Measurement and testing problems experienced during FAA's emissions testing of general aviation piston engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salmon, R. F.; Imbrogno, S.

1976-01-01

The importance of measuring accurate air and fuel flows as well as the importance of obtaining accurate exhaust pollutant measurements were emphasized. Some of the problems and the corrective actions taken to incorporate fixes and/or modifications were identified.

Problem-Oriented and Project-Based Learning (POPBL) as an Innovative Learning Strategy for Sustainable Development in Engineering Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehmann, M.; Christensen, P.; Du, X.; Thrane, M.

2008-01-01

In a world where systems are increasingly larger, where their boundaries are often difficult to identify, and where societal rather than technical issues play increasingly bigger roles, problems cannot be solved by applying a technical solution alone. It thus becomes important for engineers to be skilled not only in terms of their particular…

Software Engineering Education: Some Important Dimensions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mishra, Alok; Cagiltay, Nergiz Ercil; Kilic, Ozkan

2007-01-01

Software engineering education has been emerging as an independent and mature discipline. Accordingly, various studies are being done to provide guidelines for curriculum design. The main focus of these guidelines is around core and foundation courses. This paper summarizes the current problems of software engineering education programs. It also…

The Use of Executive Control Processes in Engineering Design by Engineering Students and Professional Engineers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixon, Raymond A.; Johnson, Scott D.

2012-01-01

A cognitive construct that is important when solving engineering design problems is executive control process, or metacognition. It is a central feature of human consciousness that enables one "to be aware of, monitor, and control mental processes." The framework for this study was conceptualized by integrating the model for creative design, which…

Pen-based Interfaces for Engineering and Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahovich, Thomas F.

Sketches are an important problem-solving tool in many fields. This is particularly true of engineering design, where sketches facilitate creativity by providing an efficient medium for expressing ideas. However, despite the importance of sketches in engineering practice, current engineering software still relies on traditional mouse and keyboard interfaces, with little or no capabilities to handle free-form sketch input. With recent advances in machine-interpretation techniques, it is now becoming possible to create practical interpretation-based interfaces for such software. In this chapter, we report on our efforts to create interpretation techniques to enable pen-based engineering applications. We describe work on two fundamental sketch understanding problems. The first is sketch parsing, the task of clustering pen strokes or geometric primitives into individual symbols. The second is symbol recognition, the task of classifying symbols once they have been located by a parser. We have used the techniques that we have developed to construct several pen-based engineering analysis tools. These are used here as examples to illustrate our methods. We have also begun to use our techniques to create pen-based tutoring systems that scaffold students in solving problems in the same way they would ordinarily solve them with paper and pencil. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of these systems.

Introducing DAE Systems in Undergraduate and Graduate Chemical Engineering Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mandela, Ravi Kumar; Sridhar, L. N.; Rengaswamy, Raghunathan

2010-01-01

Models play an important role in understanding chemical engineering systems. While differential equation models are taught in standard modeling and control courses, Differential Algebraic Equation (DAE) system models are not usually introduced. These models appear naturally in several chemical engineering problems. In this paper, the introduction…

Integrating Innovation Skills in an Introductory Engineering Design-Build Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liebenberg, Leon; Mathews, Edward Henry

2012-01-01

Modern engineering curricula have started to emphasize design, mostly in the form of design-build experiences. Apart from instilling important problem-solving skills, such pedagogical frameworks address the critical social skill aspects of engineering education due to their team-based, project-based nature. However, it is required of the…

Problems of the high-cycle fatigue of the materials intended for the parts of modern gas-turbine engines and power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petukhov, A. N.

2010-10-01

The problems related to the determination of the life of the structural materials applied for important parts in gas-turbine engines and power plants from the results of high-cycle fatigue tests are discussed. Methods for increasing the reliability of the high-cycle fatigue characteristics and the factors affecting the operational reliability are considered.

Distance Learning Engineering Students Languish under Project-Based Learning, but Thrive in Case Studies and Practical Workshops

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swart, Arthur James

2016-01-01

The International Engineering Alliance lists 12 important graduate attributes that students must demonstrate during their higher educational career. One of these important graduate attributes is the ability to solve problems, which can be demonstrated by the use of project-based learning, case studies, and practical workshops. The purpose of this…

USCS and the USDA Soil Classification System: Development of a Mapping Scheme

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

important to human daily living. A variety of disciplines (geology, agriculture, engineering, etc.) require a sys- tematic categorization of soil, detailing...it is often important to also con- sider parameters that indicate soil strength. Two important properties used for engineering-related problems are...that many textural clas- sification systems were developed to meet specifics needs. In agriculture, textural classification is used to determine crop

Avoid, Control, Succumb, or Balance: Engineering Students' Approaches to a Wicked Sustainability Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lönngren, Johanna; Ingerman, Åke; Svanström, Magdalena

2017-08-01

Wicked sustainability problems (WSPs) are an important and particularly challenging type of problem. Science and engineering education can play an important role in preparing students to deal with such problems, but current educational practice may not adequately prepare students to do so. We address this gap by providing insights related to students' abilities to address WSPs. Specifically, we aim to (I) describe key constituents of engineering students' approaches to a WSP, (II) evaluate these approaches in relation to the normative context of education for sustainable development (ESD), and (III) identify relevant aspects of learning related to WSPs. Aim I is addressed through a phenomenographic study, while aims II and III are addressed by relating the results to research literature about human problem solving, sustainable development, and ESD. We describe four qualitatively different ways of approaching a specific WSP, as the outcome of the phenomenographic study: A. Simplify and avoid, B. Divide and control, C. Isolate and succumb, and D. Integrate and balance. We identify approach D as the most appropriate approach in the context of ESD, while A and C are not. On this basis, we identify three learning objectives related to students' abilities to address WSPs: learn to use a fully integrative approach, distinguish WSPs from tame and well-structured problems, and understand and consider the normative context of SD. Finally, we provide recommendations for how these learning objectives can be used to guide the design of science and engineering educational activities.

Making objective decisions in mechanical engineering problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raicu, A.; Oanta, E.; Sabau, A.

2017-08-01

Decision making process has a great influence in the development of a given project, the goal being to select an optimal choice in a given context. Because of its great importance, the decision making was studied using various science methods, finally being conceived the game theory that is considered the background for the science of logical decision making in various fields. The paper presents some basic ideas regarding the game theory in order to offer the necessary information to understand the multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) problems in engineering. The solution is to transform the multiple-criteria problem in a one-criterion decision problem, using the notion of utility, together with the weighting sum model or the weighting product model. The weighted importance of the criteria is computed using the so-called Step method applied to a relation of preferences between the criteria. Two relevant examples from engineering are also presented. The future directions of research consist of the use of other types of criteria, the development of computer based instruments for decision making general problems and to conceive a software module based on expert system principles to be included in the Wiki software applications for polymeric materials that are already operational.

Integration, Authenticity, and Relevancy in College Science through Engineering Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Ken L., Jr.; Hoffman, Adam R.

2018-01-01

Engineering design is an ideal perspective for engaging students in college science classes. An engineering design problem-solving framework was used to create a general chemistry lab activity focused on an important environmental issue--dead zones. Dead zones impact over 400 locations around the world and are a result of nutrient pollution, one…

A Return to Innovative Engineering Design, Critical Thinking and Systems Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Camarda, Charles J.

2007-01-01

I believe we are facing a critical time where innovative engineering design is of paramount importance to the success of our aerospace industry. However, the very qualities and attributes necessary for enhancing, educating, and mentoring a creative spirit are in decline in important areas. The importance of creativity and innovation in this country was emphasized by a special edition of the Harvard Business Review OnPoint entitled: "The Creative Company" which compiled a series of past and present articles on the subject of creativity and innovation and stressed its importance to our national economy. There is also a recognition of a lack of engineering, critical thinking and problem-solving skills in our education systems and a trend toward trying to enhance those skills by developing K-12 educational programs such as Project Lead the Way, "Science for All Americans", Benchmarks 2061 , etc. In addition, with respect to spacecraft development, we have a growing need for young to mid-level engineers with appropriate experience and skills in spacecraft design, development, analysis, testing, and systems engineering. As the Director of Engineering at NASA's Johnson Space Center, I realized that sustaining engineering support of an operational human spacecraft such as the Space Shuttle is decidedly different than engineering design and development skills necessary for designing a new spacecraft such as the Crew Exploration Vehicle of the Constellation Program. We learned a very important lesson post Columbia in that the Space Shuttle is truly an experimental and not an operational vehicle and the strict adherence to developed rules and processes and chains of command of an inherently bureaucratic organizational structure will not protect us from a host of known unknowns let alone unknown unknowns. There are no strict rules, processes, or procedures for understanding anomalous results of an experiment, anomalies with an experimental spacecraft like Shuttle, or in the conceptual design of a spacecraft. Engineering design is as much an art as it is a science. The critical thinking skills necessary to uncover lurking problems in an experimental design and creatively develop solutions are some of the same skills necessary to design a new spacecraft. Thus, I believe engineers unfamiliar with or removed from design and development need time to transition and develop the required skill set to be effective spacecraft designers. I believe the creative process necessary in design can be enhanced and even taught as early as grades K-12 and should continue to be nurtured and developed at the university level and beyond. I am going to present a strategy for developing learning teams to address complex multidisciplinary problems and to creatively develop solutions to those problems rapidly at minimal cost. I will frame a real problem, the development of on-orbit thermal protection system repair of the Space Shuttle, and step through the series of skills necessary to enhance the creative process. The case study I will illustrate is based on a real project, the R&D Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) Repair Team's development of on-orbit repair concepts for damaged Space Shuttle RCC nose cap and/or leading edges.

The Transport of Mass, Energy, and Entropy in Cryogenic Support Struts for Engineering Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elchert, J. P.

2012-01-01

Engineers working to understand and reduce cryogenic boil-off must solve a variety of transport problems. An important class of nonlinear problems involves the thermal and mechanical design of cryogenic struts. These classic problems are scattered about the literature and typically require too many resources to obtain. So, to save time for practicing engineers, the author presents this essay. Herein, a variety of new, old, and revisited analytical and finite difference solutions of the thermal problem are covered in this essay, along with commentary on approach and assumptions. This includes a few thermal radiation and conduction combined mode solutions with a discussion on insulation, optimum emissivity, and geometrical phenomenon. Solutions to cooling and heat interception problems are also presented, including a discussion of the entropy generation. The literature on the combined mechanical and thermal design of cryogenic support struts is reviewed with an introduction to the associated numerical methods.

The Transport of Mass, Energy, and Entropy in Cryogenic Support Struts for Engineering Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elchert, J. P.

2012-01-01

Engineers working to understand and reduce cryogenic boil-off must solve a. variety of transport problems. An important class of nonlinear problems involves the thermal and mechanical design of cryogenic struts. These classic problems are scattered about the literature and typically require too many resources to obtain. So, to save time for practicing engineers, the author presents this essay. Herein, a variety of new, old, and revisited analytical and finite difference solutions of the thermal problem are covered in this essay, along with commentary on approach and assumptions, This includes a few thermal radiation and conduction combined mode solution with a discussion on insulation, optimum emissivity, and geometrical phenomenon. Solutions to cooling and heat interception problems are also presented, including a discussion of the entropy generation. And the literature on the combined mechanical and thermal design of cryogenic support struts is reviewed with an introduction to the associated numerical methods.

Impact waves and detonation. Part I

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Becker, R

1929-01-01

Among the numerous thermodynamic and kinetic problems that have arisen in the application of the gaseous explosive reaction as a source of power in the internal combustion engine, the problem of the mode or way by which the transformation proceeds and the rate at which the heat energy is delivered to the working fluid became very early in the engine's development a problem of prime importance. The work of Becker here given is a notable extension of earlier investigations, because it covers the entire range of the explosive reaction in gases - normal detonation and burning.

The role of non-epistemic values in engineering models.

PubMed

Diekmann, Sven; Peterson, Martin

2013-03-01

We argue that non-epistemic values, including moral ones, play an important role in the construction and choice of models in science and engineering. Our main claim is that non-epistemic values are not only "secondary values" that become important just in case epistemic values leave some issues open. Our point is, on the contrary, that non-epistemic values are as important as epistemic ones when engineers seek to develop the best model of a process or problem. The upshot is that models are neither value-free, nor depend exclusively on epistemic values or use non-epistemic values as tie-breakers.

Extended Importance Sampling for Reliability Analysis under Evidence Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, X. K.; Chen, B.; Zhang, B. Q.

2018-05-01

In early engineering practice, the lack of data and information makes uncertainty difficult to deal with. However, evidence theory has been proposed to handle uncertainty with limited information as an alternative way to traditional probability theory. In this contribution, a simulation-based approach, called ‘Extended importance sampling’, is proposed based on evidence theory to handle problems with epistemic uncertainty. The proposed approach stems from the traditional importance sampling for reliability analysis under probability theory, and is developed to handle the problem with epistemic uncertainty. It first introduces a nominal instrumental probability density function (PDF) for every epistemic uncertainty variable, and thus an ‘equivalent’ reliability problem under probability theory is obtained. Then the samples of these variables are generated in a way of importance sampling. Based on these samples, the plausibility and belief (upper and lower bounds of probability) can be estimated. It is more efficient than direct Monte Carlo simulation. Numerical and engineering examples are given to illustrate the efficiency and feasible of the proposed approach.

Nonlinear dynamics analysis of a low-temperature-differential kinematic Stirling heat engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izumida, Yuki

2018-03-01

The low-temperature-differential (LTD) Stirling heat engine technology constitutes one of the important sustainable energy technologies. The basic question of how the rotational motion of the LTD Stirling heat engine is maintained or lost based on the temperature difference is thus a practically and physically important problem that needs to be clearly understood. Here, we approach this problem by proposing and investigating a minimal nonlinear dynamic model of an LTD kinematic Stirling heat engine. Our model is described as a driven nonlinear pendulum where the motive force is the temperature difference. The rotational state and the stationary state of the engine are described as a stable limit cycle and a stable fixed point of the dynamical equations, respectively. These two states coexist under a sufficient temperature difference, whereas the stable limit cycle does not exist under a temperature difference that is too small. Using a nonlinear bifurcation analysis, we show that the disappearance of the stable limit cycle occurs via a homoclinic bifurcation, with the temperature difference being the bifurcation parameter.

Increasing the Roles and Significance of Teachers in Policymaking for K-12 Engineering Education: Proceedings of a Convocation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Steve

2017-01-01

Engineering is a small but growing part of K-12 education. Curricula that use the principles and practices of engineering are providing opportunities for elementary, middle, and high school students to design solutions to problems of immediate practical and societal importance. Professional development programs are showing teachers how to use…

Re-Engineering Graduate Skills--A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nair, Chenicheri Sid; Patil, Arun; Mertova, Patricie

2009-01-01

Research on student-learning outcomes indicates that university graduates do not possess important skills required by employers, such as communication, decision-making, problem-solving, leadership, emotional intelligence, social ethics skills as well as the ability to work with people of different backgrounds. Today, engineering graduates are…

Challenge of biomechanics.

PubMed

Volokh, K Y

2013-06-01

The application of mechanics to biology--biomechanics--bears great challenges due to the intricacy of living things. Their dynamism, along with the complexity of their mechanical response (which in itself involves complex chemical, electrical, and thermal phenomena) makes it very difficult to correlate empirical data with theoretical models. This difficulty elevates the importance of useful biomechanical theories compared to other fields of engineering. Despite inherent imperfections of all theories, a well formulated theory is crucial in any field of science because it is the basis for interpreting observations. This is all-the-more vital, for instance, when diagnosing symptoms, or planning treatment to a disease. The notion of interpreting empirical data without theory is unscientific and unsound. This paper attempts to fortify the importance of biomechanics and invigorate research efforts for those engineers and mechanicians who are not yet involved in the field. It is not aimed here, however, to give an overview of biomechanics. Instead, three unsolved problems are formulated to challenge the readers. At the micro-scale, the problem of the structural organization and integrity of the living cell is presented. At the meso-scale, the enigma of fingerprint formation is discussed. At the macro-scale, the problem of predicting aneurysm ruptures is reviewed. It is aimed here to attract the attention of engineers and mechanicians to problems in biomechanics which, in the author's opinion, will dominate the development of engineering and mechanics in forthcoming years.

Relative importance of professional practice and engineering management competencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pons, Dirk

2016-09-01

Problem: The professional practice of engineering always involves engineering management, but it is difficult to know what specifically to include in the undergraduate curriculum. Approach: The population of New Zealand practising engineers was surveyed to determine the importance they placed on specific professional practice and engineering management competencies. Findings: Results show that communication and project planning were the two most important topics, followed by others as identified. The context in which practitioners use communication skills was found to be primarily with project management, with secondary contexts identified. The necessity for engineers to develop the ability to use multiple soft skills in an integrative manner is strongly supported by the data. Originality: This paper is one of only a few large-scale surveys of practising engineers to have explored the soft skill attributes. It makes a didactic contribution of providing a ranked list of topics which can be used for designing the curriculum and prioritising teaching effort, which has not previously been achieved. It yields the new insight that combinations of topics are sometimes more important than individual topics.

A Novel Numerical Method for Fuzzy Boundary Value Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Can, E.; Bayrak, M. A.; Hicdurmaz

2016-05-01

In the present paper, a new numerical method is proposed for solving fuzzy differential equations which are utilized for the modeling problems in science and engineering. Fuzzy approach is selected due to its important applications on processing uncertainty or subjective information for mathematical models of physical problems. A second-order fuzzy linear boundary value problem is considered in particular due to its important applications in physics. Moreover, numerical experiments are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed numerical method on specific physical problems such as heat conduction in an infinite plate and a fin.

Engineering Ethics Education : Its Necessity, Objectives, Methods, Current State, and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fudano, Jun

The importance of engineering ethics education has become widely recognized in the industrialized countries including Japan. This paper examines the background against which engineering ethics education is required, and reviews its objectives, methods, and challenges, as well as its current state. In pointing out important issues associated with the apparent acceptance and quantitative development of ethics education, especially after the establishment of the Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education in 1999, the author stresses that the most serious problem is the lack of common understanding on the objectives of engineering ethics education. As a strategy to improve the situation, the so-called “Ethics-across-the-Curriculum” approach is introduced. The author also claims that business/organization ethics which is consistent with engineering ethics should be promoted in Japan.

Civil engineering at the crossroads in the twenty-first century.

PubMed

Ramírez, Francisco; Seco, Andres

2012-12-01

The twenty-first century presents a major challenge for civil engineering. The magnitude and future importance of some of the problems perceived by society are directly related to the field of the civil engineer, implying an inescapable burden of responsibility for a group whose technical soundness, rational approach and efficiency is highly valued and respected by the citizen. However, the substantial changes in society and in the way it perceives the problems that it considers important call for a thorough review of our structures, both professional and educational; so that our profession, with its undeniable historical prestige, may modernize certain approaches and attitudes in order to continue to be a reliable instrument in the service of society, giving priority from an ethical standpoint to its actions in pursuit of "the public good". It possesses important tools to facilitate this work (new technologies, the development of communications, the transmission of scientific thought.···); but there is nevertheless a need for deep reflection on the very essence of civil engineering: what we want it to be in the future, and the ability and willingness to take the lead at a time when society needs disinterested messages, technically supported, reasonably presented and dispassionately transmitted.

"Cloud" functions and templates of engineering calculations for nuclear power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ochkov, V. F.; Orlov, K. A.; Ko, Chzho Ko

2014-10-01

The article deals with an important problem of setting up computer-aided design calculations of various circuit configurations and power equipment carried out using the templates and standard computer programs available in the Internet. Information about the developed Internet-based technology for carrying out such calculations using the templates accessible in the Mathcad Prime software package is given. The technology is considered taking as an example the solution of two problems relating to the field of nuclear power engineering.

The Algebra of Complex Numbers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LePage, Wilbur R.

This programed text is an introduction to the algebra of complex numbers for engineering students, particularly because of its relevance to important problems of applications in electrical engineering. It is designed for a person who is well experienced with the algebra of real numbers and calculus, but who has no experience with complex number…

Environmental Engineering Teaching Reference Community.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, John M.; Brenchley, David L.

Dawson, Fairfax County/U.S.A. is a hypothetical community developed by the authors as a teaching aid for undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental engineering, providing a context for problem solving and role playing. It was contrived to provide students opportunities to: (1) identify important community relationships, (2) appreciate the…

Investigating Team Cohesion in COCOMO II.2000

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snowdeal-Carden, Betty A.

2013-01-01

Software engineering is team oriented and intensely complex, relying on human collaboration and creativity more than any other engineering discipline. Poor software estimation is a problem that within the United States costs over a billion dollars per year. Effective measurement of team cohesion is foundationally important to gain accurate…

NASTRAN thermal analyzer: Theory and application including a guide to modeling engineering problems, volume 2. [sample problem library guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jackson, C. E., Jr.

1977-01-01

A sample problem library containing 20 problems covering most facets of Nastran Thermal Analyzer modeling is presented. Areas discussed include radiative interchange, arbitrary nonlinear loads, transient temperature and steady-state structural plots, temperature-dependent conductivities, simulated multi-layer insulation, and constraint techniques. The use of the major control options and important DMAP alters is demonstrated.

Research on the Development and Enlightenment of Urban Environmental Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Mingjing; Li, Guanglou; Zhang, Lu; Shou, Youping; Li, Yajuan; Ye, Wei; Xu, Jing

2018-04-01

In recent years, under the promotion of reform and opening up, China's economic development has greatly accelerated, urbanization is also gradually accelerated. In the process of urbanization, there are many problems. The development of environmental engineering is one of the most important points. While building our living environment; we should also pay attention to the implementation of sustainable development strategies. First of all, This paper describes basic situation of environmental engineering, and finally provided some measures to promote the strengthening of China's environmental engineering

Computer-Based Mathematics Instructions for Engineering Students

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khan, Mustaq A.; Wall, Curtiss E.

1996-01-01

Almost every engineering course involves mathematics in one form or another. The analytical process of developing mathematical models is very important for engineering students. However, the computational process involved in the solution of some mathematical problems may be very tedious and time consuming. There is a significant amount of mathematical software such as Mathematica, Mathcad, and Maple designed to aid in the solution of these instructional problems. The use of these packages in classroom teaching can greatly enhance understanding, and save time. Integration of computer technology in mathematics classes, without de-emphasizing the traditional analytical aspects of teaching, has proven very successful and is becoming almost essential. Sample computer laboratory modules are developed for presentation in the classroom setting. This is accomplished through the use of overhead projectors linked to graphing calculators and computers. Model problems are carefully selected from different areas.

Computational aerodynamics requirements: The future role of the computer and the needs of the aerospace industry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rubbert, P. E.

1978-01-01

The commercial airplane builder's viewpoint on the important issues involved in the development of improved computational aerodynamics tools such as powerful computers optimized for fluid flow problems is presented. The primary user of computational aerodynamics in a commercial aircraft company is the design engineer who is concerned with solving practical engineering problems. From his viewpoint, the development of program interfaces and pre-and post-processing capability for new computational methods is just as important as the algorithms and machine architecture. As more and more details of the entire flow field are computed, the visibility of the output data becomes a major problem which is then doubled when a design capability is added. The user must be able to see, understand, and interpret the results calculated. Enormous costs are expanded because of the need to work with programs having only primitive user interfaces.

Designing a Better Experience: A Qualitative Investigation of Student Engineering Internships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paknejad, Mohammad R.

2016-01-01

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education play a very important role in preparing students with skills necessary to obtain better jobs, solve real-world challenges, and compete in the global economy. STEM education develops critical thinking and the ability to solve complex problems. Research showed that 8 out of 10 most…

Critical Thinking Disposition: The Effects of Infusion Approach in Engineering Drawing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darby, Norazlinda Mohd; Rashid, Abdullah Mat

2017-01-01

Critical Thinking Disposition is known as an important factor that drives a student to use Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in order to solve engineering drawing problems. Infusing them while teaching the subject may enhance students' disposition and higher order thinking skills. However, no research has been done in critical thinking…

Effective Design of Educational Virtual Reality Applications for Medicine Using Knowledge-Engineering Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Górski, Filip; Bun, Pawel; Wichniarek, Radoslaw; Zawadzki, Przemyslaw; Hamrol, Adam

2017-01-01

Effective medical and biomedical engineering education is an important problem. Traditional methods are difficult and costly. That is why Virtual Reality is often used for that purpose. Educational medical VR is a well-developed IT field, with many available hardware and software solutions. Current solutions are prepared without methodological…

Microfluidics and Microfabrication in a Chemical Engineering Lab

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archer, Shivaun D.

2011-01-01

Microfluidics, the manipulation of fluids in channels with micron dimensions, has emerged as an exciting new field that impacts the broad area of nano/microtechnology. This is an important area to train the next generation of chemical engineers. This paper describes an experiment where students are given a problem to design a microfluidic mixer…

[Development of domain specific search engines].

PubMed

Takai, T; Tokunaga, M; Maeda, K; Kaminuma, T

2000-01-01

As cyber space exploding in a pace that nobody has ever imagined, it becomes very important to search cyber space efficiently and effectively. One solution to this problem is search engines. Already a lot of commercial search engines have been put on the market. However these search engines respond with such cumbersome results that domain specific experts can not tolerate. Using a dedicate hardware and a commercial software called OpenText, we have tried to develop several domain specific search engines. These engines are for our institute's Web contents, drugs, chemical safety, endocrine disruptors, and emergent response for chemical hazard. These engines have been on our Web site for testing.

Katrina: macro-ethical issues for engineers.

PubMed

Newberry, Byron

2010-09-01

Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst disasters in United States history. Failures within New Orleans' engineered hurricane protection system (levees and floodwalls) contributed to the severity of the event and have drawn considerable public attention. In the time since Katrina, forensic investigations have uncovered a range of issues and problems related to the engineering work. In this article, my goal is to distill from these investigations, and the related literature that has accumulated, some overarching macro-ethical issues that are relevant for all engineers. I attempt to frame these issues, using illustrative examples taken from Katrina, in a way that might be of pedagogical use and benefit for engineering educators interested in engaging their students in discussions of engineering ethics, societal impact of engineered systems, engineering design, or related topics. Some of the issues discussed are problems of unanticipated failure modes, faulty assumptions, lack or misuse of information, the importance of resiliency, the effects of time, balancing competing interests, attending to the details of interfaces, the fickleness of risk perception, and how the past constrains the present.

Relevancy 101

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lynnes, Chris; Newman, Doug

2016-01-01

Where we present an overview on why relevancy is a problem, how important it is and how we can improve it. The topic of relevancy is becoming increasingly important in earth data discovery as our audience is tuned to the accuracy of standard search engines like Google.

Flame Acceleration and Transition to Detonation in High-Speed Turbulent Combustion

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-21

Turbulent Combustion 1. Introduction to the Challenge Problem The importance of high-speed t urbulent combustion of gas mixtures and sprays is dif...engines, gas turbines, various types of jet engines, and some rocket engines . On the other hand , preventing high-speed combustion is critical for...the safety of any human activities that involve handling of po- t entially explosive gases or volatile liquids . Thus, the development of more fuel

neutron-Induced Failures in semiconductor Devices

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wender, Stephen Arthur

2017-03-13

Single Event Effects are a very significant failure mode in modern semiconductor devices that may limit their reliability. Accelerated testing is important for semiconductor industry. Considerable more work is needed in this field to mitigate the problem. Mitigation of this problem will probably come from Physicists and Electrical Engineers working together

Can We Expect to Recruit Future Engineers among Students Who Have Never Repaired a Toy?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Virtic, Mateja Ploj; Šorgo, Andrej

2016-01-01

Education has traditionally focused primarily on content and cognitive goals. While content knowledge is important, to enter to the labour market today, graduates must also develop manual skills and technical literacy. The paper deals with engineering and technology education in Slovenia. It portrays the problem of the decline in interest in…

An Industrial Engineering Approach to Cost Containment of Pharmacy Education.

PubMed

Duncan, Wendy; Bottenberg, Michelle; Chase, Marilea; Chesnut, Renae; Clarke, Cheryl; Schott, Kathryn; Torry, Ronald; Welty, Tim

2015-11-25

A 2-semester project explored employing teams of fourth-year industrial engineering students to optimize some of our academic management processes. Results included significant cost savings and increases in efficiency, effectiveness, and student and faculty satisfaction. While we did not adopt all of the students' recommendations, we did learn some important lessons. For example, an initial investment of time in developing a mutually clear understanding of the problems, constraints, and goals maximizes the value of industrial engineering analysis and recommendations. Overall, industrial engineering was a valuable tool for optimizing certain academic management processes.

Influence of firm size on the competencies required to management engineers in the Jordanian telecommunications sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conchado Peiró, Andrea; Bas Cerdá, María del Carmen; Gharaibeh, Khaled M.; Kaylani, Hazem

2017-09-01

The objective of this study is to identify the competencies required to achieve success in the transition from higher education to the labour market based on the perceptions of employers. This paper analyses the assessments made by a group of engineering company employers. An item-battery of 20 competencies was grouped into 3 dimensions by using factor analysis. Subsequently, respondents' scores were also clustered into three groups and characterised through contingency tables. The competencies demanded by employers were grouped into business and finance, problem-solving and strategic planning. Significant differences were found between responses from employers working in medium and small companies, who placed more importance on competencies related to problem-solving and strategic planning, and employers in big companies, who were more concerned about the difficulties of finding well-trained graduates. The findings from this paper have important implications for research in the areas of higher education and organisations that usually employ graduate engineers.

A psychological model that integrates ethics in engineering education.

PubMed

Magun-Jackson, Susan

2004-04-01

Ethics has become an increasingly important issue within engineering as the profession has become progressively more complex. The need to integrate ethics into an engineering curriculum is well documented, as education does not often sufficiently prepare engineers for the ethical conflicts they experience. Recent research indicates that there is great diversity in the way institutions approach the problem of teaching ethics to undergraduate engineering students; some schools require students to take general ethics courses from philosophical or religious perspectives, while others integrate ethics in existing engineering courses. The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to implement the integration of ethics in engineering education that is pedagogically based on Kohlberg's stage theory of moral development.

Automotive Stirling engine systems development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richey, A. E.

1984-01-01

The objective of the Automotive Stirling Engine (ASE) program is to develop a Stirling engine for automotive use that provides a 30 percent improvement in fuel economy relative to a comparable internal-combustion engine while meeting emissions goals. This paper traces the engine systems' development efforts focusing on: (1) a summary of engine system performance for all Mod I engines; (2) the development, program conducted for the upgraded Mod I; and (3) vehicle systems work conducted to enhance vehicle fuel economy. Problems encountered during the upgraded Mod I test program are discussed. The importance of the EPA driving cycle cold-start penalty and the measures taken to minimize that penalty with the Mod II are also addressed.

Applications of aerospace technology to petroleum extraction and reservoir engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jaffe, L. D.; Back, L. H.; Berdahl, C. M.; Collins, E. E., Jr.; Gordon, P. G.; Houseman, J.; Humphrey, M. F.; Hsu, G. C.; Ham, J. D.; Marte, J. E.;

A Knowledge-Based and Model-Driven Requirements Engineering Approach to Conceptual Satellite Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dos Santos, Walter A.; Leonor, Bruno B. F.; Stephany, Stephan

Satellite systems are becoming even more complex, making technical issues a significant cost driver. The increasing complexity of these systems makes requirements engineering activities both more important and difficult. Additionally, today's competitive pressures and other market forces drive manufacturing companies to improve the efficiency with which they design and manufacture space products and systems. This imposes a heavy burden on systems-of-systems engineering skills and particularly on requirements engineering which is an important phase in a system's life cycle. When this is poorly performed, various problems may occur, such as failures, cost overruns and delays. One solution is to underpin the preliminary conceptual satellite design with computer-based information reuse and integration to deal with the interdisciplinary nature of this problem domain. This can be attained by taking a model-driven engineering approach (MDE), in which models are the main artifacts during system development. MDE is an emergent approach that tries to address system complexity by the intense use of models. This work outlines the use of SysML (Systems Modeling Language) and a novel knowledge-based software tool, named SatBudgets, to deal with these and other challenges confronted during the conceptual phase of a university satellite system, called ITASAT, currently being developed by INPE and some Brazilian universities.

Students' Explanations in Complex Learning of Disciplinary Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vieira, Camilo

2016-01-01

Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) has been denominated as the third pillar of science and as a set of important skills to solve the problems of a global society. Along with the theoretical and the experimental approaches, computation offers a third alternative to solve complex problems that require processing large amounts of data, or…

Generic E-Assessment Process Development Based on Reverse Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hajjej, Fahima; Hlaoui, Yousra Bendaly; Ben Ayed, Leila Jemni

2017-01-01

The e-assessment, as an important part of any e-learning system, faces the same challenges and problems such as problems related to portability, reusability, adaptability, integration and interoperability. Therefore, we need an approach aiming to generate a general process of the e-assessment. The present study consists of the development of a…

Teaching Problem Solving: Don't Forget the Problem Solver(s)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ranade, Saidas M.; Corrales, Angela

2013-01-01

The importance of intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences has long been known but educators have debated whether to and how to incorporate those topics in an already crowded engineering curriculum. In 2010, the authors used the classroom as a laboratory to observe the usefulness of including selected case studies and exercises from the…

New business opportunity: Green field project with new technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Seung Jae; Woo, Jong Hun; Shin, Jong Gye

2014-06-01

Since 2009 of global financial crisis, shipbuilding industry has undergone hard times seriously. After such a long depression, the latest global shipping market index shows that the economic recovery of global shipbuilding market is underway. Especially, nations with enormous resources are going to increase their productivity or expanding their shipyards to accommodate a large amount of orders expected in the near future. However, few commercial projects have been carried out for the practical shipyard layout designs even though those can be good commercial opportunities for shipbuilding engineers. Shipbuilding starts with a shipyard construction with a large scale investment initially. Shipyard design and the equipment layout problem, which is directly linked to the productivity of ship production, is an important issue in the production planning of mass production of ships. In many cases, shipbuilding yard design has relied on the experience of the internal engineer, resulting in sporadic and poorly organized processes. Consequently, economic losses and the trial and error involved in such a design process are inevitable problems. The starting point of shipyard construction is to design a shipyard layout. Four kinds of engineering parts required for the shipyard layout design and construction. Those are civil engineering, building engineering, utility engineering and production layout engineering. Among these parts, production layout engineering is most important because its result is used as a foundation of the other engineering parts, and also, determines the shipyard capacity in the shipyard lifecycle. In this paper, the background of shipbuilding industry is explained in terms of engineering works for the recognition of the macro trend. Nextly, preliminary design methods and related case study is introduced briefly by referencing the previous research. Lastly, the designed work of layout design is validated using the computer simulation technology.

Liquid rocket engine nozzles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

The nozzle is a major component of a rocket engine, having a significant influence on the overall engine performance and representing a large fraction of the engine structure. The design of the nozzle consists of solving simultaneously two different problems: the definition of the shape of the wall that forms the expansion surface, and the delineation of the nozzle structure and hydraulic system. This monography addresses both of these problems. The shape of the wall is considered from immediately upstream of the throat to the nozzle exit for both bell and annular (or plug) nozzles. Important aspects of the methods used to generate nozzle wall shapes are covered for maximum-performance shapes and for nozzle contours based on criteria other than performance. The discussion of structure and hydraulics covers problem areas of regeneratively cooled tube-wall nozzles and extensions; it treats also nozzle extensions cooled by turbine exhaust gas, ablation-cooled extensions, and radiation-cooled extensions. The techniques that best enable the designer to develop the nozzle structure with as little difficulty as possible and at the lowest cost consistent with minimum weight and specified performance are described.

Exact solution of large asymmetric traveling salesman problems.

PubMed

Miller, D L; Pekny, J F

1991-02-15

The traveling salesman problem is one of a class of difficult problems in combinatorial optimization that is representative of a large number of important scientific and engineering problems. A survey is given of recent applications and methods for solving large problems. In addition, an algorithm for the exact solution of the asymmetric traveling salesman problem is presented along with computational results for several classes of problems. The results show that the algorithm performs remarkably well for some classes of problems, determining an optimal solution even for problems with large numbers of cities, yet for other classes, even small problems thwart determination of a provably optimal solution.

Experience in the Education of Engineers from Vietnam in the Faculty of Mining and Geoengineering AGH

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cała, Marek; Borowski, Marek

2018-03-01

The AGH University of Science and Technology collaborates closely with other universities, economic units, governmental and local administrative bodies. International cooperation plays a very important role in the academic research. The AGH University of Science and Technology has signed many collaboration agreements. They aim at multidimensional cooperation in the fields of education and academic research. AGH UST has always focused on collaboration with business and industry. In recent years, the global economy is undergoing massive transformations, what creates new challenges to companies and educational institutions that cater to the needs of industry. The expansion of business enterprises is largely dependent on their employees' expertise, skills and levels of competence. Certified engineers are provided by universities. Therefore, the qualifications of the graduates are determined by the curriculum and teaching methods, as well as the available educational and research facilities. Of equal importance is the qualified academic staff. Human activities in the field of engineering require finding solutions to problems of various nature and magnitude. An engineer's work consists in the design, construction, modification and maintenance of useful devices, processes and systems, using scientific and technical knowledge. In order to design complex engineering solutions, an engineer uses his imagination, experience, analytical skills, logical reasoning and makes conscious use of his knowledge. At the Faculty of Mining and Geoengineering of the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, 15 engineers from Vietnam are studying Mining and Geology at the second-cycle studies (specialization: mine ventilation). The solutions proposed in the field of the engineers' education guarantee that foreign students gain both engineering knowledge and problem-solving skills. Therefore, the study programme was complemented by a series of practical aspects.

Factors Related to Successful Engineering Team Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nowaczyk, Ronald H.; Zang, Thomas A.

1998-01-01

The perceptions of a sample of 49 engineers and scientists from NASA Langley Research Center toward engineering design teams were evaluated. The respondents rated 60 team behaviors in terms of their relative importance for team success. They also completed a profile of their own perceptions of their strengths and weaknesses as team members. Behaviors related to team success are discussed in terms of those involving the organizational culture and commitment to the team and those dealing with internal team dynamics. The latter behaviors included the level and extent of debate and discussion regarding methods for completing the team task and the efficient use of team time to explore and discuss methodologies critical to the problem. Successful engineering teams may find their greatest challenges occurring during the early stages of their existence. In contrast to the prototypical business team, members on an engineering design share expertise and knowledge which allows them to deal with task issues sooner. However, discipline differences among team members can lead to conflicts regarding the best method or approach to solving the engineering problem.

Engineering students' experiences and perceptions of workplace problem solving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Rui

In this study, I interviewed 22 engineering Co-Op students about their workplace problem solving experiences and reflections and explored: 1) Of Co-Op students who experienced workplace problem solving, what are the different ways in which students experience workplace problem solving? 2) How do students perceive a) the differences between workplace problem solving and classroom problem solving and b) in what areas are they prepared by their college education to solve workplace problems? To answer my first research question, I analyzed data through the lens of phenomenography and I conducted thematic analysis to answer my second research question. The results of this study have implications for engineering education and engineering practice. Specifically, the results reveal the different ways students experience workplace problem solving, which provide engineering educators and practicing engineers a better understanding of the nature of workplace engineering. In addition, the results indicate that there is still a gap between classroom engineering and workplace engineering. For engineering educators who aspire to prepare students to be future engineers, it is imperative to design problem solving experiences that can better prepare students with workplace competency.

Science and Engineering Students' Use of Diagrams during Note Taking versus Explanation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manalo, Emmanuel; Uesaka, Yuri; Perez-Kriz, Sarah; Kato, Masashi; Fukaya, Tatsushi

2013-01-01

The use of diagrams in learning and communication is generally considered efficacious and an important skill to cultivate, especially among science students. At the same time, previous research has revealed many problems in student diagram use, including a lack of spontaneity in such use, but the extent to which these problems persist into the…

A Proposal to Encourage Intuitive Learning in a Senior-Level Analogue Electronics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berjano, E.; Lozano-Nieto, A.

2011-01-01

One of the most important issues in the reorganisation of engineering education is to consider new pedagogical techniques to help students develop skills and an adaptive expertise. This expertise consists of being able to recognise the nature of a problem intuitively, and also recognising recurring patterns in different types of problems. In the…

Air pollution engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maduna, Karolina; Tomašić, Vesna

2017-11-01

Air pollution is an environmental and a social problem which leads to a multitude of adverse effects on human health and standard of human life, state of the ecosystems and global change of climate. Air pollutants are emitted from natural, but mostly from anthropogenic sources and may be transported over long distances. Some air pollutants are extremely stable in the atmosphere and may accumulate in the environment and in the food chain, affecting human beings, animals and natural biodiversity. Obviously, air pollution is a complex problem that poses multiple challenges in terms of management and abatements of the pollutants emission. Effective approach to the problems of air pollution requires a good understanding of the sources that cause it, knowledge of air quality status and future trends as well as its impact on humans and ecosystems. This chapter deals with the complexities of the air pollution and presents an overview of different technical processes and equipment for air pollution control, as well as basic principles of their work. The problems of air protection as well as protection of other ecosystems can be solved only by the coordinated endeavors of various scientific and engineering disciplines, such as chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, chemical engineering and social sciences. The most important engineering contribution is mostly focused on development, design and operation of equipment for the abatement of harmful emissions into environment.

An Industrial Engineering Approach to Cost Containment of Pharmacy Education

PubMed Central

Bottenberg, Michelle; Chase, Marilea; Chesnut, Renae; Clarke, Cheryl; Schott, Kathryn; Torry, Ronald; Welty, Tim

2015-01-01

A 2-semester project explored employing teams of fourth-year industrial engineering students to optimize some of our academic management processes. Results included significant cost savings and increases in efficiency, effectiveness, and student and faculty satisfaction. While we did not adopt all of the students’ recommendations, we did learn some important lessons. For example, an initial investment of time in developing a mutually clear understanding of the problems, constraints, and goals maximizes the value of industrial engineering analysis and recommendations. Overall, industrial engineering was a valuable tool for optimizing certain academic management processes. PMID:26839421

A Phenomenographic Investigation of the Ways Engineering Students Experience Innovation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fila, Nicholas David

Innovation has become an important phenomenon in engineering and engineering education. By developing novel, feasible, viable, and valued solutions to complex technical and human problems, engineers support the economic competitiveness of organizations, make a difference in the lives of users and other stakeholders, drive societal and scientific progress, and obtain key personal benefits. Innovation is also a complex phenomenon. It occurs across a variety of contexts and domains, encompasses numerous phases and activities, and requires unique competency profiles. Despite this complexity, many studies in engineering education focus on specific aspects (e.g., engineering students' abilities to generate original concepts during idea generation), and we still know little about the variety of ways engineering students approach and understand innovation. This study addresses that gap by asking: 1. What are the qualitatively different ways engineering students experience innovation during their engineering projects? 2. What are the structural relationships between the ways engineering students experience innovation? This study utilized phenomenography, a qualitative research method, to explore the above research questions. Thirty-three engineering students were recruited to ensure thorough coverage along four factors suggested by the literature to support differences related to innovation: engineering project experience, academic major, year in school, and gender. Each participant completed a 1-2 hour, semi-structured interview that focused on experiences with and conceptions of innovation. Whole transcripts were analyzed using an eight-stage, iterative, and comparative approach meant to identify a limited number of categories of description (composite ways of experiencing innovation comprised of the experiences of several participants), and the structural relationships between these categories. Phenomenographic analysis revealed eight categories of description that were structured in a semi-hierarchical, two-dimensional outcome space. The first four categories demonstrated a progression toward greater comprehensiveness in both process and focus dimensions. In the process dimension, subsequent categories added increasingly preliminary innovation phases: idea realization, idea generation, problem scoping, and problem finding. In the focus dimension, subsequent categories added key areas engineers considered during innovation: technical, human, and enterprise. The final four categories each incorporated all previous process phases and focus areas, but prioritized different focus areas in sophisticated ways and acknowledged a macro-iterative cycle, i.e., an understanding of how the processes within a single innovation project built upon and contributed to past and future innovation projects. These results demonstrate important differences between engineering students and suggest how they may come to experience innovation in increasingly comprehensive ways. A framework based on the results can be used by educators and researchers to support more robust educational offerings and nuanced research designs that reflect these differences.

DEB modeling for nanotoxicology, microbial ecology, and environmental engineering. Comment on: ;Physics of metabolic organization; by Marko Jusup et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holden, Patricia A.

2017-03-01

Jusup et al. [1] appeal to mathematical physicists, and to biologists, by providing the theoretical basis for dynamic energy budget (DEB) modeling of individual organisms and populations, while emphasizing model simplicity, universality, and applicability to real world problems. Comments herein regard the disciplinary tensions proposed by the authors and suggest that-in addition to important applications in eco- and specifically nano-toxicology-there are opportunities for DEB frameworks to inform relative complexity in microbial ecological process modeling. This commentary also suggests another audience for bridging DEB theory and application-engineers solving environmental problems.

15 CFR 918.3 - Eligibility, qualifications, and responsibility of a Sea Grant College.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... leader in marine science, engineering, education, and advisory service in its state and region. (2... problems in the marine environment. Important factors in evaluating relevance are the need for marine...

15 CFR 918.3 - Eligibility, qualifications, and responsibility of a Sea Grant College.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... leader in marine science, engineering, education, and advisory service in its state and region. (2... problems in the marine environment. Important factors in evaluating relevance are the need for marine...

15 CFR 918.3 - Eligibility, qualifications, and responsibility of a Sea Grant College.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... leader in marine science, engineering, education, and advisory service in its state and region. (2... problems in the marine environment. Important factors in evaluating relevance are the need for marine...

Problem Decomposition and Recomposition in Engineering Design: A Comparison of Design Behavior between Professional Engineers, Engineering Seniors, and Engineering Freshmen

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Ting; Becker, Kurt; Gero, John; DeBerard, Scott; DeBerard, Oenardi; Reeve, Edward

2016-01-01

The authors investigated the differences in using problem decomposition and problem recomposition between dyads of engineering experts, engineering seniors, and engineering freshmen. Participants worked in dyads to complete an engineering design challenge within 1 hour. The entire design process was video and audio recorded. After the design…

Biomechanical properties of the spinal cord: implications for tissue engineering and clinical translation.

PubMed

Bartlett, Richard D; Choi, David; Phillips, James B

2016-10-01

Spinal cord injury is a severely debilitating condition which can leave individuals paralyzed and suffering from autonomic dysfunction. Regenerative medicine may offer a promising solution to this problem. Previous research has focused primarily on exploring the cellular and biological aspects of the spinal cord, yet relatively little remains known about the biomechanical properties of spinal cord tissue. Given that a number of regenerative strategies aim to deliver cells and materials in the form of tissue-engineered therapies, understanding the biomechanical properties of host spinal cord tissue is important. We review the relevant biomechanical properties of spinal cord tissue and provide the baseline knowledge required to apply these important physical concepts to spinal cord tissue engineering.

Knowledge-Acquisition Tool For Expert System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Disbrow, James D.; Duke, Eugene L.; Regenie, Victoria A.

1988-01-01

Digital flight-control systems monitored by computer program that evaluates and recommends. Flight-systems engineers for advanced, high-performance aircraft use knowlege-acquisition tool for expert-system flight-status monitor suppling interpretative data. Interpretative function especially important in time-critical, high-stress situations because it facilitates problem identification and corrective strategy. Conditions evaluated and recommendations made by ground-based engineers having essential knowledge for analysis and monitoring of performances of advanced aircraft systems.

A constitutive law for finite element contact problems with unclassical friction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plesha, M. E.; Steinetz, B. M.

1986-01-01

Techniques for modeling complex, unclassical contact-friction problems arising in solid and structural mechanics are discussed. A constitutive modeling concept is employed whereby analytic relations between increments of contact surface stress (i.e., traction) and contact surface deformation (i.e., relative displacement) are developed. Because of the incremental form of these relations, they are valid for arbitrary load-deformation histories. The motivation for the development of such a constitutive law is that more realistic friction idealizations can be implemented in finite element analysis software in a consistent, straightforward manner. Of particular interest is modeling of two-body (i.e., unlubricated) metal-metal, ceramic-ceramic, and metal-ceramic contact. Interfaces involving ceramics are of engineering importance and are being considered for advanced turbine engines in which higher temperature materials offer potential for higher engine fuel efficiency.

A development optical course based on optical fiber white light interference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Haili; Sun, Qiuhua; Zhao, Yancheng; Li, Qingbo

2017-08-01

The Michelson interferometer is a very important instrument in optical part for college physics teaching. But most students only know the instrument itself and don't know how to use it in practical engineering problems. A case about optical fiber white light interference based on engineering practice was introduced in the optical teaching of college physics and then designed a development course of university physical optics part. This system based on low-coherence white light interferometric technology can be used to measure distribution strain or temperature. It also could be used in the case of temperature compensation mode.This teaching design can use the knowledge transfer rule to enable students to apply the basic knowledge in the university physics to the new knowledge domain, which can promote the students' ability of using scientific methods to solve complex engineering problems.

Fast engineering optimization: A novel highly effective control parameterization approach for industrial dynamic processes.

PubMed

Liu, Ping; Li, Guodong; Liu, Xinggao

2015-09-01

Control vector parameterization (CVP) is an important approach of the engineering optimization for the industrial dynamic processes. However, its major defect, the low optimization efficiency caused by calculating the relevant differential equations in the generated nonlinear programming (NLP) problem repeatedly, limits its wide application in the engineering optimization for the industrial dynamic processes. A novel highly effective control parameterization approach, fast-CVP, is first proposed to improve the optimization efficiency for industrial dynamic processes, where the costate gradient formulae is employed and a fast approximate scheme is presented to solve the differential equations in dynamic process simulation. Three well-known engineering optimization benchmark problems of the industrial dynamic processes are demonstrated as illustration. The research results show that the proposed fast approach achieves a fine performance that at least 90% of the computation time can be saved in contrast to the traditional CVP method, which reveals the effectiveness of the proposed fast engineering optimization approach for the industrial dynamic processes. Copyright © 2015 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mitigating PQ Problems in Legacy Data Centers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ilinets, Boris; /SLAC

2011-06-01

The conclusions of this presentation are: (1) Problems with PQ in legacy data centers still exist and need to be mitigated; (2) Harmonics generated by non-linear IT load can be lowered by passive, active and hybrid cancellation methods; (3) Harmonic study is necessary to find the best way to treat PQ problems; (4) AHF's and harmonic cancellation transformers proved to be very efficient in mitigating PQ problems; and (5) It is important that IT leaders partner with electrical engineering to appropriate ROI statements, justifying many of these expenditures.

Transformation of scientists and engineers into managers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bayton, J. A.; Chapman, R. L.

1972-01-01

The purposes of this research were to determine the principal problems and obstacles faced by specialists during the transition period when they are becoming managers, and to discover ways by which their difficulties might be avoided or overcome. It was found that senior management officials are unaware--or tend to ignore the importance--of the transition process and its problems, that little attention has been given to developing management training to overcome transition problems, and that much of the training which is offered is largely irrelevant to these problems.

Understanding Engineers' Responsibilities: A Prerequisite to Designing Engineering Education : Commentary on "Educating Engineers for the Public Good Through International Internships: Evidence from a Case Study at Universitat Politècnica de València".

PubMed

Murphy, Colleen; Gardoni, Paolo

2017-07-18

The development of the curriculum for engineering education (course requirements as well as extra-curricular activities like study abroad and internships) should be based on a comprehensive understanding of engineers' responsibilities. The responsibilities that are constitutive of being an engineer include striving to fulfill the standards of excellence set by technical codes; to improve the idealized models that engineers use to predict, for example, the behavior of alternative designs; and to achieve the internal goods such as safety and sustainability as they are reflected in the design codes. Globalization has implications for these responsibilities and, in turn, for engineering education, by, for example, modifying the collection of possible solutions recognized for existing problems. In addition, international internships can play an important role in fostering the requisite moral imagination of engineering students.

Computing in Hydraulic Engineering Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, J. G.

2011-12-01

Civil engineers, pioneers of our civilization, are rarely perceived as leaders and innovators in modern society because of retardations in technology innovation. This crisis has resulted in the decline of the prestige of civil engineering profession, reduction of federal funding on deteriorating infrastructures, and problems with attracting the most talented high-school students. Infusion of cutting-edge computer technology and stimulating creativity and innovation therefore are the critical challenge to civil engineering education. To better prepare our graduates to innovate, this paper discussed the adaption of problem-based collaborative learning technique and integration of civil engineering computing into a traditional civil engineering curriculum. Three interconnected courses: Open Channel Flow, Computational Hydraulics, and Sedimentation Engineering, were developed with emphasis on computational simulations. In Open Channel flow, the focuses are principles of free surface flow and the application of computational models. This prepares students to the 2nd course, Computational Hydraulics, that introduce the fundamental principles of computational hydraulics, including finite difference and finite element methods. This course complements the Open Channel Flow class to provide students with in-depth understandings of computational methods. The 3rd course, Sedimentation Engineering, covers the fundamentals of sediment transport and river engineering, so students can apply the knowledge and programming skills gained from previous courses to develop computational models for simulating sediment transport. These courses effectively equipped students with important skills and knowledge to complete thesis and dissertation research.

Global Topology Optimisation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-31

statistical physics. Sec. IV includes several examples of the application of the stochastic method, including matching of a shape to a fixed design, and...an important part of any future application of this method. Second, re-initialization of the level set can lead to small but significant movements of...of engineering design problems [6, 17]. However, many of the relevant applications involve non-convex optimisation problems with multiple locally

Colour and Optical Properties of Materials: An Exploration of the Relationship Between Light, the Optical Properties of Materials and Colour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilley, Richard J. D.

2003-05-01

Colour is an important and integral part of everyday life, and an understanding and knowledge of the scientific principles behind colour, with its many applications and uses, is becoming increasingly important to a wide range of academic disciplines, from physical, medical and biological sciences through to the arts. Colour and the Optical Properties of Materials carefully introduces the science behind the subject, along with many modern and cutting-edge applications, chose to appeal to today's students. For science students, it provides a broad introduction to the subject and the many applications of colour. To more applied students, such as engineering and arts students, it provides the essential scientific background to colour and the many applications. Features: * Introduces the science behind the subject whilst closely connecting it to modern applications, such as colour displays, optical amplifiers and colour centre lasers * Richly illustrated with full-colour plates * Includes many worked examples, along with problems and exercises at the end of each chapter and selected answers at the back of the book * A Web site, including additional problems and full solutions to all the problems, which may be accessed at: www.cardiff.ac.uk/uwcc/engin/staff/rdjt/colour Written for students taking an introductory course in colour in a wide range of disciplines such as physics, chemistry, engineering, materials science, computer science, design, photography, architecture and textiles.

Study on the engine oil's wear based on the flash point

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niculescu, R.; Iorga-Simăn, V.; Trică, A.; Clenci, A.

2016-08-01

Increasing energy performance of internal combustion engines is largely influenced by frictional forces that arise between moving parts. Thus, in this respect, the nature and quality of the engine oil used is an important factor. Equally important is the effect of various engine injection strategies upon the oil quality. In other words, it's of utmost importance to maintain the quality of engine oil during engine's operation. Oil dilution is one of the most common causes that lead to its wear, creating lubrication problems. Moreover, at low temperatures operating conditions, the oil dilution with diesel fuel produces wax. When starting the engine, this may lead to lubrication deficiencies and even oil starvation with negative consequences on the engine mechanism parts wear (piston, rings and cylinders) but also crankcase bearings wear.Engine oil dilution with diesel fuel have several causes: wear of rings and/or injectors, late post-injection strategy for the sake of particulate filter regeneration, etc.This paper presents a study on the degree of deterioration of engine oils as a result of dilution with diesel fuel. The analysed oils used for this study were taken from various models of engines equipped with diesel particulate filter. The assessment is based on the determination of oil flash point and dilution degree using the apparatus Eraflash produced by Eralytics, Austria. Eraflash measurement is directly under the latest and safest standards ASTM D6450 & D7094), which are in excellent correlation with ASTM D93 Pensky - Martens ASTM D56 TAG methods; it uses the Continuous Closed Cup method for finding the Flash Point (CCCFP).

Convolving engineering and medical pedagogies for training of tomorrow's health care professionals.

PubMed

Lee, Raphael C

2013-03-01

Several fundamental benefits justify why biomedical engineering and medicine should form a more convergent alliance, especially for the training of tomorrow's physicians and biomedical engineers. Herein, we review the rationale underlying the benefits. Biological discovery has advanced beyond the era of molecular biology well into today's era of molecular systems biology, which focuses on understanding the rules that govern the behavior of complex living systems. This has important medical implications. To realize cost-effective personalized medicine, it is necessary to translate the advances in molecular systems biology to higher levels of biological organization (organ, system, and organismal levels) and then to develop new medical therapeutics based on simulation and medical informatics analysis. Higher education in biological and medical sciences must adapt to a new set of training objectives. This will involve a shifting away from reductionist problem solving toward more integrative, continuum, and predictive modeling approaches which traditionally have been more associated with engineering science. Future biomedical engineers and MDs must be able to predict clinical response to therapeutic intervention. Medical education will involve engineering pedagogies, wherein basic governing rules of complex system behavior and skill sets in manipulating these systems to achieve a practical desired outcome are taught. Similarly, graduate biomedical engineering programs will include more practical exposure to clinical problem solving.

ICASE/LaRC Workshop on Benchmark Problems in Computational Aeroacoustics (CAA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hardin, Jay C. (Editor); Ristorcelli, J. Ray (Editor); Tam, Christopher K. W. (Editor)

1995-01-01

The proceedings of the Benchmark Problems in Computational Aeroacoustics Workshop held at NASA Langley Research Center are the subject of this report. The purpose of the Workshop was to assess the utility of a number of numerical schemes in the context of the unusual requirements of aeroacoustical calculations. The schemes were assessed from the viewpoint of dispersion and dissipation -- issues important to long time integration and long distance propagation in aeroacoustics. Also investigated were the effect of implementation of different boundary conditions. The Workshop included a forum in which practical engineering problems related to computational aeroacoustics were discussed. This discussion took the form of a dialogue between an industrial panel and the workshop participants and was an effort to suggest the direction of evolution of this field in the context of current engineering needs.

Application of CFD codes to the design and development of propulsion systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lord, W. K.; Pickett, G. F.; Sturgess, G. J.; Weingold, H. D.

1987-01-01

The internal flows of aerospace propulsion engines have certain common features that are amenable to analysis through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) computer codes. Although the application of CFD to engineering problems in engines was delayed by the complexities associated with internal flows, many codes with different capabilities are now being used as routine design tools. This is illustrated by examples taken from the aircraft gas turbine engine of flows calculated with potential flow, Euler flow, parabolized Navier-Stokes, and Navier-Stokes codes. Likely future directions of CFD applied to engine flows are described, and current barriers to continued progress are highlighted. The potential importance of the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulator (NAS) to resolution of these difficulties is suggested.

Aircraft engine sump-fire studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loomis, W. R.

1976-01-01

Results of ongoing experimental studies are reported in which a 125-millimeter-diameter-advanced-bearing test rig simulating an engine sump is being used to find the critical range of conditions for fires to occur. Design, material, and operating concepts and techniques are being studied with the objective of minimizing the problem. It has been found that the vapor temperature near a spark ignitor is most important in determining ignition potential. At temperatures producing oil vapor pressures below or much above the calculated flammability limits, fires have not been ignited. But fires have been routinely started within the theoretical flammability range. This indicates that generalizing the sump-fire problem may make it amenable to analysis, with the potential for realistic solutions.

Examining Young Students' Problem Scoping in Engineering Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watkins, Jessica; Spencer, Kathleen; Hammer, David

2014-01-01

Problem scoping--determining the nature and boundaries of a problem--is an essential aspect of the engineering design process. Some studies from engineering education suggest that beginning students tend to skip problem scoping or oversimplify a problem. However, the ways these studies often characterize students' problem scoping often do not…

Design considerations in clustering nuclear rocket engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sager, Paul H.

1992-01-01

An initial investigation of the design considerations in clustering nuclear rocket engines for space transfer vehicles has been made. The clustering of both propulsion modules (which include start tanks) and nuclear rocket engines installed directly to a vehicle core tank appears to be feasible. Special provisions to shield opposite run tanks and the opposite side of a core tank - in the case of the boost pump concept - are required; the installation of a circumferential reactor side shield sector appears to provide an effective solution to this problem. While the time response to an engine-out event does not appear to be critical, the gimbal displacement required appears to be important. Since an installation of three engines offers a substantial reduction in gimbal requirements for engine-out and it may be possible to further enhance mission reliability with the greater number of engines, it is recommended that a cluster of four engines be considered.

Design considerations in clustering nuclear rocket engines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sager, Paul H.

1992-07-01

An initial investigation of the design considerations in clustering nuclear rocket engines for space transfer vehicles has been made. The clustering of both propulsion modules (which include start tanks) and nuclear rocket engines installed directly to a vehicle core tank appears to be feasible. Special provisions to shield opposite run tanks and the opposite side of a core tank - in the case of the boost pump concept - are required; the installation of a circumferential reactor side shield sector appears to provide an effective solution to this problem. While the time response to an engine-out event does not appear to be critical, the gimbal displacement required appears to be important. Since an installation of three engines offers a substantial reduction in gimbal requirements for engine-out and it may be possible to further enhance mission reliability with the greater number of engines, it is recommended that a cluster of four engines be considered.

TRENDS: The aeronautical post-test database management system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bjorkman, W. S.; Bondi, M. J.

1990-01-01

TRENDS, an engineering-test database operating system developed by NASA to support rotorcraft flight tests, is described. Capabilities and characteristics of the system are presented, with examples of its use in recalling and analyzing rotorcraft flight-test data from a TRENDS database. The importance of system user-friendliness in gaining users' acceptance is stressed, as is the importance of integrating supporting narrative data with numerical data in engineering-test databases. Considerations relevant to the creation and maintenance of flight-test database are discussed and TRENDS' solutions to database management problems are described. Requirements, constraints, and other considerations which led to the system's configuration are discussed and some of the lessons learned during TRENDS' development are presented. Potential applications of TRENDS to a wide range of aeronautical and other engineering tests are identified.

Component improvement of free-piston Stirling engine key technology for space power

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alger, Donald L.

1988-01-01

The successful performance of the 25 kW Space Power Demonstrator (SPD) engine during an extensive testing period has provided a baseline of free piston Stirling engine technology from which future space Stirling engines may evolve. Much of the success of the engine was due to the initial careful selection of engine materials, fabrication and joining processes, and inspection procedures. Resolution of the few SPD engine problem areas that did occur has resulted in the technological advancement of certain key free piston Stirling engine components. Derivation of two half-SPD, single piston engines from the axially opposed piston SPD engine, designated as Space Power Research (SPR) engines, has made possible the continued improvement of these engine components. The two SPR engines serve as test bed engines for testing of engine components. Some important fabrication and joining processes are reviewed. Also, some component deficiencies that were discovered during SPD engine testing are described and approaches that were taken to correct these deficiencies are discussed. Potential component design modifications, based upon the SPD and SPR engine testing, are also reported.

V-TECS Guide for Automobile Engine Performance Technician.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Calvin F.; Benson, Robert T.

This guide is intended to assist teachers responsible for instructing future auto engine performance technicians. The following topics are covered: diagnosing engine performance problems, ignition system problems, fuel system problems, mechanically related performance problems, emission control system problems, and electronic control systems;…

A TAPS Interactive Multimedia Package to Solve Engineering Dynamics Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sidhu, S. Manjit; Selvanathan, N.

2005-01-01

Purpose: To expose engineering students to using modern technologies, such as multimedia packages, to learn, visualize and solve engineering problems, such as in mechanics dynamics. Design/methodology/approach: A multimedia problem-solving prototype package is developed to help students solve an engineering problem in a step-by-step approach. A…

MULTIPHASE FLOW AND TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA

EPA Science Inventory

Multiphase flow and transport of compositionally complex fluids in geologic media is of importance in a number of applied problems which have major social and economic effects. n petroleum reservoir engineering efficient recovery of energy reserves is the principal goal. nfortuna...

Developmental problems and their solution for the Space Shuttle main engine alternate liquid oxygen high-pressure turbopump: Anomaly or failure investigation the key

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, R.; Gross, L. A.

1995-05-01

The Space Shuttle main engine (SSME) alternate high-pressure liquid oxygen pump experienced synchronous vibration and ball bearing life problems that were program threatening. The success of the program hinged on the ability to solve these development problems. The design and solutions to these problems are engirded in the lessons learned and experiences from prior programs, technology programs, and the ability to properly conduct failure or anomaly investigations. The failure investigation determines the problem cause and is the basis for recommending design solutions. For a complex problem, a comprehensive solution requires that formal investigation procedures be used, including fault trees, resolution logic, and action items worked through a concurrent engineering-multidiscipline team. The normal tendency to use an intuitive, cut-and-try approach will usually prove to be costly, both in money and time and will reach a less than optimum, poorly understood answer. The SSME alternate high-pressure oxidizer turbopump development has had two complex problems critical to program success: (1) high synchronous vibrations and (2) excessive ball bearing wear. This paper will use these two problems as examples of this formal failure investigation approach. The results of the team's investigation provides insight into the complexity of the turbomachinery technical discipline interacting/sensitivities and the fine balance of competing investigations required to solve problems and guarantee program success. It is very important to the solution process that maximum use be made of the resources that both the contractor and Government can bring to the problem in a supporting and noncompeting way. There is no place for the not-invented-here attitude. The resources include, but are not limited to: (1) specially skilled professionals; (2) supporting technologies; (3) computational codes and capabilities; and (4) test and manufacturing facilities.

Developmental problems and their solution for the Space Shuttle main engine alternate liquid oxygen high-pressure turbopump: Anomaly or failure investigation the key

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ryan, R.; Gross, L. A.

1995-01-01

The Space Shuttle main engine (SSME) alternate high-pressure liquid oxygen pump experienced synchronous vibration and ball bearing life problems that were program threatening. The success of the program hinged on the ability to solve these development problems. The design and solutions to these problems are engirded in the lessons learned and experiences from prior programs, technology programs, and the ability to properly conduct failure or anomaly investigations. The failure investigation determines the problem cause and is the basis for recommending design solutions. For a complex problem, a comprehensive solution requires that formal investigation procedures be used, including fault trees, resolution logic, and action items worked through a concurrent engineering-multidiscipline team. The normal tendency to use an intuitive, cut-and-try approach will usually prove to be costly, both in money and time and will reach a less than optimum, poorly understood answer. The SSME alternate high-pressure oxidizer turbopump development has had two complex problems critical to program success: (1) high synchronous vibrations and (2) excessive ball bearing wear. This paper will use these two problems as examples of this formal failure investigation approach. The results of the team's investigation provides insight into the complexity of the turbomachinery technical discipline interacting/sensitivities and the fine balance of competing investigations required to solve problems and guarantee program success. It is very important to the solution process that maximum use be made of the resources that both the contractor and Government can bring to the problem in a supporting and noncompeting way. There is no place for the not-invented-here attitude. The resources include, but are not limited to: (1) specially skilled professionals; (2) supporting technologies; (3) computational codes and capabilities; and (4) test and manufacturing facilities.

OTIS 3.2 Software Released

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Riehl, John P.; Sjauw, Waldy K.

2004-01-01

Trajectory, mission, and vehicle engineers concern themselves with finding the best way for an object to get from one place to another. These engineers rely upon special software to assist them in this. For a number of years, many engineers have used the OTIS program for this assistance. With OTIS, an engineer can fully optimize trajectories for airplanes, launch vehicles like the space shuttle, interplanetary spacecraft, and orbital transfer vehicles. OTIS provides four modes of operation, with each mode providing successively stronger optimization capability. The most powerful mode uses a mathematical method called implicit integration to solve what engineers and mathematicians call the optimal control problem. OTIS 3.2, which was developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center, is the latest release of this industry workhorse and features new capabilities for parameter optimization and mission design. OTIS stands for Optimal Control by Implicit Simulation, and it is implicit integration that makes OTIS so powerful at solving trajectory optimization problems. Why is this so important? The optimization process not only determines how to get from point A to point B, but it can also determine how to do this with the least amount of propellant, with the lightest starting weight, or in the fastest time possible while avoiding certain obstacles along the way. There are numerous conditions that engineers can use to define optimal, or best. OTIS provides a framework for defining the starting and ending points of the trajectory (point A and point B), the constraints on the trajectory (requirements like "avoid these regions where obstacles occur"), and what is being optimized (e.g., minimize propellant). The implicit integration method can find solutions to very complicated problems when there is not a lot of information available about what the optimal trajectory might be. The method was first developed for solving two-point boundary value problems and was adapted for use in OTIS. Implicit integration usually allows OTIS to find solutions to problems much faster than programs that use explicit integration and parametric methods. Consequently, OTIS is best suited to solving very complicated and highly constrained problems.

Mental Models of Software Forecasting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hihn, J.; Griesel, A.; Bruno, K.; Fouser, T.; Tausworthe, R.

1993-01-01

The majority of software engineers resist the use of the currently available cost models. One problem is that the mathematical and statistical models that are currently available do not correspond with the mental models of the software engineers. In an earlier JPL funded study (Hihn and Habib-agahi, 1991) it was found that software engineers prefer to use analogical or analogy-like techniques to derive size and cost estimates, whereas curren CER's hide any analogy in the regression equations. In addition, the currently available models depend upon information which is not available during early planning when the most important forecasts must be made.

An Educational Program of Engineering Ethics and Its Dissemination Activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muramatsu, Ryujiro; Nagashima, Shigeo

Education on ethics for corporate employees, especially for engineers, seems to become increasingly important for most of companies in Japan, because some affairs or scandals caused by ethical problem in many companies were likely to subject them to operational disadvantages. Even in Hitachi, Ltd., we have worked on education of engineering ethics for two years. In this paper, we describe some activities of committees on engineering ethics, an e-learning training course which is usable on our intranet e-learning system, and a short-term in-house training course operated regularly in our training institute. And we also refer to its dissemination activities to employees in each division and some subsidiaries.

JPL Counterfeit Parts Avoidance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Risse, Lori

2012-01-01

SPACE ARCHITECTURE / ENGINEERING: It brings an extreme test bed for both technologies/concepts as well as procedures/processes. Design and construction (engineering) always go together, especially with complex systems. Requirements (objectives) are crucial. More important than the answers are the questions/Requirements/Tools-Techniques/Processes. Different environments force architects and engineering to think out of the box. For instance there might not be gravity forces. Architectural complex problems have common roots: in Space and on Earth. Let us bring Space down on Earth so we can keep sending Mankind to the stars from a better world. Have fun being architects and engineers...!!! This time is amazing and historical. We are changing the way we inhabit the solar systems!

Analysis of small crack behavior for airframe applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcclung, R. C.; Chan, K. S.; Hudak, S. J., Jr.; Davidson, D. L.

1994-01-01

The small fatigue crack problem is critically reviewed from the perspective of airframe applications. Different types of small cracks-microstructural, mechanical, and chemical-are carefully defined and relevant mechanisms identified. Appropriate analysis techniques, including both rigorous scientific and practical engineering treatments, are briefly described. Important materials data issues are addressed, including increased scatter in small crack data and recommended small crack test methods. Key problems requiring further study are highlighted.

Psychological tools for knowledge acquisition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rueter, Henry H.; Olson, Judith Reitman

1988-01-01

Knowledge acquisition is said to be the biggest bottleneck in the development of expert systems. The problem is getting the knowledge out of the expert's head and into a computer. In cognitive psychology, characterizing metal structures and why experts are good at what they do is an important research area. Is there some way that the tools that psychologists have developed to uncover mental structure can be used to benefit knowledge engineers? We think that the way to find out is to browse through the psychologist's toolbox to see what there is in it that might be of use to knowledge engineers. Expert system developers have relied on two standard methods for extracting knowledge from the expert: (1) the knowledge engineer engages in an intense bout of interviews with the expert or experts, or (2) the knowledge engineer becomes an expert himself, relying on introspection to uncover the basis of his own expertise. Unfortunately, these techniques have the difficulty that often the expert himself isn't consciously aware of the basis of his expertise. If the expert himself isn't conscious of how he solves problems, introspection is useless. Cognitive psychology has faced similar problems for many years and has developed exploratory methods that can be used to discover cognitive structure from simple data.

Teaching Problem-Solving Skills to Nuclear Engineering Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waller, E.; Kaye, M. H.

2012-01-01

Problem solving is an essential skill for nuclear engineering graduates entering the workforce. Training in qualitative and quantitative aspects of problem solving allows students to conceptualise and execute solutions to complex problems. Solutions to problems in high consequence fields of study such as nuclear engineering require rapid and…

Bayesian-information-gap decision theory with an application to CO 2 sequestration

DOE PAGES

O'Malley, D.; Vesselinov, V. V.

2015-09-04

Decisions related to subsurface engineering problems such as groundwater management, fossil fuel production, and geologic carbon sequestration are frequently challenging because of an overabundance of uncertainties (related to conceptualizations, parameters, observations, etc.). Because of the importance of these problems to agriculture, energy, and the climate (respectively), good decisions that are scientifically defensible must be made despite the uncertainties. We describe a general approach to making decisions for challenging problems such as these in the presence of severe uncertainties that combines probabilistic and non-probabilistic methods. The approach uses Bayesian sampling to assess parametric uncertainty and Information-Gap Decision Theory (IGDT) to addressmore » model inadequacy. The combined approach also resolves an issue that frequently arises when applying Bayesian methods to real-world engineering problems related to the enumeration of possible outcomes. In the case of zero non-probabilistic uncertainty, the method reduces to a Bayesian method. Lastly, to illustrate the approach, we apply it to a site-selection decision for geologic CO 2 sequestration.« less

The role of failure/problems in engineering: A commentary of failures experienced - lessons learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ryan, R. S.

1992-01-01

The written version of a series of seminars given to several aerospace companies and three NASA centers are presented. The results are lessons learned through a study of the problems experienced in 35 years of engineering. The basic conclusion is that the primary cause of problems has not been mission technologies, as important as technology is, but the neglect of basic principles. Undergirding this is the lack of a systems focus from determining requirements through design, verification, and operations phases. Many of the concepts discussed are fundamental to total quality management (TQM) and can be used to augment this product enhanced philosophy. Fourteen principles are addressed with problems experienced and are used as examples. Included is a discussion of the implication of constraints, poorly defined requirements, and schedules. Design guidelines, lessons learned, and future tasks are listed. Two additional sections are included that deal with personal lessons learned and thoughts on future thrusts (TQM).

Engine-start Control Strategy of P2 Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiangyang, Xu; Siqi, Zhao; Peng, Dong

2017-12-01

A smooth and fast engine-start process is important to parallel hybrid electric vehicles with an electric motor mounted in front of the transmission. However, there are some challenges during the engine-start control. Firstly, the electric motor must simultaneously provide a stable driving torque to ensure the drivability and a compensative torque to drag the engine before ignition. Secondly, engine-start time is a trade-off control objective because both fast start and smooth start have to be considered. To solve these problems, this paper first analyzed the resistance of the engine start process, and established a physic model in MATLAB/Simulink. Then a model-based coordinated control strategy among engine, motor and clutch was developed. Two basic control strategy during fast start and smooth start process were studied. Simulation results showed that the control objectives were realized by applying given control strategies, which can meet different requirement from the driver.

A Problem with STEM

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marder, Michael

2013-01-01

Striking differences between physics and biology have important implications for interdisciplinary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The author is a physicist with interdisciplinary connections. The research group in which he works, the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics at the University of Texas at Austin, is…

A study of the factors affecting the range of airplanes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Biermann, David

1937-01-01

A study was made of the most important factors affecting the range of airplanes. Numerical examples are given showing the effects of different variables on the range of a two-engine airplane. The takeoff problems of long-range airplanes are analyzed.

Reasoning with Geometric Shapes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seah, Rebecca

2015-01-01

Geometry belongs to branches of mathematics that develop students' visualisation, intuition, critical thinking, problem solving, deductive reasoning, logical argument and proof (Jones, 2002). It provides the basis for the development of spatial sense and plays an important role in acquiring advanced knowledge in science, technology, engineering,…

The Applied Mathematics for Power Systems (AMPS)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chertkov, Michael

2012-07-24

Increased deployment of new technologies, e.g., renewable generation and electric vehicles, is rapidly transforming electrical power networks by crossing previously distinct spatiotemporal scales and invalidating many traditional approaches for designing, analyzing, and operating power grids. This trend is expected to accelerate over the coming years, bringing the disruptive challenge of complexity, but also opportunities to deliver unprecedented efficiency and reliability. Our Applied Mathematics for Power Systems (AMPS) Center will discover, enable, and solve emerging mathematics challenges arising in power systems and, more generally, in complex engineered networks. We will develop foundational applied mathematics resulting in rigorous algorithms and simulation toolboxesmore » for modern and future engineered networks. The AMPS Center deconstruction/reconstruction approach 'deconstructs' complex networks into sub-problems within non-separable spatiotemporal scales, a missing step in 20th century modeling of engineered networks. These sub-problems are addressed within the appropriate AMPS foundational pillar - complex systems, control theory, and optimization theory - and merged or 'reconstructed' at their boundaries into more general mathematical descriptions of complex engineered networks where important new questions are formulated and attacked. These two steps, iterated multiple times, will bridge the growing chasm between the legacy power grid and its future as a complex engineered network.« less

Tissue engineering of ligaments: a comparison of bone marrow stromal cells, anterior cruciate ligament, and skin fibroblasts as cell source.

PubMed

Van Eijk, F; Saris, D B F; Riesle, J; Willems, W J; Van Blitterswijk, C A; Verbout, A J; Dhert, W J A

2004-01-01

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery still has important problems to overcome, such as "donor site morbidity" and the limited choice of grafts in revision surgery. Tissue engineering of ligaments may provide a solution for these problems. Little is known about the optimal cell source for tissue engineering of ligaments. The aim of this study is to determine the optimal cell source for tissue engineering of the anterior cruciate ligament. Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), ACL, and skin fibroblasts were seeded onto a resorbable suture material [poly(L-lactide/glycolide) multifilaments] at five different seeding densities, and cultured for up to 12 days. All cell types tested attached to the suture material, proliferated, and synthesized extracellular matrix rich in collagen type I. On day 12 the scaffolds seeded with BMSCs showed the highest DNA content (p < 0.01) and the highest collagen production (p < 0.05 for the two highest seeding densities). Scaffolds seeded with ACL fibroblasts showed the lowest DNA content and collagen production. Accordingly, BMSCs appear to be the most suitable cells for further study and development of tissue-engineered ligament.

Mitigating Climate Change at the Carbon Water Nexus: A Call to Action for the Environmental Engineering Community

PubMed Central

Clarens, Andres F.; Peters, Catherine A.

2016-01-01

Abstract Environmental engineers have played a critical role in improving human and ecosystem health over the past several decades. These contributions have focused on providing clean water and air as well as managing waste streams and remediating polluted sites. As environmental problems have become more global in scale and more deeply entrenched in sociotechnical systems, the discipline of environmental engineering must grow to be ready to respond to the challenges of the coming decades. Here we make the case that environmental engineers should play a leadership role in the development of climate change mitigation technologies at the carbon-water nexus (CWN). Climate change, driven largely by unfettered emissions of fossil carbon into the atmosphere, is a far-reaching and enormously complex environmental risk with the potential to negatively affect food security, human health, infrastructure, and other systems. Solving this problem will require a massive mobilization of existing and innovative new technology. The environmental engineering community is uniquely positioned to do pioneering work at the CWN using a skillset that has been honed, solving related problems. The focus of this special issue, on “The science and innovation of emerging subsurface energy technologies,” provides one example domain within which environmental engineers and related disciplines are beginning to make important contributions at the CWN. In this article, we define the CWN and describe how environmental engineers can bring their considerable expertise to bear in this area. Then we review some of the topics that appear in this special issue, for example, mitigating the impacts of hydraulic fracturing and geologic carbon storage, and we provide perspective on emergent research directions, for example, enhanced geothermal energy, energy storage in sedimentary formations, and others. PMID:28031695

Mitigating Climate Change at the Carbon Water Nexus: A Call to Action for the Environmental Engineering Community.

PubMed

Clarens, Andres F; Peters, Catherine A

2016-10-01

Environmental engineers have played a critical role in improving human and ecosystem health over the past several decades. These contributions have focused on providing clean water and air as well as managing waste streams and remediating polluted sites. As environmental problems have become more global in scale and more deeply entrenched in sociotechnical systems, the discipline of environmental engineering must grow to be ready to respond to the challenges of the coming decades. Here we make the case that environmental engineers should play a leadership role in the development of climate change mitigation technologies at the carbon-water nexus (CWN). Climate change, driven largely by unfettered emissions of fossil carbon into the atmosphere, is a far-reaching and enormously complex environmental risk with the potential to negatively affect food security, human health, infrastructure, and other systems. Solving this problem will require a massive mobilization of existing and innovative new technology. The environmental engineering community is uniquely positioned to do pioneering work at the CWN using a skillset that has been honed, solving related problems. The focus of this special issue, on "The science and innovation of emerging subsurface energy technologies," provides one example domain within which environmental engineers and related disciplines are beginning to make important contributions at the CWN. In this article, we define the CWN and describe how environmental engineers can bring their considerable expertise to bear in this area. Then we review some of the topics that appear in this special issue, for example, mitigating the impacts of hydraulic fracturing and geologic carbon storage, and we provide perspective on emergent research directions, for example, enhanced geothermal energy, energy storage in sedimentary formations, and others.

Revisiting software specification and design for large astronomy projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiant, Scott; Berukoff, Steven

2016-07-01

The separation of science and engineering in the delivery of software systems overlooks the true nature of the problem being solved and the organization that will solve it. Use of a systems engineering approach to managing the requirements flow between these two groups as between a customer and contractor has been used with varying degrees of success by well-known entities such as the U.S. Department of Defense. However, treating science as the customer and engineering as the contractor fosters unfavorable consequences that can be avoided and opportunities that are missed. For example, the "problem" being solved is only partially specified through the requirements generation process since it focuses on detailed specification guiding the parties to a technical solution. Equally important is the portion of the problem that will be solved through the definition of processes and staff interacting through them. This interchange between people and processes is often underrepresented and under appreciated. By concentrating on the full problem and collaborating on a strategy for its solution a science-implementing organization can realize the benefits of driving towards common goals (not just requirements) and a cohesive solution to the entire problem. The initial phase of any project when well executed is often the most difficult yet most critical and thus it is essential to employ a methodology that reinforces collaboration and leverages the full suite of capabilities within the team. This paper describes an integrated approach to specifying the needs induced by a problem and the design of its solution.

An expert system for spectroscopic analysis of rocket engine plumes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reese, Greg; Valenti, Elizabeth; Alphonso, Keith; Holladay, Wendy

1991-01-01

The expert system described in this paper analyzes spectral emissions of rocket engine exhaust plumes and shows major promise for use in engine health diagnostics. Plume emission spectroscopy is an important tool for diagnosing engine anomalies, but it is time-consuming and requires highly skilled personnel. The expert system was created to alleviate such problems. The system accepts a spectral plot in the form of wavelength vs intensity pairs and finds the emission peaks in the spectrum, lists the elemental emitters present in the data and deduces the emitter that produced each peak. The system consists of a conventional language component and a commercially available inference engine that runs on an Apple Macintosh computer. The expert system has undergone limited preliminary testing. It detects elements well and significantly decreases analysis time.

The LAILAPS search engine: a feature model for relevance ranking in life science databases.

PubMed

Lange, Matthias; Spies, Karl; Colmsee, Christian; Flemming, Steffen; Klapperstück, Matthias; Scholz, Uwe

2010-03-25

Efficient and effective information retrieval in life sciences is one of the most pressing challenge in bioinformatics. The incredible growth of life science databases to a vast network of interconnected information systems is to the same extent a big challenge and a great chance for life science research. The knowledge found in the Web, in particular in life-science databases, are a valuable major resource. In order to bring it to the scientist desktop, it is essential to have well performing search engines. Thereby, not the response time nor the number of results is important. The most crucial factor for millions of query results is the relevance ranking. In this paper, we present a feature model for relevance ranking in life science databases and its implementation in the LAILAPS search engine. Motivated by the observation of user behavior during their inspection of search engine result, we condensed a set of 9 relevance discriminating features. These features are intuitively used by scientists, who briefly screen database entries for potential relevance. The features are both sufficient to estimate the potential relevance, and efficiently quantifiable. The derivation of a relevance prediction function that computes the relevance from this features constitutes a regression problem. To solve this problem, we used artificial neural networks that have been trained with a reference set of relevant database entries for 19 protein queries. Supporting a flexible text index and a simple data import format, this concepts are implemented in the LAILAPS search engine. It can easily be used both as search engine for comprehensive integrated life science databases and for small in-house project databases. LAILAPS is publicly available for SWISSPROT data at http://lailaps.ipk-gatersleben.de.

EDITORIAL: Inverse Problems in Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

West, Robert M.; Lesnic, Daniel

2007-01-01

Presented here are 11 noteworthy papers selected from the Fifth International Conference on Inverse Problems in Engineering: Theory and Practice held in Cambridge, UK during 11-15 July 2005. The papers have been peer-reviewed to the usual high standards of this journal and the contributions of reviewers are much appreciated. The conference featured a good balance of the fundamental mathematical concepts of inverse problems with a diverse range of important and interesting applications, which are represented here by the selected papers. Aspects of finite-element modelling and the performance of inverse algorithms are investigated by Autrique et al and Leduc et al. Statistical aspects are considered by Emery et al and Watzenig et al with regard to Bayesian parameter estimation and inversion using particle filters. Electrostatic applications are demonstrated by van Berkel and Lionheart and also Nakatani et al. Contributions to the applications of electrical techniques and specifically electrical tomographies are provided by Wakatsuki and Kagawa, Kim et al and Kortschak et al. Aspects of inversion in optical tomography are investigated by Wright et al and Douiri et al. The authors are representative of the worldwide interest in inverse problems relating to engineering applications and their efforts in producing these excellent papers will be appreciated by many readers of this journal.

Using interactive problem-solving techniques to enhance control systems education for non English-speakers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamont, L. A.; Chaar, L.; Toms, C.

2010-03-01

Interactive learning is beneficial to students in that it allows the continual development and testing of many skills. An interactive approach enables students to improve their technical capabilities, as well as developing both verbal and written communicative ability. Problem solving and communication skills are vital for engineering students; in the workplace they will be required to communicate with people of varying technical abilities and from different linguistic and engineering backgrounds. In this paper, a case study is presented that discusses how the traditional method of teaching control systems can be improved. 'Control systems' is a complex engineering topic requiring students to process an extended amount of mathematical formulae. MATLAB software, which enables students to interactively compare a range of possible combinations and analyse the optimal solution, is used to this end. It was found that students became more enthusiastic and interested when given ownership of their learning objectives. As well as improving the students' technical knowledge, other important engineering skills are also improved by introducing an interactive method of teaching.

Cascade Optimization Strategy Maximizes Thrust for High-Speed Civil Transport Propulsion System Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

The design of a High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) air-breathing propulsion system for multimission, variable-cycle operations was successfully optimized through a soft coupling of the engine performance analyzer NASA Engine Performance Program (NEPP) to a multidisciplinary optimization tool COMETBOARDS that was developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center. The design optimization of this engine was cast as a nonlinear optimization problem, with engine thrust as the merit function and the bypass ratios, r-values of fans, fuel flow, and other factors as important active design variables. Constraints were specified on factors including the maximum speed of the compressors, the positive surge margins for the compressors with specified safety factors, the discharge temperature, the pressure ratios, and the mixer extreme Mach number. Solving the problem by using the most reliable optimization algorithm available in COMETBOARDS would provide feasible optimum results only for a portion of the aircraft flight regime because of the large number of mission points (defined by altitudes, Mach numbers, flow rates, and other factors), diverse constraint types, and overall poor conditioning of the design space. Only the cascade optimization strategy of COMETBOARDS, which was devised especially for difficult multidisciplinary applications, could successfully solve a number of engine design problems for their flight regimes. Furthermore, the cascade strategy converged to the same global optimum solution even when it was initiated from different design points. Multiple optimizers in a specified sequence, pseudorandom damping, and reduction of the design space distortion via a global scaling scheme are some of the key features of the cascade strategy. HSCT engine concept, optimized solution for HSCT engine concept. A COMETBOARDS solution for an HSCT engine (Mach-2.4 mixed-flow turbofan) along with its configuration is shown. The optimum thrust is normalized with respect to NEPP results. COMETBOARDS added value in the design optimization of the HSCT engine.

Recent advances in plasma modeling for space applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasan, Bhuvana; Scales, Wayne; Cagas, Petr; Glesner, Colin

2017-02-01

This paper presents a brief overview of the application of advanced plasma modeling techniques to several space science and engineering problems currently of significant interest. Recent advances in both kinetic and fluid modeling provide the ability to study a wide variety of problems that may be important to space plasmas including spacecraft-environment interactions, plasma-material interactions for propulsion systems such as Hall thrusters, ionospheric plasma instabilities, plasma separation from magnetic nozzles, active space experiments, and a host of additional problems. Some of the key findings are summarized here.

Averting Denver Airports on a Chip

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sullivan, Kevin J.

1995-01-01

As a result of recent advances in software engineering capabilities, we are now in a more stable environment. De-facto hardware and software standards are emerging. Work on software architecture and design patterns signals a consensus on the importance of early system-level design decisions, and agreements on the uses of certain paradigmatic software structures. We now routinely build systems that would have been risky or infeasible a few years ago. Unfortunately, technological developments threaten to destabilize software design again. Systems designed around novel computing and peripheral devices will spark ambitious new projects that will stress current software design and engineering capabilities. Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and related technologies provide the physical basis for new systems with the potential to produce this kind of destabilizing effect. One important response to anticipated software engineering and design difficulties is carefully directed engineering-scientific research. Two specific problems meriting substantial research attention are: A lack of sufficient means to build software systems by generating, extending, specializing, and integrating large-scale reusable components; and a lack of adequate computational and analytic tools to extend and aid engineers in maintaining intellectual control over complex software designs.

Micromechanical Behavior and Modelling of Granular Soil

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

DiMaggio and Sandier 1971, Baladi and Rohani 1979). The problem of inherent (structural) anisotropy - especially important for 3 anisotropically...Republic of Germany. Baladi ,G.Y. and Rohani, B. (1979), "Elastic-Plastic Model for Saturated Sand," Journal of the Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE

Principles of engineering design

PubMed Central

Penny, R. K.

1970-01-01

The paper sets out procedures used in engineering design by listing the various steps in a sequential pattern. This pattern is not universally applicable and the variants on it depend on the type of problem involved and the information available. Of critical importance is the way in which models—physical or mathematical—can be constructed and depending on these, three design methods are described. These types are illustrated by reference to a number of medical aids which have been designed. ImagesFig. 3 PMID:5476130

Environmental engineering education for developing countries: framework for the future.

PubMed

Ujang, Z; Henze, M; Curtis, T; Schertenleib, R; Beal, L L

2004-01-01

This paper presents the existing philosophy, approach, criteria and delivery of environmental engineering education (E3) for developing countries. In general, environmental engineering is being taught in almost all major universities in developing countries, mostly under civil engineering degree programmes. There is an urgent need to address specific inputs that are particularly important for developing countries with respect to the reality of urbanisation and industrialisation. The main component of E3 in the near future will remain on basic sanitation in most developing countries, with special emphasis on the consumer-demand approach. In order to substantially overcome environmental problems in developing countries, E3 should include integrated urban water management, sustainable sanitation, appropriate technology, cleaner production, wastewater minimisation and financial framework.

Structure and Management of an Engineering Senior Design Course.

PubMed

Tanaka, Martin L; Fischer, Kenneth J

2016-07-01

The design of products and processes is an important area in engineering. Students in engineering schools learn fundamental principles in their courses but often lack an opportunity to apply these methods to real-world problems until their senior year. This article describes important elements that should be incorporated into a senior capstone design course. It includes a description of the general principles used in engineering design and a discussion of why students often have difficulty with application and revert to trial and error methods. The structure of a properly designed capstone course is dissected and its individual components are evaluated. Major components include assessing resources, identifying projects, establishing teams, understanding requirements, developing conceptual designs, creating detailed designs, building prototypes, testing performance, and final presentations. In addition to the course design, team management and effective mentoring are critical to success. This article includes suggested guidelines and tips for effective design team leadership, attention to detail, investment of time, and managing project scope. Furthermore, the importance of understanding business culture, displaying professionalism, and considerations of different types of senior projects is discussed. Through a well-designed course and proper mentoring, students will learn to apply their engineering skills and gain basic business knowledge that will prepare them for entry-level positions in industry.

Improve Problem Solving Skills through Adapting Programming Tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shaykhian, Linda H.; Shaykhian, Gholam Ali

2007-01-01

There are numerous ways for engineers and students to become better problem-solvers. The use of command line and visual programming tools can help to model a problem and formulate a solution through visualization. The analysis of problem attributes and constraints provide insight into the scope and complexity of the problem. The visualization aspect of the problem-solving approach tends to make students and engineers more systematic in their thought process and help them catch errors before proceeding too far in the wrong direction. The problem-solver identifies and defines important terms, variables, rules, and procedures required for solving a problem. Every step required to construct the problem solution can be defined in program commands that produce intermediate output. This paper advocates improved problem solving skills through using a programming tool. MatLab created by MathWorks, is an interactive numerical computing environment and programming language. It is a matrix-based system that easily lends itself to matrix manipulation, and plotting of functions and data. MatLab can be used as an interactive command line or a sequence of commands that can be saved in a file as a script or named functions. Prior programming experience is not required to use MatLab commands. The GNU Octave, part of the GNU project, a free computer program for performing numerical computations, is comparable to MatLab. MatLab visual and command programming are presented here.

The Problem of Ensuring Reliability of Gas Turbine Engines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nozhnitsky, Yu A.

2018-01-01

Requirements to advanced engines for civil aviation are discussing. Some significant problems of ensuring reliability of advanced gas turbine engines are mentioned. Special attention is paid to successful utilization of new materials and critical technologies. Also the problem of excluding failure of engine part due to low cycle or high cycle fatigue is discussing.

Perceptions of Engineers Regarding Successful Engineering Team Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nowaczyk, Ronald H.

1998-01-01

The perceptions of engineers and scientists at NASA Langley Research Center toward engineering design teams were evaluated. A sample of 49 engineers and scientists rated 60 team behaviors in terms of their relative importance for team success. They also completed a profile of their own perceptions of their strengths and weaknesses as team members. Behaviors related to team success are discussed in terms of those involving the organizational culture and commitment to the team and those dealing with internal team dynamics. The latter behaviors focused on team issues occurring during the early stages of a team's existence. They included the level and extent of debate and discussion regarding methods for completing the team task and the efficient use of team time to explore and discuss methodologies critical to the problem. The discussion includes a comparison of engineering teams with the prototypical business team portrayed in the literature.

First-year engineering students' views of the nature of engineering: implications for engineering programmes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karataş, F. Ö.; Bodner, G. M.; Unal, Suat

2016-01-01

A study was conducted on the views of the nature of engineering held by 114 first-year engineering majors; the study built on prior work on views of the nature of science held by students, their instructors, and the general public. Open-coding analysis of responses to a 12-item questionnaire suggested that the participants held tacit beliefs that engineering (1) involves problem solving; (2) is a form of applied science; (3) involves the design of artefacts or systems; (4) is subject to various constraints; and (5) requires teamwork. These beliefs, however, were often unsophisticated, and significant aspects of the field of engineering as described in the literature on engineering practices were missing from the student responses. The results of this study are important because students' beliefs have a strong influence on what they value in a classroom situation, what they attend to in class, and how they choose to study for a course.

How To Solve Problems. For Success in Freshman Physics, Engineering, and Beyond. Third Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scarl, Donald

To expertly solve engineering and science problems one needs to know science and engineering as well as have a tool kit of problem-solving methods. This book is about problem-solving methods: it presents the methods professional problem solvers use, explains why these methods have evolved, and shows how a student can make these methods his/her…

Public health engineering education in India: current scenario, opportunities and challenges.

PubMed

Hussain, Mohammad Akhtar; Sharma, Kavya; Zodpey, Sanjay

2011-01-01

Public health engineering can play an important and significant role in solving environmental health issues. In order to confront public health challenges emerging out of environmental problems we need adequately trained public health engineers / environmental engineers. Considering the current burden of disease attributable to environmental factors and expansion in scope of applications of public health / environmental engineering science, it is essential to understand the present scenario of teaching, training and capacity building programs in these areas. Against this background the present research was carried out to know the current teaching and training programs in public health engineering and related disciplines in India and to understand the potential opportunities and challenges available. A systematic, predefined approach was used to collect and assemble the data related to various teaching and training programs in public health engineering / environmental engineering in India. Public health engineering / environmental engineering education and training in the country is mainly offered through engineering institutions, as pre-service and in-service training. Pre-service programs include diploma, degree (graduate) and post-graduate courses affiliated to various state technical boards, institutes and universities, whereas in-service training is mainly provided by Government of India recognized engineering and public health training institutes. Though trainees of these programs acquire skills related to engineering sciences, they significantly lack in public health skills. The teaching and training of public health engineering / environmental engineering is limited as a part of public health programs (MD Community Medicine, MPH, DPH) in India. There is need for developing teaching and training of public health engineering or environmental engineering as an interdisciplinary subject. Public health institutes can play an important and significant role in this regard by engaging themselves in initiating specialized programs in this domain.

Research of some operating parameters and the emissions level variation in a spark ignited engine through on-board investigation methods in different loading conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iosif, Ferenti; Baldean, Doru Laurean

2014-06-01

The present paper shows research made on a spark ignited engine with port fuel injection in different operation conditions in order to improve the comprehension about the cold start sequence, acceleration when changing the gear ratios, quality of combustion process and also any measures to be taken for pollutant reduction in such cases. The engineering endeavor encompasses the pollutants investigation during the operation time of gasoline supplied engine with four inline cylinders in different conditions. The temperature and any other parameters were measured with specific sensors installed on the engine or in the exhaust pipes. All the data collected has been evaluated using electronic investigation systems and highly developed equipment. In this manner it has enabled the outline of the idea of how pollutants of engine vary in different operating conditions. Air quality in the everyday environment is very important for the human health, and thus the ambient air quality has a well-known importance in the European pollution standards and legislation. The high level of attention directed to the pollution problem in the European lifestyle is a driving force for all kinds of studies in the field of the reduction of engine emission.

Research on fuzzy PID control to electronic speed regulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xiao-gang; Chen, Xue-hui; Zheng, Sheng-guo

2007-12-01

As an important part of diesel engine, the speed regulator plays an important role in stabilizing speed and improving engine's performance. Because there are so many model parameters of diesel-engine considered in traditional PID control and these parameters present non-linear characteristic.The method to adjust engine speed using traditional PID is not considered as a best way. Especially for the diesel-engine generator set. In this paper, the Fuzzy PID control strategy is proposed. Some problems about its utilization in electronic speed regulator are discussed. A mathematical model of electric control system for diesel-engine generator set is established and the way of the PID parameters in the model to affect the function of system is analyzed. And then it is proposed the differential coefficient must be applied in control design for reducing dynamic deviation of system and adjusting time. Based on the control theory, a study combined control with PID calculation together for turning fuzzy PID parameter is implemented. And also a simulation experiment about electronic speed regulator system was conducted using Matlab/Simulink and the Fuzzy-Toolbox. Compared with the traditional PID Algorithm, the simulated results presented obvious improvements in the instantaneous speed governing rate and steady state speed governing rate of diesel-engine generator set when the fuzzy logic control strategy used.

Statistical mechanics of budget-constrained auctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Altarelli, F.; Braunstein, A.; Realpe-Gomez, J.; Zecchina, R.

2009-07-01

Finding the optimal assignment in budget-constrained auctions is a combinatorial optimization problem with many important applications, a notable example being in the sale of advertisement space by search engines (in this context the problem is often referred to as the off-line AdWords problem). On the basis of the cavity method of statistical mechanics, we introduce a message-passing algorithm that is capable of solving efficiently random instances of the problem extracted from a natural distribution, and we derive from its properties the phase diagram of the problem. As the control parameter (average value of the budgets) is varied, we find two phase transitions delimiting a region in which long-range correlations arise.

Alternative Perspectives on Risk: Individual Differences in Problem Structuring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Orasanu, Judith; Fischer, Ute; Connors, Mary M. (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

Team decision making involves contributions of multiple players toward a common goal. While much has been written about the importance of developing shared mental models in order for teams to work together effectively, little has been done to determine the value of alternative perspectives on problem solving and decision making. Early studies of expertise contrasted experts with novices and noted that the two groups differ in the way they structure problems and in their selection of information as salient. Little attention has been given to differences among experts who differ in their specializations. A series of experiments was conducted to determine: (1) what dimensions of flight-related problem situations pilots judge to be most important when making flight-relevant decisions; and (2) whether pilots in different crew positions differ in the way they interpret problems relating to flight decisions. A sorting task was used to identify underlying dimensions judged as salient to individual pilots. Captains, first officers, and flight engineers from two major carriers participated in the study. Twenty-two flight scenarios were developed based on ASRS reports. Pilots were required to make judgments about how they would respond in each case and to sort the scenarios on the basis of similarity of decision factors. They were also asked to provide a verbal label that described each of their sorted categories. A second study required a different group of pilots (also captains, first officers and flight engineers) to sort on predetermined bases.

Real-world educational experience through project-oriented graduate classes in collaboration with industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zurbuchen, Thomas H.

2007-04-01

There is a need for a motivated and innovative work force for the U.S. aerospace industry. The education of such engineers and scientists typically revolves around a fundamental knowledge of basic important technologies, such as the mechanics relevant to orbit-design, structures, avionics, and many others. A few years ago, the University of Michigan developed a Masters of Engineering program that provides students with skills that are not taught as part of a typical engineering curriculum. This program is focused on open problem solving, space systems, and space policy, as well as other classes that further their understanding of the connections between technologies and the nontechnical aspects of managing a space mission. The value of such an education is substantially increased through a direct connection to industry. An innovative problem-oriented approach has been developed that enables direct connections between industry and classroom teaching. The class works as a system study group and addresses problems of interest to and defined by a company with a specific application. We discuss such an application, a near-space lidar wind measurement system to enhance weather predictions, as well as the approach taken to link educational rationales.

Definition of the Engineering Method.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koen, Billy Vaughn

In an effort to more clearly define the engineering method, this document attempts to draw distinctions between engineering and science. Part I, "Some Thoughts on Engineering," discusses strategies that engineers employ to solve problems, and the characteristics of the types of engineering problems. Part II, "The Principal Rule of the Engineering…

Testing Scientific Software: A Systematic Literature Review.

PubMed

Kanewala, Upulee; Bieman, James M

2014-10-01

Scientific software plays an important role in critical decision making, for example making weather predictions based on climate models, and computation of evidence for research publications. Recently, scientists have had to retract publications due to errors caused by software faults. Systematic testing can identify such faults in code. This study aims to identify specific challenges, proposed solutions, and unsolved problems faced when testing scientific software. We conducted a systematic literature survey to identify and analyze relevant literature. We identified 62 studies that provided relevant information about testing scientific software. We found that challenges faced when testing scientific software fall into two main categories: (1) testing challenges that occur due to characteristics of scientific software such as oracle problems and (2) testing challenges that occur due to cultural differences between scientists and the software engineering community such as viewing the code and the model that it implements as inseparable entities. In addition, we identified methods to potentially overcome these challenges and their limitations. Finally we describe unsolved challenges and how software engineering researchers and practitioners can help to overcome them. Scientific software presents special challenges for testing. Specifically, cultural differences between scientist developers and software engineers, along with the characteristics of the scientific software make testing more difficult. Existing techniques such as code clone detection can help to improve the testing process. Software engineers should consider special challenges posed by scientific software such as oracle problems when developing testing techniques.

Dynamic optimization of chemical processes using ant colony framework.

PubMed

Rajesh, J; Gupta, K; Kusumakar, H S; Jayaraman, V K; Kulkarni, B D

2001-11-01

Ant colony framework is illustrated by considering dynamic optimization of six important bench marking examples. This new computational tool is simple to implement and can tackle problems with state as well as terminal constraints in a straightforward fashion. It requires fewer grid points to reach the global optimum at relatively very low computational effort. The examples with varying degree of complexities, analyzed here, illustrate its potential for solving a large class of process optimization problems in chemical engineering.

Civil helicopter propulsion system reliability and engine monitoring technology assessments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, J. A.; Zuk, J.

1982-01-01

A study to reduce operating costs of helicopters, particularly directed at the maintenance of the propulsion subsystem, is presented. The tasks of the study consisted of problem definition refinement, technology solutions, diagnostic system concepts, and emergency power augmentation. Quantifiable benefits (reduced fuel consumption, on-condition engine maintenance, extended drive system overhaul periods, and longer oil change intervals) would increase the initial cost by $43,000, but the benefit of $24.46 per hour would result in breakeven at 1758 hours. Other benefits not capable of being quantified but perhaps more important include improved aircraft avilability due to reduced maintenance time, potential for increased operating limits due to continuous automatic monitoring of gages, and less time and fuel required to make engine power checks. The most important improvement is the on-condition maintenance program, which will require the development of algorithms, equipment, and procedures compatible with all operating environments.

Radio tower of V. G. Shukhov in the energy supply system of the Russian capital

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pryadko, Igor

2017-10-01

Today, when solving the problems of energy supply of buildings, it is important to turn to past experience, to evaluate the effectiveness of solutions that pertain to the period of the formation of an industrial Russian city of the XX century. In this regard, it is important to preserve those objects of industrial architecture that were intended, among other things, for solving problems of energy supply. Even now the architectural legacy of V.G. Shukhov, an outstanding Russian engineer and inventor, triggers discussions and debates. In particular, an impassionate debate arose over the best procedures for the preservation of his architectural works. In the meantime, while debatorslock their horns, the architectural works, designed by this phenomenal engineer and architect, keep decaying. The mission of this article is to assess the impact of the structures, designed by V.G. Shukhov, produced on the conceptual design of an industrial city, and to understand what particular losses the decay of his projects may involve. Another mission, pursued by the author, is to demonstrate the scale of V.G.Shukhov’s work performed in the capacity of an engineer and an inventor. The subject of this research is limited to the study of the restoration effort applied to the Shukhov radio and television tower, also known as the Shabolovka tower.

Computation of Coupled Thermal-Fluid Problems in Distributed Memory Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wei, H.; Shang, H. M.; Chen, Y. S.

2001-01-01

The thermal-fluid coupling problems are very important to aerospace and engineering applications. Instead of analyzing heat transfer and fluid flow separately, this study merged two well-accepted engineering solution methods, SINDA for thermal analysis and FDNS for fluid flow simulation, into a unified multi-disciplinary thermal fluid prediction method. A fully conservative patched grid interface algorithm for arbitrary two-dimensional and three-dimensional geometry has been developed. The state-of-the-art parallel computing concept was used to couple SINDA and FDNS for the communication of boundary conditions through PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) libraries. Therefore, the thermal analysis performed by SINDA and the fluid flow calculated by FDNS are fully coupled to obtain steady state or transient solutions. The natural convection between two thick-walled eccentric tubes was calculated and the predicted results match the experiment data perfectly. A 3-D rocket engine model and a real 3-D SSME geometry were used to test the current model, and the reasonable temperature field was obtained.

Market-implied spread for earthquake CAT bonds: financial implications of engineering decisions.

PubMed

Damnjanovic, Ivan; Aslan, Zafer; Mander, John

2010-12-01

In the event of natural and man-made disasters, owners of large-scale infrastructure facilities (assets) need contingency plans to effectively restore the operations within the acceptable timescales. Traditionally, the insurance sector provides the coverage against potential losses. However, there are many problems associated with this traditional approach to risk transfer including counterparty risk and litigation. Recently, a number of innovative risk mitigation methods, termed alternative risk transfer (ART) methods, have been introduced to address these problems. One of the most important ART methods is catastrophe (CAT) bonds. The objective of this article is to develop an integrative model that links engineering design parameters with financial indicators including spread and bond rating. The developed framework is based on a four-step structural loss model and transformed survival model to determine expected excess returns. We illustrate the framework for a seismically designed bridge using two unique CAT bond contracts. The results show a nonlinear relationship between engineering design parameters and market-implied spread. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

Phase change materials handbook

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hale, D. V.; Hoover, M. J.; Oneill, M. J.

1971-01-01

This handbook is intended to provide theory and data needed by the thermal design engineer to bridge the gap between research achievements and actual flight systems, within the limits of the current state of the art of phase change materials (PCM) technology. The relationship between PCM and more conventional thermal control techniques is described and numerous space and terrestrial applications of PCM are discussed. Material properties of the most promising PCMs are provided; the purposes and use of metallic filler materials in PCM composites are presented; and material compatibility considerations relevant to PCM design are included. The engineering considerations of PCM design are described, especially those pertaining to the thermodynamic and heat transfer phenomena peculiar to PCM design. Methods of obtaining data not currently available are presented. The special problems encountered in the space environment are described. Computational tools useful to the designer are discussed. In summary, each aspect of the PCM problem important to the design engineer is covered to the extent allowed by the scope of this effort and the state of the art.

A Tet-on and Cre-loxP Based Genetic Engineering System for Convenient Recycling of Selection Markers in Penicillium oxalicum

PubMed Central

Jiang, Baojie; Zhang, Ruiqin; Feng, Dan; Wang, Fangzhong; Liu, Kuimei; Jiang, Yi; Niu, Kangle; Yuan, Quanquan; Wang, Mingyu; Wang, Hailong; Zhang, Youming; Fang, Xu

2016-01-01

The lack of selective markers has been a key problem preventing multistep genetic engineering in filamentous fungi, particularly for industrial species such as the lignocellulose degrading Penicillium oxalicum JUA10-1(formerly named as Penicillium decumbens). To resolve this problem, we constructed a genetic manipulation system taking advantage of two established genetic systems: the Cre-loxP system and Tet-on system in P. oxalicum JUA10-1. This system is efficient and convenient. The expression of Cre recombinase was activated by doxycycline since it was controlled by Tet-on system. Using this system, two genes, ligD and bglI, were sequentially disrupted by loxP flanked ptrA. The successful application of this procedure will provide a useful tool for genetic engineering in filamentous fungi. This system will also play an important role in improving the productivity of interesting products and minimizing by-product when fermented by filamentous fungi. PMID:27148179

Maintenance problems associated with the operation of the F402 /Pegasus/ engine in the AV-8A /Harrier/ aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stanley, C. W.; Hood, W. E.

1981-01-01

The U.S. Marine Corp (USMC) has been operating the only V/STOL attack aircraft in the western world since 1971. Some of the maintenance problems experienced are related to the unique V/STOL design criteria of the Pegasus engine. However, the major part of the required maintenance effort is found to involve the more conventional engine problems. A description of the aircraft engine is provided and the problems resulting from V/STOL design demands are examined. Attention is given to the fuel system control, the engine air bleed, foreign object damage to the hp compressor, and the engine exhaust system.

Two Studies of Complex Nonlinear Systems: Engineered Granular Crystals and Coarse-Graining Optimization Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pozharskiy, Dmitry

In recent years a nonlinear, acoustic metamaterial, named granular crystals, has gained prominence due to its high accessibility, both experimentally and computationally. The observation of a wide range of dynamical phenomena in the system, due to its inherent nonlinearities, has suggested its importance in many engineering applications related to wave propagation. In the first part of this dissertation, we explore the nonlinear dynamics of damped-driven granular crystals. In one case, we consider a highly nonlinear setting, also known as a sonic vacuum, and derive a nonlinear analogue of a linear spectrum, corresponding to resonant periodic propagation and antiresonances. Experimental studies confirm the computational findings and the assimilation of experimental data into a numerical model is demonstrated. In the second case, global bifurcations in a precompressed granular crystal are examined, and their involvement in the appearance of chaotic dynamics is demonstrated. Both results highlight the importance of exploring the nonlinear dynamics, to gain insight into how a granular crystal responds to different external excitations. In the second part, we borrow established ideas from coarse-graining of dynamical systems, and extend them to optimization problems. We combine manifold learning algorithms, such as Diffusion Maps, with stochastic optimization methods, such as Simulated Annealing, and show that we can retrieve an ensemble, of few, important parameters that should be explored in detail. This framework can lead to acceleration of convergence when dealing with complex, high-dimensional optimization, and could potentially be applied to design engineered granular crystals.

A Novel Interdisciplinary Science Experience for Undergraduates across Introductory Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Joelle L.; Atkinson, Elizabeth J. O.; Gilbert, Brian D.; Kruchten, Anne E.

2014-01-01

Successfully creating and implementing interdisciplinary curricula in introductory science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses is challenging, but doing so is increasingly more important as current problems in science become more interdisciplinary. Opening up the silos between science disciplines and overcoming common…

Why? Why? Why?: Future Teachers Discover Mathematical Depth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Perla

2007-01-01

In mathematics, it is not just the "how," the procedures for solving problems, that is important, but the "why," the underlying concepts, Perla Myers explains. A good mathematical foundation is becoming crucial for a large number of careers in science, engineering, medicine, technology, and even business. However, the applications of mathematics…

Perm State University HPC-hardware and software services: capabilities for aircraft engine aeroacoustics problems solving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demenev, A. G.

2018-02-01

The present work is devoted to analyze high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure capabilities for aircraft engine aeroacoustics problems solving at Perm State University. We explore here the ability to develop new computational aeroacoustics methods/solvers for computer-aided engineering (CAE) systems to handle complicated industrial problems of engine noise prediction. Leading aircraft engine engineering company, including “UEC-Aviadvigatel” JSC (our industrial partners in Perm, Russia), require that methods/solvers to optimize geometry of aircraft engine for fan noise reduction. We analysed Perm State University HPC-hardware resources and software services to use efficiently. The performed results demonstrate that Perm State University HPC-infrastructure are mature enough to face out industrial-like problems of development CAE-system with HPC-method and CFD-solvers.

Group Design Problems in Engineering Design Graphics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelley, David

2001-01-01

Describes group design techniques used within the engineering design graphics sequence at Western Washington University. Engineering and design philosophies such as concurrent engineering place an emphasis on group collaboration for the solving of design problems. (Author/DDR)

Problem Solving and Engineering Design, Introducing Bachelor Students to Engineering Practice at K. U. Leuven

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heylen, Christel; Smet, Marc; Buelens, Hermans; Sloten, Jos Vander

2007-01-01

A present-day engineer has a large scientific knowledge; he is a team-player, eloquent communicator and life-long learner. At the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the course "Problem Solving and Engineering Design" introduces engineering students from the first semester onwards into real engineering practice and teamwork. Working in small…

40 CFR 89.102 - Effective dates, optional inclusion, flexibility for equipment manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... exemptions for technical or engineering hardship. You may request additional engine allowances under... technical or engineering problems that prevent you from meeting the requirements of this part. You must show... your engine supplier to design products. (iii) Describe the engineering or technical problems causing...

40 CFR 89.102 - Effective dates, optional inclusion, flexibility for equipment manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... exemptions for technical or engineering hardship. You may request additional engine allowances under... technical or engineering problems that prevent you from meeting the requirements of this part. You must show... your engine supplier to design products. (iii) Describe the engineering or technical problems causing...

40 CFR 89.102 - Effective dates, optional inclusion, flexibility for equipment manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... exemptions for technical or engineering hardship. You may request additional engine allowances under... technical or engineering problems that prevent you from meeting the requirements of this part. You must show... your engine supplier to design products. (iii) Describe the engineering or technical problems causing...

Using Student Video Cases to Assess Pre-service Elementary Teachers' Engineering Teaching Responsiveness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalvi, Tejaswini; Wendell, Kristen

2017-10-01

Our study addresses the need for new approaches to prepare novice elementary teachers to teach both science and engineering, and for new tools to measure how well those approaches are working. This in particular would inform the teacher educators of the extent to which novice teachers are developing expertise in facilitating their students' engineering design work. One important dimension to measure is novice teachers' abilities to notice the substance of student thinking and to respond in productive ways. This teacher noticing is particularly important in science and engineering education, where students' initial, idiosyncratic ideas and practices influence the likelihood that particular instructional strategies will help them learn. This paper describes evidence of validity and reliability for the Video Case Diagnosis (VCD) task, a new instrument for measuring pre-service elementary teachers' engineering teaching responsiveness. To complete the VCD, participants view a 6-min video episode of children solving an engineering design problem, describe in writing what they notice about the students' science ideas and engineering practices, and propose how a teacher could productively respond to the students. The rubric for scoring VCD responses allowed two independent scorers to achieve inter-rater reliability. Content analysis of the video episode, systematic review of literature on science and engineering practices, and solicitation of external expert educator responses establish content validity for VCD. Field test results with three different participant groups who have different levels of engineering education experience offer evidence of construct validity.

Chemistry and the Internal Combustion Engine II: Pollution Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, C. B.

1979-01-01

Discusses pollution problems which arise from the use of internal combustion (IC) engines in the United Kingdom (UK). The IC engine exhaust emissions, controlling IC engine pollution in the UK, and some future developments are also included. (HM)

Precision mechatronics based on high-precision measuring and positioning systems and machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jäger, Gerd; Manske, Eberhard; Hausotte, Tino; Mastylo, Rostyslav; Dorozhovets, Natalja; Hofmann, Norbert

2007-06-01

Precision mechatronics is defined in the paper as the science and engineering of a new generation of high precision systems and machines. Nanomeasuring and nanopositioning engineering represents important fields of precision mechatronics. The nanometrology is described as the today's limit of the precision engineering. The problem, how to design nanopositioning machines with uncertainties as small as possible will be discussed. The integration of several optical and tactile nanoprobes makes the 3D-nanopositioning machine suitable for various tasks, such as long range scanning probe microscopy, mask and wafer inspection, nanotribology, nanoindentation, free form surface measurement as well as measurement of microoptics, precision molds, microgears, ring gauges and small holes.

Female peers in small work groups enhance women's motivation, verbal participation, and career aspirations in engineering.

PubMed

Dasgupta, Nilanjana; Scircle, Melissa McManus; Hunsinger, Matthew

2015-04-21

For years, public discourse in science education, technology, and policy-making has focused on the "leaky pipeline" problem: the observation that fewer women than men enter science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and more women than men leave. Less attention has focused on experimentally testing solutions to this problem. We report an experiment investigating one solution: we created "microenvironments" (small groups) in engineering with varying proportions of women to identify which environment increases motivation and participation, and whether outcomes depend on students' academic stage. Female engineering students were randomly assigned to one of three engineering groups of varying sex composition: 75% women, 50% women, or 25% women. For first-years, group composition had a large effect: women in female-majority and sex-parity groups felt less anxious than women in female-minority groups. However, among advanced students, sex composition had no effect on anxiety. Importantly, group composition significantly affected verbal participation, regardless of women's academic seniority: women participated more in female-majority groups than sex-parity or female-minority groups. Additionally, when assigned to female-minority groups, women who harbored implicit masculine stereotypes about engineering reported less confidence and engineering career aspirations. However, in sex-parity and female-majority groups, confidence and career aspirations remained high regardless of implicit stereotypes. These data suggest that creating small groups with high proportions of women in otherwise male-dominated fields is one way to keep women engaged and aspiring toward engineering careers. Although sex parity works sometimes, it is insufficient to boost women's verbal participation in group work, which often affects learning and mastery.

Design considerations and challenges for mechanical stretch bioreactors in tissue engineering.

PubMed

Lei, Ying; Ferdous, Zannatul

2016-05-01

With the increase in average life expectancy and growing aging population, lack of functional grafts for replacement surgeries has become a severe problem. Engineered tissues are a promising alternative to this problem because they can mimic the physiological function of the native tissues and be cultured on demand. Cyclic stretch is important for developing many engineered tissues such as hearts, heart valves, muscles, and bones. Thus a variety of stretch bioreactors and corresponding scaffolds have been designed and tested to study the underlying mechanism of tissue formation and to optimize the mechanical conditions applied to the engineered tissues. In this review, we look at various designs of stretch bioreactors and common scaffolds and offer insights for future improvements in tissue engineering applications. First, we summarize the requirements and common configuration of stretch bioreactors. Next, we present the features of different actuating and motion transforming systems and their applications. Since most bioreactors must measure detailed distributions of loads and deformations on engineered tissues, techniques with high accuracy, precision, and frequency have been developed. We also cover the key points in designing culture chambers, nutrition exchanging systems, and regimens used for specific tissues. Since scaffolds are essential for providing biophysical microenvironments for residing cells, we discuss materials and technologies used in fabricating scaffolds to mimic anisotropic native tissues, including decellularized tissues, hydrogels, biocompatible polymers, electrospinning, and 3D bioprinting techniques. Finally, we present the potential future directions for improving stretch bioreactors and scaffolds. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:543-553, 2016. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Making Connections: Where STEM Learning and Earth Science Data Services Meet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bugbee, Kaylin; Ramachandran, Rahul; Maskey, Manil; Gatlin, Patrick; Weigel, Amanda

2016-01-01

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning is most effective when students are encouraged to see the connections between science, technology and real world problems. Helping to make these connections has become an increasingly important aspect of Earth Science data research. The Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC), one of NASA's 12 EOSDIS (Earth Observing System Data Information System) data centers, has developed a new type of documentation called the micro article to facilitate making connections between data and Earth science research problems.

Optimization Strategies for Sensor and Actuator Placement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Padula, Sharon L.; Kincaid, Rex K.

1999-01-01

This paper provides a survey of actuator and sensor placement problems from a wide range of engineering disciplines and a variety of applications. Combinatorial optimization methods are recommended as a means for identifying sets of actuators and sensors that maximize performance. Several sample applications from NASA Langley Research Center, such as active structural acoustic control, are covered in detail. Laboratory and flight tests of these applications indicate that actuator and sensor placement methods are effective and important. Lessons learned in solving these optimization problems can guide future research.

RICIS research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mckay, Charles W.; Feagin, Terry; Bishop, Peter C.; Hallum, Cecil R.; Freedman, Glenn B.

1987-01-01

The principle focus of one of the RICIS (Research Institute for Computing and Information Systems) components is computer systems and software engineering in-the-large of the lifecycle of large, complex, distributed systems which: (1) evolve incrementally over a long time; (2) contain non-stop components; and (3) must simultaneously satisfy a prioritized balance of mission and safety critical requirements at run time. This focus is extremely important because of the contribution of the scaling direction problem to the current software crisis. The Computer Systems and Software Engineering (CSSE) component addresses the lifestyle issues of three environments: host, integration, and target.

A self-assessment of the propensity to obtain future employment: a case of final-year engineering students at the University of Botswana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ssegawa, Joseph K.; Kasule, Daniel

2017-09-01

The article provides a self-assessment by final-year engineering students at the University of Botswana regarding the propensity to get employment. Students rated which employability attributes are important, the level of attainment and the sources that have facilitated the development of the attributes. Results indicated that students identified the most important attributes as management of time; possessing a high level of technical skills, meeting deadlines and creating viable solutions for solving a problem. They also indicated that they have weaknesses in managing time, meeting deadlines and creating viable solutions (attributes critical to the engineering profession). Students reported that their strengths were in having a positive attitude, orderly physical presentation, adaptation to new environments and willingness to learn new ideas. Students further noted that they developed the attributes from the university academic system followed by their own private activities. The study concludes that students lacked some of the critical attributes of engineering. They therefore, need to be explicitly and holistically sensitised as to how the attributes relate to their profession, employment and career development. As part of the review of the engineering programmes, sensitisation could be included in the induction process at enrolment.

Introductory Level Problems Illustrating Concepts in Pharmaceutical Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIver, Keith; Whitaker, Kathryn; De Delva, Vladimir; Farrell, Stephanie; Savelski, Mariano J.; Slater, C. Stewart

2012-01-01

Textbook style problems including detailed solutions introducing pharmaceutical topics at the level of an introductory chemical engineering course have been created. The problems illustrate and teach subjects which students would learn if they were to pursue a career in pharmaceutical engineering, including the unique terminology of the field,…

Enhanced and Conventional Project-Based Learning in an Engineering Design Module

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chua, K. J.; Yang, W. M.; Leo, H. L.

2014-01-01

Engineering education focuses chiefly on students' ability to solve problems. While most engineering students are proficient in solving paper questions, they may not be proficient at providing optimal solutions to pragmatic project-based problems that require systematic learning strategy, innovation, problem-solving, and execution. The…

Harnessing biomechanics to develop cartilage regeneration strategies.

PubMed

Athanasiou, Kyriacos A; Responte, Donald J; Brown, Wendy E; Hu, Jerry C

2015-02-01

As this review was prepared specifically for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers H.R. Lissner Medal, it primarily discusses work toward cartilage regeneration performed in Dr. Kyriacos A. Athanasiou's laboratory over the past 25 years. The prevalence and severity of degeneration of articular cartilage, a tissue whose main function is largely biomechanical, have motivated the development of cartilage tissue engineering approaches informed by biomechanics. This article provides a review of important steps toward regeneration of articular cartilage with suitable biomechanical properties. As a first step, biomechanical and biochemical characterization studies at the tissue level were used to provide design criteria for engineering neotissues. Extending this work to the single cell and subcellular levels has helped to develop biochemical and mechanical stimuli for tissue engineering studies. This strong mechanobiological foundation guided studies on regenerating hyaline articular cartilage, the knee meniscus, and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) fibrocartilage. Initial tissue engineering efforts centered on developing biodegradable scaffolds for cartilage regeneration. After many years of studying scaffold-based cartilage engineering, scaffoldless approaches were developed to address deficiencies of scaffold-based systems, resulting in the self-assembling process. This process was further improved by employing exogenous stimuli, such as hydrostatic pressure, growth factors, and matrix-modifying and catabolic agents, both singly and in synergistic combination to enhance neocartilage functional properties. Due to the high cell needs for tissue engineering and the limited supply of native articular chondrocytes, costochondral cells are emerging as a suitable cell source. Looking forward, additional cell sources are investigated to render these technologies more translatable. For example, dermis isolated adult stem (DIAS) cells show potential as a source of chondrogenic cells. The challenging problem of enhanced integration of engineered cartilage with native cartilage is approached with both familiar and novel methods, such as lysyl oxidase (LOX). These diverse tissue engineering strategies all aim to build upon thorough biomechanical characterizations to produce functional neotissue that ultimately will help combat the pressing problem of cartilage degeneration. As our prior research is reviewed, we look to establish new pathways to comprehensively and effectively address the complex problems of musculoskeletal cartilage regeneration.

Some technical writing skills industry needs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, F. R.

1981-01-01

It is suggested that engineers and other technical students be taught three classes of skills in technical writing. First, "Big Picture Things", which includes: the importance of clear writing, the wide scope of writing, the wide scope of writing tasks that will be faced in industry, and the principles of organization of technical materials such as; how to analyze, classify, partition, and interpret. Second, "Writing Procedures", which encompasses: how to get words on paper efficiently and team-write. Third, "Writing Details", in which two considerations are important: how to achieve precision in the use of language and the aspects of style. Three problems in style are cited: the problem of sentence transition, overuse of attributive adjectives, and verbosity in paragraph structure. The most important thing in technical writing is considered to be functionality, economy and clarity.

The Increasingly Important Role of Science Competency Beliefs for Science Learning in Girls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vincent-Ruz, Paulette; Schunn, Christian D.

2017-01-01

The number of women studying STEM careers and pursuing graduate degrees has not changed in the last decade (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2015; Science & Engineering Degree Attainment: 2004-2014). Most prior research to explain this problem has focused on the topics of identity, access, pedagogy, and choice (Brotman &…

Challenging Disciplinary Boundaries in the First Year: A New Introductory Integrated Science Course for STEM Majors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gentile, Lisa; Caudill, Lester; Fetea, Mirela; Hill, April; Hoke, Kathy; Lawson, Barry; Lipan, Ovidiu; Kerckhove, Michael; Parish, Carol; Stenger, Krista; Szajda, Doug

2012-01-01

To help undergraduates make connections among disciplines so they are able to approach, evaluate, and contribute to the solutions of important global problems, our campus has been focused on interdisciplinary research and education opportunities across the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This paper describes…

Expressive/Exploratory Technical Writing (XTW) in Engineering: Shifting the Technical Writing Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warnock, Scott; Kahn, Michael

2007-01-01

While the importance of "expressive writing," or informal, self-directed writing, has been well established, teachers underutilize it, particularly in technical writing courses. We introduce the term expressive/exploratory technical writing (XTW), which is the use of informal, self-directed writing to problem-solve in technical fields. We describe…

Teaching Transport Phenomena around a Cup of Coffee

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Condoret, Jean Stephane

2007-01-01

The very common situation of waiting for the cooling of a cup of coffee is addressed through a conventional engineering approach, where several important concepts of heat and mass transfer are used. A numerical and analytical solution of the differential equations of the problem are proposed, and assessed by comparing to simple experiments.…

India Needs International Standards in Accreditation Problems in Adoption and Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naik, B. M.

2012-01-01

The paper outlines in brief, need and importance of introducing global quality standards in accreditation, prescribed by the international agreement "Washington Accord". This agreement is initially provisional and after scrutiny, if found fit, it is upgraded to Signatory status. It is this status which empowers students of engineering,…

Academic Ethics in Turkish Universities: Perceptions of Academicians from Engineering, Medicine and Education Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aydin, Inayet; Demirkasimoglu, Nihan; Alkin, Senar

2012-01-01

Problem Statement: Academicians such as scientists contribute to the research of knowledge, to the free disclosure of knowledge, to students' training, and to public service with their special knowledge and skills. Academicians' ethical responsibilities and values a very important place in the development of universities' functions, which, in…

The Search Is on: Engendering Faculty Diversity through More Effective Search and Recruitment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bilimoria, Diana; Buch, Kimberly K.

2010-01-01

The underrepresentation of women and minority faculty in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines continues to be a major concern to university leaders, policy makers, and scientists. While a number of complex factors across the entire academic pipeline play significant roles in this problem, important contributing…

UCS-PROMOVE: The engineer of the future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villas-Boas, V.

2010-06-01

The Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS) elaborated the cooperative project called 'The engineer of the future', with the objective of promoting science and engineering among high school teachers and students. This project aims to improve the quality of the teaching and to increase the interest of students in technological areas, leading to a future career in engineering. The activities of this project were planned to give meaning and foundation to the teaching-learning process of science and for the application of theory in the solution of real problems, while articulating scientific, economic, environmental, social and political aspects and also to reinforce the important role of engineering in society. Amongst the activities to be offered to high school teachers and students are a specialisation course for teachers based upon new educational methodologies, workshops in different areas of science and technology, a programme entitled 'Encouraging girls in technology, science and engineering', science fairs and visits to the industries of the region. Activities with the engineering instructors of UCS are also being developed in order to help them to incorporate in their classes more effective pedagogical strategies for educating the engineer-to-be.

Who left the defibrillator on?

PubMed

Gosbee, John

2004-05-01

Two related scenarios involving defibrillator devices reveal how inadvertent hazardous design can go unnoticed until engineers or patient safety personnel use human factors engineering (HFE) analysis. The first adverse event, in which the device was inadvertently turned off while being used to externally pace the patient's heart, resulted in an increased length of stay. The second scenario describes a similar close call and the useless acts of sanctioning the nurse and firing the engineer technician. Feedback to the end user about a device's status is an important design issue. It does not take much expertise to detect when there are problems with "dialogue" from the device to the person (that is, feedback). Many HFE issues have been cited in emergency care areas, and many medical devices--not just defibrillators--do not have readable and understandable feedback to the end user or the kind of automation that would make the wrong action harder to accomplish. All the interactions of multifunction devices with end users in a hectic, noisy, and dynamic environment need to be usability tested and validated. Nurses and engineering personnel can be trained to more easily see HFE design issues--and not dismiss them as individual failings or "someone else's job." Medical device companies are starting to follow the guidelines and regulations that should help prevent adverse events. The defibrillator's design problems had successfully masqueraded as "expected" glitches with hospital electrical utilities, personnel shortcomings, and personality problems. Adverse events related to seemingly simple devices can be prevented with HFE analysis.

Testing Scientific Software: A Systematic Literature Review

PubMed Central

Kanewala, Upulee; Bieman, James M.

2014-01-01

Context Scientific software plays an important role in critical decision making, for example making weather predictions based on climate models, and computation of evidence for research publications. Recently, scientists have had to retract publications due to errors caused by software faults. Systematic testing can identify such faults in code. Objective This study aims to identify specific challenges, proposed solutions, and unsolved problems faced when testing scientific software. Method We conducted a systematic literature survey to identify and analyze relevant literature. We identified 62 studies that provided relevant information about testing scientific software. Results We found that challenges faced when testing scientific software fall into two main categories: (1) testing challenges that occur due to characteristics of scientific software such as oracle problems and (2) testing challenges that occur due to cultural differences between scientists and the software engineering community such as viewing the code and the model that it implements as inseparable entities. In addition, we identified methods to potentially overcome these challenges and their limitations. Finally we describe unsolved challenges and how software engineering researchers and practitioners can help to overcome them. Conclusions Scientific software presents special challenges for testing. Specifically, cultural differences between scientist developers and software engineers, along with the characteristics of the scientific software make testing more difficult. Existing techniques such as code clone detection can help to improve the testing process. Software engineers should consider special challenges posed by scientific software such as oracle problems when developing testing techniques. PMID:25125798

High-performance parallel analysis of coupled problems for aircraft propulsion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Felippa, C. A.; Farhat, C.; Chen, P.-S.; Gumaste, U.; Leoinne, M.; Stern, P.

1995-01-01

This research program deals with the application of high-performance computing methods to the numerical simulation of complete jet engines. The program was initiated in 1993 by applying two-dimensional parallel aeroelastic codes to the interior gas flow problem of a by-pass jet engine. The fluid mesh generation, domain decomposition and solution capabilities were successfully tested. Attention was then focused on methodology for the partitioned analysis of the interaction of the gas flow with a flexible structure and with the fluid mesh motion driven by these structural displacements. The latter is treated by an ALE technique that models the fluid mesh motion as that of a fictitious mechanical network laid along the edges of near-field fluid elements. New partitioned analysis procedures to treat this coupled 3-component problem were developed in 1994. These procedures involved delayed corrections and subcycling, and have been successfully tested on several massively parallel computers. For the global steady-state axisymmetric analysis of a complete engine we have decided to use the NASA-sponsored ENG10 program, which uses a regular FV-multiblock-grid discretization in conjunction with circumferential averaging to include effects of blade forces, loss, combustor heat addition, blockage, bleeds and convective mixing. A load-balancing preprocessor for parallel versions of ENG10 has been developed. It is planned to use the steady-state global solution provided by ENG10 as input to a localized three-dimensional FSI analysis for engine regions where aeroelastic effects may be important.

Engineering management technologies of increasing energy efficiency processes in the investment and construction projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borisovich Zelentsov, Leonid; Dmitrievna Mailyan, Liya; Sultanovich Shogenov, Murat

2017-10-01

The article deals with the problems of using the energy-efficient materials and engineering technologies during the construction of buildings and structures. As the analysis showed, one of the most important problems in this sphere is the infringement of production technologies working with energy-efficient materials. To improve the given situation, it is offered to set a technological normal at the design stage by means of working out the technological maps studying the set and the succession of operations in details, taking in mind the properties of energy-efficient materials. At Don State Technical University (DSTU) the intelligent systems of management are being developed providing organizational and technological and also informational integration of design and production stages by means of creating the single database of technological maps, volumes of work and resources.

Mechanistic modelling of cancer: some reflections from software engineering and philosophy of science.

PubMed

Cañete-Valdeón, José M; Wieringa, Roel; Smallbone, Kieran

2012-12-01

There is a growing interest in mathematical mechanistic modelling as a promising strategy for understanding tumour progression. This approach is accompanied by a methodological change of making research, in which models help to actively generate hypotheses instead of waiting for general principles to become apparent once sufficient data are accumulated. This paper applies recent research from philosophy of science to uncover three important problems of mechanistic modelling which may compromise its mainstream application, namely: the dilemma of formal and informal descriptions, the need to express degrees of confidence and the need of an argumentation framework. We report experience and research on similar problems from software engineering and provide evidence that the solutions adopted there can be transferred to the biological domain. We hope this paper can provoke new opportunities for further and profitable interdisciplinary research in the field.

Application of TRIZ approach to machine vibration condition monitoring problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cempel, Czesław

2013-12-01

Up to now machine condition monitoring has not been seriously approached by TRIZ1TRIZ= Russian acronym for Inventive Problem Solving System, created by G. Altshuller ca 50 years ago. users, and the knowledge of TRIZ methodology has not been applied there intensively. However, there are some introductory papers of present author posted on Diagnostic Congress in Cracow (Cempel, in press [11]), and Diagnostyka Journal as well. But it seems to be further need to make such approach from different sides in order to see, if some new knowledge and technology will emerge. In doing this we need at first to define the ideal final result (IFR) of our innovation problem. As a next we need a set of parameters to describe the problems of system condition monitoring (CM) in terms of TRIZ language and set of inventive principles possible to apply, on the way to IFR. This means we should present the machine CM problem by means of contradiction and contradiction matrix. When specifying the problem parameters and inventive principles, one should use analogy and metaphorical thinking, which by definition is not exact but fuzzy, and leads sometimes to unexpected results and outcomes. The paper undertakes this important problem again and brings some new insight into system and machine CM problems. This may mean for example the minimal dimensionality of TRIZ engineering parameter set for the description of machine CM problems, and the set of most useful inventive principles applied to given engineering parameter and contradictions of TRIZ.

Socio-Technical Perspective on Interdisciplinary Interactions During the Development of Complex Engineered Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGowan, Anna-Maria R.; Daly, Shanna; Baker, Wayne; Papalambros, panos; Seifert, Colleen

2013-01-01

This study investigates interdisciplinary interactions that take place during the research, development, and early conceptual design phases in the design of large-scale complex engineered systems (LaCES) such as aerospace vehicles. These interactions, that take place throughout a large engineering development organization, become the initial conditions of the systems engineering process that ultimately leads to the development of a viable system. This paper summarizes some of the challenges and opportunities regarding social and organizational issues that emerged from a qualitative study using ethnographic and survey data. The analysis reveals several socio-technical couplings between the engineered system and the organization that creates it. Survey respondents noted the importance of interdisciplinary interactions and their benefits to the engineered system as well as substantial challenges in interdisciplinary interactions. Noted benefits included enhanced knowledge and problem mitigation and noted obstacles centered on organizational and human dynamics. Findings suggest that addressing the social challenges may be a critical need in enabling interdisciplinary interactions

Effect of a "Look-Ahead" Problem on Undergraduate Engineering Students' Concept Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Kevin; Davis, Julian; McDonald, Thomas

2016-01-01

In an effort to motivate undergraduate engineering students to prepare for class by reviewing material before lectures, a "Look-Ahead" problem was utilized. Students from two undergraduate engineering courses; Statics and Electronic Circuits, were assigned problems from course material that had not yet been covered in class. These…

Quantum Mechanics - Fundamentals and Applications to Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Jasprit

1996-10-01

Explore the relationship between quantum mechanics and information-age applications This volume takes an altogether unique approach to quantum mechanics. Providing an in-depth exposition of quantum mechanics fundamentals, it shows how these concepts are applied to most of today's information technologies, whether they are electronic devices or materials. No other text makes this critical, essential leap from theory to real-world applications. The book's lively discussion of the mathematics involved fits right in with contemporary multidisciplinary trends in education: Once the basic formulation has been derived in a given chapter, the connection to important technological problems is summarily described. The many helpful features include * Twenty-eight application-oriented sections that focus on lasers, transistors, magnetic memories, superconductors, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and other important technology-driving materials and devices * One hundred solved examples, with an emphasis on numerical results and the connection between the physics and its applications * End-of-chapter problems that ground the student in both fundamental and applied concepts * Numerous figures and tables to clarify the various topics and provide a global view of the problems under discussion * Over two hundred illustrations to highlight problems and text A book for the information age, Quantum Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications to Technology promises to become a standard in departments of electrical engineering, applied physics, and materials science, as well as physics. It is an excellent text for senior undergraduate and graduate students, and a helpful reference for practicing scientists, engineers, and chemists in the semiconductor and electronic industries.

CFD - Mature Technology?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kwak, Dochan

2005-01-01

Over the past 30 years, numerical methods and simulation tools for fluid dynamic problems have advanced as a new discipline, namely, computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Although a wide spectrum of flow regimes are encountered in many areas of science and engineering, simulation of compressible flow has been the major driver for developing computational algorithms and tools. This is probably due to a large demand for predicting the aerodynamic performance characteristics of flight vehicles, such as commercial, military, and space vehicles. As flow analysis is required to be more accurate and computationally efficient for both commercial and mission-oriented applications (such as those encountered in meteorology, aerospace vehicle development, general fluid engineering and biofluid analysis) CFD tools for engineering become increasingly important for predicting safety, performance and cost. This paper presents the author's perspective on the maturity of CFD, especially from an aerospace engineering point of view.

Understanding the Accretion Engine in Pre-main Sequence Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez de Castro, Ana I.

2009-05-01

Planetary systems are angular momentum reservoirs generated during star formation as a result of the joint action of gravity and angular momentum conservation. The accretion process drives to the generation of powerful engines able to drive the optical jets and the molecular outflows. A fraction of the engine energy is released into heating the circumstellar plasma to temperatures between 3000 K to 10 MK depending on the plasma location and density. There are very important unsolved problems concerning the nature of the engine, its evolution and its impact in the chemical evolution of the disk. Of special relevance is the understanding of the shear layer between the stellar photosphere and the disk; this layer controls a significant fraction of the magnetic field building up and the subsequent dissipative processes ought to be studied in the UV.

Modernizing engine displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, E. T.; Enevoldson, E. K.

1984-01-01

The introduction of electronic fuel control to modern turbine engines has a number of advantages, which are related to an increase in engine performance and to a reduction or elimination of the problems associated with high angle of attack engine operation from the surface to 50,000 feet. If the appropriate engine display devices are available to the pilot, the fuel control system can provide a great amount of information. Some of the wealth of information available from modern fuel controls are discussed in this paper. The considered electronic engine control systems in their most recent forms are known as the Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) and the Digital Electronic Engine Control (DEEC). Attention is given to some details regarding the control systems, typical engine problems, the solution of problems with the aid of displays, engine displays in normal operation, an example display format, a multipage format, flight strategies, and hardware considerations.

The use of Lanczos's method to solve the large generalized symmetric definite eigenvalue problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Mark T.; Patrick, Merrell L.

1989-01-01

The generalized eigenvalue problem, Kx = Lambda Mx, is of significant practical importance, especially in structural enginering where it arises as the vibration and buckling problem. A new algorithm, LANZ, based on Lanczos's method is developed. LANZ uses a technique called dynamic shifting to improve the efficiency and reliability of the Lanczos algorithm. A new algorithm for solving the tridiagonal matrices that arise when using Lanczos's method is described. A modification of Parlett and Scott's selective orthogonalization algorithm is proposed. Results from an implementation of LANZ on a Convex C-220 show it to be superior to a subspace iteration code.

The algorithm of central axis in surface reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Bao Ping; Zhang, Zheng Mei; Cai Li, Ji; Sun, Da Ming; Cao, Hui Ying; Xing, Bao Liang

2017-09-01

Reverse engineering is an important technique means of product imitation and new product development. Its core technology -- surface reconstruction is the current research for scholars. In the various algorithms of surface reconstruction, using axis reconstruction is a kind of important method. For the various reconstruction, using medial axis algorithm was summarized, pointed out the problems existed in various methods, as well as the place needs to be improved. Also discussed the later surface reconstruction and development of axial direction.

Engineering management of large scale systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanders, Serita; Gill, Tepper L.; Paul, Arthur S.

1989-01-01

The organization of high technology and engineering problem solving, has given rise to an emerging concept. Reasoning principles for integrating traditional engineering problem solving with system theory, management sciences, behavioral decision theory, and planning and design approaches can be incorporated into a methodological approach to solving problems with a long range perspective. Long range planning has a great potential to improve productivity by using a systematic and organized approach. Thus, efficiency and cost effectiveness are the driving forces in promoting the organization of engineering problems. Aspects of systems engineering that provide an understanding of management of large scale systems are broadly covered here. Due to the focus and application of research, other significant factors (e.g., human behavior, decision making, etc.) are not emphasized but are considered.

The Problem of Engineering Creativity in Russia: A Critical Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kukushkin, Sergey; Churlyaeva, Natalya

2012-01-01

The problem of technological creativity in Russia is briefly discussed. Special attention is paid to the development of indigenous engineering corpus in unfavourable conditions and some reasons for engineers' low creativity are revealed. The Soviet system of engineering higher education (HE) is criticised as not focused on fostering creative…

Teaching Agile Software Engineering Using Problem-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

El-Khalili, Nuha H.

2013-01-01

Many studies have reported the utilization of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in teaching Software Engineering courses. However, these studies have different views of the effectiveness of PBL. This paper presents the design of an Advanced Software Engineering course for undergraduate Software Engineering students that uses PBL to teach them Agile…

Pre-Engineering Program. Introduction to Engineering. Advanced Engineering.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henrico County Public Schools, Glen Allen, VA. Virginia Vocational Curriculum and Resource Center.

This guide contains information and hands-on activities to guide students through the problem-solving process needed in engineering (problem solving, presentation, and impact analysis) and information to help the instructor manage the program or courses in Virginia. Following an introduction, the guide contains a program description that supplies…

Compressibility Effects in Aeronautical Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stack, John

1941-01-01

Compressible-flow research, while a relatively new field in aeronautics, is very old, dating back almost to the development of the first firearm. Over the last hundred years, researches have been conducted in the ballistics field, but these results have been of practically no use in aeronautical engineering because the phenomena that have been studied have been the more or less steady supersonic condition of flow. Some work that has been done in connection with steam turbines, particularly nozzle studies, has been of value, In general, however, understanding of compressible-flow phenomena has been very incomplete and permitted no real basis for the solution of aeronautical engineering problems in which.the flow is likely to be unsteady because regions of both subsonic and supersonic speeds may occur. In the early phases of the development of the airplane, speeds were so low that the effects of compressibility could be justifiably ignored. During the last war and immediately after, however, propellers exhibited losses in efficiency as the tip speeds approached the speed of sound, and the first experiments of an aeronautical nature were therefore conducted with propellers. Results of these experiments indicated serious losses of efficiency, but aeronautical engineers were not seriously concerned at the time became it was generally possible. to design propellers with quite low tip. speeds. With the development of new engines having increased power and rotational speeds, however, the problems became of increasing importance.

Providing Formative Assessment to Students Solving Multipath Engineering Problems with Complex Arrangements of Interacting Parts: An Intelligent Tutor Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steif, Paul S.; Fu, Luoting; Kara, Levent Burak

2016-01-01

Problems faced by engineering students involve multiple pathways to solution. Students rarely receive effective formative feedback on handwritten homework. This paper examines the potential for computer-based formative assessment of student solutions to multipath engineering problems. In particular, an intelligent tutor approach is adopted and…

Promoting Collaborative Problem-Solving Skills in a Course on Engineering Grand Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zou, Tracy X. P.; Mickleborough, Neil C.

2015-01-01

The ability to solve problems with people of diverse backgrounds is essential for engineering graduates. A course on engineering grand challenges was designed to promote collaborative problem-solving (CPS) skills. One unique component is that students need to work both within their own team and collaborate with the other team to tackle engineering…

Rocket Engine Oscillation Diagnostics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nesman, Tom; Turner, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Rocket engine oscillating data can reveal many physical phenomena ranging from unsteady flow and acoustics to rotordynamics and structural dynamics. Because of this, engine diagnostics based on oscillation data should employ both signal analysis and physical modeling. This paper describes an approach to rocket engine oscillation diagnostics, types of problems encountered, and example problems solved. Determination of design guidelines and environments (or loads) from oscillating phenomena is required during initial stages of rocket engine design, while the additional tasks of health monitoring, incipient failure detection, and anomaly diagnostics occur during engine development and operation. Oscillations in rocket engines are typically related to flow driven acoustics, flow excited structures, or rotational forces. Additional sources of oscillatory energy are combustion and cavitation. Included in the example problems is a sampling of signal analysis tools employed in diagnostics. The rocket engine hardware includes combustion devices, valves, turbopumps, and ducts. Simple models of an oscillating fluid system or structure can be constructed to estimate pertinent dynamic parameters governing the unsteady behavior of engine systems or components. In the example problems it is shown that simple physical modeling when combined with signal analysis can be successfully employed to diagnose complex rocket engine oscillatory phenomena.

Bioengineering approaches to study multidrug resistance in tumor cells

PubMed Central

Fallica, Brian; Makin, Guy

2015-01-01

The ability of cancer cells to become resistant to chemotherapeutic agents is a major challenge for the treatment of malignant tumors. Several strategies have emerged to attempt to inhibit chemoresistance, but the fact remains that resistance is a problem for every effective anticancer drug. The first part of this review will focus on the mechanisms of chemoresistance. It is important to understand the environmental cues, transport limitations and the cellular signaling pathways associated with chemoresistance before we can hope to effectively combat it. The second part of this review focuses on the work that needs to be done moving forward. Specifically, this section focuses on the necessity of translational research and interdisciplinary directives. It is critical that the expertise of oncologists, biologists, and engineers be brought together to attempt to tackle the problem. This discussion is from an engineering perspective, as the dialogue between engineers and other cancer researchers is the most challenging due to non-overlapping background knowledge. Chemoresistance is a complex and devastating process, meaning that we urgently need sophisticated methods to study the process of how cells become resistant. PMID:21387035

Centrifugal Compressor Aeroelastic Analysis Code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keith, Theo G., Jr.; Srivastava, Rakesh

2002-01-01

Centrifugal compressors are very widely used in the turbomachine industry where low mass flow rates are required. Gas turbine engines for tanks, rotorcraft and small jets rely extensively on centrifugal compressors for rugged and compact design. These compressors experience problems related with unsteadiness of flowfields, such as stall flutter, separation at the trailing edge over diffuser guide vanes, tip vortex unsteadiness, etc., leading to rotating stall and surge. Considerable interest exists in small gas turbine engine manufacturers to understand and eventually eliminate the problems related to centrifugal compressors. The geometric complexity of centrifugal compressor blades and the twisting of the blade passages makes the linear methods inapplicable. Advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods are needed for accurate unsteady aerodynamic and aeroelastic analysis of centrifugal compressors. Most of the current day industrial turbomachines and small aircraft engines are designed with a centrifugal compressor. With such a large customer base and NASA Glenn Research Center being, the lead center for turbomachines, it is important that adequate emphasis be placed on this area as well. Currently, this activity is not supported under any project at NASA Glenn.

The morality of socioscientific issues: Construal and resolution of genetic engineering dilemmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadler, Troy D.; Zeidler, Dana L.

2004-01-01

The ability to negotiate and resolve socioscientific issues has been posited as integral components of scientific literacy. Although philosophers and science educators have argued that socioscientific issues inherently involve moral and ethical considerations, the ultimate arbiters of morality are individual decision-makers. This study explored the extent to which college students construe genetic engineering issues as moral problems. Twenty college students participated in interviews designed to elicit their ideas, reactions, and feelings regarding a series of gene therapy and cloning scenarios. Qualitative analyses revealed that moral considerations were significant influences on decision-making, indicating a tendency for students to construe genetic engineering issues as moral problems. Students engaged in moral reasoning based on utilitarian analyses of consequences as well as the application of principles. Issue construal was also influenced by affective features such as emotion and intuition. In addition to moral considerations, a series of other factors emerged as important dimensions of socioscientific decision-making. These factors included personal experiences, family biases, background knowledge, and the impact of popular culture. The implications for classroom science instruction and future research are discussed.

Advanced therapies of skin injuries.

PubMed

Maver, Tina; Maver, Uroš; Kleinschek, Karin Stana; Raščan, Irena Mlinarič; Smrke, Dragica Maja

2015-12-01

The loss of tissue is still one of the most challenging problems in healthcare. Efficient laboratory expansion of skin tissue to reproduce the skins barrier function can make the difference between life and death for patients with extensive full-thickness burns, chronic wounds, or genetic disorders such as bullous conditions. This engineering has been initiated based on the acute need in the 1980s and today, tissue-engineered skin is the reality. The human skin equivalents are available not only as models for permeation and toxicity screening, but are frequently applied in vivo as clinical skin substitutes. This review aims to introduce the most important recent development in the extensive field of tissue engineering and to describe already approved, commercially available skin substitutes in clinical use.

Performance Analysis of Stirling Engine-Driven Vapor Compression Heat Pump System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kagawa, Noboru

Stirling engine-driven vapor compression systems have many unique advantages including higher thermal efficiencies, preferable exhaust gas characteristics, multi-fuel usage, and low noise and vibration which can play an important role in alleviating environmental and energy problems. This paper introduces a design method for the systems based on reliable mathematical methods for Stirling and Rankin cycles using reliable thermophysical information for refrigerants. The model deals with a combination of a kinematic Stirling engine and a scroll compressor. Some experimental coefficients are used to formulate the model. The obtained results show the performance behavior in detail. The measured performance of the actual system coincides with the calculated results. Furthermore, the calculated results clarify the performance using alternative refrigerants for R-22.

Career Opportunities for Physicists in the Micro Electronics Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourianoff, George

1997-10-01

The US micro electronics industry anticipates growth of 20 to 30 percent per year for the next five years. The need for engineers and scientists poses a critical problem for the industry but conversely presents great opportunities for those in closely related fields such as physics where career opportunities may be more limited. There is no shortage of important and challenging problems on the Semiconductor Institute of America (SIA) roadmap which will require solution in the next 10 years and which require expertise in the physical sciences. However, significant cultural differences exist between the physics community and the engineering oriented semiconductor community which must be understood and addressed in order for a physicist to successfully contribute in this environment. This talk will identify some of those cultural differences and describe some of the critical physics related problems which must be solved. Critical roadblocks include lithographic patterning below 0.18m. and design of Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits in the deep submicron regime. The former will require developing radiation sources and optical elements for the EUV or XRAY part of the spectrum. The latter will require incorporating electromagnetic field equations with traditional lumped element circuit design methods. The cultural barriers alluded to earlier involve the manner in which engineering detail is approached. A physicist's basic instinct is to strip off the detail in order to make a problem mathematically tractable. This enables understanding of the underlying physical relationships but does not yield the quantitative detail necessary in semiconductor production.

Female peers in small work groups enhance women's motivation, verbal participation, and career aspirations in engineering

PubMed Central

Dasgupta, Nilanjana; Scircle, Melissa McManus; Hunsinger, Matthew

2015-01-01

For years, public discourse in science education, technology, and policy-making has focused on the “leaky pipeline” problem: the observation that fewer women than men enter science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and more women than men leave. Less attention has focused on experimentally testing solutions to this problem. We report an experiment investigating one solution: we created “microenvironments” (small groups) in engineering with varying proportions of women to identify which environment increases motivation and participation, and whether outcomes depend on students’ academic stage. Female engineering students were randomly assigned to one of three engineering groups of varying sex composition: 75% women, 50% women, or 25% women. For first-years, group composition had a large effect: women in female-majority and sex-parity groups felt less anxious than women in female-minority groups. However, among advanced students, sex composition had no effect on anxiety. Importantly, group composition significantly affected verbal participation, regardless of women’s academic seniority: women participated more in female-majority groups than sex-parity or female-minority groups. Additionally, when assigned to female-minority groups, women who harbored implicit masculine stereotypes about engineering reported less confidence and engineering career aspirations. However, in sex-parity and female-majority groups, confidence and career aspirations remained high regardless of implicit stereotypes. These data suggest that creating small groups with high proportions of women in otherwise male-dominated fields is one way to keep women engaged and aspiring toward engineering careers. Although sex parity works sometimes, it is insufficient to boost women’s verbal participation in group work, which often affects learning and mastery. PMID:25848061

Some Problems of Exploitation of Jet Turbine Aircraft Engines of Lot Polish Air Lines,

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-04-26

CI ‘AD~AOII6 221 FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY DIV WR IGHT—PATTERSON AFB OHIO F/I 21/5SOME PROBLEMS OF EXPLOITATION OF JET TURBINE AIRCRAFT ENGINES O—CTC(U...EXPLOITATION OF JET TURBINE AIRCRAFT ENGINES OF LOT POLISH AIR LINE S By: Andrzej Slodownik English pages: 1~ Source: Technika Lotnicza I Astronautyczna...SOME PROBLEMS OF EXPLOITATION OF JET TURBINE AIRCRAFT ENGINES OF LOT POLISH AIR LINES Andrzej Slodownik , M. Eng . FTD— ID ( RS) I— 0 1475 — 77 I

Engineering design: A cognitive process approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strimel, Greg Joseph

The intent of this dissertation was to identify the cognitive processes used by advanced pre-engineering students to solve complex engineering design problems. Students in technology and engineering education classrooms are often taught to use an ideal engineering design process that has been generated mostly by educators and curriculum developers. However, the review of literature showed that it is unclear as to how advanced pre-engineering students cognitively navigate solving a complex and multifaceted problem from beginning to end. Additionally, it was unclear how a student thinks and acts throughout their design process and how this affects the viability of their solution. Therefore, Research Objective 1 was to identify the fundamental cognitive processes students use to design, construct, and evaluate operational solutions to engineering design problems. Research Objective 2 was to determine identifiers within student cognitive processes for monitoring aptitude to successfully design, construct, and evaluate technological solutions. Lastly, Research Objective 3 was to create a conceptual technological and engineering problem-solving model integrating student cognitive processes for the improved development of problem-solving abilities. The methodology of this study included multiple forms of data collection. The participants were first given a survey to determine their prior experience with engineering and to provide a description of the subjects being studied. The participants were then presented an engineering design challenge to solve individually. While they completed the challenge, the participants verbalized their thoughts using an established "think aloud" method. These verbalizations were captured along with participant observational recordings using point-of-view camera technology. Additionally, the participant design journals, design artifacts, solution effectiveness data, and teacher evaluations were collected for analysis to help achieve the research objectives of this study. Two independent coders then coded the video/audio recordings and the additional design data using Halfin's (1973) 17 mental processes for technological problem-solving. The results of this study indicated that the participants employed a wide array of mental processes when solving engineering design challenges. However, the findings provide a general analysis of the number of times participants employed each mental process, as well as the amount of time consumed employing the various mental processes through the different stages of the engineering design process. The results indicated many similarities between the students solving the problem, which may highlight voids in current technology and engineering education curricula. Additionally, the findings showed differences between the processes employed by participants that created the most successful solutions and the participants who developed the least effective solutions. Upon comparing and contrasting these processes, recommendations for instructional strategies to enhance a student's capability for solving engineering design problems were developed. The results also indicated that students, when left without teacher intervention, use a simplified and more natural process to solve design challenges than the 12-step engineering design process reported in much of the literature. Lastly, these data indicated that students followed two different approaches to solving the design problem. Some students employed a sequential and logical approach, while others employed a nebulous, solution centered trial-and-error approach to solving the problem. In this study the participants who were more sequential had better performing solutions. Examining these two approaches and the student cognition data enabled the researcher to generate a conceptual engineering design model for the improved teaching and development of engineering design problem solving.

What We Do Not Know and Probably Need to Know

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gaier, J. R.; Rickman, Douglas L.

2009-01-01

By far the most important database to help us determine the engineering questions we need to address comes from the Apollo experience. In combing through the Apollo Mission Reports and Technical Debriefings there are numerous references to the problems caused by lunar dust during the missions. These have been sorted into nine classes of difficulties.

Development, Implementation, and Outcomes of an Equitable Computer Science After-School Program: Findings from Middle-School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mouza, Chrystalla; Marzocchi, Alison; Pan, Yi-Cheng; Pollock, Lori

2016-01-01

Current policy efforts that seek to improve learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) emphasize the importance of helping all students acquire concepts and tools from computer science that help them analyze and develop solutions to everyday problems. These goals have been generally described in the literature under the…

Engineering Concepts: The Interplay between Concept Formation and Modeling Practices in Bioengineering Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nersessian, Nancy J.

2012-01-01

As much research has demonstrated, novel scientific concepts do not arise fully formed in the head of a scientist but are created in problem-solving processes, which can extend for considerable periods and even span generations of scientists. To understand concept formation and conceptual change it is important to investigate these processes in…

Innovative Language-Based & Object-Oriented Structured AMR Using Fortran 90 and OpenMP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norton, C.; Balsara, D.

1999-01-01

Parallel adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is an important numerical technique that leads to the efficient solution of many physical and engineering problems. In this paper, we describe how AMR programing can be performed in an object-oreinted way using the modern aspects of Fortran 90 combined with the parallelization features of OpenMP.

75 FR 5634 - Grand Challenges of the 21st Century; Request for Information

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-03

... sustainable growth and the creation of high-quality jobs. One of the goals of the President's strategy is to..., etc.) that are interested in collaborating with each other and the Administration to achieve one or.... Some define important problems in a particular field of science and engineering. For example, in 1900...

Capturing security requirements for software systems.

PubMed

El-Hadary, Hassan; El-Kassas, Sherif

2014-07-01

Security is often an afterthought during software development. Realizing security early, especially in the requirement phase, is important so that security problems can be tackled early enough before going further in the process and avoid rework. A more effective approach for security requirement engineering is needed to provide a more systematic way for eliciting adequate security requirements. This paper proposes a methodology for security requirement elicitation based on problem frames. The methodology aims at early integration of security with software development. The main goal of the methodology is to assist developers elicit adequate security requirements in a more systematic way during the requirement engineering process. A security catalog, based on the problem frames, is constructed in order to help identifying security requirements with the aid of previous security knowledge. Abuse frames are used to model threats while security problem frames are used to model security requirements. We have made use of evaluation criteria to evaluate the resulting security requirements concentrating on conflicts identification among requirements. We have shown that more complete security requirements can be elicited by such methodology in addition to the assistance offered to developers to elicit security requirements in a more systematic way.

Productivity improvement using industrial engineering tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salaam, H. A.; How, S. B.; Faisae, M. F.

2012-09-01

Minimizing the number of defects is important to any company since it influence their outputs and profits. The aim of this paper is to study the implementation of industrial engineering tools in a manufacturing recycle paper box company. This study starts with reading the standard operation procedures and analyzing the process flow to get the whole idea on how to manufacture paper box. At the same time, observations at the production line were made to identify problem occurs in the production line. By using check sheet, the defect data from each station were collected and have been analyzed using Pareto Chart. From the chart, it is found that glue workstation shows the highest number of defects. Based on observation at the glue workstation, the existing method used to glue the box was inappropriate because the operator used a lot of glue. Then, by using cause and effect diagram, the root cause of the problem was identified and solutions to overcome the problem were proposed. There are three suggestions proposed to overcome this problem. Cost reduction for each solution was calculated and the best solution is using three hair drier to dry the sticky glue which produce only 6.4 defects in an hour with cost of RM 0.0224.

Capturing security requirements for software systems

PubMed Central

El-Hadary, Hassan; El-Kassas, Sherif

2014-01-01

Security is often an afterthought during software development. Realizing security early, especially in the requirement phase, is important so that security problems can be tackled early enough before going further in the process and avoid rework. A more effective approach for security requirement engineering is needed to provide a more systematic way for eliciting adequate security requirements. This paper proposes a methodology for security requirement elicitation based on problem frames. The methodology aims at early integration of security with software development. The main goal of the methodology is to assist developers elicit adequate security requirements in a more systematic way during the requirement engineering process. A security catalog, based on the problem frames, is constructed in order to help identifying security requirements with the aid of previous security knowledge. Abuse frames are used to model threats while security problem frames are used to model security requirements. We have made use of evaluation criteria to evaluate the resulting security requirements concentrating on conflicts identification among requirements. We have shown that more complete security requirements can be elicited by such methodology in addition to the assistance offered to developers to elicit security requirements in a more systematic way. PMID:25685514

Human performance models for computer-aided engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elkind, Jerome I. (Editor); Card, Stuart K. (Editor); Hochberg, Julian (Editor); Huey, Beverly Messick (Editor)

1989-01-01

This report discusses a topic important to the field of computational human factors: models of human performance and their use in computer-based engineering facilities for the design of complex systems. It focuses on a particular human factors design problem -- the design of cockpit systems for advanced helicopters -- and on a particular aspect of human performance -- vision and related cognitive functions. By focusing in this way, the authors were able to address the selected topics in some depth and develop findings and recommendations that they believe have application to many other aspects of human performance and to other design domains.

Recent advances in genetic modification systems for Actinobacteria.

PubMed

Deng, Yu; Zhang, Xi; Zhang, Xiaojuan

2017-03-01

Actinobacteria are extremely important to human health, agriculture, and forests. Because of the vast differences of the characteristics of Actinobacteria, a lot of genetic tools have been developed for efficiently manipulating the genetics. Although there are a lot of successful examples of engineering Actinobacteria, they are still more difficult to be genetically manipulated than other model microorganisms such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis etc. due to the diverse genomics and biochemical machinery. Here, we review the methods to introduce heterologous DNA into Actinobacteria and the available genetic modification tools. The trends and problems existing in engineering Actinobacteria are also covered.

Living nano-micro fibrous woven fabric/hydrogel composite scaffolds for heart valve engineering.

PubMed

Wu, Shaohua; Duan, Bin; Qin, Xiaohong; Butcher, Jonathan T

2017-03-15

Regeneration and repair of injured or diseased heart valves remains a clinical challenge. Tissue engineering provides a promising treatment approach to facilitate living heart valve repair and regeneration. Three-dimensional (3D) biomimetic scaffolds that possess heterogeneous and anisotropic features that approximate those of native heart valve tissue are beneficial to the successful in vitro development of tissue engineered heart valves (TEHV). Here we report the development and characterization of a novel composite scaffold consisting of nano- and micro-scale fibrous woven fabrics and 3D hydrogels by using textile techniques combined with bioactive hydrogel formation. Embedded nano-micro fibrous scaffolds within hydrogel enhanced mechanical strength and physical structural anisotropy of the composite scaffold (similar to native aortic valve leaflets) and also reduced its compaction. We determined that the composite scaffolds supported the growth of human aortic valve interstitial cells (HAVIC), balanced the remodeling of heart valve ECM against shrinkage, and maintained better physiological fibroblastic phenotype in both normal and diseased HAVIC over single materials. These fabricated composite scaffolds enable the engineering of a living heart valve graft with improved anisotropic structure and tissue biomechanics important for maintaining valve cell phenotypes. Heart valve-related disease is an important clinical problem, with over 300,000 surgical repairs performed annually. Tissue engineering offers a promising strategy for heart valve repair and regeneration. In this study, we developed and tissue engineered living nano-micro fibrous woven fabric/hydrogel composite scaffolds by using textile technique combined with bioactive hydrogel formation. The novelty of our technique is that the composite scaffolds can mimic physical structure anisotropy and the mechanical strength of natural aortic valve leaflet. Moreover, the composite scaffolds prevented the matrix shrinkage, which is major problem that causes the failure of TEHV, and better maintained physiological fibroblastic phenotype in both normal and diseased HAVIC. This work marks the first report of a combination composite scaffold using 3D hydrogel enhanced by nano-micro fibrous woven fabric, and represents a promising tissue engineering strategy to treat heart valve injury. Copyright © 2017 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recognition vs Reverse Engineering in Boolean Concepts Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shafat, Gabriel; Levin, Ilya

2012-01-01

This paper deals with two types of logical problems--recognition problems and reverse engineering problems, and with the interrelations between these types of problems. The recognition problems are modeled in the form of a visual representation of various objects in a common pattern, with a composition of represented objects in the pattern.…

The Implementation and Evaluation of a Project-Oriented Problem-Based Learning Module in a First Year Engineering Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLoone, Seamus C.; Lawlor, Bob J.; Meehan, Andrew R.

2016-01-01

This paper describes how a circuits-based project-oriented problem-based learning educational model was integrated into the first year of a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronic Engineering programme at Maynooth University, Ireland. While many variations of problem based learning exist, the presented model is closely aligned with the model used in…

The Technology of Forming of Innovative Content for Engineering Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kayumova, Lilija A.; Savva, Lubov I.; Soldatchenko, Aleksandr L.; Sirazetdinov, Rustem M.; Akhmetov, Linar G.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the study is conditioned by the modernization of engineering education aimed at specialists' training to solve engineering and economic problems effectively. The goal of the paper is to develop the technology of the innovative content's formation for engineering education. The leading method to the study of this problem is a…

A Study of Competence in Mathematics and Mechanics in an Engineering Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Munns, Andrew

2017-01-01

Professional bodies expect engineers to show competence in both mathematics and engineering topics such as mechanics, using their abilities in both of these to solve problems. Yet within engineering programmes there is a phenomenon known as "The Mathematics Problem", with students not demonstrating understanding of the subject. This…

Engineering education in the wake of hurricane Katrina

PubMed Central

Lima, Marybeth

2007-01-01

Living through hurricane Katrina and its aftermath and reflecting on these experiences from technical and non-technical standpoints has led me to reconsider my thoughts and philosophy on engineering education. I present three ideas regarding engineering education pedagogy that I believe will prepare future engineers for problem-solving in an increasingly complex world. They are (1) we must practice radical (to the root) engineering, (2) we must illustrate connections between engineering and public policy, and (3) we will join the charge to find sustainable solutions to problems. Ideas for bringing each of these concepts into engineering curricula through methods such as case study, practicing broad information gathering and data interpretation, and other methods inside and outside the classroom, are discussed. I believe that the consequences of not considering the root issues of problems to be solved, and of not including policy and sustainability considerations when problems to be solved are framed will lead our profession toward well meaning but insufficient utility. Hurricane Katrina convinced me that we must do better as educators to prepare our students for engineering for a sustainable world. PMID:18271988

Teaching ethics to engineers: ethical decision making parallels the engineering design process.

PubMed

Bero, Bridget; Kuhlman, Alana

2011-09-01

In order to fulfill ABET requirements, Northern Arizona University's Civil and Environmental engineering programs incorporate professional ethics in several of its engineering courses. This paper discusses an ethics module in a 3rd year engineering design course that focuses on the design process and technical writing. Engineering students early in their student careers generally possess good black/white critical thinking skills on technical issues. Engineering design is the first time students are exposed to "grey" or multiple possible solution technical problems. To identify and solve these problems, the engineering design process is used. Ethical problems are also "grey" problems and present similar challenges to students. Students need a practical tool for solving these ethical problems. The step-wise engineering design process was used as a model to demonstrate a similar process for ethical situations. The ethical decision making process of Martin and Schinzinger was adapted for parallelism to the design process and presented to students as a step-wise technique for identification of the pertinent ethical issues, relevant moral theories, possible outcomes and a final decision. Students had greatest difficulty identifying the broader, global issues presented in an ethical situation, but by the end of the module, were better able to not only identify the broader issues, but also to more comprehensively assess specific issues, generate solutions and a desired response to the issue.

Functional tissue engineering of tendon: Establishing biological success criteria for improving tendon repair.

PubMed

Breidenbach, Andrew P; Gilday, Steven D; Lalley, Andrea L; Dyment, Nathaniel A; Gooch, Cynthia; Shearn, Jason T; Butler, David L

2014-06-27

Improving tendon repair using Functional Tissue Engineering (FTE) principles has been the focus of our laboratory over the last decade. Although our primary goals were initially focused only on mechanical outcomes, we are now carefully assessing the biological properties of our tissue-engineered tendon repairs so as to link biological influences with mechanics. However, given the complexities of tendon development and healing, it remains challenging to determine which aspects of tendon biology are the most important to focus on in the context of tissue engineering. To address this problem, we have formalized a strategy to identify, prioritize, and evaluate potential biological success criteria for tendon repair. We have defined numerous biological properties of normal tendon relative to cellular phenotype, extracellular matrix and tissue ultra-structure that we would like to reproduce in our tissue-engineered repairs and prioritized these biological criteria by examining their relative importance during both normal development and natural tendon healing. Here, we propose three specific biological criteria which we believe are essential for normal tendon function: (1) scleraxis-expressing cells; (2) well-organized and axially-aligned collagen fibrils having bimodal diameter distribution; and (3) a specialized tendon-to-bone insertion site. Moving forward, these biological success criteria will be used in conjunction with our already established mechanical success criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of our tissue-engineered tendon repairs. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Effects of mechanical loading on human mesenchymal stem cells for cartilage tissue engineering.

PubMed

Choi, Jane Ru; Yong, Kar Wey; Choi, Jean Yu

2018-03-01

Today, articular cartilage damage is a major health problem, affecting people of all ages. The existing conventional articular cartilage repair techniques, such as autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), microfracture, and mosaicplasty, have many shortcomings which negatively affect their clinical outcomes. Therefore, it is essential to develop an alternative and efficient articular repair technique that can address those shortcomings. Cartilage tissue engineering, which aims to create a tissue-engineered cartilage derived from human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), shows great promise for improving articular cartilage defect therapy. However, the use of tissue-engineered cartilage for the clinical therapy of articular cartilage defect still remains challenging. Despite the importance of mechanical loading to create a functional cartilage has been well demonstrated, the specific type of mechanical loading and its optimal loading regime is still under investigation. This review summarizes the most recent advances in the effects of mechanical loading on human MSCs. First, the existing conventional articular repair techniques and their shortcomings are highlighted. The important parameters for the evaluation of the tissue-engineered cartilage, including chondrogenic and hypertrophic differentiation of human MSCs are briefly discussed. The influence of mechanical loading on human MSCs is subsequently reviewed and the possible mechanotransduction signaling is highlighted. The development of non-hypertrophic chondrogenesis in response to the changing mechanical microenvironment will aid in the establishment of a tissue-engineered cartilage for efficient articular cartilage repair. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Methods of Mathematical and Computational Physics for Industry, Science, and Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melnik, Roderick V. N.; Voss, Frands

2006-11-01

Many industrial problems provide scientists with important and challenging problems that need to be solved today rather than tomorrow. The key role of mathematical physics, modelling, and computational methodologies in addressing such problems continues to increase. Science has never been exogenous to applied research. Gigantic ships and steam engines, repeating catapult of Dionysius and the Antikythera `computer' invented around 80BC are just a few examples demonstrating a profound link between theoretical and applied science in the ancient world. Nowadays, many industrial problems are typically approached by groups of researchers who are working as a team bringing their expertise to the success of the entire enterprise. Since the late 1960s several groups of European mathematicians and scientists have started organizing regular meetings, seeking new challenges from industry and contributing to the solution of important industrial problems. In particular, this often took the format of week-long workshops originally initiated by the Oxford Study Groups with Industry in 1968. Such workshops are now held in many European countries (typically under the auspices of the European Study Groups with Industry - ESGI), as well as in Australia, Canada, the United States, and other countries around the world. Problems given by industrial partners are sometimes very difficult to complete within a week. However, during a week of brainstorming activities these problems inevitably stimulate developing fruitful new ideas, new approaches, and new collaborations. At the same time, there are cases where as soon as the problem is formulated mathematically, it is relatively easy to solve. Hence, putting the industrial problem into a mathematical framework, based on physical laws, often provides a key element to the success. In addition to this important first step, the value in such cases is the real, practical applicability of the results obtained for an industrial partner who presents the problem. Under both outlined scenarios, scientists and mathematicians are provided with an opportunity to challenge themselves with real-world problems and to work together in a team on important industrial issues. This issue is a result of selected contributions by participants of the meeting that took place in the Sønderborg area of Denmark, one of the most important centers for information technology, telecommunication and electronics in the country. The meeting was hosted by the University of Southern Denmark in a picturesque area of Southern Jutland. It brought together about 65 participants, among whom were professional mathematicians, engineers, physicists, and industrial participants. The meeting was a truly international one, with delegates from four major Danish Universities, the UK, Norway, Italy, Czech Republic, Turkey, China, Germany, Latvia, Canada, the United States, and Finland. Five challenging projects were presented by leading industrial companies, including Grundfos, Danfoss Industrial Control, Unisensor, and Danfoss Flow Division (now Siemens). The meeting featured also the Mathematics for Industry Workshop with several distinguished international speakers. This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series on `Methods of Mathematical and Computational Physics for Industry, Science, and Technology' contains contributions from some of the participants of the workshop as well as the papers produced as a result of collaborative efforts with the above mentioned industrial companies. We would like to thank all authors and participants for their contributions and for bearing with us during the review process and preparation of this issue. We thank also all our referees for their timely and detailed reports. The publication of the proceedings of this meeting in Denmark was delayed due to problems with a previous publisher. We are very grateful that Journal of Physics: Conference Series kindly agreed to publish the proceedings rapidly at this late stage. As industrial problems become increasingly multidisciplinary, their successful solutions are often contingent on effective collaborative efforts between scientists, mathematicians, industrialists, and engineers. This volume has provided several examples of such collaborative efforts in the context of real-world industrial problems along with the analysis of important physics-based mathematical models applicable in a range of industrial contexts. Roderick V N Melnik, Professor of Mathematical Modelling, Syddansk Universitet (Denmark) and Professor and Canada Research Chair, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada E-mail: rmelnik@wlu.ca Frands Voss, Director of the Mads Clausen Institute, Syddansk Universitet (Denmark)

The fraying web of life and our future engineers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Splitt, Frank G.

2004-07-01

Evidence abounds that we are reaching the carrying capacity of the earth -- engaging in deficit spending. The amount of crops, animals, and other biomatter we extract from the earth each year exceeds wth the earth can replace by an estimated 20%. Additionally, signs of climate change are precursors of things to come. Global industrialization and the new technologies of the 20th century have helped to stretch the capacities of our finite natural system to precarious levels. Taken together, this evidence reflects a fraying web of life. Sustainable development and natural capitalism work to reverse these trends, however, we are often still wedded to the notion that environmental conservation and economic development are the 'players' in a zero-sum game. Engineering and its technological derivatives can also help remedy the problem. The well being of future generations will depend to a large extent on how we educate our future engineers. These engineers will be a new breed -- developing and using sustainable technology, benign manufacturing processes and an expanded array of environmental assessment tools that will simultaneously support and maintain healthy economies and a healthy environment. The importance of environment and sustainable development cosiderations, the need for their widespread inclusion in engineering education, the impediments to change, and the important role played by ABET will be presented.

Transient responses' optimization by means of set-based multi-objective evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avigad, Gideon; Eisenstadt, Erella; Goldvard, Alex; Salomon, Shaul

2012-04-01

In this article, a novel solution to multi-objective problems involving the optimization of transient responses is suggested. It is claimed that the common approach of treating such problems by introducing auxiliary objectives overlooks tradeoffs that should be presented to the decision makers. This means that, if at some time during the responses, one of the responses is optimal, it should not be overlooked. An evolutionary multi-objective algorithm is suggested in order to search for these optimal solutions. For this purpose, state-wise domination is utilized with a new crowding measure for ordered sets being suggested. The approach is tested on both artificial as well as on real life problems in order to explain the methodology and demonstrate its applicability and importance. The results indicate that, from an engineering point of view, the approach possesses several advantages over existing approaches. Moreover, the applications highlight the importance of set-based evolution.

The History of the Planar Elastica: Insights into Mechanics and Scientific Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goss, Victor Geoffrey Alan

2009-08-01

Euler’s formula for the buckling of an elastic column is widely used in engineering design. However, only a handful of engineers will be familiar with Euler’s classic paper De Curvis Elasticis in which the formula is derived. In addition to the Euler Buckling Formula, De Curvis Elasticis classifies all the bent configurations of elastic rod—a landmark in the development of a rational theory of continuum mechanics. As a historical case study, Euler’s work on elastic rods offers an insight into some important concepts which underlie mechanics. It sheds light on the search for unifying principles of mechanics and the role of analysis. The connection between results obtained from theory and those obtained from experiments on rods, highlights two different approaches to scientific discovery, which can be traced back to Bacon, Descartes and Galileo. The bent rod also has an analogy in dynamics, with a pendulum, which highlights the crucial distinctions between initial value and boundary value problems and between linear and nonlinear differential equations. In addition to benefiting from the overview which a historical study provides, the particular problem of the elastica offers students of science and engineering a clear elucidation of the connection between mathematics and real-world engineering, issues which still have relevance today.

The problem of the turbo-compressor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Devillers, Rene

1920-01-01

In terminating the study of the adaptation of the engine to the airplane, we will examine the problem of the turbo-compressor,the first realization of which dates from the war; this will form an addition to the indications already given on supercharging at various altitudes. This subject is of great importance for the application of the turbo-compressor worked by the exhaust gases. As a matter of fact, a compressor increasing the pressure in the admission manifold may be controlled by the engine shaft by means of multiplication gear or by a turbine operated by the exhaust gas. Assuming that the increase of pressure in the admission manifold is the same in both cases, the pressure in the exhaust manifold would be greater in the case in which the compressor is worked by the exhaust gas and there would result a certain reduction of engine power which we must be able to calculate. On the other hand , if the compressor is controlled by the engine shaft, a certain fraction of the excess power supplied is utilized for the rotation of the compressor. In order to compare the two systems, it is there-fore necessary to determine the value of the reduction of power due to back pressure when the turbine is employed.

Students' explanations in complex learning of disciplinary programming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vieira, Camilo

Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) has been denominated as the third pillar of science and as a set of important skills to solve the problems of a global society. Along with the theoretical and the experimental approaches, computation offers a third alternative to solve complex problems that require processing large amounts of data, or representing complex phenomena that are not easy to experiment with. Despite the relevance of CSE, current professionals and scientists are not well prepared to take advantage of this set of tools and methods. Computation is usually taught in an isolated way from engineering disciplines, and therefore, engineers do not know how to exploit CSE affordances. This dissertation intends to introduce computational tools and methods contextualized within the Materials Science and Engineering curriculum. Considering that learning how to program is a complex task, the dissertation explores effective pedagogical practices that can support student disciplinary and computational learning. Two case studies will be evaluated to identify the characteristics of effective worked examples in the context of CSE. Specifically, this dissertation explores students explanations of these worked examples in two engineering courses with different levels of transparency: a programming course in materials science and engineering glass box and a thermodynamics course involving computational representations black box. Results from this study suggest that students benefit in different ways from writing in-code comments. These benefits include but are not limited to: connecting xv individual lines of code to the overall problem, getting familiar with the syntax, learning effective algorithm design strategies, and connecting computation with their discipline. Students in the glass box context generate higher quality explanations than students in the black box context. These explanations are related to students prior experiences. Specifically, students with low ability to do programming engage in a more thorough explanation process than students with high ability. This dissertation concludes proposing an adaptation to the instructional principles of worked-examples for the context of CSE education.

The ICARE Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Henke, Luke

2010-01-01

The ICARE method is a flexible, widely applicable method for systems engineers to solve problems and resolve issues in a complete and comprehensive manner. The method can be tailored by diverse users for direct application to their function (e.g. system integrators, design engineers, technical discipline leads, analysts, etc.). The clever acronym, ICARE, instills the attitude of accountability, safety, technical rigor and engagement in the problem resolution: Identify, Communicate, Assess, Report, Execute (ICARE). This method was developed through observation of Space Shuttle Propulsion Systems Engineering and Integration (PSE&I) office personnel approach in an attempt to succinctly describe the actions of an effective systems engineer. Additionally it evolved from an effort to make a broadly-defined checklist for a PSE&I worker to perform their responsibilities in an iterative and recursive manner. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Systems Engineering Handbook states, engineering of NASA systems requires a systematic and disciplined set of processes that are applied recursively and iteratively for the design, development, operation, maintenance, and closeout of systems throughout the life cycle of the programs and projects. ICARE is a method that can be applied within the boundaries and requirements of NASA s systems engineering set of processes to provide an elevated sense of duty and responsibility to crew and vehicle safety. The importance of a disciplined set of processes and a safety-conscious mindset increases with the complexity of the system. Moreover, the larger the system and the larger the workforce, the more important it is to encourage the usage of the ICARE method as widely as possible. According to the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook, elements of a system can include people, hardware, software, facilities, policies and documents; all things required to produce system-level results, qualities, properties, characteristics, functions, behavior and performance. The ICARE method can be used to improve all elements of a system and, consequently, the system-level functional, physical and operational performance. Even though ICARE was specifically designed for a systems engineer, any person whose job is to examine another person, product, or process can use the ICARE method to improve effectiveness, implementation, usefulness, value, capability, efficiency, integration, design, and/or marketability. This paper provides the details of the ICARE method, emphasizing the method s application to systems engineering. In addition, a sample of other, non-systems engineering applications are briefly discussed to demonstrate how ICARE can be tailored to a variety of diverse jobs (from project management to parenting).

Communication Problems in Requirements Engineering: A Field Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Al-Rawas, Amer; Easterbrook, Steve

1996-01-01

The requirements engineering phase of software development projects is characterized by the intensity and importance of communication activities. During this phase, the various stakeholders must be able to communicate their requirements to the analysts, and the analysts need to be able to communicate the specifications they generate back to the stakeholders for validation. This paper describes a field investigation into the problems of communication between disparate communities involved in the requirements specification activities. The results of this study are discussed in terms of their relation to three major communication barriers: (1) ineffectiveness of the current communication channels; (2) restrictions on expressiveness imposed by notations; and (3) social and organizational barriers. The results confirm that organizational and social issues have great influence on the effectiveness of communication. They also show that in general, end-users find the notations used by software practitioners to model their requirements difficult to understand and validate.

LDRD Final Report: Global Optimization for Engineering Science Problems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

HART,WILLIAM E.

1999-12-01

For a wide variety of scientific and engineering problems the desired solution corresponds to an optimal set of objective function parameters, where the objective function measures a solution's quality. The main goal of the LDRD ''Global Optimization for Engineering Science Problems'' was the development of new robust and efficient optimization algorithms that can be used to find globally optimal solutions to complex optimization problems. This SAND report summarizes the technical accomplishments of this LDRD, discusses lessons learned and describes open research issues.

Potential and problems in ultrasound-responsive drug delivery systems

PubMed Central

Zhao, Ying-Zheng; Du, Li-Na; Lu, Cui-Tao; Jin, Yi-Guang; Ge, Shu-Ping

2013-01-01

Ultrasound is an important local stimulus for triggering drug release at the target tissue. Ultrasound-responsive drug delivery systems (URDDS) have become an important research focus in targeted therapy. URDDS include many different formulations, such as microbubbles, nanobubbles, nanodroplets, liposomes, emulsions, and micelles. Drugs that can be loaded into URDDS include small molecules, biomacromolecules, and inorganic substances. Fields of clinical application include anticancer therapy, treatment of ischemic myocardium, induction of an immune response, cartilage tissue engineering, transdermal drug delivery, treatment of Huntington’s disease, thrombolysis, and disruption of the blood–brain barrier. This review focuses on recent advances in URDDS, and discusses their formulations, clinical application, and problems, as well as a perspective on their potential use in the future. PMID:23637531

Experimental and numerical study on vibration of the full-revolving propulsion ship stern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Chang-qing; Che, Chi-dong; Shen, Xiao-han

2015-03-01

In order to solve the severe vibration problems of an ocean engineering ship with a full-revolving propulsion system, the navigation tests, including forced vibration response test and modal test, are carried out in its stern. It is concluded from the comparison of the time-domain waveform and spectrum from different measurement points that three main factors lead to a high-level stern vibration. Firstly, the specific dynamic stiffness of a water tank is relatively small compared with its neighbor hold, which makes it act like a vibration isolator preventing vibrational energy transmitting to the main hold. Secondly, there exists high-density local modes in the working frequency range of the main engine and thus the local resonance occurs. Thirdly, the abnormal engagement of gears caused by the large deflection of the shaft bearing due to its low mounting rigidity leads to violent extra impulse excitations at high speeds. Then the modification against the dynamic defects is given by simply improving the specific stiffness of the water tanks. And the effect is validated by the FEM calculation. Some important experience is obtained with the problems being solved, which is useful in the design of ships with the same propulsion system. It is also believed that the dynamic consideration is as important as the static analysis for the ships, and that most of the vibration problems may be avoided with a proper acoustic design.

NASA Helps Keep the Light Burning for the Saturn Car Company

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

The Saturn Electronics & Engineering, Inc. (Saturn) facility in Marks, Miss., that produces lamp assemblies was experiencing itermittent problems with its automotive under the hood lamps. After numerous testing and engineering efforts, technicians could not pin down the root of the problem. So Saturn contacted the NASA Technology Assistance Program (TAP) at Stennis Space Center. The Marks production facility had been experiencing intermittent problems with under the hood lamp assemblies for some time. The failure rate, at 2 percent, was unacceptable. Every effort was made to identify the problem so that corrective action could be put in place. The problem was investigated and researched by Saturn's engineering department. In addition, Saturn brought in several independent testing laboratories. Other measures included examining the switch component suppliers and auditing them for compliance to the design specifications and for surface contaminants. All attempts to identify the factors responsible for the failures were inconclusive. In an effort to get to the root of the problem, and at the recommendation of the Mississippi Department of Economic Development, Saturn contacted the NASA TAP at Stennis. The NASA Materials and Contamination Laboratory, with assistance from the Stennis Prototype Laboratory, conducted a materials evaluation study on the switch components. The laboratory findings showed the failures were caused by a build-up of carbon-based contaminants on the switch components. Saturn Electronics & Engineering, Inc., is a minority-owned provider of contract manufacturing services to a diverse global marketplace. Saturn operates manufacturing facilities globally serving the North American, European, and Asian markets. Saturn's production facility in Marks, Mississippi, produces more than 1,000,000 lamps and switches monthly. "Since the NASA recommendations were implemented, our internal failure rate for intermittency has dropped to less than .02 percent. Most importantly, we restored our high-level of customer satisfaction. Stennis provided an invaluable service to our business," Patrick said. Both NASA and Saturn were pleased with the results form this technical assistance project. The Technology Assistance Program at Stennis makes available to the public NASA technical expertise and access to lab facilities. This project provided both services with a positive outcome.

Computational Experiments for Science and Engineering Education

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xie, Charles

2011-01-01

How to integrate simulation-based engineering and science (SBES) into the science curriculum smoothly is a challenging question. For the importance of SBES to be appreciated, the core value of simulations-that they help people understand natural phenomena and solve engineering problems-must be taught. A strategy to achieve this goal is to introduce computational experiments to the science curriculum to replace or supplement textbook illustrations and exercises and to complement or frame hands-on or wet lab experiments. In this way, students will have an opportunity to learn about SBES without compromising other learning goals required by the standards and teachers will welcome these tools as they strengthen what they are already teaching. This paper demonstrates this idea using a number of examples in physics, chemistry, and engineering. These exemplary computational experiments show that it is possible to create a curriculum that is both deeper and wider.

[Research progress of genetic engineering on medicinal plants].

PubMed

Teng, Zhong-qiu; Shen, Ye

2015-02-01

The application of genetic engineering technology in modern agriculture shows its outstanding role in dealing with food shortage. Traditional medicinal plant cultivation and collection have also faced with challenges, such as lack of resources, deterioration of environment, germplasm of recession and a series of problems. Genetic engineering can be used to improve the disease resistance, insect resistance, herbicides resistant ability of medicinal plant, also can improve the medicinal plant yield and increase the content of active substances in medicinal plants. Thus, the potent biotechnology can play an important role in protection and large area planting of medicinal plants. In the development of medicinal plant genetic engineering, the safety of transgenic medicinal plants should also be paid attention to. A set of scientific safety evaluation and judgment standard which is suitable for transgenic medicinal plants should be established based on the recognition of the particularity of medicinal plants.

A technical writing programme implemented in a first-year engineering course at KU Leuven

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heylen, Christel; Vander Sloten, Jos

2013-12-01

Technical communication and technical writing are important skills for the daily work-life of every engineer. In the first-year engineering programme at KU Leuven, a technical writing programme is implemented within the project-based course 'Problem Solving and Engineering Design'. This paper describes a case study for implementing a writing programme based on active learning methods and situated learning in large classes. The programme consists of subsequent cycles of instructions, learning by doing and reflection on received feedback. In addition, a peer-review assignment, together with an interactive lecture using clicking devices, is incorporated within the assignments of the second semester. A checklist of desired writing abilities makes it easier to grade the large number of papers. Furthermore, this ensures that all staff involved in the evaluation process uses the same criteria to grade and for providing feedback.

General Education for Engineers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takeda, Kunihiko

The basic program of general education of engineers is based on European culture from the times of ancient Greece to the 20th century. However, when considering its results, such as colonialism and the World Wars, this system can be said to lack the most important goal of “culture,” which is “to accept the existence of others.” In particular, the cooperation of European culture and engineering has ravaged the weaker cultures and is currently causing severe environmental problems in nature. Therefore, when considering the general education of engineers, it is indispensable to doubt European scholarship and to analyze what is lacking in current Japanese educational programs. Then, it is desirable that the relationship between the mind and the body, the characteristics of the Japanese climate, and the essence of Japanese artisanship be taken into consideration. It may also be beneficial to study the Ainu culture for its qualities as a peaceful culture.

Developing Creativity and Problem-Solving Skills of Engineering Students: A Comparison of Web- and Pen-and-Paper-Based Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valentine, Andrew; Belski, Iouri; Hamilton, Margaret

2017-01-01

Problem-solving is a key engineering skill, yet is an area in which engineering graduates underperform. This paper investigates the potential of using web-based tools to teach students problem-solving techniques without the need to make use of class time. An idea generation experiment involving 90 students was designed. Students were surveyed…

Integrating Cost Engineering and Project Management in a Junior Engineering Economics Course and a Senior Capstone Project Design Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tickles, Virginia C.; Li, Yadong; Walters, Wilbur L.

2013-01-01

Much criticism exists concerning a lack of focus on real-world problem-solving in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) infrastructures. Many of these critics say that current educational infrastructures are incapable in preparing future scientists and engineers to solve the complex and multidisciplinary problems this society…

A Case Study: Problem-Based Learning for Civil Engineering Students in Transportation Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahern, A. A.

2010-01-01

This paper describes two case studies where problem-based learning (PBL) has been introduced to undergraduate civil engineering students in University College Dublin. PBL has recently been put in place in the penultimate and final year transport engineering classes in the civil engineering degree in University College Dublin. In this case study,…

Using Ontological Engineering to Overcome AI-ED Problems: Contribution, Impact and Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mizoguchi, Riichiro; Bourdeau, Jacqueline

2016-01-01

This article reflects on the ontology engineering methodology discussed by the paper entitled "Using Ontological Engineering to Overcome AI-ED Problems" published in this journal in 2000. We discuss the achievements obtained in the last 10 years, the impact of our work as well as recent trends and perspectives in ontology engineering for…

Data-Driven Engineering of Social Dynamics: Pattern Matching and Profit Maximization

PubMed Central

Peng, Huan-Kai; Lee, Hao-Chih; Pan, Jia-Yu; Marculescu, Radu

2016-01-01

In this paper, we define a new problem related to social media, namely, the data-driven engineering of social dynamics. More precisely, given a set of observations from the past, we aim at finding the best short-term intervention that can lead to predefined long-term outcomes. Toward this end, we propose a general formulation that covers two useful engineering tasks as special cases, namely, pattern matching and profit maximization. By incorporating a deep learning model, we derive a solution using convex relaxation and quadratic-programming transformation. Moreover, we propose a data-driven evaluation method in place of the expensive field experiments. Using a Twitter dataset, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our dynamics engineering approach for both pattern matching and profit maximization, and study the multifaceted interplay among several important factors of dynamics engineering, such as solution validity, pattern-matching accuracy, and intervention cost. Finally, the method we propose is general enough to work with multi-dimensional time series, so it can potentially be used in many other applications. PMID:26771830

Data-Driven Engineering of Social Dynamics: Pattern Matching and Profit Maximization.

PubMed

Peng, Huan-Kai; Lee, Hao-Chih; Pan, Jia-Yu; Marculescu, Radu

2016-01-01

In this paper, we define a new problem related to social media, namely, the data-driven engineering of social dynamics. More precisely, given a set of observations from the past, we aim at finding the best short-term intervention that can lead to predefined long-term outcomes. Toward this end, we propose a general formulation that covers two useful engineering tasks as special cases, namely, pattern matching and profit maximization. By incorporating a deep learning model, we derive a solution using convex relaxation and quadratic-programming transformation. Moreover, we propose a data-driven evaluation method in place of the expensive field experiments. Using a Twitter dataset, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our dynamics engineering approach for both pattern matching and profit maximization, and study the multifaceted interplay among several important factors of dynamics engineering, such as solution validity, pattern-matching accuracy, and intervention cost. Finally, the method we propose is general enough to work with multi-dimensional time series, so it can potentially be used in many other applications.

Sediment problems in urban areas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Guy, Harold P.

1970-01-01

One obstacle to a scientific recognition and an engineering solution to sediment-related environmental problems is that such problems are bound in conflicting and generally undefinable political and institutional restraints. Also, some of the difficulty may involve the fact that the scientist or engineer, because of his relatively narrow field of investigation, cannot always completely envision the less desirable effects of his work and communicate alternative solutions to the public. For example, the highway and motor-vehicle engineers have learned how to provide the means by which one can transport himself from one point to another with such great efficiency that a person's employment in this country is now commonly more than 5 miles from his residence. However, providing such efficient personal transport has created numerous serious environmental problems. Obstacles to recognition of and action to control sediment problems in and around urban areas are akin to other environmental problems with respect to the many scientific, engineering, economic, and social aspects.

Beyond Diversity as Usual: Expanding Critical Cultural Approaches to Marginalization in Engineering Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Secules, Stephen

In general, what we think of as "diversity work" in undergraduate engineering education focuses in the following ways: more on the overlooked assets of minority groups than on the acts of overlooking, more on the experiences of marginalized groups than on the mechanisms of marginalization by dominant groups, more on supporting and increasing minority student retention than on critiquing and remediating the systems which lead minority students to leave engineering. This dissertation presents a series of arguments which push beyond a status quo understanding of diversity in engineering education. The first approach the dissertation takes up is to problematize educational facts around failure by interrogating their roots in interactions and cultural norms in an engineering classroom. In another argument, the dissertation places the engineering classroom cultural norms of competition, whiteness, and masculinity in a critical historical context of the discipline at large. Finally, I demonstrate how engaging students in a critique of marginalizing educational culture can be an important source of agency. In addition to applying and demonstrating the value of specific novel approaches in engineering education, the dissertation contributes to the research community by discussing the respective affordances between these and other possible scholarly approaches to culture and marginalization in education. I also suggest how a consideration of the taken-for-granted culture of engineering education can be an important tool for instructors seeking to gain insight into persistent educational problems. In addition, this dissertation makes implications for diversity support practice, envisioning new forms of support programming rooted in intersectionality and critical praxis.

A spiking neural network model of 3D perception for event-based neuromorphic stereo vision systems

PubMed Central

Osswald, Marc; Ieng, Sio-Hoi; Benosman, Ryad; Indiveri, Giacomo

2017-01-01

Stereo vision is an important feature that enables machine vision systems to perceive their environment in 3D. While machine vision has spawned a variety of software algorithms to solve the stereo-correspondence problem, their implementation and integration in small, fast, and efficient hardware vision systems remains a difficult challenge. Recent advances made in neuromorphic engineering offer a possible solution to this problem, with the use of a new class of event-based vision sensors and neural processing devices inspired by the organizing principles of the brain. Here we propose a radically novel model that solves the stereo-correspondence problem with a spiking neural network that can be directly implemented with massively parallel, compact, low-latency and low-power neuromorphic engineering devices. We validate the model with experimental results, highlighting features that are in agreement with both computational neuroscience stereo vision theories and experimental findings. We demonstrate its features with a prototype neuromorphic hardware system and provide testable predictions on the role of spike-based representations and temporal dynamics in biological stereo vision processing systems. PMID:28079187

A spiking neural network model of 3D perception for event-based neuromorphic stereo vision systems.

PubMed

Osswald, Marc; Ieng, Sio-Hoi; Benosman, Ryad; Indiveri, Giacomo

2017-01-12

Stereo vision is an important feature that enables machine vision systems to perceive their environment in 3D. While machine vision has spawned a variety of software algorithms to solve the stereo-correspondence problem, their implementation and integration in small, fast, and efficient hardware vision systems remains a difficult challenge. Recent advances made in neuromorphic engineering offer a possible solution to this problem, with the use of a new class of event-based vision sensors and neural processing devices inspired by the organizing principles of the brain. Here we propose a radically novel model that solves the stereo-correspondence problem with a spiking neural network that can be directly implemented with massively parallel, compact, low-latency and low-power neuromorphic engineering devices. We validate the model with experimental results, highlighting features that are in agreement with both computational neuroscience stereo vision theories and experimental findings. We demonstrate its features with a prototype neuromorphic hardware system and provide testable predictions on the role of spike-based representations and temporal dynamics in biological stereo vision processing systems.

A spiking neural network model of 3D perception for event-based neuromorphic stereo vision systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osswald, Marc; Ieng, Sio-Hoi; Benosman, Ryad; Indiveri, Giacomo

2017-01-01

Stereo vision is an important feature that enables machine vision systems to perceive their environment in 3D. While machine vision has spawned a variety of software algorithms to solve the stereo-correspondence problem, their implementation and integration in small, fast, and efficient hardware vision systems remains a difficult challenge. Recent advances made in neuromorphic engineering offer a possible solution to this problem, with the use of a new class of event-based vision sensors and neural processing devices inspired by the organizing principles of the brain. Here we propose a radically novel model that solves the stereo-correspondence problem with a spiking neural network that can be directly implemented with massively parallel, compact, low-latency and low-power neuromorphic engineering devices. We validate the model with experimental results, highlighting features that are in agreement with both computational neuroscience stereo vision theories and experimental findings. We demonstrate its features with a prototype neuromorphic hardware system and provide testable predictions on the role of spike-based representations and temporal dynamics in biological stereo vision processing systems.

Automatic programming for critical applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loganantharaj, Raj L.

1988-01-01

The important phases of a software life cycle include verification and maintenance. Usually, the execution performance is an expected requirement in a software development process. Unfortunately, the verification and the maintenance of programs are the time consuming and the frustrating aspects of software engineering. The verification cannot be waived for the programs used for critical applications such as, military, space, and nuclear plants. As a consequence, synthesis of programs from specifications, an alternative way of developing correct programs, is becoming popular. The definition, or what is understood by automatic programming, has been changed with our expectations. At present, the goal of automatic programming is the automation of programming process. Specifically, it means the application of artificial intelligence to software engineering in order to define techniques and create environments that help in the creation of high level programs. The automatic programming process may be divided into two phases: the problem acquisition phase and the program synthesis phase. In the problem acquisition phase, an informal specification of the problem is transformed into an unambiguous specification while in the program synthesis phase such a specification is further transformed into a concrete, executable program.

Increasing the reliability of labor of railroad engineers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Genes, V. S.; Madiyevskiy, Y. M.

1975-01-01

It has been shown that the group of problems related to temporary overloads still require serious development with respect to further automating the basic control operation - programmed selection of speed and braking. The problem of systems for warning the engineer about the condition of the unseen track segments remains a very serious one. Systems of hygenic support of the engineer also require constructive development. The problems of ensuring the reliability of work of engineers in periods of low information load, requiring motor acts, can basically be considered theoretically solved.

Physics Problems Based on Up-to-Date Science and Technology.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Folan, Lorcan M.; Tsifrinovich, Vladimir I.

2007-03-01

We observe a huge chasm between up-to-date science and undergraduate education. The result of this chasm is that current student interest in undergraduate science is low. Consequently, students who are graduating from college are often unable to take advantage of the many opportunities offered by science and technology. Cutting edge science and technology frequently use the methods learned in undergraduate courses, but up-to-date applications are not normally used as examples or for problems in undergraduate courses. There are many physics problems which contain information about the latest achievements in science and technology. But typically, the level of these problems is too advanced for undergraduates. We created physics problems for undergraduate science and engineering students, which are based on the latest achievements in science and technology. These problems have been successfully used in our courses at the Polytechnic University in New York. We believe that university faculty may suggest such problems in order to provide information about the frontiers of science and technological, demonstrate the importance of undergraduate physics in solving contemporary problems and raise the interest of talented students in science. From the other side, our approach may be considered an indirect way for advertising advanced technologies, which undergraduate students and, even more important, future college graduates could use in their working lives.

Towards organ printing: engineering an intra-organ branched vascular tree

PubMed Central

Visconti, Richard P; Kasyanov, Vladimir; Gentile, Carmine; Zhang, Jing; Markwald, Roger R; Mironov, Vladimir

2013-01-01

Importance of the field Effective vascularization of thick three-dimensional engineered tissue constructs is a problem in tissue engineering. As in native organs, a tissue-engineered intra-organ vascular tree must be comprised of a network of hierarchically branched vascular segments. Despite this requirement, current tissue-engineering efforts are still focused predominantly on engineering either large-diameter macrovessels or microvascular networks. Areas covered in this review We present the emerging concept of organ printing or robotic additive biofabrication of an intra-organ branched vascular tree, based on the ability of vascular tissue spheroids to undergo self-assembly. What the reader will gain The feasibility and challenges of this robotic biofabrication approach to intra-organ vascularization for tissue engineering based on organ-printing technology using self-assembling vascular tissue spheroids including clinically relevantly vascular cell sources are analyzed. Take home message It is not possible to engineer 3D thick tissue or organ constructs without effective vascularization. An effective intra-organ vascular system cannot be built by the simple connection of large-diameter vessels and microvessels. Successful engineering of functional human organs suitable for surgical implantation will require concomitant engineering of a ‘built in’ intra-organ branched vascular system. Organ printing enables biofabrication of human organ constructs with a ‘built in’ intra-organ branched vascular tree. PMID:20132061

Engineering with uncertainty: monitoring air bag performance.

PubMed

Wetmore, Jameson M

2008-06-01

Modern engineering is complicated by an enormous number of uncertainties. Engineers know a great deal about the material world and how it works. But due to the inherent limits of testing and the complexities of the world outside the lab, engineers will never be able to fully predict how their creations will behave. One way the uncertainties of engineering can be dealt with is by actively monitoring technologies once they have left the development and production stage. This article uses an episode in the history of automobile air bags as an example of engineers who had the foresight and initiative to carefully track the technology on the road to discover problems as early as possible. Not only can monitoring help engineers identify problems that surface in the field, it can also assist them in their efforts to mobilize resources to resolve problem.

Happy software developers solve problems better: psychological measurements in empirical software engineering

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiaofeng; Abrahamsson, Pekka

2014-01-01

For more than thirty years, it has been claimed that a way to improve software developers’ productivity and software quality is to focus on people and to provide incentives to make developers satisfied and happy. This claim has rarely been verified in software engineering research, which faces an additional challenge in comparison to more traditional engineering fields: software development is an intellectual activity and is dominated by often-neglected human factors (called human aspects in software engineering research). Among the many skills required for software development, developers must possess high analytical problem-solving skills and creativity for the software construction process. According to psychology research, affective states—emotions and moods—deeply influence the cognitive processing abilities and performance of workers, including creativity and analytical problem solving. Nonetheless, little research has investigated the correlation between the affective states, creativity, and analytical problem-solving performance of programmers. This article echoes the call to employ psychological measurements in software engineering research. We report a study with 42 participants to investigate the relationship between the affective states, creativity, and analytical problem-solving skills of software developers. The results offer support for the claim that happy developers are indeed better problem solvers in terms of their analytical abilities. The following contributions are made by this study: (1) providing a better understanding of the impact of affective states on the creativity and analytical problem-solving capacities of developers, (2) introducing and validating psychological measurements, theories, and concepts of affective states, creativity, and analytical-problem-solving skills in empirical software engineering, and (3) raising the need for studying the human factors of software engineering by employing a multidisciplinary viewpoint. PMID:24688866

Happy software developers solve problems better: psychological measurements in empirical software engineering.

PubMed

Graziotin, Daniel; Wang, Xiaofeng; Abrahamsson, Pekka

2014-01-01

For more than thirty years, it has been claimed that a way to improve software developers' productivity and software quality is to focus on people and to provide incentives to make developers satisfied and happy. This claim has rarely been verified in software engineering research, which faces an additional challenge in comparison to more traditional engineering fields: software development is an intellectual activity and is dominated by often-neglected human factors (called human aspects in software engineering research). Among the many skills required for software development, developers must possess high analytical problem-solving skills and creativity for the software construction process. According to psychology research, affective states-emotions and moods-deeply influence the cognitive processing abilities and performance of workers, including creativity and analytical problem solving. Nonetheless, little research has investigated the correlation between the affective states, creativity, and analytical problem-solving performance of programmers. This article echoes the call to employ psychological measurements in software engineering research. We report a study with 42 participants to investigate the relationship between the affective states, creativity, and analytical problem-solving skills of software developers. The results offer support for the claim that happy developers are indeed better problem solvers in terms of their analytical abilities. The following contributions are made by this study: (1) providing a better understanding of the impact of affective states on the creativity and analytical problem-solving capacities of developers, (2) introducing and validating psychological measurements, theories, and concepts of affective states, creativity, and analytical-problem-solving skills in empirical software engineering, and (3) raising the need for studying the human factors of software engineering by employing a multidisciplinary viewpoint.

Nash equilibrium and multi criterion aerodynamic optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Zhili; Zhang, Lianhe

2016-06-01

Game theory and its particular Nash Equilibrium (NE) are gaining importance in solving Multi Criterion Optimization (MCO) in engineering problems over the past decade. The solution of a MCO problem can be viewed as a NE under the concept of competitive games. This paper surveyed/proposed four efficient algorithms for calculating a NE of a MCO problem. Existence and equivalence of the solution are analyzed and proved in the paper based on fixed point theorem. Specific virtual symmetric Nash game is also presented to set up an optimization strategy for single objective optimization problems. Two numerical examples are presented to verify proposed algorithms. One is mathematical functions' optimization to illustrate detailed numerical procedures of algorithms, the other is aerodynamic drag reduction of civil transport wing fuselage configuration by using virtual game. The successful application validates efficiency of algorithms in solving complex aerodynamic optimization problem.

Current and Future Critical Issues in Rocket Propulsion Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Navaz, Homayun K.; Dix, Jeff C.

1998-01-01

The objective of this research was to tackle several problems that are currently of great importance to NASA. In a liquid rocket engine several complex processes take place that are not thoroughly understood. Droplet evaporation, turbulence, finite rate chemistry, instability, and injection/atomization phenomena are some of the critical issues being encountered in a liquid rocket engine environment. Pulse Detonation Engines (PDE) performance, combustion chamber instability analysis, 60K motor flowfield pattern from hydrocarbon fuel combustion, and 3D flowfield analysis for the Combined Cycle engine were of special interest to NASA. During the summer of 1997, we made an attempt to generate computational results for all of the above problems and shed some light on understanding some of the complex physical phenomena. For this purpose, the Liquid Thrust Chamber Performance (LTCP) code, mainly designed for liquid rocket engine applications, was utilized. The following test cases were considered: (1) Characterization of a detonation wave in a Pulse Detonation Tube; (2) 60K Motor wall temperature studies; (3) Propagation of a pressure pulse in a combustion chamber (under single and two-phase flow conditions); (4) Transonic region flowfield analysis affected by viscous effects; (5) Exploring the viscous differences between a smooth and a corrugated wall; and (6) 3D thrust chamber flowfield analysis of the Combined Cycle engine. It was shown that the LTCP-2D and LTCP-3D codes are capable of solving complex and stiff conservation equations for gaseous and droplet phases in a very robust and efficient manner. These codes can be run on a workstation and personal computers (PC's).

The Problem-Solving Process in Physics as Observed When Engineering Students at University Level Work in Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gustafsson, Peter; Jonsson, Gunnar; Enghag, Margareta

2015-01-01

The problem-solving process is investigated for five groups of students when solving context-rich problems in an introductory physics course included in an engineering programme. Through transcripts of their conversation, the paths in the problem-solving process have been traced and related to a general problem-solving model. All groups exhibit…

Un-Building Blocks: A Model of Reverse Engineering and Applicable Heuristics

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

CONCLUSIONS The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them. Antoine de Saint-Exupery— Wind ...DISTRIBUTION CODE 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) Reverse engineering is the problem -solving activity that ensues when one takes a...Douglas Moses, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs iv THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK v ABSTRACT Reverse engineering is the problem -solving

Using Inquiry-Based Instructional Strategies to Increase Student Achievement in 3rd Grade Social Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McRae-Jones, Wanda Joycelyn

2017-01-01

21st Century skills such as critical-thinking and problem-solving skills are very important when it comes to Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics or STEM. But those same skills should be integrated in social studies. The impact of students' learning in social studies as a result of implementing inquiry-based instructional strategies was…

A Study on Design-Oriented Demands of VR via ZMET-QFD Model for Industrial Design Education and Students' Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liang, Yo-Wen; Lee, An-Sheng; Liu, Shuo-Fang

2016-01-01

The difficulty of Virtual Reality application in industrial design education and learning is VR engineers cannot comprehend what the important functions or elements are for students. In addition, a general-purpose VR usually confuses the students and provides neither good manipulation means nor useful toolkits. To solve these problems, the…

Engaging Students in Water Resources Issues in Developing Countries (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, J.; Lutz, A.

2010-12-01

When all is said and done, what does it mean to work in the developing world? The need for access to clean water and sanitation and the desire to end poverty and disease cannot be disputed. But as engineers and physical scientists, we often step into a scenario with a problem-identification-and-solving approach. However, to successfully apply engineering and science in developing countries, we should also consider questions such as: how the problems have come to be; have our approaches been appropriate; and what have the effects of projects been on local populations? A short course to help us better address critical needs begins with readings that cover the history of development, development theories, review of “players” in development, case studies, and possibilities on the road ahead. It is also important to include key guest speakers with experience in developing countries as part of an international course curriculum. Within this overall course context, discussion of case studies provides an opportunity to critically assess positive, negative, and a combination of outcomes for communities. These case studies are building blocks for solving some of the most important water and sanitation issues in developing countries.

Propulsion control experience used in the Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control (HIDEC) program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Myers, L. P.; Burcham, F. W., Jr.

1984-01-01

The highly integrated digital electronic control (HIDEC) program will integrate the propulsion and flight control systems on an F-15 airplane at NASA Ames Research Center's Dryden Flight Research Facility. Ames-Dryden has conducted several propulsion control programs that have contributed to the HIDEC program. The digital electronic engine control (DEEC) flight evaluation investigated the performance and operability of the F100 engine equipped with a full-authority digital electronic control system. Investigations of nozzle instability, fault detection and accommodation, and augmentor transient capability provided important information for the HIDEC program. The F100 engine model derivative (EMD) was also flown in the F-15 airplane, and airplane performance was significantly improved. A throttle response problem was found and solved with a software fix to the control logic. For the HIDEC program, the F100 EMD engines equipped with DEEC controls will be integrated with the digital flight control system. The control modes to be implemented are an integrated flightpath management mode and an integrated adaptive engine control system mode. The engine control experience that will be used in the HIDEC program is discussed.

Evidence-based approach to the maintenance of laboratory and medical equipment in resource-poor settings.

PubMed

Malkin, Robert; Keane, Allison

2010-07-01

Much of the laboratory and medical equipment in resource-poor settings is out-of-service. The most commonly cited reasons are (1) a lack of spare parts and (2) a lack of highly trained technicians. However, there is little data to support these hypotheses, or to generate evidence-based solutions to the problem. We studied 2,849 equipment-repair requests (of which 2,529 were out-of-service medical equipment) from 60 resource-poor hospitals located in 11 nations in Africa, Europe, Asia, and Central America. Each piece of equipment was analyzed by an engineer or an engineering student and a repair was attempted using only locally available materials. If the piece was placed back into service, we assumed that the engineer's problem analysis was correct. A total of 1,821 pieces of medical equipment were placed back into service, or 72%, without requiring the use of imported spare parts. Of those pieces repaired, 1,704 were sufficiently documented to determine what knowledge was required to place the equipment back into service. We found that six domains of knowledge were required to accomplish 99% of the repairs: electrical (18%), mechanical (18%), power supply (14%), plumbing (19%), motors (5%), and installation or user training (25%). A further analysis of the domains shows that 66% of the out-of-service equipment was placed back into service using only 107 skills covering basic knowledge in each domain; far less knowledge than that required of a biomedical engineer or biomedical engineering technician. We conclude that a great majority of laboratory and medical equipment can be put back into service without importing spare parts and using only basic knowledge. Capacity building in resource-poor settings should first focus on a limited set of knowledge; a body of knowledge that we call the biomedical technician's assistant (BTA). This data set suggests that a supported BTA could place 66% of the out-of-service laboratory and medical equipment in their hospital back into service.

Rehabilitation Engineering Sourcebook [and] Rehabilitation Engineering Sourcebook Supplement I.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Institute for Information Studies, Falls Church, VA.

Intended for use by rehabilitation counselors and work supervisors, the sourcebook contains 173 problems and solutions provided by rehabilitation engineering. A section titled "Guidelines for Formulating Problem Statements" is intended to summarize the most effective ways for either disabled individuals or rehabilitation practitioners to…

A Coding Scheme for Analysing Problem-Solving Processes of First-Year Engineering Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grigg, Sarah J.; Benson, Lisa C.

2014-01-01

This study describes the development and structure of a coding scheme for analysing solutions to well-structured problems in terms of cognitive processes and problem-solving deficiencies for first-year engineering students. A task analysis approach was used to assess students' problem solutions using the hierarchical structure from a…

Out-of-plane (SH) soil-structure interaction: a shear wall with rigid and flexible ring foundation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le, Thang; Lee, Vincent W.; Luo, Hao

2016-02-01

Soil-structure interaction (SSI) of a building and shear wall above a foundation in an elastic half-space has long been an important research subject for earthquake engineers and strong-motion seismologists. Numerous papers have been published since the early 1970s; however, very few of these papers have analytic closed-form solutions available. The soil-structure interaction problem is one of the most classic problems connecting the two disciplines of earthquake engineering and civil engineering. The interaction effect represents the mechanism of energy transfer and dissipation among the elements of the dynamic system, namely the soil subgrade, foundation, and superstructure. This interaction effect is important across many structure, foundation, and subgrade types but is most pronounced when a rigid superstructure is founded on a relatively soft lower foundation and subgrade. This effect may only be ignored when the subgrade is much harder than a flexible superstructure: for instance a flexible moment frame superstructure founded on a thin compacted soil layer on top of very stiff bedrock below. This paper will study the interaction effect of the subgrade and the superstructure. The analytical solution of the interaction of a shear wall, flexible-rigid foundation, and an elastic half-space is derived for incident SH waves with various angles of incidence. It found that the flexible ring (soft layer) cannot be used as an isolation mechanism to decouple a superstructure from its substructure resting on a shaking half-space.

Designing Biomimetic Materials from Marine Organisms.

PubMed

Nichols, William T

2015-01-01

Two biomimetic design approaches that apply biological solutions to engineering problems are discussed. In the first case, motivation comes from an engineering problem and the key challenge is to find analogous biological functions and map them into engineering materials. We illustrate with an example of water pollution remediation through appropriate design of a biomimetic sponge. In the second case, a biological function is already known and the challenge is to identify the appropriate engineering problem. We demonstrate the biological approach with marine diatoms that control energy and materials at their surface providing inspiration for a number of engineering applications. In both cases, it is essential to select materials and structures at the nanoscale to control energy and materials flows at interfaces.

Applying an innovative educational program for the education of today's engineers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kans, M.

2012-05-01

Engineers require a broad spectrum of knowledge and skills: basic skills in mathematics and physics, skills and competencies within the major subject area as well as more general knowledge about business and enterprise contexts, society regulations and understanding of the future professions' characteristics. In addition, social, intercultural, analytical and managing competencies are desired. The CDIO educational program was initiated as a means to come closer to practice and to assure the training of engineering skills that are required of today's engineers. CDIO is short for Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate and describes the full life cycle understanding of a system or asset that engineering students should reach during education. The CDIO initiative is formulated in a program consisting of two important documents: the CDIO standards and the CDIO syllabus. The standards describe a holistic approach on education, from knowledge and skills to be trained, how to train and assess them, to how to develop the teaching staff and the work places for enabling the goals. The specific knowledge and skills to be achieved are accounted for in the syllabus. In this paper we share our more than 15 years of experiences in problem and project based learning from the perspective of the CDIO standards. For each standard, examples of how to set up the education and overcome challenges connected to the standard are given. The paper concludes with recommendations to others wishing to work toward problem and real-life based education without compromising the requirements of a scientific approach.

NASA Engineering and Technology Advancement Office: A proposal to the administrator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schulze, Norman R.

1993-01-01

NASA has continually had problems with cost, schedule, performance, reliability, quality, and safety aspects in programs. Past solutions have not provided the answers needed, and a major change is needed in the way of doing business. A new approach is presented for consideration. These problems are all engineering matters, and therefore, require engineering solutions. Proper engineering tools are needed to fix engineering problems. Headquarters is responsible for providing the management structure to support programs with appropriate engineering tools. A guide to define those tools and an approach for putting them into place is provided. Recommendations include establishing a new Engineering and Technology Advancement Office, requesting a review of this proposal by the Administrator since this subject requires a top level decision. There has been a wide peer review conducted by technical staff at Headquarters, the Field Installations, and others in industry as discussed.

Problem-based learning biotechnology courses in chemical engineering.

PubMed

Glatz, Charles E; Gonzalez, Ramon; Huba, Mary E; Mallapragada, Surya K; Narasimhan, Balaji; Reilly, Peter J; Saunders, Kevin P; Shanks, Jacqueline V

2006-01-01

We have developed a series of upper undergraduate/graduate lecture and laboratory courses on biotechnological topics to supplement existing biochemical engineering, bioseparations, and biomedical engineering lecture courses. The laboratory courses are based on problem-based learning techniques, featuring two- and three-person teams, journaling, and performance rubrics for guidance and assessment. Participants initially have found them to be difficult, since they had little experience with problem-based learning. To increase enrollment, we are combining the laboratory courses into 2-credit groupings and allowing students to substitute one of them for the second of our 2-credit chemical engineering unit operations laboratory courses.

Research in the comprehension of engineering lectures by non-native speakers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olsen, L. A.; Huckin, T. N.

1981-01-01

Failure by foreign students to perceive the rhetorical structure or overall organization of an engineering lecture, rendering them unable to understand it, is discussed. Equally serious failure by such students to perceive the organizing role of theory in structuring the activities in their field is reported. Failure to identify the role of theory in the problem-solving process that underlies engineering is emphasized. Engineering was not seen as a series of on-going problems where each stage of solution exposed new problems to be solved. Implications for course planners and material designers are discussed.

Controls and guidance research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Homaifar, Abdollah; Dunn, Derome; Song, Yong-Duan; Lai, Steven H.-Y.

1992-01-01

The objectives of the control group are concentrated on research and education. The control problem of the hypersonic space vehicle represents an important and challenging issue in aerospace engineering. The work described in this report is part of our effort in developing advanced control strategies for such a system. In order to achieve the objectives stated in the NASA-CORE proposal, the tasks were divided among the group based upon their educational expertise. Within the educational component we are offering a Linear Systems and Control course for students in electrical and mechanical engineering. Also, we are proposing a new course in Digital Control Systems with a corresponding laboratory.

Modeling of Inhomogeneous Compressible Turbulence Using a Two-Scale Statistical Theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hamba, Fujihiro

1996-01-01

Turbulence modeling plays an important role in the study of high-speed flows in engineering and aerodynamic problems; they include flows in supersonic combustion engines and over hypersonic transport aircraft. The enhancement of the kinetic energy dissipation by the dilatational terms is one of the typical compressibility effects. Zeman (1990) and Sarkar et al. (1991) proposed that the dilatation dissipation is proportional to the solenoidal dissipation and is a function of the turbulent Mach number. Sarkar (1992) also modeled the pressure-dilatation correlation using the turbulent Mach number. Zeman (1991) related the correlation to the rate of change of the pressure variance.

An engineering dilemma: sustainability in the eyes of future technology professionals.

PubMed

Haase, S

2013-09-01

The ability to design technological solutions that address sustainability is considered pivotal to the future of the planet and its people. As technology professionals engineers are expected to play an important role in sustaining society. The present article aims at exploring sustainability concepts of newly enrolled engineering students in Denmark. Their understandings of sustainability and the role they ascribe to sustainability in their future professional practice is investigated by means of a critical discourse analysis including metaphor analysis and semiotic analysis. The sustainability construal is considered to delimit possible ways of dealing with the concept in practice along the engineering education pathway and in professional problem solving. Five different metaphors used by the engineering students to illustrate sustainability are identified, and their different connotative and interpretive implications are discussed. It is found that sustainability represents a dilemma to the engineering students that situates them in a tension between their technology fascination and the blame they find that technological progress bears. Their sustainability descriptions are collected as part of a survey containing among other questions one open-ended, qualitative question on sustainability. The survey covers an entire year group of Danish engineering students in the first month of their degree study.

Collaborative Systems Thinking: A Response to the Problems Faced by Systems Engineering's 'Middle Tier'

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phfarr, Barbara B.; So, Maria M.; Lamb, Caroline Twomey; Rhodes, Donna H.

2009-01-01

Experienced systems engineers are adept at more than implementing systems engineering processes: they utilize systems thinking to solve complex engineering problems. Within the space industry demographics and economic pressures are reducing the number of experienced systems engineers that will be available in the future. Collaborative systems thinking within systems engineering teams is proposed as a way to integrate systems engineers of various experience levels to handle complex systems engineering challenges. This paper uses the GOES-R Program Systems Engineering team to illustrate the enablers and barriers to team level systems thinking and to identify ways in which performance could be improved. Ways NASA could expand its engineering training to promote team-level systems thinking are proposed.

Engineering approaches to energy balance and obesity: opportunities for novel collaborations and research: report of a joint national science foundation and national institutes of health workshop.

PubMed

Ershow, Abby G; Ortega, Alfonso; Timothy Baldwin, J; Hill, James O

2007-01-01

Energy balance disorders account for a large public health burden. The obesity epidemic in particular is one of the most rapidly evolving public health problems of our day. At present, two-thirds of American adults and one-sixth of American children and adolescents are considered either overweight or obese. Public health concern about obesity is high because of the increased risk and increased mortality of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, many forms of cancer, gallbladder disease, and osteoarthritis. These risks increase with the severity of the obesity. Excess adipose tissue, representing fat storage, ultimately derives from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Conversely, undesirable and inadvertent loss of body weight and muscle mass, as seen in aging and cachectic states of chronic diseases such as heart failure and cancer, have serious clinical and functional consequences without satisfactory clinical or behavioral solutions. Innovative engineering technologies could help to address unresolved problems in energy balance, intake, and expenditure. Novel sensors, devices, imaging technologies, nanotechnologies, biomaterials, technologies to detect biochemical markers of energy balance, mathematical modeling, systems biology, and other approaches could be developed, evaluated, and leveraged through multidisciplinary collaborations. Engineers, physical scientists, and mathematicians can work with scientists from other relevant disciplines who possess expertise in obesity and nutrition. Furthermore, the possibility of re-engineering the "built environment" to encourage higher levels of physical activity has been suggested as another promising and important approach to which engineers can contribute (see http://www.obesityresearch.nih.gov). Ultimately, systematic application of the "Engineering Approach" can help in developing the needed technologies and tools to facilitate research and eventually support therapeutic advances and behavioral change. This article summarizes important public health concerns related to disordered energy balance and describes research priorities identified at a recent National Science Foundation-National Institutes of Health workshop. Research funding opportunities are described as posted on the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts (see http://www.nih.gov/grants/guide).

Engineering Approaches to Energy Balance and Obesity: Opportunities for Novel Collaborations and Research: Report of a Joint National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health Workshop

PubMed Central

Ershow, Abby G.; Ortega, Alfonso; Timothy Baldwin, J.; Hill, James O.

2007-01-01

Energy balance disorders account for a large public health burden. The obesity epidemic in particular is one of the most rapidly evolving public health problems of our day. At present, two-thirds of American adults and one-sixth of American children and adolescents are considered either overweight or obese. Public health concern about obesity is high because of the increased risk and increased mortality of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, many forms of cancer, gallbladder disease, and osteoarthritis. These risks increase with the severity of the obesity. Excess adipose tissue, representing fat storage, ultimately derives from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Conversely, undesirable and inadvertent loss of body weight and muscle mass, as seen in aging and cachectic states of chronic diseases such as heart failure and cancer, have serious clinical and functional consequences without satisfactory clinical or behavioral solutions. Innovative engineering technologies could help to address unresolved problems in energy balance, intake, and expenditure. Novel sensors, devices, imaging technologies, nanotechnologies, biomaterials, technologies to detect biochemical markers of energy balance, mathematical modeling, systems biology, and other approaches could be developed, evaluated, and leveraged through multidisciplinary collaborations. Engineers, physical scientists, and mathematicians can work with scientists from other relevant disciplines who possess expertise in obesity and nutrition. Furthermore, the possibility of re-engineering the “built environment” to encourage higher levels of physical activity has been suggested as another promising and important approach to which engineers can contribute (see http://www.obesityresearch.nih.gov). Ultimately, systematic application of the “Engineering Approach” can help in developing the needed technologies and tools to facilitate research and eventually support therapeutic advances and behavioral change. This article summarizes important public health concerns related to disordered energy balance and describes research priorities identified at a recent National Science Foundation-National Institutes of Health workshop. Research funding opportunities are described as posted on the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts (see http://www.nih.gov/grants/guide). PMID:19888386

Engineering and Scientific Applications: Using MatLab(Registered Trademark) for Data Processing and Visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sen, Syamal K.; Shaykhian, Gholam Ali

2011-01-01

MatLab(R) (MATrix LABoratory) is a numerical computation and simulation tool that is used by thousands Scientists and Engineers in many cou ntries. MatLab does purely numerical calculations, which can be used as a glorified calculator or interpreter programming language; its re al strength is in matrix manipulations. Computer algebra functionalities are achieved within the MatLab environment using "symbolic" toolbo x. This feature is similar to computer algebra programs, provided by Maple or Mathematica to calculate with mathematical equations using s ymbolic operations. MatLab in its interpreter programming language fo rm (command interface) is similar with well known programming languag es such as C/C++, support data structures and cell arrays to define c lasses in object oriented programming. As such, MatLab is equipped with most ofthe essential constructs of a higher programming language. M atLab is packaged with an editor and debugging functionality useful t o perform analysis of large MatLab programs and find errors. We belie ve there are many ways to approach real-world problems; prescribed methods to ensure foregoing solutions are incorporated in design and ana lysis of data processing and visualization can benefit engineers and scientist in gaining wider insight in actual implementation of their perspective experiments. This presentation will focus on data processing and visualizations aspects of engineering and scientific applicati ons. Specifically, it will discuss methods and techniques to perform intermediate-level data processing covering engineering and scientifi c problems. MatLab programming techniques including reading various data files formats to produce customized publication-quality graphics, importing engineering and/or scientific data, organizing data in tabu lar format, exporting data to be used by other software programs such as Microsoft Excel, data presentation and visualization will be discussed. The presentation will emphasize creating practIcal scripts (pro grams) that extend the basic features of MatLab TOPICS mclude (1) Ma trix and vector analysis and manipulations (2) Mathematical functions (3) Symbolic calculations & functions (4) Import/export data files (5) Program lOgic and flow control (6) Writing function and passing parameters (7) Test application programs

Process Inquiry: Analysis of Oral Problem-Solving Skills in Mathematics of Engineering Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trance, Naci John C.

2013-01-01

This paper presents another effort in determining the difficulty of engineering students in terms of solving word problems. Students were presented with word problems in algebra. Then, they were asked to solve the word problems orally; that is, before they presented their written solutions, they were required to explain how they understood the…

Solving mixed integer nonlinear programming problems using spiral dynamics optimization algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kania, Adhe; Sidarto, Kuntjoro Adji

2016-02-01

Many engineering and practical problem can be modeled by mixed integer nonlinear programming. This paper proposes to solve the problem with modified spiral dynamics inspired optimization method of Tamura and Yasuda. Four test cases have been examined, including problem in engineering and sport. This method succeeds in obtaining the optimal result in all test cases.

Investigating and Developing Engineering Students' Mathematical Modelling and Problem-Solving Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wedelin, Dag; Adawi, Tom; Jahan, Tabassum; Andersson, Sven

2015-01-01

How do engineering students approach mathematical modelling problems and how can they learn to deal with such problems? In the context of a course in mathematical modelling and problem solving, and using a qualitative case study approach, we found that the students had little prior experience of mathematical modelling. They were also inexperienced…

Ingenuity in Action: Connecting Tinkering to Engineering Design Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Jennifer; Werner-Avidon, Maia; Newton, Lisa; Randol, Scott; Smith, Brooke; Walker, Gretchen

2013-01-01

The Lawrence Hall of Science, a science center, seeks to replicate real-world engineering at the "Ingenuity in Action" exhibit, which consists of three open-ended challenges. These problems encourage children to engage in engineering design processes and problem-solving techniques through tinkering. We observed and interviewed 112…

Analysis of Hard Thin Film Coating

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, Dashen

1998-01-01

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is interested in developing hard thin film coating for bearings. The wearing of the bearing is an important problem for space flight engine. Hard thin film coating can drastically improve the surface of the bearing and improve the wear-endurance of the bearing. However, many fundamental problems in surface physics, plasma deposition, etc, need further research. The approach is using Electron Cyclotron Resonance Chemical Vapor Deposition (ECRCVD) to deposit hard thin film on stainless steel bearing. The thin films in consideration include SiC, SiN and other materials. An ECRCVD deposition system is being assembled at MSFC.

Analysis of Hard Thin Film Coating

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, Dashen

1998-01-01

MSFC is interested in developing hard thin film coating for bearings. The wearing of the bearing is an important problem for space flight engine. Hard thin film coating can drastically improve the surface of the bearing and improve the wear-endurance of the bearing. However, many fundamental problems in surface physics, plasma deposition, etc, need further research. The approach is using electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECRCVD) to deposit hard thin film an stainless steel bearing. The thin films in consideration include SiC, SiN and other materials. An ECRCVD deposition system is being assembled at MSFC.

Extrusion Process by Finite Volume Method Using OpenFoam Software

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matos Martins, Marcelo; Tonini Button, Sergio; Divo Bressan, Jose

The computational codes are very important tools to solve engineering problems. In the analysis of metal forming process, such as extrusion, this is not different because the computational codes allow analyzing the process with reduced cost. Traditionally, the Finite Element Method is used to solve solid mechanic problems, however, the Finite Volume Method (FVM) have been gaining force in this field of applications. This paper presents the velocity field and friction coefficient variation results, obtained by numerical simulation using the OpenFoam Software and the FVM to solve an aluminum direct cold extrusion process.

Inflight thermodynamic properties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, S. C.; Daniels, G. E.; Johnson, D. L.; Smith, O. E.

1973-01-01

The inflight thermodynamic parameters (temperature, pressure, and density) of the atmosphere are presented. Mean and extreme values of the thermodynamic parameters given here can be used in application of many aerospace problems, such as: (1) research and planning and engineering design of remote earth sensing systems; (2) vehicle design and development; and (3) vehicle trajectory analysis, dealing with vehicle thrust, dynamic pressure, aerodynamic drag, aerodynamic heating, vibration, structural and guidance limitations, and reentry analysis. Atmospheric density plays a very important role in most of the above problems. A subsection on reentry is presented, giving atmospheric models to be used for reentry heating, trajectory, etc., analysis.

Fault Diagnosis of Internal Combustion Engine Valve Clearance Using the Impact Commencement Detection Method.

PubMed

Jiang, Zhinong; Mao, Zhiwei; Wang, Zijia; Zhang, Jinjie

2017-12-15

Internal combustion engines (ICEs) are widely used in many important fields. The valve train clearance of an ICE usually exceeds the normal value due to wear or faulty adjustment. This work aims at diagnosing the valve clearance fault based on the vibration signals measured on the engine cylinder heads. The non-stationarity of the ICE operating condition makes it difficult to obtain the nominal baseline, which is always an awkward problem for fault diagnosis. This paper overcomes the problem by inspecting the timing of valve closing impacts, of which the referenced baseline can be obtained by referencing design parameters rather than extraction during healthy conditions. To accurately detect the timing of valve closing impact from vibration signals, we carry out a new method to detect and extract the commencement of the impacts. The results of experiments conducted on a twelve-cylinder ICE test rig show that the approach is capable of extracting the commencement of valve closing impact accurately and using only one feature can give a superior monitoring of valve clearance. With the help of this technique, the valve clearance fault becomes detectable even without the comparison to the baseline, and the changing trend of the clearance could be trackable.

From problem solving to problem definition: scrutinizing the complex nature of clinical practice.

PubMed

Cristancho, Sayra; Lingard, Lorelei; Regehr, Glenn

2017-02-01

In medical education, we have tended to present problems as being singular, stable, and solvable. Problem solving has, therefore, drawn much of medical education researchers' attention. This focus has been important but it is limited in terms of preparing clinicians to deal with the complexity of the 21st century healthcare system in which they will provide team-based care for patients with complex medical illness. In this paper, we use the Soft Systems Engineering principles to introduce the idea that in complex, team-based situations, problems usually involve divergent views and evolve with multiple solution iterations. As such we need to shift the conversation from (1) problem solving to problem definition, and (2) from a problem definition derived exclusively at the level of the individual to a definition derived at the level of the situation in which the problem is manifested. Embracing such a focus on problem definition will enable us to advocate for novel educational practices that will equip trainees to effectively manage the problems they will encounter in complex, team-based healthcare.

Software Past, Present, and Future: Views from Government, Industry and Academia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holcomb, Lee; Page, Jerry; Evangelist, Michael

2000-01-01

Views from the NASA CIO NASA Software Engineering Workshop on software development from the past, present, and future are presented. The topics include: 1) Software Past; 2) Software Present; 3) NASA's Largest Software Challenges; 4) 8330 Software Projects in Industry Standish Groups 1994 Report; 5) Software Future; 6) Capability Maturity Model (CMM): Software Engineering Institute (SEI) levels; 7) System Engineering Quality Also Part of the Problem; 8) University Environment Trends Will Increase the Problem in Software Engineering; and 9) NASA Software Engineering Goals.

Virtual and flexible digital signal processing system based on software PnP and component works

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Tao; Wu, Qinghua; Zhong, Fei; Li, Wei

2005-05-01

An idea about software PnP (Plug & Play) is put forward according to the hardware PnP. And base on this idea, a virtual flexible digital signal processing system (FVDSPS) is carried out. FVDSPS is composed of a main control center, many sub-function modules and other hardware I/O modules. Main control center sends out commands to sub-function modules, and manages running orders, parameters and results of sub-functions. The software kernel of FVDSPS is DSP (Digital Signal Processing) module, which communicates with the main control center through some protocols, accept commands or send requirements. The data sharing and exchanging between the main control center and the DSP modules are carried out and managed by the files system of the Windows Operation System through the effective communication. FVDSPS real orients objects, orients engineers and orients engineering problems. With FVDSPS, users can freely plug and play, and fast reconfigure a signal process system according to engineering problems without programming. What you see is what you get. Thus, an engineer can orient engineering problems directly, pay more attention to engineering problems, and promote the flexibility, reliability and veracity of testing system. Because FVDSPS orients TCP/IP protocol, through Internet, testing engineers, technology experts can be connected freely without space. Engineering problems can be resolved fast and effectively. FVDSPS can be used in many fields such as instruments and meter, fault diagnosis, device maintenance and quality control.

Problems of elimination of low emission

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stepniowski, A.

1995-12-31

The Cracow Municipal Gas Distribution Enterprises is subordinated to the Carpathian Regional Gas Engineering Plant in Tarnow, which - in turn - is a part of Polish Oil Mining and Gas Engineering with its seat in Warsaw. The required quick development of power engineering in Poland needs harmonized development of all branches of power engineering, including the gas production and distribution industry which constitutes an element of technical infrastructure of Poland influencing the direction of development. After World War II, the gas engineering industry was transformed from a typical communal service to a big industrial structure which covers the entiremore » territory of the state and has considerable technical and material measures at its disposal. Programming of the gas industry development ranges from development of installation of gas-supply arrangements for communal purposes including modification of local gas generators - to the development of gas transportation, storage and purification system. At present gas is taken from following sources: import, own natural gas deposits (high-methane content gas and high-nitrogen content gas within Polish Lowland); cokeries, and local gas generators. Gas sorts obtained in these sources have differentiated physico-chemical properties and they are distributed by three independent transmission systems assigned for high-methane natural gas, high-nitrogen natural gas, and coke-oven gas. Taking into consideration the forecast demand and potential capacity of natural gas production in Poland, the required import of natural gas is estimated.« less

Descriptive analysis of context evaluation instrument for technical oral presentation skills evaluation: A case study in English technical communication course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohamed, Abdullah-Adnan; Asmawi, Adelina; Hamid, Mohd Rashid Ab; Mustafa, Zainol bin

2015-02-01

This paper reports a pilot study of Context Evaluation using a self-developed questionnaire distributed among engineering undergraduates at a university under study. The study aims to validate the self-developed questionnaires used in the Context evaluation, a component in the CIPP Model. The Context evaluation assesses background information for needs, assets, problems and opportunities relevant to beneficiaries of the study in a defined environment. Through the questionnaire, background information for the assessment of needs, assets and problems related to the engineering undergraduates' perceptions on the teaching and learning of technical oral presentation skills was collected and analysed. The questionnaire was developed using 5-points Likert scale to measure the constructs under study. They were distributed to 100 respondents with 79 returned. The respondents consisted of engineering undergraduates studied at various faculties at one technical university in Malaysia. The descriptive analysis of data for each item which makes up the construct for Context evaluation is found to be high. This implied that engineering undergraduates showed high interest in teaching and learning of technical oral presentation skills, thus their needs are met. Also, they agreed that assets and facilities are conducive to their learning. In conclusion, the context evaluation involving needs and assets factors are both considerably important; their needs are met and the assets and facilities do support their technical oral presentation skills learning experience.

Representing Human Expertise by the OWL Web Ontology Language to Support Knowledge Engineering in Decision Support Systems.

PubMed

Ramzan, Asia; Wang, Hai; Buckingham, Christopher

2014-01-01

Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) often base their knowledge and advice on human expertise. Knowledge representation needs to be in a format that can be easily understood by human users as well as supporting ongoing knowledge engineering, including evolution and consistency of knowledge. This paper reports on the development of an ontology specification for managing knowledge engineering in a CDSS for assessing and managing risks associated with mental-health problems. The Galatean Risk and Safety Tool, GRiST, represents mental-health expertise in the form of a psychological model of classification. The hierarchical structure was directly represented in the machine using an XML document. Functionality of the model and knowledge management were controlled using attributes in the XML nodes, with an accompanying paper manual for specifying how end-user tools should behave when interfacing with the XML. This paper explains the advantages of using the web-ontology language, OWL, as the specification, details some of the issues and problems encountered in translating the psychological model to OWL, and shows how OWL benefits knowledge engineering. The conclusions are that OWL can have an important role in managing complex knowledge domains for systems based on human expertise without impeding the end-users' understanding of the knowledge base. The generic classification model underpinning GRiST makes it applicable to many decision domains and the accompanying OWL specification facilitates its implementation.

The Shock and Vibration Digest. Volume 13, Number 6

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-06-01

Analyns by Telephone K.W. Templin Dynamics Research Advanced Engineering Facility, Byron Jackson Pump Div., Borg Warner Corp., Los Angeles, CA...strain were overly conservative. Sensitivity of lateral flexural wall motion to vertical excitation has been reported [7]. This has also been...are not current and do not include any important recent papers on this subject. New developments regarding this problem have been reported [19

Ecological literacy and beyond: Problem-based learning for future professionals.

PubMed

Lewinsohn, Thomas M; Attayde, José Luiz; Fonseca, Carlos Roberto; Ganade, Gislene; Jorge, Leonardo Ré; Kollmann, Johannes; Overbeck, Gerhard E; Prado, Paulo Inácio; Pillar, Valério D; Popp, Daniela; da Rocha, Pedro L B; Silva, Wesley Rodrigues; Spiekermann, Annette; Weisser, Wolfgang W

2015-03-01

Ecological science contributes to solving a broad range of environmental problems. However, lack of ecological literacy in practice often limits application of this knowledge. In this paper, we highlight a critical but often overlooked demand on ecological literacy: to enable professionals of various careers to apply scientific knowledge when faced with environmental problems. Current university courses on ecology often fail to persuade students that ecological science provides important tools for environmental problem solving. We propose problem-based learning to improve the understanding of ecological science and its usefulness for real-world environmental issues that professionals in careers as diverse as engineering, public health, architecture, social sciences, or management will address. Courses should set clear learning objectives for cognitive skills they expect students to acquire. Thus, professionals in different fields will be enabled to improve environmental decision-making processes and to participate effectively in multidisciplinary work groups charged with tackling environmental issues.

HVAC--the importance of clean intake section and dry air filter in cold climate.

PubMed

Hanssen, S O

2004-01-01

HVAC systems, if properly designed, installed, operated and maintained, will improve thermal conditions and air quality indoors. However, the success strongly depends on the design of the system and the quality of the components we use in our HVAC installations. Regrettably, several investigations have revealed that many HVAC installations have a lot of operational and maintenance problems, especially related to moisture, rain and snow entrainment. In short, it seems that too little attention is placed on the design of the intake section, despite the fact that there exists a large number of national and international guidelines and recommendations. This is a serious problem because the air intake is the initial component of the ventilation plant and as such the first line of defense against debris and other outdoor air pollutants. Unfortunately, the design is often an argued compromise between the architect, the civil engineer and the HVAC engineer. In the future, the technical, hygienic and microbiological feature of air intakes must be better ensured in order to avoid the air intake becoming a risk component as regards contamination and indoor air quality. Further, it seems that the magnitude of the problem is not well known, or recognized, by the building designers, engineers and professionals involved in the construction and operation of buildings. This fact needs to be addressed more seriously, because obviously there is a big difference between the idealistic architectonic design, engineering intentions and the real life situation. Several practical recommendations for design and operation of HVAC systems are presented. Following the recommendations will result in less pollution from the HVAC-system and increased indoor environmental quality.

Chemical Engineers Go to the Movies (Stimulating Problems for the Contemporary Undergraduate Student)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smart, Jimmy L.

2007-01-01

In this article, the author presents five problems that are representative of some of the "movie problems" that he has used on tests in various courses, including reactor design, heat transfer, mass transfer, engineering economics, and fluid mechanics. These problems tend to be open-ended. They can be challenging and can often be worked a variety…

Why do commercial CT scanners still employ traditional, filtered back-projection for image reconstruction?

PubMed Central

Pan, Xiaochuan; Sidky, Emil Y; Vannier, Michael

2010-01-01

Despite major advances in x-ray sources, detector arrays, gantry mechanical design and especially computer performance, one component of computed tomography (CT) scanners has remained virtually constant for the past 25 years—the reconstruction algorithm. Fundamental advances have been made in the solution of inverse problems, especially tomographic reconstruction, but these works have not been translated into clinical and related practice. The reasons are not obvious and seldom discussed. This review seeks to examine the reasons for this discrepancy and provides recommendations on how it can be resolved. We take the example of field of compressive sensing (CS), summarizing this new area of research from the eyes of practical medical physicists and explaining the disconnection between theoretical and application-oriented research. Using a few issues specific to CT, which engineers have addressed in very specific ways, we try to distill the mathematical problem underlying each of these issues with the hope of demonstrating that there are interesting mathematical problems of general importance that can result from in depth analysis of specific issues. We then sketch some unconventional CT-imaging designs that have the potential to impact on CT applications, if the link between applied mathematicians and engineers/physicists were stronger. Finally, we close with some observations on how the link could be strengthened. There is, we believe, an important opportunity to rapidly improve the performance of CT and related tomographic imaging techniques by addressing these issues. PMID:20376330

TOPICAL REVIEW: Why do commercial CT scanners still employ traditional, filtered back-projection for image reconstruction?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Xiaochuan; Sidky, Emil Y.; Vannier, Michael

2009-12-01

Despite major advances in x-ray sources, detector arrays, gantry mechanical design and especially computer performance, one component of computed tomography (CT) scanners has remained virtually constant for the past 25 years—the reconstruction algorithm. Fundamental advances have been made in the solution of inverse problems, especially tomographic reconstruction, but these works have not been translated into clinical and related practice. The reasons are not obvious and seldom discussed. This review seeks to examine the reasons for this discrepancy and provides recommendations on how it can be resolved. We take the example of field of compressive sensing (CS), summarizing this new area of research from the eyes of practical medical physicists and explaining the disconnection between theoretical and application-oriented research. Using a few issues specific to CT, which engineers have addressed in very specific ways, we try to distill the mathematical problem underlying each of these issues with the hope of demonstrating that there are interesting mathematical problems of general importance that can result from in depth analysis of specific issues. We then sketch some unconventional CT-imaging designs that have the potential to impact on CT applications, if the link between applied mathematicians and engineers/physicists were stronger. Finally, we close with some observations on how the link could be strengthened. There is, we believe, an important opportunity to rapidly improve the performance of CT and related tomographic imaging techniques by addressing these issues.

Problem-Based Learning in Engineering Ethics Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirkman, Robert

2016-01-01

I describe the first stages of a process of design research in which I employ problem-based learning in a course in engineering ethics, which fulfills a requirement for students in engineering degree programs. The aim of the course is to foster development of particular cognitive skills contributing to moral imagination, a capacity to notice,…

Generating Alternative Engineering Designs by Integrating Desktop VR with Genetic Algorithms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chandramouli, Magesh; Bertoline, Gary; Connolly, Patrick

2009-01-01

This study proposes an innovative solution to the problem of multiobjective engineering design optimization by integrating desktop VR with genetic computing. Although, this study considers the case of construction design as an example to illustrate the framework, this method can very much be extended to other engineering design problems as well.…

Efficacy of an Online Resource for Teaching Interpersonal Problem Solving Skills to Women Graduate Students in Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bekki, Jennifer M.; Bernstein, Bianca; Fabert, Natalie; Gildar, Natalie; Way, Amy

2014-01-01

Interpersonal problem solving skills allow engineers to prevent interpersonal difficulties more effectively and to manage conflict, both of which are critical to successful participation on teams. This research provides evidence that the "Career"WISE online learning environment can improve those skills among women in engineering graduate…

Design, Test, Redesign: Simulation in Technology, Engineering, and Design Education Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swinson, Ronnie; Clark, Aaron C.; Ernst, Jeremy V.; Sutton, Kevin

2016-01-01

Today's engineers, designers, and technologists are often thrust into the role of problem solver, from the initial design phase of a product or process all the way to final development. Many engineers in manufacturing environments are tasked with solving problems and continuously improving processes to enhance company profitability, efficiency,…

Experimental research on the Stirling engine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ishizaki, Y.; Tani, Y.; Haramura, N.

1982-01-01

Experiments on Stirling engines of the 50 KW class were conducted to clarify the characteristics of the engine and its problems. The problems involve durability of the high temperature heat exchanger which is exposed to high flame temperatures above 1600 C, thermal distortion and high temperature corrosion of the devices near combustion, and of the preheater.

Library Systems Engineering: An Introduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckland, Michael K.; Tolliver, Don L.

The application of systems engineering and operations research to the problems of libraries has developed quite strongly during the past five years. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to this relatively new area. There are serious problems of applying systems engineering to libraries. This is to be expected in the case of a…

Hydrostatic Pressure Project: Linked-Class Problem-Based Learning in Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Freddie J.; Lockwood-Cooke, Pamela; Hunt, Emily M.

2011-01-01

Over the last few years, WTAMU Mathematics, Engineering and Science faculty has used interdisciplinary projects as the basis for implementation of a linked-class approach to Problem-Based Learning (PBL). A project that has significant relevance to engineering statics, fluid mechanics, and calculus is the Hydrostatic Pressure Project. This project…

Gender and Participation in an Engineering Problem-Based Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirshfield, Laura; Koretsky, Milo D.

2018-01-01

The use of problem-based learning (PBL) is gaining attention in the engineering classroom as a way to help students synthesize foundational knowledge and to better prepare students for practice. In this work, we study the discourse interactions between 27 student teams and two instructors in an engineering PBL environment to analyze how…

Science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) as mathematics learning approach in 21st century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milaturrahmah, Naila; Mardiyana, Pramudya, Ikrar

2017-08-01

This 21st century demands competent human resources in science, technology, engineering design and mathematics so that education is expected to integrate the four disciplines. This paper aims to describe the importance of STEM as mathematics learning approach in Indonesia in the 21st century. This paper uses a descriptive analysis research method, and the method reveals that STEM education growing in developed countries today can be a framework for innovation mathematics in Indonesia in the 21st century. STEM education integrate understanding of science, math skills, and the available technology with the ability to perform engineering design process. Implementation of mathematics learning with STEM approach makes graduates trained in using of mathematics knowledge that they have to create innovative products that are able to solve the problems that exist in society.

Editors' overview perspectives on teaching social responsibility to students in science and engineering.

PubMed

Zandvoort, Henk; Børsen, Tom; Deneke, Michael; Bird, Stephanie J

2013-12-01

Global society is facing formidable current and future problems that threaten the prospects for justice and peace, sustainability, and the well-being of humanity both now and in the future. Many of these problems are related to science and technology and to how they function in the world. If the social responsibility of scientists and engineers implies a duty to safeguard or promote a peaceful, just and sustainable world society, then science and engineering education should empower students to fulfil this responsibility. The contributions to this special issue present European examples of teaching social responsibility to students in science and engineering, and provide examples and discussion of how this teaching can be promoted, and of obstacles that are encountered. Speaking generally, education aimed at preparing future scientists and engineers for social responsibility is presently very limited and seemingly insufficient in view of the enormous ethical and social problems that are associated with current science and technology. Although many social, political and professional organisations have expressed the need for the provision of teaching for social responsibility, important and persistent barriers stand in the way of its sustained development. What is needed are both bottom-up teaching initiatives from individuals or groups of academic teachers, and top-down support to secure appropriate embedding in the university. Often the latter is lacking or inadequate. Educational policies at the national or international level, such as the Bologna agreements in Europe, can be an opportunity for introducing teaching for social responsibility. However, frequently no or only limited positive effect of such policies can be discerned. Existing accreditation and evaluation mechanisms do not guarantee appropriate attention to teaching for social responsibility, because, in their current form, they provide no guarantee that the curricula pay sufficient attention to teaching goals that are desirable for society as a whole.

At a glance: cellular biology for engineers.

PubMed

Khoshmanesh, K; Kouzani, A Z; Nahavandi, S; Baratchi, S; Kanwar, J R

2008-10-01

Engineering contributions have played an important role in the rise and evolution of cellular biology. Engineering technologies have helped biologists to explore the living organisms at cellular and molecular levels, and have created new opportunities to tackle the unsolved biological problems. There is now a growing demand to further expand the role of engineering in cellular biology research. For an engineer to play an effective role in cellular biology, the first essential step is to understand the cells and their components. However, the stumbling block of this step is to comprehend the information given in the cellular biology literature because it best suits the readers with a biological background. This paper aims to overcome this bottleneck by describing the human cell components as micro-plants that form cells as micro-bio-factories. This concept can accelerate the engineers' comprehension of the subject. In this paper, first the structure and function of different cell components are described. In addition, the engineering attempts to mimic various cell components through numerical modelling or physical implementation are highlighted. Next, the interaction of different cell components that facilitate complicated chemical processes, such as energy generation and protein synthesis, are described. These complex interactions are translated into simple flow diagrams, generally used by engineers to represent multi-component processes.

Laser cleaning of steel for paint removal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, G. X.; Kwee, T. J.; Tan, K. P.; Choo, Y. S.; Hong, M. H.

2010-11-01

Paint removal is an important part of steel processing for marine and offshore engineering. For centuries, a blasting techniques have been widely used for this surface preparation purpose. But conventional blasting always has intrinsic problems, such as noise, explosion risk, contaminant particles, vibration, and dust. In addition, processing wastes often cause environmental problems. In recent years, laser cleaning has attracted much research effort for its significant advantages, such as precise treatment, and high selectivity and flexibility in comparison with conventional cleaning techniques. In the present study, we use this environmentally friendly technique to overcome the problems of conventional blasting. Processed samples are examined with optical microscopes and other surface characterization tools. Experimental results show that laser cleaning can be a good alternative candidate to conventional blasting.

[Ecological and economic approaches to removing radioactively dangerous objects from service].

PubMed

Korenkov, I P; Lashchenova, T N; Neveĭkin, P P; Shandala, N K; Veselov, E I; Maksimova, O A

2011-01-01

The paper considers major ecological and economic problems when removing radiation dangerous objects from service and rehabilitating the areas, which require their solution: the absence of specific guidelines for ranking the contaminated lands exposed to radioactive and chemical pollution from the potential risk to the population and environment; no clear criteria for ceasing area rehabilitation works; radiation exposure levels for the population living in the areas after rehabilitation; allowable levels of residual specific activity, and levels of heavy metals in soil, surface and underground water and bed sediment. The cost such works is the most important and decisive problem. A decision-making algorithm consisting of three main blocks: organizational-technical, engineering, geological and medicoecological measures is proposed to solve managerial, economic, and scientific problems.

Middle School Engineering Problem Solving Using Traditional vs. E-PBL Module Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baele, Loren C.

2017-01-01

This multiple methods (Denzin, 1978) study investigated two instructional approaches, traditional module and electronic Problem-Based Learning instruction (e-PBL), used within a middle school engineering classroom focused on the variables of engagement, content knowledge, student self-assessment and teacher assessment of problem solving solutions.…

Photolithography diagnostic expert systems: a systematic approach to problem solving in a wafer fabrication facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weatherwax Scott, Caroline; Tsareff, Christopher R.

1990-06-01

One of the main goals of process engineering in the semiconductor industry is to improve wafer fabrication productivity and throughput. Engineers must work continuously toward this goal in addition to performing sustaining and development tasks. To accomplish these objectives, managers must make efficient use of engineering resources. One of the tools being used to improve efficiency is the diagnostic expert system. Expert systems are knowledge based computer programs designed to lead the user through the analysis and solution of a problem. Several photolithography diagnostic expert systems have been implemented at the Hughes Technology Center to provide a systematic approach to process problem solving. This systematic approach was achieved by documenting cause and effect analyses for a wide variety of processing problems. This knowledge was organized in the form of IF-THEN rules, a common structure for knowledge representation in expert system technology. These rules form the knowledge base of the expert system which is stored in the computer. The systems also include the problem solving methodology used by the expert when addressing a problem in his area of expertise. Operators now use the expert systems to solve many process problems without engineering assistance. The systems also facilitate the collection of appropriate data to assist engineering in solving unanticipated problems. Currently, several expert systems have been implemented to cover all aspects of the photolithography process. The systems, which have been in use for over a year, include wafer surface preparation (HMDS), photoresist coat and softbake, align and expose on a wafer stepper, and develop inspection. These systems are part of a plan to implement an expert system diagnostic environment throughout the wafer fabrication facility. In this paper, the systems' construction is described, including knowledge acquisition, rule construction, knowledge refinement, testing, and evaluation. The roles played by the process engineering expert and the knowledge engineer are discussed. The features of the systems are shown, particularly the interactive quality of the consultations and the ease of system use.

Engineering and Scientific Applications: Using MatLab(Registered Trademark) for Data Processing and Visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sen, Syamal K.; Shaykhian, Gholam Ali

2011-01-01

MatLab(TradeMark)(MATrix LABoratory) is a numerical computation and simulation tool that is used by thousands Scientists and Engineers in many countries. MatLab does purely numerical calculations, which can be used as a glorified calculator or interpreter programming language; its real strength is in matrix manipulations. Computer algebra functionalities are achieved within the MatLab environment using "symbolic" toolbox. This feature is similar to computer algebra programs, provided by Maple or Mathematica to calculate with mathematical equations using symbolic operations. MatLab in its interpreter programming language form (command interface) is similar with well known programming languages such as C/C++, support data structures and cell arrays to define classes in object oriented programming. As such, MatLab is equipped with most of the essential constructs of a higher programming language. MatLab is packaged with an editor and debugging functionality useful to perform analysis of large MatLab programs and find errors. We believe there are many ways to approach real-world problems; prescribed methods to ensure foregoing solutions are incorporated in design and analysis of data processing and visualization can benefit engineers and scientist in gaining wider insight in actual implementation of their perspective experiments. This presentation will focus on data processing and visualizations aspects of engineering and scientific applications. Specifically, it will discuss methods and techniques to perform intermediate-level data processing covering engineering and scientific problems. MatLab programming techniques including reading various data files formats to produce customized publication-quality graphics, importing engineering and/or scientific data, organizing data in tabular format, exporting data to be used by other software programs such as Microsoft Excel, data presentation and visualization will be discussed.

Test results and description of a 1-kW free-piston Stirling engine with a dashpot load

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schreiber, J.

1983-01-01

A 1 kW (1.33 hp) single cylinder free piston Stirling engine was installed in the test facilities at the Lewis laboratory. The engine was designed specifically for research of the dynamics of its operation. A more complete description of the engine and its instrumentation is provided in a prior NASA paper TM-82999 by J. G. Schreiber. Initial tests at Lewis showed the power level and efficiency of the engine to be below design level. Tests were performed to help determine the specific problems in the engine causing the below design level performance. Modifications to engine hardware and to the facility where performed in an effort to bring the power output and efficiency to their design values. As finally configured the engine generated more than 1250 watts of output power at an engine efficiency greater than 32 percent. This report presents the tests performed to help determine the specific problems, the results if the problem was eliminated, the fix performed to the hardware, and the test results after the engine was tested. In cases where the fix did not cause the anticipated effects, a possible explanation is given.

Benchmarking Gas Path Diagnostic Methods: A Public Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simon, Donald L.; Bird, Jeff; Davison, Craig; Volponi, Al; Iverson, R. Eugene

2008-01-01

Recent technology reviews have identified the need for objective assessments of engine health management (EHM) technology. The need is two-fold: technology developers require relevant data and problems to design and validate new algorithms and techniques while engine system integrators and operators need practical tools to direct development and then evaluate the effectiveness of proposed solutions. This paper presents a publicly available gas path diagnostic benchmark problem that has been developed by the Propulsion and Power Systems Panel of The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) to help address these needs. The problem is coded in MATLAB (The MathWorks, Inc.) and coupled with a non-linear turbofan engine simulation to produce "snap-shot" measurements, with relevant noise levels, as if collected from a fleet of engines over their lifetime of use. Each engine within the fleet will experience unique operating and deterioration profiles, and may encounter randomly occurring relevant gas path faults including sensor, actuator and component faults. The challenge to the EHM community is to develop gas path diagnostic algorithms to reliably perform fault detection and isolation. An example solution to the benchmark problem is provided along with associated evaluation metrics. A plan is presented to disseminate this benchmark problem to the engine health management technical community and invite technology solutions.

Engineering the future with America's high school students

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farrance, M. A.; Jenner, J. W.

1993-01-01

The number of students enrolled in engineering is declining while the need for engineers is increasing. One contributing factor is that most high school students have little or no knowledge about what engineering is, or what engineers do. To teach young students about engineering, engineers need good tools. This paper presents a course of study developed and used by the authors in a junior college course for high school students. Students learned about engineering through independent student projects, in-class problem solving, and use of career information resources. Selected activities from the course can be adapted to teach students about engineering in other settings. Among the most successful techniques were the student research paper assignments, working out a solution to an engineering problem as a class exercise, and the use of technical materials to illustrate engineering concepts and demonstrate 'tools of the trade'.

Strategies for Limiting Engineers' Potential Liability for Indoor Air Quality Problems.

PubMed

von Oppenfeld, Rolf R; Freeze, Mark E; Sabo, Sean M

1998-10-01

Engineers face indoor air quality (IAQ) issues at the design phase of building construction as well as during the investigation and mitigation of potential indoor air pollution problems during building operation. IAQ issues that can be identified are "building-related illnesses" that may include problems of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). IAQ issues that cannot be identified are termed "sick building syndrome." Frequently, microorganism-caused illnesses are difficult to confirm. Engineers who provide professional services that directly or indirectly impact IAQ face significant potential liability to clients and third parties when performing these duties. Potential theories supporting liability claims for IAQ problems against engineers include breach of contract and various common law tort theories such as negligence and negligent misrepresentation. Furthermore, an increasing number of federal, state, and local regulations affect IAQ issues and can directly increase the potential liability of engineers. A duty to disclose potential or actual air quality concerns to third parties may apply for engineers in given circumstances. Such a duty may arise from judicial precedent, the Model Guide for Professional Conduct for Engineers, or the Code of Ethics for Engineers. Practical strategies engineers can use to protect themselves from liability include regular training and continuing education in relevant regulatory, scientific, and case law developments; detailed documentation and recordkeeping practices; adequate insurance coverage; contractual indemnity clauses; contractual provisions limiting liability to the scope of work performed; and contractual provisions limiting the extent of liability for engineers' negligence. Furthermore, through the proper use of building materials and construction techniques, an engineer or other design professional can effectively limit the potential for IAQ liability.

Exploration on the matching between Optical Comprehensive Design Experiment and Washington Accord

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Yiping; Chen, Wenjing; Zhang, Qican; Liu, Yuankun; Li, Dahai; Zhou, Xinzhi; Wei, Jun

2017-08-01

Common problems faced in optical comprehensive design experiment and going against the Washington Accord are pointed out. For resolving these problems, an instructional and innovative teaching scheme for Optics Comprehensive Design Experiment is proposed. We would like to understand the student that can improve the hands-on practical ability, theory knowledge understanding ability, complex problem solving ability, engineering application ability, cooperative ability after tracking and researching the student who have attended the class about Optical Comprehensive Design Experiment, We found that there are some problems on the course such as the experiment content vague, the student beginning less time, phase separation theory and engineering application, the experiment content lack of selectivity and so on. So we have made some improvements reference to the Washington Accord for the class teaching plan about Optical Comprehensive Design Experiment. This class must relevant to the engineering basic courses, professional foundation course and the major courses, so far as to the future study and work that which can play a role in inheriting and continuity to the students. The Optical Comprehensive Design Experiment teaching program requires students learning this course to have learnt basic courses like analog electronics technique, digital electronic technique, applied optics and computer and other related courses which students are required to comprehensively utilize. This teaching scheme contains six practical complex engineering problems which are respectively optical system design, light energy meter design, illuminometer design, material refractive index measuring system design, light intensity measuring system design and open design. Establishing the optional experiment and open experiment can provide students with a greater choice and enhance the students' creativity, vivid teaching experimental teachers and enriching contents of experiment can make the experiment more interesting, providing students with more opportunities to conduct experiment and improving students' practical ability with long learning time, putting emphasis on student's understanding of complex engineering problems and the cognitive of the process to solve complex engineering problems with actual engineering problems. Applying the scheme in other courses and improving accordingly will be able to ensure the quality of engineering education. Look forward to offering useful reference for the curriculum system construction in colleges and universities.

Engineering data management: Experience and projections

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jefferson, D. K.; Thomson, B.

1978-01-01

Experiences in developing a large engineering data management system are described. Problems which were encountered are presented and projected to future systems. Business applications involving similar types of data bases are described. A data base management system architecture proposed by the business community is described and its applicability to engineering data management is discussed. It is concluded that the most difficult problems faced in engineering and business data management can best be solved by cooperative efforts.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Witherspoon Editor, P.A.; Bodvarsson Editor, G.S.

The broad range of activities on radioactive waste isolation that are summarized in Table 1.1 provides a comprehensive picture of the operations that must be carried out in working with this problem. A comparison of these activities with those published in the two previous reviews shows the important progress that is being made in developing and applying the various technologies that have evolved over the past 20 years. There are two basic challenges in perfecting a system of radioactive waste isolation: choosing an appropriate geologic barrier and designing an effective engineered barrier. One of the most important developments that ismore » evident in a large number of the reports in this review is the recognition that a URL provides an excellent facility for investigating and characterizing a rock mass. Moreover, a URL, once developed, provides a convenient facility for two or more countries to conduct joint investigations. This review describes a number of cooperative projects that have been organized in Europe to take advantage of this kind of a facility in conducting research underground. Another critical development is the design of the waste canister (and its accessory equipment) for the engineered barrier. This design problem has been given considerable attention in a number of countries for several years, and some impressive results are described and illustrated in this review. The role of the public as a stakeholder in radioactive waste isolation has not always been fully appreciated. Solutions to the technical problems in characterizing a specific site have generally been obtained without difficulty, but procedures in the past in some countries did not always keep the public and local officials informed of the results. It will be noted in the following chapters that this procedure has caused some problems, especially when approval for a major component in a project was needed. It has been learned that a better way to handle this problem is to keep all stakeholders fully informed of project plans and hold periodic meetings to brief the public, especially in the vicinity of the selected site. This procedure has now been widely adopted and represents one of the most important developments in the Third Worldwide Review.« less

Multivariate fault isolation of batch processes via variable selection in partial least squares discriminant analysis.

PubMed

Yan, Zhengbing; Kuang, Te-Hui; Yao, Yuan

2017-09-01

In recent years, multivariate statistical monitoring of batch processes has become a popular research topic, wherein multivariate fault isolation is an important step aiming at the identification of the faulty variables contributing most to the detected process abnormality. Although contribution plots have been commonly used in statistical fault isolation, such methods suffer from the smearing effect between correlated variables. In particular, in batch process monitoring, the high autocorrelations and cross-correlations that exist in variable trajectories make the smearing effect unavoidable. To address such a problem, a variable selection-based fault isolation method is proposed in this research, which transforms the fault isolation problem into a variable selection problem in partial least squares discriminant analysis and solves it by calculating a sparse partial least squares model. As different from the traditional methods, the proposed method emphasizes the relative importance of each process variable. Such information may help process engineers in conducting root-cause diagnosis. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using hybrid expert system approaches for engineering applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allen, R. H.; Boarnet, M. G.; Culbert, C. J.; Savely, R. T.

1987-01-01

In this paper, the use of hybrid expert system shells and hybrid (i.e., algorithmic and heuristic) approaches for solving engineering problems is reported. Aspects of various engineering problem domains are reviewed for a number of examples with specific applications made to recently developed prototype expert systems. Based on this prototyping experience, critical evaluations of and comparisons between commercially available tools, and some research tools, in the United States and Australia, and their underlying problem-solving paradigms are made. Characteristics of the implementation tool and the engineering domain are compared and practical software engineering issues are discussed with respect to hybrid tools and approaches. Finally, guidelines are offered with the hope that expert system development will be less time consuming, more effective, and more cost-effective than it has been in the past.

Trends in Tissue Engineering for Blood Vessels

PubMed Central

Nemeno-Guanzon, Judee Grace; Lee, Soojung; Berg, Johan Robert; Jo, Yong Hwa; Yeo, Jee Eun; Nam, Bo Mi; Koh, Yong-Gon; Lee, Jeong Ik

2012-01-01

Over the years, cardiovascular diseases continue to increase and affect not only human health but also the economic stability worldwide. The advancement in tissue engineering is contributing a lot in dealing with this immediate need of alleviating human health. Blood vessel diseases are considered as major cardiovascular health problems. Although blood vessel transplantation is the most convenient treatment, it has been delimited due to scarcity of donors and the patient's conditions. However, tissue-engineered blood vessels are promising alternatives as mode of treatment for blood vessel defects. The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of the advancement on biofabrication technology for treatment of soft tissue defects particularly for vascular tissues. This will also provide an overview and update on the current status of tissue reconstruction especially from autologous stem cells, scaffolds, and scaffold-free cellular transplantable constructs. The discussion of this paper will be focused on the historical view of cardiovascular tissue engineering and stem cell biology. The representative studies featured in this paper are limited within the last decade in order to trace the trend and evolution of techniques for blood vessel tissue engineering. PMID:23251085

The formation of planetary disks and winds: an ultraviolet view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez de Castro, Ana I.

2009-04-01

Planetary systems are angular momentum reservoirs generated during star formation. This accretion process produces very powerful engines able to drive the optical jets and the molecular outflows. A fraction of the engine energy is released into heating thus the temperature of the engine ranges from the 3000 K of the inner disk material to the 10 MK in the areas where magnetic reconnection occurs. There are important unsolved problems concerning the nature of the engine, its evolution and the impact of the engine in the chemical evolution of the inner disk. Of special relevance is the understanding of the shear layer between the stellar photosphere and the disk; this layer controls a significant fraction of the magnetic field building up and the subsequent dissipative processes ougth to be studied in the UV. This contribution focus on describing the connections between 1 Myr old suns and the Sun and the requirements for new UV instrumentation to address their evolution during this period. Two types of observations are shown to be needed: monitoring programmes and high resolution imaging down to, at least, milliarsecond scales.

Systematic engineering of TCA cycle for optimal production of a four-carbon platform chemical 4-hydroxybutyric acid in Escherichia coli.

PubMed

Choi, Sol; Kim, Hyun Uk; Kim, Tae Yong; Lee, Sang Yup

2016-11-01

To address climate change and environmental problems, it is becoming increasingly important to establish biorefineries for the production of chemicals from renewable non-food biomass. Here we report the development of Escherichia coli strains capable of overproducing a four-carbon platform chemical 4-hybroxybutyric acid (4-HB). Because 4-HB production is significantly affected by aeration level, genome-scale metabolic model-based engineering strategies were designed under aerobic and microaerobic conditions with emphasis on oxidative/reductive TCA branches and glyoxylate shunt. Several different metabolic engineering strategies were employed to develop strains suitable for fermentation both under aerobic and microaerobic conditions. It was found that microaerobic condition was more efficient than aerobic condition in achieving higher titer and productivity of 4-HB. The final engineered strain produced 103.4g/L of 4-HB by microaerobic fed-batch fermentation using glycerol. The aeration-dependent optimization strategy of TCA cycle will be useful for developing microbial strains producing other reduced derivative chemicals of TCA cycle intermediates. Copyright © 2016 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How to Make a Synthetic Multicellular Computer

PubMed Central

Macia, Javier; Sole, Ricard

2014-01-01

Biological systems perform computations at multiple scales and they do so in a robust way. Engineering metaphors have often been used in order to provide a rationale for modeling cellular and molecular computing networks and as the basis for their synthetic design. However, a major constraint in this mapping between electronic and wet computational circuits is the wiring problem. Although wires are identical within electronic devices, they must be different when using synthetic biology designs. Moreover, in most cases the designed molecular systems cannot be reused for other functions. A new approximation allows us to simplify the problem by using synthetic cellular consortia where the output of the computation is distributed over multiple engineered cells. By evolving circuits in silico, we can obtain the minimal sets of Boolean units required to solve the given problem at the lowest cost using cellular consortia. Our analysis reveals that the basic set of logic units is typically non-standard. Among the most common units, the so called inverted IMPLIES (N-Implies) appears to be one of the most important elements along with the NOT and AND functions. Although NOR and NAND gates are widely used in electronics, evolved circuits based on combinations of these gates are rare, thus suggesting that the strategy of combining the same basic logic gates might be inappropriate in order to easily implement synthetic computational constructs. The implications for future synthetic designs, the general view of synthetic biology as a standard engineering domain, as well as potencial drawbacks are outlined. PMID:24586222

Bicriteria Network Optimization Problem using Priority-based Genetic Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gen, Mitsuo; Lin, Lin; Cheng, Runwei

Network optimization is being an increasingly important and fundamental issue in the fields such as engineering, computer science, operations research, transportation, telecommunication, decision support systems, manufacturing, and airline scheduling. In many applications, however, there are several criteria associated with traversing each edge of a network. For example, cost and flow measures are both important in the networks. As a result, there has been recent interest in solving Bicriteria Network Optimization Problem. The Bicriteria Network Optimization Problem is known a NP-hard. The efficient set of paths may be very large, possibly exponential in size. Thus the computational effort required to solve it can increase exponentially with the problem size in the worst case. In this paper, we propose a genetic algorithm (GA) approach used a priority-based chromosome for solving the bicriteria network optimization problem including maximum flow (MXF) model and minimum cost flow (MCF) model. The objective is to find the set of Pareto optimal solutions that give possible maximum flow with minimum cost. This paper also combines Adaptive Weight Approach (AWA) that utilizes some useful information from the current population to readjust weights for obtaining a search pressure toward a positive ideal point. Computer simulations show the several numerical experiments by using some difficult-to-solve network design problems, and show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The Kadison–Singer Problem in mathematics and engineering

PubMed Central

Casazza, Peter G.; Tremain, Janet Crandell

2006-01-01

We will see that the famous intractible 1959 Kadison–Singer Problem in C*-algebras is equivalent to fundamental open problems in a dozen different areas of research in mathematics and engineering. This work gives all these areas common ground on which to interact as well as explaining why each area has volumes of literature on their respective problems without a satisfactory resolution. PMID:16461465

Biomedical research, development, and engineering at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Annual report 1 October 1978-30 September 1979

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The Medical Institutions of The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have developed a vigorous collaborative program of biomedical research, development, and systems engineering. An important objective of the program is to apply the expertise in engineering, the physical sciences, and systems analysis acquired by APL in defense and space research and development to problems of medical research and health care delivery. This program has grown to include collaboration with many of the clinical and basic science departments of the medical divisions. Active collaborative projects exist in ophthalmology, neurosensory research and instrumentation development, cardiovascular systems,more » patient monitoring, therapeutic and rehabilitation systems, clinical information systems, and clinical engineering. This application of state-of-the-art technology has contributed to advances in many areas of basic medical research and in clinical diagnosis and therapy through improvement of instrumentation, techniques, and basic understanding.« less

Engineering the Big Chill: The story of JLab’s Central Helium Liquefier

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Westfall, Catherine

This article tells the story of the Central Helium Liquefier (CHL) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), one of the US National Laboratories. JLab’s successful superconducting radio frequency accelerator was only possible because a group of JLab engineers successfully tackled a complex of difficulties to build a cryogenic system that included the CHL, a task that required advancing the frontier of cryogenic technology. Ultimately, these cryogenic advances were applied far beyond JLab to the benefit of cutting-edge programs at other US national laboratories (Oak Ridge, Brookhaven, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at MSU) as well asmore » NASA. In addition, this innovation story dramatizes the sort of engineer-driven technological problem solving that allows the successful launch and operation of experimental projects. Along the way, the CHL story also provides an important addition to our understanding of the role played by engineers and industry in creating knowledge at physics laboratories.« less

Discussion on teaching reform of environmental planning and management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qiugen; Chen, Suhua; Xie, Yu; Wei, Li'an; Ding, Yuan

2018-05-01

The curriculum of environmental planning and management is an environmental engineering major curriculum established by the teaching steering committee of environmental science and engineering of Education Ministry, which is the core curriculum of Chinese engineering education professional certification. It plays an important role in cultivating environmental planning and environmental management ability of environmental engineering major. The selection and optimization of the course teaching content of environmental planning and management were discussed which including curriculum teaching content updating and optimizing and teaching resource system construction. The comprehensive application of teaching method was discussed which including teaching method synthesis and teaching method. The final combination of the assessment method was also discussed which including the formative assessment normal grades and the final result of the course examination. Through the curriculum comprehensive teaching reform, students' knowledge had been broadened, the subject status and autonomy of learning had been enhanced, students' learning interest had been motivated, the ability of students' finding, analyzing and solving problems had been improved. Students' innovative ability and positive spirit had been well cultivated.

Integrating Thermal Tools Into the Mechanical Design Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsuyuki, Glenn T.; Siebes, Georg; Novak, Keith S.; Kinsella, Gary M.

1999-01-01

The intent of mechanical design is to deliver a hardware product that meets or exceeds customer expectations, while reducing cycle time and cost. To this end, an integrated mechanical design process enables the idea of parallel development (concurrent engineering). This represents a shift from the traditional mechanical design process. With such a concurrent process, there are significant issues that have to be identified and addressed before re-engineering the mechanical design process to facilitate concurrent engineering. These issues also assist in the integration and re-engineering of the thermal design sub-process since it resides within the entire mechanical design process. With these issues in mind, a thermal design sub-process can be re-defined in a manner that has a higher probability of acceptance, thus enabling an integrated mechanical design process. However, the actual implementation is not always problem-free. Experience in applying the thermal design sub-process to actual situations provides the evidence for improvement, but more importantly, for judging the viability and feasibility of the sub-process.

Engineering the Big Chill: The story of JLab’s Central Helium Liquefier

DOE PAGES

Westfall, Catherine

2014-03-29

This article tells the story of the Central Helium Liquefier (CHL) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), one of the US National Laboratories. JLab’s successful superconducting radio frequency accelerator was only possible because a group of JLab engineers successfully tackled a complex of difficulties to build a cryogenic system that included the CHL, a task that required advancing the frontier of cryogenic technology. Ultimately, these cryogenic advances were applied far beyond JLab to the benefit of cutting-edge programs at other US national laboratories (Oak Ridge, Brookhaven, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at MSU) as well asmore » NASA. In addition, this innovation story dramatizes the sort of engineer-driven technological problem solving that allows the successful launch and operation of experimental projects. Along the way, the CHL story also provides an important addition to our understanding of the role played by engineers and industry in creating knowledge at physics laboratories.« less

Cancer systems biology: signal processing for cancer research

PubMed Central

Yli-Harja, Olli; Ylipää, Antti; Nykter, Matti; Zhang, Wei

2011-01-01

In this editorial we introduce the research paradigms of signal processing in the era of systems biology. Signal processing is a field of science traditionally focused on modeling electronic and communications systems, but recently it has turned to biological applications with astounding results. The essence of signal processing is to describe the natural world by mathematical models and then, based on these models, develop efficient computational tools for solving engineering problems. Here, we underline, with examples, the endless possibilities which arise when the battle-hardened tools of engineering are applied to solve the problems that have tormented cancer researchers. Based on this approach, a new field has emerged, called cancer systems biology. Despite its short history, cancer systems biology has already produced several success stories tackling previously impracticable problems. Perhaps most importantly, it has been accepted as an integral part of the major endeavors of cancer research, such as analyzing the genomic and epigenomic data produced by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project. Finally, we show that signal processing and cancer research, two fields that are seemingly distant from each other, have merged into a field that is indeed more than the sum of its parts. PMID:21439242

Review and Prospect of BIM Policy in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Bingsheng; Wang, Min; Zhang, Yutao; Liu, Rui; Wang, Anmin

2017-10-01

In the process of architectural design, construction, operation and maintenance, the problem of inefficiency and inaccuracy in information application and exchange has caused substantial waste of resources and risk in construction industry. Building Information Management provides an opportunity to address the issue. Building information modelling (BIM) has been increasingly applied in design, construction and other information management in China as its important role in reducing engineering changes, improving engineering quality, shortening project duration, saving project cost, enhancing information sharing among the participants many others. As an integration of process and product, its development and implementation need government regulation to enhance its applications effect and standardize its adoption and implementation. Especially, the government guidance affects the application and development of new technology to a great extent in China. However, relevant policy development falls behind the rapid development of its application in practice in China, which has led to many problems in construction practice. In order to develop effective BIM policy for China, this paper conducted a comprehensive review about existing BIM policy in China by analysing its status and problems, comparing it with the corresponding policy in developed countries such as the USA and UK. The expected policy development direction is also discussed and proposed.

Power factor of power educators. [Undergraduate and graduate programs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barthold, L.O.

1979-01-01

Undergraduate engineering schools are doing an excellent job in offering technical material and preparing students for careers in industry or graduate schools. At the undergraduate level, the burden of adequately covering a widening range of engineering fundamentals precludes offering industry-oriented undergraduate courses. The lack of communication skills is a serious handicap to many graduates. Furthermore, the ability to identify problems and structure approaches to their solutions needs more attention in undergraduate education. The quality of graduate programs in power is closely linked to the accuracy and realism with which graduate faculty perceive the industry and its problems as well asmore » their skill in teaching. It is important for graduate faculty to maintain close working ties with industry. Part-time assignments with utilities, manufacturers, or consultants are the best way to do so. Doing so through research grants can also help but can likewise be counterproductive if faculty are not discriminating in the subject matter pursued.« less

Software engineering risk factors in the implementation of a small electronic medical record system: the problem of scalability.

PubMed

Chiang, Michael F; Starren, Justin B

2002-01-01

The successful implementation of clinical information systems is difficult. In examining the reasons and potential solutions for this problem, the medical informatics community may benefit from the lessons of a rich body of software engineering and management literature about the failure of software projects. Based on previous studies, we present a conceptual framework for understanding the risk factors associated with large-scale projects. However, the vast majority of existing literature is based on large, enterprise-wide systems, and it unclear whether those results may be scaled down and applied to smaller projects such as departmental medical information systems. To examine this issue, we discuss the case study of a delayed electronic medical record implementation project in a small specialty practice at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. While the factors contributing to the delay of this small project share some attributes with those found in larger organizations, there are important differences. The significance of these differences for groups implementing small medical information systems is discussed.

Grand challenges for biological engineering

PubMed Central

Yoon, Jeong-Yeol; Riley, Mark R

2009-01-01

Biological engineering will play a significant role in solving many of the world's problems in medicine, agriculture, and the environment. Recently the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) released a document "Grand Challenges in Engineering," covering broad realms of human concern from sustainability, health, vulnerability and the joy of living. Biological engineers, having tools and techniques at the interface between living and non-living entities, will play a prominent role in forging a better future. The 2010 Institute of Biological Engineering (IBE) conference in Cambridge, MA, USA will address, in part, the roles of biological engineering in solving the challenges presented by the NAE. This letter presents a brief outline of how biological engineers are working to solve these large scale and integrated problems of our society. PMID:19772647

A Working Plan for Treating the Engineering Faculty Shortage Problem.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shoup, Terry E., Ed.

In view of the consequences of the engineering faculty shortage problem on engineering capabilities in the future in the United States, a working plan which will serve as a national agenda for prompt action has been developed. This plan involves the three key groups (federal government, academic community, industry) who have the vision,…

Gendered Practices of Constructing an Engineering Identity in a Problem-Based Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Du, Xiang-Yun

2006-01-01

This article examines the learning experiences of engineering students of both genders in a problem-based and project-organized learning environment (PBL) at a Danish university. This study relates an amalgam of theories on learning and gender to the context of engineering education. Based on data from a qualitative study of an electrical and…

Evaluation of Creative Problem-Solving Abilities in Undergraduate Structural Engineers through Interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCrum, Daniel Patrick

2017-01-01

For a structural engineer, effective communication and interaction with architects cannot be underestimated as a key skill to success throughout their professional career. Structural engineers and architects have to share a common language and understanding of each other in order to achieve the most desirable architectural and structural designs.…

Engineering-Based Problem Solving in the Middle School: Design and Construction with Simple Machines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

English, Lyn D.; Hudson, Peter; Dawes, Les

2013-01-01

Incorporating engineering concepts into middle school curriculum is seen as an effective way to improve students' problem-solving skills. A selection of findings is reported from a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-based unit in which students in the second year (grade 8) of a three-year longitudinal study explored…

Perceptions and Problems of English Language and Communication Abilities: A Final Check on Thai Engineering Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajprasit, Krich; Pratoomrat, Panadda; Wang, Tuntiga

2015-01-01

English language and communication abilities are an essential part of the global engineering community. However, non-native English speaking engineers and students tend to be unable to master these skills. This study aims to gauge the perceived levels of their general English language proficiency, to explore their English communicative problems,…

Barriers to the Implementation of Project Lead the Way as Perceived by Indiana High School Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shields, C. J.

2007-01-01

Technology education (TE) has come to encompass many facets of curriculum, ranging from industrial arts (IA) to integrating problem-solving and engineering concepts into the curriculum. For technology educators who have chosen the pre-engineering problem-solving route there is a pre-engineering curriculum called Project Lead The Way (PLTW), that…

Conceptual Comparison of Population Based Metaheuristics for Engineering Problems

PubMed Central

Green, Paul

2015-01-01

Metaheuristic algorithms are well-known optimization tools which have been employed for solving a wide range of optimization problems. Several extensions of differential evolution have been adopted in solving constrained and nonconstrained multiobjective optimization problems, but in this study, the third version of generalized differential evolution (GDE) is used for solving practical engineering problems. GDE3 metaheuristic modifies the selection process of the basic differential evolution and extends DE/rand/1/bin strategy in solving practical applications. The performance of the metaheuristic is investigated through engineering design optimization problems and the results are reported. The comparison of the numerical results with those of other metaheuristic techniques demonstrates the promising performance of the algorithm as a robust optimization tool for practical purposes. PMID:25874265

Conceptual comparison of population based metaheuristics for engineering problems.

PubMed

Adekanmbi, Oluwole; Green, Paul

2015-01-01

Metaheuristic algorithms are well-known optimization tools which have been employed for solving a wide range of optimization problems. Several extensions of differential evolution have been adopted in solving constrained and nonconstrained multiobjective optimization problems, but in this study, the third version of generalized differential evolution (GDE) is used for solving practical engineering problems. GDE3 metaheuristic modifies the selection process of the basic differential evolution and extends DE/rand/1/bin strategy in solving practical applications. The performance of the metaheuristic is investigated through engineering design optimization problems and the results are reported. The comparison of the numerical results with those of other metaheuristic techniques demonstrates the promising performance of the algorithm as a robust optimization tool for practical purposes.

Developing knowledge intensive ideas in engineering education: the application of camp methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heidemann Lassen, Astrid; Løwe Nielsen, Suna

2011-11-01

Background: Globalization, technological advancement, environmental problems, etc. challenge organizations not just to consider cost-effectiveness, but also to develop new ideas in order to build competitive advantages. Hence, methods to deliberately enhance creativity and facilitate its processes of development must also play a central role in engineering education. However, so far the engineering education literature provides little attention to the important discussion of how to develop knowledge intensive ideas based on creativity methods and concepts. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate how to design creative camps from which knowledge intensive ideas can unfold. Design/method/sample: A framework on integration of creativity and knowledge intensity is first developed, and then tested through the planning, execution and evaluation of a specialized creativity camp with focus on supply chain management. Detailed documentation of the learning processes of the participating 49 engineering and business students is developed through repeated interviews during the process as well as a survey. Results: The research illustrates the process of development of ideas, and how the participants through interdisciplinary collaboration, cognitive flexibility and joint ownership develop highly innovative and knowledge-intensive ideas, with direct relevance for the four companies whose problems they address. Conclusions: The article demonstrates how the creativity camp methodology holds the potential of combining advanced academic knowledge and creativity, to produce knowledge intensive ideas, when the design is based on ideas of experiential learning as well as creativity principles. This makes the method a highly relevant learning approach for engineering students in the search for skills to both develop and implement innovative ideas.

Machine Learning Techniques in Optimal Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cerbone, Giuseppe

1992-01-01

Many important applications can be formalized as constrained optimization tasks. For example, we are studying the engineering domain of two-dimensional (2-D) structural design. In this task, the goal is to design a structure of minimum weight that bears a set of loads. A solution to a design problem in which there is a single load (L) and two stationary support points (S1 and S2) consists of four members, E1, E2, E3, and E4 that connect the load to the support points is discussed. In principle, optimal solutions to problems of this kind can be found by numerical optimization techniques. However, in practice [Vanderplaats, 1984] these methods are slow and they can produce different local solutions whose quality (ratio to the global optimum) varies with the choice of starting points. Hence, their applicability to real-world problems is severely restricted. To overcome these limitations, we propose to augment numerical optimization by first performing a symbolic compilation stage to produce: (a) objective functions that are faster to evaluate and that depend less on the choice of the starting point and (b) selection rules that associate problem instances to a set of recommended solutions. These goals are accomplished by successive specializations of the problem class and of the associated objective functions. In the end, this process reduces the problem to a collection of independent functions that are fast to evaluate, that can be differentiated symbolically, and that represent smaller regions of the overall search space. However, the specialization process can produce a large number of sub-problems. This is overcome by deriving inductively selection rules which associate problems to small sets of specialized independent sub-problems. Each set of candidate solutions is chosen to minimize a cost function which expresses the tradeoff between the quality of the solution that can be obtained from the sub-problem and the time it takes to produce it. The overall solution to the problem, is then obtained by solving in parallel each of the sub-problems in the set and computing the one with the minimum cost. In addition to speeding up the optimization process, our use of learning methods also relieves the expert from the burden of identifying rules that exactly pinpoint optimal candidate sub-problems. In real engineering tasks it is usually too costly to the engineers to derive such rules. Therefore, this paper also contributes to a further step towards the solution of the knowledge acquisition bottleneck [Feigenbaum, 1977] which has somewhat impaired the construction of rulebased expert systems.

Can I Trust This Software Package? An Exercise in Validation of Computational Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shacham, Mordechai; Brauner, Neima; Ashurst, W. Robert; Cutlip, Michael B.

2008-01-01

Mathematical software packages such as Polymath, MATLAB, and Mathcad are currently widely used for engineering problem solving. Applications of several of these packages to typical chemical engineering problems have been demonstrated by Cutlip, et al. The main characteristic of these packages is that they provide a "problem-solving environment…

The Problem Solving Studio: An Apprenticeship Environment for Aspiring Engineers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Le Doux, Joseph M.; Waller, Alisha A.

2016-01-01

This paper describes the problem-solving studio (PSS) learning environment. PSS was designed to teach students how to solve difficult analytical engineering problems without resorting to rote memorization of algorithms, while at the same time developing their deep conceptual understanding of the course topics. There are several key features of…

Introducing Future Engineers to Sustainable Ecology Problems: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Filipkowski, A.

2011-01-01

The problem of Earth environmental destruction by human activities is becoming dangerous. Engineers responsible for the production of any goods should be well aware of the negative influence of their activities on the state of the planet. This is why the understanding of ecological problems is essential for people responsible for production and…

Data management for Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bryant, W. A.; Smith, M. R.

1984-01-01

Analysis of data flow through the design and manufacturing processes has established specific information management requirements and identified unique problems. The application of data management technology to the engineering/manufacturing environment addresses these problems. An overview of the IPAD prototype data base management system, representing a partial solution to these problems, is presented here.

Mechanical Design of Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1962-01-01

In the spring of 1962, engineers from the Engineering Mechanics Division of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory gave a series of lectures on spacecraft design at the Engineering Design seminars conducted at the California Institute of Technology. Several of these lectures were subsequently given at Stanford University as part of the Space Technology seminar series sponsored by the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Presented here are notes taken from these lectures. The lectures were conceived with the intent of providing the audience with a glimpse of the activities of a few mechanical engineers who are involved in designing, building, and testing spacecraft. Engineering courses generally consist of heavily idealized problems in order to allow the more efficient teaching of mathematical technique. Students, therefore, receive a somewhat limited exposure to actual engineering problems, which are typified by more unknowns than equations. For this reason it was considered valuable to demonstrate some of the problems faced by spacecraft designers, the processes used to arrive at solutions, and the interactions between the engineer and the remainder of the organization in which he is constrained to operate. These lecture notes are not so much a compilation of sophisticated techniques of analysis as they are a collection of examples of spacecraft hardware and associated problems. They will be of interest not so much to the experienced spacecraft designer as to those who wonder what part the mechanical engineer plays in an effort such as the exploration of space.

Developing creativity and problem-solving skills of engineering students: a comparison of web- and pen-and-paper-based approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valentine, Andrew; Belski, Iouri; Hamilton, Margaret

2017-11-01

Problem-solving is a key engineering skill, yet is an area in which engineering graduates underperform. This paper investigates the potential of using web-based tools to teach students problem-solving techniques without the need to make use of class time. An idea generation experiment involving 90 students was designed. Students were surveyed about their study habits and reported they use electronic-based materials more than paper-based materials while studying, suggesting students may engage with web-based tools. Students then generated solutions to a problem task using either a paper-based template or an equivalent web interface. Students who used the web-based approach performed as well as students who used the paper-based approach, suggesting the technique can be successfully adopted and taught online. Web-based tools may therefore be adopted as supplementary material in a range of engineering courses as a way to increase students' options for enhancing problem-solving skills.

Biomedical engineering - A means to add new dimension to medicine and research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doerr, D. F.

1992-01-01

Biomedical engineering is an evolving science that seeks to insert technically oriented and trained personnel to assist medical professionals in solving technological problems in the pursuit of innovations in the delivery of health care. Consequently, engineering solutions are brought to bear on problems that previously were outside the training of physicians and beyond the understanding or appreciation of the conventionally educated electrical or mechanical engineers. This physician/scientist/engineer team has a capability to extend medicine and research far beyond the capability of a single entity operating alone. How biomedical engineering has added a new dimension to medical science at the Kennedy Space Center is described.

The Relationship between Levels of Education of Entrepreneurs and Their Business Success: A Study of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Ricardo M.; Brijlal, Pradeep

2011-01-01

The small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sector has been widely recognized as an engine of economic growth in South Africa. The implementation of the National Small Business Strategy (NSBS) in 1995 established important objectives for the sector to address such problems as lack of access to markets and procurement, lack of access to finance…

A Dynamic Security Framework for Ambient Intelligent Systems: A Smart-Home Based eHealth Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Compagna, Luca; El Khoury, Paul; Massacci, Fabio; Saidane, Ayda

Providing context-dependent security services is an important challenge for ambient intelligent systems. The complexity and the unbounded nature of such systems make it difficult even for the most experienced and knowledgeable security engineers, to foresee all possible situations and interactions when developing the system. In order to solve this problem context based self- diagnosis and reconfiguration at runtime should be provided.

Tissue Culture in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pellis, Neal R.; Duray, Paul H.; Hatfill, Steven J.

1997-01-01

Attempts to simulate normal tissue micro-environments in vitro have been thwarted by the complexity and plasticity of the extracellular matrix, which is important in regulating cytoskeletal and nuclear matrix proteins. Gravity is one of the problems, tending to separate components that should be kept together. For space shuttle experiments, NASA engineers devised a double-walled rotating bioreactor, which is proving to be a useful tissue culture device on earth as well as in space.

Method of transition from 3D model to its ontological representation in aircraft design process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Govorkov, A. S.; Zhilyaev, A. S.; Fokin, I. V.

2018-05-01

This paper proposes the method of transition from a 3D model to its ontological representation and describes its usage in the aircraft design process. The problems of design for manufacturability and design automation are also discussed. The introduced method is to aim to ease the process of data exchange between important aircraft design phases, namely engineering and design control. The method is also intended to increase design speed and 3D model customizability. This requires careful selection of the complex systems (CAD / CAM / CAE / PDM), providing the basis for the integration of design and technological preparation of production and more fully take into account the characteristics of products and processes for their manufacture. It is important to solve this problem, as investment in the automation define the company's competitiveness in the years ahead.

Propulsion Controls, 1979. [air breathing engine control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

The state of the art of multivariable engine control is examined in order to determine future needs and problem areas and to establish the appropriate roles of government, industries, and universities in addressing these problems.

Student Engagement in a Structured Problem-Based Approach to Learning: A First-Year Electronic Engineering Study Module on Heat Transfer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montero, E.; Gonzalez, M. J.

2009-01-01

Problem-based learning has been at the core of significant developments in engineering education in recent years. This term refers to any learning environment in which the problem drives the learning, because it is posed in such a way that students realize they need to acquire new knowledge before the problem can be solved. This paper presents the…

PREFACE: International Conference on Vibration Problems (ICOVP-2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2015-12-01

Vibrations produced by operating machine cause deleterious effect including excessive stresses in mechanical components and reduce the machine performance. Hence, it is important to minimize the vibrations to improve the machine performance. Machines need the materials wherein vibration characteristics such as frequency and amplitude are lower. The vibration characteristics depend on strength and other elastic constants. Therefore, study of the relation between vibration characteristics and the elastic constants of the material is very much important. In the domain of seismology, the knowledge of vibrations associated with an earthquake is needed for the mitigation plans. With the increased use of strong and light weight structures especially in defence and aero-space engineering applications, wherein, precision is very important, problems of vibrations arise. The knowledge of quality (mechanical properties) of bones comes from the study of vibrations in it. This knowledge may, for exmple, help to answer bone tissue remodelling problems. Unfortunately, vibrations mostly deal with destructive areas such as manufacturing industry, seismology, and bonemechanics. These days, mathematics has become a very important tool for Non- Destructive Evaluation (NDE) in the destructive areas. A very common issue in the said domains is that the pertinent problems result in non-linear coupled differential equations which are not easily solvable. Keeping the above facts in mind, the Department of Mathematics, Kakatiya University has organized the International Conference on Vibration Problems (ICOVP-2015) from February, 18-20, 2015 in collaboration with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kakatiya University, and Von-Karman Society, West Bengal. This association has already succeeded in organizing the Wave Mechanics and Vibration Conference (WMVC) in the year 2010. In the Conference, new research results were presented by the experts from eight countries. There were more than 150 participants from India and abroad. The infrastructure facilities, administrative help, and financial support provided by Kakatiya University are gratefully acknowledged. The financial support received from Telangana State Council of Higher Education, University Grant Commission (UGC), National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Ministry of Earth Sciences, and State Bank of Hyderabad are thankfully acknowledged. The thanks are due to all the speakers and participants who have come to this place by performing long journies and facing many inconveniences. Thanks are also due to International Scientific Committee members, reviewers, local organizing committee members, the members of organizing sub committees, supporting staff, research scholars, and the students for their help. This Conference Series is the outcome of the contributions from the conference and is broadly classified into five sections containing the papers from Solid Mechanics (SM), Fluid Mechanics (FM), Mechanical Engineering (ME), Applied Mathematics(AM), and Physics(PH). All efforts have been made to maintain the consiouness and standards that are the Hallmarks of Institute of Physics (IOP). We appreciate the efforts of Dr.B.Sandhya Rani, Dr.G.Rajitha, and Ms. Hari Priya, research scholors in the Department of Mathematics, Kakatiya University for checking the typos and pointing out the numerous errors. We also appreciate Dr.D.Rajaiah and Mr.D.Ranadheer, research scholors, in the Department for their efforts in the preparation of some LaTeX files. International Conference on Vibration Problems (ICOVP-2015).

Optical Cryogenic Tank Level Sensor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duffell, Amanda

2005-01-01

Cryogenic fluids play an important role in space transportation. Liquid oxygen and hydrogen are vital fuel components for liquid rocket engines. It is also difficult to accurately measure the liquid level in the cryogenic tanks containing the liquids. The current methods use thermocouple rakes, floats, or sonic meters to measure tank level. Thermocouples have problems examining the boundary between the boiling liquid and the gas inside the tanks. They are also slow to respond to temperature changes. Sonic meters need to be mounted inside the tank, but still above the liquid level. This causes problems for full tanks, or tanks that are being rotated to lie on their side.

Team Problem Solving Strategies with a Survey of These Methods Used by Faculty Members in Engineering Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcus, Michael L.; Winters, Dixie L.

2004-01-01

Students from science, engineering, and technology programs should be able to work together as members of project teams to find solutions to technical problems. The exercise in this paper describes the methods actually used by a project team from a Biomedical Instrumentation Corporation in which scientists, technicians, and engineers from various…

The Effect on Pupils' Science Performance and Problem-Solving Ability through Lego: An Engineering Design-Based Modeling Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Yanyan; Huang, Zhinan; Jiang, Menglu; Chang, Ting-Wen

2016-01-01

Incorporating scientific fundamentals via engineering through a design-based methodology has proven to be highly effective for STEM education. Engineering design can be instantiated for learning as they involve mental and physical stimulation and develop practical skills especially in solving problems. Lego bricks, as a set of toys based on design…

Corps of Engineers Structural Engineering Conference Held in St. Johns County, Florida on 8-12 July 1991. Volume 2

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-12-01

problems. Leadership forums were conducted for chiefs of structural design from each office for both military and civil works areas. (Continued) 14...Photographs ....................................... 7 Maintaining Design Quality in the Corps of Engineers .................... II Expedited Design and...25 Portugues Dam Monolith Layout and Survey Control ...................... 33 Cofferdam Design Problems, Point Marion Lock

The Association between Tolerance for Ambiguity and Fear of Negative Evaluation: A Study of Engineering Technology Capstone Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dubikovsky, Sergey I.

2016-01-01

For many students in engineering and engineering technology programs in the US, senior capstone design courses require students to form a team, define a problem, and find a feasible technical solution to address this problem. Students must integrate the knowledge and skills acquired during their studies at the college or university level. These…

Convergence and translation: attitudes to inter-professional learning and teaching of creative problem-solving among medical and engineering students and staff.

PubMed

Spoelstra, Howard; Stoyanov, Slavi; Burgoyne, Louise; Bennett, Deirdre; Sweeney, Catherine; Drachsler, Hendrik; Vanderperren, Katrien; Van Huffel, Sabine; McSweeney, John; Shorten, George; O'Flynn, Siun; Cantillon-Murphy, Padraig; O'Tuathaigh, Colm

2014-01-22

Healthcare worldwide needs translation of basic ideas from engineering into the clinic. Consequently, there is increasing demand for graduates equipped with the knowledge and skills to apply interdisciplinary medicine/engineering approaches to the development of novel solutions for healthcare. The literature provides little guidance regarding barriers to, and facilitators of, effective interdisciplinary learning for engineering and medical students in a team-based project context. A quantitative survey was distributed to engineering and medical students and staff in two universities, one in Ireland and one in Belgium, to chart knowledge and practice in interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and of the teaching of innovation. We report important differences for staff and students between the disciplines regarding attitudes towards, and perceptions of, the relevance of interdisciplinary learning opportunities, and the role of creativity and innovation. There was agreement across groups concerning preferred learning, instructional styles, and module content. Medical students showed greater resistance to the use of structured creativity tools and interdisciplinary teams. The results of this international survey will help to define the optimal learning conditions under which undergraduate engineering and medicine students can learn to consider the diverse factors which determine the success or failure of a healthcare engineering solution.

Convergence and translation: attitudes to inter-professional learning and teaching of creative problem-solving among medical and engineering students and staff

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Healthcare worldwide needs translation of basic ideas from engineering into the clinic. Consequently, there is increasing demand for graduates equipped with the knowledge and skills to apply interdisciplinary medicine/engineering approaches to the development of novel solutions for healthcare. The literature provides little guidance regarding barriers to, and facilitators of, effective interdisciplinary learning for engineering and medical students in a team-based project context. Methods A quantitative survey was distributed to engineering and medical students and staff in two universities, one in Ireland and one in Belgium, to chart knowledge and practice in interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and of the teaching of innovation. Results We report important differences for staff and students between the disciplines regarding attitudes towards, and perceptions of, the relevance of interdisciplinary learning opportunities, and the role of creativity and innovation. There was agreement across groups concerning preferred learning, instructional styles, and module content. Medical students showed greater resistance to the use of structured creativity tools and interdisciplinary teams. Conclusions The results of this international survey will help to define the optimal learning conditions under which undergraduate engineering and medicine students can learn to consider the diverse factors which determine the success or failure of a healthcare engineering solution. PMID:24450310

Test results of the Chrysler upgraded automotive gas turbine engine: Initial design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horvath, D.; Ribble, G. H., Jr.; Warren, E. L.; Wood, J. C.

1981-01-01

The upgraded engine as built to the original design was deficient in power and had excessive specific fuel consumption. A high instrumented version of the engine was tested to identify the sources of the engine problems. Analysis of the data shows the major problems to be low compressor and power turbine efficiency and excessive interstage duct losses. In addition, high HC and CO emission were measured at idle, and high NOx emissions at high energy speeds.

Problem Solving Method Based on E-Learning System for Engineering Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khazaal, Hasan F.

2015-01-01

Encouraging engineering students to handle advanced technology with multimedia, as well as motivate them to have the skills of solving the problem, are the missions of the teacher in preparing students for a modern professional career. This research proposes a scenario of problem solving in basic electrical circuits based on an e-learning system…

Toward Teaching Methods that Develop Learning and Enhance Problem Solving Skills in Engineering Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loji, K.

2012-01-01

Problem solving skills and abilities are critical in life and more specifically in the engineering field. Unfortunately, significant numbers of South African students who are accessing higher education lack problem solving skills and this results in poor academic performance jeopardizing their progress especially from first to second year. On the…

Class and Home Problems: Humidification, a True "Home" Problem for p. Chemical Engineer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Condoret, Jean-Stephane

2012-01-01

The problem of maintaining hygrothermal comfort in a house is addressed using the chemical engineer's toolbox. A simple dynamic modelling proved to give a good description of the humidification of the house in winter, using a domestic humidifier. Parameters of the model were identified from a simple experiment. Surprising results, especially…

Wind loading on solar concentrators: some general considerations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roschke, E. J.

A survey has been completed to examine the problems and complications arising from wind loading on solar concentrators. Wind loading is site specific and has an important bearing on the design, cost, performance, operation and maintenance, safety, survival, and replacement of solar collecting systems. Emphasis herein is on paraboloidal, two-axis tracking systems. Thermal receiver problems also are discussed. Wind characteristics are discussed from a general point of view; current methods for determining design wind speed are reviewed. Aerodynamic coefficients are defined and illustrative examples are presented. Wind tunnel testing is discussed, and environmental wind tunnels are reviewed; recent results onmore » heliostat arrays are reviewed as well. Aeroelasticity in relation to structural design is discussed briefly. Wind loads, i.e., forces and moments, are proportional to the square of the mean wind velocity. Forces are proportional to the square of concentrator diameter, and moments are proportional to the cube of diameter. Thus, wind loads have an important bearing on size selection from both cost and performance standpoints. It is concluded that sufficient information exists so that reasonably accurate predictions of wind loading are possible for a given paraboloidal concentrator configuration, provided that reliable and relevant wind conditions are specified. Such predictions will be useful to the design engineer and to the systems engineer as well. Information is lacking, however, on wind effects in field arrays of paraboloidal concentrators. Wind tunnel tests have been performed on model heliostat arrays, but there are important aerodynamic differences between heliostats and paraboloidal dishes.« less

Uncertainty Reduction using Bayesian Inference and Sensitivity Analysis: A Sequential Approach to the NASA Langley Uncertainty Quantification Challenge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sankararaman, Shankar

2016-01-01

This paper presents a computational framework for uncertainty characterization and propagation, and sensitivity analysis under the presence of aleatory and epistemic un- certainty, and develops a rigorous methodology for efficient refinement of epistemic un- certainty by identifying important epistemic variables that significantly affect the overall performance of an engineering system. The proposed methodology is illustrated using the NASA Langley Uncertainty Quantification Challenge (NASA-LUQC) problem that deals with uncertainty analysis of a generic transport model (GTM). First, Bayesian inference is used to infer subsystem-level epistemic quantities using the subsystem-level model and corresponding data. Second, tools of variance-based global sensitivity analysis are used to identify four important epistemic variables (this limitation specified in the NASA-LUQC is reflective of practical engineering situations where not all epistemic variables can be refined due to time/budget constraints) that significantly affect system-level performance. The most significant contribution of this paper is the development of the sequential refine- ment methodology, where epistemic variables for refinement are not identified all-at-once. Instead, only one variable is first identified, and then, Bayesian inference and global sensi- tivity calculations are repeated to identify the next important variable. This procedure is continued until all 4 variables are identified and the refinement in the system-level perfor- mance is computed. The advantages of the proposed sequential refinement methodology over the all-at-once uncertainty refinement approach are explained, and then applied to the NASA Langley Uncertainty Quantification Challenge problem.

Clinical Immersion: An Approach for Fostering Cross-disciplinary Communication and Innovation in Nursing and Engineering Students.

PubMed

Geist, Melissa J; Sanders, Robby; Harris, Kevin; Arce-Trigatti, Andrea; Hitchcock-Cass, Cary

2018-05-24

A faculty team from nursing and chemical engineering developed a course that brought together students from each discipline for cross-disciplinary, team-based clinical immersion and collaboration. Health care processes and devices are rapidly changing, and nurses are uniquely positioned to be bedside innovators to improve patient care delivery. During each clinical immersion, the student teams rotated through various hospital units where they identified problems and worked together in the university's makerspace (iMaker Space) to design and build prototypes to improve health outcomes. Data from the Critical thinking Assessment Test provided evidence of gains in critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, while the problems identified in the clinical setting and prototypes developed demonstrated the impact of bringing nursing and engineering students together to design innovations. When challenged to identify authentic problems during their clinical immersion, the teams of nursing and engineering students proposed creative solutions and developed commercially viable prototypes.

Automation of reverse engineering process in aircraft modeling and related optimization problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, W.; Swetits, J.

1994-01-01

During the year of 1994, the engineering problems in aircraft modeling were studied. The initial concern was to obtain a surface model with desirable geometric characteristics. Much of the effort during the first half of the year was to find an efficient way of solving a computationally difficult optimization model. Since the smoothing technique in the proposal 'Surface Modeling and Optimization Studies of Aerodynamic Configurations' requires solutions of a sequence of large-scale quadratic programming problems, it is important to design algorithms that can solve each quadratic program in a few interactions. This research led to three papers by Dr. W. Li, which were submitted to SIAM Journal on Optimization and Mathematical Programming. Two of these papers have been accepted for publication. Even though significant progress has been made during this phase of research and computation times was reduced from 30 min. to 2 min. for a sample problem, it was not good enough for on-line processing of digitized data points. After discussion with Dr. Robert E. Smith Jr., it was decided not to enforce shape constraints in order in order to simplify the model. As a consequence, P. Dierckx's nonparametric spline fitting approach was adopted, where one has only one control parameter for the fitting process - the error tolerance. At the same time the surface modeling software developed by Imageware was tested. Research indicated a substantially improved fitting of digitalized data points can be achieved if a proper parameterization of the spline surface is chosen. A winning strategy is to incorporate Dierckx's surface fitting with a natural parameterization for aircraft parts. The report consists of 4 chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of reverse engineering related to aircraft modeling and some preliminary findings of the effort in the second half of the year. Chapters 2-4 are the research results by Dr. W. Li on penalty functions and conjugate gradient methods for quadratic programming problems.

Screening analysis and selection of emission reduction concepts for intermittent combustion aircraft engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rezy, B. J.; Meyers, J. E.; Tucker, J. R.; Stuckas, S. J.

1976-01-01

An analysis was conducted to screen, evaluate, and select three engine exhaust emission reduction concepts from a group of 14 candidate alternatives. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to survey the emission reduction technology state-of-the-art and establish contact with firms working on intermittent combustion engine development and pollution reduction problems. Concept development, advantages, disadvantages, and expected emission reduction responses are stated. A set of cost effectiveness criteria was developed, appraised for relative importance, and traded off against each concept so that its merit could be determined. A decision model was used to aid the evaluators in managing the criteria, making consistent judgements, calculating merit scores, and ranking the concepts. An Improved Fuel Injection System, Improved Cooling Combustion Chamber, and a Variable Timing Ignition System were recommended to NASA for approval and further concept development. An alternate concept, Air Injection, was also recommended.

Human outposts on Mars: engineering and scientific lessons learned from history

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gruenwald, J.

2014-06-01

There are several planned projects that aim to send humans to Mars which are currently developed by the ESA, the NASA or by initiatives from the private sector (e.g. The Mars One Project). Some of these projects include long-term stays or even permanent human outposts on the red planet. To achieve the necessary habitats on Mars, a vast amount of different engineering and scientific problems has to be solved. This paper identifies some of the most important issues by analyzing a similar endeavor from human history—the colonization of the American continent by the Europeans. This might seem to be an unconventional approach, but some valuable insights can be gathered by studying the significant dangers and drawbacks experienced by the early settlers in America. These historical records can help scientists and engineers to set up some guidelines for avoiding some of the risks for the first human beings on Mars.

Hydrogen Gas as a Fuel in Direct Injection Diesel Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhanasekaran, Chinnathambi; Mohankumar, Gabriael

2016-04-01

Hydrogen is expected to be one of the most important fuels in the near future for solving the problem caused by the greenhouse gases, for protecting environment and saving conventional fuels. In this study, a dual fuel engine of hydrogen and diesel was investigated. Hydrogen was conceded through the intake port, and simultaneously air and diesel was pervaded into the cylinder. Using electronic gas injector and electronic control unit, the injection timing and duration varied. In this investigation, a single cylinder, KIRLOSKAR AV1, DI Diesel engine was used. Hydrogen injection timing was fixed at TDC and injection duration was timed for 30°, 60°, and 90° crank angles. The injection timing of diesel was fixed at 23° BTDC. When hydrogen is mixed with inlet air, emanation of HC, CO and CO2 decreased without any emission (exhaustion) of smoke while increasing the brake thermal efficiency.

A shrinking hypersphere PSO for engineering optimisation problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadav, Anupam; Deep, Kusum

2016-03-01

Many real-world and engineering design problems can be formulated as constrained optimisation problems (COPs). Swarm intelligence techniques are a good approach to solve COPs. In this paper an efficient shrinking hypersphere-based particle swarm optimisation (SHPSO) algorithm is proposed for constrained optimisation. The proposed SHPSO is designed in such a way that the movement of the particle is set to move under the influence of shrinking hyperspheres. A parameter-free approach is used to handle the constraints. The performance of the SHPSO is compared against the state-of-the-art algorithms for a set of 24 benchmark problems. An exhaustive comparison of the results is provided statistically as well as graphically. Moreover three engineering design problems namely welded beam design, compressed string design and pressure vessel design problems are solved using SHPSO and the results are compared with the state-of-the-art algorithms.

Northwest Tribal Interaction with Washington State University: Research and Education Opportunities Afforded Through the Center for Multiphase Environmental Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rumburg, B.; Yonge, D.; Jacob, J.

2003-12-01

The under-representation of Native Americans in engineering and science at the student and practicing engineer or scientist level is a national problem. To begin addressing this problem Washington State University (WSU) has initiated discussio with local Native American tribes to strengthen the relationship between WSU and the tribes and to improve the educational opportunities available to tribal members. The Center for Multiphase Environmental Research (CMER) received a 1999 National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) grant to train Ph.D. students. The main goal of the program is to foster multidisciplinary research and education for future scientists and engineers in the broad field of study that incorporates the fate and transport of environmentally significant species between interfaces. We are also focused on recruiting and educating Native American students. CMER is committed to cultivating its relationship with Native American tribes by identifying the environmental concerns of the tribes and developing collaborative research efforts utilizing CMER's infrastructure. Through these collaborative projects the CMER hopes to better understand the social and cultural aspects important to the tribes and develop the familiarity needed to effectively enhance student recruitment. This poster highlights the CMER's interdisciplinary research and teaching efforts and focuses on Native American recruitment.

Engineering strategies for the design of plant nutrient delivery systems for use in space: approaches to countering microbiological contamination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gonzales, A. A.; Schuerger, A. C.; Barford, C.; Mitchell, R.

1996-01-01

Microbiological contamination of crops within space-based plant growth research chambers has been postulated as a potentially significant problem. Microbial infestations; fouling of Nutrient Delivery System (NDS) fluid loops; and the formation of biofilms have been suggested as the most obvious and important manifestations of the problem. Strict sanitation and quarantine procedures will reduce, but not eliminate, microbial species introduced into plant growth systems in space habitats. Microorganisms transported into space most likely will occur as surface contaminants on spacecraft components, equipment, the crew, and plant-propagative materials. Illustrations of the potential magnitude of the microbiological contamination issue will be drawn from the literature and from documentation of laboratory and commercial field experience. Engineering strategies for limiting contamination and for the development of countermeasures will be described. Microbiological control technologies and NDS hardware will be discussed. Configurations appropriate for microgravity research facilities, as well as anticipated bio-regenerative life support system implementations, will be explored. An efficiently designed NDS, capable of adequately meeting the environmental needs of crop plants in space, is considered to be critical in both the research and operational domains. Recommended experiments, tests, and technology developments, structured to allow the development of prudent engineering solutions also will be presented.

Engineering Strategies for the Design of Plant Nutrient Delivery Systems for Use in Space: Approaches to Countering Microbiological Contamination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gonzales, A. A.; Schuerger, A. C.; Mitchell, R.; Harper, Lynn D. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

Microbiological contamination of crops within space-based crop growth research chambers has been postulated as a potentially significant problem. Microbial infestations; fouling of Nutrient Delivery System (NDS) fluid loops; and the formation of biofilms, have been suggested as the most obvious and important manifestations of the problem. Strict sanitation and quarantine procedures will reduce, but not eliminate, microbial species introduced into plant growing systems in space habitats. Microorganisms transported into space will most likely occur as contaminants on spacecraft components, equipment, the crew, and plant-propagative materials. Illustrations of the potential magnitude of the microbiological contamination issue will be drawn from the literature and from documentation of laboratory and commercial field experience. Engineering strategies for limiting contamination and for the development of countermeasures will be described. Microbiological control technologies and NDS hardware will be discussed. Configurations appropriate for microgravity research facilities, as well as anticipated bio-regenerative life support system implementations, will be explored. An efficiently designed NDS, capable of adequately meeting the environmental needs of crop plants in space, is considered to be critical in both the research and operational domains. Recommended experiments, tests and technology developments, structured to allow the development of prudent engineering solutions, will also be presented.

Fault Diagnosis of Internal Combustion Engine Valve Clearance Using the Impact Commencement Detection Method

PubMed Central

Jiang, Zhinong; Wang, Zijia; Zhang, Jinjie

2017-01-01

Internal combustion engines (ICEs) are widely used in many important fields. The valve train clearance of an ICE usually exceeds the normal value due to wear or faulty adjustment. This work aims at diagnosing the valve clearance fault based on the vibration signals measured on the engine cylinder heads. The non-stationarity of the ICE operating condition makes it difficult to obtain the nominal baseline, which is always an awkward problem for fault diagnosis. This paper overcomes the problem by inspecting the timing of valve closing impacts, of which the referenced baseline can be obtained by referencing design parameters rather than extraction during healthy conditions. To accurately detect the timing of valve closing impact from vibration signals, we carry out a new method to detect and extract the commencement of the impacts. The results of experiments conducted on a twelve-cylinder ICE test rig show that the approach is capable of extracting the commencement of valve closing impact accurately and using only one feature can give a superior monitoring of valve clearance. With the help of this technique, the valve clearance fault becomes detectable even without the comparison to the baseline, and the changing trend of the clearance could be trackable. PMID:29244722

Design study of RL10 derivatives. Volume 3, part 2: Operational and flight support plan. [analysis of transportation requirements for rocket engine in support of space tug program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shubert, W. C.

1973-01-01

Transportation requirements are considered during the engine design layout reviews and maintenance engineering analyses. Where designs cannot be influenced to avoid transportation problems, the transportation representative is advised of the problems permitting remedies early in the program. The transportation representative will monitor and be involved in the shipment of development engine and GSE hardware between FRDC and vehicle manufacturing plant and thereby will be provided an early evaluation of the transportation plans, methods and procedures to be used in the space tug support program. Unanticipated problems discovered in the shipment of development hardware will be known early enough to permit changes in packaging designs and transportation plans before the start of production hardware and engine shipments. All conventional transport media can be used for the movement of space tug engines. However, truck transport is recommended for ready availability, variety of routes, short transit time, and low cost.

Particle trajectory computation on a 3-dimensional engine inlet. Final Report Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, J. J.

1986-01-01

A 3-dimensional particle trajectory computer code was developed to compute the distribution of water droplet impingement efficiency on a 3-dimensional engine inlet. The computed results provide the essential droplet impingement data required for the engine inlet anti-icing system design and analysis. The droplet trajectories are obtained by solving the trajectory equation using the fourth order Runge-Kutta and Adams predictor-corrector schemes. A compressible 3-D full potential flow code is employed to obtain a cylindrical grid definition of the flowfield on and about the engine inlet. The inlet surface is defined mathematically through a system of bi-cubic parametric patches in order to compute the droplet impingement points accurately. Analysis results of the 3-D trajectory code obtained for an axisymmetric droplet impingement problem are in good agreement with NACA experimental data. Experimental data are not yet available for the engine inlet impingement problem analyzed. Applicability of the method to solid particle impingement problems, such as engine sand ingestion, is also demonstrated.

Piloted simulation study of the effects of an automated trim system on flight characteristics of a light twin-engine airplane with one engine inoperative

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, E. C.; Brown, P. W.; Yenni, K. R.

1986-01-01

A simulation study was conducted to investigate the piloting problems associated with failure of an engine on a generic light twin-engine airplane. A primary piloting problem for a light twin-engine airplane after an engine failure is maintaining precise control of the airplane in the presence of large steady control forces. To address this problem, a simulated automatic trim system which drives the trim tabs as an open-loop function of propeller slipstream measurements was developed. The simulated automatic trim system was found to greatly increase the controllability in asymmetric powered flight without having to resort to complex control laws or an irreversible control system. However, the trim-tab control rates needed to produce the dramatic increase in controllability may require special design consideration for automatic trim system failures. Limited measurements obtained in full-scale flight tests confirmed the fundamental validity of the proposed control law.

Adaptive LES Methodology for Turbulent Flow Simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oleg V. Vasilyev

2008-06-12

Although turbulent flows are common in the world around us, a solution to the fundamental equations that govern turbulence still eludes the scientific community. Turbulence has often been called one of the last unsolved problem in classical physics, yet it is clear that the need to accurately predict the effect of turbulent flows impacts virtually every field of science and engineering. As an example, a critical step in making modern computational tools useful in designing aircraft is to be able to accurately predict the lift, drag, and other aerodynamic characteristics in numerical simulations in a reasonable amount of time. Simulationsmore » that take months to years to complete are much less useful to the design cycle. Much work has been done toward this goal (Lee-Rausch et al. 2003, Jameson 2003) and as cost effective accurate tools for simulating turbulent flows evolve, we will all benefit from new scientific and engineering breakthroughs. The problem of simulating high Reynolds number (Re) turbulent flows of engineering and scientific interest would have been solved with the advent of Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) techniques if unlimited computing power, memory, and time could be applied to each particular problem. Yet, given the current and near future computational resources that exist and a reasonable limit on the amount of time an engineer or scientist can wait for a result, the DNS technique will not be useful for more than 'unit' problems for the foreseeable future (Moin & Kim 1997, Jimenez & Moin 1991). The high computational cost for the DNS of three dimensional turbulent flows results from the fact that they have eddies of significant energy in a range of scales from the characteristic length scale of the flow all the way down to the Kolmogorov length scale. The actual cost of doing a three dimensional DNS scales as Re{sup 9/4} due to the large disparity in scales that need to be fully resolved. State-of-the-art DNS calculations of isotropic turbulence have recently been completed at the Japanese Earth Simulator (Yokokawa et al. 2002, Kaneda et al. 2003) using a resolution of 40963 (approximately 10{sup 11}) grid points with a Taylor-scale Reynolds number of 1217 (Re {approx} 10{sup 6}). Impressive as these calculations are, performed on one of the world's fastest super computers, more brute computational power would be needed to simulate the flow over the fuselage of a commercial aircraft at cruising speed. Such a calculation would require on the order of 10{sup 16} grid points and would have a Reynolds number in the range of 108. Such a calculation would take several thousand years to simulate one minute of flight time on today's fastest super computers (Moin & Kim 1997). Even using state-of-the-art zonal approaches, which allow DNS calculations that resolve the necessary range of scales within predefined 'zones' in the flow domain, this calculation would take far too long for the result to be of engineering interest when it is finally obtained. Since computing power, memory, and time are all scarce resources, the problem of simulating turbulent flows has become one of how to abstract or simplify the complexity of the physics represented in the full Navier-Stokes (NS) equations in such a way that the 'important' physics of the problem is captured at a lower cost. To do this, a portion of the modes of the turbulent flow field needs to be approximated by a low order model that is cheaper than the full NS calculation. This model can then be used along with a numerical simulation of the 'important' modes of the problem that cannot be well represented by the model. The decision of what part of the physics to model and what kind of model to use has to be based on what physical properties are considered 'important' for the problem. It should be noted that 'nothing is free', so any use of a low order model will by definition lose some information about the original flow.« less

Mining method selection by integrated AHP and PROMETHEE method.

PubMed

Bogdanovic, Dejan; Nikolic, Djordje; Ilic, Ivana

2012-03-01

Selecting the best mining method among many alternatives is a multicriteria decision making problem. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the implementation of an integrated approach that employs AHP and PROMETHEE together for selecting the most suitable mining method for the "Coka Marin" underground mine in Serbia. The related problem includes five possible mining methods and eleven criteria to evaluate them. Criteria are accurately chosen in order to cover the most important parameters that impact on the mining method selection, such as geological and geotechnical properties, economic parameters and geographical factors. The AHP is used to analyze the structure of the mining method selection problem and to determine weights of the criteria, and PROMETHEE method is used to obtain the final ranking and to make a sensitivity analysis by changing the weights. The results have shown that the proposed integrated method can be successfully used in solving mining engineering problems.

Demanded competences in the agricultural engineering sector in Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perdigones, A.; García, J. L.; Benavente, R. M.; Tarquis, A. M.

2009-04-01

An engineering education should prepare students, i.e., emerging engineers, to use problem-solving processes that combine creativity and imagination with rigour and discipline. The emphasis on training engineers may be best placed on answering the needs of industry; indeed, many proposals are now being made to try to reduce the gap between the educational and industrial communities. Training in the use of certain skills or competences may be one way of better preparing engineering undergraduates for eventual employment in industry. However, industry's needs in this respect must first be known. The aim of this work was to determine which skills are used by practising agricultural engineers with the aim of incorporating training in their use into our department's teaching curriculum. Three surveys were undertaken to determine which skills are demanded by agricultural engineers in their professional activities in Spain. Surveys were carried out by the Department of Rural Engineering, Technical University of Madrid (Spain), analysing two related degrees (agricultural engineer with a duration of the study plan of three and five years, respectively) during the courses 2006/07 and 2007/08. The first survey determined the competences acquired by the students along their academic studies (371 students interviewed). The second survey determined the skills demanded by the enterprises of the agricultural sector (50 enterprises interviewed). The third survey determined the skills demanded by the agricultural engineers working in the sector (70 engineers interviewed), specifically asking about the computer programs used by practising agricultural engineers. Surveys showed important differences between the competences demanded by the enterprises and the competences acquired by the students at the university. Enterprises mainly demanded general competences (team working, time organizing, and skills with computer programs) and were less interested in specific technical skills (engineering, economy, biological competences). These differences suggest it might be a good idea to increase the amount of time devoted to the skills demanded by the enterprises. The software packages most commonly used by practising engineers were Microsoft Office / Excel (used by 79% of respondents) and CAD (56%), as well as budgeting (27%), statistical (21%), engineering (15%) and GIS (13%) programs. As a result of this survey our university department opened an additional computer suite in order to provide students practical experience in the use of the demanded competences. The results of this survey underline the importance of competence training in this and perhaps other fields of engineering.

Description of the NACA Universal Test Engine and Some Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ware, Marsden

1927-01-01

This report describes the 5-inch bore by 7-inch stroke single cylinder test engine used at the Langley Field Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in laboratory research on internal-combustion engine problems and presents some results of tests made therewith. The engine is arranged for variation over wide ranges, of the compression ratio and lift and timing of both inlet and exhaust valves while the engine is in operation. Provision is also made for the connection of a number of auxiliaries. These features tend to make the engine universal in character, and especially suited for the study of certain problems involving change in compression ratio, valve timing, and lift.

Facilitating Open-Ended Problem Solving: Training Engineering TAs To Facilitate Open-Ended Problem Solving.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Streveler, Ruth A.; King, Robert H.

2000-01-01

Describes and evaluates a four-session training program for Multidisciplinary Engineering Laboratory (MEL) teaching assistants at the Colorado School of Mines. The sessions focus attention on student development approaches to learning. (EV)

Volterra-series-based nonlinear system modeling and its engineering applications: A state-of-the-art review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, C. M.; Peng, Z. K.; Zhang, W. M.; Meng, G.

2017-03-01

Nonlinear problems have drawn great interest and extensive attention from engineers, physicists and mathematicians and many other scientists because most real systems are inherently nonlinear in nature. To model and analyze nonlinear systems, many mathematical theories and methods have been developed, including Volterra series. In this paper, the basic definition of the Volterra series is recapitulated, together with some frequency domain concepts which are derived from the Volterra series, including the general frequency response function (GFRF), the nonlinear output frequency response function (NOFRF), output frequency response function (OFRF) and associated frequency response function (AFRF). The relationship between the Volterra series and other nonlinear system models and nonlinear problem solving methods are discussed, including the Taylor series, Wiener series, NARMAX model, Hammerstein model, Wiener model, Wiener-Hammerstein model, harmonic balance method, perturbation method and Adomian decomposition. The challenging problems and their state of arts in the series convergence study and the kernel identification study are comprehensively introduced. In addition, a detailed review is then given on the applications of Volterra series in mechanical engineering, aeroelasticity problem, control engineering, electronic and electrical engineering.

Welding As Science: Applying Basic Engineering Principles to the Discipline

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nunes, A. C., Jr.

2010-01-01

This Technical Memorandum provides sample problems illustrating ways in which basic engineering science has been applied to the discipline of welding. Perhaps inferences may be drawn regarding optimal approaches to particular welding problems, as well as for the optimal education for welding engineers. Perhaps also some readers may be attracted to the science(s) of welding and may make worthwhile contributions to the discipline.

Gender Bias and Caste Exclusion in Engineering Admission: Inferences from the Engineering Entrance Examination in Kerala

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajasenan, D.

2014-01-01

The major problem of the engineering entrance examination is the exclusion of certain sections of the society in social, economic, regional and gender dimensions. This has seldom been taken for analysis towards policy correction. To lessen this problem a minor policy shift was prepared in the year 2011 with a 50-50 proportion in academic marks and…

Teaching Design in the First Years of a Traditional Mechanical Engineering Degree: Methods, Issues and Future Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silva, Arlindo; Fontul, Mihail; Henriques, Elsa

2015-01-01

Engineering design is known as an answer to an ill-defined problem. As any answer to an ill-defined problem, it can never be completely right or absolutely wrong. The methods that universities use to teach engineering design, as a consequence of this, suffer from the same fate. However, the accumulated experience with the "chalk and…

Diesel fuel detergent additive performance and assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vincent, M.W.; Papachristos, M.J.; Williams, D.

Diesel fuel detergent additives are increasingly linked with high quality automotive diesel fuels. Both in Europe and in the USA, field problems associated with fuel injector coking or fouling have been experienced. In Europe indirect injection (IDI) light duty engines used in passenger cars were affected, while in the USA, a direct injection (DI) engine in heavy duty truck applications experienced field problems. In both cases, a fuel additive detergent performance test has evolved using an engine linked with the original field problem, although engine design modifications employed by the manufacturers have ensured improved operation in service. Increasing awareness ofmore » the potential for injector nozzle coking to cause deterioration in engine performance is coupled with a need to meet ever more stringent exhaust emissions legislation. These two requirements indicate that the use of detergency additives will continue to be associated with high quality diesel fuels. The paper examines detergency performance evaluated in a range of IDI and DI engines and correlates performance in the two most widely recognised test engines, namely the Peugeot 1.9 litre IDI, and Cummins L10 DI engines. 17 refs., 18 figs., 5 tabs.« less

Engineering a lunar photolithoautotroph to thrive on the moon - life or simulacrum?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellery, A. A.

2018-07-01

Recent work in developing self-replicating machines has approached the problem as an engineering problem, using engineering materials and methods to implement an engineering analogue of a hitherto uniquely biological function. The question is - can anything be learned that might be relevant to an astrobiological context in which the problem is to determine the general form of biology independent of the Earth. Compared with other non-terrestrial biology disciplines, engineered life is more demanding. Engineering a self-replicating machine tackles real environments unlike artificial life which avoids the problem of physical instantiation altogether by examining software models. Engineering a self-replicating machine is also more demanding than synthetic biology as no library of functional components exists. Everything must be constructed de novo. Biological systems already have the capacity to self-replicate but no engineered machine has yet been constructed with the same ability - this is our primary goal. On the basis of the von Neumann analysis of self-replication, self-replication is a by-product of universal construction capability - a universal constructor is a machine that can construct anything (in a functional sense) given the appropriate instructions (DNA/RNA), energy (ATP) and materials (food). In the biological cell, the universal construction mechanism is the ribosome. The ribosome is a biological assembly line for constructing proteins while DNA constitutes a design specification. For a photoautotroph, the energy source is ambient and the food is inorganic. We submit that engineering a self-replicating machine opens up new areas of astrobiology to be explored in the limits of life.

Cardiovascular tissue engineering: where we come from and where are we now?

PubMed

Smit, Francis E; Dohmen, Pascal M

2015-01-27

Abstract Tissue engineering was introduced by Vacanti and Langer in the 80's, exploring the potential of this new technology starting with the well-known "human ear on the mouse back". The goal is to create a substitute which supplies an individual therapy for patients with regeneration, remodeling and growth potential. The growth potential of these subjects is of special interest in congenital cardiac surgery, avoiding repeated interventions and surgery. Initial applications of tissue engineered created substitutes were relatively simple cardiovascular grafts seeded initially by end-differentiated autologous endothelial cells. Important data were collected from these initial clinical autologous endothelial cell seeded grafts in peripheral and coronary vessel disease. After these initial successfully implantation bone marrow cell were used to seed patches and pulmonary conduits were implanted in patients. Driven by the positive results of tissue engineered material implanted under low pressure circumstances, first tissue engineered patches were implanted in the systemic circulation followed by the implantation of tissue engineered aortic heart valves. Tissue engineering is an extreme dynamic technology with continuously modifications and improvements to optimize clinical products. New technologies are unified and so this has also be done with tissue engineering and new application features, so called transcatheter valve intervention. First studies are initiated to apply tissue engineered heart valves with this new transcatheter delivery system less invasive. Simultaneously studies have been started on tissue engineering of so-called whole organs since organ transplantation is restricted due to donor shortage and tissue engineering could overcome this problem. Initial studies of whole heart engineering in the rat model are promising and larger size models are initiated.

Problem Based Learning for engineering.

PubMed

Kumar, Dinesh; Radcliffe, Pj

2017-07-01

the role of Problem Based Learning (PBL) is relative clear in domains such as medicine but its efficacy in engineering is as yet less certain. To clarify the role of PBL in engineering, a 3 day workshop was conducted for senior Brazilian engineering academics where they were given the theory and then an immersive PBL experience. One major purpose for running this workshop was for them to identify suitable courses where PBL could be considered. During this workshop, they were split in teams and given a diverse range of problems. At the conclusion of the workshop, a quantifiable survey was conducted and the results show that PBL can deliver superior educational outcomes providing the student group is drawn from the top 5% of the year 12 students, and that significantly higher resources are made available. Thus, any proposed PBL program in engineering must be able to demonstrate that it can meet these requirements before it can move forward to implementation.

Simulation Environment Synchronizing Real Equipment for Manufacturing Cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inukai, Toshihiro; Hibino, Hironori; Fukuda, Yoshiro

Recently, manufacturing industries face various problems such as shorter product life cycle, more diversified customer needs. In this situation, it is very important to reduce lead-time of manufacturing system constructions. At the manufacturing system implementation stage, it is important to make and evaluate facility control programs for a manufacturing cell, such as ladder programs for programmable logical controllers (PLCs) rapidly. However, before the manufacturing systems are implemented, methods to evaluate the facility control programs for the equipment while mixing and synchronizing real equipment and virtual factory models on the computers have not been developed. This difficulty is caused by the complexity of the manufacturing system composed of a great variety of equipment, and stopped precise and rapid support of a manufacturing engineering process. In this paper, a manufacturing engineering environment (MEE) to support manufacturing engineering processes using simulation technologies is proposed. MEE consists of a manufacturing cell simulation environment (MCSE) and a distributed simulation environment (DSE). MCSE, which consists of a manufacturing cell simulator and a soft-wiring system, is emphatically proposed in detail. MCSE realizes making and evaluating facility control programs by using virtual factory models on computers before manufacturing systems are implemented.

The Study of Philosophy in Innovative Power Engineering Post-graduate Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sokolova, J. V.

2017-11-01

Training of highly qualified personnel for the innovative high-tech fields of power engineering is one of the most important tasks of modern education. A number of special features of modern power engineering necessitate not only a highly specialized training but a wider approach in teaching postgraduate students of this field. These special features include a high degree of integration of science, industry, economic and social spheres, and the breadth of interdisciplinary connections in high-tech industries. The postgraduate philosophical training plays an important role in the educational process. The breadth of the problem field and the universality of philosophical knowledge reveal the methods and mechanisms of integration of such sub-disciplines that have significant methodological and structural differences: science, logical-mathematical, socio-economic, technological and human knowledge. Appeal to the philosophy at the stage of postgraduate training has a number of reasons. First of all, it is aimed at integrating of the specific content of different areas of knowledge into a holistic worldview. Secondly, it contributes in developing a critical attitude towards reality and science. What is more, the study of philosophy helps young researches to acquire the definition of their ideological position.

Periodontal tissue engineering strategies based on nonoral stem cells.

PubMed

Requicha, João Filipe; Viegas, Carlos Alberto; Muñoz, Fernando; Reis, Rui Luís; Gomes, Manuela Estima

2014-01-01

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disease which constitutes an important health problem in humans due to its enormous prevalence and life threatening implications on systemic health. Routine standard periodontal treatments include gingival flaps, root planning, application of growth/differentiation factors or filler materials and guided tissue regeneration. However, these treatments have come short on achieving regeneration ad integrum of the periodontium, mainly due to the presence of tissues from different embryonic origins and their complex interactions along the regenerative process. Tissue engineering (TE) aims to regenerate damaged tissue by providing the repair site with a suitable scaffold seeded with sufficient undifferentiated cells and, thus, constitutes a valuable alternative to current therapies for the treatment of periodontal defects. Stem cells from oral and dental origin are known to have potential to regenerate these tissues. Nevertheless, harvesting cells from these sites implies a significant local tissue morbidity and low cell yield, as compared to other anatomical sources of adult multipotent stem cells. This manuscript reviews studies describing the use of non-oral stem cells in tissue engineering strategies, highlighting the importance and potential of these alternative stem cells sources in the development of advanced therapies for periodontal regeneration. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Tool and Fixture Design

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Graham, Mark W.

2015-07-28

In a manufacturing process, a need is identified and a product is created to fill this need. While design and engineering of the final product is important, the tools and fixtures that aid in the creation of the final product are just as important, if not more so. Power supplies assembled at the TA-55 PF-5 have been designed by an excellent engineering team. The task in PF-5 now is to ensure that all steps of the assembly and manufacturing process can be completed safely, reliably, and in a quality repeatable manner. One of these process steps involves soldering fine wiresmore » to an electrical connector. During the process development phase, the method of soldering included placing the power supply in a vice in order to manipulate it into a position conducive to soldering. This method is unacceptable from a reliability, repeatability, and ergonomic standpoint. To combat these issues, a fixture was designed to replace the current method. To do so, a twelve step engineering design process was used to create the fixture that would provide a solution to a multitude of problems, and increase the safety and efficiency of production.« less

A thermodynamically general theory for convective vortices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Renno, Nilton O.

2008-08-01

Convective vortices are common features of atmospheres that absorb lower-entropy-energy at higher temperatures than they reject higher-entropy-energy to space. These vortices range from small to large-scale and play an important role in the vertical transport of heat, momentum, and tracer species. Thus, the development of theoretical models for convective vortices is important to our understanding of some of the basic features of planetary atmospheres. The heat engine framework is a useful tool for studying convective vortices. However, current theories assume that convective vortices are reversible heat engines. Since there are questions about how reversible real atmospheric heat engines are, their usefulness for studying real atmospheric vortices is somewhat controversial. In order to reduce this problem, a theory for convective vortices that includes irreversible processes is proposed. The paper's main result is that the proposed theory provides an expression for the pressure drop along streamlines that includes the effects of irreversible processes. It is shown that a simplified version of this expression is a generalization of Bernoulli's equation to convective circulations. It is speculated that the proposed theory not only explains the intensity, but also sheds light on other basic features of convective vortices such as their physical appearance.

From magic to technology: materials integration by wafer bonding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dragoi, Viorel

2006-02-01

Wafer bonding became in the last decade a very powerful technology for MEMS/MOEMS manufacturing. Being able to offer a solution to overcome some problems of the standard processes used for materials integration (e.g. epitaxy, thin films deposition), wafer bonding is nowadays considered an important item in the MEMS engineer toolbox. Different principles governing the wafer bonding processes will be reviewed in this paper. Various types of applications will be presented as examples.

Geosynthetics in geoenvironmental engineering

PubMed Central

Müller, Werner W; Saathoff, Fokke

2015-01-01

Geosynthetics are planar polymeric products, which are used in connection with soil, rock or other soil-like materials to fulfill various functions in geoenvironmental engineering. Geosynthetics are of ever-growing importance in the construction industry. Sealing of waste storage facilities to safely prevent the emission of wastewater, landfill gas and contaminated dust as well as the diffusion of pollutants into the environment and coastal protection against storms and floods and reconstruction after natural disaster are important fields of application. We will give an overview of the various geosynthetic products. Two examples of the material problems related to geosynthetics are discussed in detail: the effect of creep on the long-term performance of geocomposite drains and the numerical simulation of the interaction of soil with geogrids. Both issues are of importance for the use of these products in landfill capping systems. The various functions, which geosynthetics may fulfill in the protection of coastal lines, are illustrated by case studies. The geosynthetic market is evaluated and economical and environmental benefits, as well as environmental side effects related to the use of geosynthetics, are discussed. PMID:27877792

Geosynthetics in geoenvironmental engineering.

PubMed

Müller, Werner W; Saathoff, Fokke

2015-06-01

Geosynthetics are planar polymeric products, which are used in connection with soil, rock or other soil-like materials to fulfill various functions in geoenvironmental engineering. Geosynthetics are of ever-growing importance in the construction industry. Sealing of waste storage facilities to safely prevent the emission of wastewater, landfill gas and contaminated dust as well as the diffusion of pollutants into the environment and coastal protection against storms and floods and reconstruction after natural disaster are important fields of application. We will give an overview of the various geosynthetic products. Two examples of the material problems related to geosynthetics are discussed in detail: the effect of creep on the long-term performance of geocomposite drains and the numerical simulation of the interaction of soil with geogrids. Both issues are of importance for the use of these products in landfill capping systems. The various functions, which geosynthetics may fulfill in the protection of coastal lines, are illustrated by case studies. The geosynthetic market is evaluated and economical and environmental benefits, as well as environmental side effects related to the use of geosynthetics, are discussed.

Wildland fire management. Volume 1: Prevention methods and analysis. [systems engineering approach to California fire problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weissenberger, S. (Editor)

1973-01-01

A systems engineering approach is reported for the problem of reducing the number and severity of California's wildlife fires. Prevention methodologies are reviewed and cost benefit models are developed for making preignition decisions.

Selection of software for mechanical engineering undergraduates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cheah, C. T.; Yin, C. S.; Halim, T.

A major problem with the undergraduate mechanical course is the limited exposure of students to software packages coupled with the long learning curve on the existing software packages. This work proposes the use of appropriate software packages for the entire mechanical engineering curriculum to ensure students get sufficient exposure real life design problems. A variety of software packages are highlighted as being suitable for undergraduate work in mechanical engineering, e.g. simultaneous non-linear equations; uncertainty analysis; 3-D modeling software with the FEA; analysis tools for the solution of problems in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, mechanical system design, and solid mechanics.

Instructional Design Issues in a Distributed Collaborative Engineering Design (CED) Instructional Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koszalka, Tiffany A.; Wu, Yiyan

2010-01-01

Changes in engineering practices have spawned changes in engineering education and prompted the use of distributed learning environments. A distributed collaborative engineering design (CED) course was designed to engage engineering students in learning about and solving engineering design problems. The CED incorporated an advanced interactive…

A proposal to encourage intuitive learning in a senior-level analogue electronics course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berjano, E.; Lozano-Nieto, A.

2011-05-01

One of the most important issues in the reorganisation of engineering education is to consider new pedagogical techniques to help students develop skills and an adaptive expertise. This expertise consists of being able to recognise the nature of a problem intuitively, and also recognising recurring patterns in different types of problems. In the particular case of analogue electronics, an additional difficulty seems to be that understanding involves both analytic skills and an intuitive grasp of circuit characteristics. This paper presents a proposal to help senior students to think intuitively in order to identify the common issue involved in a group of problems of analogue electronics and build an abstract concept based on, for example, a theory or a mathematical model in order to use it to solve future problems. The preliminary results suggest that this proposal could be useful to promote intuitive reasoning in analogue electronics courses. The experience would later be useful to graduates in analytically solving new types of problems or in designing new electronic circuits.

Weaving a Formal Methods Education with Problem-Based Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gibson, J. Paul

The idea of weaving formal methods through computing (or software engineering) degrees is not a new one. However, there has been little success in developing and implementing such a curriculum. Formal methods continue to be taught as stand-alone modules and students, in general, fail to see how fundamental these methods are to the engineering of software. A major problem is one of motivation — how can the students be expected to enthusiastically embrace a challenging subject when the learning benefits, beyond passing an exam and achieving curriculum credits, are not clear? Problem-based learning has gradually moved from being an innovative pedagogique technique, commonly used to better-motivate students, to being widely adopted in the teaching of many different disciplines, including computer science and software engineering. Our experience shows that a good problem can be re-used throughout a student's academic life. In fact, the best computing problems can be used with children (young and old), undergraduates and postgraduates. In this paper we present a process for weaving formal methods through a University curriculum that is founded on the application of problem-based learning and a library of good software engineering problems, where students learn about formal methods without sitting a traditional formal methods module. The process of constructing good problems and integrating them into the curriculum is shown to be analagous to the process of engineering software. This approach is not intended to replace more traditional formal methods modules: it will better prepare students for such specialised modules and ensure that all students have an understanding and appreciation for formal methods even if they do not go on to specialise in them.

Engineering mechanics: statics and dynamics. [Textbook

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sandor, B.I.

1983-01-01

The purpose of this textbook is to provide engineering students with basic learning material about statics and dynamics which are fundamental engineering subjects. The chapters contain information on: an introduction to engineering mechanics; forces on particles, rigid bodies, and structures; kinetics of particles, particle systems, and rigid bodies in motion; kinematics; mechanical vibrations; and friction, work, moments of inertia, and potential energy. Each chapter contains introductory material, the development of the essential equations, worked-out example problems, homework problems, and, finally, summaries of the essential methods and equations, graphically illustrated where appropriate. (LCL)

Evaluation of creative problem-solving abilities in undergraduate structural engineers through interdisciplinary problem-based learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCrum, Daniel Patrick

2017-11-01

For a structural engineer, effective communication and interaction with architects cannot be underestimated as a key skill to success throughout their professional career. Structural engineers and architects have to share a common language and understanding of each other in order to achieve the most desirable architectural and structural designs. This interaction and engagement develops during their professional career but needs to be nurtured during their undergraduate studies. The objective of this paper is to present the strategies employed to engage higher order thinking in structural engineering students in order to help them solve complex problem-based learning (PBL) design scenarios presented by architecture students. The strategies employed were applied in the experimental setting of an undergraduate module in structural engineering at Queen's University Belfast in the UK. The strategies employed were active learning to engage with content knowledge, the use of physical conceptual structural models to reinforce key concepts and finally, reinforcing the need for hand sketching of ideas to promote higher order problem-solving. The strategies employed were evaluated through student survey, student feedback and module facilitator (this author) reflection. The strategies were qualitatively perceived by the tutor and quantitatively evaluated by students in a cross-sectional study to help interaction with the architecture students, aid interdisciplinary learning and help students creatively solve problems (through higher order thinking). The students clearly enjoyed this module and in particular interacting with structural engineering tutors and students from another discipline.

A Comparative Study of Optimization Algorithms for Engineering Synthesis.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-03-01

the ADS program demonstrates the flexibility a design engineer would have in selecting an optimization algorithm best suited to solve a particular...demonstrates the flexibility a design engineer would have in selecting an optimization algorithm best suited to solve a particular problem. 4 TABLE OF...algorithm to suit a particular problem. The ADS library of design optimization algorithms was . developed by Vanderplaats in response to the first

Lessons Learned During Solutions of Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patnaik, Suna N.; Coroneos, Rula M.; Hopkins, Dale A.; Lavelle, Thomas M.

2000-01-01

Optimization research at NASA Glenn Research Center has addressed the design of structures, aircraft and airbreathing propulsion engines. During solution of the multidisciplinary problems several issues were encountered. This paper lists four issues and discusses the strategies adapted for their resolution: (1) The optimization process can lead to an inefficient local solution. This deficiency was encountered during design of an engine component. The limitation was overcome through an augmentation of animation into optimization. (2) Optimum solutions obtained were infeasible for aircraft and air-breathing propulsion engine problems. Alleviation of this deficiency required a cascading of multiple algorithms. (3) Profile optimization of a beam produced an irregular shape. Engineering intuition restored the regular shape for the beam. (4) The solution obtained for a cylindrical shell by a subproblem strategy converged to a design that can be difficult to manufacture. Resolution of this issue remains a challenge. The issues and resolutions are illustrated through six problems: (1) design of an engine component, (2) synthesis of a subsonic aircraft, (3) operation optimization of a supersonic engine, (4) design of a wave-rotor-topping device, (5) profile optimization of a cantilever beam, and (6) design of a cvlindrical shell. The combined effort of designers and researchers can bring the optimization method from academia to industry.

Numerical Problem Solving Using Mathcad in Undergraduate Reaction Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parulekar, Satish J.

2006-01-01

Experience in using a user-friendly software, Mathcad, in the undergraduate chemical reaction engineering course is discussed. Example problems considered for illustration deal with simultaneous solution of linear algebraic equations (kinetic parameter estimation), nonlinear algebraic equations (equilibrium calculations for multiple reactions and…

Engineering central metabolism - a grand challenge for plant biologists.

PubMed

Sweetlove, Lee J; Nielsen, Jens; Fernie, Alisdair R

2017-05-01

The goal of increasing crop productivity and nutrient-use efficiency is being addressed by a number of ambitious research projects seeking to re-engineer photosynthetic biochemistry. Many of these projects will require the engineering of substantial changes in fluxes of central metabolism. However, as has been amply demonstrated in simpler systems such as microbes, central metabolism is extremely difficult to rationally engineer. This is because of multiple layers of regulation that operate to maintain metabolic steady state and because of the highly connected nature of central metabolism. In this review we discuss new approaches for metabolic engineering that have the potential to address these problems and dramatically improve the success with which we can rationally engineer central metabolism in plants. In particular, we advocate the adoption of an iterative 'design-build-test-learn' cycle using fast-to-transform model plants as test beds. This approach can be realised by coupling new molecular tools to incorporate multiple transgenes in nuclear and plastid genomes with computational modelling to design the engineering strategy and to understand the metabolic phenotype of the engineered organism. We also envisage that mutagenesis could be used to fine-tune the balance between the endogenous metabolic network and the introduced enzymes. Finally, we emphasise the importance of considering the plant as a whole system and not isolated organs: the greatest increase in crop productivity will be achieved if both source and sink metabolism are engineered. © 2016 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

solveTruss v1.0: Static, global buckling and frequency analysis of 2D and 3D trusses with Mathematica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozbasaran, Hakan

Trusses have an important place amongst engineering structures due to many advantages such as high structural efficiency, fast assembly and easy maintenance. Iterative truss design procedures, which require analysis of a large number of candidate structural systems such as size, shape and topology optimization with stochastic methods, mostly lead the engineer to establish a link between the development platform and external structural analysis software. By increasing number of structural analyses, this (probably slow-response) link may climb to the top of the list of performance issues. This paper introduces a software for static, global member buckling and frequency analysis of 2D and 3D trusses to overcome this problem for Mathematica users.

Proceedings: Workshop on the Need for Lightning Observations from Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Christensen, L. S. (Editor); Frost, W. (Editor); Vaughan, W. W. (Editor)

1979-01-01

The results of the Workshop on the Need for Lightning Observations from Space held February 13-15, 1979, at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, Tullahoma, Tennessee are presented. The interest and active involvement by the engineering, operational, and scientific participants in the workshop demonstrated that lightning observations from space is a goal well worth pursuing. The unique contributions, measurement requirements, and supportive research investigations were defined for a number of important applications. Lightning has a significant role in atmospheric processes and needs to be systematically investigated. Satellite instrumentation specifically designed for indicating the characteristics of lightning are of value in severe storms research, in engineering and operational problem areas, and in providing information on atmospheric electricity and its role in meteorological processes.

Occupational ergonomics in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stramler, J.

1992-01-01

Ergonomics is often defined simply as the study of work. Related or synonymous terms include human factors, human engineering, engineering psychology, and others. Occupational ergonomics is a term that has been proposed to describe the study of the working environment, including the physical consequences resulting from having an improperly designed workplace. The routine space working environment presents some problems not found in the typical Earthbound workplace. These include radiation, intravehicular contamination/pollution, temperature extremes, impact with other objects, limited psychosocial relationships, sensory deprivation, and reduced gravity. These are important workplace considerations, and may affect astronauts either directly at work or at some point during their life as a result of their work under these conditions. Some of the major issues associated with each of these hazards are presented.

Systems engineering for very large systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewkowicz, Paul E.

1993-01-01

Very large integrated systems have always posed special problems for engineers. Whether they are power generation systems, computer networks or space vehicles, whenever there are multiple interfaces, complex technologies or just demanding customers, the challenges are unique. 'Systems engineering' has evolved as a discipline in order to meet these challenges by providing a structured, top-down design and development methodology for the engineer. This paper attempts to define the general class of problems requiring the complete systems engineering treatment and to show how systems engineering can be utilized to improve customer satisfaction and profit ability. Specifically, this work will focus on a design methodology for the largest of systems, not necessarily in terms of physical size, but in terms of complexity and interconnectivity.

Systems engineering for very large systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewkowicz, Paul E.

Very large integrated systems have always posed special problems for engineers. Whether they are power generation systems, computer networks or space vehicles, whenever there are multiple interfaces, complex technologies or just demanding customers, the challenges are unique. 'Systems engineering' has evolved as a discipline in order to meet these challenges by providing a structured, top-down design and development methodology for the engineer. This paper attempts to define the general class of problems requiring the complete systems engineering treatment and to show how systems engineering can be utilized to improve customer satisfaction and profit ability. Specifically, this work will focus on a design methodology for the largest of systems, not necessarily in terms of physical size, but in terms of complexity and interconnectivity.

A top-down approach in control engineering third-level teaching: The case of hydrogen-generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setiawan, Eko; Habibi, M. Afnan; Fall, Cheikh; Hodaka, Ichijo

2017-09-01

This paper presents a top-down approach in control engineering third-level teaching. The paper shows the control engineering solution for the issue of practical implementation in order to motivate students. The proposed strategy only focuses on one technique of control engineering to lead student correctly. The proposed teaching steps are 1) defining the problem, 2) listing of acquired knowledge or required skill, 3) selecting of one control engineering technique, 4) arrangement the order of teaching: problem introduction, implementation of control engineering technique, explanation of system block diagram, model derivation, controller design, and 5) enrichment knowledge by the other control techniques. The approach presented highlights hardware implementation and the use of software simulation as a self-learning tool for students.

Ethics and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: The Case for Comprehensive Engineering : Commentary on "Using Student Engagement to Relocate Ethics to the Core of the Engineering Curriculum".

PubMed

van den Hoven, Jeroen

2016-12-27

In the twenty-first century, the urgent problems the world is facing (the UN Sustainable Development Goals) are increasingly related to vast and intricate 'systems of systems', which comprise both socio-technical and eco-systems. In order for engineers to adequately and responsibly respond to these problems, they cannot focus on only one technical or any other aspect in isolation, but must adopt a wider and multidisciplinary perspective of these systems, including an ethical and social perspective. Engineering curricula should therefore focus on what we call 'comprehensive engineering'. Comprehensive engineering implies ethical coherence, consilience of scientific disciplines, and cooperation between parties.

Questioning the Role of Requirements Engineering in the Causes of Safety-Critical Software Failures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, C. W.; Holloway, C. M.

2006-01-01

Many software failures stem from inadequate requirements engineering. This view has been supported both by detailed accident investigations and by a number of empirical studies; however, such investigations can be misleading. It is often difficult to distinguish between failures in requirements engineering and problems elsewhere in the software development lifecycle. Further pitfalls arise from the assumption that inadequate requirements engineering is a cause of all software related accidents for which the system fails to meet its requirements. This paper identifies some of the problems that have arisen from an undue focus on the role of requirements engineering in the causes of major accidents. The intention is to provoke further debate within the emerging field of forensic software engineering.

Reverse engineering and identification in systems biology: strategies, perspectives and challenges.

PubMed

Villaverde, Alejandro F; Banga, Julio R

2014-02-06

The interplay of mathematical modelling with experiments is one of the central elements in systems biology. The aim of reverse engineering is to infer, analyse and understand, through this interplay, the functional and regulatory mechanisms of biological systems. Reverse engineering is not exclusive of systems biology and has been studied in different areas, such as inverse problem theory, machine learning, nonlinear physics, (bio)chemical kinetics, control theory and optimization, among others. However, it seems that many of these areas have been relatively closed to outsiders. In this contribution, we aim to compare and highlight the different perspectives and contributions from these fields, with emphasis on two key questions: (i) why are reverse engineering problems so hard to solve, and (ii) what methods are available for the particular problems arising from systems biology?

Engineering Geodesy - Definition and Core Competencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuhlmann, Heiner; Schwieger, Volker; Wieser, Andreas; Niemeier, Wolfgang

2014-11-01

This article summarises discussions concerning the definition of "engineering geodesy" within the German Geodetic Commission. It is noted that engineering geodesy by means of its tasks, methods and characteristics is an application-oriented science whose research questions often arise from observed phenomena or from unsolved practical problems. In particular it is characterised by the professional handling of geometry-related problems in a cost-effective manner that includes comprehensive quality assessment at all phases of the problem solution - from planning through measurement to data processing and interpretation. The current methodical developments are primarily characterised by the increasing integration of the measurement and analysis into challenging construction, production and monitoring processes as well as by the transition to spatially continuous methods. A modern definition of engineering geodesy is proposed at the end of this article.

Protein–Hydrogel Interactions in Tissue Engineering: Mechanisms and Applications

PubMed Central

Zustiak, Silviya P.; Wei, Yunqian

2013-01-01

Recent advances in our understanding of the sophistication of the cellular microenvironment and the dynamics of tissue remodeling during development, disease, and regeneration have increased our appreciation of the current challenges facing tissue engineering. As this appreciation advances, we are better equipped to approach problems in the biology and therapeutics of even more complex fields, such as stem cells and cancer. To aid in these studies, as well as the established areas of tissue engineering, including cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and neural applications, biomaterials scientists have developed an extensive array of materials with specifically designed chemical, mechanical, and biological properties. Herein, we highlight an important topic within this area of biomaterials research, protein–hydrogel interactions. Due to inherent advantages of hydrated scaffolds for soft tissue engineering as well as specialized bioactivity of proteins and peptides, this field is well-posed to tackle major needs within emerging areas of tissue engineering. We provide an overview of the major modes of interactions between hydrogels and proteins (e.g., weak forces, covalent binding, affinity binding), examples of applications within growth factor delivery and three-dimensional scaffolds, and finally future directions within the area of hydrogel–protein interactions that will advance our ability to control the cell–biomaterial interface. PMID:23150926

Effects of a Problem-Based Learning Program on Engineering Students' Academic Achievements, Skills Development and Attitudes in a Mexican University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polanco, Rodrigo; Calderon, Patricia; Delgado, Franciso

A 3-year follow-up evaluation was conducted of an experimental problem-based learning (PBL) integrated curriculum directed to students of the first 2 years of engineering. The PBL curriculum brought together the contents of physics, mathematics, and computer science courses in a single course in which students worked on real-life problems. In…

Engineering-Based Problem Solving Strategies in AP Calculus: An Investigation into High School Student Performance on Related Rate Free-Response Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thieken, John

2012-01-01

A sample of 127 high school Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus students from two schools was utilized to study the effects of an engineering design-based problem solving strategy on student performance with AP style Related Rate questions and changes in conceptions, beliefs, and influences. The research design followed a treatment-control multiple…

I "Still" Wanna Be an Engineer! Women, Education and the Engineering Profession

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gill, Judith; Sharp, Rhonda; Mills, Julie; Franzway, Suzanne

2008-01-01

Women's low enrolment in post-school engineering degrees continues to be a problem for engineering faculties and the profession generally. A qualitative interview-based study of Australian women engineers across the range of engineering disciplines showed the relevance of success in math and science at school to their enrolling in engineering at…

Inverse problems in the design, modeling and testing of engineering systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alifanov, Oleg M.

1991-01-01

Formulations, classification, areas of application, and approaches to solving different inverse problems are considered for the design of structures, modeling, and experimental data processing. Problems in the practical implementation of theoretical-experimental methods based on solving inverse problems are analyzed in order to identify mathematical models of physical processes, aid in input data preparation for design parameter optimization, help in design parameter optimization itself, and to model experiments, large-scale tests, and real tests of engineering systems.

Renovation of a mechanical engineering senior design class to an industry-tied and team-oriented course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yucheng

2017-11-01

In this work, an industry-based and team-oriented education model was established based on a traditional mechanical engineering (ME) senior design class in order to better prepare future engineers and leaders so as to meet the increasing demand for high-quality engineering graduates. In the renovated curriculum, industry-sponsored projects became the most important course component and critical assessment tool, from which problem-solving skills as well as employability skills of the ME students can be fully developed. Hands-on experiences in finite element analysis (FEA) modelling and simulation were also added into the renovated curriculum to promote the application of FEA on engineering design and assessment. Evaluation of the renovated course was conducted using two instruments and the results have shown that the course made the ME senior students more prepared for their future career and a win-win model was created between the industry partner and the ME programme through it. Impact of the renovated syllabus on Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology goals was discussed. Based on the current progress, a more substantial change is being planned to further improve the effectiveness and practicability of this design course. The renovated course was started to offer to the ME senior students at Mississippi State University.

Reconciliation of Decision-Making Heuristics Based on Decision Trees Topologies and Incomplete Fuzzy Probabilities Sets

PubMed Central

Doubravsky, Karel; Dohnal, Mirko

2015-01-01

Complex decision making tasks of different natures, e.g. economics, safety engineering, ecology and biology, are based on vague, sparse, partially inconsistent and subjective knowledge. Moreover, decision making economists / engineers are usually not willing to invest too much time into study of complex formal theories. They require such decisions which can be (re)checked by human like common sense reasoning. One important problem related to realistic decision making tasks are incomplete data sets required by the chosen decision making algorithm. This paper presents a relatively simple algorithm how some missing III (input information items) can be generated using mainly decision tree topologies and integrated into incomplete data sets. The algorithm is based on an easy to understand heuristics, e.g. a longer decision tree sub-path is less probable. This heuristic can solve decision problems under total ignorance, i.e. the decision tree topology is the only information available. But in a practice, isolated information items e.g. some vaguely known probabilities (e.g. fuzzy probabilities) are usually available. It means that a realistic problem is analysed under partial ignorance. The proposed algorithm reconciles topology related heuristics and additional fuzzy sets using fuzzy linear programming. The case study, represented by a tree with six lotteries and one fuzzy probability, is presented in details. PMID:26158662

Reconciliation of Decision-Making Heuristics Based on Decision Trees Topologies and Incomplete Fuzzy Probabilities Sets.

PubMed

Doubravsky, Karel; Dohnal, Mirko

2015-01-01

Complex decision making tasks of different natures, e.g. economics, safety engineering, ecology and biology, are based on vague, sparse, partially inconsistent and subjective knowledge. Moreover, decision making economists / engineers are usually not willing to invest too much time into study of complex formal theories. They require such decisions which can be (re)checked by human like common sense reasoning. One important problem related to realistic decision making tasks are incomplete data sets required by the chosen decision making algorithm. This paper presents a relatively simple algorithm how some missing III (input information items) can be generated using mainly decision tree topologies and integrated into incomplete data sets. The algorithm is based on an easy to understand heuristics, e.g. a longer decision tree sub-path is less probable. This heuristic can solve decision problems under total ignorance, i.e. the decision tree topology is the only information available. But in a practice, isolated information items e.g. some vaguely known probabilities (e.g. fuzzy probabilities) are usually available. It means that a realistic problem is analysed under partial ignorance. The proposed algorithm reconciles topology related heuristics and additional fuzzy sets using fuzzy linear programming. The case study, represented by a tree with six lotteries and one fuzzy probability, is presented in details.

Engineering Risk Assessment of Space Thruster Challenge Problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathias, Donovan L.; Mattenberger, Christopher J.; Go, Susie

2014-01-01

The Engineering Risk Assessment (ERA) team at NASA Ames Research Center utilizes dynamic models with linked physics-of-failure analyses to produce quantitative risk assessments of space exploration missions. This paper applies the ERA approach to the baseline and extended versions of the PSAM Space Thruster Challenge Problem, which investigates mission risk for a deep space ion propulsion system with time-varying thruster requirements and operations schedules. The dynamic mission is modeled using a combination of discrete and continuous-time reliability elements within the commercially available GoldSim software. Loss-of-mission (LOM) probability results are generated via Monte Carlo sampling performed by the integrated model. Model convergence studies are presented to illustrate the sensitivity of integrated LOM results to the number of Monte Carlo trials. A deterministic risk model was also built for the three baseline and extended missions using the Ames Reliability Tool (ART), and results are compared to the simulation results to evaluate the relative importance of mission dynamics. The ART model did a reasonable job of matching the simulation models for the baseline case, while a hybrid approach using offline dynamic models was required for the extended missions. This study highlighted that state-of-the-art techniques can adequately adapt to a range of dynamic problems.

Evolutionary engineering for industrial microbiology.

PubMed

Vanee, Niti; Fisher, Adam B; Fong, Stephen S

2012-01-01

Superficially, evolutionary engineering is a paradoxical field that balances competing interests. In natural settings, evolution iteratively selects and enriches subpopulations that are best adapted to a particular ecological niche using random processes such as genetic mutation. In engineering desired approaches utilize rational prospective design to address targeted problems. When considering details of evolutionary and engineering processes, more commonality can be found. Engineering relies on detailed knowledge of the problem parameters and design properties in order to predict design outcomes that would be an optimized solution. When detailed knowledge of a system is lacking, engineers often employ algorithmic search strategies to identify empirical solutions. Evolution epitomizes this iterative optimization by continuously diversifying design options from a parental design, and then selecting the progeny designs that represent satisfactory solutions. In this chapter, the technique of applying the natural principles of evolution to engineer microbes for industrial applications is discussed to highlight the challenges and principles of evolutionary engineering.

Lightweight diesel aircraft engines for general aviation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berenyi, S. G.

1983-01-01

Two different engines were studied. The advantages of a diesel to general aviation were reduced to fuel consumption, reduced operating costs, and reduced fire and explosion hazard. There were no ignition mixture control or inlet icing problems. There are fewer controls and no electrical interference problems.

ESA's tools for internal charging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sorensen, J.; Rodgers, D. J.; Ryden, K. A.; Latham, P. M.; Wrenn, G. L.; Levy, L.; Panabiere, G.

2000-06-01

Electrostatic discharges, caused by bulk charging of spacecraft insulating materials, are a major cause of satellite anomalies. A quantitative knowledge of the charge build-up is essential in order to eliminate these problems in the design stage. This is a presentation of ESA's tools to assess whether a given structure is liable to experience electrostatic discharges or not. A study has been made of the physical phenomenon, and an engineering specification has been created to be used to assess a structure for potential discharge problems. The specification has been implemented in a new software DICTAT. The implementation of tests in dedicated facilities is an important part of the specification, and tests have been performed to validate the new tool.

Solving ordinary differential equations by electrical analogy: a multidisciplinary teaching tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanchez Perez, J. F.; Conesa, M.; Alhama, I.

2016-11-01

Ordinary differential equations are the mathematical formulation for a great variety of problems in science and engineering, and frequently, two different problems are equivalent from a mathematical point of view when they are formulated by the same equations. Students acquire the knowledge of how to solve these equations (at least some types of them) using protocols and strict algorithms of mathematical calculation without thinking about the meaning of the equation. The aim of this work is that students learn to design network models or circuits in this way; with simple knowledge of them, students can establish the association of electric circuits and differential equations and their equivalences, from a formal point of view, that allows them to associate knowledge of two disciplines and promote the use of this interdisciplinary approach to address complex problems. Therefore, they learn to use a multidisciplinary tool that allows them to solve these kinds of equations, even students of first course of engineering, whatever the order, grade or type of non-linearity. This methodology has been implemented in numerous final degree projects in engineering and science, e.g., chemical engineering, building engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, architecture, etc. Applications are presented to illustrate the subject of this manuscript.

The acquisition and transfer of knowledge of electrokinetic-hydrodynamics (EKHD) fundamentals: an introductory graduate-level course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pascal, Jennifer; Tíjaro-Rojas, Rocío; Oyanader, Mario A.; Arce, Pedro E.

2017-09-01

Relevant engineering applications, such as bioseparation of proteins and DNA, soil-cleaning, motion of colloidal particles in different media, electrical field-based cancer treatments, and the cleaning of surfaces and coating flows, belongs to the family of 'Applied Field Sensitive Process Technologies' requiring an external field to move solutes in a fluid within a fibrous (or porous) domain. This field incorporates an additional variable that makes the analysis very challenging and can create for the student a number of new problems to solve. A graduate-level course, based on active-learning approaches and High Performance Learning Environments, where transfer of knowledge plays a key role, was designed by the Chemical Engineering Department at Tennessee Technological University. This course, where the fundamentals principles of EKHD were taught to science, engineering and technology students was designed by the Chemical Engineering Department at the Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN. An important number of these students were able to grasp the tools required to advance their research projects that led to numerous technical presentations in professional society meetings and publications in peered-reviewed journals.

Testing foreign language impact on engineering students' scientific problem-solving performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tatzl, Dietmar; Messnarz, Bernd

2013-12-01

This article investigates the influence of English as the examination language on the solution of physics and science problems by non-native speakers in tertiary engineering education. For that purpose, a statistically significant total number of 96 students in four year groups from freshman to senior level participated in a testing experiment in the Degree Programme of Aviation at the FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Austria. Half of each test group were given a set of 12 physics problems described in German, the other half received the same set of problems described in English. It was the goal to test linguistic reading comprehension necessary for scientific problem solving instead of physics knowledge as such. The results imply that written undergraduate English-medium engineering tests and examinations may not require additional examination time or language-specific aids for students who have reached university-entrance proficiency in English as a foreign language.

Similitude design for the vibration problems of plates and shells: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yunpeng; Wang, You; Luo, Zhong; Han, Qingkai; Wang, Deyou

2017-06-01

Similitude design plays a vital role in the analysis of vibration and shock problems encountered in large engineering equipment. Similitude design, including dimensional analysis and governing equation method, is founded on the dynamic similitude theory. This study reviews the application of similitude design methods in engineering practice and summarizes the major achievements of the dynamic similitude theory in structural vibration and shock problems in different fields, including marine structures, civil engineering structures, and large power equipment. This study also reviews the dynamic similitude design methods for thin-walled and composite material plates and shells, including the most recent work published by the authors. Structure sensitivity analysis is used to evaluate the scaling factors to attain accurate distorted scaling laws. Finally, this study discusses the existing problems and the potential of the dynamic similitude theory for the analysis of vibration and shock problems of structures.

Multiscale/Multifunctional Probabilistic Composite Fatigue

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamis, Christos C.

2010-01-01

A multilevel (multiscale/multifunctional) evaluation is demonstrated by applying it to three different sample problems. These problems include the probabilistic evaluation of a space shuttle main engine blade, an engine rotor and an aircraft wing. The results demonstrate that the blade will fail at the highest probability path, the engine two-stage rotor will fail by fracture at the rim and the aircraft wing will fail at 109 fatigue cycles with a probability of 0.9967.

Control of Stirling engine. Simplified, compressible model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plotnikov, P. I.; Sokołowski, J.; Żochowski, A.

2016-06-01

A one-dimensional free boundary problem on a motion of a heavy piston in a tube filled with viscous gas is considered. The system of governing equations and boundary conditions is derived. The obtained system of differential equations can be regarded as a mathematical model of an exterior combustion engine. The existence of a weak solution to this model is proved. The problem of maximization of the total work of the engine is considered.

Developments in REDES: The rocket engine design expert system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davidian, Kenneth O.

1990-01-01

The Rocket Engine Design Expert System (REDES) is being developed at the NASA-Lewis to collect, automate, and perpetuate the existing expertise of performing a comprehensive rocket engine analysis and design. Currently, REDES uses the rigorous JANNAF methodology to analyze the performance of the thrust chamber and perform computational studies of liquid rocket engine problems. The following computer codes were included in REDES: a gas properties program named GASP, a nozzle design program named RAO, a regenerative cooling channel performance evaluation code named RTE, and the JANNAF standard liquid rocket engine performance prediction code TDK (including performance evaluation modules ODE, ODK, TDE, TDK, and BLM). Computational analyses are being conducted by REDES to provide solutions to liquid rocket engine thrust chamber problems. REDES is built in the Knowledge Engineering Environment (KEE) expert system shell and runs on a Sun 4/110 computer.

Developments in REDES: The Rocket Engine Design Expert System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davidian, Kenneth O.

1990-01-01

The Rocket Engine Design Expert System (REDES) was developed at NASA-Lewis to collect, automate, and perpetuate the existing expertise of performing a comprehensive rocket engine analysis and design. Currently, REDES uses the rigorous JANNAF methodology to analyze the performance of the thrust chamber and perform computational studies of liquid rocket engine problems. The following computer codes were included in REDES: a gas properties program named GASP; a nozzle design program named RAO; a regenerative cooling channel performance evaluation code named RTE; and the JANNAF standard liquid rocket engine performance prediction code TDK (including performance evaluation modules ODE, ODK, TDE, TDK, and BLM). Computational analyses are being conducted by REDES to provide solutions to liquid rocket engine thrust chamber problems. REDES was built in the Knowledge Engineering Environment (KEE) expert system shell and runs on a Sun 4/110 computer.

Mathematics and its value for engineering students: what are the implications for teaching?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, Diane; Black, Laura; Hernandez-Martinez, Paul; Pepin, Birgit; Williams, Julian; with the TransMaths Team

2015-04-01

Mathematics has long been known to be problematic for university engineering students and their teachers, for example, Scanlan.[1] This paper presents recent data gathered from interviews with engineering students who experienced problems with mathematics and their lecturers during their transition through the first year in different programme contexts. Our interviews with the students reveal how they understand the relation between engineering and mathematics and we draw on the concept of 'use- and exchange-value' to explore this relationship more fully. This paper challenges both the pedagogical practice of teaching non-contextualized mathematics and the lack of transparency regarding the significance of mathematics to engineering. We conclude that the value of mathematics in engineering remains a central problem, and argue that mathematics should be a fundamental concern in the design and practice of first-year engineering.

Necessity and Contention of Education on Engineer Ethics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takeda, Kunihiko; Ishikawa, Tomoyuki

Using examples of major accidents caused by technical technology are effective when teaching engineering ethics in undergraduate courses because almost all students have had no actual experience in technical problems or accidents in their lives. The typical accidents that have been selected in the past for this purpose by lecturers are limited in Japanese colleges or in textbooks. Some examples are the Minamata disease, the Kanemi oil PCB contamination, the space shuttle “Challenger” accident, the Ford “Pinto” design problem, Mitsubishi Motor's scandal and the unclear power plant accident at Tokai. However, it is difficult to decide whether or not these typical accidents are suitable for the teaching of engineering ethics. The responsibility of an engineer in Japan is strictly limited because he has no authority to finally decide upon the problem of ethics even if the item is purely technical and he is the best person to make the decision. The reason is discussed focusing on 1) the concept of the “profession” of medical doctors and engineers and 2) the relationships between the treatment, position, honor and responsibility of engineers in Japanese society.

The association between tolerance for ambiguity and fear of negative evaluation: A study of engineering technology capstone courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubikovsky, Sergey I.

For many students in engineering and engineering technology programs in the US, senior capstone design courses require students to form a team, define a problem, and find a feasible technical solution to address this problem. Students must integrate the knowledge and skills acquired during their studies at the college or university level. These truly integrative design activities do not have a single "correct" solution. Instead, there is an array of solutions, many of which could be used to achieve the final result. This ambiguity can cause students to experience anxiety during the projects. This study examined the main topics: • To what extent is a social anxiety (measured as fear of negative evaluation) related to tolerance for ambiguity in senior engineering capstone courses? • How does exposure to ambiguity prior to and during capstone courses affect tolerance for ambiguity? The study looked at the standard educational practices to see if they have unintended consequences, such a social anxiety in dealing with ambiguity. Those consequences are highly undesirable because they reduce students' learning. It was hypothesized that the lecture-based approaches that are more common in the first three years of study would not prepare students for self-directed capstone courses because the students would rarely have experienced problem-based learning before. The study used a quantitative approach and examined students' perceptions of their tolerance for ambiguity, and social anxiety before and after their senior capstone design experience. A survey instrument was adapted to measure exposure to ambiguity, which was studied as a potential moderator of the relationship between social anxiety and tolerance for ambiguity. The study indicated that social anxiety, as measured by fear of negative evaluation, does not play a major role in capstone courses. The second finding is that a single course, even if it was administered as a problem-based senior class, failed to increase students' tolerance for ambiguity. Students with low tolerance have more problems with ambiguity, whereas students with high tolerance can more easily endure changes and find it easier to act in the absence of complete information. The third important finding was that exposure to ambiguity prior to capstone courses does affect tolerance for ambiguity while controlling for instructor and if exposure to ambiguity is included as a moderator. It was not in the scope of this study to explore the effect of instructor more deeply, but this provides a direction for future research, especially in this time of expanding implementation of project- and problem-based learning methods in technical curricula.

Stable Beginnings in Engineering Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormick, Mary E.; Hammer, David

2016-01-01

Novel Engineering activities are premised on the integration of engineering and literacy: students identify and engineer solutions to problems that arise for fictional characters in stories they read for class. There are advantages to this integration, for both engineering and literacy goals of instruction: the stories provide ''clients'' to…

Case study of a problem-based learning course of physics in a telecommunications engineering degree

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macho-Stadler, Erica; Jesús Elejalde-García, Maria

2013-08-01

Active learning methods can be appropriate in engineering, as their methodology promotes meta-cognition, independent learning and problem-solving skills. Problem-based learning is the educational process by which problem-solving activities and instructor's guidance facilitate learning. Its key characteristic involves posing a 'concrete problem' to initiate the learning process, generally implemented by small groups of students. Many universities have developed and used active methodologies successfully in the teaching-learning process. During the past few years, the University of the Basque Country has promoted the use of active methodologies through several teacher training programmes. In this paper, we describe and analyse the results of the educational experience using the problem-based learning (PBL) method in a physics course for undergraduates enrolled in the technical telecommunications engineering degree programme. From an instructors' perspective, PBL strengths include better student attitude in class and increased instructor-student and student-student interactions. The students emphasised developing teamwork and communication skills in a good learning atmosphere as positive aspects.

Design and Implementation of High-Performance GIS Dynamic Objects Rendering Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Y.; Wang, S.; Li, R.; Yun, W.; Song, G.

2017-12-01

Spatio-temporal dynamic visualization is more vivid than static visualization. It important to use dynamic visualization techniques to reveal the variation process and trend vividly and comprehensively for the geographical phenomenon. To deal with challenges caused by dynamic visualization of both 2D and 3D spatial dynamic targets, especially for different spatial data types require high-performance GIS dynamic objects rendering engine. The main approach for improving the rendering engine with vast dynamic targets relies on key technologies of high-performance GIS, including memory computing, parallel computing, GPU computing and high-performance algorisms. In this study, high-performance GIS dynamic objects rendering engine is designed and implemented for solving the problem based on hybrid accelerative techniques. The high-performance GIS rendering engine contains GPU computing, OpenGL technology, and high-performance algorism with the advantage of 64-bit memory computing. It processes 2D, 3D dynamic target data efficiently and runs smoothly with vast dynamic target data. The prototype system of high-performance GIS dynamic objects rendering engine is developed based SuperMap GIS iObjects. The experiments are designed for large-scale spatial data visualization, the results showed that the high-performance GIS dynamic objects rendering engine have the advantage of high performance. Rendering two-dimensional and three-dimensional dynamic objects achieve 20 times faster on GPU than on CPU.

Towards generating caffeine-free tea by metabolic engineering.

PubMed

Yadav, Sudesh Kumar; Ahuja, Paramvir Singh

2007-12-01

Tea is a rich source of antioxidants which are contributing substantially to the promotion of health and the prevention of various chronic diseases. Despite the fact that tea has various important compounds, it also contains a purine alkaloid, caffeine. High intake of tea leads to an increase in level of caffeine in addition to its important antioxidant constituents. Increased level of caffeine causes several health related problems. Therefore, tea can become a most useful source of beneficial compounds, if only its caffeine level is either decreased or eliminated all together from the plant itself. This could be achieved through either of the techniques; overexpressing caffeine degradative pathway genes or silencing caffeine biosynthesis pathway gene. The identification and cloning of caffeine biosynthesis in tea and degradative genes in microorganisms opens up the possibility of using genetic engineering to produce naturally decaffeinated tea. Here we review these different strategies which can be employed to make caffeine-free tea, a human health beneficial drink.

The Subject Matter of Process Improvement: A Topic and Reference Source for Software Engineering Educators and Trainers.

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-05-01

Random House Business Division, 1986. Ishikawa , Kaoru . What is Total Quality Control?: The Japanese Way. En- glewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall...by drawing attention to the vital few truly important problems. Cause-and-effect diagrams. Also called fishbone and Ishikawa diagrams due to their...February 1994. 5.2 The Seeds [Aguayo 91] [Crosby 79] [Crosby 92] [Deming 86] [Fellers 92] [Gitlow 87] [Gluckman 93] [Imai 86] [ Ishikawa 85] [Juran

General linear methods and friends: Toward efficient solutions of multiphysics problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandu, Adrian

2017-07-01

Time dependent multiphysics partial differential equations are of great practical importance as they model diverse phenomena that appear in mechanical and chemical engineering, aeronautics, astrophysics, meteorology and oceanography, financial modeling, environmental sciences, etc. There is no single best time discretization for the complex multiphysics systems of practical interest. We discuss "multimethod" approaches that combine different time steps and discretizations using the rigourous frameworks provided by Partitioned General Linear Methods and Generalize-structure Additive Runge Kutta Methods..

Application Analysis of BIM Technology in Metro Rail Transit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Bei; Sun, Xianbin

2018-03-01

With the rapid development of urban roads, especially the construction of subway rail transit, it is an effective way to alleviate urban traffic congestion. There are limited site space, complex resource allocation, tight schedule, underground pipeline complex engineering problems. BIM technology, three-dimensional visualization, parameterization, virtual simulation and many other advantages can effectively solve these technical problems. Based on the project of Shenzhen Metro Line 9, BIM technology is innovatively researched throughout the lifecycle of BIM technology in the context of the metro rail transit project rarely used at this stage. The model information file is imported into Navisworks for four-dimensional animation simulation to determine the optimum construction scheme of the shield machine. Subway construction management application platform based on BIM and private cloud technology, the use of cameras and sensors to achieve electronic integration, dynamic monitoring of the operation and maintenance of underground facilities. Make full use of the many advantages of BIM technology to improve the engineering quality and construction efficiency of the subway rail transit project and to complete the operation and maintenance.

Inducible CRISPR genome-editing tool: classifications and future trends.

PubMed

Dai, Xiaofeng; Chen, Xiao; Fang, Qiuwu; Li, Jia; Bai, Zhonghu

2018-06-01

The discovery of CRISPR-Cas9/dCas9 system has reinforced our ability and revolutionized our history in genome engineering. While Cas9 and dCas9 are programed to modulate gene expression by introducing DNA breaks, blocking transcription factor recruitment or dragging functional groups towards the targeted sites, sgRNAs determine the genomic loci where the modulation occurs. The off-target problem, due to limited sgRNA specificity and genome complexity of many species, has posed concerns for the wide application of this revolutionary technique. To solve this problem and, more importantly, gain power over gene functionality and cell fate control, inducible strategies have been continuously evolved to offer tailored solutions to address specific biological questions. By reviewing recent advances in inducible CRISPR system design and critical elements potentially adding values to such systems, we classify current approaches in this domain into four mechanically distinct categories, namely, "split system", "allosteric system", "combinatorial system", and "transient delivery system", discuss the pros and cons of each system, and point out the under-explored areas and future directions, with the aim of enriching our toolbox of delicate life engineering.

Development of a problem - based learning (PBL) and cooperative learning (CL) transportation engineering course For undergraduate students.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-08-01

This study reports the findings of a project that was done during the implementation of a : problem-based learning (PBL) and cooperative learning (CL) elements into an : undergraduate transportation engineering course. The study procedure used the st...

Developing Air Force Systems Engineers - a Flight Path

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-01

to viewing problems from different perspectives. Specialists generally see the world through the lens of their own specialty. To paraphrase Abraham ... Maslow : If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Systems engineers are supposed to take a different approach to problem solving

Comparison of TAPS Packages for Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sidhu, S. Manjit

2008-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to present the development of technology-assisted problem solving (TAPS) packages at University Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). The project is the further work of the development of interactive multimedia based packages targeted for students having problems in understanding the subject of engineering mechanics dynamics.…

The Washington Academy of Biomedical Engineering (WABME) Quarterly Workshops: Clinical Problems and Engineering Solutions

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

bioengineering programs and activities of The Catholic University of America, Georgetown University, The George Washington University and Howard ... University . A prime component of WABME activities is a quarterly series of research workshops, which bring together problem-rich biomedical disciplines and

Impact of an Engineering Case Study in a High School Pre-Engineering Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutz, Eugene; Shafer, Michelle

2011-01-01

Students at an all-girls high school who were enrolled in an introduction to engineering course were presented an engineering case study to determine if the case study affected their attitudes toward engineering and their abilities to solve engineering problems. A case study on power plants was implemented during a unit on electrical engineering.…

Organizational Influences on Interdisciplinary Interactions during Research and Design of Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGowan, Anna-Maria R.; Seifert, Colleen M.; Papalambros, Panos Y.

2012-01-01

The design of large-scale complex engineered systems (LaCES) such as an aircraft is inherently interdisciplinary. Multiple engineering disciplines, drawing from a team of hundreds to thousands of engineers and scientists, are woven together throughout the research, development, and systems engineering processes to realize one system. Though research and development (R&D) is typically focused in single disciplines, the interdependencies involved in LaCES require interdisciplinary R&D efforts. This study investigates the interdisciplinary interactions that take place during the R&D and early conceptual design phases in the design of LaCES. Our theoretical framework is informed by both engineering practices and social science research on complex organizations. This paper provides preliminary perspective on some of the organizational influences on interdisciplinary interactions based on organization theory (specifically sensemaking), data from a survey of LaCES experts, and the authors experience in the research and design. The analysis reveals couplings between the engineered system and the organization that creates it. Survey respondents noted the importance of interdisciplinary interactions and their significant benefit to the engineered system, such as innovation and problem mitigation. Substantial obstacles to interdisciplinarity are uncovered beyond engineering that include communication and organizational challenges. Addressing these challenges may ultimately foster greater efficiencies in the design and development of LaCES and improved system performance by assisting with the collective integration of interdependent knowledge bases early in the R&D effort. This research suggests that organizational and human dynamics heavily influence and even constrain the engineering effort for large-scale complex systems.

Combined analytical and numerical approaches in Dynamic Stability analyses of engineering systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Náprstek, Jiří

2015-03-01

Dynamic Stability is a widely studied area that has attracted many researchers from various disciplines. Although Dynamic Stability is usually associated with mechanics, theoretical physics or other natural and technical disciplines, it is also relevant to social, economic, and philosophical areas of our lives. Therefore, it is useful to occasionally highlight the general aspects of this amazing area, to present some relevant examples and to evaluate its position among the various branches of Rational Mechanics. From this perspective, the aim of this study is to present a brief review concerning the Dynamic Stability problem, its basic definitions and principles, important phenomena, research motivations and applications in engineering. The relationships with relevant systems that are prone to stability loss (encountered in other areas such as physics, other natural sciences and engineering) are also noted. The theoretical background, which is applicable to many disciplines, is presented. In this paper, the most frequently used Dynamic Stability analysis methods are presented in relation to individual dynamic systems that are widely discussed in various engineering branches. In particular, the Lyapunov function and exponent procedures, Routh-Hurwitz, Liénard, and other theorems are outlined together with demonstrations. The possibilities for analytical and numerical procedures are mentioned together with possible feedback from experimental research and testing. The strengths and shortcomings of these approaches are evaluated together with examples of their effective complementing of each other. The systems that are widely encountered in engineering are presented in the form of mathematical models. The analyses of their Dynamic Stability and post-critical behaviour are also presented. The stability limits, bifurcation points, quasi-periodic response processes and chaotic regimes are discussed. The limit cycle existence and stability are examined together with their separating roles as attractors and repulsers. Two levels of stability loss (recovery of the system is possible or final collapse is inevitable) as can be observed in softening systems are noted. Time-limited excitation and relevant transition effects (e.g., seismic excitation) are also discussed, together with the evaluation of possible system reliability improvement. The Dynamic Stability investigation of two degrees-of-freedom aero-elastic systems in a linear formulation using several approaches is briefly highlighted. Further systems modelling problems that arise in transport engineering are also outlined. A few hints for applications are given. Some open problems and possible future research strategies are outlined.

The Engineer and the Societal Dilemma: An Interdisciplinary Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coleman, Robert J.

The University of North Carolina's Electrical Engineering Department developed and delivered a course for undergraduate engineering students. The course integrated technical, social, and ethical perspectives on problems and issues faced in the world of practicing engineers. It achieved this integration by making use of professors in engineering,…

Interdisciplinary Research Topics in Urban Engineering. (A Summary of the Report by the Urban Engineering Study Committee)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eng Educ, 1969

1969-01-01

Proposes preparation of urban engineers through interdisciplinary systems engineering research in order that technology may be applied to urban problems such as transportation, environment, and housing. Summary of report by the Urban Engineering Study Committee. Complete report available at

Engineering Background: Modern Formats and Challenges of Conceptual Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khamidullina, A. F.; Kuzmina, M. A.; Khusnutdinova, E. M.; Konakhina, I. A.

2017-09-01

This paper describes the analysis of problems and development perspectives of engineering education in our and other countries. Special attention is given to modern formats of education that motivate creative efforts of engineers-to-be as well as issues of conceptual engineering taking the challenges of modernity into account.

The coupling of engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boccaccio, Paul

1921-01-01

This report examines the idea of coupling numerous engines together to turn a single propeller, which the author feels would free aircraft design from the problems of multi-engine and propeller design.