FDR and victims of family violence: Ensuring a safe process and outcomes

Family dispute resolution (FDR) is a positive first-stop process for family law matters, particularly those relating to disputes about children. FDR provides the parties with flexibility within a positive, structured and facilitated framework for what are often difficult and emotional negotiations. However, there are a range of issues that arise for victims of family violence in FDR that can make it a dangerous and unsafe process for them unless appropriate precautions are taken. This article discusses the nature of FDR and identifies the many positive aspects of it for women participants. The article then considers the nature and dynamic of family violence in order to contextualise the discussion that follows regarding concerns for the safety of participants in the FDR process. Finally, it offers some suggestions about how Australia could approach FDR differently to make it safer for victims of family violence.

Near infrared optical materials from polymeric amorphous carbon synthesized by collisional plasma process

The synthesis of polymerlike amorphous carbon(a-C:H) thin-films by microwave excited collisional hydrocarbon plasma process is reported. Stable and highly aromatic a-C:H were obtained containing significant inclusions of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV). PPV confers universal optoelectronic properties to the synthesized material. That is a-C:H with tailor-made refractive index are capable of becoming absorption-free in visible (red)-near infrared wavelength range. Production of large aromatic hydrocarbon including phenyl clusters and/or particles is attributed to enhanced coagulation of elemental plasma species under collisional plasma conditions. Detailed structural and morphological changes that occur in a-C:H during the plasma synthesis are also described.

Examination of process to develop a framework for better implementation of quality practices in building projects

Quality, as well as project success, in construction projects should be capable of being regarded as the fulfillment of expectation of those contributors and stakeholders involved in such projects. Although a significant amount of quality practices have been introduced within the industry, establishment and attainment of reasonable levels of quality internationally in construction projects continues to be an ongoing problem. To date, some investigation into the introduction and improvement of quality practices and stakeholder management in the construction industry has been accomplished independently, but so far no major studies have been completed that examine comprehensively how quality management practices that particularly concentrate on the stakeholders’ perspective of quality can be used to contribute to final project quality outcomes. This paper aims to examine the process for development of a framework for better involvement of stakeholders in quality planning and practices and subsequently to contribute to higher quality outcomes within construction projects. Through extensive literature review it highlights various perceptions of quality, categorizes quality issues with particular focus on benefits and shortcomings and also examines stakeholders’ viewpoint of project quality in order to promote the improvement of outcomes throughout a project’s lifecycle. It proposes a set of arranged information as a basis for development of prospective framework which ultimately aims to improve project quality outcomes. The subsequent framework that will be developed from this research will provide project managers and owners with the required information and strategic direction to achieve their own and their stakeholders’ targets for implementation of quality practices and achievement of high quality outcomes on their future projects.

Performance analysis of business process models with advanced constructs

The importance of actively managing and analysing business processes is acknowledged more than ever in organisations nowadays. Business processes form an essential part of an organisation and their application areas are manifold. Most organisations keep records of various activities that have been carried out for auditing purposes, but they are rarely used for analysis purposes. This paper describes the design and implementation of a process analysis tool that replays, analyses and visualises a variety of performance metrics using a process definition and its corresponding execution logs. The replayer uses a YAWL process model example to demonstrate its capacity to support advanced language constructs.

Applying social technology to Business Process Lifecycle Management

In recent years social technologies such as wikis, blogs or microblogging have seen an exponential growth in the uptake of their user base making this type of technology one of the most significant networking and knowledge sharing platforms for potentially hundreds of millions of users. However, the adoption of these technologies has been so far mostly for private purposes. First attempts have been made to embed features of social technologies in the corporate IT landscape, and Business Process Management is no exception. This paper aims to consolidate the opportunities for integrating social technologies into the different stages of the business process lifecycle. Thus, it contributes to a conceptualization of this fast growing domain, and can help to categorize academic and corporate development activities.

Seismic capacity of building constructed in slip formed load bearing wall panels

Constructing buildings using slip formed load bearing wall panels is becoming increasingly popular in Sri Lanka due to several advantages; low cost, environmental friendliness and rapid construction technique. These wall panels are already successfully implemented in many low rise buildings. However, the seismic capacities of these buildings have not been properly studied. Few seismic activities reported in Sri Lanka have not caused severe structural damage, but predictions can not be made as to whether this will continue to be the case in the future. This highlights the need to study the seismic capacity of buildings constructed in slip formed load bearing wall panels. This paper presents a study of the seismic capacity of the existing medium rise building.

Statistical analyses of weigh-in-motion data for bridge live load development

This paper discusses the statistical analyses used to derive bridge live loads models for Hong Kong from a 10-year weigh-in-motion (WIM) data. The statistical concepts required and the terminologies adopted in the development of bridge live load models are introduced. This paper includes studies for representative vehicles from the large amount of WIM data in Hong Kong. Different load affecting parameters such as gross vehicle weights, axle weights, axle spacings, average daily number of trucks etc are first analyzed by various stochastic processes in order to obtain the mathematical distributions of these parameters. As a prerequisite to determine accurate bridge design loadings in Hong Kong, this study not only takes advantages of code formulation methods used internationally but also presents a new method for modelling collected WIM data using a statistical approach.

Empirical research in business process management : introduction to the special issue

In this editorial letter, we provide the readers of Information Systems and e-Business Management with an introduction to Business Process Management and the challenges of empirical research in this field. We then briefly describe selected examples of current research efforts in this fields and how the papers accepted for this special issue contribute to extending our body of knowledge.

Vulnerability assessment of reinforced concrete columns subjected to vehicular impacts

Columns are one of the key load bearing elements that are highly susceptible to vehicle impacts. The resulting severe damages to columns may leads to failures of the supporting structure that are catastrophic in nature. However, the columns in existing structures are seldom designed for impact due to inadequacies of design guidelines. The impact behaviour of columns designed for gravity loads and actions other than impact is, therefore, of an interest. A comprehensive investigation is conducted on reinforced concrete column with a particular focus on investigating the vulnerability of the exposed columns and to implement mitigation techniques under low to medium velocity car and truck impacts. The investigation is based on non-linear explicit computer simulations of impacted columns followed by a comprehensive validation process. The impact is simulated using force pulses generated from full scale vehicle impact tests. A material model capable of simulating triaxial loading conditions is used in the analyses. Circular columns adequate in capacity for five to twenty story buildings, designed according to Australian standards are considered in the investigation. The crucial parameters associated with the routine column designs and the different load combinations applied at the serviceability stage on the typical columns are considered in detail. Axially loaded columns are examined at the initial stage and the investigation is extended to analyse the impact behaviour under single axis bending and biaxial bending. The impact capacity reduction under varying axial loads is also investigated. Effects of the various load combinations are quantified and residual capacity of the impacted columns based on the status of the damage and mitigation techniques are also presented. In addition, the contribution of the individual parameter to the failure load is scrutinized and analytical equations are developed to identify the critical impulses in terms of the geometrical and material properties of the impacted column. In particular, an innovative technique was developed and introduced to improve the accuracy of the equations where the other techniques are failed due to the shape of the error distribution. Above all, the equations can be used to quantify the critical impulse for three consecutive points (load combinations) located on the interaction diagram for one particular column. Consequently, linear interpolation can be used to quantify the critical impulse for the loading points that are located in-between on the interaction diagram. Having provided a known force and impulse pair for an average impact duration, this method can be extended to assess the vulnerability of columns for a general vehicle population based on an analytical method that can be used to quantify the critical peak forces under different impact durations. Therefore the contribution of this research is not only limited to produce simplified yet rational design guidelines and equations, but also provides a comprehensive solution to quantify the impact capacity while delivering new insight to the scientific community for dealing with impacts.

Multicast traffic filtering for sampled value process bus networks

Ethernet is a key component of the standards used for digital process buses in transmission substations, namely IEC 61850 and IEEE Std 1588-2008 (PTPv2). These standards use multicast Ethernet frames that can be processed by more than one device. This presents some significant engineering challenges when implementing a sampled value process bus due to the large amount of network traffic. A system of network traffic segregation using a combination of Virtual LAN (VLAN) and multicast address filtering using managed Ethernet switches is presented. This includes VLAN prioritisation of traffic classes such as the IEC 61850 protocols GOOSE, MMS and sampled values (SV), and other protocols like PTPv2. Multicast address filtering is used to limit SV/GOOSE traffic to defined subsets of subscribers. A method to map substation plant reference designations to multicast address ranges is proposed that enables engineers to determine the type of traffic and location of the source by inspecting the destination address. This method and the proposed filtering strategy simplifies future changes to the prioritisation of network traffic, and is applicable to both process bus and station bus applications.