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This case study describes the development, application and commercialisation of an open source tool, BSMBench that enables supercomputer vendors and computing centres to benchmark their system's performance. It comprehensively informs the design and testing of new computing architectures well beyond other benchmarking tools on the market, such as Linpack.
The significance of our code is that, unlike other benchmarking tools, it interpolates from a communication- to a computation-dominated regime simply by varying the (physics) parameters in the code, thus providing a perfect benchmark suite to test the response of modern multi-CPU systems along this axis. The impact of this work has great reach: a start-up company, BSMbench Ltd, has been founded to develop and commercialise the software; adopters have included IBM - one of the giants of the supercomputer world (where it uncovered errors in their compilers); it has been deployed by Fujitsu to validate its systems, by HPC Wales, a multi-site, commercially focussed national computer centre and by Transtec, an HPC company employing over 150 staff; and tutorial articles about BSMBench have appeared in magazines such as Linux Format.
This software tool spawned from our research into "Beyond the Standard Model" (BSM) physics which aims to understand the Higgs mechanism in particle physics at a fundamental level. This involved simulating quantum field theories using bespoke code on some of the fastest supercomputers on the planet.
The work described here has impacted on European policy and standards concerning energy efficiency in Building Services.
The impact arises from two Welsh School of Architecture led and European Commission funded projects, HARMONAC (focussed on inspection of air-conditioning systems) and iSERV (focussed on automatic system monitoring and feedback). These pan-European projects demonstrate achieved energy savings of up to 33% of total building electricity use in individual buildings, and potential savings up to €60Bn. These projects demonstrably impacted the recast European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the revision of EU Standards (European Committee for Standardisation (CEN)).
This case study describes the creation and use of advanced simulation technology by international mining corporations to optimise high value metal recovery. The technology involved the development of advanced novel computational methods and software tools to model industrial scale heap leach processes for large scale industrial application at major mining operations. This focus on the development of optimised operational strategies has produced considerable economic benefits measured in the $multi-millions to industrial sponsors, including $58 million dollars in additional revenue for one multi-national corporation over one year following the adoption of engineered heaps based upon the advanced simulation tools from Swansea.
Until the Centre for Media and Culture in Small Nations was established in 2006, there was no coherent, multidisciplinary programme of research examining the creative industries through the distinct framework of small nations, including Wales. By drawing together researchers from diverse arts and media disciplines, the Centre has provided a thorough analysis of the creative industries in Wales and informed public debate on their artistic, social and economic contribution to the nation's civic life. Our original research has delivered new insights for organisations, and their users, including BBC Wales, National Theatre Wales, the Welsh Music Foundation and community radio.
The key recommendations of the `hybrid model' of the Justice System in Afghanistan, developed by Dr Wardak, were written into draft Afghanistan law under the title, `The Law on Dispute Resolution, Shuras and Jirgas', by the Ministry of Justice. The ideas derived from Wardak's new model were piloted in different parts of Afghanistan by the United States Institute of Peace, by USAID, TLO and CPAU. Preliminary results of pilot studies, in selected districts in Afghanistan, indicate that the hybrid model provides workable solutions to many of the problems that Afghan state and non-state justice systems currently face.
In public perception, antimatter used to be associated with science fiction, but the creation and trapping of antihydrogen at CERN by the ATHENA and ALPHA Collaborations has sparked world-wide media interest in the real science of antimatter. Building on this, we started a campaign of public dissemination and education to promote and explain our work through media interviews, popular articles, and public lectures including a Welsh language component. We developed software simulators that have been used by school pupils in Masterclasses to re- create virtually CERN's antihydrogen production. YouTube clips and webcasts with over 100,000 hits have been produced and we have hosted thousands of visitors per year in CERN. These activities resulted in improved understanding of antimatter among school students and the wider population, and a radical change in the public perception of antimatter, which is now associated with the experiments at CERN rather than with Star Trek.
A range of techniques based on laser physics and developed since 1993 by the group of Prof Telle in our analytical laser spectroscopy unit (ALSU) has led to:
Bangor's research into Austrian archaeology has since 2008 resulted in significant impacts on Austrian archaeological heritage management, the archaeology labour market, and relationships between archaeologists and metal detectorists. Specifically, the National Heritage Agency (Bundesdenkmalamt; `NHA') has made significant changes to its policies, especially putting contracts to tender and introducing the first minimal standards for archaeological excavation, following a ministerial edict to change contract awarding practices. Recommendations on minimum salary levels for specific responsibilities in archaeological fieldwork have largely been adopted. The issue of how best to regulate metal detecting is being discussed on a national scale and attitudes towards detectorists are undergoing substantial change.
Responding to the crisis in confidence amongst clinicians involved in child protection, Cardiff University developed the world's first research programme to provide the scientific basis for more reliable clinical assessments of child abuse and neglect. The programme, which involves 21 systematic reviews (updated annually) and related primary studies, has directly informed five national clinical guidelines, the National Child Protection training program and the first NICE guidance on child maltreatment. Through the Core-Info website, the evidence base created by the Cardiff team is accessed each year by 100,000 users. Key messages from their research have been published in a series of Core-Info leaflets which have reached more than 250,000 allied professionals nationally. The Cardiff research informs standardised national clinical practice, training and legal decisions, ultimately improving the recognition and protection of children from abuse or neglect.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong condition, but has almost never been examined in adults over the age of forty years. Following an earlier bid for funding to examine this issue, Prof. Stuart-Hamilton was commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Govt (WAG) via the charity Autism Cymru to conduct a quantitative survey of problems faced by older adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A companion qualitative survey, involving interviews with a small sample, was conducted by colleagues at Bangor University. A formal report (consisting of Prof Stuart-Hamilton's and Bangor's findings) and a refereed paper (solely of Stuart-Hamilton's findings) have been published, predating other studies in this field that have since begun to appear in the UK and internationally. The report was formally adopted by WAG, leading to a national awareness-raising publication campaign and presentation of the report as part of WAG's ongoing strategy. Integration of the report's recommendations into government policy is anticipated when the ASD policy is revised in early 2014.