Sample records for knowledge building system

  1. Towards Methodologies for Building Knowledge-Based Instructional Systems.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duchastel, Philippe

    1992-01-01

    Examines the processes involved in building instructional systems that are based on artificial intelligence and hypermedia technologies. Traditional instructional systems design methodology is discussed; design issues including system architecture and learning strategies are addressed; and a new methodology for building knowledge-based…

  2. A Brief History of Knowledge Building

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scardamalia, Marlene; Bereiter, Carl

    2010-01-01

    Knowledge Building as a theoretical, pedagogical, and technological innovation focuses on the 21st century need to work creatively with knowledge. The team now advancing Knowledge Building spans multiple disciplines, sectors, and cultural contexts. Several teacher-researcher-government partnerships have formed to bring about the systemic changes…

  3. Management of Knowledge Representation Standards Activities

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Patil, Ramesh S.

    1993-01-01

    Ever since the mid-seventies, researchers have recognized that capturing knowledge is the key to building large and powerful AI systems. In the years since, we have also found that representing knowledge is difficult and time consuming. In spite of the tools developed to help with knowledge acquisition, knowledge base construction remains one of the major costs in building an Al system: For almost every system we build, a new knowledge base must be constructed from scratch. As a result, most systems remain small to medium in size. Even if we build several systems within a general area, such as medicine or electronics diagnosis, significant portions of the domain must be represented for every system we create. The cost of this duplication of effort has been high and will become prohibitive as we attempt to build larger and larger systems. To overcome this barrier we must find ways of preserving existing knowledge bases and of sharing, re-using, and building on them. This report describes the efforts undertaken over the last two years to identify the issues underlying the current difficulties in sharing and reuse, and a community wide initiative to overcome them. First, we discuss four bottlenecks to sharing and reuse, present a vision of a future in which these bottlenecks have been ameliorated, and describe the efforts of the initiative's four working groups to address these bottlenecks. We then address the supporting technology and infrastructure that is critical to enabling the vision of the future. Finally, we consider topics of longer-range interest by reviewing some of the research issues raised by our vision.

  4. Building organizational supports for knowledge sharing in county human service organizations: a cross-case analysis of works-in-progress.

    PubMed

    Lee, Chris; Austin, Michael J

    2012-01-01

    Building on the literature related to evidence-based practice, knowledge management, and learning organizations, this cross-case analysis presents twelve works-in-progress in ten local public human service organizations seeking to develop their own knowledge sharing systems. The data for this cross-case analysis can be found in the various contributions to this Special Issue. The findings feature the developmental aspects of building a learning organization that include knowledge sharing systems featuring transparency, self-assessment, and dissemination and utilization. Implications for practice focus on the structure and processes involved in building knowledge sharing teams inside public human service organizations. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

  5. Knowledge-intensive software design systems: Can too much knowledge be a burden?

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Keller, Richard M.

    1992-01-01

    While acknowledging the considerable benefits of domain-specific, knowledge-intensive approaches to automated software engineering, it is prudent to carefully examine the costs of such approaches, as well. In adding domain knowledge to a system, a developer makes a commitment to understanding, representing, maintaining, and communicating that knowledge. This substantial overhead is not generally associated with domain-independent approaches. In this paper, I examine the downside of incorporating additional knowledge, and illustrate with examples based on our experience in building the SIGMA system. I also offer some guidelines for developers building domain-specific systems.

  6. Knowledge-intensive software design systems: Can too much knowledge be a burden?

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Keller, Richard M.

    1992-01-01

    While acknowledging the considerable benefits of domain-specific, knowledge-intensive approaches to automated software engineering, it is prudent to carefully examine the costs of such approaches, as well. In adding domain knowledge to a system, a developer makes a commitment to understanding, representing, maintaining, and communicating that knowledge. This substantial overhead is not generally associated with domain-independent approaches. In this paper, I examine the downside of incorporating additional knowledge, and illustrate with examples based on our experiences building the SIGMA system. I also offer some guidelines for developers building domain-specific systems.

  7. Using Topdown Conceptual Analysis To Accelerate The Learning Of New Domains For Knowledge Engineers & Domain Experts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xuan, Albert L.; Shinghal, Rajjan

    1989-03-01

    As the need for knowledge-based systems increases, an increasing number of domain experts are becoming interested in taking more active part in the building of knowledge-based systems. However, such a domain expert often must deal with a large number of unfamiliar terms concepts, facts, procedures and principles based on different approaches and schools of thought. He (for brevity, we shall use masculine pronouns for both genders) may need the help of a knowledge engineer (KE) in building the knowledge-based system but may encounter a number of problems. For instance, much of the early interaction between him and the knowl edge engineer may be spent in educating each other about their seperate kinds of expertise. Since the knowledge engineer will usually be ignorant of the knowledge domain while the domain expert (DE) will have little knowledge about knowledge-based systems, a great deal of time will be wasted on these issues ad the DE and the KE train each other to the point where a fruitful interaction can occur. In some situations, it may not even be possible for the DE to find a suitable KE to work with because he has no time to train the latter in his domain. This will engender the need for the DE to be more knowledgeable about knowledge-based systems and for the KE to find methods and techniques which will allow them to learn new domains as fast as they can. In any event, it is likely that the process of building knowledge-based systems will be smooth, er and more efficient if the domain expert is knowledgeable about the methods and techniques of knowledge-based systems building.

  8. Software-engineering challenges of building and deploying reusable problem solvers.

    PubMed

    O'Connor, Martin J; Nyulas, Csongor; Tu, Samson; Buckeridge, David L; Okhmatovskaia, Anna; Musen, Mark A

    2009-11-01

    Problem solving methods (PSMs) are software components that represent and encode reusable algorithms. They can be combined with representations of domain knowledge to produce intelligent application systems. A goal of research on PSMs is to provide principled methods and tools for composing and reusing algorithms in knowledge-based systems. The ultimate objective is to produce libraries of methods that can be easily adapted for use in these systems. Despite the intuitive appeal of PSMs as conceptual building blocks, in practice, these goals are largely unmet. There are no widely available tools for building applications using PSMs and no public libraries of PSMs available for reuse. This paper analyzes some of the reasons for the lack of widespread adoptions of PSM techniques and illustrate our analysis by describing our experiences developing a complex, high-throughput software system based on PSM principles. We conclude that many fundamental principles in PSM research are useful for building knowledge-based systems. In particular, the task-method decomposition process, which provides a means for structuring knowledge-based tasks, is a powerful abstraction for building systems of analytic methods. However, despite the power of PSMs in the conceptual modeling of knowledge-based systems, software engineering challenges have been seriously underestimated. The complexity of integrating control knowledge modeled by developers using PSMs with the domain knowledge that they model using ontologies creates a barrier to widespread use of PSM-based systems. Nevertheless, the surge of recent interest in ontologies has led to the production of comprehensive domain ontologies and of robust ontology-authoring tools. These developments present new opportunities to leverage the PSM approach.

  9. Software-engineering challenges of building and deploying reusable problem solvers

    PubMed Central

    O’CONNOR, MARTIN J.; NYULAS, CSONGOR; TU, SAMSON; BUCKERIDGE, DAVID L.; OKHMATOVSKAIA, ANNA; MUSEN, MARK A.

    2012-01-01

    Problem solving methods (PSMs) are software components that represent and encode reusable algorithms. They can be combined with representations of domain knowledge to produce intelligent application systems. A goal of research on PSMs is to provide principled methods and tools for composing and reusing algorithms in knowledge-based systems. The ultimate objective is to produce libraries of methods that can be easily adapted for use in these systems. Despite the intuitive appeal of PSMs as conceptual building blocks, in practice, these goals are largely unmet. There are no widely available tools for building applications using PSMs and no public libraries of PSMs available for reuse. This paper analyzes some of the reasons for the lack of widespread adoptions of PSM techniques and illustrate our analysis by describing our experiences developing a complex, high-throughput software system based on PSM principles. We conclude that many fundamental principles in PSM research are useful for building knowledge-based systems. In particular, the task–method decomposition process, which provides a means for structuring knowledge-based tasks, is a powerful abstraction for building systems of analytic methods. However, despite the power of PSMs in the conceptual modeling of knowledge-based systems, software engineering challenges have been seriously underestimated. The complexity of integrating control knowledge modeled by developers using PSMs with the domain knowledge that they model using ontologies creates a barrier to widespread use of PSM-based systems. Nevertheless, the surge of recent interest in ontologies has led to the production of comprehensive domain ontologies and of robust ontology-authoring tools. These developments present new opportunities to leverage the PSM approach. PMID:23565031

  10. Knowledge Gateways: The Building Blocks.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hawkins, Donald T.; And Others

    1988-01-01

    Discusses the need for knowledge gateway systems to provide access to scattered information and the use of technologies in gateway building, including artificial intelligence and expert systems, networking, online retrieval systems, optical storage, and natural language processing. The status of four existing gateways is described. (20 references)…

  11. Beyond Learning Management Systems: Designing for Interprofessional Knowledge Building in the Health Sciences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lax, Leila; Scardamalia, Marlene; Watt-Watson, Judy; Hunter, Judith; Bereiter, Carl

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines theoretical, pedagogical, and technological differences between two technologies that have been used in undergraduate interprofessional health sciences at the University of Toronto. One, a learning management system, WebCT 2.0, supports online coursework. The other, a Knowledge Building environment, Knowledge Forum 2.0,…

  12. Promoting Teachers' Learning and Knowledge Building in a Socio-Technical System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tammets, Kairit; Pata, Kai; Laanpere, Mart

    2013-01-01

    The study proposes a way in which the learning and knowledge building (LKB) framework, which is consistent with the knowledge conversion phases proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi, supports teachers' informal and self-directed workplace learning. An LKB framework in a socio-technical system was developed to support professional development in an…

  13. Toward a Computational Model of Tutoring.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Woolf, Beverly Park

    1992-01-01

    Discusses the integration of instructional science and computer science. Topics addressed include motivation for building knowledge-based systems; instructional design issues, including cognitive models, representing student intentions, and student models and error diagnosis; representing tutoring knowledge; building a tutoring system, including…

  14. Building HVAC control knowledge data schema – Towards a unified representation of control system knowledge

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

    Chen, Yan; Treado, Stephen J.; Messner, John I.

    Building control systems for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) play a key role in realizing the functionality and operation of building systems and components. Building Control Knowledge (BCK) is the logic and algorithms embedded throughout building control system. There are different methods to represent the BCK. These methods differ in the selection of BCK representing elements and the format of those elements. There is a lack of standard data schema, for storing, retrieving, and reusing structured BCK. In this study, a modular data schema is created for BCK representation. The data schema contains eleven representing elements, i.e., control modulemore » name, operation mode, system schematic, control flow diagram, data point, alarm, parameter, control sequence, function, and programming code. Each element is defined with specific attributes. This data schema is evaluated through a case study demonstration. The demonstration shows a new way to represent the BCK with standard formats.« less

  15. Machine learning research 1989-90

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Porter, Bruce W.; Souther, Arthur

    1990-01-01

    Multifunctional knowledge bases offer a significant advance in artificial intelligence because they can support numerous expert tasks within a domain. As a result they amortize the costs of building a knowledge base over multiple expert systems and they reduce the brittleness of each system. Due to the inevitable size and complexity of multifunctional knowledge bases, their construction and maintenance require knowledge engineering and acquisition tools that can automatically identify interactions between new and existing knowledge. Furthermore, their use requires software for accessing those portions of the knowledge base that coherently answer questions. Considerable progress was made in developing software for building and accessing multifunctional knowledge bases. A language was developed for representing knowledge, along with software tools for editing and displaying knowledge, a machine learning program for integrating new information into existing knowledge, and a question answering system for accessing the knowledge base.

  16. Building Better Decision-Support by Using Knowledge Discovery.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jurisica, Igor

    2000-01-01

    Discusses knowledge-based decision-support systems that use artificial intelligence approaches. Addresses the issue of how to create an effective case-based reasoning system for complex and evolving domains, focusing on automated methods for system optimization and domain knowledge evolution that can supplement knowledge acquired from domain…

  17. The Effect of Centralization and Cohesion on the Social Construction of Knowledge in Discussion Forums

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tirado, Ramón; Hernando, Ángel; Aguaded, José Ignacio

    2015-01-01

    Interactive relationships in online learning communities can influence the process and quality of knowledge building. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationships between network structures and social knowledge building in an asynchronous writing environment through discussion forums in a learning management system. The…

  18. The Effect of Centralization and Cohesion on the Social Construction of Knowledge in Discussion Forums

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tirado, Ramon; Hernando, Angel; Aguaded, Jose Ignacio

    2012-01-01

    Interactive relationships in online learning communities can influence the process and quality of knowledge building. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationships between network structures and social knowledge building in an asynchronous writing environment through discussion forums in a learning management system. The…

  19. Intelligent Systems Technologies to Assist in Utilization of Earth Observation Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ramapriyan, Hampapuram K.; McConaughy, Gail; Lynnes, Christopher; McDonald, Kenneth; Kempler, Steven

    2003-01-01

    With the launch of several Earth observing satellites over the last decade, we are now in a data rich environment. From NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites alone, we are accumulating more than 3 TB per day of raw data and derived geophysical parameters. The data products are being distributed to a large user community comprising scientific researchers, educators and operational government agencies. Notable progress has been made in the last decade in facilitating access to data. However, to realize the full potential of the growing archives of valuable scientific data, further progress is necessary in the transformation of data into information, and information into knowledge that can be used in particular applications. Sponsored by NASA s Intelligent Systems Project within the Computing, Information and Communication Technology (CICT) Program, a conceptual architecture study has been conducted to examine ideas to improve data utilization through the addition of intelligence into the archives in the context of an overall knowledge building system. Potential Intelligent Archive concepts include: 1) Mining archived data holdings using Intelligent Data Understanding algorithms to improve metadata to facilitate data access and usability; 2) Building intelligence about transformations on data, information, knowledge, and accompanying services involved in a scientific enterprise; 3) Recognizing the value of results, indexing and formatting them for easy access, and delivering them to concerned individuals; 4) Interacting as a cooperative node in a web of distributed systems to perform knowledge building (i.e., the transformations from data to information to knowledge) instead of just data pipelining; and 5) Being aware of other nodes in the knowledge building system, participating in open systems interfaces and protocols for virtualization, and collaborative interoperability. This paper presents some of these concepts and identifies issues to be addressed by research in future intelligent systems technology.

  20. A Learning Framework for Knowledge Building and Collective Wisdom Advancement in Virtual Learning Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gan, Yongcheng; Zhu, Zhiting

    2007-01-01

    This study represents an effort to construct a learning framework for knowledge building and collective wisdom advancement in a virtual learning community (VLC) from the perspectives of system wholeness, intelligence wholeness and dynamics, learning models, and knowledge management. It also tries to construct the zone of proximal development (ZPD)…

  1. Building an adaptive agent to monitor and repair the electrical power system of an orbital satellite

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tecuci, Gheorghe; Hieb, Michael R.; Dybala, Tomasz

    1995-01-01

    Over several years we have developed a multistrategy apprenticeship learning methodology for building knowledge-based systems. Recently we have developed and applied our methodology to building intelligent agents. This methodology allows a subject matter expert to build an agent in the same way in which the expert would teach a human apprentice. The expert will give the agent specific examples of problems and solutions, explanations of these solutions, or supervise the agent as it solves new problems. During such interactions, the agent learns general rules and concepts, continuously extending and improving its knowledge base. In this paper we present initial results on applying this methodology to build an intelligent adaptive agent for monitoring and repair of the electrical power system of an orbital satellite, stressing the interaction with the expert during apprenticeship learning.

  2. Validation of highly reliable, real-time knowledge-based systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Johnson, Sally C.

    1988-01-01

    Knowledge-based systems have the potential to greatly increase the capabilities of future aircraft and spacecraft and to significantly reduce support manpower needed for the space station and other space missions. However, a credible validation methodology must be developed before knowledge-based systems can be used for life- or mission-critical applications. Experience with conventional software has shown that the use of good software engineering techniques and static analysis tools can greatly reduce the time needed for testing and simulation of a system. Since exhaustive testing is infeasible, reliability must be built into the software during the design and implementation phases. Unfortunately, many of the software engineering techniques and tools used for conventional software are of little use in the development of knowledge-based systems. Therefore, research at Langley is focused on developing a set of guidelines, methods, and prototype validation tools for building highly reliable, knowledge-based systems. The use of a comprehensive methodology for building highly reliable, knowledge-based systems should significantly decrease the time needed for testing and simulation. A proven record of delivering reliable systems at the beginning of the highly visible testing and simulation phases is crucial to the acceptance of knowledge-based systems in critical applications.

  3. Impact of health research on advances in knowledge, research capacity-building and evidence-informed policies: a case study on maternal mortality and morbidity in Brazil.

    PubMed

    Angulo-Tuesta, Antonia; Santos, Leonor Maria Pacheco; Natalizi, Daniel Alves

    2016-04-01

    National health research systems aim to generate high-quality knowledge so as to maintain and promote the population's health. This study aimed to analyze the impact of maternal mortality/morbidity research funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and institutional partners, on the dimensions: advancing in knowledge, research capacity-building and informing decision-making, within the framework of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Descriptive study based on secondary data, conducted at a public university. The advancing in knowledge dimension was estimated from the principal investigators' publication counts and h-index. Data on research capacity-building were obtained from the Ministry of Health's information system. The informing decision-making dimension was analyzed from citations in Stork Network (Rede Cegonha) documents. Between 2002 and 2010, R$ 21.6 million were invested in 128 maternal mortality/morbidity projects. Over this period, the principal investigators published 174 articles, resulting in an h-index of 35, thus showing progress in the advancing in knowledge dimension. Within the research capacity-building dimension, training of 71 students (undergraduate/postgraduate) was observed. Progress in the informing decision-making dimension was modest: 73.5% of the 117 citations in the Stork Network documents were institutional documents and norms. One of the projects funded, the 2006/7 National Demography and Health Survey, was cited in program documents. Impacts were shown in the advancing in knowledge and research capacity-building dimensions. The health research system needs to incorporate research for evidence-informed policies.

  4. An Object-Oriented Architecture for Intelligent Tutoring Systems. Technical Report No. LSP-3.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonar, Jeffrey; And Others

    This technical report describes a generic architecture for building intelligent tutoring systems which is developed around objects that represent the knowledge elements to be taught by the tutor. Each of these knowledge elements, called "bites," inherits both a knowledge organization describing the kind of knowledge represented and…

  5. The structural approach to shared knowledge: an application to engineering design teams.

    PubMed

    Avnet, Mark S; Weigel, Annalisa L

    2013-06-01

    We propose a methodology for analyzing shared knowledge in engineering design teams. Whereas prior work has focused on shared knowledge in small teams at a specific point in time, the model presented here is both scalable and dynamic. By quantifying team members' common views of design drivers, we build a network of shared mental models to reveal the structure of shared knowledge at a snapshot in time. Based on a structural comparison of networks at different points in time, a metric of change in shared knowledge is computed. Analysis of survey data from 12 conceptual space mission design sessions reveals a correlation between change in shared knowledge and each of several system attributes, including system development time, system mass, and technological maturity. From these results, we conclude that an early period of learning and consensus building could be beneficial to the design of engineered systems. Although we do not examine team performance directly, we demonstrate that shared knowledge is related to the technical design and thus provide a foundation for improving design products by incorporating the knowledge and thoughts of the engineering design team into the process.

  6. Building knowledge development and exchange capacity in Canada: lessons from Youth Excel.

    PubMed

    Riley, B; Wong, K; Manske, S

    2014-07-01

    Youth Excel was a 3-year pan-Canadian initiative to advance youth health through improving knowledge development and exchange (KDE) capacity. KDE capacity refers to an improvement cycle linking evidence and action. Capacities include local surveillance of youth behaviours; knowledge exchange; skills, resources and a supportive environment to use knowledge; and evaluation. Interviews were conducted with Youth Excel members, including 7 provincial teams and 2 national organizations. Interviews explored participant experiences with building KDE capacity. Local surveillance systems were considered the backbone to KDE capacity, strengthened by co-ordinating surveys within and across jurisdictions and using common indicators and measures. The most effective knowledge exchange included tailored products and opportunities for dialogue and action planning. Evaluation is the least developed KDE component. Building KDE capacity requires frequent dialogue, mutually beneficial partnerships and trust. It also requires attention to language, vision, strategic leadership and funding. Youth Excel reinforces the need for a KDE system to improve youth health that will require new perspectives and sustained commitment from individual champions and relevant organizations.

  7. A demonstration of expert systems applications in transportation engineering : volume I, transportation engineers and expert systems.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1987-01-01

    Expert systems, a branch of artificial-intelligence studies, is introduced with a view to its relevance in transportation engineering. Knowledge engineering, the process of building expert systems or transferring knowledge from human experts to compu...

  8. NetWeaver for EMDS user guide (version 1.1): a knowledge base development system.

    Treesearch

    Keith M. Reynolds

    1999-01-01

    The guide describes use of the NetWeaver knowledge base development system. Knowledge representation in NetWeaver is based on object-oriented fuzzy-logic networks that offer several significant advantages over the more traditional rulebased representation. Compared to rule-based knowledge bases, NetWeaver knowledge bases are easier to build, test, and maintain because...

  9. Secular trends on traditional ecological knowledge: An analysis of different domains of knowledge among Tsimane' men.

    PubMed

    Reyes-García, Victoria; Luz, Ana C; Gueze, Maximilien; Paneque-Gálvez, Jaime; Macía, Manuel J; Orta-Martínez, Martí; Pino, Joan

    2013-10-01

    Empirical research provides contradictory evidence of the loss of traditional ecological knowledge across societies. Researchers have argued that culture, methodological differences, and site-specific conditions are responsible for such contradictory evidences. We advance and test a third explanation: the adaptive nature of traditional ecological knowledge systems. Specifically, we test whether different domains of traditional ecological knowledge experience different secular changes and analyze trends in the context of other changes in livelihoods. We use data collected among 651 Tsimane' men (Bolivian Amazon). Our findings indicate that different domains of knowledge follow different secular trends. Among the domains of knowledge analyzed, medicinal and wild edible knowledge appear as the most vulnerable; canoe building and firewood knowledge seem to remain constant across generations; whereas house building knowledge seems to experience a slight secular increase. Our analysis reflects on the adaptive nature of traditional ecological knowledge, highlighting how changes in this knowledge system respond to the particular needs of a society in a given point of time.

  10. The generic task toolset: High level languages for the construction of planning and problem solving systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chandrasekaran, B.; Josephson, J.; Herman, D.

    1987-01-01

    The current generation of languages for the construction of knowledge-based systems as being at too low a level of abstraction is criticized, and the need for higher level languages for building problem solving systems is advanced. A notion of generic information processing tasks in knowledge-based problem solving is introduced. A toolset which can be used to build expert systems in a way that enhances intelligibility and productivity in knowledge acquistion and system construction is described. The power of these ideas is illustrated by paying special attention to a high level language called DSPL. A description is given of how it was used in the construction of a system called MPA, which assists with planning in the domain of offensive counter air missions.

  11. A New System To Support Knowledge Discovery: Telemakus.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Revere, Debra; Fuller, Sherrilynne S.; Bugni, Paul F.; Martin, George M.

    2003-01-01

    The Telemakus System builds on the areas of concept representation, schema theory, and information visualization to enhance knowledge discovery from scientific literature. This article describes the underlying theories and an overview of a working implementation designed to enhance the knowledge discovery process through retrieval, visual and…

  12. CoRes utilization for building PCK in pre-service teacher education on the digestive system topic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nugraha, Ikmanda

    2017-05-01

    Knowledge of teachers in learning activities in the classroom has a close relationship with how well and how much students learn. Recently, a promising development in teacher education has appeared that centers on the academic construct of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study was an exploratory study into a science teacher education program that seeks to build the foundations on which pre-service teachers can begin to build their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The program involved the use of Content Representations (CoRes), which was initially applied as component of a strategy for exploring and gaining insights into the PCK of in-service science teachers. This study involved the researcher and 20 students (third year) in a pre-service teacher education course (School Science I) in science education when the students worked to make content analysis on the digestive system topic. During the course, the students make their own CoRes through a workshop for digestive system topic individually, in pairs and whole class discussion. Data were recorded from students' CoRes, student reflective journals, interviews, and field notes recorded in the researcher's reflective journal. Pre-service teachers' comments from interviews and reflective journals were coded in relation to references about: (1) the effectiveness of variety strategies in building the knowledge bases required to design a CoRes and (2) their awareness and/or development of tentative components of future PCK for a digestive system topic as a result of CoRes construction. Observational data were examined for indications of increasing independence and competency on the part of student teachers when locating appropriate information for designing their CoRes. From this study, it is hoped that the pre-service science teachers are able to build knowledge and then transform it into a form of PCK for digestive system topic for their first classroom planning and teaching to teach digestive system contents effectively.

  13. Integrative pathway knowledge bases as a tool for systems molecular medicine.

    PubMed

    Liang, Mingyu

    2007-08-20

    There exists a sense of urgency to begin to generate a cohesive assembly of biomedical knowledge as the pace of knowledge accumulation accelerates. The urgency is in part driven by the emergence of systems molecular medicine that emphasizes the combination of systems analysis and molecular dissection in the future of medical practice and research. A potentially powerful approach is to build integrative pathway knowledge bases that link organ systems function with molecules.

  14. Towards the Reconciliation of Knowledge Management and e-Collaboration Systems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Le Dinh, Thang; Rinfret, Louis; Raymond, Louis; Dong Thi, Bich-Thuy

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose an intelligent infrastructure for the reconciliation of knowledge management and e-collaboration systems. Design/Methodology/Approach:Literature on e-collaboration, information management, knowledge management, learning process, and intellectual capital is mobilised in order to build the conceptual…

  15. Engineering monitoring expert system's developer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lo, Ching F.

    1991-01-01

    This research project is designed to apply artificial intelligence technology including expert systems, dynamic interface of neural networks, and hypertext to construct an expert system developer. The developer environment is specifically suited to building expert systems which monitor the performance of ground support equipment for propulsion systems and testing facilities. The expert system developer, through the use of a graphics interface and a rule network, will be transparent to the user during rule constructing and data scanning of the knowledge base. The project will result in a software system that allows its user to build specific monitoring type expert systems which monitor various equipments used for propulsion systems or ground testing facilities and accrues system performance information in a dynamic knowledge base.

  16. Knowledge Base Editor (SharpKBE)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tikidjian, Raffi; James, Mark; Mackey, Ryan

    2007-01-01

    The SharpKBE software provides a graphical user interface environment for domain experts to build and manage knowledge base systems. Knowledge bases can be exported/translated to various target languages automatically, including customizable target languages.

  17. Knowledge engineering as a support for building an actor profile ontology for integrating Home-Care systems.

    PubMed

    Gibert, Karina; Valls, Aida; Riaño, David

    2008-01-01

    One of the tasks towards the definition of a knowledge model for home care is the definition of the different roles of the users involved in the system. The roles determine the actions and services that can or must be performed by each type of user. In this paper the experience of building an ontology to represent the home-care users and their associated information is presented, in a proposal for a standard model of a Home-Care support system to the European Community.

  18. Small Knowledge-Based Systems in Education and Training: Something New Under the Sun.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilson, Brent G.; Welsh, Jack R.

    1986-01-01

    Discusses artificial intelligence, robotics, natural language processing, and expert or knowledge-based systems research; examines two large expert systems, MYCIN and XCON; and reviews the resources required to build large expert systems and affordable smaller systems (intelligent job aids) for training. Expert system vendors and products are…

  19. Development of a Knowledge-Based System Approach for Decision Making in Construction Projects

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-05-01

    a generic model for an administrative facility and medical facility with predefined fixed building systems based on Air Force criteria and past...MAINTENANCE HANGAR (MEDIUM BAY) CORROSION CONTROL HANGAR (HIGH BAY) FUEL SYSTEM MAINTENANCE HANGAR (MEDIUM BAY) MEDICAL MODEL 82 Table 5-1--continued...BUILDING SUPPORT MEDICAL LOGISTICS MEDICAL TOTAL 85 Table 5-2--continued MISSILE ASSEMBLY AND MAINTENANCE BUILDING TOTAL MISSILE LOADING AND UNLOADING

  20. The Advantages of Abstract Control Knowledge in Expert System Design. Technical Report #7.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clancey, William J.

    This paper argues that an important design principle for building expert systems is to represent all control knowledge abstractly and separately from the domain knowledge upon which it operates. Abstract control knowledge is defined as the specifications of when and how a program is to carry out its operations, such as pursuing a goal, focusing,…

  1. Enhancing Knowledge Integration: An Information System Capstone Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Steiger, David M.

    2009-01-01

    This database project focuses on learning through knowledge integration; i.e., sharing and applying specialized (database) knowledge within a group, and combining it with other business knowledge to create new knowledge. Specifically, the Tiny Tots, Inc. project described below requires students to design, build, and instantiate a database system…

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

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

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

  3. Technology for Building Systems Integration and Optimization – Landscape Report

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

    Goetzler, William; Guernsey, Matt; Bargach, Youssef

    BTO's Commercial Building Integration (CBI) program helps advance a range of innovative building integration and optimization technologies and solutions, paving the way for high-performing buildings that could use 50-70% less energy than typical buildings. CBI’s work focuses on early stage technology innovation, with an emphasis on how components and systems work together and how whole buildings are integrated and optimized. This landscape study outlines the current body of knowledge, capabilities, and the broader array of solutions supporting integration and optimization in commercial buildings. CBI seeks to support solutions for both existing buildings and new construction, which often present very differentmore » challenges.« less

  4. Comparison of LISP and MUMPS as implementation languages for knowledge-based systems

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

    Curtis, A.C.

    1984-01-01

    Major components of knowledge-based systems are summarized, along with the programming language features generally useful in their implementation. LISP and MUMPS are briefly described and compared as vehicles for building knowledge-based systems. The paper concludes with suggestions for extensions to MUMPS which might increase its usefulness in artificial intelligence applications without affecting the essential nature of the language. 8 references.

  5. Machine intelligence and autonomy for aerospace systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heer, Ewald (Editor); Lum, Henry (Editor)

    1988-01-01

    The present volume discusses progress toward intelligent robot systems in aerospace applications, NASA Space Program automation and robotics efforts, the supervisory control of telerobotics in space, machine intelligence and crew/vehicle interfaces, expert-system terms and building tools, and knowledge-acquisition for autonomous systems. Also discussed are methods for validation of knowledge-based systems, a design methodology for knowledge-based management systems, knowledge-based simulation for aerospace systems, knowledge-based diagnosis, planning and scheduling methods in AI, the treatment of uncertainty in AI, vision-sensing techniques in aerospace applications, image-understanding techniques, tactile sensing for robots, distributed sensor integration, and the control of articulated and deformable space structures.

  6. Hybrid forecasting of chaotic processes: Using machine learning in conjunction with a knowledge-based model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pathak, Jaideep; Wikner, Alexander; Fussell, Rebeckah; Chandra, Sarthak; Hunt, Brian R.; Girvan, Michelle; Ott, Edward

    2018-04-01

    A model-based approach to forecasting chaotic dynamical systems utilizes knowledge of the mechanistic processes governing the dynamics to build an approximate mathematical model of the system. In contrast, machine learning techniques have demonstrated promising results for forecasting chaotic systems purely from past time series measurements of system state variables (training data), without prior knowledge of the system dynamics. The motivation for this paper is the potential of machine learning for filling in the gaps in our underlying mechanistic knowledge that cause widely-used knowledge-based models to be inaccurate. Thus, we here propose a general method that leverages the advantages of these two approaches by combining a knowledge-based model and a machine learning technique to build a hybrid forecasting scheme. Potential applications for such an approach are numerous (e.g., improving weather forecasting). We demonstrate and test the utility of this approach using a particular illustrative version of a machine learning known as reservoir computing, and we apply the resulting hybrid forecaster to a low-dimensional chaotic system, as well as to a high-dimensional spatiotemporal chaotic system. These tests yield extremely promising results in that our hybrid technique is able to accurately predict for a much longer period of time than either its machine-learning component or its model-based component alone.

  7. An easy-to-use diagnostic system development shell

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tsai, L. C.; Ross, J. B.; Han, C. Y.; Wee, W. G.

    1987-01-01

    The Diagnostic System Development Shell (DSDS), an expert system development shell for diagnostic systems, is described. The major objective of building the DSDS is to create a very easy to use and friendly environment for knowledge engineers and end-users. The DSDS is written in OPS5 and CommonLisp. It runs on a VAX/VMS system. A set of domain independent, generalized rules is built in the DSDS, so the users need not be concerned about building the rules. The facts are explicitly represented in a unified format. A powerful check facility which helps the user to check the errors in the created knowledge bases is provided. A judgement facility and other useful facilities are also available. A diagnostic system based on the DSDS system is question driven and can call or be called by other knowledge based systems written in OPS5 and CommonLisp. A prototype diagnostic system for diagnosing a Philips constant potential X-ray system has been built using the DSDS.

  8. A Knowledge-Based System Developer for aerospace applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shi, George Z.; Wu, Kewei; Fensky, Connie S.; Lo, Ching F.

    1993-01-01

    A prototype Knowledge-Based System Developer (KBSD) has been developed for aerospace applications by utilizing artificial intelligence technology. The KBSD directly acquires knowledge from domain experts through a graphical interface then builds expert systems from that knowledge. This raises the state of the art of knowledge acquisition/expert system technology to a new level by lessening the need for skilled knowledge engineers. The feasibility, applicability , and efficiency of the proposed concept was established, making a continuation which would develop the prototype to a full-scale general-purpose knowledge-based system developer justifiable. The KBSD has great commercial potential. It will provide a marketable software shell which alleviates the need for knowledge engineers and increase productivity in the workplace. The KBSD will therefore make knowledge-based systems available to a large portion of industry.

  9. Automating the design of scientific computing software

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kant, Elaine

    1992-01-01

    SINAPSE is a domain-specific software design system that generates code from specifications of equations and algorithm methods. This paper describes the system's design techniques (planning in a space of knowledge-based refinement and optimization rules), user interaction style (user has option to control decision making), and representation of knowledge (rules and objects). It also summarizes how the system knowledge has evolved over time and suggests some issues in building software design systems to facilitate reuse.

  10. Knowledge Integration in Public Health: A Rapid Review Using Systems Thinking

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riley, Barbara; Norman, Cameron D.; Best, Allan

    2012-01-01

    There are tradeoffs in knowledge synthesis--for example, between comprehensiveness and timeliness, between generalisability and policy relevance. The tradeoffs are particularly challenging for public health. A growing international community is grappling with building more relevant and useful knowledge bases, to facilitate use of this knowledge in…

  11. The Role of Reconciling Values in Efforts to Build Community Resilience to Global Environmental Change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rainie, S. C.; Ferguson, D. B.; Martinez, A.

    2017-12-01

    Global environmental change has increasingly forced researchers and policy makers to reckon with the practical and philosophical need to integrate Indigenous knowledge with western science to support sustainable, resilient communities. Despite the recognition that integration of different ways of knowing offers a compelling approach for building long-term resilience, balancing the power dynamic that favors mainstream epistemologies over other ways of knowing remains elusive. Indigenous scholars themselves often speak of "walking in two worlds," acknowledging the distinction between Indigenous knowledge and western science and the difficulty of weaving together the two approaches. Central to the distinction between different ways of knowing are the core values that drive development and application of new knowledge. The DIKW pyramid describes the hierarchical relationships between wisdom, knowledge, information, and data. In these relationships, values drive how one turns data into information, then knowledge and wisdom. Thus, if building community resilience relies on integrating Indigenous science and Western science, a central point of focus must be on establishing which of the core values from these different knowledge systems can contribute and which may impede the goal of supporting community resilience. For example, does the absence of Western science data collection protocols (a core value of empirical science) eliminate the utility of community observations of environmental change from efforts to understand system change? Indigenous data sovereignty, an emerging framework, asserts Indigenous rights to information and promotes the role of community knowledge in creating metrics, outcomes, and ultimately actions toward resilient communities. Indigenous data sovereignty acknowledges that context and values shape data in addition to providing a lens for interpreting data. Can principles for the governance of Indigenous data, such as recognizing and supporting Indigenous ways of knowing begin to balance the power dynamic? Building on the authors' experiences, theories of resilience, and Indigenous data sovereignty frameworks this presentation will address the question: How can values from different knowledge systems be aligned to support long-term community resilience?

  12. Experiments in Knowledge Refinement for a Large Rule-Based System

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1993-08-01

    empirical analysis to refine expert system knowledge bases. Aritificial Intelligence , 22:23-48, 1984. *! ...The Addison- Weslev series in artificial intelligence . Addison-Weslev. Reading, Massachusetts. 1981. Cooke, 1991: ttoger M. Cooke. Experts in...ment for classification systems. Artificial Intelligence , 35:197-226, 1988. 14 Overall, we believe that it will be possible to build a heuristic system

  13. Implementing a Knowledge-Based Library Information System with Typed Horn Logic.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ait-Kaci, Hassan; And Others

    1990-01-01

    Describes a prototype library expert system called BABEL which uses a new programing language, LOGIN, that combines the idea of attribute inheritance with logic programing. Use of hierarchical classification of library objects to build a knowledge base for a library information system is explained, and further research is suggested. (11…

  14. A fuzzy-ontology-oriented case-based reasoning framework for semantic diabetes diagnosis.

    PubMed

    El-Sappagh, Shaker; Elmogy, Mohammed; Riad, A M

    2015-11-01

    Case-based reasoning (CBR) is a problem-solving paradigm that uses past knowledge to interpret or solve new problems. It is suitable for experience-based and theory-less problems. Building a semantically intelligent CBR that mimic the expert thinking can solve many problems especially medical ones. Knowledge-intensive CBR using formal ontologies is an evolvement of this paradigm. Ontologies can be used for case representation and storage, and it can be used as a background knowledge. Using standard medical ontologies, such as SNOMED CT, enhances the interoperability and integration with the health care systems. Moreover, utilizing vague or imprecise knowledge further improves the CBR semantic effectiveness. This paper proposes a fuzzy ontology-based CBR framework. It proposes a fuzzy case-base OWL2 ontology, and a fuzzy semantic retrieval algorithm that handles many feature types. This framework is implemented and tested on the diabetes diagnosis problem. The fuzzy ontology is populated with 60 real diabetic cases. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated with a set of experiments and case studies. The resulting system can answer complex medical queries related to semantic understanding of medical concepts and handling of vague terms. The resulting fuzzy case-base ontology has 63 concepts, 54 (fuzzy) object properties, 138 (fuzzy) datatype properties, 105 fuzzy datatypes, and 2640 instances. The system achieves an accuracy of 97.67%. We compare our framework with existing CBR systems and a set of five machine-learning classifiers; our system outperforms all of these systems. Building an integrated CBR system can improve its performance. Representing CBR knowledge using the fuzzy ontology and building a case retrieval algorithm that treats different features differently improves the accuracy of the resulting systems. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Building intelligent systems: Artificial intelligence research at NASA Ames Research Center

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Friedland, P.; Lum, H.

    1987-01-01

    The basic components that make up the goal of building autonomous intelligent systems are discussed, and ongoing work at the NASA Ames Research Center is described. It is noted that a clear progression of systems can be seen through research settings (both within and external to NASA) to Space Station testbeds to systems which actually fly on the Space Station. The starting point for the discussion is a truly autonomous Space Station intelligent system, responsible for a major portion of Space Station control. Attention is given to research in fiscal 1987, including reasoning under uncertainty, machine learning, causal modeling and simulation, knowledge from design through operations, advanced planning work, validation methodologies, and hierarchical control of and distributed cooperation among multiple knowledge-based systems.

  16. Building intelligent systems - Artificial intelligence research at NASA Ames Research Center

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Friedland, Peter; Lum, Henry

    1987-01-01

    The basic components that make up the goal of building autonomous intelligent systems are discussed, and ongoing work at the NASA Ames Research Center is described. It is noted that a clear progression of systems can be seen through research settings (both within and external to NASA) to Space Station testbeds to systems which actually fly on the Space Station. The starting point for the discussion is a 'truly' autonomous Space Station intelligent system, responsible for a major portion of Space Station control. Attention is given to research in fiscal 1987, including reasoning under uncertainty, machine learning, causal modeling and simulation, knowledge from design through operations, advanced planning work, validation methodologies, and hierarchical control of and distributed cooperation among multiple knowledge-based systems.

  17. Building Information Management as a Tool for Managing Knowledge throughout whole Building Life Cycle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nývlt, Vladimír; Prušková, Kristýna

    2017-10-01

    BIM today is much more than drafting in 3D only, and project participants are further challenging, what is the topic of both this paper, and further research. Knowledge of objects, their behaviour, and other characteristics has high impact on whole building life cycle. Other structured and unstructured knowledge is rightfully added (e.g. historically based experience, needs and requirements of users, investors, needs for project and objects revisions) Grasping of all attributes into system for collection, managing and time control of knowledge. Further important findings lie in the necessity of understanding how to manage knowledge needs with diverse and variable ways, when BIM maturity levels are advanced, as defined by Bew and Richards (2008). All decisions made would always rely on good, timely, and correct data. Usage of BIM models in terms of Building Information Management can support all decisions through data gathering, sharing, and using across all disciplines and all Life Cycle steps. It particularly significantly improves possibilities and level of life cycle costing. Experience and knowledge stored in data models of BIM, describing user requirements, best practices derived from other projects and/or research outputs will help to understand sustainability in its complexity and wholeness.

  18. Capacity building in the health sector to improve care for child nutrition and development.

    PubMed

    Yousafzai, Aisha K; Rasheed, Muneera A; Daelmans, Bernadette; Manji, Sheila; Arnold, Caroline; Lingam, Raghu; Muskin, Joshua; Lucas, Jane E

    2014-01-01

    The effectiveness of interventions promoting healthy child growth and development depends upon the capacity of the health system to deliver a high-quality intervention. However, few health workers are trained in providing integrated early child-development services. Building capacity entails not only training the frontline worker, but also mobilizing knowledge and support to promote early child development across the health system. In this paper, we present the paradigm shift required to build effective partnerships between health workers and families in order to support children's health, growth, and development, the practical skills frontline health workers require to promote optimal caregiving, and the need for knowledge mobilization across multiple institutional levels to support frontline health workers. We present case studies illustrating challenges and success stories around capacity development. There is a need to galvanize increased commitment and resources to building capacity in health systems to deliver early child-development services. © 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.

  19. Facilitating Learning Organizations. Making Learning Count.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marsick, Victoria J.; Watkins, Karen E.

    This book offers advice to facilitators and change agents who wish to build systems-level learning to create knowledge that can be used to gain a competitive advantage. Chapter 1 describes forces driving companies to build, sustain, and effectively use systems-level learning and presents and links a working definition of the learning organization…

  20. a Study on Satellite Diagnostic Expert Systems Using Case-Based Approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Park, Young-Tack; Kim, Jae-Hoon; Park, Hyun-Soo

    1997-06-01

    Many research works are on going to monitor and diagnose diverse malfunctions of satellite systems as the complexity and number of satellites increase. Currently, many works on monitoring and diagnosis are carried out by human experts but there are needs to automate much of the routine works of them. Hence, it is necessary to study on using expert systems which can assist human experts routine work by doing automatically, thereby allow human experts devote their expertise more critical and important areas of monitoring and diagnosis. In this paper, we are employing artificial intelligence techniques to model human experts' knowledge and inference the constructed knowledge. Especially, case-based approaches are used to construct a knowledge base to model human expert capabilities which use previous typical exemplars. We have designed and implemented a prototype case-based system for diagnosing satellite malfunctions using cases. Our system remembers typical failure cases and diagnoses a current malfunction by indexing the case base. Diverse methods are used to build a more user friendly interface which allows human experts can build a knowledge base in as easy way.

  1. Arkose: A Prototype Mechanism and Tool for Collaborative Information Generation and Distillation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nam, Kevin Kyung

    2010-01-01

    The goals of this thesis have been to gain a better understanding of collaborative knowledge sharing and distilling and to build a prototype collaborative system that supports flexible knowledge generation and distillation. To reach these goals, I have conducted two user studies and built two systems. The first system, Arkose 1.0, is a…

  2. A formal approach to validation and verification for knowledge-based control systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Castore, Glen

    1987-01-01

    As control systems become more complex in response to desires for greater system flexibility, performance and reliability, the promise is held out that artificial intelligence might provide the means for building such systems. An obstacle to the use of symbolic processing constructs in this domain is the need for verification and validation (V and V) of the systems. Techniques currently in use do not seem appropriate for knowledge-based software. An outline of a formal approach to V and V for knowledge-based control systems is presented.

  3. Science, Technology and Innovation as Social Goods for Development: Rethinking Research Capacity Building from Sen's Capabilities Approach.

    PubMed

    Mormina, Maru

    2018-03-01

    Science and technology are key to economic and social development, yet the capacity for scientific innovation remains globally unequally distributed. Although a priority for development cooperation, building or developing research capacity is often reduced in practice to promoting knowledge transfers, for example through North-South partnerships. Research capacity building/development tends to focus on developing scientists' technical competencies through training, without parallel investments to develop and sustain the socioeconomic and political structures that facilitate knowledge creation. This, the paper argues, significantly contributes to the scientific divide between developed and developing countries more than any skills shortage. Using Charles Taylor's concept of irreducibly social goods, the paper extends Sen's Capabilities Approach beyond its traditional focus on individual entitlements to present a view of scientific knowledge as a social good and the capability to produce it as a social capability. Expanding this capability requires going beyond current fragmented approaches to research capacity building to holistically strengthen the different social, political and economic structures that make up a nation's innovation system. This has implications for the interpretation of human rights instruments beyond their current focus on access to knowledge and for focusing science policy and global research partnerships to design approaches to capacity building/development beyond individual training/skills building.

  4. A call for action to establish a research agenda for building a future health workforce in Europe.

    PubMed

    Kuhlmann, Ellen; Batenburg, Ronald; Wismar, Matthias; Dussault, Gilles; Maier, Claudia B; Glinos, Irene A; Azzopardi-Muscat, Natasha; Bond, Christine; Burau, Viola; Correia, Tiago; Groenewegen, Peter P; Hansen, Johan; Hunter, David J; Khan, Usman; Kluge, Hans H; Kroezen, Marieke; Leone, Claudia; Santric-Milicevic, Milena; Sermeus, Walter; Ungureanu, Marius

    2018-06-20

    The importance of a sustainable health workforce is increasingly recognised. However, the building of a future health workforce that is responsive to diverse population needs and demographic and economic change remains insufficiently understood. There is a compelling argument to be made for a comprehensive research agenda to address the questions. With a focus on Europe and taking a health systems approach, we introduce an agenda linked to the 'Health Workforce Research' section of the European Public Health Association. Six major objectives for health workforce policy were identified: (1) to develop frameworks that align health systems/governance and health workforce policy/planning, (2) to explore the effects of changing skill mixes and competencies across sectors and occupational groups, (3) to map how education and health workforce governance can be better integrated, (4) to analyse the impact of health workforce mobility on health systems, (5) to optimise the use of international/EU, national and regional health workforce data and monitoring and (6) to build capacity for policy implementation. This article highlights critical knowledge gaps that currently hamper the opportunities of effectively responding to these challenges and advising policy-makers in different health systems. Closing these knowledge gaps is therefore an important step towards future health workforce governance and policy implementation. There is an urgent need for building health workforce research as an independent, interdisciplinary and multi-professional field. This requires dedicated research funding, new academic education programmes, comparative methodology and knowledge transfer and leadership that can help countries to build a people-centred health workforce.

  5. Fuzzy Linguistic Knowledge Based Behavior Extraction for Building Energy Management Systems

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

    Dumidu Wijayasekara; Milos Manic

    2013-08-01

    Significant portion of world energy production is consumed by building Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) units. Thus along with occupant comfort, energy efficiency is also an important factor in HVAC control. Modern buildings use advanced Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) control schemes to realize these goals. However, since the performance of HVAC units is dependent on many criteria including uncertainties in weather, number of occupants, and thermal state, the performance of current state of the art systems are sub-optimal. Furthermore, because of the large number of sensors in buildings, and the high frequency of data collection, large amount ofmore » information is available. Therefore, important behavior of buildings that compromise energy efficiency or occupant comfort is difficult to identify. This paper presents an easy to use and understandable framework for identifying such behavior. The presented framework uses human understandable knowledge-base to extract important behavior of buildings and present it to users via a graphical user interface. The presented framework was tested on a building in the Pacific Northwest and was shown to be able to identify important behavior that relates to energy efficiency and occupant comfort.« less

  6. An authoring system for creating a practice environment in the network service field

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kiyama, Minoru; Fukuhara, Yoshimi

    1993-01-01

    This paper describes an authoring system whose main purpose is to reduce the cost of developing and maintaining courseware which contains procedural knowledge used in the network service field. This aim can be achieved by considering the characteristics of this field. Material knowledge is divided into two parts, behavioral knowledge and procedural knowledge. We show that both of these parts are constructed by an easy authoring methods and efficient modification algorithms. This authoring system has been used to build several types of courseware, and the development costs have been reduced.

  7. Implicit Knowledge of General Upper Secondary School in a Bridge-Building Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rasmussen, Annette; Andreasen, Karen

    2016-01-01

    Bridge-building activities are practiced widely in the education systems of Europe. They are meant to bridge transitions between lower and upper secondary school and form a mandatory part of the youth guidance system in Denmark. By giving pupils the opportunity to experience the different educational context of upper secondary school,…

  8. Students' Conceptions of and Approaches to Knowledge Building and Its Relationship to Learning Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tsai, Pei-Shan; Chai, Ching Sing; Hong, Huang-Yao; Koh, Joyce Hwee Ling

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among students' conceptions of knowledge building, approaches to knowledge building, knowledge-building behaviors and learning outcomes. A total of 48 primary school students (from grades 3 and 4) who had experienced knowledge-building activities participated in the present study. After…

  9. Intelligent Systems Technologies and Utilization of Earth Observation Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ramapriyan, H. K.; McConaughy, G. R.; Morse, H. S.

    2004-01-01

    The addition of raw data and derived geophysical parameters from several Earth observing satellites over the last decade to the data held by NASA data centers has created a data rich environment for the Earth science research and applications communities. The data products are being distributed to a large and diverse community of users. Due to advances in computational hardware, networks and communications, information management and software technologies, significant progress has been made in the last decade in archiving and providing data to users. However, to realize the full potential of the growing data archives, further progress is necessary in the transformation of data into information, and information into knowledge that can be used in particular applications. Sponsored by NASA s Intelligent Systems Project within the Computing, Information and Communication Technology (CICT) Program, a conceptual architecture study has been conducted to examine ideas to improve data utilization through the addition of intelligence into the archives in the context of an overall knowledge building system (KBS). Potential Intelligent Archive concepts include: 1) Mining archived data holdings to improve metadata to facilitate data access and usability; 2) Building intelligence about transformations on data, information, knowledge, and accompanying services; 3) Recognizing the value of results, indexing and formatting them for easy access; 4) Interacting as a cooperative node in a web of distributed systems to perform knowledge building; and 5) Being aware of other nodes in the KBS, participating in open systems interfaces and protocols for virtualization, and achieving collaborative interoperability.

  10. An Operational Approach for Building Learning Environments Supporting Cognitive Flexibility

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chieu, Vu Minh

    2007-01-01

    Constructivism is a learning theory that states that people learn by actively constructing their own knowledge, based on prior knowledge. A significant number of ICT-based constructivist learning systems have been proposed in recent years. According to our analysis, those systems exhibit only a few constructivist principles, and a critical problem…

  11. Inductive knowledge acquisition experience with commercial tools for space shuttle main engine testing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Modesitt, Kenneth L.

    1990-01-01

    Since 1984, an effort has been underway at Rocketdyne, manufacturer of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), to automate much of the analysis procedure conducted after engine test firings. Previously published articles at national and international conferences have contained the context of and justification for this effort. Here, progress is reported in building the full system, including the extensions of integrating large databases with the system, known as Scotty. Inductive knowledge acquisition has proven itself to be a key factor in the success of Scotty. The combination of a powerful inductive expert system building tool (ExTran), a relational data base management system (Reliance), and software engineering principles and Computer-Assisted Software Engineering (CASE) tools makes for a practical, useful and state-of-the-art application of an expert system.

  12. Structuration and acquisition of medical knowledge. Using UMLS in the conceptual graph formalism.

    PubMed Central

    Volot, F.; Zweigenbaum, P.; Bachimont, B.; Ben Said, M.; Bouaud, J.; Fieschi, M.; Boisvieux, J. F.

    1993-01-01

    The use of a taxonomy, such as the concept type lattice (CTL) of Conceptual Graphs, is a central structuring piece in a knowledge-based system. The knowledge it contains is constantly used by the system, and its structure provides a guide for the acquisition of other pieces of knowledge. We show how UMLS can be used as a knowledge resource to build a CTL and how the CTL can help the process of acquisition for other kinds of knowledge. We illustrate this method in the context of the MENELAS natural language understanding project. PMID:8130568

  13. Building customer capital through knowledge management processes in the health care context.

    PubMed

    Liu, Sandra S; Lin, Carol Yuh-Yun

    2007-01-01

    Customer capital is a value generated and an asset developed from customer relationships. Successfully managing these relationships is enhanced by knowledge management (KM) infrastructure that captures and transfers customer-related knowledge. The execution of such a system relies on the vision and determination of the top management team (TMT). The health care industry in today's knowledge economy encounters similar challenges of consumerism as its business sector. Developing customer capital is critical for hospitals to remain competitive in the market. This study aims to provide taxonomy for cultivating market-based organizational learning that leads to building of customer capital and attaining desirable financial performance in health care. With the advancement of technology, the KM system plays an important moderating role in the entire process. The customer capital issue has not been fully explored either in the business or the health care industry. The exploratory nature of such a pursuit calls for a qualitative approach. This study examines the proposed taxonomy with the case hospital. The lessons learned also are reflected with three US-based health networks. The TMT incorporated the knowledge process of conceptualization and transformation in their organizational mission. The market-oriented learning approach promoted by TMT helps with the accumulation and sharing of knowledge that prepares the hospital for the dynamics in the marketplace. Their key knowledge advancement relies on both the professional arena and the feedback of customers. The institutionalization of the KM system and organizational culture expands the hospital's customer capital. The implication is twofold: (1) the TMT is imperative for the success of building customer capital through KM process; and (2) the team effort should be enhanced with a learning culture and sharing spirit, in particular, active nurse participation in decision making and frontline staff's role in providing a delightfully surprising patient experience.

  14. Space shuttle main engine anomaly data and inductive knowledge based systems: Automated corporate expertise

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Modesitt, Kenneth L.

    1987-01-01

    Progress is reported on the development of SCOTTY, an expert knowledge-based system to automate the analysis procedure following test firings of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). The integration of a large-scale relational data base system, a computer graphics interface for experts and end-user engineers, potential extension of the system to flight engines, application of the system for training of newly-hired engineers, technology transfer to other engines, and the essential qualities of good software engineering practices for building expert knowledge-based systems are among the topics discussed.

  15. An expert system for the design of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Camejo, Pedro Jose

    1989-12-01

    Expert systems are computer programs that seek to mimic human reason. An expert system shelf, a software program commonly used for developing expert systems in a relatively short time, was used to develop a prototypical expert system for the design of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in buildings. Because HVAC design involves several related knowledge domains, developing an expert system for HVAC design requires the integration of several smaller expert systems known as knowledge bases. A menu program and several auxiliary programs for gathering data, completing calculations, printing project reports, and passing data between the knowledge bases are needed and have been developed to join the separate knowledge bases into one simple-to-use program unit.

  16. Implementing LCFF: Building Capacity to Realize the Promises of California's New Funding System. Policy and Practice Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knudson, Joel

    2014-01-01

    California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) has introduced changes that alter the conditions under which educators, administrators, and community leaders approach their roles in the K-12 education system. Consequently, leaders at all levels may need to build the capacity--both the knowledge and skills and the resources--that they need to…

  17. Influence of Participation, Facilitator Styles, and Metacognitive Reflection on Knowledge Building in Online University Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cacciamani, Stefano; Cesareni, Donatella; Martini, Francesca; Ferrini, Tiziana; Fujita, Nobuko

    2012-01-01

    Understanding how to foster knowledge building in online and blended learning environments is a key for computer-supported collaborative learning research. Knowledge building is a deeply constructivist pedagogy and kind of inquiry learning focused on theory building. A strong indicator of engagement in knowledge building activity is the…

  18. Application of Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process to Building Research Teams

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dąbrowski, Karol; Skrzypek, Katarzyna

    2016-03-01

    Building teams has a fundamental impact for execution of research and development projects. The teams appointed for the needs of given projects are based on individuals from both inside and outside of the organization. Knowledge is not only a product available on the market but also an intangible resource affecting their internal and external processes. Thus it is vitally important for businesses and scientific research facilities to effectively manage knowledge within project teams. The article presents a proposal to use Fuzzy AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System) methods in working groups building for R&D projects on the basis of employees skills.

  19. Comprehension and retrieval of failure cases in airborne observatories

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Alvarado, Sergio J.; Mock, Kenrick J.

    1995-01-01

    This paper describes research dealing with the computational problem of analyzing and repairing failures of electronic and mechanical systems of telescopes in NASA's airborne observatories, such as KAO (Kuiper Airborne Observatory) and SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy). The research has resulted in the development of an experimental system that acquires knowledge of failure analysis from input text, and answers questions regarding failure detection and correction. The system's design builds upon previous work on text comprehension and question answering, including: knowledge representation for conceptual analysis of failure descriptions, strategies for mapping natural language into conceptual representations, case-based reasoning strategies for memory organization and indexing, and strategies for memory search and retrieval. These techniques have been combined into a model that accounts for: (a) how to build a knowledge base of system failures and repair procedures from descriptions that appear in telescope-operators' logbooks and FMEA (failure modes and effects analysis) manuals; and (b) how to use that knowledge base to search and retrieve answers to questions about causes and effects of failures, as well as diagnosis and repair procedures. This model has been implemented in FANSYS (Failure ANalysis SYStem), a prototype text comprehension and question answering program for failure analysis.

  20. Comprehension and retrieval of failure cases in airborne observatories

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alvarado, Sergio J.; Mock, Kenrick J.

    1995-05-01

    This paper describes research dealing with the computational problem of analyzing and repairing failures of electronic and mechanical systems of telescopes in NASA's airborne observatories, such as KAO (Kuiper Airborne Observatory) and SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy). The research has resulted in the development of an experimental system that acquires knowledge of failure analysis from input text, and answers questions regarding failure detection and correction. The system's design builds upon previous work on text comprehension and question answering, including: knowledge representation for conceptual analysis of failure descriptions, strategies for mapping natural language into conceptual representations, case-based reasoning strategies for memory organization and indexing, and strategies for memory search and retrieval. These techniques have been combined into a model that accounts for: (a) how to build a knowledge base of system failures and repair procedures from descriptions that appear in telescope-operators' logbooks and FMEA (failure modes and effects analysis) manuals; and (b) how to use that knowledge base to search and retrieve answers to questions about causes and effects of failures, as well as diagnosis and repair procedures. This model has been implemented in FANSYS (Failure ANalysis SYStem), a prototype text comprehension and question answering program for failure analysis.

  1. Promoting evaluation capacity building in a complex adaptive system.

    PubMed

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

    2018-04-10

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

  2. Using Best Practices to Extract, Organize, and Reuse Embedded Decision Support Content Knowledge Rules from Mature Clinical Systems.

    PubMed

    DesAutels, Spencer J; Fox, Zachary E; Giuse, Dario A; Williams, Annette M; Kou, Qing-Hua; Weitkamp, Asli; Neal R, Patel; Bettinsoli Giuse, Nunzia

    2016-01-01

    Clinical decision support (CDS) knowledge, embedded over time in mature medical systems, presents an interesting and complex opportunity for information organization, maintenance, and reuse. To have a holistic view of all decision support requires an in-depth understanding of each clinical system as well as expert knowledge of the latest evidence. This approach to clinical decision support presents an opportunity to unify and externalize the knowledge within rules-based decision support. Driven by an institutional need to prioritize decision support content for migration to new clinical systems, the Center for Knowledge Management and Health Information Technology teams applied their unique expertise to extract content from individual systems, organize it through a single extensible schema, and present it for discovery and reuse through a newly created Clinical Support Knowledge Acquisition and Archival Tool (CS-KAAT). CS-KAAT can build and maintain the underlying knowledge infrastructure needed by clinical systems.

  3. Schooling and Governance: Pedagogical Knowledge and Bureaucratic Expertise in the Genesis of the Argentine Educational System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Southwell, Myriam

    2013-01-01

    The consolidation of the Argentine Federal Government by the 1870s aimed to modernise local society, establish state institutions and reach political stabilisation. Building a modern schooling system articulated both utopia and bureaucracy by establishing the use of knowledge as an instrument of social intervention, vindicating and legitimising…

  4. Domain-independent information extraction in unstructured text

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

    Irwin, N.H.

    Extracting information from unstructured text has become an important research area in recent years due to the large amount of text now electronically available. This status report describes the findings and work done during the second year of a two-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development Project. Building on the first-year`s work of identifying important entities, this report details techniques used to group words into semantic categories and to output templates containing selective document content. Using word profiles and category clustering derived during a training run, the time-consuming knowledge-building task can be avoided. Though the output still lacks in completeness whenmore » compared to systems with domain-specific knowledge bases, the results do look promising. The two approaches are compatible and could complement each other within the same system. Domain-independent approaches retain appeal as a system that adapts and learns will soon outpace a system with any amount of a priori knowledge.« less

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

    PubMed

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

    2015-11-15

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

  6. Why build a virtual brain? Large-scale neural simulations as jump start for cognitive computing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Colombo, Matteo

    2017-03-01

    Despite the impressive amount of financial resources recently invested in carrying out large-scale brain simulations, it is controversial what the pay-offs are of pursuing this project. One idea is that from designing, building, and running a large-scale neural simulation, scientists acquire knowledge about the computational performance of the simulating system, rather than about the neurobiological system represented in the simulation. It has been claimed that this knowledge may usher in a new era of neuromorphic, cognitive computing systems. This study elucidates this claim and argues that the main challenge this era is facing is not the lack of biological realism. The challenge lies in identifying general neurocomputational principles for the design of artificial systems, which could display the robust flexibility characteristic of biological intelligence.

  7. An Expert System toward Buiding An Earth Science Knowledge Graph

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, J.; Duan, X.; Ramachandran, R.; Lee, T. J.; Bao, Q.; Gatlin, P. N.; Maskey, M.

    2017-12-01

    In this ongoing work, we aim to build foundations of Cognitive Computing for Earth Science research. The goal of our project is to develop an end-to-end automated methodology for incrementally constructing Knowledge Graphs for Earth Science (KG4ES). These knowledge graphs can then serve as the foundational components for building cognitive systems in Earth science, enabling researchers to uncover new patterns and hypotheses that are virtually impossible to identify today. In addition, this research focuses on developing mining algorithms needed to exploit these constructed knowledge graphs. As such, these graphs will free knowledge from publications that are generated in a very linear, deterministic manner, and structure knowledge in a way that users can both interact and connect with relevant pieces of information. Our major contributions are two-fold. First, we have developed an end-to-end methodology for constructing Knowledge Graphs for Earth Science (KG4ES) using existing corpus of journal papers and reports. One of the key challenges in any machine learning, especially deep learning applications, is the need for robust and large training datasets. We have developed techniques capable of automatically retraining models and incrementally building and updating KG4ES, based on ever evolving training data. We also adopt the evaluation instrument based on common research methodologies used in Earth science research, especially in Atmospheric Science. Second, we have developed an algorithm to infer new knowledge that can exploit the constructed KG4ES. In more detail, we have developed a network prediction algorithm aiming to explore and predict possible new connections in the KG4ES and aid in new knowledge discovery.

  8. Representation and matching of knowledge to design digital systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, J. U.; Shiva, S. G.

    1988-01-01

    A knowledge-based expert system is described that provides an approach to solve a problem requiring an expert with considerable domain expertise and facts about available digital hardware building blocks. To design digital hardware systems from their high level VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language) representation to their finished form, a special data representation is required. This data representation as well as the functioning of the overall system is described.

  9. Knowledge-acquisition tools for medical knowledge-based systems.

    PubMed

    Lanzola, G; Quaglini, S; Stefanelli, M

    1995-03-01

    Knowledge-based systems (KBS) have been proposed to solve a large variety of medical problems. A strategic issue for KBS development and maintenance are the efforts required for both knowledge engineers and domain experts. The proposed solution is building efficient knowledge acquisition (KA) tools. This paper presents a set of KA tools we are developing within a European Project called GAMES II. They have been designed after the formulation of an epistemological model of medical reasoning. The main goal is that of developing a computational framework which allows knowledge engineers and domain experts to interact cooperatively in developing a medical KBS. To this aim, a set of reusable software components is highly recommended. Their design was facilitated by the development of a methodology for KBS construction. It views this process as comprising two activities: the tailoring of the epistemological model to the specific medical task to be executed and the subsequent translation of this model into a computational architecture so that the connections between computational structures and their knowledge level counterparts are maintained. The KA tools we developed are illustrated taking examples from the behavior of a KBS we are building for the management of children with acute myeloid leukemia.

  10. Expert system for the design of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems. Master's thesis

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

    Camejo, P.J.

    1989-12-01

    Expert systems are computer programs that seek to mimic human reason. An expert system shelf, a software program commonly used for developing expert systems in a relatively short time, was used to develop a prototypical expert system for the design of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in buildings. Because HVAC design involves several related knowledge domains, developing an expert system for HVAC design requires the integration of several smaller expert systems known as knowledge bases. A menu program and several auxiliary programs for gathering data, completing calculations, printing project reports, and passing data between the knowledge bases are neededmore » and have been developed to join the separate knowledge bases into one simple-to-use program unit.« less

  11. Students Assessing Their Own Collaborative Knowledge Building

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Eddy Y. C.; Chan, Carol K. K.; van Aalst, Jan

    2006-01-01

    We describe the design of a knowledge-building environment and examine the role of knowledge-building portfolios in characterizing and scaffolding collaborative inquiry. Our goal is to examine collaborative knowledge building in the context of exploring the alignment of learning, collaboration, and assessment in computer forums. The key design…

  12. Building Scalable Knowledge Graphs for Earth Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramachandran, R.; Maskey, M.; Gatlin, P. N.; Zhang, J.; Duan, X.; Bugbee, K.; Christopher, S. A.; Miller, J. J.

    2017-12-01

    Estimates indicate that the world's information will grow by 800% in the next five years. In any given field, a single researcher or a team of researchers cannot keep up with this rate of knowledge expansion without the help of cognitive systems. Cognitive computing, defined as the use of information technology to augment human cognition, can help tackle large systemic problems. Knowledge graphs, one of the foundational components of cognitive systems, link key entities in a specific domain with other entities via relationships. Researchers could mine these graphs to make probabilistic recommendations and to infer new knowledge. At this point, however, there is a dearth of tools to generate scalable Knowledge graphs using existing corpus of scientific literature for Earth science research. Our project is currently developing an end-to-end automated methodology for incrementally constructing Knowledge graphs for Earth Science. Semantic Entity Recognition (SER) is one of the key steps in this methodology. SER for Earth Science uses external resources (including metadata catalogs and controlled vocabulary) as references to guide entity extraction and recognition (i.e., labeling) from unstructured text, in order to build a large training set to seed the subsequent auto-learning component in our algorithm. Results from several SER experiments will be presented as well as lessons learned.

  13. Knowledge Management & Its Applications in Distance Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saxena, Anurag

    2007-01-01

    It is the digital economy age in which we are living presently. Thus, traditional thinking is proving futile and newer methods are substituting the older ones. If one has to achieve developmental goals, one has to build a knowledge repository. Success of any system today is defined by its knowledge capital. For example for a university, knowledge…

  14. Building capacity in health research in the developing world.

    PubMed Central

    Lansang, Mary Ann; Dennis, Rodolfo

    2004-01-01

    Strong national health research systems are needed to improve health systems and attain better health. For developing countries to indigenize health research systems, it is essential to build research capacity. We review the positive features and weaknesses of various approaches to capacity building, emphasizing that complementary approaches to human resource development work best in the context of a systems and long-term perspective. As a key element of capacity building, countries must also address issues related to the enabling environment, in particular: leadership, career structure, critical mass, infrastructure, information access and interfaces between research producers and users. The success of efforts to build capacity in developing countries will ultimately depend on political will and credibility, adequate financing, and a responsive capacity-building plan that is based on a thorough situational analysis of the resources needed for health research and the inequities and gaps in health care. Greater national and international investment in capacity building in developing countries has the greatest potential for securing dynamic and agile knowledge systems that can deliver better health and equity, now and in the future. PMID:15643798

  15. Building capacity in health research in the developing world.

    PubMed

    Lansang, Mary Ann; Dennis, Rodolfo

    2004-10-01

    Strong national health research systems are needed to improve health systems and attain better health. For developing countries to indigenize health research systems, it is essential to build research capacity. We review the positive features and weaknesses of various approaches to capacity building, emphasizing that complementary approaches to human resource development work best in the context of a systems and long-term perspective. As a key element of capacity building, countries must also address issues related to the enabling environment, in particular: leadership, career structure, critical mass, infrastructure, information access and interfaces between research producers and users. The success of efforts to build capacity in developing countries will ultimately depend on political will and credibility, adequate financing, and a responsive capacity-building plan that is based on a thorough situational analysis of the resources needed for health research and the inequities and gaps in health care. Greater national and international investment in capacity building in developing countries has the greatest potential for securing dynamic and agile knowledge systems that can deliver better health and equity, now and in the future.

  16. A Symbolic Approach Using Feature Construction Capable of Acquiring Information/Knowledge for Building Expert Systems.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Major, Raymond L.

    1998-01-01

    Presents a technique for developing a knowledge-base of information to use in an expert system. Proposed approach employs a popular machine-learning algorithm along with a method for forming a finite number of features or conjuncts of at most n primitive attributes. Illustrates this procedure by examining qualitative information represented in a…

  17. RETScreen Plus Software Tutorial

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ganoe, Rene D.; Stackhouse, Paul W., Jr.; DeYoung, Russell J.

    2014-01-01

    Greater emphasis is being placed on reducing both the carbon footprint and energy cost of buildings. A building's energy usage depends upon many factors one of the most important is the local weather and climate conditions to which it's electrical, heating and air conditioning systems must respond. Incorporating renewable energy systems, including solar systems, to supplement energy supplies and increase energy efficiency is important to saving costs and reducing emissions. Also retrofitting technologies to buildings requires knowledge of building performance in its current state, potential future climate state, projection of potential savings with capital investment, and then monitoring the performance once the improvements are made. RETScreen Plus is a performance analysis software module that supplies the needed functions of monitoring current building performance, targeting projected energy efficiency improvements and verifying improvements once completed. This tutorial defines the functions of RETScreen Plus as well as outlines the general procedure for monitoring and reporting building energy performance.

  18. IEA EBC annex 53: Total energy use in buildings—Analysis and evaluation methods

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

    Yoshino, Hiroshi; Hong, Tianzhen; Nord, Natasa

    One of the most significant barriers to achieving deep building energy efficiency is a lack of knowledge about the factors determining energy use. In fact, there is often a significant discrepancy between designed and real energy use in buildings, which is poorly understood but are believed to have more to do with the role of human behavior than building design. Building energy use is mainly influenced by six factors: climate, building envelope, building services and energy systems, building operation and maintenance, occupants’ activities and behavior, and indoor environmental quality. In the past, much research focused on the first three factors.more » However, the next three human-related factors can have an influence as significant as the first three. Annex 53 employed an interdisciplinary approach, integrating building science, architectural engineering, computer modeling and simulation, and social and behavioral science to develop and apply methods to analyze and evaluate the real energy use in buildings considering the six influencing factors. Finally, outcomes from Annex 53 improved understanding and strengthen knowledge regarding the robust prediction of total energy use in buildings, enabling reliable quantitative assessment of energy-savings measures, policies, and techniques.« less

  19. IEA EBC annex 53: Total energy use in buildings—Analysis and evaluation methods

    DOE PAGES

    Yoshino, Hiroshi; Hong, Tianzhen; Nord, Natasa

    2017-07-18

    One of the most significant barriers to achieving deep building energy efficiency is a lack of knowledge about the factors determining energy use. In fact, there is often a significant discrepancy between designed and real energy use in buildings, which is poorly understood but are believed to have more to do with the role of human behavior than building design. Building energy use is mainly influenced by six factors: climate, building envelope, building services and energy systems, building operation and maintenance, occupants’ activities and behavior, and indoor environmental quality. In the past, much research focused on the first three factors.more » However, the next three human-related factors can have an influence as significant as the first three. Annex 53 employed an interdisciplinary approach, integrating building science, architectural engineering, computer modeling and simulation, and social and behavioral science to develop and apply methods to analyze and evaluate the real energy use in buildings considering the six influencing factors. Finally, outcomes from Annex 53 improved understanding and strengthen knowledge regarding the robust prediction of total energy use in buildings, enabling reliable quantitative assessment of energy-savings measures, policies, and techniques.« less

  20. Getting "What Works" Working: Building Blocks for the Integration of Experimental and Improvement Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peterson, Amelia

    2016-01-01

    As a systemic approach to improving educational practice through research, "What Works" has come under repeated challenge from alternative approaches, most recently that of improvement science. While "What Works" remains a dominant paradigm for centralized knowledge-building efforts, there is need to understand why this…

  1. A Core Knowledge Architecture of Visual Working Memory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wood, Justin N.

    2011-01-01

    Visual working memory (VWM) is widely thought to contain specialized buffers for retaining spatial and object information: a "spatial-object architecture." However, studies of adults, infants, and nonhuman animals show that visual cognition builds on core knowledge systems that retain more specialized representations: (1) spatiotemporal…

  2. Un environnement d'apprentissage technologique pour la comprehension du concept de mesure en sciences experimentales

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fournier, Frederic

    The learning environment created during this research/development constitutes a micro-laboratory allowing students at the secondary and collegial level to build a measurement system. This approach based on the concrete manufacture of measuring instruments showed that the student did not only acquire knowledge, but he developed a know-how in the technology of measuring systems and also a know-how and knowledge in experimental sciences. In conceptualizing and building his own measurement system, in a computer-assisted experimental environmental, the student performs a scientific investigation in which he must induce a causal relationship between the different variables at stake. He must then isolate this relationship by building a scheme for the control of the variables and model it in an algebraic and graphic form. We believe that this approach will allow the students to better understand the physical phenomena they will be measuring. The prototypes and software used to build these measuring instruments were evaluated and redesigned at the functional and didactic levels in order to offer a learning environment that respects in every way the competence approach and the integration between science and technology.

  3. Commercial Building Energy Asset Score

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

    This software (Asset Scoring Tool) is designed to help building owners and managers to gain insight into the as-built efficiency of their buildings. It is a web tool where users can enter their building information and obtain an asset score report. The asset score report consists of modeled building energy use (by end use and by fuel type), building systems (envelope, lighting, heating, cooling, service hot water) evaluations, and recommended energy efficiency measures. The intended users are building owners and operators who have limited knowledge of building energy efficiency. The scoring tool collects minimum building data (~20 data entries) frommore » users and build a full-scale energy model using the inference functionalities from Facility Energy Decision System (FEDS). The scoring tool runs real-time building energy simulation using EnergyPlus and performs life-cycle cost analysis using FEDS. An API is also under development to allow the third-party applications to exchange data with the web service of the scoring tool.« less

  4. The computational future for climate and Earth system models: on the path to petaflop and beyond.

    PubMed

    Washington, Warren M; Buja, Lawrence; Craig, Anthony

    2009-03-13

    The development of the climate and Earth system models has had a long history, starting with the building of individual atmospheric, ocean, sea ice, land vegetation, biogeochemical, glacial and ecological model components. The early researchers were much aware of the long-term goal of building the Earth system models that would go beyond what is usually included in the climate models by adding interactive biogeochemical interactions. In the early days, the progress was limited by computer capability, as well as by our knowledge of the physical and chemical processes. Over the last few decades, there has been much improved knowledge, better observations for validation and more powerful supercomputer systems that are increasingly meeting the new challenges of comprehensive models. Some of the climate model history will be presented, along with some of the successes and difficulties encountered with present-day supercomputer systems.

  5. [Research & development on computer expert system for forensic bones estimation].

    PubMed

    Zhao, Jun-ji; Zhang, Jan-zheng; Liu, Nin-guo

    2005-08-01

    To build an expert system for forensic bones estimation. By using the object oriented method, employing statistical data of forensic anthropology, combining the statistical data frame knowledge representation with productions and also using the fuzzy matching and DS evidence theory method. Software for forensic estimation of sex, age and height with opened knowledge base was designed. This system is reliable and effective, and it would be a good assistant of the forensic technician.

  6. The implementation of knowledge dissemination in the prevention of occupational skin diseases.

    PubMed

    Wilke, A; Bollmann, U; Cazzaniga, S; Hübner, A; John, S M; Karadzinska-Bislimovska, J; Mijakoski, D; Šimić, D; Simon, D; Sonsmann, F; Stoleski, S; Weinert, P; Wulfhorst, B

    2018-03-01

    Occupational skin diseases (OSD) have a high medical, social, economic and political impact. Knowledge dissemination from research activities to key stakeholders involved in health care is a prerequisite to make prevention effective. To study and prioritize different activity fields and stakeholders that are involved in the prevention of OSD, to reflect on their inter-relationships, to develop a strategic approach for knowledge dissemination and to develop a hands-on tool for OSD prevention projects METHODS: Seven different activity fields that are relevant in the prevention of OSD have been stepwise identified. This was followed by an impact analysis. Fifty-five international OSD experts rated the impact and the influence of the activity fields for the prevention of OSD with a standardized questionnaire. Activity fields identified to have a high impact in OSD prevention are the political system, mass media and industry. The political system has a strong but more indirect effect on the general population via the educational system, local public health services or the industry. The educational system, mass media, industry and local public health services have a strong direct impact on the OSD 'at risk' worker. Finally, a hands-on tool for future OSD prevention projects has been developed that addresses knowledge dissemination and different stakeholder needs. Systematic knowledge dissemination is important to make OSD prevention more effective and to close the gap between research and practice. This study provides guidance to identify stakeholders, strategies and dissemination channels for systematic knowledge dissemination which need to be adapted to country-specific structures, for example the social security system and healthcare systems. A key for successful knowledge dissemination is building linkages among different stakeholders, building strategic partnerships and gaining their support right from the inception phase of a project. © 2017 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

  7. ESIP's Earth Science Knowledge Graph (ESKG) Testbed Project: An Automatic Approach to Building Interdisciplinary Earth Science Knowledge Graphs to Improve Data Discovery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McGibbney, L. J.; Jiang, Y.; Burgess, A. B.

    2017-12-01

    Big Earth observation data have been produced, archived and made available online, but discovering the right data in a manner that precisely and efficiently satisfies user needs presents a significant challenge to the Earth Science (ES) community. An emerging trend in information retrieval community is to utilize knowledge graphs to assist users in quickly finding desired information from across knowledge sources. This is particularly prevalent within the fields of social media and complex multimodal information processing to name but a few, however building a domain-specific knowledge graph is labour-intensive and hard to keep up-to-date. In this work, we update our progress on the Earth Science Knowledge Graph (ESKG) project; an ESIP-funded testbed project which provides an automatic approach to building a dynamic knowledge graph for ES to improve interdisciplinary data discovery by leveraging implicit, latent existing knowledge present within across several U.S Federal Agencies e.g. NASA, NOAA and USGS. ESKG strengthens ties between observations and user communities by: 1) developing a knowledge graph derived from various sources e.g. Web pages, Web Services, etc. via natural language processing and knowledge extraction techniques; 2) allowing users to traverse, explore, query, reason and navigate ES data via knowledge graph interaction. ESKG has the potential to revolutionize the way in which ES communities interact with ES data in the open world through the entity, spatial and temporal linkages and characteristics that make it up. This project enables the advancement of ESIP collaboration areas including both Discovery and Semantic Technologies by putting graph information right at our fingertips in an interactive, modern manner and reducing the efforts to constructing ontology. To demonstrate the ESKG concept, we will demonstrate use of our framework across NASA JPL's PO.DAAC, NOAA's Earth Observation Requirements Evaluation System (EORES) and various USGS systems.

  8. Co-production of knowledge: An Inuit Indigenous Knowledge perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Daniel, R.; Behe, C.

    2017-12-01

    A "co-production of knowledge" approach brings together different knowledge systems while building equitable and collaborative partnerships from `different ways of knowing.' Inuit Indigenous Knowledge is a systematic way of thinking applied to phenomena across biological, physical, cultural and spiritual systems; rooted with a holistic understanding of ecosystems (ICC Alaska 2016). A holistic image of Arctic environmental change is attained by bringing Indigenous Knowledge (IK) holders and scientists together through a co-production of knowledge framework. Experts from IK and science should be involved together from the inception of a project. IK should be respected as its own knowledge system and should not be translated into science. A co-production of knowledge approach is important in developing adaptation policies and practices, for sustainability and to address biodiversity conservation (Daniel et al. 2016). Co-production of knowledge is increasingly being recognized by the scientific community at-large. However, in many instances the concept is being incorrectly applied. This talk will build on the important components of co-production of knowledge from an Inuit perspective and specifically IK. In this presentation we will differentiate the co-production of knowledge from a multi-disciplinary approach or multi-evidence based decision-making. We underscore the role and value of different knowledge systems with different methodologies and the need for collaborative approaches in identifying research questions. We will also provide examples from our experiences with Indigenous communities and scientists in the Arctic. References: Inuit Circumpolar Council of Alaska. 2016. Alaskan Inuit Food Security Conceptual Framework: How to Assess the Arctic From An Inuit Perspective, 201pp. Daniel, R., C. Behe, J. Raymond-Yakoubian, E. Krummel, and S. Gearhead. Arctic Observing Summit White Paper Synthesis, Theme 6: Interfacing Indigenous Knowledge, Community-based Monitoring and Scientific Methods for Sustained Arctic Observations. http://www.arcticobservingsummit.org/sites/arcticobservingsummit.org/files/Daniel_Laing_Kielsen%20Holm_et_al-AOS2016-Theme-6-IK-CBM-Synthesis-updated-2016-04.pdf

  9. Global Dynamic Exposure and the OpenBuildingMap - Communicating Risk and Involving Communities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schorlemmer, Danijel; Beutin, Thomas; Hirata, Naoshi; Hao, Ken; Wyss, Max; Cotton, Fabrice; Prehn, Karsten

    2017-04-01

    Detailed understanding of local risk factors regarding natural catastrophes requires in-depth characterization of the local exposure. Current exposure capture techniques have to find the balance between resolution and coverage. We aim at bridging this gap by employing a crowd-sourced approach to exposure capturing, focusing on risk related to earthquake hazard. OpenStreetMap (OSM), the rich and constantly growing geographical database, is an ideal foundation for this task. More than 3.5 billion geographical nodes, more than 200 million building footprints (growing by 100'000 per day), and a plethora of information about school, hospital, and other critical facilities allows us to exploit this dataset for risk-related computations. We are combining the strengths of crowd-sourced data collection with the knowledge of experts in extracting the most information from these data. Besides relying on the very active OpenStreetMap community and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, which are collecting building information at high pace, we are providing a tailored building capture tool for mobile devices. This tool is facilitating simple and fast building property capturing for OpenStreetMap by any person or interested community. With our OpenBuildingMap system, we are harvesting this dataset by processing every building in near-realtime. We are collecting exposure and vulnerability indicators from explicitly provided data (e.g. hospital locations), implicitly provided data (e.g. building shapes and positions), and semantically derived data, i.e. interpretation applying expert knowledge. The expert knowledge is needed to translate the simple building properties as captured by OpenStreetMap users into vulnerability and exposure indicators and subsequently into building classifications as defined in the Building Taxonomy 2.0 developed by the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) and the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS98). With this approach, we increase the resolution of existing exposure models from aggregated exposure information to building-by-building vulnerability. We report on our method, on the software development for the mobile application and the server-side analysis system, and on the OpenBuildingMap (www.openbuildingmap.org), our global Tile Map Service focusing on building properties. The free/open framework we provide can be used on commodity hardware for local to regional exposure capturing, for stakeholders in disaster management and mitigation for communicating risk, and for communities to understand their risk.

  10. Industrial Archaeology, Landscapes, and Historical Knowledge of Sustainability

    Treesearch

    Donald L. Hardesty

    2006-01-01

    The emergence of industrial life support systems in the last three centuries dramatically changed humanenvironmental relationships. Industrial landscapes are repositories of historical knowledge about this ecological revolution. The key components of industrial landscapes include landforms (for example, waste rock dumps from mines), industrial buildings and structures...

  11. Using Best Practices to Extract, Organize, and Reuse Embedded Decision Support Content Knowledge Rules from Mature Clinical Systems

    PubMed Central

    DesAutels, Spencer J.; Fox, Zachary E.; Giuse, Dario A.; Williams, Annette M.; Kou, Qing-hua; Weitkamp, Asli; Neal R, Patel; Bettinsoli Giuse, Nunzia

    2016-01-01

    Clinical decision support (CDS) knowledge, embedded over time in mature medical systems, presents an interesting and complex opportunity for information organization, maintenance, and reuse. To have a holistic view of all decision support requires an in-depth understanding of each clinical system as well as expert knowledge of the latest evidence. This approach to clinical decision support presents an opportunity to unify and externalize the knowledge within rules-based decision support. Driven by an institutional need to prioritize decision support content for migration to new clinical systems, the Center for Knowledge Management and Health Information Technology teams applied their unique expertise to extract content from individual systems, organize it through a single extensible schema, and present it for discovery and reuse through a newly created Clinical Support Knowledge Acquisition and Archival Tool (CS-KAAT). CS-KAAT can build and maintain the underlying knowledge infrastructure needed by clinical systems. PMID:28269846

  12. Building Energy Consumption Pattern Analysis of Detached Housing for the Policy Decision Simulator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lim, Jiyoun; Lee, Seung-Eon

    2018-03-01

    The Korean government announced its plan to raise the previous reduction goal of greenhouse gas emission from buildings by 26.9% until 2020 on July 2015. Therefore, policies regarding efficiency in the building energy are implemented fast, but the level of building owners and market understanding is low in general, and the government service system which supports decision making for implementing low-energy buildings has not been provided yet. The purpose of this study is to present the design direction for establishing user customized building energy database to perform a role to provide autonomous ecosystem of low-energy buildings. In order to reduce energy consumption in buildings, it is necessary to carry out the energy performance analysis based on the characteristics of target building. By analysing about 20-thousand cases of the amount of housing energy consumption in Korea, this study suggested the real energy consumption pattern by building types. Also, the energy performance of a building could be determined by energy consumption, but previous building energy consumption analysis programs required expert knowledge and experience in program usage, so it was difficult for normal building users to use such programs. Therefore, a measure to provide proper default using the level of data which general users with no expert knowledge regarding building energy could enter easily was suggested in this study.

  13. Case-based tutoring from a medical knowledge base.

    PubMed

    Chin, H L; Cooper, G F

    1989-01-01

    The past decade has seen the emergence of programs that make use of large knowledge bases to assist physicians in diagnosis within the general field of internal medicine. One such program, Internist-I, contains knowledge about over 600 diseases, covering a significant proportion of internal medicine. This paper describes the process of converting a subset of this knowledge base--in the area of cardiovascular diseases--into a probabilistic format, and the use of this resulting knowledge base to teach medical diagnostic knowledge. The system (called KBSimulator--for Knowledge-Based patient Simulator) generates simulated patient cases and uses these cases as a focal point from which to teach medical knowledge. This project demonstrates the feasibility of building an intelligent, flexible instructional system that uses a knowledge base constructed primarily for medical diagnosis.

  14. A Computational Workflow for the Automated Generation of Models of Genetic Designs.

    PubMed

    Misirli, Göksel; Nguyen, Tramy; McLaughlin, James Alastair; Vaidyanathan, Prashant; Jones, Timothy S; Densmore, Douglas; Myers, Chris; Wipat, Anil

    2018-06-05

    Computational models are essential to engineer predictable biological systems and to scale up this process for complex systems. Computational modeling often requires expert knowledge and data to build models. Clearly, manual creation of models is not scalable for large designs. Despite several automated model construction approaches, computational methodologies to bridge knowledge in design repositories and the process of creating computational models have still not been established. This paper describes a workflow for automatic generation of computational models of genetic circuits from data stored in design repositories using existing standards. This workflow leverages the software tool SBOLDesigner to build structural models that are then enriched by the Virtual Parts Repository API using Systems Biology Open Language (SBOL) data fetched from the SynBioHub design repository. The iBioSim software tool is then utilized to convert this SBOL description into a computational model encoded using the Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML). Finally, this SBML model can be simulated using a variety of methods. This workflow provides synthetic biologists with easy to use tools to create predictable biological systems, hiding away the complexity of building computational models. This approach can further be incorporated into other computational workflows for design automation.

  15. Fault Diagnosis in HVAC Chillers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Choi, Kihoon; Namuru, Setu M.; Azam, Mohammad S.; Luo, Jianhui; Pattipati, Krishna R.; Patterson-Hine, Ann

    2005-01-01

    Modern buildings are being equipped with increasingly sophisticated power and control systems with substantial capabilities for monitoring and controlling the amenities. Operational problems associated with heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems plague many commercial buildings, often the result of degraded equipment, failed sensors, improper installation, poor maintenance, and improperly implemented controls. Most existing HVAC fault-diagnostic schemes are based on analytical models and knowledge bases. These schemes are adequate for generic systems. However, real-world systems significantly differ from the generic ones and necessitate modifications of the models and/or customization of the standard knowledge bases, which can be labor intensive. Data-driven techniques for fault detection and isolation (FDI) have a close relationship with pattern recognition, wherein one seeks to categorize the input-output data into normal or faulty classes. Owing to the simplicity and adaptability, customization of a data-driven FDI approach does not require in-depth knowledge of the HVAC system. It enables the building system operators to improve energy efficiency and maintain the desired comfort level at a reduced cost. In this article, we consider a data-driven approach for FDI of chillers in HVAC systems. To diagnose the faults of interest in the chiller, we employ multiway dynamic principal component analysis (MPCA), multiway partial least squares (MPLS), and support vector machines (SVMs). The simulation of a chiller under various fault conditions is conducted using a standard chiller simulator from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). We validated our FDI scheme using experimental data obtained from different types of chiller faults.

  16. Start with the seed: Native crops, indigenous knowledge, and community seed systems prerequisites for food sovereignty

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The dynamic conservation and sustainable utilization of native crop genetic resources are crucial for food sovereignty of Native American communities. Indigenous knowledge of crop diversity when linked to food traditions, local practices and social norms provide the basis for building sovereign comm...

  17. The Design of Computerized Practice Fields for Problem Solving and Contextualized Transfer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riedel, Jens; Fitzgerald, Gail; Leven, Franz; Toenshoff, Burkhard

    2003-01-01

    Current theories of learning emphasize the importance of learner-centered, active, authentic, environments for meaningful knowledge construction. From this perspective, computerized case-based learning systems afford practice fields for learners to build domain knowledge and problem-solving skills and to support contextualized transfer of…

  18. The study on knowledge transferring incentive for information system requirement development

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

    Li, Yang

    2015-03-10

    Information system requirement development is a process of users’ knowledge sharing and transferring. However the tacit requirements developing is a main problem during requirement development process, for the reason of difficult to encoding, express, and communicate. Knowledge fusion and corporate effort is needed to finding tacit requirements. Under this background, our paper try to find out the rule of effort dynamic evolutionary of software developer and user by building an evolutionary game model on the condition of incentive system. And in addition this paper provides an in depth discussion at the end of this paper.

  19. Merging building maintainability and sustainability assessment: A multicriteria decision making approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Asmone, A. S.; Chew, M. Y. L.

    2018-02-01

    Accurately predicting maintainability has been a challenge due to the complex nature of buildings, yet it is an important research area with a rising necessity. This paper explores the use of multicriteria decision making approach for merging maintainability and sustainability elements into building grading systems to attain long-term sustainability in the building industry. The paper conducts a systematic literature review on multicriteria decision analysis approach and builds on the existing knowledge of maintainability to achieve this. A conceptual framework is developed to bridge the gap between building operations and maintenance with green facilities management by forecasting green maintainability at the design stage.

  20. Better Building Alliance, Plug and Process Loads in Commercial Buildings: Capacity and Power Requirement Analysis (Brochure)

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

    Not Available

    2014-09-01

    This brochure addresses gaps in actionable knowledge that can help reduce the plug load capacities designed into buildings. Prospective building occupants and real estate brokers lack accurate references for plug and process load (PPL) capacity requirements, so they often request 5-10 W/ft2 in their lease agreements. This brochure should be used to make these decisions so systems can operate more energy efficiently; upfront capital costs will also decrease. This information can also be used to drive changes in negotiations about PPL energy demands. It should enable brokers and tenants to agree about lower PPL capacities. Owner-occupied buildings will also benefit.more » Overestimating PPL capacity leads designers to oversize electrical infrastructure and cooling systems.« less

  1. Building Knowledge Structures by Testing Helps Children With Mathematical Learning Difficulty.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Yiyun; Zhou, Xinlin

    2016-01-01

    Mathematical learning difficulty (MLD) is prevalent in the development of mathematical abilities. Previous interventions for children with MLD have focused on number sense or basic mathematical skills. This study investigated whether mathematical performance of fifth grade children with MLD could be improved by developing knowledge structures by testing using a web-based curriculum learning system. A total of 142 children with MLD were recruited; half of the children were in the experimental group (using the system), and the other half were in the control group (not using the system). The children were encouraged to use the web-based learning system at home for at least a 15-min session, at least once a week, for one and a half months. The mean accumulated time of testing on the system for children in the experimental group was 56.2 min. Children in the experimental group had significantly higher scores on their final mathematical examination compared to the control group. The results suggest that web-based curriculum learning through testing that promotes the building of knowledge structures for a mathematical course was helpful for children with MLD. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

  2. Enhancing acronym/abbreviation knowledge bases with semantic information.

    PubMed

    Torii, Manabu; Liu, Hongfang

    2007-10-11

    In the biomedical domain, a terminology knowledge base that associates acronyms/abbreviations (denoted as SFs) with the definitions (denoted as LFs) is highly needed. For the construction such terminology knowledge base, we investigate the feasibility to build a system automatically assigning semantic categories to LFs extracted from text. Given a collection of pairs (SF,LF) derived from text, we i) assess the coverage of LFs and pairs (SF,LF) in the UMLS and justify the need of a semantic category assignment system; and ii) automatically derive name phrases annotated with semantic category and construct a system using machine learning. Utilizing ADAM, an existing collection of (SF,LF) pairs extracted from MEDLINE, our system achieved an f-measure of 87% when assigning eight UMLS-based semantic groups to LFs. The system has been incorporated into a web interface which integrates SF knowledge from multiple SF knowledge bases. Web site: http://gauss.dbb.georgetown.edu/liblab/SFThesurus.

  3. Advancing Knowledge-Building Discourse through Judgments of Promising Ideas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Bodong; Scardamalia, Marlene; Bereiter, Carl

    2015-01-01

    Evaluating promisingness of ideas is an important but underdeveloped aspect of knowledge building. The goal of this research was to examine the extent to which Grade 3 students could make promisingness judgments to facilitate knowledge-building discourse. A Promising Ideas Tool was added to Knowledge Forum software to better support…

  4. Schools as Knowledge-Building Organizations: Thirty Years of Design Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Bodong; Hong, Huang-Yao

    2016-01-01

    In this article we review the Knowledge-Building literature, unpacking its conceptual framework, principle-based pedagogy, distinctive features, and issues regarding scalability and sustainability. The Knowledge-Building goal is to reframe education as a knowledge-creating enterprise, engaging students from the earliest years of schooling. Despite…

  5. Desiderata for product labeling of medical expert systems.

    PubMed

    Geissbühler, A; Miller, R A

    1997-12-01

    The proliferation and increasing complexity of medical expert systems raise ethical and legal concerns about the ability of practitioners to protect their patients from defective or misused software. Appropriate product labeling of expert systems can help clinical users to understand software indications and limitations. Mechanisms of action and knowledge representation schema should be explained in layperson's terminology. User qualifications and resources available for acquiring the skills necessary to understand and critique the system output should be listed. The processes used for building and maintaining the system's knowledge base are key determinants of the product's quality, and should be carefully documented. To meet these desiderata, a printed label is insufficient. The authors suggest a new, more active, model of product labeling for medical expert systems that involves embedding 'knowledge of the knowledge base', creating user-specific data, and sharing global information using the Internet.

  6. Evaluation Methodologies for Information Management Systems; Building Digital Tobacco Industry Document Libraries at the University of California, San Francisco Library/Center for Knowledge Management; Experiments with the IFLA Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR); Coming to Term: Designing the Texas Email Repository Model.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morse, Emile L.; Schmidt, Heidi; Butter, Karen; Rider, Cynthia; Hickey, Thomas B.; O'Neill, Edward T.; Toves, Jenny; Green, Marlan; Soy, Sue; Gunn, Stan; Galloway, Patricia

    2002-01-01

    Includes four articles that discuss evaluation methods for information management systems under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; building digital libraries at the University of California San Francisco's Tobacco Control Archives; IFLA's Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records; and designing the Texas email repository model…

  7. Human-building interaction at work: Findings from an interdisciplinary cross-country survey in Italy

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

    D'Oca, Simona; Pisello, Anna Laura; De Simone, Marilena

    This study presents results from an interdisciplinary survey assessing contextual and behavioral factors driving occupants’ interaction with building and systems in offices located across three different Mediterranean climates in Turin (Northern), Perugia (Central), and Rende (Southern) Italy. The survey instrument is grounded in an interdisciplinary framework that bridges the gap between building physics and social science environments on the energy- and comfort-related human-building interaction in the workspace. Outcomes of the survey questionnaire provide insights into four key learning objectives: (1) individual occupant's motivational drivers regarding interaction with shared building environmental controls (such as adjustable thermostats, operable windows, blinds and shades,more » and artificial lighting), (2) group dynamics such as perceived social norms, attitudes, and intention to share controls, (3) occupant perception of the ease of use and knowledge of how to operate control systems, and (4) occupant-perceived comfort, satisfaction, and productivity. The study attempts to identify climatic, cultural, and socio-demographic influencing factors, as well as to establish the validity of the survey instrument and robustness of outcomes for future studies. Also, the paper aims at illustrating why and how social science insights can bring innovative knowledge into the adoption of building technologies in shared contexts, thus enhancing perceived environmental satisfaction and effectiveness of personal indoor climate control in office settings and impacting office workers’ productivity and reduced operational energy costs.« less

  8. Human-building interaction at work: Findings from an interdisciplinary cross-country survey in Italy

    DOE PAGES

    D'Oca, Simona; Pisello, Anna Laura; De Simone, Marilena; ...

    2018-01-31

    This study presents results from an interdisciplinary survey assessing contextual and behavioral factors driving occupants’ interaction with building and systems in offices located across three different Mediterranean climates in Turin (Northern), Perugia (Central), and Rende (Southern) Italy. The survey instrument is grounded in an interdisciplinary framework that bridges the gap between building physics and social science environments on the energy- and comfort-related human-building interaction in the workspace. Outcomes of the survey questionnaire provide insights into four key learning objectives: (1) individual occupant's motivational drivers regarding interaction with shared building environmental controls (such as adjustable thermostats, operable windows, blinds and shades,more » and artificial lighting), (2) group dynamics such as perceived social norms, attitudes, and intention to share controls, (3) occupant perception of the ease of use and knowledge of how to operate control systems, and (4) occupant-perceived comfort, satisfaction, and productivity. The study attempts to identify climatic, cultural, and socio-demographic influencing factors, as well as to establish the validity of the survey instrument and robustness of outcomes for future studies. Also, the paper aims at illustrating why and how social science insights can bring innovative knowledge into the adoption of building technologies in shared contexts, thus enhancing perceived environmental satisfaction and effectiveness of personal indoor climate control in office settings and impacting office workers’ productivity and reduced operational energy costs.« less

  9. Balancing Hydronic Systems in Multifamily Buildings

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

    Ruch, Russell; Ludwig, Peter; Maurer, Tessa

    2014-07-01

    In multifamily hydronic systems, temperature imbalance may be caused by undersized piping, improperly adjusted balancing valves, inefficient water temperature and flow levels, and owner/occupant interaction with the boilers, distribution, and controls. The imbalance leads to tenant discomfort, higher energy use intensity, and inefficient building operation. This research, conducted by Building America team Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit, explores cost-effective distribution upgrades and balancing measures in multifamily hydronic systems, providing a resource to contractors, auditors, and building owners on best practices to improve tenant comfort and lower operating costs. The team surveyed existing knowledge on cost-effective retrofits for optimizing distribution inmore » typical multifamily hydronic systems, with the aim of identifying common situations and solutions, and then conducted case studies on two Chicago area buildings with known balancing issues in order to quantify the extent of temperature imbalance. At one of these buildings a booster pump was installed on a loop to an underheated wing of the building. This study found that unit temperature in a multifamily hydronic building can vary as much as 61°F, particularly if windows are opened or tenants use intermittent supplemental heating sources like oven ranges. Average temperature spread at the building as a result of this retrofit decreased from 22.1°F to 15.5°F.« less

  10. Multiple Knowledges for Agricultural Production: Implications for the Development of Conservation Agriculture in Kenya and Uganda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moore, Keith M.; Lamb, Jennifer N.; Sikuku, Dominic Ngosia; Ashilenje, Dennis S.; Laker-Ojok, Rita; Norton, Jay

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: This article investigates the extent of multiple knowledges among smallholders and connected non-farm agents around Mount Elgon in Kenya and Uganda in order to build the communicative competence needed to scale up conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS). Design/methodology/approach: Our methodological approach examines local…

  11. A Survey of Knowledge Management Skills Acquisition in an Online Team-Based Distributed Computing Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Jennifer D. E.

    2007-01-01

    This paper investigates students' perceptions of their acquisition of knowledge management skills, namely thinking and team-building skills, resulting from the integration of various resources and technologies into an entirely team-based, online upper level distributed computing (DC) information systems (IS) course. Results seem to indicate that…

  12. Toward a Pedagogy of Border Thinking: Building on Latin@ Students' Subaltern Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cervantes-Soon, Claudia G.; Carrillo, Juan F.

    2016-01-01

    Based on Walter Mignolo's (2000) notion of border thinking, that is, the subaltern knowledge generated from the exterior borders of the modern/colonial world system, this article extends current conceptual frameworks for the implementation of a decolonizing border pedagogy with Latin@ students in secondary schools. In particular, Cervantes-Soon…

  13. EO Domain Specific Knowledge Enabled Services (KES-B)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Varas, J.; Busto, J.; Torguet, R.

    2004-09-01

    This paper recovers and describes a number of major statements with respect to the vision, mission and technological approaches of the Technological Research Project (TRP) "EO Domain Specific Knowledge Enabled Services" (project acronym KES-B), which is currently under development at the European Space Research Institute (ESRIN) under contract "16397/02/I- SB". Resulting from the on-going R&D activities, the KES-B project aims are to demonstrate with a prototype system the feasibility of the application of innovative knowledge-based technologies to provide services for easy, scheduled and controlled exploitation of EO resources (e.g.: data, algorithms, procedures, storage, processors, ...), to automate the generation of products, and to support users in easily identifying and accessing the required information or products by using their own vocabulary, domain knowledge and preferences. The ultimate goals of KES-B are summarized in the provision of the two main types of KES services: 1st the Search service (also referred to as Product Exploitation or Information Retrieval; and 2nd the Production service (also referred to as Information Extraction), with the strategic advantage that they are enabled by Knowledge consolidated (formalized) within the system. The KES-B system technical solution approach is driven by a strong commitment for the adoption of industry (XML-based) language standards, aiming to have an interoperable, scalable and flexible operational prototype. In that sense, the Search KES services builds on the basis of the adoption of consolidated and/or emergent W3C semantic-web standards. Remarkably the languages/models Dublin Core (DC), Universal Resource Identifier (URI), Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Ontology Web Language (OWL), and COTS like Protege [1] and JENA [2] are being integrated in the system as building bricks for the construction of the KES based Search services. On the other hand, the Production KES services builds on top of workflow management standards and tools. In this side, the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), the Web Services Definition Language (WSDL), and the Collaxa [3] COTS tool for workflow management are being integrated for the construction of the KES-B Production Services. The KES-B platform (web portal and web-server) architecture is build on the basis of the J2EE reference architecture. These languages represent the mean for the codification of the different types of knowledge that are to be formalized in the system. This representing the ontological architecture of the system. This shall enable in fact the interoperability with other KES-based systems committing as well to those standards. The motivation behind this vision is pointing towards the construction of the Semantic-web based GRID supply- chain infrastructure for EO-services, in line with the INSPIRE initiative suggestions.

  14. Building social capital in healthcare organizations: thinking ecologically for safer care.

    PubMed

    Hofmeyer, Anne; Marck, Patricia B

    2008-01-01

    Research on patient safety and health human resources, 2 critical issues for 21st century healthcare, converges on similar findings. Specifically, it is apparent that along with the patients, families, and communities we serve, nurses and other healthcare professionals navigate a volatile health care system where persistent restructuring, market pressures, and workforce instability present ongoing threats to the delivery of safer care. Drawing from the fields of nursing, healthcare ethics, health systems management, and ecological restoration, we outline the role of social capital for organizational integrity, healthy workplace cultures, sustainable resource management, improved nurse retention, effective knowledge translation, and safer patient care. Nursing leaders can use ecological thinking to build the vital resource of social capital by taking concrete steps to commit the necessary human and material resources to: (1) forge relations to foster bonding, bridging and linking social capital; (2) build solidarity and trust; (3) foster collective action and cooperation; (4) strengthen communication and knowledge exchange; and (5) create capacity for social cohesion and inclusion.

  15. Capacity building toward evidence-based medicine among healthcare professionals at the university of medicine and pharmacy, ho chi minh city, and its related institutes.

    PubMed

    Nga, LE Thi Quynh; Goto, Aya; Trung, Tran The; Vinh, Nguyen Quang; Khue, Nguyen Thy

    2014-02-01

    Research capacity development enhances a country's ownership of activities aimed at strengthening its health system. In Vietnam, continuing medical education (CME) is attracting increasing attention with the establishment of legal and policy frameworks. During 2010-2013, the Japan International Cooperation Agency funded a research capacity building project targeting physicians in Ho Chi Minh City. The project had been developed in four previous courses that were conducted in collaboration with Fukushima Medical University and Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMP). The project succeeded in obtaining accreditation as the city's CME course. A total of 262 physicians attended three courses that have a divided set of research competencies. Following the Kirkpatrick Model for evaluating the effectiveness of training programs, we confirmed the participants' positive reaction to the courses (Level 1 evaluation), their perceived increase in knowledge and confidence in research skills (Level 2 evaluation), and application of learned knowledge in their practice (Level 3 evaluation). Presented here is a step-by-step scaling-up model of health research capacity building. Strategies for the further expansion include: further capacity building of instructors; responding to clinicians' specific needs; building a recruiting system with authorization; and improving the Level 3 training evaluation.

  16. Sustaining Knowledge Building as a Principle-Based Innovation at an Elementary School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Jianwei; Hong, Huang-Yao; Scardamalia, Marlene; Teo, Chew Lee; Morley, Elizabeth A.

    2011-01-01

    This study explores Knowledge Building as a principle-based innovation at an elementary school and makes a case for a principle- versus procedure-based approach to educational innovation, supported by new knowledge media. Thirty-nine Knowledge Building initiatives, each focused on a curriculum theme and facilitated by nine teachers over eight…

  17. [Information, knowledge and healthcare practice: professionals participation as the key element of the gear].

    PubMed

    Adam, Paula; Permanyer-Miralda, Gaietà; Solà-Morales, Oriol; Canela-Soler, Jaume

    2010-02-01

    This article analyzes the role of ICT within the complicated gear between information, knowledge and healthcare practices, which particular focus on two specific cases: the digitalization process of the healthcare system and the application of knowledge into the healthcare practices. In both cases, international and local experiences suggest, and sometimes demonstrate the importance of the participation, capacity-building and empowerment of healthcare practitioners for the generation, transfer and use of information and knowledge empowered by the digital tools which should bring into the system better performance, more efficacy, efficiency, equity, equality, security, quality. 2010 Elsevier España S.L. All rights reserved.

  18. An application of object-oriented knowledge representation to engineering expert systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Logie, D. S.; Kamil, H.; Umaretiya, J. R.

    1990-01-01

    The paper describes an object-oriented knowledge representation and its application to engineering expert systems. The object-oriented approach promotes efficient handling of the problem data by allowing knowledge to be encapsulated in objects and organized by defining relationships between the objects. An Object Representation Language (ORL) was implemented as a tool for building and manipulating the object base. Rule-based knowledge representation is then used to simulate engineering design reasoning. Using a common object base, very large expert systems can be developed, comprised of small, individually processed, rule sets. The integration of these two schemes makes it easier to develop practical engineering expert systems. The general approach to applying this technology to the domain of the finite element analysis, design, and optimization of aerospace structures is discussed.

  19. Knowledge Representation Of CT Scans Of The Head

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ackerman, Laurens V.; Burke, M. W.; Rada, Roy

    1984-06-01

    We have been investigating diagnostic knowledge models which assist in the automatic classification of medical images by combining information extracted from each image with knowledge specific to that class of images. In a more general sense we are trying to integrate verbal and pictorial descriptions of disease via representations of knowledge, study automatic hypothesis generation as related to clinical medicine, evolve new mathematical image measures while integrating them into the total diagnostic process, and investigate ways to augment the knowledge of the physician. Specifically, we have constructed an artificial intelligence knowledge model using the technique of a production system blending pictorial and verbal knowledge about the respective CT scan and patient history. It is an attempt to tie together different sources of knowledge representation, picture feature extraction and hypothesis generation. Our knowledge reasoning and representation system (KRRS) works with data at the conscious reasoning level of the practicing physician while at the visual perceptional level we are building another production system, the picture parameter extractor (PPE). This paper describes KRRS and its relationship to PPE.

  20. Systems Operation Studies for Automated Guideway Transit Systems : Summary Report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1980-02-01

    In order to examine specific Automated Guideway Transit (AGT) developments and concepts and to build a better knowledge base for future decision-making, UMTA has undertaken a new program of studies and technology investigations called the Urban Mass ...

  1. Building a knowledge base of severe adverse drug events based on AERS reporting data using semantic web technologies.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Guoqian; Wang, Liwei; Liu, Hongfang; Solbrig, Harold R; Chute, Christopher G

    2013-01-01

    A semantically coded knowledge base of adverse drug events (ADEs) with severity information is critical for clinical decision support systems and translational research applications. However it remains challenging to measure and identify the severity information of ADEs. The objective of the study is to develop and evaluate a semantic web based approach for building a knowledge base of severe ADEs based on the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) reporting data. We utilized a normalized AERS reporting dataset and extracted putative drug-ADE pairs and their associated outcome codes in the domain of cardiac disorders. We validated the drug-ADE associations using ADE datasets from SIDe Effect Resource (SIDER) and the UMLS. We leveraged the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Event (CTCAE) grading system and classified the ADEs into the CTCAE in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). We identified and validated 2,444 unique Drug-ADE pairs in the domain of cardiac disorders, of which 760 pairs are in Grade 5, 775 pairs in Grade 4 and 2,196 pairs in Grade 3.

  2. The Emerging Phenomenon of Knowledge Management.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Broadbent, Marianne

    1997-01-01

    Clarifies the meaning of knowledge management and gives examples of organizations that overtly practice it. Outlines four steps in knowledge management: (1) making knowledge visible; (2) building knowledge intensity; (3) building knowledge infrastructure; and (4) developing a knowledge culture. Discusses managing people as assets, librarians as…

  3. Integrating knowledge and control into hypermedia-based training environments: Experiments with HyperCLIPS

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hill, Randall W., Jr.

    1990-01-01

    The issues of knowledge representation and control in hypermedia-based training environments are discussed. The main objective is to integrate the flexible presentation capability of hypermedia with a knowledge-based approach to lesson discourse management. The instructional goals and their associated concepts are represented in a knowledge representation structure called a 'concept network'. Its functional usages are many: it is used to control the navigation through a presentation space, generate tests for student evaluation, and model the student. This architecture was implemented in HyperCLIPS, a hybrid system that creates a bridge between HyperCard, a popular hypertext-like system used for building user interfaces to data bases and other applications, and CLIPS, a highly portable government-owned expert system shell.

  4. Ontology-based configuration of problem-solving methods and generation of knowledge-acquisition tools: application of PROTEGE-II to protocol-based decision support.

    PubMed

    Tu, S W; Eriksson, H; Gennari, J H; Shahar, Y; Musen, M A

    1995-06-01

    PROTEGE-II is a suite of tools and a methodology for building knowledge-based systems and domain-specific knowledge-acquisition tools. In this paper, we show how PROTEGE-II can be applied to the task of providing protocol-based decision support in the domain of treating HIV-infected patients. To apply PROTEGE-II, (1) we construct a decomposable problem-solving method called episodic skeletal-plan refinement, (2) we build an application ontology that consists of the terms and relations in the domain, and of method-specific distinctions not already captured in the domain terms, and (3) we specify mapping relations that link terms from the application ontology to the domain-independent terms used in the problem-solving method. From the application ontology, we automatically generate a domain-specific knowledge-acquisition tool that is custom-tailored for the application. The knowledge-acquisition tool is used for the creation and maintenance of domain knowledge used by the problem-solving method. The general goal of the PROTEGE-II approach is to produce systems and components that are reusable and easily maintained. This is the rationale for constructing ontologies and problem-solving methods that can be composed from a set of smaller-grained methods and mechanisms. This is also why we tightly couple the knowledge-acquisition tools to the application ontology that specifies the domain terms used in the problem-solving systems. Although our evaluation is still preliminary, for the application task of providing protocol-based decision support, we show that these goals of reusability and easy maintenance can be achieved. We discuss design decisions and the tradeoffs that have to be made in the development of the system.

  5. Collaborative Knowledge Building with Wikis: The Impact of Redundancy and Polarity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moskaliuk, Johannes; Kimmerle, Joachim; Cress, Ulrike

    2012-01-01

    Wikis as shared digital artifacts may enable users to participate in processes of knowledge building. To what extent and with which quality knowledge building can take place is assumed to depend on the interrelation between people's prior knowledge and the information available in a wiki. In two experimental studies we examined the impact on…

  6. The nature and evaluation of commercial expert system building tools, revision 1

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gevarter, William B.

    1987-01-01

    This memorandum reviews the factors that constitute an Expert System Building Tool (ESBT) and evaluates current tools in terms of these factors. Evaluation of these tools is based on their structure and their alternative forms of knowledge representation, inference mechanisms and developer end-user interfaces. Next, functional capabilities, such as diagnosis and design, are related to alternative forms of mechanization. The characteristics and capabilities of existing commercial tools are then reviewed in terms of these criteria.

  7. Navy DD(X), GC(X), and LCS Ship Acquisition Programs: Oversight Issues and Options for Congress

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-08-18

    5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e . TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) David D. Acker Library and Knowledge...System Division ( NGSS ) and General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works (GD/BIW) for the right to build all DD(X)s. The Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act...take-all competition between Northrop Grumman’s Ship System Division ( NGSS ) and General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works (GD/BIW) for the right to build

  8. Optimization of knowledge-based systems and expert system building tools

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yasuda, Phyllis; Mckellar, Donald

    1993-01-01

    The objectives of the NASA-AMES Cooperative Agreement were to investigate, develop, and evaluate, via test cases, the system parameters and processing algorithms that constrain the overall performance of the Information Sciences Division's Artificial Intelligence Research Facility. Written reports covering various aspects of the grant were submitted to the co-investigators for the grant. Research studies concentrated on the field of artificial intelligence knowledge-based systems technology. Activities included the following areas: (1) AI training classes; (2) merging optical and digital processing; (3) science experiment remote coaching; (4) SSF data management system tests; (5) computer integrated documentation project; (6) conservation of design knowledge project; (7) project management calendar and reporting system; (8) automation and robotics technology assessment; (9) advanced computer architectures and operating systems; and (10) honors program.

  9. Improving the explanation capabilities of advisory systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Porter, Bruce; Souther, Art

    1993-01-01

    A major limitation of current advisory systems (e.g., intelligent tutoring systems and expert systems) is their restricted ability to give explanations. The goal of our research is to develop and evaluate a flexible explanation facility, one that can dynamically generate responses to questions not anticipated by the system's designers and that can tailor these responses to individual users. To achieve this flexibility, we are developing a large knowledge base, a viewpoint construction facility, and a modeling facility. In the long term we plan to build and evaluate advisory systems with flexible explanation facilities for scientists in numerous domains. In the short term, we are focusing on a single complex domain in biological science, and we are working toward two important milestones: (1) building and evaluating an advisory system with a flexible explanation facility for freshman-level students studying biology; and (2) developing general methods and tools for building similar explanation facilities in other domains.

  10. Improving the explanation capabilities of advisory systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Porter, Bruce; Souther, Art

    1994-01-01

    A major limitation of current advisory systems (e.g., intelligent tutoring systems and expert systems) is their restricted ability to give explanations. The goal of our research is to develop and evaluate a flexible explanation facility, one that can dynamically generate responses to questions not anticipated by the system's designers and that can tailor these responses to individual users. To achieve this flexibility, we are developing a large knowledge base, a viewpoint construction facility, and a modeling facility. In the long term we plan to build and evaluate advisory systems with flexible explanation facilities for scientists in numerous domains. In the short term, we are focusing on a single complex domain in biological science, and we are working toward two important milestones: (1) building and evaluating an advisory system with a flexible explanation facility for freshman-level students studying biology, and (2) developing general methods and tools for building similar explanation facilities in other domains.

  11. Systems Operations Studies for Automated Guideway Transit Systems : Discrete Event Simulation Model User's Manual.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1982-06-01

    In order to examine specific Automated Guideway Transit (AGT) developments and concepts, and to build a better knowledge base for future decision-making, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) undertook a new program of studies and techn...

  12. Standby Power

    Science.gov Websites

    being unplugged. These products draw power 24 hours a day, often without the knowledge of the consumer Define & Measure Data Reports & Links Archives Contact © Building Technology and Urban Systems

  13. An overview of expert systems. [artificial intelligence

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gevarter, W. B.

    1982-01-01

    An expert system is defined and its basic structure is discussed. The knowledge base, the inference engine, and uses of expert systems are discussed. Architecture is considered, including choice of solution direction, reasoning in the presence of uncertainty, searching small and large search spaces, handling large search spaces by transforming them and by developing alternative or additional spaces, and dealing with time. Existing expert systems are reviewed. Tools for building such systems, construction, and knowledge acquisition and learning are discussed. Centers of research and funding sources are listed. The state-of-the-art, current problems, required research, and future trends are summarized.

  14. Enlargement Futures Project: Expert Panel on Technology, Knowledge and Learning. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gourova, Elissaveta; Ducatel, Ken; Gavigan, James; Scapolo, Fabiana; Di Pietrogiacomo, Paola

    The next 10 years provide an opportunity for the European Union (EU) to renew the science and technology (S&T) base and build necessary knowledge-society capacities and capabilities in Pre-Accession Countries (PACs). Applied research has faced a major downsize; redressing the balance in the research and development systems is urgently needed.…

  15. A Knowledge Based Approach to VLSI CAD

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-09-01

    Avail-and/or Dist ISpecial L| OI. SEICURITY CLASIIrCATION OP THIS IPA.lErllm S Daene." A KNOwLEDE BASED APPROACH TO VLSI CAD’ Louis L Steinberg and...major issues lies in building up and managing the knowledge base of oesign expertise. We expect that, as with many recent expert systems, in order to

  16. The importance of knowledge-based technology.

    PubMed

    Cipriano, Pamela F

    2012-01-01

    Nurse executives are responsible for a workforce that can provide safer and more efficient care in a complex sociotechnical environment. National quality priorities rely on technologies to provide data collection, share information, and leverage analytic capabilities to interpret findings and inform approaches to care that will achieve better outcomes. As a key steward for quality, the nurse executive exercises leadership to provide the infrastructure to build and manage nursing knowledge and instill accountability for following evidence-based practices. These actions contribute to a learning health system where new knowledge is captured as a by-product of care delivery enabled by knowledge-based electronic systems. The learning health system also relies on rigorous scientific evidence embedded into practice at the point of care. The nurse executive optimizes use of knowledge-based technologies, integrated throughout the organization, that have the capacity to help transform health care.

  17. Building the Knowledge Base to Support the Automatic Animation Generation of Chinese Traditional Architecture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wei, Gongjin; Bai, Weijing; Yin, Meifang; Zhang, Songmao

    We present a practice of applying the Semantic Web technologies in the domain of Chinese traditional architecture. A knowledge base consisting of one ontology and four rule bases is built to support the automatic generation of animations that demonstrate the construction of various Chinese timber structures based on the user's input. Different Semantic Web formalisms are used, e.g., OWL DL, SWRL and Jess, to capture the domain knowledge, including the wooden components needed for a given building, construction sequence, and the 3D size and position of every piece of wood. Our experience in exploiting the current Semantic Web technologies in real-world application systems indicates their prominent advantages (such as the reasoning facilities and modeling tools) as well as the limitations (such as low efficiency).

  18. Building capacity for knowledge translation in occupational therapy: learning through participatory action research.

    PubMed

    Bennett, Sally; Whitehead, Mary; Eames, Sally; Fleming, Jennifer; Low, Shanling; Caldwell, Elizabeth

    2016-10-01

    There has been widespread acknowledgement of the need to build capacity in knowledge translation however much of the existing work focuses on building capacity amongst researchers rather than with clinicians directly. This paper's aim is to describe a research project for developing a knowledge translation capacity building program for occupational therapy clinicians. Participatory action research methods were used to both develop and evaluate the knowledge translation capacity-building program. Participants were occupational therapists from a large metropolitan hospital in Australia. Researchers and clinicians worked together to use the action cycle of the Knowledge to Action Framework to increase use of knowledge translation itself within the department in general, within their clinical teams, and to facilitate knowledge translation becoming part of the department's culture. Barriers and enablers to using knowledge translation were identified through a survey based on the Theoretical Domains Framework and through focus groups. Multiple interventions were used to develop a knowledge translation capacity-building program. Fifty-two occupational therapists participated initially, but only 20 across the first 18 months of the project. Barriers and enablers were identified across all domains of the Theoretical Domains Framework. Interventions selected to address these barriers or facilitate enablers were categorised into ten different categories: educational outreach; teams working on clinical knowledge translation case studies; identifying time blocks for knowledge translation; mentoring; leadership strategies; communication strategies; documentation and resources to support knowledge translation; funding a knowledge translation champion one day per week; setting goals for knowledge translation; and knowledge translation reporting strategies. Use of these strategies was, and continues to be monitored. Participants continue to be actively involved in learning and shaping the knowledge translation program across the department and within their specific clinical areas. To build capacity for knowledge translation, it is important to involve clinicians. The action cycle of the Knowledge to Action framework is a useful guide to introduce the knowledge translation process to clinicians. It may be used to engage the department as a whole, and facilitate the learning and application of knowledge translation within specific clinical areas. Research evaluating this knowledge translation program is being conducted.

  19. Systems biology by the rules: hybrid intelligent systems for pathway modeling and discovery.

    PubMed

    Bosl, William J

    2007-02-15

    Expert knowledge in journal articles is an important source of data for reconstructing biological pathways and creating new hypotheses. An important need for medical research is to integrate this data with high throughput sources to build useful models that span several scales. Researchers traditionally use mental models of pathways to integrate information and development new hypotheses. Unfortunately, the amount of information is often overwhelming and these are inadequate for predicting the dynamic response of complex pathways. Hierarchical computational models that allow exploration of semi-quantitative dynamics are useful systems biology tools for theoreticians, experimentalists and clinicians and may provide a means for cross-communication. A novel approach for biological pathway modeling based on hybrid intelligent systems or soft computing technologies is presented here. Intelligent hybrid systems, which refers to several related computing methods such as fuzzy logic, neural nets, genetic algorithms, and statistical analysis, has become ubiquitous in engineering applications for complex control system modeling and design. Biological pathways may be considered to be complex control systems, which medicine tries to manipulate to achieve desired results. Thus, hybrid intelligent systems may provide a useful tool for modeling biological system dynamics and computational exploration of new drug targets. A new modeling approach based on these methods is presented in the context of hedgehog regulation of the cell cycle in granule cells. Code and input files can be found at the Bionet website: www.chip.ord/~wbosl/Software/Bionet. This paper presents the algorithmic methods needed for modeling complicated biochemical dynamics using rule-based models to represent expert knowledge in the context of cell cycle regulation and tumor growth. A notable feature of this modeling approach is that it allows biologists to build complex models from their knowledge base without the need to translate that knowledge into mathematical form. Dynamics on several levels, from molecular pathways to tissue growth, are seamlessly integrated. A number of common network motifs are examined and used to build a model of hedgehog regulation of the cell cycle in cerebellar neurons, which is believed to play a key role in the etiology of medulloblastoma, a devastating childhood brain cancer.

  20. Diagnosis: Reasoning from first principles and experiential knowledge

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Williams, Linda J. F.; Lawler, Dennis G.

    1987-01-01

    Completeness, efficiency and autonomy are requirements for suture diagnostic reasoning systems. Methods for automating diagnostic reasoning systems include diagnosis from first principles (i.e., reasoning from a thorough description of structure and behavior) and diagnosis from experiential knowledge (i.e., reasoning from a set of examples obtained from experts). However, implementation of either as a single reasoning method fails to meet these requirements. The approach of combining reasoning from first principles and reasoning from experiential knowledge does address the requirements discussed above and can possibly ease some of the difficulties associated with knowledge acquisition by allowing developers to systematically enumerate a portion of the knowledge necessary to build the diagnosis program. The ability to enumerate knowledge systematically facilitates defining the program's scope, completeness, and competence and assists in bounding, controlling, and guiding the knowledge acquisition process.

  1. Method of Testing and Predicting Failures of Electronic Mechanical Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Iverson, David L.; Patterson-Hine, Frances A.

    1996-01-01

    A method employing a knowledge base of human expertise comprising a reliability model analysis implemented for diagnostic routines is disclosed. The reliability analysis comprises digraph models that determine target events created by hardware failures human actions, and other factors affecting the system operation. The reliability analysis contains a wealth of human expertise information that is used to build automatic diagnostic routines and which provides a knowledge base that can be used to solve other artificial intelligence problems.

  2. Plug and Process Loads Capacity and Power Requirements Analysis

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

    Sheppy, M.; Gentile-Polese, L.

    2014-09-01

    This report addresses gaps in actionable knowledge that would help reduce the plug load capacities designed into buildings. Prospective building occupants and real estate brokers lack accurate references for plug and process load (PPL) capacity requirements, so they often request 5-10 W/ft2 in their lease agreements. Limited initial data, however, suggest that actual PPL densities in leased buildings are substantially lower. Overestimating PPL capacity leads designers to oversize electrical infrastructure and cooling systems. Better guidance will enable improved sizing and design of these systems, decrease upfront capital costs, and allow systems to operate more energy efficiently. The main focus ofmore » this report is to provide industry with reliable, objective third-party guidance to address the information gap in typical PPL densities for commercial building tenants. This could drive changes in negotiations about PPL energy demands.« less

  3. WIRM: An Open Source Toolkit for Building Biomedical Web Applications

    PubMed Central

    Jakobovits, Rex M.; Rosse, Cornelius; Brinkley, James F.

    2002-01-01

    This article describes an innovative software toolkit that allows the creation of web applications that facilitate the acquisition, integration, and dissemination of multimedia biomedical data over the web, thereby reducing the cost of knowledge sharing. There is a lack of high-level web application development tools suitable for use by researchers, clinicians, and educators who are not skilled programmers. Our Web Interfacing Repository Manager (WIRM) is a software toolkit that reduces the complexity of building custom biomedical web applications. WIRM’s visual modeling tools enable domain experts to describe the structure of their knowledge, from which WIRM automatically generates full-featured, customizable content management systems. PMID:12386108

  4. Building America Case Study: Balancing Hydronic Systems in Multifamily Buildings, Chicago, Illinois (Fact Sheet)

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

    Not Available

    2014-09-01

    In multifamily hydronic systems, temperature imbalance may be caused by undersized piping, improperly adjusted balancing valves, inefficient water temperature and flow levels, and owner/occupant interaction with the boilers, distribution and controls. The effects of imbalance include tenant discomfort, higher energy use intensity and inefficient building operation. This paper explores cost-effective distribution upgrades and balancing measures in multifamily hydronic systems, providing a resource to contractors, auditors, and building owners on best practices to improve tenant comfort and lower operating costs. The research was conducted by The Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit (PARR) in conjunction with Elevate Energy. The team surveyed existingmore » knowledge on cost-effective retrofits for optimizing distribution in typical multifamily hydronic systems, with the aim of identifying common situations and solutions, and then conducted case studies on two Chicago area buildings with known balancing issues in order to quantify the extent of temperature imbalance. At one of these buildings a booster pump was installed on a loop to an underheated wing of the building. This study found that unit temperature in a multifamily hydronic building can vary as much as 61 degrees F, particularly if windows are opened or tenants use intermittent supplemental heating sources like oven ranges. Average temperature spread at the building as a result of this retrofit decreased from 22.1 degrees F to 15.5 degrees F.« less

  5. Using Wikis for Learning and Knowledge Building: Results of an Experimental Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kimmerle, Joachim; Moskaliuk, Johannes; Cress, Ulrike

    2011-01-01

    Computer-supported learning and knowledge building play an increasing role in online collaboration. This paper outlines some theories concerning the interplay between individual processes of learning and collaborative processes of knowledge building. In particular, it describes the co-evolution model that attempts to examine processes of learning…

  6. The Professional Identity of Three Innovative Teachers Engaging in Sustained Knowledge Building Using Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vokatis, Barbara; Zhang, Jianwei

    2016-01-01

    Diffusing inquiry-based pedagogy in schools for deep and lasting change requires teacher transformation and capacity building. This study characterizes the professional identity of three elementary school teachers who have productively engaged in inquiry-based classroom practice using knowledge building pedagogy and Knowledge Forum, a…

  7. Communication Technologies and Knowledge Building in Agriculture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Segrave, Robin

    2004-01-01

    The concept of knowledge building communities has not traditionally been associated with agricultural extension, but is one which has the potential to increase the rate of adoption of best management practices by the industry. A potentially important mechanism to facilitate knowledge building is information and communication technology (ICT);…

  8. Knowledge-Driven Event Extraction in Russian: Corpus-Based Linguistic Resources

    PubMed Central

    Solovyev, Valery; Ivanov, Vladimir

    2016-01-01

    Automatic event extraction form text is an important step in knowledge acquisition and knowledge base population. Manual work in development of extraction system is indispensable either in corpus annotation or in vocabularies and pattern creation for a knowledge-based system. Recent works have been focused on adaptation of existing system (for extraction from English texts) to new domains. Event extraction in other languages was not studied due to the lack of resources and algorithms necessary for natural language processing. In this paper we define a set of linguistic resources that are necessary in development of a knowledge-based event extraction system in Russian: a vocabulary of subordination models, a vocabulary of event triggers, and a vocabulary of Frame Elements that are basic building blocks for semantic patterns. We propose a set of methods for creation of such vocabularies in Russian and other languages using Google Books NGram Corpus. The methods are evaluated in development of event extraction system for Russian. PMID:26955386

  9. TransFormers in Knowledge Production: Building Science-Practice Collaborations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoes, Anne-Charlotte; Regeer, Barbara J.; Bunders, Joske F. G.

    2008-01-01

    This article places action learning in the context of system innovation, as it studies the potential use of action learning for system change. In order to effect such system change, collaboration between actors from different institutional backgrounds is essential. To gain insight into if and how action learning can be applied for system change,…

  10. Futuragua: Fostering Cross-Scale Knowledge to Inform Social-Environmental Decision Processes for Building Drought Resilience in Highly Seasonal Environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McDaniels, T.; Steyn, D. G.; Johnson, M. S.; Small, M.; Leclerc, G.; Vignola, R.; Chan, K.; Grossmann, I.; Wong-Parodi, G.

    2014-12-01

    Improving resilience to drought in complex social-environmental systems (SES) is extraordinarily important, particularly for rural tropical locations where small changes in climate regimes can have dramatic SES impacts. Efforts to build drought resilience must necessarily be planned and implemented within SES governance systems that involve linkages in water and land use administration from local to national levels. These efforts require knowledge and understanding that links climate and weather forecasts to regional and local hydrology, to social-economic and environmental systems, and to governance processes. In order to provide structure for such complex choices and investments, we argue that a focus on structured decision processes that involve linkages among science, technological perspectives, and public values conducted with agencies and stakeholders will provide a crucial framework for comparing and building insight for pursuing alternative courses of action to build drought resilience. This paper focuses on a regional case study in the seasonally-dry northwest region of Costa Rica, in watersheds rated as most threatened in the country in terms of drought. We present the overall framework guiding the transdisciplinary efforts to link scientific and technical understanding to public values, in order to foster civil society actions that lead to improved drought resilience. Initial efforts to characterize hydrological and climate regimes will be reported along with our approach to linking natural science findings, social inventories in terms of perspectives on SES, and the psychology and patterns of reliance on forecast information that provide the basis for characterizing public understanding. The overall linkage of technical and value information is focused on creating and comparing alternative actions that can potentially build resilience in short and long time frames by building decision making processes involving stakeholders, agencies and interested parties.

  11. Experiences of building a medical data acquisition system based on two-level modeling.

    PubMed

    Li, Bei; Li, Jianbin; Lan, Xiaoyun; An, Ying; Gao, Wuqiang; Jiang, Yuqiao

    2018-04-01

    Compared to traditional software development strategies, the two-level modeling approach is more flexible and applicable to build an information system in the medical domain. However, the standards of two-level modeling such as openEHR appear complex to medical professionals. This study aims to investigate, implement, and improve the two-level modeling approach, and discusses the experience of building a unified data acquisition system for four affiliated university hospitals based on this approach. After the investigation, we simplified the approach of archetype modeling and developed a medical data acquisition system where medical experts can define the metadata for their own specialties by using a visual easy-to-use tool. The medical data acquisition system for multiple centers, clinical specialties, and diseases has been developed, and integrates the functions of metadata modeling, form design, and data acquisition. To date, 93,353 data items and 6,017 categories for 285 specific diseases have been created by medical experts, and over 25,000 patients' information has been collected. OpenEHR is an advanced two-level modeling method for medical data, but its idea to separate domain knowledge and technical concern is not easy to realize. Moreover, it is difficult to reach an agreement on archetype definition. Therefore, we adopted simpler metadata modeling, and employed What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) tools to further improve the usability of the system. Compared with the archetype definition, our approach lowers the difficulty. Nevertheless, to build such a system, every participant should have some knowledge in both medicine and information technology domains, as these interdisciplinary talents are necessary. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Working the College System: Six Strategies for Building a Personal Powerbase

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Simplicio, Joseph S. C.

    2008-01-01

    Within each college system there are prescribed formalized methods for accomplishing tasks and achieving established goals. To truly understand how a college, or any large organization functions, it is vital to understand the basis of the formal structure. Those individuals who understand formal systems within a college can use this knowledge to…

  13. Career Pathways: Aligning Public Resources to Support Individual and Regional Economic Advancement in the Knowledge Economy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jenkins, Davis

    2006-01-01

    This paper describes career pathways, a framework or approach by which regions can better align publicly supported systems and programs to build a knowledge-economy workforce customized to the needs of local labor markets. A career pathway is a series of connected education and training programs and support services that enable individuals to…

  14. Ontology for E-Learning: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Colace, Francesco; De Santo, Massimo; Gaeta, Matteo

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The development of adaptable and intelligent educational systems is widely considered one of the great challenges in scientific research. Among key elements for building advanced training systems, an important role is played by methodologies chosen for knowledge representation. In this scenario, the introduction of ontology formalism can…

  15. 41 CFR 102-80.110 - What must an equivalent level of safety analysis indicate?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ..., and reliability of all building systems impacting fire growth, occupant knowledge of the fire, and... Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) FEDERAL MANAGEMENT REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 80-SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Accident and Fire Prevention Equivalent Level of Safety...

  16. 41 CFR 102-80.110 - What must an equivalent level of safety analysis indicate?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ..., and reliability of all building systems impacting fire growth, occupant knowledge of the fire, and... Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) FEDERAL MANAGEMENT REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 80-SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Accident and Fire Prevention Equivalent Level of Safety...

  17. 41 CFR 102-80.110 - What must an equivalent level of safety analysis indicate?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ..., and reliability of all building systems impacting fire growth, occupant knowledge of the fire, and... Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) FEDERAL MANAGEMENT REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 80-SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Accident and Fire Prevention Equivalent Level of Safety...

  18. 41 CFR 102-80.110 - What must an equivalent level of safety analysis indicate?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ..., and reliability of all building systems impacting fire growth, occupant knowledge of the fire, and... Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) FEDERAL MANAGEMENT REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 80-SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Accident and Fire Prevention Equivalent Level of Safety...

  19. Distributed Knowledge Base Systems for Diagnosis and Information Retrieval.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-11-01

    social system metaphors State University. for distributed problem solving: Introduction to the issue. IEEE Newell. A. and Simon, H. A. (1972) Human...experts and Sriram Mahalingam wha-helped think out the probLema associated with building Auto-Mech. Research on diagnostic expert systemas for the

  20. Two Tales of Time: Uncovering the Significance of Sequential Patterns among Contribution Types in Knowledge-Building Discourse

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Bodong; Resendes, Monica; Chai, Ching Sing; Hong, Huang-Yao

    2017-01-01

    As collaborative learning is actualized through evolving dialogues, temporality inevitably matters for the analysis of collaborative learning. This study attempts to uncover sequential patterns that distinguish "productive" threads of knowledge-building discourse. A database of Grade 1-6 knowledge-building discourse was first coded for…

  1. An International Knowledge Building Network for Sustainable Curriculum and Pedagogical Innovation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laferrière, Thérèse; Law, Nancy; Montané, Mireia

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents the results of the first phase (2007-2009) of a design experiment, the Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP), in which K-12 teachers from several countries collaborate as a loosely coupled network of networks with a common goal--to implement technology-supported knowledge building jointly across their classrooms.…

  2. Building Knowledge Graphs for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, J.; Lee, T. J.; Ramachandran, R.; Shi, R.; Bao, Q.; Gatlin, P. N.; Weigel, A. M.; Maskey, M.; Miller, J. J.

    2016-12-01

    Inspired by Google Knowledge Graph, we have been building a prototype Knowledge Graph for Earth scientists, connecting information and data in NASA's Earth science enterprise. Our primary goal is to advance the state-of-the-art NASA knowledge extraction capability by going beyond traditional catalog search and linking different distributed information (such as data, publications, services, tools and people). This will enable a more efficient pathway to knowledge discovery. While Google Knowledge Graph provides impressive semantic-search and aggregation capabilities, it is limited to search topics for general public. We use the similar knowledge graph approach to semantically link information gathered from a wide variety of sources within the NASA Earth Science enterprise. Our prototype serves as a proof of concept on the viability of building an operational "knowledge base" system for NASA Earth science. Information is pulled from structured sources (such as NASA CMR catalog, GCMD, and Climate and Forecast Conventions) and unstructured sources (such as research papers). Leveraging modern techniques of machine learning, information retrieval, and deep learning, we provide an integrated data mining and information discovery environment to help Earth scientists to use the best data, tools, methodologies, and models available to answer a hypothesis. Our knowledge graph would be able to answer questions like: Which articles discuss topics investigating similar hypotheses? How have these methods been tested for accuracy? Which approaches have been highly cited within the scientific community? What variables were used for this method and what datasets were used to represent them? What processing was necessary to use this data? These questions then lead researchers and citizen scientists to investigate the sources where data can be found, available user guides, information on how the data was acquired, and available tools and models to use with this data. As a proof of concept, we focus on a well-defined domain - Hurricane Science linking research articles and their findings, data, people and tools/services. Modern information retrieval, natural language processing machine learning and deep learning techniques are applied to build the knowledge network.

  3. A review of interdependence of sustainable building

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

    Ju, Chuanjing; Ning, Yan, E-mail: cqningyan@gmail.com; Pan, Wei

    2016-01-15

    ABSTRACT: Despite the worldwide promotion of the sustainable building (SB) approach, its associated interdependence has seldom been explored. This knowledge gap is significant given the paradigm shift of regarding SBs as complex socio-technical systems embedded with multifaceted interdependence. The aim of this paper is to examine the interdependence of SB through a literature review. The literature review was guided by a framework comprising three dimensions of SB systems, i.e., building performance, methodology and stakeholders, on their theoretical grounds ranged from reductionism to holism. In order to articulate the integration of the three dimensions, this paper examined zero carbon building asmore » a specific case of SB. The findings contribute an innovative approach to examining the interdependence of SB, and should guide the development of strategies for managing the trade-offs in delivering SBs. - Highlights: • Performance scope of sustainable building triggers interdependence. • Material flow from cradle to cradle causes interdependence. • Interdependence occurs between the building and their context. • Interdependence exists in stakeholders' participation.« less

  4. A Proposal to Develop Interactive Classification Technology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    deBessonet, Cary

    1998-01-01

    Research for the first year was oriented towards: 1) the design of an interactive classification tool (ICT); and 2) the development of an appropriate theory of inference for use in ICT technology. The general objective was to develop a theory of classification that could accommodate a diverse array of objects, including events and their constituent objects. Throughout this report, the term "object" is to be interpreted in a broad sense to cover any kind of object, including living beings, non-living physical things, events, even ideas and concepts. The idea was to produce a theory that could serve as the uniting fabric of a base technology capable of being implemented in a variety of automated systems. The decision was made to employ two technologies under development by the principal investigator, namely, SMS (Symbolic Manipulation System) and SL (Symbolic Language) [see debessonet, 1991, for detailed descriptions of SMS and SL]. The plan was to enhance and modify these technologies for use in an ICT environment. As a means of giving focus and direction to the proposed research, the investigators decided to design an interactive, classificatory tool for use in building accessible knowledge bases for selected domains. Accordingly, the proposed research was divisible into tasks that included: 1) the design of technology for classifying domain objects and for building knowledge bases from the results automatically; 2) the development of a scheme of inference capable of drawing upon previously processed classificatory schemes and knowledge bases; and 3) the design of a query/ search module for accessing the knowledge bases built by the inclusive system. The interactive tool for classifying domain objects was to be designed initially for textual corpora with a view to having the technology eventually be used in robots to build sentential knowledge bases that would be supported by inference engines specially designed for the natural or man-made environments in which the robots would be called upon to operate.

  5. Balancing Hydronic Systems in Multifamily Buildings

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

    Ruch, R.; Ludwig, P.; Maurer, T.

    2014-07-01

    In multifamily hydronic systems, temperature imbalance may be caused by undersized piping, improperly adjusted balancing valves, inefficient water temperature and flow levels, and owner/occupant interaction with the boilers, distribution and controls. The effects of imbalance include tenant discomfort, higher energy use intensity and inefficient building operation. This paper explores cost-effective distribution upgrades and balancing measures in multifamily hydronic systems, providing a resource to contractors, auditors, and building owners on best practices to improve tenant comfort and lower operating costs. The research was conducted by The Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit (PARR) in conjunction with Elevate Energy. The team surveyed existingmore » knowledge on cost-effective retrofits for optimizing distribution in typical multifamily hydronic systems, with the aim of identifying common situations and solutions, and then conducted case studies on two Chicago area buildings with known balancing issues in order to quantify the extent of temperature imbalance. At one of these buildings a booster pump was installed on a loop to an underheated wing of the building. This study found that unit temperature in a multifamily hydronic building can vary as much as 61 degrees F, particularly if windows are opened or tenants use intermittent supplemental heating sources like oven ranges. Average temperature spread at the building as a result of this retrofit decreased from 22.1 degrees F to 15.5 degrees F.« less

  6. Self-Monitoring and Knowledge-Building in Learning by Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roscoe, Rod D.

    2014-01-01

    Prior research has established that learning by teaching depends upon peer tutors' engagement in knowledge-building, in which tutors integrate their knowledge and generate new knowledge through reasoning. However, many tutors adopt a "knowledge-telling bias" defined by shallow summarizing of source materials and didactic lectures.…

  7. Cumulative and Segmented Learning: Exploring the Role of Curriculum Structures in Knowledge-Building

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maton, Karl

    2009-01-01

    The present article extends Basil Bernstein's theorisation of "discourses" and "knowledge structures" to explore the potential of educational knowledge structures to enable or constrain cumulative learning, where students can transfer knowledge across contexts and build knowledge over time. It offers a means of overcoming…

  8. Building validation tools for knowledge-based systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stachowitz, R. A.; Chang, C. L.; Stock, T. S.; Combs, J. B.

    1987-01-01

    The Expert Systems Validation Associate (EVA), a validation system under development at the Lockheed Artificial Intelligence Center for more than a year, provides a wide range of validation tools to check the correctness, consistency and completeness of a knowledge-based system. A declarative meta-language (higher-order language), is used to create a generic version of EVA to validate applications written in arbitrary expert system shells. The architecture and functionality of EVA are presented. The functionality includes Structure Check, Logic Check, Extended Structure Check (using semantic information), Extended Logic Check, Semantic Check, Omission Check, Rule Refinement, Control Check, Test Case Generation, Error Localization, and Behavior Verification.

  9. Knowledge for Intelligence: Discussing the State and the Role of Building Data in Italy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pasquinelli, A.; Guzzetti, F.

    2016-09-01

    The availability of integrated information on buildings is the premise for an effective assets management and the provision of innovative services to buildings users: such form of knowledge relies on the efficient exploitation of existing data, providing a complete overview on the state of buildings, and on the acquisition of real-time data flows, coming from sensor and mobile devices, reporting users behaviours. If, on the one hand, technology is progressively enabling the management of new huge streams of data, on the other hand the interconnection among traditional and well rooted datasets, the majority of which in charge of public administrations, is not always guaranteed. While, at European level, interoperability issues among public archives concerning buildings were properly addressed, and the relevance of geo-information is widely recognized, in Italy this process is still taking time to be undertaken. This paper discuss the current state of Building Information in Italy, outlining a possible path for the creation of a georeferenced Building Information System at municipal level, starting from the informative heritage available in existing databases, generated with different purposes and maintained by independent authorities: the idea is to solicit that digitalization process, started a decade ago with the "Digital Administration Code", through the proposition of real use cases that might be implemented once that public data on buildings are profitably combined together.

  10. Predictive Models and Computational Embryology

    EPA Science Inventory

    EPA’s ‘virtual embryo’ project is building an integrative systems biology framework for predictive models of developmental toxicity. One schema involves a knowledge-driven adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework utilizing information from public databases, standardized ontologies...

  11. Enhancing Teaching and Learning: How Cognitive Research Can Help

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowman, Margo; Frame, Debra L.; Kennette, Lynne N.

    2013-01-01

    Pedagogical considerations should be guided by empirical, brain-based research on the human information processing system. People build and organize knowledge into a network-like system that connects related information. As learning occurs, learners expand the network to accommodate new information. Instructional strategies can be used to maximize…

  12. Grounding Collaborative Learning in Semantics-Based Critiquing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheung, William K.; Mørch, Anders I.; Wong, Kelvin C.; Lee, Cynthia; Liu, Jiming; Lam, Mason H.

    2007-01-01

    In this article we investigate the use of latent semantic analysis (LSA), critiquing systems, and knowledge building to support computer-based teaching of English composition. We have built and tested an English composition critiquing system that makes use of LSA to analyze student essays and compute feedback by comparing their essays with…

  13. Intelligent Tutoring Systems for Scientific Inquiry Skills.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shute, Valerie; Bonar, Jeffrey

    Described are the initial prototypes of several intelligent tutoring systems designed to build students' scientific inquiry skills. These inquiry skills are taught in the context of acquiring knowledge of principles from a microworld that models a specific domain. This paper discusses microworlds that have been implemented for microeconomics,…

  14. Experiences in Developing an Experimental Robotics Course Program for Undergraduate Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jung, Seul

    2013-01-01

    An interdisciplinary undergraduate-level robotics course offers students the chance to integrate their engineering knowledge learned throughout their college years by building a robotic system. Robotics is thus a core course in system and control-related engineering education. This paper summarizes the experience of developing robotics courses…

  15. Toward city-scale water quality control: building a theory for smart stormwater systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kerkez, B.; Mullapudi, A. M.; Wong, B. P.

    2016-12-01

    Urban stormwater systems are rarely designed as actual systems. Rather, it is often assumed that individual Best Management Practices (BMPs) will add up to achieve desired watershed outcomes. Given the rise of BMPs and green infrastructure, we ask: does doing "best" at the local scale guarantee the "best" at the global scale? Existing studies suggest that the system-level performance of distributed stormwater practices may actually adversely impact watersheds by increasing downstream erosion and reducing water quality. Optimizing spatial placement may not be sufficient, however, since precipitation variability and other sources of uncertainty can drive the overall system into undesirable states. To that end, it is also important to control the temporal behavior of the system, which can be achieved by equipping stormwater elements (ponds, wetlands, basins, bioswales, etc.) with "smart" sensors and valves. Rather than building new infrastructure, this permits for existing assets to be repurposed and controlled to adapt to individual storm events. While we have learned how to build and deploy the necessary sensing and control technologies, we do not have a framework or theory that combines our knowledge of hydrology, hydraulics, water quality and control. We discuss the development of such a framework and investigate how existing water domain knowledge can be transferred into a system-theoretic context to enable real-time, city-scale stormwater control. We apply this framework to water quality control in an urban watershed in southeast Michigan, which has been heavily instrumented and retrofitted for control over the past year.

  16. Knowledge integration: conceptualizing communications in cancer control systems.

    PubMed

    Best, Allan; Hiatt, Robert A; Norman, Cameron D

    2008-06-01

    This paper was prepared by the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) Working Group on Translational Research and Knowledge Transfer. The goal was to nurture common ground upon which to build a platform for translating what we know about cancer into what we do in practice and policy. Methods included expert panels, literature review, and concept mapping, to develop a framework that built on earlier cancer control conceptualizations of communications that have guided researchers and end users. The concept of 'knowledge integration' is used to describe the resulting refinement and the nature of evidence necessary for decision-making to at the systems level. Current evidence for knowledge integration in cancer control is presented across the levels of individual, organizational and systems level interventions and across basic, clinical and population science knowledge bases. A systems-oriented approach to integrating evidence into action assists organizations to conduct research and policy and practice. Practitioners can use this framework to understand the challenges of implementing and evaluating cancer control strategies.

  17. Approach to building knowledge bases in information-measuring systems diagnostics of acute leukemias

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nikitaev, V. G.; Pronichev, A. N.; Polyakov, E. V.; Dmitrieva, V. V.

    2018-01-01

    The paper describes an approach for the formation of the reference base of peripheral blood cells and bone marrow in information-measuring systems of acute leukemia diagnostics. The proposed approach has allowed to create a system, that is enable peer evaluation of blood cells needed for the training of recognition systems when carrying out microscopic studies.

  18. Promoting elementary students' epistemology of science through computer-supported knowledge-building discourse and epistemic reflection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Feng; Chan, Carol K. K.

    2018-04-01

    This study examined the role of computer-supported knowledge-building discourse and epistemic reflection in promoting elementary-school students' scientific epistemology and science learning. The participants were 39 Grade 5 students who were collectively pursuing ideas and inquiry for knowledge advance using Knowledge Forum (KF) while studying a unit on electricity; they also reflected on the epistemic nature of their discourse. A comparison class of 22 students, taught by the same teacher, studied the same unit using the school's established scientific investigation method. We hypothesised that engaging students in idea-driven and theory-building discourse, as well as scaffolding them to reflect on the epistemic nature of their discourse, would help them understand their own scientific collaborative discourse as a theory-building process, and therefore understand scientific inquiry as an idea-driven and theory-building process. As hypothesised, we found that students engaged in knowledge-building discourse and reflection outperformed comparison students in scientific epistemology and science learning, and that students' understanding of collaborative discourse predicted their post-test scientific epistemology and science learning. To further understand the epistemic change process among knowledge-building students, we analysed their KF discourse to understand whether and how their epistemic practice had changed after epistemic reflection. The implications on ways of promoting epistemic change are discussed.

  19. Enhancing Knowledge Sharing Management Using BIM Technology in Construction

    PubMed Central

    Ho, Shih-Ping; Tserng, Hui-Ping

    2013-01-01

    Construction knowledge can be communicated and reused among project managers and jobsite engineers to alleviate problems on a construction jobsite and reduce the time and cost of solving problems related to constructability. This paper proposes a new methodology for the sharing of construction knowledge by using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. The main characteristics of BIM include illustrating 3D CAD-based presentations and keeping information in a digital format and facilitation of easy updating and transfer of information in the BIM environment. Using the BIM technology, project managers and engineers can gain knowledge related to BIM and obtain feedback provided by jobsite engineers for future reference. This study addresses the application of knowledge sharing management using BIM technology and proposes a BIM-based Knowledge Sharing Management (BIMKSM) system for project managers and engineers. The BIMKSM system is then applied in a selected case study of a construction project in Taiwan to demonstrate the effectiveness of sharing knowledge in the BIM environment. The results demonstrate that the BIMKSM system can be used as a visual BIM-based knowledge sharing management platform by utilizing the BIM technology. PMID:24723790

  20. Enhancing knowledge sharing management using BIM technology in construction.

    PubMed

    Ho, Shih-Ping; Tserng, Hui-Ping; Jan, Shu-Hui

    2013-01-01

    Construction knowledge can be communicated and reused among project managers and jobsite engineers to alleviate problems on a construction jobsite and reduce the time and cost of solving problems related to constructability. This paper proposes a new methodology for the sharing of construction knowledge by using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. The main characteristics of BIM include illustrating 3D CAD-based presentations and keeping information in a digital format and facilitation of easy updating and transfer of information in the BIM environment. Using the BIM technology, project managers and engineers can gain knowledge related to BIM and obtain feedback provided by jobsite engineers for future reference. This study addresses the application of knowledge sharing management using BIM technology and proposes a BIM-based Knowledge Sharing Management (BIMKSM) system for project managers and engineers. The BIMKSM system is then applied in a selected case study of a construction project in Taiwan to demonstrate the effectiveness of sharing knowledge in the BIM environment. The results demonstrate that the BIMKSM system can be used as a visual BIM-based knowledge sharing management platform by utilizing the BIM technology.

  1. Knowledge bases built on web languages from the point of view of predicate logics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vajgl, Marek; Lukasová, Alena; Žáček, Martin

    2017-06-01

    The article undergoes evaluation of formal systems created on the base of web (ontology/concept) languages by simplifying the usual approach of knowledge representation within the FOPL, but sharing its expressiveness, semantic correct-ness, completeness and decidability. Evaluation of two of them - that one based on description logic and that one built on RDF model principles - identifies some of the lacks of those formal systems and presents, if possible, corrections of them. Possibilities to build an inference system capable to obtain new further knowledge over given knowledge bases including those describing domains by giant linked domain databases has been taken into account. Moreover, the directions towards simplifying FOPL language discussed here has been evaluated from the point of view of a possibility to become a web language for fulfilling an idea of semantic web.

  2. Knowledge Building: Reinventing Education for the Knowledge Age

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Philip, Donald N.

    2011-01-01

    This paper examines the Knowledge Age and how economic factors are causing educators to rethink and reinvent education. Two key factors in education in the Knowledge Age will be education for an economy of innovation, and the increasing virtualization of education. We present knowledge building pedagogy as a model for education in the Knowledge…

  3. Kaiser Permanente's performance improvement system, Part 4: Creating a learning organization.

    PubMed

    Schilling, Lisa; Dearing, James W; Staley, Paul; Harvey, Patti; Fahey, Linda; Kuruppu, Francesca

    2011-12-01

    In 2006, recognizing variations in performance in quality, safety, service, and efficiency, Kaiser Permanente leaders initiated the development of a performance improvement (PI) system. Kaiser Permanente has implemented a strategy for creating the systemic capacity for continuous improvement that characterizes a learning organization. Six "building blocks" were identified to enable Kaiser Permanente to make the transition to becoming a learning organization: real-time sharing of meaningful performance data; formal training in problem-solving methodology; workforce engagement and informal knowledge sharing; leadership structures, beliefs, and behaviors; internal and external benchmarking; and technical knowledge sharing. Putting each building block into place required multiple complex strategies combining top-down and bottom-up approaches. Although the strategies have largely been successful, challenges remain. The demand for real-time meaningful performance data can conflict with prioritized changes to health information systems. It is an ongoing challenge to teach PI, change management, innovation, and project management to all managers and staff without consuming too much training time. Challenges with workforce engagement include low initial use of tools intended to disseminate information through virtual social networking. Uptake of knowledge-sharing technologies is still primarily by innovators and early adopters. Leaders adopt new behaviors at varying speeds and have a range of abilities to foster an environment that is psychologically safe and stimulates inquiry. A learning organization has the capability to improve, and it develops structures and processes that facilitate the acquisition and sharing of knowledge.

  4. Harnessing the Risk-Related Data Supply Chain: An Information Architecture Approach to Enriching Human System Research and Operations Knowledge

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Buquo, Lynn E.; Johnson-Throop, Kathy A.

    2011-01-01

    An Information Architecture facilitates the understanding and, hence, harnessing of the human system risk-related data supply chain which enhances the ability to securely collect, integrate, and share data assets that improve human system research and operations. By mapping the risk-related data flow from raw data to useable information and knowledge (think of it as a data supply chain), the Human Research Program (HRP) and Space Life Science Directorate (SLSD) are building an information architecture plan to leverage their existing, and often shared, IT infrastructure.

  5. Predictive Models and Computational Toxicology (II IBAMTOX)

    EPA Science Inventory

    EPA’s ‘virtual embryo’ project is building an integrative systems biology framework for predictive models of developmental toxicity. One schema involves a knowledge-driven adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework utilizing information from public databases, standardized ontologies...

  6. Core competencies in the science and practice of knowledge translation: description of a Canadian strategic training initiative.

    PubMed

    Straus, Sharon E; Brouwers, Melissa; Johnson, David; Lavis, John N; Légaré, France; Majumdar, Sumit R; McKibbon, K Ann; Sales, Anne E; Stacey, Dawn; Klein, Gail; Grimshaw, Jeremy

    2011-12-09

    Globally, healthcare systems are attempting to optimize quality of care. This challenge has resulted in the development of implementation science or knowledge translation (KT) and the resulting need to build capacity in both the science and practice of KT. We are attempting to meet these challenges through the creation of a national training initiative in KT. We have identified core competencies in this field and have developed a series of educational courses and materials for three training streams. We report the outline for this approach and the progress to date. We have prepared a strategy to develop, implement, and evaluate a national training initiative to build capacity in the science and practice of KT. Ultimately through this initiative, we hope to meet the capacity demand for KT researchers and practitioners in Canada that will lead to improved care and a strengthened healthcare system.

  7. Core competencies in the science and practice of knowledge translation: description of a Canadian strategic training initiative

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background Globally, healthcare systems are attempting to optimize quality of care. This challenge has resulted in the development of implementation science or knowledge translation (KT) and the resulting need to build capacity in both the science and practice of KT. Findings We are attempting to meet these challenges through the creation of a national training initiative in KT. We have identified core competencies in this field and have developed a series of educational courses and materials for three training streams. We report the outline for this approach and the progress to date. Conclusions We have prepared a strategy to develop, implement, and evaluate a national training initiative to build capacity in the science and practice of KT. Ultimately through this initiative, we hope to meet the capacity demand for KT researchers and practitioners in Canada that will lead to improved care and a strengthened healthcare system. PMID:22152223

  8. Decision support systems in health economics.

    PubMed

    Quaglini, S; Dazzi, L; Stefanelli, M; Barosi, G; Marchetti, M

    1999-08-01

    This article describes a system addressed to different health care professionals for building, using, and sharing decision support systems for resource allocation. The system deals with selected areas, namely the choice of diagnostic tests, the therapy planning, and the instrumentation purchase. Decision support is based on decision-analytic models, incorporating an explicit knowledge representation of both the medical domain knowledge and the economic evaluation theory. Application models are built on top of meta-models, that are used as guidelines for making explicit both the cost and effectiveness components. This approach improves the transparency and soundness of the collaborative decision-making process and facilitates the result interpretation.

  9. Web-based, mobile-device friendly, self-report survey system incorporating avatars and gaming console techniques.

    PubMed

    Savel, Craig; Mierzwa, Stan; Gorbach, Pamina; Lally, Michelle; Zimet, Gregory; Meyer, Kristin; Souidi, Samir; Interventions, Aids

    2014-01-01

    We describe building an avatar-based self-report data collection tool to be used for a specific HIV prevention research project that is evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of this novel approach to collect self-reported data among youth. We discuss the gathering of requirements, the process of building a prototype of the envisioned system, and the lessons learned during the development of the solution. Specific knowledge is shared regarding technical experience with software development technologies and possible avenues for changes that could be considered if such a self-report survey system is used again. Examples of other gaming and avatar technology systems are included to provide further background.

  10. Web-based, mobile-device friendly, self-report survey system incorporating avatars and gaming console techniques

    PubMed Central

    Savel, Craig; Mierzwa, Stan; Gorbach, Pamina; Lally, Michelle; Zimet, Gregory; Meyer, Kristin; Souidi, Samir; Interventions, AIDS

    2014-01-01

    We describe building an avatar-based self-report data collection tool to be used for a specific HIV prevention research project that is evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of this novel approach to collect self-reported data among youth. We discuss the gathering of requirements, the process of building a prototype of the envisioned system, and the lessons learned during the development of the solution. Specific knowledge is shared regarding technical experience with software development technologies and possible avenues for changes that could be considered if such a self-report survey system is used again. Examples of other gaming and avatar technology systems are included to provide further background. PMID:25422726

  11. Modeling and Measurement Constraints in Fault Diagnostics for HVAC Systems

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

    Najafi, Massieh; Auslander, David M.; Bartlett, Peter L.

    2010-05-30

    Many studies have shown that energy savings of five to fifteen percent are achievable in commercial buildings by detecting and correcting building faults, and optimizing building control systems. However, in spite of good progress in developing tools for determining HVAC diagnostics, methods to detect faults in HVAC systems are still generally undeveloped. Most approaches use numerical filtering or parameter estimation methods to compare data from energy meters and building sensors to predictions from mathematical or statistical models. They are effective when models are relatively accurate and data contain few errors. In this paper, we address the case where models aremore » imperfect and data are variable, uncertain, and can contain error. We apply a Bayesian updating approach that is systematic in managing and accounting for most forms of model and data errors. The proposed method uses both knowledge of first principle modeling and empirical results to analyze the system performance within the boundaries defined by practical constraints. We demonstrate the approach by detecting faults in commercial building air handling units. We find that the limitations that exist in air handling unit diagnostics due to practical constraints can generally be effectively addressed through the proposed approach.« less

  12. The Role of Learning Goals in Building a Knowledge Base for Elementary Mathematics Teacher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jansen, Amanda; Bartell, Tonya; Berk, Dawn

    2009-01-01

    In this article, we describe features of learning goals that enable indexing knowledge for teacher education. Learning goals are the key enabler for building a knowledge base for teacher education; they define what counts as essential knowledge for prospective teachers. We argue that 2 characteristics of learning goals support knowledge-building…

  13. Development of a Knowledge Base for Enduser Consultation of AAL-Systems.

    PubMed

    Röll, Natalie; Stork, Wilhelm; Rosales, Bruno; Stephan, René; Knaup, Petra

    2016-01-01

    Manufacturer information, user experiences and product availability of assistive living technologies are usually not known to citizens or consultation centers. The different knowledge levels concerning the availability of technology shows the need for building up a knowledge base. The aim of this contribution is the definition of requirements in the development of knowledge bases for AAL consultations. The major requirements, such as a maintainable and easy to use structure were implemented into a web based knowledge base, which went productive in ~3700 consulting interviews of municipal technology information centers. Within this field phase the implementation of the requirements for a knowledge base in the field of AAL consulting was evaluated and further developed.

  14. Working group report on advanced high-voltage high-power and energy-storage space systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cohen, H. A.; Cooke, D. L.; Evans, R. W.; Hastings, D.; Jongeward, G.; Laframboise, J. G.; Mahaffey, D.; Mcintyre, B.; Pfizer, K. A.; Purvis, C.

    1986-01-01

    Space systems in the future will probably include high-voltage, high-power energy-storage and -production systems. Two such technologies are high-voltage ac and dc systems and high-power electrodynamic tethers. The working group identified several plasma interaction phenomena that will occur in the operation of these power systems. The working group felt that building an understanding of these critical interaction issues meant that several gaps in our knowledge had to be filled, and that certain aspects of dc power systems have become fairly well understood. Examples of these current collection are in quiescent plasmas and snap over effects. However, high-voltage dc and almost all ac phenomena are, at best, inadequately understood. In addition, there is major uncertainty in the knowledge of coupling between plasmas and large scale current flows in space plasmas. These gaps in the knowledge are addressed.

  15. Teacher-Education Students' Views about Knowledge Building Theory and Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hong, Huang-Yao; Chen, Fei-Ching; Chai, Ching Sing; Chan, Wen-Ching

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of engaging students to collectively learn and work with knowledge in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment called Knowledge Forum on their views about knowledge building theory and practice. Participants were 24 teacher-education students who took a required course titled "Integrating Theory…

  16. Professional Development: Building Effective Virtual Communities through Cooperative Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meyers, Robert; Davis, Hilarie; Botti, James

    A web site for an online graduate course in Earth systems science for middle school teachers was designed to affect teachers' knowledge about Earth systems science and resources and their use of constructivist teaching practices, particularly collaboration, rubrics and the use of journals. In the 16-week course 44 teachers experienced…

  17. Collaborative Group Learning and Knowledge Building to Address Information Systems Project Failure

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Angelo, Raymond

    2011-01-01

    Approximately half of the information systems (IS) projects implemented each year are considered failures. These failed projects cost billions of dollars annually. Failures can be due to projects being delivered late, over-budget, abandoned after significant time and resource investment, or failing to achieve desired results. More often than not,…

  18. Mobile Distance Learning with PDAs: Development and Testing of Pedagogical and System Solutions Supporting Mobile Distance Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rekkedal, Torstein; Dye, Aleksander

    2007-01-01

    The article discusses basic teaching-learning philosophies and experiences from the development and testing of mobile learning integrated with the online distance education system at NKI (Norwegian Knowledge Institute) Distance Education. The article builds on experiences from three European Union (EU) supported "Leonardo da Vinci"…

  19. Scaffolding knowledge building in a Web-based communication and cultural competence program for international medical graduates.

    PubMed

    Lax, Leila R; Russell, M Lynn; Nelles, Laura J; Smith, Cathy M

    2009-10-01

    Professional behaviors, tacitly understood by Canadian-trained physicians, are difficult to teach and often create practice barriers for IMGs. The purpose of this design research study was to develop a Web-based program simulating Canadian medical literacy and culture, and to evaluate strategies of scaffolding individual knowledge building. Study 1 (N = 20) examined usability and pedagogic design. Studies 2 (N = 39) and 3 (N = 33) examined case participation patterns. Model design was validated in Study 1. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated high levels of participation, on unprompted third tries, on knowledge tests. Recursive patterns were strongest on Reflective Exercises. Five strategies scaffolded knowledge building: (1) video simulations, (2) contextualized resources, (3) concurrent feedback, (4) Reflective Exercises, and (5) commentaries prompting "reflection on reflection." Scaffolded design supports complex knowledge building. These findings are concurrent with educational research on the importance of recursion and revision of knowledge for improvable and relational understanding.

  20. TERATOLOGY v2.0 – building a path forward

    EPA Science Inventory

    Unraveling the complex relationships between environmental factors and early life susceptibility in assessing the risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes requires advanced knowledge of biological systems. Large datasets and deep data-mining tools are emerging resources for predictive...

  1. A knowledge based expert system for propellant system monitoring at the Kennedy Space Center

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jamieson, J. R.; Delaune, C.; Scarl, E.

    1985-01-01

    The Lox Expert System (LES) is the first attempt to build a realtime expert system capable of simulating the thought processes of NASA system engineers, with regard to fluids systems analysis and troubleshooting. An overview of the hardware and software describes the techniques used, and possible applications to other process control systems. LES is now in the advanced development stage, with a full implementation planned for late 1985.

  2. Evaluating investment in quality improvement capacity building: a systematic review

    PubMed Central

    Mery, Gustavo; Dobrow, Mark J; Baker, G Ross; Im, Jennifer; Brown, Adalsteinn

    2017-01-01

    Purpose Leading health systems have invested in substantial quality improvement (QI) capacity building, but little is known about the aggregate effect of these investments at the health system level. We conducted a systematic review to identify key steps and elements that should be considered for system-level evaluations of investment in QI capacity building. Methods We searched for evaluations of QI capacity building and evaluations of QI training programmes. We included the most relevant indexed databases in the field and a strategic search of the grey literature. The latter included direct electronic scanning of 85 relevant government and institutional websites internationally. Data were extracted regarding evaluation design and common assessment themes and components. Results 48 articles met the inclusion criteria. 46 articles described initiative-level non-economic evaluations of QI capacity building/training, while 2 studies included economic evaluations of QI capacity building/training, also at the initiative level. No system-level QI capacity building/training evaluations were found. We identified 17 evaluation components that fit within 5 overarching dimensions (characteristics of QI training; characteristics of QI activity; individual capacity; organisational capacity and impact) that should be considered in evaluations of QI capacity building. 8 key steps in return-on-investment (ROI) assessments in QI capacity building were identified: (1) planning—stakeholder perspective; (2) planning—temporal perspective; (3) identifying costs; (4) identifying benefits; (5) identifying intangible benefits that will not be included in the ROI estimation; (6) discerning attribution; (7) ROI calculations; (8) sensitivity analysis. Conclusions The literature on QI capacity building evaluation is limited in the number and scope of studies. Our findings, summarised in a Framework to Guide Evaluations of QI Capacity Building, can be used to start closing this knowledge gap. PMID:28219957

  3. Effectiveness of capacity building interventions relevant to public health practice: a systematic review.

    PubMed

    DeCorby-Watson, Kara; Mensah, Gloria; Bergeron, Kim; Abdi, Samiya; Rempel, Benjamin; Manson, Heather

    2018-06-01

    This systematic review assessed the effectiveness of capacity building interventions relevant to public health practice. The aim is to inform and improve capacity building interventions. Four strategies were used: 1) electronic database searching; 2) reference lists of included papers; 3) key informant consultation; and 4) grey literature searching. Inclusion (e.g., published in English) and exclusion criteria (e.g., non-English language papers published earlier than 2005) are outlined with included papers focusing on capacity building, learning plans, or professional development plans within public health and related settings, such as non-governmental organizations, government, or community-based organizations relating to public health or healthcare. Outcomes of interest included changes in knowledge, skill or confidence (self-efficacy), changes in practice (application or intent), and perceived support or supportive environments, with outcomes reported at the individual, organizational or systems level(s). Quality assessment of all included papers was completed. Fourteen papers were included in this review. These papers reported on six intervention types: 1) internet-based instruction, 2) training and workshops, 3) technical assistance, 4) education using self-directed learning, 5) communities of practice, and 6) multi-strategy interventions. The available literature showed improvements in one or more capacity-building outcomes of interest, mainly in terms of individual-level outcomes. The available literature was moderate in quality and showed a range of methodological issues. There is evidence to inform capacity building programming and how interventions can be selected to optimize impact. Organizations should carefully consider methods for analysis of capacity building interventions offered; specifically, through which mechanisms, to whom, and for which purpose. Capacity-building interventions can enhance knowledge, skill, self-efficacy (including confidence), changes in practice or policies, behaviour change, application, and system-level capacity. However in applying available evidence, organizations should consider the outcomes of highest priority, selecting intervention(s) effective for the outcome(s) of interest. Examples are given for selecting intervention(s) to match priorities and context, knowing effectiveness evidence is only one consideration in decision making. Future evaluations should: extend beyond the individual level, assess outcomes at organizational and systems levels, include objective measures of effect, assess baseline conditions, and evaluate features most critical to the success of interventions.

  4. FTDD973: A multimedia knowledge-based system and methodology for operator training and diagnostics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hekmatpour, Amir; Brown, Gary; Brault, Randy; Bowen, Greg

    1993-01-01

    FTDD973 (973 Fabricator Training, Documentation, and Diagnostics) is an interactive multimedia knowledge based system and methodology for computer-aided training and certification of operators, as well as tool and process diagnostics in IBM's CMOS SGP fabrication line (building 973). FTDD973 is an example of what can be achieved with modern multimedia workstations. Knowledge-based systems, hypertext, hypergraphics, high resolution images, audio, motion video, and animation are technologies that in synergy can be far more useful than each by itself. FTDD973's modular and object-oriented architecture is also an example of how improvements in software engineering are finally making it possible to combine many software modules into one application. FTDD973 is developed in ExperMedia/2; and OS/2 multimedia expert system shell for domain experts.

  5. Building and Sharing Knowledge Key Practice: What Do You Know, What Don't You Know, What Did You Learn? Research Report. ETS RR-15-24

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Reilly, Tenaha; Deane, Paul; Sabatini, John

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we provide the rationale and foundation for the building and sharing knowledge key practice for the "CBAL"™ English language arts competency model. Building and sharing knowledge is a foundational literacy activity that enables students to learn and communicate what they read in texts. It is a strategic process that…

  6. Building and Activating Students' Background Knowledge: It's What They Already Know That Counts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy; Lapp, Diane

    2012-01-01

    Students enter the middle grades with varying amounts of background knowledge. Teachers must assess student background knowledge for gaps or misconceptions and then provide instruction to build on that base. This article discusses effective strategies for assessing and developing students' background knowledge so they can become independent…

  7. Nudging toward Inquiry: Awakening and Building upon Prior Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fontichiaro, Kristin, Comp.

    2010-01-01

    "Prior knowledge" (sometimes called schema or background knowledge) is information one already knows that helps him/her make sense of new information. New learning builds on existing prior knowledge. In traditional reporting-style research projects, students bypass this crucial step and plow right into answer-finding. It's no wonder that many…

  8. Shared Knowledge for Decision-making on Environment and Health Issues in the Arctic

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Maynard, Nancy G.

    2003-01-01

    This paper will describe a remote sensing and GIs-based system to bring indigenous traditional knowledge together with contemporary scientific knowledge to address impacts resulting from changes in climate, environment, weather and pollution in the Arctic. As scientists and policy-makers from both indigenous and non-indigenous communities continue to build closer partnerships to address common sustainability issues such as the health impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities, it becomes increasingly important to create shared information management systems which integrate all relevant factors for optimal information sharing and decision-making. This system is being designed to bring together remotely sensed, indigenous and other data and observations for analysis, measuring, and monitoring parameters of interest (e.g., snow cover, rainfall, temperature, ice conditions, vegetation, infrastructure, fires). A description of the system and its components as well as a preliminary application of the system in the Arctic will be presented.

  9. Building machines that learn and think like people.

    PubMed

    Lake, Brenden M; Ullman, Tomer D; Tenenbaum, Joshua B; Gershman, Samuel J

    2017-01-01

    Recent progress in artificial intelligence has renewed interest in building systems that learn and think like people. Many advances have come from using deep neural networks trained end-to-end in tasks such as object recognition, video games, and board games, achieving performance that equals or even beats that of humans in some respects. Despite their biological inspiration and performance achievements, these systems differ from human intelligence in crucial ways. We review progress in cognitive science suggesting that truly human-like learning and thinking machines will have to reach beyond current engineering trends in both what they learn and how they learn it. Specifically, we argue that these machines should (1) build causal models of the world that support explanation and understanding, rather than merely solving pattern recognition problems; (2) ground learning in intuitive theories of physics and psychology to support and enrich the knowledge that is learned; and (3) harness compositionality and learning-to-learn to rapidly acquire and generalize knowledge to new tasks and situations. We suggest concrete challenges and promising routes toward these goals that can combine the strengths of recent neural network advances with more structured cognitive models.

  10. Social Work Intervention Research With Adult Cancer Patients: A Literature Review and Reflection on Knowledge-Building for Practice.

    PubMed

    Pockett, Rosalie; Dzidowska, Monika; Hobbs, Kim

    2015-01-01

    The results of a literature review of social work intervention research with adult cancer patients found only a small number of studies conducted by social work researchers. The findings of the review are presented followed by a reflective discussion on the nature of knowledge-building and research knowledge for practice. Knowledge building is considered as a continuous, negotiated process within communities of practice focused on psychosocial perspectives that draw on a range of knowledge sources. Epistemology, worldviews and research orientations are considered along with the values and stance of social work, all of which create the domain of the practice-researcher.

  11. Development Index, A Proposed Pattern for Organizing and Facilitating the Flow of Information Needed By Man in Furthering His Own Development, With Particular Reference to the Development of Buildings and Communities and Other Forms of Environmental Control.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor.

    The organization of knowledge related to the development of the environment and the building industry is provided in this index which provides a framework or classification system for a broad range of information. Man's development in terms of environmental structuring and control is discussed as development goals, development cycle, and…

  12. Understanding How Students Perceive the Role of Ideas for Their Knowledge Work in a Knowledge-Building Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hong, Huang-Yao; Chiu, Chieh-Hsin

    2016-01-01

    This study explored how students viewed the role of ideas for knowledge work and how such a view was related to their inquiry activities. Data mainly came from students' online interaction logs, group discussion and inquiry, and a survey concerning the role of ideas for knowledge work. The findings suggest that knowledge building was conducive to…

  13. Automatic programming of arc welding robots

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Padmanabhan, Srikanth

    Automatic programming of arc welding robots requires the geometric description of a part from a solid modeling system, expert weld process knowledge and the kinematic arrangement of the robot and positioner automatically. Current commercial solid models are incapable of storing explicitly product and process definitions of weld features. This work presents a paradigm to develop a computer-aided engineering environment that supports complete weld feature information in a solid model and to create an automatic programming system for robotic arc welding. In the first part, welding features are treated as properties or attributes of an object, features which are portions of the object surface--the topological boundary. The structure for representing the features and attributes is a graph called the Welding Attribute Graph (WAGRAPH). The method associates appropriate weld features to geometric primitives, adds welding attributes, and checks the validity of welding specifications. A systematic structure is provided to incorporate welding attributes and coordinate system information in a CSG tree. The specific implementation of this structure using a hybrid solid modeler (IDEAS) and an object-oriented programming paradigm is described. The second part provides a comprehensive methodology to acquire and represent weld process knowledge required for the proper selection of welding schedules. A methodology of knowledge acquisition using statistical methods is proposed. It is shown that these procedures did little to capture the private knowledge of experts (heuristics), but helped in determining general dependencies, and trends. A need was established for building the knowledge-based system using handbook knowledge and to allow the experts further to build the system. A methodology to check the consistency and validity for such knowledge addition is proposed. A mapping shell designed to transform the design features to application specific weld process schedules is described. A new approach using fixed path modified continuation methods is proposed in the final section to plan continuously the trajectory of weld seams in an integrated welding robot and positioner environment. The joint displacement, velocity, and acceleration histories all along the path as a function of the path parameter for the best possible welding condition are provided for the robot and the positioner to track various paths normally encountered in arc welding.

  14. Evolutionary Intelligence and Communication in Societies of Virtually Embodied Agents

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nguyen, Binh; Skabar, Andrew

    In order to overcome the knowledge bottleneck problem, AI researchers have attempted to develop systems that are capable of automated knowledge acquisition. However, learning in these systems is hindered by context (i.e., symbol-grounding) problems, which are caused by the systems lacking the unifying structure of bodies, situations and needs that typify human learning. While the fields of Embodied Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life have come a long way towards demonstrating how artificial systems can develop knowledge of the physical and social worlds, the focus in these areas has been on low level intelligence, and it is not clear how, such systems can be extended to deal with higher-level knowledge. In this paper, we argue that we can build towards a higher level intelligence by framing the problem as one of stimulating the development of culture and language. Specifically, we identify three important limitations that face the development of culture and language in AI systems, and propose how these limitations can be overcome. We will do this through borrowing ideas from the evolutionary sciences, which have explored how interactions between embodiment and environment have shaped the development of human intelligence and knowledge.

  15. Mayo clinical Text Analysis and Knowledge Extraction System (cTAKES): architecture, component evaluation and applications

    PubMed Central

    Masanz, James J; Ogren, Philip V; Zheng, Jiaping; Sohn, Sunghwan; Kipper-Schuler, Karin C; Chute, Christopher G

    2010-01-01

    We aim to build and evaluate an open-source natural language processing system for information extraction from electronic medical record clinical free-text. We describe and evaluate our system, the clinical Text Analysis and Knowledge Extraction System (cTAKES), released open-source at http://www.ohnlp.org. The cTAKES builds on existing open-source technologies—the Unstructured Information Management Architecture framework and OpenNLP natural language processing toolkit. Its components, specifically trained for the clinical domain, create rich linguistic and semantic annotations. Performance of individual components: sentence boundary detector accuracy=0.949; tokenizer accuracy=0.949; part-of-speech tagger accuracy=0.936; shallow parser F-score=0.924; named entity recognizer and system-level evaluation F-score=0.715 for exact and 0.824 for overlapping spans, and accuracy for concept mapping, negation, and status attributes for exact and overlapping spans of 0.957, 0.943, 0.859, and 0.580, 0.939, and 0.839, respectively. Overall performance is discussed against five applications. The cTAKES annotations are the foundation for methods and modules for higher-level semantic processing of clinical free-text. PMID:20819853

  16. Challenges in building intelligent systems for space mission operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hartman, Wayne

    1991-01-01

    The purpose here is to provide a top-level look at the stewardship functions performed in space operations, and to identify the major issues and challenges that must be addressed to build intelligent systems that can realistically support operations functions. The focus is on decision support activities involving monitoring, state assessment, goal generation, plan generation, and plan execution. The bottom line is that problem solving in the space operations domain is a very complex process. A variety of knowledge constructs, representations, and reasoning processes are necessary to support effective human problem solving. Emulating these kinds of capabilities in intelligent systems offers major technical challenges that the artificial intelligence community is only beginning to address.

  17. Beyond empowerment: building a company of citizens.

    PubMed

    Manville, Brook; Ober, Josiah

    2003-01-01

    We live in a knowledge economy. The core assets of the modern business enterprise aren't its buildings, machinery, and real estate, but the intelligence, understanding, skills, and experience of its employees. Harnessing the capabilities and commitment of knowledge workers is arguably the central managerial challenge of our time. Unfortunately, it is a challenge that has not yet been met. Corporate ownership structures, governance systems, and incentive programs--despite the enlightened rhetoric of business leaders--remain firmly planted in the industrial age. In this article, the authors draw on history to lay out a model for a democratic business organization suited to the knowledge economy. Some 2,500 years ago, the city-state of ancient Athens rose to unprecedented political and economic power by giving its citizens a direct voice and an active role in civic governance. The city's uniquely participative system of democracy helped unleash the creativity of the Athenian people and channel it to produce the greatest good for society. The system succeeded in bringing individual initiative and common cause into harmony. And that is precisely the synthesis today's companies need to achieve if they're to realize the full power of their people and thrive in the knowledge economy. The Athenian model of organizational democracy is just that--a model. It does not provide a simple set of prescriptions for modern managers. What it offers is a window into how sizable groups of people can, in an atmosphere of dignity and trust, successfully govern themselves without resorting to a stifling bureaucracy.

  18. An Introduction to Logic Control Systems for the Behavioral Scientist, Part I, Text.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Larsen, Lawrence A.

    This programed instruction course gives a basic introduction to solid state programing equipment. Course objectives include giving the student (1) a working knowledge of the various types of units used in building digital logic control systems and (2) an idea of how they interconnect to perform different functions. The course has no prerequisites…

  19. Promoting Elementary Students' Epistemology of Science through Computer-Supported Knowledge-Building Discourse and Epistemic Reflection

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Feng; Chan, Carol K. K.

    2018-01-01

    This study examined the role of computer-supported knowledge-building discourse and epistemic reflection in promoting elementary-school students' scientific epistemology and science learning. The participants were 39 Grade 5 students who were collectively pursuing ideas and inquiry for knowledge advance using Knowledge Forum (KF) while studying a…

  20. Decision Support Systems for Launch and Range Operations Using Jess

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Thirumalainambi, Rajkumar

    2007-01-01

    The virtual test bed for launch and range operations developed at NASA Ames Research Center consists of various independent expert systems advising on weather effects, toxic gas dispersions and human health risk assessment during space-flight operations. An individual dedicated server supports each expert system and the master system gather information from the dedicated servers to support the launch decision-making process. Since the test bed is based on the web system, reducing network traffic and optimizing the knowledge base is critical to its success of real-time or near real-time operations. Jess, a fast rule engine and powerful scripting environment developed at Sandia National Laboratory has been adopted to build the expert systems providing robustness and scalability. Jess also supports XML representation of knowledge base with forward and backward chaining inference mechanism. Facts added - to working memory during run-time operations facilitates analyses of multiple scenarios. Knowledge base can be distributed with one inference engine performing the inference process. This paper discusses details of the knowledge base and inference engine using Jess for a launch and range virtual test bed.

  1. Rethinking capacity building for knowledge mobilisation: developing multilevel capabilities in healthcare organisations.

    PubMed

    Kislov, Roman; Waterman, Heather; Harvey, Gill; Boaden, Ruth

    2014-11-15

    Knowledge mobilisation in healthcare organisations is often carried out through relatively short-term projects dependent on limited funding, which raises concerns about the long-term sustainability of implementation and improvement. It is becoming increasingly recognised that the translation of research evidence into practice has to be supported by developing the internal capacity of healthcare organisations to engage with and apply research. This process can be supported by external knowledge mobilisation initiatives represented, for instance, by professional associations, collaborative research partnerships and implementation networks. This conceptual paper uses empirical and theoretical literature on organisational learning and dynamic capabilities to enhance our understanding of intentional capacity building for knowledge mobilisation in healthcare organisations. The discussion is structured around the following three themes: (1) defining and classifying capacity building for knowledge mobilisation; (2) mechanisms of capability development in organisational context; and (3) individual, group and organisational levels of capability development. Capacity building is presented as a practice-based process of developing multiple skills, or capabilities, belonging to different knowledge domains and levels of complexity. It requires an integration of acquisitive learning, through which healthcare organisations acquire knowledge and skills from knowledge mobilisation experts, and experience-based learning, through which healthcare organisations adapt, absorb and modify their knowledge and capabilities through repeated practice. Although the starting point for capability development may be individual-, team- or organisation-centred, facilitation of the transitions between individual, group and organisational levels of learning within healthcare organisations will be needed. Any initiative designed to build capacity for knowledge mobilisation should consider the subsequent trajectory of newly developed knowledge and skills within the recipient healthcare organisations. The analysis leads to four principles underpinning a practice-based approach to developing multilevel knowledge mobilisation capabilities: (1) moving from 'building' capacity from scratch towards 'developing' capacity of healthcare organisations; (2) moving from passive involvement in formal education and training towards active, continuous participation in knowledge mobilisation practices; (3) moving from lower-order, project-specific capabilities towards higher-order, generic capabilities allowing healthcare organisations to adapt to change, absorb new knowledge and innovate; and (4) moving from single-level to multilevel capability development involving transitions between individual, group and organisational learning.

  2. Making Semantic Waves: A Key to Cumulative Knowledge-Building

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maton, Karl

    2013-01-01

    The paper begins by arguing that knowledge-blindness in educational research represents a serious obstacle to understanding knowledge-building. It then offers sociological concepts from Legitimation Code Theory--"semantic gravity" and "semantic density"--that systematically conceptualize one set of organizing principles underlying knowledge…

  3. The potential of net zero energy buildings (NZEBs) concept at design stage for healthcare buildings towards sustainable development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hazli Abdellah, Roy; Asrul Nasid Masrom, Md; Chen, Goh Kai; Mohamed, Sulzakimin; Omar, Roshartini

    2017-11-01

    The focus on net-zero energy buildings (NZEBs) has been widely analysed and discussed particularly when European Union Parliament are progressively moving towards regulation that promotes the improvement of energy efficiency (EE). Additionally, it also to reduce energy consumption through the recast of the EU Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) in which all new buildings to be “nearly Zero-Energy” Buildings by 2020. Broadly, there is a growing trend to explore the feasibility of net zero energy in healthcare sector as the level energy consumption for healthcare sector is found significantly high. Besides that, healthcare buildings energy consumption also exceeds of many other nondomestic building types, and this shortcoming is still undetermined yet especially for developing countries. This paper aims to review the potential of NZEBs in healthcare buildings by considering its concept in design features. Data are gathered through a comprehensive energy management literature review from previous studies. The review is vital to encourage construction players to increase their awareness, practices, and implementation of NZEBs in healthcare buildings. It suggests that NZEBs concept has a potential to be adapted in healthcare buildings through emphasizing of passive approach as well as the utilization of energy efficiency systems and renewable energy systems in buildings. This paper will provide a basis knowledge for construction key players mainly architects to promote NZEBs concept at design stage for healthcare buildings development.

  4. EMBRYONIC VASCULAR DISRUPTION ADVERSE OUTCOMES: LINKING HIGH THROUGHPUT SIGNALING SIGNATURES WITH FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Embryonic vascular disruption is an important adverse outcome pathway (AOP) given the knowledge that chemical disruption of early cardiovascular system development leads to broad prenatal defects. High throughput screening (HTS) assays provide potential building blocks for AOP d...

  5. Fostering synergy between cell biology and systems biology.

    PubMed

    Eddy, James A; Funk, Cory C; Price, Nathan D

    2015-08-01

    In the shared pursuit of elucidating detailed mechanisms of cell function, systems biology presents a natural complement to ongoing efforts in cell biology. Systems biology aims to characterize biological systems through integrated and quantitative modeling of cellular information. The process of model building and analysis provides value through synthesizing and cataloging information about cells and molecules, predicting mechanisms and identifying generalizable themes, generating hypotheses and guiding experimental design, and highlighting knowledge gaps and refining understanding. In turn, incorporating domain expertise and experimental data is crucial for building towards whole cell models. An iterative cycle of interaction between cell and systems biologists advances the goals of both fields and establishes a framework for mechanistic understanding of the genome-to-phenome relationship. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Integrating Indigenous Traditional, Local and Scientific Knowledge for Improved Management, Policy and Decision-Making in Reindeer Husbandry in the Russian Arctic

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Maynard, Nancy G.; Yurchak, Boris; Turi, Johan Mathis; Mathiesen, Svein D.; Aissi-Wespi, Rita L.

    2004-01-01

    As scientists and policy-makers from both indigenous and non-indigenous communities begin to build closer partnerships to address common sustainability issues such as the health impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities, it becomes increasingly important to create shared information management systems which integrate all relevant factors for optimal information sharing and decision-making. This paper describes a new GIs-based system being designed to bring local and indigenous traditional knowledge together with scientific data and information, remote sensing, and information technologies to address health-related environment, weather, climate, pollution and land use change issues for improved decision/policy-making for reindeer husbandry. The system is building an easily-accessible archive of relevant current and historical, traditional, local and remotely-sensed and other data and observations for shared analysis, measuring, and monitoring parameters of interest. Protection of indigenous culturally sensitive information will be respected through appropriate data protocols. A mechanism which enables easy information sharing among all participants, which is real time and geo-referenced and which allows interconnectivity with remote sites is also being designed into the system for maximum communication among partners. A preliminary version of our system will be described for a Russian reindeer test site, which will include a combination of indigenous knowledge about local conditions and issues, remote sensing and ground-based data on such parameters as the vegetation state and distribution, snow cover, temperature, ice condition, and infrastructure.

  7. Assessment of existing local houses condition as analysis tools for shore housing improvement program in Weriagar district, Bintuni Bay

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Firmansyah, F.; Fernando, A.; Allo, I. P. R.

    2018-01-01

    The housing assessment is a part of the pre-feasibility study inThe Shore Housing Improvement Program in Weriagar District, West Papua. The housing assessment was conducted to identify the physical condition of existing houses. The parameters of assessment formulated from local references, practices and also national building regulation that covers each building system components, such as building structure/frame, building floor, building cover, and building roof. This study aims to explains lessons from local practices and references, used as the formula to generate assessment parameter, elaborate with Indonesia building regulation. The result of housing assessment were used as a basis to develop the house improvement strategy, the design alternative for housing improvement and further planning recommendations. The local knowledges involved in housing improvement program expected that the local-based approach could respect to the local build culture, respect the local environment, and the most important can offer best suitable solutions for functional utility and livability.

  8. Expert system training and control based on the fuzzy relation matrix

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ren, Jie; Sheridan, T. B.

    1991-01-01

    Fuzzy knowledge, that for which the terms of reference are not crisp but overlapped, seems to characterize human expertise. This can be shown from the fact that an experienced human operator can control some complex plants better than a computer can. Proposed here is fuzzy theory to build a fuzzy expert relation matrix (FERM) from given rules or/and examples, either in linguistic terms or in numerical values to mimic human processes of perception and decision making. The knowledge base is codified in terms of many implicit fuzzy rules. Fuzzy knowledge thus codified may also be compared with explicit rules specified by a human expert. It can also provide a basis for modeling the human operator and allow comparison of what a human operator says to what he does in practice. Two experiments were performed. In the first, control of liquid in a tank, demonstrates how the FERM knowledge base is elicited and trained. The other shows how to use a FERM, build up from linguistic rules, and to control an inverted pendulum without a dynamic model.

  9. Semantic Web meets Integrative Biology: a survey.

    PubMed

    Chen, Huajun; Yu, Tong; Chen, Jake Y

    2013-01-01

    Integrative Biology (IB) uses experimental or computational quantitative technologies to characterize biological systems at the molecular, cellular, tissue and population levels. IB typically involves the integration of the data, knowledge and capabilities across disciplinary boundaries in order to solve complex problems. We identify a series of bioinformatics problems posed by interdisciplinary integration: (i) data integration that interconnects structured data across related biomedical domains; (ii) ontology integration that brings jargons, terminologies and taxonomies from various disciplines into a unified network of ontologies; (iii) knowledge integration that integrates disparate knowledge elements from multiple sources; (iv) service integration that build applications out of services provided by different vendors. We argue that IB can benefit significantly from the integration solutions enabled by Semantic Web (SW) technologies. The SW enables scientists to share content beyond the boundaries of applications and websites, resulting into a web of data that is meaningful and understandable to any computers. In this review, we provide insight into how SW technologies can be used to build open, standardized and interoperable solutions for interdisciplinary integration on a global basis. We present a rich set of case studies in system biology, integrative neuroscience, bio-pharmaceutics and translational medicine, to highlight the technical features and benefits of SW applications in IB.

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

    Hatley, Darrel D.; Underhill, Ronald M.

    Document describes an onsite workshop and building retuning training conducted in Guam in August 2010. Document reports on issues identified during an audit of several buildings and recommendations to save energy throughout the site. During the workshop, it became apparent that as site personnel maintain the facilities at Guam, the following retuning efforts and strategies should be prioritized: (1) Controlling the mechanical systems operational hours and zone temperature set points appeared to present the best opportunities for savings; (2) Zone temperature set points in some buildings are excessively low, especially at night, when the zone temperatures are so cold thatmore » they approached the dewpoint; and (3) Manually-set outside air dampers are providing excessive outside air, especially for spaces that are unoccupied. Two of the larger schools, one on the Naval Base and one on Anderson AFB, are in need of a significant recommissioning effort. These facilities are relatively new, with direct digital controls (DDC) but are significantly out of balance. The pressure in one school is extremely negative, which is pulling humid air through the facility each time a door is opened. The draft can be felt several feet down the halls. The pressure in the other school is extremely positive relative to the outside, and you can stand 20-feet outside and still feel cool drafts of air exiting the building. It is recommended that humidity sensors be installed in all new projects and retrofitted into exist facilities. In this humid climate, control of humidity is very important. There are significant periods of time when the mechanical systems in many buildings can be unloaded and dehumidification is not required. The use of CO{sub 2} sensors should also be considered in representative areas. CO{sub 2} sensors determine whether spaces are occupied so that fresh air is only brought into the space when needed. By reducing the amount of outside air brought into the space, the humidity load is also substantially reduced. CO{sub 2} and humidity sensors, combined with outside air sensors, can be used to predict whether conditions are amenable to mold growth and to automatically adjust systems to help prevent mold without using extra energy. The goal of this training is to give the building operators the knowledge needed to make positive changes in the operation of building systems. As class participants apply this knowledge, building systems will run more efficiently, occupant comfort should improve, while saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.« less

  11. Group-Level Formative Feedback and Metadiscourse

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Resendes, Monica; Scardamalia, Marlene; Bereiter, Carl; Chen, Bodong; Halewood, Cindy

    2015-01-01

    This research explores the ability of grade 2 students to engage in productive discussion about the state of their knowledge building using group-level feedback tools to support their metadiscourse. Two aspects of knowledge work were common to the comparison and experimental classes: "Knowledge Building talk" (KB talk) involving…

  12. Inductive System Health Monitoring

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Iverson, David L.

    2004-01-01

    The Inductive Monitoring System (IMS) software was developed to provide a technique to automatically produce health monitoring knowledge bases for systems that are either difficult to model (simulate) with a computer or which require computer models that are too complex to use for real time monitoring. IMS uses nominal data sets collected either directly from the system or from simulations to build a knowledge base that can be used to detect anomalous behavior in the system. Machine learning and data mining techniques are used to characterize typical system behavior by extracting general classes of nominal data from archived data sets. IMS is able to monitor the system by comparing real time operational data with these classes. We present a description of learning and monitoring method used by IMS and summarize some recent IMS results.

  13. College Students Constructing Collective Knowledge of Natural Science History in a Collaborative Knowledge Building Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hong, Huang-Yao; Chai, Ching Sing; Tsai, Chin-Chung

    2015-01-01

    This study investigates whether engaging college students (n = 42) in a knowledge building environment would help them work as a community to construct their collective knowledge of history of science and, accordingly, develop a more informed scientific view. The study adopted mixed-method analyses and data mainly came from surveys and student…

  14. An Artificial Intelligence System to Predict Quality of Service in Banking Organizations

    PubMed Central

    Popovič, Aleš

    2016-01-01

    Quality of service, that is, the waiting time that customers must endure in order to receive a service, is a critical performance aspect in private and public service organizations. Providing good service quality is particularly important in highly competitive sectors where similar services exist. In this paper, focusing on banking sector, we propose an artificial intelligence system for building a model for the prediction of service quality. While the traditional approach used for building analytical models relies on theories and assumptions about the problem at hand, we propose a novel approach for learning models from actual data. Thus, the proposed approach is not biased by the knowledge that experts may have about the problem, but it is completely based on the available data. The system is based on a recently defined variant of genetic programming that allows practitioners to include the concept of semantics in the search process. This will have beneficial effects on the search process and will produce analytical models that are based only on the data and not on domain-dependent knowledge. PMID:27313604

  15. An Artificial Intelligence System to Predict Quality of Service in Banking Organizations.

    PubMed

    Castelli, Mauro; Manzoni, Luca; Popovič, Aleš

    2016-01-01

    Quality of service, that is, the waiting time that customers must endure in order to receive a service, is a critical performance aspect in private and public service organizations. Providing good service quality is particularly important in highly competitive sectors where similar services exist. In this paper, focusing on banking sector, we propose an artificial intelligence system for building a model for the prediction of service quality. While the traditional approach used for building analytical models relies on theories and assumptions about the problem at hand, we propose a novel approach for learning models from actual data. Thus, the proposed approach is not biased by the knowledge that experts may have about the problem, but it is completely based on the available data. The system is based on a recently defined variant of genetic programming that allows practitioners to include the concept of semantics in the search process. This will have beneficial effects on the search process and will produce analytical models that are based only on the data and not on domain-dependent knowledge.

  16. Making Sense of Rocket Science - Building NASA's Knowledge Management Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Holm, Jeanne

    2002-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched a range of KM activities-from deploying intelligent "know-bots" across millions of electronic sources to ensuring tacit knowledge is transferred across generations. The strategy and implementation focuses on managing NASA's wealth of explicit knowledge, enabling remote collaboration for international teams, and enhancing capture of the key knowledge of the workforce. An in-depth view of the work being done at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) shows the integration of academic studies and practical applications to architect, develop, and deploy KM systems in the areas of document management, electronic archives, information lifecycles, authoring environments, enterprise information portals, search engines, experts directories, collaborative tools, and in-process decision capture. These systems, together, comprise JPL's architecture to capture, organize, store, and distribute key learnings for the U.S. exploration of space.

  17. Knowledge based systems: A critical survey of major concepts, issues and techniques. Visuals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Kavi, Srinu

    1984-01-01

    This Working Paper Series entry represents a collection of presentation visuals associated with the companion report entitled, Knowledge Based Systems: A Critical Survey of Major Concepts, Issues, and Techniques, USL/DBMS NASA/RECON Working Paper Series report number DBMS.NASA/RECON-9. The objectives of the report are to: examine various techniques used to build the KBS; to examine at least one KBS in detail, i.e., a case study; to list and identify limitations and problems with the KBS; to suggest future areas of research; and to provide extensive reference materials.

  18. Sharing What We Know about Living a Good Life: Indigenous Approaches to Knowledge Translation

    PubMed Central

    Smylie, Janet; Olding, Michelle; Ziegler, Carolyn

    2015-01-01

    Knowledge Translation (KT), a core priority in Canadian health research, policy, and practice for the past decade, has a long and rich tradition within Indigenous communities. In Indigenous knowledge systems the processes of “knowing” and “doing” are often intertwined and indistinguishable. However, dominant KT models in health science do not typically recognize Indigenous knowledge conceptualizations, sharing systems, or protocols and will likely fall short in Indigenous contexts. There is a need to move towards KT theory and practice that embraces diverse understandings of knowledge and that recognizes, respects, and builds on pre-existing knowledge systems. This will not only result in better processes and outcomes for Indigenous communities, it will also provide rich learning for mainstream KT scholarship and practice. As professionals deeply engaged in KT work, health librarians are uniquely positioned to support the development and implementation of Indigenous KT. This article provides information that will enhance the ability of readers from diverse backgrounds to promote and support Indigenous KT efforts, including an introduction to Indigenous knowledge conceptualizations and knowledge systems; key contextual issues to consider in planning, implementing, or evaluating KT in Indigenous settings; and contemporary examples of Indigenous KT in action. The authors pose critical reflection questions throughout the article that encourage readers to connect the content with their own practices and underlying knowledge assumptions. PMID:26793244

  19. Global standards and local knowledge building: Upgrading small producers in developing countries

    PubMed Central

    Perez-Aleman, Paola

    2012-01-01

    Local knowledge building is a crucial factor for upgrading small producers and improving their market competitiveness and livelihoods. The rise of global standards affecting food safety and environmental sustainability in agriculture sparks debates on the impact on smallholders in developing countries. This article presents a perspective on the links of international standards to knowledge and institution building for developing the capabilities of small producers. Interacting with global practices, indigenous private and public actors create local institutions to develop capabilities for product and process innovations that contribute to economic development and enhance food security. Local innovation depends on collective strategic efforts through increasing networks among small producers and other organizations, including firms, nongovernmental organizations, and government, that foster knowledge circulation and bring diverse resources and support to build local capabilities. PMID:21670309

  20. Global standards and local knowledge building: upgrading small producers in developing countries.

    PubMed

    Perez-Aleman, Paola

    2012-07-31

    Local knowledge building is a crucial factor for upgrading small producers and improving their market competitiveness and livelihoods. The rise of global standards affecting food safety and environmental sustainability in agriculture sparks debates on the impact on smallholders in developing countries. This article presents a perspective on the links of international standards to knowledge and institution building for developing the capabilities of small producers. Interacting with global practices, indigenous private and public actors create local institutions to develop capabilities for product and process innovations that contribute to economic development and enhance food security. Local innovation depends on collective strategic efforts through increasing networks among small producers and other organizations, including firms, nongovernmental organizations, and government, that foster knowledge circulation and bring diverse resources and support to build local capabilities.

  1. Using an integrated knowledge translation approach to build a public health research agenda.

    PubMed

    Kothari, Anita; Regan, Sandra; Gore, Dana; Valaitis, Ruta; Garcia, John; Manson, Heather; O'Mara, Linda

    2014-01-29

    Public Health Systems Research is an emerging field of research that is gaining importance in Canada. On October 22 and 23, 2012, public health researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers came together at the Accelerating Public Health Systems Research in Ontario: Building an Agenda think tank to develop a research agenda for the province. This agenda included the identification of the six top priorities for research in Ontario: public health performance, evidence-based practice, public health organization and structure, public health human resources, public health infrastructure, and partnerships/linkages. This paper explores the priorities in detail and hopes to bring more attention to this area of research.

  2. A knowledge authoring tool for clinical decision support.

    PubMed

    Dunsmuir, Dustin; Daniels, Jeremy; Brouse, Christopher; Ford, Simon; Ansermino, J Mark

    2008-06-01

    Anesthesiologists in the operating room are unable to constantly monitor all data generated by physiological monitors. They are further distracted by clinical and educational tasks. An expert system would ideally provide assistance to the anesthesiologist in this data-rich environment. Clinical monitoring expert systems have not been widely adopted, as traditional methods of knowledge encoding require both expert medical and programming skills, making knowledge acquisition difficult. A software application was developed for use as a knowledge authoring tool for physiological monitoring. This application enables clinicians to create knowledge rules without the need of a knowledge engineer or programmer. These rules are designed to provide clinical diagnosis, explanations and treatment advice for optimal patient care to the clinician in real time. By intelligently combining data from physiological monitors and demographical data sources the expert system can use these rules to assist in monitoring the patient. The knowledge authoring process is simplified by limiting connective relationships between rules. The application is designed to allow open collaboration between communities of clinicians to build a library of rules for clinical use. This design provides clinicians with a system for parameter surveillance and expert advice with a transparent pathway of reasoning. A usability evaluation demonstrated that anesthesiologists can rapidly develop useful rules for use in a predefined clinical scenario.

  3. Designs for Collective Cognitive Responsibility in Knowledge-Building Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Jianwei; Scardamalia, Marlene; Reeve, Richard; Messina, Richard

    2009-01-01

    This article reports a design experiment conducted over three successive school years, with the teacher's goal of having his Grade 4 students assume increasing levels of collective responsibility for advancing their knowledge of optics. Classroom practices conducive to sustained knowledge building were co-constructed by the teacher and students,…

  4. Applying Service-Oriented Architecture on The Development of Groundwater Modeling Support System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, C. Y.; WANG, Y.; Chang, L. C.; Tsai, J. P.; Hsiao, C. T.

    2016-12-01

    Groundwater simulation has become an essential step on the groundwater resources management and assessment. There are many stand-alone pre- and post-processing software packages to alleviate the model simulation loading, but the stand-alone software do not consider centralized management of data and simulation results neither do they provide network sharing functions. Hence, it is difficult to share and reuse the data and knowledge (simulation cases) systematically within or across companies. Therefore, this study develops a centralized and network based groundwater modeling support system to assist model construction. The system is based on service-oriented architecture and allows remote user to develop their modeling cases on internet. The data and cases (knowledge) are thus easy to manage centralized. MODFLOW is the modeling engine of the system, which is the most popular groundwater model in the world. The system provides a data warehouse to restore groundwater observations, MODFLOW Support Service, MODFLOW Input File & Shapefile Convert Service, MODFLOW Service, and Expert System Service to assist researchers to build models. Since the system architecture is service-oriented, it is scalable and flexible. The system can be easily extended to include the scenarios analysis and knowledge management to facilitate the reuse of groundwater modeling knowledge.

  5. Empowering Knowledge-Building Pedagogy in Online Environments: Creating Digital Moments to Transform Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barber, Wendy; Taylor, Stacey; Buchanan, Sylvia

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to examine a specific online pedagogical tool, "Digital Moments" that can be an effective strategy for building online communities in a knowledge building environment. While the paper will examine the specific techniques and teaching methodologies that enabled the authors to create authentic online learning…

  6. What Is Improvement Science? Do We Need It in Education?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewis, Catherine

    2015-01-01

    The theory and tools of "improvement science" have produced performance improvements in many organizational sectors. This essay describes improvement science and explores its potential and challenges within education. Potential contributions include attention to the knowledge-building and motivational systems within schools, strategies…

  7. EPA's Sustainable Port Communities: a Knowledge System Approach to Increasing Resiliency

    EPA Science Inventory

    Create a Sustainability Assessment Toolbox for US ports that: • Addresses multiple issues faced by ports • Builds on work from other EPA Research Programs • Complements other resiliency work from federal and NGO partners, e.g.: EPA’s Office of Transportat...

  8. The study of co-citation analysis and knowledge structure on healthcare domain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chu, Kuo-Chung; Liu, Wen-I.; Tsai, Ming-Yu

    2012-11-01

    With the prevalence of Internet and digital archives, the online e-journal database facilitates scholars to search literature in a research domain, or to cross-search an inter-disciplined field; the key literature can be efficiently traced out. This study intends to build a Web-based citation analysis system, which consists of four modules, they are: 1) literature search module; (2) statistics module; (3) articles analysis module; and (4) co-citation analysis module. The system focuses on PubMed Central dataset that has 170,000 records. In a research domain, a specific keyword searches in terms of authors, journals, and core issues. In addition, we use data mining techniques for co-citation analysis. The results assist researchers with in-depth understanding of the domain knowledge. Having an automated system for co-citation analysis, it helps to understand changes, trends, and knowledge structure of research domain. For the best of our knowledge, the proposed system differentiates from existing online electronic retrieval database analysis function. Perhaps, the proposed system is going to be a value-added database of healthcare domain, and hope to contribute the researchers.

  9. Putting more ‘modern’ in modern physics education: a Knowledge Building approach using student questions and ideas about the universe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wagner, Glenn

    2017-03-01

    Student-generated questions and ideas about our universe are the start of a rich and highly motivating learning environment. Using their curiosity-driven questions and ideas, students form Knowledge Building groups or ‘communities’ where they plan, set goals, design questions for research, and assess the progress of their work, tasks that were once under the control of the teacher. With the understanding that all knowledge and ideas are treated as improvable, students work collaboratively at their level of competency to share their knowledge, ideas and understandings gained from authoritative sources and laboratory activities. Over time, students work collectively to improve the knowledge and ideas of others that result in advances in understanding that benefit not only the individual but the community as a whole. Learning outcomes reported in this paper demonstrate that a Knowledge Building environment applied to introductory cosmology produced similar gains in knowledge and understanding surrounding foundational concepts compared to teacher-centred learning environments. Aside from new knowledge and understanding, students develop important skills and competencies such as question-asking, idea development, communication, collaboration that are becoming ever more important for 21st century living and working. Finally, the process of planning and initiating a Knowledge Building environment that produced the results reported in this paper is outlined.

  10. a Conceptual Framework for Virtual Geographic Environments Knowledge Engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    You, Lan; Lin, Hui

    2016-06-01

    VGE geographic knowledge refers to the abstract and repeatable geo-information which is related to the geo-science problem, geographical phenomena and geographical laws supported by VGE. That includes expert experiences, evolution rule, simulation processes and prediction results in VGE. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for VGE knowledge engineering in order to effectively manage and use geographic knowledge in VGE. Our approach relies on previous well established theories on knowledge engineering and VGE. The main contribution of this report is following: (1) The concepts of VGE knowledge and VGE knowledge engineering which are defined clearly; (2) features about VGE knowledge different with common knowledge; (3) geographic knowledge evolution process that help users rapidly acquire knowledge in VGE; and (4) a conceptual framework for VGE knowledge engineering providing the supporting methodologies system for building an intelligent VGE. This conceptual framework systematically describes the related VGE knowledge theories and key technologies. That will promote the rapid transformation from geodata to geographic knowledge, and furtherly reduce the gap between the data explosion and knowledge absence.

  11. Finding External Indicators of Load on a Web Server via Analysis of Black-Box Performance Measurements

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chiarini, Marc A.

    2010-01-01

    Traditional methods for system performance analysis have long relied on a mix of queuing theory, detailed system knowledge, intuition, and trial-and-error. These approaches often require construction of incomplete gray-box models that can be costly to build and difficult to scale or generalize. In this thesis, we present a black-box analysis…

  12. HPIminer: A text mining system for building and visualizing human protein interaction networks and pathways.

    PubMed

    Subramani, Suresh; Kalpana, Raja; Monickaraj, Pankaj Moses; Natarajan, Jeyakumar

    2015-04-01

    The knowledge on protein-protein interactions (PPI) and their related pathways are equally important to understand the biological functions of the living cell. Such information on human proteins is highly desirable to understand the mechanism of several diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease. Because much of that information is buried in biomedical literature, an automated text mining system for visualizing human PPI and pathways is highly desirable. In this paper, we present HPIminer, a text mining system for visualizing human protein interactions and pathways from biomedical literature. HPIminer extracts human PPI information and PPI pairs from biomedical literature, and visualize their associated interactions, networks and pathways using two curated databases HPRD and KEGG. To our knowledge, HPIminer is the first system to build interaction networks from literature as well as curated databases. Further, the new interactions mined only from literature and not reported earlier in databases are highlighted as new. A comparative study with other similar tools shows that the resultant network is more informative and provides additional information on interacting proteins and their associated networks. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Research utilization in the building industry: decision model and preliminary assessment

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

    Watts, R.L.; Johnson, D.R.; Smith, S.A.

    1985-10-01

    The Research Utilization Program was conceived as a far-reaching means for managing the interactions of the private sector and the federal research sector as they deal with energy conservation in buildings. The program emphasizes a private-public partnership in planning a research agenda and in applying the results of ongoing and completed research. The results of this task support the hypothesis that the transfer of R and D results to the buildings industry can be accomplished more efficiently and quickly by a systematic approach to technology transfer. This systematic approach involves targeting decision makers, assessing research and information needs, properly formatingmore » information, and then transmitting the information through trusted channels. The purpose of this report is to introduce elements of a market-oriented knowledge base, which would be useful to the Building Systems Division, the Office of Buildings and Community Systems and their associated laboratories in managing a private-public research partnership on a rational systematic basis. This report presents conceptual models and data bases that can be used in formulating a technology transfer strategy and in planning technology transfer programs.« less

  14. SDH-NET: a South-North-South collaboration to build sustainable research capacities on social determinants of health in low- and middle-income countries.

    PubMed

    Cash-Gibson, Lucinda; Guerra, German; Salgado-de-Snyder, V Nelly

    2015-10-22

    It is desirable that health researchers have the ability to conduct research on health equity and contribute to the development of their national health system and policymaking processes. However, in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), there is a limited capacity to conduct this type of research due to reasons mostly associated with the status of national (health) research systems. Building sustainable research capacity in LMICs through the triangulation of South-North-South (S-N-S) collaborative networks seems to be an effective way to maximize limited national resources to strengthen these capacities. This article describes how a collaborative project (SDH-Net), funded by the European Commission, has successfully designed a study protocol and a S-N-S collaborative network to effectively support research capacity building in LMICs, specifically in the area of social determinants of health (SDH); this project seeks to elaborate on the vital role of global collaborative networks in strengthening this practice. The implementation of SDH-Net comprised diverse activities developed in three phases. Phase 1: national level mapping exercises were conducted to assess the needs for SDH capacity building or strengthening in local research systems. Four strategic areas were defined, namely research implementation and system performance, social appropriation of knowledge, institutional and national research infrastructure, and research skills and training/networks. Phase 2: development of tools to address the identified capacity building needs, as well as knowledge management and network strengthening activities. Phase 3: identifying lessons learned in terms of research ethics, and how policies can support the capacity building process in SDH research. The implementation of the protocol has led the network to design innovative tools for strengthening SDH research capacities, under a successful S-N-S collaboration that included national mapping reports, a global open-access learning platform with tools and resources, ethical guidelines for research, policy recommendations, and academic contributions to the global SDH discourse. The effective triangulation of S-N-S partnerships can be of high value in building sustainable research capacity in LMICs. If designed appropriately, these multicultural, multi-institutional, and multidisciplinary collaborations can enable southern and northern academics to contextualize global research according to their national realities.

  15. Research Networks, Mentorship and Sustainability Knowledge

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kafle, A.; Mukhopadhyay, P.; Nepal, M.; Shyamsundar, P.

    2015-12-01

    In South Asia, a majority of institutions are ill-equipped to undertake research on multi-disciplinary environmental problems, though these problems are increasing at a fast rate and connected to the region's poverty and growth objectives. In this context, the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE) tries to fill a research, training and knowledge gap by building skills in the area of Environment and Development Economics. In this paper, the authors argue that research networks contribute to the growth of sustainability knowledge through (a) knowledge creation, (b) knowledge transfer and (c) knowledge deepening. The paper tries to show the relationship between capacity building, mentorship and research scholarship. It demonstrates that researchers, by associating with the network and its multiple training and mentoring processes, are able to build skills, change curricula and deliver useful knowledge products. The paper discusses the need for interdisciplinary research and the challenges of bridging the gap between research outputs and policy reforms.

  16. Designing for health in school buildings: between research and practice.

    PubMed

    Kirkeby, Inge Mette; Jensen, Bjarne Bruun; Larsen, Kristian; Kural, René

    2015-05-01

    To investigate the kinds of knowledge practitioners use when planning and designing for health in school buildings. Twelve semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with architects, teachers and officials to investigate use of knowledge in the making of school buildings. Practitioners drew on many kinds and sources of knowledge, but in particular they made use of concepts, examples or pictures or thought-provoking knowledge. However, the interviews indicate a number of hurdles for efficient knowledge sharing between research and practice: (1) a considerable discrepancy between kinds of knowledge used by practice and knowledge traditionally produced by research; (2) research-knowledge and practice-knowledge form two circuits and the flow from one circuit to the other is weak; (3) practitioners' knowledge was often based on experience and therefore person-dependent. It makes the knowledge vulnerable. Special attention has to be paid by research to concepts and principles to guide the decision-making in practice. Further is recommended to consider new kinds of collaboration between researchers and practitioners. © 2015 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.

  17. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of multiple environmental factors for swine building assessment and control.

    PubMed

    Xie, Qiuju; Ni, Ji-Qin; Su, Zhongbin

    2017-10-15

    In confined swine buildings, temperature, humidity, and air quality are all important for animal health and productivity. However, the current swine building environmental control is only based on temperature; and evaluation and control methods based on multiple environmental factors are needed. In this paper, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) theory was adopted for multi-factor assessment of environmental quality in two commercial swine buildings using real measurement data. An assessment index system and membership functions were established; and predetermined weights were given using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) combined with knowledge of experts. The results show that multi-factors such as temperature, humidity, and concentrations of ammonia (NH 3 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) can be successfully integrated in FCE for swine building environment assessment. The FCE method has a high correlation coefficient of 0.737 compared with the method of single-factor evaluation (SFE). The FCE method can significantly increase the sensitivity and perform an effective and integrative assessment. It can be used as part of environmental controlling and warning systems for swine building environment management to improve swine production and welfare. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. On Building an Ontological Knowledge Base for Managing Patient Safety Events.

    PubMed

    Liang, Chen; Gong, Yang

    2015-01-01

    Over the past decade, improving healthcare quality and safety through patient safety event reporting systems has drawn much attention. Unfortunately, such systems are suffering from low data quality, inefficient data entry and ineffective information retrieval. For improving the systems, we develop a semantic web ontology based on the WHO International Classification for Patient Safety (ICPS) and AHRQ Common Formats for patient safety event reporting. The ontology holds potential in enhancing knowledge management and information retrieval, as well as providing flexible data entry and case analysis for both reporters and reviewers of patient safety events. In this paper, we detailed our efforts in data acquisition, transformation, implementation and initial evaluation of the ontology.

  19. Life insurance risk assessment using a fuzzy logic expert system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carreno, Luis A.; Steel, Roy A.

    1992-01-01

    In this paper, we present a knowledge based system that combines fuzzy processing with rule-based processing to form an improved decision aid for evaluating risk for life insurance. This application illustrates the use of FuzzyCLIPS to build a knowledge based decision support system possessing fuzzy components to improve user interactions and KBS performance. The results employing FuzzyCLIPS are compared with the results obtained from the solution of the problem using traditional numerical equations. The design of the fuzzy solution consists of a CLIPS rule-based system for some factors combined with fuzzy logic rules for others. This paper describes the problem, proposes a solution, presents the results, and provides a sample output of the software product.

  20. Early Experience in Implementation of a Learning Assessment Toolkit in the AOTrauma Geriatric Fracture Course

    PubMed Central

    O’Malley, Natasha T.; Cunningham, Michael; Leung, Frankie; Blauth, Michael; Kates, Stephen L.

    2011-01-01

    Background: Surgical education is continually expanding to encompass new techniques and technologies. It is vital that educational activity is directed at gaps in knowledge and ability to improve the quality of learning. Aim: The aim of this study is to describe a published learning assessment toolkit when applied to participants attending AOTrauma Orthogeriatric Fracture courses. Methods: Precourse, participants received a questionnaire covering 10 competencies to assess knowledge gaps and a 20-question clinical knowledge test. The knowledge gap between perceived and desired knowledge was correlated with clinical knowledge test results to help course faculty focus the course curriculum to meet identified educational needs. A commitment to change survey was also administered. Results: Over 3 courses, 48% of registered attendees responded to the precourse survey, 44.5% responded postcourse. The precourse gap scores were generally highest for 2 competencies (“address secondary prevention,” “build a system of care”) indicating a higher level of motivation to learn in these topics and lowest for a variety of competencies (eg. “restore function early,” “co-manage patient care in the US surgeons group”) indicating lower motivation to learn in these competencies. These precourse gap scores guided adaptations in the course structure. Postcourse gaps were reduced in the 4 cohorts. Large improvements were seen in “Address secondary prevention” and “Build a system of care” in many of the cohorts. Competencies with the lowest precourse knowledge test scores were noted in each cohort. Where low pretest scores were noted, it highlighted the need for faculty to put appropriate emphasis on these topics in the delivery of the course content. Conclusion: The technique of evaluating and identifying gaps in knowledge and ability allows course designers to focus on areas of deficits. Measurable success was shown with a subjectively decreased gap score and objectively improved clinical knowledge, as demonstrated by improved test results after course completion. PMID:23569686

  1. A rule-based expert system applied to moisture durability of building envelopes

    DOE PAGES

    Boudreaux, Philip R.; Pallin, Simon B.; Accawi, Gina K.; ...

    2018-01-09

    The moisture durability of an envelope component such as a wall or roof is difficult to predict. Moisture durability depends on all the construction materials used, as well as the climate, orientation, air tightness, and indoor conditions. Modern building codes require more insulation and tighter construction but provide little guidance about how to ensure these energy-efficient assemblies remain moisture durable. Furthermore, as new products and materials are introduced, builders are increasingly uncertain about the long-term durability of their building envelope designs. Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the US Department of Energy’s Building America Program are applying a rule-based expert systemmore » methodology in a web tool to help designers determine whether a given wall design is likely to be moisture durable and provide expert guidance on moisture risk management specific to a wall design and climate. Finally, the expert system is populated with knowledge from both expert judgment and probabilistic hygrothermal simulation results.« less

  2. A rule-based expert system applied to moisture durability of building envelopes

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

    Boudreaux, Philip R.; Pallin, Simon B.; Accawi, Gina K.

    The moisture durability of an envelope component such as a wall or roof is difficult to predict. Moisture durability depends on all the construction materials used, as well as the climate, orientation, air tightness, and indoor conditions. Modern building codes require more insulation and tighter construction but provide little guidance about how to ensure these energy-efficient assemblies remain moisture durable. Furthermore, as new products and materials are introduced, builders are increasingly uncertain about the long-term durability of their building envelope designs. Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the US Department of Energy’s Building America Program are applying a rule-based expert systemmore » methodology in a web tool to help designers determine whether a given wall design is likely to be moisture durable and provide expert guidance on moisture risk management specific to a wall design and climate. Finally, the expert system is populated with knowledge from both expert judgment and probabilistic hygrothermal simulation results.« less

  3. Implementing a Technology-Supported Model for Cross-Organisational Learning and Knowledge Building for Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tammets, Kairit; Pata, Kai; Laanpere, Mart

    2012-01-01

    This study proposed using the elaborated learning and knowledge building model (LKB model) derived from Nonaka and Takeuchi's knowledge management model for supporting cross-organisational teacher development in the temporarily extended organisations composed of universities and schools. It investigated the main LKB model components in the context…

  4. Knowledge Building and Mathematics: Shifting the Responsibility for Knowledge Advancement and Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moss, Joan; Beatty, Ruth

    2010-01-01

    Three classrooms of Grade 4 students from different schools and diverse backgrounds collaborated in early algebra research to solve a series of linear and quadratic generalizing problems. Results revealed that high- and low-achieving students were able to solve problems of recognized difficulty. We discuss Knowledge Building principles and…

  5. Reflective Assessment in Knowledge Building by Students with Low Academic Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Yuqin; van Aalst, Jan; Chan, Carol K. K.; Tian, Wen

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated whether and how students with low prior achievement can carry out and benefit from reflective assessment supported by the Knowledge Connections Analyzer (KCA) to collaboratively improve their knowledge-building discourse. Participants were a class of 20 Grade 11 students with low achievement taking visual art from an…

  6. Literature search strategies for conducting knowledge-building and theory-generating qualitative systematic reviews.

    PubMed

    Finfgeld-Connett, Deborah; Johnson, E Diane

    2013-01-01

    To report literature search strategies for the purpose of conducting knowledge-building and theory-generating qualitative systematic reviews. Qualitative systematic reviews lie on a continuum from knowledge-building and theory-generating to aggregating and summarizing. Different types of literature searches are needed to optimally support these dissimilar reviews. Articles published between 1989-Autumn 2011. These documents were identified using a hermeneutic approach and multiple literature search strategies. Redundancy is not the sole measure of validity when conducting knowledge-building and theory-generating systematic reviews. When conducting these types of reviews, literature searches should be consistent with the goal of fully explicating concepts and the interrelationships among them. To accomplish this objective, a 'berry picking' approach is recommended along with strategies for overcoming barriers to finding qualitative research reports. To enhance integrity of knowledge-building and theory-generating systematic reviews, reviewers are urged to make literature search processes as transparent as possible, despite their complexity. This includes fully explaining and rationalizing what databases were used and how they were searched. It also means describing how literature tracking was conducted and grey literature was searched. In the end, the decision to cease searching also needs to be fully explained and rationalized. Predetermined linear search strategies are unlikely to generate search results that are adequate for purposes of conducting knowledge-building and theory-generating qualitative systematic reviews. Instead, it is recommended that iterative search strategies take shape as reviews evolve. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  7. Formative Qualitative Evaluation for "Exploratory" ITS Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murray, Tom

    1993-01-01

    Discusses evaluation methods applicable to exploratory research areas, provides an overview of qualitative and formative methods for exploratory research on intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) and describes an exploratory study in ITS knowledge acquisition which involved working with three educators to build an ITS for high school physics.…

  8. Ten Years of Entrepreneurship Education at Chinese Universities: Evolution, Problems, and System Building

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weiming, Li; Chunyan, Li; Xiaohua, Du

    2016-01-01

    Entrepreneurship education has experienced four stages of development in Chinese universities, shifting from entrepreneurship show to entrepreneurship education, from teacher training to student education, from classroom teaching to multimodal teaching, and from imparting knowledge to cultivating skills. Currently, the weak links in…

  9. Artificial Immune System Approaches for Aerospace Applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    KrishnaKumar, Kalmanje; Koga, Dennis (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

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

  10. Using AI/expert system technology to automate planning and replanning for the HST servicing missions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bogovich, L.; Johnson, J; Tuchman, A.; Mclean, D.; Page, B.; Kispert, A.; Burkhardt, C.; Littlefield, R.; Potter, W.

    1993-01-01

    This paper describes a knowledge-based system that has been developed to automate planning and scheduling for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Missions. This new system is the Servicing Mission Planning and Replanning Tool (SM/PART). SM/PART has been delivered to the HST Flight Operations Team (FOT) at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) where it is being used to build integrated time lines and command plans to control the activities of the HST, Shuttle, Crew and ground systems for the next HST Servicing Mission. SM/PART reuses and extends AI/expert system technology from Interactive Experimenter Planning System (IEPS) systems to build or rebuild time lines and command plans more rapidly than was possible for previous missions where they were built manually. This capability provides an important safety factor for the HST, Shuttle and Crew in case unexpected events occur during the mission.

  11. The NASA Microgravity Fluid Physics Program: Knowledge for Use on Earth and Future Space Missions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kohl, Fred J.; Singh, Bhim S.; Alexander, J. Iwan; Shaw, Nancy J.; Hill, Myron E.; Gati, Frank G.

    2002-01-01

    Building on over four decades of research and technology development related to the behavior of fluids in low gravity environments, the current NASA Microgravity Fluid Physics Program continues the quest for knowledge to further understand and design better fluids systems for use on earth and in space. The purpose of the Fluid Physics Program is to support the goals of NASA's Biological and Physical Research Enterprise which seeks to exploit the space environment to conduct research and to develop commercial opportunities, while building the vital knowledge base needed to enable efficient and effective systems for protecting and sustaining humans during extended space flights. There are currently five major research areas in the Microgravity Fluid Physics Program: complex fluids, multiphase flows and phase change, interfacial phenomena, biofluid mechanics, and dynamics and instabilities. Numerous investigations into these areas are being conducted in both ground-based laboratories and facilities and in the flight experiments program. Most of the future NASA-sponsored fluid physics and transport phenomena studies will be carried out on the International Space Station in the Fluids Integrated Rack, in the Microgravity Science Glovebox, in EXPRESS racks, and in other facilities provided by international partners. This paper will present an overview of the near- and long-term visions for NASA's Microgravity Fluid Physics Research Program and brief descriptions of hardware systems planned to achieve this research.

  12. Use of a wiki as a radiology departmental knowledge management system.

    PubMed

    Meenan, Christopher; King, Antoinette; Toland, Christopher; Daly, Mark; Nagy, Paul

    2010-04-01

    Information technology teams in health care are tasked with maintaining a variety of information systems with complex support requirements. In radiology, this includes picture archive and communication systems, radiology information systems, speech recognition systems, and other ancillary systems. Hospital information technology (IT) departments are required to provide 24 x 7 support for these mission-critical systems that directly support patient care in emergency and other critical care departments. The practical know-how to keep these systems operational and diagnose problems promptly is difficult to maintain around the clock. Specific details on infrequent failure modes or advanced troubleshooting strategies may reside with only a few senior staff members. Our goal was to reduce diagnosis and recovery times for issues with our mission-critical systems. We created a knowledge base for building and quickly disseminating technical expertise to our entire support staff. We used an open source, wiki-based, collaborative authoring system internally within our IT department to improve our ability to deliver a high level of service to our customers. In this paper, we describe our evaluation of the wiki and the ways in which we used it to organize our support knowledge. We found the wiki to be an effective tool for knowledge management and for improving our ability to provide mission-critical support for health care IT systems.

  13. Evaluating investment in quality improvement capacity building: a systematic review.

    PubMed

    Mery, Gustavo; Dobrow, Mark J; Baker, G Ross; Im, Jennifer; Brown, Adalsteinn

    2017-02-20

    Leading health systems have invested in substantial quality improvement (QI) capacity building, but little is known about the aggregate effect of these investments at the health system level. We conducted a systematic review to identify key steps and elements that should be considered for system-level evaluations of investment in QI capacity building. We searched for evaluations of QI capacity building and evaluations of QI training programmes. We included the most relevant indexed databases in the field and a strategic search of the grey literature. The latter included direct electronic scanning of 85 relevant government and institutional websites internationally. Data were extracted regarding evaluation design and common assessment themes and components. 48 articles met the inclusion criteria. 46 articles described initiative-level non-economic evaluations of QI capacity building/training, while 2 studies included economic evaluations of QI capacity building/training, also at the initiative level. No system-level QI capacity building/training evaluations were found. We identified 17 evaluation components that fit within 5 overarching dimensions (characteristics of QI training; characteristics of QI activity; individual capacity; organisational capacity and impact) that should be considered in evaluations of QI capacity building. 8 key steps in return-on-investment (ROI) assessments in QI capacity building were identified: (1) planning-stakeholder perspective; (2) planning-temporal perspective; (3) identifying costs; (4) identifying benefits; (5) identifying intangible benefits that will not be included in the ROI estimation; (6) discerning attribution; (7) ROI calculations; (8) sensitivity analysis. The literature on QI capacity building evaluation is limited in the number and scope of studies. Our findings, summarised in a Framework to Guide Evaluations of QI Capacity Building , can be used to start closing this knowledge gap. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  14. Native Geoscience: Pathways to Knowledge

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bolman, J. R.; Seielstad, G.

    2006-12-01

    We are living in a definite time of change. Distinct changes are being experienced in our most sacred and natural environments. This is especially true on Native lands. Native people have lived for millennia in distinct and unique ways. The knowledge of balancing the needs of people with the needs of our natural environments is paramount in all tribal societies. This inherent accumulated knowledge has become the foundation on which to build a "blended" contemporary understanding of western science. The Dakota's and Northern California have embraced the critical need of understanding successful tribal strategies to engage educational systems (K-12 and higher education), to bring to prominence the professional development opportunities forged through working with tribal peoples and ensure the continued growth of Native earth and environmental scientists The presentation will highlight: 1) past and present philosophies on building and maintaining Native/Tribal students in earth and environmental sciences; 2) successful educational programs/activities in PreK-Ph.D. systems; 3) current Native leadership development in earth and environmental sciences; and 4) forward thinking for creating proaction collaborations addressing sustainable environmental, educational and social infrastructures for all people. Humboldt State University (HSU) and the University of North Dakota's Northern Great Plains Center for People and the Environment and the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium (UMAC) have been recognized nationally for their partnerships with Native communities. Unique collaborations are emerging "bridging" Native people across geographic areas in developing educational/research experiences which integrate the distinctive earth/environmental knowledge of tribal people. The presentation will highlight currently funded projects and initiatives as well as success stories of emerging Native earth system students and scientists.

  15. Bioinformatics workflows and web services in systems biology made easy for experimentalists.

    PubMed

    Jimenez, Rafael C; Corpas, Manuel

    2013-01-01

    Workflows are useful to perform data analysis and integration in systems biology. Workflow management systems can help users create workflows without any previous knowledge in programming and web services. However the computational skills required to build such workflows are usually above the level most biological experimentalists are comfortable with. In this chapter we introduce workflow management systems that reuse existing workflows instead of creating them, making it easier for experimentalists to perform computational tasks.

  16. Understanding Human Perception of Building Categories in Virtual 3d Cities - a User Study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tutzauer, P.; Becker, S.; Niese, T.; Deussen, O.; Fritsch, D.

    2016-06-01

    Virtual 3D cities are becoming increasingly important as a means of visually communicating diverse urban-related information. To get a deeper understanding of a human's cognitive experience of virtual 3D cities, this paper presents a user study on the human ability to perceive building categories (e.g. residential home, office building, building with shops etc.) from geometric 3D building representations. The study reveals various dependencies between geometric properties of the 3D representations and the perceptibility of the building categories. Knowledge about which geometries are relevant, helpful or obstructive for perceiving a specific building category is derived. The importance and usability of such knowledge is demonstrated based on a perception-guided 3D building abstraction process.

  17. Knowledge-based machine indexing from natural language text: Knowledge base design, development, and maintenance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Genuardi, Michael T.

    1993-01-01

    One strategy for machine-aided indexing (MAI) is to provide a concept-level analysis of the textual elements of documents or document abstracts. In such systems, natural-language phrases are analyzed in order to identify and classify concepts related to a particular subject domain. The overall performance of these MAI systems is largely dependent on the quality and comprehensiveness of their knowledge bases. These knowledge bases function to (1) define the relations between a controlled indexing vocabulary and natural language expressions; (2) provide a simple mechanism for disambiguation and the determination of relevancy; and (3) allow the extension of concept-hierarchical structure to all elements of the knowledge file. After a brief description of the NASA Machine-Aided Indexing system, concerns related to the development and maintenance of MAI knowledge bases are discussed. Particular emphasis is given to statistically-based text analysis tools designed to aid the knowledge base developer. One such tool, the Knowledge Base Building (KBB) program, presents the domain expert with a well-filtered list of synonyms and conceptually-related phrases for each thesaurus concept. Another tool, the Knowledge Base Maintenance (KBM) program, functions to identify areas of the knowledge base affected by changes in the conceptual domain (for example, the addition of a new thesaurus term). An alternate use of the KBM as an aid in thesaurus construction is also discussed.

  18. Building the capacity of policy-makers and planners to strengthen mental health systems in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

    PubMed

    Keynejad, Roxanne; Semrau, Maya; Toynbee, Mark; Evans-Lacko, Sara; Lund, Crick; Gureje, Oye; Ndyanabangi, Sheila; Courtin, Emilie; Abdulmalik, Jibril O; Alem, Atalay; Fekadu, Abebaw; Thornicroft, Graham; Hanlon, Charlotte

    2016-10-21

    Little is known about the interventions required to build the capacity of mental health policy-makers and planners in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We conducted a systematic review with the primary aim of identifying and synthesizing the evidence base for building the capacity of policy-makers and planners to strengthen mental health systems in LMICs. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Knowledge, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, LILACS, ScieELO, Google Scholar and Cochrane databases for studies reporting evidence, experience or evaluation of capacity-building of policy-makers, service planners or managers in mental health system strengthening in LMICs. Reports in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French or German were included. Additional papers were identified by hand-searching references and contacting experts and key informants. Database searches yielded 2922 abstracts and 28 additional papers were identified. Following screening, 409 full papers were reviewed, of which 14 fulfilled inclusion criteria for the review. Data were extracted from all included papers and synthesized into a narrative review. Only a small number of mental health system-related capacity-building interventions for policy-makers and planners in LMICs were described. Most models of capacity-building combined brief training with longer term mentorship, dialogue and/or the establishment of networks of support. However, rigorous research and evaluation methods were largely absent, with studies being of low quality, limiting the potential to separate mental health system strengthening outcomes from the effects of associated contextual factors. This review demonstrates the need for partnership approaches to building the capacity of mental health policy-makers and planners in LMICs, assessed rigorously against pre-specified conceptual frameworks and hypotheses, utilising longitudinal evaluation and mixed quantitative and qualitative approaches.

  19. Automatic computation for optimum height planning of apartment buildings to improve solar access

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

    Seong, Yoon-Bok; Kim, Yong-Yee; Seok, Ho-Tae

    2011-01-15

    The objective of this study is to suggest a mathematical model and an optimal algorithm for determining the height of apartment buildings to satisfy the solar rights of survey buildings or survey housing units. The objective is also to develop an automatic computation model for the optimum height of apartment buildings and then to clarify the performance and expected effects. To accomplish the objective of this study, the following procedures were followed: (1) The necessity of the height planning of obstruction buildings to satisfy the solar rights of survey buildings or survey housing units is demonstrated by analyzing through amore » literature review the recent trend of disputes related to solar rights and to examining the social requirements in terms of solar rights. In addition, the necessity of the automatic computation system for height planning of apartment buildings is demonstrated and a suitable analysis method for this system is chosen by investigating the characteristics of analysis methods for solar rights assessment. (2) A case study on the process of height planning of apartment buildings will be briefly described and the problems occurring in this process will then be examined carefully. (3) To develop an automatic computation model for height planning of apartment buildings, geometrical elements forming apartment buildings are defined by analyzing the geometrical characteristics of apartment buildings. In addition, design factors and regulations required in height planning of apartment buildings are investigated. Based on this knowledge, the methodology and mathematical algorithm to adjust the height of apartment buildings by automatic computation are suggested and probable problems and the ways to resolve these problems are discussed. Finally, the methodology and algorithm for the optimization are suggested. (4) Based on the suggested methodology and mathematical algorithm, the automatic computation model for optimum height of apartment buildings is developed and the developed system is verified through the application of some cases. The effects of the suggested model are then demonstrated quantitatively and qualitatively. (author)« less

  20. Indigenous Knowledge - A Holistic View Through a Food Security Lens

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Angnaboogok, V.; Behe, C.; Daniel, R. G.

    2017-12-01

    Rapid changes occurring within the Arctic heighten the need to understand the multiple drivers pushing change and their cumulative impacts. Most importantly to better understand Arctic change a holistic view is needed that can only be achieved through bringing together multiple knowledge systems and scientific disciplines. Inuit have called the Arctic home from time immemorial acquiring a knowledge system. The Inuit knowledge system continues to grow, and holds methodologies and assessment processes that provide a pathway for holistically understanding the Arctic. This holistic view is largely attributed to a focus on relationships between system components, close attention to food webs, and a unique understanding of interconnecting systems. The Alaskan Inuit understanding of food security represents an Indigenous way of viewing the world - where food security encompasses complex and interlinked cultural and environmental systems. These systems are comprised of connections among the health of people, animals, and plants; the different states of land, sea, and air; and the cultural fabric held together by language, cultural expression, and social integrity. Within the Inuit knowledge system, it is impossible to disentangle some of these relationships; when we discuss an Inuit food security perspective, it is this interconnectivity and these relationships that we refer to. This presentation will offer an introduction to what it means to adopt a food security lens approach - a view needed to build our knowledge of the changes that are occurring and further our understanding of cumulative impacts while illuminating the nexus between all pieces that make up Arctic ecosystems.

  1. Building VoiceXML-Based Applications

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2002-01-01

    basketball games. The Busline systems were pri- y developed using an early implementation of VoiceXML he NBA Update Line was developed using VoiceXML...traveling in and out of Pittsburgh’s rsity neighborhood. The second project is the NBA Up- Line, which provides callers with real-time information NBA ... NBA UPDATE LINE The target user of this system is a fairly knowledgeable basket- ball fan; the system must therefore be able to provide detailed

  2. Beyond bridging the know-do gap: a qualitative study of systemic interaction to foster knowledge exchange in the public health sector in The Netherlands.

    PubMed

    van den Driessen Mareeuw, Francine; Vaandrager, Lenneke; Klerkx, Laurens; Naaldenberg, Jenneken; Koelen, Maria

    2015-09-19

    Despite considerable attention currently being given to facilitating the use of research results in public health practice, several concerns remain, resulting in the so-called know-do gap. This article aims to identify the key tensions causing the know-do gap from a broad perspective by using a systemic approach and considering the public health sector as an innovation system. An exploratory qualitative design including in-depth semi-structured interviews was used, with 33 interviewees from different actor categories in the Dutch public health innovation system. The analyses employed an innovation system matrix to highlight the principal tensions causing the know-do gap. Seven key tensions were identified, including: research priorities determined by powerful players; no consensus about criteria for knowledge quality; different perceptions about the knowledge broker role; competition engendering fragmentation; thematic funding engendering fragmentation; predominance of passive knowledge sharing; and lack of capacity among users to use and influence research. The identified tensions indicate that bridging the know-do gap requires much more than linking research to practice or translating knowledge. An innovation system perspective is crucial in providing information on the total picture of knowledge exchange within the Dutch public health sector. Such a system includes broader stakeholder involvement as well as the creation of social, economic, and contextual conditions (achieving shared visions, building networks, institutional change, removing financial and infrastructural barriers), as these create conducive factors at several system levels and induce knowledge co-creation and innovation.

  3. An indoor augmented reality mobile application for simulation of building evacuation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharma, Sharad; Jerripothula, Shanmukha

    2015-03-01

    Augmented Reality enables people to remain connected with the physical environment they are in, and invites them to look at the world from new and alternative perspectives. There has been an increasing interest in emergency evacuation applications for mobile devices. Nearly all the smart phones these days are Wi-Fi and GPS enabled. In this paper, we propose a novel emergency evacuation system that will help people to safely evacuate a building in case of an emergency situation. It will further enhance knowledge and understanding of where the exits are in the building and safety evacuation procedures. We have applied mobile augmented reality (mobile AR) to create an application with Unity 3D gaming engine. We show how the mobile AR application is able to display a 3D model of the building and animation of people evacuation using markers and web camera. The system gives a visual representation of a building in 3D space, allowing people to see where exits are in the building through the use of a smart phone or tablets. Pilot studies were conducted with the system showing its partial success and demonstrated the effectiveness of the application in emergency evacuation. Our computer vision methods give good results when the markers are closer to the camera, but accuracy decreases when the markers are far away from the camera.

  4. Building Word Knowledge: Opportunities for Direct Vocabulary Instruction in General Education for Students with Reading Difficulties

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wanzek, Jeanne

    2014-01-01

    Direct vocabulary instruction is 1 critical component of reading instruction. Although most students in the elementary grades need to continue building their vocabulary knowledge, students with reading difficulties are at the greatest risk of falling further behind each year in vocabulary and concept knowledge without effective instruction. This…

  5. EDUsummIT: A Global Knowledge Building Community for Educational Researchers, Practitioners, and Policy Makers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Kwok-Wing; Voogt, Joke; Knezek, Gerald; Gibson, David

    2016-01-01

    The International Summit on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education (EDUsummIT) is a global knowledge building community of researchers, educational practitioners, and policy makers aiming to create and disseminate ideas and knowledge to promote the integration of ICT in education. Four EDUsummITs have been convened in The…

  6. Developing Secondary Students' Epistemic Agency in a Knowledge-Building Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Kwok-Wing; Campbell, Madeline

    2018-01-01

    A key educational objective for the twenty-first century is developing students' epistemic agency. Epistemic agency is the active process of choosing when, what, where one learns and how one knows, as well as the capacity to create knowledge in a community. The knowledge-building communities model developed by Scardamalia and Bereiter was used in…

  7. The Building Blocks of Digital Media Literacy: Socio-Material Participation and the Production of Media Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dezuanni, Michael

    2015-01-01

    This article outlines the knowledge and skills students develop when they engage in digital media production and analysis in school settings. The metaphor of "digital building blocks" is used to describe the material practices, conceptual understandings and production of knowledge that lead to the development of digital media literacy.…

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

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

    2015-01-01

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

  9. West Europe Report, Science and Technology

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-03-27

    exemption of employee shares), the French system does not sufficiently encourage creation and development of companies which depend on the often...pharmaceutical industry because with good reason the multina- tional chemical companies are investing millions in this area. The effects upon the...build upon knowledge gained from the high- performance wings of the Airbus A310 and Airbus A320. The com- pany considers that here systems of

  10. A Beginning: Building Global Competence.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hayden, Rose L.

    1983-01-01

    There seems to be little argument that the United States should have an education system that produces at least a minimum number of experts about other peoples, cultures, and languages, as well as professionals in business and government who can transact negotiations across national borders. Citizens should have the knowledge to comprehend and…

  11. The Root of the Problem

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grosser-Clarkson, Dana L.

    2015-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics expect students to build on their knowledge of the number system, expressions and equations, and functions throughout school mathematics. For example, students learn that they can add something to both sides of an equation and that doing so will not affect the equivalency; however, squaring both…

  12. Finding the Language to Teach Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cavanagh, Sean

    2008-01-01

    More than 400 educators in the Miami-Dade County, Florida, school system take part in a professional-development and curriculum program that attempts to build students' science knowledge while also helping them master English. Developed by researchers at the University of Miami, the Promoting Science among English Language Learners program…

  13. Partnerships for Change: Maximizing Consultative Services

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reinhardt, Patricia

    2011-01-01

    Consultation offers a cost-effective option that can develop into a satisfying, collaborative relationship that is highly productive, given the right ingredients: content and process knowledge on the part of the consultant, a systemic approach to change, and a foundation of professional and ethical standards on which to build a trustworthy…

  14. From First Contact to Close Encounters: A Developmentally Deep Perceptual System for a Humanoid Robot

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2003-06-01

    pages 961-968. Brooks, R. A., Breazeal, C., Marjanovic , M., and Scassellati, B. (1999). The Cog project: Building a humanoid robot. Lecture Notes in...investment in knowledge infrastructure. Communications of the ACM, 38(11):33-38. Marjanovic , M. (1995). Learning functional maps between sensorimotor

  15. Achieving Bologna Convergence: Is ECTS Failing to Make the Grade?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karran, Terence

    2004-01-01

    Transparent and consistent credit transfer procedures are essential if EU Universities are to successfully build the European Higher Education Area and thrive in the emerging global knowledge economy. Currently, the European Credit Transfer System is the most widely used mechanism to enable credit transfer between universities in different EU…

  16. E-Learning Systems Requirements Elicitation: Perspectives and Considerations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    AlKhuder, Shaikha B.; AlAli, Fatma H.

    2017-01-01

    Training and education have evolved far beyond black boards and chalk boxes. The environment of knowledge exchange requires more than simple materials and assessments. This article is an attempt of parsing through the different aspects of e-learning, understanding the real needs, and conducting the right requirements to build the appropriate…

  17. Backyard Botany: Using GPS Technology in the Science Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    March, Kathryn A.

    2012-01-01

    Global Positioning System (GPS) technology can be used to connect students to the natural world and improve their skills in observation, identification, and classification. Using GPS devices in the classroom increases student interest in science, encourages team-building skills, and improves biology content knowledge. Additionally, it helps…

  18. The application of SSADM to modelling the logical structure of proteins.

    PubMed

    Saldanha, J; Eccles, J

    1991-10-01

    A logical design that describes the overall structure of proteins, together with a more detailed design describing secondary and some supersecondary structures, has been constructed using the computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tool, Auto-mate. Auto-mate embodies the philosophy of the Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM) which enables the logical design of computer systems. Our design will facilitate the building of large information systems, such as databases and knowledgebases in the field of protein structure, by the derivation of system requirements from our logical model prior to producing the final physical system. In addition, the study has highlighted the ease of employing SSADM as a formalism in which to conduct the transferral of concepts from an expert into a design for a knowledge-based system that can be implemented on a computer (the knowledge-engineering exercise). It has been demonstrated how SSADM techniques may be extended for the purpose of modelling the constituent Prolog rules. This facilitates the integration of the logical system design model with the derived knowledge-based system.

  19. We Need to Build AN Upgraded, Digital Democracy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Helbing, Dirk

    With all the big data available, would it be possible to build a crystal ball allowing us to see everything that is going on in the world in real time? Such projects are in fact under way, built by the military and research centers around the world. These are also political projects, because knowledge is power. Will so much data enable the ruling of a wise king or a benevolent dictator? Could society even be run like a giant machine? Indeed, there are companies that work on such concepts, for example, Google and IBM. They aim at building an operating system for our society that would try to steer our decision-making and behavior with personalized information...

  20. Building policy capacities: an interactive approach for linking knowledge to action in health promotion.

    PubMed

    Rütten, Alfred; Gelius, Peter

    2014-09-01

    This article outlines a theoretical framework for an interactive, research-driven approach to building policy capacities in health promotion. First, it illustrates how two important issues in the recent public health debate, capacity building and linking scientific knowledge to policy action, are connected to each other theoretically. It then introduces an international study on an interactive approach to capacity building in health promotion policy. The approach combines the ADEPT model of policy capacities with a co-operative planning process to foster the exchange of knowledge between policy-makers and researchers, thus improving intra- and inter-organizational capacities. A regional-level physical activity promotion project involving governmental and public-law institutions, NGOs and university researchers serves as a case study to illustrate the potential of the approach for capacity building. Analysis and comparison with a similar local-level project indicate that the approach provides an effective means of linking scientific knowledge to policy action and to planning concrete measures for capacity building in health promotion, but that it requires sufficiently long timelines and adequate resources to achieve adequate implementation and sustainability. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  1. Modeling and Simulation of HVAC Faulty Operations and Performance Degradation due to Maintenance Issues

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

    Wang, Liping; Hong, Tianzhen

    Almost half of the total energy used in the U.S. buildings is consumed by heating, ventilation and air conditionings (HVAC) according to EIA statistics. Among various driving factors to energy performance of building, operations and maintenance play a significant role. Many researches have been done to look at design efficiencies and operational controls for improving energy performance of buildings, but very few study the impacts of HVAC systems maintenance. Different practices of HVAC system maintenance can result in substantial differences in building energy use. If a piece of HVAC equipment is not well maintained, its performance will degrade. If sensorsmore » used for control purpose are not calibrated, not only building energy usage could be dramatically increased, but also mechanical systems may not be able to satisfy indoor thermal comfort. Properly maintained HVAC systems can operate efficiently, improve occupant comfort, and prolong equipment service life. In the paper, maintenance practices for HVAC systems are presented based on literature reviews and discussions with HVAC engineers, building operators, facility managers, and commissioning agents. We categorize the maintenance practices into three levels depending on the maintenance effort and coverage: 1) proactive, performance-monitored maintenance; 2) preventive, scheduled maintenance; and 3) reactive, unplanned or no maintenance. A sampled list of maintenance issues, including cooling tower fouling, boiler/chiller fouling, refrigerant over or under charge, temperature sensor offset, outdoor air damper leakage, outdoor air screen blockage, outdoor air damper stuck at fully open position, and dirty filters are investigated in this study using field survey data and detailed simulation models. The energy impacts of both individual maintenance issue and combined scenarios for an office building with central VAV systems and central plant were evaluated by EnergyPlus simulations using three approaches: 1) direct modeling with EnergyPlus, 2) using the energy management system feature of EnergyPlus, and 3) modifying EnergyPlus source code. The results demonstrated the importance of maintenance for HVAC systems on energy performance of buildings. The research is intended to provide a guideline to help practitioners and building operators to gain the knowledge of maintaining HVAC systems in efficient operations, and prioritize HVAC maintenance work plan. The paper also discusses challenges of modeling building maintenance issues using energy simulation programs.« less

  2. Peak reduction for commercial buildings using energy storage

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chua, K. H.; Lim, Y. S.; Morris, S.

    2017-11-01

    Battery-based energy storage has emerged as a cost-effective solution for peak reduction due to the decrement of battery’s price. In this study, a battery-based energy storage system is developed and implemented to achieve an optimal peak reduction for commercial customers with the limited energy capacity of the energy storage. The energy storage system is formed by three bi-directional power converter rated at 5 kVA and a battery bank with capacity of 64 kWh. Three control algorithms, namely fixed-threshold, adaptive-threshold, and fuzzy-based control algorithms have been developed and implemented into the energy storage system in a campus building. The control algorithms are evaluated and compared under different load conditions. The overall experimental results show that the fuzzy-based controller is the most effective algorithm among the three controllers in peak reduction. The fuzzy-based control algorithm is capable of incorporating a priori qualitative knowledge and expertise about the load characteristic of the buildings as well as the useable energy without over-discharging the batteries.

  3. Developing A Web-based User Interface for Semantic Information Retrieval

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Berrios, Daniel C.; Keller, Richard M.

    2003-01-01

    While there are now a number of languages and frameworks that enable computer-based systems to search stored data semantically, the optimal design for effective user interfaces for such systems is still uncle ar. Such interfaces should mask unnecessary query detail from users, yet still allow them to build queries of arbitrary complexity without significant restrictions. We developed a user interface supporting s emantic query generation for Semanticorganizer, a tool used by scient ists and engineers at NASA to construct networks of knowledge and dat a. Through this interface users can select node types, node attribute s and node links to build ad-hoc semantic queries for searching the S emanticOrganizer network.

  4. Using an integrated knowledge translation approach to build a public health research agenda

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background Public Health Systems Research is an emerging field of research that is gaining importance in Canada. Methods On October 22 and 23, 2012, public health researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers came together at the Accelerating Public Health Systems Research in Ontario: Building an Agenda think tank to develop a research agenda for the province. Results This agenda included the identification of the six top priorities for research in Ontario: public health performance, evidence-based practice, public health organization and structure, public health human resources, public health infrastructure, and partnerships/linkages. Conclusions This paper explores the priorities in detail and hopes to bring more attention to this area of research. PMID:24475759

  5. Building a semi-automatic ontology learning and construction system for geosciences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Babaie, H. A.; Sunderraman, R.; Zhu, Y.

    2013-12-01

    We are developing an ontology learning and construction framework that allows continuous, semi-automatic knowledge extraction, verification, validation, and maintenance by potentially a very large group of collaborating domain experts in any geosciences field. The system brings geoscientists from the side-lines to the center stage of ontology building, allowing them to collaboratively construct and enrich new ontologies, and merge, align, and integrate existing ontologies and tools. These constantly evolving ontologies can more effectively address community's interests, purposes, tools, and change. The goal is to minimize the cost and time of building ontologies, and maximize the quality, usability, and adoption of ontologies by the community. Our system will be a domain-independent ontology learning framework that applies natural language processing, allowing users to enter their ontology in a semi-structured form, and a combined Semantic Web and Social Web approach that lets direct participation of geoscientists who have no skill in the design and development of their domain ontologies. A controlled natural language (CNL) interface and an integrated authoring and editing tool automatically convert syntactically correct CNL text into formal OWL constructs. The WebProtege-based system will allow a potentially large group of geoscientists, from multiple domains, to crowd source and participate in the structuring of their knowledge model by sharing their knowledge through critiquing, testing, verifying, adopting, and updating of the concept models (ontologies). We will use cloud storage for all data and knowledge base components of the system, such as users, domain ontologies, discussion forums, and semantic wikis that can be accessed and queried by geoscientists in each domain. We will use NoSQL databases such as MongoDB as a service in the cloud environment. MongoDB uses the lightweight JSON format, which makes it convenient and easy to build Web applications using just HTML5 and Javascript, thereby avoiding cumbersome server side coding present in the traditional approaches. The JSON format used in MongoDB is also suitable for storing and querying RDF data. We will store the domain ontologies and associated linked data in JSON/RDF formats. Our Web interface will be built upon the open source and configurable WebProtege ontology editor. We will develop a simplified mobile version of our user interface which will automatically detect the hosting device and adjust the user interface layout to accommodate different screen sizes. We will also use the Semantic Media Wiki that allows the user to store and query the data within the wiki pages. By using HTML 5, JavaScript, and WebGL, we aim to create an interactive, dynamic, and multi-dimensional user interface that presents various geosciences data sets in a natural and intuitive way.

  6. Using EMIS to Identify Top Opportunities for Commercial Building Efficiency

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

    Lin, Guanjing; Singla, Rupam; Granderson, Jessica

    Energy Management and Information Systems (EMIS) comprise a broad family of tools and services to manage commercial building energy use. These technologies offer a mix of capabilities to store, display, and analyze energy use and system data, and in some cases, provide control. EMIS technologies enable 10–20 percent site energy savings in best practice implementations. Energy Information System (EIS) and Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) systems are two key technologies in the EMIS family. Energy Information Systems are broadly defined as the web-based software, data acquisition hardware, and communication systems used to analyze and display building energy performance. At amore » minimum, an EIS provides daily, hourly or sub-hourly interval meter data at the whole-building level, with graphical and analytical capability. Fault Detection and Diagnosis systems automatically identify heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system or equipment-level performances issues, and in some cases are able to isolate the root causes of the problem. They use computer algorithms to continuously analyze system-level operational data to detect faults and diagnose their causes. Many FDD tools integrate the trend log data from a Building Automation System (BAS) but otherwise are stand-alone software packages; other types of FDD tools are implemented as “on-board” equipment-embedded diagnostics. (This document focuses on the former.) Analysis approaches adopted in FDD technologies span a variety of techniques from rule-based methods to process history-based approaches. FDD tools automate investigations that can be conducted via manual data inspection by someone with expert knowledge, thereby expanding accessibility and breath of analysis opportunity, and also reducing complexity.« less

  7. Modelling consequences of change in biodiversity and ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This chapter offers an assessment of the rapidly changing landscape of methods assessing and forecasting the benefits that people receive from nature and how these benefits are shaped by institutions and various anthropogenic assets. There has been an explosion of activity in understanding and modeling the benefits that people receive from nature, and this explosion has provided a diversity of approaches that are both complementary and contradictory. However, there remain major gaps in what current models can do. They are not well suited to estimate most types of benefits at national, regional, or global scales. they are focused on decision analysis, but have not focused on implementation, learning, or dialogue. This hap in particular means that current models are not well suited to bridging among multiple knowledge systems, however, there are initial efforts made towards this goal. Furthermore, while participatory social-ecological scenarios are able to bridge multiple knowledge systems in their assessment and analysis of multiple ecosystem series, the social-ecological scenarios community is fragmented and not well connected. Consequently, IPBES has an excellent knowledge base to build upon, but a real investment in building a more integrated modeling and scenarios community of practice is needed to produce a more complete and useful toolbox of approaches to meet the needs of IPBES assessment and other assessment of nature benefits. This Chapter describes

  8. GPS in pioneering dynamic monitoring of long-period structures

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Celebi, M.; Sanli, A.

    2002-01-01

    Global Positioning System (GPS) technology with 10-20-Hz sampling rates allows scientifically justified dynamic measurements of relative displacements of long-period structures. The displacement response of a simulated tall building in real time and permanent deployment of GPS units at the roof of a building are described. To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first permanent deployment of GPS units (in the world) for continuous dynamic monitoring of a tall building. Data recorded from the building during a windy day is analyzed to determine the structural characteristics. When recorded during extreme motions caused by earthquakes and strong winds, such measurements can be used to compute average drift ratios and changes in dynamic characteristics, and therefore can be used by engineers and building owners or managers to assess the structural integrity and performance by establishing pre-established thresholds. Such information can be used to secure public safety and/or take steps to improve the performance of the building.

  9. A Bayesian Machine Learning Model for Estimating Building Occupancy from Open Source Data

    DOE PAGES

    Stewart, Robert N.; Urban, Marie L.; Duchscherer, Samantha E.; ...

    2016-01-01

    Understanding building occupancy is critical to a wide array of applications including natural hazards loss analysis, green building technologies, and population distribution modeling. Due to the expense of directly monitoring buildings, scientists rely in addition on a wide and disparate array of ancillary and open source information including subject matter expertise, survey data, and remote sensing information. These data are fused using data harmonization methods which refer to a loose collection of formal and informal techniques for fusing data together to create viable content for building occupancy estimation. In this paper, we add to the current state of the artmore » by introducing the Population Data Tables (PDT), a Bayesian based informatics system for systematically arranging data and harmonization techniques into a consistent, transparent, knowledge learning framework that retains in the final estimation uncertainty emerging from data, expert judgment, and model parameterization. PDT probabilistically estimates ambient occupancy in units of people/1000ft2 for over 50 building types at the national and sub-national level with the goal of providing global coverage. The challenge of global coverage led to the development of an interdisciplinary geospatial informatics system tool that provides the framework for capturing, storing, and managing open source data, handling subject matter expertise, carrying out Bayesian analytics as well as visualizing and exporting occupancy estimation results. We present the PDT project, situate the work within the larger community, and report on the progress of this multi-year project.Understanding building occupancy is critical to a wide array of applications including natural hazards loss analysis, green building technologies, and population distribution modeling. Due to the expense of directly monitoring buildings, scientists rely in addition on a wide and disparate array of ancillary and open source information including subject matter expertise, survey data, and remote sensing information. These data are fused using data harmonization methods which refer to a loose collection of formal and informal techniques for fusing data together to create viable content for building occupancy estimation. In this paper, we add to the current state of the art by introducing the Population Data Tables (PDT), a Bayesian model and informatics system for systematically arranging data and harmonization techniques into a consistent, transparent, knowledge learning framework that retains in the final estimation uncertainty emerging from data, expert judgment, and model parameterization. PDT probabilistically estimates ambient occupancy in units of people/1000 ft 2 for over 50 building types at the national and sub-national level with the goal of providing global coverage. The challenge of global coverage led to the development of an interdisciplinary geospatial informatics system tool that provides the framework for capturing, storing, and managing open source data, handling subject matter expertise, carrying out Bayesian analytics as well as visualizing and exporting occupancy estimation results. We present the PDT project, situate the work within the larger community, and report on the progress of this multi-year project.« less

  10. Situation Model for Situation-Aware Assistance of Dementia Patients in Outdoor Mobility

    PubMed Central

    Yordanova, Kristina; Koldrack, Philipp; Heine, Christina; Henkel, Ron; Martin, Mike; Teipel, Stefan; Kirste, Thomas

    2017-01-01

    Background: Dementia impairs spatial orientation and route planning, thus often affecting the patient’s ability to move outdoors and maintain social activities. Situation-aware deliberative assistive technology devices (ATD) can substitute impaired cognitive function in order to maintain one’s level of social activity. To build such a system, one needs domain knowledge about the patient’s situation and needs. We call this collection of knowledge situation model. Objective: To construct a situation model for the outdoor mobility of people with dementia (PwD). The model serves two purposes: 1) as a knowledge base from which to build an ATD describing the mobility of PwD; and 2) as a codebook for the annotation of the recorded behavior. Methods: We perform systematic knowledge elicitation to obtain the relevant knowledge. The OBO Edit tool is used for implementing and validating the situation model. The model is evaluated by using it as a codebook for annotating the behavior of PwD during a mobility study and interrater agreement is computed. In addition, clinical experts perform manual evaluation and curation of the model. Results: The situation model consists of 101 concepts with 11 relation types between them. The results from the annotation showed substantial overlapping between two annotators (Cohen’s kappa of 0.61). Conclusion: The situation model is a first attempt to systematically collect and organize information related to the outdoor mobility of PwD for the purposes of situation-aware assistance. The model is the base for building an ATD able to provide situation-aware assistance and to potentially improve the quality of life of PwD. PMID:29060937

  11. Towards Semantic e-Science for Traditional Chinese Medicine

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Huajun; Mao, Yuxin; Zheng, Xiaoqing; Cui, Meng; Feng, Yi; Deng, Shuiguang; Yin, Aining; Zhou, Chunying; Tang, Jinming; Jiang, Xiaohong; Wu, Zhaohui

    2007-01-01

    Background Recent advances in Web and information technologies with the increasing decentralization of organizational structures have resulted in massive amounts of information resources and domain-specific services in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The massive volume and diversity of information and services available have made it difficult to achieve seamless and interoperable e-Science for knowledge-intensive disciplines like TCM. Therefore, information integration and service coordination are two major challenges in e-Science for TCM. We still lack sophisticated approaches to integrate scientific data and services for TCM e-Science. Results We present a comprehensive approach to build dynamic and extendable e-Science applications for knowledge-intensive disciplines like TCM based on semantic and knowledge-based techniques. The semantic e-Science infrastructure for TCM supports large-scale database integration and service coordination in a virtual organization. We use domain ontologies to integrate TCM database resources and services in a semantic cyberspace and deliver a semantically superior experience including browsing, searching, querying and knowledge discovering to users. We have developed a collection of semantic-based toolkits to facilitate TCM scientists and researchers in information sharing and collaborative research. Conclusion Semantic and knowledge-based techniques are suitable to knowledge-intensive disciplines like TCM. It's possible to build on-demand e-Science system for TCM based on existing semantic and knowledge-based techniques. The presented approach in the paper integrates heterogeneous distributed TCM databases and services, and provides scientists with semantically superior experience to support collaborative research in TCM discipline. PMID:17493289

  12. Addressing failures in exascale computing

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

    Snir, Marc; Wisniewski, Robert W.; Abraham, Jacob A.

    2014-05-01

    We present here a report produced by a workshop on “Addressing Failures in Exascale Computing” held in Park City, Utah, August 4–11, 2012. The charter of this workshop was to establish a common taxonomy about resilience across all the levels in a computing system; discuss existing knowledge on resilience across the various hardware and software layers of an exascale system; and build on those results, examining potential solutions from both a hardware and software perspective and focusing on a combined approach. The workshop brought together participants with expertise in applications, system software, and hardware; they came from industry, government, andmore » academia; and their interests ranged from theory to implementation. The combination allowed broad and comprehensive discussions and led to this document, which summarizes and builds on those discussions.« less

  13. Addressing Failures in Exascale Computing

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

    Snir, Marc; Wisniewski, Robert; Abraham, Jacob

    2014-01-01

    We present here a report produced by a workshop on Addressing failures in exascale computing' held in Park City, Utah, 4-11 August 2012. The charter of this workshop was to establish a common taxonomy about resilience across all the levels in a computing system, discuss existing knowledge on resilience across the various hardware and software layers of an exascale system, and build on those results, examining potential solutions from both a hardware and software perspective and focusing on a combined approach. The workshop brought together participants with expertise in applications, system software, and hardware; they came from industry, government, andmore » academia, and their interests ranged from theory to implementation. The combination allowed broad and comprehensive discussions and led to this document, which summarizes and builds on those discussions.« less

  14. Global histories, vernacular science, and African genealogies; or, Is the history of science ready for the world?

    PubMed

    Tilley, Helen

    2010-03-01

    Scholars in imperial and science studies have recently begun to examine more systematically the different ways knowledge systems around the world have intersected. This essay concentrates on one aspect of this process, the codification of research into "primitive" or "indigenous" knowledge, especially knowledge that was transmitted orally, and argues that such investigations were a by-product of four interrelated phenomena: the globalization of the sciences themselves, particularly those fields that took the earth and its inhabitants as their object of analysis; the professionalization of anthropology and its growing emphasis on studying other cultures' medical, technical, and natural knowledge; the European push, in the late nineteenth century, toward "global colonialism" and the ethnographic research that accompanied colonial state building; and, finally, colonized and marginalized peoples' challenges to scientific epistemologies and their paradoxical call that scientists study their knowledge systems more carefully. These phenomena came together on a global scale in the decades surrounding the turn of the twentieth century to produce a subgenre of research within the sciences, here labeled "vernacular science," focused explicitly on "native" knowledge.

  15. Crafting usable knowledge for sustainable development.

    PubMed

    Clark, William C; van Kerkhoff, Lorrae; Lebel, Louis; Gallopin, Gilberto C

    2016-04-26

    This paper distills core lessons about how researchers (scientists, engineers, planners, etc.) interested in promoting sustainable development can increase the likelihood of producing usable knowledge. We draw the lessons from both practical experience in diverse contexts around the world and from scholarly advances in understanding the relationships between science and society. Many of these lessons will be familiar to those with experience in crafting knowledge to support action for sustainable development. However, few are included in the formal training of researchers. As a result, when scientists and engineers first venture out of the laboratory or library with the goal of linking their knowledge with action, the outcome has often been ineffectiveness and disillusionment. We therefore articulate here a core set of lessons that we believe should become part of the basic training for researchers interested in crafting usable knowledge for sustainable development. These lessons entail at least four things researchers should know, and four things they should do. The knowing lessons involve understanding the coproduction relationships through which knowledge making and decision making shape one another in social-environmental systems. We highlight the lessons that emerge from examining those coproduction relationships through the ICAP lens, viewing them from the perspectives of Innovation systems, Complex systems, Adaptive systems, and Political systems. The doing lessons involve improving the capacity of the research community to put its understanding of coproduction into practice. We highlight steps through which researchers can help build capacities for stakeholder collaboration, social learning, knowledge governance, and researcher training.

  16. Crafting usable knowledge for sustainable development

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    This paper distills core lessons about how researchers (scientists, engineers, planners, etc.) interested in promoting sustainable development can increase the likelihood of producing usable knowledge. We draw the lessons from both practical experience in diverse contexts around the world and from scholarly advances in understanding the relationships between science and society. Many of these lessons will be familiar to those with experience in crafting knowledge to support action for sustainable development. However, few are included in the formal training of researchers. As a result, when scientists and engineers first venture out of the laboratory or library with the goal of linking their knowledge with action, the outcome has often been ineffectiveness and disillusionment. We therefore articulate here a core set of lessons that we believe should become part of the basic training for researchers interested in crafting usable knowledge for sustainable development. These lessons entail at least four things researchers should know, and four things they should do. The knowing lessons involve understanding the coproduction relationships through which knowledge making and decision making shape one another in social–environmental systems. We highlight the lessons that emerge from examining those coproduction relationships through the ICAP lens, viewing them from the perspectives of Innovation systems, Complex systems, Adaptive systems, and Political systems. The doing lessons involve improving the capacity of the research community to put its understanding of coproduction into practice. We highlight steps through which researchers can help build capacities for stakeholder collaboration, social learning, knowledge governance, and researcher training. PMID:27091979

  17. An Informatics Blueprint for Healthcare Quality Information Systems

    PubMed Central

    Niland, Joyce C.; Rouse, Layla; Stahl, Douglas C.

    2006-01-01

    There is a critical gap in our nation's ability to accurately measure and manage the quality of medical care. A robust healthcare quality information system (HQIS) has the potential to address this deficiency through the capture, codification, and analysis of information about patient treatments and related outcomes. Because non-technical issues often present the greatest challenges, this paper provides an overview of these socio-technical issues in building a successful HQIS, including the human, organizational, and knowledge management (KM) perspectives. Through an extensive literature review and direct experience in building a practical HQIS (the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Outcomes Research Database system), we have formulated an “informatics blueprint” to guide the development of such systems. While the blueprint was developed to facilitate healthcare quality information collection, management, analysis, and reporting, the concepts and advice provided may be extensible to the development of other types of clinical research information systems. PMID:16622161

  18. Building AN International Polar Data Coordination Network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pulsifer, P. L.; Yarmey, L.; Manley, W. F.; Gaylord, A. G.; Tweedie, C. E.

    2013-12-01

    In the spirit of the World Data Center system developed to manage data resulting from the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, the International Polar Year 2007-2009 (IPY) resulted in significant progress towards establishing an international polar data management network. However, a sustained international network is still evolving. In this paper we argue that the fundamental building blocks for such a network exist and that the time is right to move forward. We focus on the Arctic component of such a network with linkages to Antarctic network building activities. A review of an important set of Network building blocks is presented: i) the legacy of the IPY data and information service; ii) global data management services with a polar component (e.g. World Data System); iii) regional systems (e.g. Arctic Observing Viewer; iv) nationally focused programs (e.g. Arctic Observing Viewer, Advanced Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service, Polar Data Catalogue, Inuit Knowledge Centre); v) programs focused on the local (e.g. Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic, Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre). We discuss current activities and results with respect to three priority areas needed to establish a strong and effective Network. First, a summary of network building activities reports on a series of productive meetings, including the Arctic Observing Summit and the Polar Data Forum, that have resulted in a core set of Network nodes and participants and a refined vision for the Network. Second, we recognize that interoperability for information sharing fundamentally relies on the creation and adoption of community-based data description standards and data delivery mechanisms. There is a broad range of interoperability frameworks and specifications available; however, these need to be adapted for polar community needs. Progress towards Network interoperability is reviewed, and a prototype distributed data systems is demonstrated. We discuss remaining challenges. Lastly, to establish a sustainable Arctic Data Coordination Network (ADCN) as part of a broader polar Network will require adequate continued resources. We conclude by outlining proposed business models for the emerging Arctic Data Coordination Network and a broader polar Network.

  19. The Design of a Practical Enterprise Safety Management System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gabbar, Hossam A.; Suzuki, Kazuhiko

    This book presents design guidelines and implementation approaches for enterprise safety management system as integrated within enterprise integrated systems. It shows new model-based safety management where process design automation is integrated with enterprise business functions and components. It proposes new system engineering approach addressed to new generation chemical industry. It will help both the undergraduate and professional readers to build basic knowledge about issues and problems of designing practical enterprise safety management system, while presenting in clear way, the system and information engineering practices to design enterprise integrated solution.

  20. Automatic generation and simulation of urban building energy models based on city datasets for city-scale building retrofit analysis

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

    Chen, Yixing; Hong, Tianzhen; Piette, Mary Ann

    Buildings in cities consume 30–70% of total primary energy, and improving building energy efficiency is one of the key strategies towards sustainable urbanization. Urban building energy models (UBEM) can support city managers to evaluate and prioritize energy conservation measures (ECMs) for investment and the design of incentive and rebate programs. This paper presents the retrofit analysis feature of City Building Energy Saver (CityBES) to automatically generate and simulate UBEM using EnergyPlus based on cities’ building datasets and user-selected ECMs. CityBES is a new open web-based tool to support city-scale building energy efficiency strategic plans and programs. The technical details ofmore » using CityBES for UBEM generation and simulation are introduced, including the workflow, key assumptions, and major databases. Also presented is a case study that analyzes the potential retrofit energy use and energy cost savings of five individual ECMs and two measure packages for 940 office and retail buildings in six city districts in northeast San Francisco, United States. The results show that: (1) all five measures together can save 23–38% of site energy per building; (2) replacing lighting with light-emitting diode lamps and adding air economizers to existing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are most cost-effective with an average payback of 2.0 and 4.3 years, respectively; and (3) it is not economical to upgrade HVAC systems or replace windows in San Francisco due to the city's mild climate and minimal cooling and heating loads. Furthermore, the CityBES retrofit analysis feature does not require users to have deep knowledge of building systems or technologies for the generation and simulation of building energy models, which helps overcome major technical barriers for city managers and their consultants to adopt UBEM.« less

  1. Automatic generation and simulation of urban building energy models based on city datasets for city-scale building retrofit analysis

    DOE PAGES

    Chen, Yixing; Hong, Tianzhen; Piette, Mary Ann

    2017-08-07

    Buildings in cities consume 30–70% of total primary energy, and improving building energy efficiency is one of the key strategies towards sustainable urbanization. Urban building energy models (UBEM) can support city managers to evaluate and prioritize energy conservation measures (ECMs) for investment and the design of incentive and rebate programs. This paper presents the retrofit analysis feature of City Building Energy Saver (CityBES) to automatically generate and simulate UBEM using EnergyPlus based on cities’ building datasets and user-selected ECMs. CityBES is a new open web-based tool to support city-scale building energy efficiency strategic plans and programs. The technical details ofmore » using CityBES for UBEM generation and simulation are introduced, including the workflow, key assumptions, and major databases. Also presented is a case study that analyzes the potential retrofit energy use and energy cost savings of five individual ECMs and two measure packages for 940 office and retail buildings in six city districts in northeast San Francisco, United States. The results show that: (1) all five measures together can save 23–38% of site energy per building; (2) replacing lighting with light-emitting diode lamps and adding air economizers to existing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are most cost-effective with an average payback of 2.0 and 4.3 years, respectively; and (3) it is not economical to upgrade HVAC systems or replace windows in San Francisco due to the city's mild climate and minimal cooling and heating loads. Furthermore, the CityBES retrofit analysis feature does not require users to have deep knowledge of building systems or technologies for the generation and simulation of building energy models, which helps overcome major technical barriers for city managers and their consultants to adopt UBEM.« less

  2. U.S.– India Joint Center for Building Energy Research and Development (CBERD) Caring for the Energy Health of Healthcare Facilities

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

    Singh, Reshma; Mathew, Paul; Granderson, Jessica

    The U.S.-India Joint Center for Building Energy Research & Development (CBERD), created through the Partnership to Accelerate Clean Energy (PACE) agreement between the United States and India, is a research and development (R&D) center with over 30 institutional and industry partners from both nations. This five-year presidential initiative is jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Government of India. CBERD aims to build upon a foundation of collaborative knowledge, tools, and technologies, and human capabilities that will increase development of high-performance buildings. To reach this goal, the R&D focuses on energy use reduction throughout the entire lifemore » cycle of buildings—i.e., design, construction, and operations. During the operations phase of buildings, even with best-practice energy-efficient design, actual energy use can be much higher than the design intent. Every day, much of the energy consumed by buildings serves no purpose (Roth et al. 2005). Building energy information systems (EIS) are commercially available systems that building owners and facility managers use to assess their building operations, measure, visualize, analyze, and report energy cost and consumption. Energy information systems can enable significant energy savings by tracking energy use, identifying consumption patterns, and benchmarking performance against similar buildings, thereby identifying improvement opportunities. The CBERD team has identified potential energy savings of approximately 2 quads of primary energy in the United States, while industry building energy audits in India have indicated potential energy savings of up to 30 percent in commercial buildings such as offices. Additionally, the CBERD team has identified healthcare facilities (e.g., hospitals, clinics), hotels, and offices as the three of the highest-growth sectors in India that have significant energy consumption, and that would benefit the most from implementation of EIS.« less

  3. The role of innovative global institutions in linking knowledge and action.

    PubMed

    van Kerkhoff, Lorrae; Szlezák, Nicole A

    2016-04-26

    It is becoming increasingly recognized that our collective ability to tackle complex problems will require the development of new, adaptive, and innovative institutional arrangements that can deal with rapidly changing knowledge and have effective learning capabilities. In this paper, we applied a knowledge-systems perspective to examine how institutional innovations can affect the generation, sharing, and application of scientific and technical knowledge. We report on a case study that examined the effects that one large innovative organization, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, is having on the knowledge dimensions of decision-making in global health. The case study shows that the organization created demand for new knowledge from a range of actors, but it did not incorporate strategies for meeting this demand into their own rules, incentives, or procedures. This made it difficult for some applicants to meet the organization's dual aims of scientific soundness and national ownership of projects. It also highlighted that scientific knowledge needed to be integrated with managerial and situational knowledge for success. More generally, the study illustrates that institutional change targeting implementation can also significantly affect the dynamics of knowledge creation (learning), access, distribution, and use. Recognizing how action-oriented institutions can affect these dynamics across their knowledge system can help institutional designers build more efficient and effective institutions for sustainable development.

  4. Integration of object-oriented knowledge representation with the CLIPS rule based system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Logie, David S.; Kamil, Hasan

    1990-01-01

    The paper describes a portion of the work aimed at developing an integrated, knowledge based environment for the development of engineering-oriented applications. An Object Representation Language (ORL) was implemented in C++ which is used to build and modify an object-oriented knowledge base. The ORL was designed in such a way so as to be easily integrated with other representation schemes that could effectively reason with the object base. Specifically, the integration of the ORL with the rule based system C Language Production Systems (CLIPS), developed at the NASA Johnson Space Center, will be discussed. The object-oriented knowledge representation provides a natural means of representing problem data as a collection of related objects. Objects are comprised of descriptive properties and interrelationships. The object-oriented model promotes efficient handling of the problem data by allowing knowledge to be encapsulated in objects. Data is inherited through an object network via the relationship links. Together, the two schemes complement each other in that the object-oriented approach efficiently handles problem data while the rule based knowledge is used to simulate the reasoning process. Alone, the object based knowledge is little more than an object-oriented data storage scheme; however, the CLIPS inference engine adds the mechanism to directly and automatically reason with that knowledge. In this hybrid scheme, the expert system dynamically queries for data and can modify the object base with complete access to all the functionality of the ORL from rules.

  5. The UMLS Knowledge Sources: Tools for Building Better User Interfaces

    PubMed Central

    Lindberg, Donald A. B.; Humphreys, Betsy L.

    1990-01-01

    The current focus of the National Library of Medicine's Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) project is the development, testing, and evaluation of the first versions of three new knowledge sources: the Metathesaurus, the Semantic Network, and the Information Sources Map. These three knowledge sources can be used by interface programs to conduct an intelligent interaction with the user and to make the conceptual link between the user's question and relevant machine-readable information. NLM is providing experimental copies of the initial versions of the UMLS knowledge sources in exchange for feedback on ways they can and should be improved. The hope is that the results of such experimentation will provide both immediate improvements in biomedical information service and useful suggestions for enhancements to the UMLS.

  6. Getting more for your money: designing community needs assessments to build collaboration and capacity in hospital system community benefit work.

    PubMed

    Ainsworth, Dale; Diaz, Heather; Schmidtlein, Mathew C

    2013-11-01

    Most community health needs assessments (CHNAs) are unilateral in nature and fail to include a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, limiting them in their scope. Nonprofit hospitals are required to conduct CHNAs every 3 years to determine where community prevention dollars should be spent. In 2010, a CBPR CHNA approach was conducted with four hospital systems in Northern California. Merging concepts from organization development, the approach included (a) goal determination, (b) use of a guiding framework, (c) creation of a container in which to interact, (d) established feedback loops, and (e) intentional trust-building exercises. The approach was to build lasting relationships between hospital systems that would extend beyond the CHNA. Results using this approach revealed that members representing all four hospital systems (a) began to meet regularly after the CHNA was completed, (b) increased collaboration with other community organizations, (c) expanded their level of intraorganization partnerships, (d) enjoyed the process, (e) felt that their professional knowledge expanded, and (f) felt connected professionally and personally with other hospital representatives. As a result, other joint projects are underway. The results of this study indicate that using CBPR to design a CHNA can build sustained collaborative relationships between study participants that continue.

  7. Unidata: A geoscience e-infrastructure for International Data Sharing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramamurthy, Mohan

    2017-04-01

    The Internet and its myriad manifestations, including the World Wide Web, have amply demonstrated the compounding benefits of a global cyberinfrastructure and the power of networked communities as institutions and people exchange knowledge, ideas, and resources. The Unidata Program recognizes those benefits, and over the past several years it has developed a growing portfolio of international data distribution activities, conducted in close collaboration with academic, research and operational institutions on several continents, to advance earth system science education and research. The portfolio includes provision of data, tools, support and training as well as outreach activities that bring various stakeholders together to address important issues, all toward the goals of building a community with a shared vision. The overarching goals of Unidata's international data sharing activities include: • democratization of access-to and use-of data that describe the dynamic earth system by facilitating data access to a broad spectrum of observations and forecasts • building capacity and empowering geoscientists and educators worldwide by building encouraging local communities where data, tools, and best practices in education and research are shared • strengthening international science partnerships for exchanging knowledge and expertise • Supporting faculty and students at research and educational institutions in the use of Unidata systems building regional and global communities around specific geoscientific themes. In this presentation, I will present Unidata's ongoing data sharing activities in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Antarctica that are enabling linkages to existing and emergent e-infrastructures and operational networks, including recent advances to develop interoperable data systems, tools, and services that benefit the geosciences. Particular emphasis in the presentation will be made to describe the examples of the use of Unidata's International Data Distribution Network, Local Data Manager, and THREDDS in various settings, as well as experiences and lessons learned with the implementation and benefits of the myriad data sharing efforts.

  8. Collaborative data model and data base development for paleoenvironmental and archaeological domain using Semantic MediaWiki

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Willmes, C.

    2017-12-01

    In the frame of the Collaborative Research Centre 806 (CRC 806) an interdisciplinary research project, that needs to manage data, information and knowledge from heterogeneous domains, such as archeology, cultural sciences, and the geosciences, a collaborative internal knowledge base system was developed. The system is based on the open source MediaWiki software, that is well known as the software that enables Wikipedia, for its facilitation of a web based collaborative knowledge and information management platform. This software is additionally enhanced with the Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) extension, that allows to store and manage structural data within the Wiki platform, as well as it facilitates complex query and API interfaces to the structured data stored in the SMW data base. Using an additional open source software called mobo, it is possible to improve the data model development process, as well as automated data imports, from small spreadsheets to large relational databases. Mobo is a command line tool that helps building and deploying SMW structure in an agile, Schema-Driven Development way, and allows to manage and collaboratively develop the data model formalizations, that are formalized in JSON-Schema format, using version control systems like git. The combination of a well equipped collaborative web platform facilitated by Mediawiki, the possibility to store and query structured data in this collaborative database provided by SMW, as well as the possibility for automated data import and data model development enabled by mobo, result in a powerful but flexible system to build and develop a collaborative knowledge base system. Furthermore, SMW allows the application of Semantic Web technology, the structured data can be exported into RDF, thus it is possible to set a triple-store including a SPARQL endpoint on top of the database. The JSON-Schema based data models, can be enhanced into JSON-LD, to facilitate and profit from the possibilities of Linked Data technology.

  9. Mental Health, United States, 2000.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manderscheid, Ronald W., Ed.; Henderson, Marilyn J., Ed.

    In recent years, the mental health community has made great strides in understanding more about the delivery of mental health services, improving efficiency and quality in services, and also about how to build strengths and resilience in the face of lifes stresses. This volume adds to the knowledge base so that the important task of system change…

  10. Facilitating Learners' Web-Based Information Problem-Solving by Query Expansion-Based Concept Mapping

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Yueh-Min; Liu, Ming-Chi; Chen, Nian-Shing; Kinshuk; Wen, Dunwei

    2014-01-01

    Web-based information problem-solving has been recognised as a critical ability for learners. However, the development of students' abilities in this area often faces several challenges, such as difficulty in building well-organised knowledge structures to support complex problems that require higher-order skills (e.g., system thinking). To…

  11. Expanding Opportunities and Building Competencies for Young People: A New Agenda for Secondary Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cuadra, Ernesto; Moreno, Juan Manuel

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of this report is to set forth policy options for supporting developing countries and transition economies in adapting their secondary education systems to demands arising from the successful expansion of primary education and the socioeconomic challenges presented by globalization and the knowledge-based economy. The report analyzes…

  12. Collaborative Gaming: Teaching Children about Complex Systems and Collective Behavior

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peppler, Kylie; Danish, Joshua A.; Phelps, David

    2013-01-01

    Although games--including board games, video games, and Massive Multiplayer Online Games--have garnered significant attention in recent years for their impact on educational outcomes, a primary focus of this interest is the transfer of knowledge from game to nongame settings. Building on this literature, our research explores how game designs that…

  13. Solar Village--Educational Initiative for Kids.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hugerat, Muhamad; Ilyian, Salman; Toren, Zehava; Anabosi, Fawzi

    2003-01-01

    Explains a model of a solar village in the context of the school which does not contribute to air pollution by using only solar energy. Suggests that pupils would be active participants in building systems and understanding the contact between the knowledge of the basic science of solar energy and the technology processes in daily life.…

  14. Proceedings of the International Academy for Information Management (IAIM) Annual Conference (13th, Helsinki, Finland, December 11-13, 1998).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rogers, Camille, Ed.

    The conference paper topics include: business and information technology (IT) education; knowledge management; teaching software applications; development of multimedia teaching materials; technology job skills in demand; IT management for executives; self-directed teams in information systems courses; a team building exercise to software…

  15. The Methodology of Interactive Parametric Modelling of Construction Site Facilities in BIM Environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kozlovská, Mária; Čabala, Jozef; Struková, Zuzana

    2014-11-01

    Information technology is becoming a strong tool in different industries, including construction. The recent trend of buildings designing is leading up to creation of the most comprehensive virtual building model (Building Information Model) in order to solve all the problems relating to the project as early as in the designing phase. Building information modelling is a new way of approaching to the design of building projects documentation. Currently, the building site layout as a part of the building design documents has a very little support in the BIM environment. Recently, the research of designing the construction process conditions has centred on improvement of general practice in planning and on new approaches to construction site layout planning. The state of art in field of designing the construction process conditions indicated an unexplored problem related to connection of knowledge system with construction site facilities (CSF) layout through interactive modelling. The goal of the paper is to present the methodology for execution of 3D construction site facility allocation model (3D CSF-IAM), based on principles of parametric and interactive modelling.

  16. Short-term airing by natural ventilation - implication on IAQ and thermal comfort.

    PubMed

    Heiselberg, P; Perino, M

    2010-04-01

    The need to improve the energy efficiency of buildings requires new and more efficient ventilation systems. It has been demonstrated that innovative operating concepts that make use of natural ventilation seem to be more appreciated by occupants. Among the available ventilation strategies that are currently available, buoyancy driven, single-sided natural ventilation has proved to be very effective and can provide high air change rates for temperature and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) control. However, to promote a wider distribution of these systems an improvement in the knowledge of their working principles is necessary. The present study analyses and presents the results of an experimental evaluation of airing performance in terms of ventilation characteristics, IAQ and thermal comfort. It includes investigations of the consequences of opening time, opening frequency, opening area and expected airflow rate, ventilation efficiency, thermal comfort and dynamic temperature conditions. A suitable laboratory test rig was developed to perform extensive experimental analyses of the phenomenon under controlled and repeatable conditions. The results showed that short-term window airing is very effective and can provide both acceptable IAQ and thermal comfort conditions in buildings. Practical Implications This study gives the necessary background and in-depth knowledge of the performance of window airing by single-sided natural ventilation necessary for the development of control strategies for window airing (length of opening period and opening frequency) for optimum IAQ and thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings.

  17. Using domain knowledge and domain-inspired discourse model for coreference resolution for clinical narratives

    PubMed Central

    Roth, Dan

    2013-01-01

    Objective This paper presents a coreference resolution system for clinical narratives. Coreference resolution aims at clustering all mentions in a single document to coherent entities. Materials and methods A knowledge-intensive approach for coreference resolution is employed. The domain knowledge used includes several domain-specific lists, a knowledge intensive mention parsing, and task informed discourse model. Mention parsing allows us to abstract over the surface form of the mention and represent each mention using a higher-level representation, which we call the mention's semantic representation (SR). SR reduces the mention to a standard form and hence provides better support for comparing and matching. Existing coreference resolution systems tend to ignore discourse aspects and rely heavily on lexical and structural cues in the text. The authors break from this tradition and present a discourse model for “person” type mentions in clinical narratives, which greatly simplifies the coreference resolution. Results This system was evaluated on four different datasets which were made available in the 2011 i2b2/VA coreference challenge. The unweighted average of F1 scores (over B-cubed, MUC and CEAF) varied from 84.2% to 88.1%. These experiments show that domain knowledge is effective for different mention types for all the datasets. Discussion Error analysis shows that most of the recall errors made by the system can be handled by further addition of domain knowledge. The precision errors, on the other hand, are more subtle and indicate the need to understand the relations in which mentions participate for building a robust coreference system. Conclusion This paper presents an approach that makes an extensive use of domain knowledge to significantly improve coreference resolution. The authors state that their system and the knowledge sources developed will be made publicly available. PMID:22781192

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

    Stewart, Robert N.; Urban, Marie L.; Duchscherer, Samantha E.

    Understanding building occupancy is critical to a wide array of applications including natural hazards loss analysis, green building technologies, and population distribution modeling. Due to the expense of directly monitoring buildings, scientists rely in addition on a wide and disparate array of ancillary and open source information including subject matter expertise, survey data, and remote sensing information. These data are fused using data harmonization methods which refer to a loose collection of formal and informal techniques for fusing data together to create viable content for building occupancy estimation. In this paper, we add to the current state of the artmore » by introducing the Population Data Tables (PDT), a Bayesian based informatics system for systematically arranging data and harmonization techniques into a consistent, transparent, knowledge learning framework that retains in the final estimation uncertainty emerging from data, expert judgment, and model parameterization. PDT probabilistically estimates ambient occupancy in units of people/1000ft2 for over 50 building types at the national and sub-national level with the goal of providing global coverage. The challenge of global coverage led to the development of an interdisciplinary geospatial informatics system tool that provides the framework for capturing, storing, and managing open source data, handling subject matter expertise, carrying out Bayesian analytics as well as visualizing and exporting occupancy estimation results. We present the PDT project, situate the work within the larger community, and report on the progress of this multi-year project.Understanding building occupancy is critical to a wide array of applications including natural hazards loss analysis, green building technologies, and population distribution modeling. Due to the expense of directly monitoring buildings, scientists rely in addition on a wide and disparate array of ancillary and open source information including subject matter expertise, survey data, and remote sensing information. These data are fused using data harmonization methods which refer to a loose collection of formal and informal techniques for fusing data together to create viable content for building occupancy estimation. In this paper, we add to the current state of the art by introducing the Population Data Tables (PDT), a Bayesian model and informatics system for systematically arranging data and harmonization techniques into a consistent, transparent, knowledge learning framework that retains in the final estimation uncertainty emerging from data, expert judgment, and model parameterization. PDT probabilistically estimates ambient occupancy in units of people/1000 ft 2 for over 50 building types at the national and sub-national level with the goal of providing global coverage. The challenge of global coverage led to the development of an interdisciplinary geospatial informatics system tool that provides the framework for capturing, storing, and managing open source data, handling subject matter expertise, carrying out Bayesian analytics as well as visualizing and exporting occupancy estimation results. We present the PDT project, situate the work within the larger community, and report on the progress of this multi-year project.« less

  19. Leveraging Human-environment Systems in Residential Buildings for Aggregate Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Xiaoqi

    Reducing the energy consumed in the built environment is a key objective in many sustainability initiatives. Existing energy saving methods have consisted of physical interventions to buildings and/or behavioral modifications of occupants. However, such methods may not only suffer from their own disadvantages, e.g. high cost and transient effect, but also lose aggregate energy saving potential due to the oftentimes-associated single-building-focused view and an isolated examination of occupant behaviors. This dissertation attempts to overcome the limitations of traditional energy saving research and practical approaches, and enhance residential building energy efficiency and sustainability by proposing innovative energy strategies from a holistic perspective of the aggregate human-environment systems. This holistic perspective features: (1) viewing buildings as mutual influences in the built environment, (2) leveraging both the individual and contextualized social aspects of occupant behaviors, and (3) incorporating interactions between the built environment and human behaviors. First, I integrate three interlinked components: buildings, residents, and the surrounding neighborhood, and quantify the potential energy savings to be gained from renovating buildings at the inter-building level and leveraging neighborhood-contextualized occupant social networks. Following the confirmation of both the inter-building effect among buildings and occupants' interpersonal influence on energy conservation, I extend the research further by examining the synergy that may exist at the intersection between these "engineered" building networks and "social" peer networks, focusing specifically on the additional energy saving potential that could result from interactions between the two components. Finally, I seek to reach an alignment of the human and building environment subsystems by matching the thermostat preferences of each household with the thermal conditions within their apartment, and develop the Energy Saving Alignment Strategy to be considered in public housing assignment policy. This strategy and the inter-building level energy management strategies developed in my preceding research possess large-scale cost-effectiveness and may engender long-lasting influence compared with existing energy saving approaches. Building from the holistic framework of coupled human-environment systems, the findings of this research will advance knowledge of energy efficiency in the built environment and lead to the development of novel strategies to conserve energy in residential buildings.

  20. Empowering health personnel for decentralized health planning in India: The Public Health Resource Network.

    PubMed

    Kalita, Anuska; Zaidi, Sarover; Prasad, Vandana; Raman, V R

    2009-07-20

    The Public Health Resource Network is an innovative distance-learning course in training, motivating, empowering and building a network of health personnel from government and civil society groups. Its aim is to build human resource capacity for strengthening decentralized health planning, especially at the district level, to improve accountability of health systems, elicit community participation for health, ensure equitable and accessible health facilities and to bring about convergence in programmes and services. The question confronting health systems in India is how best to reform, revitalize and resource primary health systems to deliver different levels of service aligned to local realities, ensuring universal coverage, equitable access, efficiency and effectiveness, through an empowered cadre of health personnel. To achieve these outcomes it is essential that health planning be decentralized. Districts vary widely according to the specific needs of their population, and even more so in terms of existing interventions and available resources. Strategies, therefore, have to be district-specific, not only because health needs vary, but also because people's perceptions and capacities to intervene and implement programmes vary. In centrally designed plans there is little scope for such adaptation and contextualization, and hence decentralized planning becomes crucial. To undertake these initiatives, there is a strong need for trained, motivated, empowered and networked health personnel. It is precisely at this level that a lack of technical knowledge and skills and the absence of a supportive network or adequate educational opportunities impede personnel from making improvements. The absence of in-service training and of training curricula that reflect field realities also adds to this, discouraging health workers from pursuing effective strategies. The Public Health Resource Network is thus an attempt to reach out to motivated though often isolated health workers. It interacts with, and works to empower, health personnel within the government health system as well as civil society, to meaningfully participate in and strengthen decentralized planning processes and outcomes. Structured as an innovative distance-learning course spread over 12 to 18 months of coursework and contact programmes, the Public Health Resource Network comprises 14 core modules and five optional courses. The technical content and contact programmes have been specifically developed to build perspectives and technical knowledge of participants and provide them with a variety of options that can be immediately put into practice within their work environments and everyday roles. The thematic areas of the course modules range from technical knowledge related to maternal and child health and communicable and noncommunicable diseases; programmatic and systemic knowledge related to health planning, convergence, health management and public-private partnerships; to perspective-building knowledge related to mainstreaming gender issues and community participation. Currently the Public Health Resource Network has been launched in four states of India--Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa--in its first phase, and reaches out to more than 500 participants with diverse backgrounds. The initiative has received valuable support from central and state government departments of health, state training institutes, the National Rural Health Mission--the current comprehensive health policy in the country--and leading civil society organizations.

  1. Empowering health personnel for decentralized health planning in India: The Public Health Resource Network

    PubMed Central

    Kalita, Anuska; Zaidi, Sarover; Prasad, Vandana; Raman, VR

    2009-01-01

    The Public Health Resource Network is an innovative distance-learning course in training, motivating, empowering and building a network of health personnel from government and civil society groups. Its aim is to build human resource capacity for strengthening decentralized health planning, especially at the district level, to improve accountability of health systems, elicit community participation for health, ensure equitable and accessible health facilities and to bring about convergence in programmes and services. The question confronting health systems in India is how best to reform, revitalize and resource primary health systems to deliver different levels of service aligned to local realities, ensuring universal coverage, equitable access, efficiency and effectiveness, through an empowered cadre of health personnel. To achieve these outcomes it is essential that health planning be decentralized. Districts vary widely according to the specific needs of their population, and even more so in terms of existing interventions and available resources. Strategies, therefore, have to be district-specific, not only because health needs vary, but also because people's perceptions and capacities to intervene and implement programmes vary. In centrally designed plans there is little scope for such adaptation and contextualization, and hence decentralized planning becomes crucial. To undertake these initiatives, there is a strong need for trained, motivated, empowered and networked health personnel. It is precisely at this level that a lack of technical knowledge and skills and the absence of a supportive network or adequate educational opportunities impede personnel from making improvements. The absence of in-service training and of training curricula that reflect field realities also adds to this, discouraging health workers from pursuing effective strategies. The Public Health Resource Network is thus an attempt to reach out to motivated though often isolated health workers. It interacts with, and works to empower, health personnel within the government health system as well as civil society, to meaningfully participate in and strengthen decentralized planning processes and outcomes. Structured as an innovative distance-learning course spread over 12 to 18 months of coursework and contact programmes, the Public Health Resource Network comprises 14 core modules and five optional courses. The technical content and contact programmes have been specifically developed to build perspectives and technical knowledge of participants and provide them with a variety of options that can be immediately put into practice within their work environments and everyday roles. The thematic areas of the course modules range from technical knowledge related to maternal and child health and communicable and noncommunicable diseases; programmatic and systemic knowledge related to health planning, convergence, health management and public-private partnerships; to perspective-building knowledge related to mainstreaming gender issues and community participation. Currently the Public Health Resource Network has been launched in four states of India – Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa – in its first phase, and reaches out to more than 500 participants with diverse backgrounds. The initiative has received valuable support from central and state government departments of health, state training institutes, the National Rural Health Mission – the current comprehensive health policy in the country – and leading civil society organizations. PMID:19615106

  2. Building Capacity of Occupational Therapy Practitioners to Address the Mental Health Needs of Children and Youth: A Mixed-Methods Study of Knowledge Translation.

    PubMed

    Bazyk, Susan; Demirjian, Louise; LaGuardia, Teri; Thompson-Repas, Karen; Conway, Carol; Michaud, Paula

    2015-01-01

    We explored the meaning and outcomes of a 6-mo building capacity process designed to promote knowledge translation of a public health approach to mental health among pediatric occupational therapy practitioners participating in a Community of Practice. A one-group (N = 117) mixed-methods design using a pretest-posttest survey and qualitative analysis of written reflections was used to explore the meaning and outcomes of the building capacity process. Statistically significant improvements (p < .02) in pretest-posttest scores of knowledge, beliefs, and actions related to a public health approach to mental health were found. Qualitative findings suggest that participation resulted in a renewed commitment to addressing children's mental health. The building capacity process expanded practitioner knowledge, renewed energy, and promoted confidence, resulting in change leaders empowered to articulate, advocate for, and implement practice changes reflecting occupational therapy's role in addressing children's mental health. Copyright © 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  3. Building Capacity of Occupational Therapy Practitioners to Address the Mental Health Needs of Children and Youth: A Mixed-Methods Study of Knowledge Translation

    PubMed Central

    Demirjian, Louise; LaGuardia, Teri; Thompson-Repas, Karen; Conway, Carol; Michaud, Paula

    2015-01-01

    PURPOSE. We explored the meaning and outcomes of a 6-mo building capacity process designed to promote knowledge translation of a public health approach to mental health among pediatric occupational therapy practitioners participating in a Community of Practice. METHOD. A one-group (N = 117) mixed-methods design using a pretest–posttest survey and qualitative analysis of written reflections was used to explore the meaning and outcomes of the building capacity process. RESULTS. Statistically significant improvements (p < .02) in pretest–posttest scores of knowledge, beliefs, and actions related to a public health approach to mental health were found. Qualitative findings suggest that participation resulted in a renewed commitment to addressing children’s mental health. CONCLUSION. The building capacity process expanded practitioner knowledge, renewed energy, and promoted confidence, resulting in change leaders empowered to articulate, advocate for, and implement practice changes reflecting occupational therapy’s role in addressing children’s mental health. PMID:26565099

  4. Finding ways to grow skills, knowledge, and voice in the next generation of interdisciplinary sustainability scientists

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roy, S. G.; de Souza, S. P.; McGreavy, B.; Gardner, K.; Hart, D.; Druschke, C. G.

    2017-12-01

    The need to train early-career interdisciplinary, solutions-driven sustainability researchers has never been more apparent than today. To meet this challenge, educators at the Universities of Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island have collaborated with their students to design and assess an interdisciplinary, multi-university course meant to develop the skills, content knowledge, and voice that are seen as critical for training the next generation of interdisciplinary sustainability researchers. We developed a rubric and conducted a mixed methods analysis of sustainability science learning outcomes identified as central to successful sustainability research. We used these targeted outcomes as a guide to design and implement several activities that build these skills and competencies and advance the identified outcomes. These course learning outcomes focus on three major sustainability science competencies: (1) systems thinking, which focuses on improving students' abilities to build a deep understanding of dynamic social-ecological systems; (2) problem definition, which focuses on the skills necessary to identify and communicate sustainability problems by combining systems knowledge with multiple stakeholder perspectives; and (3) decision making, which focuses on the abilities required to create and communicate adaptable decisions to mitigate sustainability problems. Students were frequently asked to help co-create class meetings based on their own educational experiences and objectives.Based on a quantitative assessment of survey results taken before and after the course, several students tended to initially overestimate their capacity for undertaking interdisciplinary sustainability research, possibly because of a previously narrow exposure to these concepts from the perspective of a single discipline. Qualitative results indicate that students gained substantial experience and confidence in communication, and especially in collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and conflict. Based on our empirical approach we recommend focusing on three key factors when training future interdisciplinary sustainability scientists: diverse and nested communication, building voice by co-creating the course, and early engagement with stakeholders.

  5. eClims: An Extensible and Dynamic Integration Framework for Biomedical Information Systems.

    PubMed

    Savonnet, Marinette; Leclercq, Eric; Naubourg, Pierre

    2016-11-01

    Biomedical information systems (BIS) require consideration of three types of variability: data variability induced by new high throughput technologies, schema or model variability induced by large scale studies or new fields of research, and knowledge variability resulting from new discoveries. Beyond data heterogeneity, managing variabilities in the context of BIS requires extensible and dynamic integration process. In this paper, we focus on data and schema variabilities and we propose an integration framework based on ontologies, master data, and semantic annotations. The framework addresses issues related to: 1) collaborative work through a dynamic integration process; 2) variability among studies using an annotation mechanism; and 3) quality control over data and semantic annotations. Our approach relies on two levels of knowledge: BIS-related knowledge is modeled using an application ontology coupled with UML models that allow controlling data completeness and consistency, and domain knowledge is described by a domain ontology, which ensures data coherence. A system build with the eClims framework has been implemented and evaluated in the context of a proteomic platform.

  6. Role playing games: a methodology to acquire knowledge for integrated wastewater infrastructures management in a river basin scale.

    PubMed

    Prat, P; Aulinas, M; Turon, C; Comas, J; Poch, M

    2009-01-01

    Current management of sanitation infrastructures (sewer systems, wastewater treatment plant, receiving water, bypasses, deposits, etc) is not fulfilling the objectives of up to date legislation, to achieve a good ecological and chemical status of water bodies through integrated management. These made it necessary to develop new methodologies that help decision makers to improve the management in order to achieve that status. Decision Support Systems (DSS) based on Multi-Agent System (MAS) paradigm are promising tools to improve the integrated management. When all the different agents involved interact, new important knowledge emerges. This knowledge can be used to build better DSS and improve wastewater infrastructures management achieving the objectives planned by legislation. The paper describes a methodology to acquire this knowledge through a Role Playing Game (RPG). First of all there is an introduction about the wastewater problems, a definition of RPG, and the relation between RPG and MAS. Then it is explained how the RPG was built with two examples of game sessions and results. The paper finishes with a discussion about the uses of this methodology and future work.

  7. Generic screen representations for future-proof systems, is it possible? There is more to a GUI than meets the eye.

    PubMed

    van der Linden, Helma; Austin, Tony; Talmon, Jan

    2009-09-01

    Future-proof EHR systems must be capable of interpreting information structures for medical concepts that were not available at the build-time of the system. The two-model approach of CEN 13606/openEHR using archetypes achieves this by separating generic clinical knowledge from domain-related knowledge. The presentation of this information can either itself be generic, or require design time awareness of the domain knowledge being employed. To develop a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that would be capable of displaying previously unencountered clinical data structures in a meaningful way. Through "reasoning by analogy" we defined an approach for the representation and implementation of "presentational knowledge". A proof-of-concept implementation was built to validate its implementability and to test for unanticipated issues. A two-model approach to specifying and generating a screen representation for archetype-based information, inspired by the two-model approach of archetypes, was developed. There is a separation between software-related display knowledge and domain-related display knowledge and the toolkit is designed with the reuse of components in mind. The approach leads to a flexible GUI that can adapt not only to information structures that had not been predefined within the receiving system, but also to novel ways of displaying the information. We also found that, ideally, the openEHR Archetype Definition Language should receive minor adjustments to allow for generic binding.

  8. INDUCTIVE SYSTEM HEALTH MONITORING WITH STATISTICAL METRICS

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Iverson, David L.

    2005-01-01

    Model-based reasoning is a powerful method for performing system monitoring and diagnosis. Building models for model-based reasoning is often a difficult and time consuming process. The Inductive Monitoring System (IMS) software was developed to provide a technique to automatically produce health monitoring knowledge bases for systems that are either difficult to model (simulate) with a computer or which require computer models that are too complex to use for real time monitoring. IMS processes nominal data sets collected either directly from the system or from simulations to build a knowledge base that can be used to detect anomalous behavior in the system. Machine learning and data mining techniques are used to characterize typical system behavior by extracting general classes of nominal data from archived data sets. In particular, a clustering algorithm forms groups of nominal values for sets of related parameters. This establishes constraints on those parameter values that should hold during nominal operation. During monitoring, IMS provides a statistically weighted measure of the deviation of current system behavior from the established normal baseline. If the deviation increases beyond the expected level, an anomaly is suspected, prompting further investigation by an operator or automated system. IMS has shown potential to be an effective, low cost technique to produce system monitoring capability for a variety of applications. We describe the training and system health monitoring techniques of IMS. We also present the application of IMS to a data set from the Space Shuttle Columbia STS-107 flight. IMS was able to detect an anomaly in the launch telemetry shortly after a foam impact damaged Columbia's thermal protection system.

  9. A fuzzy case based reasoning tool for model based approach to rocket engine health monitoring

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Krovvidy, Srinivas; Nolan, Adam; Hu, Yong-Lin; Wee, William G.

    1992-01-01

    In this system we develop a fuzzy case based reasoner that can build a case representation for several past anomalies detected, and we develop case retrieval methods that can be used to index a relevant case when a new problem (case) is presented using fuzzy sets. The choice of fuzzy sets is justified by the uncertain data. The new problem can be solved using knowledge of the model along with the old cases. This system can then be used to generalize the knowledge from previous cases and use this generalization to refine the existing model definition. This in turn can help to detect failures using the model based algorithms.

  10. Intelligent tutoring using HyperCLIPS

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hill, Randall W., Jr.; Pickering, Brad

    1990-01-01

    HyperCard is a popular hypertext-like system used for building user interfaces to databases and other applications, and CLIPS is a highly portable government-owned expert system shell. We developed HyperCLIPS in order to fill a gap in the U.S. Army's computer-based instruction tool set; it was conceived as a development environment for building adaptive practical exercises for subject-matter problem-solving, though it is not limited to this approach to tutoring. Once HyperCLIPS was developed, we set out to implement a practical exercise prototype using HyperCLIPS in order to demonstrate the following concepts: learning can be facilitated by doing; student performance evaluation can be done in real-time; and the problems in a practical exercise can be adapted to the individual student's knowledge.

  11. Performance-based seismic design of nonstructural building components: The next frontier of earthquake engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Filiatrault, Andre; Sullivan, Timothy

    2014-08-01

    With the development and implementation of performance-based earthquake engineering, harmonization of performance levels between structural and nonstructural components becomes vital. Even if the structural components of a building achieve a continuous or immediate occupancy performance level after a seismic event, failure of architectural, mechanical or electrical components can lower the performance level of the entire building system. This reduction in performance caused by the vulnerability of nonstructural components has been observed during recent earthquakes worldwide. Moreover, nonstructural damage has limited the functionality of critical facilities, such as hospitals, following major seismic events. The investment in nonstructural components and building contents is far greater than that of structural components and framing. Therefore, it is not surprising that in many past earthquakes, losses from damage to nonstructural components have exceeded losses from structural damage. Furthermore, the failure of nonstructural components can become a safety hazard or can hamper the safe movement of occupants evacuating buildings, or of rescue workers entering buildings. In comparison to structural components and systems, there is relatively limited information on the seismic design of nonstructural components. Basic research work in this area has been sparse, and the available codes and guidelines are usually, for the most part, based on past experiences, engineering judgment and intuition, rather than on objective experimental and analytical results. Often, design engineers are forced to start almost from square one after each earthquake event: to observe what went wrong and to try to prevent repetitions. This is a consequence of the empirical nature of current seismic regulations and guidelines for nonstructural components. This review paper summarizes current knowledge on the seismic design and analysis of nonstructural building components, identifying major knowledge gaps that will need to be filled by future research. Furthermore, considering recent trends in earthquake engineering, the paper explores how performance-based seismic design might be conceived for nonstructural components, drawing on recent developments made in the field of seismic design and hinting at the specific considerations required for nonstructural components.

  12. Summary of human responses to ventilation.

    PubMed

    Seppänen, O A; Fisk, W J

    2004-01-01

    It is known that ventilation is necessary to remove indoor-generated pollutants from indoor air or dilute their concentration to acceptable levels. But as the limit values of all pollutants are not known the exact determination of required ventilation rates based on pollutant concentrations is seldom possible. The selection of ventilation rates has to be based also on epidemiological research, laboratory and field experiments and experience. The existing literature indicates that ventilation has a significant impact on several important human outcomes including: (1) communicable respiratory illnesses; (2) sick building syndrome symptoms; (3) task performance and productivity, and (4) perceived air quality (PAQ) among occupants or sensory panels (5) respiratory allergies and asthma. In many studies, prevalence of sick building syndrome symptoms has also been associated with characteristics of HVAC-systems. Often the prevalence of SBS symptoms is higher in air-conditioned buildings than in naturally ventilated buildings. The evidence suggests that better hygiene, commissioning, operation and maintenance of air handling systems may be particularly important for reducing the negative effects of HVAC systems. Ventilation may also have harmful effects on indoor air quality and climate if not properly designed, installed, maintained and operated. Ventilation may bring indoors harmful substances or deteriorate indoor environment. Ventilation interacts also with the building envelope and may deteriorate the structures of the building. Ventilation changes the pressure differences across the structures of building and may cause or prevent infiltration of pollutants from structures or adjacent spaces. Ventilation is also in many cases used to control the thermal environment or humidity in buildings. The paper summarises the current knowledge on positive and negative effects of ventilation on health and other human responses. The focus is on office-type working environment and residential buildings. The review shows that ventilation has various positive impacts on health and productivity of building occupants. Ventilation reduces the prevalence of airborne infectious diseases and thus the number of sick leave days. In office environment a ventilation rate up to 20-25 L/s per person seem to decrease the prevalence of SBS-symptoms. Air conditioning systems may increase the prevalence of SBS-symptoms relative to natural ventilation if not clean. In residential buildings the air change rate in cold climates should not be below app. 0.5 ach. Ventilation systems may cause pressure differences over the building envelope and bring harmful pollutants indoors.

  13. [Basic assessment of needs for training in evidence-based medicine in Slovakia].

    PubMed

    Bacharova, L; Hlavacka, S; Rusnakova, V

    2001-01-01

    The health care reform in Slovakia produces a desire for greater responsibility for and control of strategic decisions and to be better able to evaluate international knowledge and experience in the specific national social and professional contexts. Evidence based medicine (EBM) provides an increasingly organised and accessible database of international knowledge in health and health care, capable of informing decisions at the macro and micro levels. The aim of this pilot study was to assess education, training and other capacity building needs in EBM and evidence based health care. This study was primarily qualitative and based on a triangular approach, which included: (1) The analysis of the situation in pre- and postgraduate education in Slovakia aiming to the estimation of needs in EBM and critical appraisal skills training; (2) The analysis of questionnaires distributed in a sample of 50 medical doctors and university educated public health workers undergoing a postgraduate training; (3) The discussion in focused groups. The findings and analysis uncovered a gap in knowledge and experience of EBM approaches, particularly of searching for evidence, utilising information technology, of undertaking critical appraisals of the validity and quality of external evidence and of knowledge of English. On the other hand the findings revealed a high access to information including the Internet access at the workplace, an increasing awareness of the need for up-date information, a demand for training and potential opportunities for action. The effective implementation introduction of EBM approach would require changes in broader political, cultural and behavioural contexts, including changes in pre- and postgraduate systems of professional and managerial education, changes in professional and managerial attitudes and changes in emphasis in skills and capacity building and improvements in knowledge management systems at the national level.

  14. A meta-learning system based on genetic algorithms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pellerin, Eric; Pigeon, Luc; Delisle, Sylvain

    2004-04-01

    The design of an efficient machine learning process through self-adaptation is a great challenge. The goal of meta-learning is to build a self-adaptive learning system that is constantly adapting to its specific (and dynamic) environment. To that end, the meta-learning mechanism must improve its bias dynamically by updating the current learning strategy in accordance with its available experiences or meta-knowledge. We suggest using genetic algorithms as the basis of an adaptive system. In this work, we propose a meta-learning system based on a combination of the a priori and a posteriori concepts. A priori refers to input information and knowledge available at the beginning in order to built and evolve one or more sets of parameters by exploiting the context of the system"s information. The self-learning component is based on genetic algorithms and neural Darwinism. A posteriori refers to the implicit knowledge discovered by estimation of the future states of parameters and is also applied to the finding of optimal parameters values. The in-progress research presented here suggests a framework for the discovery of knowledge that can support human experts in their intelligence information assessment tasks. The conclusion presents avenues for further research in genetic algorithms and their capability to learn to learn.

  15. Building on prior knowledge without building it in.

    PubMed

    Hansen, Steven S; Lampinen, Andrew K; Suri, Gaurav; McClelland, James L

    2017-01-01

    Lake et al. propose that people rely on "start-up software," "causal models," and "intuitive theories" built using compositional representations to learn new tasks more efficiently than some deep neural network models. We highlight the many drawbacks of a commitment to compositional representations and describe our continuing effort to explore how the ability to build on prior knowledge and to learn new tasks efficiently could arise through learning in deep neural networks.

  16. Decision support system and medical liability.

    PubMed Central

    Allaërt, F. A.; Dusserre, L.

    1992-01-01

    Expert systems, which are going to be an essential tool in Medicine, are evolving in terms of sophistication of both knowledge representation and types of reasoning models used. The more efficient they are, the more often they will be used and professional liability will be involved. So after giving a short survey of configuration and working of expert systems, the authors will study the liabilities of people building and the using expert systems regarding some various dysfunctions. Of course the expert systems have to be considered only for human support and they should not possess any authority themselves, therefore the doctors must keep in mind that it is their own responsibility and as such keep their judgment and criticism. However other professionals could be involved, if they have participated in the building of expert systems. The different liabilities and the burden of proof are discussed according to some possible dysfunctions. In any case the final proof is inside the expert system by itself through re-computation of data. PMID:1482972

  17. Modeling software systems by domains

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dippolito, Richard; Lee, Kenneth

    1992-01-01

    The Software Architectures Engineering (SAE) Project at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) has developed engineering modeling techniques that both reduce the complexity of software for domain-specific computer systems and result in systems that are easier to build and maintain. These techniques allow maximum freedom for system developers to apply their domain expertise to software. We have applied these techniques to several types of applications, including training simulators operating in real time, engineering simulators operating in non-real time, and real-time embedded computer systems. Our modeling techniques result in software that mirrors both the complexity of the application and the domain knowledge requirements. We submit that the proper measure of software complexity reflects neither the number of software component units nor the code count, but the locus of and amount of domain knowledge. As a result of using these techniques, domain knowledge is isolated by fields of engineering expertise and removed from the concern of the software engineer. In this paper, we will describe kinds of domain expertise, describe engineering by domains, and provide relevant examples of software developed for simulator applications using the techniques.

  18. Model-based diagnostics for Space Station Freedom

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fesq, Lorraine M.; Stephan, Amy; Martin, Eric R.; Lerutte, Marcel G.

    1991-01-01

    An innovative approach to fault management was recently demonstrated for the NASA LeRC Space Station Freedom (SSF) power system testbed. This project capitalized on research in model-based reasoning, which uses knowledge of a system's behavior to monitor its health. The fault management system (FMS) can isolate failures online, or in a post analysis mode, and requires no knowledge of failure symptoms to perform its diagnostics. An in-house tool called MARPLE was used to develop and run the FMS. MARPLE's capabilities are similar to those available from commercial expert system shells, although MARPLE is designed to build model-based as opposed to rule-based systems. These capabilities include functions for capturing behavioral knowledge, a reasoning engine that implements a model-based technique known as constraint suspension, and a tool for quickly generating new user interfaces. The prototype produced by applying MARPLE to SSF not only demonstrated that model-based reasoning is a valuable diagnostic approach, but it also suggested several new applications of MARPLE, including an integration and testing aid, and a complement to state estimation.

  19. Knowledge Building in Asynchronous Discussion Groups: Going Beyond Quantitative Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schrire, Sarah

    2006-01-01

    This contribution examines the methodological challenges involved in defining the collaborative knowledge-building processes occurring in asynchronous discussion and proposes an approach that could advance understanding of these processes. The written protocols that are available to the analyst provide an exact record of the instructional…

  20. GO FASTER: Building Morpheme Fluency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fishley, Katelyn M.; Konrad, Moira; Hessler, Terri

    2017-01-01

    Vocabulary knowledge is an important foundation skill for reading across all subject areas. Because students with disabilities lag behind their peers in reading skills, there is a need for efficient and effective vocabulary interventions. Focusing on morpheme knowledge is one efficient approach to building vocabulary. This article describes an…

  1. Fuel Crime Conceptualization through Specialization of Ontology for Investigation Management System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cybulka, Jolanta

    We undertook the task of building the conceptual model of a particular economic offense, called "a fuel crime". This model is thought of as a part of a larger conceptualization, which comprises consensual semantics underlying the knowledge base of a system, aimed at supporting the teamwork of investigators of economic crimes. Because such a knowledge-based system represents a perspective on economic crimes, it should be carefully modeled. This can be done with the help of an expressive enough ontology. To achieve our goal we use the constructive descriptions and situations (c.DnS) design pattern, which enables us to construct an extensible, layered ontology in a top-down manner: c.DnS top layer is specialized by the reference ontology for investigation management system, that in turn, is specialized by the ontology of the fuel crime.

  2. Software augmented buildings: Exploiting existing infrastructure to improve energy efficiency and comfort in commercial buildings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Balaji, Bharathan

    Commercial buildings consume 19% of energy in the US as of 2010, and traditionally, their energy use has been optimized through improved equipment efficiency and retrofits. Beyond improved hardware and infrastructure, there exists a tremendous potential in reducing energy use through better monitoring and operation. We present several applications that we developed and deployed to support our thesis that building energy use can be reduced through sensing, monitoring and optimization software that modulates use of building subsystems including HVAC. We focus on HVAC systems as these constitute 48-55% of building energy use. Specifically, in case of sensing, we describe an energy apportionment system that enables us to estimate real-time zonal HVAC power consumption by analyzing existing sensor information. With this energy breakdown, we can measure effectiveness of optimization solutions and identify inefficiencies. Central to energy efficiency improvement is determination of human occupancy in buildings. But this information is often unavailable or expensive to obtain using wide scale sensor deployment. We present our system that infers room level occupancy inexpensively by leveraging existing WiFi infrastructure. Occupancy information can be used not only to directly control HVAC but also to infer state of the building for predictive control. Building energy use is strongly influenced by human behaviors, and timely feedback mechanisms can encourage energy saving behavior. Occupants interact with HVAC using thermostats which has shown to be inadequate for thermal comfort. Building managers are responsible for incorporating energy efficiency measures, but our interviews reveal that they struggle to maintain efficiency due to lack of analytical tools and contextual information. We present our software services that provide energy feedback to occupants and building managers, improves comfort with personalized control and identifies energy wasting faults. For wide scale deployment of such energy saving software, they need to be portable across multiple buildings. However, buildings consist of heterogeneous equipment and use inconsistent naming schema, and developers need extensive domain knowledge to map sensor information to a standard format. To enable portability, we present an active learning algorithm that automates mapping building sensor metadata to a standard naming schema.

  3. Envisioning Science Environment Technology and Society

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maknun, J.; Busono, T.; Surasetja, I.

    2018-02-01

    Science Environment Technology and Society (SETS) approach helps students to connect science concept with the other aspects. This allows them to achieve a clearer depiction of how each concept is linked with the other concepts in SETS. Taking SETS into account will guide students to utilize science as a productive concept in inventing and developing technology, while minimizing its negative impacts on the environment and society. This article discusses the implementation of Sundanese local wisdoms, that can be found in the local stilt house (rumah panggung), in the Building Construction subject in vocational high school on Building Drawing Technique expertise. The stilt house structural system employs ties, pupurus joints, and wedges on its floor, wall, and truss frames, as well as its beams. This local knowledge was incorporated into the Building Construction learning program and applied on the following basic competences: applying wood’s specification and characteristics for building construction, managing wood’s specification and characteristics for building construction, analyzing building structure’s type and function based on their characteristics, reasoning building structure’s type and function based on their characteristics, categorizing wood construction works, and reasoning wood construction works. The research result is the Sundanese traditional-local-wisdom-based learning design of the Building Construction subject.

  4. 'Knowledge for better health' revisited - the increasing significance of health research systems: a review by departing Editors-in-Chief.

    PubMed

    Hanney, Stephen R; González-Block, Miguel A

    2017-10-02

    How can nations organise research investments to obtain the best bundle of knowledge and the maximum level of improved health, spread as equitably as possible? This question was the central focus of a major initiative from WHO led by Prof Tikki Pang, which resulted in a range of developments, including the publication of a conceptual framework for national health research systems - Knowledge for better health - in 2003, and in the founding of the journal Health Research Policy and Systems (HARPS). As Editors-in-Chief of the journal since 2006, we mark our retirement by tracking both the progress of the journal and the development of national health research systems. HARPS has maintained its focus on a range of central themes that are key components of a national health research system in any country. These include building capacity to conduct and use health research, identifying appropriate priorities, securing funds and allocating them accountably, producing scientifically valid research outputs, promoting the use of research in polices and practice in order to improve health, and monitoring and evaluating the health research system. Some of the themes covered in HARPS are now receiving increased attention and, for example, with the assessment of research impact and development of knowledge translation platforms, the journal has covered their progress throughout that expansion of interest. In addition, there is increasing recognition of new imperatives, including the importance of promoting gender equality in health research if benefits are to be maximised. In this Editorial, we outline some of the diverse and developing perspectives considered within each theme, as well as considering how they are held together by the growing desire to build effective health research systems in all countries.From 2003 until mid-June 2017, HARPS published 590 articles on the above and related themes, with authors being located in 76 countries. We present quantitative data tracing the journal's growth and the increasing external recognition of its role. We thank the many colleagues who have kindly contributed to the journal's success, and finish on an exciting note by welcoming the new Editors-in-Chief who will take HARPS forward.

  5. A graphical automated detection system to locate hardwood log surface defects using high-resolution three-dimensional laser scan data

    Treesearch

    Liya Thomas; R. Edward Thomas

    2011-01-01

    We have developed an automated defect detection system and a state-of-the-art Graphic User Interface (GUI) for hardwood logs. The algorithm identifies defects at least 0.5 inch high and at least 3 inches in diameter on barked hardwood log and stem surfaces. To summarize defect features and to build a knowledge base, hundreds of defects were measured, photographed, and...

  6. Experimentally Tracing the Key Steps in the Origin of Life: The Aromatic World

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ehrenfreund, Pascale; Rasmussen, Steen; Cleaves, James; Chen, Liaohai

    2006-06-01

    Life is generally believed to emerge on Earth, to be at least functionally similar to life as we know it today, and to be much simpler than modern life. Although minimal life is notoriously difficult to define, a molecular system can be considered alive if it turns resources into building blocks, replicates, and evolves. Primitive life may have consisted of a compartmentalized genetic system coupled with an energy-harvesting mechanism. How prebiotic building blocks self-assemble and transform themselves into a minimal living system can be broken into two questions: (1) How can prebiotic building blocks form containers, metabolic networks, and informational polymers? (2) How can these three components cooperatively organize to form a protocell that satisfies the minimal requirements for a living system? The functional integration of these components is a difficult puzzle that requires cooperation among all the aspects of protocell assembly: starting material, reaction mechanisms, thermodynamics, and the integration of the inheritance, metabolism, and container functionalities. Protocells may have been self-assembled from components different from those used in modern biochemistry. We propose that assemblies based on aromatic hydrocarbons may have been the most abundant flexible and stable organic materials on the primitive Earth and discuss their possible integration into a minimal life form. In this paper we attempt to combine current knowledge of the composition of prebiotic organic material of extraterrestrial and terrestrial origin, and put these in the context of possible prebiotic scenarios. We also describe laboratory experiments that might help clarify the transition from nonliving to living matter using aromatic material. This paper presents an interdisciplinary approach to interface state of the art knowledge in astrochemistry, prebiotic chemistry, and artificial life research.

  7. Advanced Networks in Dental Rich Online MEDiA (ANDROMEDA)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Elson, Bruce; Reynolds, Patricia; Amini, Ardavan; Burke, Ezra; Chapman, Craig

    There is growing demand for dental education and training not only in terms of knowledge but also skills. This demand is driven by continuing professional development requirements in the more developed economies, personnel shortages and skills differences across the European Union (EU) accession states and more generally in the developing world. There is an excellent opportunity for the EU to meet this demand by developing an innovative online flexible learning platform (FLP). Current clinical online systems are restricted to the delivery of general, knowledge-based training with no easy method of personalization or delivery of skill-based training. The PHANTOM project, headed by Kings College London is developing haptic-based virtual reality training systems for clinical dental training. ANDROMEDA seeks to build on this and establish a Flexible Learning Platform that can integrate the haptic and sensor based training with rich media knowledge transfer, whilst using sophisticated technologies such as including service-orientated architecture (SOA), Semantic Web technologies, knowledge-based engineering, business intelligence (BI) and virtual worlds for personalization.

  8. How to build a course in mathematical-biological modeling: content and processes for knowledge and skill.

    PubMed

    Hoskinson, Anne-Marie

    2010-01-01

    Biological problems in the twenty-first century are complex and require mathematical insight, often resulting in mathematical models of biological systems. Building mathematical-biological models requires cooperation among biologists and mathematicians, and mastery of building models. A new course in mathematical modeling presented the opportunity to build both content and process learning of mathematical models, the modeling process, and the cooperative process. There was little guidance from the literature on how to build such a course. Here, I describe the iterative process of developing such a course, beginning with objectives and choosing content and process competencies to fulfill the objectives. I include some inductive heuristics for instructors seeking guidance in planning and developing their own courses, and I illustrate with a description of one instructional model cycle. Students completing this class reported gains in learning of modeling content, the modeling process, and cooperative skills. Student content and process mastery increased, as assessed on several objective-driven metrics in many types of assessments.

  9. How to Build a Course in Mathematical–Biological Modeling: Content and Processes for Knowledge and Skill

    PubMed Central

    2010-01-01

    Biological problems in the twenty-first century are complex and require mathematical insight, often resulting in mathematical models of biological systems. Building mathematical–biological models requires cooperation among biologists and mathematicians, and mastery of building models. A new course in mathematical modeling presented the opportunity to build both content and process learning of mathematical models, the modeling process, and the cooperative process. There was little guidance from the literature on how to build such a course. Here, I describe the iterative process of developing such a course, beginning with objectives and choosing content and process competencies to fulfill the objectives. I include some inductive heuristics for instructors seeking guidance in planning and developing their own courses, and I illustrate with a description of one instructional model cycle. Students completing this class reported gains in learning of modeling content, the modeling process, and cooperative skills. Student content and process mastery increased, as assessed on several objective-driven metrics in many types of assessments. PMID:20810966

  10. Energy Efficiency Building Systems Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative

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

    Krebs, Martha

    The Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (CBEI) was established through a Funding Opportunity Announcement led by the U.S. Department of Energy, under a cooperative agreement managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory. CBEI is led by The Pennsylvania State University and is composed of partners from academia, the private sector, and economic development agencies. The Consortium has included as many as 24 different partners over the five years, but 14 have been core to the work over the five year cooperative agreement. CBEI primarily focused on developing energy efficiency solutions for the small and medium commercial building market, with amore » focus on buildings less than 50,000 square feet. This market has been underserved by the energy efficiency industry, which has focused on larger commercial buildings where the scale of an individual retrofit lends itself to the use of sophisticated modeling tools and more advanced solutions. Owners/operators and retrofit providers for larger buildings have a greater level of understanding of, and experience with different solutions. In contrast, smaller commercial building retrofits, like residential retrofits, often have owners with less knowledge about energy management and less time to learn about it. This market segment is also served by retrofit providers that are smaller and often focused on particular building systems, e.g. heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, roofing, or insulation. The size of a smaller commercial building retrofit does not lend itself, from a cost perspective, to the application of multiple, sophisticated design and modeling tools, which means that they are less likely to have integrated solutions.« less

  11. Citizen Science to Support Community-based Flood Early Warning and Resilience Building

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paul, J. D.; Buytaert, W.; Allen, S.; Ballesteros-Cánovas, J. A.; Bhusal, J.; Cieslik, K.; Clark, J.; Dewulf, A.; Dhital, M. R.; Hannah, D. M.; Liu, W.; Nayaval, J. L.; Schiller, A.; Smith, P. J.; Stoffel, M.; Supper, R.

    2017-12-01

    In Disaster Risk Management, an emerging shift has been noted from broad-scale, top-down assessments towards more participatory, community-based, bottom-up approaches. Combined with technologies for robust and low-cost sensor networks, a citizen science approach has recently emerged as a promising direction in the provision of extensive, real-time information for flood early warning systems. Here we present the framework and initial results of a major new international project, Landslide EVO, aimed at increasing local resilience against hydrologically induced disasters in western Nepal by exploiting participatory approaches to knowledge generation and risk governance. We identify three major technological developments that strongly support our approach to flood early warning and resilience building in Nepal. First, distributed sensor networks, participatory monitoring, and citizen science hold great promise in complementing official monitoring networks and remote sensing by generating site-specific information with local buy-in, especially in data-scarce regions. Secondly, the emergence of open source, cloud-based risk analysis platforms supports the construction of a modular, distributed, and potentially decentralised data processing workflow. Finally, linking data analysis platforms to social computer networks and ICT (e.g. mobile phones, tablets) allows tailored interfaces and people-centred decision- and policy-support systems to be built. Our proposition is that maximum impact is created if end-users are involved not only in data collection, but also over the entire project life-cycle, including the analysis and provision of results. In this context, citizen science complements more traditional knowledge generation practices, and also enhances multi-directional information provision, risk management, early-warning systems and local resilience building.

  12. Role Taking and Knowledge Building in a Blended University Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cesareni, Donatella; Cacciamani, Stefano; Fujita, Nobuko

    2016-01-01

    Role taking is an established approach for promoting social cognition. Playing a specific role within a group could lead students to exercise collective cognitive responsibility for collaborative knowledge building. Two studies explored the relationship of role taking to participation in a blended university course. Students participated in the…

  13. Building Research Collaboration Networks--An Interpersonal Perspective for Research Capacity Building

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Jun Song

    2014-01-01

    While collaboration is increasingly recognized to be important for research, researchers' collaboration networks are still not adequately recognized as a form of research capacity in the literature. Research is a knowledge creation activity and interpersonal research collaboration networks are important for knowledge cross-fertilization and…

  14. Service-Learning Enriches Advertising Knowledge, Builds Students' Portfolios, and Promotes Community Engagement after Graduation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tucciarone, Krista

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the influence of a service-learning component in an advertising course, specifically examining its ability to enrich advertising knowledge, build students' portfolios, and influence students' community engagement after graduation. The research revealed that service-learning positively affects students' understanding of…

  15. Developing Reflective Dispositions through Collaborative Knowledge-Building during Small Group Bible Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Toh, Tze Keong; Koh, Joyce Hwee Ling; Chai, Ching Sing

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the use of a constructivist pedagogical approach to cultivate reflective dispositions during small group Bible study. Conducted in a local church Bible class setting (n = 12), the instructional design emulated the reflective thinking process, while adopting collaborative knowledge-building as its pedagogical framework.…

  16. Generating Synergy between Conceptual Change and Knowledge Building

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Chwee Beng

    2010-01-01

    This paper is an initial effort to review the reciprocity between the theoretical traditions of "conceptual change" and "knowledge building" by discussing the underlying epistemological assumptions, objectives, conceptions of concepts and ideas, and mechanisms that bring forth the respective goals of these two traditions. The basis for generating…

  17. Designing Knowledge Building Communities in Secondary Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Kwok-Wing

    2014-01-01

    In 2012-2013, sixteen senior secondary classes participated in this study, with eight of them being distance classes. Approximately 220 Year 11-13 students and 8 teachers took part in this study. This project aimed at designing and evaluating a computer-supported knowledge building community in senior secondary classes. Researchers sought to…

  18. Creating an Organic Knowledge-Building Environment within an Asynchronous Distributed Learning Context.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moller, Leslie; Prestera, Gustavo E.; Harvey, Douglas; Downs-Keller, Margaret; McCausland, Jo-Ann

    2002-01-01

    Discusses organic architecture and suggests that learning environments should be designed and constructed using an organic approach, so that learning is not viewed as a distinct human activity but incorporated into everyday performance. Highlights include an organic knowledge-building model; information objects; scaffolding; discourse action…

  19. Concept of software interface for BCI systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Svejda, Jaromir; Zak, Roman; Jasek, Roman

    2016-06-01

    Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology is intended to control external system by brain activity. One of main part of such system is software interface, which carries about clear communication between brain and either computer or additional devices connected to computer. This paper is organized as follows. Firstly, current knowledge about human brain is briefly summarized to points out its complexity. Secondly, there is described a concept of BCI system, which is then used to build an architecture of proposed software interface. Finally, there are mentioned disadvantages of sensing technology discovered during sensing part of our research.

  20. Is There Space for the Objective Force?

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2003-04-07

    force through the combination of precision weapons and knowledge-based warfare. Army forces will survive through information dominance , provided by a...Objective Forces. Space-based systems will be foundational building blocks for the Objective Force to achieve information dominance and satellite...communications required for information dominance across a distributed battlefield? Second, what exists to provide the Objective Force information

  1. Increasing the Vocabulary Acquisition Rate for Third Grade English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pendergrass, Jennifer D.

    2017-01-01

    Given the ongoing demographic transformations of U.S classrooms, knowledge of the strategies teachers use to address the vocabulary needs of English language learners (ELLs) is central for improving student outcomes. The problem in a Georgia school system was that ELLs were not building grade-level appropriate vocabulary at a pace comparable to…

  2. The global land-potential knowledge system (LandPKS): Supporting evidence-based, site-specific land use and management through cloud computing, mobile applications and crowdsourcing

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Agricultural production must increase significantly to meet the needs of a growing global population with increasing per capita consumption of food, fiber, building materials, and fuel. Consumption already exceeds net primary production in many parts of the world. In addition to reducing consumptio...

  3. Limits of Infinite Processes for Liberal Arts Majors: Two Classic Examples

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jorgensen, Theresa A.; Shipman, Barbara A.

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents guided classroom activities that showcase two classic problems in which a finite limit exists and where there is a certain charm to engage liberal arts majors. The two scenarios build solely on students' existing knowledge of number systems and harness potential misconceptions about limits and infinity to guide their thinking.…

  4. STEM Learning Is Everywhere: Summary of a Convocation on Building Learning Systems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olson, Steve; Labov, Jay

    2014-01-01

    Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) permeate the modern world. The jobs people do, the foods they eat, the vehicles in which they travel, the information they receive, the medicines they take, and many other facets of modern life are constantly changing as STEM knowledge steadily accumulates. Yet STEM education in the United…

  5. Analyzing User Interaction to Design an Intelligent e-Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sharma, Richa

    2011-01-01

    Building intelligent course designing systems adaptable to the learners' needs is one of the key goals of research in e-learning. This goal is all the more crucial as gaining knowledge in an e-learning environment depends solely on computer mediated interaction within the learner group and among the learners and instructors. The patterns generated…

  6. Using Audience Response Systems during Interactive Lectures to Promote Active Learning and Conceptual Understanding of Stoichiometry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cotes, Sandra; Cotuá, José

    2014-01-01

    This article describes a method of instruction using an active learning strategy for teaching stoichiometry through a process of gradual knowledge building. Students identify their misconceptions and progress through a sequence of questions based on the same chemical equation. An infrared device and software registered as the TurningPoint Audience…

  7. Building Bridges across Knowledge Systems: Ubuntu and Participative Research Paradigms in Bantu Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muwanga-Zake, J. W. F.

    2009-01-01

    This paper discusses how Ubuntu as a philosophy and a methodology was used among Bantu in South Africa together with participative Western paradigms in evaluating an educational computer game. The paper argues that research among Bantu has to articulate research experiences within Ubuntu paradigms if valid outcomes are to be realised. (Contains 1…

  8. Testing Methodology in the Student Learning Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gorbunova, Tatiana N.

    2017-01-01

    The subject of the research is to build methodologies to evaluate the student knowledge by testing. The author points to the importance of feedback about the mastering level in the learning process. Testing is considered as a tool. The object of the study is to create the test system models for defence practice problems. Special attention is paid…

  9. The Black Box of Schooling: A Cultural History of the Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Braster, Sjaak, Ed.; Grosvenor, Ian, Ed.; del Mar del Pozo Andres, Maria, Ed.

    2011-01-01

    This book is about the classroom, the most important meeting place for teachers and pupils in an education building. Individuals' knowledge, however, about what happens inside this space is limited. In many respects the classroom is still the black box of the educational system. To open up this box, this volume brings together scholars from the…

  10. Bridging the Gap between Educational Needs for Development and Current Education Systems in Sylhet

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rahaman, Mohammad Mizenur; Chowdhury, Mosaddak Ahmed

    2016-01-01

    Education builds a nation. National development highly depends on Education. Education is the main component to execute the vision of the nation. The Global scenario of socio-economic development is changing while knowledge supplants physical capital as the source of present (and future) wealth. Sylhet is far better that other division of the…

  11. An intelligent planning and scheduling system for the HST servicing missions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Johnson, Jay; Bogovich, Lynn; Tuchman, Alan; Kispert, Andrew; Page, Brenda; Burkhardt, Christian; Littlefield, Ronald; Mclean, David; Potter, William; Ochs, William

    1993-01-01

    A new, intelligent planning and scheduling system has been delivered to NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to provide support for the up-coming Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Missions. This new system is the Servicing Mission Planning and Replanning Tool (SM/PART). SM/PART is written in C and runs on a UNlX-based workstation (IBM RS/6000) under Motif. SM/PART effectively automates the complex task of building or rebuilding integrated timelines and command plans which are required by HST Servicing Mission personnel at their consoles during the missions. SM/PART is able to quickly build or rebuild timelines based on information stored in a Knowledge Base (KB) by using an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool called the Planning And Resource Reasoning (PARR) shell. After a timeline has been built in the batch mode, it can be displayed and edited in an interactive mode with help from the PARR shell. Finally a detailed command plan is generated. The capability to quickly build or rebuild timelines and command plans provides an additional safety factor for the HST, Shuttle and Crew.

  12. A Global Capacity Building Vision for Societal Applications of Earth Observing Systems and Data: Key Questions and Recommendations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hossain, Faisal; Serrat-Capdevila, Aleix; Granger, Stephanie; Thomas, Amy; Saah, David; Ganz, David; Mugo, Robinson; Murthy, M. S. R.; Ramos, Victor Hugo; Kirschbaum, Dalia; hide

    2016-01-01

    Capacity building using Earth observing (EO) systems and data (i.e., from orbital and nonorbital platforms) to enable societal applications includes the network of human, nonhuman, technical, nontechnical, hardware, and software dimensions that are necessary to successfully cross the valley [of death; see NRC (2001)] between science and research (port of departure) and societal application (port of arrival). In many parts of the world (especially where ground-based measurements are scarce or insufficient), applications of EO data still struggle for longevity or continuity for a variety of reasons, foremost among them being the lack of resilient capacity. An organization is said to have resilient capacity when it can retain and continue to build capacity in the face of unexpected shocks or stresses. Stresses can include intermittent power and limited Internet bandwidth, constant need for education on ever-increasing complexity of EO systems and data, communication challenges between the ports of departure and arrival (especially across time zones), and financial limitations and instability. Shocks may also include extreme events such as disasters and losing key staff with technical and institutional knowledge.

  13. The AI Bus architecture for distributed knowledge-based systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schultz, Roger D.; Stobie, Iain

    1991-01-01

    The AI Bus architecture is layered, distributed object oriented framework developed to support the requirements of advanced technology programs for an order of magnitude improvement in software costs. The consequent need for highly autonomous computer systems, adaptable to new technology advances over a long lifespan, led to the design of an open architecture and toolbox for building large scale, robust, production quality systems. The AI Bus accommodates a mix of knowledge based and conventional components, running on heterogeneous, distributed real world and testbed environment. The concepts and design is described of the AI Bus architecture and its current implementation status as a Unix C++ library or reusable objects. Each high level semiautonomous agent process consists of a number of knowledge sources together with interagent communication mechanisms based on shared blackboards and message passing acquaintances. Standard interfaces and protocols are followed for combining and validating subsystems. Dynamic probes or demons provide an event driven means for providing active objects with shared access to resources, and each other, while not violating their security.

  14. Benchmarking expert system tools

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Riley, Gary

    1988-01-01

    As part of its evaluation of new technologies, the Artificial Intelligence Section of the Mission Planning and Analysis Div. at NASA-Johnson has made timing tests of several expert system building tools. Among the production systems tested were Automated Reasoning Tool, several versions of OPS5, and CLIPS (C Language Integrated Production System), an expert system builder developed by the AI section. Also included in the test were a Zetalisp version of the benchmark along with four versions of the benchmark written in Knowledge Engineering Environment, an object oriented, frame based expert system tool. The benchmarks used for testing are studied.

  15. Expert systems for fault diagnosis in nuclear reactor control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jalel, N. A.; Nicholson, H.

    1990-11-01

    An expert system for accident analysis and fault diagnosis for the Loss Of Fluid Test (LOFT) reactor, a small scale pressurized water reactor, was developed for a personal computer. The knowledge of the system is presented using a production rule approach with a backward chaining inference engine. The data base of the system includes simulated dependent state variables of the LOFT reactor model. Another system is designed to assist the operator in choosing the appropriate cooling mode and to diagnose the fault in the selected cooling system. The response tree, which is used to provide the link between a list of very specific accident sequences and a set of generic emergency procedures which help the operator in monitoring system status, and to differentiate between different accident sequences and select the correct procedures, is used to build the system knowledge base. Both systems are written in TURBO PROLOG language and can be run on an IBM PC compatible with 640k RAM, 40 Mbyte hard disk and color graphics.

  16. Knowledge base about earthquakes as a tool to minimize strong events consequences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frolova, Nina; Bonnin, Jean; Larionov, Valery; Ugarov, Alexander; Kijko, Andrzej

    2017-04-01

    The paper describes the structure and content of the knowledge base on physical and socio-economical consequences of damaging earthquakes, which may be used for calibration of near real-time loss assessment systems based on simulation models for shaking intensity, damage to buildings and casualties estimates. Such calibration allows to compensate some factors which influence on reliability of expected damage and loss assessment in "emergency" mode. The knowledge base contains the description of past earthquakes' consequences for the area under study. It also includes the current distribution of built environment and population at the time of event occurrence. Computer simulation of the recorded in knowledge base events allow to determine the sets of regional calibration coefficients, including rating of seismological surveys, peculiarities of shaking intensity attenuation and changes in building stock and population distribution, in order to provide minimum error of damaging earthquakes loss estimations in "emergency" mode. References 1. Larionov, V., Frolova, N: Peculiarities of seismic vulnerability estimations. In: Natural Hazards in Russia, volume 6: Natural Risks Assessment and Management, Publishing House "Kruk", Moscow, 120-131, 2003. 2. Frolova, N., Larionov, V., Bonnin, J.: Data Bases Used In Worlwide Systems For Earthquake Loss Estimation In Emergency Mode: Wenchuan Earthquake. In Proc. TIEMS2010 Conference, Beijing, China, 2010. 3. Frolova N. I., Larionov V. I., Bonnin J., Sushchev S. P., Ugarov A. N., Kozlov M. A. Loss Caused by Earthquakes: Rapid Estimates. Natural Hazards Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol.84, ISSN 0921-030, Nat Hazards DOI 10.1007/s11069-016-2653

  17. Concept Formation in Scientific Knowledge Discovery from a Constructivist View

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peng, Wei; Gero, John S.

    The central goal of scientific knowledge discovery is to learn cause-effect relationships among natural phenomena presented as variables and the consequences their interactions. Scientific knowledge is normally expressed as scientific taxonomies and qualitative and quantitative laws [1]. This type of knowledge represents intrinsic regularities of the observed phenomena that can be used to explain and predict behaviors of the phenomena. It is a generalization that is abstracted and externalized from a set of contexts and applicable to a broader scope. Scientific knowledge is a type of third-person knowledge, i.e., knowledge that independent of a specific enquirer. Artificial intelligence approaches, particularly data mining algorithms that are used to identify meaningful patterns from large data sets, are approaches that aim to facilitate the knowledge discovery process [2]. A broad spectrum of algorithms has been developed in addressing classification, associative learning, and clustering problems. However, their linkages to people who use them have not been adequately explored. Issues in relation to supporting the interpretation of the patterns, the application of prior knowledge to the data mining process and addressing user interactions remain challenges for building knowledge discovery tools [3]. As a consequence, scientists rely on their experience to formulate problems, evaluate hypotheses, reason about untraceable factors and derive new problems. This type of knowledge which they have developed during their career is called “first-person” knowledge. The formation of scientific knowledge (third-person knowledge) is highly influenced by the enquirer’s first-person knowledge construct, which is a result of his or her interactions with the environment. There have been attempts to craft automatic knowledge discovery tools but these systems are limited in their capabilities to handle the dynamics of personal experience. There are now trends in developing approaches to assist scientists applying their expertise to model formation, simulation, and prediction in various domains [4], [5]. On the other hand, first-person knowledge becomes third-person theory only if it proves general by evidence and is acknowledged by a scientific community. Researchers start to focus on building interactive cooperation platforms [1] to accommodate different views into the knowledge discovery process. There are some fundamental questions in relation to scientific knowledge development. What aremajor components for knowledge construction and how do people construct their knowledge? How is this personal construct assimilated and accommodated into a scientific paradigm? How can one design a computational system to facilitate these processes? This chapter does not attempt to answer all these questions but serves as a basis to foster thinking along this line. A brief literature review about how people develop their knowledge is carried out through a constructivist view. A hydrological modeling scenario is presented to elucidate the approach.

  18. Concept Formation in Scientific Knowledge Discovery from a Constructivist View

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peng, Wei; Gero, John S.

    The central goal of scientific knowledge discovery is to learn cause-effect relationships among natural phenomena presented as variables and the consequences their interactions. Scientific knowledge is normally expressed as scientific taxonomies and qualitative and quantitative laws [1]. This type of knowledge represents intrinsic regularities of the observed phenomena that can be used to explain and predict behaviors of the phenomena. It is a generalization that is abstracted and externalized from a set of contexts and applicable to a broader scope. Scientific knowledge is a type of third-person knowledge, i.e., knowledge that independent of a specific enquirer. Artificial intelligence approaches, particularly data mining algorithms that are used to identify meaningful patterns from large data sets, are approaches that aim to facilitate the knowledge discovery process [2]. A broad spectrum of algorithms has been developed in addressing classification, associative learning, and clustering problems. However, their linkages to people who use them have not been adequately explored. Issues in relation to supporting the interpretation of the patterns, the application of prior knowledge to the data mining process and addressing user interactions remain challenges for building knowledge discovery tools [3]. As a consequence, scientists rely on their experience to formulate problems, evaluate hypotheses, reason about untraceable factors and derive new problems. This type of knowledge which they have developed during their career is called "first-person" knowledge. The formation of scientific knowledge (third-person knowledge) is highly influenced by the enquirer's first-person knowledge construct, which is a result of his or her interactions with the environment. There have been attempts to craft automatic knowledge discovery tools but these systems are limited in their capabilities to handle the dynamics of personal experience. There are now trends in developing approaches to assist scientists applying their expertise to model formation, simulation, and prediction in various domains [4], [5]. On the other hand, first-person knowledge becomes third-person theory only if it proves general by evidence and is acknowledged by a scientific community. Researchers start to focus on building interactive cooperation platforms [1] to accommodate different views into the knowledge discovery process. There are some fundamental questions in relation to scientific knowledge development. What aremajor components for knowledge construction and how do people construct their knowledge? How is this personal construct assimilated and accommodated into a scientific paradigm? How can one design a computational system to facilitate these processes? This chapter does not attempt to answer all these questions but serves as a basis to foster thinking along this line. A brief literature review about how people develop their knowledge is carried out through a constructivist view. A hydrological modeling scenario is presented to elucidate the approach.

  19. Organisation of biotechnological information into knowledge.

    PubMed

    Boh, B

    1996-09-01

    The success of biotechnological research, development and marketing depends to a large extent on the international transfer of information and on the ability to organise biotechnology information into knowledge. To increase the efficiency of information-based approaches, an information strategy has been developed and consists of the following stages: definition of the problem, its structure and sub-problems; acquisition of data by targeted processing of computer-supported bibliographic, numeric, textual and graphic databases; analysis of data and building of specialized in-house information systems; information processing for structuring data into systems, recognition of trends and patterns of knowledge, particularly by information synthesis using the concept of information density; design of research hypotheses; testing hypotheses in the laboratory and/or pilot plant; repeated evaluation and optimization of hypotheses by information methods and testing them by further laboratory work. The information approaches are illustrated by examples from the university-industry joint projects in biotechnology, biochemistry and agriculture.

  20. A data management life-cycle

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Ferderer, David A.

    2001-01-01

    Documented, reliable, and accessible data and information are essential building blocks supporting scientific research and applications that enhance society's knowledge base (fig. 1). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a leading provider of science data, information, and knowledge, is uniquely positioned to integrate science and natural resource information to address societal needs. The USGS Central Energy Resources Team (USGS-CERT) provides critical information and knowledge on the quantity, quality, and distribution of the Nation's and the world's oil, gas, and coal resources. By using a life-cycle model, the USGS-CERT Data Management Project is developing an integrated data management system to (1) promote access to energy data and information, (2) increase data documentation, and (3) streamline product delivery to the public, scientists, and decision makers. The project incorporates web-based technology, data cataloging systems, data processing routines, and metadata documentation tools to improve data access, enhance data consistency, and increase office efficiency

  1. Ten-year monitoring of high-rise building columns using long-gauge fiber optic sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glisic, B.; Inaudi, D.; Lau, J. M.; Fong, C. C.

    2013-05-01

    A large-scale lifetime building monitoring program was implemented in Singapore in 2001. The monitoring aims of this unique program were to increase safety, verify performance, control quality, increase knowledge, optimize maintenance costs, and evaluate the condition of the structures after a hazardous event. The first instrumented building, which has now been monitored for more than ten years, is presented in this paper. The long-gauge fiber optic strain sensors were embedded in fresh concrete of ground-level columns, thus the monitoring started at the birth of both the construction material and the structure. Measurement sessions were performed during construction, upon completion of each new story and the roof, and after the construction, i.e., in-service. Based on results it was possible to follow and evaluate long-term behavior of the building through every stage of its life. The results of monitoring were analyzed at a local (column) and global (building) level. Over-dimensioning of one column was identified. Differential settlement of foundations was detected, localized, and its magnitude estimated. Post-tremor analysis was performed. Real long-term behavior of concrete columns was assessed. Finally, the long-term performance of the monitoring system was evaluated. The researched monitoring method, monitoring system, rich results gathered over approximately ten years, data analysis algorithms, and the conclusions on the structural behavior and health condition of the building based on monitoring are presented in this paper.

  2. Aboriginal health learning in the forest and cultivated gardens: building a nutritious and sustainable food system.

    PubMed

    Stroink, Mirella L; Nelson, Connie H

    2009-01-01

    Sustainable food systems are those in which diverse foods are produced in close proximity to a market. A dynamic, adaptive knowledge base that is grounded in local culture and geography and connected to outside knowledge resources is essential for such food systems to thrive. Sustainable food systems are particularly important to remote and Aboriginal communities, where extensive transportation makes food expensive and of poorer nutritional value. The Learning Garden program was developed and run with two First Nation communities in northwestern Ontario. With this program, the team adopted a holistic and experiential model of learning to begin rebuilding a knowledge base that would support a sustainable local food system. The program involved a series of workshops held in each community and facilitated by a community-based coordinator. Topics included cultivated gardening and forest foods. Results of survey data collected from 20 Aboriginal workshop participants are presented, revealing a moderate to low level of baseline knowledge of the traditional food system, and a reliance on the mainstream food system that is supported by food values that place convenience, ease, and price above the localness or cultural connectedness of the food. Preliminary findings from qualitative data are also presented on the process of learning that occurred in the program and some of the insights we have gained that are relevant to future adaptations of this program.

  3. Matrix Failure Modes and Effects Analysis as a Knowledge Base for a Real Time Automated Diagnosis Expert System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Herrin, Stephanie; Iverson, David; Spukovska, Lilly; Souza, Kenneth A. (Technical Monitor)

    1994-01-01

    Failure Modes and Effects Analysis contain a wealth of information that can be used to create the knowledge base required for building automated diagnostic Expert systems. A real time monitoring and diagnosis expert system based on an actual NASA project's matrix failure modes and effects analysis was developed. This Expert system Was developed at NASA Ames Research Center. This system was first used as a case study to monitor the Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF), a Space Shuttle payload that is used to house and monitor animals in orbit so the effects of space flight and microgravity can be studied. The techniques developed for the RAHF monitoring and diagnosis Expert system are general enough to be used for monitoring and diagnosis of a variety of other systems that undergo a Matrix FMEA. This automated diagnosis system was successfully used on-line and validated on the Space Shuttle flight STS-58, mission SLS-2 in October 1993.

  4. Knowledge-Building Activity Structures in Japanese Elementary Science Pedagogy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oshima, Jun; Oshima, Ritsuko; Murayama, Isao; Inagaki, Shigenori; Takenaka, Makiko; Yamamoto, Tomokazu; Yamaguchi, Etsuji; Nakayama, Hayashi

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to refine Japanese elementary science activity structures by using a CSCL approach to transform the classroom into a knowledge-building community. We report design studies on two science lessons in two consecutive years and describe the progressive refinement of the activity structures. Through comparisons of student…

  5. What Do I Say Next? Using The Third Turn to Build Productive Instructional Discussions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ford-Connors, Evelyn; Robertson, Dana A.

    2017-01-01

    Research has strongly supported the role of classroom talk as a valuable teaching and learning tool. Carefully crafted teacher-student discussions that encourage broad student participation and knowledge building correlate with increased knowledge generation and higher academic achievement. To better understand classroom talk as an instructional…

  6. Generative Insights from the Eleanor Chelimsky Forum on Evaluation Theory and Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leviton, Laura C.

    2014-01-01

    Both speakers at the Eleanor Chelimsky Forum on Theory and Practice in Evaluation pointed out the complexity and messiness of evaluation practice, and thus potential limits on theory and generalizable knowledge. The concept of reflective practice offers one way forward to build evaluation theory. Building generalizable knowledge about practice…

  7. Networked eLlearning and Collaborative Knowledge Building: Design and Facilitation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sorensen, Elsebeth Korsgaard

    2005-01-01

    This paper addresses the core goals for educators to stimulate participation across diversity (including life trajectories and culture) and motivate learners to engage in negotiation of meaning and knowledge building dialogue in the processes of networked learning. The paper reports on a Danish masters online course on networked learning for…

  8. The Building of Pre-Service Primary Teachers' Knowledge of Mathematics Teaching: Interaction and Online Video Case Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Llinares, Salvador; Valls, Julia

    2009-01-01

    This study explores how preservice primary teachers became engaged in meaning-making mathematics teaching when participating in online discussions within learning environments integrating video-clips of mathematics teaching. We identified different modes of participation in the online discussions and different levels of knowledge-building. The…

  9. "Slow Science": Building Scientific Concepts in Physics in High School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bigozzi, Lucia; Tarchi, Christian; Falsini, Paola; Fiorentini, Carlo

    2014-01-01

    In this study, a progressive-learning approach to physics, based on knowledge-building pedagogy, was compared to a content-centered approach in which explanations, experiments, and discussions are centered on the transmission of knowledge. Forty-six students attending the first year of high school participated in this study over a whole school…

  10. Methods of formation of the knowledge base in the diagnosis of melanoma

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Selchuk, V. Y.; Rodionova, O. V.; Sukhova, O. G.; Polyakov, E. V.; Grebennikova, O. P.; Burov, D. A.; Emelianova, G. S.

    2017-01-01

    The method of building of information systems for the diagnosis of skin melanoma is described in the presented work. Malignant tumors at the level of macro - and microimages in combination with clinical data are investigated. The development is made with the use of MySQL. An information system is a result of joint activities of the National research nuclear University “MEPhI” (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute) with N. N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Scientific Center.

  11. Unsupervised segmentation of H and E breast images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hope, Tyna A.; Yaffe, Martin J.

    2017-03-01

    Heterogeneity of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) continues to be an important topic. Combining biomarker and hematoxylin and eosin (HE) morphology information may provide more insights than either alone. We are working towards a computer-based identification and description system for DCIS. As part of the system we are developing a region of interest finder for further processing, such as identifying DCIS and other HE based measures. The segmentation algorithm is designed to be tolerant of variability in staining and require no user interaction. To achieve stain variation tolerance we use unsupervised learning and iteratively interrogate the image for information. Using simple rules (e.g., "hematoxylin stains nuclei") and iteratively assessing the resultant objects (small hematoxylin stained objects are lymphocytes), the system builds up a knowledge base so that it is not dependent upon manual annotations. The system starts with image resolution-based assumptions but these are replaced by knowledge gained. The algorithm pipeline is designed to find the simplest items first (segment stains), then interesting subclasses and objects (stroma, lymphocytes), and builds information until it is possible to segment blobs that are normal, DCIS, and the range of benign glands. Once the blobs are found, features can be obtained and DCIS detected. In this work we present the early segmentation results with stains where hematoxylin ranges from blue dominant to red dominant in RGB space.

  12. Combating desertification: building on traditional knowledge systems of the Thar Desert communities.

    PubMed

    Gaur, Mahesh K; Gaur, Hemlata

    2004-12-01

    The Thar Desert of western India is known for its rich and ancient culture system and traditions. The communities have long been part of the Thar Desert ecosystem and have evolved specific strategies to live in harmony with its hostile environment. This culture has provided several miracle plants of immense food and medicinal value to modern civilisation. The ancient rural livelihood knowledge system reflects time-tested techno-scientific knowledge with a proven track record of sustainability, especially during natural hazards like drought and famines. In addition, several of the traditional skills of local communities in arts and crafts, music and instruments have made modern man aware of the art and techniques of sustainably utilising local biological resources and preserving their biodiversity along with using waste products of the forests, without harming the desert ecosystem. Traditional cultural and socio-religious values are fast dwindling under the impact of materialistic approach, industrialisation and development. This paper endeavours to illustrate the need to assist and propagate indigenous rural livelihood systems rather than mindlessly replace or abandon them as a result of state bureaucracies.

  13. Knowledge-based expert systems and a proof-of-concept case study for multiple sequence alignment construction and analysis.

    PubMed

    Aniba, Mohamed Radhouene; Siguenza, Sophie; Friedrich, Anne; Plewniak, Frédéric; Poch, Olivier; Marchler-Bauer, Aron; Thompson, Julie Dawn

    2009-01-01

    The traditional approach to bioinformatics analyses relies on independent task-specific services and applications, using different input and output formats, often idiosyncratic, and frequently not designed to inter-operate. In general, such analyses were performed by experts who manually verified the results obtained at each step in the process. Today, the amount of bioinformatics information continuously being produced means that handling the various applications used to study this information presents a major data management and analysis challenge to researchers. It is now impossible to manually analyse all this information and new approaches are needed that are capable of processing the large-scale heterogeneous data in order to extract the pertinent information. We review the recent use of integrated expert systems aimed at providing more efficient knowledge extraction for bioinformatics research. A general methodology for building knowledge-based expert systems is described, focusing on the unstructured information management architecture, UIMA, which provides facilities for both data and process management. A case study involving a multiple alignment expert system prototype called AlexSys is also presented.

  14. Knowledge-based expert systems and a proof-of-concept case study for multiple sequence alignment construction and analysis

    PubMed Central

    Aniba, Mohamed Radhouene; Siguenza, Sophie; Friedrich, Anne; Plewniak, Frédéric; Poch, Olivier; Marchler-Bauer, Aron

    2009-01-01

    The traditional approach to bioinformatics analyses relies on independent task-specific services and applications, using different input and output formats, often idiosyncratic, and frequently not designed to inter-operate. In general, such analyses were performed by experts who manually verified the results obtained at each step in the process. Today, the amount of bioinformatics information continuously being produced means that handling the various applications used to study this information presents a major data management and analysis challenge to researchers. It is now impossible to manually analyse all this information and new approaches are needed that are capable of processing the large-scale heterogeneous data in order to extract the pertinent information. We review the recent use of integrated expert systems aimed at providing more efficient knowledge extraction for bioinformatics research. A general methodology for building knowledge-based expert systems is described, focusing on the unstructured information management architecture, UIMA, which provides facilities for both data and process management. A case study involving a multiple alignment expert system prototype called AlexSys is also presented. PMID:18971242

  15. MapSentinel: Can the Knowledge of Space Use Improve Indoor Tracking Further?

    PubMed Central

    Jia, Ruoxi; Jin, Ming; Zou, Han; Yesilata, Yigitcan; Xie, Lihua; Spanos, Costas

    2016-01-01

    Estimating an occupant’s location is arguably the most fundamental sensing task in smart buildings. The applications for fine-grained, responsive building operations require the location sensing systems to provide location estimates in real time, also known as indoor tracking. Existing indoor tracking systems require occupants to carry specialized devices or install programs on their smartphone to collect inertial sensing data. In this paper, we propose MapSentinel, which performs non-intrusive location sensing based on WiFi access points and ultrasonic sensors. MapSentinel combines the noisy sensor readings with the floormap information to estimate locations. One key observation supporting our work is that occupants exhibit distinctive motion characteristics at different locations on the floormap, e.g., constrained motion along the corridor or in the cubicle zones, and free movement in the open space. While extensive research has been performed on using a floormap as a tool to obtain correct walking trajectories without wall-crossings, there have been few attempts to incorporate the knowledge of space use available from the floormap into the location estimation. This paper argues that the knowledge of space use as an additional information source presents new opportunities for indoor tracking. The fusion of heterogeneous information is theoretically formulated within the Factor Graph framework, and the Context-Augmented Particle Filtering algorithm is developed to efficiently solve real-time walking trajectories. Our evaluation in a large office space shows that the MapSentinel can achieve accuracy improvement of 31.3% compared with the purely WiFi-based tracking system. PMID:27049387

  16. MapSentinel: Can the Knowledge of Space Use Improve Indoor Tracking Further?

    PubMed

    Jia, Ruoxi; Jin, Ming; Zou, Han; Yesilata, Yigitcan; Xie, Lihua; Spanos, Costas

    2016-04-02

    Estimating an occupant's location is arguably the most fundamental sensing task in smart buildings. The applications for fine-grained, responsive building operations require the location sensing systems to provide location estimates in real time, also known as indoor tracking. Existing indoor tracking systems require occupants to carry specialized devices or install programs on their smartphone to collect inertial sensing data. In this paper, we propose MapSentinel, which performs non-intrusive location sensing based on WiFi access points and ultrasonic sensors. MapSentinel combines the noisy sensor readings with the floormap information to estimate locations. One key observation supporting our work is that occupants exhibit distinctive motion characteristics at different locations on the floormap, e.g., constrained motion along the corridor or in the cubicle zones, and free movement in the open space. While extensive research has been performed on using a floormap as a tool to obtain correct walking trajectories without wall-crossings, there have been few attempts to incorporate the knowledge of space use available from the floormap into the location estimation. This paper argues that the knowledge of space use as an additional information source presents new opportunities for indoor tracking. The fusion of heterogeneous information is theoretically formulated within the Factor Graph framework, and the Context-Augmented Particle Filtering algorithm is developed to efficiently solve real-time walking trajectories. Our evaluation in a large office space shows that the MapSentinel can achieve accuracy improvement of 31.3% compared with the purely WiFi-based tracking system.

  17. Building the national health information infrastructure for personal health, health care services, public health, and research

    PubMed Central

    Detmer, Don E

    2003-01-01

    Background Improving health in our nation requires strengthening four major domains of the health care system: personal health management, health care delivery, public health, and health-related research. Many avoidable shortcomings in the health sector that result in poor quality are due to inaccessible data, information, and knowledge. A national health information infrastructure (NHII) offers the connectivity and knowledge management essential to correct these shortcomings. Better health and a better health system are within our reach. Discussion A national health information infrastructure for the United States should address the needs of personal health management, health care delivery, public health, and research. It should also address relevant global dimensions (e.g., standards for sharing data and knowledge across national boundaries). The public and private sectors will need to collaborate to build a robust national health information infrastructure, essentially a 'paperless' health care system, for the United States. The federal government should assume leadership for assuring a national health information infrastructure as recommended by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics and the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee. Progress is needed in the areas of funding, incentives, standards, and continued refinement of a privacy (i.e., confidentiality and security) framework to facilitate personal identification for health purposes. Particular attention should be paid to NHII leadership and change management challenges. Summary A national health information infrastructure is a necessary step for improved health in the U.S. It will require a concerted, collaborative effort by both public and private sectors. If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it. Lord Kelvin PMID:12525262

  18. Navigating transformations in governance of Chilean marine coastal resources

    PubMed Central

    Gelcich, Stefan; Hughes, Terry P.; Olsson, Per; Folke, Carl; Defeo, Omar; Fernández, Miriam; Foale, Simon; Gunderson, Lance H.; Rodríguez-Sickert, Carlos; Scheffer, Marten; Steneck, Robert S.; Castilla, Juan C.

    2010-01-01

    Marine ecosystems are in decline. New transformational changes in governance are urgently required to cope with overfishing, pollution, global changes, and other drivers of degradation. Here we explore social, political, and ecological aspects of a transformation in governance of Chile's coastal marine resources, from 1980 to today. Critical elements in the initial preparatory phase of the transformation were (i) recognition of the depletion of resource stocks, (ii) scientific knowledge on the ecology and resilience of targeted species and their role in ecosystem dynamics, and (iii) demonstration-scale experimental trials, building on smaller-scale scientific experiments, which identified new management pathways. The trials improved cooperation among scientists and fishers, integrating knowledge and establishing trust. Political turbulence and resource stock collapse provided a window of opportunity that triggered the transformation, supported by new enabling legislation. Essential elements to navigate this transformation were the ability to network knowledge from the local level to influence the decision-making processes at the national level, and a preexisting social network of fishers that provided political leverage through a national confederation of artisanal fishing collectives. The resultant governance scheme includes a revolutionary national system of marine tenure that allocates user rights and responsibilities to fisher collectives. Although fine tuning is necessary to build resilience of this new regime, this transformation has improved the sustainability of the interconnected social–ecological system. Our analysis of how this transformation unfolded provides insights into how the Chilean system could be further developed and identifies generalized pathways for improved governance of marine resources around the world. PMID:20837530

  19. Energy conservation measures for the Charles E. Shea Senior High School, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Public service report

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

    Not Available

    1979-07-01

    A thermographic audit of a Pawtucket, Rhode Island high school is reported. Conducted with the aid of an infrared camera system, this thermographic study located heat losses not evident to the naked eye. Heat losses were documented and the thermograms analyzed to obtain complete knowledge of the location of all heat losses from the building complex. Each thermogram showed one or more types of heat loss together with the specific section of the building where it occurred. Priorities were assigned to various retrofit processes and a thermographic inspection conducted after retrofitting to confirm its efficacy. The study comprised an analysismore » and recommendations of heat loss and heating system appraisals plus an analysis of roof moisture inspection. Numerous thermograms illustrate the report.« less

  20. The need and potential for building a integrated knowledge-base of the Earth-Human system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jacobs, Clifford

    2011-03-01

    The pursuit of scientific understanding is increasingly based on interdisciplinary research. To understand more deeply the planet and its interactions requires a progressively more holistic approach, exploring knowledge coming from all scientific and engineering disciplines including but not limited to, biology, chemistry, computer sciences, geosciences, material sciences, mathematics, physics, cyberinfrastucture, and social sciences. Nowhere is such an approach more critical than in the study of global climate change in which one of the major challenges is the development of next-generation Earth System Models that include coupled and interactive representations of ecosystems, agricultural working lands and forests, urban environments, biogeochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, ocean and atmospheric currents, the water cycle, land ice, and human activities.

  1. Lightweight application for generating clinical research information systems: MAGIC.

    PubMed

    Leskošek, Brane; Pajntar, Marjan

    2015-12-01

    Our purpose was to build and test a lightweight solution for generating clinical research information systems (CRIS) that would allow non-IT professionals with basic knowledge of computer usage to quickly define and build a ready-to-use, safe and secure web-based clinical research system for data management. We use the acronym MAGIC (Medical Application Generator InteraCtive) for the system. The generated CRIS should be very easy to build and use, so a common LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL Perl) platform was used, which also enables short development cycles. The application was built and tested using eXtreme Programming (XP) principles by a small development team consisting of one informatics specialist, one physician and one graphical designer/programmer. The parameter and graphical user interface (GUI) definitions for the CRIS can be made by non-IT professionals using an intuitive English-language-like formalism called application definition language (ADL). From these definitions, the MAGIC builds an end-user CRIS that can be used on a wide variety of platforms (from standard workstations to hand-held devices). A working example of a national health-care-quality assessment program is presented to illustrate this process. The lightweight application for generating CRIS (MAGIC) has proven to be useful for both clinical and analytical users in real working environment. To achieve better performance and interoperability, we are planning to recompile the application using XML schemas (XSD) in HL7 CDA or openEHR archetypes formats used for parameters definition and for data interchange between different information systems.

  2. Methodology to build medical ontology from textual resources.

    PubMed

    Baneyx, Audrey; Charlet, Jean; Jaulent, Marie-Christine

    2006-01-01

    In the medical field, it is now established that the maintenance of unambiguous thesauri goes through ontologies. Our research task is to help pneumologists code acts and diagnoses with a software that represents medical knowledge through a domain ontology. In this paper, we describe our general methodology aimed at knowledge engineers in order to build various types of medical ontologies based on terminology extraction from texts. The hypothesis is to apply natural language processing tools to textual patient discharge summaries to develop the resources needed to build an ontology in pneumology. Results indicate that the joint use of distributional analysis and lexico-syntactic patterns performed satisfactorily for building such ontologies.

  3. Multiresolutional schemata for unsupervised learning of autonomous robots for 3D space operation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lacaze, Alberto; Meystel, Michael; Meystel, Alex

    1994-01-01

    This paper describes a novel approach to the development of a learning control system for autonomous space robot (ASR) which presents the ASR as a 'baby' -- that is, a system with no a priori knowledge of the world in which it operates, but with behavior acquisition techniques that allows it to build this knowledge from the experiences of actions within a particular environment (we will call it an Astro-baby). The learning techniques are rooted in the recursive algorithm for inductive generation of nested schemata molded from processes of early cognitive development in humans. The algorithm extracts data from the environment and by means of correlation and abduction, it creates schemata that are used for control. This system is robust enough to deal with a constantly changing environment because such changes provoke the creation of new schemata by generalizing from experiences, while still maintaining minimal computational complexity, thanks to the system's multiresolutional nature.

  4. Building distributed rule-based systems using the AI Bus

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schultz, Roger D.; Stobie, Iain C.

    1990-01-01

    The AI Bus software architecture was designed to support the construction of large-scale, production-quality applications in areas of high technology flux, running heterogeneous distributed environments, utilizing a mix of knowledge-based and conventional components. These goals led to its current development as a layered, object-oriented library for cooperative systems. This paper describes the concepts and design of the AI Bus and its implementation status as a library of reusable and customizable objects, structured by layers from operating system interfaces up to high-level knowledge-based agents. Each agent is a semi-autonomous process with specialized expertise, and consists of a number of knowledge sources (a knowledge base and inference engine). Inter-agent communication mechanisms are based on blackboards and Actors-style acquaintances. As a conservative first implementation, we used C++ on top of Unix, and wrapped an embedded Clips with methods for the knowledge source class. This involved designing standard protocols for communication and functions which use these protocols in rules. Embedding several CLIPS objects within a single process was an unexpected problem because of global variables, whose solution involved constructing and recompiling a C++ version of CLIPS. We are currently working on a more radical approach to incorporating CLIPS, by separating out its pattern matcher, rule and fact representations and other components as true object oriented modules.

  5. Advanced techniques for the storage and use of very large, heterogeneous spatial databases. The representation of geographic knowledge: Toward a universal framework. [relations (mathematics)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Peuquet, Donna J.

    1987-01-01

    A new approach to building geographic data models that is based on the fundamental characteristics of the data is presented. An overall theoretical framework for representing geographic data is proposed. An example of utilizing this framework in a Geographic Information System (GIS) context by combining artificial intelligence techniques with recent developments in spatial data processing techniques is given. Elements of data representation discussed include hierarchical structure, separation of locational and conceptual views, and the ability to store knowledge at variable levels of completeness and precision.

  6. A research agenda for bridging the 'quality chasm.'.

    PubMed

    Fernandopulle, Rushika; Ferris, Timothy; Epstein, Arnold; McNeil, Barbara; Newhouse, Joseph; Pisano, Gary; Blumenthal, David

    2003-01-01

    Realizing the vision of the IOM's landmark report, Crossing the Quality Chasm, will require new knowledge to support new policy and management. This paper lays out a research agenda that must be pursued if the health care system is to bridge the quality chasm. Based on a consensus process involving leading health care researchers and authorities, the paper highlights knowledge gaps and research directions in five areas identified by the Quality Chasm report as critical to its goals of building organizational supports for change; applying evidence to health care delivery; developing information technology; aligning payment policies with quality improvement; and preparing the workforce.

  7. Community-based participatory research and integrated knowledge translation: advancing the co-creation of knowledge.

    PubMed

    Jull, Janet; Giles, Audrey; Graham, Ian D

    2017-12-19

    Better use of research evidence (one form of "knowledge") in health systems requires partnerships between researchers and those who contend with the real-world needs and constraints of health systems. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) and integrated knowledge translation (IKT) are research approaches that emphasize the importance of creating partnerships between researchers and the people for whom the research is ultimately meant to be of use ("knowledge users"). There exist poor understandings of the ways in which these approaches converge and diverge. Better understanding of the similarities and differences between CBPR and IKT will enable researchers to use these approaches appropriately and to leverage best practices and knowledge from each. The co-creation of knowledge conveys promise of significant social impacts, and further understandings of how to engage and involve knowledge users in research are needed. We examine the histories and traditions of CBPR and IKT, as well as their points of convergence and divergence. We critically evaluate the ways in which both have the potential to contribute to the development and integration of knowledge in health systems. As distinct research traditions, the underlying drivers and rationale for CBPR and IKT have similarities and differences across the areas of motivation, social location, and ethics; nevertheless, the practices of CBPR and IKT converge upon a common aim: the co-creation of knowledge that is the result of knowledge user and researcher expertise. We argue that while CBPR and IKT both have the potential to contribute evidence to implementation science and practices for collaborative research, clarity for the purpose of the research-social change or application-is a critical feature in the selection of an appropriate collaborative approach to build knowledge. CBPR and IKT bring distinct strengths to a common aim: to foster democratic processes in the co-creation of knowledge. As research approaches, they create opportunities to challenge assumptions about for whom, how, and what is defined as knowledge, and to develop and integrate research findings into health systems. When used appropriately, CBPR and IKT both have the potential to contribute to and advance implementation science about the conduct of collaborative health systems research.

  8. Browndye: A Software Package for Brownian Dynamics

    PubMed Central

    McCammon, J. Andrew

    2010-01-01

    A new software package, Browndye, is presented for simulating the diffusional encounter of two large biological molecules. It can be used to estimate second-order rate constants and encounter probabilities, and to explore reaction trajectories. Browndye builds upon previous knowledge and algorithms from software packages such as UHBD, SDA, and Macrodox, while implementing algorithms that scale to larger systems. PMID:21132109

  9. Lateral testing of glued laminated timber tudor arch

    Treesearch

    Douglas R. Rammer; Philip Line

    2016-01-01

    Glued laminated timber Tudor arches have been in wide use in the United States since the 1930s, but detailed knowledge related to seismic design in modern U.S. building codes is lacking. FEMA P-695 (P-695) is a methodology to determine seismic performance factors for a seismic force resisting system. A limited P-695 study for glued laminated timber arch structures...

  10. The Important Elements of LMS Design That Affect User Engagement with E-Learning Tools within LMSs in the Higher Education Sector

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zanjani, Nastaran; Edwards, Sylvia L.; Nykvist, Shaun; Geva, Shlomo

    2017-01-01

    In recent years, universities have been under increased pressure to adopt e-learning practices for teaching and learning. In particular, the emphasis has been on learning management systems (LMSs) and associated collaboration tools to provide opportunities for sharing knowledge, building a community of learners, and supporting higher order…

  11. Educational Technology in Europe: Current Issues from the Learning Sciences Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cress, Ulrike

    2012-01-01

    The article describes Web 2.0 as a revolutionary technology for actual learning. Using the example of the Wikipedia article about Fukushima, it discusses emergent processes of knowledge building and explains how they can be used for learning purposes. The examples make it obvious that it is the social system that makes groups work so effectively.…

  12. Weaving Knowledges: The Development of Empowering Intercultural Learning Spaces for Smallholder Farmers in Papua New Guinea

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pamphilon, Barbara

    2015-01-01

    Since the early 1970s there has been increasing interest in effective adult education systems and practices as a core foundation for capacity building in developing countries. This paper presents the philosophy behind the concept of an "intercultural learning space" and argues its relevance for such adult learners. Drawing on work in…

  13. The Effects of a Grouping by Tens Manipulative on Children's Strategy Use, Base Ten Understanding and Mathematical Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pagar, Dana

    2013-01-01

    Manipulatives have the potential to be powerful tools in helping children improve their number sense, develop advanced mathematical strategies, and build an understanding of the base ten number system. Physical manipulatives used in classrooms, however, are often not designed to promote efficient strategy use, such as counting on, and typically do…

  14. Asian Lifelong Learning in the Context of a Global Knowledge Economy: A Task Re-Visited

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Han, Soonghee

    2007-01-01

    This article revisits and reinterprets my previous paper. It is a snapshot of the lifelong learning system building in selected Asian countries, reflected in the mirror of the Asian Financial Crisis in the 1997s and the aftermath of that event. I reconsidered the arguments (1) the economic recession had delivered a global dimension of lifelong…

  15. Confronting illusions of knowledge: how should we learn?

    Treesearch

    Sally Duncan

    1999-01-01

    Adaptive management. What is it and how can it help us learn? Bernard Bormann, a PNW Research Station scientist, is leading a study on the subject. He defines the term this way: the management of complex natural systems by building on common sense and learning from experience. Experience can often mean change. The challenge of implementing adaptive management is how to...

  16. Re-wilding Europe's traditional agricultural landscapes: Values and the link between science and practice

    Treesearch

    Paul H. Gobster

    2014-01-01

    Landscape and Urban Planning encourages multiple perspectives and approaches to help understand landscapes as social-ecological systems, with the goal that by building a robust science of landscape we can provide sustainable solutions for guiding its change. But the link between science and practice, or more simply put, between knowledge and action, is not always clear...

  17. Expert system for skin problem consultation in Thai traditional medicine.

    PubMed

    Nopparatkiat, Pornchai; na Nagara, Byaporn; Chansa-ngavej, Chuvej

    2014-01-01

    This paper aimed to demonstrate the research and development of a rule-based expert system for skin problem consulting in the areas of acne, melasma, freckle, wrinkle, and uneven skin tone, with recommended treatments from Thai traditional medicine knowledge. The tool selected for developing the expert system is a software program written in the PHP language. MySQL database is used to work together with PHP for building database of the expert system. The system is web-based and can be reached from anywhere with Internet access. The developed expert system gave recommendations on the skin problem treatment with Thai herbal recipes and Thai herbal cosmetics based on 416 rules derived from primary and secondary sources. The system had been tested by 50 users consisting of dermatologists, Thai traditional medicine doctors, and general users. The developed system was considered good for learning and consultation. The present work showed how such a scattered body of traditional knowledge as Thai traditional medicine and herbal recipes could be collected, organised and made accessible to users and interested parties. The expert system developed herein should contribute in a meaningful way towards preserving the knowledge and helping promote the use of Thai traditional medicine as a practical alternative medicine for the treatment of illnesses.

  18. ESSEA K-4 Online Course: Polar Connections

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blaney, L.; Myers, R. J.; Schwerin, T.

    2007-12-01

    The Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) is a National Science Foundation-supported program implemented by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) to improve the quality of geoscience instruction for pre-service, middle, and high school teachers. ESSEA increases teachers' access to quality materials, standards-based instructional methods and content knowledge. Started in 2000 and based on a trio of online courses (for elementary, middle, and high school teachers), the courses have been used by 40 faculty at 20 institutions educating over 1,700 teachers in Earth system science. Program evaluation of original course participants indicated that the courses had significant impact on teachers Earth system content knowledge and beliefs about teaching and learning. Seventeen of the original participating institutions have continued to use the courses and many have developed new programs that incorporate the courses in Earth science education opportunities for teachers. Today the ESSEA program lists nearly 40 colleges and universities as participants. The original K-4 course and modules have been revised to include topics and resources focusing on the International Polar Year. The new K-4 Land, Living Things, Water and Air modules contain inquiry-based investigations exploring our polar regions. Each module lists a set of essential questions that guide teachers and their students as they build content knowledge. The course structure requires teachers to work individually and in teams to build content knowledge and pedagogical understanding of how their students learn. This group investigation approach and a "Teacher as Researcher" theme promote reflection and collaboration to develop criteria for effective concept building. By exploring the characteristics of polar landscapes, atmosphere, and polar life, teachers and their students will develop new understandings about the interactions and dependencies of the Earth spheres and our polar regions. Changes in climate, air, water, and land quality and animal and plant populations make the news everyday. The K-4 course will help teachers inform rather than frighten their students as they learn more about the characteristics and importance of our polar regions. One goal of IPY 2007-2008 is to increase the awareness, understanding and interest of school-age children in polar conditions and research. The inclusion of polar topics in the K-4 course contributes to the achievement of that goal.

  19. Buildings classification from airborne LiDAR point clouds through OBIA and ontology driven approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tomljenovic, Ivan; Belgiu, Mariana; Lampoltshammer, Thomas J.

    2013-04-01

    In the last years, airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data proved to be a valuable information resource for a vast number of applications ranging from land cover mapping to individual surface feature extraction from complex urban environments. To extract information from LiDAR data, users apply prior knowledge. Unfortunately, there is no consistent initiative for structuring this knowledge into data models that can be shared and reused across different applications and domains. The absence of such models poses great challenges to data interpretation, data fusion and integration as well as information transferability. The intention of this work is to describe the design, development and deployment of an ontology-based system to classify buildings from airborne LiDAR data. The novelty of this approach consists of the development of a domain ontology that specifies explicitly the knowledge used to extract features from airborne LiDAR data. The overall goal of this approach is to investigate the possibility for classification of features of interest from LiDAR data by means of domain ontology. The proposed workflow is applied to the building extraction process for the region of "Biberach an der Riss" in South Germany. Strip-adjusted and georeferenced airborne LiDAR data is processed based on geometrical and radiometric signatures stored within the point cloud. Region-growing segmentation algorithms are applied and segmented regions are exported to the GeoJSON format. Subsequently, the data is imported into the ontology-based reasoning process used to automatically classify exported features of interest. Based on the ontology it becomes possible to define domain concepts, associated properties and relations. As a consequence, the resulting specific body of knowledge restricts possible interpretation variants. Moreover, ontologies are machinable and thus it is possible to run reasoning on top of them. Available reasoners (FACT++, JESS, Pellet) are used to check the consistency of the developed ontologies, and logical reasoning is performed to infer implicit relations between defined concepts. The ontology for the definition of building is specified using the Ontology Web Language (OWL). It is the most widely used ontology language that is based on Description Logics (DL). DL allows the description of internal properties of modelled concepts (roof typology, shape, area, height etc.) and relationships between objects (IS_A, MEMBER_OF/INSTANCE_OF). It captures terminological knowledge (TBox) as well as assertional knowledge (ABox) - that represents facts about concept instances, i.e. the buildings in airborne LiDAR data. To assess the classification accuracy, ground truth data generated by visual interpretation and calculated classification results in terms of precision and recall are used. The advantages of this approach are: (i) flexibility, (ii) transferability, and (iii) extendibility - i.e. ontology can be extended with further concepts, data properties and object properties.

  20. Parallel processing for scientific computations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Alkhatib, Hasan S.

    1991-01-01

    The main contribution of the effort in the last two years is the introduction of the MOPPS system. After doing extensive literature search, we introduced the system which is described next. MOPPS employs a new solution to the problem of managing programs which solve scientific and engineering applications on a distributed processing environment. Autonomous computers cooperate efficiently in solving large scientific problems with this solution. MOPPS has the advantage of not assuming the presence of any particular network topology or configuration, computer architecture, or operating system. It imposes little overhead on network and processor resources while efficiently managing programs concurrently. The core of MOPPS is an intelligent program manager that builds a knowledge base of the execution performance of the parallel programs it is managing under various conditions. The manager applies this knowledge to improve the performance of future runs. The program manager learns from experience.

  1. Research on land registration procedure ontology of China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Zhongjun; Du, Qingyun; Zhang, Weiwei; Liu, Tao

    2009-10-01

    Land registration is public act which is to record the state-owned land use right, collective land ownership, collective land use right and land mortgage, servitude, as well as other land rights required the registration according to laws and regulations onto land registering books. Land registration is one of the important government affairs , so it is very important to standardize, optimize and humanize the process of land registration. The management works of organization are realized through a variety of workflows. Process knowledge is in essence a kind of methodology knowledge and a system which including the core and the relational knowledge. In this paper, the ontology is introduced into the field of land registration and management, trying to optimize the flow of land registration, to promote the automation-building and intelligent Service of land registration affairs, to provide humanized and intelligent service for multi-types of users . This paper tries to build land registration procedure ontology by defining the land registration procedure ontology's key concepts which represent the kinds of processes of land registration and mapping the kinds of processes to OWL-S. The land registration procedure ontology shall be the start and the basis of the Web service.

  2. Conditions for sustainability of Academic Collaborative Centres for Public Health in the Netherlands: a mixed methods design.

    PubMed

    Jansen, Maria W J; van Oers, Hans A M; Middelweerd, Mizzi D R; van de Goor, Ien A M; Ruwaard, Dirk

    2015-08-21

    Contemporary research should increasingly be carried out in the context of application. Nowotny called this new form of knowledge production Mode-2. In line with Mode-2 knowledge production, the Dutch government in 2006 initiated the so-called Academic Collaborative Centres (ACC) for Public Health. The aim of these ACCs is to build a regional, sustainable knowledge-sharing network to deliver socially robust knowledge. The present study aims to highlight the enabling and constraining push and pull factors of these ACCs in order to assess whether the ACCs are able to build and strengthen a sustainable integrated organizational network between public health policy, practice, and research. Our empirical analysis builds on a mixed methods design. Quantitative data was derived from records of a survey sent to all 11 ACCs about personnel investments, number and nature of projects, and earning power. Qualitative data was derived from 21 in-depth interviews with stakeholders involved. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed, and manually coded as favourable or unfavourable pull or push factors. The extra funding appeared to be the most enabling push factor. The networks secured external grants for about 150 short- and long-term Mode-2 knowledge production projects in the past years. Enabling pull factors improved, especially the number of policy-driven short-term research projects. Exchange agents were able to constructively deal with the constraining push factors, like university's publication pressure and budget limitations. However, the constraining pull factors like local government's involvement and their low demand for scientific evidence were difficult to overcome. A clear improvement of the organizational networks was noticed whereby the ACC's were pushed rather than pulled. Efforts are needed to increase the demand for scientific and socially robust evidence from policymakers and to resolve the regime differences between the research and policy systems, in order to make the bidirectionality of the links sustainable.

  3. Watershed System Model: The Essentials to Model Complex Human-Nature System at the River Basin Scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Xin; Cheng, Guodong; Lin, Hui; Cai, Ximing; Fang, Miao; Ge, Yingchun; Hu, Xiaoli; Chen, Min; Li, Weiyue

    2018-03-01

    Watershed system models are urgently needed to understand complex watershed systems and to support integrated river basin management. Early watershed modeling efforts focused on the representation of hydrologic processes, while the next-generation watershed models should represent the coevolution of the water-land-air-plant-human nexus in a watershed and provide capability of decision-making support. We propose a new modeling framework and discuss the know-how approach to incorporate emerging knowledge into integrated models through data exchange interfaces. We argue that the modeling environment is a useful tool to enable effective model integration, as well as create domain-specific models of river basin systems. The grand challenges in developing next-generation watershed system models include but are not limited to providing an overarching framework for linking natural and social sciences, building a scientifically based decision support system, quantifying and controlling uncertainties, and taking advantage of new technologies and new findings in the various disciplines of watershed science. The eventual goal is to build transdisciplinary, scientifically sound, and scale-explicit watershed system models that are to be codesigned by multidisciplinary communities.

  4. Data and Model Integration Promoting Interdisciplinarity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koike, T.

    2014-12-01

    It is very difficult to reflect accumulated subsystem knowledge into holistic knowledge. Knowledge about a whole system can rarely be introduced into a targeted subsystem. In many cases, knowledge in one discipline is inapplicable to other disciplines. We are far from resolving cross-disciplinary issues. It is critically important to establish interdisciplinarity so that scientific knowledge can transcend disciplines. We need to share information and develop knowledge interlinkages by building models and exchanging tools. We need to tackle a large increase in the volume and diversity of data from observing the Earth. The volume of data stored has exponentially increased. Previously, almost all of the large-volume data came from satellites, but model outputs occupy the largest volume in general. To address the large diversity of data, we should develop an ontology system for technical and geographical terms in coupling with a metadata design according to international standards. In collaboration between Earth environment scientists and IT group, we should accelerate data archiving by including data loading, quality checking and metadata registration, and enrich data-searching capability. DIAS also enables us to perform integrated research and realize interdisciplinarity. For example, climate change should be addressed in collaboration between the climate models, integrated assessment models including energy, economy, agriculture, health, and the models of adaptation, vulnerability, and human settlement and infrastructure. These models identify water as central to these systems. If a water expert can develop an interrelated system including each component, the integrated crisis can be addressed by collaboration with various disciplines. To realize this purpose, we are developing a water-related data- and model-integration system called a water cycle integrator (WCI).

  5. RNA and RNP as Building Blocks for Nanotechnology and Synthetic Biology.

    PubMed

    Ohno, Hirohisa; Saito, Hirohide

    2016-01-01

    Recent technologies that aimed to elucidate cellular function have revealed essential roles for RNA molecules in living systems. Our knowledge concerning functional and structural information of naturally occurring RNA and RNA-protein (RNP) complexes is increasing rapidly. RNA and RNP interaction motifs are structural units that function as building blocks to constitute variety of complex structures. RNA-central synthetic biology and nanotechnology are constructive approaches that employ the accumulated information and build synthetic RNA (RNP)-based circuits and nanostructures. Here, we describe how to design and construct synthetic RNA (RNP)-based devices and structures at the nanometer-scale for biological and future therapeutic applications. RNA/RNP nanostructures can also be utilized as the molecular scaffold to control the localization or interactions of target molecule(s). Moreover, RNA motifs recognized by RNA-binding proteins can be applied to make protein-responsive translational "switches" that can turn gene expression "on" or "off" depending on the intracellular environment. This "synthetic RNA and RNP world" will expand tools for nanotechnology and synthetic biology. In addition, these reconstructive approaches would lead to a greater understanding of building principle in naturally occurring RNA/RNP molecules and systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Towards Improved Linkage of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Health: A Review.

    PubMed

    Banwell, Nicola; Rutherford, Shannon; Mackey, Brendan; Chu, Cordia

    2018-04-18

    Climate change and climate-sensitive disasters significantly impact health. Linking Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) is essential for addressing these ever present, complex and increasing risks. Recent calls have been made to build these links in health. However, there is a need to clearly articulate why linking DRR and CCA is important in health. Furthermore, little is known about how DRR and CCA should be linked in health. By extensively examining relevant literature, this review presents the current state of knowledge of linking DRR and CCA in health. This includes the potential for maximising conceptual synergies such as building resilience, and reducing vulnerability and risk. Additionally, technical and operational synergies are identified to link DRR and CCA in health, including: policy, Early Warning Systems, vulnerability and risk assessment, health systems strengthening, infrastructure resilience, disaster preparedness and response, and health impact pathways. Public health actors have a central role in building these links due to their expertise, work functions, and experience in addressing complex health risks. The review concludes with recommendations for future research, including how to better link DRR and CCA in health; and the opportunities, challenges and enablers to build and sustain these links.

  7. Ground support system methodology and architecture

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schoen, P. D.

    1991-01-01

    A synergistic approach to systems test and support is explored. A building block architecture provides transportability of data, procedures, and knowledge. The synergistic approach also lowers cost and risk for life cycle of a program. The determination of design errors at the earliest phase reduces cost of vehicle ownership. Distributed scaleable architecture is based on industry standards maximizing transparency and maintainability. Autonomous control structure provides for distributed and segmented systems. Control of interfaces maximizes compatibility and reuse, reducing long term program cost. Intelligent data management architecture also reduces analysis time and cost (automation).

  8. Building Cross-Country Networks for Laboratory Capacity and Improvement.

    PubMed

    Schneidman, Miriam; Matu, Martin; Nkengasong, John; Githui, Willie; Kalyesubula-Kibuuka, Simeon; Silva, Kelly Araujo

    2018-03-01

    Laboratory networks are vital to well-functioning public health systems and disease control efforts. Cross-country laboratory networks play a critical role in supporting epidemiologic surveillance, accelerating disease outbreak response, and tracking drug resistance. The East Africa Public Health Laboratory Network was established to bolster diagnostic and disease surveillance capacity. The network supports the introduction of regional quality standards; facilitates the rollout and evaluation of new diagnostic tools; and serves as a platform for training, research, and knowledge sharing. Participating facilities benefitted from state-of-the art investments, capacity building, and mentorship; conducted multicountry research studies; and contributed to disease outbreak response. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. From theory to practice: community health nursing in a public health neighborhood team.

    PubMed

    Westbrook, L O; Schultz, P R

    2000-12-01

    An interdisciplinary team in a local public health district tested its ability to implement the core public health functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance by changing its practice to a community-driven model of building partnerships for health with groups and communities in a designated locale. Evaluation of this innovation revealed that the public health nurse members of the team enacted their community health nursing knowledge to strengthen agency to cocreate health. Interdisciplinary collaboration was essential to the team's community mobilization efforts. Additional findings suggested that this organizational innovation was associated with developing a more participatory organizational climate, increasing system effectiveness, and building community capacity.

  10. The Knowledge Building Paradigm: A Model of Learning for Net Generation Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Philip, Donald

    2005-01-01

    In this article Donald Philip describes Knowledge Building, a pedagogy based on the way research organizations function. The global economy, Philip argues, is driving a shift from older, industrial models to the model of the business as a learning organization. The cognitive patterns of today's Net Generation students, formed by lifetime exposure…

  11. Planning and Teaching Report-Writing. PEN.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hayes, Julie

    Although an Australian educator had taught isolated aspects of functional grammar for a number of years, she felt that she had not put enough energy into building field (topic) knowledge. With the unit featured in this PEN Digest she aims to focus on building a quite extensive knowledge of the topic--snakes. According to the Digest, the educator…

  12. Socio-Cognitive Dynamics of Knowledge Building in the Work of 9- and 10-Year-Olds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Jianwei; Scardamalia, Marlene; Lamon, Mary; Messina, Richard; Reeve, Richard

    2007-01-01

    This study examines four months of online discourse of 22 Grade 4 students engaged in efforts to advance their understanding of optics. Their work is part of a school-wide knowledge building initiative, the essence of which is giving students collective responsibility for idea improvement. This goal is supported by software--Knowledge…

  13. Investigating Teacher Questions within the Framework of Knowledge Building Pedagogy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kiss, Tamas; Wang, Alex

    2017-01-01

    This study is designed to investigate the impact of teacher experience and cognition on teacher questioning in the framework of Knowledge Building (KB) pedagogy. We already know that teachers ask the most questions in a classroom and that the majority of their questions have little impact on learning since they focus on classroom management…

  14. Preservice Science Teachers' Collaborative Knowledge Building through Argumentation on Healthy Eating in a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Namdar, Bahadir

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice science teachers' collaborative knowledge building through socioscientific argumentation on healthy eating in a multiple representation-rich computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. This study was conducted with a group of preservice science teachers (n = 18) enrolled in…

  15. Knowledge-Building Quality in Online Communities of Practice: Focusing on Learning Dialogue

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sorensen, Elsebeth K.; Takle, Eugene S.; Moser, Heather M.

    2006-01-01

    This paper reports on a case study on the implementation of "language games" as a pedagogical tool for analyzing, assessing and promoting the quality and the level of collaborative knowledge building in online learning dialogues. Part of the overall objective is to explore the use, strength, weaknesses, and limitations of using the…

  16. The Collaboratory Notebook: A Networked Knowledge-Building Environment for Project Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Neill, D. Kevin; Gomez, Louis M.

    The Collaboratory Notebook, developed as part of the Learning Through Collaborative Visualization Project (CoVis), is a networked, multimedia knowledge-building environment which has been designed to help students, teachers and scientists share inquiry over the boundaries of time and space. CoVis is an attempt to change the way that science is…

  17. Tracing the Knowledge Building Process through Discussions Mediated by a CSCL Environment: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adanir, Gülgün Afacan

    2017-01-01

    This case study demonstrates the use of interaction analysis techniques to explore students' knowledge building process evidenced in time-stamped logs of a CSCL environment that consists of chat, shared whiteboard, and wiki features. The study was performed in a graduate level course, which covers online assignments that expect students to…

  18. Two Viewpoints on the Challenges of ICT in Education: Knowledge-Building Theory vs. a Pragmatist Conception of Learning in Social Action

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kivinen, Osmo; Piiroinen, Tero; Saikkonen, Loretta

    2016-01-01

    The paper contrasts two different approaches to the educational challenges of the ubiquitous, rapidly developing information and communication technologies (ICT). The first is the constructivist "knowledge building" theory spearheaded by Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia and recently further developed by Kai Hakkarainen and Sami…

  19. The Development of Logico-Mathematical Knowledge in a Block-Building Activity at Ages 1-4

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kamii, Constance; Miyakawa, Yoko; Kato, Yasuhiko

    2004-01-01

    To study the developmental interrelationships among various aspects of logico-mathematical knowledge, 80 one- to 4-year-olds were individually asked to build "something tall" with 20 blocks. Percentages of new and significant behaviors increased with age and were analyzed in terms of the development of logico-mathematical relationships. It was…

  20. Balancing the Pros and Cons of GMOs: Socio-Scientific Argumentation in Pre-Service Teacher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cinici, Ayhan

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates the role of the discursive process in the act of scientific knowledge building. Specifically, it links scientific knowledge building to risk perception of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). To this end, this study designed and implemented a three-stage argumentation programme giving pre-service teachers (PSTs) the…

  1. Using Queer Knowledges To Build Inclusionary Pedagogy in Adult Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grace, Andre P.; Hill, Robert J.

    Adult educators can use historical, cultural, and theoretical queer knowledges to build an alternative pedagogy focused on three themes. The first is engaging queer history and queer studies to transgress adult educational space. They can be used to construct and affirm a transgressive notion of queer as normal that counters a historical notion of…

  2. Knowledge Exchange: Capacity Building in a Small University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, Sally Fowler

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine an early articulation of some of the key factors in building capacity and the potential for knowledge exchange (KE) within a small, learning and teaching-oriented organization. Design/methodology/approach: An action research study is planned as a practical enquiry. In common with other action research,…

  3. Mathematics Learning Difficulties in Primary Education: Teachers' Professional Knowledge and the Use of Commercially Available Learning Packages

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Steenbrugge, H.; Valcke, M.; Desoete, A.

    2010-01-01

    The present study builds on teachers' professional knowledge about mathematics learning difficulties. Based on the input of 918 primary school teachers, an attempt is made to develop an overview of difficult curriculum topics in primary school mathematics. The research approach builds on new conceptions about the professional identity of teachers…

  4. Reading for Deep Understanding: Knowledge Building and Conceptual Artifacts in Secondary English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nachowitz, Marc

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this design-based experiment is two-fold: to see if classroom pedagogies can be developed to improve student achievement in English literature as well as prepare them for 21st Century literacies. Applying Bereiter and Scardamalia's theory of Knowledge Building to English curricula, this experiment tracked the progress of a…

  5. The effect of the PROSPER partnership model on cultivating local stakeholder knowledge of evidence-based programs: a five-year longitudinal study of 28 communities.

    PubMed

    Crowley, D Max; Greenberg, Mark T; Feinberg, Mark E; Spoth, Richard L; Redmond, Cleve R

    2012-02-01

    A substantial challenge in improving public health is how to facilitate the local adoption of evidence-based interventions (EBIs). To do so, an important step is to build local stakeholders' knowledge and decision-making skills regarding the adoption and implementation of EBIs. One EBI delivery system, called PROSPER (PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience), has effectively mobilized community prevention efforts, implemented prevention programming with quality, and consequently decreased youth substance abuse. While these results are encouraging, another objective is to increase local stakeholder knowledge of best practices for adoption, implementation and evaluation of EBIs. Using a mixed methods approach, we assessed local stakeholder knowledge of these best practices over 5 years, in 28 intervention and control communities. Results indicated that the PROSPER partnership model led to significant increases in expert knowledge regarding the selection, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based interventions. Findings illustrate the limited programming knowledge possessed by members of local prevention efforts, the difficulty of complete knowledge transfer, and highlight one method for cultivating that knowledge.

  6. Knowledge diffusion of dynamical network in terms of interaction frequency.

    PubMed

    Liu, Jian-Guo; Zhou, Qing; Guo, Qiang; Yang, Zhen-Hua; Xie, Fei; Han, Jing-Ti

    2017-09-07

    In this paper, we present a knowledge diffusion (SKD) model for dynamic networks by taking into account the interaction frequency which always used to measure the social closeness. A set of agents, which are initially interconnected to form a random network, either exchange knowledge with their neighbors or move toward a new location through an edge-rewiring procedure. The activity of knowledge exchange between agents is determined by a knowledge transfer rule that the target node would preferentially select one neighbor node to transfer knowledge with probability p according to their interaction frequency instead of the knowledge distance, otherwise, the target node would build a new link with its second-order neighbor preferentially or select one node in the system randomly with probability 1 - p. The simulation results show that, comparing with the Null model defined by the random selection mechanism and the traditional knowledge diffusion (TKD) model driven by knowledge distance, the knowledge would spread more fast based on SKD driven by interaction frequency. In particular, the network structure of SKD would evolve as an assortative one, which is a fundamental feature of social networks. This work would be helpful for deeply understanding the coevolution of the knowledge diffusion and network structure.

  7. Knowledge Construction and Knowledge Representation in High School Students' Design of Hypermedia Documents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Pearl; McGrath, Diane

    2003-01-01

    This study documented the processes of knowledge construction and knowledge representation in high school students' hypermedia design projects. Analysis of knowledge construction in linking and structural building yielded distinct types and subtypes of hypermedia documents, which were characterized by four features of knowledge representation: (a)…

  8. SRA Real Math Building Blocks PreK. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2007

    2007-01-01

    "SRA Real Math Building Blocks PreK" (also referred to as "Building Blocks for Math") is a supplemental mathematics curriculum designed to develop preschool children's early mathematical knowledge through various individual and small- and large-group activities. It uses "Building Blocks for Math PreK" software,…

  9. iNACOL Research Agenda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    International Association for K-12 Online Learning, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) publishes a research agenda on an ongoing basis to continue its work in field-building, capacity-building and knowledge-building. Based on a 2013 survey of the field to identify research needs, iNACOL developed a research approach, including the following: (1) Build a collaborative…

  10. Knowledge-Based Extensible Natural Language Interface Technology Program

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-11-30

    natural language as its own meta-language to explain the meaning and attributes of the words and idioms of the larguage. Educational courses in language...understood and used by Lydia for human-computer dialogue. The KL enables a systems developer or " teacher -user" to build the system to a point where new...language can be "formal" as in a structured educational language program or it can be "informal" as in the case of a person consulting a dictionary for the

  11. Knowledge-based approach to system integration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Blokland, W.; Krishnamurthy, C.; Biegl, C.; Sztipanovits, J.

    1988-01-01

    To solve complex problems one can often use the decomposition principle. However, a problem is seldom decomposable into completely independent subproblems. System integration deals with problem of resolving the interdependencies and the integration of the subsolutions. A natural method of decomposition is the hierarchical one. High-level specifications are broken down into lower level specifications until they can be transformed into solutions relatively easily. By automating the hierarchical decomposition and solution generation an integrated system is obtained in which the declaration of high level specifications is enough to solve the problem. We offer a knowledge-based approach to integrate the development and building of control systems. The process modeling is supported by using graphic editors. The user selects and connects icons that represent subprocesses and might refer to prewritten programs. The graphical editor assists the user in selecting parameters for each subprocess and allows the testing of a specific configuration. Next, from the definitions created by the graphical editor, the actual control program is built. Fault-diagnosis routines are generated automatically as well. Since the user is not required to write program code and knowledge about the process is present in the development system, the user is not required to have expertise in many fields.

  12. Dynamic replanning of 3D automated reconstruction using situation graph trees and illumination adjustment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kohler, Sophie; Far, Aïcha Beya; Hirsch, Ernest

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents an original approach for the optimal 3D reconstruction of manufactured workpieces based on a priori planification of the task, enhanced on-line through dynamic adjustment of the lighting conditions, and built around a cognitive intelligent sensory system using so-called Situation Graph Trees. The system takes explicitely structural knowledge related to image acquisition conditions, type of illumination sources, contents of the scene (e. g., CAD models and tolerance information), etc. into account. The principle of the approach relies on two steps. First, a socalled initialization phase, leading to the a priori task plan, collects this structural knowledge. This knowledge is conveniently encoded, as a sub-part, in the Situation Graph Tree building the backbone of the planning system specifying exhaustively the behavior of the application. Second, the image is iteratively evaluated under the control of this Situation Graph Tree. The information describing the quality of the piece to analyze is thus extracted and further exploited for, e. g., inspection tasks. Lastly, the approach enables dynamic adjustment of the Situation Graph Tree, enabling the system to adjust itself to the actual application run-time conditions, thus providing the system with a self-learning capability.

  13. Medicine organizer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martins, Ricardo; Belchior, Ismael

    2015-04-01

    In the last year of secondary school, students studying physics and chemistry are incentivized to do a project where they must put in practice their improvement of scientific knowledge and skills, like observation of phenomena and analysis of data with scientific knowledge. In this project a group of students, tutored by the teacher, wanted to build an instrument that helps people to take their medical drugs at the right time. This instrument must have some compartments with an alarm and an LED light where the people can put their medical drugs. The instrument must be easily programed using an android program that also registers if the medicine has been taken. The students needed to simulate the hardware and software, draw the electronic system and build the final product. At the end of the school year, a public oral presentation was prepared by each group of students and presented to the school community. They are also encouraged to participate in national and international scientific shows and competitions.

  14. Building electronic data infrastructure for comparative effectiveness research: accomplishments, lessons learned and future steps.

    PubMed

    Randhawa, Gurvaneet S

    2014-11-01

    There are large gaps in our knowledge on the potential impact of diagnostics and therapeutics on outcomes of patients treated in the real world. Comparative effectiveness research aims to fill these gaps to maximize effectiveness of these interventions. Health information technology has the potential to dramatically improve the practice of medicine and of research. This is an overview of about US$100 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investment in 12 projects managed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to build an electronic clinical data infrastructure that connects research with healthcare delivery. The achievements and lessons learned from these projects provided a foundation for the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet)and will help to guide future infrastructure development needed to build an efficient, scalable and sustainable learning health system.

  15. SIGMA: A Knowledge-Based Simulation Tool Applied to Ecosystem Modeling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dungan, Jennifer L.; Keller, Richard; Lawless, James G. (Technical Monitor)

    1994-01-01

    The need for better technology to facilitate building, sharing and reusing models is generally recognized within the ecosystem modeling community. The Scientists' Intelligent Graphical Modelling Assistant (SIGMA) creates an environment for model building, sharing and reuse which provides an alternative to more conventional approaches which too often yield poorly documented, awkwardly structured model code. The SIGMA interface presents the user a list of model quantities which can be selected for computation. Equations to calculate the model quantities may be chosen from an existing library of ecosystem modeling equations, or built using a specialized equation editor. Inputs for dim equations may be supplied by data or by calculation from other equations. Each variable and equation is expressed using ecological terminology and scientific units, and is documented with explanatory descriptions and optional literature citations. Automatic scientific unit conversion is supported and only physically-consistent equations are accepted by the system. The system uses knowledge-based semantic conditions to decide which equations in its library make sense to apply in a given situation, and supplies these to the user for selection. "Me equations and variables are graphically represented as a flow diagram which provides a complete summary of the model. Forest-BGC, a stand-level model that simulates photosynthesis and evapo-transpiration for conifer canopies, was originally implemented in Fortran and subsequenty re-implemented using SIGMA. The SIGMA version reproduces daily results and also provides a knowledge base which greatly facilitates inspection, modification and extension of Forest-BGC.

  16. Cost-Effective Encryption-Based Autonomous Routing Protocol for Efficient and Secure Wireless Sensor Networks.

    PubMed

    Saleem, Kashif; Derhab, Abdelouahid; Orgun, Mehmet A; Al-Muhtadi, Jalal; Rodrigues, Joel J P C; Khalil, Mohammed Sayim; Ali Ahmed, Adel

    2016-03-31

    The deployment of intelligent remote surveillance systems depends on wireless sensor networks (WSNs) composed of various miniature resource-constrained wireless sensor nodes. The development of routing protocols for WSNs is a major challenge because of their severe resource constraints, ad hoc topology and dynamic nature. Among those proposed routing protocols, the biology-inspired self-organized secure autonomous routing protocol (BIOSARP) involves an artificial immune system (AIS) that requires a certain amount of time to build up knowledge of neighboring nodes. The AIS algorithm uses this knowledge to distinguish between self and non-self neighboring nodes. The knowledge-building phase is a critical period in the WSN lifespan and requires active security measures. This paper proposes an enhanced BIOSARP (E-BIOSARP) that incorporates a random key encryption mechanism in a cost-effective manner to provide active security measures in WSNs. A detailed description of E-BIOSARP is presented, followed by an extensive security and performance analysis to demonstrate its efficiency. A scenario with E-BIOSARP is implemented in network simulator 2 (ns-2) and is populated with malicious nodes for analysis. Furthermore, E-BIOSARP is compared with state-of-the-art secure routing protocols in terms of processing time, delivery ratio, energy consumption, and packet overhead. The findings show that the proposed mechanism can efficiently protect WSNs from selective forwarding, brute-force or exhaustive key search, spoofing, eavesdropping, replaying or altering of routing information, cloning, acknowledgment spoofing, HELLO flood attacks, and Sybil attacks.

  17. Cost-Effective Encryption-Based Autonomous Routing Protocol for Efficient and Secure Wireless Sensor Networks

    PubMed Central

    Saleem, Kashif; Derhab, Abdelouahid; Orgun, Mehmet A.; Al-Muhtadi, Jalal; Rodrigues, Joel J. P. C.; Khalil, Mohammed Sayim; Ali Ahmed, Adel

    2016-01-01

    The deployment of intelligent remote surveillance systems depends on wireless sensor networks (WSNs) composed of various miniature resource-constrained wireless sensor nodes. The development of routing protocols for WSNs is a major challenge because of their severe resource constraints, ad hoc topology and dynamic nature. Among those proposed routing protocols, the biology-inspired self-organized secure autonomous routing protocol (BIOSARP) involves an artificial immune system (AIS) that requires a certain amount of time to build up knowledge of neighboring nodes. The AIS algorithm uses this knowledge to distinguish between self and non-self neighboring nodes. The knowledge-building phase is a critical period in the WSN lifespan and requires active security measures. This paper proposes an enhanced BIOSARP (E-BIOSARP) that incorporates a random key encryption mechanism in a cost-effective manner to provide active security measures in WSNs. A detailed description of E-BIOSARP is presented, followed by an extensive security and performance analysis to demonstrate its efficiency. A scenario with E-BIOSARP is implemented in network simulator 2 (ns-2) and is populated with malicious nodes for analysis. Furthermore, E-BIOSARP is compared with state-of-the-art secure routing protocols in terms of processing time, delivery ratio, energy consumption, and packet overhead. The findings show that the proposed mechanism can efficiently protect WSNs from selective forwarding, brute-force or exhaustive key search, spoofing, eavesdropping, replaying or altering of routing information, cloning, acknowledgment spoofing, HELLO flood attacks, and Sybil attacks. PMID:27043572

  18. Towards Global Transdisciplinary Research: Lessons Learned from the Belmont Forum

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paillard, S. J.; Uhle, M. E.; van Jaarsveld, A. S.; Monfray, P.

    2014-12-01

    The Belmont Forum was initiated in 2009 by a sub group of the International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research. The Belmont Challenge embodies the Forum's central goal: to deliver knowledge needed for societies to take action to mitigate and adapt to detrimental environmental change. This is fostered through collaboration among scientists across the globe and by stressing the importance of co-production of knowledge associated with coupled natural and social systems. The Belmont Challenge was clearly aligned with other collective thinking processes within the research community and key knowledge users from intergovernmental bodies. Convergence of these efforts gave rise to the S&T Alliance for Global Sustainability and its initiative - Future Earth. Collaborative Research Actions, consisting primarily of multilateral research calls to address topics relevant to Future Earth, have been the main tool developed to address the Belmont Challenge and some early lessons emerged. First, obstacles faced by the Belmont Forum are similar to those met by scientists collaborating across traditional boundaries. Building shared languages and interests between various disciplines and across global cultures, remains difficult; this results in a persistent underestimation of the transformation required to move knowledge creation towards a truly global inter- and transdisciplinary science. Second, the diversity of organizations, cultures and practices within the Belmont Forum is the main source of its creativity and its challenges. While some convergence is needed to build coherent strategies and work efficiently together, diversity is necessary to design actions suitable for all partners regardless of their national research system and science-policy priorities. Finding the right trade-offs is a learning process that Future Earth is also facing; thus both initiatives are not only linked through funding relations but also through strongly intertwined learning curves.

  19. OC-2-KB: A software pipeline to build an evidence-based obesity and cancer knowledge base.

    PubMed

    Lossio-Ventura, Juan Antonio; Hogan, William; Modave, François; Guo, Yi; He, Zhe; Hicks, Amanda; Bian, Jiang

    2017-11-01

    Obesity has been linked to several types of cancer. Access to adequate health information activates people's participation in managing their own health, which ultimately improves their health outcomes. Nevertheless, the existing online information about the relationship between obesity and cancer is heterogeneous and poorly organized. A formal knowledge representation can help better organize and deliver quality health information. Currently, there are several efforts in the biomedical domain to convert unstructured data to structured data and store them in Semantic Web knowledge bases (KB). In this demo paper, we present, OC-2-KB (Obesity and Cancer to Knowledge Base), a system that is tailored to guide the automatic KB construction for managing obesity and cancer knowledge from free-text scientific literature (i.e., PubMed abstracts) in a systematic way. OC-2-KB has two important modules which perform the acquisition of entities and the extraction then classification of relationships among these entities. We tested the OC-2-KB system on a data set with 23 manually annotated obesity and cancer PubMed abstracts and created a preliminary KB with 765 triples. We conducted a preliminary evaluation on this sample of triples and reported our evaluation results.

  20. Combined Use of Terrestrial Laser Scanning and IR Thermography Applied to a Historical Building

    PubMed Central

    Costanzo, Antonio; Minasi, Mario; Casula, Giuseppe; Musacchio, Massimo; Buongiorno, Maria Fabrizia

    2015-01-01

    The conservation of architectural heritage usually requires a multidisciplinary approach involving a variety of specialist expertise and techniques. Nevertheless, destructive techniques should be avoided, wherever possible, in order to preserve the integrity of the historical buildings, therefore the development of non-destructive and non-contact techniques is extremely important. In this framework, a methodology for combining the terrestrial laser scanning and the infrared thermal images is proposed, in order to obtain a reconnaissance of the conservation state of a historical building. The proposed case study is represented by St. Augustine Monumental Compound, located in the historical centre of the town of Cosenza (Calabria, South Italy). Adopting the proposed methodology, the paper illustrates the main results obtained for the building test overlaying and comparing the collected data with both techniques, in order to outline the capabilities both to detect the anomalies and to improve the knowledge on health state of the masonry building. The 3D model, also, allows to provide a reference model, laying the groundwork for implementation of a monitoring multisensor system based on the use of non-destructive techniques. PMID:25609042

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