‘Who are we trying to protect?’ The role of vulnerability analysis in New Zealand’s law of negligence

New Zealand has incorporated ideas of vulnerability within its law of negligence for some years. It has not, however, clarified what is meant by vulnerability or the role the concept plays within the broader duty of care framework. Several obiter comments in Body Corporate No 207624 v North Shore City Council (Spencer on Byron) suggest the concept ought not to be part of the law due to its uncertain and confusing nature. Subsequent cases have, however, continued to use the concept, and continue to use it despite both its historically ill-defined nature and the additional uncertainty added by Spencer on Byron. This essay argues that vulnerability can and ought to be a part of New Zealand negligence law. With a consistent adoption of a single test for vulnerability–that established in the High Court of Australia in Woolcock Street Investments Pty Ltd v CDG Pty Ltd (Woolcock)–vulnerability can be a conceptually certain concept that provides useful insight into the issues posed by the law of negligence

Comparability of Functional MRI Response in Young and Old During Inhibition

When using fMRI to study age-related cognitive changes, it is important to establish the integrity of the hemodynamic response because, potentially, it can be affected by age and disease. However, there have been few attempts to document such integrity and no attempts using higher cognitive rather than perceptual or motor tasks. We used fMRI with 28 healthy young and older adults on an inhibitory control task. Although older and young adults differed in task performance and activation patterns, they had comparable hemodynamic responses. We conclude that activation during cognitive inhibition, which was predominantly increased in elders, was not due to vascular confounds or specific changes in hemodynamic coupling

Simpler ISS Flight Control Communications and Log Keeping via Social Tools and Techniques

The heart of flight operations control involves a) communicating effectively in real time with other controllers in the room and/or in remote locations and b) tracking significant events, decisions, and rationale to support the next set of decisions, provide a thorough shift handover, and troubleshoot/improve operations. International Space Station (ISS) flight controllers speak with each other via multiple voice circuits or loops, each with a particular purpose and constituency. Controllers monitor and/or respond to several loops concurrently. The primary tracking tools are console logs, typically kept by a single operator and not visible to others in real-time. Information from telemetry, commanding, and planning systems also plays into decision-making. Email is very secondary/tertiary due to timing and archival considerations. Voice communications and log entries supporting ISS operations have increased by orders of magnitude because the number of control centers, flight crew, and payload operations have grown. This paper explores three developmental ground system concepts under development at Johnson Space Center s (JSC) Mission Control Center Houston (MCC-H) and Marshall Space Flight Center s (MSFC) Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC). These concepts could reduce ISS control center voice traffic and console logging yet increase the efficiency and effectiveness of both. The goal of this paper is to kindle further discussion, exploration, and tool development

Direct fuel oxidation alkaline fuel cells:the kinetics of borohydride oxidation

Alkaline based fuel cells are among the most efficient due to the enhanced kinetics of oxygen reduction in alkaline media. In space applications, they have demonstrated efficiencies near 60%, with the potential to generate electricity with efficiencies at nearly 70%. One of the largest hurdles to overcome in the general uptake of hydrogen fuel cells is the ability to store hydrogen fuel in a form with sufficient energy density to allow for mobile systems to be truly viable. This often means that hydrogen has to be stored at very high pressure (around 70 MPa) in bulky tanks to provide sufficient capacity. Clearly this is not suitable for smaller vehicles or portable systems. Partly to address this, there has been considerable interest in direct oxidation liquid fuelled cells due to the very high specific energy density of liquid fuels. A very compact variant of the liquid fuelled cell which has received little attention is the alkaline dissolved fuel cell where the fuel is dissolved in the electrolyte and the system relies on a selective cathode for efficient operation. Borohydrides present a particularly good option for an alkaline dissolved fuel system, having high energy densities, a low standard potential for the oxidation to borax (an 8 electron process) and good stability in alkaline conditions. A key area in the success of a fuel cell utilizing borohydride is the development of an anode which can make use of the full 8 electron oxidation to borax directly oxidising the borohydride with as little of the hydrolysis reaction occurring as possible. This is in addition to common requirements of high activity, high stability, good electronic conductivity and transport of reactants and products. Here we present investigations into the oxidation of borohydride in alkaline media under various conditions for a selection of candidate materials in different forms using an RDE (rotating disc electrode) based procedure. Results demonstrate that hydrolysis or an indirect oxidation mechanism reduces the coulombic efficiency of the oxidation reaction observed for the materials investigated so far. There is also a significant difference in behaviour between candidate materials. The best performing materials from the RDE studies will be used to develop suitably active and durable functional fuel cell electrodes using scalable processes such as screen printing