Coupling tropical cyclone and climate physics with ocean waves. It is argued that without accounting for the wave effects directly, the physics of large-scale air-sea interactions is inaccurate and incomplete. The project will introduce explicit coupling of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic phenomena with the physics of surface waves which should lead to improved predictions of tropical cyclones and climate.
Algorithms and computation in four-dimensional topology. This project will establish Australia as a world leader in computational topology, particularly in the all-important areas of topology in three and four dimensions. In four dimensions this work will be truly groundbreaking; until now the field has seen little development due to the complexity of the algorithms and computations required, and the applicant is in the unique position of having the necessary tools to make significant progress ....Algorithms and computation in four-dimensional topology. This project will establish Australia as a world leader in computational topology, particularly in the all-important areas of topology in three and four dimensions. In four dimensions this work will be truly groundbreaking; until now the field has seen little development due to the complexity of the algorithms and computations required, and the applicant is in the unique position of having the necessary tools to make significant progress in a feasible time frame. In three dimensions this project will strengthen the distinguished computational topology community in Melbourne, led by pioneers such as Rubinstein, Goodman, Hodgson as well as the applicant himself.Read moreRead less
Macdonald polynomials: Combinatorics and representations. This proposal is part of the aim to build a world class research team in algebraic combinatorics and combinatorial representation theory at the University of Melbourne, led by the two CI.
These fields are currently experiencing very rapid growth and development, and a strong Australia based team will further enhance the country's strong reputation in combinatorics and algebra.
The project will also provide a perfect training ground fo ....Macdonald polynomials: Combinatorics and representations. This proposal is part of the aim to build a world class research team in algebraic combinatorics and combinatorial representation theory at the University of Melbourne, led by the two CI.
These fields are currently experiencing very rapid growth and development, and a strong Australia based team will further enhance the country's strong reputation in combinatorics and algebra.
The project will also provide a perfect training ground for Higher Degree Students with interests in pure mathematics as well as computer
algebra and symbolic computation.Read moreRead less
Statistical methods for detection of non-coding RNAs in eukaryote genomes. Understanding how eukaryotic cells work is a major goal of 21st century biology. A crucial step will be to catalogue the functional components of eukaryotic genomes. Australian researchers must be involved in this process at an early stage, in order to maximise commercial opportunities, attract quality researchers and position ourselves for further advances. This project will make major contributions to international effo ....Statistical methods for detection of non-coding RNAs in eukaryote genomes. Understanding how eukaryotic cells work is a major goal of 21st century biology. A crucial step will be to catalogue the functional components of eukaryotic genomes. Australian researchers must be involved in this process at an early stage, in order to maximise commercial opportunities, attract quality researchers and position ourselves for further advances. This project will make major contributions to international efforts in this area, via the development of statistical methods for segmenting genomes, classification of those segments, and study of the resulting classes. In the long term, enhanced understanding of eukaryotic cells will lead to breakthroughs in biology, and to medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural and scientific advances.Read moreRead less
Classification methods for providing personalised and class decisions. This project provides a novel approach to the clustering of multivariate samples on entities in a class that automatically matches the sample clusters across the entities, allowing for inter-sample variation between the samples in a class. The project aims to develop a widely applicable, mixture-model-based framework for the simultaneous clustering of multivariate samples with inter-sample variation in a class and for the mat ....Classification methods for providing personalised and class decisions. This project provides a novel approach to the clustering of multivariate samples on entities in a class that automatically matches the sample clusters across the entities, allowing for inter-sample variation between the samples in a class. The project aims to develop a widely applicable, mixture-model-based framework for the simultaneous clustering of multivariate samples with inter-sample variation in a class and for the matching of the clusters across the entities in the class. The project will use a statistical approach to automatically match the clusters, since the overall mixture model provides a template for the class. It will provide a basis for discriminating between different classes in addition to the identification of atypical data points within a sample and of anomalous samples within a class. Key applications include biological image analysis and the analysis of data in flow cytometry which is one of the fundamental research tools for the life scientist.Read moreRead less
Towards a climate theory of tropical cyclone formation. In Earth's current climate, about 80 to 90 tropical cyclones form every year around the globe, but the reasons why cyclones form at this rate are unknown. This project will use a combination of theoretical techniques and numerical simulation to elucidate the links between large-scale climate and the rate of tropical cyclone formation. A series of climate model experiments will be performed that also have the potential to improve confidence ....Towards a climate theory of tropical cyclone formation. In Earth's current climate, about 80 to 90 tropical cyclones form every year around the globe, but the reasons why cyclones form at this rate are unknown. This project will use a combination of theoretical techniques and numerical simulation to elucidate the links between large-scale climate and the rate of tropical cyclone formation. A series of climate model experiments will be performed that also have the potential to improve confidence in our predictions of tropical cyclone incidence in a future, changed climate.Read moreRead less
A Grid based platform for multi-scaled biological simulation. Heart disease currently affects over 3.5 million Australians. In 2006 it claimed the lives of almost 46,000 Australians (34% of all deaths). We will develop enabling technology that underpins cardiac disease research, offering potential for new treatments and pharmaceutical therapies. Even a small improvement in this area can translate into significant national benefit. Further, the mathematical techniques and software tools we will d ....A Grid based platform for multi-scaled biological simulation. Heart disease currently affects over 3.5 million Australians. In 2006 it claimed the lives of almost 46,000 Australians (34% of all deaths). We will develop enabling technology that underpins cardiac disease research, offering potential for new treatments and pharmaceutical therapies. Even a small improvement in this area can translate into significant national benefit. Further, the mathematical techniques and software tools we will develop, whilst focused on heart tissue, will have broader applicability, and may underpin advancements in other disciplines. Finally, we expect that the software solutions and infrastructure will have both commercial and strategic value in their own right.Read moreRead less
Matchings in Combinatorial Structures. The theory of matching in graphs concerns the problem of pairing up objects, subject to constraints on which objects may be paired. It is a well-developed theory that is not only of tremendous mathematical importance, but is also widely applied to efficiently deal with allocation and scheduling problems. Much less is known, however, about the equally important but harder problem of dividing objects into collections of three or more. This project aims to add ....Matchings in Combinatorial Structures. The theory of matching in graphs concerns the problem of pairing up objects, subject to constraints on which objects may be paired. It is a well-developed theory that is not only of tremendous mathematical importance, but is also widely applied to efficiently deal with allocation and scheduling problems. Much less is known, however, about the equally important but harder problem of dividing objects into collections of three or more. This project aims to address this deficiency by developing the theory of matching in important combinatorial objects. The problems it expects to solve are of great significance in their own right, and when considered together may help to lay a foundation for a more general theory of matching.Read moreRead less
Fractional decomposition of graphs and the Nash-Williams conjecture. Nash-Williams' conjecture is a famous unsolved problem about decomposing graphs (abstract networks). Breakthrough results achieved in recent years have shown that the conjecture, along with other major graph decomposition problems, could be solved if only more were known about fractional decomposition. This project aims to clear this bottleneck to progress by dramatically expanding the state of knowledge on fractional decomposi ....Fractional decomposition of graphs and the Nash-Williams conjecture. Nash-Williams' conjecture is a famous unsolved problem about decomposing graphs (abstract networks). Breakthrough results achieved in recent years have shown that the conjecture, along with other major graph decomposition problems, could be solved if only more were known about fractional decomposition. This project aims to clear this bottleneck to progress by dramatically expanding the state of knowledge on fractional decomposition. Expected outcomes include major progress on Nash-Williams' conjecture and related graph decomposition problems. This should enhance Australia's research reputation in pure mathematics and provide benefits in downstream applications areas including statistics, data transmission, and fibre-optic networks.Read moreRead less
Southern Ocean aerosols: sources, sinks and impact on cloud properties. This project aims to provide fundamental process-level understanding of atmospheric aerosol processes over the Southern Ocean, a region that has a profound influence on the Australian and global climate and where climate models perform poorly. Comprehensive observations during 3 Southern Ocean voyages and land-based measurements will enhance our knowledge of aerosols and cloud formation in that region and provide much-needed ....Southern Ocean aerosols: sources, sinks and impact on cloud properties. This project aims to provide fundamental process-level understanding of atmospheric aerosol processes over the Southern Ocean, a region that has a profound influence on the Australian and global climate and where climate models perform poorly. Comprehensive observations during 3 Southern Ocean voyages and land-based measurements will enhance our knowledge of aerosols and cloud formation in that region and provide much-needed data for improving global climate models. Expected outcomes include more accurate seasonal and latitudinal representations of Southern Ocean aerosol populations, properties and sources. The main benefit includes improvements in weather forecasting and future climate projection for Australia and the Southern Hemisphere.Read moreRead less