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• Dr Irene Moulitsas

The module aims to provide an understanding of a variety of computational methods for integration, solution of differential equations and solution of linear systems of equations.

The module explores numerical integration methods; the numerical solution of differential equations using finite difference approximations including formulation, accuracy and stability; matrices and types of linear systems, direct elimination methods, conditioning and stability of solutions, iterative methods for the solution of linear systems. Several of the studied numerical methods are implemented from scratch during the lab sessions, and the theoretical properties are then empirically studied and understood.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

• Formulate and assess numerical integration methods,
• Use appropriate techniques to formulate numerical solutions to differential equations,
• Evaluate properties of numerical methods, and choose the appropriate method to implement towards the solution of a given differential equation,
• Evaluate properties of systems of linear equations, and choose the appropriate method to implement towards the solution of a given system of linear equations,
• Assess the behaviour of the numerical methods and the computed numerical solutions.

• Dr Irene Moulitsas

Object oriented programming (OOP) is the standard programming methodology used in nearly all fields of major software construction today, including engineering and science and C++ is one of the most heavily employed languages. This module aims to answer the question ‘what is OOP’ and to provide the student with the understanding and skills necessary to write well designed and robust OO programs in C++. Students will learn how to write C++ code that solves problems in the field of computational engineering, particularly focusing on techniques for constructing and solving linear systems and differential equations. Hands-on programming sessions and assignment series of exercises form an essential part of the course. The library support provided for writing C++ programs using a functional programming approach will also be covered.   

An introduction to the Python language is also provided.

• The OOP methodology and method, Classes, abstraction and encapsulation,
• Destructors and memory management, Function and operator overloading, Inheritance and aggregation, Polymorphism and virtual functions, Stream input and output,
• Templates, Exception handling, The C++ Standard Library and STL.

Functional programming in C++.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

• Apply the principles of the object oriented programming methodology - abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance and aggregation - when writing C++ programs,
• Design and create robust C++ programs of simple to moderate complexity given a suitable specification,
• Construct C++ programs to solve a range of numerical problems in computational engineering using both OO and functional based approaches, based on the Standard Template Library and other third-party class libraries,
• Design development environments and associated software engineering tools to assist in the construction of robust C++ programs,
• Evaluate existing C++ programs and assess their adherence to good OOP principles and practice.

This course aims to provide a more in-depth look at the software life-cycle phases, requirements engineering and design of applications.

• Software Development Life Cycles
• Requirements Analysis (user requirements, systems requirement specification, functional & non-functional requirement, software requirements specification, modelling and prototyping, structured analysis, formal specification)
• System modelling: UML diagrams, behavioural models, structural models, introduction to model checking and formal specifications
• Design & Implementation: design fundamentals, design architecture, architectural styles, design patterns, data design, objected oriented design, distributed systems design, component based design, data flow oriented design, data oriented design, real time design

This course aims to address issues concerned with related to the quality of software, validation and verification, and software standards.

• Verification & Validation (verification and validation planning, software testing techniques & strategies, preparing test cases and test environments, unit testing and mocks/fakes/stubs, integration testing, validation testing, system testing, regression testing, customer acceptance testing, advanced debugging, automated static analysis, test documentation, Test Driven Development)
• Test Management.
• Software Quality (Introduction to Software Quality, Quality Management (Assurance, Planning and Control), Product quality and process quality, Quality Metrics and Standards, Process Improvement, Reliability).
• Evolution & Software Maintenance (version & change control, maintainability & maintenance, re-engineering, refactoring, reverse engineering).
• Software Engineering Standards (ISO, IEEE).

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

Design and implement software testing strategies, including documentation of testing requirements and outcomes at each stage of the software design and implementation process; 

Appraise the importance of software testing within the context of the software development lifecycle; 

Evaluate the relationship between software testing and software quality; 

Assess the chief factors influencing the evolution of software, including the need for version control, documentation and planned maintenance tasks;  

Identify the key standards relevant to software quality and assess their impact on each phase of the development lifecycle.

The aim of this module is to teach you the modern computational skills on a key HPC cluster platform. Many interesting scientific problems require analysis or solution of large data sets. For such problems, harnessing distributed computing and storage resources is clearly of great value. Furthermore, the natural parallelism inherent in many analysis procedures makes it feasible to use distributed resources efficiently. 

• The focus of this module is on parallel algorithms and domain decomposition techniques which are suitable for simulation on High Performance Distributed Computing systems. Emphasis is on algorithms for execution on loosely coupled distributed systems, like grid-systems.
• Data-intensive computing algorithms like distributed data mining and data warehousing.
• Parallel numerical algorithms to solve model applications will be discussed and studied through implementation in the hands-on part of the course.
• Load-balancing methods and domain decomposition techniques will be introduced.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

Appraise the need to carry out scientific computing on the HPC platforms and demonstrate relevant critical awareness. 

Formulate elements of parallel program design. 

Relate with the challenges and limitations of the parallelisation process including scalability (Amdahl and Gustafson laws) and load-balancing.  

Create a program to solve a practical problem in scientific computing on the HPC platforms by applying knowledge of intensive computational parallel/distributed techniques. 

Assess the performance and efficiency of a parallel program and propose appropriate code improvements and employ techniques to validate and verify the results of parallel programs.

The advent of multi-core processors in the commodity desktop computer market has shifted the emphasis from traditional single threaded computing models to more advanced methods in order to take advantage of the additional processing power that is now available. This has implications for both the traditional high performance computing sector and the workstation market. This course aims to explore the different parallel processing techniques now available on small scale computer systems, such as multi-core desktop computers and GPU devices.

Introduction to Parallel and Multi-Threaded Programming, Safety and Liveness: Synchronisation Techniques, OpenMP – concepts, structures and usage.Using CUDA to solve general purpose problems on the GPU, Software Tools (debugging and optimisation).

The importance of technology leadership in driving the technical aspects of an organisation’s products, innovation, programmes, operations and strategy is paramount, especially in today’s turbulent commercial environment with its unprecedented pace of technological development. Demand for ever more complex products and services has become the norm. The challenge for today’s manager is to deal with uncertainty, to allow technological innovation and change to flourish but also to remain within planned parameters of performance. Many organisations engaged with technological innovation struggle to find engineers with the right skills. Specifically, engineers have extensive subject/discipline knowledge but do not understand management processes in organisational context. In addition, STEM graduates often lack interpersonal skills.

• Engineers and Technologists in organisations:
  • the role of organisations and the challenges facing engineers and technologies,
• People management:
  • understanding you, understanding other people, working in teams and dealing with conflicts.
• The Business Environment:
  • understanding the business environment; identifying key trends and their implications for the organisation.
• Strategy and Marketing:
  • developing effective strategies, focusing on the customer, building competitive advantage, the role of strategic assets.
• Finance:
  • profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, cash flow forecasting, project appraisal.
• New product development:
  • commercialising technology, market drivers, time to market, focusing technology, concerns.
• Business game:
  • Working in teams (companies), you will set up and run a technology company and make decisions on investment, R&D funding, operations, marketing and sales strategy,
• Negotiation:
  • preparation for negotiations, negotiation process, win-win solutions.
• Presentation skills:
  • understanding your audience, focusing your message, successful presentations, getting your message across.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

• 1. Recognise the importance of teamwork in the performance and success of organisations with particular reference to commercialising technological innovation,
• 2. Operate as an effective team member, recognising the contribution of individuals within the team, and capable of developing team working skills in yourself and others to improve the overall performance of a team,
• 3. Compare and evaluate the impact of the key functional areas (strategy, marketing and finance) on the commercial performance of an organisation, relevant to the manufacture of a product or provision of a technical service,
• 4. Design and deliver an effective presentation that justifies and supports any decisions or recommendations made,
• 5. Argue and defend your judgements through constructive communication and negotiating skills.

The aim of this module is to provide you with the necessary knowledge and understanding of virtualisation technologies, cloud anatomies and cloud applications to the provision of on-demand computational resources, as well as a wider understanding of how those resources are consumed through Cloud Computing services. 

Cloud Computing Introduction 

Virtualisation 

Cloud Anatomy 

Cloud Security and Economics 

Applied Clouds (AWS, Google Cloud and MS Azure) 

Distributed Systems 

Data Stream Processing 

Applications of Cloud Computing 

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate understanding and knowledge of key virtualisation technologies, cloud anatomies and their applications to Cloud Computing infrastructure;
2. Identify the characteristics of the Cloud Computing platform and understand the fundamentals of distributed systems and how these Cloud characteristics differ from existing distributed computing environments;
3. Critically assess the characteristics of Cloud Computing technologies, and understand the fundamentals of some key computer science applications (e.g., Machine Learning, Big Data) and how these Cloud characteristics affect the implementation of Cloud based applications;
4. Identify the non-technical challenges that affect the implementation and use of Cloud enabled software;
5. Compare and contrast the suitability of different Cloud Computing approaches to different types of computational problem;
6. Develop and implement Cloud enabled software to solve a specified computational problem.