Other Engineering Commons^™

Phenomenology And Hermeneutic Phenomenology: The Philosophy, The Methodologies And Using Hermeneutic Phenomenology To Investigate Lecturers' Experiences Of Curriculum Design, Arthur Sloan, Brian Bowe

Articles

This article investigates the philosophy of phenomenology, continuing to examine and describe it as a methodology. There are different methods of phenomenology, divided by their different perspectives of what phenomenology is: largely grouped into the two types of descriptive and interpretive phenomenology. The focal methodology is hermeneutic phenomenology – one type of phenomenological methodology among interpretive phenomenological methodologies. The context for phenomenology and the location of hermeneutic phenomenology is explained through its historic antecedents. When using phenomenology as a methodology there are criteria for data gathering and data analysis and examples of these are cited in this paper. Also in …

Hybrid Of Natural Element Method (Nem) With Genetic Algorithm (Ga) To Find Critical Slip Surface, Shahriar Shahrokhabadi, Vahid Khoshfahm, Hamed Nabizadeh Rafsanjani

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

One of the most important issues in geotechnical engineering is the slope stability analysis for determination of the factor of safety and the probable slip surface. Finite Element Method (FEM) is well suited for numerical study of advanced geotechnical problems. However, mesh requirements of FEM creates some difficulties for solution processing in certain problems. Recently, motivated by these limitations, several new Meshfree methods such as Natural Element Method (NEM) have been used to analyze engineering problems. This paper presents advantages of using NEM in 2D slope stability analysis and Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimization to determine the probable slip surface and …

Virtual Surface Temperature Sensor For Multi-Zone Commercial Buildings, Yuebin Yu, Denchai Woradechjumroen, Daihong Yu

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Multi-zone structure is commonly used in small commercial office buildings, retail stores and supermarket. While there is no adjacent wall between the zones, the impact of a neighbor zone on the current zone can be approximated and analyzed through the application of virtual walls. It is critical to accurately estimate the virtual wall surface temperature in order to evaluate the model uncertainty and apply improved supervisory control on multiple rooftop air-conditioning units (RTUs). We propose an innovative virtual surface temperature sensor based on system-identification to solve this challenge. The validation of the virtual temperature model is processed by the three …

Shallow Flat Soffit Precast Concrete Floor System, George Morcous, Maher Tadros

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

A precast concrete floor system that eliminates the need for column corbels and beam ledges while being very shallow. The main advantages of the present system include a span to-depth ratio of 30, a flat soffit, economy, consistency with prevailing erection techniques, and fire and corrosion protection. The present system consists of continuous precast columns, prestressed rectangular beams, hollow-core planks, and cast-in-place composite topping. Testing results have indicated that a 12 inch deep flat soffit precast floor system has adequate capacity to carry gravity loads (including 100 psf live load) in a 30 ft x 30 ft bay size. Testing …

What Role Does Mathematical Preparedness Play For Engineering Students Who Transfer From And Ordinary Degree Into An Honours Degree?, Michael Carr, Marisa Llorens, Susan O'Shaughnessy, Anne Marie Mccarrick, Domhnall Sheridan

Conference papers

Students who have not achieved a high level of mathematics at secondary school but have a pass in ordinary level mathematics have the option of entering onto a 3-year Ordinary degree (Level 7). Upon successful completion of this award students may apply to progress to the third year of the Honours degree. Up until relatively recently an upper merit (60%) was the minimum required to make this transition. In recent years this requirement has been reduced with many students with lower marks being offered the possibility of transferring.

Relatively little work has been done on the transition from an Ordinary …

Polysemy In Design Review Conversations, Georgi V. Georgiev, Toshiharu Taura

Design Thinking Research Symposium

This paper examines the role of polysemy, defined as the quality of having multiple meanings, in design review conversations. It examines the polysemy, particularly of nouns, involved in a dataset of design review conversations with reference to design ideas. The purpose is to determine whether polysemy is related to successful development of design ideas and more creative design outcomes. The results show that the polysemy of nouns involved in the conversations of the finally developed, successful, design ideas exceeds in the most cases the average polysemy involved in the conversations pertaining to the unsuccessful design ideas. Furthermore, the polysemy of …

Equipment Fragility Due To Shock Response, Christopher Y. Tuan

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Because of its simplicity, the shock response spectrum has become widely used as a means of describing the shock responses and fragilities of structures and equipment. This paper focuses on the drawbacks of using the shock response spectrum for defining equipment shock tolerance. A cantilever beam with a tip mass was used to model a hypothetical piece of equipment subjected to strong ground motion such as that caused by an explosion. The exact solution from a detailed modal analysis shows that multiple modes of response were excited. Contributions from higher modes can be more predominant than that from the fundamental …

Mixing It Up With Peter Mokran, Sound Engineer

DePaul Magazine

Peter Mokran (MUS '90) is one of the music industry's most sought-after sound mixers, engineers and producers because he understands what it takes to make a great record. He didn't realize there was a career in mixing, but he learned his craft at the DePaul School of Music sound recording technology program.

Neutrosophic Logic Approaches Applied To ”Rabot” Real Time Control, Alexandru Gal, Luige Vladareanu, Florentin Smarandache, Hongnian Yu, Mincong Deng

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper we present a way of deciding which control law should operate at a time for a mobile walking robot. The proposed deciding method is based on the new research field, called Neutrosophic Logic. The results are presented as a simulated system for which the output is related to the inputs according to the Neutrosophic Logic.