Past Seminars

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Random Sequential Packing: An Overview of Recent Results
Professor Joseph E. Yukich
Lehigh University, Pennsylvania
Start time: 3:15 pm
Date: Friday 4 November 2005
Location: Theatre 2, Ground Floor, ICT Building (111 Barry St, Carlton)

Consider sequential packing of unit balls in a large cube, as in the Renyi car-parking model, but in any dimension and with either finite or infinite input. We show how to prove a law of large numbers and central limit theorem for the number of packed balls in the thermodynamic limit. We prove analogous results for numerous related applied models, including cooperative sequential adsorption, ballistic deposition, and spatial birth-growth models.

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Mathematical and CFD modelling of a motor powered by latent heat of condensation
Dr Noel Barton
Sunoba Renewable Energy Systems
Start time: 11:00 am
Date: Thursday 29 September 2005
Location: Theatre 1, Old Geology Building, The University of Melbourne

The Bernoulli Effect for a compressible gas shows there will be a drop in pressure, temperature and density when the gas speed increases isentropically in the narrowing section of a duct. For saturated moist air, the temperature drop can lead to rapid condensation of microscopic water droplets and release of latent heat. If the droplets are collected and thereby prevented from re-evaporation, we find that when the flow has slowed down isentropically at the duct outlet, the pressure of the energised flow will be - in theory - greater than the inlet pressure. Surplus pressure can be used to drive a turbine for electrical or mechanical power. The lecture will present mathematical models for the proposed motor. The models will include a one-dimensional cross-sectionally averaged thermodynamic model to predict theoretical power output and efficiency, diffusion models for droplet growth and latent heat release, and estimates for dimensions of the device. In theory, the motor will deliver power (electrical or mechanical) and chilled distilled water as co-products. In the real world, feasibility of the motor is far from certain; triumph of utility over futility will require brilliant engineering to overcome numerous practical difficulties, as well as inspired design based on extensive Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. The lecture will finish with a description of CFD work in progress.

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Integer programming at work / A combined model for online scheduling with stochastic information
Dr Thorsten Koch and Ms Nicole Megow
MATHEON, Berlin
Start time: 1:05 pm
Date: Friday 16 September 2005
Location: Room 213, Richard Berry Building, The University of Melbourne

This seminar is presented in conjunction with ORSUM, and will comprise two 1/2-hour talks.

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Tracking and Sensor Fusion for Australian Wide Area Surveillance
Dr Neil Gordon
Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO)
Start time: 1:15 pm
Date: Thursday 8 September 2005
Location: Russell Love Theatre, Richard Berry Building, The University of Melbourne

Australia's geographic location and extensive coastline make wide area surveillance a key component of national defence. There are a multitude of sensors available to provide surveillance information and to make best use of these assets effective tracking and sensor fusion algorithms are vital. The role of these algorithms is to provide an unambiguous and accurate picture of objects moving within Australia's geographic region. In this talk we shall describe research being done within the Tracking and Sensor Fusion group at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) to extend and develop Australia's surveillance capabilities. The talk is organized in two parts. First we review the tracking and sensor fusion problem in the context of Australian defence and describe some of the particular applications we have been involved in. We will then consider several outstanding technical problems related to data and information fusion in distributed sensor networks and multi-sensor tracking and identification algorithms. The intention is to hopefully identify opportunities for collaborative research.

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Designing Optimal SSFP Pulse--Sequences for Tissue Quantification
Dr Renata Sotirov
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
Start time: 3:15 pm
Date: Friday 26 August 2005
Location: Theatre 2, Ground Floor, ICT Building (111 Barry St, Carlton)

Are you interested to find out how Magnetic Resonance Imaging works? Do you want to see the inside of the human body? What does math have to do with that? In this seminar we address the above mentioned issues and much more. We formulate an optimization problem for deriving the design variables that are used in MRI. Our non-convex, nonlinear, semidefinite optimization problem compute the steady-state free precision (SSFP) pulse-sequence variables by minimizing the error in the reconstructed tissue densities. For solving the problem, we develop a sequential, semidefinite, trust-region algorithm. Using obtained design variables, we are able to separate tissue types which could not be separated up to date. Our approach is applicable for quantification of arbitrary number of tissues.

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