Value-mapping inputs

This research aims to increase understanding of and delivery to qualitative (or intangible) outcomes and impacts of major economic infrastructure projects (i.e. bridges, roads, water infrastructure and the like), and the role of stakeholder engagement in this process.-------- Recent doctoral research completed at the Queensland University of Technology by the author investigated how the principles of corporate responsibility are applied in the construction sector. This related specifically to major economic infrastructure projects (hereafter referred to as major projects), with particular regard to urban transportation projects. One outcome of this past research was a value-mapping framework which enables organisations to track project outcomes to pre-existing corporate objectives, and report on these throughout the project life-cycle. Two recommendations for future research from that work formed the basis for this current research: • How can qualitative measurables be better integrated into decision-making on major economic infrastructure projects? • How can non-contractual stakeholders be more effectively engaged with on these projects? The link between these two areas may relate to the stakeholders’ role in qualitative indicator identification and measurement. This is a key point for future investigation.---------- The aim of this research is thus to further investigate these two areas, with the intent of (i) better defining the research direction; (ii) identifying potential research partners; and (iii) identify possible sources of future funding.

Construction performance and organisational culture

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the outcomes of a detailed research study carried out as part of the fulfilment of a doctoral programme which examined the relationships between, and impacts of organisational culture on construction performance within a Hong Kong context. The research used a mixed methodology approach consisting of an organisational culture survey using an adapted validated and reliable measurement instrument (the Denison Organisational Culture Survey), mini-case studies in four Hong Kong construction companies and correlated the derived culture scores against performance scores measured by the Hong Kong Housing Department Performance Assessment Scoring System (PASS). The significance of the research was to advance knowledge of the importance of organisational culture strength as a performance driver in the construction industry and the further proof of the culture performance links using a set of measures of the latter which were not financially-based. The findings of the research make a contribution to theory by further validating the work by Denison (1990) and others, not only in that a successful link between organisational culture and performance was demonstrated, but it also identifies particular cultural factors in organisations that appear to be significantly responsible for achieving successful outcomes and reveals opportunities for further research into the organisational culture of construction companies Keywords: organisational culture, construction performance, business success.

Adaptive depth estimation in image based visual servo control of dynamic systems

This paper considers the question of designing a fully image based visual servo control for a dynamic system. The work is motivated by the ongoing development of image based visual servo control of small aerial robotic vehicles. The observed targets considered are coloured blobs on a flat surface to which the normal direction is known. The theoretical framework is directly applicable to the case of markings on a horizontal floor or landing field. The image features used are a first order spherical moment for position and an image flow measurement for velocity. A fully non-linear adaptive control design is provided that ensures global stability of the closed-loop system. © 2005 IEEE.

Validation of an Australian sign language instrument of outcome measurement for adults in mental health settings

Objective: There are currently no adult mental health outcome measures that have been translated into Australian sign language (Auslan). Without a valid and reliable Auslan outcome measure, empirical research into the efficacy of mental health interventions for sign language users is unattainable. To address this research problem the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS), a measure of general functioning, was translated into Auslan and recorded on to digital video disk for use in clinical settings. The purpose of the present study was therefore to examine the reliability, validity and acceptability of an Auslan version of the ORS (ORS-Auslan). Method: The ORS-Auslan was administered to 44 deaf people who use Auslan as their first language and who identify as members of a deaf community (termed ‘Deaf’ people) on their first presentation to a mental health or counselling facility and to 55 Deaf people in the general community. The community sample also completed an Auslan version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Results: t-Tests indicated significant differences between the mean scores for the clinical and community sample. Internal consistency was acceptable given the low number of items in the ORS-Auslan. Construct validity was established by significant correlations between total scores on the DASS-21-Auslan and ORS-Auslan. Acceptability of ORS-Auslan was evident in the completion rate of 93% compared with 63% for DASS-21-Auslan. Conclusions: This is the only Auslan outcome measure available that can be used across a wide variety of mental health and clinical settings. The ORS-Auslan provides mental health clinicians with a reliable and valid, brief measure of general functioning that can significantly distinguish between clinical and non-clinical presentations for members of the Deaf community.

Development of a Systematic Approach to Assessing Quality within Australian Residential Aged Care Facilities: The Clinical Care Indicators Tool

Recent years have seen the introduction of formalised accreditation processes in both community and residential aged care, but these only partially address quality assessment within this sector. Residential aged care in Australia does not yet have a standardised system of resident assessment related to clinical, rather than administrative, outcomes. This paper describes the development of a quality assessment tool aimed at addressing this gap. Utilising previous research and the results of nominal groups with experts in the field, the 21-item Clinical Care Indicators (CCI) Tool for residential aged care was developed and trialled nationally. The CCI Tool was found to be simple to use and an effective means of collecting data on the state of resident health and care, with potential benefits for resident care planning and continuous quality improvement within facilities and organisations. The CCI Tool was further refined through a small intervention study to assess its utility as a quality improvement instrument and to investigate its relationship with resident quality of life. The current version covers 23 clinical indicators, takes about 30 minutes to complete and is viewed favourably by nursing staff who use it. Current work focuses on psychometric analysis and benchmarking, which should enable the CCI Tool to make a positive contribution to the measurement of quality in aged care in Australia.

Design and deployment of a remote robust sensor network : experiences from an outdoor water quality monitoring network

This paper investigates a wireless sensor network deployment - monitoring water quality, e.g. salinity and the level of the underground water table - in a remote tropical area of northern Australia. Our goal is to collect real time water quality measurements together with the amount of water being pumped out in the area, and investigate the impacts of current irrigation practice on the environments, in particular underground water salination. This is a challenging task featuring wide geographic area coverage (mean transmission range between nodes is more than 800 meters), highly variable radio propagations, high end-to-end packet delivery rate requirements, and hostile deployment environments. We have designed, implemented and deployed a sensor network system, which has been collecting water quality and flow measurements, e.g., water flow rate and water flow ticks for over one month. The preliminary results show that sensor networks are a promising solution to deploying a sustainable irrigation system, e.g., maximizing the amount of water pumped out from an area with minimum impact on water quality.

Dynamic Image-based visual servo control using centroid and optic flow features

This paper considers the question of designing a fully image-based visual servo control for a class of dynamic systems. The work is motivated by the ongoing development of image-based visual servo control of small aerial robotic vehicles. The kinematics and dynamics of a rigid-body dynamical system (such as a vehicle airframe) maneuvering over a flat target plane with observable features are expressed in terms of an unnormalized spherical centroid and an optic flow measurement. The image-plane dynamics with respect to force input are dependent on the height of the camera above the target plane. This dependence is compensated by introducing virtual height dynamics and adaptive estimation in the proposed control. A fully nonlinear adaptive control design is provided that ensures asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system for all feasible initial conditions. The choice of control gains is based on an analysis of the asymptotic dynamics of the system. Results from a realistic simulation are presented that demonstrate the performance of the closed-loop system. To the author's knowledge, this paper documents the first time that an image-based visual servo control has been proposed for a dynamic system using vision measurement for both position and velocity.

Animal behaviour understanding using wireless sensor networks

This paper presents research that is being conducted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) with the aim of investigating the use of wireless sensor networks for automated livestock monitoring and control. It is difficult to achieve practical and reliable cattle monitoring with current conventional technologies due to challenges such as large grazing areas of cattle, long time periods of data sampling, and constantly varying physical environments. Wireless sensor networks bring a new level of possibilities into this area with the potential for greatly increased spatial and temporal resolution of measurement data. CSIRO has created a wireless sensor platform for animal behaviour monitoring where we are able to observe and collect information of animals without significantly interfering with them. Based on such monitoring information, we can identify each animal's behaviour and activities successfully

Robust pose estimation for a car-like vehicle

In this paper, we outline the sensing system used for the visual pose control of our experimental car-like vehicle, the autonomous tractor. The sensing system consists of a magnetic compass, an omnidirectional camera and a low-resolution odometry system. In this work, information from these sensors is fused using complementary filters. Complementary filters provide a means of fusing information from sensors with different characteristics in order to produce a more reliable estimate of the desired variable. Here, the range and bearing of landmarks observed by the vision system are fused with odometry information and a vehicle model, providing a more reliable estimate of these states. We also present a method of combining a compass sensor with odometry and a vehicle model to improve the heading estimate.

Technological Change and Nursing: A Labour Process Theory Approach to the Shaping of Nursing Work

Technology and Nursing Practice explains and critically engages with the practice implications of technology for nursing. It takes a broad view of technology, covering not only health informatics, but also 'tele-nursing' and the use of equipment in clinical practice.

A comparative study of the methods of inclusion of PMU current phasor measurements in a hybrid state estimator

The paper compares three different methods of inclusion of current phasor measurements by phasor measurement units (PMUs) in the conventional power system state estimator. For each of the three methods, comprehensive formulation of the hybrid state estimator in the presence of conventional and PMU measurements is presented. The performance of the state estimator in the presence of conventional measurements and optimally placed PMUs is evaluated in terms of convergence characteristics and estimator accuracy. Test results on the IEEE 14-bus and IEEE 300-bus systems are analyzed to determine the best possible method of inclusion of PMU current phasor measurements.

The risky behaviour of young drivers : developing a measurement tool

The contribution of risky behaviour to the increased crash and fatality rates of young novice drivers is recognised in the road safety literature around the world. Exploring such risky driver behaviour has led to the development of tools like the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) to examine driving violations, errors, and lapses [1]. Whilst the DBQ has been utilised in young novice driver research, some items within this tool seem specifically designed for the older, more experienced driver, whilst others appear to asses both behaviour and related motives. The current study was prompted by the need for a risky behaviour measurement tool that can be utilised with young drivers with a provisional driving licence. Sixty-three items exploring young driver risky behaviour developed from the road safety literature were incorporated into an online survey. These items assessed driver, passenger, journey, car and crash-related issues. A sample of 476 drivers aged 17-25 years (M = 19, SD = 1.59 years) with a provisional driving licence and matched for age, gender, and education were drawn from a state-wide sample of 761 young drivers who completed the survey. Factor analysis based upon a principal components extraction of factors was followed by an oblique rotation to investigate the underlying dimensions to young novice driver risky behaviour. A five factor solution comprising 44 items was identified, accounting for 55% of the variance in young driver risky behaviour. Factor 1 accounted for 32.5% of the variance and appeared to measure driving violations that were transient in nature - risky behaviours that followed risky decisions that occurred during the journey (e.g., speeding). Factor 2 accounted for 10.0% of variance and appeared to measure driving violations that were fixed in nature; the risky decisions being undertaken before the journey (e.g., drink driving). Factor 3 accounted for 5.4% of variance and appeared to measure misjudgment (e.g., misjudged speed of oncoming vehicle). Factor 4 accounted for 4.3% of variance and appeared to measure risky driving exposure (e.g., driving at night with friends as passengers). Factor 5 accounted for 2.8% of variance and appeared to measure driver emotions or mood (e.g., anger). Given that the aim of the study was to create a research tool, the factors informed the development of five subscales and one composite scale. The composite scale had a very high internal consistency measure (Cronbach’s alpha) of .947. Self-reported data relating to police-detected driving offences, their crash involvement, and their intentions to break road rules within the next year were also collected. While the composite scale was only weakly correlated with self-reported crashes (r = .16, p < .001), it was moderately correlated with offences (r = .26, p < .001), and highly correlated with their intentions to break the road rules (r = .57, p < .001). Further application of the developed scale is needed to confirm the factor structure within other samples of young drivers both in Australia and in other countries. In addition, future research could explore the applicability of the scale for investigating the behaviour of other types of drivers.

Overcoming reputation and proof-of-work systems in botnets

Reputation and proof-of-work systems have been outlined as methods bot masters will soon use to defend their peer-to-peer botnets. These techniques are designed to prevent sybil attacks, such as those that led to the downfall of the Storm botnet. To evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques, a botnet that employed these techniques was simulated, and the amount of resources required to stage a successful sybil attack against it measured. While the proof-of-work system was found to increase the resources required for a successful sybil attack, the reputation system was found to lower the amount of resources required to disable the botnet.

Examining psychosocial influences on speeding in Australian and Chinese contexts : a social learning approach

Speeding remains a significant contributing factor to road trauma internationally, despite increasingly sophisticated speed management strategies being adopted around the world. Increases in travel speed are associated with increases in crash risk and crash severity. As speed choice is a voluntary behaviour, driver perceptions are important to our understanding of speeding and, importantly, to designing effective behavioural countermeasures. The four studies conducted in this program of research represent a comprehensive approach to examining psychosocial influences on driving speeds in two countries that are at very different levels of road safety development: Australia and China. Akers’ social learning theory (SLT) was selected as the theoretical framework underpinning this research and guided the development of key research hypotheses. This theory was chosen because of its ability to encompass psychological, sociological, and criminological perspectives in understanding behaviour, each of which has relevance to speeding. A mixed-method design was used to explore the personal, social, and legal influences on speeding among car drivers in Queensland (Australia) and Beijing (China). Study 1 was a qualitative exploration, via focus group interviews, of speeding among 67 car drivers recruited from south east Queensland. Participants were assigned to groups based on their age and gender, and additionally, according to whether they self-identified as speeding excessively or rarely. This study aimed to elicit information about how drivers conceptualise speeding as well as the social and legal influences on driving speeds. The findings revealed a wide variety of reasons and circumstances that appear to be used as personal justifications for exceeding speed limits. Driver perceptions of speeding as personally and socially acceptable, as well as safe and necessary were common. Perceptions of an absence of danger associated with faster driving speeds were evident, particularly with respect to driving alone. An important distinction between the speed-based groups related to the attention given to the driving task. Rare speeders expressed strong beliefs about the need to be mindful of safety (self and others) while excessive speeders referred to the driving task as automatic, an absent-minded endeavour, and to speeding as a necessity in order to remain alert and reduce boredom. For many drivers in this study, compliance with speed limits was expressed as discretionary rather than mandatory. Social factors, such as peer and parental influence were widely discussed in Study 1 and perceptions of widespread community acceptance of speeding were noted. In some instances, the perception that ‘everybody speeds’ appeared to act as one rationale for the need to raise speed limits. Self-presentation, or wanting to project a positive image of self was noted, particularly with respect to concealing speeding infringements from others to protect one’s image as a trustworthy and safe driver. The influence of legal factors was also evident. Legal sanctions do not appear to influence all drivers to the same extent. For instance, fear of apprehension appeared to play a role in reducing speeding for many, although previous experiences of detection and legal sanctions seemed to have had limited influence on reducing speeding among some drivers. Disregard for sanctions (e.g., driving while suspended), fraudulent demerit point use, and other strategies to avoid detection and punishment were widely and openly discussed. In Study 2, 833 drivers were recruited from roadside service stations in metropolitan and regional locations in Queensland. A quantitative research strategy assessed the relative contribution of personal, social, and legal factors to recent and future self-reported speeding (i.e., frequency of speeding and intentions to speed in the future). Multivariate analyses examining a range of factors drawn from SLT revealed that factors including self-identity (i.e., identifying as someone who speeds), favourable definitions (attitudes) towards speeding, personal experiences of avoiding detection and punishment for speeding, and perceptions of family and friends as accepting of speeding were all significantly associated with greater self-reported speeding. Study 3 was an exploratory, qualitative investigation of psychosocial factors associated with speeding among 35 Chinese drivers who were recruited from the membership of a motoring organisation and a university in Beijing. Six focus groups were conducted to explore similar issues to those examined in Study 1. The findings of Study 3 revealed many similarities with respect to the themes that arose in Australia. For example, there were similarities regarding personal justifications for speeding, such as the perception that posted limits are unreasonably low, the belief that individual drivers are able to determine safe travel speeds according to personal comfort with driving fast, and the belief that drivers possess adequate skills to control a vehicle at high speed. Strategies to avoid detection and punishment were also noted, though they appeared more widespread in China and also appeared, in some cases, to involve the use of a third party, a topic that was not reported by Australian drivers. Additionally, higher perceived enforcement tolerance thresholds were discussed by Chinese participants. Overall, the findings indicated perceptions of a high degree of community acceptance of speeding and a perceived lack of risk associated with speeds that were well above posted speed limits. Study 4 extended the exploratory research phase in China with a quantitative investigation involving 299 car drivers recruited from car washes in Beijing. Results revealed a relatively inexperienced sample with less than 5 years driving experience, on average. One third of participants perceived that the certainty of penalties when apprehended was low and a similar proportion of Chinese participants reported having previously avoided legal penalties when apprehended for speeding. Approximately half of the sample reported that legal penalties for speeding were ‘minimally to not at all’ severe. Multivariate analyses revealed that past experiences of avoiding detection and punishment for speeding, as well as favourable attitudes towards speeding, and perceptions of strong community acceptance of speeding were most strongly associated with greater self-reported speeding in the Chinese sample. Overall, the results of this research make several important theoretical contributions to the road safety literature. Akers’ social learning theory was found to be robust across cultural contexts with respect to speeding; similar amounts of variance were explained in self-reported speeding in the quantitative studies conducted in Australia and China. Historically, SLT was devised as a theory of deviance and posits that deviance and conformity are learned in the same way, with the balance of influence stemming from the ways in which behaviour is rewarded and punished (Akers, 1998). This perspective suggests that those who speed and those who do not are influenced by the same mechanisms. The inclusion of drivers from both ends of the ‘speeding spectrum’ in Study 1 provided an opportunity to examine the wider utility of SLT across the full range of the behaviour. One may question the use of a theory of deviance to investigate speeding, a behaviour that could, arguably, be described as socially acceptable and prevalent. However, SLT seemed particularly relevant to investigating speeding because of its inclusion of association, imitation, and reinforcement variables which reflect the breadth of factors already found to be potentially influential on driving speeds. In addition, driving is a learned behaviour requiring observation, guidance, and practice. Thus, the reinforcement and imitation concepts are particularly relevant to this behaviour. Finally, current speed management practices are largely enforcement-based and rely on the principles of behavioural reinforcement captured within the reinforcement component of SLT. Thus, the application of SLT to a behaviour such as speeding offers promise in advancing our understanding of the factors that influence speeding, as well as extending our knowledge of the application of SLT. Moreover, SLT could act as a valuable theoretical framework with which to examine other illegal driving behaviours that may not necessarily be seen as deviant by the community (e.g., mobile phone use while driving). This research also made unique contributions to advancing our understanding of the key components and the overall structure of Akers’ social learning theory. The broader SLT literature is lacking in terms of a thorough structural understanding of the component parts of the theory. For instance, debate exists regarding the relevance of, and necessity for including broader social influences in the model as captured by differential association. In the current research, two alternative SLT models were specified and tested in order to better understand the nature and extent of the influence of differential association on behaviour. Importantly, the results indicated that differential association was able to make a unique contribution to explaining self-reported speeding, thereby negating the call to exclude it from the model. The results also demonstrated that imitation was a discrete theoretical concept that should also be retained in the model. The results suggest a need to further explore and specify mechanisms of social influence in the SLT model. In addition, a novel approach was used to operationalise SLT variables by including concepts drawn from contemporary social psychological and deterrence-based research to enhance and extend the way that SLT variables have traditionally been examined. Differential reinforcement was conceptualised according to behavioural reinforcement principles (i.e., positive and negative reinforcement and punishment) and incorporated concepts of affective beliefs, anticipated regret, and deterrence-related concepts. Although implicit in descriptions of SLT, little research has, to date, made use of the broad range of reinforcement principles to understand the factors that encourage or inhibit behaviour. This approach has particular significance to road user behaviours in general because of the deterrence-based nature of many road safety countermeasures. The concept of self-identity was also included in the model and was found to be consistent with the definitions component of SLT. A final theoretical contribution was the specification and testing of a full measurement model prior to model testing using structural equation modelling. This process is recommended in order to reduce measurement error by providing an examination of the psychometric properties of the data prior to full model testing. Despite calls for such work for a number of decades, the current work appears to be the only example of a full measurement model of SLT. There were also a number of important practical implications that emerged from this program of research. Firstly, perceptions regarding speed enforcement tolerance thresholds were highlighted as a salient influence on driving speeds in both countries. The issue of enforcement tolerance levels generated considerable discussion among drivers in both countries, with Australian drivers reporting lower perceived tolerance levels than Chinese drivers. It was clear that many drivers used the concept of an enforcement tolerance in determining their driving speed, primarily with the desire to drive faster than the posted speed limit, yet remaining within a speed range that would preclude apprehension by police. The quantitative results from Studies 2 and 4 added support to these qualitative findings. Together, the findings supported previous research and suggested that a travel speed may not be seen as illegal until that speed reaches a level over the prescribed enforcement tolerance threshold. In other words, the enforcement tolerance appears to act as a ‘de facto’ speed limit, replacing the posted limit in the minds of some drivers. The findings from the two studies conducted in China (Studies 2 and 4) further highlighted the link between perceived enforcement tolerances and a ‘de facto’ speed limit. Drivers openly discussed driving at speeds that were well above posted speed limits and some participants noted their preference for driving at speeds close to ‘50% above’ the posted limit. This preference appeared to be shaped by the perception that the same penalty would be imposed if apprehended, irrespective of what speed they travelling (at least up to 50% above the limit). Further research is required to determine whether the perceptions of Chinese drivers are mainly influenced by the Law of the People’s Republic of China or by operational practices. Together, the findings from both studies in China indicate that there may be scope to refine enforcement tolerance levels, as has happened in other jurisdictions internationally over time, in order to reduce speeding. Any attempts to do so would likely be assisted by the provision of information about the legitimacy and purpose of speed limits as well as risk factors associated with speeding because these issues were raised by Chinese participants in the qualitative research phase. Another important practical implication of this research for speed management in China is the way in which penalties are determined. Chinese drivers described perceptions of unfairness and a lack of transparency in the enforcement system because they were unsure of the penalty that they would receive if apprehended. Steps to enhance the perceived certainty and consistency of the system to promote a more equitable approach to detection and punishment would appear to be welcomed by the general driving public and would be more consistent with the intended theoretical (deterrence) basis that underpins the current speed enforcement approach. The use of mandatory, fixed penalties may assist in this regard. In many countries, speeding attracts penalties that are dependent on the severity of the offence. In China, there may be safety benefits gained from the introduction of a similar graduated scale of speeding penalties and fixed penalties might also help to address the issue of uncertainty about penalties and related perceptions of unfairness. Such advancements would be in keeping with the principles of best practice for speed management as identified by the World Health Organisation. Another practical implication relating to legal penalties, and applicable to both cultural contexts, relates to the issues of detection and punishment avoidance. These two concepts appeared to strongly influence speeding in the current samples. In Australia, detection avoidance strategies reported by participants generally involved activities that are not illegal (e.g., site learning and remaining watchful for police vehicles). The results from China were similar, although a greater range of strategies were reported. The most common strategy reported in both countries for avoiding detection when speeding was site learning, or familiarisation with speed camera locations. However, a range of illegal practices were also described by Chinese drivers (e.g., tampering with or removing vehicle registration plates so as to render the vehicle unidentifiable on camera and use of in-vehicle radar detectors). With regard to avoiding punishment when apprehended, a range of strategies were reported by drivers from both countries, although a greater range of strategies were reported by Chinese drivers. As the results of the current research indicated that detection avoidance was strongly associated with greater self-reported speeding in both samples, efforts to reduce avoidance opportunities are strongly recommended. The practice of randomly scheduling speed camera locations, as is current practice in Queensland, offers one way to minimise site learning. The findings of this research indicated that this practice should continue. However, they also indicated that additional strategies are needed to reduce opportunities to evade detection. The use of point-to-point speed detection (also known as sectio

Work-related road safety as a conduit for community road safety

The aim of this paper is to review the potential of work-related road safety as a conduit for community road safety based on research and practical experience. It covers the opportunity to target young people, family and community members through the workplace as part of a holistic approach to occupational road safety informed by the Haddon Matrix. Detailed case studies are presented based on British Telecom and Wolseley, which have both committed to community-based initiatives as part of their long-term, ongoing work-related road safety programs. Although no detailed community-based collision outcomes are available, the paper concludes that work-related road safety can be a conduit for community road safety and can provide an opportunity for researchers, policy makers and practitioners.