How do students perceive their Learning Assessment?

The present work was developed considering the learning assessment vector and linking it to students’ general satisfaction with the engineering course. The key findings show a positive association between students’ general satisfaction and the learning assessment, specifically with the assessment methodologies effectiveness regarding the different subjects taught. Globally,studentsconsidered the assessment methodologies effective and appropriate to the different subjects taught however, they do not feel encouraged to be part of the process of monitoring his/her performance, and to thetime allocated to the assessment testsas it wasnot considered appropriateto the volume of subjects taught.The authors would like to express their acknowledgments to all students who accepted to collaborate in this study. The authors also thank the Research Centre CIETI and FCT, for all the support provided in the scope of the projects COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043, UID/CEC/00319-2019 and UID-EQU-04730-2013.N/

Caracterização hidrodinâmica e transferência de massa em sistemas gás-líquido com bolhas tubulares

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de Doutor, no Departamento de Engenharia Química da Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, sob a orientação do Prof. Doutor João Rui Guedes de Carvalh

Quality control of water and air in swimming pools

The water and air treatment circuits in public swimming pools are controlled by the technical staff, automatic systems and by official or accredited laboratories. The controls are based on appropriate legislation and make use of the specialized experience and accumulated knowledge of several entities. This paper presents a summary of the principles considered fundamental for the previously referred to contributions for the adequate control of swimming pools. The implementation of automatic control systems replacing manual monitoring is an interesting option, with economic benefits for operational costs. The analytical control programme proposed in this work, or any other that may serve the same purpose, should be followed by all public swimming pools. This is essential to provide a high quality public service and also to ensure healthy competition among the providers of such services.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Relationship of Higher Education Access with Final Marks in a Core Chemical Engineering Topic

This present work cracks to understand the relationship between final marks in a topic with competences that are core of Chemical Engineering and students’ access grades to a Portuguese Higher Education Institution (HEI). The study is based on data gathered through a questionnaire concerning students’ perceptions about assessment and teaching-learning methodologies in four academic years (2016-2017 to 2019-2020). The student´s access grades were included in the questionnaire since 2018-19 academic year allowing to establish a relationship with the final marks obtained in a core Chemical Engineering Topic, Fluid Mechanics. From the analysis made, it can be said that students who obtained higher access grades to HEI may have also a higher Chemical Engineering curricular unit final mark, although the low linear relationship obtained (r =0.45) for the year 2019-20.The authors would like to express their acknowledgment to all students who agreed to collaborate in this study. The authors also thank FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) for the support of the projects FCT UIDB/04730/2020 and FCT UIDB/00319/2020 in the scope of the Research Centres CIETI (Centro de Inovação em Engenharia e Tecnologia Industrial) and ALGORITMI, respectively.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Nível de satisfação em cursos de engenharia: as perceções dos alunos

A satisfação e as perceções dos estudantes em relação aos seus cursos superiores são medidas importantes para as instituições de ensino superior. Neste artigo ´e apresentado um resumo do projeto de investigação em curso centrado na análise da perceção e satisfação dos estudantes dos cursos de Engenharia. O objetivo geral deste estudo é analisar e determinar o nível de satisfação dos estudantes de Engenharia Elétrica/Eletrónica com os seus cursos, condições de trabalho e ambiente académico ao longo dos três primeiros anos curriculares correspondentes ao 1o ciclo do ensino superior.N/

Gender Differences in Students’ Assessment in a Fluid Mechanics Course

The main objective of the present work is to verify if, and in what extent, there is a correlation between gender and grades in a topic that is regarded as a core competence of chemical engineering. This analysis is based on data collected through a questionnaire concerning students’ perceptions. Besides no statistical difference on final student's marks, specific differences were obtained and discussed, namely concerning teaching methodologies.The authors would like to express their acknowledgment to all students who agreed to collaborate in this study. The authors also thank the Research Centre CIETI (Centro de Inovação em Engenharia e Tecnologia Industrial) and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020 and UID/CEC/00319- 2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Practical Work and Assessment to Stimulate Students' Participation and Motivation in Fluid Transport Issues

Academic education comprises developing new teaching and learning tools, regulating the assessment methodologies, and adjusting the learning programs to the professional activities. Technology developments allow teachers to explore new ways of teaching as well as to adjust new ways of assessing students' performance, giving to students a relevant feedback on their learning. Following this trend, a case study on Fluid Transport Systems in the Chemical Engineering course is presented. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of different assessment methodologies in the final students' grades, to evaluate students' perceptions regarding these changes, and to know which teaching/learning methodologies are most effective. The study allows concluding that students prefer the traditional teaching/learning methodology and consider more beneficial for their learning the assessment through several questions/problems and small tests during the theoretical lessons instead of carrying out a single moment of evaluation and test. The majority of students were able to identify that the development of the practical work (PW) and several moments of assessment help in providing knowledge to the area under study, encourage their collaborative work and stimulate their intellectual curiosity.Te authors would like to express their acknowledgments to all students who accepted to collaborate in this study. Te authors also thank the Research Centre CIETI (Centro de Inovação em Engenharia e Tecnologia Industrial) and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, for all the support provided in the scope of the projects COMPETE: POCI-01-0145- FEDER-007043, UID/CEC/00319-2013 and UID-EQU-04730-2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved