notes on the adult. The taxon is unrelated to Orthocladius – no members of this Holarctic genus are present in New Zealand – and therefore we provide a new generic name, Paulfreemania Cranston and Krosch gen. n. as well as a short discussion of relationships amongst austral Orthocladiinae.

Mapping the ethical journey of experienced nurses now practising in rural and remote hospitals in central and south-west Queensland and in domiciliary services in Brisbane : a grounded theory approach

The aim of this thesis has been to map the ethical journey of experienced nurses now practising in rural and remote hospitals in central and south-west Queensland and in domiciliary services in Brisbane. One group of the experienced nurses in the study were Directors of Nursing in rural and remote hospitals. These nurses were “hands on”, “multi-skilled “ nurses who also had the task of managing the hospital. Also there were two Directors of Nursing from domiciliary services in Brisbane. A grounded theory method was used. The nurses were interviewed and the data retrieved from the interviews was coded, categorised and from these categories a conceptual framework was generated. The literature which dealt with the subject of ethical decision making and nurses also became part of the data. The study revealed that all these nurses experienced moral distress as they made ethical decisions. The decision making categories revealed in the data were: the area of financial management; issues as end of life approaches; allowing to die with dignity; emergency decisions; experience of unexpected death; the dilemma of providing care in very difficult circumstances. These categories were divided into two chapters: the category related to administrative and financial constraints and categories dealing with ethical issues in clinical settings. A further chapter discussed the overarching category of coping with moral distress. These experienced nurses suffered moral distress as they made ethical decisions, confirming many instances of moral distress in ethical decision making documented in the literature to date. Significantly, the nurses in their interviews never mentioned the ethical principles used in bioethics as an influence in their decision making. Only one referred to lectures on ethics as being an influence in her thinking. As they described their ethical problems and how they worked through them, they drew on their own previous experience rather than any knowledge of ethics gained from nursing education. They were concerned for their patients, they spoke from a caring responsibility towards their patients, but they were also concerned for justice for their patients. This study demonstrates that these nurses operated from the ethic of care, tempered with the ethic of responsibility as well as a concern for justice for their patients. Reflection on professional experience, rather than formal ethics education and training, was the primary influence on their ethical decision making.

An obsession with storytelling : conducting oral history interviews for creative writing

Anna Hirsch and Clare Dixon (2008, 190) state that creative writers’ ‘obsession with storytelling…might serve as an interdisciplinary tool for evaluating oral histories.’ This paper enters a dialogue with Hirsch and Dixon’s statement by documenting an interview methodology for a practice-led PhD project, The Artful Life Story: Oral History and Fiction, which investigates the fictionalising of oral history. ----- ----- Alistair Thomson (2007, 62) notes the interdisciplinary nature of oral history scholarship from the 1980s onwards. As a result, oral histories are being used and understood in a variety of arts-based settings. In such contexts, oral histories are not valued so much for their factual content but as sources that are at once dynamic, emotionally authentic and open to a multiplicity of interpretations. How can creative writers design and conduct interviews that reflect this emphasis? ----- ----- The paper briefly maps the growing trend of using oral histories in fiction and ethnographic novels, in order to establish the need to design interviews for arts-based contexts. I describe how I initially designed the interviews to suit the aims of my practice. Once in the field, however, I found that my original methods did not account for my experiences. I conclude with the resulting reflection and understanding that emerged from these problematic encounters, focusing on the technique of steered monologue (Scagliola 2010), sometimes referred to as the Biographic Narrative Interpretative Method (Wengraf 2001, Jones 2006).

Time course of temperature effects on cardiovascular mortality in Brisbane, Australia

Objective To quantify the lagged effects of mean temperature on deaths from cardiovascular diseases in Brisbane, Australia. Design Polynomial distributed lag models were used to assess the percentage increase in mortality up to 30 days associated with an increase (or decrease) of 1°C above (or below) the threshold temperature. Setting Brisbane, Australia. Patients 22 805 cardiovascular deaths registered between 1996 and 2004. Main outcome measures Deaths from cardiovascular diseases. Results The results show a longer lagged effect in cold days and a shorter lagged effect in hot days. For the hot effect, a statistically significant association was observed only for lag 0–1 days. The percentage increase in mortality was found to be 3.7% (95% CI 0.4% to 7.1%) for people aged ≥65 years and 3.5% (95% CI 0.4% to 6.7%) for all ages associated with an increase of 1°C above the threshold temperature of 24°C. For the cold effect, a significant effect of temperature was found for 10–15 lag days. The percentage estimates for older people and all ages were 3.1% (95% CI 0.7% to 5.7%) and 2.8% (95% CI 0.5% to 5.1%), respectively, with a decrease of 1°C below the threshold temperature of 24°C. Conclusions The lagged effects lasted longer for cold temperatures but were apparently shorter for hot temperatures. There was no substantial difference in the lag effect of temperature on mortality between all ages and those aged ≥65 years in Brisbane, Australia.

Lumia : Art | light | motion. The Art of Kuuki.

The State Library of Queensland is delighted to present Lumia: art/light/motion, a culmination of many years of collaboration by the Kuuki collective led by Priscilla Bracks and Gavin Sade. This extraordinary exhibition not only showcases the unique talent of these Queenslanders, it also opens up a world of future possibilities while re-presenting the past and present. These contemporary new media installations sit comfortably within the walls of the library as they are the distinctive products of inquisitive and philosophical minds. In a sense the exhibition highlights the longevity and purposefulness of a cultural learning institution, through the non-traditional use of data, information, research and collection interpretation. The exhibition simultaneously articulates one of our key objectives – to progress the state’s digital agenda. Two academic essays have been commissioned for this joint Kuuki and State Library of Queensland publication. The first is by artist and writer Paul Brown, who has specialised in art, science and technology since the late 1960s and in computational and generative art since the mid 1970s. Brown investigates the history of new media, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, and clearly places Sade and Bracks at the forefront of this genre nationally. The second essay is by arts writer Linda Carroli, who has delved deeply into the thoughts and processes of the artists to bring to light the complex workings of the artists’ minds. The publication also features an interview Carroli conducted with the artists. This exhibition is playful, informative and contemplative. The audience is invited to play, and consequently to ponder the way we live and the environmental and social implications of our choices. The exhibition tempts us to travel deep into the Antarctic, plunge into the Great Barrier Reef, be swamped by an orchestra of crickets, enter the Charmed world and travel back in time to a Victorian parlour where you can interact with a ‘new-world’ lyrebird and consider a brave new world where our only link to the animal world is with robotic representations. In essence this exhibition is about ideas and knowledge and what better institution than the State Library of Queensland to partner such a project?. State Library is committed to preserving culture, exploring new media and creating new content as a lasting legacy of Queensland for all Queenslanders.

Noir and the urban imaginary

Noir and the Urban Imaginary is creative practice based PhD research comprising critical analysis (40%) exegesis (10%) and a twenty-six minute film, The Brisbane Line (50%). The research investigates intersection of four elements; the city, the cinema, history and postmodernity. The thesis discusses relationships between each of the four elements and what cinematic representation of cities reveals about modern and postmodern urban experience and historicisation. Key concepts in the research include, 'urbanism', 'historiography', 'modernity', 'postmodernity', 'neo-noir'.

History-aware, real-time risk detection in business processes (Extended Version)

This paper proposes a novel approach for identifying risks in executable business processes and detecting them at run time. The approach considers risks in all phases of the business process management lifecycle, and is realized via a distributed, sensor-based architecture. At design-time, sensors are defined to specify risk conditions which when fulfilled, are a likely indicator of faults to occur. Both historical and current execution data can be used to compose such conditions. At run-time, each sensor independently notifies a sensor manager when a risk is detected. In turn, the sensor manager interacts with the monitoring component of a process automation suite to prompt the results to the user who may take remedial actions. The proposed architecture has been implemented in the YAWL system and its performance has been evaluated in practice.

Global Lessons from Fitzgerald : From State and National to Global Integrity Systems

Tony Fitzgerald’s visionary leap was to see beyond localised, individual wrongdoing. He suggested remedies that were systemic, institutionalised, and directed at underlying structural problems that led to corruption. His report said ‘the problems with which this Inquiry is concerned are not merely associated with individuals, but are institutionalized and related to attitudes which have become entrenched’ (Fitzgerald Report 1989, 13). His response was to suggest an enmeshed system of measures to not only respond reactively to future corruption, but also to prevent its recurrence through improved integrity systems. In the two decades since that report the primary focus of corruption studies and anti-corruption activism has remained on corruption at the local level or within sovereign states. International activism was largely directed at co-ordinating national campaigns and to use international instruments to make these campaigns more effective domestically. This reflects the broader fact that, since the rise of the nation state, states have comprised the majority of the largest institutional actors and have been the most significant institution in the lives of most individuals. This made states the ‘main game in town’ for the ‘governance disciplines’ of ethics, law, political science and economics.

Maternal exposure to ambient temperature and the risk of preterm birth and stillbirth in Brisbane, Australia

Almost 10% of all births are preterm and 2.2% are stillbirths globally. Recent research has suggested that environmental factors may be a contributory cause to these adverse birth outcomes. The authors examined the relationship between ambient temperature and preterm birth and stillbirth in Brisbane, Australia between 2005 and 2009 (n = 101,870). They used a Cox proportional hazard model with live birth and stillbirth as competing risks. They also examined if there were periods of the pregnancy where exposure to high temperatures had a greater effect. Exposure to higher ambient temperatures during pregnancy increased the risk of stillbirth. The hazard ratio for stillbirth was 0.3 at 12 °C relative to the reference temperature at 21 °C. The temperature effect was greatest for fetuses of less than 36 weeks of gestation. There was an association between higher temperature and shorter gestation, as the hazard ratio for live birth was 0.96 at 15 °C and 1.02 at 25 °C. This effect was greatest at later gestational ages. The results provide strong evidence of an association between increased temperature and increased risk of stillbirth and shorter gestations.

Included by design : a case for regulation for accessible housing in Australia

Accessible housing is a scarce yet much needed commodity in Australia. A national agreement between industry and advocacy groups to a voluntary approach, called the Livable Design program, aims to provide access features in all new housing by 2020. Through a range of awareness raising initiatives, the program is anticipating increased supply by builders and increased demand by home-buyers. However the people who need accessible housing are the least likely and least able to buy it at the point of new sale and average homebuyers do not consider access features as a priority. This approach has not been successful overseas or in Australia in the past. Regulation with incentives supported by education and awareness has provided the best results, yet, regulation typically comes with controversy and resistance from the housing industry. A study is planned to identify how effective the Livable Design program is likely to be, what is likely to hinder it and why regulation is likely to be needed.

Play in the city : Parkour and architecture

The ability to play freely in our cities is essential for sustainable wellbeing. When integrated successfully into our cities, Urban Play performs an important role; physically, socially and culturally contributing to the image of the city. While Urban Play is essential, it also finds itself in conflict with the city. Under modernist urban approaches play activities have become progressively segregated from the urban context through a tripartite of design, procurement and management practices. Despite these restrictions, emergent underground play forms overcome the isolation of play within urban space. One of these activities (parkour) is used as an evocative case study to reveal the hidden urban terrains of desire and fear as it re-interprets the fabric of the city, eliciting practice based discussions about procurement, design and management practice along its route.