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
Understanding participant behaviour in wholesale electricity markets. Wholesale electricity spot markets now operate in many countries including Australia. The aim of this research project is to achieve a better understanding of the operation of electricity markets, through advancing our understanding of how the physical system, the industry structure, the market mechanism and the behaviour of the market participants jointly determine the overall system outcomes. A particular focus of the resear ....Understanding participant behaviour in wholesale electricity markets. Wholesale electricity spot markets now operate in many countries including Australia. The aim of this research project is to achieve a better understanding of the operation of electricity markets, through advancing our understanding of how the physical system, the industry structure, the market mechanism and the behaviour of the market participants jointly determine the overall system outcomes. A particular focus of the research is on competition within the market. We want to understand the ways in which market structure influences participant behaviour and, in particular, the circumstances that lead to non-competitive outcomes.Read moreRead less
Determining features that separate groups of protein sequences. This project aims to develop mathematical approaches for determining features that distinguish one group of proteins from another, based on their amino acid sequences. The groups of sequences will reflect different outcomes, so that identifying the fundamental features can result in targeted interventions against the poorer outcome. A simple comparison at each position or of known features can fail to determine robust differentiator ....Determining features that separate groups of protein sequences. This project aims to develop mathematical approaches for determining features that distinguish one group of proteins from another, based on their amino acid sequences. The groups of sequences will reflect different outcomes, so that identifying the fundamental features can result in targeted interventions against the poorer outcome. A simple comparison at each position or of known features can fail to determine robust differentiators and so more complex methods are required. The project will, for example, help identify HIV vaccine targets by comparing early HIV transmission sequences from those in chronic infection. The methods will be applicable to viral proteins where high mutation rates make this task even more complex.Read moreRead less
Understanding the interactions between emissions trading and wholesale electricity markets. Australia faces some critical decisions with regard to its commitment to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. There are a variety of emissions-related trading schemes that operate at a State level, and there are now proposals to introduce a National scheme. This research will help in the design of an emissions trading scheme through the use of sophisticated models of the behaviour of individual generat ....Understanding the interactions between emissions trading and wholesale electricity markets. Australia faces some critical decisions with regard to its commitment to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. There are a variety of emissions-related trading schemes that operate at a State level, and there are now proposals to introduce a National scheme. This research will help in the design of an emissions trading scheme through the use of sophisticated models of the behaviour of individual generation companies operating in a complex market situation. Also this project will build the skill base of Australia in an area of increasing importance where a multi-disciplinary focus is critical.Read moreRead less
Competitive supplier bidding in supply chains. This project will use mathematical modelling to contribute to better management practice in dealing with procurement. With the increasing use of auctions and sophisticated bidding procedures it is essential to improve our understanding of this important area.
Quantitative and qualitative aspects of Asian and Australian options. While Asian options are highly popular and traded over the counter all over the world, they are traded on an institutional basis in only very few countries. Australia is one of them. Variable purchase options (VPO's), where the payoff is determined by the quotient of a stock and its average price, are traded on the Australian stock exchange since 1992. They build an important component of the Australian derivatives market and ....Quantitative and qualitative aspects of Asian and Australian options. While Asian options are highly popular and traded over the counter all over the world, they are traded on an institutional basis in only very few countries. Australia is one of them. Variable purchase options (VPO's), where the payoff is determined by the quotient of a stock and its average price, are traded on the Australian stock exchange since 1992. They build an important component of the Australian derivatives market and are particularly interesting for foreign investors, who are not able to find this sort of financial product on their domestic markets. A better understanding of these products is necessary to maximize the benefits for Australia's financial markets and economy. Read moreRead less
Stochastic Scheduling for Production and Delivery of Perishable Products with Imperfect Information. Australia has a wide range of industries producing perishable goods such as wheat, fruit, vegetables, meat, milk, seafood and health products, as well as fashion and entertainment goods. These industries play a critical role in the Australian economy, as well as impacting on national health and the environment. This project will provide new strategies, models and techniques to increase efficiency ....Stochastic Scheduling for Production and Delivery of Perishable Products with Imperfect Information. Australia has a wide range of industries producing perishable goods such as wheat, fruit, vegetables, meat, milk, seafood and health products, as well as fashion and entertainment goods. These industries play a critical role in the Australian economy, as well as impacting on national health and the environment. This project will provide new strategies, models and techniques to increase efficiency in both the production and delivery of perishable products. The outcomes of the project will enable decision makers in industries handling perishable products to optimise the use of resources, reduce costs and waste, raise productivity and improve services. The nation will benefit with higher export income and better quality of consumer products.Read moreRead less
Generalizing Multi-level Decision Support Handling Multi-objectives, Multi-followers and Uncertainty for Critical Resource Planning. The proposed multi-level optimisation techniques and fuzzy multi-objective multi-follower multi-level decision support system can be used widely in government and industries of Australia to reduce decision blindness, improve decision effectiveness, and therefore has the potential to increase the competitiveness of organizations. Many organizations in Australia are ....Generalizing Multi-level Decision Support Handling Multi-objectives, Multi-followers and Uncertainty for Critical Resource Planning. The proposed multi-level optimisation techniques and fuzzy multi-objective multi-follower multi-level decision support system can be used widely in government and industries of Australia to reduce decision blindness, improve decision effectiveness, and therefore has the potential to increase the competitiveness of organizations. Many organizations in Australia are decentralized and have a hierarchical structure. The proposed techniques are extremely effective for such kinds of organizations in critical planning, management and policy making, including tourism resource planning, water resource management, financial planning, healthcare planning, land-use planning, production planning, transportation planning, and power market planning.Read moreRead less
Group Decision Support Systems for Fuzzy Multi-objective Decision Problems. Most real-world decisions in organisations are made by groups addressing multi-objectives. Further, the decision objectives are frequently characterized by fuzzy parameters and decision makers often utilise fuzzy judgments in attempting to reach optimal solutions. The project is the first to address all these issues: fuzzy objectives, fuzzy judgements, multi-objectives and groups in decision-making. The project will deve ....Group Decision Support Systems for Fuzzy Multi-objective Decision Problems. Most real-world decisions in organisations are made by groups addressing multi-objectives. Further, the decision objectives are frequently characterized by fuzzy parameters and decision makers often utilise fuzzy judgments in attempting to reach optimal solutions. The project is the first to address all these issues: fuzzy objectives, fuzzy judgements, multi-objectives and groups in decision-making. The project will develop a set of interactive decision-making methods to be used by groups solving fuzzy multi-objective decision problems with the allowance of fuzzy judgements, then develop a group decision support system to implement the methods. These outcomes can be immediately used by suitable Australian organisations.Read moreRead less
Incentivised strategic traffic assignment: bi-level transport optimisation. This project aims to advance the fundamental knowledge base and methodological modelling capacity related to traffic network assignment representing complex incentive structures such as network pricing, behavioural shift inducement, dynamic speed control and information-provision. Expected outcomes include new equilibrium formulations characterising traveller responses to, and interactions with, incentive structures whil ....Incentivised strategic traffic assignment: bi-level transport optimisation. This project aims to advance the fundamental knowledge base and methodological modelling capacity related to traffic network assignment representing complex incentive structures such as network pricing, behavioural shift inducement, dynamic speed control and information-provision. Expected outcomes include new equilibrium formulations characterising traveller responses to, and interactions with, incentive structures while maintaining complex stochastic adaptive behaviours from previous research, new network routing algorithms, and a novel bi-level optimisation approach for seeking optimal incentive policies. The project will provide a scientific basis for the quantified network evaluation of incentivisation strategies that will support enhanced transport planning thereby improving mobility across society.Read moreRead less