A critical review of performance measurement methods for healthcare facilities management

This paper aims to define the tools used for performance measurement in Healthcare Facilities Management. The research analyses relevant literature on various tools of performance measurement for healthcare facilities. Contributions made from the literature will be divided into three attributes namely soft performance measurement, hard performance measurement and a hybrid performance measurement. The findings discussed in this paper may give valuable insights to service providers with regards to the incorporation of both soft and hard attributes of performance measurement to strategically manage facilities. The organisation business strategy will eventually gain the benefits by cost saving of non-core activities.

Using brand knowledge to predict beer brand preference and loyalty for samples of new frequent users in Perth and Beijing

This study tests a model of Brand Knowledge and Brand Equity of brands of beer on new and frequent users in two populations that differ in their stage of the beer product life cycle and culture. Using Multiple Logistic Regression (MLR) and Binomial Logistic Regression (BLR), models based on the respondents' Brand Knowledge are able to correctly identify Chinese respondents’ preferred brand of beer 56% of the time, while correctly identifying 77% of respondents in an Australian sample when three top brands are tested. The model could further identify 67% of those that stay or switch in both the Australian and the Chinese samples.

Where shall the future student learn? Student expectations of university facilities for teaching and learning

This paper examines some of the issues surrounding educational facilities - their design and impact upon student learning now and into the future. It details some of the recent literature in this area with particular emphasis upon teaching and learning trends that match the needs of modern students. The responses of a group of first year university students in the School of Property, Construction and Project Management at RMIT University are also matched against these trends. The conclusions from these responses drawn indicate that the future university student will want flexible learning spaces that can adapt to both individual and collaborative work with a strong emphasis on social learning and advanced technology. The responses also indicate a mismatch between existing lecture theatres and tutorial rooms and the third space learning that these graduates of 2011 want. The results have implications for all higher education institutions as we enter the new millennium.

Wearing your PIM : experiments with an audio enhanced PIM

PIM systems help organise people’s lives by providing address book, schedule and task management facilities. Current PIM’s manage this information by collecting and storing it as textual data. With the advent of the wearable computer, using text only is no longer an efficient and convenient mechanism for managing personal information. A wearable computer should use data from various sensors (video, audio, location, environmental, user state) to organise personal information. In this paper we examine how audio can be used to enhance the facilities provided by text-only PIM’s and present an example implementation of an audio based wearable PIM (wPIM) that has the capability of storing and retrieving PIM information as audio recordings. The results of the user evaluation we conducted, which was carried out outside of the laboratory, suggests that users strongly accept audio as a way to manage their personal information and to augment their memory, supporting our hypothesis that audio enhances wearable personal information management.

Procedural modeling facilities for hierarchical object generation

We modify a selection of interactive modeling tools for use in a procedural modeling environment. These tools are selection, extrusion, subdivision and curve shaping. We create human models to demonstrate that these tools are appropriate for use on hierarchical objects. Our tools support the main benefits of procedural modeling, which are: the use of parameterisation to control and very a model, varying levels of detail, increased model complexity, base shape independence and database amplification. We demonstrate scripts which provide each of these benefits.

Contextualising psychological distress among regular ecstasy users : the importance of sociodemographic factors and patterns of drug use

Introduction and Aims. Considerable concern has been raised about associations between ecstasy use and mental health. Studies of ecstasy users typically investigate varying levels of lifetime use of ecstasy, and often fail to account for other drug use and sociodemographic characteristics of participants, which may explain mixed findings. The current study aimed to examine the relationship between patterns of recent (last six months) ecstasy use and psychological distress among current, regular ecstasy users, controlling for sociodemographic risk factors and patterns of other drug use.

Design and Methods. Data were collected from regular ecstasy users (n = 752) recruited from each capital city in Australia as part of the Ecstasy and related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS). Psychological distress was assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Data were analysed using multinomial logistic regression.

Results. Seven per cent of the sample scored in the ‘high’ distress category and 55% in the ‘medium’ distress category. Patterns of ecstasy use were not independently associated with psychological distress. The strongest predictors of distress were female sex, lower education, unemployment, ‘binge’ drug use including ecstasy (use for >48 h without sleep), frequent cannabis use and daily tobacco use.

Discussion and Conclusions. Regular ecstasy users have elevated levels of psychological distress compared with the general population; however, ecstasy use per se was not independently related to such distress. Other factors, including sociodemographic characteristics and other drug use patterns, appear to be more important. These findings highlight the importance of targeting patterns of polydrug use in order to reduce drug-related harm among regular ecstasy users<br />

From design for ecologically sustainability to facilities management through building intelligence and knowledge management

Ecological sustainability basically concerns environmental protection and social benefits. An ecologically sustainable development is based upon reduced energy usage, increased efficiency, and upheld social responsibility; and it should be properly evaluated by financial, environmental and social aspects. Council House 2 (CH2) is claimed to change the way of Australia approaches in ecologically sustainable design and construction. This is the ‘Six-Star design and built’ green star facility assessed by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), and the 10-story city council building was completed and opened in 2006, totally A$11.3 million was invested for the sustainability features. CH2 protects the environment, when it compares with the old council house, and is expected to reduce electricity consumption by 85%; reduce gas consumption by 87%; produce only 13% of the emissions; and reduce water mains supply by 72%. In this paper, the author examines its design reports and the researches paper, in the form of knowledge base, to case-study how the sustainability, effectiveness and efficiency of CH2 work. By leveraging the existing CH2 sustainability knowledge, design and building professions can learn and imitate it in further ‘green’ design without ‘re-inventing the wheel’; facilities executives can also use the existing knowledge to identify steps to boost up the facilities’ operating efficiency.

Strategic facilities management system in relation with building performance; the significance and relationship

Healthcare design frequently involves complex concepts that are difficult to measure and evaluate because the building require a modern, quality, functional and therapeutic environment. For this specific reason, facilities management has become a very important support system to ensure smoothness in healthcare business. Facilities management in healthcare building is a complicated system involving multiple layers of administrative division and sub-divisions. Building performance such as building impact, function and quality prove to have significant impact on strategic facilities management. This paper will do an extensive review of strategic healthcare business management as a holistic approach and examine how facilities management can effectively manage their division with consideration and understanding of building performance. The correlation between strategic facilities management and building performance will be identified and a framework for strategic FM system with regards to building performance will be developed.