SenShaMart: A Trusted Internet of Things Marketplace for Sensor Sharing. This project aims to devise a novel Internet of Things (IoT) sensor sharing marketplace that permits IoT applications to discover, integrate, and pay for any IoT sensor data that is made available by other parties. The project will devise highly-scalable sensor classification, query processing, and transactions solutions and incorporate them in a pair of novel blockchains that work in tandem to securely manage all the infor ....SenShaMart: A Trusted Internet of Things Marketplace for Sensor Sharing. This project aims to devise a novel Internet of Things (IoT) sensor sharing marketplace that permits IoT applications to discover, integrate, and pay for any IoT sensor data that is made available by other parties. The project will devise highly-scalable sensor classification, query processing, and transactions solutions and incorporate them in a pair of novel blockchains that work in tandem to securely manage all the information and contracts needed by IoT applications to discover, integrate, pay, and use sensors provided by another parties. These IoT advancements will provide significant economic, environmental, and social benefits via making low-cost and immediate sensing available across the world.Read moreRead less
Privacy-preserving data processing on the cloud. This project aims to address the current lack of privacy of user data processed by common cloud computing web servers, including email, business data, and confidential files. This project aims to develop new techniques in cryptography. The anticipated outcome is a suite of practical tools enabling common cloud computing processing operations such as search, statistical analysis, and multi-user access control, to be performed efficiently while pres ....Privacy-preserving data processing on the cloud. This project aims to address the current lack of privacy of user data processed by common cloud computing web servers, including email, business data, and confidential files. This project aims to develop new techniques in cryptography. The anticipated outcome is a suite of practical tools enabling common cloud computing processing operations such as search, statistical analysis, and multi-user access control, to be performed efficiently while preserving the data privacy. These tools should provide significant benefits to the privacy of cloud users, as well as financial and reputation benefits to the IT industry, by significantly reducing the likelihood of massive user data privacy breaches in the event of a cyber-hacking attack on the cloud server.Read moreRead less
Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and ....Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and past Antarctic Bottom Water formation under different climate states (warmer and colder than present), to determine if there are climate tipping points for the shut down of Antarctic Bottom Water formation. The anticipated benefits include a better understanding of future climate change on this important water mass.Read moreRead less
Nettles & toxic toupees: the molecular weaponry of venomous caterpillars. This project aims to investigate the structure, function and evolution of peptide toxins in venoms made by caterpillars in superfamily Zygaenoidea. Caterpillars in this group are covered in spines that inject pain-causing venoms, and this protects them from vertebrate and invertebrate predators. This project will test if peptides in this venom cause pain by pharmacological modulation of mammalian ion channels and signallin ....Nettles & toxic toupees: the molecular weaponry of venomous caterpillars. This project aims to investigate the structure, function and evolution of peptide toxins in venoms made by caterpillars in superfamily Zygaenoidea. Caterpillars in this group are covered in spines that inject pain-causing venoms, and this protects them from vertebrate and invertebrate predators. This project will test if peptides in this venom cause pain by pharmacological modulation of mammalian ion channels and signalling receptors, and if they have insecticidal properties. The first three-dimensional structures of caterpillar venom peptides will also be solved. Genomes of representatives of two different zygaenoid families will be produced, and genomic techniques will be used to elucidate how venom use evolved at the molecular level.Read moreRead less
Aerosol glassy states promote global warming, airborne toxins and pathogens. This project will improve our understanding of the role played by airborne particles in global climate, pollution and the transmission of influenza, corona virus and the common cold. It will do so by revealing the wider importance of "glassy states" of matter recently revealed in atmospheric aerosols. Glassy states are highly unpredictable quasi solids that abruptly form, interrupting the transition of a liquid to a sol ....Aerosol glassy states promote global warming, airborne toxins and pathogens. This project will improve our understanding of the role played by airborne particles in global climate, pollution and the transmission of influenza, corona virus and the common cold. It will do so by revealing the wider importance of "glassy states" of matter recently revealed in atmospheric aerosols. Glassy states are highly unpredictable quasi solids that abruptly form, interrupting the transition of a liquid to a solid. This interruption invalidates equilibrium assumptions of models of droplets as cloud nuclei and infection vectors. We will develop and validate a numerical tool for predicting glassy state formation and its impact in broad classes of aerosol that include particles critical to cloud formation and infection transmission.Read moreRead less
Australian Experiences of Algorithmic Culture on TikTok. This project is the first to systematically investigate how algorithmic content recommendation is shaping everyday Australian cultural experience over time, in the particular context of TikTok—the digital platform where Australians spend the most time online. The project provides critical evidence to support the government's ongoing policy initiatives intended to regulate the activities of digital platforms. Its methodological innovations ....Australian Experiences of Algorithmic Culture on TikTok. This project is the first to systematically investigate how algorithmic content recommendation is shaping everyday Australian cultural experience over time, in the particular context of TikTok—the digital platform where Australians spend the most time online. The project provides critical evidence to support the government's ongoing policy initiatives intended to regulate the activities of digital platforms. Its methodological innovations directly address the challenges of studying commercial platforms' recommender systems through a mixed-method research design combining computational and qualitative analysis, bridging universal and individual perspectives and introducing ‘citizen science’ approaches to the field of platform studies.Read moreRead less
Origin and evolution of animal-bacterial symbiosis. This project seeks to understand how interactions between animals and their microbial symbionts – the holobiont – evolved, and how they are influenced by the environment over an animal's life. Using a homegrown Australian model, a sea sponge from the Great Barrier Reef, and advanced multi-omic approaches (genomics plus cell biology), this project aims to uncover the mechanisms underlying the establishment and maintenance of the holobiont throug ....Origin and evolution of animal-bacterial symbiosis. This project seeks to understand how interactions between animals and their microbial symbionts – the holobiont – evolved, and how they are influenced by the environment over an animal's life. Using a homegrown Australian model, a sea sponge from the Great Barrier Reef, and advanced multi-omic approaches (genomics plus cell biology), this project aims to uncover the mechanisms underlying the establishment and maintenance of the holobiont through development, and under changing ecological and environmental conditions. Because of the evolutionary position of sponges, outcomes of this project expect to reveal cardinal rules governing animal-microbe interactions that are fundamental to the health and conservation of most animals and ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Diagnosis and prediction of business process deviances. This project aims to develop an innovative approach based on process execution semantics, to analyse event data logged by IT systems in order to diagnose and predict business process deviance. Anticipated outcomes include novel business intelligence algorithms producing deviance diagnostics, predictions and recommendations and exposing results via interactive visual analytics. The outcomes are expected to aid process workers in steering bus ....Diagnosis and prediction of business process deviances. This project aims to develop an innovative approach based on process execution semantics, to analyse event data logged by IT systems in order to diagnose and predict business process deviance. Anticipated outcomes include novel business intelligence algorithms producing deviance diagnostics, predictions and recommendations and exposing results via interactive visual analytics. The outcomes are expected to aid process workers in steering business operations towards consistent and compliant outcomes and higher performance, and assist analysts and auditors to explain deviant operations. This should significantly benefit industries such as healthcare, insurance, retail and the government where compliance and integrity management are imperative.Read moreRead less
Micro-electromechanical technology for harnessing terahertz waves. This project proposes novel low-cost miniature devices for spectral, spatial and temporal manipulation of terahertz waves realised using a unified platform based on a single material and fabrication technology sufficiently generic to span the entire very broad terahertz band. It inherently overcomes the most hindering issue of current terahertz instruments relating to the limited span of the spectrum each tool can cover and the h ....Micro-electromechanical technology for harnessing terahertz waves. This project proposes novel low-cost miniature devices for spectral, spatial and temporal manipulation of terahertz waves realised using a unified platform based on a single material and fabrication technology sufficiently generic to span the entire very broad terahertz band. It inherently overcomes the most hindering issue of current terahertz instruments relating to the limited span of the spectrum each tool can cover and the high costs associated with increasing this span; removing the need for making spectral band compromises in the design of future tools. The intended outcome is a platform for terahertz spectroscopic imaging, target recognition, detection of chemical composition of objects, and future high-bandwidth communications.Read moreRead less
Integrin Activation by Fluid Flow Disturbance: Mechanobiology Approaches. Understanding how cells can sense and respond to mechanical environment such as dynamic blood flow represents a fundamental question in the emerging field of mechanobiology. This project develops new biomechanical engineering approaches to determine the critical interrelationships among fluid flow disturbance, platelet clotting and the mechano-sensitive signal transduction mechanisms of integrin receptor – the most importa ....Integrin Activation by Fluid Flow Disturbance: Mechanobiology Approaches. Understanding how cells can sense and respond to mechanical environment such as dynamic blood flow represents a fundamental question in the emerging field of mechanobiology. This project develops new biomechanical engineering approaches to determine the critical interrelationships among fluid flow disturbance, platelet clotting and the mechano-sensitive signal transduction mechanisms of integrin receptor – the most important mechano-sensor implicated in cell adhesion, migration, growth and survival. Specifically, it integrates nationally unique cutting-edge techniques including single-molecule force probe, microparticle image velocimetry, microfluidics and molecular dynamics simulation, super resolution and 3D volumetric imaging modalities.Read moreRead less