Project Listings
Researchers: Dr. Andrew King (Curtin University) Dr. Ramesh Narayanaswamy (Curtin University)
Students: Steven Christian – Curtin University
Year: 2014
+ Info There are various sizes of data centers nowadays, from the small one with only several computer racks to the big one with more than one hundred racks. As most of the computer’s electrical power consumption is dissipated into heat, good data center cooling performance is important to prevent computers from being overheated. In response to the large amount of heat produced, the cooling load of the Computer Room Air Conditioning units (CRAC) increases in order to maintain the system’s temperature within the desired range. Data center cooling effectiveness needs to be set as high as possible in order to minimize the overall energy consumption, to minimize the operational cost, to help minimizing the greenhouse gases emission and hence gives some contribution to reduce the effect of global warming.
For the purpose of investigating data center cooling effectiveness using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) OpenFOAM software, a simple model of basic data center and a standard data center layout located in Espoo, Finland, are used. For both data centers, the cold air is supplied through raised floor plenum mechanism, while the hot air is sucked through ceiling return mechanism. The Espoo data center is much more complicated since it has more computer racks and also various supply and return air temperatures and flowrates. Several assumptions were made when constructing the model in order to simplify the case without much affecting the results accuracy. In general, both the basic and final model data center are properly designed in terms of temperature distribution since the racks inlet temperature is still within ASHRAE’s recommended magnitude between 20-25° C (293-298° K) although some hot air recirculation occurs.
Researchers: Prof Ricardo L. Mancera, Curtin University of Technology A/Prof Pilar Blancafort, University of Western Australia
Students: Yu Jie Kan – Curtin University
Year: 2014
+ Info DNA-binding domains (DBDs) are highly specific proteins capable of recognizing specific gene sequences.
The SOX2 protein is a transcription factor, which is also a DBD, is found to be involved in tumourgenesis and is highly expressed in basal-like breast cancers. Therefore the SOX2 protein can potentially be used to design and engineer DBDs that are able to recognize important gene sequences in cancer cells and aid the reconfiguration of the cancer genomes through the conjugative attachment of the engineered DBDs to existing cancer drugs.
This project uses the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation methods to simulate a SOX2-OCT4-DNA complex, in order to predict the binding affinity of SOX2 to DNA in the presence of OCT4, which can then be used for SOX2 based DBD design and engineering and to conduct virtual molecular experiments on SOX2 based DBDs to improve their DNA recognition and binding capacity.
Researchers: Dr Chi Phan – Curtin University
Students: William Foskett – Curtin University
Year: 2014
+ Info This project investigates the different behaviour of two isomeric alcohols, 1-butanol and isobutanol at an air/water interface.
Alcohols can absorb and modify interfacial properties due to amphiphilic nature. The interfacial arrangement of these compounds is fundamentally different from the bulk. Consequently, surfactants have been utilized and applied in many processes including mineral processing. Recently, it has been found the methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) and 1-hexanol have opposite behaviors at the interface: adsorbed MIBC enhance the presence of cations, whereas adsorbed 1-hexanol enhance the presence of anions. The contrast might be the underlying reason of superior performance of MIBC in mineral flotation. (Nguyen 2013).
This project investigates the interfacial behaviour of two other isomeric alcohols, 1-butanol and isobutanol. Such influences can only be quantified by molecular simulations with powerful supercomputer. This project employs GROMACS to quantify the molecular factors. The simulations will be run on 1-butanol and isobutanol. Initially a pure air/water system will be used to investigate surface tension, surface potential. An air/water/NaCl system will then be used at varying ion concentrations to investigate the relative positions between anions and cations.
Researchers: Dr Brian von Konsky, Mike Fardon, Rodney Tamblyn – Curtin Teaching and Learning Dr Ashley Aitken – Curtin Business School
Students: Tristan Hessell – Curtin University
Year: 2014
+ Info Visualising collaborative authoring of rich media documents is a new concept and as such there is little exploration into the field.
A visualisation has been produced that visualises the evolution of a collaborative document and its structural changes over the document lifetime. Applications of the visualisation include as an assistance tool for assignment facilitators and use in the software industry.
This project will be used as a basis for future work and research into the collaborative document evolution.
Researchers: Dr Tobias Westmeier – International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)
Students: Asif R Rasha – Auckland University of Technology
Year: 2014
+ Info The objective of the summer project is to process and analyse the deep sky survey data collected using the 64m Parkes Radio Telescope at the 21cm emission line of neutral hydrogen to search for galaxies.
The report discusses the data reduction process done using the standard Parkes Data reduction software packages and the source finding using Duchamp. It also discusses the process of analysing the output data from Duchamp to produce a parameterised catalogue of galaxies.
Researchers: Petra Helmholz – Department of Spatial Sciences, Curtin University Andrew Woods – Curtin HIVE and Centre for Marine Science and Technology, Curtin University.
Students: Daniel Annesley – Curtin University
Year: 2014
+ Info The Dutch vessel Batavia was shipwrecked in 1629, approximately 50 km off the West Australian coastline. Adding to the ships historical significance was the subsequent massacre of the surviving crew that followed an attempted mutiny in its early voyage.
Discovered over three centuries later and excavated in 1971, the West Australian Museum retrieved many artefacts from the site, including enough timbers to reconstruct a ten meter section of the port stern of the ship.
This project aims to; with the Batavia wreck as context, determine the accuracy of different photogrammetric Software using Terrestrial Laser Scan technology as the exemplar.
The software packages themselves have been developed by different professional backgrounds and range from freeware to commercial packages. And although largely automated, the workflow for such a task is extensive and poses further challenges to obtaining accurate results.
Despite this, the results of the project have been largely positive across the entire range of software. As such, conclusions have been made on Photogrammetric accuracy and sources of inaccuracy, as well as what implications these conclusions may have on future of applications of Photogrammetry.