Competitive implications of quality assurance processes in higher education. The case of higher education in engineering in France

Quality assurance in higher education is one of the cornerstones of the Bologna agenda and the Lisbon strategy, which aims at establishing the world’s most competitive knowledge economy. Extensive literature up to now has addressed quality assurance as a regulatory and policy mechanism and has presented quality assurance and market forces as antagonistic. However, what policymakers in the field fail to see is that the ‘official’ quality assurance processes also have implications in terms of competition. Indeed, higher education institutions are using the results of these, in principle aseptic, non-market-related evaluation processes, as a way to achieve competitive advantage. This paper analyses the case of higher education institutions in engineering in France. The institutional websites of 163 higher education institutions have been analysed through code-based content analysis techniques and Multiple Correspondence Analysis. This study shows that the analysis of institutional websites can be used as a tool to gauge the importance of the different dimensions of quality assurance for higher education institutions in a given national system. Furthermore, a clear association has been found between the ranking position of an institution and its communication behaviour. The results have been interpreted in the light of Neoinstitutional Theory and Porter’s generic competitive strategies. Practical implications for quality assurance practitioners and managers at higher education institutions have been highlighted

A New Way of Teaching Ancient History: The Case of the Bachelor’s of Education at the University of Seville

Fernando Lozano Gómez, Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio Rivas, and Victor Sánchez Domínguez assess the conclusions of several successive research projects on teaching innovation funded by the University of Seville. Members of the Department of Ancient History developed these projects that are indebted to game based learning. The main goal was to present History in all its complexity, without simple explanations, and to improve the student’s general knowledge of the subject by promoting autonomous learning. The paper presents the new teaching materials created by the members of the project. These include an open access handbook with specific teaching tools, instructions for autonomous learning through historical role-play, and the use of timeline playing cards in the university classroom for learning History

Missing observations in ARIMA models : skipping strategy versus additive outlier approach

La estimacion optima de valores ausentes en modelos estacionarios ARIMA se realiza tipicamente utilizando el filtro de Kalman para el calculo de la verosimilitud, saltando las observaciones para las que no hay valores, obteniendo los estimadores maximo-verosimiles de los parametros del modelo y utilizando a continuacion un algoritmo suavizador. El mismo tipo de procedimiento ha sido extendido al caso de los modelos ARIMA no estacionarios por Gomez y Maravall (1994). Un procedimiento alternativo sugiere rellenar los huecos de las series con valores arbitrarios y estimar por MV el modelo ARIMA con observaciones atipicas aditivas (AO). Cuando los parametros del modelo son desconocidos, los dos metodos difieren, ya que la verosimilitud aproximada que se usa para el caso se ve afectada por valores arbitrarios. En este trabajo se desarrolla la funcion de verosimilitud correcta para el metodo OA en el caso general de procesos no estacionarios, y se demuestra la equivalencia de los dos procedimientos. (vg) (amh) (dp) (mac

Analysis of additively manufactured PLA containing notches using Failure Assessment Diagrams

ABSTRACT: This paper provides a methodology for the estimation of the load-bearing capacity of additively manufactured (AM) PLA specimens that may be applied to both cracked and notched conditions. The methodology is based on the use of Failure Assessment Diagrams (FADs), which are, in practice, the main fracture-plastic collapse assessment tool provided by structural integrity assessment procedures. When dealing with notch-type defects, the methodology requires, additionally, the application of a notch correction that it is based on the Theory of Critical Distances (TCD) and the Creager-Paris stress distribution ahead of the cracktip. The results show that the FAD methodology (alone, in cracked conditions, or in combination with the TCD in notched conditions) can be successfully applied in this AM polymer.This publication is part of the project “Comportamiento en fractura de materiales compuestos nano-reforzados con defectos tipo entalla, PGC2018-095400-B-I00” funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033/ FEDER "Una manera de hacer Europa

Universal Basic Income in the Spanish construction sector: Engaging businesses in a public-policy debate

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is receiving increasing attention as a policy alternative, both from academia and the general public, because its implementation would open the window for a systemic questioning of our current “social contract”. However, the body of evidence for or against UBI is still insufficiently developed, especially when concerning changes at the system level – a scale at which it has never been implemented anywhere in the world. At this scale, labour market dynamics and the behaviour of different economic agents, such as businesses, take on particular relevance.Our main research objective is to investigate shared beliefs and opinions among business managers about UBI, about its impact at the system level, and, more specifically on labour market supply and demand. In order to achieve this objective, we conducted a focus group session involving managers from the construction sector in Spain, a country whose demographics, unemployment rate, productivity and public expenditure make this policy plausible.The target group showed little understanding of UBI, as well as other welfare policies, and demonstrated a dominant position against such a proposal. Our main findings show that most companies “live day-to-day” and do not undertake a structured analysis of such radical horizons but rather concentrate on incremental adaptations, even if they are worried about the need to increase productivity as a condition for survival – of both companies and the welfare system. We suggest that, in order to address this stakeholder group, communication around UBI should stress its potential to simplify bureaucracy and lead to significant savings. The results of this study can be used to inform policy design processes around UBI

An Asynchronous P300-Based Brain-Computer Interface Web Browser for Severely Disabled People

This paper presents an electroencephalo- graphic (EEG) P300-based brain–computer interface (BCI) Internet browser. The system uses the “odd-ball” row-col paradigm for generating the P300 evoked potentials on the scalp of the user, which are immediately processed and translated into web browser commands. There were previous approaches for controlling a BCI web browser. However, to the best of our knowledge, none of them was focused on an assistive context, failing to test their applications with a suitable number of end users. In addition, all of them were synchronous applications, where it was necessary to introduce a “read-mode” command in order to avoid a continuous command selection. Thus, the aim of this study is twofold: 1) to test our web browser with a population of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in order to assess the usefulness of our proposal to meet their daily communication needs; and 2) to overcome the aforementioned limitation by adding a threshold that discerns between control and non-control states, allowing the user to calmly read the web page without undesirable selections. The browser was tested with sixteen MS patients and five healthy volunteers. Both quantitative and qualitative metrics were obtained. MS participants reached an average accuracy of 84.14%, whereas 95.75% was achieved by control subjects. Results show that MS patients can successfully control the BCI web browser, improving their personal autonom

Flujo óptimo de potencia a través de técnicas de inteligencia artificial

Context: The integration of optimization methods into the various processes carried out by an electric power system seeking energy efficiency have led to satisfying results in the reduction of consumption as well as in terms of technical losses, security increase and system reliability. Objective: The purpose of this article is to identify a method offering the best optimization outcome for the power flow of an energy distribution system with 10 nodes at 13.2 kV. Methodology: The results of voltage profiles are presented for a 10-node energy distribution system using the Newton Raphson method. Afterward, the system is optimized using genetic and ant colony algorithms. Results: Their implementation determined that the sum of the potential differences of distribution lines is notably reduced with the genetic algorithm. However, the ant colony optimization code takes less time to run and has a lower number of iterations. Conclusions: The most efficient optimization is achieved with the genetic algorithm since the evolution of the population shows better optimization levels in comparison to the ant colony algorithm. Financing: Universidad Francisco José de Caldas and ColcienciasContexto: La integración de los métodos de optimización en los diversos procesos llevados a cabo por un sistema de energía eléctrica que busca la eficiencia energética ha llevado a resultados satisfactorios en la reducción del consumo, así como en términos de pérdidas técnicas, aumento de seguridad y confiabilidad del sistema. Objetivo: El propósito de este artículo es identificar un método que ofrezca el mejor resultado de optimización para el flujo de energía de un sistema de distribución de energía con 10 nodos a 13.2 kV. Metodología: Los resultados de los perfiles de voltaje se presentan para un sistema de distribución de energía de 10 nodos utilizando el método de Newton Raphson. Posteriormente, el sistema se optimiza utilizando algoritmos genéticos y de colonias de hormigas. Resultados: Su implementación determinó que la suma de las posibles diferencias de las líneas de distribución se reduce notablemente con el algoritmo genético. Sin embargo, el código de optimización de la colonia de hormigas tarda menos tiempo en ejecutarse y tiene un número menor de iteraciones. Conclusiones: La optimización más eficiente se logra con el algoritmo genético ya que la evolución de la población muestra mejores niveles de optimización en comparación con el algoritmo de colonias de hormigas. Financiamiento: Universidad Francisco José de Caldas y Colciencia

Influence of Different Vinification Techniques on Volatile Compounds and the Aromatic Profile of Palomino Fino Wines

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of vinification techniques on volatile compounds and sensory profiles in young Palomino fino white wines. Four winemaking techniques (pellicular maceration, supra-extraction and use of commercial yeast strains and of beta-glycosidase enzymes) were implemented to enhance the aromatic quality of wines elaborated from this neutral variety of grape. Volatile compound content, aromatic profile (OAVs) and sensorial analysis were determined. The results showed that all the vinification techniques studied led to an increase in volatile compounds compared to the control wine. Likewise, an influence of the vineyard and must extraction method on these compounds was observed. However, the greatest changes in aroma activity and sensory profile were a result of the pellicular maceration and supra-extraction techniques. The latter was differentiated by the highest content of terpenes and, consequently, the highest odour activity values of floral series. In addition, the supra-extraction was a very selective technique since it extracted terpenes and aromatic precursors, but not the acids responsible for the fatty characteristic, such as octanoic acid. In terms of sensory profile, the supra-extraction technique improved the intensity of the Palomino fino white wine and its aromatic quality with a previously not-determined floral character