Risk assessment in life-cycle costing for road asset management

Queensland Department of Main Roads, Australia, spends approximately A$ 1 billion\ud annually for road infrastructure asset management. To effectively manage road\ud infrastructure, firstly road agencies not only need to optimise the expenditure for data\ud collection, but at the same time, not jeopardise the reliability in using the optimised\ud data to predict maintenance and rehabilitation costs. Secondly, road agencies need\ud to accurately predict the deterioration rates of infrastructures to reflect local\ud conditions so that the budget estimates could be accurately estimated. And finally,\ud the prediction of budgets for maintenance and rehabilitation must provide a certain\ud degree of reliability.\ud This paper presents the results of case studies in using the probability-based method\ud for an integrated approach (i.e. assessing optimal costs of pavement strength data\ud collection; calibrating deterioration prediction models that suit local condition and\ud assessing risk-adjusted budget estimates for road maintenance and rehabilitation for\ud assessing life-cycle budget estimates).\ud The probability concept is opening the path to having the means to predict life-cycle\ud maintenance and rehabilitation budget estimates that have a known probability of\ud success (e.g. produce budget estimates for a project life-cycle cost with 5%\ud probability of exceeding).\ud The paper also presents a conceptual decision-making framework in the form of risk\ud mapping in which the life-cycle budget/cost investment could be considered in\ud conjunction with social, environmental and political issues

The Mediating Effect of Knowledge Management on Intellectual Capital and Value Creation: Evidence from Sri Lanka

This paper aims to investigate the impact of Intellectual Capital on Value Creation mediated through Knowledge Management in Sri Lankan companies. The ‘static’ and the ‘dynamic’ aspect of knowledge and the theoretical models, which are based on the relationship between Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management forced the authors to address this research problem. The study was based on the top corporate personnel’s views collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Out of 297 Public Listed Companies listed on Colombo Stock Exchange and 517 private companies registered in Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, 263 companies were selected as the sample. Value creation was measured through both non-financial value drivers and financial value drivers, which was an innovative feature of this study. The data was analyzed using multivariate analysis through Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling. The findings confirmed a partial mediation of knowledge management. Further, findings revealed a significant and positive impact of intellectual capital on value creation and a significant positive impact of intellectual capital on knowledge management. The impact of knowledge management on value creation was also a significant positive one

Mechanistic interpretation of braking distance specifications and pavement friction requirements

10.3141/2155-16Transportation Research Record2155145-157TRRE

Explaining changes in rainfall-runoff relationships during and after Australia's Millennium Drought : a community perspective

The Millennium Drought lasted more than a decade and is notable for causing persistent shifts in the relationship between rainfall and runoff in many southeastern Australian catchments. Research to date has successfully characterised where and when shifts occurred and explored relationships with potential drivers, but a convincing physical explanation for observed changes in catchment behaviour is still lacking. Originating from a large multi-disciplinary workshop, this paper presents and evaluates a range of hypothesised process explanations of flow response to the Millennium Drought. The hypotheses consider climatic forcing, vegetation, soil moisture dynamics, groundwater, and anthropogenic influence. The hypotheses are assessed against evidence both temporally (e.g. why was the Millennium Drought different to previous droughts?) and spatially (e.g. why did rainfall-runoff relationships shift in some catchments but not in others?). Thus, the strength of this work is a large-scale assessment of hydrologic changes and potential drivers. Of 24 hypotheses, 3 are considered plausible, 10 are considered inconsistent with evidence, and 11 are in a category in between, whereby they are plausible yet with reservations (e.g. applicable in some catchments but not others). The results point to the unprecedented length of the drought as the primary climatic driver, paired with interrelated groundwater processes, including declines in groundwater storage, altered recharge associated with vadose zone expansion, and reduced connection between subsurface and surface water processes. Other causes include increased evaporative demand and harvesting of runoff by small private dams. Finally, we discuss the need for long-term field monitoring, particularly targeting internal catchment processes and subsurface dynamics. We recommend continued investment in the understanding of hydrological shifts, particularly given their relevance to water planning under climate variability and change