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The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia has been commissioned by the Australian Office of National Intelligence (ONI), on behalf of the National Intelligence Community (NIC), to prepare an analysis of the United States National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Decadal Survey of the Social and Behavioral Sciences: A Research Agenda for Advancing Intelligence Analysis (the Survey). This analysis aims to provide an Australian academic perspective on the Survey, with a particular focus on its 10-year vision and to examine the capacity for the Australian social science research community to offer insights in relation to this agenda for its own national intelligence sector. The Academy project was overseen by a six-person Expert Working Group who engaged over 30 leading Australian practitioners and researchers in intelligence studies, cyber security, and broader social science disciplines. The activities of the project included client consultations, briefing papers, research reports, and a two-day Expert Workshop in Canberra. Contained herein is the Social Science Research & Intelligence in Australia: Final Report (this Report). It provides an assessment of the US Survey with a focus on its strengths and gaps, as well as the important areas of difference in the Australian and US intelligence and research landscapes. This Report outlines relevant research areas of Australia’s comparative advantage and the ways in which these could be utilised to help to provide insight on the US Survey’s vision. It also provides a number of recommendations for addressing the gap between the research and intelligence communities in Australia and ways the research community can contribute to ensure that intelligence analysts are prepared for the future security environment.

Blockchain and its underlying technology have intrigued researchers with its promising applications and implications as “the second internet”. There is a wide range of Blockchain applications in transportation and logistics. In this paper, we present the basic principle of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain as well as Ethereum. This is followed by the potential applications of Blockchain in transportation, logistics, and supply chain industries in which the concept of a tradable mobility permit (TMP) to combat traffic congestion is formulated and numerically tested. We then discuss the deployment of the TMP scheme based on a Blockchain platform and its by-products such as dynamic toll pricing, priority for emergency vehicles, heavy truck platooning, as well as connected vehicles.

The choices' limited capacities of the discrete choice models must be taken into account. We propose a convex optimisation formulation in which the exponential formulation of the logit model is upheld in the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions. The capacities of the choices are then added to the formulation as side constraints. A solution algorithm based on the successive coordinate descent is proposed. For numerical evaluation, we investigate US income tax policies for the years prior to the 2009 crisis using multinomial logit models. The tendency of the states for choice of income tax versus other tax sources is assessed and it is found that: 1) all states show a propensity to levy more income tax; 2) this propensity has a ceiling cap similar to what is already known from the 'Laffer curve'; 3) residents in the states with already high income tax are more likely to be subjected to even heavier income tax within caps.

This chapter explores the position of humanities within the world of learning and knowledge. One key indicator in academic discussion of any crisis in the humanities, has been the share of humanities enrolments in the enrolments for all university students. Hence the emphasis on universities in particular as vehicles for education and research. Their aspiration is the transmission and enhancement of rational knowledge. A crisis might be evident other than from enrolment problems or from issues over teaching approaches in the humanities fields. Humanities are better placed in the Australian Public Service (APS), especially at senior executive service levels. The APS is more policy oriented than state and territory governments within the Australian federation, with the latter governments more tasked with service delivery. So Australia reflects a high level of development and a stable environment in both the broader socio-economic and higher education context.

This chapter examines the partnership between market, state and community in the provision of the foundations of national life in Australia. It is argued that the balance of these forces is the key to the Australian Way in the institutional construction of the nation. The nature and evolution of this partnership state is outlined, and the salience of its condition for the Australia future is established. This includes a clear concern that there is a switchpoint in Australian national affairs apparent. The operation of the partnership model in the social infrastructure of education is reviewed, and its operation in economic infrastructure is then looked at too in some detail. From the overview and from the closer sectoral review, conclusions are then reached as to the potential for enhancement and sustainability of the system into the future. It is concluded that a model of inclusive growth beyond ideology is a feasible and worthy aspiration for Australia.