Modelling the Internet as a Geographical System. This project aims to model Internet transactions as a time-dependent random walk relative to the 24-hour rotation of the Earth. The dynamics of global distance-time interactions will be tested from Internet experiments and data bases. Case studies of retail transactions of connected households in Sydney and Brisbane will explore its socio-economic underpinnings. The project is significant in that it specifically defines the character of global In ....Modelling the Internet as a Geographical System. This project aims to model Internet transactions as a time-dependent random walk relative to the 24-hour rotation of the Earth. The dynamics of global distance-time interactions will be tested from Internet experiments and data bases. Case studies of retail transactions of connected households in Sydney and Brisbane will explore its socio-economic underpinnings. The project is significant in that it specifically defines the character of global Internet flows with a possibility of commercial advantage to Australia in understanding how the geography of time zones affects its dynamics.Read moreRead less
Spectral Mutli-camera Tracking. This proposal falls well within the Research Priorities: ``Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries'' and ``Safegaurding Australia''. This project, will have a direct impact in the capabilities of Australian industries to develop and implement new, leading edge technology in ICT and sensing. The technology developed throughout this project can be used to protect Australia, not only from terrorism and crime, but also from pests and ....Spectral Mutli-camera Tracking. This proposal falls well within the Research Priorities: ``Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries'' and ``Safegaurding Australia''. This project, will have a direct impact in the capabilities of Australian industries to develop and implement new, leading edge technology in ICT and sensing. The technology developed throughout this project can be used to protect Australia, not only from terrorism and crime, but also from pests and diseases. The potential for biosecurity applications is a great advantage of spectral imaging and makes of this project an opportunity to track not only persons but also detect pests and diseases at strategic entry points throughout Australia, such as ports and airports.Read moreRead less
Reconfiguring women's professional sport - on and off the pitch. This project aims to develop a model that reconfigures how women’s professional sport is structured, valued and managed. The project intends to examine professional women’s competitions (AFL, cricket, football, Rugby League and Rugby Union), their co-existence within their respective national associations and the experiences of contracted women athletes. Expected outcomes include the development of a new model of women’s profession ....Reconfiguring women's professional sport - on and off the pitch. This project aims to develop a model that reconfigures how women’s professional sport is structured, valued and managed. The project intends to examine professional women’s competitions (AFL, cricket, football, Rugby League and Rugby Union), their co-existence within their respective national associations and the experiences of contracted women athletes. Expected outcomes include the development of a new model of women’s professional sport, advancing knowledge of inclusive gender relevancy at the individual, team and organisational levels. The adoption of strategies and policies to improve the support and playing experiences of women would position Australia globally at the forefront of changing approaches to women’s professional sport.Read moreRead less
Strategic Service Innovation: The Role of Heterogeneity in Substantive and Dynamic Capabilities. This project will provide Australian companies with the tools to conduct a services capabilities audit. This tool will allow them to identify substantive and dynamic service capabilities that they must strengthen or acquire, in order to remain competitive in domestic and global markets, where consumers increasingly differentiate between organisations by value-adding services that they offer. Austral ....Strategic Service Innovation: The Role of Heterogeneity in Substantive and Dynamic Capabilities. This project will provide Australian companies with the tools to conduct a services capabilities audit. This tool will allow them to identify substantive and dynamic service capabilities that they must strengthen or acquire, in order to remain competitive in domestic and global markets, where consumers increasingly differentiate between organisations by value-adding services that they offer. Australia imports over $40Bn worth of services each year. This project has the potential to increase the domestic and international competitiveness of Australian manufacturers and service industries and contribute to the economy by reducing dependence on service imports, and assuring ongoing employment for Australian workers. Read moreRead less
Performance of Centrifugal Chillers using Hydrocarbons. Centrifugal chillers cool most large buildings. Their energy consumption and fluorocarbon emissions are a global environmental concern. A 40% increase in rotational speed and replacement of the fluorocarbon refrigerant by a hydrocarbon is proposed. Over 4% energy savings with no performance changes is predicted. The aims are to prepare a conversion protocol, measure chiller performance before and after conversion, develop a new model of ....Performance of Centrifugal Chillers using Hydrocarbons. Centrifugal chillers cool most large buildings. Their energy consumption and fluorocarbon emissions are a global environmental concern. A 40% increase in rotational speed and replacement of the fluorocarbon refrigerant by a hydrocarbon is proposed. Over 4% energy savings with no performance changes is predicted. The aims are to prepare a conversion protocol, measure chiller performance before and after conversion, develop a new model of evaporator heat transfer and correlate the model with chiller measurements. The capital cost of compliance with the Montreal Protocol for a large building will be reduced by $10,000 with about $5,000 in annual energy cost savings.Read moreRead less
Reducing plate waste in hotels - which interventions are most effective? This project aims to quantify the comparative effectiveness of belief-based and choice-architecture-based interventions in reducing food waste generated by tourists at hotel buffets. Expected outcomes include: new insights into effective triggers of pro-environmental tourist behaviour; the first empirical data on carbon emissions caused by plate waste in tourism; an automatic plate waste measurement system and benchmarking ....Reducing plate waste in hotels - which interventions are most effective? This project aims to quantify the comparative effectiveness of belief-based and choice-architecture-based interventions in reducing food waste generated by tourists at hotel buffets. Expected outcomes include: new insights into effective triggers of pro-environmental tourist behaviour; the first empirical data on carbon emissions caused by plate waste in tourism; an automatic plate waste measurement system and benchmarking app for monitoring and comparison; and effective practical measures to reduce avoidable food leftovers generated by tourists. This should provide significant benefits by: lowering food cost for the struggling tourism industry, reducing carbon emissions, and contributing to Australia’s aim of halving food waste by 2030.Read moreRead less
LittleBrother: Vision Systems Supporting Detection of Offenders in Public Places. Current visual surveillance systems can track people in an area only if complete camera coverage is provided. This project will develop a visual surveillance system able to track and record people's movements in a public building requiring only limited visual coverage. We will propose novel ways of matching images of a single individual from distant cameras by using features such as color histograms decomposed for ....LittleBrother: Vision Systems Supporting Detection of Offenders in Public Places. Current visual surveillance systems can track people in an area only if complete camera coverage is provided. This project will develop a visual surveillance system able to track and record people's movements in a public building requiring only limited visual coverage. We will propose novel ways of matching images of a single individual from distant cameras by using features such as color histograms decomposed for the different body parts, estimated height, and build type. Creating a record with this tracking information will effectively support security officers in the identification of responsible parties in the event of an offence.Read moreRead less
The implications for greying Australia of international property market interlinkages. Recent events in global financial markets have had a major effect on the retirement plans of Australians and the living standards of retirees. This research will permit pension fund managers to better gauge the fundamental links that exist across international property markets, as well as provide a better understanding for both academics and practitioners on the driving forces that link international real est ....The implications for greying Australia of international property market interlinkages. Recent events in global financial markets have had a major effect on the retirement plans of Australians and the living standards of retirees. This research will permit pension fund managers to better gauge the fundamental links that exist across international property markets, as well as provide a better understanding for both academics and practitioners on the driving forces that link international real estate markets together. The research will benefit all Australians as the outcomes will result in improved risk and return performance for superannuation funds, leading to a better standard of living for all retirees.Read moreRead less
Sustainable fiscal federalism and reform of the GST distribution system. The primary source of funds for Australian States and Territories is GST revenue distributed by the Commonwealth using an equalisation formula that has proved to be politically unsustainable and in recent times manifestly inadequate to provide the revenue needed in response to crises and natural disasters. A tipping point has been reached and reform is urgently needed. Drawing on international experience with GST distributi ....Sustainable fiscal federalism and reform of the GST distribution system. The primary source of funds for Australian States and Territories is GST revenue distributed by the Commonwealth using an equalisation formula that has proved to be politically unsustainable and in recent times manifestly inadequate to provide the revenue needed in response to crises and natural disasters. A tipping point has been reached and reform is urgently needed. Drawing on international experience with GST distributions specifically and fiscal federalism more generally, the project aims to develop a reform blueprint for a sustainable and equitable fiscal federalism regime in Australia that best aligns with Australia’s current and long-term fiscal needs.Read moreRead less
Scalable Robust Video Surveillance over Constrained Networks. Real-time monitoring of large numbers of people is becoming increasingly important for applications such as efficient service delivery and security against both common crime and terrorism. The use of human operators for such tasks is infeasible due to the large amount of data collected. Existing autonomous video surveillance systems are prone to high numbers of false alarms and often require expensive hardware. This proposal seeks ....Scalable Robust Video Surveillance over Constrained Networks. Real-time monitoring of large numbers of people is becoming increasingly important for applications such as efficient service delivery and security against both common crime and terrorism. The use of human operators for such tasks is infeasible due to the large amount of data collected. Existing autonomous video surveillance systems are prone to high numbers of false alarms and often require expensive hardware. This proposal seeks to address both difficulties by using rigorous statistical signal processing methods to optimally fuse information from a network of low-cost cameras.Read moreRead less