MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS
Computing & Information Technology Handbook 1996
Published by Monash University
Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
Caution
Copyright © Monash University 1996
ISBN 1320-6222
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
DEPARTMENT INFORMATIONPart 1
CONTENTS
- Department of Business Systems
- Department of Computer Science
Profile of the department
The department focuses its teaching and research activities on the application
of computer and related technologies to business problems. The department has a
staff of twenty-five full-time academics, several research support staff, a
technical officer and three administrative staff.
The department's teaching efforts are centred around the Bachelor of Business
Systems, the Bachelor of Business Systems with honours, the Graduate Diploma in
Business Systems and the Master of Business Systems by coursework.
Teaching
The Bachelor of Business Systems came into existence at the request of the
Business Council of Australia and the Commonwealth Government. This degree
educates people in computing and management, with graduates readily able to
apply their skills to the world of business. The course is designed to train
the future senior management of Australian and overseas business, by combining
practical computing ability with an awareness of and skill in general
management roles such as finance, accounting, operations management and
operations research. The department currently has the equivalent of almost 400
students, and virtually 100 per cent graduate employment.
The aims of the postgraduate teaching are similar, but the teaching load and
options available reflect the maturity and needs of postgraduate students.
Links with industry
A key feature of the undergraduate course is the link with industry. A large
number of Australia's most significant organisations sponsor the degree,
support students, and provide industry-based learning for students as part of
their studies.
Research
The department is actively involved in research. In line with the department's
aims, this research concentrates on the enhancement of computing and other
technologies and their direct application to business problems. The main areas
of research activity are project management, operations management, accounting,
financial and strategic systems, and quality and reliability analysis.
Project management
Project compression; human resource scheduling; resource-constrained project
scheduling; application of annealing algorithms to scheduling.
Academic staff: Professor R J Willis, Dr R Li, Mr S B Huxford, Mr K Sietsma
Operations management
Distributed operations scheduling; visual interactive operations scheduling;
lean production; computer-aided production management; plant layout using
genetic algorithms.
Academic staff: Dr C White, Mr R B Johnston, Mr C-L Chang, Mr R Martin, Dr Y P
Cheung
Accounting, financial and administrative systems
Graphical user interfaces; input-output techniques; financial and strategic
planning using knowledge-based systems; determination of shareholder value
using neural networks; integrated corporate financial aids on computers;
sequence training; office document retrieval; impact of new technology.
Academic staff: Dr A M Flitman, Mr E J G Wilson, Ms A Parr, Ms S Bedingfield
Quality and reliability analysis
Quality management; quality and reliability software; statistical tools in
quality and reliability; software metrics; quality information systems;
reliability and maintenance systems.
Academic staff: Dr B W Jenney, Mr K G B Luxford, Dr J Ude
Chinese language
Software development; translation interface; development of special tools;
applications to Chinese business systems; multi-lingual computing; software
internationalisation.
Academic staff: Dr C-H Yeh, Mr D Goh
As well as publishing in a range of industrial journals, presenting at
international conferences, and liaising with Australian industry, the
department also produces the Business Systems Research journal. Students
may undertake research by enrolling in Masters or PhD programs. Competitive
scholarships are available to full-time research students.
Further information
Further information on the department may be found in the following
publications:
+ Bachelor of Business Systems 1996
+ Postgraduate Programs in Business Systems
+ Department of Business Systems 1995
+ Faculty of Computing and Information Technology - Honours Degrees 1996
Objectives - Bachelor of Business Systems
Business systems is concerned with the solution of problems that arise in the
day-to-day management of all types of enterprises. The solutions to the
problems involve the use of a combination of computer, analytical and manual
systems. The systems can range from the operational activities of transaction
processing in accounting systems, through tactical decisions in logistics to
decision support and executive information systems for strategic decisions.
Corporate functions emphasised include accounting information systems,
manufacturing systems, decision analysis and project management. The necessary
computing skills needed to implement solutions in these fields are integral to
the course. These include programming, systems analysis, database systems, data
communications.
Students completing this course will understand:
+ how businesses are organised and operate;
+ information technology, including hardware, software, databases, and
data communications;
+ techniques for planning and managing the implementation of solutions -
and be able to use them;
+ the processes involved in solution design and development;
+ the principles and processes of software design.
They will be able to:
+ communicate effectively with managers, employees and computing
professionals;
+ think creatively, and analyse and communicate alternative problem
solutions to management;
+ use the basic research skills they have developed to locate and retrieve
information pertinent to the problems being investigated;
+ identify and document management's problems and needs;
+ develop well structured and well documented computer programs that solve
users' needs;
+ cooperate with others and work effectively in a team environment;
+ take initiative and work independently;
+ exercise judgement to satisfy conflicting interests.
They will have developed the following attitudes:
+ enthusiasm for the field of study;
+ a concern for accuracy and willingness to objectively assess their own
performance;
+ an awareness of social values, and a commitment to strive to enhance the
quality of life of those affected by their work;
+ an appreciation of the importance of considering the needs of others
within the community.
Profile of the department
The department is dedicated to research to advance the growth of knowledge and
understanding of the science of computing; to educating undergraduates and
postgraduates to their full potential; to developing links with government,
business, industry and the community; and to providing an intellectual and
physical environment in which all its staff and students can perform to the
best of their ability.
Teaching
The department provides a broad range of courses to cater for the wide variety
of students interested in computing. In its teaching, the department:
+ seeks to achieve appropriate balances between professional expertise and
intellectual endeavour in its students;
+ encourages honours students in computer science and also provides
suitable courses to support other disciplines (particularly in science,
engineering and humanities);
+ dedicates its teaching resources consistent with the effective and
efficient delivery of instruction within the subjects offered.
Research
The department carries out basic and strategic research in computing hardware,
software and theory, building on its strengths which currently include
inference, image processing and graphics, artificial intelligence and computer
systems.
It maintains and develops its individual and group links with the international
computer science community, publishing and presenting its results in artefacts,
software and papers at conferences and in journals, both international and
local.
The department aims to provide an environment in which all its members, staff
and students alike, can carry out their research. It encourages cooperation and
the effective and efficient use of resources by groups formed wholly from the
department or partly from outside.
It actively recruits the highest quality staff and research students.
Links
The department encourages joint research and development with appropriate
bodies in government, business, industry and both the national and
international communities.
The department seeks research support from all appropriate sources and attempts
to broaden the base of such support.
Environment
The department strives to enhance the working environment by the provision of
adequate equipment and support personnel. To maintain and improve the working
environment, the department also:
+ encourages all those working in the department to further their
education and qualifications by undertaking courses of appropriate duration;
+ manages its resources to preserve and enhance the working conditions so
that staff can devote their energies to their principal duties of research and
teaching;
+ vigorously represents its needs and achievements in the appropriate
forums both within and outside the university;
+ continues to respond to the needs of the faculty, the university and the
community at large and to provide advice and knowledge to the best of its
ability.
Areas of research
Inductive inference
Hypothesis formation and testing; machine learning; statistical estimation;
clustering; classification; decision trees and graphs; analysis of
macro-molecules.
Academic staff: Professor C S Wallace, Dr L Allison, Dr K Korb, Dr G Farr, Dr J
Oliver, Dr D Dowe, Mr H Dai
Computer graphics
L-systems; particle systems; procedural texture generation; isoluminance
contours in rendering, hardware assistance in virtual reality; dynamics of
articulated figures; constraint-based graphics; visual language parsing.
Academic staff: Dr D Conway, Mr J McCormack, Dr R Pose, Dr K Marriott
Image processing
Lossless image compression, greyscale and colour; segmentation and
classification of greyscale and colour images; 3D reconstruction of laser
confocal microscopy images; colour space; texture characterisation; image
restoration.
Academic staff: Dr S Ray, Dr P Tischer, Dr R Worley
Multiprocessor architecture
Shared-memory and distributed shared-memory multiprocessor computer systems;
techniques for managing the distribution of data and control over large scale
massively-parallel computer systems from both the functional viewpoint and in
terms of the practicalities of implementation; prototype hardware
implementations; system clocking, data routing, data buffering, memory
allocation, caching techniques and communication technology.
Academic staff: Associate Professor A J Hurst, Dr R Pose
Systems software
Capability-based persistent operating systems and languages; the mapping of
capability systems onto various architectures in a reasonably portable manner;
the implementation of shared libraries; optimal times for binding of objects;
user interface; compatibility with conventional systems and multilingual
support; persistent object reuse issues; computer system specification;
computer system support for software engineering.
Academic staff: Professor C S Wallace, Dr T I Dix, Associate Professor A J
Hurst, Dr R Pose
Virtual reality display architectures
Dedicated virtual reality display hardware to reduce the load on the host
computer.
Academic staff: Dr R Pose, Mr M Regan
Logic programming
Logic and constraint programming; incremental constraint solving algorithms;
program analysis and optimisation; compilation and applications to biology,
engineering and financial modelling.
Academic staff: Professor J N Crossley, Dr K Marriott
Artificial intelligence
Agent modelling; discourse planning; multimedia interfaces; speech recognition;
machine learning; knowledge representation; cognitive science; philosophy of
artificial intelligence; Bayesian reasoning; philosophy of cognition and
consciousness; planning; reasoning under uncertainty.
Academic staff: Associate Professor I Zukerman, Dr K Korb, Dr A Nicholson
Graphical user interfaces
Systems software for managing GUIs; generalisation of hypercard interfaces;
gestures as commands; separation of abstract objects from graphical views;
educational multimedia systems.
Academic staff: Professor L M Goldschlager, Dr D M Conway
Biological computing
Stochastic algorithms for map assembly using restriction, finger-print and
other data; exhaustive and stochastic algorithms for DNA string comparison and
overlap assembly; generic interface and database development for capturing
experimental data from the Human Genome project and for subsequent analysis.
Academic staff: Dr L Allison, Dr T I Dix
Programming languages
Development of parallel programming systems; introduction of safety into
existing languages; functional programming; object-oriented programming; formal
specification; human factors in the design of teaching languages.
Academic staff: Dr L Allison, Dr T I Dix, Associate Professor A J Hurst, Dr D M
Conway
Pattern analysis and machine intelligence
Classification and feature selection methods; character recognition; document
image analysis; speech recognition; statistical, fuzzy mathematical and neural
network techniques.
Academic staff: Dr S Ray
For further information contact Associate Professor A J Hurst, telephone (03)
9905 5192.
Objectives - Major in computer science
The major in computer science is the principal undergraduate offering of the
Department of Computer Science. The major is a sequence of subjects available
to students studying for a Bachelor of Computing (Computer Science); the major
is also available to students in a range of other courses, including the
Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Computer Science and Engineering.
The aim of the major is to provide students with both practical skills and a
conceptual understanding of computer science, focusing on four main areas of
study: algorithms, computing machinery, theory, and applications. Teaching is
directed at giving students not only the essential facts in these areas, but
also an understanding of the concepts and principles that underlie and
interrelate them.
Students completing this sequence will have knowledge and understanding of the
following areas:
+ algorithms - specification, design, implementation, representation by
formal languages, systems software engineering, and programming paradigms;
+ computing machinery - specification, design, implementation,
interfacing, networking, and new technologies;
+ theoretical basis - reliability and correctness, analysis, resource
usage, formal systems and their properties, computability, artificial
intelligence, and information theory;
+ applications - commercial, industrial, educational and personal
applications, including application techniques such as graphics simulation.
They will be able to:
+ apply their knowledge of algorithm analysis and design to solve either
applied or research-oriented computational problems;
+ apply their knowledge to the design and development of computing
systems;
+ review and evaluate computing systems;
+ apply fundamental principles to the understanding of new technologies;
+ communicate effectively in a professional environment;
+ participate in large-scale programming projects.
They will have developed attitudes which allow them to:
+ participate professionally in industrial research and development;
+ relate computational problem-solving issues back to the fundamental
principles of computing;
+ confidently use computers as problem-solving tools;
+ adapt readily to changing technologies.
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