1,013 research outputs found
Author Correction: A guiding map for inflammation
No full textIn the version of this article initially published, in the Acknowledgements, the grant number for the Start Grant TWILIGHT awarded to M.A.L. by the European Research Council was omitted. The correct wording is “Supported by...the European Research Council (...Start Grant TWILIGHT (637801) to M.A.L.).” The error has not been corrected in the original article
International net mapping of sustainable universities
No full textThe objective of this work is to develop a search site to map all of High Education Institutions (HEI) and their environmental actions; to create a worldwide cooperation network between HEI with practical support in its campuses. The Site will have the following workflow: first, the HEI is invited to take part on the network, when one representative of the institution will subscribe, creating his/her own login. The next step is to point on the map the country/city where the HEI is located, which serves as the site\u92s user interface. By doing this, a window will pop up, allowing the user to select the desired environmental indicators. Moreover, the HEI will have the option to inform new environmental practices and the research projects that are being carried through in the environment area. At the end of the process, the HEI can demonstrate its interest in developing research projects in partnership with other institutions. So, in the site, there will be a forum for easing the exchange of ideas and spreading of projects, congresses and publications about this subject. This project has as main benefits: to show the sustainable practices the institutions that take part on the network are doing, as well as arguing about the environmental performance of each one; stimulating the creation of technician-scientific cooperation networks between the HEI with sustainable practices; allowing discussion about sustainable development; promoting the integration between HEI, teachers, researchers and HEI managers
The Latin America meeting of sustainable universities (I Elaus): Results and possibilities
No full textHigher Education Institutions (HEI) play an important role in sustainable development with their education, research and developed extension activities on environmental practices. With the purpose of organizing an event focused on the argument for education for sustainable development within Latin America and to initiate a process of coordination of the regional proposals, the First Latin America Meeting of Sustainable Universities (ELAUS) took place in October, 2008. This objective of this article is to relate and systemize the results of ELAUS, aggregated at the University of Passo Fundo, Brazil, with the support of the National University of Cordoba, Argentina and the University of São Paulo, Brazil and with collaboration from the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain. The data was obtained from the analysis of the reports, workshops and sessions that formed part of the event schedule and proceedings. The results show that the initiatives are expanding and increasing irreversibly. However, the majority of them are still isolated far from a systemic ideal. In conclusion, some possibilities and challenges have been indicated; among them, the necessity of having a systemic vision involving all the people and the activities of the university. The necessity of having a space for the discussion on sustainability in the universities of Latin America guaranteed the success of ELAUS. This event will be continued every two years in other countries
Sustainability evaluation of graduate courses in an university of the South of Brazil
No full textThe Auditing Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education (AISHE) is an assessment instrument developed specifically for higher education. The AISHE had been applied in many institutions in its first version (AISHE 1.0) and has a new version the AISHE 2.0, with new elements for evaluation (ROORDA, 2008). This paper shows the results of AISHE 1.0 application at Passo Fundo (UPF) university, located in the south of Brazil. The objective is to evaluate sustainability on the graduate courses. The AISHE method is based on the PDCA circle (PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT). Within the first three categories are criteria available in accordance with the five stages (sustainability level): stage 1: activity; stage 2: process; stage 3: system; stage 4: chain; stage 5: society (AISHE, 2001). The results show significant differences between the courses, indicating lack of strategic vision and university management, which is a common feature in all courses. The ideal would be that the results achieved stage 5, \u91society\u92, which means: long-term strategy, the policy aims at constant improvement; contacts are maintained, not only with direct customers but also with other stakeholders. The organization fulfils a prominent role in society. The sustainability evaluation is important because it points out the weaknesses and strengths of each cours
Generational spreading speed and the dynamics of population range expansion
No full textAuthor Posting. © University of Chicago Press, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of University of Chicago Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in American Naturalist 186 (2015): 362-375, doi:10.1086/682276.Some of the most fundamental quantities in population ecology describe the growth and spread of populations. Population dynamics are often characterized by the annual rate of increase, λ, or the generational rate of increase, R0. Analyses involving R0 have deepened our understanding of disease dynamics and life-history complexities beyond that afforded by analysis of annual growth alone. While range expansion is quantified by the annual spreading speed, a spatial analog of λ, an R0-like expression for the rate of spread is missing. Using integrodifference models, we derive the appropriate generational spreading speed for populations with complex (stage-structured) life histories. The resulting measure, relevant to locations near the expanding edge of a (re)colonizing population, incorporates both local population growth and explicit spatial dispersal rather than solely growth across a population, as is the case for R0. The calculations for generational spreading speed are often simpler than those for annual spreading speed, and analytic or partial analytic solutions can yield insight into the processes that facilitate or slow a population’s spatial spread. We analyze the spatial dynamics of green crabs, sea otters, and teasel as examples to demonstrate the flexibility of our methods and the intuitive insights that they afford.Support for this work was provided,
in part, by a postdoctoral fellowship (A.W.B.), Discovery
Grants (M.K., M.A.L.), and an Accelerator Grant
(M.A.L.) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada. The material is based on work
supported by the US National Science Foundation under
grants DEB-1145017 and DEB-1257545 to M.G.N. M.A.L.
also received support from the Canada Research Chair program
and a Killam Research Fellowship.2016-08-0
The energy and thermal performance of two university buildings in Southern Brazil with the aim of achieving environmental efficiency
No full textThis paper demonstrates the results of research concerning eco-efficiency at the University of Passo Fundo \u96 Southern Brazil. Its objective is to identify the factors that affect energy consumption in buildings of Higher Education Institutions and to elaborate a methodology that can facilitate the evaluation of the degree of influence of each one with the aim of defining criteria in the following areas: improve the use of natural resources in the building stock and formulate guidelines for the inclusion of objectives which include environmental, energy and thermal comfort in the planning of new installations. For the energy performance analysis, the concepts of Energy Audit were adopted and applied to two buildings of the Engineering and Architecture School, representing the different typologies of UPF´s Campus I. The static data (general characteristics of the buildings and indoor spaces, systems and installations), was analysed. The dynamic data was obtained by checking energy consumption for different uses; the indoor thermal performance and PMV index was also analysed. The real conditions of the buildings were then compared with the results of energy performance simulated by the software DesignBuilder. The results allow for a diagnosis of the building stock conditions of UPF, with the identification of positive and negative points. A proposal of an operative instrument for thermal and energy performance improvement of the existing buildings plus standards of reference for new eco-efficient buildings will be developed
“There Are no Things Inside Things”: An Augmented Lecture to Bridge the Gap Between Formal and Informal Physics Education
No full textAfter 13 years of research about how to make scientific theater a pow-erful tool in physics education [see for instance: 1-3], the group “Lo Spettacolo della Fisica” (The Physics Show) (http://spettacolo.fisica.unimi.it) of the Uni-versity of Milan, together with Stefano Oss of the University of Trento and An-drea Brunello of the Arditodesio Theater Company (Trento, Italy) created and developed the idea of “Augmented Lectures” (ALs). These are lectures per-formed in a theatrical setting with the help of professional actors (and/or of paint-ers, musicians, cooks, etc.) with the aim not only to create fascination and passion for physics, but to make people think and reflect on some specific disciplinary topic as well. Although ALs do not need any specific disciplinary preparation, they can, nonetheless, be seen as complementary lectures that can be part of a secondary, or even of a university, formal path in physics. In the augmented lec-ture titled, “There Are No Things Inside Things” (TANTIT), the theme “what is understanding?” is tackled starting from the proprieties of a magnet and devel-oped with the analysis of the double slit experiment in different settings: from the “classical” photons and electrons experiments, up to those with atoms, fullerenes and tetraphenylporphyrin. Experiments with neutrons and interaction-free meas-urements are also analysed. At the basis of quantum mechanics, there is elegance and simplicity; and it is precisely the simplicity of this theory – clearly related to its power – that upsets us, because, on the contrary, the world we are used to is complicated. Some of the peculiarities of quantum physics, and of the conceptual challenges they present to the descendants of fruit pickers and animal hunters as we are, are therefore a stimulus to discuss the meaning of explaining and under-standing, in physical sciences [4]. A physicist (the author) and an actor (Giacomo Anderle) act together with real data, experiments, songs, dances, equations – also involving the audience on stage – having in mind that culture is culture only if it changes your life. The aims and the structure of the augmented lecture TANTIT firstly performed inside the “Teatro della Meraviglia” (Theater of Wonder) festi-val in Trento (www.teatrodellameraviglia.it/) will be presented and briefly dis-cussed together with its potentialities
Additive Manufacturing and Spark Plasma Sintering of Lunar Regolith for Functionally Graded Materials
No full textThis study investigates the feasibility of in-situ manufacturing of a functionally graded metallic-regolith. To fabricate the gradient, digital light processing, an additive manufacturing technique, and spark plasma sintering were selected due to their compatibility with metallic-ceramic processing in a space environment. The chosen methods were first assessed for their ability to effectively consolidate regolith alone, before progressing to sintering regolith directly onto metallic substrates. Optimized processing conditions based on the sintering temperature, initial powder particle size, and different compositions of the lunar regolith powders were identified. Experiments have successfully proven the consolidation of lunar regolith simulants at 1050°C under 80 MPa with digital light processing and spark plasma sintering, while the metallic powders can be fully densified at relatively low temperatures and a pressure of 50 MPa with spark plasma sintering. Furthermore, the lunar regolith and Ti 6 Al 4 V gradient was proven to be the most promising combination. While the current study showed that it is feasible to manufacture a functionally graded metallic-regolith, further developments of a fully optimized method have the potential to produce tailored, high-performance materials in an off-earth manufacturing setting for the production of aerospace, robotic, or architectural components. Team Vera PopovichTeam Marcel Herman
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