The constitutional power to make war: domestic legal issues raised by Australia's action in Iraq

The legal power to declare war has traditionally been a part of a prerogative to be exercised solely on advice that passed from the King to the Governor-General no later than 1942. In 2003, the Governor- General was not involved in the decision by the Prime Minister and Cabinet to commit Australian troops to the invasion of Iraq. The authors explore the alternative legal means by which Australia can go to war - means the government in fact used in 2003 - and the constitutional basis of those means. While the prerogative power can be regulated and/or devolved by legislation, and just possibly by practice, there does not seem to be a sound legal basis to assert that the power has been devolved to any other person. It appears that in 2003 the Defence Minister used his legal powers under the Defence Act 1903 (Cth) (as amended in 1975) to give instructions to the service head(s). A powerful argument could be made that the relevant sections of the Defence Act were not intended to be used for the decision to go to war, and that such instructions are for peacetime or in bello decisions. If so, the power to make war remains within the prerogative to be exercised on advice. Interviews with the then Governor-General indicate that Prime Minister Howard had planned to take the matter to the Federal Executive Council 'for noting', but did not do so after the Governor-General sought the views of the then Attorney-General about relevant issues of international law. The exchange raises many issues, but those of interest concern the kinds of questions the Governor-General could and should ask about proposed international action and whether they in any way mirror the assurances that are uncontroversially required for domestic action. In 2003, the Governor-General's scrutiny was the only independent scrutiny available because the legality of the decision to go to war was not a matter that could be determined in the High Court, and the federal government had taken action in March 2002 that effectively prevented the matter coming before the International Court of Justice

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.

Peak power demand reduction under moving block signalling using an expert system

The concept of moving block signallings (MBS) has been adopted in a few mass transit railway systems. When a dense queue of trains begins to move from a complete stop, the trains can re-start in very close succession under MBS. The feeding substations nearby are likely to be overloaded and the service will inevitably be disturbed unless substations of higher power rating are used. By introducing starting time delays among the trains or limiting the trains’ acceleration rate to a certain extent, the peak energy demand can be contained. However, delay is introduced and quality of service is degraded. An expert system approach is presented to provide a supervisory tool for the operators. As the knowledge base is vital for the quality of decisions to be made, the study focuses on its formulation with a balance between delay and peak power demand.

Parallel linear system solution and its application to railway power network simulation

The Streaming SIMD extension (SSE) is a special feature embedded in the Intel Pentium III and IV classes of microprocessors. It enables the execution of SIMD type operations to exploit data parallelism. This article presents improving computation performance of a railway network simulator by means of SSE. Voltage and current at various points of the supply system to an electrified railway line are crucial for design, daily operation and planning. With computer simulation, their time-variations can be attained by solving a matrix equation, whose size mainly depends upon the number of trains present in the system. A large coefficient matrix, as a result of congested railway line, inevitably leads to heavier computational demand and hence jeopardizes the simulation speed. With the special architectural features of the latest processors on PC platforms, significant speed-up in computations can be achieved.

Real-time simulation for power systems based on parallel computing - an empirical study

Abstract Computer simulation is a versatile and commonly used tool for the design and evaluation of systems with different degrees of complexity. Power distribution systems and electric railway network are areas for which computer simulations are being heavily applied. A dominant factor in evaluating the performance of a software simulator is its processing time, especially in the cases of real-time simulation. Parallel processing provides a viable mean to reduce the computing time and is therefore suitable for building real-time simulators. In this paper, we present different issues related to solving the power distribution system with parallel computing based on a multiple-CPU server and we will concentrate, in particular, on the speedup performance of such an approach.

Applying the open innovation system concept to infrastructure projects

Purpose: The goal of this conceptual paper is to provide tools to help maximise the value delivered by infrastructure projects, by developing methods to increase adoption of innovative products during construction. Methods: The role of knowledge flows in determining innovation adoption rates is conceptually examined. A promising new approach is developed. Open innovation system theory is extended, by reviewing the role of three frameworks: (1) knowledge intermediaries, (2) absorptive capacity and (3) governance arrangements. Originality: We develop a novel open innovation system model to guide further research in the area of adoption of innovation on infrastructure projects. The open innovation system model currently lacks definition of core concepts, especially with regard to the impact of different degrees and types of openness. The three frameworks address this issue and add substance to the open innovation system model, addressing widespread criticism that it is underdeveloped. The novelty of our model is in the combination of the three frameworks to explore the system. These frameworks promise new insights into system dynamics and facilitate the development of new methods to optimise the diffusion of innovation. Practical Implications: The framework will help to reveal gaps in knowledge flows that impede the uptake of innovations. In the past, identifying these gaps has been difficult given the lack of nuance in existing theory. The knowledge maps proposed will enable informed policy advice to effectively harness the power of knowledge networks, increase innovation diffusion and improve the performance of infrastructure projects. The models developed in this paper will be used in planned empirical research into innovation on large scale infrastructure projects in the Australian built environment.

Inhibitors to optimal project portfolio selection

The selection of projects and programs of work is a key function of both public and private sector organisations. Ideally, projects and programs that are selected to be undertaken are consistent with strategic objectives for the organisation; will provide value for money and return on investment; will be adequately resourced and prioritised; will not compete with general operations for resources and not restrict the ability of operations to provide income to the organisation; will match the capacity and capability of the organisation to deliver; and will produce outputs that are willingly accepted by end users and customers. Unfortunately,this is not always the case. Possible inhibitors to optimal project portfolio selection include: processes that are inconsistent with the needs of the organisation; reluctance to use an approach that may not produce predetermined preferences; loss of control and perceived decision making power; reliance on quantitative methods rather than qualitative methods for justification; ineffective project and program sponsorship; unclear project governance, processes and linkage to business strategies; ignorance, taboos and perceived effectiveness; inadequate education and training about the processes and their importance.

Empirical comparison of machine learning algorithms for image texture classification with application to vegetation management in power line corridors

This paper reports on the empirical comparison of seven machine learning algorithms in texture classification with application to vegetation management in power line corridors. Aiming at classifying tree species in power line corridors, object-based method is employed. Individual tree crowns are segmented as the basic classification units and three classic texture features are extracted as the input to the classification algorithms. Several widely used performance metrics are used to evaluate the classification algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that the classification performance depends on the performance matrix, the characteristics of datasets and the feature used.

A biologically inspired object spectral-texture descriptor and its application to vegetation classification in power-line corridors

The use of appropriate features to represent an output class or object is critical for all classification problems. In this paper, we propose a biologically inspired object descriptor to represent the spectral-texture patterns of image-objects. The proposed feature descriptor is generated from the pulse spectral frequencies (PSF) of a pulse coupled neural network (PCNN), which is invariant to rotation, translation and small scale changes. The proposed method is first evaluated in a rotation and scale invariant texture classification using USC-SIPI texture database. It is further evaluated in an application of vegetation species classification in power line corridor monitoring using airborne multi-spectral aerial imagery. The results from the two experiments demonstrate that the PSF feature is effective to represent spectral-texture patterns of objects and it shows better results than classic color histogram and texture features.

The power of educational podcasting : using short-format podcasts to reinforce tertiary student learning experiences in science

In 2007 I introduced short-format educational podcast resources that reinforced conceptual teaching and learning in an interdisciplinary tertiary science study area (biochemistry). This study aims to determine student attitudes to the perceived usefulness and benefit of short-format educational podcasts, and presents the findings (qualitative and quantitative) from surveys obtained from three offerings of the science teaching unit (2007, 2008 and 2009). Podcasts were recorded (MP3 audio files) separately from the instructive lecture sessions, and subsequent to the weekly lecture, short-format podcasts summarising the key learning objectives were integrated within the resources presented through the students learning management system (Blackboard). The vast majority (>88%) of students utilised the podcast resources, indicating a high level of acceptance and uptake for this portable educational technology. The respondents reported that podcasts focused their attention to core learning concepts and supported their understanding and learning of the lecture material. Furthermore, the data showed that respondents agreed strongly that podcasts assisted with study and revision for examinations and, somewhat surprisingly, there was a perception that podcasts positively impacted on examination performance. Overall, student users perceived that podcasting is as an effective and valuable educational tool that offers convenience and flexibility for their learning and understanding of a tertiary science study area, such as biochemistry.

The 'nurdle to leg' and other ways of winning cricket matches

The emergence of Twenty20 cricket at the elite level has been marketed on the excitement of the big hitter, where it seems that winning is a result of the muscular batter hitting boundaries at will. This version of the game has captured the imagination of many young players who all want to score runs with “big hits”. However, in junior cricket, boundary hitting is often more difficult due to size limitations of children and games played on outfields where the ball does not travel quickly. As a result, winning is often achieved via a less spectacular route – by scoring more singles than your opponents. However, most standard coaching texts only describe how to play boundary scoring shots (e.g. the drives, pulls, cuts and sweeps) and defensive shots to protect the wicket. Learning to bat appears to have been reduced to extremes of force production, i.e. maximal force production to hit boundaries or minimal force production to stop the ball from hitting the wicket. Initially, this is not a problem because the typical innings of a young player (<12 years) would be based on the concept of “block” or “bash” – they “block” the good balls and “bash” the short balls. This approach works because there are many opportunities to hit boundaries off the numerous inaccurate deliveries of novice bowlers. Most runs are scored behind the wicket by using the pace of the bowler’s delivery to re-direct the ball, because the intrinsic dynamics (i.e. lack of strength) of most children means that they can only create sufficient power by playing shots where the whole body can contribute to force production. This method works well until the novice player comes up against more accurate bowling when they find they have no way of scoring runs. Once batters begin to face “good” bowlers, batters have to learn to score runs via singles. In cricket coaching manuals (e.g. ECB, n.d), running between the wickets is treated as a separate task to batting, and the “basics” of running, such as how to “back- up”, carry the bat, calling and turning and sliding the bat into the crease are “drilled” into players. This task decomposition strategy focussing on techniques is a common approach to skill acquisition in many highly traditional sports, typified in cricket by activities where players hit balls off tees and receive “throw-downs” from coaches. However, the relative usefulness of these approaches in the acquisition of sporting skills is increasingly being questioned (Pinder, Renshaw & Davids, 2009). We will discuss why this is the case in the next section.