Authentic science experiences as a vehicle for assessing orientation towards science and science careers relative to identity and agency: a response to ``learning from the path followed by Brad''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chinn, Pauline W. U.

2009-09-01

This response draws from the literature on adaptive learning, traditional ecological knowledge, and social-ecological systems to show that Brad's choice is not a simple decision between traditional ecological knowledge and authentic science. This perspective recognizes knowledge systems as dynamic, cultural and historical activities characterized by diverse worldviews and ways of constructing and legitimizing knowledge. Brad's decision is seen as an example of adaptive learning, identity development and personal/collective agency oriented to increasing tribal influence in resource management decisions and policies. I will conclude that science literacy for all is not served by a transcendent, universal, Western modern view of science.

An Agent-Based Optimization Framework for Engineered Complex Adaptive Systems with Application to Demand Response in Electricity Markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haghnevis, Moeed

The main objective of this research is to develop an integrated method to study emergent behavior and consequences of evolution and adaptation in engineered complex adaptive systems (ECASs). A multi-layer conceptual framework and modeling approach including behavioral and structural aspects is provided to describe the structure of a class of engineered complex systems and predict their future adaptive patterns. The approach allows the examination of complexity in the structure and the behavior of components as a result of their connections and in relation to their environment. This research describes and uses the major differences of natural complex adaptive systems (CASs) with artificial/engineered CASs to build a framework and platform for ECAS. While this framework focuses on the critical factors of an engineered system, it also enables one to synthetically employ engineering and mathematical models to analyze and measure complexity in such systems. In this way concepts of complex systems science are adapted to management science and system of systems engineering. In particular an integrated consumer-based optimization and agent-based modeling (ABM) platform is presented that enables managers to predict and partially control patterns of behaviors in ECASs. Demonstrated on the U.S. electricity markets, ABM is integrated with normative and subjective decision behavior recommended by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The approach integrates social networks, social science, complexity theory, and diffusion theory. Furthermore, it has unique and significant contribution in exploring and representing concrete managerial insights for ECASs and offering new optimized actions and modeling paradigms in agent-based simulation.

Enhancing Student Motivation and Learning within Adaptive Tutors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ostrow, Korinn S.

2015-01-01

My research is rooted in improving K-12 educational practice using motivational facets made possible through adaptive tutoring systems. In an attempt to isolate best practices within the science of learning, I conduct randomized controlled trials within ASSISTments, an online adaptive tutoring system that provides assistance and assessment to…

Conservation and adaptation to climate change.

PubMed

Brooke, Cassandra

2008-12-01

The need to adapt to climate change has become increasingly apparent, and many believe the practice of biodiversity conservation will need to alter to face this challenge. Conservation organizations are eager to determine how they should adapt their practices to climate change. This involves asking the fundamental question of what adaptation to climate change means. Most studies on climate change and conservation, if they consider adaptation at all, assume it is equivalent to the ability of species to adapt naturally to climate change as stated in Article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Adaptation, however, can refer to an array of activities that range from natural adaptation, at one end of the spectrum, to sustainability science in coupled human and natural systems at the other. Most conservation organizations deal with complex systems in which adaptation to climate change involves making decisions on priorities for biodiversity conservation in the face of dynamic risks and involving the public in these decisions. Discursive methods such as analytic deliberation are useful for integrating scientific knowledge with public perceptions and values, particularly when large uncertainties and risks are involved. The use of scenarios in conservation planning is a useful way to build shared understanding at the science-policy interface. Similarly, boundary organizations-organizations or institutions that bridge different scales or mediate the relationship between science and policy-could prove useful for managing the transdisciplinary nature of adaptation to climate change, providing communication and brokerage services and helping to build adaptive capacity. The fact that some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are active across the areas of science, policy, and practice makes them well placed to fulfill this role in integrated assessments of biodiversity conservation and adaptation to climate change.

ACCESS Earth: Promoting Accessibility to Earth System Science for Students with Disabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Locke, S. M.; Cohen, L.; Lightbody, N.

2001-05-01

ACCESS Earth is an intensive summer institute for high school students with disabilities and their teachers that is designed to encourage students with disabilities to consider careers in earth system science. Participants study earth system science concepts at a Maine coastal estuary, using Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing, and field observations to evaluate the impacts of climate change, sea level rise, and development on coastal systems. Teachers, students, and scientists work together to adapt field and laboratory activities for persons with disabilities, including those with mobility and visual impairments. Other sessions include demonstrations of assistive technology, career discussions, and opportunities for students to meet with successful scientists with disabilities from throughout the U.S. The summer institute is one of several programs in development at the University of Southern Maine to address the problem of underrepresentation of people with disabilities in the earth sciences. Other projects include a mentoring program for high school students, a web-based clearinghouse of resources for teaching earth sciences to students with disabilities, and guidebooks for adaptation of popular published earth system science curricula for disabled learners.

Understanding System of Systems Development Using an Agent-Based Wave Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

Procedia Computer Science Procedia Computer Science 00 (2012) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/ procedia Complex Adaptive Systems...integration of technical systems as well as cognitive and social processes, which alter system behavior [6]. As mentioned before * Corresponding...Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 Acheson/ Procedia Computer Science 00 (2012) 000–000 most system architects assume that SoS participants exhibit

The Spitzer science operations system : how well are we really doing?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dodd, Suzanne R.

2004-01-01

This paper will describe how the SIRTF Science Operation System has performed since launch, and how the system has been adapted based upon in-flight performance. It will also discuss lessons learned which can be applied to future science operation systems. This work was performed at the California Institute of Technology under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

2016 Multifunctional Materials and Structures: Science of Autonomic, Adaptive and Self-Sustaining Systems GRC

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-23

Materials from Programmable Colloids" 9:05 pm - 9:25 pm Discussion 9:25 pm - 9:30 pm General Discussion Tuesday 7:30 am - 8:30 am Breakfast 9:00 am...2016 Multifunctional Materials and Structures: Science of Autonomic, Adaptive and Self-Sustaining Systems GRC Operational Summary The Gordon...Research Conference (GRC) on Multifunctional Materials & Structures was held at the Four Points Sheraton in Ventura, California from January 31-February

Making adaptable systems work for mission operations: A case study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holder, Barbara E.; Levesque, Michael E.

1993-01-01

The Advanced Multimission Operations System (AMMOS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is based on a highly adaptable multimission ground data system (MGDS) for mission operations. The goal for MGDS is to support current flight project science and engineering personnel and to meet the demands of future missions while reducing associated operations and software development costs. MGDS has become a powerful and flexible mission operations system by using a network of heterogeneous workstations, emerging open system standards, and selecting an adaptable tools-based architecture. Challenges in developing adaptable systems for mission operations and the benefits of this approach are described.

Adapting Concepts from Systems Biology to Develop Systems Exposure Event Networks for Exposure Science Research

EPA Science Inventory

Systems exposure science has emerged from the traditional environmental exposure assessment framework and incorporates new concepts that link sources of human exposure to internal dose and metabolic processes. Because many human environmental studies are designed for retrospectiv...

Wallops Arc Second Pointer: WASP Description Subsystems X-Calibur Flight 2017 Test Flight Current Collaborations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stuchlik, David William

2017-01-01

WASP is a NASA developed Fine Pointing System adaptable to a variety of Science Instruments. Standardized System with Reusable Parts to Minimize the Cost to Users and NASA. Supports Multiple Science Disciplines and a wide range of Masses and Inertias. Currently Operational and Available for Science Collaborations.

Scientists are from Mars, educators are from Venus: Relationships in the ecosystem of science teacher preparation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duggan-Haas, Don Andrew

2000-10-01

Great problems exist in science teaching from kindergarten through the college level (NRC, 1996; NSF, 1996). The problem may be attributed to the failure of teachers to integrate their own understanding of science content with appropriate pedagogy (Shulman, 1986, 1987). All teachers were trained by college faculty and therefore some of the blame for these problems rests on those faculty. This dissertation presents three models for describing secondary science teacher preparation. Two Programs, Two Cultures adapts C. P. Snow's classic work (1959) to describe the work of a science teacher candidate as that of an individual who navigates between two discrete programs: one in college science and the second in teacher education. The second model, Scientists Are from Mars, Educators Are from Venus adapts the popular work of John Gray to describe the system of science teacher education as hobbled by the dysfunctional relationships among the major players and describes the teacher as progeny from this relationship. The third model, The Ecosystem of Science Teacher Preparation reveals some of the deeper complexities of science teacher education and posits that the traditional college science approach treats students as a monoculture when great diversity in fact exists. The three models are described in the context of a large Midwestern university's teacher education program as that program is construed for future biology teachers. Four undergraduate courses typically taken by future biology teachers were observed and described: an introductory biology course; an introductory teacher education course; an upper division course in biochemistry and a senior level science teaching methods course. Seven second semester seniors who were biological Science majors were interviewed. All seven students had taken all of the courses observed. An organization of scientists and educators working together to improve science teaching from kindergarten through graduate school is also described in a case study. The three models described in the dissertation build upon one another and the third model, that of the ecosystem is recognized as both the most accurate portrayal and most complex and therefore most difficult to apply. The system of science teacher preparation is in many ways a system under stress and that stress will result in system evolution. Through better understanding Complex Adaptive Systems and applying that understanding to the system of science teacher education, individuals may be able to influence the nature of system evolution.

Educating for the 21st-Century Health Care System: An Interdependent Framework of Basic, Clinical, and Systems Sciences.

PubMed

Gonzalo, Jed D; Haidet, Paul; Papp, Klara K; Wolpaw, Daniel R; Moser, Eileen; Wittenstein, Robin D; Wolpaw, Terry

2017-01-01

In the face of a fragmented and poorly performing health care delivery system, medical education in the United States is poised for disruption. Despite broad-based recommendations to better align physician training with societal needs, adaptive change has been slow. Traditionally, medical education has focused on the basic and clinical sciences, largely removed from the newer systems sciences such as population health, policy, financing, health care delivery, and teamwork. In this article, authors examine the current state of medical education with respect to systems sciences and propose a new framework for educating physicians in adapting to and practicing in systems-based environments. Specifically, the authors propose an educational shift from a two-pillar framework to a three-pillar framework where basic, clinical, and systems sciences are interdependent. In this new three-pillar framework, students not only learn the interconnectivity in the basic, clinical, and systems sciences but also uncover relevance and meaning in their education through authentic, value-added, and patient-centered roles as navigators within the health care system. Authors describe the Systems Navigation Curriculum, currently implemented for all students at the Penn State College of Medicine, as an example of this three-pillar educational model. Simple adjustments, such as including occasional systems topics in medical curriculum, will not foster graduates prepared to practice in the 21st-century health care system. Adequate preparation requires an explicit focus on the systems sciences as a vital and equal component of physician education.

Earth Science Geostationary Platform Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, Robert L. (Editor); Campbell, Thomas G. (Editor)

1989-01-01

The objective of the workshop was to address problems in science and in four technology areas (large space antenna technology, microwave sensor technology, electromagnetics-phased array adaptive systems technology, and optical metrology technology) related to Earth Science Geostationary Platform missions.

Authentic Science Experiences as a Vehicle for Assessing Orientation towards Science and Science Careers Relative to Identity and Agency: A Response to "Learning from the Path Followed by Brad"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chinn, Pauline W. U.

2009-01-01

This response draws from the literature on adaptive learning, traditional ecological knowledge, and social-ecological systems to show that Brad's choice is not a simple decision between traditional ecological knowledge and authentic science. This perspective recognizes knowledge systems as dynamic, cultural and historical activities characterized…

Building a Networked Improvement Community to Promote Equitable, Coherent Systems of Science Education: How a State-Level Team Can Support District-Level Change Efforts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Penuel, William R.; Shaw, Sam; Bell, Philip; Hopkins, Megan; Neill, Tiffany; Farrell, Caitlin C.

2018-01-01

This paper describes a Networked Improvement Community comprised of a network of 13 states focused on improving coherence and equity in state systems of science education. Grounded in principles of improvement science adapted from healthcare, we are developing and testing resources for formative assessment in science, with the aim of developing…

Systems and complexity thinking in the general practice literature: an integrative, historical narrative review.

PubMed

Sturmberg, Joachim P; Martin, Carmel M; Katerndahl, David A

2014-01-01

Over the past 7 decades, theories in the systems and complexity sciences have had a major influence on academic thinking and research. We assessed the impact of complexity science on general practice/family medicine. We performed a historical integrative review using the following systematic search strategy: medical subject heading [humans] combined in turn with the terms complex adaptive systems, nonlinear dynamics, systems biology, and systems theory, limited to general practice/family medicine and published before December 2010. A total of 16,242 articles were retrieved, of which 49 were published in general practice/family medicine journals. Hand searches and snowballing retrieved another 35. After a full-text review, we included 56 articles dealing specifically with systems sciences and general/family practice. General practice/family medicine engaged with the emerging systems and complexity theories in 4 stages. Before 1995, articles tended to explore common phenomenologic general practice/family medicine experiences. Between 1995 and 2000, articles described the complex adaptive nature of this discipline. Those published between 2000 and 2005 focused on describing the system dynamics of medical practice. After 2005, articles increasingly applied the breadth of complex science theories to health care, health care reform, and the future of medicine. This historical review describes the development of general practice/family medicine in relation to complex adaptive systems theories, and shows how systems sciences more accurately reflect the discipline's philosophy and identity. Analysis suggests that general practice/family medicine first embraced systems theories through conscious reorganization of its boundaries and scope, before applying empirical tools. Future research should concentrate on applying nonlinear dynamics and empirical modeling to patient care, and to organizing and developing local practices, engaging in community development, and influencing health care reform.

Systems and Complexity Thinking in the General Practice Literature: An Integrative, Historical Narrative Review

PubMed Central

Sturmberg, Joachim P.; Martin, Carmel M.; Katerndahl, David A.

2014-01-01

PURPOSE Over the past 7 decades, theories in the systems and complexity sciences have had a major influence on academic thinking and research. We assessed the impact of complexity science on general practice/family medicine. METHODS We performed a historical integrative review using the following systematic search strategy: medical subject heading [humans] combined in turn with the terms complex adaptive systems, nonlinear dynamics, systems biology, and systems theory, limited to general practice/family medicine and published before December 2010. A total of 16,242 articles were retrieved, of which 49 were published in general practice/family medicine journals. Hand searches and snowballing retrieved another 35. After a full-text review, we included 56 articles dealing specifically with systems sciences and general/family practice. RESULTS General practice/family medicine engaged with the emerging systems and complexity theories in 4 stages. Before 1995, articles tended to explore common phenomenologic general practice/family medicine experiences. Between 1995 and 2000, articles described the complex adaptive nature of this discipline. Those published between 2000 and 2005 focused on describing the system dynamics of medical practice. After 2005, articles increasingly applied the breadth of complex science theories to health care, health care reform, and the future of medicine. CONCLUSIONS This historical review describes the development of general practice/family medicine in relation to complex adaptive systems theories, and shows how systems sciences more accurately reflect the discipline’s philosophy and identity. Analysis suggests that general practice/family medicine first embraced systems theories through conscious reorganization of its boundaries and scope, before applying empirical tools. Future research should concentrate on applying nonlinear dynamics and empirical modeling to patient care, and to organizing and developing local practices, engaging in community development, and influencing health care reform. PMID:24445105

Useful and Usable Climate Science: Frameworks for Bridging the Social and Physical domains.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buja, L.

2016-12-01

Society is transforming the Earth's system in unprecedented ways, often with significant variations across space and time. In turn, the impacts of climate change on the human system vary dramatically due to differences in cultural, socioeconomic, institutional, and physical processes at the local level. The Climate Science and Applications Program (CSAP) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado addresses societal vulnerability, impacts and adaptation to climate change through the development of frameworks and methods for analyzing current and future vulnerability, and integrated analyses of climate impacts and adaptation at local, regional and global scales. CSAP relies heavily on GIS-based scientific data and knowledge systems to bridge social and physical science approaches in its five focus areas: Governance of inter-linked natural and managed resource systems. The role of urban areas in driving emissions of climate change Weather, climate and global human health, GIS-based science data & knowledge systems. Regional Climate Science and Services for Adaptation Advanced methodologies and frameworks for assessing current and future risks to environmental hazards through the integration of physical and social science models, research results, and remote sensing data are presented in the context of recent national and international projects on climate change and food/water security, urban carbon emissions, metropolitan extreme heat and global health. In addition, innovative CSAP international capacity building programs teaching interdisciplinary approaches for using geospatial technologies to integrate multi-scale spatial information of weather, climate change into important sectors such as disaster reduction, agriculture, tourism and society for decision-making are discussed.

How do precision medicine and system biology response to human body's complex adaptability?

PubMed

Yuan, Bing

2016-12-01

In the field of life sciences, although system biology and "precision medicine" introduce some complex scientifific methods and techniques, it is still based on the "analysis-reconstruction" of reductionist theory as a whole. Adaptability of complex system increase system behaviour uncertainty as well as the difficulties of precise identifification and control. It also put systems biology research into trouble. To grasp the behaviour and characteristics of organism fundamentally, systems biology has to abandon the "analysis-reconstruction" concept. In accordance with the guidelines of complexity science, systems biology should build organism model from holistic level, just like the Chinese medicine did in dealing with human body and disease. When we study the living body from the holistic level, we will fifind the adaptability of complex system is not the obstacle that increases the diffificulty of problem solving. It is the "exceptional", "right-hand man" that helping us to deal with the complexity of life more effectively.

Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-07-01

physical, biological, social, and economic sciences. In February 2003, this committee reported its recommendations, which provided invaluable assistance...related environmental systems, and the options proposed to adapt to or mitigate these changes, may have substantial environmental, economic , and societal...adaptive management, and policymaking.The program also will encourage development of new methods, models, and other resources that facilitate economic

Information Science Research: The Search for the Nature of Information.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kochen, Manfred

1984-01-01

High-level scientific research in the information sciences is illustrated by sampling of recent discoveries involving adaptive information processing strategies, computer and information systems, centroid scaling, economic growth of computer and communication industries, and information flow in biological systems. Relationship of information…

On complex adaptive systems and terrorism [rapid communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, E.; Elgazzar, A. S.; Hegazi, A. S.

2005-03-01

Complex adaptive systems (CAS) are ubiquitous in nature. They are basic in social sciences. An overview of CAS is given with emphasize on the occurrence of bad side effects to seemingly “wise” decisions. Hence application to terrorism is given. Some conclusions on how to deal with this phenomena are proposed.

Robust and Opportunistic Autonomous Science for a Potential Titan Aerobot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gaines, Daniel M.; Estlin, Tara; Schaffer, Steve; Castano, Rebecca; Elfes, Alberto

2010-01-01

We are developing onboard planning and execution technologies to provide robust and opportunistic mission operations for a potential Titan aerobot. Aerobot have the potential for collecting a vast amount of high priority science data. However, to be effective, an aerobot must address several challenges including communication constraints, extended periods without contact with Earth, uncertain and changing environmental conditions, maneuverability constraints and potentially short-lived science opportunities. We are developing the AerOASIS system to develop and test technology to support autonomous science operations for a potential Titan Aerobot. The planning and execution component of AerOASIS is able to generate mission operations plans that achieve science and engineering objectives while respecting mission and resource constraints as well as adapting the plan to respond to new science opportunities. Our technology leverages prior work on the OASIS system for autonomous rover exploration. In this paper we describe how the OASIS planning component was adapted to address the unique challenges of a Titan Aerobot and we describe a field demonstration of the system with the JPL prototype aerobot.

Science-management collaborations: Developing adaptation options for National Forests

Treesearch

Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture

2010-01-01

Climate is constantly changing, prompting natural and managed ecosystems to adjust. As a natural process, adaptation refers to the reactive changes that species and ecosystems make in response to environmental changes. With human intervention, adaptation refers to management actions and decisions that help ecological, social, and economic systems accommodate challenges...

Adapting agriculture to climate change.

PubMed

Howden, S Mark; Soussana, Jean-François; Tubiello, Francesco N; Chhetri, Netra; Dunlop, Michael; Meinke, Holger

2007-12-11

The strong trends in climate change already evident, the likelihood of further changes occurring, and the increasing scale of potential climate impacts give urgency to addressing agricultural adaptation more coherently. There are many potential adaptation options available for marginal change of existing agricultural systems, often variations of existing climate risk management. We show that implementation of these options is likely to have substantial benefits under moderate climate change for some cropping systems. However, there are limits to their effectiveness under more severe climate changes. Hence, more systemic changes in resource allocation need to be considered, such as targeted diversification of production systems and livelihoods. We argue that achieving increased adaptation action will necessitate integration of climate change-related issues with other risk factors, such as climate variability and market risk, and with other policy domains, such as sustainable development. Dealing with the many barriers to effective adaptation will require a comprehensive and dynamic policy approach covering a range of scales and issues, for example, from the understanding by farmers of change in risk profiles to the establishment of efficient markets that facilitate response strategies. Science, too, has to adapt. Multidisciplinary problems require multidisciplinary solutions, i.e., a focus on integrated rather than disciplinary science and a strengthening of the interface with decision makers. A crucial component of this approach is the implementation of adaptation assessment frameworks that are relevant, robust, and easily operated by all stakeholders, practitioners, policymakers, and scientists.

The molecular mechanism of CRISPR/Cas9 system and its application in gene therapy of human diseases.

PubMed

Qu, Liang; Li, Hua-shan; Jiang, Yun-han; Dong, Chun-sheng

2015-10-01

CRISPR/Cas system is an adaptive immune system that confers resistance to exogenous virus or plasmid in bacteria and archaea. In recent years, the booming CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology modified from type2 CRISPR/Cas adaptive immune system has been widely applied to various research fields of life science and led to revolutionary changes. In this review, we summarize the origin and development of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology as well as its applications in life science research. We focus on the latest application of this system in gene therapy of human diseases and the associated side/off-target effects, which may provide references for researchers in related areas.

Study of application of adaptive systems to the exploration of the solar system. Volume 1: Summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

The field of artificial intelligence to identify practical applications to unmanned spacecraft used to explore the solar system in the decade of the 80s is examined. If an unmanned spacecraft can be made to adjust or adapt to the environment, to make decisions about what it measures and how it uses and reports the data, it can become a much more powerful tool for the science community in unlocking the secrets of the solar system. Within this definition of an adaptive spacecraft or system, there is a broad range of variability. In terms of sophistication, an adaptive system can be extremely simple or as complex as a chess-playing machine that learns from its mistakes.

MagAO: Status and on-sky performance of the Magellan adaptive optics system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morzinski, Katie M.; Close, Laird M.; Males, Jared R.; Kopon, Derek; Hinz, Phil M.; Esposito, Simone; Riccardi, Armando; Puglisi, Alfio; Pinna, Enrico; Briguglio, Runa; Xompero, Marco; Quirós-Pacheco, Fernando; Bailey, Vanessa; Follette, Katherine B.; Rodigas, T. J.; Wu, Ya-Lin; Arcidiacono, Carmelo; Argomedo, Javier; Busoni, Lorenzo; Hare, Tyson; Uomoto, Alan; Weinberger, Alycia

2014-07-01

MagAO is the new adaptive optics system with visible-light and infrared science cameras, located on the 6.5-m Magellan "Clay" telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. The instrument locks on natural guide stars (NGS) from 0th to 16th R-band magnitude, measures turbulence with a modulating pyramid wavefront sensor binnable from 28×28 to 7×7 subapertures, and uses a 585-actuator adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) to provide at wavefronts to the two science cameras. MagAO is a mutated clone of the similar AO systems at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) at Mt. Graham, Arizona. The high-level AO loop controls up to 378 modes and operates at frame rates up to 1000 Hz. The instrument has two science cameras: VisAO operating from 0.5-1μm and Clio2 operating from 1-5 μm. MagAO was installed in 2012 and successfully completed two commissioning runs in 2012-2013. In April 2014 we had our first science run that was open to the general Magellan community. Observers from Arizona, Carnegie, Australia, Harvard, MIT, Michigan, and Chile took observations in collaboration with the MagAO instrument team. Here we describe the MagAO instrument, describe our on-sky performance, and report our status as of summer 2014.

Collaborative adaptive rangeland management fosters management-science partnerships

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Rangelands of the western Great Plains of North America are complex social-ecological systems where management objectives for livestock production, grassland bird conservation and vegetation structure and composition converge. The Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management (CARM) experiment is a 10...

Enterprise Architecture Tradespace Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-21

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Department of Defense (DoD)’s Science & Technology (S&T) priority for Engineered Resilient Systems (ERS) calls for...Science & Technology (S&T) priority for Engineered Resilient Systems (ERS) calls for adaptable designs with diverse systems models that can easily be...Department of Defense [Holland, 2012]. Some explicit goals are: • Establish baseline resiliency of current capabilities • More complete and robust

Adaptation in Collaborative Governance Regimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emerson, Kirk; Gerlak, Andrea K.

2014-10-01

Adaptation and the adaptive capacity of human and environmental systems have been of central concern to natural and social science scholars, many of whom characterize and promote the need for collaborative cross-boundary systems that are seen as flexible and adaptive by definition. Researchers who study collaborative governance systems in the public administration, planning and policy literature have paid less attention to adaptive capacity specifically and institutional adaptation in general. This paper bridges the two literatures and finds four common dimensions of capacity, including structural arrangements, leadership, knowledge and learning, and resources. In this paper, we focus on institutional adaptation in the context of collaborative governance regimes and try to clarify and distinguish collaborative capacity from adaptive capacity and their contributions to adaptive action. We posit further that collaborative capacities generate associated adaptive capacities thereby enabling institutional adaptation within collaborative governance regimes. We develop these distinctions and linkages between collaborative and adaptive capacities with the help of an illustrative case study in watershed management within the National Estuary Program.

Systems Science Methods in Public Health

PubMed Central

Luke, Douglas A.; Stamatakis, Katherine A.

2012-01-01

Complex systems abound in public health. Complex systems are made up of heterogeneous elements that interact with one another, have emergent properties that are not explained by understanding the individual elements of the system, persist over time and adapt to changing circumstances. Public health is starting to use results from systems science studies to shape practice and policy, for example in preparing for global pandemics. However, systems science study designs and analytic methods remain underutilized and are not widely featured in public health curricula or training. In this review we present an argument for the utility of systems science methods in public health, introduce three important systems science methods (system dynamics, network analysis, and agent-based modeling), and provide three case studies where these methods have been used to answer important public health science questions in the areas of infectious disease, tobacco control, and obesity. PMID:22224885

Evolution, learning, and cognition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Y.C.

1988-01-01

The book comprises more than fifteen articles in the areas of neural networks and connectionist systems, classifier systems, adaptive network systems, genetic algorithm, cellular automata, artificial immune systems, evolutionary genetics, cognitive science, optical computing, combinatorial optimization, and cybernetics.

Collaborative Education in Climate Change Sciences and Adaptation through Interactive Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozbay, G.; Sriharan, S.; Fan, C.

2014-12-01

As a result of several funded climate change education grants, collaboration between VSU, DSU, and MSU, was established to provide the innovative and cohesive education and research opportunities to underrepresented groups in the climate related sciences. Prior to offering climate change and adaptation related topics to the students, faculty members of the three collaborating institutions participated at a number of faculty training and preparation workshops for teaching climate change sciences (i.e. AMS Diversity Project Workshop, NCAR Faculty-Student Team on Climate Change, NASA-NICE Program). In order to enhance the teaching and student learning on various issues in the Environmental Sciences Programs, Climatology, Climate Change Sciences and Adaptation or related courses were developed at Delaware State University and its partner institutions (Virginia State University and Morgan State University). These courses were prepared to deliver information on physical basis for the earth's climate system and current climate change instruction modules by AMS and historic climate information (NOAA Climate Services, U.S. and World Weather Data, NCAR and NASA Climate Models). By using Global Seminar as a Model, faculty members worked in teams to engage students in videoconferencing on climate change through Contemporary Global Studies and climate courses including Climate Change and Adaptation Science, Sustainable Agriculture, Introduction to Environmental Sciences, Climatology, and Ecology and Adaptation courses. All climate change courses have extensive hands-on practices and research integrated into the student learning experiences. Some of these students have presented their classroom projects during Earth Day, Student Climate Change Symposium, Undergraduate Summer Symposium, and other national conferences.

Survey on the use of smart and adaptive engineering systems in medicine.

PubMed

Abbod, M F; Linkens, D A; Mahfouf, M; Dounias, G

2002-11-01

In this paper, the current published knowledge about smart and adaptive engineering systems in medicine is reviewed. The achievements of frontier research in this particular field within medical engineering are described. A multi-disciplinary approach to the applications of adaptive systems is observed from the literature surveyed. The three modalities of diagnosis, imaging and therapy are considered to be an appropriate classification method for the analysis of smart systems being applied to specified medical sub-disciplines. It is expected that future research in biomedicine should identify subject areas where more advanced intelligent systems could be applied than is currently evident. The literature provides evidence of hybridisation of different types of adaptive and smart systems with applications in different areas of medical specifications. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.

Development of the Novel e-Learning System, "SPES NOVA" (Scalable Personality-Adapted Education System with Networking of Views and Activities)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Takeuchi, Ken; Murakami, Manabu; Kato, Atsushi; Akiyama, Ryuichi; Honda, Hirotaka; Nozawa, Hajime; Sato, Ki-ichiro

2009-01-01

The Faculty of Industrial Science and Technology at Tokyo University of Science developed a two-campus system to produce well-trained engineers possessing both technical and humanistic traits. In their first year of study, students reside in dormitories in the natural setting of the Oshamambe campus located in Hokkaido, Japan. The education…

The Impact of a Multi-Year, Multi-School District K-6 Professional Development Programme Designed to Integrate Science Inquiry and Language Arts on Students' High-Stakes Test Scores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shymansky, James A.; Wang, Tzu-Ling; Annetta, Leonard A.; Yore, Larry D.; Everett, Susan A.

2013-04-01

This paper is a report of a quasi-experimental study on the impact of a systemic 5-year, K-6 professional development (PD) project on the 'high stakes' achievement test scores of different student groups in rural mid-west school districts in the USA. The PD programme utilized regional summer workshops, district-based leadership teams and distance delivery technologies to help teachers learn science concepts and inquiry teaching strategies associated with a selection of popular science inquiry kits and how to adapt inquiry science lessons in the kits to teach and reinforce skills in the language arts-i.e. to teach more than science when doing inquiry science. Analyses of the school district-level pre-post high-stakes achievement scores of 33 school districts participating in the adaptation of inquiry PD and a comparative group of 23 school districts revealed that both the Grade 3 and Grade 6 student-cohorts in the school districts utilizing adapted science inquiry lessons significantly outscored their student-cohort counterparts in the comparative school districts. The positive school district-level high-stakes test results, which serve as the basis for state and local decision making, suggest that an inquiry adaptation strategy and a combination of regional live workshop and distance delivery technologies with ongoing local leadership and support can serve as a viable PD option for K-6 science.

Facilitating and Learning at the Edge of Chaos: Expanding the Context of Experiential Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oekerman, Carl

Significant recent discoveries within a number of scientific disciplines, collectively referred to as the science of complexity, are creating a major shift in how human beings understand the complex, adaptive systems that make up the world. A complex adaptive system consists of networks of large numbers of agents that interact with each other and…

Scientific Design of a High Contrast Integral Field Spectrograph for the Subaru Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McElwain, Michael W.

2012-01-01

Ground based telescopes equipped with adaptive optics systems and specialized science cameras are now capable of directly detecting extrasolar planets. We present the scientific design for a high contrast integral field spectrograph for the Subaru Telescope. This lenslet based integral field spectrograph will be implemented into the new extreme adaptive optics system at Subaru, called SCExAO.

Health care organizations as complex systems: new perspectives on design and management.

PubMed

McDaniel, Reuben R; Driebe, Dean J; Lanham, Holly Jordan

2013-01-01

We discuss the impact of complexity science on the design and management of health care organizations over the past decade. We provide an overview of complexity science issues and their impact on thinking about health care systems, particularly with the rising importance of information systems. We also present a complexity science perspective on current issues in today's health care organizations and suggest ways that this perspective might help in approaching these issues. We review selected research, focusing on work in which we participated, to identify specific examples of applications of complexity science. We then take a look at information systems in health care organizations from a complexity viewpoint. Complexity science is a fundamentally different way of understanding nature and has influenced the thinking of scholars and practitioners as they have attempted to understand health care organizations. Many scholars study health care organizations as complex adaptive systems and through this perspective develop new management strategies. Most important, perhaps, is the understanding that attention to relationships and interdependencies is critical for developing effective management strategies. Increased understanding of complexity science can enhance the ability of researchers and practitioners to develop new ways of understanding and improving health care organizations. This analysis opens new vistas for scholars and practitioners attempting to understand health care organizations as complex adaptive systems. The analysis holds value for those already familiar with this approach as well as those who may not be as familiar.

National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, Version 2.0

USGS Publications Warehouse

O'Malley, R.; Fort, E.; Hartke-O'Berg, N.; Varela-Acevedo, E.; Padgett, Holly A.

2013-01-01

The mission of the USGS's National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) is to serve the scientific needs of managers of fish, wildlife, habitats, and ecosystems as they plan for a changing climate. DOI Climate Science Centers (CSCs) are management by NCCWSC and include this mission as a core responsibility, in line with the CSC mission to provide scientific support for climate-adaptation across a full range of natural and cultural resources. NCCWSC is a Science Center application designed in Drupal with the OMEGA theme. As a content management system, Drupal allows the science center to keep their website up-to-date with current publications, news, meetings and projects. OMEGA allows the site to be adaptive at different screen sizes and is developed on the 960 grid.

Using Selection Pressure as an Asset to Develop Reusable, Adaptable Software Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berrick, Stephen; Lynnes, Christopher

2007-01-01

The Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) at NASA has over the years developed and honed several reusable architectural components for supporting large-scale data centers with a large customer base. These include a processing system (S4PM) and an archive system (S4PA) based upon a workflow engine called the Simple Scalable Script based Science Processor (S4P) and an online data visualization and analysis system (Giovanni). These subsystems are currently reused internally in a variety of combinations to implement customized data management on behalf of instrument science teams and other science investigators. Some of these subsystems (S4P and S4PM) have also been reused by other data centers for operational science processing. Our experience has been that development and utilization of robust interoperable and reusable software systems can actually flourish in environments defined by heterogeneous commodity hardware systems the emphasis on value-added customer service and the continual goal for achieving higher cost efficiencies. The repeated internal reuse that is fostered by such an environment encourages and even forces changes to the software that make it more reusable and adaptable. Allowing and even encouraging such selective pressures to software development has been a key factor In the success of S4P and S4PM which are now available to the open source community under the NASA Open source Agreement

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 21

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran; Donaldson, P. Lynn; Garshnek, Victoria; Rowe, Joseph

1989-01-01

This is the twenty-first issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 37 papers published in Russian language periodicals or books or presented at conferences and of a Soviet monograph on animal ontogeny in weightlessness. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. A book review of a work on adaptation to stress is also included. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 25 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cytology, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, exobiology, gravitational biology, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, operational medicine, perception, psychology, and reproductive system.

Using the SPICE system to help plan and interpret space science observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Acton, Charles H., Jr.

1993-01-01

A portable multimission information system named SPICE is used to assemble, archive, and provide easy user access to viewing geometry and other ancillary information needed by space scientists to interpret observations of bodies within our solar system. The modular nature of this system lends it to use in planning such observations as well. With a successful proof of concept on Voyager, the SPICE system has been adapted to the Magellan, Galileo and Mars Observer missions, and to a variety of ground based operations. Adaptation of SPICE for Cassini and the Russian Mars 94/96 projects is underway, and work on Cassini will follow, SPICE has been used to support observation planning for moving targets on the Hubble Space Telescope Project. Applications for SPICE on earth science, space physics and other astrophysics missions are under consideration.

Study of application of adaptive systems to the exploration of the solar system. Volume 2: Survey of solar system missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

Ways in which human intelligence might be simulated onboard an unmanned mission to achieve some of the decision making capability or adaptability of the manned mission are examined. The relative cost and simplicity advantages of the unmanned spacecraft missions are emphasized. Reliable techniques for making onboard decisions and for modifying mission science operations in response to the findings are analyzed.

Using an Adaptive Expertise Lens to Understand the Quality of Teachers' Classroom Implementation of Computer-Supported Complex Systems Curricula in High School Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Susan A.; Koehler-Yom, Jessica; Anderson, Emma; Lin, Joyce; Klopfer, Eric

2015-01-01

Background: This exploratory study is part of a larger-scale research project aimed at building theoretical and practical knowledge of complex systems in students and teachers with the goal of improving high school biology learning through professional development and a classroom intervention. Purpose: We propose a model of adaptive expertise to…

Musculoskeletal discipline science plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

Life sciences research in the musculoskeletal discipline must identify possible consequences of weightlessness on this system, understand the mechanisms of these effects, and develop effective and operationally practical countermeasures to protect crewmembers. The musculoskeletal system is highly plastic in that is possesses the inherent capability to adapt its structural and functional properties in accordance with the type and degree of stimuli imposed on it. Prolonged space travel is essentially a period of significant unloading of the musculoskeletal system. This results in adaptive responses in the structure and function of this system, placing it on the low end of a continuum from one of complete disuse to one of maximal use. There is a high probability that the musculoskeletal system is functionally impaired with increasing duration of weightlessness. The purpose of this Discipline Science Plan is to provide a conceptual strategy for NASA's Life Sciences division research and development activities in the area of musculoskeletal function. This document summarizes the current status of the program, outlines available knowledge, establishes goals and objectives, identifies science priorities, and defines research opportunities, which encompass critical questions in the subdiscipline areas (e.g., muscle, bone, and other musculoskeletal connective tissues). These science activities include ground-based and flight; basic, applied, and operational; and animal and human research and development. This document contains a general plan that will be used by both NASA Headquarters Program Offices and the field centers to review and plan basic, applied, and operational intramural and extramural research and development activities in this area.

Astronomy Applications of Adaptive Optics at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bauman, B J; Gavel, D T

2003-04-23

Astronomical applications of adaptive optics at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has a history that extends from 1984. The program started with the Lick Observatory Adaptive Optics system and has progressed through the years to lever-larger telescopes: Keck, and now the proposed CELT (California Extremely Large Telescope) 30m telescope. LLNL AO continues to be at the forefront of AO development and science.

Quantifying the Adaptive Cycle | Science Inventory | US EPA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The adaptive cycle was proposed as a conceptual model to portray patterns of change in complex systems. Despite the model having potential for elucidating change across systems, it has been used mainly as a metaphor, describing system dynamics qualitatively. We use a quantitative approach for testing premises (reorganisation, conservatism, adaptation) in the adaptive cycle, using Baltic Sea phytoplankton communities as an example of such complex system dynamics. Phytoplankton organizes in recurring spring and summer blooms, a well-established paradigm in planktology and succession theory, with characteristic temporal trajectories during blooms that may be consistent with adaptive cycle phases. We used long-term (1994–2011) data and multivariate analysis of community structure to assess key components of the adaptive cycle. Specifically, we tested predictions about: reorganisation: spring and summer blooms comprise distinct community states; conservatism: community trajectories during individual adaptive cycles are conservative; and adaptation: phytoplankton species during blooms change in the long term. All predictions were supported by our analyses. Results suggest that traditional ecological paradigms such as phytoplankton successional models have potential for moving the adaptive cycle from a metaphor to a framework that can improve our understanding how complex systems organize and reorganize following collapse. Quantifying reorganization, conservatism and

From academic to applied: Operationalising resilience in river systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parsons, Melissa; Thoms, Martin C.

2018-03-01

The concept of resilience acknowledges the ability of societies to live and develop with dynamic environments. Given the recognition of the need to prepare for anticipated and unanticipated shocks, applications of resilience are increasing as the guiding principle of public policy and programs in areas such as disaster management, urban planning, natural resource management, and climate change adaptation. River science is an area in which the adoption of resilience is increasing, leading to the proposition that resilience may become a guiding principle of river policy and programs. Debate about the role of resilience in rivers is part of the scientific method, but disciplinary disunity about the ways to approach resilience application in policy and programs may leave river science out of the policy process. We propose six elements that need to be considered in the design and implementation of resilience-based river policy and programs: rivers as social-ecological systems; the science-policy interface; principles, capacities, and characteristics of resilience; cogeneration of knowledge; adaptive management; and the state of the science of resilience.

Systems Thinking to Improve the Public’s Health

PubMed Central

Leischow, Scott J.; Best, Allan; Trochim, William M.; Clark, Pamela I.; Gallagher, Richard S.; Marcus, Stephen E.; Matthews, Eva

2014-01-01

Improving population health requires understanding and changing societal structures and functions, but countervailing forces sometimes undermine those changes, thus reflecting the adaptive complexity inherent in public health systems. The purpose of this paper is to propose systems thinking as a conceptual rubric for the practice of team science in public health, and transdisciplinary, translational research as a catalyst for promoting the functional efficiency of science. The paper lays a foundation for the conceptual understanding of systems thinking and transdisciplinary research, and will provide illustrative examples within and beyond public health. A set of recommendations for a systems-centric approach to translational science will be presented. PMID:18619400

A Hybrid Neuro-Fuzzy Model For Integrating Large Earth-Science Datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Porwal, A.; Carranza, J.; Hale, M.

2004-12-01

A GIS-based hybrid neuro-fuzzy approach to integration of large earth-science datasets for mineral prospectivity mapping is described. It implements a Takagi-Sugeno type fuzzy inference system in the framework of a four-layered feed-forward adaptive neural network. Each unique combination of the datasets is considered a feature vector whose components are derived by knowledge-based ordinal encoding of the constituent datasets. A subset of feature vectors with a known output target vector (i.e., unique conditions known to be associated with either a mineralized or a barren location) is used for the training of an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system. Training involves iterative adjustment of parameters of the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system using a hybrid learning procedure for mapping each training vector to its output target vector with minimum sum of squared error. The trained adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system is used to process all feature vectors. The output for each feature vector is a value that indicates the extent to which a feature vector belongs to the mineralized class or the barren class. These values are used to generate a prospectivity map. The procedure is demonstrated by an application to regional-scale base metal prospectivity mapping in a study area located in the Aravalli metallogenic province (western India). A comparison of the hybrid neuro-fuzzy approach with pure knowledge-driven fuzzy and pure data-driven neural network approaches indicates that the former offers a superior method for integrating large earth-science datasets for predictive spatial mathematical modelling.

CRISPR-Cas: Adapting to change.

PubMed

Jackson, Simon A; McKenzie, Rebecca E; Fagerlund, Robert D; Kieper, Sebastian N; Fineran, Peter C; Brouns, Stan J J

2017-04-07

Bacteria and archaea are engaged in a constant arms race to defend against the ever-present threats of viruses and invasion by mobile genetic elements. The most flexible weapons in the prokaryotic defense arsenal are the CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems. These systems are capable of selective identification and neutralization of foreign DNA and/or RNA. CRISPR-Cas systems rely on stored genetic memories to facilitate target recognition. Thus, to keep pace with a changing pool of hostile invaders, the CRISPR memory banks must be regularly updated with new information through a process termed CRISPR adaptation. In this Review, we outline the recent advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing CRISPR adaptation. Specifically, the conserved protein machinery Cas1-Cas2 is the cornerstone of adaptive immunity in a range of diverse CRISPR-Cas systems. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Adaptive Control for Microgravity Vibration Isolation System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Bong-Jun; Calise, Anthony J.; Craig, James I.; Whorton, Mark S.

2005-01-01

Most active vibration isolation systems that try to a provide quiescent acceleration environment for space science experiments have utilized linear design methods. In this paper, we address adaptive control augmentation of an existing classical controller that employs a high-gain acceleration feedback together with a low-gain position feedback to center the isolated platform. The control design feature includes parametric and dynamic uncertainties because the hardware of the isolation system is built as a payload-level isolator, and the acceleration Sensor exhibits a significant bias. A neural network is incorporated to adaptively compensate for the system uncertainties, and a high-pass filter is introduced to mitigate the effect of the measurement bias. Simulations show that the adaptive control improves the performance of the existing acceleration controller and keep the level of the isolated platform deviation to that of the existing control system.

KAPAO first light: the design, construction and operation of a low-cost natural guide star adaptive optics system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Severson, Scott A.; Choi, Philip I.; Badham, Katherine E.; Bolger, Dalton; Contreras, Daniel S.; Gilbreth, Blaine N.; Guerrero, Christian; Littleton, Erik; Long, Joseph; McGonigle, Lorcan P.; Morrison, William A.; Ortega, Fernando; Rudy, Alex R.; Wong, Jonathan R.; Spjut, Erik; Baranec, Christoph; Riddle, Reed

2014-07-01

We present the instrument design and first light observations of KAPAO, a natural guide star adaptive optics (AO) system for the Pomona College Table Mountain Observatory (TMO) 1-meter telescope. The KAPAO system has dual science channels with visible and near-infrared cameras, a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, and a commercially available 140-actuator MEMS deformable mirror. The pupil relays are two pairs of custom off-axis parabolas and the control system is based on a version of the Robo-AO control software. The AO system and telescope are remotely operable, and KAPAO is designed to share the Cassegrain focus with the existing TMO polarimeter. We discuss the extensive integration of undergraduate students in the program including the multiple senior theses/capstones and summer assistantships amongst our partner institutions. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0960343.

Using Web Logs in the Science Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duplichan, Staycle C.

2009-01-01

As educators we must ask ourselves if we are meeting the needs of today's students. The science world is adapting to our ever-changing society; are the methodology and philosophy of our educational system keeping up? In this article, you'll learn why web logs (also called blogs) are an important Web 2.0 tool in your science classroom and how they…

Examining Challenges Related to the Production of Actionable Climate Knowledge for Adaptation Decision-Making: A Focus on Climate Knowledge System Producers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ernst, K.; Preston, B. L.; Tenggren, S.; Klein, R.; Gerger-Swartling, Å.

2017-12-01

Many challenges to adaptation decision-making and action have been identified across peer-reviewed and gray literature. These challenges have primarily focused on the use of climate knowledge for adaptation decision-making, the process of adaptation decision-making, and the needs of the decision-maker. Studies on climate change knowledge systems often discuss the imperative role of climate knowledge producers in adaptation decision-making processes and stress the need for producers to engage in knowledge co-production activities and to more effectively meet decision-maker needs. While the influence of climate knowledge producers on the co-production of science for adaptation decision-making is well-recognized, hardly any research has taken a direct approach to analyzing the challenges that climate knowledge producers face when undertaking science co-production. Those challenges can influence the process of knowledge production and may hinder the creation, utilization, and dissemination of actionable knowledge for adaptation decision-making. This study involves semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observations to analyze, identify, and contextualize the challenges that climate knowledge producers in Sweden face as they endeavor to create effective climate knowledge systems for multiple contexts, scales, and levels across the European Union. Preliminary findings identify complex challenges related to education, training, and support; motivation, willingness, and culture; varying levels of prioritization; professional roles and responsibilities; the type and amount of resources available; and professional incentive structures. These challenges exist at varying scales and levels across individuals, organizations, networks, institutions, and disciplines. This study suggests that the creation of actionable knowledge for adaptation decision-making is not supported across scales and levels in the climate knowledge production landscape. Additionally, enabling the production of actionable knowledge for adaptation decision-making requires multi-level effort beyond the individual level.

Using Selection Pressure as an Asset to Develop Reusable, Adaptable Software Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berrick, S. W.; Lynnes, C.

2007-12-01

The Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) at NASA has over the years developed and honed a number of reusable architectural components for supporting large-scale data centers with a large customer base. These include a processing system (S4PM) and an archive system (S4PA) based upon a workflow engine called the Simple, Scalable, Script-based Science Processor (S4P); an online data visualization and analysis system (Giovanni); and the radically simple and fast data search tool, Mirador. These subsystems are currently reused internally in a variety of combinations to implement customized data management on behalf of instrument science teams and other science investigators. Some of these subsystems (S4P and S4PM) have also been reused by other data centers for operational science processing. Our experience has been that development and utilization of robust, interoperable, and reusable software systems can actually flourish in environments defined by heterogeneous commodity hardware systems, the emphasis on value-added customer service, and continual cost reduction pressures. The repeated internal reuse that is fostered by such an environment encourages and even forces changes to the software that make it more reusable and adaptable. Allowing and even encouraging such selective pressures to software development has been a key factor in the success of S4P and S4PM, which are now available to the open source community under the NASA Open Source Agreement.

Cluster synchronization of community network with distributed time delays via impulsive control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leng, Hui; Wu, Zhao-Yan

2016-11-01

Cluster synchronization is an important dynamical behavior in community networks and deserves further investigations. A community network with distributed time delays is investigated in this paper. For achieving cluster synchronization, an impulsive control scheme is introduced to design proper controllers and an adaptive strategy is adopted to make the impulsive controllers unified for different networks. Through taking advantage of the linear matrix inequality technique and constructing Lyapunov functions, some synchronization criteria with respect to the impulsive gains, instants, and system parameters without adaptive strategy are obtained and generalized to the adaptive case. Finally, numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61463022), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province, China (Grant No. 20161BAB201021), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Educational Committee, China (Grant No. GJJ14273).

C3 Domain Analysis, Lessons Learned

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-09-30

organize the domain. This approach is heavily based on the principles of library science and is geared toward a reuse effort with a large library-like...method adapts many principles from library science to the organization and implementation of a reuse library. C-1 DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY

Darwinism and the Behavioral Theory of Sociocultural Evolution: An Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Langdon, John

1979-01-01

Challenges the view that the social sciences are theoretically impoverished disciplines when compared with the natural sciences. Demonstrates that the synthesis of an abstract Darwinian model of systemic adaptation and the behavioral principles of social learning produces a logical theory of sociocultural evolution. (DB)

An integrated science-based methodology to assess potential risks and implications of engineered nanomaterials

EPA Science Inventory

There is an urgent need for broad and integrated studies that address the risks of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) along the different endpoints of the society, environment, and economy (SEE) complex adaptive system. This article presents an integrated science-based methodology ...

Affordability Tradeoffs Under Uncertainty Using Epoch-Era Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-30

Procedia Computer Science , Retrieved from: http://www.elsevier.com Bobinis, J., Haimowitz, J., Tuttle, P., & Garrison, C. (2012, October). Affordability...commercial products. Dr. Rhodes received her PhD in Systems Science from the T.J. Watson School of Engineering at Binghamton University. She serves on...components, evaluate feedback, and be adaptive to evolving system behaviors . As affordability is a concept evaluated over time, such a method can

A review of human factors challenges of complex adaptive systems: discovering and understanding chaos in human performance.

PubMed

Karwowski, Waldemar

2012-12-01

In this paper, the author explores a need for a greater understanding of the true nature of human-system interactions from the perspective of the theory of complex adaptive systems, including the essence of complexity, emergent properties of system behavior, nonlinear systems dynamics, and deterministic chaos. Human performance, more often than not, constitutes complex adaptive phenomena with emergent properties that exhibit nonlinear dynamical (chaotic) behaviors. The complexity challenges in the design and management of contemporary work systems, including service systems, are explored. Examples of selected applications of the concepts of nonlinear dynamics to the study of human physical performance are provided. Understanding and applications of the concepts of theory of complex adaptive and dynamical systems should significantly improve the effectiveness of human-centered design efforts of a large system of systems. Performance of many contemporary work systems and environments may be sensitive to the initial conditions and may exhibit dynamic nonlinear properties and chaotic system behaviors. Human-centered design of emergent human-system interactions requires application of the theories of nonlinear dynamics and complex adaptive system. The success of future human-systems integration efforts requires the fusion of paradigms, knowledge, design principles, and methodologies of human factors and ergonomics with those of the science of complex adaptive systems as well as modern systems engineering.

Adaptive Policies for Reducing Inequalities in the Social Determinants of Health.

PubMed

Carey, Gemma; Crammond, Brad; Malbon, Eleanor; Carey, Nic

2015-09-18

Inequalities in the social determinants of health (SDH), which drive avoidable health disparities between different individuals or groups, is a major concern for a number of international organisations, including the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite this, the pathways to changing inequalities in the SDH remain elusive. The methodologies and concepts within system science are now viewed as important domains of knowledge, ideas and skills for tackling issues of inequality, which are increasingly understood as emergent properties of complex systems. In this paper, we introduce and expand the concept of adaptive policies to reduce inequalities in the distribution of the SDH. The concept of adaptive policy for health equity was developed through reviewing the literature on learning and adaptive policies. Using a series of illustrative examples from education and poverty alleviation, which have their basis in real world policies, we demonstrate how an adaptive policy approach is more suited to the management of the emergent properties of inequalities in the SDH than traditional policy approaches. This is because they are better placed to handle future uncertainties. Our intention is that these examples are illustrative, rather than prescriptive, and serve to create a conversation regarding appropriate adaptive policies for progressing policy action on the SDH. © 2015 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Spacelab

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-01-01

Astronaut David C. Hilmers conducts the Microgravity Vestibular Investigations (MVI) sitting in its rotator chair inside the IML-1 science module. When environmental conditions change so that the body receives new stimuli, the nervous system responds by interpreting the incoming sensory information differently. In space, the free-fall environment of an orbiting spacecraft requires that the body adapts to the virtual absence of gravity. Early in flights, crewmembers may feel disoriented or experience space motion sickness. MVI examined the effects of orbital flight on the human orientation system to obtain a better understanding of the mechanisms of adaptation to weightlessness. By provoking interactions among the vestibular, visual, and proprioceptive systems and then measuring the perceptual and sensorimotor reactions, scientists can study changes that are integral to the adaptive process. The IML-1 mission was the first in a series of Shuttle flights dedicated to fundamental materials and life sciences research with the international partners. The participating space agencies included: NASA, the 14-nation European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the French National Center of Space Studies (CNES), the German Space Agency and the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DAR/DLR), and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). Both life and materials sciences benefited from the extended periods of microgravity available inside the Spacelab science module in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Orbiter. Managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center, IML-1 was launched on January 22, 1992 aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery (STS-42 mission).

Development of Intelligent Computer-Assisted Instruction Systems to Facilitate Reading Skills of Learning-Disabled Children

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-01

Unclassified/Unlimited 13. ABSTRACT ~Maximum 2W0 worr*J The purpose of this thesis is to develop a high-level model to create seli"adapting software which...Department of Computer Science ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to develop a high-level model to create self-adapting software which teaches learning...stimulating and demanding. The power of the system model described herein is that it can vary as needed by the individual student. The system will

Social Science at the Center for Adaptive Optics: Synergistic Systems of Program Evaluation, Applied Research, Educational Assessment, and Pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goza, B. K.; Hunter, L.; Shaw, J. M.; Metevier, A. J.; Raschke, L.; Espinoza, E.; Geaney, E. R.; Reyes, G.; Rothman, D. L.

2010-12-01

This paper describes the interaction of four elements of social science as they have evolved in concert with the Center for Adaptive Optics Professional Development Program (CfAO PDP). We hope these examples persuade early-career scientists and engineers to include social science activities as they develop grant proposals and carry out their research. To frame our discussion we use a metaphor from astronomy. At the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), the CfAO PDP and the Educational Partnership Center (EPC) are two young stars in the process of forming a solar system. Together, they are surrounded by a disk of gas and dust made up of program evaluation, applied research, educational assessment, and pedagogy. An idea from the 2001 PDP intensive workshops program evaluation developed into the Assessing Scientific Inquiry and Leadership Skills (AScILS) applied research project. In iterative cycles, AScILS researchers participated in subsequent PDP intensive workshops, teaching social science while piloting AScILS measurement strategies. Subsequent "orbits" of the PDP program evaluation gathered ideas from the applied research and pedagogy. The denser regions of this disk of social science are in the process of forming new protoplanets as tools for research and teaching are developed. These tools include problem-solving exercises or simulations of adaptive optics explanations and scientific reasoning; rubrics to evaluate the scientific reasoning simulation responses, knowledge regarding inclusive science education, and student explanations of science/engineering inquiry investigations; and a scientific reasoning curriculum. Another applied research project is forming with the design of a study regarding how to assess engineering explanations. To illustrate the mutual shaping of the cross-disciplinary, intergenerational group of educational researchers and their projects, the paper ends with a description of the professional trajectories of some of the researchers involved in this complex solar system.

Climate change assessments

Treesearch

Linda A. Joyce

2008-01-01

The science associated with climate and its effects on ecosystems, economies, and social systems is developing rapidly. Climate change assessments can serve as an important synthesis of this science and provide the information and context for management and policy decisions on adaptation and mitigation. This topic paper describes the variety of climate change...

The American Oyster.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Nancy E.

The Maryland Marine Science Education Project has produced a series of mini-units in marine science education for the junior high/middle school classroom. This unit focuses on the American oyster. Although the unit specifically treats the Chesapeake Bay, it may be adapted for use with similar estuarine systems. In addition, the unit may be…

Adaptive and perceptual learning technologies in medical education and training.

PubMed

Kellman, Philip J

2013-10-01

Recent advances in the learning sciences offer remarkable potential to improve medical education and maximize the benefits of emerging medical technologies. This article describes 2 major innovation areas in the learning sciences that apply to simulation and other aspects of medical learning: Perceptual learning (PL) and adaptive learning technologies. PL technology offers, for the first time, systematic, computer-based methods for teaching pattern recognition, structural intuition, transfer, and fluency. Synergistic with PL are new adaptive learning technologies that optimize learning for each individual, embed objective assessment, and implement mastery criteria. The author describes the Adaptive Response-Time-based Sequencing (ARTS) system, which uses each learner's accuracy and speed in interactive learning to guide spacing, sequencing, and mastery. In recent efforts, these new technologies have been applied in medical learning contexts, including adaptive learning modules for initial medical diagnosis and perceptual/adaptive learning modules (PALMs) in dermatology, histology, and radiology. Results of all these efforts indicate the remarkable potential of perceptual and adaptive learning technologies, individually and in combination, to improve learning in a variety of medical domains. Reprint & Copyright © 2013 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Questions regarding the predictive value of one evolved complex adaptive system for a second: exemplified by the SOD1 mouse.

PubMed

Greek, Ray; Hansen, Lawrence A

2013-11-01

We surveyed the scientific literature regarding amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the SOD1 mouse model, complex adaptive systems, evolution, drug development, animal models, and philosophy of science in an attempt to analyze the SOD1 mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the context of evolved complex adaptive systems. Humans and animals are examples of evolved complex adaptive systems. It is difficult to predict the outcome from perturbations to such systems because of the characteristics of complex systems. Modeling even one complex adaptive system in order to predict outcomes from perturbations is difficult. Predicting outcomes to one evolved complex adaptive system based on outcomes from a second, especially when the perturbation occurs at higher levels of organization, is even more problematic. Using animal models to predict human outcomes to perturbations such as disease and drugs should have a very low predictive value. We present empirical evidence confirming this and suggest a theory to explain this phenomenon. We analyze the SOD1 mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in order to illustrate this position. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Promoting evaluation capacity building in a complex adaptive system.

PubMed

Lawrenz, Frances; Kollmann, Elizabeth Kunz; King, Jean A; Bequette, Marjorie; Pattison, Scott; Nelson, Amy Grack; Cohn, Sarah; Cardiel, Christopher L B; Iacovelli, Stephanie; Eliou, Gayra Ostgaard; Goss, Juli; Causey, Lauren; Sinkey, Anne; Beyer, Marta; Francisco, Melanie

2018-04-10

This study provides results from an NSF funded, four year, case study about evaluation capacity building in a complex adaptive system, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net). The results of the Complex Adaptive Systems as a Model for Network Evaluations (CASNET) project indicate that complex adaptive system concepts help to explain evaluation capacity building in a network. The NISE Network was found to be a complex learning system that was supportive of evaluation capacity building through feedback loops that provided for information sharing and interaction. Participants in the system had different levels of and sources of evaluation knowledge. To be successful at building capacity, the system needed to have a balance between both centralized and decentralized control, coherence, redundancy, and diversity. Embeddedness of individuals within the system also provided support and moved the capacity of the system forward. Finally, success depended on attention being paid to the control of resources. Implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Complexity science and leadership in healthcare.

PubMed

Burns, J P

2001-10-01

The emerging field of complexity science offers an alternative leadership strategy for the chaotic, complex healthcare environment. A survey revealed that healthcare leaders intuitively support principles of complexity science. Leadership that uses complexity principles offers opportunities in the chaotic healthcare environment to focus less on prediction and control and more on fostering relationships and creating conditions in which complex adaptive systems can evolve to produce creative outcomes.

Materials learning from life: concepts for active, adaptive and autonomous molecular systems.

PubMed

Merindol, Rémi; Walther, Andreas

2017-09-18

Bioinspired out-of-equilibrium systems will set the scene for the next generation of molecular materials with active, adaptive, autonomous, emergent and intelligent behavior. Indeed life provides the best demonstrations of complex and functional out-of-equilibrium systems: cells keep track of time, communicate, move, adapt, evolve and replicate continuously. Stirred by the understanding of biological principles, artificial out-of-equilibrium systems are emerging in many fields of soft matter science. Here we put in perspective the molecular mechanisms driving biological functions with the ones driving synthetic molecular systems. Focusing on principles that enable new levels of functionalities (temporal control, autonomous structures, motion and work generation, information processing) rather than on specific material classes, we outline key cross-disciplinary concepts that emerge in this challenging field. Ultimately, the goal is to inspire and support new generations of autonomous and adaptive molecular devices fueled by self-regulating chemistry.

Foundations of resilience thinking.

PubMed

Curtin, Charles G; Parker, Jessica P

2014-08-01

Through 3 broad and interconnected streams of thought, resilience thinking has influenced the science of ecology and natural resource management by generating new multidisciplinary approaches to environmental problem solving. Resilience science, adaptive management (AM), and ecological policy design (EPD) contributed to an internationally unified paradigm built around the realization that change is inevitable and that science and management must approach the world with this assumption, rather than one of stability. Resilience thinking treats actions as experiments to be learned from, rather than intellectual propositions to be defended or mistakes to be ignored. It asks what is novel and innovative and strives to capture the overall behavior of a system, rather than seeking static, precise outcomes from discrete action steps. Understanding the foundations of resilience thinking is an important building block for developing more holistic and adaptive approaches to conservation. We conducted a comprehensive review of the history of resilience thinking because resilience thinking provides a working context upon which more effective, synergistic, and systems-based conservation action can be taken in light of rapid and unpredictable change. Together, resilience science, AM, and EPD bridge the gaps between systems analysis, ecology, and resource management to provide an interdisciplinary approach to solving wicked problems. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Adaptation and Implementation of a Science-Based Prevention System in Colombia: Challenges and Achievements

PubMed Central

Pérez-Gómez, Augusto; Mejía-Trujillo, Juliana; Brown, Eric C.; Eisenberg, Nicole

2016-01-01

During the last 2 years, the Colombian government and the Nuevos Rumbos Corporation have been implementing an adapted version of the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system, called Comunidades Que se Cuidan (CQC) in Spanish, for use in Colombia. This brief report presents the process of implementing CQC and identifies some of the main challenges and achievements of implementing the system in eight communities in Colombia. Preliminary results of a pilot study of CQC implementation in Colombia show that prevention system development, including a focus on measuring community risk and protection, can be established successfully in Latin American communities despite a lack of rigorously tested prevention programs and strategies. Moreover, mobilizing community coalitions toward science-based prevention, with a focus on examining local risk and protective factor data, can spur development and evaluation of prevention efforts in Latin America. PMID:28154437

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 19

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Donaldson, P. Lynn (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Garshnek, Victoria (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1988-01-01

This is the 19th issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 47 papers published in Russian language periodicals or presented at conferences and of 5 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Reports on two conferences, one on adaptation to high altitudes, and one on space and ecology are presented. A book review of a recent work on high altitude physiology is also included. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 33 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cytology, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, biology, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine.

Spacelab Life Sciences 1: Reprints of Background Life Sciences Publications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, Ronald (Editor); Leonard, Joel I. (Editor)

1991-01-01

The research being conducted on SLS-1 is primarily concerned with the short-term adaptation of physiological systems to weightlessness. A comprehensive overview of the various disciplines being studied on SLS-1 is presented. Citations and abstracts of all the papers submitted by the SLS-1 investigator teams are contained. The physiological systems studied include: cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary, musculoskeletal, neurovestibular, renal and endocrine, hematological, and immunological.

Towards Contextualized Learning Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Specht, Marcus

Personalization of feedback and instruction has often been considered as a key feature in learning support. The adaptations of the instructional process to the individual and its different aspects have been investigated from different research perspectives as learner modelling, intelligent tutoring systems, adaptive hypermedia, adaptive instruction and others. Already in the 1950s first commercial systems for adaptive instruction for trainings of keyboard skills have been developed utilizing adaptive configuration of feedback based on user performance and interaction footprints (Pask 1964). Around adaptive instruction there is a variety of research issues bringing together interdisciplinary research from computer science, engineering, psychology, psychotherapy, cybernetics, system dynamics, instructional design, and empirical research on technology enhanced learning. When classifying best practices of adaptive instruction different parameters of the instructional process have been identified which are adapted to the learner, as: sequence and size of task difficulty, time of feedback, pace of learning speed, reinforcement plan and others these are often referred to the adaptation target. Furthermore Aptitude Treatment Interaction studies explored the effect of adapting instructional parameters to different characteristics of the learner (Tennyson and Christensen 1988) as task performance, personality characteristics, or cognitive abilities, this is information is referred to as adaptation mean.

Coasts under multiple stresses: lessons learned from ARSTISTICC's eight coastal study sites.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vanderlinden, J. P.; Berman, M.; Chouinard, O.; Kane, A.; Nikulkina, I.; Ragueneau, O.; Thomson, T. K.; Baztan, J.; Cordier, M.; Curry, T.; Da Cunha, C.; Gaye, N.; Huctin, J. M.; Kennedy, G.; Kofinas, G.; Maze, C.; Quensiere, J.; Raimonet, M.; Remvikos, Y.; Seck, A.; Surette, C.; Zhu, Z.

2016-12-01

The "Adaptation Research a Transdisciplinary community and policy centered approach" (ARTisticc) project has as goal to apply innovative standardized transdisciplinary art and science integrative approaches to foster robust, socially, culturally and scientifically, community centered adaptation to climate change. Fieldwork has been implemented in coastal communities in France (Brest, Britany), Senegal (Mbour, Petite Côte), India (Kochi, Kerala and Kanyakumari, Tamil nadu), Russia (Tiksi, Yakutia), Greenland (Uummannaq), the United States (Wainwright, Alaska), and Canada (Cocagne and Grande Digue, New Bunswick). It involved transdisciplinary teams of scientists, community members and artists. Preliminary results of the project will be presented. These pertain to two dimensions: a substantive dimension, i.e. better understanding of the role of knowledge and knowledge systems in adaptation, and a procedural dimension, i.e. better understanding of the implementation of transdisciplinary approaches to adaptation science. On the substantive front we will focus on presenting how, within such a high diversity of contexts, regularities were identifiable and why these are relevant to policy making. We are focusing this analysis on: scale, agents involved in the adaptation dynamics, dominant paradigm that are being mobilized and the drivers and enablers of local actions - all in relationship with knowledge use. These specifics are engaged in an interplay that calls for attention before any local level actions can be implemented. On the procedural front we will highlight the challenges, discovered along the way, of dovetailing science and art as a way to better apprehend and share the knowledge base on adaptation to climate change. What is the role of science, as perceived by local communities? What is the role of art? Can the joint implementation of both facilitate or hinder an adaptation process? The answer to these questions is again conditional to the nature of the teams that are involved and to local narratives and historical dimension that may allow for the joint practice of art and science.

Adaptation of Conceptions of Learning Science Questionnaire into Turkish and Science Teacher Candidates' Conceptions of Learning Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahçivan, Eralp; Kapucu, Serkan

2014-01-01

The purposes of this study were to (1) adapt an instrument "The Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS) questionnaire" into Turkish, and (2) to determine Turkish science teacher candidates' COLS. Adapting the instrument four steps were followed. Firstly, COLS questionnaire was translated into Turkish. Secondly, COLS questionnaire was…

Food Webs in an Estuary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunne, Barbara B.

The Maryland Marine Science Education Project has produced a series of mini-units in marine science education for the junior high/middle school classroom. This unit focuses on food chains in an estuary. Although the unit specifically treats the Chesapeake Bay, it may be adapted for use with similar estuarine systems. In addition, the unit may be…

Development of the Tailored Adaptive Personality Assessment System (TAPAS) to Support Army Personnel Selection and Classification Decisions

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

Behavioral and Social Sciences. 22 Knapp, D . J., McCloy, R. A., Heffner, T . S. (2004...Report 1168). Arlington, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. 104 Knapp, D . J., & Heffner, T . S. (Eds...Arlington, VA: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. Knapp, D . J., Heffner, T . S., & White, L. (Eds.) (2011).

[Adaptive optics for ophthalmology].

PubMed

Saleh, M

2016-04-01

Adaptive optics is a technology enhancing the visual performance of an optical system by correcting its optical aberrations. Adaptive optics have already enabled several breakthroughs in the field of visual sciences, such as improvement of visual acuity in normal and diseased eyes beyond physiologic limits, and the correction of presbyopia. Adaptive optics technology also provides high-resolution, in vivo imaging of the retina that may eventually help to detect the onset of retinal conditions at an early stage and provide better assessment of treatment efficacy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Integrating adaptive management and ecosystem services concepts to improve natural resource management: Challenges and opportunities

USGS Publications Warehouse

Epanchin-Niell, Rebecca S.; Boyd, James W.; Macauley, Molly K.; Scarlett, Lynn; Shapiro, Carl D.; Williams, Byron K.

2018-05-07

Executive Summary—OverviewNatural resource managers must make decisions that affect broad-scale ecosystem processes involving large spatial areas, complex biophysical interactions, numerous competing stakeholder interests, and highly uncertain outcomes. Natural and social science information and analyses are widely recognized as important for informing effective management. Chief among the systematic approaches for improving the integration of science into natural resource management are two emergent science concepts, adaptive management and ecosystem services. Adaptive management (also referred to as “adaptive decision making”) is a deliberate process of learning by doing that focuses on reducing uncertainties about management outcomes and system responses to improve management over time. Ecosystem services is a conceptual framework that refers to the attributes and outputs of ecosystems (and their components and functions) that have value for humans.This report explores how ecosystem services can be moved from concept into practice through connection to a decision framework—adaptive management—that accounts for inherent uncertainties. Simultaneously, the report examines the value of incorporating ecosystem services framing and concepts into adaptive management efforts.Adaptive management and ecosystem services analyses have not typically been used jointly in decision making. However, as frameworks, they have a natural—but to date underexplored—affinity. Both are policy and decision oriented in that they attempt to represent the consequences of resource management choices on outcomes of interest to stakeholders. Both adaptive management and ecosystem services analysis take an empirical approach to the analysis of ecological systems. This systems orientation is a byproduct of the fact that natural resource actions affect ecosystems—and corresponding societal outcomes—often across large geographic scales. Moreover, because both frameworks focus on resource systems, both must confront the analytical challenges of systems modeling—in terms of complexity, dynamics, and uncertainty.Given this affinity, the integration of ecosystem services analysis and adaptive management poses few conceptual hurdles. In this report, we synthesize discussions from two workshops that considered ways in which adaptive management approaches and ecosystem service concepts may be complementary, such that integrating them into a common framework may lead to improved natural resource management outcomes. Although the literature on adaptive management and ecosystem services is vast and growing, the report focuses specifically on the integration of these two concepts rather than aiming to provide new definitions or an indepth review or primer of the concepts individually.Key issues considered include the bidirectional links between adaptive decision making and ecosystem services, as well as the potential benefits and inevitable challenges arising in the development and use of an integrated framework. Specifically, the workshops addressed the following questions:How can application of ecosystem service analysis within an adaptive decision process improve the outcomes of management and advance understanding of ecosystem service identification, production, and valuation?How can these concepts be integrated in concept and practice?What are the constraints and challenges to integrating adaptive management and ecosystem services?And, should the integration of these concepts be moved forward to wider application—and if so, how?

Panarchy use in environmental science for risk and resilience planning

USGS Publications Warehouse

Angeler, David G.; Allen, Craig R.; Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Gunderson, Lance H.; Linkov, Igor

2016-01-01

Environmental sciences have an important role in informing sustainable management of built environments by providing insights about the drivers and potentially negative impacts of global environmental change. Here, we discuss panarchy theory, a multi-scale hierarchical concept that accounts for the dynamism of complex socio-ecological systems, especially for those systems with strong cross-scale feedbacks. The idea of panarchy underlies much of system resilience, focusing on how systems respond to known and unknown threats. Panarchy theory can provide a framework for qualitative and quantitative research and application in the environmental sciences, which can in turn inform the ongoing efforts in socio-technical resilience thinking and adaptive and transformative approaches to management.

Defining adaptation measures collaboratively: A participatory approach in the Doñana socio-ecological system, Spain.

PubMed

De Stefano, Lucia; Hernández-Mora, Nuria; Iglesias, Ana; Sánchez, Berta

2017-06-15

The uncertainty associated with the definition of strategies for climate change adaptation poses a challenge that cannot be faced by science alone. We present a participatory experience where, instead of having science defining solutions and eliciting stakeholders' feedback, local actors actually drove the process. While principles and methods of the approach are easily adaptable to different local contexts, this paper shows the contribution of participatory dynamics to the design of adaptation measures in the biodiversity-rich socio-ecological region surrounding the Doñana wetlands (Southern Spain). During the process, stakeholders and scientists collaboratively designed a common scenario for the future in which to define and assess a portfolio of potential adaptation measures, and found a safe, informal space for open dialogue and information exchange. Through this dialogue, points of connection among local actors emerged around the need for more integrated, transparent design of adaptation measures; for strengthening local capacity; and for strategies to diversify economic activities in order to increase the resilience of the region. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mental health services conceptualised as complex adaptive systems: what can be learned?

PubMed

Ellis, Louise A; Churruca, Kate; Braithwaite, Jeffrey

2017-01-01

Despite many attempts at promoting systems integration, seamless care, and partnerships among service providers and users, mental health services internationally continue to be fragmented and piecemeal. We exploit recent ideas from complexity science to conceptualise mental health services as complex adaptive systems (CASs). The core features of CASs are described and Australia's headspace initiative is used as an example of the kinds of problems currently being faced. We argue that adopting a CAS lens can transform services, creating more connected care for service users with mental health conditions.

In the Footsteps of Galileo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erickson, John; van der Veen, W.; Moody, T.; O'Dea, T.

2008-05-01

This workshop links the goals of IYA to needs in science education. Lack of understanding of how science is practiced exists at all levels of society and is perpetuated by the way science is presented in classrooms and informal settings, often illustrated by the scientific method as a rigid multi-step process. This workshop presents an alternative to misleading scientific method lessons by highlighting some of Galileo's work. Looking through his telescope at four moons orbiting the planet Jupiter, Galileo gave priority to evidence over popular belief, completely changing the existing world view. We have adapted an activity developed by UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science in which students simulate observations of Jupiter's moons over several nights. The activity emphasizes the nature of science in regard to observations, evidence, predictions, models, hypotheses, and theories. A direct link is made between Galileo's work and the Five Essential Features of Inquiry as outlined in the National Science Education Standards. Participants will "observe” the Galilean moons of Jupiter, record data, make predictions, and analyze and model the data to determine orbital periods and distances for each moon. Extensions of this activity will be presented, including comparisons of the Jupiter system to the Earth-Moon system. Participants will also learn about Slooh, a robotic telescope that can be used by students to obtain their own images of Jupiter and its moons. As one way to have a multitude of learners in a variety of settings participate in IYA, this activity will be made available to many audiences for presentation in the fall of 2009. Participants in this workshop will discuss adaptations suitable for different groups and mechanisms for encouraging and enabling the presentation of this activity. Participants will receive a preliminary version of the adapted Jupiter activity and the BSCS publication: "Why Does Inquiry Matter?"

Risk-Return Relationship in a Complex Adaptive System

PubMed Central

Song, Kunyu; An, Kenan; Yang, Guang; Huang, Jiping

2012-01-01

For survival and development, autonomous agents in complex adaptive systems involving the human society must compete against or collaborate with others for sharing limited resources or wealth, by using different methods. One method is to invest, in order to obtain payoffs with risk. It is a common belief that investments with a positive risk-return relationship (namely, high risk high return and vice versa) are dominant over those with a negative risk-return relationship (i.e., high risk low return and vice versa) in the human society; the belief has a notable impact on daily investing activities of investors. Here we investigate the risk-return relationship in a model complex adaptive system, in order to study the effect of both market efficiency and closeness that exist in the human society and play an important role in helping to establish traditional finance/economics theories. We conduct a series of computer-aided human experiments, and also perform agent-based simulations and theoretical analysis to confirm the experimental observations and reveal the underlying mechanism. We report that investments with a negative risk-return relationship have dominance over those with a positive risk-return relationship instead in such a complex adaptive systems. We formulate the dynamical process for the system's evolution, which helps to discover the different role of identical and heterogeneous preferences. This work might be valuable not only to complexity science, but also to finance and economics, to management and social science, and to physics. PMID:22479416

Risk-return relationship in a complex adaptive system.

PubMed

Song, Kunyu; An, Kenan; Yang, Guang; Huang, Jiping

2012-01-01

For survival and development, autonomous agents in complex adaptive systems involving the human society must compete against or collaborate with others for sharing limited resources or wealth, by using different methods. One method is to invest, in order to obtain payoffs with risk. It is a common belief that investments with a positive risk-return relationship (namely, high risk high return and vice versa) are dominant over those with a negative risk-return relationship (i.e., high risk low return and vice versa) in the human society; the belief has a notable impact on daily investing activities of investors. Here we investigate the risk-return relationship in a model complex adaptive system, in order to study the effect of both market efficiency and closeness that exist in the human society and play an important role in helping to establish traditional finance/economics theories. We conduct a series of computer-aided human experiments, and also perform agent-based simulations and theoretical analysis to confirm the experimental observations and reveal the underlying mechanism. We report that investments with a negative risk-return relationship have dominance over those with a positive risk-return relationship instead in such a complex adaptive systems. We formulate the dynamical process for the system's evolution, which helps to discover the different role of identical and heterogeneous preferences. This work might be valuable not only to complexity science, but also to finance and economics, to management and social science, and to physics.

Using an adaptive expertise lens to understand the quality of teachers' classroom implementation of computer-supported complex systems curricula in high school science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Susan A.; Koehler-Yom, Jessica; Anderson, Emma; Lin, Joyce; Klopfer, Eric

2015-05-01

Background: This exploratory study is part of a larger-scale research project aimed at building theoretical and practical knowledge of complex systems in students and teachers with the goal of improving high school biology learning through professional development and a classroom intervention. Purpose: We propose a model of adaptive expertise to better understand teachers' classroom practices as they attempt to navigate myriad variables in the implementation of biology units that include working with computer simulations, and learning about and teaching through complex systems ideas. Sample: Research participants were three high school biology teachers, two females and one male, ranging in teaching experience from six to 16 years. Their teaching contexts also ranged in student achievement from 14-47% advanced science proficiency. Design and methods: We used a holistic multiple case study methodology and collected data during the 2011-2012 school year. Data sources include classroom observations, teacher and student surveys, and interviews. Data analyses and trustworthiness measures were conducted through qualitative mining of data sources and triangulation of findings. Results: We illustrate the characteristics of adaptive expertise of more or less successful teaching and learning when implementing complex systems curricula. We also demonstrate differences between case study teachers in terms of particular variables associated with adaptive expertise. Conclusions: This research contributes to scholarship on practices and professional development needed to better support teachers to teach through a complex systems pedagogical and curricular approach.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1995-06-08

Scientists at Marshall's Adaptive Optics Lab demonstrate the Wave Front Sensor alignment using the Phased Array Mirror Extendible Large Aperture (PAMELA) optics adjustment. The primary objective of the PAMELA project is to develop methods for aligning and controlling adaptive optics segmented mirror systems. These systems can be used to acquire or project light energy. The Next Generation Space Telescope is an example of an energy acquisition system that will employ segmented mirrors. Light projection systems can also be used for power beaming and orbital debris removal. All segmented optical systems must be adjusted to provide maximum performance. PAMELA is an on going project that NASA is utilizing to investigate various methods for maximizing system performance.

Dynamic Learning Style Prediction Method Based on a Pattern Recognition Technique

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Juan; Huang, Zhi Xing; Gao, Yue Xiang; Liu, Hong Tao

2014-01-01

During the past decade, personalized e-learning systems and adaptive educational hypermedia systems have attracted much attention from researchers in the fields of computer science Aand education. The integration of learning styles into an intelligent system is a possible solution to the problems of "learning deviation" and…

Linking Capabilities to Functionings: Adapting Narrative Forms from Role-Playing Games to Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheville, R. Alan

2016-01-01

This paper explores science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education in the context of inequality of opportunity by examining educational systems through two lenses: curricular mode and system scale. Curricular mode classifies learning experiences as addressing knowing, acting, or being, while system scale captures how learning…

Preparing new nurses with complexity science and problem-based learning.

PubMed

Hodges, Helen F

2011-01-01

Successful nurses function effectively with adaptability, improvability, and interconnectedness, and can see emerging and unpredictable complex problems. Preparing new nurses for complexity requires a significant change in prevalent but dated nursing education models for rising graduates. The science of complexity coupled with problem-based learning and peer review contributes a feasible framework for a constructivist learning environment to examine real-time systems data; explore uncertainty, inherent patterns, and ambiguity; and develop skills for unstructured problem solving. This article describes a pilot study of a problem-based learning strategy guided by principles of complexity science in a community clinical nursing course. Thirty-five senior nursing students participated during a 3-year period. Assessments included peer review, a final project paper, reflection, and a satisfaction survey. Results were higher than expected levels of student satisfaction, increased breadth and analysis of complex data, acknowledgment of community as complex adaptive systems, and overall higher level thinking skills than in previous years. 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

Adaptive and Optimal Control of Stochastic Dynamical Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-14

Advances in Statistics, Probability and Actuarial Sciences , Vol. 1, World Scientific, 2012, 451- 463. [4] T. E. Duncan and B. Pasik-Duncan, A...S. N. Cohen, T. K. Siu and H. Yang) Advances in Statistics, Probability and Actuarial Sciences , Vol. 1, World Scientific, 2012, 451-463. 4. T. E...games with gen- eral noise processes, Models and Methods in Economics and Management Science : Essays in Honor of Charles S. Tapiero, (eds. F. El

The infrared imaging spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: latest science cases and simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, Shelley A.; Walth, Gregory; Do, Tuan; Marshall, Daniel; Larkin, James E.; Moore, Anna M.; Adamkovics, Mate; Andersen, David; Armus, Lee; Barth, Aaron; Cote, Patrick; Cooke, Jeff; Chisholm, Eric M.; Davidge, Timothy; Dunn, Jennifer S.; Dumas, Christophe; Ellerbroek, Brent L.; Ghez, Andrea M.; Hao, Lei; Hayano, Yutaka; Liu, Michael; Lopez-Rodriguez, Enrique; Lu, Jessica R.; Mao, Shude; Marois, Christian; Pandey, Shashi B.; Phillips, Andrew C.; Schoeck, Matthias; Subramaniam, Annapurni; Subramanian, Smitha; Suzuki, Ryuji; Tan, Jonathan C.; Terai, Tsuyoshi; Treu, Tommaso; Simard, Luc; Weiss, Jason L.; Wincentsen, James; Wong, Michael; Zhang, Kai

2016-07-01

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) first light instrument IRIS (Infrared Imaging Spectrograph) will complete its preliminary design phase in 2016. The IRIS instrument design includes a near-infrared (0.85 - 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph (IFS) and imager that are able to conduct simultaneous diffraction-limited observations behind the advanced adaptive optics system NFIRAOS. The IRIS science cases have continued to be developed and new science studies have been investigated to aid in technical performance and design requirements. In this development phase, the IRIS science team has paid particular attention to the selection of filters, gratings, sensitivities of the entire system, and science cases that will benefit from the parallel mode of the IFS and imaging camera. We present new science cases for IRIS using the latest end-to-end data simulator on the following topics: Solar System bodies, the Galactic center, active galactic nuclei (AGN), and distant gravitationally-lensed galaxies. We then briefly discuss the necessity of an advanced data management system and data reduction pipeline.

Science Projects from Astronomy to Zoology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Learning, 1983

1983-01-01

Activities for teaching about the solar system, the earth's rotation, plants, pendulums, and animal adaptation are described. Included are suggestions for building scale models to illustrate the solar system's proportions and the earth's rotation speed, and for using playground swings to demonstrate pendulum motion. (PP)

Space Technology and Earth System Science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Habib, Shahid

2011-01-01

Science must continue to drive the technology development. Partnering and Data Sharing among nations is very important to maximize the cost benefits of such investments Climate changes and adaptability will be a big challenge for the next several decades (1) Natural disasters frequency and locations (2) Economic and social impact can be global and (3) Water resources and management.

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project: Phase I Activities by a Global Community of Science. Chapter 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenzweig, Cynthia E.; Jones, James W.; Hatfield, Jerry L.; Antle, John M.; Ruane, Alexander C.; Mutter, Carolyn Z.

2015-01-01

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) was founded in 2010. Its mission is to improve substantially the characterization of world food security as affected by climate variability and change, and to enhance adaptation capacity in both developing and developed countries. The objectives of AgMIP are to: Incorporate state-of-the-art climate, crop/livestock, and agricultural economic model improvements into coordinated multi-model regional and global assessments of future climate impacts and adaptation and other key aspects of the food system. Utilize multiple models, scenarios, locations, crops/livestock, and participants to explore uncertainty and the impact of data and methodological choices. Collaborate with regional experts in agronomy, animal sciences, economics, and climate to build a strong basis for model applications, addressing key climate related questions and sustainable intensification farming systems. Improve scientific and adaptive capacity in modeling for major agricultural regions in the developing and developed world, with a focus on vulnerable regions. Improve agricultural data and enhance data-sharing based on their intercomparison and evaluation using best scientific practices. Develop modeling frameworks to identify and evaluate promising adaptation technologies and policies and to prioritize strategies.

Thinking shift on health systems: from blueprint health programmes towards resilience of health systems Comment on "Constraints to applying systems thinking concepts in health systems: A regional perspective from surveying stakeholders in Eastern Mediterranean countries".

PubMed

Blanchet, Karl

2015-03-03

International health is still highly dominated by equilibrium approaches. The emergence of systems thinking in international health provides a great avenue to develop innovative health interventions adapted to changing contexts. The public health community, nevertheless, has the responsibility to translate concepts related to systems thinking and complexity into concrete research methods and interventions. One possibility is to consider the properties of systems such as resilience and adaptability as entry points to better understand how health systems react to shocks. © 2015 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Artificial Immune System Approaches for Aerospace Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

KrishnaKumar, Kalmanje; Koga, Dennis (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) combine a priori knowledge with the adapting capabilities of biological immune system to provide a powerful alternative to currently available techniques for pattern recognition, modeling, design, and control. Immunology is the science of built-in defense mechanisms that are present in all living beings to protect against external attacks. A biological immune system can be thought of as a robust, adaptive system that is capable of dealing with an enormous variety of disturbances and uncertainties. Biological immune systems use a finite number of discrete "building blocks" to achieve this adaptiveness. These building blocks can be thought of as pieces of a puzzle which must be put together in a specific way-to neutralize, remove, or destroy each unique disturbance the system encounters. In this paper, we outline AIS models that are immediately applicable to aerospace problems and identify application areas that need further investigation.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. Index to issues 15-20

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor)

1989-01-01

This bibliography provides an index to issues 15 through 20 of the USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. There are two sections. The first section lists bibliographic citations of abstracts in these issues, grouped by topic area categories. The second section provides a key word index for the same abstracts. The topic categories include exobiology, space medicine and psychology, human performance and man-machine systems, various life/body systems, human behavior and adaptation, biospherics, and others.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. Index to issues 21-25

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor)

1990-01-01

This bibliography provides an index to issues 21 through 25 of the USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. There are two sections. The first section lists bibliographic citations of abstracts in these issues, grouped by topic area categories. The second section provides a key word index for the same abstracts. The topic categories include exobiology, space medicine and psychology, human performance and man-machine systems, various life/body systems, human behavior and adaptation, biospherics, and others.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. Index to issues 26-29

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, Lydia Razran (Editor)

1991-01-01

This bibliography provides an index to issues 26 through 29 of the USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. There are two sections. The first section lists bibliographic citations of abstracts in these issues, grouped by topic area categories. The second section provides a key word index for the same abstracts. The topic categories include exobiology, space medicine and psychology, human performance and man-machine systems, various life/body systems, human behavior and adaptation, biospherics, and others.

Traditional Knowledge of Western Herbal Medicine and Complex Systems Science

PubMed Central

Niemeyer, Kathryn; Bell, Iris R.; Koithan, Mary

2013-01-01

Traditional knowledge of Western herbal medicine (WHM) supports experiential approaches to healing that have evolved over time. This is evident in the use of polyherb formulations comprised of crude plant parts, individually tailored to treat the cause of dysfunction and imbalance by addressing the whole person holistically. The challenge for WHM is to integrate science with traditional knowledge that is a foundation of the practice of WHM. The purpose of this paper is to provide a plausible theoretical hypothesis by applying complex systems science to WHM, illustrating how medicinal plants are complex, adaptive, environmentally interactive systems exhibiting synergy and nonlinear healing causality. This paper explores the conceptual congruence between medicinal plants and humans as complex systems coherently coupled through recurrent interaction. Complex systems science provides the theoretical tenets that explain traditional knowledge of medicinal plants while supporting clinical practice and expanding research and documentation of WHM. PMID:24058898

Traditional Knowledge of Western Herbal Medicine and Complex Systems Science.

PubMed

Niemeyer, Kathryn; Bell, Iris R; Koithan, Mary

2013-09-01

Traditional knowledge of Western herbal medicine (WHM) supports experiential approaches to healing that have evolved over time. This is evident in the use of polyherb formulations comprised of crude plant parts, individually tailored to treat the cause of dysfunction and imbalance by addressing the whole person holistically. The challenge for WHM is to integrate science with traditional knowledge that is a foundation of the practice of WHM. The purpose of this paper is to provide a plausible theoretical hypothesis by applying complex systems science to WHM, illustrating how medicinal plants are complex, adaptive, environmentally interactive systems exhibiting synergy and nonlinear healing causality. This paper explores the conceptual congruence between medicinal plants and humans as complex systems coherently coupled through recurrent interaction. Complex systems science provides the theoretical tenets that explain traditional knowledge of medicinal plants while supporting clinical practice and expanding research and documentation of WHM.

Adaptive Optics Imaging of Solar System Objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roddier, Francois; Owen, Toby

1999-01-01

Most solar system objects have never been observed at wavelengths longer than the R band with an angular resolution better than 1". The Hubble Space Telescope itself has only recently been equipped to observe in the infrared. However, because of its small diameter, the angular resolution is lower than that one can now achieved from the ground with adaptive optics, and time allocated to planetary science is limited. We have successfully used adaptive optics on a 4-m class telescope to obtain 0.1" resolution images of solar system objects in the far red and near infrared (0.7-2.5 microns), aE wavelengths which best discl"lmlnate their spectral signatures. Our efforts have been put into areas of research for which high angular resolution is essential.

First closed-loop visible AO test results for the advanced adaptive secondary AO system for the Magellan Telescope: MagAO's performance and status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Close, Laird M.; Males, Jared R.; Kopon, Derek A.; Gasho, Victor; Follette, Katherine B.; Hinz, Phil; Morzinski, Katie; Uomoto, Alan; Hare, Tyson; Riccardi, Armando; Esposito, Simone; Puglisi, Alfio; Pinna, Enrico; Busoni, Lorenzo; Arcidiacono, Carmelo; Xompero, Marco; Briguglio, Runa; Quiros-Pacheco, Fernando; Argomedo, Javier

2012-07-01

The heart of the 6.5 Magellan AO system (MagAO) is a 585 actuator adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) with <1 msec response times (0.7 ms typically). This adaptive secondary will allow low emissivity and high-contrast AO science. We fabricated a high order (561 mode) pyramid wavefront sensor (similar to that now successfully used at the Large Binocular Telescope). The relatively high actuator count (and small projected ~23 cm pitch) allows moderate Strehls to be obtained by MagAO in the “visible” (0.63-1.05 μm). To take advantage of this we have fabricated an AO CCD science camera called "VisAO". Complete “end-to-end” closed-loop lab tests of MagAO achieve a solid, broad-band, 37% Strehl (122 nm rms) at 0.76 μm (i’) with the VisAO camera in 0.8” simulated seeing (13 cm ro at V) with fast 33 mph winds and a 40 m Lo locked on R=8 mag artificial star. These relatively high visible wavelength Strehls are enabled by our powerful combination of a next generation ASM and a Pyramid WFS with 400 controlled modes and 1000 Hz sample speeds (similar to that used successfully on-sky at the LBT). Currently only the VisAO science camera is used for lab testing of MagAO, but this high level of measured performance (122 nm rms) promises even higher Strehls with our IR science cameras. On bright (R=8 mag) stars we should achieve very high Strehls (>70% at H) in the IR with the existing MagAO Clio2 (λ=1-5.3 μm) science camera/coronagraph or even higher (~98% Strehl) the Mid-IR (8-26 microns) with the existing BLINC/MIRAC4 science camera in the future. To eliminate non-common path vibrations, dispersions, and optical errors the VisAO science camera is fed by a common path advanced triplet ADC and is piggy-backed on the Pyramid WFS optical board itself. Also a high-speed shutter can be used to block periods of poor correction. The entire system passed CDR in June 2009, and we finished the closed-loop system level testing phase in December 2011. Final system acceptance (“pre-ship” review) was passed in February 2012. In May 2012 the entire AO system is was successfully shipped to Chile and fully tested/aligned. It is now in storage in the Magellan telescope clean room in anticipation of “First Light” scheduled for December 2012. An overview of the design, attributes, performance, and schedule for the Magellan AO system and its two science cameras are briefly presented here.

Scientists in a Changed Institutional Environment: Subjective Adaptation and Social Responsibility Norms in Russia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gerber, T P; Ball, D Y

How do scientists react when the institutional setting in which they conduct their work changes radically? How do long-standing norms regarding the social responsibility of scientists fare? What factors influence whether scientists embrace or reject the new institutions and norms? We examine these questions using data from a unique survey of 602 scientists in Russia, whose science system experienced a sustained crisis and sweeping changes in science institutions following the collapse of the Soviet Union. We develop measures of how respondents view financing based on grants and other institutional changes in the Russian science system, as well as measures ofmore » two norms regarding scientists social responsibility. We find that the majority of scientists have adapted, in the sense that they hold positive views of the new institutions, but a diversity of orientations remains. Social responsibility norms are common among Russian scientists, but far from universal. The main correlates of adaptation are age and current success at negotiating the new institutions, though prospective success, work context, and ethnicity have some of the hypothesized associations. As for social responsibility norms, the main source of variation is age: younger scientists are more likely to embrace individualistic rather than socially-oriented norms.« less

NEID Port Adapter: Design and Verification Plan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Logsdon, Sarah E.; McElwain, Michael; McElwain, Michael W.; Gong, Qian; Bender, Chad; Halverson, Samuel; Hearty, Fred; Hunting, Emily; Jaehnig, Kurt; Liang, Ming; Mahadevan, Suvrath; Monson, A. J.; Percival, Jeffrey; Rajagopal, Jayadev; Ramsey, Lawrence; Roy, Arpita; Santoro, Fernando; Schwab, Christian; Smith, Michael; Wolf, Marsha; Wright, Jason

2018-01-01

The NEID spectrograph is an optical (380-930 nm), fiber-fed, precision Doppler spectrograph currently in development for the 3.5 m WIYN Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Designed to achieve a radial velocity precision of <30 cm/s, NEID will be sensitive enough to detect terrestrial-mass exoplanets around low-mass stars. Light from the target stars is focused by the telescope to a bent-Cassegrain port at the edge of the primary mirror mechanical support. The specialized NEID “Port Adapter” system is mounted at this bent-Cassegrain port and is responsible for delivering the incident light from the telescope to the NEID fibers. In order to provide stable, high-quality images to the science instrument, the Port Adapter houses several subcomponents designed to acquire the target stars, correct for atmospheric dispersion, stabilize the light onto the science fibers, and calibrate the spectrograph by injecting known wavelength sources such as a laser frequency comb. Here we describe the overall design of the Port Adapter and outline the development of calibration tools and an on-sky test plan to verify the performance of the atmospheric dispersion corrector (ADC). We also discuss the development of an error budget and test requirements to ensure high-precision centroiding onto the NEID science fibers using a system of coherent fiber bundles.

An Analysis of Fundamental Waffle Mode in Early AEOS Adaptive Optics Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makidon, Russell B.; Sivaramakrishnan, Anand; Perrin, Marshall D.; Roberts, Lewis C., Jr.; Oppenheimer, Ben R.; Soummer, Rémi; Graham, James R.

2005-08-01

Adaptive optics (AO) systems have significantly improved astronomical imaging capabilities over the last decade and are revolutionizing the kinds of science possible with 4-5 m class ground-based telescopes. A thorough understanding of AO system performance at the telescope can enable new frontiers of science as observations push AO systems to their performance limits. We look at recent advances with wave-front reconstruction (WFR) on the Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS) 3.6 m telescope to show how progress made in improving WFR can be measured directly in improved science images. We describe how a ``waffle mode'' wave-front error (which is not sensed by a Fried geometry Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor) affects the AO point-spread function. We model details of AEOS AO to simulate a PSF that matches the actual AO PSF in the I band and show that while the older observed AEOS PSF contained several times more waffle error than expected, improved WFR techniques noticeably improve AEOS AO performance. We estimate the impact of these improved WFRs on H-band imaging at AEOS, chosen based on the optimization of the Lyot Project near-infrared coronagraph at this bandpass. Based on observations made at the Maui Space Surveillance System, operated by Detachment 15 of the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 32

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, Lydia Razran (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1992-01-01

This is the thirty-second issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 34 journal or conference papers published in Russian and of 4 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 18 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, aviation medicine, biological rhythms, biospherics, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, exobiology, habitability and environmental effects, human performance, hematology, mathematical models, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, operational medicine, and reproductive system.

An integrated science-based methodology to assess potential risks and implications of engineered nanomaterials.

PubMed

Tolaymat, Thabet; El Badawy, Amro; Sequeira, Reynold; Genaidy, Ash

2015-11-15

There is an urgent need for broad and integrated studies that address the risks of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) along the different endpoints of the society, environment, and economy (SEE) complex adaptive system. This article presents an integrated science-based methodology to assess the potential risks of engineered nanomaterials. To achieve the study objective, two major tasks are accomplished, knowledge synthesis and algorithmic computational methodology. The knowledge synthesis task is designed to capture "what is known" and to outline the gaps in knowledge from ENMs risk perspective. The algorithmic computational methodology is geared toward the provision of decisions and an understanding of the risks of ENMs along different endpoints for the constituents of the SEE complex adaptive system. The approach presented herein allows for addressing the formidable task of assessing the implications and risks of exposure to ENMs, with the long term goal to build a decision-support system to guide key stakeholders in the SEE system towards building sustainable ENMs and nano-enabled products. Published by Elsevier B.V.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 28

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1990-01-01

This is the twenty-eighth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 60 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 3 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 20 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, aviation medicine, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive system, and space medicine.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 30

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1991-01-01

This is the thirtieth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 47 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of three Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 20 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, biospheric research, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal system, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine.

Unifying Complexity and Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ke, Da-Guan

2013-04-01

Complex systems, arising in many contexts in the computer, life, social, and physical sciences, have not shared a generally-accepted complexity measure playing a fundamental role as the Shannon entropy H in statistical mechanics. Superficially-conflicting criteria of complexity measurement, i.e. complexity-randomness (C-R) relations, have given rise to a special measure intrinsically adaptable to more than one criterion. However, deep causes of the conflict and the adaptability are not much clear. Here I trace the root of each representative or adaptable measure to its particular universal data-generating or -regenerating model (UDGM or UDRM). A representative measure for deterministic dynamical systems is found as a counterpart of the H for random process, clearly redefining the boundary of different criteria. And a specific UDRM achieving the intrinsic adaptability enables a general information measure that ultimately solves all major disputes. This work encourages a single framework coving deterministic systems, statistical mechanics and real-world living organisms.

Forecasting Effects of Influence Operations: A Generative Social Science Methodology

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-22

that can be made in a turn (commAttempts). Two forms of this agent are used in this case study : a pamphlet distributor and an internet campaigner. The...model Echo (1995). Echo captures the behavior of complex adaptive systems by using a digital analogue to genetics. As agents replicate, “child...Sugarscape model demonstrated a new paradigm for the study of the social sciences using ABM, which they call generative social science (GSS). In

A systems-based approach to transform climate education in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific islands (USAPI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sussman, A.; Fletcher, C. H.; Sachs, J. P.

2011-12-01

The USAPI has a population of about 1,800,000 people spread across 4.9 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Islands are characterized by a multitude of indigenous cultures and languages. English is the common language of instruction in all jurisdictions, but is not the language spoken at home for most students outside of Hawai'i. Many USAPI students live considerably below the poverty line. The Pacific Island region is projected to experience some of the most profound negative impacts considerably sooner than other regions. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) aims to educate the region's students and citizens in ways that exemplify modern science and indigenous environmental knowledge, address the urgency of climate change impacts, and honor indigenous cultures. Students and citizens within the region will have the knowledge and skills to advance their and our understanding of climate change, and to adapt to its impacts. PCEP has developed a regional network, tools, and an emerging plan to systemically transform K-14 climate education in the USAPI. More than 50 organizations and networks have joined the partnership. These partners include all of the region's state departments of education, major universities, and community colleges, and a wide range of local partners, particularly conservation organizations. One of PCEP's major tools is general, multidisciplinary K-14 climate science education framework that organizes major underlying concepts and skills within appropriate grade-span progressions. This framework is based largely upon prior national science and climate literacy work and the National Research Council's recent document "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas." The PCEP climate education framework has an Earth System Science foundation that is directly applicable in all locations, and it also has orientations that are particularly relevant to the USAPI context. PCEP is working with the Micronesia Conservation Trust and The Nature Conservancy to combine the climate education work with local community climate adaptation projects. This work combines the PCEP climate education framework with the Micronesia Challenge community training plans and materials, particularly the Pacific-oriented community booklet "Adapting to a Changing Climate." Combining pre-college education with community climate adaptation has the potential to yield major synergistic benefits for both efforts. Another key PCEP tool is an interactive web-based environment (http://pcep.dsp.wested.org) that interlinks the region's locations, organizations and people with information about climate science and climate impacts. This system enables the region's diverse stakeholders to access and contribute to the same information pool, and to collectively develop, and disseminate our work. This web-based environment can be configured for other climate education projects or regions.

Regional Interdependence in Adaptation to Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stacey, M. T.; Lubell, M.; Hummel, M.; Wang, R. Q.; Barnard, P.; Erikson, L. H.; Herdman, L.; Pozdnukhov, A.; Sheehan, M.

2017-12-01

Projections of sea level rise may differ in the pace of change, but there is clear consensus that coastal communities will be facing more frequent and severe flooding events in the coming century. As communities adapt to future conditions, infrastructure systems will be developed, modified and abandoned, with important consequences for services and resilience. Whether action or inaction is pursued, the decisions made by an individual community regarding a single infrastructure system have implications that extend spatially and temporally due to geographic and infrastructure system interactions. At the same time, there are a number of barriers to collective or coordinated action that inhibit regional solutions. This interplay between local actions and regional responses is one of the great challenges facing decision-makers grappling with both local and regional climate-change adaptation. In this talk, I present case studies of the San Francisco Bay Area that examine how shoreline infrastructure, transporation sytems and decision-making networks interact to define the regional response to local actions and the local response to regional actions. I will characterize the barriers that exist to regional solutions, and characterize three types of interdependence that may motivate decision-makers to overcome those barriers. Using these examples, I will discuss the importance of interdisciplinary analyses that integrate the natural sciences, engineering and the social science to climate change adaptation more generally.

Social networks as embedded complex adaptive systems.

PubMed

Benham-Hutchins, Marge; Clancy, Thomas R

2010-09-01

As systems evolve over time, their natural tendency is to become increasingly more complex. Studies in the field of complex systems have generated new perspectives on management in social organizations such as hospitals. Much of this research appears as a natural extension of the cross-disciplinary field of systems theory. This is the 15th in a series of articles applying complex systems science to the traditional management concepts of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. In this article, the authors discuss healthcare social networks as a hierarchy of embedded complex adaptive systems. The authors further examine the use of social network analysis tools as a means to understand complex communication patterns and reduce medical errors.

1993 Annual report on scientific programs: A broad research program on the sciences of complexity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1993-12-31

This report provides a summary of many of the research projects completed by the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) during 1993. These research efforts continue to focus on two general areas: the study of, and search for, underlying scientific principles governing complex adaptive systems, and the exploration of new theories of computation that incorporate natural mechanisms of adaptation (mutation, genetics, evolution).

Using Virtualization and Automatic Evaluation: Adapting Network Services Management Courses to the EHEA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ros, S.; Robles-Gomez, A.; Hernandez, R.; Caminero, A. C.; Pastor, R.

2012-01-01

This paper outlines the adaptation of a course on the management of network services in operating systems, called NetServicesOS, to the context of the new European Higher Education Area (EHEA). NetServicesOS is a mandatory course in one of the official graduate programs in the Faculty of Computer Science at the Universidad Nacional de Educacion a…

Adaptive Instructional Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-09-01

Research Institute for the Behavior and Social Sciences 20050928 000 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE...ADDRESS(ES) 10. MONITOR ACRONYM U. S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral & Social ARI Sciences ATTN Rotary Wing Aviation Research Unit 11...Training Technology SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF 19. LIMITATION OF 20. NUMBER 21. RESPONSIBLE PERSON ABSTRACT OF PAGES 16. REPORT 17. ABSTRACT 18. THIS

Science & Technology Review October 2007

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chinn, D J

Livermore researchers won five R&D 100 awards in R&D Magazine's annual competition for the top 100 industrial innovations worldwide. This issue of Science & Technology Review highlights the award-winning technologies: noninvasive pneumothorax detector, microelectromechanical system-based adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope, large-area imager, hyper library of linear solvers, and continuous-phase-plate optics system manufactured using magnetorheological finishing. Since 1978, Laboratory researchers have received 118 R&D 100 awards. The R&D 100 logo (on the cover and p 1) is reprinted courtesy of R&D Magazine.

NASA Johnson Space Center Life Sciences Data System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rahman, Hasan; Cardenas, Jeffery

1994-01-01

The Life Sciences Project Division (LSPD) at JSC, which manages human life sciences flight experiments for the NASA Life Sciences Division, augmented its Life Sciences Data System (LSDS) in support of the Spacelab Life Sciences-2 (SLS-2) mission, October 1993. The LSDS is a portable ground system supporting Shuttle, Spacelab, and Mir based life sciences experiments. The LSDS supports acquisition, processing, display, and storage of real-time experiment telemetry in a workstation environment. The system may acquire digital or analog data, storing the data in experiment packet format. Data packets from any acquisition source are archived and meta-parameters are derived through the application of mathematical and logical operators. Parameters may be displayed in text and/or graphical form, or output to analog devices. Experiment data packets may be retransmitted through the network interface and database applications may be developed to support virtually any data packet format. The user interface provides menu- and icon-driven program control and the LSDS system can be integrated with other workstations to perform a variety of functions. The generic capabilities, adaptability, and ease of use make the LSDS a cost-effective solution to many experiment data processing requirements. The same system is used for experiment systems functional and integration tests, flight crew training sessions and mission simulations. In addition, the system has provided the infrastructure for the development of the JSC Life Sciences Data Archive System scheduled for completion in December 1994.

Adaptive Image Processing Methods for Improving Contaminant Detection Accuracy on Poultry Carcasses

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Technical Abstract A real-time multispectral imaging system has demonstrated a science-based tool for fecal and ingesta contaminant detection during poultry processing. In order to implement this imaging system at commercial poultry processing industry, the false positives must be removed. For doi...

Biophysical system models advance agricultural research and technology: Some examples and further research needs

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Environmental concerns of the general public, droughts, and climate change effects require continual adaptation and optimization of agricultural systems through changes in cropping and management. Advancement of science and technology to achieve these changes requires cutting-edge field research, us...

Adapting natural resource management to climate change: The South Central Oregon and Northern Rockies Adaptation Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halofsky, J.; Peterson, D. L.

2015-12-01

Concrete ways to adapt to climate change are needed to help natural resource managers take the first steps to incorporate climate change into management and take advantage of opportunities to balance the negative effects of climate change. We recently initiated two science-management climate change adaptation partnerships, one with three national forests and one national park in south central Oregon, and the other with 16 national forests, three national parks and other stakeholders in the northern Rockies region. Goals of both partnerships were to: (1) synthesize published information and data to assess the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of key resource areas, including water use, infrastructure, fisheries, and vegetation and disturbance; (2) develop science-based adaptation strategies and tactics that will help to mitigate the negative effects of climate change and assist the transition of biological systems and management to a warmer climate; (3) ensure adaptation strategies and tactics are incorporated into relevant planning documents; and (4) foster an enduring partnership to facilitate ongoing dialogue and activities related to climate change in the partnerships regions. After an initial vulnerability assessment by agency and university scientists and local resource specialists, adaptation strategies and tactics were developed in a series of scientist-manager workshops. The final vulnerability assessments and adaptation actions are incorporated in technical reports. The partnerships produced concrete adaptation options for national forest and other natural resource managers and illustrated the utility of place-based vulnerability assessments and scientist-manager workshops in adapting to climate change.

Panarchy use in environmental science for risk and resilience ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Environmental sciences have an important role in informing sustainable management of built environments by providing insights about the drivers and potentially negative impacts of global environmental change. Here, we discuss panarchy theory, a multi-scale hierarchical concept that accounts for the dynamism of complex socio-ecological systems, especially for those systems with strong cross-scale feedbacks. The idea of panarchy underlies much of system resilience, focusing on how systems respond to known and unknown threats. Panarchy theory can provide a framework for qualitative and quantitative research and application in the environmental sciences, which can in turn inform the ongoing efforts in socio-technical resilience thinking and adaptive and transformative approaches to management. The environmental sciences strive for understanding, mitigating and reversing the negative impacts of global environmental change, including chemical pollution, to maintain sustainability options for the future, and therefore play an important role for informing management.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 13

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor)

1987-01-01

This is the thirteenth issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 39 papers recently published in Russian-language periodicals and bound collections, two papers delivered at an international life sciences symposium, and three new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Also included is a review of a recent Soviet-French symposium on Space Cytology. Current Soviet Life Sciences titles available in English are cited. The materials included in this issue have been identified as relevant to 31 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cosmonaut training, cytology, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal systems, genetics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, space biology, and space medicine.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 25

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Garshnek, Victoria (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1990-01-01

This is the twenty-fifth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 42 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 3 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 26 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, exobiology, gravitational biology, habitability and environmental effects, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive system, and space biology and medicine.

Developing Web-based Tools for Collaborative Science and Public Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedman, A.; Pizarro, O.; Williams, S. B.

2016-02-01

With the advances in high bandwidth communications and the proliferation of social media tools, education & outreach activities have become commonplace on ocean-bound research cruises. In parallel, advances in underwater robotics & other data collecting platforms, have made it possible to collect copious amounts of oceanographic data. This data then typically undergoes laborious, manual processing to transform it into quantitative information, which normally occurs post cruise resulting in significant lags between collecting data and using it for scientific discovery. This presentation discusses how appropriately designed software systems, can be used to fulfill multiple objectives and attempt to leverage public engagement in order to compliment science goals. We will present two software platforms: the first is a web browser based tool that was developed for real-time tracking of multiple underwater robots and ships. It was designed to allow anyone on board to view or control it on any device with a web browser. It opens up the possibility of remote teleoperation & engagement and was easily adapted to enable live streaming over the internet for public outreach. While the tracking system provided context and engaged people in real-time, it also directed interested participants to Squidle, another online system. Developed for scientists, Squidle supports data management, exploration & analysis and enables direct access to survey data reducing the lag in data processing. It provides a user-friendly streamlined interface that integrates advanced data management & online annotation tools. This system was adapted to provide a simplified user interface, tutorial instructions and a gamified ranking system to encourage "citizen science" participation. These examples show that through a flexible design approach, it is possible to leverage the development effort of creating science tools to facilitate outreach goals, opening up the possibility for acquiring large volumes of crowd-sourced data without compromising science objectives.

Climate change and health research: has it served rural communities?

PubMed

Bell, Erica J

2013-01-01

If climate change is the 21st Century's biggest public health threat, research faces the major challenge of providing adequate evidence for vulnerable communities to adapt to the health effects of climate change. Available information about best practice in climate adaptation suggests it is inclusive of socio-economic disadvantage and local community factors such as access to health services. Since 1995, at least 19 164 papers have been published on climate change in the health sciences and social sciences. This body of literature has not yet been systematically examined for how well it serves rural communities. The ultimate aim of the study was to contribute to better understandings about what climate adaptation research has been done and is needed for rural communities. The two research questions were: 'What kinds of content define climate change research in disciplines that could potentially contribute to adaptation for health?' and 'How is content about rural and Aboriginal communities and best practice in adaptation related to this content?' A quantitative content analysis was performed using 'computational linguistics' Leximancer software. The analysis included 19 164 health and social sciences abstracts, batched by years, from 1 January 1995 to 31 July 2012. The relative frequency and co-occurrence of 52 concepts in these abstracts were mapped, as well as associations with positive or negative sentiment for selected concepts. Aboriginal' concepts tend to be relatively infrequent (3% and 5% overall likelihood of occurrence, respectively) and are more associated with socio-economic concepts in the social sciences than the health sciences. Multiple concepts in the health sciences literature are typically connected with 'disease' and ultimately 'science' storylines, with a 38% likelihood of paired co-occurrence of 'health' and 'disease' concepts alone. The social sciences appear more focused on the local and particular issues of community in climate change than the health sciences. 'Rural' and 'Aboriginal' concepts have increased by 1% across both discipline areas, since 2011 for the 'rural' concept and since 2004 for the 'Aboriginal' concept. 'Health' concepts in the health sciences and 'economic' concepts in the social sciences, as well as 'urban' concepts, are referred to more positively than either the 'rural' or 'Aboriginal' concepts. While care needs to be taken in interpreting the results of this study too negatively for rural and Aboriginal communities, they suggest that a disease focus dominates climate and health research typically unconnected to wider socio-economic and human system factors. This finding needs to be considered in light of the accumulating evidence of the importance of such contextual systemic factors in understanding climate and health effects and responses. The study adds some support to the view that a key priority is bringing the learnings of applied community-based researchers, from those in rural health to those in the social sciences, to climate research. There is a need to build confidence, including in the rural health sector which has arguably been slow to participate in programs of climate change research, that community-based research could make a difference to rural health in a climate-changing world.

Focus on environmental risks and migration: causes and consequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adger, W. Neil; Arnell, Nigel W.; Black, Richard; Dercon, Stefan; Geddes, Andrew; Thomas, David S. G.

2015-06-01

Environmental change poses risks to societies, including disrupting social and economic systems such as migration. At the same time, migration is an effective adaptation to environmental and other risks. We review novel science on interactions between migration, environmental risks and climate change. We highlight emergent findings, including how dominant flows of rural to urban migration mean that populations are exposed to new risks within destination areas and the requirement for urban sustainability. We highlight the issue of lack of mobility as a major issue limiting the effectiveness of migration as an adaptation strategy and leading to potentially trapped populations. The paper presents scenarios of future migration that show both displacement and trapped populations over the incoming decades. Papers in the special issue bring new insights from demography, human geography, political science and environmental science to this emerging field.

Use of measurement theory for operationalization and quantification of psychological constructs in systems dynamics modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitkov-Norris, Elena; Yeghiazarian, Ara

2016-11-01

The analytical tools available to social scientists have traditionally been adapted from tools originally designed for analysis of natural science phenomena. This article discusses the applicability of systems dynamics - a qualitative based modelling approach, as a possible analysis and simulation tool that bridges the gap between social and natural sciences. After a brief overview of the systems dynamics modelling methodology, the advantages as well as limiting factors of systems dynamics to the potential applications in the field of social sciences and human interactions are discussed. The issues arise with regards to operationalization and quantification of latent constructs at the simulation building stage of the systems dynamics methodology and measurement theory is proposed as a ready and waiting solution to the problem of dynamic model calibration, with a view of improving simulation model reliability and validity and encouraging the development of standardised, modular system dynamics models that can be used in social science research.

Climate change science overview : asset management and adaptation to climate change

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-04-23

Impacts on transportation infrastructure: higher temperatures, more intense precipitation events, stronger storms and higher sea levels are likely to have adverse effects on transportation systems. Transportation contribution to greenhouse gas emissi...

Specification and Analysis of Parallel Machine Architecture

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-03-17

Parallel Machine Architeture C.V. Ramamoorthy Computer Science Division Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of California...capacity. (4) Adaptive: The overhead in resolution of deadlocks, etc. should be in proportion to their frequency. (5) Avoid rollbacks: Rollbacks can be...snapshots of system state graphically at a rate proportional to simulation time. Some of the examples are as follow: (1) When the simulation clock of

A review of astronomical science with visible light adaptive optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Close, Laird M.

2016-07-01

We review astronomical results in the visible (λ<1μm) with adaptive optics. Other than a brief period in the early 1990s, there has been little (<1 paper/yr) night-time astronomical science published with AO in the visible from 2000-2013 (outside of the solar or Space Surveillance Astronomy communities where visible AO is the norm, but not the topic of this invited review). However, since mid-2013 there has been a rapid increase visible AO with over 50 refereed science papers published in just 2.5 years (visible AO is experiencing a rapid growth rate very similar to that of NIR AO science from 1997-2000 Close 2000). Currently the most productive small (D < 2 m) visible light AO telescope is the UV-LGS Robo-AO system (Baranec, et al. 2016) on the robotic Palomar D=1.5 m telescope (currently relocated to the Kitt Peak 1.8m; Salama et al. 2016). Robo-AO uniquely offers the ability to target >15 objects/hr, which has enabled large (>3000 discrete targets) companion star surveys and has resulted in 23 refereed science publications. The most productive large telescope visible AO system is the D=6.5m Magellan telescope AO system (MagAO). MagAO is an advanced Adaptive Secondary Mirror (ASM) AO system at the Magellan 6.5m in Chile (Morzinski et al. 2016). This ASM secondary has 585 actuators with < 1 msec response times (0.7 ms typically). MagAO utilizes a 1 kHz pyramid wavefront sensor. The relatively small actuator pitch ( 22 cm/subap) allows moderate Strehls to be obtained in the visible (0.63-1.05 microns). Long exposures (60s) achieve <30mas resolutions, 30% Strehls at 0.62 microns (r') with the VisAO camera in 0.5" seeing with bright R <= 9 mag stars. These capabilities have led to over 22 MagAO refereed science publications in the visible. The largest (D=8m) telescope to achieve regular visible AO science is SPHERE/ZIMPOL. ZIMPOL is a polarimeter fed by the 1.2 kHz SPHERE ExAO system (Fusco et al. 2016). ZIMPOL's ability to differentiate scattered polarized light from starlight allows the sensitive detection of circumstellar disks, stellar surfaces, and envelopes of evolved AGB stars. Here we review the key steps to having good performance in the visible and review the exciting new AO visible science opportunities and science results in the fields of: exoplanet detection; circumstellar and protoplanetary disks; young stars; AGB stars; emission line jets; and stellar surfaces. The recent rapid increase in the scientific publications and power of visible AO is due to the maturity of the next-generation of AO systems and our new ability probe circumstellar regions with very high (10-30 mas) spatial resolutions that would otherwise require much larger (>10m) diameter telescopes in the infrared.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 31

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Garshnek, Victoria (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1990-01-01

This is the thirty first issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 55 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 5 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 18 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, biological rhythms, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, enzymology, genetics, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, life support systems, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine.

From data to decisions: Processing information, biases, and beliefs for improved management of natural resources and environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glynn, Pierre D.; Voinov, Alexey A.; Shapiro, Carl D.; White, Paul A.

2017-04-01

Our different kinds of minds and types of thinking affect the ways we decide, take action, and cooperate (or not). Derived from these types of minds, innate biases, beliefs, heuristics, and values (BBHV) influence behaviors, often beneficially, when individuals or small groups face immediate, local, acute situations that they and their ancestors faced repeatedly in the past. BBHV, though, need to be recognized and possibly countered or used when facing new, complex issues or situations especially if they need to be managed for the benefit of a wider community, for the longer-term and the larger-scale. Taking BBHV into account, we explain and provide a cyclic science-infused adaptive framework for (1) gaining knowledge of complex systems and (2) improving their management. We explore how this process and framework could improve the governance of science and policy for different types of systems and issues, providing examples in the area of natural resources, hazards, and the environment. Lastly, we suggest that an "Open Traceable Accountable Policy" initiative that followed our suggested adaptive framework could beneficially complement recent Open Data/Model science initiatives.

Adapting to climate change

Treesearch

Constance I. Millar; Christopher W. Swanston; David L. Peterson

2014-01-01

Federal agencies have led the development of adaptation principles and tools in forest ecosystems over the past decade. Successful adaptation efforts generally require organizations to: (1) develop science-management partnerships, (2) provide education on climate change science, (3) provide a toolkit of methods and processes for vulnerability assessment and adaptation...

Tele-Supervised Adaptive Ocean Sensor Fleet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lefes, Alberto; Podnar, Gregg W.; Dolan, John M.; Hosler, Jeffrey C.; Ames, Troy J.

2009-01-01

The Tele-supervised Adaptive Ocean Sensor Fleet (TAOSF) is a multi-robot science exploration architecture and system that uses a group of robotic boats (the Ocean-Atmosphere Sensor Integration System, or OASIS) to enable in-situ study of ocean surface and subsurface characteristics and the dynamics of such ocean phenomena as coastal pollutants, oil spills, hurricanes, or harmful algal blooms (HABs). The OASIS boats are extended- deployment, autonomous ocean surface vehicles. The TAOSF architecture provides an integrated approach to multi-vehicle coordination and sliding human-vehicle autonomy. One feature of TAOSF is the adaptive re-planning of the activities of the OASIS vessels based on sensor input ( smart sensing) and sensorial coordination among multiple assets. The architecture also incorporates Web-based communications that permit control of the assets over long distances and the sharing of data with remote experts. Autonomous hazard and assistance detection allows the automatic identification of hazards that require human intervention to ensure the safety and integrity of the robotic vehicles, or of science data that require human interpretation and response. Also, the architecture is designed for science analysis of acquired data in order to perform an initial onboard assessment of the presence of specific science signatures of immediate interest. TAOSF integrates and extends five subsystems developed by the participating institutions: Emergent Space Tech - nol ogies, Wallops Flight Facility, NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Carnegie Mellon University, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The OASIS Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) system, which includes the vessels as well as the land-based control and communications infrastructure developed for them, controls the hardware of each platform (sensors, actuators, etc.), and also provides a low-level waypoint navigation capability. The Multi-Platform Simulation Environment from GSFC is a surrogate for the OASIS ASV system and allows for independent development and testing of higher-level software components. The Platform Communicator acts as a proxy for both actual and simulated platforms. It translates platform-independent messages from the higher control systems to the device-dependent communication protocols. This enables the higher-level control systems to interact identically with heterogeneous actual or simulated platforms.

The adjustments experienced by persons with an ostomy: an integrative review of the literature.

PubMed

Torquato Lopes, Ana Patrícia Araujo; Decesaro, Maria das Neves

2014-10-01

The person with an ostomy may focus on the negative aspects of the stoma rather than its function to the detriment of self-image, acceptance of a new lifestyle, and ability to self-care. The purpose of this integrative literature review was to explore factors involved in the adaption process of persons with a gastrointestinal stoma with a focus on the role of nonspecialist professional nurses in the process. The authors searched the databases of the Virtual Health Library, the Latin American and Caribbean of Health Sciences Information System, the Scientific Electronic Library Online, the Spanish Bibliographic Index of Health Sciences, International Literature on Health Sciences (MEDLINE), and the Cochrane Library using the keywords ostomy, adaption, and nursing for full text articles in all languages published between 2008 and 2013. Of the 612 articles identified, 21 were not duplicates and met the inclusion criteria of availability of full text, published in the past 5 years, indexed, and covering the topic of stoma adaption; this literature was analyzed using Bardin's thematic analysis. Three categories emerged: experiences and adaption strategies employed by the person with a stoma, the role of the care provider, and education as a tool in healthcare. Persons with a stoma need time and support from caregivers, family, and friends to adjust to the changes and adapt to having a stoma. This includes the ability to overcome the stigma of appearance and activities involving social interaction. Caregivers and health professionals need to serve as information resources while encouraging care autonomy. The more informed the patient, the smoother the adaption process. The literature also suggests nursing education may affect caregiving. Further research to elucidate the adaption experienced by each person with an ostomy is needed to help the multidisciplinary team plan care appropriately.

Schools as social complex adaptive systems: a new way to understand the challenges of introducing the health promoting schools concept.

PubMed

Keshavarz, Nastaran; Nutbeam, Don; Rowling, Louise; Khavarpour, Freidoon

2010-05-01

Achieving system-wide implementation of health promotion programs in schools and sustaining both the program and its health related benefits have proved challenging. This paper reports on a qualitative study examining the implementation of health promoting schools programs in primary schools in Sydney, Australia. It draw upon insights from systems science to examine the relevance and usefulness of the concept of "complex adaptive systems" as a framework to better understand ways in which health promoting school interventions could be introduced and sustained. The primary data for the study were collected by semi-structured interviews with 26 school principals and teachers. Additional information was extracted from publicly available school management plans and annual reports. We examined the data from these sources to determine whether schools exhibit characteristics of complex adaptive systems. The results confirmed that schools do exhibit most, but not all of the characteristics of social complex adaptive systems, and exhibit significant differences with artificial and natural systems. Understanding schools as social complex adaptive systems may help to explain some of the challenges of introducing and sustaining change in schools. These insights may, in turn, lead us to adopt more sophisticated approaches to the diffusion of new programs in school systems that account for the diverse, complex and context specific nature of individual school systems. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On Complete Control and Synchronization of Zhang Chaotic System with Uncertain Parameters using Adaptive Control Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tirandaz, Hamed

2018-03-01

Chaos control and synchronization of chaotic systems is seemingly a challenging problem and has got a lot of attention in recent years due to its numerous applications in science and industry. This paper concentrates on the control and synchronization problem of the three-dimensional (3D) Zhang chaotic system. At first, an adaptive control law and a parameter estimation law are achieved for controlling the behavior of the Zhang chaotic system. Then, non-identical synchronization of Zhang chaotic system is provided with considering the Lü chaotic system as the follower system. The synchronization problem and parameters identification are achieved by introducing an adaptive control law and a parameters estimation law. Stability analysis of the proposed method is proved by the Lyapanov stability theorem. In addition, the convergence of the estimated parameters to their truly unknown values are evaluated. Finally, some numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate and to validate the effectiveness of the suggested method.

Improved performance of the laser guide star adaptive optics system at Lick Observatory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

An, J R; Avicola, K; Bauman, B J

1999-07-20

Results of experiments with the laser guide star adaptive optics system on the 3-meter Shane telescope at Lick Observatory have demonstrated a factor of 4 performance improvement over previous results. Stellar images recorded at a wavelength of 2 {micro}m were corrected to over 40% of the theoretical diffraction-limited peak intensity. For the previous two years, this sodium-layer laser guide star system has corrected stellar images at this wavelength to {approx}10% of the theoretical peak intensity limit. After a campaign to improve the beam quality of the laser system, and to improve calibration accuracy and stability of the adaptive optics systemmore » using new techniques for phase retrieval and phase-shifting diffraction interferometry, the system performance has been substantially increased. The next step will be to use the Lick system for astronomical science observations, and to demonstrate this level of performance with the new system being installed on the 10-meter Keck II telescope.« less

Introducing Enabling Computational Tools to the Climate Sciences: Multi-Resolution Climate Modeling with Adaptive Cubed-Sphere Grids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jablonowski, Christiane

The research investigates and advances strategies how to bridge the scale discrepancies between local, regional and global phenomena in climate models without the prohibitive computational costs of global cloud-resolving simulations. In particular, the research explores new frontiers in computational geoscience by introducing high-order Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) techniques into climate research. AMR and statically-adapted variable-resolution approaches represent an emerging trend for atmospheric models and are likely to become the new norm in future-generation weather and climate models. The research advances the understanding of multi-scale interactions in the climate system and showcases a pathway how to model these interactions effectively withmore » advanced computational tools, like the Chombo AMR library developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The research is interdisciplinary and combines applied mathematics, scientific computing and the atmospheric sciences. In this research project, a hierarchy of high-order atmospheric models on cubed-sphere computational grids have been developed that serve as an algorithmic prototype for the finite-volume solution-adaptive Chombo-AMR approach. The foci of the investigations have lied on the characteristics of both static mesh adaptations and dynamically-adaptive grids that can capture flow fields of interest like tropical cyclones. Six research themes have been chosen. These are (1) the introduction of adaptive mesh refinement techniques into the climate sciences, (2) advanced algorithms for nonhydrostatic atmospheric dynamical cores, (3) an assessment of the interplay between resolved-scale dynamical motions and subgrid-scale physical parameterizations, (4) evaluation techniques for atmospheric model hierarchies, (5) the comparison of AMR refinement strategies and (6) tropical cyclone studies with a focus on multi-scale interactions and variable-resolution modeling. The results of this research project demonstrate significant advances in all six research areas. The major conclusions are that statically-adaptive variable-resolution modeling is currently becoming mature in the climate sciences, and that AMR holds outstanding promise for future-generation weather and climate models on high-performance computing architectures.« less

Virtual System Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vallée, Geoffroy; Naughton, Thomas; Ong, Hong; Tikotekar, Anand; Engelmann, Christian; Bland, Wesley; Aderholdt, Ferrol; Scott, Stephen L.

Distributed and parallel systems are typically managed with “static” settings: the operating system (OS) and the runtime environment (RTE) are specified at a given time and cannot be changed to fit an application’s needs. This means that every time application developers want to use their application on a new execution platform, the application has to be ported to this new environment, which may be expensive in terms of application modifications and developer time. However, the science resides in the applications and not in the OS or the RTE. Therefore, it should be beneficial to adapt the OS and the RTE to the application instead of adapting the applications to the OS and the RTE.

Non-Kolmogorovian Approach to the Context-Dependent Systems Breaking the Classical Probability Law

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asano, Masanari; Basieva, Irina; Khrennikov, Andrei; Ohya, Masanori; Yamato, Ichiro

2013-07-01

There exist several phenomena breaking the classical probability laws. The systems related to such phenomena are context-dependent, so that they are adaptive to other systems. In this paper, we present a new mathematical formalism to compute the joint probability distribution for two event-systems by using concepts of the adaptive dynamics and quantum information theory, e.g., quantum channels and liftings. In physics the basic example of the context-dependent phenomena is the famous double-slit experiment. Recently similar examples have been found in biological and psychological sciences. Our approach is an extension of traditional quantum probability theory, and it is general enough to describe aforementioned contextual phenomena outside of quantum physics.

Adapting Natural Resource Management to Climate Change: The Blue Mountains and Northern Rockies Adaptation Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halofsky, J.; Peterson, D. L.

2014-12-01

Concrete ways to adapt to climate change are needed to help natural resource managers take the first steps to incorporate climate change into management and take advantage of opportunities to balance the negative effects of climate change. We recently initiated two science-management climate change adaptation partnerships, one with three national forests and other key stakeholders in the Blue Mountains region of northeastern Oregon, and the other with 16 national forests, three national parks and other stakeholders in the northern Rockies region. Goals of both partnerships were to: (1) synthesize published information and data to assess the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of key resource areas, including water use, infrastructure, fisheries, and vegetation and disturbance; (2) develop science-based adaptation strategies and tactics that will help to mitigate the negative effects of climate change and assist the transition of biological systems and management to a warmer climate; (3) ensure adaptation strategies and tactics are incorporated into relevant planning documents; and (4) foster an enduring partnership to facilitate ongoing dialogue and activities related to climate change in the partnerships regions. After an initial vulnerability assessment by agency and university scientists and local resource specialists, adaptation strategies and tactics were developed in a series of scientist-manager workshops. The final vulnerability assessments and adaptation actions are incorporated in technical reports. The partnerships produced concrete adaptation options for national forest and other natural resource managers and illustrated the utility of place-based vulnerability assessments and scientist-manager workshops in adapting to climate change.

Conceptualising population health: from mechanistic thinking to complexity science.

PubMed

Jayasinghe, Saroj

2011-01-20

The mechanistic interpretation of reality can be traced to the influential work by René Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton. Their theories were able to accurately predict most physical phenomena relating to motion, optics and gravity. This paradigm had at least three principles and approaches: reductionism, linearity and hierarchy. These ideas appear to have influenced social scientists and the discourse on population health. In contrast, Complexity Science takes a more holistic view of systems. It views natural systems as being 'open', with fuzzy borders, constantly adapting to cope with pressures from the environment. These are called Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). The sub-systems within it lack stable hierarchies, and the roles of agency keep changing. The interactions with the environment and among sub-systems are non-linear interactions and lead to self-organisation and emergent properties. Theoretical frameworks such as epi+demos+cracy and the ecosocial approach to health have implicitly used some of these concepts of interacting dynamic sub-systems. Using Complexity Science we can view population health outcomes as an emergent property of CAS, which has numerous dynamic non-linear interactions among its interconnected sub-systems or agents. In order to appreciate these sub-systems and determinants, one should acquire a basic knowledge of diverse disciplines and interact with experts from different disciplines. Strategies to improve health should be multi-pronged, and take into account the diversity of actors, determinants and contexts. The dynamic nature of the system requires that the interventions are constantly monitored to provide early feedback to a flexible system that takes quick corrections.

Perspectives on the Contribution of Social Science to Adapted Physical Activity: Looking Forward, Looking Back

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Causgrove Dunn, Janice; Cairney, John; Zimmer, Chantelle

2016-01-01

In this article, we reflect on the contributions of the social sciences to the field of adapted physical activity by examining the theories and methods that have been adopted from the social science disciplines. To broaden our perspective on adapted physical activity and provide new avenues for theoretical and empirical exploration, we discuss and…

Intercultural Adaptation and Validity Study: Universal Science Literacy Scale (USLS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çelik, Cüneyd; Can, Sendil

2017-01-01

The purpose of the current study is to adapt "The Universal Science Literacy Scale" developed by Mun, Shin, Lee, Kim, Choi, Choi and Krajcik into Turkish. The study group of the current research is comprised of a total of 645 pre-service science teachers from 6 different universities of Turkey. In the first stage of the adaptation study,…

Material science lesson from the biological photosystem.

PubMed

Kim, Younghye; Lee, Jun Ho; Ha, Heonjin; Im, Sang Won; Nam, Ki Tae

2016-01-01

Inspired by photosynthesis, artificial systems for a sustainable energy supply are being designed. Each sequential energy conversion process from light to biomass in natural photosynthesis is a valuable model for an energy collection, transport and conversion system. Notwithstanding the numerous lessons of nature that provide inspiration for new developments, the features of natural photosynthesis need to be reengineered to meet man's demands. This review describes recent strategies toward adapting key lessons from natural photosynthesis to artificial systems. We focus on the underlying material science in photosynthesis that combines photosystems as pivotal functional materials and a range of materials into an integrated system. Finally, a perspective on the future development of photosynthesis mimetic energy systems is proposed.

The Contextualized Technology Adaptation Process (CTAP): Optimizing Health Information Technology to Improve Mental Health Systems.

PubMed

Lyon, Aaron R; Wasse, Jessica Knaster; Ludwig, Kristy; Zachry, Mark; Bruns, Eric J; Unützer, Jürgen; McCauley, Elizabeth

2016-05-01

Health information technologies have become a central fixture in the mental healthcare landscape, but few frameworks exist to guide their adaptation to novel settings. This paper introduces the contextualized technology adaptation process (CTAP) and presents data collected during Phase 1 of its application to measurement feedback system development in school mental health. The CTAP is built on models of human-centered design and implementation science and incorporates repeated mixed methods assessments to guide the design of technologies to ensure high compatibility with a destination setting. CTAP phases include: (1) Contextual evaluation, (2) Evaluation of the unadapted technology, (3) Trialing and evaluation of the adapted technology, (4) Refinement and larger-scale implementation, and (5) Sustainment through ongoing evaluation and system revision. Qualitative findings from school-based practitioner focus groups are presented, which provided information for CTAP Phase 1, contextual evaluation, surrounding education sector clinicians' workflows, types of technologies currently available, and influences on technology use. Discussion focuses on how findings will inform subsequent CTAP phases, as well as their implications for future technology adaptation across content domains and service sectors.

Novice High School Science Teachers: Lesson Plan Adaptations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scharon, Aracelis Janelle

2013-01-01

The Next Generation Science Standards (NRC, 2013) positions teachers as responsible for necessary decision making about how their intended science lesson plan content supports continuous student science learning. Teachers interact with their instructional lesson plans in dynamic and constructive ways. Adapting lesson plans is complex. This process…

Planetary Lake Lander - A Robotic Sentinel to Monitor a Remote Lake

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pedersen, Liam; Smith, Trey; Lee, Susan; Cabrol, Nathalie; Rose, Kevin

2012-01-01

The Planetary Lake Lander Project is studying the impact of rapid deglaciation at a high altitude alpine lake in the Andes, where disrupted environmental, physical, chemical, and biological cycles result in newly emerging natural patterns. The solar powered Lake Lander robot is designed to monitor the lake system and characterize both baseline characteristics and impacts of disturbance events such as storms and landslides. Lake Lander must use an onboard adaptive science-on-the-fly approach to return relevant data about these events to mission control without exceeding limited energy and bandwidth resources. Lake Lander carries weather sensors, cameras and a sonde that is winched up and down the water column to monitor temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and other water quality parameters. Data from Lake Lander is returned via satellite and distributed to an international team of scientists via web-based ground data systems. Here, we describe the Lake Lander Project scientific goals, hardware design, ground data systems, and preliminary data from 2011. The adaptive science-on-the-fly system will be described in future papers.

The research and development of the adaptive optics in ophthalmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Chuhan; Zhang, Xiaofang; Chen, Weilin

2015-08-01

Recently the combination of adaptive optics and ophthalmology has made great progress and become highly effective. The retina disease is diagnosed by retina imaging technique based on scanning optical system, so the scanning of eye requires optical system characterized by great ability of anti-moving and optical aberration correction. The adaptive optics possesses high level of adaptability and is available for real time imaging, which meets the requirement of medical retina detection with accurate images. Now the Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope and the Optical Coherence Tomography are widely used, which are the core techniques in the area of medical retina detection. Based on the above techniques, in China, a few adaptive optics systems used for eye medical scanning have been designed by some researchers from The Institute of Optics And Electronics of CAS(The Chinese Academy of Sciences); some foreign research institutions have adopted other methods to eliminate the interference of eye moving and optical aberration; there are many relevant patents at home and abroad. In this paper, the principles and relevant technique details of the Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope and the Optical Coherence Tomography are described. And the recent development and progress of adaptive optics in the field of eye retina imaging are analyzed and summarized.

Agent Technology, Complex Adaptive Systems, and Autonomic Systems: Their Relationships

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truszkowski, Walt; Rash, James; Rouff, Chistopher; Hincheny, Mike

2004-01-01

To reduce the cost of future spaceflight missions and to perform new science, NASA has been investigating autonomous ground and space flight systems. These goals of cost reduction have been further complicated by nanosatellites for future science data-gathering which will have large communications delays and at times be out of contact with ground control for extended periods of time. This paper describes two prototype agent-based systems, the Lights-out Ground Operations System (LOGOS) and the Agent Concept Testbed (ACT), and their autonomic properties that were developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to demonstrate autonomous operations of future space flight missions. The paper discusses the architecture of the two agent-based systems, operational scenarios of both, and the two systems autonomic properties.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 14

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran; Teeter, Ronald; Radtke, Mike; Rowe, Joseph

1988-01-01

This is the fourteenth issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 32 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of three new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Also included is a review of a recent Soviet conference on Space Biology and Aerospace Medicine. Current Soviet life sciences titles available in English are cited. The materials included in this issue have been identified as relevant to the following areas of aerospace medicine and space biology: adaptation, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal systems, habitability and environment effects, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, L. R. (Editor); Radtke, M. (Editor); Garshnek, V. (Editor); Rowe, J. E. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor)

1985-01-01

The second issue of the bimonthly digest of USSR Space Life Sciences is presented. Abstracts are included for 39 Soviet periodical articles in 16 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology and published in Russian during the first half of 1985. Selected articles are illustrated with figures from the original. Translated introductions and tables of contents for 14 Russian books on 11 topics related to NASA's life science concerns are presented. Areas covered are: adaptation, biospheric, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cybernetics and biomedical data processing, gastrointestinal system, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, health and medical treatment, hematology, immunology, life support systems, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology. Two book reviews translated from Russian are included and lists of additional relevant titles available either in English or in Russian only are appended.

VESPA: A community-driven Virtual Observatory in Planetary Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erard, S.; Cecconi, B.; Le Sidaner, P.; Rossi, A. P.; Capria, M. T.; Schmitt, B.; Génot, V.; André, N.; Vandaele, A. C.; Scherf, M.; Hueso, R.; Määttänen, A.; Thuillot, W.; Carry, B.; Achilleos, N.; Marmo, C.; Santolik, O.; Benson, K.; Fernique, P.; Beigbeder, L.; Millour, E.; Rousseau, B.; Andrieu, F.; Chauvin, C.; Minin, M.; Ivanoski, S.; Longobardo, A.; Bollard, P.; Albert, D.; Gangloff, M.; Jourdane, N.; Bouchemit, M.; Glorian, J.-M.; Trompet, L.; Al-Ubaidi, T.; Juaristi, J.; Desmars, J.; Guio, P.; Delaa, O.; Lagain, A.; Soucek, J.; Pisa, D.

2018-01-01

The VESPA data access system focuses on applying Virtual Observatory (VO) standards and tools to Planetary Science. Building on a previous EC-funded Europlanet program, it has reached maturity during the first year of a new Europlanet 2020 program (started in 2015 for 4 years). The infrastructure has been upgraded to handle many fields of Solar System studies, with a focus both on users and data providers. This paper describes the broad lines of the current VESPA infrastructure as seen by a potential user, and provides examples of real use cases in several thematic areas. These use cases are also intended to identify hints for future developments and adaptations of VO tools to Planetary Science.

SQL is Dead; Long-live SQL: Relational Database Technology in Science Contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howe, B.; Halperin, D.

2014-12-01

Relational databases are often perceived as a poor fit in science contexts: Rigid schemas, poor support for complex analytics, unpredictable performance, significant maintenance and tuning requirements --- these idiosyncrasies often make databases unattractive in science contexts characterized by heterogeneous data sources, complex analysis tasks, rapidly changing requirements, and limited IT budgets. In this talk, I'll argue that although the value proposition of typical relational database systems are weak in science, the core ideas that power relational databases have become incredibly prolific in open source science software, and are emerging as a universal abstraction for both big data and small data. In addition, I'll talk about two open source systems we are building to "jailbreak" the core technology of relational databases and adapt them for use in science. The first is SQLShare, a Database-as-a-Service system supporting collaborative data analysis and exchange by reducing database use to an Upload-Query-Share workflow with no installation, schema design, or configuration required. The second is Myria, a service that supports much larger scale data, complex analytics, and supports multiple back end systems. Finally, I'll describe some of the ways our collaborators in oceanography, astronomy, biology, fisheries science, and more are using these systems to replace script-based workflows for reasons of performance, flexibility, and convenience.

Participatory adaptive management leads to environmental learning outcomes extending beyond the sphere of science.

PubMed

Fujitani, Marie; McFall, Andrew; Randler, Christoph; Arlinghaus, Robert

2017-06-01

Resolving uncertainties in managed social-ecological systems requires adaptive experimentation at whole-ecosystem levels. However, whether participatory adaptive management fosters ecological understanding among stakeholders beyond the sphere of science is unknown. We experimentally involved members of German angling clubs ( n = 181 in workshops, n = 2483 in total) engaged in self-governance of freshwater fisheries resources in a large-scale ecological experiment of active adaptive management of fish stocking, which constitutes a controversial management practice for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning when conducted inappropriately. The collaborative ecological experiments spanned several years and manipulated fish densities in 24 lakes with two species. In parallel, we experimentally compared changes in ecological knowledge and antecedents of proenvironmental behavior in stakeholders and managers who were members of a participatory adaptive management treatment group, with those receiving only a standard lecture, relative to placebo controls. Using a within-subjects pretest-posttest control design, changes in ecological knowledge, environmental beliefs, attitudes, norms, and behavioral intentions were evaluated. Participants in adaptive management retained more knowledge of ecological topics after a period of 8 months compared to those receiving a standard lecture, both relative to controls. Involvement in adaptive management was also the only treatment that altered personal norms and beliefs related to stocking. Critically, only the stakeholders who participated in adaptive management reduced their behavioral intentions to engage in fish stocking in the future. Adaptive management is essential for robust ecological knowledge, and we show that involving stakeholders in adaptive management experiments is a powerful tool to enhance ecological literacy and build environmental capacity to move toward sustainability.

Participatory adaptive management leads to environmental learning outcomes extending beyond the sphere of science

PubMed Central

Fujitani, Marie; McFall, Andrew; Randler, Christoph; Arlinghaus, Robert

2017-01-01

Resolving uncertainties in managed social-ecological systems requires adaptive experimentation at whole-ecosystem levels. However, whether participatory adaptive management fosters ecological understanding among stakeholders beyond the sphere of science is unknown. We experimentally involved members of German angling clubs (n = 181 in workshops, n = 2483 in total) engaged in self-governance of freshwater fisheries resources in a large-scale ecological experiment of active adaptive management of fish stocking, which constitutes a controversial management practice for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning when conducted inappropriately. The collaborative ecological experiments spanned several years and manipulated fish densities in 24 lakes with two species. In parallel, we experimentally compared changes in ecological knowledge and antecedents of proenvironmental behavior in stakeholders and managers who were members of a participatory adaptive management treatment group, with those receiving only a standard lecture, relative to placebo controls. Using a within-subjects pretest-posttest control design, changes in ecological knowledge, environmental beliefs, attitudes, norms, and behavioral intentions were evaluated. Participants in adaptive management retained more knowledge of ecological topics after a period of 8 months compared to those receiving a standard lecture, both relative to controls. Involvement in adaptive management was also the only treatment that altered personal norms and beliefs related to stocking. Critically, only the stakeholders who participated in adaptive management reduced their behavioral intentions to engage in fish stocking in the future. Adaptive management is essential for robust ecological knowledge, and we show that involving stakeholders in adaptive management experiments is a powerful tool to enhance ecological literacy and build environmental capacity to move toward sustainability. PMID:28630904

Spacelab Life Sciences 1 results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seddon, Rhea

1992-01-01

Results are presented from the experiments conducted by the first Shuttle/Spacelab mission dedicated entirely to the life sciences, the Spacelab Life Sciences 1, launched on June 5, 1991. The experiments carried out during the 9-day flight included investigations of changes in the human cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal/endocrine, blood, and vestibular systems that were brought about by microgravity. Results were also obtained from the preflight and postflight complementary experiments performed on rats, which assessed the suitability of rodents as animal models for humans. Most results verified, or expanded on, the accepted theories of adaptation to zero gravity.

Developing the Learning Physical Science Curriculum: Adapting a Small Enrollment, Laboratory and Discussion Based Physical Science Course for Large Enrollments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldberg, Fred; Price, Edward; Robinson, Stephen; Boyd-Harlow, Danielle; McKean, Michael

2012-01-01

We report on the adaptation of the small enrollment, lab and discussion based physical science course, "Physical Science and Everyday Thinking" (PSET), for a large-enrollment, lecture-style setting. Like PSET, the new "Learning Physical Science" (LEPS) curriculum was designed around specific principles based on research on learning to meet the…

The Adaptive Optics Summer School Laboratory Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ammons, S. M.; Severson, S.; Armstrong, J. D.; Crossfield, I.; Do, T.; Fitzgerald, M.; Harrington, D.; Hickenbotham, A.; Hunter, J.; Johnson, J.; Johnson, L.; Li, K.; Lu, J.; Maness, H.; Morzinski, K.; Norton, A.; Putnam, N.; Roorda, A.; Rossi, E.; Yelda, S.

2010-12-01

Adaptive Optics (AO) is a new and rapidly expanding field of instrumentation, yet astronomers, vision scientists, and general AO practitioners are largely unfamiliar with the root technologies crucial to AO systems. The AO Summer School (AOSS), sponsored by the Center for Adaptive Optics, is a week-long course for training graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the underlying theory, design, and use of AO systems. AOSS participants include astronomers who expect to utilize AO data, vision scientists who will use AO instruments to conduct research, opticians and engineers who design AO systems, and users of high-bandwidth laser communication systems. In this article we describe new AOSS laboratory sessions implemented in 2006-2009 for nearly 250 students. The activity goals include boosting familiarity with AO technologies, reinforcing knowledge of optical alignment techniques and the design of optical systems, and encouraging inquiry into critical scientific questions in vision science using AO systems as a research tool. The activities are divided into three stations: Vision Science, Fourier Optics, and the AO Demonstrator. We briefly overview these activities, which are described fully in other articles in these conference proceedings (Putnam et al., Do et al., and Harrington et al., respectively). We devote attention to the unique challenges encountered in the design of these activities, including the marriage of inquiry-like investigation techniques with complex content and the need to tune depth to a graduate- and PhD-level audience. According to before-after surveys conducted in 2008, the vast majority of participants found that all activities were valuable to their careers, although direct experience with integrated, functional AO systems was particularly beneficial.

The Business of Co-Production: Assessing Efforts to Bridge Science and Decision-Making for Adaptation in California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webber, S.; MacDonald, G. M.

2016-12-01

The last decades have seen scholars argue for a greater integration of science and decision-making in order to more effectively respond to climate change. It has been suggested that overcoming the gap between science, on the one hand, and policy-making and management, on the other, requires building bridges through methods of co-production, creating actionable science, or through boundary organizations. In this paper, we review attempts at co-production for policy-making and management in the context of climate change adaptation in California. Building on field research, including numerous interviews conducted with scientists and decision-makers who are co-producers of adaptation projects, we make three arguments. First, we show that an emphasis on co-production and science-informed climate change adaptation decision-making has bolstered a contract-oriented, and decentralized network-based model of producing climate science. Second, reviewing successes and failures in co-production - as reported in interviews - indicates that it is principally in cases of neatly defined, and spatially and temporarily narrow decision-making contexts, and with highly motivated decision-makers, that climate science is used. Finally, we suggest that the ideas of co-production and actionable science may have increased the institutional and organizational burden at the science-decision interface, lengthening the boundary-organization-chain rather than necessarily facilitating adaptive policy-making and management.

Genome research elucidating environmental adaptation: Dark-fly project as a case study.

PubMed

Fuse, Naoyuki

2017-08-01

Organisms have the capacity to adapt to diverse environments, and environmental adaptation is a substantial driving force of evolution. Recent progress of genome science has addressed the genetic mechanisms underlying environmental adaptation. Whole genome sequencing has identified adaptive genes selected under particular environments. Genome editing technology enables us to directly test the role(s) of a gene in environmental adaptation. Genome science has also shed light on a unique organism, Dark-fly, which has been reared long-term in the dark. We determined the whole genome sequence of Dark-fly and reenacted environmental selections of the Dark-fly genome to identify the genes related to dark-adaptation. Here I will give an overview of current progress in genome science and summarize our study using Dark-fly, as a case study for environmental adaptation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evolving a Method to Capture Science Stakeholder Inputs to Optimize Instrument, Payload, and Program Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, P. E.; Rilee, M. L.; Curtis, S. A.; Bailin, S.

2012-03-01

We are developing Frontier, a highly adaptable, stably reconfigurable, web-accessible intelligent decision engine capable of optimizing design as well as the simulating operation of complex systems in response to evolving needs and environment.

Holonic Rationale and Bio-inspiration on Design of Complex Emergent and Evolvable Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leitao, Paulo

Traditional centralized and rigid control structures are becoming inflexible to face the requirements of reconfigurability, responsiveness and robustness, imposed by customer demands in the current global economy. The Holonic Manufacturing Systems (HMS) paradigm, which was pointed out as a suitable solution to face these requirements, translates the concepts inherited from social organizations and biology to the manufacturing world. It offers an alternative way of designing adaptive systems where the traditional centralized control is replaced by decentralization over distributed and autonomous entities organized in hierarchical structures formed by intermediate stable forms. In spite of its enormous potential, methods regarding the self-adaptation and self-organization of complex systems are still missing. This paper discusses how the insights from biology in connection with new fields of computer science can be useful to enhance the holonic design aiming to achieve more self-adaptive and evolvable systems. Special attention is devoted to the discussion of emergent behavior and self-organization concepts, and the way they can be combined with the holonic rationale.

The New England Climate Adaptation Project: Enhancing Local Readiness to Adapt to Climate Change through Role-Play Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rumore, D.; Kirshen, P. H.; Susskind, L.

2014-12-01

Despite scientific consensus that the climate is changing, local efforts to prepare for and manage climate change risks remain limited. How we can raise concern about climate change risks and enhance local readiness to adapt to climate change's effects? In this presentation, we will share the lessons learned from the New England Climate Adaptation Project (NECAP), a participatory action research project that tested science-based role-play simulations as a tool for educating the public about climate change risks and simulating collective risk management efforts. NECAP was a 2-year effort involving the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Consensus Building Institute, the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, and four coastal New England municipalities. During 2012-2013, the NECAP team produced downscaled climate change projections, a summary risk assessment, and a stakeholder assessment for each partner community. Working with local partners, we used these assessments to create a tailored, science-based role-play simulation for each site. Through a series of workshops in 2013, NECAP engaged between 115-170 diverse stakeholders and members of the public in each partner municipality in playing the simulation and a follow up conversation about local climate change risks and possible adaptation strategies. Data were collected through before-and-after surveys administered to all workshop participants, follow-up interviews with 25 percent of workshop participants, public opinion polls conducted before and after our intervention, and meetings with public officials. This presentation will report our research findings and explain how science-based role-play simulations can be used to help communicate local climate change risks and enhance local readiness to adapt.

Artisticc: An Art and Science Integration Project to Enquire into Community Level Adaptation to Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vanderlinden, J. P.; Baztan, J.

2014-12-01

The prupose of this paper is to present the "Adaptation Research a Transdisciplinary community and policy centered appoach" (ARTisticc) project. ARTisticc's goal is to apply innovative standardized transdisciplinary art and science integrative approaches to foster robust, socially, culturally and scientifically, community centred adaptation to climate change. The approach used in the project is based on the strong understanding that adaptation is: (a) still "a concept of uncertain form"; (b) a concept dealing with uncertainty; (c) a concept that calls for an analysis that goes beyond the traditional disciplinary organization of science, and; (d) an unconventional process in the realm of science and policy integration. The project is centered on case studies in France, Greenland, Russia, India, Canada, Alaska, and Senegal. In every site we jointly develop artwork while we analyzing how natural science, essentially geosciences can be used in order to better adapt in the future, how society adapt to current changes and how memories of past adaptations frames current and future processes. Artforms are mobilized in order to share scientific results with local communities and policy makers, this in a way that respects cultural specificities while empowering stakeholders, ARTISTICC translates these "real life experiments" into stories and artwork that are meaningful to those affected by climate change. The scientific results and the culturally mediated productions will thereafter be used in order to co-construct, with NGOs and policy makers, policy briefs, i.e. robust and scientifically legitimate policy recommendations regarding coastal adaptation. This co-construction process will be in itself analysed with the goal of increasing arts and science's performative functions in the universe of evidence-based policy making. The project involves scientists from natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities, as well as artitis from the performing arts (playwriters, film directors) as well as the visual arts (photographs, designers, sculptor) working in France, Senegal, India, Russia, Greenland, Alaska, and Canada

Technology of Synergy Manifestation in the Research of Solution's Stability of Differential Equations System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dvoryatkina, Svetlana N.; Melnikov, Roman A. M.; Smirnov, Eugeny I.

2017-01-01

Effectiveness of mathematical education as non-linear, composite and open system, formation and development of cognitive abilities of the trainee are wholly defined in the solution of complex tasks by means of modern achievements in science to high school practice adaptation. The possibility of complex tasks solution arises at identification of…

The Concept of Energy in Psychological Theory. Cognitive Science Program, Technical Report No. 86-2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Posner, Michael I.; Rothbart, Mary Klevjord

This paper describes a basic framework for integration of computational and energetic concepts in psychological theory. The framework is adapted from a general effort to understand the neural systems underlying cognition. The element of the cognitive system that provides the best basis for attempting to relate energetic and computational ideas is…

Collaboratively Architecting a Scalable and Adaptable Petascale Infrastructure to Support Transdisciplinary Scientific Research for the Australian Earth and Environmental Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wyborn, L. A.; Evans, B. J. K.; Pugh, T.; Lescinsky, D. T.; Foster, C.; Uhlherr, A.

2014-12-01

The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) at the Australian National University (ANU) is a partnership between CSIRO, ANU, Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) and Geoscience Australia. Recent investments in a 1.2 PFlop Supercomputer (Raijin), ~ 20 PB data storage using Lustre filesystems and a 3000 core high performance cloud have created a hybrid platform for higher performance computing and data-intensive science to enable large scale earth and climate systems modelling and analysis. There are > 3000 users actively logging in and > 600 projects on the NCI system. Efficiently scaling and adapting data and software systems to petascale infrastructures requires the collaborative development of an architecture that is designed, programmed and operated to enable users to interactively invoke different forms of in-situ computation over complex and large scale data collections. NCI makes available major and long tail data collections from both the government and research sectors based on six themes: 1) weather, climate and earth system science model simulations, 2) marine and earth observations, 3) geosciences, 4) terrestrial ecosystems, 5) water and hydrology and 6) astronomy, bio and social. Collectively they span the lithosphere, crust, biosphere, hydrosphere, troposphere, and stratosphere. Collections are the operational form for data management and access. Similar data types from individual custodians are managed cohesively. Use of international standards for discovery and interoperability allow complex interactions within and between the collections. This design facilitates a transdisciplinary approach to research and enables a shift from small scale, 'stove-piped' science efforts to large scale, collaborative systems science. This new and complex infrastructure requires a move to shared, globally trusted software frameworks that can be maintained and updated. Workflow engines become essential and need to integrate provenance, versioning, traceability, repeatability and publication. There are also human resource challenges as highly skilled HPC/HPD specialists, specialist programmers, and data scientists are required whose skills can support scaling to the new paradigm of effective and efficient data-intensive earth science analytics on petascale, and soon to be exascale systems.

Three Connected Climate Education Interactives: Carbon Cycle, Earth System Energy Flows, and Climate Change Impacts/Adaptations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sussman, A.

2015-12-01

The Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) serves the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Island (USAPI) Region. The international entities served by PCEP are the state of Hawai'i (USA); three Freely Associated States (the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau), and three Territories (Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa). Funded by NSF, the PCEP aims to educate the region's students and citizens in ways that exemplify modern science and indigenous environmental knowledge, address the urgency of climate change impacts, and focus on adaptation strategies that can increase resiliency with respect to climate change impacts. Unfortunately the vast majority of the science texts used in schools come from the US mainland and feature contexts that do not relate to the lives of Pacific island students. The curricular materials also tend to be older and to have very weak climate science content, especially with respect to tropical islands and climate change. In collaboration with public broadcast station WGBH, PCEP has developed three climate education interactives that sequentially provide an introduction to key climate change education concepts. The first in the series focuses on the global carbon cycle and connects increased atmospheric CO2 with rising global temperatures. The second analyzes Earth system energy flows to explain the key role of the increased greenhouse effect. The third focuses on four climate change impacts (higher temperatures, rising sea level, changes in precipitation, and ocean acidification), and adaptation strategies to increase resiliency of local ecosystems and human systems. While the interactives have a Pacific island visual and text perspective, they are broadly applicable for other education audiences. Learners can use the interactives to engage with the basic science concepts, and then apply the climate change impacts to their own contexts.

UAS Applications for Hurricane Science, Hurrican and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Braun, Scott

2014-01-01

Earth Science Industry Update: UAS Applications for Hurricane Science Unmanned systems can significantly transform hurricane observations and monitoring, improving our knowledge about and ability to forecast storm formation, track, and intensity change. NASA's use of the Global Hawk has demonstrated the scientific value of this platform and provided a proof-of-concept for operational applications. However, science flight operations face several challenges and constraints. In this session, learn about how NASA adapted the Global Hawk to do science; How NASA conducts its hurricane missions, and some of the challenges and constraints they face; Science results from NASA's recent hurricane field campaigns using the Global Hawk. How assimilation of dropsonde and radar data into weather prediction models may improve forecast accuracy; Other Earth science problems that could be addressed with Global Hawks.

Social and Behavioral Science: Monitoring Social Foraging Behavior in a Biological Model System

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-12

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: The aim of this project was to establish instrumentation to record honey bee foraging behavior through a Radio- Frequency...Identification (RFID) monitoring and to train students in the use of this technology and in the science underlying honey bee behavior. This enables...basic scientific advances in how honey bees adapt behaviorally to different stressors. Most notably, it will examine how early life stress and

Materials Presented at the MU-SPIN Eighth Annual User's Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harrington, James, Jr.; Shukla, Pooja; Brown, Robin

1999-01-01

The goal of NASA's many outreach programs is to promote to the general public an understanding of how NASA makes significant contributions to American education systems and to institutions dedicated to improving science literacy. This newsletter provides one vehicle for reporting how applications and hardware used for space science and other NASA research and development can be adapted for use by teachers and their students and by non-NASA organizations.

The relationship between school environment, preservice science teachers' science teaching self-efficacy, and their use of instructional strategies at teachers' colleges in Saudi Arabia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alshalaan, Nasser A.

Studies indicate that many teachers have negative beliefs about science, which translates into low teacher efficacy, resulting in avoidance of science teaching or in ineffective science teaching behaviors. Highly efficacious teachers have been found to be more likely to use inquiry and student-centered teaching strategies, while teachers with a low sense of science-teaching efficacy are more likely to use teacher-directed strategies, such as didactic lectures and reading from the textbook (Czemiak, 1990). The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice science teachers' science-teaching self-efficacy changes and their correlation to teaching environment factors during the student teaching semester. Moreover, it explains how teaching environment factors and preservice teachers' science-teaching self-efficacy beliefs may relate to their use of teaching strategies in the science classroom during their student teacher training at teachers' colleges in Saudi Arabia. The population of this study is consisted of 184 middle and elementary preservice science teachers who were doing their student teaching at nine teachers' colleges (i.e., teachers' colleges of Riyadh, Dammam, Alrras, Almadinah, Alihsa, Jeddah, Makah, Altaief, and Abha) in Saudi Arabia during the spring semester of 2005. Three instruments were used to collect data for this study: (1) to measure science teaching self-efficacy, the researcher adapted the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument form B designed specifically for preservice teachers (STEBI-B); (2) to measure the school environment, the researcher adapted the Organizational Health Inventory (OHI), developed by Hoy, Tarter & Kottkamp (1991); and (3) to measure the type and frequency of instructional strategies that preservice science teachers use in the classroom, the researcher adapted the teaching practice subscale from The Local Systemic Change through Teacher Enhancement Science K-8 Teacher Questionnaire (Horizon Research, Inc., 2000). Descriptive statistics, simple correlation, t-test, multiple regression, and content analysis procedures were used to analyze research questions. Findings of this study revealed that both dimensions of teaching efficacy, PSTE and STOE, were increased significantly during the student teaching semester. Certain school factors were related to preservice science teachers' teaching efficacy and their use of instructional strategies. Only personal science teaching efficacy was found to affect preservice science teachers' use of instructional strategies. Implications for the findings of this study, as well as recommendations for future research, are discussed.

Communal Sensor Network for Adaptive Noise Reduction in Aircraft Engine Nacelles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Kennie H.; Nark, Douglas M.; Jones, Michael G.

2011-01-01

Emergent behavior, a subject of much research in biology, sociology, and economics, is a foundational element of Complex Systems Science and is apropos in the design of sensor network systems. To demonstrate engineering for emergent behavior, a novel approach in the design of a sensor/actuator network is presented maintaining optimal noise attenuation as an adaptation to changing acoustic conditions. Rather than use the conventional approach where sensors are managed by a central controller, this new paradigm uses a biomimetic model where sensor/actuators cooperate as a community of autonomous organisms, sharing with neighbors to control impedance based on local information. From the combination of all individual actions, an optimal attenuation emerges for the global system.

Adaptable mission planning for kino-dynamic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bush, Lawrence A. M.; Jimenez, Tony R.; Williams, Brian C.

Autonomous systems can perform tasks that are dangerous, monotonous, or even impossible for humans. To approach the problem of planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) we present a hierarchical method that combines a high-level planner with a low-level planner. We pose the problem of high-level planning as a Selective Traveling Salesman Problem (STSP) and select the order in which to visit our science sites. We then use a kino-dynamic path planner to create a large number of intermediate waypoints. This is a complete system that combines high and low level planning to achieve a goal. This paper demonstrates the benefits gained by adaptable high-level plans versus static and greedy plans.

A Program to Prepare Graduate Students for Careers in Climate Adaptation Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huntly, N.; Belmont, P.; Flint, C.; Gordillo, L.; Howe, P. D.; Lutz, J. A.; Null, S. E.; Reed, S.; Rosenberg, D. E.; Wang, S. Y.

2017-12-01

We describe our experiences creating a graduate program that addresses the need for a next generation of scientists who can produce, communicate, and help implement actionable science. The Climate Adaptation Science (CAS) graduate program, funded by the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) program, prepares graduate students for careers at the interfaces of science with policy and management in the field of climate adaptation, which is a major 21st-century challenge for science and society. The program is interdisciplinary, with students and faculty from natural, social, and physical sciences, engineering, and mathematics, and is based around interdisciplinary team research in collaboration with partners from outside of academia who have climate adaptation science needs. The program embeds students in a cycle of creating and implementing actionable science through a two-part internship, with partners from government, non-governmental organizations, and industry, that brackets and informs a year of interdisciplinary team research. The program is communication-rich, with events that foster information exchange and understanding across disciplines and workplaces. We describe the CAS program, our experiences in developing it, the research and internship experiences of students in the program, and initial metrics and feedback on the effectiveness of the program.

Extreme AO coronagraphy laboratory demonstration in the context of SPHERE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez, P.; Aller Carpentier, E.; Kasper, M.

2010-10-01

The exoplanetary science through direct imaging and spectroscopy will largely expand with the very soon raise of new instruments at the VLT (SPHERE), Gemini (GPI), and Subaru (HiCIAO) observatories. All these ground-based adaptive optics instruments include extremely high performance adaptive optics (XAO) system, advanced starlight cancellation techniques (e.g. coronagraphy), and speckle calibration techniques (e.g. spectral, angular, or polarimetry). In this context we report laboratory results obtained with the High-Order Test bench (HOT), the adaptive optics facility at the European Southern Observatory headquarters. Under 0.5 arcsec dynamical seeing, efficiently corrected by an XAO system delivering H-band Strehl ratio above 90%, we discuss contrast levels obtained with an apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph using differential imaging techniques (spectral and polarimetric). Accounting for system differences (e.g. deformable mirror actuator number), we demonstrate a good agreement between experimental results and expectations for SPHERE, or GPI, while we already met HiCIAO contrast goals.

Social-ecological resilience and social conflict: institutions and strategic adaptation in Swedish water management.

PubMed

Galaz, Victor

2005-11-01

Dealing with uncertainty and complexity in social-ecological systems is profoundly dependent on the ability of natural resource users to learn and adapt from ecological surprises and crises. This paper analyzes why and how learning processes are affected by strategic behavior among natural resource users and how social conflict is affected by social and ecological uncertainty. The claim is that social conflict among natural resource users seriously inhibits the possibilities of learning and adaptation in social-ecological systems. This is done combining insights from political science, experimental economics, and social-psychology and an analytical case study elaborating social conflict and institutional change in Swedish water management institutions. This paper also discusses the crucial role the institutional context plays in defining the outcome of learning processes in Swedish water management institutions and hence highlights previously poorly elaborated political aspects of learning processes and institutional change in social-ecological systems.

The Role of Semantics in Open-World, Integrative, Collaborative Science Data Platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, Peter; Chen, Yanning; Wang, Han; West, Patrick; Erickson, John; Ma, Marshall

2014-05-01

As collaborative science spreads into more and more Earth and space science fields, both participants and funders are expressing stronger needs for highly functional data and information capabilities. Characteristics include a) easy to use, b) highly integrated, c) leverage investments, d) accommodate rapid technical change, and e) do not incur undue expense or time to build or maintain - these are not a small set of requirements. Based on our accumulated experience over the last ~ decade and several key technical approaches, we adapt, extend, and integrate several open source applications and frameworks to handle major portions of functionality for these platforms. This includes: an object-type repository, collaboration tools, identity management, all within a portal managing diverse content and applications. In this contribution, we present our methods and results of information models, adaptation, integration and evolution of a networked data science architecture based on several open source technologies (Drupal, VIVO, the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network; CKAN, and the Global Handle System; GHS). In particular we present the Deep Carbon Observatory - a platform for international science collaboration. We present and discuss key functional and non-functional attributes, and discuss the general applicability of the platform.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 11

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor); Radtke, Mike (Editor)

1987-01-01

This is the eleventh issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 54 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of four new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated. Additional features include the translation of a paper presented in Russian to the United Nations, a review of a book on space ecology, and report of a conference on evaluating human functional capacities and predicting health. Current Soviet Life Sciences titles available in English are cited. The materials included in this issue have been identified as relevant to 30 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are: adaptation, aviation physiology, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cosmonaut training, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal systems, group dynamics, genetics, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, and radiobiology.

A Study of Three Outcomes of a College Level Course in Physical Science for Nonscience Students (Adapted PSNS).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frangos, George John

This study was designed to determine if an adapted version of Physical Science for Nonscience Students (PSNS), a physical science course used for nonscience majors in college, significantly contributes to an understanding of the scientific enterprise, positive attitudes toward science and scientists, and knowledge of solid matter and the…

Curriculum-Dependent and Curriculum-Independent Factors in Preservice Elementary Teachers' Adaptation of Science Curriculum Materials for Inquiry-Based Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forbes, Cory T.

2013-01-01

In this nested mixed methods study I investigate factors influencing preservice elementary teachers' adaptation of science curriculum materials to better support students' engagement in science as inquiry. Analyses focus on two "reflective teaching assignments" completed by 46 preservice elementary teachers in an undergraduate elementary science…

Data systems and computer science: Neural networks base R/T program overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gulati, Sandeep

1991-01-01

The research base, in the U.S. and abroad, for the development of neural network technology is discussed. The technical objectives are to develop and demonstrate adaptive, neural information processing concepts. The leveraging of external funding is also discussed.

Understanding Aggression.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, J. P.

Research in many fields of the social and biological sciences indicates that there are ecological, cultural, social, psychological, physiological, and genetic causes of aggression. The agonistic behavior system, which adapts to situations of social conflict, includes several patterns of conduct ranging from overt fighting to complete passivity. In…

From data to decisions: Processing information, biases, and beliefs for improved management of natural resources and environments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Glynn, Pierre D.; Voinov, Alexey A.; Shapiro, Carl D.; White, Paul A.

2017-01-01

Our different kinds of minds and types of thinking affect the ways we decide, take action, and cooperate (or not). Derived from these types of minds, innate biases, beliefs, heuristics, and values (BBHV) influence behaviors, often beneficially, when individuals or small groups face immediate, local, acute situations that they and their ancestors faced repeatedly in the past. BBHV, though, need to be recognized and possibly countered or used when facing new, complex issues or situations especially if they need to be managed for the benefit of a wider community, for the longer-term and the larger-scale. Taking BBHV into account, we explain and provide a cyclic science-infused adaptive framework for (1) gaining knowledge of complex systems and (2) improving their management. We explore how this process and framework could improve the governance of science and policy for different types of systems and issues, providing examples in the area of natural resources, hazards, and the environment. Lastly, we suggest that an “Open Traceable Accountable Policy” initiative that followed our suggested adaptive framework could beneficially complement recent Open Data/Model science initiatives.

Progress with the lick adaptive optics system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gavel, D T; Olivier, S S; Bauman, B

2000-03-01

Progress and results of observations with the Lick Observatory Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics System are presented. This system is optimized for diffraction-limited imaging in the near infrared, 1-2 micron wavelength bands. We describe our development efforts in a number of component areas including, a redesign of the optical bench layout, the commissioning of a new infrared science camera, and improvements to the software and user interface. There is also an ongoing effort to characterize the system performance with both natural and laser guide stars and to fold this data into a refined system model. Such a model can bemore » used to help plan future observations, for example, predicting the point-spread function as a function of seeing and guide star magnitude.« less

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, L. R. (Editor); Radtke, M. (Editor); Garshnek, V. (Editor); Rowe, J. E. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor)

1985-01-01

This is the third issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. Abstracts are included for 46 Soviet periodical articles in 20 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology and published in Russian during the second third of 1985. Selected articles are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. In addition, translated introductions and tables of contents for seven Russian books on six topics related to NASA's life science concerns are presented. Areas covered are adaptation, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, exobiology, gravitational biology, habitability and environmental effects, health and medical treatment, immunology, life support systems, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system; neurophysiology, nutrition, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, and space physiology. Two book reviews translated from the Russian are included and lists of additional relevant titles available in English with pertinent ordering information are given.

Designing for adaptation to novelty and change: functional information, emergent feature graphics, and higher-level control.

PubMed

Hajdukiewicz, John R; Vicente, Kim J

2002-01-01

Ecological interface design (EID) is a theoretical framework that aims to support worker adaptation to change and novelty in complex systems. Previous evaluations of EID have emphasized representativeness to enhance generalizability of results to operational settings. The research presented here is complementary, emphasizing experimental control to enhance theory building. Two experiments were conducted to test the impact of functional information and emergent feature graphics on adaptation to novelty and change in a thermal-hydraulic process control microworld. Presenting functional information in an interface using emergent features encouraged experienced participants to become perceptually coupled to the interface and thereby to exhibit higher-level control and more successful adaptation to unanticipated events. The absence of functional information or of emergent features generally led to lower-level control and less success at adaptation, the exception being a minority of participants who compensated by relying on analytical reasoning. These findings may have practical implications for shaping coordination in complex systems and fundamental implications for the development of a general unified theory of coordination for the technical, human, and social sciences. Actual or potential applications of this research include the design of human-computer interfaces that improve safety in complex sociotechnical systems.

High-Resolution Adaptive Optics Test-Bed for Vision Science

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wilks, S C; Thomspon, C A; Olivier, S S

2001-09-27

We discuss the design and implementation of a low-cost, high-resolution adaptive optics test-bed for vision research. It is well known that high-order aberrations in the human eye reduce optical resolution and limit visual acuity. However, the effects of aberration-free eyesight on vision are only now beginning to be studied using adaptive optics to sense and correct the aberrations in the eye. We are developing a high-resolution adaptive optics system for this purpose using a Hamamatsu Parallel Aligned Nematic Liquid Crystal Spatial Light Modulator. Phase-wrapping is used to extend the effective stroke of the device, and the wavefront sensing and wavefrontmore » correction are done at different wavelengths. Issues associated with these techniques will be discussed.« less

Multi-Modalities Sensor Science

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-28

enhanced multi-mode sensor science. bio -sensing, cross-discipling, multi-physics, nano-technology sailing He +46-8790 8465 1 Final Report for SOARD Project...spectroscopy, nano-technology, biophotonics and multi-physics modeling to produce adaptable bio -nanostructure enhanced multi-mode sensor science. 1...adaptable bio -nanostructure enhanced multi-mode sensor science. The accomplishments includes 1) A General Method for Designing a Radome to Enhance

Citizen Science & MPA Monitoring: Informing adaptive management through enriched local knowledge systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, R.; Freitag, A.; McGregor, A.; Whiteman, E.

2013-12-01

Along the California coast, a wealth of capacity exists among individuals, groups and organizations collecting scientific data. This citizen science can take many forms, from spontaneous observations of seabirds to organized surveys of nearshore reefs. Yet, as is often the case, state resource managers have struggled to find ways to access and use this scientific information in decision-making. A unique opportunity exists to alter this status-quo. California has the largest network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the nation with more than 100 MPAs statewide. Monitoring is essential to inform adaptive management of this network. Traditionally, MPA monitoring has been the purview of academic or agency scientists. Yet, there is increasing recognition that this approach, while playing an important role, is unlikely by itself to provide a sustainable path forward. An opportunity therefore exists to understand how to sustainably and cost-effectively expand the capacity or human capital invested in monitoring and ocean stewardship. In this presentation we will share our collaborative approach to development of a new framework for incorporating citizen science into a partnerships-based portfolio of MPA monitoring in California. We will present initial findings and lessons learned from a broad review of published and gray literature, as well as reflections from interviews and participant observations with citizen science groups in the Central Coast region of California's MPA network. Through research, engagement with existing citizen science programs, and involvement of natural resource managers, we are identifying general best practices and specific opportunities for these groups to collaborate effectively, and for citizen science to play a constructive ongoing role in adaptive management of MPAs.

78 FR 34657 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-10

... submitting comments. Mail: Federal Docket Management System Office, 4800 Mark Center Drive, East Tower, Suite..., please write to the Office of Naval Research (ONR), ATTN: Will Brown, Talent Manager, 875 North Randolph... support science and technology management. These individuals move across the organization adapting quickly...

From Metaphors to Models: Broadening the Lens of the Hunter Warrior Experiment with a Complex Adaptive System Tool

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-01-01

chemistry tells us why it is inevitable, pervasive, and won’t go away. Fortunately, there is the companion new science of complexity, rooted in...article. 30llachinski, Land Warfare and Complexity, Part II, 43. 32 Ilachinski, 43. Etymologically , metaphor (the Greek metafora, "carry over") means...anthropology, chemistry , economics, military and political science among others. Santa Fe Institute, http://www.santafe.edu/sfl/research. 53SAIC

Automated Scheduling of Personnel to Staff Operations for the Mars Science Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knight, Russell; Mishkin, Andrew; Allbaugh, Alicia

2014-01-01

Leveraging previous work on scheduling personnel for space mission operations, we have adapted ASPEN (Activity Scheduling and Planning Environment) [1] to the domain of scheduling personnel for operations of the Mars Science Laboratory. Automated scheduling of personnel is not new. We compare our representations to a sampling of employee scheduling systems available with respect to desired features. We described the constraints required by MSL personnel schedulers and how each is handled by the scheduling algorithm.

First on-sky results with ARGOS at LBT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orban de Xivry, G.; Rabien, S.; Busoni, L.; Gaessler, W.; Bonaglia, M.; Borelli, J.; Deysenroth, M.; Esposito, S.; Gemperlein, H.; Kulas, M.; Lefebvre, M.; Mazzoni, T.; Peter, D.; Puglisi, A.; Raab, W.; Rahmer, G.; Sivitilli, A.; Storm, J.; Ziegleder, J.

2016-07-01

One year and an half after ARGOS first light, the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) laser guided ground-layer adaptive optics (GLAO) system has been operated on both sides of the LBT. The system fulfills the GLAO promise and typically delivers an improvement by a factor of 2 in FWHM over the 4'×4' field of view of both Luci instruments, the two near-infrared imagers and multi-object spectrographs. In this paper, we report on the first on-sky results and analyze the performances based on the data collected so far. We also discuss adaptive optics procedures and the joint operations with Luci for science observations.

A Disk-Based System for Producing and Distributing Science Products from MODIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Masuoka, Edward; Wolfe, Robert; Sinno, Scott; Ye Gang; Teague, Michael

2007-01-01

Since beginning operations in 1999, the MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS) has evolved to take advantage of trends in information technology, such as the falling cost of computing cycles and disk storage and the availability of high quality open-source software (Linux, Apache and Perl), to achieve substantial gains in processing and distribution capacity and throughput while driving down the cost of system operations.

Toward a Dynamically Reconfigurable Computing and Communication System for Small Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kifle, Muli; Andro, Monty; Tran, Quang K.; Fujikawa, Gene; Chu, Pong P.

2003-01-01

Future science missions will require the use of multiple spacecraft with multiple sensor nodes autonomously responding and adapting to a dynamically changing space environment. The acquisition of random scientific events will require rapidly changing network topologies, distributed processing power, and a dynamic resource management strategy. Optimum utilization and configuration of spacecraft communications and navigation resources will be critical in meeting the demand of these stringent mission requirements. There are two important trends to follow with respect to NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) future scientific missions: the use of multiple satellite systems and the development of an integrated space communications network. Reconfigurable computing and communication systems may enable versatile adaptation of a spacecraft system's resources by dynamic allocation of the processor hardware to perform new operations or to maintain functionality due to malfunctions or hardware faults. Advancements in FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) technology make it possible to incorporate major communication and network functionalities in FPGA chips and provide the basis for a dynamically reconfigurable communication system. Advantages of higher computation speeds and accuracy are envisioned with tremendous hardware flexibility to ensure maximum survivability of future science mission spacecraft. This paper discusses the requirements, enabling technologies, and challenges associated with dynamically reconfigurable space communications systems.

The Process of Becoming an Embedded Curriculum Librarian in Multiple Health Sciences Programs.

PubMed

Wilson, Gwen

2015-01-01

Higher education is moving to offer more fully online programs, and the health science fields are no different. These programs are either hybrid or completely online. It is up to the health sciences librarian to adapt services offered by the academic library to these types of courses. This column discusses the multiple ways a librarian can be an embedded librarian in a course using a learning management system (LMS). The process of creating a customized embedded librarian program, results, and lessons learned from the different embedded librarian roles are also discussed.

A multi-layered governance framework for incorporating social science insights into adapting to the health impacts of climate change.

PubMed

Bowen, Kathryn J; Ebi, Kristie; Friel, Sharon; McMichael, Anthony J

2013-09-10

Addressing climate change and its associated effects is a multi-dimensional and ongoing challenge. This includes recognizing that climate change will affect the health and wellbeing of all populations over short and longer terms, albeit in varied ways and intensities. That recognition has drawn attention to the need to take adaptive actions to lessen adverse impacts over the next few decades from unavoidable climate change, particularly in developing country settings. A range of sectors is responsible for appropriate adaptive policies and measures to address the health risks of climate change, including health services, water and sanitation, trade, agriculture, disaster management, and development. To broaden the framing of governance and decision-making processes by using innovative methods and assessments to illustrate the multi-sectoral nature of health-related adaptation to climate change. This is a shift from sector-specific to multi-level systems encompassing sectors and actors, across temporal and spatial scales. A review and synthesis of the current knowledge in the areas of health and climate change adaptation governance and decision-making processes. A novel framework is presented that incorporates social science insights into the formulation and implementation of adaptation activities and policies to lessen the health risks posed by climate change. Clarification of the roles that different sectors, organizations, and individuals occupy in relation to the development of health-related adaptation strategies will facilitate the inclusion of health and wellbeing within multi-sector adaptation policies, thereby strengthening the overall set of responses to minimize the adverse health effects of climate change.

A multi-layered governance framework for incorporating social science insights into adapting to the health impacts of climate change

PubMed Central

Bowen, Kathryn J.; Ebi, Kristie; Friel, Sharon; McMichael, Anthony J.

2013-01-01

Background Addressing climate change and its associated effects is a multi-dimensional and ongoing challenge. This includes recognizing that climate change will affect the health and wellbeing of all populations over short and longer terms, albeit in varied ways and intensities. That recognition has drawn attention to the need to take adaptive actions to lessen adverse impacts over the next few decades from unavoidable climate change, particularly in developing country settings. A range of sectors is responsible for appropriate adaptive policies and measures to address the health risks of climate change, including health services, water and sanitation, trade, agriculture, disaster management, and development. Objectives To broaden the framing of governance and decision-making processes by using innovative methods and assessments to illustrate the multi-sectoral nature of health-related adaptation to climate change. This is a shift from sector-specific to multi-level systems encompassing sectors and actors, across temporal and spatial scales. Design A review and synthesis of the current knowledge in the areas of health and climate change adaptation governance and decision-making processes. Results A novel framework is presented that incorporates social science insights into the formulation and implementation of adaptation activities and policies to lessen the health risks posed by climate change. Conclusion Clarification of the roles that different sectors, organizations, and individuals occupy in relation to the development of health-related adaptation strategies will facilitate the inclusion of health and wellbeing within multi-sector adaptation policies, thereby strengthening the overall set of responses to minimize the adverse health effects of climate change. PMID:24028938

Adaptive management: good business or good buzzwords?

Treesearch

Sally Duncan

1998-01-01

Adaptive management is a fusion of science and managment used to improve and care for natural resources. This issue of "Science Findings" centers on how this type of management is used to tame wildfire incidents in northeastern Oregon's Blue Mountain range.The following article considers how adaptive management is being used by the La Grande,...

Restoration of neurological functions by neuroprosthetic technologies: future prospects and trends towards micro-, nano-, and biohybrid systems.

PubMed

Stieglitz, T

2007-01-01

Today applications of neural prostheses that successfully help patients to increase their activities of daily living and participate in social life again are quite simple implants that yield definite tissue response and are well recognized as foreign body. Latest developments in genetic engineering, nanotechnologies and materials sciences have paved the way to new scenarios towards highly complex systems to interface the human nervous system. Combinations of neural cells with microimplants promise stable biohybrid interfaces. Nanotechnology opens the door to macromolecular landscapes on implants that mimic the biologic topology and surface interaction of biologic cells. Computer sciences dream of technical cognitive systems that act and react due to knowledge-based conclusion mechanisms to a changing or adaptive environment. Different sciences start to interact and discuss the synergies when methods and paradigms from biology, computer sciences and engineering, neurosciences, psychology will be combined. They envision the era of "converging technologies" to completely change the understanding of science and postulate a new vision of humans. In this chapter, these research lines will be discussed on some examples as well as the societal implications and ethical questions that arise from these new opportunities.

Toward A Science of Sustainable Water Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, C.

2016-12-01

Societal need for improved water management and concerns for the long-term sustainability of water resources systems are prominent around the world. The continued susceptibility of society to the harmful effects of hydrologic variability, pervasive concerns related to climate change and the emergent awareness of devastating effects of current practice on aquatic ecosystems all illustrate our limited understanding of how water ought to be managed in a dynamic world. The related challenges of resolving the competition for freshwater among competing uses (so called "nexus" issues) and adapting water resources systems to climate change are prominent examples of the of sustainable water management challenges. In addition, largely untested concepts such as "integrated water resources management" have surfaced as Sustainable Development Goals. In this presentation, we argue that for research to improve water management, and for practice to inspire better research, a new focus is required, one that bridges disciplinary barriers between the water resources research focus on infrastructure planning and management, and the role of human actors, and geophysical sciences community focus on physical processes in the absence of dynamical human response. Examples drawn from climate change adaptation for water resource systems and groundwater management policy provide evidence of initial progress towards a science of sustainable water management that links improved physical understanding of the hydrological cycle with the socioeconomic and ecological understanding of water and societal interactions.

Studying citizen science through adaptive management and learning feedbacks as mechanisms for improving conservation.

PubMed

Jordan, Rebecca; Gray, Steven; Sorensen, Amanda; Newman, Greg; Mellor, David; Newman, Greg; Hmelo-Silver, Cindy; LaDeau, Shannon; Biehler, Dawn; Crall, Alycia

2016-06-01

Citizen science has generated a growing interest among scientists and community groups, and citizen science programs have been created specifically for conservation. We examined collaborative science, a highly interactive form of citizen science, which we developed within a theoretically informed framework. In this essay, we focused on 2 aspects of our framework: social learning and adaptive management. Social learning, in contrast to individual-based learning, stresses collaborative and generative insight making and is well-suited for adaptive management. Adaptive-management integrates feedback loops that are informed by what is learned and is guided by iterative decision making. Participants engaged in citizen science are able to add to what they are learning through primary data collection, which can result in the real-time information that is often necessary for conservation. Our work is particularly timely because research publications consistently report a lack of established frameworks and evaluation plans to address the extent of conservation outcomes in citizen science. To illustrate how our framework supports conservation through citizen science, we examined how 2 programs enacted our collaborative science framework. Further, we inspected preliminary conservation outcomes of our case-study programs. These programs, despite their recent implementation, are demonstrating promise with regard to positive conservation outcomes. To date, they are independently earning funds to support research, earning buy-in from local partners to engage in experimentation, and, in the absence of leading scientists, are collecting data to test ideas. We argue that this success is due to citizen scientists being organized around local issues and engaging in iterative, collaborative, and adaptive learning. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Adaptive management for ecosystem services (j/a) | Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Management of natural resources for the production of ecosystem services, which are vital for human well-being, is necessary even when there is uncertainty regarding system response to management action. This uncertainty is the result of incomplete controllability, complex internal feedbacks, and non-linearity that often interferes with desired management outcomes, and insufficient understanding of nature and people. Adaptive management was developed to reduce such uncertainty. We present a framework for the application of adaptive management for ecosystem services that explicitly accounts for cross-scale tradeoffs in the production of ecosystem services. Our framework focuses on identifying key spatiotemporal scales (plot, patch, ecosystem, landscape, and region) that encompass dominant structures and processes in the system, and includes within- and cross-scale dynamics, ecosystem service tradeoffs, and management controllability within and across scales. Resilience theory recognizes that a limited set of ecological processes in a given system regulate ecosystem services, yet our understanding of these processes is poorly understood. If management actions erode or remove these processes, the system may shift into an alternative state unlikely to support the production of desired services. Adaptive management provides a process to assess the underlying within and cross-scale tradeoffs associated with production of ecosystem services while proceeding with manage

Into the blue: AO science with MagAO in the visible

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Close, Laird M.; Males, Jared R.; Follette, Katherine B.; Hinz, Phil; Morzinski, Katie; Wu, Ya-Lin; Kopon, Derek; Riccardi, Armando; Esposito, Simone; Puglisi, Alfio; Pinna, Enrico; Xompero, Marco; Briguglio, Runa; Quiros-Pacheco, Fernando

2014-08-01

We review astronomical results in the visible (λ<1μm) with adaptive optics. Other than a brief period in the early 1990s, there has been little astronomical science done in the visible with AO until recently. The most productive visible AO system to date is our 6.5m Magellan telescope AO system (MagAO). MagAO is an advanced Adaptive Secondary system at the Magellan 6.5m in Chile. This secondary has 585 actuators with < 1 msec response times (0.7 ms typically). We use a pyramid wavefront sensor. The relatively small actuator pitch (~23 cm/subap) allows moderate Strehls to be obtained in the visible (0.63-1.05 microns). We use a CCD AO science camera called "VisAO". On-sky long exposures (60s) achieve <30mas resolutions, 30% Strehls at 0.62 microns (r') with the VisAO camera in 0.5" seeing with bright R < 8 mag stars. These relatively high visible wavelength Strehls are made possible by our powerful combination of a next generation ASM and a Pyramid WFS with 378 controlled modes and 1000 Hz loop frequency. We'll review the key steps to having good performance in the visible and review the exciting new AO visible science opportunities and refereed publications in both broad-band (r,i,z,Y) and at Halpha for exoplanets, protoplanetary disks, young stars, and emission line jets. These examples highlight the power of visible AO to probe circumstellar regions/spatial resolutions that would otherwise require much larger diameter telescopes with classical infrared AO cameras.

EarthTutor: An Interactive Intelligent Tutoring System for Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, A. M.; Parton, K.; Smith, E.

2005-12-01

Earth science classes in colleges and high schools use a variety of satellite image processing software to teach earth science and remote sensing principles. However, current tutorials for image processing software are often paper-based or lecture-based and do not take advantage of the full potential of the computer context to teach, immerse, and stimulate students. We present EarthTutor, an adaptive, interactive Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) being built for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) that is integrated directly with an image processing application. The system aims to foster the use of satellite imagery in classrooms and encourage inquiry-based, hands-on earth science scientific study by providing students with an engaging imagery analysis learning environment. EarthTutor's software is available as a plug-in to ImageJ, a free image processing system developed by the NIH (National Institute of Health). Since it is written in Java, it can be run on almost any platform and also as an applet from the Web. Labs developed for EarthTutor combine lesson content (such as HTML web pages) with interactive activities and questions. In each lab the student learns to measure, calibrate, color, slice, plot and otherwise process and analyze earth science imagery. During the activities, EarthTutor monitors students closely as they work, which allows it to provide immediate feedback that is customized to a particular student's needs. As the student moves through the labs, EarthTutor assesses the student, and tailors the presentation of the content to a student's demonstrated skill level. EarthTutor's adaptive approach is based on emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) research. Bayesian networks are employed to model a student's proficiency with different earth science and image processing concepts. Agent behaviors are used to track the student's progress through activities and provide guidance when a student encounters difficulty. Through individual feedback and adaptive instruction, EarthTutor aims to offer the benefits of a one-on-one human instructor in a cost-effective, easy-to-use application. We are currently working with remote sensing experts to develop EarthTutor labs for diverse earth science subjects such as global vegetation, stratospheric ozone, oceanography, polar sea ice and natural hazards. These labs will be packaged with the first public release of EarthTutor in December 2005. Custom labs can be designed with the EarthTutor authoring tool. The tool is basic enough to allow teachers to construct tutorials to fit their classroom's curriculum and locale, but also powerful enough to allow advanced users to create highly-interactive labs. Preliminary results from an ongoing pilot study demonstrate that the EarthTutor system is effective and enjoyable teaching tool, relative to traditional satellite imagery teaching methods.

Iterative management of heat early warning systems in a changing climate.

PubMed

Hess, Jeremy J; Ebi, Kristie L

2016-10-01

Extreme heat is a leading weather-related cause of morbidity and mortality, with heat exposure becoming more widespread, frequent, and intense as climates change. The use of heat early warning and response systems (HEWSs) that integrate weather forecasts with risk assessment, communication, and reduction activities is increasingly widespread. HEWSs are frequently touted as an adaptation to climate change, but little attention has been paid to the question of how best to ensure effectiveness of HEWSs as climates change further. In this paper, we discuss findings showing that HEWSs satisfy the tenets of an intervention that facilitates adaptation, but climate change poses challenges infrequently addressed in heat action plans, particularly changes in the onset, duration, and intensity of dangerously warm temperatures, and changes over time in the relationships between temperature and health outcomes. Iterative management should be central to a HEWS, and iteration cycles should be of 5 years or less. Climate change adaptation and implementation science research frameworks can be used to identify HEWS modifications to improve their effectiveness as temperature continues to rise, incorporating scientific insights and new understanding of effective interventions. We conclude that, at a minimum, iterative management activities should involve planned reassessment at least every 5 years of hazard distribution, population-level vulnerability, and HEWS effectiveness. © 2016 New York Academy of Sciences.

History of POIC Capabilities and Limitations to Conduct International Space Station Payload Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grimaldi, Rebecca; Horvath, Tim; Morris, Denise; Willis, Emily; Stacy, Lamar; Shell, Mike; Faust, Mark; Norwood, Jason

2011-01-01

Payload science operations on the International Space Station (ISS) have been conducted continuously twenty-four hours per day, 365 days a year beginning February, 2001 and continuing through present day. The Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC), located at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, has been a leader in integrating and managing NASA distributed payload operations. The ability to conduct science operations is a delicate balance of crew time, onboard vehicle resources, hardware up-mass to the vehicle, and ground based flight control team manpower. Over the span of the last ten years, the POIC flight control team size, function, and structure has been modified several times commensurate with the capabilities and limitations of the ISS program. As the ISS vehicle has been expanded and its systems changed throughout the assembly process, the resources available to conduct science and research have also changed. Likewise, as ISS program financial resources have demanded more efficiency from organizations across the program, utilization organizations have also had to adjust their functionality and structure to adapt accordingly. The POIC has responded to these often difficult challenges by adapting our team concept to maximize science research return within the utilization allocations and vehicle limitations that existed at the time. In some cases, the ISS and systems limitations became the limiting factor in conducting science. In other cases, the POIC structure and flight control team size were the limiting factors, so other constraints had to be put into place to assure successful science operations within the capabilities of the POIC. This paper will present the POIC flight control team organizational changes responding to significant events of the ISS and Shuttle programs.

Unlocking the potential of smart grid technologies with behavioral science

PubMed Central

Sintov, Nicole D.; Schultz, P. Wesley

2015-01-01

Smart grid systems aim to provide a more stable and adaptable electricity infrastructure, and to maximize energy efficiency. Grid-linked technologies vary widely in form and function, but generally share common potentials: to reduce energy consumption via efficiency and/or curtailment, to shift use to off-peak times of day, and to enable distributed storage and generation options. Although end users are central players in these systems, they are sometimes not central considerations in technology or program design, and in some cases, their motivations for participating in such systems are not fully appreciated. Behavioral science can be instrumental in engaging end-users and maximizing the impact of smart grid technologies. In this paper, we present emerging technologies made possible by a smart grid infrastructure, and for each we highlight ways in which behavioral science can be applied to enhance their impact on energy savings. PMID:25914666

Is Self-organization a Rational Expectation?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luediger, Heinz

Over decades and under varying names the study of biology-inspired algorithms applied to non-living systems has been the subject of a small and somewhat exotic research community. Only the recent coincidence of a growing inability to master the design, development and operation of increasingly intertwined systems and processes, and an accelerated trend towards a naïve if not romanticizing view of nature in the sciences, has led to the adoption of biology-inspired algorithmic research by a wider range of sciences. Adaptive systems, as we apparently observe in nature, are meanwhile viewed as a promising way out of the complexity trap and, propelled by a long list of ‘self’ catchwords, complexity research has become an influential stream in the science community. This paper presents four provocative theses that cast doubt on the strategic potential of complexity research and the viability of large scale deployment of biology-inspired algorithms in an expectation driven world.

Unlocking the potential of smart grid technologies with behavioral science.

PubMed

Sintov, Nicole D; Schultz, P Wesley

2015-01-01

Smart grid systems aim to provide a more stable and adaptable electricity infrastructure, and to maximize energy efficiency. Grid-linked technologies vary widely in form and function, but generally share common potentials: to reduce energy consumption via efficiency and/or curtailment, to shift use to off-peak times of day, and to enable distributed storage and generation options. Although end users are central players in these systems, they are sometimes not central considerations in technology or program design, and in some cases, their motivations for participating in such systems are not fully appreciated. Behavioral science can be instrumental in engaging end-users and maximizing the impact of smart grid technologies. In this paper, we present emerging technologies made possible by a smart grid infrastructure, and for each we highlight ways in which behavioral science can be applied to enhance their impact on energy savings.

Unlocking the potential of smart grid technologies with behavioral science

DOE PAGES

Sintov, Nicole D.; Schultz, P. Wesley

2015-04-09

Smart grid systems aim to provide a more stable and adaptable electricity infrastructure, and to maximize energy efficiency. Grid-linked technologies vary widely in form and function, but generally share common potentials: to reduce energy consumption via efficiency and/or curtailment, to shift use to off-peak times of day, and to enable distributed storage and generation options. Although end users are central players in these systems, they are sometimes not central considerations in technology or program design, and in some cases, their motivations for participating in such systems are not fully appreciated. Behavioral science can be instrumental in engaging end-users and maximizingmore » the impact of smart grid technologies. In this study, we present emerging technologies made possible by a smart grid infrastructure, and for each we highlight ways in which behavioral science can be applied to enhance their impact on energy savings.« less

Unlocking the potential of smart grid technologies with behavioral science

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sintov, Nicole D.; Schultz, P. Wesley

Smart grid systems aim to provide a more stable and adaptable electricity infrastructure, and to maximize energy efficiency. Grid-linked technologies vary widely in form and function, but generally share common potentials: to reduce energy consumption via efficiency and/or curtailment, to shift use to off-peak times of day, and to enable distributed storage and generation options. Although end users are central players in these systems, they are sometimes not central considerations in technology or program design, and in some cases, their motivations for participating in such systems are not fully appreciated. Behavioral science can be instrumental in engaging end-users and maximizingmore » the impact of smart grid technologies. In this study, we present emerging technologies made possible by a smart grid infrastructure, and for each we highlight ways in which behavioral science can be applied to enhance their impact on energy savings.« less

Adaptive capacity of geographical clusters: Complexity science and network theory approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albino, Vito; Carbonara, Nunzia; Giannoccaro, Ilaria

This paper deals with the adaptive capacity of geographical clusters (GCs), that is a relevant topic in the literature. To address this topic, GC is considered as a complex adaptive system (CAS). Three theoretical propositions concerning the GC adaptive capacity are formulated by using complexity theory. First, we identify three main properties of CAS s that affect the adaptive capacity, namely the interconnectivity, the heterogeneity, and the level of control, and define how the value of these properties influence the adaptive capacity. Then, we associate these properties with specific GC characteristics so obtaining the key conditions of GCs that give them the adaptive capacity so assuring their competitive advantage. To test these theoretical propositions, a case study on two real GCs is carried out. The considered GCs are modeled as networks where firms are nodes and inter-firms relationships are links. Heterogeneity, interconnectivity, and level of control are considered as network properties and thus measured by using the methods of the network theory.

KAPAO: a MEMS-based natural guide star adaptive optics system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Severson, Scott A.; Choi, Philip I.; Contreras, Daniel S.; Gilbreth, Blaine N.; Littleton, Erik; McGonigle, Lorcan P.; Morrison, William A.; Rudy, Alex R.; Wong, Jonathan R.; Xue, Andrew; Spjut, Erik; Baranec, Christoph; Riddle, Reed

2013-03-01

We describe KAPAO, our project to develop and deploy a low-cost, remote-access, natural guide star adaptive optics (AO) system for the Pomona College Table Mountain Observatory (TMO) 1-meter telescope. We use a commercially available 140-actuator BMC MEMS deformable mirror and a version of the Robo-AO control software developed by Caltech and IUCAA. We have structured our development around the rapid building and testing of a prototype system, KAPAO-Alpha, while simultaneously designing our more capable final system, KAPAO-Prime. The main differences between these systems are the prototype's reliance on off-the-shelf optics and a single visible-light science camera versus the final design's improved throughput and capabilities due to the use of custom optics and dual-band, visible and near-infrared imaging. In this paper, we present the instrument design and on-sky closed-loop testing of KAPAO-Alpha as well as our plans for KAPAO-Prime. The primarily undergraduate-education nature of our partner institutions, both public (Sonoma State University) and private (Pomona and Harvey Mudd Colleges), has enabled us to engage physics, astronomy, and engineering undergraduates in all phases of this project. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0960343.

Seeking consensus for cyberinfrastructure governance in the USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allison, M. Lee; Zanzkerkia, Eva

2014-05-01

Governance of geosciences cyberinfrastructure is a complex and essential undertaking, critical in enabling distributed knowledge communities to collaborate and communicate across disciplines, distances, and cultures. Advancing science with respect to "grand challenges," such as global change, Earth system observation, modeling, and prediction, and core fundamental science, depends not just on technical cyber systems, but also on social systems for strategic planning, decision-making, project management, learning, teaching, and building a community of practice. Simply put, a robust, agile technical system depends on an equally robust and adaptable social system. Cyberinfrastructure development is wrapped in social, organizational and governance challenges which may significantly impede technical progress and result in inefficiencies, duplication of effort, incompatibilities, wasted resources or user frustration. These issues are also the most time consuming to resolve due to significant institutional and social inertia: hence the urgency for developing a governance blueprint. An agile development process is underway for governance of transformative investments in geosciences cyberinfrastructure through the US National Science Foundation's EarthCube Program. Agile development is iterative and incremental, and promotes adaptive planning and rapid and flexible response. Such iterative deployment across a variety of EarthCube stakeholders encourages transparency, consensus, accountability, and inclusiveness. A broad coalition of stakeholder groups comprises an Assembly to serve as a preliminary venue for identifying, evaluating, and testing potential governance models. To offer opportunity for ensure broader end-user input and buy-in, a crowd-source approach engages stakeholders not involved otherwise in the Assembly. Developmental evaluators from the social sciences embedded in the project will provide real-time review and adjustments. In order to ensure an open and inclusive process, community-selected leaders play key roles through an Assembly Advisory Council. If consensus is reached on a governing framework, a community-selected demonstration governance demonstration pilot will help facilitate community convergence on system design.

Implementing climate change adaptation in forested regions of the United States

Treesearch

Jessica E. Halofsky; David L. Peterson; Linda A. Joyce; Constance I. Millar; Janine M. Rice; Christopher W. Swanston

2014-01-01

Natural resource managers need concrete ways to adapt to the effects of climate change. Science-management partnerships have proven to be an effective means of facilitating climate change adaptation for natural resource management agencies. Here we describe the process and results of several science-management partnerships in different forested regions of the United...

Adaptations to climate change: Colville and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests

Treesearch

William L. Gaines; David W. Peterson; Cameron A. Thomas; Richy J. Harrod

2012-01-01

Forest managers are seeking practical guidance on how to adapt their current practices and, if necessary, their management goals, in response to climate change. Science-management collaboration was initiated on national forests in eastern Washington where resource managers showed a keen interest in science-based options for adapting to climate change at a 2-day...

75 FR 34988 - Federal Advisory Committee; Defense Science Board 2010 Summer Study on Enhancing Adaptability of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-21

... 2010 Summer Study on Enhancing Adaptability of Our Military Forces AGENCY: Department of Defense (DoD... Enhancing Adaptability of our Military Forces will meet in closed session from August 2-13, 2010, in... INFORMATION CONTACT: Maj Michael Warner, USAF, Defense Science Board, 3140 Defense Pentagon, Room 3B888A...

The Development of Two Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS) for NASA's Earth Observation System (EOS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tilmes, Curt

2004-01-01

In 2001, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics started the construction of a science Investigator-led Processing System (SIPS) for processing data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) which will launch on the Aura platform in mid 2004. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) is a contribution of the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programs (NIVR) in collaboration with the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) to the Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura mission. It will continue the Total Ozone Monitoring System (TOMS) record for total ozone and other atmospheric parameters related to ozone chemistry and climate. OMI measurements will be highly synergistic with the other instruments on the EOS Aura platform. The LTP previously developed the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Data Processing System (MODAPS), which has been in full operations since the launches of the Terra and Aqua spacecrafts in December, 1999 and May, 2002 respectively. During that time, it has continually evolved to better support the needs of the MODIS team. We now run multiple instances of the system managing faster than real time reprocessings of the data as well as continuing forward processing. The new OMI Data Processing System (OMIDAPS) was adapted from the MODAPS. It will ingest raw data from the satellite ground station and process it to produce calibrated, geolocated higher level data products. These data products will be transmitted to the Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center (GDAAC) instance of the Earth Observing System (EOS) Data and Information System (EOSDIS) for long term archive and distribution to the public. The OMIDAPS will also provide data distribution to the OMI Science Team for quality assessment, algorithm improvement, calibration, etc. We have taken advantage of lessons learned from the MODIS experience and software already developed for MODIS. We made some changes in the hardware system organization, database and software to adapt the system for OMI. We replaced the fundamental database system, Sybase, with an Open Source RDBMS called PostgreSQL, and based the entire OMIDAPS on a cluster of Linux based commodity computers rather than the large SGI servers that MODAPS uses. Rather than relying on a central I/O server host, the new system distributes its data archive among multiple server hosts in the cluster. OMI is also customizing the graphical user interfaces and reporting structure to more closely meet the needs of the OMI Science Team. Prior to 2003, simulated OMI data and the science algorithms were not ready for production testing. We initially constructed a prototype system and tested using a 25 year dataset of Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument (SBUV) data. This prototype system provided a platform to support the adaptation of the algorithms for OMI, and provided reprocessing of the historical data aiding in its analysis. In a recent reanalysis of the TOMS data, the OMIDAPS processed 108,000 full orbits of data through 4 processing steps per orbit, producing about 800,000 files (400 GiB) of level 2 and greater data files. More recently we have installed two instances of the OMIDAPS for integration and testing of OM1 science processes as they get delivered from the Science Team. A Test instance of the OMIDAPS has also supported a series of "Interface Confidence Tests" (ICTs) and End-to-End Ground System tests to ensure the launch readiness of the system. This paper will discuss the high-level hardware, software, and database organization of the OMIDAPS and how it builds on the MODAPS heritage system. It will also provide an overview of the testing and implementation of the production OMIDAPS.

Buffelgrass-Integrated modeling of an invasive plant

USGS Publications Warehouse

Holcombe, Tracy R.

2011-01-01

Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) poses a problem in the deserts of the United States, growing in dense stands and introducing a wildfire risk in an ecosystem not adapted to fire. The Invasive Species Science Branch of the Fort Collins Science Center has worked with many partners to develop a decision support model and a data management system to address the problem. The decision support model evaluates potential strategies for resource use and allocation. The data management system is a portal where users can submit, view, and download buffelgrass data. These tools provide a case study showcasing how the FORT is working to address the urgent issue of invasive species in the United States.

The opportunities for space biology research on the Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ballard, Rodney W.; Souza, Kenneth A.

1987-01-01

The life sciences research facilities for the Space Station are being designed to accommodate both animal and plant specimens for long durations studies. This will enable research on how living systems adapt to microgravity, how gravity has shaped and affected life on earth, and further the understanding of basic biological phenomena. This would include multigeneration experiments on the effects of microgravity on the reproduction, development, growth, physiology, behavior, and aging of organisms. To achieve these research goals, a modular habitat system and on-board variable gravity centrifuges, capable of holding various animal, plant, cells and tissues, is proposed for the science laboratory.

(Re)Inscribing Meaning: An Examination of the Effective Approaches, Adaptations and Improvisational Elements in Closing the Excellence Gap for Black Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeboah, Amy Oppong

2013-01-01

From great African nations like the Ancient Kemites, Akan and Gikuyu, the world witnessed the development of the most powerful social structures, governance systems, ground breaking innovations in science and technology, and systems of thought that still exist today. Hence, in looking at the low performance levels of Black students today, the…

Science, Practitioners and Faith Communities: using TEK and Faith Knowledge to address climate issues.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peterson, K.

2017-12-01

Worldview, Lifeway and Science - Communities that are tied to the land or water for their livelihood, and for whom subsistence guides their cultural lifeway, have knowledges that inform their interactions with the environment. These frameworks, sometimes called Traditional Ecological Knowledges (TEK), are based on generations of observations made and shared within lived life-environmental systems, and are tied to practitioners' broader worldviews. Subsistence communities, including Native American tribes, are well aware of the crises caused by climate change impacts. These communities are working on ways to integrate knowledge from their ancient ways with current observations and methods from Western science to implement appropriate adaptation and resilience measures. In the delta region of south Louisiana, the communities hold worldviews that blend TEK, climate science and faith-derived concepts. It is not incongruent for the communities to intertwine conversations from complex and diverse sources, including the academy, to inform their adaptation measures and their imagined solutions. Drawing on over twenty years of work with local communities, science organizations and faith institutions of the lower bayou region of Louisiana, the presenter will address the complexity of traditional communities' work with diverse sources of knowledge to guide local decision-making and to assist outside partners to more effectively address challenges associated with climate change.

Preliminary review of adaptation options for climate-sensitive ecosystems and resources. A report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research

USGS Publications Warehouse

Baron, Jill S.; Griffith, Brad; Joyce, Linda A.; Kareiva, Peter; Keller, Brian D.; Palmer, Margaret A.; Peterson, Charles H.; Scott, J. Michael; Julius, Susan Herrod; West, Jordan M.

2008-01-01

Climate variables are key determinants of geographic distributions and biophysical characteristics of ecosystems, communities, and species. Climate change is therefore affecting many species attributes, ecological interactions, and ecosystem processes. Because changes in the climate system will continue into the future regardless of emissions mitigation, strategies for protecting climate-sensitive ecosystems through management will be increasingly important. While there will always be uncertainties associated with the future path of climate change, the response of ecosystems to climate impacts, and the effects of management, it is both possible and essential for adaptation to proceed using the best available science. This report provides a preliminary review of adaptation options for climate-sensitive ecosystems and resources in the United States. The term “adaptation” in this document refers to adjustments in human social systems (e.g., management) in response to climate stimuli and their effects. Since management always occurs in the context of desired ecosystem conditions or natural resource management goals, it is instructive to examine particular goals and processes used by different organizations to fulfill their objectives. Such an examination allows for discussion of specific adaptation options as well as potential barriers and opportunities for implementation. Using this approach, this report presents a series of chapters on the following selected management systems: National Forests, National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Estuaries, and Marine Protected Areas. For these chapters, the authors draw on the literature, their own expert opinion, and expert workshops composed of resource management scientists and representatives of managing agencies. The information drawn from across these chapters is then analyzed to develop the key synthetic messages presented below.

Internationalisation of the Curriculum: Putting Theory into Practice in a Physiotherapy Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Das, Rebekah

2005-01-01

Increasing numbers of international students studying health sciences in Australia necessitates research into appropriate ways to support cultural diversity in teaching. International students commonly face problems in adapting to culturally different education and health care systems and this complicates the development of the discipline specific…

Library Theory and Research Section. Education and Research Division. Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

International Federation of Library Associations, The Hague (Netherlands).

Papers on library/information science theory and research, which were presented at the 1983 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, include: (1) "The Role of the Library in Computer-Aided Information and Documentation Systems," in which Wolf D. Rauch (West Germany) asserts that libraries must adapt to the…

Exploring Digital Badges in University Courses: Relationships between Quantity, Engagement, and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fanfarelli, Joseph R.; McDaniel, Rudy

2017-01-01

Digital badging research is gaining momentum as instructors and administrators consider new models for assessing learning in nontraditional contexts (e.g., informal science learning programs, flexible online courses, adaptive learning systems). While many studies are examining the effectiveness of digital badges for pedagogical functions, such as…

Language Is a Complex Adaptive System: Position Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beckner, Clay; Blythe, Richard; Bybee, Joan; Christiansen, Morten H.; Croft, William; Ellis, Nick C.; Holland, John; Ke, Jinyun; Larsen-Freeman, Diane; Schoenemann, Tom

2009-01-01

Language has a fundamentally social function. Processes of human interaction along with domain-general cognitive processes shape the structure and knowledge of language. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that patterns of use strongly affect how language is acquired, is used, and changes. These processes are not independent…

The Road Ahead for State Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Policy Analysis for California Education, PACE (NJ3), 2011

2011-01-01

This report includes three papers that address critical "next generation" issues in assessment policy that can help to guide the choices made about system design: computer adaptive assessments, assessment of English learners and assessing science. None of these topics has received the attention that it deserves in the current debate on assessment…

Addressing Teachers' Feelings of Lack of Control over Policy Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Judson, Eugene

2014-01-01

This study reports on how an American Education System course, traditionally taught with broad objectives, was contextualized for science teachers. Using pre-assessment data, specific policy issues were targeted with the objective of increasing teachers' feelings of influence over issues. The approach used was adapted from exposure therapy, a…

Food-System Botany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rop, Charles J.

2011-01-01

This set of inquiry lessons is adaptable for middle school through high school life science or biology classrooms and will help meet the NSTA scientific inquiry position statement (2004) and the AAAS benchmarks (1993) and NRC standards (1996; 2000) related to health and food literacy. The standards require adolescents to examine their own diet and…

The essence of fire regime-condition class assessment

Treesearch

McKinley-Ben Miller

2008-01-01

The interagency-Fire Regime / Condition Class - assessment process (FRCC) represents a contemporary and effective means of estimating the relative degree of difference or "departure" a subject landscape condition is currently in, as compared to the historic or reference ecological conditions. This process generally applied to fire adapted systems is science-...

Guiding climate change adaptation within vulnerable natural resource management systems.

PubMed

Bardsley, Douglas K; Sweeney, Susan M

2010-05-01

Climate change has the potential to compromise the sustainability of natural resources in Mediterranean climatic systems, such that short-term reactive responses will increasingly be insufficient to ensure effective management. There is a simultaneous need for both the clear articulation of the vulnerabilities of specific management systems to climate risk, and the development of appropriate short- and long-term strategic planning responses that anticipate environmental change or allow for sustainable adaptive management in response to trends in resource condition. Governments are developing climate change adaptation policy frameworks, but without the recognition of the importance of responding strategically, regional stakeholders will struggle to manage future climate risk. In a partnership between the South Australian Government, the Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges Natural Resource Management Board and the regional community, a range of available research approaches to support regional climate change adaptation decision-making, were applied and critically examined, including: scenario modelling; applied and participatory Geographical Information Systems modelling; environmental risk analysis; and participatory action learning. As managers apply ideas for adaptation within their own biophysical and socio-cultural contexts, there would be both successes and failures, but a learning orientation to societal change will enable improvements over time. A base-line target for regional responses to climate change is the ownership of the issue by stakeholders, which leads to an acceptance that effective actions to adapt are now both possible and vitally important. Beyond such baseline knowledge, the research suggests that there is a range of tools from the social and physical sciences available to guide adaptation decision-making.

Guiding Climate Change Adaptation Within Vulnerable Natural Resource Management Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bardsley, Douglas K.; Sweeney, Susan M.

2010-05-01

Climate change has the potential to compromise the sustainability of natural resources in Mediterranean climatic systems, such that short-term reactive responses will increasingly be insufficient to ensure effective management. There is a simultaneous need for both the clear articulation of the vulnerabilities of specific management systems to climate risk, and the development of appropriate short- and long-term strategic planning responses that anticipate environmental change or allow for sustainable adaptive management in response to trends in resource condition. Governments are developing climate change adaptation policy frameworks, but without the recognition of the importance of responding strategically, regional stakeholders will struggle to manage future climate risk. In a partnership between the South Australian Government, the Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges Natural Resource Management Board and the regional community, a range of available research approaches to support regional climate change adaptation decision-making, were applied and critically examined, including: scenario modelling; applied and participatory Geographical Information Systems modelling; environmental risk analysis; and participatory action learning. As managers apply ideas for adaptation within their own biophysical and socio-cultural contexts, there would be both successes and failures, but a learning orientation to societal change will enable improvements over time. A base-line target for regional responses to climate change is the ownership of the issue by stakeholders, which leads to an acceptance that effective actions to adapt are now both possible and vitally important. Beyond such baseline knowledge, the research suggests that there is a range of tools from the social and physical sciences available to guide adaptation decision-making.

Aging and efficiency in living systems: Complexity, adaptation and self-organization.

PubMed

Chatterjee, Atanu; Georgiev, Georgi; Iannacchione, Germano

2017-04-01

Living systems are open, out-of-equilibrium thermodynamic entities, that maintain order by locally reducing their entropy. Aging is a process by which these systems gradually lose their ability to maintain their out-of-equilibrium state, as measured by their free-energy rate density, and hence, their order. Thus, the process of aging reduces the efficiency of those systems, making them fragile and less adaptive to the environmental fluctuations, gradually driving them towards the state of thermodynamic equilibrium. In this paper, we discuss the various metrics that can be used to understand the process of aging from a complexity science perspective. Among all the metrics that we propose, action efficiency, is observed to be of key interest as it can be used to quantify order and self-organization in any physical system. Based upon our arguments, we present the dependency of other metrics on the action efficiency of a system, and also argue as to how each of the metrics, influences all the other system variables. In order to support our claims, we draw parallels between technological progress and biological growth. Such parallels are used to support the universal applicability of the metrics and the methodology presented in this paper. Therefore, the results and the arguments presented in this paper throw light on the finer nuances of the science of aging. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An integrated science-based methodology to assess potential ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

There is an urgent need for broad and integrated studies that address the risks of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) along the different endpoints of the society, environment, and economy (SEE) complex adaptive system. This article presents an integrated science-based methodology to assess the potential risks of engineered nanomaterials. To achieve the study objective, two major tasks are accomplished, knowledge synthesis and algorithmic computational methodology. The knowledge synthesis task is designed to capture “what is known” and to outline the gaps in knowledge from ENMs risk perspective. The algorithmic computational methodology is geared toward the provision of decisions and an understanding of the risks of ENMs along different endpoints for the constituents of the SEE complex adaptive system. The approach presented herein allows for addressing the formidable task of assessing the implications and risks of exposure to ENMs, with the long term goal to build a decision-support system to guide key stakeholders in the SEE system towards building sustainable ENMs and nano-enabled products. The following specific aims are formulated to achieve the study objective: (1) to propose a system of systems (SoS) architecture that builds a network management among the different entities in the large SEE system to track the flow of ENMs emission, fate and transport from the source to the receptor; (2) to establish a staged approach for knowledge synthesis methodo

Systematic, Multimethod Assessment of Adaptations Across Four Diverse Health Systems Interventions.

PubMed

Rabin, Borsika A; McCreight, Marina; Battaglia, Catherine; Ayele, Roman; Burke, Robert E; Hess, Paul L; Frank, Joseph W; Glasgow, Russell E

2018-01-01

Many health outcomes and implementation science studies have demonstrated the importance of tailoring evidence-based care interventions to local context to improve fit. By adapting to local culture, history, resources, characteristics, and priorities, interventions are more likely to lead to improved outcomes. However, it is unclear how best to adapt evidence-based programs and promising innovations. There are few guides or examples of how to best categorize or assess health-care adaptations, and even fewer that are brief and practical for use by non-researchers. This study describes the importance and potential of assessing adaptations before, during, and after the implementation of health systems interventions. We present a promising multilevel and multimethod approach developed and being applied across four different health systems interventions. Finally, we discuss implications and opportunities for future research. The four case studies are diverse in the conditions addressed, interventions, and implementation strategies. They include two nurse coordinator-based transition of care interventions, a data and training-driven multimodal pain management project, and a cardiovascular patient-reported outcomes project, all of which are using audit and feedback. We used the same modified adaptation framework to document changes made to the interventions and implementation strategies. To create the modified framework, we started with the adaptation and modification model developed by Stirman and colleagues and expanded it by adding concepts from the RE-AIM framework. Our assessments address the intuitive domains of Who, How, When, What, and Why to classify and organize adaptations. For each case study, we discuss how the modified framework was operationalized, the multiple methods used to collect data, results to date and approaches utilized for data analysis. These methods include a real-time tracking system and structured interviews at key times during the intervention. We provide descriptive data on the types and categories of adaptations made and discuss lessons learned. The multimethod approaches demonstrate utility across diverse health systems interventions. The modified adaptations model adequately captures adaptations across the various projects and content areas. We recommend systematic documentation of adaptations in future clinical and public health research and have made our assessment materials publicly available.

Adaptive Delta Management: cultural aspects of dealing with uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timmermans, Jos; Haasnoot, Marjolijn; Hermans, Leon; Kwakkel, Jan

2016-04-01

Deltas are generally recognized as vulnerable to climate change and therefore a salient topic in adaptation science. Deltas are also highly dynamic systems viewed from physical (erosion, sedimentation, subsidence), social (demographic), economic (trade), infrastructures (transport, energy, metropolization) and cultural (multi-ethnic) perspectives. This multi-faceted dynamic character of delta areas warrants the emergence of a branch of applied adaptation science, Adaptive Delta Management, which explicitly focuses on climate adaptation of such highly dynamic and deeply uncertain systems. The application of Adaptive Delta Management in the Dutch Delta Program and its active international dissemination by Dutch professionals results in the rapid dissemination of Adaptive Delta Management to deltas worldwide. This global dissemination raises concerns among professionals in delta management on its applicability in deltas with cultural conditions and historical developments quite different from those found in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom where the practices now labelled as Adaptive Delta Management first emerged. This research develops an approach and gives a first analysis of the interaction between the characteristics of different approaches in Adaptive Delta Management and their alignment with the cultural conditions encountered in various delta's globally. In this analysis, first different management theories underlying approaches to Adaptive Delta Management as encountered in both scientific and professional publications are identified and characterized on three dimensions: The characteristics dimensions used are: orientation on today, orientation on the future, and decision making (Timmermans, 2015). The different underlying management theories encountered are policy analysis, strategic management, transition management, and adaptive management. These four management theories underlying different approaches in Adaptive Delta Management are connected to Hofstede's (1983) cultural dimensions, of which uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation are of particular relevance for our analysis. Our conclusions comment on the suitability of approaches in Adaptive Delta Management rooted in different management theories are more suitable for specific delta countries than others. The most striking conclusion is the unsuitability of rational policy analytic approaches for The Netherlands. Although surprising this conclusion finds some support in the process dominated approach taken in the Dutch Delta Program. In addition, the divergence between Vietnam, Bangladesh and Myanmar, all located in South East Asia, is striking. References Hofstede, G. (1983). The cultural relativity of organizational practices and theories. Journal of international business studies, 75-89. Jos Timmermans, Marjolijn Haasnoot, Leon Hermans, Jan Kwakkel, Martine Rutten and Wil Thissen (2015). Adaptive Delta Management: Roots and Branches, IAHR The Hague 2015.

The compatibility of reform initiatives in inclusion and science education: Perceptions of science teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chung, Su-Hsiang

The purposes of this investigation were to examine science teachers' instructional adaptations, testing and grading policies, as well as their perceptions toward inclusion. In addition, whether the perceptions and adaptations differ among three disability areas (learning disabilities, emotional handicaps, and mental handicaps), school level (elementary, middle, and high school), course content (life and physical science), instructional approach (textbook-oriented or activity-oriented), and other related variables was examined. Especially, the intention was to determine whether the two educational reform efforts (inclusion and excellence in science education) are compatible. In this study, 900 questionnaires were mailed to teachers in Indiana and 424 (47%) were returned. Due to incomplete or blank data, 38 (4%) responses were excluded. The final results were derived from a total of 386 respondents contributing to this investigation. The descriptive data indicated that teachers adapted their instruction moderately to accommodate students' special needs. In particular, these adaptations were made more frequently for students with mental handicaps (MH) or learning disabilities (LD), but less for students with emotional handicaps (EH). With respect to testing policies, less than half of the teachers (44.5%) used "same testing standards as regular students" for integrated LD students, while a majority of the teachers (57%) used such a policy for EH students. Unfortunately, considerably fewer teachers modified their grading policies for these two groups of students. In contrast, approximately two thirds of the teachers indicated that they used different testing or grading policies for MH students who were in the regular settings. Moreover, the results also showed that changes in classroom procedure did not occur much in the science teachers' classrooms. Perceptions of science teachers toward inclusion practices were somewhat mixed. Overall, teachers had neutral attitudes. Among the three groups of teachers, elementary teachers were most positive toward inclusion practices, while high school teachers least. The present investigation adds several new insights into the existing research that school level, science teaching approach, and science course content are associated with the likelihood of adaptation making behaviors of science teachers. With respect to instructional adaptations, variables such as special education coursework, workshops attended, gender, as well as years of teaching experience, were also found significantly associated with teachers' instructional adjustments. Teachers who were more likely to adjust their teaching instruction included those who taught life science, those who used hands-on activities as the major teaching method, those who took more courses in special education, and those who attended more mainstreaming-related workshops. On the contrary, teachers with more experience made fewer adaptations in their general science classrooms.

The Cultural Adaptation Process of Agricultural and Life Sciences Students on Short-Term Study Abroad Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conner, Nathan William

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore how undergraduate students in a college of agricultural and life sciences experienced cultural adaptation during short-term study abroad programs. The specific objectives of this study were to describe how undergraduate students in the college of agricultural and life sciences experienced culture throughout…

Investigating Purposeful Science Curriculum Adaptation as a Strategy to Improve Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Debarger, Angela Haydel; Penuel, William R.; Moorthy, Savitha; Beauvineau, Yves; Kennedy, Cathleen A.; Boscardin, Christy Kim

2017-01-01

In this paper, we investigate the potential and conditions for using curriculum adaptation to support reform of science teaching and learning. With each wave of reform in science education, curriculum has played a central role and the contemporary wave focused on implementation of the principles and vision of the "Framework for K-12 Science…

Feasibility Study: Library Instruction in Specific Science Disciplines Using the Self-Paced Workbook Adapted to Departmental Needs, Mitchell Memorial Library, Fall 1981.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellsbury, Susan H.; And Others

Student library assistants and undergraduate and graduate students from agricultural and biological engineering, biological sciences, and entomology participated in a study to determine the effectiveness of instructional materials adapted to specific science disciplines for developing practical skills in the use of library resources. All students…

Lithofacies identification using multiple adaptive resonance theory neural networks and group decision expert system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chang, H.-C.; Kopaska-Merkel, D. C.; Chen, H.-C.; Rocky, Durrans S.

2000-01-01

Lithofacies identification supplies qualitative information about rocks. Lithofacies represent rock textures and are important components of hydrocarbon reservoir description. Traditional techniques of lithofacies identification from core data are costly and different geologists may provide different interpretations. In this paper, we present a low-cost intelligent system consisting of three adaptive resonance theory neural networks and a rule-based expert system to consistently and objectively identify lithofacies from well-log data. The input data are altered into different forms representing different perspectives of observation of lithofacies. Each form of input is processed by a different adaptive resonance theory neural network. Among these three adaptive resonance theory neural networks, one neural network processes the raw continuous data, another processes categorial data, and the third processes fuzzy-set data. Outputs from these three networks are then combined by the expert system using fuzzy inference to determine to which facies the input data should be assigned. Rules are prioritized to emphasize the importance of firing order. This new approach combines the learning ability of neural networks, the adaptability of fuzzy logic, and the expertise of geologists to infer facies of the rocks. This approach is applied to the Appleton Field, an oil field located in Escambia County, Alabama. The hybrid intelligence system predicts lithofacies identity from log data with 87.6% accuracy. This prediction is more accurate than those of single adaptive resonance theory networks, 79.3%, 68.0% and 66.0%, using raw, fuzzy-set, and categorical data, respectively, and by an error-backpropagation neural network, 57.3%. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adaptations in Electronic Structure Calculations in Heterogeneous Environments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Talamudupula, Sai

Modern quantum chemistry deals with electronic structure calculations of unprecedented complexity and accuracy. They demand full power of high-performance computing and must be in tune with the given architecture for superior e ciency. To make such applications resourceaware, it is desirable to enable their static and dynamic adaptations using some external software (middleware), which may monitor both system availability and application needs, rather than mix science with system-related calls inside the application. The present work investigates scienti c application interlinking with middleware based on the example of the computational chemistry package GAMESS and middleware NICAN. The existing synchronous model ismore » limited by the possible delays due to the middleware processing time under the sustainable runtime system conditions. Proposed asynchronous and hybrid models aim at overcoming this limitation. When linked with NICAN, the fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method is capable of adapting statically and dynamically its fragment scheduling policy based on the computing platform conditions. Signi cant execution time and throughput gains have been obtained due to such static adaptations when the compute nodes have very di erent core counts. Dynamic adaptations are based on the main memory availability at run time. NICAN prompts FMO to postpone scheduling certain fragments, if there is not enough memory for their immediate execution. Hence, FMO may be able to complete the calculations whereas without such adaptations it aborts.« less

Neptune and Titan Observed with Keck Telescope Adaptive Optics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Max, C.E.; Macintosh, B.A.; Gibbard, S.

2000-05-05

The authors report on observations taken during engineering science validation time using the new adaptive optics system at the 10-m Keck II Telescope. They observe Neptune and Titan at near-infrared wavelengths. These objects are ideal for adaptive optics imaging because they are bright and small, yet have many diffraction-limited resolution elements across their disks. In addition Neptune and Titan have prominent physical features, some of which change markedly with time. They have observed infrared-bright storms on Neptune, and very low-albedo surface regions on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, Spatial resolution on Neptune and Titan was 0.05-0.06 and 0.04-0.05 arc sec, respectively.

Intelligent virtual teacher

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takács, Ondřej; Kostolányová, Kateřina

2016-06-01

This paper describes the Virtual Teacher that uses a set of rules to automatically adapt the way of teaching. These rules compose of two parts: conditions on various students' properties or learning situation; conclusions that specify different adaptation parameters. The rules can be used for general adaptation of each subject or they can be specific to some subject. The rule based system of Virtual Teacher is dedicated to be used in pedagogical experiments in adaptive e-learning and is therefore designed for users without education in computer science. The Virtual Teacher was used in dissertation theses of two students, who executed two pedagogical experiments. This paper also describes the phase of simulating and modeling of the theoretically prepared adaptive process in the modeling tool, which has all the required parameters and has been created especially for the occasion. The experiments are being conducted on groups of virtual students and by using a virtual study material.

Will Alaska's fisheries regime prove resilient? Kenai River fishery management as a model for adaptive governance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Powell, James E.; Wipfli, Mark S.; Criddle, Keith R.; Schoen, Erik R.

2018-01-01

Alaska’s sheries regulatory regime, one of the strongest, most science- based sheries management systems in the world, is often held up as an example of sheries management “done right” (Worm etal. 2011). Faced with a barrage of oncoming threats, ranging from budget cuts to climate change, will this system prove to be truly resilient? To answer this question, we examined the results of the research pertaining to governance from a larger 5- year social- ecological study of the Alaska Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research’s (AK-EPSCoR) Alaska Adapting to Changing Environments series (see Schoen etal. 2017).

Climate adaptation heuristics and the science/policy divide

DOE PAGES

Preston, Benjamin L.; Mustelin, Johanna; Maloney, Megan C.

2013-09-05

The adaptation science enterprise has expanded rapidly in recent years, presumably in response to growth in demand for knowledge that can facilitate adaptation policy and practice. However, evidence suggests such investments in adaptation science have not necessarily translated into adaptation implementation. One potential constraint on adaptation may be the underlying heuristics that are used as the foundation for both adaptation research and practice. In this paper, we explore the adaptation academic literature with the objective of identifying adaptation heuristics, assessing the extent to which they have become entrenched within the adaptation discourse, and discussing potential weaknesses in their framing thatmore » could undermine adaptation efforts. This investigation is supported by a multi-method analysis that includes both a quantitative content analysis of the adaptation literature that evidences the use of adaptation heuristics and a qualitative analysis of the implications of such heuristics for enhancing or hindering the implementation of adaptation. Results demonstrate that a number of heuristic devices are commonly used in both the peer-reviewed adaptation literature as well as within grey literature designed to inform adaptation practitioners. Furthermore, the apparent lack of critical reflection upon the robustness of these heuristics for diverse contexts may contribute to potential cognitive bias with respect to the framing of adaptation by both researchers and practitioners. Finally, we discuss this phenomenon by drawing upon heuristic-analytic theory, which has explanatory utility in understanding both the origins of such heuristics as well as the measures that can be pursued toward the co-generation of more robust approaches to adaptation problem-solving.« less

Improving processes through evolutionary optimization.

PubMed

Clancy, Thomas R

2011-09-01

As systems evolve over time, their natural tendency is to become increasingly more complex. Studies on complex systems have generated new perspectives on management in social organizations such as hospitals. Much of this research appears as a natural extension of the cross-disciplinary field of systems theory. This is the 18th in a series of articles applying complex systems science to the traditional management concepts of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. In this article, I discuss methods to optimize complex healthcare processes through learning, adaptation, and evolutionary planning.

Why Heuristics Work.

PubMed

Gigerenzer, Gerd

2008-01-01

The adaptive toolbox is a Darwinian-inspired theory that conceives of the mind as a modular system that is composed of heuristics, their building blocks, and evolved capacities. The study of the adaptive toolbox is descriptive and analyzes the selection and structure of heuristics in social and physical environments. The study of ecological rationality is prescriptive and identifies the structure of environments in which specific heuristics either succeed or fail. Results have been used for designing heuristics and environments to improve professional decision making in the real world. © 2008 Association for Psychological Science.

Using Multi-Core Systems for Rover Autonomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clement, Brad; Estlin, Tara; Bornstein, Benjamin; Springer, Paul; Anderson, Robert C.

2010-01-01

Task Objectives are: (1) Develop and demonstrate key capabilities for rover long-range science operations using multi-core computing, (a) Adapt three rover technologies to execute on SOA multi-core processor (b) Illustrate performance improvements achieved (c) Demonstrate adapted capabilities with rover hardware, (2) Targeting three high-level autonomy technologies (a) Two for onboard data analysis (b) One for onboard command sequencing/planning, (3) Technologies identified as enabling for future missions, (4)Benefits will be measured along several metrics: (a) Execution time / Power requirements (b) Number of data products processed per unit time (c) Solution quality

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 9

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran; Radtke, Mike; Teeter, Ronald; Rowe, Joseph E.

1987-01-01

This is the ninth issue of NASA's USSR Space Lifes Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 46 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of a new Soviet monograph. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Additional features include reviews of a Russian book on biological rhythms and a description of the papers presented at a conference on space biology and medicine. A special feature describes two paradigms frequently cited in Soviet space life sciences literature. Information about English translations of Soviet materials available to readers is provided. The abstracts included in this issue have been identified as relevant to 28 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal system, genetics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, morphology and cytology, musculoskeletal system, nutrition, neurophysiology, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine.

Can there be a physics of financial markets? Methodological reflections on econophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huber, Tobias A.; Sornette, Didier

2016-12-01

We address the question whether there can be a physical science of financial markets. In particular, we examine the argument that, given the reflexivity of financial markets (i.e., the feedback mechanism between expectations and prices), there is a fundamental difference between social and physical systems, which demands a new scientific method. By providing a selective history of the mutual cross-fertilization between physics and economics, we reflect on the methodological differences of how models and theories get constructed in these fields. We argue that the novel conception of financial markets as complex adaptive systems is one of the most important contributions of econophysics and show that this field of research provides the methods, concepts, and tools to scientifically account for reflexivity. We conclude by arguing that a new science of economic and financial systems should not only be physics-based, but needs to integrate findings from other scientific fields, so that a truly multi-disciplinary complex systems science of financial markets can be built.

Science Fiction on Film.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burmester, David

1985-01-01

Reviews science fiction films used in a science fiction class. Discusses feature films, short science fiction films, short story adaptations, original science fiction pieces and factual science films that enrich literature. (EL)

Comparison between iterative wavefront control algorithm and direct gradient wavefront control algorithm for adaptive optics system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Sheng-Yi; Liu, Wen-Jin; Chen, Shan-Qiu; Dong, Li-Zhi; Yang, Ping; Xu, Bing

2015-08-01

Among all kinds of wavefront control algorithms in adaptive optics systems, the direct gradient wavefront control algorithm is the most widespread and common method. This control algorithm obtains the actuator voltages directly from wavefront slopes through pre-measuring the relational matrix between deformable mirror actuators and Hartmann wavefront sensor with perfect real-time characteristic and stability. However, with increasing the number of sub-apertures in wavefront sensor and deformable mirror actuators of adaptive optics systems, the matrix operation in direct gradient algorithm takes too much time, which becomes a major factor influencing control effect of adaptive optics systems. In this paper we apply an iterative wavefront control algorithm to high-resolution adaptive optics systems, in which the voltages of each actuator are obtained through iteration arithmetic, which gains great advantage in calculation and storage. For AO system with thousands of actuators, the computational complexity estimate is about O(n2) ˜ O(n3) in direct gradient wavefront control algorithm, while the computational complexity estimate in iterative wavefront control algorithm is about O(n) ˜ (O(n)3/2), in which n is the number of actuators of AO system. And the more the numbers of sub-apertures and deformable mirror actuators, the more significant advantage the iterative wavefront control algorithm exhibits. Project supported by the National Key Scientific and Research Equipment Development Project of China (Grant No. ZDYZ2013-2), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11173008), and the Sichuan Provincial Outstanding Youth Academic Technology Leaders Program, China (Grant No. 2012JQ0012).

Design, fabrication and characterization of MEMS deformable mirrors for ocular adaptive optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Hyunkyu

This dissertation describes the design and modeling of MEMS-based bimorph deformable mirrors for adaptive optics as well as the characterization of fabricated devices. The objective of this research is to create a compact and low-cost deformable mirror that can be used as a phase corrector particularly for vision science applications. A fundamental theory of adaptive optics is reviewed, paying attention to the phase corrector which is a key component of the adaptive optics system. Several types of phase corrector are presented and the minimization of their size and cost using micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology is also discussed. Since this research is targeted towards the ophthalmic applications of adaptive optics, aberrations of the human eye are illustrated and the benefits of corrections by adaptive optics are explained. A couple of actuator types of the phase corrector that can be used in vision science are introduced and discussed their suitability for the purpose. The requirements to be an ideal deformable mirror for ocular adaptive optics are presented. The characteristics of bimorph deformable mirrors originally developed for laser communications are investigated in an effort to understand their suitability for ophthalmological adaptive optics applications. A Phase shifting interferometer setup is developed for optical characterization and fundamental theory of interferogram analysis is described along with wavefront reconstruction. The theoretical analysis of the bimorph deformable mirror begins with developing an analytical model of the laminated structure. The finite element models are also developed using COMSOL Multiphysics. Using the FEM results, the performance of deformable mirrors under various structure dimensions and operating conditions is analyzed for optimization. A basic theory of piezoelectricity is explained, followed by introduction of applications to MEMS devices. The material properties of single crystal PMN-PT adopted in this research are described and characterized. The fabrication process of the optimized deformable mirror is presented and advanced techniques used in the process are described in detail. The fabricated deformable mirrors are characterized and the comparison with FEM is described. Finally, the dissertation ends up with suggestions for further developments and tests for the mirror.

Impact of Adaptive Materials on Teachers and their Students with Visual Impairments in Secondary Science and Mathematics Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rule, Audrey C.; Stefanich, Greg P.; Boody, Robert M.; Peiffer, Belinda

2011-04-01

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, important in today's world, are underrepresented by students with disabilities. Students with visual impairments, although cognitively similar to sighted peers, face challenges as STEM subjects are often taught using visuals. They need alternative forms of access such as enlarged or audio-converted text, tactile graphics, and involvement in hands-on science. This project focused on increasing teacher awareness of and providing funds for the purchase of supplemental adaptive resources, supplies, and equipment. We examined attitude and instructional changes across the year of the programme in 15 science and mathematics teachers educating students with visual impairments. Positive changes were noted from pretest to posttest in student and teacher perspectives, and in teacher attitudes towards students with disabilities in STEM classes. Teachers also provided insights into their challenges and successes through a reflective narrative. Several adolescent students resisted accommodations to avoid appearing conspicuous to peers. Teachers implemented three strategies to address this: providing the adaptations to all students in the class; convincing the student of the need for adaptation; and involving the class in understanding and accepting the student's impairment. A variety of teacher-created adaptations for various science and mathematics labs are reported. Another finding was many adaptations provided for the student with visual impairment benefitted the entire class. This study supports the claim that given knowledgeable, supportive teachers, and with appropriate accommodations such as tactile or auditory materials, students with visual impairments can be as successful and engaged as other students in science and mathematics.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, Issue 18

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Donaldson, P. Lynn (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Garshnek, Victoria (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1988-01-01

This is the 18th issue of NASA's USSR Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 50 papers published in Russian language periodicals or presented at conferences and of 8 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. A review of a recent Aviation Medicine Handbook is also included. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 37 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas are: adaptation, aviation medicine, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cytology, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, exobiology, gastrointestinal system, genetics, gravitational biology, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive biology, space biology and medicine, and space industrialization.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 16

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Siegel, Bette (Editor); Donaldson, P. Lynn (Editor); Leveton, Lauren B. (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1988-01-01

This is the sixteenth issue of NASA's USSR Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 57 papers published in Russian language periodicals or presented at conferences and of 2 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. An additional feature is the review of a book concerned with metabolic response to the stress of space flight. The abstracts included in this issue are relevant to 33 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, bionics, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, exobiology, gastrointestinal system, genetics, gravitational biology, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive biology, and space biology.

Viirs Land Science Investigator-Led Processing System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devadiga, S.; Mauoka, E.; Roman, M. O.; Wolfe, R. E.; Kalb, V.; Davidson, C. C.; Ye, G.

2015-12-01

The objective of the NASA's Suomi National Polar Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) Land Science Investigator-led Processing System (Land SIPS), housed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), is to produce high quality land products from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to extend the Earth System Data Records (ESDRs) developed from NASA's heritage Earth Observing System (EOS) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the EOS Terra and Aqua satellites. In this paper we will present the functional description and capabilities of the S-NPP Land SIPS, including system development phases and production schedules, timeline for processing, and delivery of land science products based on coordination with the S-NPP Land science team members. The Land SIPS processing stream is expected to be operational by December 2016, generating land products either using the NASA science team delivered algorithms, or the "best-of" science algorithms currently in operation at NASA's Land Product Evaluation and Algorithm Testing Element (PEATE). In addition to generating the standard land science products through processing of the NASA's VIIRS Level 0 data record, the Land SIPS processing system is also used to produce a suite of near-real time products for NASA's application community. Land SIPS will also deliver the standard products, ancillary data sets, software and supporting documentation (ATBDs) to the assigned Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) for archival and distribution. Quality assessment and validation will be an integral part of the Land SIPS processing system; the former being performed at Land Data Operational Product Evaluation (LDOPE) facility, while the latter under the auspices of the CEOS Working Group on Calibration & Validation (WGCV) Land Product Validation (LPV) Subgroup; adopting the best-practices and tools used to assess the quality of heritage EOS-MODIS products generated at the MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS).

Cohabitants' perspective on housing adaptations: a piece of the puzzle.

PubMed

Granbom, Marianne; Taei, Afsaneh; Ekstam, Lisa

2017-12-01

As part of the Swedish state-funded healthcare system, housing adaptations are used to promote safe and independent living for disabled people in ordinary housing through the elimination of physical environmental barriers in the home. The aim of this study was to describe the cohabitants' expectations and experiences of how a housing adaptation, intended for the partner, would impact their everyday life. In-depth interviews were conducted with cohabitants of nine people applying for a housing adaptation, initially at the time of the application and then again 3 months after the housing adaptation was installed. A longitudinal analysis was performed including analysis procedures from Grounded Theory. The findings revealed the expectations and experiences in four categories: partners' activities and independence; cohabitants' everyday activities and caregiving; couples' shared recreational/leisure activities; and housing decisions. A core category putting the intervention into perspective was called 'Housing adaptations - A piece of the puzzle'. From the cohabitants' perspective, new insights on housing adaptations emerged, which are important to consider when planning and carrying out successful housing adaptations. © 2017 Nordic College of Caring Science.

IEEE 1982. Proceedings of the international conference on cybernetics and society

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1982-01-01

The following topics were dealt with: knowledge-based systems; risk analysis; man-machine interactions; human information processing; metaphor, analogy and problem-solving; manual control modelling; transportation systems; simulation; adaptive and learning systems; biocybernetics; cybernetics; mathematical programming; robotics; decision support systems; analysis, design and validation of models; computer vision; systems science; energy systems; environmental modelling and policy; pattern recognition; nuclear warfare; technological forecasting; artificial intelligence; the Turin shroud; optimisation; workloads. Abstracts of individual papers can be found under the relevant classification codes in this or future issues.

Dual-phase evolution in complex adaptive systems

PubMed Central

Paperin, Greg; Green, David G.; Sadedin, Suzanne

2011-01-01

Understanding the origins of complexity is a key challenge in many sciences. Although networks are known to underlie most systems, showing how they contribute to well-known phenomena remains an issue. Here, we show that recurrent phase transitions in network connectivity underlie emergent phenomena in many systems. We identify properties that are typical of systems in different connectivity phases, as well as characteristics commonly associated with the phase transitions. We synthesize these common features into a common framework, which we term dual-phase evolution (DPE). Using this framework, we review the literature from several disciplines to show that recurrent connectivity phase transitions underlie the complex properties of many biological, physical and human systems. We argue that the DPE framework helps to explain many complex phenomena, including perpetual novelty, modularity, scale-free networks and criticality. Our review concludes with a discussion of the way DPE relates to other frameworks, in particular, self-organized criticality and the adaptive cycle. PMID:21247947

Dual-phase evolution in complex adaptive systems.

PubMed

Paperin, Greg; Green, David G; Sadedin, Suzanne

2011-05-06

Understanding the origins of complexity is a key challenge in many sciences. Although networks are known to underlie most systems, showing how they contribute to well-known phenomena remains an issue. Here, we show that recurrent phase transitions in network connectivity underlie emergent phenomena in many systems. We identify properties that are typical of systems in different connectivity phases, as well as characteristics commonly associated with the phase transitions. We synthesize these common features into a common framework, which we term dual-phase evolution (DPE). Using this framework, we review the literature from several disciplines to show that recurrent connectivity phase transitions underlie the complex properties of many biological, physical and human systems. We argue that the DPE framework helps to explain many complex phenomena, including perpetual novelty, modularity, scale-free networks and criticality. Our review concludes with a discussion of the way DPE relates to other frameworks, in particular, self-organized criticality and the adaptive cycle.

ARGOS: the laser guide star system for the LBT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rabien, S.; Ageorges, N.; Barl, L.; Beckmann, U.; Blümchen, T.; Bonaglia, M.; Borelli, J. L.; Brynnel, J.; Busoni, L.; Carbonaro, L.; Davies, R.; Deysenroth, M.; Durney, O.; Elberich, M.; Esposito, S.; Gasho, V.; Gässler, W.; Gemperlein, H.; Genzel, R.; Green, R.; Haug, M.; Hart, M. L.; Hubbard, P.; Kanneganti, S.; Masciadri, E.; Noenickx, J.; Orban de Xivry, G.; Peter, D.; Quirrenbach, A.; Rademacher, M.; Rix, H. W.; Salinari, P.; Schwab, C.; Storm, J.; Strüder, L.; Thiel, M.; Weigelt, G.; Ziegleder, J.

2010-07-01

ARGOS is the Laser Guide Star adaptive optics system for the Large Binocular Telescope. Aiming for a wide field adaptive optics correction, ARGOS will equip both sides of LBT with a multi laser beacon system and corresponding wavefront sensors, driving LBT's adaptive secondary mirrors. Utilizing high power pulsed green lasers the artificial beacons are generated via Rayleigh scattering in earth's atmosphere. ARGOS will project a set of three guide stars above each of LBT's mirrors in a wide constellation. The returning scattered light, sensitive particular to the turbulence close to ground, is detected in a gated wavefront sensor system. Measuring and correcting the ground layers of the optical distortions enables ARGOS to achieve a correction over a very wide field of view. Taking advantage of this wide field correction, the science that can be done with the multi object spectrographs LUCIFER will be boosted by higher spatial resolution and strongly enhanced flux for spectroscopy. Apart from the wide field correction ARGOS delivers in its ground layer mode, we foresee a diffraction limited operation with a hybrid Sodium laser Rayleigh beacon combination.

Humans: still vital after all these years of automation.

PubMed

Parasuraman, Raja; Wickens, Christopher D

2008-06-01

The authors discuss empirical studies of human-automation interaction and their implications for automation design. Automation is prevalent in safety-critical systems and increasingly in everyday life. Many studies of human performance in automated systems have been conducted over the past 30 years. Developments in three areas are examined: levels and stages of automation, reliance on and compliance with automation, and adaptive automation. Automation applied to information analysis or decision-making functions leads to differential system performance benefits and costs that must be considered in choosing appropriate levels and stages of automation. Human user dependence on automated alerts and advisories reflects two components of operator trust, reliance and compliance, which are in turn determined by the threshold designers use to balance automation misses and false alarms. Finally, adaptive automation can provide additional benefits in balancing workload and maintaining the user's situation awareness, although more research is required to identify when adaptation should be user controlled or system driven. The past three decades of empirical research on humans and automation has provided a strong science base that can be used to guide the design of automated systems. This research can be applied to most current and future automated systems.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, L. R. (Editor); Radtke, M. (Editor); Garshnek, V. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Rowe, J. E. (Editor)

1986-01-01

The fourth issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Science Digest includes abstracts for 42 Soviet periodical articles in 20 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology and published in Russian during the last third of 1985. Selected articles are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. In addition, translated introductions and tables of contents for 17 Russian books on 12 topics related to NASA's life science concerns are presented. Areas covered are: adaptation, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cytology, developmental biology, endocrinology, exobiology, habitability and environmental effects, health and medical treatment, hematology, histology, human performance, immunology, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, perception, personnel selection, psychology, and radiobiology. Two book reviews translated from the Russian are included and lists of additional relevant titles available in English with pertinent ordering information are given.

Reusing Joint Polar Satellite System (jpss) Ground System Components to Process AURA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (omi) Science Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moses, J. F.; Jain, P.; Johnson, J.; Doiron, J. A.

2017-12-01

New Earth observation instruments are planned to enable advancements in Earth science research over the next decade. Diversity of Earth observing instruments and their observing platforms will continue to increase as new instrument technologies emerge and are deployed as part of National programs such as Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system (GOES), Landsat as well as the potential for many CubeSat and aircraft missions. The practical use and value of these observational data often extends well beyond their original purpose. The practicing community needs intuitive and standardized tools to enable quick unfettered development of tailored products for specific applications and decision support systems. However, the associated data processing system can take years to develop and requires inherent knowledge and the ability to integrate increasingly diverse data types from multiple sources. This paper describes the adaptation of a large-scale data processing system built for supporting JPSS algorithm calibration and validation (Cal/Val) node to a simplified science data system for rapid application. The new configurable data system reuses scalable JAVA technologies built for the JPSS Government Resource for Algorithm Verification, Independent Test, and Evaluation (GRAVITE) system to run within a laptop environment and support product generation and data processing of AURA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) science products. Of particular interest are the root requirements necessary for integrating experimental algorithms and Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) data access libraries into a science data production system. This study demonstrates the ability to reuse existing Ground System technologies to support future missions with minimal changes.

NASA Hardware Heads to Kennedy For Flight Preparations

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-01-24

The Orion stage adapter will be part of the first integrated flight of NASA's heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System, and the Orion spacecraft. The adapter, approximately 5 feet tall and 18 feet in diameter, was designed and built at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with advanced friction stir welding technology. It will connect the SLS interim cryogenic propulsion stage to Orion on the first flight that will help engineers check out and verify the agency's new deep-space exploration systems. Inside the adapter, engineers installed special brackets and cabling for the 13 CubeSats that will fly as secondary payloads. The Cubesats are boot-box-sized science and technology investigations that will help pave the way for future human exploration in deep space. The Orion stage adapter flight article recently finished major testing of the avionics system that will deploy the CubeSats. Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, will install the secondary payloads and engineers will examine the hardware before it is stacked on the interim cryogenic propulsion stage in the Vehicle Assembly Building prior to launch. For more information about SLS hardware, visit nasa.gov/sls.

Biology, ecology, and biotechnological applications of anaerobic bacteria adapted to environmental stresses in temperature, pH, salinity, or substrates.

PubMed Central

Lowe, S E; Jain, M K; Zeikus, J G

1993-01-01

Anaerobic bacteria include diverse species that can grow at environmental extremes of temperature, pH, salinity, substrate toxicity, or available free energy. The first evolved archaebacterial and eubacterial species appear to have been anaerobes adapted to high temperatures. Thermoanaerobes and their stable enzymes have served as model systems for basic and applied studies of microbial cellulose and starch degradation, methanogenesis, ethanologenesis, acetogenesis, autotrophic CO2 fixation, saccharidases, hydrogenases, and alcohol dehydrogenases. Anaerobes, unlike aerobes, appear to have evolved more energy-conserving mechanisms for physiological adaptation to environmental stresses such as novel enzyme activities and stabilities and novel membrane lipid compositions and functions. Anaerobic syntrophs do not have similar aerobic bacterial counterparts. The metabolic end products of syntrophs are potent thermodynamic inhibitors of energy conservation mechanisms, and they require coordinated consumption by a second partner organism for species growth. Anaerobes adapted to environmental stresses and their enzymes have biotechnological applications in organic waste treatment systems and chemical and fuel production systems based on biomass-derived substrates or syngas. These kinds of anaerobes have only recently been examined by biologists, and considerably more study is required before they are fully appreciated by science and technology. Images PMID:8336675

Adaptive oxide electronics: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ha, Sieu D.; Ramanathan, Shriram

2011-10-01

Novel information processing techniques are being actively explored to overcome fundamental limitations associated with CMOS scaling. A new paradigm of adaptive electronic devices is emerging that may reshape the frontiers of electronics and enable new modalities. Creating systems that can learn and adapt to various inputs has generally been a complex algorithm problem in information science, albeit with wide-ranging and powerful applications from medical diagnosis to control systems. Recent work in oxide electronics suggests that it may be plausible to implement such systems at the device level, thereby drastically increasing computational density and power efficiency and expanding the potential for electronics beyond Boolean computation. Intriguing possibilities of adaptive electronics include fabrication of devices that mimic human brain functionality: the strengthening and weakening of synapses emulated by electrically, magnetically, thermally, or optically tunable properties of materials.In this review, we detail materials and device physics studies on functional metal oxides that may be utilized for adaptive electronics. It has been shown that properties, such as resistivity, polarization, and magnetization, of many oxides can be modified electrically in a non-volatile manner, suggesting that these materials respond to electrical stimulus similarly as a neural synapse. We discuss what device characteristics will likely be relevant for integration into adaptive platforms and then survey a variety of oxides with respect to these properties, such as, but not limited to, TaOx, SrTiO3, and Bi4-xLaxTi3O12. The physical mechanisms in each case are detailed and analyzed within the framework of adaptive electronics. We then review theoretically formulated and current experimentally realized adaptive devices with functional oxides, such as self-programmable logic and neuromorphic circuits. Finally, we speculate on what advances in materials physics and engineering may be needed to realize the full potential of adaptive oxide electronics.

Japanese aerospace science and technology 1992. A bibliography with indexes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This report contains 4271 annotated references to reports and journal articles of Japaness intellectual origin entered into the NASA scientific and technical information system during 1992. Representative subject areas of interest include: adaptive control, antireflection coatings, fiber reinforced composites, gallium arsenide lasers, laser interferometry, reduced gravity (microgravity), and VHSIC (circuits).

77 FR 21161 - National Forest System Land Management Planning

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-09

... ecosystem services and multiple uses. The planning rule is designed to ensure that plans provide for the... adaptive and science-based, engages the public, and is designed to be efficient, effective, and within the..., the new rule is designed to make planning more efficient and effective. Purpose and Need for the New...

Agroforestry: Enhancing resiliency in U.S. agricultural landscapes under changing conditions

Treesearch

Michele M. Schoeneberger; Gary Bentrup; Toral Patel-Weynand

2017-01-01

Agroforestry, the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal production systems, is being deployed to enhance productivity, profitability, and environmental stewardship of agricultural operations and lands across the United States. This assessment provides a science-based synthesis on the use of agroforestry for mitigation and adaptation services...

Standing Sound Waves in Air with DataStudio

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kraftmakher, Yaakov

2010-01-01

Two experiments related to standing sound waves in air are adapted for using the ScienceWorkshop data-acquisition system with the DataStudio software from PASCO scientific. First, the standing waves are created by reflection from a plane reflector. The distribution of the sound pressure along the standing wave is measured. Second, the resonance…

A Study of Adaptive Relevance Feedback - UIUC TREC-2008 Relevance Feedback Experiments

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-11-01

terms. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 27(3):129–146, 1976. [7] J . J . Rocchio. Relevance feedback in information retrieval. In...In The SMART Retrieval System: Experiments in Automatic Document Processing, pages 313–323. Prentice-Hall Inc., 1971. [8] Gerard Salton and Chris

Effects of drought on forests and rangelands in the United States: a comprehensive science synthesis

Treesearch

James Vose; J.S. Clark; Charlie Luce; Toral Patel-Weynand

2016-01-01

This assessment provides input to the reauthorized National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and the National Climate Assessment (NCA), and it establishes the scientific foundation needed to manage for drought resilience and adaptation. Focal areas include drought characterization; drought impacts on forest processes and disturbances such as insect...

Research Methodologies Explored for a Paradigm Shift in University Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Venter, I. M.; Blignaut, R. J.; Stoltz, D.

2001-01-01

Innovative teaching methods such as collaborative learning, teamwork, and mind maps were introduced to teach computer science and statistics courses at a South African university. Soft systems methodology was adapted and used to manage the research process of evaluating the effectiveness of the teaching methods. This research method provided proof…

Complexity-Based Learning and Teaching: A Case Study in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fabricatore, Carlo; López, María Ximena

2014-01-01

This paper presents a learning and teaching strategy based on complexity science and explores its impacts on a higher education game design course. The strategy aimed at generating conditions fostering individual and collective learning in educational complex adaptive systems, and led the design of the course through an iterative and adaptive…

Community, culture and sustainability in multilevel dynamic systems intervention science.

PubMed

Schensul, Jean J

2009-06-01

This paper addresses intertwined issues in the conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of multilevel dynamic systems intervention science (MDSIS). Interventions are systematically planned, conducted and evaluated social science-based cultural products intercepting the lives of people and institutions in the context of multiple additional events and processes (which also may be referred to as interventions) that may speed, slow or reduce change towards a desired outcome. Multilevel interventions address change efforts at multiple social levels in the hope that effects at each level will forge synergistic links, facilitating movement toward desired change. This paper utilizes an ecological framework that identifies macro (policy and regulatory institutions), meso (organizations and agencies with resources, and power) and micro (individuals, families and friends living in communities) interacting directly and indirectly. An MDSIS approach hypothesizes that change toward a goal will occur faster and more effectively when synchronized and supported across levels in a social system. MDSIS approaches by definition involve "whole" communities and cannot be implemented without the establishments of working community partnerships This paper takes a dynamic systems approach to science as conducted in communities, and discusses four concepts that are central to MDSIS--science, community, culture, and sustainability. These concepts are important in community based participatory research and to the targeting, refinement, and adaptation of enduring interventions. Consistency in their meaning and use can promote forward movement in the field of MDSIS, and in community-based prevention science.

KAPAO-Alpha: An On-The-Sky Testbed for Adaptive Optics on Small Aperture Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morrison, Will; Choi, P. I.; Severson, S. A.; Spjut, E.; Contreras, D. S.; Gilbreth, B. N.; McGonigle, L. P.; Rudy, A. R.; Xue, A.; Baranec, C.; Riddle, R.

2012-05-01

We present initial in-lab and on-sky results of a natural guide star adaptive optics instrument, KAPAO-Alpha, being deployed on Pomona College’s 1-meter telescope at Table Mountain Observatory. The instrument is an engineering prototype designed to help us identify and solve design and integration issues before building KAPAO, a low-cost, dual-band, natural guide star AO system currently in active development and scheduled for first light in 2013. The Alpha system operates at visible wavelengths, employs Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing, and is assembled entirely from commercially available components that include: off-the-shelf optics, a 140-actuator BMC deformable mirror, a high speed SciMeasure Lil’ Joe camera, and an EMCCD for science image acquisition. Wavefront reconstruction operating at 1-kHz speeds is handled with a consumer-grade computer running custom software adopted from the Robo-AO project. The assembly and integration of the Alpha instrument has been undertaken as a Pomona College undergraduate thesis. As part of the larger KAPAO project, it is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0960343.

Architectural Lessons: Look Back In Order To Move Forward

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, T.; Djorgovski, S. G.; Caltagirone, S.; Crichton, D. J.; Hughes, J. S.; Law, E.; Pilone, D.; Pilone, T.; Mahabal, A.

2015-12-01

True elegance of scalable and adaptable architecture is not about incorporating the latest and greatest technologies. Its elegance is measured by its ability to scale and adapt as its operating environment evolves over time. Architecture is the link that bridges people, process, policies, interfaces, and technologies. Architectural development begins by observe the relationships which really matter to the problem domain. It follows by the creation of a single, shared, evolving, pattern language, which everyone contributes to, and everyone can use [C. Alexander, 1979]. Architects are the true artists. Like all masterpieces, the values and strength of architectures are measured not by the volumes of publications, it is measured by its ability to evolve. An architect must look back in order to move forward. This talk discusses some of the prior works including onboard data analysis system, knowledgebase system, cloud-based Big Data platform, as enablers to help shape the new generation of Earth Science projects at NASA and EarthCube where a community-driven architecture is the key to enable data-intensive science. [C. Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building, Oxford University, 1979.

Knowledge and power in integrated coastal management. For a political anthropology of the sea combined with the sciences of the marine environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazé, Camille; Dahou, Tarik; Ragueneau, Olivier; Danto, Anatole; Mariat-Roy, Emilie; Raimonet, Mélanie; Weisbein, Julien

2017-10-01

This article presents an innovative collaborative approach, which aims to reinforce and institutionalize the field of the political anthropology of the sea combined with the natural sciences. It begins by relating the evolution in coastal areas, from integrated coastal zone management to the notion of adaptive co-management. It then sets out what contribution the social sciences of politics may bring to our understanding of the government/governance of the sea in terms of sustainable development, starting with political science and then highlighting the importance of a deep anthropological and socio-historical approach. Finally, it gives us a glimpse of the benefits of combining the human and social sciences with the natural sciences to produce a critical analysis of the categories of thought and action associated with the systemic management of the environment, especially the coastal areas.

SERVIR Science Applications for Capacity Building

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Limaye, Ashutosh; Searby, Nancy D.; Irwin, Daniel

2012-01-01

SERVIR is a regional visualization and monitoring system using Earth observations to support environmental management, climate adaptation, and disaster response in developing countries. SERVIR is jointly sponsored by NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). SERVIR has been instrumental in development of science applications to support the decision-making and capacity building in the developing countries with the help of SERVIR Hubs. In 2011, NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) included a call for proposals to form SERVIR Applied Sciences Team (SERVIR AST) under Applied Sciences Capacity Building Program. Eleven proposals were selected, the Principal Investigators of which comprise the core of the SERVIR AST. The expertise on the Team span several societal benefit areas including agriculture, disasters, public health and air quality, water, climate and terrestrial carbon assessments. This presentation will cover the existing SERVIR science applications, capacity building components, overview of SERVIR AST projects, and anticipated impacts.

Comprendre le processus d'adaptation des demarches d'enseignement en classe de sciences et technologies a l'ecole secondaire: Analyse des besoins percus par les personnes enseignantes en milieu defavorise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Houde, Sylvie

Since the implementation of the latest reform in the education programs of Quebec, the adaptation of teaching has taken on an important place in the concerns of all actors in education. However, this adjustment towards the adoption of teaching practices that require more participation on the part of the pupil is not accomplished so easily, particularly in the field of science and technology (ST). In order to gain a better understanding of these processes of adaptation, it is opportune to question ourselves on the factors and dynamics of interest at stake, especially in disadvantaged environments. Such environments are faced with situations where other difficulties coexist: integration of pupils, lack of interest, problems in classroom management, multi-ethnicity, etc. As a result, such difficulties give rise to particular limitations, expressed in the form of needs, by pupils and teachers, likely to have a restrictive effect on the adaptation of teaching practices. Accordingly, our research focuses on the needs perceived by teachers in high school ST classrooms in disadvantaged school environments, since they present a privileged means to better understand the processes involved in the adaptation of practices. The adoption of an ecosystemic perspective, centered on these needs and their contribution towards the dynamics of decision-making, enabled us to better apprehend the complexity of these processes in ST classrooms. We were able to identify the needs perceived by teachers by following the methodology of conceptanalysis of needs, and by combining focus groups with the DRAP software. The results account for the large variety of needs to be considered in the equation of adaptation of teaching practices. These needs generally belong to the classroom system (microsystem). For pupils, they are mainly cognitive needs, but for teachers, they pertain to organization and structure. The influence of these needs on the adaptation processes depends on the interpretation by teachers of teaching situations, so much so that a same need can at times be assumed as negative pressure, generating obstacles, or at other times as a positive impulse, facilitating adaptation. Keywords: teaching practices; science and technology education; high school education; adaptation processes; needs assessment; disadvantaged environments.

Exploring preservice elementary teachers' critique and adaptation of science curriculum materials in respect to socioscientific issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forbes, Cory T.; Davis, Elizabeth A.

2008-09-01

The work presented here represents a preliminary effort undertaken to address the role of teachers in supporting students’ learning and decision-making about socioscientific issues (SSI) by characterizing preservice elementary teachers’ critique and adaptation of SSI-based science curriculum materials and identifying factors that serve to mediate this process. Four undergraduate preservice elementary teachers were studied over the course of one semester. Results indicate that the teachers navigated multiple learning goals, as well as their own subject-matter knowledge, informal reasoning about SSI, and role identity, in their critique and adaptation of SSI-oriented science instructional materials. Implications for science teacher education and the design of curriculum materials in respect to SSI are discussed.

Adaptive Optics at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gavel, D T

2003-03-10

Adaptive optics enables high resolution imaging through the atmospheric by correcting for the turbulent air's aberrations to the light waves passing through it. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for a number of years has been at the forefront of applying adaptive optics technology to astronomy on the world's largest astronomical telescopes, in particular at the Keck 10-meter telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The technology includes the development of high-speed electrically driven deformable mirrors, high-speed low-noise CCD sensors, and real-time wavefront reconstruction and control hardware. Adaptive optics finds applications in many other areas where light beams pass through aberrating media andmore » must be corrected to maintain diffraction-limited performance. We describe systems and results in astronomy, medicine (vision science), and horizontal path imaging, all active programs in our group.« less

A two-way street: bridging implementation science and cultural adaptations of mental health treatments

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Racial and ethnic disparities in the United States exist along the entire continuum of mental health care, from access and use of services to the quality and outcomes of care. Efforts to address these inequities in mental health care have focused on adapting evidence-based treatments to clients’ diverse cultural backgrounds. Yet, like many evidence-based treatments, culturally adapted interventions remain largely unused in usual care settings. We propose that a viable avenue to address this critical question is to create a dialogue between the fields of implementation science and cultural adaptation. In this paper, we discuss how integrating these two fields can make significant contributions to reducing racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care. Discussion The use of cultural adaptation models in implementation science can deepen the explicit attention to culture, particularly at the client and provider levels, in implementation studies making evidence-based treatments more responsive to the needs and preferences of diverse populations. The integration of both fields can help clarify and specify what to adapt in order to achieve optimal balance between adaptation and fidelity, and address important implementation outcomes (e.g., acceptability, appropriateness). A dialogue between both fields can help clarify the knowledge, skills and roles of who should facilitate the process of implementation, particularly when cultural adaptations are needed. The ecological perspective of implementation science provides an expanded lens to examine how contextual factors impact how treatments (adapted or not) are ultimately used and sustained in usual care settings. Integrating both fields can also help specify when in the implementation process adaptations may be considered in order to enhance the adoption and sustainability of evidence-based treatments. Summary Implementation science and cultural adaptation bring valuable insights and methods to how and to what extent treatments and/or context should be customized to enhance the implementation of evidence-based treatments across settings and populations. Developing a two-way street between these two fields can provide a better avenue for moving the best available treatments into practice and for helping to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care. PMID:23958445

Horizon: The Portable, Scalable, and Reusable Framework for Developing Automated Data Management and Product Generation Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, T.; Alarcon, C.; Quach, N. T.

2014-12-01

Capture, curate, and analysis are the typical activities performed at any given Earth Science data center. Modern data management systems must be adaptable to heterogeneous science data formats, scalable to meet the mission's quality of service requirements, and able to manage the life-cycle of any given science data product. Designing a scalable data management doesn't happen overnight. It takes countless hours of refining, refactoring, retesting, and re-architecting. The Horizon data management and workflow framework, developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is a portable, scalable, and reusable framework for developing high-performance data management and product generation workflow systems to automate data capturing, data curation, and data analysis activities. The NASA's Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC)'s Data Management and Archive System (DMAS) is its core data infrastructure that handles capturing and distribution of hundreds of thousands of satellite observations each day around the clock. DMAS is an application of the Horizon framework. The NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) is NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)'s solution for making high-resolution global imageries available to the science communities. The Imagery Exchange (TIE), an application of the Horizon framework, is a core subsystem for GIBS responsible for data capturing and imagery generation automation to support the EOSDIS' 12 distributed active archive centers and 17 Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS). This presentation discusses our ongoing effort in refining, refactoring, retesting, and re-architecting the Horizon framework to enable data-intensive science and its applications.

Architectures Toward Reusable Science Data Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moses, J. F.

2014-12-01

Science Data Systems (SDS) comprise an important class of data processing systems that support product generation from remote sensors and in-situ observations. These systems enable research into new science data products, replication of experiments and verification of results. NASA has been building ground systems for satellite data processing since the first Earth observing satellites launched and is continuing development of systems to support NASA science research, NOAA's weather satellites and USGS's Earth observing satellite operations. The basic data processing workflows and scenarios continue to be valid for remote sensor observations research as well as for the complex multi-instrument operational satellite data systems being built today. System functions such as ingest, product generation and distribution need to be configured and performed in a consistent and repeatable way with an emphasis on scalability. This paper will examine the key architectural elements of several NASA satellite data processing systems currently in operation and under development that make them suitable for scaling and reuse. Examples of architectural elements that have become attractive include virtual machine environments, standard data product formats, metadata content and file naming, workflow and job management frameworks, data acquisition, search, and distribution protocols. By highlighting key elements and implementation experience the goal is to recognize architectures that will outlast their original application and be readily adaptable for new applications. Concepts and principles are explored that lead to sound guidance for SDS developers and strategists.

Architectures Toward Reusable Science Data Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moses, John

2015-01-01

Science Data Systems (SDS) comprise an important class of data processing systems that support product generation from remote sensors and in-situ observations. These systems enable research into new science data products, replication of experiments and verification of results. NASA has been building systems for satellite data processing since the first Earth observing satellites launched and is continuing development of systems to support NASA science research and NOAAs Earth observing satellite operations. The basic data processing workflows and scenarios continue to be valid for remote sensor observations research as well as for the complex multi-instrument operational satellite data systems being built today. System functions such as ingest, product generation and distribution need to be configured and performed in a consistent and repeatable way with an emphasis on scalability. This paper will examine the key architectural elements of several NASA satellite data processing systems currently in operation and under development that make them suitable for scaling and reuse. Examples of architectural elements that have become attractive include virtual machine environments, standard data product formats, metadata content and file naming, workflow and job management frameworks, data acquisition, search, and distribution protocols. By highlighting key elements and implementation experience we expect to find architectures that will outlast their original application and be readily adaptable for new applications. Concepts and principles are explored that lead to sound guidance for SDS developers and strategists.

Adaptive management in the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System: Science-management partnerships for conservation delivery

USGS Publications Warehouse

Moore, C.T.; Lonsdorf, E.V.; Knutson, M.G.; Laskowski, H.P.; Lor, S.K.

2011-01-01

Adaptive management is an approach to recurrent decision making in which uncertainty about the decision is reduced over time through comparison of outcomes predicted by competing models against observed values of those outcomes. The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a large land management program charged with making natural resource management decisions, which often are made under considerable uncertainty, severe operational constraints, and conditions that limit ability to precisely carry out actions as intended. The NWRS presents outstanding opportunities for the application of adaptive management, but also difficult challenges. We describe two cooperative programs between the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey to implement adaptive management at scales ranging from small, single refuge applications to large, multi-refuge, multi-region projects. Our experience to date suggests three important attributes common to successful implementation: a vigorous multi-partner collaboration, practical and informative decision framework components, and a sustained commitment to the process. Administrators in both agencies should consider these attributes when developing programs to promote the use and acceptance of adaptive management in the NWRS. ?? 2010 .

Nano Entry System for CubeSat-Class Payloads Project (Nano-ADEPT)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Brandon Patrick

2014-01-01

This project is developing a mechanically deployed system through a mission application study, deployment/ejection testing, and wind tunnel testing. Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT) has been under development at NASA since 2011. Nano-ADEPT is the application of this revolutionary entry technology for small spacecraft. The unique capability of ADEPT for small science payloads comes from its ability to stow within a slender volume and deploy passively to achieve a mass-efficient drag surface with a high heat rate capability. Near-term applications for this technology include return of small science payloads or CubeSat technology from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and delivery of secondary payloads to the surface of Mars.

Commissioning and first light results of an L'-band vortex coronagraph with the Keck II adaptive optics NIRC2 science instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Femenía Castellá, Bruno; Serabyn, Eugene; Mawet, Dimitri; Absil, Olivier; Wizinowich, Peter; Matthews, Keith; Huby, Elsa; Bottom, Michael; Campbell, Randy; Chan, Dwight; Carlomagno, Brunella; Cetre, Sylvain; Defrère, Denis; Delacroix, Christian; Gomez Gonzalez, Carlos; Jolivet, Aïssa; Karlsson, Mikael; Lanclos, Kyle; Lilley, Scott; Milner, Steven; Ngo, Henry; Reggiani, Maddalena; Simmons, Julia; Tran, Hien; Vargas Catalan, Ernesto; Wertz, Olivier

2016-07-01

On March 2015 an L'-band vortex coronagraph based on an Annular Groove Phase Mask made up of a diamond sub-wavelength grating was installed on NIRC2 as a demonstration project. This vortex coronagraph operates in the L' band not only in order to take advantage from the favorable star/planet contrast ratio when observing beyond the K band, but also to exploit the fact that the Keck II Adaptive Optics (AO) system delivers nearly extreme adaptive optics image quality (Strehl ratios values near 90%) at 3.7μm. We describe the hardware installation of the vortex phase mask during a routine NIRC2 service mission. The success of the project depends on extensive software development which has allowed the achievement of exquisite real-time pointing control as well as further contrast improvements by using speckle nulling to mitigate the effect of static speckles. First light of the new coronagraphic mode was on June 2015 with already very good initial results. Subsequent commissioning nights were interlaced with science nights by members of the VORTEX team with their respective scientific programs. The new capability and excellent results so far have motivated the VORTEX team and the Keck Science Steering Committee (KSSC) to offer the new mode in shared risk mode for 2016B.

Preparing the Way for New Policy Regarding Adaptation of US Electricity Infrastructure to Climate Change

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allen, Melissa R

2013-10-01

The following pages represent the status of policy regarding adaptation of the electric grid to climate change and proposed directions for new policy development. While strides are being made to understand the current climate and to predict hazards it may present to human systems, both the science and the policy remain at present in an analytical state. The policy proposed in this document involves first continued computational modeling of outcomes which will produce a portfolio of options to be considered in light of specific region-related risks. It is proposed that the modeling continue not only until reasonable policy at variousmore » levels of jurisdiction can be derived from its outcome but also on a continuing basis so that as improvements in the understanding of the state and trajectory of climate science along with advancements in technology arise, they can be incorporated into an appropriate and evolving policy.« less

Taiwanese life scientists less "medialized" than their Western colleagues.

PubMed

Lo, Yin-Yueh; Peters, Hans Peter

2015-01-01

The article presents results from surveys of life scientists in Taiwan (n=270) and in Germany (n=326). Fewer Taiwanese than German researchers have frequent contact with the media and they rate their experiences with journalists less positively. Furthermore, they are less prepared to adapt to journalistic expectations and to a greater extent than German researchers they expect journalists to consider scientific criteria in their reporting. These findings are interpreted in Weingart's "medialization of science" framework as indicators of lower medialization of science in Taiwan than in Germany. However, Taiwanese scientists are more willing than German scientists to accept journalistic simplification at the expense of accuracy. This is explained as an adaptation to the media system and to the perceived scientific literacy of the media audience. We hypothesize that cultural differences regarding the relative priority of relational vs. rational communication goals may also contribute to more tolerance of journalistic simplification in Taiwan. © The Author(s) 2013.

A Philosophical Review of Science and Society within Agricultural Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKim, Aaron J.; Velez, Jonathan J.; Lambert, Misty D.; Balschweid, Mark A.

2017-01-01

We utilized philosophical and historical perspectives to analyze the interconnectedness between agricultural education, science, and society. Using historical evidence, the adaptive role of agricultural education was discussed and recommendations for future adaptability were described. Additionally, connections between agricultural education,…

Actionable Science Lessons Emerging from the Department of Interior Climate Science Center Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMahon, G.; Meadow, A. M.; Mikels-Carrasco, J.

2015-12-01

The DOI Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science (ACCCNRS) has recommended that co-production of actionable science be the core programmatic focus of the Climate Science Center enterprise. Efforts by the Southeast Climate Science Center suggest that the complexity of many climate adaptation decision problems (many stakeholders that can influence implementation of a decision; the problems that can be viewed at many scales in space and time; dynamic objectives with competing values; complex, non-linear systems) complicates development of research-based information that scientists and non-scientists view as comprehensible, trustworthy, legitimate, and accurate. Going forward, organizers of actionable science efforts should consider inclusion of a broad set of stakeholders, beyond formal decisionmakers, and ensure that sufficient resources are available to explore the interests and values of this broader group. Co-produced research endeavors should foster agency and collaboration across a wide range of stakeholders. We recognize that stakeholder agency may be constrained by scientific or political power structures that limit the ability to initiate discussion, make claims, and call things into question. Co-production efforts may need to be preceded by more descriptive assessments that summarize existing climate science in ways that stakeholders can understand and link with their concerns. Such efforts can build rapport and trust among scientists and non-scientists, and may help stakeholders and scientists alike to frame adaptation decision problems amenable to a co-production effort. Finally, university and government researchers operate within an evaluation structure that rewards researcher-driven science that, at the extreme, "throws information over the fence" in the hope that information users will make better decisions. Research evaluation processes must reward more consultative, collaborative, and collegial research approaches if researchers are to widely adopt co-production methods

How the Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) Has Collaboratively Increased Regional Collective Impacts on Climate Literacy Via Networks of Diverse Stakeholders Engaging in Multiple Reinforcing Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sussman, A.

2016-12-01

The Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) serves the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Island (USAPI) Region. The international entities served by PCEP are the state of Hawai`i (USA); three Freely Associated States (the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau), and three Territories (Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa). Funded by NSF, the PCEP aims to educate the region's students and citizens in ways that exemplify modern science and indigenous environmental knowledge, address the urgency of climate change impacts, and focus on adaptation strategies that can increase resiliency with respect to climate change impacts. PCEP partners include universities, education nonprofits, state or country offices/ministries of education, local ecological nonprofits, and a variety of community organizations. Partners contribute and share expertise in climate science, local ecological knowledge, K-12 education in the Pacific island region, science and environmental education, community college education, learning science, indigenous navigation, and oceanography. Over the past six years, PCEP has engaged with regional school systems and communities in a wide variety of ways that complement and reinforce each other. Highlighted activities include improving country and state climate science education standards; focusing on place-based local ecological knowledge and skills in working with schools and communities; developing and disseminating formal education resources such as books and web resources that focus on local contexts and skills rather than contextually inappropriate mainland the textbooks; developing and implementing professional development for teachers; and supporting local ways of knowing by gathering and sharing local stories of climate change; and promoting an emphasis on climate adaptation strategies that increase resilience of natural environments and community systems.

Earth Systems Science in an Integrated Science Content and Methods Course for Elementary Education Majors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madsen, J. A.; Allen, D. E.; Donham, R. S.; Fifield, S. J.; Shipman, H. L.; Ford, D. J.; Dagher, Z. R.

2004-12-01

With funding from the National Science Foundation, we have designed an integrated science content and methods course for sophomore-level elementary teacher education (ETE) majors. This course, the Science Semester, is a 15-credit sequence that consists of three science content courses (Earth, Life, and Physical Science) and a science teaching methods course. The goal of this integrated science and education methods curriculum is to foster holistic understandings of science and pedagogy that future elementary teachers need to effectively use inquiry-based approaches in teaching science in their classrooms. During the Science Semester, traditional subject matter boundaries are crossed to stress shared themes that teachers must understand to teach standards-based elementary science. Exemplary approaches that support both learning science and learning how to teach science are used. In the science courses, students work collaboratively on multidisciplinary problem-based learning (PBL) activities that place science concepts in authentic contexts and build learning skills. In the methods course, students critically explore the theory and practice of elementary science teaching, drawing on their shared experiences of inquiry learning in the science courses. An earth system science approach is ideally adapted for the integrated, inquiry-based learning that takes place during the Science Semester. The PBL investigations that are the hallmark of the Science Semester provide the backdrop through which fundamental earth system interactions can be studied. For example in the PBL investigation that focuses on energy, the carbon cycle is examined as it relates to fossil fuels. In another PBL investigation centered on kids, cancer, and the environment, the hydrologic cycle with emphasis on surface runoff and ground water contamination is studied. In a PBL investigation that has students learning about the Delaware Bay ecosystem through the story of the horseshoe crab and the biome that swirls around this remarkable arthropod, students are exposed to interactions between the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and geosphere and they examine ways in which climate change can affect this ecosystem.

Monitoring and Correcting Autonomic Function Aboard Mir: NASA Technology Used in Space and on Earth to Facilitate Adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowings, P.; Toscano, W.; Taylor, B.; DeRoshia, C.; Kornilova, L.; Koslovskaya, I.; Miller, N.

1999-01-01

The broad objective of the research was to study individual characteristics of human adaptation to long duration spaceflight and possibilities of their correction using autonomic conditioning. The changes in autonomic state during adaptation to microgravity can have profound effects on the operational efficiency of crewmembers and may result in debilitating biomedical symptoms. Ground-based and inflight experiment results showed that certain responses of autonomic nervous system were correlated with, or consistently preceded, reports of performance decrements or the symptoms. Autogenic-Feedback-Training Exercise (AFTE) is a physiological conditioning method that has been used to train people to voluntary control several of their own physiological responses. The specific objectives were: 1) To study human autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses to sustained exposure to microgravity; 2) To study human behavior/performance changes related to physiology; 3) To evaluate the effectiveness of preflight autonomic conditioning (AFTE) for facilitating adaptation to space and readaptation to Earth; and 4) To archive these data for the NASA Life Sciences Data Archive and thereby make this information available to the international scientific community.

The Department of the Interior Southeast Climate Science Center synthesis report 2011–15—Projects, products, and science priorities

USGS Publications Warehouse

Varela Minder, Elda; Lascurain, Aranzazu R.; McMahon, Gerard

2016-09-28

IntroductionIn 2009, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar established a network of eight regional Climate Science Centers (CSCs) that, along with the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs), would help define and implement the Department's climate adaptation response. The Southeast Climate Science Center (SE CSC) was established at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2010, under a 5-year cooperative agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to identify and address the regional challenges presented by climate change and variability in the Southeastern United States. All eight regional CSC hosts, including NCSU, were selected through a competitive process.Since its opening, the focus of the SE CSC has been on working with partners in the identification and development of research-based information that can assist managers, including cultural and natural resource managers, in adapting to global change processes, such as climate and land use change, that operate at local to global scales and affect resources important to the DOI mission. The SE CSC was organized to accomplish three goals:Provide co-produced, researched based, actionable science that supports transparent global change adaptation decisions.Convene conversations among decision makers, scientists, and managers to identify key ecosystem adaptation decisions driven by climate and land use change, the values and objectives that will be used to make decisions, and the research-based information needed to assess adaptation options.Build the capacity of natural resource professionals, university faculty, and students to understand and frame natural resource adaptation decisions and develop and use research-based information to make adaptation decisions.This report provides an overview of the SE CSC and the projects developed by the SE CSC since its inception. An important goal of this report is to provide a framework for understanding the evolution of the SE CSC science agenda, which has evolved over the first 5 years of the Center’s operation.

Cheetahs have a stronger constitutive innate immunity than leopards

PubMed Central

Heinrich, Sonja K.; Hofer, Heribert; Courtiol, Alexandre; Melzheimer, Jörg; Dehnhard, Martin; Czirják, Gábor Á.; Wachter, Bettina

2017-01-01

As a textbook case for the importance of genetics in conservation, absence of genetic variability at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is thought to endanger species viability, since it is considered crucial for pathogen resistance. An alternative view of the immune system inspired by life history theory posits that a strong response should evolve in other components of the immune system if there is little variation in the MHC. In contrast to the leopard (Panthera pardus), the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has a relatively low genetic variability at the MHC, yet free-ranging cheetahs are healthy. By comparing the functional competence of the humoral immune system of both species in sympatric populations in Namibia, we demonstrate that cheetahs have a higher constitutive innate but lower induced innate and adaptive immunity than leopards. We conclude (1) immunocompetence of cheetahs is higher than previously thought; (2) studying both innate and adaptive components of immune systems will enrich conservation science. PMID:28333126

Cheetahs have a stronger constitutive innate immunity than leopards.

PubMed

Heinrich, Sonja K; Hofer, Heribert; Courtiol, Alexandre; Melzheimer, Jörg; Dehnhard, Martin; Czirják, Gábor Á; Wachter, Bettina

2017-03-23

As a textbook case for the importance of genetics in conservation, absence of genetic variability at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is thought to endanger species viability, since it is considered crucial for pathogen resistance. An alternative view of the immune system inspired by life history theory posits that a strong response should evolve in other components of the immune system if there is little variation in the MHC. In contrast to the leopard (Panthera pardus), the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has a relatively low genetic variability at the MHC, yet free-ranging cheetahs are healthy. By comparing the functional competence of the humoral immune system of both species in sympatric populations in Namibia, we demonstrate that cheetahs have a higher constitutive innate but lower induced innate and adaptive immunity than leopards. We conclude (1) immunocompetence of cheetahs is higher than previously thought; (2) studying both innate and adaptive components of immune systems will enrich conservation science.

Adaptive DFT-based Interferometer Fringe Tracking

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, Edward; Pedretti, Ettore; Bregman, Jesse; Mah, Robert W.; Traub, Wesley A.

2004-01-01

An automatic interferometer fringe tracking system has been developed, implemented, and tested at the Infrared Optical Telescope Array (IOTA) observatory at Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. The system can minimize the optical path differences (OPDs) for all three baselines of the Michelson stellar interferometer at IOTA. Based on sliding window discrete Fourier transform (DFT) calculations that were optimized for computational efficiency and robustness to atmospheric disturbances, the algorithm has also been tested extensively on off-line data. Implemented in ANSI C on the 266 MHz PowerPC processor running the VxWorks real-time operating system, the algorithm runs in approximately 2.0 milliseconds per scan (including all three interferograms), using the science camera and piezo scanners to measure and correct the OPDs. The adaptive DFT-based tracking algorithm should be applicable to other systems where there is a need to detect or track a signal with an approximately constant-frequency carrier pulse.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 15

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Garshnek, Victoria (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1988-01-01

This is the 15th issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 59 papers published in Russian language periodicals or presented at conferences and of two new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. An additional feature is a review of a conference devoted to the physiology of extreme states. The abstracts included in this issue have been identified as relevant to 29 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas are adaptation, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, exobiology, genetics, habitability and environment effects, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, perception. personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive biology, and space biology and medicine.

On the role of model-based monitoring for adaptive planning under uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raso, Luciano; Kwakkel, Jan; Timmermans, Jos; Haasnoot, Mariolijn

2016-04-01

Adaptive plans, designed to anticipate and respond to an unfolding uncertain future, have found a fertile application domain in the planning of deltas that are exposed to rapid socioeconomic development and climate change. Adaptive planning, under the moniker of adaptive delta management, is used in the Dutch Delta Program for developing a nation-wide plan to prepare for uncertain climate change and socio-economic developments. Scientifically, adaptive delta management relies heavily on Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways. Currently, in the Netherlands the focus is shifting towards implementing the adaptive delta plan. This shift is especially relevant because the efficacy of adaptive plans hinges on monitoring on-going developments and ensuring that actions are indeed taken if and when necessary. In the design of an effective monitoring system for an adaptive plan, three challenges have to be confronted: • Shadow of the past: The development of adaptive plans and the design of their monitoring system relies heavily on current knowledge of the system, and current beliefs about plausible future developments. A static monitoring system is therefore exposed to the exact same uncertainties one tries to address through adaptive planning. • Inhibition of learning: Recent applications of adaptive planning tend to overlook the importance of learning and new information, and fail to account for this explicitly in the design of adaptive plans. • Challenge of surprise: Adaptive policies are designed in light of the current foreseen uncertainties. However, developments that are not considered during the design phase as being plausible could still substantially affect the performance of adaptive policies. The shadow of the past, the inhibition of learning, and the challenge of surprise taken together suggest that there is a need for redesigning the concepts of monitoring and evaluation to support the implementation of adaptive plans. Innovations from control theory, triggered by the challenge of uncertainty in operational control, may offer solutions from which monitoring for adaptive planning can benefit. Specifically: (i) in control, observations are incorporated into the model through data assimilation, updating the present state, boundary conditions, and parameters based on new observations, diminishing the shadow of the past; (ii) adaptive control is a way to modify the characteristics of the internal model, incorporating new knowledge on the system, countervailing the inhibition of learning; and (iii) in closed-loop control, a continuous system update equips the controller with "inherent robustness", i.e. to capacity to adapts to new conditions even when these were not initially considered. We aim to explore how inherent robustness addresses the challenge of surprise. Innovations in model-based control might help to improve and adapt the models used to support adaptive delta management to new information (reducing uncertainty). Moreover, this would offer a starting point for using these models not only in the design of adaptive plans, but also as part of the monitoring. The proposed research requires multidisciplinary cooperation between control theory, the policy sciences, and integrated assessment modeling.

Report to Congress on the restructuring of the Earth Observing System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

Contents: (1) The Science Objectives of EOS; (2) New Spacecraft Configurations; (3) The Impact of the Restructured EOS on Understanding the Climate; (4) The Impact of EOS on Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies; (5) EOS Data and Information System; (6) Interdisciplinary Investigations; (7) Missions in Advance of EOS; (8) The Role of the Departments of Energy and Defense; (9) Summary of the Mission to Planet Earth; and (10) Funding Requirement.

An Interrogative Model of Computer-Aided Adaptive Testing: Some Experimental Evidence

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-09-01

Ahilitfas 2 Final 3g zj, research report, Office of Naval Research, Arlington, VA, June 1986. Brovn, 3. S. and Harris, a., " Artificial Intelligence and...Building an Intellegent Tutoring System," in Methods and Tactics in Cggnitive Science (Rds. Kintsch, Miller, and Poison), Lavrence Zrlbaum Associates...Education, Washington, DC, November 1984. 89 -7- In SIvasankaran, T. R. and Bul, Tung X., "A Bayesian Diagnostic Model for Intellegent CAI Systems

Astronaut William Pogue using Skylab Viewfinder Tracking System experiment

NASA Image and Video Library

1973-09-10

S73-32854 (10 Sept. 1973) --- Astronaut William R. Pogue, Skylab 4 pilot, uses the Skylab Viewfinder Tracking System (S191 experiment) during a training exercise in the Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA) one-G trainer at Johnson Space Center. In the background is astronaut Gerald P. Carr, seated at the control panel for the Earth Resources Experiments Package (EREP). Carr is Skylab 4 crew commander, and Gibson is science pilot. Photo credit: NASA

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 29

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1991-01-01

This is the twenty-ninth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It is a double issue covering two issues of the Soviet Space Biology and Aerospace Medicine Journal. Issue 29 contains abstracts of 60 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of three Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. A review of a book on environmental hygiene and a list of papers presented at a Soviet conference on space biology and medicine are also included. The materials in this issue were identified as relevant to 28 areas of space biology and medicine. The areas are: adaptation, aviation medicine, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, digestive system, endocrinology, equipment and instrumentation, genetics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive system, space biology and medicine, and the economics of space flight.

SLICEIT and TAHMO Partnerships: Students Local and International Collaboration for Climate and Environmental Monitoring, Technology Development, Education, Adaptation and Mitigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aishlin, P. S.; Selker, J. S.

2015-12-01

Climate change understanding and impacts vary by community, yet the global nature of climate change requires international collaboration to address education, monitoring, adaptation and mitigation needs. We propose that effective climate change monitoring and education can be accomplished via student-led local and international community partnerships. By empowering students as community leaders in climate-environmental monitoring and education, as well as exploration of adaptation/mitigation needs, well-informed communities and young leadership are developed to support climate change science moving forward. Piloted 2013-2015, the SLICEIT1 program partnered with TAHMO2 to connect student leaders in North America, Europe and Africa. At the international level, schools in the U.S.A and Netherlands were partnered with schools in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda for science and cultural exchange. Each school was equipped with a climate or other environmental sensing system, real-time data publication and curricula for both formal and informal science, technology, engineering and math education and skill development. African counterparts in TAHMO's School-2-School program collect critically important data for enhanced on-the-ground monitoring of weather conditions in data-scarce regions of Africa. In Idaho, student designed, constructed and installed weather stations provide real time data for classroom and community use. Student-designed formal educational activities are disseminated to project partners, increasing hands-on technology education and peer-based learning. At the local level, schools are partnered with a local agency, research institute, nonprofit organization, industry and/or community partner that supplies a climate science expert mentor to SLICEIT program leaders and teachers. Mentor engagement is facilitated and secured by program components that directly benefit the mentor's organization and local community via climate/environment monitoring, student workforce skill development, community education, and/or adaptation/mitigation activities. Students are motivated by advanced real-world skill development, leadership opportunity, internship, community service and opportunity for international peer communication.

Spitzer Space Telescope in-orbit checkout and science verification operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Linick, Sue H.; Miles, John W.; Gilbert, John B.; Boyles, Carol A.

2004-01-01

Spitzer Space Telescope, the fourth and final of NASA's great observatories, and the first mission in NASA's Origins Program was launched 25 August 2003 into an Earth-trailing solar orbit. The observatory was designed to probe and explore the universe in the infrared. Before science data could be acquired, however, the observatory had to be initialized, characterized, calibrated, and commissioned. A two phased operations approach was defined to complete this work. These phases were identified as In-Orbit Checkout (IOC) and Science Verification (SV). Because the observatory lifetime is cryogen-limited these operations had to be highly efficient. The IOC/SV operations design accommodated a pre-defined distributed organizational structure and a complex, cryogenic flight system. Many checkout activities were inter-dependent, and therefore the operations concept and ground data system had to provide the flexibility required for a 'short turn-around' environment. This paper describes the adaptive operations system design and evolution, implementation, and lessons-learned from the completion of IOC/SV.

Smarter Earth Science Data System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, Thomas

2013-01-01

The explosive growth in Earth observational data in the recent decade demands a better method of interoperability across heterogeneous systems. The Earth science data system community has mastered the art in storing large volume of observational data, but it is still unclear how this traditional method scale over time as we are entering the age of Big Data. Indexed search solutions such as Apache Solr (Smiley and Pugh, 2011) provides fast, scalable search via keyword or phases without any reasoning or inference. The modern search solutions such as Googles Knowledge Graph (Singhal, 2012) and Microsoft Bing, all utilize semantic reasoning to improve its accuracy in searches. The Earth science user community is demanding for an intelligent solution to help them finding the right data for their researches. The Ontological System for Context Artifacts and Resources (OSCAR) (Huang et al., 2012), was created in response to the DARPA Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) programs need for an intelligent context models management system to empower its terrain simulation subsystem. The core component of OSCAR is the Environmental Context Ontology (ECO) is built using the Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology (SWEET) (Raskin and Pan, 2005). This paper presents the current data archival methodology within a NASA Earth science data centers and discuss using semantic web to improve the way we capture and serve data to our users.

The potential roles of science centers in climate change adaptation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, P.

2012-12-01

The overwhelming consensus amongst climatologists is that anthropogenic climate change is underway, but leading climate scientists also anticipate that over the next 20 years research may only modestly reduce the uncertainty about where, when and by how much climate will change. Uncertainty presents not only scientific challenges but social, political and economic quandaries as well. Both scientific and educational communities understand that climate change will test the resilience of societies especially because of the uncertainties regarding the timing, nature and severity of climate change. Thus the need is great for civic conversations regarding climate change adaptation. What roles might science centers play in helping their audiences and communities make decisions about climate change adaptation despite less-than-perfect knowledge? And how might informal and formal education work together on this task? This session will begin with a review of some initial efforts by selected science centers and their partners to engage their audiences in and help their communities grapple with climate change adaptation. It then will conclude with an audience discussion about potential future efforts by science centers both individually and in collaboration with formal education institutions to elevate public and policymaker awareness and appreciation of the need for climate change adaptation.

Water Management Decisions within a Changing Hydrologic Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wegner, D. L.

2013-12-01

Across the United States and around the world we are facing unprecedented demands on our surface and ground water. Increasing population demands coupled with maintaining water quality, supporting species and ecosystem services, distribution of supply, hydrologic variability associated with changing climatic conditions - all require us to look more rigorously at the intersection of policy, management and science. The water supply and hydroelectric constituencies has embraced the concept of Adaptive Management in balancing the needs of resources, people, economies and providing ecosystem support. In its infancy Adaptive Management was employed as a way to move forward on dam operation and reservoir management decisions while recognizing the unknowns of how up or downstream physical and biological elements of freshwater systems would respond. River science at the time was not mature or expansive enough to address the interrelated and complex impacts of the nuances of changing operations of dams. Adaptive Management, the concept, made good sense and has provided a framework to inform management and policy decisions while keeping the door open for integrating new knowledge into a management matrix - the essence of adaptation. The application of Adaptive Management principles has continued to expand as water management demands increase. The application and reality of the use of Adaptive Management has had variable success. In the United States we have over 25 federal agencies that have water in their mission statements. Combine this with 50 states with their own water management requirements, Native American Tribes, and countless watershed and local water supply constraints and you get a sense of the challenge associated with collaborating and addressing water management issues. Without having a set of national water objectives and goals (a National Water Policy) it is up to the collaboration and integration of the multiple water silos with appropriate science. It is within this context that river restoration and management case studies will be explored to evaluate opportunities, challenges, the process of integrating science-policy-management, and some perspectives on the possible options for building a water future. A water future that embraces the essence of Adaptive Management without using the concept as a convenient mechanism for avoiding having to make difficult decisions on water management. The review will include assessing the application of various tools including hydrologic and ecosystem models, experimental floods, channel-cleansing flows, manipulation of habitats, and seasonal allocation of water to provide flooding of estuary habitats and river mouths for water volume and water quality purposes.

Technology transfer from the science of medicine to the real world: the potential role played by artificial adaptive systems.

PubMed

Grossi, Enzo

2007-01-01

The author describes a refiguration of medical thought that originates from nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory. The coupling of computer science and these new theoretical bases coming from complex systems mathematics allows the creation of "intelligent" agents capable of adapting themselves dynamically to problems of high complexity: the artificial neural networks (ANNs). ANNs are able to reproduce the dynamic interaction of multiple factors simultaneously, allowing the study of complexity; they can also draw conclusions on an individual basis and not as average trends. These tools can allow a more efficient technology transfer from the science of medicine to the real world, overcoming many obstacles responsible for the present translational failure. They also contribute to a new holistic vision of the human subject person, contrasting the statistical reductionism that tends to squeeze or even delete the single subject, sacrificing him to his group of belongingness. A remarkable contribution to this individual approach comes from fuzzy logic, according to which there are no sharp limits between opposite things, such as wealth and disease. This approach allows one to partially escape from the probability theory trap in situations where it is fundamental to express a judgement based on a single case and favor a novel humanism directed to the management of the patient as an individual subject person.

Aural mapping of STEM concepts using literature mining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bharadwaj, Venkatesh

Recent technological applications have made the life of people too much dependent on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and its applications. Understanding basic level science is a must in order to use and contribute to this technological revolution. Science education in middle and high school levels however depends heavily on visual representations such as models, diagrams, figures, animations and presentations etc. This leaves visually impaired students with very few options to learn science and secure a career in STEM related areas. Recent experiments have shown that small aural clues called Audemes are helpful in understanding and memorization of science concepts among visually impaired students. Audemes are non-verbal sound translations of a science concept. In order to facilitate science concepts as Audemes, for visually impaired students, this thesis presents an automatic system for audeme generation from STEM textbooks. This thesis describes the systematic application of multiple Natural Language Processing tools and techniques, such as dependency parser, POS tagger, Information Retrieval algorithm, Semantic mapping of aural words, machine learning etc., to transform the science concept into a combination of atomic-sounds, thus forming an audeme. We present a rule based classification method for all STEM related concepts. This work also presents a novel way of mapping and extracting most related sounds for the words being used in textbook. Additionally, machine learning methods are used in the system to guarantee the customization of output according to a user's perception. The system being presented is robust, scalable, fully automatic and dynamically adaptable for audeme generation.

Advanced platform technologies for Earth science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemmerman, Loren; Raymond, Carol; Shotwell, Robert; Chase, James; Bhasin, Kul; Connerton, Robert

2005-01-01

Historically, Earth science investigations have been independent and highly focused. However, the Earth's environment is a very dynamic and interrelated system and to understand it, significant improvements in spatial and temporal observations will be required. Science needs to document the need for constellations to achieve desired spatial and temporal observations. A key element envisioned for accomplishing these difficult challenges is the idea of a distributed, heterogeneous, and adaptive observing system or sensor web. This paper focuses on one possible approach based on a LEO constellation composed of 100 spacecraft. A cost analysis has been done to indicate the financial pressures of each mission phase and conclusions are drawn suggesting that new technology investments are needed, directed toward lowering production costs; that operations costs will need to be reduced through autonomy; and that, of the on-board subsystems considered, advanced power generation and management may be the most enabling of new technologies.

Interdisciplinary education approach to the human science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szu, Harold; Zheng, Yufeng; Zhang, Nian

2012-06-01

We introduced human sciences as components, and integrated them together as an interdisciplinary endeavor over decades. This year, we built a website to maintain systematically the educational research service. We captured the human sciences in various components in the SPIE proceedings over the last decades, which included: (i) ears & eyes like adaptive wavelets, (ii) brain-like unsupervised learning independent component analysis (ICA); (iii) compressive sampling spatiotemporal sparse information processing, (iv) nanoengineering approach to sensing components, (v) systems biology measurements, and (vi) biomedical wellness applications. In order to serve the interdisciplinary community better, our system approach is based on that the former recipients invited the next recipients to deliver their review talks and panel discussions. Since only the former recipients of each component can lead the nomination committees and make the final selections, we also create a leadership award which may be nominated by any conference attendance, to be approved by the conference organization committee.

Computer Applications in Health Science Education.

PubMed

Juanes, Juan A; Ruisoto, Pablo

2015-09-01

In recent years, computer application development has experienced exponential growth, not only in the number of publications but also in the scope or contexts that have benefited from its use. In health science training, and medicine specifically, the gradual incorporation of technological developments has transformed the teaching and learning process, resulting in true "educational technology". The goal of this paper is to review the main features involved in these applications and highlight the main lines of research for the future. The results of peer reviewed literature published recently indicate the following features shared by the key technological developments in the field of health science education: first, development of simulation and visualization systems for a more complete and realistic representation of learning material over traditional paper format; second, portability and versatility of the applications, adapted for an increasing number of devices and operative systems; third, increasing focus on open source applications such as Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).

International Seminar--History and Social Science Textbook (Santiago de Chile, 2008)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Online Submission, 2009

2009-01-01

The School Textbook Division from the Chilean Ministry of Education has carried out experience-sharing instances and reflection processes oriented to improve the quality of textbooks, adapting them to new learning strategies, to the demands of the school system as well as to the state-of-the-art in research in education worldwide. Since the…

Exploring Relationship between Students' Questioning Behaviors and Inquiry Tasks in an Online Forum through Analysis of Ideational Function of Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Seng-Chee; Seah, Lay-Hoon

2011-01-01

In this study we explored questioning behaviors among elementary students engaging in inquiry science using the "Knowledge Forum", a computer-supported collaborative learning tool. Adapting the theory of systemic functional linguistics, we developed the Ideational Function of Question (IFQ) analytical framework by means of inductive analysis of…

Teaching Students about Biodiversity by Studying the Correlation between Plants & Arthropods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Matthew L.; Hari, Janice

2008-01-01

On Earth there is a huge diversity of arthropods, many of which are highly adaptive and able to exploit virtually every terrestrial habitat. Because of their prevalence even in urban environments, they make an excellent model system for any life science class. Since plants also exploit virtually every terrestrial habitat, studying the relationship…

Small-Group Problem-Based Learning as a Complex Adaptive System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mennin, Stewart

2007-01-01

Small-group problem-based learning (PBL) is widely embraced as a method of study in health professions schools and at many different levels of education. Complexity science provides a different lens with which to view and understand the application of this method. It presents new concepts and vocabulary that may be unfamiliar to practitioners of…

A Posteriori Restoration of Block Transform-Compressed Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, R.; Boden, A. F.

1995-01-01

The Galileo spacecraft will use lossy data compression for the transmission of its science imagery over the low-bandwidth communication system. The technique chosen for image compression is a block transform technique based on the Integer Cosine Transform, a derivative of the JPEG image compression standard. Considered here are two known a posteriori enhancement techniques, which are adapted.

The role of Fizeau interferometry in planetary science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conrad, Albert R.

2016-08-01

Historically, two types of interferometer have been used to the study of solar system objects: coaxial and Fizeau. While coaxial interferometers are well-suited to a wide range of galactic and extra-galactic science cases, solar system science cases are, in most cases, better carried out with Fizeau imagers. Targets of interest in our solar system are often bright and compact, and the science cases for these objects often call for a complete, or nearly complete, image at high angular resolution. For both methods, multiple images must be taken at varying baselines to reconstruct an image. However, with the Fizeau technique that number is far fewer than it is for the aperture synthesis method employed by co-axial interferometers. In our solar system, bodies rotate and their surfaces are sometimes changing over yearly, or even weekly, time scales. Thus, the need to be able to exploit the high angular resolution of an interferometer with only a handful of observations taken on a single night, as is the case for Fizeau interferometers, gives a key advantage to this technique. The aperture of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), two 8.4 circular mirrors separated center-to-center by 14.4 meters, is optimal for supporting Fizeau interferometry. The first of two Fizeau imagers planned for LBT, the LBT Interferometer (LBTI),1 saw first fringes in 2010 and has proven to be a valuable tool for solar system studies. Recent studies of Jupiters volcanic moon Io have yielded results that rely on the angular resolution provided by the full 23-meter baseline of LBT Future studies of the aurora at Jupiters poles and the shape and binarity of asteroids are planned. While many solar system studies can be carried out on-axis (i.e., using the target of interest as the beacon for both adaptive optics correction and fringe tracking), studies such as Io-in-eclipse, full disk of Jupiter and Mars, and binarity of Kuiper belt objects, require off-axis observations (i.e., using one or more nearby guide-moons or stars for adaptive optics correction and fringe tracking). These studies can be plagued by anisoplanatism, or cone effect. LINC-NIRVANA (LN),2 the first multi-conjugate adaptive optics system (MCAO) on an 8-meter class telescope in the northern hemisphere, provides a solution to the ill-effects of anisoplanatism. One of the LN ground layer wave front sensors was tested on LBT during 2014.3-5 Longer term, an upgrade planned for LN will establish its original role as the second LBT Fizeau imager. The full-disk study of several solar system bodies, most notably large and/or nearby bodies such as Jupiter and Mars which span tens of arcseconds, would be best studied with LN. We will review the past accomplishments of Fizeau interferometry with LBTI, present plans for using that instrument for future solar system studies, and, lastly, explore the unique solar system studies that require the LN MCAO system combined with Fizeau interferometry.

Cognitive computing and eScience in health and life science research: artificial intelligence and obesity intervention programs.

PubMed

Marshall, Thomas; Champagne-Langabeer, Tiffiany; Castelli, Darla; Hoelscher, Deanna

2017-12-01

To present research models based on artificial intelligence and discuss the concept of cognitive computing and eScience as disruptive factors in health and life science research methodologies. The paper identifies big data as a catalyst to innovation and the development of artificial intelligence, presents a framework for computer-supported human problem solving and describes a transformation of research support models. This framework includes traditional computer support; federated cognition using machine learning and cognitive agents to augment human intelligence; and a semi-autonomous/autonomous cognitive model, based on deep machine learning, which supports eScience. The paper provides a forward view of the impact of artificial intelligence on our human-computer support and research methods in health and life science research. By augmenting or amplifying human task performance with artificial intelligence, cognitive computing and eScience research models are discussed as novel and innovative systems for developing more effective adaptive obesity intervention programs.

Systems pharmacology, pharmacogenetics, and clinical trial design in network medicine.

PubMed

Antman, Elliott; Weiss, Scott; Loscalzo, Joseph

2012-01-01

The rapidly growing disciplines of systems biology and network science are now poised to meet the fields of clinical medicine and pharmacology. Principles of systems pharmacology can be applied to drug design and, ultimately, testing in human clinical trials. Rather than focusing exclusively on single drug targets, systems pharmacology examines the holistic response of a phenotype-dependent pathway or pathways to drug perturbation. Knowledge of individual pharmacogenetic profiles further modulates the responses to these drug perturbations, moving the field toward more individualized ('personalized') drug development. The speed with which the information required to assess these system responses and their genomic underpinnings is changing and the importance of identifying the optimal drug or drug combinations for maximal benefit and minimal risk require that clinical trial design strategies be adaptable. In this paper, we review the tenets of adaptive clinical trial design as they may apply to an era of expanding knowledge of systems pharmacology and pharmacogenomics, and clinical trail design in network medicine. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Improved Management of Water and Natural Resources Requires Open, Cognizant, Adaptive Science and Policy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glynn, P. D.; Voinov, A. A.; Shapiro, C. D.; Jenni, K. E.

2017-12-01

Water issues impact the availability and use of other natural resources as well as environmental conditions. In an increasingly populated hyper-connected world, water issues are increasingly "wicked problems": complex problems with high uncertainties and no independent observers. Water is essential to life, and life affects water quality and availability. Scientists, managers, decision-makers, and the greater public all have a stake in improving the management of water resources. In turn, they are part of the systems that they are studying, deciding on, affecting, or trying to improve. Governance of water issues requires greater accessibility, traceability, and accountability (ATA) in science and policy. Water-related studies and decision-making need transdisciplinary science, inclusive participatory processes, and consideration and acceptance of multiple perspectives. Biases, Beliefs, Heuristics, and Values (BBHV) shape much of our perceptions and knowledge, and inevitably, affect both science and policy. Understanding the role of BBHV is critical to (1) understanding individual and group judgments and choices, (2) recognizing potential differences between societal "wants" and societal "needs", and (3) identifying "winners" and "losers" of policy decisions. Societal acceptance of proposed policies and actions can be fostered by enhancing participatory processes and by providing greater ATA in science, in policy, and in development of the laws, rules, and traditions that constrain decision-making. An adaptive science-infused governance framework is proposed that seeks greater cognizance of the role of BBHV in shaping science and policy choices and decisions, and that also seeks "Open Traceable Accountable Policy" to complement "Open Science". We discuss the limitations of the governance that we suggest, as well as tools and approaches to help implementation.

Implementation of Multispectral Image Classification on a Remote Adaptive Computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Figueiredo, Marco A.; Gloster, Clay S.; Stephens, Mark; Graves, Corey A.; Nakkar, Mouna

1999-01-01

As the demand for higher performance computers for the processing of remote sensing science algorithms increases, the need to investigate new computing paradigms its justified. Field Programmable Gate Arrays enable the implementation of algorithms at the hardware gate level, leading to orders of m a,gnitude performance increase over microprocessor based systems. The automatic classification of spaceborne multispectral images is an example of a computation intensive application, that, can benefit from implementation on an FPGA - based custom computing machine (adaptive or reconfigurable computer). A probabilistic neural network is used here to classify pixels of of a multispectral LANDSAT-2 image. The implementation described utilizes Java client/server application programs to access the adaptive computer from a remote site. Results verify that a remote hardware version of the algorithm (implemented on an adaptive computer) is significantly faster than a local software version of the same algorithm implemented on a typical general - purpose computer).

Natural language processing and visualization in the molecular imaging domain.

PubMed

Tulipano, P Karina; Tao, Ying; Millar, William S; Zanzonico, Pat; Kolbert, Katherine; Xu, Hua; Yu, Hong; Chen, Lifeng; Lussier, Yves A; Friedman, Carol

2007-06-01

Molecular imaging is at the crossroads of genomic sciences and medical imaging. Information within the molecular imaging literature could be used to link to genomic and imaging information resources and to organize and index images in a way that is potentially useful to researchers. A number of natural language processing (NLP) systems are available to automatically extract information from genomic literature. One existing NLP system, known as BioMedLEE, automatically extracts biological information consisting of biomolecular substances and phenotypic data. This paper focuses on the adaptation, evaluation, and application of BioMedLEE to the molecular imaging domain. In order to adapt BioMedLEE for this domain, we extend an existing molecular imaging terminology and incorporate it into BioMedLEE. BioMedLEE's performance is assessed with a formal evaluation study. The system's performance, measured as recall and precision, is 0.74 (95% CI: [.70-.76]) and 0.70 (95% CI [.63-.76]), respectively. We adapt a JAVA viewer known as PGviewer for the simultaneous visualization of images with NLP extracted information.

Climate Change Adaptation Act : report of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on S. 2355

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-06-05

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to which was referred the bill (S. 2355) to amend the National Climate Program Act to enhance the ability of the United States to : develop and implement climate change adaptation programs and p...

Not-So-Messy Hands-On Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryan, Denise; Denty, Amy

2002-01-01

Presents four elementary hands-on science activities that highlight animal adaptation (how birds' beaks are adapted to suit their habitats), the water cycle (how nature cleans rainwater that seeps into the ground), aquatic ecosystems (changes over time in an aquatic habitat), and animal habitats (all living beings' need for food, water, shelter,…

From Programs to Systems: Deploying Implementation Science and Practice for Sustained Real World Effectiveness in Services for Children and Families.

PubMed

Ghate, Deborah

2016-01-01

The transfer of knowledge of effective practice, especially into "usual care" settings, remains challenging. This article argues that to close this gap we need to recognize the particular challenges of whole-system improvement. We need to move beyond a limited focus on individual programs and experimental research on their effectiveness. The rapidly developing field of implementation science and practice (ISP) provides a particular lens and a set of important constructs that can helpfully accelerate progress. A review of selected key constructs and distinctive features of ISP, including recognizing invisible system infrastructure, co-construction involving active collaboration between stakeholders, and attention to active implementation, supports for providers beyond education and training. Key aspects of an implementation lens likely to be most helpful in sustaining effectiveness include assisting innovators to identify and accommodate the architecture of existing systems, understand the implementation process as a series of distinct but nonlinear stages, identify implementation outcomes as prerequisites for treatment outcomes, and analyse implementation challenges using frameworks of implementation drivers. In complex adaptive systems, how services are implemented may matter more than their specific content, and how services align and adapt to local context may determine their sustained usefulness. To improve implementation-relevant research, we need better process evaluation and cannot rely on experimental methods that do not capture complex systemic contexts. Deployment of an implementation lens may perhaps help to avoid future "rigor mortis," enabling more productively flexible and integrative approaches to both program design and evaluation.

Hell and High Water: Practice-Relevant Adaptation Science

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moss, Richard H.; Meehl, G.; Lemos, Maria Carmen

2013-11-08

Recent extreme weather such as Hurricane Sandy and the 2012 drought demonstrate the vulnerability of the United States to climate extremes in the present and point to the potential for increased future damages under a changing climate. They also provide lessons for reducing harm and realizing any potential benefits. Preparedness measures – also referred to as adaptation – can cost-effectively increase resilience today and in the future. The upfront costs will be more than offset by reductions in property damage, lives and livelihoods lost, and expensive post-disaster recovery processes. While others have addressed use of science for adaptation in specificmore » sectors including biodiversity (Heller and Zavaleta, 2009) and freshwater ecosystem management (Wilby et al., 2010), or by simply taking a more pragmatic approach to adaptation under uncertainty (Hallegatte, 2009), here the authors make the case that a new, comprehensive approach is needed to create and use science to inform adaptations with applicable and sound knowledge (Kerr et al., 2011).« less

Evolutionary perspectives on learning: conceptual and methodological issues in the study of adaptive specializations.

PubMed

Krause, Mark A

2015-07-01

Inquiry into evolutionary adaptations has flourished since the modern synthesis of evolutionary biology. Comparative methods, genetic techniques, and various experimental and modeling approaches are used to test adaptive hypotheses. In psychology, the concept of adaptation is broadly applied and is central to comparative psychology and cognition. The concept of an adaptive specialization of learning is a proposed account for exceptions to general learning processes, as seen in studies of Pavlovian conditioning of taste aversions, sexual responses, and fear. The evidence generally consists of selective associations forming between biologically relevant conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, with conditioned responses differing in magnitude, persistence, or other measures relative to non-biologically relevant stimuli. Selective associations for biologically relevant stimuli may suggest adaptive specializations of learning, but do not necessarily confirm adaptive hypotheses as conceived of in evolutionary biology. Exceptions to general learning processes do not necessarily default to an adaptive specialization explanation, even if experimental results "make biological sense". This paper examines the degree to which hypotheses of adaptive specializations of learning in sexual and fear response systems have been tested using methodologies developed in evolutionary biology (e.g., comparative methods, quantitative and molecular genetics, survival experiments). A broader aim is to offer perspectives from evolutionary biology for testing adaptive hypotheses in psychological science.

Spacelab Life Science-1 Mission Onboard Photograph

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The laboratory module in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia was photographed during the Spacelab Life Science-1 (SLS-1) mission. SLS-1 was the first Spacelab mission dedicated solely to life sciences. The main purpose of the SLS-1 mission was to study the mechanisms, magnitudes, and time courses of certain physiological changes that occur during space flight, to investigate the consequences of the body's adaptation to microgravity and readjustment to Earth's gravity, and to bring the benefits back home to Earth. The mission was designed to explore the responses of the heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, and hormone-secreting glands to microgravity and related body fluid shifts; examine the causes of space motion sickness; and study changes in the muscles, bones and cells. The five body systems being studied were: The Cardiovascular/Cardiopulmonary System (heart, lungs, and blood vessels), the Renal/Endocrine System (kidney and hormone-secreting organs), the Immune System (white blood cells), the Musculoskeletal System (muscles and bones), and the Neurovestibular System (brain and nerves, eyes, and irner ear). The SLS-1 was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia (STS-40) on June 5, 1995.

Integrating developed and developing world knowledge into global discussions and strategies for sustainability. 1. Science and technology.

PubMed

Mihelcic, James R; Zimmerman, Julie B; Ramaswami, Anu

2007-05-15

Sustainable development in both the developed and developing world has the common fundamental themes of advancing economic and social prosperity while protecting and restoring natural systems. While many recent efforts have been undertaken to transfer knowledge from the developed to the developing world to achieve a more sustainable future, indigenous knowledge that often originates in developing nations also can contribute significantly to this global dialogue. Selected case studies are presented to describe important knowledge, methodologies, techniques, principles, and practices for sustainable development emerging from developing countries in two critical challenge areas to sustainability: water and energy. These, with additional analysis and quantification, can be adapted and expanded for transfer throughout the developed and developing world in advancing sustainability. A common theme in all of the case studies presented is the integration of natural processes and material flows into the anthropogenic system. Some of these techniques, originating in rural settings, have recently been adapted for use in cities, which is especially important as the global trend of urban population growth accelerates. Innovations in science and technology, specifically applied to two critical issues of today, water and energy, are expected to fundamentally shift the type and efficiency of energy and materials utilized to advance prosperity while protecting and restoring natural systems.

Designing for Change: Interoperability in a scaling and adapting environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yarmey, L.

2015-12-01

The Earth Science cyberinfrastructure landscape is constantly changing. Technologies advance and technical implementations are refined or replaced. Data types, volumes, packaging, and use cases evolve. Scientific requirements emerge and mature. Standards shift while systems scale and adapt. In this complex and dynamic environment, interoperability remains a critical component of successful cyberinfrastructure. Through the resource- and priority-driven iterations on systems, interfaces, and content, questions fundamental to stable and useful Earth Science cyberinfrastructure arise. For instance, how are sociotechnical changes planned, tracked, and communicated? How should operational stability balance against 'new and shiny'? How can ongoing maintenance and mitigation of technical debt be managed in an often short-term resource environment? The Arctic Data Explorer is a metadata brokering application developed to enable discovery of international, interdisciplinary Arctic data across distributed repositories. Completely dependent on interoperable third party systems, the Arctic Data Explorer publicly launched in 2013 with an original 3000+ data records from four Arctic repositories. Since then the search has scaled to 25,000+ data records from thirteen repositories at the time of writing. In the final months of original project funding, priorities shift to lean operations with a strategic eye on the future. Here we present lessons learned from four years of Arctic Data Explorer design, development, communication, and maintenance work along with remaining questions and potential directions.

Re-Engineering the Mission Operations System (MOS) for the Prime and Extended Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunt, Joseph C., Jr.; Cheng, Leo Y.

2012-01-01

One of the most challenging tasks in a space science mission is designing the Mission Operations System (MOS). Whereas the focus of the project is getting the spacecraft built and tested for launch, the mission operations engineers must build a system to carry out the science objectives. The completed MOS design is then formally assessed in the many reviews. Once a mission has completed the reviews, the Mission Operation System (MOS) design has been validated to the Functional Requirements and is ready for operations. The design was built based on heritage processes, new technology, and lessons learned from past experience. Furthermore, our operational concepts must be properly mapped to the mission design and science objectives. However, during the course of implementing the science objective in the operations phase after launch, the MOS experiences an evolutional change to adapt for actual performance characteristics. This drives the re-engineering of the MOS, because the MOS includes the flight and ground segments. Using the Spitzer mission as an example we demonstrate how the MOS design evolved for both the prime and extended mission to enhance the overall efficiency for science return. In our re-engineering process, we ensured that no requirements were violated or mission objectives compromised. In most cases, optimized performance across the MOS, including gains in science return as well as savings in the budget profile was achieved. Finally, we suggest a need to better categorize the Operations Phase (Phase E) in the NASA Life-Cycle Phases of Formulation and Implementation

Advanced Communication Processing Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scholtz, Robert A.

This document contains the proceedings of the workshop Advanced Communication Processing Techniques, held May 14 to 17, 1989, near Ruidoso, New Mexico. Sponsored by the Army Research Office (under Contract DAAL03-89-G-0016) and organized by the Communication Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California, the workshop had as its objective to determine those applications of intelligent/adaptive communication signal processing that have been realized and to define areas of future research. We at the Communication Sciences Institute believe that there are two emerging areas which deserve considerably more study in the near future: (1) Modulation characterization, i.e., the automation of modulation format recognition so that a receiver can reliably demodulate a signal without using a priori information concerning the signal's structure, and (2) the incorporation of adaptive coding into communication links and networks. (Encoders and decoders which can operate with a wide variety of codes exist, but the way to utilize and control them in links and networks is an issue). To support these two new interest areas, one must have both a knowledge of (3) the kinds of channels and environments in which the systems must operate, and of (4) the latest adaptive equalization techniques which might be employed in these efforts.

Deep Impact comet encounter: design, development, and operations of the Big Event at Tempel 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wissler, Steven

2005-01-01

Deep Impact is NASA's eighth Discovery mission. This low-cost, focused planetary science investigation gathered the data necessary to help scientists unlock early secrets of our solar system. The comet encounter with Tempel 1 was a complex event - requiring extremely accurate timing, robutstness to an unknown environment, and flight team adaptability. The mission operations and flight systems performance were spectacular for approach, impact, and lookback imaging on July 4, 2005.

Deep Impact comet encounter: design, development, and operations of the big event at Tempel 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wissler, Steven; Rocca, Jennifer; Kubitschek, Daniel

2005-01-01

Deep Impact is NASA's eighth Discovery mission. This low-cost, focused planetary science investigation gathered the data necessary to help scientists unlock early secrets of our solar system. The comet encounter with Tempel 1 was a complex event - requiring extremely accurate timing, robustness to an unknown environment, and flight team adaptibility. The mission operations and flight systems performance were spectacular for approach, impact, and lookback imaging on July 4, 2005.

USSR space life sciences digest, issue 27

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, Lydia Razran (Editor); Teeter, Ronald (Editor); Garshnek, Victoria (Editor); Rowe, Joseph (Editor)

1990-01-01

This is the twenty-fifth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 30 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 2 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 18 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, aviation medicine, biological rhythms, biospherics, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, enzymology, exobiology, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, immunology, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, radiobiology, and space medicine. A Soviet book review of a British handbook of aviation medicine and a description of the work of the division on aviation and space medicine of the Moscow Physiological Society are also included.

The role of mechanics in biological and bio-inspired systems.

PubMed

Egan, Paul; Sinko, Robert; LeDuc, Philip R; Keten, Sinan

2015-07-06

Natural systems frequently exploit intricate multiscale and multiphasic structures to achieve functionalities beyond those of man-made systems. Although understanding the chemical make-up of these systems is essential, the passive and active mechanics within biological systems are crucial when considering the many natural systems that achieve advanced properties, such as high strength-to-weight ratios and stimuli-responsive adaptability. Discovering how and why biological systems attain these desirable mechanical functionalities often reveals principles that inform new synthetic designs based on biological systems. Such approaches have traditionally found success in medical applications, and are now informing breakthroughs in diverse frontiers of science and engineering.

Center for Adaptive Optics | Home

Science.gov Websites

Center for Adaptive Optics A University of California Science and Technology Center home Directions to The Center for Adaptive Optics Building Directions to the Center for Adaptive Optics Building * Seaway Inn * West Cliff Inn Last Modified: Apr 3, 2012 Center for Adaptive Optics | Search | The Center

Center for Adaptive Optics | Software

Science.gov Websites

Center for Adaptive Optics A University of California Science and Technology Center home Adaptive Optics Software The Center for Adaptive Optics acts as a clearing house for distributing Software to Institutes it gives specialists in Adaptive Optics a place to distribute their software. All software is

The Chandra X-ray Center data system: supporting the mission of the Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Janet D.; Cresitello-Dittmar, Mark; Doe, Stephen; Evans, Ian; Fabbiano, Giuseppina; Germain, Gregg; Glotfelty, Kenny; Hall, Diane; Plummer, David; Zografou, Panagoula

2006-06-01

The Chandra X-ray Center Data System provides end-to-end scientific software support for Chandra X-ray Observatory mission operations. The data system includes the following components: (1) observers' science proposal planning tools; (2) science mission planning tools; (3) science data processing, monitoring, and trending pipelines and tools; and (4) data archive and database management. A subset of the science data processing component is ported to multiple platforms and distributed to end-users as a portable data analysis package. Web-based user tools are also available for data archive search and retrieval. We describe the overall architecture of the data system and its component pieces, and consider the design choices and their impacts on maintainability. We discuss the many challenges involved in maintaining a large, mission-critical software system with limited resources. These challenges include managing continually changing software requirements and ensuring the integrity of the data system and resulting data products while being highly responsive to the needs of the project. We describe our use of COTS and OTS software at the subsystem and component levels, our methods for managing multiple release builds, and adapting a large code base to new hardware and software platforms. We review our experiences during the life of the mission so-far, and our approaches for keeping a small, but highly talented, development team engaged during the maintenance phase of a mission.

SEQ-POINTER: Next generation, planetary spacecraft remote sensing science observation design tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyer, Jeffrey S.

1994-01-01

Since Mariner, NASA-JPL planetary missions have been supported by ground software to plan and design remote sensing science observations. The software used by the science and sequence designers to plan and design observations has evolved with mission and technological advances. The original program, PEGASIS (Mariners 4, 6, and 7), was re-engineered as POGASIS (Mariner 9, Viking, and Mariner 10), and again later as POINTER (Voyager and Galileo). Each of these programs were developed under technological, political, and fiscal constraints which limited their adaptability to other missions and spacecraft designs. Implementation of a multi-mission tool, SEQ POINTER, under the auspices of the JPL Multimission Operations Systems Office (MOSO) is in progress. This version has been designed to address the limitations experienced on previous versions as they were being adapted to a new mission and spacecraft. The tool has been modularly designed with subroutine interface structures to support interchangeable celestial body and spacecraft definition models. The computational and graphics modules have also been designed to interface with data collected from previous spacecraft, or on-going observations, which describe the surface of each target body. These enhancements make SEQ POINTER a candidate for low-cost mission usage, when a remote sensing science observation design capability is required. The current and planned capabilities of the tool will be discussed. The presentation will also include a 5-10 minute video presentation demonstrating the capabilities of a proto-Cassini Project version that was adapted to test the tool. The work described in this abstract was performed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

SEQ-POINTER: Next generation, planetary spacecraft remote sensing science observation design tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boyer, Jeffrey S.

1994-11-01

Since Mariner, NASA-JPL planetary missions have been supported by ground software to plan and design remote sensing science observations. The software used by the science and sequence designers to plan and design observations has evolved with mission and technological advances. The original program, PEGASIS (Mariners 4, 6, and 7), was re-engineered as POGASIS (Mariner 9, Viking, and Mariner 10), and again later as POINTER (Voyager and Galileo). Each of these programs were developed under technological, political, and fiscal constraints which limited their adaptability to other missions and spacecraft designs. Implementation of a multi-mission tool, SEQ POINTER, under the auspices of the JPL Multimission Operations Systems Office (MOSO) is in progress. This version has been designed to address the limitations experienced on previous versions as they were being adapted to a new mission and spacecraft. The tool has been modularly designed with subroutine interface structures to support interchangeable celestial body and spacecraft definition models. The computational and graphics modules have also been designed to interface with data collected from previous spacecraft, or on-going observations, which describe the surface of each target body. These enhancements make SEQ POINTER a candidate for low-cost mission usage, when a remote sensing science observation design capability is required. The current and planned capabilities of the tool will be discussed. The presentation will also include a 5-10 minute video presentation demonstrating the capabilities of a proto-Cassini Project version that was adapted to test the tool. The work described in this abstract was performed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Adaptability and Prediction of Anticipatory Muscular Activity Parameters to Different Movements in the Sitting Position.

PubMed

Chikh, Soufien; Watelain, Eric; Faupin, Arnaud; Pinti, Antonio; Jarraya, Mohamed; Garnier, Cyril

2016-08-01

Voluntary movement often causes postural perturbation that requires an anticipatory postural adjustment to minimize perturbation and increase the efficiency and coordination during execution. This systematic review focuses specifically on the relationship between the parameters of anticipatory muscular activities and movement finality in sitting position among adults, to study the adaptability and predictability of anticipatory muscular activities parameters to different movements and conditions in sitting position in adults. A systematic literature search was performed using PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, Springer-Link, Engineering Village, and EbscoHost. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to retain the most rigorous and specific studies, yielding 76 articles, Seventeen articles were excluded at first reading, and after the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 23 were retained. In a sitting position, central nervous system activity precedes movement by diverse anticipatory muscular activities and shows the ability to adapt anticipatory muscular activity parameters to the movement direction, postural stability, or charge weight. In addition, these parameters could be adapted to the speed of execution, as found for the standing position. Parameters of anticipatory muscular activities (duration, order, and amplitude of muscle contractions constituting the anticipatory muscular activity) could be used as a predictive indicator of forthcoming movement. In addition, this systematic review may improve methodology in empirical studies and assistive technology for people with disabilities. © The Author(s) 2016.

IPCC Climate Change 2013: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Key findings and lessons learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giorgi, Filippo; Field, Christopher; Barros, Vicente

2014-05-01

The Working Group II contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergivernmental Panel on Climate Change, Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, will be completed and approved in March 2014. It includes two parts, Part A covering Global and Sectoral Aspects, and Part B, covering Regional Aspects. The WGII report spans a very broad range of topics which are approached in a strong interdisciplinary context. It highlights how observed impacts of climate change are now widespread and consequential, particularly for natural systems, and can be observed on all continents and across the oceans. Vulnerability to climate change depends on interactions with non-climatic stressors and inequalities, resulting in highly differential risks associated with climate change. It is also found that adaptation is already occurring across scales and is embedded in many planning processes. Continued sustained warming thrughout the 21st century will exacerbate risks and vulnerabilities across multiple sectors, such as freshwater resources, terrestrial and inland water systems, coastal and marine systems, food production, human health, security and livelihood. The report stresses how risks and vulnerabilities need to be assessed within a multi-stressor and regionally specific context, and can be reduced and managed by adopting climate-resilient pathwyas combining suitable adaptation and mitigation options with synergies and tradeoffs occurring both within and across regions. The Working group II report includes a large number of Chapters (30) and contributors (310 including authors and review editors), with expertise in a broad range of disciplines, from the physical science to the impact and socio-economic sciences. The communication across chapters and disciplines has been a challenge, and will continue to be one as the Global Change problem will increasingly require a fully integrated and holistic approach. Note that text on this abstract is not approved at the time its submission, but it will be discussed in the report.

Climate Change: From Science to Practice.

PubMed

Wheeler, Nicola; Watts, Nick

2018-03-01

Climate change poses a significant threat to human health. Understanding how climate science can be translated into public health practice is an essential first step in enabling robust adaptation and improving resiliency to climate change. Recent research highlights the importance of iterative approaches to public health adaptation to climate change, enabling uncertainties of health impacts and barriers to adaptation to be accounted for. There are still significant barriers to adaptation, which are context-specific and thus present unique challenges to public health practice. The implementation of flexible adaptation approaches, using frameworks targeted for public health, is key to ensuring robust adaptation to climate change in public health practice. The BRACE framework provides an excellent approach for health adaptation to climate change. Combining this with the insights provided and by the adaptation pathways approach allows for more deliberate accounting of long-term uncertainties. The mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into public health practice and planning is important in facilitating this approach and overcoming the significant barriers to effective adaptation. Yet, the immediate and future limits to adaptation provide clear justification for urgent and accelerated efforts to mitigate climate change.

Long Term Analysis of Adaptive Low-Power Instrument Platform Power and Battery Performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edwards, T.; Bowman, J. R.; Clauer, C. R.

2017-12-01

Operation of the Autonomous Adaptive Low-Power Instrument Platform (AAL-PIP) by the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Science Team (MIST) at Virginia Tech has been ongoing for about 10 years. These instrument platforms are deployed on the East Antarctic Plateau in remote locations that are difficult to access regularly. The systems have been designed to operate unattended for at least 5 years. During the Austral summer, the systems charge batteries using solar panels and power is provided by the batteries during the winter months. If the voltage goes below a critical level, the systems go into hibernation and wait for voltage from the solar panels to initiate a restart sequence to begin operation and battery charging. Our first system was deployed on the East Antarctic Plateau in 2008 and we report here on an analysis of the power and battery performance over multiple years and provide an estimate for how long these systems can operate before major battery maintenance must be performed.

Adapt or Perish – Updating the Pre-doctoral Training Model

PubMed Central

Chabowski, Dawid; Kadlec, Andrew; Dellostritto, Daniel; Gutterman, David

2017-01-01

The fate of biomedical research lies in the hands of future generations of scientists. In recent decades the diversity of scientific career opportunities has exploded multidimensionally. However, the educational system for maintaining a pipeline of talented biomedical trainees remains unidimensional and has become outdated. This Viewpoint identifies inadequacies in training and offers potential solutions and implementation strategies to stimulate interest in science at a younger age and to better align individualized training pathways with career opportunities (“precision training”). Both interventions support of the ultimate goal of attracting the best possible future leaders in biomedical science. PMID:28360347

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 6

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, L. R. (Editor); Radtke, M. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Rowe, J. E. (Editor)

1986-01-01

This is the sixth issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 54 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of 10 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Additional features include a table of Soviet EVAs and information about English translations of Soviet materials available to readers. The topics covered in this issue have been identified as relevant to 26 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are adaptation, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, exobiology, genetics, habitability and environment effects, health and medical treatment, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism., microbiology, morphology and cytology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive biology, and space medicine.

Climate, ecosystems, and planetary futures: The challenge to predict life in Earth system models.

PubMed

Bonan, Gordon B; Doney, Scott C

2018-02-02

Many global change stresses on terrestrial and marine ecosystems affect not only ecosystem services that are essential to humankind, but also the trajectory of future climate by altering energy and mass exchanges with the atmosphere. Earth system models, which simulate terrestrial and marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles, offer a common framework for ecological research related to climate processes; analyses of vulnerability, impacts, and adaptation; and climate change mitigation. They provide an opportunity to move beyond physical descriptors of atmospheric and oceanic states to societally relevant quantities such as wildfire risk, habitat loss, water availability, and crop, fishery, and timber yields. To achieve this, the science of climate prediction must be extended to a more multifaceted Earth system prediction that includes the biosphere and its resources. Copyright © 2018, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

NFIRAOS beamsplitters subsystems optomechanical design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamontagne, Frédéric; Desnoyers, Nichola; Nash, Reston; Boucher, Marc-André; Martin, Olivier; Buteau-Vaillancourt, Louis; Châteauneuf, François; Atwood, Jenny; Hill, Alexis; Byrnes, Peter W. G.; Herriot, Glen; Véran, Jean-Pierre

2016-07-01

The early-light facility adaptive optics system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is the Narrow-Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS). The science beam splitter changer mechanism and the visible light beam splitter are subsystems of NFIRAOS. This paper presents the opto-mechanical design of the NFIRAOS beam splitters subsystems (NBS). In addition to the modal and the structural analyses, the beam splitters surface deformations are computed considering the environmental constraints during operation. Surface deformations are fit to Zernike polynomials using SigFit software. Rigid body motion as well as residual RMS and peak-to-valley surface deformations are calculated. Finally, deformed surfaces are exported to Zemax to evaluate the transmitted and reflected wave front error. The simulation results of this integrated opto-mechanical analysis have shown compliance with all optical requirements.

Advances in instrumentation at the W. M. Keck Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adkins, Sean M.; Armandroff, Taft E.; Johnson, James; Lewis, Hilton A.; Martin, Christopher; McLean, Ian S.; Wizinowich, Peter

2012-09-01

In this paper we describe both recently completed instrumentation projects and our current development efforts in terms of their role in the strategic plan, the key science areas they address, and their performance as measured or predicted. Projects reaching completion in 2012 include MOSFIRE, a near IR multi-object spectrograph, a laser guide star adaptive optics facility on the Keck I telescope, and an upgrade to the guide camera for the HIRES instrument on Keck I. Projects in development include a new seeing limited integral field spectrograph for the visible wavelength range called the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI), an upgrade to the telescope control systems on both Keck telescopes, a near-IR tip/tilt sensor for the Keck I adaptive optics system, and a new grating for the OSIRIS integral field spectrograph.

Center for Adaptive Optics | News

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* Methane Clouds Observed Near Titan's Equator May Explain Presence of Riverbeds on the Surface * 'Dark Center for Adaptive Optics A University of California Science and Technology Center home AO of Cosmic Time * Celebration of Science and Technology Centers Class of 2000 AO Headlines 2009

U.S. National forests adapt to climate change through science-management partnerships

Treesearch

Jeremy S. Littell; David L. Peterson; Constance I. Millar; Kathy A. O' Halloran

2011-01-01

Developing appropriate management options for adapting to climate change is a new challenge for land managers, and integration of climate change concepts into operational management and planning on United States national forests is just starting. We established science-management partnerships on the Olympic National Forest (Washington) and Tahoe National Forest (...

Physically Handicapped in Science: Final Project Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Brien, Maureen B.; And Others

A two-year project was conducted by St. Mary's Junior College to improve the science literacy of visually-impaired students (VIS) through the adaptation of instructional methods and materials. A four-step process was used: (1) learning materials were reviewed to identify problem areas; (2) preliminary adaptations were made based on the review; (3)…

Global Warning: Project-Based Science Inspired by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colaianne, Blake

2015-01-01

Misconceptions about climate change are common, which suggests a need to effectively address the subject in the classroom. This article describes a project-based science activity in which students report on the physical basis, adaptations, and mitigation of this global problem, adapting the framework of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel…

Exploring Preservice Elementary Teachers' Critique and Adaptation of Science Curriculum Materials in Respect to Socioscientific Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forbes, Cory T.; Davis, Elizabeth A.

2008-01-01

The work presented here represents a preliminary effort undertaken to address the role of teachers in supporting students' learning and decision-making about socioscientific issues (SSI) by characterizing preservice elementary teachers' critique and adaptation of SSI-based science curriculum materials and identifying factors that serve to mediate…

A multi-disciplinary approach to implementation science: the NIH-PEPFAR PMTCT implementation science alliance.

PubMed

Sturke, Rachel; Harmston, Christine; Simonds, R J; Mofenson, Lynne M; Siberry, George K; Watts, D Heather; McIntyre, James; Anand, Nalini; Guay, Laura; Castor, Delivette; Brouwers, Pim; Nagel, Joan D

2014-11-01

In resource-limited countries, interventions to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) have not yet realized their full potential health impact, illustrating the common gap between the scientific proof of an intervention's efficacy and effectiveness and its successful implementation at scale into routine health services. For PMTCT, this gap results, in part, from inadequate adaptation of PMTCT interventions to the realities of the implementation environment, including client and health care worker behaviors and preferences, health care policies and systems, and infrastructure and resource constraints. Elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission can only be achieved through understanding of key implementation barriers and successful adaptation of scientifically proven interventions to the local environment. Central to such efforts is implementation science (IS), which aims to investigate and address major bottlenecks that impede effective implementation and to test new approaches to identifying, understanding, and overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up, and sustainability of evidence-based interventions. Advancing IS will require deliberate and strategic efforts to facilitate collaboration, communication, and relationship-building among researchers, implementers, and policy-makers. To speed the translation of effective PMTCT interventions into practice and advance IS more broadly, the US National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief launched the National Institutes of Health/President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief PMTCT IS Alliance, comprised of IS researchers, PMTCT program implementers, and policy-makers as an innovative platform for interaction and coordination.

Biomimetic molecular design tools that learn, evolve, and adapt.

PubMed

Winkler, David A

2017-01-01

A dominant hallmark of living systems is their ability to adapt to changes in the environment by learning and evolving. Nature does this so superbly that intensive research efforts are now attempting to mimic biological processes. Initially this biomimicry involved developing synthetic methods to generate complex bioactive natural products. Recent work is attempting to understand how molecular machines operate so their principles can be copied, and learning how to employ biomimetic evolution and learning methods to solve complex problems in science, medicine and engineering. Automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary algorithms are now converging to generate what might broadly be called in silico-based adaptive evolution of materials. These methods are being applied to organic chemistry to systematize reactions, create synthesis robots to carry out unit operations, and to devise closed loop flow self-optimizing chemical synthesis systems. Most scientific innovations and technologies pass through the well-known "S curve", with slow beginning, an almost exponential growth in capability, and a stable applications period. Adaptive, evolving, machine learning-based molecular design and optimization methods are approaching the period of very rapid growth and their impact is already being described as potentially disruptive. This paper describes new developments in biomimetic adaptive, evolving, learning computational molecular design methods and their potential impacts in chemistry, engineering, and medicine.

Biomimetic molecular design tools that learn, evolve, and adapt

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

A dominant hallmark of living systems is their ability to adapt to changes in the environment by learning and evolving. Nature does this so superbly that intensive research efforts are now attempting to mimic biological processes. Initially this biomimicry involved developing synthetic methods to generate complex bioactive natural products. Recent work is attempting to understand how molecular machines operate so their principles can be copied, and learning how to employ biomimetic evolution and learning methods to solve complex problems in science, medicine and engineering. Automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary algorithms are now converging to generate what might broadly be called in silico-based adaptive evolution of materials. These methods are being applied to organic chemistry to systematize reactions, create synthesis robots to carry out unit operations, and to devise closed loop flow self-optimizing chemical synthesis systems. Most scientific innovations and technologies pass through the well-known “S curve”, with slow beginning, an almost exponential growth in capability, and a stable applications period. Adaptive, evolving, machine learning-based molecular design and optimization methods are approaching the period of very rapid growth and their impact is already being described as potentially disruptive. This paper describes new developments in biomimetic adaptive, evolving, learning computational molecular design methods and their potential impacts in chemistry, engineering, and medicine. PMID:28694872

Customizing the JPL Multimission Ground Data System: Lessons learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Susan C.; Louie, John J.; Guerrero, Ana Maria; Hurley, Daniel; Flora-Adams, Dana

1994-01-01

The Multimission Ground Data System (MGDS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has brought improvements and new technologies to mission operations. It was designed as a generic data system to meet the needs of multiple missions and avoid re-inventing capabilities for each new mission and thus reduce costs. It is based on adaptable tools that can be customized to support different missions and operations scenarios. The MGDS is based on a distributed client/server architecture, with powerful Unix workstations, incorporating standards and open system architectures. The distributed architecture allows remote operations and user science data exchange, while also providing capabilities for centralized ground system monitor and control. The MGDS has proved its capabilities in supporting multiple large-class missions simultaneously, including the Voyager, Galileo, Magellan, Ulysses, and Mars Observer missions. The Operations Engineering Lab (OEL) at JPL has been leading Customer Adaptation Training (CAT) teams for adapting and customizing MGDS for the various operations and engineering teams. These CAT teams have typically consisted of only a few engineers who are familiar with operations and with the MGDS software and architecture. Our experience has provided a unique opportunity to work directly with the spacecraft and instrument operations teams and understand their requirements and how the MGDS can be adapted and customized to minimize their operations costs. As part of this work, we have developed workstation configurations, automation tools, and integrated user interfaces at minimal cost that have significantly improved productivity. We have also proved that these customized data systems are most successful if they are focused on the people and the tasks they perform and if they are based upon user confidence in the development team resulting from daily interactions. This paper will describe lessons learned in adapting JPL's MGDS to fly the Voyager, Galileo, and Mars Observer missions. We will explain how powerful, existing ground data systems can be adapted and packaged in a cost effective way for operations of small and large planetary missions. We will also describe how the MGDS was adapted to support operations within the Galileo Spacecraft Testbed. The Galileo testbed provided a unique opportunity to adapt MGDS to support command and control operations for a small autonomous operations team of a handful of engineers flying the Galileo Spacecraft flight system model.

Contrarian behavior in a complex adaptive system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Y.; An, K. N.; Yang, G.; Huang, J. P.

2013-01-01

Contrarian behavior is a kind of self-organization in complex adaptive systems (CASs). Here we report the existence of a transition point in a model resource-allocation CAS with contrarian behavior by using human experiments, computer simulations, and theoretical analysis. The resource ratio and system predictability serve as the tuning parameter and order parameter, respectively. The transition point helps to reveal the positive or negative role of contrarian behavior. This finding is in contrast to the common belief that contrarian behavior always has a positive role in resource allocation, say, stabilizing resource allocation by shrinking the redundancy or the lack of resources. It is further shown that resource allocation can be optimized at the transition point by adding an appropriate size of contrarians. This work is also expected to be of value to some other fields ranging from management and social science to ecology and evolution.

Turning Teachers into Designers: The Case of the Ark of Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Vries, Bregje; Schouwenaars, Ilona; Stokhof, Harry

2017-01-01

The Ark of Inquiry seeks to support inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in different countries and school systems across Europe by teachers that may differ in light of their prior experiences with IBSE. Given the differences, the assumption is that teachers need to make adaptations to the approach and materials of the Ark of Inquiry. This study…

SYNTHESIS AND ASSESSMENT PRODUCT 4.6: ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF GLOBAL CHANGE ON HUMAN HEALTH AND WELFARE AND HUMAN SYSTEMS

EPA Science Inventory

This product is a report produced under the auspices of the United States Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). The report is one of the 21 synthesis and assessment products (SAPs) called for in the Strategic Plan of the CCSP to support policy making and adaptive management acr...

Consensus Theory in Expert Systems: An Adaptive Inference Framework and Application to Image Understanding

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-12-01

argument schema based on the one devel- oped by Toulmin et al. (1984). In Toulmin’s schema (Figure 4-2), a claim, or 3 conclusion whose merits we are seeking...probability judgment. Cognitive Science, 1985, 9, 309-339. Toulmin , S., Rieke, R., and Janik, A. An introduction to reasoning (2nd Edition). NY

A decision science approach for integrating social science in climate and energy solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong-Parodi, Gabrielle; Krishnamurti, Tamar; Davis, Alex; Schwartz, Daniel; Fischhoff, Baruch

2016-06-01

The social and behavioural sciences are critical for informing climate- and energy-related policies. We describe a decision science approach to applying those sciences. It has three stages: formal analysis of decisions, characterizing how well-informed actors should view them; descriptive research, examining how people actually behave in such circumstances; and interventions, informed by formal analysis and descriptive research, designed to create attractive options and help decision-makers choose among them. Each stage requires collaboration with technical experts (for example, climate scientists, geologists, power systems engineers and regulatory analysts), as well as continuing engagement with decision-makers. We illustrate the approach with examples from our own research in three domains related to mitigating climate change or adapting to its effects: preparing for sea-level rise, adopting smart grid technologies in homes, and investing in energy efficiency for office buildings. The decision science approach can facilitate creating climate- and energy-related policies that are behaviourally informed, realistic and respectful of the people whom they seek to aid.

Illuminating Cell Biology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

NASA's Ames Research Center awarded Ciencia, Inc., a Small Business Innovation Research contract to develop the Cell Fluorescence Analysis System (CFAS) to address the size, mass, and power constraints of using fluorescence spectroscopy in the International Space Station's Life Science Research Facility. The system will play an important role in studying biological specimen's long-term adaptation to microgravity. Commercial applications for the technology include diverse markets such as food safety, in situ environmental monitoring, online process analysis, genomics and DNA chips, and non-invasive diagnostics. Ciencia has already sold the system to the private sector for biosensor applications.

Inertia-Wheel Vibration-Damping System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fedor, Joseph V.

1990-01-01

Proposed electromechanical system would damp vibrations in large, flexible structure. In active vibration-damping system motors and reaction wheels at tips of appendages apply reaction torques in response to signals from accelerometers. Velocity signal for vibrations about one axis processes into control signal to oppose each of n vibrational modes. Various modes suppressed one at a time. Intended primarily for use in spacecraft that has large, flexible solar panels and science-instrument truss assembly, embodies principle of control interesting in its own right and adaptable to terrestrial structures, vehicles, and instrument platforms.

ROADNET: A Real-time Data Aware System for Earth, Oceanographic, and Environmental Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vernon, F.; Hansen, T.; Lindquist, K.; Ludascher, B.; Orcutt, J.; Rajasekar, A.

2003-12-01

The Real-time Observatories, Application, and Data management Network (ROADNet) Program aims to develop an integrated, seamless, and transparent environmental information network that will deliver geophysical, oceanographic, hydrological, ecological, and physical data to a variety of users in real-time. ROADNet is a multidisciplinary, multinational partnership of researchers, policymakers, natural resource managers, educators, and students who aim to use the data to advance our understanding and management of coastal, ocean, riparian, and terrestrial Earth systems in Southern California, Mexico, and well off shore. To date, project activity and funding have focused on the design and deployment of network linkages and on the exploratory development of the real-time data management system. We are currently adapting powerful "Data Grid" technologies to the unique challenges associated with the management and manipulation of real-time data. Current "Grid" projects deal with static data files, and significant technical innovation is required to address fundamental problems of real-time data processing, integration, and distribution. The technologies developed through this research will create a system that dynamically adapt downstream processing, cataloging, and data access interfaces when sensors are added or removed from the system; provide for real-time processing and monitoring of data streams--detecting events, and triggering computations, sensor and logger modifications, and other actions; integrate heterogeneous data from multiple (signal) domains; and provide for large-scale archival and querying of "consolidated" data. The software tools which must be developed do not exist, although limited prototype systems are available. This research has implications for the success of large-scale NSF initiatives in the Earth sciences (EarthScope), ocean sciences (OOI- Ocean Observatories Initiative), biological sciences (NEON - National Ecological Observatory Network) and civil engineering (NEES - Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation). Each of these large scale initiatives aims to collect real-time data from thousands of sensors, and each will require new technologies to process, manage, and communicate real-time multidisciplinary environmental data on regional, national, and global scales.

Developing a Climate Change Boundary Organization: the Montana Adaptation Exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitlock, C. L.; Brooks, S.; Armstrong, T.; Bryan, B.

2016-12-01

Small-population large-area states like Montana are often challenged by a need to offer timely and relevant climate-change information that addresses diverse and widely dispersed stakeholder groups. In Montana, filling the gap between science and various types of decision-makers has motivated development of the first Montana Climate Assessment (MCA1), to be released in 2017 with a focus on climate-change impacts for agricultural, water and forestry sectors. To sustain and build on the MCA1 effort, we are also in the process of creating a Boundary Organization (defined by the National Academy of Sciences) called the Montana Adaptation Exchange (the Exchange); this entity will facilitate the flow of information across the boundaries between science, knowledge and implementation. In Montana, the Exchange brings scientists and practitioners together to seek solutions related to climate-change adaptation and other pressing environmental and social-economic challenges. The Montana Adaptation Exchange (1) is a collaborative partnership of members from the science and practitioner communities under a shared governance and participatory model; (2) presents research that has been vetted by the scientific community at large and represents the current state of knowledge; (3) allows for revision and expansion of assessments like the MCA; (4) communicates relevant, often technical, research and findings to a wide variety of resource managers and other stakeholders; (5) develops and maintains an extensive online database that organizes, regularly updates, and makes research data products readily available; and (6) offers an online portal and expert network of affiliated researchers and climate adaptation specialists to provide effective customer support. Boundary organizations, such as the Montana Adaptation Exchange, offer a scalable path to effectively move from "science to knowledge to action" while also allowing stakeholder needs to help inform research agendas.

Social-Ecological Controls Over Earth-System Stewardship: a Framework for Sustainability in a Rapidly Changing World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chapin, F. S.; Power, M. E.; Pickett, S.; Jackson, R. B.; Carter, D.; Harden, J. W.

2010-12-01

Human actions are having large and accelerating effects on Earth’s climate, environment, and ecosystems, thereby degrading ecosystem services required by society. This unsustainable trajectory demands a dramatic change in the relationship of humans with the environment and life-support systems of the planet. Earth-system stewardship is an action-oriented framework intended to foster social-ecological sustainability of a rapidly changing world. This builds on problem-relevant research about the social-ecological interactions that drive earth-system change. These include spiraling consumption in developed nations and the broadening gap between the livelihoods of rich and poor people within and among countries. Science that contributes effectively to reversing these trends requires an ongoing dialogue between scientists and users at multiple scales, communicated with sensitivity to social and cultural norms. Such science must motivate behavioral change and deliver information that is perceived as objective, timely, and useful to problem-solving. Recent developments identify four strategies that use current understanding in an environment of inevitable uncertainty and abrupt change: (1) reducing the magnitude of, and exposure and sensitivity to, known stresses; (2) focusing on proactive policies that shape change; and (3) avoiding or escaping unsustainable social-ecological traps. All social-ecological systems are vulnerable to change but have sources of adaptive capacity and resilience that can sustain ecosystem services and human well-being. Discovering and nurturing these sources of adaptive capacity requires, and defines active ecosystem stewardship.

Adapting a successful inquiry-based immersion program to create an Authentic, Hands- on, Field based Curriculum in Environmental Science at Barnard College

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kenna, T. C.; Pfirman, S.; Mailloux, B. J.; Martin, S.; Kelsey, R.; Bower, P.

2008-12-01

Adapting a successful inquiry-based immersion program to create an Authentic, Hands-on, Field based Curriculum in Environmental Science at Barnard College T. C. Kenna, S. Pfirman, B. J. Mailloux, M. Stute, R. Kelsey, and P. Bower By adapting a successful inquiry-based immersion program (SEA semester) to the typical college format of classes, we are improving the technical and quantitative skills of undergraduate women and minorities in environmental science and improving their critical thinking and problem-solving by exposing our students to open-ended real-world environmental issues. Our approach uses the Hudson River Estuary as a natural laboratory. In a series of hands-on inquiry-based activities, students use advanced equipment to collect data and samples. Each class session introduces new analytical and data analysis techniques. All classes have the connecting theme of the river. Working with real data is open-ended. Our major findings as indicated by surveys as well as journaling throughout the semester are that the field- based experience significantly contributed to student learning and engagement. Journaling responses indicated that nearly all students discussed the importance and excitement of an authentic research experience. Some students were frustrated with data irregularities, uncertainty in methods and data, and the general challenge of a curriculum with inherent ambiguity. The majority were satisfied with the aims of the course to provide an integrative experience. All students demonstrated transfer of learned skills. This project has had a significant impact on our undergraduate female students: several students have pursued senior thesis projects stemming from grant activities, stating that the field activities were the highlight of their semester. Some students love the experience and want more. Others decide that they want to pursue a different career. All learn how science is conducted and have a better foundation to understand concepts such as sampling, uncertainty, and variability, which are important to many fields. Many of the hands-on curricular activities have been adapted and used with a variety of student, teacher, and faculty groups. Faculty participants in our River Summer program (www.riversummer.org) see earth system science in a way that would be hard to replicate without the hands-on experience. Faculty participants are encouraged to adapt our activities to their own classroom. We are in the process of assembling many of our hands-on field-based activities as fully exportable curricular elements to further increase impacts.

Risk assessment and adaptive runoff utilization in water resource system considering the complex relationship among water supply, electricity generation and environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, J.; Zeng, X.; Mo, L.; Chen, L.; Jiang, Z.; Feng, Z.; Yuan, L.; He, Z.

2017-12-01

Generally, the adaptive utilization and regulation of runoff in the source region of China's southwest rivers is classified as a typical multi-objective collaborative optimization problem. There are grim competitions and incidence relation in the subsystems of water supply, electricity generation and environment, which leads to a series of complex problems represented by hydrological process variation, blocked electricity output and water environment risk. Mathematically, the difficulties of multi-objective collaborative optimization focus on the description of reciprocal relationships and the establishment of evolving model of adaptive systems. Thus, based on the theory of complex systems science, this project tries to carry out the research from the following aspects: the changing trend of coupled water resource, the covariant factor and driving mechanism, the dynamic evolution law of mutual feedback dynamic process in the supply-generation-environment coupled system, the environmental response and influence mechanism of coupled mutual feedback water resource system, the relationship between leading risk factor and multiple risk based on evolutionary stability and dynamic balance, the transfer mechanism of multiple risk response with the variation of the leading risk factor, the multidimensional coupled feedback system of multiple risk assessment index system and optimized decision theory. Based on the above-mentioned research results, the dynamic method balancing the efficiency of multiple objectives in the coupled feedback system and optimized regulation model of water resources is proposed, and the adaptive scheduling mode considering the internal characteristics and external response of coupled mutual feedback system of water resource is established. In this way, the project can make a contribution to the optimal scheduling theory and methodology of water resource management under uncertainty in the source region of Southwest River.

STS-55 Pilot Henricks with baroreflex collar in SL-D2 module onboard OV-102

NASA Image and Video Library

1993-05-06

STS055-233-019 (26 April-6 May 1993) --- Terence T. (Tom) Henricks, STS-55 pilot, wears a special collar for a space adaptation experiment in the science module onboard the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia. The Baroreflex (BA) experiment is designed to investigate the theory that light-headedness and a reduction in blood pressures upon standing after landing may arise because the normal reflex system regulating blood pressure behaves differently after having adapted to a microgravity environment. These space-based measurements of the baroreflex will be compared to ground measurements to determine if microgravity affects the reflex.

The Cardiovascular Physiology of Sports and Exercise.

PubMed

Opondo, Mildred A; Sarma, Satyam; Levine, Benjamin D

2015-07-01

Athletes represent the extremes of human performance. Many of their remarkable abilities stem from a cardiovascular system that has adapted to meet the metabolic needs of exercising muscle. A large and compliant heart is a hallmark feature of athletes who engage in highly aerobic events. Despite high fitness levels, athletes may present with symptoms that limit performance. Understanding and dissecting these limitations requires a strong background in sports science and the factors that determine sports capabilities. This article reviews the basic principles of exercise physiology, cardiovascular adaptations unique to the "athlete's heart," and the utility of exercise testing in athletes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NASA's Earth Science Gateway: A Platform for Interoperable Services in Support of the GEOSS Architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alameh, N.; Bambacus, M.; Cole, M.

2006-12-01

Nasa's Earth Science as well as interdisciplinary research and applications activities require access to earth observations, analytical models and specialized tools and services, from diverse distributed sources. Interoperability and open standards for geospatial data access and processing greatly facilitate such access among the information and processing compo¬nents related to space¬craft, airborne, and in situ sensors; predictive models; and decision support tools. To support this mission, NASA's Geosciences Interoperability Office (GIO) has been developing the Earth Science Gateway (ESG; online at http://esg.gsfc.nasa.gov) by adapting and deploying a standards-based commercial product. Thanks to extensive use of open standards, ESG can tap into a wide array of online data services, serve a variety of audiences and purposes, and adapt to technology and business changes. Most importantly, the use of open standards allow ESG to function as a platform within a larger context of distributed geoscience processing, such as the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS). ESG shares the goals of GEOSS to ensure that observations and products shared by users will be accessible, comparable, and understandable by relying on common standards and adaptation to user needs. By maximizing interoperability, modularity, extensibility and scalability, ESG's architecture fully supports the stated goals of GEOSS. As such, ESG's role extends beyond that of a gateway to NASA science data to become a shared platform that can be leveraged by GEOSS via: A modular and extensible architecture Consensus and community-based standards (e.g. ISO and OGC standards) A variety of clients and visualization techniques, including WorldWind and Google Earth A variety of services (including catalogs) with standard interfaces Data integration and interoperability Mechanisms for user involvement and collaboration Mechanisms for supporting interdisciplinary and domain-specific applications ESG has played a key role in recent GEOSS Service Network (GSN) demos and workshops, acting not only as a service and data catalog and discovery client, but also as a portrayal and visualization client to distributed data.

Three dimensional adaptive mesh refinement on a spherical shell for atmospheric models with lagrangian coordinates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penner, Joyce E.; Andronova, Natalia; Oehmke, Robert C.; Brown, Jonathan; Stout, Quentin F.; Jablonowski, Christiane; van Leer, Bram; Powell, Kenneth G.; Herzog, Michael

2007-07-01

One of the most important advances needed in global climate models is the development of atmospheric General Circulation Models (GCMs) that can reliably treat convection. Such GCMs require high resolution in local convectively active regions, both in the horizontal and vertical directions. During previous research we have developed an Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) dynamical core that can adapt its grid resolution horizontally. Our approach utilizes a finite volume numerical representation of the partial differential equations with floating Lagrangian vertical coordinates and requires resolving dynamical processes on small spatial scales. For the latter it uses a newly developed general-purpose library, which facilitates 3D block-structured AMR on spherical grids. The library manages neighbor information as the blocks adapt, and handles the parallel communication and load balancing, freeing the user to concentrate on the scientific modeling aspects of their code. In particular, this library defines and manages adaptive blocks on the sphere, provides user interfaces for interpolation routines and supports the communication and load-balancing aspects for parallel applications. We have successfully tested the library in a 2-D (longitude-latitude) implementation. During the past year, we have extended the library to treat adaptive mesh refinement in the vertical direction. Preliminary results are discussed. This research project is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach involving atmospheric science, computer science and mathematical/numerical aspects. The work is done in close collaboration between the Atmospheric Science, Computer Science and Aerospace Engineering Departments at the University of Michigan and NOAA GFDL.

Enabling Venus In-Situ Science - Deployable Entry System Technology, Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT): A Technology Development Project funded by Game Changing Development Program of the Space Technology Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wercinski, Paul F.; Venkatapathy, Ethiraj; Gage, Peter J.; Yount, Bryan C.; Prabhu, Dinesh K.; Smith, Brandon; Arnold, James O.; Makino, alberto; Peterson, Keith Hoppe; Chinnapongse, Ronald I.

2012-01-01

Venus is one of the important planetary destinations for scientific exploration, but: The combination of extreme entry environment coupled with extreme surface conditions have made mission planning and proposal efforts very challenging. We present an alternate, game-changing approach (ADEPT) where a novel entry system architecture enables more benign entry conditions and this allows for greater flexibility and lower risk in mission design

KSC-04pd1309

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-17

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the KSC Space Life Sciences Lab’s Resource Recovery lab, bioengineer Tony Rector checks the ARMS reactor vessel. ARMS, or Aerobic Rotational Membrane System, is a wastewater processing project being tested for use on the International Space Station to collect, clean and reuse wastewater. It could be adapted for use on the Moon and Mars. The Lab is exploring various aspects of a bioregenerative life support system. Such research and technology development will be crucial to long-term habitation of space by humans.

KSC-04pd1310

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-17

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the KSC Space Life Sciences Lab’s Resource Recovery lab, bioengineer Tony Rector checks the clear plexiglass ARMS reactor vessel. ARMS, or Aerobic Rotational Membrane System, is a wastewater processing project being tested for use on the International Space Station to collect, clean and reuse wastewater. It could be adapted for use on the Moon and Mars. The Lab is exploring various aspects of a bioregenerative life support system. Such research and technology development will be crucial to long-term habitation of space by humans.

Adapting an Agent-Based Model of Socio-Technical Systems to Analyze Security Failures

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-17

total number of non-blackouts differed from the total number in the baseline data to a statistically significant extent with a p- valueɘ.0003...the total number of non-blackouts differed from the total number in the baseline data to a statistically significant extent with a p-valueɘ.0003...I. Nikolic, and Z. Lukszo, Eds., Agent-based modelling of socio-technical systems. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013, vol. 9. [12] A. P. Shaw

Student learns about the vestibular system in a microgravity demonstration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Gary Coulter, a special assistant to NASA's life sciences researchers, explains the workings of the irner ear to a Virginia student. The chair rotates to disorient the vestibular system in a simulation of research on how astronauts adapt to space and readapt to Earth. The activity was part of the Space Research and You education event held by NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research on June 25, 2002, in Arlington, VA, to highlight the research that will be conducted on STS-107.

How protein materials balance strength, robustness, and adaptability

PubMed Central

Buehler, Markus J.; Yung, Yu Ching

2010-01-01

Proteins form the basis of a wide range of biological materials such as hair, skin, bone, spider silk, or cells, which play an important role in providing key functions to biological systems. The focus of this article is to discuss how protein materials are capable of balancing multiple, seemingly incompatible properties such as strength, robustness, and adaptability. To illustrate this, we review bottom-up materiomics studies focused on the mechanical behavior of protein materials at multiple scales, from nano to macro. We focus on alpha-helix based intermediate filament proteins as a model system to explain why the utilization of hierarchical structural features is vital to their ability to combine strength, robustness, and adaptability. Experimental studies demonstrating the activation of angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, are presented as an example of how adaptability of structure in biological tissue is achieved through changes in gene expression that result in an altered material structure. We analyze the concepts in light of the universality and diversity of the structural makeup of protein materials and discuss the findings in the context of potential fundamental evolutionary principles that control their nanoscale structure. We conclude with a discussion of multiscale science in biology and de novo materials design. PMID:20676305

Varying geospatial analyses to assess climate risk and adaptive capacity in a hotter, drier Southwestern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elias, E.; Reyes, J. J.; Steele, C. M.; Rango, A.

2017-12-01

Assessing vulnerability of agricultural systems to climate variability and change is vital in securing food systems and sustaining rural livelihoods. Farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners rely on science-based, decision-relevant, and localized information to maintain production, ecological viability, and economic returns. This contribution synthesizes a collection of research on the future of agricultural production in the American Southwest (SW). Research was based on a variety of geospatial methodologies and datasets to assess the vulnerability of rangelands and livestock, field crops, specialty crops, and forests in the SW to climate-risk and change. This collection emerged from the development of regional vulnerability assessments for agricultural climate-risk by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Climate Hub Network, established to deliver science-based information and technologies to enable climate-informed decision-making. Authors defined vulnerability differently based on their agricultural system of interest, although each primarily focuses on biophysical systems. We found that an inconsistent framework for vulnerability and climate risk was necessary to adequately capture the diversity, variability, and heterogeneity of SW landscapes, peoples, and agriculture. Through the diversity of research questions and methodologies, this collection of articles provides valuable information on various aspects of SW vulnerability. All articles relied on geographic information systems technology, with highly variable levels of complexity. Agricultural articles used National Agricultural Statistics Service data, either as tabular county level summaries or through the CropScape cropland raster datasets. Most relied on modeled historic and future climate information, but with differing assumptions regarding spatial resolution and temporal framework. We assert that it is essential to evaluate climate risk using a variety of complementary methodologies and perspectives. In addition, we found that spatial analysis supports informed adaptation, within and outside the SW United States. The persistence and adaptive capacity of agriculture in the water-limited Southwest serves as an instructive example and may offer solutions to reduce future climate risk.

Adapting Practices of Science Journalism to Foster Science Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polman, Joseph L.; Newman, Alan; Saul, Ellen Wendy; Farrar, Cathy

2014-01-01

In this paper, the authors describe how the practices of expert science journalists enable them to act as "competent outsiders" to science. We assert that selected science journalism practices can be used to design reform-based science instruction; these practices not only foster science literacy that is useful in daily life, but also…

Science Festivals: Grand Experiments in Public Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hari, K.

2015-12-01

Since the Cambridge Science Festival launched in 2007, communities across the United States have experimented with the science festival format, working out what it means to celebrate science and technology. What have we learned, and where might we go from here? The Science Festival Alliance has supported and tracked developments among U.S. festivals, and this presentation will present key findings from three years of independent evaluation. While science festivals have coalesced into a distinct category of outreach activity, the diversity of science festival initiatives reflects the unique character of the regions in which the festivals are organized. This symposium will consider how festivals generate innovative public programming by adapting to local conditions and spur further innovation by sharing insights into such adaptations with other festivals. With over 55 annual large scale science festivals in the US alone, we will discuss the implications of a dramatic increase in future festival activity.

The education of perception.

PubMed

Goldstone, Robert L; Landy, David H; Son, Ji Y

2010-04-01

Although the field of perceptual learning has mostly been concerned with low- to middle-level changes to perceptual systems due to experience, we consider high-level perceptual changes that accompany learning in science and mathematics. In science, we explore the transfer of a scientific principle (competitive specialization) across superficially dissimilar pedagogical simulations. We argue that transfer occurs when students develop perceptual interpretations of an initial simulation and simply continue to use the same interpretational bias when interacting with a second simulation. In arithmetic and algebraic reasoning, we find that proficiency in mathematics involves executing spatially explicit transformations to notational elements. People learn to attend mathematical operations in the order in which they should be executed, and the extent to which students employ their perceptual attention in this manner is positively correlated with their mathematical experience. For both science and mathematics, relatively sophisticated performance is achieved not by ignoring perceptual features in favor of deep conceptual features, but rather by adapting perceptual processing so as to conform with and support formally sanctioned responses. These "rigged-up perceptual systems" offer a promising approach to educational reform. Copyright © 2009 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Coordination of Teachers in New Undergraduate Degrees Adapted to European Higher Education Area

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mondéjar-Jiménez, Juan-Antonio; Cordente-Rodríguez, María; Meseguer-Santamaría, María-Leticia; Vargas-Vargas, Manuel; Mondéjar-Jiménez, José

2010-01-01

The introduction of new undergraduate degrees adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) requires a coordinated effort by teachers, because the different subjects are based on a new methodology of teaching and learning. The Social Sciences School of Cuenca offers degrees in Business Administration, Law and Labor Sciences. The progressive…

Facing page test for the astronaut science advisor presentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Compton, Michael M.

1991-01-01

The goal of the Astronaut Science Advisor (ASA) project is to improve the scientific return of experiments performed in space by providing astronaut experimenters with an 'intelligent assistant' that encapsulates much of the domain- and experiment-related knowledge commanded by the Principal Investigator (PI) on the ground. By using expert systems technology and the availability of flight-qualified personal computers, it is possible to encode the requisite knowledge and make it available to astronauts as they perform experiments in space. The system performs four major functions: diagnosis and troubleshooting of experiment apparatus, data collection, protocol management, and detection of interesting data. The experiment used for development of the system measures human adaptation to weightlessness in the context of the neurovestibular system. This so-called 'Rotating Dome' experiment was flown on the recent Spacelab Life Sciences One (SLS-1) Mission. This mission was used as an opportunity to test some of the system's functionality. Experiment data was downlinked from the orbiter, and the system then captured the data and analyzed it in real time. The system kept track of the time being used by the experiment, recognized occurrences of interesting data, summarized data statistically and generated potential new protocols that could be used to optimize the course of the experiment.

Using Web GIS "Climate" for Adaptation to Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordova, Yulia; Martynova, Yulia; Shulgina, Tamara

2015-04-01

A work is devoted to the application of an information-computational Web GIS "Climate" developed by joint team of the Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems SB RAS and Tomsk State University to raise awareness about current and future climate change as a basis for further adaptation. Web-GIS "Climate» (http://climate.scert.ru/) based on modern concepts of Web 2.0 provides opportunities to study regional climate change and its consequences by providing access to climate and weather models, a large set of geophysical data and means of processing and visualization. Also, the system is used for the joint development of software applications by distributed research teams, research based on these applications and undergraduate and graduate students training. In addition, the system capabilities allow creating information resources to raise public awareness about climate change, its causes and consequences, which is a necessary step for the subsequent adaptation to these changes. Basic information course on climate change is placed in the public domain and is aimed at local population. Basic concepts and problems of modern climate change and its possible consequences are set out and illustrated in accessible language. Particular attention is paid to regional climate changes. In addition to the information part, the course also includes a selection of links to popular science network resources on current issues in Earth Sciences and a number of practical tasks to consolidate the material. These tasks are performed for a particular territory. Within the tasks users need to analyze the prepared within the "Climate" map layers and answer questions of direct interest to the public: "How did the minimum value of winter temperatures change in your area?", "What are the dynamics of maximum summer temperatures?", etc. Carrying out the analysis of the dynamics of climate change contributes to a better understanding of climate processes and further adaptation. Passing this course raises awareness of the general public, as well as prepares the user for subsequent registration in the system and work with its tools in conducting independent research. This work is partially supported by SB RAS project VIII.80.2.1, RFBR grants 13-05-12034 and 14-05-00502.

Teaching climate change: A 16-year record of introducing undergraduates to the fundamentals of the climate system and its complexities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winckler, G.; Pfirman, S. L.; Hays, J. D.; Schlosser, P.; Ting, M.

2011-12-01

Responding to climate change challenges in the near and far future, will require a wide range of knowledge, skills and a sense of the complexities involved. Since 1995, Columbia University and Barnard College have offered an undergraduate class that strives to provide students with some of these skills. The 'Climate System' course is a component of the three-part 'Earth Environmental Systems' series and provides the fundamentals needed for understanding the Earth's climate system and its variability. Being designed both for science majors and non-science majors, the emphasis of the course is on basic physical explanations, rather than mathematical derivations of the laws that govern the climate system. The course includes lectures, labs and discussion. Laboratory exercises primarily explore the climate system using global datasets, augmented by hands-on activities. Course materials are available for public use at http://eesc.columbia.edu/courses/ees/climate/camel_modules/ and http://ncseonline.org/climate/cms.cfm?id=3783. In this presentation we discuss the experiences, challenges and future demands of conveying the science of the Earth's Climate System and the risks facing the planet to a wide spectrum of undergraduate students, many of them without a background in the sciences. Using evaluation data we reflect how the course, the students, and the faculty have evolved over the past 16 years as the earth warmed, pressures for adaptation planning and mitigation measures increased, and public discourse became increasingly polarized.

Time for a paradigm shift in how we transfer knowledge? Making the case for translational science and public engagement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orr, Barron

2015-04-01

By any measure, our efforts to protect and restore the environment have failed to keep pace with environmental change, despite extraordinary scientific advances. Clearly there is a problem in knowledge transfer, which is often blamed on limited public awareness, misunderstanding or even apathy. Whether it's moving research to practice, informing policy, or educating the public on the environmental challenges of our time, our track record is poor. A major part of our failure lies in how scientists and practitioners understand (or misunderstand) and practice knowledge transfer. What actually drives knowledge acquisition and the motivation to gain knowledge, and what does this say about the methods used for knowledge transfer? Is the problem a supply issue (deficit of knowledge) or a demand issue (personal relevance)? The false assumptions that spin out of how we conceptualize knowledge acquisition lead to investment in knowledge transfer balanced heavily in "science communication" and "awareness raising" activities that tend to be unidirectional, top-down, and rarely linked to personal interests. Successful adaptation to environmental change requires a theoretical and practical understanding of coupled natural-human systems as well as advances in bridging knowledge systems and the science-society gap. To be effective, this means a "translational science" approach that promotes the capture and integration of scientific and local knowledge, addresses the influences of scale (biophysically, socially, institutionally), encourages mutual learning among all parties, and builds capacity as part of the process. The facilitation and translation of information and meanings among stakeholders can lead to the co-production of knowledge, more informed decision making, and in a very pragmatic way, more effective use of assessments and other products of scientific discovery. The purpose of this presentation is to shed light on what underlies the majority of investment in knowledge transfer, the false assumptions that result, and the ramifications for the methods employed the vast majority of the time by the scientific community. The case for public engagement and participatory approaches will be made, followed by a brief survey of the theories, methods and tools that make engagement possible and effective. Successful adaptation to environmental change requires a much stronger link between science and society. While science communication and awareness raising are necessary, they are much more effective when coupled with robust, formative, and participatory approaches to stakeholder engagement. This is necessary for successful land-based adaptation to environmental change.

SAMCO: Society Adaptation for coping with Mountain risks in a global change COntext

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grandjean, Gilles; Bernardie, Severine; Malet, Jean-Philippe; Puissant, Anne; Houet, Thomas; Berger, Frederic; Fort, Monique; Pierre, Daniel

2013-04-01

The SAMCO project aims to develop a proactive resilience framework enhancing the overall resilience of societies on the impacts of mountain risks. The project aims to elaborate methodological tools to characterize and measure ecosystem and societal resilience from an operative perspective on three mountain representative case studies. To achieve this objective, the methodology is split in several points with (1) the definition of the potential impacts of global environmental changes (climate system, ecosystem e.g. land use, socio-economic system) on landslide hazards, (2) the analysis of these consequences in terms of vulnerability (e.g. changes in the location and characteristics of the impacted areas and level of their perturbation) and (3) the implementation of a methodology for quantitatively investigating and mapping indicators of mountain slope vulnerability exposed to several hazard types, and the development of a GIS-based demonstration platform. The strength and originality of the SAMCO project will be to combine different techniques, methodologies and models (multi-hazard assessment, risk evolution in time, vulnerability functional analysis, and governance strategies) and to gather various interdisciplinary expertises in earth sciences, environmental sciences, and social sciences. The multidisciplinary background of the members could potentially lead to the development of new concepts and emerging strategies for mountain hazard/risk adaptation. Research areas, characterized by a variety of environmental, economical and social settings, are severely affected by landslides, and have experienced significant land use modifications (reforestation, abandonment of traditional agricultural practices) and human interferences (urban expansion, ski resorts construction) over the last century.

The Telesupervised Adaptive Ocean Sensor Fleet (TAOSF) Architecture: Coordination of Multiple Oceanic Robot Boats

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elfes, Alberto; Podnar, Gregg W.; Dolan, John M.; Stancliff, Stephen; Lin, Ellie; Hosler, Jeffrey C.; Ames, Troy J.; Higinbotham, John; Moisan, John R.; Moisan, Tiffany A.;

Center for Adaptive Optics | Events

Science.gov Websites

Center for Adaptive Optics A University of California Science and Technology Center home 2015 AO Adaptive Optics and Wavefront Control in Microscopy and Ophthalmology Paris, France October 25-25 CfAO Adaptive Optics Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators Members Calendar of Events Publications

Infrastructure Systems for Advanced Computing in E-science applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terzo, Olivier

2013-04-01

In the e-science field are growing needs for having computing infrastructure more dynamic and customizable with a model of use "on demand" that follow the exact request in term of resources and storage capacities. The integration of grid and cloud infrastructure solutions allows us to offer services that can adapt the availability in terms of up scaling and downscaling resources. The main challenges for e-sciences domains will on implement infrastructure solutions for scientific computing that allow to adapt dynamically the demands of computing resources with a strong emphasis on optimizing the use of computing resources for reducing costs of investments. Instrumentation, data volumes, algorithms, analysis contribute to increase the complexity for applications who require high processing power and storage for a limited time and often exceeds the computational resources that equip the majority of laboratories, research Unit in an organization. Very often it is necessary to adapt or even tweak rethink tools, algorithms, and consolidate existing applications through a phase of reverse engineering in order to adapt them to a deployment on Cloud infrastructure. For example, in areas such as rainfall monitoring, meteorological analysis, Hydrometeorology, Climatology Bioinformatics Next Generation Sequencing, Computational Electromagnetic, Radio occultation, the complexity of the analysis raises several issues such as the processing time, the scheduling of tasks of processing, storage of results, a multi users environment. For these reasons, it is necessary to rethink the writing model of E-Science applications in order to be already adapted to exploit the potentiality of cloud computing services through the uses of IaaS, PaaS and SaaS layer. An other important focus is on create/use hybrid infrastructure typically a federation between Private and public cloud, in fact in this way when all resources owned by the organization are all used it will be easy with a federate cloud infrastructure to add some additional resources form the Public cloud for following the needs in term of computational and storage resources and release them where process are finished. Following the hybrid model, the scheduling approach is important for managing both cloud models. Thanks to this model infrastructure every time resources are available for additional request in term of IT capacities that can used "on demand" for a limited time without having to proceed to purchase additional servers.

Using the CLEAN educational resource collection for building three-dimensional lessons to teach the climate system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gold, A. U.; Sullivan, S. M.; Manning, C. L. B.; Ledley, T. S.; Youngman, E.; Taylor, J.; Niepold, F., III; Kirk, K.; Lockwood, J.; Bruckner, M. Z.; Fox, S.

2017-12-01

The impacts of climate change are a critical societal challenge of the 21st century. Educating students about the globally connected climate system is key in supporting the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies. Systems thinking is required for students to understand the complex, dynamic climate systems and the role that humans play within them. The interdisciplinary nature of climate science challenges educators, who often don't have formal training in climate science, to identify resources that are scientifically accurate before weaving them together into units that teach about the climate system. The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) supports this work by providing over 700 peer-reviewed, classroom-ready resources on climate and energy topics. The resource collection itself provide only limited instructional guidance, so educators need to weave the resources together to build multi-dimensional lessons that develop systems thinking skills. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science standards encourage educators to teach science in a 3-dimensional approach that trains students in systems thinking. The CLEAN project strives to help educators design NGSS-style, three-dimensional lessons about the climate system. Two approaches are currently being modeled on the CLEAN web portal. The first is described in the CLEAN NGSS "Get Started Guide" which follows a step-by-step process starting with the Disciplinary Core Idea and then interweaves the Cross-Cutting Concepts (CCC) and the Science and Engineering Practices (SEP) based on the teaching strategy chosen for the lesson or unit topic. The second model uses a climate topic as a starting place and the SEP as the guide through a four-step lesson sequence called "Earth Systems Investigations". Both models use CLEAN reviewed lessons as the core activity but provide the necessary framework for classroom implementation. Sample lessons that were developed following these two approaches are provided on the CLEAN web portal (cleanet.org).

A complexity science-based framework for global joint operations analysis to support force projection: LDRD Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lawton, Craig R.

2015-01-01

The military is undergoing a significant transformation as it modernizes for the information age and adapts to address an emerging asymmetric threat beyond traditional cold war era adversaries. Techniques such as traditional large-scale, joint services war gaming analysis are no longer adequate to support program evaluation activities and mission planning analysis at the enterprise level because the operating environment is evolving too quickly. New analytical capabilities are necessary to address modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD) enterprise. This presents significant opportunity to Sandia in supporting the nation at this transformational enterprise scale. Although Sandia has significant experience with engineeringmore » system of systems (SoS) and Complex Adaptive System of Systems (CASoS), significant fundamental research is required to develop modeling, simulation and analysis capabilities at the enterprise scale. This report documents an enterprise modeling framework which will enable senior level decision makers to better understand their enterprise and required future investments.« less

Center for Adaptive Optics | Search

Science.gov Websites

Center for Adaptive Optics A University of California Science and Technology Center home Search CfAO Google Search search: CfAO All of UCOLick.org Whole Web Search for recent Adaptive Optics news at GoogleNews! Last Modified: Sep 21, 2010 Center for Adaptive Optics | Search | The Center | Adaptive Optics

Earth Science Teaching Strategies Used in the International Polar Year

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparrow, E. B.

2009-04-01

There are many effective methods for teaching earth science education that are being successfully used during the fourth International Polar Year (IPY). Relevance of IPY and the polar regions is better understood using a systems thinking approach used in earth science education. Changes in components of the earth system have a global effect; and changes in the polar regions will affect the rest of the world regions and vice versa. Teaching strategies successfully used for primary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate student earth science education and IPY education outreach include: 1) engaging students in earth science or environmental research relevant to their locale; 2) blending lectures with research expeditions or field studies, 3) connecting students with scientists in person and through audio and video conferencing; 4) combining science and arts in teaching, learning and communicating about earth science and the polar regions, capitalizing on the uniqueness of polar regions and its inhabitants, and its sensitivity to climate change; and 5) integrating different perspectives: western science, indigenous and community knowledge in the content and method of delivery. Use of these strategies are exemplified in IPY projects in the University of the Arctic IPY Higher Education Outreach Project cluster such as the GLOBE Seasons and Biomes project, the Ice Mysteries e-Polar Books: An Innovative Way of Combining Science and Literacy project, the Resilience and Adaptation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship project, and the Svalbard Research Experience for Undergraduates project.

Do We Need Better Climate Predictions to Adapt to a Changing Climate? (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dessai, S.; Hulme, M.; Lempert, R.; Pielke, R., Jr.

2009-12-01

Based on a series of international scientific assessments, climate change has been presented to society as a major problem that needs urgently to be tackled. The science that underpins these assessments has been pre-dominantly from the realm of the natural sciences and central to this framing have been ‘projections’ of future climate change (and its impacts on environment and society) under various greenhouse gas emissions scenarios and using a variety of climate model predictions with embedded assumptions. Central to much of the discussion surrounding adaptation to climate change is the claim - explicit or implicit - that decision makers need accurate and increasingly precise assessments of future impacts of climate change in order to adapt successfully. If true, this claim places a high premium on accurate and precise climate predictions at a range of geographical and temporal scales; such predictions therefore become indispensable, and indeed a prerequisite for, effective adaptation decision-making. But is effective adaptation tied to the ability of the scientific enterprise to predict future climate with accuracy and precision? If so, this may impose a serious and intractable limit on adaptation. This paper proceeds in three sections. It first gathers evidence of claims that climate prediction is necessary for adaptation decision-making. This evidence is drawn from peer-reviewed literature and from published science funding strategies and government policy in a number of different countries. The second part discusses the challenges of climate prediction and why science will consistently be unable to provide accurate and precise predictions of future climate relevant for adaptation (usually at the local/regional level). Section three discusses whether these limits to future foresight represent a limit to adaptation, arguing that effective adaptation need not be limited by a general inability to predict future climate. Given the deep uncertainties involved in climate prediction (and even more so in the prediction of climate impacts) and given that climate is usually only one factor in decisions aimed at climate adaptation, we conclude that the ‘predict and provide’ approach to science in support of climate change adaptation is largely flawed. We consider other important areas of public policy fraught with uncertainty - e.g. earthquake risk, national security, public health - where such a ‘predict and provide’ approach is not attempted. Instead of relying on an approach which has climate prediction (and consequent risk assessment) at its heart - which because of the associated epistemological limits to prediction will consequently act as an apparent limit to adaptation - we need to view adaptation differently, in a manner that opens up options for decision making under uncertainty. We suggest an approach which examines the robustness of adaptation strategies/policies/activities to the myriad of uncertainties that face us in the future, only one of which is the state of climate.

Low gravity environment on-board Columbia during STS-40

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, M. J. B.; Baugher, C. R.; Blanchard, R. C.; Delombard, R.; During, W. W.; Matthiesen, D. H.; Neupert, W.; Roussel, P.

1993-01-01

The first NASA Spacelab Life Sciences mission (SLS-I) flew 5 June to 14 June 1991 on the orbiter Columbia (STS-40). The purpose of the mission was to investigate the human body's adaptation to the low gravity conditions of space flight and the body's readjustment after the mission to the 1 g environment of earth. In addition to the life sciences experiments manifested for the Spacelab module, a variety of experiments in other scientific disciplines flew in the Spacelab and in Get Away Special (GAS) Canisters on the GAS Bridge Assembly. Several principal investigators designed and flew specialized accelerometer systems to characterize the low gravity environment. This was done to better assess the results of theft experiments. This was also the first flight of the NASA Microgravity Science and Applications Division (MSAD) sponsored Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) and the first flight of the NASA Orbiter Experiments Office (OEX) sponsored Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment accelerometer (OARE). We present a brief introduction to seven STS-40 accelerometer systems and discuss and compare the resulting data.

Using AN Essea Earth Systems Science Course in a Web-Enhanced Setting for Pre-Service Middle School Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slattery, W.

2003-12-01

The ESSEA Middle School course was originally designed as an asynchronous on-line tool for teacher professional development. The ESSEA course uses real world events such as deforestation, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes to develop content understandings of Earth systems processes and to model pedagogical best practices appropriate for middle school students. The course is structured as multiple three-week learning cycles. During week one of each cycle, participants are formed into Sphere groups to study the impact of the event under consideration on the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, or lithosphere. During week two, Event teams are formed to include members from each of the previous week's Sphere groups. Together they develop interactions between the different spheres and the event. During week three, teachers develop classroom applications and post them on-line for other participants to comment upon. On-going assessment suggests that in-service teacher participants of the on-line course are more likely to infuse inquiry-based science instruction into their classroom settings and to teach science as a subject integrating Physical science, Life science, and Earth/Space science in their own classrooms It is imperative to develop such characteristics in pre-service teachers as well. Wright State University's undergraduate Middle School teacher preparation program requires that undergraduates seeking Middle Childhood Licensure by the State of Ohio take a course in Earth Systems science that is aligned with the national and state science education standards. Towards this end the ESSEA course has been adapted for use in a web-enhanced setting. Weeks one and two (Sphere and Event study) of the ESSEA Middle School course are used as an integral component of this Earth Systems science course. In this way content knowledge and pedagogical strategies are modeled just as they are in the fully on-line course. Questions raised on-line are the topic of research or experimentation during the face-to-face component of the course. Follow-up interviews and classroom visits to student teaching sites confirm that pre-service teachers are using Earth systems science concepts and cooperative teaching techniques to teach science as an integrated whole.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 8

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, L. R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor)

1985-01-01

This is the eighth issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 48 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of 10 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables. Additional features include reviews of two Russian books on radiobiology and a description of the latest meeting of an international working group on remote sensing of the Earth. Information about English translations of Soviet materials available to readers is provided. The topics covered in this issue have been identified as relevant to 33 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are: adaptation, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, cosmonaut training, cytology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, exobiology, gastrointestinal system, genetics, group dynamics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, man-machine systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, personnel selection, psychology, reproductive biology, and space biology and medicine.

Innovations in Science Education in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuepbach, E.

2001-12-01

At many European Universities, the retention of skilled science graduates is hindered mainly by organisational structures. In particular, women students are often under-represented in sciences, and career progression is in general difficult. The linear system of knowhow transfer is inefficient from the pedagogical point of view and unsatisfactory for many students. Owing to fast changes in society and the working environment, a re-building of curricula in tertiary education (including University Education) has begun. Conceptual visions aim at influencing the investment in the largely untapped human capital and preparing the students for quick adaptation and enhanced flexiblity. Traditional methods of classroom teaching and knowhow transfer are increasingly complemented by New Learning Technologies and Mentoring. The EU Project INDECS (Potentials of Interdisciplinary Degree Courses in Engineering, Information Technology, Natural and Socio-Economic Sciences in a Changing Society) examines such pedagogical aspects in European degree courses combining engineering, IT, physical sciences and socio-economic sciences. Inclusion of specific IT and social science topics in modular form is examined. How innovation in University Teaching will meet the attractiveness to both students and employers in Europe is major focus of the study.

Assessing Adaptive Instructional Design Tools and Methods in ADAPT[IT].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eseryel, Deniz; Spector, J. Michael

ADAPT[IT] (Advanced Design Approach for Personalized Training - Interactive Tools) is a European project within the Information Society Technologies program that is providing design methods and tools to guide a training designer according to the latest cognitive science and standardization principles. ADAPT[IT] addresses users in two significantly…

Center for Adaptive Optics | Center

Science.gov Websites

Center for Adaptive Optics A University of California Science and Technology Center home Contact Us Director: Claire Max Office: Room 205, Center for Adaptive Optics Phone: (831) 459-2049 Fax: (831 ) 459-5717 Email: max@ucolick.org Associate Director: Donald Gavel Office: Room 209, Center for Adaptive

Science K-12, Living Things in Continuous Change. Utica City School District Articulated Curriculum: Project SEARCH, 1975.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Utica City School District, NY.

Two-column objectives are listed for an integrated science curriculum (grades K-12), often subheaded according to science area (biology, general science, physical science, earth science) and grade level. In grades K-6, objectives for topics of science study include conditions for plants and animals to live, adaptation, conservation,…

Mathematical Sciences Division 1992 Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-10-01

statistical theory that underlies modern signal analysis . There is a strong emphasis on stochastic processes and time series , particularly those which...include optimal resource planning and real- time scheduling of stochastic shop-floor processes. Scheduling systems will be developed that can adapt to...make forecasts for the length-of-service time series . Protocol analysis of these sessions will be used to idenify relevant contextual features and to

Northwest Forest Plan—the first 10 years (1994-2003): synthesis of monitoring and research results.

Treesearch

Richard W. Haynes; Bernard T. Bormann; Danny C. Lee; Jon R. Martin

2006-01-01

It has been 10 years since the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) came into being at the direction of President Clinton. This report synthesizes the status and trends of five major elements of the Plan: older forests, species, aquatic systems, socioeconomics, and adaptive management and monitoring. It synthesizes new science that has resulted from a decade of research....

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 7

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, L. R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor); Teeter, R. (Editor)

1986-01-01

This is the seventh issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 29 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of 8 new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Additional features include two interviews with the Soviet Union's cosmonaut physicians and others knowledgable of the Soviet space program. The topics discussed at a Soviet conference on problems in space psychology are summarized. Information about English translations of Soviet materials available to readers is provided. The topics covered in this issue have been identified as relevant to 29 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are adaptation, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, exobiology, genetics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, morphology and cytology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, perception, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, and space medicine.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, Issue 10

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooke, Lydia Razran; Radtke, Mike; Teeter, Ronald; Garshnek, Victoria; Rowe, Joseph E.

1987-01-01

The USSR Space Life Sciences Digest contains abstracts of 37 papers recently published in Russian language periodicals and bound collections and of five new Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. Additional features include the translation of a book chapter concerning use of biological rhythms as a basis for cosmonaut selection, excerpts from the diary of a participant in a long-term isolation experiment, and a picture and description of the Mir space station. The abstracts included in this issue were identified as relevant to 25 areas of aerospace medicine and space biology. These areas are adaptation, biological rhythms, biospherics, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, microbiology, morphology and cytology, musculosketal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, personnel selection, psychology, and radiobiology.

Mission Design Evaluation Using Automated Planning for High Resolution Imaging of Dynamic Surface Processes from the ISS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knight, Russell; Donnellan, Andrea; Green, Joseph J.

2013-01-01

A challenge for any proposed mission is to demonstrate convincingly that the proposed systems will in fact deliver the science promised. Funding agencies and mission design personnel are becoming ever more skeptical of the abstractions that form the basis of the current state of the practice with respect to approximating science return. To address this, we have been using automated planning and scheduling technology to provide actual coverage campaigns that provide better predictive performance with respect to science return for a given mission design and set of mission objectives given implementation uncertainties. Specifically, we have applied an adaptation of ASPEN and SPICE to the Eagle-Eye domain that demonstrates the performance of the mission design with respect to coverage of science imaging targets that address climate change and disaster response. Eagle-Eye is an Earth-imaging telescope that has been proposed to fly aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Automating Stowage Operations for the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knight, Russell; Rabideau, Gregg; Mishkin, Andrew; Lee, Young

2013-01-01

A challenge for any proposed mission is to demonstrate convincingly that the proposed systems will in fact deliver the science promised. Funding agencies and mission design personnel are becoming ever more skeptical of the abstractions that form the basis of the current state of the practice with respect to approximating science return. To address this, we have been using automated planning and scheduling technology to provide actual coverage campaigns that provide better predictive performance with respect to science return for a given mission design and set of mission objectives given implementation uncertainties. Specifically, we have applied an adaptation of ASPEN and SPICE to the Eagle-Eye domain that demonstrates the performance of the mission design with respect to coverage of science imaging targets that address climate change and disaster response. Eagle-Eye is an Earth-imaging telescope that has been proposed to fly aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Design of a Soil Science practical exercise to understand the carbon sequestration in soil after biochar application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gascó, Gabriel; Méndez, Ana; Antón, José Manuel; Grau, Juan; Sánchez, María Elena; Moratiel, Rubén; María Tarquis, Ana

2013-04-01

The adaptation of the Universities to European Higher Education Area (EHEA) involves changes in the learning system. Students must obtain specific capabilities in the different degrees or masters. For example, in the degree of Agronomy at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM,Spain), they must command Soil science, Mathematics or English. Sometimes, There is not a good communication between teachers and it causes that students do not understand the importance of the different subjects of a career. For this reason, teachers of the Soil Science and Mathematics Departments of the UPM designed a common practice to teach to the students the importance of Soil Science and Mathematics in the study of carbon sequestration in a soil treated by biochar. The objective of this paper is to explain the followed steps to the design of the practice.

Online Teaching Tool Simplifies Faculty Use of Multimedia and Improves Student Interest and Knowledge in Science

PubMed Central

Walsh, John P.; Chih-Yuan Sun, Jerry; Riconscente, Michelle

2011-01-01

Digital technologies can improve student interest and knowledge in science. However, researching the vast number of websites devoted to science education and integrating them into undergraduate curricula is time-consuming. We developed an Adobe ColdFusion– and Adobe Flash–based system for simplifying the construction, use, and delivery of electronic educational materials in science. The Online Multimedia Teaching Tool (OMTT) in Neuroscience was constructed from a ColdFusion-based online interface, which reduced the need for programming skills and the time for curriculum development. The OMTT in Neuroscience was used by faculty to enhance their lectures in existing curricula. Students had unlimited online access to encourage user-centered exploration. We found the OMTT was rapidly adapted by multiple professors, and its use by undergraduate students was consistent with the interpretation that the OMTT improved performance on exams and increased interest in the field of neuroscience. PMID:21885826

Online teaching tool simplifies faculty use of multimedia and improves student interest and knowledge in science.

PubMed

Walsh, John P; Chih-Yuan Sun, Jerry; Riconscente, Michelle

2011-01-01

Digital technologies can improve student interest and knowledge in science. However, researching the vast number of websites devoted to science education and integrating them into undergraduate curricula is time-consuming. We developed an Adobe ColdFusion- and Adobe Flash-based system for simplifying the construction, use, and delivery of electronic educational materials in science. The Online Multimedia Teaching Tool (OMTT) in Neuroscience was constructed from a ColdFusion-based online interface, which reduced the need for programming skills and the time for curriculum development. The OMTT in Neuroscience was used by faculty to enhance their lectures in existing curricula. Students had unlimited online access to encourage user-centered exploration. We found the OMTT was rapidly adapted by multiple professors, and its use by undergraduate students was consistent with the interpretation that the OMTT improved performance on exams and increased interest in the field of neuroscience.

Female high school biology students' biofilm-focused learning: The contributions of three instructional strategies to patterns in understanding and motivation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ales, Jo Dale Hill

2000-12-01

This exploratory study examined three instructional strategies used with female high school biology students. The relative contributions of the strategies to student understanding of microbiology and motivation in science were analyzed. The science education community targeted underachievement in science by implementing changes in content and practices (NRC, 1996). Research suggested that teachers facilitate learnirig environments based on human constructivism (Mintzes, Wandersee, & Novak, 1997) that is rooted in meaningful learning theory (Ausubel, Novak & Hanesian, 1978). Teachers were advised to use both visual and verbal instructional strategies (Paivio, 1983) and encourage students to construct understandings by connecting new experiences to prior knowledge. The American Society for Microbiology supports the study of microorganisms because of their prominence in the biosphere (ASK 1997). In this study, two participating teachers taught selected microbiology concepts while focused on the cutting edge science of biofilms. Biology students accessed digitized biofilm images on an ASM web page and adapted them into products, communicated with biofilm researchers, and adapted a professional-quality instructional video for cross-age teaching. The study revealed improvements in understanding as evidenced on a written test; however, differences in learnirig outcomes were not significant. Other data, including student journal reflections, observations of student interactions, and student clinical interviews indicate that students were engaged in cutting edge science and adapted biofilm images in ways that increased understanding of microbiology (with respect to both science content and as a way of knowing) and motivation. An ASM CD-ROM of the images did not effectively enhance learning and this study provides insights into what could make it more successful. It also identifies why, in most cases, students' E-mail communication with biofilm researchers was unsuccessful. The positive experiences of successful students indicate that teacher management could maximize the benefits of experiencing cutting edge science this way. Cutting edge science can be used to make science more relevant to students, enhance science learning, and insure a more scientifically literate society. Cross-age teachers effectively adapted an instructional video, communicated science, and increased their understanding of selected microbiology concepts and self-confidence. They also increased or maintained their motivation to study science.

A science of integration: frameworks, processes, and products in a place-based, integrative study

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kliskey, Andrew; Alessa, Lilian; Wandersee, Sarah; Williams, Paula; Trammell, Jamie; Powell, Jim; Grunblatt, Jess; Wipfli, Mark S.

2017-01-01

Integrative research is increasingly a priority within the scientific community and is a central goal for the evolving field of sustainability science. While it is conceptually attractive, its successful implementation has been challenging and recent work suggests that the move towards interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in sustainability science is being only partially realized. To address this from the perspective of social-ecological systems (SES) research, we examine the process of conducting a science of integration within the Southcentral Alaska Test Case (SCTC) of Alaska-EPSCoR as a test-bed for this approach. The SCTC is part of a large, 5 year, interdisciplinary study investigating changing environments and adaptations to those changes in Alaska. In this paper, we review progress toward a science of integration and present our efforts to confront the practical issues of applying proposed integration frameworks. We: (1) define our integration framework; (2) describe the collaborative processes, including the co-development of science through stakeholder engagement and partnerships; and (3) illustrate potential products of integrative, social-ecological systems research. The approaches we use can also be applied outside of this particular framework. We highlight challenges and propose improvements for integration in sustainability science by addressing the need for common frameworks and improved contextual understanding. These insights may be useful for capacity-building for interdisciplinary projects that address complex real-world social and environmental problems.

In search of an adaptive social-ecological approach to understanding a tropical city

Treesearch

A.E. Lugo; C.M. Concepcion; L.E. Santiago-Acevedo; T.A. Munoz-Erickson; J.C. Verdejo Ortiz; R. Santiago-Bartolomei; J. Forero-Montana; C.J. Nytch; H. Manrique; W. Colon-Cortes

2012-01-01

This essay describes our effort to develop a practical approach to the integration of the social and ecological sciences in the context of a Latin-American city such as San Juan, Puerto Rico. We describe our adaptive social-ecological approach in the historical context of the developing paradigms of the Anthropocene, new integrative social and ecological sciences, and...

12th Annual Science and Engineering Technology Conference/DoD TECH Exposition

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-23

compound when planning horizons grow: long design - test - build-field-adapt lead-times exacerbate uncertain futures problems, overload designs , and...ERS Environment ERS: Tools and Technologies to Facilitate Adaptability & Trustability 4. Tying design , physical and computational testing 6...science, engineering concepts, processes, and design tools to: • Continuously coordinate design , testing , and production with warfighter review to

Assessing Motivation to Learn Chemistry: Adaptation and Validation of Science Motivation Questionnaire II with Greek Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salta, Katerina; Koulougliotis, Dionysios

2015-01-01

In educational research, the availability of a validated version of an original instrument in a different language offers the possibility for valid measurements obtained within the specific educational context and in addition it provides the opportunity for valid cross-cultural comparisons. The present study aimed to adapt the Science Motivation…

Adaptation of the Students' Motivation towards Science Learning (SMTSL) Questionnaire in the Greek Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dermitzaki, Irini; Stavroussi, Panayiota; Vavougios, Denis; Kotsis, Konstantinos T.

2013-01-01

The present study aimed at adapting in the Greek language the Students' Motivation Towards Science Learning (SMTSL) questionnaire developed by Tuan, Chin, and Shieh ("INT J SCI EDUC" 27(6): 639-654, 2005a) into a different cultural context, a different age group, that is, in university students and with a focus on physics learning. Three…

Experience, Intersubjectivity, and Reflection: A Human Science Perspective on Preparation of Future Professionals in Adaptive Physical Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Standal, Øyvind F.; Rugseth, Gro

2016-01-01

The aim of this article is to show that and how philosophy and philosophical thinking can be of relevance for the preparation of future professionals in adaptive physical activity. To this end we utilize philosophical insights from the human science perspective on two central issues, namely experience and intersubjectivity, which are weaved…

Psychometric analysis of the leadership environment scale (LENS): Outcome from the Oregon research initiative on the organisation of nursing (ORION).

PubMed

Ross, Amy M; Ilic, Kelley; Kiyoshi-Teo, Hiroko; Lee, Christopher S

2017-12-26

The purpose of this study was to establish the psychometric properties of the new 16-item leadership environment scale. The leadership environment scale was based on complexity science concepts relevant to complex adaptive health care systems. A workforce survey of direct-care nurses was conducted (n = 1,443) in Oregon. Confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis, concordant validity test and reliability tests were conducted to establish the structure and internal consistency of the leadership environment scale. Confirmatory factor analysis indices approached acceptable thresholds of fit with a single factor solution. Exploratory factor analysis showed improved fit with a two-factor model solution; the factors were labelled 'influencing relationships' and 'interdependent system supports'. Moderate to strong convergent validity was observed between the leadership environment scale/subscales and both the nursing workforce index and the safety organising scale. Reliability of the leadership environment scale and subscales was strong, with all alphas ≥.85. The leadership environment scale is structurally sound and reliable. Nursing management can employ adaptive complexity leadership attributes, measure their influence on the leadership environment, subsequently modify system supports and relationships and improve the quality of health care systems. The leadership environment scale is an innovative fit to complex adaptive systems and how nurses act as leaders within these systems. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Re-use of Science Operations Systems around Mars: from Mars Express to ExoMars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cardesin-Moinelo, Alejandro; Mars Express Operations Centre; ExoMars Science Operations Centre

2017-10-01

Mars Express and ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter are the only two ESA planetary missions currently in operations, and they happen to be around the same planet! These two missions have great potential for synergies between their science objectives, instruments and observation capabilities and they can all be combined to improve the scientific outcome and improve our knowledge about Mars. In this contribution we will give a short summary of both missions, with an insight in its similarities and differences regarding their scientific and operational challenges, and we will summarize the lessons learned from Mars Express and how the existing science operations systems, processes and tools have been reused, redesigned and adapted in order to satisfy the operational requirements of ExoMars, with limited development resources thanks to the inherited capabilities from previous missions. In particular we will focus on the preparations done by the science operations centers at ESAC and the work within the Science Ground Segments for the re-use of the SPICE and MAPPS software tools, with the necessary modifications and upgrades to perform the geometrical and operational simulations of both spacecrafts, taking into account the specific instrument modelling, observation requirements and all the payload and spacecraft operational rules and constraints for feasibility checks. All of these system upgrades are now being finalized for ExoMars and some of them have already been rehearsed in orbit, getting ready for the nominal science operations phase starting in the first months of 2018 after the aerobraking phase

IRMS: Infrared Multi-Slit Spectrograph for TMT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

U, Vivian; Mobasher, B.

2014-07-01

As one of the first-light instruments on the TMT, the IRMS is a near-infrared multi-slit spectrograph and imager designed to sample near the diffraction limit with the help of adaptive optics. Fed by the Narrow-Field Infrared Adaptive Optics Systems (NFIRAOS) on the TMT, the IRMS will provide near-infrared imaging and multi-object spectroscopy at Y, J, H, and K bands (0.9-2.5 microns) with moderate spectral resolution. With a field of view of ~2 arcmin on a side, it has a multiplex capability of up to 46 slits using a slit mask system on a cryogenic configurable slit unit. Here we present a preliminary version of the exposure time calculator for sensitivity comparison with Keck/MOSFIRE. Selected science cases are highlighted to demonstrate the need for IRMS in this upcoming thirty-meter class telescope era.

Effects of climate change adaptation scenarios on perceived spatio-temporal characteristics of drought events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vidal, J.-P.; Martin, E.; Kitova, N.; Najac, J.; Soubeyroux, J.-M.

2012-04-01

Drought events develop in both space and time and they are therefore best described through summary joint spatio-temporal characteristics, like mean duration, mean affected area and total magnitude. This study addresses the issue of future projections of such characteristics of drought events over France through three main research questions: (1) Are downscaled climate projections able to reproduce spatio-temporal characteristics of meteorological and agricultural droughts in France over a present-day period? (2) How such characteristics will evolve over the 21st century under different emissions scenarios? (3) How would perceived drought characteristics evolve under theoretical adaptation scenarios? These questions are addressed using the Isba land surface model, downscaled climate projections from the ARPEGE General Circulation Model under three emissions scenarios, as well as results from a previously performed 50-year multilevel and multiscale drought reanalysis over France (Vidal et al., 2010). Spatio-temporal characteristics of meteorological and agricultural drought events are computed using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Soil Wetness Index (SSWI), respectively, and for time scales of 3 and 12 months. Results first show that the distributions of joint spatio-temporal characteristics of observed events are well reproduced by the downscaled hydroclimate projections over a present-day period. All spatio-temporal characteristics of drought events are then found to dramatically increase over the 21st century under all considered emissions scenarios, with stronger changes for agricultural droughts. Two theoretical adaptation scenarios are eventually built based on hypotheses of adaptation to evolving climate and hydrological normals. The two scenarios differ by the way the transient adaptation is performed for a given date in the future, with reference to the normals over either the previous 30-year window ("retrospective" adaptation) or over a 30-year period centred around the date considered ("prospective" adaptation). These adaptation scenarios are translated into local-scale transient drought thresholds, as opposed to a non-adaptation scenario where the drought threshold remains constant. The perceived spatio-temporal characteristics derived from the theoretical adaptation scenarios show much reduced changes, but they call for more realistic scenarios at both the catchment and national scale in order to accurately assess the combined effect of local-scale adaptation and global-scale mitigation. This study thus proposes a proof of concept for using standardized drought indices for (1) assessing projections of spatio-temporal drought characteristics and (2) building theoretical adaptation scenarios and associated perceived changes in hydrological impact studies (Vidal et al., submitted). Vidal J.-P., Martin E., Franchistéguy L., Habets F., Soubeyroux J.-M., Blanchard M. & Baillon M. (2010) Multilevel and multiscale drought reanalysis over France with the Safran-Isba-Modcou hydrometeorological suite. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 14, 459-478.doi: 10.5194/hess-14-459-2010 Vidal J.-P., Martin E., Kitova N., Najac J. & Soubeyroux, J. M. (submitted) Evolution of spatio-temporal drought characteristics: validation, projections and effect of adaptation scenarios. Submitted to Hydrology and earth System Sciences

Experimental demonstration of laser tomographic adaptive optics on a 30-meter telescope at 800 nm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ammons, S., Mark; Johnson, Luke; Kupke, Renate; Gavel, Donald T.; Max, Claire E.

2010-07-01

A critical goal in the next decade is to develop techniques that will extend Adaptive Optics correction to visible wavelengths on Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). We demonstrate in the laboratory the highly accurate atmospheric tomography necessary to defeat the cone effect on ELTs, an essential milestone on the path to this capability. We simulate a high-order Laser Tomographic AO System for a 30-meter telescope with the LTAO/MOAO testbed at UCSC. Eight Sodium Laser Guide Stars (LGSs) are sensed by 99x99 Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors over 75". The AO system is diffraction-limited at a science wavelength of 800 nm (S ~ 6-9%) over a field of regard of 20" diameter. Openloop WFS systematic error is observed to be proportional to the total input atmospheric disturbance and is nearly the dominant error budget term (81 nm RMS), exceeded only by tomographic wavefront estimation error (92 nm RMS). The total residual wavefront error for this experiment is comparable to that expected for wide-field tomographic adaptive optics systems of similar wavefront sensor order and LGS constellation geometry planned for Extremely Large Telescopes.

Integrating Land Cover Modeling and Adaptive Management to Conserve Endangered Species and Reduce Catastrophic Fire Risk

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Breininger, David; Duncan, Brean; Eaton, Mitchell; Johnson, Fred; Nichols, James

2014-01-01

Land cover modeling is used to inform land management, but most often via a two-step process where science informs how management alternatives can influence resources and then decision makers can use this to make decisions. A more efficient process is to directly integrate science and decision making, where science allows us to learn to better accomplish management objectives and is developed to address specific decisions. Co-development of management and science is especially productive when decisions are complicated by multiple objectives and impeded by uncertainty. Multiple objectives can be met by specification of tradeoffs, and relevant uncertainty can be addressed through targeted science (i.e., models and monitoring). We describe how to integrate habitat and fuels monitoring with decision making focused on dual objectives of managing for endangered species and minimizing catastrophic fire risk. Under certain conditions, both objectives might be achieved by a similar management policy, but habitat trajectories suggest tradeoffs. Knowledge about system responses to actions can be informed by applying competing management actions to different land units in the same system state and by ideas about fire behavior. Monitoring and management integration is important to optimize state-specific management decisions and increase knowledge about system responses. We believe this approach has broad utility for and cover modeling programs intended to inform decision making.

Chaos, patterns, coherent structures, and turbulence: Reflections on nonlinear science.

PubMed

Ecke, Robert E

2015-09-01

The paradigms of nonlinear science were succinctly articulated over 25 years ago as deterministic chaos, pattern formation, coherent structures, and adaptation/evolution/learning. For chaos, the main unifying concept was universal routes to chaos in general nonlinear dynamical systems, built upon a framework of bifurcation theory. Pattern formation focused on spatially extended nonlinear systems, taking advantage of symmetry properties to develop highly quantitative amplitude equations of the Ginzburg-Landau type to describe early nonlinear phenomena in the vicinity of critical points. Solitons, mathematically precise localized nonlinear wave states, were generalized to a larger and less precise class of coherent structures such as, for example, concentrated regions of vorticity from laboratory wake flows to the Jovian Great Red Spot. The combination of these three ideas was hoped to provide the tools and concepts for the understanding and characterization of the strongly nonlinear problem of fluid turbulence. Although this early promise has been largely unfulfilled, steady progress has been made using the approaches of nonlinear science. I provide a series of examples of bifurcations and chaos, of one-dimensional and two-dimensional pattern formation, and of turbulence to illustrate both the progress and limitations of the nonlinear science approach. As experimental and computational methods continue to improve, the promise of nonlinear science to elucidate fluid turbulence continues to advance in a steady manner, indicative of the grand challenge nature of strongly nonlinear multi-scale dynamical systems.

Female adolescents' perceptions, beliefs, motivations, and attitudes in the negotiation of science texts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, Camille

This study was an investigation of female adolescents' perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs towards science and reading science-related texts. Three surveys were used to collect data from 253 middle school students in Grade 7 and Grade 8 and six interviews were conducted with students. The interviews allowed a deeper analysis of the value students placed on science and on reading science-related texts. The quantitative data were collected through the following surveys: Test of Science Related Attitudes, Motivation for Reading Informational Books in School adapted, and Metacognitive Awareness Reading Strategies Inventory adapted. The purpose of the surveys was to provide a comprehensive picture of students' self-reported perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs towards science and the motivation to engage. Literacy processes and practices make engagement and learning in science possible; however, intrinsic motivation and cognitive strategies are critical influential components that educators cannot overlook. The female adolescents in this study expressed greater competence when involved in learning science through inquiry experimentation integrated with literacy presented in different formats.

Preservice Elementary Teachers' Adaptation of Science Curriculum Materials for Inquiry-Based Elementary Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forbes, Cory T.

2011-01-01

Curriculum materials are important resources with which teachers make pedagogical decisions about the design of science learning environments. To become well-started beginning elementary teachers capable of engaging their students in inquiry-based science, preservice elementary teachers need to learn to use science curriculum materials…

Adapting Water Infrastructure to Non-stationary Climate ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Water supply and sanitation are carried out by three major types of water infrastructure: drinking water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, and storm water collection and management. Their sustainability is measured by resilience against and adaptability to an evolving factor; here it refers to the change of climate and its hydrologic impacts. The term resilience is defined as the ability to repair and recover its physical state and service function under the impacts of external forces (Milman and Short, 2008; McDaniels et al., 2008). In this context, capacity reserve (CR) is one very important physical attribute of system’s resilience; further details will be described later in this section and in the subsequent Chapter 1.7. While service function of a water infrastructure varies geographically among municipalities, its general engineering and management follow a triple bottom line of objectives: system reliability, environmental sustainability, and engineering economics. Communicate to science community and practitioners on the climate change adaptation to increase water infrastructure resilience by adaptation design

The optical design of a visible adaptive optics system for the Magellan Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kopon, Derek

The Magellan Adaptive Optics system will achieve first light in November of 2012. This AO system contains several subsystems including the 585-actuator concave adaptive secondary mirror, the Calibration Return Optic (CRO) alignment and calibration system, the CLIO 1-5 microm IR science camera, the movable guider camera and active optics assembly, and the W-Unit, which contains both the Pyramid Wavefront Sensor (PWFS) and the VisAO visible science camera. In this dissertation, we present details of the design, fabrication, assembly, alignment, and laboratory performance of the VisAO camera and its optical components. Many of these components required a custom design, such as the Spectral Differential Imaging Wollaston prisms and filters and the coronagraphic spots. One component, the Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC), required a unique triplet design that had until now never been fabricated and tested on sky. We present the design, laboratory, and on-sky results for our triplet ADC. We also present details of the CRO test setup and alignment. Because Magellan is a Gregorian telescope, the ASM is a concave ellipsoidal mirror. By simulating a star with a white light point source at the far conjugate, we can create a double-pass test of the whole system without the need for a real on-sky star. This allows us to test the AO system closed loop in the Arcetri test tower at its nominal design focal length and optical conjugates. The CRO test will also allow us to calibrate and verify the system off-sky at the Magellan telescope during commissioning and periodically thereafter. We present a design for a possible future upgrade path for a new visible Integral Field Spectrograph. By integrating a fiber array bundle at the VisAO focal plane, we can send light to a pre-existing facility spectrograph, such as LDSS3, which will allow 20 mas spatial sampling and R˜1,800 spectra over the band 0.6-1.05 microm. This would be the highest spatial resolution IFU to date, either from the ground or in space.

Rocket Science in 60 Seconds: Insulating NASA's New Deep-space Rocket

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-02-09

Rocket Science in 60 Seconds gives you an inside look at work being done at NASA to explore deep space like never before. In the first episode, we take a look at the thermal protection application on the launch vehicle stage adapter for the first flight of NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System. Engineer Amy Buck takes us behind the scenes at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for a peek at how she is helping build the rocket and protect it as extreme hot and cold collide during launch! For more information about SLS and the OSA, visit nasa.gov/sls.

Evidence-Based Prevention for Adolescent Substance Use.

PubMed

Harrop, Erin; Catalano, Richard F

2016-07-01

Due to the significant consequences of adolescent substance use behaviors, researchers have increasingly focused on prevention approaches. The field of prevention science is based on the identification of predictors of problem behaviors, and the development and testing of prevention programs that seek to change these predictors. As the field of prevention science moves forward, there are many opportunities for growth, including the integration of prevention programs into service systems and primary care, an expansion of program adaptations to fit the needs of local populations, and a greater emphasis on the development of programs targeted at young adult populations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Present opto-mechanical design status of NFIRAOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byrnes, Peter W. G.; Atwood, Jenny; Boucher, Marc-André; Fitzsimmons, Joeleff; Hill, Alexis; Herriot, Glen; Spanò, Paolo; Szeto, Kei; Wevers, Ivan

2014-07-01

This paper describes the current opto-mechanical design of NFIRAOS (Narrow Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System) for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The preliminary design update review for NFIRAOS was successfully held in December 2011, and incremental design progress has since occurred on several fronts. The majority of NFIRAOS is housed within an insulated and cooled enclosure, and operates at -30 C to reduce background emissivity. The cold optomechanics are attached to a space-frame structure, kinematically supported by bipods that penetrate the insulated enclosure. The bipods are attached to an exo-structure at ambient temperature, which also supports up to three client science instruments and a science calibration unit.

Perspectives on Policy and the Value of Nursing Science in a Big Data Era.

PubMed

Gephart, Sheila M; Davis, Mary; Shea, Kimberly

2018-01-01

As data volume explodes, nurse scientists grapple with ways to adapt to the big data movement without jeopardizing its epistemic values and theoretical focus that celebrate while acknowledging the authority and unity of its body of knowledge. In this article, the authors describe big data and emphasize ways that nursing science brings value to its study. Collective nursing voices that call for more nursing engagement in the big data era are answered with ways to adapt and integrate theoretical and domain expertise from nursing into data science.

Drought Risk and Adaptation in the Interior (DRAI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNeeley, S.; Ojima, D. S.

2013-12-01

Drought is part of the normal climate variability in the Great Plains and Intermountain Western United States, but recent severe droughts along with climate change projections have increased the interest and need for better understanding of drought science and decision making. The purpose of this study is to understand how the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI) federal land and resource managers and their stakeholders (i.e., National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribes, among others) are experiencing and dealing with drought in their landscapes. The Drought Risk and Adaptation in the Interior (DRAI) project is part of a new DOI-sponsored North Central Climate Science Center (NC CSC) crosscutting science initiative on drought across the Center's three foundational science areas: 1. physical climate, 2. ecosystems impacts and responses, and 3. human adaptation and decision making. The overarching goal is to learn more about drought within the DOI public lands and resource management in order to contribute to both the NC CSC regional science as well as providing managers and other decision makers with the most salient, credible, and legitimate research to support land and resource management decisions. Here we will present the project approach along with some initial insights learned from the research to date along with its utility for climate adaptation.

Is aura around citicoline fading? A systemic review

PubMed Central

Agarwal, Saurabh; Patel, Bhoomika M.

2017-01-01

Stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are the critical public health and socioeconomic problems throughout the world. At present, citicoline is used as a coadjuvant for the management of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and TBI in various countries. This systemic review analyzes the beneficial role of citicoline in AIS and TBI. This systemic review is based on “PubMed” and “Science Direct” search results for citicoline role in stroke and TBI. In this systemic review, we included 12 human trials. A meta-analysis was performed on the basis of neurological evaluation, functional evaluation and Glasgow outcome scale, domestic adaptation evaluation outcomes, and cognitive outcome individually. In neurological evaluation, domestic adaptation evaluation, and cognitive outcomes, there was no significant difference in both the citicoline and placebo groups (odds ratio [OR] = 1.04 [0.9–1.2, P = 0.583]; OR = 1.1 [0.94–1.27, P = 0.209]; OR = 0.953 [0.75–1.2, P = 0.691]). In evaluation of functional outcomes, there was significant difference in both groups and OR was 1.18 (1.04–1.34, P = 0.01). Functional outcomes were significantly improved by citicoline, but the positive role of this drug in neurological recovery, domestic adaptation, and cognitive outcomes is still a topic of discussion for future. PMID:28458415

Fixation light hue bias revisited: implications for using adaptive optics to study color vision.

PubMed

Hofer, H J; Blaschke, J; Patolia, J; Koenig, D E

2012-03-01

Current vision science adaptive optics systems use near infrared wavefront sensor 'beacons' that appear as red spots in the visual field. Colored fixation targets are known to influence the perceived color of macroscopic visual stimuli (Jameson, D., & Hurvich, L. M. (1967). Fixation-light bias: An unwanted by-product of fixation control. Vision Research, 7, 805-809.), suggesting that the wavefront sensor beacon may also influence perceived color for stimuli displayed with adaptive optics. Despite its importance for proper interpretation of adaptive optics experiments on the fine scale interaction of the retinal mosaic and spatial and color vision, this potential bias has not yet been quantified or addressed. Here we measure the impact of the wavefront sensor beacon on color appearance for dim, monochromatic point sources in five subjects. The presence of the beacon altered color reports both when used as a fixation target as well as when displaced in the visual field with a chromatically neutral fixation target. This influence must be taken into account when interpreting previous experiments and new methods of adaptive correction should be used in future experiments using adaptive optics to study color. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Uncertainty in Driftless Area Cold-Water Fishery Decision Making and a Framework for Stakeholder-Based Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuster, Z.

2015-12-01

The paradigm of stakeholder-based science is becoming more popular as organizations such as the U.S. Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers adopt it as a way of providing practicable climate change information to practitioners. One of the key issues stakeholders face in adopting climate change information into their decision processes is how uncertainty is addressed and communicated. In this study, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with managers and scientists working on stream habitat restoration of cold-water fisheries in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin that were focused on how they interpret and manage uncertainty and what types of information they need to make better decisions. One of the important lessons we learned from the interviews is that if researchers are going to provide useful climate change information to stakeholders, they need to understand where and how decisions are made and what adaptation measures are actually available in a given decision arena. This method of incorporating social science methods into climate science production can provide a framework for researchers from the Climate Science Centers and others who are interested in pursuing stakeholder-based science. By indentifying a specific ecological system and conducting interviews with actors who work on that system, researchers will be able to gain a better understanding of how their climate change science can fit into existing or shape new decision processes. We also interpreted lessons learned from our interviews via existing literature in areas such as stakeholder-based modeling and the decision sciences to provide guidance specific to the stakeholder-based science process.

Study of application of adaptive systems to the exploration of the solar system. Volume 3: Mars landed systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

The results of a more detailed study of three missions to the surface of Mars: (1) an advanced lander, (2) a lander with a small tethered rover, and (3) a lander with a medium sized rover that operates independently of the lander for most of its functions but communicates with Earth through the lander are presented. For all three missions it was assumed that the Viking orbiter and lander would be used with modifications as required to improve the science package, to accommodate the rovers, and to handle the increased payloads.

Chapter 11: City-Wide Collaborations for Urban Climate Education

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snyder, Steven; Hoffstadt, Rita Mukherjee; Allen, Lauren B.; Crowley, Kevin; Bader, Daniel A.; Horton, Radley M.

2014-01-01

Although cities cover only 2 percent of the Earth's surface, more than 50 percent of the world's people live in urban environments, collectively consuming 75 percent of the Earth's resources. Because of their population densities, reliance on infrastructure, and role as centers of industry, cities will be greatly impacted by, and will play a large role in, the reduction or exacerbation of climate change. However, although urban dwellers are becoming more aware of the need to reduce their carbon usage and to implement adaptation strategies, education efforts on these strategies have not been comprehensive. To meet the needs of an informed and engaged urban population, a more systemic, multiplatform and coordinated approach is necessary. The Climate and Urban Systems Partnership (CUSP) is designed to explore and address this challenge. Spanning four cities-Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC-the project is a partnership between the Franklin Institute, the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research, the University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, New York Hall of Science, and the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences. The partnership is developing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary network to educate urban residents about climate science and the urban impacts of climate change.

The Next Generation Science Standards: A Focus on Physical Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krajcik, Joe

2013-01-01

This article describes ways to adapt U.S. science curriculum to the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) "Framework for K-12 Science Education" and "Next Generation of Science Standards" (NGSS), noting their focus on teaching the physical sciences. The overall goal of the Framework and NGSS is to help all learners develop the…

Solving systems of linear equations by GPU-based matrix factorization in a Science Ground Segment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Legendre, Maxime; Schmidt, Albrecht; Moussaoui, Saïd; Lammers, Uwe

2013-11-01

Recently, Graphics Cards have been used to offload scientific computations from traditional CPUs for greater efficiency. This paper investigates the adaptation of a real-world linear system solver, which plays a central role in the data processing of the Science Ground Segment of ESA's astrometric Gaia mission. The paper quantifies the resource trade-offs between traditional CPU implementations and modern CUDA based GPU implementations. It also analyses the impact on the pipeline architecture and system development. The investigation starts from both a selected baseline algorithm with a reference implementation and a traditional linear system solver and then explores various modifications to control flow and data layout to achieve higher resource efficiency. It turns out that with the current state of the art, the modifications impact non-technical system attributes. For example, the control flow of the original modified Cholesky transform is modified so that locality of the code and verifiability deteriorate. The maintainability of the system is affected as well. On the system level, users will have to deal with more complex configuration control and testing procedures.

EarthCube: Advancing Partnerships, Collaborative Platforms and Knowledge Networks in the Ocean Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephen, Diggs; Lee, Allison

2014-05-01

The National Science Foundation's EarthCube initiative aims to create a community-driven data and knowledge management system that will allow for unprecedented data sharing across the geosciences. More than 2,500 participants through forums, work groups, EarthCube events, and virtual and in-person meetings have participated. The individuals that have engaged represent the core earth-system sciences of solid Earth, Atmosphere, Oceans, and Polar Sciences. EarthCube is a cornerstone of NSF's Cyberinfrastructure for the 21st Century (CIF21) initiative, whose chief objective is to develop a U.S. nationwide, sustainable, and community-based cyberinfrastructure for researchers and educators. Increasingly effective community-driven cyberinfrastructure allows global data discovery and knowledge management and achieves interoperability and data integration across scientific disciplines. There is growing convergence across scientific and technical communities on creating a networked, knowledge management system and scientific data cyberinfrastructure that integrates Earth system and human dimensions data in an open, transparent, and inclusive manner. EarthCube does not intend to replicate these efforts, but build upon them. An agile development process is underway for the development and governance of EarthCube. The agile approach was deliberately selected due to its iterative and incremental nature while promoting adaptive planning and rapid and flexible response. Such iterative deployment across a variety of EarthCube stakeholders encourages transparency, consensus, accountability, and inclusiveness.

Bayesian Methods and Universal Darwinism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, John

2009-12-01

Bayesian methods since the time of Laplace have been understood by their practitioners as closely aligned to the scientific method. Indeed a recent Champion of Bayesian methods, E. T. Jaynes, titled his textbook on the subject Probability Theory: the Logic of Science. Many philosophers of science including Karl Popper and Donald Campbell have interpreted the evolution of Science as a Darwinian process consisting of a `copy with selective retention' algorithm abstracted from Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. Arguments are presented for an isomorphism between Bayesian Methods and Darwinian processes. Universal Darwinism, as the term has been developed by Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore, is the collection of scientific theories which explain the creation and evolution of their subject matter as due to the Operation of Darwinian processes. These subject matters span the fields of atomic physics, chemistry, biology and the social sciences. The principle of Maximum Entropy states that Systems will evolve to states of highest entropy subject to the constraints of scientific law. This principle may be inverted to provide illumination as to the nature of scientific law. Our best cosmological theories suggest the universe contained much less complexity during the period shortly after the Big Bang than it does at present. The scientific subject matter of atomic physics, chemistry, biology and the social sciences has been created since that time. An explanation is proposed for the existence of this subject matter as due to the evolution of constraints in the form of adaptations imposed on Maximum Entropy. It is argued these adaptations were discovered and instantiated through the Operations of a succession of Darwinian processes.

Challenges and Opportunities for Integrating Social Science Perspectives into Climate and Global Change Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larson, E. K.; Li, J.; Zycherman, A.

2017-12-01

Integration of social science into climate and global change assessments is fundamental for improving understanding of the drivers, impacts and vulnerability of climate change, and the social, cultural and behavioral challenges related to climate change responses. This requires disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge as well as integrational and translational tools for linking this knowledge with the natural and physical sciences. The USGCRP's Social Science Coordinating Committee (SSCC) is tasked with this challenge and is working to integrate relevant social, economic and behavioral knowledge into processes like sustained assessments. This presentation will discuss outcomes from a recent SSCC workshop, "Social Science Perspectives on Climate Change" and their applications to sustained assessments. The workshop brought academic social scientists from four disciplines - anthropology, sociology, geography and archaeology - together with federal scientists and program managers to discuss three major research areas relevant to the USGCRP and climate assessments: (1) innovative tools, methods, and analyses to clarify the interactions of human and natural systems under climate change, (2) understanding of factors contributing to differences in social vulnerability between and within communities under climate change, and (3) social science perspectives on drivers of global climate change. These disciplines, collectively, emphasize the need to consider socio-cultural, political, economic, geographic, and historic factors, and their dynamic interactions, to understand climate change drivers, social vulnerability, and mitigation and adaptation responses. They also highlight the importance of mixed quantitative and qualitative methods to explain impacts, vulnerability, and responses at different time and spatial scales. This presentation will focus on major contributions of the social sciences to climate and global change research. We will discuss future directions for sustained assessments that integrate and reflect the social science understanding of the complex relationships between social and natural worlds in a changing climate, and factors that impact effective mitigation and adaptation strategies that address risks and vulnerabilities of climate change.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Preston, Benjamin L.; Mustelin, Johanna; Maloney, Megan C.

The adaptation science enterprise has expanded rapidly in recent years, presumably in response to growth in demand for knowledge that can facilitate adaptation policy and practice. However, evidence suggests such investments in adaptation science have not necessarily translated into adaptation implementation. One potential constraint on adaptation may be the underlying heuristics that are used as the foundation for both adaptation research and practice. In this paper, we explore the adaptation academic literature with the objective of identifying adaptation heuristics, assessing the extent to which they have become entrenched within the adaptation discourse, and discussing potential weaknesses in their framing thatmore » could undermine adaptation efforts. This investigation is supported by a multi-method analysis that includes both a quantitative content analysis of the adaptation literature that evidences the use of adaptation heuristics and a qualitative analysis of the implications of such heuristics for enhancing or hindering the implementation of adaptation. Results demonstrate that a number of heuristic devices are commonly used in both the peer-reviewed adaptation literature as well as within grey literature designed to inform adaptation practitioners. Furthermore, the apparent lack of critical reflection upon the robustness of these heuristics for diverse contexts may contribute to potential cognitive bias with respect to the framing of adaptation by both researchers and practitioners. Finally, we discuss this phenomenon by drawing upon heuristic-analytic theory, which has explanatory utility in understanding both the origins of such heuristics as well as the measures that can be pursued toward the co-generation of more robust approaches to adaptation problem-solving.« less

GMTIFS: the adaptive optics beam steering mirror for the GMT integral-field spectrograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davies, J.; Bloxham, G.; Boz, R.; Bundy, D.; Espeland, B.; Fordham, B.; Hart, J.; Herrald, N.; Nielsen, J.; Sharp, R.; Vaccarella, A.; Vest, C.; Young, P. J.

2016-07-01

To achieve the high adaptive optics sky coverage necessary to allow the GMT Integral-Field Spectrograph (GMTIFS) to access key scientific targets, the on-instrument adaptive-optics wavefront-sensing (OIWFS) system must patrol the full 180 arcsecond diameter guide field passed to the instrument. The OIWFS uses a diffraction limited guide star as the fundamental pointing reference for the instrument. During an observation the offset between the science target and the guide star will change due to sources such as flexure, differential refraction and non-sidereal tracking rates. GMTIFS uses a beam steering mirror to set the initial offset between science target and guide star and also to correct for changes in offset. In order to reduce image motion from beam steering errors to those comparable to the AO system in the most stringent case, the beam steering mirror is set a requirement of less than 1 milliarcsecond RMS. This corresponds to a dynamic range for both actuators and sensors of better than 1/180,000. The GMTIFS beam steering mirror uses piezo-walk actuators and a combination of eddy current sensors and interferometric sensors to achieve this dynamic range and control. While the sensors are rated for cryogenic operation, the actuators are not. We report on the results of prototype testing of single actuators, with the sensors, on the bench and in a cryogenic environment. Specific failures of the system are explained and suspected reasons for them. A modified test jig is used to investigate the option of heating the actuator and we report the improved results. In addition to individual component testing, we built and tested a complete beam steering mirror assembly. Testing was conducted with a point source microscope, however controlling environmental conditions to less than 1 micron was challenging. The assembly testing investigated acquisition accuracy and if there was any un-sensed hysteresis in the system. Finally we present the revised beam steering mirror design based on the outcomes and lessons learnt from this prototyping.

Robust Engineering Designs for Infrastructure Adaptation to a Changing Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samaras, C.; Cook, L.

2015-12-01

Infrastructure systems are expected to be functional, durable and safe over long service lives - 50 to over 100 years. Observations and models of climate science show that greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activities have changed climate, weather and extreme events. Projections of future changes (albeit with uncertainties caused by inadequacies of current climate/weather models) can be made based on scenarios for future emissions, but actual future emissions are themselves uncertain. Most current engineering standards and practices for infrastructure assume that the probabilities of future extreme climate and weather events will match those of the past. Climate science shows that this assumption is invalid, but is unable, at present, to define these probabilities over the service lives of existing and new infrastructure systems. Engineering designs, plans, and institutions and regulations will need to be adaptable for a range of future conditions (conditions of climate, weather and extreme events, as well as changing societal demands for infrastructure services). For their current and future projects, engineers should: Involve all stakeholders (owners, financers, insurance, regulators, affected public, climate/weather scientists, etc.) in key decisions; Use low regret, adaptive strategies, such as robust decision making and the observational method, comply with relevant standards and regulations, and exceed their requirements where appropriate; Publish design studies and performance/failure investigations to extend the body of knowledge for advancement of practice. The engineering community should conduct observational and modeling research with climate/weather/social scientists and the concerned communities and account rationally for climate change in revised engineering standards and codes. This presentation presents initial research on decisionmaking under uncertainty for climate resilient infrastructure design.

Making sense in a complex landscape: how the Cynefin Framework from Complex Adaptive Systems Theory can inform health promotion practice.

PubMed

Van Beurden, Eric K; Kia, Annie M; Zask, Avigdor; Dietrich, Uta; Rose, Lauren

2013-03-01

Health promotion addresses issues from the simple (with well-known cause/effect links) to the highly complex (webs and loops of cause/effect with unpredictable, emergent properties). Yet there is no conceptual framework within its theory base to help identify approaches appropriate to the level of complexity. The default approach favours reductionism--the assumption that reducing a system to its parts will inform whole system behaviour. Such an approach can yield useful knowledge, yet is inadequate where issues have multiple interacting causes, such as social determinants of health. To address complex issues, there is a need for a conceptual framework that helps choose action that is appropriate to context. This paper presents the Cynefin Framework, informed by complexity science--the study of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). It introduces key CAS concepts and reviews the emergence and implications of 'complex' approaches within health promotion. It explains the framework and its use with examples from contemporary practice, and sets it within the context of related bodies of health promotion theory. The Cynefin Framework, especially when used as a sense-making tool, can help practitioners understand the complexity of issues, identify appropriate strategies and avoid the pitfalls of applying reductionist approaches to complex situations. The urgency to address critical issues such as climate change and the social determinants of health calls for us to engage with complexity science. The Cynefin Framework helps practitioners make the shift, and enables those already engaged in complex approaches to communicate the value and meaning of their work in a system that privileges reductionist approaches.

Robustness via Run-Time Adaptation of Contingent Plans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bresina, John L.; Washington, Richard; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

In this paper, we discuss our approach to making the behavior of planetary rovers more robust for the purpose of increased productivity. Due to the inherent uncertainty in rover exploration, the traditional approach to rover control is conservative, limiting the autonomous operation of the rover and sacrificing performance for safety. Our objective is to increase the science productivity possible within a single uplink by allowing the rover's behavior to be specified with flexible, contingent plans and by employing dynamic plan adaptation during execution. We have deployed a system exhibiting flexible, contingent execution; this paper concentrates on our ongoing efforts on plan adaptation, Plans can be revised in two ways: plan steps may be deleted, with execution continuing with the plan suffix; and the current plan may be merged with an "alternate plan" from an on-board library. The plan revision action is chosen to maximize the expected utility of the plan. Plan merging and action deletion constitute a more conservative general-purpose planning system; in return, our approach is more efficient and more easily verified, two important criteria for deployed rovers.

An atmospheric turbulence and telescope simulator for the development of AOLI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puga, Marta; López, Roberto; King, David; Oscoz, Alejandro

2014-08-01

AOLI, Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager, is the next generation of extremely high resolution instruments in the optical range, combining the two more promising techniques: Adaptive optics and lucky imaging. The possibility of reaching fainter objects at maximum resolution implies a better use of weak energy on each lucky image. AOLI aims to achieve this by using an adaptive optics system to reduce the dispersion that seeing causes on the spot and therefore increasing the number of optimal images to accumulate, maximizing the efficiency of the lucky imaging technique. The complexity of developments in hardware, control and software for in-site telescope tests claim for a system to simulate the telescope performance. This paper outlines the requirements and a concept/preliminary design for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) and atmospheric turbulence simulator. The design consists of pupil resemble, a variable intensity point source, phase plates and a focal plane mask to assist in the alignment, diagnostics and calibration of AOLI wavefront sensor, AO loop and science detectors, as well as enabling stand-alone test operation of AOLI.

Categorization in the wild.

PubMed

Glushko, Robert J; Maglio, Paul P; Matlock, Teenie; Barsalou, Lawrence W

2008-04-01

In studying categorization, cognitive science has focused primarily on cultural categorization, ignoring individual and institutional categorization. Because recent technological developments have made individual and institutional classification systems much more available and powerful, our understanding of the cognitive and social mechanisms that produce these systems is increasingly important. Furthermore, key aspects of categorization that have received little previous attention emerge from considering diverse types of categorization together, such as the social factors that create stability in classification systems, and the interoperability that shared conceptual systems establish between agents. Finally, the profound impact of recent technological developments on classification systems indicates that basic categorization mechanisms are highly adaptive, producing new classification systems as the situations in which they operate change.