Sculpture Development as an Informal Activity for Learning Engineering Abilities in K-12 Student

The social changes that have taken place in recent decades have determined the evolution of the educational system. Society nowadays demands new learning methods, focused on an appropriate selection and processing of information instead of memorization. The rise of the Information Technologies has led to different ‘‘Emergent Pedagogies’’. One of them is Informal Learning, which proposes shifting the generation and acquisition of knowledge from the individual to the collective plane. The present research expects to raise K-12 students’ interest in engineering by adopting some methods that are typical of informal learning in the field of formal learning. The objective is to stimulate the group learning processes for the generation of collective knowledge through multidisciplinary team interaction and dialogue. For this purpose, a group of 25 K-12 students organized in subgroups carried out a co-creative project. This project consists in the development of a sculptural assembly made of glazed ceramics over a steel structure, which will be installed in the educational centre. A concurrent project methodology was used to create the sculptural assembly. Here, each student must perform different tasks related to design engineering. An educational model based on Blended Learning was used, which proposes the combination of in-person sessions with virtual work by means of social networks as a group communication medium. Thus, each creative team member contributed with their own Personal Learning Environment in order to enrich the group learning process and provide it with their own personal singularities, thereby turning it into a Personal Learning Network. The experience allowed K-12 students to discover the working process typical of design engineering through a recreational methodology based on Informal Learning. The students were able to make up for their shortcomings in terms of technical and creative skill, while becoming aware of their chances within the field of engineering. The project has been shown to be an incentive for K-12 students regarding their interest in starting engineering studies once they finish their K-12 stageAuthors want to acknowledge the Universitat Jaume I, and its P1.1B2015-30 funds that have enabled the successful development of this work. This work has been conducted as part of the research project ‘‘El arte y el disen˜o en la nueva sociedad digital’’ (code P1.1B2015-30) funded by the Jaume I University (Spain), which focuses on how synergies between several disciplines enable new ways of enrich the process of creating new products

Influence of presentation means on industrial product evaluations with potential users: a first study by comparing Tangible Virtual Reality and presenting a product in a real setting

Nowadays Virtual Reality allows products to be presented to potential users, but as they cannot feel them physically, their perception of some product attributes can be distorted. Conversely, the mixture of visual and touch feelings that Tangible Virtual Reality (TVR) offers could act as a similar approach to knowing products in real settings. This is a first study to compare the evaluation of product attributes presented in a real setting and by Tangible Virtual Reality to verify the possible equivalence of both means. The Semantic Differential Method was used to evaluate product attributes by creating a semantic scale with 16 bipolar pairs. Seventy-seven people (mean age of 21.7) evaluated one product by both means in an alternate viewing order. The results revealed that the product that was chosen was rated with more positive attributes in some bipolar pairs when experienced via TVR, while it was better rated in others when experienced in a real environment. The Wilcoxon test (α=0.05) corroborated that the presentation means used to evaluate the product influenced the evaluation of 15 of 16 attributes

Evaluación hidráulica del tramo en estudio puente peatonal Miguel Bonilla - UNICIT del cauce revestido Jocote Dulce del Distrito I de la ciudad de Managua, 2016

El cauce revestido Jocote Dulce del Distrito I de la ciudad de Managua se encuentra localizado según (Villachica, 2016) en el sistema de proyección UTM zona 16 y con las siguientes coordenadas (Este: 579143.661, Norte: 1338424.30), a una altura promedio de 214 metros sobre el nivel medio del mar. Presentando los límites siguientes: limita al sur con la Comarca Jocote Dulce y las Viudas, al Norte con la reserva natural de la laguna de Tiscapa en la que descarga sus aguas, al Este con el Distrito I y al Oeste con el Distrito III. El tramo en estudio está comprendido del puente peatonal Miguel Bonilla hacia la UNICI

Cuaderno de prácticas de dibujo para la presentación de diseños de producto

Departament d'Enginyeria de Sistemes Industrials i Disseny. Codi assignatura: DI 100

Design, product and user: the role of the consumer in the co-creation process

Este trabajo propone un nuevo modelo para el di - seño y desarrollo de nuevos productos y establece un marco de reflexión sobre la relación que debe establecer el diseñador con los consumidores per - tenecientes a colectivos especiales al integrarlos en el proceso de Co-Creación, tratando de responder a sus necesidades reales independientemente del po - tencial comercial del producto. Desde el punto de vista de un diseño de producto que no vela únicamente por los meros intereses eco - nómicos de las empresas, parece posible aprovechar la inercia actual de otros movimientos sociales para trasladar estos cambios de poder también al sistema de consumo. Este planteamiento retoma en parte los principios del Diseño Universal como camino hacia un diseño que atiende a las diversidades, capaz tanto de llegar a todos los ciudadanos para dar solución a sus necesidades como de minimizar la brecha social que ha ido ampliándose en las últimas décadas.CThis work proposes a new model for the design and development of new products and establishes a framework for reflection on the relationship that the designer must establish with consumers belon - ging to special collectives when integrating them into the Co-Creation process, trying to answer to their real needs regardless of the commercial poten - tial of the product. From the point of view of a product design that does not only watch over the mere economic interests of the companies, it seems possible to take advantage of the current inertia of other social movements to transfer these role changes also to the consumption system. This approach takes up part of the Universal Design principles as a way towards a design that meets the diversities, capable of reaching all citizens to solve their needs and minimizing the social gap that has been widening in recent decades

Ultralow background periods in CAST Micromegas detectors and tests in the Canfranc underground laboratory

Yıldız, Süleyman Cenk (Dogus Author)Micromegas detectors have shown a low and stable background level in the CAST experiment due to their low radioactive materials, good energy resolution and spatial resolution. Since 2008, four ultralow background periods have been observed with the new microbulk detectors. During these periods, the background level reduced one order of magnitude, reaching a value around 10-7 s-1 keV-1 cm-2 between 2 and 7 keV. In all cases, the intensity of the three fluorescence lines (at 3, 6 and 8 keV) presented at the background spectrum reduced but the relative ratio remained stable. To clarify the origin of these periods and might determine the ultimate background level of these readouts, a CAST-like detector has been installed at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. The actual level is compatible with the one measured in CAST. A new Micromegas detectors is being developped for working in CAST experiment during 2011, based on the conclusions of this work

Mountain sheep grazing systems provide multiple ecological, socio-economic, and food quality benefits

Altres ajuts: Basque Government to E.G (IT1022-16), A.A (IT1365-19), and L.J.R.B. (IT944-16)Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MPastoral systems face increasing pressure from competing global markets, food sector industrialization, and new policies such as Europe's post-2020 Common Agriculture Policy. This pressure threatens the use of extensive sheep-grazing systems in mountain areas of low productivity but high natural value. Using information gathered at a long-term research setting in a mountainous area of the Basque Country (northern Spain), we assessed the multiple benefits of extensive dairy sheep grazing systems from multiple perspectives using indicators pertaining to ecological, socio-economic, and food quality domains. In this way, we address the benefits that would be lost if sheep grazing abandonment persists in mountain regions. Our results show that the benefits of extensive dairy sheep grazing in the research area include the production of healthy and high-quality foods and multiple ecological benefits including biodiversity conservation. Extensive dairy sheep grazing also contributes to rural development by generating employment and income in marginal, low-productivity lands that can support few economic alternatives. In particular, we found that sheep farmers who produce high-value products, such as cheese, have enhanced their economic profitability and are less dependent on public subsidies. However, careful attention to sustainable practices, support for new generations of farmers, and streamlined supply chains are required. These would contribute to ensure socio-economic benefits for farmers, avoid the ecological costs associated with grazing abandonment, and enhance ecosystem services for the whole society

Probing the axion-nucleon coupling with the next generation of axion helioscopes

A finite axion–nucleon coupling, nearly unavoidable for QCD axions, leads to the production of axions via the thermal excitation and subsequent de-excitation of 57Fe isotopes in the sun. We revise the solar bound on this flux adopting the up to date emission rate, and investigate the sensitivity of the proposed International Axion Observatory IAXO and its intermediate stage BabyIAXO to detect these axions. We compare different realistic experimental options and discuss the model dependence of the signal. Already BabyIAXO has sensitivity far beyond previous solar axion searches via the nucleon coupling and IAXO can improve on this by more than an order of magnitude