Engagement Through Communication:Communicating Scientific Knowledge to SMEs

In this chapter, we work from the assumption that university engagement can be fostered by addressing the dissemination of scientific knowledge as a communication process, and we explore how university engagement can be encouraged through the communication of scientific knowledge to SMEs (small and mediumsized enterprises). First, a literature review allows for the identification of wellknown barriers to the dissemination of scientific knowledge to SMEs. Second, an empirical study of the ‘situation’ of eight Danish SMEs provides insights into their situation (circumstances, barriers and potentials) in relation to scientific knowledge, which must be taken into account in attempts to communicate scientific knowledge to SMEs. Based on this analysis, we discuss solutions and outline some communicative principles that can contribute with a solution-oriented perspective on how communicating scientific knowledge to SMEs can foster university engagement.</p

Review: Hydraulic head measurements - New technologies, classic pitfalls

The hydraulic head is one of the most important metrics in hydrogeology as it underlies the interpretation of groundwater flow, the quantification of aquifer properties and the calibration of flow models. Heads are determined based on water-level measurements in wells and piezometers. Despite the importance of hydraulic head data, standard textbooks used in groundwater curricula provide relatively little discussion of the appropriate measurement procedures. This paper presents a review of the literature dealing with the determination of hydraulic heads, and aims to provide quantitative guidance on the likely sources of error and when these can be expected to become important. The most common measurement procedures are discussed and the main sources of error are identified, i.e. those related to (1) the measurement instruments, (2) the conversion from pressure to heads, (3) time lag effects, and (4) observation well defects. It is argued that heads should be determined following welldefined guidelines, and that it should become standard practice in hydrogeology to provide quantitative estimates of the measurement error.Water ManagementCivil Engineering and Geoscience