Search

This paper draws attention to the ways in which engineering solutions may contribute to access difficulties for local residents. It focuses on a case study of the Barton estate east of Oxford city centre and suggests that there is a need for greater awareness of how people can be affected by network and other transport infrastructure changes. The paper concludes with an appeal for more social awareness in the planning and design of engineering schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon architecture and environmental engineering students' approaches to health and wellbeing issues in design studio project briefs. The design studio project is a key aspect of the students' fourth year programme in a dual accredited (RIBA/ARB and CIBSE) BEng course in the SW of England. Whilst the overarching site and brief are set by the studio leader, each student develops their own project agenda drawing on extensive urban and site analysis as well as precedent research. Particular detailed aspects of the brief are then further analysed and researched as part of an engineering report study. The research draws on first author's earlier work on effects of non-prescriptive briefs on transdisciplinary studio working in architecture and engineering programmes. Drawing on visual ethnography methods, the preliminary observations drawn out of the study begin to consider key intrinsic/extrinsic motivations and assumptions students draw on to develop a health and wellbeing agenda in their projects and the way these motivations further inform analysis in the engineering reports. The implications of the research are twofold. First, the preliminary analysis enables new insights into assumptions graduating architecture and engineering students draw on to develop a health and wellbeing motivated agenda. Second the study has benefits for design studio education brief setting approaches in particular, increasingly drawn upon in engineering and multidisciplinary built environment pedagogy. Practical application : This paper enables new initial insights into ways designers (architects and building services engineers) approach health and wellbeing issues at early stages of design, drawing on a higher education empirical setting. It is particularly relevant to professionals as well as educators in the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the 15th Advances in Reliability Technology Symposium (ARTS) at Loughborough University, England on April 8-10, 2003. Objectives of the ARTS series; Number of papers presented at the symposium.

This paper considers relationships between landscape, transport technology and mobility in order to explore how the making of landscape, engineering practice and geographical knowledge are mutually constituted in landscapes of improvement. It examines work by the engineer William Jessop (1745–1814) and focuses specifically on his plans to make the River Trent navigable in the period 1781–91. The paper adopts metaphors of region, fluid and network from the sociology of mobility. It argues that these metaphors usefully inform the study of transport technologies and their related practices and knowledges, in the context of landscape as a mode of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the possibility that we may be able to use subjective measures of perceived risk in order to assess the relative safety of different shift systems. A large-scale survey of safety-critical engineers included three items relating to risk on each shift, namely alertness, likelihood of making a mistake and confidence in driving home after it. These three measures were found to load on a separate factor for each shift. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that perceived night shift risk could be predicted on the basis of circadian type, the extent to which the engineers could control their work schedule, and a number of features of the scheduled shift system. In most cases the relationships observed were reasonably consistent with established trends in either performance capability or accident and injury frequency. However, there were exceptions to this indicating that results based on measures of perceived risk should be interpreted with the utmost caution.

Abstract Girls' uptake of physical science, technology, engineering and mathematics (PSTEM) degrees continues to be poor. Identifying and targeting interventions for girl groups that are likely to go into STEM degrees may be a possible solution. This paper, using a self-determination theory and self-socialisation framework, determines whether one girl group's, "geek girls", video gaming behaviour is associated with their choice of undergraduate degree by using two secondary datasets: a cross-sectional study of the Net Generation (n = 814) and the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) dataset (n = 7342). Chi-square analysis shows that girls who were currently studying a PSTEM degree were more likely to be gamers and engage in multiplayer gamers. Further, using logistic regressions, girls who were heavy gamers (>9 h/wk) at 13–14 years were found to be more likely to pursue a PSTEM degree but this was influenced by their socio-economic status. Similar associations with boys and PSTEM degrees were not found or were weak. Therefore, girls were self-socialising or self-determining their identity groups through gaming. This research can provide the basis for whether encouraging gaming in adolescent girls can help them onto PSTEM pathways. Highlights • Girls who are heavy gamers are more likely to study a physical STEM degree. • Playing multiplayer games is associated with studying a physical STEM degree. • The studying of physical STEM degrees is dependent on level of social deprivation. • Girls are 58 times less likely to do a physical STEM degree than no degree at all. • Levels of participation in video gaming can change for girls over a year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Brian Spalding did not invent CFD. He did not even coin the name. But more than anyone else, he created the practice of CFD – its application to problems of interest to engineers. The author was associated with, and was an integral part of the team led by, Prof. Spalding that developed the basic engineering practice that came to be known as the Imperial College (IC) approach to “CFD”. Most of today’s commercially available CFD software tools trace their origin to the work done by the IC group in the decade spanning the mid-60s and mid-70s. This paper is a personal recollection of the key moments of the CFD developments at Imperial College and the role played by Brian Spalding as a leader of, and as an active contributor to, the IC Group. His key insights during this decade often made breakthroughs possible and re-directed the focus at critical moments. The paper also explores the opportunities missed by the IC Group during this decade of breakneck progress in CFD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

One of the great engineering projects of the Victorian era, the Manchester Ship Canal extends for 55 km from central Manchester to the Mersey estuary on England's northwest coast. In addition to providing navigation to Manchester for ocean-going ships, the canal drains a total catchment of over 3000 km2. As such, the canal plays a vital role in the prevention of flooding in central Manchester and Warrington. Despite its importance in terms of flood relief, the unique character and ownership of the canal have left it excluded from legislation regarding flood management. Unlike the majority of rivers, no model of the canal had ever been constructed, leaving a missing piece in the puzzle of flood management in the northwest. This paper describes the creation of a one-dimensional ISIS hydrodynamic model of the canal and the testing of a range of flood scenarios with that model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the design process and lessons learned from creating Schminky, a café-based digital experience. Schminky was developed as an experimental field trial to explore the role of pervasive computing. The game will be played by the general public for one week in the Watershed café in Bristol. The Schminky system and the experience design process is described and three key findings, creative tension, context and content are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction workers are exposed to considerable hazards carrying a health risk, e.g., dusts, fumes, noise and manual handling, yet there is often poor occupational health service provision particularly for subcontracted labourers. This paper presents seven case studies from large, engineering construction organizations, concerning current practice in occupational health management. The results supported the fact that data and records regarding health-related absence were limited and inconsistent, and that little existed in terms of medicals and health surveillance, particularly in the case of subcontracted workers. The main difficulties envisaged were reported to be the sizeable costs involved; the temporary and mobile work force; demonstrating cost-benefits to top management and a lack of interest amongst workers, perhaps exacerbated by the threat of lost livelihood. Managers also admitted limited health expertise and knowledge of the wider role health professionals could play in health management. Training and further research in this area are indicated.

Abstract: This essay is a personal reflection on John Long’s keynote address at the BCS People and Computers meeting in Nottingham in the summer of 1989. I try to locate the paper’s purpose and significance within the history of human-computer interaction (HCI), both prior to 1989 and subsequently, and particularly with respect to the abiding questions of what sort of enterprise HCI is, and of what sorts of knowledge it uses and produces. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article explores the response of the Science and Engineering Library team at Manchester Metropolitan University to the Covid-19 pandemic. It examines how the team's experience supporting distance-learning programmes acted as both a dress rehearsal and a road map for Library provision during the pandemic. In particular, the changing role of staff members whilst operating in the Covid-19 setting is carefully reflected upon. The article is structured into three sections, discussing support for distance-learning programmes, distance learning and Covid-19, and the changes Covid-19 prompted within the team's operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the causes and consequences of the increased engagement of British universities with employability and skills initiatives. By employing case studies of six universities based in England, it asks whether the increased engagement between higher education and the labour market is driven by universities or business and whether such engagement has increased the diversity of the higher education sector. Findings suggest that the alignment between labour market needs and educational provision in universities is strongly mediated by the competitive environment within which higher education institutions have been operating since the late 1990s: the higher education market – not the labour market – is the key driver for universities to engage in employability and skills initiatives. The article also questions the assumption that 'competition' leads to 'differentiation' in higher education. Rather, isomorphic tendencies seem to prevail over differentiation in the context of a highly competitive higher education market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aquatics Centre is going to be the jewel of the Olympic Park, 'The Gateway to the Games'. In this paper, the author describes the engineering behind the Aquatic Centre specifically its wave-shaped roof, temporary stands, and the pool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarly research at the intersection of the histories of technology and the built environment has revealed many tensions surrounding the design, building and management of major socio-technologies like urban waterworks. There remains much scope for research into the interdependence of socio-technological systems, engineering knowledge and the political and commercial agendas of municipal governments and private water suppliers respectively. In particular, the short- and long-term impact of reservoir disasters examined in detail here through the case of Sheffield's 'great flood' of March 1864, in which over 250 people lost their lives on the ownership and control of urban waterworks reveals many conflicts within the engineering profession, as well as the urban community itself, about the causes and consequences of socio-technological failure in the mid-nineteenth century. Using a rich variety of municipal, legal and commercial archival records, as well as contemporary newspapers, this article examines the competing interests involved in negotiating the long-term municipalisation of water supplies and concludes that greater attention should be paid to the influence of man-made disasters and engineering actors in this political game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antiviral provision remains the focus of many pandemic preparedness plans, however, there is considerable uncertainty regarding antiviral compliance rates. Here we employ a waste water epidemiology approach to estimate oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) compliance. Oseltamivir carboxylate (oseltamivir's active metabolite) was recovered from two waste water treatment plant (WWTP) catchments within the United Kingdom at the peak of the autumnal wave of the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 pandemic. Predictions of oseltamivir consumption from detected levels were compared with two sources of national government statistics to derive compliance rates. Scenario and sensitivity analysis indicated between 3–4 and 120–154 people were using oseltamivir during the study period in the two WWTP catchments and a compliance rate between 45–60%. With approximately half the collected antivirals going unused, there is a clear need to alter public health messages to improve compliance. We argue that a near real-time understanding of drug compliance at the scale of the waste water treatment plant (hundreds to millions of people) can potentially help public health messages become more timely, targeted, and demographically sensitive, while potentially leading to less mis- and un-used antiviral, less wastage and ultimately a more robust and efficacious pandemic preparedness plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineers make an enormous contribution to promoting the wellbeing of individuals and the communities in which they live, but engineering may also give rise to adverse consequences. Engineering therefore requires ethical awareness, and professional engineers often use ethical codes to guide their actions. The content of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s authoritative Statement of Ethical Principles is discussed and compared to the paradigmatic Rule of St Benedict. This leads to suggestions for the development of an enriched code for engineering that considers not only what actions are desirable but also how and why they should be carried out. Issues arising in the formulation of an enriched code acceptable also to those of no explicit faith or of other faiths are considered. It is suggested that the development of enriched professional codes is a general and strategically important challenge for theological ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on a case of university-industry interaction whereby a group of small businesses collaborated to encourage a university to establish a master of science (MSc) program in Pipeline Engineering at Newcastle University in England. It states that the researchers identified how the course contributed to regional development. They found out that the course provided graduates for local industry, it linked local firms with pipeline engineers worldwide, and it strengthened the research base of the university through the recruitment of pipeline engineers from industry and fourth.

Few rural settlements built in support of major engineering projects during the Victorian era have survived. Sudbrook, constructed to house workers on the Severn Tunnel in south east Monmouthshire, is an exception. Set within the phased construction history of the tunnel, this article introduces and evaluates the information content of school admission registers and school log books. It blends evidence from these statutory documents with census enumerators' books, church baptism registers and civil registrations of birth to illuminate patterns of family migration and residential "persistence'. Notwithstanding shortcomings in information coverage, the technique of household reconstitution is used to triangulate compatible historical sources and demonstrate the potential of school records for micro-level demographic studies. Through the creation of representative family histories, the study illuminates migration processes and aspects of community life between key census enumerations, and at a time of fundamental change in the regional economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhances the provisions of learning support material and improve access to Intranet-hosted information, in particular locally produced Learning resources, Student and Staff Information. Technical and philosophical aspects of building an Intranet for the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds; Two categories of information for setting up the Intranet.

A postgraduate training programme in the areas of student learning and supervision is presented. An experiential method of training is employed which involves laboratory and pilot plant supervisions in the Chemical Engineering Department of Imperial College. A series of workshops is used to facilitate discussion on teaching theory and practice, as well as on student counselling and communication issues. Log-book entries are used for the documentation of specific events arising from the supervision sessions, which provide a good basis for peer discussion, as well as an opportunity for self-reflection. A number of examples arising from the workshops are used to demonstrate the mutual benefits of the training programme to academic staff and students. In addition to training in teaching skills, the programme is shown to provide a mechanism for the quality control of demonstrators involved in undergraduate teaching, as well as a regular feedback mechanism to staff on the efficacy of the laboratory-based courses. Through teaching and a structured staff support scheme, the programme is believed to address some of the current concerns on the non-technical (soft) training, and on the further development of the broad science and engineering knowledge of UK postgraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a project activity used in the undergraduate engineering education which simulates the manufacturing life cycle in Great Britain. Project activity undergone by the students from the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath in England; Objectives of the project; Background activities; Involvement of the GEC-Marconi Electronic Systems Corp. in the project.

This article presents the role of resource based learning in the undergraduate curriculum in engineering at Exeter, England. It was recognized from the start in 1965 that the new syllabus proposed for Engineering Science would present pedagogic difficulties. In the view of academic colleagues elsewhere, it was an attempt to cram the contents of traditional civil, electrical and mechanical syllabuses into a single three year course, and as such it was considered impossible to teach. The objective adopted for the new course was to educate students for a competent approach to problems involving innovation or relating to failure situations. The syllabus was divided into five subject-oriented lecture streams with conventional names: 'Electricity', 'Mathematics', 'Materials', 'Mechanics and Structures', and 'Thermofluids.' It is convenient to recognize two natural subdivisions in the resource material: programs that replace lectures and those that support laboratory classes. A program that re places a lecture must allow the student to go at his own pace making his own notes and it must be readily available.

Discusses the American impact on British industry in the nineteenth century. Way that industry in England recovered due in part to the spread of ideas in America in the engineering industry; Influence which America had on the machine tool trade; Progress in the industry; Rebirth of other trades as a result of the rejuvenation of the machine tool trade; Variation in the pace of change between one branch of engineering and another and between different areas; Problems the industry faced; Implications of American industrial competition for British tariff policy in the early years of the century; Interpretation of British industrial progress.

Focuses on the history of Peel, Williams & Co., an engineering company in Manchester, England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Popularity of the company; Description of its founders and how they formed the business; Distribution of printed catalogs, which is early evidence of standardized mass production of engineering goods in anticipation of demand; Expansion of the business; Progression of the company and its eventual demise.

The article presents the author's insights on professor Sir Ambrose Fleming. The author notes Fleming as a fine teacher despite being short tempered. According to the author, there are attempts to interview Fleming regarding his work however were all sent away. The author recounts on the 50th anniversary celebration of the University College London (UCL) wherein Fleming was honored for his contribution in the field of Engineering. The author also mentions the Fleming's life after retirement.

Dates for your diary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]