Teamwork Training for Engineering Students

The ability to work effectively in teams is one of the most highly sought-after capabilities in organizations today. The Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) now requires colleges and universities develop teamwork skills in graduates. Evidence indicates that students and instructors view the teamwork graduate attribute as important for career success. However, despite the push from accreditation boards to increase the focus on teamwork skill development, industry continues to express that there is a gap in student capability. In an attempt to address this need, instructors are increasingly organizing course work around teamwork activities. However, students and faculty often lack evidence-based, scientifically derived tools, training, and technology to shape these teamwork skills. This research assesses the effectiveness of a teamwork training program design on building individual student competencies associated with team effectiveness to better enable engineering programs to meet the teamwork objective required for ABET accreditation. Additionally, this research assesses if the delivery of the content in terms of timing (i.e., all at once vs. spread out in smaller chunks of time) impacts training effectiveness. The students reacted favorably to the training, the training increased individual team role knowledge by 10 percent, the training did not impact individual behavior, and the impact on team behavior was inconclusive. Furthermore, completing the training all at once or completing the training over multiple sessions did not have an impact on training effectiveness

Price collusion in an infinitely repeated Hotelling duopoly

This paper explores the effect product differentiation has on the ability of firms to collude in setting prices. It is often thought that product differentiation can be an impediment to collusion. However, the results in this paper suggest that product differentiation can enhance the ability of firms to collude. Specifically, in an infinitely repeated Hotelling duopoly, trigger strategies which result in the collusive outcome are subgame perfect equilibria for a larger range of discount factors the more differentiated the products are

Ecclesia Semper Sanctificanda: Historic Models of Catechesis and the Cultivation of Social Holiness

This study aims to show how the maintenance of holy life and love in the church requires intentional and continual cultivation by the church. If the church is to be continually sanctified then it must intentionally invest in the sanctification of its members. The article examines three historic examples of catechesis in order to exhibit models whereby the church has taken seriously the task of forming disciples who display holiness of heart and life. This article looks at the Didache and On the Apostolic Tradition, as well a John Wesley\u27s use of societies, class meetings, and band meetings to encourage sanctification within the catechesis process. Finally, this paper offers a few thoughts on the critical need for the implementation of similar catechetical models in the church today. This paper was originally presented at a Social Holiness Colloquium held from April 26-27, 2018 at Asbury Theological Seminary

Concerted reductive coupling of an alkyl chloride at Pt(IV)

Oxidation of a doubly cyclometallated platinum(II) complex results in two isomeric platinum(IV) complexes. Whereas the trans isomer is robust, being manipulable in air at room temperature, the cis isomer decomposes at −20 °C and above. Reductive coupling of an alkyl chloride at the cis isomer gives a new species which can be reoxidised. The independence of this coupling on additional halide rules out the reverse of an SN2 reaction, leaving a concerted process as the only sensible reaction pathway

Functional Evolution of PLP-dependent Enzymes based on Active-Site Structural Similarities

Families of distantly related proteins typically have very low sequence identity, which hinders evolutionary analysis and functional annotation. Slowly evolving features of proteins, such as an active site, are therefore valuable for annotating putative and distantly related proteins. To date, a complete evolutionary analysis of the functional relationship of an entire enzyme family based on active-site structural similarities has not yet been undertaken. Pyridoxal-5’-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes are primordial enzymes that diversified in the last universal ancestor. Using the Comparison of Protein Active Site Structures (CPASS) software and database, we show that the active site structures of PLP-dependent enzymes can be used to infer evolutionary relationships based on functional similarity. The enzymes successfully clustered together based on substrate specificity, function, and three-dimensional fold. This study demonstrates the value of using active site structures for functional evolutionary analysis and the effectiveness of CPASS

Reliability Analysis of Brittle, Thin Walled Structures

One emerging application for ceramics is diesel particulate filters being used order to meet EPA regulations going into effect in 2008. Diesel particulates are known to be carcinogenic and thus need to be minimized. Current systems use filters made from ceramics such as mullite and corderite. The filters are brittle and must operate at very high temperatures during a burn out cycle used to remove the soot buildup. Thus the filters are subjected to thermal shock stresses and life time reliability analysis is required. NASA GRC has developed reliability based design methods and test methods for such applications, such as CARES/Life and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) C1499 “Standard Test Method for Equibiaxial Strength of Ceramics.

Habitat complexity mitigates trophic transfer on oyster reefs

Structured habitats within several aquatic systems have been characterized as having higher abundances of both predators and their prey. Understanding this somewhat paradoxical phenomenon requires teasing apart how habitat complexity influences predator-prey dynamics. To determine whether habitat complexity influences predator foraging efficiency, we measured predator foraging rates within structurally simple and complex habitats. We selected as our test system mud crabs feeding on juvenile hard clams within biogenic reefs formed by the eastern oyster. At low and intermediate crab densities, foraging rates of mud crabs were similar between simple and complex habitats. However, at high crab densities foraging rates were higher for crabs in the complex reefs than in the simple reefs. In addition to providing refuge to both intermediate predators and their prey, habitat complexity appears to enhance predator foraging efficiency by reducing interference competition among predators. In systems where interference competition among densely populated predators may be intense, complex habitats may not provide survival benefits to all trophic levels

Reliability Analysis of Uniaxially Ground Brittle Materials

The fast fracture strength distribution of uniaxially ground, alpha silicon carbide was investigated as a function of grinding angle relative to the principal stress direction in flexure. Both as-ground and ground/annealed surfaces were investigated. The resulting flexural strength distributions were used to verify reliability models and predict the strength distribution of larger plate specimens tested in biaxial flexure. Complete fractography was done on the specimens. Failures occurred from agglomerates, machining cracks, or hybrid flaws that consisted of a machining crack located at a processing agglomerate. Annealing eliminated failures due to machining damage. Reliability analyses were performed using two and three parameter Weibull and Batdorf methodologies. The Weibull size effect was demonstrated for machining flaws. Mixed mode reliability models reasonably predicted the strength distributions of uniaxial flexure and biaxial plate specimens

No Evidence of HIV and SIV Sequences in Two Separate Lots of Polio Vaccines Used in the First U.S. Polio Vaccine Campaign

AbstractWe obtained sealed vials of two different polio vaccine lots, expiration date 1955, which were used in the first U.S. polio vaccine campaign. These early lots were pulled from the market because they contained live infectious poliovirus which caused polio in some of the vaccines. Theoretically, these vaccines could have contained other infectious retroviruses, including HIV. No viral sequences were detected using RT-PCR analyses with primers capable of amplifying chimpanzee SIV and HIV-1-related viruses nor with primers for macaque SIV, sooty mangabey SIV, and HIV-2-related viruses. Poliovirus sequences were readily amplified by RT-PCR, suggesting that the technique used would have detected SIV or HIV sequences, if present