Protecting Australia’s brand assets and stakeholder interests. International accounting standards have recently been harmonised to allow firms to recognise the value of purchased brands on their balance sheets, subject to an annual test to verify that value has not been impaired. There are no widely accepted methodologies with which to undertake such tests, despite the requirement for the balance sheet to provide a true and fair view of financial position. This research will develop three approa ....Protecting Australia’s brand assets and stakeholder interests. International accounting standards have recently been harmonised to allow firms to recognise the value of purchased brands on their balance sheets, subject to an annual test to verify that value has not been impaired. There are no widely accepted methodologies with which to undertake such tests, despite the requirement for the balance sheet to provide a true and fair view of financial position. This research will develop three approaches to calibrate brand impairment and draw lessons from applying them over a three year period. The outputs are twofold: first, a suite of detailed methods for accountants, auditors and financial analysts to measure and diagnose brand value; second, several key indicators that can be used to monitor signs of brand impairment.Read moreRead less
Is brand image instability a measurement artifact? If brand images are indeed unstable, then not only are private companies wasting their money on image campaigns but also government organisations are wasting public money on brand image campaigns such as the many conducted by the Australian Tourism Commission overseas, and by local governments, such as "Wollongong - city of innovation." Wouldn't you like to know whether your money is being well spent? A reasonably definitive assessment of the wo ....Is brand image instability a measurement artifact? If brand images are indeed unstable, then not only are private companies wasting their money on image campaigns but also government organisations are wasting public money on brand image campaigns such as the many conducted by the Australian Tourism Commission overseas, and by local governments, such as "Wollongong - city of innovation." Wouldn't you like to know whether your money is being well spent? A reasonably definitive assessment of the worthwhileness of public-funded brand image campaigns will be the main national and community benefit of this research. Read moreRead less
The effect of competition and doctor heterogeneity on prices charged by doctors. Prices charged by doctors can have important effects on health care costs, access to health care and health status. This research will examine the determinants of prices charged by doctors. The results will be important in understanding the pricing practices of doctors and their impact on health care costs.
Nanny state or good public policy: Do the benefits of mandatory health programs justify the loss of consumer choice? Governments are increasingly turning to mandatory programs to improve health. Such programs are appealing because there are high health benefits from universal participation and low costs for promotion and monitoring the program. However, this apparent benefit relies on restriction of personal choice, which may impose welfare losses on consumers. Evaluations generally ignore loss ....Nanny state or good public policy: Do the benefits of mandatory health programs justify the loss of consumer choice? Governments are increasingly turning to mandatory programs to improve health. Such programs are appealing because there are high health benefits from universal participation and low costs for promotion and monitoring the program. However, this apparent benefit relies on restriction of personal choice, which may impose welfare losses on consumers. Evaluations generally ignore loss of choice, despite evidence suggesting consumers value the ability to choose. This study will estimate the impact and value this loss of consumer choice, explore program specific factors and consumer characteristics influencing the valuation, and determine whether and how restricted choice should be explicitly considered when evaluating public health programs.Read moreRead less
Quantum limits in measurement and communication. By manipulating atoms and single particles of light, quantum technologies promise a revolution in communications systems and high-precision measurements for scientific and engineering applications. The benefits of this revolution may be comparable with those of modern semiconductors. This project will bring these benefits closer by achieving the fundamental limits to measurement allowed by quantum physics, and harnessing the power of these measure ....Quantum limits in measurement and communication. By manipulating atoms and single particles of light, quantum technologies promise a revolution in communications systems and high-precision measurements for scientific and engineering applications. The benefits of this revolution may be comparable with those of modern semiconductors. This project will bring these benefits closer by achieving the fundamental limits to measurement allowed by quantum physics, and harnessing the power of these measurements for communication. It will also identify ways to simplify potential quantum technologies, hastening their adoption. This research will place Australian theoretical and experimental researchers at the forefront of 21st century technology.Read moreRead less
Extending the theory and measurement of personal values and testing relations of values to attitudes and behaviour. Personal values indicate what is important to us, guide our behaviour and reflect real differences between cultures, social classes, occupations, and religions. This project seeks to refine the theory and measurement of personal values across cultures to better understand the motivations that lie behind attitudes and behaviours.
Maximum entropy methods for Bayesian analysis in chemistry. This new approach for analysing chemical data will solve problems in deciding the weight of an atom in a chemical compound, whether an athlete took illegal steroids, if a horse has been fed an illegal 'milkshake' of bicarbonate, and if a methamphetamine tablet seized in a nightclub was made from powder found in a clandestine lab.
Toward the use of metal stable isotopes in geosciences. Metal stable isotopes (MSI: Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ga) have enormous potential applications (basic and applied) in Geosciences and beyond. However the use of these elements as geochemical tracers and petrogenetic tools requires: (1) the definition of their isotopic composition in Earth key reservoirs and in reference materials such as the chondritic meteorites; (2) Understanding and quantification of the causes of MSI fractionations during geolog ....Toward the use of metal stable isotopes in geosciences. Metal stable isotopes (MSI: Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ga) have enormous potential applications (basic and applied) in Geosciences and beyond. However the use of these elements as geochemical tracers and petrogenetic tools requires: (1) the definition of their isotopic composition in Earth key reservoirs and in reference materials such as the chondritic meteorites; (2) Understanding and quantification of the causes of MSI fractionations during geological processes. By a unique combination of in-situ and solution geochemical analytical techniques avaliable now through frontier technology and method development we aim to establish a conceptual and theoretical framework for the use of MSI in Geosciences.Read moreRead less
The Medicare Safety Net and its effect on efficiency, equity and welfare. This project aims to measure the welfare implications of social health insurance reforms. It will use the introduction of the Extended Medicare Safety Net to examine the effect of social insurance reforms on the efficiency and equity of Australia's health care system. The project expects to produce evidence on the partial and aggregate effects of the Medicare Safety Net and knowledge on the relationship between social insu ....The Medicare Safety Net and its effect on efficiency, equity and welfare. This project aims to measure the welfare implications of social health insurance reforms. It will use the introduction of the Extended Medicare Safety Net to examine the effect of social insurance reforms on the efficiency and equity of Australia's health care system. The project expects to produce evidence on the partial and aggregate effects of the Medicare Safety Net and knowledge on the relationship between social insurance and health system performance. In doing so, the research seeks to help policy makers to improve the design of social health insurance programmes to make the system more sustainable and equitable.Read moreRead less
Frequency standards with breakthrough performance: engineering immunity to local oscillator instabilities using dynamical error suppression. This project aims to dramatically advance state-of-the-art performance of one of the most important technological systems in modern electronics - precision frequency standards. Our work will provide orders of magnitude gains in performance by translating new knowledge from quantum information to the precision metrology research community.