Expanding The Living Architecture In Australia

This final report sets out the findings of the business case analysis of whether a voluntary or mandatory approach to green roofs and walls would work best in Australia It uses Sydney and Melbourne as examples to model data

Schr\"odinger's cat in an optical sideband

We propose a method to subtract a photon from a double sideband mode of continuous-wave light. The central idea is to use phase modulation as a frequency sideband beamsplitter in the heralding photon subtraction scheme, where a small portion of the sideband mode is downconverted to the carrier frequency to provide a trigger photon. An optical Schr\"odinger's cat state is created by applying the propesed method to a squeezed state at 500MHz sideband, which is generated by an optical parametric oscillator. The Wigner function of the cat state reconstructed from a direct homodyne measurement of the 500MHz sideband modes shows the negativity of $W(0,0) = -0.088\pm0.001$ without any loss corrections.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Summary Execution: The Impact of Alternative Summarization Strategies on Local Governments

Performance management in the public sector, including local government, has become far more pervasive in recent decades. Often performance indicators are summarized into a single score to enhance understanding and ease dissemination. However, the summation of performance indicators caries a risk that the rating assigned may largely be an artefact of the summarization strategy rather than an accurate representation of municipal performance. We employ the recent evaluation of New South Wales’ municipal performance to demonstrate that the performance indicator compilation strategy is indeed a major determinant of the ratings assigned to local councils. Moreover, we illustrate how ratings may exert a constitutive effect on municipalities by altering organizational behavior. A number of policy lessons are drawn from our empirical analysis, including significant methodological considerations and the need for higher levels of transparency

Peas in a Pod: Are Efficient Municipalities also Financially Sustainable?

© 2016 CPA Australia Are efficient councils financially sustainable? We argue that an efficient council may not necessarily be financially sustainable. Our subsequent empirical analysis finds limited evidence in favour of an ‘efficiency–sustainability’ nexus. Thus, policies aimed at improving a council's efficiency may not automatically enhance their financial sustainability. Public policy makers have principally focused on improving the operational efficiency of local government on the presumption that this will result in a more financially sustainable sector. We argue that it is erroneous to assume that an efficient local government entity will necessarily be more fiscally sustainable. To test this argument, we apply an innovative method for empirically testing the association between financial sustainability and operational efficiency to the New South Wales local government system. Our results suggest limited positive associations between financial sustainability measures and municipal efficiency

Nuance: Adding Multi-touch Force Detection to the iPad

(Abstract to follow

Stabilization of a highly expansive soil using waste-tire-derived aggregates and lime treatment

This study investigates the combined efficacy of waste-tire-derived aggregate (TDA) materials and hydrated lime on the compactability, compressive strength and swelling potential of a highly expansive soil from South Australia. A total of 21 mix-designs, covering a comprehensive range of soil–TDA–lime combinations, were examined through standard Proctor compaction, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and oedometer swell tests. The mobilized UCS exhibited a ‘rise–fall’ behavior, peaking at 5% TDA content and subsequently decreasing (monotonically) for higher inclusions of TDA. Increasing the TDA mean particle size (from 1.67 to 3.34 mm) also contributed positively to the UCS development. Addition of TDA to the soil/soil–lime-blends produced notable reductions in the swelling potential; the reduction was primarily governed by higher TDA contents, and, to a lesser degree, for larger TDA mean particle sizes. However, the role of TDA particle size in reducing swelling was found to be more significant than that of enhancing the UCS. As expected, lime treatment of the soil–TDA blends provided major further improvements to the UCS and swelling potential reduction; the achieved UCS improvements being positively proportional to the lime content and curing time. In view of the experimental results, soil–lime blends containing TDA to soil–lime mass ratios of up to 10% (preferably employing coarse-sand-sized equivalent TDA) can be deemed as suitable choices (capable of adequately mitigating the swelling potential, while simultaneously enhancing the UCS). © 2022 The Author

Road terrain type classification based on laser measurement system data

For road vehicles, knowledge of terrain types is useful in improving passenger safety and comfort. The conventional methods are susceptible to vehicle speed variations and in this paper we present a method of using Laser Measurement System (LMS) data for speed independent road type classification. Experiments were carried out with an instrumented road vehicle (CRUISE), by manually driving on a variety of road terrain types namely Asphalt, Concrete, Grass, and Gravel roads at different speeds. A looking down LMS is used for capturing the terrain data. The range data is capable of capturing the structural differences while the remission values are used to observe anomalies in surface reflectance properties. Both measurements are combined and used in a Support Vector Machines Classifier to achieve an average accuracy of 95% on different road types

The Empirical Analysis of Council Size, Council Performance and Council Amalgamation in Australian Local Government

Financial viability remains a matter of acute concern for Australian local government. Efforts to improve local government sustainability in Australian local government have focussed principally on structural change - primarily through forced amalgamation – which is directed at generating savings by exploiting economies of scale. However, empirical evidence on the existence of substantial scale economies across the range of municipal functions is mixed and inconclusive. In general, in debates over structural reform in Australian local government, claims by proponents of amalgamation that significant economies of scale will inevitably emerge as a consequence of larger merged councils are typically not accompanied by econometric modelling or indeed any other empirical evidence. This thesis argues that much of the existing empirical literature relating to the optimal size of local government is plagued by methodological flaws. Accordingly, it cannot be used to justify compulsory consolidation programs based on increasing the population size of local government entities. This conclusion is reached after examining the implications of these flaws on the question of optimal size in Australian local government. Recent innovations in the empirical analysis of municipal size and performance are considered. Using these developments, it is argued that future structural reform programs must be assessed by employing a range of techniques that take account of regulatory priorities, citizen preferences and projected outcomes

Simple rules can guide whether land or ocean based conservation will best benefit marine ecosystems

Coastal marine ecosystems can be managed by actions undertaken both on the land and in the ocean. Quantifying and comparing the costs and benefits of actions in both realms is therefore necessary for efficient management. Here, we quantify the link between terrestrial sediment run-off and a downstream coastal marine ecosystem, and contrast the cost-effectiveness of marine and land-based conservation actions. We use a dynamic land- and sea-scape model to determine whether limited funds should be directed to one of four alternative conservation actions – protection on land, protection in the ocean, restoration on land, or restoration in the ocean – to maximise the extent of light-dependent marine benthic habitats, across decadal time-scales. We apply the model to a case study seagrass meadow in Australia. We find that marine restoration is the most cost-effective action over decadal time-scales in this system, based on a conservative estimate of the rate at which seagrass can expand into new habitat. The optimal decision will vary in different social-ecological contexts, but some basic information can guide optimal investments to counteract land and ocean based stressors: (1) marine restoration should be prioritised if the rates of marine ecosystem decline and expansion are similar and low; (2) marine protection should take precedence if the rate of marine ecosystem decline is high, or if the adjacent catchment is relatively intact and has a low rate of vegetation decline; (3) land-based actions are optimal when the ratio of marine ecosystem expansion to decline is >1.4, with terrestrial restoration typically the most cost effective; and (4) land protection should be prioritised if the catchment is relatively intact, but the rate of vegetation decline is high. These rules-of-thumb illustrate how cost-effective conservation outcomes for connected land-ocean systems can proceed without complex modelling