Over the past few decades, state transportation agencies (STAs) have outsourced various functional activities traditionally performed by in-house personnel in reaction to increasing workloads and diminishing staff. To cope with the situation, STAs have developed and implemented various tools and practices for management and oversight of construction engineering and inspection (CEI) services. A national CEI survey was conducted to provide detailed mapping of various tools and practices used for CEI services and to understand the primary advantages and disadvantages of using CEI consultants. The survey found that STAs used a wide variety of tools and practices to define the scope of work for CEI services, select consultants, and administer CEI consultant contracts. Statistical analyses of variance estimated that CEI consultant management and oversight practices varied significantly; this finding may imply multiple underlying factors in the choice of one practice over another. One of the most important findings of this survey was the value of CEI consultant services to STAs. The survey found that the CEI consultant services provided STAs with an improved ability to handle peak workloads, the flexibility of quickly adding or reducing staff, and specialized expertise that might not be available in house. However, the reported challenges of working with CEI consultants included developing and maintaining consultants' familiarity with in-house processes and procedures, ensuring that consultants held appropriate CEI qualifications, and the relative cost of CEI consultants versus in-house staff.

The discipline of engineering and technology is no longer an isolated field of human activities and the future role of engineering demands that social, ethical and cultural aspects should be added to the technical dimension of engineering education. In this age of globalization, engineers should have deeper concepts, wider views, more skills, and integrated tools to meet the challenges of the expanding spheres of knowledge and the challenges of globalization. Effective and transformative global learning offers students meaningful opportunities to analyze and explore complex global challenges, collaborate respectfully with diverse others, apply learning to take responsible action in contemporary global contexts, and evaluate the goals, methods, and consequences of that action. Global learning enhance students' sense of identity, community, ethics, and perspective-taking. Global learning is based on the principle that the world is a collection of interdependent yet inequitable systems and that engineering education has a vital role in expanding knowledge of human and natural systems, privilege and stratification, and sustainability and smart development to foster individuals' ability to advance technology application, equity and justice at home and abroad. ENTC 4600: Technical Practicum is a senior level required capstone design course offered by the department of engineering technology, surveying and digital media. This course is offered every semester and requires the student to synthesize and apply subject matter studies in previous required courses and apply them to a realistic problem solving effort. In the Fall 2013, the ENTC 4600 course's learning outcomes were modified to infuse global perspectives of engineering problems and solutions. In that semester, students explored international markets mainly developing countries, identified an engineering and technology related problem with the collaboration of a focus group (consists of international students), and then designed and developed a solution to mitigate the problem. It was anticipated that the students would learn about international business environment, cross cultural elements of engineering problems, and sustainable solutions. Students learning outcomes were evaluated using pre and post survey, focus group's evaluation, and peer evaluation. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to justify effectiveness of new learning outcomes. All students agreed that the course project increased their knowledge and skills to solve engineering problems in global settings. About 92% students responded that the project increased their interest about different cultures and multi-perspective analysis, and 72% students, up 52% from pre-survey, said that the project was helpful understanding engineering and technology related practices, standards, specifications, safety outside USA. This paper presents effectiveness of proposed course modifications and engaging international students with American students as a method to teach global skills. The paper summarizes course preparation, organization, challenges, and opportunities to enhance global education experiences for engineering technology students which can be transmitted in other areas.

While technological advances have permeated most of society over the past decade and more, those advances have been especially rapid with surveying technology. University professors have the theoretical background needed to understand how newly developed technologies work, as well as their limitations and optimal uses. However, the nature of the changing academic calendar means that they may get hands-on work with the technology for one semester a year or even less frequently. This, coupled with the variety of other duties that a professor needs to attend to, means that few university professors get the daily practice with new surveying technology needed to master its use. The true masters of this technology are the practitioners who work with it in their daily practices. Unfortunately, they are rarely proficient in the art of teaching and rarely are as familiar with how a given class fits into the overall educational structure of a well-planned curriculum. One potential solution for this dilemma is to structure classes dealing with rapidly changing technology such that the class is under the direction of a university professor who is responsible for the course structure and assessment, yet has a practitioner to assist with instruction on using the technology. This paper discusses the methods used in one class to pair up an industry practitioner with a university professor in an effort to deliver the best possible educational experience to the students in the class.

Previous studies have identified high nonnormality in the form of skewness and kurtosis in highway construction data (hot-mix asphalt, portland cement concrete pavement, and aggregate materials) on the basis of analysis of field quality assurance data. [The authors use "nonnormality," rather than "abnormality," and define it as a term used in any discipline that involves statistical data analysis.-Ed.] The presence of high nonnormality in lot data is a significant finding because such nonnormality violates most state transportation agencies' normality assumption for quality assurance data analysis (e.g., F-test and t-test) and quality measure calculation (e.g., percent within limits). High nonnormality can have several adverse effects, such as increased variability in lot data and decreased efficiency of statistical verification tests in finding differences between contractor's and agency's data sets. Most important, however, nonnormal lot data tend to misdirect contractor payment; such misdirection can manifest in incorrectly penalizing contractors that deliver acceptable construction and rewarding contractors that deliver poor construction. A modified Box-Cox transformation using the golden section search algorithm is proposed: it can substantially reduce pay biases due to nonnormality even when lot sample size is small. The method is efficient and ensures fair and equitable payment to state agencies and contractors.

In 2009, the Engineering Technology, Surveying, and Digital Media Department at ETSU initiated a study abroad program in Rome, Italy. The desire was and is to create the first permanent study abroad center for the College of Business and Technology and the university. The benefits to the university from this establishment are great. This program has generated extra tuition dollars to the university and also recognition throughout the community. The lack of funding, a nonexistent culture of study abroad, and very little experience in teaching overseas necessitated an entrepreneurial approach. This engineering technology-driven program has evolved to incorporate students from many other departments throughout campus (i.e., art, history, international studies, etc.). This has provided all students an opportunity to experience an engineering technology program they may not have had otherwise. The coursework focuses on the Roman architectural concepts, environmental sustainability, construction methods, materials, and applications. The vision for this project is to have a permanent study center abroad or an ETSU at Rome campus. In 2009, the first class had 13 participants. In 2010, we offered three class choices for 17 students, and we will have approximately 25 students enrolled for 2011. Our growth is evolving as a result of creative thinking, partnerships, and a multidisciplinary approach. It is our intention to have a full summer program with numerous class offerings that will allow most ETSU students in the College of Business and Technology to complete a summer study in Rome and complete an entire semester of their degree requirements. Many entrepreneurial approaches have been implemented into the program, and many creative aspects are still in the planning stages. Some of the issues include: • A multidisciplinary curriculum that will benefit students and increase the influence of the College of Business and Technology throughout the entire university • Partnerships with other departments and universities • Access to a study abroad program that most students would not have the opportunity to experience • The results of participation in the program • Creative private funding solutions • A mentorship program that allows students to benefit from community leaders and sponsors to the program.

A 164 page e-book completely self-produced by the author on a desktop computer, Medical Imaging Equipment Theory, presented as a permanently accessible PDF file, is described. This book is written at the junior/senior level in biomedical engineering. An e-mail list of roughly 2000 addresses was generated from the membership files of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), and web sites at engineering colleges that feature biomedical programs. As a result the e-book has been requested by over 200 professors and researchers world wide, some of whom are helping to evaluate the pedagogical theory implied. It has been formally used and given free to students in several colleges over the past four consecutive semesters. A survey of teachers and students gives support to the idea that such a text can be self-published, and importantly that the e-book without paper print is adequate for classroom use, and that a black and white text can be cost-effectively printed ad hoc if the student desires.

Oncogene amplification resulting in aberrant expression, although common in solid tumors, is rare in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and is mostly associated with amplification of MYC, RUNX1, and MLL genes. Retinoic acid receptor α (RARA) and other target sequences at 17p11.2 often represent the amplicons expressed in breast cancer, not in AML. We present a unique case of a 59-year-old female with a history of breast cancer, now presenting with pancytopenia and bilateral infiltration with effusion in nodules of the right upper lobe of the lung. She was diagnosed with AML-M5. Chromosome analysis demonstrated a hypodiploid clone with complex numerical/structural abnormalities including 5q deletion, monosomy 7, as well as structurally rearranged chromosome 11 and several marker chromosomes. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis showed amplification of RARA, loss of 7q, monosomy 7, loss of DEK (6p23), and additional copies of NUP214 (9q34) and MLL (11q23). Additional FISH studies showed both ERBB2 and TOP2A genes, which were co-amplified on one of the marker chromosomes. The follow-up bone marrow did not yield any metaphases, but FISH was normal for all probes, including RARA. After a short remission, the patient relapsed and showed clonal evolution. Additional case reports are necessary to assess whether RARA amplification in hematologic malignancies serves as an independent prognostic factor.

The digital filter used most often in digital signal processing (DSP) is the Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter because it is the easiest to design and it is always stable. An interesting demonstration of the design and implementation of a FIR filter can be shown using MATLAB. The Remez function in MATLAB can be used to generate the filter coefficients for the lowpass, highpass, bandpass, or bandstop filter. MATLAB can be used to generate a set of sinusoidal signals that can be observed in the time domain and frequency domain. The appropriate filter can be applied to pass or block one or all the signals. In addition, MATLAB provides a graphic user interface tool, the Filter Design and Analysis Tool (fdatool), that can be used to generate the filter coefficients. Regardless of the method, the design and implementation of a FIR filter is shown to be straightforward.

For many business segments, true "out of the box" innovation occurs in entrepreneurial companies where the founders aren't hindered with the research paradigms established by mainstream businesses. The founders of these companies, many times technologists and scientists, see the application of the technology long before potential customers develop an understanding of the capabilities that the new technology can bring to the marketplace. Many times these "new technology ideas" have been developed though modifying an existing dominant design (product or service) to meet an unforeseen market need or through the development of a new design that may become the new industry standard. The competitors of tomorrow may reside in radically different markets yet have the insight to envision the application or modification of an existing technology to a market segment that they are currently not involved in. Teaching engineering technology students techniques and visioning tactics related to the innovation process has been difficult. Several of the authors have experienced, both in the classroom and in industrial settings, that many engineering and engineering technology students see innovation as the application of engineering principals resulting in small incremental changes in a process. Although these changes may result in a more efficient process through increased productivity, reduced waste, faster cycle times, etcetera; continuous improvement projects many times do not generate the dramatic market changes seen with a new dominant design. In fact in many established industries, disruptive innovation is discouraged in favor of continuous innovation because of the uncertainty of the risk/reward quotient and the impact that failed experimentation (increased research and development costs) can have on Wall Street's perception of a company. Our university recently merged the colleges of Business and Technology and Applied Sciences resulting in a cross-pollinated faculty and the establishment of courses in the graduate and undergraduate curriculum where business and engineering technology student's work together on class projects, many of which involve an innovation component. It is interesting that many of the faculty who incorporate a discussion or exercise related to the innovation process in their classroom have had extensive experience in an industrial setting prior to joining the university faculty. Industry seasoned faculty bring their "real-world" experience to the classroom and challenge students to move beyond continuous improvement projects. In several cases, ideas generated in the classroom or through collaborative efforts between the business and technology faculty have resulted in prototypes being built in the laboratory for further testing of the prospective innovation. The presence of a technology-centered business incubator located within walking distance from campus provides students the opportunity to observe several high technology businesses that have developed new technology niches in established market segments. These businesses provide consulting opportunities for cross-disciplinary graduate student teams to observe the challenges of introducing a new technology to address previously met market needs through introduction of a superior product. The business incubator is further linked to a sister technology-centered business incubator in Europe providing students (graduate and undergraduate) the opportunity to evaluate if a new technology should be launched initially in the United States or Europe. The creation of these learning opportunities mimic the industrial setting where graduates will be required to operate in cross-disciplinary teams that may address global manufacturing and marketing decisions. This paper discusses the pedagogical approaches several faculty members have developed to introduce and cultivate a creative innovation process to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in technology engineering and business marketing and management classes. These approaches include identifying unmet market niche opportunities, identifying technologies utilized in alternative markets that could be utilized for different market segments, classroom exercises to compel students to search existing patent literature, ideation and brainstorming exercises and researching business entities to identify their technology strategy and implementation plans.

As the wireless revolution is maturing in its technological life cycle, the principles and concepts of electromagnetism (EM) have once again become a curriculum necessity rather than a curriculum novelty. The theory of EM continues as a core course in electrical engineering curricula and covers all the fundamental electromagnetic theory that is needed in later engineering courses. In engineering curricula, the EM course is supported by math courses in calculus and vector analysis and at least one engineering physics course in electromagnetic principles. In contrast, electronic engineering technology (EET) curricula tend to shy away from the fundamental EM concepts, choosing instead to offer courses in specific application areas of EM such as transmission lines, antennas, and/or RF electronics. The only EM preparation for EET students is basic calculus and an introductory physics course in basic electric and magnetic fields theory (typically algebra based). The dilemma facing EET curricula is providing a course that emphasizes EM principles with many practical examples within the structurally-mandated environment (state, institutional, and accrediting agencies) that most EET programs exist.