Remote access laboratories in Australia and Europe

Remote access laboratories (RALs) were first developed in 1994 in Australia. The main purposes of developing them are to enable students to do their experiments at their own pace, time and locations, and to enable students and teaching staff to get access to facilities beyond their institutions. Currently, most of the experiments carried out through RALs are heavily biased to electrical, electronic and computer engineering disciplines. RALs in different Australian and European universities were mentioned and their pros and cons were also discussed. It can be argued that RALs will develop further and faster in the future with improving Internet technology; the rising costs of real experimental equipment will also speed up their development because by making the equipment remote accessible, the cost can be shared by more universities or institutions and this will improve their cost-effectiveness. Their development would be particularly rapid in large counties with small population like Australia, Canada and Russia

A practical demonstration of electromagnetic braking

The topic of electromagnetics is of fundamental importance to electrical power engineering education. Graduates of electrical engineering, particularly those who specialise in electrical power engineering are expected to develop an adequate understanding of electromagnetic principles. These principles form the basis for analysis and design of equipment such as electromechanical energy conversion equipment, transformers and transmission lines. It is normally accepted that electromagnetics should be a core component of any electrical engineering curriculum. Also students’ interest and understanding is greatly enhanced by complementing theoretical course content with well designed practical experiments. This paper describes an experiment which demonstrates the principles behind electromagnetic braking. It has the advantages of cost effectiveness and safety. Students can perform the experiment with minimum or no supervision, making it suitable for teaching electromagnetics in distance mode. Additionally the experiment can be performed at introductory or at advanced level. The paper demonstrates that even at introductory level it is possible for students to offer qualitative but still satisfying explanations for their experimental observations. At advanced level, students can take the opportunity to develop explanations based on electromagnetic laws and numerical analysis using finite element (FEA) or other techniques

Effects of model complexity and tissue anisotropic conductivity on cortical modulation during transcranial direct current stimulation

An anatomically accurate high-resolution finite element head model and its derivatives have been employed to examine the influence of subcutaneous fat and muscle tissues on cortical modulation. The effects of skull, muscle and WM directional conductivity have also been investigated. Results indicate that the inclusion of additional tissues in the head model have a profound effect on the magnitude and distribution pattern of induced current density. Similarly, anisotropic tissue conductivity caused a significant deterioration in spatial focality of cortical currents along with a more distorted and diffused distribution pattern across the cortex

Energy management and automated analytics for reduction of energy consumption

© 2016 IEEE. This paper presents the basic principles of energy management and explores its viability within the community and those who are using electricity daily. It aims to confirm that an energy consumer can alter both their choices and behavior toward the energy consumption and reduce their electricity costs if they are equipped with the correct information. To implement this system, an energy management process was developed for the purposes of this research. The process was ultimately utilized to find a more cost and time efficient method to assist consumers to better understanding firstly reduce their electricity consumption whilst secondly proving that energy management is a viable concept for consumers to adopt. If consumers were able to reduce their consumption from this research, further investigation could be conducted to find better ways to help consumers reduce their electricity bills and lead more cost and energy efficient lives

Energy management and automated analytics for reduction of energy consumption

This paper presents the basic principles of energy management and explores its viability within the community and those who are using electricity daily. It aims to confirm that an energy consumer can alter both their choices and behavior toward the energy consumption and reduce their electricity costs if they are equipped with the correct information. To implement this system, an energy management process was developed for the purposes of this research. The process was ultimately utilized to find a more cost and time efficient method to assist consumers to better understanding firstly reduce their electricity consumption whilst secondly proving that energy management is a viable concept for consumers to adopt. If consumers were able to reduce their consumption from this research, further investigation could be conducted to find better ways to help consumers reduce their electricity bills and lead more cost and energy efficient lives