From Structures To Services

"Calls for reform of the public service are routinely heard from politicians, private sector interests, civil society organisations and public servants themselves. Public service reform programmes have become the norm in many countries, including Ireland. But the overheated rhetoric that usually accompanies the launch of such programmes is often rapidly followed by the disappointment of unfulfilled ambition and apparent failure." "This book looks at the realities of public service reform in Ireland today. It begins with the conviction that reform is an ongoing process of adaptation to the rapidly changing requirements of society, rather than anything that can be captured in a once-off programme. It recognises the achievements of recent reform efforts, and it sets out some key elements that the authors believe should be part of the next phase of reform. In particular it identifies specific actions that are needed to improve accountability for performance, to adapt organisational structures to contemporary needs, and to put in place the vital leadership capability. The authors recognise that other actions will also be required in the short term, and that the process of adaptation will rapidly move on to other challenges, but they insist that the next phase of reform must, as a priority, address at least these three areas." "The book draws on management theory, international best practice and, not least, the authors' own experience at the frontline of public service delivery. Its proposals are practical and immediate, but are also well grounded in a vision of a high-performance public service that can meet the most demanding expectations of today's citizens."--BOOK JACKET.

This publication presents a framework for a safe system of work for operations at incidents involving tunnels and underground structures. It provides a robust yet flexible insight that can be adapted to the nature, scale and requirements of the incident. Incidents involving tunnels and underground structures may place significant demands on local fire and rescue services and have often required a national co-ordinated response from across the country. This type of incident may generate intense media attention where the operations of the emergency services are rigorously scrutinised. Whilst much of this attention is approving it will invariably focus on the preparedness of the emergency services and their operational effectiveness.

The purpose of Fitness-for-Service Fracture Assessment of Structures Containing Cracks is to facilitate the use of fracture mechanics based failure assessment procedures for the evaluation and design of structures and components. All practical structures contain flaws and the optimum combination of cost efficiency and safety whilst achieving the required capability, can only be realised by using state of the art methods such as that represented by the European flaw assessment method SINTAP/FITNET to analyse the safety risk. This book is written by practitioners with extensive experience in both the development and use of integrity assessment methods and provides comprehensive information on the basic principles and use of analytical flaw assessment. It provides an introduction to the method, its background, how it can be applied, its potential and, importantly, its limitations. The explanations are complimented by using a large number of worked examples and validation exercises which illustrate all aspects of the procedure. In addition, for students and engineers who are new to the subject, a comprehensive glossary of basic terms used in fracture mechanics based integrity evaluations is included. The topics addressed include: Crack driving force (CDF) and failure assessment diagram (FAD) type analyses Preparation of the input parameters (crack dimensions, stress-strain properties, fracture toughness, statistical aspects) Determination of the model parameters, (stress intensity factor and yield load solutions) Treatment of combined primary and secondary loading, together with residual stress effects Analysis of the effect of constraint effects (treatment of small defects and section size effects) Treatment of mixed mode loading Consideration of the influences of strength mismatch Reliability aspects Comprehensive description of the use of structural integrity methods to optimise cost effectiveness and safety Detailed description of how to evaluate the integrity of structures containing cracks Valuable background information for understanding the methods, their potential and limitations Large number of worked examples, which demonstrate all aspects of the methods Descriptive, readable writing style Applicable to a wide range of interests, from the student (university or self study) to the expert who requires a 'state of the art' document

This book presents the proceedings of the international seminar organised by the Centre for Cement and Concrete at the University of Sheffield to bring together information on the major issues concerning through-life management of major concrete structures.