Development of Assessment Plan for Online Thermo-Fluid Science Courses

Due to the flexibility and accessibility aspects, online learning is in high demand.  Many higher education institutions offer courses, certificates, and degree programs partially or fully online.  Educators have been redesigning their courses for the online learning environment.  Course management systems such as Blackboard, Moodle, and many others are adopted by higher education institutions to provide a platform to teach online courses. Transforming course contents from a traditional course to an online course can be challenging, as courses do have hands-on components such as laboratories, projects, and in-class exercises.  Many educators shared their experiences in designing and developing online courses and provided approaches they employed when transforming an in-class course to an online course. However, it is also important to measure the effectiveness of the online courses and determine the proper learning activities for the online environment. Although using only course grades to assess the effectiveness of online courses may be adequate, it may not necessarily provide an in-depth assessment of each chapter/topic. The authors suggest to collected and assessed homework and exam grades for both in-class and online settings over multiple semesters. This will help the instructors to identify the topics, chapters, or modules students may have difficulty in general. This paper provides the development of an assessment plan to measure the effectiveness of online Applied Fluid Mechanics and Applied Thermodynamics courses that are offered in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department at Farmingdale State College. Keywords: Fluid Mechanics, Online Education, Thermodynamics, Thermo-Fluid Science

Preparing STEM Teachers for Integration of NGSS: a Summer Workshop Development

The increasing emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in United States and across the world created the demand for STEM education to start as early as elementary school. Especially in the past decade, the demand for middle schools and high schools to increase the involvement of the STEM components in their curriculum has been on the rise. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)(http://www.nextgenscience.org/) are testimonial to this demand and need. With the fast-pace the NGSS are being adopted by different states, the expectations from science, engineering, and technology teachers to develop and design their courses to reflect the new standards and meet the updated goals increased. To support teachers with the necessary resources and training, a Summer STEM training program and a set of STEM training modules have been developed by a 4-year accredited State College. This paper provides an overview of the STEM initiatives and a step-by-step approach of the design and development of the STEM modules to train K-12 teachers

Towards Simulation Aided Online Teaching: Material Design for Applied Fluid Mechanics

Learning is shifting from synchronous in-class settings to asynchronous online platforms in an attempt to make education accessible to wider audience. However, certain vital components of engineering education, such as laboratory work and hands-on practices, are harder to conduct online. Understanding how technology can help offering such components online can impact the quality of online education a great deal. The goal of this study is to improve the effectiveness of online courses in engineering. Particularly, we aim to transform some of the hands-on practices that are fundamental for engineering education into online setting. We first explored existing literature and found that real-time experimentation can be carried out with the help of online modules. We then designed two simulations for a fluid mechanics lab. We expect these simulations to be used to support teaching and evaluation of fluid mechanics through various assignments that utilize these simulations.  This study surveys how online modules have been studied in effort to relax the time and location constraints of in-class education. Drawing upon the literature review it proposes a novel approach to incorporate simulations to ground learning of abstract concepts such as buoyancy

Isolation of nontuberculous mycobacteria from hospital waters in Turkey

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous in hot and cold water distribution systems. With molecular typing methods it was shown that water can be the source of colonization and infection with NTM. The aim of our study was the investigation of NTM in hot and cold water samples taken from various departments of two hospitals in Istanbul, Turkey. Totally, 160 water samples were examined. The temperature, pH, and free chlorine levels of water samples were measured between 10-41 degrees C, 6.78-7.98 and <0.3-0.5mg/L, respectively. NTM were detected in 33 (20.6%) samples. Totally 20 (60.6%), 10 (30.3%) and 3 (9.1%) isolates were identified as Mycobacterium lentiflavum, Mycobacterium gordonae, and Mycobacterium peregrinum, respectively. M. lentiflavum, which was the most frequently isolated NTM, is characterized by multiple resistance to antimycobacterial drugs. Although no infections with this mycobacterium were reported from our country so far, preventive measures may be considered in patients under immunosuppression. Because no significant correlations were found among the presence of NTM or species distribution and water temperature, pH or free chlorine levels, other factors need to be investigated

The antifungal susceptibilities of oral Candida spp isolates from HIV-infected patients

Oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) is the most common HIV related oral lesion. Most patients are infected with a strain originally present as a commensal of the oral cavity. The resistance of Candida isolates to antifungal drugs is important due to morbidity and mortality. The aim of our study was to investigate the antifungal susceptibility profiles of oral Candida spp which were isolated from HIV-infected patients. In vitro susceptibility tests were performed using the broth microdilution method recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI). A total of 67 oral Candida isolates from colonized HIV-infected patients, which were previously isolated and identified were included in this study. MIC ranges were 0.12 - 4.0, 0.12 - 16, 0.03 - 1.0, 0.03 - 1.0, and 0.03 - 0.25 mu g/ml for amphotericin B, fluconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole and voriconazole, respectively. All isolates were fully susceptible to voriconazole. Sixty five (97%) of all isolates were determined fully susceptible to amphotericin B, 66 (98.5%) to fluconazole, 64 (95.5%) to ketoconazole and 50 (88%) to itraconazole. No resistance was detected to fluconazole and voriconazole in oral Candida strains isolated from colonized Turkish HIV positive patients. Antifungal resistance was detected in 8.96% (6 strains) of all isolates tested

Systemic Mycobacteriosis Caused by Mycobacterium marinum in Farmed Meagre (Argyrosomus regius), in Turkey

This paper describes systemic mycobacteriosis caused by Mycobacterium marinum, in farmed meager (Argyrosomus regius), in Turkey. Infected two year old fish showed signs of stunted growth, emaciation, slight ascites and exophtalmia, pale gills and significant mortalities. Only one fish sample showed hemorrhagic ulcerative skin lesions at the base of the caudal fin. Internal multifocal white colored granulomas in the spleen, kidney, and liver were observed. Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) and Gram stained fresh squash mounts of the granulomas revealed Gram and ZN positive rods. Inoculation of sterile homogenates of the visceral organ granulomas on Lowenstein-Jensen slants produced slow-growing (3-4 weeks), yellow to orange colored, photochromogenic acid fast colonies. ZN positive bacterial isolates were identified using commercially available line probe assays (Genotype Mycobacterium CM/AS assay) and hsp65 gene sequencing analyses. According to molecular analysis results, the isolates were identified as Mycobacterium marinum. Epithelioid cell granulomas were microscopically observed in the visceral organs and gills. ZN stained tissue sections exhibited heavy acid-fast rods within the granulomas

In Vitro Antifungal Activity of a Medicinal Plant Extract Mixture Against Candida Species Isolated from Patients with Oral Stomatitis

Background: Ankaferd Blood Stopper (R) (ABS) is a hemostatic product comprising a standardized mixture of Thymus vulgaris, Gly-cyrrhiza glabra, Vitis vinifera, Alpinia officinarum, and Urtica dioica. It is used to control bleeding after extracorporeal injuries, traumatic cuts, dental operations, and surgical intervention. ABS was reported to exhibit antibacterial and germicidal activities

MYCOBACTERIOSIS IN FARMED SEA BREAM (Sparus aurata) CAUSED BY Mycobacterium frederiksbergense IN TURKEY

Over the past decades, different mycobacteriosis agents have become important fish pathogens. The present study describes a different mycobacteriosis in farmed sea bream (Sparus aurata) caused by Mycobacterium frederiksbergense in Turkey. Affected 15 fish, weighing 15 to 20 g, showed lethargy, stunted growth, pale skin, dorsal fin necrosis, and a significant level of mortality (40 %) in fish stocks. Internally, no multifocal white-colored granulomas in the visceral organs were observed. Inoculation of the visceral organs onto Lowenstein Jensen medium and Tryptic Soy Agar (1.5% NaCl) slants produced only fast-growing (2-3 weeks), orange to yellow-colored, photochromogenic acid-fast colonies. Ziehl-Nielsen positive bacterial isolates were identified using a commercially available line probe assay (Genotype Mycobacterium CM/AS assay) and with 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, fifteen isolates were identified as Mycobacterium fredeiksbergense. Histopathologically, epithelioid cell granulomas were not observed in any vicseral organs but acid-fast bacteria were detected in the liver, kidney, spleen, and heart tissue. This study shows that asystemic mycobacteriosis is observed in sea bream with high mortality