INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA COLLABORATION: MEETING UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERS’ EMPLOYMENT NEEDS

Purpose of the study: The aim of this study is to investigate undergraduate engineers’ perceptions on the industrial collaboration program. Methodology: This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis. Based on purposive sampling, 150 undergraduate engineers were selected and were required to complete a questionnaire and participate in focus group interviews. Numerical data obtained using the questionnaire were tabulated based on frequencies and percentages. Thematic analysis was performed to identify patterns that emerged from the focus group interview transcripts. Main findings: Study findings indicate a positive trend in students’ perceptions on the benefits of the program besides indicating a gap in their ability and competency. Thematic analysis based on the focus group interviews reveal three emerging themes which indicate that the respondents found the program to have boosted their confidence, besides being useful and meaningful. Applications of this study: This study contributes to the design of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curriculum, specifically for engineers. ESP curriculum design as well as teaching and learning should include industry leaders’ intervention. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study will be the entry point for employer engagement in teaching and learning as well as in ESP curriculum development for engineers in the context of a technical university

Human Computer Interface for Victims using FPGA

Visually impaired people face many challenges in the society; particularly students with visual impairments face unique challenges in the education environment. They struggle a lot to access the information, so to resolve this obstacle in reading and to allow the visually impaired students to fully access and participate in the curriculum with the greatest possible level of independence, a Braille transliteration system using VLSI is designed. Here Braille input is given to FPGA Virtex-4 kit via Braille keyboard. The Braille language is converted into English language by decoding logic in VHDL/Verilog and then the corresponding alphabet letter is converted into speech signal with the help of the algorithm. Speaker is used for the voice output. This project allows the visually impaired people to get literate also the person can get a conformation about what is being typed, every time that character is being pressed, this prevents the occurrence of mistakes

MANAGING ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATES’ LANGUAGE ANXIETY: INSTRUCTOR ROLE IN ONLINE THREADED DISCUSSIONS

The advancement of communication technologies has revolutionized language classrooms via the instrumentality of computer networks and its text-based nature has brought about applications such as online threaded discussions. This paper firstly aims to determine whether the engineering undergraduates of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) are affected by the psychological aspects of language learning as well as explore how they interact in online threaded discussions. Besides, it also investigates the instructor’s point of view on instructor intervention in the activity. The Language Profile Forms and the focused group interviews indicate that they lack confidence and are affected by language anxiety. The postings of the 15 LEP undergraduates which were analyzed for emerging themes reveal that they mainly asked questions. Even though their discussions lacked substance and were akin to ‘educationally less valuable talk’ (ELVT), the activity has provided them with the motivation and autonomy to socialize and interact, thus reducing their anxiety. The instructor being the main content provider in the discussion has played an important role in facilitating and enhancing cognitive processing besides keeping the learners engaged

Amino Acid Usage Is Asymmetrically Biased in AT- and GC-Rich Microbial Genomes.

INTRODUCTION: Genomic base composition ranges from less than 25% AT to more than 85% AT in prokaryotes. Since only a small fraction of prokaryotic genomes is not protein coding even a minor change in genomic base composition will induce profound protein changes. We examined how amino acid and codon frequencies were distributed in over 2000 microbial genomes and how these distributions were affected by base compositional changes. In addition, we wanted to know how genome-wide amino acid usage was biased in the different genomes and how changes to base composition and mutations affected this bias. To carry this out, we used a Generalized Additive Mixed-effects Model (GAMM) to explore non-linear associations and strong data dependences in closely related microbes; principal component analysis (PCA) was used to examine genomic amino acid- and codon frequencies, while the concept of relative entropy was used to analyze genomic mutation rates. RESULTS: We found that genomic amino acid frequencies carried a stronger phylogenetic signal than codon frequencies, but that this signal was weak compared to that of genomic %AT. Further, in contrast to codon usage bias (CUB), amino acid usage bias (AAUB) was differently distributed in AT- and GC-rich genomes in the sense that AT-rich genomes did not prefer specific amino acids over others to the same extent as GC-rich genomes. AAUB was also associated with relative entropy; genomes with low AAUB contained more random mutations as a consequence of relaxed purifying selection than genomes with higher AAUB. CONCLUSION: Genomic base composition has a substantial effect on both amino acid- and codon frequencies in bacterial genomes. While phylogeny influenced amino acid usage more in GC-rich genomes, AT-content was driving amino acid usage in AT-rich genomes. We found the GAMM model to be an excellent tool to analyze the genomic data used in this study

Electrocatalytic glycol cleavage by periodate / iodate redox system under phase transfer conditions

Oxidative cleavage of glycols and related compounds by electrogenerated periodate in a 2-phase anolyte employing phase transfer catalysis is reported. A divided cell with lead dioxiode anode is used to generate periodate which is transferred to the organic phase where oxidation takes place. The iodate formed in this step is transferred back to the aqueous phase and reoxidises to periodate at the anode, completing the catalytic cycle. Iodate can be taken in substoichiometric quanitity. Conversion and selectivity for aldehyde are hiWi in the oxidation of hydrobenzoin, benzoin and erythro -9, IO-dihydroxyoctadecanoic acid

Hexammineruthenium(III) ion interactions with Z-­DNA

The structure of the complex of the hexanucleotide duplex d(CGCGCA)·d(TGCGCG) with hexammineruthenium(III) ion shows a tautomeric shift in the adenine base and a consequent disruption of the A·T base pair