Engineering Self-Efficacy Contributing to the Academic Performance of AMAIUB Engineering Students: A Qualitative Investigation

This research study aims to determine the factors of engineering skills self- efficacy sources contributing on the academic performance of AMAIUB engineering students. Thus, a better measure of engineering self-efficacy is needed to adequately assess engineering students’ beliefs in their capabilities to perform tasks in their engineering coursework and their future roles as engineers. A descriptive, survey research design was chosen to investigate the   sources of engineering self-efficacy of college students.  A quantitative survey design approach was used for this study. The survey was administered to all engineering students enrolled during the third trimester of school year 2014-2015. The results were generally consistent with the findings gathered by Lent and his colleagues where the instrument was originated from as well as supported the theory hypothesized by Bandura. This implies that when an engineering student has strong and positive judgment about his/her prior knowledge in engineering, he/she may achieve good grades in the subject and more importantly, he/she may also score well in engineering-related subjects. This supported Bandura‟s theory that the ability to accomplish tasks was a significant and important source of information for students to achieve better grades. This study managed to establish a direct relationship that sources of self-efficacy were significantly correlated with academic achievements and that engineering design experience could best predict the academic performance as well as overall engineering modules. These findings have practical implications which strengthened the conception of curriculum developers that tapping of students‟ prior knowledge and experience are critical in mathematics and related engineering modules. Although there is a strong correlation between engineering skills self-efficacy  and overall academic achievements for the sampled group of engineering students, more investigation is needed to widen the scope to the field of engineering. As such, the present study raises certain issues for future research. Firstly, it may be worthwhile to further investigate the reason causing low reliability to other sources of self-efficacy. This may shed some light of whether there could be hidden issue of how the study was conducted. Secondly, it would be useful to replicate and extend these findings to different student populations and domains. This could help to further strengthen and generalize the theory that was presented in this study. Lastly, further exploration to examine if students‟ achievements in Mathematics can indeed be a strong predictor for their achievements in engineering would enhance the current literature on the relation between these two domains. Keywords: engineering self - efficacy, academic performance, general engineering skills, tinkering skills, research sills, engineering design skill

GEMMA experiment: three years of the search for the neutrino magnetic moment

The result of the 3-year neutrino magnetic moment measurement at the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant with the GEMMA spectrometer is presented. Antineutrino-electron scattering is investigated. A high-purity germanium detector of 1.5 kg placed at a distance of 13.9 m from the 3 GW(th) reactor core is used in the spectrometer. The antineutrino flux is 2.7E13 1/scm/s. The differential method is used to extract (nu-e) electromagnetic scattering events. The scattered electron spectra taken in 5184+6798 and 1853+1021 hours for the reactor ON and OFF periods are compared. The upper limit for the neutrino magnetic moment < 3.2E-11 Bohr magneton at 90% CL is derived from the data processing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Propriétés Physiques et Mécaniques des Graines et Amandes de Jatropha curcas L.

Cette étude a déterminé les propriétés physiques et mécaniques des graines et amandes de Jatropha curcas L. (Jatropha), originaire de l’Extrême- Nord du Cameroun. Les paramètres physiques tels que les dimensions moyennes, les caractéristiques massiques, les paramètres de forme et les caractéristiques volumiques ont été évalués. La raideur de la coque a été définie en variant la vitesse de compression de la machine d’essai de traction universel EZ 50. A grande vitesse de compression (5-40 mm/mn), les brisures d’amandes et de coques qui ont été observées ont été représentées sur les courbes de compression des graines par plusieurs points de rupture. Avec une faible vitesse de l’ordre de 1 mm/mn, les courbes de compression ont été linéaires. La valeur moyenne de la force de rupture en compression Fr(N) et la raideur K (N/mm) des coques calculées ont été respectivement 134,41 N et 105 N/mm. Les essais d’extraction d’huile de Jatropha sont réalisés à température ambiante (23-24°C) avec des charges comprises entre 1000 et 12000 N. Ce qui a permis d’obtenir les relations mathématiques entre la force de compression et la déformation relative : F(l) =8,91Exp(0,94l) -9,41 (N) ; entre la contrainte de compression et la déformation relative : ()=0,08Exp(6,89)-0,08 (MPa). L’algorithme de « Trust region » et de « Levenberg-Marquardt », ont été respectivement intégré dans l’application MATLAB R2018a pour obtenir les modèles précédents. Les points limites&nbsp;pour le pressage des amandes sont compris entre 0,40 et 0,85 permettant d’obtenir les limites pour une extraction optimale de l’huile. La force de compression a été comprise entre 72,71 N et 4905,70 N, pendant que la contrainte de compression varie entre 0,65 et 37,01MPa pour une consommation d’énergie allant de 0,13 à 2,83J/mm3. This study has estimated physicomechanical properties of Jatropha curcas L. (Jatropha) seeds and kernels from the Far North Region of Cameroon. Physical parameters as mean sizes, mass characteristics, morphologic and volume characteristics were evaluated. The stiffness of the husk was estimated by varying the velocity of the universal tensile testing machine EZ 50. For a high compression velocity, (5-40mm/mn), compression diagrams of seeds showed several breaking point, we observed broken seeds and kernels with low velocity of 1 mm/mn, compression diagram are linear. The means value of the compression force Fr(N) and husk stiffness K (N/mm) are respectively 134.41 N and 105 N/mm. Tensile tests of Jatropha oil were realized at 23-24°C with compression forces of 1000 and 12000N. We obtained mathematical relations between relative deformation and&nbsp;compression force: F(l)=8.91Exp(0.94l)-9.41 (N), compression stress and relative deformation: ()=0.08Exp(6.89)-0.08 (MPa), using respectively the “trust region” and “Levenberg-Marquardt” algorithm related to MATLAB R 2018a software. The endpoints for and optimal extraction of Jatropha oil were 0.40 and 0.85 when the compression force were between 72.71 N and 4905.5 N, the stress compression vavy between 0.65 and 37.01 MPa, therefore the consumed energy varied between 0.13 and 3.83 J/mm3

Contribution à l’étude de l’influence des paramètres d’élaboration et optimisation du procédé de mise en oeuvre de bio-composites en coques de cotonnier et polystyrène recyclé

L’élaboration d’un éco-matériau requière outre la caractérisation physico-chimique des matières premières utilisées, la maîtrise des paramètres du procédé de mise en oeuvre utilisés. Le présent travail est consacré à l’étude de l’influence des paramètres d’élaboration d’un biocompositeinjecté en coques de cotonnier et polystyrène recyclé, en vue d’optimiser le procédé de mise en œuvre et les propriétés du produit fini.Dans la démarche d’élaboration adoptée, deux procédés sont retenus:il s’agit del’extrusion,qui estutilisée pour l’élaboration ducompoundetde l’injection-moulage (des granulats issus de l’extrusion), utilisée pour fabriquerles éprouvettes et les produits finis. L’objectif visé est d’identifier les valeurs optimales des paramètres de mise en œuvredeces deux procédés en vue de l’élaboration des produits de qualité ayant notamment les propriétés mécaniques requisespour des applications diverses.Ainsi,après identification des paramètres optimisés de mise en œuvre, des éprouvettes ont été produites avec ces paramètres optimisés d’élaboration et leurs propriétés mécaniques tellesque:le module d’élasticité (E) ou module de Young, la contrainteà la rupture (σr),Le module d’élasticité en torsion ou module de cisaillement (G), les contraintes de traction,La résistance à l’impact du matériau appelée encore résilience (R),déterminéspar les essais de caractérisation et le meilleur matériau élaboré,identifié.Les résultats obtenus sont consignés dans le présent document à travers les courbes, tableaux et figuresqui suivent.Mots-clés: extrusion, injection, polystyrène recyclé/coques de cotonnier, paramètres d’élaboration. Contribution to the study of the influence of parameters to formulation and optimization of process implementation of bio-composite at cottonhulls and recycled polystyreneThe development of an eco-material requires further physico-chemical characterization of raw materials, control parameters of processof implementation used. This work is devoted to the study of the influence of processing parameters of a biocomposite injected cottonhullsand recycled polystyrene, in order to optimize the process of implementation and the properties of the finalproduct.In the development process adopted, two methods are used: this is extrusion, which is used for the preparation of the compound and injection molding (aggregates from extrusion),which isused for fabricate specimens and finalproducts.The objective is to identify the optimal parameter values for the implementation of these two methods for the development of quality products including having the required mechanical properties for various applications.Thus, after identification of optimized parameters forimplementation, test pieces were produced with the optimized parametersand mechanical properties as: the modulus of elasticity (E) or Young's modulus, the breaking stress (σr) the torsional spring or shear modulus (G),tensile stresses, the impact resistance of the material, also called resilience (R), determined by testing and characterization of the material produced better identified. The results obtained are reported in this paper through the curves, tables and figures that follow.Keywords: extrusion, injection, recycled polystyrene / cotton hulls, seed processing parameters

A Pilot Experiment with Reactor Neutrinos in Taiwan

A Collaboration comprising Taiwan and mainland Chinese scientists has been built up since 1996 to pursue a experimental program in neutrino and astro-particle physics in Taiwan. A pilot experiment to be performed at the Nuclear Power Station II in Taiwan is now under intense preparation. It will make use of a 600 kg CsI(Tl) crystal calorimeter to study various neutrino interactions. The feasibility of performing a long baseline reactor neutrino experiment will also be investigated. The conceptual design and the physics to be addressed by the pilot experiment are presented.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 2 table

Observations on the Red Ratsnake / Cornsnake

This is where the abstract of this record would appear. This is only demonstration data

Testing T Invariance in the Interaction of Slow Neutrons with Aligned Nuclei

The study of five-fold (P even, T odd) correlation in the interaction of slow polarized neutrons with aligned nuclei is a possible way of testing the time reversal invariance due to the expected enhancement of T violating effects in compound resonances. Possible nuclear targets are discussed which can be aligned both dynamically as well as by the "brute force" method at low temperature. A statistical estimation is performed of the five-fold correlation for low lying p wave compound resonances of the $^{121}$Sb, $^{123}$Sb and $^{127}$I nuclei. It is shown that a significant improvement can be achieved for the bound on the intensity of the fundamental parity conserving time violating (PCTV) interaction.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, published versio

Sensitivities of Low Energy Reactor Neutrino Experiments

The low energy part of the reactor neutrino spectra has not been experimentally measured. Its uncertainties limit the sensitivities in certain reactor neutrino experiments. The origin of these uncertainties are discussed, and the effects on measurements of neutrino interactions with electrons and nuclei are studied. Comparisons are made with existing results. In particular, the discrepancies between previous measurements with Standard Model expectations can be explained by an under-estimation of the low energy reactor neutrino spectra. To optimize the experimental sensitivities, measurements for \nuebar-e cross-sections should focus on events with large ($>$1.5 MeV) recoil energy while those for neutrino magnetic moment searches should be based on events $<$100 keV. The merits and attainable accuracies for neutrino-electron scattering experiments using artificial neutrino sources are discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figure

Testing neutrino magnetic moment in ionization of atoms by neutrino impact

The atomic ionization processes induced by scattering of neutrinos play key roles in the experimental searches for a neutrino magnetic moment. Current experiments with reactor (anti)neutrinos employ germanium detectors having energy threshold comparable to typical binding energies of atomic electrons, which fact must be taken into account in the interpretation of the data. Our theoretical analysis shows that the so-called stepping approximation to the neutrino-impact ionization is well applicable for the lowest bound Coulomb states, and it becomes exact in the semiclassical limit. Numerical evidence is presented using the Thomas-Fermi model for the germanium atom.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Cosmic muon flux at shallow depths underground

We consider the cosmic muon background for the installations located at shallow depths. We suggest a relatively simple formula for the sea-level muon spectrum, which allows calculate dependencies of the vertical muon intensity and integral muon flux density on overburden. Muon flux dependency on the zenith angle at overburden of 10 to 100 meters of standard rock shows that muon angular distribution practically does not change in this interval. We present muon angular distributions for three typical apparatus locations in measurements on the surface and at shallow depths. It is shown that for such installations the active shielding "umbrella" should overlap a zenith angle of \theta ~ 80^o to remove the cosmic muon background.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys.Atom.Nuc