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 Project Lists 19 of 25 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 Project Lists 20 of 25 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 Project Lists 21 of 25 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 Project Lists 22 of 25 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 Project Lists 23 of 25 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 Project Lists 24 of 25 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 Project Lists 25 of 25 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.