Investigating imprecision in preferences and its possible consequences for economics and economic choices. When people's preferences are not clear, their choices become variable and susceptible to theoretically irrelevant influences. Examples can be found in surveys of preferences intended to inform public policy in areas such as health, safety and the environment. Understanding the nature of imprecision in people's values and choices is also likely to be crucial for consumers' ability to advan ....Investigating imprecision in preferences and its possible consequences for economics and economic choices. When people's preferences are not clear, their choices become variable and susceptible to theoretically irrelevant influences. Examples can be found in surveys of preferences intended to inform public policy in areas such as health, safety and the environment. Understanding the nature of imprecision in people's values and choices is also likely to be crucial for consumers' ability to advance their interests in our complex, choice-filled society. We plan to draw out some of the implications of our experimental work on preference imprecision for consumer behaviour and existing business practices, including the regulation of fair trading.Read moreRead less
Theoretically-motivated Long-term Internet Network Adoption Based on Short Time-series: Understanding the Diffusion of an Enabling Network Technology. A recent Government policy concerns innovation as a driver of long-term industry growth and a major determinant of global competitiveness. In particular, the Internet is a ?backbone? infrastructure for the conduct e-commerce, and enables efficiency benefits and product innovations to be realized in other sectors, e.g., banking, finance, health and ....Theoretically-motivated Long-term Internet Network Adoption Based on Short Time-series: Understanding the Diffusion of an Enabling Network Technology. A recent Government policy concerns innovation as a driver of long-term industry growth and a major determinant of global competitiveness. In particular, the Internet is a ?backbone? infrastructure for the conduct e-commerce, and enables efficiency benefits and product innovations to be realized in other sectors, e.g., banking, finance, health and tourism. This study estimates the network effect critical to forecasting Internet growth. Moreover, a structural model enhances understanding of underlying Internet dynamics and impacts on general economic conditions. Importantly, methods developed here apply to any network industry, and many non-network industries characterised by strong complementarity relations.Read moreRead less
International Comparisons of Consumption, Incomes and Prices. This project will provide insights into the workings of the world economy, and how it might change in the future. This will be beneficial to the Australian economy as the role of international trade in goods, people and capital is likely to become even more important to us in the future. The project will also enhance Australia's reputation for producing high-level research of both a fundamental and applied nature in consumption econ ....International Comparisons of Consumption, Incomes and Prices. This project will provide insights into the workings of the world economy, and how it might change in the future. This will be beneficial to the Australian economy as the role of international trade in goods, people and capital is likely to become even more important to us in the future. The project will also enhance Australia's reputation for producing high-level research of both a fundamental and applied nature in consumption economics and international economics. It is hoped that the training of research students will be a further benefit of the project.Read moreRead less
Sustainable cooperative enterprise: an investigation into the factors influencing the sustainability and competitiveness of cooperative enterprises. From a national perspective the top 100 Co-operative enterprises control a combined turnover of around $20 billion and provide employment and economic benefits to many thousands of people across both regional and rural Australia. In Western Australia (WA) there are around 70 Co-operatives working across a wide range of industries including fishing, ....Sustainable cooperative enterprise: an investigation into the factors influencing the sustainability and competitiveness of cooperative enterprises. From a national perspective the top 100 Co-operative enterprises control a combined turnover of around $20 billion and provide employment and economic benefits to many thousands of people across both regional and rural Australia. In Western Australia (WA) there are around 70 Co-operatives working across a wide range of industries including fishing, farming, retailing and services sectors. Despite their significance, there is relatively little research available on drivers of the Co-operative business model and what makes it both unique and competitive. This project will address these issues and assist Co-operatives WA to prepare for the introduction of new state legislation and provide research of benefit to Co-operatives at the national level.Read moreRead less
The future of work and the economic well-being of women in the Australian labour market, 1981 to 2001. Australia is in the midst of fundamental political, economic and social change leading some in the community to question the benefits of micro-economic reform. Others question the future of work; labour market projections for 2015 show more women than men in employment, raising the spectre of further social and economic change. This project aims to shed some light on the debate over the future ....The future of work and the economic well-being of women in the Australian labour market, 1981 to 2001. Australia is in the midst of fundamental political, economic and social change leading some in the community to question the benefits of micro-economic reform. Others question the future of work; labour market projections for 2015 show more women than men in employment, raising the spectre of further social and economic change. This project aims to shed some light on the debate over the future of work and inform labour market policy for the 'new economy'. Our capacity to understand the future requires knowledge of previous developments, trends, turning points etc. Using data from 1981-2001 the study will examine key dimensions of labour market change, particularly as it affects women. The research should lead to several publications and a manuscript for a book.Read moreRead less
New Regionalism and the Dynamics of Local Economies. The economic development of Australia's regions is of ongoing concern and importance to governments, communities and businesses. This research will provide new insights into the factors underpinning local economic growth, and the extent to which these are supported or otherwise by emerging approaches in regional policy and practice. This is especially important given the need to ensure the effectiveness regional and local development strategie ....New Regionalism and the Dynamics of Local Economies. The economic development of Australia's regions is of ongoing concern and importance to governments, communities and businesses. This research will provide new insights into the factors underpinning local economic growth, and the extent to which these are supported or otherwise by emerging approaches in regional policy and practice. This is especially important given the need to ensure the effectiveness regional and local development strategies. By analysing the dynamics of local economies in their policy context, the research will offer development strategies that will underpin economically sustainable businesses, localities and regions. This has the potential to lead to more productive and prosperous regional and local economies.Read moreRead less
Numerical Algorithms for Constructing Feedback Control Laws. Many decision making problems in engineering, finance and management are governed by optimal feedback control systems. These systems are normally too complex to be solved by conventional numerical methods. In this project, we propose to develop novel numerical algorithms for constructing feedback control laws. We will also investigate the procatical significance of these algorithms for solving real-world problems. The outcome of the pr ....Numerical Algorithms for Constructing Feedback Control Laws. Many decision making problems in engineering, finance and management are governed by optimal feedback control systems. These systems are normally too complex to be solved by conventional numerical methods. In this project, we propose to develop novel numerical algorithms for constructing feedback control laws. We will also investigate the procatical significance of these algorithms for solving real-world problems. The outcome of the project will provide efficient and accurate tools for constructing feedback laws in high dimensions.Read moreRead less
Philosophical Foundations of Architectural Discourse. Philosophy is involved with architectural theory and practice morally as well as aesthetically. This project examines 'integrity,' 'identity' and 'character' as concepts arising out of concerns with value and commitment in moral philosophy and architecture. Rather than ethics pasted on to a profession, it discusses ways in which moral philosophy and architecture inform one another by analysing ways in which moral concepts ramify architectural ....Philosophical Foundations of Architectural Discourse. Philosophy is involved with architectural theory and practice morally as well as aesthetically. This project examines 'integrity,' 'identity' and 'character' as concepts arising out of concerns with value and commitment in moral philosophy and architecture. Rather than ethics pasted on to a profession, it discusses ways in which moral philosophy and architecture inform one another by analysing ways in which moral concepts ramify architectural practice. This project seeks to establish the foundations of a new discipline. Research will explore how architectural language - references to coherency and enclosure, planning and the designed whole - is implicit in philosophical concerns for moral integrity. This project aims to construct new ways of thinking through design, that is, to consider norms of human habitation more critically.
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Optimal Control Computation and Analysis of Switched Systems with State and Control Constraints. DC/DC converters are widely used in power supply systems and hybrid power systems generate cleaner energy. Achieving optimum performance in these applications has high commercial and environmental impacts. New optimal control problems for such practical problems will be formulated and new unified optimization theory and methods for these optimal control problems will be obtained. The outcomes will en ....Optimal Control Computation and Analysis of Switched Systems with State and Control Constraints. DC/DC converters are widely used in power supply systems and hybrid power systems generate cleaner energy. Achieving optimum performance in these applications has high commercial and environmental impacts. New optimal control problems for such practical problems will be formulated and new unified optimization theory and methods for these optimal control problems will be obtained. The outcomes will enhance Australia's reputation in this cutting edge research, and contribute to achieving optimal performance of high commercial and environmental value applications. It will also facilitate international collaboration, and provide an excellent opportunity for research training.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0561219
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,362,295.00
Summary
Western Australian Supercomputer Program (WASP). The simulation and understanding of real biological and physical systems, at the level enabling significant and usable insights, requires teraflop+ computing. The rate-determining step in the next generation of analysis and modelling calculations requires access to massively parallel supercomputers. In Western Australia, there are a number of critical and unique projects that are totally dependant on such facilities. The Western Australian Supe ....Western Australian Supercomputer Program (WASP). The simulation and understanding of real biological and physical systems, at the level enabling significant and usable insights, requires teraflop+ computing. The rate-determining step in the next generation of analysis and modelling calculations requires access to massively parallel supercomputers. In Western Australia, there are a number of critical and unique projects that are totally dependant on such facilities. The Western Australian Supercomputer Program (WASP) will provide a quantum advance to computationally-intensive scientific research, as well as to world-class visualisation and data-management resources for academic and business communities, both nationally and internationally.Read moreRead less