Contribution: Impact assessment of the practice-oriented course for high school students on their later academic achievements, described in the context of long-term efforts to improve electronic engineering studies’ quality. The article highlights the importance of outreach and extracurricular activities and cooperation with the IEEE in these efforts. Background: Faced with the practical application of theoretical knowledge, either in laboratory exercises or on small projects, students are not as successful as expected. A high school course promoting practical work has been developed, following the gathered experience and results from other studies. The intention was to track participants’ progress not only on the course but also during their later studies at the faculty. Intended Outcomes: Increased the number of proficient high school students enrolling in the university. Improved quality of papers at student conferences, organization of workshops and events attractive to students and educators, an increased number of young members of the IEEE. Impact on the policymakers. Application Design: In tailoring the course content, the goal was to mimic an engineering design cycle through project-based learning. In contrast to deductive learning, which students were accustomed to, assessment-based and active learning teaching strategies, such as think–pair–share, practical demonstrations through performance tasks, and homework practice, have been used. Findings: This research documents that students with practical experience in high school have more self-confidence and better university scores than those with none. The universities should step forward in initiatives to strengthen connections with high schools and professional societies.

This paper reports results of the transient modeling of thermoelectric cooling/heating modules as power generators with the aim to select preferable ones for use in thermal energy harvesting wireless sensor network nodes. A study is conducted using the selected commercial thermoelectric generators within the node of a compact design with aluminum PCBs. Their equivalent electro-thermal models suitable for SPICE-like simulators are presented. Model components are extracted from the geometrical, physical and thermo-electrical parameters and/or experimentally. SPICE simulation results mismatch within 7% in comparison with the experimental measurements. The presented model is used for the characterization of different thermoelectric generators within the wireless sensor network node from the aspects of harvesting efficiency, cold boot time, node dimensions and compactness, and maximum applicable temperature. The choice of the preferred generator is determined by its electrical resistance, the number of thermoelectric pairs, external area and thermoelectric legs length, depending on the primary design goal and imposed thermal operating conditions. The node can provide load power of 1.3 $\mathrm{m}\mathrm{W}$ and the cold boot time of 66 s for generator with 31 thermoelectric pairs at a temperature difference of 15 $°\mathrm{C}$ with respect to the ambient, and 7.6 $\mathrm{m}\mathrm{W}$ of load power and the cold boot time of 40 s for generator with 71 thermoelectric pairs at a temperature difference of 25 $°\mathrm{C}$ .

In this study, the electrical resistivity (?) and PTC effect of Er doped BaTiO3 ceramics are investigated. The concentrations of Er2O3 in the doped samples vary from 0.01 to 1.0 at% Er. The samples are prepared by the conventional solid state reaction, and sintered at 1320? and 1350?C in air atmosphere for 4 hours. The SEM analysis shows that all of measured samples are characterized by polygonal grains. The uniform and homogeneous microstructure with grain sizes from 20 to 45?m is the main characteristic of the low doped samples (0.01 and 0.1 at% Er). For the samples doped with the higher dopant concentration (0.5 and 1.0 at%) the average grains sizes have been ranged from 5 to 10 ?m. The electrical resistivity is measured in the temperature range from 25?C to 170?C, at frequencies 1 kHz, 10 kHz and 100 kHz. The electrical resistivity values, measured at frequency of 1 kHz and room temperature, have been ranged from 1.62?104 ?cm to 4.24?104 ?cm, for samples sintered at 1320?C and from 1.43?104 ?cm to 1.94?104 ?cm, for samples sintered at 1350?C. A nearly flat and stable electrical resistivity-temperature response is characteristic for all samples at the temperature range from 25?C to 120?C. Above this temperature, the electrical resistivity increases rapidly. At 170?C the value of electrical resistivity is ranged 9.84?104 ?cm -1.62?105 ?cm, for Tsin=1320?C, and 6.11?104 ?cm 1.32?105 ?cm, for Tsin=1350?C. The electrical resistivity decreases with concentration increment up to 0.5 at%, while above 0.5 at% it increases. Also, with increasing frequency, ? decreases for a few orders of magnitude.

We report on a procedure for extracting the SPICE model parameters of a RADFET sensor with a dielectric HfO₂/SiO₂ double-layer. RADFETs, traditionally fabricated as PMOS transistors with SiO₂, are enhanced by incorporating high-k dielectric materials such as HfO₂ to reduce oxide thickness in modern radiation sensors. The fabrication steps of the sensor are outlined, and model parameters, including the threshold voltage and transconductance, are extracted based on experimental data. Experimental setups for measuring electrical characteristics and irradiation are described, and a method for determining model parameters dependent on the accumulated dose is provided. A SPICE model card is proposed, including parameters for two dielectric thicknesses: (30/10) nm and (40/5) nm. The sensitivities of the sensors are 1.685 mV/Gy and 0.78 mV/Gy, respectively. The model is calibrated for doses up to 20 Gy, and good agreement between experimental and simulation results validates the proposed model.

The Ho doped BaTiO3 ceramics, with different Ho2O3 content, ranging from 0.01 to 1.0 wt % Ho, were investigated regarding their microstructural and dielectric characteristics. Doped BaTiO3 were prepared using conventional solid state reaction and sintered at 1380?C for four hours. SEM analysis of Ho/BaTiO3 doped ceramics showed that the low doped samples exhibit mainly fairly uniform and homogeneous microstructure with the grain size ranged from 20-40 ?m. In the samples with the higher dopant concentration the abnormal grain growth is inhibited and the grain size ranged between 2-10 ?m. Measurements of dielectric properties were carried out as a function of temperature up to 180 ?C at different frequencies. The samples doped with 0.01wt % of Ho, exhibit the high value of dielectric permittivity (?r = 2160) at room temperature. A nearly flat permittivity-response was obtained in specimens with higher additive content. Using a Curie-Weiss law and modified Curie-Weiss law the Curie constant (C), Curie temperature (Tc) and a critical exponent of nonlinearity (g) were calculated. The Curie temperature of doped samples were ranged from 128 to 130?C. The Curie constant for all series of samples decrease with increase of dopant concentration and the lowest values were observed on samples doped with 0.01 wt % of holmium.