Graphic analysis of resources by numerical evaluation techniques (Garnet)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Olson, A.C.

1977-01-01

An interactive computer program for graphical analysis has been developed by the U.S. Geological Survey. The program embodies five goals, (1) economical use of computer resources, (2) simplicity for user applications, (3) interactive on-line use, (4) minimal core requirements, and (5) portability. It is designed to aid (1) the rapid analysis of point-located data, (2) structural mapping, and (3) estimation of area resources. ?? 1977.

A consumer-resource approach to the density-dependent population dynamics of mutualism.

PubMed

Holland, J Nathaniel; DeAngelis, Donald L

2010-05-01

Like predation and competition, mutualism is now recognized as a consumer-resource (C-R) interaction, including, in particular, bi-directional (e.g., coral, plant-mycorrhizae) and uni-directional (e.g., ant-plant defense, plant-pollinator) C-R mutualisms. Here, we develop general theory for the density-dependent population dynamics of mutualism based on the C-R mechanism of interspecific interaction. To test the influence of C-R interactions on the dynamics and stability of bi- and uni-directional C-R mutualisms, we developed simple models that link consumer functional response of one mutualistic species with the resources supplied by another. Phase-plane analyses show that the ecological dynamics of C-R mutualisms are stable in general. Most transient behavior leads to an equilibrium of mutualistic coexistence, at which both species densities are greater than in the absence of interactions. However, due to the basic nature of C-R interactions, certain density-dependent conditions can lead to C-R dynamics characteristic of predator-prey interactions, in which one species overexploits and causes the other to go extinct. Consistent with empirical phenomena, these results suggest that the C-R interaction can provide a broad mechanism for understanding density-dependent population dynamics of mutualism. By unifying predation, competition, and mutualism under the common ecological framework of consumer-resource theory, we may also gain a better understanding of the universal features of interspecific interactions in general.

A consumer-resource approach to the density-dependent population dynamics of mutualism

USGS Publications Warehouse

Holland, J. Nathaniel; DeAngelis, Donald L.

2010-01-01

Like predation and competition, mutualism is now recognized as a consumer resource (C-R) interaction, including, in particular, bi-directional (e.g., coral, plant- mycorrhizae) and uni-directional (e.g., ant-plant defense, plant-pollinator) C-R mutualisms. Here, we develop general theory for the density-dependent population dynamics of mutualism based on the C-R mechanism of interspecific interaction. To test the influence of C-R interactions on the dynamics and stability of bi- and uni-directional C-R mutualisms, we developed simple models that link consumer functional response of one mutualistic species with the resources supplied by another. Phase-plane analyses show that the ecological dynamics of C-R mutualisms are stable in general. Most transient behavior leads to an equilibrium of mutualistic coexistence, at which both species densities are greater than in the absence of interactions. However, due to the basic nature of C-R interactions, certain density-dependent conditions can lead to C-R dynamics characteristic of predator-prey interactions, in which one species overexploits and causes the other to go extinct. Consistent with empirical phenomena, these results suggest that the C-R interaction can provide a broad mechanism for understanding density-dependent population dynamics of mutualism. By unifying predation, competition, and mutualism under the common ecological framework of consumer-resource theory, we may also gain a better understanding of the universal features of interspecific interactions in general.

"Aw, Man Where You Goin'?": Classroom Interaction and the Development of L2 Interactional Competence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Joan Kelly

1995-01-01

Examines the discursive structures and linguistic resources of the interactional environments influencing the development of individual communicative competence, with specific reference to providing speaking opportunities to students studying Spanish as a second language. Findings reveal that the ways in which topics are developed differ from how…

Interactive Physics: the role of interactive learning objects in teaching Physics in Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benito, R. M.; Cámara, M. E.; Arranz, F. J.

2009-04-01

In this work we present the results of a Project in educational innovation entitled "Interactive Physics". We have developed resources for teaching Physics for students of Engineering, with an emphasis in conceptual reinforcement and addressing the shortcomings of students entering the University. The resources developed include hypertext, graphics, equations, quizzes and more elaborated problems that cover the customary syllabus in first-year Physics: kinematics and dynamics, Newton laws, electricity and magnetism, elementary circuits… The role of vector quantities is stressed and we also provide help for the most usual mathematical tools (calculus and trigonometric formulas). The structure and level of detail of the resources are fitted to the conceptual difficulties that most of the students find. Some of the most advanced resources we have developed are interactive simulations. These are real simulations of key physical situations, not only animations. They serve as learning objects, in the well known sense of small reusable digital objects that are self-contained and tagged with metadata. In this sense, we use them to link concepts and content through interaction with active engagement of the student. The development of an interactive simulation involves several steps. First, we identify common pitfalls in the conceptual framework of the students and the points in which they stumble frequently. Then we think of a way to make clear the physical concepts using a simulation. After that, we program the simulation (using Flash or Java) and finally the simulation is tested with the students, and we reelaborate some parts of it in terms of usability. In our communication, we discuss the usefulness of these interactive simulations in teaching Physics for engineers, and their integration in a more comprehensive b-learning system.

Overcoming the Law of the Hidden in Cyberinfrastructures.

PubMed

Bucksch, Alexander; Das, Abhiram; Schneider, Hannah; Merchant, Nirav; Weitz, Joshua S

2017-02-01

Cyberinfrastructure projects (CIPs) are complex, integrated systems that require interaction and organization amongst user, developer, hardware, technical infrastructure, and funding resources. Nevertheless, CIP usability, functionality, and growth do not scale with the sum of these resources. Instead, growth and efficient usage of CIPs require access to 'hidden' resources. These include technical resources within CIPs as well as social and functional interactions among stakeholders. We identify approaches to overcome resource limitations following the conceptual basis of Liebig's Law of the Minimum. In so doing, we recommend practical steps towards efficient and scaleable resource use, taking the iPlant/CyVerse CIP as an example. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of L2 Interactional Resources for Online Collaborative Task Accomplishment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balaman, Ufuk; Sert, Olcay

2017-01-01

Technology-mediated task environments have long been considered integral parts of L2 learning and teaching processes. However, the interactional resources that the learners deploy to complete tasks in these environments have remained largely unexplored due to an overall focus on task design and outcomes rather than task engagement processes. With…

Consumer-resource theory predicts dynamic transitions between outcomes of interspecific interactions.

PubMed

Holland, J Nathaniel; DeAngelis, Donald L

2009-12-01

Interactions between two populations are often defined by their interaction outcomes; that is, the positive, neutral, or negative effects of species on one another. Yet, signs of outcomes are not absolute, but vary with the biotic and abiotic contexts of interactions. Here, we develop a general theory for transitions between outcomes based on consumer-resource (C-R) interactions in which one or both species exploit the other as a resource. Simple models of C-R interactions revealed multiple equilibria, including one for species coexistence and others for extinction of one or both species, indicating that species' densities alone could determine the fate of interactions. All possible outcomes [(+ +), (+ -), (--), (+ 0), (- 0), (0 0)] of species coexistence emerged merely through changes in parameter values of C-R interactions, indicating that variation in C-R interactions resulting from biotic and abiotic conditions could determine shifts in outcomes. These results suggest that C-R interactions can provide a broad mechanism for understanding context- and density-dependent transitions between interaction outcomes.

Consumer-resource theory predicts dynamic transitions between outcomes of interspecific interactions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Holland, J. Nathaniel; DeAngelis, Donald L.

2009-01-01

Interactions between two populations are often defined by their interaction outcomes; that is, the positive, neutral, or negative effects of species on one another. Yet, signs of outcomes are not absolute, but vary with the biotic and abiotic contexts of interactions. Here, we develop a general theory for transitions between outcomes based on consumer-resource (C-R) interactions in which one or both species exploit the other as a resource. Simple models of C-R interactions revealed multiple equilibria, including one for species coexistence and others for extinction of one or both species, indicating that species densities alone could determine the fate of interactions. All possible outcomes (+ +), (+ -), (- -), (+ 0), (- 0), (0 0) of species coexistence emerged merely through changes in parameter values of C-R interactions, indicating that variation in C-R interactions resulting from biotic and abiotic conditions could determine shifts in outcomes. These results suggest that C-R interactions can provide a broad mechanism for understanding context- and density-dependent transitions between interaction outcomes.

RAID: a comprehensive resource for human RNA-associated (RNA–RNA/RNA–protein) interaction

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xiaomeng; Wu, Deng; Chen, Liqun; Li, Xiang; Yang, Jinxurong; Fan, Dandan; Dong, Tingting; Liu, Mingyue; Tan, Puwen; Xu, Jintian; Yi, Ying; Wang, Yuting; Zou, Hua; Hu, Yongfei; Fan, Kaili; Kang, Juanjuan; Huang, Yan; Miao, Zhengqiang; Bi, Miaoman; Jin, Nana; Li, Kongning; Li, Xia; Xu, Jianzhen; Wang, Dong

2014-01-01

Transcriptomic analyses have revealed an unexpected complexity in the eukaryote transcriptome, which includes not only protein-coding transcripts but also an expanding catalog of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). Diverse coding and noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) perform functions through interaction with each other in various cellular processes. In this project, we have developed RAID (http://www.rna-society.org/raid), an RNA-associated (RNA–RNA/RNA–protein) interaction database. RAID intends to provide the scientific community with all-in-one resources for efficient browsing and extraction of the RNA-associated interactions in human. This version of RAID contains more than 6100 RNA-associated interactions obtained by manually reviewing more than 2100 published papers, including 4493 RNA–RNA interactions and 1619 RNA–protein interactions. Each entry contains detailed information on an RNA-associated interaction, including RAID ID, RNA/protein symbol, RNA/protein categories, validated method, expressing tissue, literature references (Pubmed IDs), and detailed functional description. Users can query, browse, analyze, and manipulate RNA-associated (RNA–RNA/RNA–protein) interaction. RAID provides a comprehensive resource of human RNA-associated (RNA–RNA/RNA–protein) interaction network. Furthermore, this resource will help in uncovering the generic organizing principles of cellular function network. PMID:24803509

The effects of the pharmaceutical carbamazepine on life history characteristics of flat-headed mayflies (Heptageniidae) and aquatic resource interactions.

PubMed

Jarvis, Amanda L; Bernot, Melody J; Bernot, Randall J

2014-11-01

Pharmaceutical pollutants are commonly detected in freshwater ecosystems around the world and have biological effects on aquatic organisms. However, current understanding of the influence this contaminant class has on freshwater communities and ecosystems is lacking. Recently the scientific community has called for research focusing on certain pharmaceuticals due to their ubiquity and potential toxicity. Carbamazepine is one of these pharmaceuticals. To better understand the effect carbamazepine has on life history characteristics of aquatic organisms and consumer-resource interactions, we quantified the influence of carbamazepine on the development, growth and behavior of mayfly nymphs (Stenonema sp.) and the alterations in food consumer-resource interactions between Stenonema and algae (Chaetophora). Microcosms were assembled in a factorial design containing algae and mayfly nymphs native to central Indiana and dosed with environmentally relevant concentrations of carbamazepine. From this ecotoxicological experiment we were able to infer that carbamazepine at 2,000 ng/L influenced the development and behavior of Stenonema nymphs and the body dimensions of adult individuals. However, it appears that carbamazepine does not influence consumer-resource interactions at concentrations found in surface waters. The pharmaceutical carbamazepine may influence the behavior, growth and development of mayflies, which could have significant consequences at the population, community and ecosystem level.

Histology in 3D: development of an online interactive student resource on epithelium.

PubMed

Sieben, Anna; Oparka, Richard; Erolin, Caroline

2017-04-01

Epithelium is an important and highly specialised tissue type that makes up the lining of inner and outer surfaces of the human body. It is proposed that a self-study tool adds to efficient learning and lecturing on this complicated topic in medical curricula. This paper describes the development and evaluation of an online interactive 3D resource on epithelium for undergraduate medical students. A first evaluation was carried out by means of an online survey (n = 37). The resource was evaluated positively on the website in general, its visual contents and its value and potential for the medical curriculum.

Two decision-support tools for assessing the potential effects of energy development on hydrologic resources as part of the Energy and Environment in the Rocky Mountain Area interactive energy atlas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Linard, Joshua I.; Matherne, Anne Marie; Leib, Kenneth J.; Carr, Natasha B.; Diffendorfer, James E.; Hawkins, Sarah J.; Latysh, Natalie; Ignizio, Drew A.; Babel, Nils C.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey project—Energy and Environment in the Rocky Mountain Area (EERMA)—has developed a set of virtual tools in the form of an online interactive energy atlas for Colorado and New Mexico to facilitate access to geospatial data related to energy resources, energy infrastructure, and natural resources that may be affected by energy development. The interactive energy atlas currently (2014) consists of three components: (1) a series of interactive maps; (2) downloadable geospatial datasets; and (3) decison-support tools, including two maps related to hydrologic resources discussed in this report. The hydrologic-resource maps can be used to examine the potential effects of energy development on hydrologic resources with respect to (1) groundwater vulnerability, by using the depth to water, recharge, aquifer media, soil media, topography, impact of the vadose zone, and hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer (DRASTIC) model, and (2) landscape erosion potential, by using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE). The DRASTIC aquifer vulnerability index value for the two-State area ranges from 48 to 199. Higher values, indicating greater relative aquifer vulnerability, are centered in south-central Colorado, areas in southeastern New Mexico, and along riparian corridors in both States—all areas where the water table is relatively close to the land surface and the aquifer is more susceptible to surface influences. As calculated by the RUSLE model, potential mean annual erosion, as soil loss in units of tons per acre per year, ranges from 0 to 12,576 over the two-State area. The RUSLE model calculated low erosion potential over most of Colorado and New Mexico, with predictions of highest erosion potential largely confined to areas of mountains or escarpments. An example is presented of how a fully interactive RUSLE model could be further used as a decision-support tool to evaluate the potential hydrologic effects of energy development on a site-specific basis and to explore the effectiveness of various mitigation practices.

Interaction of surface water and groundwater in the Nile River basin: isotopic and piezometric evidence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kebede, Seifu; Abdalla, Osman; Sefelnasr, Ahmed; Tindimugaya, Callist; Mustafa, Osman

2017-05-01

Past discussions around water-resources management and development in the River Nile basin disregard groundwater resources from the equation. There is an increasing interest around factoring the groundwater resources as an integral part of the Nile Basin water resources. This is hampered by knowledge gap regarding the groundwater resources dynamics (recharge, storage, flow, quality, surface-water/groundwater interaction) at basin scale. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the state of surface-water/groundwater interaction from the headwater to the Nile Delta region. Piezometric and isotopic (δ18O, δ2H) evidence reveal that the Nile changes from a gaining stream in the headwater regions to mostly a loosing stream in the arid lowlands of Sudan and Egypt. Specific zones of Nile water leakage to the adjacent aquifers is mapped using the two sources of evidence. Up to 50% of the surface-water flow in the equatorial region of the Nile comes from groundwater as base flow. The evidence also shows that the natural direction and rate of surface-water/groundwater interaction is largely perturbed by human activities (diversion, dam construction) particularly downstream of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt. The decrease in discharge of the Nile River along its course is attributed to leakage to the aquifers as well as to evaporative water loss from the river channel. The surface-water/groundwater interaction occurring along the Nile River and its sensitivity to infrastructure development calls for management strategies that account groundwater as an integral part of the Nile Basin resources.

Health Education a Conceptual Approach. Growing and Developing, Interacting, Decision Making. Concept 2: Growing and Developing Follows a Predictable Sequence, Yet is Unique for Each Individual. Teacher-Student Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Creswell, William H., Jr.; And Others

The following resource guide is one in a series which presents extensive bibliographic material oriented around a specific concept, in this guide, the predictability and uniqueness of growing and developing. A section is devoted to selected materials related to the concept; grade levels for which each resource might be useful are indicated beside…

A Web Tool for Research in Nonlinear Optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prikhod'ko, Nikolay V.; Abramovsky, Viktor A.; Abramovskaya, Natalia V.; Demichev, Andrey P.; Kryukov, Alexandr P.; Polyakov, Stanislav P.

2016-02-01

This paper presents a project of developing the web platform called WebNLO for computer modeling of nonlinear optics phenomena. We discuss a general scheme of the platform and a model for interaction between the platform modules. The platform is built as a set of interacting RESTful web services (SaaS approach). Users can interact with the platform through a web browser or command line interface. Such a resource has no analogues in the field of nonlinear optics and will be created for the first time therefore allowing researchers to access high-performance computing resources that will significantly reduce the cost of the research and development process.

RAID: a comprehensive resource for human RNA-associated (RNA-RNA/RNA-protein) interaction.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaomeng; Wu, Deng; Chen, Liqun; Li, Xiang; Yang, Jinxurong; Fan, Dandan; Dong, Tingting; Liu, Mingyue; Tan, Puwen; Xu, Jintian; Yi, Ying; Wang, Yuting; Zou, Hua; Hu, Yongfei; Fan, Kaili; Kang, Juanjuan; Huang, Yan; Miao, Zhengqiang; Bi, Miaoman; Jin, Nana; Li, Kongning; Li, Xia; Xu, Jianzhen; Wang, Dong

2014-07-01

Transcriptomic analyses have revealed an unexpected complexity in the eukaryote transcriptome, which includes not only protein-coding transcripts but also an expanding catalog of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). Diverse coding and noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) perform functions through interaction with each other in various cellular processes. In this project, we have developed RAID (http://www.rna-society.org/raid), an RNA-associated (RNA-RNA/RNA-protein) interaction database. RAID intends to provide the scientific community with all-in-one resources for efficient browsing and extraction of the RNA-associated interactions in human. This version of RAID contains more than 6100 RNA-associated interactions obtained by manually reviewing more than 2100 published papers, including 4493 RNA-RNA interactions and 1619 RNA-protein interactions. Each entry contains detailed information on an RNA-associated interaction, including RAID ID, RNA/protein symbol, RNA/protein categories, validated method, expressing tissue, literature references (Pubmed IDs), and detailed functional description. Users can query, browse, analyze, and manipulate RNA-associated (RNA-RNA/RNA-protein) interaction. RAID provides a comprehensive resource of human RNA-associated (RNA-RNA/RNA-protein) interaction network. Furthermore, this resource will help in uncovering the generic organizing principles of cellular function network. © 2014 Zhang et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the RNA Society.

The bioethics discussion forum--an implementation of an Internet-based bioethics information analysis resource.

PubMed Central

Derse, A. R.; Krogull, S. R.

1995-01-01

Ethical analysis is crucial to decision making in biomedicine and health care, necessitating both rapid access to diffusely disseminated sources of information pertinent to bioethics and promotion of analysis in the field of bioethics through a resource for information analysis. We developed the Bioethics Discussion Forum, an Internet-based information analysis resource, in order to supplement the Bioethics Online Service with an interactive information medium to meet the demand for such an interactive resource. The Bioethics Discussion Forum has shown promise for information analysis, providing an arena for the review and discussion of complex bioethical information, establishing a connection nationally and internationally among individuals with high levels of expertise in bioethics, and providing a template for future interactive informatics services. PMID:8563245

An assessment of growth and development paths for southeast Alaska.

Treesearch

Pete Tsournos; Richard W. Haynes

2004-01-01

The intuitive explanation for why an economy grows or develops often involves the ways in which land (resources), labor, and capital interact. Here we review the literature for what is known about the different pathways for economic growth and development in resource-abundant regions. We discuss the effectiveness of the forest products industry as a determinant of...

Social exchange as a framework for client-nurse interaction during public health nursing maternal-child home visits.

PubMed

Byrd, Mary E

2006-01-01

The purpose of this paper was to develop a nursing-focused use of social exchange theory within the context of maternal-child home visiting. The nature of social exchange theory, its application to client-nurse interaction, and its fit with an existing data set from a field research investigation were examined. Resources exchanged between the nurse and clients were categorized and compared across the patterns of home visiting, nursing strategies based on exchange notions were identified, and variations in exchange were linked with client outcomes. The nurse provided resources within the categories of information, status, service, and goods. Clients provided time, access to the home, space within the home to conduct the visit, opportunities to observe maternal-child interaction, access to the infant, and information. The ease and breadth of resource exchange varied across the patterns of home visiting. The social exchange perspective was useful in categorizing resources, specifying and uncovering new resource categories, understanding nursing strategies to initiate and maintain the client-nurse relationship, and linking client-nurse interactive phenomena with client outcomes. Social exchange theory is potentially useful for understanding client-nurse interaction in the context of maternal-child home visits.

Development and Evolution of an Interactive HRM Course: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClurg, Lucy A.

2005-01-01

A course in Human Resource consulting ("Human Resources Field Research") was designed and implemented at a university in cooperation with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Students work with local business executives, SHRM representatives, and the class instructor to complete projects for the client business firms. Trial…

Construction of a VISUAL (VIdeo-SUpported Active Learning) Resource.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicolson, Roderick I.; And Others

1994-01-01

Discussion of interactive video for educational purposes focuses on the development of a video-supported active learning (VISUAL) resource on voice disorders that used digitized video and an Apple Macintosh computer. User evaluations are reported, and potential applications for VISUAL resources are suggested. (Contains five references.) (LRW)

Vision-based coaching: optimizing resources for leader development

PubMed Central

Passarelli, Angela M.

2015-01-01

Leaders develop in the direction of their dreams, not in the direction of their deficits. Yet many coaching interactions intended to promote a leader’s development fail to leverage the benefits of the individual’s personal vision. Drawing on intentional change theory, this article postulates that coaching interactions that emphasize a leader’s personal vision (future aspirations and core identity) evoke a psychophysiological state characterized by positive emotions, cognitive openness, and optimal neurobiological functioning for complex goal pursuit. Vision-based coaching, via this psychophysiological state, generates a host of relational and motivational resources critical to the developmental process. These resources include: formation of a positive coaching relationship, expansion of the leader’s identity, increased vitality, activation of learning goals, and a promotion–orientation. Organizational outcomes as well as limitations to vision-based coaching are discussed. PMID:25926803

Children's Cooperative and Competitive Interactions in Limited Resource Situations: A Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Vanessa A.; Rechis, Ruth

2006-01-01

The ability to balance cooperative and competitive behaviors has important implications for a child's overall development. While socially competent children appear to learn highly successful strategies for entering peer groups and negotiating access to limited resources, the development of this level of social competence can be challenging for…

Effects of temperature on consumer-resource interactions.

PubMed

Amarasekare, Priyanga

2015-05-01

Understanding how temperature variation influences the negative (e.g. self-limitation) and positive (e.g. saturating functional responses) feedback processes that characterize consumer-resource interactions is an important research priority. Previous work on this topic has yielded conflicting outcomes with some studies predicting that warming should increase consumer-resource oscillations and others predicting that warming should decrease consumer-resource oscillations. Here, I develop a consumer-resource model that both synthesizes previous findings in a common framework and yields novel insights about temperature effects on consumer-resource dynamics. I report three key findings. First, when the resource species' birth rate exhibits a unimodal temperature response, as demonstrated by a large number of empirical studies, the temperature range over which the consumer-resource interaction can persist is determined by the lower and upper temperature limits to the resource species' reproduction. This contrasts with the predictions of previous studies, which assume that the birth rate exhibits a monotonic temperature response, that consumer extinction is determined by temperature effects on consumer species' traits, rather than the resource species' traits. Secondly, the comparative analysis I have conducted shows that whether warming leads to an increase or decrease in consumer-resource oscillations depends on the manner in which temperature affects intraspecific competition. When the strength of self-limitation increases monotonically with temperature, warming causes a decrease in consumer-resource oscillations. However, if self-limitation is strongest at temperatures physiologically optimal for reproduction, a scenario previously unanalysed by theory but amply substantiated by empirical data, warming can cause an increase in consumer-resource oscillations. Thirdly, the model yields testable comparative predictions about consumer-resource dynamics under alternative hypotheses for how temperature affects competitive and resource acquisition traits. Importantly, it does so through empirically quantifiable metrics for predicting temperature effects on consumer viability and consumer-resource oscillations, which obviates the need for parameterizing complex dynamical models. Tests of these metrics with empirical data on a host-parasitoid interaction yield realistic estimates of temperature limits for consumer persistence and the propensity for consumer-resource oscillations, highlighting their utility in predicting temperature effects, particularly warming, on consumer-resource interactions in both natural and agricultural settings. © 2014 The Author. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2014 British Ecological Society.

Social-ecological outcomes in recreational fisheries: The interaction of lakeshore development and stocking

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ziegler, Jacob P.; Golebie, Elizabeth J.; Jones, Stuart E.; Weidel, Brian C.; Solomon, Christopher T.

2017-01-01

Many ecosystems continue to experience rapid transformations due to processes like land use change and resource extraction. A systems approach to maintaining natural resources focuses on how interactions and feedbacks among components of complex social‐ecological systems generate social and ecological outcomes. In recreational fisheries, residential shoreline development and fish stocking are two widespread human behaviors that influence fisheries, yet emergent social‐ecological outcomes from these potentially interacting behaviors remain under explored. We applied a social‐ecological systems framework using a simulation model and empirical data to determine whether lakeshore development is likely to promote stocking through its adverse effects on coarse woody habitat and thereby also on survival of juvenile and adult fish. We demonstrate that high lakeshore development is likely to generate dependency of the ecosystem on the social system, in the form of stocking. Further, lakeshore development can interact with social‐ecological processes to create deficits for state‐level governments, which threatens the ability to fund further ecosystem subsidies. Our results highlight the value of a social‐ecological framework for maintaining ecosystem services like recreational fisheries.

Surviving the Worst, Expecting the Best: Teacher Perceptions of Work Life in Virginia Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Appalachia Educational Lab., Charleston, WV.

The qualitative study described in this document presents Virginia teachers' perceptions on 10 factors that influence their work environment: resources/instructional materials; physical facilities/class size; professional development; teacher-teacher interactions; teacher-administrator interactions; teacher-student interactions;…

Interactional Coherence in Asynchronous Learning Networks: A Rhetorical Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Potter, Andrew

2008-01-01

Numerous studies have affirmed the value of asynchronous online communication as a learning resource. Several investigations, however, have indicated that discussions in asynchronous environments are often neither interactive nor coherent. The research reported sought to develop an enhanced understanding of interactional coherence, argumentation,…

Government and industry interactions in the development of clock technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hellwig, H.

1981-01-01

It appears likely that everyone in the time and frequency community can agree on goals to be realized through the expenditure of resources. These goals are the same as found in most fields of technology: lower cost, better performance, increased reliability, small size and lower power. Related aspects are examined in the process of clock and frequency standard development. Government and industry are reviewed in a highly interactive role. These interactions include judgements on clock performance, what kind of clock, expenditure of resources, transfer of ideas or hardware concepts from government to industry, and control of production. Successful clock development and production requires a government/industry relationship which is characterized by long-term continuity, multidisciplinary team work, focused funding and a separation of reliability and production oriented tasks from performance improvement/research type efforts.

Learning to Control Advanced Life Support Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Subramanian, Devika

2004-01-01

Advanced life support systems have many interacting processes and limited resources. Controlling and optimizing advanced life support systems presents unique challenges. In particular, advanced life support systems are nonlinear coupled dynamical systems and it is difficult for humans to take all interactions into account to design an effective control strategy. In this project. we developed several reinforcement learning controllers that actively explore the space of possible control strategies, guided by rewards from a user specified long term objective function. We evaluated these controllers using a discrete event simulation of an advanced life support system. This simulation, called BioSim, designed by Nasa scientists David Kortenkamp and Scott Bell has multiple, interacting life support modules including crew, food production, air revitalization, water recovery, solid waste incineration and power. They are implemented in a consumer/producer relationship in which certain modules produce resources that are consumed by other modules. Stores hold resources between modules. Control of this simulation is via adjusting flows of resources between modules and into/out of stores. We developed adaptive algorithms that control the flow of resources in BioSim. Our learning algorithms discovered several ingenious strategies for maximizing mission length by controlling the air and water recycling systems as well as crop planting schedules. By exploiting non-linearities in the overall system dynamics, the learned controllers easily out- performed controllers written by human experts. In sum, we accomplished three goals. We (1) developed foundations for learning models of coupled dynamical systems by active exploration of the state space, (2) developed and tested algorithms that learn to efficiently control air and water recycling processes as well as crop scheduling in Biosim, and (3) developed an understanding of the role machine learning in designing control systems for advanced life support.

Timeline Resource Analysis Program (TRAP): User's manual and program document

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sessler, J. G.

1981-01-01

The Timeline Resource Analysis Program (TRAP), developed for scheduling and timelining problems, is described. Given an activity network, TRAP generates timeline plots, resource histograms, and tabular summaries of the network, schedules, and resource levels. It is written in ANSI FORTRAN for the Honeywell SIGMA 5 computer and operates in the interactive mode using the TEKTRONIX 4014-1 graphics terminal. The input network file may be a standard SIGMA 5 file or one generated using the Interactive Graphics Design System. The timeline plots can be displayed in two orderings: according to the sequence in which the tasks were read on input, and a waterfall sequence in which the tasks are ordered by start time. The input order is especially meaningful when the network consists of several interacting subnetworks. The waterfall sequence is helpful in assessing the project status at any point in time.

Water resources planning based on complex system dynamics: A case study of Tianjin city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, X. H.; Zhang, H. W.; Chen, B.; Chen, G. Q.; Zhao, X. H.

2008-12-01

A complex system dynamic (SD) model focusing on water resources, termed as TianjinSD, is developed for the integrated and scientific management of the water resources of Tianjin, which contains information feedback that governs interactions in the system and is capable of synthesizing component-level knowledge into system behavior simulation at an integrated level, thus presenting reasonable predictive results for policy-making on water resources allocation and management. As for the Tianjin city, interactions among 96 components for 12 years are explored and four planning alternatives are chosen, one of which is based on the conventional mode assuming that the existing pattern of human activities will be prevailed, while the others are alternative planning designs based on the interaction of local authorities and planning researchers. Optimal mode is therefore obtained according to different scenarios when compared the simulation results for evaluation of different decisions and dynamic consequences.

Developing an Open Resource Bank for Interactive Teaching of STEM: Perspecives of School Teachers and Teacher Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hassler, Bjoern; Hennessy, Sara; Knight, Simon; Connolly, Teresa

2014-01-01

Much of the current literature related to Open Educational Resource (OER) development and practice concentrates on higher education, although a growing body of work is also emerging for the primary and secondary school sectors. This article examines the user perspectives of teachers and teacher educators, regarding: discovery of teaching…

A Flexible e-Learning Resource Promoting the Critical Reading of Scientific Papers for Science Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Letchford, Julie; Corradi, Hazel; Day, Trevor

2017-01-01

An important aim of undergraduate science education is to develop student skills in reading and evaluating research papers. We have designed, developed, and implemented an on-line interactive resource entitled "Evaluating Scientific Research literature" (ESRL) aimed at students from the first 2 years of the undergraduate program. In this…

Report on the EMBER Project--A European Multimedia Bioinformatics Educational Resource

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Attwood, Terri K.; Selimas, Ioannis; Buis, Rob; Altenburg, Ruud; Herzog, Robert; Ledent, Valerie; Ghita, Viorica; Fernandes, Pedro; Marques, Isabel; Brugman, Marc

2005-01-01

EMBER was a European project aiming to develop bioinformatics teaching materials on the Web and CD-ROM to help address the recognised skills shortage in bioinformatics. The project grew out of pilot work on the development of an interactive web-based bioinformatics tutorial and the desire to repackage that resource with the help of a professional…

JEDI - an executive dashboard and decision support system for lean global military medical resource and logistics management.

PubMed

Sloane, Elliot B; Rosow, Eric; Adam, Joe; Shine, Dave

2006-01-01

Each individual U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy Surgeon General has integrated oversight of global medical supplies and resources using the Joint Medical Asset Repository (JMAR). A Business Intelligence system called the JMAR Executive Dashboard Initiative (JEDI) was developed over a three-year period to add real-time interactive data-mining tools and executive dashboards. Medical resources can now be efficiently reallocated to military, veteran, family, or civilian purposes and inventories can be maintained at lean levels with peaks managed by interactive dashboards that reduce workload and errors.

Elaborations on L2 Interactional Competence: The Development of L2 Grammar-for-Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pekarek Doehler, Simona

2018-01-01

This paper argues for a broadening of the analytic scope of research on L2 interactional competence so as to embrace systematic investigation of the linguistic resources that L2 speakers put to use for the specific purpose of coordinating social interaction. The paper first offers a conceptualisation of interactional competence in terms of…

Density-mediated, context-dependent consumer-resource interactions between ants and extrafloral nectar plants.

PubMed

Chamberlain, Scott A; Holland, J Nathaniel

2008-05-01

Interspecific interactions are often mediated by the interplay between resource supply and consumer density. The supply of a resource and a consumer's density response to it may in turn yield context-dependent use of other resources. Such consumer-resource interactions occur not only for predator-prey and competitive interactions, but for mutualistic ones as well. For example, consumer-resource interactions between ants and extrafloral nectar (EFN) plants are often mutualistic, as EFN resources attract and reward ants which protect plants from herbivory. Yet, ants also commonly exploit floral resources, leading to antagonistic consumer-resource interactions by disrupting pollination and plant reproduction. EFN resources associated with mutualistic ant-plant interactions may also mediate antagonistic ant-flower interactions through the aggregative density response of ants on plants, which could either exacerbate ant-flower interactions or alternatively satiate and distract ants from floral resources. In this study, we examined how EFN resources mediate the density response of ants on senita cacti in the Sonoran Desert and their context-dependent use of floral resources. Removal of EFN resources reduced the aggregative density of ants on plants, both on hourly and daily time scales. Yet, the increased aggregative ant density on plants with EFN resources decreased rather than increased ant use of floral resources, including contacts with and time spent in flowers. Behavioral assays showed no confounding effect of floral deterrents on ant-flower interactions. Thus, ant use of floral resources depends on the supply of EFN resources, which mediates the potential for both mutualistic and antagonistic interactions by increasing the aggregative density of ants protecting plants, while concurrently distracting ants from floral resources. Nevertheless, only certain years and populations of study showed an increase in plant reproduction through herbivore protection or ant distraction from floral resources. Despite pronounced effects of EFN resources mediating the aggregative density of ants on plants and their context-dependent use of floral resources, consumer-resource interactions remained largely commensalistic.

Interaction of Students' Academic Background and Support Levels in a Resource-Based Learning Environment on Earth's Movement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

So, Wing Mui Winnie; Kong, Siu Cheung

2010-01-01

This research aims to study how a resource-based learning environment (RBLE) helps primary students develop better understanding of the Earth's movement. One objective of the study is to establish an RBLE by creating authentic contexts, selecting appropriate resources, designing relevant tools and adopting necessary scaffolds. The other objective…

Forage resource evaluation system for habitat—deer: an interactive deer habitat model

Treesearch

Thomas A. Hanley; Donald E. Spalinger; Kenrick J. Mock; Oran L. Weaver; Grant M. Harris

2012-01-01

We describe a food-based system for quantitatively evaluating habitat quality for deer called the Forage Resource Evaluation System for Habitat and provide its rationale and suggestions for use. The system was developed as a tool for wildlife biologists and other natural resource managers and planners interested in evaluating habitat quality and, especially, comparing...

Developing Interactional Competence through Video-Based Computer-Mediated Conversations: Beginning Learners of Spanish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tecedor Cabrero, Marta

2013-01-01

This dissertation examines the discourse produced by beginning learners of Spanish using social media. Specifically, it looks at the use and development of interactional resources during two video-mediated conversations. Through a combination of Conversation Analysis tools and quantitative data analysis, the use of turn-taking strategies, repair…

New Vision, New Realities: Methodology and Mission in Developing Interactive Videoconferencing Programming.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barbanell, Patricia; Falco, John; Newman, Diana

As museums throughout the world enter the interactive arena of digital communications, a need has emerged to access strategies of program development that seamlessly interface with existing missions and resources. This paper describes how Project VIEW, a US Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant, collaborates with major…

Challenges and Opportunities for Teacher Professional Development in Interactive Use of Technology in African Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hennessy, Sara; Haßler, Bjoern; Hofmann, Riikka

2015-01-01

This article examines the supporting and constraining factors influencing professional learning about interactive teaching and mobile digital technology use in low-resourced basic schools in sub-Saharan Africa. It draws on a case study of iterative development and refinement of a school-based, peer-facilitated professional learning programme…

Consumer-resource interactions and the evolution of migration.

PubMed

Drown, Devin M; Dybdahl, Mark F; Gomulkiewicz, Richard

2013-11-01

Theoretical studies have demonstrated that selection will favor increased migration when fitnesses vary both temporally and spatially, but it is far from clear how pervasive those theoretical conditions are in nature. Although consumer-resource interactions are omnipresent in nature and can generate spatial and temporal variation, it is unknown even in theory whether these dynamics favor the evolution of migration. We develop a mathematical model to address whether and how migration evolves when variability in fitness is determined at least in part by consumer-resource coevolutionary interactions. Our analyses show that such interactions can drive the evolution of migration in the resource, consumer, or both species and thus supplies a general explanation for the pervasiveness of migration. Over short time scales, we show the direction of change in migration rate is determined primarily by the state of local adaptation of the species involved: rates increase when a species is locally maladapted and decrease when locally adapted. Our results reveal that long-term evolutionary trends in migration rates can differ dramatically depending on the strength or weakness of interspecific interactions and suggest an explanation for the evolutionary divergence of migration rates among interacting species. © 2013 The Author(s). Evolution © 2013 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

The Loss of Biodiversity as a Challenge for Sustainable Development: How Do Pupils in Chile and Germany Perceive Resource Dilemmas?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menzel, Susanne; Bogeholz, Susanne

2009-01-01

The topic of biodiversity is of high value for education for sustainable development as it reflects the interaction of ecological, economic and social issues particularly well. Especially in so-called biodiversity hotspots, among them Chile, natural resources are often depleted for economic interest which, in many cases, is required income.…

Training Classroom and Resource Preschool Teachers to Develop Inclusive Class Interventions for Children with Disabilities: Generalization to New Intervention Targets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hundert, Joel P.

2007-01-01

Four preschool supervisors were individually trained in a collaborative team approach in which classroom and resource teachers together developed a plan to increase the peer interactions of the entire class, including children with disabilities. The purpose of the research was to assess the generalization of effects to a new program target…

Comprehensive data resources and analytical tools for pathological association of aminoacyl tRNA synthetases with cancer

PubMed Central

Lee, Ji-Hyun; You, Sungyong; Hyeon, Do Young; Kang, Byeongsoo; Kim, Hyerim; Park, Kyoung Mii; Han, Byungwoo; Hwang, Daehee; Kim, Sunghoon

2015-01-01

Mammalian cells have cytoplasmic and mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) that catalyze aminoacylation of tRNAs during protein synthesis. Despite their housekeeping functions in protein synthesis, recently, ARSs and ARS-interacting multifunctional proteins (AIMPs) have been shown to play important roles in disease pathogenesis through their interactions with disease-related molecules. However, there are lacks of data resources and analytical tools that can be used to examine disease associations of ARS/AIMPs. Here, we developed an Integrated Database for ARSs (IDA), a resource database including cancer genomic/proteomic and interaction data of ARS/AIMPs. IDA includes mRNA expression, somatic mutation, copy number variation and phosphorylation data of ARS/AIMPs and their interacting proteins in various cancers. IDA further includes an array of analytical tools for exploration of disease association of ARS/AIMPs, identification of disease-associated ARS/AIMP interactors and reconstruction of ARS-dependent disease-perturbed network models. Therefore, IDA provides both comprehensive data resources and analytical tools for understanding potential roles of ARS/AIMPs in cancers. Database URL: http://ida.biocon.re.kr/, http://ars.biocon.re.kr/ PMID:25824651

The brave new world of older patients: preparing general practice training for an ageing population.

PubMed

Bonney, Andrew; Phillipson, Lyn; Jones, Sandra C; Hall, Julie; Sharma, Rashmi

2015-11-01

Develop and pilot test evidence-based resources for general practice training practices to enhance older patients' (65+ years) interactions with General Practice Registrars (GPRs). In Australia, general practice trainees, referred to as GPRs, see fewer older patients and patients with chronic conditions than doctors who have completed their specialist GP training. This reduces learning opportunities for GPRs in the management of these important patient groups. Therefore, developing effective strategies to improve GPR-older patient interaction is critical to primary care training, to meet the current and future needs of an ageing population. Adopting a social marketing approach, GPR practice resources were developed to address knowledge and attitudinal barriers at the practice and patient level to improve older patient comfort, and willingness to engage, with GPR care. Two focus groups with older patients (n=18) and interviews with staff of training practices (n=12) were utilised to pre-test resources. Amended resources were pilot tested and evaluated in a naturalistic GPR training practice setting using a structured patient questionnaire (n=44). Pilot evaluation suggests improved comfort and willingness of older patients to interact with GPRs. In all, 54% of survey participants indicated they would be more likely to make an appointment with a Registrar in the future as a result of exposure to the resources. In all, 40% of patients would feel comfortable having a GPR manage a complex or chronic condition, which compares favourably with 28% of similarly aged patients in previous research. The use of tailored, engaging and informative GPR resources for older patients and practice staff may be an important contributor to addressing the growing problem of ensuring GPRs are adequately engaged in treating older patients. The adoption of a social marketing framework was instrumental in enhancing the acceptance and effectiveness of this intervention.

MinT: Middleware for Cooperative Interaction of Things

PubMed Central

Jeon, Soobin; Jung, Inbum

2017-01-01

This paper proposes an Internet of Things (IoT) middleware called Middleware for Cooperative Interaction of Things (MinT). MinT supports a fully distributed IoT environment in which IoT devices directly connect to peripheral devices easily construct a local or global network, and share their data in an energy efficient manner. MinT provides a sensor abstract layer, a system layer and an interaction layer. These enable integrated sensing device operations, efficient resource management, and active interconnection between peripheral IoT devices. In addition, MinT provides a high-level API to develop IoT devices easily for IoT device developers. We aim to enhance the energy efficiency and performance of IoT devices through the performance improvements offered by MinT resource management and request processing. The experimental results show that the average request rate increased by 25% compared to Californium, which is a middleware for efficient interaction in IoT environments with powerful performance, an average response time decrease of 90% when resource management was used, and power consumption decreased by up to 68%. Finally, the proposed platform can reduce the latency and power consumption of IoT devices. PMID:28632182

MinT: Middleware for Cooperative Interaction of Things.

PubMed

Jeon, Soobin; Jung, Inbum

2017-06-20

This paper proposes an Internet of Things (IoT) middleware called Middleware for Cooperative Interaction of Things (MinT). MinT supports a fully distributed IoT environment in which IoT devices directly connect to peripheral devices easily construct a local or global network, and share their data in an energy efficient manner. MinT provides a sensor abstract layer, a system layer and an interaction layer. These enable integrated sensing device operations, efficient resource management, and active interconnection between peripheral IoT devices. In addition, MinT provides a high-level API to develop IoT devices easily for IoT device developers. We aim to enhance the energy efficiency and performance of IoT devices through the performance improvements offered by MinT resource management and request processing. The experimental results show that the average request rate increased by 25% compared to Californium, which is a middleware for efficient interaction in IoT environments with powerful performance, an average response time decrease of 90% when resource management was used, and power consumption decreased by up to 68%. Finally, the proposed platform can reduce the latency and power consumption of IoT devices.

Social-ecological outcomes in recreational fisheries: the interaction of lakeshore development and stocking.

PubMed

Ziegler, Jacob P; Golebie, Elizabeth J; Jones, Stuart E; Weidel, Brian C; Solomon, Christopher T

2017-01-01

Many ecosystems continue to experience rapid transformations due to processes like land use change and resource extraction. A systems approach to maintaining natural resources focuses on how interactions and feedbacks among components of complex social-ecological systems generate social and ecological outcomes. In recreational fisheries, residential shoreline development and fish stocking are two widespread human behaviors that influence fisheries, yet emergent social-ecological outcomes from these potentially interacting behaviors remain under explored. We applied a social-ecological systems framework using a simulation model and empirical data to determine whether lakeshore development is likely to promote stocking through its adverse effects on coarse woody habitat and thereby also on survival of juvenile and adult fish. We demonstrate that high lakeshore development is likely to generate dependency of the ecosystem on the social system, in the form of stocking. Further, lakeshore development can interact with social-ecological processes to create deficits for state-level governments, which threatens the ability to fund further ecosystem subsidies. Our results highlight the value of a social-ecological framework for maintaining ecosystem services like recreational fisheries. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

A chance-constrained programming model to allocate wildfire initial attack resources for a fire season

Treesearch

Yu Wei; Michael Bevers; Erin Belval; Benjamin Bird

2015-01-01

This research developed a chance-constrained two-stage stochastic programming model to support wildfire initial attack resource acquisition and location on a planning unit for a fire season. Fire growth constraints account for the interaction between fire perimeter growth and construction to prevent overestimation of resource requirements. We used this model to examine...

Dietitians' perceptions of communicating with preadolescent, overweight children in the consultation setting: the potential for e-resources.

PubMed

Raaff, C; Glazebrook, C; Wharrad, H

2015-06-01

There are calls to enhance existing child weight management interventions and to develop new treatment approaches. The potential for interactive electronic resources (e-resources) to support child-dietitian communication has yet to be explored. Towards developing such a tool, the present study aimed to understand dietetic attitudes and approaches to communicating with preadolescent overweight children in individual consultations to support behaviour change. A purposive sample of 18 dietitians, providing weight management advice to overweight 7-11-year-old children, took part in the study. Individual semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted. Data were transcribed and then analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Content analysis was used to interpret dietetic attitude towards e-resources. Six overarching themes were identified describing dietitians' views: the complexity of treating childhood obesity, the strategic balance of dietetic communication focus between child and parent, the child's capacity to communicate affecting their contribution, dietetic approaches to verbal child communication and the features of resources that can support them, as well as dietetic expectations for resources. Independent inter-rater agreement for the themes was 76.9% and 73.1%, respectively. The majority of dietitians (n = 13) supported the concept of introducing an interactive multimedia e-resource into child weight management consultations. Most dietitians sought to engage the preadolescent child in the consultation, using dietetic visual aids to complement verbal strategies and to serve as scaffolding for the conversation. There is scope for interactive e-resources to enhance communication, provided that they are flexibly tailored to meet the needs of the dietitian and the overweight child. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

Global Education: Internet Resources. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinhey, Laura A.

The Internet is an important resource for K-12 global education teachers. Developments over the past two decades have increased the media exposure of nations and interactions among them in politics, trade, education, science, medicine, entertainment, and athletics. Good global education curriculum encourages understanding of cultural differences…

Participation and Power: Reflections on the Role of Government in Land Use Planning and Rural Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aarts, Noelle; Leeuwis, Cees

2010-01-01

Purpose: To examine the role of power in interactive policymaking settings. Design/Methodology/Approach: A literature study is combined with four case studies relating to citizen participation in natural resource management and rural development in the Netherlands. Findings: Many of the identified problems and dilemmas of interactive policymaking…

Getting the Most from Your Interactive Whiteboard Investment: Three Guiding Principles for Designing Effective Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeSantis, Josh

2012-01-01

The adoption of interactive whiteboards (IWB) in many schools outpaced the delivery of adequate professional development on their use. Many teachers receive IWBs without adequate training on methods to use the technology to improve their instruction. Consequently, IWBs remain an underutilized resource in many classrooms. Teachers who are given…

Less Is More: Development and Evaluation of an Interactive e-Atlas to Support Anatomy Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guy, Richard; Pisani, Heather R.; Rich, Peter; Leahy, Cathy; Mandarano, Giovanni; Molyneux, Tom

2015-01-01

An Interactive electronic Atlas (IeA) was developed to assist first-year nursing students with interpretation of laboratory-based prosected cadaveric material. It was designed, using pedagogically sound principles, as a student-centered resource accessible to students from a wide range of learning backgrounds. It consisted of a highly simplified…

Task-Induced Development of Hinting Behaviors in Online Task-Oriented L2 Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balaman, Ufuk

2018-01-01

Technology-mediated task settings are rich interactional domains in which second language (L2) learners manage a multitude of interactional resources for task accomplishment. The affordances of these settings have been repeatedly addressed in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) literature mainly based on theory-informed task design…

Resource Discovery within the Networked "Hybrid" Library.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leigh, Sally-Anne

This paper focuses on the development, adoption, and integration of resource discovery, knowledge management, and/or knowledge sharing interfaces such as interactive portals, and the use of the library's World Wide Web presence to increase the availability and usability of information services. The introduction addresses changes in library…

Development of Computer-Based Resources for Textile Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopkins, Teresa; Thomas, Andrew; Bailey, Mike

1998-01-01

Describes the production of computer-based resources for students of textiles and engineering in the United Kingdom. Highlights include funding by the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP), courseware author/subject expert interaction, usage test and evaluation, authoring software, graphics, computer-aided design simulation, self-test…

Open Marketplace for Simulation Software on the Basis of a Web Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kryukov, A. P.; Demichev, A. P.

2016-02-01

The focus in development of a new generation of middleware shifts from the global grid systems to building convenient and efficient web platforms for remote access to individual computing resources. Further line of their development, suggested in this work, is related not only with the quantitative increase in their number and with the expansion of scientific, engineering, and manufacturing areas in which they are used, but also with improved technology for remote deployment of application software on the resources interacting with the web platforms. Currently, the services for providers of application software in the context of scientific-oriented web platforms is not developed enough. The proposed in this work new web platforms of application software market should have all the features of the existing web platforms for submissions of jobs to remote resources plus the provision of specific web services for interaction on market principles between the providers and consumers of application packages. The suggested approach will be approved on the example of simulation applications in the field of nonlinear optics.

Users' Interaction with World Wide Web Resources: An Exploratory Study Using a Holistic Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Peiling; Hawk, William B.; Tenopir, Carol

2000-01-01

Presents results of a study that explores factors of user-Web interaction in finding factual information, develops a conceptual framework for studying user-Web interaction, and applies a process-tracing method for conducting holistic user-Web studies. Describes measurement techniques and proposes a model consisting of the user, interface, and the…

Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., 2005

2005-01-01

"Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources" (2005) summarizes findings of an international study on information-seeking habits and preferences. With extensive input from hundreds of librarians and OCLC staff, the OCLC Market Research team developed a project and commissioned Harris Interactive Inc. to survey a representative…

Interactional Resources for Quality Improvement: Learning From Participants Through a Qualitative Study.

PubMed

Brooks, Joanna Veazey; Gorbenko, Ksenia; Bosk, Charles

Implementing quality improvement in hospitals requires a multifaceted commitment from leaders, including financial, material, and personnel resources. However, little is known about the interactional resources needed for project implementation. The aim of this analysis was to identify the types of interactional support hospital teams sought in a surgical quality improvement project. Hospital site visits were conducted using a combination of observations, interviews, and focus groups to explore the implementation of a surgical quality improvement project. Twenty-six site visits were conducted between October 2012 and August 2014 at a total of 16 hospitals that agreed to participate. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded for themes using inductive analysis. We interviewed 321 respondents and conducted an additional 28 focus groups. Respondents reported needing the following types of interactional support during implementation of quality improvement interventions: (1) a critical outside perspective on their implementation progress; (2) opportunities to learn from peers, especially around clinical innovations; and (3) external validation to help establish visibility for and commitment to the project. Quality improvement in hospitals is both a clinical endeavor and a social endeavor. Our findings show that teams often desire interactional resources as they implement quality improvement initiatives. In-person site visits can provide these resources while also activating emotional energy for teams, which builds momentum and sustainability for quality improvement work. Policymakers and quality improvement leaders will benefit from developing strategies to maximize interactional learning and feedback for quality improvement teams. Further research should investigate the most effective methods for meeting these needs.

Interactional Resources for Quality Improvement: Learning from Participants through a Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Brooks, Joanna Veazey; Gorbenko, Ksenia; Bosk, Charles

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND Implementing quality improvement in hospitals requires a multi-faceted commitment from leaders, including financial, material, and personnel resources. However, little is known about the interactional resources needed for project implementation. The aim of this analysis was to identify the types of interactional support hospital teams sought in a surgical quality improvement project. METHODS Hospital site visits were conducted using a combination of observations, interviews, and focus groups to explore the implementation of a surgical quality improvement project. Twenty-six site visits were conducted between October 2012 and August 2014 at a total of 16 hospitals that agreed to participate. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded for themes using inductive analysis. RESULTS We interviewed 321 respondents and conducted an additional 28 focus groups. Respondents reported needing the following types of interactional support during implementation of quality improvement interventions: 1) a critical outside perspective on their implementation progress; 2) opportunities to learn from peers, especially around clinical innovations; and 3) external validation to help establish visibility for and commitment to the project. CONCLUSIONS Quality improvement in hospitals is both a clinical and a social endeavor. Our findings show that teams often desire interactional resources as they implement quality improvement initiatives. In-person site visits can provide these resources while also activating emotional energy for teams, which builds momentum and sustainability for quality improvement work. IMPLICATIONS Policymakers and quality improvement leaders will benefit from developing strategies to maximize interactional learning and feedback for quality improvement teams. Further research should investigate the most effective methods for meeting these needs. PMID:28375951

Joint Rhythmic Movement Increases 4-Year-Old Children's Prosocial Sharing and Fairness Toward Peers.

PubMed

Rabinowitch, Tal-Chen; Meltzoff, Andrew N

2017-01-01

The allocation of resources to a peer partner is a prosocial act that is of fundamental importance. Joint rhythmic movement, such as occurs during musical interaction, can induce positive social experiences, which may play a role in developing and enhancing young children's prosocial skills. Here, we investigated whether joint rhythmic movement, free of musical context, increases 4-year-olds' sharing and sense of fairness in a resource allocation task involving peers. We developed a precise procedure for administering joint synchronous experience, joint asynchronous experience, and a baseline control involving no treatment. Then we tested how participants allocated resources between self and peer. We found an increase in the generous allocation of resources to peers following both synchronous and asynchronous movement compared to no treatment. At a more theoretical level, this result is considered in relation to previous work testing other aspects of child prosociality, for example, peer cooperation, which can be distinguished from judgments of fairness in resource allocation tasks. We draw a conceptual distinction between two types of prosocial behavior: resource allocation (an other-directed individual behavior) and cooperation (a goal-directed collaborative endeavor). Our results highlight how rhythmic interactions, which are prominent in joint musical engagements and synchronized activity, influence prosocial behavior between preschool peers.

Joint Rhythmic Movement Increases 4-Year-Old Children’s Prosocial Sharing and Fairness Toward Peers

PubMed Central

Rabinowitch, Tal-Chen; Meltzoff, Andrew N.

2017-01-01

The allocation of resources to a peer partner is a prosocial act that is of fundamental importance. Joint rhythmic movement, such as occurs during musical interaction, can induce positive social experiences, which may play a role in developing and enhancing young children’s prosocial skills. Here, we investigated whether joint rhythmic movement, free of musical context, increases 4-year-olds’ sharing and sense of fairness in a resource allocation task involving peers. We developed a precise procedure for administering joint synchronous experience, joint asynchronous experience, and a baseline control involving no treatment. Then we tested how participants allocated resources between self and peer. We found an increase in the generous allocation of resources to peers following both synchronous and asynchronous movement compared to no treatment. At a more theoretical level, this result is considered in relation to previous work testing other aspects of child prosociality, for example, peer cooperation, which can be distinguished from judgments of fairness in resource allocation tasks. We draw a conceptual distinction between two types of prosocial behavior: resource allocation (an other-directed individual behavior) and cooperation (a goal-directed collaborative endeavor). Our results highlight how rhythmic interactions, which are prominent in joint musical engagements and synchronized activity, influence prosocial behavior between preschool peers. PMID:28694786

Simple Web-based interactive key development software (WEBiKEY) and an example key for Kuruna (Poaceae: Bambusoideae).

PubMed

Attigala, Lakshmi; De Silva, Nuwan I; Clark, Lynn G

2016-04-01

Programs that are user-friendly and freely available for developing Web-based interactive keys are scarce and most of the well-structured applications are relatively expensive. WEBiKEY was developed to enable researchers to easily develop their own Web-based interactive keys with fewer resources. A Web-based multiaccess identification tool (WEBiKEY) was developed that uses freely available Microsoft ASP.NET technologies and an SQL Server database for Windows-based hosting environments. WEBiKEY was tested for its usability with a sample data set, the temperate woody bamboo genus Kuruna (Poaceae). WEBiKEY is freely available to the public and can be used to develop Web-based interactive keys for any group of species. The interactive key we developed for Kuruna using WEBiKEY enables users to visually inspect characteristics of Kuruna and identify an unknown specimen as one of seven possible species in the genus.

The Development and piloting of an eHealth breastfeeding resource targeting fathers and partners as co-parents.

PubMed

Abbass-Dick, Jennifer; Xie, Fangli; Koroluk, Jaymie; Alcock Brillinger, Shelley; Huizinga, Joanne; Newport, Amber; Goodman, William M; Dennis, Cindy-Lee

2017-07-01

Traditionally breastfeeding education programs target mothers solely. The objective of this study was to design and pilot test an interactive eHealth breastfeeding co-parenting resource developed to target both mothers and fathers. eHealth resources provide an accessible and engaging format on which to educate parents and assist them in meeting their breastfeeding goals. Best practices to design such resources are not currently known. A three phase pilot study was conducted. The three phases included conducting a needs assessment, creating the resource and pilot testing the resource with mother, father and health care professionals to determine their perspectives regarding the usability and design of the prototype resource. The interactive prototype resource was designed to provide information to parents on breastfeeding and co-parenting, which included suggestions on how fathers can be involved and support breastfeeding and how the couples can work as a team to meet their breastfeeding goals. Setting: Recruitment took place in a health region in Southern Ontario, Canada between June 2014 and March 2015. Online questionnaires were completed by participants in all phases of the study. Participants (n=149) were pregnant or new mothers and their partners in the health region who read and speak English and had access to the internet and health care professionals who work with breastfeeding families in Ontario, Canada. A prototype eHealth breastfeeding co-parenting resource was developed based on maternal and paternal feedback from Phase I and utilized an interactive interface which included games and multimodal information delivery. The prototype eHealth resource was provided to the parents in Phase II and health care professionals in Phase III. The final resource was created based on feedback from these participants. The resource was pilot tested with new and expectant parents using pre- and post-test questionnaires which included measures for breastfeeding self-efficacy (Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Short Form), infant feeding attitude (Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale), breastfeeding knowledge (Breastfeeding Knowledge Questionnaire) and co-parenting relationship (Co-parenting Relationship Scale). Maternal and paternal breastfeeding self-efficacy and knowledge and infant feeding attitude scores all increased from pre-test to post-test. However, there was no difference in the co-parenting relationship scores from pretest to post-test. This study has used feedback from parents and health professionals to develop a prototype resource which appears to be effective in increasing parents' breastfeeding knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy. The prototype resource was rated positively by parents and health care providers. An eHealth breastfeeding co-parenting resource designed with input from the target population is an effective way of providing information to mothers and fathers. Further research with a randomized controlled design and more diverse populations is needed to determine effectiveness of the resource on breastfeeding duration and exclusivity. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

SInCRe—structural interactome computational resource for Mycobacterium tuberculosis

PubMed Central

Metri, Rahul; Hariharaputran, Sridhar; Ramakrishnan, Gayatri; Anand, Praveen; Raghavender, Upadhyayula S.; Ochoa-Montaño, Bernardo; Higueruelo, Alicia P.; Sowdhamini, Ramanathan; Chandra, Nagasuma R.; Blundell, Tom L.; Srinivasan, Narayanaswamy

2015-01-01

We have developed an integrated database for Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (Mtb) that collates information on protein sequences, domain assignments, functional annotation and 3D structural information along with protein–protein and protein–small molecule interactions. SInCRe (Structural Interactome Computational Resource) is developed out of CamBan (Cambridge and Bangalore) collaboration. The motivation for development of this database is to provide an integrated platform to allow easily access and interpretation of data and results obtained by all the groups in CamBan in the field of Mtb informatics. In-house algorithms and databases developed independently by various academic groups in CamBan are used to generate Mtb-specific datasets and are integrated in this database to provide a structural dimension to studies on tuberculosis. The SInCRe database readily provides information on identification of functional domains, genome-scale modelling of structures of Mtb proteins and characterization of the small-molecule binding sites within Mtb. The resource also provides structure-based function annotation, information on small-molecule binders including FDA (Food and Drug Administration)-approved drugs, protein–protein interactions (PPIs) and natural compounds that bind to pathogen proteins potentially and result in weakening or elimination of host–pathogen protein–protein interactions. Together they provide prerequisites for identification of off-target binding. Database URL: http://proline.biochem.iisc.ernet.in/sincre PMID:26130660

Discovery-2: an interactive resource for the rational selection and comparison of putative drug target proteins in malaria

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Drug resistance to anti-malarial compounds remains a serious problem, with resistance to newer pharmaceuticals developing at an alarming rate. The development of new anti-malarials remains a priority, and the rational selection of putative targets is a key element of this process. Discovery-2 is an update of the original Discovery in silico resource for the rational selection of putative drug target proteins, enabling researchers to obtain information for a protein which may be useful for the selection of putative drug targets, and to perform advanced filtering of proteins encoded by the malaria genome based on a series of molecular properties. Methods An updated in silico resource has been developed where researchers are able to mine information on malaria proteins and predicted ligands, as well as perform comparisons to the human and mosquito host characteristics. Protein properties used include: domains, motifs, EC numbers, GO terms, orthologs, protein-protein interactions, protein-ligand interactions. Newly added features include drugability measures from ChEMBL, automated literature relations and links to clinical trial information. Searching by chemical structure is also available. Results The updated functionality of the Discovery-2 resource is presented, together with a detailed case study of the Plasmodium falciparum S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase (PfSAHH) protein. A short example of a chemical search with pyrimethamine is also illustrated. Conclusion The updated Discovery-2 resource allows researchers to obtain detailed properties of proteins from the malaria genome, which may be of interest in the target selection process, and to perform advanced filtering and selection of proteins based on a relevant range of molecular characteristics. PMID:23537208

The Anthropocene Generalized: Evolution of Exo-Civilizations and Their Planetary Feedback.

PubMed

Frank, A; Carroll-Nellenback, Jonathan; Alberti, M; Kleidon, A

2018-05-01

We present a framework for studying generic behaviors possible in the interaction between a resource-harvesting technological civilization (an exo-civilization) and the planetary environment in which it evolves. Using methods from dynamical systems theory, we introduce and analyze a suite of simple equations modeling a population which consumes resources for the purpose of running a technological civilization and the feedback those resources drive on the state of the host planet. The feedbacks can drive the planet away from the initial state the civilization originated in and into domains that are detrimental to its sustainability. Our models conceptualize the problem primarily in terms of feedbacks from the resource use onto the coupled planetary systems. In addition, we also model the population growth advantages gained via the harvesting of these resources. We present three models of increasing complexity: (1) Civilization-planetary interaction with a single resource; (2) Civilization-planetary interaction with two resources each of which has a different level of planetary system feedback; (3) Civilization-planetary interaction with two resources and nonlinear planetary feedback (i.e., runaways). All three models show distinct classes of exo-civilization trajectories. We find smooth entries into long-term, "sustainable" steady states. We also find population booms followed by various levels of "die-off." Finally, we also observe rapid "collapse" trajectories for which the population approaches n = 0. Our results are part of a program for developing an "Astrobiology of the Anthropocene" in which questions of sustainability, centered on the coupled Earth-system, can be seen in their proper astronomical/planetary context. We conclude by discussing the implications of our results for both the coupled Earth system and for the consideration of exo-civilizations across cosmic history. Key Words: Anthropocene-Astrobiology-Civilization-Dynamical system theory-Exoplanets-Population dynamics. Astrobiology 18, 503-518.

Experimental evolution in Drosophila melanogaster: interaction of temperature and food quality selection regimes.

PubMed

Bochdanovits, Zoltán; de Jong, Gerdien

2003-08-01

In Drosophila, both the phenotypic and evolutionary effect of temperature on adult size involves alterations to larval resource processing and affects other life-history traits, that is, development time but most notably, larval survival. Therefore, thermal evolution of adult body size might not be independent of simultaneous adaptation of larval traits to resource availability. Using experimental evolution lines adapted to high and low temperatures at different levels of food, we show that selection pressures interact in shaping larval resource processing. Evolution on poor food invariably leads to lower resource acquisition suggesting a cost to feeding behavior. However, following low temperature selection, lower resource acquisition led to a higher adult body size, probably by more efficient allocation to growth. In contrast, following high temperature selection, low resource acquisition benefited larval survival, possibly by reducing feeding-associated costs. We show that evolved differences to larval resource processing provide a possible proximate mechanism to variation in a suite of correlated life-history traits during adaptation to different climates. The implication for natural populations is that in nature, thermal evolution drives populations to opposite ends of an adult size versus larval survival trade-off by altering resource processing, if resource availability is limited.

Economic models for management of resources in peer-to-peer and grid computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buyya, Rajkumar; Stockinger, Heinz; Giddy, Jonathan; Abramson, David

2001-07-01

The accelerated development in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and Grid computing has positioned them as promising next generation computing platforms. They enable the creation of Virtual Enterprises (VE) for sharing resources distributed across the world. However, resource management, application development and usage models in these environments is a complex undertaking. This is due to the geographic distribution of resources that are owned by different organizations or peers. The resource owners of each of these resources have different usage or access policies and cost models, and varying loads and availability. In order to address complex resource management issues, we have proposed a computational economy framework for resource allocation and for regulating supply and demand in Grid computing environments. The framework provides mechanisms for optimizing resource provider and consumer objective functions through trading and brokering services. In a real world market, there exist various economic models for setting the price for goods based on supply-and-demand and their value to the user. They include commodity market, posted price, tenders and auctions. In this paper, we discuss the use of these models for interaction between Grid components in deciding resource value and the necessary infrastructure to realize them. In addition to normal services offered by Grid computing systems, we need an infrastructure to support interaction protocols, allocation mechanisms, currency, secure banking, and enforcement services. Furthermore, we demonstrate the usage of some of these economic models in resource brokering through Nimrod/G deadline and cost-based scheduling for two different optimization strategies on the World Wide Grid (WWG) testbed that contains peer-to-peer resources located on five continents: Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Product Review

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Resources and guidelines to develop and get approved communications products at EPA; including print items, Web content standards, video production and submission, interactive maps, and social media policies.

Our Crowded Shores: Balancing Growth and Resource Protection. [CD-ROM].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC), Washington, DC. Environmental Data Service.

This interactive educational CD-ROM is designed for the general public and examines the extent of coastal population growth and development and their impact on coastal resources. High schools will find it a useful complement to environmental sciences curricula while science and visitors centers, museums, and aquariums will discover it to be a…

Meanings at Hand: Coordinating Semiotic Resources in Explaining Mathematical Terms in Classroom Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heller, Vivien

2016-01-01

The article examines how diverse semiotic resources are made available for explaining mathematical terms in a fifth-grade classroom. Situated within the methodological framework developed by conversation analysis and the analysis of embodiment-in-interaction, the study deals with two instances of a classroom episode in each of which participants…

Exploring the Dynamic Long-Term Interaction between Cognitive and Psychosocial Resources in Adult Second Language Development at Varying Proficiency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Serafini, Ellen J.

2017-01-01

This study draws on conceptual and methodological insights afforded within a dynamic systems perspective to explore shifting interrelationships between cognitive capacity and motivational resources in instructed adult second language (L2) learners of Spanish at increasing proficiency. Relationships that emerged showed both stability and…

GeoSci: Practices to Collaboratively Build Online Resources for Geophysics Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heagy, L. J.; Cockett, R.; Oldenburg, D.

2016-12-01

What happens when you apply best practices of software development to the development of educational resources? GeoSci (http://geosci.xyz) is our experiment examining this question. In 2007, a web-based "textbook" resource: Geophysics for Practicing Geoscientists (GPG, https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/courses/eosc350/content/index.htm) was created to serve as the primary resource for an undergraduate applied geophysics course at UBC taken primarily by non-geophysics majors. The web-based resource, allowed students to navigate through the concepts in a nonlinear way using hyperlinks, and enabled interactive content to be embedded. Subsequent to the web-based release for our UBC course, this resource has also seen widespread international use across the geophysical community. The available resources and best practices have advanced significantly since 2007. The format in which the GPG was originally developed (raw html and css) hindered improvements and thus maintenance and development of the resource was essentially reduced to correcting typos. Bringing this resource to sustainable state in which it can be built upon, edited and adapted has required looking to other disciplines such as software maintenance and development. By applying leading practices from open source software development, including versioning, testing, automated deployment as well as open development practices, such as issue tracking and employing creative commons licensing, we have worked to create a revamped GPG (http://gpg.geosci.xyz) that can be collaborated on and extended. The GPG and a companion resource for electromagnetics have been worked on by over 25 people, with much of the development happening in parallel. In this presentation, we will share our experience, identify what we see as some of the key learnings that have enabled collaboration in resource development, and present a vision for how we see these resources being sustained in the future.

31 CFR 901.4 - Reporting debts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... and Urban Development's Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System (CAIVRS). For information about the CAIVRS program, agencies should contact the Director of Information Resources Management Policy and Management Division, Office of Information Technology, Department of Housing and Urban Development...

31 CFR 901.4 - Reporting debts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... and Urban Development's Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System (CAIVRS). For information about the CAIVRS program, agencies should contact the Director of Information Resources Management Policy and Management Division, Office of Information Technology, Department of Housing and Urban Development...

Health Education a Conceptual Approach. Growing and Developing, Interacting, Decision Making. Concept 7: Personal Health Practices Are Affected by a Complexity of Forces, Often Conflicting. Teacher-Student Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Creswell, William H., Jr.; And Others

The following resource guide is one in a series which presents extensive bibliographic material oriented around a specific concept, in this guide, forces affecting personal health practices. A section is devoted to selected materials related to the concept; grade levels for which each resource might be useful are indicated beside each citation. A…

Change Process in Organizations [in HRD].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1995

These four papers are from a symposium that was facilitated by Toni Powell on the change process in organizations at the 1995 Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD) conference. "The Effectiveness of Change Agents as Affected by Strategic Interactions" (Marie A. George) explores the nature of strategic interactions exhibited by a chief…

Harnessing Nutrigenomics: Development of web-based communication, databases, resources, and tools.

PubMed

Kaput, Jim; Astley, Siân; Renkema, Marten; Ordovas, Jose; van Ommen, Ben

2006-03-01

Nutrient - gene interactions are responsible for maintaining health and preventing or delaying disease. Unbalanced diets for a given genotype lead to chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular, and are likely to contribute to increased severity and/or early-onset of many age-related diseases. Many nutrition and many genetic studies still fail to properly include both variables in the design, execution, and analyses of human, laboratory animal, or cell culture experiments. The complexity ofnutrient-gene interactions has led to the realization that strategic international alliances are needed to improve the completeness of nutrigenomic studies - a task beyond the capabilities of a single laboratory team. Eighty-eight researchers from 22 countries recently outlined the issues and challenges for harnessing the nutritional genomics for public and personal health. The next step in the process of forming productive international alliances is the development of a virtual center for organizing collaborations and communications that foster resources sharing, best practices improvements, and creation of databases. We describe here plans and initial efforts of creating the Nutrigenomics Information Portal, a web-based resource for the international nutrigenomics society. This portal aims at becoming the prime source ofinformation and interaction for nutrigenomics scientists through a collaborative effort.

Drug interactions evaluation: An integrated part of risk assessment of therapeutics

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

Zhang, Lei; Reynolds, Kellie S.; Zhao, Ping

2010-03-01

Pharmacokinetic drug interactions can lead to serious adverse events or decreased drug efficacy. The evaluation of a new molecular entity's (NME's) drug-drug interaction potential is an integral part of risk assessment during drug development and regulatory review. Alteration of activities of enzymes or transporters involved in the absorption, distribution, metabolism, or excretion of a new molecular entity by concomitant drugs may alter drug exposure, which can impact response (safety or efficacy). The recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) draft drug interaction guidance ( (http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/ucm072101.pdf)) highlights the methodologies and criteria that may be used to guide drug interaction evaluation by industrymore » and regulatory agencies and to construct informative labeling for health practitioner and patients. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration established a 'Drug Development and Drug Interactions' website to provide up-to-date information regarding evaluation of drug interactions ( (http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/DevelopmentResources/DrugInteractionsLabeling/ucm080499.htm)). This review summarizes key elements in the FDA drug interaction guidance and new scientific developments that can guide the evaluation of drug-drug interactions during the drug development process.« less

How Resource Phenology Affects Consumer Population Dynamics.

PubMed

Bewick, Sharon; Cantrell, R Stephen; Cosner, Chris; Fagan, William F

2016-02-01

Climate change drives uneven phenology shifts across taxa, and this can result in changes to the phenological match between interacting species. Shifts in the relative phenology of partner species are well documented, but few studies have addressed the effects of such changes on population dynamics. To explore this, we develop a phenologically explicit model describing consumer-resource interactions. Focusing on scenarios for univoltine insects, we show how changes in resource phenology can be reinterpreted as transformations in the year-to-year recursion relationships defining consumer population dynamics. This perspective provides a straightforward path for interpreting the long-term population consequences of phenology change. Specifically, by relating the outcome of phenological shifts to species traits governing recursion relationships (e.g., consumer fecundity or competitive scenario), we demonstrate how changes in relative phenology can force systems into different dynamical regimes, with major implications for resource management, conservation, and other areas of applied dynamics.

Interactive two-stage stochastic fuzzy programming for water resources management.

PubMed

Wang, S; Huang, G H

2011-08-01

In this study, an interactive two-stage stochastic fuzzy programming (ITSFP) approach has been developed through incorporating an interactive fuzzy resolution (IFR) method within an inexact two-stage stochastic programming (ITSP) framework. ITSFP can not only tackle dual uncertainties presented as fuzzy boundary intervals that exist in the objective function and the left- and right-hand sides of constraints, but also permit in-depth analyses of various policy scenarios that are associated with different levels of economic penalties when the promised policy targets are violated. A management problem in terms of water resources allocation has been studied to illustrate applicability of the proposed approach. The results indicate that a set of solutions under different feasibility degrees has been generated for planning the water resources allocation. They can help the decision makers (DMs) to conduct in-depth analyses of tradeoffs between economic efficiency and constraint-violation risk, as well as enable them to identify, in an interactive way, a desired compromise between satisfaction degree of the goal and feasibility of the constraints (i.e., risk of constraint violation). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Tumor Data Interacted System Design Based on Grid Platform].

PubMed

Liu, Ying; Cao, Jiaji; Zhang, Haowei; Zhang, Ke

2016-06-01

In order to satisfy demands of massive and heterogeneous tumor clinical data processing and the multi-center collaborative diagnosis and treatment for tumor diseases,a Tumor Data Interacted System(TDIS)was established based on grid platform,so that an implementing virtualization platform of tumor diagnosis service was realized,sharing tumor information in real time and carrying on standardized management.The system adopts Globus Toolkit 4.0tools to build the open grid service framework and encapsulats data resources based on Web Services Resource Framework(WSRF).The system uses the middleware technology to provide unified access interface for heterogeneous data interaction,which could optimize interactive process with virtualized service to query and call tumor information resources flexibly.For massive amounts of heterogeneous tumor data,the federated stored and multiple authorized mode is selected as security services mechanism,real-time monitoring and balancing load.The system can cooperatively manage multi-center heterogeneous tumor data to realize the tumor patient data query,sharing and analysis,and compare and match resources in typical clinical database or clinical information database in other service node,thus it can assist doctors in consulting similar case and making up multidisciplinary treatment plan for tumors.Consequently,the system can improve efficiency of diagnosis and treatment for tumor,and promote the development of collaborative tumor diagnosis model.

Cooperation in Human-Agent Systems to Support Resilience: A Microworld Experiment.

PubMed

Chiou, Erin K; Lee, John D

2016-09-01

This study uses a dyadic approach to understand human-agent cooperation and system resilience. Increasingly capable technology fundamentally changes human-machine relationships. Rather than reliance on or compliance with more or less reliable automation, we investigate interaction strategies with more or less cooperative agents. A joint-task microworld scenario was developed to explore the effects of agent cooperation on participant cooperation and system resilience. To assess the effects of agent cooperation on participant cooperation, 36 people coordinated with a more or less cooperative agent by requesting resources and responding to requests for resources in a dynamic task environment. Another 36 people were recruited to assess effects following a perturbation in their own hospital. Experiment 1 shows people reciprocated the cooperative behaviors of the agents; a low-cooperation agent led to less effective interactions and less resource sharing, whereas a high-cooperation agent led to more effective interactions and greater resource sharing. Experiment 2 shows that an initial fast-tempo perturbation undermined proactive cooperation-people tended to not request resources. However, the initial fast tempo had little effect on reactive cooperation-people tended to accept resource requests according to cooperation level. This study complements the supervisory control perspective of human-automation interaction by considering interdependence and cooperation rather than the more common focus on reliability and reliance. The cooperativeness of automated agents can influence the cooperativeness of human agents. Design and evaluation for resilience in teams involving increasingly autonomous agents should consider the cooperative behaviors of these agents. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Health Education a Conceptual Approach. Growing and Developing, Interacting, Decision Making. Concept 10: Food Selecting and Eating Patterns Are Determined by Physical, Social, Mental, Economic, and Cultural Factors. Teacher-Student Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Creswell, William H., Jr.; And Others

The following resource guide is one in a series which presents extensive bibliographic material oriented around a specific concept, in this guide, food selection and eating patterns. A section is devoted to selected materials related to the concept; grade levels for which each resource might be useful are indicated beside each citation. A second…

Social Networks and Community-Based Natural Resource Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lauber, T. Bruce; Decker, Daniel J.; Knuth, Barbara A.

2008-10-01

We conducted case studies of three successful examples of collaborative, community-based natural resource conservation and development. Our purpose was to: (1) identify the functions served by interactions within the social networks of involved stakeholders; (2) describe key structural properties of these social networks; and (3) determine how these structural properties varied when the networks were serving different functions. The case studies relied on semi-structured, in-depth interviews of 8 to 11 key stakeholders at each site who had played a significant role in the collaborative projects. Interview questions focused on the roles played by key stakeholders and the functions of interactions between them. Interactions allowed the exchange of ideas, provided access to funding, and enabled some stakeholders to influence others. The exchange of ideas involved the largest number of stakeholders, the highest percentage of local stakeholders, and the highest density of interactions. Our findings demonstrated the value of tailoring strategies for involving stakeholders to meet different needs during a collaborative, community-based natural resource management project. Widespread involvement of local stakeholders may be most appropriate when ideas for a project are being developed. During efforts to exert influence to secure project approvals or funding, however, involving specific individuals with political connections or influence on possible sources of funds may be critical. Our findings are consistent with past work that has postulated that social networks may require specific characteristics to meet different needs in community-based environmental management.

MOSAIC: a chemical-genetic interaction data repository and web resource for exploring chemical modes of action.

PubMed

Nelson, Justin; Simpkins, Scott W; Safizadeh, Hamid; Li, Sheena C; Piotrowski, Jeff S; Hirano, Hiroyuki; Yashiroda, Yoko; Osada, Hiroyuki; Yoshida, Minoru; Boone, Charles; Myers, Chad L

2018-04-01

Chemical-genomic approaches that map interactions between small molecules and genetic perturbations offer a promising strategy for functional annotation of uncharacterized bioactive compounds. We recently developed a new high-throughput platform for mapping chemical-genetic (CG) interactions in yeast that can be scaled to screen large compound collections, and we applied this system to generate CG interaction profiles for more than 13 000 compounds. When integrated with the existing global yeast genetic interaction network, CG interaction profiles can enable mode-of-action prediction for previously uncharacterized compounds as well as discover unexpected secondary effects for known drugs. To facilitate future analysis of these valuable data, we developed a public database and web interface named MOSAIC. The website provides a convenient interface for querying compounds, bioprocesses (Gene Ontology terms) and genes for CG information including direct CG interactions, bioprocesses and gene-level target predictions. MOSAIC also provides access to chemical structure information of screened molecules, chemical-genomic profiles and the ability to search for compounds sharing structural and functional similarity. This resource will be of interest to chemical biologists for discovering new small molecule probes with specific modes-of-action as well as computational biologists interested in analysing CG interaction networks. MOSAIC is available at http://mosaic.cs.umn.edu. hisyo@riken.jp, yoshidam@riken.jp, charlie.boone@utoronto.ca or chadm@umn.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Epigenetically regulated imprinted genes and foetal programming.

PubMed

Keverne, Eric B

2010-11-01

Genomic imprinting is a widespread epigenetic phenomenon in mammals and many imprinted genes are expressed in the developing hypothalamus and placenta. The placenta and brain are very different structures with very different roles, but in the pregnant mother they functionally interact coordinating and ensuring the provision of nutrients, timing of parturition and priming of hypothalamus for maternal care and nurturing. This interaction has been evolutionarily fine-tuned to optimise infant survival such that when resources are poor, the mother 'informs' this condition to the foetus producing a thrifty phenotype that is adapted to survive scarce resources after birth.

Shifting species interactions in terrestrial dryland ecosystems under altered water availability and climate change

USGS Publications Warehouse

McCluney, Kevin E.; Belnap, Jayne; Collins, Scott L.; González, Angélica L.; Hagen, Elizabeth M.; Holland, J. Nathaniel; Kotler, Burt P.; Maestre, Fernando T.; Smith, Stanley D.; Wolf, Blair O.

2012-01-01

Species interactions play key roles in linking the responses of populations, communities, and ecosystems to environmental change. For instance, species interactions are an important determinant of the complexity of changes in trophic biomass with variation in resources. Water resources are a major driver of terrestrial ecology and climate change is expected to greatly alter the distribution of this critical resource. While previous studies have documented strong effects of global environmental change on species interactions in general, responses can vary from region to region. Dryland ecosystems occupy more than one-third of the Earth's land mass, are greatly affected by changes in water availability, and are predicted to be hotspots of climate change. Thus, it is imperative to understand the effects of environmental change on these globally significant ecosystems. Here, we review studies of the responses of population-level plant-plant, plant-herbivore, and predator-prey interactions to changes in water availability in dryland environments in order to develop new hypotheses and predictions to guide future research. To help explain patterns of interaction outcomes, we developed a conceptual model that views interaction outcomes as shifting between (1) competition and facilitation (plant-plant), (2) herbivory, neutralism, or mutualism (plant-herbivore), or (3) neutralism and predation (predator-prey), as water availability crosses physiological, behavioural, or population-density thresholds. We link our conceptual model to hypothetical scenarios of current and future water availability to make testable predictions about the influence of changes in water availability on species interactions. We also examine potential implications of our conceptual model for the relative importance of top-down effects and the linearity of patterns of change in trophic biomass with changes in water availability. Finally, we highlight key research needs and some possible broader impacts of our findings. Overall, we hope to stimulate and guide future research that links changes in water availability to patterns of species interactions and the dynamics of populations and communities in dryland ecosystems.

L2 Interactional Competence and Development. Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Joan Kelly; Hellermann, John; Doehler, Simona Pekarek

2011-01-01

Drawing on data from a range of contexts, including classrooms, pharmacy consultations, tutoring sessions, and video-game playing, and a range of languages including English, German, French, Danish and Icelandic, the studies in this volume address challenges suggested by these questions: What kinds of interactional resources do L2 users draw on to…

Simple Web-based interactive key development software (WEBiKEY) and an example key for Kuruna (Poaceae: Bambusoideae)1

PubMed Central

Attigala, Lakshmi; De Silva, Nuwan I.; Clark, Lynn G.

2016-01-01

Premise of the study: Programs that are user-friendly and freely available for developing Web-based interactive keys are scarce and most of the well-structured applications are relatively expensive. WEBiKEY was developed to enable researchers to easily develop their own Web-based interactive keys with fewer resources. Methods and Results: A Web-based multiaccess identification tool (WEBiKEY) was developed that uses freely available Microsoft ASP.NET technologies and an SQL Server database for Windows-based hosting environments. WEBiKEY was tested for its usability with a sample data set, the temperate woody bamboo genus Kuruna (Poaceae). Conclusions: WEBiKEY is freely available to the public and can be used to develop Web-based interactive keys for any group of species. The interactive key we developed for Kuruna using WEBiKEY enables users to visually inspect characteristics of Kuruna and identify an unknown specimen as one of seven possible species in the genus. PMID:27144109

Co-Optimization of Electricity Transmission and Generation Resources for Planning and Policy Analysis: Review of Concepts and Modeling Approaches

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

Krishnan, Venkat; Ho, Jonathan; Hobbs, Benjamin F.

2016-05-01

The recognition of transmission's interaction with other resources has motivated the development of co-optimization methods to optimize transmission investment while simultaneously considering tradeoffs with investments in electricity supply, demand, and storage resources. For a given set of constraints, co-optimized planning models provide solutions that have lower costs than solutions obtained from decoupled optimization (transmission-only, generation-only, or iterations between them). This paper describes co-optimization and provides an overview of approaches to co-optimizing transmission options, supply-side resources, demand-side resources, and natural gas pipelines. In particular, the paper provides an up-to-date assessment of the present and potential capabilities of existing co-optimization tools, andmore » it discusses needs and challenges for developing advanced co-optimization models.« less

Canine neuroanatomy: Development of a 3D reconstruction and interactive application for undergraduate veterinary education

PubMed Central

Raffan, Hazel; Guevar, Julien; Poyade, Matthieu; Rea, Paul M.

2017-01-01

Current methods used to communicate and present the complex arrangement of vasculature related to the brain and spinal cord is limited in undergraduate veterinary neuroanatomy training. Traditionally it is taught with 2-dimensional (2D) diagrams, photographs and medical imaging scans which show a fixed viewpoint. 2D representations of 3-dimensional (3D) objects however lead to loss of spatial information, which can present problems when translating this to the patient. Computer-assisted learning packages with interactive 3D anatomical models have become established in medical training, yet equivalent resources are scarce in veterinary education. For this reason, we set out to develop a workflow methodology creating an interactive model depicting the vasculature of the canine brain that could be used in undergraduate education. Using MR images of a dog and several commonly available software programs, we set out to show how combining image editing, segmentation and surface generation, 3D modeling and texturing can result in the creation of a fully interactive application for veterinary training. In addition to clearly identifying a workflow methodology for the creation of this dataset, we have also demonstrated how an interactive tutorial and self-assessment tool can be incorporated into this. In conclusion, we present a workflow which has been successful in developing a 3D reconstruction of the canine brain and associated vasculature through segmentation, surface generation and post-processing of readily available medical imaging data. The reconstructed model was implemented into an interactive application for veterinary education that has been designed to target the problems associated with learning neuroanatomy, primarily the inability to visualise complex spatial arrangements from 2D resources. The lack of similar resources in this field suggests this workflow is original within a veterinary context. There is great potential to explore this method, and introduce a new dimension into veterinary education and training. PMID:28192461

Canine neuroanatomy: Development of a 3D reconstruction and interactive application for undergraduate veterinary education.

PubMed

Raffan, Hazel; Guevar, Julien; Poyade, Matthieu; Rea, Paul M

2017-01-01

Current methods used to communicate and present the complex arrangement of vasculature related to the brain and spinal cord is limited in undergraduate veterinary neuroanatomy training. Traditionally it is taught with 2-dimensional (2D) diagrams, photographs and medical imaging scans which show a fixed viewpoint. 2D representations of 3-dimensional (3D) objects however lead to loss of spatial information, which can present problems when translating this to the patient. Computer-assisted learning packages with interactive 3D anatomical models have become established in medical training, yet equivalent resources are scarce in veterinary education. For this reason, we set out to develop a workflow methodology creating an interactive model depicting the vasculature of the canine brain that could be used in undergraduate education. Using MR images of a dog and several commonly available software programs, we set out to show how combining image editing, segmentation and surface generation, 3D modeling and texturing can result in the creation of a fully interactive application for veterinary training. In addition to clearly identifying a workflow methodology for the creation of this dataset, we have also demonstrated how an interactive tutorial and self-assessment tool can be incorporated into this. In conclusion, we present a workflow which has been successful in developing a 3D reconstruction of the canine brain and associated vasculature through segmentation, surface generation and post-processing of readily available medical imaging data. The reconstructed model was implemented into an interactive application for veterinary education that has been designed to target the problems associated with learning neuroanatomy, primarily the inability to visualise complex spatial arrangements from 2D resources. The lack of similar resources in this field suggests this workflow is original within a veterinary context. There is great potential to explore this method, and introduce a new dimension into veterinary education and training.

Application of experimental design in geothermal resources assessment of Ciwidey-Patuha, West Java, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ashat, Ali; Pratama, Heru Berian

2017-12-01

The successful Ciwidey-Patuha geothermal field size assessment required integration data analysis of all aspects to determined optimum capacity to be installed. Resources assessment involve significant uncertainty of subsurface information and multiple development scenarios from these field. Therefore, this paper applied the application of experimental design approach to the geothermal numerical simulation of Ciwidey-Patuha to generate probabilistic resource assessment result. This process assesses the impact of evaluated parameters affecting resources and interacting between these parameters. This methodology have been successfully estimated the maximum resources with polynomial function covering the entire range of possible values of important reservoir parameters.

Gas Migration Project: Risk Assessment Tool and Computational Analyses to Investigate Wellbore/Mine Interactions, Secretary's Potash Area, Southeastern New Mexico

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

Sobolik, Steven R.; Hadgu, Teklu; Rechard, Robert P.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), US Department of the Interior has asked Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to perform scientific studies relevant to technical issues that arise in the development of co-located resources of potash and petroleum in southeastern New Mexico in the Secretary’s Potash Area. The BLM manages resource development, issues permits and interacts with the State of New Mexico in the process of developing regulations, in an environment where many issues are disputed by industry stakeholders. The present report is a deliverable of the study of the potential for gas migration from a wellbore to a mine openingmore » in the event of wellbore leakage, a risk scenario about which there is disagreement among stakeholders and little previous site specific analysis. One goal of this study was to develop a framework that required collaboratively developed inputs and analytical approaches in order to encourage stakeholder participation and to employ ranges of data values and scenarios. SNL presents here a description of a basic risk assessment (RA) framework that will fulfill the initial steps of meeting that goal. SNL used the gas migration problem to set up example conceptual models, parameter sets and computer models and as a foundation for future development of RA to support BLM resource development.« less

Investigating Teachers' Exploration of a Professional Development Website: An Innovative Approach to Understanding the Factors that Motivate Teachers to Use Internet-Based Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beach, Pamela; Willows, Dale

2014-01-01

This qualitative study examined an innovative methodology, combining screen capture technology and a retrospective think aloud, for exploring the use of Internet-based resources by elementary teachers. Pre-service and in-service teachers explored "The Balanced Literacy Diet," a free, interactive, and evidenced-informed professional…

Any Way You Cut It! Molehills Out of Mountains. A Resource and Activity Guide for the Developmentally Disabled.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barringer, M. D.; Kosal-Smither, C.

A resource and activity guide for the developmentally disabled that focuses on fine motor skills is presented. Attention is directed to fine motor behavior during the first year (vision, grasp, and release and reaching), and behaviors developing at 13 months (the interaction of fine motor and cognitive skills). An introductory section considers…

Evaluating the Language Resources of Chatbots for Their Potential in English as a Second Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coniam, David

2008-01-01

This paper investigates the linguistic worth of current "chatbot" programs--software programs which attempt to hold a conversation, or interact, in English--as a precursor to their potential as an ESL (English as a second language) learning resource. After some initial background to the development of chatbots, and a discussion of the Loebner…

Software Prototyping: Designing Systems for Users.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spies, Phyllis Bova

1983-01-01

Reports on major change in computer software development process--the prototype model, i.e., implementation of skeletal system that is enhanced during interaction with users. Expensive and unreliable software, software design errors, traditional development approach, resources required for prototyping, success stories, and systems designer's role…

Characteristics of experiential education web sites of US colleges and schools of pharmacy.

PubMed

Rodgers, Philip T; Leadon, Kim

2013-06-12

To evaluate the characteristics of experiential education Web sites of colleges and schools of pharmacy in the United States. The experiential education Web pages of 124 US colleges and schools of pharmacy were reviewed for office or program name, practice experience management software, experiential education newsletter, practice experience manual, preceptor development programs, new preceptor application processes, and interactive Web site interfaces. The term "office of experiential education" was used by 27.4% of colleges and schools. Fifty percent of the colleges and schools used E-value as their practice experience management software. Only a minority of colleges and schools made experiential manual(s) available online, offered newsletters targeted to preceptors, and/or provided Web site interactive interfaces for preceptor communication. The Preceptors Training and Resource Network was the preceptor development program most frequently promoted. The majority of US colleges and schools of pharmacy have official Web sites for their experiential education program; however, few offer resources online or use interactive or social media to their advantage.

Elucidating the interaction between light competition and herbivore feeding patterns using functional–structural plant modelling

PubMed Central

de Vries, Jorad; Poelman, Erik H; Anten, Niels; Evers, Jochem B

2018-01-01

Abstract Background and Aims Plants usually compete with neighbouring plants for resources such as light as well as defend themselves against herbivorous insects. This requires investment of limiting resources, resulting in optimal resource distribution patterns and trade-offs between growth- and defence-related traits. A plant’s competitive success is determined by the spatial distribution of its resources in the canopy. The spatial distribution of herbivory in the canopy in turn differs between herbivore species as the level of herbivore specialization determines their response to the distribution of resources and defences in the canopy. Here, we investigated to what extent competition for light affects plant susceptibility to herbivores with different feeding preferences. Methods To quantify interactions between herbivory and competition, we developed and evaluated a 3-D spatially explicit functional–structural plant model for Brassica nigra that mechanistically simulates competition in a dynamic light environment, and also explicitly models leaf area removal by herbivores with different feeding preferences. With this novel approach, we can quantitatively explore the extent to which herbivore feeding location and light competition interact in their effect on plant performance. Key Results Our results indicate that there is indeed a strong interaction between levels of plant–plant competition and herbivore feeding preference. When plants did not compete, herbivory had relatively small effects irrespective of feeding preference. Conversely, when plants competed, herbivores with a preference for young leaves had a strong negative effect on the competitiveness and subsequent performance of the plant, whereas herbivores with a preference for old leaves did not. Conclusions Our study predicts how plant susceptibility to herbivory depends on the composition of the herbivore community and the level of plant competition, and highlights the importance of considering the full range of dynamics in plant–plant–herbivore interactions. PMID:29373660

Designing an Online Case-Based Library for Technology Integration in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hebebci, Mustafa Tevfik; Kucuk, Sirin; Celik, Ismail; Akturk, A. Oguz; Sahin, Ismail; Eren, Fetah

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an interactive online case-study library website developed in a national project. The design goal of the website is to provide interactive, enhanced, case-based and online educational resource for educators through the purpose and within the scope of a national project. The ADDIE instructional design model…

Using an Interactive Computer Program to Communicate With the Wilderness Visitor

Treesearch

David W. Harmon

1992-01-01

The Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office, identified a need for a tool to communicate with wilderness visitors, managers, and decisionmakers regarding wilderness values and existing resource information in 87 wilderness study areas. An interactive computer program was developed using a portable Macintosh computer, a touch screen monitor, and laser disk player...

I PASS: an interactive policy analysis simulation system.

Treesearch

Doug Olson; Con Schallau; Wilbur Maki

1984-01-01

This paper describes an interactive policy analysis simulation system(IPASS) that can be used to analyze the long-term economic and demographic effects of alternative forest resource management policies. The IPASS model is a dynamic analytical tool that forecasts growth and development of an economy. It allows the user to introduce changes in selected parameters based...

Expanding the Media Mix in Statistics Education through Platform-Independent and Interactive Learning Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mittag, Hans-Joachim

2015-01-01

The ubiquity of mobile devices demands the exploitation of their potentials in distance and face-to-face teaching, as well for complementing textbooks in printed or electronic format. There is a strong need to develop innovative resources that open up new dimensions of learning and teaching through interactive and platform-independent content.…

Georgia Interactive Network--GaIN--for Medical Information. Final Grant Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rankin, Jocelyn A.

This report describes the development of the Georgia Interactive Network for Medical Information (GaIN), a project initially funded by a three-year (1983-1986) National Library of Medicine resource project grant. Designed to serve as a model network to transmit information via computer directly to health professionals, GaIN now operates through a…

Water resources planning in a strategic context: Linking the water sector to the national economy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, Peter; Hurst, Christopher; Harshadeep, Nagaraja

1993-07-01

In many parts of the developing world investment in water resources takes a large proportion of the available public investment funds. As the conflicts for funds between the water and other sectors become more severe, the traditional ways of analyzing and planning water investments has to move away from project-by-project (or even a river basin-by-river basin) approaches to include the relationships of water investments to other sectors and to overall national development policies. Current approaches to water resources investments are too narrow. There is a need for ways to expand the strategic thinking of water sector managers. This paper develops a water resources planning methodology with the primary objective of giving insights into the linking of water sector investments and macroeconomic policies. The model optimizes the present value of investments for water resources development, while embedding a macroeconomic model into the framework to allow for an examination of the interactions between water investments, the growth in the agricultural sector, and the performance of the overall economy. A case study of Bangladesh is presented which shows how strategic thinking could lead to widely differing implications for water investments than would conventional water resources systems planning models.

Developing an educational curriculum for EnviroAtlas

EPA Science Inventory

EnviroAtlas is a web-based tool developed by the EPA and its partners, which provides interactive tools and resources for users to explore the benefits that people receive from nature, often referred to as ecosystem goods and services.Ecosystem goods and services are important to...

Effects of Resource Availability on Children's Behavior and Conflict Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Enora R.

1996-01-01

Examined the effect of resource availability on dyadic interaction of African American three- to five-year olds in a painting activity conducted under two resource conditions. Limited resources promoted more resource and task conflict, while plentiful resources promoted more nonconflictive social and task interactions. Results underscored the role…

Interactive Radiology teaching file system: the development of a MIRC-compliant and user-centered e-learning resource.

PubMed

dos-Santos, M; Fujino, A

2012-01-01

Radiology teaching usually employs a systematic and comprehensive set of medical images and related information. Databases with representative radiological images and documents are highly desirable and widely used in Radiology teaching programs. Currently, computer-based teaching file systems are widely used in Medicine and Radiology teaching as an educational resource. This work addresses a user-centered radiology electronic teaching file system as an instance of MIRC compliant medical image database. Such as a digital library, the clinical cases are available to access by using a web browser. The system has offered great opportunities to some Radiology residents interact with experts. This has been done by applying user-centered techniques and creating usage context-based tools in order to make available an interactive system.

Swarmathon 2017

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-19

In the Swarmathon competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, students were asked to develop computer code for the small robots, programming them to look for "resources" in the form of AprilTag cubes, similar to barcodes. Teams developed search algorithms for the Swarmies to operate autonomously, communicating and interacting as a collective swarm similar to ants foraging for food. In the spaceport's second annual Swarmathon, 20 teams representing 22 minority serving universities and community colleges were invited to develop software code to operate these innovative robots known as "Swarmies" to help find resources when astronauts explore distant locations, such as the moon or Mars.

Swarmathon 2018

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-18

In the Swarmathon competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, students were asked to develop computer code for the small robots, programming them to look for "resources" in the form of AprilTag cubes, similar to barcodes. Teams developed search algorithms for the Swarmies to operate autonomously, communicating and interacting as a collective swarm similar to ants foraging for food. In the spaceport's third annual Swarmathon, 23 teams represented 24 minority serving universities and community colleges were invited to develop software code to operate these innovative robots known as "Swarmies" to help find resources when astronauts explore distant locations, such as the Moon or Mars.

Swarmathon 2018

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-17

In the Swarmathon competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, students were asked to develop computer code for the small robots, programming them to look for "resources" in the form of AprilTag cubes, similar to barcodes. Teams developed search algorithms for the Swarmies to operate autonomously, communicating and interacting as a collective swarm similar to ants foraging for food. In the spaceport's third annual Swarmathon, 23 teams represented 24 minority serving universities and community colleges were invited to develop software code to operate these innovative robots known as "Swarmies" to help find resources when astronauts explore distant locations, such as the Moon or Mars.

The Emerging and Employed Worker: Planning for the Strategic Imperative.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geroy, Gary D.

This paper describes a series of four models around which plans can be developed to determine human development needs. It presents needs assessment models describing the process and participant interaction by which information is gathered to be used in education, training, funding, and/or other human resource development interventions to increase…

An Open-Sourced and Interactive Ebook Development Program for Minority Languages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheepy, Emily; Sundberg, Ross; Laurie, Anne

2017-01-01

According to Long (2014), genuine task-based pedagogy is centered around the real-world activities that learners need to complete using the target language. We are developing the OurStories mobile application to support learners and instructors of minority languages in the development of personally relevant, task-based learning resources. The…

Sustainable water services and interaction with water resources in Europe and in Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barraqué, B.; Formiga Johnsson, R. M.; Britto, A. L.

2007-09-01

The increasing interaction between large cities and nature makes "urban water" an issue: water resources and water services - including public water supply, sewage collection and treatment, and in large cities, storm water control -, which had become separate issues thanks to the process of water transport and treatment technologies, are now increasingly interfering with each other. We cannot take nature for granted anymore, and we need to protect water resources, if only to reduce the long term cost of transporting and treating water. In this paper, we compare the historical development of water industry technologies in European and Brazilian metropolitan areas, in their socio-economic and political context, tracing it through three "ages" of water technology and services which developed under civil engineering, sanitary engineering, and environmental engineering perspectives: the "quantity of water" and civil engineering paradigm was developed on the assumption that water should be drawn from natural environments far from the cities; in the "water quality" and chemical/sanitation engineering paradigm, water treatment was invented and allowed cities to take water from rivers closer to them and treat it, but also to reduce sewer discharge impacts; finally, the environmental engineering paradigm proposes to overcome the supply side perspective, by introducing demand side management, water conservation, water allocation flexibilisation, and an integrated approach to water services, water resources management, and land use policies.

Developing nursing and midwifery students' capacity for coping with bullying and aggression in clinical settings: Students' evaluation of a learning resource.

PubMed

Hogan, Rosemarie; Orr, Fiona; Fox, Deborah; Cummins, Allison; Foureur, Maralyn

2018-03-01

An innovative blended learning resource for undergraduate nursing and midwifery students was developed in a large urban Australian university, following a number of concerning reports by students on their experiences of bullying and aggression in clinical settings. The blended learning resource included interactive online learning modules, comprising film clips of realistic clinical scenarios, related readings, and reflective questions, followed by in-class role-play practice of effective responses to bullying and aggression. On completion of the blended learning resource 210 participants completed an anonymous survey (65.2% response rate). Qualitative data was collected and a thematic analysis of the participants' responses revealed the following themes: 'Engaging with the blended learning resource'; 'Responding to bullying' and 'Responding to aggression'. We assert that developing nursing and midwifery students' capacity to effectively respond to aggression and bullying, using a self-paced blended learning resource, provides a solution to managing some of the demands of the clinical setting. The blended learning resource, whereby nursing and midwifery students were introduced to realistic portrayals of bullying and aggression in clinical settings, developed their repertoire of effective responding and coping skills for use in their professional practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To build a mine: Prospect to product

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gertsch, Richard E.

1992-01-01

The terrestrial definition of ore is a quantity of earth materials containing a mineral that can be extracted at a profit. While a space-based resource-gathering operation may well be driven by other motives, such an operation should have the most favorable cost-benefit ratio possible. To this end, principles and procedures already tested by the stringent requirements of the profit motive should guide the selection, design, construction, and operation of a space-based mine. Proceeding from project initiation to a fully operational mine requires several interacting and overlapping steps, which are designed to facilitate the decision process and insure economic viability. The steps to achieve a fully operational mine are outlined. Presuming that the approach to developing nonterrestrial resources will parallel that for developing mineral resources on Earth, we can speculate on some of the problems associated with developing lunar and asteroidal resources. The baseline for our study group was a small lunar mine and oxygen extraction facility. The development of this facility is described in accordance with the steps outlined.

Facilitating interprofessional evidence-based practice in paediatric rehabilitation: development, implementation and evaluation of an online toolkit for health professionals.

PubMed

Glegg, Stephanie M N; Livingstone, Roslyn; Montgomery, Ivonne

2016-01-01

Lack of time, competencies, resources and supports are documented as barriers to evidence-based practice (EBP). This paper introduces a recently developed web-based toolkit designed to assist interprofessional clinicians in implementing EBP within a paediatric rehabilitation setting. EBP theory, models, frameworks and tools were applied or adapted in the development of the online resources, which formed the basis of a larger support strategy incorporating interactive workshops, knowledge broker facilitation and mentoring. The highly accessed toolkit contains flowcharts with embedded information sheets, resources and templates to streamline, quantify and document outcomes throughout the EBP process. Case examples relevance to occupational therapy and physical therapy highlight the utility and application of the toolkit in a clinical paediatric setting. Workshops were highly rated by learners for clinical relevance, presentation level and effectiveness. Eight evidence syntheses have been created and 79 interventions have been evaluated since the strategy's inception in January 2011. The toolkit resources streamlined and supported EBP processes, promoting consistency in quality and presentation of outputs. The online toolkit can be a useful tool to facilitate clinicians' use of EBP in order to meet the needs of the clients and families whom they support. Implications for Rehabilitation A comprehensive online EBP toolkit for interprofessional clinicians is available to streamline the EBP process and to support learning needs regardless of competency level. Multi-method facilitation support, including interactive education, e-learning, clinical librarian services and knowledge brokering, is a valued but cost-restrictive supplement to the implementation of online EBP resources. EBP resources are not one-size-fits-all; targeted appraisal tools, models and frameworks may be integrated to improve their utility for specific sectors, which may limit them for others.

Optional anatomy and physiology e-learning resources: student access, learning approaches, and academic outcomes.

PubMed

Guy, Richard; Byrne, Bruce; Dobos, Marian

2018-03-01

Anatomy and physiology interactive video clips were introduced into a blended learning environment, as an optional resource, and were accessed by ~50% of the cohort. Student feedback indicated that clips were engaging, assisted understanding of course content, and provided lecture support. Students could also access two other optional online resources, lecture capture recordings and an interactive atlas of anatomy, and individuals were tracked with respect to their access behavior, learning approach, and subject score. Deep learning was highest among those accessing the clips or atlas or those accessing more online resources, and thus self-regulatory skill development might be a useful approach to increase student access to optional online resources. Those who accessed clips, lecture capture recordings, or atlas achieved a significantly higher subject score than those who did not. When combinations of resources used were considered, we found an approximately linear relationship between number of resources accessed and subject score, with a 16% difference in score between those who accessed none or all of the resources. However, the low resource access rate suggests that academic advantage may not be simply due to the learning support offered by the resources. As students accessing the optional resources tended to be more self-regulated, it may be that it was the extra effort made with respect to other subject resources, rather than just the access to the online resources, that contributed to higher subject score. Further studies are required to establish the relationships between academic performance, optional online resource access, and deep learning.

Utah Heavy Oil Program

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

J. Bauman; S. Burian; M. Deo

The Utah Heavy Oil Program (UHOP) was established in June 2006 to provide multidisciplinary research support to federal and state constituents for addressing the wide-ranging issues surrounding the creation of an industry for unconventional oil production in the United States. Additionally, UHOP was to serve as an on-going source of unbiased information to the nation surrounding technical, economic, legal and environmental aspects of developing heavy oil, oil sands, and oil shale resources. UHOP fulGilled its role by completing three tasks. First, in response to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 Section 369(p), UHOP published an update report to the 1987more » technical and economic assessment of domestic heavy oil resources that was prepared by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. The UHOP report, entitled 'A Technical, Economic, and Legal Assessment of North American Heavy Oil, Oil Sands, and Oil Shale Resources' was published in electronic and hard copy form in October 2007. Second, UHOP developed of a comprehensive, publicly accessible online repository of unconventional oil resources in North America based on the DSpace software platform. An interactive map was also developed as a source of geospatial information and as a means to interact with the repository from a geospatial setting. All documents uploaded to the repository are fully searchable by author, title, and keywords. Third, UHOP sponsored Give research projects related to unconventional fuels development. Two projects looked at issues associated with oil shale production, including oil shale pyrolysis kinetics, resource heterogeneity, and reservoir simulation. One project evaluated in situ production from Utah oil sands. Another project focused on water availability and produced water treatments. The last project considered commercial oil shale leasing from a policy, environmental, and economic perspective.« less

Human resources and access to maternal health care.

PubMed

ten Hoope-Bender, P; Liljestrand, J; MacDonagh, S

2006-09-01

The lack of human resources is one of the main bottlenecks to achieving the Millennium Development Goals on maternal and child health. A coherent national policy, recognized across government, needs to be in place to overcome this especially in countries severely affected by HIV/AIDS. Such a policy should cover selection of pre-service students, the qualifications of trainers and training sites, supportive supervision, career path development, a package of carefully thought-out incentives for the retention of staff, strategies for interaction with communities, and an agreed-upon health staff HIV/AIDS policy. Without such coherent human resource planning, a large number of countries will fail to reduce maternal and newborn mortality.

Resource Interdependence, Student Interactions and Performance in Cooperative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buchs, Celine; Butera, Fabrizio; Mugny, Gabriel

2004-01-01

Two studies were carried out during university workshops, and analyzed the effects of resource interdependence on student-student interactions, and the impact of these interactions on performance. Students worked cooperatively, either on complementary information (positive resource interdependence) or on identical information (resource…

Academic Web Authoring Mulitmedia Development and Course Management Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halloran, Margaret E.

2005-01-01

Course management software enables faculty members to learn one software package for web-based curriculum, assessment, synchronous and asynchronous discussions, collaborative work, multimedia and interactive resource development. There are as many as 109 different course management software packages on the market and several studies have evaluated…

Genetics Home Reference: Myhre syndrome

MedlinePlus

... features of autism spectrum disorder affecting communication and social interaction. Hearing loss occurs in most people with Myhre ... Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Educational Resources (6 ...

Sig2BioPAX: Java tool for converting flat files to BioPAX Level 3 format.

PubMed

Webb, Ryan L; Ma'ayan, Avi

2011-03-21

The World Wide Web plays a critical role in enabling molecular, cell, systems and computational biologists to exchange, search, visualize, integrate, and analyze experimental data. Such efforts can be further enhanced through the development of semantic web concepts. The semantic web idea is to enable machines to understand data through the development of protocol free data exchange formats such as Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL). These standards provide formal descriptors of objects, object properties and their relationships within a specific knowledge domain. However, the overhead of converting datasets typically stored in data tables such as Excel, text or PDF into RDF or OWL formats is not trivial for non-specialists and as such produces a barrier to seamless data exchange between researchers, databases and analysis tools. This problem is particularly of importance in the field of network systems biology where biochemical interactions between genes and their protein products are abstracted to networks. For the purpose of converting biochemical interactions into the BioPAX format, which is the leading standard developed by the computational systems biology community, we developed an open-source command line tool that takes as input tabular data describing different types of molecular biochemical interactions. The tool converts such interactions into the BioPAX level 3 OWL format. We used the tool to convert several existing and new mammalian networks of protein interactions, signalling pathways, and transcriptional regulatory networks into BioPAX. Some of these networks were deposited into PathwayCommons, a repository for consolidating and organizing biochemical networks. The software tool Sig2BioPAX is a resource that enables experimental and computational systems biologists to contribute their identified networks and pathways of molecular interactions for integration and reuse with the rest of the research community.

Virtual Interactive Classroom: A New Technology for Distance Learning Developed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

York, David W.; Babula, Maria

1999-01-01

The Virtual Interactive Classroom (VIC) allows Internet users, specifically students, to remotely control and access data from scientific equipment. This is a significant advantage to school systems that cannot afford experimental equipment, have Internet access, and are seeking to improve science and math scores with current resources. A VIC Development Lab was established at Lewis to demonstrate that scientific equipment can be controlled by remote users over the Internet. Current projects include a wind tunnel, a room camera, a science table, and a microscope.

Interactive whiteboards in third grade science instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivers, Grier

Strategies have been put into place to affect improvement in science achievement, including the use of Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) in science instruction. IWBs enable rich resources, appropriate pacing, and multimodal presentation of content deemed as best practices. Professional development experiences, use of resources, instructional practices, and changes in professional behavior in science teachers were recorded. Also recorded were differences in the engagement and motivation of students in IWB classrooms versus IWB-free classrooms and observed differences in students' problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. Using a mixed-method research design quantitative data were collected to identify achievement levels of the target population on the assumption that all students, regardless of ability, will achieve greater mastery of science content in IWB classrooms. Qualitative data were collected through observations, interviews, videotapes, and a survey to identify how IWBs lead to increased achievement in third grade classrooms and to develop a record of teachers' professional practices, and students' measures of engagement and motivation. Comparative techniques determined whether science instruction is more effective in IWB classroom than in IWB-free classrooms. The qualitative findings concluded that, compared to science teachers who work in IWB-free settings, elementary science teachers who used IWBs incorporated more resources to accommodate learning objectives and the varied abilities and learning styles of their students. They assessed student understanding more frequently and perceived their classrooms as more collaborative and interactive. Furthermore, they displayed willingness to pursue professional development and employed different engagement strategies. Finally, teachers who used IWBs supported more instances of critical thinking and problem-solving. Quantitative findings concluded that students of all ability levels were more motivated and engaged in IWB classes. Best practices distilled included combining IWBs with handheld peripherals to maximize assessment; the determination that formal professional development is more effective than peer coaching; that effectively managing an IWB classroom is as vital as learning how to use board itself; and that IWB teachers should be able to modify resources to tailor them for the circumstances of their classroom.

ARMOUR - A Rice miRNA: mRNA Interaction Resource.

PubMed

Sanan-Mishra, Neeti; Tripathi, Anita; Goswami, Kavita; Shukla, Rohit N; Vasudevan, Madavan; Goswami, Hitesh

2018-01-01

ARMOUR was developed as A Rice miRNA:mRNA interaction resource. This informative and interactive database includes the experimentally validated expression profiles of miRNAs under different developmental and abiotic stress conditions across seven Indian rice cultivars. This comprehensive database covers 689 known and 1664 predicted novel miRNAs and their expression profiles in more than 38 different tissues or conditions along with their predicted/known target transcripts. The understanding of miRNA:mRNA interactome in regulation of functional cellular machinery is supported by the sequence information of the mature and hairpin structures. ARMOUR provides flexibility to users in querying the database using multiple ways like known gene identifiers, gene ontology identifiers, KEGG identifiers and also allows on the fly fold change analysis and sequence search query with inbuilt BLAST algorithm. ARMOUR database provides a cohesive platform for novel and mature miRNAs and their expression in different experimental conditions and allows searching for their interacting mRNA targets, GO annotation and their involvement in various biological pathways. The ARMOUR database includes a provision for adding more experimental data from users, with an aim to develop it as a platform for sharing and comparing experimental data contributed by research groups working on rice.

Guidelines for the Development and Implementation of a Logistic Resource Annex to the Five Year Defense Program. Volume 2. A Logistic Resource Annex for the Navy DNFYP

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-10-01

Force , Navy and Marine Corps. Coverage is less comprehensive on the Army because of work on this topic by the General Research Corporation. Volume I...presents recommendations on an OSD-level LRA data system. Volumes II, III, and IV cQver the Navy, Air Force , and Marine Corps respectively. Each of these...Resource Model/ Force Level Analysis Interactive Language System NAVAIR Naval Air Systems Command NAVCOMPT Navy Comptroller NAVFAC Naval Facilities

INFN-Pisa scientific computation environment (GRID, HPC and Interactive Analysis)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arezzini, S.; Carboni, A.; Caruso, G.; Ciampa, A.; Coscetti, S.; Mazzoni, E.; Piras, S.

2014-06-01

The INFN-Pisa Tier2 infrastructure is described, optimized not only for GRID CPU and Storage access, but also for a more interactive use of the resources in order to provide good solutions for the final data analysis step. The Data Center, equipped with about 6700 production cores, permits the use of modern analysis techniques realized via advanced statistical tools (like RooFit and RooStat) implemented in multicore systems. In particular a POSIX file storage access integrated with standard SRM access is provided. Therefore the unified storage infrastructure is described, based on GPFS and Xrootd, used both for SRM data repository and interactive POSIX access. Such a common infrastructure allows a transparent access to the Tier2 data to the users for their interactive analysis. The organization of a specialized many cores CPU facility devoted to interactive analysis is also described along with the login mechanism integrated with the INFN-AAI (National INFN Infrastructure) to extend the site access and use to a geographical distributed community. Such infrastructure is used also for a national computing facility in use to the INFN theoretical community, it enables a synergic use of computing and storage resources. Our Center initially developed for the HEP community is now growing and includes also HPC resources fully integrated. In recent years has been installed and managed a cluster facility (1000 cores, parallel use via InfiniBand connection) and we are now updating this facility that will provide resources for all the intermediate level HPC computing needs of the INFN theoretical national community.

'Think Baby': online learning for student health visitors.

PubMed

Appleton, Jane V; Harris, Margaret; Kelly, Cat; Huppe, Irmgard

2014-06-01

'Think Baby' is an innovative online learning resource which has been developed to help student health visitors (and other specialist community public health nurses) build their skills in observing and assessing mother-infant interactions. The project's development and pilot work was funded by a small grant from the Higher Education Academy. It builds on the findings of the team's previous research, which found health visitors' initial training had left them ill-prepared to assess the intricacies of mother-infant relationships. The 'Think Baby' project sought to develop online training resources for student health visitors using video footage of mothers and babies to illustrate different types of interactions. A small group of student health visitors were engaged in reviewing and evaluating the materials and considering their acceptability. Once developed, the materials were piloted with student health visitors from three universities, community practice teachers and a health visitor academic, and they were then adapted for wider roll out. 'Think Baby' enables student health visitors to develop their core skills in assessment, which is really important in identifying when early help and support are needed for mothers and infants.

School-Based Professional Development in a Developing Context: Lessons Learnt from a Case Study in Zambia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haßler, Björn; Hennessy, Sara; Cross, Andrew; Chileshe, Eness; Machiko, Brian

2015-01-01

This paper reports on the development and outcomes of the second phase of OER4Schools, a school-based professional development programme supporting interactive forms of subject teaching in conjunction with Open Educational Resources (OER) and technology in Zambian primary schools. We worked with partners to identify the needs of school-based…

An Interactive Diagnosis Approach for Supporting Clinical Nursing Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Chun-Wang; Lin, Yi-Chun; Lin, Yen-Ting

2016-01-01

Clinical resources in nursing schools are always insufficient for satisfying the practice requirements of each student at the same time during a formal course session. Although several studies have applied information and communication technology to develop computer-based learning tools for addressing this problem, most of these developments lack…

Considering land-sea interactions and trade-offs for food and biodiversity.

PubMed

Cottrell, Richard S; Fleming, Aysha; Fulton, Elizabeth A; Nash, Kirsty L; Watson, Reg A; Blanchard, Julia L

2018-02-01

With the human population expected to near 10 billion by 2050, and diets shifting towards greater per-capita consumption of animal protein, meeting future food demands will place ever-growing burdens on natural resources and those dependent on them. Solutions proposed to increase the sustainability of agriculture, aquaculture, and capture fisheries have typically approached development from single sector perspectives. Recent work highlights the importance of recognising links among food sectors, and the challenge cross-sector dependencies create for sustainable food production. Yet without understanding the full suite of interactions between food systems on land and sea, development in one sector may result in unanticipated trade-offs in another. We review the interactions between terrestrial and aquatic food systems. We show that most of the studied land-sea interactions fall into at least one of four categories: ecosystem connectivity, feed interdependencies, livelihood interactions, and climate feedback. Critically, these interactions modify nutrient flows, and the partitioning of natural resource use between land and sea, amid a backdrop of climate variability and change that reaches across all sectors. Addressing counter-productive trade-offs resulting from land-sea links will require simultaneous improvements in food production and consumption efficiency, while creating more sustainable feed products for fish and livestock. Food security research and policy also needs to better integrate aquatic and terrestrial production to anticipate how cross-sector interactions could transmit change across ecosystem and governance boundaries into the future. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Surficial aquifer system of the New Jersey Coastal Plain: Significance to resource management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buxton, Herbert T.

1995-01-01

An understanding of the interaction between human activities and the Nation's surficial (water-table) aquifers is critical to maintaining the quantity and quality of our water resources and the health of the ecosystems they support. In recognition of the importance of these aquifers, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing a program to study the surficial aquifers of the New Jersey Coastal Plain.

Dynamical implications of bi-directional resource exchange within a meta-ecosystem.

PubMed

Messan, Marisabel Rodriguez; Kopp, Darin; Allen, Daniel C; Kang, Yun

2018-05-05

The exchange of resources across ecosystem boundaries can have large impacts on ecosystem structures and functions at local and regional scales. In this article, we develop a simple model to investigate dynamical implications of bi-directional resource exchanges between two local ecosystems in a meta-ecosystem framework. In our model, we assume that (1) Each local ecosystem acts as both a resource donor and recipient, such that one ecosystem donating resources to another results in a cost to the donating system and a benefit to the recipient; and (2) The costs and benefits of the bi-directional resource exchange between two ecosystems are correlated in a nonlinear fashion. Our model could apply to the resource interactions between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems that are supported by the literature. Our theoretical results show that bi-directional resource exchange between two ecosystems can indeed generate complicated dynamical outcomes, including the coupled ecosystems having amensalistic, antagonistic, competitive, or mutualistic interactions, with multiple alternative stable states depending on the relative costs and benefits. In addition, if the relative cost for resource exchange for an ecosystem is decreased or the relative benefit for resource exchange for an ecosystem is increased, the production of that ecosystem would increase; however, depending on the local environment, the production of the other ecosystem may increase or decrease. We expect that our work, by evaluating the potential outcomes of resource exchange theoretically, can facilitate empirical evaluations and advance the understanding of spatial ecosystem ecology where resource exchanges occur in varied ecosystems through a complicated network. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Shifting species interactions in terrestrial dryland ecosystems under altered water availability and climate change.

PubMed

McCluney, Kevin E; Belnap, Jayne; Collins, Scott L; González, Angélica L; Hagen, Elizabeth M; Nathaniel Holland, J; Kotler, Burt P; Maestre, Fernando T; Smith, Stanley D; Wolf, Blair O

2012-08-01

Species interactions play key roles in linking the responses of populations, communities, and ecosystems to environmental change. For instance, species interactions are an important determinant of the complexity of changes in trophic biomass with variation in resources. Water resources are a major driver of terrestrial ecology and climate change is expected to greatly alter the distribution of this critical resource. While previous studies have documented strong effects of global environmental change on species interactions in general, responses can vary from region to region. Dryland ecosystems occupy more than one-third of the Earth's land mass, are greatly affected by changes in water availability, and are predicted to be hotspots of climate change. Thus, it is imperative to understand the effects of environmental change on these globally significant ecosystems. Here, we review studies of the responses of population-level plant-plant, plant-herbivore, and predator-prey interactions to changes in water availability in dryland environments in order to develop new hypotheses and predictions to guide future research. To help explain patterns of interaction outcomes, we developed a conceptual model that views interaction outcomes as shifting between (1) competition and facilitation (plant-plant), (2) herbivory, neutralism, or mutualism (plant-herbivore), or (3) neutralism and predation (predator-prey), as water availability crosses physiological, behavioural, or population-density thresholds. We link our conceptual model to hypothetical scenarios of current and future water availability to make testable predictions about the influence of changes in water availability on species interactions. We also examine potential implications of our conceptual model for the relative importance of top-down effects and the linearity of patterns of change in trophic biomass with changes in water availability. Finally, we highlight key research needs and some possible broader impacts of our findings. Overall, we hope to stimulate and guide future research that links changes in water availability to patterns of species interactions and the dynamics of populations and communities in dryland ecosystems. © 2011 The Authors. Biological Reviews © 2011 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Trophic omnivory across a productivity gradient: intraguild predation theory and the structure and strength of species interactions.

PubMed

Novak, Mark

2013-09-07

Intraguild predation theory centres on two predictions: (i) for an omnivore and an intermediate predator (IG-prey) to coexist on shared resources, the IG-prey must be the superior resource competitor, and (ii) increasing resource productivity causes the IG-prey's equilibrium abundance to decline. I tested these predictions with a series of species-rich food webs along New Zealand's rocky shores, focusing on two predatory whelks, Haustrum haustorium, a trophic omnivore, and Haustrum scobina, the IG-prey. In contrast to theory, the IG-prey's abundance increased with productivity. Furthermore, feeding rates and allometric considerations indicate a competitive advantage for the omnivore when non-shared prey are considered, despite the IG-prey's superiority for shared prey. Nevertheless, clear and regular cross-gradient changes in network structure and interaction strengths were observed that challenge the assumptions of current theory. These insights suggest that the consideration of consumer-dependent functional responses, non-equilibrium dynamics, the dynamic nature of prey choice and non-trophic interactions among basal prey will be fruitful avenues for theoretical development.

Trophic omnivory across a productivity gradient: intraguild predation theory and the structure and strength of species interactions

PubMed Central

Novak, Mark

2013-01-01

Intraguild predation theory centres on two predictions: (i) for an omnivore and an intermediate predator (IG-prey) to coexist on shared resources, the IG-prey must be the superior resource competitor, and (ii) increasing resource productivity causes the IG-prey's equilibrium abundance to decline. I tested these predictions with a series of species-rich food webs along New Zealand's rocky shores, focusing on two predatory whelks, Haustrum haustorium, a trophic omnivore, and Haustrum scobina, the IG-prey. In contrast to theory, the IG-prey's abundance increased with productivity. Furthermore, feeding rates and allometric considerations indicate a competitive advantage for the omnivore when non-shared prey are considered, despite the IG-prey's superiority for shared prey. Nevertheless, clear and regular cross-gradient changes in network structure and interaction strengths were observed that challenge the assumptions of current theory. These insights suggest that the consideration of consumer-dependent functional responses, non-equilibrium dynamics, the dynamic nature of prey choice and non-trophic interactions among basal prey will be fruitful avenues for theoretical development. PMID:23864601

A shared-world conceptual model for integrating space station life sciences telescience operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Vicki; Bosley, John

1988-01-01

Mental models of the Space Station and its ancillary facilities will be employed by users of the Space Station as they draw upon past experiences, perform tasks, and collectively plan for future activities. The operational environment of the Space Station will incorporate telescience, a new set of operational modes. To investigate properties of the operational environment, distributed users, and the mental models they employ to manipulate resources while conducting telescience, an integrating shared-world conceptual model of Space Station telescience is proposed. The model comprises distributed users and resources (active elements); agents who mediate interactions among these elements on the basis of intelligent processing of shared information; and telescience protocols which structure the interactions of agents as they engage in cooperative, responsive interactions on behalf of users and resources distributed in space and time. Examples from the life sciences are used to instantiate and refine the model's principles. Implications for transaction management and autonomy are discussed. Experiments employing the model are described which the authors intend to conduct using the Space Station Life Sciences Telescience Testbed currently under development at Ames Research Center.

Swarmathon 2017

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-19

A sign at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex announces the second annual Swarmathon competition. Students were asked to develop computer code for the small robots, programming them to look for "resources" in the form of cubes with AprilTags, similar to barcodes. Teams developed search algorithms for the Swarmies to operate autonomously, communicating and interacting as a collective swarm similar to ants foraging for food. In the spaceport's second annual Swarmathon, 20 teams representing 22 minority serving universities and community colleges were invited to develop software code to operate these innovative robots known as "Swarmies" to help find resources when astronauts explore distant locations, such as the moon or Mars.

Los Angeles Free-Net: an experiment in interactive telecommunication between lay members of the Los Angeles community and health care experts.

PubMed Central

Bluming, A; Mittelman, P S

1996-01-01

The Los Angeles Free-Net, an interactive community information resource, was established in part to help community members become more effective consumers of health care services. By providing timely, expert answers to anonymously asked medical questions at no charge, we hope to decrease unnecessary physician-patient encounters, encourage effective preventive-health measures, and improve the overall results of health care in our community. Although it is too early to assess health care benefits from this system, the following observations may help guide the development of similar systems around the nation: (1) A small annual registration fee generates both moral and financial public support. (2) Demographic information from registered users can help direct attempts at enfranchising all members of the community. (3) Toll-free access, free public-instruction sessions, moderated forums, extensive volunteer help, and encryption security are encouraged, while Internet censorship is difficult and counterproductive. (4) Access to Internet resources is important, but the strength of a community system lies primarily in the sharing of expertise and resources among members of the community. (5) A critical mass of available physicians to answer questions must be matched with a critical level of question input for this type of interactive medical information resource to function in a time-sensitive fashion. PMID:8826627

Los Angeles Free-Net: an experiment in interactive telecommunication between lay members of the Los Angeles community and health care experts.

PubMed

Bluming, A; Mittelman, P S

1996-04-01

The Los Angeles Free-Net, an interactive community information resource, was established in part to help community members become more effective consumers of health care services. By providing timely, expert answers to anonymously asked medical questions at no charge, we hope to decrease unnecessary physician-patient encounters, encourage effective preventive-health measures, and improve the overall results of health care in our community. Although it is too early to assess health care benefits from this system, the following observations may help guide the development of similar systems around the nation: (1) A small annual registration fee generates both moral and financial public support. (2) Demographic information from registered users can help direct attempts at enfranchising all members of the community. (3) Toll-free access, free public-instruction sessions, moderated forums, extensive volunteer help, and encryption security are encouraged, while Internet censorship is difficult and counterproductive. (4) Access to Internet resources is important, but the strength of a community system lies primarily in the sharing of expertise and resources among members of the community. (5) A critical mass of available physicians to answer questions must be matched with a critical level of question input for this type of interactive medical information resource to function in a time-sensitive fashion.

Echo the Bat and the Pigeon Adventure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butcher, Ginger

2000-01-01

A multimedia, CD ROM to teach 2nd graders about remote sensing was created and developed into a web site. Distribution was expanded for Grades K-4 or 5-8. The idea was to have a story introduction, interactive story and a teacher's website. Interactive Multimedia Adventures in Grade School Education using Remote Sensing (I.M.A.G.E.R.S.) was created. The lessons are easy to use, readily available and aligned with national standards. This resource combines hands-on activities with an interactive web site

NASA's Information Power Grid: Large Scale Distributed Computing and Data Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnston, William E.; Vaziri, Arsi; Hinke, Tom; Tanner, Leigh Ann; Feiereisen, William J.; Thigpen, William; Tang, Harry (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Large-scale science and engineering are done through the interaction of people, heterogeneous computing resources, information systems, and instruments, all of which are geographically and organizationally dispersed. The overall motivation for Grids is to facilitate the routine interactions of these resources in order to support large-scale science and engineering. Multi-disciplinary simulations provide a good example of a class of applications that are very likely to require aggregation of widely distributed computing, data, and intellectual resources. Such simulations - e.g. whole system aircraft simulation and whole system living cell simulation - require integrating applications and data that are developed by different teams of researchers frequently in different locations. The research team's are the only ones that have the expertise to maintain and improve the simulation code and/or the body of experimental data that drives the simulations. This results in an inherently distributed computing and data management environment.

[Pediatric surgery 2.0].

PubMed

Mesa-Gutiérrez, J C; Bardají, C; Brun, N; Núñez, B; Sánchez, B; Sanvicente, B; Obiols, P; Rigol, S

2012-04-01

New tools from the web are a complete breakthrough in management of information. The aim of this paper is to present different resources in a friendly way, with apps and examples in the different phases of the knowledge management for the paediatric surgeon: search, filter, reception, classification, sharing, collaborative work and publication. We are assisting to a real revolution on how to manage knowledge and information. The main charateristics are: immediateness, social component, growing interaction, and easiness. Every physician has clinical questions and the Internet gives us more and more resources to make searchs easier. Along with them we need electronic resources to filter information of quality and to make easier transfer of knowledge to clinical practice. Cloud computing is on continuous development and makes possible sharing information with differents users and computers. The main feature of the apps from the Intenet is the social component, that makes possible interaction, sharing and collaborative work.

Locations and attributes of wind turbines in Colorado, 2009

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, Natasha B.; Diffendorfer, Jay E.; Fancher, Tammy S.; Latysh, Natalie E.; Leib, Kenneth J.; Matherne, Anne-Marie; Turner, Christine

2011-01-01

The Colorado wind-turbine data series provides geospatial data for all wind turbines established within the State as of August 2009. Attributes specific to each turbine include: turbine location, manufacturer and model, rotor diameter, hub height, rotor height, potential megawatt output, land ownership, and county. Wind energy facility data for each turbine include: facility name, facility power capacity, number of turbines associated with each facility to date, facility developer, facility ownership, year the facility went online, and development status of wind facility. Turbine locations were derived from August 2009 1-meter true-color aerial photographs produced by the National Agriculture Imagery Program; the photographs have a positional accuracy of about + or - 5 meters. The location of turbines under construction during August 2009 likely will be less accurate than the location of existing turbines. This data series contributes to an Online Interactive Energy Atlas currently (2011) in development by the U.S. Geological Survey. The Energy Atlas will synthesize data on existing and potential energy development in Colorado and New Mexico and will include additional natural resource data layers. This information may be used by decisionmakers to evaluate and compare the potential benefits and tradeoffs associated with different energy development strategies or scenarios. Interactive maps, downloadable data layers, comprehensive metadata, and decision-support tools will be included in the Energy Atlas. The format of the Energy Atlas will facilitate the integration of information about energy with key terrestrial and aquatic resources for evaluating resource values and minimizing risks from energy development.

Locations and attributes of wind turbines in New Mexico, 2009

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, Natasha B.; Diffendorfer, Jay E.; Fancher, Tammy S.; Latysh, Natalie E.; Leib, Kenneth J.; Matherne, Anne-Marie; Turner, Christine

2011-01-01

The New Mexico wind-turbine data series provides geospatial data for all wind turbines established within the State as of August 2009. Attributes specific to each turbine include: turbine location, manufacturer and model, rotor diameter, hub height, rotor height, potential megawatt output, land ownership, and county. Wind energy facility data for each turbine include: facility name, facility power capacity, number of turbines associated with each facility to date, facility developer, facility ownership, year the facility went online, and development status of wind facility. Turbine locations were derived from 1-meter August 2009 true-color aerial photographs produced by the National Agriculture Imagery Program; the photographs have a positional accuracy of about + or - 5 meters. The location of turbines under construction during August 2009 likely will be less accurate than the location of existing turbines. This data series contributes to an Online Interactive Energy Atlas currently (2011) in development by the U.S. Geological Survey. The Energy Atlas will synthesize data on existing and potential energy development in Colorado and New Mexico and will include additional natural resource data layers. This information may be used by decisionmakers to evaluate and compare the potential benefits and tradeoffs associated with different energy development strategies or scenarios. Interactive maps, downloadable data layers, comprehensive metadata, and decision-support tools will be included in the Energy Atlas. The format of the Energy Atlas will facilitate the integration of information about energy with key terrestrial and aquatic resources for evaluating resource values and minimizing risks from energy development.

Games and Simulations for Climate, Weather and Earth Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russell, R. M.

2013-12-01

We will demonstrate several interactive, computer-based simulations, games, and other interactive multimedia. These resources were developed for weather, climate, atmospheric science, and related Earth system science education. The materials were created by education groups at NCAR/UCAR in Boulder, primarily Spark and the COMET Program. These materials have been disseminated via Spark's web site (spark.ucar.edu), webinars, online courses, teacher workshops, and large touchscreen displays in weather and Sun-Earth connections exhibits in NCAR's Mesa Lab facility. Spark has also assembled a web-based list of similar resources, especially simulations and games, from other sources that touch upon weather, climate, and atmospheric science topics. We'll briefly demonstrate this directory.

Games and Simulations for Climate, Weather and Earth Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russell, R. M.; Clark, S.

2015-12-01

We will demonstrate several interactive, computer-based simulations, games, and other interactive multimedia. These resources were developed for weather, climate, atmospheric science, and related Earth system science education. The materials were created by the UCAR Center for Science Education. These materials have been disseminated via our web site (SciEd.ucar.edu), webinars, online courses, teacher workshops, and large touchscreen displays in weather and Sun-Earth connections exhibits in NCAR's Mesa Lab facility in Boulder, Colorado. Our group has also assembled a web-based list of similar resources, especially simulations and games, from other sources that touch upon weather, climate, and atmospheric science topics. We'll briefly demonstrate this directory.

Teacher Characteristics Associated with Responsiveness and Exposure to Consultation and On-line Professional Development Resources

PubMed Central

Downer, Jason T.; Locasale-Crouch, Jennifer; Hamre, Bridget; Pianta, Robert

2014-01-01

This paper is a natural follow-up to intent-to-treat findings indicating that the MyTeachingPartner Consultancy, inclusive of on-line video resources and web-mediated consultation, improved the quality of pre-k teachers’ interactions with children. This study takes a close look at implementation fidelity within the effective MTP Consultancy condition over both years of implementation, in order to learn more about the ingredients of professional development that may have contributed to the success of the intervention. Variation in teachers’ responsiveness (e.g., ratings of Consultancy worth) and exposure to the intervention (e.g., number of consultation cycles completed) are examined, with particular interest in the identification of teacher factors that may serve as supports or barriers to successfully implementing consultation supports and on-line professional development resources. PMID:25419081

Translating an academic module into an online resource.

PubMed

Howatson-Jones, I L

Blended learning, which combines face-to-face sessions with online work, is used to provide flexible learning and courses for students who are geographically dispersed. Canterbury Christ Church University recognised the importance of developing an academic module for dispensing opticians across the UK and the requirement to address the needs of an increasingly diverse population of students. Following interest in the module from the Association of British Dispensing Opticians, a decision was made to reformat the module into an online resource. This article describes some of the pedagogical processes involved in developing the online resource. Quantitative and qualitative data are analysed to identify challenges and successes. The importance of developing an educational biography to achieve depth of understanding and thought is acknowledged. The article concludes that some face-to-face interaction is still necessary, not least for helping to reduce students' anxiety.

Principles for an interactive multi-scale assessment of sustainable production limits - lessons from the Limpopo river basin case, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Froebrich, Jochen; de Cleccq, Willem; Veraart, Jeroen; Vullings, Wies

2015-04-01

About 7.2 billion people currently live on the Earth and the population is projected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, that growth will be mainly in developing countries, with more than half in Africa (United Nations 2013). Any local extension of irrigated agriculture in a region of scarce natural resources may potentially restrict the possibility to extend land and water use at another location of the same river basin. In order to support, develop and to assess such future interventions, it is important to define limits until which a sustainable production can take place at a given location, taking into account competing claims on natural resources, human welfare and impacts on environmental quality. We define Sustainable production limits as limits for the possible resource use, within which a production can be extended without restricting the growth opportunities at a neighboured location. The more threatened the natural resources become, the more important it is to consider the effect of other upcoming interventions within the same region. As a consequence, interventions for future resource use have to be assessed against the future available natural resources. This is of particular relevance for evaluating possible extensions of irrigation areas within a river basin. Investigating possible limits for extending irrigated agriculture at local scale requires an understanding of the complexity, including boundaries, activities, stakeholders, and opportunities at river basin scale, and more. Switching between the scales in this information, in a participatory process, appears to be a challenge in its own. Within the Limpopo River basin (South Africa), we analysed (i) possible interventions at local scale (transdisciplinary innovation of irrigation by smallholders, launching of PPPs), (ii) restrictions for developing irrigation at the Letaba sub basin scale, and (iii) water balance at the scale of the Limpopo basin. Experiences from the Limpopo case revealed, that within the field of socio-hydrology interventions affecting land and water use, depend for a large part on entrepreneurial or at least human initiatives and an enabling environment. Such variables cannot be included in quantitative deterministic models. Therefore we have to find other ways to anticipate future developments. Furthermore for the upscaling - downscaling of local interventions it is important to reduce complexity. Instead of providing a plethora of scenarios, which will only hinder decision making, the process of defining sustainable production limits have to cumulate in a jointly shared strategy for the most likely future use of land, water and biodiversity resources. More experience must be gained how to facilitate such an interactive development of a jointly shared strategy best. Modern interactive IT tools can play a major role, but require a strong interaction with hydrological models and water balance calculation at the various scales. Acknowledgement The work has been partly executed within the EU project FP7 EAU4Food, the PPP project Inno Giyani, which is funded by the Dutch Government, and the Dutch funded project "More food on smaller footprint". The authors are grateful to all project partners and colleagues for the contributions and discussion.

Public Sector/Private Sector Interaction in Providing Information Services. Report to the NCLIS from the Public Sector/Private Sector Task Force.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, Washington, DC.

The results of a 2-year study on the interactions between government and private sector information activities are presented in terms of principles and guidelines for federal policy to support the development and use of information resources, products, and services, and to implement the principles. Discussions address sources of conflict between…

Incorporating permaculture and strategic management for sustainable ecological resource management.

PubMed

Akhtar, Faiza; Lodhi, Suleman A; Khan, Safdar Shah; Sarwar, Farhana

2016-09-01

Utilization of natural assets to the best efficient level without changing natural balance has become a critical issue for researchers as awareness on climate change takes central position in global debate. Conventional sustainable resource management systems are based on neoclassical economic approach that ignores the nature's pattern and therefore are not actually capable of sustainable management of resources. Environmentalists are lately advocating incorporation of Permaculture as holistic approach based on ethics, equitable interaction with eco-systems to obtain sustainability. The paper integrates philosophy of permaculture with strategic management frameworks to develop a pragmatic tool for policy development. The policy design tool augments management tasks by integrating recording of natural assets, monitoring of key performance indicators and integration of sectorial policies in real time, bringing out policy as a truly live document. The tool enhances the edifice process, balancing short term viewpoints and long term development to secure renewability of natural resources. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Temporal changes in species interactions in simple aquatic bacterial communities

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Organisms modify their environment and in doing so change the quantity and possibly the quality of available resources. Due to the two-way relationship between organisms and their resource environment, and the complexity it brings to biological communities, measuring species interactions reliably in any biological system is a challenging task. As the resource environment changes, the intensity and even the sign of interactions may vary in time. We used Serratia marcescens and Novosphingobium capsulatum bacteria to study how the interaction between resource environment and organisms influence the growth of the bacterial species during circa 200 generations. We used a sterile-filtering method to measure how changes in resource environment are reflected in growth rates of the two species. Results Changes in the resource environment caused complex time and species composition-dependent effects on bacterial growth performance. Variation in the quality of the growth medium indicated existence of temporally fluctuating within-species facilitation and inhibition, and between-species asymmetric facilitation. Conclusions The interactions between the community members could not be fully predicted based only on the knowledge of the growth performance of each member in isolation. Growth dynamics in sterile-filtered samples of the conditioned growth medium can reveal both biologically meaningful changes in resource availability and temporally changing facilitative resource-mediated interactions between study species. This is the first study we are aware of where the filter-sterilization – growth assay method is applied to study the effect of long-term changes in the environment on species interactions. PMID:22984961

Collaboration for Education with the Apple Learning Interchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, Patrick A.; Zimmerman, T.; Knierman, K. A.

2006-12-01

We present a progressive effort to deliver online education and outreach resources in collaboration with the Apple Learning Interchange, a free community for educators. We have created a resource site with astronomy activities, video training for the activities, and the possibility of interactive training through video chat services. Also in development is an online textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in stellar evolution, featuring an updatable and annotated text with multimedia content, online lectures, podcasts, and a framework for interactive simulation activities. Both sites will be highly interactive, combining online discussions, the opportunity for live video interaction, and a growing library of student work samples. This effort promises to provide a compelling model for collaboration between science educators and corporations. As scientists, we provide content knowledge and a compelling reason to communicate, while Apple provides technical expertise, a deep knowledge of online education, and a way for us to reach a wide audience of higher education, community outreach, and K-12 educators.

A multiphased approach to groundwater investigations for the Edwards-Trinity and related aquifers in the Pecos County region, Texas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thomas, Jonathan V.

2014-01-01

The Edwards-Trinity aquifer is a vital groundwater resource for agricultural, industrial, and public supply uses in the Pecos County region of western Texas. Resource managers would like to understand the future availability of water in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer in the Pecos County region and the effects of the possible increase or temporal redistribution of groundwater withdrawals. To provide resource managers with that information, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District, Pecos County, City of Fort Stockton, Brewster County, and Pecos County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1, completed a three-phase study of the Edwards-Trinity and related aquifers in parts of Brewster, Jeff Davis, Pecos, and Reeves Counties. The first phase was to collect groundwater, surface-water, geochemical, geophysical, and geologic data in the study area and develop a geodatabase of historical and collected data. Data compiled in the first phase of the study were used to develop the conceptual model in the second phase of the study. The third phase of the study involved the development and calibration of a numerical groundwater-flow model of the Edwards-Trinity aquifer to simulate groundwater conditions based on various groundwater-withdrawal scenarios. Analysis of well, geophysical, geochemical, and hydrologic data contributed to the development of the conceptual model in phase 1. Lithologic information obtained from well reports and geophysical data was used to describe the hydrostratigraphy and structural features of the groundwater-flow system, and aquifer-test data were used to estimate aquifer hydraulic properties. Geochemical data were used to evaluate groundwater-flow paths, water-rock interaction, aquifer interaction, and the mixing of water from different sources in phase 2. Groundwater-level data also were used to evaluate aquifer interaction, as well as to develop a potentiometric-surface map, delineate regional groundwater divides, and describe regional groundwater-flow paths. During phase 3, the data collected and compiled along with the conceptual information in the study area were incorporated into a numerical groundwater-flow model to evaluate the sustainability of recent (2008) and projected water-use demands on groundwater resources in the study area.

Cumulative impact assessment: A case study

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

Irving, J.S.; Bain, M.B.

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) indirectly addressed cumulative impacts. Attempts to include cumulative impacts in environmental impact assessments, however, did not began until the early 1980's. One such effort began when The Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission (FERC) received over 1200 applications for hydroelectric projects in the Pacific Northwest. Federal and State Agencies, Indian tribes and environmental groups realized the potential cumulative effect such development could have on fish and wildfire resources. In response, the FERC developed the Cluster Impact Assessment Procedure (CIAP). The CIAP consisted of public scoping meetings; interactive workshops designed to identify projects withmore » potential for cumulative effects, important resources, available data; and preparation of a NEPA document (EA or EIS). The procedure was modifies to assess the cumulative impacts of fifteen hydroelectric projects in the Salmon River Basin, Idaho. The methodology achieved its basic objective of evaluating the impact of hydroelectric development on fish and wildfire resources. In addition, the use of evaluative techniques to determine project interactions and degrees of impact hindered acceptance of the conclusions. Notwithstanding these problems, the studies provided a basis for decision-makers to incorporate the potential effects of cumulative impacts into the decision-making process. 22 refs., 2 figs., 4 tabs.« less

Ecosystem development in roadside grasslands: biotic control, plant–soil interactions and dispersal limitations

PubMed Central

García-Palacios, Pablo; Bowker, Matthew A.; Maestre, Fernando T.; Soliveres, Santiago; Valladares, Fernando; Papadopoulos, Jorge; Escudero, Adrián

2015-01-01

Roadside grasslands undergoing secondary succession are abundant, and represent ecologically meaningful examples of novel, human-created ecosystems. Interactions between plant and soil communities (hereafter plant–soil interactions) are of major importance in understanding the role of biotic control in ecosystem functioning, but little is known about these links in the context of ecosystem restoration and succession. The assessment of the key biotic communities and interactions driving ecosystem development will help practitioners to better allocate the limited resources devoted to roadside grassland restoration. We surveyed roadside grasslands from three successional stages (0–2, 7–9 and > 20 years) in two Mediterranean regions of Spain. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate how interactions between plants, biological soil crusts [BSCs], and soil microbial functional diversity [soil microorganisms] affect indicators of ecosystem development and restoration: plant similarity to the reference ecosystem, erosion control and soil C storage and N accumulation. Changes in plant community composition along the successional gradient exerted the strongest influence on these indicators. High BSC cover was associated with high soil stability, and high soil microbial functional diversity from late-successional stages was associated with high soil fertility. Contrary to our expectations, the indirect effects of plants, mediated by either BSCs or soil microorganisms, were very weak in both regions, suggesting a minor role for plant–soil interactions upon ecosystem development indicators over long periods. Our results suggest that natural vegetation dynamics effectively improved ecosystem development within a time frame of 20 years in the grasslands evaluated. They also indicate that this time could be shortened if management actions focus on: 1) maintain well-conserved natural areas close to roadsides to enhance plant compositional changes towards late-successional stages, 2) increase BSC cover in areas under strong erosion risk, to avoid soil loss, and 3) enhance soil microbial functional diversity in resource-limited areas, to enhance soil C and N accumulation. PMID:22073661

Ecosystem development in roadside grasslands: Biotic control, plant-soil interactions, and dispersal limitations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Garcia-Palacios, P.; Bowker, M.A.; Maestre, F.T.; Soliveres, S.; Valladares, F.; Papadopoulos, J.; Escudero, A.

2011-01-01

Roadside grasslands undergoing secondary succession are abundant, and represent ecologically meaningful examples of novel, human-created ecosystems. Interactions between plant and soil communities (hereafter plant-soil interactions) are of major importance in understanding the role of biotic control in ecosystem functioning, but little is known about these links in the context of ecosystem restoration and succession. The assessment of the key biotic communities and interactions driving ecosystem development will help practitioners to better allocate the limited resources devoted to roadside grassland restoration. We surveyed roadside grasslands from three successional stages (0-2, 7-9, and > 20 years) in two Mediterranean regions of Spain. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate how interactions between plants, biological soil crusts (BSCs), and soil microbial functional diversity (soil microorganisms) affect indicators of ecosystem development and restoration: plant similarity to the reference ecosystem, erosion control, and soil C storage and N accumulation. Changes in plant community composition along the successional gradient exerted the strongest influence on these indicators. High BSC cover was associated with high soil stability, and high soil microbial functional diversity from late-successional stages was associated with high soil fertility. Contrary to our expectations, the indirect effects of plants, mediated by either BSCs or soil microorganisms, were very weak in both regions, suggesting a minor role for plant-soil interactions upon ecosystem development indicators over long periods. Our results suggest that natural vegetation dynamics effectively improved ecosystem development within a time frame of 20 years in the grasslands evaluated. They also indicate that this time could be shortened if management actions focus on: (1) maintaining wellconserved natural areas close to roadsides to enhance plant compositional changes towards late-successional stages, (2) increasing BSC cover in areas under strong erosion risk, to avoid soil loss, and (3) enhancing soil microbial functional diversity in resource-limited areas, to enhance soil C and N accumulation. ?? 2011 by the Ecological Society of America.

The Full Monty: Locating Resources, Creating, and Presenting a Web Enhanced History Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bazillion, Richard J.; Braun, Connie L.

2001-01-01

Discusses how to develop a history course using the World Wide Web; course development software; full text digitized articles, electronic books, primary documents, images, and audio files; and computer equipment such as LCD projectors and interactive whiteboards. Addresses the importance of support for faculty using technology in teaching. (PAL)

"The Virtual Patient"--Development, Implementation and Evaluation of an Innovative Computer Simulation for Postgraduate Nursing Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiegaldie, Debra; White, Geoff

2006-01-01

The Virtual Patient, an interactive multimedia learning resource using a critical care clinical scenario for postgraduate nursing students, was developed to enhance flexible access to learning experiences and improve learning outcomes in the management of critically ill patients. Using real-time physiological animations, authentic content design…

Development and Deployment of a Library of Industrially Focused Advanced Immersive VR Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cameron, Ian; Crosthwaite, Caroline; Norton, Christine; Balliu, Nicoleta; Tadé, Moses; Hoadley, Andrew; Shallcross, David; Barton, Geoff

2008-01-01

This work presents a unique education resource for both process engineering students and the industry workforce. The learning environment is based around spherical imagery of real operating plants coupled with interactive embedded activities and content. This Virtual Reality (VR) learning tool has been developed by applying aspects of relevant…

The national coal-resources data system of the U.S. geological survey

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carter, M.D.

1976-01-01

The National Coal Resources Data System (NCRDS) was designed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to meet the increasing demands for rapid retrieval of information on coal location, quantity, quality, and accessibility. An interactive conversational query system devised by the USGS retrieves information from the data bank through a standard computer terminal. The system is being developed in two phases. Phase I, which currently is available on a limited basis, contains published areal resource and chemical data. The primary objective of this phase is to retrieve, calculate, and tabulate coal-resource data by area on a local, regional, or national scale. Factors available for retrieval include: state, county, quadrangle, township, coal field, coal bed, formation, geologic age, source and reliability of data, and coal-bed rank, thickness, overburden, and tonnage, or any combinations of variables. In addition, the chemical data items include individual values for proximate and ultimate analyses, BTU value, and several other physical and chemical tests. Information will be validated and deleted or updated as needed. Phase II is being developed to store, retrieve, and manipulate basic point source coal data (e.g., field observations, drill-hole logs), including geodetic location; bed thickness; depth of burial; moisture; ash; sulfur; major-, minor-, and trace-element content; heat value; and characteristics of overburden, roof rocks, and floor rocks. The computer system may be used to generate interactively structure-contour or isoline maps of the physical and chemical characteristics of a coal bed or to calculate coal resources. ?? 1976.

RIMS: Resource Information Management System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Symes, J.

1983-01-01

An overview is given of the capabilities and functions of the resource management system (RIMS). It is a simple interactive DMS tool which allows users to build, modify, and maintain data management applications. The RIMS minimizes programmer support required to develop/maintain small data base applications. The RIMS also assists in bringing the United Information Services (UIS) budget system work inhouse. Information is also given on the relationship between the RIMS and the user community.

New functions and programs in Hypermap software development for internet-based displaying of FIA data

Treesearch

Chris J. Cieszewski; Roger C. Lowe; Shangbin Liu; Ingvar Elle; Daniel Markewitz

2009-01-01

This article describes updates on the development of various applications for the Hypermaps applications and the newest versions of the forest inventory data display tool, Interactive Fast Online Reports and Maps (InFORM). The development of InFORM applications is cosponsored by the University of Georgia, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources; the Forest...

Social capital in a regional inter-hospital network among trauma centers (trauma network): results of a qualitative study in Germany.

PubMed

Loss, Julika; Weigl, Johannes; Ernstberger, Antonio; Nerlich, Michael; Koller, Michael; Curbach, Janina

2018-02-26

As inter-hospital alliances have become increasingly popular in the healthcare sector, it is important to understand the challenges and benefits that the interaction between representatives of different hospitals entail. A prominent example of inter-hospital alliances are certified 'trauma networks', which consist of 5-30 trauma departments in a given region. Trauma networks are designed to improve trauma care by providing a coordinated response to injury, and have developed across the USA and multiple European countries since the 1960s. Their members need to interact regularly, e.g. develop joint protocols for patient transfer, or discuss patient safety. Social capital is a concept focusing on the development and benefits of relations and interactions within a network. The aim of our study was to explore how social capital is generated and used in a regional German trauma network. In this qualitative study, we performed semi-standardized face-to-face interviews with 23 senior trauma surgeons (2013-14). They were the official representatives of 23 out of 26 member hospitals of the Trauma Network Eastern Bavaria. The interviews covered the structure and functioning of the network, climate and reciprocity within the network, the development of social identity, and different resources and benefits derived from the network (e.g. facilitation of interactions, advocacy, work satisfaction). Transcripts were coded using thematic content analysis. According to the interviews, the studied trauma network became a group of surgeons with substantial bonding social capital. The surgeons perceived that the network's culture of interaction was flat, and they identified with the network due to a climate of mutual respect. They felt that the inclusive leadership helped establish a norm of reciprocity. Among the interviewed surgeons, the gain of technical information was seen as less important than the exchange of information on political aspects. The perceived resources derived from this social capital were smoother interactions, a higher medical credibility, and joint advocacy securing certain privileges. Apart from addressing quality of care, a trauma network may, by way of strengthening social capital among its members, serve as a valuable resource for the participating surgeons. Some member hospitals could exploit the social capital for strategic benefits.

Developing a distributed HTML5-based search engine for geospatial resource discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

ZHOU, N.; XIA, J.; Nebert, D.; Yang, C.; Gui, Z.; Liu, K.

2013-12-01

With explosive growth of data, Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure(GCI) components are developed to manage geospatial resources, such as data discovery and data publishing. However, the efficiency of geospatial resources discovery is still challenging in that: (1) existing GCIs are usually developed for users of specific domains. Users may have to visit a number of GCIs to find appropriate resources; (2) The complexity of decentralized network environment usually results in slow response and pool user experience; (3) Users who use different browsers and devices may have very different user experiences because of the diversity of front-end platforms (e.g. Silverlight, Flash or HTML). To address these issues, we developed a distributed and HTML5-based search engine. Specifically, (1)the search engine adopts a brokering approach to retrieve geospatial metadata from various and distributed GCIs; (2) the asynchronous record retrieval mode enhances the search performance and user interactivity; (3) the search engine based on HTML5 is able to provide unified access capabilities for users with different devices (e.g. tablet and smartphone).

Decision insight into stakeholder conflict for ERN.

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

Siirola, John; Tidwell, Vincent Carroll; Benz, Zachary O.

Participatory modeling has become an important tool in facilitating resource decision making and dispute resolution. Approaches to modeling that are commonly used in this context often do not adequately account for important human factors. Current techniques provide insights into how certain human activities and variables affect resource outcomes; however, they do not directly simulate the complex variables that shape how, why, and under what conditions different human agents behave in ways that affect resources and human interactions related to them. Current approaches also do not adequately reveal how the effects of individual decisions scale up to have systemic level effectsmore » in complex resource systems. This lack of integration prevents the development of more robust models to support decision making and dispute resolution processes. Development of integrated tools is further hampered by the fact that collection of primary data for decision-making modeling is costly and time consuming. This project seeks to develop a new approach to resource modeling that incorporates both technical and behavioral modeling techniques into a single decision-making architecture. The modeling platform is enhanced by use of traditional and advanced processes and tools for expedited data capture. Specific objectives of the project are: (1) Develop a proof of concept for a new technical approach to resource modeling that combines the computational techniques of system dynamics and agent based modeling, (2) Develop an iterative, participatory modeling process supported with traditional and advance data capture techniques that may be utilized to facilitate decision making, dispute resolution, and collaborative learning processes, and (3) Examine potential applications of this technology and process. The development of this decision support architecture included both the engineering of the technology and the development of a participatory method to build and apply the technology. Stakeholder interaction with the model and associated data capture was facilitated through two very different modes of engagement, one a standard interface involving radio buttons, slider bars, graphs and plots, while the other utilized an immersive serious gaming interface. The decision support architecture developed through this project was piloted in the Middle Rio Grande Basin to examine how these tools might be utilized to promote enhanced understanding and decision-making in the context of complex water resource management issues. Potential applications of this architecture and its capacity to lead to enhanced understanding and decision-making was assessed through qualitative interviews with study participants who represented key stakeholders in the basin.« less

Access to Core Facilities and Other Research Resources Provided by the Clinical and Translational Science Awards

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Abstract  Principal investigators who received Clinical and Translational Science Awards created academic homes for biomedical research. They developed program‐supported websites to offer coordinated access to a range of core facilities and other research resources. Visitors to the 60 websites will find at least 170 generic services, which this review has categorized in the following seven areas: (1) core facilities, (2) biomedical informatics, (3) funding, (4) regulatory knowledge and support, (5) biostatistics, epidemiology, research design, and ethics, (6) participant and clinical interaction resources, and (7) community engagement. In addition, many websites facilitate access to resources with search engines, navigators, studios, project development teams, collaboration tools, communication systems, and teaching tools. Each of these websites may be accessed from a single site, http://www.CTSAcentral.org. The ability to access the research resources from 60 of the nation's academic health centers presents a novel opportunity for investigators engaged in clinical and translational research. Clin Trans Sci 2012; Volume #: 1–5 PMID:22376262

Access to core facilities and other research resources provided by the Clinical and Translational Science Awards.

PubMed

Rosenblum, Daniel

2012-02-01

Principal investigators who received Clinical and Translational Science Awards created academic homes for biomedical research. They developed program-supported websites to offer coordinated access to a range of core facilities and other research resources. Visitors to the 60 websites will find at least 170 generic services, which this review has categorized in the following seven areas: (1) core facilities, (2) biomedical informatics, (3) funding, (4) regulatory knowledge and support, (5) biostatistics, epidemiology, research design, and ethics, (6) participant and clinical interaction resources, and (7) community engagement. In addition, many websites facilitate access to resources with search engines, navigators, studios, project development teams, collaboration tools, communication systems, and teaching tools. Each of these websites may be accessed from a single site, http://www.CTSAcentral.org. The ability to access the research resources from 60 of the nation's academic health centers presents a novel opportunity for investigators engaged in clinical and translational research. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Elucidating the interaction between light competition and herbivore feeding patterns using functional-structural plant modelling.

PubMed

de Vries, Jorad; Poelman, Erik H; Anten, Niels; Evers, Jochem B

2018-01-24

Plants usually compete with neighbouring plants for resources such as light as well as defend themselves against herbivorous insects. This requires investment of limiting resources, resulting in optimal resource distribution patterns and trade-offs between growth- and defence-related traits. A plant's competitive success is determined by the spatial distribution of its resources in the canopy. The spatial distribution of herbivory in the canopy in turn differs between herbivore species as the level of herbivore specialization determines their response to the distribution of resources and defences in the canopy. Here, we investigated to what extent competition for light affects plant susceptibility to herbivores with different feeding preferences. To quantify interactions between herbivory and competition, we developed and evaluated a 3-D spatially explicit functional-structural plant model for Brassica nigra that mechanistically simulates competition in a dynamic light environment, and also explicitly models leaf area removal by herbivores with different feeding preferences. With this novel approach, we can quantitatively explore the extent to which herbivore feeding location and light competition interact in their effect on plant performance. Our results indicate that there is indeed a strong interaction between levels of plant-plant competition and herbivore feeding preference. When plants did not compete, herbivory had relatively small effects irrespective of feeding preference. Conversely, when plants competed, herbivores with a preference for young leaves had a strong negative effect on the competitiveness and subsequent performance of the plant, whereas herbivores with a preference for old leaves did not. Our study predicts how plant susceptibility to herbivory depends on the composition of the herbivore community and the level of plant competition, and highlights the importance of considering the full range of dynamics in plant-plant-herbivore interactions. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.

DbPTM 3.0: an informative resource for investigating substrate site specificity and functional association of protein post-translational modifications.

PubMed

Lu, Cheng-Tsung; Huang, Kai-Yao; Su, Min-Gang; Lee, Tzong-Yi; Bretaña, Neil Arvin; Chang, Wen-Chi; Chen, Yi-Ju; Chen, Yu-Ju; Huang, Hsien-Da

2013-01-01

Protein modification is an extremely important post-translational regulation that adjusts the physical and chemical properties, conformation, stability and activity of a protein; thus altering protein function. Due to the high throughput of mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods in identifying site-specific post-translational modifications (PTMs), dbPTM (http://dbPTM.mbc.nctu.edu.tw/) is updated to integrate experimental PTMs obtained from public resources as well as manually curated MS/MS peptides associated with PTMs from research articles. Version 3.0 of dbPTM aims to be an informative resource for investigating the substrate specificity of PTM sites and functional association of PTMs between substrates and their interacting proteins. In order to investigate the substrate specificity for modification sites, a newly developed statistical method has been applied to identify the significant substrate motifs for each type of PTMs containing sufficient experimental data. According to the data statistics in dbPTM, >60% of PTM sites are located in the functional domains of proteins. It is known that most PTMs can create binding sites for specific protein-interaction domains that work together for cellular function. Thus, this update integrates protein-protein interaction and domain-domain interaction to determine the functional association of PTM sites located in protein-interacting domains. Additionally, the information of structural topologies on transmembrane (TM) proteins is integrated in dbPTM in order to delineate the structural correlation between the reported PTM sites and TM topologies. To facilitate the investigation of PTMs on TM proteins, the PTM substrate sites and the structural topology are graphically represented. Also, literature information related to PTMs, orthologous conservations and substrate motifs of PTMs are also provided in the resource. Finally, this version features an improved web interface to facilitate convenient access to the resource.

Communicative barriers and resources in nursing homes from the enrolled nurses' perspective: A qualitative interview study.

PubMed

Forsgren, Emma; Skott, Carola; Hartelius, Lena; Saldert, Charlotta

2016-02-01

Managing communicative disability is a pervasive issue in long-term care facilities. The aim of this study was to explore how enrolled nurses experience their everyday interactions with residents in nursing homes, particularly focusing on interactions with residents with communicative disability. A qualitative exploratory design including content analysis was used. Eight individuals working at six nursing homes in western Sweden were interviewed. The interviews were semi-structured with questions about the participants' experiences in communicating with residents, feelings associated with interactions involving residents with communicative disability, meaning ascribed to interactions, and factors influencing interactions. The interviews were analysed using content analysis. A dynamic interplay between interpersonal relations, daily interactions and the managing of communicative disability was revealed. The enrolled nurses had good knowledge of supportive strategies and an awareness of the importance of the development of personal relationships with residents in order to facilitate interaction. However, factors in the environment presented barriers to communication. The organisation and physical environment of nursing homes prevent the enrolled nurses from taking full advantage of the communicative resources they have in interaction with residents with communicative disability, hence affecting staff-resident relationships and the delivery of person-centred care. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An evidence-based approach to interactive health communication: a challenge to medicine in the information age. Science Panel on Interactive Communication and Health.

PubMed

Robinson, T N; Patrick, K; Eng, T R; Gustafson, D

1998-10-14

To examine the current status of interactive health communication (IHC) and propose evidence-based approaches to improve the quality of such applications. The Science Panel on Interactive Communication and Health, a 14-member, nonfederal panel with expertise in clinical medicine and nursing, public health, media and instructional design, health systems engineering, decision sciences, computer and communication technologies, and health communication, convened by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, US Department of Health and Human Services. Published studies, online resources, expert panel opinions, and opinions from outside experts in fields related to IHC. The panel met 9 times during more than 2 years. Government agencies and private-sector experts provided review and feedback on the panel's work. Interactive health communication applications have great potential to improve health, but they may also cause harm. To date, few applications have been adequately evaluated. Physicians and other health professionals should promote and participate in an evidence-based approach to the development and diffusion of IHC applications and endorse efforts to rigorously evaluate the safety, quality, and utility of these resources. A standardized reporting template is proposed to help developers and evaluators of IHC applications conduct evaluations and disclose their results and to help clinicians, purchasers, and consumers judge the quality of IHC applications.

Swarmathon 2017

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-20

In the Swarmathon competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, students were asked to develop computer code for the small robots, programming them to look for "resources" in the form of cubes with AprilTags, similar to barcodes. Teams developed search algorithms for innovative robots known as "Swarmies" to operate autonomously, communicating and interacting as a collective swarm similar to ants foraging for food. In the spaceport's second annual Swarmathon, 20 teams representing 22 minority serving universities and community colleges were invited to participate. Similar robots could help find resources when astronauts explore distant locations, such as the moon or Mars.

Assessing the role of learning devices and geovisualisation tools for collective action in natural resource management: Experiences from Vietnam.

PubMed

Castella, Jean-Christophe

2009-02-01

In northern Vietnam uplands the successive policy reforms that accompanied agricultural decollectivisation triggered very rapid changes in land use in the 1990s. From a centralized system of natural resource management, a multitude of individual strategies emerged which contributed to new production interactions among farming households, changes in landscape structures, and conflicting strategies among local stakeholders. Within this context of agrarian transition, learning devices can help local communities to collectively design their own course of action towards sustainable natural resource management. This paper presents a collaborative approach combining a number of participatory methods and geovisualisation tools (e.g., spatially explicit multi-agent models and role-playing games) with the shared goal to analyse and represent the interactions between: (i) decision-making processes by individual farmers based on the resource profiles of their farms; (ii) the institutions which regulate resource access and usage; and (iii) the biophysical and socioeconomic environment. This methodological pathway is illustrated by a case study in Bac Kan Province where it successfully led to a communication platform on natural resource management. In a context of rapid socioeconomic changes, learning devices and geovisualisation tools helped embed the participatory approach within a process of community development. The combination of different tools, each with its own advantages and constraints, proved highly relevant for supporting collective natural resource management.

A market-based optimization approach to sensor and resource management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schrage, Dan; Farnham, Christopher; Gonsalves, Paul G.

2006-05-01

Dynamic resource allocation for sensor management is a problem that demands solutions beyond traditional approaches to optimization. Market-based optimization applies solutions from economic theory, particularly game theory, to the resource allocation problem by creating an artificial market for sensor information and computational resources. Intelligent agents are the buyers and sellers in this market, and they represent all the elements of the sensor network, from sensors to sensor platforms to computational resources. These agents interact based on a negotiation mechanism that determines their bidding strategies. This negotiation mechanism and the agents' bidding strategies are based on game theory, and they are designed so that the aggregate result of the multi-agent negotiation process is a market in competitive equilibrium, which guarantees an optimal allocation of resources throughout the sensor network. This paper makes two contributions to the field of market-based optimization: First, we develop a market protocol to handle heterogeneous goods in a dynamic setting. Second, we develop arbitrage agents to improve the efficiency in the market in light of its dynamic nature.

A flexible e-learning resource promoting the critical reading of scientific papers for science undergraduates.

PubMed

Letchford, Julie; Corradi, Hazel; Day, Trevor

2017-11-01

An important aim of undergraduate science education is to develop student skills in reading and evaluating research papers. We have designed, developed, and implemented an on-line interactive resource entitled "Evaluating Scientific Research literature" (ESRL) aimed at students from the first 2 years of the undergraduate program. In this article, we describe the resource, then use student data collected from questionnaire surveys to evaluate the resource within 2 years of its launch. Our results add to those reported previously and indicate that ESRL can enable students to start evaluating research articles when used during their undergraduate program. We conclude maximal learning is likely to occur when the resource can be embedded in the curriculum such that students have a clearly articulated context for the resource's activities, can see their relevance in relation to assessed assignments and can be encouraged to think deeply about the activities in conversation with one another and/or with staff. © 2017 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(6):483-490, 2017. © 2017 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

SOCR: Statistics Online Computational Resource

PubMed Central

Dinov, Ivo D.

2011-01-01

The need for hands-on computer laboratory experience in undergraduate and graduate statistics education has been firmly established in the past decade. As a result a number of attempts have been undertaken to develop novel approaches for problem-driven statistical thinking, data analysis and result interpretation. In this paper we describe an integrated educational web-based framework for: interactive distribution modeling, virtual online probability experimentation, statistical data analysis, visualization and integration. Following years of experience in statistical teaching at all college levels using established licensed statistical software packages, like STATA, S-PLUS, R, SPSS, SAS, Systat, etc., we have attempted to engineer a new statistics education environment, the Statistics Online Computational Resource (SOCR). This resource performs many of the standard types of statistical analysis, much like other classical tools. In addition, it is designed in a plug-in object-oriented architecture and is completely platform independent, web-based, interactive, extensible and secure. Over the past 4 years we have tested, fine-tuned and reanalyzed the SOCR framework in many of our undergraduate and graduate probability and statistics courses and have evidence that SOCR resources build student’s intuition and enhance their learning. PMID:21451741

Succession, climate, and neighborhood dynamics influence tree growth over time: an 87-year record of change in a Pinus resinosa (Aiton)-dominated forest, Minnesota, USA

Treesearch

Miranda T. Curzon; Anthony W. D' Amato; Shawn Fraver; Emily S. Huff; Brian J. Palik

2016-01-01

Resource availability and its influence on tree-to-tree interactions are expected to change over the course of forest stand development, but the rarity of long-term datasets has limited examinations of neighborhood crowding over extended time periods. How do a history of neighborhood interactions and population-level dynamics, including demographic transition, impact...

MultiWaveLink: An interactive data base for the coordination of multiwavelength and multifacility observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cordova, F. A.

1993-01-01

MultiWaveLink is an interactive, computerized data base that was developed to facilitate a multi-wavelength approach to studying astrophysical sources. It can be used to access information about multiwavelenth resources (observers, telescopes, data bases and analysis facilities) or to organize observing campaigns that require either many telescopes operating in different spectral regimes or a network of similar telescopes circumspanning the Earth.

Aeronautical Systems Division (AFSC) Program Management Resource Document.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-09-30

assure that the detail desing adeuately satisfies the requirements contained in the Part I Development Specifications and to allow the PM to formally...disciplines. He becomes a source of integrated information concerning a particular program and an interaction point for coordinating the di- verse...consider cost, schedule, and technical factors not only individually, but also their interaction on each other (5 60). The fact that a program has

Water-energy-food security nexus: the road map

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamdy, Atef

2015-04-01

The world's growing population and increased prosperity will increase global demand for energy, as well as food and water supplies in the coming decades. In the arid and semi arid regions as in most of the world water and energy have historically been managed separately, with little consideration of cross sectoral interactions, yet in reality, water and energy are closely interconnected. By addressing water and energy together planners can identify crucial interactions, conflicting demands and potential synergies. For many countries around the world it is needed to establish a road map on: (i) how to implement nexus policies to increase efficiency of natural resources management? (ii) how to bridge science with policy and business? (iii) how governments be inspired by business? (iv) how can be business be inspired by science? (v) how can we learn from each other and how collaborate to address the challenges ahead? Such road map should seek to bring together stakeholders involved in the nexus implementation approach over the coming years to develop nexus tools for decision making to quantify water energy food resources on both national and regional level. However, experiences gained and learned lessons indicate clearly that numerous countries are facing several barriers in putting in action their nexus road map due to the lack of integrated resource management, lack of capacity for research development, lack of knowledge sharing across sectors, and not enough interaction between policy makers and scientists. Those are major challenges to be faced to achieve the water, energy and food security nexus. Furthermore, such goal cannot be reached without building and strengthening the synergy between education, research and innovation for sustainable resource management. Those issues beside others will be fully discussed in this paper. Keywords: water-energy-food security; nexus

Simulating irrational human behavior to prevent resource depletion.

PubMed

Sircova, Anna; Karimi, Fariba; Osin, Evgeny N; Lee, Sungmin; Holme, Petter; Strömbom, Daniel

2015-01-01

In a situation with a limited common resource, cooperation between individuals sharing the resource is essential. However, people often act upon self-interest in irrational ways that threaten the long-term survival of the whole group. A lack of sustainable or environmentally responsible behavior is often observed. In this study, we examine how the maximization of benefits principle works in a wider social interactive context of personality preferences in order to gain a more realistic insight into the evolution of cooperation. We used time perspective (TP), a concept reflecting individual differences in orientation towards past, present, or future, and relevant for making sustainable choices. We developed a personality-driven agent-based model that explores the role of personality in the outcomes of social dilemmas and includes multiple facets of diversity: (1) The agents have different behavior strategies: individual differences derived by applying cluster analysis to survey data from 22 countries (N = 10,940) and resulting in 7 cross-cultural profiles of TP; (2) The non-uniform distribution of the types of agents across countries; (3) The diverse interactions between the agents; and (4) diverse responses to those interactions in a well-mixed population. As one of the results, we introduced an index of overall cooperation for each of the 22 countries, which was validated against cultural, economic, and sustainability indicators (HDI, dimensions of national culture, and Environment Performance Index). It was associated with higher human development, higher individualism, lower power distance, and better environmental performance. The findings illustrate how individual differences in TP can be simulated to predict the ways people in different countries solve the personal vs. common gain dilemma in the global limited-resource situation. This interdisciplinary approach to social simulation can be adopted to explain the possible causes of global environmental issues and to predict their possible outcomes.

Simulating Irrational Human Behavior to Prevent Resource Depletion

PubMed Central

Sircova, Anna; Karimi, Fariba; Osin, Evgeny N.; Lee, Sungmin; Holme, Petter; Strömbom, Daniel

2015-01-01

In a situation with a limited common resource, cooperation between individuals sharing the resource is essential. However, people often act upon self-interest in irrational ways that threaten the long-term survival of the whole group. A lack of sustainable or environmentally responsible behavior is often observed. In this study, we examine how the maximization of benefits principle works in a wider social interactive context of personality preferences in order to gain a more realistic insight into the evolution of cooperation. We used time perspective (TP), a concept reflecting individual differences in orientation towards past, present, or future, and relevant for making sustainable choices. We developed a personality-driven agent-based model that explores the role of personality in the outcomes of social dilemmas and includes multiple facets of diversity: (1) The agents have different behavior strategies: individual differences derived by applying cluster analysis to survey data from 22 countries (N = 10,940) and resulting in 7 cross-cultural profiles of TP; (2) The non-uniform distribution of the types of agents across countries; (3) The diverse interactions between the agents; and (4) diverse responses to those interactions in a well-mixed population. As one of the results, we introduced an index of overall cooperation for each of the 22 countries, which was validated against cultural, economic, and sustainability indicators (HDI, dimensions of national culture, and Environment Performance Index). It was associated with higher human development, higher individualism, lower power distance, and better environmental performance. The findings illustrate how individual differences in TP can be simulated to predict the ways people in different countries solve the personal vs. common gain dilemma in the global limited-resource situation. This interdisciplinary approach to social simulation can be adopted to explain the possible causes of global environmental issues and to predict their possible outcomes. PMID:25760635

Integration of Problem-Based Learning and Web-Based Multimedia to Enhance Soil Management Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strivelli, R.; Krzic, M.; Crowley, C.; Dyanatkar, S.; Bomke, A.; Simard, S.; Grand, S.

2012-04-01

In an attempt to address declining enrolment in soil science programs and the changing learning needs of 21st century students, several universities in North America and around the world have re-organized their soil science curriculum and adopted innovative educational approaches and web-based teaching resources. At the University of British Columbia, Canada, an interdisciplinary team set out to integrate teaching approaches to address this trend. The objective of this project was to develop an interactive web-based teaching resource, which combined a face-to-face problem-based learning (PBL) case study with multimedia to illustrate the impacts of three land-uses on soil transformation and quality. The Land Use Impacts (LUI) tool (http://soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/luitool/) was a collaborative and concentrated effort to maximize the advantages of two educational approaches: (1) the web's interactivity, flexibility, adaptability and accessibility, and (2) PBL's ability to foster an authentic learning environment, encourage group work and promote the application of core concepts. The design of the LUI case study was guided by Herrington's development principles for web-based authentic learning. The LUI tool presented students with rich multimedia (streaming videos, text, data, photographs, maps, and weblinks) and real world tasks (site assessment and soil analysis) to encourage students to utilize knowledge of soil science in collaborative problem-solving. Preliminary student feedback indicated that the LUI tool effectively conveyed case study objectives and was appealing to students. The resource is intended primarily for students enrolled in an upper level undergraduate/graduate university course titled Sustainable Soil Management but it is flexible enough to be adapted to other natural resource courses. Project planning and an interactive overview of the tool will be given during the presentation.

Organizational determinants of evaluation practice in Australian prevention agencies.

PubMed

Schwarzman, J; Bauman, A; Gabbe, B; Rissel, C; Shilton, T; Smith, B J

2018-06-01

Program evaluation is essential to inform decision making, contribute to the evidence base for strategies, and facilitate learning in health promotion and disease prevention organizations. Theoretical frameworks of organizational learning, and studies of evaluation capacity building describe the organization as central to evaluation capacity. Australian prevention organizations recognize limitations to current evaluation effectiveness and are seeking guidance to build evaluation capacity. This qualitative study identifies organizational facilitators and barriers to evaluation practice, and explores their interactions in Australian prevention organizations. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 40 experienced practitioners from government and non-government organizations. Using thematic analysis, we identified seven key themes that influence evaluation practice: leadership, organizational culture, organizational systems and structures, partnerships, resources, workforce development and training and recruitment and skills mix. We found organizational determinants of evaluation to have multi-level interactions. Leadership and organizational culture influenced organizational systems, resource allocation and support of staff. Partnerships were important to overcome resource deficits, and systems were critical to embed evaluation within the organization. Organizational factors also influenced the opportunities for staff to develop skills and confidence. We argue that investment to improve these factors would allow organizations to address evaluation capacity at multiple levels, and ultimately facilitate effective evaluation practice.

Swarmathon 2018

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-17

Students from Montgomery College in Rockville in Maryland, follow the progress of their Swarmie robots during the Swarmathon competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Students were asked to develop computer code for the small robots, programming them to look for "resources" in the form of AprilTag cubes, similar to barcodes. Teams developed search algorithms for the Swarmies to operate autonomously, communicating and interacting as a collective swarm similar to ants foraging for food. In the spaceport's third annual Swarmathon, 23 teams represented 24 minority serving universities and community colleges were invited to develop software code to operate these innovative robots known as "Swarmies" to help find resources when astronauts explore distant locations, such as the Moon or Mars.

Swarmathon 2018

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-18

In the Swarmathon competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, students were asked to develop computer code for the small robots, programming them to look for "resources" in the form of AprilTag cubes, similar to barcodes. To add to the challenge, obstacles in the form of simulated rocks were placed in the completion arena. Teams developed search algorithms for the Swarmies to operate autonomously, communicating and interacting as a collective swarm similar to ants foraging for food. In the spaceport's third annual Swarmathon, 23 teams represented 24 minority serving universities and community colleges were invited to develop software code to operate these innovative robots known as "Swarmies" to help find resources when astronauts explore distant locations, such as the Moon or Mars.

Collaboration in Community Based Rehabilitation Agencies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyce, W.; Johnston, C.

1998-01-01

Discussion of a survey on non-governmental organizations involved in community-based rehabilitation for people with disabilities focuses on differences between collaboration in industrialized and less developed countries; resource dependency; and structural characteristics of organizations that influence their interactions. The limited public…

Games and Simulations for Climate, Weather and Earth Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russell, R. M.

2014-12-01

We will demonstrate several interactive, computer-based simulations, games, and other interactive multimedia. These resources were developed for weather, climate, atmospheric science, and related Earth system science education. The materials were created by the UCAR Center for Science Education. These materials have been disseminated via our web site (SciEd.ucar.edu), webinars, online courses, teacher workshops, and large touchscreen displays in weather and Sun-Earth connections exhibits in NCAR's Mesa Lab facility in Boulder, Colorado. Our group has also assembled a web-based list of similar resources, especially simulations and games, from other sources that touch upon weather, climate, and atmospheric science topics. We'll briefly demonstrate this directory. More info available at: scied.ucar.edu/events/agu-2014-games-simulations-sessions

Swarmathon 2017

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-20

In the Swarmathon competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, students were asked to develop computer code for the small robots, programming them to look for "resources" in the form of cubes with AprilTags, similar to barcodes. Teams developed search algorithms for the Swarmies to operate autonomously, communicating and interacting as a collective swarm similar to ants foraging for food.

Developing virtual patients for medical microbiology education.

PubMed

McCarthy, David; O'Gorman, Ciaran; Gormley, Gerry J

2013-12-01

The landscape of medical education is changing as students embrace the accessibility and interactivity of e-learning. Virtual patients are e-learning resources that may be used to advance microbiology education. Although the development of virtual patients has been widely considered, here we aim to provide a coherent approach for clinical educators. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interactive Multimedia as Autonomous Learning Resource in the South Slope of Kelud Mountain in Blitar Regency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wahyuningtyas, Neni; Ratnawati, Nurul

2016-01-01

This research article reports on the development and usage of multimedia products for Instructing Social Studies (IPS) in the South Slope, Kelud Mountain schools, Blitar Regency of Indonesia. The fast pace development of multimedia products and tools has seen the increasing of children's preference to watching cinema films, playing games, and…

The Lorax Readers' Theater: Introducing Sustainability with an Integrated Science and Literacy Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plankis, Brian; Ramsey, John; Ociepka, Anne; Martin, Pamela

2016-01-01

In practice, sustainable development is the use of natural resources in a manner that allows ecosystems to continue to function as natural ecosystems and biotic and abiotic interactions to maintain checks and balances are homeostatic. Historically, human activity has led to modification of nature that leads to (1) economic development, (2) biotic…

Time-Ordered Networks Reveal Limitations to Information Flow in Ant Colonies

PubMed Central

Blonder, Benjamin; Dornhaus, Anna

2011-01-01

Background An important function of many complex networks is to inhibit or promote the transmission of disease, resources, or information between individuals. However, little is known about how the temporal dynamics of individual-level interactions affect these networks and constrain their function. Ant colonies are a model comparative system for understanding general principles linking individual-level interactions to network-level functions because interactions among individuals enable integration of multiple sources of information to collectively make decisions, and allocate tasks and resources. Methodology/Findings Here we show how the temporal and spatial dynamics of such individual interactions provide upper bounds to rates of colony-level information flow in the ant Temnothorax rugatulus. We develop a general framework for analyzing dynamic networks and a mathematical model that predicts how information flow scales with individual mobility and group size. Conclusions/Significance Using thousands of time-stamped interactions between uniquely marked ants in four colonies of a range of sizes, we demonstrate that observed maximum rates of information flow are always slower than predicted, and are constrained by regulation of individual mobility and contact rate. By accounting for the ordering and timing of interactions, we can resolve important difficulties with network sampling frequency and duration, enabling a broader understanding of interaction network functioning across systems and scales. PMID:21625450

The new interactive CESAR

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

Fox, P.B.; Yatabe, M.

1987-01-01

In this report the Nuclear Criticality Safety Analytical Methods Resource Center describes a new interactive version of CESAR, a critical experiments storage and retrieval program available on the Nuclear Criticality Information System (NCIS) database at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The original version of CESAR did not include interactive search capabilities. The CESAR database was developed to provide a convenient, readily accessible means of storing and retrieving code input data for the SCALE Criticality Safety Analytical Sequences and the codes comprising those sequences. The database includes data for both cross section preparation and criticality safety calculations. 3 refs., 1 tab.

New interactive CESAR

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

Fox, P.B.; Yatabe, M.

1987-01-01

The Nuclear Criticality Safety Analytical Methods Resource Center announces the availability of a new interactive version of CESAR, a critical experiments storage and retrieval program available on the Nuclear Criticality Information System (NCIS) data base at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The original version of CESAR did not include interactive search capabilities. The CESAR data base was developed to provide a convenient, readily accessible means of storing and retrieving code input data for the SCALE criticality safety analytical sequences and the codes comprising those sequences. The data base includes data for both cross-section preparation and criticality safety calculations.

A data-driven emulation framework for representing water-food nexus in a changing cold region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nazemi, A.; Zandmoghaddam, S.; Hatami, S.

2017-12-01

Water resource systems are under increasing pressure globally. Growing population along with competition between water demands and emerging effects of climate change have caused enormous vulnerabilities in water resource management across many regions. Diagnosing such vulnerabilities and provision of effective adaptation strategies requires the availability of simulation tools that can adequately represent the interactions between competing water demands for limiting water resources and inform decision makers about the critical vulnerability thresholds under a range of potential natural and anthropogenic conditions. Despite a significant progress in integrated modeling of water resource systems, regional models are often unable to fully represent the contemplating dynamics within the key elements of water resource systems locally. Here we propose a data-driven approach to emulate a complex regional water resource system model developed for Oldman River Basin in southern Alberta, Canada. The aim of the emulation is to provide a detailed understanding of the trade-offs and interaction at the Oldman Reservoir, which is the key to flood control and irrigated agriculture in this over-allocated semi-arid cold region. Different surrogate models are developed to represent the dynamic of irrigation demand and withdrawal as well as reservoir evaporation and release individually. The nan-falsified offline models are then integrated through the water balance equation at the reservoir location to provide a coupled model for representing the dynamic of reservoir operation and water allocation at the local scale. The performance of individual and integrated models are rigorously examined and sources of uncertainty are highlighted. To demonstrate the practical utility of such surrogate modeling approach, we use the integrated data-driven model for examining the trade-off in irrigation water supply, reservoir storage and release under a range of changing climate, upstream streamflow and local irrigation conditions.

Watermark: An Application and Methodology and Application for Interactive and intelligent Decision Support for Groundwater Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierce, S. A.; Wagner, K.; Schwartz, S.; Gentle, J. N., Jr.

2016-12-01

Critical water resources face the effects of historic drought, increased demand, and potential contamination, the need has never been greater to develop resources to effectively communicate conservation and protection across a broad audience and geographical area. The Watermark application and macro-analysis methodology merges topical analysis of context rich corpus from policy texts with multi-attributed solution sets from integrated models of water resource and other subsystems, such as mineral, food, energy, or environmental systems to construct a scalable, robust, and reproducible approach for identifying links between policy and science knowledge bases. The Watermark application is an open-source, interactive workspace to support science-based visualization and decision making. Designed with generalization in mind, Watermark is a flexible platform that allows for data analysis and inclusion of large datasets with an interactive front-end capable of connecting with other applications as well as advanced computing resources. In addition, the Watermark analysis methodology offers functionality that streamlines communication with non-technical users for policy, education, or engagement with groups around scientific topics of societal relevance. The technology stack for Watermark was selected with the goal of creating a robust and dynamic modular codebase that can be adjusted to fit many use cases and scale to support usage loads that range between simple data display to complex scientific simulation-based modelling and analytics. The methodology uses to topical analysis and simulation-optimization to systematically analyze the policy and management realities of resource systems and explicitly connect the social and problem contexts with science-based and engineering knowledge from models. A case example demonstrates use in a complex groundwater resources management study highlighting multi-criteria spatial decision making and uncertainty comparisons.

Students developing resources for students.

PubMed

Pearce, Michael; Evans, Darrell

2012-06-01

The development of new technologies has provided medical education with the ability to enhance the student learning experience and meet the needs of changing curricula. Students quickly adapt to using multimedia learning resources, but these need to be well designed, learner-centred and interactive for students to become significantly engaged. One way to ensure that students become committed users and that resources become distinct elements of the learning cycle is to involve students in resource design and production. Such an approach enables resources to accommodate student needs and preferences, but also provides opportunities for them to develop their own teaching and training skills. The aim of the medical student research project was to design and produce an electronic resource that was focused on a particular anatomical region. The views of other medical students were used to decide what features were suitable for inclusion and the resulting package contained basic principles and clinical relevance, and used a variety of approaches such as images of cadaveric material, living anatomy movies and quizzes. The completed package was assessed using a survey matrix and found to compare well with commercially available products. Given the ever-diversifying arena of multimedia instruction and the ability of students to be fully conversant with technology, this project demonstrates that students are ideal participants and creators of multimedia resources. It is hoped that such an approach will help to further develop the skill base of students, but will also provide an avenue of developing packages that are student user friendly, and that are focused towards particular curricula requirements. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012.

SOCRAT Platform Design: A Web Architecture for Interactive Visual Analytics Applications

PubMed Central

Kalinin, Alexandr A.; Palanimalai, Selvam; Dinov, Ivo D.

2018-01-01

The modern web is a successful platform for large scale interactive web applications, including visualizations. However, there are no established design principles for building complex visual analytics (VA) web applications that could efficiently integrate visualizations with data management, computational transformation, hypothesis testing, and knowledge discovery. This imposes a time-consuming design and development process on many researchers and developers. To address these challenges, we consider the design requirements for the development of a module-based VA system architecture, adopting existing practices of large scale web application development. We present the preliminary design and implementation of an open-source platform for Statistics Online Computational Resource Analytical Toolbox (SOCRAT). This platform defines: (1) a specification for an architecture for building VA applications with multi-level modularity, and (2) methods for optimizing module interaction, re-usage, and extension. To demonstrate how this platform can be used to integrate a number of data management, interactive visualization, and analysis tools, we implement an example application for simple VA tasks including raw data input and representation, interactive visualization and analysis. PMID:29630069

SOCRAT Platform Design: A Web Architecture for Interactive Visual Analytics Applications.

PubMed

Kalinin, Alexandr A; Palanimalai, Selvam; Dinov, Ivo D

2017-04-01

The modern web is a successful platform for large scale interactive web applications, including visualizations. However, there are no established design principles for building complex visual analytics (VA) web applications that could efficiently integrate visualizations with data management, computational transformation, hypothesis testing, and knowledge discovery. This imposes a time-consuming design and development process on many researchers and developers. To address these challenges, we consider the design requirements for the development of a module-based VA system architecture, adopting existing practices of large scale web application development. We present the preliminary design and implementation of an open-source platform for Statistics Online Computational Resource Analytical Toolbox (SOCRAT). This platform defines: (1) a specification for an architecture for building VA applications with multi-level modularity, and (2) methods for optimizing module interaction, re-usage, and extension. To demonstrate how this platform can be used to integrate a number of data management, interactive visualization, and analysis tools, we implement an example application for simple VA tasks including raw data input and representation, interactive visualization and analysis.

Interactive Online Modules and Videos for Learning Geological Concepts at the University of Toronto Department of Earth Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veglio, E.; Graves, L. W.; Bank, C. G.

2014-12-01

We designed various computer-based applications and videos as educational resources for undergraduate courses at the University of Toronto in the Earth Science Department. These resources were developed in effort to enhance students' self-learning of key concepts as identified by educators at the department. The interactive learning modules and videos were created using the programs MATLAB and Adobe Creative Suite 5 (Photoshop and Premiere) and range from optical mineralogy (extinction and Becke line), petrology (equilibrium melting in 2-phase systems), crystallography (crystal systems), geophysics (gravity anomaly), and geologic history (evolution of Canada). These resources will be made available for students on internal course websites as well as through the University of Toronto Earth Science's website (www.es.utoronto.ca) where appropriate; the video platform YouTube.com may be used to reach a wide audience and promote the material. Usage of the material will be monitored and feedback will be collected over the next academic year in order to gage the use of these interactive learning tools and to assess if these computer-based applications and videos foster student engagement and active learning, and thus offer an enriched learning experience.

Ensembl Genomes 2016: more genomes, more complexity.

PubMed

Kersey, Paul Julian; Allen, James E; Armean, Irina; Boddu, Sanjay; Bolt, Bruce J; Carvalho-Silva, Denise; Christensen, Mikkel; Davis, Paul; Falin, Lee J; Grabmueller, Christoph; Humphrey, Jay; Kerhornou, Arnaud; Khobova, Julia; Aranganathan, Naveen K; Langridge, Nicholas; Lowy, Ernesto; McDowall, Mark D; Maheswari, Uma; Nuhn, Michael; Ong, Chuang Kee; Overduin, Bert; Paulini, Michael; Pedro, Helder; Perry, Emily; Spudich, Giulietta; Tapanari, Electra; Walts, Brandon; Williams, Gareth; Tello-Ruiz, Marcela; Stein, Joshua; Wei, Sharon; Ware, Doreen; Bolser, Daniel M; Howe, Kevin L; Kulesha, Eugene; Lawson, Daniel; Maslen, Gareth; Staines, Daniel M

2016-01-04

Ensembl Genomes (http://www.ensemblgenomes.org) is an integrating resource for genome-scale data from non-vertebrate species, complementing the resources for vertebrate genomics developed in the context of the Ensembl project (http://www.ensembl.org). Together, the two resources provide a consistent set of programmatic and interactive interfaces to a rich range of data including reference sequence, gene models, transcriptional data, genetic variation and comparative analysis. This paper provides an update to the previous publications about the resource, with a focus on recent developments. These include the development of new analyses and views to represent polyploid genomes (of which bread wheat is the primary exemplar); and the continued up-scaling of the resource, which now includes over 23 000 bacterial genomes, 400 fungal genomes and 100 protist genomes, in addition to 55 genomes from invertebrate metazoa and 39 genomes from plants. This dramatic increase in the number of included genomes is one part of a broader effort to automate the integration of archival data (genome sequence, but also associated RNA sequence data and variant calls) within the context of reference genomes and make it available through the Ensembl user interfaces. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Ensembl Genomes 2016: more genomes, more complexity

PubMed Central

Kersey, Paul Julian; Allen, James E.; Armean, Irina; Boddu, Sanjay; Bolt, Bruce J.; Carvalho-Silva, Denise; Christensen, Mikkel; Davis, Paul; Falin, Lee J.; Grabmueller, Christoph; Humphrey, Jay; Kerhornou, Arnaud; Khobova, Julia; Aranganathan, Naveen K.; Langridge, Nicholas; Lowy, Ernesto; McDowall, Mark D.; Maheswari, Uma; Nuhn, Michael; Ong, Chuang Kee; Overduin, Bert; Paulini, Michael; Pedro, Helder; Perry, Emily; Spudich, Giulietta; Tapanari, Electra; Walts, Brandon; Williams, Gareth; Tello–Ruiz, Marcela; Stein, Joshua; Wei, Sharon; Ware, Doreen; Bolser, Daniel M.; Howe, Kevin L.; Kulesha, Eugene; Lawson, Daniel; Maslen, Gareth; Staines, Daniel M.

2016-01-01

Ensembl Genomes (http://www.ensemblgenomes.org) is an integrating resource for genome-scale data from non-vertebrate species, complementing the resources for vertebrate genomics developed in the context of the Ensembl project (http://www.ensembl.org). Together, the two resources provide a consistent set of programmatic and interactive interfaces to a rich range of data including reference sequence, gene models, transcriptional data, genetic variation and comparative analysis. This paper provides an update to the previous publications about the resource, with a focus on recent developments. These include the development of new analyses and views to represent polyploid genomes (of which bread wheat is the primary exemplar); and the continued up-scaling of the resource, which now includes over 23 000 bacterial genomes, 400 fungal genomes and 100 protist genomes, in addition to 55 genomes from invertebrate metazoa and 39 genomes from plants. This dramatic increase in the number of included genomes is one part of a broader effort to automate the integration of archival data (genome sequence, but also associated RNA sequence data and variant calls) within the context of reference genomes and make it available through the Ensembl user interfaces. PMID:26578574

Patterns of resource exploitation in four coexisting globeflower fly species ( Chiastocheta sp.)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pompanon, François; Pettex, Emeline; Després, Laurence

2006-03-01

Life history and spatio-temporal patterns of resource utilisation were characterised in four Chiastocheta (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) species, whose larvae compete as seed predators on Trollius europaeus fruits. Interspecific co-occurrence was observed in 80% of the resource patches (= Trollius fruits) in the two communities studied. Isolated larvae from all species had a similar food intake, but differed in development time and size at emergence. Different species exhibit contrasting resource exploitation strategies with specific mining patterns and a partial temporal shift. Two species exhibited particularly singular strategies. C. rotundiventris escaped from strong interactions with other species because it was the first species to develop and the only one to exploit the central pith of Trollius fruits. The key role of this species as the main pollinator of the host-plant appears to be a by-product of constraints imposed by occupying a restricted niche. Although the resource is ephemeral due to seed dispersal, C. dentifera, the last species to oviposit, is not disadvantaged because it has a short development time and rapid food intake. The different patterns can partly explain the stability of Chiastocheta communities, but do not prevent competition to occur at high larval densities.

Peer Groups as a Context for School Misconduct: The Moderating Role of Group Interactional Style.

PubMed

Ellis, Wendy; Zarbatany, Lynne; Chen, Xinyin; Kinal, Megan; Boyko, Lisa

2018-01-01

Peer group interactional style was examined as a moderator of the relation between peer group school misconduct and group members' school misconduct. Participants were 705 students (M age  = 11.59 years, SD = 1.37) in 148 peer groups. Children reported on their school misconduct in fall and spring. In the winter, group members were observed in a limited-resource task and a group conversation task, and negative and positive group interactional styles were assessed. Multilevel modeling indicated that membership in groups that were higher on school misconduct predicted greater school misconduct only when the groups were high on negative or low on positive interactional style. Results suggest that negative laughter and a coercive interactional style may intensify group effects on children's misconduct. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Developing models that analyze the economic/environmental trade-offs implicit in water resource management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howitt, R. E.

2016-12-01

Hydro-economic models have been used to analyze optimal supply management and groundwater use for the past 25 years. They are characterized by an objective function that usually maximizes economic measures such as consumer and producer surplus subject to hydrologic equations of motion or water distribution systems. The hydrologic and economic components are sometimes fully integrated. Alternatively they may use an iterative interactive process. Environmental considerations have been included in hydro-economic models as inequality constraints. Representing environmental requirements as constraints is a rigid approximation of the range of management alternatives that could be used to implement environmental objectives. The next generation of hydro-economic models, currently being developed, require that the environmental alternatives be represented by continuous or semi-continuous functions which relate water resource use allocated to the environment with the probabilities of achieving environmental objectives. These functions will be generated by process models of environmental and biological systems which are now advanced to the state that they can realistically represent environmental systems and flexibility to interact with economic models. Examples are crop growth models, climate modeling, and biological models of forest, fish, and fauna systems. These process models can represent environmental outcomes in a form that is similar to economic production functions. When combined with economic models the interacting process models can reproduce a range of trade-offs between economic and environmental objectives, and thus optimize social value of many water and environmental resources. Some examples of this next-generation of hydro-enviro- economic models are reviewed. In these models implicit production functions for environmental goods are combined with hydrologic equations of motion and economic response functions. We discuss models that show interaction between environmental goods and agricultural production, and others that address alternative climate change policies, or habitat provision.

The OOI Ocean Education Portal: Enabling the Development of Online Data Investigations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lichtenwalner, C. S.; McDonnell, J. D.; Crowley, M. F.; deCharon, A.; Companion, C. J.; Glenn, S. M.

2016-02-01

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) was designed to transform ocean science, by establishing a long-term, multi-instrument, multi-platform research infrastructure at 7 arrays around the word. This unprecedented investment in ocean observation, funded by the National Science Foundation, provides a rich opportunity to reshape ocean science education as well. As part of the initial construction effort, an online Ocean Education Portal was developed to support the creation and sharing of educational resources by undergraduate faculty at universities and community colleges. The portal includes a suite of tools that enable the development of online activities for use as group or individual projects, which can be used during lectures or as homework assignments. The site includes: 1) a suite of interactive educational data visualization tools that provide simple and targeted interfaces to interact with OOI datasets; 2) a concept map builder that can be used by both educators and students to build networked diagrams of their knowledge; and 3) a "data investigation" builder that allows faculty to assemble resources into coherent learning modules. The site also includes a "vocabulary navigator" that provides a visual way to discover and learn about the OOI's infrastructure and scientific design. The site allows users to browse an ever-growing database of resources created by the community, and likewise, users can share resources they create with others. As the OOI begins its 25-year operational phase, it is our hope that faculty will be able to use the tools and investigations on the Ocean Education Portal to bring real ocean science research to their undergraduate students.

Extending MAM5 Meta-Model and JaCalIV E Framework to Integrate Smart Devices from Real Environments.

PubMed

Rincon, J A; Poza-Lujan, Jose-Luis; Julian, V; Posadas-Yagüe, Juan-Luis; Carrascosa, C

2016-01-01

This paper presents the extension of a meta-model (MAM5) and a framework based on the model (JaCalIVE) for developing intelligent virtual environments. The goal of this extension is to develop augmented mirror worlds that represent a real and virtual world coupled, so that the virtual world not only reflects the real one, but also complements it. A new component called a smart resource artifact, that enables modelling and developing devices to access the real physical world, and a human in the loop agent to place a human in the system have been included in the meta-model and framework. The proposed extension of MAM5 has been tested by simulating a light control system where agents can access both virtual and real sensor/actuators through the smart resources developed. The results show that the use of real environment interactive elements (smart resource artifacts) in agent-based simulations allows to minimize the error between simulated and real system.

Extending MAM5 Meta-Model and JaCalIV E Framework to Integrate Smart Devices from Real Environments

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

This paper presents the extension of a meta-model (MAM5) and a framework based on the model (JaCalIVE) for developing intelligent virtual environments. The goal of this extension is to develop augmented mirror worlds that represent a real and virtual world coupled, so that the virtual world not only reflects the real one, but also complements it. A new component called a smart resource artifact, that enables modelling and developing devices to access the real physical world, and a human in the loop agent to place a human in the system have been included in the meta-model and framework. The proposed extension of MAM5 has been tested by simulating a light control system where agents can access both virtual and real sensor/actuators through the smart resources developed. The results show that the use of real environment interactive elements (smart resource artifacts) in agent-based simulations allows to minimize the error between simulated and real system. PMID:26926691

Technology: Trigger for Change in Reference Librarianship.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallman, Clark N.

1990-01-01

Discussion of the influence of technological developments on social change focuses on the effects of information technology on academic reference librarianship. Highlights include reference skills; electronic resources; microcomputer technology; online catalogs; interaction and communication with users; the need to teach information skills; and…

Organizational Learning through Transformational Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Imran, Muhammad Kashif; Ilyas, Muhammad; Aslam, Usman; Ubaid-Ur-Rahman

2016-01-01

Purpose: The transformation of firms from resource-based-view to knowledge-based-view has extended the importance of organizational learning. Thus, this study aims to develop an organizational learning model through transformational leadership with indirect effect of knowledge management process capability and interactive role of…

AOIPS - An interactive image processing system. [Atmospheric and Oceanic Information Processing System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bracken, P. A.; Dalton, J. T.; Quann, J. J.; Billingsley, J. B.

1978-01-01

The Atmospheric and Oceanographic Information Processing System (AOIPS) was developed to help applications investigators perform required interactive image data analysis rapidly and to eliminate the inefficiencies and problems associated with batch operation. This paper describes the configuration and processing capabilities of AOIPS and presents unique subsystems for displaying, analyzing, storing, and manipulating digital image data. Applications of AOIPS to research investigations in meteorology and earth resources are featured.

E-learning resources for vascular surgeons: a needs analysis study.

PubMed

Mâtheiken, Seán J; Verstegen, Daniëlle; Beard, Jonathan; van der Vleuten, Cees

2012-01-01

To obtain the views of vascular surgeons about online resources in their specialty as a guide to future e-learning development. A focused questionnaire regarding e-learning resources in vascular surgery was circulated online. A combination of structured and open-ended questions addressed users' ranking of various resource types, examples of presently used websites, suggestions for future growth, and the opportunity to become actively involved in e-learning development. The responses were collected over a 4-week period and remained anonymous. The study was conducted online at http://www.vasculareducation.com as part of an ongoing project on e-learning for vascular surgeons by the Department of Educational Development and Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. The survey population consisted of vascular surgeons and surgical trainees in Europe. The participants were contacted via their membership of the European Society for Vascular Surgery and national academic or administrative vascular surgical organizations. Demographic information was collected about clinical seniority and country of work. In all, 252 responses were obtained. Respondents favored the development of a variety of online resources in vascular surgery. The strongest demand was for illustrations and videos of surgical techniques, followed by an interactive calendar and peer-reviewed multiple-choice questions. Overall, 46% of respondents wished to contribute actively toward e-learning development, with consultants being more willing than trainees to do so. Members of the vascular surgical community value online resources in their specialty, especially for procedural techniques. Vascular surgeons would like to be actively involved in subsequent development of e-learning resources. Copyright © 2012 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ground data systems resource allocation process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berner, Carol A.; Durham, Ralph; Reilly, Norman B.

1989-01-01

The Ground Data Systems Resource Allocation Process at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory provides medium- and long-range planning for the use of Deep Space Network and Mission Control and Computing Center resources in support of NASA's deep space missions and Earth-based science. Resources consist of radio antenna complexes and associated data processing and control computer networks. A semi-automated system was developed that allows operations personnel to interactively generate, edit, and revise allocation plans spanning periods of up to ten years (as opposed to only two or three weeks under the manual system) based on the relative merit of mission events. It also enhances scientific data return. A software system known as the Resource Allocation and Planning Helper (RALPH) merges the conventional methods of operations research, rule-based knowledge engineering, and advanced data base structures. RALPH employs a generic, highly modular architecture capable of solving a wide variety of scheduling and resource sequencing problems. The rule-based RALPH system has saved significant labor in resource allocation. Its successful use affirms the importance of establishing and applying event priorities based on scientific merit, and the benefit of continuity in planning provided by knowledge-based engineering. The RALPH system exhibits a strong potential for minimizing development cycles of resource and payload planning systems throughout NASA and the private sector.

Common Ground: An Interactive Visual Exploration and Discovery for Complex Health Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

annotate other ontologies for the visual interface client. Finally, we are actively working on software development of both a backend server and the...the following infrastructure and resources. For the development and management of the ontologies, we installed a framework consisting of a server...that is being developed by Google. Using these 9 technologies, we developed an HTML5 client that runs on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and mobile systems

Framework for measuring sustainable development in catchment systems.

PubMed

Walmsley, Jay J

2002-02-01

Integrated catchment management represents an approach to managing the resources of a catchment by integrating environmental, economic, and social issues. It is aimed at deriving sustainable benefits for future generations, while protecting natural resources, particularly water, and minimizing possible adverse social, economic, and environmental consequences. Indicators of sustainable development, which summarize information for use in decision-making, are invaluable when trying to assess the diverse, interacting components of catchment processes and resource management actions. The Driving-Forces--Pressure--State--Impact--Response (DPSIR) indicator framework is useful for identifying and developing indicators of sustainable development for catchment management. Driving forces have been identified as the natural conditions occurring in a catchment and the level of development and economic activity. Pressures include the natural and anthropogenic supply of water, water demand, and water pollution. State indicators can be split into those of quantity and those of quality. Impacts include those that affect the ecosystems directly and those that impact the use value of the resource. It core indicators are identified within each of the categories given in the framework, most major catchment-based management issues can be evaluated. This framework is applied to identify key issues in catchment management in South Africa, and develop a set of indicators for evaluating catchments throughout the country.

Interventions and Interactions: Understanding Coupled Human-Water Dynamics for Improved Water Resources Management in the Himalayas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crootof, A.

2017-12-01

Understanding coupled human-water dynamics offers valuable insights to address fundamental water resources challenges posed by environmental change. With hydropower reshaping human-water interactions in mountain river basins, there is a need for a socio-hydrology framework—which examines two-way feedback loops between human and water systems—to more effectively manage water resources. This paper explores the cross-scalar interactions and feedback loops between human and water systems in river basins affected by run-of-the-river hydropower and highlights the utility of a socio-hydrology perspectives to enhance water management in the face of environmental change. In the Himalayas, the rapid expansion of run-of-the-river hydropower—which diverts streamflow for energy generation—is reconfiguring the availability, location, and timing of water resources. This technological intervention in the river basin not only alters hydrologic dyanmics but also shapes social outcomes. Using hydropower development in the highlands of Uttarakhand, India as a case study, I first illustrate how run-of-the-river projects transform human-water dynamics by reshaping the social and physical landscape of a river basin. Second, I emphasize how examining cross-scalar feedbacks among structural dynamics, social outcomes, and values and norms in this coupled human-water system can inform water management. Third, I present hydrological and social literature, raised separately, to indicate collaborative research needs and knowledge gaps for coupled human-water systems affected by run-of-the-river hydropower. The results underscore the need to understand coupled human-water dynamics to improve water resources management in the face of environmental change.

Social and Economic Analysis Branch: integrating policy, social, economic, and natural science

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schuster, Rudy; Walters, Katie D.

2015-01-01

The Fort Collins Science Center's Social and Economic Analysis Branch provides unique capabilities in the U.S. Geological Survey by leading projects that integrate social, behavioral, economic, and natural science in the context of human–natural resource interactions. Our research provides scientific understanding and support for the management and conservation of our natural resources in support of multiple agency missions. We focus on meeting the scientific needs of the Department of the Interior natural resource management bureaus in addition to fostering partnerships with other Federal and State managers to protect, restore, and enhance our environment. The Social and Economic Analysis Branch has an interdisciplinary group of scientists whose primary functions are to conduct both theoretical and applied social science research, provide technical assistance, and offer training to support the development of skills in natural resource management activities. Management and research issues associated with human-resource interactions typically occur in a unique context and require knowledge of both natural and social sciences, along with the skill to integrate multiple science disciplines. In response to these challenging contexts, Social and Economic Analysis Branch researchers apply a wide variety of social science concepts and methods which complement our rangeland/agricultural, wildlife, ecology, and biology capabilities. The goal of the Social and Economic Analysis Branch's research is to enhance natural-resource management, agency functions, policies, and decisionmaking.

History of Science Web Resources at American Institute of Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Good, G. A.

2009-12-01

The Center for History of Physics and the associated Niels Bohr Library & Archives at the American Institute of Physics were pioneers in web resource development for education and for research in the 1990s. While these units of AIP continue to add significantly to the traditional ways of putting content before the public, they are also experimenting with blogs and Facebook, and are looking at other forms of interactive web presence. This talk explores how an active research center is trying to do both.

Securing Resources in Collaborative Environments: A Peer-to-peerApproach

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

Berket, Karlo; Essiari, Abdelilah; Thompson, Mary R.

2005-09-19

We have developed a security model that facilitates control of resources by autonomous peers who act on behalf of collaborating users. This model allows a gradual build-up of trust. It enables secure interactions among users that do not necessarily know each other and allows them to build trust over the course of their collaboration. This paper describes various aspects of our security model and describes an architecture that implements this model to provide security in pure peer-to-peer environments.

Monitoring Contract Enforcement within Virtual Organizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Squicciarini, Anna; Paci, Federica

Virtual Organizations (VOs) represent a new collaboration paradigm in which the participating entities pool resources, services, and information to achieve a common goal. VOs are often created on demand and dynamically evolve over time. An organization identifies a business opportunity and creates a VO to meet it. In this paper we develop a system for monitoring the sharing of resources in VO. Sharing rules are defined by a particular, common type of contract in which virtual organization members agree to make available some amount of specified resource over a given time period. The main component of the system is a monitoring tool for policy enforcement, called Security Controller (SC). VO members’ interactions are monitored in a decentralized manner in that each member has one associated SC which intercepts all the exchanged messages. We show that having SCs in VOs prevents from serious security breaches and guarantees VOs correct functioning without degrading the execution time of members’ interactions. We base our discussion on application scenarios and illustrate the SC prototype, along with some performance evaluation.

The design and implementation of the immune epitope database and analysis resource

PubMed Central

Peters, Bjoern; Sidney, John; Bourne, Phil; Bui, Huynh-Hoa; Buus, Soeren; Doh, Grace; Fleri, Ward; Kronenberg, Mitch; Kubo, Ralph; Lund, Ole; Nemazee, David; Ponomarenko, Julia V.; Sathiamurthy, Muthu; Schoenberger, Stephen P.; Stewart, Scott; Surko, Pamela; Way, Scott; Wilson, Steve; Sette, Alessandro

2016-01-01

Epitopes are defined as parts of antigens interacting with receptors of the immune system. Knowledge about their intrinsic structure and how they affect the immune response is required to continue development of techniques that detect, monitor, and fight diseases. Their scientific importance is reflected in the vast amount of epitope-related information gathered, ranging from interactions between epitopes and major histocompatibility complex molecules determined by X-ray crystallography to clinical studies analyzing correlates of protection for epitope based vaccines. Our goal is to provide a central resource capable of capturing this information, allowing users to access and connect realms of knowledge that are currently separated and difficult to access. Here, we portray a new initiative, “The Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource.” We describe how we plan to capture, structure, and store this information, what query interfaces we will make available to the public, and what additional predictive and analytical tools we will provide. PMID:15895191

Group decision-making techniques for natural resource management applications

USGS Publications Warehouse

Coughlan, Beth A.K.; Armour, Carl L.

1992-01-01

This report is an introduction to decision analysis and problem-solving techniques for professionals in natural resource management. Although these managers are often called upon to make complex decisions, their training in the natural sciences seldom provides exposure to the decision-making tools developed in management science. Our purpose is to being to fill this gap. We present a general analysis of the pitfalls of group problem solving, and suggestions for improved interactions followed by the specific techniques. Selected techniques are illustrated. The material is easy to understand and apply without previous training or excessive study and is applicable to natural resource management issues.

The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in a Rapidly Developing Resource Sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, D. M.; Kirste, D. M.

2014-12-01

Technological advances and access to global markets have changed the rate at which resource exploitation takes place. The environmental impact of the rapid development and distribution of resources such as minerals and hydrocarbons has led to a greater potential for significant stress on water resources both in terms of quality and quantity. How and where those impacts manifest is crucial to determining appropriate risk management strategies. North East British Columbia has an abundance of shale gas reserves that are anticipated to be exploited at a large scale in coming years, primarily for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, there is growing concern that fracking and other activities related to shale gas development pose risks to water quality and quantity in the region. Water lies at the center of the water-energy-food nexus, with an accelerating water demand for fracking and industrial operations as well as for domestic, environmental and agricultural uses. Climate change is also anticipated to alter the hydrologic regime, posing added stress to the water resource. This case study examines the water-energy-food nexus in the context of a region that is impacted by a rapidly developing resource sector, encompassing water demand/supply, climate change, interaction between deep aquifers and shallow aquifers/surface waters, water quality concerns related to fracking, land use disturbance, and community impacts. Due to the rapid rate of development, there are significant knowledge gaps in our understanding of the water resource. Currently agencies are undertaking water resource assessments and establishing monitoring sites. This research aims to assess water security in North East British Columbia in a coordinated fashion through various partnerships. In addition to collecting baseline knowledge and data, the study will evaluate risk and resilience indicators in relation to water security. A risk assessment framework specific to the shale gas development context will be developed to evaluate the various components of risk spatially and temporally. Resilience is currently being assessed through a comprehensive examination of the current regulatory and policy regime.

FishFace: interactive atlas of zebrafish craniofacial development at cellular resolution

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The vertebrate craniofacial skeleton may exhibit anatomical complexity and diversity, but its genesis and evolution can be understood through careful dissection of developmental programs at cellular resolution. Resources are lacking that include introductory overviews of skeletal anatomy coupled with descriptions of craniofacial development at cellular resolution. In addition to providing analytical guidelines for other studies, such an atlas would suggest cellular mechanisms underlying development. Description We present the Fish Face Atlas, an online, 3D-interactive atlas of craniofacial development in the zebrafish Danio rerio. Alizarin red-stained skulls scanned by fluorescent optical projection tomography and segmented into individual elements provide a resource for understanding the 3D structure of the zebrafish craniofacial skeleton. These data provide the user an anatomical entry point to confocal images of Alizarin red-stained zebrafish with transgenically-labelled pharyngeal arch ectomesenchyme, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts, which illustrate the appearance, morphogenesis, and growth of the mandibular and hyoid cartilages and bones, as viewed in live, anesthetized zebrafish during embryonic and larval development. Confocal image stacks at high magnification during the same stages provide cellular detail and suggest developmental and evolutionary hypotheses. Conclusion The FishFace Atlas is a novel learning tool for understanding craniofacial skeletal development, and can serve as a reference for a variety of studies, including comparative and mutational analyses. PMID:23714426

Proposal of Postgraduate in Management to Collaborate with the Sustainable Regional Development in the State of Mexico

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galván, Israel Patiño

2017-01-01

Regional Development of the countries depends of the relation and interaction between enterprises, government, education sector and society, and the strategies to take advantage of the available resources. In that sense, the education sector plays a very important role as a supplier of competitive human capital. This study is the result of a…

Final Report: PAGE: Policy Analytics Generation Engine

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-12

develop a parallel framework for it. We also developed policies and methods by which a group of defensive resources (e.g. checkpoints) could be...Sarit Kraus. Learning to Reveal Information in Repeated Human -Computer Negotiation, Human -Agent Interaction Design and Models Workshop 2012. 04-JUN...Joseph Keshet, Sarit Kraus. Predicting Human Strategic Decisions Using Facial Expressions, International Joint Conference on Artificial

A "Do-It-Yourself" Interactive Bone Structure Module: Development and Evaluation of an Online Teaching Resource

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rich, Peter; Guy, Richard

2013-01-01

A stand-alone online teaching module was developed to cover an area of musculoskeletal anatomy (structure of bone) found to be difficult by students. The material presented in the module was not formally presented in any other way, thus providing additional time for other curriculum components, but it was assessed in the final examination. The…

"Your Mum and Dad Can't Teach You!": Constraints on Agency among Rural Learners of English in the Developing World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamb, Martin

2013-01-01

Learning outcomes are always the product of the interaction between individual learner agency and social structures. Recently concern has been expressed about unequal access to English, recognised as an important resource for social advancement, for rural populations in developing countries. This paper explores this issue by focusing on one…

Law of Large Numbers: The Theory, Applications and Technology-Based Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dinov, Ivo D.; Christou, Nicolas; Gould, Robert

2009-01-01

Modern approaches for technology-based blended education utilize a variety of recently developed novel pedagogical, computational and network resources. Such attempts employ technology to deliver integrated, dynamically-linked, interactive-content and heterogeneous learning environments, which may improve student comprehension and information…

A Sense of Place: Integrating Environmental Psychology into Marine Socio-Ecological Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Putten, I. E.; Fleming, A.; Fulton, E.; Plaganyi-Lloyd, E.

2016-02-01

Sense of place is a concept that is increasingly applied in different social research contexts where it can act as a bridge between disciplines that might otherwise work in parallel. A sense of place is a well established and flexible concept that has been empirically measured using different survey methods. The psychological principals and theories that underpin sense of place have been inextricably linked to the quality of ecological systems and the impact on development of the system, and vice versa. Ecological models and scenario analyses play an important role in characterising, assessing and predicting the potential impacts of alternative developments and other changes affecting ecological systems. To improve the predictive accuracy of ecological models, human drivers, interactions, and uses have been dynamically incorporated, for instance, through management strategy evaluation applied to marine ecosystem models. However, to date no socio-ecological models (whether terrestrial or marine) have been developed that incorporate a dynamic feedback between ecosystem characteristics and peoples' sense of place. These models thus essentially ignore the influence of environmental psychology on the way people use and interact with ecosystems. We develop a proof of concept and provide a mathematical basis for a Sense of Place Index (SoPI) that allows the quantitative integration of environmental psychology into socio-ecological models. Incorporating dynamic feedback between the SoPI for different resource user groups and the ecological system improves the accuracy and precision of predictions regarding future resource use as well as, ultimately, the potential state of the resource to be developed.

Concierge: Personal Database Software for Managing Digital Research Resources

PubMed Central

Sakai, Hiroyuki; Aoyama, Toshihiro; Yamaji, Kazutsuna; Usui, Shiro

2007-01-01

This article introduces a desktop application, named Concierge, for managing personal digital research resources. Using simple operations, it enables storage of various types of files and indexes them based on content descriptions. A key feature of the software is a high level of extensibility. By installing optional plug-ins, users can customize and extend the usability of the software based on their needs. In this paper, we also introduce a few optional plug-ins: literature management, electronic laboratory notebook, and XooNlps client plug-ins. XooNIps is a content management system developed to share digital research resources among neuroscience communities. It has been adopted as the standard database system in Japanese neuroinformatics projects. Concierge, therefore, offers comprehensive support from management of personal digital research resources to their sharing in open-access neuroinformatics databases such as XooNIps. This interaction between personal and open-access neuroinformatics databases is expected to enhance the dissemination of digital research resources. Concierge is developed as an open source project; Mac OS X and Windows XP versions have been released at the official site (http://concierge.sourceforge.jp). PMID:18974800

Singapore National Medical Image Resource Centre (SN.MIRC): a world wide web resource for radiology education.

PubMed

Yang, Guo-Liang; Lim, C C Tchoyoson

2006-08-01

Radiology education is heavily dependent on visual images, and case-based teaching files comprising medical images can be an important tool for teaching diagnostic radiology. Currently, hardcopy film is being rapidly replaced by digital radiological images in teaching hospitals, and an electronic teaching file (ETF) library would be desirable. Furthermore, a repository of ETFs deployed on the World Wide Web has the potential for e-learning applications to benefit a larger community of learners. In this paper, we describe a Singapore National Medical Image Resource Centre (SN.MIRC) that can serve as a World Wide Web resource for teaching diagnostic radiology. On SN.MIRC, ETFs can be created using a variety of mechanisms including file upload and online form-filling, and users can search for cases using the Medical Image Resource Center (MIRC) query schema developed by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The system can be improved with future enhancements, including multimedia interactive teaching files and distance learning for continuing professional development. However, significant challenges exist when exploring the potential of using the World Wide Web for radiology education.

Supercomputing resources empowering superstack with interactive and integrated systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rückemann, Claus-Peter

2012-09-01

This paper presents the results from the development and implementation of Superstack algorithms to be dynamically used with integrated systems and supercomputing resources. Processing of geophysical data, thus named geoprocessing, is an essential part of the analysis of geoscientific data. The theory of Superstack algorithms and the practical application on modern computing architectures was inspired by developments introduced with processing of seismic data on mainframes and within the last years leading to high end scientific computing applications. There are several stacking algorithms known but with low signal to noise ratio in seismic data the use of iterative algorithms like the Superstack can support analysis and interpretation. The new Superstack algorithms are in use with wave theory and optical phenomena on highly performant computing resources for huge data sets as well as for sophisticated application scenarios in geosciences and archaeology.

Uni-directional consumer-resource theory characterizing transitions of interaction outcomes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wang, Y.; DeAngelis, D.L.; Holland, J.N.

2011-01-01

A resource is considered here to be a biotic population that helps to maintain the population growth of its consumers, whereas a consumer utilizes a resource and in turn decreases its growth rate. Bi-directional consumer-resource (C-R) interactions have been the object of recent theory. In these interactions, each species acts, in some respects, as both a consumer and a resource of the other, which is the basis of many mutualisms. In uni-directional C-R interactions between two species, one acts as a consumer and the other as a material and/or energy resource, while neither acts as both. The relationship between insect pollinator/seed parasites and the host plant is an example of the latter interaction type of C-R, as the insect provides no material resource to the plant (though it provides a pollination service). In this paper we consider a different variation of the uni-directional C-R interaction, in which the resource species has both positive and negative effects on the consumer species, while the consumer has only a negative effect on the resource. A predator-prey system in which the prey is able to kill or consume predator eggs or larvae is an example. Our aim is to demonstrate mechanisms by which interaction outcomes of this system vary with different conditions, and thus to extend the uni-directional C-R theory established by Holland and DeAngelis (2009). By the analysis of a specific two-species system, it is shown that there is no periodic solution of the system, and the parameter (factor) space can be divided into six regions, which correspond to predation/parasitism, amensalism, and competition. The interaction outcomes of the system transition smoothly when the parameters are changed continuously in the six regions and/or initial densities of the species vary in a smooth fashion. Varying a pair of parameters can also result in the transitions. The analysis leads to both conditions under which the species approach their maximal densities, and explanations for phenomena in experiments by Urabe and Sterner (1996). ?? 2011 .

A method for creating interactive content for the iPod, and its potential use as a learning tool: Technical Advances

PubMed Central

Palmer, Edward J; Devitt, Peter G

2007-01-01

Background Podcasting is currently a popular means of delivery of information with a large number of podcasts specifically tailored for educational purposes. It can be argued that the passive nature of this teaching methodology limits the educational benefit that can be derived from podcasts. This paper describes the development and construction of interactive material for the iPod, and a survey of student attitudes towards this type of learning material. Methods The development of interactive material for an iPod is described in detail. This material was developed and demonstrated to 50 medical students. These students completed a paper-based survey on the potential uses of this technology, before and after a 20 minute presentation in class of an interactive case-study on an iPod. Results A technical description of how to develop interactive content for the iPod was created. The results of the student survey indicate a favourable shift in student attitudes after viewing the interactive case. Despite only 15% of the students owning an iPod, 57% of the students were positive about having access to interactive iPod content and 59% believed they would use it whilst travelling. The percentage of students who felt podcasting was a useful means of learning increased from 9% to 41%. Conclusion The development of interactive content for the iPod is feasible. There are indications that students view interactive iPod cases as having value as an additional learning resource. PMID:17888168

Information needs for making clinical recommendations about potential drug-drug interactions: a synthesis of literature review and interviews.

PubMed

Romagnoli, Katrina M; Nelson, Scott D; Hines, Lisa; Empey, Philip; Boyce, Richard D; Hochheiser, Harry

2017-02-22

Drug information compendia and drug-drug interaction information databases are critical resources for clinicians and pharmacists working to avoid adverse events due to exposure to potential drug-drug interactions (PDDIs). Our goal is to develop information models, annotated data, and search tools that will facilitate the interpretation of PDDI information. To better understand the information needs and work practices of specialists who search and synthesize PDDI evidence for drug information resources, we conducted an inquiry that combined a thematic analysis of published literature with unstructured interviews. Starting from an initial set of relevant articles, we developed search terms and conducted a literature search. Two reviewers conducted a thematic analysis of included articles. Unstructured interviews with drug information experts were conducted and similarly coded. Information needs, work processes, and indicators of potential strengths and weaknesses of information systems were identified. Review of 92 papers and 10 interviews identified 56 categories of information needs related to the interpretation of PDDI information including drug and interaction information; study design; evidence including clinical details, quality and content of reports, and consequences; and potential recommendations. We also identified strengths/weaknesses of PDDI information systems. We identified the kinds of information that might be most effective for summarizing PDDIs. The drug information experts we interviewed had differing goals, suggesting a need for detailed information models and flexible presentations. Several information needs not discussed in previous work were identified, including temporal overlaps in drug administration, biological plausibility of interactions, and assessment of the quality and content of reports. Richly structured depictions of PDDI information may help drug information experts more effectively interpret data and develop recommendations. Effective information models and system designs will be needed to maximize the utility of this information.

An interactive web application for the dissemination of human systems immunology data.

PubMed

Speake, Cate; Presnell, Scott; Domico, Kelly; Zeitner, Brad; Bjork, Anna; Anderson, David; Mason, Michael J; Whalen, Elizabeth; Vargas, Olivia; Popov, Dimitry; Rinchai, Darawan; Jourde-Chiche, Noemie; Chiche, Laurent; Quinn, Charlie; Chaussabel, Damien

2015-06-19

Systems immunology approaches have proven invaluable in translational research settings. The current rate at which large-scale datasets are generated presents unique challenges and opportunities. Mining aggregates of these datasets could accelerate the pace of discovery, but new solutions are needed to integrate the heterogeneous data types with the contextual information that is necessary for interpretation. In addition, enabling tools and technologies facilitating investigators' interaction with large-scale datasets must be developed in order to promote insight and foster knowledge discovery. State of the art application programming was employed to develop an interactive web application for browsing and visualizing large and complex datasets. A collection of human immune transcriptome datasets were loaded alongside contextual information about the samples. We provide a resource enabling interactive query and navigation of transcriptome datasets relevant to human immunology research. Detailed information about studies and samples are displayed dynamically; if desired the associated data can be downloaded. Custom interactive visualizations of the data can be shared via email or social media. This application can be used to browse context-rich systems-scale data within and across systems immunology studies. This resource is publicly available online at [Gene Expression Browser Landing Page ( https://gxb.benaroyaresearch.org/dm3/landing.gsp )]. The source code is also available openly [Gene Expression Browser Source Code ( https://github.com/BenaroyaResearch/gxbrowser )]. We have developed a data browsing and visualization application capable of navigating increasingly large and complex datasets generated in the context of immunological studies. This intuitive tool ensures that, whether taken individually or as a whole, such datasets generated at great effort and expense remain interpretable and a ready source of insight for years to come.

Students' meaning making in science: solving energy resource problems in virtual worlds combined with spreadsheets to develop graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krange, Ingeborg; Arnseth, Hans Christian

2012-09-01

The aim of this study is to scrutinize the characteristics of conceptual meaning making when students engage with virtual worlds in combination with a spreadsheet with the aim to develop graphs. We study how these tools and the representations they contain or enable students to construct serve to influence their understanding of energy resource consumption. The data were gathered in 1st grade upper-secondary science classes and they constitute the basis for the interaction analysis of students' meaning making with representations. Our analyses demonstrate the difficulties involved in developing students' orientation toward more conceptual orientations to representations of the knowledge domain. Virtual worlds do not in themselves represent a solution to this problem.

From interaction to interaction: Exploring shared resources constructed through and mediating classroom science learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Xiaowei

Recent reform documents and science education literature emphasize the importance of scientific argumentation as a discourse and practice of science that should be supported in school science learning. Much of this literature focuses on the structure of argument, whether for assessing the quality of argument or designing instructional scaffolds. This study challenges the narrowness of this research paradigm and argues for the necessity of examining students' argumentative practices as rooted in the complex, evolving system of the classroom. Employing a sociocultural-historical lens of activity theory (Engestrom, 1987, 1999), discourse analysis is employed to explore how a high school biology class continuously builds affordances and constraints for argumentation practices through interactions. The ways in which argumentation occurs, including the nature of teacher and student participation, are influenced by learning goals, classroom norms, teacher-student relationships and epistemological stances constructed through a class' interactive history. Based on such findings, science education should consider promoting classroom scientific argumentation as a long-term process, requiring supportive resources that develop through continuous classroom interactions. Moreover, in order to understand affordances that support disciplinary learning in classroom, we need to look beyond just disciplinary interactions. This work has implications for classroom research on argumentation and teacher education, specifically, the preparation of teachers for secondary science teaching.

Split luciferase complementation assay to detect regulated protein-protein interactions in rice protoplasts in a large-scale format

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The rice interactome, in which a network of protein-protein interactions has been elucidated in rice, is a useful resource to identify functional modules of rice signal transduction pathways. Protein-protein interactions occur in cells in two ways, constitutive and regulative. While a yeast-based high-throughput method has been widely used to identify the constitutive interactions, a method to detect the regulated interactions is rarely developed for a large-scale analysis. Results A split luciferase complementation assay was applied to detect the regulated interactions in rice. A transformation method of rice protoplasts in a 96-well plate was first established for a large-scale analysis. In addition, an antibody that specifically recognizes a carboxyl-terminal fragment of Renilla luciferase was newly developed. A pair of antibodies that recognize amino- and carboxyl- terminal fragments of Renilla luciferase, respectively, was then used to monitor quality and quantity of interacting recombinant-proteins accumulated in the cells. For a proof-of-concept, the method was applied to detect the gibberellin-dependent interaction between GIBBERELLIN INSENSITIVE DWARF1 and SLENDER RICE 1. Conclusions A method to detect regulated protein-protein interactions was developed towards establishment of the rice interactome. PMID:24987490

Bringing education to your virtual doorstep

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaurov, Vitaliy

2013-03-01

We currently witness significant migration of academic resources towards online CMS, social networking, and high-end computerized education. This happens for traditional academic programs as well as for outreach initiatives. The talk will go over a set of innovative integrated technologies, many of which are free. These were developed by Wolfram Research in order to facilitate and enhance the learning process in mathematical and physical sciences. Topics include: cloud computing with Mathematica Online; natural language programming; interactive educational resources and web publishing at the Wolfram Demonstrations Project; the computational knowledge engine Wolfram Alpha; Computable Document Format (CDF) and self-publishing with interactive e-books; course assistant apps for mobile platforms. We will also discuss outreach programs where such technologies are extensively used, such as the Wolfram Science Summer School and the Mathematica Summer Camp.

A Community of Peer Interactions as a Resource to Prepare Music Teacher Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shin, Jihae

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate interactions between two doctoral students and their colleagues in a graduate music education program and determine how a community of peer interactions functions as a resource to prepare music teacher educators. Results of this study showed that peer interactions between two participants and other…

Can outcomes of dyadic interactions be consistent across contexts among wild zebrafish?

PubMed Central

Roy, Tamal; Bhat, Anuradha

2015-01-01

Winner–loser relations among group-living individuals are often measured by the levels of aggressive interactions between them. These interactions are typically driven by competition for resources such as food and mates. It has been observed in recent studies on zebrafish that dominant males generally have higher total reproductive success than their less aggressive subordinate counterparts. This study aimed to test whether males who monopolized a food resource (winners) also displayed higher levels of aggression than the males who were unsuccessful (losers). Further, the study also tested whether the same ‘winner’ males were also able to monopolize interactions with females during courtship. The results from these experiments showed that while males monopolizing food resources (winners) demonstrated higher levels of agonistic interactions than the losers, the average number of courtship interactions initiated by either of the males (i.e. winners/losers) with a female was not significantly different. A significant relationship was obtained between the number of aggressive interactions and feeding latencies of males in the context of food monopolization. This indicated that there could be a linkage between boldness defined by feeding latency in a novel environment and agonistic responses. The probable role of nature of resources, resource availability and distribution in determining the outcomes of dyadic contests is discussed. PMID:26715992

Psychological Resilience among Children Affected by Parental HIV/AIDS: A Conceptual Framework

PubMed Central

Li, Xiaoming; Chi, Peilian; Sherr, Lorraine; Cluver, Lucie; Stanton, Bonita

2015-01-01

HIV-related parental illness and death have a profound and lasting impact on a child's psychosocial wellbeing, potentially compromising the child's future. In response to a paucity of theoretical and conceptual discussions regarding the development of resilience among children affected by parental HIV, we proposed a conceptual framework of psychological resilience among children affected by HIV based on critical reviews of the existing theoretical and empirical literature. Three interactive social ecological factors were proposed to promote the resilience processes and attenuate the negative impact of parental HIV on children's psychological development. Internal assets, such as cognitive capacity, motivation to adapt, coping skills, religion/spirituality, and personality, promote resilience processes. Family resources and community resources are two critical contextual factors that facilitate resilience process. Family resources contain smooth transition, functional caregivers, attachment relationship, parenting discipline. Community resources contain teacher support, peer support, adult mentors, and effective school. The implications of the conceptual framework for future research and interventions among children affected by parental HIV were discussed. PMID:26716068

Psychological Resilience among Children Affected by Parental HIV/AIDS: A Conceptual Framework.

PubMed

Li, Xiaoming; Chi, Peilian; Sherr, Lorraine; Cluver, Lucie; Stanton, Bonita

2015-01-01

HIV-related parental illness and death have a profound and lasting impact on a child's psychosocial wellbeing, potentially compromising the child's future. In response to a paucity of theoretical and conceptual discussions regarding the development of resilience among children affected by parental HIV, we proposed a conceptual framework of psychological resilience among children affected by HIV based on critical reviews of the existing theoretical and empirical literature. Three interactive social ecological factors were proposed to promote the resilience processes and attenuate the negative impact of parental HIV on children's psychological development. Internal assets, such as cognitive capacity, motivation to adapt, coping skills, religion/spirituality, and personality, promote resilience processes. Family resources and community resources are two critical contextual factors that facilitate resilience process. Family resources contain smooth transition, functional caregivers, attachment relationship, parenting discipline. Community resources contain teacher support, peer support, adult mentors, and effective school. The implications of the conceptual framework for future research and interventions among children affected by parental HIV were discussed.

Understanding and Defining sociohydrological spaces and their boundaries: an interdisciplinary perspective from collective fieldwork

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riaux, Jeanne; Leduc, Christian; Ben Aïssa, Nadhira; Burte, Julien; Calvez, Roger; habaieb, Hamadi; Ogilvie, Andrew; Massuel, Sylvain; Rochette, Romain

2014-05-01

Focussing on the interactions between water and society, researchers from various scientific disciplines have worked together on a common case study, the Merguellil catchment in Central Tunisia. The aim was to foster interactions between wide-ranging disciplines and their associated approaches, as the segmented analysis of water resources, uses and management is known to limit the comprehensive understanding of water issues. One of the major difficulties in developing a interdisciplinary approach is defining a suitable common observation space or "territory". Research in social sciences notably showed that hydrological catchments, suited to integrated water resource management, are rarely relevant to socio-political issues (water transfers, management of interfluves, etc.). Likewise, hydrological research regularly highlights the mismatch between surface and ground water processes and boundaries. Hydrological, hydrogeological and sociological boundaries also fluctuate when considering different time frames, socio-political organisations and processes. Finally, a suitable observation space must also be coherent to the variety of local stakeholders involved in the research. The present paper addressed the question of what is a common multidisciplinary observation space? What approach can help define and identify boundaries that make sense to hydrologists, agronomists, anthropologists and local stakeholders? How do we reconcile physical limits and territories? In the first instance, we focus on the value and importance of fieldwork, crucial in anthropology, but equally important for hydrologists and agronomists. Through a mutual process of defining the limits and characteristics of our research object, relevant socio-hydrological spaces were able to emerge These were circumscribed through the physical characteristics (based upon hydrological boundaries and processes) and the human particularities (political organisation, productive activities) of the study area. The characteristics of these spaces are described and the differences between them are highlighted. The presence of surface water resources in the upper catchment and the reliance of riparian populations on these resources are shown to heavily condition the behaviour and boundaries of this sociohydrological space, when compared to the downstream Kairouan irrigation plain. Crucially, relevant observation scales can not be defined through an overlap of hydrological boundaries and socio-political territories. Furthermore the value and benefits of a commonly defined socio hydrological space are highlighted through the observed interactions between surface and ground water resources, hydro agricultural activities and the history of local populations. More widely, the paper also discusses the importance of historical trajectories, upscaling difficulties and the interactions which develop for and around water resources, which must be accounted for when defining a suitable socio-hydrological space.

NRF2-ome: an integrated web resource to discover protein interaction and regulatory networks of NRF2.

PubMed

Türei, Dénes; Papp, Diána; Fazekas, Dávid; Földvári-Nagy, László; Módos, Dezső; Lenti, Katalin; Csermely, Péter; Korcsmáros, Tamás

2013-01-01

NRF2 is the master transcriptional regulator of oxidative and xenobiotic stress responses. NRF2 has important roles in carcinogenesis, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases. We developed an online resource, NRF2-ome, to provide an integrated and systems-level database for NRF2. The database contains manually curated and predicted interactions of NRF2 as well as data from external interaction databases. We integrated NRF2 interactome with NRF2 target genes, NRF2 regulating TFs, and miRNAs. We connected NRF2-ome to signaling pathways to allow mapping upstream NRF2 regulatory components that could directly or indirectly influence NRF2 activity totaling 35,967 protein-protein and signaling interactions. The user-friendly website allows researchers without computational background to search, browse, and download the database. The database can be downloaded in SQL, CSV, BioPAX, SBML, PSI-MI, and in a Cytoscape CYS file formats. We illustrated the applicability of the website by suggesting a posttranscriptional negative feedback of NRF2 by MAFG protein and raised the possibility of a connection between NRF2 and the JAK/STAT pathway through STAT1 and STAT3. NRF2-ome can also be used as an evaluation tool to help researchers and drug developers to understand the hidden regulatory mechanisms in the complex network of NRF2.

Use of Internet Resources in the Biology Lecture Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Francis, Joseph W.

2000-01-01

Introduces internet resources that are available for instructional use in biology classrooms. Provides information on video-based technologies to create and capture video sequences, interactive web sites that allow interaction with biology simulations, online texts, and interactive videos that display animated video sequences. (YDS)

Interactive Learning Modules: Enabling Near Real-Time Oceanographic Data Use In Undergraduate Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kilb, D. L.; Fundis, A. T.; Risien, C. M.

2012-12-01

The focus of the Education and Public Engagement (EPE) component of the NSF's Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is to provide a new layer of cyber-interactivity for undergraduate educators to bring near real-time data from the global ocean into learning environments. To accomplish this, we are designing six online services including: 1) visualization tools, 2) a lesson builder, 3) a concept map builder, 4) educational web services (middleware), 5) collaboration tools and 6) an educational resource database. Here, we report on our Fall 2012 release that includes the first four of these services: 1) Interactive visualization tools allow users to interactively select data of interest, display the data in various views (e.g., maps, time-series and scatter plots) and obtain statistical measures such as mean, standard deviation and a regression line fit to select data. Specific visualization tools include a tool to compare different months of data, a time series explorer tool to investigate the temporal evolution of select data parameters (e.g., sea water temperature or salinity), a glider profile tool that displays ocean glider tracks and associated transects, and a data comparison tool that allows users to view the data either in scatter plot view comparing one parameter with another, or in time series view. 2) Our interactive lesson builder tool allows users to develop a library of online lesson units, which are collaboratively editable and sharable and provides starter templates designed from learning theory knowledge. 3) Our interactive concept map tool allows the user to build and use concept maps, a graphical interface to map the connection between concepts and ideas. This tool also provides semantic-based recommendations, and allows for embedding of associated resources such as movies, images and blogs. 4) Education web services (middleware) will provide an educational resource database API.

A framework supporting the development of a Grid portal for analysis based on ROI.

PubMed

Ichikawa, K; Date, S; Kaishima, T; Shimojo, S

2005-01-01

In our research on brain function analysis, users require two different simultaneous types of processing: interactive processing to a specific part of data and high-performance batch processing to an entire dataset. The difference between these two types of processing is in whether or not the analysis is for data in the region of interest (ROI). In this study, we propose a Grid portal that has a mechanism to freely assign computing resources to the users on a Grid environment according to the users' two different types of processing requirements. We constructed a Grid portal which integrates interactive processing and batch processing by the following two mechanisms. First, a job steering mechanism controls job execution based on user-tagged priority among organizations with heterogeneous computing resources. Interactive jobs are processed in preference to batch jobs by this mechanism. Second, a priority-based result delivery mechanism that administrates a rank of data significance. The portal ensures a turn-around time of interactive processing by the priority-based job controlling mechanism, and provides the users with quality of services (QoS) for interactive processing. The users can access the analysis results of interactive jobs in preference to the analysis results of batch jobs. The Grid portal has also achieved high-performance computation of MEG analysis with batch processing on the Grid environment. The priority-based job controlling mechanism has been realized to freely assign computing resources to the users' requirements. Furthermore the achievement of high-performance computation contributes greatly to the overall progress of brain science. The portal has thus made it possible for the users to flexibly include the large computational power in what they want to analyze.

Working conditions, job strain and work engagement among Belgian radiation oncologists.

PubMed

Bragard, I; Hansez, I; Coucke, P

2014-12-01

This national survey has measured the working conditions, work engagement, job strain, burn out, and the negative work-home interaction among Belgian radiation oncologists with validated questionnaires. In fact, previous studies had in general shown an interest to burn out and its association with working conditions among oncology workers, but not focused on radiation oncologists in particular. Moreover, few studies concerned work engagement and its association with working conditions although this could be important in preventing burn out. We used the WOrking Conditions and Control Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Occupational States Inventory, the Maslach Burn out Inventory, and the negative work-home interaction subscale of the Survey Work-home Interaction Nijmegen. One open question asked about problematic job situations. Sixty-six radiation oncologists participated (30% response rate). Median scores of most of working conditions corresponded to normal scores. Control over time management (45.8) was close to low score, while control over future (60.9) was high. Median score of job strain (48.9) was normal, whereas median score of work engagement (60) was high. Median score of burn out was low. The mean of negative work-home interactions (1.1) was higher than the mean of 0.84 in a reference sample (t=4.3; P<0.001). The most frequent problematic situations referred to work organization (e.g. time pressure) and specific resources (e.g. chief support). Radiation oncologists showed a very high level of work engagement and experienced several job resources. However, some resources (as supervisor support) were missing and needed to be developed. These results were discussed in the context of motivational process described in the Job Demands-Resources Model. Copyright © 2014 Société française de radiothérapie oncologique (SFRO). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

LANDSCAPE MODELING OF CHARACTERISTIC HABITAT SCALES, DISPERSAL, AND CONNECTIVITY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ORGANISM

EPA Science Inventory

A modeling framework was developed to investigate the interactive effects of life history characteristics and landscape heterogeneity on dispersal success. An individual-based model was used to examine how dispersal between resource patches is affected by four landscape characte...

Instructional Technology. Symposium 18. [Concurrent Symposium Session at AHRD Annual Conference, 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2000

Three presentations are provided from Symposium 18, Instructional Technology, of the Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD) 2000 Conference Proceedings. "Strategies for Facilitating Interaction When Using Technology-Mediated Training Methods [TMTM]" (Jeffrey S. Lewis, Gary D. Geroy, Orlando Griego) focuses on differences between…

Resource Paper: Molecular Excited State Relaxation Processes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhodes, William

1979-01-01

Develops the concept of oscillatory v dissipative limits as it applies to electronic excited state processes in molecular systems. Main emphasis is placed on the radiative and nonradiative dynamics of the excited state of a molecule prepared by interaction with light or some other excitation source. (BT)

An interactive parents' guide for feeding preschool-aged children: pilot studies for improvement

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

There are few motivational materials to help families with limited resources develop optimal, practical feeding strategies for young children to reduce dietary risk for poor diet and weight status. Formative evaluation strategies consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data helped to refine ...

Cesar Chavez--Grade Five Model Curriculum and Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento.

In this California state curriculum model for grade 5, "United States History and Geography: A New Nation," students study the historical developments leading to the discovery and colonization of North America by European countries and the ensuing interactions between Native Americans, Europeans, and enslaved Americans. The curriculum…

Degeneracy-Driven Self-Structuring Dynamics in Selective Repertoires

PubMed Central

Atamas, Sergei P.; Bell, Jonathan

2013-01-01

Numerous biological interactions, such as interactions between T cell receptors or antibodies with antigens, interactions between enzymes and substrates, or interactions between predators and prey are often not strictly specific. In such less specific, or “sloppy,” systems, referred to here as degenerate systems, a given unit of a diverse resource (antigens, enzymatic substrates, prey) is at risk of being recognized and consumed by multiple consumers (lymphocytes, enzymes, predators). In this study, we model generalized degenerate consumer-resource systems of Lotka–Volterra and Verhulst types. In the degenerate systems of Lotka–Volterra, there is a continuum of types of consumer and resource based on variation of a single trait (characteristic, or preference). The consumers experience competition for a continuum of resource types. This non-local interaction system is modeled with partial differential-integral equations and shows spontaneous self-structuring of the consumer population that depends on the degree of interaction degeneracy between resource and consumer, but does not mirror the distribution of resource. We also show that the classical Verhulst (i.e. logistic) single population model can be generalized to a degenerate model, which shows qualitative behavior similar to that in the degenerate Lotka–Volterra model. These results provide better insight into the dynamics of selective systems in biology, suggesting that adaptation of degenerate repertoires is not a simple “mirroring” of the environment by the “fittest” elements of population. PMID:19337776

Degeneracy-driven self-structuring dynamics in selective repertoires.

PubMed

Atamas, Sergei P; Bell, Jonathan

2009-08-01

Numerous biological interactions, such as interactions between T cell receptors or antibodies with antigens, interactions between enzymes and substrates, or interactions between predators and prey are often not strictly specific. In such less specific, or "sloppy," systems, referred to here as degenerate systems, a given unit of a diverse resource (antigens, enzymatic substrates, prey) is at risk of being recognized and consumed by multiple consumers (lymphocytes, enzymes, predators). In this study, we model generalized degenerate consumer-resource systems of Lotka-Volterra and Verhulst types. In the degenerate systems of Lotka-Volterra, there is a continuum of types of consumer and resource based on variation of a single trait (characteristic, or preference). The consumers experience competition for a continuum of resource types. This non-local interaction system is modeled with partial differential-integral equations and shows spontaneous self-structuring of the consumer population that depends on the degree of interaction degeneracy between resource and consumer, but does not mirror the distribution of resource. We also show that the classical Verhulst (i.e. logistic) single population model can be generalized to a degenerate model, which shows qualitative behavior similar to that in the degenerate Lotka-Volterra model. These results provide better insight into the dynamics of selective systems in biology, suggesting that adaptation of degenerate repertoires is not a simple "mirroring" of the environment by the "fittest" elements of population.

Few Ant Species Play a Central Role Linking Different Plant Resources in a Network in Rupestrian Grasslands

PubMed Central

Mello, Marco A. R.; Bronstein, Judith L.; Guerra, Tadeu J.; Muylaert, Renata L.; Leite, Alice C.; Neves, Frederico S.

2016-01-01

Ant-plant associations are an outstanding model to study the entangled ecological interactions that structure communities. However, most studies of plant-animal networks focus on only one type of resource that mediates these interactions (e.g, nectar or fruits), leading to a biased understanding of community structure. New approaches, however, have made possible to study several interaction types simultaneously through multilayer networks models. Here, we use this approach to ask whether the structural patterns described to date for ant-plant networks hold when multiple interactions with plant-derived food rewards are considered. We tested whether networks characterized by different resource types differ in specialization and resource partitioning among ants, and whether the identity of the core ant species is similar among resource types. We monitored ant interactions with extrafloral nectaries, flowers, and fruits, as well as trophobiont hemipterans feeding on plants, for one year, in seven rupestrian grassland (campo rupestre) sites in southeastern Brazil. We found a highly tangled ant-plant network in which plants offering different resource types are connected by a few central ant species. The multilayer network had low modularity and specialization, but ant specialization and niche overlap differed according to the type of resource used. Beyond detecting structural differences across networks, our study demonstrates empirically that the core of most central ant species is similar across them. We suggest that foraging strategies of ant species, such as massive recruitment, may determine specialization and resource partitioning in ant-plant interactions. As this core of ant species is involved in multiple ecosystem functions, it may drive the diversity and evolution of the entire campo rupestre community. PMID:27911919

Interactions among resource partitioning, sampling effect, and facilitation on the biodiversity effect: a modeling approach.

PubMed

Flombaum, Pedro; Sala, Osvaldo E; Rastetter, Edward B

2014-02-01

Resource partitioning, facilitation, and sampling effect are the three mechanisms behind the biodiversity effect, which is depicted usually as the effect of plant-species richness on aboveground net primary production. These mechanisms operate simultaneously but their relative importance and interactions are difficult to unravel experimentally. Thus, niche differentiation and facilitation have been lumped together and separated from the sampling effect. Here, we propose three hypotheses about interactions among the three mechanisms and test them using a simulation model. The model simulated water movement through soil and vegetation, and net primary production mimicking the Patagonian steppe. Using the model, we created grass and shrub monocultures and mixtures, controlled root overlap and grass water-use efficiency (WUE) to simulate gradients of biodiversity, resource partitioning and facilitation. The presence of shrubs facilitated grass growth by increasing its WUE and in turn increased the sampling effect, whereas root overlap (resource partitioning) had, on average, no effect on sampling effect. Interestingly, resource partitioning and facilitation interacted so the effect of facilitation on sampling effect decreased as resource partitioning increased. Sampling effect was enhanced by the difference between the two functional groups in their efficiency in using resources. Morphological and physiological differences make one group outperform the other; once these differences were established further differences did not enhance the sampling effect. In addition, grass WUE and root overlap positively influence the biodiversity effect but showed no interactions.

Interpreting three-dimensional structures from two-dimensional images: a web-based interactive 3D teaching model of surgical liver anatomy

PubMed Central

Crossingham, Jodi L; Jenkinson, Jodie; Woolridge, Nick; Gallinger, Steven; Tait, Gordon A; Moulton, Carol-Anne E

2009-01-01

Background: Given the increasing number of indications for liver surgery and the growing complexity of operations, many trainees in surgical, imaging and related subspecialties require a good working knowledge of the complex intrahepatic anatomy. Computed tomography (CT), the most commonly used liver imaging modality, enhances our understanding of liver anatomy, but comprises a two-dimensional (2D) representation of a complex 3D organ. It is challenging for trainees to acquire the necessary skills for converting these 2D images into 3D mental reconstructions because learning opportunities are limited and internal hepatic anatomy is complicated, asymmetrical and variable. We have created a website that uses interactive 3D models of the liver to assist trainees in understanding the complex spatial anatomy of the liver and to help them create a 3D mental interpretation of this anatomy when viewing CT scans. Methods: Computed tomography scans were imported into DICOM imaging software (OsiriX™) to obtain 3D surface renderings of the liver and its internal structures. Using these 3D renderings as a reference, 3D models of the liver surface and the intrahepatic structures, portal veins, hepatic veins, hepatic arteries and the biliary system were created using 3D modelling software (Cinema 4D™). Results: Using current best practices for creating multimedia tools, a unique, freely available, online learning resource has been developed, entitled Visual Interactive Resource for Teaching, Understanding And Learning Liver Anatomy (VIRTUAL Liver) (http://pie.med.utoronto.ca/VLiver). This website uses interactive 3D models to provide trainees with a constructive resource for learning common liver anatomy and liver segmentation, and facilitates the development of the skills required to mentally reconstruct a 3D version of this anatomy from 2D CT scans. Discussion: Although the intended audience for VIRTUAL Liver consists of residents in various medical and surgical specialties, the website will also be useful for other health care professionals (i.e. radiologists, nurses, hepatologists, radiation oncologists, family doctors) and educators because it provides a comprehensive resource for teaching liver anatomy. PMID:19816618

Contrasting Role of Temperature in Structuring Regional Patterns of Invasive and Native Pestilential Stink Bugs

PubMed Central

Venugopal, P. Dilip; Dively, Galen P.; Herbert, Ames; Malone, Sean; Whalen, Joanne; Lamp, William O.

2016-01-01

Objectives Assessment and identification of spatial structures in the distribution and abundance of invasive species is important for unraveling the underlying ecological processes. The invasive agricultural insect pest Halyomorpha halys that causes severe economic losses in the United States is currently expanding both within United States and across Europe. We examined the drivers of H. halys invasion by characterizing the distribution and abundance patterns of H. halys and native stink bugs (Chinavia hilaris and Euschistus servus) across eight different spatial scales. We then quantified the interactive and individual influences of temperature, and measures of resource availability and distance from source populations, and their relevant spatial scales. We used Moran’s Eigenvector Maps based on Gabriel graph framework to quantify spatial relationships among the soybean fields in mid-Atlantic Unites States surveyed for stink bugs. Findings Results from the multi-spatial scale, multivariate analyses showed that temperature and its interaction with resource availability and distance from source populations structures the patterns in H. halys at very broad spatial scale. H. halys abundance decreased with increasing average June temperature and distance from source population. H. halys were not recorded at fields with average June temperature higher than 23.5°C. In parts with suitable climate, high H. halys abundance was positively associated with percentage developed open area and percentage deciduous forests at 250m scale. Broad scale patterns in native stink bugs were positively associated with increasing forest cover and, in contrast to the invasive H. halys, increasing mean July temperature. Our results identify the contrasting role of temperature in structuring regional patterns in H. halys and native stink bugs, while demonstrating its interaction with resource availability and distance from source populations for structuring H. halys patterns. Conclusion These results help predicting the pest potential of H. halys and vulnerability of agricultural systems at various regions, given the climatic conditions, and its interaction with resource availability and distance from source populations. Monitoring and control efforts within parts of the United States and Europe with more suitable climate could focus in areas of peri-urban developments with deciduous forests and other host plants, along with efforts to reduce propagule pressure. PMID:26928562

Online virtual cases to teach resource stewardship.

PubMed

Zhou, Linghong Linda; Tait, Gordon; Sandhu, Sharron; Steiman, Amanda; Lake, Shirley

2018-06-11

As health care costs rise, medical education must focus on high-value clinical decision making. To teach and assess efficient resource use in rheumatology, online virtual interactive cases (VICs) were developed to simulate real patient encounters to increase price transparency and reinforce cost consciousness. To teach and assess efficient resource use in rheumatology, online virtual interactive cases (VICs) were developed METHODS: The VIC modules were distributed to a sample of medical students and internal medicine residents, who were required to assess patients, order appropriate investigations, develop differential diagnoses and formulate management plans. Each action was associated with a time and price, with the totals compared against ideals. Trainees were evaluated not only on their diagnosis and patient management, but also on the total time, cost and value of their selected workup. Trainee responses were tracked anonymously, with opportunity to provide feedback at the end of each case. Seventeen medical trainees completed a total of 48 VIC modules. On average, trainees spent CAN $227.52 and 68 virtual minutes on each case, which was lower than expected. This may have been the result of a low management score of 52.4%, although on average 92.0% of participants in each case achieved the correct diagnosis. In addition, 85.7% felt more comfortable working up similar cases, and 57.1% believed that the modules increased their ability to appropriately order cost-conscious rheumatology investigations. Our initial assessment of the VIC rheumatology modules was positive, supporting their role as an effective tool in teaching an approach to rheumatology patients, with an emphasis on resource stewardship. Future directions include the expansion of cases, based on feedback, wider dissemination and an evaluation of learning retention. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

Groundwater and human development: challenges and opportunities in livelihoods and environment.

PubMed

Shah, T

2005-01-01

At less than 1000 km3/year, the world's annual use of groundwater is 1.5% of renewable water resource but contributes a lion's share of water-induced human welfare. Global groundwater use however has increased manifold in the past 50 years; and the human race has never had to manage groundwater use on such a large scale. Sustaining the massive welfare gains groundwater development has created without ruining the resource is a key water challenge facing the world today. In exploring this challenge, we have focused a good deal on conditions of resource occurrence but less so on resource use. I offer a typology of five groundwater demand systems as Groundwater Socio-ecologies (GwSE), each embodying a unique pattern of interactions between socio-economic and ecological variables, and each facing a distinct groundwater governance challenge. During the past century, a growing corpus of experiential knowledge has accumulated in the industrialized world on managing groundwater in various uses and contexts. A daunting global groundwater issue today is to apply this knowledge intelligently to by far the more formidable challenge that has arisen in developing regions of Asia and Africa, where groundwater irrigation has evolved into a colossal anarchy supporting billions of livelihoods but threatening the resource itself.

The mobilization of community resources to support long-term addiction recovery.

PubMed

White, William L

2009-03-01

Models of addiction treatment that view the sources and solutions to severe alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems as rooted within the vulnerability and resiliency of each individual stand in marked contrast to models that focus on the ecology of AOD problem development and resolution via complex interactions between individuals, families, and communities. An integration of the latter model into mainstream addiction treatment would necessitate a reconstruction of the treatment-community relationship and new approaches to community resource development and mobilization. Such an integration would redefine core addiction treatment services and to whom, by whom, when, where, and for how long such services are delivered. This article draws on historical and contemporary events in the history of addiction treatment and recovery in the United States to illuminate the relationship between recovery and community. Principles and strategies that could guide the development and mobilization of community resources to support the long-term recovery of individuals and families are identified.

Evaluative methodology for comprehensive water quality management planning

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

Dyer, H. L.

Computer-based evaluative methodologies have been developed to provide for the analysis of coupled phenomena associated with natural resource comprehensive planning requirements. Provisions for planner/computer interaction have been included. Each of the simulation models developed is described in terms of its coded procedures. An application of the models for water quality management planning is presented; and the data requirements for each of the models are noted.

HR4EU--A Web-Portal for E-Learning of Croatian

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Filko, Matea; Farkaš, Daša; Hriberski, Diana

2016-01-01

In this paper, we present the HR4EU--a web portal for e-learning of Croatian. HR4EU is the first portal that offers Croatian language courses which are free-of-charge and developed by language professionals. Moreover, HR4EU also integrates bidirectional interaction with some of the previously developed language resources for Croatian. The HR4EU…

Subjective Stress and Coping Resources Interact To Predict Blood Pressure Reactivity in Black College Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Rodney

2003-01-01

Examined the effects of subjective stress and coping resources on blood pressure reactivity among black college students. The interactive effects of subjective stress and coping resources predicted diastolic blood pressure reactivity. Higher levels of problem-focused coping related to more marked diastolic blood pressure changes under conditions…

A Case for Authoring Multi-Touch Interactive Open Educational Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mills, Michael S.

2016-01-01

As textbook prices continue to skyrocket, open educational resources (OER) offer a significant way to deliver high quality content to students in higher education. The pressing issue is whether these OER are engaging, relevant, and accurate. Authoring multi-touch interactive resources that are delivered to students as open-access may not only…

An integrated hydrological modeling approach for detection and attribution of climatic and human impacts on coastal water resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Dapeng; Zheng, Yi; Mao, Yixin; Zhang, Aijing; Wu, Bin; Li, Jinguo; Tian, Yong; Wu, Xin

2018-02-01

Water resources in coastal areas can be profoundly influenced by both climate change and human activities. These climatic and human impacts are usually intertwined and difficult to isolate. This study developed an integrated model-based approach for detection and attribution of climatic and human impacts and applied this approach to the Luanhe Plain, a typical coastal area in northern China. An integrated surface water-groundwater model was developed for the study area using GSFLOW (coupled groundwater and surface-water flow). Model calibration and validation were performed for background years between 1975 and 2000. The variation in water resources between the 1980s and 1990s was then quantitatively attributed to climate variability, groundwater pumping and changes in upstream inflow. Climate scenarios for future years (2075-2100) were also developed by downscaling the projections in CMIP5. Potential water resource responses to climate change, as well as their uncertainty, were then investigated through integrated modeling. The study results demonstrated the feasibility and value of the integrated modeling-based analysis for water resource management in areas with complex surface water-groundwater interaction. Specific findings for the Luanhe Plain included the following: (1) During the historical period, upstream inflow had the most significant impact on river outflow to the sea, followed by climate variability, whereas groundwater pumping was the least influential. (2) The increase in groundwater pumping had a dominant influence on the decline in groundwater change, followed by climate variability. (3) Synergetic and counteractive effects among different impacting factors, while identified, were not significant, which implied that the interaction among different factors was not very strong in this case. (4) It is highly probable that future climate change will accelerate groundwater depletion in the study area, implying that strict regulations for groundwater pumping are imperative for adaptation.

Sensor-based assessment of the in-situ quality of human computer interaction in the cars : final research report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-01-01

Human attention is a finite resource. When interrupted while performing a task, this : resource is split between two interactive tasks. People have to decide whether the benefits : from the interruptive interaction will be enough to offset the loss o...

Tobacco control in a changing media landscape: how tobacco control programs use the internet.

PubMed

Emery, Sherry; Aly, Eman H; Vera, Lisa; Alexander, Robert L

2014-03-01

More than 80% of U.S. adults use the Internet, 65% of online adults use social media, and more than 60% use the Internet to find and share health information. State tobacco control campaigns could effectively harness the powerful, inexpensive online messaging opportunities. Characterizing current Internet presence of state-sponsored tobacco control programs is an important first step toward informing such campaigns. A research specialist searched the Internet for state-sponsored tobacco control resources and social media presence for each state in 2010 and 2011, to develop a resource inventory and observe change over 6 months. Data were analyzed and websites coded for interactivity and content between July and October 2011. Although all states have tobacco control websites, content and interactivity of those sites remain limited. State tobacco control program use of social media appears to be increasing over time. Information presented on the Internet by state-sponsored tobacco control programs remains modest and limited in interactivity, customization, and search engine optimization. These programs could take advantage of an important opportunity to communicate with the public about the health effects of tobacco use and available community cessation and prevention resources. © 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine Published by American Journal of Preventive Medicine All rights reserved.

Preliminary United States-Mexico border watershed analysis, twin cities area of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brady, Laura Margaret; Gray, Floyd; Castaneda, Mario; Bultman, Mark; Bolm, Karen Sue

2002-01-01

The United States - Mexico border area faces the challenge of integrating aspects of its binational physical boundaries to form a unified or, at least, compatible natural resource management plan. Specified geospatial components such as stream drainages, mineral occurrences, vegetation, wildlife, and land-use can be analyzed in terms of their overlapping impacts upon one another. Watersheds have been utilized as a basic unit in resource analysis because they contain components that are interrelated and can be viewed as a single interactive ecological system. In developing and analyzing critical regional natural resource databases, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal and non-governmental agencies have adopted a ?watershed by watershed? approach to dealing with such complicated issues as ecosystem health, natural resource use, urban growth, and pollutant transport within hydrologic systems. These watersheds can facilitate the delineation of both large scale and locally important hydrologic systems and urban management parameters necessary for sustainable, diversified land-use. The twin border cities area of Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, Arizona, provide the ideal setting to demonstrate the utility and application of a complete, cross-border, geographic information systems (GIS) based, watershed analysis in the characterization of a wide range of natural resource as well as urban features and their interactions. In addition to the delineation of a unified, cross-border watershed, the database contains sewer/water line locations and status, well locations, geology, hydrology, topography, soils, geomorphology, and vegetation data, as well as remotely sensed imagery. This report is preliminary and part of an ongoing project to develop a GIS database that will be widely accessible to the general public, researchers, and the local land management community with a broad range of application and utility.

Respecifying Display Questions: Interactional Resources for Language Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Yo-An

2006-01-01

Previous research into teachers' questions has focused on what types of questions are more conducive for developing students' communicative language use. In this regard, "display questions," whose answers the teacher already knows, are considered less effective because they limit opportunities for students to use genuine language use (Long & Sato,…

Evolving from Course-Centric to Learning-Centric: Portfolios, Wikis, and Social Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Everhart, Deborah

2006-01-01

Teaching and learning strategies for using course management systems have evolved from basic "fill in the blank" models to interactive designs that encourage multi-formatted individual contributions and collaborative forms of learning. In keeping with the participatory development of online resources, web-based courses are shifting from…

Application of Social Network Theory: Doctoral Students' Experiences in Conferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghosh, Rajashi; Githens, Rod P.

2009-01-01

As regular attendees at the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) Conference, the authors enjoyed interacting with the highly relevant study by Diane Chapman and her colleagues (Chapman, Wiessner, Morton, Fire, Jones, & Majekodunmi, 2009). In the study, they use several theoretical tools to understand the learning experiences of doctoral…

External Review of GPS LifePlan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arendale, David R.

2008-01-01

The GPS LifePlan is an interactive resource that helps students succeed in reaching their career, education and personal goals. GPS stands for "GOALS + PLANS = SUCCESS". http://gpslifeplan.org This holistic academic and student development program provides a structure for students to define their goals and helps them establish plans to…

Computer Assisted Testing at the Education Resource Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uffelman, Robert L.

The development of the Computer Assisted Testing (CAT) System at the University of Delaware is described. The introduction presents the background leading up to interactive terminal testing in 1973. Documentation for the system includes CAT System programs, format of questions for constructing test item pools, format for entering class lists,…

An Online Tutor for Astronomy: The GEAS Self-Review Library

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vogt, Nicole P.; Muise, Amy Smith

2015-01-01

We introduce an interactive online resource for use by students and college instructors in introductory astronomy courses. The General Education Astronomy Source (GEAS) online tutor guides students developing mastery of core astronomical concepts and mathematical applications of general astronomy material. It contains over 12,000 questions, with…

Make a Splash Day

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coverdale, Greg; Rust, April; Jensen, Belinda

2004-01-01

At the annual, all-day events-sponsored by Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) and held in nearly every state across the country each September--students participate in interactive activities and exhibits to learn about water resources and explore how human behaviors, such as development and recreation, can affect the quality of the…

Coresidence with Parents, Women's Economic Resources, and the Transition to Marriage in Japan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raymo, James M.; Ono, Hiromi

2007-01-01

Integrating three theoretical explanations for declining rates of marriage in Japan, the authors develop hypotheses in which linkages between benefits of coresidence with parents and marriage timing are moderated by women's own socioeconomic characteristics. To evaluate these hypothesized interactive relationships, data from a panel survey of…

36 CFR 219.7 - New plan development or plan revision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... importance of various physical, biological, social, cultural, and historic resources on the plan area (§ 219... desired condition is a description of specific social, economic, and/or ecological characteristics of the... intent, other than desired conditions, usually related to process or interaction with the public. Goals...

36 CFR 219.7 - New plan development or plan revision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... importance of various physical, biological, social, cultural, and historic resources on the plan area (§ 219... desired condition is a description of specific social, economic, and/or ecological characteristics of the... intent, other than desired conditions, usually related to process or interaction with the public. Goals...

36 CFR 219.7 - New plan development or plan revision.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... importance of various physical, biological, social, cultural, and historic resources on the plan area (§ 219... desired condition is a description of specific social, economic, and/or ecological characteristics of the... intent, other than desired conditions, usually related to process or interaction with the public. Goals...

Effects of the Family Environment: Gene-Environment Interaction and Passive Gene-Environment Correlation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Thomas S.; Jaffee, Sara R.

2008-01-01

The classical twin study provides a useful resource for testing hypotheses about how the family environment influences children's development, including how genes can influence sensitivity to environmental effects. However, existing statistical models do not account for the possibility that children can inherit exposure to family environments…

Editorial Comment: Stewardship and the Global Estate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biology and Human Affairs, 1972

1972-01-01

A review of two collections of papers (Ehrlich, Holdren, and Holm: Man and the Ecosphere''; Murdoch: Environment - Resources, Pollution and Society'') dealing with numerous aspects of environment-man interactions, and a book (Potter: Bioethics) concerned with the need to develop a clear ethical relationship with biology and the environment. (AL)

A Framework for the Specification of the Semantics and the Dynamics of Instructional Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buendia-Garcia, Felix; Diaz, Paloma

2003-01-01

An instructional application consists of a set of resources and activities to implement interacting, interrelated, and structured experiences oriented towards achieving specific educational objectives. The development of computer-based instructional applications has to follow a well defined process, so models for computer-based instructional…

Housekeeping ESL. Workplace Literacy Curriculum for Hotels.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Duzer, Carol; And Others

This curriculum for hotel employees is based on the analyses of worksite tasks and interactions. Hotel housekeepers were observed on the job, supervisors were consulted, and existing resources were reviewed to determine the language and basic skills needed to effectively and efficiently perform job duties. Twelve curriculum units were developed,…

Social Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bieber, Edward

The product of a Special Studies Institute, this teacher developed resource guide for the emotionally handicapped (K-6) presents social study concepts and activities relative to education in the urban out-of-doors. Focus is on the study of man (past, present, and future) interacting with his environment. Listed below are activity examples: (1)…

Unseen Differences: Cultural Diversity among Hispanic and Latino Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Claudia; Parrish, Jesse; Parks, Rodney

2017-01-01

To promote inclusion and creating a welcoming environment for an increasingly diverse population of undergraduate students, many institutions invest heavily in the development of programs and resources that celebrate diversity and encourage meaningful interactions. Noble though they may be, these efforts often fail to account for the truly…

ToxPi GUI: An interactive visualization tool for transparent integration of data from diverse sources of evidence

EPA Science Inventory

Motivation: Scientists and regulators are often faced with complex decisions, where use of scarce resources must be prioritized using collections of diverse information. The Toxicological Prioritization Index (ToxPi™) was developed to enable integration of multiple sources of evi...

A Framework for the Instructional Design of Multi-Structured Educational Applications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buendia, F.; Diaz, P.; Benlloch, J. V.

An instructional application consists of a set of resources and activities that implement interacting, interrelated and structured experiences oriented towards achieving specific educational objectives. Computer-based instructional applications have to be looked at as any other development activity following a well defined process. With this…

Assessing a Collaborative Online Environment for Music Composition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biasutti, Michele

2015-01-01

The current pilot study tested the effectiveness of an e-learning environment built to enable students to compose music collaboratively. The participants interacted online by using synchronous and asynchronous resources to develop a project in which they composed a new music piece in collaboration. After the learning sessions, individual…

Science, Sex, and Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kammer, Ann E.; And Others

This manual is a compilation of articles about women who pursue careers in science and the multiple sources and forms of discouragement they encounter. It is intended as a guide when developing courses that explore career opportunities and pressures for women in science and a resource in understanding the interaction between science, society, and…

Oyster Fisheries App

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perez Guerrero, Geraldo A.; Armstrong, Duane; Underwood, Lauren

2015-01-01

This project is creating a cloud-enabled, HTML 5 web application to help oyster fishermen and state agencies apply Earth science to improve the management of this important natural and economic resource. The Oyster Fisheries app gathers and analyzes environmental and water quality information, and alerts fishermen and resources managers about problems in oyster fishing waters. An intuitive interface based on Google Maps displays the geospatial information and provides familiar interactive controls to the users. Alerts can be tailored to notify users when conditions in specific leases or public fishing areas require attention. The app is hosted on the Amazon Web Services cloud. It is being developed and tested using some of the latest web development tools such as web components and Polymer.

SLURM: Simple Linux Utility for Resource Management

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

Jette, M; Dunlap, C; Garlick, J

2002-04-24

Simple Linux Utility for Resource Management (SLURM) is an open source, fault-tolerant, and highly scalable cluster management and job scheduling system for Linux clusters of thousands of nodes. Components include machine status, partition management, job management, and scheduling modules. The design also includes a scalable, general-purpose communication infrastructure. Development will take place in four phases: Phase I results in a solid infrastructure; Phase II produces a functional but limited interactive job initiation capability without use of the interconnect/switch; Phase III provides switch support and documentation; Phase IV provides job status, fault-tolerance, and job queuing and control through Livermore's Distributed Productionmore » Control System (DPCS), a meta-batch and resource management system.« less

Statistical mechanics of neocortical interactions: Path-integral evolution of short-term memory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ingber, Lester

1994-05-01

Previous papers in this series of statistical mechanics of neocortical interactions (SMNI) have detailed a development from the relatively microscopic scales of neurons up to the macroscopic scales as recorded by electroencephalography (EEG), requiring an intermediate mesocolumnar scale to be developed at the scale of minicolumns (~=102 neurons) and macrocolumns (~=105 neurons). Opportunity was taken to view SMNI as sets of statistical constraints, not necessarily describing specific synaptic or neuronal mechanisms, on neuronal interactions, on some aspects of short-term memory (STM), e.g., its capacity, stability, and duration. A recently developed c-language code, pathint, provides a non-Monte Carlo technique for calculating the dynamic evolution of arbitrary-dimension (subject to computer resources) nonlinear Lagrangians, such as derived for the two-variable SMNI problem. Here, pathint is used to explicitly detail the evolution of the SMNI constraints on STM.

Resource waves: phenological diversity enhances foraging opportunities for mobile consumers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Armstrong, Jonathan B.; Takimoto, Gaku; Schindler, Daniel E.; Hayes, Matthew M.; Kauffman, Matthew J.

2016-01-01

Time can be a limiting constraint for consumers, particularly when resource phenology mediates foraging opportunity. Though a large body of research has explored how resource phenology influences trophic interactions, this work has focused on the topics of trophic mismatch or predator swamping, which typically occur over short periods, at small spatial extents or coarse resolutions. In contrast many consumers integrate across landscape heterogeneity in resource phenology, moving to track ephemeral food sources that propagate across space as resource waves. Here we provide a conceptual framework to advance the study of phenological diversity and resource waves. We define resource waves, review evidence of their importance in recent case studies, and demonstrate their broader ecological significance with a simulation model. We found that consumers ranging from fig wasps (Chalcidoidea) to grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) exploit resource waves, integrating across phenological diversity to make resource aggregates available for much longer than their component parts. In model simulations, phenological diversity was often more important to consumer energy gain than resource abundance per se. Current ecosystem-based management assumes that species abundance mediates the strength of trophic interactions. Our results challenge this assumption and highlight new opportunities for conservation and management. Resource waves are an emergent property of consumer–resource interactions and are broadly significant in ecology and conservation.

A model of interaction between anticorruption authority and corruption groups

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

Neverova, Elena G.; Malafeyef, Oleg A.

The paper provides a model of interaction between anticorruption unit and corruption groups. The main policy functions of the anticorruption unit involve reducing corrupt practices in some entities through an optimal approach to resource allocation and effective anticorruption policy. We develop a model based on Markov decision-making process and use Howard’s policy-improvement algorithm for solving an optimal decision strategy. We examine the assumption that corruption groups retaliate against the anticorruption authority to protect themselves. This model was implemented through stochastic game.

Image selection system. [computerized data storage and retrieval system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knutson, M. A.; Hurd, D.; Hubble, L.; Kroeck, R. M.

1974-01-01

An image selection (ISS) was developed for the NASA-Ames Research Center Earth Resources Aircraft Project. The ISS is an interactive, graphics oriented, computer retrieval system for aerial imagery. An analysis of user coverage requests and retrieval strategies is presented, followed by a complete system description. Data base structure, retrieval processors, command language, interactive display options, file structures, and the system's capability to manage sets of selected imagery are described. A detailed example of an area coverage request is graphically presented.

Balancing competition for resources with multiple pest regulation in diversified agroecosystems: a process-based approach to reconcile diversification and productivity.

PubMed

Poeydebat, Charlotte; Carval, Dominique; de Lapeyre de Bellaire, Luc; Tixier, Philippe

2016-12-01

Agroecosystem plant diversification can enhance pest biological regulation and is a promising alternative to pesticide application. However, the costs of competition for resources between plants may exceed the benefits gained by pest regulation. To disentangle the interactions between pest regulation and competition, we developed a generic process-based approach that accounts for the effects of an associated plant and leaf and root pests on biomass production. We considered three crop-plant associations that differ in competition profiles, and we simulated biomass production under wide ranges of both pest regulation rates and resources' availability. We analyzed outputs to quantify the pest regulation service level that would be required to attain monoculture yield and other production goals. Results showed that pest regulation requirements were highly dependent on the profile of resource interception of the associated plant and on resources' availability. Pest regulation and the magnitude of competition between plants interacted in determining the balance between nitrogen and radiation uptake by the crop. Our findings suggest that productivity of diversified agroecosystems relative to monoculture should be optimized by assembling plants whose characteristics balance crops' resource acquisition. The theoretical insights from our study draw generic rules for vegetation assemblage to optimize trade-offs between pest regulation and production. Our findings and approach may have implications in understanding, theorizing and implementing agroecosystem diversification. By its generic and adaptable structure, our approach should be useful for studying the effects of diversification in many agroecosystems.

Resource representation in COMPASS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fox, Barry R.

1991-01-01

A set of viewgraphs on resource representation in COMPASS is given. COMPASS is an incremental, interactive, non-chronological scheduler written in Ada with an X-windows user interface. Beginning with an empty schedule, activities are added to the schedule one at a time, taking into consideration the placement of the activities already on the timeline and the resources that have been reserved for them. The order that the activities are added to the timeline and their location on the timeline are controlled by selection and placement commands invoked by the user. The order that activities are added to the timeline and their location are independent. The COMPASS code library is a cost effective platform for the development of new scheduling applications. It can be effectively used off the shelf for compatible scheduling applications or it can be used as a parts library for the development of custom scheduling systems.

Expert mission planning and replanning scheduling system for NASA KSC payload operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pierce, Roger

1987-01-01

EMPRESS (Expert Mission Planning and REplanning Scheduling System) is an expert system created to assist payload mission planners at Kennedy in the long range planning and scheduling of horizontal payloads for space shuttle flights. Using the current flight manifest, these planners develop mission and payload schedules detailing all processing to be performed in the Operations and Checkout building at Kennedy. With the EMPRESS system, schedules are generated quickly using standard flows that represent the tasks and resources required to process a specific horizontal carrier. Resources can be tracked and resource conflicts can be determined and resolved interactively. Constraint relationships between tasks are maintained and can be enforced when a task is moved or rescheduled. The domain, structure, and functionality of the EMPRESS system is briefly designed. The limitations of the EMPRESS system are described as well as improvements expected with the EMPRESS-2 development.

'eSimulation'. Part 2: Evaluation of an interactive multimedia mental health education program for generalist nurses.

PubMed

Lamont, Scott; Brunero, Scott

2014-01-01

This paper reports on an evaluation of an eSimulation mental health education program for generalist nurses; developed using the following five key attributes of simulation: (1) creating a hypothetical opportunity; (2) authentic representation; (3) active participation; (4) integration; (5) repetition, evaluation and reflection. Four themes emerged from a qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interview data involving fourteen generalist nurses. The following four themes: (1) authenticity; (2) participation; (3) clinical reasoning; (4) control of learning provide supporting evidence that these attributes are positioned within the learning resource. Participants found the scenarios within the resource realistic, engaging and relevant to their scope of practice. This type of learning resource may help in developing the knowledge, skills and confidence of generalist nurses in delivering safe and competent mental health care in the generalist setting, when access to specialist services and appropriate means of training are unavailable.

Religion as a resource for positive youth development: religion, social capital, and moral outcomes.

PubMed

Ebstyne King, Pamela; Furrow, James L

2004-09-01

Although existing literature demonstrates that developmental benefits are associated with religion for adolescents, little is understood about the dynamics of this relationship. Drawing on social capital theory, this study tested a conceptual model exploring socially embedded religious influences on moral outcomes. A three-dimensional model of social capital demonstrated how social interaction, trust, and shared vision enable social ties associated with religiousness to influence moral behavior. Structural equation modeling was used with data gathered from 735 urban youths to test a proposed model of the effects of religiousness on moral outcomes. Results suggested that religiously active youths report higher levels of social capital resources and that the influence of adolescent religiousness on moral outcomes was mediated through social capital resources. Suggestions for further research and implications for faith-based youth development organizations are considered. Copyright 2004 American Psychological Association

BIOREL: the benchmark resource to estimate the relevance of the gene networks.

PubMed

Antonov, Alexey V; Mewes, Hans W

2006-02-06

The progress of high-throughput methodologies in functional genomics has lead to the development of statistical procedures to infer gene networks from various types of high-throughput data. However, due to the lack of common standards, the biological significance of the results of the different studies is hard to compare. To overcome this problem we propose a benchmark procedure and have developed a web resource (BIOREL), which is useful for estimating the biological relevance of any genetic network by integrating different sources of biological information. The associations of each gene from the network are classified as biologically relevant or not. The proportion of genes in the network classified as "relevant" is used as the overall network relevance score. Employing synthetic data we demonstrated that such a score ranks the networks fairly in respect to the relevance level. Using BIOREL as the benchmark resource we compared the quality of experimental and theoretically predicted protein interaction data.

Cockpit resource management training

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yocum, M.; Foushee, C.

1984-01-01

Cockpit resource management which is a multifaceted concept is outlined. The system involves the effective coordination of many resources: aircraft systems, company, air traffic control, equipment, navigational aids, documents, and manuals. The main concept, however, is group interaction. Problems which arise from lack of coordination, decision making, and lack of communication are pointed out. Implementation by the regional airline industry of cockpit resource management, designed to deal with human interactions problems in the most cost effective manner, is discussed.

Group dynamics and social interaction in a South Asian online learning forum for faculty development of medical teachers.

PubMed

Anshu; Sharma, M; Burdick, W P; Singh, T

2010-04-01

Group dynamics of online medical faculty development programs have not been analyzed and reported in literature. Knowledge of the types of content of posted messages will help to understand group dynamics and promote participation in an asynchronous learning environment. This paper assesses group dynamics and social interactivity in an online learning environment for medical teachers in the South Asian context. Participants of a medical education fellowship program conducted by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) Regional Institute at Christian Medical College, Ludhiana (CMCL) in India interact on a listserv called the Mentoring-Learning Web (ML-Web). Monthly topics for online discussion are chosen by fellows through a standard tool called "multi-voting". Fellows volunteer to moderate sessions and direct the pace of the discussion. We analyzed the content and process of the discussion of one particular month. The emails were categorized as those that reflected cognitive presence (dealing with construction and exploration of knowledge), teacher presence (dealing with instructional material and learning resources), and social presence, or were administrative in nature. Social emails were further classified as: affective, cohesive and interactive. Social emails constituted one-third of the total emails. Another one-quarter of the emails dealt with sharing of resources and teacher presence, while cognitive emails comprised 36.2% of the total. More than half of the social emails were affective, while a little less than one-third were cohesive. Social posts are an inevitable part of online learning. These posts promote bonding between learners and contribute to better interaction and collaboration in online learning. Moderators should be aware of their presence and use them as tools to promote interactivity.

AOIPS water resources data management system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanwie, P.

1977-01-01

The text and computer-generated displays used to demonstrate the AOIPS (Atmospheric and Oceanographic Information Processing System) water resources data management system are investigated. The system was developed to assist hydrologists in analyzing the physical processes occurring in watersheds. It was designed to alleviate some of the problems encountered while investigating the complex interrelationships of variables such as land-cover type, topography, precipitation, snow melt, surface runoff, evapotranspiration, and streamflow rates. The system has an interactive image processing capability and a color video display to display results as they are obtained.

Doing science by waving hands: Talk, symbiotic gesture, and interaction with digital content as resources in student inquiry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gregorcic, Bor; Planinsic, Gorazd; Etkina, Eugenia

2017-12-01

In this paper, we investigate some of the ways in which students, when given the opportunity and an appropriate learning environment, spontaneously engage in collaborative inquiry. We studied small groups of high school students interacting around and with an interactive whiteboard equipped with Algodoo software, as they investigated orbital motion. Using multimodal discourse analysis, we found that in their discussions the students relied heavily on nonverbal meaning-making resources, most notably hand gestures and resources in the surrounding environment (items displayed on the interactive whiteboard). They juxtaposed talk with gestures and resources in the environment to communicate ideas that they initially were not able to express using words alone. By spontaneously recruiting and combining a diverse set of meaning-making resources, the students were able to express relatively fluently complex ideas on a novel physics topic, and to engage in practices that resemble a scientific approach to exploration of new phenomena.

Benefits of biodiverse marine resources to child nutrition in differing developmental contexts in Hispaniola.

PubMed

Temsah, Gheda; Johnson, Kiersten; Evans, Thea; Adams, Diane K

2018-01-01

There is an urgent need for an improved empirical understanding of the relationship among biodiverse marine resources, human health and development outcomes. Coral reefs are often at this intersection for developing nations in the tropics-an ecosystem targeted for biodiversity conservation and one that provides sustenance and livelihoods for many coastal communities. To explore these relationships, we use the comparative development contexts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. We combine child nutrition data from the Demographic Health Survey with coastal proximity and coral reef habitat diversity, and condition to empirically test human benefits of marine natural resources in differing development contexts. Our results indicate that coastal children have a reduced likelihood of severe stunting in Haiti but have increased likelihoods of stunting and reduced dietary diversity in the Dominican Republic. These contrasting results are likely due to the differential in developed infrastructure and market access. Our analyses did not demonstrate an association between more diverse and less degraded coral reefs and better childhood nutrition. The results highlight the complexities of modelling interactions between the health of humans and natural systems, and indicate the next steps needed to support integrated development programming.

Benefits of biodiverse marine resources to child nutrition in differing developmental contexts in Hispaniola

PubMed Central

Temsah, Gheda; Johnson, Kiersten; Evans, Thea

2018-01-01

There is an urgent need for an improved empirical understanding of the relationship among biodiverse marine resources, human health and development outcomes. Coral reefs are often at this intersection for developing nations in the tropics—an ecosystem targeted for biodiversity conservation and one that provides sustenance and livelihoods for many coastal communities. To explore these relationships, we use the comparative development contexts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. We combine child nutrition data from the Demographic Health Survey with coastal proximity and coral reef habitat diversity, and condition to empirically test human benefits of marine natural resources in differing development contexts. Our results indicate that coastal children have a reduced likelihood of severe stunting in Haiti but have increased likelihoods of stunting and reduced dietary diversity in the Dominican Republic. These contrasting results are likely due to the differential in developed infrastructure and market access. Our analyses did not demonstrate an association between more diverse and less degraded coral reefs and better childhood nutrition. The results highlight the complexities of modelling interactions between the health of humans and natural systems, and indicate the next steps needed to support integrated development programming. PMID:29795591

Analysis of a summary network of co-infection in humans reveals that parasites interact most via shared resources

PubMed Central

Griffiths, Emily C.; Pedersen, Amy B.; Fenton, Andy; Petchey, Owen L.

2014-01-01

Simultaneous infection by multiple parasite species (viruses, bacteria, helminths, protozoa or fungi) is commonplace. Most reports show co-infected humans to have worse health than those with single infections. However, we have little understanding of how co-infecting parasites interact within human hosts. We used data from over 300 published studies to construct a network that offers the first broad indications of how groups of co-infecting parasites tend to interact. The network had three levels comprising parasites, the resources they consume and the immune responses they elicit, connected by potential, observed and experimentally proved links. Pairs of parasite species had most potential to interact indirectly through shared resources, rather than through immune responses or other parasites. In addition, the network comprised 10 tightly knit groups, eight of which were associated with particular body parts, and seven of which were dominated by parasite–resource links. Reported co-infection in humans is therefore structured by physical location within the body, with bottom-up, resource-mediated processes most often influencing how, where and which co-infecting parasites interact. The many indirect interactions show how treating an infection could affect other infections in co-infected patients, but the compartmentalized structure of the network will limit how far these indirect effects are likely to spread. PMID:24619434

Analysis of a summary network of co-infection in humans reveals that parasites interact most via shared resources.

PubMed

Griffiths, Emily C; Pedersen, Amy B; Fenton, Andy; Petchey, Owen L

2014-05-07

Simultaneous infection by multiple parasite species (viruses, bacteria, helminths, protozoa or fungi) is commonplace. Most reports show co-infected humans to have worse health than those with single infections. However, we have little understanding of how co-infecting parasites interact within human hosts. We used data from over 300 published studies to construct a network that offers the first broad indications of how groups of co-infecting parasites tend to interact. The network had three levels comprising parasites, the resources they consume and the immune responses they elicit, connected by potential, observed and experimentally proved links. Pairs of parasite species had most potential to interact indirectly through shared resources, rather than through immune responses or other parasites. In addition, the network comprised 10 tightly knit groups, eight of which were associated with particular body parts, and seven of which were dominated by parasite-resource links. Reported co-infection in humans is therefore structured by physical location within the body, with bottom-up, resource-mediated processes most often influencing how, where and which co-infecting parasites interact. The many indirect interactions show how treating an infection could affect other infections in co-infected patients, but the compartmentalized structure of the network will limit how far these indirect effects are likely to spread.

The impact of computer science in molecular medicine: enabling high-throughput research.

PubMed

de la Iglesia, Diana; García-Remesal, Miguel; de la Calle, Guillermo; Kulikowski, Casimir; Sanz, Ferran; Maojo, Víctor

2013-01-01

The Human Genome Project and the explosion of high-throughput data have transformed the areas of molecular and personalized medicine, which are producing a wide range of studies and experimental results and providing new insights for developing medical applications. Research in many interdisciplinary fields is resulting in data repositories and computational tools that support a wide diversity of tasks: genome sequencing, genome-wide association studies, analysis of genotype-phenotype interactions, drug toxicity and side effects assessment, prediction of protein interactions and diseases, development of computational models, biomarker discovery, and many others. The authors of the present paper have developed several inventories covering tools, initiatives and studies in different computational fields related to molecular medicine: medical informatics, bioinformatics, clinical informatics and nanoinformatics. With these inventories, created by mining the scientific literature, we have carried out several reviews of these fields, providing researchers with a useful framework to locate, discover, search and integrate resources. In this paper we present an analysis of the state-of-the-art as it relates to computational resources for molecular medicine, based on results compiled in our inventories, as well as results extracted from a systematic review of the literature and other scientific media. The present review is based on the impact of their related publications and the available data and software resources for molecular medicine. It aims to provide information that can be useful to support ongoing research and work to improve diagnostics and therapeutics based on molecular-level insights.

Assessment Planning and Evaluation of Renewable Energy Resources: an Interactive Computer Assisted Procedure. [hydroelectricity, biomass, and windpower in the Pittsfield metropolitan region, Massachusetts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aston, T. W.; Fabos, J. G.; Macdougall, E. B.

1982-01-01

Adaptation and derivation were used to develop a procedure for assessing the availability of renewable energy resources on the landscape while simultaneously accounting for the economic, legal, social, and environmental issues required. Done in a step-by-step fashion, the procedure can be used interactively at the computer terminals. Its application in determining the hydroelectricity, biomass, and windpower in a 40,000 acre study area of Western Massachusetts shows that: (1) three existing dam sites are physically capable of being retrofitted for hydropower; (2) each of three general areas has a mean annual windspeed exceeding 14 mph and is conductive to windpower; and (3) 20% of the total land area consists of prime agricultural biomass while 30% of the area is prime forest biomass land.

Creative self-efficacy and individual creativity in team contexts: cross-level interactions with team informational resources.

PubMed

Richter, Andreas W; Hirst, Giles; van Knippenberg, Daan; Baer, Markus

2012-11-01

We propose a cross-level perspective on the relation between creative self-efficacy and individual creativity in which team informational resources, comprising both shared "knowledge of who knows what" (KWKW) and functional background diversity, benefit the creativity of individuals more with higher creative self-efficacy. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a multi-level study with 176 employees working in 34 research and development teams of a multinational company in 4 countries. In support of our hypotheses, the link between creative self-efficacy and individual creativity was more positive with greater shared KWKW, and this interactive effect was pronounced for teams of high rather than low functional background diversity. We discuss implications for the study of creative self-efficacy in team contexts. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Learning on human resources management in the radiology residency program*

PubMed Central

de Oliveira, Aparecido Ferreira; Lederman, Henrique Manoel; Batista, Nildo Alves

2014-01-01

Objective To investigate the process of learning on human resource management in the radiology residency program at Escola Paulista de Medicina - Universidade Federal de São Paulo, aiming at improving radiologists' education. Materials and Methods Exploratory study with a quantitative and qualitative approach developed with the faculty staff, preceptors and residents of the program, utilizing a Likert questionnaire (46), taped interviews (18), and categorization based on thematic analysis. Results According to 71% of the participants, residents have clarity about their role in the development of their activities, and 48% said that residents have no opportunity to learn how to manage their work in a multidisciplinary team. Conclusion Isolation at medical records room, little interactivity between sectors with diversified and fixed activities, absence of a previous culture and lack of a training program on human resources management may interfere in the development of skills for the residents' practice. There is a need to review objectives of the medical residency in the field of radiology, incorporating, whenever possible, the commitment to the training of skills related to human resources management thus widening the scope of abilities of the future radiologists. PMID:25741056

Profiling of 3696 Nuclear Receptor-Coregulator Interactions: A Resource for Biological and Clinical Discovery.

PubMed

Broekema, Marjoleine F; Hollman, Danielle A A; Koppen, Arjen; van den Ham, Henk-Jan; Melchers, Diana; Pijnenburg, Dirk; Ruijtenbeek, Rob; van Mil, Saskia W C; Houtman, René; Kalkhoven, Eric

2018-06-01

Nuclear receptors (NRs) are ligand-inducible transcription factors that play critical roles in metazoan development, reproduction, and physiology and therefore are implicated in a broad range of pathologies. The transcriptional activity of NRs critically depends on their interaction(s) with transcriptional coregulator proteins, including coactivators and corepressors. Short leucine-rich peptide motifs in these proteins (LxxLL in coactivators and LxxxIxxxL in corepressors) are essential and sufficient for NR binding. With 350 different coregulator proteins identified to date and with many coregulators containing multiple interaction motifs, an enormous combinatorial potential is present for selective NR-mediated gene regulation. However, NR-coregulator interactions have often been determined experimentally on a one-to-one basis across diverse experimental conditions. In addition, NR-coregulator interactions are difficult to predict because the molecular determinants that govern specificity are not well established. Therefore, many biologically and clinically relevant NR-coregulator interactions may remain to be discovered. Here, we present a comprehensive overview of 3696 NR-coregulator interactions by systematically characterizing the binding of 24 nuclear receptors with 154 coregulator peptides. We identified unique ligand-dependent NR-coregulator interaction profiles for each NR, confirming many well-established NR-coregulator interactions. Hierarchical clustering based on the NR-coregulator interaction profiles largely recapitulates the classification of NR subfamilies based on the primary amino acid sequences of the ligand-binding domains, indicating that amino acid sequence is an important, although not the only, molecular determinant in directing and fine-tuning NR-coregulator interactions. This NR-coregulator peptide interactome provides an open data resource for future biological and clinical discovery as well as NR-based drug design.

Interactional Metadiscourse in Turkish Postgraduates' Academic Texts: A Comparative Study of How They Introduce and Conclude

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akbas, Erdem

2012-01-01

This study explores interactional metadiscourse resources in master's dissertations (introductions and conclusions) of Turkish students written in Turkish and English. Interactional resources were identified according to Hyland and Tse's (2004) framework by using WordSmith Tools (5.0). A statistically significant difference between two groups of…

The subsurface record for the Anthropocene based on the global analysis of deep wells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rose, K.

2016-12-01

While challenges persist in the characterization of Earth's subsurface, over two centuries of exploration resulting in more than six million deep wellbores, offer insights into these systems. Characteristics of the subsurface vary and can be analyzed on a variety of spatial scales using geospatial tools and methods. Characterization and prediction of subsurface properties, such as depth, thickness, porosity, permeability, pressure and temperature, are important for models and interpretations of the subsurface. Subsurface studies contribute to insights and understanding of natural system but also enable predictions and assessments of subsurface resources and support environmental and geohazard assessments. As the geo-data science landscape shifts, becoming more open, there are increasing opportunities to fill knowledge gaps, mine large, interrelated datasets, and develop innovative methods to improve our understanding of the subsurface and the impacts of its exploration. In this study, a global dataset of more than 6,000,000 deep subsurface wells has been assembled using ArcGIS and Access, which reflects to a first order, the cumulative representation of over two centuries of drilling. Wellbore data, in general represent the only portal for direct measurement and characterization of deep subsurface properties. As human engineering of the subsurface evolves from a focus on hydrocarbon resource development to include subsurface waste product disposal (e.g. CO2, industrial waste, etc) and production of other deep subsurface resources, such as heat and water resources, there is the increasing need to improve characterization techniques and understand local and global ramifications of anthropogenic interaction with the subsurface. Data and geospatial analyses are reviewed to constrain the extent to which human interactions, not just with Earth's surface systems, atmospheric and geologic, but subsurface systems will result in an enduring signature of human influences on the planet. Specifically, the extent and enduring signature of subsurface interactions with the planet, utilizing the four-dimensional, spatial and temporal, record for known deep wellbores is utilized.

Toward interactive scheduling systems for managing medical resources.

PubMed

Oddi, A; Cesta, A

2000-10-01

Managers of medico-hospital facilities are facing two general problems when allocating resources to activities: (1) to find an agreement between several and contrasting requirements; (2) to manage dynamic and uncertain situations when constraints suddenly change over time due to medical needs. This paper describes the results of a research aimed at applying constraint-based scheduling techniques to the management of medical resources. A mixed-initiative problem solving approach is adopted in which a user and a decision support system interact to incrementally achieve a satisfactory solution to the problem. A running prototype is described called Interactive Scheduler which offers a set of functionalities for a mixed-initiative interaction to cope with the medical resource management. Interactive Scheduler is endowed with a representation schema used for describing the medical environment, a set of algorithms that address the specific problems of the domain, and an innovative interaction module that offers functionalities for the dialogue between the support system and its user. A particular contribution of this work is the explicit representation of constraint violations, and the definition of scheduling algorithms that aim at minimizing the amount of constraint violations in a solution.

Beyond heat baths II: framework for generalized thermodynamic resource theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yunger Halpern, Nicole

2018-03-01

Thermodynamics, which describes vast systems, has been reconciled with small scales, relevant to single-molecule experiments, in resource theories. Resource theories have been used to model exchanges of energy and information. Recently, particle exchanges were modeled; and an umbrella family of thermodynamic resource theories was proposed to model diverse baths, interactions, and free energies. This paper motivates and details the family’s structure and prospective applications. How to model electrochemical, gravitational, magnetic, and other thermodynamic systems is explained. Szilárd’s engine and Landauer’s Principle are generalized, as resourcefulness is shown to be convertible not only between information and gravitational energy, but also among diverse degrees of freedom. Extensive variables are associated with quantum operators that might fail to commute, introducing extra nonclassicality into thermodynamic resource theories. An early version of this paper partially motivated the later development of noncommutative thermalization. This generalization expands the theories’ potential for modeling realistic systems with which small-scale statistical mechanics might be tested experimentally.

A multivariate time series approach to modeling and forecasting demand in the emergency department.

PubMed

Jones, Spencer S; Evans, R Scott; Allen, Todd L; Thomas, Alun; Haug, Peter J; Welch, Shari J; Snow, Gregory L

2009-02-01

The goals of this investigation were to study the temporal relationships between the demands for key resources in the emergency department (ED) and the inpatient hospital, and to develop multivariate forecasting models. Hourly data were collected from three diverse hospitals for the year 2006. Descriptive analysis and model fitting were carried out using graphical and multivariate time series methods. Multivariate models were compared to a univariate benchmark model in terms of their ability to provide out-of-sample forecasts of ED census and the demands for diagnostic resources. Descriptive analyses revealed little temporal interaction between the demand for inpatient resources and the demand for ED resources at the facilities considered. Multivariate models provided more accurate forecasts of ED census and of the demands for diagnostic resources. Our results suggest that multivariate time series models can be used to reliably forecast ED patient census; however, forecasts of the demands for diagnostic resources were not sufficiently reliable to be useful in the clinical setting.

Neighborhood-resources for the development of a strong SOC and the importance of understanding why and how resources work: a grounded theory approach.

PubMed

Maass, Ruca; Lindström, Bengt; Lillefjell, Monica

2017-09-12

Providing individuals with psychosocial resources such as sense of coherence (SOC) seems a beneficial strategy for health promotion in the neighborhood. In order to become a supporting theory for health promotion, Salutogenesis should renew its focus on resources for health, and explore how the development of a strong SOC can be facilitated. Relevant issues were explored using a Grounded Theory- approach. Three focus-group-sessions and three in-depth interviews were conducted with strategically sampled participants. The transcripts of the focus groups were initially analyzed line-by-line to ensure that insights emerged from the data. We then applied focused and systemic analyses to achieve axial coding, and to include insights into how social interactions during focus groups may reveal social processes in real-life-neighborhoods. The data from the in-depth interviews were used to validate and fill emerging categories, as well as to ensure data-saturation. Findings indicate the importance of repeated experiences with resources and every-day-challenges to develop a strong SOC. Active engagement with resources is a favorable condition for significant experiences, which enhance the internalization of resources. Core experiences are characterized by a re-organization of resources. Participation in intellectual meaning-making through equal power dialogue seems to broaden perspectives and promote the strengthening of SOC. A strong SOC can also be described as a deeper understanding of how and why resources work, which allows for a more flexible use of resources, including replacing missing resources. A new understanding of SOC as an intuitive understanding of how, why and under which circumstances resources work, as well as a new focus on everyday life and repeated experiences might facilitate new approaches to a purposeful strengthening of SOC through the planning and implementation of public measures.

Host–Multi-Pathogen Warfare: Pathogen Interactions in Co-infected Plants

PubMed Central

Abdullah, Araz S.; Moffat, Caroline S.; Lopez-Ruiz, Francisco J.; Gibberd, Mark R.; Hamblin, John; Zerihun, Ayalsew

2017-01-01

Studies of plant–pathogen interactions have historically focused on simple models of infection involving single host-single disease systems. However, plant infections often involve multiple species and/or genotypes and exhibit complexities not captured in single host-single disease systems. Here, we review recent insights into co-infection systems focusing on the dynamics of host-multi-pathogen interactions and the implications for host susceptibility/resistance. In co-infection systems, pathogen interactions include: (i) Competition, in which competing pathogens develop physical barriers or utilize toxins to exclude competitors from resource-dense niches; (ii) Cooperation, whereby pathogens beneficially interact, by providing mutual biochemical signals essential for pathogenesis, or through functional complementation via the exchange of resources necessary for survival; (iii) Coexistence, whereby pathogens can stably coexist through niche specialization. Furthermore, hosts are also able to, actively or passively, modulate niche competition through defense responses that target at least one pathogen. Typically, however, virulent pathogens subvert host defenses to facilitate infection, and responses elicited by one pathogen may be modified in the presence of another pathogen. Evidence also exists, albeit rare, of pathogens incorporating foreign genes that broaden niche adaptation and improve virulence. Throughout this review, we draw upon examples of co-infection systems from a range of pathogen types and identify outstanding questions for future innovation in disease control strategies. PMID:29118773

Assessing Resource Assessment for MRE (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanson, H. P.; Bozec, A.; Duerr, A. S.; Rauchenstein, L. T.

2010-12-01

The Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center at Florida Atlantic University is concerned with marine renewable energy (MRE) recovery from the Florida Current using marine hydrokinetic technology and, in the future, from the thermocline in the Florida Straits via ocean thermal energy conversion. Although neither concept is new, technology improvements and the evolution of policy now warrant optimism for the future of these potentially rich resources. In moving toward commercial-scale deployments of energy-generating systems, an important first step is accurate and unembellished assessment of the resource itself. In short, we must ask: how much energy might be available? The answer to this deceptively simple question depends, of course, on the technology itself - system efficiencies, for example - but it also depends on a variety of other limiting factors such as deployment strategies, environmental considerations, and the overall economics of MRE in the context of competing energy resources. While it is universally agreed that MRE development must occur within a framework of environmental stewardship, it is nonetheless inevitable that there will be trade-offs between absolute environmental protection and realizing the benefits of MRE implementation. As with solar-energy and wind-power technologies, MRE technologies interact with the environment in which they are deployed. Ecological, societal, and even physical resource concerns all require investigation and, in some cases, mitigation. Moreover, the converse - how will the environment affect the equipment? - presents technical challenges that have confounded the seagoing community forever. Biofouling, for example, will affect system efficiency and create significant maintenance and operations issues. Because this will also affect the economics of MRE, nonlinear interactions among the limiting factors complicate the overall issue of resource assessment significantly. While MRE technology development is largely an engineering task, resource assessment falls more to the oceanography community. Current and temperature structure measurements, for example, are critical for these efforts. Once again, however, the picture is complicated by the nature of the endeavor: deploying complex equipment of scales of tens of meters into a medium that is traditionally measured on scales of tens of kilometers implies a scale mismatch that must be overcome. The challenge, then, is to develop assessments of the resource on larger scales - so that the potential of the resource may be understood - while characterizing it on very small scales to be able to understand how equipment will be affected. Meeting this challenge will require both funding and time, but it will also result in new oceanographic insight and understanding.

Genomic imprinting, growth control and the allocation of nutritional resources: consequences for postnatal life.

PubMed

Charalambous, Marika; da Rocha, Simão Teixeira; Ferguson-Smith, Anne C

2007-02-01

Genes subject to genomic imprinting are predominantly expressed from one of the two parental chromosomes, are often clustered in the genome, and their activity and repression are epigenetically regulated. The role of imprinted genes in growth control has been apparent since the discovery of imprinting in the early 1980s. Drawing from studies in the mouse, we propose three distinct classes of imprinted genes - those expressed, imprinted and acting predominantly within the placenta, those with no associated foetal growth effects that act postnatally to regulate metabolic processes, and those expressed in the embryo and placenta that programme the development of organs participating in metabolic processes. Members of this latter class may interact in functional networks regulating the interaction between the mother and the foetus, affecting generalized foetal well-being, growth and organ development; they may also coordinately regulate the development of particular organ systems. The mono-allelic behaviour and sensitivity to changes in regional epigenetic states renders imprinted genes adaptable and vulnerable; in all cases, their perturbed dosage can compromise prenatal and/or postnatal control of nutritional resources. This finding has implications for understanding the relationships between prenatal events and diseases later in life.

Seasonal resource value and male size influence male aggressive interactions in the leaf footed cactus bug, Narnia femorata.

PubMed

Nolen, Zachary J; Allen, Pablo E; Miller, Christine W

2017-05-01

In animal contests, resource value (the quality of a given resource) and resource holding potential (a male's absolute fighting ability) are two important factors determining the level of engagement and outcome of contests. Few studies have tested these factors simultaneously. Here, we investigated whether natural, seasonal differences in cactus phenology (fruit quality) influence interactions between males in the leaf-footed cactus bug, Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae). We also considered whether males were more likely to interact when they were similar in size, as predicted by theory. Finally, we examined if male size relative to the size of an opponent predicted competitive success. We found that males have more interactions on cactus with high value ripe fruit, as we predicted. Further, we found that males that were closer in size were more likely to interact, and larger males were more likely to become dominant. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Geospatial characteristics of Florida's coastal and offshore environments: Coastal habitats, artificial reefs, wrecks, dumping grounds, harbor obstructions and offshore sand resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Foster, Ann M.; Jones, Michal L.; Gualtieri, Daniel J.

2011-01-01

The Geospatial Characteristics GeoPDF of Florida's Coastal and Offshore Environments is a comprehensive collection of geospatial data describing the political boundaries and natural resources of Florida. This interactive map provides spatial information on bathymetry, sand resources, coastal habitats, artificial reefs, shipwrecks, dumping grounds, and harbor obstructions. The map should be useful to coastal resource managers and others interested in marine habitats and submerged obstructions of Florida's coastal region. In particular, as oil and gas explorations continue to expand, the map may be used to explore information regarding sensitive areas and resources in the State of Florida. Users of this geospatial database will have access to synthesized information in a variety of scientific disciplines concerning Florida's coastal zone. This powerful tool provides a one-stop assembly of data that can be tailored to fit the needs of many natural resource managers. The map was originally developed to assist the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) and coastal resources managers with planning beach restoration projects. The BOEMRE uses a systematic approach in planning the development of submerged lands of the Continental Shelf seaward of Florida's territorial waters. Such development could affect the environment. BOEMRE is required to ascertain the existing physical, biological, and socioeconomic conditions of the submerged lands and estimate the impact of developing these lands. Data sources included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, BOEMRE, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Geographic Data Library, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Natural Areas Inventory, and the State of Florida, Bureau of Archeological Research. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata are provided as attached xml files for all geographic information system (GIS) layers.

Projecting changes in the distribution and productivity of living marine resources: A critical review of the suite of modelling approaches used in the large European project VECTORS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peck, Myron A.; Arvanitidis, Christos; Butenschön, Momme; Canu, Donata Melaku; Chatzinikolaou, Eva; Cucco, Andrea; Domenici, Paolo; Fernandes, Jose A.; Gasche, Loic; Huebert, Klaus B.; Hufnagl, Marc; Jones, Miranda C.; Kempf, Alexander; Keyl, Friedemann; Maar, Marie; Mahévas, Stéphanie; Marchal, Paul; Nicolas, Delphine; Pinnegar, John K.; Rivot, Etienne; Rochette, Sébastien; Sell, Anne F.; Sinerchia, Matteo; Solidoro, Cosimo; Somerfield, Paul J.; Teal, Lorna R.; Travers-Trolet, Morgan; van de Wolfshaar, Karen E.

2018-02-01

We review and compare four broad categories of spatially-explicit modelling approaches currently used to understand and project changes in the distribution and productivity of living marine resources including: 1) statistical species distribution models, 2) physiology-based, biophysical models of single life stages or the whole life cycle of species, 3) food web models, and 4) end-to-end models. Single pressures are rare and, in the future, models must be able to examine multiple factors affecting living marine resources such as interactions between: i) climate-driven changes in temperature regimes and acidification, ii) reductions in water quality due to eutrophication, iii) the introduction of alien invasive species, and/or iv) (over-)exploitation by fisheries. Statistical (correlative) approaches can be used to detect historical patterns which may not be relevant in the future. Advancing predictive capacity of changes in distribution and productivity of living marine resources requires explicit modelling of biological and physical mechanisms. New formulations are needed which (depending on the question) will need to strive for more realism in ecophysiology and behaviour of individuals, life history strategies of species, as well as trophodynamic interactions occurring at different spatial scales. Coupling existing models (e.g. physical, biological, economic) is one avenue that has proven successful. However, fundamental advancements are needed to address key issues such as the adaptive capacity of species/groups and ecosystems. The continued development of end-to-end models (e.g., physics to fish to human sectors) will be critical if we hope to assess how multiple pressures may interact to cause changes in living marine resources including the ecological and economic costs and trade-offs of different spatial management strategies. Given the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of models reviewed here, confidence in projections of changes in the distribution and productivity of living marine resources will be increased by assessing model structural uncertainty through biological ensemble modelling.

HPIDB 2.0: a curated database for host–pathogen interactions

PubMed Central

Ammari, Mais G.; Gresham, Cathy R.; McCarthy, Fiona M.; Nanduri, Bindu

2016-01-01

Identification and analysis of host–pathogen interactions (HPI) is essential to study infectious diseases. However, HPI data are sparse in existing molecular interaction databases, especially for agricultural host–pathogen systems. Therefore, resources that annotate, predict and display the HPI that underpin infectious diseases are critical for developing novel intervention strategies. HPIDB 2.0 (http://www.agbase.msstate.edu/hpi/main.html) is a resource for HPI data, and contains 45, 238 manually curated entries in the current release. Since the first description of the database in 2010, multiple enhancements to HPIDB data and interface services were made that are described here. Notably, HPIDB 2.0 now provides targeted biocuration of molecular interaction data. As a member of the International Molecular Exchange consortium, annotations provided by HPIDB 2.0 curators meet community standards to provide detailed contextual experimental information and facilitate data sharing. Moreover, HPIDB 2.0 provides access to rapidly available community annotations that capture minimum molecular interaction information to address immediate researcher needs for HPI network analysis. In addition to curation, HPIDB 2.0 integrates HPI from existing external sources and contains tools to infer additional HPI where annotated data are scarce. Compared to other interaction databases, our data collection approach ensures HPIDB 2.0 users access the most comprehensive HPI data from a wide range of pathogens and their hosts (594 pathogen and 70 host species, as of February 2016). Improvements also include enhanced search capacity, addition of Gene Ontology functional information, and implementation of network visualization. The changes made to HPIDB 2.0 content and interface ensure that users, especially agricultural researchers, are able to easily access and analyse high quality, comprehensive HPI data. All HPIDB 2.0 data are updated regularly, are publically available for direct download, and are disseminated to other molecular interaction resources. Database URL: http://www.agbase.msstate.edu/hpi/main.html PMID:27374121

Environmental scan and evaluation of best practices for online systematic review resources.

PubMed

Parker, Robin M N; Boulos, Leah M; Visintini, Sarah; Ritchie, Krista; Hayden, Jill

2018-04-01

Online training for systematic review methodology is an attractive option due to flexibility and limited availability of in-person instruction. Librarians often direct new reviewers to these online resources, so they should be knowledgeable about the variety of available resources. The objective for this project was to conduct an environmental scan of online systematic review training resources and evaluate those identified resources. The authors systematically searched for electronic learning resources pertaining to systematic review methods. After screening for inclusion, we collected data about characteristics of training resources and assigned scores in the domains of (1) content, (2) design, (3) interactivity, and (4) usability by applying a previously published evaluation rubric for online instruction modules. We described the characteristics and scores for each training resource and compared performance across the domains. Twenty training resources were evaluated. Average overall score of online instructional resources was 61%. Online courses (n=7) averaged 73%, web modules (n=5) 64%, and videos (n=8) 48%. The top 5 highest scoring resources were in course or web module format, featured high interactivity, and required a longer (>5hrs) time commitment from users. This study revealed that resources include appropriate content but are less likely to adhere to principles of online training design and interactivity. Awareness of these resources will allow librarians to make informed recommendations for training based on patrons' needs. Future online systematic review training resources should use established best practices for e-learning to provide high-quality resources, regardless of format or user time commitment.

GPCR & company: databases and servers for GPCRs and interacting partners.

PubMed

Kowalsman, Noga; Niv, Masha Y

2014-01-01

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a large superfamily of membrane receptors that are involved in a wide range of signaling pathways. To fulfill their tasks, GPCRs interact with a variety of partners, including small molecules, lipids and proteins. They are accompanied by different proteins during all phases of their life cycle. Therefore, GPCR interactions with their partners are of great interest in basic cell-signaling research and in drug discovery.Due to the rapid development of computers and internet communication, knowledge and data can be easily shared within the worldwide research community via freely available databases and servers. These provide an abundance of biological, chemical and pharmacological information.This chapter describes the available web resources for investigating GPCR interactions. We review about 40 freely available databases and servers, and provide a few sentences about the essence and the data they supply. For simplification, the databases and servers were grouped under the following topics: general GPCR-ligand interactions; particular families of GPCRs and their ligands; GPCR oligomerization; GPCR interactions with intracellular partners; and structural information on GPCRs. In conclusion, a multitude of useful tools are currently available. Summary tables are provided to ease navigation between the numerous and partially overlapping resources. Suggestions for future enhancements of the online tools include the addition of links from general to specialized databases and enabling usage of user-supplied template for GPCR structural modeling.

Interaction and common ground in dementia: Communication across linguistic and cultural diversity in a residential dementia care setting.

PubMed

Strandroos, Lisa; Antelius, Eleonor

2017-09-01

Previous research concerning bilingual people with a dementia disease has mainly focused on the importance of sharing a spoken language with caregivers. While acknowledging this, this article addresses the multidimensional character of communication and interaction. As using spoken language is made difficult as a consequence of the dementia disease, this multidimensionality becomes particularly important. The article is based on a qualitative analysis of ethnographic fieldwork at a dementia care facility. It presents ethnographic examples of different communicative forms, with particular focus on bilingual interactions. Interaction is understood as a collective and collaborative activity. The text finds that a shared spoken language is advantageous, but is not the only source of, nor a guarantee for, creating common ground and understanding. Communicative resources other than spoken language are for example body language, embodiment, artefacts and time. Furthermore, forms of communication are not static but develop, change and are created over time. Ability to communicate is thus not something that one has or has not, but is situationally and collaboratively created. To facilitate this, time and familiarity are central resources, and the results indicate the importance of continuity in interpersonal relations.

Broadening the horizon – level 2.5 of the HUPO-PSI format for molecular interactions

PubMed Central

Kerrien, Samuel; Orchard, Sandra; Montecchi-Palazzi, Luisa; Aranda, Bruno; Quinn, Antony F; Vinod, Nisha; Bader, Gary D; Xenarios, Ioannis; Wojcik, Jérôme; Sherman, David; Tyers, Mike; Salama, John J; Moore, Susan; Ceol, Arnaud; Chatr-aryamontri, Andrew; Oesterheld, Matthias; Stümpflen, Volker; Salwinski, Lukasz; Nerothin, Jason; Cerami, Ethan; Cusick, Michael E; Vidal, Marc; Gilson, Michael; Armstrong, John; Woollard, Peter; Hogue, Christopher; Eisenberg, David; Cesareni, Gianni; Apweiler, Rolf; Hermjakob, Henning

2007-01-01

Background Molecular interaction Information is a key resource in modern biomedical research. Publicly available data have previously been provided in a broad array of diverse formats, making access to this very difficult. The publication and wide implementation of the Human Proteome Organisation Proteomics Standards Initiative Molecular Interactions (HUPO PSI-MI) format in 2004 was a major step towards the establishment of a single, unified format by which molecular interactions should be presented, but focused purely on protein-protein interactions. Results The HUPO-PSI has further developed the PSI-MI XML schema to enable the description of interactions between a wider range of molecular types, for example nucleic acids, chemical entities, and molecular complexes. Extensive details about each supported molecular interaction can now be captured, including the biological role of each molecule within that interaction, detailed description of interacting domains, and the kinetic parameters of the interaction. The format is supported by data management and analysis tools and has been adopted by major interaction data providers. Additionally, a simpler, tab-delimited format MITAB2.5 has been developed for the benefit of users who require only minimal information in an easy to access configuration. Conclusion The PSI-MI XML2.5 and MITAB2.5 formats have been jointly developed by interaction data producers and providers from both the academic and commercial sector, and are already widely implemented and well supported by an active development community. PSI-MI XML2.5 enables the description of highly detailed molecular interaction data and facilitates data exchange between databases and users without loss of information. MITAB2.5 is a simpler format appropriate for fast Perl parsing or loading into Microsoft Excel. PMID:17925023

Biological interactions and cooperative management of multiple species.

PubMed

Jiang, Jinwei; Min, Yong; Chang, Jie; Ge, Ying

2017-01-01

Coordinated decision making and actions have become the primary solution for the overexploitation of interacting resources within ecosystems. However, the success of coordinated management is highly sensitive to biological, economic, and social conditions. Here, using a game theoretic framework and a 2-species model that considers various biological relationships (competition, predation, and mutualism), we compute cooperative (or joint) and non-cooperative (or separate) management equilibrium outcomes of the model and investigate the effects of the type and strength of the relationships. We find that cooperation does not always show superiority to non-cooperation in all biological interactions: (1) if and only if resources are involved in high-intensity predation relationships, cooperation can achieve a win-win scenario for ecosystem services and resource diversity; (2) for competitive resources, cooperation realizes higher ecosystem services by sacrificing resource diversity; and (3) for mutual resources, cooperation has no obvious advantage for either ecosystem services or resource evenness but can slightly improve resource abundance. Furthermore, by using a fishery model of the North California Current Marine Ecosystem with 63 species and seven fleets, we demonstrate that the theoretical results can be reproduced in real ecosystems. Therefore, effective ecosystem management should consider the interconnection between stakeholders' social relationship and resources' biological relationships.

Reaching perinatal women online: the Healthy You, Healthy Baby website and app.

PubMed

Hearn, Lydia; Miller, Margaret; Lester, Leanne

2014-01-01

Overwhelming evidence reveals the close link between unwarranted weight gain among childbearing women and childhood adiposity. Yet current barriers limit the capacity of perinatal health care providers (PHCPs) to offer healthy lifestyle counselling. In response, today's Internet savvy women are turning to online resources to access health information, with the potential of revolutionising health services by enabling PHCPs to guide women to appropriate online resources. This paper presents the findings of a project designed to develop an online resource to promote healthy lifestyles during the perinatal period. The methodology involved focus groups and interviews with perinatal women and PHCPs to determine what online information was needed, in what form, and how best it should be presented. The outcome was the development of the Healthy You, Healthy Baby website and smartphone app. This clinically-endorsed, interactive online resource provides perinatal women with a personalised tool to track their weight, diet, physical activity, emotional wellbeing, and sleep patterns based on the developmental stage of their child with links to quality-assured information. One year since the launch of the online resource, data indicates it provides a low-cost intervention delivered across most geographic and socioeconomic strata without additional demands on health service staff.

Reaching Perinatal Women Online: The Healthy You, Healthy Baby Website and App

PubMed Central

Hearn, Lydia; Miller, Margaret; Lester, Leanne

2014-01-01

Overwhelming evidence reveals the close link between unwarranted weight gain among childbearing women and childhood adiposity. Yet current barriers limit the capacity of perinatal health care providers (PHCPs) to offer healthy lifestyle counselling. In response, today's Internet savvy women are turning to online resources to access health information, with the potential of revolutionising health services by enabling PHCPs to guide women to appropriate online resources. This paper presents the findings of a project designed to develop an online resource to promote healthy lifestyles during the perinatal period. The methodology involved focus groups and interviews with perinatal women and PHCPs to determine what online information was needed, in what form, and how best it should be presented. The outcome was the development of the Healthy You, Healthy Baby website and smartphone app. This clinically-endorsed, interactive online resource provides perinatal women with a personalised tool to track their weight, diet, physical activity, emotional wellbeing, and sleep patterns based on the developmental stage of their child with links to quality-assured information. One year since the launch of the online resource, data indicates it provides a low-cost intervention delivered across most geographic and socioeconomic strata without additional demands on health service staff. PMID:24872891

Cost of equity in homeland security resource allocation in the face of a strategic attacker.

PubMed

Shan, Xiaojun; Zhuang, Jun

2013-06-01

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent in homeland security since September 11, 2001. Many mathematical models have been developed to study strategic interactions between governments (defenders) and terrorists (attackers). However, few studies have considered the tradeoff between equity and efficiency in homeland security resource allocation. In this article, we fill this gap by developing a novel model in which a government allocates defensive resources among multiple potential targets, while reserving a portion of defensive resources (represented by the equity coefficient) for equal distribution (according to geographical areas, population, density, etc.). Such a way to model equity is one of many alternatives, but was directly inspired by homeland security resource allocation practice. The government is faced with a strategic terrorist (adaptive adversary) whose attack probabilities are endogenously determined in the model. We study the effect of the equity coefficient on the optimal defensive resource allocations and the corresponding expected loss. We find that the cost of equity (in terms of increased expected loss) increases convexly in the equity coefficient. Furthermore, such cost is lower when: (a) government uses per-valuation equity; (b) the cost-effectiveness coefficient of defense increases; and (c) the total defense budget increases. Our model, results, and insights could be used to assist policy making. © 2012 Society for Risk Analysis.

The NASA controls-structures interaction technology program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newsom, Jerry R.; Layman, W. E.; Waites, H. B.; Hayduk, R. J.

1990-01-01

The interaction between a flexible spacecraft structure and its control system is commonly referred to as controls-structures interaction (CSI). The CSI technology program is developing the capability and confidence to integrate the structure and control system, so as to avoid interactions that cause problems and to exploit interactions to increase spacecraft capability. A NASA program has been initiated to advance CSI technology to a point where it can be used in spacecraft design for future missions. The CSI technology program is a multicenter program utilizing the resources of the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The purpose is to describe the current activities, results to date, and future activities of the NASA CSI technology program.

Multitrophic microbial interactions for eco- and agro-biotechnological processes: theory and practice.

PubMed

Saleem, Muhammad; Moe, Luke A

2014-10-01

Multitrophic level microbial loop interactions mediated by protist predators, bacteria, and viruses drive eco- and agro-biotechnological processes such as bioremediation, wastewater treatment, plant growth promotion, and ecosystem functioning. To what extent these microbial interactions are context-dependent in performing biotechnological and ecosystem processes remains largely unstudied. Theory-driven research may advance the understanding of eco-evolutionary processes underlying the patterns and functioning of microbial interactions for successful development of microbe-based biotechnologies for real world applications. This could also be a great avenue to test the validity or limitations of ecology theory for managing diverse microbial resources in an era of altering microbial niches, multitrophic interactions, and microbial diversity loss caused by climate and land use changes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

WheatGenome.info: A Resource for Wheat Genomics Resource.

PubMed

Lai, Kaitao

2016-01-01

An integrated database with a variety of Web-based systems named WheatGenome.info hosting wheat genome and genomic data has been developed to support wheat research and crop improvement. The resource includes multiple Web-based applications, which are implemented as a variety of Web-based systems. These include a GBrowse2-based wheat genome viewer with BLAST search portal, TAGdb for searching wheat second generation genome sequence data, wheat autoSNPdb, links to wheat genetic maps using CMap and CMap3D, and a wheat genome Wiki to allow interaction between diverse wheat genome sequencing activities. This portal provides links to a variety of wheat genome resources hosted at other research organizations. This integrated database aims to accelerate wheat genome research and is freely accessible via the web interface at http://www.wheatgenome.info/ .

Astrobiology and Microbial Diversity Websites at MBL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bahr, M.; Bordenstein, S. R.

2006-12-01

The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) mission is to study the origin, evolution and future of life in the Universe. The MBL Astrobiology team explores the evolution and interaction of genomes of diverse organisms that play significant roles in environmental biology over evolutionary time scales. Communication about our research includes the personal contact of teacher workshops, and the development of web-based resources. Microbial Life Educational Resources (MLER) provides an expanding internet resource about the ecology, diversity and evolution for students, K-12 teachers, university faculty, and the general public. MLER includes websites, PowerPoint presentations, teaching activities, data sets, and other useful materials for creating or enhancing courses related to astrobiology. Our second site, micro*scope (http://microscope.mbl.edu), has images of microbes, classification schemes, descriptions of organisms, talks and other educational resources to improve awareness of the biodiversity of our microbial partners.

An infrastructure for ontology-based information systems in biomedicine: RICORDO case study.

PubMed

Wimalaratne, Sarala M; Grenon, Pierre; Hoehndorf, Robert; Gkoutos, Georgios V; de Bono, Bernard

2012-02-01

The article presents an infrastructure for supporting the semantic interoperability of biomedical resources based on the management (storing and inference-based querying) of their ontology-based annotations. This infrastructure consists of: (i) a repository to store and query ontology-based annotations; (ii) a knowledge base server with an inference engine to support the storage of and reasoning over ontologies used in the annotation of resources; (iii) a set of applications and services allowing interaction with the integrated repository and knowledge base. The infrastructure is being prototyped and developed and evaluated by the RICORDO project in support of the knowledge management of biomedical resources, including physiology and pharmacology models and associated clinical data. The RICORDO toolkit and its source code are freely available from http://ricordo.eu/relevant-resources. sarala@ebi.ac.uk.

Estimating Development Cost of an Interactive Website Based Cancer Screening Promotion Program

PubMed Central

Lairson, David R.; Chung, Tong Han; Smith, Lisa G.; Springston, Jeffrey K.; Champion, Victoria L.

2015-01-01

Objectives The aim of this study was to estimate the initial development costs for an innovative talk show format tailored intervention delivered via the interactive web, for increasing cancer screening in women 50 to 75 who were non-adherent to screening guidelines for colorectal cancer and/or breast cancer. Methods The cost of the intervention development was estimated from a societal perspective. Micro costing methods plus vendor contract costs were used to estimate cost. Staff logs were used to track personnel time. Non-personnel costs include all additional resources used to produce the intervention. Results Development cost of the interactive web based intervention was $.39 million, of which 77% was direct cost. About 98% of the cost was incurred in personnel time cost, contract cost and overhead cost. Conclusions The new web-based disease prevention medium required substantial investment in health promotion and media specialist time. The development cost was primarily driven by the high level of human capital required. The cost of intervention development is important information for assessing and planning future public and private investments in web-based health promotion interventions. PMID:25749548

Root–root interactions: extending our perspective to be more inclusive of the range of theories in ecology and agriculture using in-vivo analyses

PubMed Central

Faget, Marc; Nagel, Kerstin A.; Walter, Achim; Herrera, Juan M.; Jahnke, Siegfried; Schurr, Ulrich; Temperton, Vicky M.

2013-01-01

Background There is a large body of literature on competitive interactions among plants, but many studies have only focused on above-ground interactions and little is known about root–root dynamics between interacting plants. The perspective on possible mechanisms that explain the outcome of root–root interactions has recently been extended to include non-resource-driven mechanisms (as well as resource-driven mechanisms) of root competition and positive interactions such as facilitation. These approaches have often suffered from being static, partly due to the lack of appropriate methodologies for in-situ non-destructive root characterization. Scope Recent studies show that interactive effects of plant neighbourhood interactions follow non-linear and non-additive paths that are hard to explain. Common outcomes such as accumulation of roots mainly in the topsoil cannot be explained solely by competition theory but require a more inclusive theoretical, as well as an improved methodological framework. This will include the question of whether we can apply the same conceptual framework to crop versus natural species. Conclusions The development of non-invasive methods to dynamically study root–root interactions in vivo will provide the necessary tools to study a more inclusive conceptual framework for root–root interactions. By following the dynamics of root–root interactions through time in a whole range of scenarios and systems, using a wide variety of non-invasive methods, (such as fluorescent protein which now allows us to separately identify the roots of several individuals within soil), we will be much better equipped to answer some of the key questions in root physiology, ecology and agronomy. PMID:23378521

Barriers and benefits associated with nurses information seeking related to patient education needs on clinical nursing units.

PubMed

Jones, Josette; Schilling, Katherine; Pesut, Daniel

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to answer the following two questions: What are clinical nurses' rationales for their approaches to finding patient educational materials on the web? What are perceived barriers and benefits associated with the use of web-based information resources for patient education in the context of nursing clinical practice?Over 179 individual data units were analyzed to understand clinical nurses' rationales for their approaches to find patient educational materials on the web. Rationales were defined as those underlying catalysts or activators leading to an information need. Analyses found that the primary reasons why clinical nurses conducted web-based information searches included direct patient requests ( 9 requests), colleague requests (6 requests), building patient materials collections (4), patients' family requests (3), routine teaching (1), personal development (1), or staff development (1). From these data, four broad themes emerged: professional reasons, personal reasons, technology reasons, and organization reasons for selecting information resources. Content analysis identified 306 individual data units representing either 'benefits' (178 units) or 'barriers' (128) to the nurses' use of web resources for on-unit patient care. Inter-rater reliability was assessed and found to be excellent (r = 0.943 to 0.961). The primary themes that emerged as barriers to the used of web-based resources included: 1) time requirements to perform a search, 2) nurses' experience and knowledge about the resources or required technology, 3) specific characteristics of individuals electronic information resources, and 4) organizational procedures and policies. Three primary themes that represented the benefits of using web-based resources were also identified: 1) past experiences and knowledge of a specific resource or the required technologies, 2) availability and accessibility on the unit, and 3) specific characteristics of individual information tool. In many cases, nurses commented on specific characteristics or features of favorite information resources. Favorite sites included a variety or reputable health care organizations that displayed context in text, audio, and/or video. In addition such sites were described as easy-to read and provided content related to patient-focused information or specific content such as toll free telephone contact numbers.Information searching is the interaction between and among information users and computer-based information systems. Information seeking is becoming an important part of the knowledge work of nurses. Information seeking and searching intersects with the field of human computer interaction (HCI), which focuses on all aspects of human, and computer interactions. Users of an information system are understood as "actors" in situations, with a set of skills and shared practices based on work experiences with others. Designing better tools and developing information searching strategies that support, extend, and transform practices, begins by asking: Who are the users? What are the tasks? What is the interplay between the technology and the organization of the task? This study contributes fundamental data and information about the rationales nurses use in information seeking tasks. In addition it provides empirical evidences regarding barriers and benefits of information seeking in the context of patient education needs in inpatient clinical settings.

iELM—a web server to explore short linear motif-mediated interactions

PubMed Central

Weatheritt, Robert J.; Jehl, Peter; Dinkel, Holger; Gibson, Toby J.

2012-01-01

The recent expansion in our knowledge of protein–protein interactions (PPIs) has allowed the annotation and prediction of hundreds of thousands of interactions. However, the function of many of these interactions remains elusive. The interactions of Eukaryotic Linear Motif (iELM) web server provides a resource for predicting the function and positional interface for a subset of interactions mediated by short linear motifs (SLiMs). The iELM prediction algorithm is based on the annotated SLiM classes from the Eukaryotic Linear Motif (ELM) resource and allows users to explore both annotated and user-generated PPI networks for SLiM-mediated interactions. By incorporating the annotated information from the ELM resource, iELM provides functional details of PPIs. This can be used in proteomic analysis, for example, to infer whether an interaction promotes complex formation or degradation. Furthermore, details of the molecular interface of the SLiM-mediated interactions are also predicted. This information is displayed in a fully searchable table, as well as graphically with the modular architecture of the participating proteins extracted from the UniProt and Phospho.ELM resources. A network figure is also presented to aid the interpretation of results. The iELM server supports single protein queries as well as large-scale proteomic submissions and is freely available at http://i.elm.eu.org. PMID:22638578

Development of Internet algorithms and some calculations of power plant COP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ustjuzhanin, E. E.; Ochkov, V. F.; Znamensky, V. E.

2017-11-01

The authors have analyzed Internet resources containing information on some thermodynamic properties of technically important substances (the water, the air etc.). There are considered databases those possess such resources and are hosted in organizations (Joint Institute for High Temperatures (Russian Academy of Sciences), Standartinform (Russia), National Institute of Standards and Technology (USA), Institute for Thermal Physics (Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), etc.). Currently, a typical form is an Internet resource that includes a text file, for example, it is a file containing tabulated properties, R = (ρ, s, h…), here ρ - the density, s - the entropy, h - the enthalpy of a substance. It is known a small number of Internet resources those have the following characteristic. The resource allows a customer to realize a number of options, for example: i) to enter the input data, Y = (p, T), here p - the pressure, T - the temperature, ii) to calculate R property using “an exe-file” program, iii) to copy the result X = (p, T, ρ, h, s, …). Recently, some researchers (including the authors of this report) have requested a software (SW) that is designed for R property calculations and has a form of an open interactive (OI) Internet resource (“a client function”, “template”). A computing part of OI resource is linked: 1) with a formula, which is applied to calculate R property, 2) with a Mathcad program, Code_1(R,Y). An interactive part of OI resource is based on Informatics and Internet technologies. We have proposed some methods and tools those are related to this part and let us: a) to post OI resource on a remote server, b) to link a client PC with the remote server, c) to implement a number of options to clients. Among these options, there are: i) to calculate R property at given Y arguments, ii) to copy mathematical formulas, iii) to copy Code_1(R,Y) as a whole. We have developed some OI - resources those are focused on sharing: a) SW that is used to design power plants, for an example, Code - GTP_1(Z,R,Y) and b) client functions those are aimed to determine R properties of the working fluid at fixed points of the thermodynamic cycle. The program let us calculate energy criteria, Z, including the internal coefficient of performance (COP) for a power plant. We have discussed OI resources, among them OI resource that includes Code - GTP_1(Z,R,Y) and connected with a complex power plant included: i) several gas turbines, i) several compressors etc.

Studying Teacher Selection of Resources in an Ultra-Large Scale Interactive System: Does Metadata Guide the Way?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abramovich, Samuel; Schunn, Christian

2012-01-01

Ultra-large-scale interactive systems on the Internet have begun to change how teachers prepare for instruction, particularly in regards to resource selection. Consequently, it is important to look at how teachers are currently selecting resources beyond content or keyword search. We conducted a two-part observational study of an existing popular…

Analysis of Interactivity and Autonomy of Existing Digital Educational Resources: The Case of Life and Earth Sciences in Morocco

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ettazarini, Said

2017-01-01

The educational policy in Morocco is aimed at promoting the wide use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education and the adoption of interactive and autonomous digital resources for distance teaching and self-learning. The objective of this research is to evaluate the suitability of the existing digital educational resources for…

An Agent-Based Approach for Delivering Educational Contents through Interactive Digital TV in the Context of T-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mendes Neto, Francisco Milton; de Carvalho Muniz, Raphael; Filgueira Burlamaqui, Aquiles Medeiros; Castro de Souza, Rafael

2015-01-01

The support of technological resources in teaching and learning has contributed to make them more efficient and enjoyable. Through this support has become quite common to use media resources before explored only for entertainment for educational purposes, among them the TV. The interactive Digital TV (iDTV) provides resources that make possible…

Hey! I Can Read This! The Interactive Book Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butt, Donna Sabino; Thurman, Kathy Barlow

This teaching resource goes beyond songs, games, and finger plays to function as a one-of-a-kind interactive book. Teachers are given basic instructions on how to create a variety of different interactive books for their students to enjoy. Lists of materials needed to create each book are also included with the instructions. The resource book…

Interactive Negotiation of Perspectives in Japanese: Predicate-Final Structure as a Resource to Organize Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakamura, Kanae

2009-01-01

While the predicate-final structure of the Japanese language has been considered one of the main causes of its late projectability (Tanaka, 1999), this study demonstrates that the final predicate component of a "turn constructional unit" (TCU) furnishes a useful resource for conversational participants to negotiate various aspects of interaction.…

Intersects between Land, Energy, Water and the Climate System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hibbard, K. A.; Skaggs, R.; Wilson, T.

2012-12-01

Climate change affects water, and land resources, and with growing human activity, each of these sectors relies increasingly on the others for critical resources. Events such as drought across the South Central U.S. during 2011 demonstrate that climatic impacts within each of these sectors can cascade through interactions between sectors. Energy, water, and land resources are each vulnerable to impacts on either of the other two sectors. For example, energy systems inherently require land and water. Increased electricity demands to contend with climate change can impose additional burdens on overly subscribed water resources. Within this environment, energy systems compete for water with agriculture, human consumption, and other needs. In turn, climate driven changes in landscape attributes and land use affect water quality and availability as well as energy demands. Diminishing water quality and availability impose additional demands for energy to access and purify water, and for land to store and distribute water. In some situations, interactions between water, energy, and land resources make options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions vulnerable to climate change. Energy options such as solar power or biofuel use can reduce net greenhouse gas emissions as well as U.S. dependence on foreign resources. As a result, the U.S. is expanding renewable energy systems. Advanced technology such as carbon dioxide capture with biofuels may offer a means of removing CO2 from the atmosphere. But as with fossil fuels, renewable energy sources can impose significant demands for water and land. For example, solar power mayrequire significant land to site facilities and water for cooling or to produce steam. Raising crops to produce biofuels uses arable land and water that might otherwise be available for food production. Thus, warmer and drier climate can compromise these renewable energy resources, and drought can stress water supplies creating competition between energy production and agriculture. These kinds of stresses often initiate innovated technological developments, such as dry cooling to reduce water demands in the U.S. Southwest for utility-scalesolar development, however, the need for large areas of land remain, and often, large land tracts in this region are under Federal ownership and used as conservation or wildlife refuges. Conflicting stakeholder views, institutional commitments, and international concerns can constrain options for reducing vulnerability to climate change, and interactions among water, energy, and land resource sectors can intensify such constraints. While management decisions may focus primarily on one of these resource sectors, where the three sectors are tightly coupled, options for mitigating or adapting to climate change may be limited more than expected. For example, the Columbia River Treaty between Canada and the U.S. emphasizes hydroelectric power and flood control, but with warmer temperatures and drier summers projected for the Northwest, diminishing water supplies will result in increased pumping for resource production (i.e., deeper groundwater) and transmission. Finally, coordinated water management for agriculture, ecosystem services, and hydropower will be an important aspect of adaptation not necessarily accommodated by the Treaty.

Evaluating an Innovative eLearning Pain Education Interprofessional Resource: A Pre-Post Study.

PubMed

Watt-Watson, Judy; McGillion, Michael; Lax, Leila; Oskarsson, Jon; Hunter, Judith; MacLennan, Cameron; Knickle, Kerry; Victor, J Charles

2018-06-20

The challenges of moving the pain education agenda forward are significant worldwide, and resources, including online, are needed to help educators in curriculum development. Online resources are available but with insufficient evaluation in the context of prelicensure pain education. Therefore, this pre-post study examined the impact of an innovative eLearning model: the Pain Education Interprofessional Resource (PEIR) on usability, pain knowledge, beliefs, and understanding of pain assessment skills including empathy. Participants were students (N = 96) recruited from seven prelicensure health sciences programs at the University of Toronto. They worked through three multifaceted modules, developed by an interprofessional team, that followed a patient with acute to persistent postsurgical pain up to one year. Module objectives, content, and assessment were based on International Association for the Study of Pain Pain Curricula domains and related pain core competencies. Multimedia interactive components focused on pain mechanisms and key pain care issues. Outcome measures included previously validated tools; data were analyzed in SPSS. Online exercises provided concurrent individual feedback throughout all modules. The completion rate for modules and online assessments was 100%. Overall usability scores (SD) were strong 4.27/5 (0.56). On average, pain knowledge scores increased 20% (P < 0.001). The Pain Assessment Skills Tool was sensitive to differences in student and expert pain assessment evaluation ratings and was useful as a tool to deliver formative feedback while engaged in interactive eLearning about pain assessment. PEIR is an effective eLearning program with high student ratings for educational design and usability that significantly improved pain knowledge and understanding of collaborative care.

A coupled modeling framework for sustainable watershed management in transboundary river basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furqan Khan, Hassaan; Yang, Y. C. Ethan; Xie, Hua; Ringler, Claudia

2017-12-01

There is a growing recognition among water resource managers that sustainable watershed management needs to not only account for the diverse ways humans benefit from the environment, but also incorporate the impact of human actions on the natural system. Coupled natural-human system modeling through explicit modeling of both natural and human behavior can help reveal the reciprocal interactions and co-evolution of the natural and human systems. This study develops a spatially scalable, generalized agent-based modeling (ABM) framework consisting of a process-based semi-distributed hydrologic model (SWAT) and a decentralized water system model to simulate the impacts of water resource management decisions that affect the food-water-energy-environment (FWEE) nexus at a watershed scale. Agents within a river basin are geographically delineated based on both political and watershed boundaries and represent key stakeholders of ecosystem services. Agents decide about the priority across three primary water uses: food production, hydropower generation and ecosystem health within their geographical domains. Agents interact with the environment (streamflow) through the SWAT model and interact with other agents through a parameter representing willingness to cooperate. The innovative two-way coupling between the water system model and SWAT enables this framework to fully explore the feedback of human decisions on the environmental dynamics and vice versa. To support non-technical stakeholder interactions, a web-based user interface has been developed that allows for role-play and participatory modeling. The generalized ABM framework is also tested in two key transboundary river basins, the Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia and the Niger River basin in West Africa, where water uses for ecosystem health compete with growing human demands on food and energy resources. We present modeling results for crop production, energy generation and violation of eco-hydrological indicators at both the agent and basin-wide levels to shed light on holistic FWEE management policies in these two basins.

Alaska communities and forest environments: a problem analysis and research agenda.

Treesearch

Linda E. Kruger; Rhonda L. Mazza

2006-01-01

This problem analysis describes a variety of human-resource interaction issues and identifies related social science research and development needs that serve as the foundation for the Alaska Communities and Forest Environments Team within the Pacific Northwest Research Station. The document lays out a research agenda that focuses on understanding relations between...

Good Student/Bad Student: Situated Identities in the Figured Worlds of School and Creative Multimodal Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jocius, Robin

2017-01-01

This study situates young adolescents' multimodal composing practices within two figured worlds--school and creative multimodal production. In a microanalysis of two focal students' multimodal processes and products, I trace how pedagogical, interactional, and semiotic resources both reified and challenged students' developing identities as…

Microstructure and Mixing: Interactions of Energetic Flow and Eddies with Complex Topography in the Western Indian Ocean

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-17

the region of interest from SAEON archives Task 3 An offshore survey - to make some basic measurements in the area of interest and develop AUV ... AUV deployment procedures and skills using local resources. 4. Glider deployment in collaboration with WHOI YEAR 2 1. Further measurements based

Forest Tenure Systems and Sustainable Forest Management: The Case of Ghana

Treesearch

Charles E. Owubah; Dennis C. Le Master; J. Michael Bowker; John G. Lee

2001-01-01

Adoption and implementation of sustainable forestry practices are essential for sustaining forest resources, yet development of effective policies and strategies to achieve them are problematic. Part of the difficulty stems from a limited understanding of the interaction between obtrusive forest policies and indigenous tenure systems and how this affects sustainable...

Developing a Technology Workshop Series for Your Faculty and Staff.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeitz, Leigh E.

1995-01-01

Based on a needs assessment questionnaire, 13 technology workshops were designed for school personnel. Topics included an introduction; troubleshooting; e-mail and the Internet; ERIC and CD-ROM databases; Microsoft Works; desktop publishing; presentation software; resources on CD-ROM; the X-Press news service; and interactive laser video discs. A…

Clueless Newbies in the MUDs: An Introduction to Multiple-User Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeNoir, W. David

1998-01-01

Describes Multiple-User Dungeons (MUDs), multiple-user computer programs that allow participants to interact with others in "real time" exchanges. Discusses their potential in the writing classroom and beyond, and notes their potential for faculty development activities. Offers a list of Internet resources, some actual MUD addresses, and other…

The Semiotics of Learning Korean at Home: An Ecological Autoethnographic Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jenks, Christopher J.

2017-01-01

This autoethnographic study examines how I re-learn Korean in, and through, interactions with family members at home. The analysis, which is informed by language ecology and sociocultural concepts of development, shows how semiotic and human resources, including material objects and more proficient speakers, play a mediating role in how I deal…

Clean Water in the Pacific. [Videotape]. PRELSTAR: A Pacific Islands Distance Learning Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, Honolulu, HI.

This 11-minute videotape and poster can be used for interactive instruction in grades 6-12 science classes. Issues examined in this videotape include preserving precious water resources, protecting the environment from pollutants caused by urban and agricultural development and industry within changing lifestyles, and ensuring the availability of…

Environmental factors affecting the spatial distribution and trophic interactions of arthropod communities at a bioenergy farm in the Southeastern Plains, USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The abundance and composition of arthropod communities in agricultural landscapes vary across space and time, responding to environmental features, resources and behavioral cues. As “second-generation” bioenergy feedstocks continue to develop, knowledge is needed about the broader scale ecological i...

A neotropical migratory bird prioritization for National Forests and Grasslands

Treesearch

Dick Roth; Richard Peterson

1997-01-01

The Rocky Mountain Region of the USDA Forest Service provides nesting habitat for 146 species of neotropical migratory birds. Interactive, prioritization databases were developed for each National Forest and National Grassland in the Region to assist land managers in making informed decisions about resource allocations. The data was processed using Paradox software....

A Study into the Effects of eLearning on Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Gurmak; O'Donoghue, John; Worton, Harvey

2005-01-01

The Internet is a technological development that has the potential to change not only the way society retains and accesses knowledge but also to transform and restructure traditional models of higher education, particularly the delivery and interaction in and with course materials and associated resources. Utilising the Internet to deliver…

The CAMILLE Project: Espana Interactiva (The CAMILLE Project: Interactive Spanish).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana; Ingraham, Bruce

CAMILLE's primary objective is to exploit recent developments in multimedia computing to create a flexible, student-centered, electronic language learning environment to support the acquisition of a second language. The consortium's first target was to produce a learning resource for beginners of Spanish and another for beginners of Dutch, as well…

An Interactive Concept Map Approach to Supporting Mobile Learning Activities for Natural Science Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Wu, Po-Han; Ke, Hui-Ru

2011-01-01

Mobile and wireless communication technologies not only enable anytime and anywhere learning, but also provide the opportunity to develop learning environments that combine real-world and digital-world resources. Nevertheless, researchers have indicated that, without effective tools for helping students organize their observations in the field,…

SAMM: a prototype southeast Alaska multiresource model.

Treesearch

Roger D. Fight; Lawrence D. Garrett; Dale L. Weyermann

1990-01-01

The adaptive environmental assessment method was used by an interdisciplinary team of forest specialists to gain an understanding of resource interactions and tradeoffs resulting from forest management activities in southeast Alaska. A forest multiresource projection model was developed in the process. The multiresource model, “SAMM,” is capable of characterizing and...

The 1971-72 Evaluation of the Connecticut Program for Migrant Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mosley, William; Scruggs, James A.

The program aimed to develop and implement educational activities for migrant children which would increase their achievement level in the public school classrooms and to deal with matters of self, their interaction with others, and survival. Two types of learning programs were emphasized: Multi-Purpose Resource Centers which supplemented the…

Designing Interactive Courseware: Creating an Electronic Edition of the Notes of Debates in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schick, James B. M.

2002-01-01

Describes the educational philosophy and decisions that shaped development of an electronic reader's edition of James Madison's notes on the debates of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. Discusses the role of hypermedia in history instruction. %Illustrates and explains the design of the resource. (PAL)

Participation process and outcome interactions: Exploring participation in water resource management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, G.; Loucks, D. P.; Blöschl, G.

2012-04-01

Evaluating participation programmes, projects and activities aids understanding of effective mechanisms and enables the identification of improvements to current strategies. Characteristics of participation processes, such whether the process is cost effective, adequately facilitated, accessible, includes a representative section of society or interest groups and allocates power equivalently between participants, are commonly described and evaluated in the literature. A key question concerns whether effective processes lead to desirable outcomes. Two types of outcomes can be identified from participation programmes - tangible and non-tangible. Tangible outcomes include resource management changes or resource quality changes. Non tangible outcomes include developing and strengthening communication and action networks, building trust between individuals and/or organisations, developing innovative solutions, or developing shared knowledge and understandings of issues. To better understand how participation impacts upon resource management it is necessary to identify i) how non-tangible outcomes lead to resource management outcomes and ii) which characteristics of the participation process are connected to achieving non-tangible outcomes. This has been attempted with a literature based meta-analysis. Literature has been analysed to identify outcomes from participations programmes, and the process characteristics present that are associated with promoting or inhibiting their achievement. Preliminary analysis shows that process characteristics such as representation, facilitation and accessibility are important for achieving non-tangible outcomes. The relationship between non-tangible outcomes and resource management outcomes is less clear in the literature. This may be due to the different timescales over which the different types of outcomes emerge (resource management outcomes emerge over longer time periods) and the different contexts or settings in which participation takes place.

11 Years of Geoscience Outreach through the Windows to the Universe Project: Lessons Learned for On-Line Education in Formal and Informal Settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, R.; Bergman, J.; Gardiner, L.; Genyuk, J.; Lagrave, M.; Mastie, D.; Metcalfe, T.; Russell, R.

2005-12-01

The Windows to the Universe project was initiated in February 1995 with support from NASA to bring the geosciences and integrated interdisciplinary content to the public through a web site (http://www.windows.ucar.edu) designed to be engaging and appealing to the general public in informal settings. Since that time, the project has continued to develop content and associated educational resources, including interactives and games, and standards-based classroom activities and demonstrations. Most resources on the website are provided at three levels of sophistication ' beginner, intermediate, and advanced' approximating upper elementary, middle, and high school students. In 1996, we initiated an annual professional development program that includes training opportunities on these materials through workshops offered at local, state, national, and international meetings; we now regularly reach over 800 teachers per year through our professional development efforts. Most recently, in 2004 we initiated an effort to translate the entire website into Spanish and keep the translation up to date as content is added and updated. The website is now composed of over 7000 pages, with a comparable number of images, animations, and interactives. The website now hosts over 9.6 million visits per year (corresponding to nearly 80 million page views) from around the world, including over 2.2 million on the Spanish version of the website; ~35,000 visits per day are hosted on our servers during a typical day in the academic year. User surveys, comments from users, and interactions with educators document that we website is extremely popular with their students, that it successfully reaches students across the age groups indicated above, that it is used by educators to provide background content information for themselves as well as their students, in addition to using our educational activities (our 'Teacher Resources' section of the website is hosts ~3500 visits per day during the academic year). Content on the website is developed by a team of scientist/educators (all with degrees in the Earth or space sciences), and is reviewed for accuracy within the team. If needed because the topic of a page falls outside the expertise of the development team, additional review is requested from scientific colleagues. Content development is guided by the needs of sponsors as well as requests from our users. Our experience overall demonstrates that websites designed to be engaging and interactive are effective, not only for informal education, but also for formal education, and that careful consideration for design and dissemination encourages this crossover use.

Baseline groundwater chemistry characterization in an area of future Marcellus shale gas development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eisenhauer, P.; Zegre, N.; Edwards, P. J.; Strager, M.

2012-12-01

The recent increase in development of the Marcellus shale formation for natural gas in the mid-Atlantic can be attributed to advances in unconventional extraction methods, namely hydraulic fracturing, a process that uses water to pressurize and fracture relatively impermeable shale layers to release natural gas. In West Virginia, the Department of Energy estimates 95 to 105 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of expected ultimately recovery (EUR) of natural gas for this formation. With increased development of the Marcellus shale formation comes concerns for the potential of contamination to groundwater resources that serve as primary potable water sources for many rural communities. However, the impacts of this practice on water resources are poorly understood because of the lack of controlled pre versus post-drilling experiments attributed to the rapid development of this resource. To address the knowledge gaps of the potential impacts of Marcellus shale development on groundwater resources, a pre versus post-drilling study has been initiated by the USFS Fernow Experimental Forest in the Monongahela National Forest. Drilling is expected to start at three locations within the next year. Pre-drilling water samples were collected and analyzed from two groundwater wells, a shallow spring, a nearby lake, and river to characterize background water chemistry and identify potential end-members. Geochemical analysis includes major ions, methane, δ13C-CH4, δ2H-CH4, 226Radium, and δ13C-DIC. In addition, a GIS-based conceptual ground water flow model was developed to identify possible interactions between shallow groundwater and natural gas wells given gas well construction failure. This model is used to guide management decisions regarding groundwater resources in an area of increasing shale gas development.

Explore the interrelationships of the WFE Nexus by relational topological mapping techniques - a case in northern Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Y. Y.; Tsai, W. P.; Chang, F. J.

2016-12-01

In recent years, Water-Food-Energy Nexus (WFE Nexus) has become a global issue due to the scarcity of natural resources. Besides, the resource management of water, energy and food at spatial and temporal scales raises multiple interwoven concerns ranging from co-opetitive relationship to resource accessibility. Over the past few decades, the socio-economic development of Taiwan has experienced drastic transformation because of population growth, urbanization and excessive consumption of natural resources. Therefore, our research intends to explore the interrelationships of the WFE Nexus by means of data mining techniques, such as artificial intelligence (AI). Our study area is the Tamsui River watershed in northern Taiwan. At first, we collect and analyze long-term WFE-related multidimensional heterogeneous observational data, such as water demand, food consumption and energy requirements. Then in order to explore the interrelationships and interactions of the WFE Nexus, the self-organizing map (SOM) is used to classify multidimensional heterogeneous data for building two-dimensional topological maps for clustering purpose. Consequently, we aim to establish the interrelationships in the WFE Nexus based on the obtained SOM topologies. This research will also explore the collaborative synergies of resource allocation and utilization that may influence the development of urbanization in the future. Ultimately, based on our proposed methodology and findings, the considerable impacts of the WFE Nexus on resource supply and demand and how the potential collaborative synergies would promote sustainable socio-economic development will be illuminated.

Testing and extending the triple match principle in the nursing profession: a generational perspective on job demands, job resources and strain at work.

PubMed

Lavoie-Tremblay, Melanie; Trépanier, Sarah-Geneviève; Fernet, Claude; Bonneville-Roussy, Arielle

2014-02-01

The Triple Match Principle offers insight into the interactive interplay between job demands and job resources in the prediction of work-related strain. The aim of this article was to examine the interplay among job demands, job resources and strain in the nursing profession (the Triple Match Principle) and to gain insight into potential generational differences by investigating generation as a moderator of that interplay. No research has been done to evaluate generational differences in the Triple Match Principle. In a context of nursing shortages, it seems important to examine the relevance of the Triple Match Principle with respect to different generations of nurses. Cross-sectional study. A total of 1254 public healthcare sector nurses in Quebec, Canada, completed a questionnaire in the autumn of 2010. The questionnaire was used to assess cognitive, emotional and physical job demands and resources; psychological distress; psychosomatic complaints; and turnover intention. The results supported the Triple Match Principle and showed that job resources were more likely to buffer the effect of job demands on strain as the degree of match in qualitative dimension among demands, resources and strain increased (33·3% of triple-match interactions, 22·22% of double-match interactions and 16·67% non-match interactions were significant). Moreover, generation played a key role in this interplay, as it increased the number of significant qualitative interactions among job demands, job resources and strain. The results underscore the necessity of providing adequate job resources tailored to the specific job demands nurses face, to counteract the negative effects of those demands. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Diversity in livestock resources in pastoral systems in Africa.

PubMed

Kaufmann, B A; Lelea, M A; Hulsebusch, C G

2016-11-01

Pastoral systems are important producers and repositories of livestock diversity. Pastoralists use variability in their livestock resources to manage high levels of environmental variability in economically advantageous ways. In pastoral systems, human-animal-environment interactions are the basis of production and the key to higher productivity and efficiency. In other words, pastoralists manage a production system that exploits variability and keeps production costs low. When differentiating, characterising and evaluating pastoral breeds, this context-specific, functional dimension of diversity in livestock resources needs to be considered. The interaction of animals with their environment is determined not only by morphological and physiological traits but also by experience and socially learned behaviour. This high proportion of non-genetic components determining the performance of livestock means that current models for analysing livestock diversity and performance, which are based on genetic inheritance, have limited ability to describe pastoral performance. There is a need for methodological innovations to evaluate pastoral breeds and animals, since comparisons based on performance 'under optimal conditions' are irrelevant within this production system. Such innovations must acknowledge that livestock or breed performance is governed by complex human-animal-environment interactions, and varies through time and space due to the mobile and seasonal nature of the pastoral system. Pastoralists' breeding concepts and selection strategies seem to be geared towards improving their animals' capability to exploit variability, by - among other things - enhancing within-breed diversity. In-depth studies of these concepts and strategies could contribute considerably towards developing methodological innovations for the characterisation and evaluation of pastoral livestock resources.

Land Resource Management as the Ground for Mining Area Sustainable Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solovitskiy, Aleksander; Brel, Olga; Nikulin, Nikolai; Nastavko, Ekaterina; Meser, Tatayna

2017-11-01

It is established that the problem of sustainable development of Kuzbass cities is their being tied to a single production and income from other sources is not considered. Therefore, their economy is underdeveloped, depends entirely on one city-forming enterprise (singleindustry city), which causes response to the slightest changes in the economic situation. In Kuzbass, all cities, except Kemerovo, are monodependent, including Kiselevsk, which economy mainly consists of coal mining enterprises. In the circumstances, there is a need to develop a set of measures for management the urban land, primarily aimed at ensuring the sustainable development of Kiselevsk city. The development of principles and management mechanism of the urban territory land fund determines its effectiveness. Establishing the dependence of rational use of land resources and sustainable development characterizes a new level of information interaction between sciences (land management and economy). Practical use of this theory is to overcome the mono-urban development of mining cities, taking into account effective subsoil management.

The Integration of Javanese Indigenous Knowledge in Biology Learning Resources Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anazifa, D.; Hadi, R. F.

2017-02-01

The student’s difficulties in learning and understanding Biology concepts are caused by the adoption of scientific phenomenon that not suitable with the environment they live in. Students who comes from the Javanese background sometimes find the Biology concepts hard to understand. Science content that comes from the West sometimes is not suitable with the student’s background, because the cultural and geographical background that underlining the science development are different. It can potentially cause the clash in constructing knowledge of students. The proportion of western knowledge and indigenous knowledge has to be balanced, in order to give the scientific rationale of the natural phenomenon that faced by students in everyday life. The ethnoscience experienced by student is still in the form of concrete experience as a result of the interaction with the nature. As one of the largest tribe in Indonesia, Javanese has many unique cultures that can be adopted in science classroom especially in Biology class. The role on ethnoscience in the context of developing Biology learning resources is to connect the science concept with the real world situation. By considering indigenous knowledge as one of learning resources, teachers can start to adjust the Javanese indigenous knowledge into the curriculum. This paper is literature review which will present the background, rationale, and procedure in integrating Javanese indigenous knowledge into Biology classroom as learning resources. The integration of Javanese indigenous knowledge in Biology learning resources development is necessary in order to connect the Biology concept into real situation.

A study of interactive control scheduling and economic assessment for robotic systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

A class of interactive control systems is derived by generalizing interactive manipulator control systems. Tasks of interactive control systems can be represented as a network of a finite set of actions which have specific operational characteristics and specific resource requirements, and which are of limited duration. This has enabled the decomposition of the overall control algorithm simultaneously and asynchronously. The performance benefits of sensor referenced and computer-aided control of manipulators in a complex environment is evaluated. The first phase of the CURV arm control system software development and the basic features of the control algorithms and their software implementation are presented. An optimal solution for a production scheduling problem that will be easy to implement in practical situations is investigated.

Diagnostic imaging learning resources evaluated by students and recent graduates.

PubMed

Alexander, Kate; Bélisle, Marilou; Dallaire, Sébastien; Fernandez, Nicolas; Doucet, Michèle

2013-01-01

Many learning resources can help students develop the problem-solving abilities and clinical skills required for diagnostic imaging. This study explored veterinary students' perceptions of the usefulness of a variety of learning resources. Perceived resource usefulness was measured for different levels of students and for academic versus clinical preparation. Third-year (n=139) and final (fifth) year (n=105) students and recent graduates (n=56) completed questionnaires on perceived usefulness of each resource. Resources were grouped for comparison: abstract/low complexity (e.g., notes, multimedia presentations), abstract/high complexity (e.g., Web-based and film case repositories), concrete/low complexity (e.g., large-group "clicker" workshops), and concrete/high complexity (e.g., small-group interpretation workshops). Lower-level students considered abstract/low-complexity resources more useful for academic preparation and concrete resources more useful for clinical preparation. Higher-level students/recent graduates also considered abstract/low-complexity resources more useful for academic preparation. For all levels, lecture notes were considered highly useful. Multimedia slideshows were an interactive complement to notes. The usefulness of a Web-based case repository was limited by accessibility problems and difficulty. Traditional abstract/low-complexity resources were considered useful for more levels and contexts than expected. Concrete/high-complexity resources need to better represent clinical practice to be considered more useful for clinical preparation.

Molecular and cellular neurocardiology: development, and cellular and molecular adaptations to heart disease

PubMed Central

Anderson, Mark E.; Birren, Susan J.; Fukuda, Keiichi; Herring, Neil; Hoover, Donald B.; Kanazawa, Hideaki; Paterson, David J.; Ripplinger, Crystal M.

2016-01-01

Abstract The nervous system and cardiovascular system develop in concert and are functionally interconnected in both health and disease. This white paper focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie neural–cardiac interactions during development, during normal physiological function in the mature system, and during pathological remodelling in cardiovascular disease. The content on each subject was contributed by experts, and we hope that this will provide a useful resource for newcomers to neurocardiology as well as aficionados. PMID:27060296

Enabling technologies for transition to utilization of space-based resources and operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sadin, S. R.; Litty, J. D.

1985-01-01

This article explores a potential scenario for the further development of space infrastructure resources and operations management. It is a scenario that transitions from the current ground-based system to an architecture that is predominantly space-based by exploiting key mission systems in an operational support role. If this view is accurate, an examination of the range of potential infrastructure elements and how they might interact in a maximally productive space-based operations complex is needed, innovative technologies beyond the current Shuttle and Space Station legacy need to be identified, and research programs pursued. Development of technologies within the areas of telerobotics, machine autonomy, human autonomy, in-space manufacturing and construction, propulsion and energy is discussed.

Advising and Optimizing the Deployment of Sustainability-Oriented Technologies in the Integrated Electricity, Light-Duty Transportation, and Water Supply System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarroja, Brian

The convergence of increasing populations, decreasing primary resource availability, and uncertain climates have drawn attention to the challenge of shifting the operations of key resource sectors towards a sustainable paradigm. This is prevalent in California, which has set sustainability-oriented policies such as the Renewable Portfolio Standards and Zero-Emission Vehicle mandates. To meet these goals, many options have been identified to potentially carry out these shifts. The electricity sector is focusing on accommodating renewable power generation, the transportation sector on alternative fuel drivetrains and infrastructure, and the water supply sector on conservation, reuse, and unconventional supplies. Historical performance evaluations of these options, however, have not adequately taken into account the impacts on and constraints of co-dependent infrastructures that must accommodate them and their interactions with other simultaneously deployed options. These aspects are critical for optimally choosing options to meet sustainability goals, since the combined system of all resource sectors must satisfy them. Certain operations should not be made sustainable at the expense of rendering others as unsustainable, and certain resource sectors should not meet their individual goals in a way that hinders the ability of the entire system to do so. Therefore, this work develops and utilizes an integrated platform of the electricity, transportation, and water supply sectors to characterize the performance of emerging technology and management options while taking into account their impacts on co-dependent infrastructures and identify synergistic or detrimental interactions between the deployment of different options. This is carried out by first evaluating the performance of each option in the context of individual resource sectors to determine infrastructure impacts, then again in the context of paired resource sectors (electricity-transportation, electricity-water), and finally in the context of the combined tri-sector system. This allows a more robust basis for composing preferred option portfolios to meet sustainability goals and gives a direction for coordinating the paradigm shifts of different resource sectors. Overall, it is determined that taking into account infrastructure constraints and potential operational interactions can significantly change the evaluation of the preferred role that different technologies should fulfill in contributing towards satisfying sustainability goals in the holistic context.

Patient portal readiness among postpartum patients in a safety net setting.

PubMed

Wieland, Daryl; Gibeau, Anne; Dewey, Caitlin; Roshto, Melanie; Frankel, Hilary

2017-07-05

Maternity patients interact with the healthcare system over an approximately ten-month interval, requiring multiple visits, acquiring pregnancy-specific education, and sharing health information among providers. Many features of a web-based patient portal could help pregnant women manage their interactions with the healthcare system; however, it is unclear whether pregnant women in safety-net settings have the resources, skills or interest required for portal adoption. In this study of postpartum patients in a safety net hospital, we aimed to: (1) determine if patients have the technical resources and skills to access a portal, (2) gain insight into their interest in health information, and (3) identify the perceived utility of portal features and potential barriers to adoption. We developed a structured questionnaire to collect demographics from postpartum patients and measure use of technology and the internet, self-reported literacy, interest in health information, awareness of portal functions, and perceived barriers to use. The questionnaire was administered in person to women in an inpatient setting. Of the 100 participants surveyed, 95% reported routine internet use and 56% used it to search for health information. Most participants had never heard of a patient portal, yet 92% believed that the portal functions were important. The two most appealing functions were to check results and manage appointments. Most participants in this study have the required resources such as a device and familiarity with the internet to access a patient portal including an interest in interacting with a healthcare institution via electronic means. Pregnancy is a critical episode of care where active engagement with the healthcare system can influence outcomes. Healthcare systems and portal developers should consider ways to tailor a portal to address the specific health needs of a maternity population including those in a safety net setting.

Co-evolution of soil and water conservation policy and human-environment linkages in the Yellow River Basin since 1949.

PubMed

Wang, Fei; Mu, Xingmin; Li, Rui; Fleskens, Luuk; Stringer, Lindsay C; Ritsema, Coen J

2015-03-01

Policy plays a very important role in natural resource management as it lays out a government framework for guiding long-term decisions, and evolves in light of the interactions between human and environment. This paper focuses on soil and water conservation (SWC) policy in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), China. The problems, rural poverty, severe soil erosion, great sediment loads and high flood risks, are analyzed over the period of 1949-present using the Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework as a way to organize analysis of the evolution of SWC policy. Three stages are identified in which SWC policy interacts differently with institutional, financial and technology support. In Stage 1 (1949-1979), SWC policy focused on rural development in eroded areas and on reducing sediment loads. Local farmers were mainly responsible for SWC. The aim of Stage 2 (1980-1990) was the overall development of rural industry and SWC. A more integrated management perspective was implemented taking a small watershed as a geographic interactional unit. This approach greatly improved the efficiency of SWC activities. In Stage 3 (1991 till now), SWC has been treated as the main measure for natural resource conservation, environmental protection, disaster mitigation and agriculture development. Prevention of new degradation became a priority. The government began to be responsible for SWC, using administrative, legal and financial approaches and various technologies that made large-scale SWC engineering possible. Over the historical period considered, with the implementation of the various SWC policies, the rural economic and ecological system improved continuously while the sediment load and flood risk decreased dramatically. The findings assist in providing a historical perspective that could inform more rational, scientific and effective natural resource management going forward. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environmental scan and evaluation of best practices for online systematic review resources

PubMed Central

Parker, Robin M. N.; Boulos, Leah M.; Visintini, Sarah; Ritchie, Krista; Hayden, Jill

2018-01-01

Objective Online training for systematic review methodology is an attractive option due to flexibility and limited availability of in-person instruction. Librarians often direct new reviewers to these online resources, so they should be knowledgeable about the variety of available resources. The objective for this project was to conduct an environmental scan of online systematic review training resources and evaluate those identified resources. Methods The authors systematically searched for electronic learning resources pertaining to systematic review methods. After screening for inclusion, we collected data about characteristics of training resources and assigned scores in the domains of (1) content, (2) design, (3) interactivity, and (4) usability by applying a previously published evaluation rubric for online instruction modules. We described the characteristics and scores for each training resource and compared performance across the domains. Results Twenty training resources were evaluated. Average overall score of online instructional resources was 61%. Online courses (n=7) averaged 73%, web modules (n=5) 64%, and videos (n=8) 48%. The top 5 highest scoring resources were in course or web module format, featured high interactivity, and required a longer (>5hrs) time commitment from users. Conclusion This study revealed that resources include appropriate content but are less likely to adhere to principles of online training design and interactivity. Awareness of these resources will allow librarians to make informed recommendations for training based on patrons’ needs. Future online systematic review training resources should use established best practices for e-learning to provide high-quality resources, regardless of format or user time commitment. PMID:29632443

Biotic interactions as drivers of algal origin and evolution.

PubMed

Brodie, Juliet; Ball, Steven G; Bouget, François-Yves; Chan, Cheong Xin; De Clerck, Olivier; Cock, J Mark; Gachon, Claire; Grossman, Arthur R; Mock, Thomas; Raven, John A; Saha, Mahasweta; Smith, Alison G; Vardi, Assaf; Yoon, Hwan Su; Bhattacharya, Debashish

2017-11-01

Contents 670 I. 671 II. 671 III. 676 IV. 678 678 References 678 SUMMARY: Biotic interactions underlie life's diversity and are the lynchpin to understanding its complexity and resilience within an ecological niche. Algal biologists have embraced this paradigm, and studies building on the explosive growth in omics and cell biology methods have facilitated the in-depth analysis of nonmodel organisms and communities from a variety of ecosystems. In turn, these advances have enabled a major revision of our understanding of the origin and evolution of photosynthesis in eukaryotes, bacterial-algal interactions, control of massive algal blooms in the ocean, and the maintenance and degradation of coral reefs. Here, we review some of the most exciting developments in the field of algal biotic interactions and identify challenges for scientists in the coming years. We foresee the development of an algal knowledgebase that integrates ecosystem-wide omics data and the development of molecular tools/resources to perform functional analyses of individuals in isolation and in populations. These assets will allow us to move beyond mechanistic studies of a single species towards understanding the interactions amongst algae and other organisms in both the laboratory and the field. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

Microfluidic devices for modeling cell-cell and particle-cell interactions in the microvasculature

PubMed Central

Prabhakarpandian, Balabhaskar; Shen, Ming-Che; Pant, Kapil; Kiani, Mohammad F.

2011-01-01

Cell-fluid and cell-cell interactions are critical components of many physiological and pathological conditions in the microvasculature. Similarly, particle-cell interactions play an important role in targeted delivery of therapeutics to tissue. Development of in vitro fluidic devices to mimic these microcirculatory processes has been a critical step forward in our understanding of the inflammatory process, development of nano-particulate drug carriers, and developing realistic in vitro models of the microvasculature and its surrounding tissue. However, widely used parallel plate flow based devices and assays have a number of important limitations for studying the physiological conditions in vivo. In addition, these devices are resource hungry and time consuming for performing various assays. Recently developed, more realistic, microfluidic based devices have been able to overcome many of these limitations. In this review, an overview of the fluidic devices and their use in studying the effects of shear forces on cell-cell and cell-particle interactions is presented. In addition, use of mathematical models and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based models for interpreting the complex flow patterns in the microvasculature are highlighted. Finally, the potential of 3D microfluidic devices and imaging for better representing in vivo conditions under which cell-cell and cell-particle interactions take place are discussed. PMID:21763328

Environmental Research Guidance Committee annual report

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

Not Available

1982-01-01

Section 3-303 of the Natural Resources Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1973 Volume) provides for a Power Plant Environmental Research Program to be administered by the Secretary of Natural Resources in cooperation with the Secretaries of Health and Mental Hygiene, Agriculture, State Planning, Economic and Community Development, and Electric Company representatives. In order to carry out this provision of the law, the Power Plant Siting Program requested the Scientific Council of the Maryland Academy of Sciences to establish an Environmental Research Guidance Committee (ERGC) in June, 1973. The ERGC is divided into 4 subcommittees designated Biological Effects (impactmore » of power plants on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems), Aquatic and Terrestrial (transport and chemical interactions of materials discharged into aquatic and terrestrial environments), Atmospheric (transport and chemical interactions of atmospheric emissions and their impacts on the environment), and Socioeconomic (effects of power plants on the social and economic structure of the State).« less

iLIR@viral: A web resource for LIR motif-containing proteins in viruses.

PubMed

Jacomin, Anne-Claire; Samavedam, Siva; Charles, Hannah; Nezis, Ioannis P

2017-10-03

Macroautophagy/autophagy has been shown to mediate the selective lysosomal degradation of pathogenic bacteria and viruses (xenophagy), and to contribute to the activation of innate and adaptative immune responses. Autophagy can serve as an antiviral defense mechanism but also as a proviral process during infection. Atg8-family proteins play a central role in the autophagy process due to their ability to interact with components of the autophagy machinery as well as selective autophagy receptors and adaptor proteins. Such interactions are usually mediated through LC3-interacting region (LIR) motifs. So far, only one viral protein has been experimentally shown to have a functional LIR motif, leaving open a vast field for investigation. Here, we have developed the iLIR@viral database ( http://ilir.uk/virus/ ) as a freely accessible web resource listing all the putative canonical LIR motifs identified in viral proteins. Additionally, we used a curated text-mining analysis of the literature to identify novel putative LIR motif-containing proteins (LIRCPs) in viruses. We anticipate that iLIR@viral will assist with elucidating the full complement of LIRCPs in viruses.

Heliospotlight: An Information Resource for Heliophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, C.; Wawro, M.; Schenk, L. C.

2013-12-01

The NASA Goddard Heliophysics Science Division (HSD) EPO and mission websites are rich with content covering the broad subject of heliophysics. This includes detailed information for many age groups, a large range of descriptive imagery and dynamic video and interactive material. The weakness of all this content is that it is scattered over so many websites as opposed to being organized and focused in one user friendly location. The website heliospotlight.org is being developed to address all these concerns, leveraging the vast content already developed while using state-of-the-art web technologies. This will provide a rich user experience simultaneously tailoring to the needs of the broad audience of students, educators, scientists, journalists and the general public. The website will use well supported, open source technologies enabling future flexibility and expansion. HSD EPO will support the development of this information resource.

Prosody as an interactional resource: turn-projection and overlap.

PubMed

Wells, B; Macfarlane, S

1998-01-01

One aim of current research into talk-in-interaction is to identify the resources that enable recipients to monitor the course of a turn in progress in order to project its upcoming completion. This issue is addressed through analysis of instances of overlapping talk, focusing on their design--that is, their particular prosodic and other linguistic characteristics; their placement--in other words, where precisely they occur in relation to the turn being overlapped; and the subsequent behavior of the coparticipants. Phonetic analysis is combined with interactional techniques developed within Conversation Analysis, to warrant the relevance of categories by reference to the behavior of the participants themselves. As French and Local (1983) found, for an incoming to be treated as turn-competitive, it has to be designed with relatively high pitch and loud volume. These turn-competitive incomings are positioned within the turn in progress, and before the final major accent. By contrast, overlapping incomings positioned after the major accent are not designed as or treated as turn-competitive. On the basis of this analysis, we can define transition relevance place (TRP) as the space between the TRP-projecting accent of the current turn and the onset of the next turn. TRP-projecting accents are identifiable on independent grounds, being phonetically distinct from non-TRP-projecting accents. They thus provide a robust resource for participants to monitor the upcoming completion of the turn.

[The quality of the work-home and home-work relationship in the context of personal resources].

PubMed

Szymańska, Paulina

2014-01-01

The aim of the study was to examine whether gain or loss of personal resources is associated with conflict or facilitation between work and family. The study involved 90 employees (mean age: 34.5 years). The Polish version of COR-Evaluation (Conservation of Resources-Evaluation) questionnaire, developed by Hobfoll and adapted by Dudek et al, was used to assess personal resources. The questionnaire enables to estimate gain and loss of 40 resources and calculate the overall level of gained or lost resources. SWING Questionnaire (Survey Work-Home Interaction, Nijmegen), developed by Geurts et al. and adapted by Mośicka-Teske and Merecz), was used to examine the quality of work-home and home-work relationship. The gain of personal resources positively correlates with both home-work facilitation (HWF) and work-home facilitation (WHF). Improvement of the family relations proved to be the most significant predictor of HWF and WHF. The loss of personal resources coincides with high level of conflict between the investigated areas of life. The main predictor of home-work conflict (HWC) was the variable relating to restrictions of access to medical services. In case of work-home conflict (WHC) the reduction of material security in case of dramatic life events was the major predictor. The results confirmed that the gain of resources is crucial for HWF/WHF, while their loss is an important factor, when the HWC/WHC is considered. The resources, which proved to be the main predictors of work-home and home-work relatiohship were alsoindicated. The obtained information may be beneficial to human resources managers, especially in designing the activities aimed at increasing the satisfaction and effectiveness of employees.

Resource allocation in an annual herb: Effects of light, mycorrhizal fungi, and defoliation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguilar-Chama, Ana; Guevara, Roger

2016-02-01

Concurrent interactions and the availability of resources (e.g., light) affect the cost/benefit balance during mutualistic and antagonistic interactions, as well as plant resource allocation patterns. Mycorrhizal interactions and herbivory concur in most plants, where mycorrhizae can enhance the uptake of soil nutrients by plants as well as consuming a large fraction of the plant's carbon, and defoliation usually reduces light interception and photosynthesis, thereby causing direct losses to the hosts of mycorrhizal fungi. Both types of interactions affect the carbon budget of their host plants and thus we predict that the relative costs of herbivory and mycorrhizal colonization will increase when photosynthesis is reduced, for instance in light limited environments. We conducted a greenhouse experiment using Datura stramonium to investigate the effects of defoliation and mycorrhizal inoculation on the resource allocation patterns in two different light environments. Defoliated plants overcompensated in terms of leaf mass in both light environments, but total seed mass per fruit was negatively affected by defoliation in both light environments. Mycorrhizal inoculation had a positive effect on vegetative growth and the leaf nitrogen content, but defoliation negates the benefit of mycorrhizal interactions in terms of the leaf nitrogen content. In general, D. stramonium compensated for the relative costs of concurrent mycorrhizal interactions and defoliation; plants that lacked both interactions exhibited the same performance as plants with both types of interactions.

FUSION-Guided Hypothesis Development Leads to the Identification of N⁶,N⁶-Dimethyladenosine, a Marine-Derived AKT Pathway Inhibitor. | Office of Cancer Genomics

Cancer.gov

Chemicals found in nature have evolved over geological time scales to productively interact with biological molecules, and thus represent an effective resource for pharmaceutical development. Marine-derived bacteria are rich sources of chemically diverse, bioactive secondary metabolites, but harnessing this diversity for biomedical benefit is limited by challenges associated with natural product purification and determination of biochemical mechanism.

Mouse IDGenes: a reference database for genetic interactions in the developing mouse brain

PubMed Central

Matthes, Michaela; Preusse, Martin; Zhang, Jingzhong; Schechter, Julia; Mayer, Daniela; Lentes, Bernd; Theis, Fabian; Prakash, Nilima; Wurst, Wolfgang; Trümbach, Dietrich

2014-01-01

The study of developmental processes in the mouse and other vertebrates includes the understanding of patterning along the anterior–posterior, dorsal–ventral and medial– lateral axis. Specifically, neural development is also of great clinical relevance because several human neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, autism disorders or drug addiction and also brain malformations are thought to have neurodevelopmental origins, i.e. pathogenesis initiates during childhood and adolescence. Impacts during early neurodevelopment might also predispose to late-onset neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease. The neural tube develops from its precursor tissue, the neural plate, in a patterning process that is determined by compartmentalization into morphogenetic units, the action of local signaling centers and a well-defined and locally restricted expression of genes and their interactions. While public databases provide gene expression data with spatio-temporal resolution, they usually neglect the genetic interactions that govern neural development. Here, we introduce Mouse IDGenes, a reference database for genetic interactions in the developing mouse brain. The database is highly curated and offers detailed information about gene expressions and the genetic interactions at the developing mid-/hindbrain boundary. To showcase the predictive power of interaction data, we infer new Wnt/β-catenin target genes by machine learning and validate one of them experimentally. The database is updated regularly. Moreover, it can easily be extended by the research community. Mouse IDGenes will contribute as an important resource to the research on mouse brain development, not exclusively by offering data retrieval, but also by allowing data input. Database URL: http://mouseidgenes.helmholtz-muenchen.de. PMID:25145340

Mouse IDGenes: a reference database for genetic interactions in the developing mouse brain.

PubMed

Matthes, Michaela; Preusse, Martin; Zhang, Jingzhong; Schechter, Julia; Mayer, Daniela; Lentes, Bernd; Theis, Fabian; Prakash, Nilima; Wurst, Wolfgang; Trümbach, Dietrich

2014-01-01

The study of developmental processes in the mouse and other vertebrates includes the understanding of patterning along the anterior-posterior, dorsal-ventral and medial- lateral axis. Specifically, neural development is also of great clinical relevance because several human neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, autism disorders or drug addiction and also brain malformations are thought to have neurodevelopmental origins, i.e. pathogenesis initiates during childhood and adolescence. Impacts during early neurodevelopment might also predispose to late-onset neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease. The neural tube develops from its precursor tissue, the neural plate, in a patterning process that is determined by compartmentalization into morphogenetic units, the action of local signaling centers and a well-defined and locally restricted expression of genes and their interactions. While public databases provide gene expression data with spatio-temporal resolution, they usually neglect the genetic interactions that govern neural development. Here, we introduce Mouse IDGenes, a reference database for genetic interactions in the developing mouse brain. The database is highly curated and offers detailed information about gene expressions and the genetic interactions at the developing mid-/hindbrain boundary. To showcase the predictive power of interaction data, we infer new Wnt/β-catenin target genes by machine learning and validate one of them experimentally. The database is updated regularly. Moreover, it can easily be extended by the research community. Mouse IDGenes will contribute as an important resource to the research on mouse brain development, not exclusively by offering data retrieval, but also by allowing data input. http://mouseidgenes.helmholtz-muenchen.de. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Tethys: A Platform for Water Resources Modeling and Decision Support Apps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, J.; Swain, N. R.

2015-12-01

The interactive nature of web applications or "web apps" makes it an excellent medium for conveying complex scientific concepts to lay audiences and creating decision support tools that harness cutting edge modeling techniques. However, the technical expertise required to develop web apps represents a barrier for would-be developers. This barrier can be characterized by the following hurdles that developers must overcome: (1) identify, select, and install software that meet the spatial and computational capabilities commonly required for water resources modeling; (2) orchestrate the use of multiple free and open source (FOSS) projects and navigate their differing application programming interfaces; (3) learn the multi-language programming skills required for modern web development; and (4) develop a web-secure and fully featured web portal to host the app. Tethys Platform has been developed to lower the technical barrier and minimize the initial development investment that prohibits many scientists and engineers from making use of the web app medium. It includes (1) a suite of FOSS that address the unique data and computational needs common to water resources web app development, (2) a Python software development kit that streamlines development, and (3) a customizable web portal that is used to deploy the completed web apps. Tethys synthesizes several software projects including PostGIS, 52°North WPS, GeoServer, Google Maps™, OpenLayers, and Highcharts. It has been used to develop a broad array of web apps for water resources modeling and decision support for several projects including CI-WATER, HydroShare, and the National Flood Interoperability Experiment. The presentation will include live demos of some of the apps that have been developed using Tethys to demonstrate its capabilities.

The dual impact of ecology and management on social incentives in marine common-pool resource systems.

PubMed

Klein, E S; Barbier, M R; Watson, J R

2017-08-01

Understanding how and when cooperative human behaviour forms in common-pool resource systems is critical to illuminating social-ecological systems and designing governance institutions that promote sustainable resource use. Before assessing the full complexity of social dynamics, it is essential to understand, concretely and mechanistically, how resource dynamics and human actions interact to create incentives and pay-offs for social behaviours. Here, we investigated how such incentives for information sharing are affected by spatial dynamics and management in a common-pool resource system. Using interviews with fishermen to inform an agent-based model, we reveal generic mechanisms through which, for a given ecological setting characterized by the spatial dynamics of the resource, the two 'human factors' of information sharing and management may heterogeneously impact various members of a group for whom theory would otherwise predict the same strategy. When users can deplete the resource, these interactions are further affected by the management approach. Finally, we discuss the implications of alternative motivations, such as equity among fishermen and consistency of the fleet's output. Our results indicate that resource spatial dynamics, form of management and level of depletion can interact to alter the sociality of people in common-pool resource systems, providing necessary insight for future study of strategic decision processes.

Geospatial characteristics of Florida's coastal and offshore environments: Distribution of important habitats for coastal and offshore biological resources and offshore sand resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Foster, Ann M.; Jones, Michal L.; Gualtieri, Daniel J.

2011-01-01

The Geospatial Characteristics GeoPDF of Florida's Coastal and Offshore Environments is a comprehensive collection of geospatial data describing the political boundaries and natural resources of Florida. This interactive map provides spatial information on bathymetry, sand resources, and locations of important habitats (for example, Essential Fish Habitats (EFH), nesting areas, strandings) for marine invertebrates, fish, reptiles, birds, and marine mammals. The map should be useful to coastal resource managers and others interested in marine habitats and submerged obstructions of Florida's coastal region. In particular, as oil and gas explorations continue to expand, the map can be used to explore information regarding sensitive areas and resources in the State of Florida. Users of this geospatial database will have access to synthesized information in a variety of scientific disciplines concerning Florida's coastal zone. This powerful tool provides a one-stop assembly of data that can be tailored to fit the needs of many natural resource managers. The map was originally developed to assist the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) and coastal resources managers with planning beach restoration projects. The BOEMRE uses a systematic approach in planning the development of submerged lands of the Continental Shelf seaward of Florida's territorial waters. Such development could affect the environment. BOEMRE is required to ascertain the existing physical, biological, and socioeconomic conditions of the submerged lands and estimate the impact of developing these lands. Data sources included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, BOEMRE, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Geographic Data Library, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Natural Areas Inventory, and the State of Florida, Bureau of Archeological Research. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata are provided as attached xml files for all geographic information system (GIS) layers.

Emergence of heterogeneity and political organization in information exchange networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guttenberg, Nicholas; Goldenfeld, Nigel

2010-04-01

We present a simple model of the emergence of the division of labor and the development of a system of resource subsidy from an agent-based model of directed resource production with variable degrees of trust between the agents. The model has three distinct phases corresponding to different forms of societal organization: disconnected (independent agents), homogeneous cooperative (collective state), and inhomogeneous cooperative (collective state with a leader). Our results indicate that such levels of organization arise generically as a collective effect from interacting agent dynamics and may have applications in a variety of systems including social insects and microbial communities.

Let Me Show You How It’s Done! Desktop Sharing for Distance Learning from the D. Samuel Gottesman Library

PubMed Central

Glassman, Nancy R.; Habousha, Racheline G.; Minuti, Aurelia; Schwartz, Rachel; Sorensen, Karen

2009-01-01

Due to the proliferation of electronic resources, fewer users visit the library. Traditional classroom instruction and in-person consultations are no longer sufficient in assisting library users. Librarians are constantly seeking new ways to interact with patrons and facilitate efficient use of electronic resources. This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a project in which desktop-sharing software was used to reach out to users at remote locations. Various ways of using this tool are described, and challenges and implications for future expansion are discussed. PMID:20183031

Emergence of heterogeneity and political organization in information exchange networks.

PubMed

Guttenberg, Nicholas; Goldenfeld, Nigel

2010-04-01

We present a simple model of the emergence of the division of labor and the development of a system of resource subsidy from an agent-based model of directed resource production with variable degrees of trust between the agents. The model has three distinct phases corresponding to different forms of societal organization: disconnected (independent agents), homogeneous cooperative (collective state), and inhomogeneous cooperative (collective state with a leader). Our results indicate that such levels of organization arise generically as a collective effect from interacting agent dynamics and may have applications in a variety of systems including social insects and microbial communities.

Complex Genetic Effects on Early Vegetative Development Shape Resource Allocation Differences Between Arabidopsis lyrata Populations

PubMed Central

Remington, David L.; Leinonen, Päivi H.; Leppälä, Johanna; Savolainen, Outi

2013-01-01

Costs of reproduction due to resource allocation trade-offs have long been recognized as key forces in life history evolution, but little is known about their functional or genetic basis. Arabidopsis lyrata, a perennial relative of the annual model plant A. thaliana with a wide climatic distribution, has populations that are strongly diverged in resource allocation. In this study, we evaluated the genetic and functional basis for variation in resource allocation in a reciprocal transplant experiment, using four A. lyrata populations and F2 progeny from a cross between North Carolina (NC) and Norway parents, which had the most divergent resource allocation patterns. Local alleles at quantitative trait loci (QTL) at a North Carolina field site increased reproductive output while reducing vegetative growth. These QTL had little overlap with flowering date QTL. Structural equation models incorporating QTL genotypes and traits indicated that resource allocation differences result primarily from QTL effects on early vegetative growth patterns, with cascading effects on later vegetative and reproductive development. At a Norway field site, North Carolina alleles at some of the same QTL regions reduced survival and reproductive output components, but these effects were not associated with resource allocation trade-offs in the Norway environment. Our results indicate that resource allocation in perennial plants may involve important adaptive mechanisms largely independent of flowering time. Moreover, the contributions of resource allocation QTL to local adaptation appear to result from their effects on developmental timing and its interaction with environmental constraints, and not from simple models of reproductive costs. PMID:23979581

Hydrological externalities and livelihoods impacts: Informed communities for better resource management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reddy, V. Ratna

2012-01-01

SummaryHydrological knowledge or information has mostly remained in the domain of scientific community. The communities that interact with the hydrological aspects such as groundwater and surface water on a day to day basis are hardly aware of the information that could critically influence their livelihoods. From the perspective of the communities' information pertaining to groundwater aquifer characters, potential to provide the water resource, surface groundwater interactions in varying geo-hydrological conditions are important. The 'public good' nature of the resources and their linkages with ecological systems gives rise to externalities that could be pervasive. In a number of countries, especially the developing countries, groundwater is the single largest source of drinking as well as irrigation water. In the absence of scientific information with the communities, extraction of groundwater resources for productive purposes has become a risky venture leading to adverse impacts on livelihoods. The externalities associated with over exploitation of groundwater resources and the resulting widespread well failure is identified as one of the main reasons for pushing farmers into debt trap and one of the reasons for farmer suicides in India. The negative externalities are increasingly becoming severe in the context of climate variability. This paper attempts to highlight the importance of hydrological information to the user communities from a socioeconomic perspective using a newly developed framework 'REDUCE' based on theories of effective communication. It shows, based on the evidence, how farming communities are getting affected in the absence of the basic hydrological information across socioeconomic groups. It is argued, using relevant information that the negative externalities could be mitigated to a large extent with proper dissemination of information among the communities and capacitating them to measure and use the information on their own. In order to make the hydrological information relevant and useful for the communities at the macro level, there are six key areas to be addressed viz., Resource (water), Estimation or Evaluation, Distribution, Users, Communication and Execution. Ground water extraction and use is associated with mostly negative externalities. Estimation methods and scale are not commensurate with the users' needs. The natural distribution pattern of the groundwater accentuates the inequalities in its access and use. These inequalities could be corrected through proper policy interventions that pave the way for treating the resources as a common pool resource instead of allowing it to be exploited like a private resource. That is, the hydrological resources ought to be brought under the management regime with the help of policy and governance structures. Users neither have the wherewithal to obtain the right kind of information nor the ability to manage the resource judiciously without institutional support. In this context the communication part of the process of groundwater management becomes important. The external agencies like the NGOs, scientists and policy makers and implementers have to interact and provide the right kind of information packaged to suit the needs of the users. Innovative execution of policies through evolution of institutional mechanisms and user involvement is key to the success of groundwater management.

Chapter 4: The GIS Project for the Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas in the Upper Cretaceous Navarro and Taylor Groups, Western Gulf Province, Texas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Biewick, Laura

2006-01-01

A geographic information system (GIS) focusing on the Upper Cretaceous Navarro and Taylor Groups in the Gulf Coast region was developed as a visual-analysis tool for the U.S. Geological Survey's 2003 assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and natural gas resources in the Western Gulf Province. The Central Energy Resources Team of the U.S. Geological Survey has also developed an Internet Map Service to deliver the GIS data to the general public. This mapping tool utilizes information from a database about the oil and natural gas endowment of the United States - including physical locations of geologic and geographic data - and converts the data into visual layers. Portrayal and analysis of geologic features on an interactive map provide an excellent tool for understanding domestic oil and gas resources for strategic planning, formulating economic and energy policies, evaluating lands under the purview of the Federal Government, and developing sound environmental policies. Assessment results can be viewed and analyzed or downloaded from the internet web site.

On the context-dependent scaling of consumer feeding rates.

PubMed

Barrios-O'Neill, Daniel; Kelly, Ruth; Dick, Jaimie T A; Ricciardi, Anthony; MacIsaac, Hugh J; Emmerson, Mark C

2016-06-01

The stability of consumer-resource systems can depend on the form of feeding interactions (i.e. functional responses). Size-based models predict interactions - and thus stability - based on consumer-resource size ratios. However, little is known about how interaction contexts (e.g. simple or complex habitats) might alter scaling relationships. Addressing this, we experimentally measured interactions between a large size range of aquatic predators (4-6400 mg over 1347 feeding trials) and an invasive prey that transitions among habitats: from the water column (3D interactions) to simple and complex benthic substrates (2D interactions). Simple and complex substrates mediated successive reductions in capture rates - particularly around the unimodal optimum - and promoted prey population stability in model simulations. Many real consumer-resource systems transition between 2D and 3D interactions, and along complexity gradients. Thus, Context-Dependent Scaling (CDS) of feeding interactions could represent an unrecognised aspect of food webs, and quantifying the extent of CDS might enhance predictive ecology. © The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Integrating research tools to support the management of social-ecological systems under climate change

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, Brian W.; Morisette, Jeffrey T.

2014-01-01

Developing resource management strategies in the face of climate change is complicated by the considerable uncertainty associated with projections of climate and its impacts and by the complex interactions between social and ecological variables. The broad, interconnected nature of this challenge has resulted in calls for analytical frameworks that integrate research tools and can support natural resource management decision making in the face of uncertainty and complex interactions. We respond to this call by first reviewing three methods that have proven useful for climate change research, but whose application and development have been largely isolated: species distribution modeling, scenario planning, and simulation modeling. Species distribution models provide data-driven estimates of the future distributions of species of interest, but they face several limitations and their output alone is not sufficient to guide complex decisions for how best to manage resources given social and economic considerations along with dynamic and uncertain future conditions. Researchers and managers are increasingly exploring potential futures of social-ecological systems through scenario planning, but this process often lacks quantitative response modeling and validation procedures. Simulation models are well placed to provide added rigor to scenario planning because of their ability to reproduce complex system dynamics, but the scenarios and management options explored in simulations are often not developed by stakeholders, and there is not a clear consensus on how to include climate model outputs. We see these strengths and weaknesses as complementarities and offer an analytical framework for integrating these three tools. We then describe the ways in which this framework can help shift climate change research from useful to usable.

Geology and mineral and energy resources, Roswell Resource Area, New Mexico; an interactive computer presentation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tidball, Ronald R.; Bartsch-Winkler, S. B.

1995-01-01

This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) contains a program illustrating the geology and mineral and energy resources of the Roswell Resource Area, an administrative unit of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in east-central New Mexico. The program enables the user to access information on the geology, geochemistry, geophysics, mining history, metallic and industrial mineral commodities, hydrocarbons, and assessments of the area. The program was created with the display software, SuperCard, version 1.5, by Aldus. The program will run only on a Macintosh personal computer. This CD-ROM was produced in accordance with Macintosh HFS standards. The program was developed on a Macintosh II-series computer with system 7.0.1. The program is a compiled, executable form that is nonproprietary and does not require the presence of the SuperCard software.

Navigating role forces and the aesthetic|authentic caring dialectic: a novice urban science teacher's developmental trajectory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivera Maulucci, Maria S.

2010-09-01

Examining role forces and resources available to new teachers is crucial to understanding how teachers use and expand cultural, social, and symbolic resources and how they engage teaching for social justice and caring in urban science education. This critical narrative inquiry explores three levels of story. First, the narratives explore my role as a district science staff developer and my efforts to leverage district resources to improve students' opportunities to learn science. Second, the narratives explore the ways in which a novice science teacher, Tina, navigated role forces and the aesthetic|authentic caring dialectic in a high poverty, urban school. A third level of narrative draws on sociological theories of human interaction to explore role forces and how they shaped Tina's developmental trajectory. I describe how Tina expanded cultural, social, and symbolic resources to enact her teaching role.

Laboratory challenges in the scaling up of HIV, TB, and malaria programs: The interaction of health and laboratory systems, clinical research, and service delivery.

PubMed

Birx, Deborah; de Souza, Mark; Nkengasong, John N

2009-06-01

Strengthening national health laboratory systems in resource-poor countries is critical to meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Despite strong commitment from the international community to fight major infectious diseases, weak laboratory infrastructure remains a huge rate-limiting step. Some major challenges facing laboratory systems in resource-poor settings include dilapidated infrastructure; lack of human capacity, laboratory policies, and strategic plans; and limited synergies between clinical and research laboratories. Together, these factors compromise the quality of test results and impact patient management. With increased funding, the target of laboratory strengthening efforts in resource-poor countries should be the integrating of laboratory services across major diseases to leverage resources with respect to physical infrastructure; types of assays; supply chain management of reagents and equipment; and maintenance of equipment.

Rethinking echolalia: repetition as interactional resource in the communication of a child with autism.

PubMed

Sterponi, Laura; Shankey, Jennifer

2014-03-01

Echolalia is a pervasive phenomenon in verbal children with autism, traditionally conceived of as an automatic behavior with no communicative function. However, recently it has been shown that echoes may serve interactional goals. This article, which presents a case study of a six-year-old child with autism, examines how social interaction organizes autism echolalia and how repetitive speech responds to discernible interactional trajectories. Using linguistic, discourse, and acoustic analyses, we demonstrate that the child is able to mobilize echolalia to mark different stances, through the segmental and suprasegmental modulation of echoes. We offer an interpretive framework that deepens our understanding of the complex interactions that children with autism can engage in by using echoes, and discuss the implications of this perspective for current views of atypical language development in autism.

Implementation science in low-resource settings: using the interactive systems framework to improve hand hygiene in a tertiary hospital in Ghana.

PubMed

Kallam, Brianne; Pettitt-Schieber, Christie; Owen, Medge; Agyare Asante, Rebecca; Darko, Elizabeth; Ramaswamy, Rohit

2018-05-19

Low-resource clinical settings often face obstacles that challenge the implementation of recommended evidence-based practices (EBPs). Implementation science approaches are useful in identifying barriers and developing strategies to address them. Ridge Regional Hospital (RRH), a tertiary referral hospital in Accra, Ghana experienced a spike in rates of neonatal sepsis and launched a quality improvement (QI) initiative that identified poor adherence to hand hygiene in the neonatal intensive care unit as a potential source of infections. A multi-modal change package of World Health Organization-recommended solutions was created to address this issue. To ensure that the outputs of the QI effort were adopted within the organization, leaders at RRH and Kybele, Inc. used an implementation science framework called the 'Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation' (ISF) to create a package of locally acceptable implementation strategies. The ISF has never been used before to guide implementation in low-resource settings. Hand hygiene compliance rose from 67% to 92% overall, including a 36% increase during the night shifts-a group of healthcare workers with typically very low levels of compliance. The drastic improvement in adherence to hand hygiene suggests the potential value of the joint use of QI and implementation science to promote the creation and application of contextually appropriate EBPs in low-resource settings. Our results also suggest that using an implementation framework such as the ISF could rapidly increase the uptake of other evidence-based interventions in low-resource settings.

Attractiveness of Native Mammal’s Feces of Different Trophic Guilds to Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae)

PubMed Central

Bogoni, Juliano A.; Hernández, Malva I. M.

2014-01-01

Abstract Mammal feces are the primary food and nesting resource for the majority of dung beetle species, and larval development depends on the quantity and quality of that resource. Physiological necessities, competitive interactions, and resource sharing are common and suggest that dung beetles may show preferences for feces of greater nutritional quality, which may in turn impact beetle assemblages and community structure. This study investigated whether attractiveness of dung beetles to different resource (feces) types varies depending on mammal trophic guild and associated nutritional content. This study was conducted in Atlantic Forest fragments in the Parque Estadual da Serra do Tabuleiro, Santa Catarina, Brazil. To evaluate attractiveness, the feces of the carnivore Puma concolor , the omnivores Cerdocyon thous and Sapajus nigritus, and the herbivore Tapirus terrestris were utilized as bait. Dung was collected from zoo animals fed a standard diet. Sampling was performed in triplicate in five areas in the summer of 2013. Four pitfall traps were established in each area, and each trap was baited with one type of mammal feces. Food preference of the species was analyzed by calculating Rodgers’ index for cafeteria-type experiments. In total, 426 individuals from 17 species were collected. Rodgers’ index showed that omnivorous mammal feces ( C. thous ) were most attractive to all dung beetle species , although it is known that dung beetles are commonly opportunistic with respect to search for and allocation of food resources. These results suggest that mammal loss could alter competitive interactions between dung beetles. PMID:25528749

Environmental Health and Toxicology Resources of the United States National Library of Medicine

PubMed Central

Hochstein, Colette; Arnesen, Stacey; Goshorn, Jeanne

2009-01-01

For over 40 years, the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) has worked to organize and to provide access to an extensive array of environmental health and toxicology resources. During these years, the TEHIP program has evolved from a handful of databases developed primarily for researchers to a broad range of products and services that also serve industry, students, and the general public. TEHIP’s resources include TOXNET® , a collection of databases, including online handbooks, bibliographic references, information on the release of chemicals in the environment, and a chemical dictionary. TEHIP also produces several resources aimed towards the general public, such as the Household Products Database , which helps users explore chemicals often found in common household products, and Tox Town® , an interactive guide to commonly encountered toxic substances, health, and the environment. This paper introduces some of NLM’s environmental health and toxicology resources. PMID:17915629

Press freedom, oil exports, and risk for natural disasters: a challenge for climato-economic theory?

PubMed

Arantes, Joana; Grace, Randolph C; Kemp, Simon

2013-10-01

Does the interaction between climactic demands, monetary resources, and freedom suggest a more general relationship between the environmental challenges that human societies face and their resources to meet those challenges? Using data on press freedom (Van de Vliert 2011a), we found no evidence of a similar interaction with natural resources (as measured by oil exports) or risk for natural disasters.

Interactions of forests, climate, water resources, and humans in a changing environment: research needs

Treesearch

Ge Sun; Catalina Segura

2013-01-01

The aim of the special issue “Interactions of Forests, Climate, Water Resources, and Humans in a Changing Environment” is to present case studies on the influences of natural and human disturbances on forest water resources under a changing climate. Studies in this collection of six papers cover a wide range of geographic regions from Australia to Nigeria with spatial...

Morphological plasticity in watermelon in response to interspecific competition in a low-resource intercropping system

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Interspecies specific interactions are generally regarded as drivers of plant productivity in multispecies agroecosystems. Positive interactions such as facilitation can dominate over competition under high abiotic stress conditions. Furthermore, complementary use of resource in diverse communities ...

Kinase Pathway Database: An Integrated Protein-Kinase and NLP-Based Protein-Interaction Resource

PubMed Central

Koike, Asako; Kobayashi, Yoshiyuki; Takagi, Toshihisa

2003-01-01

Protein kinases play a crucial role in the regulation of cellular functions. Various kinds of information about these molecules are important for understanding signaling pathways and organism characteristics. We have developed the Kinase Pathway Database, an integrated database involving major completely sequenced eukaryotes. It contains the classification of protein kinases and their functional conservation, ortholog tables among species, protein–protein, protein–gene, and protein–compound interaction data, domain information, and structural information. It also provides an automatic pathway graphic image interface. The protein, gene, and compound interactions are automatically extracted from abstracts for all genes and proteins by natural-language processing (NLP).The method of automatic extraction uses phrase patterns and the GENA protein, gene, and compound name dictionary, which was developed by our group. With this database, pathways are easily compared among species using data with more than 47,000 protein interactions and protein kinase ortholog tables. The database is available for querying and browsing at http://kinasedb.ontology.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp/. PMID:12799355

Impacts of warming revealed by linking resource growth rates with consumer functional responses.

PubMed

West, Derek C; Post, David M

2016-05-01

Warming global temperatures are driving changes in species distributions, growth and timing, but much uncertainty remains regarding how climate change will alter species interactions. Consumer-Resource interactions in particular can be strongly impacted by changes to the relative performance of interacting species. While consumers generally gain an advantage over their resources with increasing temperatures, nonlinearities can change this relation near temperature extremes. We use an experimental approach to determine how temperature changes between 5 and 30 °C will alter the growth of the algae Scenedesmus obliquus and the functional responses of the small-bodied Daphnia ambigua and the larger Daphnia pulicaria. The impact of warming generally followed expectations, making both Daphnia species more effective grazers, with the increase in feeding rates outpacing the increases in algal growth rate. At the extremes of our temperature range, however, warming resulted in a decrease in Daphnia grazing effectiveness. Between 25 and 30 °C, both species of Daphnia experienced a precipitous drop in feeding rates, while algal growth rates remained high, increasing the likelihood of algal blooms in warming summer temperatures. Daphnia pulicaria performed significantly better at cold temperatures than D. ambigua, but by 20 °C, there was no significant difference between the two species, and at 25 °C, D. ambigua outperformed D. pulicaria. Warming summer temperatures will favour the smaller D. ambigua, but only over a narrow temperature range, and warming beyond 25 °C could open D. ambigua to invasion from tropical species. By fitting our results to temperature-dependent functions, we develop a temperature- and density-dependent model, which produces a metric of grazing effectiveness, quantifying the grazer density necessary to halt algal growth. This approach should prove useful for tracking the transient dynamics of other density-dependent consumer-resource interactions, such as agricultural pests and biological-control agents. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2016 British Ecological Society.

The Strategic Value and Transaction Effectiveness of HRD: A Qualitative Study of Internal Customer Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alagaraja, Meera

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to outline the role of human resource development (HRD) in Lean strategy as the context for assessing interactions with internal customers. Identifying the perceived gap in role expectations and fulfillment emphasizes important priorities and offers tangible measures for assessing HRD contributions. A focus…

General Orientation to New Knowledge Utilization Fields of Informatics, Knowledge Management, and Information Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southwest Educational Development Lab., Austin, TX.

One of a series of booklets on disability research, this paper explores two major developments in the application of information technology: health care informatics and knowledge management. Both of these concepts focus on maximizing the value of, and access to, information resources. Both use technology to create interactive systems through which…

Firefighter Math - a web-based learning tool

Treesearch

Dan Jimenez

2010-01-01

Firefighter Math is a web based interactive resource that was developed to help prepare wildland fire personnel for math based training courses. The website can also be used as a refresher for fire calculations including slope, flame length, relative humidity, flow rates, unit conversion, etc. The website is designed to start with basic math refresher skills and...

Research-Based Principles and Practices for Educating Students with Autism: Self-Determination and Social Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wehmeyer, Michael L.; Shogren, Karrie A.; Zager, Dianne; Smith, Tom E. C.; Simpson, Richard

2010-01-01

Research-Based Principles and Practices for Educating Students with Autism is a text under development by members of the Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities. The text is intended for use as a professional resource and graduate level text for preservice and inservice educators, psychologists, speech/ language therapists and clinicians…

Library Research Success: Designing an Online Tutorial To Teach Information Literacy Skills to First-Year Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donaldson, Kelly A.

2000-01-01

Reports on a collaborative effort between librarians and faculty at Seneca College (Toronto) to develop and implement an online, interactive tutorial for first-year business students that used Web-based technology. Discusses objectives, including increasing student knowledge of library resources and to increase levels of information literacy and…

Self-Paced Interactive Multimedia Courseware: A Learning Support Resource for Enhancing Electronic Theses and Dissertations Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Essel, Harry Barton; Osei-Poku, Patrick; Tachie-Menson, Akosua; Opoku-Asare, Nana Afia

2016-01-01

Submission of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) by postgraduate students has become a common phenomenon in learning environments globally. The purpose of ETDs is to train postgraduate students as knowledge workers in online publishing and also extend their skills beyond word processing. The challenge however, is that many postgraduate…

A Multilevel Approach to Building the Strength and Effectiveness of the Infant-Toddler Workforce

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeMoine, Sarah; Reschke, Kathy; Greene, Kristen

2017-01-01

Educators interact with more than 4 million infants and toddlers each week in the United States and can provide positive, nurturing experiences that enhance development. Tragically, the infant-toddler workforce in the United States often lacks the support and resources necessary to support their work. These urgent needs require comprehensive…

Good, Better, Best: Using Universal Design and Digital Technology to Develop Great Products

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tauke, Beth; Story, Mary Follette; Ostroff, Elaine

2004-01-01

Industrial design and technology are lab-based disciplines with highly visual products, hands-on activities, and frequent interactions between faculty and students. As a result, the ways that online resources are used in these courses tend to be different from other subject areas with more lecture-oriented modes of learning. This article addresses…

Clinical Problem Solving Exercises for Pre-Clinical Medical Education: A Design, Implementation and Preliminary Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bordage, Georges

Clinical problem solving exercises for preclinical medical education that were developed at Michigan State University School of Osteopathic Medicine are described. Two types of outcomes were set as priorities in the design and implementation of the problem solving sessions: small group peer interactions as instructional and evaluative resources;…

Using an Ecomap as a Tool for Qualitative Data Collection in Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Jo; Grant, Natalie S.

2016-01-01

An ecomap is a social work data collection tool that is used to gather data about a participant's environment. Derived from Bronfenbrenner's ecological system theory, the ecomap can be used in adult education and human resource development to record information of in-and-out-of-work and learning experiences and show how these interactions support…

Increasing Reasoning Awareness: Video Analysis of Students' Two-Party Virtual Patient Interactions.

PubMed

Edelbring, Samuel; Parodis, Ioannis; Lundberg, Ingrid E

2018-02-27

Collaborative reasoning occurs in clinical practice but is rarely developed during education. The computerized virtual patient (VP) cases allow for a stepwise exploration of cases and thus stimulate active learning. Peer settings during VP sessions are believed to have benefits in terms of reasoning but have received scant attention in the literature. The objective of this study was to thoroughly investigate interactions during medical students' clinical reasoning in two-party VP settings. An in-depth exploration of students' interactions in dyad settings of VP sessions was performed. For this purpose, two prerecorded VP sessions lasting 1 hour each were observed, transcribed in full, and analyzed. The transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis, and short clips from the videos were selected for subsequent analysis in relation to clinical reasoning and clinical aspects. Four categories of interactions were identified: (1) task-related dialogue, in which students negotiated a shared understanding of the task and strategies for information gathering; (2) case-related insights and perspectives were gained, and the students consolidated and applied preexisting biomedical knowledge into a clinical setting; (3) clinical reasoning interactions were made explicit. In these, hypotheses were followed up and clinical examples were used. The researchers observed interactions not only between students and the VP but also (4) interactions with other resources, such as textbooks. The interactions are discussed in relation to theories of clinical reasoning and peer learning. The dyad VP setting is conducive to activities that promote analytic clinical reasoning. In this setting, components such as peer interaction, access to different resources, and reduced time constraints provided a productive situation in which the students pursued different lines of reasoning. ©Samuel Edelbring, Ioannis Parodis, Ingrid E Lundberg. Originally published in JMIR Medical Education (http://mededu.jmir.org), 27.02.2018.

Increasing Reasoning Awareness: Video Analysis of Students’ Two-Party Virtual Patient Interactions

PubMed Central

Parodis, Ioannis; Lundberg, Ingrid E

2018-01-01

Background Collaborative reasoning occurs in clinical practice but is rarely developed during education. The computerized virtual patient (VP) cases allow for a stepwise exploration of cases and thus stimulate active learning. Peer settings during VP sessions are believed to have benefits in terms of reasoning but have received scant attention in the literature. Objective The objective of this study was to thoroughly investigate interactions during medical students’ clinical reasoning in two-party VP settings. Methods An in-depth exploration of students’ interactions in dyad settings of VP sessions was performed. For this purpose, two prerecorded VP sessions lasting 1 hour each were observed, transcribed in full, and analyzed. The transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis, and short clips from the videos were selected for subsequent analysis in relation to clinical reasoning and clinical aspects. Results Four categories of interactions were identified: (1) task-related dialogue, in which students negotiated a shared understanding of the task and strategies for information gathering; (2) case-related insights and perspectives were gained, and the students consolidated and applied preexisting biomedical knowledge into a clinical setting; (3) clinical reasoning interactions were made explicit. In these, hypotheses were followed up and clinical examples were used. The researchers observed interactions not only between students and the VP but also (4) interactions with other resources, such as textbooks. The interactions are discussed in relation to theories of clinical reasoning and peer learning. Conclusions The dyad VP setting is conducive to activities that promote analytic clinical reasoning. In this setting, components such as peer interaction, access to different resources, and reduced time constraints provided a productive situation in which the students pursued different lines of reasoning. PMID:29487043

Global land-water nexus: Agricultural land and freshwater use embodied in worldwide supply chains.

PubMed

Chen, B; Han, M Y; Peng, K; Zhou, S L; Shao, L; Wu, X F; Wei, W D; Liu, S Y; Li, Z; Li, J S; Chen, G Q

2018-02-01

As agricultural land and freshwater inextricably interrelate and interact with each other, the conventional water and land policy in "silos" should give way to nexus thinking when formulating the land and water management strategies. This study constructs a systems multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model to expound global land-water nexus by simultaneously tracking agricultural land and freshwater use flows along the global supply chains. Furthermore, land productivity and irrigation water requirements of 160 crops in different regions are investigated to reflect the land-water linkage. Results show that developed economies (e.g., USA and Japan) and major large developing economies (e.g., mainland China and India) are the overriding drivers of agricultural land and freshwater use globally. In general, significant net transfers of these two resources are identified from resource-rich and less-developed economies to resource-poor and more-developed economies. For some crops, blue water productivity is inversely related to land productivity, indicating that irrigation water consumption is sometimes at odds with land use. The results could stimulus international cooperation for sustainable land and freshwater management targeting on original suppliers and final consumers along the global supply chains. Moreover, crop-specific land-water linkage could provide insights for trade-off decisions on minimizing the environmental impacts on local land and water resources. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Preliminary Assessment of Potential Avian Interactions at Four Proposed Wind Energy Facilities on Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

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

Not Available

The United States Air Force (USAF) is investigating whether to install wind turbines to provide a supplemental source of electricity at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) near Lompoc, California. As part of that investigation, VAFB sought assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to provide a preliminary characterization of the potential risk to wildlife resources (mainly birds and bats) from wind turbine installations. With wind power development expanding throughout North America and Europe, concerns have surfaced over the number of bird fatalities associated with wind turbines. Guidelines developed for the wind industry by the Nationalmore » Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) recommend assessing potential impacts to birds, bats, and other potentially sensitive resources before construction. The primary purpose of an assessment is to identify potential conflicts with sensitive resources, to assist developers with identifying their permitting needs, and to develop strategies to avoid impacts or to mitigate their effects. This report provides a preliminary (Phase I) biological assessment of potential impacts to birds and bats that might result from construction and operation of the proposed wind energy facilities on VAFB.« less

Urban infrastructure and natural resource flows: evidence from Cape Town.

PubMed

Hyman, Katherine

2013-09-01

The current economic development trajectory is fundamentally unsustainable. However, decoupling economic growth from excessive natural resource consumption can be adopted as a means to deviate from this current trajectory. Decoupling enables economic growth and human development through non-material growth, without the environmental and social casualties of the incumbent model. Cities are the current and future context for socio development as well as a significant part of the cause and solution to sustainability challenges. Cities account for the majority of production and consumption activities leading to environmental degradation, and they are also the primary location for economic, institutional, and human capital. Innovative responses to global challenges generally emerge during the interaction between these kinds of capital. This paper presents the case of three of Cape Town's resource flows namely; electricity, water and solid waste, as mediated by networked urban infrastructure, to demonstrate the possibility of urban scale decoupling. Conclusions indicate that while decoupling can occur at the city scale, it is unlikely to be sufficient for the realization of sustainable urban development. Purposive interventions are therefore critical for successful, sustainable urban transitions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Making proteomics data accessible and reusable: Current state of proteomics databases and repositories

PubMed Central

Perez-Riverol, Yasset; Alpi, Emanuele; Wang, Rui; Hermjakob, Henning; Vizcaíno, Juan Antonio

2015-01-01

Compared to other data-intensive disciplines such as genomics, public deposition and storage of MS-based proteomics, data are still less developed due to, among other reasons, the inherent complexity of the data and the variety of data types and experimental workflows. In order to address this need, several public repositories for MS proteomics experiments have been developed, each with different purposes in mind. The most established resources are the Global Proteome Machine Database (GPMDB), PeptideAtlas, and the PRIDE database. Additionally, there are other useful (in many cases recently developed) resources such as ProteomicsDB, Mass Spectrometry Interactive Virtual Environment (MassIVE), Chorus, MaxQB, PeptideAtlas SRM Experiment Library (PASSEL), Model Organism Protein Expression Database (MOPED), and the Human Proteinpedia. In addition, the ProteomeXchange consortium has been recently developed to enable better integration of public repositories and the coordinated sharing of proteomics information, maximizing its benefit to the scientific community. Here, we will review each of the major proteomics resources independently and some tools that enable the integration, mining and reuse of the data. We will also discuss some of the major challenges and current pitfalls in the integration and sharing of the data. PMID:25158685

Ensembl Genomes 2013: scaling up access to genome-wide data.

PubMed

Kersey, Paul Julian; Allen, James E; Christensen, Mikkel; Davis, Paul; Falin, Lee J; Grabmueller, Christoph; Hughes, Daniel Seth Toney; Humphrey, Jay; Kerhornou, Arnaud; Khobova, Julia; Langridge, Nicholas; McDowall, Mark D; Maheswari, Uma; Maslen, Gareth; Nuhn, Michael; Ong, Chuang Kee; Paulini, Michael; Pedro, Helder; Toneva, Iliana; Tuli, Mary Ann; Walts, Brandon; Williams, Gareth; Wilson, Derek; Youens-Clark, Ken; Monaco, Marcela K; Stein, Joshua; Wei, Xuehong; Ware, Doreen; Bolser, Daniel M; Howe, Kevin Lee; Kulesha, Eugene; Lawson, Daniel; Staines, Daniel Michael

2014-01-01

Ensembl Genomes (http://www.ensemblgenomes.org) is an integrating resource for genome-scale data from non-vertebrate species. The project exploits and extends technologies for genome annotation, analysis and dissemination, developed in the context of the vertebrate-focused Ensembl project, and provides a complementary set of resources for non-vertebrate species through a consistent set of programmatic and interactive interfaces. These provide access to data including reference sequence, gene models, transcriptional data, polymorphisms and comparative analysis. This article provides an update to the previous publications about the resource, with a focus on recent developments. These include the addition of important new genomes (and related data sets) including crop plants, vectors of human disease and eukaryotic pathogens. In addition, the resource has scaled up its representation of bacterial genomes, and now includes the genomes of over 9000 bacteria. Specific extensions to the web and programmatic interfaces have been developed to support users in navigating these large data sets. Looking forward, analytic tools to allow targeted selection of data for visualization and download are likely to become increasingly important in future as the number of available genomes increases within all domains of life, and some of the challenges faced in representing bacterial data are likely to become commonplace for eukaryotes in future.

The development of water services and their interaction with water resources in European and Brazilian cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barraqué, B.; Formiga Johnsson, R. M.; Nogueira de Paiva Britto, A. L.

2008-08-01

The extension and complexity of large cities creates "urban water" and a related issue: public water services, including public water supply, sewage collection and treatment, and storm water control, had previously become a policy sector separate from water resource allocation issues thanks to water transport and treatment technologies. Large metropolitan areas today cannot take nature for granted anymore, and they need to protect water resources, if only to reduce the long term cost of transporting and treating water. In this paper, we compare the historical development of water services in European and Brazilian metropolitan areas, placing the technological developments in their geographic, socio-economic and political contexts. Our frame is to follow the successive contributions of civil engineering, sanitary engineering, and environmental engineering: the "quantity of water" and civil engineering paradigm allowed to mobilise water in and out of the city, and up the hills or the floors; in the "water quality" and chemical/sanitary engineering paradigm, water treatment gave more freedom to cities to take water from rivers closer to them, but also to reduce sewer discharge impacts; lastly, the environmental engineering paradigm proposes to overcome the supply side perspective, by introducing demand side management, water conservation, water allocation flexibilisation, and an integrated approach to water services, water resources management, and land use policies.

Role for protein–protein interaction databases in human genetics

PubMed Central

Pattin, Kristine A; Moore, Jason H

2010-01-01

Proteomics and the study of protein–protein interactions are becoming increasingly important in our effort to understand human diseases on a system-wide level. Thanks to the development and curation of protein-interaction databases, up-to-date information on these interaction networks is accessible and publicly available to the scientific community. As our knowledge of protein–protein interactions increases, it is important to give thought to the different ways that these resources can impact biomedical research. In this article, we highlight the importance of protein–protein interactions in human genetics and genetic epidemiology. Since protein–protein interactions demonstrate one of the strongest functional relationships between genes, combining genomic data with available proteomic data may provide us with a more in-depth understanding of common human diseases. In this review, we will discuss some of the fundamentals of protein interactions, the databases that are publicly available and how information from these databases can be used to facilitate genome-wide genetic studies. PMID:19929610

Student Interactives--A new Tool for Exploring Science.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, C.

2005-05-01

Science NetLinks (SNL), a national program that provides online teacher resources created by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), has proven to be a leader among educational resource providers in bringing free, high-quality, grade-appropriate materials to the national teaching community in a format that facilitates classroom integration. Now in its ninth year on the Web, Science NetLinks is part of the MarcoPolo Consortium of Web sites and associated state-based training initiatives that help teachers integrate Internet content into the classroom. SNL is a national presence in the K-12 science education community serving over 700,000 teachers each year, who visit the site at least three times a month. SNL features: High-quality, innovative, original lesson plans aligned to Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy, Original Internet-based interactives and learning challenges, Reviewed Web resources and demonstrations, Award winning, 60-second audio news features (Science Updates). Science NetLinks has an expansive and growing library of this educational material, aligned and sortable by grade band or benchmark. The program currently offers over 500 lessons, covering 72% of the Benchmarks for Science Literacy content areas in grades K-12. Over the past several years, there has been a strong movement to create online resources that support earth and space science education. Funding for various online educational materials has been available from many sources and has produced a variety of useful products for the education community. Teachers, through the Internet, potentially have access to thousands of activities, lessons and multimedia interactive applications for use in the classroom. But, with so many resources available, it is increasingly more difficult for educators to locate quality resources that are aligned to standards and learning goals. To ensure that the education community utilizes the resources, the material must conform to a format that allows easy understanding, evaluation and integration. Science NetLinks' material has been proven to satisfy these criteria and serve thousands of teachers every year. All online interactive materials that are created by AAAS are aligned to AAAS Project 2061 Benchmarks, which mirror National Science Standards, and are developed based on a rigorous set of criteria. For the purpose of this forum we will provide an overview that explains the need for more of these materials in the earth and space education, a review of the criteria for creating these materials and show examples of online materials created by AAAS that support earth and space science.

Establishing a library of resources to help people understand key concepts in assessing treatment claims-The "Critical thinking and Appraisal Resource Library" (CARL).

PubMed

Castle, John C; Chalmers, Iain; Atkinson, Patricia; Badenoch, Douglas; Oxman, Andrew D; Austvoll-Dahlgren, Astrid; Nordheim, Lena; Krause, L Kendall; Schwartz, Lisa M; Woloshin, Steven; Burls, Amanda; Mosconi, Paola; Hoffmann, Tammy; Cusack, Leila; Albarqouni, Loai; Glasziou, Paul

2017-01-01

People are frequently confronted with untrustworthy claims about the effects of treatments. Uncritical acceptance of these claims can lead to poor, and sometimes dangerous, treatment decisions, and wasted time and money. Resources to help people learn to think critically about treatment claims are scarce, and they are widely scattered. Furthermore, very few learning-resources have been assessed to see if they improve knowledge and behavior. Our objectives were to develop the Critical thinking and Appraisal Resource Library (CARL). This library was to be in the form of a database containing learning resources for those who are responsible for encouraging critical thinking about treatment claims, and was to be made available online. We wished to include resources for groups we identified as 'intermediaries' of knowledge, i.e. teachers of schoolchildren, undergraduates and graduates, for example those teaching evidence-based medicine, or those communicating treatment claims to the public. In selecting resources, we wished to draw particular attention to those resources that had been formally evaluated, for example, by the creators of the resource or independent research groups. CARL was populated with learning-resources identified from a variety of sources-two previously developed but unmaintained inventories; systematic reviews of learning-interventions; online and database searches; and recommendations by members of the project group and its advisors. The learning-resources in CARL were organised by 'Key Concepts' needed to judge the trustworthiness of treatment claims, and were made available online by the James Lind Initiative in Testing Treatments interactive (TTi) English (www.testingtreatments.org/category/learning-resources).TTi English also incorporated the database of Key Concepts and the Claim Evaluation Tools developed through the Informed Healthcare Choices (IHC) project (informedhealthchoices.org). We have created a database of resources called CARL, which currently contains over 500 open-access learning-resources in a variety of formats: text, audio, video, webpages, cartoons, and lesson materials. These are aimed primarily at 'Intermediaries', that is, 'teachers', 'communicators', 'advisors', 'researchers', as well as for independent 'learners'. The resources included in CARL are currently accessible at www.testingtreatments.org/category/learning-resources. We hope that ready access to CARL will help to promote the critical thinking about treatment claims, needed to help improve healthcare choices.

Establishing a library of resources to help people understand key concepts in assessing treatment claims—The “Critical thinking and Appraisal Resource Library” (CARL)

PubMed Central

Chalmers, Iain; Atkinson, Patricia; Badenoch, Douglas; Oxman, Andrew D.; Austvoll-Dahlgren, Astrid; Nordheim, Lena; Krause, L. Kendall; Schwartz, Lisa M.; Woloshin, Steven; Burls, Amanda; Mosconi, Paola; Hoffmann, Tammy; Cusack, Leila; Albarqouni, Loai; Glasziou, Paul

2017-01-01

Background People are frequently confronted with untrustworthy claims about the effects of treatments. Uncritical acceptance of these claims can lead to poor, and sometimes dangerous, treatment decisions, and wasted time and money. Resources to help people learn to think critically about treatment claims are scarce, and they are widely scattered. Furthermore, very few learning-resources have been assessed to see if they improve knowledge and behavior. Objectives Our objectives were to develop the Critical thinking and Appraisal Resource Library (CARL). This library was to be in the form of a database containing learning resources for those who are responsible for encouraging critical thinking about treatment claims, and was to be made available online. We wished to include resources for groups we identified as ‘intermediaries’ of knowledge, i.e. teachers of schoolchildren, undergraduates and graduates, for example those teaching evidence-based medicine, or those communicating treatment claims to the public. In selecting resources, we wished to draw particular attention to those resources that had been formally evaluated, for example, by the creators of the resource or independent research groups. Methods CARL was populated with learning-resources identified from a variety of sources—two previously developed but unmaintained inventories; systematic reviews of learning-interventions; online and database searches; and recommendations by members of the project group and its advisors. The learning-resources in CARL were organised by ‘Key Concepts’ needed to judge the trustworthiness of treatment claims, and were made available online by the James Lind Initiative in Testing Treatments interactive (TTi) English (www.testingtreatments.org/category/learning-resources).TTi English also incorporated the database of Key Concepts and the Claim Evaluation Tools developed through the Informed Healthcare Choices (IHC) project (informedhealthchoices.org). Results We have created a database of resources called CARL, which currently contains over 500 open-access learning-resources in a variety of formats: text, audio, video, webpages, cartoons, and lesson materials. These are aimed primarily at ‘Intermediaries’, that is, ‘teachers’, ‘communicators’, ‘advisors’, ‘researchers’, as well as for independent ‘learners’. The resources included in CARL are currently accessible at www.testingtreatments.org/category/learning-resources Conclusions We hope that ready access to CARL will help to promote the critical thinking about treatment claims, needed to help improve healthcare choices. PMID:28738058

Science learning, group membership, and identity in an urban middle school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olitsky, Stacy I.

2005-12-01

The issue of inequalities in science education outcomes among students from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds in the U.S. is related not only to access to resources, but also to schools' inability to facilitate students developing identities associated with science. While some of the obstacles to identity development in science relate to issues over which teachers and students have limited control, others are more amenable to local efforts toward change. This dissertation describes an interpretive case study of a racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse eighth grade science classroom in an urban magnet school in order to explore the relationship between school and classroom structures, student and teacher agency in enacting positive changes within classrooms, and identity formation in science. The results of this study indicate that structural issues such as the high status ascribed to science, the school's selection process, discourses surrounding the purposes of learning, resource inequalities, and negative stereotype threat can contribute to classroom interactions in which some students' claims to membership in a community centered on science are rejected, thereby interfering with group membership. While some teacher practices accentuated the impacts of these structures, others, such as de-emphasizing standardized tasks and providing students with opportunities to make unique, science-related contributions reduced them. In addition, the teacher's strategies when she was teaching out of field, which included positioning herself as a learner and making visible her "backstage" performance of exploring ideas and accessing resources were associated with a greater diversity of students participating. Further, students were able to develop interest and a sense of solidarity surrounding even new, abstract content when such content became associated with successful interaction rituals during which science language and procedures served as a mutual focus and there were sufficient opportunities for physical and emotional entrainment. Overall, the results of this study suggest that by focusing on efforts to promote classroom interactions that students will experience as successful regardless of content, teachers can facilitate a supportive environment in which students feel comfortable experimenting with using science language, asking questions, and supporting each others' learning, thereby developing a sense of solidarity and identity surrounding science.

A Comprehensive Tool for Exploring the Availability, Scalability and Growth Potential of Conventional and Renewable Energy Sources and Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jack-Scott, E.; Arnott, J. C.; Katzenberger, J.; Davis, S. J.; Delman, E.

2015-12-01

It has been a generational challenge to simultaneously meet the world's energy requirements, while remaining within the bounds of acceptable cost and environmental impact. To this end, substantial research has explored various energy futures on a global scale, leaving decision-makers and the public overwhelmed by information on energy options. In response, this interactive energy table was developed as a comprehensive resource through which users can explore the availability, scalability, and growth potentials of all energy technologies currently in use or development. Extensive research from peer-reviewed papers and reports was compiled and summarized, detailing technology costs, technical considerations, imminent breakthroughs, and obstacles to integration, as well as political, social, and environmental considerations. Energy technologies fall within categories of coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, solar, wind, hydropower, ocean, geothermal and biomass. In addition to 360 expandable cells of cited data, the interactive table also features educational windows with background information on each energy technology. The table seeks not to advocate for specific energy futures, but to succinctly and accurately centralize peer-reviewed research and information in an interactive, accessible resource. With this tool, decision-makers, researchers and the public alike can explore various combinations of energy technologies and their quantitative and qualitative attributes that can satisfy the world's total primary energy supply (TPES) while making progress towards a near zero carbon future.

Effectiveness of psycho-educational interventions with telecommunication technologies on emotional distress and quality of life of adult cancer patients: a systematic review.

PubMed

Bártolo, Ana; Pacheco, Emelda; Rodrigues, Fabiana; Pereira, Anabela; Monteiro, Sara; Santos, Isabel M

2017-12-07

To provide a comprehensive review of psycho-educational interventions using telecommunication technologies developed for adult cancer patients, assessing their effectiveness in reducing emotional distress and improving quality of life (QoL). A narrative approach was used for extraction and synthesis of the data. Relevant studies were identified through the electronic databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection (through EBSCOhost), and CENTRAL. Eight studies involving 1016 participants met inclusion criteria. The majority of the studies included (n = 6) used a randomized design and were published between 2007 and 2016. Interventions used a variety of delivery resources, such as telephone, e-mail and websites, but all were aiming to respond to information needs and develop stress control skills. A trend toward reducing distress and improving QoL was found, but estimated effect sizes were typically small (d < 0.5). Telephonically delivered psycho-educational interventions presented the highest between-group effects on these outcomes during survival, but were limited by sample size. The efficacy of interventions using distance approaches in the cancer setting is still not well-established. Further research should be conducted through well-designed studies with more interactive features that minimize the lack of face-to-face interaction. Implications for rehabilitation Rehabilitation professionals working in the field of oncology should invest in the development of psycho-educational interventions responding the patients' educational needs and promoting their stress control skills. Programs using telecommunications technologies may reduce disparities in service delivery within this setting, minimizing geographic and socio-economic barriers to engagement in the interventions. With the current technological development, it is possible to perform more interactive interventions that stimulate therapist-patient interactions. However, available protocols in this field still employ basic resources (e.g., websites, e-mail, and videos). Young adult cancer patients are exposed to additional requirements related to fertility and parenthood. New intervention approaches should consider their informational needs.

Stakeholder Interaction in Participatory Land Restoration in Iceland: Environmental Officers' Challenges and Strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berglund, Brita; Hallgren, Lars; Aradóttir, Ása L.

2015-08-01

Participatory approaches involve stakeholder interaction but environmental agency employees engaged in participatory undertakings often lack training for interaction tasks. This study explored how district officers at the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland (SCSI) experienced and dealt with stakeholder interaction in participatory land restoration. We made semi-structured interviews with all district officers with at least 1-year experience; seven in total. A thematic content analysis revealed five challenges facing the officers in their interaction activities and seven strategies that they used to deal with these challenges. The core challenge was to establish and maintain contacts with farmers and other stakeholders as it enabled the SCSI to support and influence their land restoration practices. Other challenges were to: accomplish SCSI's objectives; represent the SCSI and the government; have adequate skills, knowledge, and background; and deal with one's own emotions. Four of the strategies seemed to promote collaboration: create win-win scenarios; "go local"; direct and positive communication; and motivation and knowledge sharing. The other strategies: supportive district officer team; self-reliance and personal background; and self-control supported the officers in their interaction tasks. Factors undermining their collaboration efforts included insufficient time and other resources, an unsupportive organizational culture and a legal duty to assess the condition of vegetation cover on farmland. Increased resource allocation to the SCSI's local operations, more attention to emotional issues, and efforts to develop a more flexible and learning organizational culture that supports collaboration could counteract these factors.

Stakeholder Interaction in Participatory Land Restoration in Iceland: Environmental Officers' Challenges and Strategies.

PubMed

Berglund, Brita; Hallgren, Lars; Aradóttir, Ása L

2015-08-01

Participatory approaches involve stakeholder interaction but environmental agency employees engaged in participatory undertakings often lack training for interaction tasks. This study explored how district officers at the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland (SCSI) experienced and dealt with stakeholder interaction in participatory land restoration. We made semi-structured interviews with all district officers with at least 1-year experience; seven in total. A thematic content analysis revealed five challenges facing the officers in their interaction activities and seven strategies that they used to deal with these challenges. The core challenge was to establish and maintain contacts with farmers and other stakeholders as it enabled the SCSI to support and influence their land restoration practices. Other challenges were to: accomplish SCSI's objectives; represent the SCSI and the government; have adequate skills, knowledge, and background; and deal with one's own emotions. Four of the strategies seemed to promote collaboration: create win-win scenarios; "go local"; direct and positive communication; and motivation and knowledge sharing. The other strategies: supportive district officer team; self-reliance and personal background; and self-control supported the officers in their interaction tasks. Factors undermining their collaboration efforts included insufficient time and other resources, an unsupportive organizational culture and a legal duty to assess the condition of vegetation cover on farmland. Increased resource allocation to the SCSI's local operations, more attention to emotional issues, and efforts to develop a more flexible and learning organizational culture that supports collaboration could counteract these factors.

Locations and attributes of wind turbines in Colorado, 2011

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, Natasha B.; Diffendorfer, James E.; Fancher, Tammy; Hawkins, Sarah J.; Latysh, Natalie; Leib, Kenneth J.; Matherne, Anne Marie

2013-01-01

This dataset represents an update to U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 597. Locations and attributes of wind turbines in Colorado, 2009 (available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/597/). This updated Colorado wind turbine Data Series provides geospatial data for all 1,204 wind turbines established within the State of Colorado as of September 2011, an increase of 297 wind turbines from 2009. Attributes specific to each turbine include: turbine location, manufacturer and model, rotor diameter, hub height, rotor height, potential megawatt output, land ownership, county, and development status of the wind turbine. Wind energy facility data for each turbine include: facility name, facility power capacity, number of turbines associated with each facility to date, facility developer, facility ownership, and year the facility went online. The locations of turbines are derived from 1-meter true-color aerial photographs produced by the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP); the photographs have a positional accuracy of about ±5 meters. Locations of turbines constructed during or prior to August 2009 are based on August 2009 NAIP imagery and turbine locations constructed after August 2009 were based on September 2011 NAIP imagery. The location of turbines under construction during September 2011 likely will be less accurate than the location of existing turbines. This data series contributes to an Online Interactive Energy Atlas developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (http://my.usgs.gov/eerma/). The Energy Atlas synthesizes data on existing and potential energy development in Colorado and New Mexico and includes additional natural resource data layers. This information may be used by decisionmakers to evaluate and compare the potential benefits and tradeoffs associated with different energy development strategies or scenarios. Interactive maps, downloadable data layers, comprehensive metadata, and decision-support tools also are included in the Energy Atlas. The format of the Energy Atlas is designed to facilitate the integration of information about energy with key terrestrial and aquatic resources for evaluating resource values and minimizing risks from energy development.

Locations and attributes of wind turbines in New Mexico, 2011

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, Natasha B.; Diffendorfer, James B.; Fancher, Tammy; Hawkins, Sarah J.; Latysh, Natalie; Leib, Kenneth J.; Matherne, Anne Marie

2013-01-01

This dataset represents an update to U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 596. Locations and attributes of wind turbines in New Mexico, 2009 (available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/596/).This updated New Mexico wind turbine Data Series provides geospatial data for all 562 wind turbines established within the State of New Mexico as of June 2011, an increase of 155 wind turbines from 2009. Attributes specific to each turbine include: turbine location, manufacturer and model, rotor diameter, hub height, rotor height, potential megawatt output, land ownership, county, and development status of wind turbine. Wind energy facility data for each turbine include: facility name, facility power capacity, number of turbines associated with each facility to date, facility developer, facility ownership, and year the facility went online. The locations of turbines are derived from 1-meter true-color aerial photographs produced by the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP); the photographs have a positional accuracy of about ±5 meters. The locations of turbines constructed during or prior to August 2009 are based on August 2009 NAIP imagery and turbine locations constructed after August 2009 were based June 2011 NAIP imagery. The location of turbines under construction during June 2011 likely will be less accurate than the location of existing turbines. This data series contributes to an Online Interactive Energy Atlas developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (http://my.usgs.gov/eerma/). The Energy Atlas synthesizes data on existing and potential energy development in Colorado and New Mexico and includes additional natural resource data layers. This information may be used by decisionmakers to evaluate and compare the potential benefits and tradeoffs associated with different energy development strategies or scenarios. Interactive maps, downloadable data layers, comprehensive metadata, and decision-support tools also are included in the Energy Atlas. The format of the Energy Atlas is designed to facilitate the integration of information about energy with key terrestrial and aquatic resources for evaluating resource values and minimizing risks from energy development.

Biomass Resource Allocation among Competing End Uses

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

Newes, E.; Bush, B.; Inman, D.

The Biomass Scenario Model (BSM) is a system dynamics model developed by the U.S. Department of Energy as a tool to better understand the interaction of complex policies and their potential effects on the biofuels industry in the United States. However, it does not currently have the capability to account for allocation of biomass resources among the various end uses, which limits its utilization in analysis of policies that target biomass uses outside the biofuels industry. This report provides a more holistic understanding of the dynamics surrounding the allocation of biomass among uses that include traditional use, wood pellet exports,more » bio-based products and bioproducts, biopower, and biofuels by (1) highlighting the methods used in existing models' treatments of competition for biomass resources; (2) identifying coverage and gaps in industry data regarding the competing end uses; and (3) exploring options for developing models of biomass allocation that could be integrated with the BSM to actively exchange and incorporate relevant information.« less

Relax with CouchDB - Into the non-relational DBMS era of Bioinformatics

PubMed Central

Manyam, Ganiraju; Payton, Michelle A.; Roth, Jack A.; Abruzzo, Lynne V.; Coombes, Kevin R.

2012-01-01

With the proliferation of high-throughput technologies, genome-level data analysis has become common in molecular biology. Bioinformaticians are developing extensive resources to annotate and mine biological features from high-throughput data. The underlying database management systems for most bioinformatics software are based on a relational model. Modern non-relational databases offer an alternative that has flexibility, scalability, and a non-rigid design schema. Moreover, with an accelerated development pace, non-relational databases like CouchDB can be ideal tools to construct bioinformatics utilities. We describe CouchDB by presenting three new bioinformatics resources: (a) geneSmash, which collates data from bioinformatics resources and provides automated gene-centric annotations, (b) drugBase, a database of drug-target interactions with a web interface powered by geneSmash, and (c) HapMap-CN, which provides a web interface to query copy number variations from three SNP-chip HapMap datasets. In addition to the web sites, all three systems can be accessed programmatically via web services. PMID:22609849

Modular Digital Course in Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (MDCUNE): A Website Offering Free Digital Tools for Neuroscience Educators.

PubMed

Grisham, William

2009-01-01

We are providing free digital resources for teaching neuroscience labs at http://mdcune.psych.ucla.edu/. These resources will ultimately include materials for teaching laboratories in electrophysiology of neuronal circuits (SWIMMY), a Neuroinformatics/Bioinformatics module, and two modules for investigating the effects of hormones on early CNS development-one focusing on the development of the song system and one focusing on sex differences in spinal cord motor neurons. All of these modules are inquiry based-students gain from genuine experiences in doing actual studies rather than just simulations. These materials should provide instructors the ability to provide good quality laboratory experiences regardless of resource limitations. Currently, modules on sex differences in the spinal cord and virtual neural circuits (SWIMMY) are available on our website. More will be available in summer 2009 and 2010. SWIMMY was demonstrated at the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) Workshop-The Undergraduate Neuroscience Education: Interactions, interdisciplines, and curricular best practices at Macalester College in July 2008.

SLS-PLAN-IT: A knowledge-based blackboard scheduling system for Spacelab life sciences missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kao, Cheng-Yan; Lee, Seok-Hua

1992-01-01

The primary scheduling tool in use during the Spacelab Life Science (SLS-1) planning phase was the operations research (OR) based, tabular form Experiment Scheduling System (ESS) developed by NASA Marshall. PLAN-IT is an artificial intelligence based interactive graphic timeline editor for ESS developed by JPL. The PLAN-IT software was enhanced for use in the scheduling of Spacelab experiments to support the SLS missions. The enhanced software SLS-PLAN-IT System was used to support the real-time reactive scheduling task during the SLS-1 mission. SLS-PLAN-IT is a frame-based blackboard scheduling shell which, from scheduling input, creates resource-requiring event duration objects and resource-usage duration objects. The blackboard structure is to keep track of the effects of event duration objects on the resource usage objects. Various scheduling heuristics are coded in procedural form and can be invoked any time at the user's request. The system architecture is described along with what has been learned with the SLS-PLAN-IT project.

The Combination of Coastal Resources Potential: Development of Windmill Techno Park in the Context of Edutourism and Hinterland Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasanuddin, H.; Nurdin, H.; Waskito, W.; Refdinal, R.

2018-04-01

There are many coastal cities in Indonesia, among them the city of Padang and Pariaman in West Sumatra with the ownership of the grace of coastal resources, such as stunning coastal scenery and wind energy that can be converted to its potential. These two types of resources need to be combined utilization especially in relation to the development of tourism so as to have an impact on the regional development and the cities growth. This paper discusses of information related to the potential of coastal resources used as a parameter development of windmill techno park in the context of educational tourism. The discussion focuses on locational aspects and consideration of the design and modification for the windmill model to the enhancement of tourist attraction. In addition, it is also studying the presence of the windmill techno park as a development center in the context of hinterland in the regional analysis. Through the measurement results obtained average wind speed (2.5 - 6.5) m/s and meet the standards & criteria as a windmill design variables. While the geomorphology of the region, its location has a breathtaking coastal landscape as a tourist destination. Then through gravity analysis, the location of the windmill techno park development provides optimum strength to the growth of the city of Padang, with the value of interaction strength is higher than other regions. This means as a sub-urban area of the city the existence of windshield techno park later can support economic development and growth of cities around the coast.

Framework for the assessment of interaction between CO2 geological storage and other sedimentary basin resources.

PubMed

Michael, K; Whittaker, S; Varma, S; Bekele, E; Langhi, L; Hodgkinson, J; Harris, B

2016-02-01

Sedimentary basins around the world considered suitable for carbon storage usually contain other natural resources such as petroleum, coal, geothermal energy and groundwater. Storing carbon dioxide in geological formations in the basins adds to the competition for access to the subsurface and the use of pore space where other resource-based industries also operate. Managing potential impacts that industrial-scale injection of carbon dioxide may have on other resource development must be focused to prevent potential conflicts and enhance synergies where possible. Such a sustainable coexistence of various resource developments can be accomplished by implementing a Framework for Basin Resource Management strategy (FBRM). The FBRM strategy utilizes the concept of an Area of Review (AOR) for guiding development and regulation of CO2 geological storage projects and for assessing their potential impact on other resources. The AOR is determined by the expected physical distribution of the CO2 plume in the subsurface and the modelled extent of reservoir pressure increase resulting from the injection of the CO2. This information is used to define the region to be characterised and monitored for a CO2 injection project. The geological characterisation and risk- and performance-based monitoring will be most comprehensive within the region of the reservoir containing the carbon dioxide plume and should consider geological features and wells continuously above the plume through to its surface projection; this region defines where increases in reservoir pressure will be greatest and where potential for unplanned migration of carbon dioxide is highest. Beyond the expanse of the carbon dioxide plume, geological characterisation and monitoring should focus only on identified features that could be a potential migration conduit for either formation water or carbon dioxide.

Resource Aware Intelligent Network Services (RAINS) Final Technical Report

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

Lehman, Tom; Yang, Xi

The Resource Aware Intelligent Network Services (RAINS) project conducted research and developed technologies in the area of cyber infrastructure resource modeling and computation. The goal of this work was to provide a foundation to enable intelligent, software defined services which spanned the network AND the resources which connect to the network. A Multi-Resource Service Plane (MRSP) was defined, which allows resource owners/managers to locate and place themselves from a topology and service availability perspective within the dynamic networked cyberinfrastructure ecosystem. The MRSP enables the presentation of integrated topology views and computation results which can include resources across the spectrum ofmore » compute, storage, and networks. The RAINS project developed MSRP includes the following key components: i) Multi-Resource Service (MRS) Ontology/Multi-Resource Markup Language (MRML), ii) Resource Computation Engine (RCE), iii) Modular Driver Framework (to allow integration of a variety of external resources). The MRS/MRML is a general and extensible modeling framework that allows for resource owners to model, or describe, a wide variety of resource types. All resources are described using three categories of elements: Resources, Services, and Relationships between the elements. This modeling framework defines a common method for the transformation of cyber infrastructure resources into data in the form of MRML models. In order to realize this infrastructure datification, the RAINS project developed a model based computation system, i.e. “RAINS Computation Engine (RCE)”. The RCE has the ability to ingest, process, integrate, and compute based on automatically generated MRML models. The RCE interacts with the resources thru system drivers which are specific to the type of external network or resource controller. The RAINS project developed a modular and pluggable driver system which facilities a variety of resource controllers to automatically generate, maintain, and distribute MRML based resource descriptions. Once all of the resource topologies are absorbed by the RCE, a connected graph of the full distributed system topology is constructed, which forms the basis for computation and workflow processing. The RCE includes a Modular Computation Element (MCE) framework which allows for tailoring of the computation process to the specific set of resources under control, and the services desired. The input and output of an MCE are both model data based on MRS/MRML ontology and schema. Some of the RAINS project accomplishments include: Development of general and extensible multi-resource modeling framework; Design of a Resource Computation Engine (RCE) system which includes the following key capabilities; Absorb a variety of multi-resource model types and build integrated models; Novel architecture which uses model based communications across the full stack for all Flexible provision of abstract or intent based user facing interfaces; Workflow processing based on model descriptions; Release of the RCE as an open source software; Deployment of RCE in the University of Maryland/Mid-Atlantic Crossroad ScienceDMZ in prototype mode with a plan under way to transition to production; Deployment at the Argonne National Laboratory DTN Facility in prototype mode; Selection of RCE by the DOE SENSE (SDN for End-to-end Networked Science at the Exascale) project as the basis for their orchestration service.« less

Design and fabrication of a realistic anthropomorphic heterogeneous head phantom for MR purposes

PubMed Central

Wood, Sossena; Krishnamurthy, Narayanan; Santini, Tales; Raval, Shailesh; Farhat, Nadim; Holmes, John Andy; Ibrahim, Tamer S.

2017-01-01

Objective The purpose of this study is to design an anthropomorphic heterogeneous head phantom that can be used for MRI and other electromagnetic applications. Materials and methods An eight compartment, physical anthropomorphic head phantom was developed from a 3T MRI dataset of a healthy male. The designed phantom was successfully built and preliminarily evaluated through an application that involves electromagnetic-tissue interactions: MRI (due to it being an available resource). The developed phantom was filled with media possessing electromagnetic constitutive parameters that correspond to biological tissues at ~297 MHz. A preliminary comparison between an in-vivo human volunteer (based on whom the anthropomorphic head phantom was created) and various phantoms types, one being the anthropomorphic heterogeneous head phantom, were performed using a 7 Tesla human MRI scanner. Results Echo planar imaging was performed and minimal ghosting and fluctuations were observed using the proposed anthropomorphic phantom. The magnetic field distributions (during MRI experiments at 7 Tesla) and the scattering parameter (measured using a network analyzer) were most comparable between the anthropomorphic heterogeneous head phantom and an in-vivo human volunteer. Conclusion The developed anthropomorphic heterogeneous head phantom can be used as a resource to various researchers in applications that involve electromagnetic-biological tissue interactions such as MRI. PMID:28806768

Socioeconomic status, psychological resources, and inflammatory markers: Results from the MIDUS Study

PubMed Central

Elliot, Ari J.; Chapman, Benjamin P.

2016-01-01

Objective To investigate interactions of psychological resources and socioeconomic status in predicting markers of systemic inflammation, as well as potential gender differences and the explanatory role of childhood and adult stress exposures, health behaviors, and negative and positive affect. Method We utilized a sample of adults from the Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS) who provided biomarker data (N=1,152). SES was operationalized as a composite of education, income, and occupational prestige, and psychological resources as a latent factor measured with optimism, perceived control, and self-esteem. Linear regression models examined these two factors and their interaction in predicting interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) measured on average 2 years later, as well as three-way interactions involving gender and the impact of covariate adjustment. Results Psychological resources interacted with SES in men (for IL-6: p<.001; for CRP: p=.04) but not in women. In men, greater psychological resources were associated with lower concentrations of IL-6 at lower levels of SES, but higher concentrations of both markers at higher levels of SES. The inverse association between resources and IL-6 at low SES was moderately attenuated upon adjustment for negative affect. Conclusion Socioeconomic status might modulate the linkage between psychological resources and systemic inflammation in men. At lower levels of SES, resources may be related to lower inflammation in part through lower negative affect. Associations with higher inflammation at higher SES add to growing evidence suggesting that adaptive psychological characteristics may be associated with markers of poorer physiological function under certain conditions. PMID:27280368

Interaction of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Water Resources Applications Project (WRAP) and Coordinated Enhanced Observing Project (CEOP) in Support of Water Resource Management and Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martz, L.

2004-05-01

The Water Resources Applications Project (WRAP) has been developed within the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) to facilitate the testing of GEWEX products and their transfer to operational water managers. The WRAP activity builds upon projects within the GEWEX Continental Scale Experiments (CSEs), and facilitates dialogue between these CSEs and their local water management communities regarding their information needs and opportunities for GEWEX products to meet those needs. Participating Continental Scale Experiments are located in the United States, the Mackenzie River Basin in Canada, the Amazon River Basin in Brazil, the Baltic Sea drainage area, eastern Asia and the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. In addition, the development of WRAP is facilitating the transfer of techniques and demonstration projects to other areas through collaboration with IAHS, UNESCO/WMO HELP, WMO Hydrology and WWAP. The initiation of CEOP presents a significant new opportunity for collaborations to support the application of global hydro-climatological scientific data and techniques to water resource management. Some important scientific and operational issues identified by water resource management professionals in earlier workshops will be reviewed, some scientific initiatives needed to address these issues will be presented, and some case study examples of the application of GEWEX knowledge to water resource problems will be presented. Against this background, the unique opportunities that CEOP provides to improve our use and management of water resources globally will be discussed.

How to improve medical education website design.

PubMed

Sisson, Stephen D; Hill-Briggs, Felicia; Levine, David

2010-04-21

The Internet provides a means of disseminating medical education curricula, allowing institutions to share educational resources. Much of what is published online is poorly planned, does not meet learners' needs, or is out of date. Applying principles of curriculum development, adult learning theory and educational website design may result in improved online educational resources. Key steps in developing and implementing an education website include: 1) Follow established principles of curriculum development; 2) Perform a needs assessment and repeat the needs assessment regularly after curriculum implementation; 3) Include in the needs assessment targeted learners, educators, institutions, and society; 4) Use principles of adult learning and behavioral theory when developing content and website function; 5) Design the website and curriculum to demonstrate educational effectiveness at an individual and programmatic level; 6) Include a mechanism for sustaining website operations and updating content over a long period of time. Interactive, online education programs are effective for medical training, but require planning, implementation, and maintenance that follow established principles of curriculum development, adult learning, and behavioral theory.

A social competence intervention for young children with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome: a pilot study.

PubMed

Minne, Elizabeth Portman; Semrud-Clikeman, Margaret

2012-11-01

The key features of Asperger Syndrome (AS) and high functioning autism (HFA) include marked and sustained impairment in social interactions. A multi-session, small group program was developed to increase social perception based on the assumption perceptual or interpretive problems underlying these social difficulties. Additionally, the group format espoused a play therapy orientation and the use of sociodramatic play was the primary therapeutic modality used. Qualitative analyses of the data resulted in an explanation of the key changes in social interactions that took place through the course of the intervention. Although each participant's experience in this group was unique, all children in this program demonstrated improvements in their social interactions, as they experienced development both emotionally and behaviorally. Findings suggest that, despite their rigid interests and behavior patterns, the social limitations of these children improved when provided with the necessary environmental resources.

Development of online instructional resources for Earth system science education: An example of current practice from China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Shaochun; Xu, Shijin; Lu, Xiancai

2009-06-01

Educators around the world are striving to make science more accessible and relevant to students. Online instructional resources have become an integral component of tertiary science education and will continue to grow in influence and importance over the coming decades. A case study in the iterative improvement of the online instructional resources provided for first-year undergraduates taking " Introductory Earth System Science" at Nanjing University in China is presented in this paper. Online instructional resources are used to conduct a student-centered learning model in the domain of Earth system science, resulting in a sustainable online instructional framework for students and instructors. The purpose of our practice is to make Earth system science education more accessible and exciting to students, changing instruction from a largely textbook-based teacher-centered approach to a more interactive and student-centered approach, and promoting the integration of knowledge and development of deep understanding by students. Evaluation on learning performance and learning satisfaction is conducted to identify helpful components and perception based on students' learning activities. The feedbacks indicate that the use of online instructional resources has positive impacts on mitigating Earth system science education challenges, and has the potential to promote deep learning.

Evolution of the societal value of water resources for economic development versus environmental sustainability in Australia from 1843 to 2011

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Y.; Wei, J., , Dr; Western, A. W.

2017-12-01

The scale of human activity in the last 200 years has reached a point where our actions are affecting the global biophysical environment to such a degree and at such a speed that irreversible effects are being observed. Societal values are generally seen as leading to changes in human decisions and actions, but have not been addressed adequately in current water management, which is blind to changes in the social drivers for, or societal responses to, management decisions. This paper describes the evolution of societal value of water resources in Australia over a period of 169 years. These values were classified into two groups: supporting economic development versus supporting environmental sustainability. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper was used as the main data source to track the changes in the societal value of water resources. Content analysis was used to create a description of the evolution of these societal values. Mathematical regression analysis, in combination of transition theory, was used to determine the stages of transition of the societal value, and the co-evolved social-ecological framework was used to explain how the evolution of societal values interacted with water management policies/practices and droughts. Key findings included that the transition of the societal value of water resources fitted the sigmoid curve - a conceptual S curve for the transition of social systems. Also, the transition of societal value of water resources in Australia went through three stages: (1) pre-development (1900s-1960s), when the societal value of water resources was dominated by economic development; (2) take-off (1962-1980), when the societal value of water resources reflected the increasing awareness of the environment due to the outbreak of pollution events; (3) acceleration (1981-2011), when the environment-oriented societal value of water resources combined with the Millennium Drought to trigger a package of policy initiatives and management practices towards sustainable water resource use. Our results show that the transition of the societal value has not yet reached stabilization, which may stabilize, backlash or lead to system breakdown in future. The approach developed in this study provides a roadmap for the development of new disciplines across social and natural science.