Conveners
HPC Applications
- Chair: Prof Hasani Chauke (Univesity of Limpopo)
HPC Applications
- Chair: Prof Penny Govender (Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Johannesburg)
HPC Applications
- Chair: Prof Jeanet Conradie (University of the Free State)
HPC Applications
- Chair: Prof Cornie van Sittert (North-West University)
HPC Applications
- Chair: Dr Chris Perry (Johnston Matthey)
HPC Applications
- Chair: Dr George Manyali (Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology)
Bioinformatics occupies the space between biology and computing and aims to answer
questions in biology using analytical and computing methodology. At the South African
National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI), our research focus is on methods to store, retrieve
and analyze genetic information that spans both communicable and non-communicable
diseases. In the context of Public Health, that is...
Climate change is the most serious collective environmental challenge ever faced by modern humankind. It is a problem with global reach, but the research effort to address it is disproportionately concentrated in the northern hemisphere and in developed countries. Southern hemispheric and African climate issues differ from those that drive the research and modelling effort in the north. In...
Physical techniques for surface modification of plastics use surface-active agents, which are allowed to self-assemble at the surface. Many techniques, which are important in modern technologies, use polymer blends, and there is considerable interest to understand the extent the composition of the surface layer differs from that in the bulk for molten polymer mixtures. Dynamical and structural...
Due to increasingly global environmental and energy crises, visible light semiconductor photocatalyst with a tunable bandgap and optical properties have received attention. For this reason, developing efficient and cost–effective photocatalysts for environmental remediation is a growing need, and semiconductor photocatalysts have now received more interest due to their excellent photocatalytic...
The convergence of AI and HPC has created a fertile venue that is ripe for imaginative researchers - versed in AI technology - to make a big impact in a variety of scientific fields. From new hardware to new computational approaches, the true impact of deep- and machine learning on HPC is, in a word, “everywhere”.
Just as technology changes in the personal computer market brought about a...
The research is based on the development and design of metal alloys with special applications in various industries, from automotive and medical to aeronautical. These alloys have unique properties and behaviour under pressure and temperature conditions. Focus will be on the precious metal, iron-aluminium, titanium and titanium-based systems for shape memory alloys, as well as...
The burning of fossil fuels is identified as the biggest source of Sulfur dioxide (S02) emissions in South Africa. SO2 is a colourless gas with a nasty smell. It impacts both human health in the form of diminishing lung function and the environment through the effects of acid rain leading to deforestation. In order to meet minimum emissions standards for S02, as provided by the Air Quality Act...
Bit patterned media is one of the promising approaches to extend magnetic recording densities in hard-disk drives beyond recording densities of one Terabit (10^{12}) per square inch. In this approach, the magnetic medium is patterned into nanometer-sized magnetic islands where each island can be considered to represent a binary digit. The islands are magnetically isolated but experience...
In his 2002 State of the Nation Address, President Thabo Mbeki identified Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as “a critical and pervasive element in economic development” and recommended the establishment of an “ICT University”. The establishment of the CHPC in 2005 signalled the first pillar in the national research cyberinfrastructure1 and remains a major investment that anchors...
During the past decade, massive parallel DNA sequencing technologies have completely changed the way in which genetic data are generated and analysed. Instead of sequencing a few hundred nucleotides and focusing on a handful of genes, it is now possible to generate data from entire genomes. The human genome contains about 3 billion nucleotides, and even this is tiny compared to some plant...
Pyrometallurgy refers to high temperature (>1600°C) extraction of valuable metals from mineral ore deposits. Most pyrometallurgical processes occur in furnaces of various types in which many complex phenomena are occurring simultaneously. Almost none of these phenomena can be observed directly due to the extreme conditions inside furnace vessels. Computational modelling is invaluable in...
The Paris Agreement which was achieved in December 2015; holds signatory countries responsible for keeping the increase in global average temperatures well below 2°C with respect to the to the pre-industrial period and to strive to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C , recognising that this will reduce the impacts of climate change. Given this impetus at global level, it is of paramount...
The main research interest of the Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi) at Rhodes University is in structural bioinformatics and its applications to bio-economically important research questions, i.e. to drug discovery projects for diseases related to Africa, and to biodiversity and bioprocessing. Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), South Africa, is regularly used for accelerating...
The unique nature of the underwater mining environment has resulted in R&D playing an import role within De Beers Marine. Physical and numerical simulation methods form an integral part of the R&D concept development pipeline. Computational Fluid Dynamics has been increasingly used for concept exploration, risk mitigation as well as to enhance understanding of physical simulations. HPC has...
Weather forecasting using Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models is a well-established science and based on the fundamental equations of fluid dynamics. NWP is therefore an important tool for predicting weather and making climate projections. The grid spacing used in models is largely dependent on the available computational resources and processing speed required for model output...
This contribution is aimed to illustrate how chemical computational results, obtained by density functional theory calculations on high performance computers, provides insight into many observed chemical phenomena, mysteries or questions, such as the following:
The structure of water clusters in bulk water is considered one of the unsolved problems in chemistry. How does the structure of...
Genetic algorithms and genetic progamming are metaheuristics taking inspi-
ration from Darwin’s theory of evolution to solve optimization problems. Ge-
netic algorithms explore a solution space to find solutions to problems while
genetic programming works in a program space to identify a program which
when executed will find an optimal solution to the problem. Both these
approaches have high...
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a mathematical tool used for commercial and research problems, to predict flow- and thermal characteristics in a wide variety of applications. Aerotherm has been using CFD to improve and design flow-related systems in the South African industry since 1995. The ever increasing demand for higher performance drives the need for more comprehensive CFD models....
Computational material science is taking root in Kenya. Development of big data infrastructure, high-performance computing facilities and use of open-source-software will accelerate the growth of this field, develop competent manpower and improve the economy of the country. The role played by major public universities in Kenya such as Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology,...
The South African Weather Service (SAWS), as a national meteorological service provider for South Africa (SA) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) communities, aims to provide useful and innovative weather, climate, and related products and services. Part of SAWS services and products are derived from Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models, of which Unified model (UM) from the...
Over the past fifteen years or so, the number of modellers at Johnson Matthey has grown from one, to close to twenty; a firm indication of the importance that JM places in both atomistic, as well as meso/macroscale modelling. DFT modelling in particular, forms an integral part of JM’s research and development efforts in a wide range of areas, including catalysis, diagnostic services,...
Acid deposition has been studied extensively over the Highveld region of South Africa due to its high density of acid emissions arising mostly from power generation and petrochemical production. Although deposition of acid species has been modelled using dispersion models, the modelling of atmospheric chemistry and acid deposition has not been undertaken to any meaningful extent in South...
The national rail policy as formulated by the South African government requires that by the year 2050 all current narrow or Cape gauge main rail lines be replaced by standard gauge tracks. In addition, they require that a number of key role players, of which Transnet is but one, should work toward the implementation of high speed rail on these new tracks by the same year. The document further...
Functional genomics determines the biological functions of genes on a global scale by using large volumes of data obtained through techniques including next-generation sequencing (NGS). The application of NGS in biomedical research is gaining in momentum, and with its adoption becoming more widespread, there is an increasing need for access to customizable computational workflows that can...
The Paris Agreement which was achieved in December 2015; holds signatory countries responsible for keeping the increase in global average temperatures well below 2°C with respect to the to the pre-industrial period and to strive to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C , recognising that this will reduce the impacts of climate change. Given this impetus at global level, it is of...
To be added
The national rail policy as formulated by the South African government requires that by the year 2050 all current narrow or Cape gauge main rail lines be replaced by standard gauge tracks. In addition, they require that a number of key role players, of which Transnet is but one, should work toward the implementation of high speed rail on these new tracks by the same year. The document further...
Climate change is the most serious collective environmental challenge ever faced by modern humankind. It is a problem with global reach, but the research effort to address it is disproportionately concentrated in the northern hemisphere and in developed countries. Southern hemispheric and African climate issues differ from those that drive the research and modelling effort in the north. In...
