Kinetic friction of nonwetting drops

Numerous engineering applications have been proposed to exploit the load-carrying and non-contact nature of noncoalescing and nonwetting systems. One such application is a lab-on-a-chip , or LOC, in which liquid samples would be delivered from point-to-point by sliding over a film of air without requiring either the large driving forces required to pump liquid through a microchannel or liquid-solid contact that could lead to sample-to-sample contamination. Due to the axisymmetry of the flow fields in both the lubricating gas and droplet associated with a stationary nonwetting droplet, such a situation has a vanishing coefficient of static friction. However, once motion is imparted, droplet deformation requires that a force be applied to sustain such motion. The program of research in this dissertation focuses on investigating the lubrication force between a drop of silicone oil and a moving unwetted substrate due to the presence of a gas lubricating film driven by a rotating disk. The frictional (or lubrication) force was measured using an optical-lever technique as a function of: (1) linear velocity of the moving solid; (2) relative displacement of the drop toward the solid; (3) drop volume; and (4) viscosity. The data reveal an increase in magnitude of the measured force with either increasing relative squeezing of the drop against the glass or increasing speed of the rotating disk. Contrary to initial expectations, no pattern could be isolated regarding drop volume or viscosity of the oil. The experimental data collected will serve to validate numerical work as further models are developed.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Neitzel, G. Paul; Committee Member: Allen, Mark G.; Committee Member: Degertekin, F. Levent; Committee Member: Schatz, Michael; Committee Member: Smith, Marc K

Assessing an Online Engineering Ethics Module from Experiential Learning Perspective

Today, engineers play a crucial role in the direction of technology, research, social wellbeing, and economic growth, thus the lives of people. An engineer’s professional responsibility for complying with ethical standards and conduct is essential to the needs and requirements of individuals, organizations, and the society. Educating the future engineering workforce and establishing effective and timely policies that ensure engineering professional’s compliance with requirements are two important pillars of sustaining the ethical knowledge and practice in engineering profession. In this study, the researchers focused on investigating the learning effectiveness of an online ethics module developed for and implemented in a senior year Engineering Ethics Seminar course. The module consisted of three pillars: code of ethics, case studies, and methods for applying ethical reasoning. Each pillar requires the student to take a quiz consisting of 4 to 7 questions, and a final 10 question quiz at completion of the module. In-class activities and assignments complement the module. The research team conducted a two-semester assessment on learning effectiveness of the online ethics module with a sample of 41 engineering students from well-represented diverse majors, self-identification and racial/ethnic backgrounds compared to the enrollment population. Results indicate that the proposed online module positively impacted the students’ proficiency in knowledge of ethics and ethical reasoning in terms of students’ perception of improved confidence and the instructor’s assessment. The same interpretation was reached by the instructor’s assessment as well. The team did not identify any correlation between the students’ answers to the survey questions and their final grades, which indicates that the students’ positive response on their learning experience was found to be independent of their letter grade

Integração de sistemas de informações geográficas e sistema especialista visando auxiliar a tomada de decisão locacional do setor bancário /

Orientadora : Luciene Stamato DelazariInclui apêndicesDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciencias da Terra, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciencias Geodésicas. Defesa: Curitiba, 2007Inclui bibliografia e anexo

DETERMINAÇÃO DE ÁREAS DE ABRANGÊNCIA DE PONTOS PELO DIAGRAMA DE VORONOI COM OBSTÁCULOS

Os diagramas de Voronoi permitem a subdivisão das regiões em umconjunto de áreas de abrangência, a fim de estabelecer relações deproximidades, por exemplo, de uma empresa com seus concorrentes. Váriosestudos foram realizados para a determinação de áreas de abrangência deinstituições de ensino, lojas de varejo, rede de supermercados e setor detelefonia com o uso dos diagramas de Voronoi. Entretanto, ainda é necessárioaprofundar as investigações com o desenvolvimento de novas proposições, comvistas à determinação de áreas de abrangência que se aproximem da realidadetopográfica das cidades. Para tal é necessário que sejam considerados osobstáculos, isto é, barreiras lineares como rodovias e rios e barreiras fechadascomo parques, bosques e lagos. De acordo com a literatura consultada, nãoexistem pesquisas que tenham avançado nesse sentido, o que enfatiza a suaimportância. Nesta pesquisa, é proposta a determinação de áreas de abrangênciacom o uso do diagrama de Voronoi considerando as barreiras lineares efechadas, concomitantemente. Foi realizada a implementação computacionaldos diagramas de Voronoi ordinário e por potência (power Voronoi) com aconsideração dos obstáculos. A construção do diagrama de Voronoi ordináriodepende apenas das distâncias entre os pontos, denominados pontos geradores,como por exemplo, agências bancárias e shopping centers. O diagrama deVoronoi por potência faz uso de pesos, que refletem a propriedade variável dospontos geradores. Diversos autores apontam como limitações em seus estudos ofato de utilizarem somente uma variável como fator de ponderação ou análiseestatística por meio de componentes principais. A fim de contornar essaslimitações foram utilizados métodos estatísticos multivariados. Os dados utilizados são referentes às agências do HSBC Bank Brasil S/A - BancoMúltiplo do município de Curitiba (PR) e as agências corresponderam aospontos geradores dos diagramas de Voronoi. Foram realizadas análises espaciaisa partir do diagrama de Voronoi ordinário e por potência sem e com aconsideração das barreiras lineares e fechadas, estabelecendo-se relações deproximidades com os bancos concorrentes e postos de atendimento eletrônico(PAE’s) do HSBC. A partir dos resultados verificou-se que a inclusão dasbarreiras modificou sensivelmente as fronteiras dos diagramas de Voronoi eque, com o método proposto, evita-se conclusões incorretas pelos usuários,uma vez que as áreas de abrangência determinadas com a consideração dasbarreiras lineares e fechadas se incorporam à realidade topográfica das cidades

What Does It Mean to Be an Engineer? A Comparison of Adult Students at Three Institutions

Our work is motivated by the need to cultivate a diverse group of talented future engineers. Adult undergraduate students over the age of 25 are an important source of engineers, with life experience that can enhance student experience, but not much is understood yet about this specific group. Adult students face challenges specific to their demographic due to responsibilities in other aspects of their life as employees, parents, spouses, and more. This paper examines adult engineering students’ conceptions of what an engineer is, across three distinct academic environments: a community college, a small private undergraduate university, and a large public research university. A semi-structured interview approach was used to collect data from adult students with prior engineering-related work experience. These data reveal strong similarities among the conception of what it means to be an engineer, despite differences in the demographic background and institutional context of the participants. There are differences in course load, employment status, and number of dependents among the sample populations at the three institutions. Participants from all institutions identified with occupational respect, application of knowledge to find solutions, benefiting society, and problem solving as important aspects of the engineering occupation. We conclude that a well-defined, accessible engineering support structure is instrumental in promoting students\u27 conception of the engineering occupation. This work suggests opportunities to enhance professional identity development at institutions of multiple types through industrial collaboration and mentorship, policies and programs to support student-parents, and cooperative work opportunities that marry engineering education with engineering practice

EML Indices to Assess Student Learning through Integrated e-Learning Modules

The University of New Haven has facilitated the development and integration of e-learning modules on entrepreneurial topics into regular engineering and computer science courses. In addition to faculty at the University of New Haven, over three years 77 faculty at 53 other universities in the US have also integrated these modules into their courses. Starting in fall 2017, rubrics were developed so that student work related to topics covered in the modules could be assessed directly by instructors. Topics covered by each module were also mapped to learning outcomes published in the KEEN Framework [1]. An Entrepreneurial Minded Learning (EML) Index is proposed to quantify how well students attain each learning outcome in the KEEN Framework through completion of a given e-learning module and the related contextual activities developed by instructors for the courses into which the module was integrated. The EML Index is computed for each learning outcome in the KEEN Framework for seven e-learning modules deployed by 1-8 faculty at various universities. Results from multiple offerings of the same module are compared to assess how well the different deployments worked. An EML Effectiveness Index is proposed to quantify the effectiveness of a particular deployment in enabling students to achieve each learning outcome. The EML Effectiveness Index is useful for identifying faculty and courses that need attention in order to improve module deployments. By completing several e-learning modules in different courses, students can successfully attain many of the learning outcomes in the KEEN Framework. A comprehensive EML Index is proposed to quantify student achievement of each learning outcome from completing multiple e-learning modules integrated into different courses. This comprehensive index is computed for students at the University of New Haven who do take several courses in which the e-learning modules are integrated. This paper refines preliminary ideas on the EML Index presented by the authors previously and presents data from a broad set of e-learning module deployments. References 1. Kern Entrepreneurial Education Network (KEEN) (2016). Mindset + skillset: Education in tandem. Retrieved from https://engineeringunleashed.com/Mindset-Matters/Framework.asp

INTEGRAÇÃO DE SISTEMAS DE INFORMAÇÕES GEOGRÁFICAS E TÉCNICAS DE INTELIGÊNCIA ARTIFICIAL PARA AUXILIAR A TOMADA DE DECISÃO LOCACIONAL DO SETOR BANCÁRIO

Making a decision on where would be the best location to sell a product is the mostcrucial task in any market sector. However, this is a complex undertaking since itinvolves numerous variables, not only related to space, but also related tosubjectivity and symbolism and often related to personal opinions. Taking intoconsideration that the decision on the location involves many variables as to spaceas well as symbolic variables, this paper presents the integration of a GeographicalInformation System (GIS) with an Expert System (ES) in order to help with thedecision taking process of where to start a new retailer in the banking sector, in thiscase within the HSBC Bank Brazil S/A, Multiple Banking, Department of RealEstate Administration for the area of the city of Curitiba, Paraná. The system wasdeveloped in several steps. To implement GIS ArcGIS was used and to develop theExpert System it was used a shell, named Expert SINTA. The user interface wasdeveloped by using programming language Visual Basic. A comparison was madebetween the methodology used of the specialists of the Department of Real EstateAdministration and the proposed system in order to validate the results. Theconclusion was that the integration of the systems contributed to an improvementwithin the decision maping process as to the location in the banking sector,enlarging the possibilities of the spatial analysis and helping the experts with thetasks that involve subjective estimations and often opinions.Decidir sobre a melhor localização de um ponto comercial em qualquer setor é umadas tarefas mais importantes a ser tomada. No entanto, realizar uma decisãolocacional é uma tarefa complexa, pois envolve inúmeras variáveis, não sóespaciais, como também subjetivas, simbólicas e muitas vezes opinativas.Considerando que para decidir sobre uma localização nas quais estão envolvidastanto variáveis espaciais como variáveis simbólicas, este trabalho apresenta aintegração de um Sistema de Informações Geográficas (SIG) e um sistemaespecialista (SE) para auxiliar a tomada de decisão locacional voltada ao setorbancário, neste caso o HSBC Bank Brasil S/A – Banco Múltiplo, departamento deAdministração de Imóveis (DAI), abrangendo o município de Curitiba (PR). Para aimplementação do sistema foram usados os softwares Visual Basic, ArcGIS, ExpertSINTA e HelpScribble para desenvolvimento da interface de integração, do SIG, doSE e dos menus de ajuda, respectivamente. Foi efetuada uma comparação entre ametodologia usada pelos especialistas do DAI com o sistema proposto a fim deavaliar os resultados, concluindo-se que a integração entre os sistemas contribui noaprimoramento da decisão locacional do setor bancário, ampliando as possibilidadesde análises espaciais e auxiliando os especialistas nas tarefas que envolvempareceres subjetivos e muitas vezes opinativos

Development of an Instrument to Measure the Entrepreneurial Mindset of Engineering Students

This work in progress describes the development of an instrument to measure entrepreneurial mindset of engineering students. The need for developing the entrepreneurial mindset of engineering students is being recognized by many universities. However, very few comprehensive, generalized and well-validated instruments are available for assessing the entrepreneurial mindset of engineering students. Most research and educational efforts focus on the design and implementation of engineering entrepreneurship programs, but assessment practices have not kept up.1-2 There are several reasons for the shortfall in assessment practices: 1) Introducing engineering students to entrepreneurship is a relatively new trend and it will take time for the successes to be quantified and assessed; 2) There are inconsistencies across different engineering entrepreneurship programs; 3) The program can involve a single course, multiple courses, projects or experiential learning; 4) The concepts can be taught by engineering faculty, business faculty, practicing engineers, or a mix of these.3 These program differences lead to variations in assessment methods and instruments. Most importantly, there is lack of a clear, consistent and comprehensive definition of engineering entrepreneurship characteristics within the community.4 The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) states that an entrepreneurially minded engineer should possess curiosity about our changing world, habitually make connections, gaining insight from many sources of information, and focus on creating value for others.5 KEEN defines 12 secondary learning outcomes based on the primary 3C’s.5 This paper describes the development of an assessment instrument to measure the entrepreneurial mindset of engineering students based on KEEN’s definitions. An assessment instrument consisting of 37 questions was developed. Since psychological measurement theory suggests that lengthy questionnaires can lead to low response rates and distorted responses due to fatigue, the survey was designed to be reasonably concise. Students’ general entrepreneurial characteristics such as their intellectual and exploratory curiosity levels, interests and experiences in entrepreneurship, career plans, etc. are measured through 12 items. The other 25 items are designed to measure the KEEN secondary learning outcomes, with one or two questions related to each outcome. The specific approaches undertaken for item validation and data collection are described. Statistical analysis results from t-tests on different student populations, reliability analysis based on Cronbach’s α, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the assessment instrument are presented. It is expected that the outcomes of the factor analyses will result in a rigorously validated assessment instrument for the measurement of the engineering entrepreneurial mindset of students. 1. Shartrand, et al, 2008, “Assessing student learning in technology entrepreneurship”, the 38th ASEE/ISEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Oct. 2008, Saratoga Springs, NY. 2. Pittaway and Hannon, 2009, “Assessment practice in enterprise education”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2009, pp. 71-93. 3. Standish-Kuon and Rice, 2002, “Introducing engineering and science students to entrepreneurship: Models and influential factors at six American universities,” JEE, Vol. 91, No.1, 2002, pp. 33-39. 4. Bilen, S.G., Kisenwether, E. C., Rzasa, S. E. and Wise, J.C. “Developing and Assessing students’ entrepreneurial skills and mind-sets”, Journal of Engineering Education, April 2005, pp 233-243. 5. KEEN website: http://keennetwork.org/, last retrieved on Oct.11. 201