Numerical and experimental study of pounding damage of adjacent bridge structures to spatially varying earthquake ground motions. Bridge damage in an earthquake prevents rescue personnel and equipment from quick access to the affected area. Repairing or replacing a damaged bridge and the increased commuting time after the earthquake may have a significant impact on the economy and life of the general public. This project will develop techniques for earthquake-resistant bridge design.
Scalable Robust Video Surveillance over Constrained Networks. Real-time monitoring of large numbers of people is becoming increasingly important for applications such as efficient service delivery and security against both common crime and terrorism. The use of human operators for such tasks is infeasible due to the large amount of data collected. Existing autonomous video surveillance systems are prone to high numbers of false alarms and often require expensive hardware. This proposal seeks ....Scalable Robust Video Surveillance over Constrained Networks. Real-time monitoring of large numbers of people is becoming increasingly important for applications such as efficient service delivery and security against both common crime and terrorism. The use of human operators for such tasks is infeasible due to the large amount of data collected. Existing autonomous video surveillance systems are prone to high numbers of false alarms and often require expensive hardware. This proposal seeks to address both difficulties by using rigorous statistical signal processing methods to optimally fuse information from a network of low-cost cameras.Read moreRead less
Study of Blast Resistance Capacity of Basalt Fibre Strengthened Structures. This project plans to investigate the dynamic response of basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) reinforced structures against blast loading. Critical infrastructures such as embassy buildings, high-rise building, bridges and defence facilities are intensively targeted by increasing terrorist activities or accidental explosions. BFRP is a promising material for such structures because it is cheaper than carbon fibre and ....Study of Blast Resistance Capacity of Basalt Fibre Strengthened Structures. This project plans to investigate the dynamic response of basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) reinforced structures against blast loading. Critical infrastructures such as embassy buildings, high-rise building, bridges and defence facilities are intensively targeted by increasing terrorist activities or accidental explosions. BFRP is a promising material for such structures because it is cheaper than carbon fibre and has better physico-mechanical properties than glass fibre. However, there has been very limited study of the effectiveness of BFRP strengthening on structure blast-loading resistant capacities. This project aims to perform numerical and experimental studies to support the development of BFRP applications in strengthening structures against blast loads.Read moreRead less
Thermal enhancement strategies and development of a high-performance micro-scale heat exchanger for thermoelectric refrigeration with large cooling loads. Traditional refrigeration essentially utilises CFC-refrigerants which are potent atmospheric pollutants causing widespread ecological damage. Devoid of such adversities, electronic heat pumping mechanism of thermoelectric principle offers a practical ?CFC-free? alternative for conventional cooling methods. While the current thermoelectric te ....Thermal enhancement strategies and development of a high-performance micro-scale heat exchanger for thermoelectric refrigeration with large cooling loads. Traditional refrigeration essentially utilises CFC-refrigerants which are potent atmospheric pollutants causing widespread ecological damage. Devoid of such adversities, electronic heat pumping mechanism of thermoelectric principle offers a practical ?CFC-free? alternative for conventional cooling methods. While the current thermoelectric technology adequately meets light cooling demand, its potential for heavy-duty refrigeration is critically undermined by ill-developed methods for dissipating heat from thermoelectric modules to coolants, and remains grossly under-utilised. The proposed work will devise novel heat transfer techniques for raising thermoelectric cooling thresholds to suit large heat loads and develop a thermally enhanced micro-scale heat exchanger for application in commercial thermoelectric refrigeration.Read moreRead less
A Roadmap for Greening Existing Australian Housing. The project will minimise the impact of the Greenhouse Pollution Reduction Scheme and anticipated rises in water costs on the householders. It will assist the consumers and the building industry in evaluating the environmental and economic costs and benefits of specific retrofitting actions for building envelope and major fixed appliances (thermal insulation, glazing, air infiltration, hot water, heating/cooling, lighting, low water flow and wa ....A Roadmap for Greening Existing Australian Housing. The project will minimise the impact of the Greenhouse Pollution Reduction Scheme and anticipated rises in water costs on the householders. It will assist the consumers and the building industry in evaluating the environmental and economic costs and benefits of specific retrofitting actions for building envelope and major fixed appliances (thermal insulation, glazing, air infiltration, hot water, heating/cooling, lighting, low water flow and water reuse appliances, and solar photovoltaic systems). In addition to assisting a burgeoning renovation industry, the project will enable accurate assessment of the impacts of the Green Loans Program and guide future national and local energy and water reduction policies. Read moreRead less
An Integrated Proteomic and Bioinformatic Approach for Classifying Raw and Cooked Fish. Truth in labelling of foodstuffs is an international concern. In Australia, one of the most vulnerable industries is fishing. The fishing industry and the CSIRO have pioneered standardized fish names, but to date there is no rapid test that can provide answers that are better than 'yes' or 'no' to those who seek to enforce health and consumer regulations or provide provenance data to an industry valued at ....An Integrated Proteomic and Bioinformatic Approach for Classifying Raw and Cooked Fish. Truth in labelling of foodstuffs is an international concern. In Australia, one of the most vulnerable industries is fishing. The fishing industry and the CSIRO have pioneered standardized fish names, but to date there is no rapid test that can provide answers that are better than 'yes' or 'no' to those who seek to enforce health and consumer regulations or provide provenance data to an industry valued at $2.3Billion.
This project will develop a robust testing method based on an integrated proteomic and bioinformatics system that will ensure truth in labelling of raw and cooked fish samples for the benefit of Australia's fishing industry.Read moreRead less
Evaluating the impact of Indigenous preferential procurement programs. This project aims to conduct a multi-disciplinary, multi-method evaluation of the implementation and impacts of Indigenous preferential procurement programs (IPPPs) on Indigenous businesses, Indigenous communities, procurers’ operations and outcomes. Bringing together researchers in partnership with corporate and government procurers, Indigenous data custodians and the Australian Bureau of Statistics we aim to produce a signi ....Evaluating the impact of Indigenous preferential procurement programs. This project aims to conduct a multi-disciplinary, multi-method evaluation of the implementation and impacts of Indigenous preferential procurement programs (IPPPs) on Indigenous businesses, Indigenous communities, procurers’ operations and outcomes. Bringing together researchers in partnership with corporate and government procurers, Indigenous data custodians and the Australian Bureau of Statistics we aim to produce a significant national program evaluation of IPPPs and the impact at the community level. The project aims to highlight ways in which IPPPs can be [re]designed to reduce implementation friction, facilitate access and participation among Indigenous businesses and help guarantee positive effects on Indigenous communities.Read moreRead less
Exploring Wellbeing Outcomes in the Aquatic and Recreation Industry. This project aims to investigate the impact on individual wellbeing through use of public aquatic and recreation centres in Australia. Through the use of mixed methods across multiple locations, the project expects to generate new knowledge on the effect on users of different management and service models for the provision of aquatic and recreational infrastructure. Expected outcomes include a quantifiable measure of social and ....Exploring Wellbeing Outcomes in the Aquatic and Recreation Industry. This project aims to investigate the impact on individual wellbeing through use of public aquatic and recreation centres in Australia. Through the use of mixed methods across multiple locations, the project expects to generate new knowledge on the effect on users of different management and service models for the provision of aquatic and recreational infrastructure. Expected outcomes include a quantifiable measure of social and emotional wellbeing that can be utilised by centre management and government. This will help assessment of best practice for maximising community wellbeing, and can guide investment decisions by state and local government.Read moreRead less
Sustainable environmental management in Australian small firms. Small firms are the ‘backbone’ of the Australian economy but they can also have a significant negative impact on the environment. Helping them to increase their energy efficiency through an innovative intervention program will make a positive contribution to Australia’s environmental performance.
Advanced glazing systems for solar energy harvesting and radiation control. Development of advanced energy-saving glass and glazings capable of generating electricity is expected to lead towards new products of significant commercial potential. The outcomes of this project undertaken by Edith Cowan University and Tropiglas will raise the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and vehicles to levels not possible with other technologies.