A New Approach in Microprocessor/Microcontroller Courses/Laboratories Material Design and Development

Courses in microprocessors and microcontrollers are standard parts of the Engineering Technology core curricula. The traditional course material developments include both lectures and associated laboratory exercises. No matter how creative is the curriculum; it is usually budgetary constraints that confine the creativity when developing new curricula. This limits the freedom of the major approach in new course development. This article demonstrates new course lecture and laboratories material development that starts from ground up with both a hardware platform and simulation software design for microprocessor/microcontroller related courses. It is not only very cost effective, but also does not limit the instructor\u27s creativity when developing new curricula. The only obstacle is the instructor\u27s imagination on courses and laboratories activities. This system can be implemented at no cost to the department for sponsoring the courses. As a matter of fact, the initial trials of this system have generated revenue, thereby supporting future improvements and development needs. This new approach in course improvement starts with the design of a hardware platform in a custom made evaluation board. It involves the system circuit and power supply design, printed circuit board layout, prototype testing, and circuit board fabrication. The second step is to design the simulation software for laboratory uses. The total design and development of both software and hardware was a two year evolutionary process

The Impact of Spatial Variation in Land Use Patterns and Aquifer Characteristics on the Agricultural Cost of Groundwater Conservation for the Southern Ogallala Aquifer

Land Economics/Use,

The Impact of Spatial Heterogeneity in Land Use Practices and Aquifer Characteristics on Groundwater Conservation Policy Cost

Estimation of agricultural policy cost for a given level of groundwater conservation requires the establishment of an accurate baseline condition. This is especially critical when the benefits and cost of any conservation program are generally estimated relative to the status quo policy or baseline situation. An inaccurate baseline estimate will lead to poor estimates of potential water conservation savings and agricultural policy cost. Over a 60-year planning horizon per acre net present value is as much as 29.8% higher for a study area when aquifer characteristics are assumed to be homogenous and set to their average area value than when the heterogeneity in aquifer characteristics is explicitly modeled.Aquifer Modeling, Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Novel curative systems for high strength, low thermal conductivity epoxy-based syntactic foams

Epoxies cured with anhydrides form crosslinked thermoset networks that exhibit good chemical, electrical, thermal, and mechanical behavior. Past studies on epoxy-based curative systems for syntactic foam focused on monoanhydrides and monoanhydride blends to optimize performance and processibility. There have been very few investigations incorporating dianhydrides as curatives in these syntactic foams despite the fact that they can lead to higher performance. In this present study we investigate novel mono/dianhydride blends as curative systems for epoxy-based syntactic foams. Mechanical, thermal and processibility data for syntactic foams are presented and compared to monoanhydride-based curatives. We discuss this data in relation to the material design of deep-sea thermal insulation

Measuring The Maturity Of Guyana’s Construction Industry Using The Construction Industry Macro Maturity Model (CIM3)

The newly developed Construction Industry Macro Maturity Model (CIM3) was used to measure the maturity of Guyana‘s construction industry. The CIM3‘s assessment provides a leading indication of performance by relating the maturity of a set of management and operation key practices in the construction industry to the achievement of various performance objectives that lead to the realisation of the construction industry‘s performance goals. The implementation of the CIM3 in Guyana relied upon the use of an expert group of construction industry professionals who were elicited to provide the input information for the model. It was found that Guyana‘s construction industry is least mature with respect to health and safety management and most mature with respect to cost management. Overall, Guyana‘s construction industry is immature, and a translation of its maturity to represent the level of realisation of its combined performance goals indicates that its lagging or after-the-fact performance indicators are likely to be poor

STEM educational engagement through coopetition, sport and wearable technology

Student engagement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities are often perceived as solitary activities, resulting in a limited range of students that are intrinsically interested in it [1]. Historically STEM activities are often about “things rather than people” [2]. For those whom STEM is not perceived as intrinsically interesting, its lack of relevance to everyday life and social engagement means potential STEM students’ interests are focussed elsewhere. A previously reported education program [3] utilised a range of sports technologies and sport-based activities to engage students in sport and play activities that were more likely to be of interest and have a significant social context through working as a team and competition. These were then linked to classroom activities involving numeracy and engineering based. The vehicle for this were principally inertial sensors, which have emerged in recent decades as a viable alternative for the quantification of human movement at the elite level [4] as well as emerging as popular consumer electronics [5] through wearable technologies (an important hook for children). Recent studies of the program (STEMfit) [6] measured its efficacy for educational engagement and improving education outcomes [3]. These investigations garnered international interest for the potential to undertake cross cultural activities and exchange (even in a pandemic). Typically, in this program, physical activities are combined with classroom-based analysis using time series data developed from the STEMfit program and collected using a single body worn inertial sensor (Fig. 1). Here we introduce the ISEA STEMfit International cup, an ISEA Education co-sponsored program that was supported by global expertise in inertial sensors from the wider ISEA community. Furthermore, it supports interest in translational outcomes to foster the education of children as a pathway into STEM careers, in particular in Sports Engineering. Figure 1 shows a sample activity, jumping together with associated time series data collection and visual representation of the vertical axis. The analysis can be varied and scaled, depending on student capabilities e.g. early primary school students may count how many jumps they did in 10 seconds. In the developed competition and through partner schools of the co-authors, student teams from around the globe competed in a series of physical Olympic style athletic events and by using a range of sports technologies, collected data for a STEM analysis project. Student teams were judged by an international panel comprising of a senior sports engineer, an inertial sensor manufacturer, and an elite sports athlete/administrator. Students made a video presentation of their STEM analysis (in their own language and English) to share with other teams. References 1. Holmegaard, H. T., Madsen, L. M., & Ulriksen, L. (2014). To choose or not to choose science: Constructions of desirable identities among young people considering a STEM higher education programme. International Journal of Science Education, 36(2), 186-215. 2. Su, R., & Rounds, J. (2015). All STEM fields are not created equal: People and things interests explain gender disparities across STEM fields. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 189. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00189/full 3. Lee, J., Willis, C., Parker, J., Wheeler, K., & James, D. (2020). Engaging the disengaged: A literature driven, retrospective reflection, of a successful student centric STEM intervention. Australasian Association for Engineering Education Annual Conference 2020 4. Ohgi, Y. (2002, June). Microcomputer-based acceleration sensor device for sports biomechanics-stroke evaluation by using swimmer's wrist acceleration. In SENSORS, 2002 IEEE (Vol. 1, pp. 699-704). IEEE. 5. James, D. A., & Petrone, N. (2016). Sensors and wearable technologies in Sport: Technologies, trends and approaches for implementation (pp. 1-49). Berlin, Germany: Springer. 6. James, D. A., Parker, J., Willis, C., & Lee, J. (2020). STEMfit: Student Centric Innovation to Improve STEM Educational Engagement Using Physical Activity, Wearable Technologies and Lean Methodologies. In Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Proceedings (Vol. 49, No. 1, p. 33)

Complex polar machinery required for proper chromosome segregation in vegetative and sporulating cells of Bacillus subtilis

Chromosome segregation is an essential process of cell multiplication. In prokaryotes, segregation starts with the newly replicated sister origins of replication, oriCs, which move apart to defined positions in the cell. We have developed a genetic screen to identify mutants defective in placement of oriC during spore development in the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis. In addition to the previously identified proteins Soj and DivIVA, our screen identified several new factors involved in polar recruitment of oriC: a reported regulator of competence ComN, and the regulators of division site selection MinD and MinJ. Previous work implicated Soj as an important regulator of oriC positioning in the cell. Our results suggest a model in which the DivIVA-interacting proteins ComN and MinJ recruit MinD to the cell pole, and that these proteins work upstream of Soj to enable oriC placement. We show that these proteins form a polar complex, which acts in parallel with but distinct from the sporulation-specific RacA pathway of oriC placement, and also functions during vegetative growth. Our study further shows that MinD has two distinct cell cycle roles, in cell division and chromosome segregation, and highlights that cell probably use multiple parallel mechanisms to ensure accurate chromosome segregation.</p