• Our Research
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    SUTS Seed Grant Scheme
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• Postgraduate Research
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PhD Research Projects

Biotechnology

Ng Lee Tze BSc(Resource Biotechnol)(Hons) UNIMAS; MSc UNIMAS Submerged aerobic culture of a fungal metabolite inhibiting an enzyme putatively associated with Alzheimer's Disease A fungus isolated in Sarawak has been found to be a source of a compound potentially valuable as a drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. This aim of this study is to develop and optimize a fermentation process for the biosynthesis of this compound, an inhibitor of the enzyme prolyl oligopeptidase. The initial studies will be via shake flask culture, translating to bubble column and stirred tank bioreactor studies. Immobilized cells will be used as a technique. ---

Noreha Mahidi BSc(Hons) UNIMAS; MSc UNIMAS Isolation of volatile-organic-chemical-producing fungi and development of their use as biological control agents The objective of this project is to isolate from Sarawak’s biodiversity, fungi which can produce antimicrobial volatile organic compounds (VOC). This type of fungi have the potential for use as agents to control the  Antimicrobial VOC and which has since been developed in various applications for the control of fungal problems in horticulture and agriculture.

Civil Engineering

Choo Chung Siung BEng(Civil)(Hons) SUT Assessing the impact of trenchless technology in an urban environment The Kuching Wastewater Management System (KWMS) has brought trenchless technology i.e. micro-tunnelling by pipe-jacking method, to Sarawak for the very first time. This beneficial and sustainable construction technique presents several new and complex challenges to the local construction industry, such as the understanding of the highly variable geological conditions of Kuching, the necessity to produce a predictive model of pipe-jacking forces for local conditions, and the suitability and effectiveness of various lubricants during the jacking process. This study ventures into producing an accurate constitutive prediction model for pipe-jacking frictional forces, which will benefit future phases of the project. <more> ---

Elizabeth Chong Eu Mee BEng (Civil) (Hons) UTM; MEng (Civil) UTM Soil-structure interaction due to adjacent deep excavation The construction of an integrated underground basement often cause concern especially to the adjacent building owners due to the associated detrimental soil movement related to a deep excavation as it may cause architectural and structural distress.  This research is based on an integrated shopping mall with a 13-storey hotel and a 3-level underground car park facility surrounded by century-old masonry shophouses and colonial-era heritage buildings.  The retaining wall system used in this project is contiguous bored pile tied with ground anchors. The site will be modelled with finite element software and benchmarked with the results obtained from field monitoring and measurement to better understand the processes involved.

Information Technology

Wong Ming Ming BEng (Comp Sys Eng)(Hons) Curtin Implementation of cryptology in reconfigurable hardware Cryptology plays a vital role in many digital systems that range from commercial network to military. Like any other embedded applications, speed and cost are the important factors that need to be taken into consideration in design. However, in order to provide cheaper implementation and speed improvement, the privilege is pay off with the risk of security compromise. Nevertheless, it is essential to have an optimum resolution that solves the potential security problems and, at the same time, ensures higher speed and lower cost of reconfigurable implementation. The aim of this research is to investigate and study the issues regarding the design and implementation of cryptology algorithms on reconfigurable platform.   --- Ermaliza Razali BEng(Robotics & Mechatronics)(Hons) SUT Cryptanalysis of Block Cipher Algorithms The invention of public key cryptography by Whitfield Diffie and Martin E. Hellman in 1976 has brought up many issues, which include among others, the design and evaluation of public key cryptosystems. However, this particular issue has been addressed in an ad hoc manner based on merely trial-and-error. Due to various cryptanalytic achievements resulting in a lot of broken schemes, the cryptographic community understood that this ad hoc approach might not suffice. The paradigm of provable security is an outcome of this insight. The goal of provable security is to prove the security of a cryptosystem formally in an appropriate model. --- Vong Wan Tze BSc(Biomed Sci)(Hons) Northumbria; MRes(Med & Mol Biosc)  Newcastle Upon Tyne Novel Computational Statistical Tools for Medical Record-Based Studies The reliability of clinical findings from electronic medical records databases is threatened by: (1) data quality issues such as accuracy, completeness and timeliness, and (2) the lack of study design features such as randomization, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and explicit definitions of exposure, outcome and adjustment factors. The project focuses on developing novel computational statistical tools: (1) to improve the quality and functionality of medical records for clinical research purposes, and (2) to link data sets with different treatment modalities and outcomes to discover novel clinical knowledge from electronic medical records database. --- Rodney Lim MBus(eBus & Comm), SUT Blogs as Online Spaces for Commerce Young female entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia are utilizing social media to forge low-cost and simple online retail stores. This potential form of micro-business has become a web phenomenon in this region, and promises unprecedented opportunities for participation in entrepreneurial start-ups. In this project, a Grounded Theory approach is proposed to develop a substantive theory to explain the rationale and concerns of these enterprises and to evaluate the sustainability of their underlying business models.

Electronic Engineering

Lee Ker Chia BSc(Biochem) McMaster; BEng(Robotics & Mechatronics) SUTS Advanced Compact Microwave Filter for Communication Compact microwave resonator filters with good performance are highly desirable in communication. This is because they are small in size, light weight, and easy to fabricate and implement. The objective of this research project is to develop and produce new compact resonator structures and filter structures based on planar technology. This will contribute to new findings in the theory of designing compact resonator filter. The secondary objective is to develop and produce tunable filter structures using commercial MEMS switches. This will include an in-depth study of the implementation and limitations of commercial MEMS switches in microstrip filters used for tuning purposes.

Mechanical Engineering

Ekhlas Aboud Osman MSc(Mech Eng) Al-Mustansiria Uni-College Eng The Mechanical Properties of Natural Fiber Composite Increasing worldwide environmental awareness is encouraging scientific research towards the development of cheaper, more environmentally friendly and sustainable construction and packaging materials. Natural fibers are an alternative resource to synthetic fibers as reinforcement for polymeric materials for the manufacture of cheap, renewable and environmentally friendly composites. In this study Kenaf bast fiber was chosen as a natural fiber and the unsaturated polyester as a polymer (resin). The aims of this study are to investigate the physical and mechanical properties of treated/untreated kenaf fiber and resins via measurement of the viscosity, gel time, maximum exothermic temperature and mechanical characteristics resulting from different concentrations of monomer, initiator and accelerator. The mechanical properties of the kenaf fiber unsaturated polyester composites will be described. --- Yeu Yee Lee BEng(Mech Eng)(Hons) Curtin Evaporation Mechanism in Porous Media Porous media are used in many applications in science, engineering, and industry. Evaporative heat transfer in porous media is seen as one of the most efficient means of heat transfer in cooling applications. The latent heat involved in evaporation during phase transition leaves a large cooling effect to the surface and enhances the overall heat transfer process. Investigating and developing the relationship between characteristics of porous media and evaporation gives a researcher not only the necessary background and useful information for future design but it is also essential for further improvement of the porous wick design as an effective device. In this study, the relationship between characteristics of porous media and evaporation heat transfer will be established by investigating evaporative heat transfer in porous media under various conditions.

Robotic & Mechatronic Engineering

Chong Nguan Soon BEng(Robotics & Mechatronics)(Hons) SUT Object recognition in omni-directional image for robot visioning Omni-vision is a 360 degree field-of-view vision captured using a typical camera with the aid of a spherical mirror. Although images captured through such cameras suffer from visual distortion, the 360 degree field of view advantage is especially favourable in areas such as visual odometry, global localisation and mapping  where they are mostly related to the navigation of a device e.g. robot. This research aims to develop a new algorithmic image processing model specifically catered for omni-vision. --- Hudyjaya Siswoyo Jo BEng(Robotics & Mechatronics)(Hons) SUT Swinburne Design and development of semi-rigid sensor-based sensitive hip system to stabilize dynamic walking of minimalist bipedal robot Bipedal robots, often known as bipeds, are a subclass of legged robot which move by human locomotion approach. A biped has an advantage of handling environment with discontinuous ground support, such as a rocky slope, a flight of stairs, or rungs of a ladder. However, achieving smooth and stable walking in a biped is a big challenge due to the complexity of motion and the number of human’s limbs involved in the walking. The aim for this research is to look at the possibility of decoupling the walking and stabilizing algorithm by using the newly designed semi-rigid structure to achieve smooth and stable bipedal walking.