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Cooperative learning seems to be the right methodology to tackle the development of the teamwork competence inside the process of teaching?learning at the University. That strategy has been used by lecturers of different faculties and schools of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU who have sorted an Educational Team on cooperative learning. The experience was developed in six different groups which add up as 185 students. The outcome of that experience was analysed by means of a questionnaire which gathers the main competences of teamwork. The analysis of the dimensions of the questionnaire shows a structure with two dimensions: (1) 'interpersonal competences' and (2) 'instrumental competences'. Students seem to prioritise the most technical or procedural competences (instrumental) over personal and relationship competences (interpersonal) in their formative process and assessment of their learning.

Thermomagnetic heat engines were designed, constructed, and tested, where numbers of gadolinium (Gd) blocks were used to exploit low temperature waste heat. Gadolinium is a rare earth material whose magnetic property changes with temperature, altering between ferromagnetic and paramagnetic. A motion develops in the thermomagnetic heat engine as Gd blocks are exposed to different temperatures causing changes in their magnetic property. A change in the magnetic property of any Gd block is directly related to the resultant torque driving the thermomagnetic heat engine for power production. Among heat engines studied to date, the cylindrical thermomagnetic heat engine was able to develop a maximum mechanical power of 1.1 W at a temperature difference of 45 °C between hot and cold thermal resources. Furthermore, depending on the effectiveness of an electromagnetic generator (EMG) combined with a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), the electric power output can be notably improved.

Abstract The South Korean government has been actively promoting an educational-facility improvement program as part of its energy-saving efforts. This research seeks to develop a decision support model for selecting the facility expected to be effective in generating energy savings and making the facility improvement program more effective. In this research, project characteristics and electric-energy consumption data for the year 2009 were collected from 6282 elementary schools located in seven metropolitan cities in South Korea. In this research, the following were carried out: (i) a group of educational facilities was established based on electric-energy consumption, using a decision tree; (ii) a number of similar projects were retrieved from the same group of facilities, using case-based reasoning; and (iii) the accuracy of prediction was improved, using the combination of genetic algorithms, the artificial neural network, and multiple regression analysis. The results of this research can be useful for the following purposes: (i) preliminary research on the systematic and continuous management of educational facilities’ electric-energy consumption; (ii) basic research on electric-energy consumption prediction based on the project characteristics; and (iii) practical research for selecting an optimum facility that can more effectively apply an educational-facility improvement program as a decision support model.

Abstract A series of triazole bridged BODIPY-conjugates were synthesized under click reaction conditions. The 3-azido BODIPY was generated in situ by treating 3-bromo BODIPY with NaN 3 in CH 3 CN at room temperature for 60 min and reacted with appropriate ethynyl containing chromophore/redox active unit, such as ferrocene, BODIPY, Zn(II) porphyrin, 21,23-dithiaporphyrin, BF 2 -smaragdyrin in the presence of CuI/DIPEA in THF/CH 3 CN solvent. The conjugates were purified by column chromatography and obtained pure compounds in 45–50% yields. The conjugates were characterized by HR-MS, 1D, 2D, 19 F and 11 B NMR and X-ray crystallography for BODIPY-ferrocene conjugate. Absorption and electrochemical studies showed features of both the moieties present in the conjugates and also support interaction between the two moieties in the conjugates. The fluorescence studies supported an efficient energy transfer from BODIPY unit to BF 2 -smaragdyrin unit in BODIPY–BF 2 -smaragdyrin conjugate but the energy transfer was not efficient in BODIPY–Zn(II) porphyrin and BODIPY–21,23-dithiaporphyrin conjugates.

Investigating the impact of climate variables on net primary productivity is crucial to evaluate the ecosystem health and the status of forest type response to climate change. The objective of this paper is (1) to estimate spatio-temporal patterns of net primary productivity (NPP) during 2001 to 2010 in a tropical deciduous forest based on the input variable dataset (i.e.meteorological and biophysical) derived from the remote sensing and other sources and (2) to investigate the effects of climate variables on NPP during 2001 to 2010. The study was carried out in Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary that forms a part of a tropical forest and is situated in Uttar Pradesh, India, along the Indo-Nepal border. Mean annual NPP was observed to be highest during 2007 with a value of 878 g C m-2 year-1 and 781.25 g C m-2 year-1 for sal and teak respectively. A decline in mean NPP during 2002-2003, 2005 and 2008-2010 could be attributed to drought, increased temperature and vapour pressure deficit (VPD). The time lag correlation analysis revealed precipitation as the major variables affecting NPP, whereas combination of temperature and VPD showed dominant effect on NPP as revealed by generalized linear modelling. The carbon gain in NPP in sal forest was observed to be marginal higher than that of teak plantation throughout the study period. The decrease in NPP was observed during 2010, pertaining to increased VPD. Contribution of different climatic variables through some link process was revealed in statistical analysis and clearly indicated the co-dominance of all the variables in explaining NPP.

In this paper, the general composite cathode for use in positive active materials was prepared from solutions of 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (DMcT) and polyphenylenediamine (PPD), organic materials, which have been synthesized already in this laboratory. We discuss the electrochemical characteristics of composite cathode by using cyclic voltammetry. The mechanical properties are also discussed by using TGA and UTM instruments. We are also working on the electrical conductivity by using a four-probe method in dry box system.