Students entering medical college generally show vast diversity in their school education. It becomes the responsibility of teachers to motivate students and meet the needs of all diversities. One such measure is teaching students in their own preferred learning style. The present study was aimed to incorporate a learning style-based teaching-learning program for medical students and to reveal its significance and utility. Learning styles of students were assessed online using the visual-auditory-kinesthetic (VAK) learning style self-assessment questionnaire. When respiratory physiology was taught, students were divided into three groups, namely, visual (n = 34), auditory (n = 44), and kinesthetic (n = 28), based on their learning style. A fourth group (the traditional group; n = 40) was formed by choosing students randomly from the above three groups. Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic groups were taught following the appropriate teaching-learning strategies. The traditional group was taught via the routine didactic lecture method. The effectiveness of this intervention was evaluated by a pretest and two posttests, posttest 1 immediately after the intervention and posttest 2 after a month. In posttest 1, one-way ANOVA showed a significant statistical difference (P=0.005). Post hoc analysis showed significance between the kinesthetic group and traditional group (P=0.002). One-way ANOVA showed a significant difference in posttest 2 scores (P < 0.0001). Post hoc analysis showed significance between the three learning style-based groups compared with the traditional group [visual vs. traditional groups (p=0.002), auditory vs. traditional groups (p=0.03), and Kinesthetic vs. traditional groups (p=0.001)]. This study emphasizes that teaching methods tailored to students' style of learning definitely improve their understanding, performance, and retrieval of the subject.

The main reason for the limited usage of biodiesel is it tends to oxidize when exposed to air. It is anticipated that the addition of an antioxidant along with graphene nano particle improves combustion of diesel-biodiesel blend. In the present research biodiesel made from the transesterification of waste cooking oil is used. Three synthetic antioxidants butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), 2(3)-t-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole (BHA) and tert butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) along with 30 ppm of graphene nano particle were added at a volume fraction of 1000 ppm to diesel–biodiesel blends (B20). The performance and emission tests were performed at constant engine speed of 1500 rpm. Because of the inclusion of graphene nano particles, surface area to the volume ratio of the fuel is augmented enhancing the mixing ability and chemical responsiveness of the fuel during burning causing superior performance, combustion and emission aspects of compression ignition engine. The results revealed that there was a slight increase in brake power and brake thermal efficiency of about 0.29%, 0.585%, 0.58% and 6.22%, 3.11%, 3.31% for B20GrBHT10000, B20GrBHA1000 and B20GrTBHQ1000, respectively, compared to B20. Additionally, BSFC, HC and NOx emissions were reduced to considerable levels for the reformed fuel.

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Background: During the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, universities rapidly pivoted to online formats and were often unable to adhere to the best practices of online learning highlighted in prior literature. It is well documented that a variety of barriers impeded "normal" educational practices.Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of first-year engineering students enrolled in an introductory engineering design course during the rapid transition to online working environments. We view students' perceptions through the theoretical lens of workplace thriving theory, a framework that allowed us to capture aspects of education required for students to thrive in non-optimum learning settings. Design/Method: This research employed semi-structured interview methods with 13 students enrolled in an introductory engineering design course that relies on project-based team learning. We analyzed interview transcripts using thematic analysis through an abductive approach and made interpretations through workplace thriving theory.Results: Results indicated that students' abilities to thrive are related to four intersecting themes that demonstrate how workplace thriving theory manifests in this unanticipated online setting. These themes demonstrate elements that must be optimized for students to thrive in settings such as this: relationships with others, building and sharing knowledge through interactions, perceptions of experiential learning, and individual behaviors. Conclusion:Our research, viewed through workplace thriving theory, highlights the mechanisms by which students tried to succeed in suboptimal environments.While not all our participants showed evidence of thriving, the factors required for thriving point to opportunities to harness these same factors in in-person instruction environments.

Prototyping plays a pivotal role in the engineering design process. Prototypes represent physical or digital manifestations of design ideas, and as such act as effective communication tools for designers. While the benefits of prototyping are well-documented in research, the fundamental ways in which the construction of a prototype affects designers' reflection on and evaluation of their design outcomes and processes are not well understood. The relationships between prototypes, designers' communication strategies, and recollection of design processes is of particular interest in this work, as preliminary research suggests that novice designers tend to struggle to clearly articulate the decisions made during the design process. This work serves to extend prior work and build foundational knowledge by exploring the evaluation of design outcomes and processes, and communication strategies employed by novice designers during prototyping tasks. A controlled in-situ study was conducted with 45 undergraduate engineering students. Results from qualitative analyses suggest that a number of rhetorical patterns emerged in students' communications, suggesting a complicated relationship exists between prototyping, communication, and design cognition.