Identifying Prevalent Mathematical Pathways to Engineering in South Carolina

National data indicate that initial mathematics course placement in college is a strong predictor of persistence to degree in engineering, with students placed in calculus persisting at nearly twice the rate of those placed below calculus. Within the state of South Carolina, approximately 95% of engineering-intending students who initially place below calculus are from in-state. In order to make systemic change, we are first analyzing system-wide data to identify prevalent educational pathways within the state, and the mathematical milestones along those pathways taken by students in engineering and engineering-related fields. This paper reports preliminary analysis of that data to understand trends in major selection and mathematics preparation within the state

Evaluation of Aircraft Maintenance Operations Using Process Measures

This research focuses on the development of a proactive system (a Web-based Surveillance and Auditing Tool - WebSAT), which promotes standardization in data collection and identifies the contributing factors that impact aircraft safety. This system will document the processes and the outcomes of maintenance activities, make the results more accessible, and reduce future maintenance error rates. WebSAT will capture and analyze data for the different operations involved in surveillance, auditing, and airworthiness directives. To achieve standardization in data collection, data needs to be collected on certain variables which measure maintenance processes. These variables are defined as process measures. The process measures incorporate the response and observation-based data collected during surveillance, audits, and the control of the airworthiness directives. This paper elaborates on the processes that exist in the aviation maintenance work group, the concerns that need to be addressed while identifying the process measures, and the utility of these process measures in conducting data analysis. Once data is captured in terms of these process measures, data analysis can be conducted to identify the potential problematic areas affecting the safety of an aircraft

Data Gathering Methodologies to Identify Impact Variables

Impact variables are factors which must be taken into account to assure quality maintenance inspection. There are methodologies to collect and interpret information on impact variables. The choice of a particular methodology is based on factors such as the type of data to be gathered, the manner in which the data is applied, and the time available for data collection. The methodology employed has a direct effect on the quality and value of the information collected. This research analyzes data collection methodologies such as observation sessions, interviews, and surveys for the identification of impact variables in aviation maintenance

Feedback strategies for visual search in airframe structural inspection

Feedback of information has consistently shown positive results in human inspection, provided it is given in a timely and appropriate manner. Feedback serves as the basis of most training schemes; traditionally this has been performance feedback. Other forms of feedback which provide strategy information rather than performance information may have a role in improving inspection. This study compared performance feedback and cognitive feedback in a realistic simulation of an aircraft structural inspection task. Performance (time, errors) feedback showed the greatest improvements in performance measures. Cognitive feedback enhanced efficiency measures of search strategy. When cognitive feedback consisted of visual representations of the path and the coverage of the search sequence, subjects also were able to use this task information to improve their search performance. Relevance to industry The results of this study have direct implications on developing training strategies for improving industrial inspection performance. The results can be used to design superior training programs to improve airframe inspection and thus aviation safety. The results also can be extended to complex inspection tasks in other industries (printed circuit board inspection in the electronic industry, cloth inspection in the textile industry, inspection of food products in the agricultural industry and in-process inspection in manufacturing industry)