Engineering Commons^™

Surveying First-Year Students Prior Conceptual Understanding Of Direct Current Resistive Electric Circuits: An Update, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

There is an increasing diversity of educational background of students entering Level 7 and Level 8 programmes in engineering in Irish third level education. Student reasoning about basic electricity concepts often differs from accepted explanations. The paper reports, analyses and reflects on the results of a multiple-choice diagnostic test to assess student understanding of such concepts (developed by Engelhardt and Beichner (2004) for U.S. high school and college students) taken by four cohorts of students, on the same DIT Level 7 engineering programme, from 2008-12 (n=106) and two cohorts of students, on the same DIT Level 8 engineering programme, from …

Nanostructured Ti1‑Xsxo2‑Yny Heterojunctions For Efficient Visible- Light-Induced Photocatalysis, Vinodkumar Etacheri, Michael Seery, Stephen Hinder, Suresh Pillai

Articles

Highly visible light active S, N co-doped anatase-rutile heterojunctions is reported for the first time. The formation of heterojunctions at a relatively low temperature and visible light activity are achieved through thiourea modification of the peroxo-titania complex. FT-IR spectroscopic studies indicated the formation of a Ti⁴⁺-thiourea complex upon reaction between peroxo-titania complex and thiourea. Decomposition of the Ti⁴⁺-thiourea complex and formation of visible light active S, N co-doped TiO₂ heterojunctions are confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV/Vis spectroscopic studies. Existence of sulfur as sulfate ions (S⁶⁺) …

Optimized Monopole And Dipole Antennas For Uwb Asset Tag Location Systems, Antoine Dumoulin, Matthias John, Max Ammann, Patrick Mcevoy

Articles

Miniaturized monopole and dipole antenna designs are reported with performances optimized for ultrawideband pulsed radio applications. The geometries are created using Bézier spline shapes, which have been refined with a genetic algorithm to simultaneously take account of both frequency- and time-domain criteria. Time-domain measurements of ultra wideband antennas with uniformly distributed energy across the full 3.1-10.6 GHz mask are reported for the first time and validate a new approach to minimization of pulse dispersion effects in the antenna designs.

A Study Of Integrated Uwb Antennas Optimised For Time Domain Performance, Antoine Dumoulin

Doctoral

Antennas for impulse radio ultra-wideband based portable devices are required to be compact and able to transmit or receive waveforms with minimal distortion in order to support proximity ranging with a centimetre-scale precision. The first part of thesis characterises several pulse types for use in the generation of picosecond-scale signals in respect to the regulatory power and frequency standards while the principles of antenna transient transmission and reception are stated. The proximity effect of planar conductors on the performance of an ultra-wideband antenna is investigated in both spectral and temporal domain demonstrating the relationship between the antenna-reflector separation and the …

A Crowdsourcing Approach To Labelling A Mood Induced Speech Corpus, John Snel, Alexey Tarasov, Charlie Cullen, Sarah Jane Delany

Conference papers

This paper demonstrates the use of crowdsourcing to accumulate ratings from na ̈ıve listeners as a means to provide labels for a naturalistic emotional speech dataset. In order to do so, listening tasks are performed with a rating tool, which is delivered via the web. The rating requirements are based on the classical dimensions, activation and evaluation, presented to the participant as two discretised 5-point scales. Great emphasis is placed on the participant’s overall understanding of the task, and on the ease-of-use of the tool so that labelling accuracy is reinforced. The accumulation process is ongoing with a goal to …

Omnidirectional Circularly Polarised Microstrip Patch Antenna, Max Ammann, Adam Narbudowicz, Xiulong Bao

Articles

An omnidirectional circularly-polarised patch antenna is proposed. The antenna radiates right-handed circular-polarisation with an average axial ratio of 2.3 dB over a full 360° . A shallow diagonal CPW inset-feed was used to achieve good matching to the back-to-back coupled patches, providing a measured S11 < -15 dB at the centre frequency. The measured cross-polar performance is better than 13 dB and the realised gain variation is ~3 dB in the plane normal to the substrate.

Real Time Shrinkage Studies In Photopolymer Films Using Holographic Interferometry, Mohesh Moothanchery, Izabela Naydenova, Viswanath Bavigadda, Suzanne Martin, Vincent Toal

Conference Papers

Polymerisation induced shrinkage is one of the main reasons why photopolymer materials are not more widely used for holographic applications. The aim of this study is to evaluate the shrinkage in an acrylamide photopolymer layer during holographic recording using holographic interferometry. Shrinkage in photopolymer layers can be measured by real time capture of holographic interferograms during holographic recording. Interferograms were captured using a CMOS camera at regular intervals. The optical path length change and hence the shrinkage were determined from the captured fringe patterns. It was observed that the photopolymer layer shrinkage is in the order of 3.5%.

Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna For Water Pipe Sensor And Telemetry, Giuseppe Ruvio, Domenico Gaetano, Max Ammann, Patrick Mcevoy

Articles

An antipodal Vivaldi antenna operates simultaneously for telemetry and sensing when placed conformally onto PVC pipes. Good radiation efficiency is realised and the antenna impedance matching remains stable when the pipe is empty or contains water. The Fidelity Factor performance based on an input Ultra Wideband Gaussian pulse is a suitable figure of merit to detect water presence. Different water levels and pipe conditions correspond to Fidelity Factors between 90% and 96%, which are a suitable dynamic range for sensing and the appropriate quality for pulse communications for remote monitoring.

An Environmental Consequence For Dublin Bay Of A Shift From Hydro-Carbon To Other Energy Production Methods, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan, Michael Bruen

Conference papers

The Liffey Estuary and Dublin Bay, Ireland are of a great recreational and conservational value. Until recently, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) plant at Poolbeg, Dublin, abstracted dilution water from the estuary for cooling purposes and subsequently discharged this water back to the estuary at temperatures that were sometimes 7-9oC above ambient values. Prior to its discharge to the estuary, the ESB cooling water was mixed with the sewage effluent from Ringsend Treatment Works, creating a warmer and less-saline pollutant plume that remained buoyant on the water surface, adversely effecting water quality. The ESB plant has since closed as part …

Monitoring And Regression Based Modelling Of End Winding Vibration In Large Synchronous Generators., David Shally

Masters

This research project was set up to monitor, on an ongoing basis, the condition of the end windings and their support structures of a 288 MVA 2-pole synchronous generator with a known end winding vibration problem Excessive vibration at the end windings was caused by the natural frequencies of individual end bars (local) and of the entire end winding structure (global) being at or close to the magnetic forcing frequency of 100 Hz. Resonant vibration such as this has been a cause of major failures in machines of the same type in the past, resulting in significant down time ranging …

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Monitoring And Regression Based Modelling Of End Winding Vibration In Large Synchronous Generators, David Shally

Doctoral

This research project was set up to monitor, on an ongoing basis, the condition of the end windings and their support structures of a 288 MVA 2-pole synchronous generator with a known end winding vibration problem
Excessive vibration at the end windings was caused by the natural frequencies of individual end bars (local) and of the entire end winding structure (global) being at or close to the magnetic forcing frequency of 100 Hz. Resonant vibration such as this has been a cause of major failures in machines of the same type in the past, resulting in significant down time ranging …

The Presence Of Regional Accents In Electrolarynx Speech And The Resultant Effect On Overall Intelligibility., Brian Madden, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

During voiced speech, the larynx provides quasi-periodic acoustic excitation of the vocal tract. In most electrolarynxes, mechanical vibrations are produced by a linear electromechanical actuator, the armature of which percusses against a metal or plastic plate at a frequency within the range of glottal excitation. In this paper, a phonological analysis of a section of results from an online perceptual intelligibility test was performed which compared speech produced using a novel hands-free electrolarynx and a commercially available electrolarynx. A portion of the test consisted of a closed-set format containing a selection of four sets of four random CVC audio samples …

Enhancement Factors For The Vertical Response Of Footbridges Subjected To Stochastic Crowd Loading, Colin Caprani, Joe Keogh, Paul Archbold, Paul Fanning

Articles

The vertical acceleration response of a hypothetical footbridge is predicted for a sample of single pedestrians and a crowd of pedestrians using a probabilistic approach. This approach uses statistical distributions to account for the fact that pedestrian parameters are not identical for all pedestrians. Enhancement factors are proposed for predicting the response due to a crowd based on the predicted accelerations of a single pedestrian. The significant contribution of this work is the generation of response curves identifying enhancement factors for a range of crowd densities and synchronization levels.

The Implementation Of A Visco-Hyperelastic Numerical Material Model For Simulating The Behaviour Of Polymer Foam Materials, Conor Briody, Barry Duignan, Stephen Jerrams, John Tiernan

Articles

Polyurethane foam has been in use for some time in wheelchair seating systems as it offers good pressure relieving capabilities in most cases. However, little characterisation work has gone into seating foam materials by comparison with conventional elastomeric materials. Accurate material models could allow better prediction of foam in-service behaviour, which could potentially improve seating design practises. The objective of this work was to develop an approach for the validation of hyperelastic and viscoelastic material model parameters used to simulate polyurethane foam behaviour. Material parameters were identified from relevant test procedures and implemented in a Finite Element simulation of an …

A Case Study Investigation On Purchasing Green Transport And Logistics Services, Pietro Evangelista, Maria Huge-Brodin, Karin Isaksson, Edward Sweeney

Conference papers

In the context of green supply chain management, green purchasing has received increased attention over the past decade and the strategic importance of introducing green aspects into purchasing practices has been recognised. Despite this growing importance, little has been written in relation to purchasing green transport and logistics services. Considering the strong environmental impact associated with transport and logistics activities, much remains to be learned concerning buyer’s practices when sourcing more sustainable services from third party logistics companies (3PLs). The aim of this paper is to explore practices of buying green transport and logistics services in three different European countries …

Putting Supply Chain Management (Scm) Theory Into Practice: The Role And Importance Of The People Dimension, Edward Sweeney

Practitioner Journals

This article deals with a number of supply chain management (SCM) issues:

• SCM’s “Big Idea” – integration
• Divergence of Theory and Practice - the limitations of “hard-wiring”
• The “Human Chain”
• The Way Forward – asking the right question?

What Kind Of Residential Property Market Do We Really Want?, Lorcan Sirr

Media

No abstract provided.

Planning Ahead Takes The Pain Out Of Growing Old, Lorcan Sirr

Media

No abstract provided.

Assessing Aviation E-Marketplaces: A Mmulti-Criteria Approach., Emilio Esposito, Pietro Evangelista, Michele Mastroianni, Renato Passaro, Edward Sweeney, Claudia-Maria Wagner

Books/Book chapters

After a proliferation of logistics e-Marketplaces during the dot.com boom of 1998-2000, there has been a high rate of failure and survivals are developing much more slowly than expected. This is the case in the aviation industry where a large number of B2B e-Marketplaces emerged according to the focus of aviation companies’ strategies on electronic B2B in the late 1990s. However, the current use of e-Marketplaces in the industry is low and many of them have ceased trading. The traditional e-Marketplaces model has been characterised by poor quality portals and a lack of technical standards. Such an approach is unsustainable …

Bs News March/April

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Optimised Tapered-Slot Antenna For Real Time Location Systems, Antoine Dumoulin, Matthias John, Patrick Mcevoy, Max Ammann

Conference Papers

The design of a directional UWB tapered slot antenna for use within an asset tracking system is reported. The spline-based geometry was refined with a local optimization algorithm and a square root raised cosine pulse. The time-domain performance of the antenna is dependent on the optimisation method.

A Microfiber Coupler Tip Thermometer, Ming Ding, Pengfei Wang, Gilberto Bramilla

Articles

A compact thermometer based on a broadband microfiber coupler tip is demonstrated. This sensor can measure a broad temperature interval ranging from room temperature to 1283 degrees C with sub-200 mu m spatial resolution. An average sensitivity of 11.96 pm/degrees C was achieved for a coupler tip with similar to 2.5 mu m diameter. This is the highest temperature measured with a silica optical fiber device. (C)2012 Optical Society of America

A Survey Based Analysis Of It Adoption And 3pls’ Performance, Pietro Evangelista, Riccardo Mogre, Alessandro Perego, Antonino Raspagliesi, Edward Sweeney

Articles

Purpose – In today’s competitive scenario, effective supply chain management is increasingly dependant on third party logistics (3PL) companies’ capabilities and performance. The dissemination of information technology (IT) has contributed to change the supply chain role of 3PL companies and IT is considered an important element influencing performance of modern logistics companies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between IT and 3PLs’ performance, assuming that logistics capabilities play a mediating role in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach – Empirical evidence based on a questionnaire survey conducted on a sample of logistics service companies operating in the Italian …

Characterising Domestic Electricity Consumption Patterns By Dwelling And Occupant Socio-Economic Variables: An Irish Case Study, Fintan Mcloughlin, Aidan Duffy, Michael Conlon

Articles

This paper examines the influence of dwelling and occupant characteristics on domestic electricity consumption patterns by analysing data obtained from a smart metering survey of a representative cross section of approximately 4,200 domestic Irish dwellings. A multiple linear regression model was applied to four parameters: total electricity consumption, maximum demand, load factor and time of use (ToU) of maximum electricity demand for a number of different dwelling and occupant socio-economic variables. In particular, dwelling type, number of bedrooms, head of household (HoH) age, household composition, social class, water heating and cooking type all had a significant influence over total domestic …

A Review Of Situation Identification Techniques In Pervasive Computing, Juan Ye, Simon Dobson, Susan Mckeever

Articles

Pervasive systems must offer an open, extensible, and evolving portfolio of services which integrate sensor data from a diverse range of sources. The core challenge is to provide appropriate and consistent adaptive behaviours for these services in the face of huge volumes of sensor data exhibiting varying degrees of precision, accuracy and dynamism. Situation identification is an enabling technology that resolves noisy sensor data and abstracts it into higher-level concepts that are interesting to applications. We provide a comprehensive analysis of the nature and characteristics of situations, discuss the complexities of situation identification, and review the techniques that are most …

Phase-Distortion-Robust Voice-Source Analysis, Alan O'Cinneide

Doctoral

This work concerns itself with the analysis of voiced speech signals, in particular the analysis of the glottal source signal. Following the source-filter theory of speech, the glottal signal is produced by the vibratory behaviour of the vocal folds and is modulated by the resonances of the vocal tract and radiation characteristic of the lips to form the speech signal. As it is thought that the glottal source signal contributes much of the non-linguistic and prosodical information to speech, it is useful to develop techniques which can estimate and parameterise this signal accurately. Because of vocal tract modulation, estimating the …

Evanescent Field Coupling Between Two Parallel Close Contact Sms Fiber Structures, Qiang Wu, Youqiao Ma, Jinhui Yuan, Yuliya Semenova, Pengfei Wang, Chongxiu Yu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

We proposed a novel optical coupling technique based on two parallel singlemode-multimode- singlemode (SMS) fiber structures. This technique utilizes one SMS structure to excite multiple cladding modes within an output singlemode fiber. The excited multiple cladding modes will be coupled to the input SMF in the second SMS structure by placing the two SMS fiber structures in parallel and in close contact each other. The coupled cladding modes will be re-coupled to a guided core mode by the second SMS fiber structure. Theoretical analysis for such technique was provided and experimentally we have achieved a pass band spectral response with …

Investigation Of A New Material For Heart Valve Tissue Engineering, Claire Brougham, Nian Shen, Allison Cudsworth, Thomas Flanagan, Stefan Jockenhoevel, Fergal O'Brien

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Lynches Lane Reed & Willow Bed Facility Final Report South Dubin County Council, Liam Mccarton, Sean O'Hogain, Don Mcdonald, Anna Reid

Reports

This final report will present results from a two year study to monitor the performance of a hybrid reed willow bed facility at Lynches Lane, in the administrative area of South Dublin County Council (SDCC). Design specifications for the facility are presented. Monitoring results for a two year period including influent and effluent parameters, rainfall, potential evapotranspiration, and soil classification are also presented and discussed. During the two year monitoring period the system achieved a zero discharge. This report will discuss the potential application of similar systems within South Dublin County Council administrative area. This is in the context of …