Machine-checked Foundations for Verified Vote Counting. The project will deliver a general methodology for developing formal logical specifications of the Acts of Parliament for many common systems for counting votes in preferential elections. The project will deliver corresponding computer programs to count votes according to these systems and will deliver formal independently checkable proofs that the programs meet their specification. Such formally verified computer programs provide a legally ....Machine-checked Foundations for Verified Vote Counting. The project will deliver a general methodology for developing formal logical specifications of the Acts of Parliament for many common systems for counting votes in preferential elections. The project will deliver corresponding computer programs to count votes according to these systems and will deliver formal independently checkable proofs that the programs meet their specification. Such formally verified computer programs provide a legally sound basis for counting votes by computer. The methodology will also allow electoral commissioners to improve the natural language descriptions of the relevant Acts of Parliament which are often woefully out of date with current practice.Read moreRead less
Practical and theoretical aspects of structure enumeration. Many areas of study involve processing of large numbers of
objects in some class. These are countless examples in
chemistry, physics, mathematics, and other disciplines.
Structure Enumeration is the study of methods for efficient
generation and analysis of such objects. The project will
involve exploitation and extension of recent advances, many
due to the CI, which have added orders of magnitude to what
was possible only a few ....Practical and theoretical aspects of structure enumeration. Many areas of study involve processing of large numbers of
objects in some class. These are countless examples in
chemistry, physics, mathematics, and other disciplines.
Structure Enumeration is the study of methods for efficient
generation and analysis of such objects. The project will
involve exploitation and extension of recent advances, many
due to the CI, which have added orders of magnitude to what
was possible only a few years ago. The outcome will be a
combination of theoretical results and practical achievements,
whose usefulness will be demonstrated with some serious
applications in physics and mathematics.
Read moreRead less
Structure enumeration, applications and analysis. Structure enumeration and analysis is at the heart of finite mathematics and its many fields of application in diverse scientific disciplines. Australia has a substantial status in this field both in mathematics and physics. This project will enhance that status and develop greater ties with the centres of structure research in other parts of the world.
Evidence-based frameworks for security protocol verification. Security protocols are an essential part of secure communication networks. This project aims to develop verification techniques for security protocols that produce independently verifiable formal certificates of correctness. The project's outcome will contribute to the certification processes for secure network systems at the highest level of assurance.
Practical Automated Deduction. This project will develop, implement and validate improved methods for automated deduction in decidable fragments of first order logic, also incorporating reasoning in special theories such as arithmetic. It will significantly extend previous work on the model evolution calculus and dynamic semantic resolution, and introduce new techniques that combine these reasoning methods. This work has direct application to reasoning about business rules and about industrial o ....Practical Automated Deduction. This project will develop, implement and validate improved methods for automated deduction in decidable fragments of first order logic, also incorporating reasoning in special theories such as arithmetic. It will significantly extend previous work on the model evolution calculus and dynamic semantic resolution, and introduce new techniques that combine these reasoning methods. This work has direct application to reasoning about business rules and about industrial optimisation problems, and it will motivate and test our systems by means of case studies from both of these areas.Read moreRead less
Exploring the Frontiers of Feasible Computation. The project aims to delineate the boundary between feasible and infeasible computational problems. A problem is considered feasible if there is an algorithm to solve it in worst-case time bounded by a polynomial in the input size. This is probably impossible for the important class of NP-complete problems. However, typical examples of NP-complete problems can often be solved in polynomial time, because worst-case problems are rare. The project is ....Exploring the Frontiers of Feasible Computation. The project aims to delineate the boundary between feasible and infeasible computational problems. A problem is considered feasible if there is an algorithm to solve it in worst-case time bounded by a polynomial in the input size. This is probably impossible for the important class of NP-complete problems. However, typical examples of NP-complete problems can often be solved in polynomial time, because worst-case problems are rare. The project is relevant to public-key cryptography, where breaking an encryption scheme should be infeasible, and to many real-life situations where NP-complete problems need to be solved, either exactly or approximately.Read moreRead less
Proof Theoretical Methods for Reasoning about Process Equivalence. The emergence of internet commerce has made the issue of secure computing more urgent than ever. A substantial part of the security issues with today's computer applications are due to design problems.
The principles of secure computation have not been fully understood and adequate tools for the construction of secure applications are still lacking. The understanding of the foundations of secure computation is essential in bu ....Proof Theoretical Methods for Reasoning about Process Equivalence. The emergence of internet commerce has made the issue of secure computing more urgent than ever. A substantial part of the security issues with today's computer applications are due to design problems.
The principles of secure computation have not been fully understood and adequate tools for the construction of secure applications are still lacking. The understanding of the foundations of secure computation is essential in building trusted computer applications. Process calculi and logic represent two promising disciplines in which the principles of analysis and design of secure systems can be studied systematically, out of which formal verification tools can be constructed.Read moreRead less
Mechanised foundations of proof calculi. Commercial program verification tools based upon special-purpose logic-based proof calculi can now guarantee that large programs are free of specific bugs. But who verifies the proof-calculi? Our research will lead to tools to automatically verify proof-calculi and will eventually help to avoid costly post-construction debugging.
Expressive power and complexity of temporal logics for model-checking. Hardware verification based upon mathematical logic is now routinely
used in industry to verify the correctness of large digital circuits
using a technique called model-checking. Such discrete systems move
from one state to another according to the regular ticks of a clock.
The challenge now is to find tractable methods for reasoning about
real-time systems and hybrid systems that move in a continuous manner
with respec ....Expressive power and complexity of temporal logics for model-checking. Hardware verification based upon mathematical logic is now routinely
used in industry to verify the correctness of large digital circuits
using a technique called model-checking. Such discrete systems move
from one state to another according to the regular ticks of a clock.
The challenge now is to find tractable methods for reasoning about
real-time systems and hybrid systems that move in a continuous manner
with respect to time: examples include aeroplanes flying according to
the laws of physics and a moving robot arm. We shall invent new logics
which are specifically tailored for tractable reasoning about
real-time and hybrid systems.Read moreRead less
Modelling interactions of spray droplets with plants. This project addresses the National Research Priority of an environmentally sustainable Australia by developing sophisticated mathematical models and interactive software that will identify environmentally friendlier technologies to efficiently deliver agrichemicals while minimising large scale water usage. National benefits will accrue from the provision for postdoctoral, PhD and IT staff training, while direct links with industry will provi ....Modelling interactions of spray droplets with plants. This project addresses the National Research Priority of an environmentally sustainable Australia by developing sophisticated mathematical models and interactive software that will identify environmentally friendlier technologies to efficiently deliver agrichemicals while minimising large scale water usage. National benefits will accrue from the provision for postdoctoral, PhD and IT staff training, while direct links with industry will provide technology transfer to end-users to ensure community uptake. The project will benefit rural and regional communities by providing long-term solutions in the areas of water use and quality, pesticide pollution reduction, and improved environment and human health care.Read moreRead less