Date:

2006-2009

Themes:

Nanomaterials and Dielectrics, Solid dielectrics

The main aim of my research within the Electrical Power Engineering (EPE) group revolves around electrical investigations on Polymer nanocomposite materials. My host polymer is Polyethylene oxide (PEO), one of the most commonly tested soluble polymers – yet it is to date rarely used for any applications. Being a soluble polymer with high levels of oxygen there are clear limitations to its use, however it is believed that perhaps addition of clays or additives could create a composite with more suitable properties. My research takes many different molecular weight PEO’s to create composites with non-functionalised Montmorillonite (MMT) clay and Silicon dioxide of varying ratios. Current molecular weights investigated vary between 100,000 gmol-1 up to 1,000,000 gmol-1 however future work will involve 300 / 3,200 / 20,000 / 4,000,000 gmol-1 molecular weights to provide a more complete analysis. Further composite research may also include Boehmite as another additive.

Investigation into these composite materials includes: solution rheology and analysis with the Ostwald-de Waele / De Kee / Carreau models; thermal differential scanning calorimetry analysis using the Avrami technique; AC ramp electrical breakdown strength; dielectric properties; fourier transform infra-red; thermal aging of PEO. Using these experimental methods it will be possible to characterise the properties of the virgin polymer and then the changes inherent with addition of the fillers. The results from this investigation should provide a greater understanding of how the filler affects the host matrix and the consequential properties. With this knowledge it is hoped that PEO composites could be used more widely as an improved material.

Research like this is essential in modern society with factors other than material cost, ease of production and safety being considered, such as environmental impact. With the increasing climate and environmental worries along with the constant demand for cheaper re-usable materials with improved qualities, research in materials has become one of the forefronts of modern science. The University of Southampton has a world class status with regard to research, and rightly so with the richly equipped Tony Davis High Voltage Laboratory housing many researchers of electrical and material testing. When deciding on an institution for postgraduate research into polymer nanocomposites, there was one clear frontrunner that I wanted to work for…and now I’m there.

Primary investigator

• asv

Secondary investigator

• mdr06r

Associated research group

• Electronics and Computer Science

Date:

2007-2012

Themes:

High Voltage Engineering, Solid dielectrics, Space and surface charge

The present crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) that is used in industry is not perfect for high voltage cable insulation due to the formation of space charge in the bulk of XLPE. This phenomenon is caused by the byproducts yielded from the cross-linking process, originating from the cross-linking agent, Dicumyl Peroxide (DCP). These byproducts also have other effects on other properties such as electrical breakdown strength, dielectric loss (tanδ), permittivity, conduction current and so forth. To fully understand the role of these byproducts, we intend to investigate how these byproducts affect the electrical performance of LDPE.

Primary investigators

• George Chen
• asv

Secondary investigator

• nh07r

Associated research groups

• Electrical Power Engineering
• Electronics and Electrical Engineering

Date:

2007-2012

Themes:

High Voltage Engineering, Solid dielectrics, HTS power apparatus, Superconductivity

Funding:

EPSRC

Following on from the group's previous research in superconducting power applications, this project investigates the behaviour of dielectric insulation in the cryogenic temperature domain. In order to increase the overall power being transmitted via a superconductor, it is desirable to increase the voltage as well as the current going through the conductor. To contain the potential difference within the superconductor, new types of insulating materials are required with good mechanical and electrical properties at cryogenic temperatures. Experiments will be undertaken on both new and existing materials at cryogenic temperatures in order to assess their feasibility for use as dielectric insulators in superconducting power applications.

Primary investigator

• Paul Lewin

Secondary investigator

• tak07r

Associated research groups

• Electrical Power Engineering
• Electronics and Electrical Engineering

Date:

2004-2009

Themes:

Nanomaterials and Dielectrics, Solid dielectrics

Funding:

EPSRC

Montmorillonite clay is a promising filler for nanocomposite applications as it consists of sheets of atoms which can, under certain conditions, be easily dispersed. After suitable chemical modification, they can be mixed into molten polyethylene by simple extrusion. The resulting material will then have a massive internal surface area; its electrical properties may be very different to a comparable system containing only traditional micron-sized particles. The purpose of this work is twofold: Fundamental studies into the thermal, morphological and X-ray scattering behaviour are being performed with a view to gaining some understanding of the nature of the polyethylene-clay interfaces. To complement this, the electrical and mechanical breakdown strengths and molecular relaxation phenomena are being studied. It is hoped that that with a comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of these systems, it might be possible to tailor their physical properties to particular applications.

Primary investigators

• asv
• George Chen

Secondary investigator

• cdg04r

Associated research group

• Electronics and Electrical Engineering

Date:

2008-2009

Themes:

ELearning, Platforms and Tools, Educational Enhancement, Semantic Web

Funding:

University of Southampton: Learning and Teaching Enhancement Fund

The main aim of the project is to create and pilot an interactive electronic visualisation tool to be used in the delivery of research-led nineteenth-century French literature and culture teaching at final year UG level (Fren3024 'Flaubert’s France') next academic year. The tool would also be used to support nineteenth-century texts on a new second year module, Fren2017 ('Takes on Texts'). What appears as a 'simple' visualisation will be developed using Web 2.0 technologies to allow students to explore the multiple perspectives, themes contexts and timelines within their core texts. Additional authoring tools will enable domain experts to create such visualisations encouraging continued use of these technologies.

Primary investigators

• Mark Weal
• Professor Mary Orr

Partner

• School of Modern Languages

Associated research groups

• Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia Group
• Learning Societies Lab

Date:

2006-2008

Themes:

Decentralised Information Systems, Knowledge Technologies, Multimedia, Semantic Web

Funding:

EU (FP6 IST STREP)

The existing, open Worldwide Web has been successful on a global scale because the cost of participation at a basic level is low and the individual benefit of participation is immediate, rising rapidly as more participants take part. The same cannot currently be said about semantic based systems because the cost of being precise about semantics for sophisticated components is prohibitively high and the cost of ensuring an individual, absolute semantics for a component rises rapidly as more participants take part. OpenKnowledge aims to break out of this deadlock by focusing on semantics related to interaction (which are acquired at low cost during participation) and using this to avoid dependency on a priori semantic agreement; instead making semantic commitments incrementally at run time. The "Open" in OpenKnowledge thus is significant in two senses: it assumes an open system, which anyone may join at any time; it assumes an openness to being joined, achieved through participation at low individual cost.

We shall provide a unifying framework based on interaction models that are mobile in the sense that they may be transferred to other components, this being a mechanism for Web service composition and for coalition formation. A key contribution of OpenKnowledge is to demonstrate that by shifting the emphasis to interaction (the details of which may be hidden from users) we can obtain knowledge sharing of sufficient quality for sustainable communities of practice without the barrier of complex meta-data provision prior to community formation. This requires us to re-interpret forms of contextual reasoning, ontology mapping, query routing and visualisation for this new arena. We ground our research in two testbed areas: bioinformatics and emergency response.

Primary investigators

• timbl
• Nigel Richard Shadbolt
• Paul Lewis
• Srinandan Dasmahapatra

Secondary investigators

• mc3
• dpd
• lx
• bh
• al05r

Partners

• University of Edinburgh
• Institut d'Investigacio en Intel.ligencia Artificial, Barcelona
• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Open University
• University of Trento

Associated research group

• Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia Group

Date:

2006-2008

Themes:

Agent Based Computing, Knowledge Technologies, Semantic Web

Funding:

EU (FP6 IST STREP)

HealthAgents plans to create a multi-agent distributed Decision Support System, to help in the early diagnosis and prognosis of brain tumours.

HealthAgents addresses two main complementary and equally important sets of objectives: Scientific and Technological Scientific

* Improve the classification of brain tumours by using a distributed network of local databases or Data Marts. * Develop new pattern recognition methods for a distributed classification and analysis of HR MAS and microarray data. * Define a method to check the quality and usability of a new candidate local database with a set of new cases, based on a quality score. * Compile evaluate and use parameters to audit classifiers and improve them periodically (First level of “self learning.�) * Create a “trust� framework to increase the amount of collaborating centres that after classifying some new cases will possibly provide new brain tumour cases for the distributed data warehouse * Publish scientific articles featuring most relevant achievements.

Technological

* Build the world’s largest distributed data warehouse of brain tumour cases data. * Set up a multi-agent system based on a distributed architecture. * Design a new ontology of brain tumour data. * Define a process to convert brain tumour data. * Devise a new data exchange protocol, to send and retrieve brain tumour data through a multi-agent based network. * Develop tumour classifiers using the distributed data warehouse. * Compare and analyse similitude and differences between Data Marts. * Formulate a protocol to produce improved classifiers from new data. * Enforce security policies (anonymity, authentication, authorisation, and consistency) of all information system wide.

Primary investigators

• Paul Lewis
• Srinandan Dasmahapatra

Secondary investigators

• mc3
• lx
• dpd
• bh

Partners

• University of Birmingham
• University of Edinburgh
• ITACA
• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
• MicroArt
• Pharma Quality Europe
• Universitat de Valencia
• Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Associated research group

• Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia Group

Date:

2008-2016

Themes:

System design and RF, Nanoelectronics

Funding:

EPSRC

Semi-insulating silicon substrates are very attractive as handle wafers in Silicon On Insulator (SOI) technologies because they would provide very low-absorption substrates for radio frequency (RF) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits. We have shown both theoretically and experimentally that deep level doping with transition metals is an excellent method to create this semi-insulating Si. This work aims to study the science and engineering of high resistivity silicon substrates for high frequency integrated circuits such that it can be applied industrially. The project aims to better understand the diffusion and doping versus resistivity relations of appropriate deep level impurities (including Mn), and hence to maximise the resistivity of the silicon handle wafer. Contamination issues arising from the deep level impurities will be addressed by investigating diffusion barriers and also by developing a back-end processing approach that takes advantage of the high diffusivity of some deep level impurities. SOI wafers will be fabricated on semi-insulating silicon substrates and detailed high frequency characterisation will be carried out.

Primary investigator

• Kees De Groot

Secondary investigators

• pa
• km2
• aa08r
• Dr Peter Wilshaw (Oxford)

Partners

• University of Oxford
• MEMC Electronic Materials
• MHS-Electronics/ Plus Semi

Associated research group

• Sustainable Electronic Technologies

Date:

2007-2009

Themes:

Digital Libraries, Semantic Web

Funding:

JISC

The JISC Preserv2 project is investigating and developing digital preservation and interoperability services for repositories, to help repository managers plan for longer-term data management. It is developing the work begun in the first phase of the Preserv project.

The approach recognises that effective preservation is founded on three fundamental actions to data: copy, move, monitor. This includes movement of data between different repositories, and between online and open storage services. Monitoring involves the application of online knowledge tools to identify technical information about data objects, and based on that information to assess and calibrate the risks to accessing these objects, and decision-based tools to act on identified risks. Interoperability is designed to ensure that repositories, storage services and knowledge tools can communicate and share information and data. In this way the project is creating and testing a flexible framework for an emerging range of services and tools, to ensure support for long-term access to the data deposited in repositories.

From April 2009 the work will be extended to a series of exemplar repositories in a follow-on project, KeepIt.

Primary investigator

• Les Carr

Secondary investigators

• sh94r
• dt2

Partners

• The National Archives
• University of Oxford
• The British Library

Associated research group

• Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia Group

Date:

2008-2009

Themes:

Agent Based Computing, Decentralised Information Systems, E-Business Technologies, Business Process Modelling, Artificial Intelligence

Funding:

EPSRC

This project will develop techniques and methods that enable the automatic establishment, maintenance and operation of supply chains in highly dynamic, multi-stakeholder environments. It will also focus on the associated supply chain business models for such agile and dynamic environments. In more detail, the various actors within the system, each with their own aims and objectives, will be represented as autonomous software agents that interact in a number of on-line markets in order to procure the goods and services they require in a timely fashion. The markets will also be represented as autonomous agents and so will adapt their offerings and their terms and conditions in order to attract traders and better differentiate themselves from similar competing markets. Given this, the ensuing supply chains will need to be autonomic – self-organizing, self-healing, and self-optimizing – in order to cope with the high degrees of dynamism and uncertainty that are present in the system. Moreover, through its continual adaptation in response to change, the resulting computational economy will offer significant advantages to all its participants in terms of agility, lead-times, and profitability. To provide a specific illustration of this vision, this feasibility study will examine the supply chain associated with engine aircraft repair and overhaul in conjunction with end-users at Rolls-Royce.

Primary investigator

• Nick Jennings

Secondary investigators

• acr
• Professor Douglas MacBeth (School of Management)
• pv
• Sebastian Stein

Partner

• Rolls-Royce

Associated research group

• Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia Group