Ranked critical factors in PPP briefings

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly used to procure Australian infrastructure projects. As with all construction projects, the early briefing stages are often the most crucial in determining a successful outcome. There is, however, a lack of systematic research on the type and nature of the critical factors affecting the effectiveness and efficiency of PPP during this period. A literature review is presented of PPP usage in Australia, in which four main categories of factors (procurement, stakeholder, risk, and finance) are identified, each with several subfactors. A questionnaire survey involving state government stakeholders is also described, and a mathematical model that ranks the factors involved is developed. This is followed by an examination of the potential of the factors to help improve the PPP briefing stage for both public and private sectors.

The product of text and “Other” statements : discourse analysis and the critical use of Foucault

Much has been written on Michel Foucault’s reluctance to clearly delineate a research method, particularly with respect to genealogy (Harwood 2000; Meadmore, Hatcher, & McWilliam 2000; Tamboukou 1999). Foucault (1994, p. 288) himself disliked prescription stating, “I take care not to dictate how things should be” and wrote provocatively to disrupt equilibrium and certainty, so that “all those who speak for others or to others” no longer know what to do. It is doubtful, however, that Foucault ever intended for researchers to be stricken by that malaise to the point of being unwilling to make an intellectual commitment to methodological possibilities. Taking criticism of “Foucauldian” discourse analysis as a convenient point of departure to discuss the objectives of poststructural analyses of language, this paper develops what might be called a discursive analytic; a methodological plan to approach the analysis of discourses through the location of statements that function with constitutive effects.

Integrated configuration of enterprise systems for interoperability : towards process model and business document specification alignment

Enterprise Systems (ES) can be understood as the de facto standard for holistic operational and managerial support within an organization. Most commonly ES are offered as commercial off-the-shelf packages, requiring customization in the user organization. This process is a complex and resource-intensive task, which often prevents small and midsize enterprises (SME) from undertaking configuration projects. Especially in the SME market independent software vendors provide pre-configured ES for a small customer base. The problem of ES configuration is shifted from the customer to the vendor, but remains critical. We argue that the yet unexplored link between process configuration and business document configuration must be closer examined as both types of configuration are closely tied to one another.

Travelling waves for a velocity–jump model of cell migration and proliferation

Cell invasion, characterised by moving fronts of cells, is an essential aspect of development, repair and disease. Typically, mathematical models of cell invasion are based on the Fisher–Kolmogorov equation. These traditional parabolic models can not be used to represent experimental measurements of individual cell velocities within the invading population since they imply that information propagates with infinite speed. To overcome this limitation we study combined cell motility and proliferation based on a velocity–jump process where information propagates with finite speed. The model treats the total population of cells as two interacting subpopulations: a subpopulation of left–moving cells, $L(x,t)$, and a subpopulation of right–moving cells, $R(x,t)$. This leads to a system of hyperbolic partial differential equations that includes a turning rate, $\Lambda \ge 0$, describing the rate at which individuals in the population change direction of movement. We present exact travelling wave solutions of the system of partial differential equations for the special case where $\Lambda = 0$ and in the limit that $\Lambda \to \infty$. For intermediate turning rates, $0 < \Lambda < \infty$, we analyse the travelling waves using the phase plane and we demonstrate a transition from smooth monotone travelling waves to smooth nonmonotone travelling waves as $\Lambda$ decreases through a critical value $\Lambda_{crit}$. We conclude by providing a qualitative comparison between the travelling wave solutions of our model and experimental observations of cell invasion. This comparison indicates that the small $\Lambda$ limit produces results that are consistent with experimental observations.

Who's afraid of China? The challenge of Chinese soft power [Review]

What role does China play in Western imagination and how does it affect Western selfconceptions? The rise of China as an alternative model to Western liberalism has created a fear that developing countries will stray from Western standards of democracy, transparency and human rights. However, such fears often say as much about those who hold them as they do about China itself. In this short and easily readable book Barr holds a mirror to Sino–Western relations in order to better understand how the West’s own past, hopes and fears shape the way it thinks about and engages with China. Focusing on three key areas—models of development, soft power and ethnocentrism—he argues that the rise of China ‘hits a nerve in the Western psyche . . . because its actions reflect the West’s own ambivalence to modernity and uncertainty over the proper role and limits of state power’ (p. 21). To make his point, Barr focuses on China’s soft power and the connections between China’s domestic politics and its attempts to shape its image internationally...

Emerging Issues in Green Criminology : Exploring Power, Justice and Harm

This edited collection brings together internationally recognized scholars to explore Green Criminology through interdisciplinary lenses of power, justice and harm. The chapters provide innovative case study analyses from North America, Europe and Australia that seek to advance theoretical, policy and practice discourses about environmental harm. This book brings together transnational debates in environmental law, policy and justice. In doing so, it examines international agreements and policy within diverse environmental discourses of sociology, criminology and political economy.

Autologous vs. allogenic mesenchymal progenitor cells for the reconstruction of critical-sized segmental tibial bone defects in aged sheep

Mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) represent an attractive cell population for bone tissue engineering. Their special immunological characteristics suggest that MPCs may be used in an allogenic application. The objective of this study was to compare the regenerative potential of autologous vs. allogenic MPCs in an ovine critical-sized segmental defect model. Ovine MPCs were isolated from bone marrow aspirates, expanded and cultured with osteogenic media for two weeks before implantation. Autologous and allogenic transplantation was performed by using the cell-seeded scaffolds, unloaded scaffolds and the application of autologous bone grafts served as control groups (n=6). Bone healing was assessed twelve weeks after surgery by radiology, micro computed tomography, biomechanical testing and histology. Radiology, biomechanical testing and histology revealed no significant difference in bone formation between the autologous and allogenic group. Both cell groups showed more bone formation than the scaffold alone, whereas the biomechanical data showed no significant differences between the cell-groups and the unloaded scaffolds. The results of the study suggest that scaffold based bone tissue engineering using allogenic cells offers the potential for an off the shelf product. Therefore, the results of this study serve as an important baseline for the translation of the assessed concepts into clinical application.

A microscopic simulation model to estimate Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) station service capacity with mixed stopping and non-stopping bus operation

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) station is the interface between passenger and service. The station is crucial to line operation as it is typically the only location where buses can pass each other. Congestion may occur here when buses maneuvering into and out of the platform lane interfere with bus flow, or when a queue of buses forms upstream of the platform lane blocking the passing lane. However, some systems include operation where express buses pass the critical station, resulting in a proportion of non stopping buses. It is important to understand the operation of the critical busway station under this type of operation, as it affects busway line capacity. This study uses micro simulation to treat the BRT station operation and to analyze the relationship between station Limit state bus capacity (B_ls), Total Bus Capacity (B_ttl). First, the simulation model is developed for Limit state scenario and then a mathematical model is defined, calibrated for a specified range of controlled scenarios of mean and coefficient of variation of dwell time. Thereafter, the proposed B_ls model is extended to consider non stopping buses and B_ttlmodel is defined. The proposed models provides better understanding to the BRT line capacity and is useful for transit authorities for designing better BRT operation.

A critical assessment of the Australian OHS accreditation system's "Body of Knowledge (BoK)"

In response to an increasing perception of poor OHS consultancy quality amongst the Australian public, regulator and OHS professionals, the Safety Institute Australia (SIA) was tasked by the Victorian government to establish an accreditation process for OHS professionals. The OHS accreditation board decided to base its accreditation on a core "body of knowledge" (BoK), against which applicants are assesssed. While the foundation and structure of the BoK is unclear, the BoK consists of a collection of essays from a variety of invited authors. The BoK comprises about 811 pages in 34 chapters, with significant redundancy and considerable subjective components. The SIA BoK is benchmarked against two international best-practices, the German "Core Definition, Object Catalog and Research Domains of Labour Science (Ergonomics)" (Luzcak, Volpert, Raeithel & Schwier, 1989)(100 pages) and the American "Core Competency Model" for the "Master's Degree in Public Health" (Association of Schools of Public Health, 2006) (21 pages). Both "core definition" and "core competency model" are on a comparative level to the BoK. While the German expert panel consisted of 14 eminent professors, the American panel consisted of 135 members, organized in 6 groups chaired by discipline leading academics. The Australian approach employed a broad approach, where 137 professionals, consultants, emerging academics and academics contributed to 8 workshops. Both the German and the American panels maintained an open communication amongst members and with the discipline community throughout the process, whereas SIA applied an open and directed peer-review process. Moreover, the German process involved an analysis of all congress content and journal publications in the scientific domain in a set timeframe, which were then systematically clustered. These results were further expanded by structured interviews with 38 professors in the discpline, grasping their research and teaching practice. The American workgroup however assumed core scientific areas, underlying the domain. Based upon the a-priori assumption, they then established well defined competencies across all areas using a modified Delphi process. Although the BoK attempts to explore the knowledge in the OHS domain without an imposed structure in a bottom-up approach, it does not result in a structured systematic of the science. We conclude that the outcome of the German, rigorous academic approach, and the US American democratic approach under unambiguous academic leadership both outperform the Australian advocacy group approach. This product was determined for both structure and content of the taxonomy delivered through the processes.

Coordinated probabilistic optimal decision-making model for multi-area ATC with risk control

In the decision-making of multi-area ATC (Available Transfer Capacity) in electricity market environment, the existing resources of transmission network should be optimally dispatched and coordinately employed on the premise that the secure system operation is maintained and risk associated is controllable. The non-sequential Monte Carlo simulation is used to determine the ATC probability density distribution of specified areas under the influence of several uncertainty factors, based on which, a coordinated probabilistic optimal decision-making model with the maximal risk benefit as its objective is developed for multi-area ATC. The NSGA-II is applied to calculate the ATC of each area, which considers the risk cost caused by relevant uncertainty factors and the synchronous coordination among areas. The essential characteristics of the developed model and the employed algorithm are illustrated by the example of IEEE 118-bus test system. Simulative result shows that, the risk of multi-area ATC decision-making is influenced by the uncertainties in power system operation and the relative importance degrees of different areas.

A Systematic review of a statistical vacuum circuit breaker model for condition monitoring

Vacuum circuit breaker (VCB) overvoltage failure and its catastrophic failures during shunt reactor switching have been analyzed through computer simulations for multiple reignitions with a statistical VCB model found in the literature. However, a systematic review (SR) that is related to the multiple reignitions with a statistical VCB model does not yet exist. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze and explore the multiple reignitions with a statistical VCB model. It examines the salient points, research gaps and limitations of the multiple reignition phenomenon to assist with future investigations following the SR search. Based on the SR results, seven issues and two approaches to enhance the current statistical VCB model are identified. These results will be useful as an input to improve the computer modeling accuracy as well as the development of a reignition switch model with point-on-wave controlled switching for condition monitoring

Critical success elements for the design and implementation of organisational e-learning

Organisations are engaging in e-learning as a mechanism for delivering flexible learning to meet the needs of individuals and organisations. In light of the increasing use and organisational investment in e-learning, the need for methods to evaluate the success of its design and implementation seems more important than ever. To date, developing a standard for the evaluation of e-learning appears to have eluded both academics and practitioners. The currently accepted evaluation methods for e-learning are traditional learning and development models, such as Kirkpatrick’s model (1976). Due to the technical nature of e-learning it is important to broaden the scope and consider other evaluation models or techniques, such as the DeLone and McLean Information Success Model, that may be applicable to the e-learning domain. Research into the use of e-learning courses has largely avoided considering the applicability of information systems research. Given this observation, it is reasonable to conclude that e-learning implementation decisions and practice could be overlooking useful or additional viewpoints. This research investigated how existing evaluation models apply in the context of organisational e-learning, and resulted in an Organisational E-learning success Framework, which identifies the critical elements for success in an e-learning environment. In particular this thesis highlights the critical importance of three e-learning system creation elements; system quality, information quality, and support quality. These elements were explored in depth and the nature of each element is described in detail. In addition, two further elements were identified as factors integral to the success of an e-learning system; learner preferences and change management. Overall, this research has demonstrated the need for a holistic approach to e-learning evaluation. Furthermore, it has shown that the application of both traditional training evaluation approaches and the D&M IS Success Model are appropriate to the organisational e-learning context, and when combined can provide this holistic approach. Practically, this thesis has reported the need for organisations to consider evaluation at all stages of e-learning from design through to implementation.

Examining the influence of participant performance factors on contractor satisfaction : a structural equation model

Participant performance is critical to the success of projects. At the same time, enhancing the satisfaction of participants not only helps in problem solving but also improves their motivation and cooperation. However, previous research related to participant satisfaction is primarily concerned with clients and customers and relatively little attention has been paid to contractors. This paper investigates how the performance of project participants affects contractor project satisfaction in terms of the client's clarity of objectives (OC) and promptness of payments (PP), designer carefulness (DC), construction risk management (RM), the effectiveness their contribution (EW) and mutual respect and trust (RT). With 125 valid responses from contractors in Malaysia, a contractor satisfaction model is developed based on structural equation modelling. The results demonstrate the necessity for dividing abstract satisfaction into two dimensions, comprising economic-related satisfaction (ES) and production-related satisfaction (PS), with DC, OC, PP and RM having significant effects on ES, while DC, OC, EW and RM influence PS. In addition, the model tests the indirect effects of these performance variables on ES and PS. In particular, OC indirectly affects ES and PS through mediation of RM and DC respectively. The results also provide opportunities for improving contractor satisfaction and supplementing the contractor selection criteria for clients.

A nurse-led model of oncogeriatric assessment

Background There is growing consensus that a multidisciplinary, comprehensive and standardised process for assessing the fitness of older patients for chemotherapy should be undertaken to determine appropriate cancer treatment. Aim This study tested a model of cancer care for the older patient incorporating Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA), which aimed to ensure that 'fit' individuals amenable to active treatment were accurately identified; 'vulnerable' patients more suitable for modified or supportive regimens were determined; and 'frail 'individuals who would benefit most from palliative regimens were also identified and offered the appropriate level of care. Methods A consecutive-series n=178 sample of patients >65 years was recruited from a major Australian cancer centre. The following instruments were administered by an oncogeriatric nurse prior to treatment: Vulnerable Elders Survey-13; Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (Geriatric); Malnutrition Screening Tool; Mini-mental State Examination; Geriatric Depression Scale; Barthel Index; and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale. Scores from these instruments were aggregated to predict patient fitness, vulnerability or frailty for chemotherapy. Physicians provided a concurrent (blinded) prediction of patient fitness, vulnerability or frailty based on their clinical assessment. Data were also collected on actual patient outcomes (eg treatment completed as predicted, treatment reduced) during monthly audits of patient trajectories. Data analysis Data analysis is underway. A sample of 178 is adequate to detect, with 90% power, kappa coefficients of agreement between CGA and physician assessments of K>0.90 ("almost perfect agreement"). Primary endpoints comprise a) whether the nurse-led CGA determination of fit, vulnerable or frail agrees with the oncologist's assessments of fit, vulnerable or frail and b) whether the CGA and physician assessments accurately predict actual patient outcomes. Conclusion An oncogeriatric nurse-led model of care is currently being developed from the results. We conclude with a discussion of the pivotal role of nurses in CGA-based models of care.

Narrative, education policy and the newsprint media : A critical discourse analysis of the construction of young people's participation in education or employment

This thesis used Critical Discourse Analysis to investigate how a government policy and the newsprint media constructed discussion about young people’s participation in education or employment. The study found that a continuous narrative across both sites about government as a noble agent taking action to redress the social disruption caused by young people’s disengagement. Unlike the education policy, the newsprint media blamed young people who were disengaged and failed to recognise the barriers they often face. The study points to possibilities for utilising the power of narrative to build a more fair and rigorous discussion of issues in the public sphere.