Academic literature on the topic 'Contact patch shape'

This chapter examines the architecture used to distribute video over the Internet. The unprecedented volume of online video that now circulates suggests that this distribution had “enabled a radical approach” by generating forms of labor and content that traditional media industries have never seen before. Embedded in this transformation were competing ideas about what content and which audiences are valuable, and indeed how culture itself ought to work. The chapter then explores how computer pioneers thought about television in the 1960s and charts a path to more recent practices of caching, streaming, and multicasting. Ultimately, the case of Internet video distribution reveals how crucial the study of infrastructure is to understanding the shape, form, and function of media technologies.

Adolescence is a unique window of development and a profound period of social, psychological, economic, and biological transition. Children do not take a direct path to adulthood; more is known today about the challenges faced and opportunities available during the adolescent period and how these shape life trajectories. The Sustainable Development Agenda has laid out an ambitious set of goals that when implemented will have an impact on their life chances, choices, and transitions to adulthood. The chapter describes a number of definitional and conceptual issues in adolescent development research. It raises a challenge to policymaking, which will need to engage with the interdependent and complex nature of adolescent development embedded in context and evolving over the life course. An integrated framework for policy-coherent responses for adolescents is proposed, reinforcing protection and empowerment as two sides of a coin. Implications for a maturing field of adolescent development research are discussed.

The law enables private parties to undo the wrongs committed against them. In other words, the law enables victims to seek redress. This book shows how a distinctive kind of justice governs our legal rights of redress, different from the leading corrective justice approaches. In the process, it helps to make sense of tort, contract, fiduciary law, and unjust enrichment doctrine. As developed in The Right of Redress, when a wrong is remedied, the authorship of that remedy matters. The justice in private law is sensitive to a right holder’s authorship, and understanding how solves a number of legal theory puzzles. This book also offers a novel account of the state’s obligations. Many forms of redress are only available with state assistance, and a full account of private law requires an account of the state’s responsibility to assist. It also requires an explanation of those cases in which the state declines to assist. Prior accounts have drawn on Kantian principles or a Lockean social contract theory. Drawing on public fiduciary theory, The Right of Redress develops a distinctive account of the state’s role. Lastly, this book offers a new take on various modern features of the private law landscape, ranging from equity, to damage caps, to arbitration, to corporate claims, to class actions. The Right of Redress thus offers a path-breaking account of the justice in private law, of the political theory that underlies it, and of the contemporary features that shape our rights of redress today.

Progress in Africa’s economic growth in the new millennium has been uneven across countries, and has not translated into structural transformation. The same can be said about the evolving China–Africa economic relations. Although economic ties between China and Africa have made a positive contribution, the impact of this dynamic engagement has been uneven, shaped by variations in strategic approach, policy ownership, and implementation capacity among African governments. As China undergoes major economic rebalancing to upgrade to an innovation-driven economy, this is bound to affect China–Africa relations, offering both opportunities and challenges. Authored by leading scholars on Africa, China, and China–Africa relations, this volume brings together stimulating and thought-provoking perspectives, and deeper analyses on the evolving China–Africa relations. Focusing on Africa’s economic development, the volume looks at core areas of structural transformation: productive investment and industrialization, international trade, infrastructure development, and financing. China–Africa relations are considered in the context of the global division of labour and power, and the particular role of both China and the continent of Africa in the evolving global hierarchy. This volume seeks to fill the gap in the existing literature, steer policy and scholarly debate on the progress and trajectory of China–Africa cooperation, and analyse China’s development path as a source of learning for Africa.

Worldwide, half a million people die from air pollution each year-more than perish in all wars combined. One in every five mammal species on the planet is threatened with extinction. Our climate is warming, our forests are in decline, and every day we hear news of the latest ecological crisis. What will it really take to move society onto a more sustainable path? Many of us are already doing the "little things" to help the earth, like recycling or buying organic produce. These are important steps-but they're not enough. In Who Rules the Earth?, Paul Steinberg, a leading scholar of environmental politics, shows that the shift toward a sustainable world requires modifying the very rules that guide human behavior and shape the ways we interact with the earth. We know these rules by familiar names like city codes, product design standards, business contracts, public policies, cultural norms, and national constitutions. Though these rules are largely invisible, their impact across the planet has been dramatic. By changing the rules, Ontario, Canada has cut the levels of pesticides in its waterways in half. The city of Copenhagen has adopted new planning codes that will reduce its carbon footprint to zero by 2025. In the United States, a handful of industry mavericks designed new rules to promote greener buildings, and transformed the world's largest industry into a more sustainable enterprise. Steinberg takes the reader on a series of journeys, from a familiar walk on the beach to a remote village deep in the jungles of Peru, helping the reader to "see" the social rules that pattern our physical reality and showing why these are the big levers that will ultimately determine the health of our planet. By unveiling the influence of social rules at all levels of society-from private property to government policy, and from the rules governing our oceans to the dynamics of innovation and change within corporations and communities-Who Rules the Earth? is essential reading for anyone who understands that sustainability is not just a personal choice, but a political struggle.

AbstractInstagram has been an emerging platform for tourists to share their experiences and connect with other users in the multiphasic travel stages. Despite the huge number of photographs shared on Instagram on a daily basis, it remains ambiguous regarding the underlying motives of tourists’ posting behaviour. Thus, this study aims to conceptualise a framework based on the internal and external triggers of sharing travel photographs through a mix methods design involving diary studies and questionnaires. By conducting a path analysis, this study presents and validates a theoretical model including various motivational factors; namely enjoyment, self-esteem, recognition, interests, social norms, goals, social ties, social status and prestige, self-efficiency, outcome expectations and memorabilia. Meanwhile, this research clusters young techsavvy tourists into four distinct segments based on their behaviour of using Instagram while traveling. By bridging motivational theories, social psychology, and social media in the context of tourism, this research extends literature related to user-generated content and Instagram. Practically, this research allows marketers to optimise the effectiveness of marketing strategies based on the characteristics of tourists and their behaviour on social media platforms.

AbstractThe concluding chapter resumes the arguments made in the introduction to this volume. It summarizes the empirical findings of the individual contributions and highlights prevailing cross-cutting issues and themes. It also depicts further and future avenues of research resulting from this volume. Overall, it becomes evident that International organizations (IOs) have been part of the architecture of arguments in global social governance for a long time. They have been populating diverse social fields in which they more often cooperate or coexist in issue-related or individual regional niches than contest each other. However, they often share a field with other actors, too. IOs have also proven strong in exercising soft governance as the broadcasters of new ideas. Thus, they have cognitive authority over their specific field. However, birth characteristics, such as membership rules or the design of decision-taking, as well as path-dependencies influence IO activities and discourses.

The founding fathers were born into a remarkable variety of families, occupations, religious loyalties, and geographic settings: from landed gentry destined to join the ruling elite, to middling or common sorts who chose the law or medicine as a professional path to distinction, or immigrants from other parts of the British Empire. They lived within and were shaped by three interlocking contexts—the intellectual world of the transatlantic Enlightenment; the political context within which Americans sought to preserve and improve the best of the Anglo-American constitutional heritage; and the social, economic, and cultural context formed as a result of their living on the Atlantic world’s periphery.

Wireless sensor networks consist of many tiny sensor nodes deployed at a high density over region, requiring surveillance and monitoring. The sensor nodes typically consist of one or more sensing elements, battery, low powered radio transmitter/receiver, microprocessor, and limited memory. Sensor networks deployed in a hostile environment are prone to malicious attacks like eavesdropping, masquerading, traffic analysis, et cetera. Hence, security is more important in sensor networks than in traditional networks. An important challenge in sensor network security is the design of effective bootstrapping protocols for the nodes, which are pre-initialized with some secret information and have had no prior direct contact with each other. Each node has a set of keys, called a key chain, rather than a single shared key. The keys in the key chain are picked randomly from a key pool. Two neighboring nodes either share a common key or should be able to establish a key path such that every pair in the path shares a key. One problem in such a solution is to select a proper key chain so that the network remains connected with a high probability.

Chapter 2 develops a theoretical framework for the analysis of law and order policies from a partisan politics perspective. It argues that understanding law and order policy making involves two main steps that can be conceptually distinguished: agenda-setting and decision-making. For the agenda-setting phase, the chapter builds on the assumption that issues related to law and order are valence-loaden and generate issue competition between political parties. Therefore, issue owners are particularly likely to get tough on law and order. For decision-making, the theoretical argument relates to theories of comparative public policy analysis, according to which the preferences do translate into public policies, but only if the institutional context allows. Finally, this theoretical chapter discusses how law and order turns may shape the future policy path through positive policy feedback. All expectations are summarized in seven hypotheses to guide the empirical analysis.

Public Sector Transformation initiatives do not exist within a vacuum. This chapter analyzes how Public Service Transformation initiatives are intrinsically linked with the values, norms, informal rules, and taken for granted beliefs (in short: institutions) that characterize the context in which the initiatives are introduced. Using two case studies (describing the Criminal Justice System in the UK and social security in Belgium and The Netherlands) it is exemplified how Public Service Transformation initiatives sometimes transform institutions, whereas at the same time, institutions, through judicial and professional norms, and through power structures and path dependencies, shape ways in which technologies are designed and used in specific practices. The chapter argues for a better understanding of the working of institutions in specific Public Sector Transformation initiatives, in order to be better able to deal with the difficulties, contradictions, and sometimes mindboggling features of Public Sector Transformation.

The book’s introduction sets out the historical, social, cultural, and political background, linking the rise of child science in Russia and elsewhere with processes of rapid modernization characteristic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The chapter begins by relating the emergence of the sciences of the child at this particular historical juncture to the expansion of the professional middle classes, highlighting the role that the concept of development played in the latter’s social self-understanding, which in turn helped shape the ideologies of the rising welfare/warfare states. The historical roots of the child study movement are identified in an evolving post-Enlightenment biopolitics of childhood. The chapter stresses the normative nature of the sciences of child development and outlines the different kinds of norms that came to shape this field’s interests and priorities. Next, the chapter dwells on the multidisciplinary and inter-professional character of child science, elaborating how this both influenced and problematized its mobilization and self-identification as a movement. Also highlighted is the transnational nature of this movement. An analysis of the positioning of Russians within it is followed by a discussion of the path that child science took in the Soviet Union in the interwar era. The concluding section is a review of extant historiography on Russo-Soviet child science and a brief outline of the content and approach of the present study.

Talented migrant women constitute a main stake for Western economies, especially when they become entrepreneurs. Most international organisations insist on their role in the economic growth. Unfortunately, they face much more ostracism than men during their path to success. In this context, the chapter aims at identifying how education may sustain their challenge first isolating talented migrant women, then giving them managerial tools to transform their technical talent into successful business. The chapter is divided into three sections. First, it analyses the importance of migrant talented women for the host economy. Then, it explores the ways education may shape female migrant talent by avoiding disqualification of recognised talents and identifying raw talents. At last, it highlights the role of education transforming migrant women into successful entrepreneur. Beyond the technical skills, it is suggested that education has to help resizing the role of (migrant) women in the society and of course dispense the appropriate missing skills.

There were growing public demands to address ongoing tensions over biased policing, excessive sentencing, and the often lethal consequences of disproportionate minority contact. However, the Obama administration’s professed commitment to comprehensive criminal justice and mass incarceration reform was constrained by institutional norms, federalism, and a skepticism about individual responsibility that most frequently came from Republican detractors. Hyperincarceration in the United States has garnered substantial attention from scholars, activists, and analysts. Yet beyond crime rates, the racially disparate consequences of this autonomous system hold significant implications for the institutionalization of Black political power. African Americans are disproportionately represented in every realm of punitive control, from surveillance to arrest to conviction to incarceration to postrelease supervision. Crime control policies, then, shape individual access and communal representation. In this chapter, I interrogate President Obama’s record through the lens of what I term “concentrated punishment.” I begin by highlighting the behemoth growth of the criminal justice system that set the tone for the challenges President Obama attempted to address. From there, I analyze key policy reforms within these two domains to characterize President Obama’s legacy of criminal justice reform. Finally, I outline a reform path for future administrations.

Abstract This study evaluates the wheel-rail contact patch geometry of the VT-FRA roller rig, designed and commissioned at the Virginia Tech’s Railway Technologies Laboratory (RTL). Contact patch measurements are crucial for better analyzing the underlying factors that affect the wheel-rail interface (WRI) contact mechanics and dynamics. One of the challenges is in determining the size and pressure distribution at the contact patch, under various conditions. Although past studies have attempted to reach a method that can be used to make such measurements, more research is needed in reaching a practical and consistent method. This is particularly true for making the measurements under dynamic conditions. The use of pressure sensitive films was considered as the means for contact patch measurements on the VT-FRA rig, however, the thickness of the film influences the contact patch area and shape. This paper provides the results of the measurements with films with different range of pressure sensitivities. Three types of pressure-sensitive films are used under static conditions. The films are placed in between the wheel and roller in exact positions to enable comparing the test results for various wheel loads. The contact patch measured by the most sensitive film, which reacts to pressures as low as 0.5 MPa, provides the most accurate outline for the contact patch, although it does not provide the highest resolution for the pressure distribution. The other pressure-sensitive films that are used have a higher pressure range, with minimums of 49.0 MPa and 127.6 MPa. The relationship between the size of the contact patch and average contact pressure is evaluated as a function of the wheel load. The results indicate that with increasing wheel load, the size of the contact patch changes minimally, with the average pressure increasing in a nearly linear relationship to the wheel load as expected.

With all wheeled vehicles, the tire contact patch is the only connection between the vehicle and the road. All the forces, except for aerodynamic forces, that are acting on the vehicle are generated in the tire contact patch. The size, shape and the pressure distribution of the contact patch are important to the performance, ride qualities and handling characteristics of a vehicle. Tire footprint studies are essential in understanding tire force generation and tire wear mechanisms. It is thus important to accurately determine the tire contact patch size and dimensions. This paper discusses various methods for measuring the static tire contact patch dimensions. A set of tests are conducted on various tires and at different inflation pressures. These tests are used to discuss the suitability of the methods depending on the type, size, load and contact surface of the tire. A list of advantages and disadvantages for each method is generated and discussed. The aim of this paper is not to study the tire footprints but to discuss the various testing methods. Insight into the different methods can help to select the suitable method for future tire contact studies.

Track properties such as rail inclination, cant and gage width have significant effects on the shape and size of the contact area, actual rolling radius and also on the contact forces. These effects have an important role on rolling contact fatigue (RCF) which is known to be the main reason for large portion of wheel set failures and expenses. In this study the wheel/rail dynamic interaction of an Iranian railway passenger wagon under different track features are investigated through simulations using ADAMS\Rail commercial software. The calculated results regarding contact load data and contact properties of the wheel and rail are used for fatigue analysis to calculate RCF damage to the wheels using damage criteria based on previous studies. Two major parameters believed to have serious roles on RCF are the contact stress and the tangential force in the contact patch. These parameters are obtained from vehicle dynamic simulation studies. This paper describes and compares effects of different track geometries in curved and tangent tracks on RCF of three different wheel profiles S1002, P8 and IR1002. It is to identify which combinations of wheel load, wheel and rail profiles and vehicle dynamic characteristics cause RCF more severely.

The coefficient of friction (CoF) is one of the most important parameters for the contact between the wheel and the rail. Accurate estimation or measurement of the CoF has a very important role, both in terms of modeling the train dynamics and in terms of reducing operational costs in the long-term. For ease of implementation, since the nature of the wheel-rail contact dynamics is very complex, the assumption of a constant CoF is still used in most theoretical studies. Nevertheless, experimental work indicates that the CoF depends on dynamic changes in various wheel-rail conditions, like sliding velocity, contact patch shape and size for stick and sliding region, wheel and rail geometry, wheel vibration, rail surface roughness and/or lubrication, etc. In this paper we present the proposed equation to model the nonlinear dry friction coefficient at the wheel-rail contact. The friction coefficient is calculated at the three different values for change in the damping ratio while maintaining all the other conditions the same. As expected, the analysis performed to estimate the dry friction coefficient based on the proposed equation and using NUCARS® simulation results shows that the coefficient of friction has a highly nonlinear dependence on its parameters.

Wheel lateral profile has considerable effects on the wheel/rail dynamic interactions such as the shape and size of the contact area, instantaneous rolling radius and contact forces. Theses themselves have indirectly important roles on the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) which is known to be the main reason for large portion of rail maintenance costs. In this study the wheel/rail dynamic interaction of an Iranian railway passenger wagon under three different wheel profiles are investigated using ADAMS\Rail commercial simulation software. The dynamic simulation results regarding contact load and contact features of the wheel and rail are used for fatigue analysis to calculate RCF damage to the rail using reliable damage criteria reported in the literature. The two major parameters having serious roles on the RCF are believed to be the contact stress and the tangential force at the contact patch. These parameters are obtained from vehicle dynamic simulation studies. This paper describes and compares the effects of three different wheel profiles known as S1002, P8 and IR1002 on the rail RCF in both the curved and tangent sections of a track. The primary results clearly identify the effects of wheel profile on the RCF.

The work describes a method to predict the evolution of the wheel profile of a railway vehicle, depending on the load history acting on the wheelset. The method is based on the determination of the wear on the contact area, which is divided into finite elements according to the strip theory. For each element, in presence of slip, the amount of material loss is evaluated depending on the local value of tangential force and creepage (the meaning of creepage is assumed according to the definition given in [14], [15], [16] as the ratio between the sliding velocity and the tangential rolling velocity). The empirical relation is evaluated according to results of experimental test obtained from literature. The wear is calculated for the entire contact area superimposing the contribution of each element. The motion of the wheelset in lateral direction causes a motion of the contact patch along the profile. Sequentially, the contact area will acquire a different contact shape and stress distribution. The shape of the worn profile depends on both the load condition and the motion of the wheelset with respect to the track. This profile can be obtained from the new one by subtracting at each time step the material removed from the contact area. This procedure is simple, but requires variable profiles for each time step, and is not efficient in computational terms. The strategy proposed here by the authors, is to consider finite periods obtained superimposing several revolution of the wheelset. The worn profile is evaluated in a single step from the cumulative of damage of an entire period. The limitation of this method consists in the different behavior of a wheelset with worn profile respect to a wheelset with new ones, and therefore produces different wear. It is necessary to determine an optimal value for the period to be used to re-evaluate the profile shape, in order to minimize the difference in the predicted shape itself. The method is applied to a suspended wheelset, running on a simulated test track, with S1002/UIC60 profiles. Different periods of re-evaluation of the profiles are considered in order to demonstrate the influence of this parameter.

This paper presents the validation for the newly developed in-plane flexible ring tire model by using ADAMS FTire model simulation. The developed in-plane model is unique in two aspects: (1) the neighboring belt segments are connected through normal and tangential directions by springs and dampers, each belt segment is a rigid body and its mass is accumulated at its geometric center. Each belt segment is always perpendicular to the line formed by the wheel center and the belt geometric center, thus there is no rotational constrains between the neighboring belt segments; (2) the representation of the tangential friction force between the tire and the road is defined through the multiplication of the normal contact force and the friction coefficient. And the friction coefficient is obtained based on an empirical model of the tire slip. For validation, a quarter-car model first runs on a flat road with a constant velocity (40km/h) and then rides over a rectangular shape obstacle to identify the tire parameters based on the virtual tests of Gipser’s FTire model in ADAMS. Then the quarter-car model runs on a flat road with 4–5 different conditions to ride over each obstacle: rectangular shape, triangular shape, half circle, and trapezoid. Simulation results for the new in-plane flexible ring model are compared with virtual test results from ADAMS FTire model on the same road and velocity condition for the tire patch contact forces in horizontal and longitudinal directions respectively based on the SAE standard J2812. Note that this study is the first time that the new SAE standard J2812 is used for model validation. After the validation, two important aspects have been investigated: (1) What is the minimum height of each obstacle shape so that the parameter identification will have minimum equipment loads? (2) What should the minimum number of belt segments be for each obstacle shape? The above two aspects are useful for tire model end users and tire experimental experts in real world applications.

Piezoelectric harvesters used for feeding the sensors of intelligent tires experience impulse excitation when the harvester enters the contact patch of the tire. The design, development and set up of advanced harvesters characterized by new materials, optimized shape and specific solutions for tuning require the possibility of testing prototypes in the laboratory simulating the actual working conditions and in particular impulsive events. The aims of tests are manifold: verification of mechanical and electrical performance, comparison with numerical models and updating, identification of parameters of the harvester that are difficult to measure directly. In this paper a testing method based on hammer excitation of an harvester mounted on a specific testing rig is presented. The testing rig is simple and low cost. It makes possible the measurement of the frequency response function (FRF) between output voltage and input acceleration. Design requirements for the testing rig are reported and a validation of the realized system is presented. A multimodal mathematical model is developed in MATLAB to simulate the impulse response of the harvester and in particular to stress the effect of higher order modes. Results show the dominance of the fundamental mode in the response of the tested harvesters. Calculated and experimental results are in good agreement.

The present paper studied the dynamic response of an underwater system with its navigation plate rotated relative to the main body until it was blocked by an energy absorber. In this process, the relation between fluid-driving moment and speed of main body, as well as the relation between rotation angle of the plate and design parameters of absorber, was investigated through combined finite element method and finite volume method. Before the plate contacted with the energy absorber, it was modeled by linear elastic material, the movement process was solved by finite volume method with dynamic boundary. When the plate started to contact and crash with the absorber, it was modeled by elastic-plastic material, and the interaction of fluid-structure coupling was simulated by explicit finite element method in LSDYNA and finite volume method in FLUENT. The two-way data exchange on the interface between fluid and structure was carried out through equivalent force and moment on each patch of the interface. In addition, the simulation accuracy on large plastic deformation of absorber was verified through a group of drop hammer experiments. After the energy absorber was crushed to ultimate shape, the open angle of plate reached the maximum value and the plate kept relative static to the rigid body. The maximum structural stress and deformation, the opening time and angle of the plate were evaluated by numerical method. It is demonstrated that the proposed method can effectively predict the dynamic response of underwater system under impact loads, and both the absorption capability of the block and the speed of moving body affect the dynamic response history and structural safety.

Emergency Relief (ER) is a Department of Social Services (DSS) funded program, delivered by 197 community organisations (ER Providers) across Australia, to assist people facing a financial crisis with financial/material aid and referrals to other support programs. ER has been playing this important role in Australian communities since 1979. Without ER, more people living in Australia who experience a financial crisis might face further harm such as crippling debt or homelessness. The Emergency Relief National Coordination Group (NCG) was established in April 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to advise the Minister for Families and Social Services on the implementation of ER. To inform its advice to the Minister, the NCG partnered with the Institute for Governance at the University of Canberra to conduct research to understand the issues and challenges faced by ER Providers and Service Users in local contexts across Australia. The research involved a desktop review of the existing literature on ER service provision, a large survey which all Commonwealth ER Providers were invited to participate in (and 122 responses were received), interviews with a purposive sample of 18 ER Providers, and the development of a program logic and theory of change for the Commonwealth ER program to assess progress. The surveys and interviews focussed on ER Provider perceptions of the strengths, weaknesses, future challenges, and areas of improvement for current ER provision. The trend of increasing case complexity, the effectiveness of ER service delivery models in achieving outcomes for Service Users, and the significance of volunteering in the sector were investigated. Separately, an evaluation of the performance of the NCG was conducted and a summary of the evaluation is provided as an appendix to this report. Several themes emerged from the review of the existing literature such as service delivery shortcomings in dealing with case complexity, the effectiveness of case management, and repeat requests for service. Interviews with ER workers and Service Users found that an uplift in workforce capability was required to deal with increasing case complexity, leading to recommendations for more training and service standards. Several service evaluations found that ER delivered with case management led to high Service User satisfaction, played an integral role in transforming the lives of people with complex needs, and lowered repeat requests for service. A large longitudinal quantitative study revealed that more time spent with participants substantially decreased the number of repeat requests for service; and, given that repeat requests for service can be an indicator of entrenched poverty, not accessing further services is likely to suggest improvement. The interviews identified the main strengths of ER to be the rapid response and flexible use of funds to stabilise crisis situations and connect people to other supports through strong local networks. Service Users trusted the system because of these strengths, and ER was often an access point to holistic support. There were three main weaknesses identified. First, funding contracts were too short and did not cover the full costs of the program—in particular, case management for complex cases. Second, many Service Users were dependent on ER which was inconsistent with the definition and intent of the program. Third, there was inconsistency in the level of service received by Service Users in different geographic locations. These weaknesses can be improved upon with a joined-up approach featuring co-design and collaborative governance, leading to the successful commissioning of social services. The survey confirmed that volunteers were significant for ER, making up 92% of all workers and 51% of all hours worked in respondent ER programs. Of the 122 respondents, volunteers amounted to 554 full-time equivalents, a contribution valued at $39.4 million. In total there were 8,316 volunteers working in the 122 respondent ER programs. The sector can support and upskill these volunteers (and employees in addition) by developing scalable training solutions such as online training modules, updating ER service standards, and engaging in collaborative learning arrangements where large and small ER Providers share resources. More engagement with peak bodies such as Volunteering Australia might also assist the sector to improve the focus on volunteer engagement. Integrated services achieve better outcomes for complex ER cases—97% of survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed this was the case. The research identified the dimensions of service integration most relevant to ER Providers to be case management, referrals, the breadth of services offered internally, co-location with interrelated service providers, an established network of support, workforce capability, and Service User engagement. Providers can individually focus on increasing the level of service integration for their ER program to improve their ability to deal with complex cases, which are clearly on the rise. At the system level, a more joined-up approach can also improve service integration across Australia. The key dimensions of this finding are discussed next in more detail. Case management is key for achieving Service User outcomes for complex cases—89% of survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed this was the case. Interviewees most frequently said they would provide more case management if they could change their service model. Case management allows for more time spent with the Service User, follow up with referral partners, and a higher level of expertise in service delivery to support complex cases. Of course, it is a costly model and not currently funded for all Service Users through ER. Where case management is not available as part of ER, it might be available through a related service that is part of a network of support. Where possible, ER Providers should facilitate access to case management for Service Users who would benefit. At a system level, ER models with a greater component of case management could be implemented as test cases. Referral systems are also key for achieving Service User outcomes, which is reflected in the ER Program Logic presented on page 31. The survey and interview data show that referrals within an integrated service (internal) or in a service hub (co-located) are most effective. Where this is not possible, warm referrals within a trusted network of support are more effective than cold referrals leading to higher take-up and beneficial Service User outcomes. However, cold referrals are most common, pointing to a weakness in ER referral systems. This is because ER Providers do not operate or co-locate with interrelated services in many cases, nor do they have the case management capacity to provide warm referrals in many other cases. For mental illness support, which interviewees identified as one of the most difficult issues to deal with, ER Providers offer an integrated service only 23% of the time, warm referrals 34% of the time, and cold referrals 43% of the time. A focus on referral systems at the individual ER Provider level, and system level through a joined-up approach, might lead to better outcomes for Service Users. The program logic and theory of change for ER have been documented with input from the research findings and included in Section 4.3 on page 31. These show that ER helps people facing a financial crisis to meet their immediate needs, avoid further harm, and access a path to recovery. The research demonstrates that ER is fundamental to supporting vulnerable people in Australia and should therefore continue to be funded by government.