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
Network Management in a World of Secrets. The aim of this proposal is to provide world leading measurement and management techniques for the Internet and other telecommunications networks. In particular, the methods will improve privacy of network participants (customers and providers) while simultaneously improving network performance. Additionally, the project will create expertise in an area of great future interest -- privacy preserving computation -- expertise that can be transferred to stu ....Network Management in a World of Secrets. The aim of this proposal is to provide world leading measurement and management techniques for the Internet and other telecommunications networks. In particular, the methods will improve privacy of network participants (customers and providers) while simultaneously improving network performance. Additionally, the project will create expertise in an area of great future interest -- privacy preserving computation -- expertise that can be transferred to students and the next generation of innovators.
Apart from these benefits, the research will provide exposure of Australian research strength in an area of world-wide public interest. Results concerning Internet reliability are of particularly high impact. 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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Forensic management approach to rework mitigation and prevention in construction. Rework is the unnecessary effort of re-doing a process or activity. The direct costs of rework in construction have been reported to be as high as 25% of project costs. These rework costs would be higher if they included the intangible, but real costs of disruption caused by schedule delays, litigation, and dysfunctional contract relationships. To reduce rework in construction projects a forensic project managem ....Forensic management approach to rework mitigation and prevention in construction. Rework is the unnecessary effort of re-doing a process or activity. The direct costs of rework in construction have been reported to be as high as 25% of project costs. These rework costs would be higher if they included the intangible, but real costs of disruption caused by schedule delays, litigation, and dysfunctional contract relationships. To reduce rework in construction projects a forensic project management model that can be used to stimulate learning and process improvement will be developed, evaluated and validated. This will enable the design of strategies to reduce rework and improve the overall performance of projects.Read moreRead less
New Theory and Algorithms for Nonsmooth Optimisation with Application to Integer Programming. Mathematical optimisation plays a key role in a wide variety of applications in business, industry, engineering and science. For example, airlines cannot fly and radiation treatment for cancer cannot be delivered without solving (a series of) optimisation problems. Some classes of optimisation problem are very well solved, with clear mathematical foundations, efficient algorithms, and reliable software ....New Theory and Algorithms for Nonsmooth Optimisation with Application to Integer Programming. Mathematical optimisation plays a key role in a wide variety of applications in business, industry, engineering and science. For example, airlines cannot fly and radiation treatment for cancer cannot be delivered without solving (a series of) optimisation problems. Some classes of optimisation problem are very well solved, with clear mathematical foundations, efficient algorithms, and reliable software implementations. Both nonsmooth and integer optimisation problems have a good mathematical basis, but there are "gaps"; existing methods cannot always solve real industrial problems. This project will deliver better methods, built on better theory, and so will yield better solutions for important applications.Read moreRead less
Doubly Stochastic Matrices & The Hamiltonian Cycle Problem. The classical hard problem of determining whether a given graph possesses a Hamiltonian cycle contains the essential difficulty of the famous 'Travelling Salesman Problem'. A characterisation of this difficulty in terms of variability of returns (to the initial state) in a controlled stochastic process will be a significant conceptual advance with repercussions in a number of fields including optimisation and theoretical computer scien ....Doubly Stochastic Matrices & The Hamiltonian Cycle Problem. The classical hard problem of determining whether a given graph possesses a Hamiltonian cycle contains the essential difficulty of the famous 'Travelling Salesman Problem'. A characterisation of this difficulty in terms of variability of returns (to the initial state) in a controlled stochastic process will be a significant conceptual advance with repercussions in a number of fields including optimisation and theoretical computer science. Algorithmic advances exploiting such a characterisation will significantly contribute to existing technologies for solving problems in applications ranging from logistics to cryptography. Since TSP describes certain efficient ways of routing its applicability to information networks is clear.Read moreRead less
Distributed Optimisation without Central Coordination. This project will develop the mathematical foundations for discovery and analysis of iterative methods for optimisation problems in distributed computing systems. Most methods in distributed optimisation were not designed for distributed computing, rather they were adapted for purpose post-hoc. By building on recent advances in monotone operator splitting, this project expects to develop a mathematical theory for decentralised optimisation a ....Distributed Optimisation without Central Coordination. This project will develop the mathematical foundations for discovery and analysis of iterative methods for optimisation problems in distributed computing systems. Most methods in distributed optimisation were not designed for distributed computing, rather they were adapted for purpose post-hoc. By building on recent advances in monotone operator splitting, this project expects to develop a mathematical theory for decentralised optimisation algorithms specially designed for distributed systems. The framework is expected to produce a suite of algorithms, each customised to exploit a specific network configuration. The project will provide significant benefits in distributed machine learning applications such as federated learning.Read moreRead less
Risk and Reliability in Stochastic Optimisation and Equilibrium. This project seeks to develop theory and methodology in optimisation which take advantage of recent progress in understanding and treating risk in decision making. Problems of optimisation in the face of uncertainty must confront the risk inherent in having to make reliable decisions before knowing the outcomes of crucial random variables on which costs and constraints may depend. Recent theoretical developments, featuring ‘measure ....Risk and Reliability in Stochastic Optimisation and Equilibrium. This project seeks to develop theory and methodology in optimisation which take advantage of recent progress in understanding and treating risk in decision making. Problems of optimisation in the face of uncertainty must confront the risk inherent in having to make reliable decisions before knowing the outcomes of crucial random variables on which costs and constraints may depend. Recent theoretical developments, featuring ‘measures of risk’ beyond just-expected values and quantiles offer hope of major new advances. This project aims to achieve such advances not only in optimisation but also in models of equilibrium that likewise have to deal with uncertainty. Extending current theory and methodology to such multi-stage stochastic models is a challenge. Besides taking up this challenge for its own sake, a major goal of this research will be to use the results in solution algorithms.Read moreRead less
Stationarity and regularity in variational analysis with applications to optimization. This project will significantly develop the theoretical basis of variational analysis and optimization. Improving the understanding of regularity and stationarity issues in optimization theory will lead to major national benefits in increasing efficiencies and reducing costs in many fields of human endeavour on a national and international level.