Causing economic harm to property developers : damages for starting an incurably bad appeal?

A recent decision of the Queensland Court of Appeal involved an unusual statement of claim made on behalf of the developer of a proposed resort in Port Douglas. The decision is The Beach Club Port Douglas Pty Ltd v Page [2005] QCA 475. The issue The defendant had objected to a development application of the plaintiff developer and lodged an appeal in the Planning and Environment Court against the council decision granting a development permit. The main issue in the Planning and Environment Court was whether the site coverage of the proposed resort was excessive. In a separate action (the subject matter of the present appeal), the plaintiff developer claimed damages for ‘negligence’ alleging that the defendant had breached a duty of care not to appeal without properly or reasonably assessing whether the development qualified for a permit given that the resort qualified for the maximum allowable site coverage. It was alleged that the appeal lodged by the defendant in the Planning and Environment Court had no reasonable prospects of success and that any reasonable person properly advised would know, or ought reasonably to have known, that to be so. The defendant had been “put on notice” that the plaintiff would incur loss of $10,000 for every day there was a delay in starting construction of the resort. The claim made by the developer required the court to consider those circumstances where a person may lawfully and deliberately cause economic harm to another. Was a duty of care owed by the defendant for negligent conduct of litigation that caused economic loss to the plaintiff?

Developing an IS-Impact decision tool : a literature based design science roadmap

This paper derives from research-in-progress intending both Design Research (DR) and Design Science (DS) outputs; the former a management decision tool based in IS-Impact (Gable et al. 2008) kernel theory; the latter being methodological learnings deriving from synthesis of the literature and reflection on the DR ‘case study’ experience. The paper introduces a generic, detailed and pragmatic DS ‘Research Roadmap’ or methodology, deriving at this stage primarily from synthesis and harmonization of relevant concepts identified through systematic archival analysis of related literature. The scope of the Roadmap too has been influenced by the parallel study aim to undertake DR applying and further evolving the Roadmap. The Roadmap is presented in attention to the dearth of detailed guidance available to novice Researchers in Design Science Research (DSR), and though preliminary, is expected to evolve and gradually be substantiated through experience of its application. A key distinction of the Roadmap from other DSR methods is its breadth of coverage of published DSR concepts and activities; its detail and scope. It represents a useful synthesis and integration of otherwise highly disparate DSR-related concepts.

A design science research roadmap

This paper proposes and synthesizes from previous design science(DS) methodological literature a structured and detailed DS Roadmap for the conduct of DS research. The Roadmap is a general guide for researchers to carry out DS research by suggesting reasonably detailed activities.Though highly tentative, it is believed the Roadmap usefully inter-relates many otherwise seemingly disparate, overlapping or conflicting concepts. It is hoped the DS Roadmap will aid in the planning, execution and communication of DS research,while also attracting constructive criticism, improvements and extensions. A key distinction of the Roadmap from other DS research methods is its breadth of coverage of DS research aspects and activities; its detail and scope. We demonstrate and evaluate the Roadmap by presenting two case studies in terms of the DS Roadmap.

Included by design : a case for regulation for accessible housing in Australia

Accessible housing is a scarce yet much needed commodity in Australia. A national agreement between industry and advocacy groups to a voluntary approach, called the Livable Design program, aims to provide access features in all new housing by 2020. Through a range of awareness raising initiatives, the program is anticipating increased supply by builders and increased demand by home-buyers. However the people who need accessible housing are the least likely and least able to buy it at the point of new sale and average homebuyers do not consider access features as a priority. This approach has not been successful overseas or in Australia in the past. Regulation with incentives supported by education and awareness has provided the best results, yet, regulation typically comes with controversy and resistance from the housing industry. A study is planned to identify how effective the Livable Design program is likely to be, what is likely to hinder it and why regulation is likely to be needed.

Designing disruption : linking participatory design and design thinking in technology orientated industries

A vast proportion of companies nowadays are looking to design and are focusing on the end users as a means of driving new projects. However still many companies are drawn to technological improvements which drive innovation within their industry context. The Australian livestock industry is no different. To date the adoption of new products and services within the livestock industry has been documented as being quite slow. This paper investigates how disruptive innovation should be a priority for these technologically focused companies and demonstrates how the use of design led innovation can bring about a higher quality engagement between end user and company alike. A case study linking participatory design and design thinking is presented. Within this, a conceptual model of presenting future scenarios to internal and external stakeholders is applied to the livestock industry; assisting companies to apply strategy, culture and advancement in meaningful product offerings to consumers.

Submission to Victorian Parliamentary Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure

In the networked information driven world that we now inhabit the ability to access and reuse information, data and culture is a key ingredient to social, economic and cultural innovation. As government holds enormous amounts of publicly funded material that can be released to the public without breaching the law it should move to implement policies that will allow better access to and reuse of that information, knowledge and culture. The Queensland Government Information Licensing Framework (GILF) Project4 is one of the first projects in the world to systemically approach this issue and should be consulted as a best practice model.

Teaching design led innovation : the future of industrial design

The profession of industrial design is changing and with that so must industrial design education. The newly derived final year industrial design unit at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) was created to initiate such a change. A designers’ role in industry is no longer limited to the invention process surrounding human cantered design but has now evolved into design led innovation. This paper reflects upon the teaching methods employed over a two-year period and improvements made over that time to the unit. The student project outcome is to produce a design solution that integrates an underlying novel technology into a new product and or service, with business strategies and manufacturing details being fully integrated into the design process. It is this integrated approach to industrial design teaching that will foster a more grounded and resourceful future designer.

Design and development of automatic visual inspection system for PCB manufacturing

Inspection of solder joints has been a critical process in the electronic manufacturing industry to reduce manufacturing cost, improve yield, and ensure product quality and reliability. This paper proposes two inspection modules for an automatic solder joint classification system. The “front-end” inspection system includes illumination normalisation, localisation and segmentation. The “back-end” inspection involves the classification of solder joints using the Log Gabor filter and classifier fusion. Five different levels of solder quality with respect to the amount of solder paste have been defined. The Log Gabor filter has been demonstrated to achieve high recognition rates and is resistant to misalignment. This proposed system does not need any special illumination system, and the images are acquired by an ordinary digital camera. This system could contribute to the development of automated non-contact, non-destructive and low cost solder joint quality inspection systems.

An entrepreneurial model of economic and environmental co-evolution

A basic tenet of ecological economics is that economic growth and development are ultimately constrained by environmental carrying capacities. It is from this basis that notions of a sustainable economy and of sustainable economic development emerge to undergird the “standard model” of ecological economics. However, the belief in “hard” environmental constraints may be obscuring the important role of the entrepreneur in the co-evolution of economic and environmental relations, and hence limiting or distorting the analytic focus of ecological economics and the range of policy options that are considered for sustainable economic development. This paper outlines a co-evolutionary model of the dynamics of economic and ecological systems as connected by entrepreneurial behaviour. We then discuss some of the key analytic and policy implications.

Physical activity and nutrition program for seniors (PANS) : protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Background Along with reduced levels of physical activity, older Australian's mean energy consumption has increased. Now over 60% of older Australians are considered overweight or obese. This study aims to confirm if a low-cost, accessible physical activity and nutrition program can improve levels of physical activity and diet of insufficiently active 60-70 year-olds. Methods/Design This 12-month home-based randomised controlled trial (RCT) will consist of a nutrition and physical activity intervention for insufficiently active people aged 60 to 70 years from low to medium socio-economic areas. Six-hundred participants will be recruited from the Australian Federal Electoral Role and randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 300) and control (n = 300) groups. The study is based on the Social Cognitive Theory and Precede-Proceed Model, incorporating voluntary cooperation and self-efficacy. The intervention includes a specially designed booklet that provides participants with information and encourages dietary and physical activity goal setting. The booklet will be supported by an exercise chart, calendar, bi-monthly newsletters, resistance bands and pedometers, along with phone and email contact. Data will be collected over three time points: pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 6-months post-study. Discussion This trial will provide valuable information for community-based strategies to improve older adults' physical activity and dietary intake. The project will provide guidelines for appropriate sample recruitment, and the development, implementation and evaluation of a minimal intervention program, as well as information on minimising barriers to participation in similar programs.

Design of experiments for bivariate binary responses modelled by Copula functions

Optimal design for generalized linear models has primarily focused on univariate data. Often experiments are performed that have multiple dependent responses described by regression type models, and it is of interest and of value to design the experiment for all these responses. This requires a multivariate distribution underlying a pre-chosen model for the data. Here, we consider the design of experiments for bivariate binary data which are dependent. We explore Copula functions which provide a rich and flexible class of structures to derive joint distributions for bivariate binary data. We present methods for deriving optimal experimental designs for dependent bivariate binary data using Copulas, and demonstrate that, by including the dependence between responses in the design process, more efficient parameter estimates are obtained than by the usual practice of simply designing for a single variable only. Further, we investigate the robustness of designs with respect to initial parameter estimates and Copula function, and also show the performance of compound criteria within this bivariate binary setting.