This article shows the result of an international project from the European Commission, and it aimed to analyse 30 cases of effective European entities in the field of adult education, from Poland, ...Spain, Finland and Italy. The objective was to collect the best strategies that generate good employment and social inclusion results. The research analyses the methodologies of official educational corporations, such as vocational training centres and schools for adults; and for the first time, the research addresses the training carried out by companies. The methodology focuses on case studies, using the observation list as the main instrument. The sample is an intentional selection of entities with important training activities in different industrial sectors and positively impacting employment. The findings highlight relevant strategies, such as the importance of the educational scenario, the development of new personal and social skills, a flexible, individualised, and attractive approach in the teaching scope, and the importance of practical learning. Among the findings, new training paths are observed within the labour context, with innovative and revolutionary practices for the traditional school. The results also impact teacher training and education science faculties, that can incorporate new educational methodologies, with proven success in the labour market.
Organisations in Europe differ significantly in how they promote research integrity (RI). Higher education institutions play a pivotal role in disseminating a culture of RI and responsible conduct of ...research (RCR). Adhering and strengthening mentoring systems, implementing codes of conduct, and raising awareness are just a few initiatives among many to enhance students’ training in RCR. This article describes the Path2Integrity Learning Card (P2LIC) programme, a proactive training programme to foster RI. This programme was further developed in 2020 and the updated feedback loops took place in four countries (Germany, Denmark, Spain, and Poland). We outline the P2ILC development and final design, the trainer feedback on the programme from the second year of operation, and suggest future considerations for RCR training to strengthen research integrity.
The research presented herein was carried out in the framework of the H2020 LIQUEFACT project (
http://www.LIQUEFACT.eu/
). This paper presents the results of a set of numerical analyses performed to ...study the soil-structure interaction in presence of a liquefiable soil. In the first part of the paper, the attention was focused on the ability of some advanced soil constitutive models to simulate the centrifuge tests carried out within the project. Two finite element codes, Plaxis 2D and OpenSees, were used for the computations. The results were analysed in terms of accelerations, displacements and pore pressures build up. In the second part of the paper the effects of the introduction of horizontal drains, as mitigation techniques against liquefaction, were shown and discussed in terms of their ability in reducing pore pressure build-up and building settlement. All the numerical predictions confirmed the experimental evidence that horizontal drains are able to reduce the excess pore pressure during shaking and the structural settlement. The amount of reduction depends on the water boundary condition at surface: a free seepage surface generally allowed a larger mitigation than where the liquefiable layer was topped by clay.
The Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR) is one of the six reactors being investigated under the framework of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF). One of the major challenges in the development ...of a SCWR is to develop materials for the fuel and core structures that will be sufficiently corrosion-resistant to withstand supercritical water conditions. Previously, core, reactor and plant design concept of the European High Performance Light Water Reactor (HPLWR) have been worked out in substantial detail. As the next step, it has been proposed to carry out a fuel qualification test of a small scale fuel assembly in a research reactor under typical prototype conditions. Design and licensing of an experimental facility for the fuel qualification test, including the small scale fuel assembly, the required coolant loop with supercritical water and safety and auxiliary systems, is the scope of the project “Supercritical Water Reactor – Fuel Qualification Test” (SCWR-FQT) described here. This project is a collaborative project co-funded by the European Commission, which takes advantage of a Chinese – European collaboration, in which China offers an electrically heated out-of-pile loop for testing of fuel bundles. The results of these out-of-pile tests on an electrically heated, but otherwise identical, fuel assembly shall be used as a pre-qualification experiment as well as for providing data for CFD and system codes validation. A significant part of the design and the necessary structural, CFD, neutronic and safety analyses had been completed. The design of the facility, and especially of the test section with the fuel assembly, as well as the most important results of the above mentioned analyses are presented. Material test results of the stainless steels considered for the fuel cladding are briefly summarized. Finally, important outcomes and lessons learnt in the “Education & Training” and “Management” work packages are presented.
•Structure and objectives of the European project “Supercritical Water Reactor – Fuel Qualification Test”.•Progress in design and analyses of the experimental facility for qualification of fuel under supercritical water conditions.•Results of material tests of potential cladding materials – stainless steels.
One of the main challenges in sustainability discourse is its multifaceted nature often requiring that many different disciplines must cooperate in order to achieve progress. This issue also concerns ...sustainability education. In the article, we highlighted the experiences from the international cooperation of university teachers and researchers with highly diverse professional backgrounds who worked together on developing educational materials for university students in sustainability-oriented courses. The study is based on qualitative, participatory evaluation research, applying two rounds of open-ended questionnaires distributed to the same respondents (n = 18). For the analysis, we used the open-coding procedure for identifying the main categories. The results show some of the opportunities and barriers that emerged in the process of this cooperation. In particular, we discuss the issues related to the high heterogeneity of the group, such as the clashes of the different perspectives on the topics covered, group dynamics issues, trust, facilitation challenges, and also opportunities that such heterogeneity offers. We highlight the importance of open reflectivity in sustainability-oriented educational projects as the key to their successful implementation. Finally, we believe that results of this participatory study are useful in designing new projects aiming at further improvement of academic education in sustainability and sustainable development.
The seismic behaviour of a building on a liquefiable deposit is a complex interaction which involves quantifying both shaking induced damage and permanent ground deformation-related damage. In this ...paper the key parameters that influence both surface shaking and foundation settlements have been identified as the depth, thickness and liquefaction resistance of an equivalent liquefiable layer. These parameters can be used to develop an ‘equivalent soil profile’ that is analogous to the equivalent single degree-of-freedom that reduces the complexity of the dynamic response of a building into comparable and easily understood quantities. The equivalent soil profile is quantified independent of the seismic hazard, making it compatible with performance based design and assessment frameworks such that the building and soil profile can be directly assessed at different levels of seismic hazard. Several numerical studies are presented that demonstrate the influence of these key parameters on the ground surface shaking and foundation settlement. A set of criteria are proposed for classifying soil profiles into 22 different soil classes for regional loss assessment. An algorithm was developed for automatically fitting the equivalent soil profile to a cone penetration test trace and issues with the fitting are discussed. Field reconnaissance was undertaken to collect additional data to support existing datasets on the performance of buildings in Adapazari, during the 1999 Kocaeli, Turkey, earthquake (Mw = 7.4). The field case history data was used to investigate the correlation between the depth, thickness and liquefaction resistance of an equivalent liquefiable layer, on the extent of foundation permanent deformation. The case history data showed that in general a shallow, thick and weak liquefiable layer near the surface results in significant settlement but a lack of data for buildings on non-liquefiable deposits and the additional complexities involved with real buildings and soil deposits, meant that the trends observed in the idealised numerical models could not identified in the field case history data set.
While great emphasis is given in the current literature about the potential of leveraging the cloud for testing purposes, the authors have scarce factual evidence from real-world industrial contexts ...about the motivations, drawbacks and benefits related to the adoption of automated cloud testing technology. In this study, the authors present an empirical study undertaken within the ongoing European Project ElasTest, which has developed an open source platform for end-to-end testing of large distributed systems. This study aims at validating the ElasTest solution, and consists of the assessment of four demonstrators belonging to different application domains, namely e-commerce, 5G networking, WebRTC and Internet of Things. For each demonstrator, they collected differing requirements, and achieved varying results, both positive and negative, showing that cloud testing needs careful assessment before adoption.
With the increased share of renewable energy sources, there is a growing need for more flexibility to ensure the efficient and reliable operation of the electricity system. Multi‐energy systems (MES) ...now appear as one possible means to provide such flexibility through increased synergies between electricity, gas, and heating/cooling systems. In this context, the main findings of the study carried out in the MAGNITUDE European project are described. The most relevant services that could be provided by MES to the electricity system are first presented. Then a methodology is proposed to characterise and compare the market organisations and mechanisms for their procurement. The results of its application in seven case study countries are summarised and illustrate the diversity met between countries. The gas and heat sectors are also investigated for the seven countries to characterise the main aspects relevant to the provision of the services by MES. A comparative analysis is then carried out between the three energy sectors in the seven countries and highlights the major similarities and differences. Finally, potential barriers for the provision of the services by MES are discussed regarding the market, regulatory, and cultural aspects.
Historically, the European Union has been characterized by different legal formulations. Positions are divided, broadly speaking, between those that understand this entity as an international ...organization in the classical sense, to those others which claim that its features are actually of a Statenature, and that the obvious model of evolution would be the Federal State. In the end, all this leads us, undoubtedly, to the European constitutional project. In this work we give a brief account of all these proposals, and then we try to adopt a different point of view: for us, the nature of the European Union should not be looked for in the legal configuration of the political project, but also in the silent evolution -and not so silent- of a legal order, the European legal order, that is increasingly systematic, and that must boast a key position on the evolution towards a higher level of legal organization, global constitutionalism. In the building up of this proposal, we will appeal to the concept of global ethics and to the recent example of the CETA case of TJUE, which opens the European Legal system to alien influences.
Históricamente, se ha caracterizado la Unión Europea mediante diversas fórmulas jurídicas. Las posiciones se dividen, a grandes rasgos, entre aquellas que conciben esta entidad como una organización internacional en sentido clásico, hasta aquellas que propugnan que sus rasgos son los propios de un Estado, y que su modelo evidente de evolución sería el Estado Federal. En el fondo de la cuestión se encuentra, sin duda, el proyecto constitucional europeo. En el presente trabajo damos breve cuenta de estas propuestas, para después optar por un punto de vista distinto de ellas: para nosotros, la naturaleza de la Unión Europea no debe buscarse sólo en la configuración jurídica del proyecto político, sino también en la propia evolución silenciosa -o no tanto- de un ordenamiento, el de la Unión Europea, que va ganando forma sistemática, y que debe ostentar una posición clave en la evolución hacia un nivel de organización jurídica mayor, el constitucionalismo global. En la construcción de esta propuesta, recurriremos al concepto de ética mundial y al ejemplo reciente del caso CETA del TJUE, que abre el sistema jurídico europeo a influencias externas.
In most of the concept designs for nuclear waste disposals, bentonite-based materials are used to seal underground galleries and shafts. In order to assess the safety of such engineered barriers and ...to provide a good prediction for the material behaviour, a number of experimental campaigns and constitutive models have been developed mainly focusing on bentonite compacted blocks. On the other hand, in recent years, the use of high density bentonite pellets combined with powdered bentonite has also been considered as an interesting alternative. The bentonite pellets mixtures present a prominent initial heterogeneity level as a result of the inter-pellets porosity, which evolves strongly during hydration. This paper aims to present the numerical modelling strategy adopted for a swelling pressure test on pellets mixture carried by CEA (France). Taking advantage of the finite element code LAGAMINE, the Barcelona Basic model is considered for the bentonite mechanical behaviour and the double porosity model proposed by 1 is used for the water retention behaviour and permeability evolution. Given the already-known complexity of the multiphysical and multiscale coupled processes taking place during bentonite-hydration, the obtained numerical results are in good agreement with experimental measurements. Especially, the non-monotonic evolution of the swelling pressure during the hydration phase is well captured by this model, which is always a challenge for this type of problem.
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