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QCIF Compute Grid

Participants: Griffith University & QUT - all other QCIF parters to be subsequently involved.

Project Outline: To design, implement and deploy across all QCIF sites a unified authentication layer based on LDAP.

Expected Outcomes:

• Updates at one site propagate to all of the other sites
• Local administrators can choose which accounts are given local access
• Basis of a single sign-on / remote job submission
• Easy access for individual researchers to all QCIF computational infrastructure

Contact: Raj Chhabra QUT
email: r.chhabra@qut.edu.au
phone: 3864 9235

Final Report (908 KB PDF)

Bio-Portal Prototype Development

Participants: The University of Queensland and James Cook University

Project Outline: Web-based environment that allows users to submit and track jobs, retrieve results and enter appropriate meta-data for bioinformatics applications

Expected Outcomes:

• Manage computational biology workflows (pipelines) over a HPC environment;
• Include a web client (user interface) and layers that manage:
• Databases
• HPC access
• Output
• Meta-data
• Queues / Priorities
• Groups / Security
• Workflow.

Contact: Assoc. Prof. Ian Atkinson, JCU
email: Ian.Atkinson@jcu.edu.au
phone: 4781 4551

Report (578 KB PDF)

Earth Sciences: Better Mineral Deposit Targeting

Participants: James Cook University, pmd*CRC

Project Outline: To reform targeting of mineral deposits in Queensland through the application of HPC and 3D visualisation.

Expected Outcomes:

• Better selection of target areas for mineral exploration;
• New techniques of data analysis to predict mineral deposit locations;
• Outstanding ability to visualise and communicate data and interpretations in 3D and 4D;
• New targeting methods for buried mineral deposits; and
• The ability to track the evolution of mineralising systems through time

Contact: Assoc. Prof. Ian Atkinson, JCU
email: Ian.Atkinson@jcu.edu.au
phone: 4781 4551

Final Report (66 KB PDF)

HPC Tools and VR Techniques for Investigating Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers in Qld

Participants: Queensland University of Technology and The University of Queensland

Project Outline: Excessive demand for groundwater has stretched aquifers beyond their long-term yield and resulted in saltwater intrusion with a substantial loss of agricultural land. This project aims to reduce this loss

Expected Outcomes:

• Advanced three dimensional visualisations of the conceptual model of the Gooburrum region;
• An efficient and accurate three-dimensional finite volume model for simulating complex flows in heterogeneous and anisotropic aquifer systems;
• A computational methodology for implementing large-scale groundwater models on the SMP supercomputer at QUT; and
• Effective visualisations/animations of the model outputs

Contact: Assoc. Prof. Ian Turner, QUT
email: i.turner@qut.edu.au
phone: 3864 2259

Final Report (8.87 MB PDF)
Follow-up project - Improving Water Management through the use of Immersive Visualisation and Advanced Computational Tools

3D GIS Pilot Project: Great Barrier Reef ecological data

Participants: The University of Queensland, AIMS, James Cook University

Project Outline: To detect and predict geographic patterns and rates of change in the reef by "mining" observation data

Expected Outcomes:

• Establish a GIS and visualisation capability coupled with basic data mining techniques that enables an ensemble of disparate datasets to be analysed and understood; and
• To discover and track changes in the ecology of the reef.

Contact: Dr Nicole Bordes, UQ
email: nb@vislab.uq.edu.au
phone: 3365 7506

Report (87 KB PDF)
Final Report (478 KB PDF)

Transforming Geographic Information Systems into Community Information Systems

Participants: Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University

Project Outline: To demonstrate that a free access GIS can be a useful tool in enabling grass roots participation in the democratic decision making process.

Expected Outcomes:

• translate data into a visual medium
• develop an information tool that will display multi-data that has been located on a map
• make data visual so it becomes transparent to the community
• provide a tool that enables the community sector to access information that empowers them to take action at the grass roots level
• overlay data across organisational boundaries
• assist the community in the retrieval of information relevant to effective operation of their organisation
• promote empowerment of community based organisation and encourage stronger participation in community initiatives by their ability to access information
• educate and develop awareness in the community of the potential of this resource to improve their business capacities and make their change efforts more efficient.

Contact: Dr Bruce Rich
email: b.rich@qut.edu.au
phone: 3864 4738

Proposal (20 KB PDF)
Final Report (37 KB PDF)
Follow-up project - e-Democracy

Development of a Virtual Reality-based Laparoscopic Surgery Simulator

Participants: University of Queensland, Department of Urology/Renal Transplantation, Princess Alexander
Hospital and Department of Colorectal Surgery , Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital

Project Outline: To construct a virtual reality-based facility for simulating labaroscopic surgery.

Expected Outcomes:

• to develop software for organ manipulation
• to provide a testbed for developing graphical models of organs and tissue
• the ability to guide the development of a complete simulator
• demonstrate the project potential in future funding proposals

Contact: Dr Stephen Jeffrey
email: sjj@acmc.uq.edu.au
phone: 3365 6130

Final Report (132 KB PDF)

The HMMSTR/Rosetta protein structure prediction system: a new capability for the Queensland Bioportal

Participants: Queensland University of Technology, James Cook University

Project Outline: To expand the QCIF Bioportal by including a new protein structure prediction server

Expected Outcomes:

• Significantly expand the capabilities of the Queensland Bioportal
• Provide cutting edge molecular modelling resource for Queensland bioinformatics allowing remote PhD and ab initio modelling
• Initiate an ab initio protein prediction effort in Brisbane
• Increase international profile for Queensland Bioinformatics

Contact: Dr Joe Young, QUT
email: j.young@qut.edu.au
phone: 3864 1218

Report (154 KB PDF)