The Effect of a First‐Year Integrated Engineering Curriculum on Graduation Rates and Student Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study

This paper reports on the long‐term results of a two‐year experiment conducted in the 1994–1995 and 1995–1996 academic years in which a group of “average” engineering students was recruited for a first‐year program that integrated curricula and fostered a learning community. Students who participated in the Connections program graduated at a significantly higher rate than their peers and reflected retrospectively that the program had a strong positive effect on their college careers.     

ANXIETY AS A FUNCTION OF TAKING THE MMPI.

TO INVESTIGATE ANXIETY PRODUCED BY TAKING A PERSONALITY TEST, 44 COLLEGE SS WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO 1 OF 3 GROUPS: A CONTROL GROUP WHICH WROTE AN ESSAY, "WHO AM I?"; A GROUP WHICH TOOK AN ELEMENTARY FORM OF AN ACHIEVEMENT TEST (IOWA TEST OF BASIC SKILLS), THEN WROTE THE ESSAY; AND A GROUP WHICH TOOK A PERSONALITY INVENTORY (MMPI), THEN WROTE THE ESSAY. CONTENT ANALYSIS, EMPLOYING THE GENERAL INQUIRER SYSTEM, REDUCED THE ESSAYS TO QUANTITATIVE TAG SPECIFIC CONCEPTS WHICH DISCLOSED STATISTICALLY RELIABLE DIFFERENCES ON 21 OF THE 83 TAGS (P $MS .05). AS HYPOTHESIZED, THE MMPI GROUP DISPLAYED MORE ANXIETY AS A FUNCTION OF THE TEST EXPERIENCE THAN DID EITHER OF THE OTHER 2 GROUPS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

N-Nitrosamine Analysis in Beer Using Thermal Desorption Injection Coupled with GC-TEA

A fast and sensitive method is described for determining a mixture of volatile N-nitrosamines in beer and other malt products. It consists of direct extraction of the sample with dichloromethane, volume reduction, cleanup by trapping volatiles onto Tenax-TA, and thermal desorption injection into a capillary gas chromatograph-thermal energy analyzer. Average recovery of N-nitrosodimethylamine added to beer ranged from 70 to 81%. N-Nitrosodimethylamine and N-nitrosopyrrolidine were detected in 10 samples of various domestic and imported beers analyzed. Total volatile N-nitrosamine concentrations ranged from 0.03 to 1.10 ppb in beer. Minimum detection limit of the method was 0.01 ppb for N-nitrosodimethylamine, a 10-fold increase in sensitivity compared to other similar methods.     

THE SHORT CRACK PROBLEM

Abstract— The problem associated with short crack growth, defined as situations in which the intensity of the crack tip field is underestimated by linear elastic fracture mechanics analyses, is briefly reviewed.
Two cases are identified, cracks growing in plastically strained materials, such as occurs in high strain fatigue studies and at notch roots, and small cracks growing in single grains as occurs close to the fatigue limit in plain specimens.
Important mechanical and metallurgical features of short cracks are discussed with particular reference to the upper and lower bound definition of a short crack.     

Content of Zinc in Selected Muscles from Beef, Pork, and Lamb

Zinc concentration was measured in four muscles from beef, pork, and lamb: longissimus dorsi (LD), biceps femoris (BF), gluteus medius (GM), and triceps brachi (TB). Within a species, BF, GM, and LD had similar zinc concentrations but TB was significantly (P<0.01) higher in zinc. The means for the four muscles ranged from 39.8–53.5, 13.9–28.0, and 28.2–36.9 μg Zn/g wet weight for beef, pork, and lamb, respectively. The zinc concentration of muscle may relate to protein synthesis and the predominant type of energy metabolism occurring in the muscle. The mean zinc concentration of the four muscles between species was significantly (P< 0.01) different.     

NUTRITIVE VALUE OF BREAKFAST CEREAL-MILK COMBINATIONS

The protein quality of 11 breakfast cereal-milk mixtures combined as normally eaten (1 oz cereal and 4 oz fluid milk) was determined by using a modified slope-ratio assay. Slope ratios (milk = 100) of three of the mixtures (oatmeal-milk, cream of rice-milk and shredded wheat-milk) were higher than that of milk alone. Using protein content and slope ratios it was calculated that 1 oz of the various cereals could increase potential protein value over that of milk alone by 26 to 117%, and that some of the mixtures could supply as much as 22% of the recommended daily allowance for an 8–10-yr-old child. It is suggested that information of this sort combining the protein quality of food mixtures as eaten with the protein content of a serving would be welcomed by consumers.