Using purchasing power parity to assess construction productivity

For many reasons comparing construction productivity between countries is a difficult task. One key problem is that of converting construction costs to a common currency. This problem can be overcome relatively simply by using a basket of construction materials and labour, termed a BLOC (Basket of Locally Obtained Commodities), as a unit of construction cost. Average BLOC costs in each location are calculated from data obtained from a number of sources (quantity surveyors, estimators). Typical building costs obtained from published construction cost data are expressed in BLOC equivalents. Lower BLOC equivalents represent higher productivity as other inputs (largely materials) are constant. The method provides a relatively simple and direct method for comparing productivity between different locations.

Community perceptions of bushfire risk

The public often view and evaluate risk differently from researchers and experts. Understanding how the public construct their perceptions of risk can greatly improve risk communication, and direct risk reduction strategies most appropriately. This chapter explores the social construction of risk in two peri-urban bushfire-prone communities in Queensland. These case studies were undertaken in 2005 using a multiplemethods approach, which included group interviews with community and fire brigade members, and a community survey. While there are common factors that can similarly influence perceptions of bushfire risks within and between communities, there are often local-based issues unique to a community that have important implications for bushfire management. Through understanding and clarifying fire issues in communities, fire managers can address problems affecting bushfire risk mitigation in their local cOl1ullUnily. Engaging the community through a number of means could help considerably. The community should be viewed as a resource - communities have the capacity to act, despite vulnerabilities

Effective coordination of vertical IS standardisation initiatives

This paper investigates vertical IS standardisation initiatives from an Actor Network Theory (ANT) perspective. It describes the standardisation process as a series of translations of interests. The ANT lens provides an insight into how participating organisations attempt to align the interests of other organisations. The contributions of this paper are: (i) a deeper understanding of the vertical IS standardisation process; (ii) actions participating organisations can take to effectively coordinate vertical IS standardisation initiatives.<br /

A Shock to the System? The impact of HRM on academic IR in Australia in comparison with USA and UK, 1980-95

Taking a theme of the transmission of ideas within disciplines, this paper investigates the impact of academic human resource management on academic industrial relations, comparing the impact in Australia between 1990 and 1995 with the earlier responses in UK and USA. It is shown that while HRM had a significant effect on academic industrial relations, the extent of that impact is not wholly clear because other events, such as public policy shifts and the changing role of universities also affected academic industrial relations

Learning science: Sociocultural Dimensions of Intellectual Engagement

This paper takes a sociocultural perspective as it addresses the problem of engaging all students in learning science, in contrast to a companion (ASERA ’02) paper where I address the issue in relation to psychological issues, both papers arising from the same set of research studies in science education. In both cases I am asserting that the interaction between the teacher and student is critical in either engaging or alienating students, and, in this paper will address the language aspects of the relationship. Seen in the light of sociocultural, including sociolinguistic, theories, my research findings imply that `science literacy’ could usefully be reconceptualised as the learning of a discourse, or as the learning of a literacy or language—as literacy or language teachers might define these. This paper addresses the development of science literacy as a process of situated learning within a meaningful social context, what Lemke (1995) called an "ecosocial system". From this perspective, learning science is the learning of a discourse. This includes becoming familiar with genres but not in isolation from meaningful community practice. I conclude that if science is seen as a distinct discourse practice, then this has implications for the learning and teaching of science and for teacher education

Does blockchain introduce new tensions in supply chain networks? A view from the food supply chain industry

Traceability and Authenticity (TA) has been a crucial concern for supply chain networks, as illegal and unauthorised practices spread due to a lack of TA. Innovative technology blockchain is argued to enable TA and address different issues in the food supply chain. While existing literature has mostly taken a techno-optimistic view of blockchain’s potential to solve current supply chain issues, tensions that blockchain can introduce in supply chain activities remain neglected. Therefore, this study empirically investigated blockchain implementation to uncover the new tensions in supply chain activities while solving existing tensions. Activity theory was adopted as a theoretical lens with in-depth qualitative interviews from organisations deploying blockchain to enable TA in the network. The study proposes new theoretical insights on how tensions emerge and build on each other to achieve TA in the supply chain network, which will guide organisations to improve TA by adopting blockchain