International comparison of sustainable rating tools

This paper undertakes an international comparison of global sustainability tools and examines their characteristics and differences. Most importantly, it focuses on which tools from different countries can be directly compared with each other (i.e., is a five-star building with one rating system directly comparable with a four-star rating of another rating system?). The results are designed to provide some clarification of the assessment tools for sustainable buildings, which in turn will assist investors, developers, tenants, and government bodies in making
informed decisions about green buildings. In addition, it is envisaged that removing some of the uncertainty associated with sustainable buildings will increase transparency for stakeholders and facilitate their acceptance.

A performance testing framework for digital forensic tools

This thesis surveys the latest development of digital forensic tools designed for anti-cybercrime purposes. It discusses the necessity of testing the digital forensics tools, and presents a novel testing framework. This new testing framework takes the viewpoint of software vendors rather than traditional software engineering approaches.

Design tools for event-driven software systems

Proposes a design method for the development of software in Visual BASIC whose programming environment is multi-paradigm. Extensions to structure charts and pseudocode to incorporate the three paradigms have been developed based on the premise that procedural models, event-driven forms and objects are mutually exclusive in operation.

Robust correctness testing for digital forensic tools

In previous work, the authors presented a theoretical lower bound on the required number of testing runs for performance testing of digital forensic tools. We also demonstrated a practical method of testing showing how to tolerate both measurement and random errors in order to achieve results close to this bound. In this paper, we extend the previous work to the situation of correctness testing. The contribution of this methodology enables the tester to achieve correctness testing results of high quality from a manageable number of observations and in a dynamic but controllable way. This is of particular interest to forensic testers who do not have access to sophisticated equipment and who can allocate only a small amount of time to testing.

Robust performance testing for digital forensic tools

In previous work, the authors presented a theoretical lower bound on the required number of testing runs for performance testing of digital forensic tools. However, experimental errors are inevitable in laboratory settings, occurring as measurement errors or as random errors and can result in practical situations where the number of testing runs is far from the theoretical bound. This paper adapts our former work to tolerate such errors in the testing results. The contribution of our new methodology enables the tester to achieve performance testing results of high quality from a manageable number of observations and in a dynamic but controllable way. This is of particular interest to forensic testers who do not have access to sophisticated equipment and who can allocate only a small amount of time to testing.

The clinical utility of a suite of continence assessment tools for use in residential aged care facilities

According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 80% of direct care in nursing homes in the USA is provided by workforce that has least formal education about patient care (1). This situation is echoed in Australian residential aged care facilities where the day-to-day management is largely provided by unregulated workers (i.e. nursing assistants, personal carers and nursing aides) and is overseen by registered nurses. Some facilities additionally have access to expert advice from continence nurse advisors. In order to assist the residential aged care workforce to provide continence care that is evidence-based, a team of researchers developed and trialled a suite of continence assessment tools that were mainly targeted to unregulated workers. This paper presents information on the development of the tools (Stage 1) and on their evaluation (Stage 2).

Child protection practitioners and decision-making tools : observations and reflections from the front line

Decision-making tools, particularly risk-assessment tools, have been implemented by governments around the world, perhaps most notably in the field of child protection, though little attention has been paid to how practitioners use them. This article presents the findings from ethnographic research that explored how child protection practitioners in the Department of Child Safety, Queensland, Australia, used four Structured Decision Making tools developed by the Children's Research Centre in Wisconsin in their daily practice in the intake and investigation stages of a case. The findings that the tools were not being used as intended by their designers and, in fact, tended to undermine the development of expertise by child protection workers has profound implications for the future development of technological approaches to child protection and, more broadly, human services practice.

An audit of local government planning tools for their potential use in addressing community food and nutrition issues

Issues addressed: This project aimed to identify how local government planning tools could be used to influence physical and policy environments to support healthy eating behaviours in communities.
Methods: An audit of Queensland's legislative and non-legislative local government planning tools was conducted by a public health nutritionist to assess their potential use in addressing strategies to achieve positive nutrition outcomes. Ten strategies were identified and covered the following themes: improving access to healthy foods and drinks; increasing access to breastfeeding facilities; decreasing fast food outlet density; and unhealthy food advertising. 
Results: The audit found that all of the 10 strategies to achieve positive nutrition outcomes could be considered through three or more of the planning tools.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this audit, local government planning tools provide opportunities to address food and nutrition issues and contribute toward creating physical and policy environments that support healthy eating behaviours.

Valuation and sustainability : are rating tools enough?

The lack of sufficient financial drivers are preventing significant investment in sustainability because stakeholders have only very limited ability to measure the sustainability of the building or understand the impact upon the value. Valuers are unable to indicate or clarify whether sustainability is affecting market value as there is an absence of detailed market evidence, sales data and lease transactions of sustainable building. Leaving both Valuers and other stakeholders uncertain of the value implication as there is no reliable evidence as to whether sustainable buildings are feasible (Lutzkendorf and Lorenz, 2005). One of the key barriers is the confusion evident in the industry particularly the measurement of sustainability in commercial property. Although a range of environmental rating tools exist for buildings globally in commercial property, the synergy between these tools and identification of the relationship between the measurement and market value is inherently blurred due to the unique nature of the compilation of points attributed in the rating tools for sustainability or energy certificates in commercial property. The paper examines the challenges that face the Valuation profession in assessing the impact of sustainability on market value.

A suite of evidence-based continence assessment tools for residential aged care

The management of incontinence in residential aged care facilities presents staff with considerable challenges. In order to support the residential aged care workforce to provide evidence-based continence care, we developed a suite of evidence-based continence assessment tools and an accompanying educational resource for use in the residential aged care sector. The tools comply with international and accreditation standards. They address urinary and faceal incontinence and other bladder and bowel symptoms. They also include a number of cues to guide staff to assess and manage residents’ continence care needs and refer as needed. An evaluation of the tools conducted in 18 residential aged care facilities across three states revealed that staff members found the tools helpful, clear, simple and user-friendly. This paper provides a description of the newly developed suite of continence assessment tools for residential aged care and the accompanying education resources, and presents staff perspectives on their clinical usefulness.