Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, June, 1991. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-76). Also available via the Internet.

No description available.

The goal of this research is to define and develop a computer graphics display controller that will provide a high performance to cost ratio by employing state-of-the-art components and techniques. This report briefly defines the phrase "computer graphics display system" and the related technologies. The system requirements for a target display controller are developed and their hardware implications are presented. An architectural overview precedes a detailed explanation of all functional areas of the target system. This includes an overview of the VLSI graphic figure generator, which is the heart of the target system. Finally, the concept of hardware independent graphic software is presented.

EGAS is the acronym for the Engineering Graphics Application system, developed specifically to facilitate engineering design. It provides interactive drafting tools for civil engineering, mechanical engineering and architectural graphics, and is particularly useful to structural engineers. EGAS has been developed based on X in a Unix environment. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Distance education is growing at colleges and universities throughout the United States. Engineering graphics laboratory courses are unique in their focus on skills and design with an emphasis on a hands-on approach when compared to many subjects that focus on mastering information. Most studies in the literature focus on how distance learning has impacted traditionally lecture-based curricular approach and not on classrooms that are traditionally laboratory based as would be typically found in many engineering graphics courses. This study measured and compared spatial ability as it is an essential component to engineering graphics, and has a highly correlated measure of success in engineering and other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. This study’s purpose was to measure and compare a face-to-face engineering graphics course with a synchronous distance education engineering graphics course by identifying the impact of the teacher’s physical presence on students’ spatial ability. The differences found in the change of spatial ability between students taking an engineering graphics course by means of synchronous distance education and face-to-face courses were found in students with a low beginning spatial ability. Students with a low beginning spatial ability showed greater improvement in spatial ability in the face-to-face courses (m = 3.50, SD = 1.93), than in the synchronous distance education courses (m = 1.39, SD = 2.25).

A power distribution design engineering workstation is used as the basis for a restoration management system. The complete system contains three separate programs. The three programs are the Telephone Operator program, the additions to the design workstation, and the statistical collection program. The use of graphical interaction as a method of improving the restoration process will be presented. A method of contextual based editing is presented as an aid to the workstation based program. Records of the outages are kept by the system. The outage records are used to create statistical tables for the representation of each set of stored data. / Master of Science

This research was undertaken to investigate the assessment of the spatial visualization skills of first-year engineering students. This research was conducted through three approaches: (1) a review of cogent research framed by a spatial visualization matrix, (2) the development and validation of an Engineering Graphics Concept Inventory, and (3) an investigation into the relationship into the correlations between 3D modeling skills and performance on the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PSVT:R) and the Mental Cutting Test (MCT). The literature reviewed spans the field of published research from the early 1930's to the present. This review expands and provides a new direction on published research as it is viewed through the lenses of the four common pedagogical approaches to teaching spatial visualization: the standard approach, the remedial approach, computer-aided design, and the theory-informed approach. A spatial visualization matrix of criteria was developed to evaluate each of the methods. The four principle criteria included: learning outcomes, active and engaged learning, stage of knowledge, and explanatory power. Key findings from the literature review indicate the standard method is not the most effective method to teaching spatial visualization while the theory-informed method as evaluated by the matrix is the most effective pedagogical approach of the four methods evaluated. The next phase of this research focused on the two-year development, validation, and reliability of an Engineering Graphics Concept Inventory given to over 1300 participants from three universities. A Delphi method was used to determine the key concepts identified by the expert panel to be included in the inventory. A student panel of 20 participants participated in the pilot study of "think aloud" protocols to refine inventory test items and to generate the appropriate distractors. Multiple pilot studies coupled with a detailed psychometric analysis provided the feedback and direction needed for the adjustment of test items. The reported Cronbach's α for the final instrument is .73, which is within the acceptable range. The inventory is ready to be implemented and the predictability of the instrument, in reference to students' spatial visualization skills, to be researched. The final chapter of this research was a correlational study of the relationship between first-year engineering student's 3D modeling frameworks and their performance on the PSVT:R and the MCT. 3D modeling presence in graphical communications has steadily increased over the last 15 years; however there has been little research on the correlations between the standard visualization tests and 3D modeling. 220 first-year engineering students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University participated in the study in the fall of 2011. The main findings from this research indicate there is no significant correlational relationship between the PSVT:R and a student's 3D modeling ability, but there is one for the MCT. The significant correlational factors reported for the MCT and modeling aptitude for the three assignments are: r = .32 (p < 0.05), .36 (p< 0.01), and .47 (p< 0.01). These findings may be used by undergraduate educators and course administrators to more effectively organize engineering graphics education to yield students with deeper, more meaningful knowledge about engineering graphics and its inherent connection throughout the engineering curriculum. Together these three studies represent a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach that intertwines qualitative interviews and observations to frame the quantitative instrument and data collection. Results of this study can be used to guide the assessment of incoming freshmen engineering students, and the modification and development of engineering graphics courses. / Ph. D.

In this work an enhanced graphical simulator for the IBM 7545 robot running on the AML/E language was developed. The simulator provided two views with the facility to chose either one as the major view, and pan/zoom into that view. It gives the user the facility to define equipment and workcell setups, accepting data in the International Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) Version 3.0 format. The user can interactively simulate either the complete program, partial program or any subroutine. The system was integrated including the facility to edit, compile, generate cross references, set system configuration, simulate and run the robot either continuously or interactively. The system was developed on an IBM Personal Computer using two monitors, text and enhanced graphics for maximizing the display surface for the graphics. The programs developed for this work can be broadly classified into the various menu programs, the definition programs to define and display the equipments and workcells, and the graphic programs for driving and displaying the graphics and altering the views. The limitations and assumptions made in developing this system along with the scope for further work are presented. / Master of Science