Final Report : learning system for life prediction of infrastructure

The project has further developed two programs for the industry partners related to service life prediction and salt deposition. The program for Queensland Department of Main Roads which predicts salt deposition on different bridge structures at any point in Queensland has been further refined by looking at more variables. It was found that the height of the bridge significantly affects the salt deposition levels only when very close to the coast. However the effect of natural cleaning of salt by rainfall was incorporated into the program. The user interface allows selection of a location in Queensland, followed by a bridge component. The program then predicts the annual salt deposition rate and rates the likely severity of the environment. The service life prediction program for the Queensland Department of Public Works has been expanded to include 10 common building components, in a variety of environments. Data mining procedures have been used to develop the program and increase the usefulness of the application. A Query Based Learning System (QBLS) has been developed which is based on a data-centric model with extensions to provide support for user interaction. The program is based on number of sources of information about the service life of building components. These include the Delphi survey, the CSIRO Holistic model and a school survey. During the project, the Holistic model was modified for each building component and databases generated for the locations of all Queensland schools. Experiments were carried out to verify and provide parameters for the modelling. These included instrumentation of a downpipe, measurements on pH and chloride levels in leaf litter, EIS measurements and chromate leaching from Colorbond materials and dose tests to measure corrosion rates of new materials. A further database was also generated for inclusion in the program through a large school survey. Over 30 schools in a range of environments from tropical coastal to temperate inland were visited and the condition of the building components rated on a scale of 0-5. The data was analysed and used to calculate an average service life for each component/material combination in the environments, where sufficient examples were available.

Leveraging training outcomes on public construction projects

The paper explores the efficacy of public agencies using their contracting relationships with private firms to affect training outcomes in the construction industry. It develops a theoretical perspective on this issue by extending a framework that was originally developed by Hart, Schleifer and Vishny (1997) to study privatisation. This paper shows how their framework can also be applied to situations where the provision of public works is already privatised and the government is attempting to regulate training outcomes via a contracting arrangement. An empirical study of two training policies of the Western Australian government complements this theoretical discussion. We report the results of an analysis of data drawn from the government’s Tender Registration System between 1997 & 2006. As such we use a unique and comprehensive resource to examine the possible effects of new training policies on an important segment of the construction ‘market’.

Evaluation of valuation of noise amelioration treatments within and outside the road reserve

In urban environments road traffic volumes are increasing and the density of living is becoming higher. As a consequence the urban community is being exposed to increasing levels of road traffic noise. It is also evident that the noise reduction potential of within-the-road-reserve treatments such as noise barriers, mounding and pavement surfacing has been exhausted. This paper presents a strategy that involves the comparison of noise ameliorative treatments both within and outside the road reserve. The noise reduction resulting from the within-the-road-reserve component of treatments has been evaluated using a leading application of the CoRTN Model, developed by the UK Department of Transport 1988 [1], and the outside road reserve treatment has been evaluated in accordance with the Australian Standard 3671, Acoustics – Road traffic noise intrusion – Building sitting and construction [5]. The evaluation of noise treatments has been undertaken using a decision support tool (DST) currently being developed under the research program conducted at RMIT University and Department of Main Roads, Queensland. The case study has been based on data from a real project in Queensland, Australia. The research described here was carried out by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation [9], in collaboration with Department of Main Roads, Queensland, Department of Public Works, Queensland, Arup Pty. Ltd., Queensland University of technology and RMIT University.

Characterising creativity : a holistic methodology for the assessment of creative works

This paper reports on the early stages of a design experiment in educational assessment that challenges the dichotomous legacy evident in many assessment activities. Combining social networking technologies with the sociology of education the paper proposes that assessment activities are best understood as a negotiable field of exchange. In this design experiment students, peers and experts engage in explicit, "front-end" assessment (Wyatt-Smith, 2008) to translate holistic judgments into institutional, and potentiality economic capital without adhering to long lists of pre-set criteria. This approach invites participants to use social networking technologies to judge creative works using scatter graphs, keywords and tag clouds. In doing so assessors will refine their evaluative expertise and negotiate the characteristics of creative works from which criteria will emerge (Sadler, 2008). The real-time advantages of web-based technologies will aggregate, externalise and democratise this transparent method of assessment for most, if not all, creative works that can be represented in a digital format.

Performance of public private partnerships : an evolutionary perspective

PPPs are held to be a powerful way of mobilising private finance and resources to deliver public infrastructure. Theoretically, research into procurement has begun to acknowledge difficulties with the classification and assessment of different types of procurement, particularly those which do not sufficiently acknowledge variety within specific types of procurement methods. This paper advances a theoretical framework based on an evolutionary economic conceptualisation of a routine, which can accommodate the variety evident in procurement projects, in particular PPPs. The paper tests how the various elements of a PPP, as advanced in the theoretical framework, affect performance across 10 case studies. It concludes, that a limited number of elements of a PPP affect their performance, and provides strong evidence for the theoretical model advanced in this paper.

An evaluation of viability of public private partnerships in social infrastructure procurement projects in Queensland, Australia

Public private partnerships (PPP) have been widely used as a method for public infrastructure project delivery not only locally and internationally, however the adoption of PPPs in social infrastructure procurement has still been very limited. The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential of implementation of current PPP framework in social affordable housing projects in South East Queensland. Data were collected from 22 interviewees with rich experiences in the industry. The findings of this study show that affordable housing investment have been considered by the industry practitioners as a risky business in comparison to other private rental housing investment. The main determents of the adoption of PPPs in social infrastructure project are the tenant-related factors, such as the inability of paying rent and the inability of caring the property. The study also suggests the importance of seeking strategic partnership with community-based organisation that has experiences in managing similar tenants’ profiles. Current PPP guideline is also viewed as inappropriate for the affordable housing projects, but the principle of VFM framework and risk allocation in PPPs still be applied to the affordable housing projects. This study helps to understand the viability of PPP in social housing procurement projects, and point out the importance of developing guideline for multi-stakeholder partnership and the expansion of the current VFM and PPPs guidelines.

User-generated content and the future of public broadcasting : a case study of the special broadcasting service

This thesis presents a case study of the Special Broadcasting Service documenting the broadcasting challenges posed by user-generated content initiatives and the work-place approach to strategies for participation. Using the action research method, the project findings reveal that limitations to resources and funding determined the scope for innovation and that the practice of executive editorial control over content was considered fundamental to fulfilling the responsibilities of the public service mandate. Media workers were overwhelmingly positive about the enhanced productive capabilities of the audience and willing to facilitate moderated interactions, however the effectiveness of these initiatives differed according to the level of skills required. This thesis demonstrates how participatory initiatives can enhance aspects of the public service remit relating to cultural diversity, the servicing of niche interests, and broader social representation, and help reinvigorate the relevance of public service broadcasting in the digitalised media sphere.

A summary view of government cost recovery policies in Australia and New Zealand relating to the supply of public sector information

Researching administrative history is problematical. A trail of authoritative documents is often hard to find; and useful summaries can be difficult to organise, especially if source material is in paper formats in geographically dispersed locations. In the absence of documents, the reasons for particular decisions and the rationale underpinning particular policies can be confounded as key personnel advance in their professions and retire. The rationale for past decisions may be lost for practical purposes; and if an organisation’s memory of events is diminished, its learning through experience is also diminished. Publishing this document tries to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort by other researchers that need to venture into how policies of charging for public sector information have been justified. The author compiled this work within a somewhat limited time period and the work does not pretend to be a complete or comprehensive analysis of the issues.----- A significant part of the role of government is to provide a framework of legally-enforceable rights and obligations that can support individuals and non-government organisations in their lawful activities. Accordingly, claims that governments should be more ‘business-like’ need careful scrutiny. A significant supply of goods and services occurs as non-market activity where neither benefits nor costs are quantified within conventional accounting systems or in terms of money. Where a government decides to provide information as a service; and information from land registries is archetypical, the transactions occur as a political decision made under a direct or a clearly delegated authority of a parliament with the requisite constitutional powers. This is not a market transaction and the language of the market confuses attempts to describe a number of aspects of how governments allocate resources.----- Cost recovery can be construed as an aspect of taxation that is a sole prerogative of a parliament. The issues are fundamental to political constitutions; but they become more complicated where states cede some taxing powers to a central government as part of a federal system. Nor should the absence of markets be construed necessarily as ‘market failure’ or even ‘government failure’. The absence is often attributable to particular technical, economic and political constraints that preclude the operation of markets. Arguably, greater care is needed in distinguishing between the polity and markets in raising revenues and allocating resources; and that needs to start by removing unhelpful references to ‘business’ in the context of government decision-making.

Reflection on the use of rating and score cards for asset and service assessment

The concept of star rating council facilities has progressively gained traction in Australia following the work of Dean Taylor at Marochy Shire Council in Queensland in 2006 – 2007 and more recently by the Victorian STEP asset management program. The following paper provides a brief discussion on the use and merits of star rating within community asset management. We suggest that the current adoption of the star rating system to manage community investment in services is lacking in consistency. It is suggested that the major failing is a lack of clear understanding in the purpose being served by the systems. The discussion goes on to make some recommendations on how the concept of a star system could be further enhanced to serve the needs of our communities better.