Completed ARC Discovery Projects
Completed ARC Linkage Projects
Responding to requests and situations in assistive computer systems - a decision-theoretic approach
ARC Discovery 2012-2014
Prof I Zukerman, Dr F Bohnert
This project aims to enable computer agents to respond appropriately to people's spoken requests and circumstances (e.g., ask questions or perform actions). This project will investigate computational models for response generation, which will be implemented in assistive computer systems, thus enabling people to interact more easily with these systems.
Experimental philosophy on probabilistic actual causation
ARC Discovery 2012-2014
Dr K Korb, Prof C Hitchcock
This project will provide better philosophical theories of probabilistic causation, including ways to measure degrees of influence, make comparisons to appropriate norms, and identify underlying physical processes. This is vital to properly interpreting scientific models of many causal systems, yielding practical benefits for science and industry.
Knowledge discovery from data in the context of prior beliefs
ARC Discovery 2012-2014
Prof G Webb, A/Prof A Nicholson
This project will invent user-centric technologies for discovering knowledge from data that are distinguished by taking account of the user's beliefs, enabling more useful discoveries to be made. This project will also invent methods that identify the relative potential value of those discoveries, helping the user derive greater value from their data assets.
Innovative urban traffic congestion solutions: optimising road space using networks of multiclass priority lanes
ARC Discovery 2012-2014
Dr M Sarvi, Prof G V Currie, Prof M Wallace
This project strengthens national approaches to a pervasive Australian problem; growing traffic congestion deteriorating liveability, environmental health and economic performance of the cities. This project improves approaches for traffic priority design to improve the efficiency of several class of vehicles and therefore, reducing traffic congestion
Convicts and Diggers: a demography of life courses, families and generations
ARC Discovery 2011-2013
Dr R Kippen, A/Prof H J Maxwell-Stewart, Dr D Alahakoon, Dr J Bradley, A/Prof S C Dharmage, Prof K E Inwood, Prof J D Mathews, Prof M Shields
Based on convict records, birth, death and marriage registrations, World War One service records, and other historical data, this project explores long-term demographic outcomes of individuals, families and lineages. The project draws on the expertise of family historians to trace individuals and their descendants for 'Australia's biggest family history'.
Towards realistic verbal interactions between people and computers-a probabilistic approach
ARC Discovery 2011-2013
Prof I Zukerman
This project aims to facilitate natural spoken interactions between people and computer systems, addressing obstacles to the acceptance of these systems. We will investigate computational models for relevant aspects of spoken dialogue, which will be implemented in computer systems for diverse tasks (for example, home devices and phone-enabled services.
Flexible user-guided network layout for biomedical applications
ARC Discovery 2011-2013
Dr M Wybrow [APD]
This project will develop techniques for automatic layout of biological network diagrams, allowing users to guide the layout while satisfying any required placement constraints and drawing conventions. As part of the project, these methods will be integrated into several real-world systems biology applications for network browsing and authoring.
Clarifying domain semantics through improved conceptual modelling
ARC Discovery 2011-2013
Prof R A Weber; Dr A N Burton-Jones
This project aims to improve the ways in which those user requirements that motivate the design and implementation of an information system are modelled. As a result, it should be possible to build and deploy higher-quality information systems.
Learning complex classifiers without search
ARC Discovery 2011-2013
Prof G Webb
This project investigates novel approaches to computational data analysis that use new forms of probabilistic models of data. These new approaches complement the state-of-the-art, suiting large quantities of categorical data, being robust in the presence of errors, and efficiently handling updates when new data become available.
Modelling and simulation of self-organised behaviour in biological and bio-inspired systems
ARC Discovery 2011-2013
A/Prof B Meyer; A/Prof B D Hughes; A/Prof T Nakagaki
Understanding self-organised systems is fundamental in biology and bio-inspired engineering. The project develops sophisticated mathematical modelling techniques and high performance simulation methods for such systems. This will increase our capacity to explain complex biological behaviour and to produce reliable bio-inspired engineering solutions.
Accurate analysis of combinatorial problems: from the particular to the general
ARC Discovery 2011-2013
A/Prof M Garcia de la Banda, Prof M G Wallace
Combinatorial problems pervade all aspects of our social, environmental and economic life, but finding good solutions to these problems can take too much computer time. This project will develop new analysis tools that are effective at reducing this time, thus allowing for better solutions to be found.
An algebraic renaissance for the chromatic polynomial
ARC Discovery 2011-2013
A/Prof G E Farr, Dr D Delbourgo, Mrs K J Morgan [APD], Prof P J Cameron, Prof B Jackson
Graph colouring started out as a recreational problem in 1852, but now has many applications including the use in timetabling, scheduling, computer science and statistical physics. This project is about counting colourings, and will develop the algebraic theory of how this is done. (APD - Mrs Kerri J Morgan)
Development of an 'ageing household' model for assessing medium to long-term vaccine impact in populations
ARC Discovery 2011-2013
Dr J McVernon, Dr K B Korb, Dr KGlass, Dr J McCaw, Dr E McBryde
As birth rates in developed and newly industrialising countries fall, so too do the number of households containing children, with implications for the spread of infections in families. We aim to study the influence of this phenomenon on the risk of common childhood infections, and the length of time that vaccines given in infancy will protect.
A Grid based platform for multi scaled biological simulation
ARC Discovery 2010-2012
Prof D A Abramson; Prof K Burrage
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.
A Process Based Approach to Generative Form Synthesis
ARC Discovery 2010-2014
A/Prof J P McCormack; Dr A Dorin; Dr A Whitelaw; Prof W Latham
This project addresses open problems in digital media art, introducing innovative methods for professional practitioners. Through close collaboration with a highly successful UK pioneer and his team, this research nurtures Australian expertise and scholarship. Creative industries are making an increasingly important global economic contribution. Related projects overseas demonstrate the potential for tangible commercial benefits as a direct result of research investment in this domain. The practical outcomes of this research find application in architecture, computer games, digital animation and new media art. This inter disciplinary project enhances collaborative links between the research communities of Computer Science and Media Arts.
A Unified Grid Programming Methodology for Global e-Science
ARC Discovery 2007-2011
Prof D A Abramson
Modern science requires huge computational resources and has become Global e-Science. Going far beyond individual super computers, Grids harness geographically distributed resources: dozens of super computers, workstations, clusters of computers, data bases, together with scientific instruments, such as telescopes or synchrotrons. Currently, Grids are difficult to use because they lack key software infrastructure. We shall develop this by both extending available Grid services and by building new software tools. Australian e-Science case studies will be pursued in environmental sciences, life and health sciences, and geo-sciences and will link to global Grids extending Australia's scientific capabilities globally.
Adaptive data stream processing in heterogeneous distributed computing environments using real-time context
ARC Discovery 2008-2010
A/Prof A Zaslavsky; Dr S Krishnaswamy; Dr M Gaber [APD]
This project falls within the ARC research priority goal, Smart Information Use. The innovative contributions of this project through the development of adaptive data stream mining algorithms for heterogeneous devices will have an impact on a range of emerging application areas such as: 1. Meeting time-critical, intelligent information needs of the mobile workforce (e.g. mobile healthcare professionals, stockbrokers). 2. Improving Intelligent Transportation Systems via in-vehicle analysis and crash prevention. 3. Facilitating 'on-board' analysis in sensors that monitor the environment and patients. The project will enhance Australia's leading international role in the area of data stream processing in distributed computing environments.
Adaptiveness of self-organised decision making
ARC Discovery 2008-2011
A/Prof B Meyer; Dr A Dussutour
Complex systems are an important international research focus in many disciplines, and their engineering applications are plentiful. The new mathematical approach developed by this project will enable different disciplines for the first time to communicate using a common formal framework. This will open the path to a generalized understanding of self-organised systems in dynamic environments. Creating the tools for a unified interdisciplinary approach will allow Australia to gain a stronger position in biomimetic engineering and to take a lead in international research on collective behaviour.
Analysing model transformations for combinatorial problems
ARC Discovery 2008-2010
Prof M Wallace; A/Prof M Garcia de la Banda
Maximising the benefits of limited resources is crucial for our industry, our hospitals, our security and ourenvironment. This is achievable through a technology called combinatorial optimisation, which also supports wiser investment, better engineering, and even accelerated bio-informatics. Applying the technology is highly skilled and effort intensive, so most of its potential benefits are unrealised. This project will break down some of the barriers which make it hard to use. The ultimate goal is to let the user state the problem in simple terms, and the computer work out how best to solve it. Our vision is for groups and organisations large and small to reap the benefits of combinatorial optimisation.
Automatic music feature extraction, classification and annotation
ARC Discovery 2009-2011
Prof G Lu; A/Prof K Ting; Dr D Zhang
Music is a huge industry currently undergoing a major revolution. The industry is shifting from music-making to music retrieval and its incorporation into a range of products from TV, and film, to music streaming into locations and events, as well as MP3 players and all kinds of electronic devices. This research will support immediate retrieval of music that meets the current industry need, based not just on titles, composers and/or performers, but on the actual properties of the music itself. The knowledge and music processing techniques developed will give Australian music industry an advantage over other countries.
Computational creativity: An evolutionary ecosystem approach
ARC Discovery 2008-2010
Dr J McCormack
The creative industries are at the forefront of a 21st century economy. For Australia to play a leading role, artists and designers require innovative software systems that support original creative practice. Creativity is a highly sought-after yet little understood phenomena. This research will advance our understanding of creativity, developing imaginative new ways of working with technology: enabling creative outcomes that are difficult or impossible to achieve with existing software tools. In a global and rapidly changing industry, this project will give Australian creative practitioners and software developers a competitive edge, enhancing our international reputation as a leader in this area.
Discovering justified knowledge from data
ARC Discovery 2007-2010
Prof G Webb
Knowledge Discovery from Data (KDD) has become a critical tool for science, commerce and public administration. However, its effectiveness is reduced by the propensity of some key techniques to make many spurious as well as real 'discoveries.' Such false discoveries can be misleading and extremely costly. Standard statistical techniques designed to address this problem do not directly scale-up to the massive numbers of potential discoveries that KDD routinely explores: their power is too low, and their computational requirements too high. This project will develop efficient and effective technologies to control the risk of false discoveries from those susceptible techniques, thereby greatly increasing the value and reliability of KDD.
Dual phase evolution in networks
ARC Discovery 2009-2011
Prof D G Green; Prof H A Abbass
A grand challenge for modern society is the sheer complexity of vast networks arising from organisations and infrastructures. Unexpected, sometimes catastrophic, behaviour often emerges from interactions within such systems. As a result, the Internet, financial markets, power grids and other vital infrastructures are susceptible to costly problems such as cascading failures, inefficiency, and unpredictability. High-tech industries, such as biotechnology and information networking, face problems in coordinating networks of interacting agents. This project will expand the horizon of complex systems by deriving the design principles underpinning stable and resilient network structures and validate these principles on real world networks.
Emergence of robust, stable structures via computation within natural networks
ARC Discovery 2007-2011
Prof D Green
Nature as computation is a powerful analogy that has proved a rich source of scientific insights and computing methodologies. This project addresses two central problems of natural computing: how self-organisation occurs within connected networks of agents and how global properties emerge from local interactions. These are explored both in living systems, including landscape genetics and social networks, as well as computational systems, especially multi-agent systems. Processes investigated include synchronisation, clustering, enslavement, feedback and phase changes. The results will provide insights into social issues and self-organization in networks of agents as well as novel methods for solving complex computational problems.
Ethics and encyclopaedic culture in 13th century France: adaptation, diffusion and contexts of innovation in the Speculum morale and its sources
ARC Discovery 2010-2012
Dr D M Squire; Prof C J Mews
This project will contribute to awareness of the ethical foundations of the Western intellectual tradition, both philosophical and religious, through studying an influential encyclopaedia of ethical instruction from 1300, known as the Speculum morale and its relationship to the evolution of ethical teaching in France during the 13th century. It will develop text similarity detection software for use with Latin texts, and by implication within humanistic studies more generally. Through connecting with an international research project into medieval encyclopaedic culture, it will enable Australian expertise in both medieval studies and information technology to become internationally recognised.
Koorie archiving: Community and records working together
ARC Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development 2009-2010
Ms S Faulkhead; Prof L W Russell; Prof S M McKemmish
The integration, preservation and accessibility of all archival sources, forms and media of Koorie knowledge are vital to processes of recovery for those affected by past government policies and to national reconciliation. Working in partnership with the Gunditjmara community of the Victorian Western District and the Koorie Heritage Trust, the Project will assist Koorie and other Indigenous communities to access and control information about them and their culture, and to build sustainable community archives. This will help in establishing identity, reconnecting families, pursuing land claims, intergenerational healing, preserving culture, and redress. The Project will place Australia at the forefront of Indigenous archiving research.
Low complexity Video Coding for Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks
ARC Discovery 2010-2012
A/Prof M M Murshed
This project develops frontier technologies to capture and transmit videos by miniaturised sensing devices. It will improve Australia's telemetric surveillance capabilities and benefit defence, law enforcement, traffic control, and wildlife inhabitant monitoring agencies. It will enable the telecommunication industry to support quality video conferencing with mobile phones and the computer games industry to develop rich virtual reality games. The Australian health industry will be able to provide ubiquitous healthcare services through improved telemedicine and medical imaging with emerging technologies such as edible cameras. The project will also enable Australia to lead the world in setting up video coding standards for sensor networks.
Mobile Query Processing: An Integrated Approach
ARC Discovery 2009-2011
Dr D Taniar; Prof B Srinivasan
Mobile communication is a frontier technology, and providing efficient mobile query services to the general public is critical in placing Australia as a leading country in mobile information services. The benefit to Australia nationally is beyond the telecommunication industry. The project will transform other Australian industries which rely on mobile information services, including emergency response services (eg. ambulance, police), mobile workforce and mobile commerce, transportation/traffic controller, bureau of meteorology, defence/army forces, financial market, as well as tourism and news. With the enormous growing of investment in these industries, this project will become a major contribution to national productivity and growth.
Multi-sensory fusion and understanding in robotic assistive technology environments
ARC Discovery 2008-2010
Prof R Jarvis; Prof I Zukerman; Dr J Alexandersson; Prof Y Shirai
The research will yield improved international standing through scientific advances disseminated through high impact refereed publications and open source software. The synergy between Language Technology and Robotics will attract post-graduate students in these areas, and potentially commercialisation interest. The demonstration prototype will provide proof of concept of an application that improves the capabilities of human-centric environments, especially for people with limited mobility or cognitive function. The deployment of this research will extend the independence of such people beyond the time when they may otherwise need to be institutionalised, which will benefit both them and the remainder of society.
Supporting adaptive, interactive documents
ARC Discovery 2009-2011
Prof K G Marriott; Prof P J Stuckey; Dr B Bos
The project will improve comprehensibility of technical material, reduce paper usage, encourage collaborative science, improve the reliability of published science (by allowing post-publication annotation and correction), and improve the accessibility of technical material for readers who are blind or have poor vision. The project also holds considerable potential for supporting Australian companies in the publishing and document processing industries.
Temporal and spatial Bayesian network modelling for improved fog forecasting
ARC Linkage (R1) 2012-2014
Dr K Korb, A/Prof A Nicholson, Mr R Potts (PI)
Partner/Collaborating Organisation(s) - Bureau of Meteorology
This project aims to improve the accuracy of fog forecasting by explicitly modelling the spatial and temporal uncertainties surrounding fog formation. It is expected weather forecast services will adopt our approach to improve their predictions of fog, which will in turn help transport companies save costs, cut emissions and improve safety.
Acquiring physical skills: exploiting games technology to teach sign language
ARC Linkage (R2) 2011-2014
Dr Kirsten A Ellis, Dr Louisa J Willoughby [Arts], A/Prof Julie Fisher, Dr Nicole J Rinehart [Medicine], Mr Neil B Ray
Partner/Collaborating Organisation(s) - Deaf Children Australia, Victorian Deaf Society
This project will investigate if games technology can be used to teach deaf children's parents sign language. The learner would create a sign, the system would assess the accuracy of the sign and provide feedback to improve learning. If successful, the system would provide an inexpensive alternative to learning sign language.
Presenting graphics to blind students using a touchscreen interface extended with haptic and audio feedback
ARC Linkage (R2) 2011-2014
Prof Kimbal G Marriott, A/Prof Robin A Russell, Ms Debra J Lewis
Partner/Collaborating Organisation(s) - Catholic Education Office of Melbourne, Jtribe Holdings Unit Trust, Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Vision Australia
The project will develop a new device for the presentation of accessible graphics based on a touchscreen computer extended with haptic and audio feedback. The aim is to improve access to graphics and other two-dimensional information in the classroom by blind students.
Collaborative family work in youth justice: a model for reducing recidivism in young offenders
ARC Linkage (R2) 2011-2014
A/Prof Christopher J Trotter [Medicine], A/Prof David L Dowe
Partner/Collaborating Organisation(s) - NSW Department of Human Services (Juvenile Justice)
This project will research the effect of group family counselling on outcomes for juvenile offenders. It will draw conclusions about the factors related to successful family work and could significantly reduce re-offending in the juvenile justice population.
Improving management decisions in mental health care through applications of advanced simulation modelling
ARC Linkage (R2) 2011-2014
Prof Graham N Meadows [Medicine], Prof Scott B Patten, Dr Joarder Kamruzzaman, Dr Gour Karmakar, Prof Brett A Inder [BusEco], Dr Lee Gordon-Brown [BusEco], Dr Simon L Albrecht [Medicine], Mr Peter Gibbs, A/Prof Fiona M McDermott [Medicine]
Partner/Collaborating Organisation(s) - Southern Health
Evidence to inform management decisions about the best way to structure mental health care services is currently lacking. This project will develop a simulation modelling tool that will allow managers to explore various service configurations in virtual reality, enabling predictions to be made about the cost and quality of care.
An integrative and distributed data management and workflow framework for e-research in biomedical imaging
ARC Linkage (R1) 2011-2013
Prof G F Egan, Dr S K Milton, Mr J Lohrey, Dr A J Lonie, Prof D A Abramson
Partner/Collaborating Organisation(s) - arcitecta pty ltd
This project will develop new tools for neuroimaging research: (i) efficient distributed infrastructure and workflow capabilities and (ii) semantic tools using existing ontological frameworks and specific neuroimaging ontologies. These new capabilities will significantly enhance the productivity of neuroimaging research
Robust strategies for restoring aquatic and riparian biodiversity
ARC Linkage (R1) 2011-2013
Dr R J Elith, Dr J R Leathwick, A/Prof A E Nicholson, Dr I D Rutherfurd, Mr J A Todd, Ms B L Cant
Partner/Collaborating Organisation(s): Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria, Parks Victoria, Trust for Nature, Victorian National Parks Association
Effective restoration of Australia's degraded river ecosystems requires a diverse range of spatial data, models and a structured decision-making framework to predict ecological responses to alternative management interventions. This collaboration of universities and National Resource Management agencies will create the necessary tools to make and validate such predictions.
A progressive study of user and sensor models for monitoring and assisting elderly people, focusing on the visually impaired
ARC Linkage 2010-2013
Prof I Zukerman, A/Prof R A Russell, Dr G Rees, A/Prof E L Lamoureux, Dr J Alexandersson
This research will contribute to the well-being of our ageing population by extending their independence, and hence their ability to remain safely in their homes. This will benefit them, their carers and the rest of society. The synergy between user modelling, language technology and sensor networks, grounded in psychological findings, will yield high quality, novel scientific advances. The deployed prototypes will provide proof of concept of an application that improves our daily living, creating commercialisation opportunities.
Wattzup - A context-aware residential demand-response system for smart energy management
ARC Linkage 2010-2013
A/Prof S Krishnaswamy, Dr M Gaber, Dr S Kalyanaraman, Mr D Seetharam, Dr D Chakraborty
This project falls within the National Research Priorities an environmentally sustainable Australia and frontier technologies for building and transforming Australian industries. This project will develop an innovative context aware smart energy management system that will effectively reduce consumption and wastage in residential energy usage among individual homes. It will also be an important new technology that will be able to support the Australian utility industry in terms of incorporating context-sensitive demand-response strategies. The key innovation of the system will be to leverage a range of rich contextual information that is easily accessible and available for effective residential energy management.
Rating and ranking sports players and teams using minimum message length
ARC Linkage 2010-2013
A/Prof D L Dowe, Dr T J Barnett, Mr A Khanna
All sorts of games and sports could use better systems for rating and ranking teams. This is as true in sports-mad Australia as any other country. Improved and more accessible rating systems across a variety of activities should encourage the general public to take a greater interest in the mathematics, statistics, information theory and machine learning behind the systems. With Cadability as our Australia-based international industry partner, the global use of these systems will be to Australia's economic advantage. Having a more accurate rating system which is wider-reaching both in the number of sports and games and the number of participants per sport and game should also encourage greater participation from the general public.
A high throughput Grid based environment for real time bio-medical imaging
ARC Linkage 2008-2010
Prof D Abramson; Dr M Lackmann; Dr M Haase; Dr I Harper; Dr S Scheck
Together with Leica, we will build a virtual microscope facility that will provide substantial functionality not currentlyavailable in Australia. This facility will have major national and international impact on bio-medical imaging. Thesoftware solutions and infrastructure, developed as part of this program will have considerable commercial andstrategic value in their own right. One guaranteed avenue for exploitation of the software will clearly be through our industry partner, Leica. Importantly, our proposal consolidates a critical mass of expertise connecting biomedical with computer science, thereby addressing a well-recognised constraint that to date has limited their national andinternational impact.
A scalable debugging framework for petascale computers
ARC Linkage 2008-2011
Prof D A Abramson; Dr L DeRose; Mr R Moench
Supercomputing underpins a wide range of areas of importance to the Australian economy; mining, agriculture, engineering, medical research and pharmaceutical development to name a few. It is of critical importance thatsoftware solutions in these areas behave correctly and do not generate erroneous results. This project will develop software tools and techniques that make it possible to detect and locate errors as software is converted to run onthe next generation of 'petascale' supercomputers. We will deploy the tools both commercially through our industry partner, and also on national high performance computing facilities.
Digital Divas: Designing approaches to enthuse girls' interest in ICT studies and ICT careers
ARC Linkage 2009-2011
A/Prof J Fisher; Dr C Lang; A/Prof HJ Forgasz; Mrs A Craig; Ms RT Ellul; Ms B Harlos
APA(I) Award(s): 1
Collaborating/Partner Organisation(s): Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, VicICT for Women Network, Australian Computer Society, Netspace Online Systems, Brentwood Secondary College
A strong information and communications technology (ICT) industry, a skilled ICT workforce and excellence in ICT research is vital to Australia's future. However, girls' interest in ICT, and the numbers of women entering the ICT workforce, are at record lows, while Industry skills are critically short. Digital Divas will pioneer a program to build girls' ICT skills and confidence, increasing their motivation to study ICT and enter the ICT workforce. The benefits of education will be maximised by addressing the gender digital divide evident in classrooms, universities and professions.
Enhancing patient management at point of care using electronic-based clinical pathways
ARC Linkage 2009-2010
Dr L L Dawson; Dr V M Plummer; A/Prof J Fisher; Dr A P Howard; Mr R M Ribbons; Mrs T M Harlem
Collaborating/Partner Organisation(s): NEC Business Solutions, Peninsula Health, Fraser & Jenkinson P/L trading as Print Media Group.
Clinical pathways have been adopted by most Australian hospitals and the development of a 'proof of concept' digitised clinical pathways management system (DCPMS) would provide significant benefits to the Australian healthcare system in improving the efficiency of this approach. These include improved outcomes of care arising from a better match of patient requirements to nursing care and other health resources and better management of resources where savings can be re-directed into front-line patient care. This Australian innovation can then be exported to international health systems that are increasingly turning to hospital funding models that utilise clinical pathway information.
Methods and software for efficiently solving the transportation crewing proble
ARC Linkage 2008-2012
Prof M G Wallace; Prof G I Webb; A/Prof N L Boland; Mr I R Evans; Dr H Gu
This project will target major savings in airlines, trucking, rail and public transport, with resulting benefits for industrial logistics, travel and tourism. The results discovered within the project will enable the industrial partner, CTI, to develop solutions for major companies worldwide. The results can also be transferred to other industrial optimisation applications, such as mining, services and manufacturing. Finally the project will build on Australia's international prominence in data analysis and combinatorial optimisation, and capitalise on a major opportunity for the Australian software industry.
Sentiment detection from opinion surveys the quest for customer and employee satisfaction
ARC Linkage 2008-2011
Prof I Zukerman; Dr Y Marom
Scientific advances disseminated through high impact refereed publications and open source software. The advances made through the application of sophisticated probabilistic techniques to Language Technology problems will attract post graduate students, and promote commercial interest. The demonstration prototype will provide proof of concept of an application that enables business intelligence to automatically process free form feedback from customers and employees, with resultant recommendations leading to increased customer and employee satisfaction. The applicability of the outcomes of this research to service industries will further improve Australia's service reputation.
Solar bio-fuel and carbon sequestration with cyanobacteria: Role of Genetic Networks
Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) initiative 2010-2012
Dr M Chetty, Professor R Coppel
Climate change and sustainable development are amongst the most critical challenges facing humanity today. Cyanobacteria, often called blue green algae, play a key role in naturally sequestering a large part of carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere and also for the harvesting of solar energy. An emerging idea is to sequester CO2 at source by using Cyanobacteria ponds. Many of the Cyanobacteria due to their naturally occurring biosynthetic machinery are capable of converting CO2 to fine chemicals and fuel. Chetty and Coppel's team will develop novel computer models and grid-based simulation infrastructure for understanding the underlying regulatory processes and network motifs that channel the carbon toward various products.