Sympathetic Control Of Cutaneous Blood Flow And Blood Pressure In Human Spinal Cord Injury
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$242,002.00
Summary
While spinal cord injury can cause devastating changes in the nervous system paralysis and loss of sensation relatively little is known about changes to the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is intimately involved in the ongoing control of blood pressure, blood flow and temperature control. Loss of sympathetic control can occur following spinal cord injury. Interruption of descending pathways can result in partial or complete loss of sympathetic outflow from the thoracol ....While spinal cord injury can cause devastating changes in the nervous system paralysis and loss of sensation relatively little is known about changes to the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is intimately involved in the ongoing control of blood pressure, blood flow and temperature control. Loss of sympathetic control can occur following spinal cord injury. Interruption of descending pathways can result in partial or complete loss of sympathetic outflow from the thoracolumbar segments. Complete decentralization can result in autonomic dysreflexia (autonomic hyperreflexia), in which sensory stimuli originating below the lesion evoke a reflex increase in sympathetic drive to the blood vessels, causing them to constrict. Because of this, blood pressure may rise suddenly and remain at such high levels that stroke and (occassionally) cardiac arrest may occur. This phenomenon, autonomic dysreflexia, is considered a medical emergency. The typical subjective signs of autonomic dysreflexia include a throbbing headache, tingling in the head or nasal congestion; sweating and flushing above the lesion are clinical signs that prompt medical staff to measure blood pressure and to locate the source of sensory irritation (usually a distended bladder or impacted colon, sometimes a pressure sore or ingrown toenail). Commonly, however, subclinical episodes go undetected, and this phenomenon of silent dysreflexia is of increasing concern. This project will develop means of assessing the integrity and state of the sympathetic nervous system below a lesion in patients with spinal cord injury and characterize the firing properties of reflexly activated sympathetic neurones.Read moreRead less
Systems to Support Knowledge Creation in Learning Organisations. The proposed project will investigate the capacity of IT to support knowledge making for innovation in modern organisations. Prototypes of three flexible computer-based systems will be iteratively developed and evaluated for their support of knowledge workers in three different industries. The investigators are experienced in socio-technical approaches, which will be used to emphasise the integration between people and IT systems ....Systems to Support Knowledge Creation in Learning Organisations. The proposed project will investigate the capacity of IT to support knowledge making for innovation in modern organisations. Prototypes of three flexible computer-based systems will be iteratively developed and evaluated for their support of knowledge workers in three different industries. The investigators are experienced in socio-technical approaches, which will be used to emphasise the integration between people and IT systems. An interpretive study will determine how the systems can contribute to organisational learning, performance, and responsiveness to change. The outcomes will inform the designers of such systems and show Australian organisations how to gain competitive advantage by expanding their capacity to learn.Read moreRead less
Socio-technical determinants of agile, network-centric organisations. Many companies provide value for customers by exploiting information and communication technology in support of networks of self-organising employee teams. Such network-centric approaches to organisational structure and function are becoming desired in diverse government organisations and societal settings. On one hand, the civil society is increasing reliant on virtual networks and online communities. On the other, the mil ....Socio-technical determinants of agile, network-centric organisations. Many companies provide value for customers by exploiting information and communication technology in support of networks of self-organising employee teams. Such network-centric approaches to organisational structure and function are becoming desired in diverse government organisations and societal settings. On one hand, the civil society is increasing reliant on virtual networks and online communities. On the other, the military's imperative to learn how to fight smarter in the information age heralds a fundamental shift from platform-centred warfare to a mode with diffuseness of command and control. The findings of this research will enable the potential benefits of network-centrism to be realised in these nationally critical areas.Read moreRead less
New Boron and Gadolinium Agents for Neutron Capture Therapy. The development of new drugs and treatments for cancer is highly important for improved health outcomes and the well-being of the community. This research has the potential to result in the development of new anticancer pharmaceuticals that will dramatically expand the clinical efficacy of a promising treatment for highly aggressive tumours. The innovative nature of this research will also contribute to Australia's science knowledge ....New Boron and Gadolinium Agents for Neutron Capture Therapy. The development of new drugs and treatments for cancer is highly important for improved health outcomes and the well-being of the community. This research has the potential to result in the development of new anticancer pharmaceuticals that will dramatically expand the clinical efficacy of a promising treatment for highly aggressive tumours. The innovative nature of this research will also contribute to Australia's science knowledge base, a key element in its future economic prosperity, and it will provide excellent training of young researchers for employment in the rapidly expanding field of drug design and development.Read moreRead less
Cognitive Features of Decision Support System Interfaces. The complex and time-constrained nature of the contemporary workplace is such that there is an increasing dependence on technology to assist operators in formulating accurate and timely decisions. This project is designed to ensure that the process through which this information is presented to operators is as efficient and effective as possible under the circumstances. Using an innovative approach to the development of such decision supp ....Cognitive Features of Decision Support System Interfaces. The complex and time-constrained nature of the contemporary workplace is such that there is an increasing dependence on technology to assist operators in formulating accurate and timely decisions. This project is designed to ensure that the process through which this information is presented to operators is as efficient and effective as possible under the circumstances. Using an innovative approach to the development of such decision support systems, the outcomes of this project will direct the development of this type of technology in the future and, ultimately, lead to more effective and more efficient decision-making under uncertainty.Read moreRead less
Graded semisimple deformations. Recent advances in representation theory have revealed beautiful new structures in the classical representation theory of the symmetric groups and Hecke algebras. These discoveries have provided us with new algebras, the cyclotomic KLR algebras, that encode deep properties of fundamental objects in algebraic combinatorics and geometric representation theory. The cyclotomic quiver Hecke algebras are central to several open problems in mathematics but they are still ....Graded semisimple deformations. Recent advances in representation theory have revealed beautiful new structures in the classical representation theory of the symmetric groups and Hecke algebras. These discoveries have provided us with new algebras, the cyclotomic KLR algebras, that encode deep properties of fundamental objects in algebraic combinatorics and geometric representation theory. The cyclotomic quiver Hecke algebras are central to several open problems in mathematics but they are still poorly understood, with even basic properties like their dimensions being unknown. This project will establish a new framework for studying these algebras that will remove the current obstacles in this field and alllow us to prove substantial new results that advance the theory.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100180
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$400,475.00
Summary
Effective classification of closed vertex-transitive groups acting on trees. Symmetry is a fundamental organising principle in mathematics and human endeavour. This project aims to advance our knowledge of zero-dimensional symmetry, a frontier in symmetry research. In the longer term, advancements in fundamental knowledge in this area have the potential to inform the usage and development of digital structures in more practical contexts, such as data networks and information processing. The proj ....Effective classification of closed vertex-transitive groups acting on trees. Symmetry is a fundamental organising principle in mathematics and human endeavour. This project aims to advance our knowledge of zero-dimensional symmetry, a frontier in symmetry research. In the longer term, advancements in fundamental knowledge in this area have the potential to inform the usage and development of digital structures in more practical contexts, such as data networks and information processing. The project is expected to develop new tools of both theoretical and computational nature that will accelerate ongoing research across the field and enable new approaches. This will cement Australia's position at the forefront of research in symmetry and its use in the digital age.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100308
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$283,536.00
Summary
Branching and self-similarity in group actions. This project aims to develop the theory of groups of symmetries that have self-similarity (part of the object has the same structure as the whole) and branching (transformations may be performed on parts of the object independently of one another while preserving the overall structure). The focus will be on a class of topological groups in which these properties frequently occur, building on methods recently developed and their actions on trees and ....Branching and self-similarity in group actions. This project aims to develop the theory of groups of symmetries that have self-similarity (part of the object has the same structure as the whole) and branching (transformations may be performed on parts of the object independently of one another while preserving the overall structure). The focus will be on a class of topological groups in which these properties frequently occur, building on methods recently developed and their actions on trees and on the Cantor set. The project aims to significantly advance the theory of locally compact groups, as well as giving insights into the phenomena of self-similarity and branching as they occur in group theory and dynamical systems.Read moreRead less
Algorithmic approaches to braids and their generalisations. This project combines theoretical methods from pure mathematics with computational experiments in order to gain new knowledge. The objects of interest, so-called braid groups and generalisations, are important for many fields of mathematics, but also have applications for data security. Both the theoretical outcomes of this project and the algorithms developed will strengthen Australia as a centre of cutting-edge research in computatio ....Algorithmic approaches to braids and their generalisations. This project combines theoretical methods from pure mathematics with computational experiments in order to gain new knowledge. The objects of interest, so-called braid groups and generalisations, are important for many fields of mathematics, but also have applications for data security. Both the theoretical outcomes of this project and the algorithms developed will strengthen Australia as a centre of cutting-edge research in computational algebra. Moreover, the results can lead to new technologies for protecting confidential data, which are more efficient and hence cheaper to implement than existing alternatives. Secure identification of legitimate users in the context of online banking is one possible field of application.Read moreRead less