Engineering Commons^™

Hygrothermal Risk Assessment Of External Wall Insulation Retrofit To Non-Traditional Wall Types In An Irish Context, Using The Glaser Method And A Heat, Air And Moisture Transient Model, Gareth Mcdonnell, Joseph Little

Articles

The Climate Action Plan 2019 targets the low-energy retrofit of 500,000 existing Irish homes before 2030.1 Up to 80 per cent of building failures can be attributed to moisture risks.2 The literature indicated that external wall insulation (EWI, ETICS) failures are mostly due to moisture ingress at junctions and interfaces. A hygrothermal risk assessment of EWI on three walls with rendered concrete/concrete blockwork/cavity walls in Dublin, Belfast and Belmullet was undertaken using transient numerical simulation and the Glaser method. The guidance, common practice indicates a preference for Glaser. The initial simulation results were compared to assess the appropriateness of Glaser. …

Ai And 6g Into The Metaverse: Fundamentals, Challenges And Future Research Trends, Muhammad Zawish, Fayaz Ali Dharejo, Sunder Ali Khowaja, Saleem Raza, Steven Davy, Kapal Dev, Paolo Bellavista

Articles

Since Facebook was renamed Meta, a lot of attention, debate, and exploration have intensified about what the Metaverse is, how it works, and the possible ways to exploit it. It is anticipated that Metaverse will be a continuum of rapidly emerging technologies, usecases, capabilities, and experiences that will make it up for the next evolution of the Internet. Several researchers have already surveyed the literature on artificial intelligence (AI) and wireless communications in realizing the Metaverse. However, due to the rapid emergence and continuous evolution of technologies, there is a need for a comprehensive and in-depth survey of the role …

Profess 12 – Project Report Pr3: Briefing Document For Co-Creation Exercise, Una Beagon, Margaret Morgan, Ruchita Jani, Brian Bowe

Reports

This document was prepared as a guide for co-creation exercises which are carried out with students to help design the PROFESS 12 Summer School. The briefing document has been prepared with information on how the co-creation exercise (in the form of a 2 hour workshop) will be facilitated and also includes background material which can be issued to students to prepare them for the event.

Priority Skills For Engineers On The Island Of Ireland: Key Stakeholder Perceptions, Rosalind M Henry, Margaret Morgan, Una Beagon, Ruchita Jani, Janet Mckennedy, Brian Bowe

Reports

Executive Summary

Life on a shared island, in particular the island of Ireland (comprising Ireland and Northern Ireland), presents both challenges and opportunities, including for engineers tasked with addressing problems to help solve the SDGs that are indifferent to boundaries. Research demonstrates that (relative to current engineers) the engineer of the future will require a more diverse range of skills to navigate an increasingly complex work environment. Given this context, identification of relevant priority skills would therefore prove useful in focusing engineering educational initiatives.

Building on a European study (Beagon et al, 2022a) which identified at a European level the …

Inclusive Counterfactual Generation: Leveraging Llms In Identifying Online Hate, M. Atif Qureshi, Arjumand Younus, Simon Caton

Articles

Counterfactually augmented data has recently been proposed as a successful solution for socially situated NLP tasks such as hate speech detection. The chief component within the existing counterfactual data augmentation pipeline, however, involves manually flipping labels and making minimal content edits to training data. In a hate speech context, these forms of editing have been shown to still retain offensive hate speech content. Inspired by the recent success of large language models (LLMs), especially the development of ChatGPT, which have demonstrated improved language comprehension abilities, we propose an inclusivity-oriented approach to automatically generate counterfactually augmented data using LLMs. We show …

Explainable Ai For 6g Use Cases: Technical Aspects And Research Challenges, Shen Wang, M. Atif Qureshi, Luis Miralles-Pechu{\'A}N, Thien Huynh-The, Thippa Reddy Gadekallu, Madhusanka Liyanage

Articles

Around 2020, 5G began its commercialization journey, and discussions about the next-generation networks (such as 6G) emerged. Researchers predict that 6G networks will have higher bandwidth, coverage, reliability, energy efficiency, and lower latency, and will be an integrated “human-centric” network system powered by artificial intelligence (AI). This 6G network will lead to many real-time automated decisions, ranging from network resource allocation to collision avoidance for self-driving cars. However, there is a risk of losing control over decision-making due to the high-speed, data-intensive AI decision-making that may go beyond designers’ and users’ comprehension. To mitigate this risk, explainable AI (XAI) methods …

How Can Personalised Feedback In Assignments Help Address Gender Balance In Computing Education?, Alina Berry

Academic Posters Collection

Personalised feedback is frequently used in computing assessments in higher education. Research has shown that personalised feedback positively influences persistence in computer science. Computing and related disciplines are known to show relatively low retention rates. This includes female students, who are strongly underrepresented in computing disciplines, so they can be considered as a particularly important group for retention-driven initiatives. Female science students are more likely to act upon feedback, and personalised feedback has increased intentions to persist among female top performing students in computing. Hence, providing personalised feedback can be considered as a promising gender initiative that has a potential …

Personalised Feedback On Assessments In Computing Modules - Gender Equality Action In Context, Alina Berry

Academic Posters Collection

Personalised feedback in computing higher education has been known to positively influence retention of women. The issue of gender inequality in computing field is well known and one of the efforts to address it is the development of a gender equality toolkit (TechMate), with one initiative (action) in the toolkit being personalised feedback. While all actions in the toolkit are research-driven, the aim of this work was to evaluate the action on personalised feedback in a local context.

The study comprised of 10 semi-structured interviews with computing lecturers at TU Dublin who provide personalised feedback, a student survey with 68 …

Human Centred Xai Taxonomy, Helen Sheridan, Emma Murphy, Dympna O'Sullivan

Academic Posters Collection

No abstract provided.

A Framework-Based Cross-Institutional Cpd For Academic Staff In Gen-Ai Literacy, Critical Inquiry And Authentic Assessment, Roisin Donnelly, Ita Kennelly

Books/Book Chapters

Generative-Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) has emerged as a transformative force profoundly influencing, if not revolutionizing the way we now teach and how students learn in higher education (HE). Despite the initial flurry of early research studies following the raising of public awareness of Gen-AI (and in particular ChatGPT), enduring pragmatic questions remain for academic staff on how best to protect and promote student learning, how to meaningfully support assessment integrity from a curriculum perspective, and additionally how to effectively use Gen-AI technologies to aid learning and foster deeper critical thinking.

Zno Varistors—Preparation Of Nano And Micro Sized Powders By Mechanical Methods For Low And High Voltage Varistors, Maura Kelleher

Books/Book Chapters

ZnO-Bi2O3-Sb2O3 varistors are as essential today as they have been since their discovery five decades ago. Their role is to protect other electronic components against oncoming surges of electrons and survive. The demands on varistors are increasing. Electronic components are becoming smaller and more sensitive, and the metal oxides from which varistors are made are precious. Every aspect of their structure (macro, micro, nano and atomic) determines how they perform and survive. Each stage and variable within the powder metallurgy process is important. The mechanical methods in preparing nano and micro sized metal oxide powders are outlined in this chapter.

Emotional Intelligence Coaching For Higher Education Lecturers: Their Experience And Its Impact On Trait Emotional Intelligence, Stress, And Teaching Self-Efficacy, Eoghan Guiry

Doctoral

Previous research has established that emotional intelligence (EI) can be developed through targeted intervention; however, this was previously untested with lecturers. Guided by the job demands-resources model, this study explored the impact of an EI coaching intervention on lecturers’ trait EI, perceived stress, work-related stress, and teaching self-efficacy at Technological University Dublin. Additionally, the study explored the lecturers’ experiences of partaking in the intervention. Employing a pragmatic approach, mixed methods were used in a randomised controlled trial.

The Trouble With Technology, John O'Connor

Conference Papers

In contemporary education, technology is either hailed as the panacea for affordable mass education or dreaded as a threat to our humanity. At the European Culture and Technology Laboratory, technology is understood in the context of the Ancient Greek origin of the word: technē—meaning a system or a method of making or doing, an art or a craft; a technique or a practice, even a way of thinking. The tools humans use are not merely a means of intervention in our environment but also a way of becoming human and thus, technology has a fundamental impact on our identity and …

Case Studies Of Restapi And Graphql Architectures, Janni Daniel Balraj, Gary Clynch

Academic Poster Collection

The adoption of microservices architecture has experienced significant growth, driven by its appeal in terms of modularity, scalability, and deployment ease. However, this proliferation of microservices has intensified the demand for efficient data exchange among them. While REST API has long been the standard protocol for microservices communication, its limitations in flexibility and performance have spurred the ascent of GraphQL as a more efficient alternative, as highlighted by studies comparing their performance. As the number of microservices continues to rise, traditional methods like REST APIs prove challenging, leading to issues such as over-fetching or under-fetching of data. GraphQL addresses these …

Alien Mystery Scavenger Hunt: Enhancing Intergenerational Interaction With Physical Web Technologies Through Location-Based Games, Folashade Fatima Badmos

Conference papers

The Physical Web is a powerful, easy-to-implement and inexpensive way to bridge the gap between the digital and physical realms compared to other technologies used for web location-aware interaction. In this study, we propose a Physical Web for an inter-generational game through the Alien Mystery scavenger hunt. Through the design and implementation of a Physical Web for outdoor intergenerational games, we show the potential of Physical Web technologies in presenting different interactions between the web and the user’s physical environment. The game utilises the ubiquity of QR codes and NFC in modern mobile devices, enabling users to seamlessly interact with …

Effectiveness Of Generative Ai On The Development Of Graphic Software Artifacts, Gary Clynch, Ellen Mezera

Academic Poster Collection

Effectiveness of Generative AI on the Development of Graphic Software Artifacts

A Multi-Life Cycle Assessment Of External Wall Insulation Strategies In An Irish Domestic Retrofit, Sara Carrigan, Patrick Daly, Alberta Congeduti

Articles

European Union (EU) policy and initiatives are driving both building renovation and the uptake of low-embodied carbon and circular design in the construction sector. The European Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast (2021) introduces global warming potential (GWP) methodology, and the future state will likely be embodied carbon targets for which life cycle assessment (LCA) of buildings will be required. External wall insulation (EWI) will have an important role to play in meeting targets. In this context, this paper compares the carbon emission payoff of three alternative EWI strategies that address conventional, low-carbon and circular solutions to EWI respectively, in …

Design Strategies For Explainable Ai: 12 Guiding Design Principles For Human-Centred Xai, Helen Sheridan, Dympna O'Sullivan, Emma Murphy

Academic Posters Collection

With the growing demand for transparent Al systems, the EU's Al Act emphasizes the need for accessible explanations to foster user trust and ethical Al use [1]. Our research explores the "gulf of explanation" in XAl, evaluating how well current systems align with users' mental models and engaging experts to improve human-centred XAl design [2]. This work particularly considers the application of a new and novel HCl framework, a set of 12 key design principles for human-centred XAI.

Analysis Of Delta In-Out For Irish Natural Gas Distribution Network, Utkarsha Chavan, Anthony Reynolds, Michael Carr, L. Walsh

Articles

This article investigates the issue of Unaccounted for Gas (UAG) in the natural gas distribution network of Ireland, focusing on the DeltaIO (i.e. the difference between the gas entering and leaving the network). The study applies the DeltaIO methodology developed for Italian distribution networks to Gas Networks Ireland (GNI), the sole Distribution System Operator (DSO) in Ireland. The analysis covers the period from 2013 to 2019 and provides insights into the magnitude and trends of UAG in the Irish context. The results show that GNI's DeltaIO ranges from 0.93% to 1.57%, with an average of 1.15%. Comparisons with large Italian …

Sustainability Policy Inventory, Conor Shaw, James O’Donnell

Tools

The purpose of this inventory is to inform Irish organisations, including the private sector, public agencies and semi-states, about current or upcoming EU and Irish policies which have implications on reporting or other action in relation to 'sustainability in construction'.

Elevato-Cdr: Speech Enhancement In Large Delay And Reverberant Assisted Living Scenarios, Swarnadeep Bagchi, Ruairí De Fréin

Conference papers

Speech enhancement algorithms are needed for Assisted Living (AL) environments, which are characterized by large inter-microphone spacings, significant phase-wraparound, and high reverberation times (T60). We contribute Elevato- CDR, which addresses the task of enhancing speech given the large relative delays and high levels of reverberation, which are characteristic of AL scenarios. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Elevato-CDR’s performance and compare it with benchmark reverberation schemes, using speech mixtures which experience reverberation and background noise. Our findings indicate that Elevato-CDR successfully outperforms classical dereverberation algorithms in terms of subjective (MARS, PESQ) and objective (SDR, SRR) performance measures in …

Outdoor Navigation Support Using Machine Learning For People With Visual Impairment, Fatmaelzahraa Eltaher

Doctoral

Navigating urban environments is challenging for People with Visual Impairments (PVI). Many PVI opt to use navigation systems, such as Google Maps. However, current navigation systems often lack information crucial for PVI, such as the presence of traffic lights or roadworks. Knowing these features would enable PVI to understand their surroundings better and choose routes that suit their preferences. For instance, 79.6\% of PVI surveyed in this thesis prefer road junctions (termed intersections) controlled by traffic lights.

This research contributes to advancing navigation support for PVI in urban environments by focusing on annotating maps with useful environmental information. It proposes …

Modelling The Behaviour Of Rammed Earth Walls Using Finite Element Analysis, Eoghan Healy, Juan Pablo Osorio

Conference papers

Up to one in three people on Earth live in earthen buildings, with rammed earth being the most common form of earthen construction. Rammed earth is one of the oldest construction materials in the world. Rammed earth is coming into fashion in first-world countries due to its pleasant aesthetic and sustainable construction. In contrast, it can be a necessary form of construction in the global south as there may be no other choice. However, these homes are often constructed without technical advice or expertise, leading to dangerous situations for the inhabitants of these structures.

Existing Gap Analysis Tool Inventory, Rahat Ullah, Adhban Omar Ahmed Farea, Joseph R. Harrington, Ted Mckenna, Sean Carroll

Tools

The Digital Performance Indicator (DPI) is a valuable tool for organisations aiming to evaluate their digital capabilities. It is specifically designed to offer insights into how an organisation's digital performance compares with that of its peers. This indicator functions as a strategic tool, providing a clear understanding of an organisation's position within the digital landscape and offering actionable recommendations for enhancing its digital capabilities. The DPI is a dynamic resource that enables organisations to make informed decisions and maintain competitiveness in an increasingly digitised business environment.

The Role Of Interpersonal Conflict As A Cause Of Work-Related Stress In Construction Managers In Ireland, Patrick J. Bruce, Victor Hrymak, Carol M. Bruce Dr, Joseph Byrne

Articles

Construction is a project-driven industry that places a high premium on product delivery on time, within budget and to required standards. Modern construction projects have become more complex in nature, the complex relational and lengthy process of designing and building makes construction a process in which conflict is virtually ensured (Jaffar et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2023). These characteristics of the industry contribute to workplace stress. Therefore, it is not surprising that research has confirmed a strong presence of workplace stress within the industry, (Lingard and Francis, 2004; Vaux and Dority, 2020). Many construction managers experience excessive levels of …

How Can A Cloud Computing It Framework Be Created And Applied Effectively In The Online Printing Industry?, Stefan Meissner

Dissertations

This research aims to design a cloud computing IT framework for the online printing industry based on a detailed literature review, the development of proof of concepts (PoC), and the conduction of a focus group. The framework can be adopted by the online printing industry or by vendors of print-specific applications to optimize their products for the online printing industry. The author has been working in the online printing process optimization and automation since 2007. During this time, he got deep insight into many industry-specific applications, their architectural design, and their challenges being used in the context of online printing. …

Responses To A Century Of Housing Crisis: Problem, Politics And Policy, Paul Umfreville

Doctoral

The Irish housing system is reportedly in crisis. Homelessness, a lack of affordable housing to rent or buy, and limited security of tenure mean that the housing opportunity available to previous generations is not available to many of the current one. Problems with housing in Ireland are not, however, purely recent phenomena. Reports of inquiry and Census data have catalogued recurring housing crises and failings in housing policy over the last century, but whilst systemic shocks provided the impetus for historic housing policy transformation, inertia in the political system now appears to dampen momentum for effective change. Significant events seemingly …

Modelling The Operational Energy Demands And Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Non-Domestic Building Stocks Applied To A German Case Study, Julian H. Bischof

Doctoral

This work is centred around the global shift towards a post-fossil-fuel era, driven by climate change. The research is motivated by the urgent need to facilitate this transition, specifically focusing on the non-domestic building sector, which contributes in the order of 10 % [233] of global greenhouse gas emissions. The study aims to bridge the research gap in openly available, commonly accepted, simple-to-understand, validated and/or verified models and representative data sets of non-domestic building stocks that can be used to guide policymakers towards achieving climate neutrality. The main research objective is to create a life-cycle methodology and tool for modelling …

Assessing The Condition Of Pavements (Road Surfaces) Using Computer Vision & Machine Learning, Syed Ibrahim Hassam

Doctoral

Regular inspections of pavements are conducted by civil infrastructure departments to evaluate the surface condition. Pavement surfaces are subject to deterioration caused by several factors such as traffic, weather, and sunlight. This deterioration becomes evident through various distresses, including potholes, rutting, cracking, bleeding, patching, and ravelling, which gradually affects the surface layer over time. It is essential to assess the condition of pavements as it not only ensures their usability but also maximises public safety. Effective pavement maintenance requires substantial resources and capital investment to carry out the most suitable maintenance treatments at the optimal time. Furthermore, the outcomes of …

Building Integration Of A Solar Air Heating System, Fernando Guerreiro

Doctoral

In order to achieve the global carbon emission target, the high fraction of locally available renewable energy sources will become necessary to meet energy demand. Solar energy is one of the most important renewable sources locally available for use in space heating, cooling, hot water supply and power production. Building integrated solar thermal systems (BISTS) can be a potential solution towards the enhanced energy efficiency and reduced operational cost in built environment. The current research aimed at developing an active solar air heating collector for building integration. This system consisted of several asymmetric compound parabolic concentrating collectors with inverted transpired …