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Background: Out-of-school time (OST) science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programming has positive impacts for youth, and the importance of engineering design activities and principles within STEM programming is well-supported by research. Including subject matter experts (SMEs) in these programs enriches the experience of youth participants. Public libraries are widely accessible to the public, and their role in the OST arena is expanding. Library staff can boost the quality of STEM learning experiences by partnering with SMEs. Purpose: Subject matter experts (SME) contribute more than just their expertise. Between 2018 and 2019, a group of diverse professional engineers and librarians co-facilitated engineering activities at six U.S. libraries serving traditionally underserved populations. This study investigates the alignment in active learning preferences between youth, library staff, and professional engineer volunteers. Method: The study's design implemented the Framework for the Observation and Categorization of Instructional Strategies (FOCIS), which identifies seven different types of learning activities: collaborating, competing, performing, discovering, making, teaching, and caretaking. The FOCIS helped researchers evaluate the learning activity preferences of youth participants, engineers, and librarians. Results: The analysis showed that the learning activity preferences of youth and engineers were much more closely aligned than those of librarians. Conclusions: Alignment between youth-program participants and SME program facilitators has the potential to enrich the program experience and foster active engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventionally, in engineering, the stopband of periodic structures, where propagating signals are unable to penetrate them, was of little interest to engineers. However, with the advent of topological physics, this has changed, and the stopband has moved into the center of attention. Here, we study the behavior of magnetoinductive waves in the stopband of a diatomic line. Surprisingly, here, we find that for lines hosting topological edge states, the signal power at frequencies in the stopband can be higher than anywhere in the passband. Further, they may also exceed both the signal power and Shannon capacity of a conventional monoatomic line, making them of interest for application in wireless communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing complexity of societal problems and the need for more interdisciplinary problem-solving in the future raise new demands for future engineering competences. Consequently, competences related to management and leadership must be reconsidered and reflected in both engineering education and engineering education research. This leads to the following research question: In which ways are students' learning of management and leadership articulated and related in engineering education literature? In this study, this research question is answered through a systematic literature review wherein 112 journal articles were reviewed to explore articulations of students' learning of management and leadership competences. The review finds extensive diversity in the literature, with different and sometimes even overlapping articulations of management and leadership in an educational context. Furthermore, the review identifies a difference between implicit and explicit approaches to addressing the development of students' management and leadership competences. Finally, the importance of the mutual interaction between management and leadership is discussed in an engineering education context. It is stressed that moving forward when working with complex problems in interdisciplinary teams requires both change and vision, as well as the tools and plans to actually make it happen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering curricula need to integrate global competence learning to ensure that graduates can succeed in globalised labour markets. In this context, this study examines disciplinary engineering courses, focusing on the key characteristics of globally competent educators and teaching approaches in terms of learning environments and course activities from the students' perspective. We conducted focus group discussions with 28 students from different engineering disciplines to learn more about their perceptions and experiences. The results suggest that they felt that integrated global competence learning would require educators to demonstrate open-mindedness, a global mindset, and strong social skills. In addition, global competence teaching approaches were associated with learning environments that were described as engaging, inclusive, and student-centered, and with course activities that were related to real-world situations, included collaborative elements, and were facilitated and supported by the instructor. This study contextualises the idea of global competence in engineering education and provides valuable insights into students' perspectives and experiences with its integration during their studies. It also critically examines students' ideas and suggestions about opportunities for such learning in relation to educational science, and suggests a way forward for global competence in engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction provides a brief personal background and highlights the scientific accomplishments of Professor Christopher Tam. He has maintained extremely high standards of research and an enviable track record for productivity, spanning more than five decades. The depth and breadth of his technical output are truly breathtaking, and he has inspired scores of researchers and graduate students. When the first author was an Acoustics Engineer at Lockheed, Georgia, he started collaborating with Chris in the early 1990s. There were several joint projects when the author moved to Boeing, which encompassed both fundamental research and applications. The second author has an even longer association with Chris, initially as a PhD advisee in the late 1980s and then as a co-researcher. In this special volume we pay tribute to Chris's many achievements, an endeavor that provides us with great satisfaction and which is long overdue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li+ de‐solvation at solid‐electrolyte interphase (SEI)‐electrolyte interface stands as a pivotal step that imposes limitations on the fast‐charging capability and low‐temperature performance of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). Unraveling the contributions of key constituents in the SEI that facilitate Li+ de‐solvation and deciphering their mechanisms, as a design principle for the interfacial structure of anode materials, is still a challenge. Herein, we conducted a systematic exploration of the influence exerted by various inorganic components (Li2CO3, LiF, Li3PO4) found in the SEI on their role in promoting the Li+ de‐solvation. The findings highlight that Li3PO4‐enriched SEI effectively reduces the de‐solvation energy due to its ability to attenuate the Li+‐solvent interaction, thereby expediting the de‐solvation process. Building on this, we engineer Li3PO4 interphase on graphite (LPO−Gr) anode via a simple solid‐phase coating, facilitating the Li+ de‐solvation and building an inorganic‐rich SEI, resulting in accelerated Li+ transport crossing the electrode interfaces and interphases. Full cells using the LPO−Gr anode can replenish its 80 % capacity in 6.5 minutes, while still retaining 70 % of the room temperature capacity even at −20 °C. Our strategy establishes connection between the de‐solvation characteristics of the SEI components and the interfacial structure design of anode materials for high performance LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li+ de‐solvation at solid‐electrolyte interphase (SEI)‐electrolyte interface stands as a pivotal step that imposes limitations on the fast‐charging capability and low‐temperature performance of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). Unraveling the contributions of key constituents in the SEI that facilitate Li+ de‐solvation and deciphering their mechanisms, as a design principle for the interfacial structure of anode materials, is still a challenge. Herein, we conducted a systematic exploration of the influence exerted by various inorganic components (Li2CO3, LiF, Li3PO4) found in the SEI on their role in promoting the Li+ de‐solvation. The findings highlight that Li3PO4‐enriched SEI effectively reduces the de‐solvation energy due to its ability to attenuate the Li+‐solvent interaction, thereby expediting the de‐solvation process. Building on this, we engineer Li3PO4 interphase on graphite (LPO−Gr) anode via a simple solid‐phase coating, facilitating the Li+ de‐solvation and building an inorganic‐rich SEI, resulting in accelerated Li+ transport crossing the electrode interfaces and interphases. Full cells using the LPO−Gr anode can replenish its 80 % capacity in 6.5 minutes, while still retaining 70 % of the room temperature capacity even at −20 °C. Our strategy establishes connection between the de‐solvation characteristics of the SEI components and the interfacial structure design of anode materials for high performance LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specialized cancer treatments have the potential to exploit glutamine dependence to increase patient survival rates. Glutamine diagnostics capable of tracking a patient's response to treatment would enable a personalized treatment dosage to optimize the tradeoff between treatment success and dangerous side effects. Current clinical glutamine testing requires sophisticated and expensive lab-based tests, which are not broadly available on a frequent, individualized basis. To address the need for a low-cost, portable glutamine diagnostic, this work engineers a cell-free glutamine biosensor to overcome assay background and signal-to-noise limitations evident in previously reported studies. The findings from this work culminate in the development of a shelf-stable, paper-based, colorimetric glutamine test with a high signal strength and a high signal-to-background ratio for dramatically improved signal resolution. While the engineered glutamine test is important progress towards improving the management of cancer and other health conditions, this work also expands the assay development field of the promising cell-free biosensing platform, which can facilitate the low-cost detection of a broad variety of target molecules with high clinical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a method for increasing the impact of academic research by providing materials for public use, thus engaging the maker community, and by collaborating with internet content creators to extend the reach. We propose a framework for engagement and report a multi-year study that evaluates short, intermediate, and long-term outcomes, with a second effort to demonstrate repeatability of the short-term outcomes. In the first study, we posted forty-one 3D printable compliant mechanisms on public repositories and collaborated with physicist and content creator Derek Muller (Veritasium YouTube channel). Outputs and outcomes from this interaction were measured over 3 years. The framework was exercised again with four new 3D printable mechanisms in collaboration with engineer and STEM influencer Mark Rober. The proposed methods aim to help researchers extend the reach of their work to broader audiences, including professional engineers, hardware designers, educators, students, researchers, and hobbyists. This work demonstrates promising impacts of the framework, including (1) extending public awareness of research findings to broader audiences by engaging the maker community and collaborating with content creators, (2) accelerating the pace of innovation and further hardware-based research through public application of research findings, (3) fostering a culture of open-source design and collaboration among other researchers, engineers, educators, and makers, and (4) increasing utilization of peer-reviewed published content. These outreach practices can be valuable tools for researchers to increase impact of and excitement for their research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the integration of injection molding technology into secondary level engineering and technology education, focusing on lowering the barrier of entry through 3D printing. It highlights the importance of computer-aided design (CAD) software in engineering classrooms, presenting a lesson/unit for students to design and manufacture plastic components using 3D-printed molds, and emphasizes the use of CAD software and the engineering design process in creating injection molds.

Reducing the weight of floor beams is a promising way to carry out the lightweight design of the rack car body. However, the reduction will generally amplify the vibration of the car body chassis transmitted to the floor and cause a decrease in riding comfort. Moreover, the lightweight design of the rack floor beams still depends on engineer's experiences. To address the issues, a cross-section layout method combing bionic with multi-objective topology optimization was proposed. According to the method, a novel bionic layout of rack floor beams offering out-standing reducing weight, vibration performance, in which the configuration elements of bionic quasi-ellipses replaced traditional straight lines in their cross-sections, was proposed. Firstly, a finite element modeling under multiple load cases for rack floor beams was built. Secondly, we screened an optimal load path using a multi-objective topology optimization method considering modal factors, and then constructed a novel bionic layout of cross-sections from beetles. Subsequently, considering minimizing the total mass (M) while maximizing the first-order vertical bending modal frequency (FVBMF) as two optimization objectives, a surrogate-based multi-objective genetic algorithm (SMOGA) and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) were then utilized in sequence to construct the surrogate models, solve optimization process for geometrical parameters of the cross-section, and identify the best trade-off design. Moreover, the multi-objective geometrical parameter optimization under multiple load cases were investigated. The results show that the parameter tt has a more significant influence on the mass and modality of floor beams, and the parameter b a s e l i n e _ a r c should be less than 80 mm under single load cases (SLCs). Finally, the dynamic and static performance comparison of the proposed cross-section with the traditional cross-section were also performed. The weight of the optimum outcomes is reduced by 13.25 % and the 1-order vertical natural frequency is significantly increased by 48.04 % . The results show that the proposed floor beams have significant modal performance and better weight reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do we account for the ability or otherwise of regional organisations in the global South to enable equitable and inclusive responses to the COVID-19 pandemic? We answer this question with a focus on Africa and in relation to the rights of women and girls. Drawing on theoretical insights from Feminist Global Health Security and from data on the African Union, other regional organisations in Africa and from non-governmental organisations, local activists and medical centres, we show that regional organisations acted quickly to identify the gendered socio-economic and health needs of women and girls and alerted member states to their responsibility to consider gender rights in their policy responses. But weak gender norms led to a disconnect between this early recognition of the importance of policies to protect women and girls and the behaviour of regional organisations, which could not lead a gender sensitive response or engineer one in member state governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Valvular heart disease (VHD) is becoming more prevalent in an ageing population, leading to challenges in diagnosis and management. This two-part Series offers a comprehensive review of changing concepts in VHD, covering diagnosis, intervention timing, novel management strategies, and the current state of research. The first paper highlights the remarkable progress made in imaging and transcatheter techniques, effectively addressing the treatment paradox wherein populations at the highest risk of VHD often receive the least treatment. These advances have attracted the attention of clinicians, researchers, engineers, device manufacturers, and investors, leading to the exploration and proposal of treatment approaches grounded in pathophysiology and multidisciplinary strategies for VHD management. This Series paper focuses on innovations involving computational, pharmacological, and bioengineering approaches that are transforming the diagnosis and management of patients with VHD. Artificial intelligence and digital methods are enhancing screening, diagnosis, and planning procedures, and the integration of imaging and clinical data is improving the classification of VHD severity. The emergence of artificial intelligence techniques, including so-called digital twins—eg, computer-generated replicas of the heart—is aiding the development of new strategies for enhanced risk stratification, prognostication, and individualised therapeutic targeting. Various new molecular targets and novel pharmacological strategies are being developed, including multiomics—ie, analytical methods used to integrate complex biological big data to find novel pathways to halt the progression of VHD. In addition, efforts have been undertaken to engineer heart valve tissue and provide a living valve conduit capable of growth and biological integration. Overall, these advances emphasise the importance of early detection, personalised management, and cutting-edge interventions to optimise outcomes amid the evolving landscape of VHD. Although several challenges must be overcome, these breakthroughs represent opportunities to advance patient-centred investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epigraphy is witnessing a growing integration of artificial intelligence, notably through its subfield of machine learning (ML), especially in tasks like extracting insights from ancient inscriptions. However, scarce labeled data for training ML algorithms severely limits current techniques, especially for ancient scripts like Old Aramaic. Our research pioneers an innovative methodology for generating synthetic training data tailored to Old Aramaic letters. Our pipeline synthesizes photo-realistic Aramaic letter datasets, incorporating textural features, lighting, damage, and augmentations to mimic real-world inscription diversity. Despite minimal real examples, we engineer a dataset of 250 000 training and 25 000 validation images covering the 22 letter classes in the Aramaic alphabet. This comprehensive corpus provides a robust volume of data for training a residual neural network (ResNet) to classify highly degraded Aramaic letters. The ResNet model demonstrates 95% accuracy in classifying real images from the 8th century BCE Hadad statue inscription. Additional experiments validate performance on varying materials and styles, proving effective generalization. Our results validate the model's capabilities in handling diverse real-world scenarios, proving the viability of our synthetic data approach and avoiding the dependence on scarce training data that has constrained epigraphic analysis. Our innovative framework elevates interpretation accuracy on damaged inscriptions, thus enhancing knowledge extraction from these historical resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Workplace challenges can negatively affect employees and the organization. Resilience improves work-related outcomes like engagement, satisfaction, and performance. Gaps exist in studying resilience at work, particularly in relation to engagement and satisfaction. Therefore, this study aims to investigate relationship between Resilience at Work, Work Engagement and Job Satisfaction among engineers in an Egyptian Oil and Gas Company. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. The target population was the engineers who are working in Egyptian Oil and Gas Company. The study was performed on 100 engineers. Participants were enrolled by simple random sampling technique via an online questionnaire. The study was conducted from May 2023 to the end of September 2023. The data were collected in the duration of June to August 2023. Data was obtained through a structured and personally accomplished questionnaire, which was disseminated electronically via email. The questionnaire comprises of personal information, work experience, a Resilience at Work scale consisting of 20 items, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale with nine items to evaluate work engagement, and the 20-item Short-Form Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire was utilized to determine employee satisfaction. The bivariate analysis employed independent samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test. The associations between scores were measured by Spearman rho correlation. Simple linear and multiple linear regressions were used to predict work engagement and job satisfaction. Results: A statistically strong positive correlation was observed among all the aspects of work engagement, including vigor, absorption, and dedication. This study demonstrated a significant correlation between resilience and work engagement (r = 0.356, p < 0.05). There was a strong correlation between resilience and job satisfaction (r = 0.608, p < 0.05). A significant moderate correlation was determined between job satisfaction and work engagement (r = 0.396, p < 0.05). Both gender with a female coefficient of -15.517, and resilience with a coefficient of 0.235 significantly predicted work engagement. Whereas, the significant predictors of job satisfaction were resilience (β = 0.294), and work engagement (β = 0.283). Conclusions: Resilience greatly affects work engagement and job satisfaction. Thus, organizations need to promote resilience in employees to create a positive work environment and increase productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Miniaturization of individual selectors in crossbar‐array‐based artificial neural networks is essential for the advancement of the underlying neuromorphic electronics, as it improves learning, recognition, and prediction accuracies. This study proposes a tilt‐engineered molecular‐scale selector comprising a heterostructure of biphenyl‐4‐thiol (OPT2) or 1‐octanethiol (C8) molecular layers and an n‐type two‐dimensional MoS2 monolayer (1L‐MoS2) at an approximate contact radius of 3 nm, which is evaluated via conductive atomic force microscopy under various tip‐loading forces. The molecular tilt configuration controlled by the tip‐loading force is used as a rectifying engineer for the OPT2/1L‐MoS2 and C8/1L‐MoS2 heterojunction accuracies. Rectification ratios and conductance levels are significantly influenced by the molecular backbones and tilt angle. The proposed tilt‐engineered selector can aid in controlling undesired neural signals affecting vector–matrix multiplications and adjusting the switching range compatibility of an integrated synaptic device cell, significantly influencing the pattern recognition accuracy. By controlling the tilt angle, the recognition accuracy on the MNIST dataset increases from 78.65% to 86.45% and from 7.74% to 86.09% when using the OPT2/1L‐MoS2 and C8/1L‐MoS2 selector, respectively. The proposed molecular tilt configuration can be used for developing customized molecular‐scale selectors for crossbar‐array‐based artificial neural networks to improve learning while suppressing undesired neural signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many applications, artificial neural networks are best trained for a task by following a curriculum, in which simpler concepts are learned before more complex ones. This curriculum can be hand-crafted by the engineer or optimised like other hyperparameters, by evaluating many curricula. However, this is computationally intensive and the hyperparameters are unlikely to generalise to new datasets. An attractive alternative, demonstrated in influential prior works, is that the network could choose its own curriculum by monitoring its learning. This would be particularly beneficial for continual learning, in which the network must learn from an environment that is changing over time, relevant both to practical applications and in the modelling of human development. In this paper we test the generality of this approach using a proof-of-principle model, training a network on two sequential tasks under static and continual conditions, and investigating both the benefits of a curriculum and the handicap induced by continuous learning. Additionally, we test a variety of prior task-switching metrics, and find that in some cases even in this simple scenario the a network is often unable to choose the optimal curriculum, as the benefits are sometimes only apparent with hindsight, at the end of training. We discuss the implications of the results for network engineering and models of human development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Strengths and weaknesses of monetary valuation are discussed with reference to LCA. • Conceptual foundations of monetary valuation are investigated. • Usefulness of monetisation integrating LCA with financial and social dimensions. • Ecological economics provide a bridging approach for integrated assessment. • The optimal rate of recycling is used as a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientists and engineers often spend days choosing a problem and years solving it. This imbalance limits impact. Here, we offer a framework for problem choice: prompts for ideation, guidelines for evaluating impact and likelihood of success, the importance of fixing one parameter at a time, and opportunities afforded by failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review essay examines five Spanish-language books published in Latin America on the emergence of engineering in the region. Focusing on a period from roughly 1850 to 1970, these works share themes of foreigners and foreign education, nation-state construction, and social conceptions of prestige. This research suggests that throughout Latin America foreign educators and models were prominent in early engineering programs and enterprises. However, many historians associate the growth of engineering, especially civil engineering, with increasing state consolidation and economic intervention. As social perceptions of the value of professional engineering changed, domestic engineers increasingly became important planners and mediators. Some engineers became state leaders. By contextualizing these works with other scholarship on the history of engineering, this review essay highlights new insights while suggesting the need for greater attention to gender, race, and labor; comparisons between developments in Latin America, Africa, and Asia; and more research on private-sector engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on Argentina's sugarcane province of Tucumán from 1870 to 1910, this article examines the processes of engineering professionalization in Argentina and its application to pressing environmental problems. Engineers were central to the processes through which elites in Latin America sought to attract foreign investment in agriculture, integrate their countries into the global economy, and provide expertise that enabled states to advance a techno-scientific imaginary based on liberal economic progress. Progressive bureaucrats and engineers, such as civil engineer Carlos Wauters, believed that they could use hydraulic infrastructure to transform Tucumán from an agricultural monoculture to a polyculture; others believed that infrastructure should be used to support a sugar monoculture. In exploring this issue, this article bridges the fields of engineering history, agricultural history, and environmental history. It also incorporates Latin America into global scholarship on the emergence and evolution of professional engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testing and debugging have been the most significant steps of software development since it is tricky for engineers to create error-free software. Software testing takes place after coding with the goal of finding flaws. If errors are found, debugging would be done to identify the source of the errors so that they may be fixed. Detecting as well as locating defects are thus two essential stages in the creation of software. We have created a unique approach with the following two working phases to generate a minimized test suite that is capable of both detecting and localizing faults. In the initial test suite minimization process, the cases were generated and minimized based on the objectives such as D-score and coverage by the utilization of the proposed Blue Monkey Customized Black Widow (BMCBW) algorithm. After this test suite minimization, the fault validation is done which includes the process of fault detection and localization. For this fault validation, we have utilized an improved Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM). At 90% of the learning rate the accuracy of the presented work is 0.97%, 2.20%, 2.52%, 0.97% and 2.81% is better than the other extant models like AOA, COOT, BES, BMO and BWO methods. The results obtained proved that our Blue Monkey Customized Black Widow Optimization-based fault detection and localization approach can provide superior outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamified-integrated STEM is a technique that combines integrated STEM stages with gamification elements and can engage individuals in climate change communication. This paper presents a gamified-integrated STEM activity focused on global climate change. The activity includes gamified-integrated STEM instructional stages implemented in 6 lesson hours. The game elements used in the activity were time, rewards, points, badges, leaderboards, materials, stories, goals, and rules. Badges included: Decoders, Explorer, Meteorologist, Climatologist, Benevolent Koala, Scientist, and Engineer. The activity was designed for middle school students and aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. Educators are encouraged to incorporate this pedagogical activity within their instructions to elucidate fundamental concepts related to the consequences of climate change. In doing so, teachers can promote student engagement, improve awareness, and refine problem-solving competencies pertinent to climate-centric challenges. The activity has been evaluated and recommendations for enhancement have been made to ensure optimal efficacy in cultivating gamification and a nuanced understanding of climate-related topics among learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cosmetic industry, traditionally a realm of rapid innovation and trend-setting, is currently facing a multitude of challenges. This sector is striving to maintain the balance of maintaining product novelty while conforming to increasingly rigorous environmental and regulatory standards. The challenges are diverse. On one hand, there’s a compelling need to align with the EU’s Green Deal objectives, emphasizing sustainability and environmental responsibility. On the other hand, the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe, notably the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have left profound impacts. These events have caused supply chain disruptions and complicated business relations, prompting many companies to reassess their operational strategies. Besides this, as a driving force of change, we can add also: the rapid digital transformation and constantly active chemophobic nature of the consumers demands, which results in the specific chemicals management decisions. We observe yearly at least a few of ingredients which are restricted or banned for use in cosmetic. In the same time the new ingredients authorizations are scarce, which results from the legislative paradox of article 18 and the toxicological dossier demands for authorisation. Hopefully, with the new risk assessment methodologies, there is a glimmer of hope for the approval of new ingredients. As a result of these complex issues, the industry has shifted from long-term operating strategies to an agile management model, particularly in product development technology. There’s a burgeoning curiosity about how Research and Development (R&D) departments are coping in this demanding world. To gain insight into these dynamics, we conducted the “Technologist Needs Survey” with representatives from the Polish cosmetic industry. The first round of this survey was carried out in the first half of 2020, a time when the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic in Poland was not yet apparent, and then it was repeated in second quarter of 2023. The responses shed light on the unique challenges faced by companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Identifying as an engineer is essential for belonging and student success, yet the social context and professional norms make it more difficult for some students to establish an identity as an engineer. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study investigated whether first‐generation college students' funds of knowledge supported their engineering role identity. Design/Methods: Data came from a survey administered across the United States western, southern, and mountain regions in the fall semester of 2018. Only the sample of students who indicated they were the first in their families to attend college was used in the analysis (n = 378). Structural equation modeling was used to understand how first‐generation college students' funds of knowledge supported their engineering role identity; measurement invariance was examined to ensure that the model was valid for women and men alike. Results: First‐generation college students' funds of knowledge individually supported the components of the engineering role identity development process. Tinkering knowledge from home and perspective‐taking helped inform interest and performance/competence beliefs. First‐generation college students' bids for external recognition were supported through their mediational skills, their connecting experiences, and their local network of college friends. The bundle of advice, resources, and emotional support from family members was the only fund of knowledge that directly supported students' perceptions of themselves as engineers. Conclusions: The relationships we established between first‐generation college students' funds of knowledge and emerging engineering role identities call for engineering educators to integrate students' funds of knowledge into engineering learning and to broaden disciplinary norms of what counts as engineering‐relevant knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a summary of a special issue of the journal "Materials" focused on the topic of surface engineering for wear, corrosion, and erosion prevention in metallic and ceramic materials. The special issue includes twelve scientific papers covering various aspects of the operational performance and properties of metallic and ceramic materials. The papers discuss topics such as the effects of peening treatments, corrosion resistance, tribological behavior, and wear improvement through microstructural modification and the deposition of wear-resistant coatings. The special issue received significant interest from authors and readers, leading to the announcement of a second volume on the same topic. The summary acknowledges the need for experimental data in surface engineering to understand the wear and performance of engineering materials. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose of this review: Manipulating or re-engineering the damaged human spinal cord to achieve neuro-recovery is one of the foremost challenges of modern science. Addressing the restricted permission of neural cells and topographically organised neural tissue for self-renewal and spontaneous regeneration, respectively, is not straightforward, as exemplified by rare instances of translational success. This review assembles an understanding of advances in nanomedicine for spinal cord injury (SCI) and related clinical indications of relevance to attempts to design, engineer, and target nanotechnologies to multiple molecular networks. Recent findings: Recent research provides a new understanding of the health benefits and regulatory landscape of nanomedicines based on a background of advances in mRNA-based nanocarrier vaccines and quantum dot-based optical imaging. In relation to spinal cord pathology, the extant literature details promising advances in nanoneuropharmacology and regenerative medicine that inform the present understanding of the nanoparticle (NP) biocompatibility–neurotoxicity relationship. In this review, the conceptual bases of nanotechnology and nanomaterial chemistry covering organic and inorganic particles of sizes generally less than 100 nm in diameter will be addressed. Regarding the centrally active nanotechnologies selected for this review, attention is paid to NP physico-chemistry, functionalisation, delivery, biocompatibility, biodistribution, toxicology, and key molecular targets and biological effects intrinsic to and beyond the spinal cord parenchyma. Summary: The advance of nanotechnologies for the treatment of refractory spinal cord pathologies requires an in-depth understanding of neurobiological and topographical principles and a consideration of additional complexities involving the research's translational and regulatory landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While parasitism is a common lifestyle on Earth, its importance for the functioning of marine ecosystems has been overlooked for a long time. In particular, parasites have significant potential to influence central ecological processes through their impacts on hosts that serve as ecosystem engineers. Using an ex situ experimental approach, we explored the effects of trematode parasites on the engineering bioturbation activity of a common and abundant bivalve along European Atlantic soft‐bottom coastlines, the peppery furrow shell Scrobicularia plana, as well as knock‐on effects for nutrient exchanges at the sediment–water interface (SWI). Trematodes negatively impacted the host's ability to transport sediment particles and solutes in a density‐dependent way, with parasite burden explaining 22–31% of the inter‐individual variability. This could be explained by parasitism impairing the bivalve physiological state and ability to burrow, as we observed a decrease in the condition index and the burrowing depth of the bivalves with an increase in the number of parasites they host. In contrast, the influence of S. plana on benthic biogeochemical fluxes did not vary significantly according to parasitic burden over a short time scale. Here, we focused on the effects of trematode parasites on the behaviour of S. plana alone, and thus excluded other macrofaunal organisms. We should next test whether trematodes modulate the structure and functioning of benthic communities dominated by S. plana to better understand and quantify the engineering role of parasites in soft‐bottom coastal environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturers perpetually adapt their systems to meet unforeseen events, new objectives, competition, and improved understanding of processes. In that human-directed work, models mediate an enduring relationship between production resources and engineers. Accommodating new understanding in the models controlling production can lead to more effective manufacturing. That work has previously been the province of quality programs such as Six Sigma, but is now fertile ground to study human-computer interaction about that enduring relationship mediated by models. Can AI augment human capability in the arcane work of formulating and refining models? This question is relevant to complex system engineering generally, not just manufacturing. In answering this question, this paper adapts Klein's flexecution for use in adaptable manufacturing systems. Theory flexecution, the methodical refinement of models, points to human-computer interactions that emphasize the roles of models, explanation, and machine agents that recognize the engineer's goals. This perspective article illustrates these ideas with an example of formulating models for production scheduling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the journal Engineering Studies, which has been publishing interdisciplinary work on gender, race, and power in engineering for the past fifteen years. It highlights special issues on engineering masculinities, exclusion and inclusion in engineering education, and gender dynamics in industrial design. The article also provides a list of articles published by the journal on these topics, emphasizing their high citation and readership rates. It acknowledges the lack of geographic diversity in the research, with most of the work coming from the US and Europe. The article then focuses on three specific articles in the issue that explore the experiences of early-career engineers and the impact of gender and race on their career opportunities. It concludes by encouraging more diverse research in terms of geographic locations and topics. [Extracted from the article]

Positioned as part of leadership development in many organizations, 'stretch assignments' are a type of work assignment that can prove someone's readiness to advance in their career. Informed by status characteristics theory, our research investigates the frequency and expected outcomes of stretch assignments among recent engineering graduates in the workforce. Findings suggest that early-career stretch assignments, especially assignments involving new and unfamiliar areas, potentially intensify gender and racial/ethnic workforce inequality. Other types of assignments that may be more familiar and clearly-scoped to early-career engineers show a different and less inequality-intensifying pattern. We discuss why early-career engineers' assignments may be sites of inequality and the need for more focus on organizational processes around career-advancing work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many early-career engineers in the United States leave the field of engineering in the first few years of their careers, we know little of their early professional experiences and reasoning for career plans. We conducted 33 semi-structured interviews with early-career engineers, comparing the experiences of engineers across intersections of gender and race. In particular, we examine meaningful early-career experiences and how these connect to the innate needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as well as career intentions. Top moments on the job were often first-time experiences and milestones that enhanced the engineers' sense of competence. Meaningful moments connected to relatedness were more often positive than negative experiences for White men, whereas experiences undermining relatedness were more common for people of color and/or women. Connections to autonomy emerged more in bottom moments, especially for White engineers. Across different intended career pathways, early-career engineers often evaluated their experiences regarding their ability to work effectively and through social validation from peers and managers (or undermined by a lack thereof). The results indicate the need for a greater understanding of early-career affordances in supporting entry and retention in the engineering workforce by promoting individual effectiveness and social validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pragmatists are interested primarily not in representing a purportedly unchanging Reality but in articulating prophetic future possibilities on the basis of the values most venerated by a culture/society in the present. This makes pragmatism sound a little like 'Conceptual Engineering'. Conceptual engineers too are interested in transforming our ways of talking, which implies some notion of how such improvements are to be evaluated. Nevertheless, this paper argues that accounts of conceptual engineering that regard it as key to the project of elucidating an externalist semantics find it difficult to accommodate on their own terms the problem-phenomena taken to be of shared interest: regions of discourse where the demand for change are at their most pressing culturally. This difficulty takes the form of what I call the Conceptual Engineering Dilemma (CED), an inability to accommodate simultaneously the ethical and ameliorative dimensions of contestation. I argue that acknowledging the formalist commitments that undergird CED should make pragmatism more appealing to the practically-orientated analytic philosopher and conclude with a brief survey of some of the tools that it makes available for the pressing work of changing minds for the better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The later Carnap is usually cited as the first conceptual engineer – someone who argues that we can and should revise our concepts in order to make them fit for their purpose. This paper shows that there is an earlier, pragmatist, account of conceptual engineering and that today's conceptual engineers would do well to turn to it, rather than to Carnap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]