The impact of undergraduate research experiences on students' academic development and retention in STEM fields is significant. Students' success in STEM fields is based on developing strong research and critical thinking skills that make it essential for students to engage in research activities throughout their academic programs. This work evaluates the effectiveness of undergraduate research experiences with respect to its influence on student retention and academic development. The cases presented are based on years of experience implementing undergraduate research programs in various STEM fields at Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) funded by HSI STEM Grants. The study seeks to establish a correlation between students' retention rates and academic development and students' involvement in undergraduate research experiences and programs during their academic journey. The work also delves into different mentoring approaches, including group-based and mentoring by individual faculty. This study provides the engineering and STEM education community with a deeper understanding of the advantages of undergraduate research experiences in enriching STEM and mentoring practices that can increase students' participation and mold their academic and professional character.
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a synthetic fluor-surfactant chemical used widely in products that resist oil, heat, grease, stains, and water. It is also used in producing other fluoropolymers. The main sources of exposure to PFOA are water, soil, and animal-origin food (meat, fish, and dairy products). The aim of this study to evaluate the renal function following oral gavage of sub-lethal dose of PFOA in diabetic and non-diabetic guinea pigs. The experiment run for 4 weeks, total of 40 male guinea pigs, (Cavia porcellus), were randomly selected and grouped into four equal groups. The first group (G1) served as the negative control; 2nd group (G2) alloxan induced diabetic, 3rd group (G3) non-diabeti
... Show MoreThe increasing population growth resulting in the tremendous increase in consumption of fuels, energy, and petrochemical products and coupled with the depletion in conventional crude oil reserves and production make it imperative for Nigeria to explore her bitumen reserves so as to meet her energy and petrochemicals needs. Samples of Agbabu bitumen were subjected to thermal cracking in a tubular steel reactor operated at 10 bar pressure to investigate the effect of temperature on the cracking reaction. The gas produced was analyzed in a Gas Chromatograph while the liquid products were subjected to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Heptane was the dominant gas produced in bitumen cracking at all temperatures and the r
... Show MoreA factorial experiment (2× 3) in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications was conducted to examine the effect of honeycomb selection method using three interplant distances on the vegetative growth, flowering, and fruit set of two cultivars of bean, Bronco and Strike. Interplant distances used were 75× 65 cm, 90× 78 cm, and 105× 91 cm (row× plant) represent short (high plant density), intermediate (intermediate plant density), and wide (low plant density) distance, respectively. Parameters used for selection were number of days from planting to the initiation of first flower, number of nodes formed prior to the onset of first flower, and number of main branches. Results showed significant superiority of the Strik
... Show More The study (Quality in the Industrial Products Designs and its Reflection on Achieving Competitive Advantage) focused on developing the products in a way that satisfies human desires through the impact of technology on products design systems and performance enhancement. The study question is: how to effectively achieve quality in industrial products designs that influences competitiveness? The aim of the research is to show the design contexts for the product and its reflection on competitiveness. The study is limited to (LG) products in 2017-2018. The results and conclusions reached at by the researcher are included in the study.
The sample models adopted contexts, forms and relational relations transcending traditional contex
Objective: The goal of this research was to evaluate where selenium nanoparticles impact the activity of antibodies in immunized lambs with foot and mouth vaccines by modulating the immune system. Materials and Methods: Two groups of lambs of 3–4 months of age were injected with 1 ml of ARRIAH-VAC vaccine intramuscularly in the neck, five Lambs were given selenium nanoparticles (size 100 nm) oral administration of selenium nano dose of 0.1 mg/kg of body mass once every day for sixty days considered as group one (G1) while the other five used as control Group 2 (G2). Results: This resulted in the establishment of an immune response, as evidenced by a rise in antibody titer in the blood using the ELISA test for three serotypes A,
... Show MoreChemical bath deposition was used to synthesize ZnO nanorods (NRs) on glass and fluorine_doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates. X-ray diffraction was performed to examine the crystallinity of ZnO nanorod. Results showed that ZnO NRs had a wurtzite crystal structure. Field emission scanning electron microscopy images showed that glass sample had rod-like structure distribution with (50 nm) diameter and average length of approximately (700 nm), whereas the FTO-coated glass sample had 25 nm diameter and average length of approximately 950 nm. The direct optical transition band gaps of the glass and FTO_coated glass samples were( 4 and 4.43 eV), respectively. The structural and optical properties of the synthesized ZnO p
... Show MoreObjectives: The study objectives were to evaluate customer satisfaction with community pharmacy services and measure the relationships between customer satisfaction and pharmacy/pharmacist characteristics and customer quality of life. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample of customers at 20 community pharmacies in 10 different geographical areas in Baghdad city between May and September 2018. We used the satisfaction items which were developed by Paterson and colleagues in 2013. The survey also assessed customer quality of life (QoL) with 12 QoL items. Results: The study recruited 400 pharmacy customers. Overall, customers reported good satisfaction with community pharmacy services. The most
... Show MoreThe purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of corrosive environment (corrosive ferric chloride of 1, 2, 5, 6% wt. at room temperature), immersion period of (48, 72, 96, 120, 144 hours), and surface roughness on pitting corrosion characteristics and use the data to build an artificial neural network and test its ability to predict the depth and intensity of pitting corrosion in a variety of conditions. Pit density and depth were calculated using a pitting corrosion test on carbon steel (C-4130). Pitting corrosion experimental tests were used to develop artificial neural network (ANN) models for predicting pitting corrosion characteristics. It was found that artificial neural network models were shown to be
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