Murdoch University science and computing building energy simulation & mechanical engineering green building design

Anchored in teaching, research and community engagement approaches, Murdoch University is setting up the development of a symbolic new mixed use campus precinct expansion which is listed as one of Murdoch University’s strategic plan. As stated above, a part of the strategic plan includes the development of a new Mechanical Engineering Building (MEB) in order to engage future Mechanical Engineering students. This newly proposed MEB would be designed and constructed as an extension building from the existing Science and Computing Building that is located at the Murdoch South Street campus. Hence, the major focus of this research study investigate the new Murdoch University Mechanical Engineering green building structure and design by analysing the energy consumption of the existing Science and Computing building. The annual energy consumption of the existing building is obtained through the identification of construction materials, building design and building operational activities. All this information is then simulated using Virtual Environment by Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES-VE). The outline of this IES-VE modelling tool and implementation procedures is illustrated in Chapter 3 (Methodology) and the simulation results used to identify the major sources of the energy use are included in Chapter 4 (Results). The results showed the massive energy consumption that being used in the current Science and Computing building and the annual energy consumption is broken down into different components that makes up the total energy use.Moreover, the possibilities for building energy consumption reduction are discussed and this is based on the low embodied energy building materials and low existing building operational energy reduction strategies. For the sake of achieving green star building standard, NABERS self rating tools are introduced by determining the building operational routines and its design structure. The existing building’s NABERS score will be recognised as a useful measure for the new MEB design ideas and the selection of appliances used in order to achieve the low energy building objectives. Furthermore, the structure and design of the new MEB are drafted based on the essential requirements using SketchUp drawing tool. The dimensions and working purpose of each individual floor are illustrated and reviewed. On the other hand, basic specifications of the MEB such as experimentation and research laboratory requirements, computer appliances and HVAC demands are determined in order to diagnose the NABERS rating and thus establish a new target for green building achievement. The estimated new building energy consumption is generated and possible strategies which include energy efficiency design, energy efficient technologies and renewable technologies are discussed in Chapter 5. Generally, a green building is achieved through an integration of energy efficient programs and environmentally friendly construction projects. Thus, an introduction of potential sustainable strategies is illustrated in Chapter 6 in order to develop Murdoch University into a carbon-neutral community. The potential sustainable strategies that are discussed in this thesis project included rainwater harvesting technology, wastewater treatment plants, timber prefabricated construction and green roof garden implementation. Lastly, project summary is included in Chapter 6 (Conclusion) and several recommendations are discussed that would be important to be evaluated and discussed for further improvement

Status Report of the DPHEP Study Group: Towards a Global Effort for Sustainable Data Preservation in High Energy Physics

Data from high-energy physics (HEP) experiments are collected with significant financial and human effort and are mostly unique. An inter-experimental study group on HEP data preservation and long-term analysis was convened as a panel of the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA). The group was formed by large collider-based experiments and investigated the technical and organisational aspects of HEP data preservation. An intermediate report was released in November 2009 addressing the general issues of data preservation in HEP. This paper includes and extends the intermediate report. It provides an analysis of the research case for data preservation and a detailed description of the various projects at experiment, laboratory and international levels. In addition, the paper provides a concrete proposal for an international organisation in charge of the data management and policies in high-energy physics

Maximising value, enhancing learning: boutique teaching and training

The chapter looks at bespoke teaching approaches to information skills teaching as part of a wider 'boutique' approach to library services in Higher Education. The learner is firmly placed at the heart of the learning experience and the implications of this approach are considered in detail

Transition UGent: a bottom-up initiative towards a more sustainable university

The vibrant think-tank ‘Transition UGent’ engaged over 250 academics, students and people from the university management in suggesting objectives and actions for the Sustainability Policy of Ghent University (Belgium). Founded in 2012, this bottom-up initiative succeeded to place sustainability high on the policy agenda of our university. Through discussions within 9 working groups and using the transition management method, Transition UGent developed system analyses, sustainability visions and transition paths on 9 fields of Ghent University: mobility, energy, food, waste, nature and green, water, art, education and research. At the moment, many visions and ideas find their way into concrete actions and policies. In our presentation we focused on the broad participative process, on the most remarkable structural results (e.g. a formal and ambitious Sustainability Vision and a student-led Sustainability Office) and on recent actions and experiments (e.g. a sustainability assessment on food supply in student restaurants, artistic COP21 activities, ambitious mobility plans, food leftovers projects, an education network on sustainability controversies, a transdisciplinary platform on Sustainable Cities). We concluded with some recommendations and reflections on this transition approach, on the important role of ‘policy entrepreneurs’ and student involvement, on lock-ins and bottlenecks, and on convincing skeptical leaders

A Taxonomy of Workflow Management Systems for Grid Computing

With the advent of Grid and application technologies, scientists and engineers are building more and more complex applications to manage and process large data sets, and execute scientific experiments on distributed resources. Such application scenarios require means for composing and executing complex workflows. Therefore, many efforts have been made towards the development of workflow management systems for Grid computing. In this paper, we propose a taxonomy that characterizes and classifies various approaches for building and executing workflows on Grids. We also survey several representative Grid workflow systems developed by various projects world-wide to demonstrate the comprehensiveness of the taxonomy. The taxonomy not only highlights the design and engineering similarities and differences of state-of-the-art in Grid workflow systems, but also identifies the areas that need further research.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figure

Present and future resilience research driven by science and technology

Community resilience against major disasters is a multidisciplinary research field that garners an ever-increasing interest worldwide. This paper provides summaries of the discussions held on the subject matter and the research outcomes presented during the Second Resilience Workshop in Nanjing and Shanghai. It, thus, offers a community view of present work and future research directions identified by the workshop participants who hail from Asia – including China, Japan and Korea; Europe and the Americas