Team-based learning in an engineering course: An experience in Brazil

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is an active learning strategy, used for the first time in medical education, and its use in Engineering Education is still not well established as in health science education. This work is about an experience of use of TBL in two consecutive years (2017 and 2018) in undergraduate Engineering course in a public university in Brazil. The objectives are to describe an experience using TBL, its impact over students' performance and perception of students and teacher about this approach. Initially, students were divided into groups from 5 to 7 members. The subject of the courses was divided into 4 modules, each one of 4 weeks. Each module started with the Readiness Assurance Process - RAP (pre-class individual assignment, e.g. readings), followed by in-class Individual Readiness Assurance Test - iRAT, and Team Readiness Assurance Test - tRAT. Both tests were applied using Information Technology tools, in this case either Socrative, or Kahoot or Plickers. During classes, students performed activities designed to develop students' critical thinking skills, applying concepts learned from RAP. Moreover, the students had to perform processes of self and peer-assessment. Average scores from the RAP were statistically higher in tRAT (group tests) than in iRAT (individual tests) (t-test; p≤0.05), in both years, indicating that teamwork and peer-instruction were important to achieve a greater understanding of the subject. The perception of the students about TBL was collected by an end of class questionnaire. For 81% of the students, TBL methodology was better than teacher centred classes. Another point to be highlighted was the use of Information Technology tools for feedback, approved by 100% of the students who answered the inquiry. As suggestions for future improvements emerged the need to improve the didactic material for pre-class studies.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope UIDCEC003192019

Learning based on interdisciplinary projects with students from several engineering courses: case study on energy sustainability

The study of environmental and energy issues are as important as the specific disciplines of engineering courses. Within this context, the Environmental Sciences course provided the students an analysis of the relationship between the specific disciplines of their courses with relevant environmental issues, using the Project-Based Learning Methodology. Students were sorted into teams of ten from different Engineering courses and encouraged to create a project with feasible solutions for economy of energy and use of more sustainable energy sources. As a result, three projects were proposed: 1. Development of an application where the consumers can analyze their electricity consumption and the best way to save it, using mobile platforms like Android®, IOS® and Windows Phone®. 2. "Recharge your ideas": project for the installation of an individual photovoltaic system, which is an individual and non-interconnected electrical energy generating system, in order to provide clean and sustainable energy in a safe and satisfactory way at the University campus. 3. "Low cost solar heater": developed to serve lowincome rural communities. A prototype was made to estimate all necessary costs to make it and what would be the return in economy for the residences. With the development of these projects, it is perceived that interdisciplinarity is fundamental to the understanding of the themes developed, requiring the effort of students and teachers from the most diverse areas of engineering. The solution to most of the current problems in different areas of knowledge requires a more effective dialogue between disciplines and between professionals towards more adequate and self-sustainable solutions. To the students in particular, these activities promoted a practical experience and theoretical approach of different processes of Science and Technology and the opportunity to act in the solution of problems based on the knowledge acquired in the course in the resolution of real environmental and energy problems.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Application of Scrum and PM Canvas in a Project-based Learning Approach

Project-based Learning (PBL) is a teaching and learning strategy that allows students to develop competences while working on projects. It is important to apply good management approaches in order to achieve all project and learning objectives. This paper presents an application of Scrum and Project Model Canvas (PM Canvas) to manage learning projects developed by teams of students in interaction with industrial companies. These projects are part of a Project-based Learning (PBL) approach developed in the fourth year of an integrated master program in Industrial Engineering and Management. A group of 5 students from the fifth year of the same degree gave support to the PBL teams regarding the utilization of these tools. The work was developed during one month with meetings every Fridays. These project management tools were applied to help the PBL teams to organize and share the tasks, as well as visualize and control the whole project. To evaluate the teams' performance and the way they are realizing the tasks, it was counted the number of tasks done in each weekday and the students were inquired in order to understand their perceptions of the use of these project management tools. The results revealed that the groups performed most of the tasks on Wednesday and the inquiry revealed that most of the PBL teams did not know and had never used project management tools. The inquiry also revealed that the project management tools were considered helpful for the control and organization of the project tasks, improving overall team performance.(undefined

Generation of ρ0 cells utilizing a mitochondrially targeted restriction endonuclease and comparative analyses

Eukaryotic cells devoid of mitochondrial DNA (ρ0 cells) were originally generated under artificial growth conditions utilizing ethidium bromide. The chemical is known to intercalate preferentially with the mitochondrial double-stranded DNA thereby interfering with enzymes of the replication machinery. ρ0 cell lines are highly valuable tools to study human mitochondrial disorders because they can be utilized in cytoplasmic transfer experiments. However, mutagenic effects of ethidium bromide onto the nuclear DNA cannot be excluded. To foreclose this mutagenic character during the development of ρ0 cell lines, we developed an extremely mild, reliable and timesaving method to generate ρ0 cell lines within 3–5 days based on an enzymatic approach. Utilizing the genes for the restriction endonuclease EcoRI and the fluorescent protein EGFP that were fused to a mitochondrial targeting sequence, we developed a CMV-driven expression vector that allowed the temporal expression of the resulting fusion enzyme in eukaryotic cells. Applied on the human cell line 143B.TK− the active protein localized to mitochondria and induced the complete destruction of endogenous mtDNA. Mouse and rat ρ0 cell lines were also successfully created with this approach. Furthermore, the newly established 143B.TK− ρ0 cell line was characterized in great detail thereby releasing interesting insights into the morphology and ultra structure of human ρ0 mitochondria

Simulation of Flow of Mixtures Through Anisotropic Porous Media using a Lattice Boltzmann Model

We propose a description for transient penetration simulations of miscible and immiscible fluid mixtures into anisotropic porous media, using the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method. Our model incorporates hydrodynamic flow, diffusion, surface tension, and the possibility for global and local viscosity variations to consider various types of hardening fluids. The miscible mixture consists of two fluids, one governed by the hydrodynamic equations and one by diffusion equations. We validate our model on standard problems like Poiseuille flow, the collision of a drop with an impermeable, hydrophobic interface and the deformation of the fluid due to surface tension forces. To demonstrate the applicability to complex geometries, we simulate the invasion process of mixtures into wood spruce samples.Comment: Submitted to EPJ

CD137 Is Expressed in Follicular Dendritic Cell Tumors and in Classical Hodgkin and T-Cell Lymphomas Diagnostic and Therapeutic Implications

CD137 (also known as 4-1BB and TNFRSF9) is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily. Originally identified as a costimulatory molecule expressed by activated T cells and NK cells, CD137 is also expressed by follicular dendritic cells, monocytes, mast cells, granulocytes, and endothelial cells. Anti-CD137 immunotherapy has recently shown promise as a treatment for solid tumors and lymphoid malignancies in preclinical models. We defined the expression of CD137 protein in both normal and neoplastic hematolymphoid tissue. CD137 protein is expressed by follicular dendritic cells in the germinal center and scattered paracortical T cells, but not by normal germinal-center B cells, bone marrow progenitor cells, or maturing thymocytes. CD137 protein is expressed by a select group of hematolymphoid tumors, including classical Hodgkin lymphoma, T-cell and NK/T-cell lymphomas, and follicular dendritic cells neoplasms. CD137 is a novel diagnostic marker of these tumors and suggests a possible target for tumor-directed antibody therapy

Interlaminar Fracture Toughness Evaluation in Glass/Epoxy Composites Using Acoustic Emission and Finite Element Methods

© 2014, ASM International. Delamination is one of the most common modes of failure in laminated composites and it leads to the loss of structural strength and stiffness. In this paper, mode I, mode II, and mixed of these pure modes were investigated using mechanical data, Finite Element Method (FEM) and Acoustic Emission (AE) signals. Experimental data were obtained from insitu monitoring of glass/epoxy laminated composites with different lay-ups when subjected to different modes of failure. The main objective was to investigate the behavior of delamination propagation and to evaluate the critical value of the strain energy which is required for onset of the delamination (GC). For the identification of interlaminar fracture toughness of the specimens, four methods were used: (a) ASTM standard methods, (b) FEM analysis, (c) AE method, and (d) sentry function method which is a function of mechanical and AE behaviors of the specimens. The results showed that the GC values obtained by the sentry function method and FEM analysis were in a close agreement with the results of nonlinearity methods which is recommended in the ASTM standards. It was also found that the specimens under different loading conditions and various lay-up have different GC values. These differences are related to different stress components distribution in the specimens which induce various damage mechanisms. Accordingly, stress components distribution obtained from FEM analyses were in agreement with SEM observations of the damaged surfaces of the specimens

Changes in Channel Trafficking and Protein Stability Caused by LQT2 Mutations in the PAS Domain of the HERG Channel

Inherited human long-QT2 syndrome (LQTS) results from mutations in the gene encoding the HERG channel. Several LQT2-associated mutations have been mapped to the amino terminal cytoplasmic Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain of the HERG1a channel subunit. Here we have characterized the trafficking properties of some LQT2-associated PAS domain mutants and analyzed rescue of the trafficking mutants by low temperature (27°C) or by the pore blocker drug E4031. We show that the LQT2-associated mutations in the PAS domain of the HERG channel display molecular properties that are distinct from the properties of LQT2-associated mutations in the trans-membrane region. Unlike the latter, many of the tested PAS domain LQT2-associated mutations do not result in trafficking deficiency of the channel. Moreover, the majority of the PAS domain mutations that cause trafficking deficiencies are not rescued by a pore blocking drug. We have also explored the in vitro folding stability properties of isolated mutant PAS domain proteins using a thermal unfolding fluorescence assay and a chemical unfolding assay

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson