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The research focused on four questions: a) in what ways do workers encounter and utilize the cognates while on the job; b) do workers engage cognate problems they encounter at work differently from similar cognate problems found in a textbook; c) what mathematical difficulties involving the cognates do workers experience while on the job, and; d) what tools, techniques, and social supports do workers use to augment or supplant their own abilities when confronted with difficulties involving the cognates.
Noteworthy findings included: a) individual workers encountered cognate problems at a rate of nearly four times per hour; b) all of the workers engaged the cognates primarily via discourse with others and not by written or electronic means; c) generally, workers had difficulty with units and solving problems involving intensive ratios; d) many workers regularly used a novel form of guess & check to produce a loose estimate as an answer; and e) workers relied on the social structure of the store to mitigate the impact and defuse the responsibility for any errors they made.
Based on the totality of the evidence, three hypotheses were discussed: a) the binomial aspect of a conjecture that stated employees were hired either with sufficient mathematical skills or with deficient skills was rejected; b) heuristics, tables, and stand-ins were maximally effective only if workers individually developed them after a need was recognized; and c) distributed cognition was rejected as an explanatory framework by arguing that the studied workers and their environment formed a system that was itself a heuristic on a grand scale.
This study experimentally investigated a selected methodology of mechanical torque testing of 3D printed gears. The motivation for pursuing this topic of research stemmed from a previous experience of one of the team members that propelled inspiration to quantify how different variables associated with 3D printing affect the structural integrity of the resulting piece. With this goal in mind, the team set forward with creating an experimental set-up and the construction of a test rig. However, due to restrictions in time and other unforeseen circumstances, this thesis underwent a change in scope. The new scope focused solely on determining if the selected methodology of mechanical torque testing was valid. Following the securement of parts and construction of a test rig, the team was able to conduct mechanical testing. This testing was done multiple times on an identically printed gear. The data collected showed results similar to a stress-strain curve when the torque was plotted against the angle of twist. In the resulting graph, the point of plastic deformation is clearly visible and the maximum torque the gear could withstand is clearly identifiable. Additionally, across the tests conducted, the results show high similarity in results. From this, it is possible to conclude that if the tests were repeated multiple times the maximum possible torque could be found. From that maximum possible torque, the mechanical strength of the tested gear could be identified.
This study experimentally investigated a selected methodology of mechanical torque testing of 3D printed gears. The motivation for pursuing this topic of research stemmed from a previous experience of one of the team members that propelled inspiration to quantify how different variables associated with 3D printing affect the structural integrity of the resulting piece. With this goal in mind, the team set forward with creating an experimental set-up and the construction of a test rig. However, due to restrictions in time and other unforeseen circumstances, this thesis underwent a change in scope. The new scope focused solely on determining if the selected methodology of mechanical torque testing was valid. Following the securement of parts and construction of a test rig, the team was able to conduct mechanical testing. This testing was done multiple times on an identically printed gear. The data collected showed results similar to a stress-strain curve when the torque was plotted against the angle of twist. In the resulting graph, the point of plastic deformation is clearly visible and the maximum torque the gear could withstand is clearly identifiable. Additionally, across the tests conducted, the results show high similarity in results. From this, it is possible to conclude that if the tests were repeated multiple times the maximum possible torque could be found. From that maximum possible torque, the mechanical strength of the tested gear could be identified.