Placental nutrient transport shows how complex traits evolve. This project aims to use amino acid transport in the vertebrate placenta as a model to demonstrate how genes are recruited and modified to produce a major organ. Using an innovative combination of a new technology, selected reaction monitoring, and transcriptomic and molecular approaches, plus carefully selected Australian species pairs, this project will study the evolution of a complex trait (placental amino acid transport). The pr ....Placental nutrient transport shows how complex traits evolve. This project aims to use amino acid transport in the vertebrate placenta as a model to demonstrate how genes are recruited and modified to produce a major organ. Using an innovative combination of a new technology, selected reaction monitoring, and transcriptomic and molecular approaches, plus carefully selected Australian species pairs, this project will study the evolution of a complex trait (placental amino acid transport). The project will provide fundamental advances in our knowledge of the nutrient transport during pregnancy that is required to produce a healthy baby.Read moreRead less
Governance of Agile Software Development Projects. The aim of the project is to generate theoretical knowledge on how to govern agile teams effectively. Effective governance of software development projects is essential for companies to protect their information technology investments. Nowadays, companies have migrated to agile software development where requirements and solutions evolve iteratively and change frequently; yet formal approaches to governance (eg steering committee and detailed pl ....Governance of Agile Software Development Projects. The aim of the project is to generate theoretical knowledge on how to govern agile teams effectively. Effective governance of software development projects is essential for companies to protect their information technology investments. Nowadays, companies have migrated to agile software development where requirements and solutions evolve iteratively and change frequently; yet formal approaches to governance (eg steering committee and detailed plans) are ineffective and impede flexibility, agility and creativity. This project aims to identify informal governance approaches for agile projects based on team embeddedness and network theory. With this knowledge, management could ensure projects deliver value at an acceptable cost, quality and timescale.Read moreRead less
Governing vs. opposition parties and the global financial crisis: Comparing the United Kingdom and Australia. The Australian Prime Minister has described the global financial crisis as the 'equivalent of a rolling national security crisis'. Our project, which examines the pressures upon political parties to adopt an adversarial approach to crises as an election approaches, benefits the nation by enhancing our understanding of how political systems cope with crisis. Should governing and oppositio ....Governing vs. opposition parties and the global financial crisis: Comparing the United Kingdom and Australia. The Australian Prime Minister has described the global financial crisis as the 'equivalent of a rolling national security crisis'. Our project, which examines the pressures upon political parties to adopt an adversarial approach to crises as an election approaches, benefits the nation by enhancing our understanding of how political systems cope with crisis. Should governing and opposition parties unite in order to tackle the national crisis and portray consensus to the outside world? Or should they continue to engage in routine adversary criticism, facilitating dialogue and providing a 'check' on a centralised response? Our research will help develop an understanding of Australia's capacity to respond to major economic threats.Read moreRead less
Stability Analysis of Power System with Massive Power Electronic Devices. The decarbonization of Australia's power systems is to integrate massive renewable energy sources which are interfaced with many power electronic devices (PEDs). The fast and complex dynamics of PEDs have significantly changed the nature of the power system, which limits the applicability of existing tools and methods to assess its stability. The goal of this project is to gain a comprehensive insight into the stability of ....Stability Analysis of Power System with Massive Power Electronic Devices. The decarbonization of Australia's power systems is to integrate massive renewable energy sources which are interfaced with many power electronic devices (PEDs). The fast and complex dynamics of PEDs have significantly changed the nature of the power system, which limits the applicability of existing tools and methods to assess its stability. The goal of this project is to gain a comprehensive insight into the stability of a futuristic power system with high penetration of PEDs. The intended outcomes will be a model and data jointly driven methodology for high-efficient and real-time stability assessment. The methodology developed in this project will support Australia's transition to a stable, secure, and low-carbon power grid.Read moreRead less
Protecting cereal grain development at high temperatures. This project aims to investigate new temperature-responsive factors that regulate cereal grain development to protect grain production under heat stress. The new research will leverage international collaborations with access to cutting-edge genetic and technological resources, and refine novel X-ray imaging techniques in Australia, to observe how temperature affects flower structure and function in barley and rice. Favourable mutations t ....Protecting cereal grain development at high temperatures. This project aims to investigate new temperature-responsive factors that regulate cereal grain development to protect grain production under heat stress. The new research will leverage international collaborations with access to cutting-edge genetic and technological resources, and refine novel X-ray imaging techniques in Australia, to observe how temperature affects flower structure and function in barley and rice. Favourable mutations that optimise plant yield and fitness will be defined and explored in other, more complex, cereals such as wheat. Expected outcomes will be fundamental breakthroughs in understanding how plants respond to, and buffer, the effects of heat to lead to translational breeding strategies that bolster grain yield.Read moreRead less
What predictions can I trust? Stability of chaotic random dynamical systems. This project aims to make significant progress on the intricate question of global stability of non-autonomous chaotic dynamical systems. Using ergodic theory, this project expects to determine when and how errors in dynamical models that are small and frequent, or large and infrequent, can cause dramatic changes in meaningful mathematical model outputs. Expected outcomes include the discovery of mathematical mechanisms ....What predictions can I trust? Stability of chaotic random dynamical systems. This project aims to make significant progress on the intricate question of global stability of non-autonomous chaotic dynamical systems. Using ergodic theory, this project expects to determine when and how errors in dynamical models that are small and frequent, or large and infrequent, can cause dramatic changes in meaningful mathematical model outputs. Expected outcomes include the discovery of mathematical mechanisms underlying large-scale (in)stability for time-dependent dynamical systems, and reliable numerical methods for detecting instabilities. This research is expected to lead to improved characterisations of shocks or collapse in externally driven dynamical systems and assist scientists to gauge which predictions they can trust.Read moreRead less
New mathematics to quantify fluctuations and extremes in dynamical systems. Many problems in the natural world result from the cumulative effect of extreme events in complex dynamical systems. Dynamical models of ecological and physical processes have internal variables that can combine to produce large observable changes. Quantitative estimation of the variability of these chaotic models is difficult because of the time dependence of the dynamics and their “long memory” due to significant deter ....New mathematics to quantify fluctuations and extremes in dynamical systems. Many problems in the natural world result from the cumulative effect of extreme events in complex dynamical systems. Dynamical models of ecological and physical processes have internal variables that can combine to produce large observable changes. Quantitative estimation of the variability of these chaotic models is difficult because of the time dependence of the dynamics and their “long memory” due to significant deterministic components. This project aims to develop mathematics and numerics to accurately quantify and assess these complicated variations. The project expects to provide powerful tools to predict harmful outcomes in biogeophysical systems, and assist with the development of mitigation strategies.Read moreRead less
Attracting, preparing, and sustaining quality teachers in early education. This project aims to address the chronic shortage of early childhood teachers in Australia, which is compromising quality and return on investment in early education. The project expects to generate new understandings about this specialist teacher workforce through an innovative, ecological, longitudinal design that will track early childhood teachers’ career trajectories and develop a world-first tool to assess early chi ....Attracting, preparing, and sustaining quality teachers in early education. This project aims to address the chronic shortage of early childhood teachers in Australia, which is compromising quality and return on investment in early education. The project expects to generate new understandings about this specialist teacher workforce through an innovative, ecological, longitudinal design that will track early childhood teachers’ career trajectories and develop a world-first tool to assess early childhood teacher quality. Findings are expected to inform policy— including the Australian Government-endorsed 10-year national Workforce Strategy and the Australian Government's Early Years Strategy— to support the future sustained supply of a quality early childhood teacher workforce and improve outcomes for young children.Read moreRead less
Structure and function of human zinc transporter membrane proteins. The aim of this project is to create fundamental new knowledge on how important mammalian membrane proteins operate. Membrane proteins are key drug targets and are significantly under-represented in structural databases. The project plans to combine innovative membrane protein screening technology with gene expression, structural biology, biophysics and cell biology. The project outcomes may elucidate specific molecular mechanis ....Structure and function of human zinc transporter membrane proteins. The aim of this project is to create fundamental new knowledge on how important mammalian membrane proteins operate. Membrane proteins are key drug targets and are significantly under-represented in structural databases. The project plans to combine innovative membrane protein screening technology with gene expression, structural biology, biophysics and cell biology. The project outcomes may elucidate specific molecular mechanisms underpinning the essential biological process of zinc homeostasis.Read moreRead less
Biologically-inspired detection, pursuit and interception of moving objects by unmanned aircraft systems. Although it is well known that aggressive honeybees are very effective at detecting, pursuing and intercepting moving targets, this behaviour has never been studied quantitatively. This project will use high-speed video cinematography to investigate this behaviour, to develop visual algorithms for the detection of moving targets, and to create dynamical models of the mechanisms that control ....Biologically-inspired detection, pursuit and interception of moving objects by unmanned aircraft systems. Although it is well known that aggressive honeybees are very effective at detecting, pursuing and intercepting moving targets, this behaviour has never been studied quantitatively. This project will use high-speed video cinematography to investigate this behaviour, to develop visual algorithms for the detection of moving targets, and to create dynamical models of the mechanisms that control pursuit. The resulting algorithms will be incorporated into unmanned aerial vehicles for detecting, monitoring and tracking other objects in the sky, and their performance will be evaluated. The results will provide a better understanding of the biological basis of pursuit behaviour, as well as lead to novel technologies for aerial surveillance and safety.Read moreRead less