The improvement of climate change investigations by developing and applying innovative evolutionary subset time series modelling using semi-parametric sparse-patterned approaches. With an estimated US$6.98 trillion loss indicated in the Stern review, severe climate change will make world climate conditions harsher and more likely include large natural climate disasters. The health of the Australian economy is critically dependent on decisions of environmental managers. However, most problems of ....The improvement of climate change investigations by developing and applying innovative evolutionary subset time series modelling using semi-parametric sparse-patterned approaches. With an estimated US$6.98 trillion loss indicated in the Stern review, severe climate change will make world climate conditions harsher and more likely include large natural climate disasters. The health of the Australian economy is critically dependent on decisions of environmental managers. However, most problems of complexity arising in climate change involve issues on which we do not possess a deep understanding. This project draws upon a set of inter-disciplinary concepts and models centred in neural networks that enable us to advance our understanding of complexity, leading to superior quantitative tools and models to allow for improved environmental decision-making.
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Unravelling the molecular diversity and evolution of centipede venoms. The project intends to improve understanding of venom evolution in centipedes. Venoms have emerged as a rich source of pharmacological tools with potential for development into therapeutics and bioinsecticides. However, venoms-based discovery has been limited by the narrow taxonomical range of animals studied, with many groups of venomous animals overlooked. One such group is centipedes, whose venoms contain diverse toxins th ....Unravelling the molecular diversity and evolution of centipede venoms. The project intends to improve understanding of venom evolution in centipedes. Venoms have emerged as a rich source of pharmacological tools with potential for development into therapeutics and bioinsecticides. However, venoms-based discovery has been limited by the narrow taxonomical range of animals studied, with many groups of venomous animals overlooked. One such group is centipedes, whose venoms contain diverse toxins that differ between taxa. This project aims to provide an insight into centipede venom evolution, and how it might be constrained by venom-gland morphology. This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of protein evolution and direct biodiscovery efforts around centipede venom.Read moreRead less
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
Sparking a National Conversation. This project aims to understand why some promises of a ‘national conversation’ on a policy issue seem to be mere hyperbole, while others seem more authentic. Using an evaluative framework based on the latest democratic theory, and the aims and understandings of key actors in each case, the project plans to compare three cases that claimed to spark a national conversation: the Scottish National Conversation 2007–14; debates around the Affordable Care Act in the U ....Sparking a National Conversation. This project aims to understand why some promises of a ‘national conversation’ on a policy issue seem to be mere hyperbole, while others seem more authentic. Using an evaluative framework based on the latest democratic theory, and the aims and understandings of key actors in each case, the project plans to compare three cases that claimed to spark a national conversation: the Scottish National Conversation 2007–14; debates around the Affordable Care Act in the United States, 2009; and the ongoing issue of Indigenous constitutional recognition in Australia. The project aims to identify why some real-world efforts work better than others, and draw lessons for replicating best practice in Australia. Project outcomes may provide advice to policy-makers on how to engage citizens better in the major issues of the day.Read moreRead less
Impact of increased sediment and nutrient discharges on the long-term sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef, one of Australia's greatest natural assets, is under increasing threat from extreme climatic events caused by global warming and from land-based pollution. This research will identify the main sources of sediment and nutrient pollution caused by river runoff and by how much this has increased above 'natural levels'. We will discover how the very sensitive offsho ....Impact of increased sediment and nutrient discharges on the long-term sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef, one of Australia's greatest natural assets, is under increasing threat from extreme climatic events caused by global warming and from land-based pollution. This research will identify the main sources of sediment and nutrient pollution caused by river runoff and by how much this has increased above 'natural levels'. We will discover how the very sensitive offshore coral reefs have responded to increased pollution and whether this is the cause of the very devastating crown-of-thorn-starfish infestations. Understanding the long-term effects of land-based pollution on the ecology of coral reefs in the GBR will thus provide a scientific basis to help ensure that it has a sustainable future.Read moreRead less
Emotions and Employee Turnover: New Methods for Complex Dynamic Systems. This project aims to vastly improve the data-analytic capabilities of social and health researchers, while increasing knowledge about emotion dynamics and their link to employee turnover. By drawing on and advancing methods from ecology and applied physics, this project plans to investigate the role that individual emotions play in employee turnover with new quantitative methods for characterising and testing causality in c ....Emotions and Employee Turnover: New Methods for Complex Dynamic Systems. This project aims to vastly improve the data-analytic capabilities of social and health researchers, while increasing knowledge about emotion dynamics and their link to employee turnover. By drawing on and advancing methods from ecology and applied physics, this project plans to investigate the role that individual emotions play in employee turnover with new quantitative methods for characterising and testing causality in complex dynamic systems. The expected outcomes include an improved capacity for researchers, managers, and policy makers to understand complex organisational, economic, and health systems. This will provide immediate societal benefits by informing the development and deployment of targeted interventions in such systems.Read moreRead less
Positron Nano-Dosimetry: Fundamental Measurements of Positron Interactions and their use in State-of-the-Art Modelling of Positron Transport. This proposal will provide unique experimental and theoretical information on how positrons, the electron antiparticles, interact with matter, in particular with biologically important molecules. This data will be used in a unique set of modelling approaches which will provide, for the first time, an insight into how positrons are transported through gases ....Positron Nano-Dosimetry: Fundamental Measurements of Positron Interactions and their use in State-of-the-Art Modelling of Positron Transport. This proposal will provide unique experimental and theoretical information on how positrons, the electron antiparticles, interact with matter, in particular with biologically important molecules. This data will be used in a unique set of modelling approaches which will provide, for the first time, an insight into how positrons are transported through gases, liquids and ultimately, soft matter. It will thus have important ramifications for diagnostic tools such as Positron Emission Tomography. The fundamental research will also shed light on one of the key 'mysteries' of life - why the biological building blocks of life possess a definite " handedness", or chirality.Read moreRead less
Evolution of Australia's globally unique hotspot of floral diversity. Australia has a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot, the southwest of Western Australia, but this unique eucalypt-dominated flora is threatened. This project will gain new insights into the evolutionary processes that generate and maintain such diversity, their vulnerability; and how the iconic eucalypts came to dominate the Australian landscape.
Understanding dissipation, thermal conduction and diffusion in superionic conductors using ab initio nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. Lithium ion batteries are widely used in computers, cars and more recently in aircraft. However they may exhibit thermal runaway leading to fire. Recently these problems have grounded the fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft, worldwide. Understanding superionic conduction is of thus of considerable technological importance. The project will focus on understa ....Understanding dissipation, thermal conduction and diffusion in superionic conductors using ab initio nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. Lithium ion batteries are widely used in computers, cars and more recently in aircraft. However they may exhibit thermal runaway leading to fire. Recently these problems have grounded the fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft, worldwide. Understanding superionic conduction is of thus of considerable technological importance. The project will focus on understanding mass and heat flow in superionic conductors using a new molecular simulation technique that the team has recently developed. This technique combines nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and ab initio molecular dynamics simulation. The project will learn how heat is generated and conducted through these materials and how temperature influences these processes, and how heat and mass flow couple together.Read moreRead less
Understanding the Antipodean 'Fair Go'. There is bipartisan support for the 'fair go' in Australia and New Zealand, but what does the fair go actually mean? This project aims to generate new knowledge about the role of the fair go in political debate and policy making. It will examine the values that have been historically connected to the fair go. It will assess how the public and politicians currently understand the fair go and will investigate how the fair go has influenced public policies. E ....Understanding the Antipodean 'Fair Go'. There is bipartisan support for the 'fair go' in Australia and New Zealand, but what does the fair go actually mean? This project aims to generate new knowledge about the role of the fair go in political debate and policy making. It will examine the values that have been historically connected to the fair go. It will assess how the public and politicians currently understand the fair go and will investigate how the fair go has influenced public policies. Expected outcomes include the first systematic analysis of one of the most pervasive and enduring social and political ideas in Australia and New Zealand. This will give policymakers a better understanding of citizens’ values and will build knowledge about how values shape public policies.Read moreRead less