A strong lightweight authentication protocol for low-cost RFID systems

RFID is an important technology that can be used to create the ubiquitous society. But an RFID system uses open radio frequency signal to transfer information and this leads to pose many serious threats to its privacy and security. In general, the computing and storage resources in an RFID tag are very limited and this makes it difficult to solve its secure and private problems, especially for low-cost RFID tags. In order to ensure the security and privacy of low-cost RFID systems we propose a lightweight authentication protocol based on Hash function. This protocol can ensure forward security and prevent information leakage, location tracing, eavesdropping, replay attack and spoofing. This protocol completes the strong authentication of the reader to the tag by twice authenticating and it only transfers part information of the encrypted tag’s identifier for each session so it is difficult for an adversary to intercept the whole identifier of a tag. This protocol is simple and it takes less computing and storage resources, it is very suitable to some low-cost RFID systems.

Biophilic urbanism: Contributions to holistic urban greening for urban renewal

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider how biophilic urbanism complements and potentially enhances approaches for the built environment profession to holistically integrate nature into cities. Urban nature – also referred to as urban greening and green infrastructure – has increasingly been considered from many perspectives to address challenges such as population pressures, climate change and resource shortages. Within this context, the authors highlight how “biophilic urbanism” complements and may enhance approaches and efforts for urban greening. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a review of existing literature in “urban nature” to clarify and discuss the concept of biophilic urbanism. Drawing on this literature review, the authors present a systematic clustering and scaling of “biophilic elements” that could facilitate responding to twenty-first century challenges. Findings – Biophilic urbanism can be applied at multiple scales in urban environments, through a range of multi-functional features that address the pervasive false dichotomy of urban development and environmental protection. Biophilic urbanism can complement urban greening efforts to enable a holistic approach, which is conducive to comprehensive, intentional and strategic urban greening. Originality/value – This paper situates the emerging concept of biophilic urbanism within existing research from multiple disciplines, providing insight for how this can be applied in practice, particularly to the topical challenge of “urban renewal”.

Themes in landscape architecture publishing: Past trends, future needs

Many scholars acknowledge the need for rigorous research in landscape architecture to improve practice and teaching, and several recent studies have explored research trends in the discipline. This study continues this exploration by reviewing the articles published in the three prominent English- language landscape architecture journals: Landscape Journal, Landscape Review, and the Journal of Landscape Architecture. Specifically, this study analyzes the abstracts from 441 research articles to determine specific themes and publishing trends over 31 years (1982–2013). Findings indicate that “history” is by far the most prominent research theme, followed by “social and cultural processes and issues” and “aesthetics.” Several themes—such as “sustainability and green infrastructure,” “participation and collaboration,” and “research methods and methodologies”—have become more prominent in recent years. However, topics of current social and political concern—such as “climate change,” “active living,” “energy,” and “health”—are not yet prominent themes in the research literature, and could be key areas for future contribution. With the exception of a few themes, findings also suggest a moderate degree of alignment between research and practice. The article concludes with recommendations for future areas of research that will better position landscape architecture as a research- oriented profession with broad social relevance.

New Generation Rollingstock Depot: Case Study Report

This report summarises the findings of a case study on Queensland’s New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) Project carried out as part of SBEnrc Project 2.34 Driving Whole-of-life Efficiencies through BIM and Procurement. This case study is one of three exemplar projects studied in order to leverage academic research in defining indicators for measuring tangible and intangible benefits of Building Information Modelling (BIM) across a project’s life-cycle in infrastructure and buildings. The NGR is an AUD 4.4 billion project carried out under an Availability Payment Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the Queensland Government and the Bomabardier-led QTECTIC consortium comprising Bombardier Transportation, John Laing, ITOCHU Corporation and Aberdeen Infrastructure Investments. BIM has been deployed on the project from conceptual stages to drive both design and the currently ongoing construction at the Wulkuraka Project Site. This case study sourced information from a series of semi-structured interviews covering a cross-section of key stakeholders on the project. The present research identified 25 benefits gained from implementing BIM processes and tools. Some of the most prominent benefits were those leading to improved outcomes and higher customer satisfaction such as improved communications, data and information management, and coordination. There were also a number of expected benefits for future phases such as: • Improved decision making through the use of BIM for managing assets • Improved models through BIM maturity • Better utilisation of BIM for procurement on similar future projects • New capacity to specify the content of BIM models within contracts There were also three benefits that were expected to have been achieved but were not realised on the NGR project. These were higher construction information quality levels, better alignment in design teams as well as project teams, and capability improvements in measuring the impact of BIM on construction safety. This report includes individual profiles describing each benefit as well as the tools and processes that enabled them. Four key BIM metrics were found to be currently in use and six more were identified as potential metrics for the future. This case study also provides insights into challenges associated with implementing BIM on a project of the size and complexity of the NGR. Procurement aspects and lessons learned for managers are also highlighted, including a list of recommendations for developing a framework to assess the benefits of BIM across the project life-cycle.

Laboratories transformation

BACKGROUND OR CONTEXT Laboratories provide the physical spaces for engineering students to connect with theory and have a personal hands-on learning experience. Learning space design and development is well established in many universities however laboratories are often not part of that movement. While active, collaborative and group learning pedagogies are all key words in relation to these new spaces the concepts have always been central to laboratory based learning. The opportunity to build on and strengthen good practice in laboratories is immense. In the 2001 review “Universities in Crisis” many references are made to the decline of laboratories. One such comment in the review was made by Professor Ian Chubb (AVCC), who in 2013, as Chief Scientist for Australia, identifies the national concern about STEM education and presents a strategic plan to address the challenges ahead. What has been achieved and changed in engineering teaching and research laboratories in this time? PURPOSE OR GOAL A large number of universities in Australia and New Zealand own laboratory and other infrastructure designed well for the era they were built but now showing signs of their age, unable to meet the needs of today’s students, limiting the effectiveness of learning outcomes and presenting very low utilisation rates. This paper will present a model for new learning space design that improves student experience and engagement, supporting academic aims and significantly raising the space utilisation rate. APPROACH A new approach in laboratory teaching and research including new management has been adopted by the engineering disciplines at QUT. Flexibility is an underpinning principle along with the modularisation of fixed teaching and learning equipment, high utilisation of spaces and dynamic pedagogical approaches. The revitalised laboratories and workshop facilities are used primarily for the engineering disciplines and increasingly for integrated use across many disciplines in the STEM context. The new approach was built upon a base of an integrated faculty structure from 2005 and realised in 2010 as an associated development with the new Science and Engineering Centre (SEC). Evaluation through student feedback surveys for practical activities, utilisation rate statistics and uptake by academic and technical staff indicate a very positive outcome. DISCUSSION Resulting from this implementation has been increased satisfaction by students, creation of social learning and connecting space and an environment that meets the needs and challenges of active, collaborative and group learning pedagogies. Academic staff are supported, technical operations are efficient and laboratories are effectively utilised. RECOMMENDATIONS/IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSION Future opportunities for continuous improvement are evident in using the student feedback to rectify faults and improve equipment, environment and process. The model is easily articulated and visible to other interested parties to contribute to sector wide development of learning spaces.

Investigating stakeholder concerns during public participation

Developing major infrastructure and construction (MIC) projects is complicated, since it involves multifaceted policy issues. As a result, appropriate participatory mechanisms have been increasingly employed to improve the legitimacy of the project decision process. Yet it cannot always guarantee a mutually acceptable solution since the expectations and requirements of multiple stakeholders involved can be diverse and even conflicting. Overcoming this necessitates a thorough identification and careful analysis of the expectations of various stakeholder groups in MIC projects. On the other hand, though most project stakeholder concerns are consistent across the globe, contextual differences may lead to diverse priority levels being attached to these factors. This research, therefore, aimed to examine the perceptual differences between paired stakeholder groups from mainland China mega-cities and Hong Kong in rating their concerns over MIC projects. The research findings are expected to benefit both the Central Government of China and the Government of Hong Kong SAR for coping better with the rapid expansion of MIC projects in the territory and the increasing expectations of social equality, and therefore achieving the much desired harmonious development of the community.

Towards authorisation models for secure information sharing : a survey and research agenda

This article presents a survey of authorisation models and considers their ‘fitness-for-purpose’ in facilitating information sharing. Network-supported information sharing is an important technical capability that underpins collaboration in support of dynamic and unpredictable activities such as emergency response, national security, infrastructure protection, supply chain integration and emerging business models based on the concept of a ‘virtual organisation’. The article argues that present authorisation models are inflexible and poorly scalable in such dynamic environments due to their assumption that the future needs of the system can be predicted, which in turn justifies the use of persistent authorisation policies. The article outlines the motivation and requirement for a new flexible authorisation model that addresses the needs of information sharing. It proposes that a flexible and scalable authorisation model must allow an explicit specification of the objectives of the system and access decisions must be made based on a late trade-off analysis between these explicit objectives. A research agenda for the proposed Objective-based Access Control concept is presented.

A secure framework and related protocols for ubiquitous access to electronic health records using Java sim cards

Ubiquitous access to patient medical records is an important aspect of caring for patient safety. Unavailability of sufficient medical information at the point-ofcare could possibly lead to a fatality. The U.S. Institute of Medicine has reported that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year due to medical errors, such as incorrect medication dosages, due to poor legibility in manual records, or delays in consolidating needed information to discern the proper intervention. In this research we propose employing emergent technologies such as Java SIM Cards (JSC), Smart Phones (SP), Next Generation Networks (NGN), Near Field Communications (NFC), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and Biometric Identification to develop a secure framework and related protocols for ubiquitous access to Electronic Health Records (EHR). A partial EHR contained within a JSC can be used at the point-of-care in order to help quick diagnosis of a patient’s problems. The full EHR can be accessed from an Electronic Health Records Centre (EHRC) when time and network availability permit. Moreover, this framework and related protocols enable patients to give their explicit consent to a doctor to access their personal medical data, by using their Smart Phone, when the doctor needs to see or update the patient’s medical information during an examination. Also our proposed solution would give the power to patients to modify the Access Control List (ACL) related to their EHRs and view their EHRs through their Smart Phone. Currently, very limited research has been done on using JSCs and similar technologies as a portable repository of EHRs or on the specific security issues that are likely to arise when JSCs are used with ubiquitous access to EHRs. Previous research is concerned with using Medicare cards, a kind of Smart Card, as a repository of medical information at the patient point-of-care. However, this imposes some limitations on the patient’s emergency medical care, including the inability to detect the patient’s location, to call and send information to an emergency room automatically, and to interact with the patient in order to get consent. The aim of our framework and related protocols is to overcome these limitations by taking advantage of the SIM card and the technologies mentioned above. Briefly, our framework and related protocols will offer the full benefits of accessing an up-to-date, precise, and comprehensive medical history of a patient, whilst its mobility will provide ubiquitous access to medical and patient information everywhere it is needed. The objective of our framework and related protocols is to automate interactions between patients, healthcare providers and insurance organisations, increase patient safety, improve quality of care, and reduce the costs.

A secure framework and related protocols for ubiquitous access to electronic health records using Java SIM cards

Ubiquitous access to patient medical records is an important aspect of caring for patient safety. Unavailability of sufficient medical information at the patient point-of-care could possibly lead to a fatality. In this paper we propose employing emergent technologies such as Java SIM Cards (JSC),Smart Phones (SP), Next Generation Networks (NGN), Near Field Communications (NFC), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and Biometric Identification to develop a secure framework and related protocols for ubiquitous access to Electronic Health Records (EHRs). A partial EHR contained within a JSC can be used at the patient point-of-care in order to help quick diagnosis of a patient’s problems. The full EHR can be accessed from an Electronic Healthcare Records Centre (EHRC).

Efficient and secure self-escrowed public-key infrastructures

A self-escrowed public key infrastructure (SE-PKI) combines the usual functionality of a public-key infrastructure with the ability to recover private keys given some trap-door information. We present an additively homomorphic variant of an existing SE-PKI for ElGamal encryption. We also propose a new efficient SE-PKI based on the ElGamal and Okamoto-Uchiyama cryptosystems that is more efficient than the previous SE-PKI. This is the first SE-PKI that does not suffer from a key doubling problem of previous SE-PKI proposals. Additionally, we present the first self-escrowed encryption schemes secure against chosen-ciphertext attack in the standard model. These schemes are also quite efficient and are based on the Cramer-Shoup cryptosystem, and the Kurosawa-Desmedt hybrid variant in different groups.

Conceptualising, evaluating and reporting social resilience in vulnerable regional and remote communities facing climate change in tropical Queensland : marine and tropical sciences research facility transition project final report

Regional and remote communities in tropical Queensland are among Australia’s most vulnerable in the face of climate change. At the same time, these socially and economically vulnerable regions house some of Australia’s most significant biodiversity values. Past approaches to terrestrial biodiversity management have focused on tackling biophysical interventions through the use of biophysical knowledge. An equally important focus should be placed on building regional-scale community resilience if some of the worst biodiversity impacts of climate change are to be avoided or mitigated. Despite its critical need, more systemic or holistic approaches to natural resource management have been rarely trialed and tested in a structured way. Currently, most strategic interventions in improving regional community resilience are ad hoc, not theory-based and short term. Past planning approaches have not been durable, nor have they been well informed by clear indicators. Research into indicators for community resilience has been poorly integrated within adaptive planning and management cycles. This project has aimed to resolve this problem by: * Reviewing the community and social resilience and adaptive planning literature to reconceptualise an improved framework for applying community resilience concepts; * Harvesting and extending work undertaken in MTSRF Phase 1 to identifying the learnings emerging from past MTSRF research; * Distilling these findings to identify new theoretical and practical approaches to the application of community resilience in natural resource use and management; * Reconsidering the potential interplay between a region’s biophysical and social planning processes, with a focus on exploring spatial tools to communicate climate change risk and its consequent environmental, economic and social impacts, and; * Trialling new approaches to indicator development and adaptive planning to improve community resilience, using a sub-regional pilot in the Wet Tropics. In doing so, we also looked at ways to improve the use and application of relevant spatial information. Our theoretical review drew upon the community development, psychology and emergency management literature to better frame the concept of community resilience relative to aligned concepts of social resilience, vulnerability and adaptive capacity. Firstly, we consider community resilience as a concept that can be considered at a range of scales (e.g. regional, locality, communities of interest, etc.). We also consider that overall resilience at higher scales will be influenced by resilience levels at lesser scales (inclusive of the resilience of constituent institutions, families and individuals). We illustrate that, at any scale, resilience and vulnerability are not necessarily polar opposites, and that some understanding of vulnerability is important in determining resilience. We position social resilience (a concept focused on the social characteristics of communities and individuals) as an important attribute of community resilience, but one that needs to be considered alongside economic, natural resource, capacity-based and governance attributes. The findings from the review of theory and MTSRF Phase 1 projects were synthesized and refined by the wider project team. Five predominant themes were distilled from this literature, research review and an expert analysis. They include the findings that: 1. Indicators have most value within an integrated and adaptive planning context, requiring an active co-research relationship between community resilience planners, managers and researchers if real change is to be secured; 2. Indicators of community resilience form the basis for planning for social assets and the resilience of social assets is directly related the longer term resilience of natural assets. This encourages and indeed requires the explicit development and integration of social planning within a broader natural resource planning and management framework; 3. Past indicator research and application has not provided a broad picture of the key attributes of community resilience and there have been many attempts to elicit lists of “perfect” indicators that may never be useful within the time and resource limitations of real world regional planning and management. We consider that modeling resilience for proactive planning and prediction purposes requires the consideration of simple but integrated clusters of attributes; 4. Depending on time and resources available for planning and management, the combined use of well suited indicators and/or other lesser “lines of evidence” is more flexible than the pursuit of perfect indicators, and that; 5. Index-based, collaborative and participatory approaches need to be applied to the development, refinement and reporting of indicators over longer time frames. We trialed the practical application of these concepts via the establishment of a collaborative regional alliance of planners and managers involved in the development of climate change adaptation strategies across tropical Queensland (the Gulf, Wet Tropics, Cape York and Torres Strait sub-regions). A focus on the Wet Tropics as a pilot sub-region enabled other Far North Queensland sub-region’s to participate and explore the potential extension of this approach. The pilot activities included: * Further exploring ways to innovatively communicate the region’s likely climate change scenarios and possible environmental, economic and social impacts. We particularly looked at using spatial tools to overlay climate change risks to geographic communities and social vulnerabilities within those communities; * Developing a cohesive first pass of a State of the Region-style approach to reporting community resilience, inclusive of regional economic viability, community vitality, capacitybased and governance attributes. This framework integrated a literature review, expert (academic and community) and alliance-based contributions; and * Early consideration of critical strategies that need to be included in unfolding regional planning activities with Far North Queensland. The pilot assessment finds that rural, indigenous and some urban populations in the Wet Tropics are highly vulnerable and sensitive to climate change and may require substantial support to adapt and become more resilient. This assessment finds that under current conditions (i.e. if significant adaptation actions are not taken) the Wet Tropics as a whole may be seriously impacted by the most significant features of climate change and extreme climatic events. Without early and substantive action, this could result in declining social and economic wellbeing and natural resource health. Of the four attributes we consider important to understanding community resilience, the Wet Tropics region is particularly vulnerable in two areas; specifically its economic vitality and knowledge, aspirations and capacity. The third and fourth attributes, community vitality and institutional governance are relatively resilient but are vulnerable in some key respects. In regard to all four of these attributes, however, there is some emerging capacity to manage the possible shocks that may be associated with the impacts of climate change and extreme climatic events. This capacity needs to be carefully fostered and further developed to achieve broader community resilience outcomes. There is an immediate need to build individual, household, community and sectoral resilience across all four attribute groups to enable populations and communities in the Wet Tropics region to adapt in the face of climate change. Preliminary strategies of importance to improve regional community resilience have been identified. These emerging strategies also have been integrated into the emerging Regional Development Australia Roadmap, and this will ensure that effective implementation will be progressed and coordinated. They will also inform emerging strategy development to secure implementation of the FNQ 2031 Regional Plan. Of most significance in our view, this project has taken a co-research approach from the outset with explicit and direct importance and influence within the region’s formal planning and management arrangements. As such, the research: * Now forms the foundations of the first attempt at “Social Asset” planning within the Wet Tropics Regional NRM Plan review; * Is assisting Local government at regional scale to consider aspects of climate change adaptation in emerging planning scheme/community planning processes; * Has partnered the State government (via the Department of Infrastructure and Planning and Regional Managers Coordination Network Chair) in progressing the Climate Change adaptation agenda set down within the FNQ 2031 Regional Plan; * Is informing new approaches to report on community resilience within the GBRMPA Outlook reporting framework; and * Now forms the foundation for the region’s wider climate change adaptation priorities in the Regional Roadmap developed by Regional Development Australia. Through the auspices of Regional Development Australia, the outcomes of the research will now inform emerging negotiations concerning a wider package of climate change adaptation priorities with State and Federal governments. Next stage research priorities are also being developed to enable an ongoing alliance between researchers and the region’s climate change response.

Engaging children and young people in creating resilient and healthy urban spaces

Urban public space in Australia and internationally, can be critically examined from a number of multidisciplinary standpoints, including human geography, urban design, planning, sociology, and public health. Viewing urban public space from a range of perspectives encourages different vantage points to emerge and questions around health, wellbeing and public space are increasingly topical and important in the broadest of terms, with public space being a key arena for physical activity, mental health, commercial, cultural and community life and the possibility of social inclusion. However, in the name of urban regeneration, programs of securitisation, ‘gentrification’ ‘creative’ and ‘smart’ city initiatives refashion public space as sites of selective inclusion and exclusion (Watson 2005; Gabrys 2014). In this context of monitoring and control procedures, in particular, children and young people’s use of space in parks, neighbourhoods, shopping malls and streets, is often viewed as a threat to social order, requiring various forms of remedial action, such as being ‘designed out’ of public space (Johnson 2014). Rarely are children and young people actively and respectfully brought into planning and governance processes and consequently many urban public spaces are essentially adult places, where control and ongoing surveillance are the key concerns (Freeman 2011, Dee 2013). There is also a political economy of public space discernable in cities like Brisbane, where ‘flagship’ infrastructure such as road tunnels take pride of place, while more humbly appointed pedestrian footpaths are often narrow, in a poor state of repair and a potential barrier to good health (Atkinson and Easthope 2009). The recent development of bikeways in Brisbane is a case in point, presenting both challenges and opportunities in being a valuable new form of public space heavily used by ‘commuter cyclists’ by day, but poorly lit and conceived, for a range of users at other times (Wyeth 2014). This paper concentrates on questions of social citizenship rights and discourses of health and wellbeing and suggests that cities, places and spaces and those who seek to use them, can be resilient in maintaining and extending democratic freedoms, calling surveillance, planning and governance systems to account (Smith 2014). The active inclusion of children and young people better informs the implementation of public policy around the design, build and governance of public space and also understandings of urban citizenship, leading to healthier, more inclusive, public space for all (Jacobs 1965).