IDES-EDU: Comprehensive multidisciplinary education programme to accelerate the implementation of EPBD in Europe

This paper presents a new education and training programme on integrated energy design developed by fifteen European universities collaborating within the IDES-EDU project (2010-2013), funded by Intelligent Energy Europe. IDES-EDU aims to accelerate the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) by proposing Master and Post Graduate education and training in multidisciplinary teams. To speed up transition from traditional, sub-optimised building projects with discipline-oriented, segregated budgets and operations, IDES-EDU developed comprehensive, multidisciplinary educational programmes targetting integrated project design at the interface of architecture and engineering. Taking into account local variations in climate, construction and pedagogical approaches, the programme facilitates gradual implementation towards full integration of energy efficiency in building education according to local capacity and legislation. This paper summarises the evaluation process of the first implementation of the educational material in the 15 universities, by academic staff, national industry and professional organisations, and reference students from each university. Included are expected learning outcomes, level of integration in existing curricula and alignment with theory and assessment methods. Measures for improvement as well as further dissemination to other European educational facilities are proposed. In this manner, the project will contribute to make the multiple opportunities for energy efficiency a reality.Intelligent Energy Europe programme for its financial support, Grant agreement no.IEE/09/631/SI2.55822

IDES-EDU: Comprehensive multidisciplinary education programme to accelerate the implementation of EPBD in Europe

Abstract: This paper presents a new education and training programme on integrated energy design developed by fifteen European universities collaborating within the IDES-EDU project Key words: Education, integrated energy design, multidisciplinary About IDES-EDU In IDES-EDU 15 European universities have jointly developed education and training programmes for MSc students and professionals in Integrated Design of the Near-Zero Energy Built Environment. IDES-EDU developed 13 education packages with 98 lectures and 22 seminars and workshops and specified intended learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence. The courses have been further elaborated and implemented in national consortia in which educational institutes collaborate with key stakeholders such as branch organisations of the building sector (constructors, real estate developers, architects, building research institutes, utilities, suppliers and consultants) and accrediting bodies

Effects of food diversity on diatom selection by harpacticoid copepods

The diversity of species assemblages which occupy a basal position in the trophic pyramid (typically unicellular algae in aquatic environments) is known to influence the interaction with organisms of higher trophic levels. A laboratory feeding experiment was conducted with cultures of three benthic diatom species (Navicula phyllepta, Grammatophora marina and Cylindrotheca closterium) as primary producers and three harpacticoid copepod species (Harpacticus obscurus, Paramphiascella fulvofasciata and Tigriopus brevicornis) as grazers to evaluate the effects of food diversity (and concomitant food availability) on grazing selectivity. This kind of selectivity experiments is singular for benthic harpacticoid copepods as so far, information on food selection of harpacticoids is scarce.Uptake of a unispecific food source by a single copepod species decreased as food diversity (and concomitant overall food concentration) increased. All three consumers reacted similarly to changing food diversity, but exhibited strong species-specific responses to food identity i.e. which diatom was added was crucial. Irrespective of level of food diversity, H. obscurus took up high amounts of G. marina, whereas both P. fulvofasciata and T. brevicornis preferred C. closterium when given the choice between different diatoms. As for zooplanktonic taxa, this experiment showed that in lower benthic marine food webs both prey organisms (primary producers) and grazers play a very specific role. Diversity of food and its identity are of critical importance at the base of the trophic pyramid, influencing trophic transfer from primary producers over grazers to higher trophic levels

Integrated energy design - Education and training in cross-disciplinary teams implementing energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD)

In Europe, energy and climate policies started to take shape from the 1990s onwards culminating with the ambitious 20-20-20 climate goals and the Low-Carbon Europe roadmap 2050. The European Commission empower the importance of achieving the objective of the recast Directive on energy performance of buildings (EPBD) that new buildings built from 2021 onwards will have to be nearly zero-energy buildings. The general belief is that the energy performance optimization of buildings requires an integrated design approach and cross-disciplinary teamwork to optimize the building's energy use and quality of indoor environment while satisfying the occupants' needs.In this context, there is a substantial need for professionals such as architects and engineers specifically trained and educated in integrated design approach and trained to work in cross-disciplinary teams. To be able to push forward the development, it is essential that educational institutions foster professionals with such knowledge, skills and competences. An initiative toward this direction is the EU-project of IDES-EDU: "Master and Post-Graduate education and training in multi-disciplinary teams".The paper describes the necessity of more integrated and cross-disciplinary approaches to building design through state-of-the-art of the building sector and educational initiatives in the participating countries in the project, and through theory of design processes. The paper also communicates the results of newly developed cross-disciplinary education established by fifteen different educational institutions in Europe. Finally, the paper explains and discusses the challenges encountered during development and implementation of the education across different professions and countries. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Study of the static quadrupole moment of the K=35/2 isomer in W-179

The quadrupole interaction frequency of the high-K five-quasiparticle isomer in W-179 implanted in a Tl host at a temperature of 473 K has been determined using the LEMS method. A value of 65.7(7.5) MHz has been found