Promoting CM Student Success: Establishing an Academic Performance Benchmark Given Construction-Education Self-Efficacy,Motivation and Planned Behavior

High levels of self-efficacy, motivation and intentions to perform well are necessary to achieve high grade point averages (GPA) in demanding academic programs including engineering, mathematics and the sciences. However, scant research has investigated these constructs within the domain of construction management (CM) education. The Construction Training Attitudes and Intentions Scale (CTAIS), which adapts self-efficacy, motivation and planned behavior constructs to the construction-education domain, was administered among CM and Non-CM students (n = 633) enrolled in courses required for a bachelor degree at three American Council for Construction Education accredited programs. Significant differences (p < .001) in construction-education domain-level constructs were observed for CM and Non-CM majors providing evidence of face validity. CM majors (n = 587) were separated for ANOVA. Significant differences in self-efficacy (p = .014) and planned behavior (p = .001) were observed by GPA. Post-hoc analysis revealed differences in these constructs based on GPA above, or below, 3.0. CM majors (n = 587) were aggregated using the 3.0 GPA benchmark (GPA > 3.0, n = 328; GPA< 3.0, n = 239). T-test results revealed significantly higher levels of self-efficacy (p = .001) and planned behavior (p < .001) among students with GPAs above 3.0. This study provides CM educators with a domain-specific measure to target students for interventions that promote success. Limitations and opportunities for further research are discussed.     

AlGaN/GaN MISHEMT with hBN as gate dielectric

Metal/Insulator/Semiconductor AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (MISHEMTs) on sapphire substrate were fabricated with hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) thin film as gate dielectric. The hBN thin film, deposited by MW-PECVD, is an insulator permitting to obtain a low leakage current gate, an interface state density as low as 5 × 1011 cm^? 2 eV^? 1 for hBN/AlGaN interface and low roughness surface less than 0.4 nm. HBN thin film is deposited to have optical c-axis oriented weakly tilted to the perpendicular at the AlGaN barrier surface and to increase the lateral electrical resistivity. DC measurement on MISHEMT exhibits promising performance for microwave power devices associated to a good gate charge control in enhancement mode.     

Catalytic Total Oxidation of Methane. Part II. Catalytic Processes to Convert Methane: Partial or Total Oxidation

The introduction of solid catalysts into a traditionally non-catalytic free-radical process such as combustion occurred in recent years under the influence of environmental pressures. The major applications of catalytic combustion are two-fold: at low temperatures to eliminate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and at high temperatures (>1000°C) to reduce NOx emission from gas turbines, jet motors, etc. It is the high temperature application that is reviewed here. Some recent developments in high-temperature catalytic combustion are trend setters in catalysis and hence of particular interest. For instance, novel materials are being developed for catalytic applications above 1000°C for sustained operation longer than one year. Where material/catalyst developments are still inadequate, systems engineering is coming to the rescue by developing multiple-monolith catalyst systems and the so-called hybrid (catalytic + thermal) reactors.     

Severe community-acquired pneumonia in ICUs: prospective validation of a prognostic score

OBJECTIVE: To determine predictors of intensive care unit (ICU) mortality in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), to develop a pneumonia-specific prognostic index, and to evaluate this index prospectively. DESIGN: Combined retrospective and prospective clinical study over two periods: January 1987-December 1992 and January 1993-December 1994. SETTING: Four medical ICUs in the north of France. PATIENTS: Derivation cohort: 335 patients admitted to one ICU were retrospectively studied to determine prognosis factors and to develop a pneumonia-specific prognostic index. Validation cohort: 125 consecutive patients, admitted to four ICUs, were prospectively enrolled to evaluate this index. RESULTS: In the derivation cohort, 16 predictors of mortality were identified and assigned a value directly proportional to their magnitude in the mortality model: aspiration pneumonia (-0.37), grading of sepsis > or = 11 (-0.2), antimicrobial combination (-0.01), Glasgow score > 12+mechanical ventilation (MV) (+0.09), serum creatinine > or = 15 mg/l (+0.22), chest involvement shown by X-ray > or = 3 lobes (+0.28), shock (+0.29), bacteremia (+0.29), initial MV (+0.29), underlying ultimately or rapidly fatal illness (+0.31), Simplified Acute Physiology Score > or = 12 (+0.49), neutrophil count < or = 3500/ mm3 (+0.52), acute organ system failure score > or = 2 (+0.64), delayed MV (+0.67), immunosuppression (+1.38), and ineffective initial antimicrobial therapy (+1.5). An index was obtained by adding each patient's points. According to a receiver operating characteristic curve, the cut-off value of this index was 2.5. In the validation cohort, an index of > or = 2.5 could predict death with a positive predictive value of 0.92, sensitivity 0.61, and specificity 0.98. CONCLUSION: This index, which performs well in classifying patients at high-risk of death, may help physicians in initial patient care (appropriateness of the initial antimicrobial therapy) and guide future clinical research (analysis and design of therapeutic trials).     

PU.1/Pip and basic helix loop helix zipper transcription factors interact with binding sites in the CD20 promoter to help confer lineage- and stage-specific expression of CD20 in B lymphocytes

CD20 is a B-lineage-specific gene expressed at the pre-B-cell stage of B-cell development that disappears on differentiation to plasma cells. As such, it serves as an excellent paradigm for the study of lineage and developmental stage-specific gene expression. Using in vivo footprinting we identified two sites in the promoter at -45 and -160 that were occupied only in CD20+ B cells. The -45 site is an E box that binds basic helix-loop-helix-zipper proteins whereas the -160 site is a composite PU.1 and Pip binding site. Transfection studies with reporter constructs and various expression vectors verified the importance of these sites. The composite PU.1 and Pip site likely accounts for both lineage and stage-specific expression of CD20 whereas the CD20 E box binding proteins enhance overall promoter activity and may link the promoter to a distant enhancer.     

Nickel oxide optimization using Taguchi design for hydrogen detection

In this work, we established Taguchi's design of experiment as a statistical tool to decrease the amount of experiments, providing the practical optimal condition to operate a chemical sensor with high sensing quality. The main idea is to maximize the signal-to-noise “higher is better”, based on the optimization of texture coefficient extracted from XRD data using L9 (3³) orthogonal array, with three factors (concentration of NiO precursor, annealing temperature and annealing time). The process parameters are then varied in order to specify the best deposition parameters to obtain optimal texture coefficient of NiO thin films adopted for best oxidation/reduction reactions. After the calculation of S/N ratio based on the texture coefficient, we controlled the concentration and the annealing time to have good structural properties. The factors combination are (A₃B₁C₁) corresponding respectively to the concentration [Ni²⁺] = 0.08 M, the temperature T = 380 °C and the annealing time about 3 min. These factors are considered as the best combination of process parameters that leads to the optimal texture coefficient of NiO thin films. The gas testing was made on the sample with optimal conditions. This sample showed very low grain sizes with a film thickness equal to (380 nm). The gas testing under H₂, acetone and ethanol revealed a high conductance, with a response of 55, at the concentration of 500 ppm with T = 300 °C.     

Sur les phenomenes d'anisotropie d'adsorption de quelques composes organiques pendant le processus d'electrocristallisation du nickel

Study of the perturbations induced by Butyne 2 diol 1–4, Sodium Benzenesulphonate, Trans-Butene 2 diol 1–4 on the morphological characteristics during mono and polycristalline growth of nickel electrodeposits.A specific interaction of these organic compounds with dense planes during the electrocrystallization process is shown. Thus, Butyne 2 diol 1–4 is preferentially adsorbed on (111), Sodium Benzenesulphonate on (110), and Trans-Butene 2 diol 1–4 on both (111) and (110) planes.A simple model adapted to explain anisotropy of this adsorption according to molecular structure and configuration of each dense plane is proposed.     

EC research: biomedical and health (BIOMED) (1991-4)

The main objectives of the European Community's Biomedical and Health Research Program (BIOMED) are reviewed. The four different areas of research in the program are development of coordinated research on prevention care and health systems, major health problems and diseases of great socio-economic impact, human genome analysis, and research on biomedical ethics     

Comparative effects of structural and material parameters variability on Pellet–Cladding Interaction in a PWR fuel rod

In the water pressurised nuclear reactors, the fuel rod cladding is the first barrier against radioactive isotopes release. Its integrity must be demonstrated all along the fuel rod irradiation with increasing strenuous operating conditions. This paper deals with a study made with Electricité de France (EDF) in order to improve the understanding and modelling of the thermomechanical behaviour of fuel rods under these more arduous conditions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the separate influences of structural and material parameters variability on Pellet–Cladding Interaction (PCI). The following parameters have been tested by 3D simulations for a common ramping condition: axial and radial pellet cracks numbers, pellet fragment size, relative fragments displacement, non-symmetrical configuration, pellet–pellet friction and pellet–cladding friction. The second part of the article deals with the development of a model, which gives a better assessment of cladding stress concentration near radial fuel cracks. The implementation in the 1D fuel rod EDF code CYRANO3 and the validation of the model are presented.