Eric T.T. Wong

An examination of the interrelationships between workload, study time, learning approaches and academic outcomes

ABSTRACT Interrelationships between learning approaches, study motivation, hours of study, perceived workload, English language ability and grade point average were investigated. A total of 174 students, who had enrolled in a mechanical engineering degree course, completed a study diary for 1 week. The diary was divided into hourly recording periods with spaces for both quantitative and qualitative responses. The quantitative data yielded variables for learning approaches and motivations, English ability, perceived workload, time spent in class, time spent on private study and grade point average. These variables were linked in a path model. Case-studies were used to illustrate and explain the model. The variables in the model were weakly interrelated. Perceived workload, therefore, depends upon motivation as well as the amount of work. Grade point average did improve somewhat with hours of work, but students could work long hours and still obtain poor grades because they used inappropriate learning appro...

Partner selection and information infrastructure of a virtual enterprise network

With the rapid development of transportation and Internet technology, more and more businesses are being organized as manufacturing networks of different units. Some of these units are wholly owned by the core company, others are outsourced to service providers. The formation of virtual enterprises is becoming a growing trend as companies concentrate on lean manufacturing, core competence and economic benefit. Study indicates that the administration and management of these networks, which involves a number of partner companies with dissimilar business natures and mostly geographically dispersed, is an important issue to be addressed. Owing to the diverse interests, competence and business culture of individual partner companies, the selection of manufacturing partners is a key success factor. In addition, the capability of the information flow infrastructure is another consideration since it affects the performance of the virtual network. This paper attempts to address both of these issues with the objective of showing how small firms can make use of the emerging technology. A case example is presented to illustrate the manufacture of electronic pagers via the virtual enterprise network.

Application of Information Technology in Agile Manufacturing

Agility refers to the ability to produce and market successfully a broad range of low cost, high quality products with short lead times in varying lot sizes, providing enhanced value to individual customers through customization. Rapid changes in manufacturing have triggered structural changes in how companies are organized to create, produce, and distribute goods and services. The information-processing capability to treat large numbers of customers as individuals is permitting more and more companies to offer customized products while maintaining high volumes of production. The most prominent feature of the information world of tomorrow is the expansion of the cyber space. The emergence of information technology has made it possible for groups of companies to coordinate geographically dispersed facilities into a single virtual company and to achieve powerful competitive advantages in the manufacturing industry. This chapter argues that data mining and distributed object technology are significant tools to achieve manufacturing agility, especially where rapid distribution of information is a feature. The chapter also highlights the potential benefits of information technology (IT) applications, followed by a description of the information needs of a manufacturing system. The role of data mining and distributed object technology in supporting the information infrastructure of virtual organizations is also discussed. Finally, the chapter illustrates the application of IT in agile manufacturing is shown.

Governance of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems: Data Security and Quality Management of Filmless Radiology

In the age of increasing reliance on data and the importance of sensitive information, applications and technologies have arisen to appropriately deal with assuring the security of medical informatics and healthcare administration functions. In order for technology to progress, new systems are being installed globally to address this issue. Governance of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems: Data Security and Quality Management of Filmless Radiology examines information security management systems for the facilitation of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). This valuable contribution to data security and quality management literature provides a comprehensive guide for all aspects of the implementation of PACS for the enhancement of modern practices in radiology.

Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor/Piezoelectric Actuator Hybrid System for Damage Detection in Composite Laminates

In this paper, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor and piezoelectric (PZT) actuator are used to develop a hybrid system for the evaluation of delamination in glass fiber-reinforced epoxy (GF/EP) composite laminates. The surface-bonded PZT actuator generates ultrasonic Lamb wave in the composite laminates, while the FBG sensor, which is embedded in the composite laminates, captures the Lamb wave signal. Wavelet analysis is introduced to extract signal spectrographic characteristics in the time-scale domain appropriately. Since the propagation characteristics of Lamb wave is altered by the existence of damage in the composite laminates, delamination information can be obtained from the received signal. With the assistance of a signal generation and an acquisition system, this methodology enables active sensing and non-destructive evaluation of delamination in the composite laminates. Experiments have been carried out with GF/EP composite beams to examine the feasibility of the proposed detection technique. The acquired and processed Lamb wave signals corresponding to different delamination sizes are compared.