Search results for "Engineers"
showing 10 items of 33 documents
Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties
2021
Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ec…
Michelangelo Blasco versus Ferdinando Fuga: una nuova attribuzione per il ponte sul Milicia in Sicilia
2015
The finding at the National Library of Spain of an eighteenth-century engraving of the bridge over the river Milicia, along the coast to the east of Palermo, is a chance not only to shed light on the complex history of the design and construction of one of the main Sicilian bridges, but also to attribute the real paternity rather than to the famous architect Ferdinando Fuga to the lesser-known military engineer, serving the Austrian Crown, Michelangelo Blasco, whose long and successful career is reconstructed: from Sicily, through Milan, Wien and Lisbon, to the uncharted territory of Brazil.
La fortificación del Reino de Valencia en la década de1640 a la luz de la revolución militar
2019
This article proposes a study of the traditions in defensive architecture that concurred in the projects designed by Spanish military engineers for the fortification of the Valencian frontier in 1648 and 1649, in the context of the War of Catalonia (1640-1652). For this it is essential to follow the route of the Valencian adaptations to the military revolution in the matter of fortifications throughout the sixteenth century and compare them with those brought to Valencia in 1641 by the Marquis of Leganes and his engineers from the school of Milan.
Mathematical modelling and activation – a study on a large class, a project-based task and students' flow
2018
International audience; We studied how engineering students in a large class (n=346) can be activated by a project-based task, in which they have to model mathematically the motion of an object. The students had to throw an object, use (1) their smart phones for filming, and (2) tracker software for capturing the motion. Through a poster, they had to report their video analysis. We framed activation through the concept of flow, which is a state of being fully absorbed by an activity. We administered a web-based questionnaire (response rate 69%). The results show that such a project-based task is feasible with >300 students and activated them: three out of five experienced flow. Also, we val…
Predictors of performance in engineering mathematics
2018
International audience; Mathematics in university courses was identified as a main obstacle for engineering students in the beginning of their study. Since difficulties with mathematics could lead to a dropout, our research aims to analyse students' profiles referring to individual characteristics that allow identifying possible risks for students' achievement or success in the first year of study. As a first step to identify possibly risky profiles, we started to find possible predictors of students' performance. For this, we give a short overview of the research state and our derived research interest. We discuss theoretical constructs that are possibly crucial characteristics of students…
“Making connections” in the mathematics courses for engineers: the example of online resources for trigonometry
2018
International audience; This paper concerns the teaching of mathematics for future engineers, focusing on the theme of trigonometry. We claim that the use of trigonometry in engineering courses requires different kinds of connections: connecting different domains, different concepts, frames and registers. We use here the concept of connectivity, developed in the frame of e-textbooks analysis, to analyse online courses for future engineers in France. We evidence that these courses propose some connections; but their connectivity is not developed enough to meet the requirements of engineering courses.
Soft Competencies and Satisfaction Levels for Software Engineers: A Unified Framework
2019
The importance of software engineers’ competency has long been established as a key pillar for the development of robust software in order to achieve quality software. Software engineering competency research is not necessarily lacking. Nevertheless, the satisfaction derived from using software competency needs more investigation. The aim of this study is to identify soft competencies from empirical data and create satisfaction levels for software engineers’ soft competencies. The result shows 63 soft competencies with three different satisfaction levels consisting of basic, performance and delighters. The paper contributes to the SEC research by highlighting the satisfaction levels of soft…
From arsenic to DDT: Pesticides, Fascism and the invisibility of toxic risks in the early years of Francoist Spain (1939-1953)
2021
This paper reviews the way in which Spanish agriculture climbed onto the pesticide treadmill. We claim that Fascist policies and expert advice assembled in the early 1940s accelerated the introduction of pesticides into Spanish agriculture and promoted the emergence of the Spanish pesticide industry in the times of autarky. Agricultural engineers were the key protagonists in this process, but other human and non-human actors also played a pivotal role: a new pest (the Colorado beetle), Francoist politicians, farmers, landowners and industry managers. Our focus is on the use of pesticides against the Colorado beetle (the main threat to the potato crop), and the transition from arsenical pest…
When are researchers willing to share their data? - Impacts of values and uncertainty on open data in academia.
2020
PLOS ONE 15(7), e0234172 (2020). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0234172
Ingegneri militari nella Sicilia degli Asburgo: formazione, competenze e carriera di una figura professionale tra Cinque e Seicento
2015
During the Sixteenth century and the first half of the following one, Sicily played a key role in the strategy of defense of the Spanish Empire from the looming Turkish threat, being an island considered as a baluarte against the Turks. Yet despite this absolute centrality in the military policy of the Spanish monarchy, till now historical research has preferred to provide broader spectrum interpretations at the expense of in-depth studies on individual technicians or overall pictures about the figure of the military engineer. We will present a synoptic view attesting the time period of activity covered by each military technician working for the kingdom of Sicily, within a wider study conc…