Willingness Towards Continuous Assessment

Among the factors that affect the convergence towards the European Higher Education Area, university teaching staff's motivation is fundamental, and consequently, it is crucial to empirically know what this motivation depends on. In this context, one of the most relevant changes in the teacher-student relationship is assessment. In fact, the transition from a static assessment -focused on only one temporal point (final exam)- to a dynamic assessment, will require changes in thought and action, both on the part of teachers and students. In this line, the objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants of teaching staff's predisposition to the continuous assessment method. Specifically, we consider the following explanatory dimensions: teaching method used (which measures their degree of involvement with the ongoing adaptation process), type of subject (core, compulsory and optional), and teacher's personal characteristics (professional status and gender). The empirical application carried out at the University of Alicante uses Logit Models with Random Coefficients to capture heterogeneity, and shows that "cooperative learning" is a clear-cut determinant of "continuous assessment" as well as "continuous assessment plus final examination". Also, a conspicuous result, which in turn becomes a thought-provoking finding, is that professional status is highly relevant as a teacher's engagement is closely related to prospects of stability. Consequently, the most relevant implications from the results revolve around the way academic institutions can propose and implement inducement for their teaching staff.

Fostering Teaching Staff's Engagement in Continuous Assessment

Among the factors that affect the convergence towards the European Higher Education Area, university teaching staff's motivation is fundamental, and consequently, it is crucial to empirically know what this motivation depends on. In this context, one of the most relevant changes in the teacher-student relationship is assessment. In fact, the transition from a static assessment -focused on only one temporal point (final exam)- to a dynamic assessment, will require changes in thought and action, both on the part of teachers and students. In this line, the objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants of teaching staff's predisposition to the continuous assessment method. Specifically, we consider the following explanatory dimensions: teaching method used (which measures their degree of involvement with the ongoing adaptation process), type of subject (core, compulsory and optional), and teacher's personal characteristics (professional status and gender). The empirical application carried out at the University of Alicante uses Logit Models with Random Coefficients to capture heterogeneity, and shows that "cooperative learning" is a clear-cut determinant of "continuous assessment" as well as "continuous assessment plus final examination". Also, a conspicuous result, which in turn becomes a thought-provoking finding, is that professional status is highly relevant as a teacher's engagement is closely related to prospects of stability. Consequently, the most relevant implications from the results revolve around the way academic institutions can propose and implement inducement for their teaching staff.

Assessment of CO2 adsorption capacity on activated carbons by a combination of batch and dynamic tests

In this work, batch and dynamic adsorption tests are coupled for an accurate evaluation of CO2 adsorption performance for three different activated carbons obtained from olives stones by chemical activation followed by physical activation with CO2 at varying times, i.e. 20, 40 and 60 h. Kinetic and thermodynamic CO2 adsorption tests from simulated flue-gas at different temperature and CO2 pressure are carried out both in batch (a manometric equipment operating with pure CO2) and dynamic (a lab-scale fixed-bed column operating with CO2/N2 mixture) conditions. The textural characterization of the activated carbon samples shows a direct dependence of both micropore and ultramicropore volume on the activation time, hence AC60 has the higher contribution. The adsorption tests conducted at 273 and 293 K showed that, when CO2 pressure is lower than 0.3 bar, the lower the activation time the higher CO2 adsorption capacity and a ranking ωeq(AC20)>ωeq(AC40)>ωeq(AC60) can be exactly defined when T= 293 K. This result can be likely ascribed to a narrower pore size distribution of the AC20 sample, whose smaller pores are more effective for CO2 capture at higher temperature and lower CO2 pressure, the latter representing operating conditions of major interest for decarbonation of a flue-gas effluent. Moreover, the experimental results obtained from dynamic tests confirm the results derived from the batch tests in terms of CO2 adsorption capacity. It is important to highlight that the adsorption of N2 on the synthesized AC samples can be considered negligible. Finally, the importance of a proper analysis of characterization data and adsorption experimental results is highlighted for a correct assessment of CO2 removal performances of activated carbons at different CO2 pressure and operating temperature.

Image processing for safety assessment in Civil Engineering

Behaviour analysis of construction safety systems is of fundamental importance to avoid accidental injuries. Traditionally, measurements of dynamic actions in Civil Engineering have been done through accelerometers, but high-speed cameras and image processing techniques can play an important role in this area. Here, we propose using morphological image filtering and Hough transform on high-speed video sequence as tools for dynamic measurements on that field. The presented method is applied to obtain the trajectory and acceleration of a cylindrical ballast falling from a building and trapped by a thread net. Results show that safety recommendations given in construction codes can be potentially dangerous for workers.

Assessment of naproxen adsorption on bone char in aqueous solutions using batch and fixed-bed processes

An integrated analysis of naproxen adsorption on bone char in batch and packed-bed column conditions has been performed. Kinetic, thermodynamic and breakthrough parameters have been calculated using adsorption models and artificial neural networks. Results show that naproxen removal using bone char in batch conditions is a feasible and effective process, which could involve electrostatic and non-electrostatic interactions depending mainly on pH conditions. However, the application of packed-bed column for naproxen adsorption on bone char is not effective for the treatment of diluted solutions due to the low degree of adsorbent utilization (below 4%) at tested operating conditions. The proposed mechanism for naproxen removal using bone char could include a complexation process via phosphate and naproxen, hydrogen bonding and the possibility of hydrophobic interactions via π–π electron. This study highlights the relevance of performing an integrated analysis of adsorbent effectiveness in batch and dynamic conditions to establish the best process configuration for the removal of emerging water pollutants such as pharmaceuticals.