Tennessee Technological University Research Articles

Assessment and Analysis of Reverberation Time in Hyder-Burks Arena at Tennessee Technological University

This study addresses the issue of long reverberation times in large-scale arenas, specifically the HyderBurks Arena (HBA) at Tennessee Technological University. HBA primarily hosts cattle shows and agricultural events. The current multi-speaker sound system in the facility ensures audibility, but the long reverberation time accumulates noise that impairs communication and causes dissatisfaction. The objectives of this work conducted as a student project in an undergraduate noise control class include measuring the reverberation time, analyzing the data, researching noise reduction methods, and proposing feasible plans that consider cost, achievability, and ease of implementation. The current reverberation time measured in the arena is approximately 2.313 seconds, posing challenges for speechapplications. The aim was to reduce this to a range of 1.32 to 1.02 seconds. The study employed a Larson Davis Sound Advisor 831C sound level meter to measure the reverberation time at various points in the arena. Despite low-frequency analysis challenges, critical frequencies affecting speech intelligibility were identified. The study also highlights potential issues with the arena’s sound system and the need for a synchronized, centralized speaker system. The assessment revealed that areas near the concrete walls without sound absorption have the maximum T60, indicating the need for treatment. Recommendations include ceiling treatment to reduce the reverberation time and enhance speech intelligibility. The proposed plan, considering cost-effectiveness and financial feasibility, aims to improve the atmosphere and experience for HBA users.

Evaluation of Tubular SOFC’s Performance at Elevated Pressure for Highly-Efficient Clean Power Generation

Growing global energy needs and demand over imminent reductions of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, call for development of highly efficient, clean and reliable power generation from both renewable and fossil resources. A hybrid solid oxide fuel cell gas turbine (SOFC-GT) system is a promising candidate for fulfilling such need of a low emission, highly efficient power generation. This system can be applied to stationary, transportation, aviation, and maritime power generation applications. This study focuses on understanding operational characteristics of the pressurized SOFC as a key component for the successful design and construction of a highly efficient SOFC-GT hybrid system.Pressurization of an SOFC can cause improvement on electrode kinetics, stack lifetime and round-trip efficiency by cell integration with downstream components such as gas turbines and catalytic reactors (for electrolysis) [1-4]. However, literature data from experimental studies on the electrochemical behavior of the SOFC as a function of operating pressure is relatively scarce. This is presumably due to the complexity involved in the construction and operation of pressurized system. To address such research challenge, a pressurized SOFC test rig as shown in Fig. 1 has been constructed and commissioned at Tennessee Technological University (TTU) to allow tubular SOFCs to be characterized under a maximum operating pressure of 60 psia (~4 bar) and maximum operating temperature of 825oC. A detailed system set-up shown in Fig. 2. The power generation capacity for the test rig can be scaled up to 2.4 kW. For this study, performance of single anode supported SOFC tubes with H2 and CH4 fuels were examined by varying pressure from 1 bara to 4 bara and temperature from 675oC to 775oC, with fuel utilization held constant at 50% and an oxygen-to-carbon ratio (O/C) of 0.6 for the methane operation. The testing cells were gratuitously supplied by Special Power Sources (SPS) LLC, USA, with cathode/electrolyte outside-layers supported on the anode inner-layer as a 14”-long tube. Silver ink and wires are used for cell current collection from active surface area of ⁓100 cm2 . The connection fixture can be seen in Fig. 1. V-I curves of tubular SOFCs in Fig. 3 measured from step-wise electronic load profile indicate total performance gain of 13% as H2 pressure increases from 1 bara to 4 bara, with highest peak power density obtained at 0.61 Wcm-2. As comparison Fig.4 and 5 demonstrate pressurization suppressed gas diffusion limit for tubular SOFC at higher current density in CH4 fuel, leading to 44 % increase of peak power density to 0.51 Wcm-2 at 4 bara.Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies were performed using a Solartron 1260/PAR 263 electrochemical testing system in 4-point connection measurement to understand effects of pressurization on the SOFC performance. SOFC impedance spectra as Nyquist and Bode plots in Fig.6 (b) and (d) indicate the tubular SOFC performance is mainly limited by anode mass transports, which are greatly improved by pressurization. From non-linear, least-square cell impedance fitting and previous findings on impedance of similar larger cells, an equivalent-circuit model (ECM) in Fig. 6(a) has been identified to best represent impedance responses from the most rate-limiting processes of tubular SOFCs. The Warburg component (Ws) in the ECM with resonance frequency around 10Hz typically corresponds to gas diffusion in porous electrode of tubular SOFC [3-5], while paralleled R-CPE component at <1Hz resonance frequency can be attributed to gas-conversion impedance (GCI) due to gas phases concentration gradient along fuel-flow channel resulting from reactant conversion [5,6]. Experimentally observed changes of such impedances with fuel compositions, flow rates and tubular SOFC configuration are generally in agreement with theoretical assumptions and other reports [4-6]. Overall, results of this work demonstrate pressurization can effectively boost anode-supported SOFCs’ performance by overcoming fuel-side mass-transport limit associated with practical cell configuration and testing geometry. The experimental performance data collected can then be used to fit key constants and estimate parameters for numerical modeling of the SOFC system performance at elevated pressures.References can be seen in the figure document. Figure 1

Dismal Results from a Print Periodical Usage Study

ABSTRACT Print periodicals have been a cornerstone of libraries for over 100 years. Over the past 20 years print periodicals have been eclipsed by online journal databases and individual e-journals, but most libraries still subscribe to some print journals. In 2019 Tennessee Technological University undertook a thorough study of the usage of the current print periodical subscriptions by attaching survey forms to the covers of recent issues. The results showed that most newspapers and scholarly print periodicals were not used at all and the majority could be cancelled. Popular magazines showed slightly higher usage, but many of them could be dropped as well.

Iran's Forgotten Kurds

Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 43, No.2, Winter 2020 Iran’s Forgotten Kurds Michael M. Gunter* Introduction Although the approximately 8 million Kurds in Iran are second in numbers only to those in Turkey and constitute maybe 11 percent of Iran’s entire population, they have become all but forgotten. Unlike the Arabs and the Turks, the Persians are closely related to the Kurds. This ethnic affinity at times has possibly served to moderate Kurdish national demands in Iran. Nevertheless, the Kurds in Iran at the least have long pursued their separate cultural and social identity in one form or another. In addition, most of the Kurds in Iran are Sunnis, which creates problems with the Shiite Iranian government. The purpose of this paper is to explain why the Iranian Kurds (Eastern Kurdistan or Rojhelat) are largely forgotten compared to their kin in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, but in so doing also analyze their current situation. This will be done against the backdrop of change and continuity in Kurdish-Iranian relations. A significant number of Iranian Kurds live in the northwestern province of Kordestan, the only province in all pan-Kurdistan that bears this Kurdish ethnic name, which in the past has often been banned from being used in the other states in which the Kurds live. The Kurds in Iran also live in four other Iranian provinces: Western Azerbaijan, Kirmanshah, Hamadin, and Ilam. In addition, there is a community of Kurds in the northern part of Khorasan province in northeastern Iran that was forcefully relocated there during the eighteenth century to disperse and thus better control the ethnic and religious composition of the Persian Empire. Finally, in recent decades many Kurds have also moved to Tehran to seek better employment and living opportunities. Kurds (unlike the Turkic Azeris) have been barred from high levels of power in Iran, and human rights violations are systematically carried out 54 *Michael M. Gunter is a professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN. He is an authority on Kurds in Turkey and Iraq, has written eleven books on the Kurdish struggle, and has co-edited eight books. Gunter is a board member of the Center for Eurasian Studies. He is frequently consulted by media members for analysis and comment on breaking news in the Middle East. 55 against them. In January 2009, for example, Human Rights Watch documented how Iranian authorities use security laws, press laws, and other legislation to arrest and prosecute Iranian Kurds solely for trying to exercise their right to freedom of expression and association. The government has closed Persian- and Kurdish-language newspapers and journals, banned books, and punished publishers, journalists, and writers for opposing and criticizing government policies.1 Amnesty International also expressed concern over the treatment of ethnic Kurdish prisoners of conscience. Kurdish representatives have testified how ethnic Kurds are denied education in their own language. Kurds are not allowed to give their children certain Kurdish names; Sunni Muslim Kurds face discrimination because of their religion; women’s rights are denied; and economic opportunities are bleak.2 In June 2012, US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor Michael Posner denounced continuing negative trends in Iran toward its Kurdish population: “Intolerance, of dissent…; free speech restricted; internet freedom restricted; political participation severely circumscribed; unfair trials; amputations; floggings; lots of death penalty…. So, it is a very grim picture.”3 History of the Kurds during the Ottoman period. Sheikh Ubeydullah In 1880, Sheikh Ubeydullah of Nehri—a devout and highly revered religious leader—led possibly the most significant Kurdish revolt of the nineteenth century in the area along the Ottoman-Persian border. This ultimately unsuccessful uprising is sometimes said to have been the prototype for subsequent Kurdish revolts in the twentieth century. Explaining his actions, Sheikh Ubeydullah famously wrote the consulgeneral of Great Britain in Tabriz that “the Kurdish nation…is a people apart…. We also are a nation apart. We want our affairs to be in our own hands.”4 Indeed, in his seminal work on Kurdish studies, Wadie Jwaideh concluded concerning the sheikh that “as the old parochial interests of a local leader gave...

Molecular Mechanism of Apoptosis Signal‐Regulating Kinase I Oligomerization and Auto‐activation

Apoptosis Signal-Regulating Kinase I (ASK1) is a member of the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway. Responding to various stimulations, ASK1 activates four MAPK kinase (MKK) substrates including MKK4/7 and MKK3/7, which phosphorylate the c – Jun N terminal Kinase (JNK) and p38, respectively. The dysfunction and misregulation of ASK1 lead to various diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, inflammatory diseases and diabetes. The activation of ASK1 is highly regulated by many regulatory factors. It is widely believed that the oligomerization of ASK1 is essential for its activation. However, the molecular mechanism of ASK1 activation largely remains unclear. We recently found out that the purified ASK1 is capable of auto-activating itself and it exists as a huge oligomer instead of a homodimer as previous studies suggested. To explore the mechanism of ASK1 oligomerization and auto-activation, we have generated a series of ASK1 truncates and hoping to identify the responsible domains/motifs for its oligomerization and auto-activation. We have purified two ASK1 truncates - ASK1-NK (ASK1 protein expressing N terminal and Kinase domains) and ASK1-K (ASK1 protein expressing Kinase domain only). After performing gel filtration, it was found out that ASK1-NK forms monomer and ASK1-K forms dimer in native state. We are currently developing protocols of kinase assay for different ASK1 truncates to analyze its auto-activation mechanism. In conclusion, this study will help us to unveil the detailed mechanism of ASK1 oligomerization which will surely enrich our knowledge in understanding the activation process of ASK1. Support or Funding Information This project is supported by Faculty Research Grant to Xuanzhi Zhan and Student Research Grant to Adua Rahman awarded by Tennessee Technological University. ASK1 mediated pathway Purification of ASK1 truncates. (A) ASK1-K domain was purified using Heparin and Q-sepharose column chromatography. The purified ASK1-K domain (~2μg) is shown in SDS-PAGE; (B) ASK1-NK domain was purified using Q – Sepharose and Phenyl – Sepharose column chromatography. The purified ASK1-NK domain (~2μg) is shown in SDS-PAGE. Sephacryl gel filtration chromatography of ASK1 truncates. (A) ASK1-NK is observed as monomer (116KDa). (B) Predominant form of ASK1-K is dimer (77 KDa). (C) The chromatogram of gel filtration standard and log of molecular weight vs. elution volume plot is generated to determine the molecular weights of the ASK1 truncates. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

The US-Turkish Confrontation in Syria: A New Crisis for NATO

The Maghreb Review, Vol. 43, 4, 2018 © The Maghreb Review 2018 This publication is printed on FSC Mix paper from responsible sources THE US-TURKISH CONFRONTATION IN SYRIA: A NEW CRISIS FOR NATO MICHAEL M. GUNTER* During the late 1940s, the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan brought US military and economic aid to Turkey that helped it withstand Soviet encroachments. For its part, Turkey proved to be a particularly brave and valuable ally of the United States during the Korean War (1950-53). Thus, their shared geopolitical interests paved the way for a mutually valuable strategic alliance that was formalized when Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1952 and began to anchor the alliance’s southeastern flank containing Soviet communist expansion. The United States also began to hold Turkey in high esteem as a secular democratic Muslim state offering an important model for other states in the geostrategically important Middle East. Turkey continued to receive valuable U.S. economic and military aid. Despite their great national differences, the United States and Turkey had become staunch allies following World War II. Even with the end of the Cold War, the United States continued to tout Turkey’s significance as a strategic ally helping to bring stability to former Yugoslavia and Somalia during the 1990s, while also combating terrorism and political threats from such US-considered rogue states as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria. However, Turkey’s failure to support the U.S.-northern front in the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 2003, and more recently even more serious arguments over the role of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on the one hand, and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its militia the Peoples Defense Units (YPG)—which has now morphed into the more inclusive Syrian Defense Forces (SDF)—in the Syrian Civil war that has been raging since March 2011, have begun to call into question the future of its alliance with the United States. The purpose of this article is first to examine some theoretical insights into alliance formation and termination and then mainly analyze the immediate crisis between the United States and Turkey concerning Syria and whether it may portend the end of the longstanding USTurkish alliance within NATO. THEORETICAL INSIGHTS Alliances are created to enable their members to achieve shared goals and then disbanded when the goals have either been achieved or are no longer pertinent. Consequently, alliances usually tend to be rather short-lived. According to * Tennessee Technological University THE US-TURKISH CONFRONTATION IN SYRIA: A NEW CRISIS FOR NATO 397 Robert E. Osgood, an alliance is “a latent war community, based on general cooperation that goes beyond formal provisions and that the signatories must continually estimate in order to preserve mutual confidence in each other’s fidelity to specified obligations.”1 Alliances, therefore, usually are created in situations in which conflict or its threat is present.2 George F. Liska and William R. Riker agree that alliances or coalitions disband once they have achieved their objective, because they are formed essentially “against, and only derivatively for, someone or something.”3 While it may be that a “sense of community” may reinforce alliances, it will seldom bring them into existence. In creating alliances to achieve some desired goal, decision-makers weigh their costs and rewards. The decision to join an alliance is made based on perceived rewards exceeding costs. Each state considers the marginal utility from alliance membership, as contrasted with non-membership. In the end, the durability of an alliance “rests on the relationship between internal and external pressures, bearing on the ratio of gains to liabilities for individual allies.”4 Once costs exceed rewards, the decision to end an alliance will be made. According to Liska, states join alliances for security, stability, and status. To these, Riker adds the threat of reprisal if they refuse to ally, the receipt of payments of one kind or another; the obtainment of promises about policy or future decisions, or the gaining of emotional satisfaction. Once these goals have been achieved, the size of the alliance must be reduced if the remaining alliance partners are to gain further objectives. In addition...

Report on the 29th International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS‐29)

The 29th International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS-29) was held May 16-18, 2016, at the Hilton Key Largo Resort in Key Largo, Florida, USA. The conference events included invited speakers, special tracks, and presentations of papers, posters, and awards. The conference chair was Bill Eberle from Tennessee Technological University. The program co-chairs were Zdravko Markov from Central Connecticut State University and Ingrid Russell from the University of Hartford. The special track were coordinated by Vasile Rus from University of Memphis.

The acquisition and transfer of knowledge of electrokinetic-hydrodynamics (EKHD) fundamentals: an introductory graduate-level course

ABSTRACTRelevant engineering applications, such as bioseparation of proteins and DNA, soil-cleaning, motion of colloidal particles in different media, electrical field-based cancer treatments, and the cleaning of surfaces and coating flows, belongs to the family of ‘Applied Field Sensitive Process Technologies’ requiring an external field to move solutes in a fluid within a fibrous (or porous) domain. This field incorporates an additional variable that makes the analysis very challenging and can create for the student a number of new problems to solve. A graduate-level course, based on active-learning approaches and High Performance Learning Environments, where transfer of knowledge plays a key role, was designed by the Chemical Engineering Department at Tennessee Technological University. This course, where the fundamentals principles of EKHD were taught to science, engineering and technology students was designed by the Chemical Engineering Department at the Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN. An important number of these students were able to grasp the tools required to advance their research projects that led to numerous technical presentations in professional society meetings and publications in peered-reviewed journals.

Guest Editorial

Guest Editorial

The Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP): An Obstacle to Turkish Accession to the European Union?

26 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XL, No.1, Fall 2016 The Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP): An Obstacle to Turkish Accession to the European Union? Cemal Ozkahraman* Michael M. Gunter** Michael M. Gunter, Jr *** Introduction During the Cold War, the world was divided into two predominant orders: capitalism (US/Western Europe) and communism (Soviet Union/Eastern Europe), and world politics revolved entirely around these two blocs. However, when the Cold War ended, in particular when Soviet leaders declared their readiness to withdraw their troops from the rest of Eastern Europe in 1995,1 the old international order rapidly crumbled and a “new world order” began, which supposedly required that political power should not be handled by nation-states, but instead by actors in democratic global governance such as international institutions including the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and other non-governmental organizations which were intended to support democracy by forcing states to uphold its principles and allow the citizens of the globe to enjoy *Cemal Ozkahraman earned his PhD in 2016 from Exeter University in the UK and is currently an independent scholar. **Michael M. Gunter is a professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University. His most recent book is The Kurds: A Modern History, 2nd ed. (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2017). *** Michael M. Gunter, Jr. is a Cornell Distinguished Professor and chair of political science at Rollins College where he directs the international affairs program for their Holt School. He is author of the forthcoming Tales of an Ecotourist: What Travel to Wild Places Teaches Us about Climate Change with SUNY press. 1 Anderson, W.E., Gutmainis, I., and D.L. Anderson, Economic Power in a Changing International System (London: Cassell, 2000). 27 2 Held, D., Democracy and the Global Order (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995). 3 Müftüler-Baç, M., “The Never-Ending Story: Turkey and the European Union,” in Sylvia Kedourie, ed., Turkey Before and After Ataturk: Internal and External Affairs (London: Frank Cass, 1999). 4 For background, see Gunter, M., “Turkey’s Floundering EU Candidacy and Its Kurdish Problem,” Middle East Policy 14 (Spring 2007), pp. 117-23. fundamental human rights as well as promote the functioning of a democratic market economy.2 In this context, the EU required that countries wanting to join would have to redesign their internal and external politics in the framework of its own criteria based on democratic principles. For instance, Central/Eastern European nations emerging from the Cold War period have had to follow the new world order and accept such criteria in order to gain accession. Turkey, which since its creation has been attempting to become part of “European civilization,” and has consequently been knocking on the EU door in order to take its place in the club, was asked to ensure: (i) stable institutions governing democracy; (ii) the rule of law, respect for human rights and protection of minorities; the existence of a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competitive pressure; and (iii) the ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the principles of political, economic and monetary union.3 In order to take its place in the EU, Turkey has undergone significant domestic political transformations.4 Alongside adoption of a fully neo-liberal development model, for the first time in its history it has begun to recognize the existence of its Kurdish minority, having earlier refused to accept its existence in Turkey. More importantly, Turkey has established a major water project on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), which it aimed to use for the social development of the most underdeveloped part of Turkey, the south-east, which is also the Kurdish region, and aimed to diminish the socio-economic gap between the southeast /Kurds and the rest of Turkey, something which it had ignored since the creation of the republic. The $32 billion (US) project was initiated mainly for the purpose of hydroelectric power production and irrigation in the 1950s, led by the Turkish General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (Devlet Su Isleri (DSI)), but by the late 1980s the GAP infrastructure incorporated a “social development” programme through...

Targeting Critical Thinking Skills in a First-Year Undergraduate Research Course.

TH!NK is a new initiative at NC State University focused on enhancing students' higher-order cognitive skills. As part of this initiative, I explicitly emphasized critical and creative thinking in an existing bacteriophage discovery first-year research course. In addition to the typical activities associated with undergraduate research such as review of primary literature and writing research papers, another strategy employed to enhance students' critical thinking skills was the use of discipline-specific, real-world scenarios. This paper outlines a general "formula" for writing scenarios, as well as several specific scenarios created for the described course. I also present how embedding aspects of the scenarios in reviews of the primary literature enriched the activity. I assessed student gains in critical thinking skills using a pre-/posttest model of the Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT), developed by Tennessee Technological University. I observed a positive gain trend in most of the individual skills assessed in the CAT, with a statistically significant large effect on critical thinking skills overall in students in the test group. I also show that a higher level of critical thinking skills was demonstrated in research papers written by students who participated in the scenarios compared with similar students who did not participate in the scenario activities. The scenario strategy described here can be modified for use in biology and other STEM disciplines, as well as in diverse disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.

International Education Outreach: A Report on the SAE Baja Workshops in India

The Baja Collegiate Design Series is a competition that presents engineering educators with an opportunity to offer students a meaningful, hands-on, team learning experience. Each year as many as 140 Baja cars are entered in the Baja SAE events across the US and around the world. Each team's goal is to design and build a prototype of a rugged, single seat, off-road recreational vehicle intended for sale to the non-professional weekend off-road enthusiast. The teams are judged on ergonomics, functionality, and producibility of their cars in addition to a combination of static and dynamic race events. The Mechanical Engineering department at Tennessee Technological University (TTU) has long been affiliated with the Baja SAE competition, having hosted the event 5 times and placed in the top 10 over 80% of the time since 1977. SAE India recognized the value of this hands-on experience and initiated a similar program for universities in India in 2006. In order to provide the required experience and expertise for the Indian teams to compete in the international competitions, SAE-India partnered with TTU to conduct workshops and advise Indian college students on building and racing a competitive SAE Baja vehicle. This paper presents a report on a recent trip over a period of 16 days by a group of nine students and two professors from TTU to conduct workshops and interact with about 1000 Indian college students at three different sites. They held demonstrations using TTU's 2011 winning vehicle and gave technical presentations on various aspects of designing, building and racing a winning vehicle. In addition to visiting some industries in Pune, India, the team toured the Jaipur foot factory (jaipurfoot.org) and enjoyed some cultural immersions, visiting the Taj Mahal, Golden Temple and Jaipur Palace along the way. Overall, it was an extremely beneficial experience to students from both countries as summarized in one student's journal entry: We brought home a ton of pictures, stories, and experiences to share with everyone here. I think we learned as much, if not more, than everyone we were teaching at the workshops. I think we made a great impact going over there, and we formed a lot of strong partnerships and relationships that will hopefully carry on into the future. I know I am more culturally connected than when I left, and I think I will have a better time understanding our international students here as well. I'm so grateful that I got to be a part of this amazing journey.

Here for a time, here for a purpose.

Ann N. Hellman Ph.D.(c), MSN, RN, is an Assistant Professor at Tennessee Technological University Whitson-Hester School of Nursing and a full-time nursing doctoral student at East Tennessee State University. Her expertise includes Women's Health and Community Nursing. The author declares no conflict of interest.

A Real Time UWB MIMO System With Programmable Transmit Waveforms: Architecture, Algorithms and Demonstrations

Research on ultra-wideband (UWB) systems with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration has gained a great deal of attention recently. In this article we report a real time experimental UWB MIMO system testbed developed at Tennessee Technological University. We present the architecture, unique capabilities, algorithms development, experimental demonstrations, secure communications scheme with measurement based performances evaluation, and potential applications of the system testbed. Two demonstration cases are used to validate the system. In the first demo case we experimentally investigate UWB MIMO enhanced spatial-temporal focusing property in a harsh RF environment with time reversal waveform precoding technique to take advantage of multipath propagation. In the second demo case UWB MIMO spatial division multiple access (SDMA) in a typical office environment is experimentally verified. In particular, as a physical layer security enhancement, a unique location based security-enhanced communications concept is tested with normal office-area propagation channels, and it is proved to be feasible at certain data rates. First-hand experimental results are collected to support UWB MIMO research.

Engaging StudentsinClinical Reasoning When CaringforOlder Adults

ONE HEALTH CARE SETTING FRAUGHT WITH RISKS FOR ERROR AND INJURY TO THE OLDER POPULATION IS THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT (ED). Older adults experience more adverse events while in the ED, and after discharge, when compared with other age groups (Aminzadeh & Dalziel, 2002). Tang, Stein, Hsia, Maselli, and Gonzales (2010) reported 17.5 million visits by older adults to EDs in 2007. The distinct physiological and psychosocial developmental changes that older adults experience profoundly affect the provision of safe, competent, and holistic nursing care. (See Figure 1.) When physiologic and psychosocial changes are not appropriately addressed, errors in management and poor outcomes may ensue. New graduate nurses tend to struggle when managing elderly patients, especially if they have not received appropriate training while in nursing school. In response to the need to include older adult-focused content in a baccalaureate nursing curriculum, a faculty member at Tennessee Technological University Whitson-Hester School of Nursing collaborated with an adult health/gerontology nurse practitioner to design a Legacy Cycle that engages students in challenge-based learning. The Legacy Cycle approach is a product of the National Research Council and a multi-institutional biomedical engineering education initiative funded by the National Science Foundation (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). A strong research foundation for the application of Legacy Cycle modules exists in other disciplines. Biomedical engineering educators have found Legacy Cycles to be effective tools for training students to think efficiently and creatively (Brophy, 2003; Martin, Rivale, & Diller, 2007; Pandy, Petrosino, Austin, & Barr, 2004). The Legacy Cycle approach is easily adapted for educating nursing students as they develop critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills. Modules on topics such as emergent care of myocardial infarction, acid-base balance, and transitioning clients from parenteral to oral anticoagulant therapy were designed by the author and have been implemented as both graded assignments and as formative assessment tools. This Legacy Cycle is not currently graded. Rather, it serves as a formative assessment by providing ongoing evaluation of nursing students' ability to synthesize multiple pieces of data and prioritize findings concerning the care of older adults. Since the implementation of Legacy Cycles and other guided instructional design strategies (Bransford et al., 2000), the nursing program has achieved an NCLEX-RN[R] pass rate consistently greater than 95 percent. Anecdotally, students and employers report superior clinical reasoning and safe decision-making when compared with new graduates from comparable programs. The Legacy Cycle Design A Legacy Cycle makes use of a contextually based challenge followed by a sequence of instruction where the students offer initial predictions (Generate Ideas), gather information from multiple sources (Multiple Perspectives), integrate the knowledge gathered and extend this knowledge (Research and Revise), and formalize their solutions in formative and summative assessment activities (Test Your Mettle and Go Public) (Pandy et al., 2004). The learning goals are contextualized in a realistic scenario; for example, Figure 2 presents the case of a 72year-old woman who visits the ED after becoming dizzy and falling at home. Figure I. Physiological and Psychosocial Developmental Changes Faced by Older Adults Neurological Impaired cognitive function affects nearly one quarter of the older adult population presenting to the emergency department, and 7 percent to 10 percent will present with some form of acute delirium with or without dementia (Milbrandt, Eldadah, Nayfield, Hadley, & Angus, 2010). Terrell et al. (2009) identified cognitive assessment as the most important step an emergency room provider can complete to ensure quality medical and nursing care. …

MAY 2012 PLACEMENT ADS

MAY 2012 PLACEMENT ADS

Ostomy care

Assistant Professor • Tennessee Technological University • Cookeville, Tenn. Assistant Professor • Tennessee Technological University • Cookeville, Tenn. The authors have disclosed that they have no significant relationship with or financial interest in any commercial companies that pertain to this educational activity.

A Low-Cost Stand-Alone Multichannel Data Acquisition, Monitoring, and Archival System With On-Chip Signal Preprocessing

The objective of this paper is to design a new generation of affordable sophisticated data acquisition and processing (DAQP) systems. Because of the proposed system hardware reconfigurability, it can be used to meet the need of many real-world applications while keeping the cost of a device low. The hardware implementation of the different processing functions of the device allows for high-speed processing without the need of expensive general-purpose processors, as is the case of computer-based or microcontroller-based data acquisitions (DAQs). The target technology of implementing the proposed design is the system on chip via field-programmable gate array (SoC-FPGA). A four-channel DAQP was designed, developed, and tested in the Embedded Systems Design Laboratory, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville. Various modules of the conceptual design are implemented and verified. Performance evaluation and cost comparisons are provided. The comparison showed that the results of the proposed instrument are comparable to existing technologies at a fraction of the cost.

Implementation of UWB MIMO Time-Reversal Radio Testbed

This letter presents system implementation and validation of a real-time experimental ultrawideband (UWB) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radio testbed built at Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville. The incorporation of UWB technology with MIMO is promising in both communication and sensing applications. With the testbed, UWB MIMO algorithms are able to be experimentally explored by transmitting data through 500-MHz-bandwidth channels simultaneously supporting two transmit and eight receive antennas. Using a 2ntn 2 MIMO time-reversal (TiR) configuration as an example, 6-dB gain over a single-input-single-output (SISO) configuration is experimentally achieved, agreeing with theoretical estimation. In particular, signal-to-intersymbol-interference (ISI) ratio (SIR), a performance metric common to many real-world applications, is experimentally evaluated with BPSK modulation. The obtained SIR results suggest that the UWB MIMO-TiR is promising for high data rate transmission in harsh RF environments.

The acceptability of psychosocial support interventions for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS: an evaluation of teacher ratings

The AIDS epidemic has created many orphans around the globe. A majority of these orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa. Children orphaned by HIV/AIDS face many daunting challenges in their struggle to cope with life. The issues they face due to the loss of their parent(s) include poverty, the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and stress. This study carried out by Morgan Chitiyo of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Darlington Changara of Midlands AIDS Caring Organisation and George Chitiyo of Tennessee Technological University discusses how different psychosocial and educational interventions have been developed to help the children to overcome these challenges. However, few of the interventions have been empirically tested to determine their efficacy. The authors set out to evaluate the treatment acceptability of a psychosocial support programme using a group of teachers who had received training and were participating in the implementation of the programme across their schools. Findings from the study indicate high acceptability ratings of the programme.