Digital Commons Network^™

Attention Driven Reference Resolution In Multimodal Contexts, John D. Kelleher

Articles

In recent years a a number of psycholinguistic experiments have pointed to the interaction between language and vision. In particular, the interaction between visual attention and linguistic reference. In parallel with this, several theories of discourse have attempted to provide an account of the relationship between types of referential expressions on the one hand and the degree of mental activation on the other. Building on both of these traditions, this paper describes an attention based approach to visually situated reference resolution. The framework uses the relationship between referential form and preferred mode of interpretation as a basis for a weighted …

Giving It Away : Free Technology Transfer To The Irish Sme Sector, Peter Kavanagh, Andy Maguire, James J. Casey

Articles

One of Europe’s major weaknesses lies in its inferiority in terms of transforming the results of technological research and skills into innovations and competitive advantages. (European Commission, 1995, p. 8.)

Technology transfer is a key aspect of economic development and research administration. These concerns are shared equally between academia and industry on both sides of the Atlantic. As technology is developed at a greater rate, concerns about the technology transfer will heighten. This article focuses on technology transfer in Ireland, particularly in the SME (Small and Medium size Enterprises, under 250 employees) sector. As the main Lisbon Objective has not …

Women, Engineering And Research: Providing Choice And Balance, Cecilia Chan, Mike Murphy

Conference papers

“Research cannot reach its full potential when half the population is excluded from its activities”1. Women researchers in engineering remain a minority in both Higher Education and industry in Ireland. Recent statistics of women graduating in science and engineering indicated an increase (a slow increase) but the numbers moving through to completion of PhD and careers in academia or industry remain quite low. Statistics on women in professorial and senior positions within the engineering sector also remains low. The educated workforce produced in Ireland by its education system is acknowledged as a key factor in attracting international investment to the …

Understanding The European Bologna Process, Michael Dyrenfurth, Mike Murphy

Conference papers

This paper describes the European Bologna process, provides a ‘mid-term’ review of its implementation status and discusses its possible positive and negative impacts on US – European links in the fields of engineering and technology education. The first section of this paper describes the meaning and rationale behind each of the Bologna objectives, and why there is a need to establish a European area of higher education. It also comments on how these objectives are interpreted within educational institutions. The second section provides a mid-term report on the implementation status within European universities, focussed primarily on engineering and technology education. …

Music Transcription Within Irish Traditional Music, Mikel Gainza

Doctoral

Transcribing Irish traditional music is an open-field of research. The oral transmission of the music between generations explains the lack of transcription until recent times. The music can be played solo, which permits the player to exploit the variety of ornamentation types, in unison, and also with the accompaniment of a harmonic instrument. Different signal processing applications for transcribing Irish traditional music are presented in this thesis, including onset, ornamentation and pitch detection. An onset detection system which focuses on the characteristics of the tin whistle within Irish traditional music is first presented. The tin whistle is a good example …

Design, Modelling And Simulation Of An Innovative Trefoil Rotary Kiln Pilot Plant, Mick Mckeever

Doctoral

This work investigates the contribution modelling makes when integrated into the pilot plant development stage of a new synthetic aggregate manufacturing process. The pilot plant is based around a novel rotary kiln, unique in design from standard kilns. The kiln has a trefoil cross sectional profile and a low thermal mass. A dynamic simulation model of the kiln was built to simulate the thermal behaviour of the pilot plant and the movement of the pelletised aggregate as it travels through the kiln drum.

As part of the preliminary work, a measurement and data acquisition subsystem was commissioned to allow data …

Blended Learning In Social Care Education In Ireland: A New Opportunity, Tom Farrelly, Colm O'Doherty

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

Using an action research approach this paper examines the complexity of designing and developing an innovative and user-friendly approach to professional social care education that incorporates advances in educational technology. The project has just moved to the operational stage following an 18-month period of consultation and reflection. Therefore, this paper represents and outline of the development phase and a progress report of the first eight weeks of delivery.

Moving A Part-Time Engineering Course To A Student-Centred Paradigm, Kevin Kelly

Level 3

This paper is a further reflection on two conference papers presented at the World Conference for Continuing Engineering Education (WCCEE) in Vienna in April 2006 and National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Conference: The Challenge of Diversity: Teaching, Support and Student Learning , June 2006. Both conference papers dealt with different aspects of my experiences of the theoretical and pedagogical changes required in re-design and delivery of a part-time engineering programme for the continuing education development of electrical engineers in the workforce.

Point Of Care Healthcare Quality Control For Patients Using Mobile Devices, Owen Lynch

Masters

The advances made in the domain of mobile telecommunications over the last decade offer great potential for developments in many areas. One such area that can benefit from mobile communications is telemedicine, which is the provision of medical assistance, in one form or another, to patients who are geographically separated from the healthcare provider. When a person is ill, individual attention from medical professionals is of the utmost importance until they have returned to full health. However, people who suffer with long term and chronic illnesses may need life long care and often must manage their condition at home. Many …

Using The Source Engine For Serious Games, Andrew Ritchie, Patrick Lindstrom, Bryan Duggan

Conference papers

In this paper we describe our work in using the Source engine from the game Half Life 2 to develop a serious game -Serious Gordon. Serious Gordon is used to teach principalsof food safety and food hygiene in a restaurant kitchen environment.The target users of Serious Gordon are students of catering in the DIT Faculty of Tourism and Food. Thepaper describes the formation of the Serious Gordon teamand the development of a story for the game. It continueswith a description of the features from Half Life 2 that we retained and those that we removed for the game. We then …

Steering By Engagement:Towards An Integrated Planning And Evaluation Framework In Higher Education Institutes, Deirdre Lillis

Conference papers

Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) worldwide are investing significant resources in strategic planning and self study programs to improve institutional performance. Both are expensive undertakings in terms of the time invested by participants and it is not unusual to see both programs underway in a HEI at the same time. The underlying knowledge produced about the challenges facing the Institution and the necessary responses can be broadly similar although their methodologies and presentation may differ. This paper reports on the comparative effectiveness of three strategic planning and three self study programs undertaken in one HEI over an 8 year timeframe under …

Information Fusion For Visual Reference Resolution In Dynamic Situated Dialogue., Geert-Jan Kruijff, John D. Kelleher, Nick Hawes

Conference papers

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) invariably involves dialogue about objects in the environment in which the agents are situated. The paper focuses on the issue of resolving discourse references to such visual objects. The paper addresses the problem using strategies for intra-modal fusion (identifying that different occurrences concern the same object), and inter-modal fusion, (relating object references across different modalities). Core to these strategies are sensori-motoric coordination, and ontology-based mediation between content in different modalities. The approach has been fully implemented, and is illustrated with several working examples

The R-Cube: Reviewing, Reinforcing And Rewarding After Successful Module Completion, Ciaran O'Leary

Conference papers

Revisiting material previously presented and successfully assessed can lead to much frustration among teaching staff and students. Despite this, it is often a requirement due to the time lag between the point at which a student begins a module and the time when they successfully passed a prerequisite module. Also, students who successfully pass a module fit into a number of categories, from those who were successful in all components of the assessment to those who displayed the minimum level of competence required for satisfaction of the learning outcomes. We introduce a novel instructional model which we predict will be …

A Numerical Acoustic Fluid-Structure Simulation Of Therapeutic Ultrasound Angioplasty, Graham Gavin, Finbar Dolan, M.S J. Hashmi, Garrett Mcguinness

Conference Papers

INTRODUCTION Therapeutic ultrasound angioplasty is the delivery of high amplitude ultrasonic displacements to the distal-tip of small diameter wire waveguides with the goal of disrupting atherosclerotic plaques. This is a minimally invasive procedure that may have potential' in the treatment of complicated chronic total occlusions. The disruption of plaque is due to direct contact ablation and also cavitation, pressure waves and acoustic streaming in the fluid surrounding the vibrating waveguide distal-tip [1]. Cavitation appears to play a major role and some authors have suggested that plaque ablation is only evident above the cavitation threshold [2]. Makin and Everbach [3] performed …

A Numerical Acoustic Fluid-Structure Model Of A Therapeutic Ultrasound Angioplasty Device, Graham Gavin, M.S. J. Hashmi, Finbar Dolan, Garrett Mcguinness

Conference Papers

Ultrasonic angioplasty involves the use of ultrasonic vibrations delivered to the distal-tip of small diameter wire waveguides and is an emerging technology the may have potential use in the treatment of complicated atherosclerotic plaques during cardiovascular surgery. Complicated plaques, including chronic total occlusions and calcified lesions, seriously reduce success rates during standard intervention involving guidewire access, followed by balloon dilation or stent delivery. The large amplitude (0-150 μm) wire waveguide distal-tip displacements in the low-frequency ultrasonic (18-45 kHz) range have been shown to disrupt plaque material by direct contact ablation and cavitation, acoustic streaming and pressure wave components in adjacent …

The Compact, Issue 5, 1st Of February, 2006, Dit: Students' Union

DIT Student Union

No abstract provided.

The Compact, Issue 8, May, 2006, Dit: Students' Union

DIT Student Union

No abstract provided.

Centralisation/Decentralisation In European Universities: Case Study Dit., Mike Murphy

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Fuel Cell Design For Gas Hydrates Exploration And Research, Gerhard Sauer

Masters

In this thesis the design, manufacture and testing of an Alkaline Fuel Cell (AFC) that provide electrical power to a deep sea measurement problem is described. The fuel cell was designed to operate in a long-term mode at low temperatures. The power required for the measurement probe was in the order of 5 Watts. The measurement probe was designed to operate at a depth of 3000m in sea water at a temperature of approx. 5°C and at 300 bar pressure

the main design issues included: The design of a Fuel Cell to operate at these conditions and produce enough energy …

Wideband Dual Polarized Directional Base Station Antenna, Francisco L. Lerma

Masters

The thesis presents a study of different microwave radiators for wireless applications in the frequency range of 2.2 – 2.5GHz. The performance of microstrip patch antennas and dual polarized dipole antennas were evaluated numerically and experimentally verified. A single microstrip patch and a four- element microstrip array were simulated, fabricated and tested. Simulation was carried out by the finite integration time domain (FITD) method. Polarization diversity is realised using crossed dipoles printed elements. For the crossed dipole elements, two different feed arrangements were studied. Parameters such as return loss, isolation, radiation pattern, gain and bandwidth were measured and found to …

An Investigation Into The Behaviour Of Sheet Metal Workpieces When Subjected To Simultaneous Double Bending, Arthur Henry

Masters

Simultaneous double bending, where two 90° bends are formed in a single workpiece, in close proximity to each other and in alternate directions, are common in the metal forming industry, especially so in small production batches where press brakes and their associated tooling is extensively used. This bending process, resulting in what is commonly called a ‘joggle’ bend, is executed using specially shaped forming dies. The geometry of these dies determines the geometry of the bend and also the amount of sliding and /or stretching that takes place in the workpiece during the forming process. This in turn determines the …

Planar Antennas, Zhi Ning Cheng, Max Ammann, Xianming Qing, Xuan Hui Wu, T. S.P. See, A. Cai

Articles

This article reviews the state of the art in broadband antennas for emerging UWB applications and addresses the important issues of the broadband antenna design for UWB applications. First, a variety of planar monopoles with finite ground planes are reviewed. Next, the roll antennas with enhanced radiation performance are outlined. After that, the planar antennas printed on PCBs are described. A directional antipodal Vivaldi antenna is also presented for UWB applications. Last, a UWB antenna for wearable applications is exemplified

Compact Annular-Ring Embedded Circular Patch Antenna With Cross-Slot Ground Plane For Circular Polarisation, Xiulong Bao, Max Ammann

Articles

A dual-frequency dual-circularly polarised patch antenna with wide beamwidth is proposed. The two-layer structure comprises circular patches with offset circular slots connected to rectangular slots. They provide orthogonal perturbations realising RHCP and LHCP for the lower and upper bands, respectively. The wide beamwidth is realised by extending the substrate beyond the groundplane. Measurements show a maximum beamwidth of 180deg and gains of 3.9 and 0.5 dBic for zenith and 10deg elevation, respectively, for the upper band. The measured beamwidth for the low band is 130deg with a maximum gain of 3.9 and -0.7 dBic for zenith and 10deg elevation, respectively. …

A Compact Wide-Band Shorted Folded Antenna, Giuseppe Ruvio, Max Ammann

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Wideband Directional Base-Station Antenna With Dual-Linear And Circular-Polarization Capabilities, Francisco Lerma, Matthias John, Giuseppe Ruvio, Max Ammann, N. Herscovici

Conference papers

A crossed-dipole antenna providing polarization diversity is presented. The antenna which employs a planar reflector yields high directivity and good isolation between ports over a wide impedance bandwidth, suitable for polarization-agile wireless base-station use. The dipole wing shape is optimised, which yields the wide bandwidth. Matching is achieved using a quarter-wave balanced-to-unbalanced section which also improves the port-to-port isolation. Radiation characteristics for linear and circular polarizations are presented

Enhancing Waste Management Through Automatic Control, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

Meeting environmental requirements is recognised as one of the six 21st century business drivers for automatic control. The proportional integral (PI) and proportional integral derivative (PID) controllers are the most dominant form of automatic controllers in industrial use today. With these techniques, it is necessary to adjust the controller parameters according to the nature of the process. Thus, for effective control of a heating, cooling and air-conditioning (HVAC) application, for example, specific values need to be chosen for the P, I and D parameters, which will be different for the values required to control, for example, a distillation column. This …

Latency Compensation Control Of Computer Based Control Systems, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

This paper discusses the use of a modified Smith predictor for latency (i.e. time delay) compensation, to assist in the implementation of network computer based control systems. Such systems typically have a variable time delay associated with the transfer of information; the modified Smith predictor is robust to time delay variations.

Performance Improvement Using Simple Pid Controller Tuning Formulae, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

The proportional integral derivative (PID) controller is the most dominant form of automatic controller in industrial use today. With this technique, it is necessary to adjust the controller parameters according to the nature of the process. Thus, for effective control of a HVDC system, for example, specific values need to be chosen for the P, I and D parameters, which will be different for the values required to control, for example, an induction motor drive. This tailoring of controller to process is known as controller tuning. Controller tuning is easily and effectively performed using tuning rules (i.e. formulae for controller …

Synthesising Life-Sciences And Control Engineering: An Outline Survey And A Practical Example, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

There is an increasing interest in life science related areas in the electrical and control engineering community [1]. One manifestation of this interest is the development of interdisciplinary programmes, such as the B.Sc. in Medical Physics and Bioengineering, offered by the Dublin Institute of Technology from September 2005. A significant amount of research work in control engineering has focused on aspects of human physiological system, for example blood glucose regulation [2], cardiovascular modelling and control [3], and limb control [4]. There is an increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary research; in recognition of this, the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) has starting …

Protection Of Dvr Against Short Circuit Faults At The Load Side, Iurie Axente, Malabika Basu, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan

Conference papers

An additional control scheme has been proposed in this paper for a dynamic voltage restorer (DVR), to protect it against load short circuit conditions. When overcurrents occur in the distribution system, under the proposed scheme the DVR reverses its injected voltage polarity so as to minimise the current flow. The detection method is based on impedance measurement feedback. The advantage of the scheme is that no additional over current device or protection is required for the DVR and it is easy to implement. The proposed control scheme has been validated through simulation.