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| Dr Robertson's doctoral research commenced in 1977 and ran through to 1981. |
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PhD Degree Certificate
(51 kB)
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| Honor of PhD Bypassing Masters |
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| The research commenced as a Masters degree but after a few months he was invited to convert directly to a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) in Engineering. An honour seldom accorded and one more of many awards and accolades of exceptional merit that have been earned through the years. |
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| Wide Diversity |
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| The research required the design and construction of a wide diversity of laboratory equipment on a very tight budget and the development of additional laboratory tests. It was also necessary to prepare a prospectus for funding and to approach industry for financial support for the research. Funding finally received was more than twice the financial support that the University thought was possible. |
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| The title of the research was "Cement Stabilized Soil as a Material In Dam Construction" and entailed a wide range of laboratory tests on cement bound natural soils from a specific Dam site in the Eastern Transvaal, South Africa. The overall objective was to establish the technical and economic viability of construction of large dams using in-situ soils. |
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| Complex Multi-Demensional Testing Matrix |
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| The final laboratory program required a complex multi-dimensional matrix of test sample characteristics and tests. All aspects of the test program were time dependent as the strength and other material properties of cement bound materials change with time. |
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| This resulted in an extremely complex testing schedule and test program design. This afforded Dr Robertson the opportunity to gain first hand experience in the design and implementation of complex time dependent project schedules where there was virtually no margin for error. He therefore knows from first hand experience what can be achieved with detailed project planning. |
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| Experience With Complex Multivariate Environment |
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| The number of variables to be examined was also extremely large and the overall test program design was therefore also highly complex from this perspective. |
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| In the process of designing the test program, Dr Robertson developed analytical techniques which he still uses today for the analysis of project designs and data sets. |
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| At the time that the test program design commenced there was no prospect of processing the laboratory results on computer, the volumes were far too great for the computer resources available to the University. As a consequence Dr Robertson had to research in detail the use of manual punched cards and various approaches to information classification and taxonomy. |
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| Design of Complex Classification Scheme |
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| This resulted in the design of a complex test and test specimen classification scheme designed for rigorous manual analysis. Subsequently, as noted in the section on Information Technology Experience, a computer became available. The coding scheme nevertheless proved invaluable in structuring the analysis of the laboratory data. |
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| Intense Awareness of Importance of Coding Schemes |
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| This in-depth research into data taxonomy (classification), combined with experience in that field in Biology as a student, has resulted in an intense awareness of the importance of coding schemes in ensuring that effective interpretation of computer based data is possible. |
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| Accordingly, one of the many benefits associated with the appointment of JAR&A is a rigorous approach to data classification which, if formally adopted, will give rise to orders of magnitude increase in management information available from seemingly the same data. This is reported in detail in several of the papers co-authored with clients. |
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| Underpinned a Number of Extremely Successful Projects |
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| This intense awareness of the absolutely critical nature of data taxonomy has given rise to a number of the most successful projects that Dr Robertson has undertaken. This commitment to excellence in data engineering has resulted in a number of instances in low cost I.T. investments delivering staggering returns in terms of effective, differentiating, management information. |
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| Outcomes that Cover Our Fees Many Times Over |
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| In this area especially, JAR&A can deliver outcomes that will pay for our fees many times over. |
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