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Collaborative project-based learning aims to get students to take responsibility for their knowledge processes. The objective of this research is to analyze the viability of applying circular economy techniques for the design and development of products, through learning based on collaborative projects in industrial engineering. A survey was carried out between 2015 and 2019 on final year students of industrial engineering in Spain, from five different academic years. The responses obtained were analyzed statistically. The results indicate that the students who had more previous knowledge about the circular economy, valued its relevance for the design and development of products as well as for the practice of the profession more. In addition, it was demonstrated that the implementation of circular economy strategies in the design and development of products through collaborative projects allows the acquisition of different knowledge: eco-design, product planning and distribution, reuse, recycling, etc. Moreover, most of the students considered that the circular economy should be a complementary discipline and a transversal competence.

Unidirectional flow air-conditioning systems are suitable for achieving indoor air quality required in high-performance operating rooms (organ transplants, cardiac surgery, aorta, orthopedic, burns, etc.). This paper analyzes indoor environmental conditions and technical and hygienic requirements for the design of heating, ventilation, and air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems for high-performance operating theatres. The main standards applicable to this type of operating rooms were compiled. Standard UNE 100713:2015, ASHRAE Standard 170-2017, and the European pre-norm EN 16244 were analyzed. A case study shows the lack of uniformity in design criteria and their ranges of values, which generates different design approaches. It was concluded that using these standards applicable to high-performance operating rooms leads to very different indoor environmental conditions for patients and medical personnel—air velocity profiles, air movement pattern, temperature, relative humidity gradients, and pressure stratification. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies have been shown to detect areas of haven that favor microbiological load accumulation. In this way, it is possible to define cleaning protocols to attend these anomalies in a preventive way.

Motivational orientations predispose and condition behaviour, and determine the degree of assimilation of concepts by students during their training stage. Knowing them allows professors to conduct their lessons in order to favour maximum achievement for students. The objective of this work is to evaluate the motivation that guides the learning process of Industrial Engineering students at the University of Extremadura (Spain). About three quarters of the students present a high motivation for learning; half of them tend to be result-oriented and less than 10% show a high level of fear of failure. Homogeneous groups were formed based on the level of each dimension, and influential teaching methodologies were discussed. Therefore, it is possible to create a context that favors the acquisition of knowledge by students according to their motivations, and thus achieve maximum academic performance from them. The results shown here may be interesting for the design of promotional activities for SDGs in the university context.

The variety of a hospital’s users leads to different levels of requirements relating to indoor environmental conditions. The responsibility for generating these favourable conditions for the pathologies treated in the different areas of a hospital lies with heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. They carry out the control of nosocomial infections. Consequently, establishing adequate maintenance plans for these facilities will have a high positive impact on economic and environmental management, on the one hand, and on people's health, on the other. The aim of this work is to analyse foreseeable information and results generated after applying condition-based maintenance (CBM) techniques. The Weibull distribution was used to model the distribution of equipment failures and the potential of the information obtained from applying the CBM methodology was highlighted. The results of this work represent an improvement in the working practise of the HVAC facilities hospital maintenance departments. They dispose of information to decide on investment in equipment taking into account maintenance costs. In addition, this allow analyse data to know current status of a piece of equipment or unit, thus establishing an optimized maintenance plan considering asset’s remaining useful life and associated maintenance costs.