Engineering Thesis Research Articles

Red‐Teaming as a Research Validation Method for Systems Engineering Thesis Students

AbstractAll research projects need a forward path method for performing the investigation, making findings and reaching conclusions. In addition, project methodology must include methods that test the truth of the knowledge claimed to have been developed through the project. We address the specific issue of validation in thesis projects in systems engineering (SE) programs where the intended outcome is either an application of SE method or an investigation of a topic in SE. We present red‐teaming (RTing) as a validation method for results of SE research. We discuss two case studies of thesis projects which used a RTing method to evaluate a proposed method for doing something. From this we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the RTing method in thesis projects and provide guidelines for use of RTing as a project outcomes evaluation method. We conclude RTing is a useful method to evaluate a thesis project which generates a design or a method because it uses a method not directly influenced by the student's assumptions in the design of the project. The RTing method is constrained by the challenges of finding willing red‐team (RT) members, project schedule, and the RT member's knowledge of the subject.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (WEBSITE) IN SUPPORTING GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION IN DEPOK CITY, WEST JAVA PROVINCE

The focus of this research is the development of information technology in supporting government communication in the city of Depok, West Java Province, more specifically regarding the website of the Government of Depok City, West Java Province.
 There have been several researches on the websites of regional governments, including; 1. Evaluation of E-Government Implementation on Local Government Websites in Indonesia: Content and Management Perspective by Edwin Arief Sosiawan Fisip UPN Yogyakarta in 2008, 2. Quality Evaluation of Local Government Websites Using the Webqual Method (Case Study in Ogan Ilir District) by Candra Irawan UGM Faculty of Engineering Thesis in 2011, 3. Website Representation of Lampung Provincial Government as a Communication and Public Service Media in the Framework of E-Government By Arlyandi Satya Djauhari Fisip Unila in 2016, and 4. Website usability level on the Banten Province Public Relations Bureau website by M. Ervin Kurniawan Fisip Untirta Banten in 2016, which distinguishes this research when compared to the above research are: 1. This research focuses on the development of information technology in this case the website for public services at the City level, Depok City, 2. This research uses the Alvaro Rocha study (2014) published in the Emerlad Journal which is Scopus indexed, the Rocha (2014) study entitled "Framework for a global quality evaluation of a website".
 The method in this research is qualitative, in qualitative research with an inductive approach it is easier for researchers to take pictures and describe the facts in the field, then the findings in the field are dissected with various theories that have been prepared. The results of this research are; The Depok City Government has used the website to communicate and provide services to the public, but the website needs some improvements, among others; 1. The renewal of information on the website needs to be improved, 2. Community complaints need to be answered immediately, 3. Depok City Communication and Information Agency needs to be given more authority to gather information spread across several agency 4. Website maintenance needs to be considered because there are several pages that cannot be opened.
 
 Keywords: Public Service, Communication, Website, Information Technology.

Non-Reductive Physicalism for AGI

Creature consciousness provides a physicalist account of the first-person awareness (contra Rosenthal). I argue that non-reductive consciousness is not about phenomenal qualia (Nagel’s what it is like to feel like something else); it is about the stream of awareness that makes any objects of perception epistemically available and ontologically present. This kind of consciousness is central, internally to one’s awareness. Externally, the feel about one’s significant other’s that “there is someone home” is quite important too. This is not substance dualism since creature consciousness and functional consciousness are both at different generality levels of physicalism. Surprisingly, pre-Hegel philosophy of pure subject is more fitting with the current engineering approach than analytical phenomenalism. The complementary view of subject- and object-related perspectives, may come from Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre; but here it is placed, securely within the physicalist paradigm. It is essential to the Engineering Thesis in Machine Consciousness, which helps us understand under what general conditions a machine would be first-person conscious, but when it is merely functionally conscious.

Stability Testing Method for Underwater ROVs

Abstract The article presents the results of research carried out in the framework of an engineering thesis prepared at the Department of Underwater Works Technology of the Naval Academy in Gdynia. The objective of the work was to develop a method and a station to test the stability of deep-sea ROVs. The study presents the theoretical basis of the method as well as the results of performed experiments.

Initial Verification of an Application for the Calculation of Technological Parameters During Production of Trimix Mixture

Abstract The paper presents the results of an engineering thesis carried out at the Department of Underwater Works Technology of the Naval Academy in Gdynia. The subject of the thesis was to improve calculations during the production of a trimix mixture based on a previously produced nitrox mixture. This was done by developing a dedicated computer application. The article describes the reasons for using artificial breathing mixes, an application developed as part of the thesis and the method of its initial verification along with the directions for further research activities.

Pedagogical-Publication Tensions in Undergraduate Engineering Thesis Supervision

In light of the assessment criteria for the doctor of philosophy and masters by research degrees, postgraduate thesis supervision can reasonably be categorised as predominantly research output focussed. This goal is naturally congruent with the publication agenda driving much academic staff activity in the modern ‘publish or perish’ university culture. In contrast, due to the lack of student research experience, the undergraduate thesis is necessarily focussed primarily on the development of research skills (i.e. it is process not output oriented). Undergraduate thesis supervision requires more than just research skills from supervising staff. The lessons learnt from postgraduate research supervision are therefore not always directly transferable to undergraduate thesis supervision. In contrast to the vast body of work in the field of doctoral research supervision, there exists a dearth of literature on undergraduate dissertation supervision. The present study examined the alignment of university, supervisor and student expectations regarding responsibilities in the undergraduate engineering thesis. University expectations, having undergone rigorous review, form the sound pedagogical practice baseline that should be applied to undergraduate supervision. Expectations of academic staff supervisors and thesis students were obtained through the use of survey tools. The surveys used in the present study were adapted from the Role Perceptions Rating Scale (RPRS). Alignment between student and university expectations regarding undergraduate thesis responsibilities in the present study was generally poor. The discrepancy between supervisor and university expectations was even greater, with academic staff generally alarmingly assuming the bulk of the responsibility for many core thesis tasks. The main driver identified for this behaviour (i.e. the supervisor expectations that undergraduate thesis research would contribute to publications) was investigated through post-survey discussions and interviews. Taking primary responsibility for core thesis tasks away from the student, although improving the likelihood of successful research output, diminishes the ability for an accurate assessment of adequate academic performance. The learning that is intended to result from the undergraduate thesis is devalued when research outcomes are prioritised over research process.

Curriculum Provision and Practice of Chemical Engineering Thesis Writing: A Case Study of the College of Chemical Engineering of Sichuan University

Curriculum Provision and Practice of Chemical Engineering Thesis Writing: A Case Study of the College of Chemical Engineering of Sichuan University

Consciousness for AGI

Abstract AI can think, lthough we need to clarify definition of thinking. It is cognitive, though we need more clarity on cognition. Definitions of consciousness are so diversified that it is not clear whether present-level AI can be conscious – this is primarily for definitional reasons. To fix this would require four definitional clusters: functional consciousness, access consciousness, phenomenal consciousness, hard consciousness. Interestingly, phenomenal consciousness may be understood as first-person functional consciousness, as well as non-reductive phenomenal consciousness the way Ned Block intended [1]. The latter assumes non-reducible experiences or qualia, which is how Dave Chalmers defines the subject matter of the so-called Hard Problem of Consciousness [2]. To the contrary, I pose that the Hard Problem should not be seen as the problem of phenomenal experiences, since those are just objects in the world (specifically, in our mind). What is special in non-reductive consciousness is not its (phenomenal) content, but its epistemic basis (the carrier-wave of phenomenal qualia) often called the locus of consciousness [3]. It should be understood through the notion of ‘subject that is not an object’ [4]. This requires a complementary ontology of subject and object [5, 6, 4]. Reductionism is justified in the context of objects, including the experiences (phenomena), but not in the realm of pure subjectivity – such subjectivity is relevant for epistemic co-constitution of reality as it is for Husserl and Fichte [7, 8]. This is less so for Kant for whom the subject was active, so it was a mechanism and mechanism are all objects [9]). Pure epistemicity is hard to grasp; it transpires in second-person relationships with other conscious beings [10] or monads [11, 12]. If Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is to dwell in the world of meaningful existences, not just their shadows, as the case of Church-Turing Lovers highlights [13], it requires full epistemic subjectivity, meeting the standards of the Engineering Thesis in Machine Consciousness [14, 15].

THE IMPROVEMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (WEBSITE) IN SUPPORTING GOVERNANCE COMMUNICATION IN KOTA DEPOK, PROVINCE OF WEST JAVA

Abstract
 The focus of this research is the development of information technology in supporting government communication in the city of Depok, West Java Province, more specifically regarding the website of the Government of Depok City, West Java Province.There have been several researches on the website of regional governments, including; 1. Evaluation of Government Implementation on Local Government Websites in Indonesia: Content and Management Perspective by Edwin Arief Sosiawan FISIP UPN Yogyakarta in 2008, 2. Quality Evaluation of Local Government Websites Using the Webqual Method (Case Study in Ogan Ilir District) by Candra Irawan UGM Faculty of Engineering Thesis in 2011, 3. Website Representation of Lampung Provincial Government as a Communication and Public Service Media in the Framework of E-Government by Arlyandi Satya Djauhari FISIP UNILA in 2016, and 4. Website usability level on the Banten Province Public Relation Bureau Website by M. Ervin Kurniawan Fisip Untirta Banten 2016, which distinguishes this research when compared to the above research are: 1. This research focuses on the development of information technology in Alvaro Rocha study (2014) published in the Emerlad Journal which is Scopus Indexed, the Rocha (2014) study entitled “Framework for a global quality evaluation of a website”. The method in this research is qualitative, in qualitative research with an inductive approach in easier for researchers to take pictures and describe the facts in the field, then the findings in the field are dissected with various theories that have been prepared. The results of this research are; The Depok City Government has used the website to communicate and provide of information on the website needs to be improved, 2. Community complaints need to be answered immediately, 3. Depok City Communication and Information Agency needs to be given more authority to gather information spread across several agency, 4. Website maintenance need to be considered because there are several pages that cannot be opened. 
 Keywords: Communication, Information Technology, Public Service, Website

Student-supervisor-university expectation alignment in the undergraduate engineering thesis

Given the lack of student research experience, the undergraduate thesis is necessarily focussed primarily on development of research skills (i.e. it is process oriented). Since postgraduate supervision is research output focussed, the lessons learnt from this field are not always directly transferable. In contrast to the vast body of work in the field of doctoral research supervision, there exists a dearth of literature on undergraduate dissertation supervision. To address this shortcoming, the present study examined the alignment of university, supervisor and student expectations regarding responsibilities in the undergraduate engineering thesis. University expectations, having undergone rigorous review, outline the sound pedagogical practice that should be applied to undergraduate supervision. Expectations of academic staff supervisors and thesis students were obtained through the use of survey tools and post-survey discussions. The surveys used in the present study were adapted from the Role Perceptions Rating Scale (RPRS). Alignment between student and university expectations regarding undergraduate thesis responsibilities in the present study was generally poor. The discrepancy between supervisor and university expectations was even greater, with academic staff generally assuming the bulk of the responsibility for many core thesis tasks. Post-survey discussion indicated that the driver for this behaviour were supervisor expectations that that undergraduate thesis research would contribute to publications. Taking primary responsibility for core thesis tasks away from the student, although improving the likelihood of successful research output, diminishes the ability for an accurate assessment of adequate academic performance. The learning that is intended to result from the undergraduate thesis is devalued when research outcomes are prioritised over research process.

Perbandingan Algoritma Pengkodean Suara Manusia : Adaptive Delta Modulation and Linear Prediction Coding

Coding algorithms human voice with ADM (Adaptive Delta Modulation) and LPC (Linear Prediction Coding) made to the encoding signals digitally produced has bit rate as low as possible, thus saving bandwidth transmission line if it will be distributed to the transmission medium, and save memory or computer storage if it will be stored as data storage. ADM technique different from the LPC, the difference is generally classified on how it is encoded. If the ADM system which is encoded representation of the waveform so often called "waveform coding", while the system is encoded LPC are the parameters of the source of the human voice, so often called the "parametric coding". Human voice coding algorithms to be compared are the results of my own research when conducting studies Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering at ITB. The results of measurements taken from the ADM system materials Bachelor of Engineering Thesis entitled "Low Bit-Rate Delta Modulation", while the LPC system is taken from the material Engineering Master's thesis with the title "Voice Signal Processing with LPC Method". From the measurement results ADM system can generate the bit rate of 16 Kbps, while the LPC system generates the bit rate of 2.4 Kbps with the sound quality is almost the same output quality human voice that can be understood (intelligible speech).

Action learning in undergraduate engineering thesis supervision

In the present action learning implementation, twelve action learning sets were conducted over eight years. The action learning sets consisted of students involved in undergraduate engineering research thesis work. The concurrent study accompanying this initiative, investigated the influence of the action learning environment on student approaches to learning and any accompanying academic, learning and personal benefits realised. The influence of preferred learning styles on set function and student adoption of the action learning process were also examined. The action learning environment implemented had a measurable significant positive effect on student academic performance, their ability to cope with the stresses associated with conducting a research thesis, the depth of learning, the development of autonomous learners and student perception of the research thesis experience. The present study acts as an addendum to a smaller scale implementation of this action learning approach, applied to supervision of third and fourth year research projects and theses, published in 2010.

Formative assessment to develop oral communication competency using YouTube: self- and peer assessment in engineering

ABSTRACTObtaining oral communication competency is an important skill for engineering students to prepare them for interacting and working in any professional setting. For engineers, it is also important to be able to present technical information to non-technical audiences. To ensure oral competency, a non-graded formative assessment approach using video with self- and peer assessment was introduced into a final-year engineering thesis course. A low workload approach was used due to growing student numbers and higher pressures on academic staff. A quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the differences between traditional delivery, self-assessment and combined self-assessment with peer feedback. The study found that the formative models were seen by students to help develop their presentation skills. However, the results showed no significant improvement compared to the traditional method. This could be due to previous presentation practice within the degree or more probable, the lack of incentive for weaker students to engage and improve due to the ungraded nature of the activity.

HARDINESS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS WITH SORT OF STUDENTS IN THESIS

Thesis is defined as a scientific essay that must be written by students as part of the final terms of academic education (in KBBI, 2011, h.1325). Based on the observations made by Gunawati, et. all (2006) found that the daily behavior of students who are preparing theses indicate the presence of symptoms of stress. Stress is a condition of the physical and psychological stress due to the demands of the self and the environment. This study aimed to test empirically the relationship between Stress Hardiness In Preparing Students in the Faculty of Engineering Thesis Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Diponegoro in Semarang. Total population in the study of 60 people, due to the limited number of population, the study will use the study population. The sampling technique used accidental sampling. Retrieval of data using the Student Stress Scale with 24 items Thesis Preparation (α = 0.867), and the Hardiness Scale with 24 items (α = 0.837). Data analysis using simple regression analysis. The results showed a correlation coefficient rxy = - 0.553 with p = 0.000 (p <0.01), which means showed no significant negative relationship between hardiness to stress on students in the thesis. That is, the higher the lower the stress Hardiness students in the thesis, and vice versa. The hardiness contribute to stress by 30.6% of students in the thesis, and the remaining 69.4% are other factors suspected to influence the stress mahasciswa thesis.

Stance Adverbials in Engineering Thesis Abstracts

This paper reports a study on how L2 writers make their stance in 30 doctoral theses in the field of Engineering. The results show that adverbials are widely employed in theses abstracts and are important means for indicating the degree of writer's certainty about the presented information. We also found that writers expressed their evaluations using different adverbial stance types and at varying frequency according to the rhetorical moves commonly found in abstracts. Among these three domains, epistemic stance seemed to enjoy the highest frequency of use. This study shed some lights into how non -native writers use adverbials to mark their stance and comment on certainty and reliability of their research.

The Engineering Thesis in Machine Consciousness

I argue here that consciousness can be engineered. The claim that functional consciousness can be engineered has been persuasively put forth in regards to first-person functional consciousness; robots, for instance, can recognize colors, though there is still much debate about details of this sort of consciousness. Such consciousness has now become one of the meanings of the term phenomenal consciousness (e.g., as used by Franklin and Baars). Yet, we extend the argument beyond the tradition of behaviorist or functional reductive views on consciousness that still predominate within cognitive science. If Nagel-Chalmers-Block-style non-reductive naturalism about first-person consciousness (h-consciousness) holds true, then, eventually we should be able to understand how such consciousness operates and how it gets produced (this is not the same as bridging the explanatory gap or solving Chalmers’s hard problem of consciousness). If so, the consciousness it involves can in principle be engineered.

Measurement and interpretation of cavitation noise in a hybrid hydrodynamic cavitating device

AbstractIn the recent past, a number of new methods of utilizing hydrodynamic cavitation to create more intense and energy efficient liquid processes have come into existence. However, it is technically challenging to characterize these processes either quantitatively or qualitatively (Patil NM, M. chemical engineering Thesis submitted to Mumbai University, India, 2001). In this work, a hybrid device producing more energy intensive cavitation has been described, which has a blade positioned in the back pressure zone (downstream side of the orifice plate). This method of cavitation production route has been quantitatively described in the form of hydrophone measured pressure signals. Fast Fourier Transform analysis (FFT) analysis has been applied to the signal obtained at various positions of the blade, and at different inlet and outlet (back) pressures. Qualitatively analysis in terms of cavity size distribution and the total number of cavitational bubbles has been conducted, using a slightly modified technique of inverse FFT reconstruction procedure originally developed by Avvaru and Pandit to model cavity size distribution. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011

THE PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUE IN MACHINE CONSCIOUSNESS

Machines can be conscious, is the claim to be adopted here, upon examination of its different versions. We distinguish three kinds of consciousness: functional, phenomenal and hard consciousness (f-, p- and h-consciousness). Robots are functionally conscious already. There is also a clear project in AI on how to make computers phenomenally conscious, though criteria differ. Discussion about p-consciousness is clouded by the lack of clarity on its two versions: (1) First-person functional elements (here, p-consciousness), and (2) Non-functional (h-consciousness). I argue that: (1) There are sufficient reasons to adopt h-consciousness and move forward with discussion of its practical applications; this does not have anti-naturalistic implications. (2) A naturalistic account of h-consciousness should be expected, in principle; in neuroscience we are some way towards formulating such an account. (3) Detailed analysis of the notion of consciousness is needed to clearly distinguish p- and h-consciousness. This refers to the notion of subject that is not an object and complementarity of the subjective and objective perspectives.(4) If we can understand the exact mechanism that produces h-consciousness we should be able to engineer it. (5) H-consciousness is probably not a computational process (more like a liver-function). Machines can, in principle, be functionally, phenomenally and h-conscious; all those processes are naturalistic. This is the engineering thesis on machine consciousness formulated within non-reductive naturalism.

On Writing a Thesis

A thesis is a documentation of the efforts a student has spent towards a project for an extended period of time: anywhere from six months to six years. All BTech curricula have a six-month or one-year project work culminating in a thesis. MTech programs require a six-month effort towards the thesis. An MSc (Engineering) thesis requires anywhere from two to three years of work, and a PhD thesis typically requires four to five years of work. The thesis is the only record that a student will carry for many years to remind him her of the grueling (and yet enjoyable) hours spent in the laboratory and the library. The thesis is what a student can proudly present during a job interview as a proof of his/her skills in research, experimentation, independent workmanship, and teamwork. Writing a good thesis requires considerable amount of time and effort, about third or a quarter of the total time and effort the student expends towards the entire project A thesis is a piece of technical writing and there are some formal guidelines on how to organize a thesis. In this paper, I shall provide general guidelines on how to organize and write a thesis. I shall also provide some suggestions for making a presentation of your thesis work.

A frequency-based assignment model for congested transit networks with strict capacity constraints: characterization and computation of equilibria

This paper concerns a frequency-based route choice model for congested transit networks, which takes into account the consequences of congestion on the predicted flows as well as on the expected waiting and travel times. The paper builds on the results presented in Correa [Correa, J., 1999. Asignación de flujos de pasajeros en redes de transporte público congestionadas. Engineering thesis, U. de Chile, Santiago] and Cominetti and Correa [Cominetti, R., Correa, J., 2001. Common-lines and passenger assignment in congested transit networks. Transportation Science 35(3), 250–267], extending these to obtain a new characterization of the equilibria which allows us to formulate an equivalent optimization problem in terms of a computable gap function that vanishes at equilibrium. This new model formulation can deal with flow dependent travel times and is a generalization of the previously known strategy (hyperpath) based transit network equilibrium models. The approach leads to an algorithm which has been applied successfully on large scale networks. Computational results for transit networks originating from practice demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach.