Central pathways regulating visceral pain. This project aims to investigate the neural pathways within the spinal cord and brain processing colorectal pain perception. The project aims to identify the spinal cord neurons relaying colorectal signalling into the brain and the influence of descending modulation from the brainstem upon these pathways. The outcomes will greatly benefit fundamental understanding of the central pathways processing visceral pain.
Left of centre: Attentional distortions in the mental representation of space in healthy and clinical populations. Stroke patients cost the Australian economy $1.3bn pa in addition to their social burden, but effective diagnosis and rehabilitation is impeded by a lack of fundamental research into the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie attentional disorders. Our research will provide significant new insights into how the brain deploys attention in external and imagined space and will l ....Left of centre: Attentional distortions in the mental representation of space in healthy and clinical populations. Stroke patients cost the Australian economy $1.3bn pa in addition to their social burden, but effective diagnosis and rehabilitation is impeded by a lack of fundamental research into the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie attentional disorders. Our research will provide significant new insights into how the brain deploys attention in external and imagined space and will lead to more effective management and treatment of stroke victims. Our new test of attentional disorders is independent of a patient's inability to see or move and will enable more effective diagnosis. Our research provides the fundamental knowledge base for our discipline and is vital for developing the next generation of Australia's cognitive neuroscientists. Read moreRead less
Statistical Methods of Model Fitting and Segmentation in Computer Vision. Electronic sensors such as cameras and lasers can provide a rich source of information about the position, shape, and motion of objects around us. However, to extract this information in a reliable, automatic, and accurate way requires a sophisticated statistical theory of the process. Example applications include: video surveillance (better automatic detection of moving people and vehicles and of characterising what those ....Statistical Methods of Model Fitting and Segmentation in Computer Vision. Electronic sensors such as cameras and lasers can provide a rich source of information about the position, shape, and motion of objects around us. However, to extract this information in a reliable, automatic, and accurate way requires a sophisticated statistical theory of the process. Example applications include: video surveillance (better automatic detection of moving people and vehicles and of characterising what those people and vehicles are doing), industrial prototyping and inspection (measuring the size and shape of objects), urban planning (laser scanning streetscapes to create computer models of cities), entertainment industry (movie special effects and games), etc. Read moreRead less
Left to right is front to back: attentional distortions in near and far space for healthy and clinical populations. We are investigating a perceptual bias that makes people think objects right in front of them are actually slightly to the right but objects far away are slightly to the left. This project will help understand why this happens, to help reduce traffic collisions and help people with brain damage that causes similar perceptual biases.
Attentional asymmetries for navigation in healthy and clinical groups. This project plans to investigate how differences in attentional capacity between the left and right sides of the brain affect the ability to walk or manoeuvre vehicles between obstacles. To navigate our environment and avoid obstacles, we need to attend to stimuli that are important and ignore those that are not. Unfortunately, the brain’s attentional capacity is limited, which can result in errors and collisions. Using the ....Attentional asymmetries for navigation in healthy and clinical groups. This project plans to investigate how differences in attentional capacity between the left and right sides of the brain affect the ability to walk or manoeuvre vehicles between obstacles. To navigate our environment and avoid obstacles, we need to attend to stimuli that are important and ignore those that are not. Unfortunately, the brain’s attentional capacity is limited, which can result in errors and collisions. Using the techniques of cognitive neuroscience, the project aims to provide a better understanding of the cognitive and neural mechanisms that govern attention in an applied setting. It expects to identify the factors that exacerbate lapses in attention and collisions. The effect of everyday impediments such as mobile phones, alcohol and fatigue will be investigated together with means of minimising these attentional lapses and improving safety.Read moreRead less
XML Views of Relational Databases: Semantics and Update Problems. XML is the standard for representing, publishing and exchanging data over the Internet and relational database is the dominant technology for data management. Updating XML views over relational data is fundamental to bring these two technologies together to serve Internet-based applications. Australia has been a leading country in both developing and applying internet technologies. The theoretic outcomes of this project will contr ....XML Views of Relational Databases: Semantics and Update Problems. XML is the standard for representing, publishing and exchanging data over the Internet and relational database is the dominant technology for data management. Updating XML views over relational data is fundamental to bring these two technologies together to serve Internet-based applications. Australia has been a leading country in both developing and applying internet technologies. The theoretic outcomes of this project will contribute to the advance in database and web research communities and establish us as an internationally leading group in this research area. The technological outcomes will help organisations in Australia effectively and efficiently conduct e-Business on the Internet. Read moreRead less
Improved image analysis: maximised statistical use of geometry/shape constraints. This project will improve image analysis to apply such applications as 3D street-scape reconstruction, synthetic inserts into video for special effects, autonomous navigation, and scene understanding. It will do so by maximally exploiting the geometry of planar surfaces (e.g. walls) and straight lines and other simple geometric shapes.
Visual tracking of multiple objects: A stochastic geometrical approach. Reliable real-time visual multiple-object tracking techniques will open up new applications that enhance the quality of life such as driving safety, traffic monitoring, home security, security and surveillance of public facilities. These new applications have huge commercial potentials, and the technology developed from this project will provide the catalyst for vibrant new industries to grow. In addition, the expertise deve ....Visual tracking of multiple objects: A stochastic geometrical approach. Reliable real-time visual multiple-object tracking techniques will open up new applications that enhance the quality of life such as driving safety, traffic monitoring, home security, security and surveillance of public facilities. These new applications have huge commercial potentials, and the technology developed from this project will provide the catalyst for vibrant new industries to grow. In addition, the expertise developed from the project will provide a competitive edge for Australian industries in aerospace, oceanography, robotics, remote sensing, and biomedical engineering. Read moreRead less
Hierarchical information processing in the primate visual cortex. This project aims to understand how visual information is transformed across hierarchical levels in the brain. Neuroscientists have long recognised that the visual cortex can be conceptualised as a hierarchical processing network. This became apparent when learning algorithms based on hierarchical networks ("deep learning") changed artificial intelligence. This project will combine high-throughput electrophysiology with analytical ....Hierarchical information processing in the primate visual cortex. This project aims to understand how visual information is transformed across hierarchical levels in the brain. Neuroscientists have long recognised that the visual cortex can be conceptualised as a hierarchical processing network. This became apparent when learning algorithms based on hierarchical networks ("deep learning") changed artificial intelligence. This project will combine high-throughput electrophysiology with analytical tools adopted from deep learning. By explaining the physiological properties of higher-level neurons in terms of hierarchical networks, the project expects to address long standing questions in neuroscience, and provide insights on biological hierarchical computation.Read moreRead less
Active Visual Navigation in an Unexplored Environment. This project will develop a new method for robotic navigation in which goals can be specified at a much higher level of abstraction than has previously been possible. This will be achieved using deep learning to make informed predictions about a scene layout, and navigating as an active observer in which the predictions informs actions. The outcome will be robotic agents capable of effective and efficient navigation and operation in previous ....Active Visual Navigation in an Unexplored Environment. This project will develop a new method for robotic navigation in which goals can be specified at a much higher level of abstraction than has previously been possible. This will be achieved using deep learning to make informed predictions about a scene layout, and navigating as an active observer in which the predictions informs actions. The outcome will be robotic agents capable of effective and efficient navigation and operation in previously unseen environments, and the ability to control such agents with more human-like instructions. Such capabilities are desirable, and in some cases essential, for autonomous robots in a variety of important application areas including automated warehousing and high-level control of autonomous vehicles. Read moreRead less