New Jersey Institute Of Technology Research Articles

Converged learning: the spectrum of technology-mediated learning

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), a four-year polytechnic research university in the United States, utilized a participatory strategic planning process to implement an innovative approach to the delivery modes between face-to-face and online instruction. NJIT defines the spectrum of online and on-ground instruction integration as Converged Education. This spectrum allows students to participate face-to-face, join remotely through real-time video conferencing technology (synchronously), or watch classroom instruction asynchronously. The article opens with a general background of NJIT's approach to the new idea of converged instructional delivery. Then, the process of defining and clarifying the terms and conceptions of the various modes to be adopted is presented. Finally, the resulting implementation of the new policy and its reflection on course offerings is shown and discussed.

AEESP Spotlight: Mid-2023

Environmental Engineering ScienceAhead of Print AEESP Spotlight: Mid-2023Mengyan Li and David A. LadnerMengyan LiDepartment of Chemistry and Environmental Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA.†Member of AEESP.Search for more papers by this author and David A. Ladner*Corresponding author: Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Clemson University, 342 Computer Court, Anderson, SC 29625, USA. Phone: 1-864-656-5572; E-mail Address: ladner@clemson.eduhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9214-783XDepartment of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Clemson University, Anderson, South Carolina, USA.†Member of AEESP.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:24 May 2023https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2023.0127AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View article"AEESP Spotlight: Mid-2023." Environmental Engineering Science, , pp. FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 0Issue 0 InformationCopyright 2023, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishersTo cite this article:Mengyan Li and David A. Ladner.AEESP Spotlight: Mid-2023.Environmental Engineering Science.ahead of printhttp://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2023.0127Online Ahead of Print:May 24, 2023PDF download

Retraction: An Eocene army ant

Retraction: An Eocene army ant

Real-Time Sensing and Fault Diagnosis for Transmission Lines

Article Real-Time Sensing and Fault Diagnosis for Transmission Lines Fatemeh Mohammadi Shakiba 1, Milad Shojaee 1, S. Mohsen Azizi 1,2, and Mengchu Zhou 1,* 1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark 07102, NJ, USA. 2 The school of Applied Engineering and Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark 07102, NJ, USA. * Correspondence: mengchu.zhou@njit.edu Received: 12 October 2022 Accepted: 8 November 2022 Published: 22 December 2022 Abstract: Protection of high voltage transmission lines is one of the crucial problems in the power system engineering. Accurate and timely detection and identification of transmission line short circuit faults can considerably improve and simplify their recovery process and hence save the costs associated with the downtime of a power system. Hence, it is essential that a robust and reliable fault diagnosis system completes its operation within an acceptable time window after fault occurrence in the presence of uncertainties and disturbances in the system. The significant costs of mistakenly detected or undetected faults based on the conventional techniques motivate us to present a robust detection and identification system by using the convolutional neural networks. The robustness of this technique is analyzed for the variations of the phase difference between two connected buses, fault resistance, source inductance fluctuations, fault inception angle, local bus voltage fluctuations, and measurement noises. The time delay analysis is also conducted to indicate that the presented technique is able to detect, identify, and estimate the location of faults before tripping relays and circuit breakers disconnect a faulty region.

A Multidisciplinary Approach Toward Improving Bus Schedule Readability

Printed schedules are critical to mass transit mobility, perhaps no more so than to bus transit users who often embark from locations where information is not provided. For economic reasons, they also rely heavily on transit. Schedules are their lifeline. After becoming concerned with the readability of its bus schedules, New Jersey Transit (NJT) enlisted an interdisciplinary research and design team from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) to analyze, redesign, and test the agency’s bus timetables over an 18-month period beginning in 2003. The process included precedent research, community outreach, graphic design, laboratory testing, and survey methods. It began with a literature survey and review of timetables produced by other agencies. Two focus groups were convened to incorporate user viewpoints. Based on these methods and acknowledging the institutional and production constraints of the agency, two prototype timetables were designed for one of the agency’s most complex bus routes. The prototypes and the current schedule for the route were time-tested in a laboratory with 30 participants. A survey was given to the same participants. The analysis of the experimental data was partially inconclusive due to high error rates for all schedules tested. However, in the survey, a majority of participants showed preference for aspects developed in the prototypes, offering the agency important production recommendations regarding font sizes, text orientation and graphic display methods, as well as institutional directives regarding data transfer, maps, zone designations, passenger information, and telephone contacts. This article recounts this process and offers to the larger transit community the conclusions of this interdisciplinary approach, not combined in this manner before, to make bus transit more attractive and efficient.

Exploring the Context of Converged Learning: A Case Study in a Polytechnic University

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), a four-year polytechnic R01 research university in the United States utilized a participatory strategic planning process to implement an innovative approach to the modes of delivery for instruction that exist between face-to-face and online instruction. NJIT defines the spectrum of integration of online and on-ground instruction as Converged Education. This spectrum allows students to either participate face to face, join remotely through real-time video conferencing technology synchronously, or watch classroom instruction asynchronously. The article opens with a general background of NJIT's approach to the new idea of converged instructional delivery. It provides a brief history, context, and explanation of its interdisciplinary participatory strategic planning process. Then the paper describes the process of pilot testing that was conducted to determine how best to adopt the new modes of instruction across all disciplines. Next, the process for defining and clarifying the terms and conceptions of the various modes to be adopted is presented. After this, the paper discusses the impact of the shift of Web 1.0 to web 6.0 and how the different departments and sectors of NJIT worked on strategic planning together. Finally, the resulting implementation of the new policy and its reflection in course offerings is shown and discussed.

Preface

Proceeding of the 2021 International Conference on Chemical, Mechanical and Environmental Sciences ICCMES 202125th - 26th March 2021This 2021 International Conference on Chemical, Mechanical and Environmental Sciences (ICCMES) volume contains the written versions of most of the contributions presented during the conference of ICCMES 2021. Chemical, Mechanical and Environmental Sciences aims at exploring the interface between the industry and real time environment with state-of-the-art techniques. Also, high quality research contributions describing original and unpublished results of conceptual, constructive, empirical, experimental, or theoretical work in all areas of Chemical, Mechanical and Environmental Sciences are presented in this conference.ICCMES 2021 tends to collect the latest research results and applications on Chemical, Mechanical and Environmental Sciences. It includes a selection of 117 papers from 435 papers submitted to the conference from academic institutions, universities, and industries all over the world. Coordination with the Chief Patron Dr. K.P. Ramasamy, Chairman, KPR group of Institutions, Coimbatore, India, Patron Dr. A.M. Natarajan, Chief Executive Officer, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India and General Chair Dr. M. Akila, Principal, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India was essential for the success of this conference. We thanks to our Chief Guest and Keynote Speaker Dr. Paul G. Ranky, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, United States for his constant support and guidance.It was also a great pleasure to work with such an excellent organizing committee for their hard work in organizing and supporting the event. In particular, the Conveners Dr. M. G. Sumithra, Professor and Head/CFRD, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India. Co-Conveners Dr. S.Ravishankar, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India and Dr. S. Pratheep Kumar, AP(Sr.G)/Chemistry, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India. The Conference Chairs Dr. S. Ramachandran, Professor and Head/Chemical Engineering, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India, Dr. G. Anusha, Professor and Head/Civil, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India and Dr. N. Gunasekaran, Professor and Head/Mechanical, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India who have completed the peer-review process of technical papers and made a high-quality technical program.The accepted papers were subjected to strict peer-reviewing by 2-4 expert referees. The papers have been selected for this volume because of quality and the relevance to the topics. ICCMES 2021 would like to express our sincere appreciation to all authors for their contributions to this work.We would like to extend our thanks to all the referees for their constructive comments on all papers, especially, we would like to thank the organizing committee for their hard working. Finally, we would like to thank the IOP publications for producing this volume.EditorsDr. Arulmurugan Ramu, Presidency University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.Dr. M. G. Sumithra, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India.Dr. Chow Chee Onn, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.ICCMES 2021-Program Committee Members this titles are available in this pdf.

Hand Focused Upper Extremity Rehabilitation in the Subacute Phase Post-stroke Using Interactive Virtual Environments.

Introduction: Innovative motor therapies have attempted to reduce upper extremity impairment after stroke but have not made substantial improvement as over 50% of people post-stroke continue to have sensorimotor deficits affecting their self-care and participation in daily activities. Intervention studies have focused on the role of increased dosing, however recent studies have indicated that timing of rehabilitation interventions may be as important as dosing and importantly, that dosing and timing interact in mediating effectiveness. This study is designed to empirically test dosing and timing.Methods and Analysis: In this single-blinded, interventional study, subjects will be stratified on two dimensions, impairment level (Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity Assessment (FM) and presence or absence of Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs) as follows; (1) Severe, FM score 10–19, MEP+, (2) Severe, FM score 10–19, MEP–, (3) Moderate, FM score 20–49, MEP+, (4) Moderate, FM score 20–49, MEP–. Subjects not eligible for TMS will be assigned to either group 2 (if severe) or group 3 (if moderate). Stratified block randomization will then be used to achieve a balanced assignment. Early Robotic/VR Therapy (EVR) experimental group will receive in-patient usual care therapy plus an extra 10 h of intensive upper extremity therapy focusing on the hand using robotically facilitated rehabilitation interventions presented in virtual environments and initiated 5–30 days post-stroke. Delayed Robotic/VR Therapy (DVR) experimental group will receive the same intervention but initiated 30–60 days post-stroke. Dose-matched usual care group (DMUC) will receive an extra 10 h of usual care initiated 5–30 days post-stroke. Usual Care Group (UC) will receive the usual amount of physical/occupational therapy.Outcomes: There are clinical, neurophysiological, and kinematic/kinetic measures, plus measures of daily arm use and quality of life. Primary outcome is the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) measured at 4 months post-stroke.Discussion: Outcome measures will be assessed to determine whether there is an early time period in which rehabilitation will be most effective, and whether there is a difference in the recapture of premorbid patterns of movement vs. the development of an efficient, but compensatory movement strategy.Ethical Considerations: The IRBs of New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, Northeastern University, and Kessler Foundation reviewed and approved all study protocols. Study was registered in https://ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03569059) prior to recruitment. Dissemination will include submission to peer-reviewed journals and professional presentations.

Assessment à la Mode: Implementing an Adaptable Large-Scale Multivariant Online Deferred-Grade Exam for Virtual Learning

The COVID pandemic forced many higher education institutions to pivot and switch to an online learning environment with minimal preparation. This transition was put in place during the middle of the spring semester, in March. During this transition, instructors had to quickly learn the tools of online teaching, navigate platforms like Webex and Zoom, and adapt their lectures to an online format. One of the biggest challenges during this transition was to administer common online exams to high enrollment undergraduate classes, such as general chemistry and organic chemistry, without compromising the integrity of the exam. The in-person chemistry common exam that is normally administered to students at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) had both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. In order to replicate this online, and to reduce the potential temptation to cheat, a robust multiple-choice and open-ended exam with multiple versions was required. Furthermore, this online exam had to be easily administered through our learning management system. What was developed included a blueprint for an online exam intended for large-scale distribution over multiple days with safeguards in place to protect the integrity of the examination. The exam employed deferred grading, a lockdown browser, multiple question variants, time controls, and controlled access to the completed exam to combat potential cheating. The exam resulted in average scores that were comparable to in-person exam scores from previous semesters, validating the proposed approach. In addition, polling results after administration of the exam showed strong student satisfaction with exam design and directions and student preference for webcam proctored exams.

Step changes in evolution

Summary Lineages changing their mode of locomotion are among the most conspicuous manifestations of evolutionary change. The appearance and disappearance of legs in events like the transition from fish to tetrapods, lizards to snakes, and tetrapods to whales has long fascinated biologists and lay people alike. Now genetics, developmental biology and paleontology are converging on a better understanding of these crucial transitions. Michael Gross reports.

Measuring the Importance of Collaborative Learning for the Effectiveness of ALN: A Multi-Measure, Multi-Method Approach

Are there any differences in outcomes between traditional classroom-based university courses and courses delivered via ALN, which feature extensive on-line interaction among students? Under what conditions are ALN courses most effective? What can be done to improve the publishability of ALN evaluations, and counter the attacks of critics?After providing background on the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Virtual Classroom (VC) projects, this paper describes three studies that address the issue of the importance of collaborative learning strategies to the success of ALN for students. A three-year longitudinal field study of 26 courses that are part of an undergraduate degree in Information Systems compared the process and outcomes of learning using an on-line anytime/anywhere environment to those for comparison sections taught in the traditional classroom. An embedded field experiment looked at the separate and joint effects of working on-line versus in the classroom and of working individually versus in groups. Semi-structured interviews with experienced ALN faculty probed their pedagogy and their perceptions of whether or not students learned, on the average, more, less, or about the same as in their traditional sections. The results support the premise that when students are actively involved in collaborative (group) learning on-line, the outcomes can be as good as or better than those for traditional classes, but when individuals are simply receiving posted material and sending back individual work, the results are poorer than in traditionalclassrooms.

PREDICTING LEARNING FROM ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE DISCUSSIONS

Online discussions play an important role in student learning. Currently, asynchronous learning courses and some primarily face-to-face courses at New Jersey Institute of Technology require asynchronous online discussions. Does this requirement improve the students’ perceived learning? An exploratory study designed to investigate this issue was conducted in Spring 2002. The questionnaire drew responses to a post-course questionnaire from 116 students in two undergraduate courses and one graduate course. A set of items designed to measure perceived learning from online discussions formed a reliable, unidimensional index for this construct. The results indicate that online discussions do improve students’ perceived learning. Variations among instructors or courses are associated with differences in perceptions of student motivation, enjoyment, and learning from online discussion. Open-ended questions identified some student concerns about online discussions. The concluding section of this paper presents some implications for improving online discussions and for future research plans.

Impacts of college-level courses via Asynchronous Learning Networks: Some Preliminary Results

New Jersey Institute of Technology has been delivering college courses via an Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN) system called the Virtual ClassroomTM for a decade, using various media mixes. Currently, two complete undergraduate degree programs are available via a mix of video plus Virtual Classroom, the B.A. in Information Systems and the B.S. in Computer Science. This paper presents preliminary findings about impacts on students, and touches on some issues and potential impacts for faculty, individual universities, and the structure of higher education. Overall ratings of courses by students who complete ALN based courses are equal or superior to those for traditional courses. Dropout or Incomplete outcomes are somewhat more prevalent, while grade distributions for those who complete tend to be similar to those for traditional courses. For both students and faculty, more startup time devoted to solving the "logistics" of ALN delivery seems to be required at the beginning of courses. ALN delivery is not just a "different" way of doing the same thing, however; it is likely to change the nature and structure of higher education.

Human Exclusion Zones: Logistics and New Machine Landscapes

From automatically guided vehicles (AGVs) to robotic drive units (RDUs), warehouse operations have advanced apace in recent decades. Jesse LeCavalier – Assistant Professor of Architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, and Daniel Rose Visiting Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut – recounts the development of the latest generation of adaptive, environment‐reconfiguring machines, such as those created by Kiva Systems and its successor Amazon Robotics, and discusses their effect on architecture itself.

Microbe devours dioxane

From activated sludge collected at a local wastewater treatment plant, Mengyan Li and colleagues at New Jersey Institute of Technology have isolated a bacterium that degrades the pollutant 1,4-dioxane (Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett. 2018, DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.8b00312). EPA considers dioxane a likely human carcinogen, and last August, the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization, detected dangerous levels of the compound in the drinking water of 27 U.S. states. Chemists use dioxane to stabilize industrial chlorinated solvents, and the manufacturing of certain surfactants generates dioxane as a by-product. Dioxane resists conventional water treatment methods and costs billions of dollars nationally to remediate. Researchers have been searching for biological methods to degrade this compound in contaminated subsurface water, which is a common drinking water source. The new dioxane-eating microbe isn’t the first to be identified. A major hurdle to applying this kind of strategy has been that dioxane is usually mixed with 1,1-dichloroethylene

Early-career researchers: an interview with Brooke Flammang.

Brooke Flammang is an Assistant Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where she investigates how organisms interact with their environment and how these interactions drive the evolutionary selection of morphology and function. She received her Bachelor's degree in Marine Biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University before moving to Moss Landing Marine Laboratories for her Master's degree and completing her PhD with George Lauder at Harvard University in 2010. She was awarded the Dorothy H. Skinner award in 2013 and the Carl Gans award in 2017 by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Quantum dots are superefficient at generating H2

Getting a two-for-one deal is always appealing. That math is particularly beneficial for scientists when it comes to generating electrons from light in solar cells. Using the right materials, researchers can generate two or more electrons for every sufficiently energetic photon of light absorbed, which computes to greater than 100% quantum efficiency. Building on this capability, Yong Yan of New Jersey Institute of Technology, Matthew C. Beard of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and coworkers have constructed a superefficient quantum-dot-based photoelectrochemical cell that produces hydrogen (Nat. Energy 2017, DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2017.52). “As far as we know, this is the first time that hydrogen has been produced photoelectrochemically under visible light with a quantum yield greater than 100%,” Yan says. The new system relies on a process called multiple exciton generation, or MEG. During MEG, two or more electron-hole pairs, known as excitons, are created within quantum dots from the absorption of

Ecological Workflows: Zhangdu Lake Farm, Hubei Province, China

Amid China's snowballing commercial success, feeding and housing the burgeoning population may be a challenge, but it is also a great urbanistic opportunity. With the right approach, it is possible to couple new urban development with land‐use practices that are sustainable on both human and environmental levels. Zhangdu Lake Farm ecological village, by GRO Architects in association with the New Jersey Institute of Technology, is a case in point. Guest‐Editor and GRO Principal Richard Garber describes how a combination of community engagement, digital technologies and green thinking are guiding its evolution.

Mashup and Assemblage in Digital Workflows: The Role of Integrated Software Platforms in the Production of Architecture

Digital technology is eliminating the separation between design and making that had existed since the Renaissance. But in order to seamlessly produce experience rather than just artefacts, architects have been turning to software developed for other fields. Adam Modesitt – assistant professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and founding principal of New York‐based Modesitt Design – discusses the new directions that this hybridisation of workflows is allowing architecture to take.

Life‐Cycle Assessment: Reducing Environmental Impact Risk with Workflow Data You Can Trust

How can architects offer proof of their proposals' ‘green’ credentials? The answer – as advocated by John Cays, Associate Dean of the New Jersey Institute of Technology's College of Architecture and Design – is through life‐cycle assessment (LCA). Here he explains what it is, tracing its evolution over some six decades. He goes on to describe how design firms are partnering with software developers to create LCA tools that work alongside building information modelling to generate reliable data on their projects' ecological profiles.