Robust Reformulation Methods. Many decision problems in engineering, business and economics are modeled as nonlinear continuous optimization problems. Often these are made difficult by the existence of constraints. In this project, we reformulate such problems as constrained nonsmooth equations, rather than optimization problems, and develop generalized Newton and quasi-Newton methods for solving them. The expected outcomes of this project include a systematic theory of reformulation methods, ....Robust Reformulation Methods. Many decision problems in engineering, business and economics are modeled as nonlinear continuous optimization problems. Often these are made difficult by the existence of constraints. In this project, we reformulate such problems as constrained nonsmooth equations, rather than optimization problems, and develop generalized Newton and quasi-Newton methods for solving them. The expected outcomes of this project include a systematic theory of reformulation methods, and robust and efficient algorithms for solving some important nonlinear continuous optimization problems. There is high potential for applications in engineering, business and finance.Read moreRead less
The role of hypohalous acids and related oxidants in the oxidative damage of biological systems: a computational investigation. The aim of this project is to decipher the molecular mechanisms of key reactions involved in oxidative damage to biomolecules. The study will lead to a better understanding of oxidative stress in biological systems and its role in chronic inflammatory disease, heart disease, and cancer.
Next generation high throughput lipidomics using adaptive modelling. This project aims to develop a unique high-throughput method to capture the lipidomic profile of human plasma suitable for large human population screening. Lipids are fundamental to every biological system, but our understanding of their regulation in humans have been largely superficial. By incorporating a new lipidomics approach, with genomic data, this project aims to expand our understanding of human biology by identifying ....Next generation high throughput lipidomics using adaptive modelling. This project aims to develop a unique high-throughput method to capture the lipidomic profile of human plasma suitable for large human population screening. Lipids are fundamental to every biological system, but our understanding of their regulation in humans have been largely superficial. By incorporating a new lipidomics approach, with genomic data, this project aims to expand our understanding of human biology by identifying regulators of lipid metabolism. The large diversity in humans necessitate sufficient sample sizes to identify true genetic regulators, but to date techniques capturing phenotypic data (lipids) have been largely limited. It is anticipated that this study will identify new regulators of lipid metabolism in humans.Read moreRead less
Hirshfeld surfaces in molecular crystals: Revolutionary tools for crystal engineers. Crystal engineering is an exciting modern branch of chemistry that seeks to understand intermolecular interactions in the context of crystal packing, and to use this understanding in the design of new materials with desirable physical and chemical properties. This project will considerably extend our already significant contribution to the detailed analysis of intermolecular interactions in molecular crystal st ....Hirshfeld surfaces in molecular crystals: Revolutionary tools for crystal engineers. Crystal engineering is an exciting modern branch of chemistry that seeks to understand intermolecular interactions in the context of crystal packing, and to use this understanding in the design of new materials with desirable physical and chemical properties. This project will considerably extend our already significant contribution to the detailed analysis of intermolecular interactions in molecular crystal structures. It will achieve this by a substantial enhancement of our novel visualization tools, by improving upon current approaches to the analysis of theoretical and experimental crystalline electron distributions for molecular materials, and by ensuring the widespread availability of resulting software to all researchers.Read moreRead less
Nonlinear optical properties of molecular crystals: An innovative approach to their determination using high-resolution X-ray diffraction data. This project will make a novel contribution towards the creation and optimisation of new optically-active materials, an objective central to future photon science and information technology. By developing and implementing innovative approaches in the charge density analysis of high-resolution, low-temperature single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, we wil ....Nonlinear optical properties of molecular crystals: An innovative approach to their determination using high-resolution X-ray diffraction data. This project will make a novel contribution towards the creation and optimisation of new optically-active materials, an objective central to future photon science and information technology. By developing and implementing innovative approaches in the charge density analysis of high-resolution, low-temperature single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, we will obtain in-crystal estimates of the electronic part of molecular (hyper)polarisabilities and related bulk susceptibilities, for crystals of selected important organic nonlinear optical (NLO) materials. The program will exploit advances in CCD technology for X-ray data collection, procedures for electron density and wavefunction fitting, and analysis of molecular dynamics in crystals.Read moreRead less
Understanding Growth in Emotion Regulatory Flexibility in Emerging Adults. Emerging adults (ages 18-25) are now facing unparalleled social and technological change and the on-going effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such demands can be overwhelming and undermine engagement with education and employment, with serious impacts for the individual and society. At the same time, our novel model proposes that the diverse daily adult-like stressors that characterise emerging adulthood can also drive grow ....Understanding Growth in Emotion Regulatory Flexibility in Emerging Adults. Emerging adults (ages 18-25) are now facing unparalleled social and technological change and the on-going effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such demands can be overwhelming and undermine engagement with education and employment, with serious impacts for the individual and society. At the same time, our novel model proposes that the diverse daily adult-like stressors that characterise emerging adulthood can also drive growth in flexible emotion regulation when combined with reflection on, and insight into, their own coping processes. Our research expands scientific knowledge by taking the first steps to uncover why some emerging adults increase their ability to flexibly regulate their emotions over this period, whereas others fail to do so.Read moreRead less
Provable elimination of information leakage through timing channels. This project aims to develop techniques to solve the issue in information security of unauthorised information flow resulting from competition for shared hardware resources. The project will combine operating systems design, formal hardware models, information-flow reasoning and theorem proving to achieve a goal that is widely considered infeasible. The project is expected to result in a system that prevents leakage of critical ....Provable elimination of information leakage through timing channels. This project aims to develop techniques to solve the issue in information security of unauthorised information flow resulting from competition for shared hardware resources. The project will combine operating systems design, formal hardware models, information-flow reasoning and theorem proving to achieve a goal that is widely considered infeasible. The project is expected to result in a system that prevents leakage of critical information, such as encryption keys, through timing channels. This should prevent sophisticated attacks on public clouds, mobile devices and military-grade cross-domain devices.Read moreRead less
Quantifying vertical and lateral ocean transport due to fronts and eddies. This project aims to quantify the intensity and location of ocean currents at unprecedented fine spatial scales by using data from a new generation of high-resolution satellites. These fine scales dominate the lateral and vertical transport of ocean-borne material, including heat, larvae and pollutants like oil and plastics, yet are poorly understood. New algorithms for processing satellite data will be developed and test ....Quantifying vertical and lateral ocean transport due to fronts and eddies. This project aims to quantify the intensity and location of ocean currents at unprecedented fine spatial scales by using data from a new generation of high-resolution satellites. These fine scales dominate the lateral and vertical transport of ocean-borne material, including heat, larvae and pollutants like oil and plastics, yet are poorly understood. New algorithms for processing satellite data will be developed and tested using in situ data in the significant North West Shelf region. Expected outcomes will be novel methods to identify ocean currents and a paradigm shift in quantification of fine-scale ocean dynamics. This will benefit operational oceanography in the areas of maritime safety, defence, fisheries and the offshore industry.Read moreRead less