The Eocene high latitude Australasian 'tropics' in a changing climate: resolving conflicting evidence. Between 45 to 30 million years ago, high latitude subtropical floras in Australia and New Zealand experienced significant climate change, leading to the evolution of present day vegetation. Understanding the effects of this climate change on extinction and speciation will produce more accurate predictions about modern floras when faced with climate change.
Testing our knowledge on the dawn of animal life: evidence from the fossil record against modern ecological and morphological analogues. The Cambrian 'Explosion', half a billion years ago, is regarded as one of the most important events in the history of the Earth, when most major animal groups first appear in the rock record, and for which South Australia has recently become a significant source of spectacular fossils. However, important questions remain regarding their Ediacaran roots, the spe ....Testing our knowledge on the dawn of animal life: evidence from the fossil record against modern ecological and morphological analogues. The Cambrian 'Explosion', half a billion years ago, is regarded as one of the most important events in the history of the Earth, when most major animal groups first appear in the rock record, and for which South Australia has recently become a significant source of spectacular fossils. However, important questions remain regarding their Ediacaran roots, the speed of evolution at the time, and the environments in which the radiation took place. Studying the fossil evidence in the light of present-day ecological frameworks, and in comparison with modern behavioural and morphological analogues, as well as living relatives, can help us better assess our understanding of this first radiation of animals.Read moreRead less
The developmental genetics of major evolutionary transitions: a multidisciplinary investigation of limb reduction and loss in lizards. The five-toed limb is an iconic evolutionary innovation of land vertebrates, yet has been lost repeatedly. This project will use anatomical, developmental and genetic approaches to understand how vertebrates lose their legs, whether limbs can be reacquired, and the degeneration of limb genes after they lose their function (analogous to 'vestigial organs').
Islands of rocks: geckos as a model system to understand patterns of biodiversity, endemism and speciation in the Kimberley. Australia is renowned for its diversity of lizards, yet a plethora of new "cryptic" gecko species continue to be discovered. The project will densely sample the complex Kimberley to understand the evolution of its geckos, which will shed light on true levels of species diversity and the geological and environmental history of this biodiversity hotspot.
Integration of Object Behavior in Federated Information Systems. Integration of autonomous object-oriented systems requires the integration
of object structure and object behaviour. Research in federated information
systems has so far mainly addressed integration of object structure. This
project will investigate the integration of object behaviour, especially object
life cycles. A major application area is the integration of business processes,
which is typically required when companies me ....Integration of Object Behavior in Federated Information Systems. Integration of autonomous object-oriented systems requires the integration
of object structure and object behaviour. Research in federated information
systems has so far mainly addressed integration of object structure. This
project will investigate the integration of object behaviour, especially object
life cycles. A major application area is the integration of business processes,
which is typically required when companies merge or enter into
consumer-producer relationships and constitutes a key capability for B2B e-commerce
systems. Consistency criteria for behaviour integration
will be defined and applied in a graphical integration tool that guides the
definition of global behavioural views upon autonomous object-oriented systems.
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Dynamic Semantic Interoperability for Business Processes. The integration of independently developed applications constitutes
one of the major bottlenecks in modern software development in
business, industry, and defense, in particular for a nation such as
Australia that is highly reliant on overseas trade. Technologies that
facilitate the smooth application integration promise significant
savings in software development. By offering automated support task,
this project offers the potenti ....Dynamic Semantic Interoperability for Business Processes. The integration of independently developed applications constitutes
one of the major bottlenecks in modern software development in
business, industry, and defense, in particular for a nation such as
Australia that is highly reliant on overseas trade. Technologies that
facilitate the smooth application integration promise significant
savings in software development. By offering automated support task,
this project offers the potential of significant cost savings, highly
beneficial to any industry with a major ICT component. Lessons learned
from the demonstration prototype can be directly carried over into
commercial tool development. The project strengthens links to high
quality European research laboratories.
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Phylogenomic assessment of conservation priorities in two biodiversity hotspots: the Pilbara and the Kimberley. This project applies new sequencing and analytical methods to measure how much unique genetic diversity is represented in current and planned reserves across two biodiversity hotspots – the Pilbara and Kimberley of north-west Australia. It combines university, museum and conservation agency researchers to improve ongoing conservation planning.
Diversification and conservation of Australian frogs. Australia's 216 known species of frogs are exceptionally diverse, 98 per cent are found nowhere else in the world and many of them are in trouble. This project will test ideas concerning the tempo of Australian frog diversification, identify previously cryptic new species and provide information critical to the conservation of Australia's declining frogs.
Model-based error location in Java programs. The construction of modern software requires extensive testing and
debugging in addition to using appropriate specification, design, and
verification techniques. Testing and debugging are very time-consuming
and costly, drawing - according to recent articles - "typically 50%
or more of the resources for software projects''. By providing a new,
flexible approach to the debugging of complex software, this project
offers the potential of significant cost ....Model-based error location in Java programs. The construction of modern software requires extensive testing and
debugging in addition to using appropriate specification, design, and
verification techniques. Testing and debugging are very time-consuming
and costly, drawing - according to recent articles - "typically 50%
or more of the resources for software projects''. By providing a new,
flexible approach to the debugging of complex software, this project
offers the potential of significant cost savings, highly beneficial to
the ICT industry. Lessons learned from the demonstration prototype,
can be directly carried over into commercial tool development. In
addition, the project strengthens links to high quality European
research laboratories.Read moreRead less
Fuzzy modelling and design of complex networked systems. This project aims to develop analysis and synthesis approaches for non-linear networked control systems, including modelling, stability analysis and design problems. The non-linear effects and analysis of networked control systems have received considerable attention because of the universal existence of nonlinearities in practice. Network-based non-linear systems are widely used but face problems from non-linearities and networks. This pr ....Fuzzy modelling and design of complex networked systems. This project aims to develop analysis and synthesis approaches for non-linear networked control systems, including modelling, stability analysis and design problems. The non-linear effects and analysis of networked control systems have received considerable attention because of the universal existence of nonlinearities in practice. Network-based non-linear systems are widely used but face problems from non-linearities and networks. This project will establish a software-based nonlinear networked control system platform to test the presented algorithms and strengthen the scenarios in applications. This project is expected to increase Australian excellence in cyber-security and advanced manufacturing.Read moreRead less