Interest In Electrical Engineering Research Articles

Undergraduate Physics Self-Efficacy Measurement and Gender Influence

Using achievement framework, self-efficacy has to do with students’ conviction in their cognitive skills to learn and carry out the academic course work. Except students are convinced that their effort will yield the desired consequences, there is little or no enticement to engage in those actions. Can a student that feels hopeless in physics sustain his or her interest in Electrical Engineering? Human behaviour is influenced by factors that are embedded in the core belief that he/she has the capability to accomplish that behaviour. Little attention has been given to Self-efficacy in tertiary physics in Nigeria. This study adapted and validated (using EFA and CFA) a short Physics Self-Efficacy Questionnaire before administering it to three hundred and seven(307) first-year General Physics I students at the Federal University Wukari (male = 157 and female = 150). Females reported lower self-efficacy than males. The finding revealed that there is a significant difference in Physics self efficacy as reported by male and female (t = 7.7711, df =305, p =0.0001, 2 tailed). The effect size is large (d = 0.888). This study posited that gender is a factor to consider in the study of physics self-efficacy, and this may have far reaching effect on research on self-efficacy, and on teaching and learning of tertiary physics.

Краткий исторический обзор этапов создания и развития электрических машин

In order to deeply understand the patterns of development of any branch of knowledge, it is necessary to know its history. This article provides an overview of technical information related to the creation of electric machines. The review is based on the analysis of specialized literature sources and includes: prerequisites for the appearance of electromechanical energy converters – electric machines, the discovery of the principles of operation of electric machines, the development of DC electric generators, the development of DC electric motors, the development of AC electric machines, as well as the stages of development of theoretical research in the field of electromechanics. The information contained in the article will be useful for expanding the horizons of students studying in the direction of «Electric Power and Electrical Engineering», as well as for all persons showing at least some interest in electrical engineering. The history of the development of electric machines, which is considered in this article, is very instructive and deserves a lot of attention.

Research Based on Modeling and Simulation of the Transient Regime in Controlled Switching with High Power Switches

This paper addresses one of the current areas of interest in electrical engineering, which is controlled switching of high voltage circuit breakers. During their operation, the problem of controlled switching of high voltage circuit breakers in commutation regimes was studied. Several types of switching were analyzed, considered representative of the transient regime, depending on the type of load, on the defect that may occur on the power supply lines, as well as depending on the position of this defect (near or far). The study carried out in the paper includes simulations of the controlled connection/disconnection operations in a transient regime, assuming the existence of different kinds of defects. To perform the study and simulations in the transient regime, a model, implemented in Matlab, was used for a time interval located around the origin of the time axis. The study included the dependence of the SF6 circuit breaker switching process on the following parameters: the DC voltage supply, ambient temperature and oil pressure in the circuit breaker actuator. The validity of the theory presented in this paper, in addition to being validated by simulations, is proven by the fact that the protection system currently in use at the power station of an 800 MW power plant, at the 400 kV power line, is based on the principles presented in this paper. The theory presented in the paper has been implemented in industry for nearly two years, and the results confirm that the theory presented in the paper is fully applicable in high voltage power stations.

Introduction to Electrical Safety in High School: Information for Prospective Engineering Students

This article introduces electrical safety to high school students enrolled in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program called Project Lead the Way (PLTW). PLTW is a nonprofit organization that has developed programs that teach skills such as critical and creative thinking, collaboration, and problem solving based on the development of technical knowledge. The program taught at the Appoquinimink High School in Delaware is the PLTW Engineering pathway. In discussions with the program teacher, the offer of providing a basic introduction to electrical safety was introduced. The plan was to present electrical safety basics to students in the program during the month of May. Topics covered were standardswriting organizations, engineering societies, Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI), electrical engineering with a focus on the power/industrial side (that is, the hazards), and electrical safety around the home. Planned homework assignments were provided. The intention of this program was to create interest in electrical engineering with a focus on electrical safety.

A new approach to fuzzy sets: Application to the design of nonlinear time series, symmetry-breaking patterns, and non-sinusoidal limit-cycle oscillations

Abstract It is shown that characteristic functions of sets can be made fuzzy by means of the B κ -function, recently introduced by the author, where the fuzziness parameter κ ∈ R controls how much a fuzzy set deviates from the crisp set obtained in the limit κ → 0. As applications, we present first a general expression for a switching function that may be of interest in electrical engineering and in the design of nonlinear time series. We then introduce another general expression that allows wallpaper and frieze patterns for every possible planar symmetry group (besides patterns typical of quasicrystals) to be designed. We show how the fuzziness parameter κ plays an analogous role to temperature in physical applications and may be used to break the symmetry of spatial patterns. As a further, important application, we establish a theorem on the shaping of limit cycle oscillations far from bifurcations in smooth deterministic nonlinear dynamical systems governed by differential equations. Following this application, we briefly discuss a generalization of the Stuart-Landau equation to non-sinusoidal oscillators.

Gendered Interests in Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering: Intersections With Career Outcome Expectations

Contribution: The current study finds that female-identified students report stronger associations between “helping others” and interest in bioengineering/biomedical engineering than non-females, while they report less interest in electrical and computer engineering overall, with similar associations to factors such as “inventing/designing things” than non-females. Background: While women have made gains in STEM, electrical and computer engineering programs award 13% of their Bachelor’s degrees to women while bioengineering/biomedical engineering programs award over 40%. Prior work suggests that women’s persistent under-representation in electrical and computer engingeering may be due to them being drawn into other disciplines. Women persist in engineering at similar rates as men, so a better understanding of early college attitudes is needed. Research Questions: 1) How are career outcome expectations associated to electrical engineering, computer engineering, and bioengineering/biomedical engineering? 2) What are females’ interests in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and bioengineering/biomedical engineering? 3) Are outcome expectations and major interests distinct for female-identified students? Methodology: Regression analyses were conducted on multiply-imputed data of introductory engineering students at four public universities in the U.S. Findings: Students associate inventing/designing things and “developing new knowledge and skills” to electrical engineering, and associate inventing/designing things and “working with people” (negative) to computer engineering. Students associate helping others and “supervising others” (negative) to bioengineering/biomedical engineering. Female-identified students are less interested in electrical and computer engineering, more interested in bioengineering/biomedical engineering, and associate helping others to bioengineering/biomedical engineering more strongly.

An Overview on the Applications of Matrix Theory in Wireless Communications and Signal Processing

This paper overviews the key applications enabled by matrix theory in two major fields of interest in electrical engineering, namely wireless communications and signal processing. The paper focuses on the fundamental role played by matrices in modeling and optimization of wireless communication systems, and in detection, extraction and processing of the information embedded in signals. Among the major applications in wireless communications, the role of matrix representations and decompositions in characterizing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication systems is described. In addition, this paper points out the important contribution made by matrices in solving signal estimation and detection problems. Special attention is given to the implementation of matrices in sensor array signal processing and the design of adaptive filters. Furthermore, the crucial role played by matrices in representing and processing digital images is depicted by several illustrative applications. This paper concludes with some applications of matrix theory in the area of compressive sensing of signals and by outlining a few open research problems for future study.

The Implementation and Evaluation of a University-Based Outreach Laboratory Program in Electrical Engineering

In the current climate of shortages of high-quality engineering graduates, exacerbated by reduced high school enrollments in physics and mathematics, engineering faculties are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of K-12 outreach programs. Such programs can result in students being better prepared for and better informed about engineering careers, with a consequent increase in the number of engineering undergraduates. Almost all outreach programs described in the literature are school-based; by contrast, this paper describes a university-based program. The program was born out of a desire for a university department and a neighboring high school to forge closer links and a need for the high school to provide its students with certain laboratory experiences that would best be realized with the use of specialist equipment. The outreach program provides both formal laboratory experiences and informal presentations by graduate students of their research interests. Follow-up surveys showed that the high school students found the experiences both instructive and motivating, and their knowledge of and interest in electrical engineering increased significantly as a result. All final-year physics students from the high school took part in the 2007 outreach program, and 42% of these students subsequently enrolled in the Bachelor of Engineering degree at the university in 2008.

Sir Ambrose Fleming: A Note on the Man Himself

As a schoolboy in the 1930s, working towards my school-leaving examinations in Lincoln, mathematics was not my strong point. My parents, knowing my interest in electrical engineering, and wishing to encourage an interest that seemed to them more likely to lead to a satisfactory career than my other ambition — playing drums in a jazz band - subscribed on my behalf to a periodical on the subject. Published by Newnes, it was eventually bound into four quite large volumes. Of all the many useful things I found in it were several chapters on mathematics, written with the electrical engineer in mind. They were beautifully clearly written, and for the first time I began to understand some very basic bits of mathematics, and to realize why they were important.

Using contests to teach design to EE juniors

Most electrical engineering programs have a capstone design course, but lack a suitable design experience in the junior year. This makes the capstone course very difficult for students and compromises its pedagogical aims. A good design experience offers opportunities for learning to identify key operational concepts, to identify and remedy procedural and factual knowledge deficits, and to exercise judgment. The design problem should be open-ended, moderately difficult, and common to all groups. We use a design contest as a vehicle for teaching design in the junior-year analog electronics course, in lieu of conventional laboratories. Students design and build analog circuitry to autonomously control a small robotic vehicle. The contest culminates in a competitive tournament. Students' questionnaire responses indicate that the contest is a useful learning tool, increasing interest in electrical engineering and well worth the time spent. They indicate that contests are preferable to conventional labs for learning and understanding course material, for motivating them, and for providing an engineering experience.

Accurate determination of the capacitance of a thin rectangular plate

THE PURPOSE of this paper is two fold: to determine by the method of subareas the charge distribution and capacitance of a rectangular area; and to advance therefrom a universal curve which furnishes accurate values of the capacitance of a rectangular area of any specified dimensions. From well-known theory, rigorous determination of these electrical quantities hinges on determination of the corresponding electrostatic potential function V. However, determination of the function for a specified plane area is of such mathematical difficulty that solution to date has been achieved for only one plane area, the elliptical disk of which the circular disk is a special case. In consequence, explicit equations for the charge distribution and electrical capacitance are known only for these two plane areas. However, need of accurate knowledge of the capacitance of a rectangular plane area, or of a certain parameter1 equal in magnitude to the capacitance, occurs in numerous physical problems. (Thus, the normal force R on a thin rectangular plate moving in the direction of its normal with a velocity V through a liquid of viscosity μ is R = 8πμCV, where C is a parameter equal to the capacitance of a rectangular planar conductor of the same dimensions as the thin plate.) To cite an example of much current interest in electrical engineering, a knowledge of the capacitance of rectangular plates is required in the rational design of grounding systems for high-voltage power systems.2–4 Accordingly, it is obviously most desirable to have in hand curves which readily afford values of the capacitance with accuracy sufficient for design purposes. Precisely such a set of curves is advanced in this paper, the essential content of which may be summarized as follows: The method of subareas, earlier formulated and used by the authors to obtain excellent approximate solutions of the difficult, long-standing problems of determination of the capacitance and charge distribution of a plane annulus5 and a cube,6,7 is recast to enable solution of the present problem. Therewith equations for the capacitance and charge distribution of an arbitrarily dimensional rectangular area are formulated; and the solutions of these equations, as effected through use of International Business Machines equipment, are then utilized to plot a universal curve of capacitance versus width/height from which can be read the capacitance of any specified rectangular area with sufficient accuracy for most design purposes. Corroborative of the correctness of the solution in general, this curve falls within the narrow upper and lower bounds to be calculated from the known expressions for the capacitances of the circumscribed and inscribed ellipses. Finally, comparison of this universal curve with the corresponding curve plotted from Howe'8 wellknown and much used expression for the approximate capacitance of a rectangular area reveals that this expression yields values in considerable error over much of the range of w/h (width/height).