Features of the Higher Education for the Circular Economy: The Case of Italy

The higher education system plays a critical role in supporting the transition towards a circular economy (CE). It helps create business leaders and policymakers having appropriate skills, competences, and consciousness referring to the CE challenges. Nevertheless, few studies have specifically investigated how the higher education system is addressing the CE, how the current academic offering is integrating the CE principles, and which skills and competences are currently provided. This paper overcomes these limitations by investigating the current offering of the higher education for the CE in Italy. We analyze the academic programs, courses, and modules at different levels of 49 Italian universities and, by means of a detailed classification of the learning outcomes, provide a clear picture of the knowledge, skills, and competences offered by the CE education. We finally discuss implications of our findings concerning the development of CE education and CE jobs

A project based approach to learning for first year engineering students

Support for transition from Leaving Certificate and entry to college for 1st year engineering students can be difficult to achieve. This new course offers an innovative project based approach to learning for 1st years with an introduction to design to build confidence in student ability and give motivation in research and discovery skills. The project takes place in small groups and relies heavily on presentation, group and individual skills. The Mechanical and Manufacturing and the Electronic Engineering Schools at Dublin City University offered this new module for all first year Engineering Students in 2006. The course entitled, ‘Project and Laboratory Skills’ was an immediate success with increased participation and retention rates and a high level of academic success in assessment. This paper highlights the overall module concepts, teaching and learning outcomes and the resources required for such a module

Energy levels and their correlations in quasicrystals

Quasicrystals can be considered, from the point of view of their electronic properties, as being intermediate between metals and insulators. For example, experiments show that quasicrystalline alloys such as AlCuFe or AlPdMn have conductivities far smaller than those of the metals that these alloys are composed from. Wave functions in a quasicrystal are typically intermediate in character between the extended states of a crystal and the exponentially localized states in the insulating phase, and this is also reflected in the energy spectrum and the density of states. In the theoretical studies we consider in this review, the quasicrystals are described by a pure hopping tight binding model on simple tilings. We focus on spectral properties, which we compare with those of other complex systems, in particular, the Anderson model of a disordered metal.Comment: 15 pages including 19 figures. Review article, submitted to Phil. Ma

Interactions in Quasicrystals

Although the effects of interactions in solid state systems still remains a widely open subject, some limiting cases such as the three dimensional Fermi liquid or the one-dimensional Luttinger liquid are by now well understood when one is dealing with interacting electrons in {\it periodic} crystalline structures. This problem is much more fascinating when periodicity is lacking as it is the case in {\it quasicrystalline} structures. Here, we discuss the influence of the interactions in quasicrystals and show, on a controlled one-dimensional model, that they lead to anomalous transport properties, intermediate between those of an interacting electron gas in a periodic and in a disordered potential.Comment: Proceedings of the Many Body X conference (Seattle, Sept. 99); 9 pages; uses epsfi

Spectrum and diffusion for a class of tight-binding models on hypercubes

We propose a class of exactly solvable anisotropic tight-binding models on an infinite-dimensional hypercube. The energy spectrum is analytically computed and is shown to be fractal and/or absolutely continuous according to the value hopping parameters. In both cases, the spectral and diffusion exponents are derived. The main result is that, even if the spectrum is absolutely continuous, the diffusion exponent for the wave packet may be anything between 0 and 1 depending upon the class of models.Comment: 5 pages Late

The wage curve revisited: estimates from a UK panel

Panel data from the United Kingdom are used to estimate a wage curve that allows simultaneously for time, individual, and spatial effects and which thus finesses the problem of grouped data bias. Once allowance is made for the multilevel and cross-classified nature of the data, estimates of the unemployment elasticity of the wage are seen to be volatile and imprecise.

The growth and development of metropolitan planning strategies in Istanbul

Beside it?s historical, cultural and natural values in the international level, Istanbul is a world wide city which leads to national and regional development from socio-economic point of view. However, there are some obstacles to become an international metropolis. The two properties which have determined the growth dynamics negatively up to now are: ? Turkey?s industrialisation occurs mainly in Istanbul and the development of the city as an Industrial City, ? In a rapid and unhealthy developed city, the pressure of economic process base on speculations on real estates and other urban areas over business and political decision mechanism. Istanbul, with it?s approximately 9 million inhabitant, pulls a great amount of migrant every year. However, inadequacy in present infrastructure, housing stock and natural life sources which answer to migrants, leads to a complex structure in the city. There are some obstacles to become an international metropolis. The two properties which have determined the growth dynamics negatively up to now are: Istanbul Metropolitan Area Sub Region Master Plan done by Greater Municipality of Istanbul in 1995, aimed Istanbul to be a historical, cultural, scientific, artistic and service city integrated with regional countries and to take part in the hierarchy of world metropolitan cities in the current economic development process. According to this aim, Greater Municipality of Istanbul developed a strategic plan as a result of planning studies which direct city development. With this plan, ? Planning decisions in the metropolitan area that supply balanced land use for the protection of natural sources, cultural heritage and sustainable environment are formed. ? Transportation schema that ideally organises relations among the most convenient centre and sub-centres of Istanbul?s linear development, We are aimed to explain Istanbul Metropolitan Area Sub Region Master Plan.