Developing key vision technology for automation of aquaculture factory. This project aims to investigate structural, coloured textural, and hyperspectral analysis approaches to achieve automated lobster molt-cycle staging and classification to the level required for commercial production. High labour cost, water contamination, and disease transmission are major barriers in Australian bay lobster aquaculture inhibiting its large scale production. Automation of the production process and reducing ....Developing key vision technology for automation of aquaculture factory. This project aims to investigate structural, coloured textural, and hyperspectral analysis approaches to achieve automated lobster molt-cycle staging and classification to the level required for commercial production. High labour cost, water contamination, and disease transmission are major barriers in Australian bay lobster aquaculture inhibiting its large scale production. Automation of the production process and reducing the human contact with animals are of high priority in the development of this Australian-led emerging industry. The project aims to develop technology to bring this world- first aquaculture factory to large scale production, and create new export opportunities for lobsters and production systems.Read moreRead less
Intercultural understanding in primary and secondary schools. What facilitates or impedes intercultural understanding in children, adolescents and schools? How can this be addressed? How can we know what makes a difference? This project answers these questions at the individual, school and national level using a novel cultural systems approach and methodological and technological innovations.
Airports of the Future. This project will enhance the capabilities of Australian airport operators to design and manage complex airport systems. Research outcomes will enable the identification of patterns of behaviour and will provide tools to manage airport effectiveness and balance conflicting security, economic and passenger-driven pressures. Outcomes will improve productivity, enhance capabilities for critical infrastructure protection, and lessen the cost of mandated security, estimated t ....Airports of the Future. This project will enhance the capabilities of Australian airport operators to design and manage complex airport systems. Research outcomes will enable the identification of patterns of behaviour and will provide tools to manage airport effectiveness and balance conflicting security, economic and passenger-driven pressures. Outcomes will improve productivity, enhance capabilities for critical infrastructure protection, and lessen the cost of mandated security, estimated to grow to $152M by 2010 for the five major Australian airports. The deliverables of this project will be transferable to other complex socio-technical systems providing the potential to transform a range of Australian critical infrastructure and transportation hubs.Read moreRead less
Generic Content-based News Picture Retrieval with Local Invariant Features. Image Retrieval searches for images from large databases whose visual content meets the requirements submitted by users. Besides directly benefiting the Partner Organization, this project will enable more efficient access to large picture repositories in news agencies and publishers, digital libraries and film archives. It will make public use of visual information much more convenient and economical. It will help securi ....Generic Content-based News Picture Retrieval with Local Invariant Features. Image Retrieval searches for images from large databases whose visual content meets the requirements submitted by users. Besides directly benefiting the Partner Organization, this project will enable more efficient access to large picture repositories in news agencies and publishers, digital libraries and film archives. It will make public use of visual information much more convenient and economical. It will help security officers to effortlessly and accurately find particular scenes from the images generated by a large closed-circuit TV networks. Also, the developed technology can be applied to tele-education and e-commerce. New algorithms developed in this project will benefit the Australian and world scientific communities.Read moreRead less
Improving wellbeing through student participation at school. Current evidence suggests child and youth participation in matters affecting their lives has many benefits, but little is known about how this is perceived and practiced in education. This research aims to improve knowledge about processes and outcomes of student participation at school, particularly in relation to improving wellbeing. The project is timely and significant because recent reforms in education now require a greater empha ....Improving wellbeing through student participation at school. Current evidence suggests child and youth participation in matters affecting their lives has many benefits, but little is known about how this is perceived and practiced in education. This research aims to improve knowledge about processes and outcomes of student participation at school, particularly in relation to improving wellbeing. The project is timely and significant because recent reforms in education now require a greater emphasis on engaging students more directly in decisions about their education, including those with special needs. Schools urgently require knowledge about the key elements of participation that impact on wellbeing and a tool for measuring and monitoring their performance in facilitating these elements.Read moreRead less
Regional Australia' skills shortages and high-skill refugees' employment . Regional Australia loses to cities thousands of professional and trade-related people whose skills cannot be replaced. Focusing on small and medium-size enterprises producing food and beverages, this project aims to determine whether refugee employment (i) is a strategic resource (ii) can alleviate these chronic regional skill shortages, and (iii) can be integrated in immigration policy. In doing so, it will for the firs ....Regional Australia' skills shortages and high-skill refugees' employment . Regional Australia loses to cities thousands of professional and trade-related people whose skills cannot be replaced. Focusing on small and medium-size enterprises producing food and beverages, this project aims to determine whether refugee employment (i) is a strategic resource (ii) can alleviate these chronic regional skill shortages, and (iii) can be integrated in immigration policy. In doing so, it will for the first time provide critical empirical evidence on the possible need to separate policy measures aimed at rural vs. urban employers. The outcomes will contribute to reducing the problem of critical skill shortages and wastage at once and do so with an eye to the needs to rural Australia – a key driver of the country’s exports. Read moreRead less
A theoretical framework for practical partial fingerprint identification. Fingerprints captured from a crime scene are often partial and poor quality which makes it difficult to identify the criminal suspects from large databases. This project will find mathematical models which can estimate the missing information located in the blank areas of a partial fingerprint and effectively identify it.
Policy Modelling for Ageing in Emerging Economies: The Case of Indonesia. This project, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Indonesian Planning Authority, will support major social and economic policy development in a rapidly ageing region. It will break new ground by developing a cutting-edge economic policy model reflecting salient features of ageing in emerging economies, taking into account the wider implications for education, employment, formalisation, growth, and retirement. It w ....Policy Modelling for Ageing in Emerging Economies: The Case of Indonesia. This project, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Indonesian Planning Authority, will support major social and economic policy development in a rapidly ageing region. It will break new ground by developing a cutting-edge economic policy model reflecting salient features of ageing in emerging economies, taking into account the wider implications for education, employment, formalisation, growth, and retirement. It will bring the armoury of policy analysis instruments available to these countries up to the standard now enjoyed by the developed world. Indonesia, on the brink of major pension reform, will be used as a test bed. Data sets will be developed to allow the model structure to be applied to other emerging economies in Asia. Read moreRead less
More than a Roof Overhead: Meeting the Need for a Sustainable Housing System in Remote Indigenous Communities. Many Indigenous Australians live in substandard and over-crowded accommodation, and experience poor health, education, family stability and child-safety outcomes as a result. The lack of improvement in this situation is largely due to levels of funding and approaches to construction and management inadequate to the scale of the problem. This situation is changing and new funding and po ....More than a Roof Overhead: Meeting the Need for a Sustainable Housing System in Remote Indigenous Communities. Many Indigenous Australians live in substandard and over-crowded accommodation, and experience poor health, education, family stability and child-safety outcomes as a result. The lack of improvement in this situation is largely due to levels of funding and approaches to construction and management inadequate to the scale of the problem. This situation is changing and new funding and policies are being established. The researchers will work alongside housing providers and selected Indigenous communities in Western Australia and Northern Territory to develop procurement, construction and housing management practices that will meet the critical need for more affordable, appropriate and sustainable housing.Read moreRead less
School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. This project aims to investigate the effect of State Education Departments’ policy interventions designed to improve school principals’ flagging wellbeing. Increasing competition, accountability and public scrutiny make principals stressed; since their influence on students is second only to teachers’, this threatens Australia’s socioeconomic outcomes. The project will map policy interventions to changes in princ ....School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. This project aims to investigate the effect of State Education Departments’ policy interventions designed to improve school principals’ flagging wellbeing. Increasing competition, accountability and public scrutiny make principals stressed; since their influence on students is second only to teachers’, this threatens Australia’s socioeconomic outcomes. The project will map policy interventions to changes in principals’ motivation and wellbeing, and share information about the most productive and cost effective interventions with key stakeholders across Australia. This research could reverse the declining wellbeing of Australia’s school leaders.Read moreRead less