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Owing to the high energy consumption in the building sector, appraising the thermal performance of building envelopes is an increasing concern. Recently, a few in situ methodologies to diagnose the thermal parameters of buildings have been considered. However, because of their limitations such as low accuracy, limited number of measurements, and the high cost of monitoring devices, researchers are seeking a new alternative. In this study, a novel hyper-efficient Arduino transmittance-meter was introduced to overcome these limitations and determine the thermal parameters of building envelopes. Unlike conventional methodologies, the proposed transmittance-meter is based on synchronized measurements of different parameters necessary to estimate the transmittance parameter. To verify the applicability of the transmittance-meter, an experimental study was conducted wherein a temperature-controlled box model was thermally monitored, and the outputs of the transmittance-meter employed were compared with those captured by a commercial device. The results revealed a high level of reduction in cost and a low range of difference compared with the latter, thereby validating the applicability of the proposed thermal monitoring system. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, grant numbers BIA2013-47290-R, BIA2017-86811-C2-1-R, and BIA2017-86811-C2-2-R, and Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades: PRE2018-085172.

In recent years, many scholars have dedicated their research to the development of low-cost sensors for monitoring of various parameters. Despite their high number of applications, the state of the art related to low-cost sensors in building monitoring has not been addressed. To fill this gap, this article presents a systematic review, following well-established methodology, to analyze the state of the art in two aspects of structural and indoor parameters of buildings, in the SCOPUS database. This analysis allows to illustrate the potential uses of low-cost sensors in the building sector and addresses the scholars the preferred communication protocols and the most common microcontrollers for installation of low-cost monitoring systems. In addition, special attention is paid to describe different areas of the two mentioned fields of building monitoring and the most crucial parameters to be monitored in buildings. Finally, the deficiencies in line with limited number of studies carried out in various fields of building monitoring are overviewed and a series of parameters that ought to be studied in the future are proposed.

Students of Civil Engineering often find a great amount of difficulties inthose courses where the practical application of the theoretical concepts is essential. This paper describes a strategy of apprenticeship developed in the 4th-course subject called “Infraestructuras del transporte”, connected with Geotechnical Engineering, (Civil Engineering). This strategy is supported on the technique of seminars and on the problem-based learning (PBL), and has been carried out for six years. Students have showed a significant interest and motivation for this activity and their opinions respect to the utility of these seminars have been absolutely positive, thanks to several factors such as: flexible schedules and tutorials, the coordination between seminars and theoretical learning, the set of problems and practical cases proposed, the organization of the seminars and a fluent communication between students and teacher. The content of this document is organized as follow. First, it is exposed the general context where this subject is developed, and also the most relevant characteristics of this career. After that, it is described this educational experience which is focused on the major difficulties for our students. Moreover, it is explained the objectives and the methodology, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, it is analyzed the results and the main conclusions.

[ES] Ante la dificultad que suelen encontrar los estudiantes de ingeniería en aquellas asignaturas donde la aplicación práctica de los contenidos teóricos es fundamental, se describe en este estudio la estrategia de aprendizaje propuesta en la asignatura de Infraestructuras del Transporte (vinculada al área de Ingeniería del Terreno) de 4º curso de la titulación de Ingeniero de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (Ingeniería Civil). Esta experiencia está apoyada en la técnica didáctica del seminario y en el aprendizaje basado en problemas (ABP) y se ha desarrollado de forma ininterrumpida a lo largo de 6 cursos académicos. Los alumnos han demostrado un claro interés y motivación por la actividad y su opinión en cuanto al aprovechamiento y utilidad de los seminarios ha resultado claramente satisfactoria, lo que puede estar motivado por factores como la flexibilidad en el horario y en las tutorías, la coordinación con las clases teóricas, los problemas y supuestos planteados, la propia organización de los seminarios y una fluida comunicación con el profesor. En este documento se presenta en primer lugar, el contexto global donde se encuadra esta asignatura, así como las características más singulares de la titulación. Después se describe esta experiencia docente, centrada en las principales dificultades que encuentran los alumnos en el estudio de la materia. También se describen los objetivos perseguidos, la metodología empleada, resaltando sus ventajas e inconvenientes, así como un análisis de los resultados obtenidos y las principales conclusiones alcanzadas., [EN] Students of Civil Engineering often find a great amount of difficulties in those courses where the practical application of the theoretical concepts is essential. This paper describes a strategy of apprenticeship developed in the 4th -course subject called “Infraestructuras del transporte”, connected with Geotechnical Engineering, (Civil Engineering). This strategy is supported on the technique of seminars and on the problem-based learning (PBL), and has been carried out for six years. Students have showed a significant interest and motivation for this activity and their opinions respect to the utility of these seminars have been absolutely positive, thanks to several factors such as: flexible schedules and tutorials, the coordination between seminars and theoretical learning, the set of problems and practical cases proposed, the organization of the seminars and a fluent communication between students and teacher. The content of this document is organized as follow. First, it is exposed the general context where this subject is developed, and also the most relevant characteristics of this career. After that, it is described this educational experience which is focused on the major difficulties for our students. Moreover, it is explained the objectives and the methodology, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, it is analyzed the results and the main conclusions.