Understanding and preventing gun violence: A qualitative study. Gun violence causes significant harm across Australian communities. Excluding sexual assault, firearms feature in nearly one in 10 violent crimes. The annual costs of gun violence run into tens of millions of dollars. This project aims to make an original qualitative contribution to understanding and preventing gun violence in three contexts: drug dealing/trafficking, other organised crime activity, and armed robbery. The proposed r ....Understanding and preventing gun violence: A qualitative study. Gun violence causes significant harm across Australian communities. Excluding sexual assault, firearms feature in nearly one in 10 violent crimes. The annual costs of gun violence run into tens of millions of dollars. This project aims to make an original qualitative contribution to understanding and preventing gun violence in three contexts: drug dealing/trafficking, other organised crime activity, and armed robbery. The proposed research would be the first study nationally - and one of the very few internationally - to interview convicted gun crime users about the acquisition and use of firearms in criminal life. Project results are expected to have direct implications for reducing the impact of gun violence in Australia.Read moreRead less
A model of sex offender registration, monitoring, and risk management. This research will investigate the ways in which sexual offenders are managed in the community and identify the most effective means of preventing further offending, thereby promoting community safety.
Recombinant probiotics for prevention of enteric infections in piglets. Shigatoxigenic and enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli cause severe diarrhoeal disease and oedema disease in piglets. The resultant morbidity and mortality is a major cause of financial loss to the pig industry both in Australia and overseas. We have conceived a highly novel approach to prevention of these diseases involving molecular mimicry of host receptors for the E. coli toxins and adhesins on the surface of a ....Recombinant probiotics for prevention of enteric infections in piglets. Shigatoxigenic and enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli cause severe diarrhoeal disease and oedema disease in piglets. The resultant morbidity and mortality is a major cause of financial loss to the pig industry both in Australia and overseas. We have conceived a highly novel approach to prevention of these diseases involving molecular mimicry of host receptors for the E. coli toxins and adhesins on the surface of a harmless bacterium. Oral administration of this agent to piglets has the potential to bind free toxins in the gut and prevent colonization of the intestines by the pathogens, thereby preventing disease.Read moreRead less
Understanding recidivism and repeat incarceration among young male offenders: a biographical and longitudinal approach. The research focuses on the group of offenders who, as a cohort, annually commit the most crime within Australia. The production of longitudinal qualitative data about individual experiences of secure care, release, and imprisonment, will provide a foundation for empirically driven policies and debates in the area of youth crime and incarceration for each state and territory. A ....Understanding recidivism and repeat incarceration among young male offenders: a biographical and longitudinal approach. The research focuses on the group of offenders who, as a cohort, annually commit the most crime within Australia. The production of longitudinal qualitative data about individual experiences of secure care, release, and imprisonment, will provide a foundation for empirically driven policies and debates in the area of youth crime and incarceration for each state and territory. Accordingly, the community will benefit through the generation of new possibilities for intervening in cycles of persistent offending and repeat custodial sentences. This has major social, cultural and economic implications. Read moreRead less
Law, order and federalism in Australia. In a series of recent cases the High Court has emphasised the constitutional imperatives of judicial independence and impartiality in State court systems. These developments provide minimum human rights protections to individuals confronting criminal justice in the States. But what has not been considered is the cost of these developments. This project will investigate the uncertainty of the constitutional restrictions confronting State governments when re ....Law, order and federalism in Australia. In a series of recent cases the High Court has emphasised the constitutional imperatives of judicial independence and impartiality in State court systems. These developments provide minimum human rights protections to individuals confronting criminal justice in the States. But what has not been considered is the cost of these developments. This project will investigate the uncertainty of the constitutional restrictions confronting State governments when responding to law and order priorities, and the extent to which these have led to the frustration of policy development and experimentation across the Australian federation.Read moreRead less
Production of Biodegradable Polyhydroxyalkanoate Polymers using Advanced Biological Wastewater Treatment Process Technology. The aim of this project is to develop a sustainable process for producing biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHAs)polymers from an innovative aerobic-anaerobic biological wastewater treatment process, ?treating? high strength food industry effluent. These biopolymers offer enormous potential for use as renewable and biodegradable thermoplastics.
It is proposed to inve ....Production of Biodegradable Polyhydroxyalkanoate Polymers using Advanced Biological Wastewater Treatment Process Technology. The aim of this project is to develop a sustainable process for producing biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHAs)polymers from an innovative aerobic-anaerobic biological wastewater treatment process, ?treating? high strength food industry effluent. These biopolymers offer enormous potential for use as renewable and biodegradable thermoplastics.
It is proposed to investigate two process configurations, namely the sequencing batch reactor and a continuous two step anaerobic-aerobic reaction system. These will be studied at bench-scale. The outcomes include:
1. Determination of the optimum microbial conditions and key growth
parameters for the production of PHA.
2. Optimisation of the process configuration, operating strategies
and operating conditions to maximise the
production of PHA.
3. Assessment of the influence of the feed composition (e.g. VFA)
on the PHA composition (PHB/PHV).
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Suicide Terrorism: The Use of Life as a Weapon. Bali attacks were a powerful reminder that Australians are not immune from terrorism. Suicide terrorism is the most lethal form of terrorism. It constitutes 3 % of all terrorist attacks but accounts for 48 % of all deaths. Australia's involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor has made Australia a more likely terrorist target. An informed understanding of suicide terrorism in our region would assist in developing appropriate policies for prote ....Suicide Terrorism: The Use of Life as a Weapon. Bali attacks were a powerful reminder that Australians are not immune from terrorism. Suicide terrorism is the most lethal form of terrorism. It constitutes 3 % of all terrorist attacks but accounts for 48 % of all deaths. Australia's involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor has made Australia a more likely terrorist target. An informed understanding of suicide terrorism in our region would assist in developing appropriate policies for protecting Australia from terrorism. The research will also contribute to evaluation of costs and benefits of Australian government policies of democratisation in the region and War on Terror.Read moreRead less
Mechanistic basis of a reproductive lesion in transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFb1) null mutant mice. Null mutation in the gene encoding the cytokine transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFb1) causes infertility in male and female mice. In recent experiments we have found that TGFb1 deficiency is associated with impaired ovarian and testicular steroidogenesis, arrested development of pre-implantation embryos and disrupted mammary gland morphogenesis. The aims of the current project are to un ....Mechanistic basis of a reproductive lesion in transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFb1) null mutant mice. Null mutation in the gene encoding the cytokine transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFb1) causes infertility in male and female mice. In recent experiments we have found that TGFb1 deficiency is associated with impaired ovarian and testicular steroidogenesis, arrested development of pre-implantation embryos and disrupted mammary gland morphogenesis. The aims of the current project are to unravel the mechanistic basis of the reproductive lesion in TGFb1 null mutant mice and to determine the effect of exogenous systemic delivery of TGFb1 in alleviating this lesion. It is expected that the project will provide new insight into key roles for TGFb1 in governing male and female fertility, and shed light on the prospects for exogenous supplementation of TGFb1 for improving reproductive performance in wild-type animals. This knowledge has potentially important applications in the livestock breeding industry, in devising novel contraceptive vaccine strategies, in the human pharmaceutical industry, and in devising novel contraceptive vaccine strategies.Read moreRead less