Brisbane homes inappropriate for climate
Doctorates recently completed through the University of Queensland cover a wide range of areas including mining company disclosure policies, the performance of Australian homes under different climatic conditions, people-friendly software and the Queensland barley industry.
The University of Queensland awarded 315 PhDs in 1998 - a record for the University. In 1998, 2280 students were enrolled in PhD programs.
o Most new Brisbane houses designed without consideration for climate
Dr Holgar Willrath's (telephone 07 3355 2608) PhD with the Architecture Department looks at the thermal performance of Australian houses in different climatic conditions.
The thesis examines the relative effects variations in major building parameters have on the thermal performance of houses across the Australian climatic spectrum. He said his thesis showed that most new houses being built in Brisbane had been designed with no consideration for climate, and that the potential for energy and greenhouse gas emission savings through the application of thermal design principles was enormous.
A software package, BERS (Building Energy Rating Scheme), was developed to enable 2000 house variations to have their thermal performance simulated in each of 15 Australian climate types. Dr Willrath said the energy and greenhouse gas emission savings that could be achieved, through the application of energy efficient building design principles on a large scale, were estimated from a case study.
Parameters examined included thermal mass, insulation, roof type, wall type, floor type, carpet and under-floor insulation, ventilation, infiltration, external colour, glazing and frame types, window area, orientation and eaves width, retractable shading devices, top of window to eaves offset, and shading by an adjacent building.
He said previous Australian thermal simulation studies had been limited to specific regions of the continent, or, if a range of climates were examined, only a very small number of parametric variations were examined. The recent interest in the mandatory implementation of House Energy Rating Schemes made his broader and deeper study timely, he said.
The BERS thermal simulation software which was developed to produce the results discussed in this thesis is now a commercial product. It is currently being used: for building performance research by postgraduates; as a teaching aid in universities and TAFEs, by local government authorities and the Department of Public Works and Housing to evaluate building performance; by Brisbane City Council and Department of Mines and Energy as part of advisory services; and by architects, building designers and providers of energy efficient building products.
o Oil, gas and mining firm disclosure policies uncovered
The disclosure policies of 151 Australian oil, gas and mining firms were examined in a thesis with the University of Queensland's Commerce Department by Dr Abdul (Malik) Mirza (telephone 07 3864 2061 at work or 07 3878 2362 after hours). He investigated why some firms disclosed reserves in their annual reports and others did not.
Dr Mirza examined two aspects of reserve disclosure: quantum (quantity) and value. He found producing firms were more likely to report reserve quantities than those firms which had discovered but had not yet started producing minerals.
"These junior miners fear publicly declaring this information may give away a competitive edge," Dr Mirza said.
If the project were receiving outside finance, reserve quantities were also more likely to be disclosed in annual reports, he said. "This is because lenders have more confidence in assets if they are reported publicly," Dr Mirza said.
Another factor involved with determining whether a firm would report mineral reserve quantities or not was the cost of measuring reserves, he said.
"It is far easier and less expensive to measure quantities of oil, gas and gold reserves than coal, iron ore or bauxite reserves because these tend to be spread over a much wider area," Dr Mirza said.
Compared to disclosure of reserve quantum, recognition of reserve value was rare among the firms surveyed, he said. Firms that recognised value had either high debt or faced a hostile takeover. The thesis suggested that accounting rules related to asset revaluation were proving a hindrance for managers to bring reserves' value on to the balance sheet.
o Package to help make computers more people-friendly
For her thesis with the University of Queensland's Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department, Dr Geraldine Fitzpatrick (telephone 07 3365 8356) developed a novel approach to support the design of more people-friendly software.
Dr Fitzpatrick is a senior research scientist with the University's Co-operative Research Centre for Distributed Systems Technology.
The guidelines, known as the Locales Framework, incorporate sociology and anthropology with the latest computer technology.
"These principles are the future of computing. Computers are no longer just number-crunchers but they're about connecting people together. They should be helping real people do real work," Dr Fitzpatrick said.
"We need new tools to help us understand how to do this properly."
She said her approach supported the design of groupware systems enabling people to work together even when they were separated by long distances (for example, telecommuting and telemedicine).
These systems should go beyond simply providing video-conferencing or shared documents in isolation but provide rich integrated environments that helped people communicate, collaborate and coordinate their work together, she said.
"Sometimes the answer is not a piece of technology at all but something as simple as re-arranging furniture or changing meeting times. The Locales Framework can point to these as well because it focuses on people and puts technology in context," she said.
"Hopefully this way, we'll end up with technology that is more human-centred and suitable for everyday life."
o Barley for the brewers or the moo-ers?
For her PhD with the University of Queensland's School of Natural and Rural Systems Management, Dr Jyothi Gali (telephone 07 3239 0501, 07 3365 6429 or 07 3371 2826) developed a set of production and marketing strategies for Queensland barley growers and grain marketing organisations to maximise their opportunities in a volatile market.
The thesis, including a detailed analysis (model) of supply and demand for the industry, helps farmers decide whether to grow potentially higher-priced, lower-yielding malting barley or lower-priced, higher-yielding feed barley.
Dr Gali said that because of the increase in intensive livestock in south-east Queensland and the associated increase in demand for feed barley, feed barley had become a more competitive option with malting barley because of the exacting standards imposed by the beer industry on malting barley.
As much as 60 to 80 percent of malting barley was rejected because of reasons including insufficient protein content, she said.
Her model is believed to be the first to include this risk or probability of achieving malting barley grade standards.
