Understanding Dynamic Aspects of Economic Inequality. This project aims to study dynamic aspects of inequality in Australia by exploring the changes in labour and housing market conditions and their relation to the changes in the distribution of income and wealth over the last decade. The project also aims to develop new econometric techniques to examine the factors that are responsible for the changes in the distribution of income and wealth and a range of labour and housing market outcomes. Pa ....Understanding Dynamic Aspects of Economic Inequality. This project aims to study dynamic aspects of inequality in Australia by exploring the changes in labour and housing market conditions and their relation to the changes in the distribution of income and wealth over the last decade. The project also aims to develop new econometric techniques to examine the factors that are responsible for the changes in the distribution of income and wealth and a range of labour and housing market outcomes. Particular attention will be paid to the role of the changes in individual-specific characteristics (such as education, age, employment status, and occupation) and neighbourhood-specific characteristics (such as house prices and population ageing) in producing inequality.Read moreRead less
Robust Productivity Measurement: An Econometric Distance Function Approach. Accurate measures of productivity are required in a range of economic analyses. For example, in the assessment of the success of microeconomic reforms, or in price-cap regulation of utility and transport infrastructure firms. In this project we investigate the use of econometric distance functions as a means of obtaining improved productivity measures. This new approach addresses the main criticisms of alternative ap ....Robust Productivity Measurement: An Econometric Distance Function Approach. Accurate measures of productivity are required in a range of economic analyses. For example, in the assessment of the success of microeconomic reforms, or in price-cap regulation of utility and transport infrastructure firms. In this project we investigate the use of econometric distance functions as a means of obtaining improved productivity measures. This new approach addresses the main criticisms of alternative approaches, such as the single output restriction in the production function approach, the optimisation assumptions embedded in both the value dual approach and the Törnqvist index approach, and the statistical noise criticism of the data envelopment analysis approach.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170101134
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Feasible algorithms for big inference. This project aims to develop algorithms for computationally-intensive statistical tools to analyse Big Data. Big Data is ubiquitous in science, engineering, industry and finance, but needs special machine learning to conduct correct inferential analysis. Computational bottlenecks make many tried-and-true tools of statistical inference inadequate. This project will develop tools including false discovery rate control, heteroscedastic and robust regression an ....Feasible algorithms for big inference. This project aims to develop algorithms for computationally-intensive statistical tools to analyse Big Data. Big Data is ubiquitous in science, engineering, industry and finance, but needs special machine learning to conduct correct inferential analysis. Computational bottlenecks make many tried-and-true tools of statistical inference inadequate. This project will develop tools including false discovery rate control, heteroscedastic and robust regression and mixture models, via Big Data-appropriate optimisation and composite-likelihood estimation. It will make open, well-documented, and accessible software available for the scalable and distributable analysis of Big Data. The expected outcome is a suite of scalable algorithms to analyse Big Data.Read moreRead less
Should rational individuals be optimistic? Theory, survey evidence, experimental evidence, and policy implications. This project will help Australian policy makers design better information-revelation policies and will elevate the skill level of Australian research in behavioural economics. Insights we generate about how best to manage the public's expectations will enable policy design that strengthens Australia's social and economic fabric. We will disseminate the recommendations we generate ....Should rational individuals be optimistic? Theory, survey evidence, experimental evidence, and policy implications. This project will help Australian policy makers design better information-revelation policies and will elevate the skill level of Australian research in behavioural economics. Insights we generate about how best to manage the public's expectations will enable policy design that strengthens Australia's social and economic fabric. We will disseminate the recommendations we generate in a policy workshop at the end of our project. In terms of benefits to the level of science in Australia, the project will work with local data and local researchers, and will import into Australia new experimental medical equipment and the knowledge of how to use it. These benefits will help Australia progress to the forefront of behavioural economic research.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0567263
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$82,831.00
Summary
Development of Tool Interfaces and Data Standards for Enabling Remote Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data. This proposal will promote sharing and rapid secondary analysis of natural language and other qualitative data by providing interface standards between qualitative analysis systems, and will enhance the integration of analytic methods through improved archiving. This will be achieved by the construction and dissemination of open standards for the efficient, flexible transport and storage ....Development of Tool Interfaces and Data Standards for Enabling Remote Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data. This proposal will promote sharing and rapid secondary analysis of natural language and other qualitative data by providing interface standards between qualitative analysis systems, and will enhance the integration of analytic methods through improved archiving. This will be achieved by the construction and dissemination of open standards for the efficient, flexible transport and storage of annotation metadata, along with demonstrated implementations of these standards in qualitative tools. At the current stage of development of e-Social Science, the provision of middleware for collaborative work is more important than large-scale computational capability. The initiative will leverage existing ARC investment in qualitative data archiving.Read moreRead less
Practical Identity-Based Cryptography: Efficient and Secure Elliptic Curve Pairings. Bilinear pairings on elliptic curves are a new cryptographic tool and allow novel and improved applications in information security. For example, they have been proposed as a substitute of existing public key infrastructures, an essential element in electronic commerce and a secure Internet. The research will lead to an increase in fundamental knowledge in the area of practical implementation and secure applic ....Practical Identity-Based Cryptography: Efficient and Secure Elliptic Curve Pairings. Bilinear pairings on elliptic curves are a new cryptographic tool and allow novel and improved applications in information security. For example, they have been proposed as a substitute of existing public key infrastructures, an essential element in electronic commerce and a secure Internet. The research will lead to an increase in fundamental knowledge in the area of practical implementation and secure applications of pairings. The results will benefit all users of electronic communications who require security for their information. This includes the financial industries, government, commerce and domestic users. It will also support many new product opportunities aligned with Motorola's business markets.Read moreRead less
Relative free energies from nonequilibrium simulations: algorithms for determination of binding affinities, conformational states and phase transitions. Leading edge research will enable state of the art techniques in statistical mechanics to be applied to practical problems. All processes in biological, chemical and physical systems are governed by their free energy landscape, often only accessible computationally. This project will lead to an advanced tool for free energy calculation. Advanc ....Relative free energies from nonequilibrium simulations: algorithms for determination of binding affinities, conformational states and phase transitions. Leading edge research will enable state of the art techniques in statistical mechanics to be applied to practical problems. All processes in biological, chemical and physical systems are governed by their free energy landscape, often only accessible computationally. This project will lead to an advanced tool for free energy calculation. Advancement of emerging technologies in nanoscience, porous materials, membrane transport and drug design will benefit from this capability. The project therefore addresses the Priority Goal 'Breakthrough science'. A PhD student and an Early Career Research will be trained in research, gaining a range of valuable skills in theory and simulation. Read moreRead less
Efficient and Secure Word-Based Stream Ciphers for Wireless Communications. Wireless networks are increasingly being used for communication, and to manage and control Australia's critical infrastructure. However, current methods of securing wireless networks are flawed, putting the country's economy, environment, and citizens at risk. The most reliable method for protecting wireless communications requires secure and efficient encryption algorithms. However, flaws have been found in most algo ....Efficient and Secure Word-Based Stream Ciphers for Wireless Communications. Wireless networks are increasingly being used for communication, and to manage and control Australia's critical infrastructure. However, current methods of securing wireless networks are flawed, putting the country's economy, environment, and citizens at risk. The most reliable method for protecting wireless communications requires secure and efficient encryption algorithms. However, flaws have been found in most algorithms proposed to date. This project will examine existing algorithms and attacks to determine design criteria for secure encryption algorithms for use in a wireless environment. An algorithm which meets these criteria and can be implemented efficiently in hardware and software will be proposed.Read moreRead less
Secure and Efficient Electronic Auctions. For the first time in history electronic commerce promises the possibility of auctions to decide the correct market price for a widespread variety of everyday goods and services. Security and efficiency are critical factors in making this a reality, but almost all the many protocols for secure auctions proposed to date suffer from extreme computational requirements. This project will develop efficient and secure auction protocols using innovative approac ....Secure and Efficient Electronic Auctions. For the first time in history electronic commerce promises the possibility of auctions to decide the correct market price for a widespread variety of everyday goods and services. Security and efficiency are critical factors in making this a reality, but almost all the many protocols for secure auctions proposed to date suffer from extreme computational requirements. This project will develop efficient and secure auction protocols using innovative approaches based on advanced cryptographic techniques. In particular we will pioneer the exploration of secure microauctions suitable for negotiating the price of small value goods and utilities in almost real time.Read moreRead less
Cryptographic Protocols: Proofs and Designs. Cryptographic protocols are the foundation for protection of the critical electronic communications infrastructure on which much of commerce and industry rely. They will increasingly be required in emerging technologies such as ad-hoc wireless networks and sensor networks. This project will provide the ability to design new and efficient protocols with a mathematical guarantee of security. The resulting practical protocols will benefit all users of el ....Cryptographic Protocols: Proofs and Designs. Cryptographic protocols are the foundation for protection of the critical electronic communications infrastructure on which much of commerce and industry rely. They will increasingly be required in emerging technologies such as ad-hoc wireless networks and sensor networks. This project will provide the ability to design new and efficient protocols with a mathematical guarantee of security. The resulting practical protocols will benefit all users of electronic communications who require security for their information. This includes the financial industries, government, commerce and domestic users.Read moreRead less