"Interés social sí, terroristas no" : Los testimonios de sobrevivientes y familiares de víctimas en el juicio a Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz

El presente trabajo se propone analizar los testimonios realizados por sobrevivientes y familiares de asesinados y desaparecidos en el juicio a Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz, realizado en La Plata en 2006 -primer juicio llevado adelante a partir de la anulación de las leyes de Punto Final y Obediencia Debida. Se buscará analizar los relatos sobre la militancia en los años setenta en Argentina que aparecieron en dichos testimonios. Partimos del supuesto de que, a diferencia de los juicios realizados en los años ochenta ?juicio a las Juntas y causa Camps-, existe en la actualidad la posibilidad de referirse a la lucha armada sin sufrir consecuencias penales. Por otra parte, es de destacar que, si bien el espacio judicial suele ser muy estricto en relación a la especificidad de los testimonios, buscando evitar relatos sobre datos innecesarios para las causas, el tribunal que llevó adelante el juicio a Etchecolatz permitía que los testigos se explayaran ampliamente. Asimismo, nos interesa analizar las referencias a la moral militante de las víctimas de las víctimas de la última dictadura. E indagaremos también en los sentidos subjetivos del acto de prestar testimonio en el caso de ex detenidos-desaparecidos

Comprensión, narración y juicio en la obra de Hannah Arendt : Una reinterpretación a partir de los escritos de Walter Benjamin y Martin Heidegger

Este trabajo se propone indagar los desplazamientos y las articulaciones conceptuales que se producen en torno de la comprensión, la narración y el juicio a lo largo de la obra de Hannah Arendt. Al respecto, sostenemos que la problemática fundamental que recorre sus escritos, desde sus primeras formulaciones en torno de la comprensión, su profundización de estos motivos en relación con la narración y sus desarrollos en torno del juicio, es el desmantelamiento de la oposición tradicional entre la vida del filósofo y la vida política, o en otras palabras, entre el espectador y el actor. El recorrido por la reapropiación que Arendt realiza de la comprensión heideggeriana y de la narración benjaminiana, nos permitirá no sólo reconstruir este camino conducente a resituar las actividades intelectuales en relación con los asunto humanos, sino también delimitar las características de la particular hermenéutica crítica que allí emerge y que resulta de especial relevancia para dilucidar su posterior abordaje del juicio. De este modo, luego de haberse alejado deliberadamente de la filosofía y emprendido una crítica radical de esta tradición, entendemos que hacia el final de su vida, Arendt retorna a la filosofía para reconstruirla como una forma de pensamiento que a través de su articulación con el juicio, resulta capaz de desafiar la tradicional oposición entre la filosofía y la política

"No le vamos a dar voz a los represores" : (Des)autorizaciones y (des)legitimaciones en las audiencias del juicio a Etchecolatz

En 2006 se desarrolló en La Plata un juicio a quien fuera Director General de Investigaciones de la policía de la provincia de Buenos Aires durante la última dictadura, Miguel Etchecolatz. Acusado en esta oportunidad por ocho casos de privaciones ilegales de la libertad, aplicación de tormentos y homicidios, fue condenado a reclusión perpetua. Se trató del primer juicio realizado a partir de la anulación de las leyes de Punto Final y Obediencia Debida y, a diferencia de los procesos judiciales realizados durante la década del ochenta, contó con la figura de querellantes. Así, junto a la fiscalía de Estado participaron de la acusación personas particulares, organismos de derechos humanos y diversas organizaciones sociales. En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar las diferentes estrategias jurídico-políticas que adoptaron los distintos actores sociales durante la etapa de audiencias testimoniales del juicio oral, como parte de las luchas por los sentidos del pasado

Comprensión, narración y juicio en la obra de Hannah Arendt : Una reinterpretación a partir de los escritos de Walter Benjamin y Martin Heidegger

Este trabajo se propone indagar los desplazamientos y las articulaciones conceptuales que se producen en torno de la comprensión, la narración y el juicio a lo largo de la obra de Hannah Arendt. Al respecto, sostenemos que la problemática fundamental que recorre sus escritos, desde sus primeras formulaciones en torno de la comprensión, su profundización de estos motivos en relación con la narración y sus desarrollos en torno del juicio, es el desmantelamiento de la oposición tradicional entre la vida del filósofo y la vida política, o en otras palabras, entre el espectador y el actor. El recorrido por la reapropiación que Arendt realiza de la comprensión heideggeriana y de la narración benjaminiana, nos permitirá no sólo reconstruir este camino conducente a resituar las actividades intelectuales en relación con los asunto humanos, sino también delimitar las características de la particular hermenéutica crítica que allí emerge y que resulta de especial relevancia para dilucidar su posterior abordaje del juicio. De este modo, luego de haberse alejado deliberadamente de la filosofía y emprendido una crítica radical de esta tradición, entendemos que hacia el final de su vida, Arendt retorna a la filosofía para reconstruirla como una forma de pensamiento que a través de su articulación con el juicio, resulta capaz de desafiar la tradicional oposición entre la filosofía y la política

"No le vamos a dar voz a los represores" : (Des)autorizaciones y (des)legitimaciones en las audiencias del juicio a Etchecolatz

En 2006 se desarrolló en La Plata un juicio a quien fuera Director General de Investigaciones de la policía de la provincia de Buenos Aires durante la última dictadura, Miguel Etchecolatz. Acusado en esta oportunidad por ocho casos de privaciones ilegales de la libertad, aplicación de tormentos y homicidios, fue condenado a reclusión perpetua. Se trató del primer juicio realizado a partir de la anulación de las leyes de Punto Final y Obediencia Debida y, a diferencia de los procesos judiciales realizados durante la década del ochenta, contó con la figura de querellantes. Así, junto a la fiscalía de Estado participaron de la acusación personas particulares, organismos de derechos humanos y diversas organizaciones sociales. En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar las diferentes estrategias jurídico-políticas que adoptaron los distintos actores sociales durante la etapa de audiencias testimoniales del juicio oral, como parte de las luchas por los sentidos del pasado

"Interés social sí, terroristas no" : Los testimonios de sobrevivientes y familiares de víctimas en el juicio a Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz

El presente trabajo se propone analizar los testimonios realizados por sobrevivientes y familiares de asesinados y desaparecidos en el juicio a Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz, realizado en La Plata en 2006 -primer juicio llevado adelante a partir de la anulación de las leyes de Punto Final y Obediencia Debida. Se buscará analizar los relatos sobre la militancia en los años setenta en Argentina que aparecieron en dichos testimonios. Partimos del supuesto de que, a diferencia de los juicios realizados en los años ochenta ?juicio a las Juntas y causa Camps-, existe en la actualidad la posibilidad de referirse a la lucha armada sin sufrir consecuencias penales. Por otra parte, es de destacar que, si bien el espacio judicial suele ser muy estricto en relación a la especificidad de los testimonios, buscando evitar relatos sobre datos innecesarios para las causas, el tribunal que llevó adelante el juicio a Etchecolatz permitía que los testigos se explayaran ampliamente. Asimismo, nos interesa analizar las referencias a la moral militante de las víctimas de las víctimas de la última dictadura. E indagaremos también en los sentidos subjetivos del acto de prestar testimonio en el caso de ex detenidos-desaparecidos

"No le vamos a dar voz a los represores" : (Des)autorizaciones y (des)legitimaciones en las audiencias del juicio a Etchecolatz

En 2006 se desarrolló en La Plata un juicio a quien fuera Director General de Investigaciones de la policía de la provincia de Buenos Aires durante la última dictadura, Miguel Etchecolatz. Acusado en esta oportunidad por ocho casos de privaciones ilegales de la libertad, aplicación de tormentos y homicidios, fue condenado a reclusión perpetua. Se trató del primer juicio realizado a partir de la anulación de las leyes de Punto Final y Obediencia Debida y, a diferencia de los procesos judiciales realizados durante la década del ochenta, contó con la figura de querellantes. Así, junto a la fiscalía de Estado participaron de la acusación personas particulares, organismos de derechos humanos y diversas organizaciones sociales. En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar las diferentes estrategias jurídico-políticas que adoptaron los distintos actores sociales durante la etapa de audiencias testimoniales del juicio oral, como parte de las luchas por los sentidos del pasado

"Interés social sí, terroristas no" : Los testimonios de sobrevivientes y familiares de víctimas en el juicio a Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz

El presente trabajo se propone analizar los testimonios realizados por sobrevivientes y familiares de asesinados y desaparecidos en el juicio a Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz, realizado en La Plata en 2006 -primer juicio llevado adelante a partir de la anulación de las leyes de Punto Final y Obediencia Debida. Se buscará analizar los relatos sobre la militancia en los años setenta en Argentina que aparecieron en dichos testimonios. Partimos del supuesto de que, a diferencia de los juicios realizados en los años ochenta ?juicio a las Juntas y causa Camps-, existe en la actualidad la posibilidad de referirse a la lucha armada sin sufrir consecuencias penales. Por otra parte, es de destacar que, si bien el espacio judicial suele ser muy estricto en relación a la especificidad de los testimonios, buscando evitar relatos sobre datos innecesarios para las causas, el tribunal que llevó adelante el juicio a Etchecolatz permitía que los testigos se explayaran ampliamente. Asimismo, nos interesa analizar las referencias a la moral militante de las víctimas de las víctimas de la última dictadura. E indagaremos también en los sentidos subjetivos del acto de prestar testimonio en el caso de ex detenidos-desaparecidos

Comprensión, narración y juicio en la obra de Hannah Arendt : Una reinterpretación a partir de los escritos de Walter Benjamin y Martin Heidegger

Este trabajo se propone indagar los desplazamientos y las articulaciones conceptuales que se producen en torno de la comprensión, la narración y el juicio a lo largo de la obra de Hannah Arendt. Al respecto, sostenemos que la problemática fundamental que recorre sus escritos, desde sus primeras formulaciones en torno de la comprensión, su profundización de estos motivos en relación con la narración y sus desarrollos en torno del juicio, es el desmantelamiento de la oposición tradicional entre la vida del filósofo y la vida política, o en otras palabras, entre el espectador y el actor. El recorrido por la reapropiación que Arendt realiza de la comprensión heideggeriana y de la narración benjaminiana, nos permitirá no sólo reconstruir este camino conducente a resituar las actividades intelectuales en relación con los asunto humanos, sino también delimitar las características de la particular hermenéutica crítica que allí emerge y que resulta de especial relevancia para dilucidar su posterior abordaje del juicio. De este modo, luego de haberse alejado deliberadamente de la filosofía y emprendido una crítica radical de esta tradición, entendemos que hacia el final de su vida, Arendt retorna a la filosofía para reconstruirla como una forma de pensamiento que a través de su articulación con el juicio, resulta capaz de desafiar la tradicional oposición entre la filosofía y la política

Rural and remote road safety study : final report

• Introduction: Concern and action for rural road safety is relatively new in Australia in comparison to the field of traffic safety as a whole. In 2003, a program of research was begun by the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q) and the Rural Health Research Unit (RHRU) at James Cook University to investigate factors contributing to serious rural road crashes in the North Queensland region. This project was funded by the Premier’s Department, Main Roads Department, Queensland Transport, QFleet, Queensland Rail, Queensland Ambulance Service, Department of Natural Resources and Queensland Police Service. Additional funding was provided by NRMA Insurance for a PhD scholarship. In-kind support was provided through the four hospitals used for data collection, namely Cairns Base Hospital, The Townsville Hospital, Mount Isa Hospital and Atherton Hospital.----- The primary aim of the project was to: Identify human factors related to the occurrence of serious traffic incidents in rural and remote areas of Australia, and to the trauma suffered by persons as a result of these incidents, using a sample drawn from a rural and remote area in North Queensland.----- The data and analyses presented in this report are the core findings from two broad studies: a general examination of fatalities and casualties from rural and remote crashes for the period 1 March 2004 until 30 June 2007, and a further linked case-comparison study of hospitalised patients compared with a sample of non-crash-involved drivers.----- • Method: The study was undertaken in rural North Queensland, as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) statistical divisions of North Queensland, Far North Queensland and North-West Queensland. Urban areas surrounding Townsville, Thuringowa and Cairns were not included. The study methodology was centred on serious crashes, as defined by a resulting hospitalisation for 24 hours or more and/or a fatality. Crashes meeting this criteria within the North Queensland region between 1 March 2004 and 30 June 2007 were identified through hospital records and interviewed where possible. Additional data was sourced from coroner’s reports, the Queensland Transport road crash database, the Queensland Ambulance Service and the study hospitals in the region.----- This report is divided into chapters corresponding to analyses conducted on the collected crash and casualty data.----- Chapter 3 presents an overview of all crashes and casualties identified during the study period. Details are presented in regard to the demographics and road user types of casualties; the locations, times, types, and circumstances of crashes; along with the contributing circumstances of crashes.----- Chapter 4 presents the results of summary statistics for all casualties for which an interview was able to be conducted. Statistics are presented separately for drivers and riders, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists. Details are also presented separately for drivers and riders crashing in off-road and on-road settings. Results from questionnaire data are presented in relation to demographics; the experience of the crash in narrative form; vehicle characteristics and maintenance; trip characteristics (e.g. purpose and length of journey; periods of fatigue and monotony; distractions from driving task); driving history; alcohol and drug use; medical history; driving attitudes, intentions and behaviour; attitudes to enforcement; and experience of road safety advertising.----- Chapter 5 compares the above-listed questionnaire results between on-road crash-involved casualties and interviews conducted in the region with non-crash-involved persons. Direct comparisons as well as age and sex adjusted comparisons are presented.----- Chapter 6 presents information on those casualties who were admitted to one of the study hospitals during the study period. Brief information is given regarding the demographic characteristics of these casualties. Emergency services’ data is used to highlight the characteristics of patient retrieval and transport to and between hospitals. The major injuries resulting from the crashes are presented for each region of the body and analysed by vehicle type, occupant type, seatbelt status, helmet status, alcohol involvement and nature of crash. Estimates are provided of the costs associated with in-hospital treatment and retrieval.----- Chapter 7 describes the characteristics of the fatal casualties and the nature and circumstances of the crashes. Demographics, road user types, licence status, crash type and contributing factors for crashes are presented. Coronial data is provided in regard to contributing circumstances (including alcohol, drugs and medical conditions), cause of death, resulting injuries, and restraint and helmet use.----- Chapter 8 presents the results of a comparison between casualties’ crash descriptions and police-attributed crash circumstances. The relative frequency of contributing circumstances are compared both broadly within the categories of behavioural, environmental, vehicle related, medical and other groupings and specifically for circumstances within these groups.----- Chapter 9 reports on the associated research projects which have been undertaken on specific topics related to rural road safety.----- Finally, Chapter 10 reports on the conclusions and recommendations made from the program of research.---- • Major Recommendations : From the findings of these analyses, a number of major recommendations were made: + Male drivers and riders - Male drivers and riders should continue to be the focus of interventions, given their very high representation among rural and remote road crash fatalities and serious injuries.----- - The group of males aged between 30 and 50 years comprised the largest number of casualties and must also be targeted for change if there is to be a meaningful improvement in rural and remote road safety.----- + Motorcyclists - Single vehicle motorcycle crashes constitute over 80% of serious, on-road rural motorcycle crashes and need particular attention in development of policy and infrastructure.----- - The motorcycle safety consultation process currently being undertaken by Queensland Transport (via the "Motorbike Safety in Queensland - Consultation Paper") is strongly endorsed. As part of this process, particular attention needs to be given to initiatives designed to reduce rural and single vehicle motorcycle crashes.----- - The safety of off-road riders is a serious problem that falls outside the direct responsibility of either Transport or Health departments. Responsibility for this issue needs to be attributed to develop appropriate policy, regulations and countermeasures.----- + Road safety for Indigenous people - Continued resourcing and expansion of The Queensland Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Driver Licensing Program to meet the needs of remote and Indigenous communities with significantly lower licence ownership levels.----- - Increased attention needs to focus on the contribution of geographic disadvantage (remoteness) factors to remote and Indigenous road trauma.----- + Road environment - Speed is the ‘final common pathway’ in determining the severity of rural and remote crashes and rural speed limits should be reduced to 90km/hr for sealed off-highway roads and 80km/hr for all unsealed roads as recommended in the Austroads review and in line with the current Tasmanian government trial.----- - The Department of Main Roads should monitor rural crash clusters and where appropriate work with local authorities to conduct relevant audits and take mitigating action. - The international experts at the workshop reviewed the data and identified the need to focus particular attention on road design management for dangerous curves. They also indicated the need to maximise the use of audio-tactile linemarking (audible lines) and rumble strips to alert drivers to dangerous conditions and behaviours.----- + Trauma costs - In accordance with Queensland Health priorities, recognition should be given to the substantial financial costs associated with acute management of trauma resulting from serious rural and remote crashes.----- - Efforts should be made to develop a comprehensive, regionally specific costing formula for road trauma that incorporates the pre-hospital, hospital and post-hospital phases of care. This would inform health resource allocation and facilitate the evaluation of interventions.----- - The commitment of funds to the development of preventive strategies to reduce rural and remote crashes should take into account the potential cost savings associated with trauma.----- - A dedicated study of the rehabilitation needs and associated personal and healthcare costs arising from rural and remote road crashes should be undertaken.----- + Emergency services - While the study has demonstrated considerable efficiency in the response and retrieval systems of rural and remote North Queensland, relevant Intelligent Transport Systems technologies (such as vehicle alarm systems) to improve crash notification should be both developed and evaluated.----- + Enforcement - Alcohol and speed enforcement programs should target the period between 2 and 6pm because of the high numbers of crashes in the afternoon period throughout the rural region.----- + Drink driving - Courtesy buses should be advocated and schemes such as the Skipper project promoted as local drink driving countermeasures in line with the very high levels of community support for these measures identified in the hospital study.------ - Programs should be developed to target the high levels of alcohol consumption identified in rural and remote areas and related involvement in crashes.----- - Referrals to drink driving rehabilitation programs should be mandated for recidivist offenders.----- + Data requirements - Rural and remote road crashes should receive the same quality of attention as urban crashes. As such, it is strongly recommended that increased resources be committed to enable dedicated Forensic Crash Units to investigate rural and remote fatal and serious injury crashes.----- - Transport department records of rural and remote crashes should record the crash location using the national ARIA area classifications used by health departments as a means to better identifying rural crashes.----- - Rural and remote crashes tend to be unnoticed except in relatively infrequent rural reviews. They should receive the same level of attention and this could be achieved if fatalities and fatal crashes were coded by the ARIA classification system and included in regular crash reporting.----- - Health, Transport and Police agencies should collect a common, minimal set of data relating to road crashes and injuries, including presentations to small rural and remote health facilities.----- + Media and community education programmes - Interventions seeking to highlight the human contribution to crashes should be prioritised. Driver distraction, alcohol and inappropriate speed for the road conditions are key examples of such behaviours.----- - Promotion of basic safety behaviours such as the use of seatbelts and helmets should be given a renewed focus.----- - Knowledge, attitude and behavioural factors that have been identified for the hospital Brief Intervention Trial should be considered in developing safety campaigns for rural and remote people. For example challenging the myth of the dangerous ‘other’ or ‘non-local’ driver.----- - Special educational initiatives on the issues involved in rural and remote driving should be undertaken. For example the material used by Main Roads, the Australian Defence Force and local initiatives.

Life cycle modelling and design knowledge development in 3D virtual environments : final report

Experience plays an important role in building management. “How often will this asset need repair?” or “How much time is this repair going to take?” are types of questions that project and facility managers face daily in planning activities. Failure or success in developing good schedules, budgets and other project management tasks depend on the project manager's ability to obtain reliable information to be able to answer these types of questions. Young practitioners tend to rely on information that is based on regional averages and provided by publishing companies. This is in contrast to experienced project managers who tend to rely heavily on personal experience. Another aspect of building management is that many practitioners are seeking to improve available scheduling algorithms, estimating spreadsheets and other project management tools. Such “micro-scale” levels of research are important in providing the required tools for the project manager's tasks. However, even with such tools, low quality input information will produce inaccurate schedules and budgets as output. Thus, it is also important to have a broad approach to research at a more “macro-scale.” Recent trends show that the Architectural, Engineering, Construction (AEC) industry is experiencing explosive growth in its capabilities to generate and collect data. There is a great deal of valuable knowledge that can be obtained from the appropriate use of this data and therefore the need has arisen to analyse this increasing amount of available data. Data Mining can be applied as a powerful tool to extract relevant and useful information from this sea of data. Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) and Data Mining (DM) are tools that allow identification of valid, useful, and previously unknown patterns so large amounts of project data may be analysed. These technologies combine techniques from machine learning, artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, statistics, databases, and visualization to automatically extract concepts, interrelationships, and patterns of interest from large databases. The project involves the development of a prototype tool to support facility managers, building owners and designers. This final report presents the AIMMTM prototype system and documents how and what data mining techniques can be applied, the results of their application and the benefits gained from the system. The AIMMTM system is capable of searching for useful patterns of knowledge and correlations within the existing building maintenance data to support decision making about future maintenance operations. The application of the AIMMTM prototype system on building models and their maintenance data (supplied by industry partners) utilises various data mining algorithms and the maintenance data is analysed using interactive visual tools. The application of the AIMMTM prototype system to help in improving maintenance management and building life cycle includes: (i) data preparation and cleaning, (ii) integrating meaningful domain attributes, (iii) performing extensive data mining experiments in which visual analysis (using stacked histograms), classification and clustering techniques, associative rule mining algorithm such as “Apriori” and (iv) filtering and refining data mining results, including the potential implications of these results for improving maintenance management. Maintenance data of a variety of asset types were selected for demonstration with the aim of discovering meaningful patterns to assist facility managers in strategic planning and provide a knowledge base to help shape future requirements and design briefing. Utilising the prototype system developed here, positive and interesting results regarding patterns and structures of data have been obtained.

The impact of perceived stage of cancer on carers’ anxiety and depression during the patients’ final year of life

Objective: This paper explores the effects of perceived stage of cancer (PSOC) on carers' anxiety and depression during the patients' final year. Methods: A consecutive sample of patients and carers (N=98) were surveyed at regular intervals regarding PSOC, and anxiety and depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Means were compared by gender using the Mann-Whitney U-test. The chi-square was used to analyse categorical data. Agreement between carers' and patients' PSOC was estimated using kappa statistics. Correlations between carers' PSOC and their anxiety and depression were calculated using the Spearman's rank correlation. Results: Over time, an increasing proportion of carers reported that the cancer was advanced, culminating at 43% near death. Agreement regarding PSOC was fair (kappa=0.29-0.34) until near death (kappa=0.21). Carers' anxiety increased over the year; depression increased in the final 6 months. Females were more anxious (p=0.049, 6 months; p=0.009, 3 months) than males, and more depressed until 1 month to death. The proportion of carers reporting moderate-severe anxiety almost doubled over the year to 27%, with more females in this category at 6 months (p=0.05). Carers with moderate-severe depression increased from 6 to 15% over the year. Increased PSOC was weakly correlated with increased anxiety and depression. Conclusions: Carers' anxiety exceeded depression in severity during advanced cancer. Females generally experienced greater anxiety and depression. Carers were more realistic than patients regarding the ultimate outcome, which was reflected in their declining mental health, particularly near the end.

Final report : offsite manufacture in Australia Final report off-site manufacture in Australia

Off-site Manufacture (OSM) has long been recognised, both in Australia and internationally, as offering numerous benefits to all parties in the construction process. More importantly, it is recognised as a key vehicle for driving improvement within the construction industry. The uptake of OSM in construction is however limited, despite well documented benefits. The research aims to determine the ‘state-of-the-art’ of OSM in Australia. It confirms the benefits and identifies the real and perceived barriers to the widespread adoption of OSM. Further the project identifies opportunities for future investment and research. Although numerous reports have been produced in the UK on the state of OSM adoption within that region, no prominent studies exist for the Australian context. This scoping study is an essential component upon which to build any initiatives that can take advantage of the benefits of OSM in construction. The Construction 2020 report predicted that OSM is set to increase in use over the next 5-15 years, further justifying the need for such a study. The long-term goal of this study is to contribute to the improvement of the Australian construction industry through a realisation of the potential benefits of OSM.

Final report of Delphi study

This is the final report of project 2002-010 Component Life – A Delphi Approach to Life Prediction of Building Material Components. A Delphi survey has been conducted to provide expert opinion on the life of components in buildings. Thirty different components were surveyed with a range of materials, coatings, environments and failure considered. These components were chosen to be representative of a wider range of components in the same building microclimate. The survey included both service life (with and without maintenance) and aesthetic life, and time to first maintenance. It included marine, industrial, and benign environments, and covered both commercial and residential buildings. In order to obtain answers to this wide range of question, but still have a survey that could be completed in a reasonable time, the survey was broken into five sections: 1 External metal components – residential buildings. 2. Internal metal components – residential buildings. 3. External metal components – commercial buildings. 4. Internal metal components – commercial buildings. 5. Metal connectors in buildings.