UNSW Canberra

Publication Search Results

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  • (2007) Hasan, S. M. Kamrul; Sarker, Ruhul; Cornforth, David
    Conference Paper
    The Job-Shop Scheduling Problem (JSSP) is one of the most critical combinatorial optimization problems. The objective of JSSP in this research is to minimize the makespan. In this paper, we propose two Genetic Algorithm (GA) based approaches for solving JSSP. Firstly, we design a simple heuristic to reduce the completion time of jobs on the bottleneck machines that we call the reducing bottleneck technique (RBT). This heuristic was implemented in conjunction with a GA. Secondly; we propose to fill any possible gaps left in the simple GA solutions by the tasks that are scheduled later. We call this process the gap-utilization technique (GUT). With GUT, we also apply a swapping technique that deals only with the bottleneck job. We study 35 test problems with known solutions, using the existing GA and our proposed two algorithms. We obtain optimal solutions for 23 problems, and the solutions are very close for the rest.

  • (2007) Wright, Christopher; Burton, Michael; Van Dishoeck, Ewine; van Langevelde, Huib-Jan; Wilner, David; Hughes, Annie; Lommen, Dave; Maddison, Sarah; Jorgensen, Jes; Bourke, Tyler
    Journal Article
    Context. Low-mass stars form with disks in which the coagulation of grains may eventually lead to the formation of planets. It is not known when and where grain growth occurs, as models that explain the observations are often degenerate. A way to break this degeneracy is to resolve the sources under study. Aims. Our aim is to find evidence for the existence of grains of millimetre sizes in disks around T Tauri stars, implying grain growth. Methods. The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) was used to observe 15 southern T Tauri stars, five in the constellation Lupus and ten in Chamaeleon, at 3.3 mm. The five Lupus sources were also observed with the SubMillimeter Array (SMA) at 1.4 mm. Our new data are complemented with data from the literature to determine the slopes of the spectral energy distributions in the millimetre regime. Results. Ten sources were detected at better than 3 sigma with the ATCA, with sigma approximate to 1-2 mJy, and all sources that were observed with the SMA were detected at better than 15 sigma, with sigma approximate to 4 mJy. Six of the sources in our sample are resolved to physical radii of similar to 100 AU. Assuming that the emission from such large disks is predominantly optically thin, the millimetre slope can be related directly to the opacity index. For the other sources, the opacity indices are lower limits. Four out of six resolved sources have opacity indices <= 1, indicating grain growth to millimetre sizes and larger. The masses of the disks range from < 0.01 to 0.08 M-circle dot, which is comparable to the minimum mass solar nebula. A tentative correlation is found between the millimetre slope and the strength and shape of the 10-mu m silicate feature, indicating that grain growth occurs on similar (short) timescales in both the inner and outer disk.

  • (2007) Smith, Warren
    Conference Paper
    The philosophy of the “Warman Design and Build Competition” and some of the challenges of running it are described in this perspective by its National Coordinator since 2003. In particular, the need is for the competition to work effectively across a wide range of student group ability. Not every group engaging with the competition will be competitive nationally, yet all should learn positively from the experience. Reported also in this paper is the collective feedback from the 2006 campus organizers in respect to their use of the competition as an educational experience in their classrooms. Each University participating uses the competition differently with respect to student assessment and the support students receive. However, all academic campus organizer responses to the survey suggest that the competition supports their own learning objectives very well. The competition which was first run in 1988 will have its 20th anniversary final in September this year. While the projects have varied widely over the years, the intent to challenge 2nd year university (predominantly mechanical) engineering students with an open-ended statement of requirements in a practical and experiential exercise has been a constant. Students are faced with understanding their opportunity and their client’s value system as expressed in a scoring algorithm; they are required to conceive, construct and demonstrate their device with limited prior knowledge and experience, and the learning outcomes clearly impact their appreciation for teamwork, leadership and product realization. The competition has been successful due in part to its underpinning by the National Committee on Engineering Design (Engineers Australia), the sponsorship of Weir Minerals and the commitment of many engineering design educators across Australia and New Zealand.

  • (2007) Churches, Alex; Green, Cliff; Field, Bruce; Wightley, Allan; Green, Lance; van de Loo, Paul; Burvill, Colin; Smith, Warren; Snook, Chris
    Conference Paper

  • (2007) Pota, Himanshu; Katupitiya, Jayantha; Eaton, Ray
    Conference Paper
    This work presents the derivation of a comprehensive mathematical model for an off-road vehicle such as an agricultural tractor that drags behind it a heavy implement. The models are being developed with the aim of designing robust controllers that will enable the high precision control of the implement’s trajectory. The developed model is subjected to real conditions, such as ground undulation and uncertainty, sloping terrain, tyre slippage, and constrained steering of the tractor. The implement is assumed to possess independently steered wheels for aiding in implement alignment. A complete model is presented and simulated under varying conditions. Primarily this work demonstrates and validates the trailed vehicle system behavior when the trailing implement is subjected to large drag forces due to ground engagement and the significantly large lateral disturbances that occur in real life broad acre farming conditions.

  • (2007) Freyens, Benoit; Oslington, Paul
    Journal Article
    The influence of labor market regulation on employment and other macroeconomic variables is intensely debated across the OECD. In Australia the focus is currently on the employment impact of proposed changes to unfair dismissal provisions. There is surprisingly little research on the magnitude and structure of dismissal costs and this paper presents new data from a major survey of small- and medium-sized Australian enterprises. Dismissal costs are compared for different types of separations, including redundancy, uncontested fires and complex fires. Using the data, we estimate the employment impact of the proposed unfair dismissal changes, which we find likely to be modest.

  • (2007) Ahmed, Mohammad Sharfuddin
    Thesis
    The use of high performance concrete in construction has been enhanced by the use of pozzolanic materials. However, the use of these materials has not been optimized. Such optimization may be achieved by a systematic increase in the amount and combination of pozzolanic material additions, with accompanying studies of their effects on the mechanical, durability and microstructural characteristics of blended concrete. This work evaluated various concrete durability issues by studying systematic increases of pozzolanic materials such as fly ash and blast furnace slag (BFS) in the range of 25, 50 and 70%, and silica fume at 10% of total cementitious materials, forming various binary and ternary concrete blends. The concrete specimens were cured for a period of seven days after demoulding in line with widely practiced commercial curing procedures. The research explored the role and effectiveness of various binary and ternary blends of pozzolanic materials on the mechanical, durability and microstructural characteristics of concrete. Durability was evaluated by two independent rapid chloride permeability tests measured as charge passed and chloride conductivity from the RCPT and UCT tests respectively. These two rapid tests were coupled with long-term ponding tests to evaluate chloride ingress and the extent of corrosion for a period of two years. Further durability tests such as carbonation, drying shrinkage and porosity of these blends were also undertaken. This study also utilized micro-analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy to follow the hydration mechanism in various binary and ternary blends. Statistical significance testing was used to analyse and confirm all experimental results and conclusions. It is well known that a level of caution is exercised in the construction industry in the use of ternary blends. This study aims to evaluate the durability aspects of ternary concrete blends, in addition to binary blends, for resistance to chloride, corrosion, carbonation attacks and provide recommendations relating to the limits of blending level, as well as exposure conditions for blended concretes, based on the results of this study. It is expected that this will fill a major knowledge gap observed in the concrete industry. A comparison of two rapid chloride permeability tests such as UCT and RCPT indicates that the UCT test is easy and practicable, and does not contradict results obtained in the standard RCPT. However, the statistical significance of results obtained for some blends was only able to be established by using the RCPT. This effect can be attributed to the larger size specimens compared to UCT. The recommended blend to acquire both early-age and long-term strength development in fly ash is the ternary blends comprising 10% silica fume and 25% fly ash cast using lower w/b ratio. In addition, the same blend exhibited lower carbonation depth, lower charge passed from RCPT, lower chloride ingress and higher corrosion resistance characteristics from long-term ponding test compared to other blends of fly ash. In BFS blends, an increase in compressive strength was observed only in the specimens of 25% BFS compared to other higher percentage blends, while the higher addition of 50 and 70% replacement showed no significant difference in compressive strength between them and their corresponding ternary blends with addition of silica fume. The results of this study indicate that control (OPC) specimens cast with increased w/b ratio of 0.48 showed higher chloride ingress compared to both binary blends of 70% fly ash and 70% BFS specimens. This indicates that (OPC) cast using higher w/b ratio is to be avoided in chloride environments. On the other hand, though, the ternary blends of 10% silica fume and up to 50% fly ash exhibited lower chloride ingress compared to their respective binary blends of fly ash. However, these ternary blends exhibited lower compressive strength, more negative corrosion potential and higher corrosion rate, compared to the respective binary blends of 25% fly ash and its ternary blends. Therefore, the recommended blend observed in the long-term ponding test is the ternary blend of 25% fly ash and 10% silica fume. The recommended level of corrosion resistance in slag specimens is achieved by the use of ternary blends comprising silica fume at 10% added to the blend that contains up to 70% slag. However, the recommended level of slag for a lower carbonation effect is the use of a ternary blend comprising 50% slag and 10% silica fume (3B5S1) which showed a carbonation depth of 10.8 mm and a compressive strength of 53.2 MPa after 365 days of exposure. The drying shrinkage of concrete increased with the increase in fly ash and the same trend was observed in BFS specimens. However, the results were not significantly different between their respective blends. The extent of carbonation in fly ash specimens was higher compared to BFS blends specimens. This can be attributed to the formation of dusty and weak surfaces on the outer surface in addition to the excessive leaching of sodium chloride solution from the long-term ponding test in the former specimens compared to later. The high volume pozzolanic materials, irrespective of fly ash or BFS and addition of silica fume (70% fly ash and 10% silica fume, and 70% BFS and 10% silica fume), showed higher cumulative pore volume indicating that these blends with seven days of curing were not beneficial. These high volume ternary blends required prolonged curing to release portlandite from the hydration of cement to continue the pozzolanic reaction. This study has shown that 7-days curing of the pozzolanic concrete is inadequate if pozzolanic activity is to be invoked. This is particularly the case when it is expected that the concrete is likely to be subjected to a harsher than usual environment characterised by a dry atmosphere.

  • (2007) Wheate, Rhonda Marie
    Thesis
    The ability of jurors and juries to comprehend and utilise scientific evidence in Australian criminal trials has been examined. From mock jury surveys relating to DNA profiling evidence, it was determined that most respondents were able to comprehend some basic and applied statistics, although their ability was in part related to their knowledge of English and their level of education. The point at which mock jurors were prepared to convict an accused solely on the basis of DNA profiling evidence was examined and found to be low compared with the strength of DNA profiling evidence commonly presented in Australian courts. Mock jurors also demonstrated the ability to process evidence that was presented in a Bayesian framework; commencing with prior odds, introducing new information and culminating in posterior odds. From a survey of Australian forensic scientists, including fraud investigators, it was found that most practitioners' concerns could be addressed by greater pre-trial consultation between experts and legal advocates. Improved knowledge within the legal profession concerning the jargon, principles, procedures, limitations and conclusions to be drawn from different scientific disciplines, prior to presenting this evidence in court, is recommended as the means by which complex evidence can be better adduced from expert witnesses and better presented to juries in criminal trials. Finally, from interviewing actual jurors in criminal trials in the Australian Capital Territory it was determined that where jurors' expectations of scientific evidence, particularly DNA profiling evidence, are not met, high levels of juror frustration and speculation may culminate in hung juries. The adversarial setting of criminal proceedings was also found to produce an environment in which jurors felt that information that would assist them in reaching a verdict was being deliberately withheld. The ability of the jury to ask questions and the allowed nature of those questions were also examined, with the resultant recommendation that juries be given more explicit information at the commencement of trials to inform them about their rights and obligations when asking questions.

  • (2007) White, Gregory William
    Thesis
    Insitu cementitious stabilisation is an economical, environmentally sustainable and socially advantageous means of rehabilitating pavements. With the recent availability of a wide range of binders and advanced construction equipment, the characterisation of cementitiously stabilised pavement materials has become the focus of further advancement of this technology. Australian practice has moved towards the use of Indirect Diametric Tensile (IDT) methods for the characterisation of these materials. A draft protocol for the IDT test has been prepared and specifies samples to be compacted by gyratory compactor. This procedure provides for both monotonic and repeated load testing, which aims to measure the material’s strength, modulus and fatigue life. A range of host materials, including a new crushed rock and a reclaimed existing pavement base course, were assessed when stabilised with a General Purpose cement binder as well as with a slag-lime blended binder. Materials were assess for their inherent material properties, Unconfined Compression Strength (UCS), Unconfined Compression modulus, IDT strength and modulus under both monotonic and repeated load. A number of amendments and refinements to the testing protocol were recommended. These included the use of minimum binder contents to ensure the binder was uniformly distributed and to promote heavy binding of the materials to ensure they behaved elastically. It was also recommended that samples be gyratory compacted to a pre-determined sample height to allow a constant density to be achieved. The variability of the test results was examined. UCS results were found to be comparatively as variable as other researchers had reported. IDT strength results contained a similar level of variability, which was considered to be acceptable. Modulus results, both monotonic and repeated load, were found to be five to ten times more variable than strength results, which is a generally accepted trend for modulus testing. Under repeated loading, some challenges with the test protocol were encountered. The primary challenge was obtaining reliable and repeatable diametrical displacement data for modulus calculation. This was partially overcome by the insertion of smooth spacers to prevent the Linear Voltage Displacement Transformer (LVDTs) becoming caught on the sample sides. The achievement of reliable and repeatable IDT modulus results through improved displacement measurements should be the focus of future research efforts in this area.

  • (2007) Carmody, James Daniel
    Thesis
    Knowledge of water depth is a crucial for planning military amphibious operations. Bathymetry from remote sensing with multispectral or hyperspectral imagery provides an opportunity to acquire water depth data faster than traditional hydrographic survey methods without the need to deploy a hydrographic survey vessel. It also provides a means of collecting bathymetric data covertly. This research explores two techniques for deriving bathymetry and assesses them for use by those involved in providing support to military operations. To support this aim a fieldwork campaign was undertaken in May, 2000, in northern Queensland. The fieldwork collected various inherent and apparent water optical properties and was concurrent with airborne hyperspectral imagery collection, space-based multispectral imagery collection and a hydrographic survey. The water optical properties were used to characterise the water and to understand how they affect deriving bathymetry from imagery. The hydrographic data was used to assess the performance of the bathymetric techniques. Two methods for deriving bathymetry were trialled. One uses a ratio of subsurface irradiance reflectance at two wavelengths and then tunes the result with known water depths. The other inverts the radiative transfer equation utilising the optical properties of the water to derive water depth. Both techniques derived water depth down to approximately six to seven metres. At that point the Cowley Beach waters became optically deep. Sensitivity analysis of the inversion method found that it was most sensitive to errors in vertical attenuation Kd and to errors in transforming the imagery into subsurface irradiance reflectance, R(0-) units. Both techniques require a priori knowledge to derive depth and a more sophisticated approach would be required to determine water depth without prior knowledge of the area of interest. This research demonstrates that water depth can be accurately mapped with optical techniques in less than ideal optical conditions. It also demonstrates that the collection of inherent and apparent optical properties is important for validating remotely sensed imagery.