Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354513
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000.00
Summary
The Computational Processing of Human Language. Language is what makes us distinctly human; consequently, language attracts interest from many fields of research, particularly linguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. Moreover, language is the primary medium for the storage and dissemination of knowledge, a fact that has drawn many computer scientists to attempt to process, analyse and understand language. This network will bridge the many disciplines that are concerned with language, ex ....The Computational Processing of Human Language. Language is what makes us distinctly human; consequently, language attracts interest from many fields of research, particularly linguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. Moreover, language is the primary medium for the storage and dissemination of knowledge, a fact that has drawn many computer scientists to attempt to process, analyse and understand language. This network will bridge the many disciplines that are concerned with language, explore new ways in which computational models inform our understanding of human languages, and exploit new opportunities for applying theories of language in the development of human language technologies.Read moreRead less
Rethinking auditory alarms. This project aims to investigate whether auditory displays that give listeners background information about the status of monitored processes will lead to better situation awareness than conventional auditory alarms. Recent efforts to combat alarm fatigue by reducing auditory alarms may cause listeners to lose awareness of early process deterioration and its context. This project will investigate benefits of intermittent displays summarising process status with sound ....Rethinking auditory alarms. This project aims to investigate whether auditory displays that give listeners background information about the status of monitored processes will lead to better situation awareness than conventional auditory alarms. Recent efforts to combat alarm fatigue by reducing auditory alarms may cause listeners to lose awareness of early process deterioration and its context. This project will investigate benefits of intermittent displays summarising process status with sound or time-compressed speech while participants perform specific ongoing tasks. Anticipated outcomes are safer, more effective and better tolerated ways of monitoring processes than conventional auditory alarms. Results apply to healthcare, transportation and process industries.Read moreRead less
Interruptions, work coordination, and resilience. Evidence is emerging of an association between the number of workplace interruptions that hospital clinicians experience and outcomes such as clinical errors that could cause patient harm. However there is still no direct evidence that interruptions cause clinical errors. This project seeks such evidence, but also views interruptions as an integral part of normal work coordination. This project investigates the origin and need for interruptions, ....Interruptions, work coordination, and resilience. Evidence is emerging of an association between the number of workplace interruptions that hospital clinicians experience and outcomes such as clinical errors that could cause patient harm. However there is still no direct evidence that interruptions cause clinical errors. This project seeks such evidence, but also views interruptions as an integral part of normal work coordination. This project investigates the origin and need for interruptions, tests causal connections between interruptions and errors, and explores workplace improvements as a means to handle concerns about interruptions. This research will provide a solid basis from which clinical leaders can formulate policy about distractions and interruptions in the healthcare workplace. Read moreRead less
Sonification and Multiple-Patient Monitoring. Auditory alarms on medical equipment are meant to save lives. If there are too many nuisance alarms, though, staff become unresponsive to all alarms: this is "alarm fatigue". Alarm fatigue can lead to patient harm or even death, particularly if staff must divide their attention across multiple patients. This project conjectures that a form of auditory display called sonification might be extended to multiple-patient monitoring. In a series of three s ....Sonification and Multiple-Patient Monitoring. Auditory alarms on medical equipment are meant to save lives. If there are too many nuisance alarms, though, staff become unresponsive to all alarms: this is "alarm fatigue". Alarm fatigue can lead to patient harm or even death, particularly if staff must divide their attention across multiple patients. This project conjectures that a form of auditory display called sonification might be extended to multiple-patient monitoring. In a series of three studies this project will develop and test novel sonifications for remote monitoring of multiple patients. It also tests whether a head-worn display unit can help staff orient auditory attention effectively across multiple patients without distracting from current tasks. Outcomes will offer solutions to alarm fatigue.Read moreRead less
Changing the lives of young Australians with emotional disorders using a simple three-step treatment based on cognitive-neuroscience insights. Anxiety and depression are emotional disorders that affect many Australian children and place them at risk of lifelong impairment. The latest evidence from cognitive science and neuroscience shows that these children have maladaptive thinking strategies that lead to avoidance and withdrawal. Capitalising on these basic science insights, this project exami ....Changing the lives of young Australians with emotional disorders using a simple three-step treatment based on cognitive-neuroscience insights. Anxiety and depression are emotional disorders that affect many Australian children and place them at risk of lifelong impairment. The latest evidence from cognitive science and neuroscience shows that these children have maladaptive thinking strategies that lead to avoidance and withdrawal. Capitalising on these basic science insights, this project examines a new treatment, referred to as the 'Emotional Flexibility Program', that targets childhood distress in three simple steps over just four weeks of treatment. This treatment could change the way childhood emotional disorders are treated and prevented, improve the quality of life for thousands of young Australians, and offset the associated economic burden of disease.Read moreRead less
Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back. Episodic Volunteering for Non-Profits. This project seeks to improve the policy and practice of volunteer involvement in the non-profit sector. Non-profit organisations rely on volunteers, and their capacity to deliver vital community services is threatened by the decrease in long-term, continuous volunteering and increase in episodic (short-term, flexible) volunteering. The interdisciplinary project aims to use mixed methods (qualitative interviews and quantitat ....Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back. Episodic Volunteering for Non-Profits. This project seeks to improve the policy and practice of volunteer involvement in the non-profit sector. Non-profit organisations rely on volunteers, and their capacity to deliver vital community services is threatened by the decrease in long-term, continuous volunteering and increase in episodic (short-term, flexible) volunteering. The interdisciplinary project aims to use mixed methods (qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys) and multiple perspectives (volunteers and staff who manage them) to develop an episodic volunteering definition; to explore the economic and social impact of episodic volunteering, and to develop a theoretical model of volunteer retention. The findings are intended to provide an evidence base and recommendations for non-profit sector policy and practice.Read moreRead less
Social cognitive change in late adulthood. This project aims to develop and test a model of how normal adult ageing affects the ability to perceive and interpret social cues, a critical predictor of social competency and well-being, and identify the most important determinants of any age-related changes. This project predicts that older adults who have the greatest difficulties perceiving and interpreting social cues will also have the poorest social function and well-being, so better understand ....Social cognitive change in late adulthood. This project aims to develop and test a model of how normal adult ageing affects the ability to perceive and interpret social cues, a critical predictor of social competency and well-being, and identify the most important determinants of any age-related changes. This project predicts that older adults who have the greatest difficulties perceiving and interpreting social cues will also have the poorest social function and well-being, so better understanding the mechanistic factors that drive resilience and risk for these difficulties is expected to have direct and important implications for Australia’s growing older adult community.Read moreRead less
The antecedents and outcomes of affective and cognitive readiness for organisational change. This project aims to understand employees' readiness for organisational change. It identifies positive beliefs and positive emotional experiences as key aspects of readiness for change. The project focuses on individuals' personality, workplace characteristics, and characteristics of organisational change events as influencing readiness for change.
A multidimensional model of social cognitive ageing. This project aims to develop and test a model of how normal adult ageing affects the critical ability to perceive, interpret and process social information. By using an innovative approach that integrates laboratory-based assessments with measures of real-life social behaviour, this project expects to generate novel insights into how ageing affects a range of important social cognitive skills, as well as when and why any age-related difficulti ....A multidimensional model of social cognitive ageing. This project aims to develop and test a model of how normal adult ageing affects the critical ability to perceive, interpret and process social information. By using an innovative approach that integrates laboratory-based assessments with measures of real-life social behaviour, this project expects to generate novel insights into how ageing affects a range of important social cognitive skills, as well as when and why any age-related difficulties emerge. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of the factors that drive resilience and risk for social cognitive difficulties in late adulthood, with direct implications for promoting social engagement and preventing social detachment in Australia’s growing older adult community.Read moreRead less