Spool for releasing and retracting flat conductor cable

Spool design and operation permit installation of up to 8 cables on single unit. Heat treating the cables while wound in a coil obtains effective recoil action

Computer Simulation of Chute Flows of Granular Materials

The purpose of the present paper is to present results from computer simulations of the flow of granular materials down inclined chutes or channels and to compare the results of these calculations with existing experimental measurements of velocity, solid fraction and mass flow rate profiles

Geometric interpretations of the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)

One, two, and three dimensional Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFT) and geometric interpretations of their periodicities are presented. These operators are examined for their relationship with the two sided, continuous Fourier transform. Discrete or continuous transforms of real functions have certain symmetry properties. The symmetries are examined for the one, two, and three dimensional cases. Extension to higher dimension is straight forward

Collimated beam manifold with the number of output beams variable at a given output angle

An optical manifold is described which transforms a collimated beam, such as a laser beam, into a plurality of parallel beams having uniform intensity or having a desired intensity ratio. The manifold comprises an optical substrate coated on its rear surface with a fully reflective layer and on its front surface with a partially reflecting layer having a reflectivity gradient. An input collimated beam entering the rear surface and impinging on the front surface is reflected, multiply between the front and rear surfaces producing a plurality of parallel beams that emerge from the front surface. The intensities of the emerging beams have a relationship that depends on the reflectivity of the front surface at the points where the beams emerge. By properly selecting the reflectivity gradient, the emerging beams have uniform intensity or a desired intensity ratio

Student Mastery of Engineering with Design Review

Traditional structural engineering pedagogy has consisted of students preparing for class by reading a textbook, followed by a professor giving a lecture, followed by students doing individual homework. Students received feedback in terms of a grade from the professor, and, ideally, the student filed the graded work and possibly reviewed it again before an exam. Following the exam, the professor moved to the next topic and essentially ended any further contact time with the material, resulting in students quickly dumping a good percentage of what was learned. To make matters worse, most faculty would agree that undergraduate students often skip the reading prior to class, and studies have shown that almost half of all students do not pay attention to material presented during a lecture. Thus, it is critical for engineering educators to improve the stagnant method of traditional teaching and learning. Small mistakes in the engineering profession can lead to death or millions of dollars in repair. For the fall 2018 semester, in the Design of Steel and Wood Structures at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Civil Engineering students participated in a cooperative learning technique aimed at improving student learning. These same students tried a different version of this technique in Structural Analysis the prior semester.[1] Prior to submitting individual homework to the instructor for grade, students paired up with a peer within their class hour and checked each other’s work using an instructor provided “Design Review Sheet.” When a student found a mistake, or disagreed with the methodology used by their Design Review partner, the student annotated this on their sheet. The expectation was that when disagreements were discovered between students, they would discuss with each other where the error or misunderstanding existed and subsequently corrected the error prior to submission for grade. This not only required students to explain the work they completed, but it also provided additional contact time with the material. With respect to Engineering Teaching and Learning, Design Review provides the essential cooperative learning characteristic of positive interdependence because individual student learning increases as review partners improved in their Design Review. As a student incentive to complete a thorough review, the quality of review counted for 10% of each assignment. Efforts this iteration were in response to some of the student suggestions following a previous iteration.[1] This iteration, in lieu of students turning in their work in pairs to receive one grade, each student would turn in their individual work and Design Review sheet. This was done to hold all students accountable for the work they completed. In addition, the instructor provided Design Review sheet was modified for clarity and the requirement to write a memorandum summarizing the results of each Design Review was eliminated. This cooperative learning technique was used on six of seven homework assignments during the term and on seven of nine homework assignments in their pre-requisite course. Student feedback was collected from both Likert Scale questions and open-ended questions. This paper will make the case that this pedagogy benefits Engineering Teaching and Learning by: (1) getting engineering students in the practice of what engineers in practice already do (check each other’s work), (2) increasing student learning of course learning objectives through repetition and through observing how others solve problems and present their work, and (3) improving the ability of future engineers to communicate their work clearly and effectively.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Multislot film cooled pyrolytic graphite rocket nozzle Patent

Multislot film cooled pyrolytic graphite rocket nozzl

Cable insulation cut-through tester

Device accurately measures cut-through load within specified time or time when cut-through occurs at specific load. Tests are performed at ambient conditions or in an environmental chamber