EPSRC 2018 VACATION BURSARY PROGRAMME

The University, in conjunction with EPSRC, has a number of summer vacation bursary awards available for undergraduate students. The vacation bursary scheme aims to encourage promising undergraduates to consider a career in research and provides funding for Home/EU undergraduate students to gain firsthand experience of research in a UK university. The awards are aimed at undergraduate students in the middle years of their degree programme (i.e. have completed their 2nd year of study on a 3 year degree course, or have completed their 2 nd or 3rd

year of study on a 4 year degree course) who are undertaking their degree in a subject that falls within the remit of EPSRC (https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/research/ourportfolio/).

Application forms should be completed and returned to Debbie Henderson, PGR Student Team, by email to (pgrstudentships@liverpool.ac.uk) no later than 4.30pm on Thursday 15th February 2018. Successful applicants will receive a bursary available for a period of up to ten weeks providing a stipend of £279.86 per week.

The following research projects are being offered by the School of Electrical Engineering and Electronics & Computer Science, School of Physical Sciences, the School of Engineering:

SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics

1. Project Title: Improved Algorithms for Time Series Smoothing and Estimation

Supervisors: Dr. Jeyan Thiyagalingam, Department of Electrical Engineering & Electronics

Description: Smoothing is a common technique for obtaining better understanding of underlying patterns in time series. However, it is also possible to use smoothing as part of the estimation process, where the future values are predicted. This project will focus on finding avenues to deploy a newly developed smoothing algorithm as part of the time series estimation problem. More specifically, the time series will be treated as one that adheres to the ARIMA (auto regressive integrated moving average) model, and the estimation will be performed using the state-space model approach, particularly using Kalman filtering. In this setting, a novel version of the Rauch-Tung-Striebel (RTS) smoothing algorithm (which has already been developed by us) will be explored to formulate a better time series smoothing and estimation algorithm. The new algorithm will then be compared against existing algorithms to see its efficacy in making better predictions. Good understanding of the state-space modelling, Kalman filtering and some experience in MATLAB or Python will be essential.

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2. Project Title: Innovative battery condition monitoring for electric vehicles

Supervisors: Dr. Roberto Ferrero, Department of Electrical Engineering & Electronics

Description: The development of battery technology, particularly for electric vehicles, has become a worldwide priority, and the UK Government has recently invested £246 million in this area to address some of the most important technical challenges that are still hindering a significant uptake of this technology. Among them, condition monitoring plays a fundamental role to guarantee that batteries operate efficiently and reliably.

Impedance spectroscopy is a powerful diagnostic tool commonly employed in laboratory tests on batteries to monitor their internal condition and assess their state of health. However, presently, impedance measurements are carried out by using sophisticated and expensive instrumentation, available in laboratories but not affordable in commercial products, thus dramatically limiting the diagnostic information available in most applications (including electric vehicles).

Recent research suggested an innovative use of power converters, already connected to batteries in most applications, to obtain impedance measurements at almost zero additional cost. This technology is very promising for the next-generation of electric vehicles (including also hydrogen fuel cell vehicles), but also for portable and stationary power generation, and it has therefore a strong industrial relevance.

In this project, the student will develop a proof-of-concept prototype, including a battery, a DC/DC converter and a controller, to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach. In particular, the project will involve the hardware design and assembly, and possibly the implementation of simple software to control the power converter and acquire relevant measurements.

The student will work under the direct supervision of Dr Roberto Ferrero, who has published several papers on this topic and has recently established an interdisciplinary network of collaboration within the University, involving researchers from the Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy and the Institute for Risk and Uncertainty. The student will therefore be exposed to internationally leading research in different areas within the Faculty of Science and Engineering.

3. Project Title: Brain activity processing and visualisation for Alder Hey hospital

Supervisors: Dr. Roberto Ferrero, Department of Electrical Engineering & Electronics

Description: Electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are common techniques used in hospitals to measure the brain activity and visualise the brain structure, for medical diagnosis. In particular, EEG is commonly used to diagnose and monitor epilepsy, a neurological condition associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

In some cases, brain surgery is required to remove part of the brain that is causing epilepsy. It is therefore necessary for the clinicians to accurately identify the region of the brain where the epileptic activity starts. In order to do this, EEG is measured with electrodes implanted in the brain (intra-cranial EEG), and an MRI image is separately taken. The technical challenge is then to combine the information obtained from the EEG signals with the MRI visualisation to show the brain region(s) affected by epileptic activity in a user-friendly and clear way that can be effectively used by clinicians to plan the surgery. This requires signal processing to extract information about epilepsy from the EEG signals, and image processing to graphically add this information onto the MRI image.

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In this project, the student will combine existing signal processing and image visualisation tools (in Matlab) to achieve the aim described above. The student will work directly under the supervision of Dr Roberto Ferrero, who has several years of experience in electrical measurements and signal processing, but there will be also a strong interaction with clinicians from Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool, who will provide the necessary clinical input and feedback to the project. Occasional visits to Alder Hey are therefore required, as part of the project.

4. Project Title: Investigation of InAs(Sb) Nanowires for potential use in next generation electronic and optoelectronic devices

Supervisors: Dr. Ian Sandall, Department of Electrical Engineering & Electronics

Description: Semiconductors are able to efficiently convert electrical energy into light; this is the basis of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and semiconductor lasers as well as convert light back into an electrical signal as a photodiode. Semiconductor based nanowire devices have received considerable attention over the last few years due to their unique one-dimensional structure which gives rise to unique electrical and opto-electrical properties. This has resulted in the demonstration of a variety of devices including; photodiodes], light emitting diodes], and transistors. Furthermore due to an intrinsic reduction of strain during the epitaxial growth, it has been possible to realize nanowires from a variety of compound semiconductors on differing substrates, including silicon, graphene and glass opening a potential routes to so called silicon photonics for integrated photonic circuits, flexible circuits and low cost manufacturing.

In this project a range of differing nanowires will be fabricated into electrical devices, exploring differing metallic contacts and then evaluated to help understand their properties and potential performance.

Capacitance-Voltage measurements will be undertaken on different samples and over a range of temperatures to try and determine the electrical doping within the nanowires, in terms of both its concentration and polarity. These results will then be compared to the growth parameters for the different samples to try and establish relationships between growth conditions and device performance.

Additionally Current-Voltage measurements will be performed to determine turn on voltages, ideality factors and saturation currents. These will again be compared to the differing growth and fabrication procedures to determine the relationships between the manufacturing conditions and the final device performance.

5. Project Title: Wireless Power Transfer and Communication Systems for Implantable Medical Devices

Supervisors: Dr. Jiafeng Zhou, Department of Electrical Engineering & Electronics

Description: Every year in the UK, more than 40,000 people will have a pacemaker fitted. The battery of the pacemaker usually lasts up to about six years. More advanced pacemakers tend to use more energy so have a shorter battery life. There are many other types of implantable electronic devices as well, such as nerve stimulator, glucose monitoring sensors and capsule endoscope that are widely used worldwide. The batteries in these devices need to be replaced surgically when they become depleted. Typically a patient will need to stay in hospital for a few days due to potential risks associated with the surgery.

This project will develop techniques to charge the batteries wirelessly to extend the lifespan of implantable and wearable devices. Such techniques can also be used for wireless communication of these devices. During this

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project, a prototype of wireless power transfer system will be constructed and evaluated for the suitability for implantable devices. After the project, the candidate will gain the knowledge of wireless power transfer, energy harvesting and the application of medical implantable devices. The candidate should ideally have some experience of electronic circuit design. This is desired but not compulsory.

Length: 10 weeks from 4 June 2018

Department of Computer Science

6. Project title: Data Analysis of Hurricanes trajectories

Supervisors: Dr. Irina V. Biktasheva, Department of Computer Science

Description: Dissipative vortices are omnipresent in physical, chemical, and biological systems. Among those the e.g. hurricanes in Northern Atlantic represent one of the most important examples of dissipative vortices in the atmospheric layer. Our paper I.V.Biktasheva, H.Dierckx, and V.N.Biktashev, "Drift of scroll waves in thin layers caused by thickness features: Asymptotic theory and numerical simulations", Phys Rev Lett, 114, 068302, 2015 predicts interaction of dissipative vortices with small variations of thickness in the layer. For the dissipative vortices in the atmospheric layer, this would mean an interaction with a coast line. The past hurricane trajectories recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA, https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes/ seem to confirm that interaction of North Atlantic hurricanes with the US east coast line.

The project is to analyze the past hurricane trajectories recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA, https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes/, in order to identify their potential for classification and prediction of future hurricane trajectories in the Northern Atlantic. If successful, the outcomes of the project might be also generalized for prediction of hurricane and storms trajectories in the other ocean basins.

7. Project title: Visualising shapes of high-dimensional datasets

Supervisors: Dr. Vitaliy Kurlin, Materials Innovation Factory, Department of Computer Science

Description: The aim is to build an interactive software tool for visualising complicated datasets where each data point has many coordinates (features or descriptors). If we fix a suitable similarity measure (a distance function) between data points, we can split a given dataset into groups (clusters) consisting of similar data points. Depending on a threshold for clustering, the clusters can be interlinked into interesting patterns. For example, the shape of a dataset may look like a circular chain of clusters or can have a more complicated branched pattern.

Our main data will be the Cambridge Structural Database containing over 900K crystal structures. These structures represent solid materials with useful chemical properties. The big problem is to find better materials with desired properties such as superconductivity or capacity for storing gases (methane or carbon dioxide).

Each crystal structure consists of several atoms given by their geometric positions in a unit cell (a non-rectangular box). After translating this box in 3 directions, the initial arrangement of atoms becomes an infinite periodic crystal structure in 3D.

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The selected student will have a desk in the new Materials Innovation Factory and can be advised by colleagues working in Computational Chemistry and in the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC, https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk).

CCDC maintains the widely-used software Mercury, which visualises crystal structures only individually and can compare them only pairwisely. Hence a new tool visualising the entire CSD collection can have a big commercial impact.

An ideal candidate will have strong programming skills, preferably in C++. The implementation will use the software libraries Boost Graph and OpenCV. This research can be continued as a final year Computer Science project from October 2018. In addition, depending on the overall success, there is an excellent chance to continue working in the same direction as a PhD student funded from October 2019. Informal enquires can be e-mailed to vitaliy.kurlin@liverpool.ac.uk.

8. Project title: Classifying periodic knotted structures

Supervisors: Dr. Vitaliy Kurlin, Materials Innovation Factory, Department of Computer Science

Description: The big aim is to design new algorithms for classifying periodic entanglements consisting of knotted strands. These structures appear in physical simulations and theoretical models of new materials. The current final year project student has made a good progress in the 2-periodic case when such knotted structures are represented by diagrams with crossings in a plane square.

The classical case of the encoding problem for classical knots and links (closed loops in 3-space without periodicity) was solved by Dr Vitaliy Kurlin in 2008. The first step in the project is to encode diagrams of knotted structures with a triple symmetry, which can be visualised as closed loops in 3D torus (a product of 3 circles or a solid cube whose 3 pairs of opposite faces are glued together).

The selected student will have a desk in the new Materials Innovation Factory and can be (remotely) advised by Dr Vanessa Robins (https://physics.anu.edu.au/people/profile.php?ID=75), who has high-profile publications in the area of periodic entanglements and will be visiting Liverpool in week 2 of June 2018.

An ideal candidate will have strong programming skills, preferably in C++. The implementation will use the software libraries Boost Graph and OpenCV. This research can be continued as a final year Computer Science project from October 2018. Informal enquires can be e-mailed to vitaliy.kurlin@liverpool.ac.uk.

9. Project title: Image processing for physical simulations

Supervisors: Dr. Vitaliy Kurlin, Materials Innovation Factory, Department of Computer Science

Description: The aim is to implement an automatic software tool to recognise geometric patterns in large microscopic images of physical simulations. The images contain patterns of so-called vortices and anti-vortices connected by curved arcs that split an image into curved polygons. Physics colleagues currently use high-school students for manually counting vertices and edges of polygons.

There is already a good initial code that automatically detects polygonal regions. These regions are now separated by straight rectangular blocks that should be further thinned to identify positions of vertices and edges between polygons.5 | P a g e

The selected student will have a desk in the new Materials Innovation Factory and will gain Computer Vision skills that will be helpful in the computer games industry. On the academic side, depending on a success of the project, the student can become co-author in a high-profile interdisciplinary publication and will have excellent prospects in gaining a funded PhD studentship at a top university.

An ideal candidate will have strong programming skills, preferably in C++. The implementation will use the software libraries Boost Graph and OpenCV. This research can be continued as a final year Computer Science project from October 2018. Informal enquires can be e-mailed to vitaliy.kurlin@liverpool.ac.uk.

10. Project title: Explaining Deep Learning based Image Classification

Supervisors: Dr. Xiaowei Huang, Department of Computer Science

Description: In the area of AI, explainability (or interpretability) has become a major research focus, due to the advances of deep learning (DL). Although AlphaGo defeated best human players, it is unable to explain in a human-understandable way why a certain decision (i.e., move) is made. In safety critical applications, this is not acceptable: the AI (and AI-enabled robots) can be deployed, and trusted, only when they can explain their decision making and thereby be understood by the human users. This project aims to investigate the explainability of a major class of deep learning systems, i.e., feed-forward deep neural networks for image classification tasks. In this 10-week project, we will implement an efficient, yet asymptotically approximate, algorithm to compute a set of most significant factors (or features) for the classification. The success of this project will be a first step towards explainable AI, and pave the way for other more intriguing questions to be answered. The project will last for three phases: (1) the first 3 weeks are for the student to get familiar with the background knowledge and the software platforms, (2) the following 3 weeks are for the student to develop the algorithm, (3) the last 4 weeks are for the student to evaluate the algorithm and write a report.

For the project to be successful, the student is required to be passionate, and have a good level of knowledge on AI (in particular, Machine Learning) and Python programming language. The supervisor Dr Huang has the experience of guiding an undergraduate student to conduct research, which led to a publishable paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.07859.

11. Project title: Policy iteration for Markov decision processes on the GPU

Supervisors: Dr. John Fearnley, Department of Computer Science

Description: Markov decision processes (MDPs) are used throughout Computer Science for modeling controllable stochastic systems. Policy iteration is an algorithm for solving MDPs, which is often used because it is simple to implement, and because it can often solve the MDP using a small number of iterations.

The goal of this project is to implement policy iteration in parallel on modern GPU hardware, and to determine how much of a speedup can be obtained over a traditional CPU implementation.

Prior knowledge of MDPs is not strictly necessary, but a familiarity with linear algebra would be beneficial. This project is ideal for any student that would like to learn more about general purpose GPU computing (either in CUDA or openCL). Access to GPU hardware can be provided if necessary.

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12. Project title: Matrix profile for intrusion detection

Supervisors: Dr. Alexei Lisitsa, Department of Computer Science

Description: The functioning of computer systems and networks of even modest size involve a vast number of events, some of which may indicate serious security threats: a received network packet might be a beginning of elaborate attack to disrupt the system; an outgoing network packet might be carrying stolen confidential information; an unauthorised user might be getting an access to a confidential information.

The problem of detection, prevention and mitigating such threats faces the major challenges, main of which is how to detect unknown in advance threats. The way to tackle this challenge is to apply anomaly based detection. The idea here is, when you don't know the threat in advance (attack signatures), you can still detect anomalies in the system/traffic behaviour by applying some statistical or data mining methods.

For the proposed project we aim to explore usability of a particular, so called Matrix Profile measure, (see http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~eamonn/MatrixProfile.html), for the purpose of anomaly based intrusion detection. The work will include an implementation of appropriate interfaces which would allow to compute Matrix Profiles of extensive existing records of network data and further analysis of computed profiles as possible indicators of abnormal behaviour/known attacks.

13. Project title: Induced Matchings in Regular Graphs

Supervisors: Dr. Michele Zito, Department of Computer Science

Description: This is definitely one of my pet problems. At first sight, to the average Computer Science student, it may look like a rather dull mathematically oriented project. I contend that it is all BUT that.

The basic computational problem is very simple: given a graph (in fact a regular graph in which each node has the same number D of incoming edges) we want to find a large (in fact one of the largest) collection of edges that do not touch each other AND are not even joined by any other edge.

The problem is hard (well, NP-hard) to solve exactly, so the race is on to find ever better approximation heuristics. A surprisingly large number of people have worked on this over the last 35 years (the references below mainly focus on papers that have relevant algorithmic content).

The specific project will look at CUBIC GRAPHS and/or graphs without very short cycles (these seem to be easier for the problem at hand) and ways to improve the currently best known results. The work could focus on more open-ended algorithm design issues, or on experiments with existing heuristics.

Ten weeks on this project will be (a) a lot of fun; (b) exposure to cutting edge international research (as the project is in collaboration with Dr. Billy Duckworth, a colleague, Liverpool graduate with whom I share an interest in this problem) (c) a very interesting programming, and program engineering experience (d) (depending on the student interests and background) the possibility to work on a rather unusual problem or to dig into some elegant combinatorics.

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REFERENCES:

W. Duckworth, D.F. Manlove, and M. Zito, On the approximability of the maximum induced matching problem, J. Discrete Algorithms 3 (2005) 79-91.W. Duckworth, N. Wormald. Linear Programming and the Worst-Case Analysis of Greedy Algorithms on Cubic Graphs. The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics. 17 (2010), Research Paper #R177Z. Gotthilf and M. Lewenstein, Tighter approximations for maximum induced matchings in regular graphs, Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 3879 (2006) 270-281.P. Hor ak, H. Qing, and W. T. Trotter. Induced matchings in cubic graphs. Journal of Graph Theory, 17(2):151–160, ́ 1993. F. Joos and V. H. Nguyen. Induced matchings in graphs of maximum degree 4. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics, 30:154–165, 2016. F. Joos, D. Rautenbach, and T. Sasse. Induced matchings in subcubic graphs. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics, 28:468–473, 2014. D. Rautenbach. Two greedy consequences for maximum induced matchings. Theoretical Computer Science, 602:32–38, 2015.

14. Project title: Domestic Energy Management Systems

Supervisors: Dr. Michele Zito, Department of Computer Science

Description: Effective energy management in households is key to big money savings and sustainability. Over the last 6 years we have put together a small lab in which we investigate ways to apply combinatorial optimization techniques to (renewable) energy management problems. The typical use-case for such applications is that of a household that is equipped with some kind of (renewable) energy micro-generation plant, and the aim of using energy in a more efficient way. We devised a bespoke software system that is capable of controlling a number of appliances in the house in a way that finds the best match between the property energy needs and the amount of renewable energy available. The system, built from popular low-budget computing devices like the Raspberry-PI and the Arduino micro-controllers, can be used in conjunction with a real household environment or in “simulated mode”, using stored energy data and a collection of artificial appliances.

This research has already led to several publications, however a number of issues still need to be addressed. In particular, the system is still not particularly “intelligent”. It does not make any attempt to learn, recognize or exploit particular usage patterns: which set of appliances is found particularly useful by a particular user? When (during the day) does this happen? Recognizing behaviours of this type could lead to a system providing higher levels of comfort and increased energy savings. The constraints on the appliances are quite rudimentary. We envisage the possibility to define a language to specify such constraints and algorithms to decide their satisfiability or consistency.

We plan to investigate these issues as well as deepen our understanding of this extremely interesting and new research area.

A student with good programming skills, but also an interest in integrating hardware and software components is ideally suited for this project.

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REFERENCES:

M. K. Arikiez, F. Grasso, D. Kowalski, and M. Zito -Heuristic Algorithm for Minimizing the Electricity Cost of Air Conditioners on a Smart Grid. In the proceedings of the IEEE Energycon 2016 conferenceM. K. Arikiez, F. Grasso, and M. Zito -Heuristics for the Cost-Effective Management of a Temperature Controlled Environment. In the proceedings of the 2015 IEEE Innovative Smart Grid Technologies AsiaM. K. Arikiez, F. Grasso, and M. Zito -Heuristic Algorithm for Coordinating Smart Houses in MicroGrid. In the proceedings of the 6th IEEE International Conference of Smart Grid Communications. 2015M. K. Arikiez, P. Gatens, F. Grasso, and M. Zito -Smart Domestic Renewable Energy Management Using Knapsack. Proceedings of the 4th IEEE Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Europe 2013T. Karaboghossian, M. Zito -Easy Knapsacks and the Complexity of Energy Allocation Problems in the Smart Grid. Optimization Letters. Springer. (Published online 7/11/2017)

15. Project title: Systems represented by matrices and matrix products (Algorithms and Combinatorics)

Supervisors: Professor Igor Potapov, Department of Computer Science

Description: The notion of primitivity was introduced by Frobenius in 1912 to describe the behaviour of a single-matrix system.

A nonnegative square matrix A is primitive if one of its powers is entrywise positive, i.e. for some k > 0 all entries of Ak are larger than zero. The smallest such k is called the exponent of A. The notion of primitivity has found numerous applications stretching from analysis of Markov chains, supply/demand in economics upto prediction of age distribution in demography and ranking of websites by Google.

In concurrent, interactive processes and switched systems where we have more than one process or operation mode, a formal model has a set of matrices corresponding to different actions. This leads to generalization of primitivity such as primitive, strongly primitive and weakly primitive sets of matrices which will be investigated in this project.

Informally speaking, a given set of non-negative square matrices is primitive if we can find a product (with repetitions

allowed) leading to a matrix with all positive entries, strongly primitive if the entries of all possible products of some fixed length are positive, and weakly primitive if sums of some specific products have all positive entries.

Primitive sets are important in the design of efficient algorithms in control theory, investigation of the reachability of consensus, analysis of contractive matrix families, etc. The concept of strong primitivityis a combinatorial counterpart of ergodic set from the theory of inhomogenious Markov chains. It was used to study reachability of certain dynamical systems and to analyze opinion dynamics. Weakly primitive sets were introduced to model diffusion and other physical processes, and were also used to study reachability properties in coloured graphs.

The main idea of this project is to address algorithmic, combinatorial and computational complexity questions about primitive matrix sets following recently discovered deep connections between primitive matrix sets and another important area - synchronizing automata that naturally appear in industrial automation, coding theory, symbolic dynamics. For example, matrices with large exponents were used to construct so-called slowly synchronizing automata, and bounds on the exponents were obtained from the known bounds on synchronizing words. The problems that we are going to consider are of the following form:

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Combinatorial issues: What is the largest value of the exponent among sets of n by n matrices in terms of n?

Algorithmic issues: How to decide whether a given set of matrices is primitive in an efficient way?

Complexity issues: What is the computational complexity of deciding whether a given set of matrices is primitive?

For more details, please contact the project supervisor Professor Igor Potapov <potapov@liverpool.ac.uk>.

16. Project title: Pattern Formations with Broadcasting Automata Model

Supervisors: Professor Igor Potapov, Department of Computer Science

Description: Two Possible Projects within this theme:

Approximation of Geometrical Shapes or – Self-Organizing Programmable Matter

The Broadcasting Automata is novel computational model where identical elements in the digital grid interact (within some broadcasting range) via simple message passing interface.

The model draws inspiration from a variety of sources such as cellular automata (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton), ad-hoc radio networks, natural phenomena (like resonance and superposition of waves and resonance) and has various applications for metric approximation in a discrete space, pattern formations in digital environment and for the design of new distributed algorithms.

Distributed algorithms for the broadcasting automata model use a simple notion of informational waves where messages passed from automata to automata throughout the network topology.

In this project you will explore how the ability to vary the broadcasting radii during the transmission could influence produced patterns. Successful completion of this project can lead to your first research publication and the balance between theoretical and experimental work could be also adjusted to student’s background and interests.

This project is based on the following research publication:

Thomas Nickson and Igor Potapov. Broadcasting Automata and Patterns on Z^2.

Emergence, Complexity and Computation, Springer, 2015, 297-340

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266396519_Broadcasting_Automata_and_Patterns_on_Z2 also available here http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-09039-9_14

For more details, please contact the project supervisor Professor Igor Potapov <potapov@liverpool.ac.uk>.

17. Project title: Algorithms and Complexity of Attacker-Defender Games

Supervisors: Professor Igor Potapov, Department of Computer Science

Description: In the modern world, software is now everywhere and it becomes increasingly important to guarantee the reliability and correct functionality of complex technological devices. The task becomes even more challenging

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when we consider interaction between two players, say a game between a malicious user, Attacker, and a security protocol, Defender.

Let us illustrate Attacker-Defender games with a simply defined abstraction, that still has a very complex behaviour, called Robot Games. In the game a critical system is represented by an integer vector with n parameters and both players modify these parameters, by adding a vector from a fixed set of possible moves, where Attacker’s goal is to reach a particular values of the parameters and Defender’s goal is to avoid it. The main question is whether the behaviour of the system can be controlled by Defender (i.e., whether Attacker can reach his target regardless of what Defender does). The existing results show that there is an algorithm that can decide which player wins when the system has only one parameter and the problem becomes too complex to have an algorithm that would solve it for systems with two parameters (in other words, the problem becomes undecidable).

In our research we analyze the Attacker-Defender games, which are generalizations of Robot Games with more complex state space, set of allowed moves, or transformations, and constraints on available moves based on specific environment. We investigate decidability and complexity of deciding the winner in different Attacker-Defender games as well as looking for efficient algorithms for analysis of such games.

For more details, please contact the project supervisor Professor Igor Potapov <potapov@liverpool.ac.uk>.

18. Project title: Synchronisation and Co-ordination protocols in NetLogo

Supervisors: Dr. Clare Dixon, Dr. Matt Webster and Professor Michael Fisher, Department of Computer Science

Description: This work relates to the EPSRC funded "Science of Sensor Systems Software" programme (S4, http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/research/S4) and takes place in the Autonomy and Verification Lab at the Department of Computer Science [http://cgi.csc.liv.ac.uk/~matt/AVLab]. Sensor systems are embedded everywhere: from transportation and lighting, to smart tags and flooded fields, providing information and facilitating real-time decision-making and actuation. The S4 programme considers a range of autonomous sensor networks and aims to verify that such systems and the information they provide are responsive, reliable, statistically sound and resilient/robust.

The work involves understanding the FiGo algorithm [1] for Distributed Wireless Sensor Network synchronisation and coordination, developed by our collaborators at Imperial College, and modelling this FiGo algorithm in NetLogo. The NetLogo simulator [https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo] is an excellent tool for modelling and evaluating large-scale, multi-agent protocols, and developing a NetLogo simulation of FiGo will allow us to evaluate and assess the FiGo algorithm and its potential uses. If time permits, simulation and analysis of other synchronisation and co-ordination protocols will be carried out.

References

[1] Michael Breza, Julie A. McCann: Polite Broadcast Gossip for IOT Configuration Management. SMARTCOMP 2017: 1-6

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19. Project title: Planning as Temporal Logic Satisfiability Checking

Supervisors: Dr. Clare Dixon and Dr. Ullrich Hustadt, Department of Computer Science

Description: PDDL-3 (Planning Domain Definition Language 3) [4] is a language for specifying problems in planning domains, for example a typical blocks world scenario. Here a number of blocks are on a table or stacked on top of each other and a robot arm can pick up, put down and stack blocks onto of others. The aim is to devise a plan (a sequence of actions) to reach a goal. PDDL-3 has new operators relating to temporal aspects such as "sometime-after", "sometime-before", "always-within".

Temporal logics [3] are extensions of classical logics that have operators to deal with time, such as `always', (in all future moments) and `eventuality', (sometime in the future). These have been developed and used to represent and reason about systems that change over time. Linear time temporal logics, for example propositional linear time temporal logic (LTL) have models that are sequences of states.

Metric Temporal Logics (MTL) [1,2,6] are a family of temporal logics that allow us to specify intervals as part of the temporal operators, for example, always[5,6] p means that the P must hold at all moments within 3-5 moments from now. Models are now sequences of states where each state is mapped to a time. If the time mapping is limited to the natural numbers we can translate formulae of MTL into formulae of PTL [5]. We have developed a number of distinct translations for this purpose. This means that existing theorem proving tools developed for PTL can be used to decide the validity of MTL formulae.

The idea of the project is to provide translations from PDDL3 into LTL via MTL so that planning problems can be translated into LTL satisfiability problems. In particular, this project aims to identify an appropriate core of PDDL3 that can be translated into MTL. Planning problems that can be specified in this core should be identified. A translation from this core of PDDL3 into MTL should be defined and implemented. Translations into LTL provers should be applied to the identified problems and the results analysed.

An alternative focus for the project would be to collect and develop a number of MTL examples from the literature, implement the algorithms in [5] and analyse the results.

This is a challenging project related to current research work. It would suit a highly motivated student who has excellent grades so far in their degree, has a good mathematical background, has good programming skills, are interested in logics, are willing to read research papers, have studied COMP313 and can work independently.

References

[1] R. Alur, T.A. Henzinger, Real time logic: complexity and expressiveness, Information and Computation, 104 (1993), pp. 35-77[2] Alur, R., and Henzinger, T. A. : A really temporal logic. J. ACM, 41(1):181-204, 2004.[3] M. Fisher, An Introduction to Practical Formal Methods using Temporal Logic, Wiley 2011[4] A. Gerevini, P. Haslum, D. Long, A. Saetti, Y. Dimopoulos, Deterministic planning in the fifth international planning competition: PDDL3 and experimental evaluation of the planners. Artif. Intell. 173(5-6): 619-668 (2009)[5] Hustadt, U. Ozaki, A., and Dixon, C., Theorem Proving for Metric Temporal Logic over the Naturals. CADE 2017: 326-343, Springer.[6] R. Koymans. Specifying real-time properties with metric temporal logic. Real-Time Systems 2, 4 (1990), 255-299.

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SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES

Department of Chemistry

20. Project Title: Porous Liquids from Meltable Porous Organic Cages

Supervisors: Dr. Becky Greenaway, Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory

Description: Porous Liquids (PLs) are a counter-intuitive new class of material, consisting of a liquid that contains permanent, empty, pores. They are a hybrid material that combines the fluidity of solvents and the properties of porous solids, and could have potential benefits and unique applications when compared to porous solids, such as the ability to pump a liquid around in a continuous system, which could facilitate guest loading and unloading steps.

Three types of PLs have been proposed: Type 1 - a neat liquid where the molecules making up the liquid contain internal permanent cavities; Type 2 – an empty host molecule containing the internal permanent cavities dissolved in a size-excluded solvent; and Type 3 - particles of a microporous framework dispersed in a cavity-excluded solvent.1

This project will focus on investigating the formation of a Type 1 PL based on the modification of porous organic cages (POCs). POCs are discrete molecules, which contain an internal, permanent cavity accessible through windows, making them an ideal candidate for use in a PL. Previously, the addition of alkyl groups to the outside of POCs has been reported to lower their melting point in an attempt to form a Type 1 PL – increasing alkyl group length lowered the melting point but, with the longer alkyl chains, porosity was lost due to the chains occupying the cavities of neighbouring cages.2,3 This project will expand on these initial investigations by determining if POCs decorated with a mixture of shorter alkyl groups (dynamic covalent scrambling)4 also decreases the melting point, with the aim of forming a Type 1 PL that melts at <50 °C. If time allows, the formation of porous glasses will also be investigated using the synthesised meltable POCs. This project will provide training and experience in both the synthesis and characterisation of porous materials.

References: (1) Chem. Eur. J., 2007, 13, 3020 – 3025; (2) Chem. Sci., 2012, 3, 2153 – 2157; (3) Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014, 16, 9422 – 9431; (4) Nat. Commun., 2011, 2, 207

21. Project Title: Porous Liquids – scrambling for better solubility

Supervisors: Dr. Becky Greenaway, Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory

Description: Porous Liquids (PLs) are a counter-intuitive new class of material, consisting of a liquid that contains permanent, empty, pores. They are a hybrid material that combines the fluidity of solvents and the properties of porous solids, and could have potential benefits and unique applications when compared to porous solids, such as the ability to pump a liquid around in a continuous system, which could facilitate guest loading and unloading steps.

Three types of PLs have been proposed: Type 1 - a neat liquid where the molecules making up the liquid contain internal permanent cavities; Type 2 – an empty host molecule containing the internal permanent cavities dissolved in a size-excluded solvent; and Type 3 - particles of a microporous framework dispersed in a cavity-excluded solvent.1

Recently, we published the first known examples of Type 2 PLs based on porous organic cages (POCs) .2,3 POCs are discrete molecules, which contain an internal, permanent cavity accessible through windows. The solubility of POCs

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can be increased by employing a dynamic covalent scrambling strategy to form a vertex-disordered mixture of cages,4 and on dissolving these mixtures of scrambled cages in a solvent too large to enter the cage cavity, a Type 2 PL is formed. One particular POC combination has proven to be particularly soluble forming a range of Type 2 PLs, but it is currently unclear as to why this combination is so soluble. This project will focus on attempting to understand this by isolating the different cages in the mixture and studying their independent solubilities. The formation of new scrambled POCs will then be investigated to determine if a more soluble mixture is possible, with the aim of forming a more porous PL. This project will provide training and experience in synthesis, chromatography and characterisation of organic molecules and porous materials.

References: (1) Chem. Eur. J., 2007, 13, 3020 – 3025; (2) Nature, 2015, 527, 216-220; (3) Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 2640-2651; (4) Nat. Commun., 2011, 2, 207

22. Project Title: Computational screening of novel organic-enhanced transition-metal catalysts

Supervisors: Dr. Gilberto Teobaldi, Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy, Department of Chemistry. Email: g.teobaldi@liv.ac.uk

Description: Electronic hybridisation (EH) between transition-metal (TM) thin-films and organic materials can be used to alter the electronic and magnetic properties of the composite, promoting magnetism in original non-magnetic components or enhancing originally magnetic TMs. As recently observed experimentally, depending on the nature of the TM (e.g. Mn, Cu or Pt) and the organic substrate used (fullerenes or amorphous carbon), EH and its effects on the TM can be tuned by several orders of magnitude. These elements, and the underpinning use of nanostructured TMs as heterogeneous catalysts, raise the question as to whether organic-modified TMs may display enhanced catalytic properties with respect to their pristine counterparts. Owing to the novelty of the physical phenomenon, the potential of organic-modified TMs for heterogeneous catalysis is to date unexplored. By training in and application in state of the art Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods and High Performance Computing (HPC) procedures for computational research in heterogeneous catalysis, the project aims to move the first steps in this research area. Under Dr. Teobaldi and his most experienced group-members’ supervision, the student will compute catalysis relevant descriptors (e.g. adsorption energies, reaction profiles and barriers) for archetypal molecular reactants on pristine TM-substrate and different organic-TM composites with the aims of quantifying and understand differences, screening the most rewarding composites ahead of experimental consideration. The DFT simulations will be executed on the HPC resources accessible to the Teobaldi group, allowing investigation of up to five systems per week. It is thus reasonable to expect that, at the end of the 10-week bursary, the student will have generated and analysed sufficient data for submission of a scientific paper to a specialist peer-reviewed journal.

23. Project Title: Fluorescence spectroscopy of protein and amino acid aggregation

Supervisors: Dr. Heike Arnolds, Department of Chemistry

Description: The misfolding of proteins into an aggregate termed amyloid is at the heart of many diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, type II diabetes and many more. Biologists have access to a range of spectroscopies to obtain details of the ensuing structural changes, but many of them involve the addition of an external label, for example in form of a dye molecule. In the past 5 years, researchers have discovered that amyloids possess a visible, intrinsic fluorescence, and used the magnitude of the signal to follow protein aggregation. Last year, we discovered that this visible fluorescence is also present in aggregating amino acids as well as proteins in their native structure.

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To date, only a very limited number of proteins have been investigated with this new method and no cross-comparison with other structural techniques, such as vibrational spectroscopy, has been made.

This project will look at the visible fluorescence from a wider range of proteins and amino acids (in collaboration with Jill Madine from the Institute for Integrative Biology) and use Raman and NMR spectroscopy to obtain structural data.

24. Project Title: Extending the Real-world Application of Functional Nanomaterials

Supervisors: Dr. Colin R. Crick, Department of Chemistry

Description: The development of nanoscale materials has long been a strategy to producing substances that are highly functional, compared to macroscale equivalents.1 This is demonstrated plainly by nanometre-sized gold, which can be transformed from a bulk yellow-coloured metal, to red/purple-coloured nanocrystals when dimensions are reduced sufficiently – caused the surface plasmon resonance phenomenon.1 Many applied materials are dependent on small-scale features to generate their functionality, including electronics (microprocessors, batteries, etc.), purification (molecular sieves, etc.), and high intensity materials (bulletproof armour, nanocomposite sporting goods, etc.).2 These minute features are highly important in the area of functional nanomaterials, but can hinder their real-world application – due to a lowered physical robustness.3 This is a particular concern in pioneering research areas where functional surfaces contend with environmental exposure – principally when attempting to gauge real-world applicability.

The EPSRC Vacation Bursary project will aim to develop protocols for nanomaterials testing, ensuring that the assessment methods are reflective of real-world implementation. This will be focused on the interactions of nanomaterial surfaces with fluids (gases, and liquids), and solids (e.g. physical abrasion). The array of nanomaterials used for evaluation will act as a model nano-structured system, and will comprise of nanoparticles, structured polymer and inorganics, and surface-bound crystallites – pertinent to anti-microbial, and water purification applications.4-6 Evaluation systems include; wind chambers, flow-cells, and rheometry. The proposed project is fundamentally multi-disciplinary, not only covering multiple EPSRC themes (analytical science, materials [multiple], fluid dynamics and aerodynamics, etc.), but also encompassing many areas of scientific investigation (chemistry, materials, and engineering). The project is impact focused, searching for solutions that enable the transformative development of nanomaterials. This is reinforced by the involvement of Professor Robert Poole as a secondary supervisor, whose expertise (fluid dynamics / materials), and engineering focus, is intended to elevate research impact by strengthening the real-world focus of materials design.

References 1. M. L. Brongersma, N. J. Halas and P. Nordlander, Nat. Nanotechnol., 2015, 10, 25-34. 2. P. K. Jain, X. H. Huang, I. H. El-Sayed and M.A. El-Sayed, Acc. Chem. Res., 2008, 41, 1578-1586. 3. Y. Lu, S. Sathasivam, J. Song, C. R. Crick, C. J. Carmalt and I. P. Parkin, Science, 2015, 347, 1132-1135. 4. C. R. Crick, J. C. Bear, A. Kafizas and I. P. Parkin, Adv. Mater., 2012, 24, 3505-3508. 5. C. R. Crick and I. P. Parkin, Thin Solid Films, 2010, 518, 4328-4335. 6. C. R. Crick and I. P. Parkin, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 14712-14716.

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25. Project Title: Structure Determination of Mixed-Linker Zeolitic Imidazolate by 1 H Very Fast Magic Angle Spinning Solid State NMR Spectroscopy

Supervisors: Dr. Frédéric Blanc, Department of Chemistry

Description: The understanding of the structure of new materials is challenging and structure determination is often performed with diffraction, X-ray absorption and microscopy methods. Although this approach is very robust and extremely powerful, they do provide limited structural information on amorphous materials. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the richest source of structural information in powdered solids, and in particular for amorphous materials. Notably, crystalline zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs),1 their amorphous counterparts2,3 and networks containing mixed imidazolate, methylimidazolate or benzimidazolate linkers 2,3 have attracted large interests due to their existing new chemistries.4–6 Using high field 13C and 15N cross polarisation (CP) magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy, we have recently investigated the structures of these phases, 4,7,8

revealing their retention of chemical composition and the structural similarity.

Understanding the linker distribution in the frameworks is expected to be important to rationalize their tunable adsorption and guest diffusion behaviors. The current project will investigate the 1H spin diffusion (Figure 1)9

between the various linkers in a given mixed linker ZIF network. Specifically, the objectives of the project are: training in solid-state NMR spectroscopy (2 weeks), acquisition of two dimensional 1H solid-state NMR correlation spectra under very fast magic angle spinning (MAS) condition (4 weeks) and data analysis to extract the spin diffusion profiles (4 weeks).

Figure 1. (Left) 1H correlation spectrum of single linker ZIF8 network. (Right) 1H spin diffusionprofile.9

The student will use one of the 400 MHz solid state NMR spectrometer available to my group as well as high field NMR instruments at the UK national solid state NMR facility at the University of Warwick when required.

References.(1) Park, K. S. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2006, 103, 10186. (2) Bennett, T. D. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 14546. (3) Bennett, T. D. et al. Acc. Chem. Res. 2014, 47, 1555. (4) Bennett, T. D. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 3484. (5) Bennett, T. D. et al. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 8079. (6) Gaillac, R. et al. Nat. Mater. 2017, 16, 1149. (7) Baxter, E. F. et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2015, 17, 25191. (8) Baxter, E. F. et al. Dalton Trans. 2016, 45, 4258. (9) Jayachandrababu, K. C. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 7325.

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26. Project Title: Designing and discovering new organic semiconductors

Supervisors: Professor Alessandro Troisi, Department of Chemistry

Description: Organic semiconductors are conjugated molecules or polymers that can be employer in thin and flexible electronic devices as light emitting diodes, transistors, solar cells and sensors. Chemists can make many molecules but there are no clear design rule and the relation between structure and properties is still not known. This project will contribute to the design of new organic semiconductors by investigating the relation between chemical structure and performance. The project is theoretical in nature and will involve the use of computational chemistry methods in conjunction with high performance computing, data gathering from literature and machine learning approaches. The properties of the semiconductors are determined by their electronic energy level and the computational methods belong to the family of electronic structure calculations.

There is no prerequisite knowledge for this project, whose detail can be fine-tuned to match the student’s interests. However, the project would be more enjoyable for students who like working with data and computers and who, during their study so far, have enjoyed aspects of chemistry related to electronic properties (spectroscopy, photochemistry, bonding), devices (electrochemistry, photovoltaics) or other quantitative areas of physical chemistry.

27. Project Title: Time-resolved spectroelectrochemistry of CO 2 reduction catalysts

Supervisors: Dr. Alexander Cowan, Department of Chemistry

Description: The project will give an undergraduate student the opportunity to develop and utilise apparatus to study short lived electrochemically generated intermediates by UV/Vis spectroscopy. During the project the student will explore the mechanism of an electrocatalyst that can reduce carbon dioxide to useful products such as CO.

Background and methodology: The development of efficient electrocatalysts for the sustainable production of chemical fuels from abundant or waste feedstock’s such as H2O and CO2 would be potentially transformative to the energy landscape. Of particular interest is the reduction of CO2 to fuels (CO2 + 6H+ + 6e- → CH3OH + H2O) and feedstock’s (CO2 + 2H+ + 2e- → CO + H2O) in water. Our research group aims to identify the mechanisms and kinetic bottlenecks in state-of-the-art electrocatalysts to enable rational catalyst development by the community. Electrochemical mechanisms are commonly studied by spectroelectrochemistry (SEC) using a transmission sampling mode and spectroscopic methods such as UV/Vis or IR spectroscopies. These are relatively straightforward experiments but they require the use of optically transparent electrodes, which is a limiting factor. Many of the electrode materials used for electrochemical studies in water are not amenable to the approach (e.g. Hg, Boron doped diamond). An alternative is to probe the electrochemical interface and surrounding solution using a reflection sampling mode, and a reflection mode UV/Vis system. A recent successful summer project developed a voltage pump-UV/Vis reflectance probe instrument which has a microsecond time resolution and we will now deploy this to measure the dynamics of a new CO2 reduction catalyst (Mn(bpy(CO2H)2)(CO)3Br) in water on a boron doped diamond. This catalyst is chosen as its strong MLCT visible absorptions make it an ideal test system. This project will provide experience of electrochemical techniques, spectroscopy and lab control software.

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Structure of the CO2 reduction catalyst (3) to be studied, Walsh et al., Faraday Discuss., 2015, 183, 147-160

28. Project Title: Biodegradeable polymer synthesis and evaluation

Supervisors: Professor Steve Rannard, Department of Chemistry

Description: The increasing demand for novel biodegradeable polymers also requires materials that match current performance and new polymer architectures will have a considerable role to play in future materials design. A range of uniquely branched polymer structures have been developed in the Rannard group and the evaluation of their degradability under a range of conditions is needed to establish early data that may support their potential as possible replacements for current commercial materials.

29. Project Title: Novel functional branched polymer architectures

Supervisors: Professor Steve Rannard, Department of Chemistry

Description: The control of polymer architecture is a key aspect of current polymer research globally. New branched polymers offer materials with unique properties and the ability to rapidly introduce new functional groups has the potential to rapidly allow new properties to be evaluated and exploited. The creation of a new branched polymer chemistry within the Rannard group has provided the opportunity for new highly functional materials to be generated and the project will be studied for the first time to produce completely new materials with the potential for industrial scale-up.

30. Project Title: Polymer nanocomposites for drug delivery and disease detection

Supervisors: Dr. Marco Giardiello, Department of Chemistry

Description: Organic/inorganic hybrid nanocomposite particles have attracted much attention due to their potential for a wide range of applications in biomedical research, spanning both diagnostics and therapeutics. Drug delivery technologies are increasingly important since many drugs used across several diseases are often toxic, expensive and highly water insoluble giving rise to poor bioavailability. To overcome such issues drugs are dosed in high quantities which is far from ideal due to their toxic nature. Nanocarriers, in which hydrophobic drugs are encapsulated within a stable organic matrix, are employed which can be tuned to deliver drugs to desired locations, reducing the need for high dosage and thus reducing toxicity. Nanocarriers can also be developed for diagnostic applications through incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles (such as Superparamagnetic Ion oxide (SPION), Quantum Dots, Gold) or metal ion chelates. Such inorganic material provides optical or magnetic signals which can be tailored to respond to 18 | P a g e

biological processes. Thus, nanocarrier systems can be development which incorporate both drug delivery abilities as well as inorganic components, which simultaneously treat and diagnose; so called Theranostic Agents.

This project will use novel branched polymers and inorganic nanoparticles in combination to make nanocomposites capable of detecting and amplifying disease markers and/or delivering drugs. The project will develop amphiphilic A-B block co-polymers bearing thiol based functionality using previously established polymerisation methods, which form stable nanocomposites capable of both drug and inorganic nanoparticle encapsulation. This project will provide training and experience in organic, inorganic and polymer synthesis and characterisation as well as developing an understanding of both therapeutic and diagnostic nanomedicine.

References: Hern et al, Polym. Chem., 2017, 8, 1644; Giardiello et al, Nanoscale, 2016, 7224; Auty et al, Chem. Commun, 2014, 50, 6545; Auty et al, Polym. Chem., 2014, 6, 573.

31. Project Title: HRMAS Magnetic resonance spectroscopy with chemical shift imaging to provide highly spatially resolved, high resolution NMR spectra of cancer metabolites

Supervisors: Dr. Konstantin Luzyanin and Dr. Jonathan Iggo, Department of Chemistry

Description: The potential of ex vivo NMR spectroscopy to identify and quantify metabolic markers for cancer is well established, however, existing methods provide average metabolite concentrations in a biopsy sample and cannot spatially localize metabolites within the sample. Conventional histological examination of biopsy samples also has difficulty in identifying and localizing aggressive tissue within a sample. This can result in overly aggressive treatment of the patient on the one hand or an overly optimistic prognosis on the other.

This project builds on work done in the Department by Wallace and Iggo in developing Chemical Shift Imaging (CSI) spectroscopy and, in conjunction with Dr Hambrock, Consultant Radiologist at the Christie Hospital, will develop a new HRMAS-CSI technique as a diagnostic tool in oncology. The new method combines high resolution magic angle spinning with CSI and will allow acquisition of highly spatially resolved – at the sub-millimetre level 1 – and spectroscopically resolved NMR spectra of metabolites in biopsy samples. This will enable more accurate assessment of, for example, the proportion and location of aggressive tumour present which will improve diagnosis, selection of the most appropriate course of treatment, and the prognosis that can be given to patients.

The project student will receive training in the operation of an HRMAS spectrometer, and will then develop and apply HRMAS-CSI techniques to obtain metabolic profiles of tissue samples. The student will experience inter-disciplinary research at the physical science/life science interface that aligns closely with, e.g. the EPSRC /Cancer Research UK Multidisciplinary Project Award scheme.

. MRI-MRS methods provide resolution at the centimetre scale, limiting diagnostic information.

1

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32. Project Title: Lead optimisation, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Benzimidazoles Selectively Targeting C. neoformans β-tubulin

Supervisors: Dr. Gemma Nixon, Department of Chemistry

EPSRC Research Theme: Healthcare Technologies

Description: Cryptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans) is a yeast like fungus which manifests as meningitis in the human host. C. neoformans is the most common cause of systemic mycosis in patients with AIDS and there are an estimated 1 million cases of cryptococcal meningitis occurring worldwide annually. Current treatments for C. neoformans include amphotericin B (toxicity issues), flucytosine (toxicity and global supply problems) and fluconazole (less active). Thus, there is a substantial need for new anti-cryptococcal agents with reduced toxicity and improved efficacy.

Previous reports indicated benzimidazole compounds have good in vitro potency against C. neoformans (Antimicrob Agents, 1994, 38, 378) and disrupt mitosis in sensitive organisms through binding to the β-tubulin subunit of microtubules (Microbiology, 1997, 143, 2003). Identification of an active class of compounds against a known target with in house confirmation of C. neoformans in vitro and in vivo efficacy provided a solid platform for a targeted medicinal chemistry project (MRC funded) to investigate novel analogues with improved efficacy, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) and safety profile, with promising analogues being progressed to in vivo PK and efficacy studies through collaboration with Prof William Hope (Pharmacology, UoL).

The student will join the team working on this project for a period of 10 weeks and will be given their own benzimidazole compound and associated targets to synthesise utilising the synthetic methodologies already developed to date to fine tune the compounds as we approach the later stages of the larger project. This will provide invaluable experience in medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis, academic research and working within a multi-disciplinary team. It will also give the student a real chance of making a significant impact on the project. Due to the short turnaround time of the in vitro testing and synthetic utility of the compounds (3-4 high yielding steps per compound) it should be possible within the time frame for compounds to be made, tested, results analysed and new targets planned allowing the student to experience a full medicinal chemistry optimisation cycle.

33. Project Title: Elucidating the Role of Chemical Disorder in a Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate

Supervisors: Dr. Lucy Clark, Departments of Chemistry and Physics and Materials Innovation Factory

Description: At the forefront of modern materials research is the pursuit of novel quantum states of matter, in which quantum mechanical effects determine the collective physical properties observable on a macroscopic scale.1 A prime example is the quantum spin liquid (QSL). The QSL is a unique magnetic state of matter that fails to undergo conventional long-range magnetic order and instead forms a highly quantum-entangled, quantum-superpositional state.2 These features are fascinating from a fundamental perspective, but they may also hold the key to future quantum technologies, such as quantum computing and information security.3 Despite this, experimental realisations of the QSL remain scarce, making the discovery and exploration of new materials that may host this quantum state of matter a compelling scientific challenge.

Currently, the layered oxide material, YbMgGaO4, is attracting enormous interest as the nature of its magnetic Yb3+-based layers makes it a prime candidate in which to seek exotic QSL behaviour.4 However, the non-magnetic Mg2+

and Ga3+ ions that also make up YbMgGaO4 are disordered within its crystal structure. The crucial outstanding scientific question is, what is the effect of this ion disorder on the magnetic properties of this fascinating system?

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In this project, you will shed new light on this scientific problem by seeking and exploring alternative cation ordered derivatives of YbMgGaO4. You will work within the Clark Group (clarkgroupliverpool.com) in the Materials Innovation Factory and employ solid-state synthesis methods to uncover new materials. You will make use of in-house facilities for structural and magnetic materials characterisation to unravel the structure-property relationships of the samples you prepare. You will also have the opportunity to join the Clark Group for an experiment at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, where we will make use of neutron scattering methods to understand the useful properties of new materials.

This is an ideal project for a MChem or MPhys student with interests in solid-state chemistry or condensed matter physics who would like to get hands-on experience in interdisciplinary materials research. Informal enquiries to Dr Lucy Clark are welcome (lucy.clark@liverpool.ac.uk).

References: 1N. Samarth, Nature Mater. 16, 1068 (2017), 2L. Balents, Nature 464, 199 (2010), 3T. Tokura et al., Nature Phys. 13, 1056 (2017), 4Y. Li et al., Sci. Rep. 5, 16419 (2015).

34. Project Title: Plasmoelectronics

Supervisors: Professor Richard Nichols, Departments of Chemistry

Description: This summer studentship involves research work on a project funded by The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The project aims to achieve control of single-molecular junction conductance through optical excitation of plasmons (these are the collection oscillations of electrons in the metal). We aim to study such phenomena down to the single-molecule and single-plasmonic nanostructure level. To achieve this we will assemble nanoscale junctions consisting of single nanoparticles and molecular interconnects with appropriate chromophoric groups. The cartoon on the right illustrates the principle. A gold nanoparticle sphere is wired by chromophoric molecules to a conductance substrate. These chromophores will help to tune the sensitivity of the plasmon-mediated increase in the photoconductance of the junction. We aim to open up new opportunities and increase understanding in the nascent field of molecular “plasmoelectronics”. Future possible applications include molecular opto-electronics, enhanced organic photovoltaics and plasmonic circuits.

This summer studentship will involve the use of scanning probe microscopy and also surface and nanostructure preparation techniques. The summer studentship will suit a student who is interested in cutting edge research in nanoscale science, physical chemistry and instrumentation in an internationally leading research group.

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Department of Mathematical Sciences

35. Project Title: Modelling insulin effects on the cell cycle and bio-energetics at the single cell level

Supervisors: Dr. Mirela Domijan, Dept. of Mathematical Sciences

Description: Background: Muscle development and maintenance is strongly linked to insulin, yet how insulin exactly affects cell proliferation and energy production is not well known. Various pathways [1-3] have all been identified as facilitators of this interaction, but their integration and linkage to the cell cycle remain unclear. Since these pathways and their interactions are complex, a greater understanding can only be gained using mathematical models.

Project description: The student will explore the dynamics of the ordinary differential equation model linking the mTOR pathway and cell cycle developed in [1] using the perturbation theory techniques implemented in the PeTTSy toolbox [4]. They will perform further statistical analysis of the single cell data from [1] and then use this information to augment the current mathematical model. The student will collaborate with Professor Falciani and experimentalists from the Institute of Integrative Biology and the work carried out will be used to inform further experiments.

Candidate specifications: The candidate is expected to have a strong mathematical background and some computing skills or at least a keen interest in acquiring basic computing skills. Prior knowledge of biology is not required, but a genuine interest in the biological application is a must.

Outline: Literature survey and familiarization with the PeTTSy toolbox (3 weeks), data analysis and modelling (6 weeks) and report writing (1 week).

Contact for further enquiries: Mirela Domijan, mirela.domijan@liverpool.ac.uk

References:

[1] Ankers, Basili, Pisconti Bearon and Falciani, A systems biology approach identifies mTOR independent and dependant relationships between insulin and the cell cycle in muscle progenitor cells, in preparation. [2] Brina et al. (2015) Nature Communications. [3] Clarke et al. (2017), Cell Reports. [4] Domijan et al. (2015) BMC Bioinformatics.

Department of Physics

36. Project Title: Quantum Technology: Development of an Atomic Interferometer

Supervisors: Dr. Jonathon Coleman, Department of Physics

Description: A project is available utilising the techniques of interrogating ultra-cold atoms at the quantum level (cf. 1997, 2001 Nobel Prizes in Physics). The project involves, assembling, prototyping, alignment and testing of a components for high precision atom interferometer. 22 | P a g e

This project will be the development of an optical components, for the atom interferometer. These will enable multiple frequency changes to control the device, this includes computer coding and hardware development. The end goal of the device to examine gravity and quantum systems under its influence.

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SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

School of Engineering

37. Project Title: Wind Tunnel Study of Hot Exhaust Gas Dispersion in a Turbulent Cross-Flow

Supervisors: Dr. Mark D White and Emeritus Professor Ieuan Owen, Flight Science and Technology Research Group, School of Engineering

Description: Modelling and simulation research is being used to improve the safety and operational envelope of aircraft operating to naval ships. The research has attracted significant interest from BAE Systems, dstl, QinetiQ and EPSRC and is being conducted in collaboration with defence research laboratories in the US, Canada, Australia and across Europe, including membership of two NATO projects. The current research is directly related to the upcoming flight trials of the new UK aircraft carriers, and to the design of the next generation of UK frigate, the Type 26.

Simulated flying operations are being conducted in simulators at BAE (fixed wing) and at the School of Engineering (rotary wing). Central to the simulation is the modelling of the air flow over the ships, and how this interacts with the aircraft. Unsteady Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is being used to model the airflow, and out of this research has emerged a hitherto largely overlooked issue for aircraft operating close to a ship: the effect of the ship’s engine exhaust gases on both the aerodynamic lift of the aircraft and its engine performance. CFD analysis of the hot gas discharged by the ships’ gas turbine engines have shown that there is a serious issue [1]; however, experimental validation of the CFD analysis is required.

The mixing of jets in cross flow is a classic test case in fluid dynamics; however the cross flow has always been considered to be a steady undisturbed flow, unlike the flow over the ship superstructure which is highly turbulent and unsteady. An experiment has been designed in which a hot air jet is discharged from the top of a cube placed in a wind tunnel. Fast response thermocouples will be used to measure the unsteady temperature field downstream of the cube for a range of conditions and will be compared with a CFD model of the experiment. The facilities are mostly already available and the experiment will be ready for the student. The scope of the experiment makes it suitable for a student to complete in the timescale and will provide basic data that will underpin an internationally visible research programme.

Scott, P., White, M.D. and Owen, I. “Unsteady CFD Modelling of Ship Engine Exhaust Gases On Over-Deck Air Temperatures and the Implications For Helicopter Operations” 71st Annual Forum of the American Helicopter Society, 5-7 May 2015, Virginia Beach.

38. Project Title: Towards a frameless 3D printing platform

Supervisors: Dr. Paolo Paoletti, School of Engineering

Description: Additive manufacturing (and in particular 3D printing) is becoming very popular as it allows users to build complex parts that cannot be realized with standard manufacturing techniques. For this reason, this technology is undergoing a significant growth, with several different and highly sophisticated “printers” appearing on the market every day. They can print or synthesize almost everything, from plastic to sand to even titanium, building parts with any shape one can possibly desire. But all of them have a common limitation: the frame they are

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constrained to. The maximum dimension of all the parts that are printed has to stay inside the rails that carry the printer head, and this represents the major lash that needs to be cut to realize the full potential of this technology.

The supervisor is coordinating a company-sponsored project (UNFRAME3D) aimed at developing an autonomous vehicle that is free to travel everywhere and that carries a printer head capable of reaching every point in a 3 dimensional space. A PhD student has successfully demonstrated 2D painting – i.e. complete control of the vehicle and the printing head to draw shapes in 2D – and is currently extending the platform capability to 3D. The undergraduate student will be complementing this activity by designing a suitable material deposition and climbing mechanism. At the end of the project, a complete prototype to build simple 3D shapes on a flat surface should be produced.

The student will be required to design a device to deposit material in a controlled way, so that the vehicle can “climb” onto such support to deposit the next layer of the build. This will involve CAD design (3 weeks), manufacturing (3 weeks), testing (2 weeks) and integration (2 weeks) of the device in the current platform.

39. Project Title: Simulating programmable matter - Robomate

Supervisors: Dr. Paolo Paoletti and Dr. Sebastiano Fichera, School of Engineering

Description: Imagine dozens – or even hundreds – of small devices that can be programmed to selectively attach to each other to create a bigger functional device (a table, a chair, etc.) at a flick of your finger; this is what is known as programmable matter and it is akin to self-assembly processes that are at the basis of life in nature (for reference, similar projects are: the Kilobot system (Harvard), the Robot Pebbles (MIT), the Millimotein (MIT), and Catoms (Carnegie Mellon University)). Several recent theoretical results suggest that realising such “matter” is actually possible, but there is a strong need for developing simulation platforms to test the proposed control and coordination techniques. In this project, the undergraduate student will develop a simulation platform (most likely in Matlab, but other physics-based platform will be explored as well) that allows researchers to test and visualise coordination techniques.

The supervisors, in collaboration with Othon Michail (CS), and Kai Hoettges and Luis Esteban Hernandez (EEE), are currently building a research group on this topic across Faculty. Both Leverhulme and Risk CDT scholarships are in place for attracting post graduate students to follow up on the work that will be done by the EPSRC VBS student.

The student will be required to make a survey of potential simulation platforms (Matlab, Vrep, Gazebo, Argos, etc.) that can potentially be used for simulating a large number of simple controlled devices (approx. 2 weeks). Once the best simulation platform have been chosen, the student will write the simulation code to model a single agent first (3 weeks), and then a large number of them (1 week). Finally, several techniques that have recently been proposed in the literature to algorithmically change the overall shape of the collection of devices will be implemented in the simulator and their efficiency (in terms of energy, time and computational complexity) will be assessed (4 weeks).

40. Project Title: Designing programmable matter - Robomate

Supervisors: Dr. Sebastiano Fichera and Dr. Paolo Paoletti, School of Engineering

Description: Imagine dozens – or even hundreds – of small devices that can be programmed to selectively attach to each other to create a bigger functional device (a table, a chair, etc.) at a flick of your finger; this is what is known as programmable matter and it is akin to self-assembly processes that are at the basis of life in nature (for reference, 25 | P a g e

similar projects are: the Kilobot system (Harvard), the Robot Pebbles (MIT), the Millimotein (MIT), and Catoms (Carnegie Mellon University)). Several recent theoretical results suggest that realising such “matter” is actually possible, but there is a strong need for developing physical implementation to test the proposed control and coordination techniques. In this project, the undergraduate student will complete the preliminary design of of a new programmable matter platform (its fundamental brick) by using CREO CAD software (or similar) and Final Element Analysis, when necessary. Preliminary 3D manufacturing of such mechatronic component will be attempted, too, if time allows.

The supervisors, in collaboration with Othon Michail (CS), and Kai Hoettges and Luis Esteban Hernandez (EEE), are currently building a research group on this topic across Faculty. Both Leverhulme and Risk CDT scholarships are in place for attracting post graduate students to follow up on the work that will be done by the EPSRC VBS student.

The student will be required to review the state of the art on the programmable matter [2 weeks], perform the conceptual design of the novel solution [1 week], conduct some analytical analysis on the intended solution [1 week], complete the preliminary design in a suitable CAD/FE environment [4 weeks], and write the project report [1 week].

41. Project Title: Soft robotics for manipulation

Supervisors: Dr. Sebastiano Fichera, School of Engineering

Description: Soft robots are pneumatic or hydraulic devices made of soft compliant materials (e.g. elastomers) that deform in a prescribed manner once pressurised. Soft robotics is an emerging and extremely promising technology with the potential of solving some of the major issues faced by traditional “hard robotics” by replacing rigid linkages and joints with such soft actuators. In this project, the undergraduate student will design, manufacture and test of a novel soft actuator for manipulation by using CREO CAD software (or similar), Final Element Analysis, when necessary, 3D printing and other manufacturing techniques.

The supervisor and Dr P. Paoletti, School of Engineering, have recently brought this research topic to Liverpool University and now have already secure a Leverhulme PhD scholarship starting September 2018 and are in the final stage of writing a three-year EPSRC proposal.

The student will be required to review the state of the art on Soft robotics for manipulation [1 week], perform the conceptual design of the novel solution [1 week], conduct some analytical analysis on the intended solution [1 week], complete the preliminary design in a suitable CAD/FE environment [2 weeks], manufacture and test the novel soft actuator [2 weeks], and write the project report [1 week].

42. Project Title: Design, manufacturing and experimental validation of a wind tunnel aeroelastic model with a freeplay in the kinematic control chain

Supervisors: Dr. Sebastiano Fichera, School of Engineering

Description: The flight envelope defines the limits, in terms of velocities and load factors, in which an aircraft can operate safely. For modern aircraft, the right boundary of the flight envelope is defined by the so-called flutter velocity. Above this speed, flutter, a dangerous dynamic instability caused by the positive feedback of the aerodynamic loads into the (dynamic) structure of the aircraft, may occur. Flutter exhibits fast-growing (explosive)

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oscillations that can destroy the entire structure if not properly controlled. This problem is even more critical for new aircraft design due to the adoption of lightweight materials and structures that lead to increased aeroelastic coupling.

Active Aeroelastic Control (AAC) is a relatively mature research area under linear circumstances. However, the modelling and development of such active aeroelastic control strategies in presence of nonlinearities, both structural (free-play in the kinematic control chains, hardening or softening polynomial nonlinearities in sub-components, etc.) and aerodynamics (shocks, etc., especially in the transonic regime), is still an open challenge and nowadays there is a flourishing research activity in this area.

The supervisor, with his research group, has developed in the past years an experimental wind tunnel aeroelastic model (ModFlex) for testing AAC strategies. It is now their intention to extend this model to the nonlinear regime and specifically to explore the condition in which a non-smooth nonlinearity is present between the actuator and the control surface.

The student will be required to design the new sector with embedded a freeplay in the kinematic control chain [3 weeks], manufacture (with 3D printing technologies) and assemble the nonlinear sector [3 weeks], conduct an experimental campaign to validate the rig against the numerical model [3 weeks], and write a report [1 week].

43. Project Title: Design, manufacturing and experimental validation of a morphing aerofoil for MODFLEX aeroelastic model

Supervisors: Dr. Sebastiano Fichera, School of Engineering

Description: Aircraft morphing is a new and promising research area that has gained a significant momentum in the recent years. With morphing is intended the continuous change of the shape of the aerodynamic surfaces for achieving a required control authority. Most of the today morphing design are bio-inspired. The main foreseen advantage is a drag reduction.

In this project, the undergraduate student will design, manufacture and test of a new morphing aerofoil for the MODFLEX aeroelastic rig by using CREO CAD software (or similar), Final Element Analysis, when necessary, 3D printing and other manufacturing techniques.

The supervisor, with his research group, has developed in the past years an experimental wind tunnel aeroelastic model (MODFLEX) for testing Active Aeroelastic Control strategies. He has also already developed a first version of a morphing aerofoil (called High Bandwidth Morphing Actuator, HBMA) and it is now his intention to develop an improved version of this morphing solution for exploring its beneficial effects on the MODFLEX rig.

The student will be required to review the literature related to aerofoil morphing [1 week], complete the conceptual and preliminary design of the second generation of the HBMA [2 weeks], manufacture (with 3D printing technologies) and assemble the morphing sector [4 weeks], conduct an experimental campaign to validate the new morphing aerofoil [2 weeks], and write a report [1 week].

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44. Project Title: Investigation and preliminary design of a practical long-haul solar-powered aircraft

Supervisors: Petar Hristov and Dr. Sebastiano Fichera, School of Engineering

Description: Studies indicate that at the present usage rates, some of the main fossil fuel resources will have run out by 2042 [1]. This prediction combined with the growing demand for air transportation places the aerospace industry on the threshold of a revolution. One of the key enablers of this revolutions is electric propulsion. One of the biggest challenges that electric air transport is facing at present is battery technology. The best batteries have specific energies more than ten times smaller than those of petrol and jet fuel. This means a lot of weight of the aircraft has to be dedicated to batteries, limiting its capability to transport useful load and/or its range. Solar energy is a good candidate solution to increase the endurance of electric powered aircraft. The conventional means of harnessing solar power, however is through low-efficiency solar panels. This limitation is evident in all current solar-powered aircraft [2]

The purpose of this 10-week project is to investigate the opportunities of combining electric propulsion, solar power and aircraft design solutions to enable practical long-haul aerial transportation and to conceive of a design. The student will be responsible for conducting a high-quality literature review in electric flight, solar power and efficient aerodynamics [2 weeks]. They will be actively engaged in designing the airframe [4 weeks] and using simulation methods to investigate its performance [2 weeks]. The School of Engineering has a set of solar panels, which can be used for initial testing and to guide the project into the practical stage [1 week]. Finally, relevant findings will be outlined in a report [1 week].

References

[1] Shahriar Shafiee, Erkan Topal. When will fossil fuel reserves be diminished? Energy Policy, 2009, 37, 1, 181-189.

[2] Andre Noth. Design of solar-powered aircraft for continuous flight. Thesis, 2008.

45. Project Title: Development of an Open source software for resilience analysis

Supervisors: Dr. Edoardo Patelli, Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, School of Engineering

Description: In many engineering fields, computational approaches and virtual prototypes are used to characterise, predict, and simulate complex systems. Today, mainly deterministic analyses are performed; however, such deterministic analyses provide insufficient information to capture variability. There is the need to more trustworthy analyses capable of dealing with uncertainties. A comprehensive understanding of all risks and uncertainties is needed. Despite stochastic methods offer a much more realistic approach for analysis and design, their utilisation in practical applications remains quite limited. One of the reasons to explain this fact is that the developments of software for stochastic analysis have received considerably less attention than their deterministic counterparts.

In this project the student will be actively collaborating with the developing team of the general purposed software named OpenCossan. The software provides state-of-the-art simulation techniques for resilience analysis, sensitivity analysis and machine learning tools for robust and reliable product life-cycle solutions. The Institute of Risk and Uncertainty, has a unique approach to developing and integrating numerical engineering technology across the product life-cycle to deliver powerful solutions to business and research organisations.

More specifically, the student will focus on the improvement of the software reliability and usability by developing specific tutorials and tests that will be used to training the engineers of tomorrow on non-deterministic approaches 28 | P a g e

(e.g. uncertainty quantification, resilience analysis, machine learning). OpenCossan is currently under continuous developed at the Institute for Risk and Uncertainty and already used by a large number of researchers and analysts from all over the world. The software by interacting with commercial FE/CFD software (e.g. Abaqus,Ansys, Nastran, OpenSees, OpenFoam, Fluent, etc.), allows to perform high fidelity analysis taking into account the uncertainty. An essential tool much needed by industry to replace or reduce the number of hardware tests) in support of product design and manufacturing innovation to drive global competitiveness.

More details about the software are available on the following links:

• www.cossan.co.uk• https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/risk-and-uncertainty/• https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/engineering/staff/edoardo-patelli /

46. Project Title: PetRo - Modular Robot : Development and testing of a prototype

Supervisors: Dr. Benjamin Salem, School of Engineering

Description: PetRo is an omnidirectional Homogeneous Modular Robot that has been developed in-house over the years. PetRo is self-assembling and throwable, implying that a number of isolated single modules are capable of regrouping and assembling into a desired configuration within the theatre of operations. This also imply that each module does not require particular handling, and that it is sufficiently robust to be literally thrown into the theatre of operation. Finally, PetRo is a Pet-Like Robot, designed to be handled without training or experience, and to work together with people as part of a human-robot team operating in dangerous, difficult to access or unpredictable scenes of operation. We are currently developing version 3.15, and have version 2.5 in the lab as a testbed. There is currently a need to design some key elements of the robot, notably in controls, electronics and sensor data processing. Students in Industrial Design, Electronics, Mechatronics and computing are welcome to apply. The aim being to have a completed prototype of version 3 by the end of 2018.

Your work will be on the design, modelling, fabrication and testing of one or all of the following parts of the robot: End-plate for the connection between modules (mechanical, electrical and data connections) (design

improvement) Sensor hub for the housing of a network of sensors (new design) Assembly of leg (improved design)

This project is research driven, there is potential for publication at a conference on Robotics, where you will either have you name in the acknowledgments or if appropriate as a co-author.

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