A Survey of Types of Industry-Academia Collaboration

Collaborations between industry and academia are, when properly designed and managed, beneficial to both the industry partners and the academic institutions. Such collaborations may take place on both small and large scales, and may involve varying numbers of academic institutions and industry partners. They may also have different purposes, including both research-focused collaborative efforts and programs designed to connect undergraduate students with real-world projects to enhance their education. In this paper, the authors will provide a survey of different models of industry-academia collaboration in engineering and engineering technology. The paper will include both a survey of existing literature on the topic as well as a survey of publicly available information on existing collaborations. While the primary focus is on collaborations within the United States, some literature on international collaborations will also be included in the survey. It will discuss several different collaboration models, and what factors appear to be significant in those collaborations. Finally, it will conclude with recommendations that can be used to study specific aspects of industry-academia collaborations

Engineering Technology Graduate Students: Roles Professional Societies Havein Their Formation

In recent years, there have been several research projects focused on returning graduate students in engineering, those who have significant industry experience before beginning their graduate studies. These projects have focused on both the masters and doctoral levels and have looked at research, coursework, benefits of attending graduate school, and the cost of going back. One of the existing papers has looked at the ways in which professional organizations look on returning students, and how their membership policies affect these students. The issue of how returning students see themselves within professional societies was not addressed. As of yet, none of these studies have focused on returning graduate students in engineering technology. Overall engineering technology students have not been researched in depth, with most engineering technology practitioners and administrators relying on data obtained from populations of engineering and other STEM students. Faculty and staff that have interacted with both engineering technology and engineering populations of students find the differences marked, thus supporting the need for further research to quantify differences and similarities in these populations. This paper will focus on the intersection of the two gaps, focusing on returning graduate engineering technology students, and their view of professional societies. Furthering initial work done on engineering technology student identity, it will look at the identity of graduate engineering technology returners within professional societies. The study was carried out through administration of a survey developed to learn more about engineering technology returners. The survey asks participants about the societies to which they belong, and how they see themselves with those organizations. Grounded theory will be used to analyze the survey data. The flexibility and adaptability of grounded theory generated method provides results that are continuous and nascent. The process is well defined and begins with identification of a substantive area, for this study this is the returning engineering technology graduate student. The survey questions are designed to collect data focused on the two areas of concern and following the survey will be coded as it is collected. As the coding takes place, memos will be made to capture extraneous thoughts and information that was not already designed into the survey questions. The memos will be sorted with the coded data and as themes emerge from the data observations are written and disseminated through this conference paper

How Professional Society Membership is Affected by Returning Student Status

In recent years, several research efforts have aimed to understand the issues surrounding engineering professionals returning to the academic environment for graduate degrees in engineering. This research focuses on a variety of issues: why they return, what they hope to do afterwards, and what their experiences are in the academic environment. While those are important issues, interaction with professional societies while in the workplace and pursuing graduate work are also of concern. Many engineering professionals, both in industry and in academia, value activities with these organizations while advancing in membership levels as they advance through their careers. Advancement may be complicated when a professional society member returns to school for full time study; they often find themselves choosing between paying the higher dues of a professional or returning to student status. We discuss the options available in a sampling of different professional engineering societies, including several engineering disciplinary societies and interdisciplinary societies focused on underrepresented minorities within engineering. The intent is to examine the differences, and highlight successful policies for use by professional societies and other organizations serving the returning student population

The carotenoid-continuum: carotenoid-based plumage ranges from conspicuous to cryptic and back again

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Carotenoids are frequently used by birds to colour their plumage with green, yellow, orange or red hues, and carotenoid-based colours are considered honest signals of quality, although they may have other functions, such as crypsis. It is usually assumed that red through yellow colours have a signalling function while green is cryptic. Here we challenge this notion using the yellow and green colouration of blue tits (<it>Cyanistes caeruleus</it>), great tits (<it>Parus major</it>) and greenfinches (<it>Carduelis chloris</it>) as a model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The relationship between colouration (chroma, computed using visual sensitivities of conspecifics) and detectability (contrast against natural backgrounds as perceived by conspecifics and avian predators) followed a similar curvilinear pattern for yellow and green plumage with minimum detectability at intermediate levels of carotenoid deposition. Thus, for yellow and green plumage, colours at or close to the point of minimum detectability may aid in crypsis. This may be the case for blue and great tit green and yellow plumage, and greenfinch green plumage, all of which had comparably low levels of detectability, while greenfinch yellow plumage was more chromatic and detectable. As yellow and green blue tit colouration are strongly affected by carotenoid availability during moult, variation in pigment availability between habitats may affect the degree of background-matching or the costliness of producing cryptic plumage.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Increasing carotenoid-deposition in the integument does not always lead to more conspicuous colours. In some cases, such as in blue or great tits, carotenoid deposition may be selected through enhanced background-matching, which in turn suggests that producing cryptic plumage may entail costs. We stress however, that our data do not rule out a signalling function of carotenoid-based plumage in tits. Rather, it shows that alternative functions are plausible and that assuming a signalling function based solely on the deposition of carotenoids in the integument may not be warranted.</p

Improving the clinical value and utility of CGM systems: issues and recommendations: a joint statement of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Technology Working Group

The first systems for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) became available over 15 years ago. Many then believed CGM would revolutionize the use of intensive insulin therapy in diabetes; however, progress toward that vision has been gradual. Although increasing, the proportion of individuals using CGM rather than conventional systems for self-monitoring of blood glucose on a daily basis is still low in most parts of the world. Barriers to uptake include cost, measurement reliability (particularly with earlier-generation systems), human factors issues, lack of a standardized format for displaying results, and uncertainty on how best to use CGM data to make therapeutic decisions. This Scientific Statement makes recommendations for systemic improvements in clinical use and regulatory (pre- and postmarketing) handling of CGM devices. The aim is to improve safety and efficacy in order to support the advancement of the technology in achieving its potential to improve quality of life and health outcomes for more people with diabetes

Improving the clinical value and utility of CGM systems: issues and recommendations : a joint statement of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Technology Working Group

The first systems for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) became available over 15 years ago. Many then believed CGM would revolutionise the use of intensive insulin therapy in diabetes; however, progress towards that vision has been gradual. Although increasing, the proportion of individuals using CGM rather than conventional systems for self-monitoring of blood glucose on a daily basis is still low in most parts of the world. Barriers to uptake include cost, measurement reliability (particularly with earlier-generation systems), human factors issues, lack of a standardised format for displaying results and uncertainty on how best to use CGM data to make therapeutic decisions. This scientific statement makes recommendations for systemic improvements in clinical use and regulatory (pre- and postmarketing) handling of CGM devices. The aim is to improve safety and efficacy in order to support the advancement of the technology in achieving its potential to improve quality of life and health outcomes for more people with diabetes

Localization and function of Kinesin-5-like proteins during assembly and maintenance of mitotic spindles in Silvetia compressa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Kinesin-5 (Eg-5) motor proteins are essential for maintenance of spindle bipolarity in animals. The roles of Kinesin-5 proteins in other systems, such as Arabidopsis, Dictyostelium, and sea urchin are more varied. We are studying Kinesin-5-like proteins during early development in the brown alga <it>Silvetia compressa</it>. Previously, this motor was shown to be needed to assemble a bipolar spindle, similar to animals. This report builds on those findings by investigating the localization of the motor and probing its function in spindle maintenance.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Anti-Eg5 antibodies were used to investigate localization of Kinesin-5-like proteins in brown algal zygotes. In interphase zygotes, localization was predominantly within the nucleus. As zygotes entered mitosis, these motor proteins strongly associated with spindle poles and, to a lesser degree, with the polar microtubule arrays and the spindle midzone. In order to address whether Kinesin-5-like proteins are required to maintain spindle bipolarity, we applied monastrol to synchronized zygotes containing bipolar spindles. Monastrol is a cell-permeable chemical inhibitor of the Kinesin-5 class of molecular motors. We found that inhibition of motor function in pre-formed spindles induced the formation of multipolar spindles and short bipolar spindles.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based upon these localization and inhibitor studies, we conclude that Kinesin-5-like motors in brown algae are more similar to the motors of animals than those of plants or protists. However, Kinesin-5-like proteins in <it>S. compressa </it>serve novel roles in spindle formation and maintenance not observed in animals.</p

Incest avoidance, extrapair paternity, and territory quality drive divorce in a year-round territorial bird

Divorce can be an important behavioral strategy to improve fitness. This is particularly relevant for species that are territorial year-round with continuous partnerships, where individuals face constraints on partner choice due to limited vacancies and dispersal opportunities. We tested several hypotheses for divorce in such a species, the cooperatively breeding bird Malurus coronatus. Based on 9 years of detailed information on dispersal and survival of 317 breeding pairs, we tested whether divorce is driven by inbreeding avoidance, by a better partner or territory, or by social variables (number of subordinates and fidelity of partners). We found that divorce is important to escape incest: incestuous pairs were substantially more likely to divorce (64%) than non-incestuous pairs (14%). However, incestuous pair bonds lasted up to a year, highlighting constraints on breeder dispersal. Non-incestuous pairs also divorced, but here the only predictor for divorce was the presence of extrapair offspring in a previous brood. Although reproductive failure did not trigger divorce, and reproductive success did not improve in the year following divorce, females that dispersed after divorce obtained higher quality territories, unlike females that dispersed after their partner died. Thus, divorce may be a strategy to improve long-term benefits associated with better territories. Some divorces appeared to be forced evictions by older females, although direct evidence for this is limited. Taken together, our findings demonstrate the complexity of factors that affect the occurrence of divorce when partner choice is constrained

Academic and Industry Collaboration: A Literature Review

As part of a larger project determining best practices for establishing and maintaining effective, sustainable, collaborative relationships between academic and industry professionals, this review will outline the available materials and, conversely, the multiple gaps that exist regarding course content, methods of teaching, and practical experience relating to preparation for careers in engineering and engineering technology. Currently, there is no clear agreement on which principles and practices best enable industrial partners and academic institutions to establish and maintain mutually-beneficial partnerships. In fact, there is no clear definition in the literature of what a mutually-beneficial partnership entails, across the full range of educational, research, and professional development and service activities carried out within the engineering and technical community. The authors of this paper established informally that educators in both engineering and engineering technology are often challenged by this lack of research on sound recommendations regarding collaborative efforts. This paper is intended to be the start of a larger systemic literature review