New ICE report sets out six ways for civil engineers to act now on climate change

The Institution of Civil Engineers’ latest ‘state of the nation’ report focuses on six ways in which civil engineers can start tackling climate change, both in the UK and globally. Engineering knowledge director Mark Hansford says it is a transformational opportunity for the profession.

Active Exploration by Chance-Constrained Optimization for Voltage Regulation with Reinforcement Learning

Voltage regulation in distribution networks encounters a challenge of handling uncertainties caused by the high penetration of photovoltaics (PV). This research proposes an active exploration (AE) method based on reinforcement learning (RL) to respond to the uncertainties by regulating the voltage of a distribution network with battery energy storage systems (BESS). The proposed method integrates engineering knowledge to accelerate the training process of RL. The engineering knowledge is the chance-constrained optimization. We formulate the problem in a chance-constrained optimization with a linear load flow approximation. The optimization results are used to guide the action selection of the exploration for improving training efficiency and reducing the conserveness characteristic. The comparison of methods focuses on how BESSs are used, training efficiency, and robustness under varying uncertainties and BESS sizes. We implement the proposed algorithm, a chance-constrained optimization, and a traditional Q-learning in the IEEE 13 Node Test Feeder. Our evaluation shows that the proposed AE method has a better response to the training efficiency compared to traditional Q-learning. Meanwhile, the proposed method has advantages in BESS usage in conserveness compared to the chance-constrained optimization.

Formalization and Knowledge Representation in Advanced Engineering Informatics

The primary goal of this article in the research area of Advanced Engineering Informatics (AEIs) is to depict and formalize engineering knowledge that is multidimensional. This paper introduces conceptual framework and rationality as implicit methodologies to regularize knowledge. The objective of professionals, as well as the circumstances in which they work, should be considered when depicting and standardizing knowledge. The constructs of epistemology, rationality, and context are used to communicate various alternative data analysis techniques and practices that expert can use to institutionalize intricate engineering expertise and to substantiate whether a specialized conceptual model can support engineers with their challenging operations. A bottom-up method of research in advanced engineering, encompassing engineers, is suggested in this article. A social scientific approach to engendering knowledge for formalization and validating it is also recommended by us for scientists.

Investigating student understanding of a heat engine: a case study of a Stirling engine

We report on the study of student difficulties regarding a heat engine in the context of a Stirling cycle by the method of measurement. An in-class test about a Stirling engine with a regenerator was taken by three classes, and the students were asked to perform one of the most basic activities—calculate the efficiency of the heat engine. Our data indicate that quite a few students have not developed a robust conceptual understanding of basic engineering knowledge of the heat engine. Notably, the error ratio of the class given a simple tutorial of engineering knowledge is smaller than those of the other two classes by more than 20%. In addition, both the written answers and post-test interviews show that most of the students cannot associate Carnot’s theorem with a Stirling cycle. Our results suggest that both scientific and engineering knowledge are important and should be included in instructional approaches, especially in the thermodynamics course taught in the countries and regions with a tradition of not paying much attention to experimental education or engineering training.

Remote Facial Expression and Heart Rate Measurements to Assess Human Reactions in Glass Structures

In engineering applications, human comfort fulfillment is challenging because it depends on several aspects that can be mathematically controlled and optimized, like in case of structural, energy, or thermal issues, and others. Major troubles can indeed derive from combined human reactions, which are related to a multitude of aspects. The so-called “emotional architecture” and its nervous feelings are part of the issue. The interaction of objective and subjective parameters can thus make the “optimal” building design complex. This paper presents a pilot experimental investigation developed remotely to quantify the reactions and nervous states of 10 volunteers exposed to structural glass environments. As known, intrinsic material features (transparency, brittleness, etc.) require specific engineering knowledge for safe mechanical design but can in any case evoke severe subjective feelings for customers, thus affecting their psychological comfort and hence behaviour and movements. This study takes advantage of static/dynamic Virtual Reality (VR) environments and facial expression analyses, with Artificial Intelligence tools that are used to measure both Action Units (AUs) of facial microexpressions and optical heart rate (HR) acquisitions of volunteers exposed to VR scenarios. As shown, within the limits of collected records, the postprocessing analysis of measured signals proves that a rather good correlation can be found for measured AUs, HR data trends, and emotions under various glazing stimuli. Such a remote experimental approach could be thus exploited to support the early design stage of structural glass members and assemblies in buildings.

Forming the Competence of the Teacher of Educational Robotics

In the near future, the most popular professions will be those related to digital technologies: IT specialist, big data engineer, data architect, robot developer, operator of robotic systems. In this regard, the modern digital society needs professionals with knowledge in the field of artificial intelligence, physics, electronics, programming and design. In order for such demanded personnel to appear on the labor market, their training must begin at school, developing children's interest in engineering and technical professions. To solve this problem, a subject was introduced into schools aimed at the formation of technical and engineering knowledge of students - educational robotics. At the same time, there was a need to train teachers in this area. The article describes a meaningful model of training future teachers of educational robotics, in which the components of their professional competence are highlighted, the target and methodological components of training are presented, the organizational conditions for the formation of teachers' competence for the successful implementation of professional activities in the field of educational robotics are determined.

Self-Acting Formation of an ANFO Similar Type of Explosive under Fire Conditions: A Case Study

On 2 October 2003 in Saint-Romain-en-Jarez (France) a fire in a farm building triggered an explosion in which 26 people were injured. Police investigation, based solely on an analysis of the effects and on general engineering knowledge, showed that the explosion was caused by an uncontrollably generated mixture of ammonium nitrate (AN) and molten plastic crates which formed an explosive mixture similar to ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO). This is the only commonly known example of an ammonium nitrate blast taking place at its end user destination. Is such an explanation of the incident plausible and could a similar blast possibly happen anywhere else? The experimental results support this thesis of French investigators but raise further doubts. Laboratory reconstruction of the self-acting process of generating the explosive material confirmed the investigators’ report. However, other materials at the incident site could have influenced the final outcome too. The lab-recreated explosion of a mixture of AN and molten plastic partially confirmed the report’s thesis.

“We’ve Always Been Engineers:” Indigenous Student Voices on Engineering and Leadership Identities

Background: How do Indigenous engineering students describe their engineering leadership development? The field of engineering has made only slow and modest progress at increasing the participation of Indigenous people; an identity-conscious focus on leadership in engineering may help connect the practice of engineering with Indigenous students’ motivations and values. Methods: This study utilized a grounded theory qualitative approach to understand how Indigenous engineering students at a U.S.-based university experience engineering leadership. We explored the experiences of four Indigenous engineering students through one interview and one focus group. Results: Students pointed out how Indigenous peoples had long engaged in engineering work before contact with European settlers, and they saw an opportunity for leadership in applying their engineering knowledge in ways that uplifted their home communities. Conclusion: In addition to ways that engineering programs can better support Indigenous students who aspire to become practicing engineers, our study pointed to new directions engineering programs could take to frame engineering work as providing a toolkit to improve one’s community to leverage a wider set of motivations for entering engineering among many different communities underrepresented in engineering, including Indigenous students.

Evaluation of the teaching of physics areas in university engineering programs

Relevance studies provide a vision of the impact and degree to which an academic offer responds to the needs of an environment. In this research it was possible to analyze the context of the existing technological level programs with respect to the offer of physics branches linked in their curricula, in order to determine the correlation between these areas and the contribution they represent in the development of competences and skills for the exercise of the profession of Technologists in areas of Engineering knowledge. A descriptive methodological approach was used, through the application of instruments and tools that allowed synthesizing the findings in relation to the formulated study hypothesis. It was concluded that the fields of physics at the technological level allowed establishing the bases to articulate the knowledge towards the disciplinary study in each of the programs studied; likewise, it was evidenced that the behavior of the proportion of physics courses within the curricular structures are corresponding among the programs under study; and finally, it was demonstrated that the areas of physics are mostly addressed in the programs whose specific field demands the application of electronic, mechanical, electromechanical, manufacturing, instrumentation, automation and control systems.