A framework for prioritising investment in natural resource management. If public funds applied to natural resource management are to achieve the highest level benefit, then the potential projects have to be prioritized. This is difficult when the expected benefits are both incommensurate (e.g. protection of roads v. areas of biodiversity) and uncertain. This project will evaluate alternative decision support methods for making such choices, with a particular focus on salinity management in We ....A framework for prioritising investment in natural resource management. If public funds applied to natural resource management are to achieve the highest level benefit, then the potential projects have to be prioritized. This is difficult when the expected benefits are both incommensurate (e.g. protection of roads v. areas of biodiversity) and uncertain. This project will evaluate alternative decision support methods for making such choices, with a particular focus on salinity management in Western Australia, although it is anticipated that the lessons learned could be applied to other NRM policies. The outcome will be a contribution to aid participatory decision making.Read moreRead less
Implementation of a strategic framework for investment for Natural Resource Management: evaluation and development. If public funds applied to natural resource management are to achieve the highest level benefit, then the potential projects have to be prioritized. This is difficult when the expected benefits are both incommensurate (e.g. protection of roads v. areas of biodiversity) and uncertain. This project will evaluate alternative decision support methods for making such choices, with a par ....Implementation of a strategic framework for investment for Natural Resource Management: evaluation and development. If public funds applied to natural resource management are to achieve the highest level benefit, then the potential projects have to be prioritized. This is difficult when the expected benefits are both incommensurate (e.g. protection of roads v. areas of biodiversity) and uncertain. This project will evaluate alternative decision support methods for making such choices, with a particular focus on salinity management in Western Australia, although it is anticipated that the lessons learned could be applied to other NRM policies. The outcome will be a contribution to aid participatory decision making.Read moreRead less
Evaluating the long-term costs and benefits of community-based initiatives. The ultimate benefit from the research is a more efficient allocation of public funds to provide public services, i.e. an increase in the gain derived from the government budget. The relative advantages of alternative methods of delivering government services are subject to significant uncertainty, which means that policy decisions are often poorly informed. Improvements in the accuracy of predicting the costs and benefi ....Evaluating the long-term costs and benefits of community-based initiatives. The ultimate benefit from the research is a more efficient allocation of public funds to provide public services, i.e. an increase in the gain derived from the government budget. The relative advantages of alternative methods of delivering government services are subject to significant uncertainty, which means that policy decisions are often poorly informed. Improvements in the accuracy of predicting the costs and benefits of complex community-based initiatives will help policymakers identify the set of initiatives that provide the best outcomes for the community they serve, as well as informing the optimal specification of the individual initiatives.Read moreRead less
Improving productivity: theory and application to Australian hospitals. This project aims to improve existing methods for analysing productivity and efficiency of organisations. The new methods will be applied to Australian hospitals, to analyse their productivity and efficiency, identify the best-practices and their determinants and recommend improvements and necessary reforms. The high level of healthcare costs in Australia, about 5 percent of gross domestic product, as well as their rapid and ....Improving productivity: theory and application to Australian hospitals. This project aims to improve existing methods for analysing productivity and efficiency of organisations. The new methods will be applied to Australian hospitals, to analyse their productivity and efficiency, identify the best-practices and their determinants and recommend improvements and necessary reforms. The high level of healthcare costs in Australia, about 5 percent of gross domestic product, as well as their rapid and accelerating growth, imply that application of methods developed through this project may save billions of dollars and, more importantly, thousands of lives. An expected outcome of this project will be superior theoretical and practical methods for analysing productivity and efficiency of economic systems, to enhance understanding of the potential for improvements and of the necessary reforms.Read moreRead less
Maximizing Dimensional Efficiency With Minimal Cardinality Pattern Combinations. Making optimal use of dimensional capacity is often fundamental to the efficiency of processes in science and industry. Many important applications use combinations of patterns to achieve this. For example, in paper and in steel manufacturing, reels are divided lengthwise into cutting patterns, combined so as to minimize waste. In medicine, radiation patterns are combined to effectively treat cancerous tumours. ....Maximizing Dimensional Efficiency With Minimal Cardinality Pattern Combinations. Making optimal use of dimensional capacity is often fundamental to the efficiency of processes in science and industry. Many important applications use combinations of patterns to achieve this. For example, in paper and in steel manufacturing, reels are divided lengthwise into cutting patterns, combined so as to minimize waste. In medicine, radiation patterns are combined to effectively treat cancerous tumours. By addressing the common mathematical structure underlying pattern combination, this project will account for a hitherto neglected critical factor - the solution cardinality - making fully optimized solutions available for the first time to many applications in science and industry.Read moreRead less
Faster, cheaper, better: mathematical advances for improved design and scheduling of robotic instrumentation. This project extends previous research addressing mathematical challenges in the optimal design and scheduling of robotic instrumentation. The Partner Organisation manufactures instruments for cancer diagnostics, and designs instruments that need to produce rapid, high-quality results, at a reasonable cost in a competitive market. It is intended that powerful new scheduling algorithms wi ....Faster, cheaper, better: mathematical advances for improved design and scheduling of robotic instrumentation. This project extends previous research addressing mathematical challenges in the optimal design and scheduling of robotic instrumentation. The Partner Organisation manufactures instruments for cancer diagnostics, and designs instruments that need to produce rapid, high-quality results, at a reasonable cost in a competitive market. It is intended that powerful new scheduling algorithms will be devised to handle their complex problem, which is more challenging than standard problems. The developed methodologies aim to reduce the product development cycle and boost the competitiveness of Australian manufacturers. In addition, new theoretical and algorithmic contributions aim to enable improved scheduling in other application areas.Read moreRead less
An integrated mathematical approach to synchronise and optimise hospital operations. This project aims to develop an integrated mathematical approach to synchronise and optimise patient scheduling systems of different departments to ensure that the hospital’s assets and related resources are used efficiently. The project’s aim is to investigate patient flow, process delay, and the interaction and inter-dependence of departments within the hospital to reduce access block (bottleneck) and subseque ....An integrated mathematical approach to synchronise and optimise hospital operations. This project aims to develop an integrated mathematical approach to synchronise and optimise patient scheduling systems of different departments to ensure that the hospital’s assets and related resources are used efficiently. The project’s aim is to investigate patient flow, process delay, and the interaction and inter-dependence of departments within the hospital to reduce access block (bottleneck) and subsequent overcrowding. This project aims to smooth the running of the hospital, improve the efficiency of patient throughput, reduce waiting times, and revolutionise hospital planning and scheduling.Read moreRead less
Optimisation of Rail Network Infrastructure Capacity under Dynamic Train Planning. Recent changes in railway operating environments have caused significant operational and management problems in Australia. This research will lead to improvements of railway's key managerial functions, namely: network capacity planning; rollingstock planning; train scheduling; and maintenance planning. The major outcome of the research will be to develop an optimisation model to significantly improve the operati ....Optimisation of Rail Network Infrastructure Capacity under Dynamic Train Planning. Recent changes in railway operating environments have caused significant operational and management problems in Australia. This research will lead to improvements of railway's key managerial functions, namely: network capacity planning; rollingstock planning; train scheduling; and maintenance planning. The major outcome of the research will be to develop an optimisation model to significantly improve the operating efficiency and assets productivity of Australia's rail system. The novelty of the research is that it will be undertaken using innovations based on modern job shop scheduling and sequencing optimisation techniques as the complexity of the problem makes it impossible to solve by classic optimisation techniques.Read moreRead less
Mechanism design for next generation random access wireless protocols. Australia is well placed to take the lead in replacing carbon-intensive travel by teleconferencing, because of its isolation and geographic dispersion. Because these large distances introduce inevitable delays, it is important that the network itself add as little delay as possible for such real-time services. Our novel and practical resource allocation scheme will enable Australians (including Australian industries and rural ....Mechanism design for next generation random access wireless protocols. Australia is well placed to take the lead in replacing carbon-intensive travel by teleconferencing, because of its isolation and geographic dispersion. Because these large distances introduce inevitable delays, it is important that the network itself add as little delay as possible for such real-time services. Our novel and practical resource allocation scheme will enable Australians (including Australian industries and rural communities) to receive better service at lower cost. This project will put Australia on the international stage as a leading contributor to wireless Internet technology. We will provide training for PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in this important area.Read moreRead less
Performance Evaluation Methodologies for the Optical Internet. It will be important to Australia to be an early adopter of a next-generation Internet technology not only to ensure that the country retains its place in the world economic community of but also to ensure that its industries and citizens have access to new technologies. Techniques and methodologies emerging from this project will enable the design of Australia's future optical Internet.
The project will enable strategic decisions ....Performance Evaluation Methodologies for the Optical Internet. It will be important to Australia to be an early adopter of a next-generation Internet technology not only to ensure that the country retains its place in the world economic community of but also to ensure that its industries and citizens have access to new technologies. Techniques and methodologies emerging from this project will enable the design of Australia's future optical Internet.
The project will enable strategic decisions on the viability of new technologies, and as a result Australian service providers will have better and cheaper networks, and Australian users will enjoy better services at a lower cost.
The project will enhance the Australian knowledge base, skills base in the area of teletraffic and optical networking.
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