Integrated optimization of nonlinear R/C frames with reliability constraints

A structural optimization algorithm was researched including global displacements as decision variables. The algorithm was applied to planar reinforced concrete frames with nonlinear material behavior submitted to static loading. The flexural performance of the elements was evaluated as a function of the actual stress-strain diagrams of the materials. Formation of rotational hinges with strain hardening were allowed and the equilibrium constraints were updated accordingly. The adequacy of the frames was guaranteed by imposing as constraints required reliability indices for the members, maximum global displacements for the structure and a maximum system probability of failure

Structural damage assessment as an identification problem

Damage assessment of structural assemblies is treated as an identification problem. A brief review of identification methods is first presented with particular focus on the output error approach. The use of numerical optimization methods in identifying the location and extent of damage in structures is studied. The influence of damage on eigenmode shapes and static displacements is explored as a means of formulating a measure of damage in the structure. Preliminary results obtained in this study are presented and special attention is directed at the shortcomings associated with the nonlinear programming approach to solving the optimization problem

Determinants of higher education students’ willingness to pay for violent crime reduction: a contingent valuation study

By eliciting an individual’s Willingness to Pay (WTP) for a reduction in crime risks, the contingent valuation method is one of the most solid methodologies in use to estimate the intangible costs of crime. However, very few studies have applied contingent valuation methods to random samples of the population located in high crime rate areas. This study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first attempt to apply the contingent valuation method to estimate how much a specific group of society, which is relatively prone to falling victim to (violent) crime, i.e., students, is willing to pay to reduce the likelihood of being the victim of violent crime. In contrast to the existing literature, our study focuses on a rather unexplored context, Portugal, where criminality and violent crime rates are relatively low by international standards, even though they have been on the rise. Based on responses from 1122 higher education students in a broad range of degrees (from Economics to Psychology and the Humanities), we found that 33% of our respondents have been victims of crime in the past, although in general they did not result in physical or psychological injuries. A reasonable percentage of the students (almost 40%) is very worried about falling victim to a crime and 52.8% worries moderately. Over 40% of our respondents were willing to pay a certain amount but less than 50€, whereas 20.8% were willing to pay between 50€ and 250€. On average, all other determinants constant, younger and female students revealed that they were more inclined to pay so as to avoid violent crime than their older and male counterparts. Low and high income Portuguese students do not differ in their willingness to pay more to avoid being victims of violent crime. Cautious behaviour, such as locking doors at home, and a strong opinion about policies and payment vehicles with potential to reduce the risk of crime is positively associated with the WTP. Finally, the students’ field of study surfaced as a key determinant of WTP – students enrolled in Economics and Management revealed a higher WTP. Such findings are likely to have a critical impact on crime and insurance policies.Contingent Valuation Method; Intangible costs; Crime costs

Digitisation of Health and Safety can improve the effectiveness of prevention towards Vision Zero: some case studies

Introduction to digital transformations endorse the development of the project management profession in the region strengthen the cooperation among SENET countries in development of PM practices/profession learn about the recent trends in project management provide a closer connection between digital transformation and project management context, interpersonal relationships, education and practices share experiences and practices suitable and proven in project management present new ideas, concepts, methods and tools gathered through research or practice provide stronger visibility of the project management profession in the regio

Collaboration in continuing education networks: option or destiny?

The demand for the provision of different forms and types of Continuing Education has shown a tremendous increase in the last years. There have been difficulties and obstacles to the transformation of the university classical structure and of the typical activities of the academic staff. Several models of managing Continuing Education in the universities were developed, tested and implemented. A reaction of the universities to the transformations created by the need for lifelong learning demands has been the cooperation in projects or in agreements that can be bilateral or multilateral. These multilateral agreements take most of the times the form of networks rising from several projects that have been implemented or from natural aggregation of universities around a common ground. The experiences of benchmarking around this theme are presented

Education Using ICT for Construction Management

A project carried through between institutions of higher education and construction companies was co-financed by the European Commission. The project lasted three years where the main objective was to develop the staff training in using and applying the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in construction management. The results of the project have been also used in a new course of the senior year in specialization area of construction of the Civil Engineering degree of the University of Porto. Some conclusions of the diverse experiences of the project partners are also presented indicating future developments in this area

«Know thyself» : mind, body and ethics. Japanese archery (Kyudo) and the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze

This article aims to describe the mind/ body problem from an Eastern philosophy point of view addressing firstly Kyudo, the Japanese martial art of archery; and secondly the Western philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Ethics is, in Western philosophy, what deals with the way we take decisions and act upon them. Decisions and actions consider rationality and intuition but seldom the body's own rationality and intuition -which Kyudo exercises. We can find in Deleuze's philosophy important concepts to better understand this: difference, repetition, chaos, identity, energy, force, stage and micro-perceptions. To what extent can the dominant Eastern thought approach on the mind/ body topic be effective to fulfill the Ancient Greek aphorism «Know yourself» (γνθι σεαυτν) inscribed in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi?Este artículo pretende describir el problema mente/cuerpo desde el punto de vista de la filosofía oriental y más específicamente desde el Kyudo, el arte marcial japonés del tiro con arco, y en segundo lugar a partir del filósofo occidental Gilles Deleuze. La ética, en la filosofía occidental, trata de la forma cómo tomamos decisiones y cómo actuamos a partir de estas. Decisiones y acciones se analizan desde la racionalidad y la intuición, pero rara vez desde la racionalidad e intuición propias del cuerpo -que el Kyudo ejercita-. Podemos encontrar en la filosofía de Deleuze conceptos importantes para entender mejor esto: la diferencia, la repetición, el caos, la identidad, la energía, la fuerza, el escenario y las micropercepciones. ¿En qué medida el enfoque dominante en el pensamiento oriental sobre el tema mente/cuerpo podría ser eficaz para cumplir con el aforismo griego clásico «conócete a ti mismo» (γνθι σεαυτν), inscrito en el Templo de Apolo en Delfos

CALOHEE framework proposal for Civic, Social and Cultural Engagement

The current article was adapted from the CALOHEE Working Paper of the Tuning Academy, to which the author has contributed. The original document is available at www.calohee.eu. There are a number of policy documents that suggest a broad range of items that can be included in Higher Education (HE) in order to incorporate and give substance to the issue of 'civic, social and cultural engagement' within HE programmes. To make these items applicable in the context of the project CALOHEE (Comparing Achievements of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education in Europe) these were compiled and analysed. Taking current developments as described in this paper as a basis, four dimensions have been identified, which together should make up the CALOHEE project framework of general descriptors for 'civic, social and cultural engagement'. These four descriptors are perceived as the minimum to be covered in HE programmes. As in the case of the domain / subject area frameworks each dimension includes a knowledge descriptor, a skills descriptor and a (wider) competence descriptor. This general framework can also be turned into an Assessment Framework by breaking down the general descriptors into sub-descriptors. These subdescriptors should allow for variation in how they are actually incorporated into and included in a degree programme. The relevance of each sub-descriptor will differ from academic field to academic field as well as between individual degree programmes. It might also be required to accommodate these per academic field to do justice to the (role of the) discipline in society. The four dimensions that have been identified in the CALOHEE framework model and which it is proposed should be included in the category / parameter of 'civic, social and cultural engagement' are: 1. Societies and Cultures: Interculturalism; 2. Processes of information and communication; 3. Processes of governance and decision-making; 4. Ethics, norms, values and professional standards. Together, they cover most of the items included in the European key competences framework, the Australian Government 'Civics & Citizenship Education Professional Learning Package', and other frameworks for civic competencies and engagement as well as a number of documents related to ethics and professional standards. Reflection on these documents has resulted in a framework which is open for further revision. The framework is presented as a stand-alone and could as such be added to any subject area conceptual framework as four additional (general) dimensions

Challenge of instruction in ICT for construction managers

A project between Higher Education institutions., construction companies and the European Commission during three years funded project management firms from five European countries. The main goal was to provide education and training in the use of Information and Communication Technologies in Construction Management. The results were used to carry out a course of the final year degree of future Construction engineers. The format and results of the course implementation during one semester are presented and analyzed. Future developments and scenarios in this area are presented with recommendations

Role of assessment, Selecting the right methods of assessment for your course, constructive alignment and role of feedback

Assessment is considered as the most important role in steering the learning process; however we cannot confined to one particular methodology as the best assessment method for a course. An assessment plan helps in selecting the right testing method and decides on the relative weight of each assessment for the final result of a course. This also helps to ensure that the assessment addresses the intended learning outcomes. In addition, it provides a good overview of the test arrangement for a course that will be published in the course manual. This makes an assessment plan a helpful tool for examiners and an important instrument for quality assurance which makes the first module of the course. An assessment matrix is designed to ensure that all the selected learning objectives are covered in the assessment which helps to make certain that the assessment will be both valid and reliable which provides the insights for the second module. This is done by using different methods to set the cut-off score by using rubrics. In the third module, the participants will be put forward to apply quality criteria for the construction of assessments and assessment items to improve the quality of assessments and education which have huge impact on the future education and careers of students. In the fourth and final module of the course the participants will find answers for the following questions 1) on which aspects did students perform well, and where did they fail? 2) If good students fail on certain questions, what does this say about the question or about teaching? 3) We may need to decide on how to fix certain errors or unexpected situations and think about how this affects students' grades 4) what are the things to consider when performing an exam or item analysis? 5) What do you look for? 6) How do you draw conclusions and make plans for future improvements? During the course, the participants will be guided through the different phases of preparing, creating and evaluating the assessments through instructional videos, interviews, animations and checklists. In addition to these, there will be course activities, such as assessments, and discussion prompts.Assessment is considered as the most important role in steering the learning process; however we cannot confined to one particular methodology as the best assessment method for a course. An assessment plan helps in selecting the right testing method and decides on the relative weight of each assessment for the final result of a course. This also helps to ensure that the assessment addresses the intended learning outcomes. In addition, it provides a good overview of the test arrangement for a course that will be published in the course manual. This makes an assessment plan a helpful tool for examiners and an important instrument for quality assurance which makes the first module of the course. An assessment matrix is designed to ensure that all the selected learning objectives are covered in the assessment which helps to make certain that the assessment will be both valid and reliable which provides the insights for the second module. This is done by using different methods to set the cut-off score by using rubrics. In the third module, the participants will be put forward to apply quality criteria for the construction of assessments and assessment items to improve the quality of assessments and education which have huge impact on the future education and careers of students. In the fourth and final module of the course the participants will find answers for the following questions 1) on which aspects did students perform well, and where did they fail? 2) If good students fail on certain questions, what does this say about the question or about teaching? 3) We may need to decide on how to fix certain errors or unexpected situations and think about how this affects students' grades 4) what are the things to consider when performing an exam or item analysis? 5) What do you look for? 6) How do you draw conclusions and make plans for future improvements? During the course, the participants will be guided through the different phases of preparing, creating and evaluating the assessments through instructional videos, interviews, animations and checklists. In addition to these, there will be course activities, such as assessments, and discussion prompts