Introducing sustainable development in engineering education: competences, pedagogy and curriculum

Introducing sustainable development (SD) in engineering education has been a key topic in many technological universities [1], accreditation agencies and International and National networks of universities. At the UNESCO chair of Sustainability of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) under their PhD program on Sustainability the authors have carried out a research on: 1. Which SD competences may engineers have when graduating? 2. How should SD competences be taught/learned at technological universities? 3. Which curriculum structure is more suitable to facilitate the acquisition of SD competences? To evaluate the competences we compared three leading European universities in introduction of SD. The competences are classified in three categories: knowledge and understanding, skills and abilities and attitudes [2]. To evaluate the pedagogical approach that facilitates the SD learning we analysed 10 case studies of courses on Sustainability from 5 European technological universities. We used conceptual maps [3, 4] as assessment tool. To analyse the curriculum design for SD 50 experts on curriculum design and teaching SD courses were interviewed. The methodology and results of this work are presented and recommendations to introduce SD in technological universities in the three fields: competences, pedagogy and curriculum are suggested.Peer Reviewe

Nature knows better? Nature as exemplar and/or inspiration?

The arising of the industrial society and the growth of human population have been main causes of resource depletion, climate change and the decline of ecosystems. Industrial systems and technologies have brought economic and public health progress, leading to an unprecedented population in relatively good conditions. But often, the new technologies that enabled this development turned out not to be the miracle solutions that they had been claimed to be: plastics contained toxics and caused world-wide litter, industrially processed food turned out to be a threat to public health, information and communication technologies provided a wealth of information but also threatened democratic society, and military technologies to secure freedom threatened humanity’s very existence. In reaction, there was a tendency to return to natural products and production processes. ‘Industry’ and ‘Modern Technology’ became suspect. Slogans emerged that emphasized the value of nature: ‘Nature knows better’ emphasizing healthier products without synthetic chemicals and “Nature does not produce any waste” criticizing the whole industrial society. Many of these slogans are in fact not verifiable empirical statements, and some of them are erroneous. Hence, ‘natural’ and ‘nature derived’ products and production processes are not a priori to be preferred above man-made products as the sustainable solution. Why are man-made products and processes not considered to be natural like the ones made by other animals? The first question that this paper addresses is how to assess ‘natural’-, ‘nature derived’- and ‘classic’ solutions to design challenges. In the first part of the paper, it is shown by various short case studies that design solutions from nature have survived long periods of selection pressure, which implies that they are in balance with their natural environment. The vast number of specific niches that ecosystems provide has created an abundance of natural design solutions. Hence, in the second part, the question will be addressed if the study of ‘natural principles’ can help industrial designers to think outside the box. Understanding biological analogies remains difficult for design students. Preliminary empirical research showed students using these, intentionally or unintentionally, copied aspects which are often misinterpreted into their design, i.e. blindly copying form while leaving out process or system. Biomimicry education offers new and compelling insights to measure and evaluate products, aiming to improve the sustainability score. This study reviews basic steps on how biomimicry could improve design education

Building capacities for sustainable energy in municipalities of Western Balkans

This paper discusses challenges of capacity building in sustainable urban energy planning and development in Western Balkan Countries (WBC). It identifies needs in training of municipal staff and addresses obstacles for transferring sustainable energy education from EU universities to universities of WBC. The analysis of the ten training courses developed and piloted in collaboration with academic and non-academic stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia shows that while international cooperation has a good potential to improve quality of capacity building and to catalyse university-society collaboration in WBC, significant efforts on national and local (university) levels are needed to fully capitalise on these opportunities. In particular, it is necessary to enhance an interdisciplinary approach to education in sustainable energy, incorporating economic, social and institutional aspects of energy production and consumption together with the technical ones. On the national level, the lifelong learning system should get political and financial support in WBC to ensure efficiency and continuity of the training activities.Postprint (published version

Common Genetic Variants Contribute to Risk of Transposition of the Great Arteries.

RATIONALE: Dextro-transposition of the great arteries (D-TGA) is a severe congenital heart defect which affects approximately 1 in 4,000 live births. While there are several reports of D-TGA patients with rare variants in individual genes, the majority of D-TGA cases remain genetically elusive. Familial recurrence patterns and the observation that most cases with D-TGA are sporadic suggest a polygenic inheritance for the disorder, yet this remains unexplored. OBJECTIVE: We sought to study the role of common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in risk for D-TGA. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a genome-wide association study in an international set of 1,237 patients with D-TGA and identified a genome-wide significant susceptibility locus on chromosome 3p14.3, which was subsequently replicated in an independent case-control set (rs56219800, meta-analysis P=8.6x10 CONCLUSIONS: This work provides support for a polygenic architecture in D-TGA and identifies a susceptibility locus on chromosome 3p14.3 nea

Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease

Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1β, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or cardiovascular death. RESULTS: At 48 months, the median reduction from baseline in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level was 26 percentage points greater in the group that received the 50-mg dose of canakinumab, 37 percentage points greater in the 150-mg group, and 41 percentage points greater in the 300-mg group than in the placebo group. Canakinumab did not reduce lipid levels from baseline. At a median follow-up of 3.7 years, the incidence rate for the primary end point was 4.50 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group, 4.11 events per 100 person-years in the 50-mg group, 3.86 events per 100 person-years in the 150-mg group, and 3.90 events per 100 person-years in the 300-mg group. The hazard ratios as compared with placebo were as follows: in the 50-mg group, 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.07; P = 0.30); in the 150-mg group, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.98; P = 0.021); and in the 300-mg group, 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; P = 0.031). The 150-mg dose, but not the other doses, met the prespecified multiplicity-adjusted threshold for statistical significance for the primary end point and the secondary end point that additionally included hospitalization for unstable angina that led to urgent revascularization (hazard ratio vs. placebo, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.95; P = 0.005). Canakinumab was associated with a higher incidence of fatal infection than was placebo. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio for all canakinumab doses vs. placebo, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.06; P = 0.31). Conclusions: Antiinflammatory therapy targeting the interleukin-1β innate immunity pathway with canakinumab at a dose of 150 mg every 3 months led to a significantly lower rate of recurrent cardiovascular events than placebo, independent of lipid-level lowering. (Funded by Novartis; CANTOS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01327846.

Sanitary Systems: Challenges for Innovation

Global society is confronted with various challenges: climate change should be mitigated, and society should adapt to the impacts of climate change, resources will become scarcer and hence resources should be used more efficiently and recovered after use, the growing world population and its growing wealth create unprecedented emissions of pollutants, threatening public health, wildlife and biodiversity. This paper provides an overview of the challenges and risks for sewage systems, next to some opportunities and chances that these developments pose. Some of the challenges are emerging from climate change and resource scarcity, others come from the challenges emerging from stricter regulation of emissions. It also presents risks and threats from within the system, next to external influences which may affect the surroundings of the sewage systems. It finally reflects on barriers to respond to these challenges

Introducing sustainable development in engineering education: competences, pedagogy and curriculum

Introducing sustainable development (SD) in engineering education has been a key topic in many technological universities [1], accreditation agencies and International and National networks of universities. At the UNESCO chair of Sustainability of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) under their PhD program on Sustainability the authors have carried out a research on: 1. Which SD competences may engineers have when graduating? 2. How should SD competences be taught/learned at technological universities? 3. Which curriculum structure is more suitable to facilitate the acquisition of SD competences? To evaluate the competences we compared three leading European universities in introduction of SD. The competences are classified in three categories: knowledge and understanding, skills and abilities and attitudes [2]. To evaluate the pedagogical approach that facilitates the SD learning we analysed 10 case studies of courses on Sustainability from 5 European technological universities. We used conceptual maps [3, 4] as assessment tool. To analyse the curriculum design for SD 50 experts on curriculum design and teaching SD courses were interviewed. The methodology and results of this work are presented and recommendations to introduce SD in technological universities in the three fields: competences, pedagogy and curriculum are suggested.Peer Reviewe