Engineering Commons^™

Some Rather Mechanical Reflections On Symmetry: In Art, Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Etc., Jim Mcgovern

Articles

This Inaugural Lecture consists of some of my rather mechanical, being an engineer, reflections on symmetry in diverse areas such as art, science, engineering, mathematics, etc. I explain what symmetry is to me, giving examples with lots of images and mentioning or at least barely referencing art, science, architecture, engineering, heritage, cosmology, bicycles, flight, invention, ingenuity, history, wallpaper, mathematics, typography, structures, regular shapes, coordinate systems, spacetime, thermodynamics and suchlike.

Big Challenges In Designing Small Parts For Mass Production, Kevin Delaney, David Kennedy

Conference Papers

Micro manufacturing involves the production of parts or products with features on a micro scale. The technology is used to produce parts for several business sectors which have experienced dramatic growth in recent years and forecasts are that this growth will continue in the years ahead. With the loss of traditional manufacturing jobs to lower-cost locations many companies in Ireland see micro manufacturing as having significant potential to preserve and increase revenue. A move into micro manufacturing will present significant opportunities for those companies willing to take the risk of producing parts with micro dimensions. Such a transition is a …

Rampart Roads In The Peat Lands Of Ireland: Genesis, Development And Current Performance, Juan Pablo Osorio, Eric R. Farrell, Brendan C. O'Kelly, Tom Casey

Articles

The construction and improvement of roads on peat lands has always been a challenging task in geotechnical engineering. Rampart roads, which are a particular feature of the bog roads in Ireland, are caused by the excavation of peat from the roadsides over many years for use as a domestic fuel. The historical development of rampart roads and current performance under the added traffic loading is discussed. Various road improvement methods have been applied to improve the road ability to carry traffic and the technical aspects and performance of the methods are discussed. In particular, the performance of the improvement methods …

The Application Of Web 2.0 Technologies As An Experimental Method Of Teaching Remote Sensing At Dit, Ireland, Avril Behan

Conference Papers

This paper describes the implementation of an experimental method of delivery for a module of remote sensing material to second year students on the BSc (Hons) in Geomatics at the Dublin Institute of Technology. The project began as a reaction to poor levels of student engagement and unsatisfactory grades, as well as the requirement to focus more on real-world type problems due to the implementation of a work-placement semester for third year students. Both pedagogical considerations (movement towards formative feedback, interactivity and group-based work) and the effect of technological drivers, such as the popularity of the internet in general and …

An Evaluation Of A Conservative Transmit Power Control Mechanism On An Indoor 802.11 Wireless Mesh Testbed, Karol Kowalik, Marek Bykowski, Brian Keegan, Mark Davis

Conference papers

Power control techniques for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks have already gained considerable attention. Such techniques are particularly attractive because they can improve various aspects of wireless network operation such as interference mitigation, spatial reuse in dense wireless deployments, topology control, and link quality enhancement. In this paper we propose a novel delivery ration based Conservative Transmit Power Control (ConTPC) mechanism. Our implementation is conservative when it comes to deciding if the transmit power should be reduced for a given link. This is because we do not want poor quality wireless links to further reduce their quality and be overwhelmed by …

Force Measurement Methods In Telerobotic Surgery: Implications For End-Effector Manufacture, Dean Callaghan, Mark Mcgrath, Eugene Coyle

Articles

Haptic feedback in telesurgical applications refers to the relaying of position and force information from a remote surgical site to the surgeon in real-time during a surgical procedure. This feedback, coupled with visual information via microscopic cameras, has the potential to provide the surgeon with additional ‘feel’ for the manipulations being performed at the instrument-biological tissue interface. This increased sensitivity has many associated benefits which include, but are not limited to; minimal tissue damage, reduced recuperation periods, and less patient trauma. The inclusion of haptic feedback leads to reduction in surgeon fatigue which contributes to enhanced performance during operation. Commercially …

A Force Measurement Evaluation Tool For Telerobotic Cutting Applications: Development Of An Effective Characterization Platform, Dean Callaghan, Mark Mcgrath, Eugene Coyle

Articles

Sensorized instruments that accurately measure the interaction forces (between biological tissue and instrument endeffector) during surgical procedures offer surgeons a greater sense of immersion during minimally invasive robotic surgery. Although there is ongoing research into force measurement involving surgical graspers little corresponding effort has been carried out on the measurement of forces between scissor blades and tissue. This paper presents the design and development of a force measurement test apparatus, which will serve as a sensor characterization and evaluation platform. The primary aim of the experiments is to ascertain whether the system can differentiate between tissue samples with differing mechanical …

Why Do School-Leavers Study Engineering In The Technological University Dublin And How Do They Get There: A Report Of A Survey Of 390 First Year Engineering Students In The Technological University Dublin And A Summary Of The Data Collected Since 2003., Eddie Conlon, Kathleen Murray

Reports

This report sets out the findings of a survey of 389 first year engineering students who commenced studying in the Technological University Dublin (DIT) in September 2007. The questionnaire was completed online using WebCT.

The background information on students is taken from DIT records.This data is based on the records of 525 students who were attending DIT courses in October 2007.

Investigation Of Dynamic And Steady State Calculation Methodologies For Determination Of Building Energy Performance In The Context Of The Epbd, Mervin Dean Doyle

Masters

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the ability of a dynamic and a quasi-steady state calculation methodology to capture the heating and cooling aspects of a buildings energy performance in the context of the requirements of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). Chapters 1 and 2 provide a general background review and description of the implementation of the directive’s requirements in Ireland. Chapter 3 established the usefulness and relevance of building energy benchmarks, traditional approaches to building energy performance calculation methodologies. Chapter 4 established the ability of a sample of simplified and dynamic calculation tools to …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of A Discrete Rhombohedral Lattice Of Possible Engineering Or Physical Relevance (Revised Version) 2008, Jim Mcgovern

Conference Papers

A particular discrete rhombohedral lattice consisting of four symmetrically interlaced cuboctahedral point lattices is described that is interesting because of the high degree of symmetry it exhibits. The four constituent cuboctahedral lattices are denoted by four colours and the composite lattice is referred to as a 4-colour rhombohedral lattice. Each point of the 4-colour lattice can be referenced by an integer 4-tuple containing only the positive non-zero integers (the counting numbers). The relationship between the discrete rhombohedral lattice and a discrete Cartesian lattice is explained. Some interesting aspects of the lattice and of the counting-number 4-tuple coordinate system are pointed …

Metrology And Proportion In The Ecclesiastical Architecture Of Medieval Ireland, Avril Behan, Rachel Moss

Conference Papers

The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which detailed empirical analysis of the metrology and proportional systems used in the design of Irish ecclesiastical architecture can be analysed to provide historical information not otherwise available. Focussing on a relatively limited sample of window tracery designs as a case study, it will first set out to establish what, if any, systems were in use, and then what light these might shed on the background, training and work practices of the masons, and, by association, the patrons responsible for employing them.

An Exploration Of A Discrete Rhombohedral Lattice Of Possible Engineering Or Physical Relevance, Jim Mcgovern

Conference Papers

A particular discrete rhombohedral lattice consisting of four symmetrically interlaced cuboctahedral or cubic point lattices is described that is interesting because of the high degree of symmetry it exhibits. The four constituent lattices are denoted by four colours and the composite lattice is referred to as a 4-colour rhombohedral lattice. Each point of the 4-colour lattice can be referenced by an integer 4-tuple containing only the positive non-zero integers (the counting numbers). The relationship between the discrete rhombohedral lattice and a discrete Cartesian lattice is explained. Some interesting aspects of the lattice and of the counting-number 4-tuple coordinate system are …

Practical Issues Of Power Control In Ieee 802.11 Wireless Devices, Karol Kowalik, Marek Bykowski, Brian Keegan, Mark Davis

Conference papers

Power control techniques for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks have already gained much attention. Such techniques are particularly attractive because they can improve various aspects of wireless network operations such as interference mitigation, spatial reuse in dense wireless deployments, topology control, and link quality enhancement. However, until recently implementing such advanced power control using off-the-shelf wireless devices was not considered possible. For example, Abdesslem et al. [1] stated that “many novel power control solutions cannot be efficiently implemented over existing IEEE 802.11 cards”. However, in this paper we demonstrate that power control is now feasible and can be implemented in current …

A Vowel-Stress Emotional Speech Analysis Method, Charlie Cullen, Brian Vaughan, Spyros Kousidis

Conference papers

The analysis of speech, particularly for emotional content, is an open area of current research. This paper documents the development of a vowel-stress analysis framework for emotional speech, which is intended to provide suitable assessment of the assets obtained in terms of their prosodic attributes. The consideration of different levels of vowel-stress provides means by which the salient points of a signal may be analysed in terms of their overall priority to the listener. The prosodic attributes of these events can thus be assessed in terms of their overall significance, in an effort to provide a means of categorising the …

A Real-Time Framework For Video Time And Pitch Scale Modification, Ivan Damnjanovic, Dan Barry, David Dorran, Josh Reiss

Conference papers

A framework is presented which addresses the issues related to the real-time implementation of synchronised video and audio time-scale and pitch-scale modification algorithms. It allows for seamless real-time transition between continually varying, independent time-scale and pitch-scale parameters arising as a result of manual or automatic intervention. We illuminate the problems which arise in a real-time context as well as provide novel solutions to prevent artefacts, minimise latency, and improve synchronisation. The time and pitch scaling approach is based on a modified phase vocoder with optional phase locking and an integrated transient detector which enables high quality transient preservation in real-time. …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Exploitation Of Surface Engineering Technology Research, David Kennedy

Conference Papers

Surface engineering refers to a wide range of technologies that design and modify the surface properties and characteristics of components. The applications are very broad from macro to nano and from extremely hard materials to polymeric coatings. The uses are found in many engineering, energy, gas and oil, transport, medical, cosmetic, optical, chemical and sports industries. Research in this technology is ongoing and the benefits that can be derived are enormous. The design, wear and tribological properties of components for instance have been greatly enhanced by surface engineering and the economic benefits to industries far outweigh the cost and use …

The Effect Of Vibratory Milling On The Powder Properties Of Zinc Oxide Varistors, Maura Kelleher, M.S.J. Hashmi

Articles

The formation of powders from multi-elemental oxides for the subsequent formation of a green and sintered compact body is a major processing operation in the manufacture of ZnO varistors. The physical and chemical properties of the metal oxides are crucial not only for the formation of a varistor component with optimum microstructure and thus electrical characteristics but also for avoiding the introduction of flaws and reduced yield during subsequent manufacturing stages. The effect of vibratory milling using cylindrical zirconia media on the physical and chemical properties of the mixed multi-elemental oxide additives of a commercial ZnO varistor formulation was studied. …

Emotional Speech Corpus Construction, Annotation And Distribution, Brian Vaughan, Charlie Cullen, Spyros Kousidis, John Mcauley

Conference papers

This paper details a process of creating an emotional speech corpus by collecting natural emotional speech assets, analysisng and tagging them (for certain acoustic and linguistic features) and annotating them within an on-line database. The definition of specific metadata for use with an emotional speech corpus is crucial, in that poorly (or inaccurately) annotated assets are of little use in analysis. This problem is compounded by the lack of standardisation for speech corpora, particularly in relation to emotion content. The ISLE Metadata Initiative (IMDI) is the only cohesive attempt at corpus metadata standardisation performed thus far. Although not a comprehensive …

High-Power Low-Frequency Ultrasound: A Review Of Tissue Dissection And Ablation In Medicine And Surgery, Brendan O'Daly, Edmund Morris, Graham Gavin, John O'Byrne, Garrett Mcguinness

Articles

High-power low-frequency ultrasound in the range 20–60 kHz has wide ranging clinical applications in surgical and medical instruments for biological tissue cutting, ablation or fragmentation, and removal. Despite widespread clinical application and common device operating characteristics, there is an incomplete understanding of the mechanism of tissue failure, removal and damage. The relative contribution of cavitation, direct mechanical impact and thermal effects to each process for specific tissue types remains unclear. Different and distinct mechanisms and rates of tissue removal are observed for interaction with soft and hard tissue types. Device operating parameters known to affect the interaction include frequency, peak–peak …

An Analysis Of The Performance Of Foams Used In Hurling Helmets, Keith Norris, Stephen Tiernan

Conference Papers

Abstract Head injuries can occur in most sporting activities. The seriousness of these injuries can vary greatly depending on the sport. Many sports such as American football, cricket, baseball and hurling try to reduce this risk by designing helmets that are suitable to be worn by the players. The National Standard Authority of Ireland (NSAI) has recently made great strides in this area with the introduction of the first comprehensive standard adopted for the sport I.S. 355:2006, which sets out new testing procedures that all new helmets must meet. The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) has also stated its intention to …

Robots Assist In Treatment Of Stroke Patients, Philip Deering, David Kennedy, James Conlon

Articles

Robotic rehabilitation is a field of biomedical engineering which combines precise mechanical design with control technology through the interaction of medical and engineering professionalss to produce a new tool in medical rehabilitation. This article provides an overview of an interactive robot for the medical rehabilitation of stroke victims.

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Real-Time Plasma Controlled Chemistry In A Two-Frequency, Confined Plasma Etcher, Vladimir Milosavljevic, Albert R. Ellingboe, Cezar Gaman, John V. Ringwood

Articles

The physics issues of developing model-based control of plasma etching are presented. A novel methodology for incorporating real-time model-based control of plasma processing systems is developed. The methodology is developed for control of two dependent variables (ion flux and chemical densities) by two independent controls (27 MHz power and O2flow). A phenomenological physics model of the nonlinear coupling between the independent controls and the dependent variables of the plasma is presented. By using a design of experiment, the functional dependencies of the response surface are determined. In conjunction with the physical model, the dependencies are used to deconvolve the sensor …

High-Rise As Only Answer Is Tall Tale, Lorcan Sirr, Conor Skehan

Media

No abstract provided.

Proactive Planning Will Make Most Of Regional Differences, Lorcan Sirr, Conor Skehan

Media

No abstract provided.

Numerical Prediction Of Primary And Secondary Flows In A Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Tube, Ronan Oliver

Masters

The primary aim of this project is to obtain a fundamental understanding of the fluid dynamics and thermodynamics of the primary and secondary flows in a Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Tube (RHVT). These flows are highly complex and are three dimensional, compressible and viscous in nature. To obtain an understanding of these, a state of the art Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software package is applied for flow prediction with advanced turbulence models, and is employed to predict the primary and secondary flows in a RHVT. The models that are used include : the k-e model, the SST model by Menter, and the …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Planning For A Future That Is Going To Happen, Not Against It, Lorcan Sirr, Conor Skehan

Media

No abstract provided.