Laptop Riser, a Useful PBL Project for Diploma Students in Engineering Design

A useful project is identified for the semester-four diploma students in their final workshop of mechanical engineering program in the school of engineering at Australian college of Kuwait (ACK). ACK is putting significant emphasis in project based learning (PBL) and is developing new courses for both diploma and degree programs according to PBL style. In the final workshop project, it is required that the students design and manufacture a foldable laptop riser during fourteen weeks of their works. This project uses welding, cutting, drilling, and bending processes. It is expected that the deliverable product of this workshop is to be used in offices of ACK faculties and staff to raise the laptop height to provide an ergonomic and healthy office use. Students gain experiences in developing their own ideas, acquainted with preliminary design calculations, make sketches and drawings, build their laptop risers, and report their learning outcomes.  The students are allowed to work individually or in a team of two to three students. The students are asked to satisfy specific requirements and fulfill certain restrictions such as pre known available materials, sizes and dimensions, and quality of finished product. We found that students are satisfied with their learning and developed skills and also enjoyed to see their end products are utilized in the ACK offices

Application of pbl in the course fluid and electrical drive systems, case study: Manufacturing an automated punch machine

The PBL unit of fluid and electrical drive systems is taught in final semester of undergraduates in mechanical engineering department of the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK). The recent project on an automated punching machine is discovered more appealing to both students and instructors in triggering new ideas and satisfaction end results. In this case study, the way this PBL unit is coordinated and facilitated is explained. Two examples of student works are presented. The aim is to expose the students to real world engineering problems but in a satisfying manner. Similar to real life problems for engineers, restrictions are applied for the students on costs, availability of ACK facilities, and application of automation tools. Students are directly engaged by using technical standards on punching heads and dies, standard tensile testing of plates, and so on. Arduino microprocessor programming, an open-source hardware and software electronic platform, and electro-pneumatic devices are adopted for developing the automated punching machine. The goal of the PBL course is to acquaint students learning based on the concepts of team working, engineering design, professional manufacturing, and sequential testing of the end product. It is found that students achieved their best and developed new skills in this PBL unit as reflected in their portfolios

Final infarct volume estimation on 1-week follow-up MR imaging is feasible and is dependent on recanalization status

AbstractPurposeWe aim to characterize infarct volume evolution within the first month post-ischemic stroke and to determine the effect of recanalization status on early infarct volume estimation.MethodsIschemic stroke patients recruited for the MONITOR and VISION studies were retrospectively screened and patients who had infarcts on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) at baseline and had at least two follow-up MR scans (n = 56) were included. Pre-defined target imaging time points, obtained on a 3-T MR scanner, were 12 hours (h), 24 h, 7 days, and ≥30 days post-stroke. Infarct tissue was manually traced blinded to the images at the other time points. Infarct expansion index was calculated by dividing infarct volume at each follow-up time point by the baseline DWI infarct volume. Recanalization was assessed within 24 h post-stroke. Correlation and statistical comparison analysis were done using the Spearman, Mann–Whitney, and Kruskal–Wallis tests.ResultsFollow-up infarct volumes were positively correlated with the baseline infarct volume (ρ > 0.81; p < 0.001) where the strongest correlation existed between baseline and 7-day post-stroke infarct volumes (ρ = 0.92; p < 0.001). The strongest correlation among the follow-up imaging was found between infarct volumes 7-day post-stroke and ≥30-day time points (ρ = 0.93; p < 0.001). Linear regression showed a close-to unity slope between 7-day and final infarct volumes (slope = 1.043; p < 0.001). Infarct expansion was higher in the non-recanalized group than the recanalized group at the 7-day (p = 0.001) and ≥30-day (p = 0.038) time points.ConclusionsFinal infarct volume can be approximated as early as 7 days post-stroke. Final infarct volume approximation is significantly associated with recanalization status