From design to operations: a process management life-cycle performance measurement system for Public-Private Partnerships

YesPublic–Private Partnerships (PPPs) have become a critical vehicle for delivering infrastructure worldwide. Yet, the use of such a procurement strategy has received considerable criticism, as they have been prone to experiencing time/cost overruns and during their operation poorly managed. A key issue contributing to the poor performance of PPPs is the paucity of an effective and comprehensive performance measurement system. There has been a tendency for the performance of PPPs to be measured based on their ex-post criteria of time, cost and quality. Such criteria do not accommodate the complexities and lifecycle of an asset. In addressing this problem, the methodology of sequential triangulation is used to develop and examine the effectiveness of a ‘Process Management Life Cycle Performance Measurement System’. The research provides public authorities and private-sector entities embarking on PPPs with a robust mechanism to effectively measure, control and manage their projects’ life cycle performances, ensuring the assets are ‘future proofed’

Perinatal mortality following assisted reproductive technology treatment in Australia and New Zealand, a public health approach for international reporting of perinatal mortality

BACKGROUND There is a need to have uniformed reporting of perinatal mortality for births following assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment to enable international comparison and benchmarking of ART practice. METHODS The Australian and New Zealand Assisted Reproduction Database was used in this study. Births of ≥ 20 weeks gestation and/or ≥ 400 grams of birth weight following embryos transfer cycles in Australia and New Zealand during the period 2004 to 2008 were included. Differences in the mortality rates by different perinatal periods from a gestational age cutoff of ≥ 20, ≥ 22, ≥ 24, or ≥ 28 weeks (wks) to a neonatal period cutoff of either < 7 or < 28 days after birth were assessed. Crude and specific (number of embryos transferred and plurality) rates of perinatal mortality were calculated for selected gestational and neonatal periods. RESULTS When the perinatal period is defined as ≥ 20 wks gestation to < 28 days after birth, the perinatal mortality rate (PMR) was 16.1 per 1000 births (n = 630). A progressive contraction of the gestational age groups resulted in marked reductions in the PMR for deaths at < 28 days (22 wks 11.0; 24 wks 7.7; 28 wks 5.6); and similarly for deaths at < 7 days (20 wks 15.6, 22 wks 10.5; 24 wks 7.3; 28 wks 5.3). In contrast, a contraction of the perinatal period from < 28 to < 7 days after birth only marginally reduced the PMR from 16.2 to 15.6 per 1000 births which was consistent across all gestational ages. The PMR for single embryo transfer (SET) births (≥ 20 weeks gestation to < 7 days post-birth) was significantly lower (12.8 per 1000 SET births) compared to double embryo transfer (DET) births (PMR 18.3 per 1000 DET births; p < 0.001, Fisher’s Exact Test). Similarly, the PMR for SET births (≥ 22 weeks gestation to < 7 days post-birth) was significantly lower (8.8 per 1000 SET births, p < 0.001, Fisher’s Exact Test) when compared to DET births (12.2 per 1000 DET births). The highest PMR (50.5 per 1000 SET births, 95% CI 36.5-64.5) was for twins following SET births (≥ 20 weeks gestation to < 7 days post-birth) compared to twins following DET (23.9 per 1000 DET births, 95% CI 20.8-27.1). CONCLUSION Reporting of perinatal mortality of ART births is an essential component of quality ART practice. This should include measures that monitor the impact on perinatal mortality of multiple embryo transfer. We recommend that reporting of perinatal deaths following ART treatment, should be stratified for three gestation-specific perinatal periods of ≥ 20, ≥ 22 and ≥ 28 completed weeks to < 7 days post-birth; and include plurality specific rates by SET and DET. This would provide a valuable international evidence-base of PMR for use in evaluating ART policy, practice and new research.Elizabeth A Sullivan, Yueping A Wang, Robert J Norman, Georgina M Chambers, Abrar Ahmad Chughtai and Cynthia M Farquha

Future public service capacity employment of young people into Australian public services during the GFC /

Public services face several workforce challenges, including impending retirements and austerity programs. Although employing more young people is a likely solution to balancing the demographic profile of public services, the literature and theory suggest that young people would have fared worse during the global financial crisis. This research tests propositions around the vulnerability of young people in selected Australian public services during the global financial crisis, in terms of quantity and quality of jobs obtained. Surprisingly, the findings suggest that many young people fared as well or sometimes better than other age cohorts during the global financial crisis in terms of both recruitment and access to ongoing jobs. There are several indications that perhaps public services provided a safe haven in a turbulent labour market

Rhodotron accelerators for industrial electron-beam processing: a progress report

Rhodotrons are electron accelerators based on the principle of "re-circulating" a beam through successive diameters of a single coaxial cavity resonating in metric waves. Such design makes it possible to achieve CW acceleration of electron beams to high energies. The original design principle of the Rhodotron was first proposed in 1989 by J. Pottier from the French Atomic Energy Agency (CEA), who suggested the use of a half-wavelength coaxial cavity, shorted at both ends to accelerate electrons. The principle of operation of the Rhodotron has already been described in length in previous articles. The first industrial Rhodotron (referred as model 1T-200) was built in 1993 at IBA Belgium. It exceeded its expected performances in 1994 with a maximum beam output power of 110 kW at 10 MeV (100 kW expected), and a high power efficiency of 38% at full beam power (25% expected). Three industrial Rhodotron systems ranging from 35 kW to 200 kW beam power at 10 MeV have been completely designed, and are routinely manufactured at IBA's facilities in Louvain-la-Neuve. Specifications of these industrial accelerators were chosen in order to address the needs of the market of industrial irradiation for simple, compact and reliable high-power EB units.Anglai

The IBA self-extracting cyclotron project

The self-extracting cyclotron is a high-intensity 14 MeV H+ machine for isotope production. There is no electrostatic deflector. Extraction is achieved with a special shaping of the magnetic field. There are two long poles and two short poles, both with an elliptical gap profile; this provides a steep fall off of the magnetic field at the pole radii. An extraction groove is machined in the iron of one of the longer poles. First harmonic coils create a large orbit separation at the entrance of the extraction path and extract the beam. The machine is presently installed in the industrial isotope production site where the final commissioning and tests took place. Beams of more than 1.5 mA have been extracted and transported. Further development is ongoing in order to increase the current on target to at least 2 mA in the coming months. Commercial isotope production will start in the course of this year. The concept of the machine is explained and the layout of the machine and beam lines is presented. Results of orbit calculations and central region optimizations are given. Results of the measurement of extracted beam shapes and emittances are given. The progress and present status of the project are discussed