Architecture, Building and Planning - Research Publications

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    Selling Your Design: Oral Communication Pedagogy in Design Education
    Morton, J ; O'Brien, D (ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2005-01)
    Good design skills are the main focus of assessment practices in design education and are evaluated primarily by drawings and models. In some settings, design studio pedagogy tends to reflect only these content-oriented assessment priorities, with minimal attention paid to the development of oral communication skills. Yet, in many professional contexts, architects need both sets of skills: design competence and the ability to articulate designs for an audience. This paper explores two approaches to oral communication pedagogy in design education - a public speaking approach and a genre-based linguistic approach - and then applies one particular linguistic approach to novice design studio presentations. Based on the findings of this study, we argue that the linguistic, genre-based approach can best offer language-based, discipline-specific description of performance strategies, rhetorical structures, and the linguistic realizations of such structures. Such information can contribute to improved pedagogical practice in the design studio.
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    The Singapore Flyer and design of giant observation wheels, Singapore
    Allsop, A ; Dallard, P ; McNiven, B (Informa UK Limited, 2009-01-01)
    Some of the engineering principles conceived behind the design of Singapore Flyer, the giant observation Wheel (GOW), built by Arup, are discussed. The wheel is 150 m in diameter, and features access gantries to allow the passenger boarding and loading platforms having two stories above ground in the terminal building located at the base of the wheel. A tropical rainforest attraction has been built into the courtyard space immediately below the wheel to attract the visitor's experience. The 2D ladder truss helps reduce wind load on the Flyer rim. The Flyer also uses cable spokes that need to be prestressed to resist compression. The structural team used purpose-written software to study rim buckling. The GOW represents one lineage of a family of visitor attractions known as ionic viewing platforms, and the engineering design process has recognized several geometric effects on the efficiency of the structure.
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    Approaches to the evaluation of outbreak detection methods
    Watkins, RE ; Eagleson, S ; Hall, RG ; Dailey, L ; Plant, AJ (BMC, 2006-10-24)
    BACKGROUND: An increasing number of methods are being developed for the early detection of infectious disease outbreaks which could be naturally occurring or as a result of bioterrorism; however, no standardised framework for examining the usefulness of various outbreak detection methods exists. To promote comparability between studies, it is essential that standardised methods are developed for the evaluation of outbreak detection methods. METHODS: This analysis aims to review approaches used to evaluate outbreak detection methods and provide a conceptual framework upon which recommendations for standardised evaluation methods can be based. We reviewed the recently published literature for reports which evaluated methods for the detection of infectious disease outbreaks in public health surveillance data. Evaluation methods identified in the recent literature were categorised according to the presence of common features to provide a conceptual basis within which to understand current approaches to evaluation. RESULTS: There was considerable variation in the approaches used for the evaluation of methods for the detection of outbreaks in public health surveillance data, and appeared to be no single approach of choice. Four main approaches were used to evaluate performance, and these were labelled the Descriptive, Derived, Epidemiological and Simulation approaches. Based on the approaches identified, we propose a basic framework for evaluation and recommend the use of multiple approaches to evaluation to enable a comprehensive and contextualised description of outbreak detection performance. CONCLUSION: The varied nature of performance evaluation demonstrated in this review supports the need for further development of evaluation methods to improve comparability between studies. Our findings indicate that no single approach can fulfil all evaluation requirements. We propose that the cornerstone approaches to evaluation identified provide key contributions to support internal and external validity and comparability of study findings, and suggest these be incorporated into future recommendations for performance assessment.
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    Using GIS to create synthetic disease outbreaks
    Watkins, RE ; Eagleson, S ; Beckett, S ; Garner, G ; Veenendaal, B ; Wright, G ; Plant, AJ (BMC, 2007-02-14)
    BACKGROUND: The ability to detect disease outbreaks in their early stages is a key component of efficient disease control and prevention. With the increased availability of electronic health-care data and spatio-temporal analysis techniques, there is great potential to develop algorithms to enable more effective disease surveillance. However, to ensure that the algorithms are effective they need to be evaluated. The objective of this research was to develop a transparent user-friendly method to simulate spatial-temporal disease outbreak data for outbreak detection algorithm evaluation. A state-transition model which simulates disease outbreaks in daily time steps using specified disease-specific parameters was developed to model the spread of infectious diseases transmitted by person-to-person contact. The software was developed using the MapBasic programming language for the MapInfo Professional geographic information system environment. RESULTS: The simulation model developed is a generalised and flexible model which utilises the underlying distribution of the population and incorporates patterns of disease spread that can be customised to represent a range of infectious diseases and geographic locations. This model provides a means to explore the ability of outbreak detection algorithms to detect a variety of events across a large number of stochastic replications where the influence of uncertainty can be controlled. The software also allows historical data which is free from known outbreaks to be combined with simulated outbreak data to produce files for algorithm performance assessment. CONCLUSION: This simulation model provides a flexible method to generate data which may be useful for the evaluation and comparison of outbreak detection algorithm performance.
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    Applying cusum-based methods for the detection of outbreaks of Ross River virus disease in Western Australia
    Watkins, RE ; Eagleson, S ; Veenendaal, B ; Wright, G ; Plant, AJ (BMC, 2008-08-13)
    BACKGROUND: The automated monitoring of routinely collected disease surveillance data has the potential to ensure that important changes in disease incidence are promptly recognised. However, few studies have established whether the signals produced by automated monitoring methods correspond with events considered by epidemiologists to be of public health importance. This study investigates the correspondence between retrospective epidemiological evaluation of notifications of Ross River virus (RRv) disease in Western Australia, and the signals produced by two cumulative sum (cusum)-based automated monitoring methods. METHODS: RRv disease case notification data between 1991 and 2004 were assessed retrospectively by two experienced epidemiologists, and the timing of identified outbreaks was compared with signals generated from two different types of cusum-based automated monitoring algorithms; the three Early Aberration Reporting System (EARS) cusum algorithms (C1, C2 and C3), and a negative binomial cusum. RESULTS: We found the negative binomial cusum to have a significantly greater area under the receiver operator characteristic curve when compared with the EARS algorithms, suggesting that the negative binomial cusum has a greater level of agreement with epidemiological opinion than the EARS algorithms with respect to the existence of outbreaks of RRv disease, particularly at low false alarm rates. However, the performance of individual EARS and negative binomial cusum algorithms were not significantly different when timeliness was also incorporated into the area under the curve analyses. CONCLUSION: Our retrospective analysis of historical data suggests that, compared with the EARS algorithms, the negative binomial cusum provides greater sensitivity for the detection of outbreaks of RRv disease at low false alarm levels, and decreased timeliness early in the outbreak period. Prospective studies are required to investigate the potential usefulness of these algorithms in practice.
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    Disease surveillance using a hidden Markov model
    Watkins, RE ; Eagleson, S ; Veenendaal, B ; Wright, G ; Plant, AJ (BMC, 2009-08-10)
    BACKGROUND: Routine surveillance of disease notification data can enable the early detection of localised disease outbreaks. Although hidden Markov models (HMMs) have been recognised as an appropriate method to model disease surveillance data, they have been rarely applied in public health practice. We aimed to develop and evaluate a simple flexible HMM for disease surveillance which is suitable for use with sparse small area count data and requires little baseline data. METHODS: A Bayesian HMM was designed to monitor routinely collected notifiable disease data that are aggregated by residential postcode. Semi-synthetic data were used to evaluate the algorithm and compare outbreak detection performance with the established Early Aberration Reporting System (EARS) algorithms and a negative binomial cusum. RESULTS: Algorithm performance varied according to the desired false alarm rate for surveillance. At false alarm rates around 0.05, the cusum-based algorithms provided the best overall outbreak detection performance, having similar sensitivity to the HMMs and a shorter average time to detection. At false alarm rates around 0.01, the HMM algorithms provided the best overall outbreak detection performance, having higher sensitivity than the cusum-based Methods and a generally shorter time to detection for larger outbreaks. Overall, the 14-day HMM had a significantly greater area under the receiver operator characteristic curve than the EARS C3 and 7-day negative binomial cusum algorithms. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the HMM provides an effective method for the surveillance of sparse small area notifiable disease data at low false alarm rates. Further investigations are required to evaluation algorithm performance across other diseases and surveillance contexts.
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    Hope, despair and transformation: Climate change and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing.
    Fritze, JG ; Blashki, GA ; Burke, S ; Wiseman, J (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2008-09-17)
    BACKGROUND: This article aims to provide an introduction to emerging evidence and debate about the relationship between climate change and mental health. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The authors argue that:i) the direct impacts of climate change such as extreme weather events will have significant mental health implications;ii) climate change is already impacting on the social, economic and environmental determinants of mental health with the most severe consequences being felt by disadvantaged communities and populations; iii) understanding the full extent of the long term social and environmental challenges posed by climate change has the potential to create emotional distress and anxiety; and iv) understanding the psycho-social implications of climate change is also an important starting point for informed action to prevent dangerous climate change at individual, community and societal levels.
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    Architectural Reunification: Akademie der Kunst, Berlin
    Hinkel, R ; Frichot, H (Asia and the Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development, 2006)
    Review of the Akademie der Künste, Academy of Art, in the heart of Berlin. A controversial building by Behnisch & Partner Architects, Germany.
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    Hotel Room Heimat: A Feeling for Home
    Hinkel, R ; Frichot, H (Architecture Media Pty Ltd, 2008)
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    A Visit to the Hospital
    Hinkel, R ; Frichot, H (Architecture Media Pty Ltd, 2008)