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Text visualization is a field dedicated to the visual representation of textual data by using computer technology. A large number of visualization techniques are available, and now it is becoming harder for researchers and practitioners to choose an optimal technique for a particular task among the existing techniques. To overcome this problem, the ISOVIS Group developed an interactive survey browser for text visualization techniques. ISOVIS researchers gathered papers which describe text visualization techniques or tools and categorized them according to a taxonomy. Several categories were manually assigned to each visualization technique. In this thesis, we aim to analyze the dataset of this browser. We carried out several analyses to find temporal trends and correlations of the categories present in the browser dataset. In addition, a comparison of these categories with a computational approach has been made. Our results show that some categories became more popular than before whereas others have declined in popularity. The cases of positive and negative correlation between various categories have been found and analyzed. Comparison between manually labeled datasets and results of computational text analyses were presented to the experts with an opportunity to refine the dataset. Data which is analyzed in this thesis project is specific to text visualization field, however, methods that are used in the analyses can be generalized for applications to other datasets of scientific literature surveys or, more generally, other manually curated collections of textual documents.

Na busca pelo fortalecimento do debate público sobre Ciência Tecnologia & Inovação (CT&I), pesquisadores têm abandonado o confinamento de seus laboratórios para se comunicar diretamente com a sociedade, fazendo uso de diferentes suportes midiáticos, dentre os quais incluem-se os espaços de enunciação escrita como as colunas de jornal e os livros de popularização científica. A Tese de doutorado discute as possibilidades de aproximação da Ciência com a sociedade por meio das mídias escritas e propõe uma reflexão crítica sobre o papel de um tipo de autor: o cientista engajado com a Comunicação Pública da Ciência. Mais especificamente, discute o papel de transcriação autoral de um grupo de escritores cientistas no espaço de popularização da CT&I, por meio da comunicação verbal escrita, a partir da análise do discurso consubstanciado em seus livros de ensaios curtos. Metodologicamente, a compreensão da narrativa de popularização e das cenas de enunciação busca suporte na linha francesa de Análise do Discurso. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que os escritores cientistas se utilizam de alguns recursos epistêmicos e linguístico-literários recorrentes, o que permite conceber o empreendimento ensaístico desses autores em termos de dois modelos estilísticos distintos, mas complementares: o racional e o sensível. A Tese sugere que a composição narrativa textual apoia-se em esquemas de pensamento peculiares, identificados como Refuta/Repara (preponderante no modelo racional) e Conecta/Cria (preponderante no modelo sensível). Demonstra, ainda, que a constituição do gênero de ensaios curtos requer um duplo exercício criativo dos autores: posicionar-se enquanto cientista a respeito de um tema de interesse público e fazê-lo por meio da construção de uma narrativa transcriadora. / In an attempt to empower the public debate about Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I), researchers are breaking the walls of their laboratories in order to communicate more directly with society through a variety of media, including written spaces of enunciation such as newspaper\'s columns and books of science popularization. The Thesis discusses the possibilities offered by written media to bridge the gap between science and society, and provides a critical analysis about the role of a particular kind of author: the scientist engaged with the Public Communication of Science. Particularly, it discusses the authorial transcreation effort conducted by a group of science writers, looking at their discourse in some popular short essays books. Methodologically, the understanding of both the narrative and the enunciation scenes draws on studies of the French school of Discourse Analysis. Results show that science writers tend to use, systematically, some epistemic and linguistic-literary resources, suggesting that their essayistic enterprise can be interpreted in terms of two distinct but complementary models: the rational and the sentient. The Thesis provides evidence that the authors\' textual narrative composition brings together peculiar ways of thinking, identified as Refute/Repair (predominant in the rational model), and Connect/Create (predominant in the sentient model). It also demonstrates that the constitution of the genre of short essays requires, from science writers, a double creative move: as scientist, to take position about issues of public interest, and to do it by means of a transcreative narrative.

O mote desta pesquisa é a análise da produção científica sobre energias alternativas no Estado de São Paulo entre os anos de 1992 a 2002. Especificamente, realizou-se o estudo de caso do Programa Interunidades de Pós-graduação em Energia (PIPGE) da Universidade de São Paulo, que desenvolveu estudos em energia solar e biomassa da cana-de-açúcar. A pesquisa utiliza como fontes históricas a literatura científica produzida pelos pesquisadores do Programa, tais como as teses e dissertações, artigos e papers e a documentação institucional referente à estrutura e objetivos do PIPGE. No período recortado para análise ocorre uma série de eventos sobre meio ambiente e desenvolvimento que levam em conta a questão das energias alternativas, criando cenários políticos e científicos para a pesquisa e desenvolvimento dessas tecnologias. Já a opção pelo Estado de São Paulo se justifica por ter sido o maior consumidor e produtor de energia do país na década de 1990, representando um espaço que necessitava aumentar o parque gerador de energia para poder suprir a demanda de seus habitantes. / This research aims at analyzing the scientific literature on alternative power resources in São Paulo State from 1992 to 2002. A case study of the Interdisciplinary Post-Graduation Program in Energy of São Paulo State University (PIPGE/USP) was accomplished since the Program developed studies on solar energy and sugar cane biomass during the period under study. Historical sources comprise the scientific literature produced by the researchers of the Program such as theses, dissertations, articles and papers, and the institutional documentation of the Program with respect to its structure and objectives. In the period under study, a series of events on environment and development occurred that considered the issue of alternative power resources, producing political and scientific settings for research and development of such technologies. São Paulo State was chosen because it was both the largest energy consumer and producer of the country in the 90s, thus representing the need for augmenting energy generation in order to supply the inhabitants demands.

Th. : lett. : München. / Bibliogr.: p.441-487. Index.

Na busca pelo fortalecimento do debate público sobre Ciência Tecnologia & Inovação (CT&I), pesquisadores têm abandonado o confinamento de seus laboratórios para se comunicar diretamente com a sociedade, fazendo uso de diferentes suportes midiáticos, dentre os quais incluem-se os espaços de enunciação escrita como as colunas de jornal e os livros de popularização científica. A Tese de doutorado discute as possibilidades de aproximação da Ciência com a sociedade por meio das mídias escritas e propõe uma reflexão crítica sobre o papel de um tipo de autor: o cientista engajado com a Comunicação Pública da Ciência. Mais especificamente, discute o papel de transcriação autoral de um grupo de escritores cientistas no espaço de popularização da CT&I, por meio da comunicação verbal escrita, a partir da análise do discurso consubstanciado em seus livros de ensaios curtos. Metodologicamente, a compreensão da narrativa de popularização e das cenas de enunciação busca suporte na linha francesa de Análise do Discurso. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que os escritores cientistas se utilizam de alguns recursos epistêmicos e linguístico-literários recorrentes, o que permite conceber o empreendimento ensaístico desses autores em termos de dois modelos estilísticos distintos, mas complementares: o racional e o sensível. A Tese sugere que a composição narrativa textual apoia-se em esquemas de pensamento peculiares, identificados como Refuta/Repara (preponderante no modelo racional) e Conecta/Cria (preponderante no modelo sensível). Demonstra, ainda, que a constituição do gênero de ensaios curtos requer um duplo exercício criativo dos autores: posicionar-se enquanto cientista a respeito de um tema de interesse público e fazê-lo por meio da construção de uma narrativa transcriadora. / In an attempt to empower the public debate about Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I), researchers are breaking the walls of their laboratories in order to communicate more directly with society through a variety of media, including written spaces of enunciation such as newspaper\'s columns and books of science popularization. The Thesis discusses the possibilities offered by written media to bridge the gap between science and society, and provides a critical analysis about the role of a particular kind of author: the scientist engaged with the Public Communication of Science. Particularly, it discusses the authorial transcreation effort conducted by a group of science writers, looking at their discourse in some popular short essays books. Methodologically, the understanding of both the narrative and the enunciation scenes draws on studies of the French school of Discourse Analysis. Results show that science writers tend to use, systematically, some epistemic and linguistic-literary resources, suggesting that their essayistic enterprise can be interpreted in terms of two distinct but complementary models: the rational and the sentient. The Thesis provides evidence that the authors\' textual narrative composition brings together peculiar ways of thinking, identified as Refute/Repair (predominant in the rational model), and Connect/Create (predominant in the sentient model). It also demonstrates that the constitution of the genre of short essays requires, from science writers, a double creative move: as scientist, to take position about issues of public interest, and to do it by means of a transcreative narrative.

O mote desta pesquisa é a análise da produção científica sobre energias alternativas no Estado de São Paulo entre os anos de 1992 a 2002. Especificamente, realizou-se o estudo de caso do Programa Interunidades de Pós-graduação em Energia (PIPGE) da Universidade de São Paulo, que desenvolveu estudos em energia solar e biomassa da cana-de-açúcar. A pesquisa utiliza como fontes históricas a literatura científica produzida pelos pesquisadores do Programa, tais como as teses e dissertações, artigos e papers e a documentação institucional referente à estrutura e objetivos do PIPGE. No período recortado para análise ocorre uma série de eventos sobre meio ambiente e desenvolvimento que levam em conta a questão das energias alternativas, criando cenários políticos e científicos para a pesquisa e desenvolvimento dessas tecnologias. Já a opção pelo Estado de São Paulo se justifica por ter sido o maior consumidor e produtor de energia do país na década de 1990, representando um espaço que necessitava aumentar o parque gerador de energia para poder suprir a demanda de seus habitantes. / This research aims at analyzing the scientific literature on alternative power resources in São Paulo State from 1992 to 2002. A case study of the Interdisciplinary Post-Graduation Program in Energy of São Paulo State University (PIPGE/USP) was accomplished since the Program developed studies on solar energy and sugar cane biomass during the period under study. Historical sources comprise the scientific literature produced by the researchers of the Program such as theses, dissertations, articles and papers, and the institutional documentation of the Program with respect to its structure and objectives. In the period under study, a series of events on environment and development occurred that considered the issue of alternative power resources, producing political and scientific settings for research and development of such technologies. São Paulo State was chosen because it was both the largest energy consumer and producer of the country in the 90s, thus representing the need for augmenting energy generation in order to supply the inhabitants demands.

Currently South African museums are faced with the challenge of evaluating and transforming their roles and functions as a response to changing national educational needs. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether aspects of the integrated strategies approach to promoting scientific literacy can be successfully employed in a museum context. The approach was used as part of the education programmes at the Port Elizabeth Museum School (Bayworld) and mixed methods were used to gather qualitative and quantitative data on the teachers’ ability to adopt the strategy. Data were also generated on the teachers’ perceptions of teaching and learning, possible activities which supported the approach, and aspects of the strategy which the learners adopted most readily. The findings suggest that active engagement in the process resulted in effective adoption of the strategy by the teachers, improved attitudes towards science learning by both the teachers and children who participated in the process, and improved scientific literacy in both.

This paper investigates whether free access to scientific literature increases the participation of under-represented groups in scientific discourse. To this end, we aggregate and match data tracing access to Sci-Hub, a widely used black open access (OA) repository or shadow library, and publication data from the Web of Science (WoS). We treat the emergence of Sci-Hub as an exogenous event granting relatively unrestricted access to publications, which are otherwise hidden behind a paywall. We analyze changes in the publication count of researchers from developing countries in a given journal as a proxy for general participation in scientific discourse. Our results indicate that in the exemplary field of mathematics, free access to academic knowledge is likely to improve the representation of authors from developing countries in international journals. Assuming the desirability of greater international diversity in science (e.g., to generate more original work, reproduce empirical findings in different settings, or shift the research focus toward topics that are overlooked by researchers from more developed countries), our findings lend evidence to the claim of the OA movement that scientific knowledge should be free and widely distributed.

The pandemic of HIV/AIDS has been felt by nations throughout the world. It is a well-known fact that the AIDS epidemic is catastrophic in sub Saharan Africa, which heads the list of the most affected regions. As the epidemic imposes a strain on the already limited resources, a better understanding of the disease is continuously being sought out. This understanding is enhanced with better information dissemination. The present research aims to assist the information requirements of HIV/AIDS researchers in the country through a bibliometric study. The present study comprised an investigation of the patterns of authorship and publications of academic institutions in the sciences, medical institutions and affiliated organizations in South Africa, focusing on HIV/AIDS literature for the two decade period, 1982-2002. Published literature in the sciences and medicine from three internationally recognised databases were used for the assessment. They were: AIDSearch, lSI Science Citation Index Expanded and MEDLINE (OVID). A total of 2 281 documents formed the basis for the assessment. The results of the study are presented, as are their consequences for researchers and policy makers. Some recommendations are provided for the developers and designers of databases. The results of the study demonstrate exponential growth in the literature as might be expected. Because of the multidisciplinary nature of the disease, research is scattered in a variety of discipline-based journals. Researchers publish mainly in journals and the South African Medical Journal is the most productive in the field of HIV/AIDS. Collaboration in research on the subject is evident. The results also demonstrate that South African researchers are fast becoming internationally recognized in the field of HIV/AIDS research. The Medical Research Council emerged as the leader in South Africa's research efforts on HIV/AIDS. Of the academic institutions, the University of the Witwatersrand is the most productive institution, followed by the University of Natal. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.