Thinking as a Student : Stimulating Peer Education with an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant in the Humanities Classroom

In this article, I argue that peer educational experiences should be incorporated into the undergraduate humanities classroom by providing a case study of a successful Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) pilot. In keeping with Topping & Ehly’s (2001) criteria for successful peer education, I assigned the UTA a significant role in direct instruction. Partly owing to the UTA’s active classroom role, the experience enhanced learning for students and helped me create a dynamic, critically-engaged class environment. The experience also provided an opportunity for the UTA to engage in deep learning and develop a professional identity; near the end of this article, the UTA shares his reflection about the experience.

incorporating UTAs leads to almost uniformly positive results for UTAs, for faculty mentors, and for all students involved in the process. Despite the high success rate of UTAs and though the scholarship detailing this success is fairly extensive, there has been very little sustained discussion surrounding UTAs in humanities courses. While work by Smith (2008) and McCormick & Shofner (2010) provide valuable exceptions to this tendency, with the exception of the field of Rhetoric and Composition, UTAs remain relatively foreign resources in humanities courses in general or in literature classrooms in particular.
To some extent, the relatively limited discussion surrounding UTAs in humanities courses reflects a larger and troubling trend. Though many, if not most, humanities instructors regularly incorporate informal peer-based pedagogies such as group work, classroom discussion, and student-led presentations into their courses, there is far less evidence to suggest that humanities instructors gravitate towards the more formalized methods of peer instruction that underpin UTA experiences. But by embracing students as partners in our classrooms, we create dynamic spaces that encourage content-level engagement and professional development. Fortunately, as work by Eby & Gilbert (2000), McCormick & Shofner (2010), and Tompkins, Smith, & Eby (1990) all demonstrate, peer education in the humanities is fast becoming the welcome subject of a growing scholarly conversation. Still, when compared to the robust work surrounding UTAs in the sciences and social sciences, it seems clear that that this conversation must be widened.
Desiring to experiment with more formalized methods of peer education and inspired by the robust scholarship detailing the efficacy of UTAs, I recently incorporated a UTA into a semester-long general education course on Postcolonial Literature and Theory (PLT). In this article, I provide a case study of that pilot experience. 5 In designing/assigning the UTAs duties, I was influenced by Topping & Ehly's (2001) criteria for successful peer education-particularly by their suggestions that peer education should be beneficial to all parties, that it involve conscious teaching by the undergraduate, and that it be professionally supervised (2001). Especially inspired by their suggestion that peer educators should be involved in "conscious teaching" and in contrast to many UTA programs, I assigned the UTA, Steven Schauz, a significant role in direct instruction. Altogether, Schauz, a senior English major who had taken the course previously (from a different instructor) and received an "A," was responsible for about 20% of class instruction. Partly owing to Schauz's active classroom role, the UTA experience enhanced learning for students and helped me create a dynamic, critically-engaged classroom environment. The experience also provided an opportunity for Schauz to engage in deep learning and develop a professional identity; near the end of this article, Schauz, now a Masters student in a College Student Personnel program, shares his reflection about the experience. Overall the success of this pilot suggests that Undergraduate Teaching Assistant programs and peer educational experiences more largely can and should be incorporated into the undergraduate humanities classroom.

The Experience
I teach in the English department at a small comprehensive university and our general education program has a focus on cultural competency. Because of this cultural focus, our department's course on PLT draws a wide cross-section of students. Though PLT can count towards the English major, the prominence of this course in our general education program ensures that English majors represent only a small percentage of the class population in any given semester. During the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Vol. 17, No. 3, July 2017. josotl.indiana.edu 126 semester that I piloted the UTA experience (Fall 2014), out of the 27 students in the course, only one was an English major. None of the students knew that that the course would include a UTA prior to enrollment. I selected Schauz for this experience because of his academic aptitude, his interest in graduate school, and because, as a Resident Assistant, he also had experience in peer supervisory roles. Further, Schauz and I had worked together the previous summer on an institutionally-funded grant which allowed him the opportunity to read deeply on postcolonial theory; he was thus able to start the semester with fairly extensive content-based knowledge. Schauz was not financially compensated for this experience; however he did receive elective credit which allowed him to fulfill one of the requirements towards his English major. While this course was part of Schauz's regular semester load. I taught the course as an overload and received a small amount of compensation.
As a UTA, Schauz was asked do to the following: 1) Teach a week long unit of the course (4 hours of classroom instruction). 2) Lead study review sessions before the midterm and final exams. (One class session per exam: 4 hours of classroom instruction). 3) Lead one class session on effective strategies for writing the argument-driven research paper (2 hours of classroom instruction). 4) Hold weekly office hours. 5) Attend every class session and keep up with all course readings. 6) Attend weekly meetings with me in order discuss a series of pedagogy-focused readings and discuss lesson plans.
As I mentioned earlier and as the above list suggests, I was influenced by Topping & Ehly as I developed the UTA's role. I also elected to remove Schauz from any duties which involved grading-a departure from many UTA programs. This was partly done in order to preserve the privacy of undergraduates at a very small institution, but more importantly, I made this decision in order to ensure that the UTA's relationship to the students was defined by a mutually-beneficial sense of inquiry instead of results-based assessment. Further, as I detail above, Schauz was responsible for teaching 10 out of the 52 hours the course met in total. Though it was perhaps a bit unconventional to assign almost 20% of the course's total instructional time to an undergraduate, it was possibly the most successful part of the experience: it helped him take ownership over his own leadership role (i.e., it positioned him as a "conscious" educator of his peers), and resulted in deep learning for the UTA and the students (beneficial for all parties.) In order to help Schauz succeed in his teaching experience, I ensured he received pedagogical training and support (professional supervision). In particular, I instituted the following six procedures/protocols: 1) Strategic syllabus planning I planned the syllabus so that Schauz's first teaching experience did not occur until mid-semester: after he had observed me teaching the course for about six weeks, after he and I had discussed the course itself (in terms of the syllabus, goals, theoretical framework), and after he had completed some of the major pedagogical readings. 2) Direct-pedagogical instruction Schauz came to the UTA experience with a fair amount of content knowledge but comparatively little pedagogical training. In order to provide this training, we, as I suggest above, met weekly in order to discuss significant pedagogical readings (e.g., John Dewy's "The Need for a Philosophy of Education" and Sheridan Blau's The Literature Workshop). After we had read and discussed the pedagogical readings, I asked Schauz to submit a teaching philosophy statement in which he articulated how his personal philosophy of education aligned with (or departed from) the goals of the pedagogical theorists we covered.

3) UTA lesson planning and review
Before each class session that he led, I required that the UTA submit a lesson plan that explained how his plan connected to his own teaching philosophy. We discussed his philosophy statement, his lesson plans, and his pedagogical goals during our weekly meetings. 4) Empowering the UTA In order to help students in the course view Schauz as a course leader (even though he was not responsible for any grading), I ensured that he was ultimately responsible for all his pedagogical decisions. For instance, during the content-based unit he taught, Schauz was responsible for selecting all course texts (including the specific editions), writing his lecture and leading all class discussions. For the skills-based courses he led (i.e., midterm/final review and writing workshops), he was responsible for designing all sessions and thinking through the issues of scaffolding and review. In all the sessions he taught I participated only as an active student.

5) Feedback and debriefing
After each session that he taught, Schauz and I would meet and discuss his lesson: what I observed, what he observed, and the overall strengths and shortcomings of the lesson. During these discussions, we were also guided by his philosophy of education and discussed how the course sessions met (or failed to meet) his pedagogical goals.
As I have articulated, this experience was at once elastic and highly regulated-allowing the UTA a considerable amount of authority within a carefully scaffolded framework. This structure proved successful, suggesting that this experience can and should be replicated in future humanities-based courses.

Evaluating the Experience
I will discuss the benefits of the UTA experience according to two of the three parties involved in the course: the students and me as the instructor. Schauz will then discuss the benefits and the challenges of the UTA experience from his perspective. 6

Benefits for the Students and Instructor
As I mentioned earlier, students had enrolled in the course without knowing there would be a UTA.
On the first day of class, I explained Schauz's role-emphasizing that he would not be grading but that he would be teaching certain days of the course and holding office hours. At the end of the semester, in order assess student engagement with the UTA experience, I conducted a survey (19 out of 27 students responded). (Please see appendix for entire survey.) I also took more informal notes and made observations throughout the semester. During the first half of the semester, when Schauz's role was mostly limited to observation, students did not respond to the UTA much at all and his office hours remained largely unattended. After Schauz taught his first class session (an extensive midterm review), students began to turn to him more; and after he taught his week-long content-based unit and then led a writing workshop, students embraced Schauz's role as a UTA and readily turned to him as a resource. By the end of the semester, his drop-in office hours were extremely busy. Along these lines, nearly 30% of the survey respondents answered that they had met with Schauz at least once during the semester and the vast majority of those students met with him between 2-4 times during the semester. (This was in addition to the required meetings every student had with me.) Further, of the students who answered that they had met with Schauz, 100% indicated that they found their meetings with him to be "extremely helpful" (the other potential categories were "helpful," "neither helpful nor unhelpful," "unhelpful," and "extremely unhelpful"). In other words, the data suggests that students appreciated having an UTA to consult with outside of class. As one student commented "I found [Schauz] to be an invaluable resource. He thought as a student and provided wonderful intellectual insight when I was at a roadblock for my paper." "He was very knowledgeable on the class material" commented another student. "[He] made sure I left with all of my questions answered." (Anonymous, Survey, December 2014).
Student respondents also positively evaluated Schauz's teaching with over 70% describing it as "superb" or 'good." The narrative comments were once again positive and enthusiastic. "It was helpful and reassuring to hear tips from a student, since he can relate to us with the pressure of exams and papers" commented one student; another student suggested that "it was nice to get the information from a student" and another student wrote "Honestly, I could envision him being a professor himself; everything he said clicked with me and I learned a lot from his sessions." Though some students did report mild dissatisfaction (approximately 6% of respondents described Schauz's teaching as "average"), the majority of respondents suggested they were pleased with the UTA's teaching. 7 Students also responded positively to the general experience of having an UTA. When asked to rate their overall impression of the experience, over 50% of students responded that they "loved having a UTA" while 42% of students responded that they "liked having an undergrad TA" and 5% (i.e., one student) respond that s/he "mildly" disliked having an undergrad TA claiming that "TA's [are] not a selling point for admission." The positive narrative comments however overwhelmed the single negative one. "I think it was good to have him as a resource" one student answered, "sometimes it can be more convenient than having to reach out to a professor." Another student commented that Schauz "was an effective, additional resource and teacher in the class!" Other comments include "I thought that it was good to have another person in the room besides the professor to come to for help. It sometimes is not as intimidating when the TA is an undergrad just like the students;" "I loved being able to go meet with Steven in a casual environment outside of class to ask any questions I may have;" "It was nice having another person to approach with Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Vol. 17, No. 3, July 2017. josotl.indiana.edu 129 questions and the extra office hours were great;" and "I think he contributed to the class with helpful tips and another view of the material. He provided a peer influence that was not intimidating... I liked the fact that he did not do any grading, but rather contributed to our learning that was led by the instructor." Overall, though the sample size was admittedly somewhat small, the data and the narrative comments reveal that students embraced the prospect of a UTA and saw Schauz as a valuable resource. Further, though grades did not necessarily go up from previous years, I noticed that students seemed more willing to engage with some of the course's more difficult theoretical material as they wrote their papers. For instance, I have taught this course for about ten years and always include Gayatri Spivak's "Can the Subaltern Speak?" on the syllabus. Students understandably find this text very difficult and have generally avoid referring to it as they write their papers. Schauz, however, followed up my initial lecture and discussion of the text by referring to Spivak extensively during the unit he taught. For the first time that I can remember, students extensively and intelligently incorporated Spivak's theories in to their final papers. Though there are of course many reasons that can explain this (personality of the students; stronger lecture/discussion from me, etc.), I attribute the students' sudden comfort with Spivak to the incorporation of a UTA. Seeing an undergraduate speak about and grapple with Spivak's theories was powerful to the students and Schauz was able to encourage students to overcome their trepidation and think about Spivak's theories deeply and meaningfully. This is just one example of course. But overall, the student level of discourse in this course was markedly higher than in previous years and to me, this is inextricably linked with the presence of a UTA in the course. Further, the UTA experience inspired students to learn from one another in a way that struck me as particularly profound. Far from detracting from the goals of the humanities, peer education led to a quintessential humanities-learning experience-one in which students engaged deeply with the source material and grappled with complex problems. As the semester progressed, there were moments in which students almost seemed to forget my presence as they turned to Schauz and to one another as co-educators--inspiring an active classroom environment defined by discussion and exploration.
On a personal level, I found this experience was deeply rewarding. In fact, this experience has indelibly altered how I approach course design. Though I always emphasize active learning strategies as I teach, I now deliberately seek opportunities to weave peer-educational experiences into the organizational fabric of my courses. Though in some ways, this experience admittedly required time and energy, it also-perhaps counterintuitively-energized my teaching. Incorporating a UTA seemed to render my teaching and lectures more relevant to the students and helped general education students embrace the importance of a liberal arts education. Throughout this experience, I seemed to occupy a role that cannot be quite described by either the "sage on the stage" or the "guide on the side" paradigms. I was something of both and of neither-functioning instead as an integral member of this discourse community.

Benefits for the UTA: a reflection by Steven Schauz
When I first heard of the opportunity, I was excited by the possibility, especially as I recognized that I would be a bit of a test subject for this model. I was honored to be considered for this role, but I also struggled at first to see how I could fulfill its expectations. But I accepted the offer as Master's program. I absolutely believe that my experience as a UTA made me an attractive candidate for admission and helped prepare me for graduate study. The UTA experience included two major components of study and practice: pedagogical and postcolonial theory. The pedagogical preparation as well as the actual experience of teaching challenged me to think about the ways that I interacted with and continue to interact with students. As a UTA, I had the opportunity to witness several "a-ha" moments for a collection of students, most frequently when they were struggling with some concepts, with incorporating new information that challenged their hegemonic perspective, or with composing a paper. For the students who came to me as a resource, I was often present to guide them through the process. It was as if they were on a journey of learning, but that some obstacle had blocked their path. When they received some of my guidance, it was as if they were able to move past this obstacle, and that is when the lightbulb would ignite. Helping to provide this guidance to students was something that I thoroughly enjoyed, and also has become a very helpful experience as I have continued in my graduate studies and often use similar skills with a new group of students.
Throughout the UTA semester, I made efforts to perceive learning as a partnership: that the instructor can and should learn from their students just as much if not more than their students learn from them. When I entered the UTA experience, I had an understanding that, while my professors had greater degrees of knowledge in a subject, I also had to make meaning for myself. I understood that I should value the teachings of the professor, but I also had to question, explore, and make salient the curriculum on my own. I came into the UTA experience knowing that I would also be learning in the classroom setting that I was now responsible for instructing, as well as from the readings, lesson planning, and discussions with Dr. Karpenko. However, I did not realize just how much I would be learning about my teaching and my ideas from the students. Their ability to ask questions of me (which I was not always prepared for) or create an interpretation of a text (that I had never conceived) challenged me, at times made me a little uncomfortable, but ultimately demanded that I learn, that I go back to the texts to reread, that I look deeper or at different pedagogical perspectives and that I become fluid in my teaching practice.
Further, when I first began reading about educational pedagogy, I was a bit caught up in the lofty premises of the theories. I envisioned these techniques in a very theoretically perfect fashion. Yet, I very quickly learned that the classroom setting is not this perfect system. In fact, it was often radically different. Then the question became: how do I apply the framework of the theory to this particular reality? What will work? What won't? Theory is fascinating and an important tool, but it is an illusion to think a theory will translate seamlessly in-to practice. I quickly learned that theory could not answer all of the anomalies, behaviors, conversations, or questions that arose within a classroom, but rather that it ought to be used to inform and frame my practice. One of the greatest challenges for me was to overcome the assumed rigidity of a given theory and to perceive the fluidity of its perimeters in practice.
The UTA experience also increased my subject-area knowledge of postcolonial theory. I am someone who is fascinated by complex subjects. Perhaps it is because I grew up playing puzzles and brain-teasers as a child, but I still thoroughly enjoyed putting the pieces together. I felt as if I was at a point in my academics where I could help others put these pieces together. But without the UTA experience, I might not have reviewed and sought to understand the components of the theory in quite as much detail. In short, I think that I needed to spend more time with the theories in order to disseminate a sense of understanding to the students I was working with, and that demanded that I construct frameworks about In short, the UTA experience provided me an opportunity to explore subjects that interested me, to challenge myself to learn more and to see in more than a singular perspective, and to be critical and intentional in my pedagogy. I continue to consider this one of the most impactful educational experience I had during college. I think it helped me to grow as a person and as a student, and it continues to shape the realities through which I interpret my current studies as well as inform how I interact with students in my professional practice. We talk a lot about preparedness-about how a student feels prepared to graduate from an institution and confident in their ability to use their skills in the real world. For me, this experience brought me to a point of preparedness. I have a feeling that the UTA experience has the potential to have similar effects on others who are able to rise to the challenge and who receive guidance from their mentoring faculty member. Overall, it was an exciting, challenging, and meaningful experience.

The Future
The benefits of this UTA experience-even on the small scale that I described-were profound; however, because I advocate a program model that removes UTAs from grading responsibilities and instead recommend pedagogical training and supervised instruction, the experience I describe cannot be considered a cost or time savings as promised by Cook (2002). Instead, in keeping with Eby & Gilbert (2000), the experience demanded a considerable amount of my time and because Schauz received credit via an independent study for which I was compensated, the experience also required a small amount of financial support from my institution. In addition, establishing institutional or departmental programing takes time and though my department was impressed by the results of the study and is interested in making the opportunity a part of our regular offerings, we have not yet instituted a formal UTA program.
Despite the potential difficulties of instituting a department-or institution-wide UTA program, many aspects of what I describe above can be easily incorporated in to any humanities course. For instance, student groups can be assigned to teach certain units of a course and to display content knowledge as well as knowledge of pedagogical best practices during their teaching units; students can be assigned roles as content experts and asked to conduct "mini-courses" throughout the semester; students can elect a student leader to oversee aspects of exam review etc. Overall, the low cost/high benefit of the program certainly suggests that UTAs can and should be incorporated into humanities courses.
Perhaps more profoundly, this case study also suggests that humanities courses-even those courses that tackle complex theoretical material-can benefit from peer educational experiences. On that note, I want to close by suggesting that UTA programs and peer educational experiences can help us think through some of the profound challenges that face humanities departments today. While I do not want to paint an overly optimistic picture of what peer educational programs can accomplish, I do want to emphasize that such programs constitute the essence of humanities study. Indeed, I partly write this essay in order to encourage those of us in humanities-based fields to embrace rather than retreat from the rigorous dialogue and the topsy turvy sense of authority that lend vitality to our disciplines. In so doing, we can invigorate our own practice and perhaps even encourage entire campus communities to understand why the humanities remain necessary in our complex and rapidly changing world.
Please answer the following questions. Your answers will be really helpful as we think about the role of peer education in our department. You can skip any question and still complete the survey. Your answers will be kept anonymous.
1) How many times did you meet with the undergrad TA outside of class? a) More than 5 times b) Between 2-4 times? c) 1 time? d) 0 times?
2) If your answer to #1 was yes, why did you meet with the undergrad TA? (Check all that apply) a) Help with midterm or final exams b) Help with final paper c) Other reason (Please specify) 3) If you visited the undergrad TA outside of class, please rank how helpful you found the meeting(s) on a scale of 1 to 5. (5 being exceptionally helpful and 1 being not helpful at all.) a) 5 b) 4 c) 3 d) 2 e) 1 4) Please explain why or why you did not find the undergrad TA helpful when you met. If you did not meet, please explain why. 5) Altogether the undergrad TA led five days of class (one day of midterm review; two days on the The Wild Irish Girl; one day of writing tips and tricks; and one day for the final exam review.) Of these five teaching days, how many did you attend? a) 5 days b) 4 days c) 3 days d) 2 days e) 1 day


An Internship May Not Be Enough: Enhancing Bioscience Industry Job Readiness through Practicum Experiences †

In contrast to the narrowing of options in academic careers, the bioscience industry offers robust employment opportunities for STEM-trained workers, especially those who display both scientific and business talent. Unfortunately, traditional science programs typically lack curricular features that develop this type of worker. The North Carolina State University Master of Microbial Biotechnology (MMB) program facilitates industry-specific experiential learning to fill this training gap. Similar programs often rely on a single industry internship to provide students relevant work experience, but completion of one internship might not suffice to position students for employment in a highly competitive job market. The MMB program requires students to complete an internship and three practicum projects in an industry setting, to promote development of key skills in a variety of areas, to build confidence in the ability to perform initial job duties, and to establish a more extensive work history in industry. In this Perspective we discuss an unmet need in undergraduate and graduate STEM education that can be filled by incorporating a similar set of industry-specific work experiences for students who desire to transition from academe into the life science industry.

INTRODUCTION
The National Science Board (NSB) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics predict significant growth for overall science and engineering (S&E) employment in the United States through 2022 (1 -Chapter 3, Figure 3-A, Table 3-A), but this optimistic outlook looks less sanguine for S&E doctorate holders who seek academic employment, especially when one considers the increasing number of new doctorates awarded each year. The bleak job landscape in academe is further complicated for new S&E doctoral graduates by continued decline in overall academic employment, which fell by nearly six percent between 2005 and 2015; the life sciences and mathematics and computer sciences represent the academic areas hardest hit by the overall decline, showing 7.7% and 22.2% employment decreases respectively (2 - Table 46).
While overall unemployment for the holders of S&E bachelor's and master's degrees remains slightly higher than for doctoral recipients (1 -Chapter 3, Appendix Table 3-8), the latter are more likely to suffer the apparent narrowing of job opportunities in academe. According to the NSB, the percentage of S&E doctoral recipients who held tenure and tenure-track positions declined from about 21% in 2003 to approximately 16% in 2013 (1 -Chapter 3, Table 3-16). Although the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reported employment for 89% of all doctorate holders in 2015 (3 - Figure 7), the National Science Foundation (NSF) shows that the percentage of S&E doctoral recipients who reported definite employment commitments (i.e., signed a contract or received definite notification of employment) or post-doctoral study decreased from about 71% to approximately 63% between 2005 and 2015 (2 -Table  42); during this period, definite commitments for those with life science degrees decreased from approximately 71% to 58% and commitments for the physical sciences and earth sciences decreased from about 72% to 61%. Alarmingly, the same NSF data also show that the percentage of life science doctorate holders who reported no definite commitments for employment or post-doctoral study rose from approximately 29% in 2005 to nearly 37% in 2015; more than 40% of doctoral recipients indicate no commitments for both the life sciences and engineering.
As enrollment in S&E degree programs continues to rise in the United States (1 -Appendix Table 2-24)-and despite an increase in the number of doctorate recipients with definite academic post-doctoral S&E appointments (2 - Table  In contrast to the narrowing of options in academic careers, the bioscience industry offers robust employment opportunities for STEM-trained workers, especially those who display both scientific and business talent. Unfortunately, traditional science programs typically lack curricular features that develop this type of worker. The North Carolina State University Master of Microbial Biotechnology (MMB) program facilitates industry-specific experiential learning to fill this training gap. Similar programs often rely on a single industry internship to provide students relevant work experience, but completion of one internship might not suffice to position students for employment in a highly competitive job market. The MMB program requires students to complete an internship and three practicum projects in an industry setting, to promote development of key skills in a variety of areas, to build confidence in the ability to perform initial job duties, and to establish a more extensive work history in industry. In this Perspective we discuss an unmet need in undergraduate and graduate STEM education that can be filled by incorporating a similar set of industry-specific work experiences for students who desire to transition from academe into the life science industry. 44), which count as full-time employment-little assurance exists for degree holders, undergraduate or advanced, that the outlook for traditional tenure-track employment will improve. As one might imagine, many scientists and engineers have started to consider non-traditional career routes over traditional, academic paths. Unlike the stark academic S&E career landscape, many viable career paths can be found in industry.
With approximately 1.62 million workers employed by more than 73,000 companies nationally (Battelle/BIO State Bioscience Jobs, Investments, and Innovation 2014 report [https://www.bio.org/articles/battellebio-state-bio science-jobs-investments-and-innovation-2014]), the life science industry serves as an important economic driver in the United States. Bioscience companies rely heavily on cross-disciplinary workers with cross-functional skills to serve on interdisciplinary teams (4,5); these individuals and teams bolster individual company vitality, and by extension, they also strengthen the industry's continued growth (6). While technical proficiency in S&E areas often serves as a prerequisite for industry positions, companies also need workers who can link technical knowledge to business concepts associated with product and technology development and commercialization (e.g., intellectual property, regulatory pathways, finance, marketing) (4,7). This aspect of the industry can especially burden doctoral recipients seeking employment since academic training often promotes specialization over cross-disciplinarity early in the process.
Industry employers also desire experienced employees who apply key professional skills, including leadership, effective spoken and written communication, adaptability, time management, critical thinking, teamwork and project management proficiency, and an ability to build positive interpersonal relationships (4-7; The Coalition of State Bioscience Institutes -2016 Life Science Workforce Trends Report [http://www. csbioinstitutes.org/workforce-development]). Without such knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) desired by industry employers, transitioning from academe to industry can be very difficult. Unfortunately, traditional baccalaureate and graduate programs rarely offer the business and professional skill development, or relevant work experiences, demanded by industry, despite serving as a primary talent source for bioscience companies (4). Instead, traditional science curricula usually emphasize a combination of lecture-based coursework and laboratory experiences, but these learning strategies alone are insufficient to promote career readiness in industry or academe without coupling those strategies to development of the aforementioned professional skills (5,(8)(9)(10). Thus, these conventional approaches do not adequately serve the career needs of students who seek industry jobs.
To fill this training gap and establish a pipeline of scientists and mathematicians who possess valuable business and professional skills, the first Professional Science Master's (PSM) programs were launched in 1997. These non-thesis programs train students in a variety of fields of study, although biotechnology, environmental sciences, and biological sciences represent the predominant fields represented by active PSM programs. In response to the aforementioned training gap-and given the strong bioscience industry presence in the Research Triangle Park (RTP) area-Microbiology faculty at North Carolina State University launched a PSM in 2003: the Master of Microbial Biotechnology (MMB) (9).
Like their counterparts in many other PSM programs, MMB students pursue advanced STEM training in a variety of areas (e.g., biomanufacturing, molecular biology, and statistics) while simultaneously developing business and professional KSA highly valued by the bioscience industry. Also like other PSMs, our program exposes students to an environment that emphasizes active and cooperative learning through team-based project work. Most PSM programs require completion of a single internship in a business or public sector institution while a few also require a final team or project experience; these features replace the master's thesis and allow students to acquire industry-specific work experience. Unlike those in other PSM programs, our students complete additional work in industry to enhance their ability to land jobs with bioscience companies.
We discuss here how these curricular features improve employment opportunities, increase job readiness, and better prepare students in general for industry careers than a strategy emphasizing completion of a single internship or more traditional approaches. This approach might serve as a useful model for conventional STEM and other PSM programs to better position undergraduate and graduate students for industry careers.

DISCUSSION
Work experience is a key feature offered to employers by job seekers, and companies will undoubtedly favor applicants with a robust and relevant set of job experiences over those without. College students are often at a disadvantage in this regard since financial, academic, and other constraints can impair or preclude their ability to gain work experience while simultaneously completing degree requirements. In response to this gap, some applied programs offer course credit for completion of internships to increase student participation in career opportunities that might not otherwise be feasible.
The efficacy of internships is often debated in popular media but peer-reviewed empirical evidence is scarce. Nevertheless, internships offer undeniable benefits. They allow students to evaluate host companies as future employment prospects, and vice versa. In a broader sense, internships can also allow students to identify if a particular job role or industry sector represents a strong fit for their career needs. Internships can further provide an opportunity to transfer knowledge in a non-academic setting, thereby showing students how classroom information practically applies to the professional world. Additionally, well-structured internship programs can position students for full-time employment Volume 18, Number 1 after graduation, either with the host company or with another employer.
Broad development in both technical and collaborative skills (e.g., communication and teamwork) will strongly transfer into a variety of industry positions; ideal internships will offer training in both. Conversely, narrowly focused internships that emphasize only technical skills development might not provide an experience that translates well outside of the respective technical area or company. Ideal experiences will also directly connect to a student's academic training, but as with direct conversion into employment, ideal outcomes cannot be guaranteed. Several PSMs, including the MMB program, require completion of separate capstone projects to fill this potential gap, but students might nevertheless need more extensive work histories to elevate their candidacy in an increasingly competitive job market.
For these reasons, MMB students complete not only an internship and a capstone project, but also three semester-long, team-based practicum projects in collaboration with local bioscience companies. Practicum projects essentially serve as team-based internships that present students with actual problems faced by bioscience companies. As a result, students collect not one or two, but five industry-specific work experiences during their graduate training. The projects and other activities associated with the project course afford students added industry exposure while further developing important KSA, and these can be structured to include specific features that are often difficult to ensure for internships, including teamwork, oral presentations, written deliverables, and direct application of instructional content.
As described in detail elsewhere (9, 10), each practicum project spans a fifteen-week semester, during which students are placed into teams paired with a local bioscience company. Host companies change each semester to expose students to different firms, to the various real-world problems engaged by different bioscience companies, and to industry-specific functional areas. Students perform project work mostly outside of class since instructional time is devoted primarily to guest presentations and additional professional skill development. Multiple opportunities occur throughout each semester to evaluate student performance through alternative assessment forms (e.g., observation of performance tasks, interviews, peer evaluations).
The percentage of MMB graduates since 2010 who are currently employed (86%; our unpublished data) is higher than national employment levels for undergraduate and master's recipients (64.5% and 79.2% employment, respectively) (3 -Figures 4, 6). National PSM employment data is scarce, but in 2014, the PSM National Office reported 86% employment for PSM graduates nationally (11 -page 17). Unfortunately, data that allow for more direct comparisons between the MMB program and other similar PSM programs has not been made available.
Also since 2010, 40% percent of MMB alumni gained employment prior to graduation, while 53% of those who sought employment immediately following graduation found it within six months and approximately 7% of alumni required longer than six months to do so; to our knowledge, national PSM data has not been reported for this dimension of employment. Nearly 90% of MMB graduates transition into industry careers; a small proportion pursue other degrees and outcomes in academe. The PSM National Office reported in its 2014 survey that only 50% of PSM graduates were working in industry (11 -Table 18).
Approximately 30% of all MMB graduates hold laboratory-based positions in industry that require technical skills, including KSA pertaining to current good manufacturing and laboratory practices (our unpublished data). As described in detail elsewhere (9, 10), MMB practicum projects often emphasize evaluation of industry market segments, commercialization strategies, and technology features rather than direct performance of technical skills. MMB students acquire technical skills through completion of laboratory-based coursework, and some MMB students also choose to complete internships that favor development of laboratory-based or manufacturing technical skill. For alumni who started in laboratory-based positions, individual alumni survey responses (not presented here) suggest that internships, rather than MMB project work, directly impact acquisition of laboratory or manufacturing technical skills, but project work does significantly enhance development of other professional skills important for technical positions (e.g., teamwork, communication).
Information collected from life science professionals in the Research Triangle Park region (Appendix 1) showed us that team collaboration skills are highly important for employment. Adaptability followed teamwork as the next most important skill identified, followed by spoken communication, critical analysis, written communication, building positive interpersonal relationships, time management, project management proficiency, and leadership capability, respectively. Moreover, RTP professionals largely reported that these "soft" skills are as important as technical skills for job selection and career advancement. Students who effectively demonstrate these skills will more likely land industry jobs and experience career success than those who do not. We thus incorporate and assess skill development in these areas at the end of the internship period and at numerous points in the practicum project process during each semester of the project class.
Students also need exposure to a variety of industry areas and companies to better understand the culture and infrastructure of industry companies; MMB practicum projects provide this by incorporating a variety of industry sectors and companies (9,10). Most MMB alumni report that they were asked about KSA associated with their practicum projects during interviews for both the internship and the first post-graduation job held (Appendix 2), which establishes that project experience was considered for those positions. Alumni largely agree that KSA from projects enhanced their ability to secure an internship, to land their first job, and to perform their initial job duties. Indeed, a majority of alumni reported that project KSA, in general, eased their transition to industry. We also routinely ask alumni to consider the impact of the internship experience on landing the first post-graduation job; nearly half indicated that the internship played a more significant role than practicum projects, and almost all alumni respondents reported that the internship, in general, eased their transition into industry. Alumni responses largely indicate that practicum projects and the internship both directly enhanced their ability to gain employment after graduating from the MMB program. Taken together, information collected from MMB alumni indicates to us that the MMB experience produces strong employment outcomes and we attribute those outcomes largely to the increased number of industry-specific work experiences offered to our students.

CONCLUSION
Change must occur at all academic levels to better serve the needs of STEM students who desire industry careers. These changes should involve actions that not only improve likelihood of employment but also increase confidence, enable new hires to become fully functional employees soon after the job start, and enhance career advancement. Completing several industry work experiences, including an internship, during the course of an academic program will more likely result in these outcomes than other approaches that emphasize a single work experience will, and certainly more so than traditional approaches to STEM education do.
Of course, academic programs must do more than merely require completion of these exercises. Program faculty and administrators must ensure that students indeed develop and strengthen the KSA desired by industry professionals during each experience. Some companies lack sufficient resources to develop internships that meet such demands; embedding these features in the experience can prove difficult. Practicum project work, however, can be structured to address gaps left open by an internship. This approach also provides administrators and instructors more control over student evaluation as it pertains to job readiness.
Doctoral S&E recipients may be most likely to benefit from such an approach. While undergraduate and master's degree holders remain somewhat insulated from the challenging academic job market, the starker academic career landscape for doctorate holders is unlikely to improve. Despite NSF data that show increasing interest by doctoral recipients in industry careers, they are woefully underprepared by traditional academic curricula for industry jobs. Opportunities for professional development outside their area of specialization but specific to industry will undoubtedly improve industry employment outcomes for doctoral recipients.
Although additional studies, in the RTP and other areas, are needed to determine the impact of local and regional bioscience economies on employment, we have nevertheless observed that practicum projects and internships influence initial employment and job-related confidence in a positive manner. From our perspective, an internship alone will not develop the KSA desired by industry companies. A process combining an internship with completion of several practicum projects appears to exert the strongest impact on these outcomes, and we intentionally structure the practicum project process, along with other features of our program, to ensure that the aforementioned training gaps are filled. We strongly urge other STEM-training programs to gather data and publish employment information for their graduates so that more comprehensive analysis of employment outcomes can be performed. We further encourage other STEM-training institutions to offer students not only industry-specific internships but also team-based project work completed in an industry environment to build desired KSA and work experience.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
Appendix 1: Bioscience industry professionals survey responses Appendix 2: MMB alumni survey responses


Using Mathematical Procedure to Compute the Attenuation Coefficient in Spectrometry Field

In gamma-ray spectrometry, the analysis of the environmental radioactivity samples (soil, sediment and ash of a living organism) needs to know the linear attenuation coeffi cient of the sample matrix. This coeffi cient is required to calculate the self-absorption correction factor through the sample bulk. In addition, these parameters are very important because the unidentifi ed samples can be different in the composition and density from the reference liquid sources which are usually used for effi ciency calibration in the radioactive monitoring process. The present work is essentially concerned to introduce a mathematical method to calculate the linear attenuation coeffi cient without using any collimator. This method was based mainly on the calculations of the effective solid angle subtended by the source-to-the detector confi gurations, the effi ciency transfer technique and the average path lengths through the samples itself. The method can be used as a tool for the calculation of the linear attenuation coeffi cient of unidentifi ed materials with good facility to use it in the calibration process of γ-ray detectors, particularly in the study of soil samples. The results are compared with the data from NIST-XCOM to show how much the results are in close agreement and to give the validity of the approach. Case Report Using Mathematical Procedure to Compute the Attenuation Coeffi cient in Spectrometry Field Mohamed Elsafi 1, Mona M Gouda1, Mohamed S Badawi1,2*, Abouzeid A Thabet3, Ahmed M El-Khatib1, Mahmuod I Abbas1 and Kholud S Almugren4 1Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, 21511 Alexandria, Egypt 2Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Beirut Arab University, Beirut, Lebanon 3Department of Medical Equipment Technology, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Pharos University in Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt 4Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahaman University, 11544-55532 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia *Address for Correspondence: Mohamed S Badawi, Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, 21511 Alexandria, Egypt, Tel: +201005154976; Email: ms241178@hotmail.com Submitted: 19 December 2016 Approved: 03 February 2017 Published: 06 February 2017 Copyright: 2017 Elsafi M, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

INTRODUCTION
Relative measurement for the radioactivity analysis of environmental samples can be used as a typical technique of gamma-ray spectrometry. It is adopted to measure the radioactivity by applying the ef iciency of the detector obtained through volumetric sources that are made of liquid standard gamma sources. Typically, volumetric sources are made by considering the geometry of the samples. However, it is dif icult to consider the difference in chemical composition and density between standard volumetric sources and samples under investigation because there are various kinds of samples such as soil, sediment and ash of a living organism. The difference in the self-attenuation of the gamma-ray photon inside the source and sample materials should be considered in the analysis. It is caused by absorption and scattering of the gamma-ray in the samples and sources [1], and leads to incorrect measurement of radioactivity by more than 20%, especially for samples emitting low energy gamma lines [2][3][4]. Correcting this effect makes a more accurate analysis possible; therefore, the correction of difference in self-attenuation between the volumetric sources and the environmental samples is necessary in gamma-ray spectrometry.
The Source self-attenuation factor depends on the linear attenuation coef icient, which de ined as the probability per unit path length that the gamma-ray photon is removed from the beam [1]. When chemical composition of the samples is known, this coef icient can be calculated by using the photon cross sections data base [5]. There is one method for determining the linear attenuation coef icient under the assumption that the density of the sample in which a collimated narrow beam is used [6][7][8][9][10] is uniform. However, this method is dif icult to be carried out in a typical laboratory because of high radioactivity of sources prices and the requirement of a large space for the devices. In this study, a cone beam was utilized, not equipped with the collimator, and a complete geometric con iguration was modeled mathematically.
In the present work, a new mathematical method used to calculate the linear attenuation coef icient by using the source-to-detector con iguration and integration solutions. In this method gamma-ray point sources (special kind of Plexiglas vials with diameters smaller than the diameter of the detector crystal) were used. This vial was illed with reference sample materials of [NaCl, Na 2 CO 3 and (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 ], which are similar to the densities of the environmental samples [soil, sediment and ash of a living organism].

MATHEMATICAL TREATMENT
Based on the direct mathematical method [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], a new theoretical approach was introduced to determine the detector ef iciency by the use of isotropic radiating axialpoint sources located at different heights from the cylindrical detector upper surface. This method depends on the accurate analytical calculation of the average path length covered by the photon inside the detector active volume and the effective solid angle Ω eff . This work is considered to be the best case of the mathematical expressions of the previous work presented at [17], where the volume of the other samples vials and the source positions were effected on the linear attenuation coef icient calculations, showing unlike behavior based on the change of the effective solid angle and the detector ef iciency.
The attenuation factor f att , is due to the detector dead layer, detector end-cap, the absorber between the source-to-detector space and the side and bottom of the sample container material, which are described for the absorber layers with attenuation coef icients μ 1, μ 2 …μ n , and relevant thicknesses t 1 , t 2 …t n , between the source-detector system given by: . att lay cap where,  lay and  cap are the attenuation coef icients of dead layer and end cap respectively, while  lay and  cap are the path length traveled by a photon through the dead layer and the end cap respectively. In addition, μ d is the attenuation coef icient of the detector crystal, μ s is the attenuation coef icient of the sample and μ v is the attenuation coef icient of the vial material, while y 1 , y 2 and y 3 are the path lengths through the sample container material top, side and the bottom respectively and can given by: The angles θ 1 up to θ 4 are the expressions of the polar angles based on the source and detector arrangement as shown in igure (1) and it can give by: According to igure (1) the incident photon path lengths throught the detector crystal may have two possible expressions as the following: The general de inition for the average path length x  traveled by the photons through the sample material can be given by: Where θ and φ, are the polar and the azimuthal angles respectively and de ine the direction of the incidence photons, while Ω, is the geometrical solid angle subtended between the source and the detector and can be given by: The possible average path length traveled by the photon within the sample material with radius R s and height L s , for using an isotropic radiating axial point source located at a distance h, from the surface of the vial as as shown in igure (1) and can be given as: The effective solid angle based on equation (1) can be calculated according to three different cases: 1-In case, there is no vial in between the source-to-detector arrangement and de ined as Ω Free (Reference position).
2-In case, there is an empty vial in between the source-to-detector arrangement and de ine as Ω Empty (The self attaenuation equal zero).
3-In case, there is a vial busy with sample in between the source-to-detector arrangement and de ine as Ω Busy (Included self-attenuation).
In addition ε 1 , and ε 2 , are the calculated detection ef iciencies at the same conditions using the principle of the ef iciency transfer method in the case of the vial was empty and busy with the sample. This calculated full-energy peak ef iciency can be calculated by using the following equation: & .

Empty Busy
Free Free Where ε * is called the reference experimental full-energy peak ef iciency while, Ω Free is called the effective solid angle subtended by the source and the detector crystal at the reference position. Also Ω Empty , and Ω Busy , are the effective solid angles in the presence of empty and illed vial with sample material at the same geometrical conditions. Hence, the effective solid angle ratio can be expressed as: Also, ε and ε o are the measured ef iciencies of the detector at the same conditions as ε 1 , and ε 2 .
The last equation can show a simple method to calculate the linear attenuation coef icient, which can be easily determined experimentally or theoretically based on the average path length of the photon through the sample material and can be given by:

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Sources that have been used in this process are point sources like 241 Am, 133 Ba, 152 Eu, 137 Cs, 60 Co. The radioactive substance is a very thin, compact grained layer applied to a circular area about 5 mm in diameter, in the middle of the source between two polyethylene foils and each having a mass per unit area of (21.3±1.8) mg⋅cm -2 . By heating under pressure, the two foils are welded together over the whole area so that they are leak-proofed. The coaxial HPGe spectrometry from Canberra model GC1520 of volume 100 cm 3 approximately with wide energy range from 40 keV to >10 MeV to detect the gamma-rays. The detector cold inger was placed in cryostat model 7500SL. The main technical features were provided by the company are: the crystal diameter and length were 48 mm and 54.5 mm respectively. In addition, as shown in igure (1), the end cap to the crystal distance, VG, was 5 mm, the entrance window, EC th , was 1.5 mm of Al and the dead layer, DL was 0.5 mm of Ge. The detector relative ef iciency was 15% and the resolution (FWHM) at 1.33 MeV of 60 Co was 1.85 keV.
Environmental samples that has been used to study the linear attenuation coef icient are Sodium Chloride (NaCl), Sodium Carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ) and Ammonium Sulphate ((NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 ) and their densities are 1.394, 1.297 and 1.157 g/cm3 respectively, which are similar to the densities of the environmental samples. These samples were kept in a vial of known geometry. The vials made from Plexiglas of density 1.19 g/cm 3 , sample vial is shown in igure 2 with cross sectional drawing and dimensions. The data acquisition and spectrum control were done by PC through USB port depend on spectrum acquisition and analysis software (ISO 9001 Genie 2000). The acquisition time was as long as required to get high and enough counts under each peak of interest with a statistical uncertainty less than 1%. The peak itting is performed using a Gaussian shape without a low energy tail for germanium spectra. In order to prevent the dead time, the pile up effects and the coincidence summing effects, the large sourceto-detector axial distance was considered from the detector end cap. The sources were kept ixed at 26.40 cm in the measurement geometry from the detector end cap.
The measured full-energy peak ef iciency of a photon with energy E, can be determined by using the following equation: where N(E), is de ined as the number of counts in the full-energy peak at time, T in seconds, P(E) is the emission probability at energy E, A S is the activity of the calibration source and C i , is called the correction factor due to half-life time of the used element, also C d , is the decay correction for the calibration source from the reference time to time of measurement (ΔT) and it is given as equation (14) by knowing the decay constant λ: The uncertainty values in the experimental full energy peak ef iciency, σ ɛ , can be calculated as the following: Where σ A , σ P and σ N, are the uncertainties associated with the quantities A S , P (E) and N (E), respectively. Figure 3 contains a comparison between the online database of the reference (XCOM), the calculated and the measured linear attenuation coef icient, where the measured values of the linear attenuation coef icient were determined depending on the ratio of the measured ef iciency in the equation (11) and the average path distance in equation (9) traveled by the photon inside the sample materials [Sodium Chloride (NaCl), Sodium Carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ) and Ammonium Sulphate ((NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 ) and their densities are 1.394, 1.297 and 1.157 g/cm3 respectively].

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The same igures included the deviation percentage between the XCOM and the measured linear attenuation coef icient values is Δ 1 %. Also Δ 2 % is the deviation percentage between the XCOM and the calculated linear attenuation coef icient values, based on the following equations, respectively: The variation of the calculated linear attenuation coef icient of the three samples as a function of the photon energy is presented as shown in igure 4. The results show the feasibility of the mathematical model within a small difference with the experimental values, where the linear attenuation coef icient for the various photon interaction process at the start is high and then decreases sharply with increases the photon energy up to 100 keV for all the selected composite materials, this is due to a dominance the three main processes of incident photon energies. The values of the calculated and the measured linear attenuation coef icients are in close agreement with an online database of the reference linear attenuation coef icient from (XCOM) related to the calculated deviation percentage values. Therefore, it can be applied to determine the linear attenuation coef icient of any type of samples.
The linear attenuation coef icients were plotted as a function of effective solid angle at a certain gamma-ray energy of 59.5 keV as an example and can be described as shown in igure 5. From attenuation values, it is found that it is strongly depends on the density of the sample matrix.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the detectors were used simply without a collimator and applied in a typical laboratory work to determine the linear attenuation coef icient in environmental samples. The experimental method was modeled mathematically by the direct mathematical method and excluding the coherent scattering coef icient of the samples and the detector stuff. This method was veri ied under the assumption that the density is uniform in the cylindrical sample. The deviation percentages show the possibility of the method was within ̴ 5%. The method could be practical and assist the unskilled technicians in the usual measurements of gamma-ray spectrometry for unfamiliar samples as a cheap and useful method.


Transmission System of Go-Kart

Go-kart, by definition, has no suspension and no differential. They are usually raced on scaled down tracks, but are sometimes driven as entertainment or as a hobby by non-professionals. 'Carting is commonly perceived as the stepping stone to the higher and more expensive ranks of motor sports. Kart racing is generally accepted as the most economic form of motor sport available. As a free-time activity, it can be performed by almost anybody and permitting licensed racing for anyone from the age of 8 onwards. Kart racing is usually used as a low-cost and relatively safe way to introduce drivers to motor racing. Many people associate it with young drivels, but adults are also very active in karting. Karting is considered as the first step in any serious racer's career. It can prepare the driver for highs-speed wheel-to-wheel racing by helping develop guide reflexes, Precision car control and decision-making skills. In addition, it brings an awareness of the various parameters that can be altered to try to improve the competitiveness of the kart that also exist in other forms of motor racing.

I. INTRODUCTION
A transmission is a device or machine that consists of power source and power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Often the term transmission refers simply to the gear box that uses gears and gear trains to provide speed and torque conversion from a rotating power source to another machine device. The dynamics of a car vary with speed: at low speeds, acceleration is limited by the inertia of vehicular gross mass; while at cruising or maximum speeds wind resistance is the dominant barrier. When changing gear, The engine torque is transferred from one gear to the other continuously, so providing gentle, smooth gear changes without either losing power or jerking the vehicle.

A. Goals
The main function of a transmission system is to ensure uninterrupted movement of the wheels with help of motor. The hope for the transmission system to be design was To achieve maximum possible speed using gears.  To achieve maximum torque at the starting and continues.  With a possible extent, to reduce the major and minor power losses.  Selecting of components carefully to avoid the power losses and to overcome the above view.  To achieve high torque at low rpm.  To achieve high efficiency.

B. Engine Selection
An engine of a go-kart is usually a small one. About l00-200cc.so this kart, we use a BAJAJ PULSAR Single Cylinder 135cc 4-stroke petrol engine, which produces about 13 BHP of power at 9000 rpm. We use 4-stroke engine because this is used for racing and good mileage also. We choose the BAJAJ PULSAR 135 cc engine according to comparisons with other scooters.

A. Introduction 1) Selection
Tires are the important part which takes the load of the vehicle and provides tractive forces to move the vehicle thorough survey was made on the availability of different tires suitable for a go kart. It was decided to use standard go kart traded tires which available in the market which provide better traction on dry and wet conditions. The rear tires are wider and bigger in diameter than the front tires as the load is biased towards the rear and to minimize rolling resistance.
B. Goals  To provide maximum grip at the tires.  To transmit power from the shaft to the rear wheels with minimal power loss.
C. Front wheel assembly Front wheel assembly comprises of hubs, and wheels. The arms are connected to the hub which is connected to the wheels which is welded on to the chassis. The fixture provides adjustability in caster angle. The dimensions are so chosen that there is no interference between the steering components and the chassis in the dynamic condition. The 3D simulation of the steering mechanism was done in the solid works The dimensions and the inclination of the steering link are so chosen that it adheres to the kinematics of steering designed. It is designed to accommodate the wheel hub and a positive stop is provided to secure the hub in place.

V. CONCLUSION
In this work, a detailed methodology of the virtual design and testing has been presented including the reasoning of using the materials used for the fabrication of the chassis and axle. Also, the reasoning of fabrication of new chassis design of go-kart which is different than the chassis design of the standard Go-Kart has been given and proven. Even if the entire process of design and testing proposed has shown interesting results but methodology must be still validated through dynamic experimental tests. This will allow the creation of mathematical model completely defined and validated, giving the basis of future developments regarding the optimization process of go-kart performance.


extfieldsofstudy:
Computer Science
Psychology

text:
The Role of Perceived Relevance and Attention in Teachers’ Attitude and Intention to Use Educational Video Games

Educational video games (EVGs) are becoming a trending topic in education as a new teaching methodology which can help teachers to increase students’ attention and engagement during the learning process. Nevertheless, despite an increasing academic interest in EVGs little research has been devoted to delve into teacher’s beliefs affecting their attitude towards EVGs and how these beliefs also affect their intention to use EVGs in their courses. Using Keller’s ARCS model as a theoretical framework, the role of perceived relevance and attention in teachers’ attitude and intention to use EVGs is analyzed. To do so a research model is tested using a sample of 312 Higher Education teachers via structural equation modeling to predict teachers’ attitude and behavioral intention to use EVGs in their courses. Results suggest that perceived attention drawn by EVGs is a factor affecting teachers’ intentions to use EVGs in their courses. Perceived relevance was not found to affect directly neither attitude nor intention to use while teachers’ perceived attention was found to affect teachers’ perceived relevance of EVGs. Limitations of the study, implications for managers, and future research lines are addressed at the end of the paper. Keywords—Educational video games, Higher Education, Intention to Use, Relevance. 154 http://www.i-jet.org Paper—The Role of Perceived Relevance and Attention in Teachers’ Attitude and Intention to Use Edu...

The gamification of education and educational videogames (EVGs)
Gamification has been defined by Deterding et al. [1, p. 9] as 'the use of game design elements in non-game contexts' and is attracting interest among teachers as a way to increase students' attention and engagement during the learning process. Game elements and game dynamics are now widely used in areas such as business, healthcare or entertainment in a context that has been described by Deterding et al. [1] as the ludification of culture. Education is one of such areas in which the interest for gamification is gaining momentum. In fact, research on gamification published in top academic journals has increased times five over the last five years [2]. The gamification of education has been defined as 'the use of game elements in a learning environment' [3, p. 3] and extant literature shows that gamification has been used in a wide range of areas and subjects including energy education [4], veterinary education [5], citizenship education [6] or nanotechnology education [7]. Extant literature suggests that especially educational video games (EVGs) represent a promising tool in gamification. Among the reasons that have been pointed out for the use of video games in education is that EVGs may be appealing and motivating for the new generations of students that have grown up in the age of video games [8]. It is assumed that the elements that make video games fun along with the nature of games themselves are intrinsically motivating [9] so applying game elements to the classroom may increase students' intrinsic motivation to learn [10]. The use of video games can also improve students' engagement and learning outcomes [11] and can be used to tailor difficulty progression that facilitates scaffolded instruction based on each individual student's needs [10]. Video games offer a visual display of progress -e.g. badges- [12] and give students the freedom to fail without fear when learning [13]. Trial-anderror process which makes mistakes recoverable can also be favoured by games [10].
Van Eck [14] summarizes the use of video games in education in three main strategies: a) the use of commercial off-the-shelf videogames (COTS) that take advantage of the existence of contents in these games that can be used for educational purposes, b) the use of serious games -a type of video games developed with non-recreational purposes where learning is the primary goal-, and c) to make students build their own games allowing the development of problem-solving abilities, programming skills, and game design skills. Examples of the use of commercial off-the-shelf videogames include the use of a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) such as World of Warcraft to increase students' social competence [15] or the use of SimCity to strengthen leadership decision-making [16] and RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 to support student learning of systems thinking [17]. Serious games have been defined as "video games (VGs) intended to serve a useful purpose" [18, p. 207] where the useful purpose is learning. Examples of the use of serious games include Blokify which was developed to enhanced students' competencies related to three-dimensional figures and their bidimensional representation by the standard views and perspective [19]. Other examples of serious games are ETIOBE Mates which was developed to improve children's nutritional knowledge [20] and ECOPET which was developed to educate learners to use home-energy conservatively [21]. Finally, one example of making students to build their own video games as part of their learning process is the case provided by Yang and Chang [22] where students designed digital games based on biology course content to increase retention of both course content and critical thinking skills.

Teachers' motivational drivers to use EVGs
Most of previous research on EVGs has focused in analysing the effectiveness of EVGs to achieve different learning outcomes (for a meta-analytic review see: [23], [24]). There are few studies that have explored factors driving teachers' attitude and behavioural intention to use EVGs in their courses. Nevertheless, teachers are key agents in the teaching-learning process [25] and teachers play a key role in introducing pedagogical innovations in the classroom, especially technology-related innovations [26]- [27] such as EVGs. Therefore gaining a deeper knowledge of teachers' attitude and behavioural intention to use EVGs will help managers of Higher Education institutions to better design Teacher Training Programs aiming to encourage teachers using EVGs in their courses.
This study is focused on two potential drivers of teachers' attitude and behavioural intention to use EVGs: i) teachers' beliefs about the capacity of gamification to draw students' attention to the learning materials (attention), and ii) teachers' perceived relevance of EVGs to deliver learning content (relevance).
This paper structures as follows: firstly, we present the research objectives. Secondly, we review Keller's ARCS model [28] to posit the hypotheses and the research model. Thirdly, we present the method used and the results. Finally, we address discussion, conclusions, managerial implications, limitations of the study and future research lines.

Objectives
The main objective of this study is to fill a research gap in the academic literature on gamification related to EVGs. More specifically we focused on the effect of two motivational drivers (attention and relevance) on teachers' attitude and behavioural intention to use EVGs. The specific objectives of our research are as follows: • To test the effect of attention and relevance on teachers' attitude towards EVGs.
• To test the effect of attention and relevance on teachers' behavioral intention to use EVGs in their courses. • To test the effect of attention on teachers' perceived relevance of EVGs.
• To test the effect of teachers' attitude towards EVGs on teachers' behavioral intention to use EVGs in their courses.

Keller's ARCS model
Keller's ARCS model [28] is one of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation used in education. In fact the ARCS model has been broadly used to evaluate and design instructional programs' motivational stimuli [29]- [30]- [31]- [32]. It has been suggested that Keller's ARCS model should become the standard by which the game increases learning motivation [33] and Keller's ARCS model has been previously tested in computer-based learning [34] and gamification contexts [35]- [36]- [37]. Therefore, it is widely accepted that Keller's ARCS model is suitable to investigate motivational issues in gamification contexts [38].
As all motivation theories, Keller's ARCS model assumes that individuals are motivated to the extent that their behavior is expected to lead to desired outcomes [39]. The expected outcome is derived from the expectancy-value theory [40]- [41] which assumes that people are motivated to engage in an activity "if it is perceived to be linked to the satisfaction of personal needs (the value aspect), and if there is a positive expectancy for success (the expectancy aspect)" [28, p. 3]. Human behavior is then "a compound function of perceived probability for success (expectancy) and perceived impact of the success (value)" [42]. Motivation is therefore a result of an interaction between a situation and an individual and "it is premised on an individual's desire for change, which is situationally driven" [35, p. 271]. Keller's ARCS model uses a multidimensional approach to measure the motivational drivers of individuals focusing on: i) attention, ii) relevance, iii) confidence (control), and iv) satisfaction. The relevance of teaching materials in students' future performance and the capacity of teaching materials to draw students' attention are considered key factor in the learning process.

Relevance and attitude
Relevance indicates both the process and the value of the learning content to the learner [28]. Relevance does not have to come just from the content itself but also from the way something is taught [28]. We conceptualize relevance as teachers' beliefs that gamification will provide learning value to students and that value comes both from materials used and the way the learning content is taught (gamification approach). The relationship between perceived value (relevance) and attitude has a long tradition in the expectancy-value theory [40]- [41]. Therefore we posit the following hypothesis: H1: teachers' perceived relevance of EVGs will positively affect teachers' attitude towards EVGs.

Attention and attitude
Keller's ARCS model assumes that media can moderate learners' attention and curiosity, this is, different media can increase attention and curiosity in different degree. Drawing attention to the learning materials (e.g. novelty in innovative learning materials such as gamified activities) might therefore increase students' motivation to learn. From a teachers-focused approach we conceptualize attention as teachers' beliefs that gamification will help them to draw learners' attention to the learning materials. Players´ attention in game-based learning has been found to be correlated to learning effects [43]. In a study conducted by Wang [44] using Kahoot! students reported that they got more engaged in the lecture "when it was spiced up with something fun and exciting that made it possible to keep or re-establish the attention" [44, p. 224]. We assume that if teachers perceive that gamification has positive learning outcomes in their students this belief will affect teachers' attitude towards gamification. Therefore the following hypothesis is posited: H2: teachers' beliefs of EVGs capacity to draw students' attention will positively affect teachers' attitude towards EVGs.

Attention and relevance
As far as we know no previous research has tested the relationship between attention and relevance in the ARCS framework. We assume that teachers' beliefs of gamification capacity to draw students' attention to the learning materials and activities will affect teachers' perceived relevance of gamification in their courses because the capacity of drawing students' attention in the learning process is a desirable outcome for teachers. Therefore, the following hypothesis is posit: H3: teachers' beliefs of EVGs capacity to draw students' attention will affect teachers' perceived relevance of EVGs.

Attention and intention to use
Previous research has found that gamified learning draw learners' attention and was a strong predictor for learning achievement [35]. We assume that teachers' beliefs that gamification has a positive effect in attracting students' attention will affect teachers' intention to use gamification in their courses. Therefore, the following hypothesis is posit: H4: teachers' beliefs of gamification capacity to draw students' attention will affect teachers' intention to use gamification.

Relevance and intention to use
To the best of our knowledge no previous research has tested the effect of perceived relevance on behavioural intentions. We assume that teachers' perception of EVGs relevance on students learning outcomes, this is, using EVGs will benefit their learning outcomes, will lead teachers to show a positive behavioural intention to use EVGs. Therefore, the following hypothesis is posit: H5: teachers' perceived relevance of EVGs has a positive influence on teachers' behavioural intention to use EVGs in their courses.

Attitude and intention to use
Attitude is the result of individual beliefs concerning the behaviour, the results of that behaviour, and the importance attached to such beliefs. Social psychology literature clearly suggests that attitude has two components: affective and cognitive [45]- [46]. The affective component in attitude refers to how much a person likes the object of his thoughts [47] and measures the degree of emotional attraction to the object. The cognitive component refers to an individual's specific beliefs about the object [45] and consists in a value-based assessment, judgment, reception or perception of the object [46]. Behavioural intention is defined as `an individual's subjective probability that he or she will perform a specified behaviour´ [48, p. 288] and is a better predictor of actual behaviour than attitude when an intention has been formed [49]. Literature review clearly shows a direct and positive relation between a person´s attitude towards an object or behaviour and that person's behaviour [50]. Previous research also suggest that attitude to use is a key factor influencing technology adoption behaviour [51]- [52]- [53] so the following hypothesis is posited: H6: teachers' positive attitude towards EVGs has a positive influence on teachers' behavioural intention to use EVGs in their courses.  Hypotheses and Research model

Participants
A total of 312 teachers serving in Higher Education institutions were contacted via email and completed the online questionnaire. The age of the participants ranges between 26 and 65 years, with an average age of 42.8 years old while 52.4% of the respondents are males.

Procedure and measurement instrument
Data was gathered through an online questionnaire. Snowball sampling [54]- [55] was used for selection of respondents in this study. Although snowball sampling is unlikely to obtain a representative sample because there is no real control of the snowball effect [56] this form of sampling is often used in online questionnaires to target hard-to-reach population subgroups [57]. All items used to develop the questionnaire were adapted from existing scales: five items were adapted from [35] to measure attention; three items were adapted from [35] to measure relevance; three items were adapted from [58] to measure attitude towards gamification; and three items were adapted from [59] to measure intention to use gamification. All questionnaire items were measured using a 5-point Likert-type scale where (1) = strongly disagree, and (5) = strongly agree.
Before testing the hypotheses, the psychometric properties of the measurement instrument were assessed. Tables 1 and 2 show the results for measurement model reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Indicators demonstrate the high internal consistency of the constructs. In each case, Cronbach's alpha [60] exceeded Nunnally and Bernstein's [61] recommendation of .70. Composite reliability represents the shared variance among a set of observed variables measuring an underlying construct [62]. Generally, a composite reliability of at least .70 is considered desirable [63]. This requirement is met for every factor. Average variance extracted (AVE) was also calculated for each construct, resulting in AVEs greater than .50 [62]. As evidence of convergent validity, results indicate that all items are significantly (p<.01) related to their hypothesized factors, and the size of all the standardized loadings are higher than .60 [63].
Evidence for discriminant validity of the measures ( Table 2) was tested checking that the shared variance between pairs of constructs was always less than the corresponding AVE [62]. We also apply the criterion proposed by Henseler, Ringle and Sarstedt [64] according to which the HTMT ratio should be lower than .90. No special problems arise. On the basis of these criteria, we concluded that the measures in the study provided sufficient evidence of reliability, convergent and discriminant validity.   Table 3 shows the results of the estimation of the research model. Results indicate that attention influences attitude in a significant and positive way (H2; ! = 0.54; p <.01; Accepted). Results also indicate that attention influences relevance in a significant and positive way (H3; ! = 0.83; p <.01; Accepted). Attention also influences intention to use in a significant and positive way (H4; ! = 0.81; p <.01; Accepted). Relevance was not found to influence attitude towards gamification (H1; ! = 0.14; p <.01; Rejected) nor intention (H5; ! = 0.01; p >.05; Rejected). Attitude was found to significantly influence intention (H6; ! = 0.58; p <.01; Accepted)

Discussion
The results of this study suggest the important role of attention both in attitude and intention to use EVGs. Broadly speaking, teachers believing that EVGs can be used to draw students' attention have a positive attitude towards EVGs and also have intention to use EVGs. Attention also affects teachers' perceived relevance of EVGs, this is, teachers' beliefs in the capacity of EVGs to draw students' attention seem to affect teachers' perceived relevance of EVGs in their courses. Surprisingly teachers' perceived relevance was not found to affect neither teachers' attitude towards EVGs nor teachers' intention to use EVGs. Why teachers' perceived relevance of EVGs is not affecting their attitudes and behavioral intentions, as expected, deserves a deeper attention in future research. One possible explanation is that teachers found easier to value EVGs as an attention driver than as a relevant teaching methodology for students learning process. This finding alerts though a possible future risk for a spurious use of EVGs, this is, teachers will use EVGs just for driving students' attention to the learning material without really believing that EVGs can provide intrinsic learning value.

7
Conclusions, limitations and future research s gamification is attracting an increasing attention among teachers as a means to motivate and to engage students in their learning process more research is needed to better understand factors affecting teachers' attitude and intention to use EVGs in their courses. This study analyses two key factors in motivation to learning (attention and relevance) as antecedents of teachers' attitude towards EVGs and teachers' behavioral intention to use EVGs in their courses. Our results suggest that teachers' beliefs in EVGs capacity to draw students' attention play a key role in both teachers' attitude towards EVGs and teachers' behavioral intention to use EVGs in their courses. Moreover, attention also affects teachers' perceived relevance of EVGs in students learning process. These results suggest that a great attention must be paid to all design elements in EVGs as teachers seem to rely in EVGs as eye-catchers to gauge students' attention. Which EVGs design features are able to catch students' attention (for example, visual elements such as images or animations) deserves therefore further research. Game dynamics can also be used to draw students' attention, so future research should also delve into which game dynamics (for example, badges and rewards) can be more effectively used to draw students' attention. One surprising result of this study is that, unexpectedly, perceived relevance was not found to influence neither teachers' attitude towards EVGs nor teachers' intention to use EVGs. Maybe teachers' core beliefs regarding EVGs are that catching students' attention using EVGs will be enough to achieve positive learning outcomes but teachers are less confident in how EVGs per se are relevant as teaching materials to be successfully used with their students. Future research should focus on this EVGs for drawing students' attention versus EVGs as relevant teaching materials using a qualitative approach to better understand the underlying mechanisms shaping teachers' perceptions about EVGs real performance as teaching materials.
One main limitation of this study is the convenience sample used. Although a sample of 312 Higher Education institutions teachers is big enough for exploratory research the convenience sample used does not allow for generalization of our findings. Future research should use a representative sample of Higher Education institutions teachers in order to generalize these findings to the target population. It is well known that there are gender differences in video games attitude and usage so future research should analyze the moderating role of gender in both attitude towards EVGs and intention to use EVGs.


extfieldsofstudy:
Computer Science
Mathematics

text:
On the mathematics of beauty: beautiful music

In this paper, we will study the simplest kind of beauty that can be found in a simple piece of music and can be appreciated universally. The proposed approach shows that aesthetically appealing patterns deliver higher amount of information over multiple levels in comparison with less aesthetically appealing patterns when the same amount of energy is used. The proposed model is tested on a set of beautiful music pieces.


Abstract-The question of beauty has inspired philosophers and scientists for centuries, the study of aesthetics today is an active research area in many fields. In this paper, we will study the simplest kind of beauty that can be found in a simple piece of music and can be appreciated universally. The proposed model suggests that beautiful music is the result of an optimization process between randomness and regularity. Then we show that beautiful music delivers higher amount of information over multiple levels in comparison with less aesthetically appealing patterns when the same amount of energy is used. The proposed model is tested on a set of beautiful music pieces.
Index Terms-Evolutionary Art, Music Aesthetic Assessment, Information Theory.

I. INTRODUCTION
he study of aesthetics started with the works of ancient Greek and recently became an active research area in many fields. Predicting the aesthetic appeal of music is beneficial for a number of applications, such as retrieval and recommendation in multimedia systems. Recently, convolutional neural networks (CNN), which can automatically learn the aesthetic features have been applied to aesthetic quality assessment [8], [9], [10], and [11], promising results were reported. Neural networks have also been used in music composition, some early approaches include [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], and [19]. The development of a model of aesthetic judgement is also one of the major challenges in evolutionary art [20], [21], and [22] where only music of high aesthetic quality should be generated.
Birkhoff [23] proposed an information theory approach to aesthetics, he proposed a mathematical measure, where the measure of aesthetic quality M = O/C is in direct relation to the degree of order O, and in reverse relation to the complexity C. Eysenck [24], [25], and [26] suggested that the aesthetic measure function should be in a direct relation to complexity rather than an inverse relation M = O×C. Javid et al. [27] conducted a survey on the application of entropy to quantify order and complexity, they proposed a computational measure of complexity, the model is based on the information gain from specifying the spacial distribution of pixels and their uniformity and non-uniformity. Herbert Franke [28] argued that artists should produce a flow of information of about 16 bits per second for their works of art to be perceived as beautiful and harmonious.
Manaris et al. [29], Investigated Arnheim's view [30], [31], and [32] that artists tend to produce art which create a balance between chaos and monotony. They presented results of applying Zipf's Law to music. They created a large set of metrics based on Zipf's Law which measure the distribution of various parameters in music, such as pitch, duration, harmonic consonance, and melodic intervals. They applied these metrics to a large collection of music pieces, their results suggest that metrics based on Zipf's Law, capture essential aspect of proportion in music as it relates to music aesthetic. Simple Zipf metrics have a key limitation, they examine the music piece as a whole, and ignore potentially significant details. For example, sorting a piece's notes in different order of pitch would produce an unpleasant musical artefact, this artefact exhibits the same distribution as the original piece. Therefore Fractal metrics were used in [29] to handle the limitation of simple metric, the fractal metric will capture how many subdivisions of the piece exhibit the same distribution at many levels of granularity. For example, they recursively applied the simple pitch metric to the piece's half subdivisions, quarter subdivisions, etc. However, as stated by the authors, this condition is a necessary but not sufficient condition. In this paper we will propose a novel model to classify and generate beautiful music. The main contribution of this paper is showing that aesthetically appealing patterns deliver higher amount of information over multiple levels in comparison with less aesthetically appealing patterns when the same amount of energy is used. The paper is organised as follows: Section II describes the proposed model. The results are listed in Section III, and the paper is concluded in Section IV.

II. PROPOSED MODEL
In this paper, we will study the simplest kind of beauty that can be found in a short piece of music and can be appreciated universally. Our brain is able to classify very short piece of music and determine whether it is beautiful or not. Therefore, we will not study the whole pieces of music; we will only study the most aesthetically pleasing part of the piece. The most important aspect in identifying beautiful music is by studying the spacing or the transition pattern between different notes, i.e. the difference between the frequencies of successive notes. For simplicity, the frequencies of the studied pieces will be scaled down to a scale close to the human voice. By plotting the transition patterns of different beautiful pieces, a distribution similar to Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution shows up. Fig. 1 shows the distribution of the transitions of parts of three On the mathematics of beauty: beautiful music A. M. Khalili 1 T beautiful pieces. However the distribution alone cannot capture the spatial arrangement of the piece; therefore, we will use the multilevel approach to represent the spatial arrangement of the piece. If we take the following piece L1 = [120, 160, 170, 145], the values here represent the frequencies of the notes, the corresponding transition pattern will be L2 = [40, 10, -25] which can be obtained by subtracting the notes. Finally, the third level representation for the previous piece will be L3 = [30,35] which can be obtained by subtracting the value of the second level.
We will use the same model proposed in [34], the entropy will be used as a measure of randomness, and energy as a measure of regularity. Statistical metric such as entropy cannot distinguish between different arrangements of the piece, because it is based on the distribution of the values, and not on their spatial arrangement. Therefore, we will use the multilevel approach to represent the spatial arrangement of the piece, where the first level will represent the frequencies of the notes, the second level represents the transition pattern of the notes, and the third level will represent the difference of the transition pattern of the notes.
In [34] we showed that aesthetically appealing patterns deliver higher amount of information over multiple levels in comparison with less aesthetically appealing patterns when the same amount of energy is used. Where beautiful patterns have a balance between randomness and regularity, and aesthetically appealing patterns are those which are closer to this optimal point. The measure of aesthetic quality M is given by (1) Maximising the entropy when the energy is the same can then be seen as delivering the highest amount of information using the same amount of energy. Similar to [34], pieces will only be compared with other pieces in the same energy level, i.e. the energy of the three level should be the same.

III. RESULTS
To test the proposed model, five pieces with four notes will be considered. The pieces with their M value are shown in Table  1. Fig. 2 shows a visual representation of the pieces, where the x-axis represents the duration of the notes, and the y access represents the frequency of the notes.
After that, we generated all possible combinations of the each piece, i.e. we generated all possible pieces that have the same energy at the three levels of the piece, and kept only those that have larger or equal M value. P1, P4, and P5 showed the highest M value at that energy. For P2 three pieces showed higher M value, and for P3 three pieces showed higher M value; however the pieces found to be aesthetically appealing.

IV. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a novel approach in identifying beautiful music. The proposed model showed that there is a link between beautiful music and an optimisation process that seeks to deliver the highest amount of information using the same amount of energy. The results showed that the proposed model was able to classify beautiful music.