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UCT RESEARCH REPORT 2012
Scientific Computing
Professor Kevin J. Naidoo has held the Scientific
Computing SARChI Chair since 2007 and is director
of the Scientific Computing Research Unit at UCT.
His research has two interlinked objectives. Firstly,
he develops state-of-the-art high performance
computing software to provide a modelling and
informatics platform creating a life-science virtual
laboratory. This includes the development of
accelerated software for high-speed chemical and
chemical biology computations. A second research
objective is to use the life-science virtual laboratory
to identify enzyme targets and investigate their
detailed molecular action. Professor Naidoo’s current
focus is the implementation of his gene-to-molecule
rational approach to answering key questions that will
lead to solutions in microbial and neoplastic (cancer)
diseases.
Computational Mechanics
Professor Daya Reddy, who holds the SARChI Chair
in Computational Mechanics, is a member of the
Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics,
and Director of the Centre for Research in Computational
and Applied Mechanics (CERECAM). He is a graduate of
UCT and Cambridge University, and served as dean of
the Science Faculty between 1999 and 2005. There are
three major, inter-related foci of the research chair: the
mathematical modelling of complex material behaviour;
analysis of the resulting models to determine their well-
posedness; and the development and implementation
of algorithms for computational solution. Examples
of recent and current work include the behaviour of
metals at the micro structural level, non-Newtonian
fluids such as polymers, and a variety of applications
in cardiovascular biomechanics. The research is highly
multidisciplinary and includes collaborators in the
mathematical sciences, biomedical sciences, and various
branches of engineering.
DST/NRF SARChI Chairs
associated with this theme
A major project has been concerned with the
development of models and associated simulations
for the behaviour of single crystals, in the micron
range. There is substantial practical interest in such
problems, given their relevance to the manufacture
of MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems). The
mathematical models are considerably more complex
at such scales as they need to take account of size-
dependent behaviour. Work during 2012 built on the
results of a research programme that has been in
progress for the last seven years, with collaborators
based in the USA and Germany. A further achievement
during 2012 has been the completion and publication
of work on modelling of the upper airway. The
anatomically accurate mathematical model takes
account of neural stimuli to muscles in the tongue
and adjacent tissues, and the resulting simulations
have allowed for new insights into the mechanisms
that induce sleep apnea.
Professor Kevin J. Naidoo
Professor Daya Reddy