Assessment 2a:
Questions and Template
Version 1.0
EGH404: Research in Engineering Practice
26 August 2018
About this document
• This document sets out the five (5) questions you are to complete for assessment 2a.
• It also provides the template for your responses.
Your tasks for Assessment 2a
1. Read the questions in this document
2. Edit your responses into this document
a. Replace the text in blue italics with your responses
b. The associated data and/or original graphs are provided separately in an Excel spreadsheet where necessary.
c. All necessary calculations and charting should be completed in Matlab.
3. You will submit your responses to this assessment as a PDF or word document which you will upload to turnitin. Your document should include:
a. This template with responses for each question included in the corresponding section.
b. Your original source code (ie. Matlab scripts) which you generated to complete relevant questions, included either after each question or at the end of the document as an appendix (copy and paste the code into the document, or if using live scripts merge the document PDF with the exported live script PDF). Please note your Matlab code will not be run except under exceptional circumstances but may be used to evaluate the process that you used to answer the question.

Question 1: Recommending a bolt supplier
Your firm works in construction and buys ASTM A325M8S bolts in very large numbers.
You are interested in purchasing bolts from different suppliers and have obtained and tested samples of 200 bolts from three suppliers: Allnutt, Boltzman, Coachers.
You have tested these in your new bolt testing machine, purchased after you had discovered your old bolt testing machine was performing erratically. (For the purposes of this question, you are safe to assume that the new machine works perfectly and that its results are in MPa.)
Your firm wants to ensure that the tensile strengths of the bolts it buys are
• as high as possible
• as consistent as possible (i.e., the variability of bolt strengths is as low as possible)
It is critical that the tensile strength of these bolts exceeds 830MPa.
You should draw on the unit content concerning summary statistics to answer this question.
On the basis of the measurements recorded in Bolts.csv, which supplier (if any) would you recommend, and why?
(Provide any code or visualisations you use to justify your response.)
Edit your response to this question here

Question 2: Changes in Air Quality Over Time
The state government’s Department of the Environment and Heritage Protection are concerned about air pollution levels in Brisbane city. You have been provided with data for two sites, the Brisbane CBD and South Brisbane, for 2010 and 2016 in the following four files:
• brisbanecbd-aq-2010.csv
• brisbanecbd-aq-2016.csv
• southbrisbane-aq-2010.csv
• southbrisbane-aq-2016csv
You have been asked to advise the Government:
• If air pollution is related across the two sites, and if so, has this relationship changed between 2010 and 2016
• Has the level of air pollution at either site changed from 2010 to 2016? Have these changes across the two sites been consistent?
You have been advised to focus on the PM10 data series.
You should draw on the unit content concerning summary statistics and correlation to answer this question.
(Provide any code or visualisations you use to justify your response.)
Edit your response to this question here

Question 3: Ethanol engine emission testing
Your engine testing company has been evaluating the relationship between engine capacity (in cubic cm) and particulate emissions (in particles per milliliter) across a range of engines. Now you have received results from tests of 100 ethanol-fuelled engines and your supervisor has sent you the following email about that:
Hi there. Just wanted to say I've done a quick analysis of the 100 ethanol engine emissions in Matlab and got the following:

According to this, emissions go up by 1.5875 particles/ml every 100 ccs! Here's the correlation between Capacity and Emissions:

Look's like the higher the capacity, the more emissions we get from the ethanol engines... Weird huh? When we looked at diesel and petrol engines, emissions went down!? Can you check the data for me?
Take a look at the emissions data for the 100 ethanol engines in the file “Engines.csv” and write an email to your supervisor explaining your findings. You should draw on the unit content concerning correlation and regression to answer this question.
(Provide any code or visualisations you use to justify your response.)
Edit your response to this question here
Question 4: Estimating Concrete Strength
You work for a construction firm who need to be able to accurately predict the compressive strength of concrete given variables including the concrete composition and its age. You are aware that the relationship between these different components and the concrete strength is complex, however you have been asked to investigate how well a simple linear regression model works for prediction. Using the provided data (Concrete_Data.xls), develop models to predict:
• Concrete strength from the single best indicator variable;
• Concrete strength from all variables.
With the second model, determine if any variables are not contributing significantly to the model, and what impact removing these has on prediction performance. Comment on the final model and its accuracy.
You should draw on the unit content concerning correlation and regression to answer this question.
(Provide any code or visualisations you use to justify your response.)
Edit your response to this question here

Question 5: Predicting Missing Bikeway Data
Brisbane City Council (BCC) is considering upgrades to the bikeway networks. They are using data they have gathered from sensors placed along the bike paths, which record the number of cyclists, to plan the upgrades, however there have been a number of sensor failures which have resulted in their dataset missing a number of entries. BCC have requested that you investigate if it possible to predict missing data from data gathered from other sensors on the bike path network.
You have been provided with three years worth of data (Bike-Ped-Auto-Counts-2014.csv, Bike-Ped-Auto-Counts-2015.csv, and Bike-Ped-Auto-Counts-2016.csv). As an initial investigation, you have been asked to consider only these data series:
• BicentennialBikewayCyclistsInbound
• GoBetweenBridgeCyclistsInbound
• KangarooPointBikewayCyclistsInbound
• NormanParkCyclistsInbound
• RiverwalkCyclistsInbound
• StoryBridgeWestCyclistsInbound
Using the three years data, you are to:
• Determine which counters are best suited to predicting the missing data in others (i.e. which, if any counters, could be used to predict BicentennialBikewayCyclistsInbound).
• Predict missing data where appropriate to generate a more “complete” database.
• Comment on the resulting corrected dataset. In particular:
o What problems, if any, may arise from this approach?
o How effective has this been in reducing missing data?
o How trustworthy are the predicted values?
You should draw on the unit content concerning correlation and regression to answer this question.
(Provide any code or visualisations you use to justify your response.)
Edit your response to this question here

How will my work be graded?
Your responses to questions will be marked using the rubric set out below. This rubric is inspired by the grade profiles presented by Paul et al. (2014).
All questions are worth equal marks.
Passing grades
Grade 7 work…
…shows excellence overall, no major weaknesses.
• This level of work implies excellence in thinking and performance in reading and making sense of research.
• It is on the whole clear, precise and well-reasoned, though with occasional lapses into weak reasons.
• Terms and distinctions are used effectively.
• Work at this level demonstrates a mind beginning to take charge of its own ideas, assumptions, inferences and intellectual processes.
• In the work, the student
o usually analyses issues clearly and precisely,
o usually formulates information clearly,
o usually distinguishes the relevant from the irrelevant,
o usually recognises key questionable assumptions,
o usually clarifies key concepts effectively,
o typically uses language in keeping with educated usage,
o frequently identifies relevant competing points of view,
o shows a general tendency to reason carefully from stated premises,
o shows noticeable sensitivity to important implications and consequences.
Grade 6 work…
…demonstrates more strength and weaknesses and is more consistent in high-level performance than grade 5 work. It has some distinctive weaknesses, though no major ones
• This level of work implies sound thinking and performance in reading and making sense of research.
• It also implies development of a range of knowledge acquired through critical thought, though this range is not as high as grade 7 work.
• Work at this level is, on the whole, clear, precise, and well-reasoned, though with occasional lapses into weak reasoning.
• On the whole, terms and distinctions are used effectively.
• The work demonstrates a mind beginning to take charge of its own ideas, assumptions, inferences, and intellectual processes.
• In the work, the student
o often analyses issues clearly and precisely,
o often formulates information clearly,
o usually distinguishes the relevant from irrelevant,
o often recognises key questionable assumptions,
o usually clarifies key concepts effectively,
o typically uses language in keeping with educated usage,
o frequently identifies relevant competing points of view.
Grade 5 work…
… demonstrates more than a minimal level of skill, but it is also highly inconsistent, with as many weaknesses as strengths.
• This level of work implies mixed thinking and performance in reading and making sense of research.
• It implies some development of knowledge acquired through critical thought
• It shows some emerging thinking skills, but also pronounced weaknesses.
• There are more than occasional lapses in reasoning.
• Though terms and distinctions are sometimes used effectively, sometimes they are used quite ineffectively.
• Only on occasion does this work display a mind taking charge of its own ideas, assumptions, inferences, and intellectual processes
• Only occasionally does work at this level display intellectual discipline and clarity.
• In this work, the student only occasionally
o analyses issues clearly and precisely,
o formulates information clearly,
o distinguishes the relevant from the irrelevant,
o recognises key questionable assumptions,
o clarifies key concepts effectively,
o uses language in keeping with educated usage,
o identifies relevant competing points of view,
o reasons carefully from clearly stated premises,
o recognises important implications and consequences.
• In this work, the student sometimes seems to be simply going through the motions of the assignment, carrying out the form without getting into the spirit of it.
• On the whole, work at this level shows only modest and inconsistent reasoning and problem-solving skills, and sometimes displays weak reasoning and problem-solving skills
Grade 4 work…
… Demonstrates only a minimal level of understanding and skill in the subject
• This level of work implies poor thinking and performance in reading and making sense of research.
• On the whole, the work suggests the student is trying to get through the assignment by means of wrote recall, attempting to acquire knowledge by memorisation rather than through comprehension and understanding.
• On the whole, the work suggests the student is not developing the skills of thought and knowledge requisite to understanding how to read and make sense of research.
• There is little evidence of critical reasoning.
• Often, it seems that the student is merely going through the motions of the assignment, carrying out the form without getting into the spirit of it.
• Work at this level rarely shows any effort to take charge of ideas, assumptions, inferences, and intellectual processes.
• In general work at this level shows thinking that lacks discipline and clarity.
• In this work, the student
o rarely analyses issues clearly and precisely,
o almost never formulates information clearly,
o rarely distinguishes the relevant from the irrelevant,
o rarely recognises key questionable assumptions,
o almost never clarifies key concepts effectively,
o frequently fails to use language in keeping with educated usage,
o only rarely identifies relevant competing points of view,
o almost never reasons carefully from clearly stated premises,
o almost never recognises important implications and consequences.
• Work at this level does not show good reasoning or problem-solving skills, and frequently displays poor reasoning and problem-solving skills.
Failing grades
Grade 3 work…
…demonstrates a pattern of unskilled thinking
• The work suggests that the student is trying to get through the assessment by means of wrote recall, attempting to acquire knowledge by memorisation rather than through comprehension and understanding.
• The work suggests the student is not developing the skills of thought and knowledge requisite to understanding how to read and make sense of research.
• Work at this level, on close examination, typically reveals characteristics including that
• The student does not understand the basic nature of what it means to think within the context of the assessment, and in any case does not display the thinking skills and abilities which is at the heart of the assessment.
• The work is vague, imprecise, and unreasoned.
• There is little evidence that the student is genuinely engaged in the task of taking charge of his or her thinking.
• The work suggests the student is simply going through the motions without really putting any significant effort into thinking through the questions.
• The work suggests the student is
o not analysing issues clearly,
o not formulating information clearly,
o not accurately distinguishing the relevant from the irrelevant,
o not identifying key questionable assumptions,
o not clarifying key concepts,
o not identifying relevant competing points of view,
o not reasoning carefully from clearly stated premises,
o not tracing implications and consequences.
• The work does not display discernible reasoning and problem-solving skills
Grade 2/1 work…
…demonstrates a pattern of unskilled thinking and fails to do the required work.