Comment on `Quantum resolution to the arrow of time dilemma'

Recently, a substantial amount of debate has grown up around a proposed quantum resolution to the `arrow of time dilemma' that is based on the role of classical memory records of entropy-decreasing events. In this note we show that the argument is incomplete and furthermore, by providing a counter-example, argue that it is incorrect. Instead of quantum mechanics providing a resolution in the manner suggested, it allows enhanced classical memory records of entropy-decreasing events.Comment: 4 pages, no figures. Comments welcom

Should ministerial arrangements for domestic security be changed?

Are Australia\u27s ministerial arrangements for managing domestic security optimal? This paper examines this question as a debate. Overview The recent increase in Australia’s terrorism alert, reported prime ministerial concern over national security arrangements, major increases in counterterrorism funding and operational success against people smuggling have raised a new question in Canberra: are our arrangements for managing domestic security optimal? This paper examines this question as a debate. Presenting the case for change is ASPI senior analyst David Connery. He gives five reasons why change is needed, before proposing a new split in which a Minister for Security and Resilience takes over responsibility for enforcing Australia’s domestic security and emergency management laws. Peter Jennings, ASPI’s executive director, presents a case for the status quo, arguing that the National Security Committee of Cabinet (NSC) is more important in ensuring coordinated security policy than the division of responsibilities among its ministers

Self-Organized Routing For Wireless Micro-Sensor Networks

In this paper we develop an energy-aware self-organized routing algorithm for the networking of simple battery-powered wireless micro-sensors (as found, for example, in security or environmental monitoring applications). In these networks, the battery life of individual sensors is typically limited by the power required to transmit their data to a receiver or sink. Thus effective network routing algorithms allow us to reduce this power and extend both the lifetime and the coverage of the sensor network as a whole. However, implementing such routing algorithms with a centralized controller is undesirable due to the physical distribution of the sensors, their limited localization ability and the dynamic nature of such networks (given that sensors may fail, move or be added at any time and the communication links between sensors are subject to noise and interference). Against this background, we present a distributed mechanism that enables individual sensors to follow locally selfish strategies, which, in turn, result in the self-organization of a routing network with desirable global properties. We show that our mechanism performs close to the optimal solution (as computed by a centralized optimizer), it deals adaptively with changing sensor numbers and topology, and it extends the useful life of the network by a factor of three over the traditional approach

A Photonic Implementation for the Topological Cluster State Quantum Computer

A new implementation of the topological cluster state quantum computer is suggested, in which the basic elements are linear optics, measurements, and a two-dimensional array of quantum dots. This overcomes the need for non-linear devices to create a lattice of entangled photons. We give estimates of the minimum efficiencies needed for the detectors, fusion gates and quantum dots, from a numerical simulation

The Transgressor\u27s Response to a Rejected Request for Forgiveness

Although the scientific study of forgiveness has flourished in recent years, little is known about transgressors when seeking forgiveness, particularly regarding how they respond when their request for forgiveness is denied. The present thesis reviews the literature related to how transgressors might react to a denied request for forgiveness and factors that likely influence their response. In two studies, interactions between sex and responses to requested forgiveness, and interactions between two personality variables (agreeableness and neuroticism) and responses to requested forgiveness were examined. Generally, when people refuse or even partially refuse a bid for forgiveness, it is considered by the requestor to be a wrong perpetrated by the original victim. Even after considering the hurtfulness and severity of that wrong, there were differences in the degree to which original offenders held unforgiveness, experienced positive emotions, and forgave the original victim, depending on how starkly the original victim denied the request