Other Engineering Commons^™

Understanding Professional Skills In Engineering Education: A Phenomenographic Study Of Faculty Conceptions, Una Beagon, Brian Bowe

Articles

Abstract Background Globalization and socially complex problems will greatly affect the way engineers work in the future. Therefore, efforts to transform engineering education must focus on professional skills and engagement of faculty as key change agents.

Purpose/Hypotheses For engineering programs to address the needs of society, graduates must have the skills to tackle future challenges. Transformation will only be successful if faculty fully engage in all curriculum design aspects; however, little is known about how faculty view professional skills. This understanding is critical if we wish to support and encourage their participation in the transformation effort. This novel study reveals …

Portable Hepa Filtration Successfully Augments Natural-Ventilation-Mediated Airborne Particle Clearance In A Legacy Design Hospital Ward, Mehael Fennelly, S. Hellebust, J. Wenger, D. O'Connor, G.W. Griffith, B.J. Plant, A.P.C. Microbiome Institute

Articles

As the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 pandemic has proceeded, ventilation has been recognized increasingly as an important tool in infection control. Many hospitals in Ireland and the UK do not have mechanical ventilation and depend on natural ventilation. The effectiveness of natural ventilation varies with atmospheric conditions and building design. In a challenge test of a legacy design ward, this study showed that portable air filtration significantly increased the clearance of pollutant aerosols of respirable size compared with natural ventilation, and reduced spatial variation in particle persistence. A combination of natural ventilation and portable air filtration is significantly more …

Characterization And Performance Enhancement Of Cement-Based Thermoelectric Materials, Ruchita Jani, Niall Holmes Dr., Roger West, Kevin Gaughan, Xiaoli Liu, Ming Qu, Esther Orisakwee, Lorenzo Stella, Jorge Kohanoff, Hongxi Yin, Bartlomiej Wojciechowski

Articles

Thermoelectric materials enable the direct conversion of thermal to electrical energy. One application of this is ambient heat energy harvesting where relatively stable temperature gradients existing between the inside and outside of a building could be utilized to produce electricity. Buildings can thus change from energy consumers to energy generators. This could ultimately help reduce the surface temperatures and energy consumption of buildings, especially in urban areas. In this paper, research work carried out on developing and characterizing a cement-based thermoelectric material is presented. Cement-based samples are doped with different metal oxides (Bi2O3 and Fe2O3) to enhance their thermoelectric properties, …

Preparing Engineering Students For The Challenges Of The Sdgs: What Competences Are Required?, Una Beagon, Klara Kövesi, Brad Tabas, Bente Nørgaard, Riitta Lehtinen, Brian Bowe, Christiane Gillet, Claus Monrad Spliid

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Despite the emerging discussions about the growing role of engineers in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a lack of agreement on which competences should be prioritised to prepare engineering students to resolve future sustainability challenges. This study examined and compared the views of key stakeholders of engineering education (Academics, Employers and Students) using twelve focus groups in Denmark, Finland, France and Ireland. The findings were mapped against competences identified in previous studies to highlight gaps and opportunities for development. The results confirm the strong emphasis on normative, strategic and systems thinking competences in engineering. However, the outcomes …

Optimisation Of Retrofit Wall Insulation: An Irish Case Study, Rakshit D. Muddu, D M. Gowda, Anthony James Robinson, Aimee Byrne

Articles

Ireland has one of the highest rates of emissions per capita in the world and its residential sector is responsible for approximately 10% of total national CO2 emissions. Therefore, reducing the CO2 emissions in this sector will play a decisive role in achieving EU targets of reducing emissions by 40% by 2030. To better inform decisions regarding retrofit of the existing building stock, this study proposes Optimum Insulation Thicknesses (OIT) for typical walls in 25 regions in Ireland. The calculation of OIT includes annual heat energy expenditure, CO2 emissions, and material payback period. The approach taken is based on Heating …

Maritime Robotics And Autonomous Systems Operations: Exploring Pathways For Overcoming International Techno-Regulatory Data Barriers, Tafsir Martin Johansson, Dimitrios Dalaklis, Aspasia Pastra

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The current regulatory landscape that applies to maritime service robotics, aptly termed as robotics and autonomous systems (RAS), is quite complex. When it comes to patents, there are multifarious considerations in relation to vessel survey, inspection, and maintenance processes under national and international law. Adherence is challenging, given that the traditional delivery methods are viewed as unsafe, strenuous, and laborious. Service robotics, namely micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) or drones, magnetic-wheeled crawlers (crawlers), and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), function by relying on the architecture of the Internet of Robotic Things. The aforementioned are being introduced as time-saving apparatuses, accompanied by the …

Mapping The Light Fantastic At Newgrange, Frank Prendergast, Clare Tuffy, John Lalor, Claire Breen, Sinéad Gargan

Articles

THE WORLD HERITAGE PROPERTY of Brú na Bóinne attracts thousands of visitors from Ireland and around the globe, many drawn by the remarkable winter solstice phenomenon, when the rising sun’s rays illuminate the burial chamber. During 2020 it became clear that public health measures to combat the global pandemic were going to preclude visitor access to the chamber of the Great Mound of Newgrange, including during the annual winter solstice celebrations. When the government agencies OPW and NMS discussed how to manage Newgrange and the solstice during the restrictions, Clare Tuffy, Manager of Visitor Services at Brú na Bóinne, suggested …

What The Post-Coronavirus University Will Look Like, Thomas Power

Articles

The opportunity of a crisis is that it forces an industry to re-examine its policies and practices. Since the coronavirus pandemic university leadership teams have been forced to re-examine its policies and practices on teaching, learning, research and funding.

Share Buybacks And Income Inequality, Thomas Power

Articles

Should you care what companies do with their profits? Two U.S. democratic senators, Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders, in an article in the New York Times, argue that we should all care because what companies do with their profits can damage the economy and jobs.

Comparison Of Hybridizing Options For Solar Heat, Biomass And Heat Storage For Electricity Generation In Spain, Cm Iftekhar Hussain, Brian Norton, Aidan Duffy

Articles

Diurnal and seasonal variations of direct solar energy circumscribe locations suitable for sole use of concentrated solar power for electricity generation, whereas to generate electricity at night and during winter months, biomass systems can be used that incur fuel expenditures and may encounter fuel supply discontinuities. Combining solar heat, biomass conversion and heat storage in a hybrid electricity generation plant may overcome the limitations of sole use of any one of these energy sources in specific geographic and/or economic conditions. In this work standalone biomass, hybrid concentrated solar power-biomass and hybrid concentrated solar power-biomass-thermal energy storage power generation systems are …

Mapping The In-Plane Electric Field Inside Irradiated Diodes, L. Poley, A.J. Blue, C. Buttar, V. Cindro, C. Darroch, V. Fadayev, J. Fernandez-Tejero, C. Fleta, C. Helling, C. Labitan, I. Mandic, S.N. Santpur, D. Sperlich, M. Ullan, Y. Unno

Articles

A significant aspect of the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS detector is the replacement of the current Inner Detector with the ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk). The ATLAS ITk is an all-silicon detector consisting of a pixel tracker and a strip tracker. Sensors for the ITk strip tracker have been developed to withstand the high radiation environment in the ATLAS detector after the High Luminosity Upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which will significantly increase the rate of particle collisions and resulting particle tracks. During their operation in the ATLAS detector, sensors for the ITk strip tracker are expected …

Level Of Service And The Transit Neighbourhood: Observations From Dublin City And Surburbs, David O'Connor, Brian Caulfield

Articles

Few studies have looked at the impact Level-of-Service (LOS) might have on the distances people walk to public transport. The relationship, if any, has implications for transit-oriented-development and the viability of different transit modes serving suburban areas. This paper examines pedestrian catchment areas and LOS across a light rail, a metro rail and two bus corridors in Dublin. Public transport users have been surveyed at 17 stops around the city and their trip origin identified. Catchment areas for bus services with high levels of service were found to be comparable and often greater than those for LRT or metro …

The Effect Of Using A Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Approach To Improve Engineering Students' Understanding Of Statistics, Fionnuala Farrell, Michael Carr

Articles

Over the last number of years we have gradually been introducing a project based learning approach to the teaching of engineering mathematics inDublin Institute of Technology. Several projects are now in existence for the teaching of both second-order differential equations and first order differential equations.We intend to incrementally extend this approach acrossmore of the engineering mathematics curriculum. As part of this ongoing process, practical realworld projects in statistics were incorporated into a second year ordinary degree mathematics module. This paper provides an overview of these projects and their implementation. As a means to measure the success of this initiative, we …

The Role Of Role-Play In Student Awareness Of The Social Dimension Of The Engineering Profession, Diana Adela Martin, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe

Articles

The article aims to expand upon traditional case based instruction through role-play and to explore the effectiveness of the approach in raising students’ awareness of the social dimension of the engineering profession. For this purpose, we added a contextual description to the case study Cutting Roadside Trees driven by a macroethical outlook. Our contribution draws on an exercise based on the contextualised case study in which 80 students at Technological University Dublin participated. The results gathered show that role-playing contributed to complex student responses to the scenario and an awareness of the social factors that are part of engineering practice …

Sns Optical Fiber Structure Sensor For Direct Detection Of The Phase Transition In C18h38 N-Alkane Material, Wei Han, Marek Rebow, Xiaokang Lian, Dejun Liu, Gerald Farrell, Qiang Wu, Yuliya Semenova

Articles

A singlemode-no-core-singlemode (SNS) fiber structure optical sensor for detecting the solid-liquid phase change in a phase change material: C18H38 n-alkane material (n-octadecane) is proposed and demonstrated. The transmission-type sensor probe consists of a short section of no-core fiber sandwiched between two sections of a singlemode fiber. Phase changes in n-octadecane are accompanied by large step-like variations of its refractive index (RI). Such a large discontinuous change of the n-octadecane’s RI during its phase transition, leads to the corresponding step-like change in the transmitted optical power that can reliably indicate the phase change of the sample in the vicinity of the …

Magnetic Field Sensor Based On A Tri-Microfiber Coupler Ring In Magnetic Fluid And A Fiber Bragg Grating, Fangfang Wei, Dejun Liu, Arun Kumar Mallik, Gerald Farrell, Qiang Wu, Gang-Ding Peng, Yuliya Semenova

Articles

In this paper we propose and investigate a novel magnetic field sensor based on a Tri-microfiber coupler combined with magnetic fluid and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in a ring. A sensitivity of 1306 pm/mT was experimentally demonstrated in the range of magnetic fields from 0 to 15 mT. The reflection peak in the output spectrum associated with the FBG serves as a reference point allowing to avoid ambiguity in determining the spectral shift induced by the magnetic field. Due to its high sensitivity at low magnetic fields, the proposed structure could be of high interest in low field biosensing …

Serialised Holography For Brand Protection And Authentication, Dinesh Vather, Izabela Naydenova, Dervil Cody, Monika Zawadzka, Suzanne Martin, Emilia Mihaylova, Stephen Curran, Paul Duffy, Josune Portillo, Daniel Connell, Stephen Mcdonnell, Vincent Toal

Articles

The problems presented by counterfeit products and documentation are discussed. Limitations of existing holograms for anti-counterfeit applications are described. We describe the advantages of full holographic serialisation and the requirements in terms of materials and techniques for mass production of true serialised holograms. These requirements having been met, we report for the first time the mass production of fully serialised holograms. The novelty of approach consists of the direct use of product manufacturer’s information as the object in a holographic recording system along with a self-processing photopolymer and modular optical system to facilitate mass production of truly serialised volume holograms. …

Maritime Spatial Planning Supported By Infrastructure For Spatial Information In Europe (Inspire), Andrej Abramic, Emanuele Bigagli, Vittorio Barale, Alberto Lorenzo-Alonso, Conor Norton

Articles

The implementation of Directive 2007/2/EC - INSPIRE can improve and actually strengthen the informationmanagement and data infrastructures needed for setting up Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) processes. Evidencefor this comes from three parallel analyses: links between the MSP Framework Directive and INSPIRE compo-nents and implementation; the availability of marine and maritime data through the INSPIRE Geo-Portal; andthe adequacy of using an INSPIRE data model for mapping maritime spatial plans. Thefirst item identifiesINSPIRE as a relevant instrument not only for data collection, but additionally for increasing transparency of theMSP processes, using already operational national and European data infrastructure. The marine/maritime dataavailability analysis …

Influence Of Atmospheric Clearness On Pdlc Switchable Glazing Transmission, Aritra Ghosh, Brian Norton, Tapas K. Mallick

Articles

Electrically activated switchable polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) is suitable for adaptive windows. A particular type requires 20V to become 71% transparent while in the absence of power it is 27% transparent. Glazing transmission changes with light incident angle. As the clearness of a sky changes the fraction changes alter of direct insolation (that has an azimuthally changing incident) and diffuse insolation (that has a largely constant incident). Thus, the effective overall incident angle determining the glazing transmittance also changes. In this work for the first time, the variation of PDLC glazing transmission with clearness index has been investigated.

A Constructivist Approach To The Use Of Case Studies In Teaching Engineering Ethics, Diana Adela Martin, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe

Articles

Our paper aims to explore the effectiveness of a constructivist approach to the teaching of engineering ethics through case studies, by putting forward a contextualization of the much discussed case study “Cutting Road Side Trees” (Pritchard, 1992) in light of the constructivist frame suggested by Jonassen (1999). First, we briefly analyse how the use of case studies for the teaching of engineering ethics eludes the complexity of the engineering professional environment before arguing that constructivism is a learning theory that can help to address this complexity. The final section proposes a constructivist reworking of the case method in a manner …

Solar Dryers For Tropical Food Preservation: Thermophysics Of Crops, Systems And Components, Vivek Tomar, G. N. Tiwari, Brian Norton

Articles

Drying reduces the moisture content of harvested crops thus slowing decay processes to enable longerterm storage. Solar dryers contain the crop being dried, to enhance solar energy collection incurring lower crop losses than are associated with open-sun drying and recurrent costs than are inherent to uses of fossil-fuels for drying. The influences of key environmental, operational and design parameters for solar dryers are discussed including: (i) psychrometry of drying processes and ambient conditions, (ii) how initial crop properties are converted to final desired product attributes, (iii) feasibility of using powered components such as fans and (iv) air-heating solar collector selection.

Formative Assessment In Mathematics For Engineering Students, Eabhnat Ni Fhloinn, Michael Carr

Articles

this paper, we present a range of formative assessment types for engineering mathematics, including in-class exercises, homework, mock examination questions, table quizzes, presentations, critical analyses of statistical papers, peer-to-peer teaching, online assessments and electronic voting systems. We provide practical tips for the implementation of such assessments, with a particular focus on time or resource constraints and large class sizes, as well as effective methods of feedback. In addition, we consider the benefits of such formative assessments for students and staff.

Power-Weighted Divergences For Relative Attenuation And Delay Estimation, Ruairí De Fréin, Scott T. Rickard Prof

Articles

Power-weighted estimators have recently been proposed for relative attenuation and delay estimation in blind source separation. Their provenance lies in the observation that speech is approximately windowed-disjoint orthogonal (WDO) in the time-frequency (TF) domain; it has been reported that using WDO, derived from TF representations of speech, improves mixing parameter estimation. We show that power-weighted relative attenuation and delay estimators can be derived from a particular case of a weighted Bregman divergence. We then propose a wider class of estimators, which we tune to give better parameter estimates for speech.

Book Reviews: Robert Hensey, First Light: The Origins Of Newgrange. Oxford: Oxbow Books, Series: Oxbow Insights In Archaeology, 2015, Frank Prendergast

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Thermal Energy Storage In Building Integrated Thermal Systems: A Review. Part 2. Integration As Passive System, Dervilla Niall, Sarah Mccormack, Philip Griffiths, Luisa Cabeza, Lidia Navarro, Albert Castell, Alvaro De Grazia, Maria Brown

Articles

Energy consumption trends in residential and commercial buildings show a significant increase in recent decades. One of the key points for reducing energy consumption in buildings is to decrease the energy demand. Buildings envelopes are not just a structure they also provide protection from outdoor weather conditions always taking into account the local climate. Thermal energy storage has been used and applied to the building structure by taking advantage of sensible heat storage of materials with high thermal mass. But in recent years, researchers have focused their studies on the implementation of latent heat storage materials that if well incorporated …

Dit-Topcon Internship Experience, Audrey Martin, Abigail Iversen

Articles

The Technological University Dublin (DIT: http://www.dit.ie/) is one of the largest Higher Education Institutes in Ireland, with 20,000 students registered and over 2000 members of staff. It has been providing technological higher education for over one hundred and twenty years encompassing the full spectrum of Third Level programmes. During that time the Institute's alumni have played important roles in technical and scientific innovation, economic and social development and culture and education both in Ireland and internationally.

The CEO of Topcon Positioning Systems Inc., Ray O’Connor is a DIT School of Surveying alumnus and in October 2013 Ray visited his …

Phenomenology And Hermeneutic Phenomenology: The Philosophy, The Methodologies And Using Hermeneutic Phenomenology To Investigate Lecturers' Experiences Of Curriculum Design, Arthur Sloan, Brian Bowe

Articles

This article investigates the philosophy of phenomenology, continuing to examine and describe it as a methodology. There are different methods of phenomenology, divided by their different perspectives of what phenomenology is: largely grouped into the two types of descriptive and interpretive phenomenology. The focal methodology is hermeneutic phenomenology – one type of phenomenological methodology among interpretive phenomenological methodologies. The context for phenomenology and the location of hermeneutic phenomenology is explained through its historic antecedents. When using phenomenology as a methodology there are criteria for data gathering and data analysis and examples of these are cited in this paper. Also in …

Developing A Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment Between Students In Cross Disciplines In The Built Environment., Fiacra Mcdonnell, Ruairi Hayden

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Integrated Project Delivery is a rapidly developing approach to Design and Construction.This approach uses business structures, new technologies, and newly developing practices to collaboratively utilise the talents and contributions of all participants in the Design and Construction process.This project replicated this approach by creating a collaborative project between the School of Construction and the School of Real Estate and Construction Economics. The term “collaborative learning” refers to a method of delivery in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups towards a common goal. The students were responsible for one another’s learning as well as their own. …

Professional Skills Portfolio For A Progressive Engineering Education, Dermot Mcgarthy, David Kennedy

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At the 2013 launch of the return to work scheme, “Springboard” in Dublin, it was stated that employers were seeking staff with enhanced language, presentation, communication, coping, and team-working skills. Graduates without these skills were finding it more difficult to gain permanent employment and were more likely to find themselves out of work unless they developed these skills. Enhancing personal development skills in education requires a revision of existing programmes. Not alone will these skills open new doors of opportunity for those who have lost their jobs during the recession, but should help sustain them going forward. The education of …

Estimating The Wind Resource In An Urban Area: A Case Study Of Micro Wind Generation Potential In Dublin, Ireland, Keith Sunderland, Gerald Mills, Michael Conlon

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The micro-turbine wind market in cities faces significant challenges due to the complexities associated with the urban terrain but, if a renewable solution to increasing energy demand is to be achieved, energy conversion systems where populations are concentrated, that is cities, must be considered. This research evaluates the urban wind resource by employing a physically-based empirical model to link wind observations at a conventional meteorological site to those acquired at urban sites. The approach is based on urban climate research that has examined the effects of varying surface roughness on the wind-field between and above buildings. Here, this is applied …