Abstract

Abstract
Radon (Rn-222) is a unique atmospheric tracer, since it is an inert gaseous radionuclide with a predominantly terrestrial source and a short half-life (3.8232 (8) d), enabling quantification of the relative degree of recent (< 21 d) terrestrial influences on marine air masses. High quality measurements of atmospheric radon activity concentration in remote oceanic locations enable the most accurate identification of baseline conditions. Observations of GHGs under baseline conditions, representative of hemispheric background values, are essential to characterise long-term changes in hemispheric-mean GHG concentrations, differentiate between natural and anthropogenic GHG sources, and improve understanding of the global carbon budget.The EU-funded project NuClim (Nuclear observations to improve Climate research and GHG emission estimates) will establish world-leading high-quality atmospheric measurements of radon activity concentration and of selected GHG concentrations (CO2, and CH4) at a remote oceanic location, the Eastern North Atlantic (ENA) facility, managed by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) programme (Office of Science from the U.S. Department of Energy), located on Graciosa Island (Azores archipelago), near the middle of the north Atlantic Ocean. These observations will provide an accurate, time-varying atmospheric baseline reference for European greenhouse gas (GHG) levels, enabling a clearer distinction between anthropogenic emissions and slowly changing background levels. NuClim will also enhance measurement of atmospheric radon activity concentration at the Mace Head Station, allowing the identification of latitudinal gradients in baseline atmospheric composition, and supporting the evaluation of the performance of GHG mitigation measures for countries in the northern hemisphere.The high-quality nuclear and GHG observations from NuClim, and the resulting classification of terrestrial influences on marine air masses, will assist diverse climate and environmental studies, including the study of pollution events, characterisation of marine boundary layer clouds and aerosols, and exploration of the impact of natural planktonic communities on GHG emissions. This poster presents an overview of NuClim, outlines the project objectives and methodologies, and summarises the relevant data products that will be made available to the climate community.Project NuClim received funding from the EURATOM research and training program 2023-2025 under Grant Agreement No 101166515.

Abstract
Project NuClim (Nuclear observations to improve Climate research and GHG emission estimates) aims to use high-quality measurements of atmospheric radon activity concentration and ambient radioactivity to advance climate science and improve radiation protection and nuclear surveillance capabilities. It is supported by new metrological capabilities developed in the EMPIR project 19ENV01 traceRadon. This work reviews the scientific objectives of project NuClim in terms of both climate science and radiological protection, and provides an overview of the NuClim field campaign and the various nuclear measurements being implemented within the scope of the project.

Abstract
User studies are paramount for advancing research in software engineering, particularly when evaluating tools and techniques involving programmers. However, researchers face several barriers when performing them despite the existence of supporting tools. We base our study on a set of tools and researcher-reported barriers identified in prior work on user studies in software engineering. In this work, we study how existing tools and their features cope with previously identified barriers. Moreover, we propose new features for the barriers that lack support. We validated our proposal with 102 researchers, achieving statistically significant positive support for all but one feature. We study the current gap between tools and barriers, using features as the bridge. We show there is a significant lack of support for several barriers, as some have no single tool to support them.

Abstract
Autonomous landing for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) requires both precision and resilience against environmental uncertainties, capabilities that current approaches struggle to deliver. This paper presents a novel learning-based solution that combines an advanced multimodal transformer-based detector with a reinforcement learning formulation to achieve reliable autonomous landing behavior across varying scenario uncertainties. Beyond the integration of multimodality for robust target detection, this research incorporates a comprehensive analysis of the impact of state representation on decision-making performance. The proposed methodology is validated through extensive simulation studies and real-world field experiments conducted on physical UAV platforms under natural wind disturbances, demonstrating reliable transfer from simulated training environments to controlled outdoor conditions. Field experiments across varying initial conditions and wind stress confirm the system’s robustness, achieving landing precision of 0.10 ± 0.08 meters in outdoor trials, demonstrating centimeter-level accuracy that surpasses the meter-level precision of global positioning systems.

Abstract
There is a strong need to motivate students to learn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. This is a problem not only at lower educational levels, but also at college institutions. With this idea in mind, the School of Engineering of the Porto Polytechnic (ISEP) Electrical Engineering Department decided, in 2021, to launch a robotics competition in order to foster students' interest in the areas of robotics and automation. This event, named Robotics@ISEP Open, aims to raise awareness of the area of electronics, computing, and robotics among students, involving them in the use of techniques and tools in this area, and encompasses three distinct robotics competitions covering both manipulator arms and mobile robots. It is based on two main points of interest: (i) robotic competitions and (ii) outside class training in robotics, aimed at students who want support to participate in competitions. Since its first edition, the event has grown and internationalized and has already become a milestone in the academic life of ISEP. This paper presents the motivations that led to the creation of this event, its main organizational aspects, and the competitions that are part of it, as well as some results gathered from the experience accumulated in organizing it.