The literature will review three case studies, (Boston, Georgia & Nevada, and Buffalo, NY). In 1997,Bostonfaced challenges in decreasing student enrollment, decommissioned urban schools, building abandonment, lack of public housing and related land use and sought creative alternatives. The second in Georgia and Nevada were compelled toward privatization due to unavailability of funds to abandon schools that are increasingly being supplanted by a system of accepting schools. The third, Buffalo Public School, (NY) No. 60 was identified by private investors as a prime candidate to create new urban senior housing. The directed project will provide the results of a literature review, case study development, conclusions and recommendations. The project identified areas of interest in articulating a strategic framework of analysis for the reconstruction of decommissioned urban schools in the United States utilizing the Buffalo NY School model.

Original research was conducted to gather input from construction industry professionals about their experiences with the closeout phase of projects. Factors perceived to cause closeout delay were identified, along with perceptions about the closeout performance of survey participant’s firms. The research validated the study’s premise that the closeout phase is difficult to successfully execute, for a variety of reasons. The collective responses also shed light on the perceived effectiveness of several strategies to encourage timely project completion.

Using a qualitative research approach, this study investigated the thoughts and feelings of students regarding the question, “what factors need to be considered when Reverse Engineering (RE) methodology is incorporated into engineering curricula?” The participants in the study were from the Introduction to Graphics for Manufacturing course at the West Lafayette campus of Purdue University. An RE survey was given to the all students enrolled in the course and 10 select students were given the opportunity to use a 3D handheld scanner in a hands-on learning exercise. Each of the 10 students underwent two interviews with questions pertaining to the study, the course, the technology, and the factors they felt were important to RE. The instructor for the course and an industry professional were interviewed to support the data gathered from the student interviews. The outcome of the study was a list of factors that students, the instructor, and the industry professional felt were important to RE implementation. This study provides information important to implementing RE into engineering curricula and suggestions for future research in the field of RE.

There has been a growing concern over the enrollment by American students into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) fields of study. Following globalization there is a direct competition for jobs in the United States with lower-wage workers around the globe and the US, thereby, is on the verge of losing its global technological competitiveness (Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century: An Agenda for American Science and Technology, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, 2007). Governmental as well as non-profit organizations are constantly searching for ideas, programs and initiatives that encourage more US citizens to consider STEM careers. One of the most common recommendations out of these councils and existing programs is to involve such groups whose numbers in STEM do not match well with their numbers as a proportion of the overall population of the nation. Underrepresented groups need more attention, personalization, motivation and encouragement by institutions and industries for the government to practically achieve their targeted numbers in STEM (Business-Higher Education Forum, 2010). In the Internet age, with resources highlighting the importance of Internet personalization and website usability principles to web users, this study focuses on redesigning the Computer and Information Technology (CIT) department website to provide prospective students with a more personalized experience, and learn their perceptions of the website, its contents and usability.

The purpose of this project was to develop a hybrid version of a work place safety course for use at Ivy Tech Community College. Students attending Ivy Tech in the Industrial Technology program currently have little options to taking classes other than the traditional face-to-face method, which creates certain challenges for the students. With the creation of a hybrid course, students who take this class are required to drive to campus less each week, resulting in additional savings to the students. A hybrid course also gives the students another option to the traditional delivery model, resulting in increased learning potential for those students looking for an alternative to in-class instruction.

For this project the current course material was evaluated to determine which material would be appropriate for hybrid delivery using BlackBoard as the classroom management software. Once the content was determined, the material was modified to run on BlackBoard and the course shell was developed. Lastly, the course outline and syllabus was created for the new hybrid course.

The result of this project helped determine the effectiveness and future need for additional hybrid course offerings in the Industrial Technology program at Ivy Tech.

possibilities for conducting research to progress the field, but not everyone knows what

they are. This study sought to identify the general needs of the field’s practitioners

and discover any prevailing issues preventing the Cyber Forensic field from

maintaining or establishing validity in its procedures, software, and expert witnesses.

This study took volunteers from universities that offer a cyber forensic program and

each state’s Law Enforcement cyber crime units. All participants were given three

rounds of questions in order to discover the issues of the field. From these questions,

lists of categorized issues were generated. The top issues were chosen from each

category, as well as the top ten issues overall.

Using a qualitative research approach, this study investigated the thoughts and feelings of students regarding the question, “what factors need to be considered when Reverse Engineering (RE) methodology is incorporated into engineering curricula?” The participants in the study were from the Introduction to Graphics for Manufacturing course at the West Lafayette campus of Purdue University. An RE survey was given to the all students enrolled in the course and 10 select students were given the opportunity to use a 3D handheld scanner in a hands-on learning exercise. Each of the 10 students underwent two interviews with questions pertaining to the study, the course, the technology, and the factors they felt were important to RE. The instructor for the course and an industry professional were interviewed to support the data gathered from the student interviews. The outcome of the study was a list of factors that students, the instructor, and the industry professional felt were important to RE implementation. This study provides information important to implementing RE into engineering curricula and suggestions for future research in the field of RE.

No one will deny that some animated movies are more attractive to audiences than others. Previous studies show that a film’s story is the decisive factor that makes a film a success or a flop. The story plays a central role in bringing in an audience and thus determing a film’s critical acclaim and financial success. The story concept ties together various elements that are all closely related and together contribute to the overall effect of an animated film. This research aims to explore the relationship between an animated film’s story and its popularity in order to better understand what makes a successful film as well as provide a useful reference for animation studios as they are deciding whether or not to pursue a certain script.

Using electrical specifications from a Hurco Hawk 5M 3-axis CNC machine, an electrical cabinet was built to take the signals off the machine and output them to a LabVIEW DAQ Module. A program created in LabVIEW was designed to analyze power waveform signals and determine the state of operation of a machine. Then, total power consumption and cost of energy at the different states was calculated and displayed in a fashion that would be usable by an operator or a manager to make informed decisions on how to improve the process.

Practical correlation between material deformation attributes and theoretical concepts of machining has proven difficult to attain. The purpose of this study was to further explore trends and relationships using acoustic emission detection of materials undergoing single-point lathe turning machine processes. The majority of machining experiments that incorporate acoustic emissions focuses on tool degradation for the purposes of optimizing consumables required to manufacture mechanical devices. Experiments were implemented varying recording location, mechanical barrier condition, and machine parameters. The research focused on machining metal alloys of tantalum tungsten, nitronic 33 stainless steel, M42 tool steel, and 6061 aluminum. Variation of machine parameters included the alteration to depth of cut, coolant flow rate, cutting velocity, and feed rate of tooling. It was found that, by using capacitive microphone transducer technology, it is difficult to confidently discern the type material undergoing machine processes from significant distances. Structural spectrogram “acoustic mapping” using discrete Fourier transform based methods presented promise in uniquely identifying the type material being machined. Integral calculus methods of summation were implemented to determine the energy released during machine processes. Hypotheses proved that as stand-off distance increased and mechanical barriers were imposed detection of acoustic emissions varied in confidence. The alteration of machine parameters had varying effects on the detection of acoustic emissions. The experiments are discussed in a practical context for discovering as much about machining processes as possible.

There is a lack of correlation between the believed and actual threat of tornadoes on the periphery of Tornado Alley. The purpose of this project is to record the perceptions of homeowners and realtors of the threat posed by tornadoes in a specific geographic location and the need of tornado safe rooms to mitigate that threat and/or provide peace of mind from the potential of that threat.

The research included surveying real estate agents and residents within the specified geographic location. Real estate agents were polled for their past experience in selling properties with tornado safe rooms, and present demand for same properties in the current market, their perceptions of the tornado risk and the need for mitigation measures, and how these may affect the value of a home and the marketability of a home. Residents were polled for their perceptions of tornado risk, the cost of mitigating the tornado risk, the need of mitigation, and any prior experience with tornadoes. They were also polled on the desire of a tornado safe room in a home, and to what cost having one would be worthwhile.

The research supported the assumption that the actual threat of tornadoes does not match the perceived threat, the expected cost of a tornado safe rooms is greater than the actual cost, and that there is a significant portion of the population willing to pay for a safe room allowing for an emerging market of tornado safe rooms in either new construction or as a renovation.

Evaluation of unbiased competition contests gave a better understanding of how a house can realistically reach net-zero. Upon comparison, off-the-shelf engineering systems such as super-efficient HVAC units, heat pump hot water heaters, and properly designed photovoltaic arrays can affordably enable a house to become net-zero. These important and applicable technologies realized from the Solar Decathlon will reduce the 22 percent of all energy consumed through the residential sector in the United States. In conclusion, affordable net-zero energy buildings can be built today with commitment from design professionals, manufacturers, and home owners.