An Empirical Study of Agenda Setting in the High Court of Australia. This project aims to undertake the first comprehensive study of institutional and individual factors that facilitate and constrain access to judicial power via the High Court’s agenda setting process, special leave. Using quantitative methods, the project expects to generate new and advanced knowledge about the High Court’s role as the gatekeeper of judicial power. Expected outcomes include foundational knowledge on the nature ....An Empirical Study of Agenda Setting in the High Court of Australia. This project aims to undertake the first comprehensive study of institutional and individual factors that facilitate and constrain access to judicial power via the High Court’s agenda setting process, special leave. Using quantitative methods, the project expects to generate new and advanced knowledge about the High Court’s role as the gatekeeper of judicial power. Expected outcomes include foundational knowledge on the nature and scope of access to judicial power in Australia via policy reports, scholarly articles and datasets. This should provide significant benefits such as important insights on the impact and influence of justices, litigants, lawyers, and governments on High Court’s decisions to grant or deny special leave to appeal.Read moreRead less
Cellular and network basis of information processing in the mammalian visual system. The project aims to discover the strategies by which cells in the brain interact with each other to code the sensory input efficiently. It is expected that simultaneous recording of the activity of many neurones from the visual cortex of anaesthetised cats during visual stimulation will reveal how the biophysics of synaptic integration combined with excitatory and inhibitory inputs from different sources sculpt ....Cellular and network basis of information processing in the mammalian visual system. The project aims to discover the strategies by which cells in the brain interact with each other to code the sensory input efficiently. It is expected that simultaneous recording of the activity of many neurones from the visual cortex of anaesthetised cats during visual stimulation will reveal how the biophysics of synaptic integration combined with excitatory and inhibitory inputs from different sources sculpts the output of individual neurones. The experiments will be extended to the study of possible interactions between different areas of the brain and the study of mechanisms by which the cortical network and higher cognitive factors such as attention and memory might influence the coding of sensory information in awake animals.Read moreRead less
Adaptive data stream processing in heterogeneous distributed computing environments using real-time context. This project falls within the ARC research priority goal, Smart Information Use. The innovative contributions of this project through the development of adaptive data stream mining algorithms for heterogeneous devices will have an impact on a range of emerging application areas such as:
1. Meeting time-critical, intelligent information needs of the mobile workforce (e.g. mobile healthca ....Adaptive data stream processing in heterogeneous distributed computing environments using real-time context. This project falls within the ARC research priority goal, Smart Information Use. The innovative contributions of this project through the development of adaptive data stream mining algorithms for heterogeneous devices will have an impact on a range of emerging application areas such as:
1. Meeting time-critical, intelligent information needs of the mobile workforce (e.g. mobile healthcare professionals, stockbrokers). 2. Improving Intelligent Transportation Systems via in-vehicle analysis and crash prevention. 3. Facilitating 'on-board' analysis in sensors that monitor the environment and patients. The project will enhance Australia's leading international role in the area of data stream processing in distributed computing environments.Read moreRead less
Design of tuneable microstructures for additive manufacturing. The project intends to develop methods to tune the microstructure of materials in additive manufacturing so that components can be manufactured with maximum productivity and properties. Additive manufacturing is leading the mass customisation of manufacturing. Designed tunable microstructures enable structure and properties to be tailored for specific applications. One of the greatest challenges, however, is how to control the scale ....Design of tuneable microstructures for additive manufacturing. The project intends to develop methods to tune the microstructure of materials in additive manufacturing so that components can be manufactured with maximum productivity and properties. Additive manufacturing is leading the mass customisation of manufacturing. Designed tunable microstructures enable structure and properties to be tailored for specific applications. One of the greatest challenges, however, is how to control the scale and morphology of the microstructure. This project aims to use the interdependence model of grain refinement to control and design grain sizes. The project first plans to investigate the near-rapid solidification conditions in aluminium alloys. It then plans to re-design the harder-to-manufacture titanium alloys to improve grain size control.Read moreRead less
Business collective action, networks and discourse: a fiscal sociology of mining tax reform in Australia. The mining tax revolt in 2010 was a landmark event in government-business relations in Australia, acknowledged by multinational corporations and governments around the world for its broader ramifications. This project is the first systematic study of what happened, and its implications for our understanding of government-business relations.
From environmental monitoring to management: extracting knowledge about environmental events from sensor data. New, high-detail sources of environmental sensor data are useless without new methods for identifying patterns and extracting knowledge from that data. This project will develop improved techniques for interacting with environmental sensor data to assist environmental scientists and manager in understand the important events that are occurring.
Role of the superior colliculus in sensory processing. The ability of an organism to attend to, and orient towards, stimuli in the environment is critical for survival. In the mammalian brain, the principal brain region performing this function is the superior colliculus. Despite its importance, little is known about the role the superior colliculus plays in sensory perception. This project addresses this issue by leveraging revolutionary new recording techniques to determine how the superior co ....Role of the superior colliculus in sensory processing. The ability of an organism to attend to, and orient towards, stimuli in the environment is critical for survival. In the mammalian brain, the principal brain region performing this function is the superior colliculus. Despite its importance, little is known about the role the superior colliculus plays in sensory perception. This project addresses this issue by leveraging revolutionary new recording techniques to determine how the superior colliculus codes sensory information and ultimately drives behaviour. The outcomes will be of immediate benefit to scientists studying sensory processing and perceptual decision making, and will help keep Australia at the forefront of brain-inspired engineering and the neuroscience-based knowledge economy.Read moreRead less
Modelling star formation and feedback in the interstellar medium. Star formation is such a highly complex process in which turbulence, gravity, chemical evolution, magnetic fields and stellar feedback are coupled together that numerical models are needed to study star formation in detail. This project aims to combine them in a self-consistent model, enabling the most detailed comparison with observations possible to date.
Understanding the evolution of the alternation of generations in the land plant life cycle. This project will investigate the genetic basis and evolution of the land plant life cycle, in which both haploid and diploid phases consist of complex multicellular bodies. The project's findings, which will be made using two model laboratory plants, will be applicable to all plants and will help understand important processes such as pollen and seed production.
Nucleolus targeting by negative strand RNA viruses. Negative strand viruses (NSVs) include diverse animal pathogens that represent significant threats to Australian livestock industries and access to export markets. The project aims to investigate the interface formed by NSVs with cellular nucleoli in order to determine roles in viral manipulation of cell biology during infection. This project hopes to address a major gap in knowledge in virology regarding the fundamental biology of NSVs, and is ....Nucleolus targeting by negative strand RNA viruses. Negative strand viruses (NSVs) include diverse animal pathogens that represent significant threats to Australian livestock industries and access to export markets. The project aims to investigate the interface formed by NSVs with cellular nucleoli in order to determine roles in viral manipulation of cell biology during infection. This project hopes to address a major gap in knowledge in virology regarding the fundamental biology of NSVs, and is expected to redefine our understanding of the virus-host interactions formed by these important pathogens. By determining the mechanisms of NSV-nucleolus interaction, the project plans to also provide important information for the development of new vaccines/therapeutics for livestock to combat NSVs that target nucleoli.Read moreRead less