Digital Commons Network^™

Instability Of Waves In Deep Water — A Discrete Hamiltonian Approach, David Andrade, Raphael Stuhlmeier

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

The stability of waves in deep water has classically been approached via linear stability analysis, with various model equations, such as the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, serving as points of departure. Some of the most well-studied instabilities involve the interaction of four waves – so called Type I instabilities – or five waves – Type II instabilities. A unified description of four and five wave interaction can be provided by the reduced Hamiltonian derived by Krasitskii (1994). Exploiting additional conservation laws, the discretised Hamiltonian may be used to shed light on these four and five wave instabilities without restrictions on spectral …

Color-Changing Reflection Hologram For Quality Assurance Of Therapeutic Ultrasound Systems, Tatsiana Mikulchyk, John Walsh, Jacinta Browne, Izabela Naydenova, Dervil Cody

Articles

The acoustic output of clinical therapeutic ultrasound equipment requires regular quality assurance (QA) testing to ensure the safety and efficacy of the treatment and that any potentially harmful deviations from the expected output power density are detected as soon as possible. A hologram, consisting of a reflection grating fabricated in an acrylate photopolymer film, has been developed to produce an immediate, visible, and permanent change in the color of the reconstructed hologram from red to green in response to incident ultrasound energy. The influence of the therapeutic ultrasound insonation parameters (exposure time, ultrasound power density, and proximity to the point …

The Development Of Optomechanical Sensors—Integrating Diffractive Optical Structures For Enhanced Sensitivity, Faolan Radford Mcgovern, Aleksandra Hernik, Catherine M. Grogan, George Amarandei, Izabela Naydenova

Conference Papers

The term optomechanical sensors describes devices based on coupling the optical and mechanical sensing principles. The presence of a target analyte leads to a mechanical change, which, in turn, determines an alteration in the light propagation. Having higher sensitivity in comparison with the individual technologies upon which they are based, the optomechanical devices are used in biosensing, humidity, temperature, and gases detection. This perspective focuses on a particular class, namely on devices based on diffractive optical structures (DOS). Many configurations have been developed, including cantilever- and MEMS-type devices, fiber Bragg grating sensors, and cavity optomechanical sensing devices. These state-of-the-art sensors …

Adaptive Cybersecurity Training Framework For Social Media Risks, Fai Ben Salamah

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Social media has become embedded in our everyday lives, personal activities, and the workplace. Thus, educating users on emerging cybersecurity challenges for social media has become imperative. In this project, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted and a mix of approach analyses to derive a framework that identifies the activities involved in adapting cybersecurity training for social media risks. I collected answers from 641 Kuwaiti employees in various sectors: education, healthcare, leadership and management, arts, entertainment, the police, and military, and interviewed 25 people who serve as policymakers, cybersecurity trainers, and those who have experienced cybersecurity training before. The …

A Platform As A Service Framework For Ambient Assisted Living Services, Hendrik Dr. Kuijs

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The primary objective of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technology is to provide aid and assistance to individuals, particularly the elderly, in maintaining their independence and residing in their own homes and their known environment for an extended duration. AAL technology is becoming increasingly important due to the continuous decrease of birth-rate and increasing life expectancy, leading to a shrinking proportion of younger population in developed countries. This research proposes a cloud-based platform as a service (PaaS) for AAL that enables service providers to deliver services without the need for the user to invest in expensive technical equipment in advance, thus …

The Application Of Data Analytics Technologies For The Predictive Maintenance Of Industrial Facilities In Internet Of Things (Iot) Environments, Thomas Rieger

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

In industrial production environments, the maintenance of equipment has a decisive influence on costs and on the plannability of production capacities. In particular, unplanned failures during production times cause high costs, unplanned downtimes and possibly additional collateral damage. Predictive Maintenance starts here and tries to predict a possible failure and its cause so early that its prevention can be prepared and carried out in time. In order to be able to predict malfunctions and failures, the industrial plant with its characteristics, as well as wear and ageing processes, must be modelled. Such modelling can be done by replicating its physical …

Investigation Of Expanding Diffuser Based Wind Generation System For Use In Scaled Hydrodynamic Testing Of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines, Jessica Guichard

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Floating offshore wind turbines present a great potential for harnessing the power of offshore wind and meeting future energy demands. Though some floating offshore wind farms have already been commissioned, research on floating offshore wind turbine platforms needs to be pursued, in particular for the purpose of cost reduction. In this context, the ability to conduct scaled hydrodynamic testing of floating offshore wind turbine platforms is an important advantage for a wave tank. The COAST Laboratory of the University of Plymouth aims to provide this possibility. The wave tank being built before the decision to add a wind generation system …

Bond Behaviour Between Carbon Fibre Strand And Mortar Under Marine Environment, Jie Ji

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Owing to the steel corrosion in traditional steel reinforced concrete structures exposed to marine environment, the present study explores carbon fibre textile reinforced mortar (TRM) as the alternative construction material. Moreover, sea sand and seawater can be used in casting mortar in this study, because carbon fibre is non-corrosive. Focusing on the long-term bond degradation at the interface between the carbon fibre strand (CFS) and mortar in carbon fibre TRM under marine environments, experimental and numerical investigations have been carried out by using single CFS-reinforced mortar (CFSRM) specimens. Interfacial debonding is one of the key failure modes in TRM, due …

Modelling Of Chloride Transport In Concrete, Lixuan Mao

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Chloride-induced corrosion of reinforcing steel has been recognized as the primary factor in degrading the durability of reinforced concrete structures exposed to chloride-rich environments. This research aims to investigate the underlying mechanisms of ionic transport behaviors in both natural and recycled aggregate concrete and to develop accurate and reliable prediction models to estimate the chloride transport processes during diffusion and migration tests. Based on the understanding of ionic diffusion, electromigration, polarization, and physicochemical reactions, several numerical and analytical models for chloride penetration in heterogenous concrete are proposed. Firstly, Poisson, Laplace, and current conservation models are developed based on Gauss’s law …

Integrating Big Data Analytics With U.S. Sec Financial Statement Datasets And The Critical Examination Of The Altman Z’-Score Model, Shiva Krishna Sadula

Masters

The main aim of this thesis is to document the process of developing Big Data analytical applications and their integration with financial statement datasets. These datasets are publicly available on the U.S. SEC (Security and Exchange Commission) website which contains the annual and quarterly reports of approximately 8000 companies. Through its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system, the SEC receives several terabytes of data in the mandatory filings from its registrants. This vast amount of data can potentially provide a valuable resource for those parties (such as investors, analysts, regulators and researchers) who are interested in assessing the …

Effect Of Tributary Inflow On Reservoir Turbidity Current, Yining Sun, Ji Li, Zhixian Cao, Alistair G.L. Borthwick, János Józsa

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Fluvial flows carrying high sediment loads may plunge into reservoirs to form turbidity currents. However, the effects of tributary inflows on reservoir turbidity currents have remained poorly understood to date. Here a 2D double layer-averaged model is used to investigate a series of laboratory-scale numerical cases. By probing into the hydro-sediment-morphodynamic processes, we find that tributary location and inflow conditions have distinct effects on the formation and propagation of reservoir turbidity currents, and lead to complicated flow dynamics and bed deformation at the confluence. Two flow exchange patterns are generated at the confluence: turbidity current intrusion from the main channel …

Implications Of Second-Order Wave Generation For Physical Modelling Of Force And Run-Up On A Vertical Wall Using Wave Groups, William Mortimer, Ross Calvert, Alessandro Antonini, Deborah Greaves, Alison Raby, Ton S. Van Den Bremer

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Experiments are contaminated by second-order error waves at sub- and super-harmonic frequencies when first-order wave generation is used. Herein, we investigate by experiment the implications of second-order wave generation theory for dynamic wave force and run-up on a vertical wall in shallow to intermediate water depth (��0⁢��=0.5−1.1). Results of short-duration experiments using focused wave groups generated according to first- and second-order theory are compared. We isolate linear, sub-, and super-harmonic contributions using combinations of inverted wave group time series and filtering. We derive theoretical predictions for narrow-banded second-order wave groups interacting with a vertical wall and use this to calculate …

Power Output Estimation Of A Two-Body Hinged Raft Wave Energy Converter Using Hf Radar Measured Representative Sea States At Wave Hub In The Uk, Daming Wang, Siya Jin, Martyn Hann, Daniel Conley, Keri Collins, Deborah Greaves

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

For the physical model testing of wave energy converters (WECs) in the wave basin, it is necessary to test the models in a small number of sea states. Previously, the H – T binning method was widely used to determine the sea states that are representative of an ocean area. However, it omitted much useful information such as the wave directionality. In this paper, a novel method, the K-means clustering technique is used in combination with High Frequency (HF) radar measured data from Wave Hub, UK. The results show that K-means clustering method better preserves the characteristics of the ocean …

A Designed Two-Body Hinged Raft Wave Energy Converter: From Experimental Study To Annual Power Prediction For The Emec Site Using Wec-Sim, Siya Jin, Daming Wang, Martyn Hann, Keri Collins, Daniel Conley, Deborah Greaves

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

The present study aims at providing more data and insights for the hinged type WEC, especially focusing on the two-body hinged raft WECs. Two WECs are considered: a well-studied generic hinged raft WEC (G-HRWEC) and a 1:25 scale designed hinged raft WEC (D-HRWEC). The open-source tool WEC-Sim is employed in numerical studies. Referring to the published numerical data for G-HRWEC, corrections are proposed to the WEC-Sim model which are shown to realise the ability of WEC-Sim to model the two-body hinged WEC. For the 1:25 scale D-HRWEC, the physical results show that the relative hinge motion between the rafts is …

Developed Graphene/Si Schottky Junction Solar Cells Based On The Top-Window Structure, Hilal Al Busaidi, Ahmed Suhail, David Jenkins, Genhua Pan

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)-graphene has potentially been integrated with silicon (Si) substrates for developing graphene/n-Si Schottky junction solar cells prepared with the top window structure. However, there are drawbacks to prepared devices such as complex silicon dioxide (SiO2)-etching steps, low fill factors and stability of doped devices. In this work, SiO2 patterns are simply formed using a sputtering process rather than the previous complex method. Additionally, the fill factor for prepared devices is developed by using transferred residue-free multi-graphene layers. The usage of 3 graphene layers improves the power conversion efficiency (PCE) to 7.1%. A recorded PCE of around 17% …

The Proof Is In The Pudding – Using Perceived Stress To Measure Short-Term Impact In Initiatives To Enhance Gender Balance In Computing Education, Alina Berry, Sarah Jane Delany

Academic Posters Collection

The problem of gender imbalance in computing higher education has forced academics and professionals to implement a wide range of initiatives. Many initiatives use recruitment or retention numbers as their most obvious evidence of impact. This type of evidence of impact is, however, more resource heavy to obtain, as well as often requires a longitudinal approach. There are many shorter term initiatives that use other ways to measure their success.

First, this poster presents with a review of existing evaluation measures in interventions to recruit and retain women in computing education across the board. Three main groups of evaluation come …

Evaluation Of Gender-Based Differences In Primary School Maths Education: The Potential Of Digital Games, Maíra Amaral

Academic Posters Collection

Digital Game-Based Learning is shown to be a more effective instructional method than traditional instruction, however less effective than other technology-supported instruction according to Byun and Joung (2018). Regarding gender aspects, according to findings by Mclaren and colleagues in 2022, girls may learn more mathematics from digital learning games than boys. In their study, even reporting greater behavioural and cognitive engagement, boys did not learn more with the game than girls.

Using Machine Learning For Web Accessibility, Tlamelo Makati

Academic Posters Collection

This research will explore the potential of machine learning to enhance web accessibility. Web accessibility is typically defined in terms of Web Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which states that everyone should be able to perceive, operate, understand and interpret the web regardless of disability or use of assistive technology. We would like to consult digital accessibility experts through interviews and focus groups to understand the web accessibility auditing and remediation processes in detail, with a focus on web navigation. An important goal of this work is to establish development processes where all stakeholders can leverage machine-learning tools to produce more accessible …

Serviceability Behaviour Of Frp-Reinforced Slatted Slabs Made Of High-Content Recycled Aggregate Concrete, Thanongsak Imjai, Reyes Garcia, Boksun Kim, Chayanon Hansapinyo, Piti Sukontasukkul

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

At service load levels, shear-induced deflections of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs are small and therefore they are usually ignored in deflection calculations. However, shear-induced deflections can be large in RC slabs reinforced with Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bars, especially after the development of diagonal cracks. This article investigates the serviceability behaviour (deflections and crack widths) of FRP-reinforced slatted slabs cast with recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). Fifteen slabs were tested in flexure, including five slabs cast with normal concrete (NC), five slabs cast with RAC made with 50% recycled concrete aggregate, and five slabs cast with RAC made with 100% recycled …

Detecting Road Intersections From Satellite Images Using Convolutinal Neural Networks, Fatmaelzahraa Eltaher Ph.D, Luis Miralles-Pechuán, Jane Courtney, Susan Mckeever

Academic Posters Collection

The location of intersections is an important consideration for vulnerable road users such as People with Blindness or Visually Impairment (PBVI) or children. Route planning applications, however, do not give information about the location of intersections as this information is not available at scale. In this paper, we propose a deep learning framework to automatically detect the location of intersections from satellite images using convolutional neural networks. For this purpose, we labelled 7,342 Google maps images from Washington, DC, USA to create a dataset. This dataset covers a region of 58.98 km$^{2}$ and has 7,548 intersections. We then applied a …

Application Of The Two-Variable Model To Simulate A Multisensory Reaction-Time Task, Rebecca Brady, John Butler

Academic Posters Collection

To navigate the world in an efficient manner, the brain seamlessly integrates signals received across multiple sensory modalities. Behavioral studies have suggested that multisensory processing is a winner-take-all sensory response mechanism to some optimal combination of sensory signals. In addition, multiple sensory cues are not always beneficial with some studies showing maladaptive multisensory processing as an identifier of older adults prone to falls from age matched healthy controls.

A stalwart of modelling sensory decision-making is the work by (Wong &Wang, 2006) but to date almost all of this research has been focused on unisensory tasks. We extend the reduced two-variable …

Enhancing Health Data Representation For Older Adults: Unlocking Opportunities, Peterson Jean

Academic Posters Collection

The prevalence of off-the-shelf wearable devices increases the monitoring and measurement of critical physiological parameters like activity, sleep, heart rate, and blood pressure. However, the accessibility of health data representations poses challenges for older adults, who often struggle to understand the criticality of their own health data without assistance. This poster highlights the challenges older adults face in accessing their health data from wearable technologies, specifically focusing on data representations.

To address these challenges, it proposes a methodology that involves a heuristic evaluation of existing data representations with experts and accessibility studies with older adults using a mixed methods approach …

Computer Science Outreach To Inform Secondary School Students’ Perceptions Of Computer Science: Preliminary Findings, Karen Nolan, Roisin Faherty, Keith Quille, Keith Nolan, Amanda O'Farrell, Brett A. Becker

Academic Posters Collection

This poster describes a longitudinal K-12 outreach programme to promote Computer Science in Ireland, which ran over a three-year period from 2017- 2020. A pilot phase was conducted in the first year from 2017-2018 with 2900 students participating. The implementation phase began in 2018, when 7320 students participated across the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years. The programme consisted of a free onsite school delivery of a two-hour camp that introduced students to a range of Computing topics: addressing computing perceptions, introduction to coding, and exploration of computational thinking. Schools self-selected, and the programme reached a large number of schools with …

Mathematical Modelling Of A Floating Clam-Type Wave Energy Converter, Siming Zheng, John Wilfrid Phillips, Martyn Hann, Deborah Greaves

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

In this paper, wave power extraction from a floating Clam-type wave energy converter is investigated. The device is mainly composed of a Clam, which is formed from two pieces of floating flaps hinged at a submerged body. The Clam is closed by a flexible impermeable bag with the two hinged floating flaps kept apart by a Power Take-Off system. As waves propagate through the device, the Clam motion of the device is excited, which can be used to drive the Power Take-Off system to capture wave power. To evaluate the response and also the wave power absorption of the device, …

Investigating The Use Of Conversational Agents As Accountable Buddies To Support Health And Lifestyle Change, Ekaterina Uetova, Dympna O'Sullivan, Lucy Hederman, Robert J. Ross

Academic Posters Collection

The poster focuses on the role of conversational agents in promoting health and well-being. Results of the literature review indicate that negative emotions can hinder individuals from taking necessary actions related to their health. The study concludes that understanding and addressing emotional barriers is essential to facilitating early access to health services and improving well-being. The poster outlines plans to investigate motivation strategies, develop a prototype conversational agent based on user study insights and chat log data, and incorporate emotion regulation to effectively manage users' emotional experiences.

Improve Engagement With Full Labs And Motivated Students: Interactive Labs Via Low Stakes Assessment, Susan Mckeever, Patricia O'Byrne, Amanda O'Farrell

Academic Posters Collection

Poor engagement and attendance is an endemic problem at third level, particularly post covid. Our approach shows how the use of regular in-lab assessment and challenges can dramatically increase student participation and learning. Using three case studies, we demonstrate how we have successfully used this low-stakes assessment approach to improve student outcomes, across a range of modules.

Attention-Based Gender-Stereotype Detection, Manuela Nayantara, Sarah Jane Delany

Academic Posters Collection

Gender stereotypes are perceptions about the typical physical, emotional, and social characteristics of individuals. Unlike gender bias which can result in the systematic and unfair treatment of individuals based on their gender, gender stereotypes do not always perpetuate a negative impact. Hence, there is no solid definition that frames what is considered a gender-stereotype in text. In addition, there is also a lack of labelled gender-stereotype datasets. This has led to most of the work in literature being about gender bias and not gender stereotypes. Therefore, in our research, we frame a clear definition of what constitutes a gender-stereotype in …

Detecting Patches On Road Pavement Images Acquired With 3d Laser Sensors Using Object Detection And Deep Learning, Ibrahim Hassan Syed, Dympna O'Sullivan, Susan Mckeever, David Power, Ray Mcgowan, Kieran Feighan

Academic Posters Collection

Regular pavement inspections are key to good road maintenance and road defect corrections. Advanced pavement inspection systems such as LCMS (Laser Crack Measurement System) can automatically detect the presence of different defects using 3D lasers. However, such systems still require manual involvement to complete the detection of pavement defects. This work proposes an automatic patch detection system using an object detection technique. Results show that the object detection model can successfully detect patches inside LCMS images and suggest that the proposed approach could be integrated into the existing pavement inspection systems.

From Overlay To Interplay - Subverting The Message And Creating The Surreal With Augmented Reality, Nina Lyons

Academic Posters Collection

This proof of concept utilises content creation tools that create diegetic presentation which is not commonly utilised in AR systems. In this study, the virtual overlay that becomes visible through AR displays diegetic content that disrupts the meaning of the poster highlighting the potential for AR as a visual communication medium and the opportunities that AR has, as a medium, for creating narrative.

Spoken Language To Irish Sign Language Machine Translation: A Linguistically Informed Approach, Jesus Aguilar Lopez, Irene Murtagh, Sheila Castilho

Academic Posters Collection

Many deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals rely on sign language (SL) on a daily basis as a preferred language. Although nowadays there are significant advances on spoken language research, current approaches are often neither linguistically motivated nor tailored to the unique features of SLs. Further research and development are necessary to enhance Sign Language Machine Translation (SLMT) and bring it to a similar level as spoken language MT. This research will endeavour to improve the accuracy and efficiency of SLMT systems, making them more accessible to the Deaf community and empowering deaf and hard of hearing individuals to communicate more effectively …