University Industrtry Government Cooperation within na agricultural context: the case of Penela Business Incubator

This case study explores the relationship of university-industry-government cooperation, with specific reference to the incubator of Penela, Portugal. This example is considered in the context of the knowledge-based economy. The main goal is to implement acquired knowledge, complement several existing studies, try to show how the triple helix model explains the role of the Incubator as a mechanism for technology transfer and how it contributes to the dynamics of innovation and entrepreneurship in the region. It describes the ties relating to formal R&D links, human resources, and informal cooperation for the sample of 13 firms based on the Penela incubator and universities. The relationship between the local authorities of the municipality of Penela and the incubator HIESE is also presented. In summarize, the impact of the above relations on the development of the agricultural and biotechnological industry of Penela is considered. The results confirm that the dynamics of relations between the scientific community (the University of Coimbra, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra and the Pedro Nunes Institute), industry and local government (Penela Municipality) led to the emergence of the HIESE incubator, which operates as the mechanism of technology and knowledge transfer and stimulates establishing of cooperational links between university and industry, which are mostly informal. At the same time, communication between tenants is not very common. The perception by tenants of the incubator is still more like a prestigious real estate case, rather than an opportunity to develop R&D networks with the university. Besides it, the participation of universities in incubation activities does not necessarily make transfer of results of academic research through spin-offs

Design and Management of Science Enrichment Programmes: connecting scientists with children

This is a final report on two internships I carried out between September 2020 and November 2021 for the completion of my Master’s degree in Science Communication. The first was completed at Native Scientist, a European-wide non-profit organization registered in the UK, where I was given the responsibility to manage one of their science enrichment and outreach programmes – Native Schools. There, I gained a range of soft skills, from programme management to leadership skills. As an outcome of this internship, I co-founded a new, nationwide science enrichment programme in Portugal – @ Cientista Regressa à Escola, a programme that tackles social and educational inequities by promoting the return of scientists to their elementary schools to deliver interactive science workshops. This report also includes the design, implementation and management of the programme. The second internship was hosted by the Communications and Outreach Office of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology of the University of Illinois, United States. There, I gained first-hand experience of working at an office with a different approach to Science Communication and learned about the management of science education programmes in an academic setting. As part of the internship, I conducted a focus group study on the feasibility of setting up a similar programme to @ Cientista Regressa à Escola in the United States. The report ends with my personal contribution to an application for European funds supporting Science Communication and Education projects.Este é o relatório final sobre dois estágios que desenvolvi entre Setembro de 2020 e Novembro de 2021 para a conclusão do meu Mestrado em Comunicação de Ciência. O primeiro foi realizado na Native Scientist, uma organização sem fins lucrativos premiada a nível europeu e registada no Reino Unido, onde geri um dos seus programas educativos – Native Schools. Aí, adquiri diversas competências, desde gestão de programas a capacidades de liderança. Com efeito, co-fundei um novo programa educativo de enriquecimento curricular em Portugal – @ Cientista Regressa à Escola, um programa que colmata desigualdades sociais e educativas promovendo o regresso de cientistas à sua antiga escola primária para desenvolverem oficinas de ciências interativas. Este relatório também aborda o design, implementação e gestão do programa. O segundo estágio decorreu no Gabinete de Comunicação e Outreach do Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology da Universidade de Illinois, Estados Unidos. Lá ganhei experiência direta ao trabalhar num gabinete com uma abordagem diferente face à Comunicação de Ciência e onde aprendi sobre gestão de programas educativos no meio académico. Como parte do estágio, desenvolvi um estudo de focus group sobre a viabilidade de implementar um programa educativo semelhante ao @ Cientista Regressa à Escola nos Estados Unidos. O relatório termina com as minhas contribuições pessoais para uma candidatura a financiamentos europeus, que apoiam projetos de Comunicação e Educação de Ciência

Heliophysics and Amateur Radio:Citizen Science Collaborations for Atmospheric, Ionospheric, and Space Physics Research and Operations

The amateur radio community is a global, highly engaged, and technical community with an intense interest in space weather, its underlying physics, and how it impacts radio communications. The large-scale observational capabilities of distributed instrumentation fielded by amateur radio operators and radio science enthusiasts offers a tremendous opportunity to advance the fields of heliophysics, radio science, and space weather. Well-established amateur radio networks like the RBN, WSPRNet, and PSKReporter already provide rich, ever-growing, long-term data of bottomside ionospheric observations. Up-and-coming purpose-built citizen science networks, and their associated novel instruments, offer opportunities for citizen scientists, professional researchers, and industry to field networks for specific science questions and operational needs. Here, we discuss the scientific and technical capabilities of the global amateur radio community, review methods of collaboration between the amateur radio and professional scientific community, and review recent peer-reviewed studies that have made use of amateur radio data and methods. Finally, we present recommendations submitted to the U.S. National Academy of Science Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) 2024–2033 for using amateur radio to further advance heliophysics and for fostering deeper collaborations between the professional science and amateur radio communities. Technical recommendations include increasing support for distributed instrumentation fielded by amateur radio operators and citizen scientists, developing novel transmissions of RF signals that can be used in citizen science experiments, developing new amateur radio modes that simultaneously allow for communications and ionospheric sounding, and formally incorporating the amateur radio community and its observational assets into the Space Weather R2O2R framework. Collaborative recommendations include allocating resources for amateur radio citizen science research projects and activities, developing amateur radio research and educational activities in collaboration with leading organizations within the amateur radio community, facilitating communication and collegiality between professional researchers and amateurs, ensuring that proposed projects are of a mutual benefit to both the professional research and amateur radio communities, and working towards diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities

Graduate Internship Report - Joseph A. Gregori High School

This internship and project report includes validation documents required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture. The documents are concurrently used for the Agriculture Incentive Grant review process at Joseph A Gregori High School conducted by representatives of the California Department of Education. The internship includes the development of 16 steel raised garden beds for the Agriculture Department through a USDA farm to school grant. The supporting material includes information to receive state and local funding, outline the goals and objectives of the program, along with an overview of Gregori agriculture program and communit

Evaluation methodology for visual analytics software

O desafio do Visual Analytics (VA) é produzir visualizações que ajudem os utilizadores a concentrarem-se no aspecto mais relevante ou mais interessante dos dados apresentados. A sociedade actual enfrenta uma quantidade de dados que aumenta rapidamente. Assim, os utilizadores de informação em todos os domínios acabam por ter mais informação do que aquela com que podem lidar. O software VA deve suportar interacções intuitivas para que os analistas possam concentrar-se na informação que estão a manipular, e não na técnica de manipulação em si. Os ambientes de VA devem procurar minimizar a carga de trabalho cognitivo global dos seus utilizadores, porque se tivermos de pensar menos nas interacções em si, teremos mais tempo para pensar na análise propriamente dita. Tendo em conta os benefícios que as aplicações VA podem trazer e a confusão que ainda existe ao identificar tais aplicações no mercado, propomos neste trabalho uma nova metodologia de avaliação baseada em heurísticas. A nossa metodologia destina-se a avaliar aplicações através de testes de usabilidade considerando as funcionalidades e características desejáveis em sistemas de VA. No entanto, devido à sua natureza quatitativa, pode ser naturalmente utilizada para outros fins, tais como comparação para decisão entre aplicações de VA do mesmo contexto. Além disso, seus critérios poderão servir como fonte de informação para designers e programadores fazerem escolhas apropriadas durante a concepção e desenvolvimento de sistemas de VA

Cyber Security Politics

This book examines new and challenging political aspects of cyber security and presents it as an issue defined by socio-technological uncertainty and political fragmentation. Structured along two broad themes and providing empirical examples for how socio-technical changes and political responses interact, the first part of the book looks at the current use of cyber space in conflictual settings, while the second focuses on political responses by state and non-state actors in an environment defined by uncertainties. Within this, it highlights four key debates that encapsulate the complexities and paradoxes of cyber security politics from a Western perspective – how much political influence states can achieve via cyber operations and what context factors condition the (limited) strategic utility of such operations; the role of emerging digital technologies and how the dynamics of the tech innovation process reinforce the fragmentation of the governance space; how states attempt to uphold stability in cyberspace and, more generally, in their strategic relations; and how the shared responsibility of state, economy, and society for cyber security continues to be re-negotiated in an increasingly trans-sectoral and transnational governance space. This book will be of much interest to students of cyber security, global governance, technology studies, and international relations

1993 Technical Paper Contest for Women. Gear Up 2000: Women in Motion

The NASA Ames Research Center Advisory Committee for Women (ACW) sponsored the second ACW Technical paper Contest for Ames women in order to increase the visibility of, and to encourage writing for publication by Ames women scientists, engineers, and technicians. The topics of the contest paper mirrored in the topics of the 1993 Society for Women Engineers (SWE) National Convention, which included technological, workplace, global, and family issues

Cyber Security Politics

This book examines new and challenging political aspects of cyber security and presents it as an issue defined by socio-technological uncertainty and political fragmentation. Structured along two broad themes and providing empirical examples for how socio-technical changes and political responses interact, the first part of the book looks at the current use of cyber space in conflictual settings, while the second focuses on political responses by state and non-state actors in an environment defined by uncertainties. Within this, it highlights four key debates that encapsulate the complexities and paradoxes of cyber security politics from a Western perspective – how much political influence states can achieve via cyber operations and what context factors condition the (limited) strategic utility of such operations; the role of emerging digital technologies and how the dynamics of the tech innovation process reinforce the fragmentation of the governance space; how states attempt to uphold stability in cyberspace and, more generally, in their strategic relations; and how the shared responsibility of state, economy, and society for cyber security continues to be re-negotiated in an increasingly trans-sectoral and transnational governance space. This book will be of much interest to students of cyber security, global governance, technology studies, and international relations

Hands-on science. Rethinking STEAM education in times of uncertainty

After over two years of major constraints imposed by the COVID pandemic, the education world is still trying to find ways to adapt in order to keep providing, in an effective way, its crucial contribution to the world’ development our societies need and expect