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Schools are complex physical and social institutions within national education systems. They account for significant energy consumption and like other buildings can demonstrate inefficient patterns of energy use. Poor energy performance of educational facilities is an intricate issue driven by complex causality of interconnected and dynamic factors. Addressing this issue requires a systemic approach, which is heretofore lacking. The aim of this research is to present and describe a systemic framework to facilitate energy reduction in schools across different European contexts. This transdisciplinary approach to sustainable energy use has been piloted in 13 post-primary schools located in six countries in northwest Europe. The research implements a series of planned activities and interventions, which help to unveil a systemic approach to improving energy efficiency in schools. The findings demonstrate how this approach, together with its ensuing methodologies and strategies, can contribute to reducing carbon emissions and improve knowledge and awareness around sustainable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) has been promoted in recent years as an innovative teaching and learning methodology that engages students in science and motivates them to pursue careers in this area. IBSE is a student-centred methodology which aims to both support students in developing a deep understanding of scientific knowledge, facts and concepts and to enhance students' abilities to reason and become independent learners. Through this approach students become capable of identifying main questions and finding relevant answers. Many recent national and international innovations in science education have focused on increasing the use of IBSE methodologies in primary and secondary level classrooms. The ESTABLISH project has contributed to this movement by adopting a pan-European approach for developing and implementing teacher education in IBSE and teaching and learning IBSE materials. The project consortium has engaged with national policy makers, teachers and educations, as well as scientific and industrial communities across the eleven participating countries in this endeavour. This paper will discuss the overall approach adopted by ESTABLISH and in particular, will present the experience of initial implementation with a cohort of Irish pre-service science teachers. The impact on this cohort's understanding of and attitudes to IBSE will be reported and will be used to inform the development of other pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes and their evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile mapping systems that detect and geo‐reference road markings almost always consist of a stereo camera system integrated with a global positioning system/inertial navigation system. The data acquired by this navigational system allows features detected in the stereo images to be assigned global co‐ordinates. An essential step in this process is the calibration of the cameras, as it relates the pose of the two cameras to each other and a world co‐ordinate system. In Europe, road markings must be evaluated from a 35 m range, so the cameras are required to have a wide field of view. Traditional calibration methods supposedly require a calibration object that would fill most of the calibration images. This large field of view would require a calibration object of substantial size that would be impractical for the purposes of this portable system. This study explores the theory of camera calibration and then details two camera calibration techniques (using portable 3D and 2D calibration objects). The accuracy of these methods is then evaluated using a ground‐truth experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an updated statement on behalf of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) in relation to proposals for undergraduate Curriculum Structure, Content, Learning, Assessment and Student / Staff Exchange for dental education in Europe. A task force was constituted to consider these issues and the two previous, related publications produced by the Association (Plasschaert et al 2006 and 2007) were revised. The broad European dental community was circulated and contributed to the revisions. The paper was approved at the General Assembly of ADEE, held in Amsterdam in August 2010 and will be updated again in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundTwin and sibling studies have identified specific cognitive phenotypes that may mediate the association between genes and the clinical symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is also associated with lower IQ scores. We aimed to investigate whether the familial association between measures of cognitive performance and the clinical diagnosis of ADHD is mediated through shared familial influences with IQ.MethodMultivariate familial models were run on data from 1265 individuals aged 6–18 years, comprising 920 participants from ADHD sibling pairs and 345 control participants. Cognitive assessments included a four-choice reaction time (RT) task, a go/no-go task, a choice–delay task and an IQ assessment. The analyses focused on the cognitive variables of mean RT (MRT), RT variability (RTV), commission errors (CE), omission errors (OE) and choice impulsivity (CI).ResultsSignificant familial association (rF) was confirmed between cognitive performance and both ADHD (rF=0.41–0.71) and IQ (rF=−0.25 to −0.49). The association between ADHD and cognitive performance was largely independent (80–87%) of any contribution from etiological factors shared with IQ. The exception was for CI, where 49% of the overlap could be accounted for by the familial variance underlying IQ.ConclusionsThe aetiological factors underlying lower IQ in ADHD seem to be distinct from those between ADHD and RT/error measures. This suggests that lower IQ does not account for the key cognitive impairments observed in ADHD. The results have implications for molecular genetic studies designed to identify genes involved in ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a brief context of dental undergraduate curricular structure and content and lays out the Association for Dental Education in Europe's views on requirements and recommendations for learning, teaching and assessment procedures/performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a proposed curriculum structure and system of European Credit Transfer (ECTS) for undergraduate dental schools throughout Europe. It is the result of the work of a Taskforce (‘Taskforce II’), appointed by DentEd, a thematic network of European dental schools and the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE). There has been pan-European discussion of the document in draft stages (it was distributed to 200 dental schools) and following amendment, it was agreed formally at the National Assembly of ADEE in Athens, Greece, in September 2005. The main elements of the paper relate to: (i) a description of the framework proposed with relevance to the Bologna recommendations and common directive on recognition for professional qualifications as they apply to Dentistry; (ii) the structure of an undergraduate dental curriculum; (iii) student exchange and ECTS. In addition, the paper presents a series of requirements, guidelines and recommendations for action. ADEE expects that the ‘requirements’ proposed will be followed by dental schools in Europe, whilst the ‘guidelines’ and ‘recommendations’ also provided are open to local interpretation. The paper is also published on the ADEE website. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on coeliac disease in Europe. Symptoms of the disease; Information about screening of coeliac disease; Precautions to be taken by patients of coeliac disease; Complications associated with the disease.

Reports on the Project Megapoles, a public health network created to look for ways to achieve better health and reducing differences in health between capital cities in Europe. Public health problems in Europe's metropolitan areas; Aims of Megapoles; Common objectives of the sub-networks within Megapoles.

The article looks at three thematic network projects (TNPs) which have been funded by the European Union's Directorate for Education and Culture since 1997 and describes a DentEd meeting in the Dublin Dental School and Hospital. The first project was from the Association of Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) and was initiated by a group of dental educators, while the second, called DentEd Evolves, is said to have paved the way for expanding the network. Meanwhile, 55 delegates from 22 countries in Europe met for two half days and had intense discussions.