Measuring attitudes and behaviors to studying and learning for university students: a Rasch measurement model analysis

A Studying and Learning Scale was created using a model of Motivation (sets of ordered stem-items based on Striving for Excellence, Desire to Learn and Personal Incentives), with each item answered from three self-reported perspectives (an Ideal Self-view, a Capability Self-view, and a Studying and Learning Self-view). The response categories were the number of subjects studied. The stem-item sample was 23, each answered in three aspects, so each stem-item had three 'difficulties', making an effective item sample of 69. The person convenience sample was 372 students in education at an Australian university. The 69 items fit a Rasch measurement model and formed a scale in which the 'difficulties' of the items were ordered from 'easy' to 'hard' and the student measures of Studying and Learning were ordered from 'low' to 'high'. The person separation reliability was high at 0.94. The response categories were answered consistently and logically and the results supported many (but not all) of the conceptually ordered-by-difficulty item patterns. Students found it 'easy' to form a high view of How they would like to be, much 'harder' to form a high view of What they think they are capable of doing and even 'harder' to perform, at a high level, their Studying and Learning behavior for all stem-items, in accordance with the model.     

An approach to studying scale for students in higher education: a Rasch measurement model analysis

A questionnaire comprising 80 self-report items was designed to measure student Approaches to Studying in a higher education context. The items were conceptualized and designed from five learning orientations: a Deep Approach, a Surface Approach, a Strategic Approach, Clarity of Direction and Academic Self-Confidence, to include 40 attitude items and 40 corresponding behavior items. The study aimed to create a scale and investigate its psychometric properties using a Rasch measurement model. The convenience sample consisted of 350 students at an Australian university in 1998. The analysis supported the conceptual structure of the Scale as involving studying attitudes and behaviors towards five orientations to learning. Attitudes are mostly easier than behaviors, in line with the theory. Sixty-eight items fit the model and have good psychometric properties. The proportion of observed variance considered true is 92% and the Scale is well-targeted against the students. Some harder items are needed to improve the targeting and some further testing work needs to be done on the Surface Approach. In the Surface Approach and Clarity of Direction in Studying, attitudes make a lesser contribution than behaviors to the variable, Approaches to Studying.     

Cooperative Education Work Assignments: The Role of Organizational and Individual Factors in Enhancing ABET Competencies and Co‐op Workplace Well‐Being

In this study, we examine the role of individual differences and early employment experiences on learning outcomes and subjective well‐being for first‐term cooperative education students. By tracking students through their first semester work assignment, we were able to follow student adjustment and demonstrate the linkages to important ABET learning outcomes. Data were collected during pre‐employment, mid‐semester, and post‐employment surveys. The results suggest that there are some early warning signs of lack of adjustment that are related to both motivational anxiety and lack of initial social contacts during socialization. However, mid‐semester reports of proactive behavior by the student had a significant impact on both learning outcomes and well‐being.     

Renewal of a Flagging Environmental Engineering Program: Start at the Beginning

Abstract Environmental engineering is in popular demand with students and employers. Despite the demand, the environmental engineering program at the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) had declined in recent years. A concerted effort is now being made to improve the attractiveness and quality of UMR's program, beginning with the introductory environmental engineering course offered by the Civil Engineering Department. An experimental section of the introductory course offered in the 1994 spring semester used a semester-long design project, team exercises, field trips and imaginative demonstrations, active learning strategies, and extensive discussions of environmental engineering practice to improve student learning and interest. Results were encouraging. Students performed well and gave the course good evaluations; interest in the environmental program appears to be on the upswing.     

Use of Student Management Teams (SMTs) as a Course Evaluation Tool

The purpose of a management team is to provide continuous feedback to the instructor on two major issues: instructor performance and course structure and content. Successful student management team projects at the University of Wisconsin, University of Colorado and University of Minnesota have demonstrated that team members working together for the good of the class can accomplish a great deal. In the Michigan State University pilot project, the student management teams operated during a 15‐week course on construction materials. This is a 4‐credit required junior level course for all Civil Engineering majors and has both a classroom and a laboratory component. The average class size is thirty‐five students. The team met every week for about thirty to forty‐five minutes over the course of the semester. Their principal assignment was to improve the quality of the course by collecting data through classroom assessment techniques and regular group discussions with the instructor. It was clear from the formative surveys that 85% and 88% of the students were comfortable (level of understanding between 4–5) with the material “uncovered” in the Portland cement concrete (PCC) and hot mix asphalt concrete (HMAC) modules respectively. This paper discusses the concept of management teams along with other details in developing the management teams and results from the pilot study.     

Microstructures and toughening mechanisms of organoclay/polyethersulphone/epoxy hybrid nanocomposites

Hybrid nanocomposites (HNCs) with high fracture toughness were successfully prepared by incorporating polyethersulphone (PES) and organoclay into epoxy resin. Their microstructures were studied. They were composed of homogeneous PES/epoxy matrices and micron-scale organoclay agglomerates. These agglomerates consisted of smaller tactoid-like regions which were comprised of ordered exfoliated nanolayers. The toughening mechanisms of the two tougheners were also studied and then related to their microstructures. For one thing, the PES which was dissolved in the epoxy resin homogeneously improved the ductility of the epoxy resin and made it easier to deform. For another, the organoclay agglomerates induced crack front bowing, crack bridging, crack deflection, crack bifurcation and plastic deformation of the matrices on the micron-scale, respectively. These toughening processes were achieved by the ordered exfoliated nanolayers with various orientations, which debonded from the matrices, bridged the cracks and induced the plastic deformation of the matrices on the nanoscale.     

Student Focus Group Results on Student Team Performance Issues

Use of project teams is increasing in the engineering environment due to their many benefits. These include increased creativity, productivity, and reduced time‐to‐market of engineering concepts. Good team skills are desired by engineering employers, prompting universities to focus on curriculum development with strong team utilization. While team projects significantly increase opportunities for team interaction, they rarely provide sufficient training to enable students to function most effectively in a team environment. In addition, there is lack of standardization in how teams are used, and inconsistency in team performance expectations and training. These concerns led to our current efforts to develop a standardized team‐training format for faculty and students. To provide the basis for development of team training materials, faculty interviews and student focus groups were conducted to assess perceptions of team project work and training as well as expectations and definitions of successful team performance. Results of student focus groups on team project class experiences are discussed.     

Supplemental Instruction Integrated Into an Introductory Engineering Course*

In an effort to increase student comprehension of course material and to decrease engineering student attrition rate, Supplemental Instruction (SI) was integrated into a first-year engineering course (Introduction to Engineering Analysis; IEA) during the Fall 1996 semester through the combined efforts of the Advising and Learning Assistance Center and the Core Engineering Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. SI is a voluntarily-attended, interactive course review program that helps students master course material while they develop and integrate effective learning and study skill strategies. SI does not disrupt the normal lecture or recitation sections of a course. SI was successfully incorporated into IEA as indicated by two main results: 1) students who attended SI received higher course grades than did students who never attended SI and 2) students who attended SI were less likely to receive a final course grade of a D or F, and were thus less likely to withdraw from the engineering program. Since a majority (66%) of SI attendees was composed of at-risk students (who received a letter grade of “C” on at least one of the four course examinations) and high-risk students (who received a letter grade of “D” or “F” on at least one of the four course examinations), SI was helping those who had the most to gain from the experience. Furthermore, SI was embraced by the attendees, who rated the sessions 4.7 on a scale of 1 (not helpful) to 5 (very helpful) on SI end-of-the-term evaluations. The logistics of implementing SI into an engineering course is presented.     

A TCAD simulation study of impact of strain engineering on nanoscale strained Si NMOSFETs with a silicon-carbon alloy stressor

Stress distributions in the Si channel regions of silicon-carbon source/drain and stressed silicon nitride liner NMOSFETs were studied using the 3D ANSYS simulations. The mobility enhancement was found to be dominated by the tensile stress along the transport direction and compressive stress along the growth direction in wide devices. Stress along the width direction was found to have the least effect on the drain current in wide samples. Stress along the width slightly degraded the mobility gain in the narrow width regime. The compressive stress along the vertical direction, perpendicular to the gate oxide, contributes significantly to mobility enhancement and cannot be neglected in nanoscale NMOSFETs. The impact of width on performance improvements such as mobility gain was also analyzed using TCAD simulations.     

COVID-19 and Learning Styles: GCET as Case Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused higher educational institutions around the world to close campus-based activities and move to online delivery. The aim of this paper is to present the case of Global College of Engineering and Technology (GCET) and how its practices including teaching, students/staff support, assessments, and exam policies were affected. The paper investigates the mediating role of no detriment policy impact on students’ result along with the challenges faced by the higher educational institution, recommendations and suggestions. The investigation concludes that the strategies adopted for online delivery, student support, assessments and exam policies have helped students to effectively cope with the teaching and learning challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic without affecting their academic results. The study shows that 99% of students were able to maintain the same or better level of performance during the 1st COVID-19 semester. One percent of students had shown a slight decrease in their performance (about 1%–2%) with respect to their overall marks pre-COVID-19. The no detriment policy has succoured those 1% of the students to maintain their overall performance to what it used to be pre-COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the paper provides the list of challenges and suggestions for smooth conduction of online education.     

NMR studies of a D2 single crystal in the ordered phase

We report the first experimental study of the NMR lineshape anisotropy in the orientationally ordered cubic phase of a D₂ single crystal. The para-D₂ concentration covered the range 0.72<X<0.82. The observed line shapes were obtained by means of Fourier transform techniques from the solid echoes recorded with a pulsed NMR spectrometer operating at 5.9 MHz. Theoretical line shapes and their second moments forp-D₂ (with angular momentumJ=1 and spinI=1) and foro-D₂ (withJ=0, I=2) were calculated as a function of the applied field direction from the theory by A. B. Harris. Good agreement was obtained for all directions, provided that, just as for solid H₂, a Gaussian function for the distribution of molecular axial alignment was assumed with an rms spreading angle of 6 deg forX=0.77. No change in the anisotropy of the second moment in the disordered phase was detected between the initial (hcp) crystal and after repeated thermal cyclings through the martensitic transition. This result implies no change in the orientation of the plane for the sliding nets during repeated passages through the transition. Furthermore, we report measurements of the longitudinal relaxation time for bothp-D₂ ando-H₂ versusT over the temperature range 0.5<T<3.5 K. The complex behavior reported previously for both H₂ and D₂ was confirmed. Measurements of the relaxation times as a function of the applied field direction in the ordered phase at 1.2 K showed no anisotropy within experimental error, and this result is discussed in the light of predictions by Hardy and Berlinsky. Finally, the polarization of theJ=0 molecules is studied as a function of the concentrationX of theJ=1 molecules and their state of orientational order over a wide range ofX andT in the ordered and disordered states. The results are compared with predictions of A. B. Harris and with previous data on polycrystalline samples.     

Technologically Advanced Reusable 3D Face Shield for Health Workers Confronting COVID19

The probability of medical staff to get affected from COVID19 is much higher due to their working environment which is more exposed to infectious diseases. So, as a preventive measure the body temperature monitoring of medical staff at regular intervals is highly recommended. Infrared temperature sensing guns have proved its effectiveness and therefore such devices are used to monitor the body temperature. These devices are either used on hands or forehead. As a result, there are many issues in monitoring the temperature of frontline healthcare professionals. Firstly, these healthcare professionals keep wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kits during working hours and as a result it would be very difficult to monitor their body temperature. Secondly, these healthcare professionals also wear face shields and in such cases monitoring temperature by exposing forehead needs removal of face shield. Doing so after regular intervals is surely uncomfortable for healthcare professionals. To avoid such issues, this paper is disclosing a technologically advanced face shield equipped with sensors capable of monitoring body temperature instantly without the hassle of removing the face shield. This face shield is integrated with a built-in infrared temperature sensor. A total of 10 such face shields were printed and assembled within the university lab and then handed over to a group of ten members including faculty and students of nursing and health science department. This sequence was repeated four times and as a result 40 healthcare workers participated in the study. Thereafter, feedback analysis was conducted on questionnaire data and found a significant overall mean score of 4.59 out of 5 which indicates that the product is effective and worthy in every facet. Stress analysis is also performed in the simulated environment and found that the device can easily withstand the typically applied forces. The limitations of this product are difficulty in cleaning the product and comparatively high cost due to the deployment of electronic equipment.     

Fatigue behavior analysis of a rear tow hook pin of a passenger vehicle

The main goal of this work is to analyze the fatigue behavior of an automobile body part, according to the standards of performance. The methodology is based on experiments performed on a rear trailer tow hook pin of a passenger automobile vehicle. Experiments were performed simulating the actual conditions in the customer environment. Stress and strain were experimentally measured by using strain gages, bonded on assembly critical points. Besides, stress analysis was also performed using a finite element program. Fatigue analysis is used to access and to compare the fatigue damage imposed during laboratory experiments.     

The Driver Prioritisation Questionnaire: Exploring drivers’ self-report visual priorities in a range of driving scenarios

Previous research has noted that novice drivers are at greatest risk of an accident. One reason that has been reported for this is that they have not developed the optimum visual search strategies of their more experienced counterparts. One might expect that new drivers might be taught the appropriate visual skills while learning to drive, though this requires instructors to have introspection into their own visual skills before they can be passed on to the student. In addition novice drivers should be able to acquire the instructed skills. This study used an image-based questionnaire to assess driving instructors’ and novice drivers’ priority ratings for attending to different areas of the driving scene across nine scenarios. It was predicted that if instructors and novices have introspection into the relative importance of these different areas, there should be agreement across the sample of participants. Additionally it was considered important to assess which areas of the visual scene are important across all different scenarios and which areas change in priority with a change in scenario. Results showed that for both groups the opinions regarding visual field prioritisation were highly consistent when compared to chance. Despite the rating consistencies, group differences were found, across all scenarios with “Rear View Mirrors” being the visual field with the most frequent observed group differences. Certain categories (“Road Ahead” and “Mirrors”) were highly ranked across all scenarios, while other categories were more scenario specific. We conclude that both groups have insight into some elements of visual search. However, in many occasions the prioritisation was different between driving instructors and novice drivers. It appears that during the learning process the novice drivers did not adopt the prioritisation strategies seen in driving instructors. This has important implications for the teaching of visual skills in driving.     

Wafer bin map recognition using a neural network approach

Although the fabrication of modern integrated circuits uses highly automatic and precisely controlled operations, equipment malfunctions or process drifts are still inevitable owing to the high complexity involved in the hundreds of processing steps. To detect the existence of these problems at the earliest stage, some important analytical tools must be applied. Among them is wafer bin map analysis. When the bin map exhibits specific patterns, it is usually a clue that equipment problems or process variations have occurred. The aim was to develop an intelligent system that could automatically recognize wafer bin map patterns and aid in the diagnosis of failure causes. A neural network architecture named Adaptive Resonance Theory Network 1 was adopted for the purpose. Actual data collected from a semiconductor manufacturing company in Taiwan were used for system verification. Experimental results show that with an adequate parameter, the neural network can successfully recognize and distinguish random and systematic wafer bin map patterns.     

《二氧化硅孔材料的模板合成》化学综合实验的建设

化学综合实验"二氧化硅孔材料的模板合成"是为大学化学专业本科生开设的一个实验教学课程。其实验的主要内容是,首先合成制备单分散的聚苯乙烯乳胶粒子,然后以此单分散的聚苯乙烯乳胶粒子为初始材料,利用胶体晶模板法制备二氧化硅三维有序孔材料。利用透射电子显微镜和扫描电子显微镜对所制备的各级样品进行表征。教学实践发现,当作为初始材料的聚苯乙烯乳胶粒子尺寸较大时,三维有序孔材料的制备成功率高。文中介绍了此实验的建立以及对其进行改进的过程。     

Fatigue life simulation of a rear tow hook assembly of a passenger car

A comparison between laboratory test data on fatigue crack nucleation in a rear tow hook pin assembly of passenger vehicle and a computational methodology using commercial package software is presented. Fatigue damage is determined using local material response, measured during experimental tests. Experiments were performed simulating the actual conditions in the customer environment. Stress and strain were experimentally measured by using strain gages, bonded on the hook assembly. These experimental lives are compared with those obtained through numerical analysis using a commercial fatigue software. Fatigue analysis methods (S–N curves, rainflow counting and Miner rule) were used to determine the fatigue damage imposed on the component. Interpretation and evaluation of the measured strain and stresses, simulation tests and fatigue life assessments, on the basis of S–N curve, are described in this paper.     

Experimental study of phase-step broadening by fringing fields in a three-electrode liquid-crystal cell

The fringing-field broadening of a phase-step profile and its dependence on the thickness of a liquid-crystal (LC) cell were studied in a simple, three-electrode LC cell structure consisting of two lateral electrodes biased with a differential voltage and a third, grounded, electrode placed on the opposite substrate. The results were compared both with an approximate analytical model developed earlier for a fringe-field-broadening kernel and with computer simulations. Good agreement between the experiment and the theoretical as well as the simulation results is shown.     

Calculation of Stress Intensity Factors for semi-elliptical surface cracks in a turbine rotor

Stress intensity factors based on linear elastic behaviour were calculated for semi-elliptical surface cracks in the front face of a cylindrical disk. The small semi-axis of the cracks coincides with the axis of rotation of the disk. The disk represents a part of a turbine rotor and is used to simplify the calculations. The uncracked rotor is loaded by a radial varying hoop stress distribution, caused by rotation, thermal gradients and the influence of the turbine blades. Following a procedure proposed by Mattheck at al. [1] the stress points of the cracks were calculated by means of the weight functions method.