The Impact of Engineering Design Process in Teaching and Learning to Enhance Students' Science Problem-Solving Skills

This study aimed to determine the impact of the integration of engineering design process (asking, imagining, planning, creating and improving) in an electrical & magnetism module to improve problem-solving skills in physics among secondary school students in Aceh, Indonesia. The quasi-experimental study was carried out with 82 form three (age 15 years old) students of a secondary school in Aceh Besar, Indonesia. The first author had randomly chosen two classes as the experimental group and two other classes as the control group. Independent samples t-test analysis was conducted to determine the difference between the physics teaching and learning module which integrated the five steps of engineering design process and the existing commonly used science “Pudak” teaching and learning module. The results of the independent samples t-test analysis showed that the use of the physics teaching and learning module which integrated the five steps of engineering design process was more effective compared to the use of the existing “Pudak” module in increasing the students' skills in solving physics problems. The findings of the study suggest that the science learning approach is appropriate to be applied in the teaching and learning of science to enhance science problem-solving skills among secondary school students. In addition, it can be used as a guide for teachers on how to implement the integration of the five steps of engineering design process in science teaching and learning practices

Investigation of the Formation Process of Hazardous and Harmful Production Factors When Cutting a Stone for Construction Works

Stone cutting for construction work is carried out by disk diamond wheels the rotation speed of which, and, consequently, the cutting speed is 35-50 m/s. In view of the high intensity of the cutting process and intensive microchip formation, the process of stone cutting is accompanied by considerable dust formation, which can be both harmful and dangerous in the work.The greatest danger is represented by dust particles, which dimensions are 5 μm or less. These particles have the greatest pathogenic effect on the respiratory system of the human body. In addition, the settling time of these particles is measured in hours. Thus, even after the termination of work, the risk of dust exposure to the human body remains. Insignificant time of inhalation of these particles can lead a person to disability and death. Insurance payments in case of disability and compensation in case of death of an employee for these reasons all over the world amount to multibillion sums, which, even for this reason, makes the issue of combating this phenomenon very urgent.In this paper, the process of generation of hazardous and harmful production factors arising as a result of dust formation during the stone cutting, the regularity of dust distribution by fractions, quantitative indicators of the process for improving equipment, as well as individual and collective means of personnel protection are determined. The shape and dimensions of the cutting grains of the cutting discs are studied in the paper, depending on the grain material and the grain size of the cutting disc. Thecurvature radii of the cutting grains depend on the grain material and the grain size of the cutting disc. The actual number of grains participating in cutting and, consequently, in dust formation is shown.The dimensions of the dust particles depend on the graininess of the cutting discs and the processing regimes. Using the law of normal particle size distribution, the percentage of dust particles is determined depending on processing conditions. The rate of particle settling depends on their size and mass. The formation of a dust-air mixture and its probable concentration and chemical composition of dust depend on the chemical composition of the cutting materials.Regularities are obtained, which can give an opportunity to improve the individual and collective protection of workers from this harmful production factor

Stakeholder identification in the requirements engineering process

Adequate, timely and effective consultation of relevant stakeholders is of paramount importance in the requirements engineering process. However, the thorny issue of making sure that all relevant stakeholders are consulted has received less attention than other areas which depend on it, such as scenario-based requirements, involving users in development, negotiating between different viewpoints and so on. The literature suggests examples of stakeholders, and categories of stakeholder, but does not provide help in identifying stakeholders for a specific system. In this paper, we discuss current work in stakeholder identification, propose an approach to identifying relevant stakeholders for a specific system, and propose future directions for the work

Engineering Workflow: The Process in Product Data Technology

The prevailing paradigm for enterprises in the new decade is undoubtedly speed. This enterprise view is driven by the availability of e-business technology that enables new forms of collaboration between companies. The rapid developments in e-business also have an impact on the future of engineering organizations. This paper focuses on the early phases of a product’s life cycle, i.e. between initial concept and release to manufacturing. New engineering workflow capabilities are presented, that have been tailored to speed up the engineering of new products

Business process re-engineering (BPR): The REBUS approach

Many organisations undertake business process re-engineering (BPR) projects in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Although this approach can result in significant improvements and benefits, there are high risks associated with radical changes of business processes and the failure rate of BPR projects is reported to be as high as 70%. The Centre for Re-engineering Business Processes (REBUS) was established at Brunel University to provide a multidisciplinary environment for research into BPR and its success factors. This paper describes the REBUS approach to research concerning the success of BPR projects and presents examples of some of the projects carried out

The systems engineering overview and process (from the Systems Engineering Management Guide, 1990)

The past several decades have seen the rise of large, highly interactive systems that are on the forward edge of technology. As a result of this growth and the increased usage of digital systems (computers and software), the concept of systems engineering has gained increasing attention. Some of this attention is no doubt due to large program failures which possibly could have been avoided, or at least mitigated, through the use of systems engineering principles. The complexity of modern day weapon systems requires conscious application of systems engineering concepts to ensure producible, operable and supportable systems that satisfy mission requirements. Although many authors have traced the roots of systems engineering to earlier dates, the initial formalization of the systems engineering process for military development began to surface in the mid-1950s on the ballistic missile programs. These early ballistic missile development programs marked the emergence of engineering discipline 'specialists' which has since continued to grow. Each of these specialties not only has a need to take data from the overall development process, but also to supply data, in the form of requirements and analysis results, to the process. A number of technical instructions, military standards and specifications, and manuals were developed as a result of these development programs. In particular, MILSTD-499 was issued in 1969 to assist both government and contractor personnel in defining the systems engineering effort in support of defense acquisition programs. This standard was updated to MIL-STD499A in 1974, and formed the foundation for current application of systems engineering principles to military development programs

Microelectronics Process Engineering at San Jose State University: A Manufacturing-Oriented Interdisciplinary Degree Program

San Jose State University\u27s new interdisciplinary curriculum in Microelectronics Process Engineering is described. This baccalaureate program emphasizes hands-on thin-film fabrication experience, manufacturing methods such as statistical process control, and fundamentals of materials science and semiconductor device physics. Each course of the core laboratory sequence integrates fabrication knowledge with process engineering and manufacturing methods. The curriculum development process relies on clearly defined and detailed program and course learning objectives. We also briefly discuss our strategy of making process engineering experiences accessible for all engineering students through both Lab Module and Statistics Module series

How Concurrent Engineering Reconfigures Process Engineering Activity - The Case of the Chemical Industry

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A Process Algebra Software Engineering Environment

In previous work we described how the process algebra based language PSF can be used in software engineering, using the ToolBus, a coordination architecture also based on process algebra, as implementation model. In this article we summarize that work and describe the software development process more formally by presenting the tools we use in this process in a CASE setting, leading to the PSF-ToolBus software engineering environment. We generalize the refine step in this environment towards a process algebra based software engineering workbench of which several instances can be combined to form an environment

Managing design variety, process variety and engineering change: a case study of two capital good firms

Many capital good firms deliver products that are not strictly one-off, but instead share a certain degree of similarity with other deliveries. In the delivery of the product, they aim to balance stability and variety in their product design and processes. The issue of engineering change plays an important in how they manage to do so. Our aim is to gain more understanding into how capital good firms manage engineering change, design variety and process variety, and into the role of the product delivery strategies they thereby use. Product delivery strategies are defined as the type of engineering work that is done independent of an order and the specification freedom the customer has in the remaining part of the design. Based on the within-case and cross-case analysis of two capital good firms several mechanisms for managing engineering change, design variety and process variety are distilled. It was found that there exist different ways of (1) managing generic design information, (2) isolating large engineering changes, (3) managing process variety, (4) designing and executing engineering change processes. Together with different product delivery strategies these mechanisms can be placed within an archetypes framework of engineering change management. On one side of the spectrum capital good firms operate according to open product delivery strategies, have some practices in place to investigate design reuse potential, isolate discontinuous engineering changes into the first deliveries of the product, employ ‘probe and learn’ process management principles in order to allow evolving insights to be accurately executed and have informal engineering change processes. On the other side of the spectrum capital good firms operate according to a closed product delivery strategy, focus on prevention of engineering changes based on design standards, need no isolation mechanisms for discontinuous engineering changes, have formal process management practices in place and make use of closed and formal engineering change procedures. The framework should help managers to (1) analyze existing configurations of product delivery strategies, product and process designs and engineering change management and (2) reconfigure any of these elements according to a ‘misfit’ derived from the framework. Since this is one of the few in-depth empirical studies into engineering change management in the capital good sector, our work adds to the understanding on the various ways in which engineering change can be dealt with