Search Results (48)

Innovations in additive manufacturing (AM) methods represent a significant advancement in manufacturing technology, opening new avenues for creating objects in various shapes and sizes. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is a specialized AM technique in which computers build layers upon each other to form a complete 3D object. The feasibility of producing metal parts using these methods has been thoroughly analyzed, but the design process has yet to catch up with manufacturing capabilities. Biodegradable aliphatic polyester PLA is derived from lactic acid. To enhance its strength, PLA is combined with metal particles, resulting in versatile property improvements and applications. While the aesthetic and functional qualities of PLA–metal composite filaments are intriguing, they also present difficulties related to extrusion, equipment wear, and maintaining consistent print quality. These challenges could be mitigated, to some extent, with careful tuning and specialized hardware. However, the inferior mechanical properties of bioresorbable PLA filaments highlight the need for the development of infilled PLA filaments to improve strength and other characteristics. This review discusses the 3D printing of PLA infilled with metal particles, various materials used, and their properties as a matter of interest in AM technology. Additionally, the applications of PLA–metal composites, along with their implications, limitations, and prospects, are comprehensively examined in this article. This sets the stage for the development of high-strength, sustainable materials for use in a range of engineering and technology fields. Full article

This paper presents an innovative approach to teaching mechatronics at the bachelor’s level, using the design and construction of an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) as a comprehensive example of a mechatronic system. The course, titled Laboratory of Electronic Systems, is part of a newly established professionalizing bachelor’s degree program at the University of Pisa, focused on techniques for mechanics and production. This program was developed to meet industry demands for technically skilled personnel with an engineering-related background but without the need for a full traditional engineering education. The course is designed to provide students with hands-on experience, integrating fundamental concepts from mechanical, electronic, and control engineering, along with software development. The curriculum emphasizes practical applications rather than theoretical depth, aligning with the program’s goal of preparing students for operational roles in industrial settings. We present the course structure, educational objectives, and the interdisciplinary nature of mechatronics as addressed in this teaching approach. A dedicated section outlines the critical steps involved in the AGV prototype development, highlighting practical challenges and learning opportunities. The effectiveness of the course is assessed through the evaluation of student projects, specifically via a technical report and a final discussion on the design of a mechatronic system. The results demonstrate the value of a project-based learning approach in equipping students with the practical skills and knowledge required for careers in mechatronics and industrial automation. Full article

This paper presents a redesign of the MAE 372 Aerospace Structures Laboratory at North Carolina State University (NCSU), incorporating both traditional laboratory demonstrations and an integrated student project to enhance hands-on learning. The redesign aligns with Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)’s emphasis on engineering education that bridges theoretical learning and practical, real-world experiences. In the redesigned laboratory, students participate in four laboratory demonstrations focused on fundamental structural concepts, followed by a student-led project in which they design and test stiffened panels. A new feature of this redesign is the use of a portable test apparatus for three of the laboratories, streamlining the laboratory setup and reducing costs, providing comparable accuracy between experimental results and theory. The paper outlines the structure of the course, the methodology for redesigning the laboratories, and the educational benefits of the new approach. Cost analyses of equipment and materials are also included, making this paper a valuable resource for educators aiming to implement similar lab redesigns. Full article

The purpose of this research is to examine the benefits and limitations of the implementation of novel digital academic advising systems based on the principles of authentic outcome-based education (OBE) using automated collection and reporting processes for Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) student outcomes data for effective developmental advising. We examine digital developmental advising models of undergraduate engineering programs in two universities that employ customized features of the web-based software EvalTools^® 6.0, including an advising module based on assessment methodology incorporating the faculty course assessment report, performance indicators, and hybrid rubrics classified according to the affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains of Bloom’s learning model. A case study approach over a six-year period is adopted for this research. The two case studies present results of samples of developmental advising activity employing sequential explanatory mixed methods models using a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses of (a) detailed students’ outcomes and performance indicator information and (b) self-evaluation of their professional development and lifelong learning skills. The findings of this study show that digital advising systems employing the faculty course assessment report using performance indicators and hybrid rubrics can provide comprehensive and realistic outcome data to help both developmental advisors and students easily identify the specific cause of performance failures, implement practical recommendations for remedial actions, and track improvements. Inherent strong skills can also be identified in academically weak students by observing patterns or trends of relatively better-performing outcomes to reinforce their natural affinity for learning specialized competencies to help them pursue related and successful career paths. Full article

The anthropogenically induced ecological resource exploitation surpasses the Earth’s regenerative capacity and has resulted in ecological bankruptcy. Conceding that, the United Nations mandates environmental restoration by 2030. Against this backdrop, this study seeks to orchestrate a hybrid framework by modulating the Quintuple Helix Model into an Anthropomorphized Stochastic Quintuple Helix Model (ASQHM). This model introduces human behavior and allows for hypothesis testing. ASQHM stipulates that the propensity of espoused eco-innovation aimed at environmental restoration is contingent upon five composite helices: human capital, democracy, Industry 5.0, media, and pro-environmental human behavior. In addition, financial development has been deemed imperative to facilitate these variables, which were considered stakeholders in this study. To fill gaps in the literature, three variables, namely democracy, Industry 5.0, and pro-environmental human behavior (PEHB), are formed through principal component analysis. This panel data study employs the Generalized Methods of Moments model to compute the ASQHM for developed and less developed countries from 1995 to 2022. The results imply that the first helix (human capital) levitates environmental restoration in developed countries (DCs) but yields the opposite in less developed countries (LDCs). Democracy, Industry 5.0, and information and communication technology helices demonstrate a solicited negative relationship with ecological footprints in both panels, thus supplementing environmental restoration. The fifth helix, PEHB, escalates ecological footprints in DCs; however, it abets environmental restoration in LDCs. The postulated ASQHM “partially” works in DCs and LDCs, rejecting its hypothesized role in the former group while confirming it in the latter group. Astonishingly, DCs fall short of the requisite PEHB (fifth helix), and LDCs do not have the at-par human capital (first helix) to reduce ecological footprints, catalyze eco-innovation, and partake in the environmental restoration process. Despite slight discrepancies in both panels, these findings validate the effectiveness of this hybrid ASQHM as a decisive determinant of environmental restoration. Based on the findings, this study also suggests practical policies. Full article

Some species of the genus Passiflora have leaf morphological adaptations that grow to influence the development of the plant in producing areas. Hence, the objective of this work is to quantify and characterize the leaf anatomy of passion fruit species distributed in the South American region, which can become an important strategy in the selection of species more adapted to the environment where they will be grown. This work evaluates the abaxial and adaxial cuticle thickness (ABCT and ADCT), abaxial and adaxial epidermis thickness (ABET and ADET), xylem diameter (XD), phloem diameter (PD), and thickness of the palisade parenchyma (TPP), of the species Passiflora quadrangularis L., Passiflora foetida L., Passiflora edulis Sims, Passiflora gibertii N.E Brown, Passiflora coccinea Aubl, Passiflora alata Curtis, Passiflora tenuifila Killip, Passiflora caerulea L., and Passiflora cincinnata Mast. Passion fruit species present differences in leaf anatomy, which may influence the plant’s development. The species Passiflora quadrangularis L. showed a greater thickness of cuticles, epidermis, conducting vessels, and palisade parenchyma. The species Passiflora edulis has higher density and stomatal functionality. All Passiflora species formed druses on their leaves. Full article

This paper presents a narrative review of the current practices in assessing learners’ cognitive abilities and the limitations of traditional intelligence tests in capturing a comprehensive understanding of a child’s learning potential. Referencing prior research, it explores the concept of dynamic assessment (DA) as a promising yet underutilised alternative that focuses on a child’s responsiveness to learning opportunities. The paper highlights the potential of novel technologies, in particular tangible user interfaces (TUIs), in integrating computational science with DA to improve the access and accuracy of assessment results, especially for children with communication support needs (CSN), as a catalyst for abetting critical communicative competencies. However, existing research in this area has mainly focused on the automated mediation of DA, neglecting the human element that is crucial for effective solutions in special education. A framework is proposed to address these issues, combining pedagogical and sociocultural elements alongside adaptive information technology solutions in an assessment system informed by user-centred design principles to fully support teachers/facilitators and learners with CSN within the special education ecosystem. Full article

Mesoporous materials containing heteroelements have a huge potential for use as catalysts, exchangers, and adsorbents due to their tunable nanometer-sized pores and exceptionally large internal surfaces accessible to bulky organic molecules. In the present work, ordered mesoporous silica containing Ni atoms as active sites was synthesized by a new low-temperature method of condensation of silica precursors on a micellar template from aqueous solutions in the presence of nickel salt. The homogeneity of the resulting product was achieved by introducing ammonia and ammonium salt as a buffer to maintain a constant pH value. The obtained materials were characterized by nitrogen sorption, X-ray and neutron diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. Their morphology consists of polydisperse spherical particles 50–300 nm in size, with a hexagonally ordered channel structure, high specific surface area (A_BET = 900–1200 m²/g), large pore volume (V_p = 0.70–0.90 cm³/g), average mesopore diameter of about 3 nm, and narrow pore size distribution. Adsorption tests for methylene blue show sorption capacities reaching 39–42 mg/g at alkaline pH. The advantages of producing nickel silicates by this method, in contrast to precipitation from silicon alkoxides, are the low cost of reagents, fire safety, room-temperature processing, and the absence of specific problems associated with the use of ethanol as a solvent, as well as the absence of the inevitable capture of organic matter in the precipitation process. Full article

The link prediction problem is a time-evolving model in network science that has simultaneously abetted myriad applications and experienced extensive methodological improvement. Inferring the possibility of emerging links in dynamic social networks, also known as the dynamic link prediction task, is complex and challenging. In contrast to the link prediction in cross-sectional networks, dynamic link prediction methods need to cater to the actor-level temporal changes and associated evolutionary information regarding their micro- (i.e., link formation/deletion) and mesoscale (i.e., community formation) network structure. With the advent of abundant community detection algorithms, the research community has examined community-aware link prediction strategies in static networks. However, the same task in dynamic networks where, apart from the actors and links among them, their community pattern is also dynamic, is yet to be explored. Evolutionary community-aware information, including the associated link structure and temporal neighborhood changes, can effectively be mined to build dynamic similarity metrics for dynamic link prediction. This study aims to develop and integrate such dynamic features with machine learning algorithms for link prediction tasks in dynamic social networks. It also compares the performances of these features against well-known similarity metrics (i.e., ResourceAllocation) for static networks and a time series-based link prediction strategy in dynamic networks. These proposed features achieved high-performance scores, representing them as prospective candidates for both dynamic link prediction tasks and modeling the network growth. Full article

Sarcopenia is an age-related clinical complaint characterized by the progressive deterioration of skeletal muscle mass and strength over time. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with faster and more relevant skeletal muscle impairment. Both conditions influence each other, leading to negative consequences on glycemic control, cardiovascular risk, general health status, risk of falls, frailty, overall quality of life, and mortality. PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched for research articles, scientific reports, observational studies, clinical trials, narrative and systematic reviews, and meta-analyses to review the evidence on the pathophysiology of di-abetes-induced sarcopenia, its relevance in terms of glucose control and diabetes-related outcomes, and diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. The review comprehensively addresses key elements for the clinical definition and diagnostic criteria of sarcopenia, the pathophysiological correlation be-tween T2D, sarcopenia, and related outcomes, a critical review of the role of antihyperglycemic treatment on skeletal muscle health, and perspectives on the role of specific treatment targeting myokine signaling pathways involved in glucose control and the regulation of skeletal muscle metabolism and trophism. Prompt diagnosis and adequate management, including lifestyle inter-vention, health diet programs, micronutrient supplementation, physical exercise, and pharmaco-logical treatment, are needed to prevent or delay skeletal muscle deterioration in T2D. Full article

In this study, a starch cryoaerogel formulation was developed as a carrier for poorly water-soluble drugs, like atorvastatin. Cryoaerogels were generated through a sol–gel method combined with a freeze-drying technique, and atorvastatin was incorporated into the obtained mesoporous systems during the solvent exchange stage. The formulated drug-loaded polymer structures were characterized in terms of their physicochemical properties, solid-state behavior, and cytotoxicity. They had a pore size of 27.56 nm and a drug loading size of 38.60%. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses indicated that atorvastatin was successfully incorporated into the cryoaerogel pores. The amorphous nature of the loaded drug was confirmed via X-ray diffraction (XRD). Furthermore, after the atorvastatin incorporation into the cryogel, the volume of nitrogen adsorbed on one gram of cryoaerogel (Vm), as well as the specific surface area (aBET) were reduced. The comparison between the drug release profiles of crystalline atorvastatin and the loaded formulation of atorvastatin showed that by including the drug into the pores of the developed cryoaerogel matrix its solubility was significantly improved—the time for the dissolution of 30% pure atorvastatin (t_30%) was approximately 4 h, whereas the determined t_30% for the formulated cryoaerogels was only 1 h. Moreover, the data from the MTT assay illustrated that the designed cryoaerogel could be used as a safe oral atorvastatin delivery system. According to obtained results, it could be concluded that the starch cryoaerogel formulation is a promising candidate for oral delivery of poorly water-soluble therapeutic agents. Full article

With the rapid advances in Information Technology (IT), the focus on engaging computing students to gain practical experience in the IT industry before graduation is becoming increasingly complex without incorporating pedagogical strategies of success in curricula. The goal is to enable computing major students to gain in-depth knowledge and practical understanding of the IT working environment before graduating through essential industry-driven practical skills based on international standards and best practices. Unfortunately, tracking and analyzing students’ practical skills performance during their IT field training programs, which are conducted primarily off-campus at various public and private organizations, before, during, and after the training period, is a daunting task for both the college instructors and the industry trainers. To overcome these challenges, this paper introduces a Sustainable University Field Training (SUNFIT) framework, which is a pedagogical approach towards mining the educational data using machine learning to integrate and measure the field training programs against the internationally recognized accreditation standards such as Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The study employs machine learning models aimed at continuously measuring and monitoring international ABET accreditation requirements on computing major courses’ academic data, elucidating student performance across various semesters, integrating best practices, and producing an evidence-based rationale approach for evaluating weak learning outcomes (LOs) with minimal manual intervention, as well as preventing faculty-specific portfolio errors. The proposed approach could be easily developed by academics, researchers, or even students, and for a variety of purposes, including enhancing poor student outcomes (SOs). In addition, various data mining and machine learning approaches have been investigated over field training assessment data for successful prediction in subsequent cycles. The results are promising, with Naïve Bayes obtaining the highest accuracy of 90.54% followed by J48 and PART algorithms at 87.83%. Full article

Teaching sustainability and ethics to engineering students is a challenging but necessary task that has been increasingly investigated during the last few years. In this research, a systematic method to identify the level of awareness in students about sustainability and ethics is developed. Here, it is applied to students studying the Civil Engineering bachelor’s degree at the School of Civil Engineering of Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), though this method is potentially applicable to equivalent ABET and EUR-ACE accredited bachelor’s degrees. A survey was performed, and data was analyzed using Analytical hierarchical process technique; this technique determines the relative importance of each criterion, as well as the consistency of the emitted judgements, in an objective manner. These results allowed to discover that students do not have a robust opinion related to sustainability and ethics, except those students with previous experience in the construction sector. Environmental and social dimensions of sustainability and ethics were identified as the main focuses to emphasize in the civil engineering curriculum. Finally, actions to boot these principles are also proposed; potential courses where sustainability and ethics concepts could be explicitly included were selected and the inclusion of an environmental budget in the bachelor thesis was recommended, among others suggestions. Full article

Blockchain has become an integral part of various IoT applications, and it has been successful in boosting performance in various aspects. Applying blockchain as a trust solution for Internet-of-Things is a viable approach. The immutability of blockchain is essential to prevent anyone from manipulating registered IoT data transactions for illegitimate benefits. However, the increasing abuse of blockchain storage negatively impacts the development of IoT blockchain and potential stakeholders are discouraged from joining the IoT data sharing as the IoT data recorded on the blockchain contains private information. Hence, it is crucial to find ways to redact data stored on the IoT blockchain, which is also supported by relevant laws and regulations. Policy-based chameleon hash is useful primitive for blockchain rewriting, allowing the modifier to rewrite the transaction if they possess enough rewriting privileges that satisfy the access policy. However, this approach lacks traceability, which can be exploited by malicious modifiers to grant unauthorized user modification privileges for personal gain. To overcome this deficiency, we introduce a new design of policy-based chameleon hash with black-box traceability (PCHT), which enables the authority to identify the set of producers responsible for generating the pirate decoder. Specifically, PCHT is constructed by practical attribute-based encryption with black-box traceability (ABET) and collision-resistant chameleon hash with ephemeral trapdoor (CHET). After modeling PCHT, we present its concrete instantiation and rigorous security proofs. Finally, a PCHT-based redactable transaction scheme for IoT blockchain is given. Compared to the state-of-the-art mutable blockchain solutions, our scheme provides fine-grained blockchain rewriting and black-box traceability. The evaluation results demonstrate that our scheme is efficient and practical while still ensuring that no computational overhead is placed on IoT devices with limited computing resources. Full article

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and nitric oxide (NO) are especially known as toxic and polluting gases, yet they are also endogenously produced and play key roles in numerous biological processes. These two opposing aspects of the gases highlight the need for new types of materials to be developed in addition to the most common materials such as activated carbons and zeolites. Herein, a new imine-linked polymer organic framework was obtained using the inexpensive and easy-to-access reagents isophthalaldehyde and 2,4,6-triaminopyrimidine in good yield (64%) through the simple and catalyst-free Schiff-base reaction. The polymeric material has microporosity, an A_BET surface area of 51 m²/g, and temperature stability up to 300 °C. The obtained 2,4,6-triaminopyrimidine imine-linked polymer organic material has a higher capacity to adsorb NO (1.6 mmol/g) than H₂S (0.97 mmol/g). Release studies in aqueous solution showed that H₂S has a faster release (3 h) from the material than NO, for which a steady release was observed for at least 5 h. This result is the first evaluation of the possibility of an imine-linked polymer organic framework being used in the therapeutic release of NO or H₂S. Full article