Final report on heat pump developments in WP 4 - MacSheep Deliverable 4.4 : MacSheep -New Materials and Control for a next generation of compact combined Solar and heat pump systems with boosted energetic and exergetic performance

FP7- MacSheep

Development of a molecular test to determine the vitality status of Norway spruce (Picea abies) seedlings during frozen storage

In boreal forest regions, a great portion of forest tree seedlings are stored indoors in late autumn to prevent seedlings from outdoor winter damage. For seedlings to be able to survive in storage it is crucial that they store well and can cope with the dark and cold storage environment. The aim of this study was to search for genes that can determine the vitality status of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) seedlings during frozen storage. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the ColdNSure (TM) test, a gene activity test that predicts storability was assessed. The storability of seedlings was tested biweekly by evaluating damage with the gene activity test and the electrolyte leakage test after freezing seedlings to -25 A degrees C (the SELdiff-25 method). In parallel, seedlings were frozen stored at -3 A degrees C. According to both methods, seedlings were considered storable from week 41. This also corresponded to the post storage results determined at the end of the storage period. In order to identify vitality indicators, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was performed on bud samples collected during storage. Comparing physiological post storage data to gene analysis data revealed numerous vitality related genes. To validate the results, a second trial was performed. In this trial, gene activity was better in predicting seedling storability than the conventional freezing test; this indicates a high sensitivity level of this molecular assay. For multiple indicators a clear switch between damaged and vital seedlings was observed. A collection of indicators will be used in the future development of a commercial vitality test.

A study visit to a vitual company

To integrate study visits to different workplaces in higher education implies important benefits for the course quality. The study visit gives the students a better understanding for the real situations they will meet in working life. However for practical and economical reasons is that not always possible. The purpose of this project is to create a virtual company that shall replace the real one for study visits. The goal is to create a realistic picture and that intended use of it can come as close as possible to a real study visit. It is also important to facilitate linking theory and practice. The virtual company is built up by pictures, videos and text. All material is made available on a web page and when entering the students will meet a layout of the company. From that position is it possible to walk around and look at videos from different workstations. Besides that can they also listen to interviews with managers and representatives of staff as well as reading reports concerning productivity and the work environment. The focus of the study visit is work sciences, therefore the material also include some visualized information about work hazards. On the web page there are also a number of tasks for the students to carry out. Until the autumn 2011, 132 students at Dalarna University have visited and produced reports from the virtual company. They were studying in programs for mechanical engineering, production technicians and human resource management. An evaluation among some ten students showed that the study visit to the virtual company is flexible in time and effective, but that students wish to have even more detailed information about the company. Experiences from four years of use in a number of classes show that the concept is worth further development. Furthermore with production of new material the concept is likely to be applicable for other purposes.

Fan Culture as an Informal Learning Environment : Presentation of a NGL project

Fan culture is a subculture that has developed explosively on the internet over the last decades. Fans are creating their own films, translations, fiction, fan art, blogs, role play and also various forms that are all based on familiar popular culture creations like TV-series, bestsellers, anime, manga stories and games. In our project, we analyze two of these subculture genres, fan fiction and scanlation. Amateurs, and sometimes professional writers, create new stories by adapting and developing existing storylines and characters from the original. In this way, a "network" of texts occurs, and writers step into an intertextual dialogue with established writers such as JK Rowling (Harry Potter) and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight). Literary reception and creation then merge into a rich reciprocal creative activity which includes comments and feedback from the participators in the community. The critical attitude of the fans regarding quality and the frustration at waiting for the official translation of manga books led to the development of scanlation, which is an amateur translation of manga distributed on the internet.  Today, young internet users get involved in conceptual discussions of intertextuality and narrative structures through fan activity. In the case of scanlation, the scanlators practice the skills and techniques of translating in an informal environment. This phenomenon of participatory culture has been observed by scholars and it is concluded that they contribute to the development of a student’s literacy and foreign language skills. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the fandom related to Japanese cultural products such as manga, anime and videogames is one of the strong motives for foreign students to start learning Japanese. This is something to take into pedagogical consideration when we develop web-based courses. Fan fiction and fan culture make it ​​possible to have an intensive transcultural dialogue between participators throughout the world and is of great interest when studying the interaction between formal and informal learning that puts the student in focus

Building a Learning Architecture : e-Learning and e-Services

With the rapid advancement of the webtechnology, more and more educationalresources, including software applications forteaching/learning methods, are available acrossthe web, which enables learners to access thelearning materials and use various ways oflearning at any time and any place. Moreover,various web-based teaching/learning approacheshave been developed during the last decade toenhance the capability of both educators andlearners. Particularly, researchers from bothcomputer science and education are workingtogether, collaboratively focusing ondevelopment of pedagogically enablingtechnologies which are believed to improve theinfrastructure of education systems andprocesses, including curriculum developmentmodels, teaching/learning methods, managementof educational resources, systematic organizationof communication and dissemination ofknowledge and skills required by and adapted tousers. Despite of its fast development, however,there are still great gaps between learningintentions, organization of supporting resources,management of educational structures,knowledge points to be learned and interknowledgepoint relationships such as prerequisites,assessment of learning outcomes, andtechnical and pedagogic approaches. Moreconcretely, the issues have been widelyaddressed in literature include a) availability andusefulness of resources, b) smooth integration ofvarious resources and their presentation, c)learners’ requirements and supposed learningoutcomes, d) automation of learning process interms of its schedule and interaction, and e)customization of the resources and agilemanagement of the learning services for deliveryas well as necessary human interferences.Considering these problems and bearing in mindthe advanced web technology of which weshould make full use, in this report we willaddress the following two aspects of systematicarchitecture of learning/teaching systems: 1)learning objects – a semantic description andorganization of learning resources using the webservice models and methods, and 2) learningservices discovery and learning goals match foreducational coordination and learning serviceplanning.