Facilitating intuitive interaction with complex devices for older users. Poorly designed interfaces impact more strongly on older people. Helping designers to make more intuitive interfaces for older community members has great potential for improving their lives and health, and thus benefiting the community generally. Making modern devices easier for older people to use will allow them to participate more fully in society and/or the workplace. This will also help to prevent them from becoming i ....Facilitating intuitive interaction with complex devices for older users. Poorly designed interfaces impact more strongly on older people. Helping designers to make more intuitive interfaces for older community members has great potential for improving their lives and health, and thus benefiting the community generally. Making modern devices easier for older people to use will allow them to participate more fully in society and/or the workplace. This will also help to prevent them from becoming isolated and possibly depressed. This project will apply intuitive interaction to healthcare devices that older people use, which can save costly mistakes and even lives.Read moreRead less
Banks, endogenous network formations and financial crisis. This project aims to understand how endogenous network formations affect financial crisis and how such situations can be made into a coherent microeconomic model of financial network formations using modern tools in economics. The project intends to study the properties of financial systems in the presence of possible financial crisis, conduct applied economic policy analysis and provide policy implications for lifting productivity and e ....Banks, endogenous network formations and financial crisis. This project aims to understand how endogenous network formations affect financial crisis and how such situations can be made into a coherent microeconomic model of financial network formations using modern tools in economics. The project intends to study the properties of financial systems in the presence of possible financial crisis, conduct applied economic policy analysis and provide policy implications for lifting productivity and economic growth. The projects expected outcomes would contribute to the theoretical understanding of financial crisis and consequences in financial markets as well as the economy and public policy. In the longer term, the project should benefit the health of the financial system.Read moreRead less
Superannuation and divorce in Australia: an evaluation of post-reform legal practice and property settlement outcomes. The project evaluates the impact of the new Family Law Legislation Amendment (Superannunation) Act 2001, which includes superannuation as property that can be split between the parties. It investigates the ways in which the Courts, legal advisers and divorcing parties take superannuation into account when marriages end. This research assumes, on the basis of previous studies, th ....Superannuation and divorce in Australia: an evaluation of post-reform legal practice and property settlement outcomes. The project evaluates the impact of the new Family Law Legislation Amendment (Superannunation) Act 2001, which includes superannuation as property that can be split between the parties. It investigates the ways in which the Courts, legal advisers and divorcing parties take superannuation into account when marriages end. This research assumes, on the basis of previous studies, that these groups will have difficulties applying this reform in practice, and that various procedural, social and financial factors may limit the broad application of this reform. This research is crucial to ensure that the reform results in improved financial security during retirement - especially for women.Read moreRead less
Designing for uncertainty in conservation auctions. Economic theory and case study evidence show that tenders or auctions are more efficient than grant mechanisms for encouraging landholders to produce environmental outcomes on private land. These studies have ignored the effects of uncertainty of both bidders and administrators about factors such as landholder participation and the level of environmental benefits that will be delivered. This project will test whether distributing environmental ....Designing for uncertainty in conservation auctions. Economic theory and case study evidence show that tenders or auctions are more efficient than grant mechanisms for encouraging landholders to produce environmental outcomes on private land. These studies have ignored the effects of uncertainty of both bidders and administrators about factors such as landholder participation and the level of environmental benefits that will be delivered. This project will test whether distributing environmental funds via tenders is still efficient when uncertainty about various important factors is considered. Results from this research are expected to inform the cost effective design of systems to pay landholders for the provision of environmental benefits even when there is high uncertainty.Read moreRead less
Developmental Pathways to Intimate Partner Homicide: Understanding Individual and Situational Dimensions. Intimate partner homicide is a serious public health and safety issue. This project will have several benefits. The findings will extend understanding of pathways leading to partner homicide. The findings will contribute to improved decision-making models by police and social welfare agencies. With more valid information about the changing characteristics leading to partner homicide, the fin ....Developmental Pathways to Intimate Partner Homicide: Understanding Individual and Situational Dimensions. Intimate partner homicide is a serious public health and safety issue. This project will have several benefits. The findings will extend understanding of pathways leading to partner homicide. The findings will contribute to improved decision-making models by police and social welfare agencies. With more valid information about the changing characteristics leading to partner homicide, the findings will foster more effective and efficient responses. Additionally, the findings will inform victims of partner violence of risks related to escalation toward fatal outcomes and should facilitate help seeking behaviour. Collectively, project findings should expand understanding, improve service delivery and save lives.
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Economic efficiency and the provision of incentives for information acquisition and disclosure: a mechanism design approach. By uncovering what determines information acquisition, highlighting what allows experts and insiders to manipulate market outcomes, and studying the efficiency gains obtainable with the use of a variety of incentives schemes, this research will provide valuable insights for public policy concerning information diffusion and market transparency.
Building rule of law capacity in a transitional state: lessons from the Australian criminal justice assistance programme in Cambodia 1997-2007. Australian overseas aid has recently stressed funding better governance and security as pre-requisites to poverty reduction and economic development. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a long term legal assistance programme designed to strengthen the rule of law in a fragile state such as Cambodia. Police reform in fragile states has often failed ....Building rule of law capacity in a transitional state: lessons from the Australian criminal justice assistance programme in Cambodia 1997-2007. Australian overseas aid has recently stressed funding better governance and security as pre-requisites to poverty reduction and economic development. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a long term legal assistance programme designed to strengthen the rule of law in a fragile state such as Cambodia. Police reform in fragile states has often failed and lessons learnt by the CCJAP over the past 10 years will contribute to our knowledge about the best practices and strategies needed to improve security and governance in fragile states. Capacity building efforts to improve international law enforcement cooperation, especially in regard to counter-terrorism and transnational crime, will benefit from this review.Read moreRead less
Policing in a multicultural society. This project aims to explore how immigrants respond to police and to identify strategies police can use to improve relationships with immigrant communities. Police rely on the public to report victimisation, crime incidents and terrorist threats, but new immigrants can be reluctant to engage with police. This project will explore why immigrants disengage from police and examine how immigrants perceive and respond to procedural justice policing, an approach th ....Policing in a multicultural society. This project aims to explore how immigrants respond to police and to identify strategies police can use to improve relationships with immigrant communities. Police rely on the public to report victimisation, crime incidents and terrorist threats, but new immigrants can be reluctant to engage with police. This project will explore why immigrants disengage from police and examine how immigrants perceive and respond to procedural justice policing, an approach that emphasises respect, voice and fair treatment. It is anticipated the project outcomes will improve police relationships with immigrants and help to prevent crime and terrorism.Read moreRead less
Understanding and preventing youth sexual violence and abuse: an investigation of offender development, offending onset, and progression. Youth sexual violence and abuse poses serious threats to the health and well-being of Australian women and children. This project will investigate the development, onset and progression of youth sexual violence and abuse, and thereby contribute to its management and prevention.
A new strategy to enhance the performance of metal catalysts with sunlight. This project aims to develop photocatalysis of supported metal nanoparticles to drive various chemical synthesis reactions at moderate temperatures using sunlight. The nanostructures of plasmonic metals (gold, silver and copper) are used as light absorbers to concentrate the energy of incident light and generate intense electromagnetic field, which are utilised to promote the catalytic reactions on transition metals in t ....A new strategy to enhance the performance of metal catalysts with sunlight. This project aims to develop photocatalysis of supported metal nanoparticles to drive various chemical synthesis reactions at moderate temperatures using sunlight. The nanostructures of plasmonic metals (gold, silver and copper) are used as light absorbers to concentrate the energy of incident light and generate intense electromagnetic field, which are utilised to promote the catalytic reactions on transition metals in the photocatalysts. The mechanisms of these new photocatalytic processes will be defined. Successful completion of this project will result in new strategies for catalytic chemical synthesis and valuable knowledge within the areas of catalysis, conversion of solar energy to chemical energy, and nanomaterials.Read moreRead less