ARC Discovery and Linkage Projects

Currently Funded ARC Discovery Projects

Completed ARC Discovery Projects

Currently Funded ARC Linkage Projects

Completed ARC Linkage Projects

Summaries of Current ARC Discovery Projects

A Unified Grid Programming Methodology for Global e-Science
ARC Discovery 2007-2011
Prof DA 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; Prof D. Green
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-organized 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.

Computational techniques for protease research
ARC Discovery 2007-2009
Dr S. Boyd [APD]
Correct protease function is essential to many life processes such as cell division, blood pressure and digestion. Malfunction can have devastating consequences such as autoimmune disease and cancer. Consequently, research into the mechanisms of protease function is fundamental to medical research and drug development. Current research is based on the assumption that the binding mechanisms that control protease behaviour are independent of each other. While this assumption is widely recognised as inadequate, it has never been redressed. This project will develop computational techniques to remove this assumption by addressing data analysis, experimental design, and prediction of protease behaviour in order to improve protease research.

Constrained numerical optimisation techniques for automatic graph drawing
ARC Discovery 2007-2009
Dr T. Dwyer
Graph drawing is the field of computer science concerned with automatically generating visualisations of relational network data. It is an important tool for understanding networks such as: biological pathways; complex software designs; social networks such as crime organisations; or communications infrastructure. We aim to develop new graph drawing techniques based on introducing mathematically sound constraint optimisation methods into algorithms that attempt to arrange the graph by minimising a continuous energy function. Compared to existing graph drawing methods this will result in layout of higher quality and layout more easily customised to specific applications.

Design after nature: Generative models for digital media
ARC Discovery 2007-2009
Dr J. McCormack; Dr A. Dorin; Mr T. Innocent
We will research biologically inspired computational models to develop new methods for computer creativity. The project aims to advance techniques for computer graphics modelling that can be applied to problems in the design and construction of rich, interactive visual environments. The systems we will construct allow the design of three-dimensional entities that develop and respond to their environment, a simulated ecosystem. The production of these virtual spaces has hitherto been difficult with existing technology. Our research provides a software tool capable of a broader range of expression than previous systems, and one that can be mastered by designers working with digital media.

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 DG Green; Prof HA Abbass
A grand challenge for modern society is the sheer complexity of vast networks arising from organizations 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.

Experience versus authority: science, musical theory and observation in Grocheo's De Musica and intellectual upheaval in the 13th century
ARC Discovery 2005-2007
Dr C. Mews; Prof J. Crossley; Dr C. Williams
The project will help break down disciplinary divisions between those interested in medieval musicology, the history of science and the history of ideas by bringing together specialists from all three domains. The production of an interdisciplinary monograph devoted to an upheaval in thinking in 13th century Europe , in which experience challenged arguments from authority, will deepen awareness of the interconnectedness of the musical, scientific and intellectual traditions inherited by Western culture. It will also encourage international recognition of the innovative capacity of Australian scholars to engage in interdisciplinary research, and provide an opportunity to nurture early career and postgraduate researchers within this country.

Improving the effectiveness of conceptual model validation work
ARC Discovery 2007-2009
Prof R. Weber; Dr S. Milton
Errors or omissions in conceptual models often lead to significant problems when information systems are being built. Prior research has shown the cost of fixing the consequences of such errors or omissions grows exponentially as a function of how late they are discovered. Thus, significant economic benefits arise if they are identified early int he system development process. The project outcomes will facilitate early prevention and detection of errors of omissions in conceptual models. They will also contribute to attainment of the national priority goal of smart information use through improved data management.

Koorie archiving: Community and records working together
ARC Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development 2009-2010
Ms S Faulkhead; Prof LW Russell; Prof SM 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.

Learning semi-naive Bayesian classifiers from numeric data
ARC Discovery 2007-2009
Dr Y. Yang
Fast and accurate classification is critical to many aspects of our society, such as doctors classify whether a patient is sick or banks classify whether a transaction is fraud. Semi-native Bayesian classifiers (SNB) are a cutting-edge technique that holds a great potential to offer fast and accurate classification. However, one obstacle to SNB's extensive deployment is that SNB is sub-optimal when applied to numeric data, such as blood pressure readings in clinics or share prices in stock markets. This project aims at optimizing SNB's accuracy and efficiency in face of numeric data. It will hence deliver fast and accurate classification technologies that are of immediate and substantial impact, including life saving and crime prevention.

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 institutionalized, which will benefit both them and the remainder of society.

Organisational motivation as a predictor of benefits from the adoption of Information Technology
ARC Discovery 2006-2008
Dr M. Rahim; Prof G. Shanks; Dr R. Johnston
IOS are becoming increasingly important for organisations to remain competitive in a global marketplace. By using organisational motivations to better understand how to design and structure the processes for IOS implementation and set more realistic expectation, Australian organisations will be able to develop more effective, evidence based methods for IOS implementation. The theory being tested is an original contribution in a growing area of information technology research. The data and rigorously tested research protocols developed will enhance Australia'a research standing, contribute to university teaching and researcher training, and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Australian information technology industry.

Pattern-Based Video Coding Techniques for Real Time Low Bit Rate and Low Complexity Encoding
ARC Discovery 2006-2008
A/Prof MM Murshed
This project will benefit the National Research Priority on Frontier Technology with applications in video surveillance, smart home design, and patient monitoring. It will enable Australia to lead the world in setting up coding standards and thus impact directly on the manufacturing initiatives of the multimedia communication and entertainment industries. Telecommunication industries will be the immediate beneficiary by enabling quality live video transmissions at low bit rates in a cost effective manner. This project will improve the ability of large organisations to operate virtually across huge distances in Australia with the aid of reliable multimedia communications using distributed devices of limited power and processing capacity.

Smart Information Portals: Meeting knowledge and decision support needs of health care
ARC Discovery 2006-2008
A/Prof F Burstein; A/Prof JR Warren; Prof SM McKemmish; A/Prof J Fisher
Access to quality information is vital in empowering consumers to achieve better health outcomes. While the Australian government is championing consumer-oriented health information provision online, there are gaps between identified needs and what current online information systems are capable of delivering, along with continuing concerns about information quality and reliability. The project will systematically investigate how smart information portals, tailored to consumer communities needs, can best combine intelligent technologies and metadata-driven approaches to enable more effective and efficient delivery of high quality information to meet the diverse and changing information and decision support needs of health information consumers.

Supporting adaptive diagrammatic communication
ARC Discovery 2004-2008
Prof K. Marriott; Dr B. Meyer; A/Prof P. Stuckey
The computing environment of the near future will allow users to access and interact with digital information using an incredible variety of devices. Regardless of these changes, humans will still be communicating using diagrams and sketches. But unlike today where diagrams are static, lifeless objects reflecting their origin in print media, the computer of the near future will provide more flexible visual computer interfaces which support adaptive layout, user interaction and semantics based retrieval. Based on geometric constraint solving, this project will provide a generic computational basis for this radically new view of diagrams.

Supporting adaptive, interactive documents
ARC Discovery 2009-2011
Prof KG Marriott; Prof PJ 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.

Summaries of Current ARC Linkage Projects

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 DA 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.

Autonomous service robots in a multi-agent based system for household and industrial environment
ARC Linkage 2006-2008 A/Prof B. Shirinzadeh(Fac of Engineering); Dr A. Nicholson; A/Prof M. Ang
This project addresses fundamental research issues required to develop autonomous mobile robots for intelligent cleaning services. As an interdisciplinary project spanning the fields of robotics, mechatronics and AI, it offers potential benefits in bringing robots into less-structured human environments. Robots performing autonomous cleaning (including hazardous waste and spillage) and security tasks in both household and industrial environments has tremendous national/community benefits in cost and time savings, improved efficiency and safety, and facilitating hazardous or labour intensive tasks. Other benefits include research training, strengthening Australia 's R&D position in key innovative technologies, and creating jobs and exports.

Context-aware mobile decision support systems for medical emergency management in mass gatherings
ARC Linkage 2007-2009
A/Prof F Burstein; A/Prof L Churilov; A/Prof A Zaslavsky; A/Prof J Wassertheil; Prof P Arbon
This project contributes to gaining a clearer understanding of the nature and requirements of medical emergency during mass gathering events. We will build and test a mobile real time decision support tool for improving efficiency of medical decisions to strengthen Australia's ability to manage potential health-related hazards. This project addresses research priorities of promoting and maintaining good health. It capitalizes on smart information use and will be of great benefit to mass gatherings emergency management. This project will also train highly qualified IT specialists critical to Australia's scientific and industrial development, thus increasing our competitiveness in information technology R&D.

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 LL Dawson; Dr VM Plummer; A/Prof J Fisher; Dr AP Howard; Mr RM Ribbons; Mrs TM 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.

From tactical planning to operational control - Bridging the chasm
ARC Linkage 2006-2009
Prof M. Wallace and A/Prof N. Boland
All organisations plan, and all organisations suffer from the disruptions that occur when plans are put into practice. Few organisations manage to balance operational control with planning to maintain both efficiency and flexibility to deal with the unexpected. This project addresses this requirement for the transportation and logistics industries. The results discovered within the project will enable the industrial partner, Constraint Technologies International, to develop solutions for major companies worldwide. The technology will be used to build further optimisation products. Moreover the project will extend Australia's lead in constraint programming and expertise in optimisation. This creates a major opportunity for Australia's software industry.

Intelligent collaborative care management
ARC Linkage 2007-2009
Prof M. Georgeff; A/Prof D. Campbell; Prof H. Schmidt; Dr S. Thompson; Prof G. Webb
The project will provide the basis for new models of consumer care in both social and commercial settings. In a commercial setting, customer care means looking after the customer, with the hope of retaining their business. by developing a formal model of evidence-based care, together with the information technologies to implement this model, the project will result in higher quality, safer more efficient and more effective care. This will produce significant economic and social benefits for Australia across a wide range of service industries. The project will also generate export opportunities for information technology services and products in health care and other service industries. In addition, it will drive collaboration with leading global businesses, providing new paths to market for Australian research, technologies and innovations.

Methods and software for efficiently solving the transportation crewing proble
ARC Linkage 2008-2012
Prof MG Wallace; Prof GI Webb; A/Prof NL Boland; Mr IR 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.

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