Compressive strength of the polymeric composites is an important data for design of composite structures and therefore a depth study of this mechanical property is imperative. The mechanical properties of the polymer composites vary in the very large ranges according to the characteristics of the constituents, to their proportions and many other factors. Compressive property and failure mechanism of polymer composite materials reinforced with glass fiber were investigated in this paper. The experimental data for the studied materials were included the compressive strength, strain, poisson�s ratio and modulus. Some of these experimental values could be affected by aberrant errors. This paper also presents an application that removes the experimental data affected by gross errors from the sample of numerical values. The elimination of experimental data affected by gross errors is based on Chauvenet criterion.

Sustainability of learning environments is a key pillar of all societal development frameworks. A variety of research address the development of education as a fine balanced relation between flexibility, adaptability, innovation, and efficient resource allocation. The main limitation of current approaches is the lack of correlation between various efficiency analyses and budget expenditure of learning environments. The current research aims at undertaking a comparative evaluation of a sustainable framework in STEM intensive programs for secondary and tertiary education. This was done using several established methods like the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle for the development main framework, the Analytic Hierarchy Process for efficiency evaluation and Value Analysis for budget expenditure allocations and improvement identification. The main framework is based on learning objectives defined in accordance with Blooms’ revised taxonomy and student feedback was collected through surveys and group feedback. The main results of the study show that the framework had overall efficiencies over the 80% threshold in both secondary and tertiary education, whilst some of the components scored under 65%, identifying immediate improvement features. Further research involves the transition to an online and mixed teaching environment, by adapting the content and framework structure with the aid of smart learning environments.

This paper presents the results of the experimental researches obtained in the three-point test of the glass-fiber-reinforced polymeric composites. Mathematical modeling of experimental results was performed using a virtual instrument (VI) developed in the graphical programming language called LabVIEW. In order to process the experimental data and display the results, the virtual instrument (VI) allows both the reading of experimental data from a saved text file from the same folder as the current VI file and the direct entry of experimental values into a control element disposed on its front panel. The virtual instrument described in this article is part of a more complex project used for the mathematical modeling of the experimental data obtained in determining the physic-mechanical characteristics of glass fiber randomly reinforced polymeric composites.

The paper presents aspects observed during classic three-point test bending of various sandwich materials. These aspects outline the need to spare special attention to such test, in connection with the particular material and service life conditions it will endorse. Such special care is needed in conditions of scarcity of dedicated standards and some evasive formulations in the existing ones.

The paper highlights the importance of corelating the function of a medical product, with its’ design and manufacture stages within the global product design and development process. Dimensional accuracy, macro-geometric and micro-geometric shape accuracy, relative surface position accuracy and other prescribed characteristics of medical products should take into consideration a variety of factors, such as custom requirements, regulated by the product functions. In an ideal scenario, with unlimited resources, prescribed characteristics dictate the selection of the manufacturing technology and equipment. Nonetheless, in most cases the design stage takes into consideration capabilities of available technology, correlated with bespoke requirements. In this context, the authors propose a clear distinction between precision, accuracy, repeatability, and resolution, as to properly address each issue in the lifecycle of a medical product manufactured using additive technologies. Using a real application for an upper limb prosthesis, the nominal position precision is prescribed, based on size-dependent geometric tolerances, for a cylindrical surface in relation to three reference surfaces, with the application of the maximum and minimum material principles.