Undergraduate student perceptions of stress and mental health in engineering culture.

Background: Mental health for engineering undergraduates is an urgent topic for engineering educators. Narratives of engineering education requiring suffering may create or exacerbate problematic perceptions around stress and mental health in engineering. This study explored the roles of stress and mental health in engineering culture. We sought to explore: (1) how engineering students describe their experiences related to stress and mental health and (2) norms and expectations engineering students share about stress and mental health. Qualitative interview data were collected from 30 students who had previously responded to a college-wide survey. Results: Codes related to experiences with stress and mental health in engineering were organized in a bioecological systems model and analyzed for emergent themes depicting engineering culture. The study identified three themes related to stress and mental health in engineering culture: (1) engineering workload as a defining stressor, (2) specific barriers that prevent engineering students from seeking help for mental health concerns, and (3) reliance on peers to cope with stress and mental health distress. Conclusions: Our analysis provided insight into how engineering students perceive norms around stress and mental health in engineering and how this impacts help-seeking for mental health challenges. These findings have important implications for developing interventions and positive cultures that support student mental health.

Structurability: a collective measure of the structural differences in vodkas.

Although vodka is a reasonably pure mixture of alcohol and water, beverage drinks typically show differences in appeal among brands. The question immediately arises as to the molecular basis, if any, of vodka taste perception. This study shows that commercial vodkas differ measurably from ethanol-water solutions. Specifically, differences in hydrogen-bonding strength among vodkas are observed by (1)H NMR, FT-IR, and Raman spectroscopy. Component analysis of the FT-IR and Raman data reveals a water-rich hydrate of composition E x (5.3 +/- 0.1)H(2)O prevalent in both vodka and water-ethanol solutions. This composition is close to that of a clathrate-hydrate observed at low temperature, implying a cage-like morphology. A structurability parameter (SP) is defined by the concentration of the E x (5.3 +/- 0.1)H(2)O hydrate compared to pure ethanol-water at the same alcohol content. SP thus measures the deviation of vodka from "clean" ethanol-water solutions. SP quantifies the effect of a variety of trace compounds present in vodka. It is argued that the hydrate structure E x (5.3 +/- 0.1)H(2)O and its content are related to the perception of vodka.

Structural basis of the 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of ethanol-water solutions based on multivariate curve resolution analysis of mid-infrared spectra.

The (1)H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shifts of ethanol and water hydroxyl groups show a pattern change at a critical ethanol concentration. Below the critical value (20 mol% at 400 Hz), only one hydroxyl peak appears due to fast proton exchange, whereas above the critical concentration, the ethanol hydroxyl peak splits from the water peak emerging as an individual chemical shift. The structural basis of the NMR pattern change was interpreted by a multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) analysis of the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectra obtained for ethanol-water solutions. Results suggest that the NMR pattern change is due to the formation of ethanol-ethanol clusters. Below the critical concentration, no ethanol-ethanol clusters exist. Therefore, the NMR does not detect the ethanol environment. Above the critical ethanol concentration, ethanol-ethanol clusters first appear such that a distinct ethanol hydroxyl peak emerges. The basis for the dependence of the critical concentration on working frequency is also interpreted. High frequency NMR measurements are more sensitive to ethanol content, resulting in a lower critical ethanol concentration.