Consortium Of Universities Research Articles

Development of a smart control unit for small-scale concentrated solar combined heat and power systems for residential applications

Solar energy has a significant potential for future power generation but its intermittent and variable nature results in fluctuations of the operational performance of solar power plants. Despite thermal energy storage (TES) systems improving the flexibility and the sustainability of the performance of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants, smart management is required to deal with the complex dynamic variations in the behaviour and interaction of the different plant's subsystems. In this paper, the design, manufacture, and validation of a smart control unit with extended capabilities for a small-scale CSP combined heat and power (CHP) system are described. More precisely, the control unit has been designed to control and optimise the operation of a micro-scale Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) unit coupled with Linear Fresnel Reflectors solar field and an advanced latent heat thermal energy storage tank which were developed by a consortium of universities and companies in the framework of the EU-funded project “Innova Microsolar”.In parallel to the designing and building the smart control unit, an advanced simulator has been developed in Matlab/Simulink® to investigate the performance of the plant for a wide range of varying ambient and operating conditions. The simulation framework has been connected to the real control unit according to a hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) approach to optimise the control logic of the integrated plant to overcome potential technical and reliability issues during the commissioning of the plant. The developed hardware and the proposed scientific approach can be extended to a wide range of complex solar energy systems equipped with TES and to be integrated into the built environment.

The experience of the European Union in training specialists for the agricultural sector of the economy

The article deals with the issues related to the transformation of the experience of agricultural management in the countries of the European Union into educational programs of higher educational institutions in Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries. Productive interaction in the agricultural sector, exchange of interns with partner universities contributes to the development of long-term and effective cooperation in training specialists of a new format. Organizational research methods expand analytical work to study the experience of educational services in the EU countries. The results of the study are confirmed by the acquired skills and knowledge on the new official educational course and the corresponding output document. The experience of the European Union in training specialists for the agricultural sector of the economy has been introduced into the educational process in educational institutions of Kazakhstan, and is also disseminated within the framework of the international school of economics and management of the consortium of agricultural universities for the development of the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, as well as through academic mobility of the teaching staff.

СОЗДАНИЕ КОНСОРЦИУМОВ УНИВЕРСИТЕТОВ С ВЫСОКОТЕХНОЛОГИЧНЫМИ КОМПАНИЯМИ ДЛЯ НАУЧНО-ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО РАЗВИТИЯ ОТРАСЛЕЙ И ТЕРРИТОРИЙ

The article considers the processes of creating consortiums for the purpose of scientific and technological development of industries and socio-economic development of territories. The developed model of the formation of joint activities of the participants of the consortium, which unites competitive scientific and educational and scientific and production structures, is shown. An approach to constructing a matrix of resources and competencies of consortium members is proposed. The life cycle of a consortium of universities with high-tech companies is considered.

Expanding advocacy for community college success

AbstractCommunity colleges serve the largest percentage of under‐represented, under‐prepared, and under‐resourced students yet they are often underfunded in state budgets. This article demonstrates challenges and opportunities for community college leaders in state and federal political advocacy from the perspective of a community college state system leader, a national community college trustee leader, a Washington, DC attorney advocating for community college consortium initiatives, and a university researcher. Drawing from the American Association for Community Colleges (AACC) third edition of the Competencies for Community College Leaders, the article frames discussion of advocacy within leadership development. The purpose of the article is to equip community college leaders with strategic knowledge for advocacy in local, state, and federal political contexts to expand fiscal resources. The article details recent developments in community college consortium building for targeted federal funding and a recent shift in federal policy allowing earmarks in federal appropriations.

Assessing the predictive validity of the UCAT—A systematic review and narrative synthesis

Background The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) is an admissions assessment used by a consortium of universities across the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, to aid the selection of applicants to medical and dental degree programmes. The UCAT aims to measure the mental aptitude and professional behaviours required to become successful doctors and dentists. We conducted a systematic review to establish the predictive value of the UCAT across measures of performance at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Methods A literature search was conducted in April 2020 using eight electronic databases: MEDLINE, APA PsycInfo, SCOPUS, Web of Science, EThOS, OpenGrey, PROSPERO, and the UCAT website. Data were extracted from selected studies and tabulated as results matrices. A narrative synthesis was performed. Results Twenty-four studies satisfied our inclusion criteria, 23 of which were deemed to be of good quality (using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale). For over 70% of univariate data points, the UCAT exerted no statistically significant predictive validity; for the remainder, predictive power was weak. The cognitive total and verbal reasoning subtests had the largest evidence base as weakly positive predictors of academic performance. The SJT subtest was a weak predictor of professional behaviour during medical school. Studies specific to dental schools demonstrated variable findings across the five studies. Only 1 study looked at post-graduate outcome measures and demonstrated that the UCAT was not a predictor of health- or conduct-related fitness to practice declarations at GMC registration. Conclusions These data provide some support for the use of cognitive total and verbal reasoning subtests as part of medical school selection. Further research is needed to investigate outcomes beyond professional registration and for dental students.

Implementation of the wp@e-lab fex mooc in tenth grade students at the Liceo Integrado Fray Francisco Chacón in Sopó, Cundinamarca

At present, virtual and distance learning spaces have been developed in the search for different alternatives in the construction of experimental environments, among which e-Learning spaces and massive open and online MOOC courses stand out. The COVID-19 health emergency reflected the need to implement academic interaction activities at a distance; therefore, the educational institutions opted for the virtual and distance modality for the development of the curricula and programmatic content addressed in each of the areas of knowledge. Simulation-based virtual laboratories are one of the resilient alternatives. On the other hand, school institutions in Colombia do not have the necessary infrastructure or the financial and technology capacity for the creation of scientific laboratories. The international project World Pendulum Alliance proposes the creation of virtual learning environments, reinforcing the experimental field through the implementation of remote laboratories. For this purpose, an alliance is created between different universities in Europe and Latin America, with the aim of disseminating remote experimentation in Basic Sciences. Among the consortium of partner universities, the Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia - UNAD is linked to the project and, among its dissemination activities, has created the ReEx-SDC Science Dissemination Center, led by researchers from the School of Basic Sciences, Technology and Engineering ECBTI. This article shows the results obtained from the MOOC course of the IST of the University of Lisbon at the Fray Francisco Chacón School in tenth grade students, with the objective of including remote experimentation in the tenth grade physics curriculum in the following school year.

Integrated Deep Renovation of Existing Buildings with Prefabricated Shell Exoskeleton

The European goal to reach carbon neutrality in 2050 has further put the focus on the construction sector, which is responsible for great impacts on the environment, and new sustainable solutions to renovate the existing building stock are currently under development. In this paper, the AdESA (Adeguamento Energetico Sismico ed Architettonico, in Italian) system, a holistic retrofit technique for the integrated renovation of the existing buildings, is presented. The system was developed by a consortium of enterprises and universities and was applied to a pilot building. The system consists of a dry, modular and flexible shell exoskeleton technique that implements different layers depending on the building retrofit needs (cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels for the structural retrofit, thermal insulation panels for the energy efficiency amelioration, and claddings for the architectural restyling). In order to foster actual sustainability, the solution contextually targets eco-efficiency, safety and resilience. To this end, the system not only couples the structural and energy interventions to reduce the operating costs, but it is also conceived in compliance with life cycle thinking (LCT) principles to reduce impacts throughout the remaining building service life (from retrofit time to the end of its life). The system is designed to be easily mountable and demountable to allow for the reuse/recycling of its components at the end of life by adopting macro-prefabricated dry components and standardized connections, to reduce damage caused by earthquakes by reducing the allowed inter-story drift, and by amassing the possible damage into sacrificial replaceable elements. The paper describes the AdESA system from a multidisciplinary perspective and its effective application for the deep renovation of an existing gymnasium hall.

A Principal Components Analysis-Based Method for the Detection of Cannabis Plants Using Representation Data by Remote Sensing

Integrating the representation of the territory, through airborne remote sensing activities with hyperspectral and visible sensors, and managing complex data through dimensionality reduction for the identification of cannabis plantations, in Albania, is the focus of the research proposed by the multidisciplinary group of the Benecon University Consortium. In this study, principal components analysis (PCA) was used to remove redundant spectral information from multiband datasets. This makes it easier to identify the most prevalent spectral characteristics in most bands and those that are specific to only a few bands. The survey and airborne monitoring by hyperspectral sensors is carried out with an Itres CASI 1500 sensor owned by Benecon, characterized by a spectral range of 380–1050 nm and 288 configurable channels. The spectral configuration adopted for the research was developed specifically to maximize the spectral separability of cannabis. The ground resolution of the georeferenced cartographic data varies according to the flight planning, inserted in the aerial platform of an Italian Guardia di Finanza’s aircraft, in relation to the orography of the sites under investigation. The geodatabase, wherein the processing of hyperspectral and visible images converge, contains ancillary data such as digital aeronautical maps, digital terrain models, color orthophoto, topographic data and in any case a significant amount of data so that they can be processed synergistically. The goal is to create maps and predictive scenarios, through the application of the spectral angle mapper algorithm, of the cannabis plantations scattered throughout the area. The protocol consists of comparing the spectral data acquired with the CASI1500 airborne sensor and the spectral signature of the cannabis leaves that have been acquired in the laboratory with ASD Fieldspec PRO FR spectrometers. These scientific studies have demonstrated how it is possible to achieve ex ante control of the evolution of the phenomenon itself for monitoring the cultivation of cannabis plantations.

“Students CAN be the center of their own learning”: lessons learnt from a transnational collaborative academic development project

ABSTRACT This study attempts to explore changes in teaching conceptions after a transnational project to introduce new pedagogical methods in Indonesia. The project involved a consortium of European universities as mentors and Indonesian universities as mentees, piloting methods based on a student-centred learning approach. We analysed vignettes from the narratives written by project partners to explore the conceptual change after a significant length of development activities. Such change is influenced by sustaining, neutral, and hindering factors in learning outcome attainment, institutional support, and involvement of other stakeholders in the learning process. These findings may better support transnational collaborative academic development activities.

Uneasy belonging in the mobility capsule: Erasmus Mundus students in the European Higher Education Area

ABSTRACT Taking Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters students as exemplifications of the intensification of mobility in educational trajectories, this article considers their modes of belonging in super-mobility. Their educational experiences take place within a consortium of universities, necessitating intensive and routinized collective movement to multiple locations. This novel way of practising mobility within higher education calls for new frames to describe the distinctiveness of the super-mobility experience and how belonging is enacted and reflected in this transnational space. It aligns itself with the critical approach to hypermobility, especially with regard to its impact on mental well-being. Through an empirical, multi-year qualitative study of student experiences, we propose a new concept of the mobility capsule as both a meso-level structure and a particular way of practicing mobility which implies a transnational group experience, usually organised within an institutional framework of studies. Our results show that the experience of the mobility capsule is characterised by intense speed, routine uprootedness and cosmopolitan social closure. These features weigh heavily on the construction of personal and group belonging and have particular consequences for well-being. We conclude with a critique of such institutional set ups given the persistent glorification of hypermobility.

The INSPIRESat-1: Mission, science, and engineering

INSPIRESat-1 (IS-1) is a small scientific satellite being developed jointly by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the United States, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) in India, the National Central University (NCU) in Taiwan and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. This paper describes the science objectives of the IS-1 mission, the engineering and current development status. The IS-1 has completed all functional and performance tests as well as all environmental tests. The spacecraft is manifested on the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-52 mission in 2021. The IS-1 carries two scientific instruments: the Compact Ionospheric Probe (CIP) developed at NCU for studying Earth’s dynamic ionosphere and the Dual-zone Aperture X-ray Solar Spectrometer (DAXSS) developed at LASP for studying the highly-variable solar X-ray radiation. It also carries a Command and Data Handling board developed by IIST. The primary science objectives of the INSPIRESat-1 are twofold. First, using CIP to characterize the temporal and spatial distributions of small-scale plasma irregularities like plasma bubbles in the ionosphere. Secondly, IS-1 aims to provide a greater understanding of why the Sun’s corona is orders of magnitude hotter than the photosphere, why there is an abundance of elements change during different solar events, and how these events (observed with greater soft x-ray fidelity) affect the earth’s ionosphere. The International Satellite Program in Research and Education (INSPIRE) is a consortium of universities with active space programs, formed to advance space science and engineering.

Developing medical artificial intelligence leaders: International university consortium approach.

Developing medical artificial intelligence leaders: International university consortium approach.

Working Methodology with Public Universities in Peru during the Pandemic—Continuity of Virtual/Online Teaching and Learning

This article describes the consultancy provided by the UTEC-UNED-TECSUP University Consortium to six national universities in Peru, during the COVID-19 state of emergency. This action aims to promote the techno-pedagogical change from a face-to-face to a virtual/online educational context. The process consists of three stages that ensured the continuity of the virtual/online educational service: diagnosis, design, and training, to strengthen instructional and digital competencies, support, and techno-pedagogical monitoring. It includes the basic principles of constructivist and constructionist learning theories for active and quality teaching and learning for the agents involved, and, in addition, the guidelines set by the emerging Peruvian regulations during the pandemic to move towards a digital university model according to the times. After a 157-day intervention, the analysis of the results raises some reflections: the importance of the socio-cultural context and its influence on the concept and development of the instructional act; the concept of distance learning in territories where connectivity is the main difficulty, and the university institution, in terms of a non-presential educational model with open and versatile methodologies, which anticipates a long process, involves a scheduled follow-up, requires fluid communication and demands continuous feedback.

Development of a Fuzzy Logic Controller for Small-Scale Solar Organic Rankine Cycle Cogeneration Plants

Solar energy is widely recognized as one of the most attractive renewable energy sources to support the transition toward a decarbonized society. Use of low- and medium-temperature concentrated solar technologies makes decentralized power production of combined heating and power (CHP) an alternative to conventional energy conversion systems. However, because of the changes in solar radiation and the inertia of the different subsystems, the operation control of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants is fundamental to increasing their overall conversion efficiency and improving reliability. Therefore, in this study, the operation control of a micro-scale CHP plant consisting of a linear Fresnel reflector solar field, an organic Rankine cycle unit, and a phase change material thermal energy storage tank, as designed and built under the EU-funded Innova Microsolar project by a consortium of universities and companies, is investigated. In particular, a fuzzy logic control is developed in MATLAB/Simulink by the authors in order to (i) initially recognize the type of user according to the related energy consumption profile by means of a neural network and (ii) optimize the thermal-load-following approach by introducing a set of fuzzy rules to switch among the different operation modes. Annual simulations are performed by combining the plant with different thermal load profiles. In general, the analysis shows that that the proposed fuzzy logic control increases the contribution of the TES unit in supplying the ORC unit, while reducing the number of switches between the different OMs. Furthermore, when connected with a residential user load profile, the overall electrical and thermal energy production of the plant increases. Hence, the developed control logic proves to have good potential in increasing the energy efficiency of low- and medium-temperature concentrated solar ORC systems when integrated into the built environment.

A Global MetaUniversity to Lead by Design to a Sustainable Well-Being Future

The COVID19 pandemic has revealed deep, ingrained problems with higher education, but also opportunities for positive transformation. In the post-COVID world, education at all levels has the chance to become: (1) universally available at low cost; (2) focused on developing competencies, (3) empowering fulfilling lives, not merely job training; and (4) engaged with communities to solve real-world problems. Achieving this will require overcoming the mass production model of higher education by utilizing the full potential of the Internet in creative ways balanced with face-to-face solutions-based integrated learning, research, and outreach agenda. Building a global collaborative consortium of universities and other educational institutions can move this agenda forward. We describe how this “MetaUniversity” could be structured and how it would serve to advance this agenda and lead the way to a sustainable well-being future for humanity and the rest of nature.

Drone vs. Bird Detection: Deep Learning Algorithms and Results from a Grand Challenge.

Adopting effective techniques to automatically detect and identify small drones is a very compelling need for a number of different stakeholders in both the public and private sectors. This work presents three different original approaches that competed in a grand challenge on the “Drone vs. Bird” detection problem. The goal is to detect one or more drones appearing at some time point in video sequences where birds and other distractor objects may be also present, together with motion in background or foreground. Algorithms should raise an alarm and provide a position estimate only when a drone is present, while not issuing alarms on birds, nor being confused by the rest of the scene. In particular, three original approaches based on different deep learning strategies are proposed and compared on a real-world dataset provided by a consortium of universities and research centers, under the 2020 edition of the Drone vs. Bird Detection Challenge. Results show that there is a range in difficulty among different test sequences, depending on the size and the shape visibility of the drone in the sequence, while sequences recorded by a moving camera and very distant drones are the most challenging ones. The performance comparison reveals that the different approaches perform somewhat complementary, in terms of correct detection rate, false alarm rate, and average precision.

Theory of change models deepen online learning evaluation

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have gained traction as resources for professional development. This article presents the method that we used to evaluate a professional development MOOC for postdoctoral trainees that was created by a university consortium in the US. Most approaches to evaluating MOOCs focus on analysis of participation, outcomes from course assignments, self-reported learning outcomes, course completion and user pathways through the online content or clickstream data. Few published evaluations describe in detail how learning happens within online courses and the anticipated medium and longer term cognitive and behavioral outcomes on participants. This work aims to guide those who are designing, implementing and evaluating MOOCs through applying theories of change to focus evaluation on the process of learning. This approach can be used as a complement to traditional approaches for evaluating MOOCs. We described how we worked with the MOOC team building the content to develop a theory of change for each module (or lesson) within the MOOC and used the theory of change to guide evaluation of short and medium term participant cognitive, affective and attitudinal, and behavioral outcomes. Finally, we share lessons learned and suggestions for implementing theories of change in both the design and evaluation phases of MOOC development.

The future of residential neighborhoods 1960-80: transformation of the architectural and planning structure. Results of the international research project “Unloved heritage” of the socialist city 1960-70

The results of an international research project to assess the urban development potential of residential neighborhoods in socialist cities, carried out by a consortium of universities, are presented. A differentiated analysis of the experience of transformation of microdistricts in different countries revealed potential opportunities for development and renewal in various aspects: functional and planning structure, open spaces, mobility systems, identity, and public spaces. The project offers strategies for the transformation of microdistricts, as well as defines the prospects for a research project at the next stage of cooperation between universities and directions for integrating the main provisions of the project into the educational programs of architectural universities, as an important project task of various urban planning scales.

課題解決型医療人養成プログラム「国内初の，肝移植を担う医療人養成—6大学連携プログラム—」（略称 SNUC-LT）について—申請採択から，成果と課題まで—

課題解決型医療人養成プログラム「国内初の，肝移植を担う医療人養成—6大学連携プログラム—」（略称 SNUC-LT）について—申請採択から，成果と課題まで—

SNUC-LT Program外科履修生の成果と課題，キャリアパス形成

SNUC-LT Program外科履修生の成果と課題，キャリアパス形成