a b s t r a c tHigher Education Institutions play a critical role in societies transition towards sustainable development, educating future professionals and decision makers. In the last few decades, a number of technical universities have devoted major efforts to integrating sustainable development into engineering curricula. There is still, however, an increasing need to further transform learning and training environments and build capacity of educators and trainers on sustainable development issues.Against this background, this paper assesses the role of online training courses, within continuing professional development strategies, in promoting sustainable human development in engineering degrees. It was built upon the implementation of a European initiative, the Global Dimension in Engineering Education, promoted by a transdisciplinary consortium of technical universities and nongovernmental organisations.In terms of method, this study analyses two sets of quantitative and qualitative indicators to assess i) the perceived quality/relevance of the training proposals, and ii) the learning acquisition of participants. Quantitative indicators were complemented by a descriptive analysis of findings from a semi-structured survey. The results provide evidence that online learning can be an effective approach for continuing professional development of academics. The findings also suggest that participants perceived online courses' contents and curricula, developed jointly by academics and practitioners of non-governmental organisations, as relevant and useful for integrating sustainability principles in teaching activities. To conclude, authors recommend the leaders of higher educational institutions to explore the integration of online courses addressed to faculty into university policy and strategies, as a way to promote professional development and the engagement of academics on sustainable development.

Equations showing the limits of gain, input and output matching, and noise behaviour for a linear four‐pole have been developed. Easier device evaluation and amplifier design can be done with these equations.

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This paper provides an overview of the methodology used in the performance assessment of the 64QAM and MIMO HSDPA features in a macro-cellular environment. The paper describes how the geometry experienced by end users could be measured in a live HSPA network, and how this could be used together with link level simulations to perform a first assessment of performance expectation of both MIMO and 64QAM.

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This paper is focused on explaining the radiation test in temperature performed on the Engineering and Qualification Model of the Medium Gain Antenna Radiofrequency (MGA-RFA) Assembly of ESA's BepiColombo mission. The goal of this program is to observe and study Mercury and its surroundings in a very demanding environment in terms of temperature and radiation. The MGA is an X-band two-axis steerable horn, which provides bidirectional communications between spacecraft and Earth as backup of the High Gain Antenna and also operates as primary communication link at several mission stages or conditions. The paper presents the measurement set-up for the qualification campaign of the antenna, where it was necessary to characterize the antenna in a representative thermal environment, and the results obtained from this test. Results of test up to 150°C show how gain and radiation pattern shapes are slightly affected by thermal stress, but without jeopardizing mission requirements. In addition, by analyzing correlation of this test with RF analysis in the same thermal conditions, it becomes possible to accurately extrapolate the MGA-RFA behavior up to temperatures of more than 500°C. This fact allowed the successful space qualification of this model.