Regional Development: New Challenges for Engineering Education (SYNERGY-2021 Conference Results Review)

The article summarizes the results of the plenary session of the international network conference “Regional development: new challenges for engineering education – SYNERGY-2021”, held at Kazan National Research Technological University from October 19 to 20, 2021. The forum which brought together representatives of universities and industrial enterprises of Russia and abroad was devoted to the issue of training engineers for the petrochemical industry. Among the participants were representatives of international societies for engineering education, ten national research universities and seven supporting universities of PJSC Gazprom, state authorities and industrial enterprises of Tatarstan. It was possible to observe the work of the plenary session in real time via the Internet in all the supporting universities of Gazprom. The event was organized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the International Society for Engineering Pedagogy (IGIP), the Association of Engineering Education of Russia (AIOR), as well as the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan and Kazan National Research Technological University. Gazprom PJSC became the general sponsor. In total, the conference gathered more than 450 participants (380 online and 85 in person) from 40 universities in Russia, the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Portugal, Finland, Poland, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Latvia, and Estonia. Representatives of 7 industrial enterprises spoke, 77 reports were made.

Technological University Faculty ICT Barriers during the Pandemic

Во время пандемии коронавируса преподаватели столкнулись с необходимостью быстро перевести весь образовательный процесс в онлайн-формат. Университеты испытывали трудности с быстрой организацией и унификацией данного процесса для преподавательского состава. Готовность преподавателей к проведению онлайн-занятий существенно различалась, и в условиях самоизоляции они испытывали трудности в получении технической поддержки или консультаций относительно решения возникающих проблем. Данное исследование было нацелено на выявление ИКТ-барьеров, с которыми преподаватели столкнулись в ходе пандемии. Для решения этой задачи авторами был проведен опрос преподавателей Казанского национального исследовательского технологического университета на основе анкеты, включавшей утверждения относительно трудностей, с которыми преподаватели столкнулись в ходе онлайн-коммуникации с обучающимися с начала пандемии. Отношение к тридцати трем барьерам оценивалось на основе коэффициента углового преобразования Фишера с учетом должности, ученой степени преподавателей, стажа работы, возраста, пола и преподаваемых дисциплин. During the coronavirus pandemic, faculty members were faced with the need to suddenly transfer the entire educational process to an online format. Universities found it difficult to quickly organize and unify this process for their educators. The latter’s readiness to conduct online classes varied, and in conditions of self-isolation it was difficult for them to get technical support or consultations on how to solve emerging problems. The current study aims to identify the ICT barriers that educators faced after the outbreak of the pandemic and their preferences of the various online tools they used during this period. To achieve these objectives, the authors surveyed faculty members at the Kazan National Research Technological University. A questionnaire was developed including statements concerning difficulties faculty members had experienced in their online-communication with learners since the beginning of the pandemic. Attitudes towards thirty-three barriers were evaluated depending on respondents’ faculty position, scientific degree, teaching experience, age, gender, and group of taught disciplines.

Technological university in Brazil: examining the development and (de)construction of the model

Based primarily on an analysis of laws and legal frameworks, this qualitative exploratory study aims to examine the development, context, construction, as well as deconstruction, of the technological university model in Brazil. The Federal University of Technology – Paraná (UTFPR) is the only technological university in the country. The analysis presented herein demonstrates that its development is the outcome of movements and efforts within its predecessor, the Federal Center of Technological Education of Paraná (CEFET-PR), to respond to the deconstruction of the technical education model, on which the Institution was based, during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government. The concept of a technological university has not been replicated in any government since the transformation of CEFET-PR to UTFPR, not even during the Workers’ Party (PT) government, which introduced the model. We conclude that, despite efforts from within, the legal apparatus and the pursuit of certain characteristics and goals, such as obtaining world class status, are aligning UTFPR increasingly toward the profile of traditional universities.

What is wrong with Singapore

This artwork was produced as part of the residency programme organised by the Centre of Contemporary Art, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Philippines called Acts of Life, with support from the Goethe-Institut. During the residency, the artist observed that media technology is utilised to abate the narratives by the nation state to define how a subject should operate and experience the world. Reflecting this, the artist created a work to discern the truthfulness and relevancy of a national narrative in individual lives. For this, a survey is devised as an artistic strategy to juxtapose the desires of a subject with the expectations of a nation state. An opinion booth was set up as part of the 2019 Singapore Art Week. With the header “What is wrong with Singapore”—the booth invites the audience to contribute their opinion towards the statement by writing it down on a postcard and pasting it on a designated wall. The accessibility, dissemination, and restriction of these opinions are left completely to the judgement of the audience visiting the booth.

The reaction of early-ripening potato varieties to the planting rate in the Middle Urals

The article presents the yield of early potato varieties, considering the different planting rates of tubers. A two-factor field experiment was conducted in 2013 - 2015 at the experimental field of the Perm State Agro-Technological University named after Academician. The purpose of the research is to find ways to cultivate early-ripening potato varieties to obtain a yield of 35 t/ha. The soils of the experimental site are sod-finely podzolic medium loamy. The humus content is 1.9 - 3.2%, pH (KCl) 4.4-5.1, P2O5 185-300 mg/kg, K2O 143-431 mg/kg. The meteorological conditions of the growing seasons were opposite in terms of weather conditions and did not equally affect the yield. It was found that, on average, over three years, the goal of the experiment was achieved only in one variant of the experiment - in the Rosalind variety with a maximum thickening of 71.4 thousand tubers per hectare. The limit of thickening in the Red Scarlett variety was at the maximum thickening of tubers when planting 71.4 thousand. The limit of thickening of the Luck variety was 47.6 thousand tubers, the limit of compaction of plantings in the Rosalind variety was 57.1 thousand tubers. Keywords: POTATO, VARIETY, YIELD, PLANTING RATE

The impact of industry-oriented capstone courses on the employability of EECS students in technological universities

PurposeThis study used the industry-oriented capstone course to increase the employability of electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) students in technological university.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, EECS students were selected and divided into groups, and the non-equivalent pretest–posttest quasi-experimental research method was adopted.FindingsIndustry-oriented capstone courses can improve students' employability, especially general ability, behaviour and attitude.Practical implicationsThe results of this study and many other studies show that capstone courses are helpful for the soft skills of students.Originality/valueThis study provides evidence that industry-oriented capstone courses can improve EECS students' employability.

Preface

Supported by I-Shou University and Xi’an University of Technology, the 7th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE2021) was successfully held online via Microsoft Teams Meeting from November 1-4, 2021. About 150 participants from 31 countries and areas, including United Kingdom, Uruguay, Romania, China, Russia, Germany, Thailand, Japan, India, Malaysia, United States, South Africa, Portugal, Canada, Indonesia, Norway, Poland, Vietnam, Philippines, Greece, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Italy, etc., have joined the conference. The technical program of WRE2021 comprised 4 keynote speeches, 24 invited speeches, 72 oral presentations and 21 poster presentations. Two welcome speeches were delivered separately by the Conference General Chair Prof. Jiwei Zhu from Xi’an University of Technology (lasted for 10 minutes) and the Technical Program Committee Chair Prof. Chih-Huang Weng from I-Shou University (lasted for 10 minutes). Four keynote speeches were delivered by Emeritus Prof. S. A. Abbasi from Pondicherry University (India), Prof. Dominic C. Y. Foo from University of Nottingham Malaysia (Malaysia), Prof. Teik-Thye Lim from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and Assoc. Prof. Rengui Jiang from Xi’an University of Technology (China), each keynote speech was lasted for 45 minutes including questions and answers. List of WRE2021 Scientific Committee Members are available in the pdf.

On the methods of recognition and classification of laser reflection points based on the Terrasolid software module on the Bentley Microstation platform

Nowadays, the use of the three-dimensional laser scanning technique in performing various scientific research comes to the fore, since this technology is one of the most developed and effective methods for analyzing the state of transport infrastructure objects and geodetic monitoring. The purpose of this paper is to develop an author’s algorithm for the classification of laser reflection points, based on the specialized Terrasolid software on the Bentley Microstation platform. The object of the research is the campus of the territory of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Kuban State Technological University”. The subject of the research is the possibility of optimizing the process of classification of laser reflection points on the campus of the university territory. The result of the study is the author’s algorithm for the classification of laser reflection points.

Forming Students’ Value Attitude: Cluster Approach Technology

The article considers one of the approaches to individualization of educational work. It is supposed that educational work based on the main endogenous factors of good breeding will allow to diversify the scope of educational actions and as much as possible to adapt it to specific personal features of the first-year students.Materials and methods. 620 first-year students who joined fulltime courses at Penza State Technological University in the period from 2014 to 2017 participated in the research. Research methods are questioning, a multidimensional analysis of data (factorial and cluster analysis).Results. Two groups of factors of good breeding are revealed. The first characterizes processes of spiritual and psychological new formations of the youthful period – patriotism, humanity and a level of claims. The second one – processes of new formations of the previous teenage period – ecological interests, internal culture and social tolerance. Considering main factors of good breeding, the authors identified 11 typical variations of personal development. These features allowed us to develop the scope of educational actions according to a social and psychological portrait of each group.Discussion and conclusions. The practical importance of the results of the research is finding and description of a certain set of typical variations of a social and psychological portrait of the first-year students through factors of progress and regress of good breeding. It is shown that students with high rates of good breeding have valuable relations, which are integrated into factors of patriotism and humanity, what characterizes the formation of a complete and mature personality. The high differentiation of factors of good breeding and low intra factorial integration of factorial features can be the evidence of the intensive and unfinished formation of a personality.

Assessment of the antimicrobial activity of Helichrysum arenarium flowers and Lithospermum officinale leaves extracts

Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of extracts of flowers of Helichrysum and Sparrow leaves Natallya Adamtsevich, Postgraduate Student, Department of Biotechnology, Belarusian State Technological University Valery Baltousky, Professor of the Department of Chemical Processing of Wood and the Department of Biotechnology of the Belarusian State Technological University, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Viktar Lyavontsyev, Head of the Department of Biotechnology, Belarusian State Technological University, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, Associate Professor Uladimir Tsitok, Director of the Central Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Corresponding Member Su mmary. The article provides an assessment of the antimicrobial activity of the extracts of the everlasting flowers and the leaves of the littlewale against gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus), gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) pathogenic bacteria and yeast-like fungi (Candida albicans). It has been established that the extract of the flowers of the everlasting has an antimicrobial action only against gram-positive bacteria. All types of the studied microorganisms are not sensitive to the extract of the leaves of the littlewale.