DUE UNICA TRA LE \uabALTRE SESTINE PROVENZALI\ubb: QUAN PES QUI SUY, FUY SO QUE\ub7M FRANH (BDT 376.2) ED ERAS, PUS VEY MON BENASTRUC (BDT 227.3)

The article focus on the occitan success of Arnaut Daniel\u2019s sestina in the wake of the other poems in langue d\u2019oc that make Lo ferm voler qu\u2019el cor m\u2019intra (BdT 29,14) their own model. In particular, the study concerns Quan pes qui suy, fuy so que\ub7m franh (BdT 376,2) by Pons Fabre d\u2019Uz\ue8s and Eras, pus vey mon benastruc (BdT 227,3) by Guillem Peire de Cazals. Therefore, the two cansos are translated and then analyzed using a comparative perspective by trying to integrate study of content and stylistic and rethorical analysis, and by retracing the key moments of criticism

From Solar and Stellar Flares to Coronal Heating: Theory and Observations of How Magnetic Reconnection Regulates Coronal Conditions

There is currently no explanation of why the corona has the temperature and density it has. We present a model which explains how the dynamics of magnetic reconnection regulates the conditions in the corona. A bifurcation in magnetic reconnection at a critical state enforces an upper bound on the coronal temperature for a given density. We present observational evidence from 107 flares in 37 sun-like stars that stellar coronae are near this critical state. The model may be important to self-organized criticality models of the solar corona.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted to Ap. J. Lett., February 200

How Accurate Is Students’ Self Assessment Of Computer Skills?

Self-evaluation by students is commonly used as a key element in program and course assessment plans. Such instruments are intended to provide crucial feedback for program improvement and thus play a significant role in closing our assessment loop. For many of the program outcomes, self-assessment by current students and graduates augments other, more objective measures. However, for some outcomes there are no practical means of obtaining objective assessment and we must rely on self-assessment. The heavy reliance on this metric begs the question “How accurate is student self-assessment?” This paper provides data from a second-semester engineering course in which students develop proficiency using computer tools to solve typical engineering problems. Students’ self-assessments in several areas are compared with the instructor’s assessment of these students. Some work reported in the literature addresses the accuracy of student self-assessment in specific academic areas. In the medical field, literature exists which addresses medical students’ selfassessment of specific skills. Other comparisons have been published to compare students’ expected grades with actual results. Little was found that is relevant to engineering student and in particular to their assessment of professional skills. The work reported here relates to the assessment of ABET’s program outcome k: “an ability to use the techniques, skills and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice. Methods of Engineering Analysis is a course taken by all engineering majors during their second semester at the University of New Haven. In this course, students are introduced to engineering topics and a variety of numerical methods for solving these problems. The current platform used is a spreadsheet with Visual Basic for Applications programming. Students complete a 30- question survey the first day of class in which they rate their expertise in three broad categories: basic spread-sheet usage, advanced spread-sheet usage and programming. The same survey is completed at the end of the class, thus providing a pre and post view from the students perspective. Quizzes given throughout the course and the final exam were structured to enable instructors to assess student performance in these same areas with composite measures. Data is presented to compare the instructor assessment of performance with students’ self-assessment at the individual level

Effect of Freshman Chemistry on Student Performance in Sophomore Engineering Courses

The role of first year chemistry courses in engineering programs varies somewhat across programs and disciplines. Clearly most engineering majors will encounter chemistry topics of a general nature in some of their upper-level course work. The purpose of requiring chemistry in the first year, however, goes well beyond learning chemical concepts. As a quantitative science, chemistry requires the use of math, principally algebra, on a regular basis in solving various problems. Students should gain an appreciation of the importance of units in solving problems should come to understand the difference between implicit and explicit properties and should develop other quantitative skills. Depending on how it is taught, chemistry can provide students with a wide range of opportunities to hone skills that will be required in their engineering courses. In discussions with students and even with many faculty, the role of chemistry is often viewed narrowly in terms of the chemistry topics alone. The purpose of this study is to explore how the number of chemistry courses taken and the performance in freshman chemistry affects performance in early engineering courses. Engineering students at the University of New Haven have different requirements for freshman chemistry depending on their particular discipline. All engineering students are required to take at least one freshman chemistry course. Students in chemical and civil engineering are required to take two, students in mechanical and system engineering have an option of biology or a second course in chemistry and students in electrical and computer engineering take only one freshman chemistry course. All engineering students take a sophomore engineering course, Introduction to Modeling of Engineering Systems, which includes topics drawn from electric circuits, mass and energy balances and force balances. The course is designed to help students develop an organized approach to solving problems and uses a conservation and accounting approach to provide a broad framework for the diverse topics. This course provides an opportunity to explore how their freshman chemistry background prepares studcents for engineering coursework. This study examines the impact of having one or two freshman chemistry courses on student performance in the first sophomore level engineering course. The methods used include standard statistical techniques, such as analysis of variance, correlation (eg., Pearson) and t-tests across groups

Cross-Flow turbine design for variable operating conditions

The potential energy hidden in water resources is becoming more and more a significant economic value. The value of the hydroelectric energy is often magnified by the proximity of the turbine to pumps or other energy sinks owned by the same water manager. Cross-flow or Banki-Michel turbines are a very efficient and economic choice that allows a very good cost/benefit ratio for energy production located at the end of conduits carrying water from a water source to a tank. In the paper the optimum design of a cross-flow turbine is sought after, assuming a flow rate variable in time. Regulation of the discharge entering in the turbine is a key issue, which is faced adopting a shaped semicircular segment, moved inside the main case around the rotating impeller. The maximum efficiency of the turbine is attained by setting the velocity of the particles entering the impeller at about twice the velocity of the rotating system at the impeller inlet. If energy losses along the pipe are negligible, closing and opening the inlet surface with the semicircular segment allows always a constant hydraulic head and a constant velocity at the impeller inlet, even with different flow rate entering values. Observed reduction of the turbine efficiency along with the inlet surface reduction is first investigated; a design methodology, using also CFD simulations, is then proposed; finally, the same methodology is applied to a real site in Sicily, selected in the context of the HYDROENERGY P.O. - F.E.S.R. European project

Active shape correction of a thin glass/plastic X-ray mirror

Optics for future X-ray telescopes will be characterized by very large aperture and focal length, and will be made of lightweight materials like glass or plastic in order to keep the total mass within acceptable limits. Optics based on thin slumped glass foils are currently in use in the NuSTAR telescope and are being developed at various institutes like INAF/OAB, aiming at improving the angular resolution to a few arcsec HEW. Another possibility would be the use of thin plastic foils, being developed at SAO and the Palermo University. Even if relevant progresses in the achieved angular resolution were recently made, a viable possibility to further improve the mirror figure would be the application of piezoelectric actuators onto the non-optical side of the mirrors. In fact, thin mirrors are prone to deform, so they require a careful integration to avoid deformations and even correct forming errors. This however offers the possibility to actively correct the residual deformation. Even if other groups are already at work on this idea, we are pursuing the concept of active integration of thin glass or plastic foils with piezoelectric patches, fed by voltages driven by the feedback provided by X-rays, in intra-focal setup at the XACT facility at INAF/OAPA. In this work, we show the preliminary simulations and the first steps taken in this project

The Current Generation of Integrated Engineering Curriculum

In September of 2004 our university adopted the Multidisciplinary Engineering Foundation Spiral Curriculum as the basis for disciplinary engineering programs in Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and General Engineering. The curriculum includes a sequence of first and second year engineering courses, matched closely with the development of students’ mathematical sophistication and analytical capabilities and integrated with course work in the sciences. Students develop a conceptual understanding of engineering basics in this series of courses which stress practical applications of these principles. The new curriculum was designed to provide students with a multidisciplinary perspective while developing basic engineering skills and fostering an understanding of basic engineering concepts. Each of the ten courses in the program were developed and are taught by faculty from several disciplines. Course materials are intended to make students keenly aware of the highly integrated nature of the current practice of engineering. It was also expected that the novel program would prove to be attractive to a broader range of students than those drawn to traditional disciplinary programs. Finally, student retention was expected to be enhanced by the new courses. Students who entered as freshmen in 2004 are currently juniors, taking courses in their disciplinary major. This study attempts to provide early data on the success of the program through the following measures: • Impact of the new curriculum on student recruiting through a survey of newly matriculated students • Impact on student retention from first to second and second to third years • Comparison of student performance in early disciplinary courses with that of students in previous years • Impact of program implementation on faculty attitude