A Mathematical Model of a Course Performance Index to Measure Improvements in Students’ Soft Skills

In this paper, a method to assess engineering students’ performance after humanity course is introduced. Mathematical model for a student improvement index is derived to quantify a student’s improvements in some learning parameters related to the course. Input to the index is the data obtained from a survey given to students before the end of the course. Statements in the survey can be given different weights according to their importance. A numerical example on how to calculate improvement index is represented. A course performance index is introduced as well to measure how all students in the course achieved in comparison with previous or target performance. A case study in which a survey can be given to undergraduate engineering students before the end of a course about oral presentation skills is introduced as an application for the proposed models. The second index can also be used by the institution to measure the quality of the learning process through the course in certain semester. The proposed approach has the advantage of being of almost no additional cost and can be modified and applied to other courses as well. Also, this approach needs moderate use of Microsoft Excel and doesn’t need sophisticated academic analytics or learning management system to be owned by the institution

Air gaps in protective clothing during flash fire exposure

Protective clothing is widely used in many industries and applications to provide protection against fire exposure. Exposure to fire can result in skin burn injuries that range from first-degree to third-degree burn injury depending on the exposure intensity and duration. Within the firefighting community, and especially the petroleum and petrochemical industries flash fire is one of the possible fire hazards for workers. Exposure to flash fire is usually of short duration (a few seconds) until the worker runs away from the fire location. The typical protective clothing system consists of a fire resistant fabric, the human skin, and an air gap between the fabric and skin. The protective performance of the clothing is evaluated based on the total energy transfer from the fabric to the skin through the air gap causing burn injury to the skin. Therefore the air gap between the protective clothing and skin plays an important role in determining the protection level provided by the clothing since the energy transfer through the air gap determines the amount of energy received by the skin. The more realistic the analysis of the air gap, the more reliable the evaluation of the protective performance of the clothing. This study introduces a more realistic analysis for the air gap between protective clothing and the skin compared to that found in the literature. More specifically, the study accounts for the combined conduction-radiation heat transfer through the air gap, which was treated as a thermal radiation participating medium with temperature dependent thermophysical properties. A finite volume model was developed to simulate the transient heat transfer in a single layer protective clothing system with radiation heat transfer. The model was employed to investigate the influence of the conduction-radiation heat transfer through the air gap on the overall heat transfer through the protective clothing system and hence on its protective performance. The influence of different protective clothing parameters on the combined conduction-radiation heat transfer through the air gap such as the air gap absorption coefficient, air gap width, fabric thickness, and fabric backside emissivity was studied. A comprehensive study of the influence of a periodic variation in the air gap width and associated inflow of cool air due to the motion of the person wearing the clothing on its protective performance was carried out. A wide range of variation in the frequency and amplitude of the fabric periodic movement was considered to capture different scenarios for the wearer’s motion. Finally, a finite volume model was developed to simulate the transient heat transfer in multiple layers firefighters’ protective clothing. The model considered the combined conduction-radiation heat transfer in the air gaps entrapped between the clothing layers, which were treated as thermal radiation participating media. The influence of each air gap on the overall performance of the clothing was investigated as well. The improved air gap model is a significant improvement for modeling heat transfer in protective clothing. It was used to obtain a more detailed knowledge of the theoretical performance of such clothing, e.g. it was found that reducing the fabric backside emissivity was more effective in improving the clothing protective performance than increasing the fabric thickness. It was also observed that the motion of the person wearing the clothing has a significant effect on the performance of the clothing: an increase in the frequency of the fabric movement improves the protection provided by the clothing, primarily due to the more frequent inflow of cool air, while an increase in the amplitude of the fabric movement reduces the protection provided by the clothing by concentrating the exposure on the skin. Finally, the air gaps entrapped between the clothing layers in firefighters’ protective clothing were found to improve the clothing performance, and the influence of the air gap between the moisture barrier and the thermal liner is greater than that of the air gap between the outer shell and the moisture barrier

Povoljno otapalo za nov kopolimer u predistraživanju njegovog statičkog laserskog raspršenja

An interferometric method, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, is applied to determine both refractive index and refractive index increments (dn/dc) for a new copolymer material poly-(4-vinylphenol-co-2-hydroxethyl methacrylate), PVPh-HEM, in different solvents like methanol and dimethylformamide. The PVPh-HEM is solved in each solvent with different concentrations ranging from 0.004 to 0.010 g/ml. The light source we have used is the argon-ion laser with the wavelength of 488 nm. This work is carried out as a step for the determination of the average molecular weight of PVPh-HEM and its other related scattering parameters.Primijenili smo interferometrijsku metodu s Mach-Zehnderovim interferometrom za određivanje indeksa loma i porasta indeksa loma (dn/dc) za novu kopolimersku tvar, poli-(4-vinilphenol-co-2-hidroksetil metacrilat). Taj se kopolimer otapao u svakom otapalu s različitim koncentracijama između 0.004 i 0.010 g/ml. Rabili smo argon-ionski laser valne duljine 488 nm kao izvor svjetla. Ovaj je rad predistraživanje za određivanje prosječne molekulske težine tog kopolimera i odnosnih parametara raspršenja

PENGARUH VARIASI JARAK TULANGAN TRANSVERSAL PADA KOLOM PENDEK PENAMPANG PERSEGI YANG DIPERKUAT CFRP (CARBON FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER) TERHADAP KEMAMPUAN MENERIMA KUAT TEKAN AKSIAL

Beton yang tidak terkekang akan berbeda karakteristiknya dengan beton yang terkekang dalam menerima kuat tekan aksial. Selimut beton akan mulai retak apabila kekuatan beton yang tidak terkekang telah mencapai beban maksimal. Pada beton penampang persegi terdapat area yang tidak efektif pengekangannya, area yang tidak efektif tersebut dapat diperkuat dengan CFRP. Jarak antar tulangan transversal juga berpengaruh pada kolom saat menerima beban aksial. Jarak antar tulangan transversal yang renggang akan menyebabkan lemahnya antara inti beton dan selimut beton, sebaliknya jika jarak antar tulangan transversal rapat akan memperkuat inti beton dan selimut beton. Pada penelitian ini akan diaplikasikan CFRP secara penuh pada semua benda uji dengan tiga variasi jarak tulangan tranversal tanpa mengamati pengaruh pemakaian tulangan longitudinal. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa terdapat peningkatan pada benda uji dalam menerima kuat tekan aksial. Benda uji dengan jarak tulangan transversal 52 mm mengalami peningkatan sebesar 1,05%, benda uji dengan jarak tulangan transversal 36 mm mengalami peningkatan sebesar 18,30%, sedangkan benda uji dengan jarak tulangan transversal 27 mm mengalami peningkatan sebesar 26,05%. Kata Kunci: CFRP, Jarak Tulangan Transversal, Kuat Tekan

Dose the FDI Flow into Arab Region Influenced by the Global Financial Crisis?

This study provides an overall view of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows for the Arab region during the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008. There a little attention has given to the FDI flows in Arab region as the main focus was on the countries where the GFC started. The objective of this study is to compare and analyses the global FDI inflows with Arab region during the GFC. It attempts to answer the question whether the FDI flow into Arab region was impacted immediately by the GFC? It provides a case analysis of FDI inflows in the Arab countries to test what is the reduction in these inflows? Are FDI inflows hold due to the assumption of that the region is considered as preferable distention to FDI? The study gives better understanding to the share of each individual Arab country over the period. It also introduces a case analysis of FDI inflow for Arab countries then compare it with other global regions

Sistem Informasi Data Surat Keterangan Catatan Kepolisian (SKCK) Poltabes Surakarta

Kepolisian Kota Besar atau Poltabes Surakarta mempunyai sebagian tugas mengelola data SKCK yang berguna untuk mengetahui identitas yang valid tentang jati diri seseorang. SKCK digunakan untuk mengetahui juga bahwa orang yang bersangkutan berkelakukan baik. Setiap orang yang akan melakukan atau mencari pekerjaan biasanya harus menggunakan SKCk sebagai salah satu sayarat. Dalam mengumpulkan data pada saat di Poltabes Surakarta menggunakan beberapa metode, diantaranya Observasi dan wawancara serta studi pustaka. Berdasarkan hasil pada unit Intelkam Poltabes Surakarta pengolahan data SKCK di Poltabes Surakarta sejak berdirinya Polresta dahulu menggunakan manual dengan mesin ketik, kemudian tahun 1996 sudah mulai menggunakan komputer walaupun masih komputer tipe yang lama dengan word star. Kemudian pada tahun 1998 Polresta yang sekarang sudah beralih status menjadi Poltabes sudah menggunakan komputer dengan sistem operasi windows 98 dengan office 97. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa sistem manual yang digunakan untuk mengelola data SKCK tidak maksimal hasilnya dibandungkan dengan sistem komputerisasi dengan menggunakan program atau aplikasi. Karena selain data SKCK tidak tahan lama, pada proses penemuan kembali data SKCK yang tersimpan tidak secepat dengan sistem program komputerisasi. Dalam rangka memperlancar pengolahan data SKCK yang masih manual, maka perlu adanya konsep pembuatan sistem komputerisasi yang nantinya bisa mengubah kinerja bagian pengolah data SKCK menjadi lebih maksimal. Oleh karena itu di Poltabes Surakarta Unit Intelkam membutuhkan aplikasi baru untuk merubah sistem yang manual menjadi sistem yang terkomputerisasi dengan tujuan agar dalam pengolahan data SKCK bisa tepat dan cepa

Re-examining the Myth of Dionysos: A study of Euripides, Ibsen, and Duras

The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the conflict between the Dionysian, considered as a principle of heightened excess, and social constraint as demonstrated in three different texts from distinct time periods. I will demonstrate how patriarchal and repressive social norms can demolish the sense of individuality that is assumed to be central to society as a whole. The conflict between these two tendencies as expressed in Euripides’s The Bacchae continues to resound in the modern world and explains how a disregard for the Dionysian can lead to destruction and chaos. In this thesis, this conflict, rather than the opposition between Apollo and Dionysos as presented by Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy, is discussed in terms of Euripides’s The Bacchae, Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, and Marguerite Duras’s Moderato Cantabile. In re-examining the myth of Dionysos, I discuss in conclusion the importance of acknowledging the Dionysian, the danger of over-conforming to standards of constraint, and how the neglect of the Dionysian can lead to destruction, chaos, and disorder