Modelling an integrated impact of fire, explosion and combustion products during transitional events caused by an accidental release of LNG

In a complex processing facility, there is likelihood of occurrence of cascading scenarios, i.e. hydrocarbon release, fire, explosion and dispersion of combustion products. The consequence of such scenarios, when combined, can be more severe than their individual impact. Hence, actual impact can be only representedby integration of above mentioned events. A novel methodology is proposed to model an evolving accident scenario during an incidental release of LNG in a complex processing facility. The methodology is applied to a case study considering transitional scenarios namely spill, pool formation and evaporation of LNG, dispersion of natural gas, and the consequent fire, explosion and dispersion of combustion products using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Probit functions are employed to analyze individual impacts and a ranking method is used to combine various impacts to identify risk during the transitional events.The results confirmed that in a large and complex facility, an LNG fire can transit to a vapor cloud explosion ifthe necessary conditions are met, i.e.the flammable range, ignition source with enough energy and congestion/confinement level. Therefore, the integrated consequences are more severe than those associated with the individual ones, and need to be properly assessed. This study would provide an insight for an effective analysis of potential consequences of an LNG spill in any LNG processing facility and it can be useful for the safety measured design of process facilities

Developing technological synergies between deep-sea and space research

Recent advances in robotic design, autonomy and sensor integration create solutions for the exploration of deep-sea environments, transferable to the oceans of icy moons. Marine platforms do not yet have the mission autonomy capacity of their space counterparts (e.g., the state of the art Mars Perseverance rover mission), although different levels of autonomous navigation and mapping, as well as sampling, are an extant capability. In this setting their increasingly biomimicked designs may allow access to complex environmental scenarios, with novel, highly-integrated life-detecting, oceanographic and geochemical sensor packages. Here, we lay an outlook for the upcoming advances in deep-sea robotics through synergies with space technologies within three major research areas: biomimetic structure and propulsion (including power storage and generation), artificial intelligence and cooperative networks, and life-detecting instrument design. New morphological and material designs, with miniaturized and more diffuse sensor packages, will advance robotic sensing systems. Artificial intelligence algorithms controlling navigation and communications will allow the further development of the behavioral biomimicking by cooperating networks. Solutions will have to be tested within infrastructural networks of cabled observatories, neutrino telescopes, and off-shore industry sites with agendas and modalities that are beyond the scope of our work, but could draw inspiration on the proposed examples for the operational combination of fixed and mobile platforms

Living precariously: property guardianship and the flexible city

In this paper we examine the precarious everyday geographies of property guardianship in the United Kingdom. Temporary property guardianship is a relatively new form of insecure urban dwelling existing in the grey area between informal occupation, the security industry and housing. Young individuals, usually in precarious employment, apply to intermediary companies to become temporary 'guardians' in metropolitan centres, most notably in London. The scheme allows guardians to pay below market rent to live in unusual locations while ‘performing’ live-in security arrangements that are not considered as a form of ‘work’. The experiences of becoming and living as a property guardian can be ambivalent and contradictory: guardians express economic and social advantages to being temporary, while also exposing underlying anxieties with ‘flexible living’. In this paper we offer a detailed description of the various practices of property guardianship and how they must be understood on the one hand, in light of recent geographical scholarship on housing insecurity and, on the other hand, as an example of a precarious subjectivity that has become normalised in recent decades in cities of the global North. Drawing on indepth interviews with long-term property guardians in London, we unpack the narratives and rationales of university educated and highly skilled individuals for whom the city is a site of intensified insecurity and flexible negotiations. In the end, we conclude that the form of permanent temporariness experienced by property guardians needs to be understood as a symptom of wider dynamics of work and life precarisation in urban centers and argue that it is imperative to extend recent geographical debates around work and life insecurity to include new housing practices and their role in co-constituting urban precarity

The Human Rights of Older Persons: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Elder Law

This book provides a comprehensive human rights analysis of key areas of law affecting older persons, including legal capacity; elder abuse; accommodation and aged care; healthcare; employment; financial security, retirement, and estate planning; and social and cultural participation. The research identifies individual autonomy and participation in decision-making as fundamental to a human rights-based approach to elder law. The book argues that a paradigm shift must occur away from traditional medical and charity-based understandings of ‘old age’ to instead acknowledge older persons as active holders of enforceable rights. The book argues that a Convention on the Rights of Older Persons is an essential tool in achieving this, but that even without a dedicated treaty there is much to be gained from a human rights-based approach. Significantly, because the issues arising in ‘old age’ are often the culmination of experiences occurring throughout the life course, a human rights-based approach to elder law must begin with a commitment to human rights for people of all ages

Submission Responding to the Law Council of Australia Justice Project Consultation Paper August 2017

We submit that the principles used to underpin the Justice Project should be based within a n overarching human rights framework . T he human rights of people are protected in a number of international instruments including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) , the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( CRPD) . Consequently, Australia is obliged to ensure that certain human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled , including , in the broad sense, the right to access justice . It should be noted however that, while human rights principles provide a useful and appropriate normative framework for conceptualising better ways to access justice, human rights themselves are not well - protected in Australian domestic law. The lack of domestic enforceability of human rights impacts access to justice because it restricts the vehicles through which vulnerable people can enforce their rights and thus access justice..

Strengthening the Response to Elder Financial Abuse and the Proposed Enduring Power of Attorney Registe: Suggested First Steps

Elder abuse is garnering increasing national attention with elder financial abuse (EFA), one of the most common forms of abuse, being a particular focus. Enduring powers of attorney (EPAs) are contentious given their dichotomous role in both facilitating autonomous decision-making post incapacity, but in also being utilised as a vehicle for perpetrating abuse, both inadvertent and deliberate. In 2017, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recommended that an EPA register be introduced after the harmonisation of national laws and the development of nationally consistent documentation. Despite this, it is the development of an EPA register that has been championed as a frontline response to safeguard against and ‘effectively reduce’ EFA. This paper argues that prioritising the register is premature with several significant ‘big picture’ issues first needing consideration to ensure a sound jurisdictional, procedural and substantive basis from which to consider any law reform. These issues include, first, developing the human rights framework championed by the ALRC especially given the disparate approach nationally to human rights laws and obligations. Second, the ad hoc and opaque assessment of incapacity has to be addressed. Third, the role of technology in the valid execution and revocation of EPAs was effectively highlighted by COVID19, again with differing responses throughout Australia. If and what role technology can and should play needs to be examined. Finally, rigorous and reliable data must be gathered upon which to anchor evidence-based reform and evaluation of any such reform if the aim of ‘effectively reducing’ EFA is to be achieved

Submission Responding to the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department Enhancing Protections Related to the use of EPOA Instruments Consultation RIS

Submission to the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Departmen

Submission to the Attorney General's Department regarding National Register of Enduring Powers of Attorney - Public Consultation Paper

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Submission to the Achieving Greater Consistency in Laws for Financial Enduring Powers of Attorney Consultation Paper

Submission in response to the ‘Achieving Greater Consistency in Laws for Financial Enduring Powers of Attorney Consultation Paper’