Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“That Means Nothing To Me As A Normal Person Who Doesn't Know About Patents”: Usability Testing Of Google Patents And Patent Public Search With Undergraduate Engineering Students, Graham Sherriff, Molly Rogers

Journal of the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Association

Patent searching is an important research tool for undergraduate engineering students, yet it requires special topic knowledge to conduct successfully. Patent database websites have the ability to alleviate or add to the complexity of patent searching, depending on their usability. Prompted by the launch of the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Public Search (PPS) website in early 2022, the authors investigated the usability of PPS and Google Patents. The study's objective was to gain insights into the ways in which the websites of commonly-used patent databases support undergraduate students’ patent searching activities. The study examined students’ performance of typical …

Making Makers: Tracing Stem Identity In Rural Communities, Jessie Nixon, Andy Stoiber, Erica Halverson, Michael Dando

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

In this article, we describe efforts to reduce barriers of entry to pre-college engineering in a rural community by training local teens to become maker-mentors and staff a mobile makerspace in their community. We bring a communities of practice frame to our inquiry, focusing on inbound and peripheral learning and identity trajectories as a mechanism for representing the maker-mentor experience. Through a longitudinal case study, we traced the individual trajectories of five maker-mentors over two years. We found a collection of interrelated factors present in those students who maintained inbound trajectories and those who remained on the periphery. Our research …

Investigation Of Engineering Properties Of Normal And High Strength Fly Ash Based Geopolymer And Alkali-Activated Slag Concrete Compared To Ordinary Portland Cement Concrete, Nabeel Farhan, M Neaz Sheikh, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Fly ash-based geopolymer (FAGP) and alkali-activated slag (AAS) concrete are produced by mixing alkaline solutions with aluminosilicate materials. As the FAGP and AAS concrete are free of Portland cement, they have a low carbon footprint and consume low energy during the production process. This paper compares the engineering properties of normal strength and high strength FAGP and AAS concrete with OPC concrete. The engineering properties considered in this study included workability, dry density, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), compressive strength, indirect tensile strength, flexural strength, direct tensile strength, and stress-strain behaviour in compression and direct tension. Microstructural observations using scanning electronic …

Formative Assessment To Develop Oral Communication Competency Using Youtube: Self- And Peer Assessment In Engineering, Sasha Nikolic, David Stirling, Montserrat Ros

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Obtaining oral communication competency is an important skill for engineering students to prepare them for interacting and working in any professional setting. For engineers, it is also important to be able to present technical information to non-technical audiences. To ensure oral competency, a non-graded formative assessment approach using video with self- and peer assessment was introduced into a final-year engineering thesis course. A low workload approach was used due to growing student numbers and higher pressures on academic staff. A quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the differences between traditional delivery, self-assessment and combined self-assessment with peer feedback. The study …

An Examination Of Accessible Hands-On Science Learning Experiences, Self-Confidence In One’S Capacity To Function In The Sciences, And Motivation And Interest In Scientific Studies And Careers., Mick D. Isaacson, Cary Supalo, Michelle Michaels, Alan Roth

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

This study examined the potential relationship of accessible hands-on science learning experiences to the development of positive beliefs concerning one’s capacity to function in the sciences and motivation to consider science as a college major and career. Findings from Likert survey items given before and after engaging in accessible hands-on science laboratories show that students who were blind or had low vision (BLV) were more likely to agree with the following items after engaging in accessible science experiences: 1) I plan on enrolling as a science major in college; 2) My educational experiences, so far, have given me the …

Exploring Structure And Role Of Engineering Asset Management System In Production Organizations, Khaled O. El-Akruti, Richard Dwight, Tieling Zhang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Little has been done in literature on the structure of Engineering Asset Management System (EAMS) and its relationship to production and organizational strategy. In this paper, the position of an EAMS within an organizational structure and its strategic role within a production organizations strategy has been explored. It is argued that the structure and mechanism of EAMS play a key role in directing the production process and linking to the organizational strategy: the absence or inadequacies of asset-related activities cause insufficient production performance that negatively impacts the strategic achievement. Production Actions are mapped with reference to the activities of the …

Addressing Misconceptions About Engineering Through Student-Industry Interaction In A Video-Augmented 3d Immersive Virtual World, Sasha Nikolic, Thomas Goldfinch, Mark Jian Wei Lee, Christian H. Ritz

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

A key goal of engineering education is to ensure students are adequately prepared to enter professional practice. Unfortunately, students have been found to bring to university significant misconceptions about the types of work engineers perform, which can have an adverse impact on their readiness to fully appreciate and benefit from course activities. This paper presents a case study of how iSee, a collaborative online platform that allows for video conferencing within a three-dimensional immersive virtual world, was used to host a careers fair event in which students learned about the engineering profession and about the various engineering majors available to …

Ieee Istas13- People As Sensors: The Social Implications Of Living In A Smart World, Alexander Hayes, Katina Michael, Nick Rheinberger

Alexander Hayes Mr.

What is the technological trajectory of people wearing sensors? What are the benefits, risks and costs? What is the vibe going to be like at ISTAS13 with people like Marvin Minsky and Ray Kurzweil attending? What do you hope to gain from the meeting? Can we foresee a time that all glasses will be embedded with sensors? What are the implications? E.g. in the higher education sector? What about the gathering of evidence by law enforcement? What is point of eye?

Learning From Cinara: Exploring The Depths Of Participatory Water Engagement In Cali, Colombia, Zachary T. Strickland

Honors College Theses

Located within the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, CINARA is an academic institution, comprised of both engineers and social scientists, that has almost three decades of experience regarding participatory approaches to water supply and environmental sanitation. In this paper, I argue that CINARA’s work is important due to its emphasis on meaningful community participation that significantly involves communities in decisions on technical matters that are usually allocated exclusively to “experts.” Furthermore, the valuation of social considerations and non-technical knowledge found amongst CINARA’s engineers stands in distinct contrast to traditional development practices and engineering mindsets. This paper will go on …

The Impact Of Project Lead The Way Gateway To Technology Foundation Unit Completion On Students' Critical-Thinking Skills, Rula Odai Hashem

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Georgetown's Public Policy Institute (2013) reported that the fastest growing occupations and the highest demand for college education and training fields will be in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM), healthcare, and community services. One of the K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs' purposes is to promote critical-thinking skills (Johnson, 1992). This study examined the impact of Project Lead The Way Gateway to Technology (PLTW-GTT) units, a middle school STEM program, on the critical-thinking skills of middle school students. Quasi experimental research methods were utilized to test the impact of the completion of two PLTW-GTT foundation units on students' …

In Vitro Mechanical Fatigue Behavior Of Poly-Ɛ-Caprolactone Macroporous Scaffolds For Cartilage Tissue Engineering: Influence Of Pore Filling By A Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Gel, J A. Panadero, L Vikingsson, J L. Gomez Ribelles, Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez, Vitor Sencadas

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Polymeric scaffolds used in regenerative therapies are implanted in the damaged tissue and submitted to repeated loading cycles. In the case of articular cartilage engineering, an implanted scaffold is typically subjected to long-term dynamic compression. The evolution of the mechanical properties of the scaffold during bioresorption has been deeply studied in the past, but the possibility of failure due to mechanical fatigue has not been properly addressed. Nevertheless, the macroporous scaffold is susceptible to failure after repeated loading-unloading cycles. In this work fatigue studies of polycaprolactone scaffolds were carried by subjecting the scaffold to repeated compression cycles in conditions simulating …

Piezoelectric Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride) Microstructure And Poling State In Active Tissue Engineering, Clarisse Ribeiro, Daniela M. Correia, S Ribeiro, Vitor Sencadas, Gabriela Botelho, Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Tissue engineering strategies rely on suitable membranes and scaffolds, providing the necessary physicochemical stimuli to specific cells. This review summarizes the main results on piezoelectric polymers, in particular poly(vinylidene fluoride), for muscle and bone cell culture. Further, the relevance of polymer microstructure and surface charge on cell response is demonstrated. Together with the necessary biochemical cues, the proper design of piezoelectric polymers can open the way to novel and more reliable tissue engineering strategies for cells in which electromechanical stimuli are present in their environment.

Piezoelectric Polymers As Biomaterials For Tissue Engineering Applications, Clarisse Ribeiro, Vitor Sencadas, Daniela M. Correia, Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Tissue engineering often rely on scaffolds for supporting cell differentiation and growth. Novel paradigms for tissue engineering include the need of active or smart scaffolds in order to properly regenerate specific tissues. In particular, as electrical and electromechanical clues are among the most relevant ones in determining tissue functionality in tissues such as muscle and bone, among others, electroactive materials and, in particular, piezoelectric ones, show strong potential for novel tissue engineering strategies, in particular taking also into account the existence of these phenomena within some specific tissues, indicating their requirement also during tissue regeneration. This referee reports on piezoelectric …

Working In Partnership To Develop Engineering Capacity In Energy Efficiency, Cheryl Desha, Duane A. Robinson, Alistair Sproul

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Energy efficiency is a complex topic to integrate into higher education curricula, with limited success internationally or in Australia. This paper discusses one of the successful initiatives within the Energy Efficiency Training Program, which was jointly managed and implemented by the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage and Department of Education and Communities. The state government initiative aimed to increase the knowledge and skills of the New South Wales workforce, help business to identify and implement energy efficiency projects, and provide professional development for the training providers. Key sectors targeted included property, construction, manufacturing and services. The Program …

Relationship Between Learning In The Engineering Laboratory And Student Evaluations, Sasha Nikolic, Thomas F. Suesse, Thomas Goldfinch, Timothy J. Mccarthy

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

BACKGROUND OR CONTEXT This study is built upon previous research that developed an instrument to measure the learning objectives of the laboratory across the cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains with research that investigated student evaluations of sessional laboratory demonstrators, laboratory experiments and facilities. This research highlighted the importance of laboratory work in engineering education, and the need to improve our understanding of how learning occurs in the laboratory. PURPOSE OR GOAL Student evaluations are heavily used in higher education, and a greater understanding is needed on how these evaluations relate to learning. APPROACH An instrument used to measure learning in …

Development And Implementation Of A Flipped-Classroom Delivery In Engineering Computing And Analysis For First Year Engineering Students, David B. Hastie, Montserrat Ros, Brad Stappenbelt, Senevi Kiridena

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

University of Wollongong recently undertook a major restructure of its academic and professional units, after the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor in 2012. As a result, the previous 11 faculties have been merged and rationalised into five new faculties. The Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Informatics merged to become the Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences (EIS), consisting of six schools representing a total of 13 disciplines. Following the restructuring, EIS made the decision to develop a new common first year curriculum for all engineering undergraduate programs, spanning nine disciplines, they being; civil, mining, environmental, electrical, computer, …

Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent

Doctoral Dissertations

What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …

Fearless Friday: Kirsten Crear, Kirsten Crear

SURGE

Even in her last semester here at Gettysburg, Kirsten Crear ’14 is fearlessly working to make changes for the future of the campus community. This semester, Kirsten introduced a STEMinists club on campus that will give female students who are STEM (an acronym for Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) majors the opportunity to come together and create a community, share and discuss the difficulties they face as women in their fields of study, and support and mentor each other as they prepare to enter their fields.

Kirsten is passionate, driven, and determined, taking the initiative to bring this group of women together on campus …

Cognitive Processes In Object-Oriented Requirements Engineering Practice: Analogical Reasoning And Mental Modelling, Linda Dawson

Associate Professor Linda Dawson

This chapter presents a background in cognitive processes such as problem-solving and analogical reasoning for considering modelling from an object-oriented perspective within the domain of requirements engineering. This chapter then describes a research project and the findings from a set of four cases which examine professional practice from perspective of cognitive modelling for object-oriented requirements engineering. In these studies, it was found that the analysts routinely built models in their minds and refined them before committing them to paper or communicating these models to others. The studies also showed that object-oriented analysts depend on analogical reasoning where they use past …

A Tool To Investigate The Status Of Engineering Asset Management In Organizations, Khaled O. El-Akruti, Tieling Zhang, Richard Dwight

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper presents a framework which addresses a series of activities defined in Engineering Asset Management (EAM). This framework is proposed to serve as a guideline of organizations when investigating if the status of the EAM system that they have in place is adequate to achieve the intended objectives. It also serves as a guide for researchers in EAM. The framework ensures a holistic approach to EAM in place that it explores the required asset management activities, relationships and mechanisms for achieving the organizational goals. In order to demonstrate the framework, a ‘retroductive’ approach in the context of case study …

Wie Featured Person Of The Month Highlights (Katina Michael), Keyana Tenant, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

The WIE Featured Person of the Month is Katina Michael, editor-in-chief of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine. After working at OTIS Elevator Company and Andersen Consulting, Katina was offered and exciting graduate engineering position at Nortel in 1996; and her career has been fast track from there. Read Katina’s story on Page 7.

The Role Of Life Cycle Cost In Engineering Asset Management, Khaled El-Akruti, Richard Dwight, Tieling Zhang, Mujbil Al-Marsumi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper presents a case study demonstrating life cycle cost (LCC) analysis as a major and critical activity of engineering asset management decisions and control. The objective is to develop a maintenance policy to control the economics of replacement and repair practice of refractory lining of an electric arc furnace (EAF). The replacement & repair policies involve the optimum life policy, the repair versus replacement policies, the repair limit method and the comparison of lining material types from different suppliers. The developed models provide a method for defining the most important factors involved in decision making with respect to operational …

Understanding Indigenous Consultation And Engagement In Engineering Education, Thomas Goldfinch, Jade Kennedy

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

BACKGROUND Higher education participation rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are significantly lower than for other Australians (Behrendt, Larkin, Griew, & Kelly, 2012). In addition, Indigenous Australian participation rates in engineering and other technology related fields are lower than for other fields such as law, health and education (DEEWR, 2008). This presents a substantial challenge for engineering education to increase participation rates among Indigenous Australians towards those of other Australians. Engineering schools and Industry have responded with an array of outreach, scholarship, and support programs which have taken small steps towards this (BHP Billiton, 2012; EAA, 2013; Rio …

Integrating Building Information Modelling (Bim) Into Engineering Education: An Exploratory Study Of Industry Perceptions Using Social Network Data, Kriengsak Panuwatwanich, Mei Liang Wong, Jeung-Hwan Doh, Rodney A. Stewart, Timothy J. Mccarthy

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been widely acknowledged as an emerging technological and procedural shift within the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. BIM represents a methodology to manage the building design and project data in digital format throughout a building lifecycle. With the implementation of BIM, the design, construction and operation processes can be better streamlined to improve project efficiency. Because of its far-reaching benefits, there is a current push for BIM by governments worldwide, including Australia. However, a significant lack of the understanding of BIM and industry readiness has been identified as a major hindrance; hence, there is …

Application Of Mbse To Requirements Engineering - Research Challenges, Mike Ryan, Stephen Cook, William R. Scott

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Models and simulations have always played an important role in engineering and systems engineering. Physical scale models, full-sized models, and computer models are commonly used in all forms of engineering and design. In recent times, interest in modelling has increased to span the full system lifecycle and there has been a significant focus on Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE). The extension of formal modelling into all phases, and particularly the conceptual design phase, of a system development is a significant step and proponents of MBSE suggest that it will provide considerable benefits. The application of modelling requires considerable care, however. A …

Embracing Complexity In Engineering Education: A Way Forward For Developing Intercultural Competency, Thomas Goldfinch

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

towards engineering education that prepares graduates to work effectively across foreign cultures and customs1-3. The author argues that while this outward focus is important and necessary, there is also a need to focus on preparing graduates for cultural issues that will arise much closer to home. Identifying, and working with subtle cultural differences that can occur in workplaces, organizations and the community, where the population may initially appear monocultural, presents unique challenges. The way in which one assumes cultural uniformity in a given situation can contribute to the oversimplification of a problem, and subsequently the pursuit of ineffective solutions. In …

The Strategic Role Of Engineering Asset Management, Khaled O. El-Akruti, Richard Dwight, Tieling Zhang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The current concept of an asset management (AM) system focuses on the lifecycle of engineered assets and little has been done in the literature on its link to organizational strategy. In this paper, the AM system′s position within an organizational structure and its role in competitive strategy has been explored. Two case studies involving AM have been analyzed using a proposed framework which is comprised of a set of planning and control activities maintaining a control mechanism and a relationship with the strategy-making process. It is argued that the AM system structure and the mechanism play a key role in …

Stem Talent: Moving Beyond Traditional Boundaries, Stephanie Pace Marshall

Stephanie Pace Marshall, Ph.D.

The future well-being, prosperity and sustainability of our nation, the global community and our planet resides in igniting and nurturing decidedly different STEM minds that can advance both the new STEM frontier and the human future.

A Critical Examination Of The Construct Validity Of The Tti Performance DnaTm Survey For The Purpose Of Differentiating The Entrepreneurially-Minded Engineer, Sandra L. Dietrich

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The United States needs workers with more than technical skills to meet the demands of global competition; more specifically, a new breed of engineer is necessary, one who possesses leadership skills and business acumen in addition to the technical engineering skills. One Midwestern foundation has recognized this challenge and is working with engineering universities to enhance programs to create entrepreneurially-minded engineers (EMEs). To this end, the Target Training International, Ltd. (TTI) Performance DNATM survey has been developed to measure the behaviors, values, and professional skills of these EMEs. Currently, the Foundation has collected data using this survey with engineering students …

Ethics In Engineering: Student Perceptions And Their Professional Identity Development, Brad Stappenbelt

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Professional ethics instruction in engineering is commonly conducted by examining case studies in light of the code of conduct of a suitable professional body. Although graphical presentations of spectacular failures, sobering stories of the repercussions and the solid framework provided by the tenets of a code of ethics may leave a lasting impression, students generally gain their professional identity from relatives and colleagues. Their professional ethics tend to be mostly an extension of their personal ethics. Instruction on ethics generally serves only to reinforce students' inclination to act ethically and provides encouragement to act on these beliefs. In this study …