UIndy Engineering DesignSpine: Engineering Leadership Development through Interdisciplinary Teams and Early Exposure to Real Life Problems

The engineering challenges facing the world are very complex, and they require a new type of engineer who can work in interdisciplinary teams as well as multicultural teams to solve open-ended problems. Employers are looking for engineers who have not only technical competency but also systems (broad) and business mindsets. To develop these engineers, the R. B. Annis School of Engineering at the University of Indianapolis (UIndy) developed the DesignSpine. The DesignSpine framework makes it possible to create interdisciplinary teams of students who apply knowledge and principles of Six Sigma, project management, research methods, entrepreneurship, and leadership and communication (SPREL). Furthermore, in the DesignSpine, students create innovative solutions to real-world problems from external stakeholders beginning from their sophomore year. This paper describes the DesignSpine framework and the implementation strategy

PROMOTING ECO-FRIENDLY CORROSION INHIBITOR USING BITTER KOLA LEAVES IN CARBON MILD STEEL USING HCLACIDIC MEDIA

Corrosion of mild steel in HCl was investigated using the weight loss method. The mild steel used was cut into 16 coupons with 5.0 cm x 5.0 cm x 0.2 cm dimensions which weredegreased with ethanol and washed with distilled water and finally weighed. The mild steel coupons were exposed to HCl with varied concentrations (0, 10, 25 and 40%) of Garcinia kola extracts used as corrosion inhibitors for 4 hours at 400C and 600C respectively. The result showed that at 400C; the inhibition efficiency of 65.5% was observed at 25 % HCl concentration and 62.9% at 40% HCl concentration while at 600C; inhibition efficiency of 87.7% was at 25% HCl concentration and 88.1% at 40% concentration respectively. It can be concluded that increase in concentration increases the inhibition efficiency. The presence of flavonoid and alkanoids in bitter kola stem is a good inhibito

Shopaholic Phenomenon, Choice of Shopping Place and the Development of Megamalls in Ibadan, Nigeria

Shopping activities in the 21st century are taking a social dimension rather than mere commercial activities. This is evident in the importance of consumer attachment to shopping and choice of shopping place, which necessitated the increase in the number of megamalls in many cities globally, including Nigeria. This study examined the shopaholic phenomenon, choice of shopping place, and the development of megamalls in Ibadan, Nigeria. The study was empirical using both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection. Two hundred sixteen copies of the questionnaire were administered to mall customers, while an In-depth interview was conducted for six mall operators cut across malls in Ibadan. Statistical Package for Social Sciences using frequency tables, percentages, and histogram charts was used for analysis. The study revealed that most respondents choose Megamall as their shopping place, and there is a connection between the shopaholic phenomenon, choice of shopping place, and the development of megamalls. The conducive and serene environment which megamalls portray has wooed many customers in the urban areas to choose it as their priority as it concerns shopping, and that has gone a long way to enhance the development and sustainability of megamalls in Nigeria. Most customers patronize malls because of their innate love of shopping, ostentatious life, and showy life to impress friends and well-wishers. The glamour and fascination that megamalls display cannot be gotten in retail shops or open markets. Customers are delighted with their experiences in the megamalls that account for their continued patronage of the megamalls over other shopping alternatives

Uniform or Sex-Specific Cardiac Troponin Thresholds to Rule-out Myocardial Infarction at Presentation

Background: Myocardial infarction can be ruled out in patients with a single cardiac troponin measurement. Whether use of a uniform rule-out threshold has resulted in sex-differences in care remains unclear.Objectives: To evaluate implementation of a uniform rule-out threshold in females and males with possible myocardial infarction, and to derive and validate sex-specific thresholds. Methods: The implementation of a uniform rule-out threshold (&lt;5 ng/L) with a high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I assay was evaluated in consecutive patients presenting with possible myocardial infarction. The proportion of low-risk patients discharged from Emergency Department (ED) and incidence of myocardial infarction or cardiac death at 30 days were determined. Sex-specific thresholds were derived and validated, and proportion of female and male patients stratified as low-risk compared with uniform threshold.Results: In 16,792 patients (58±17 years, 46% female) care was guided using a uniform threshold. This identified more female than male patients as low-risk (73% versus 62%), but a similar proportion of low-risk patients were discharged from ED (81% for both) with fewer than 5 (&lt;0.1%) patients having a subsequent myocardial infarction or cardiac death at 30 days. Compared to uniform threshold of &lt;5 ng/L, use of sex-specific thresholds would increase the proportion of female (61.8% versus 65.9%) and reduce the proportion of male (54.8% versus 47.8%) patients identified as low-risk.Conclusions: Implementation of a uniform rule-out threshold for myocardial infarction was safe and effective in both sexes. Sex-specific rule-out thresholds should be considered, but their impact on effectiveness and safety may be limited.Keywords: Cardiac troponin, sex, myocardial infarction<br/

Durability of ZnS: Mn triboluminescent sensor for impact damage monitoring in civil infrastructure

The United States\u27 critical civil infrastructure systems (CIS) such as bridges, dams and tunnels are aging and overloaded, thereby exposing millions of users to danger daily. While over 50% of the nearly 600,000 US bridges are more than 60 years old, the average daily vehicular crossings is about 4 billion vehicles. Adding to the risks commuters are exposed to is the effect of vehicular impacts these structures are continually being subjected to. Bridge overload and lateral impact forces from trucks, barges/ships, and trains were responsible for 20% of total bridge failures. By utilizing the triboluminescent (TL) property of ZnS:Mn, our group has developed the in-situ triboluminescent optical fiber (ITOF) sensor that will enable real time and distributed impact damage monitoring of the CIS. The sensor consists of ZnS:Mn and UV-cured acrylated urethane composite coating on polymer optical fiber. The durability of the ITOF sensor under repeated impact loading is however critical for its effective deployment in CIS. The durability of the triboluminescent material under different impact load levels will be investigated. The repeatability and degradation of the triboluminescent responses of the sensor under many cycles of impact loading will be reported. Optical and scanning electron microscopes will be employed to characterize the level of damage of the sensor after the impact events

Multifunctional composites with triboluminescent sensors and photoactive materials

Advanced composites have non-traditional failure occurrences that can include composite delamination, fiber-debonding, and matrix cracking. A known weak focal point for continuation of damage is found in the matrix constituent. Damage detection will be most prominent at these sites for first occurrences and thus deemed as critical to detection for first response. The system under development uses the triboluminescence (TL) phenomenon as the energy (light) source, thus negating the need for any external energy source. Triboluminescence1 is a mechano-optical phenomenon of luminescence, where light emission occurs by rubbing or fracture. The composites become multifunctional when TL phosphors are incorporated as composite fillers and via nerve sensors. This effort investigates the harvesting of light energy through ubiquitous dispersion as well as concentrated photoactive optical fibers. Through inundation of a highly known TL material (ZnS:Mn), emissions were observed during flexural loading of casted resin and reinforced matrices. This work describes ongoing effort to harvest low-light energy using optoelectronic devices during quasi-static loading of concentrated composite systems

Adhesive bond failure monitoring with triboluminescent optical fiber sensor

One of the most severe damage modes in modern wind turbines is the failure of the adhesive joints in the trailing edge of the large composite blades. The geometrical shape of the blade and current manufacturing techniques make the trailing edge of the wind turbine blade more sensitive to damage. Failure to timely detect this damage type may result in catastrophic failures, expensive system downtime, and high repair costs. A novel sensing system called the In-situ Triboluminescent Optical Fiber (ITOF) sensor has been proposed for monitoring the initiation and propagation of disbonds in composite adhesive joints. The ITOF sensor combines the triboluminescent property of ZnS:Mn with the many desirable features of optical fiber to provide in-situ and distributed damage sensing in large composite structures like the wind blades. Unlike other sensor systems, the ITOF sensor does not require a power source at the sensing location or for transmitting damage-induced signals to the hub of the wind turbine. Composite parts will be fabricated and the ITOF integrated within the bondline to provide in-situ and real time damage sensing. Samples of the fabricated composite parts with integrated ITOF will be subjected to tensile and flexural loads, and the response from the integrated sensors will be monitored and analyzed to characterize the performance of the ITOF sensor as a debonding damage monitoring system. In addition, C-scan and optical microscopy will be employed to gain greater insights into the damage propagation behavior and the signals received from the ITOF sensors

Triboluminescence multifunctional cementitious composites with in-situ damage sensing capability

Structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure systems like concrete bridges and dams has become critical because of the aging and overloading of these CIS. Most of the available SHM methods are not in-situ and can be very expensive. The triboluminescence multifunctional cementitious composites (TMCC) have in-built crack detection mechanism that can enable bridge engineers to monitor and detect abnormal crack formation in concrete structures so that timely corrective action can be taken to prevent costly or catastrophic failures. This article reports the fabrication process and test result of the flexural characterization of the TMCC. Accelerated durability test indicated that the 0.5 ZnS:Mn/Epoxy weight fraction ITOF sensor configuration to be more desirable in terms of durability. The alkaline environment at the highest temperature investigated (45 °C) resulted in significant reduction in the mean glass transition and storage moduli of the tested ITOF thin films. Further work is ongoing to correlate the TL response of the TMCC with damage, particularly crack opening. © 2012 SPIE

Stretchlon film-enhanced ridft process for composite manufacture

The need for an improved and affordable process for the production of polymer composites led to the development of the Resin Infusion between Double Flexible Tooling (RIDFT) process. The RIDFT process involves a 2-dimensional, even and effortless resin flow that facilitate fast and economical production of composites while ensuring environmental and personnel safety. A major drawback however, to the wide adoption of this promising process is the high cost in terms of time for preparing the silicone mold for the next production cycle, and the high cost associated with frequent replacement of the flexible tooling material (silicone sheet). In order to mitigate these problems, the low-cost Stretchlon bagging was introduced into the RIDFT process. This paper reports on the study of the effect of the use of the Stretchlon bagging on the RIDFT process in regards to: the fabrication of parts with different complexity; the production cycle time; and the thermo-mechanical properties of the fabricated parts. Glass fiber reinforced polymer panels were fabricated and tested for this study

Triboluminesence multifunctional cementitious composites with in situ damage sensing capability

Structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure systems like concrete bridges and dams has become critical because of the aging and overloading of these CIS. Most of the available SHM methods are not in-situ and can be very expensive. The triboluminescence multifunctional cementitious composites (TMCC) have in-built crack detection mechanism that can enable bridge engineers to monitor and detect abnormal crack formation in concrete structures so that timely corrective action can be taken to prevent costly or catastrophic failures. This article reports the fabrication process and test result of the flexural characterization of the TMCC. Accelerated durability test indicated that the 0.5 ZnS:Mn/Epoxy weight fraction ITOF sensor configuration to be more desirable in terms of durability. The alkaline environment at the highest temperature investigated (45 °C) resulted in significant reduction in the mean glass transition and storage moduli of the tested ITOF thin films. Further work is ongoing to correlate the TL response of the TMCC with damage, particularly crack opening. © 2012 SPIE