Thinking Systems: Navigating Through Real and Conceptual Spaces. The project will provide fundamental insights into physical and conceptual spaces and develop applications in robotics and information systems. The project brings together national and international researchers to study how humans and other animals navigate: how trajectories through space are used to build maps, the neural bases of these mapping processes and how to use maps to achieve goals. The project will develop a new generati ....Thinking Systems: Navigating Through Real and Conceptual Spaces. The project will provide fundamental insights into physical and conceptual spaces and develop applications in robotics and information systems. The project brings together national and international researchers to study how humans and other animals navigate: how trajectories through space are used to build maps, the neural bases of these mapping processes and how to use maps to achieve goals. The project will develop a new generation of robots that can learn about the physical spaces they work in, and create concept-mapping systems that can map and navigate information spaces. Also, it will provide new insights into the mechanisms regulating human cognition and mental dysfunctions.Read moreRead less
Nonlinear Dynamics of Pulse Coupled Oscillators. A mathematical model of the heart pacemaker system will be created, based on simple interacting units. These units have been shown to be good models of physiological information e.g. the discrimination of different influences on heart rate. We will firstly look at the interaction of the units in simple combinations and then tune the model to mimic the behaviour of the cardiac pacemaker.
Potential benefits may arise from elucidating the mechanis ....Nonlinear Dynamics of Pulse Coupled Oscillators. A mathematical model of the heart pacemaker system will be created, based on simple interacting units. These units have been shown to be good models of physiological information e.g. the discrimination of different influences on heart rate. We will firstly look at the interaction of the units in simple combinations and then tune the model to mimic the behaviour of the cardiac pacemaker.
Potential benefits may arise from elucidating the mechanisms underlying arrhythmias which contribute to ?sudden cardiac death? in young men, and suggesting strategies for artificial pacemakers to effectively arrest abnormal rhythms before they convert to potentially fatal fibrillation.Read moreRead less
Enabling Technologies for Motion Corrected Positron Emission Tomography (PET) of Unanaesthetized Laboratory Animals. Small animal molecular imaging is a powerful tool in biological research and drug discovery. Anaesthesia is routinely used to avoid motion distortion, but can profoundly alter the biological process studied. This research will enable quantitative imaging of neurobiological phenomena in awake laboratory animals. It will create new opportunities for Australian basic researchers to ....Enabling Technologies for Motion Corrected Positron Emission Tomography (PET) of Unanaesthetized Laboratory Animals. Small animal molecular imaging is a powerful tool in biological research and drug discovery. Anaesthesia is routinely used to avoid motion distortion, but can profoundly alter the biological process studied. This research will enable quantitative imaging of neurobiological phenomena in awake laboratory animals. It will create new opportunities for Australian basic researchers to use innovative technology with expected high economic potential, and benefit small biotech companies by facilitating pre-clinical and clinical development of new pharmaceuticals. The new motion tracking and image reconstruction technologies developed will strengthen Australia's leading position in engineering and biomedical systems development.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100630
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Relating function of complex networks to structure using information theory. This project aims to investigate networks in order to translate network function to a universal language of information flows. Network science has used common tools to reveal universal connection structures within various biological and man-made networks – our brains, social networks and power grids are all networks of interacting components. Yet there is no common method to study the function of these networks and how ....Relating function of complex networks to structure using information theory. This project aims to investigate networks in order to translate network function to a universal language of information flows. Network science has used common tools to reveal universal connection structures within various biological and man-made networks – our brains, social networks and power grids are all networks of interacting components. Yet there is no common method to study the function of these networks and how such function is coupled with structure. This project aims to relate network structure to function by using measures of information processing as a generally-applicable framework. This will deliver a theory of how structure gives rise to dynamics and how structure can be optimised for desired dynamics.Read moreRead less
Advanced Monte Carlo Methods for Spatial Processes. The modeling and analysis of spatial data relies more and more on sophisticated Monte Carlo simulation methods. However, with the growing complexity of today's spatial data, traditional Monte Carlo methods increasingly face difficulties in terms of speed and accuracy. The aim of this project is to develop new theory and applications at the interface of Monte Carlo methods and spatial statistics, building upon exciting theoretical and computatio ....Advanced Monte Carlo Methods for Spatial Processes. The modeling and analysis of spatial data relies more and more on sophisticated Monte Carlo simulation methods. However, with the growing complexity of today's spatial data, traditional Monte Carlo methods increasingly face difficulties in terms of speed and accuracy. The aim of this project is to develop new theory and applications at the interface of Monte Carlo methods and spatial statistics, building upon exciting theoretical and computational advances in both areas in recent years. The research will stimulate the design of microscopic and macroscopic complex spatial structures with superior properties, such as composite materials, solar cells, telecommunication networks, mining operations, and road systems.Read moreRead less
Search strategy optimisation by theory, functional analysis and simulation. This project aims to develop a novel computational platform, based on mathematical, statistical and physical theory, as well as advanced simulations, enabling the quantitative prediction of the optimal search strategy to be adopted by populations of agents searching for scarce targets in any given environment. This could lead to significant impacts on breakthrough developments in cancer immunotherapy, search and rescue r ....Search strategy optimisation by theory, functional analysis and simulation. This project aims to develop a novel computational platform, based on mathematical, statistical and physical theory, as well as advanced simulations, enabling the quantitative prediction of the optimal search strategy to be adopted by populations of agents searching for scarce targets in any given environment. This could lead to significant impacts on breakthrough developments in cancer immunotherapy, search and rescue robotics, ecological and environmental management, and developmental biology.Read moreRead less
Reconstructing proteins to explain and engineer biological diversity. The aim of this project is to develop computational methods to construct entirely new proteins. Computational reconstruction of enzymes that have been extinct for over 400 million years has revealed remarkable opportunities for biotechnological innovation. The intended outcomes are to develop bioinformatics methods to broaden the scope of ancestral protein reconstruction to include protein super-families, to establish what spe ....Reconstructing proteins to explain and engineer biological diversity. The aim of this project is to develop computational methods to construct entirely new proteins. Computational reconstruction of enzymes that have been extinct for over 400 million years has revealed remarkable opportunities for biotechnological innovation. The intended outcomes are to develop bioinformatics methods to broaden the scope of ancestral protein reconstruction to include protein super-families, to establish what specific changes led to the evolutionary success of a protein, and to re-run evolution to generate proteins that perform in conditions suitable for industrial and agricultural applications, in particular the production of hydroxylated fatty acids for bioplastics. By examining proteins from many life forms, the project plans to develop a novel bioinformatics strategy to understand their evolution and engineer new proteins for use in production of chemical commodities.Read moreRead less
Adaptiveness of self-organised decision making. Complex systems are an important international research focus in many disciplines, and their engineering applications are plentiful. The new mathematical approach developed by this project will enable different disciplines for the first time to communicate using a common formal framework. This will open the path to a generalized understanding of self-organized systems in dynamic environments. Creating the tools for a unified interdisciplinary a ....Adaptiveness of self-organised decision making. Complex systems are an important international research focus in many disciplines, and their engineering applications are plentiful. The new mathematical approach developed by this project will enable different disciplines for the first time to communicate using a common formal framework. This will open the path to a generalized understanding of self-organized systems in dynamic environments. Creating the tools for a unified interdisciplinary approach will allow Australia to gain a stronger position in biomimetic engineering and to take a lead in international research on collective behavior.
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Next-generation Protein Structural comparison using Information Theory. Progress in protein structural biology relies heavily on key computational technologies, structural alignment being an indispensable one. Despite its importance the structural alignment problem has not been formulated, much less solved, in a consistent and reliable way. This project aims to rectify this by combining novel information-theoretic inference with advances in constraint optimisation and visualisation. State-of-the ....Next-generation Protein Structural comparison using Information Theory. Progress in protein structural biology relies heavily on key computational technologies, structural alignment being an indispensable one. Despite its importance the structural alignment problem has not been formulated, much less solved, in a consistent and reliable way. This project aims to rectify this by combining novel information-theoretic inference with advances in constraint optimisation and visualisation. State-of-the-art alignment methods aim to be produced for biologists to generate statistically-rigorous and biologically-trustworthy alignments, and allow them to visualise structural relationships in unprecedented ways. This project is expected to provide direct payoffs to the fields of protein science, crystallography and bioinformatics.Read moreRead less
Robust Intelligence: Rational Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty. This project seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice with an innovative framework for rational decision-making under risk and uncertainty. Intelligent agents exercise profound and growing impact in business and society. However, significant problems arise in intelligent agent deployment as their theoretical underpinnings do not ensure rational decision-making in complex real-world settings. The project aims to ....Robust Intelligence: Rational Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty. This project seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice with an innovative framework for rational decision-making under risk and uncertainty. Intelligent agents exercise profound and growing impact in business and society. However, significant problems arise in intelligent agent deployment as their theoretical underpinnings do not ensure rational decision-making in complex real-world settings. The project aims to open the door to transformational technologies that may drive new entrepreneurial opportunities in agent-based global services.Read moreRead less