Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101201
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$366,404.00
Summary
Planar Brownian motion and complex analysis. This project will study a number of related problems concerning both Brownian motion and complex analysis. These include questions about Brownian exit time, conformally invariant processes such as Stochastic Loewner Evolution, and the fundamentals of complex analysis. Many of these questions are at the forefront of modern probability theory. The outcomes of this project will bring the questions considered into a position of prominence in the fields of ....Planar Brownian motion and complex analysis. This project will study a number of related problems concerning both Brownian motion and complex analysis. These include questions about Brownian exit time, conformally invariant processes such as Stochastic Loewner Evolution, and the fundamentals of complex analysis. Many of these questions are at the forefront of modern probability theory. The outcomes of this project will bring the questions considered into a position of prominence in the fields of probability and analysis, and bring international attention to Australia as a hub of important research.Read moreRead less
Real groups, Hodge theory, and the Langlands program. This mathematics project aims to settle open questions in real groups. The real groups are the fundamental symmetries occurring in nature and are important both in number theory and in the physical sciences. In particular, this project aims to reach a comprehensive understanding of Langlands duality for real groups, investigate how Hodge theory can be used to describe the unitary dual, and investigate the micro-local structure of systems of d ....Real groups, Hodge theory, and the Langlands program. This mathematics project aims to settle open questions in real groups. The real groups are the fundamental symmetries occurring in nature and are important both in number theory and in the physical sciences. In particular, this project aims to reach a comprehensive understanding of Langlands duality for real groups, investigate how Hodge theory can be used to describe the unitary dual, and investigate the micro-local structure of systems of differential equations. Potential benefits include increasing the international stature of mathematics in Australia and improving the quality of the workforce.Read moreRead less
Symmetries in real and complex geometry. This project concerns an important area of abstract modern geometry. The results and techniques of the project will lead to significant progress in this area. It will benefit the national scientific reputation, strengthen the research profile of the home institutions, and provide training to young researchers.
The Sakai scheme-Askey table correspondence, analogues of isomonodromy and determinantal point processes. The Australian mathematical sciences enjoys two research groups with active interests on Painleve equations in applied mathematics which are able to address difficult problems. Such a problem is to give a formulation of Sakai's 2001 classification of the Painleve equations in a form most suitable for applications. For this links will be made with a seemingly distinct area of mathematics - t ....The Sakai scheme-Askey table correspondence, analogues of isomonodromy and determinantal point processes. The Australian mathematical sciences enjoys two research groups with active interests on Painleve equations in applied mathematics which are able to address difficult problems. Such a problem is to give a formulation of Sakai's 2001 classification of the Painleve equations in a form most suitable for applications. For this links will be made with a seemingly distinct area of mathematics - the Askey table from the theory of hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials. A number of tractable PhD projects are suggested by this proposal.Read moreRead less
A study of the archaeology of Caucasian Iberia with implications for grazing management in Australia. This multi-disciplinary project will promote a younger generation of talented postgraduate and undergraduate students in a wide variety of fields, including archaeology, geomatic engineering, conservation of material culture, environmental and other natural sciences. The highlands of the Caucasus, located in a bioclimatic zone with a long history of alpine grazing, can also provide answers to qu ....A study of the archaeology of Caucasian Iberia with implications for grazing management in Australia. This multi-disciplinary project will promote a younger generation of talented postgraduate and undergraduate students in a wide variety of fields, including archaeology, geomatic engineering, conservation of material culture, environmental and other natural sciences. The highlands of the Caucasus, located in a bioclimatic zone with a long history of alpine grazing, can also provide answers to questions such as the effect of grazing on biodiversity and the rehabilitation of fragile ecosystems, which may inform management and conservation activities in analogous highland country in Australia. The project will also ensure that exhibitions illustrating the rich heritage of Caucasus will reach Australian shores.Read moreRead less
Dhenia: A study of regionalism, population and society in Bronze Age Cyprus. The cemetery complex at Dhenia in Cyprus was in use for 2500 years, from the beginning of the Bronze Age (2,400 BCE) to the end of the Iron Age. This project is designed to sample this extensive site to assess its changing size and structure during periods of major social transformation. Comparative studies of contemporary sites will provide the basis for monitoring and explaining local, regional and island-wide relatio ....Dhenia: A study of regionalism, population and society in Bronze Age Cyprus. The cemetery complex at Dhenia in Cyprus was in use for 2500 years, from the beginning of the Bronze Age (2,400 BCE) to the end of the Iron Age. This project is designed to sample this extensive site to assess its changing size and structure during periods of major social transformation. Comparative studies of contemporary sites will provide the basis for monitoring and explaining local, regional and island-wide relationships, viewed in a context of expanding population and increasing interaction with the wider Mediterranean world. New data and approaches will contribute significantly to Cypriot archaeology and to broader archaeological theory.Read moreRead less
In the Wake of the Sea Peoples, In the Footsteps of Goliath: Excavating the Philistine Site of Tell es-Safi/Gath. This project brings Australian research into the current scholarly debates on Philistine identity, a quickly growing sub-discipline in Mediterranean archaeology. Marginalized in the Bible as decadent, current research sees the Philistines as a cosmopolitan culture resulting from migration from Cyprus and the Aegean, and interaction with the local Canaanite population. In addition, Au ....In the Wake of the Sea Peoples, In the Footsteps of Goliath: Excavating the Philistine Site of Tell es-Safi/Gath. This project brings Australian research into the current scholarly debates on Philistine identity, a quickly growing sub-discipline in Mediterranean archaeology. Marginalized in the Bible as decadent, current research sees the Philistines as a cosmopolitan culture resulting from migration from Cyprus and the Aegean, and interaction with the local Canaanite population. In addition, Australian collaboration and interaction with Israeli colleagues and students will contribute to a more positive perception of the Jewish community in Australia, which has been the recent target of anti-Semitic activities as a result of the Israeli government's invasion of Gaza.Read moreRead less
Settlement patterns, craft production, and the rise of early states in China. This project is an international, multidisciplinary archaeological program focused on monitoring the processes which led to the rise of early states in China, through extensive study of settlement patterns in the Yiluo valley, using regional surveys and geoarchaeological investigations. It will make significant contributions in four aspects: evaluation and reformulation of general theoretical and methodological approac ....Settlement patterns, craft production, and the rise of early states in China. This project is an international, multidisciplinary archaeological program focused on monitoring the processes which led to the rise of early states in China, through extensive study of settlement patterns in the Yiluo valley, using regional surveys and geoarchaeological investigations. It will make significant contributions in four aspects: evaluation and reformulation of general theoretical and methodological approaches to the interdisciplinary study of social complexity; enhanced understanding of Chinese cultural history in the light of anthropological theory; articulation of empirical approaches to the study of Chinese civilisation through archaeology; and strengthened collaborative research between archaeologists in Australia and other parts of the world.Read moreRead less
Measuring The Productive Efficiency Of Hospitals - A Comparison Of Parametric And Non-parametric Approaches
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$61,815.00
Summary
In the face of rising health service costs, an ageing population, and falling private health insurance rates, the efficient use of scarce health service resources has become a central theme in health system reform. Productive (or technical) efficiency is a key aspect of health system reform - that given health services are produced with the minimum feasible amount of resources. Despite the importance of technical efficiency there have been few published studies in Australia which measure technic ....In the face of rising health service costs, an ageing population, and falling private health insurance rates, the efficient use of scarce health service resources has become a central theme in health system reform. Productive (or technical) efficiency is a key aspect of health system reform - that given health services are produced with the minimum feasible amount of resources. Despite the importance of technical efficiency there have been few published studies in Australia which measure technical efficiency in the health sector. This study will develop theoretical and empirical approaches to measuring technical efficiency in the production of hospital services using data from Victoria. Measures of hospital technical efficiency will be developed using two quantitative modelling approaches: stochastic frontier modelling and data envelopment analysis. Results will be used to investigate the impact of patient and hospital characteristics on efficiency, and to identify economies of scale and scope in the provision of hospital services. The robustness of results to changes in variables, the sample of hospitals studied, and model assumptions will be tested, and two techniques will be compared to assess their appropriateness in the health services context which has not previously been done. Criteria for assessing the approaches include the degree to which: assumptions affect the robustness of results; the techniques capture the salient features of health services production; and the techniques produce similar rankings and estimates of inefficiency. The methods used will represent a significant contribution to international knowledge of hospital efficiency measurement, and the relationships between hospital characteristics, casemix, and efficiency. The study wil provide improved measures of hospital efficiency in Victoria, and will inform debate on hospital funding policy.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354580
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Sustainable Futures through Understanding Past Human Responses to Environmental Change. This Network brings together researchers within archaeology and environmental sciences to develop cross-disciplinary and internationally comparative approaches to understanding past human responses to rapid environmental change. Integration of skills and perspectives from the Humanities and Sciences will create a generation of scholars able to work across different theoretical frameworks to formulate credible ....Sustainable Futures through Understanding Past Human Responses to Environmental Change. This Network brings together researchers within archaeology and environmental sciences to develop cross-disciplinary and internationally comparative approaches to understanding past human responses to rapid environmental change. Integration of skills and perspectives from the Humanities and Sciences will create a generation of scholars able to work across different theoretical frameworks to formulate credible responses to the challenge of creating sustainable societies in a changing world. Through a greater understanding of past societies' reactions to rapid environmental change, the Network will build on existing leading edge research and create a more informed guide to a sustainable future.Read moreRead less