Programming Paradigms, Tools and Algorithms for Electronic Structure Calculations on Clusters of Non-Uniform Memory Access Parallel Processors. In recent years Australian academia has invested heavily in high performance computing systems. A significant fraction of these resources are devoted to performing computational chemistry studies, such as those used in drug design. This project links Australian researchers with the company responsible for a particularly widely used computational chemistr ....Programming Paradigms, Tools and Algorithms for Electronic Structure Calculations on Clusters of Non-Uniform Memory Access Parallel Processors. In recent years Australian academia has invested heavily in high performance computing systems. A significant fraction of these resources are devoted to performing computational chemistry studies, such as those used in drug design. This project links Australian researchers with the company responsible for a particularly widely used computational chemistry application package, and also with a major international computer company. Our aim is to substantially improve the performance of this code on cluster based compute systems. This, as well as our generic performance evaluation tools, would be of substantial benefit to the Australian research community. The project will forge links with researchers in Singapore, Japan and the USA.Read moreRead less
Programming Paradigms, Tools and Algorithms for the Spectral Solution of the Electronic Schroedinger Equation on Non-Uniform Memory Parallel Processors. We propose to develop software tools and methods that are appropriate for current and future generations of large scale shared memory computer systems. Our purpose is to enable a more productive utilization of these architectures for scientific computation. We will focus on algorithms for solving differential equations appropriate to quantum che ....Programming Paradigms, Tools and Algorithms for the Spectral Solution of the Electronic Schroedinger Equation on Non-Uniform Memory Parallel Processors. We propose to develop software tools and methods that are appropriate for current and future generations of large scale shared memory computer systems. Our purpose is to enable a more productive utilization of these architectures for scientific computation. We will focus on algorithms for solving differential equations appropriate to quantum chemistry. In particular an exciting new class of methods whose computational cost scales linearly with system size. Our goal is to develop scalable parallel implementations of these methods. If realized this will revolutionize computation, enabling first principles calculations on truly nanoscale systems, such as enzymes and molecular electronic devices.Read moreRead less
Towards a high density silicon phase change memory device. This project builds upon our exciting recent findings that amorphous silicon can be transformed to a conducting crystalline phase following small-scale indentation. Furthermore the process is reversible as re-indentation can induce a transformation back to insulating amorphous silicon. This process appears to occur in extremely small (nanoscale) volumes of silicon. We plan to explore the viability of exploiting this behaviour to develo ....Towards a high density silicon phase change memory device. This project builds upon our exciting recent findings that amorphous silicon can be transformed to a conducting crystalline phase following small-scale indentation. Furthermore the process is reversible as re-indentation can induce a transformation back to insulating amorphous silicon. This process appears to occur in extremely small (nanoscale) volumes of silicon. We plan to explore the viability of exploiting this behaviour to develop an entirely new information storage system: a high-density silicon phase change memory. This project aims to study small-scale transformation behaviour in silicon and to design demonstrator memory devices based on both micro-electromechanical systems and solid state technologies.Read moreRead less
Characterisation of nanobubbles. Surprisingly, nano-sized bubbles have recently been found to exist in aqueous solutions. Classical theory tells us they should rapidly dissolve, yet they are stable for several days, a phenomenon which has only recently been explained. Despite this, nanobubbles are already used in cleaning processes and appear to have significant health benefits. They are being investigated in treatments for asthma and neurodegenerative diseases. In collaboration with a pharmaceu ....Characterisation of nanobubbles. Surprisingly, nano-sized bubbles have recently been found to exist in aqueous solutions. Classical theory tells us they should rapidly dissolve, yet they are stable for several days, a phenomenon which has only recently been explained. Despite this, nanobubbles are already used in cleaning processes and appear to have significant health benefits. They are being investigated in treatments for asthma and neurodegenerative diseases. In collaboration with a pharmaceutical company, the best means to produce and characterise nanobubbles will be investigated, as well as the conditions governing their stability. The project also aims to determine how the nanobubbles interact with surfaces in order to better control their properties and achieve a better understanding of these bubbles.Read moreRead less
Attention and hazard perception while driving: how experts see the scene. All drivers have 'drifted-off' or failed to see something that was clearly in view, yet trained expert drivers appear to rarely experience this. This project aims to understand in both 'normal' drivers and expert drivers, attentional mechanisms that control distraction and the perception of hazards, which is critical to road safety and young driver training.