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School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  1 of 25 
 
School of Computing, Engineering and 
Mathematics 
Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists 
 
Project 39:  Brain-eye computer interface .............................................................................................. 2 
Project 40: Low metallicity stars in the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy .................................................... 4 
Project 41:  Fabrication and Characterisation of Polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films .. 6 
Project 42:  Carbonated Recycled Aggregate for Recycled Aggregate Concrete ............................ 9 
Project 43:  The birth of stars in the Lagoon Nebula: From X-rays to radio-waves .................... 12 
Project 44: New approaches to data science problems in radio astronomy.................................. 14 
Project 45:  Fracture Toughness Analysis of Polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films of 
Polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films ............................................................................................... 16 
Project 46: The Fabrication of Titanium-based Nitride Coatings for Engineering Applications
 19 
Project 47:  Meta-Data Standard for Maintaining Ontological Continuity between Clinical 
Terminology/Code Versions ........................................................................................................................ 22 
Project 48:  Developing Intelligent Agents for General Game Playing ......................................... 24 
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  2 of 25 
Project 39: Brain-eye computer interface 
 
Supervisor(s):  Professor Anthony Meader and Dr Vihn Nguyen 
Supervisor(s) contact information:   a.meader@westernsydney.edu.au 
     q.nguyen@westernsydney.edu.au 
Project description 
The THRIL lab has already installed an Emotiv brain cap (which gathers signals of spatially 
localized electrical activity in the brain) and a Tobii eye-tracker (which uses a camera to 
determine viewer gaze position). Use of these devices until now has been totally separate.  
This project will coordinate the input data streams from these two devices, in order to replicate 
standard mouse and keyboard input to a computer.  A customised graphical display component 
will be needed, to allow the user to undertake keyboard character selection.  
A system such as this would be useful in handsfree settings (eg for disabled users, or for use 
during other equipment operations, or for computer systems with only a screen an no external 
peripherals). The project is novel because it combines the two modes of input together: other 
systems have only used them independently. 
Project Aims 
• Develop an algorithm to process stream data received from Emotiv and Tobii devices to 
provide screen location and user action parameters, consistent with typical use of mouse 
and keyboard for computer input. 
• Validate the software by a range of experiments performing individual interactions and 
sequence of interactions (conducted by self-experimentation on the investigator team, 
without needing ethics approval).  
Project Methods 
Prior related work in the literature will be sourced and briefly reviewed.   
A framework for the sequencing and quantization of the input data, to map to the range of 
interactive operations desired, will initially be constructed.  
The algorithm undertaking the data processing can be developed initially in Matlab using pre-
captured data streams, but C++/Java implementation may be necessary for realtime 
performance.   
As part of the implementation stage, a large format keyboard selection graphical display will 
need to be created (as normal keyboard displays will be too fine grain for eye-tracker 
resolution).   
The performance of the system will be assessed on a range of common tasks (click and double 
click, LRUD navigation and scrolling, onscreen button selection, pulldown menu selection, and 
typing).  Inter (3 subjects) and intra (5 cycles) observer variability will be assessed. 
A publication will be produced reporting these results, for submission to a suitable HCI or 
Human Factors journal. 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  3 of 25 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
• Literature review - to determine any other related work using these types of devices. 
• Systems analysis and design – to specify requirements and derive solution structure 
• Software development – to convert SAD derived algorithm into working program 
• Experimentation – to collect data on human/computer performance and conduct 
statistical analysis 
• Communication – write report and followup paper, and present findings verbally 
• Project management – follow rigorous weekly schedule and manage progress reporting 
(via MS Project) 
• Research community – take part in general research group activities and meetings in 
eHRG/THRIL 
 
Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
Limited software development ability in Matlab, C++, Java.  No web development is necessary. 
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  4 of 25 
Project 40: Low metallicity stars in the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy 
 
Supervisor(s):   Dr Nick Tothill and Dr Elaina A. Hyde 
Supervisor(s) contact information:   n.tothill@westernsydney.edu.au 
Project description 
Big galaxies, like the Milky Way, seem to have grown by merging with smaller galaxies; the stars 
of the smaller galaxy eventually merge into the larger population of stars in the bigger galaxy. 
The most recent of these events is the capture of the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy, which is still 
being 'digested' by the Milky Way: The remaining core of the dwarf galaxy and the streams of 
stars merging into the larger Milky Way extend over much of the sky. Because the capture and 
destruction of the Sgr dwarf are so recent, and the remnants are comparatively close to us (only 
about 80,000 light-years!), we have the opportunity to watch one of these events in action, and 
thus to learn how galaxies are built. 
To study the Sgr dwarf galaxy, we need to study its stars. We have therefore embarked on an 
ambitious project to study the red giant stars (M giants) in the core of the Sgr dwarf and in the 
star streams. We are undertaking spectroscopy of the stars with the 2dF AAOmega instrument 
on the AAT Telescope at Coonabarabran. To date, we have ~20,000 spectra in hand -- by far the 
largest spectroscopic database of stars in the Sgr core and stream. We have estimated the 
'metallicity' (a measure of the abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium) for most 
of these stars, and we wish to carry out further studies on stars that have already showed the 
possibility of extremely low metallicity. 
 
Project Aims 
• Confirm the metallicity of candidate extremely-low-metallicity stars using our 
spectroscopic data. 
• Study the possible contribution of dwarf galaxy star populations to the stellar 
population of the Milky Way, using these extremely-low-metallicity stars as tracers. 
• Study the history of chemical enrichment within the Sgr dwarf galaxy, as heavy elements 
were built up by nuclear fusion within stars. 
 
Project Methods 
This project will use the standard methods of modern data-intensive astronomy, in which large 
datasets are managed by a combination of standard software applications and specially-written 
code. In this case the main tools will be iraf and python, with SAOImage DS9 used for 
visualisation. Statistical methods will be used to understand the implications of the dataset for 
our knowledge of the structure and evolution of galaxies. 
The student will be engaged in all elements and methods of this project, including 
programming, data science, statistical analysis and astronomical theory and interpretation. The 
student will also be involved in the preparation and writing of any resulting publication, on 
which the student will be a co-author. 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  5 of 25 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
The student will have the opportunity to work in a professional research environment. The 
student will learn programming, data science, statistical analysis and astronomical theory and 
practice. By working in a group with numerous HDRs and postdocs, they will learn the practice 
of scientific research and critical thinking. These skills are highly transferable, and much in 
demand outside academia, in addition to being invaluable to an aspiring researcher.  
 
Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
We have no formal requirements, but to get the most out of this project, students should be in 
their 2nd or 3rd year of a degree in a numerate discipline, with some experience of programming 
(E.g. BCompSc, BICT, BMathSc, BSc...). 
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  6 of 25 
Project 41:  Fabrication and Characterisation of Polycrystalline 
Ti/Al multilayer thin films 
 
Supervisor(s):  Associate Professor Richard Yang and Dr Leigh Sheppard 
Supervisor(s) contact information:   r.yang@westernsydney.edu.au 
     l.sheppard@westernsydney.edu.au  
Project description 
Thin films are material layers of a thickness ranging from nanometer (monolayer) to 
micrometers and are used as protective coatings on bulk materials, e.g., decorative coatings, UV-
light protections on windows, diffusion barriers and connectors for micro components in 
electronics, etc. Titanium (Ti)/Aluminide (Al) intermetallic coating is one of promising 
protective coatings which is widely used to provide superb surface properties against straining, 
erosion, corrosion, thermal shock etc., especially having high temperature strength and high 
temperature corrosion resistance due to the formation of oxide rich films for gas turbine and 
aircraft engine industries.  Although Ti/Al thin films have attracted great research interest in 
mechanical engineering and materials engineering over a couple of decades their potential has 
not been fully realised. There are still considerable uncertainties about how mechanically 
strong Titanium (Ti)/Aluminide (Al) intermetallic coating would be and why they commonly 
fall far short of their expected performance and how we can optimally design such thin films not 
simply relying on a trial-and-error procedure.   
In this project we are targeting to develop an experimental framework on fabrication and 
characterisation of Titanium (Ti)/Aluminide (Al) multilayer thin films using Direct Current 
(DC) Magnetron Sputtering, SEM and XRD techniques and focus on determination of diffusion 
mechanism between the Ti and Al layers for development of high-performance thin films with 
light-weight, high-strength and extreme-temperature resistance. This project will take 
advantage of recent advances in nanomaterials manufacturing, nanotechnologies and 
computational techniques to deliver fundamental science for understanding the strengthening 
and diffusion mechanism of Polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films. The outcomes of the 
research will rationalise the development of new metallic thin films for other structural and 
functional materials. 
This proposed summer student project is also targeted at further reinforcing the existing 
research collaboration between the two highly-active research groups - AMSS and SET in SCEM 
in a multidisciplinary sense of mechanical engineering and materials engineering and secure 
high-quality research on both of them and consolidate track records for external competitive 
funding, i.e., ARC DP and linkages and it provides a powerful training platform for young 
researchers in SCEM as well.  
The student is working in a supportive and vibrant research environment with two supervisors 
who are all research active with strong track records in the research field (no ECR in the 
supervision team) and great experiences supervising engineering project student, honours 
thesis students and HDRs. 
 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  7 of 25 
Project Aims 
This project aims to advance fundamental knowledge and practical algorithms via experimental 
work that contribute to the development of advanced metallic multilayer thin films, integrating 
the fabrication of such materials and the characterisation at microstructural level.  
The specific objectives of this project are including the following two items:  
• Validate the application of Direct Current (DC) Magnetron Sputtering on fabricating 
polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films;  
• Characterise the microstructures of such Ti/Al multilayer thin films using SEM and 
XRD at small length scales to conduct composition and phase analysis; and 
• Characterise Ti/Al interdiffusion between layers using secondary ion mass 
spectrometry (SIMS). 
 
Project Methods 
The summer student project consists of two main tasks: a) fabrication of polycrystalline Ti/Al 
multilayer thin films; and b) characterisation of polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films. 
These two tasks are designed as three instalments in a timeframe of eight weeks and listed as 
follows:  
a) Fabrication of polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films using Direct Current (DC) 
Magnetron Sputtering 
Pure Ti and Al will be used to create the multilayered samples using different substrates, i.e., 
silicon (Si), copper (Cu), alumium (Al), titanium (Ti), mild steel and stainless steel or others for 
checking the influence from them. In total ten layers of Ti and Al will be created in different 
sequences and layer thicknesses so that each layer contains multiple Ti or Al grains of thickness. 
The diffusion and strengthening mechanism can be further studied based on the parametric 
fabrication. By altering the deposition parameters, such as deposition pressure, deposition 
temperature, substrate bias voltage etc., the phase, crystallinity and microstructure of Ti and Al 
layers can be assessed, and an optimized nanocomposite fabrication protocol established.     
b) Characterisation of intermetallic nanocomposites  
The SEM (scanning electron microscope) and X-ray diffraction analyses are used to do 
microstructure analysis to investigate the interface between layers and characterise dimension 
parameters for microstructure and the growth of intermetallic Ti1-xAl1+x films. The SIMS will 
provide compositional detail relating to the mixing of Ti and Al at the interface between layers.   
 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
The successful applicant will  
• work closely with supervisor to conduct the project and other researcher in AMSS and 
SET;  
• gain the research skills on material fabrication, characterisation and testing of advanced 
multilayer thin films in a multidisciplinary sense of Mechanical Engineering and 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  8 of 25 
Materials Engineering; 
• gain a complete training on using research facilities in Hawkesbury and Parramatta 
Campuses, Western Sydney University; and  
• be potential to be an author on publications co-authored with supervisors which is up to 
project achievements made at the end.. 
 
Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
Engineering students are encouraged to apply for working in this summer program in 
2015/2016 summer, especially for those studying in mechanical engineering at Year-2 level or 
above and have outstanding academic progress and are enthusiastic to conduct the research 
tasks in this project. It is desirable for the applicant having good understanding on engineering 
materials, mechanics of materials and experimental methods, etc. 
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  9 of 25 
Project 42: Carbonated Recycled Aggregate for Recycled 
Aggregate Concrete  
 
Supervisor(s):  Associate Professor Vivian Tam 
  
Supervisor(s) contact information:  v.tam@westernsydney.edu.au 
 
Project description 
Recycled aggregate is crushed concrete waste consisting of old aggregate and old cement mortar. 
Recycled concrete created from recycled aggregate has only been used for non-structural and 
sub-grade applications around the world because companies have believed that it is inferior 
compared with the normal aggregate generation (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial 
Research Organization 1998, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization 
2002, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization 2006). Because of this 
misleading consensus, research on recycled concrete for high-grade structural applications has 
been weak which has not realized its full potential. More than ten million tons of concrete waste 
were generated in South-Eastern Australia annually (Bakoss and Ravindrarajah 1999, 
Australian Government: Productivity Commission 2006, Queensland Government 2007). 
Carbon emissions from the generated concrete waste have been considered an important issue 
in Australia and around the world. The World Wide Fund for Nature reports that the concrete 
industry’s share of global carbon emissions is about 8%. If recycled concrete is effectively used, 
the Australian construction industry may be capable of reducing its carbon emissions by up to 
90% (World Wide Fund for Nature 2010).  
Because of the real estate boom in Australia, bursts of migrants from interstate and overseas 
have arrived to the South-Eastern region, with major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, 
Brisbane and the Gold Coast possessing high population growth (Australian Government: 
Productivity Commission 2006). According to a recent report by The University of Technology, 
Sydney (Bakoss and Ravindrarajah 1999), inner suburbs of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne 
currently generate more concrete waste than in the past 20 years (Queensland Government 
2007). It is expected that the population growth will continue in the next coming years, 
prompting the state and federal governments to effectively reuse recycled aggregate.  
The use of recycled materials such as recycled aggregate saves precious natural resources which 
have been scarce in Australia. Although concrete waste has rapidly been generated, recycled 
concrete created from recycled aggregate has not been employed at the same rate due to the 
State’s restrictions, which have been set out simply because this type of recycled concrete has 
not yet been widely trialled in Australia. This does not mean that this new material is not useful. 
This project shows that recycled concrete can be as strong as the normal concrete which is 
suitable for structural applications. This not only creates a new material for structural purposes 
but also resolves concrete waste storage problems. Possible challenges that this proposal is 
facing are: 
• Strength improvement of recycled concrete for high-grade structural applications?  
• Is it easy to introduce this new material to the Australian construction industry which 
has been used to natural concrete for decades?  
 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  10 of 25 
Project Aims 
This project seeks to develop a new material: carbonated recycled aggregate, for recycled 
aggregate concrete. The primary aim of this project is:  
• To develop a carbonated chamber for carbonating recycled aggregate; 
• To experiment different replacement ratios of carbonated recycled aggregate for 
recycled aggregate concrete; and  
• To simulate an optimal mixing approach for recycled aggregate concrete. 
 
Project Methods 
(a)  Development of a carbonated chamber and production of carbonated recycled 
aggregate  
A carbonated chamber will be developed in this stage. The carbonation will be conducted in a 
pressure chamber in which CO2 of 99.5% purity is injected to a gas pressure for certain duration. 
The gas pressure is regulated to ensure a continuous supply of CO2 to the chamber. The mass of 
recycled aggregate is recorded as a mass curve against time, representing carbon uptake by the 
recycled aggregate samples. Varied gas pressure and duration in the production of carbonated 
recycled aggregate are studied in this Task. The hardening by carbonation is caused by the 
precipitation of calcium carbonate and by filling the voids of the matrix (Teramura et al. 2000).  
(b) Experiments on recycled concrete characteristics 
Different replacement ratios of carbonated recycled aggregate developed in Task (a) will be used 
to produce recycled aggregate concrete in this task. Detailed testing on different recycled 
concrete characteristics is conducted in the laboratory. Seven major factors affecting recycled 
concrete characteristics are: i) workability; ii) density; iii) strength; iv) rigidity: static modulus of 
elasticity; v) deformation: shrinkage and creep; vi) chemical composition: chloride and sulphate 
contents; and vii) permeability: water, air and chloride permeability. In addition, the suitability 
of different recycled concrete’s for high-grade structural applications is also assessed. Data are 
then collected for further analyses in Task c.  
(c) Recycled concrete optimal mixing approach development 
To mathematically model the data collected in Task b, various regression analysis are used to 
simulate different recycled concrete characteristics. It should be emphasised that to thoroughly 
study recycled concrete characteristics; one has to conduct all possible tests in the laboratory 
which is a lengthy process. Interpolation techniques can be employed to make the studies more 
efficient and effective because test values under different conditions can be predicted. This 
shortens the recycled concrete testing time and systematically forms a database storing each 
recycled concrete characteristic. From that, the recycled concrete optimal mixing approach for 
each recycled aggregate category can be identified via choosing the characteristics with the 
highest test value. The outcome of this sub-task is the recycled concrete optimal mixing 
approach.  
 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  11 of 25 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
The student undertaking this project can gain knowledge on the importance of research and 
identifying research gaps in the construction engineering industry. Experimental work and 
simulation of recycled aggregate concrete conducted in this project can also help the student 
understanding research methodologies. These are necessary in developing and improving 
research skills for Higher Degree Research (HDR) in which the student may be interested for 
further study.  
 
Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
Students in any stage of Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Construction Management are 
suitable for this project. 
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  12 of 25 
Project 43: The birth of stars in the Lagoon Nebula: From X-rays 
to radio-waves 
 
Supervisor(s):  Dr Nick Tothill and Dr Quentin Roper 
Supervisor(s) contact information:  n.tothill@westernsydney.edu.au  
Project description 
The Lagoon Nebula, lying some 4000 light-years from us towards the centre of our Galaxy, is 
currently forming new stars. There are several clues that suggest that the formation of new stars 
is being triggered by the effects of slightly older stars that blow giant plasma bubbles (called HII 
regions) within the surrounding gas cloud. To understand how these generations of young stars 
affect each others' lives, we need to identify the stars and compare them to the gas clouds where 
new stars may be formed.  
The problem with identifying young stars in the Lagoon Nebula is that it lies towards the centre 
of our Galaxy, so the young stars are lost in all the other stars in the galaxy. We need to separate 
them out using some specific flag. That flag is X-ray emission. Young stars have very strong X-
ray emission from their chromospheres, much stronger than the Sun's. So we can identify the 
young stars by looking for them in X-ray images of the Lagoon Nebula. The Chandra X-ray 
Observatory, a NASA satellite, observed the X-ray emission from the Lagoon Nebula, and the 
data are available in its archive, but have not been published. 
Over the course of this project, the student will analyse archival X-ray data taken from Chandra 
to identify the young stars in the Lagoon Nebula, and will also search for the X-ray emission of 
the diffuse nebula. The student will compare the distribution of young stars to the known radio-
wave emission from the gas clouds that form stars in order to test the idea that the young stars 
have been formed in these gas clouds by the effect of previous generations of stars. 
Project Aims 
• Extract and reduce archival X-ray data of the Lagoon Nebula using standard 
computational tools. 
• Systematically identify young stars in the Lagoon Nebula from their X-ray emission. 
• Compare to the spatial distribution of the young stars to the locations of dense gas 
clouds as revealed by extant millimeter-wavelength radio data. 
Project Methods 
This project use X-ray data reduction techniques using the Chandra Interactive Analysis of 
Observations (CIAO) software package. This software suite is designed to reduce X-ray data 
taken from the Chandra Space Telescope. CIAO will be utilized to reduce the X-ray data for 
imaging purposes in order to study flux and spectral properties of the stars in the Lagoon 
Nebula in addition to its diffuse emission. The resulting dataset will be analysed using statistical 
tools written in python and R in order to look for spatial correlations in the data. 
The student will be engaged in all elements of the project from data handling to analysis to 
astrophysical interpretation, and will be involved in the preparation of any resulting 
publication, on which the student will be a co-author. 
 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  13 of 25 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
The student will learn numerical computing in a modern computing environment, in addition to 
the 'soft' skills of team working in a collaborative environment. The student will also learn 
statistical interpretation and critical thinking, both highly transferrable skills. In addition, the 
student will learn about the astronomical theory of high-energy astrophysics and star 
formation, as well as the techniques of modern data-intensive astronomy. 
 
Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
We have no formal requirements, but the ideal student would have a grasp of algorithmic 
thinking (e.g. have passed Programming Fundamentals or equivalent). To get the most out of 
the project students should be in their 2nd or 3rd year of a degree in a numerate discipline (E.g. 
BCompSc, BICT, BMathSc, Bsc...). Interest in astronomy would be an advantage. 
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  14 of 25 
Project 44: New approaches to data science problems in radio 
astronomy 
 
Supervisor(s):  Professor Miroslav Filipovic and Dr Nick Tothill 
Supervisor(s) contact information:   m.filipovic@westernsydney.edu.au 
     n.tothill@westernsydney.edu.au  
Project description 
The next-generation radio telescope ASKAP, currently being commissioned in outback WA, will 
produce huge data sets that must be handled by computers using data science approaches, since 
the data volume is simply too great for human analysis. We are members of the team carrying 
out the EMU project (Evolutionary Map of the Universe), which will use these gigantic datasets. 
Our particular interest is in the process of finding new classes of celestial object, which we have 
not even imagined – the 'unknown unknowns'.  
We have put test datasets up onto the public cloud using Amazon Web Services, to test both new 
algorithms and techniques and the use of cloud infrastructure to carry out the analysis. Over the 
course of this project, we will start to trial new techniques to analyse these huge datasets. This 
will be carried out in collaboration with the multinational team (EMU-WTF) led by Prof Ray 
Norris (CSIRO, and an Adjunct Professor at Western Sydney University). Some of the day-to-
day work of the project will be carried out at the CSIRO Astrophysics and Space Science site in 
Marsfield. 
This project will work in very new territory – these approaches to data analysis are only just 
being initiated in radio-astronomy, and this work will be at the forefront of these new ideas. 
 
Project Aims 
• Carry out basic cluster-searching analysis on the test data on AWS. 
• Compare results to other techniques 
• Investigate further analysis techniques based on this experience. 
 
Project Methods 
The project will use traditional astronomical software methods, general programming 
techniques (eg python and R) and cloud computing to explore new ground in astronomical data 
analysis. The student will be engaged in all aspects of the work. Because this is ground-breaking 
research, the student may expect to rapidly become expert in their own techniques, and to 
contribute to the work of a large international consortium. The student will be a co-author on 
any publication resulting from this work.  
Although only one supervisor is listed, the student will benefit from interaction with many 
colleagues, from ECRs to eminent senior academics. 
 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  15 of 25 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
The student will have the opportunity to strengthen their programming skills, to learn the 
techniques of data science, and to work in a strong group with numerous HDR students and 
postdocs. The student will also have the opportunity to spend time at CSIRO and interact with 
other summer research students there, strengthening their networks. Working with a large 
international collaboration using multiple online tools will build the students team working 
skills for a modern environment. 
 
Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
We have no formal requirements, but to get the most out of this project, students should be in 
their 2nd or 3rd year of a degree in a numerate discipline, with significant experience of 
programming (E.g. BCompSc, BICT, BMathSc, BSc...). 
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  16 of 25 
Project 45: Fracture Toughness Analysis of Polycrystalline Ti/Al 
multilayer thin films of Polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films 
 
Supervisor(s):  Associate Professor Richard Yang and Dr Leigh Sheppard 
Supervisor(s) contact information:   r.yang@westernsydney.edu.au 
     l.sheppard@westernsydney.edu.au 
Project description 
Thin films are material layers of a thickness ranging from nanometer (monolayer) to 
micrometers and are used as protective coatings on bulk materials, e.g., decorative coatings, UV-
light protections on windows, diffusion barriers and connectors for micro components in 
electronics, etc. Titanium (Ti)/Aluminide (Al) intermetallic coating is one of promising 
protective coatings which is widely used to provide superb surface properties against straining, 
erosion, corrosion, thermal shock etc., especially having high temperature strength and high 
temperature corrosion resistance due to the formation of oxide rich films for gas turbine and 
aircraft engine industries.  Although Ti/Al thin films have attracted great research interest in 
mechanical engineering and materials engineering over a couple of decades their potential has 
not been fully realised. There are still considerable uncertainties about how mechanically 
strong Titanium (Ti)/Aluminide (Al) intermetallic coating would be and why they commonly 
fall far short of their expected performance and how we can optimally design such thin films not 
simply relying on a trial-and-error procedure.   
In this project we are targeting to develop an experimental framework on fracture toughness 
analysis of Titanium (Ti)/Aluminide (Al) multilayer thin films using nanoindentation using 
various indenters and focus on identifying fracture failure mechanism and determining fracture 
properties of Ti/Al thin films for developing high-performance thin films with light-weight, 
high-strength and extreme-temperature resistance. This project will take advantage of recent 
advances in nanomaterials manufacturing, nanotechnologies and computational techniques to 
deliver fundamental science for understanding the strengthening and diffusion mechanism of 
Polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films. The outcomes of the research will rationalise the 
development of new metallic thin films for other structural and functional materials. 
This proposed summer student project is also targeted at further reinforcing the existing 
research collaboration between the two highly research-active supervisors in SCEM in a 
multidisciplinary sense of mechanical engineering and materials engineering and secure high-
quality research on both of them and consolidate track records for external competitive funding, 
i.e., ARC DP and linkages and it provides a powerful training platform for young researchers in 
SCEM as well.  
The student is working in a supportive and vibrant research environment with two supervisors 
who are all research active with strong track records in the research field (no ECR in the 
supervision team) and great experiences supervising engineering project student, honours 
thesis students and HDRs. 
 
 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  17 of 25 
Project Aims 
This project aims to advance fundamental knowledge and practical algorithms via experimental 
and numerical work that contribute to the development of advanced metallic multilayer thin 
films, integrating the nanoindentation testing and finite element modelling to characterize such 
materials at nano/micro length scale.  
The specific objectives of this project are including the following three items:  
• Characterise the microstructures of such Ti/Al multilayer thin films using SEM at small 
length scales;  
• Characterise Ti/Al thin films using nanoindentation with various indenter to determine 
fracture failure mechanism and fracture toughness; and  
• Develop a series of finite element models to simulate the nanoindentation tests and 
conduct parametric study considering different arrangments of the Ti/Al layers. 
 
Project Methods 
The summer student project consists of two main tasks: a) characterisation of polycrystalline 
Ti/Al multilayer thin films; and b) development of finite element models for polycrystalline 
Ti/Al multilayer thin films under nanoindentation. These two tasks are designed as three 
instalments in a timeframe of eight weeks and listed as follows:  
a) Characterisation of polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films  
The SEM (scanning electron microscope) is used to perform microstructure analysis on 
polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films to investigate the interface between layers and 
characterise dimension parameters for microstructure and the growth of intermetallic Ti1-
xAl1+x films. The SIMS will provide compositional detail relating to the mixing of Ti and Al at 
the interface between layers.   
b) Development of finite element models for polycrystalline Ti/Al multilayer thin films 
under nanoindentation 
The multilayered samples will be tested using nanoindentation and based on the experimental 
loading process, a series of finite element models will be developed and validated using 
experimental data obtained from nanoindentaion tests. Then a parametric study wukk be 
carried out for fracture toughness analysis.       
 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
The successful applicant will  
• work closely with supervisor to conduct the project and other researcher in AMSS and 
SCEM;  
• gain the research skills on material characterization, testing and finite element 
modelling of advanced multilayer thin films in a multidisciplinary sense of Mechanical 
Engineering and Materials Engineering; 
• gain a complete training on using research facilities in Hawkesbury and Parramatta 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
Project Lists  18 of 25 
Campuses, Western Sydney University and AMME, USyd; and  
• be potential to be an author on publications co-authored with supervisors which is up 
to project achievements made at the end. 
 
Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
Engineering students are encouraged to apply for working in this summer program in 
2015/2016 summer, especially for those studying in mechanical engineering at Year-2 level or 
above and have outstanding academic progress and are enthusiastic to conduct the research 
tasks in this project. It is desirable for the applicant having good understanding on engineering 
materials, mechanics of materials and experimental methods, etc. 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
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Project 46: The Fabrication of Titanium-based Nitride Coatings 
for Engineering Applications 
 
Supervisor(s):  Dr Leigh Sheppard and  Dr Richard Wuhrer 
Supervisor(s) contact information:   l.sheppard@westernsydney.edu.au 
     richard.wuhrer@westernsydney.edu.au  
Project description 
Surface engineering is of growing importance for many commercial and industrial applications 
due to the capacity to dramatically improve material properties, and consequently, the 
performance of engineering components. An example of surface engineering is the development 
of hard coatings for machining tools resulting in the dramatic improvement of lifetime. Such 
coatings often consist of nitrides such as titanium nitride (TiN), chromium nitride (CrN) and 
titanium aluminium nitride (TiAlN) which typically gain interest due to their extremely high 
hardness, durability at higher temperatures, improved wear, and high corrosion resistance. 
Coatings such as these can also be utilised for medical applications such as wear resistant 
contact surfaces in artificial joints. Titanium niobium nitride (TiNbN) is an emerging ternary 
nitride material that is gaining attention due to the expectation that it may possess similar 
properties to other Ti-based ternary nitrides. However, due to the unique electronic structure of 
Nb, these expectations could be misguided. As such, knowledge of its properties and processing 
requirements need to be investigated. The use of reactive magnetron sputtering is highly 
attracting for fabricating these types of materials due to the ability for these coatings to be 
deposited onto a range of substrate materials while maintaining sophistication and low cost. 
The current project aims to investigate the nature of TiNbN-based films processed using 
reactive magnetron sputtering. The project will target the effects of various processing 
parameters, such as nitrogen pressure, elemental composition, substrate bias voltage and 
substrate temperature, on the structure, composition, surface morphology and corrosion 
resistance of the coatings. 
Project Aims 
The goal of the project is to establish an understanding of the effect of several key sputtering 
parameters upon the composition, structure, and related properties of TiNbN-based thin film 
materials. This goal will be achieved through the pursuit of the following specific aims: 
• Establish the relationship between deposition pressure and the growth rate of TiNbN 
films of varied Nb content 
• Establish the relationship between the structural evolution of TiNbN films and the 
application of 1) substrate temperature, and 2) substrate bias, during sputtering  
• Establish the corrosion behaviour of selected TiNbN films based upon the outcomes of 
Aims #1 and #2  
The project will exploit this information to establish optimised processing protocols for 
depositing TiNbN coatings with desirable properties. It is also expected that the USRP student 
will gain an appreciation for the design and fabrication of novel materials in general.    
 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
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Project Methods 
The project will utilise reactive magnetron sputtering to prepare an array of TiNbN films that 
will vary in Nb content (relative to Ti). This film deposition technique exploits the creation of a 
plasma whose composition is determined by the sputtered material (niobium and titanium) as 
well as by gaseous reactants (nitrogen). The process subsequently yields a thin film material 
when this plasma interacts with a substrate. The structure of this film is determined by the 
composition and energetics of the deposition plasma, which is manipulated in a controlled 
manner via a range of simple parameters. Magnetron sputtering is consequently a highly 
flexible technique for the fabrication of novel materials that possess a broad range of tuneable 
functional properties such as hardness, corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity, and optical 
absorption. 
For the proposed project, students will access the Western Sydney University Reactive 
Magnetron Sputtering Facility located at Hawkesbury (managed by Dr Sheppard) and will be 
trained in it operation. Students will explore the diverse parameter space of this instrument and 
fabricate a raft of novel TiNbN-based materials which they will subsequently characterise using 
the facilities at the Western Sydney University Advanced Materials Characterisation Facility 
(Parramatta North – Managed by Dr Wuhrer). They will also access the Western Sydney 
University Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer at Hawkesbury to obtain depth profiles of their 
films in order to establish supplementary compositional information.  
The student will establish relationships between the selection of sputtering parameters and the 
resulting material properties to develop an understanding of how sputtering protocols may be 
tailored to obtain specific applied outcomes for TiNbN-based materials. 
 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
During the course of this investigation, the USRP student will be gain substantial experience in 
the use of advanced research tools for materials processing and characterisation. These are: 
• Thin film fabrication using the Western Sydney University Reactive Magnetron 
Sputtering Facility (Hawkesbury) 
• Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron 
Microscopy (SEM) and Microanalysis (EDS) at the Western Sydney University 
Advanced Materials Characterisation Facility (Parramatta) 
• Secondary Ion mass Spectrometry (SIMS) (Hawkesbury) 
• Electrochemical corrosion testing (Hawkesbury) 
As a consequence of the above, the student will also develop: 
• Critical thinking abilities 
• Data management and analytical skills  
• Reporting and presentation skills 
• Time management and scheduling skills 
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
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Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
A student with good organizational skills and an eagerness to learn and be challenged will 
succeed in this project. 
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
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Project 47: Meta-Data Standard for Maintaining Ontological 
Continuity between Clinical Terminology/Code Versions  
 
Supervisor(s):  Dr Jeewani Ginige and Professor Athula Ginige 
Supervisor(s) contact information:   j.ginige@westernsydney.edu.au  
     a.ginige@westernsydney.edu.au  
Project description 
National Centre for Classification in Health (NCCH) of University of Sydney is leading the 
Australian Consortium for Classification Development (ACCD), in collaboration with the 
Western Sydney University (University of Western Sydney) and KPMG. ACCD is responsible 
for ongoing development of the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (AR-DRG) 
Classification System (which includes ICD-10 and  ICD-10-AM) (refer web site 
https://www.accd.net.au/).  
ICD-10 refers to International Classification of Diseases 10th Version  
ICD-10-AM refers to International Classification of Diseases 10th Version Australian 
Modification.   
ACCD biannually releases ICD-10-AM version to be used by clinical coders in Australia. The 
latest release is the 9th edition, which was released in July 2014. As a part of each release, ACCD 
delivers numerous documentation that help researchers, clinical coders and implementers of 
clinical systems. However, the medical system implementers are responsible in maintaining the 
meaningful forward and backward compatibility between versions. This is currently an issue, as 
this has to be manually identified after studying extensive manuals presented.  
When coding versions are released it is rather important to keep the ontological continuity of 
different versions so that it is possible to do meaningful forward and backward mapping.  In this 
project, it is required to investigate the meta-data set that is required in maintaining the 
ontological continuity between different versions of ICD-10 and ICD-10-AM.  Currently these 
mapping tables are provided as simple txt files (see the in the downloadable text files in section 
“Mapping Tables ICD-10 to ICD-10-AM” and “Mapping Tables ICD-10-AM to ICD-10” 
sections in the link https://www.accd.net.au/Downloads.aspx#ICD9thEdOverview ) and are 
not useful in systematic analysis. (Suggested initial 
reading http://www.mrtablet.demon.co.uk/chocolate_teapot_lite.htm ) 
This concept of having a meta-data set that can preserve the ontological continuity between 
versions is not only applicable to clinical coding. It has wide range of uses of medical 
terminology domains such as SNOMED-CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine--Clinical 
Terms) and domains beyond healthcare.  
Previous collaboration between NCCH and Western Sydney University has paved way to 
various research projects in the area of health informatics. Hence by engaging in this project, 
students get the opportunity to get experience in IT systems usage in healthcare domain and 
possibility of seeking HDR opportunities with THRIL (http://thril.Western Sydney 
University.edu.au/ ) 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
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Project Aims 
• Develop a meta-data standard that can be used for the purpose of capturing the 
important information between various versions of terminologies to enable forward and 
backward mapping.  
• Implement the meta-data in a web-based system and test it using the data set that does 
forward and backward mapping of ICD-10 and ICD-10-AM. 
 
Project Methods 
Students are required to study how what clinical coding is based on the current publications and 
documentation available. Upon the comprehension of clinical coding associated with ICD-10 to 
ICD-10-AM, students are required to develop the set of meta-data that would facilitate 
meaningful forward and backward mapping between different versions. The implementation 
would be tested using the txt data sets that map the ICD-10 and ICD-10-AM. Upon the 
completion, students would be required to provide a report that outlines the success and 
failures identified in the project, that would pave the way to a larger scale HDR project.  
 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
• Outline the issues associated with version management associated with clinical 
coding/terminologies  
• Develop a meta-data standard and carryout an implementation associated with it.  
• Develop a thorough knowledge about international and national efforts associated with 
clinical coding 
• Improve communication and collaboration skills required in contributing to large-scale 
projects of national significance 
• Sharpen researching and research writing skills and develop research interest in the 
area of Health Informatics.  
 
Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
Project is open to students enrolled in either in BICT, BIS or BComSci degrees of SCEM 
Western Sydney University and in year 2 or 3. Knowledge and skills working with MS SQL 
database and ASP.Net environment is essential. Strong desire to get involved research project 
and long term plans of doing research based studies would be definitely advantageous.  
  
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
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Project 48: Developing Intelligent Agents for General Game 
Playing  
 
Supervisor(s):  Associate Professor Dongmo Zhang 
Supervisor(s) contact information:  
d.zhang@westernsydney@WesternSydneyUniversity.edu.au 
Project description 
General Game Playing (GGP) is an emerging research topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) 
focusing on developing systems that automate general cognitive processing technologies. A 
major research activity on this topic is to design general game players (intelligent agents) that 
are capable of playing previous unknown strategy games without human intervention. Unlike 
specialized game players, such as Deep Blue, general game players cannot rely on algorithms 
designed in advance; the players must discover game playing strategies themselves. This 
research was initiated by Stanford University via the international General Game Playing 
Competition (http://games.stanford.edu.au) started in year 2005. The research not only raises 
questions about the nature of intelligence and serves as a laboratory in which to evaluate 
competing approaches to artificial intelligence but also generate great potential of applications 
in many areas such as robotics, game industry, e-trading and business intelligence. 
 
Project Aims 
This project aims to: 
• Build a Western Sydney University team to participate in the 2016 General Game 
Playing competition. 
• Develop our GGP players based on GGP platform and our existing intelligent agent 
system (jackaroo trading agent). 
• Train students programming skills in developing artificial intelligent systems. 
 
Project Methods 
We have had eight years experience in participating international competition. From 2004 to 
2011, we had a team participated annually in the international Trading Agent Competitions 
(TAC) and achieved significant success (two champions, one second and one third). Since 2014, 
we started to develop GGP players by a team with one PhD student and two undergraduate 
students. The work continues in this year with one more visiting fellow joined. In Oct 2015, 
there will be a postdoc from Spain and one Cotutelle PhD student from Toulouse joining our 
research group. After then we will build a GGP team and apply for representing officially 
Western Sydney University participating in the 2016 GGP competition. Students who 
successfully receive this scholarship will have the chance to join the team and participate in the 
development of our GGP players. 
 
School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics - Student Research Program 2015 
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We will use the GGP platform provided by the competition organizer to develop our intelligent 
agents (http://ggp.org). We have successfully migrated a great number of existing algorithms 
implemented in our jackaroo agent system (http://www.jackaroomarket.org) to the GGP 
platform.  Instead of using the existing AIMA prover in GGP platform, we will develop an ASP 
based inference engine as a prover for our GGP player. As most other teams are doing, we will 
use Tiltyard gaming server (http://ggp.org) as a testbed to test our GGP players.   The way of 
developing strategies for our GGP players will be based on our receive work published in JPL 
2015, AAAI-15, AAMAS-15, PRICAI-14 and PRIMA-14.  
 
Opportunity for Skill Development 
Java is one of the most popular programming languages for all IT related jobs. This project will 
use Java as the major programming language. The students who join this project will receive 
comprehensive training in Java programming. More importantly, the platform we use is a 
multiagent system which has implemented high-level communication between intelligent 
agents over the Internet. We will also implement highly sophisticated strategies for our GGP 
players. The students will be exposed to the cutting-edge technologies of Internet programming 
and artificial intelligence. The students will also have chance to work in a team with two Phd 
students (one from overseas university), one postdoc (will receive his PhD degree in Spain) and 
one international visitor (an associate professor from China).   
 
Students are required to have the following skills/meet the following pre-
requisite(s) to apply 
The candidate who applies for undertaking this project must be enrolled in computer science at 
the second or third year. The student should have completed OOP with high distinction.