Submission to Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015

We argue that safeguards are necessary to ensure human rights are adequately protected. All systems of blocking access to online content necessarily raise difficult and problematic issues of infringement of freedom of speech and access to information. Given the importance of access to information across the breadth of modern life, great care must be taken to ensure that any measures designed to protect copyright by blocking access to online locations are proportionate. Any measures to block access to online content must be carefully tailored to avoid serious and disproportionate impact on human rights. This means first that the measures must be effective and adapted to achieve a legitimate purpose. The experience of foreign jurisdictions suggests that this legislation is unlikely to be effective. Unless and until there is clear evidence that the proposed scheme is likely to increase effective returns to Australian creators, this legislation should not be introduced. Second, the principle of proportionality requires ensuring that the proposed legislation does not unnecessarily burden legitimate speech or access to information. As currently worded, the draft legislation may result in online locations being blocked even though they would, if operated in Australia, not contravene Australian law. This is unacceptable, and if introduced, the law should be drafted so that it is clearly limited only to foreign locations where there is clear and compelling evidence that the location would authorise copyright infringement if it were in Australia. Third, proportionality requires that measures are reasonable and strike an appropriate balance between competing interests. This draft legislation provides few safeguards for the public interest or the interests of private actors who would access legitimate information. New safeguards should be introduced to ensure that the public interest is well represented at both the stage of the primary application and at any applications to rescind or vary injunctions. We recommend that: The legislation not be introduced unless and until there is compelling evidence that it will have a real and significant positive impact on the effective incomes of Australian creators. The ‘facilitates an infringement’ test in s 115A(1)(b) should be replaced with ‘authorises infringement’. The ‘primary purpose’ test in s 115A(1)(c) should be replaced with: “the online location has no substantial non-infringing uses”. An explicit role for public interest groups as amici curiae should be introduced. Costs of successful applications should be borne by applicants. Injunctions should be valid only for renewable two year terms. Section 115A(5) should be clarified, and cl (b) and (c) be removed. The effectiveness of the scheme should be evaluated in two years.

Model updating of real structures with ambient vibration data

It is important to develop reliable finite element models for real structures not only in the design phase but also for the structural health monitoring and structural maintenance purposes. This paper describes the experience of the authors in using ambient vibration model identification techniques together with model updating tools to develop reliable finite element models of real civil engineering structures. Case studies of two real structures are presented in this paper. One is a 10 storey concrete building which is considered as a non-slender structure with complex boundary conditions. The other is a single span concrete foot bridge which is also a relatively inflexible planar structure with complex boundary conditions. Both structures are located at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and equipped with continuous structural health monitoring systems.

Applications of real-time machine vision to the control of mining equipment

The mining industry presents us with a number of ideal applications for sensor based machine control because of the unstructured environment that exists within each mine. The aim of the research presented here is to increase the productivity of existing large compliant mining machines by retrofitting with enhanced sensing and control technology. The current research focusses on the automatic control of the swing motion cycle of a dragline and an automated roof bolting system. We have achieved: * closed-loop swing control of an one-tenth scale model dragline; * single degree of freedom closed-loop visual control of an electro-hydraulic manipulator in the lab developed from standard components.

Managing knowledge to promote sustainability in Australian transport infrastructure projects

To deliver tangible sustainability outcomes, the infrastructure sector of the construction industry needs to build capacities for the creation, application and management of ever increasing knowledge. This paper intends to establish the importance and key issues of promoting sustainability through knowledge management (KM). It presents a new conceptual framework for managing sustainability knowledge to raise the awareness and direct future research in the field of transport infrastructure, one of the fast growing sectors in Australia. A holistic KM approach is adopted in this research to consider the potential to “deliver the right information to the right person at the right time” in the context of sustainable development of infrastructure. A questionnaire survey among practitioners across the nation confirmed the necessity and identified priority issues of managing knowledge for sustainability. During infrastructure development, KM can help build much needed industry consensus, develop capacity, communicate decisions, and promote specific measures for the pursuit of sustainability. Six essential elements of the KM approach and their priority issues informed the establishment of a conceptual KM framework. The transport infrastructure sector has come to realise that development must not come at the expense of environmental and social objectives. In practice however, it is facing extensive challenges to deliver what has been promised in the sustainability agenda. This research demonstrates the importance of managing sustainability knowledge, integration of various stakeholders, facilitation of plans and actions and delivery of tangible benefits in real projects, as a positive step towards meeting these challenges.

Post traumatic success: Positive psychology and solution-focused strategies to help clients survive and thrive

I am an academic who has spent a career using a strengths-based approach in researching ways to promote and maintain mental health in people who have experienced trauma. When I read the title of the book, the notion of “post traumatic success” immediately brought many questions to my mind. What is success anyway? How do we measure success following trauma? Who decides if a person has been successful? However, as I started to read, the intention of the book became clear and my bias regarding the title lessened...

Real-time traffic state estimation in urban corridors from heterogeneous data

In recent years, rapid advances in information technology have led to various data collection systems which are enriching the sources of empirical data for use in transport systems. Currently, traffic data are collected through various sensors including loop detectors, probe vehicles, cell-phones, Bluetooth, video cameras, remote sensing and public transport smart cards. It has been argued that combining the complementary information from multiple sources will generally result in better accuracy, increased robustness and reduced ambiguity. Despite the fact that there have been substantial advances in data assimilation techniques to reconstruct and predict the traffic state from multiple data sources, such methods are generally data-driven and do not fully utilize the power of traffic models. Furthermore, the existing methods are still limited to freeway networks and are not yet applicable in the urban context due to the enhanced complexity of the flow behavior. The main traffic phenomena on urban links are generally caused by the boundary conditions at intersections, un-signalized or signalized, at which the switching of the traffic lights and the turning maneuvers of the road users lead to shock-wave phenomena that propagate upstream of the intersections. This paper develops a new model-based methodology to build up a real-time traffic prediction model for arterial corridors using data from multiple sources, particularly from loop detectors and partial observations from Bluetooth and GPS devices.

Undergraduate public health students and perceptions of qualitative research: A trajectory of understanding from airy fairy to a valuable tool

Many undergraduate public health students enter introductory qualitative research units with limited or negative perceptions of qualitative research, potentially compromising learning outcomes. Unit teaching, structure and assessment provide opportunities for students to develop positive perceptions of qualitative research. Through a mixed-methods study of undergraduate public health students enrolled in a qualitative research unit, we establish students’ perceptions of qualitative research at the commencement and conclusion of the unit, and determine the critical teaching and learning events which contributed to positive changes in students’ perceptions. This study demonstrates that the structuring of an introductory qualitative research unit around varied opportunities for experiential learning provides a positive introductory learning experience and enables undergraduate public health students to recognise the real-world uses and value of qualitative research.

‘Appreciate A Mate’ Helping others to feel good about themselves. Safe and Well Online: A report on the development and evaluation of a positive messaging social marketing campaign for young people.

This report describes the Year Two/Campaign Two processes, and articulates findings from the major project components designed to address the challenges noted above (see Figure 1). Three major components comprise the Safe and Well Online project: 1) A participatory design (PD) process involving young people and sector partners (UWS) for; 2) campaign development (Zuni & Digital Arts Network); and 3) a cohort study (University of South Australia) to evaluate campaign effectiveness and attitude and behaviour change. Each sub-study comprehensively considered the ethical requirements of conducting online research with minors. The theoretical and methodological framework for measuring campaign engagement and efficacy (Sub-studies 3, 4 and 5) drew on the Model of Goal Directed Behaviour (MGB) (Perugini & Bagozzi 2001) and Nudge Theory (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). This report extends the findings and conclusions of the Year One Pilot Study ‘‘Keep it Tame’’ (Spears et.al, 2015), and details the development and evaluation of the second of four Safe and Well Online Campaigns—‘‘Appreciate A Mate’: Helping others feel good about themselves’.

Shear tests of hollow flange channel beams with real support conditions

This paper presents the details of experimental studies on the effect of real support conditions on the shear strength of hollow flange channel beams, known as LiteSteel beams (LSB). The LSB has a unique shape of a channel beam with two rectangular hollow flanges, made using a unique manufacturing process. In many applications in the building industry LSBs are used with only one web side plate (WSP) at their supports. The WSPs are also often not full height plates. Past research studies showed that these real support connections did not provide the required simply supported conditions. Many studies have been carried out to evaluate the behaviour and design of LSBs with simply supported conditions subject to pure bending and predominant shear actions. To date, however, no investigation has been conducted into the effect of real support conditions on the shear strength of LSBs. Hence a detailed experimental study based on 25 shear tests was undertaken to investigate the shear behaviour and strength of LSBs with real support conditions. Simply supported test specimens of LSBs with aspect ratios of 1.0 and 1.5 were loaded at mid-span until failure. It was found that the effect of using one WSP on the shear behaviour of LSB is significant and there is about 25% shear capacity reduction due to the lateral movement of the bottom flange at the supports. Shear capacity of LSB was also found to decrease when full height WSPs were not used. Suitably improved support connections were developed to improve the shear capacity of LSBs based on test results. Details of the recommended support connections and shear capacity results are given in this paper.

Education and the relation to the outside: A little real reality

One of the aims of Deleuze. Guattari. Schizoanalysis. Education. is to focus on the radical reconfiguration that education is undergoing, impacting educator, administrator, institution and ‘sector’ alike. More to the point, it is the responses to that process of reconfiguration - this newly emerging assemblage - that are a key focal point in this issue. Essential to these responses, we propose, is Deleuze and Guattari’s method of schizonalysis, which offers a way to not only understand the rules of this new game, but also, hopefully, some escape from the promise of a brave new world of continuous education and motivation. A brave new world of digitised courses, impersonal and corporate expertise, updatable performance metrics, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), learning analytics, transformative teaching and learning, online high-stakes testing in the name of transforming and augmenting human capital overlays the corporeal practices of institutional surveillance, examination and categorical sorting. A brave new world, importantly, where people’s continuous education is instituted less, or not simply, through disciplinary practices, and increasingly through a constant and continuous sampling and profiling of not simply performance but their activity, measured against the profiled activity of a ‘like’ age group, person, or an institution. This continuous education, including the sampling that accompanies it, we are all informed through various information and marketing campaigns, is in our best interest. An interest that is driven and governed by an ever-increasing corporatisation and monetisation of ‘the knowledge sector’, as well as an interest that is sustained through an ever-increasing, as well as continuous, debt.

Key determinants of real estate service quality among renters and buyers

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare quality perceptions of virtual servicescapes and physical service encounters among buyers and renters of real estate. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data from a sample of 27 professionals engaged in higher education in the USA are gathered by recorded interview before being transcribed and imported into MAXQDA 2007 software for analytical coding. Findings Particular differences are found to exist between renters and buyers with regard to specific service attributes – for example, description of properties and type of visuals during the pre‐purchase stage, knowledge/experience and honest behavior of realtors during the service encounter stage and a continuous relationship with the realtor in the post‐encounter stage. Research limitations/implications Generalization of the results is limited because the study utilizes data from only one industry (real estate) and from only one demographic segment (professionals in higher education). Practical implications Real‐estate firms need to pay attention to both the training of agents and the design and content of their websites. Originality/value This paper contributes to knowledge regarding virtual servicescapes in professional services.

Investigating the concept of potential quality: An exploratory study in the real estate industry

Purpose The purpose of this research is to examine the concept of “potential quality” – that is, a company's tangible search qualities (such as the physical servicescape and virtual servicescape) – within the context of the real‐estate industry in the USA. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study collects data by conducting personal in‐depth interviews with 34 respondents who had been recent buyers or renters of property. The data are then coded and themed to identify quality dimensions relevant to this industry. Findings The results indicate that a buyer's perception of the overall service quality of real‐estate service consists of two components: the interaction with a realtor (process quality); and the virtual servicescape, especially the firm's website design and content (potential quality). The study concludes that existing scales (such as SERVQUAL and RESERV) fail to capture the tangible component of service quality sufficiently in the real‐estate industry. Research limitations/implications The study uses data from only one industry (real estate) and from only one demographic segment (professionals in higher education). Practical implications Service providers of intangible, high‐contact services must appreciate the importance of the virtual servicescape as a surrogate quality indicator that can help to reduce information asymmetries and consumers' uncertainty with regard to initiating a business relationship. Real estate firms need to pay attention to the training of agents and the design and content of their e‐service systems. Originality/value This study integrates potential quality, process quality, and outcome quality in a comprehensive proposed model. In particular, the study identifies “potential quality” as a combination of the attributes of the virtual service environment and the physical service environment.

Estimating link-dependent origin-destination matrices from sample trajectories and traffic counts

Origin-Destination matrices (ODM) estimation can benefits of the availability of sample trajectories which can be measured thanks to recent technologies. This paper focus on the case of transport networks where traffic counts are measured by magnetic loops and sample trajectories available. An example of such network is the city of Brisbane, where Bluetooth detectors are now operating. This additional data source is used to extend the classical ODM estimation to a link-specific ODM (LODM) one using a convex optimisation resolution that incorporates networks constraints as well. The proposed algorithm is assessed on a simulated network.

A dynamic real time scheduling methodology for the emergency department

This project constructs a scheduling solution for the Emergency Department. The schedules are generated in real-time to adapt to new patient arrivals and changing conditions. An integrated scheduling formulation assigns patients to beds and treatment tasks to resources. The schedule efficiency is assessed using waiting time and total care time experienced by patients. The solution algorithm incorporates dispatch rules, meta-heuristics and a new extended disjunctive graph formulation which provide high quality solutions in a fast time-frame for real time decision support. This algorithm can be implemented in an electronic patient management system to improve patient flow in the Emergency Department.

Real time maximum power conversion tracking and resonant frequency modification for high power piezoelectric ultrasound transducer

Piezoelectric ultrasound transducers are commonly used to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy and vice versa. The transducer performance is highly affected by the frequency at which it is excited. If excitation frequency and main resonant frequency match, transducers can deliver maximum power. However, the problem is that main resonant frequency changes in real time operation resulting in low power conversion. To achieve the maximum possible power conversion, the transducer should be excited at its resonant frequency estimated in real time. This paper proposes a method to first estimate the resonant frequency of the transducer and then tunes the excitation frequency accordingly in real time. The measurement showed a significant difference between the offline and real time resonant frequencies. Also, it was shown that the maximum power was achieved at the resonant frequency estimated in real time compare to the one measured offline.