Engineering Commons^™

Interoperable Ocean Observing Using Archetypes: A Use-Case Based Evaluation, Paul Stacey, Damon Berry

Conference papers

This paper presents a use-case based evaluation of the impact of two-level modeling on the automatic federation of ocean observational data. The goal of the work is to increase the interoperability and data quality of aggregated ocean observations to support convenient discovery and consumption by applications. An assessment of the interoperability of served data flows from publicly available ocean observing spatial data infrastructures was performed. Barriers to consumption of existing standards-compliant ocean-observing data streams were examined, including the impact of adherence to agreed data standards. Historical data flows were mapped to a set of archetypes and a backward integration experiment …

Nádúr Daonna (Natureza Humana): An Intervention To Work With Nature In The Intellectual Development Of First Year Engineering Students, Domhnall Sheridan, Michael Carr

Conference papers

For most of the 20th Century there has been a debate among psychologists, educationalists and others as to whether nature or nurture determined the personality and capabilities of the adult person. Only in the last decade has an answer been found for that perennial question: the adult is the product of both nature and nurture. The genotype, the genetic inheritance from parents provides a template, but the expression of the genotype, the phenotype, depends on the interaction between the individual and their environment. Nothing is written in stone: the young child beginning education has almost infinite possibilities. In order for …

Mens Sana: An Investigation Into The Relationship Between Psychological Traits And Academic Success Of First Year Engineering Students, Domhnall Sheridan, Michael Carr

Conference papers

In 1904, the French government asked the psychologist Alfred Binet to devise a general test of intelligence that could be used to identify pupils who were behind their age cohort, in order to give them extra help to bring their level up to that of their peers. For most of the 20th century, intelligence testing has played a major role in education, unfortunately to categorize pupils at an early stage in the life, rather than to help them. In the last two decades, much work has been done in broadening the testing of students, especially in examining the relationship between …

A Review Of Multimode Interference In Tapered Optical Fibers And Related Applications, Pengfei Wang, Haiyan Zhao, Xianfan Wang, Gerald Farrell, Gilberto Brambilla

Conference papers

In recent years, tapered optical fibers (TOFs) have attracted increasing interest and developed into a range of devices used in many practical applications ranging from optical communication, sensing to optical manipulation and high-Q resonators. Compared with conventional optical fibers, TOFs possess a range of unique features, such as large evanescent field, strong optical confinement, mechanical flexibility and compactness. In this review, we critically summarize the multimode interference in TOFs and some of its applications with a focus on our research project undertaken at the Optoelectronics Research Centre of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.

Quantity Surveying Professional Apprenticeships: A Paragon For The Supply Of Talent In The Irish Construction Industry, Eoghan Ó Murchadha, Roisin Murphy

Conference papers

The construction industry in Ireland has undergone considerable change in the last decade, the effect of which has resulted in a legacy malfunction in the construction labour market. The recent construction downturn led to high levels of construction unemployment, resulting in the mass emigration of construction professionals. Additionally, perceptions of job uncertainty in construction deterred new entrants into construction-related training and education programmes such as Quantity Surveying. If a skills gap is allowed to prevail, then there is a tangible threat to the industry’s cost competitiveness. As such, value for money becomes merely theoretical, and the cost to the economy …

The Acquisition Of Knowledge And Expertise In Construction: Understanding Construction Professionals, Lloyd Scott, Sittimont Kanjanabootra

Conference papers

Education programs these days especially in Construction Management have been designed and updated to response to market and stakeholder needs. However, there still exists a need for educators to understand how construction practitioners develop their expertise. Understanding the development of expertise is essential for providers of university education and training to enable them to develop programs to establish on which new professionals can better develop their appropriate expertise. This paper builds on earlier research and further explores how expertise develops in construction professionals. It also explores the similarities and differences in development of that expertise in construction practitioners from the …

The Impact Of Brexit On Cross-Border Trade By The Construction Sector In Ireland: An Exploratory Study, Tara Brooks, Duga Ewuga, Lloyd Scott, John Spillane

Conference papers

Cross-border co-operation can foster learning and contribute positively to business performance and social cohesion. This paper considers construction firms' economic motivation for co-operation around the Ireland - Northern Ireland border. This area, while impacted by the Brexit uncertainty, shares many of the economic and developmental characteristics of border areas throughout Europe. The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of Brexit on cross border trade by the construction sector in Ireland and investigate the current tensions and barriers to that sector. A qualitative methodology adopted a literature review and semi-structured interview strategy. Data was collected from purposively selected …

Comparison Of Grid Array And Microstrip Patch Array Antennas At 28 Ghz, Zeeshan Ahmed, Patrick Mcevoy, Max Ammann

Conference papers

A millimeter wave Grid Array Antenna for fifth generation (5G) communications is presented. The 20 cell, nearly-rhombic, 40×40 mm2 Grid Array Antenna structure is simulated and fabricated on a Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 substrate with thickness of 0.25 mm. The grid array has |S11|

Power Loss Comparison Of Dc Side And Ac Side Cascaded Modular Multilevel Inverters, Shahab Sajedi, Malabika Basu, Michael Farrell

Conference papers

High-voltage DC (HVDC) transmission systems

based on voltage source converter technology are increasingly being used for interconnecting power networks and for transporting energy from remote renewable energy sources. Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) are emerging as the technology of choice for future HVDC transmission systems. Several MMC topologies have been introduced for high power applications and among them the AC side and the DC side cascaded topologies have received most interest because of their high efficiency, low switching losses and good modularity. In high power applications, the efficiency of the converter is an important consideration. Hence it is essential converter power …

Assessment Of The Accuracy Of Cable Sheath Fault Location Device And Enhancement Of Its Performance, Niall Kennedy, Joseph Kearney, Tom Looby, Ciaran O'Leary

Conference papers

As power system networks are being constantly upgraded and extended, there is a greater importance in the reliable transmission of electrical power and fault finding techniques, especially for cables installed underground. Damage to a cable’s protective sheath can damage a cables life span and also lead to disruption of system operation and loss of supply. This study includes research into the literature and techniques used to locate these faults accurately. Bridge resistance and volt drop measurement techniques are the main methods used by sheath fault location devices to locate faults accurately. This task is made more difficult because such devices …

The Potential For Power Quality Problem Mitigation Through Statcom, Arsalan Zaidi, Keith Sunderland, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

Consideration of spatial and temporal diversity of EV charging demand has been demonstrated to reduce the estimating impacts on the distribution networks. The data formulation is based on impact studies of Electrical vehicles (EV s) on distribution networks. It is suggested that Distribution System Operator (DSO) could benefit for new innovation/advancement in the market (BESS-STATCOM) in a way that makes networks more reliable/robust, In this regard such innovation creates more opportunities for demand side management, reduces planning uncertainties associated with stochastic nature of EV charging and makes space for demand side management. This work considers probabilistic load flow in a …

Data Driven Prediction Model (Ddpm) For Server Inlet Temperature Prediction In Raised-Floor Data Centers, Raymond Lloyd, Marek Rebow

Conference papers

Data centers account for approx. 1.4% of the world’s electricity consumption, of which up to 50% of that power is dedicated to keeping the actual equipment cool. This represents a huge opportunity to reduce data center energy consumption by tackling the cooling system operations with focus on thermal management. This work presents a novel Data Driven Predictive Model (DDPM) for temperature prediction of server inlet temperatures that utilises high resolution empirical temperature measurements from 52 real-life data centers. A knowledge-base of temperature data and related physical features, created via clustering techniques was used to train a series of artificial neural …

Sliding-Mode And Proportional-Resonant Based Control Strategy For Three-Phase Two-Leg T-Type Grid-Connected Inverters With Lcl Filter, Necmi Altin, Saban Ozdemir, Hasan Komurcugil, Ibrahim Sefa, Samet Biricik

Conference papers

In this study, sliding-mode and proportional-resonant based control strategy is proposed for three-phase two-leg T-type grid-connected inverter with LCL filter. The sliding surface function is formed by using the inverter current and capacitor voltage errors. When the inverter current and capacitor voltage feedbacks are included into the control loop, the active damping requirement is automatically resolved. The PR controllers are employed in cascaded manner to generate the references for inverter current and capacitor voltage. The use of PR controllers ensures zero steady-state error in the inverter current, capacitor voltage and grid current. In addition, since the proposed three-phase inverter has …

Video Quality Prediction Under Time-Varying Loads, Obinna Izima, Ruairí De Fréin, Mark Davis

Conference papers

We are on the cusp of an era where we can responsively and adaptively predict future network performance from network device statistics in the Cloud. To make this happen, regression-based models have been applied to learn mappings between the kernel metrics of a machine in a service cluster and service quality metrics on a client machine. The path ahead requires the ability to adaptively parametrize learning algorithms for arbitrary problems and to increase computation speed. We consider methods to adaptively parametrize regularization penalties, coupled with methods for compensating for the effects of the time-varying loads present in the system, namely …

Block-Based Classification Method For Computer Screen Image Compression, Kai Wu, Richard Gahan, Patrick O'Friel

Conference papers

In this paper, a high accuracy and reduced processing time block based classification method for computer screen images is presented. This method classifies blocks into five types: smooth, sparse, fuzzy, text and picture blocks. In a computer screen compression application, the choice of block compression algorithm is made based on these block types. The classification method presented has four novel features. The first novel feature is a combination of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and colour counting classification methods. Both of these methods have only been used for computer image compression in isolation in previous publications but this paper shows that …

Using Regular Languages To Explore The Representational Capacity Of Recurrent Neural Architectures, Abhijit Mahalunkar, John D. Kelleher

Conference papers

The presence of Long Distance Dependencies (LDDs) in sequential data poses significant challenges for computational models. Various recurrent neural architectures have been designed to mitigate this issue. In order to test these state-of-the-art architectures, there is growing need for rich benchmarking datasets. However, one of the drawbacks of existing datasets is the lack of experimental control with regards to the presence and/or degree of LDDs. This lack of control limits the analysis of model performance in relation to the specific challenge posed by LDDs. One way to address this is to use synthetic data having the properties of subregular languages. …

Influence Of Cement Type On The Efficiency Of Electrochemical Chloride Extraction, Brian Norton, Sean Bond, Chahrazed Osmani, Niall Holmes

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Operation Of Three-Level Single-Phase Half-Bridge Npc Inverter-Based Shunt Active Power Filter Under Non-Ideal Grid Voltage Condition With Sliding Mode Controller, Samet Biricik, Hasan Komurcugil, Tuan Ngo, Malabika Basu

Conference papers

In this paper, a new control method is presented for a single-phase three-level neutral point clamped half-bridge shunt active power filter with the aim of eliminating the grid current harmonics. It is shown that the proposed control me thod accurately detects the positive-sequence voltage component under distorted grid condition. With this feature, the performance of the single-phase active power filter under distorted grid voltage condition is improved considerably. Furthermore, the imbalance in the capacitor voltages which occurs in the half-bridge topology is eliminated by adding a feedback term to the current control loop.

Application Of Improved Phase-Shifted Pulse Width Modulation With Third Harmonic Injection To Hybrid Modular Multi-Level Converter, Mohammad Mohsen Rahimian, Majid Hosseinpour, Malabika Basu, Michael Farrell, Shahab Sajedi

Conference papers

Hybrid modular multi-level converters (Hybrid-

MMCs) which are modular multi-level converters including full and half bridge sub-modules, are recently used in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems. Compared to its non-hybrid counterpart, these converters have several advantages such as the ability to nullify the DC side fault current and controlling AC side reactive power during the faults. This paper proposes a novel modified phase shifted PWM method (PS-PWM) which uses a combination of an improved PS-PWM with cancelled mismatch pulses and a third harmonic injection method. The proposed method not only reduces output voltage harmonic content and uneven loss distribution …

Generalized Configurations For The Synchronization System Based On Transfer Function Approach, Tuan Ngo, Tuyen Vu, Samet Biricik

Conference papers

This paper presents our research on deriving all the generalized forms for the grid synchronization system of an inverter in the grid-connected applications. The transfer function approach is introduced in order to obtain the generalized second-order and third-order synchronization systems. This approach is based on the orthogonal property of two outputs from the second-order generalized-integrator (SOGI) technique that these two outputs are always 90° difference in phase but only equal in magnitude at the grid frequency. The proposed approach then can provide the generalized forms of any high-order synchronization system, including the second-order and the third-order systems. It is interesting …

Preliminary Findings Of A Phenomenological Study Of Middle Eastern Women’S Experiences Studying Engineering In Ireland, Shannon Chance, Bill Williams

Conference papers

This paper reports analysis of phenomenological interviews conducted with eight women studying engineering, all Arabic speakers and practicing Muslims, and all from the countries of Oman and Kuwait. Data were collected as part of a larger study of women’s experiences learning engineering in institutions of higher education in Poland, Portugal, and Ireland. The eight women contributing data for the analysis for this paper were all enrolled on engineering degree programs in Dublin, Ireland, where they studied together. The larger study involves conducting longitudinal data via interviews with 47 women around Europe to understand what their undergraduate experiences in STEM have …

A Model For Spurring Organizational Change Based On Faculty Experiences Working Together To Implement Problem-Based Learning, Shannon Chance, Gavin Duffy

Conference papers

This research paper provides a case study of experiences of engineering faculty members at a large public university in Ireland working together to transform their teaching methods. We investigate eight teachers’ experiences of a faculty-led learning community designed to help individuals transform their courses. This small collection of faculty met regularly to discuss ways to facilitate and assess students working in groups. Outside the group’s meetings, participants brought important issues to the forefront of formal and informal discussion with colleagues. Participation in the learning group encouraged, supported, and helped sustain change. This case study seeks to provide insight and a …

Evaluation Of Wind Energy Forecasts: The Undervalued Importance Of Data Preparation, Gianni Goretti, Aidan Duffy

Conference papers

The evaluation of wind energy forecasts is a key task for those involved in the wind power sector, and the accurate evaluation of forecasts is fundamental to make informed decisions both in business and research. To evaluate the accuracy of a forecast, observed values must be compared against forecast values over a test period. At times, however, the actual generation of a wind farm can be affected by factors that are outside the scope of the forecast model. Evaluating a forecast using a data set that includes such out-of-scope observations might give a biased or inconsistent assessment. In the data …

Design And Manufacture Of A Precast Pcm Enhanced Concrete Cladding Panel For Full Scale Performance Monitoring, Dervilla Niall, Roger West, Oliver Kinnane

Conference papers

The overall aim of this study is to develop innovative precast cladding panels for the renovation of Europe’s existing building stock thereby improving their energy performance. Using the mass of a building to store heat and/or cold can reduce the demand on the auxiliary heating and/or cooling systems and hence reduce the overall energy demand of the building. Previous laboratory research has shown that the incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) into concrete enhances its thermal storage capacity by up to 50%. However in a real application where a PCM-concrete composite material is used in a building to store thermal …