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Undergraduate Students, Engineering & IT Programmes
| Fourth Year Module Descriptions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
AY207 Management Accountancy I The information need of managers. The collection and analysis of cost information. Budgeting and profit planning (including cash budgeting). Relevant costs and the contribution approach to decision making. Capital budgeting. Effect of alternative costing methods on income measurement. Inventory planning and valuation. Other problems of cost allocation. Introduction to budgetary control and standard costing. Introduction to management information-systems concepts.
Financial management; interpretation of financial statements; management of working capital; sources of capital; financial institutions; the Stock Exchange; capital structure and cost of capital; project appraisal; cost/benefit analysis; valuation; mergers and acquisitions.
CE345 Civil Engineering Infrastructre Design II Design of Concrete Structures
Concrete: Design of earth retaining walls. Suspended floors: constructional options. Two-way action in slabs.Loads on supporting beams. Design of continuous beams and slender columns. Analysis and design of multi-storey reinforced concrete framed buildings. Resistance to horizontal loading. Foundations, including pile caps. Robustness. Buildability. Reinforcement detailing. Computer-aided analysis and drafting. Illustrated case histories.
(a) Design Office: Preparations of calculations and working drawings for designs in steel and concrete. Solution of problems by computer. The Design Office work is closely related to the course work in Design of Structures. (b) Soil Mechanics Laboratory: Properties of soils; strength and consolidation tests on soils; flow nets; model retaining walls and foundations. Sampling procedures in the field. (c) Communications: Written and oral presentations. (d) Engineering Structures Laboratory.
All candidates for a degree in Civil Engineering must submit a report containing the results of experiments carried out by the candidate or the results of analysis or a critical survey of the literature on some prescribed topic.
The aim of the course is to develop an understanding of the background to large Civil Engineering computer packages based upon such techniques as Finite Element Analysis. Boundary Element Method, etc. Application of these numerical modelling techniques to Civil Engineering problems will be considered. Expert systems.
Effective stress. Seepage and drainage. Shear strength: failure criteria; pore pressure coefficients; critical state theory. Consolidation and compression: coefficient of consolidation, pre-consolidation pressure; pore pressure dissipation; vertical drains. Stresses and displacements. Laboratory tests. Unsaturated soil mechanics. Lateral earth pressure. Bearing capacity: shallow and deep foundations. Stability of slopes. Embankment construction and monitoring. Geotextiles. Site investigation.
Analytical flexible pavement design. Concrete pavement design. Original airport design curves. Equivalent single wheel loads. Airfield pavements. Benkleman beam. Lacroix deflectrograph. Falling weight deflectometer. Pavement management. Road safety. Pedestrians. Cyclists. Co-ordinated traffic signals. Weaving sections. Queuing theory. Car parking. Traffic noise; prediction and control. Transportation planning. Public transport. Economic and environmental appraisal.
Management and organisational behaviour. Engineering economic principles. Economic comparisons and risk. Productivity. Networks, planning, scheduling and resource allocation. Computer based network analysis. Project control and cost control. Classification and distribution of costs. Statistics, decision theory and simulation. Quality. Qualitative analysis of continuous beams and plane frames. General stiffness method. Moment distribution method. Analysis of shear wall systems. Computer-aided structural analysis.
Design of earth retaining walls. Suspended floors: constructional options. Two-way action in slabs. Loads on supporting beams. Design of continuous beams and slender columns. Analysis and design of multi-storey reinforced concrete framed buildings. Resistance to horizontal loading. Foundations, including pile caps. Robustness. Buildability. Reinforcement detailing. Computer-aided analysis and drafting. Illustrated case histories.
Design for serviceability. Early-age effects in concrete. Water-retaining structures. Limit analysis of reinforced concrete slabs (Yield Line, Hillerborg). Prestressed concrete design. Applications in building and bridge construction. Introduction to composite construction.
Plastic hinge and plastic collapse concepts. Stress-strain relationship for constructional steels and other materials. Inelastic bending of sections - rectangular, round, triangular and I. Monosymmetric sections and effect of strain hardening. Simple cases of inelastic collapse in beams - simply supported, encastre, cantilever and propped cantilevers subject to central point loads and u.d.l. Two and three span beams with a variety of loads. Uniform and non-uniform sections and including compound sections. Principle of Virtual Work applied to collapse mechanisms. Static, kinematic and uniqueness theorems
Air pollutant characteristics and standards. Origin, fate and effects of air pollutants. Indoor air pollution, acid rain, dust odours, ozone depletion and greenhouse effect. Air pollution meteorology. Atmospheric dispersion. Control of stationary and mobile sources of air pollution. Properties of sound waves and noise pollution. Sources of noise and its effects on people. Noise rating systems and its control.
Binder types. Manufacture, storage and handling of bitumen. Constitution, structure, rheology and mechanical testing of bitumen. Bitumen specifications. Bitumen emulsions. Modified bitumens. Industrial bitumens. Aggregate specifications. Composition and specifications of bituminous paving materials. Blending aggregates. Mix design. Processing raw materials. Mixing plant. Paving plant. Transport, laying and compaction. Surface dressing. Performance testing. European practice. (a) Design Office: Preparation of calculations and working drawings for designs in concrete. Solution of problems by computer. The Design Office work is closely related to the course work in Design of Concrete Structures. (b) Soil Mechanics Laboratory: Properties of soils; strength and consolidation tests on soils; flow nets; model retaining walls and foundations. Sampling procedures in the field. (c)Environmental Engineering Design: Candidates must submit working drawings and calculations for design of environmental engineering treatment facilities. (d) Environmental Engineering Laboratory: Candidates must carry out a number of laboratory tests to establish water, wastewater and waste parameters. (e) Communications: Written and oral presentations, and simulated inquiries and court cases on environmental projects.
Water wave mechanics including the structure of ocean and coastal waves. Waves as a group and wave energy. Refraction and diffraction of waves, breaking waves. Waves as a random process. Ports and marinas. Marine outfalls. Beach processes. Sediment protection. Coastal protection. Tidal dynamics.
Advanced topics in structural analysis; space trusses and frames; elastic analysis of plates; finite element plate/slab analysis; dynamics; structural analysis computer packages. Engineering structures in the ocean. Hydrostatics, stability of floating structures. Fluid-structure interaction. Wave induced forces and responses. Piled structures, seawalls, breakwaters. Tidal dynamics. Wave energy devices. Oil exploration and production offshore.
Design of complete water treatment systems for municipal and industrial supplies. Design of small and large-scale complete treatment systems for municipal, industrial and agricultural
Suspended growth and biofilm systems. Carbonaceous oxidation, nitrification, denitrification, hydrolysis, biological and chemical phosphorous removal, anaerobic and aerobic digestion of wastewaters. Constructed wetlands and lagoons. Wastewater solids treatment including settlement, pressing, drying, digestion and stabilisation. Absorption, chemical precipitation, ion exchange and disinfection.
CE445 Civil Engineering Infrastructure Design II Design of concrete structures. History of concrete in structures. Limit state design principles. Loading. Analysis of reinforced concrete sections in flexure. Shear. Bond. Deflection and cracking. Durability. Design of simple reinforced concrete slabs, beams and columns. Pad foundations. Introduction to reinforcement detailing. Computer aided drafting. Simple computer analysis of frames. CE446 Advanced Project Management This module will use case studies to further develop and consolidate the students’ understanding of project management. Examples of areas that may be investigated include procurement, forms of contract, corporate and social responsibility, and so on. CE447 Final Year Project All candidates for a degree in Project and Construction Management must submit a report that demonstrates critical analytical and innovative skills in the identification and resolution of complex construction problems related to the construction industry. CE448 The Built Environment (Architecture & Planning) This module gives an introduction to architectural design, planning and management. This includes processes undertaken by practicing architects from concept to detail. Examples will be given to show how through creative thinking science and art can be merged to form innovative and novel solutions. CE449 Years Work in Project and Construction Management Communications: Written and Oral Presentations Design of Structures in Concrete Preparation of Bills of Quantities PEP reports Cost benefit analysis Hydrological and energy cycles, properties of water, evolution of water quality in the natural environment. Measurement of precipitation, evaporation and streamflow. Calculation of mean areal rainfall, mean daily flow and flow duration curves. Hydrological frequency analysis - floods and low flows. Water vapour, humidity and evaporation. Water balance and water resources. Linear reservoir and unit hydrograph. Groundwater and groundwater protection. Introduction to some proprietary computer models.
CE452 Engineering Hydraulics II Pipe Flow Topics including analysis and design of pipe distribution systems, hydropower development, urban stormwater drainage design. Open Channel Flow Topics including hydraulic modelling and hydrometry. Special consideration of topics in river water quality modelling and river sediment transport modelling.
Interception, infiltration and evaporation processes, soil moisture measurement, soil moisture deficit calculation. Puls, Muskingum and kinematic flow routing. Unit hydrograph theory, use of S-curve, UH design flood calculations. Regional flood frequency analysis using L- Moments. Conceptual rainfall - runoff models, SMAR, O'Donnell, HEC1. Groundwater hydrology and contaminant transport. Additional proprietary computer models of runoff and groundwater flow.
CE454 Sustainable Energy and Energy in Buildings Traditional’ energy resources and their sustainability; worldwide and Irish energy consumption; review of sustainable energy resources including: solar, wind, hydro, ocean, geothermal and biomass; nature and availability of resource, quantification of power, energy capture/conversion systems and associated environmental impacts. Energy use in buildings; heating and cooling loads in buildings; energy consumption profiles; thermal comfort and health; psychrometrics; heating and cooling generation and transfer equipment with regard to both thermal and power requirements.
The aim of this course is to introduce students to: (a) the application of information technology to sourcing and retrieving chemical information; (b) a range of analytical techniques and procedures widely used in the modern chemical laboratory; (c) the economics and practice of large scale industrial processes. The course covers: Sampling and Analysis, writing reports, Information retrieval using electronic methods and the internet, Analytical techniques; x-ray methods, gas chromatography, HPLC and thermal analysis. Standards and their preparation and storage. Introduction to laboratory information management systems (LIMS). Structure of the chemical industry, economic factors, reactor types and the use of catalysts. CS305 Computing Techniques of Applied Maths Introduction to approximate methods for ordinary and partial differential equations with particular emphasis on the Galerkin method, leading to and introduction to the Finite Element Method. To facilitate this, an introduction is given to symbolic computation, concentrating on the package MAPLE.
The systems development life cycle. Problem definition and requirements analysis. The structure specification: Process, Data and Time perspectives. Data modelling and data design. Structured design, modularity, design and maintenance of reusable components. Software testing and quality assurance: approaches and techniques. The Object- Oriented approach to Software Development. CT404 Graphics and Image Processing Transformations. Projections. Rendering Standards. Edge detection. Shape contours. Segmentation. Object recognition. Industrial
CT413 Final Year Project Final Year students will undertake a major Project in the area of Applied Computing, in which the skills and knowledge acquired during the course are given practical application. A report will be written on the project. CT417 Software Engineering III Software project management. Metrics and behaviour. Measuring software projects. Project costing and projections. Software Quality Assurance: ISO and CMM Model. Software Architecture. CT420 Real-Time Systems Real-time operating systems: Multi-tasking; co-ordination – semaphores, mutexes and signals; process message passing and task communication; concurrency; real-time scheduling; real-time system design; Petri nets; Standards POSIX; Operating systems QNX; developing real-time
CT421 Artificial Intelligence AI History and Applications. Predicate Calculus, Search Strategies, Production Systems. Review of primary languages; Prolog and LISP. Rule-Bases Expert Systems, Knowledge Representation and Natural Language. Review of Automated Reasoning. Machine Learning and Advanced AI Techniques. CT422 Modern Information Management Information Retrieval and Filtering. Text Retrieval Models: Boolean, Statistical, Linguistic. Vector Space Model, Latent Semantic Indexing, Semantic Networks, Connectionist approaches. Multi-Media Retrieval.
CT423 Systems Theory The nature of systems thinking. The art of problem solving. The scientific method. System methodologies. Systems Dynamics. Soft systems methodology. Total systems intervention. Case studies. CT432 Distributed Systems and Cooperative Computing Introduction to Distributed Processing Models, Distributed Operating Systems. RPC Libraries, RPC Design Issues, Idempotent Operations. Distributed Object Technology, Remote Method Invocation, Passing Objects by Value. Atomicity, Distributed Transactions. Distributed File Systems. Distributed Services and Security, Secure Sockets Layer, Service Interfaces. Load Balancing, Process Migration. Distributed Multimedia Streams. Active Servers, Servlet Technology, Session Tracking. Advanced CORBA Programming, Dynamic Invocation, Smart Proxies, Filters and Interceptors. CT433 Advanced Studies in Information Technology In-depth coverage of key concepts and techniques across a number of Information Technology disciplines CT436 Advanced Professional Skills Developing good interpersonal and group skills whilst examining the role of professional software engineers in society. A primary objective is to integrate and expand upon IT and Business skills. Support is provided in the areas of creativity and innovation, funding and planning. The module also examines ethical issues and the social impact of computing, with an emphasis on the responsibilities of the professional software engineer in maintaining good practice in systems development. Fundamentals of OO Analysis and Design. Encapsulation, Inheritance, Polymorphism. Function Overloading. Constructor Functions, Overloading Constructors. Controlling Fonts. String Classes. HTML Applet Attributes. Graphics. Event Handling. Exception Handling. Multithreaded Programming and Synchronisation. Abstract Classes and Interfaces. Packages. Input / Output Streams and Object Serialisation, Customising Serialisation. Random File Access. Socket Classes. Applet Security. Large Scale Design, Open / Closed Principle, Dependency Inversion Principle. Design Patterns, Observer Pattern, Abstract Factory Pattern. Component Design and Testing. Software Reflection. Collections Framework, Interfaces, Implementation Classes and Algorithms. Systems and Project Management: Systems, projects and innovation. Project generation and selection; systems models and architectures. Leadership, groups and empowerment; project planning and control. Negotiation, conflict and obstacles to change. Project budgeting and costing.
CT470 Object Oriented Programming Object oriented programming using C . Language extensions of C . Classification, inheritance, encapsulation and compiletime/runtime polymorphism. Object oriented data structures and algorithm implementation. Debugging, exception and error handling. The Standard Template Library. Advanced Concepts. CT437 Computer Security and Forensic Computing Computer security. Risk assessment. Policies, procedures. Audit. Incident handling. Intrusion detection. Honeynets. Firewalls. Filters. Phishing. Cryptography. Steganography. Information visualisation. Computer forensics and computer crime. Evidence: Acquiring, analysing, reporting. Forensic toolkits. Demand analysis. Individual consumer behaviour, market demand, cross demand, elasticity. Utility approach: Indifference curve analysis. Production: production functions, cost of production, isoquante application of supply and demand analysis. Market structures; purely competitive market, market equilibrium, the theory of the firm, monopoly pricing and output decisions under monopoly and under perfect competition. Imperfect markets, mono polistic competition. Income distribution. Factor markets and determination of factor prices. General equilibrium. Welfare economics. EC226 Cost Benefit Analysis Cost-benefit analysis is the most commonly employed method for the evaluation of public sector projects or programmes such as investment in roads, labour market training, regulation of the private economy and environmental programmes. This course will provide a comprehensive introduction to this method. The topics covered in the course will include analytical welfare economics, social objectives and the allocation of resources, quantitative methods, project appraisal and analysis, valuing time and the saving of life, valuing environmental change, and a series of case studies based on the use of this technique in Ireland and other countries. EE315 Semiconductor Technology The nMOS inverter. Primitive logic gate design and characteristics. CMOS inverter and logic gates. Device fabrication, nMOS and CMOS IC mask layout. CMOS circuit simulation. BICMOS technology. Practical considerations. Design using transmission gates and domino logic. Impact of technology advances on device behaviour and performance.
Discrete-time signals and systems. The Z-transform. The Fourier Transform. Digital filter structures and implementation. Digital filter design: IIR, FIR, window methods, use of analogue prototypes. Analysis and design of Multi-rate DSP systems. Adaptive filter analysis and design, LMS algorithm. Applications: speech processing, data communications, biomedical signal processing.
Semester I:
Laboratory experiments and assignments in the following modules:
Each student must complete an individual project in the area of Electronic Engineering under the supervision of an academic staff member. EE418 Communication Systems Engineering 1 Digital communication systems, waveform formatting, source coding, channel coding, interleaving, OSI 7 layer model, physical layer, data link layer protocols, Idle RA, Continuous RA, HDLC, network layer, circuit switched data networks, packet switched data networks, Local area networks, LAN topologies, Medium access control protocols, CSMA bus, Token Ring, Intra-networking devices, Inter-networking devices, High speed LANs, FDDI standard Microprocessor and microcontroller architectures, RISC and DSP architectures and programming. System and application development for embedded systems, hardware/software co-design and co-simulation. Device driver design and implementation. Embedded systems applications: ATM, wireless/mobile, consumer. Operating system and programming techniques for embedded systems. Micro-Java. Embedded Linux.
Design and implementation of software for telecommunication systems. Broadband multimedia networks; voice over IP and ATM Networks; Wireless Applications; WAP; Intelligent Network Software Applications.
Structure of the Public Switched Telephone Network, Subscriber Line Interface functions, TDM on inter-exchange links, Channel Associated Signalling techniques, ISDN basic rate interface, ISDN services, Introduction to tele-traffic simulation, Erlangs, Simple models using Erlang, s B-formula, satellite communication technology, Multiple accessing technologies (ALOHA, FDMA, TDMA, CDMA), Satellite channel capacity, Digital Circuit Multiplication Systems, Cellular telephony technology, GSM network structure, GSM Air Interface, Signalling requirements in GSM networks, GSM network services.
Each student must complete an individual project in the area of Electronic and/or Computer Systems Engineering under the supervision of an academic staff member.
Complex digital system design, documentation, capture, simulation and FPGA implementation and test techniques and EDA tools. Structured design methods for complex digital systems architecture design. Practical applications. VHDL hardware description languages : component modelling, test benching and simulation, logic synthesis, bus functional models. Timing analysis. Selected digital subsystems element: Memory, CSR, control and datapath, UART, Controller state machines. Computer architecture design. Pipelining. Asynchronous digital design: methodology & applications. Practical design issues.
Introduction to Dielectric Theory; the electrical behaviour of charge carriers; the PN junctions; behaviour of the cell membrane; static potentials and active behavioural modes; measurement and instrumentation techniques for Electric and Magnetic fields; active and passive techniques. Electric and Magnetic models of tissue, cells and the Human body; the forward and inverse problems; specialized subsystems of the body: nervous system; cardiac system; the brain; specialized measurement techniques; therapeutic methods of EM stimulation. EE432 Advanced RF Engineering Electromagnetics Advanced Antenna Theory: Hertzian Dipole; Small Loop Antennas; Half-Wave Dipole; Image Theory.
EE433 Sports & Exercise Engineering Project Individual or group project in Sports & Exercise Engineering. Each student must complete an individual project in the area of sports and exercise engineering under the supervision of an academic staff member. The project is assessed using a number of project deliverables:
EE434 Sports & Exercise Engineering Laboratory IV The Sports & Exercise Engineering Laboratory will cover experiments in the following list of subjects EE316 Digital Systems II
EE436 Signals & Communications SC-1: Fourier Analysis
EE3** Linear Control Systems I
EE436 Signals and Communications Part I
EE437 Linear Control Systems II Phase lead & phase lag compensation Basics of digital control. Representation of digital control systems in s-plane and z-plane. Interpretation of pole-zero maps in z-plane. Frequency-folding effects. Digital design by emulation. Introduction to state space matrix representation. EE439 Linear Control Systems I Modelling of feedback control systems. Polar plots & Nyquist stability. Performance specifications. Root-Locus. M-circles and the Nichols chart. Analogue controller design: PID control. Practical examples of the implementation of control systems.
Sources of energy, renewable energy systems. Three-phase transformers. Transmission lines. Power and load flow. Symmetrical components and unsymmetrical faults. System protection. Synchronous generators, transient analysis and stability. The required text is: Power System Analysis and Design by J.D. Glover, M.S. Sarma, T.J. Overbye, 5th Edition, 2010, Cengage Learning, ISBN: 978-1-111-4257-7. Recommended Text for reading: Power System Analysis by H. Saadat, 3rd Edition, 2010, PSA Publishing, ISBN: 978-0-9845438-0-9
Definition of Business Logistics; Evolution of Logistics; Total cost analysis; Materials Management; Physical Distribution; Business Logistics as a weapon for competitive advantage; Specifying and delivery of Customer Service; Supply chain management; Global logistics; Barriers to trade; Warehousing and Transportation Issues; Facility location and logistics; Materials handling, Unitization and packaging; Inventory Management and Modelling; J.I.T. philosophy and systems, Materials Requirements Planning, Distribution Requirements Planning. Technology in the Logistics area, Information for Logistics; Organisation of the Logistics Function, Logistics Strategy; Case Studies. IE332 Quality Management Quality assurance. Quality management systems, documentation, audits, standards(ISO etc). Total Quality Management, human resource issues, sourcing policy and supplier management. Quality costs. Problem solving tools and quality improvement. Quality Function Deployment. IE404 Engineering Design Project Industry-based design project, which integrates many aspects of the undergraduate curriculum.
Each student is assigned an individual project at the start of the academic year based on work done during industrial placement or topics assigned by staff members. Assessment is based on a comprehensive final report and oral presentation of the project results to the class and staff.
Introduction to ergonomics, ergonomics in the design process, anthropometrics, physical work, heat stress, manula handling, posture and posture analysis. Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD). Hand tool design. Lighting and the design of VDT workstations, noise, shiftwork, vibration, hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), whole body vibration. Design for assembly and maintainability. Machine and robot safety. Job design. Participatory ergonomics. Supervisory control. Lean manufacturing systems. Design manual. Ergonomics assessments. Design manual.
Emphasis is on the hands-on treatment of Computer Aided Engineering in the context of its application in industry. Involves the use of state-of-the-art adaptive solid modelling software, including Autodesk Inventor 5 and Viz 6, together with lectures on the general principles behind the technology.
Development processes and organisations, customer needs, product specifications, product architecture, design for x, prototyping.
Semester I:
Operations and production management as a competitive weapon; Long term benefits of modern manufacturing in the areas of quality, flexibility, market response and customer satisfaction; product/process decision; management of technology; productivity and its measurement in modern manufacturing and service industries, Components of operation strategy; Use of Analytical techniques; Writing of Hayes, Meredith, Porter, Schroeder, Skinner and Wheelwright. Case studies form an integral part of this course.
IE431 Project in Management Engineering Most projects are Industry/Services based, centred around a significant decision problem of interest to the company. A few projects are based on research interests of members of staff. Quality of design, conformance, performance. The role of inspection and statistical techniques. Process control; control charts for variables and attributes. Process and measurement-system capability studies/analysis. Product control and acceptance sampling. Process characterisation and improvement; design/analysis of experiments. Taguchi.
Placement objectives and learning outcomes. Curriculum vitae preparation, interviewing skills. Health and Safety in the workplace. Teamwork. Briefings from visiting speakers and presentations from students who have successfully completed PEP. Personal analysis of strengths and weaknesses. Ethics.
The nature of design; objectives, methods, processes. The supervision, assessment and development of design. Creativity, art. Idealised, heuristic and industrial design. Aesthetics. Safety, product liability, patents, copyright. Computer programming languages, computer graphics, modelling, simulation and computer aided design. Individual and group design projects.
Reliability analysis. Probabilistic modelling. Analysis of reliability data. Reliability management. Markov models. High on integrity protective systems. Maintenance modelling.
Part 1 Systems Safety
IE448 Safety and Construction Working at heights, excavations, mobile equipment, lifting operations, demolition, maintenance, confined spaces, scaffolding, plant, buried services, construction regulations, construction hazards, hand tools and vibration, safety culture, quarrying. Understanding business, value stream mapping, current state mapping, future state mapping, lean tools, lean balancing, lean layouts, action plans, lean problem solving, lean gaming, project work. (i) Understanding Innovation – definitions of innovation; radical and incremental innovation; disruptive innovation; open innovation; product, process and service innovation; innovation processes and methodologies.
Analytical methods applied to mechanical design; stress and strain analysis, linear and non-linear problems, constitutive laws, mathematical modelling of mechanical systems, system optimisation and reliability; multi-body contact. Applications to the design of beams, frames, pressure vessels, machine parts, thin plates and multi-body systems.
Review of control system concepts. Modelling and analysis of devices including electric/hydraulic servomotors, stepping motors and robot or mechanisms. Electric, hydraulic and pneumatic network systems. Transducer characteristics. Comparison of analogue and digital control implementation. Analogue computers. Overview of digital computer architecture. Role of mini and micro-computers in manufacturing (NC machinery and robotics), engineering design (digitisers and plotter hardware), process plant (supervisory control and simulation), data acquisition and processing; micro-computer hardware. Machine, assembly and high level languages. Control implementation. Design of computer interfaces for electro-mechanical devices.
This course builds on students’ previous knowledge and experience of anatomy, physiology and interaction of various systems of the human body. These aspects are further reinforced as part of the curriculum before new principles and aspects are introduced. It is the aim of this module to develop students’ perception and appreciation of mechanical principles present in the human body and to understand their effect on the body’s adaptation to external loads. These principles are applied to both the cardiovascular and orthopaedic system. In case of the cardiovascular system, the focus lies in the study of the effects of pressure within thin-walled vessels and the role of the individual vessels structure and function. Numerical problems are extensively used to strengthen students’ understanding of sequence of events that take place in the human body and its various systems and tissues in response to externally applied stimuli. The focus is thereby laid out on the biomechanics of muscle, skin, tendon and ligament, cartilage, bone, blood vessels and peripheral and spinal nerves. Time-dependent response to loads and effects of viscoelasticity are analysed and students experience these effects in labs carried out on biological material. Wolff’s law is used to describe tissue remodelling and the effects of loads on the macroscopic structure of tissues. The major joints of the appendicular skeletal systems are reviewed and principles of gait analysis and ground reaction force systems are outlined.
This course includes concepts of clean room standards, design, operations and related issues. An introduction to quality systems and quality management is given in the context of the production of medical devices. Statistical process control methods are introduced. Manufacturing technologies, including the production methods specific to metals, polymers, ceramics and other biomaterials are outlined for both orthopaedic and cardiovascular medical devices. These production methods are compared and contrasted in terms of costs, benefits and quality control issues, all of which are tied to relevant international standards. Issues of regulatory approval in Europe and the USA, notified bodies and application of FMEA are offered. An introduction to microbiology, testing and sterilisation is offered as it pertains to the medical device industry. ME420 PEP Report and Project All PEP students are required to give a presentation on the work experience they have gained while on placement. The presentation is given when the student returns to the university and the audience consists of class members and academic staff. PEP students are also required to submit a written report in a format specified for them before going on placement.
This course forms a continuation on the principles that have been introduced predominantly in the biomechanics course, but also build on some aspects that have been introduced in other courses in previous years. The main focus is on exposing how the knowledge from biomechanical analyses is utilised as a design input criterion for new implants. Thereby, the main implants and devices that are reviewed again involve the cardiovascular and orthopaedic systems. Initially, general mechanics are reviewed again, including types of loading, such as tension, compression, bending, torsion, pressure vessels, beams, tubes and rods. A short review of the various failure modes and mechanisms of different biomaterials is also included. The concepts of endurance, fatigue and cyclic loading failure are introduced and consolidated with examples from various implant types. Students are primed in the sequence of events that are necessary in the process of designing and developing an implant or medical device. A comparative approach is taken for each selection process and good and bad practices are identified for each application. The types of implants and medical devices that are covered by the curriculum include various types of fracture fixators and selection of their individual components. Total artificial joints and their design aspects, heart valves, vascular grafts and artificial blood vessels. Artificial organs- haemodialysis and total artificial heart are also discussed. A group design project is assigned, in order to strengthen the taught components and provide an apt opportunity for course participants to experience the design process as part of a team. Laboratory exercises further consolidate the awareness of tests that are required for the successful introduction of new implants or devices. This course integrates the principles and methods of engineering and life sciences towards the fundamental understanding of structure-function relationships in normal and pathological mammalian tissues especially as they relate to the development of biological tissues to restore, maintain, or improve tissue/organ function. The course builds on the three principal components of tissue engineering namely, biomaterials, cells and signalling mechanisms. Concepts of in vivo and in vitro colonisation, biocompatibility, bioreactors, standards, ethics and regulation are then introduced. Laboratory techniques of tissue culture are also integrated within the course and the students perform hands-on cell culture assays. A group project is undertaken and group interaction is encouraged through case studies and development of a strategy for restoring a specific organ/tissue is undertaken in the project.
Failure modes, brittle fracture, ductile fracture, Griffiths theory of brittle fracture, linear elastic fracture mechanics, crack growth in fatigue loading, fracture transition temperatures, viscoelasticity, creep loading, stress relaxation, recovery, dynamic behaviour, storage and loss modulii, Boltzmann superposition principle, fatigue of polymers, fracture of polymers, rheology of polymer melts, rheometry, capillary and rotational viscometers, non-Newtonian fluid flow, drag flow, pressure-driven flow, melt elasticity, analysis of extrusion and die flow, die-swell, introduction to composite materials, fibres, polymer matrices, micromechanics, rule of mixtures, composites manufacturing processes, anisotropic elasticity, laminated plate theory. Review of conduction and radiation heat transfer. Review of thermodynamics. Convection heat transfer - physical mechanisms, development and use of empirical correlations. Review of the Rankine cycle and modifications (regeneration and reheat). Review of air standard cycles. Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration. Renewable energy technologies. Case study for integrated application of thermodynamics and heat transfer tools in design/analysis of complex energy technology (e.g. gas turbine engine, hybrid electric vehicle). Design/analysis project: each student will carry out a detailed analysis or design on a chosen energy technology, following the model of the above case study. Laboratory assignments: internal combustion engine, experiment in convection heat transfer, CFD computation of convective heat transfer. ME426 Turbomachines and Advanced Fluid Dynamics Fluid dynamics of turbomachinery. Classification, system characteristics, dimensionless parameters and scaling laws, energy and angular momentum aspects, incompressible flow turbomachines (pumps, fans, turbines), compressible flow turbomachines (compressors, turbines). ME427 Mechanical Analysis and Design This subject covers the fundamentals of engineering planning and decision making, the mathematical and analytical tools required, and the subject matter employed in using these tools. These fundamentals are applied to a variety of engineering design situations. Application of mathematics, materials sciences and engineering mechanics to problems in the analysis and design of mechanical elements; considers product specification, manufacturing methods, safety and economic factors. Detailed design of a selection of machine components is covered based on analytical solutions, empirical techniques and test results. Practical design projects based on this course are carried out as an element of the course and comprise 30% of marks allocated. This course is mainstream mechanical engineering and as such underpins program outcome (c) particularly in so far as it gives the student the necessary skills required for the analysis and design of machine components. It involves an integration of skills described in program outcome (a) in an applied engineering context. Identification, formulation and solving of real-world engineering problems as in outcome (b) and (d) are strong elements of the course. In respect of program areas this course is central to area (d) – design and development and requires a good understanding of topics described in area (a) – Sciences and Mathematics. Safety, its implication on design decisions and the imperative for high standards in design integrity are emphasised throughout the course. The influence of economics and market requirements are emphasised in respect of design decisions and rationale. Codes and standard approaches incorporating best practice are introduced where appropriate.
Development of finite element equations from a governing functional. Basic element shapes and associated interpolation functions. Formulation of the element stiffness matrices and load vectors for elasticity problems. Formulation of the element characteristic matrices and vectors for heat conduction problems. Development of higher order elements, including curved elements and numerical integration of stiffness and load terms.
MG203 Business Organisation & Management History and Nature of Management and Organisational Behaviour. Forms of Ownership of Organisations. Process of Management: Planning; Organising; Staffing; Leading; Controlling. Organisational Behaviour: Personality; Perception; Learning; Attitudes; Motivation; Job Design; Stress; Leadership; Group Dynamics; Conflict; Power and Politics; Communication; Structure and Design; Change; Culture. Production/Operations Systems: Products and Services. Productivity. Strategic Issues in Operations: Positioning, Product Selection, Quality, Location, Resource Requirements. Inventory Management. MRP. JIT. Ergonomics. Operations as a Competitive Strategy. R&D and Operations. The Future of Work and Organisations. MG206 Management of Organisational Change The objective of the course is to provide students with a broad introduction to the disciplines of Organisational Development and the management of change. Topics include the diagnosis of organisational position in the environment; History of Organisational Development (O.D.); O.D. consulting process; The introduction, adoption and implementation of successful change in organisations. MK203 Buyer Behaviour Determining Buyer decision processes; economic, cultural and demographic influences on consumption, the role of social stratification and reference groups; the nature of the problem recognition process; search behaviour and information sources; alternative evaluation of choice. The course will examine the role of marketing in influencing each stage of the decision process.
Calculus of variations with application to continuum mechanics, etc. Methods of approximation to solution of boundary value problems. Solutions of boundary value problems; use of Fourier Integral, conformal 1 mapping. Rigorous treatment of series and solutions. Continuum mechanics. Mechanics of Solids. Elasticity. Saint-Venant problems of a right cylinder. Two dimensional elasticity. Ordinary non- linear differential equations; notions of stability; Liapunoff’s methods. Basic and applied principles of pathology and pathophysiology. Cell and tissue degeneration and death. Acute, chronic and granulomatous inflammation. Thrombosis, embolism, ischaemia and infarction. Neoplasia, benign and malignant tumors. Immunology and immunopathology and practical applications of principles in diagnosis and laboratory testing. Haematology and flow cytometry. Clinical biochemistry and practical laboratory instrumentation. Gene research and gene therapy; principles of regeneration. Information technology and worldwide access to medical knowledge and information. Infections, with particular emphasis on medical devices and implants. Nature and Uses of Industrial Psychology. Methodology: Research Strategies, Job Analysis Techniques, Job Performance Ratings. Individual Differences in Behaviour: Perceptuo-Motor Abilities, Cognitive Processes, Work-related Personality Traits. Human Factors in Work and Equipment Design. Effects of Working Environment on Performance. Accidents and Human Errors; Types and Causes of Errors, Job Safety. Human/Computer Interface.
Introduction, Management. Alternative forms of Managerial Control. Managerial Goals and Organisational Structure. Technology and the Worker. Technology and Control. Trade Unionism. Work and Social Stratification. Work, the economy and the State. Introduction and Course Outline. Impact on Work Organisations. New technology in the Office. IT and Manufacturing. Implications for Employment/ Unemployment. The Trade Union Response. New Technology in Scandinavia. Overview: the future of work.
This course is given by the Department of Surgery, but also includes contributions from visiting lecturers from the relevant healthcare industry. The main focus of this module is to describe how medical engineering is perceived and experienced by what can be considered the end users of biomedical engineering, namely the surgeons. How do various designs facilitate the surgeons’ work and what are design aspects in various implants and devices that are not yet adequately addressed? The effects of implants and devices are reviewed from surgical specialities and are not limited to vascular, orthopaedic, ENT, hand and plastic surgery applications. Students are organised into small groups that join participating surgeons in theatre for observation of the performance of different types of instrumentation that are available in theatre and the devices that are implanted. Each student then carries out a review and design proposal project on a specific application that answers a current clinical question. |
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This page was last updated Monday, July 04, 2011