Sensor and Actor Grid for Assistive Healthcare. Australia's population is ageing, with a significant, projected increase in the number of people aged over 65. This project addresses the core issue of providing an end-to-end assistive healthcare loop to maintain the wellness as well as improving the quality of life of this ageing population. It promises to reduce the enormous cost of public and primary healthcare. Furthermore, with the proposed framework, an end user will be able to enjoy the sup ....Sensor and Actor Grid for Assistive Healthcare. Australia's population is ageing, with a significant, projected increase in the number of people aged over 65. This project addresses the core issue of providing an end-to-end assistive healthcare loop to maintain the wellness as well as improving the quality of life of this ageing population. It promises to reduce the enormous cost of public and primary healthcare. Furthermore, with the proposed framework, an end user will be able to enjoy the support of multiple caregivers (relatives, community-caregivers, etc.) working collaboratively. These factors certainly relate this project to the strengthening of Australia's social and economic fabric priority.Read moreRead less
Do insect-specific flaviviruses regulate the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases in Australia? Mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue occur in Australia. The research team recently discovered related viruses in mosquitoes from Darwin that do not infect humans, but may inhibit the spread of viral diseases by mosquitoes. This project will investigate the life cycles of these new viruses to understand how they affect the spread of viral diseases by mosquitoes.
Revealing the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of avian influenza virus. This project aims to understand how avian influenza virus (AIV) emerges, evolves and spreads in wild birds. AIV has the potential to devastate the poultry industry and cause human pandemics, but the factors that shape the genetic diversity of AIV in its wild bird reservoir are poorly understood. The project plans to combine genomic, ecological and phylogenetic approaches to reveal key aspects of AIV evolution, as well a ....Revealing the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of avian influenza virus. This project aims to understand how avian influenza virus (AIV) emerges, evolves and spreads in wild birds. AIV has the potential to devastate the poultry industry and cause human pandemics, but the factors that shape the genetic diversity of AIV in its wild bird reservoir are poorly understood. The project plans to combine genomic, ecological and phylogenetic approaches to reveal key aspects of AIV evolution, as well as the risk for future viral emergence. Using sampling sites in Australia and Antarctica, it plans to investigate AIV diversity, the evolutionary dynamics of AIV in wild birds and poultry, and the role played by environmental transmission in AIV ecology.Read moreRead less
Understanding mutation and genetic reassortment in viruses: new mathematical models of viral dynamics and evolution. This project aims to understand how evolutionary processes and ecological conditions combine to ignite and sustain viral epidemics. Using novel mathematical models and statistical methods we will study the manner in which viral genes mutate and are recombined, as well as the rates of these important forces.
I sense, therefore I help: Towards homes that sense and support the aged and infirm. The overall goal is to produce technologies that will enable the home to be a ?intelligent, caring advisor? and provide operational effectiveness for people with decreasing functional capacity (eg aged). It can monitor and support activities of varying complexity without compromising a normal lifestyle, enabling people of varying abilities to be independent, whilst being cared for by their homes. This caring wi ....I sense, therefore I help: Towards homes that sense and support the aged and infirm. The overall goal is to produce technologies that will enable the home to be a ?intelligent, caring advisor? and provide operational effectiveness for people with decreasing functional capacity (eg aged). It can monitor and support activities of varying complexity without compromising a normal lifestyle, enabling people of varying abilities to be independent, whilst being cared for by their homes. This caring will range from advice systems for detecting hazardous situations and alerting the user, through to detecting subtle deviations from complex, normal activities over significant periods of time (such as caused by the onset of an illness).Read moreRead less
Modulation of air-conditioning settings to destroy respiratory viruses. This project aims to prove that manipulating the ambient humidity can rapidly degrade airborne viruses. The relationship between ambient humidity and airborne infection is poorly understood for viral pathogens including influenza and the common cold. The project will prove that indoor environmental conditions can be easily manipulated to kill airborne viruses. The findings will be used to develop indoor air humidity control ....Modulation of air-conditioning settings to destroy respiratory viruses. This project aims to prove that manipulating the ambient humidity can rapidly degrade airborne viruses. The relationship between ambient humidity and airborne infection is poorly understood for viral pathogens including influenza and the common cold. The project will prove that indoor environmental conditions can be easily manipulated to kill airborne viruses. The findings will be used to develop indoor air humidity control guidelines targeting the vulnerabilities of the viruses to minimise airborne infection.Read moreRead less
Microbial natural history and molecular evolution. This project aims to develop mathematical and computational models of microbial evolution that capture dynamics at both within-host and between-host scales, combined with processes of mutation. Integration of these elements with computational statistical methods will produce a framework that will enable inference from genome sequencing data. The mathematical models will be applied to bacterial genomic data to investigate how natural selection ac ....Microbial natural history and molecular evolution. This project aims to develop mathematical and computational models of microbial evolution that capture dynamics at both within-host and between-host scales, combined with processes of mutation. Integration of these elements with computational statistical methods will produce a framework that will enable inference from genome sequencing data. The mathematical models will be applied to bacterial genomic data to investigate how natural selection acts on experimental and natural populations of microorganisms. The mathematical models and statistical approaches developed here are intended to be applicable to infectious disease of both humans and domesticated animals, and could influence public health policies.Read moreRead less
Program evaluation of the osteoarthritis awareness hub. Persons with osteoarthritis generally have poor knowledge about their disease and its appropriate management. The aim of this project is to evaluate whether improved knowledge, and management decisions of persons with osteoarthritis, can ultimately lead to improved health outcomes.
Combating HIV/AIDS in Indonesia: understanding the behaviour of sex workers and their clients. The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of the behaviour of sex workers and their clients in Indonesia, which has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in Asia. A comparison of the behavioural characteristics of sex workers and their clientele will tell us which groups are likely to be more responsive to particular types of policies.
New methods for integrating population structure and stochasticity into models of disease dynamics. Epidemics, such as the 2007 equine 'flu outbreak and 2009 swine 'flu pandemic, highlight the need to make informed decisive responses. This project will develop new methods that incorporate two important aspects of disease dynamics---host structure and chance---into mathematical models, and determine their impact in terms of controlling infections.