Metadata aggregation : a critical component of research infrastructure for the future

The development of research data management infrastructure and services and making research data more discoverable and accessible to the research community is a key priority at the national, state and individual university level. This paper will discuss and reflect upon a collaborative project between Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology to commission a Metadata Hub or Metadata Aggregation service based upon open source software components. It will describe the role that metadata aggregation services play in modern research infrastructure and argue that this role is a critical one.

Port of Brisbane stormwater quality : stage 1 rainfall simulation to evaluate pollutant build-up and wash-off from selected land uses

Background: The quality of stormwater runoff from ports is significant as it can be an important source of pollution to the marine environment. This is also a significant issue for the Port of Brisbane as it is located in an area of high environmental values. Therefore, it is imperative to develop an in-depth understanding of stormwater runoff quality to ensure that appropriate strategies are in place for quality improvement. ---------------- The Port currently has a network of stormwater sample collection points where event based samples together with grab samples are tested for a range of water quality parameters. Whilst this information provides a ‘snapshot’ of the pollutants being washed from the catchment/s, it does not allow for a quantifiable assessment of total contaminant loads being discharged to the waters of Moreton Bay. It also does not represent pollutant build-up and wash-off from the different land uses across a broader range of rainfall events which might be expected. As such, it is difficult to relate stormwater quality to different pollutant sources within the Port environment. ----------------- Consequently, this would make the source tracking of pollutants to receiving waters extremely difficult and in turn the ability to implement appropriate mitigation measures. Also, without this detailed understanding, the efficacy of the various stormwater quality mitigation measures implemented cannot be determined with certainty. --------------- Current knowledge on port stormwater runoff quality Currently, little knowledge exists with regards to the pollutant generation capacity specific to port land uses as these do not necessarily compare well with conventional urban industrial or commercial land use due to the specific nature of port activities such as inter-modal operations and cargo management. Furthermore, traffic characteristics in a port area are different to a conventional urban area. Consequently, as data inputs based on an industrial and commercial land uses for modelling purposes is questionable. ------------------ A comprehensive review of published research failed to locate any investigations undertaken with regards to pollutant build-up and wash-off for port specific land uses. Furthermore, there is very limited information made available by various ports worldwide about the pollution generation potential of their facilities. Published work in this area has essentially focussed on the water quality or environmental values in the receiving waters such as the downstream bay or estuary. ----------------- The Project: The research project is an outcome of the collaborative Partnership between the Port of Brisbane Corporation (POBC) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). A key feature of this Partnership is the undertaking of ‘cutting edge’ research to strengthen the environmental custodianship of the Port area. This project aims to develop a port specific stormwater quality model to allow informed decision making in relation to stormwater quality improvement in the context of the increased growth of the Port. --------------- Stage 1 of the research project focussed on the assessment of pollutant build-up and wash-off using rainfall simulation from the current Port of Brisbane facilities with the longer-term objective of contributing to the development of ecological risk mitigation strategies for future expansion scenarios. Investigation of complex processes such as pollutant wash-off using naturally occurring rainfall events has inherent difficulties. These can be overcome using simulated rainfall for the investigations. ----------------- The deliverables for Stage 1 included the following: * Pollutant build-up and wash-off profiles for six primary land uses within the Port of Brisbane to be used for water quality model development. * Recommendations with regards to future stormwater quality monitoring and pollution mitigation measures. The outcomes are expected to deliver the following benefits to the Port of Brisbane: * The availability of Port specific pollutant build-up and wash-off data will enable the implementation of customised stormwater pollution mitigation strategies. * The water quality data collected would form the baseline data for a Port specific water quality model for mitigation and predictive purposes. * To be at the cutting-edge in terms of water quality management and environmental best practice in the context of port infrastructure. ---------------- Conclusions: The important conclusions from the study are: * It confirmed that the Port environment is unique in terms of pollutant characteristics and is not comparable to typical urban land uses. * For most pollutant types, the Port land uses exhibited lower pollutant concentrations when compared to typical urban land uses. * The pollutant characteristics varied across the different land uses and were not consistent in terms of the land use. Hence, the implementation of stereotypical structural water quality improvement devices could be of limited value. * The <150m particle size range was predominant in suspended solids for pollutant build-up as well as wash-off. Therefore, if suspended solids are targeted as the surrogate parameter for water quality improvement, this specific particle size range needs to be removed. ------------------- Recommendations: Based on the study results the following preliminary recommendations are made: * Due to the appreciable variation in pollutant characteristics for different port land uses, any water quality monitoring stations should preferably be located such that source areas can be easily identified. * The study results having identified significant pollutants for the different land uses should enable the development of a more customised water quality monitoring and testing regime targeting the critical pollutants. * A ‘one size fits all’ approach may not be appropriate for the different port land uses due to the varying pollutant characteristics. As such, pollution mitigation will need to be specifically tailored to suit the specific land use. * Any structural measures implemented for pollution mitigation to be effective should have the capability to remove suspended solids of size <150m. * Based on the results presented and the particularly the fact that the Port land uses cannot be compared to conventional urban land uses in relation to pollutant generation, consideration should be given to the development of a port specific water quality model.

Spatial information infrastructure : what can it possibly mean?

Investment begins with imagining that doing something new in the present will lead to a better future. Investment can vary from incidental improvements as safe and beneficial side-effects of current activity through to a more dedicated and riskier disinvestment in current methods of operation and reinvestment in new processes and products. The role of government has an underlying continuity determined by its constitution that authorises a parliament to legislate for peace, order and good government. ‘Good government’ is usually interpreted as improving the living standards of its citizens. The requirements for social order and social cohesion suggest that improvements should be shared fairly by all citizens through all of their lives. Arguably, the need to maintain an individual’s metabolism has a social counterpart in the ‘collective metabolism’ of a sustainable and productive society.

Planning infrastructure : considerations for regional development

Current rapid increases in the scope of regional development and the reach of technology have combined with the expanding scale of modern settlements to focus growing attention on infrastructure provisionneeds. This has included organisational and funding systems, the management of new technologies and regional scale social provisions. In this chapter, the evolution of urban and regional infrastructure is traced from its earliest origins in the growth of organized societies of 5 ,000 years ago. Infrastructure needs and provision are illustrated for the arenas of metropolitan, provincial and rural regions. Rural infrastructure examples and lessons are drawn from global case studies. Recent expansions of the scope of infrastructure are examined and issues of governance and process discussed. Phased planning processes are related to cycles of program adoption, objective formulation, option evaluation and programme budgeting. Issues of privatisation and public interest are considered. Matters of contemporary global significance are explored, including the current economic contraction and the effects of global climate change. Conclusions are drawn about the role and importance of linking regional planning to coherent regional infrastructure programs and budgets

Strategic infrastructure asset management : a conceptual framework to identify capabilities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that can be used to identify capabilities needed in the management of infrastructure assets. Design/methodology/approach – This paper utilises a qualitative approach to analyse secondary data in order to develop a conceptual framework that identifies capabilities for strategic infrastructure asset management. Findings – In an external business environment that is undergoing rapid change, it is more appropriate to focus on factors internal to the organisation such as resources and capabilities as a basis to develop competitive advantage. However, there is currently very little understanding of the internal capabilities that are appropriate for infrastructure asset management. Therefore, a conceptual framework is needful to guide infrastructure organisations in the identification of capabilities. Research limitations/implications – This is a conceptual paper and future empirical research should be conducted to validate the propositions made in the paper. Practical implications – The paper clearly argues the need for infrastructure organisations to adopt a systematic approach to identifying the capabilities needed in the management of strategic infrastructure assets. The discussion on the impact of essential capabilities is useful in providing the impetus for managers who operate in a deregulated infrastructure business landscape to review their existing strategies. Originality/value – The paper provides a new perspective on how asset managers can create value for their organisations by investing in the relevant capabilities.

A process for the management of physical infrastructure

Physical infrastructure assets are important components of our society and our economy. They are usually designed to last for many years, are expected to be heavily used during their lifetime, carry considerable load, and are exposed to the natural environment. They are also normally major structures, and therefore present a heavy investment, requiring constant management over their life cycle to ensure that they perform as required by their owners and users. Given a complex and varied infrastructure life cycle, constraints on available resources, and continuing requirements for effectiveness and efficiency, good management of infrastructure is important. While there is often no one best management approach, the choice of options is improved by better identification and analysis of the issues, by the ability to prioritise objectives, and by a scientific approach to the analysis process. The abilities to better understand the effect of inputs in the infrastructure life cycle on results, to minimise uncertainty, and to better evaluate the effect of decisions in a complex environment, are important in allocating scarce resources and making sound decisions. Through the development of an infrastructure management modelling and analysis methodology, this thesis provides a process that assists the infrastructure manager in the analysis, prioritisation and decision making process. This is achieved through the use of practical, relatively simple tools, integrated in a modular flexible framework that aims to provide an understanding of the interactions and issues in the infrastructure management process. The methodology uses a combination of flowcharting and analysis techniques. It first charts the infrastructure management process and its underlying infrastructure life cycle through the time interaction diagram, a graphical flowcharting methodology that is an extension of methodologies for modelling data flows in information systems. This process divides the infrastructure management process over time into self contained modules that are based on a particular set of activities, the information flows between which are defined by the interfaces and relationships between them. The modular approach also permits more detailed analysis, or aggregation, as the case may be. It also forms the basis of ext~nding the infrastructure modelling and analysis process to infrastructure networks, through using individual infrastructure assets and their related projects as the basis of the network analysis process. It is recognised that the infrastructure manager is required to meet, and balance, a number of different objectives, and therefore a number of high level outcome goals for the infrastructure management process have been developed, based on common purpose or measurement scales. These goals form the basis of classifYing the larger set of multiple objectives for analysis purposes. A two stage approach that rationalises then weights objectives, using a paired comparison process, ensures that the objectives required to be met are both kept to the minimum number required and are fairly weighted. Qualitative variables are incorporated into the weighting and scoring process, utility functions being proposed where there is risk, or a trade-off situation applies. Variability is considered important in the infrastructure life cycle, the approach used being based on analytical principles but incorporating randomness in variables where required. The modular design of the process permits alternative processes to be used within particular modules, if this is considered a more appropriate way of analysis, provided boundary conditions and requirements for linkages to other modules, are met. Development and use of the methodology has highlighted a number of infrastructure life cycle issues, including data and information aspects, and consequences of change over the life cycle, as well as variability and the other matters discussed above. It has also highlighted the requirement to use judgment where required, and for organisations that own and manage infrastructure to retain intellectual knowledge regarding that infrastructure. It is considered that the methodology discussed in this thesis, which to the author's knowledge has not been developed elsewhere, may be used for the analysis of alternatives, planning, prioritisation of a number of projects, and identification of the principal issues in the infrastructure life cycle.

Ecological and social characterization of key resource areas in Kenyan rangelands

Key resource areas (KRAs), defined as dry season foraging zones for herbivores, were studied relative to the more extensive outlying rangeland areas (non-KRAs) in Kenya. Field surveys with pastoralists, ranchers, scientists and government officials delineated KRAs on the ground. Identified KRAs were mapped based on global positioning and local experts' information on KRAs accessibility and ecological attributes. Using the map of known KRAs and non-KRAs, we examined characteristics of soils, climate, topography, land use/cover attributes at KRAs relative to non-KRAs. How and why do some areas (KRAs) support herbivores during droughts when forage is scarce in other areas of the landscape? We hypothesized that KRAs have fundamental ecological and socially determined attributes that enable them to provide forage during critical times and we sought to characterize some of those attributes in this study. At the landscape level, KRAs took different forms based on forage availability during the dry season but generally occurred in locations of the landscape with aseasonal water availability and/or difficult to access areas during wet season forage abundance. Greenness trends for KRAs versus non-KRAs were evaluated with a 22-year dataset of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Field surveys of KRAs provided qualitative information on KRAs as dry season foraging zones. At the scale of the study, soil attributes did not significantly differ for KRAs compared to non-KRAs. Slopes of KRA were generally steeper compared to non-KRAs and elevation was higher at KRAs. Field survey respondents indicated that animals and humans generally avoid difficult to access hilly areas using them only when all other easily accessible rangeland is depleted of forage during droughts. Understanding the nature of KRAs will support identification, protection and restoration of critical forage hotspots for herbivores by strengthening rangeland inventory, monitoring, policy formulation, and conservation efforts to improve habitats and human welfare. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vision based control for fixed wing UAVs inspecting locally linear infrastructure using skid-to-turn maneuvers

The following paper proposes a novel application of Skid-to-Turn maneuvers for fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) inspecting locally linear infrastructure. Fixed wing UAVs, following the design of manned aircraft, commonly employ Bank-to-Turn ma- neuvers to change heading and thus direction of travel. Whilst effective, banking an aircraft during the inspection of ground based features hinders data collection, with body fixed sen- sors angled away from the direction of turn and a panning motion induced through roll rate that can reduce data quality. By adopting Skid-to-Turn maneuvers, the aircraft can change heading whilst maintaining wings level flight, thus allowing body fixed sensors to main- tain a downward facing orientation. An Image-Based Visual Servo controller is developed to directly control the position of features as captured by onboard inspection sensors. This improves on the indirect approach taken by other tracking controllers where a course over ground directly above the feature is assumed to capture it centered in the field of view. Performance of the proposed controller is compared against that of a Bank-to-Turn tracking controller driven by GPS derived cross track error in a simulation environment developed to replicate the field of view of a body fixed camera.