The edition, translation, and study of the newly discovered Senior collection of Buddhist manuscripts from ancient Gandhara. This research will produce scholarly editions, translations, and studies of several of the newly discovered Buddhist manuscripts from ancient Gandhara (modern Afghanistan/Pakistan). These manuscripts, which are the earliest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered (c. 1st century A.D.), represent the first major find of early Buddhist texts from this region, and some of the fi ....The edition, translation, and study of the newly discovered Senior collection of Buddhist manuscripts from ancient Gandhara. This research will produce scholarly editions, translations, and studies of several of the newly discovered Buddhist manuscripts from ancient Gandhara (modern Afghanistan/Pakistan). These manuscripts, which are the earliest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered (c. 1st century A.D.), represent the first major find of early Buddhist texts from this region, and some of the first examples of the literature of the Dharmaguptaka school of Buddhism. This research will substantially increase our understanding of the history of Buddhism in this region, of the formation of Buddhist literature, of Gandhari, the ancient language of this region, and of this little understood school of Buddhism.Read moreRead less
Mediated Mobility: India's Low Caste Revolution in the Media Age. In recent years Australia has shown a keen interest in India's evolution as a global power. This project seeks to deepen our national understanding by focusing on a key socio-cultural dimension of this evolution: the emergence through multiple media of lower caste voices in democratic politics and cultural practices in India. Through its study of lower castes' innovative use of print, electronic and digital media in effecting soci ....Mediated Mobility: India's Low Caste Revolution in the Media Age. In recent years Australia has shown a keen interest in India's evolution as a global power. This project seeks to deepen our national understanding by focusing on a key socio-cultural dimension of this evolution: the emergence through multiple media of lower caste voices in democratic politics and cultural practices in India. Through its study of lower castes' innovative use of print, electronic and digital media in effecting social and political change in this era of technological innovation and economic growth, the project highlights both the possibilities and limits of India's growth. Significantly, it contributes to building Australia's research capacity in the study of India and South Asia, an area in critical need of renewal.Read moreRead less
Rushdie Annotated: Definitive explanations of all obscure references in the Salman Rushdie corpus and extended critical commentaries on the author. In an Australia where the literary work of art now attends to issues which are multicultural, this reference text on Rushdie would show how crucial the creative use of language is in the formation of cultural identity. As a key spokesperson for liberal values, Rushdie and his works are informed by those communal values which have a direct bearing on ....Rushdie Annotated: Definitive explanations of all obscure references in the Salman Rushdie corpus and extended critical commentaries on the author. In an Australia where the literary work of art now attends to issues which are multicultural, this reference text on Rushdie would show how crucial the creative use of language is in the formation of cultural identity. As a key spokesperson for liberal values, Rushdie and his works are informed by those communal values which have a direct bearing on definitions of the Australian nation state. Ongoing debates in Australia about citizenship in a globalized world, about the relative autonomy of the literary work of art, about the links between culture and religion find valuable expression in Rushdie's works.Read moreRead less
Literature, Language and the Expression of Cultural Change in the Francophone Pacific. The proposal aims to analyse and document in monographs, critical editions, doctoral theses and other forms the evolution of linguistic and cultural change in the French Pacific through a comprehensive case study of the contemporary literature and press of New Caledonia. After years of civil unrest, stability was restored to this French Pacific Territory, a near neighbour of Australia, through the Matignon and ....Literature, Language and the Expression of Cultural Change in the Francophone Pacific. The proposal aims to analyse and document in monographs, critical editions, doctoral theses and other forms the evolution of linguistic and cultural change in the French Pacific through a comprehensive case study of the contemporary literature and press of New Caledonia. After years of civil unrest, stability was restored to this French Pacific Territory, a near neighbour of Australia, through the Matignon and Noumea Accords (1988, 1998).This has led to the emergence of new forms of cultural expression, particularly in literature, and a specific form of Pacific French, as part of a process of nation-building in New Caledonia.Read moreRead less
Automatic software verification: harnessing constraint technologies. As we come to rely on software to manage more and more aspects of our lives, the importance of software reliability increases; yet as programs become increasingly complex, reliability becomes ever more elusive. This project will develop automated tools and techniques to ensure that programs do what they were intended to do.
Analysing Computer Arithmetic to Improve Software Reliability. Most computer programs deal with integers. Automated tools designed to verify the correct behaviour of software usually assume the software deals with idealised mathematical integers, since this simplifies reasoning significantly. In reality, most programs work with integer number representations that approximate the ideal. This compromises the soundness of many verification tools. This project will design sound reasoning tools that ....Analysing Computer Arithmetic to Improve Software Reliability. Most computer programs deal with integers. Automated tools designed to verify the correct behaviour of software usually assume the software deals with idealised mathematical integers, since this simplifies reasoning significantly. In reality, most programs work with integer number representations that approximate the ideal. This compromises the soundness of many verification tools. This project will design sound reasoning tools that are aware of the true nature of computer integer arithmetic.Read moreRead less
An extensible framework for analysis of Java language-based security conformance. Java is a programming language and platform running on 3 billion devices. While Java provides a sandbox-based security architecture within the Java Class Library to protect systems from untrusted code downloaded from Internet, it cannot defend against implementation bugs that occur in the Java Class Library. The goal of this project is to provide a formal model of the Java security architecture, which can be used b ....An extensible framework for analysis of Java language-based security conformance. Java is a programming language and platform running on 3 billion devices. While Java provides a sandbox-based security architecture within the Java Class Library to protect systems from untrusted code downloaded from Internet, it cannot defend against implementation bugs that occur in the Java Class Library. The goal of this project is to provide a formal model of the Java security architecture, which can be used by program analysers to identify faulty or insufficient security checks in the Java Class Library that may lead to the sandbox being bypassed.Read moreRead less
RichProlog, a System for Deducing, Inducing and Learning in the Declarative Programming Paradigm. The aim of the project is to contribute to bridge the gap between learning and logic, theoretically and practically. Our purpose is to extend considerably the scope of the declarative programming paradigm, and build a system that can be used to solve learning or discovery problems as encountered in Artificial Intelligence. The system will enable rapid prototyping when applied to problems involving d ....RichProlog, a System for Deducing, Inducing and Learning in the Declarative Programming Paradigm. The aim of the project is to contribute to bridge the gap between learning and logic, theoretically and practically. Our purpose is to extend considerably the scope of the declarative programming paradigm, and build a system that can be used to solve learning or discovery problems as encountered in Artificial Intelligence. The system will enable rapid prototyping when applied to problems involving deduction, induction, and nonmonotonic reasoning. We intend the system to become a standard tool for tackling a broad range of applications, and the underlying theory to provide new insights on the logical foundations of Artificial Intelligence.
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Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-m ....Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-musicological study aimed particularly at showing the distribution of song-styles and the way songs were transmitted.Read moreRead less
The Old Zhuang Script: a Vernacular Character Script from Southern China. The Zhuang are a Tai-speaking people and the most populous of China's minority peoples. Traditionally they used a modified version of the Chinese character script. The aim of this project is to provide the wherewithal for a decipherment of the old Zhuang character script, to present evidence for the age of the script, and to describe the social and political conditions that gave it birth and influenced its development.