Buildings for Education


Book Description

This open access book presents theoretical and practical research relating to the vast, publicly financed program for the construction of new schools and the reorganization of existing educational buildings in Italy. This transformative process aims to give old buildings a fresh identity, to ensure that facilities are compliant with the new educational and teaching models, and to improve both energy efficiency and structural safety with respect to seismic activity. The book is divided into three sections, the first of which focuses on the social role of the school as a civic building that can serve the needs of the community. Innovations in both design and construction processes are then analyzed, paying special attention to the Building Information Modeling (BIM) strategy as a tool for the integration of different disciplines. The final section is devoted to the built heritage and tools, technologies, and approaches for the upgrading of existing buildings so that they meet the new regulations on building performance. The book will be of interest to all who wish to learn about the latest insights into the challenges posed by, and the opportunities afforded by, a comprehensive school building and renovation program.




Educating the Engineer for the 21st Century


Book Description

Upspeeding technological evolution and globalisation characterise today’s and future lives of engineers. It is vital for all institutions involved in engineering education to keep pace and to anticipate future needs. The herein presented collection of papers results from the Workshop on Global Engineering Education (GEE’3) which took place at Aachen University of Technology, 18 – 20 October 2000. In this meeting more than 150 specialists from 25 countries discussed the topic “Educating the Engineer for the Century”. Which role to attribute to non-technical qualifications? How to integrate ethical aspects in education? Do we have to define international standards in education? What about quality control? What is the potential of new media for knowledge transfer? How to organise lifelong learning for engineers? - These are some of the questions discussed among representatives of industries, educational institutions, politicians and individuals during this meeting. According to the sessions of the workshop, the book is subdivided into chapters covering the areas “Role of the Global Engineer in Meeting the Challenges of Society in the Century”, ”Internationality and Interdisciplinarity”, “Engineering Education in Emerging Economies”, “European Bachelor and Master Programmes”, “Developing Personal Skills to be a Global Engineer”. Three chapters deal with successful practice in engineering education covering the topics “Programmes, Curricula and Evaluation”, “Educational Concepts”, and “University-Industry Partnership, Design Projects”.




The Culture of Energy


Book Description

The culture of the modern world involves a sizeable and continuous use of energy. The story of energy as a part of modernity begins in the early 19th Century with hard work, experiments and the establishment of local energy systems. The natural conditions made certain by the alternation between light and dark, between warmth and cold, was gradually suspended by the introduction of electric lighting and heating into the home. The welfare state has significantly hastened this development to the degree that notions such as wellness and individual well-being have become natural elements of our consumer culture and our daily life. In most parts of the world we have light whenever we desire it, and the homes maintain a comfortable temperature of 21 degrees Celsius by use of either heating or of air-conditioning. In The Culture of Energy historians, social scientists and architects focus on various aspects of the energy culture in Western Europe, the United States, India and former Soviet Union, and examine subjects such as the history of lighting, street lighting, heating and central heating, household uses of energy, the debate on nuclear power, energy conservation and environmental perspectives on energy.







Innovative Methods in Media and Communication Research


Book Description

This collection reflects the need for suitable methods to answer emerging questions that result from the ever-changing media environment. As media technologies and infrastructures become inseparably interwoven with social constellations, scholars from varying disciplines increasingly investigate their characteristics, functioning, relevance and impact – facing new methodological challenges as well as opportunities. Innovative Methods in Media and Communication Research engages with the substantial need to rethink established methods to research acute changes in the media environment. The book gathers chapters dedicated to the multifacetedness and liveliness of emerging methods – from lifelogging and ethnography to digital methods and visualization – while embedding them in the rich history of interdisciplinary empirical research. Innovation here is a call for widening and rethinking research methods to stimulate a sophisticated debate on and exploration of contemporary methodological approaches for scholars at various levels of academic life. Accompanied by introductory sections of prominent scholars, the majority of empirical studies gathered in this volume are accomplished through early-career scholars who strive to advance cutting-edge and in parts even provocative approaches for the study of media and communication. The book's four sections on Materiality, Technology, Experience and Visualization are introduced by Saskia Sassen, Noortje Marres, Sarah Pink and Lev Manovich.




Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2017


Book Description

The six-volume set LNCS 10404-10409 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications, ICCSA 2017, held in Trieste, Italy, in July 2017. The 313 full papers and 12 short papers included in the 6-volume proceedings set were carefully reviewed and selected from 1052 submissions. Apart from the general tracks, ICCSA 2017 included 43 international workshops in various areas of computational sciences, ranging from computational science technologies to specific areas of computational sciences, such as computer graphics and virtual reality. Furthermore, this year ICCSA 2017 hosted the XIV International Workshop On Quantum Reactive Scattering. The program also featured 3 keynote speeches and 4 tutorials.




Resilience and Regional Dynamics


Book Description

Economic and financial crises have brought the rise of unemployment, reduction of economic growth and emergence of global imbalances and tensions as countries and regions have suffered the effects of a variety of internal and external shocks. In this context of constant disruption, the scientific community has struggled to provide satisfactory answers to current economic challenges within standard frameworks. Focusing on the interconnections between innovation and resilience, this edited book contributes to a better understanding of how the crisis affects innovation and the capacity of territories to adapt and evolve. It offers both theoretical and empirical contributions that debate the notions of resilience in regional and urban contexts and serve as case studies related to innovation strategies and territorial clusters.




The Mineral Industry


Book Description




Urban Regeneration in Europe


Book Description

This book provides a comparative account of the process of urban regeneration and examines the factors influencing these processes, as well as the consequences of their implementation. Through a mixture of theoretical discussion and a series of case studies a thorough examination is made of the extent to which these different European old industrial conurbations are facing similar problems.




The Southwestern Reporter


Book Description