Enhancement of traditional mode of teaching based on the experience of project-based learning
Project based learning (PBL) has become more popular due to its student centered nature of learning compared to traditional modes of learning. However, it is not always feasible to implement it due to several reasons. At the University of New South Wales, the PBL mode was trialled on an introductory Digital Signal Processing course for two consecutive years and the evaluation was previously reported. After that, based on the experience of PBL implementation, some elements of PBL have been incorporated with traditional mode of teaching to enhance the traditional mode and that enhanced traditional mode have been continued. The experience of enhancing the traditional mode with components derived from PBL, particularly the inclusion of conceptual design presentation and laboratory tests, are promising. This paper presents the task description of PBL and experience of how some of the components of PBL can be utilized to enhance the traditional mode of teaching.
A survey of digital signal processing education
The objective of this paper is to suggest a more rigorous and complete DSP curriculum that will meet corporate needs to produce "industry ready" DSP engineers from the ranks of students with undergraduate degrees. A study of many digital signal processing (DSP) curriculums across the world was conducted to determine the level of DSP theory, application, and lab exercise activity that was currently being offered to engineering students. Curriculum guidelines on DSP from the ACM/IEEE Joint Task Force on Computer Engineering Education were examined to help guide the development of an "ideal" DSP curriculum.
Numerical tools applied to power reactor noise analysis
In order to be able to calculate the space- and frequency-dependent neutron noise in real inhomogeneous systems in two-group theory, a code was developed for the calculation of the Green's function (dynamic transfer function) of such systems. This paper reports on the development as well as the test and application of the numerical tools employed. The code that was developed yields the space-dependence of the fluctuations of the neutron flux induced by fluctuating properties of the medium in the two-group diffusion approximation and in a two-dimensional representation of heterogeneous systems, for both critical systems and non-critical systems with an external source. Some applications of these tools to power reactor noise analysis are then described, including the unfolding of the parameters of the noise source from the induced neutron noise, measured at a few discrete locations throughout the core. Other concrete applications concern the study of the space-dependence of the Decay Ratio in Boiling Water Reactors, the noise-based estimation of the Moderator Temperature Coefficient of reactivity in Pressurized Water Reactors, the modeling of the beam- and shell-mode core-barrel vibrations in Pressurized Water Reactors, and the investigation of the validity of the point-kinetic approximation in subcritical systems driven by an external source. In most of these applications, calculations performed using the code are compared with at-power plant measurements. Power reactor noise analysis applications of the above type, i.e. core monitoring without disturbing plant operation, is of particular interest in the framework of the extensive program of power uprates worldwide.