Our Health, Our Responsibility

Health4PINE (People in Need Everywhere) is an organization that spreads health awareness and places an emphasis on mental, social, and physical fitness along with tips of how to achieve improved health without expensive measures. Youth’s health has been declining over the past decade (Neighmond, 2010). In 2018, more than 3.1 million teenagers (12-17) in the United Stated reported some type of depression with 15 million reporting social anxiety (ADAA 2018). This increase in social anxiety has increased significantly over the past five years (ADAA 2018). The current project was based around six interactive presentations with fourth and fifth graders at a Boys and Girls Club. Students were engaged in critical thinking about mental, social, and physical health through various activities. These presentations were approximately thirty minutes and consisted of games, arts and crafts, and discussions. Surveys for the parents and staff at the Boys and Girls club were distributed to examine the gain in health knowledge of the students before and after program

Optimal formation of supplier networks for product design and production phases to realize an evolving product family

Due to rapid changes in customer requirements and vast improvements in technology, many product development companies have identified strategies like time-to-market (TTM) compression and product family development as critical for attaining success in today\u27s hyper-competitive markets. Compressing the TTM, to a large extent, is dependent on the suppliers and the project execution skills of the integrator companies. This study presents a methodology for selecting suppliers for two significant phases of the product realization process, namely, product design and production. The proposed methodology uses a two-stage approach for supplier selection where suppliers for product design are selected in the first stage and suppliers for production are selected in the second stage. These suppliers cater to the evolving customer requirements over a given planning horizon. Apart from using traditional supplier selection metrics such as cost and time, this study also considers the inter-supplier and supplier-integrator communication effectiveness --Abstract, page iv

Microprocessor Implementation of Autoregressive Analysis of Process Sensor Signals

Automated signal analysis can help for effective system surveillance and also to analyze the dynamic behavior of the system such as impulse response, step response etc. Autoregressive analysis is a parametric technique widely used for system surveillance and diagnosis. The main aim objective of this research work is to develop an embedded system for autoregressive analysis of sensor signals in an online fashion for monitoring system parameters. This thesis presents the algorithm, data representation and performance of the optimized microprocessor implementation of autoregressive analysis. In this work an autoregressive (AR) model is generated as a solution to a linear system of equations called Yule-Walker linear equations. The generated model is then implemented on Motorola PowerPC MPC555 processor. The embedded software for autoregressive analysis is written in the C programming language using fixed point arithmetic. It includes estimation of the autoregressive parameters, estimation of the noise variance recursively using the AR parameters, determination of the optimal model order and the model validation

Building an Effective Online Thermodynamics Course for Undergraduate Engineering Students

Online learning does not appear to be the common option when approaching some core engineering courses. However, the growing need for online engineering courses necessitates the development of online courses that can allow for the flexibility and convenience these distance learning experiences can offer, which also can help broaden the participation in engineering education. Thermodynamics is among the most difficult engineering subjects to teach, 1 , 2 especially online, where instructors are unable to demonstrate the overwhelming number of equations and applications as they would in face-to-face lectures. 3 , 4. This paper describes the design and development of an undergraduate online thermodynamics class. It also reports the students’ learning experience with thermodynamics in an online environment, students’ feedback on the online course, and students’ responses as to what worked in this particular online course

Use of Mobile Learning Strategies and Devices for E-Portfolio Content Creation in an Engineering Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Classes: Student Perceptions

Use of mobile learning strategies and devices for e-portfolio content creation in an engineering Thermodynamics class: Student perceptions Mobile devices can be useful for creating educational content and to help students to learn better (Benedict & Pence, 2012; Tabor & Minch, 2013; Pereira, Echeazarra, Sanz-Santamaria, & Gutierrez, 2014). The purpose of this study is to determine student perceptions on the efficacy of using mobile learning strategies and devices to create electronic content for inclusion in an engineering individual e-portfolio. Students enrolled in an undergraduate 300-level engineering Thermodynamics class, created multimedia videos and produced content demonstrating course content summaries, problem solving techniques, and written work on concept question solutions. A post course completion anonymous survey and focus group meeting was conducted at the end of the semester, to document student perceptions on the efficacy of using mobile learning strategies and devices to create electronic content for inclusion in an engineering individual e-increased interaction with the instructor. Students reported that the act of creating videos portfolio. Results indicated that most students found using mobile devices to create content for verbalizing and demonstrating each step of a problem solution helped review course their e-portfolios increased engagement with content though it did not necessarily lead to materials, to think deeply and to retain information for future use. The e-portfolio was not used as an interaction venue between the students and the instructor and most students found it easier to contact the instructor face-to-face. Several advantages and disadvantages of using mobile devices were noted. Students expressed interest in using mobile devices for learning in future, and suggested changes for ways in which mobile devices can be used in future engineering classes

Learner Perceptions on the Use of Mobile Learning Strategies and Devices for Team e-portfolio Content Creation

This study intended to determine student perceptions on the efficacy of using mobile learning strategies and devices to create electronic content for inclusion in an engineering team/group e-portfolio. Sixty four students from an undergraduate engineering thermodynamics class, created multimedia videos and produced content demonstrating course content summaries, problem solving techniques, and written work on concept question solutions. Results from a post course completion anonymous survey and focus group meeting indicated that the majority of the students found this to be a very useful exercise in learning, communicating with their instructor, completing homework and assignments as well as to prepare for tests. Some students indicated their preference for use of traditional computers, paper and pen. Recommendations for improved pedagogy using mobile devices are provided. Further research plans include the creation of an engineering industry grounded assessment instrument capable of measuring the soft social skills identified in the ABET Engineering Criteria Outcomes

Applications of Kalman Filters for Coherent Optical Communication Systems

In this chapter, we review various applications of Kalman filtering for coherent optical communication systems. First, we briefly discuss the principles of Kalman filter and its variations including extended Kalman filter (EKF) and adaptive Kalman filter (AKF). Later on, we illustrate the applicability of Kalman filters for joint tracking of several optical transmission impairments, simultaneously, by formulating the state space model (SSM) and detailing the principles. A detailed methodology is presented for the joint tracking of linear and nonlinear phase noise along with amplitude noise using EKF. Also, approaches to enhance the performance obtained by EKF by combining with other existing digital signal processing (DSP) techniques are presented. Frequency and phase offset estimation using a two stage linear Kalman filter (LKF)/EKF is also discussed. A cascaded structure of LKF and EKF by splitting the SSM to jointly mitigate the effects of polarization, phase and amplitude noise is also presented. The numerical analysis concludes that the Kalman filter based approaches outperform the conventional methods with better tracking capability and faster convergence besides offering more feasibility for real-time implementations

Opportunities from Disruption: How Lifelong Learning Helped Create More Connected Classrooms

The coronavirus pandemic has led to instructors worldwide seeking ways to engage students better through virtual platforms. As the world interacts online, more than ever before, this paper reflects on an educator’s experience with the virtual teaching and learning spaces pre and during the ongoing pandemic. Autoethnography is a research methodology that analyzes a phenomenon through the use of self-narratives, which would otherwise remain private or buried. This paper uses an autoethnographic approach to describe first-hand. the experiences and learnings of an educator at a Western US Public University. This paper describes how first as an international student, a first generation PhD, and then as a professor facing immigration related challenges, the author has had to pivot to online teaching multiple times before. Such virtual interactions with students was atypical at that time. However, lessons learned from those online interactions helped the educator better prepare and pivot to online during the pandemic. These reflections offer insight not only into personal growth strategies for educators, but also shed light onto the troubles and triumphs that international and immigrant teaching professionals bring to the higher education landscape. It is hoped that the paper is useful for administrators as they think about supporting atypical cases to strengthen their infrastructure, since innovation happens most among those pushing boundaries whilst facing challenges

An Adaptive Design Methodology for Reduction of Product Development Risk

Embedded systems interaction with environment inherently complicates understanding of requirements and their correct implementation. However, product uncertainty is highest during early stages of development. Design verification is an essential step in the development of any system, especially for Embedded System. This paper introduces a novel adaptive design methodology, which incorporates step-wise prototyping and verification. With each adaptive step product-realization level is enhanced while decreasing the level of product uncertainty, thereby reducing the overall costs. The back-bone of this frame-work is the development of Domain Specific Operational (DOP) Model and the associated Verification Instrumentation for Test and Evaluation, developed based on the DOP model. Together they generate functionally valid test-sequence for carrying out prototype evaluation. With the help of a case study 'Multimode Detection Subsystem' the application of this method is sketched. The design methodologies can be compared by defining and computing a generic performance criterion like Average design-cycle Risk. For the case study, by computing Average design-cycle Risk, it is shown that the adaptive method reduces the product development risk for a small increase in the total design cycle time.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure

Age at menarche and menstrual complications: a cross cultural study among hostel students in Tirupati, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India

Background: Menarche is an important biological and physiological event, which occur in the lifecycle of every normal female. This is accompanied by many morphological, physiological changes in the body. The age of menarche is generally between 10-16 years. The objectives was to assess the age at menarche and menstrual complications among hostel students during menstrual period.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which 326 girl students staying at hostel were selected by retrospective method of recall and were evaluated. The exact date of menarche and also any complications occur during menstruation period like pre menstrual syndrome (PMS), irregular periods, painful periods etc. was noted.Results: In the present study majority of the women attain menstruation at the 14th year of their age (31.0%). The mean menarcheal age was 13.83±1.209 years. It was found that among 18.7% are getting irregular periods, 77.9% reported to have premenstrual symptoms and 31.3% students having a set of symptoms like abdominal or back pain / feeling heaviness of the body this was the major ailment suffered by most of the students.  It was reported that 53.4% are having painful periods.Conclusions: Create awareness related to reduce disease burden and poor health outcome associated with poor menstrual  complications and self care has to be  taken among this group to Promote  positive attitudes  towards the mean age at menarche and menstruation related problems among the adolescent girls is the need of the hour. Hence, we suggest that health education programs regarding PMS and other menstrual problems must be included in the curriculum of secondary schools to bring down the prevalence of such problems.