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This article is a summary of the 10th International Conference on Inverse Problems in Engineering (ICIPE 22), which took place in May 2022 in Francavilla al Mare, Italy. The conference brought together applied mathematicians and engineers from various disciplines to collaborate and discuss the use of inverse analysis tools in fields such as manufacturing, medical imaging, and space applications. The event also honored Professor James V. Beck, who made significant contributions to parameter estimation and inverse heat transfer problems. The conference featured keynote addresses, lectures, and a tribute to Prof. Beck. The article expresses gratitude to the organizers, sponsors, reviewers, and the editor-in-chief of the Heat Transfer Engineering Journal. The 11th ICIPE conference will be held in Brazil in 2024. [Extracted from the article]

Although there is often a difference between the architectural understanding of forms and their social and value-related perception (Malhis, 2008), elements of architectural value are often divided into economic or cultural concerns. Architecture's true value, however, may be found at the resolution of this dichotomy although it can be argued it is not straightforward to isolate and measure the true value of architecture. This discussion paper suggests that whilst many of the concerns highlighted appear in conflict, they are in fact reciprocal in nature with both causes being advanced through the efficiencies of architectural design. One viewpoint is that economic value perhaps should not be a topic of infrequent discussion, but rather it should be raised from time to time within the context of the broader market within which architecture is positioned. Even this viewpoint is subject to conjecture for some. This discussion paper places the focus on the importance and relevance of value from an architectural perspective, which often is a concept rarely discussed in design circles. It is meant to encourage discourse and discussion about the different forms of value and how it is perceived in an architectural sense. As there are numerous classifications and perceptions of value in our society which are in a constant state of change, it is imperative that we regularly re-evaluate the relevance of these ever-changing values to design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation – the pervasive incorporation of digital technology into virtually every process and system – is arguably the greatest force of change within the naval engineering community. Digital innovation is disrupting traditional ship design paradigms and giving rise to new ways of modernising and sustaining a future integrated force structure. This paper highlights digital transformation as a core strategic initiative that is aligned with the U.S. Department of Defense Digital Engineering Strategy. Recognising the need to expand the U.S. Navy's advantage over its competitors, this paper identifies foundational elements required to transform current engineering design and development processes. Next, a multi-factor framework is introduced to align traditional processes employed for physical system design and development with a new digital paradigm in recognition of the highly integrated nature of Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). Finally, discussion will focus on efforts underway to leverage advanced computational models and highlight the digital engineering use case for Naval Power and Energy Systems (NPES). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents simple and intuitive strategies for effective online assessment of a freshman engineering course. The proposed strategies for unproctored online exams include creating multiple sets with identical options, using image-format questions, maintaining short duration of exam, and employing a rotational assignment. Unlike a single-set paper where the class average was found to be disproportionately high, the proposed strategies helped in correctly restoring the class average. Feedback and results from 141 students show a significant statistical difference in the scores obtained using the proposed multi-set quiz framework, as opposed to conventional single-set papers. The paper also presents a simple setup of remote proctoring using dual-video and screensharing to replicate in-person classroom exams without the need of commercial proctoring services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Training both pre – and in-service teachers who are capable of planning and enacting engineering design–based science instruction are critical for integrating engineering into K-12 science curricula. Purpose: This study investigates pre-service teachers' efforts to integrate engineering into their lesson plans. Sample: 13 pre-service chemistry teachers, enrolled in a 13-week engineering-infused integrated STEM course, were the participants of the study. Design and Method: Considering the purpose of the study, qualitative design was deemed to be the best fit including qualitative data collected through lesson plans and reflection papers. To assist pre-service teachers' learning, 13-week engineering-infused integrated STEM was started with the information about the engineering profession and how engineers work. Additionally, pre-service teachers engaged in six integrated STEM activities including engineering design cycle. After each activity, the participants were asked to write a reflection paper on what they learned about engineering, the engineering design process, and integrated STEM. Finally, the participants had three chances for analyzing strong and weak integrated STEM lesson plans and planning integrated STEM lesson planning experience with mentors. The pre-and post-course lesson plans (n=26) were analyzed using existing codes from the related literature, which is a deductive coding process. Later, an inductive approach was used to determine the categories of engineering integration into the lesson plans. Four categories (ranging from a complete engineering lesson to a science lesson with no engineering link) were formed. Reflection papers were used to support the findings. Result: The results showed that none of the pre-plans included engineering. However, after participated in a 13-week integrated STEM course, all post-course lesson plans integrated engineering through the use of engineering design processes to some extent. Conclusion: The training with different experiences seems promising for pre-service teachers to learn engineering integration into STEM lesson plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: As a growing number of instructional units have been developed to promote young children's scientific and engineering practices (SEPs), understanding how to evaluate and assess children's SEPs is imperative. However, paper-and-pencil assessments would not be suitable for young children because of their limited reading and writing skills. To explore the assessments for SEPs available for young children aged 3–8 years, this study reviewed assessments of young children's SEPs reported in empirical studies, and analysed the characteristics of these assessments to delineate how young children's SEPs have been measured. Methods: We followed the procedures of a systematic review proposed by Zawacki-Richter et al. (2020). The EBSCOhost database was used to gather empirical studies in education and psychology. A total of 46 articles published from 2003 to 2020 met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Findings: The findings indicated that of the eight SEPs suggested by the National Research Council (2012), Analysing and interpreting data was assessed the most, followed by Using mathematics and computational thinking, Constructing explanations and designing solutions, and Planning and carrying out investigations. A majority of assessments were designed for children of 4, 5, and 6 years old and used paper-based visualizations and real objects to present the tasks and items. Additionally, due to the verbal or performance nature of the SEPs, the assessments collected different types of data as evidence to evaluate children's SEPs. Performance-based assessments were the most common, followed by multiple-choice, ranking, and oral responses. Conclusion: The findings of the reviewed assessments revealed a variety of performance expectations of SEPs and suggested that some SEPs are measurable and developmentally appropriate for young children. Also, the availability of assessments is uneven in different types of SEPs, and more assessments for information communication and modelling practices are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a content analysis is performed for the papers that appeared in Total Quality Management and Business Excellence. A total of 1132 papers which appeared in the volumes from 6 to 19 are analysed into several different dimensions. Country origins and academic unit of authors (engineering/basic sciences/management sciences, etc.), research methods (library search/conceptual study/case study/simulation/field survey, etc.) and unit of analyses (individual/company/firm/regional/national/international level) are included in this analysis. In addition to those attributes, keywords of the papers and the content of case studies (manufacturing/service/information technology) are computed as well. Association mining has also been performed to determine the consequential relationships among the attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a 'position paper' elaborated by Working Group 2 (wg2) 'Quality and Recognition in Engineering Education' of the EU-supported Thematic Network 'Higher Engineering Education for Europe' (H3E), operative from January 1997 to July 1999. G. Heitmann was the Rapporteur, and G. Augusti the Chairman of wg2. Before approval at the H3E final Congress in Budapest (July 1999), the paper had been discussed at several wg2 and public meetings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research refers to the assigning of a hands-on group project to freshman engineering students, evaluating their performance, and deriving conclusions on student benefits and educational advances. The research procedure included action plans for the instructor and the students, instructions to the students on performing the work, organizational instructions to the teams and reporting guidelines, and evaluation of the success of the project. The main outcomes refer to the team co-operation, the performance of tasks, the quality of results and the reporting effectiveness. The ‘paper beam’ project benefited the student’s learning and proved the need of complementary learning styles in teams, of the appreciation of quality performance and results, as well as of the accuracy in project details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering is receiving unprecedented attention in early childhood and elementary classrooms. Teachers of young children may recognize the ways young children act as natural engineers as they design and create with materials from the classroom or playground. Everyday experiences such as choosing the type of bag: paper, plastic, or a reusable cloth bag at the grocery store can also be used to build explorations with engineering design and challenges. The meaningful integration of children's literature with engineering design challenges provides the further benefit of supporting the kinds of literacy instruction fundamental to primary classrooms. One method to consider is the use of Text Sets, a strategy from literacy that involves the selection and use of a variety of texts chosen intentionally along one or more dimensions where multiple kinds of texts might meet multiple needs or purposes. Lesson suggestions are provided for using text sets of books from different literary genres including biography, narrative, expository, and procedural books and activities to explore the properties of paper, plastic, and fabric with preschool through second grade students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Box's paper helicopter has been used to teach experimental design for more than a decade. It is simple, inexpensive, and provides real data for an involved, multifactor experiment. Unfortunately it can also further an all-too-common practice that Professor Box himself has repeatedly cautioned against, namely ignoring the fundamental science while rushing to solve problems that may not be sufficiently understood. Often this slighting of the science so as to get on with the statistics is justified by referring to Box's oft-quoted maxim that "All models are wrong, however some are useful." Nevertheless, what is equally true, to paraphrase both Professor Box and George Orwell, is that "All models are wrong, but some are more wrong than others." To experiment effectively it is necessary to understand the relevant science so as to distinguish between what is usefully wrong, and what is dangerously wrong. This article presents an improved analysis of Box's helicopter problem relying on statistical and engineering knowledge and shows that this leads to an enhanced paper helicopter, requiring fewer experimental trails and achieving superior performance. In fact, of the 20 experimental trials run for validation–10 each of the proposed aerodynamic design and the conventional full factorial optimum–the longest 10 flight times all belong to the aerodynamic optimum, while the shortest 10 all belong to the conventional full factorial optimum. I further discuss how ancillary engineering knowledge can be incorporated into thinking about–and teaching–experimental design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A call for papers about World War I and the developments in British engineering is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to present the second part of a detailed, step-by-step case study of a simple Six Sigma Green Belt project. In the last edition of Quality Engineering, the first part of a Six Sigma Green Belt case study was presented. That paper showed the Define and Measure phases of the DMAIC method. This paper presents the rest of the case study, or the Analyze, Improve, and Control phases of the DMAIC method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is a socio-technical, ideological, and rhetorical construction rooted in the neoliberal discourse that reflects key tenets of global capitalism, is believed to have considerable implications for the development of employees in advanced manufacturing environments. This paper aims to explore the ways in which the learning needs of employees in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution could be appropriately identified and how employees could further develop their skills through the design of suitable development curricula. To this end , the paper seeks to interrogate the ways in which the employees' learning needs are likely to be identified in the middle-range future, and problemate the focus of highly specialised and exclusively focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curricula that are likely to be designed to help employees respond to the perceived demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The paper further seeks to explore a preferred liberal future, drawing on the work of Martha Nussbaum, to create the possibility for an alternative future guided by a more holistic conception of employee development through the establishment of learner-centred, liberal – and liberating – interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this special issue ofHeat Transfer Engineeringyou will find selected papers presented during the 14th Brazilian Congress of Thermal Sciences and Engineering—ENCIT, held in Windsor Atlântica Hotel at Copacabana Beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 18–22, 2012. A cosmopolitan metropolis, known worldwide for its scenic beauty and its natural resources, Rio de Janeiro provides a harmonious and agreeable environment for its inhabitants and visitors. Rio de Janeiro hosts several games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, including the final game at the historical Stadium of Maracanã, as well as the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Nevertheless, Rio de Janeiro has also hosted the 14th ENCIT, which is organized under the auspices of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (ABCM). ENCIT has been held every other year since 1986, and its recent editions have included more than 400 presentations of peer-reviewed papers. The ENCIT series of congresses has successfully served as the major forum for the interaction of professionals from the academia, industry, and government, within the heat transfer, thermodynamics, and fluid mechanics communities in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial provides an overview of a special issue dedicated to the 7th conference on Process Integration, Modeling and Optimization for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction—PRES 2004. Eight papers have been selected and peer-reviewed covering various subjects of heat transfer engineering, focusing on the recent development of various features of heat transfer equipment design and optimization. This is the fourth special issue of Heat Transfer Engineering dedicated to selected contributions from PRES conferences [1, 2, 3]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors improved the new in-memory cluster computing system for processing large-scale spatial data using the best spatial partitioning and other optimization techniques. Disruptive changes in the industrial environment have occurred in recent years owing to rapid advancements in electronics, information, and communication technology. In addition to a semantic representation of the corpus, the authors propose a query processing pipeline based on a novel data structure for query answers extracted from this graph, which embeds core information with structural-based and domain-specific contexts. [Extracted from the article]

It is our great pleasure to present this special issue ofHeat Transfer Engineeringwith a selection of papers presented at the 21st National & 10th ISHMT-ASME Heat and Mass Transfer Conference, held on December 27–30, 2011. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Indian Society of Heat and Mass Transfer (ISHMT) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and was held at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras campus in Chennai, India. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Carbon nanotube cement-based grouting materials currently mostly stay in the pure slurry research stage, and there is little research in the field of rock crack reinforcement combined with the engineering application background. Therefore, on the basis of existing research, it is important to expand the dispersion of carbon nanotubes in cement paste, and to carry out research on the reinforcement of fractured rocks in combination with the engineering background. This paper combines the actual needs of construction engineering to prepare carbon-based nanomaterials, and analyzes its impact on construction engineering in combination with experiments. Moreover, this paper analyzes the influence of carbon nanotubes on the macro-mechanical properties of cement-based materials, and studies the influence of modified carbon nanotubes on the macro-mechanical properties of cement-based materials. In addition, this paper explores the micromechanical properties of carbon nanotube cement materials at the nanometer scale. The research results verify the effectiveness of carbon-based nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost engineering capabilities are becoming increasingly important for the competitiveness of industrial firms, especially for engineer to order products (ETOPs). Despite this relevance, the literature on the use of advanced data-driven methodologies, such as machine learning (ML), for early cost estimation (CE) of ETOPs is quite sparse. Furthermore, ML has still seen little use in real industrial applications due to several challenges. Accordingly, the objective of this paper is threefold: (a) to develop a solid early CE approach for ETOPs, including feature selection; (b) to investigate the benefits of adopting ML for ETOPs' CE; (c) to identify how ML can be introduced into real industrial context with little knowledge on ML. Long action research has been carried out with a large industrial company that produces Oil & Gas ETOPs. We observed how ML facilitates the exploration of the relationships between the choices of early design stages and the CE. ML algorithms also allowed to both capture the high variability of the data and test different combinations of cost drivers in very effective ways. The project resulted in an accurate CE framework with an iterative feature selection process and an approach for introducing ML into a real industrial context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the collection of papers presented at the Second International Conference on Microchannels and Minichannels, held in Rochester, New York, June 17-19, 2004. The conference was hosted under the joint sponsorship of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Rochester Institute of Technology. The first paper by highlights the research needs and application of advanced instrumentation, such as differential pressure measurements, current distribution and neutron radiography, in studying the water distribution in minichannel passages in PEM fuel cells.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses a case study on engineering skills by Leo Van Biesen and colleagues, concept of reality in education by a group of authors from Australia, and a new concept for higher education in Finland by Markku Markkula and Pia Lappalainen.

During the swivel construction of a large-tonnage cable-stayed bridge, a single spherical hinge is susceptible to be damaged from excessive force. Consequently, this paper suggests a multi-point support swivel method of gear rails. The paper introduces a multi-point support swivel system of large-tonnage gear-tooth-rail, along with the swivel construction and monitoring technology. Models of the spherical hinge are established. Results indicate that the force applied to the spherical hinge is reasonable, exhibiting a gradual increase in contact stress from the center to the outer edges. The distribution of Mises stress differs from the distribution of contact stress. The force applied by the driving device is reasonable, ensuring the safety and feasibility of the proposed approach. The findings have guiding significance for future engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nearly 60 years of research on exoskeleton design, manufacturing, testing, and application, few researchers study what goes into the process of designing these devices that augment human performance. Exoskeleton evaluation and selection, however, remains under--researched and ultimately unclear given the large number of decision criteria with possible interdependencies. In this paper, an analytic network process (ANP) model was structured and used due to its ability to consider multi-levels of interdependencies between decision criteria while encapsulating the advantages of expert opinion. A panel of experts categorized 55 engineering design metrics into five categories. Discussion sessions were conducted to identify the metrics' interdependencies yielding an unweighted, weighted, and limit priority super-matrix from the ANP model. The results of the ANP model provide an analysis of how interdependencies affect the importance of design metrics in exoskeleton design. The results of the proposed model were compared to a previous study where a panel of 40 experts individually ranked the importance of engineering design metrics without considering interdependencies. The use of the ANP can provide a stronger, more holistic approach to the inherently multi-criteria decision-making involved in exoskeleton design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical engineering knowledge (EEK), a specific technical know-how about solving engineering problems, is frequently accumulated and reused in this era of mass innovation and knowledge-driven economy. Since EEK is abidingly evolving because of the intense business competitions, continual technical renovations and wide industrial concern, it’s a new challenge both in theories and applications of knowledge management to analyse EEK evolution and its motivations. This paper proposes a novel approach to tackle this non-trivial issue. Based on the constructed domain hierarchy and EEK networks, EEK clusters are grouped and represented with populations, latent topics and distributions. Then four kinds of evolutional patterns are defined and recognised from the EEK clusters in neighbouring time intervals. The evolutional motivations of these patterns are discovered from the important evolutional events, with the proposed abductive reasoning algorithm. This paper also integrates all techniques, and implements a knowledge management system EEK-KEAS in computer-aided design (CAD), a typical engineering field. Experimental result shows that EEK-KEAS operations well in revealing the evolutional motivations of CAD EEKs, and outperforms the former approaches in feasibility and effectiveness, thereby opening up a novel way for further understanding the evolution of EEK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the relationship between conceptual engineering and the methodology of the Lvov-Warsaw School. While conceptual engineering is commonly seen as rooted in Rudolf Carnap's works and his method of explication, this paper argues that LWS predates and informs contemporary understanding of this methodology. The paper establishes that LWS not only engaged in but also systematically developed a method of conceptual revision aimed at enhancing clarity, precision, and coherence with specific theoretical frameworks. The analysis shows that LWS's approach to concepts combined both descriptive and normative methodologies to improve and adapt philosophical concepts to better address actual phenomena and certain theoretical or practical needs. This method, described by LWS members as ‘analysis and construction’, parallels contemporary conceptual engineering practices, particularly its so-called ‘narrow’ understanding focused on revising existing concepts rather than on merely introducing new ones. By tracing the historical trajectory of conceptual engineering back to LWS, this paper provides a deeper understanding of its foundational strategies and suggesting that LWS's methodology could serve as a guide for current and future philosophical projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to use limited investigation data to analyse the failure of roof engineering is a challenging problem. In this paper, a novel risk analysis method for the mechanical structure of a roof is proposed. Firstly, the Copula theory is presented and the construction method of multidimensional Gaussian Copula parameters is given. Secondly, a Copula method of the mechanical characteristics and instability risk of roof structure with E, ν, c and φ as uncertain variables is proposed. Thirdly, based on the investigation data of 192 roof groups in China, the influence of Copula mechanical parameters on the failure probability of the roof structure is analysed and discussed. This new evaluation methodology can use various Copula functions to simulate the positive and negative correlation structures, which provides an effective way to clarify the mechanical characteristics and instability risk of roof structure using limited investigation data. The results show that the mechanical failure of the roof structure is mainly at the bottom. As the correlation of mechanical parameters increases, the failure probability of the mechanical structure decreases significantly. In the simulation of positive and negative correlation parameters, Gaussian Copula and No.16 Copula, respectively, make the roof have the smallest failure probability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIt is known that skilled immigrants learn to integrate professionally. This paper complexifies this image. By following the experiences of ‘successful’ immigrants working in the engineering profession in Canada, it argues that immigrants engage in not only learning but also knowledge ‘transfer’. Their learning at work often starts as legitimate peripheral participation, and evolves through expansive participation in work activities. Meanwhile, they also ‘transfer’ knowledge and practices, a role that could be amplified given their transnational experiences. Immigrants’ learning and knowledge practices can also be understood as a sociomaterial process of translation, through which they knot together people and objects, while negotating power, position, and positionality at the same time. Through continuous learning and knowledge practices, the paper further highlights that immigrant engineers necessarily articulate themselves into, and to some extent, reticulate the epistemic ‘machineries’ or ‘culture’ of the profession, which is constituted through a nexus of professional associations, societies, institutions, and practice communities that are bounded by professional domains and interests, and lifeworld exigencies. Conceptually, this paper draws on practice-based theories and views continuous learning and knowing as an effect of the sociocultural and sociomaterial organization of professional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits Wittgenstein’s heavily criticized claims about the admissibility of inconsistencies in mathematics. It argues from the perspective of mathematics as a tool and combines material from the history and practice of engineering that makes Wittgenstein’s claims about contradiction and inconsistency look much more plausible. Against this background, the paper interprets passages from Wittgenstein, including his exchange with Alan Turing where he highlights that basic laws of thought are at issue and that reflecting on them would be “the most important thing” he has talked about. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever-increasing demand for more complex products and services has led to an increased need for engineering teams. Despite this increase, available literature on engineering team performance factors is limited, and the trend in this research field is not clear. This Systematic Literature Review (SLR) aims at identifying research trends and gaps in engineering team performance. Three reputable research platforms were used. The SLR found that the most studied engineering team performance factor is the impact of skillset or knowledge of individual team members. The paper gives engineering managers insight into team management decision making and identifies several opportunities for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millions of full-text articles are downloaded per month using pirate websites. The purpose of this study was to survey professors and academic librarians on their knowledge, usage and teaching of pirate websites to students. A 21-question survey with adapted Likert scale and free text questions was sent to six academic librarian listservs and primary corresponding authors of top ten evolutionary and bioinformatics and computational biology journals since 2019 from Google Scholar rankings. Academic librarians (48%) and professors (60.5%) are not actively teaching about pirate websites. What is taught is how to ethically and legally access full-text articles, not the existence of pirate websites and how to use them. Concerns about espionage, viruses, and malware for affiliated institutions are concerns for professors and librarians. Sci-Hub continues to be the most known of pirate websites. Librarians and professors are satisfied with the selection of journal title offerings from their affiliated institutions, but desire additional resources for their research. Ease of use continues to be a reason why pirate websites are used, and cost in accessing full-text articles continues to be a concern for librarians and professors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) is continually striving to use resources efficiently and manage complex processes. Now more than ever, there is a strong need for digital transformation in AEC. The improvement in the accessibility of consumer-based head-mounted displays (HMD) is attracting different entertainment and research fields to immersive virtual reality (VR) applications. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is known as a promising technology in AEC. The full potential of BIM is not yet employed to empower this field, however, and this could be a result of some barriers still to be surmounted by BIM in both technological and management perspectives. One of these barriers is the communication and collaboration between design, construction, operation, and maintenance phases. VR can fill this gap by providing additional capabilities for BIM which either were not available before or were not possible to employ in practical ways. In this paper, we systematically review recent research around the application of VR in BIM and discuss the results using the PRISMA flowchart. We discuss the most commonly used technologies, software, and evaluation methods and the various applications of VR in the reviewed papers. Finally, we extend the discussion by summarizing the potential future work in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials science and engineering is one of the hot research topics in the world, which is changing the way we live daily. As a result of this, the 2nd Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering was held on November 20-22, 2013. During this event, more than 200 attendees discussed the frontiers of materials science and engineering. This editorial highlights some of these papers that present the new frontiers of materials science research in 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the ethical and professional responsibilities of engineering Graduate Students (GSs) and Faculty Members (FMs) in relation to Graduate Recruitment Offers (GROs). The authors developed an academic survey for data collection and subsequently evaluated the collected data based on common ethical theories and principles, as well as relevant professional codes of conduct. Based on the survey responses, this study identified the most common driving and preventive reasons for FMs and GSs not to honor a signed GRO. Further, the perception of GSs and FMs in relation to GROs was investigated using statistical methods. Finally, the authors provided an educational framework in the form of a checklist aimed at promoting ethical and professional decision-making as related to GROs. Ultimately, the outcomes of this research can be incorporated into senior seminar courses to enhance engineering undergraduate students' ethical education and promote their ethical thinking as they grow into professional roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the winner of the second annual award for Best Reliability Paper for July 2012-June 2013 sponsored by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Reliability Division and includes information on the $1000 annual award for the best reliability-focused paper for July 2013-June 2014.

We describe and evaluate an approach to student learning that aims to instil a culture of formative assessment based on peer-assisted learning. The idea is for suitably qualified undergraduates to assist in the running of weekly first-year tutorials. They mark submitted work, provide written and verbal feedback and lead problem-solving discussions during tutorials. However, contrary to normal practice, the marks they award do not contribute to the students' end-of-year total; all tutorial work becomes essentially voluntary. We report results from a pilot implementation of the scheme over a 12 month period in an engineering department at a leading academic institution. The scheme was such that a comparative and triangulated assessment was possible among the students and tutor team. Results show no discernible degradation in student attendance, submission rates and performance in either the weekly exercises or end-of-year examinations. Important benefits to the peer tutors are also found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education in solving real-world problems is challenging. To tackle this challenge, a project-based learning approach that integrates robots with cost-effective self-made toys to problem-solving was adopted to assist rural primary school students to apply STEM skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the project-based learning approach which includes lecturing and hands-on activities on primary school students' STEM learning outcomes and attitudes. An experiment was conducted with 25 primary school students who voluntarily participated in a STEM summer-camp programme. Students were asked to assemble a paper house equipped with an IoT control module and LED light switches, and write and edit robot scripts to produce a robot-based storytelling narrative using the paper house they made as a context. The results show that the project-based learning approach was an effective approach for cultivating primary school students' STEM knowledge and skills as evidenced from the post-written test. The relationships between the students' STEM learning outcomes and attitudes were also confirmed by a clustering analysis. Students who had higher learning attitudes also achieved higher STEM learning outcomes; the findings are also supported by the feedback from the open-ended questionnaire items. This study suggests that integrating low-cost self-made toys and robots in project-based learning activities is an effective and practical approach to enhance primary school students' learning outcomes and learning attitudes in STEM education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architectural education shares much in common with engineering, including the use of a culminating capstone experience in the final year. The form of this experience varies, with the research-based thesis and final-year project being most common. This paper explores the literature on traditions of enquiry and the meaning of research in various fields and the evolution of the 'thesis' and 'final year project' approaches over time. It then briefly summarises empirical research conducted on a case study institution struggling to bridge gaps in understandings of these distinct forms of learning and teaching. Throughout, the paper presents a comprehensive set of diagrams to explain various paradigms and positions on research and design education. These diagrams depict processes used in architecture, engineering, and natural sciences to conduct research and generate designs. A new model is proffered to help unify competing conceptions of the final year project and thesis, for the case study institution and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the manufacturing sector, welding has long been a popular method of combining materials. Hence, there has been a lot of research in this area, leading to evolution of conventional welding techniques. These developments widened its feasibility enabling the process to be functional in diverse crucial applications. A detailed review of various research efforts carried out in the field of welding provides an ideal repository which can effectively help identify various research gaps. This paper intends to throw light on the following aspects of welding: a detailed description of different fabrication methods involved in fusion and solid-state welding processes, weld performance evaluation on the basis of mechanical properties, microstructure, corrosion, wear and fatigue behaviour followed by a brief summary of various applications. The mechanical properties and microstructures of various commercially viable alloys like steel, DSS, Ti-6Al-4 V, Al- Mg alloy, AZ31, AA6061, Al-Zn-Mg-Cu and Ni-base super alloys have been discussed in detail. Various mechanisms which influenced the changes in microstructure and resulting mechanical behaviours have been discussed. The inferences obtained as a result of microstructural, mechanical, corrosion and wear property analysis have been correlated to understand major areas of application. The extensive data compiled in this study aims to give readers valuable insights and inferences on a vast topic, which promises great scope for development in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two purposes of this paper. The first, and primary, purpose is to examine the association between the Country of nationality, the Discipline, and Time period of Nobel Prize laureates in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related disciplines. This is done by performing a multi-way correspondence analysis (MWCA). The second purpose is to provide a technical, bibliographic and practical overview of MWCA. Our investigation of the variables shows that there is a statistically significant three-way association between them, as well as between only one pair of the variables: Country and Time period. The row-tube biplot provides a visual description of this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technology and service modes of logistics industry are changing greatly in smart economy, and innovation is becoming new development engine, which promotes the urgent transformation requirement of teaching system of logistics engineering majors in universities. Based on the data from logistics engineering majors in Chinese universities in 2021, a relevant study on the undergraduate logistics engineering major is carried out. Along with 'ability-motivation-opportunity' (AMO) theory, this paper analyses the influence of ability, motivation and opportunity on the transformation. The current situation of teaching system, the existing problems and the improvement measures are investigated. Based on the above analysis, this paper puts forward the relevant suggestions to promote the cultivation of innovative talents, mainly including planning and designing the training programme system for logistics engineering major, placing more emphasis on logistics practice courses, promoting undergraduate students' participation in various logistics contests, and increasing the level of teaching investment and guarantee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common charge against utopianism is that any attempt to create blueprints for a better future disregards a basic fact: humans' proclivity for failure. In response, defenders of social dreaming have argued that failure can become generative, once we abandon the perfectionism that ostensibly inheres in utopian visions. Building on this revaluation, the paper applies a crucial lesson from engineering and design studies—that often artificial failure modes are required to enhance the safety of tools and machines. To flesh out this point, I turn to utopian fiction and discuss Kim Stanley Robinson's Science in the Capital-trilogy, which rejects techno-optimism about our climate-changed world, yet hails the transformative potential of an anti-capitalist scientific community. Ultimately, the paper claims that, if we cannot have success in addressing the climate emergency without committing serious mistakes, then one (but clearly not the only) path forward is to imaginatively prefigure the faultlines along which ecomodernist dreams for a "good Anthropocene" might rupture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) have gained attention in the aerospace industry in the past years, as post-pandemic context shows drastic production capacity changes and new environmental regulations to which it must adapt quicker than before to maintain competitiveness. Nevertheless, current RMS design methods have not thoroughly considered this industry specificities, nor industrial resources requirements in the current concurrent design practice. These limitations have been identified in several recent research works. Ontology-based Engineering (OBE) systems can stand overly complex collaborative design processes involving multidisciplinary stakeholders and various digital tools, integrating different levels of decision. Models for Manufacturing (MfM) is an OBE methodology aiming to enable industrial design and decision-making in manufacturing by preserving the company knowledge in ontology models, usable as knowledge base to generate and integrate the aircraft and manufacturing systems design. This paper presents an MfM application for RMS design in aerospace, introducing innovative design concepts that allow implementing RMS in a collaborative engineering process of an aerospace product. An implementation is shown designing the RMS of a model aircraft family to illustrate the concepts introduced and considerations are given to transfer this knowledge base into an OBE system to support complex real-life applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic, cultural, social, and political life is being increasingly shaped by digital platforms including social networking sites (Facebook), streaming services (Netflix) and sharing platforms (AirBnB). While social scientists have tracked the rapid emergence of platforms and developed useful conceptualisations about what they are and how they operate, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the nature of platform competition or the experiences of users. To address these gaps, this paper focuses on the illustrative case of recorded music, where platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music, face intense competition due to similarities in price and content. Drawing on 42 semi-structured interviews, 20 app 'walk-alongs' with Spotify users and an analysis of 120 documents (industry reports, trade magazines, press releases and news articles), it demonstrates how the basis of competition has shifted from content, price and curation to the engineering of compelling experiences that harness the unique and interconnected affordances of platformisation. The paper nuances our understanding of the dynamic and contingent nature of platforms, the processes of datafication and curation underpinning their interventions in markets and everyday life, the geographies of these virtual distribution and consumption channels, and the ways in which users imagine, value, and experience music streaming platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is very important to predict the reaction of customers to future products. Sample pictures and line sketches are commonly used for discovering consumers' demands. However, these two agents are difficult to express the real product form clearly and comprehensively, which may affect the accuracy of consumer affection prediction. In this paper, a method based on Kansei engineering via virtual reality (VR) has been proposed to construct a mapping relationship between form elements and consumer affection from four dimensions of the overall, unit, interrelation, and detail (OUID), so as to provide references for product form design. The correlation between product form elements and the perceptual image was studied with multiple linear regression analysis and partial correlation analysis. The different effects of VR, sketches, and pictures on user affection prediction were compared in this paper as well. A hairdryer has been employed as an example to illustrate the proposed method. The results show that compared with sketch and picture, VR based-prediction model is more accurate and reliable in predicting users' emotional preferences. In addition to the unit form, the overall features, interrelation, and details are also the key factors affecting consumer preference. Highlight Based on Kansei Engineering, this paper investigated the correlation between the form elements of the product and the user's affection via VR. The proposed approach can help designers to quickly and accurately capture the user's perceptual image and transform it into design elements. The different effects of VR, sketches, and pictures on customer affection prediction were compared. A decomposition model is proposed to analyse the product form elements on four dimensions (overall features, unit form, interrelation, and details). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A call for papers focused on reliability to be published in "Quality Engineering" journal, is presented.

This article reflects on six selected papers from the 11th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering held in Beijing in July 2004 that are included in the issue. The papers discuss the challenges in concurrent engineering throughout a product life cycle. The paper by Bandera et al. discusses a successful application of the cooperative working methodology to investment casting. The paper from Slimani et al. talks about conflict management within the collaborative design process. Management of concurrent engineering related risks is discussed in the paper by Savci and Kayis.

The first issue of Ozone: Science & Engineering (OS&E)was published in early 1979 with Dr L. J. Bollyky as theEditor-in-Chief. This was a milestone for the International Ozone Association, enabling professional recognition of the advances in ozone technology. Since this first issue, 45 volumes of Ozone: Science & Engineering have been published containing 238 individual issues, 1719 technical articles and nearly 22,000 pages. Dr Rip Rice became Editor-in-Chief in 1985 and continued this position until 1998. Barry Loeb was the editor until 2024. Under the leadership of these gentlemen, OS&E expanded from about 70 pages per issue four times per year to 100 pages, then to six issues per year, at about 100 pages. In 2001, the dimensions of the journal were increased to accommodate even more manuscripts. In 1989, the Harvey M. Rosen Memorial Award was established to recognize the "best paper" published in Ozone: Science & Engineering during the two-year period between World Congresses. The selection of this award is determined by the Editorial Board of Ozone: Science & Engineering. To date, 19 papers have received this prestigious award. OS&E has followed and reported the development of ozone technologies via peer reviewed articles from ozone researchers, manufacturers and consultants. This paper reviews the development of ozone technologies as reported by OS&E and summarizes how the technologies have evolved to meet environmental and other needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the authors' insights regarding the First Stu Hunter Research Conference and the papers presented at the event that contributes to the mission of quality engineering, which were published in the January 2014 issue of the journal "Quality Engineering."