Critical Issues in Large-Scale Assessment: A Resource Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redfield, Doris

The purpose of this document is to provide practical guidance and support for the design, development, and implementation of large-scale assessment systems that are grounded in research and best practice. Information is included about existing large-scale testing efforts, including national testing programs, state testing programs, and…

Extending Engineering Practice Research with Shared Qualitative Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trevelyan, James

2016-01-01

Research on engineering practice is scarce and sharing of qualitative research data can reduce the effort required for an aspiring researcher to obtain enough data from engineering workplaces to draw generalizable conclusions, both qualitative and quantitative. This paper describes how a large shareable qualitative data set on engineering…

Large eddy simulations and direct numerical simulations of high speed turbulent reacting flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Givi, Peyman; Madnia, Cyrus K.; Steinberger, Craig J.

1990-01-01

This research is involved with the implementation of advanced computational schemes based on large eddy simulations (LES) and direct numerical simulations (DNS) to study the phenomenon of mixing and its coupling with chemical reactions in compressible turbulent flows. In the efforts related to LES, a research program to extend the present capabilities of this method was initiated for the treatment of chemically reacting flows. In the DNS efforts, the focus is on detailed investigations of the effects of compressibility, heat release, and non-equilibrium kinetics modelings in high speed reacting flows. Emphasis was on the simulations of simple flows, namely homogeneous compressible flows, and temporally developing high speed mixing layers.

Ontology-based tools to expedite predictive model construction.

PubMed

Haug, Peter; Holmen, John; Wu, Xinzi; Mynam, Kumar; Ebert, Matthew; Ferraro, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

Large amounts of medical data are collected electronically during the course of caring for patients using modern medical information systems. This data presents an opportunity to develop clinically useful tools through data mining and observational research studies. However, the work necessary to make sense of this data and to integrate it into a research initiative can require substantial effort from medical experts as well as from experts in medical terminology, data extraction, and data analysis. This slows the process of medical research. To reduce the effort required for the construction of computable, diagnostic predictive models, we have developed a system that hybridizes a medical ontology with a large clinical data warehouse. Here we describe components of this system designed to automate the development of preliminary diagnostic models and to provide visual clues that can assist the researcher in planning for further analysis of the data behind these models.

Autonomous Weapon Systems: A Brief Survey of Developmental, Operational, Legal, and Ethical Issues

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

aspects of the early days of these ground- based AWS.14 Gage’s account characterizes the efforts as largely focused on research and development in...human judg- ment, but this responsibility also extends to those who design and develop the systems.27 The next section ad- dresses some of the key... develop - ment (R&D) efforts.”31 Further, the report argues that recent development of unmanned systems was large- ly evolutionary, moving forward based on

Large-Scale 3D Printing: The Way Forward

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jassmi, Hamad Al; Najjar, Fady Al; Ismail Mourad, Abdel-Hamid

2018-03-01

Research on small-scale 3D printing has rapidly evolved, where numerous industrial products have been tested and successfully applied. Nonetheless, research on large-scale 3D printing, directed to large-scale applications such as construction and automotive manufacturing, yet demands a great a great deal of efforts. Large-scale 3D printing is considered an interdisciplinary topic and requires establishing a blended knowledge base from numerous research fields including structural engineering, materials science, mechatronics, software engineering, artificial intelligence and architectural engineering. This review article summarizes key topics of relevance to new research trends on large-scale 3D printing, particularly pertaining (1) technological solutions of additive construction (i.e. the 3D printers themselves), (2) materials science challenges, and (3) new design opportunities.

Structural dynamics and control of large space structures. [conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lightner, E. B. (Compiler)

1981-01-01

The focus of the workshop was the basic research program assembled by LaRC to address the fundamental technology deficiencies that were identified in several studies on large space systems (LSS) conducted by NASA in the last several years. The staffs of the respective participants were assembled at the workshop to review the current state of research in the control technology for large structural systems and to plan the efforts that would be pursued by their respective organizations.

Organizational Influences on Interdisciplinary Interactions during Research and Design of Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGowan, Anna-Maria R.; Seifert, Colleen M.; Papalambros, Panos Y.

2012-01-01

The design of large-scale complex engineered systems (LaCES) such as an aircraft is inherently interdisciplinary. Multiple engineering disciplines, drawing from a team of hundreds to thousands of engineers and scientists, are woven together throughout the research, development, and systems engineering processes to realize one system. Though research and development (R&D) is typically focused in single disciplines, the interdependencies involved in LaCES require interdisciplinary R&D efforts. This study investigates the interdisciplinary interactions that take place during the R&D and early conceptual design phases in the design of LaCES. Our theoretical framework is informed by both engineering practices and social science research on complex organizations. This paper provides preliminary perspective on some of the organizational influences on interdisciplinary interactions based on organization theory (specifically sensemaking), data from a survey of LaCES experts, and the authors experience in the research and design. The analysis reveals couplings between the engineered system and the organization that creates it. Survey respondents noted the importance of interdisciplinary interactions and their significant benefit to the engineered system, such as innovation and problem mitigation. Substantial obstacles to interdisciplinarity are uncovered beyond engineering that include communication and organizational challenges. Addressing these challenges may ultimately foster greater efficiencies in the design and development of LaCES and improved system performance by assisting with the collective integration of interdependent knowledge bases early in the R&D effort. This research suggests that organizational and human dynamics heavily influence and even constrain the engineering effort for large-scale complex systems.

Identifying Predictors of Achievement in the Newly Defined Information Literacy: A Neural Network Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sexton, Randall; Hignite, Michael; Margavio, Thomas M.; Margavio, Geanie W.

2009-01-01

Information Literacy is a concept that evolved as a result of efforts to move technology-based instructional and research efforts beyond the concepts previously associated with "computer literacy." While computer literacy was largely a topic devoted to knowledge of hardware and software, information literacy is concerned with students' abilities…

Non-US electrodynamic launchers research and development

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

Parker, J.V.; Batteh, J.H.; Greig, J.R.

Electrodynamic launcher research and development work of scientists outside the United States is analyzed and assessed by six internationally recognized US experts in the field of electromagnetic and electrothermal launchers. The assessment covers five broad technology areas: (1) Experimental railguns; (2) Railgun theory and design; (3) Induction launchers; (4) Electrothermal guns; (5) Energy storage and power supplies. The overall conclusion is that non-US work on electrodynamic launchers is maturing rapidly after a relatively late start in many countries. No foreign program challenges the US efforts in scope, but it is evident that the United States may be surpassed in somemore » technologies within the next few years. Until recently, published Russian work focused on hypervelocity for research purposes. Within the last two years, large facilities have been described where military-oriented development has been underway since the mid-1980s. Financial support for these large facilities appears to have collapsed, leaving no effective effort to develop practical launchers for military or civilian applications. Electrodynamic launcher research in Europe is making rapid progress by focusing on a single application, tactical launchers for the military. Four major laboratories, in Britain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, are working on this problem. Though narrower in scope than the US effort, the European work enjoys a continuity of support that has accelerated its progress. The next decade will see the deployment of electrodynamic launcher technology, probably in the form of an electrothermal-chemical upgrade for an existing gun system. The time scale for deployment of electromagnetic launchers is entirely dependent on the level of research-and-development effort. If resources remain limited, the advantage will lie with cooperative efforts that have reasonably stable funding such as the present French-German program.« less

A Blueprint for Breakthroughs: Federally Funded Education Research in 2016 and Beyond

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horn, Michael B.; Fisher, Julia Freeland

2016-01-01

The federal government funds a significant proportion of education research in the United States. But these research efforts have, by and large, fallen short of delivering on the promise to drive individual student outcomes across the country. By altering the priorities of education research to embrace a more complete research cycle, the federal…

Anthropologists and Policy-Relevant Research: The Case for Accountability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Milton M. R.

Anthropology research should be relevant to public policy formation. If anthropologists continue to produce research which reflects a "detached observer" perspective, their studies will not enjoy widespread credibility. The use of policy-relevant anthropology (applied anthropology) will depend in large part on the efforts of anthropologists toward…

A Brief Historical Review of Research on Higher Education, 1900-1960.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pemberton, S. Macpherson

The beginning of interest in educational research as such is traced to the 1890's and to J. M. Rice, who encouraged that departments of educational research be attached to public and private agencies and university education departments. Early research efforts were limited largely to measurement and elementary and secondary education, but a 1910…

LES, DNS and RANS for the analysis of high-speed turbulent reacting flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Givi, Peyman; Taulbee, Dale B.; Adumitroaie, Virgil; Sabini, George J.; Shieh, Geoffrey S.

1994-01-01

The purpose of this research is to continue our efforts in advancing the state of knowledge in large eddy simulation (LES), direct numerical simulation (DNS), and Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) methods for the computational analysis of high-speed reacting turbulent flows. In the second phase of this work, covering the period 1 Sep. 1993 - 1 Sep. 1994, we have focused our efforts on two research problems: (1) developments of 'algebraic' moment closures for statistical descriptions of nonpremixed reacting systems, and (2) assessments of the Dirichlet frequency in presumed scalar probability density function (PDF) methods in stochastic description of turbulent reacting flows. This report provides a complete description of our efforts during this past year as supported by the NASA Langley Research Center under Grant NAG1-1122.

Potential use of reverse osmosis in managing saltwater waste collected at road-salt storage facilites [sic].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-01-01

The implementation of its anti-icing program comprises a large part of the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) maintenance effort. Earlier research confirmed that VDOT captures a large volume of salt-laden stormwater runoff at its 300+ sal...

Research on the control of large space structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Denman, E. D.

1983-01-01

The research effort on the control of large space structures at the University of Houston has concentrated on the mathematical theory of finite-element models; identification of the mass, damping, and stiffness matrix; assignment of damping to structures; and decoupling of structure dynamics. The objective of the work has been and will continue to be the development of efficient numerical algorithms for analysis, control, and identification of large space structures. The major consideration in the development of the algorithms has been the large number of equations that must be handled by the algorithm as well as sensitivity of the algorithms to numerical errors.

Numerical Simulation of High-Speed Turbulent Reacting Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jaberi, F. A.; Colucci, P. J.; James, S.; Givi, P.

1996-01-01

The purpose of this research is to continue our efforts in advancing the state of knowledge in large eddy simulation (LES) methods for computational analysis of high-speed reacting turbulent flows. We have just completed the first year of Phase 3 of this research.

Large-area graphene for sensor applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snow, Eric S.

2010-04-01

Graphene represents an important new material with potential Department of Defense sensor applications. At the Naval Research Laboratory we have developed three techniques to produce large-area graphene films. We have used this material to construct chemical and radio-frequency electromagnetic sensors. Here we report the initial results of this effort.

Student Course Evaluations in Traditional and Blended Courses: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nowell, Gadis

2011-01-01

It is generally held that blended learning is gaining acceptance and being adopted at college campuses throughout the U.S. Accompanying this trend has been an expansion of the research efforts in this area. These efforts have been guided mainly by the five pillars of the Sloan Consortium Quality Framework (Sloan-C) and two large questions. One…

Redefining risk research priorities for nanomaterials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grieger, Khara D.; Baun, Anders; Owen, Richard

2010-02-01

Chemical-based risk assessment underpins the current approach to responsible development of nanomaterials (NM). It is now recognised, however, that this process may take decades, leaving decision makers with little support in the near term. Despite this, current and near future research efforts are largely directed at establishing (eco)toxicological and exposure data for NM, and comparatively little research has been undertaken on tools or approaches that may facilitate near-term decisions, some of which we briefly outline in this analysis. We propose a reprioritisation of NM risk research efforts to redress this imbalance, including the development of more adaptive risk governance frameworks, alternative/complementary tools to risk assessment, and health and environment surveillance.

The project De Caldas International Project: An example of a large-scale radwaste isolation natural analogue study

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

Shea, M.

1995-09-01

The proper isolation of radioactive waste is one of today`s most pressing environmental issues. Research is being carried out by many countries around the world in order to answer critical and perplexing questions regarding the safe disposal of radioactive waste. Natural analogue studies are an increasingly important facet of this international research effort. The Pocos de Caldas Project represents a major effort of the international technical and scientific community towards addressing one of modern civilization`s most critical environmental issues - radioactive waste isolation.

Leveraging Rigorous Local Evaluations to Understand Contradictory Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boulay, Beth; Martin, Carlos; Zief, Susan; Granger, Robert

2013-01-01

Contradictory findings from "well-implemented" rigorous evaluations invite researchers to identify the differences that might explain the contradictions, helping to generate testable hypotheses for new research. This panel will examine efforts to ensure that the large number of local evaluations being conducted as part of four…

Improving Performance through Knowledge Translation in the Veterans Health Administration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Francis, Joseph; Perlin, Jonathan B.

2006-01-01

The Veterans Health Administration (VA) provides a case study for linking performance measurement, information technology, and aligned research efforts to facilitate quality improvement in a large, complex health system. Dialogue between clinical researchers and VA leaders occurs through structured activities (e.g., the Quality Enhancement…

Rois Langner | NREL

Science.gov Websites

engineer in the Commercial Buildings Research Group at NREL since 2010. Her research efforts have focused optimize building design and performance for military and large commercial buildings. She has also worked continual energy improvement, and more recently is working to support the small commercial building sector

Environmental awareness program development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinhauer, David A.

1995-01-01

Work this summer in the Office of Safety, Environment, and Mission Assurance began with a review of current initiatives and environmental projects at the Langley Research Center (LaRC). This involved researching many of the documents on file which detail problems which have occurred as well as various approaches which have been used to address these problems. A large portion of the time was spent interviewing and working with each of the engineers, industrial hygienists and other professionals connected with the Office of Environmental Engineering. A few of the projects I worked on include: Researching environmental compliance, and pollution prevention efforts; touring many of the facilities at LaRC to observe the environmental efforts in the work place; researching equipment needs for the recycling/reclamation center; writing scripts for in-house training videos; working with the video production department to produce a training video; developing e-mail distribution list; developing environmental coordinator's database; and working with others to research logistics of recycling and waste minimization efforts.

Future directions in physical activity intervention research: expanding our focus to sedentary behaviors, technology, and dissemination.

PubMed

Lewis, Beth A; Napolitano, Melissa A; Buman, Matthew P; Williams, David M; Nigg, Claudio R

2017-02-01

Despite the increased health risks of a sedentary lifestyle, only 49 % of American adults participate in physical activity (PA) at the recommended levels. In an effort to move the PA field forward, we briefly review three emerging areas of PA intervention research. First, new intervention research has focused on not only increasing PA but also on decreasing sedentary behavior. Researchers should utilize randomized controlled trials, common terminology, investigate which behaviors should replace sedentary behaviors, evaluate long-term outcomes, and focus across the lifespan. Second, technology has contributed to an increase in sedentary behavior but has also led to innovative PA interventions. PA technology research should focus on large randomized trials with evidence-based components, explore social networking and innovative apps, improve PA monitoring, consider the lifespan, and be grounded in theory. Finally, in an effort to maximize public health impact, dissemination efforts should address the RE-AIM model, health disparities, and intervention costs.

Future directions in physical activity intervention research: expanding our focus to sedentary behaviors, technology, and dissemination

PubMed Central

Napolitano, Melissa A.; Buman, Matthew P.; Williams, David M.; Nigg, Claudio R.

2016-01-01

Despite the increased health risks of a sedentary lifestyle, only 49 % of American adults participate in physical activity (PA) at the recommended levels. In an effort to move the PA field forward, we briefly review three emerging areas of PA intervention research. First, new intervention research has focused on not only increasing PA but also on decreasing sedentary behavior. Researchers should utilize randomized controlled trials, common terminology, investigate which behaviors should replace sedentary behaviors, evaluate long-term outcomes, and focus across the lifespan. Second, technology has contributed to an increase in sedentary behavior but has also led to innovative PA interventions. PA technology research should focus on large randomized trials with evidence-based components, explore social networking and innovative apps, improve PA monitoring, consider the lifespan, and be grounded in theory. Finally, in an effort to maximize public health impact, dissemination efforts should address the RE-AIM model, health disparities, and intervention costs. PMID:27722907

Assessing the effects of fire disturbances on ecosystems: A scientific agenda for research and management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schmoldt, D.L.; Peterson, D.L.; Keane, R.E.; Lenihan, J.M.; McKenzie, D.; Weise, D.R.; Sandberg, D.V.

1999-01-01

A team of fire scientists and resource managers convened 17-19 April 1996 in Seattle, Washington, to assess the effects of fire disturbance on ecosystems. Objectives of this workshop were to develop scientific recommendations for future fire research and management activities. These recommendations included a series of numerically ranked scientific and managerial questions and responses focusing on (1) links among fire effects, fuels, and climate; (2) fire as a large-scale disturbance; (3) fire-effects modeling structures; and (4) managerial concerns, applications, and decision support. At the present time, understanding of fire effects and the ability to extrapolate fire-effects knowledge to large spatial scales are limited, because most data have been collected at small spatial scales for specific applications. Although we clearly need more large-scale fire-effects data, it will be more expedient to concentrate efforts on improving and linking existing models that simulate fire effects in a georeferenced format while integrating empirical data as they become available. A significant component of this effort should be improved communication between modelers and managers to develop modeling tools to use in a planning context. Another component of this modeling effort should improve our ability to predict the interactions of fire and potential climatic change at very large spatial scales. The priority issues and approaches described here provide a template for fire science and fire management programs in the next decade and beyond.

The NMC Horizon Report: 2013 K-12 Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, L.; Adams Becker, S.; Cummins, M.; Estrada V.; Freeman, A.; Ludgate, H.

2013-01-01

"The NMC Horizon Report" series is the most visible outcome of the New Media Consortium (NMC) Horizon Project, an ongoing research effort established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. This…

Horizon Report: 2010 K-12 Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, L.; Smith, R.; Levine, A.; Haywood, K.

2010-01-01

The "Horizon Report" series is the most visible outcome of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, an ongoing research effort established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. This volume, the "2010…

Cross-Cultural Psychology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Triandis, Harry C.; Brislin, Richard W.

Cross-Cultural psychology refers to the collective efforts of researchers who work among people who live in different societies, with different languages and different forms of government. There are a number of benefits to the study of human behavior which can be accrued by carrying out research in various cultures, largely concerned with better…

Building a Successful Adult Life: Findings from Youth-Directed Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Laurie E.; Garner, Tracee; Valnes, Betsy; Squire, Peter; Turner, Alison; Couture, Todd; Dertinger, Rocky

2007-01-01

Although transition outcomes for youth with disabilities have shown some improvement and transition support practices have been identified, many young people continue to face transition barriers that preclude their full participation in key adult life activities. While research efforts have largely been professionally driven, there is emerging…

Untied Efforts: The Challenges for Improved Research, Extension and Education Linkages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eneyew, Adugna

2013-01-01

Ethiopian agriculture is characterized by smallholders farming whose access to modern technology and basic education is very limited. Research, extension, education and farmers are the main pillars of agricultural knowledge systems and their effectiveness largely depends on strong linkage among each other. However, the existing…

Key Emerging Technologies for Elementary and Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Laurence F.; Levine, Alan; Smith, Rachel S.; Haywood, Keene

2010-01-01

The Horizon Report series is the most visible outcome of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, an ongoing research effort that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. The report examines emerging technologies for…

Key Emerging Technologies for Elementary and Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Laurence F.; Levine, Alan; Smith, Rachel S.; Haywood, Keene

2010-01-01

The "Horizon Report" series is the most visible outcome of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, an ongoing research effort that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. The report examines emerging technologies for…

Evaluation of the Teaching American History Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Humphrey, Daniel C.; Chang-Ross, Christopher; Donnelly, Mary Beth; Hersh, Lauren; Skolnik, Heidi

2005-01-01

Nearly 20 years ago, the first national assessment of student achievement in U.S. history yielded disappointing results. Although policy-makers and researchers expressed great concern about the low scores, the federal government did not undertake large-scale efforts to address poor student performance, and few research dollars were dedicated to…

Stakeholder engagement and feedback efforts to increase use of the iCSS ToxCast Dashboard (SETAC)

EPA Science Inventory

In the era of ‘Big Data’ research, many government agencies are engaged in generating and making public large amounts of data that underly both research and regulatory decisions. Public access increases the ‘democratization’ of science by enhancing transparency and access. Howev...

Bibliographic Control of Large Quantities of Research Material.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Martha M.

1983-01-01

Guidelines for individual researcher describe bibliographic methods for achieving high standards of quality while maintaining maximum efficiency in each step of all necessary procedures involved in the construction of a bibliography ranging from several hundred to several thousand items. Ways to minimize waste motion and duplication of effort are…

A Navy Shore Activity Manpower Planning System for Civilians. Technical Report No. 24.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niehaus, R. J.; Sholtz, D.

This report describes the U.S. Navy Shore Activity Manpower Planning System (SAMPS) advanced development research project. This effort is aimed at large-scale feasibility tests of manpower models for large Naval installations. These local planning systems are integrated with Navy-wide information systems on a data-communications network accessible…

The Relationship between Stated Beliefs, Classroom Practices, and Reading Research Studies of Oral Corrective Feedback in Four ESL Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamiya, Nobuhiro

2012-01-01

A call for a bridge between research and practice is nothing new, yet it seems to be an impossible task to accomplish. Despite the dedicated efforts made by numerous researchers in the past, the world is still largely separate between researchers and teachers. One piece of evidence is that research studies seem to have only a little impact on…

Understanding the Association Between Negative Symptoms and Performance on Effort-Based Decision-Making Tasks: The Importance of Defeatist Performance Beliefs.

PubMed

Reddy, L Felice; Horan, William P; Barch, Deanna M; Buchanan, Robert W; Gold, James M; Marder, Stephen R; Wynn, Jonathan K; Young, Jared; Green, Michael F

2017-11-13

Effort-based decision-making paradigms are increasingly utilized to gain insight into the nature of motivation deficits. Research has shown associations between effort-based decision making and experiential negative symptoms; however, the associations are not consistent. The current study had two primary goals. First, we aimed to replicate previous findings of a deficit in effort-based decision making among individuals with schizophrenia on a test of cognitive effort. Second, in a large sample combined from the current and a previous study, we sought to examine the association between negative symptoms and effort by including the related construct of defeatist beliefs. The results replicated previous findings of impaired cognitive effort-based decision making in schizophrenia. Defeatist beliefs significantly moderated the association between negative symptoms and effort-based decision making such that there was a strong association between high negative symptoms and deficits in effort-based decision making, but only among participants with high levels of defeatist beliefs. Thus, our findings suggest the relationship between negative symptoms and effort performance may be understood by taking into account the role of defeatist beliefs, and finding that might explain discrepancies in previous studies. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center 2017.

The Learning Assistant Model for Science Teacher Recruitment and Preparation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otero, Valerie

2006-04-01

There is a shortage of high quality physical science teachers in the United States. In 2001, less than 50% of teachers who taught physics held a major or minor in physics or physics education (Neuschatz & McFarling, 2003). Studies point to content knowledge as one of the two factors that is positively correlated with teacher quality. However, those directly responsible for the science content preparation of teachers, specifically science research faculty, are rarely involved in focused efforts to improve teacher quality or to create alternative paths for becoming a teacher. What role should science research faculty play in the recruitment and preparation of science teachers? How might teacher recruitment and preparation be conceived so that science research faculty members' participation in these efforts is not at odds with the traditional scientific research foci of science research departments? To address this issue, we have coupled our teacher recruitment and preparation efforts with our efforts for transforming our large-enrollment, undergraduate science courses. This is achieved through the undergraduate Learning Assistant (LA) program, where talented mathematics and science majors are hired to assist in transforming large enrollment courses to student-centered, collaborative environments. These LAs are the target of our teacher recruitment efforts. Science research faculty, in collaboration with faculty from the school of education have established a community that supports LAs in making decisions to explore K12 teaching as a career option. Fifteen percent of the LAs who have participated in this program have entered teaching credential programs and now plan to become K12 teachers. An added effect of this program is that research faculty have developed skills and knowledge regarding inquiry-based and student-centered pedagogy and theories of student learning. The Learning Assistant program has led to increased subject matter knowledge among learning assistants, increased interest in K-12 teaching as a career, and increased appreciation and understanding of student-centered and inquiry-based learning. Data to support these claims will be presented. Neuschatz, M. & McFarling, M. (2003). Broadning the Base: High School Physics Education at the Turn of a New Century, AIP Report No. R-439.

What Is the Proposed Role of Research Evidence in England's "Self-Improving" School System?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godfrey, David

2017-01-01

This article examines the English government's vision for how research is proposed to lead to improvements in the system in the context of a school-led, self-improving system and rapid and sweeping legislative reforms. The debate about the role of research in the teaching profession has been sharpened by a large consultation effort in the academic…

Data integration in the era of omics: current and future challenges

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

To integrate heterogeneous and large omics data constitutes not only a conceptual challenge but a practical hurdle in the daily analysis of omics data. With the rise of novel omics technologies and through large-scale consortia projects, biological systems are being further investigated at an unprecedented scale generating heterogeneous and often large data sets. These data-sets encourage researchers to develop novel data integration methodologies. In this introduction we review the definition and characterize current efforts on data integration in the life sciences. We have used a web-survey to assess current research projects on data-integration to tap into the views, needs and challenges as currently perceived by parts of the research community. PMID:25032990

The Design of PC/MISI, a PC-Based Common User Interface to Remote Information Storage and Retrieval Systems. M.S. ThesisFinal Report, 1 Jul. 1985 - 31 Dec. 1987

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Hall, Philip P.

1985-01-01

The amount of information contained in the data bases of large-scale information storage and retrieval systems is very large and growing at a rapid rate. The methods available for assessing this information have not been successful in making the information easily available to the people who have the greatest need for it. This thesis describes the design of a personal computer based system which will provide a means for these individuals to retrieve this data through one standardized interface. The thesis identifies each of the major problems associated with providing access to casual users of IS and R systems and describes the manner in which these problems are to be solved by the utilization of the local processing power of a PC. Additional capabilities, not available with standard access methods, are also provided to improve the user's ability to make use of this information. The design of PC/MISI is intended to facilitate its use as a research vehicle. Evaluation mechanisms and possible areas of future research are described. The PC/MISI development effort is part of a larger research effort directed at improving access to remote IS and R systems. This research effort, supported in part by NASA, is also reviewed.

Model Organisms Facilitate Rare Disease Diagnosis and Therapeutic Research

PubMed Central

Wangler, Michael F.; Yamamoto, Shinya; Chao, Hsiao-Tuan; Posey, Jennifer E.; Westerfield, Monte; Postlethwait, John; Hieter, Philip; Boycott, Kym M.; Campeau, Philippe M.; Bellen, Hugo J.

2017-01-01

Efforts to identify the genetic underpinnings of rare undiagnosed diseases increasingly involve the use of next-generation sequencing and comparative genomic hybridization methods. These efforts are limited by a lack of knowledge regarding gene function, and an inability to predict the impact of genetic variation on the encoded protein function. Diagnostic challenges posed by undiagnosed diseases have solutions in model organism research, which provides a wealth of detailed biological information. Model organism geneticists are by necessity experts in particular genes, gene families, specific organs, and biological functions. Here, we review the current state of research into undiagnosed diseases, highlighting large efforts in North America and internationally, including the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) (Supplemental Material, File S1) and UDN International (UDNI), the Centers for Mendelian Genomics (CMG), and the Canadian Rare Diseases Models and Mechanisms Network (RDMM). We discuss how merging human genetics with model organism research guides experimental studies to solve these medical mysteries, gain new insights into disease pathogenesis, and uncover new therapeutic strategies. PMID:28874452

Investigation of Collapse Characteristics of Cylindrical Composite Panels with Large Cutouts

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-12-01

COLLAPSE CHARACTERISTICS OF CYLINDRICAL COMPOSITE PANELS WITH LARGE CUTOUTS THESIS Scott A. Schimmels Captain, USAF AFIT/GAE/ENY/89D-33 Approved for...public release, distribution unlimited AFIT/GAE/ENY/89D-33 INVESTIGATION OF COLLAPSE * CHARACTERISTICS OF CYLINDRICAL COMPOSITE PANELS WITH LARGE...you would not be reading this. * This thesis research is part of an overall effort in composite nonlinear shell analysis sponsored by AFOSR, Dr

The Reality of Assessment in Business Schools: Rejoinder to "Why Assessment Will Never Work at Many Business Schools: A Call for Better Utilization of Pedagogical Research"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke-Smalley, Lisa A.

2017-01-01

Bacon and Stewart (2016) argued that assurance of learning efforts in most business schools is largely futile--a stance held by many faculty members, for a variety of reasons. They provided detailed evidence that most schools' data collection efforts for assessment, particularly in graduate or niche programs, suffers from insufficient statistical…

Computing Cluster for Large Scale Turbulence Simulations and Applications in Computational Aeroacoustics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lele, Sanjiva K.

2002-08-01

Funds were received in April 2001 under the Department of Defense DURIP program for construction of a 48 processor high performance computing cluster. This report details the hardware which was purchased and how it has been used to enable and enhance research activities directly supported by, and of interest to, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Department of Defense. The report is divided into two major sections. The first section after this summary describes the computer cluster, its setup, and some cluster performance benchmark results. The second section explains ongoing research efforts which have benefited from the cluster hardware, and presents highlights of those efforts since installation of the cluster.

LES, DNS and RANS for the analysis of high-speed turbulent reacting flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Givi, Peyman

1994-01-01

The objective of this research is to continue our efforts in advancing the state of knowledge in Large Eddy Simulation (LES), Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS), and Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) methods for the analysis of high-speed reacting turbulent flows. In the first phase of this research, conducted within the past six months, focus was in three directions: RANS of turbulent reacting flows by Probability Density Function (PDF) methods, RANS of non-reacting turbulent flows by advanced turbulence closures, and LES of mixing dominated reacting flows by a dynamics subgrid closure. A summary of our efforts within the past six months of this research is provided in this semi-annual progress report.

Dimensions of Research in Rural Sociology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruesink, David C.; And Others

Two papers are presented which were given before the Social Science Section of the 1968 Annual Conference of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. The first paper reports on the results of a research effort designed to identify factors associated with successful relocation of people from a rural or small community environment into large,…

Heterogeneous Effects in Education: The Promise and Challenge of Incorporating Intersectionality into Quantitative Methodological Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schudde, Lauren

2018-01-01

To date, the theory of intersectionality has largely guided qualitative efforts in social science and education research. Translating the construct to new methodological approaches is inherently complex and challenging, but offers the possibility of breaking down silos that keep education researchers with similar interests--but different…

The NMC Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, L.; Adams, S.; Haywood, K.

2011-01-01

"The NMC Horizon Report" series is the most visible outcome of the New Media Consortium. (NMC) Horizon Project, an ongoing research effort established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. This volume, "The…

Early Childhood Teachers' Perceptions of the Educational Needs of Military Dependent Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stites, Michele Lee

2012-01-01

Military dependent children remain a largely unexplored subject, particularly in early childhood education. In an effort to fill the gap in the current literature, this research study focuses on how early childhood teachers perceive the educational needs of military dependent children. Previous research in the areas of geographic mobility,…

Evidence-Based Practice for Teachers of Children with Autism: A Dynamic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lubas, Margaret; Mitchell, Jennifer; De Leo, Gianluca

2016-01-01

Evidence-based practice related to autism research is a controversial topic. Governmental entities and national agencies are defining evidence-based practice as a specific set of interventions that educators should implement; however, large-scale efforts to generalize autism research, which are often single-subject case designs, may be a setback…

How Early Childhood Teachers Perceive the Educational Needs of Military Dependent Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stites, Michele L.

2016-01-01

Military dependent children remain a largely unexplored subject, particularly in early childhood education. In an effort to fill the gap in the current literature, this research study focuses on how early childhood teachers perceive the educational needs of military dependent children. Previous research in the areas of geographic mobility,…

The NMC Horizon Report: 2014 K-12 Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, L.; Adams Becker, S.; Estrada, V.; Freeman, A.

2014-01-01

"The NMC Horizon Report" series is the most visible outcome of the New Media Consortium (NMC) Horizon Project, an ongoing research effort established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within every sector of education in some 65…

Evidence Items as Signals of Marketing Competencies and Workplace Readiness: A Practitioner Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Honea, Heather; Castro, Iana A.; Peter, Paula

2017-01-01

Although past research has spent considerable effort identifying competencies and academic activities that are associated with workplace readiness, the literature is largely silent regarding what might best serve as evidence to employers that a graduate possesses specific marketing competencies. In the current research, we develop a comprehensive…

Principals' and Teachers' Perceptions of Efforts by Principals to Improve Teaching and Learning in Turkish Middle Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bellibas, Mehmet Sükrü

2015-01-01

Contemporary research on instructional leadership has largely concerned itself with developing concrete instructional leadership models and investigating the association of such leadership practices with teaching and learning. Yet there is little research on how the internal school community reacts to the notion of principals influencing classroom…

From Swimming Pool to Collaborative Learning Studio: Pedagogy, Space, and Technology in a Large Active Learning Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Dabae; Morrone, Anastasia S.; Siering, Greg

2018-01-01

To promote student learning and bolster student success, higher education institutions are increasingly creating large active learning classrooms to replace traditional lecture halls. Although there have been many efforts to examine the effects of those classrooms on learning outcomes, there is paucity of research that can inform the design and…

Culture and cognition in health systems change.

PubMed

Evans, Jenna M; Baker, G Ross; Berta, Whitney; Barnsley, Jan

2015-01-01

Large-scale change involves modifying not only the structures and functions of multiple organizations, but also the mindsets and behaviours of diverse stakeholders. This paper focuses on the latter: the informal, less visible, and often neglected psychological and social factors implicated in change efforts. The purpose of this paper is to differentiate between the concepts of organizational culture and mental models, to argue for the value of applying a shared mental models (SMM) framework to large-scale change, and to suggest directions for future research. The authors provide an overview of SMM theory and use it to explore the dynamic relationship between culture and cognition. The contributions and limitations of the theory to change efforts are also discussed. Culture and cognition are complementary perspectives, providing insight into two different levels of the change process. SMM theory draws attention to important questions that add value to existing perspectives on large-scale change. The authors outline these questions for future research and argue that research and practice in this domain may be best served by focusing less on the potentially narrow goal of "achieving consensus" and more on identifying, understanding, and managing cognitive convergences and divergences as part of broader research and change management programmes. Drawing from both cultural and cognitive paradigms can provide researchers with a more complete picture of the processes by which coordinated action are achieved in complex change initiatives in the healthcare domain.

An interlaboratory comparison of dosimetry for a multi-institutional radiobiological research project: Observations, problems, solutions and lessons learned.

PubMed

Seed, Thomas M; Xiao, Shiyun; Manley, Nancy; Nikolich-Zugich, Janko; Pugh, Jason; Van den Brink, Marcel; Hirabayashi, Yoko; Yasutomo, Koji; Iwama, Atsushi; Koyasu, Shigeo; Shterev, Ivo; Sempowski, Gregory; Macchiarini, Francesca; Nakachi, Kei; Kunugi, Keith C; Hammer, Clifford G; Dewerd, Lawrence A

2016-01-01

An interlaboratory comparison of radiation dosimetry was conducted to determine the accuracy of doses being used experimentally for animal exposures within a large multi-institutional research project. The background and approach to this effort are described and discussed in terms of basic findings, problems and solutions. Dosimetry tests were carried out utilizing optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimeters embedded midline into mouse carcasses and thermal luminescence dosimeters (TLD) embedded midline into acrylic phantoms. The effort demonstrated that the majority (4/7) of the laboratories was able to deliver sufficiently accurate exposures having maximum dosing errors of ≤5%. Comparable rates of 'dosimetric compliance' were noted between OSL- and TLD-based tests. Data analysis showed a highly linear relationship between 'measured' and 'target' doses, with errors falling largely between 0 and 20%. Outliers were most notable for OSL-based tests, while multiple tests by 'non-compliant' laboratories using orthovoltage X-rays contributed heavily to the wide variation in dosing errors. For the dosimetrically non-compliant laboratories, the relatively high rates of dosing errors were problematic, potentially compromising the quality of ongoing radiobiological research. This dosimetry effort proved to be instructive in establishing rigorous reviews of basic dosimetry protocols ensuring that dosing errors were minimized.

Planning strategies for the avoidance of pitfalls in intervention research.

PubMed

Pruitt, R H; Privette, A B

2001-08-01

With the exception of large clinical trials, few studies in nursing and other social sciences test interventions. The discipline of nursing needs to maintain a full range of research designs for continued knowledge development. Intervention research presents unique opportunities and challenges for the novice as well as the seasoned researcher. Some of these methodological challenges include the complex nature of human subjects and interventions, including many factors that interfere with the study variables. Preliminary studies often reveal challenges that may not always be predicted or reflected in research texts. These challenges may be as important as the study results for success in future research efforts. Difficulties encountered in intervention research and suggested strategies for maintaining the integrity of the study are addressed. These challenges include maintaining an adequate sample size, intervention demands, measuring variables, timing issues, and experiencing unexpected events. Strategies presented include the importance of extensive planning, minimizing subject expectations and rewarding efforts, attention to control group members, incorporating retention strategies, expanding knowledge of variables and the study population, preliminary studies as well as anticipating unexpected events. The need for enhanced communication among nurse researchers, educators and clinicians is addressed. In the current health care arena, nurse researchers must understand organizational dynamics and marketing strategies. Collaborative research efforts can increase the visibility of nursing research as well as funding opportunities.

Predictive Methods for Dense Polymer Networks: Combating Bias with Bio-Based Structures

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-16

Informatics Tools Acknowledgements: Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Research Laboratory, Office of Naval Research, Strategic...Sources and Methods • Bio-based cyanate esters have been made from anethole, resveratrol, eugenol, cresol, lignin, vanillin, and even creosote oils ...not large by informatics standards, it nonetheless represents a significant amount of synthetic effort. Because the data is limited, minimizing

CPTAC | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

The National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) is a national effort to accelerate the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the application of large-scale proteome and genome analysis, or proteogenomics.

Intersection management using in-vehicle speed advisory/adaptation : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-08-30

In recent years, connected vehicles (CVs) and automated vehicles (AVs) have emerged as a : realistic and viable transportation option. Research centers and companies have dedicated : substantial efforts to the technology, motivated largely by the pot...

Summaries of BFRL fire research in-house projects and grants, 1993

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jason, Nora H.

1993-09-01

The report describes the fire research projects performed in the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) and under its extramural grants program during fiscal year 1993. The BFRL Fire Research Program has directed its efforts under three program thrusts. The in-house priority projects, grants, and externally-funded efforts thus form an integrated, focussed ensemble. The publication is organized along those lines: fire risk and hazard prediction - carbon monoxide prediction, turbulent combustion, soot, engineering analysis, fire hazard assessment, and large fires; fire safety of products and materials - materials combustion, furniture flammability, and wall and ceiling fires; and advanced technologies for fire sensing and control - fire detection and fire suppression. For the convenience of the reader, an alphabetical listing of all grants is contained in Part 2.0.

Research priorities on ending child marriage and supporting married girls.

PubMed

Svanemyr, Joar; Chandra-Mouli, Venkatraman; Raj, Anita; Travers, Ellen; Sundaram, Lakshmi

2015-09-03

Over the past few years the issue of child marriage has received growing political and programmatic attention. In spite of some progress in a number of countries, global rates have not declined over the past decade. Knowledge gaps remain in understanding trends, drivers and approaches to ending child marriage, especially to understand what is needed to achieve results on a large scale. This commentary summarizes the outcomes of an Expert Group Meeting organized by World Health Organization to discuss research priorities on Ending Child Marriage and Supporting Married Girls. It presents research gaps and recommends priorities for research in five key areas; (i) prevalence and trends of child marriage; (ii) causes of child marriage (iii) consequences of child marriage; (iv) efforts to prevent child marriage; (v) efforts to support married girls.

Framework for transforming departmental culture to support educational innovation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corbo, Joel C.; Reinholz, Daniel L.; Dancy, Melissa H.; Deetz, Stanley; Finkelstein, Noah

2016-06-01

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Preparing and Supporting University Physics Educators.] This paper provides a research-based framework for promoting institutional change in higher education. To date, most educational change efforts have focused on relatively narrow subsets of the university system (e.g., faculty teaching practices or administrative policies) and have been largely driven by implicit change logics; both of these features have limited the success of such efforts at achieving sustained, systemic change. Drawing from the literature on organizational and cultural change, our framework encourages change agents to coordinate their activities across three key levels of the university and to ground their activities in the various change perspectives that emerge from that literature. We use examples from a change project that we have been carrying out at a large research university to illustrate how our framework can be used as a basis for planning and implementing holistic change.

Scalable Analysis Methods and In Situ Infrastructure for Extreme Scale Knowledge Discovery

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

Bethel, Wes

2016-07-24

The primary challenge motivating this team’s work is the widening gap between the ability to compute information and to store it for subsequent analysis. This gap adversely impacts science code teams, who are able to perform analysis only on a small fraction of the data they compute, resulting in the very real likelihood of lost or missed science, when results are computed but not analyzed. Our approach is to perform as much analysis or visualization processing on data while it is still resident in memory, an approach that is known as in situ processing. The idea in situ processing wasmore » not new at the time of the start of this effort in 2014, but efforts in that space were largely ad hoc, and there was no concerted effort within the research community that aimed to foster production-quality software tools suitable for use by DOE science projects. In large, our objective was produce and enable use of production-quality in situ methods and infrastructure, at scale, on DOE HPC facilities, though we expected to have impact beyond DOE due to the widespread nature of the challenges, which affect virtually all large-scale computational science efforts. To achieve that objective, we assembled a unique team of researchers consisting of representatives from DOE national laboratories, academia, and industry, and engaged in software technology R&D, as well as engaged in close partnerships with DOE science code teams, to produce software technologies that were shown to run effectively at scale on DOE HPC platforms.« less

Teaching and physics education research: bridging the gap.

PubMed

Fraser, James M; Timan, Anneke L; Miller, Kelly; Dowd, Jason E; Tucker, Laura; Mazur, Eric

2014-03-01

Physics faculty, experts in evidence-based research, often rely on anecdotal experience to guide their teaching practices. Adoption of research-based instructional strategies is surprisingly low, despite the large body of physics education research (PER) and strong dissemination effort of PER researchers and innovators. Evidence-based PER has validated specific non-traditional teaching practices, but many faculty raise valuable concerns toward their applicability. We address these concerns and identify future studies required to overcome the gap between research and practice.

An Overview of the NASA FAP Hypersonics Project Airbreathing Propulsion Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Auslender, A. H.; Suder, Kenneth L.; Thomas, Scott R.

2009-01-01

The propulsion research portfolio of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Fundamental Aeronautics Program Hypersonics Project encompasses a significant number of technical tasks that are aligned to achieve mastery and intellectual stewardship of the core competencies in the hypersonic-flight regime. An overall coordinated programmatic and technical effort has been structured to advance the state-of-the-art, via both experimental and analytical efforts. A subset of the entire hypersonics propulsion research portfolio is presented in this overview paper. To this end, two programmatic research disciplines are discussed; namely, (1) the Propulsion Discipline, including three associated research elements: the X-51A partnership, the HIFiRE-2 partnership, and the Durable Combustor Rig, and (2) the Turbine-Based Combine Cycle Discipline, including three associated research elements: the Combined Cycle Engine Large Scale Inlet Mode Transition Experiment, the small-scale Inlet Mode Transition Experiment, and the High-Mach Fan Rig.

Large-Course Redesign via Blended Learning: A Post-Implementation Assessment across Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenthal, David; Weitz, Rob

2012-01-01

This research reports the results of a survey administered to 25 of the 30 institutions that participated in the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT) large-course redesign project that took place between 1999 and 2003. According to NCAT, the benefits of these course redesign efforts included an average reduction in costs of about 40%…

Research, public policymaking, and knowledge-translation processes: Canadian efforts to build bridges.

PubMed

Lavis, John N

2006-01-01

Public policymakers must contend with a particular set of institutional arrangements that govern what can be done to address any given issue, pressure from a variety of interest groups about what they would like to see done to address any given issue, and a range of ideas (including research evidence) about how best to address any given issue. Rarely do processes exist that can get optimally packaged high-quality and high-relevance research evidence into the hands of public policymakers when they most need it, which is often in hours and days, not months and years. In Canada, a variety of efforts have been undertaken to address the factors that have been found to increase the prospects for research use, including the production of systematic reviews that meet the shorter term (but not urgent) needs of public policymakers and encouraging partnerships between researchers and policymakers that allow for their interaction around the tasks of asking and answering relevant questions. Much less progress has been made in making available research evidence to inform the urgent needs of public policymakers and in addressing attitudinal barriers and capacity limitations. In the future, knowledge-translation processes, particularly push efforts and efforts to facilitate user pull, should be undertaken on a sufficiently large scale and with a sufficiently rigorous evaluation so that robust conclusions can be drawn about their effectiveness.

Media Exposure on Student Work: Spotlight on Undergraduate Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klyve, Dominic

2017-01-01

This paper describes efforts by the author to engage and motivate students in undergraduate research by giving them a large audience and engaging the media in disseminating their work. I provide an introduction to public relations from the point of view of a mathematics professor, and describe some lessons I have learned in my own attempts to…

Just Like All the Other Humans? Analyzing Images of Scientists in Children's Trade Books

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rawson, Casey H.; McCool, Megan Astolfi

2014-01-01

Despite the efforts of researchers and national science organizations to recruit more women and minorities into the science and engineering workforce, these fields are still largely dominated by White males. Research suggests that children's mental prototypes of the scientist include a variety of negative and stereotypical features that may…

Faculty Professional Development Focused on Identifying Funding Opportunities: An Interactive Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Alison L.; Reiser, Robert A.; Bradley, Terra W.; Zhao, Weinan

2016-01-01

In an effort to help faculty members learn about and obtain external funding for their research, a team of scholar-practitioners within a College of Education at a large southeastern university developed a database tool that enables faculty to identify grant opportunities aligned with their research interests and provides faculty with easy access…

Chasing a Moving Target: Perceptions of Work Readiness and Graduate Capabilities in Music Higher Research Degree Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Scott; Grant, Catherine

2016-01-01

Recent efforts to increase workplace readiness in university students have largely centred on undergraduates, with comparatively few strategies or studies focusing on higher research degree candidates. In the discipline of music, a wide diversity of possible career paths combined with rapidly changing career opportunities makes workplace readiness…

THE RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK PARTICULATE MATTER PANEL STUDY: MODELING AMBIENT SOURCE CONTRIBUTION TO PERSONAL AND RESIDENTIAL PM MASS CONCENTRATIONS

EPA Science Inventory

The Research Triangle Park (RTP) Particulate Matter (PM) Panel Study represented a one-year investigation of personal, residential and ambient PM mass concentrations across distances as large as 70 km in central North Carolina. One of the primary goals of this effort was to est...

Knowledge, Education and Research: Making Common Cause across Communities of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moss, Gemma

2016-01-01

This article considers how knowledge, education and research interact as the institutional structures that support them change. Many efforts at large-scale education reform depend upon the proposition that what counts as useful knowledge can be easily defined, without reference to the specific contexts in which that knowledge will be set to work.…

Knowledge Co-production at the Research-Practice Interface: Embedded Case Studies from Urban Forestry

Treesearch

Lindsay K. Campbell; Erika S. Svendsen; Lara A. Roman

2016-01-01

Cities are increasingly engaging in sustainability efforts and investment in green infrastructure, including large-scale urban tree planting campaigns. In this context, researchers and practitioners are working jointly to develop applicable knowledge for planning and managing the urban forest. This paper presents three case studies of knowledge co-production in the...

A leap forward in geographic scale for forest ectomycorrhizal fungi

Treesearch

Filipa Cox; Nadia Barsoum; Martin I. Bidartondo; Isabella Børja; Erik Lilleskov; Lars O. Nilsson; Pasi Rautio; Kath Tubby; Lars Vesterdal

2010-01-01

In this letter we propose a first large-scale assessment of mycorrhizas with a European-wide network of intensively monitored forest plots as a research platform. This effort would create a qualitative and quantitative shift in mycorrhizal research by delivering the first continental-scale map of mycorrhizal fungi. Readersmay note that several excellent detailed...

Large space structures controls research and development at Marshall Space Flight Center: Status and future plans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buchanan, H. J.

1983-01-01

Work performed in Large Space Structures Controls research and development program at Marshall Space Flight Center is described. Studies to develop a multilevel control approach which supports a modular or building block approach to the buildup of space platforms are discussed. A concept has been developed and tested in three-axis computer simulation utilizing a five-body model of a basic space platform module. Analytical efforts have continued to focus on extension of the basic theory and subsequent application. Consideration is also given to specifications to evaluate several algorithms for controlling the shape of Large Space Structures.

Demographic processes limiting seedling recruitment in arid grassland restoration

Treesearch

Jeremy J. James; Tony J. Svejcar; Matthew J. Rinella

2011-01-01

Seeding is an important management tool in aridland restoration, but seeded species often fail to establish. Previous research has largely focused on the technical aspects of seeding with little effort directed at identifying demographic processes driving recruitment failures.

Review of Defense Display Research Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-01-01

micromirror device (DMD) projection displays, or some future contender, such as organic light emitting diode displays (OLED)—will be installed via...Instruments (TI) digital micromirror device (DMD) technology, developed in an $11.3M research effort managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory from 1991...systems for simulator/trainer systems in the near-mid term and advanced cockpits in the far term. Such large area, curved display systems will require the

Big Data, Big Research: Implementing Population Health-Based Research Models and Integrating Care to Reduce Cost and Improve Outcomes.

PubMed

Anoushiravani, Afshin A; Patton, Jason; Sayeed, Zain; El-Othmani, Mouhanad M; Saleh, Khaled J

2016-10-01

Recent trends in clinical research have moved attention toward reporting clinical outcomes and resource consumption associated with various care processes. This change is the result of technological advancement and a national effort to critically assess health care delivery. As orthopedic surgeons traverse an unchartered health care environment, a more complete understanding of how clinical research is conducted using large data sets is necessary. The purpose of this article is to review various advantages and disadvantages of large data sets available for orthopaedic use, examine their ideal use, and report how they are being implemented nationwide. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Advanced technology for reducing aircraft engine pollution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, R. E.

1973-01-01

The proposed EPA regulations covering emissions of gas turbine engines will require extensive combustor development. The NASA is working to develop technology to meet these goals through a wide variety of combustor research programs conducted in-house, by contract, and by university grant. In-house efforts using the swirl-can modular combustor have demonstrated sizable reduction in NO emission levels. Testing to reduce idle pollutants has included the modification of duplex fuel nozzles to air-assisted nozzles and an exploration of the potential improvements possible with combustors using fuel staging and variable geometry. The Experimental Clean Combustor Program, a large contracted effort, is devoted to the testing and development of combustor concepts designed to achieve a large reduction in the levels of all emissions. This effort is planned to be conducted in three phases with the final phase to be an engine demonstration of the best reduced emission concepts.

Developing an Open Source, Reusable Platform for Distributed Collaborative Information Management in the Early Detection Research Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hart, Andrew F.; Verma, Rishi; Mattmann, Chris A.; Crichton, Daniel J.; Kelly, Sean; Kincaid, Heather; Hughes, Steven; Ramirez, Paul; Goodale, Cameron; Anton, Kristen;

Sublethal exposure, insecticide resistance, and community stress

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Although a prevalent pest management tool and anthropogenic stressors of widespread occurrence, insecticides are subject to biased perceptions and research demands largely guided by their use, market value, and regulatory requirements. As a result, short-term and simplistic efforts focusing on letha...

Resources, challenges and way forward in rare mitochondrial diseases research.

PubMed

Rajput, Neeraj Kumar; Singh, Vipin; Bhardwaj, Anshu

2015-01-01

Over 300 million people are affected by about 7000 rare diseases globally. There are tremendous resource limitations and challenges in driving research and drug development for rare diseases. Hence, innovative approaches are needed to identify potential solutions. This review focuses on the resources developed over the past years for analysis of genome data towards understanding disease biology especially in the context of mitochondrial diseases, given that mitochondria are central to major cellular pathways and their dysfunction leads to a broad spectrum of diseases. Platforms for collaboration of research groups, clinicians and patients and the advantages of community collaborative efforts in addressing rare diseases are also discussed. The review also describes crowdsourcing and crowdfunding efforts in rare diseases research and how the upcoming initiatives for understanding disease biology including analyses of large number of genomes are also applicable to rare diseases.

Prospects for Developing L2 Students' Effective Use of Vocabulary Learning-Strategies via Web-Based Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ranalli, Jim

2009-01-01

A large body of research supports the efficacy of learning strategies employed in the acquisition of second language vocabulary. However, research also indicates that many such strategies are underused or misused by learners and, further, that any effort to integrate learner training in the use of such strategies into classroom instruction faces a…

A Scoping Review to Address the Culture of Concussion in Youth and High School Sports.

PubMed

Sarmiento, Kelly; Donnell, Zoe; Hoffman, Rosanne

2017-10-01

In 2013, the National Academy of Sciences emphasized the need to develop, implement, and evaluate effective large-scale educational strategies to improve the culture of concussion in youth and high school sports. In support of this recommendation, in this article we summarize research on factors that contribute to the culture of concussion. We conducted the literature search using 7 electronic databases. We used a scoping review method to identify studies that addressed knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, use of educational resources, and interventions related to concussion among young athletes, coaches, and parents. Of the 33 articles identified, most focused on concussion education (N = 15), followed by knowledge (N = 13), behaviors (N = 13), and attitudes (N = 5). Three studies addressed multiple study populations. The rapid spread of concussion education and awareness efforts has outpaced research on effective strategies to improve knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that contribute to the culture of concussion. Further research is critical to inform the development and implementation of large-scale educational efforts. This research should incorporate rigorous study designs; be inclusive of diverse ages, socioeconomic status, and racial/ethnic groups; and examine opportunities to improve behavioral outcomes around concussion prevention, reporting, and management. © 2017, American School Health Association.

Understanding middle managers' influence in implementing patient safety culture.

PubMed

Gutberg, Jennifer; Berta, Whitney

2017-08-22

The past fifteen years have been marked by large-scale change efforts undertaken by healthcare organizations to improve patient safety and patient-centered care. Despite substantial investment of effort and resources, many of these large-scale or "radical change" initiatives, like those in other industries, have enjoyed limited success - with practice and behavioural changes neither fully adopted nor ultimately sustained - which has in large part been ascribed to inadequate implementation efforts. Culture change to "patient safety culture" (PSC) is among these radical change initiatives, where results to date have been mixed at best. This paper responds to calls for research that focus on explicating factors that affect efforts to implement radical change in healthcare contexts, and focuses on PSC as the radical change implementation. Specifically, this paper offers a novel conceptual model based on Organizational Learning Theory to explain the ability of middle managers in healthcare organizations to influence patient safety culture change. We propose that middle managers can capitalize on their unique position between upper and lower levels in the organization and engage in 'ambidextrous' learning that is critical to implementing and sustaining radical change. This organizational learning perspective offers an innovative way of framing the mid-level managers' role, through both explorative and exploitative activities, which further considers the necessary organizational context in which they operate.

Ethics and Regulatory Challenges and Opportunities in Patient-Centered Comparative Effectiveness Research.

PubMed

Sugarman, Jeremy

2016-04-01

The Affordable Care Act includes provisions for the conduct of large-scale, patient-centered comparative effectiveness research. Such efforts aim toward the laudable moral goal of having evidence to improve health care decision making. Nevertheless, these pragmatic clinical research efforts that typically pose minimal incremental risk and are enmeshed in routine care settings perhaps surprisingly encounter an array of ethics and regulatory challenges and opportunities for academic health centers. An emphasis on patient-centeredness forces an examination of the appropriateness of traditional methods used to protect the rights, interests, and welfare of participants. At the same time, meaningful collaboration with patients throughout the research process also necessitates ensuring that novel approaches to research (including recruitment and consent) entail necessary protections regarding such issues as privacy. As the scientific and logistical aspects of this research are being developed, substantial attention is being focused on the accompanying ethics and regulatory issues that have emerged, which should help to facilitate ethically appropriate research in a variety of contexts.

Facility Upgrade/Replacement Tasks ('planned') at the NASA Glenn Research Center 10x10 Supersonic Wind Tunnel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giriunas, Julius A.

2012-01-01

Facility upgrades and large maintenance tasks needed at the NASA Glenn 10x10 Supersonic Wind Tunnel requires significant planning to make sure implementation proceeds in an efficiently and cost effective manner. Advanced planning to secure the funding, complete design efforts and schedule the installation needs to be thought out years in advance to avoid interference with wind tunnel testing. This presentation describes five facility tasks planned for implementation over the next few years. The main focus of the presentation highlights the efforts on possible replacement of the diesel generator and the rationale behind the effort.

Discipline building in Germany: women and genetics at the Berlin Institute for Heredity Research.

PubMed

Stamhuis, Ida H; Vogt, Annette B

2017-06-01

The origin and the development of scientific disciplines has been a topic of reflection for several decades. The few extensive case studies support the thesis that scientific disciplines are not monolithic structures but can be characterized by distinct social, organizational and scientific-technical practices. Nonetheless, most disciplinary histories of genetics confine themselves largely to an uncontested account of the content of the discipline or occasionally institutional factors. Little attention is paid to the large number of researchers who, by their joint efforts, ultimately shaped the discipline. We contribute to this aspect of disciplinary historiography by discussing the role of women researchers at the Institute for Heredity Research, founded in 1914 in Berlin under the directorship of Erwin Baur, and the sister of the John Innes Institute at Cambridge. This paper investigates how and why Baur built a highly successful research programme that relied on the efforts of his female staff, whose careers, notably Elisabeth Schiemann's, are also assessed in toto. These women undertook the necessary 'technoscience' and in some cases innovative work and helped increase the prestige of the institute and its director. Together they played a pivotal role in the establishment of genetics in Germany. Without them the discipline would have developed much more slowly and along a divergent path.

A MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS

EPA Science Inventory

The Great Lakes National Program Office in conjunction with the Great Lakes Commission and other researchers is leading a large scale collaborative effort that will yield, in unprecedented detail, a management support system for Great Lakes coastal wetlands. This entails the dev...

75 FR 7448 - Species Recovery Grants to Tribes Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-19

... principal objective of the Program is to support recovery efforts that directly benefit threatened or... management, research, monitoring, and outreach activities or any combination thereof. For FY 2010, NOAA... (NMFS) jurisdiction depends in large part on working cooperatively with other management partners...

Report on the Human Genome Initiative for the Office of Health and Environmental Research

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Tinoco, I.; Cahill, G.; Cantor, C.; Caskey, T.; Dulbecco, R.; Engelhardt, D. L.; Hood, L.; Lerman, L. S.; Mendelsohn, M. L.; Sinsheimer, R. L.; Smith, T.; Soll, D.; Stormo, G.; White, R. L.

1987-04-01

The report urges DOE and the Nation to commit to a large, multi-year, multidisciplinary, technological undertaking to order and sequence the human genome. This effort will first require significant innovation in general capability to manipulate DNA, major new analytical methods for ordering and sequencing, theoretical developments in computer science and mathematical biology, and great expansions in our ability to store and manipulate the information and to interface it with other large and diverse genetic databases. The actual ordering and sequencing involves the coordinated processing of some 3 billion bases from a reference human genome. Science is poised on the rudimentary edge of being able to read and understand human genes. A concerted, broadly based, scientific effort to provide new methods of sufficient power and scale should transform this activity from an inefficient one-gene-at-a-time, single laboratory effort into a coordinated, worldwide, comprehensive reading of "the book of man". The effort will be extraordinary in scope and magnitude, but so will be the benefit to biological understanding, new technology and the diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

Molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma

PubMed Central

Northcott, Paul A; Dubuc, Adrian M; Pfister, Stefan; Taylor, Michael D

2014-01-01

Recent efforts at stratifying medulloblastomas based on their molecular features have revolutionized our understanding of this morbidity. Collective efforts by multiple independent groups have subdivided medulloblastoma from a single disease into four distinct molecular subgroups characterized by disparate transcriptional signatures, mutational spectra, copy number profiles and, most importantly, clinical features. We present a summary of recent studies that have contributed to our understanding of the core medulloblastoma subgroups, focusing largely on clinically relevant discoveries that have already, and will continue to, shape research. PMID:22853794

Reducing Information Overload in Large Seismic Data Sets

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

HAMPTON,JEFFERY W.; YOUNG,CHRISTOPHER J.; MERCHANT,BION J.

2000-08-02

Event catalogs for seismic data can become very large. Furthermore, as researchers collect multiple catalogs and reconcile them into a single catalog that is stored in a relational database, the reconciled set becomes even larger. The sheer number of these events makes searching for relevant events to compare with events of interest problematic. Information overload in this form can lead to the data sets being under-utilized and/or used incorrectly or inconsistently. Thus, efforts have been initiated to research techniques and strategies for helping researchers to make better use of large data sets. In this paper, the authors present their effortsmore » to do so in two ways: (1) the Event Search Engine, which is a waveform correlation tool and (2) some content analysis tools, which area combination of custom-built and commercial off-the-shelf tools for accessing, managing, and querying seismic data stored in a relational database. The current Event Search Engine is based on a hierarchical clustering tool known as the dendrogram tool, which is written as a MatSeis graphical user interface. The dendrogram tool allows the user to build dendrogram diagrams for a set of waveforms by controlling phase windowing, down-sampling, filtering, enveloping, and the clustering method (e.g. single linkage, complete linkage, flexible method). It also allows the clustering to be based on two or more stations simultaneously, which is important to bridge gaps in the sparsely recorded event sets anticipated in such a large reconciled event set. Current efforts are focusing on tools to help the researcher winnow the clusters defined using the dendrogram tool down to the minimum optimal identification set. This will become critical as the number of reference events in the reconciled event set continually grows. The dendrogram tool is part of the MatSeis analysis package, which is available on the Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Research and Engineering Program Web Site. As part of the research into how to winnow the reference events in these large reconciled event sets, additional database query approaches have been developed to provide windows into these datasets. These custom built content analysis tools help identify dataset characteristics that can potentially aid in providing a basis for comparing similar reference events in these large reconciled event sets. Once these characteristics can be identified, algorithms can be developed to create and add to the reduced set of events used by the Event Search Engine. These content analysis tools have already been useful in providing information on station coverage of the referenced events and basic statistical, information on events in the research datasets. The tools can also provide researchers with a quick way to find interesting and useful events within the research datasets. The tools could also be used as a means to review reference event datasets as part of a dataset delivery verification process. There has also been an effort to explore the usefulness of commercially available web-based software to help with this problem. The advantages of using off-the-shelf software applications, such as Oracle's WebDB, to manipulate, customize and manage research data are being investigated. These types of applications are being examined to provide access to large integrated data sets for regional seismic research in Asia. All of these software tools would provide the researcher with unprecedented power without having to learn the intricacies and complexities of relational database systems.« less

The role of the Department of Defense in PACS and telemedicine research and development.

PubMed

Mogel, Greg T

2003-01-01

The United States Department of Defense (DOD) has played a leading role in the movement of digital imaging, picture archiving and communications systems, and more recently telemedicine with its associated technologies into the mainstream of healthcare. Beginning in the 1980s with domestic implementations, and followed in the 1990s by both small and large-scale military deployments, these technologies have been put into action with varying degrees of success. These efforts however, have always served as a guidepost for similar civilian efforts and the establishment of a marketplace for the technologies. This paper examines the history of the DOD's role in these areas, the projects and programs established, assessing their current state of development and identifying the future direction of the DOD's research and implementation efforts in telemedicine and advanced medical technologies. Copyright 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Photoacoustic Imaging.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-12-01

recrystallization is currently an active area of research. Much effort has been made to grow large grain polysilicon with grain sizes of 100 microns from fine grain... polysilicon using laser recrystallization. The recrystallization process is inherently traumatic, producing large changes in temperature in short...temperature distribution above as the source term in the acoustic field equation, we ol fain r where B1)jwP) The general solution to this equation is given by

Identification of Critical Biological Parameters Affecting Gastrointestinal Absorption

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-01-01

invention that may in any way be related thereto. Please do not request copies of this report from the Harry G. Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research...BALLINGER, Lt Col, USAF, BSC Chief, Toxic Hazards Division Harry G. Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory UNCLASSIFIED SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF...involved in a very large task of hazard management through its Installation Restoration Program. The pioneering efforts of the Armstrong Aerospace

Large-Scale Demonstration of Liquid Hydrogen Storage with Zero Boiloff for In-Space Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hastings, L. J.; Bryant, C. B.; Flachbart, R. H.; Holt, K. A.; Johnson, E.; Hedayat, A.; Hipp, B.; Plachta, D. W.

2010-01-01

Cryocooler and passive insulation technology advances have substantially improved prospects for zero-boiloff cryogenic storage. Therefore, a cooperative effort by NASA s Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) was implemented to develop zero-boiloff concepts for in-space cryogenic storage. Described herein is one program element - a large-scale, zero-boiloff demonstration using the MSFC multipurpose hydrogen test bed (MHTB). A commercial cryocooler was interfaced with an existing MHTB spray bar mixer and insulation system in a manner that enabled a balance between incoming and extracted thermal energy.

An Open, Large-Scale, Collaborative Effort to Estimate the Reproducibility of Psychological Science.

PubMed

2012-11-01

Reproducibility is a defining feature of science. However, because of strong incentives for innovation and weak incentives for confirmation, direct replication is rarely practiced or published. The Reproducibility Project is an open, large-scale, collaborative effort to systematically examine the rate and predictors of reproducibility in psychological science. So far, 72 volunteer researchers from 41 institutions have organized to openly and transparently replicate studies published in three prominent psychological journals in 2008. Multiple methods will be used to evaluate the findings, calculate an empirical rate of replication, and investigate factors that predict reproducibility. Whatever the result, a better understanding of reproducibility will ultimately improve confidence in scientific methodology and findings. © The Author(s) 2012.

Do Fraternities and Sororities Inhibit Intercultural Competence?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Georgianna L.; Parker, Gene; Pascarella, Ernest T.; Blechschmidt, Sally

2015-01-01

This study explored the impact of fraternity and sorority affiliation on students' development of intercultural competence over four years of college at 11 institutions. Prior research admonishes fraternities and sororities for being largely heterogeneous organizations that detract from institutional efforts to create a culturally competent…

Recycling of salt-contaminated stormwater runoff for brine production at Virginia Department of Transportation road-salt storage facilities.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

A large part of the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT's) maintenance effort comprises the implementation of its snow removal and ice control program. Earlier research confirmed that VDOT captures significant volumes of salt-laden stormwat...

Get It Together

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coffey, Dave

2006-01-01

The scale of the mechanical and plumbing systems required to support a large, multi-building academic health sciences/research center entails a lot of ductwork. Getting mechanical systems installed and running while carrying out activities from other building disciplines requires a great deal of coordinated effort. A university and its…

Environmental Durability of Reinforced Concrete Deck Girders Strengthened for Shear with Surface-Bonded Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-05-01

"This research investigated the durability of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites (CFRP) used for shear strengthening reinforced concrete deck girders. Large beams were used to avoid accounting for size effects in the data analysis. The effort...

Large eddy simulations and direct numerical simulations of high speed turbulent reacting flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Givi, P.; Madnia, C. K.; Steinberger, C. J.; Frankel, S. H.

1992-01-01

The basic objective of this research is to extend the capabilities of Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) for the computational analyses of high speed reacting flows. In the efforts related to LES, we were primarily involved with assessing the performance of the various modern methods based on the Probability Density Function (PDF) methods for providing closures for treating the subgrid fluctuation correlations of scalar quantities in reacting turbulent flows. In the work on DNS, we concentrated on understanding some of the relevant physics of compressible reacting flows by means of statistical analysis of the data generated by DNS of such flows. In the research conducted in the second year of this program, our efforts focused on the modeling of homogeneous compressible turbulent flows by PDF methods, and on DNS of non-equilibrium reacting high speed mixing layers. Some preliminary work is also in progress on PDF modeling of shear flows, and also on LES of such flows.

Resources, challenges and way forward in rare mitochondrial diseases research

PubMed Central

Rajput, Neeraj Kumar; Singh, Vipin; Bhardwaj, Anshu

2015-01-01

Over 300 million people are affected by about 7000 rare diseases globally. There are tremendous resource limitations and challenges in driving research and drug development for rare diseases. Hence, innovative approaches are needed to identify potential solutions. This review focuses on the resources developed over the past years for analysis of genome data towards understanding disease biology especially in the context of mitochondrial diseases, given that mitochondria are central to major cellular pathways and their dysfunction leads to a broad spectrum of diseases. Platforms for collaboration of research groups, clinicians and patients and the advantages of community collaborative efforts in addressing rare diseases are also discussed. The review also describes crowdsourcing and crowdfunding efforts in rare diseases research and how the upcoming initiatives for understanding disease biology including analyses of large number of genomes are also applicable to rare diseases. PMID:26180633

Building a sustainable complementary and alternative medicine research network in Europe.

PubMed

Reiter, Bettina; Baumhöfener, Franziska; Dlaboha, Meike; Odde Madsen, Jesper; Regenfelder, Stephanie; Weidenhammer, Wolfgang

2012-01-01

Since CAMbrella is a networking project funded by the European Commission explicitly to build and sustain a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research network in Europe, communication and dissemination play a large role and form a work package of their own. The present article gives an outline of the communication and dissemination work in the CAMbrella consortium. The intensive building of sound internal communication is an essential part in establishing a functioning structure for collaboration in a diverse group of 16 partner institutions from 12 countries, as exists in the CAMbrella project. The means and tools for dissemination of results to the scientific community and the European public at large, as well as to the European policy makers, are presented. The development of the corporate design and a dissemination strategy are described in detail. In addition, some basic information regarding previous CAM research efforts, which might be interesting for future consortium building in the field of CAM research, is given. Internal communication within a heterogeneous research group, the maintenance of a work-oriented style of communication and a consensus oriented effort in establishing dissemination tools and products will be essential for any future consortium in the CAM field. The outlook shows the necessity for active political encouragement of CAM research and the desideratum of a Pan-European institution analogous to the NIH (National Institutes of Health) in the USA.

Informatics for Peru in the new millennium.

PubMed

Karras, B T; Kimball, A M; Gonzales, V; Pautler, N A; Alarcón, J; Garcia, P J; Fuller, S

2001-01-01

As efforts continue to narrow the digital divide between the North and South, a new biomedical and health informatics training effort has been launched in Peru. This report describes the first year of work on this collaborative effort between the University of Washington (Seattle) Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and Universidad Nacional de San Marcos (Peru) To describe activities in the first year of a new International Research and Training Program in Biomedical and Health Informatics. Descriptive analysis of key activities including an assessment of electronic environment through observation and survey, an in country short course with quantitative evaluation, and first round of recruitment of Peruvian scholars for long-term training in Seattle. A two-week short course on informatics was held in the country. Participants' success in learning was demonstrated through pretest/posttest. A systematic assessment of electronic environment in Peru was carried out and two scholars for long-term training were enrolled at the University of Washington, Seattle. Initial activity in the collaborative training effort has been high. Of particular importance in this environment is orchestration of efforts among interested parties with similar goals in Peru, and integration of informatics skills into ongoing large-scale research projects in country.

Final Report Scalable Analysis Methods and In Situ Infrastructure for Extreme Scale Knowledge Discovery

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

O'Leary, Patrick

The primary challenge motivating this project is the widening gap between the ability to compute information and to store it for subsequent analysis. This gap adversely impacts science code teams, who can perform analysis only on a small fraction of the data they calculate, resulting in the substantial likelihood of lost or missed science, when results are computed but not analyzed. Our approach is to perform as much analysis or visualization processing on data while it is still resident in memory, which is known as in situ processing. The idea in situ processing was not new at the time ofmore » the start of this effort in 2014, but efforts in that space were largely ad hoc, and there was no concerted effort within the research community that aimed to foster production-quality software tools suitable for use by Department of Energy (DOE) science projects. Our objective was to produce and enable the use of production-quality in situ methods and infrastructure, at scale, on DOE high-performance computing (HPC) facilities, though we expected to have an impact beyond DOE due to the widespread nature of the challenges, which affect virtually all large-scale computational science efforts. To achieve this objective, we engaged in software technology research and development (R&D), in close partnerships with DOE science code teams, to produce software technologies that were shown to run efficiently at scale on DOE HPC platforms.« less

HASP server: a database and structural visualization platform for comparative models of influenza A hemagglutinin proteins.

PubMed

Ambroggio, Xavier I; Dommer, Jennifer; Gopalan, Vivek; Dunham, Eleca J; Taubenberger, Jeffery K; Hurt, Darrell E

2013-06-18

Influenza A viruses possess RNA genomes that mutate frequently in response to immune pressures. The mutations in the hemagglutinin genes are particularly significant, as the hemagglutinin proteins mediate attachment and fusion to host cells, thereby influencing viral pathogenicity and species specificity. Large-scale influenza A genome sequencing efforts have been ongoing to understand past epidemics and pandemics and anticipate future outbreaks. Sequencing efforts thus far have generated nearly 9,000 distinct hemagglutinin amino acid sequences. Comparative models for all publicly available influenza A hemagglutinin protein sequences (8,769 to date) were generated using the Rosetta modeling suite. The C-alpha root mean square deviations between a randomly chosen test set of models and their crystallographic templates were less than 2 Å, suggesting that the modeling protocols yielded high-quality results. The models were compiled into an online resource, the Hemagglutinin Structure Prediction (HASP) server. The HASP server was designed as a scientific tool for researchers to visualize hemagglutinin protein sequences of interest in a three-dimensional context. With a built-in molecular viewer, hemagglutinin models can be compared side-by-side and navigated by a corresponding sequence alignment. The models and alignments can be downloaded for offline use and further analysis. The modeling protocols used in the HASP server scale well for large amounts of sequences and will keep pace with expanded sequencing efforts. The conservative approach to modeling and the intuitive search and visualization interfaces allow researchers to quickly analyze hemagglutinin sequences of interest in the context of the most highly related experimental structures, and allow them to directly compare hemagglutinin sequences to each other simultaneously in their two- and three-dimensional contexts. The models and methodology have shown utility in current research efforts and the ongoing aim of the HASP server is to continue to accelerate influenza A research and have a positive impact on global public health.

Semantic Support for Complex Ecosystem Research Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klawonn, M.; McGuinness, D. L.; Pinheiro, P.; Santos, H. O.; Chastain, K.

2015-12-01

As ecosystems come under increasing stresses from diverse sources, there is growing interest in research efforts aimed at monitoring, modeling, and improving understanding of ecosystems and protection options. We aimed to provide a semantic infrastructure capable of representing data initially related to one large aquatic ecosystem research effort - the Jefferson project at Lake George. This effort includes significant historical observational data, extensive sensor-based monitoring data, experimental data, as well as model and simulation data covering topics including lake circulation, watershed runoff, lake biome food webs, etc. The initial measurement representation has been centered on monitoring data and related provenance. We developed a human-aware sensor network ontology (HASNetO) that leverages existing ontologies (PROV-O, OBOE, VSTO*) in support of measurement annotations. We explicitly support the human-aware aspects of human sensor deployment and collection activity to help capture key provenance that often is lacking. Our foundational ontology has since been generalized into a family of ontologies and used to create our human-aware data collection infrastructure that now supports the integration of measurement data along with simulation data. Interestingly, we have also utilized the same infrastructure to work with partners who have some more specific needs for specifying the environmental conditions where measurements occur, for example, knowing that an air temperature is not an external air temperature, but of the air temperature when windows are shut and curtains are open. We have also leveraged the same infrastructure to work with partners more interested in modeling smart cities with data feeds more related to people, mobility, environment, and living. We will introduce our human-aware data collection infrastructure, and demonstrate how it uses HASNetO and its supporting SOLR-based search platform to support data integration and semantic browsing. Further we will present learnings from its use in three relatively diverse large ecosystem research efforts and highlight some benefits and challenges related to our semantically-enhanced foundation.

Testing of the NASA Hypersonics Project Combined Cycle Engine Large Scale Inlet Mode Transition Experiment (CCE LlMX)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saunders, J. D.; Stueber, T. J.; Thomas, S. R.; Suder, K. L.; Weir, L. J.; Sanders, B. W.

2012-01-01

Status on an effort to develop Turbine Based Combined Cycle (TBCC) propulsion is described. This propulsion technology can enable reliable and reusable space launch systems. TBCC propulsion offers improved performance and safety over rocket propulsion. The potential to realize aircraft-like operations and reduced maintenance are additional benefits. Among most the critical TBCC enabling technologies are: 1) mode transition from turbine to scramjet propulsion, 2) high Mach turbine engines and 3) TBCC integration. To address these TBCC challenges, the effort is centered on a propulsion mode transition experiment and includes analytical research. The test program, the Combined-Cycle Engine Large Scale Inlet Mode Transition Experiment (CCE LIMX), was conceived to integrate TBCC propulsion with proposed hypersonic vehicles. The goals address: (1) dual inlet operability and performance, (2) mode-transition sequences enabling a switch between turbine and scramjet flow paths, and (3) turbine engine transients during transition. Four test phases are planned from which a database can be used to both validate design and analysis codes and characterize operability and integration issues for TBCC propulsion. In this paper we discuss the research objectives, features of the CCE hardware and test plans, and status of the parametric inlet characterization testing which began in 2011. This effort is sponsored by the NASA Fundamental Aeronautics Hypersonics project

An Interlaboratory Comparison of Dosimetry for a Multi-institutional Radiobiological

PubMed Central

Seed, TM; Xiao, S; Manley, N; Nikolich-Zugich, J; Pugh, J; van den Brink, M; Hirabayashi, Y; Yasutomo, K; Iwama, A; Koyasu, S; Shterev, I; Sempowski, G; Macchiarini, F; Nakachi, K; Kunugi, KC; Hammer, CG; DeWerd, LA

2016-01-01

Purpose An interlaboratory comparison of radiation dosimetry was conducted to determine the accuracy of doses being used experimentally for animal exposures within a large multi-institutional research project. The background and approach to this effort are described and discussed in terms of basic findings, problems and solutions. Methods Dosimetry tests were carried out utilizing optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimeters embedded midline into mouse carcasses and thermal luminescence dosimeters (TLD) embedded midline into acrylic phantoms. Results The effort demonstrated that the majority (4/7) of the laboratories was able to deliver sufficiently accurate exposures having maximum dosing errors of ≤ 5%. Comparable rates of ‘dosimetric compliance’ were noted between OSL- and TLD-based tests. Data analysis showed a highly linear relationship between ‘measured’ and ‘target’ doses, with errors falling largely between 0–20%. Outliers were most notable for OSL-based tests, while multiple tests by ‘non-compliant’ laboratories using orthovoltage x-rays contributed heavily to the wide variation in dosing errors. Conclusions For the dosimetrically non-compliant laboratories, the relatively high rates of dosing errors were problematic, potentially compromising the quality of ongoing radiobiological research. This dosimetry effort proved to be instructive in establishing rigorous reviews of basic dosimetry protocols ensuring that dosing errors were minimized. PMID:26857121

The Horizon Report. 2007 Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Media Consortium, 2007

2007-01-01

This fourth edition of the New Media Consortium's (NMC) annual "Horizon Report" describes the continuing work of the Horizon Project, a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within higher education. Drawing on ongoing…

Packed lunches compared to school lunches

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Considerable effort has been put forth to improve the nutritional quality of school meals provided by the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). However, a large percentage of children do not obtain their meals from school but instead bring lunch from home. Little research has focused on the content ...

The National Near-Road Mobile Source Air Toxics Study: Las Vegas

EPA Science Inventory

EPA, in collaboration with FHWA, has been involved in a large-scale monitoring research study in an effort to characterize highway vehicle emissions in a near-road environment. The pollutants of interest include particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 microns ...

Assessing MoDOT's efforts to provide the right transportation solution.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-12-12

The basic research design for the project was to sample opinions on a variety of projects spread across the state. When available, a : small, medium, and large project from each of the ten MoDOT districts was selected by a regional manager for the pr...

Assessing MoDOT's efforts to provide the right transportation solution

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-03-01

The basic research design for the project was to sample opinions on a variety of projects spread across the state. When available, a : small, medium, and large project from each of the ten MoDOT districts was selected by a regional manager for the pr...

Assessing MoDOT's efforts to provide the right transportation solution.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

The basic research design for the project was to sample opinions on a variety of projects spread : across the state. A small, medium, and large project from each of the seven MoDOT districts was : selected by a regional manager for the project for a ...

Assessing MoDOT's efforts to provide the right transportation solution.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-01

The basic research design for the project was to sample opinions on a variety of projects spread : across the state. A small, medium, and large project from each of the seven MoDOT districts was : selected by a regional manager for the project for a ...

Emergent Network Defense

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crane, Earl Newell

2013-01-01

The research problem that inspired this effort is the challenge of managing the security of systems in large-scale heterogeneous networked environments. Human intervention is slow and limited: humans operate at much slower speeds than networked computer communications and there are few humans associated with each network. Enabling each node in the…

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

Aldrich, R.; Williamson, J.

While single-family, detached homes account for 63% of households (EIA 2009); multi-family homes account for a very large portion of that remaining housing stock, and this fraction is growing. Through recent research efforts, CARB has been evaluating strategies and technologies that can make dramatic improvements in energy performance in multi-family buildings.

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

Not Available

While single-family, detached homes account for 63% of households (EIA 2009); multi-family homes account for a very large portion of that remaining housing stock, and this fraction is growing. Through recent research efforts, CARB has been evaluating strategies and technologies that can make dramatic improvements in energy performance in multi-family buildings

INVENTORY AND CLASSIFICATION OF GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS FOR MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT AT LARGE SPATIAL SCALES

EPA Science Inventory

Monitoring aquatic resources for regional assessments requires an accurate and comprehensive inventory of the resource and useful classification of exosystem similarities. Our research effort to create an electronic database and work with various ways to classify coastal wetlands...

Assessing MoDOT's efforts to provide the right transportation solution.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-12-01

The basic research design for the project was to sample opinions on a variety of projects spread : across the state. A small, medium, and large project from each of the seven MoDOT districts was : selected by a regional manager for the project for a ...

Assessing MoDOT's efforts to provide the right transportation solution.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-01-01

The basic research design for the project was to sample opinions on a variety of projects spread across the state. When available, a small, medium, and large project from each of the ten MoDOT districts was selected by a regional manager for the proj...

Assessing MoDOT's efforts to provide the right transportation solution

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-02-01

The basic research design for the project was to sample opinions on a variety of projects spread across the state. When available, a : small, medium, and large project from each of the ten MoDOT districts was selected by a regional manager for the pr...

Environmental durability of reinforced concrete deck girders strengthened for shear with surface-bonded carbon fiber-reinforced polymer : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-05-01

This research investigated the durability of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites (CFRP) used for shear strengthening reinforced concrete deck girders. Large beams were used to avoid accounting for size effects in the data analysis. The effort ...

An Overview of Science Education in the Caribbean: Research, Policy and Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sweeney, Aldrin E.

2003-01-01

Analyzes science education in the Caribbean and provides examples of science education policy and practice. Emphasizes large-scale national efforts in Barbados, Bermuda, and Jamaica. Discusses and provides recommendations for future directions in science education in these countries. (Contains 88 references.) (Author/NB)

Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines (Co-Optima) -- Introduction

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

Farrell, John T; Wagner, Robert; Holladay, John

The Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines (Co-Optima) initiative is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effort funded by both the Vehicle and Bioenergy Technology Offices. The overall goal of the effort is to identify the combinations of fuel properties and engine characteristics that maximize efficiency, independent of production pathway or fuel composition, and accelerate commercialization of these technologies. Multiple research efforts are underway focused on both spark-ignition and compression-ignition strategies applicable across the entire light, medium, and heavy-duty fleet. A key objective of Co-Optima's research is to identify new blendstocks that enhance current petroleum blending components, increase blendstock diversity, andmore » provide refiners with increased flexibility to blend fuels with the key properties required to optimize advanced internal combustion engines. In addition to fuels and engines R&D, the initiative is guided by analyses assessing the near-term commercial feasibility of new blendstocks based on economics, environmental performance, compatibility, and large-scale production viability. This talk will provide an overview of the Co-Optima effort.« less

Exploring Asian Indian and Pakistani views about cancer and participation in cancer genetics research: toward the development of a community genetics intervention.

PubMed

Leader, Amy E; Mohanty, Salini; Selvan, Preethi; Lum, Ray; Giri, Veda N

2018-01-01

Cancer is a leading cause of mortality among the three million Asian Indian/Pakistanis (AIPs) in the USA. AIPs have traditionally been underrepresented in cancer-related research, although reasons remain largely unexplored. We sought to understand AIP's awareness and perceptions of cancer to improve their participation in risk assessment and cancer genetics research. Four focus groups, stratified by gender and birthplace (US-born vs. foreign-born), were held at an AIP cultural center. Discussions focused on knowledge and awareness of cancer risk; how AIP culture influences cancer perceptions; access to health care services for cancer screening, diagnosis, or treatment; and willingness to or experiences with participating in cancer genetics research. Sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and content analyzed using NVivo ® 11 for dominant themes. Thirty-two AIP adults participated in a focus group. Information on family cancer history is challenging to obtain due to the desire for privacy, cancer stigma, and loss of medical records. Interest in genetic testing for cancer risk was mixed: some were in favor of knowing their personal risk, yet many noted that future generations in their family would benefit more by knowing their risk. Participants felt that the AIP community has largely been overlooked in recruitment efforts for research studies. Recommendations for improving recruitment efforts included partnering with community events and festivities, posting culturally and linguistically relevant recruitment materials, and focusing on population-wide health improvement. Understanding the culture and perceptions of AIPs, separate from Asian Americans at large, will allow for more tailored approaches for including this population in cancer genetics research.

Arctic Research NASA's Cryospheric Sciences Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waleed, Abdalati; Zukor, Dorothy J. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Much of NASA's Arctic Research is run through its Cryospheric Sciences Program. Arctic research efforts to date have focused primarily on investigations of the mass balance of the largest Arctic land-ice masses and the mechanisms that control it, interactions among sea ice, polar oceans, and the polar atmosphere, atmospheric processes in the polar regions, energy exchanges in the Arctic. All of these efforts have been focused on characterizing, understanding, and predicting, changes in the Arctic. NASA's unique vantage from space provides an important perspective for the study of these large scale processes, while detailed process information is obtained through targeted in situ field and airborne campaigns and models. An overview of NASA investigations in the Arctic will be presented demonstrating how the synthesis of space-based technology, and these complementary components have advanced our understanding of physical processes in the Arctic.

Computational Omics Pre-Awardees | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

The National Cancer Institute's Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) is pleased to announce the pre-awardees of the Computational Omics solicitation. Working with NVIDIA Foundation's Compute the Cure initiative and Leidos Biomedical Research Inc., the NCI, through this solicitation, seeks to leverage computational efforts to provide tools for the mining and interpretation of large-scale publicly available ‘omics’ datasets.

Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) Suppression and Long Delivery Fibers at the Multikilowatt Level with Chirped Seed Lasers

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-16

stimulated Brillouin scattering [SBS]) due to the large intensity times length product. Efforts to raise the power threshold include 1) reducing the...ARL-TR-7979 ● MAR 2017 US Army Research Laboratory Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) Suppression and Long Delivery Fibers at...return it to the originator. ARL-TR-7979 ● MAR 2017 US Army Research Laboratory Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS

NASA/FAA/NCAR Supercooled Large Droplet Icing Flight Research: Summary of Winter 1996-1997 Flight Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Dean; Ratvasky, Thomas; Bernstein, Ben; McDonough, Frank; Strapp, J. Walter

1998-01-01

During the winter of 1996-1997, a flight research program was conducted at the NASA-Lewis Research Center to study the characteristics of Supercooled Large Droplets (SLD) within the Great Lakes region. This flight program was a joint effort between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Based on weather forecasts and real-time in-flight guidance provided by NCAR, the NASA-Lewis Icing Research Aircraft was flown to locations where conditions were believed to be conducive to the formation of Supercooled Large Droplets aloft. Onboard instrumentation was then used to record meteorological, ice accretion, and aero-performance characteristics encountered during the flight. A total of 29 icing research flights were conducted, during which "conventional" small droplet icing, SLD, and mixed phase conditions were encountered aloft. This paper will describe how flight operations were conducted, provide an operational summary of the flights, present selected experimental results from one typical research flight, and conclude with practical "lessons learned" from this first year of operation.

Bridging the Science/Policy Gap through Boundary Chain Partnerships and Communities of Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalafatis, S.

2014-12-01

Generating the capacity to facilitate the informed usage of climate change science by decision makers on a large scale is fast becoming an area of great concern. While research demonstrates that sustained interactions between producers of such information and potential users can overcome barriers to information usage, it also demonstrates the high resource demand of these efforts. Our social science work at Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments (GLISA) sheds light on scaling up the usability of climate science through two research areas. The first focuses on partnerships with other boundary organizations that GLISA has leveraged - the "boundary chains" approach. These partnerships reduce the transaction costs involved with outreach and have enhanced the scope of GLISA's climate service efforts to encompass new users such as First Nations groups in Wisconsin and Michigan and underserved neighborhoods in St. Paul, Minnesota. The second research area looks at the development of information usability across the regional scale of the eight Great Lakes states. It has identified the critical role that communities of practice are playing in making information usable to large groups of users who work in similar contexts and have similar information needs. Both these research areas demonstrate the emerging potential of flexible knowledge networks to enhance society's ability to prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Nano-Bio-Genesis: tracing the rise of nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology as 'big science'

PubMed Central

Kulkarni, Rajan P

2007-01-01

Nanotechnology research has lately been of intense interest because of its perceived potential for many diverse fields of science. Nanotechnology's tools have found application in diverse fields, from biology to device physics. By the 1990s, there was a concerted effort in the United States to develop a national initiative to promote such research. The success of this effort led to a significant influx of resources and interest in nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology and to the establishment of centralized research programs and facilities. Further government initiatives (at federal, state, and local levels) have firmly cemented these disciplines as 'big science,' with efforts increasingly concentrated at select laboratories and centers. In many respects, these trends mirror certain changes in academic science over the past twenty years, with a greater emphasis on applied science and research that can be more directly utilized for commercial applications. We also compare the National Nanotechnology Initiative and its successors to the Human Genome Project, another large-scale, government funded initiative. These precedents made acceptance of shifts in nanotechnology easier for researchers to accept, as they followed trends already established within most fields of science. Finally, these trends are examined in the design of technologies for detection and treatment of cancer, through the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer initiative of the National Cancer Institute. Federal funding of these nanotechnology initiatives has allowed for expansion into diverse fields and the impetus for expanding the scope of research of several fields, especially biomedicine, though the ultimate utility and impact of all these efforts remains to be seen. PMID:17629932

Brief Self-Report Scales Assessing Life History Dimensions of Mating and Parenting Effort.

PubMed

Kruger, Daniel J

2017-01-01

Life history theory (LHT) is a powerful evolutionary framework for understanding physiological, psychological, and behavioral variation both between and within species. Researchers and theorists are increasingly integrating LHT into evolutionary psychology, as it provides a strong foundation for research across many topical areas. Human life history variation has been represented in psychological and behavioral research in several ways, including indicators of conditions in the developmental environment, indicators of conditions in the current environment, and indicators of maturation and life milestones (e.g., menarche, initial sexual activity, first pregnancy), and in self-report survey scale measures. Survey scale measures have included constructs such as time perspective and future discounting, although the most widely used index is a constellation of indicators assessing the K-factor, thought to index general life history speed (from fast to slow). The current project examined the utility of two brief self-report survey measures assessing the life history dimensions of mating effort and parenting effort with a large undergraduate sample in the United States. Consistent with the theory, items reflected two inversely related dimensions. In regressions including the K-factor, the Mating Effort Scale proved to be a powerful predictor of other constructs and indicators related to life history variation. The Parenting Effort Scale had less predictive power overall, although it explained unique variance across several constructs and was the only unique predictor of the number of long-term (serious and committed) relationships. These scales may be valuable additions to self-report survey research projects examining life history variation.

Sex differences in brain organization: implications for human communication.

PubMed

Hanske-Petitpierre, V; Chen, A C

1985-12-01

This article reviews current knowledge in two major research domains: sex differences in neuropsychophysiology, and in human communication. An attempt was made to integrate knowledge from several areas of brain research with human communication and to clarify how such a cooperative effort may be beneficial to both fields of study. By combining findings from the area of brain research, a communication paradigm was developed which contends that brain-related sex differences may reside largely in the area of communication of emotion.

Collaborative translational research leading to multicenter clinical trials in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG).

PubMed

Escolar, Diana M; Henricson, Erik K; Pasquali, Livia; Gorni, Ksenija; Hoffman, Eric P

2002-10-01

Progress in the development of rationally based therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy has been accelerated by encouraging multidisciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration between basic science and clinical investigators in the Cooperative International Research Group. We combined existing research efforts in pathophysiology by a gene expression profiling laboratory with the efforts of animal facilities capable of conducting high-throughput drug screening and toxicity testing to identify safe and effective drug compounds that target different parts of the pathophysiologic cascade in a genome-wide drug discovery approach. Simultaneously, we developed a clinical trial coordinating center and an international network of collaborating physicians and clinics where those drugs could be tested in large-scale clinical trials. We hope that by bringing together investigators at these facilities and providing the infrastructure to support their research, we can rapidly move new bench discoveries through animal model screening and into therapeutic testing in humans in a safe, timely and cost-effective setting.

European Extremely Large Telescope: progress report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamai, R.; Spyromilio, J.

2014-07-01

The European Extremely Large Telescope is a project of the European Southern Observatory to build and operate a 40-m class optical near-infrared telescope. The telescope design effort is largely concluded and construction contracts are being placed with industry and academic/research institutes for the various components. The siting of the telescope in Northern Chile close to the Paranal site allows for an integrated operation of the facility providing significant economies. The progress of the project in various areas is presented in this paper and references to other papers at this SPIE meeting are made.

Low-cost Large Aperture Telescopes for Optical Communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hemmati, Hamid

2006-01-01

Low-cost, large-aperture optical receivers are required to form an affordable optical ground receiver network for laser communications. Among the ground receiver station's multiple subsystems, here, we only discuss the ongoing research activities aimed at reducing the cost of the large-size optics on the receiver. Experimental results of two different approaches for fabricating low-cost mirrors of wavefront quality on the order of 100-200X the diffraction limit are described. Laboratory-level effort are underway to improve the surface figure to better than 20X the diffraction limit.

Scaling NASA Applications to 1024 CPUs on Origin 3K

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taft, Jim

2002-01-01

The long and highly successful joint SGI-NASA research effort in ever larger SSI systems was to a large degree the result of the successful development of the MLP scalable parallel programming paradigm developed at ARC: 1) MLP scaling in real production codes justified ever larger systems at NAS; 2) MLP scaling on 256p Origin 2000 gave SGl impetus to productize 256p; 3) MLP scaling on 512 gave SGI courage to build 1024p O3K; and 4) History of MLP success resulted in IBM Star Cluster based MLP effort.

Large Engine Technology (LET) Task XXXVII Low-Bypass Ratio Mixed Turbofan Engine Subsonic Jet Noise Reduction Program Test Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hauser, Joseph R.; Zysman, Steven H.; Barber, Thomas J.

2001-01-01

NASA Glenn Research Center supported a three year effort to develop the technology for reducing jet noise from low-bypass ratio engines. This effort concentrated on both analytical and experimental approaches using various mixer designs. CFD and MGB predictions are compared with LDV and noise data, respectively. While former predictions matched well with data, experiment shows a need for improving the latter predictions. Data also show that mixing noise can be sensitive to engine hardware upstream of the mixing exit plane.

The Horizon Report. 2006 Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Media Consortium, 2006

2006-01-01

This third edition of the New Media Consortium's (NMC) annual "Horizon Report" describes the continuing work of the Horizon Project, a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within higher education. Drawing on ongoing discussions…

Smoothing the Path to Learning Success: A Student Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doucette, Colleen

2005-01-01

The education system invests time and resources in collaborative processes designed to improve its ability to support students as successful learners. Traditionally, it seeks the advice of educators, researchers, ministries and boards of education, parents, and the public at large in an ongoing effort to increase its effectiveness. Less…

School lunches and lunches brought from home: A comparative analysis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Considerable effort has been put forth to improve the nutritional quality of school meals by the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). However, a large percentage of children do not obtain their meals from school and instead bring lunch from home. Little research has focused on the content of these ...

Monitoring Shifts in Campus Image and Recruitment Efforts in Small Colleges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, David

1991-01-01

Without an institutional research office to look at recruitment and retention programs, DePauw University (Indiana) relies heavily on institutional trend data and comparative information to assess the effectiveness of three initiatives: recruitment of large numbers of minority students, strategic use of financial aid, and use of market…

Functional Assessment of Alaska Peatlands in Cook Inlet Basin, Region 10 Regional Applied Research Effort (RARE)

EPA Science Inventory

Peatlands in south central Alaska are the dominant wetland class in the lowlands of the Cook Inlet Basin. Currently Alaska peatlands are extensive and largely pristine but these areas are facing increasing human development. This study focused on obtaining measures of ecologica...

A Course on Energy Technology and Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edgar, Thomas F.

2007-01-01

The emerging energy situation in the United States puts chemical engineering at the forefront of the large research and education effort that will need to be undertaken during the next 20 years. Chemical engineering undergraduates and graduate students will need to be literate on energy alternatives and the interconnection of technology,…

School Desegregation and Teenage Fertility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bifulco, Robert; Lopoo, Leonard M.; Oh, Sun Jung

2015-01-01

The school desegregation efforts following the historic "Brown v. Board of Education" decision represent one of the most important social policy initiatives of the 20th century. Despite a large research literature that shows many positive effects of desegregation on educational outcomes, its effect on the lives of individuals outside of…

The Horizon Report. 2004 Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Media Consortium, 2004

2004-01-01

This first edition of the New Media Consortium's (NMC) annual "Horizon Report" details findings of the Horizon Project, a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within higher education. Drawing on an ongoing series of interviews…

College-Bound Communities. Lumina Foundation Focus™. Summer 2014

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giegerich, Steve

2014-01-01

Research shows a direct correlation between thriving cities and high levels of college-level learning. Regions with robust levels of educational attainment have stronger economies, greater individual earning power, and better quality of life. The Lumina Foundation is actively supporting large-scale efforts in 55 metro regions--to help adults…

Speech Perception as a Cognitive Process: The Interactive Activation Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elman, Jeffrey L.; McClelland, James L.

Research efforts to model speech perception in terms of a processing system in which knowledge and processing are distributed over large numbers of highly interactive--but computationally primative--elements are described in this report. After discussing the properties of speech that demand a parallel interactive processing system, the report…

The Horizon Report. 2005 Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Media Consortium, 2005

2005-01-01

This second edition of the New Media Consortium's (NMC) annual "Horizon Report" describes the continuing work of the Horizon Project, a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within higher education. Drawing on an ongoing series…

Framework for Transforming Departmental Culture to Support Educational Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corbo, Joel C.; Reinholz, Daniel L.; Dancy, Melissa H.; Deetz, Stanley; Finkelstein, Noah

2016-01-01

This paper provides a research-based framework for promoting institutional change in higher education. To date, most educational change efforts have focused on relatively narrow subsets of the university system (e.g., faculty teaching practices or administrative policies) and have been largely driven by implicit change logics; both of these…

HUB city steps: a 6-month lifestyle intervention improves blood pressure among a primarily African American community

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The effectiveness of community-based participatory research (CBPR) efforts to address the disproportionate burden of hypertension among African Americans remains largely untested. The objective of this 6-month, non-controlled, pre- post-experimental intervention was to examine the effectiveness of ...

Developments and Changes Resulting from Writing and Thinking Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flateby, Teresa

2009-01-01

This article chronicles the evolution of a large research extensive institution's General Education writing assessment efforts from an initial summative focus to a formative, improvement focus. The methods of assessment, which changed as the assessment purpose evolved, are described. As more data were collected, the measurement tool was…

Research on polar bears in Alaska, 1983-1985

USGS Publications Warehouse

Amstrup, Steven C.

1986-01-01

Research on the ecology and status of polar bear populations in Alaska has continued since 1967. Research was a joint U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Alaska Department of Fish and Game effort until passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, and has been largely a Federal effort since then. In 1985, Alaskan polar beer research continues to be carried out by the Research Division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (DOI). A recent reorganization removed authority for ecological research in Alaska from the Denver Wildlife Research Center, and vested it with the newly created Alaska Office of Fish and Wildlife Research. This new research office is the center for Federal fish and Wildlife related research throughout the state of Alaska and in its coastal waters.Although the responsibility for polar bear research lies with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, numerous other organizations and agencies deserve mention for their cooperation and support of the ongoing research. These include: the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC), The U.S. Minerals Management Service (DOI), The Canadian Wildlife Service, The Northwest Territories Wildlife Service, the Yukon Wildlife Service, Dome Petroleum Ltd, Gulf Canada, and the Alaska Department of Fish and game.

Recruitment and retention strategies in longitudinal clinical studies with low-income populations.

PubMed

Nicholson, Lisa M; Schwirian, Patricia M; Klein, Elizabeth G; Skybo, Theresa; Murray-Johnson, Lisa; Eneli, Ihuoma; Boettner, Bethany; French, Gina M; Groner, Judith A

2011-05-01

Conducting longitudinal research studies with low-income and/or minority participants present a unique set of challenges and opportunities. To outline the specific strategies employed to successfully recruit and retain participants in a longitudinal study of nutritional anticipatory guidance during early childhood, conducted with a low-income, ethnically diverse, urban population of mothers. We describe recruitment and retention efforts made by the research team for the 'MOMS' Study (Making Our Mealtimes Special). The 'multilayered' approach for recruitment and retention included commitment of research leadership, piloting procedures, frequent team reporting, emphasis on participant convenience, incentives, frequent contact with participants, expanded budget, clinical staff buy-in, a dedicated phone line, and the use of research project branding and logos. Barriers to enrollment were not encountered in this project, despite recruiting from a low-income population with a large proportion of African-American families. Process evaluation with clinic staff demonstrated the perception of the MOMS staff was very positive. Participant retention rate was 75% and 64% at 6 months and 12 months post-recruitment, respectively. We attribute retention success largely to a coordinated effort between the research team and the infrastructure support at the clinical sites, as well as project branding and a dedicated phone line. Successful participant recruitment and retention approaches need to be specific and consistent with clinical staff buy in throughout the project. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The Nobel Prize as a Reward Mechanism in the Genomics Era: Anonymous Researchers, Visible Managers and the Ethics of Excellence

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

The Human Genome Project (HGP) is regarded by many as one of the major scientific achievements in recent science history, a large-scale endeavour that is changing the way in which biomedical research is done and expected, moreover, to yield considerable benefit for society. Thus, since the completion of the human genome sequencing effort, a debate has emerged over the question whether this effort merits to be awarded a Nobel Prize and if so, who should be the one(s) to receive it, as (according to current procedures) no more than three individuals can be selected. In this article, the HGP is taken as a case study to consider the ethical question to what extent it is still possible, in an era of big science, of large-scale consortia and global team work, to acknowledge and reward individual contributions to important breakthroughs in biomedical fields. Is it still viable to single out individuals for their decisive contributions in order to reward them in a fair and convincing way? Whereas the concept of the Nobel prize as such seems to reflect an archetypical view of scientists as solitary researchers who, at a certain point in their careers, make their one decisive discovery, this vision has proven to be problematic from the very outset. Already during the first decade of the Nobel era, Ivan Pavlov was denied the Prize several times before finally receiving it, on the basis of the argument that he had been active as a research manager (a designer and supervisor of research projects) rather than as a researcher himself. The question then is whether, in the case of the HGP, a research effort that involved the contributions of hundreds or even thousands of researchers worldwide, it is still possible to “individualise” the Prize? The “HGP Nobel Prize problem” is regarded as an exemplary issue in current research ethics, highlighting a number of quandaries and trends involved in contemporary life science research practices more broadly. PMID:20730106

Climatic response variability and machine learning: development of a modular technology framework for predicting bio-climatic change in pacific northwest ecosystems"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seamon, E.; Gessler, P. E.; Flathers, E.

2015-12-01

The creation and use of large amounts of data in scientific investigations has become common practice. Data collection and analysis for large scientific computing efforts are not only increasing in volume as well as number, the methods and analysis procedures are evolving toward greater complexity (Bell, 2009, Clarke, 2009, Maimon, 2010). In addition, the growth of diverse data-intensive scientific computing efforts (Soni, 2011, Turner, 2014, Wu, 2008) has demonstrated the value of supporting scientific data integration. Efforts to bridge this gap between the above perspectives have been attempted, in varying degrees, with modular scientific computing analysis regimes implemented with a modest amount of success (Perez, 2009). This constellation of effects - 1) an increasing growth in the volume and amount of data, 2) a growing data-intensive science base that has challenging needs, and 3) disparate data organization and integration efforts - has created a critical gap. Namely, systems of scientific data organization and management typically do not effectively enable integrated data collaboration or data-intensive science-based communications. Our research efforts attempt to address this gap by developing a modular technology framework for data science integration efforts - with climate variation as the focus. The intention is that this model, if successful, could be generalized to other application areas. Our research aim focused on the design and implementation of a modular, deployable technology architecture for data integration. Developed using aspects of R, interactive python, SciDB, THREDDS, Javascript, and varied data mining and machine learning techniques, the Modular Data Response Framework (MDRF) was implemented to explore case scenarios for bio-climatic variation as they relate to pacific northwest ecosystem regions. Our preliminary results, using historical NETCDF climate data for calibration purposes across the inland pacific northwest region (Abatzoglou, Brown, 2011), show clear ecosystems shifting over a ten-year period (2001-2011), based on multiple supervised classifier methods for bioclimatic indicators.

Remote experimental site concept development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casper, Thomas A.; Meyer, William; Butner, David

1995-01-01

Scientific research is now often conducted on large and expensive experiments that utilize collaborative efforts on a national or international scale to explore physics and engineering issues. This is particularly true for the current US magnetic fusion energy program where collaboration on existing facilities has increased in importance and will form the basis for future efforts. As fusion energy research approaches reactor conditions, the trend is towards fewer large and expensive experimental facilities, leaving many major institutions without local experiments. Since the expertise of various groups is a valuable resource, it is important to integrate these teams into an overall scientific program. To sustain continued involvement in experiments, scientists are now often required to travel frequently, or to move their families, to the new large facilities. This problem is common to many other different fields of scientific research. The next-generation tokamaks, such as the Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX) or the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), will operate in steady-state or long pulse mode and produce fluxes of fusion reaction products sufficient to activate the surrounding structures. As a direct consequence, remote operation requiring robotics and video monitoring will become necessary, with only brief and limited access to the vessel area allowed. Even the on-site control room, data acquisition facilities, and work areas will be remotely located from the experiment, isolated by large biological barriers, and connected with fiber-optics. Current planning for the ITER experiment includes a network of control room facilities to be located in the countries of the four major international partners; USA, Russian Federation, Japan, and the European Community.

Models of education in medicine, public health, and engineering.

PubMed

Garcia, Patricia; Armstrong, Robert; Zaman, Muhammad H

2014-09-12

Discussion on global health in both the academic and the public domain has focused largely on research, capacity building, and service delivery. Although these efforts along with financial commitments from public and private partners have contributed to a broader appreciation and understanding of global health challenges, the reflection of global health in academic training has largely been lacking. However, integrative models are beginning to appear. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

An Overview of NASA Efforts on Zero Boiloff Storage of Cryogenic Propellants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hastings, Leon J.; Plachta, D. W.; Salerno, L.; Kittel, P.; Haynes, Davy (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Future mission planning within NASA has increasingly motivated consideration of cryogenic propellant storage durations on the order of years as opposed to a few weeks or months. Furthermore, the advancement of cryocooler and passive insulation technologies in recent years has substantially improved the prospects for zero boiloff storage of cryogenics. Accordingly, a cooperative effort by NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC), Glenn Research Center (GRC), and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has been implemented to develop and demonstrate "zero boiloff" concepts for in-space storage of cryogenic propellants, particularly liquid hydrogen and oxygen. ARC is leading the development of flight-type cryocoolers, GRC the subsystem development and small scale testing, and MSFC the large scale and integrated system level testing. Thermal and fluid modeling involves a combined effort by the three Centers. Recent accomplishments include: 1) development of "zero boiloff" analytical modeling techniques for sizing the storage tankage, passive insulation, cryocooler, power source mass, and radiators; 2) an early subscale demonstration with liquid hydrogen 3) procurement of a flight-type 10 watt, 95 K pulse tube cryocooler for liquid oxygen storage and 4) assembly of a large-scale test article for an early demonstration of the integrated operation of passive insulation, destratification/pressure control, and cryocooler (commercial unit) subsystems to achieve zero boiloff storage of liquid hydrogen. Near term plans include the large-scale integrated system demonstration testing this summer, subsystem testing of the flight-type pulse-tube cryocooler with liquid nitrogen (oxygen simulant), and continued development of a flight-type liquid hydrogen pulse tube cryocooler.

Use of large healthcare databases for rheumatology clinical research.

PubMed

Desai, Rishi J; Solomon, Daniel H

2017-03-01

Large healthcare databases, which contain data collected during routinely delivered healthcare to patients, can serve as a valuable resource for generating actionable evidence to assist medical and healthcare policy decision-making. In this review, we summarize use of large healthcare databases in rheumatology clinical research. Large healthcare data are critical to evaluate medication safety and effectiveness in patients with rheumatologic conditions. Three major sources of large healthcare data are: first, electronic medical records, second, health insurance claims, and third, patient registries. Each of these sources offers unique advantages, but also has some inherent limitations. To address some of these limitations and maximize the utility of these data sources for evidence generation, recent efforts have focused on linking different data sources. Innovations such as randomized registry trials, which aim to facilitate design of low-cost randomized controlled trials built on existing infrastructure provided by large healthcare databases, are likely to make clinical research more efficient in coming years. Harnessing the power of information contained in large healthcare databases, while paying close attention to their inherent limitations, is critical to generate a rigorous evidence-base for medical decision-making and ultimately enhancing patient care.

Cosmology: A research briefing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

As part of its effort to update topics dealt with in the 1986 decadal physics survey, the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Research Council (NRC) formed a Panel on Cosmology. The Panel produced this report, intended to be accessible to science policymakers and nonscientists. The chapters include an overview ('What Is Cosmology?'), a discussion of cosmic microwave background radiation, the large-scale structure of the universe, the distant universe, and physics of the early universe.

Study of the Influence of Metallurgical Factors on Fatigue and Fracture of Aerospace Structural Materials

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-03-01

11 II. MICROSTRUCTURE/ PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS IN ADVANCED 12 STRUCTURAL ALLOYS A. Research Objectives 12 B. Summary of Research Efforts 12 1. Fracture...relationship is needed. Figure 5. Correlation between crack growth rates and effective 7 AK for small and large fatigue cracks in a titanium aluminide ...Microstructural/ Property Relationships in Advanced Structural Alloys Table I. Tensile and Fracture Properties of A-Fe-X Alloys in the 13 LT

An Overview of Antenna R&D Efforts in Support of NASA's Space Exploration Vision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manning, Robert M.

2007-01-01

This presentation reviews the research and development work being conducted at Glenn Research Center in the area of antennas for space exploration. In particular, after reviewing the related goals of the agency, antenna technology development at GRC is discussed. The antennas to be presented are large aperture inflatable antennas, phased array antennas, a 256 element Ka-band antenna, a ferroelectric reflectarray antenna, multibeam antennas, and several small antennas.

Behavioral Assessment of Listening Effort Using a Dual-Task Paradigm.

PubMed

Gagné, Jean-Pierre; Besser, Jana; Lemke, Ulrike

2017-01-01

Published investigations ( n = 29) in which a dual-task experimental paradigm was employed to measure listening effort during speech understanding in younger and older adults were reviewed. A summary of the main findings reported in the articles is provided with respect to the participants' age-group and hearing status. Effects of different signal characteristics, such as the test modality, on dual-task outcomes are evaluated, and associations with cognitive abilities and self-report measures of listening effort are described. Then, several procedural issues associated with the use of dual-task experiment paradigms are discussed. Finally, some issues that warrant future research are addressed. The review revealed large variability in the dual-task experimental paradigms that have been used to measure the listening effort expended during speech understanding. The differences in experimental procedures used across studies make it difficult to draw firm conclusions concerning the optimal choice of dual-task paradigm or the sensitivity of specific paradigms to different types of experimental manipulations. In general, the analysis confirmed that dual-task paradigms have been used successfully to measure differences in effort under different experimental conditions, in both younger and older adults. Several research questions that warrant further investigation in order to better understand and characterize the intricacies of dual-task paradigms were identified.

Behavioral Assessment of Listening Effort Using a Dual-Task Paradigm

PubMed Central

Besser, Jana; Lemke, Ulrike

2017-01-01

Published investigations (n = 29) in which a dual-task experimental paradigm was employed to measure listening effort during speech understanding in younger and older adults were reviewed. A summary of the main findings reported in the articles is provided with respect to the participants’ age-group and hearing status. Effects of different signal characteristics, such as the test modality, on dual-task outcomes are evaluated, and associations with cognitive abilities and self-report measures of listening effort are described. Then, several procedural issues associated with the use of dual-task experiment paradigms are discussed. Finally, some issues that warrant future research are addressed. The review revealed large variability in the dual-task experimental paradigms that have been used to measure the listening effort expended during speech understanding. The differences in experimental procedures used across studies make it difficult to draw firm conclusions concerning the optimal choice of dual-task paradigm or the sensitivity of specific paradigms to different types of experimental manipulations. In general, the analysis confirmed that dual-task paradigms have been used successfully to measure differences in effort under different experimental conditions, in both younger and older adults. Several research questions that warrant further investigation in order to better understand and characterize the intricacies of dual-task paradigms were identified. PMID:28091178

Chemical education experiences from the English language learner perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flores, Annette

2011-12-01

The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is a region populated by Spanish-speaking immigrants and their descendants producing a large English Language Learner (ELL) student population. ELLs have historically had low literacy rates and achievement levels when compared to their counterparts. In order to address this achievement gap, previous research efforts and curriculum interventions have focused on language acquisition as being the determining factor in ELL education, with little attention given to academic content acquisition. More current research efforts have transitioned into English language acquisition through academic content instruction; this present research study specifically focuses on ELL experiences in chemistry. Participants were high school chemistry students who identified as ELL or had recently exited out of ELL status. Students were interviewed to identify factors that attributed to their experiences in chemistry. Findings indicate code-switching as a key to learning chemistry in English but also the deterrent in English language acquisition.

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

Graslund, C.; Hellstrand, E.

Sweden benefits in many ways from the reactor safety research performed in other countries. Its own activity complements this effort, but a certain fraction is oriented toward safety issues that are intimately related to the special design of the ASEA-ATOM boiling-water reactor. Through the availability of the decommissioned Marviken reactor plant, Sweden has been able to play a leading role in integral containment experiments with international participation. Joint efforts with other countries are now devoted to defining new large-scale experiments to be performed in the unique Marviken facility. The largest portion of the safety research program in Sweden is performedmore » by Studsvik Energiteknik AB, but various universities, consultant firms, and research institutes are also involved. In addition, a substantial amount of work is done by the reactor vendor ASEA-ATOM. The overall annual budget is at present between $7 and $8 million, with three governmental authorities as the main financing bodies.« less

Leveraging school-based research to inform bullying prevention and policy.

PubMed

Espelage, Dorothy L

2016-11-01

School-based bullying and other forms of school violence have been the topic of over 40 years of research in the U.S. and internationally. Within the last 2 decades, research has increasingly informed bullying prevention, policy, and legislative efforts. The purpose of this article is to highlight several critical research areas on bullying and other forms of school violence that have shaped prevention efforts and policy over the last 2 decades. As the recipient of the 2016 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy , the discussion here will focus largely on research findings from The Espelage Lab and collaborators, but these studies and findings will be situated in the larger literature. Topics covered include conceptualization of bullying from a social-ecological framework, developmental considerations of bullying and associated forms of aggression, identification of populations at heightened risk for bullying, and efficacy of bullying prevention programs. Recommendations are provided for the next generation of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers focused on bullying prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Learning a Living: First Results of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

OECD Publishing (NJ1), 2005

2005-01-01

The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) is a large-scale co-operative effort undertaken by governments, national statistics agencies, research institutions and multi-lateral agencies. The development and management of the study were co-ordinated by Statistics Canada and the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in collaboration with the…

Design for a Study of American Youth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flanagan, John C.; And Others

Project TALENT is a large-scale, long-range educational research effort aimed at developing methods for the identification, development, and utilization of human talents, which has involved some 440,000 students in 1,353 public, private, and parochial secondary schools in all parts of the country. Data collected through teacher-administered tests,…

Contextual Influences: Building Brand Community in Large and Small Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAlexander, J. Harry; Koenig, Harold F.

2010-01-01

This research extends recent efforts that have introduced and empirically tested a conceptual model of brand community in the context of higher education. This emerging literature has indicated that brand community provides a framework that can inform and guide marketing investments in ways that lead to affinity and stronger loyalty to the brand…

QA Activities on Two Large RARE Projects at the US EPA, RTP, NC ─ from Fish to Humans

EPA Science Inventory

Two RARE (Regional Applied Research Effort) projects are being managed by Janet Diliberto, Linda Birnbaum, and Thomas Hughes. Janet is the Project Officer, Linda is the science advisor and Thomas is the QA and Records Manager for these two RARE projects. These are high visibili...

Empowering Secondary Students to Promote Sustained Silent Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grant, Raymond Mead, III

2012-01-01

This study examines the efforts of student volunteers to motivate participation in a school-wide Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) program at a large urban high school. The researcher recruited a group of twenty student volunteers to visit classrooms and implement activities aimed at motivating their peers to read during SSR. Such activities help…

Conway Street Apartments: A Multifamily Deep Energy Retrofit

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

Aldrich, R.; Williamson, J.

2014-11-01

While single-family, detached homes account for 63% of households (EIA 2009); multi-family homes account for a very large portion of that remaining housing stock, and this fraction is growing. Through recent research efforts, CARB has been evaluating strategies and technologies that can make dramatic improvements in energy performance in multi-family buildings.

Vibrant Student Voices: Exploring Effects of the Use of Clickers in Large College Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoekstra, Angel

2008-01-01

Teachers have begun using student response systems (SRSs) in an effort to enhance the learning process in higher education courses. Research providing detailed information about how interactive technologies affect students as they learn is crucial for professors who seek to improve teaching quality, attendance rates and student learning. This…

Engaging and Working in Solidarity with Local Communities in Preparing the Teachers of Their Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeichner, Ken; Bowman, Michael; Guillen, Lorena; Napolitan, Kate

2016-01-01

This article analyzes a programmatic effort in teacher education, "The Community Teaching Strand" (CTS), to engage local community members as mentors of teacher candidates (TCs) in two postgraduate teacher preparation programs in a large research university. Three different conceptions of the nature and purpose of…

Institutional Social and Cultural Influences on the Multicultural Perspectives of Preservice Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Locke, Steven

2005-01-01

In this study, I examine the perspectives of preservice teachers enrolled in a multicultural education course at a large predominately White Midwestern university. Past research on the development of multicultural attitudes and knowledge of White preservice teachers is inconclusive. In an effort to examine the multicultural perspectives of…

Foregrounding Fieldwork in Leadership Preparation: The Transformative Capacity of Authentic Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perez, Lynne G.; Uline, Cynthia L.; Johnson, Joseph F., Jr.; James-Ward, Cheryl; Basom, Margaret R.

2011-01-01

This study follows leadership candidates through the first phase of a comprehensive effort to reform master's-level principal preparation at a large, urban California university. The reforms placed an 18-month field experience at the center of candidates' preparation. Researchers sought to capture the changes over time in candidates' beliefs about…

Taking Teacher Learning to Scale: Sharing Knowledge and Spreading Ideas across Geographies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Emily J.; Jaffe-Walter, Reva; Riordan, Megan

2016-01-01

This research reports data from case studies of three intermediary organizations facing the challenge of scaling up teacher learning. The turn of the century launched scaling-up efforts of all three intermediaries, growing from intimate groups, where founding teachers and staff were key supports for teacher learning, to large multistate…

Experiences of Instructors in Online Learning Environments: Identifying and Regulating Emotions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regan, Kelley; Evmenova, Anna; Baker, Pam; Jerome, Marci Kinas; Spencer, Vicky; Lawson, Holly; Werner, Terry

2012-01-01

In an effort to expand existing research on the barriers of instructors experience in online learning environments (OLEs), a qualitative study was conducted at a large mid-Atlantic university. Six instructors teaching in different OLE formats (e.g., asynchronous, hybrid, and synchronous via videoconferencing) participated in two focus groups in…

Multisite Studies and Scaling up in Educational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harwell, Michael

2012-01-01

A scale-up study in education typically expands the sample of students, schools, districts, and/or practices or materials used in smaller studies in ways that build in heterogeneity. Yet surprisingly little is known about the factors that promote successful scaling up efforts in education, in large part due to the absence of empirically supported…

Ecosystem-based management in the lodgepole pine zone

Treesearch

Colin C. Hardy; Robert E. Keane; Catherine A. Stewart

2000-01-01

The significant geographic extent of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) in the interior West and the large proportion within the mixed-severity fire regime has led to efforts for more ecologically based management of lodgepole pine. New research and demonstration activities are presented that may provide knowledge and techniques to manage lodgepole pine...

How Teachers Become Leaders: An Internationally Validated Theoretical Model of Teacher Leadership Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poekert, Philip; Alexandrou, Alex; Shannon, Darbianne

2016-01-01

Teacher leadership is increasingly being touted as a practical response to guide teacher learning in school improvement and policy reform efforts. However, the field of research on teacher leadership in relation to post-compulsory educational development has been and remains largely atheoretical to date. This empirical study proposes a grounded…

Microcomputer Techniques for Developing Hardwood Conservation Strategies

Treesearch

Steve McNiel

1991-01-01

Hardwoods are disappearing from the California landscape at alarming rates. This is due to a variety of influences, both natural and man made. It is clear that conservation and rehabilitation of hardwood resources will require a large effort on the part of research institutes, universities, government agencies, special interest groups, private developers, maintenance...

Don't Try to Bridge the Literacy Gap Alone

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

González, Ramón M.

2015-01-01

The author is a middle school principal who has spent a decade working on improving literacy among his largely socio-economically disadvantaged student body. Experience and research have shown, the author says, that a successful effort to bridge the literacy gap between children who live in poverty and middle-class students requires a concerted…

Latina/o Parent Organizing for Educational Justice: An Ethnographic Account of Community Building and Radical Healing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nygreen, Kysa

2017-01-01

This article describes a parent organizing effort with Latina/o immigrant parents in a large, high-poverty, racially and linguistically diverse urban school district. Drawing from ethnographic research and the theoretical framework of "mujerismo," it examines the relational processes of community building and radical healing that…

Intellectual Disability and Developmental Risk: Promoting Intervention to Improve Child and Family Well-Being

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crnic, Keith A.; Neece, Cameron L.; McIntyre, Laura Lee; Blacher, Jan; Baker, Bruce L.

2017-01-01

Initial intervention processes for children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) largely focused on direct efforts to impact core cognitive and academic deficits associated with the diagnosis. Recent research on risk processes in families of children with ID, however, has influenced new developmental system approaches to early intervention. Recent…

Using Test Scores from Students with Disabilities in Teacher Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buzick, Heather M.; Jones, Nathan D.

2015-01-01

Much of the recent focus of educational policymakers has been on improving the measurement of teacher effectiveness. Linking student growth to teacher effects has been a large part of reform efforts. To date, neither researchers nor practitioners have arrived at a consensus on how to treat test scores from students with disabilities in…

Reductive cleavage of the peptide bond

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holian, J.; Garrison, W. M.

1973-01-01

In many biological research efforts, long chain organic molecules are studied by breaking large molecules into smaller components. Cleavage technique of recent interest is the use of solvated electrons. These are formed when aqueous solutions are bombarded with gamma radiation. Solvated electron is very reactive and can reduce most any species present, even to form free radicals.

The nature and extent of college student hazing.

PubMed

Allan, Elizabeth J; Madden, Mary

2012-01-01

This study explored the nature and extent of college student hazing in the USA. Hazing, a form of interpersonal violence, can jeopardize the health and safety of students. Using a web-based survey, data were collected from 11,482 undergraduate students, aged 18-25 years, who attended one of 53 colleges and universities. Additionally, researchers interviewed 300 students and staff at 18 of the campuses. Results reveal hazing among USA college students is widespread and involves a range of student organizations and athletic teams. Alcohol consumption, humiliation, isolation, sleep-deprivation and sex acts are hazing practices common across student groups. Furthermore, there is a large gap between the number of students who report experience with hazing behaviors and those that label their experience as hazing. To date, hazing prevention efforts in post-secondary education have focused largely on students in fraternities/sororities and intercollegiate athletes. Findings from this study can inform development of more comprehensive and research-based hazing prevention efforts that target a wider range of student groups. Further, data can serve as a baseline from which to measure changes in college student hazing over time.

Adaptation of MSC/NASTRAN to a supercomputer

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

Gloudeman, J.F.; Hodge, J.C.

1982-01-01

MSC/NASTRAN is a large-scale general purpose digital computer program which solves a wider variety of engineering analysis problems by the finite element method. The program capabilities include static and dynamic structural analysis (linear and nonlinear), heat transfer, acoustics, electromagnetism and other types of field problems. It is used worldwide by large and small companies in such diverse fields as automotive, aerospace, civil engineering, shipbuilding, offshore oil, industrial equipment, chemical engineering, biomedical research, optics and government research. The paper presents the significant aspects of the adaptation of MSC/NASTRAN to the Cray-1. First, the general architecture and predominant functional use of MSC/NASTRANmore » are discussed to help explain the imperatives and the challenges of this undertaking. The key characteristics of the Cray-1 which influenced the decision to undertake this effort are then reviewed to help identify performance targets. An overview of the MSC/NASTRAN adaptation effort is then given to help define the scope of the project. Finally, some measures of MSC/NASTRAN's operational performance on the Cray-1 are given, along with a few guidelines to help avoid improper interpretation. 17 references.« less

Institutional Infrastructure for Broader Impacts Engagement - Showcasing Effective Strategies and Approaches from a Large Research Institute

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gold, A. U.; Sullivan, S. B.; Smith, L. K.; Lynds, S. E.

2014-12-01

The need for robust scientific and especially climate literacy is increasing. Funding agencies mandate that scientists make their findings and data publically available. Ideally, this mandate is achieved by scientists and educators working together to translate research findings into common knowledge. The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is the largest research institute at the University of Colorado and home institute to over 500 scientists. CIRES provides an effective organizational infrastructure to support its scientists in broadening their research impact. Education specialists provide the necessary experience, connections, logistical support, and evaluation expertise to develop and conduct impactful education and outreach efforts. Outreach efforts are tailored to the project needs and the scientists' interests. They span from deep engagement efforts with a high time commitment by the scientist thus a high dosage to short presentations by the scientists that reach many people without stimulating a deep engagement and have therefore a low dosage. We use three examples of current successful programs to showcase these different engagement levels and report on their impact: i) deep transformative and time-intensive engagement through a Research Experience for Community College students program, ii) direct engagement during a teacher professional development workshop centered around a newly developed curriculum bringing authentic climate data into secondary classrooms, iii) short-time engagement through a virtual panel discussion about the state of recent climate science topics, the recordings of which were repurposed in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). In this presentation, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of broader impacts work. We discuss successful strategies that we developed, stress the importance of robust impact evaluation, and summarize different avenues of funding outreach efforts.

Spacecraft contamination programs within the Air Force Systems Command Laboratories

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murad, Edmond

1990-01-01

Spacecraft contamination programs exist in five independent AFSC organizations: Geophysics Laboratory (GL), Arnold Engineering and Development Center (AEDC), Rome Air Development Center (RADC/OSCE), Wright Research and Development Center (MLBT), Armament Laboratory (ATL/SAI), and Space Systems Division (SSD/OL-AW). In addition, a sizable program exists at Aerospace Corp. These programs are complementary, each effort addressing a specific area of expertise: GL's effort is aimed at addressing the effects of on-orbit contamination; AEDC's effort is aimed at ground simulation and measurement of optical contamination; RADC's effort addresses the accumulation, measurement, and removal of contamination on large optics; MLBT's effort is aimed at understanding the effect of contamination on materials; ATL's effort is aimed at understanding the effect of plume contamination on systems; SSD's effort is confined to the integration of some contamination experiments sponsored by SSD/CLT; and Aerospace Corp.'s effort is aimed at supporting the needs of the using System Program Offices (SPO) in specific areas, such as contamination during ground handling, ascent phase, laboratory measurements aimed at understanding on-orbit contamination, and mass loss and mass gain in on-orbit operations. These programs are described in some detail, with emphasis on GL's program.

Modeling nanomaterial environmental fate in aquatic systems.

PubMed

Dale, Amy L; Casman, Elizabeth A; Lowry, Gregory V; Lead, Jamie R; Viparelli, Enrica; Baalousha, Mohammed

2015-03-03

Mathematical models improve our fundamental understanding of the environmental behavior, fate, and transport of engineered nanomaterials (NMs, chemical substances or materials roughly 1-100 nm in size) and facilitate risk assessment and management activities. Although today's large-scale environmental fate models for NMs are a considerable improvement over early efforts, a gap still remains between the experimental research performed to date on the environmental fate of NMs and its incorporation into models. This article provides an introduction to the current state of the science in modeling the fate and behavior of NMs in aquatic environments. We address the strengths and weaknesses of existing fate models, identify the challenges facing researchers in developing and validating these models, and offer a perspective on how these challenges can be addressed through the combined efforts of modelers and experimentalists.

Portable parallel stochastic optimization for the design of aeropropulsion components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sues, Robert H.; Rhodes, G. S.

1994-01-01

This report presents the results of Phase 1 research to develop a methodology for performing large-scale Multi-disciplinary Stochastic Optimization (MSO) for the design of aerospace systems ranging from aeropropulsion components to complete aircraft configurations. The current research recognizes that such design optimization problems are computationally expensive, and require the use of either massively parallel or multiple-processor computers. The methodology also recognizes that many operational and performance parameters are uncertain, and that uncertainty must be considered explicitly to achieve optimum performance and cost. The objective of this Phase 1 research was to initialize the development of an MSO methodology that is portable to a wide variety of hardware platforms, while achieving efficient, large-scale parallelism when multiple processors are available. The first effort in the project was a literature review of available computer hardware, as well as review of portable, parallel programming environments. The first effort was to implement the MSO methodology for a problem using the portable parallel programming language, Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM). The third and final effort was to demonstrate the example on a variety of computers, including a distributed-memory multiprocessor, a distributed-memory network of workstations, and a single-processor workstation. Results indicate the MSO methodology can be well-applied towards large-scale aerospace design problems. Nearly perfect linear speedup was demonstrated for computation of optimization sensitivity coefficients on both a 128-node distributed-memory multiprocessor (the Intel iPSC/860) and a network of workstations (speedups of almost 19 times achieved for 20 workstations). Very high parallel efficiencies (75 percent for 31 processors and 60 percent for 50 processors) were also achieved for computation of aerodynamic influence coefficients on the Intel. Finally, the multi-level parallelization strategy that will be needed for large-scale MSO problems was demonstrated to be highly efficient. The same parallel code instructions were used on both platforms, demonstrating portability. There are many applications for which MSO can be applied, including NASA's High-Speed-Civil Transport, and advanced propulsion systems. The use of MSO will reduce design and development time and testing costs dramatically.

Advances in Projection Moire Interferometry Development for Large Wind Tunnel Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fleming, Gary A.; Soto, Hector L.; South, Bruce W.; Bartram, Scott M.

1999-01-01

An instrument development program aimed at using Projection Moire Interferometry (PMI) for acquiring model deformation measurements in large wind tunnels was begun at NASA Langley Research Center in 1996. Various improvements to the initial prototype PMI systems have been made throughout this development effort. This paper documents several of the most significant improvements to the optical hardware and image processing software, and addresses system implementation issues for large wind tunnel applications. The improvements have increased both measurement accuracy and instrument efficiency, promoting the routine use of PMI for model deformation measurements in production wind tunnel tests.

Memoirs of an Aeronautical Engineer: Flight Tests at Ames Research Center: 1940-1970

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Seth B.

2002-01-01

Seth worked over a period of several years to prepare this monograph-collecting information, drafting the text, and finding and selecting the historic photographs. He describes the beginnings of flight research as he knew it at Ames Research Center, recalls numerous World War II programs, relates his experiences with powered-lift aircraft, and concludes with his impressions of two international flight research efforts. His comprehensive collection of large-format photographs of the airplanes and people involved in the various flight activities related in the text constitutes a compelling part of his work.

In-space research, technology and engineering experiments and Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tyson, Richard; Gartrell, Charles F.

1988-01-01

The NASA Space Station will serve as a technology research laboratory, a payload-servicing facility, and a large structure fabrication and assembly facility. Space structures research will encompass advanced structural concepts and their dynamics, advanced control concepts, sensors, and actuators. Experiments dealing with fluid management will gather data on such fundamentals as multiphase flow phenomena. As requirements for power systems and thermal management grow, experiments quantifying the performance of energy systems and thermal management concepts will be undertaken, together with expanded efforts in the fields of information systems, automation, and robotics.

A Collaboration for Health and Wellness

PubMed Central

Kim, Hyun-Jun; Acey, Katherine; Guess, Aundaray; Jen, Sarah; Fredriksen-Goldsen, Karen I.

2016-01-01

Despite growing racial and ethnic diversity among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) older adults in the United States, LGBTQ older adults of color largely are invisible in aging services, research, and public policy. GRIOT Circle and Caring and Aging with Pride are pioneering efforts in community-based services and research. This article describes innovative and effective ways to reach and serve LGBTQ older adults of color, how research can be designed collaboratively to address strengths and disparities in social, health, and economic well-being, and barriers to accessing aging services in these populations. PMID:28435182

From Efficacy Research to Large-Scale Impact on Undernutrition: The Role of Organizational Cultures12

PubMed Central

Pelletier, David; Pelto, Gretel

2013-01-01

Undernutrition in low-income countries is receiving unprecedented attention at global and national levels due to the convergence of many forces, including strong evidence concerning its magnitude, consequences, and potential solutions and effective advocacy by many organizations. The translation of this attention into large-scale reductions in undernutrition at the country level requires the alignment and support of many organizations in the development and implementation of a coherent policy agenda for nutrition, including the strengthening of operational and strategic capacities and a supportive research agenda. However, many countries experience difficulties achieving such alignment. This article uses the concept of organizational culture to better understand some of the reasons for these difficulties. This concept is applied to the constellation of organizations that make up the “National Nutrition Network” in a given country and some of the individual organizations within that network, including academic institutions that conduct research on undernutrition. We illustrate this concept through a case study involving a middle-income country. We conclude that efforts to align organizations in support of coherent nutrition agendas should do the following: 1) make intentional and sustained efforts to foster common understanding, shared learning, and socialization of new members and other elements of a shared culture among partners; 2) seek a way to frame problems and solutions in a fashion that enables individual organizations to secure some of their particular interests by joining the effort; and 3) not only advocate on the importance of nutrition but also insist that high-level officials hold organizations accountable for aligning in support of common-interest solutions (through some elements of a common culture) that can be effective and appropriate in the national context. We further conclude that a culture change is needed within academic departments if the discipline of nutrition is to play a central role in translating the findings from efficacy trials into large-scale reductions in undernutrition. PMID:24228200

From efficacy research to large-scale impact on undernutrition: the role of organizational cultures.

PubMed

Pelletier, David; Pelto, Gretel

2013-11-01

Undernutrition in low-income countries is receiving unprecedented attention at global and national levels due to the convergence of many forces, including strong evidence concerning its magnitude, consequences, and potential solutions and effective advocacy by many organizations. The translation of this attention into large-scale reductions in undernutrition at the country level requires the alignment and support of many organizations in the development and implementation of a coherent policy agenda for nutrition, including the strengthening of operational and strategic capacities and a supportive research agenda. However, many countries experience difficulties achieving such alignment. This article uses the concept of organizational culture to better understand some of the reasons for these difficulties. This concept is applied to the constellation of organizations that make up the "National Nutrition Network" in a given country and some of the individual organizations within that network, including academic institutions that conduct research on undernutrition. We illustrate this concept through a case study involving a middle-income country. We conclude that efforts to align organizations in support of coherent nutrition agendas should do the following: 1) make intentional and sustained efforts to foster common understanding, shared learning, and socialization of new members and other elements of a shared culture among partners; 2) seek a way to frame problems and solutions in a fashion that enables individual organizations to secure some of their particular interests by joining the effort; and 3) not only advocate on the importance of nutrition but also insist that high-level officials hold organizations accountable for aligning in support of common-interest solutions (through some elements of a common culture) that can be effective and appropriate in the national context. We further conclude that a culture change is needed within academic departments if the discipline of nutrition is to play a central role in translating the findings from efficacy trials into large-scale reductions in undernutrition.

Implicit activation of the aging stereotype influences effort-related cardiovascular response: The role of incentive.

PubMed

Zafeiriou, Athina; Gendolla, Guido H E

2017-09-01

Based on previous research on implicit effects on effort-related cardiovascular response and evidence that aging is associated with cognitive difficulties, we tested whether the mere activation of the aging stereotype can systematically influence young individuals' effort-mobilization during cognitive performance. Young participants performed an objectively difficult short-term memory task during which they processed elderly vs. youth primes and expected low vs. high incentive for success. When participants processed elderly primes during the task, we expected cardiovascular response to be weak in the low-incentive condition and strong in the high-incentive condition. Unaffected by incentive, effort in the youth-prime condition should fall in between the two elderly-prime cells. Effects on cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) and heart rate (HR) largely supported these predictions. The present findings show for the first time that the mere activation of the aging stereotype can systematically influence effort mobilization during cognitive performance-even in young adults. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Activities of the Center for Space Construction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

The Center for Space Construction (CSC) at the University of Colorado at Boulder is one of eight University Space Engineering Research Centers established by NASA in 1988. The mission of the center is to conduct research into space technology and to directly contribute to space engineering education. The center reports to the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and resides in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. The college has a long and successful track record of cultivating multi-disciplinary research and education programs. The Center for Space Construction is prominent evidence of this record. At the inception of CSC, the center was primarily founded on the need for research on in-space construction of large space systems like space stations and interplanetary space vehicles. The scope of CSC's research has now evolved to include the design and construction of all spacecraft, large and small. Within this broadened scope, our research projects seek to impact the underlying technological basis for such spacecraft as remote sensing satellites, communication satellites, and other special purpose spacecraft, as well as the technological basis for large space platforms. The center's research focuses on three areas: spacecraft structures, spacecraft operations and control, and regolith and surface systems. In the area of spacecraft structures, our current emphasis is on concepts and modeling of deployable structures, analysis of inflatable structures, structural damage detection algorithms, and composite materials for lightweight structures. In the area of spacecraft operations and control, we are continuing our previous efforts in process control of in-orbit structural assembly. In addition, we have begun two new efforts in formal approach to spacecraft flight software systems design and adaptive attitude control systems. In the area of regolith and surface systems, we are continuing the work of characterizing the physical properties of lunar regolith, and we are at work on a project on path planning for planetary surface rovers.

Big and disparate data: considerations for pediatric consortia.

PubMed

Stingone, Jeanette A; Mervish, Nancy; Kovatch, Patricia; McGuinness, Deborah L; Gennings, Chris; Teitelbaum, Susan L

2017-04-01

Increasingly, there is a need for examining exposure disease associations in large, diverse datasets to understand the complex determinants of pediatric disease and disability. Recognizing that children's health research consortia will be important sources of big data, it is crucial for the pediatric research community to be knowledgeable about the challenges and opportunities that they will face. The present review will provide examples of existing children's health consortia, highlight recent pooled analyses conducted by children's health research consortia, address common challenges of pooled analyses, and provide recommendations to advance collective research efforts in pediatric research. Formal consortia and other collective-science initiatives are increasingly being created to share individual data from a set of relevant epidemiological studies to address a common research topic under the concept that the joint effort of many individual groups can accomplish far more than working alone. There are practical challenges to the participation of investigators within consortia that need to be addressed in order for them to work. Researchers who access consortia with data centers will be able to go far beyond their initial hypotheses and potentially accomplish research that was previously thought infeasible or too costly.

Integrated Micro-Power System (IMPS) Development at NASA Glenn Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilt, David; Hepp, Aloysius; Moran, Matt; Jenkins, Phillip; Scheiman, David; Raffaelle, Ryne

2003-01-01

Glenn Research Center (GRC) has a long history of energy related technology developments for large space related power systems, including photovoltaics, thermo-mechanical energy conversion, electrochemical energy storage. mechanical energy storage, power management and distribution and power system design. Recently, many of these technologies have begun to be adapted for small, distributed power system applications or Integrated Micro-Power Systems (IMPS). This paper will describe the IMPS component and system demonstration efforts to date.

NASA Composite Materials Development: Lessons Learned and Future Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tenney, Darrel R.; Davis, John G., Jr.; Pipes, R. Byron; Johnston, Norman

2009-01-01

Composite materials have emerged as the materials of choice for increasing the performance and reducing the weight and cost of military, general aviation, and transport aircraft and space launch vehicles. Major advancements have been made in the ability to design, fabricate, and analyze large complex aerospace structures. The recent efforts by Boeing and Airbus to incorporate composite into primary load carrying structures of large commercial transports and to certify the airworthiness of these structures is evidence of the significant advancements made in understanding and use of these materials in real world aircraft. NASA has been engaged in research on composites since the late 1960 s and has worked to address many development issues with these materials in an effort to ensure safety, improve performance, and improve affordability of air travel for the public good. This research has ranged from synthesis of advanced resin chemistries to development of mathematical analyses tools to reliably predict the response of built-up structures under combined load conditions. The lessons learned from this research are highlighted with specific examples to illustrate the problems encountered and solutions to these problems. Examples include specific technologies related to environmental effects, processing science, fabrication technologies, nondestructive inspection, damage tolerance, micromechanics, structural mechanics, and residual life prediction. The current state of the technology is reviewed and key issues requiring additional research identified. Also, grand challenges to be solved for expanded use of composites in aero structures are identified.

Brain transcriptome atlases: a computational perspective.

PubMed

Mahfouz, Ahmed; Huisman, Sjoerd M H; Lelieveldt, Boudewijn P F; Reinders, Marcel J T

2017-05-01

The immense complexity of the mammalian brain is largely reflected in the underlying molecular signatures of its billions of cells. Brain transcriptome atlases provide valuable insights into gene expression patterns across different brain areas throughout the course of development. Such atlases allow researchers to probe the molecular mechanisms which define neuronal identities, neuroanatomy, and patterns of connectivity. Despite the immense effort put into generating such atlases, to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, an even greater effort is needed to develop methods to probe the resulting high-dimensional multivariate data. We provide a comprehensive overview of the various computational methods used to analyze brain transcriptome atlases.

Solar dynamic power for Earth orbital and lunar applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calogeras, James E.; Dustin, Miles O.; Secunde, Richard R.

1991-01-01

Development of solar dynamic (SD) technologies for space over the past 25 years by NASA Lewis Research Center brought SD power to the point where it was selected in the design phase of Space Station Freedom Program as the power source for evolutionary growth. More recent studies showed that large cost savings are possible in establishing manufacturing processes at a Lunar Base if SD is considered as a power source. Technology efforts over the past 5 years have made possible lighter, more durable, SD components for these applications. A review of these efforts and respective benefits is presented.

LES, DNS and RANS for the analysis of high-speed turbulent reacting flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adumitroaie, V.; Colucci, P. J.; Taulbee, D. B.; Givi, P.

1995-01-01

The purpose of this research is to continue our efforts in advancing the state of knowledge in large eddy simulation (LES), direct numerical simulation (DNS), and Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) methods for the computational analysis of high-speed reacting turbulent flows. In the second phase of this work, covering the period 1 Aug. 1994 - 31 Jul. 1995, we have focused our efforts on two programs: (1) developments of explicit algebraic moment closures for statistical descriptions of compressible reacting flows and (2) development of Monte Carlo numerical methods for LES of chemically reacting flows.

Overview of magnetic suspension research at Langley Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Groom, Nelson J.

1992-01-01

An overview of research in small- and large-gap magnetic suspension systems at LaRC is presented. The overview is limited to systems which have been built as laboratory models or engineering models. Small-gap systems applications include the Annular Momentum Control Device (AMCD), which is a momentum storage device for the stabilization and control of spacecraft, and the Annular Suspension and Pointing System (ASPS), which is a general purpose pointing mount designed to provide orientation, mechanical isolation, and fine pointing space experiments. These devices are described and control and linearization approaches for the magnetic suspension systems for these devices are discussed. Large-gap systems applications at LaRC have been almost exclusively wind tunnel magnetic suspension systems. A brief description of these efforts is also presented.

Community engagement in diverse populations for Alzheimer disease prevention trials.

PubMed

Romero, Heather R; Welsh-Bohmer, Kathleen A; Gwyther, Lisa P; Edmonds, Henry L; Plassman, Brenda L; Germain, Cassandra M; McCart, Michelle; Hayden, Kathleen M; Pieper, Carl; Roses, Allen D

2014-01-01

The recruitment of asymptomatic volunteers has been identified as a critical factor that is delaying the development and validation of preventive therapies for Alzheimer disease (AD). Typical recruitment strategies involve the use of convenience samples or soliciting participation of older adults with a family history of AD from clinics and outreach efforts. However, high-risk groups, such as ethnic/racial minorities, are traditionally less likely to be recruited for AD prevention studies, thus limiting the ability to generalize findings for a significant proportion of the aging population. A community-engagement approach was used to create a registry of 2311 research-ready, healthy adult volunteers who reflect the ethnically diverse local community. Furthermore, the registry's actual commitment to research was examined, through demonstrated participation rates in a clinical study. The approach had varying levels of success in establishing a large, diverse pool of individuals who are interested in participating in pharmacological prevention trials and meet the criteria for primary prevention research trials designed to delay the onset of AD. Our efforts suggest that entry criteria for the clinical trials need to be carefully considered to be inclusive of African Americans, and that sustained effort is needed to engage African Americans in pharmacological prevention approaches.

Animals and the 3Rs in toxicology research and testing: The way forward.

PubMed

Stokes, W S

2015-12-01

Despite efforts to eliminate the use of animals in testing and the availability of many accepted alternative methods, animals are still widely used for toxicological research and testing. While research using in vitro and computational models has dramatically increased in recent years, such efforts have not yet measurably impacted animal use for regulatory testing and are not likely to do so for many years or even decades. Until regulatory authorities have accepted test methods that can totally replace animals and these are fully implemented, large numbers of animals will continue to be used and many will continue to experience significant pain and distress. In order to positively impact the welfare of these animals, accepted alternatives must be implemented, and efforts must be directed at eliminating pain and distress and reducing animal numbers. Animal pain and distress can be reduced by earlier predictive humane endpoints, pain-relieving medications, and supportive clinical care, while sequential testing and routine use of integrated testing and decision strategies can reduce animal numbers. Applying advances in science and technology to the development of scientifically sound alternative testing models and strategies can improve animal welfare and further reduce and replace animal use. © The Author(s) 2015.

Preliminary Results From NASA's Space Solar Power Exploratory Research and Technology Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, Joe T.; Mankins, John C.

2000-01-01

Large solar power satellite (SPS) systems that might provide base load power into terrestrial markets were examined extensively in the 1970s by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Following a hiatus of about 15 years, the subject of space solar power (SSP) was reexamined by NASA from 1995-1997 in the "fresh look" study, and during 1998 in an SSP "concept definition study". As a result of these efforts, during 1999-2000, NASA has been conducting the SSP Exploratory Research and Technology (SERT) program. The goal of the SERT activity has been to conduct preliminary strategic technology research and development to enable large, multi-megawatt SSP systems and wireless power transmission (WPT) for government missions and commercial markets (in-space and terrestrial). In pursuing that goal, the SERT: (1) refined and modeled systems approaches for the utilization of SSP concepts and technologies, ranging from the near-term (e.g., for space science, exploration and commercial space applications) to the far-term (e.g., SSP for terrestrial markets), including systems concepts, architectures, technology, infrastructure (e.g. transportation), and economics; (2) conducted technology research, development and demonstration activities to produce "proof-of-concept" validation of critical SSP elements for both nearer and farther-term applications; and (3) engendered the beginnings of partnerships (nationally and internationally) that could be expanded, as appropriate, to pursue later SSP technology and applications. Through these efforts, the SERT should allow better informed future decisions regarding further SSP and related technology research and development investments by both NASA and prospective partners, and guide further definition of technology roadmaps - including performance objectives, resources and schedules, as well as "multi-purpose" applications (e.g., commerce, science, and government). This paper presents preliminary results from the SERT effort at a summary level, including the study approach, SPS concepts, applications findings, and concludes with a revised assessment of the prospects for solar power satellites using SSP technologies and systems.

National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop report. Draft plan for soybean genomics.

PubMed

Stacey, Gary; Vodkin, Lila; Parrott, Wayne A; Shoemaker, Randy C

2004-05-01

Recent efforts to coordinate and define a research strategy for soybean (Glycine max) genomics began with the establishment of a Soybean Genetics Executive Committee, which will serve as a communication focal point between the soybean research community and granting agencies. Secondly, a workshop was held to define a strategy to incorporate existing tools into a framework for advancing soybean genomics research. This workshop identified and ranked research priorities essential to making more informed decisions as to how to proceed with large scale sequencing and other genomics efforts. Most critical among these was the need to finalize a physical map and to obtain a better understanding of genome microstructure. Addressing these research needs will require pilot work on new technologies to demonstrate an ability to discriminate between recently duplicated regions in the soybean genome and pilot projects to analyze an adequate amount of random genome sequence to identify and catalog common repeats. The development of additional markers, reverse genetics tools, and bioinformatics is also necessary. Successful implementation of these goals will require close coordination among various working groups.

FIREX (Fire Influence on Regional and Global Environments Experiment): Measurements of Nitrogen Containing Volatile Organic Compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warneke, C.; Schwarz, J. P.; Yokelson, R. J.; Roberts, J. M.; Koss, A.; Coggon, M.; Yuan, B.; Sekimoto, K.

2017-12-01

A combination of a warmer, drier climate with fire-control practices over the last century have produced a situation in which we can expect more frequent fires and fires of larger magnitude in the Western U.S. and Canada. There are urgent needs to better understand the impacts of wildfire and biomass burning (BB) on the atmosphere and climate system, and for policy-relevant science to aid in the process of managing fires. The FIREX (Fire Influence on Regional and Global Environment Experiment) research effort is a multi-year, multi-agency measurement campaign focused on the impact of BB on climate and air quality from western North American wild fires, where research takes place on scales ranging from the flame-front to the global atmosphere. FIREX includes methods development and small- and large-scale laboratory and field experiments. FIREX will include: emission factor measurements from typical North American fuels in the fire science laboratory in Missoula, Montana; mobile laboratory deployments; ground site measurements at sites influenced by BB from several western states. The main FIREX effort will be a large field study with multiple aircraft and mobile labs in the fire season of 2019. One of the main advances of FIREX is the availability of various new measurement techniques that allows for smoke evaluation in unprecedented detail. The first major effort of FIREX was the fire science laboratory measurements in October 2016, where a large number of previously understudied Nitrogen containing volatile organic compounds (NVOCs) were measured using H3O+CIMS and I-CIMS instruments. The contribution of NVOCs to the total reactive Nitrogen budget and the relationship to the Nitrogen content of the fuel are investigated.

The Pioneering Role of the Vaccine Safety Datalink Project (VSD) to Advance Collaborative Research and Distributed Data Networks

PubMed Central

Fahey, Kevin R.

2015-01-01

Introduction: Large-scale distributed data networks consisting of diverse stakeholders including providers, patients, and payers are changing health research in terms of methods, speed and efficiency. The Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) set the stage for expanded involvement of health plans in collaborative research. Expanding Surveillance Capacity and Progress Toward a Learning Health System: From an initial collaboration of four integrated health systems with fewer than 10 million covered lives to 16 diverse health plans with nearly 100 million lives now in the FDA Sentinel, the expanded engagement of health plan researchers has been essential to increase the value and impact of these efforts. The collaborative structure of the VSD established a pathway toward research efforts that successfully engage all stakeholders in a cohesive rather than competitive manner. The scientific expertise and methodology developed through the VSD such as rapid cycle analysis (RCA) to conduct near real-time safety surveillance allowed for the development of the expanded surveillance systems that now exist. Building on Success and Lessons Learned: These networks have learned from and built on the knowledge base and infrastructure created by the VSD investigators. This shared technical knowledge and experience expedited the development of systems like the FDA’s Mini-Sentinel and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)’s PCORnet Conclusion: This narrative reviews the evolution of the VSD, its contribution to other collaborative research networks, longer-term sustainability of this type of distributed research, and how knowledge gained from the earlier efforts can contribute to a continually learning health system. PMID:26793736

Portraiture in the Large Lecture: Storying One Chemistry Professor's Practical Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eddleton, Jeannine E.

Practical knowledge, as defined by Freema Elbaz (1983), is a complex, practically oriented set of understandings which teachers use to actively shape and direct their work. The goal of this study is the construction of a social science portrait that illuminates the practical knowledge of a large lecture professor of general chemistry at a public research university in the southeast. This study continues Elbaz's (1981) work on practical knowledge with the incorporation of a qualitative and intentionally interventionist methodology which "blurs the boundaries of aesthetics and empiricism in an effort to capture the complexity, dynamics, and subtlety of human experience and organizational life," (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997). This collection of interviews, observations, writings, and reflections is designed for an eclectic audience with the intent of initiating conversation on the topic of the large lecture and is a purposeful attempt to link research and practice. Social science portraiture is uniquely suited to this intersection of researcher and researched, the perfect combination of methodology and analysis for a project that is both product and praxis. The following research questions guide the study. • Are aspects of Elbaz's practical knowledge identifiable in the research conversations conducted with a large lecture college professor? • Is practical knowledge identifiable during observations of Patricia's large lecture? Freema Elbaz conducted research conversations with Sarah, a high school classroom and writing resource teacher who conducted much of her teaching work one on one with students. Patricia's practice differs significantly from Sarah's with respect to subject matter and to scale.

Characterization and variability of pollutant concentrations for the Las Vegas implementation of the National Near-Road Mobile Source Air Toxics Study

EPA Science Inventory

EPA, in collaboration with FHWA, has been involved in a large-scale monitoring research study in an effort to characterize highway vehicle emissions in a near-road environment. The pollutants of interest include particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 microns ...

The Common Core Initiative, Education Outcomes, and American Indian/Alaska Native Students: Observations and Recommendations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson-Barber, Sharon; Trumbull, Elise

2015-01-01

This monograph explores the ways in which large-scale school reform efforts play out in American Indian/Alaska Native communities and schools, starting from a historical and cultural perspective, and focusing on the translation of research into concrete steps leading to American Indian/Alaska Native student academic success and personal well-being.

Automatic speech recognition technology development at ITT Defense Communications Division

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, George M.

1977-01-01

An assessment of the applications of automatic speech recognition to defense communication systems is presented. Future research efforts include investigations into the following areas: (1) dynamic programming; (2) recognition of speech degraded by noise; (3) speaker independent recognition; (4) large vocabulary recognition; (5) word spotting and continuous speech recognition; and (6) isolated word recognition.

The Role of Teacher Emotions in Change: Experiences, Patterns and Implications for Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saunders, Rebecca

2013-01-01

Research literature in the field of teacher emotions and change broadly accepts that behaviour and cognition are inseparable from perception and emotion. Despite this, educational reform efforts tend to focus predominantly on changing individual behaviours and beliefs and largely neglect or at best pay token attention to the emotional dimensions…

Processing of Fine-Scale Piezoelectric Ceramic/Polymer Composites for Sensors and Actuators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Janas, V. F.; Safari, A.

1996-01-01

The objective of the research effort at Rutgers is the development of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic/polymer composites with different designs for transducer applications including hydrophones, biomedical imaging, non-destructive testing, and air imaging. In this review, methods for processing both large area and multifunctional ceramic/polymer composites for acoustic transducers were discussed.

Competing Paradigms of Educational Justice: Parent Organizing for Educational Equity in a Neoliberal Reform Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nygreen, Kysa

2016-01-01

This article examines a grassroots parent organizing effort in a large, high-poverty, urban school district. Drawing from ethnographic field research at a community-based popular education organization, the study describes how parent organizers worked to educate and mobilize Latina/o immigrant parents on issues of educational justice and equity.…

Evaluating control tactics for the southern pine beetle : symposium proceedings, January 30-February 1, 1979

Treesearch

Jack E. Coster; Janet L. Searcy

1979-01-01

A large number of state and Federal experiment stations, universities and Federal, state and private resource management organizations have participated in the USDA Expanded Southern Pine Beetle Research and Applications Program (ESPBRAP) since its inception in 1975. The objectives of this accelerated effort have been to utilize available knowledge more fully...

Gaming the System: Culture, Process, and Perspectives Supporting a Game and App Design Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herro, Danielle

2015-01-01

Games and digital media experiences permeate the lives of youth. Researchers have argued the participatory attributes and cognitive benefits of gaming and media production for more than a decade, relying on socio-cultural theory to bolster their claims. Only recently have large-scale efforts ensued towards moving game play and design into formal…

Evaluation of Hydrogel Technologies for the Decontamination ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Report This current research effort was developed to evaluate intermediate level (between bench-scale and large-scale or wide-area implementation) decontamination procedures, materials, technologies, and techniques used to remove radioactive material from different surfaces. In the event of such an incident, application of this technology would primarily be intended for decontamination of high-value buildings, important infrastructure, and landmarks.

Staying at the Top: Playing Position and Performance Affect Career Length in Professional Sport

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Joseph; Koz, Dan; Kungl, Ann-Marie; Fraser-Thomas, Jessica; Schorer, Jorg

2013-01-01

In an effort to understand the process of skill acquisition and decline, researchers have largely neglected a critical aspect of this development--maximizing time at the highest levels of achievement. This study examined length of career for professional athletes in basketball, football, ice hockey, and baseball and considers whether career length…

Ann Eliza Young: A Nineteenth Century Champion of Women's Rights.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cullen, Jack B.

Concentrating on the efforts of such nineteenth century women's rights advocates as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, communication researchers have largely overlooked the contributions made to the cause by Ann Eliza Young. The nineteenth wife of Mormon leader Brigham Young, Ann Eliza Young left her husband and took to the speaker's…

The Use of Cellular Automata in the Learning of Emergence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faraco, G.; Pantano, P.; Servidio, R.

2006-01-01

In recent years, research efforts on complex systems have contributed to improve our ability in investigating, at different levels of complexity, the emergent behaviour shown by a system in the course of its evolution. The study of emergence, an intrinsic property of a large number of complex systems, can be tackled by making use of Cellular…

Lead Ions and Coulomb's Law at the LHC (CERN)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cid-Vidal, Xabier; Cid, Ramon

2018-01-01

Although for most of the time the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN collides protons, for around one month every year lead ions are collided, to expand the diversity of the LHC research programme. Furthermore, in an effort not originally foreseen, proton-lead collisions are also taking place, with results of high interest to the physics…

EnviroAtlas: Providing Nationwide Geospatial Ecosystem Goods and Services Indicators and Indices to Inform Decision-Making, Research, and Education

EPA Science Inventory

EnviroAtlas is a multi-organization effort led by the US Environmental Protection Agency to develop, host and display a large suite of nation-wide geospatial indicators and indices of ecosystem services. This open access tool allows users to view, analyze, and download a wealth o...

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Televised Locally Oriented Driver Re-Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hutchinson, John W.; And Others

Television, with its ability to reach large audiences, has been used extensively in driver-education efforts but its effectiveness has never been measured. The purpose of this research was to measure the effectiveness of a televised, locally oriented, candid camera type of driver reeducation program. The measures of effectiveness included a study…

Community Collaborations and Youth Development: Preliminary Findings on the State of the Evidence. Research Brief Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center for Promise, 2013

2013-01-01

In 2004, the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change emphasized the need for a comprehensive base of information on the effectiveness of community collaborations for youth--an accessible, evidence-rich resource that could guide local efforts to bring about meaningful change. Nearly 10 years later, this need remains largely unmet. In…

Attitudes of Design Students toward Computer Usage in Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pektas, Sule Tasli; Erkip, Feyzan

2006-01-01

The success of efforts to integrate technology with design education is largely affected by the attitudes of students toward technology. This paper presents the findings of a research on the attitudes of design students toward the use of computers in design and its correlates. Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools are the most widely used computer…

CPTC and KIST Join Efforts to Solve Complex Proteomic Issues | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer (CPTC) initiative at the National Institutes of Health has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). This MOU promotes proteomic technology optimization and standards implementation in large-scale international programs.

Learning Analysis of K-12 Students' Online Problem Solving: A Three-Stage Assessment Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Yiling; Wu, Bian; Gu, Xiaoqing

2017-01-01

Problem solving is considered a fundamental human skill. However, large-scale assessment of problem solving in K-12 education remains a challenging task. Researchers have argued for the development of an enhanced assessment approach through joint effort from multiple disciplines. In this study, a three-stage approach based on an evidence-centered…

Advancing effects analysis for integrated, large-scale wildfire risk assessment

Treesearch

Matthew P. Thompson; David E. Calkin; Julie W. Gilbertson-Day; Alan A. Ager

2011-01-01

In this article, we describe the design and development of a quantitative, geospatial risk assessment tool intended to facilitate monitoring trends in wildfire risk over time and to provide information useful in prioritizing fuels treatments and mitigation measures. The research effort is designed to develop, from a strategic view, a first approximation of how both...

The Common Core State Standards: School Reform at Three Suburban Middle Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morante-Brock, Sandra

2014-01-01

A growing body of research supports the idea that large scale school reform efforts often fail to create sustained change within the public school sector. Proponents of school reform argue that implementing school reform, effectively and with fidelity, can work to ensure the success of reform initiatives in public education. When implementing deep…

Prospective Principals' Openness to Organizational Change and the Education of African American Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Robert; Peebles, Lucretia D.

2008-01-01

The purpose of this article is to report the findings of a research study that sought to examine and describe prospective principals? attitudes and perceptions regarding current efforts to transform urban education for the betterment of African American Students. Given the current wave of reforms targeted at schools serving large numbers of…

Constraints on the Multidisciplinary Approach: Uses and Misuses of the Kuhnian Paradigm.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parsons, Gerald Michael

The general enthusiasm that governs composition studies is the result of more than 20 years of collective efforts to define central issues in theory and research, and to help refocus national attention on composition literacy. The optimistic vision of future challenge and direction in discourse studies is largely premised on Thomas Kuhn's…

A Qualitative Dissertation an Autoethnographic Inquiry into an African American, Class-Based Perspective in Educational Delivery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Stassi Thomas

2017-01-01

Research has given us the understanding of the demographic disparity between white, largely middle class teachers and diverse lower socioeconomic school children (Grious & Silva, 2010), as teachers from the middle class society wrestle with meeting the needs of their culturally diverse students. In efforts to bridge the social and academic…

Single-Case Experimental Designs in Educational Research: A Methodology for Causal Analyses in Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plavnick, Joshua B.; Ferreri, Summer J.

2013-01-01

Current legislation requires educational practices be informed by science. The effort to establish educational practices supported by science has, to date, emphasized experiments with large numbers of participants who are randomly assigned to an intervention or control condition. A potential limitation of such an emphasis at the expense of other…

Knowledge sharing and collaboration in translational research, and the DC-THERA Directory

PubMed Central

Gündel, Michaela; Austyn, Jonathan M.; Cavalieri, Duccio; Scognamiglio, Ciro; Brandizi, Marco

2011-01-01

Biomedical research relies increasingly on large collections of data sets and knowledge whose generation, representation and analysis often require large collaborative and interdisciplinary efforts. This dimension of ‘big data’ research calls for the development of computational tools to manage such a vast amount of data, as well as tools that can improve communication and access to information from collaborating researchers and from the wider community. Whenever research projects have a defined temporal scope, an additional issue of data management arises, namely how the knowledge generated within the project can be made available beyond its boundaries and life-time. DC-THERA is a European ‘Network of Excellence’ (NoE) that spawned a very large collaborative and interdisciplinary research community, focusing on the development of novel immunotherapies derived from fundamental research in dendritic cell immunobiology. In this article we introduce the DC-THERA Directory, which is an information system designed to support knowledge management for this research community and beyond. We present how the use of metadata and Semantic Web technologies can effectively help to organize the knowledge generated by modern collaborative research, how these technologies can enable effective data management solutions during and beyond the project lifecycle, and how resources such as the DC-THERA Directory fit into the larger context of e-science. PMID:21969471

Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment and Infectious Disease Transmission Modeling of Waterborne Enteric Pathogens.

PubMed

Brouwer, Andrew F; Masters, Nina B; Eisenberg, Joseph N S

2018-04-20

Waterborne enteric pathogens remain a global health threat. Increasingly, quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) and infectious disease transmission modeling (IDTM) are used to assess waterborne pathogen risks and evaluate mitigation. These modeling efforts, however, have largely been conducted independently for different purposes and in different settings. In this review, we examine the settings where each modeling strategy is employed. QMRA research has focused on food contamination and recreational water in high-income countries (HICs) and drinking water and wastewater in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). IDTM research has focused on large outbreaks (predominately LMICs) and vaccine-preventable diseases (LMICs and HICs). Human ecology determines the niches that pathogens exploit, leading researchers to focus on different risk assessment research strategies in different settings. To enhance risk modeling, QMRA and IDTM approaches should be integrated to include dynamics of pathogens in the environment and pathogen transmission through populations.

Systems Biology-Based Investigation of Host-Plasmodium Interactions.

PubMed

Smith, Maren L; Styczynski, Mark P

2018-05-18

Malaria is a serious, complex disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Plasmodium parasites affect multiple tissues as they evade immune responses, replicate, sexually reproduce, and transmit between vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. The explosion of omics technologies has enabled large-scale collection of Plasmodium infection data, revealing systems-scale patterns, mechanisms of pathogenesis, and the ways that host and pathogen affect each other. Here, we provide an overview of recent efforts using systems biology approaches to study host-Plasmodium interactions and the biological themes that have emerged from these efforts. We discuss some of the challenges in using systems biology for this goal, key research efforts needed to address those issues, and promising future malaria applications of systems biology. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ARCUS Project Managers and the Intangible Infrastructure of Large Interdisciplinary Arctic Research Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myers, B.; Wiggins, H. V.; Turner-Bogren, E. J.; Warburton, J.

2017-12-01

Project Managers at the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) lead initiatives to convene, communicate with, and connect the Arctic research community across challenging disciplinary, geographic, temporal, and cultural boundaries. They regularly serve as the organizing hubs, archivists and memory-keepers for collaborative projects comprised of many loosely affiliated partners. As leading organizers of large open science meetings and other outreach events, they also monitor the interdisciplinary landscape of community needs, concerns, opportunities, and emerging research directions. However, leveraging the ARCUS Project Manager role to strategically build out the intangible infrastructure necessary to advance Arctic research requires a unique set of knowledge, skills, and experience. Drawing on a range of lessons learned from past and ongoing experiences with collaborative science, education and outreach programming, this presentation will highlight a model of ARCUS project management that we believe works best to support and sustain our community in its long-term effort to conquer the complexities of Arctic research.

Neurodevelopment, GABA System Dysfunction, and Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Schmidt, Martin J; Mirnics, Karoly

2015-01-01

The origins of schizophrenia have eluded clinicians and researchers since Kraepelin and Bleuler began documenting their findings. However, large clinical research efforts in recent decades have identified numerous genetic and environmental risk factors for schizophrenia. The combined data strongly support the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia and underscore the importance of the common converging effects of diverse insults. In this review, we discuss the evidence that genetic and environmental risk factors that predispose to schizophrenia disrupt the development and normal functioning of the GABAergic system. PMID:24759129

Neurodevelopment, GABA system dysfunction, and schizophrenia.

PubMed

Schmidt, Martin J; Mirnics, Karoly

2015-01-01

The origins of schizophrenia have eluded clinicians and researchers since Kraepelin and Bleuler began documenting their findings. However, large clinical research efforts in recent decades have identified numerous genetic and environmental risk factors for schizophrenia. The combined data strongly support the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia and underscore the importance of the common converging effects of diverse insults. In this review, we discuss the evidence that genetic and environmental risk factors that predispose to schizophrenia disrupt the development and normal functioning of the GABAergic system.

SF6-alternative gases for application in gas-insulated switchgear

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xingwen; Zhao, Hu; Murphy, Anthony B.

2018-04-01

The environmental problems caused by greenhouse gases have received unprecedented attention. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), which is the preferred gas for use in gas-insulated switchgear (circuit breakers, disconnect switches, etc. for high-voltage electrical circuits), has a very high global warming potential, and there is a large international effort to find alternative gases. Recently, this effort has made important progress, with promising alternative gases being identified and tested. An overview, in particular the current state of the art, of the study of SF6-alternative gases is presented in the paper. The review focuses on the application of the SF6-alternative gases in gas-insulated switchgear, with detailed analysis of calculations and measurements of their basic physical properties, dielectric strengths, and arc-quenching capabilities. Finally, a discussion of and perspectives on current research and future research directions are presented.

Spacecraft Dynamics and Control Program at AFRPL

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Das, A.; Slimak, L. K. S.; Schloegel, W. T.

1986-01-01

A number of future DOD and NASA spacecraft such as the space based radar will be not only an order of magnitude larger in dimension than the current spacecraft, but will exhibit extreme structural flexibility with very low structural vibration frequencies. Another class of spacecraft (such as the space defense platforms) will combine large physical size with extremely precise pointing requirement. Such problems require a total departure from the traditional methods of modeling and control system design of spacecraft where structural flexibility is treated as a secondary effect. With these problems in mind, the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (AFRPL) initiated research to develop dynamics and control technology so as to enable the future large space structures (LSS). AFRPL's effort in this area can be subdivided into the following three overlapping areas: (1) ground experiments, (2) spacecraft modeling and control, and (3) sensors and actuators. Both the in-house and contractual efforts of the AFRPL in LSS are summarized.

An Update on Experimental Climate Prediction and Analysis Products Being Developed at NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schubert, Siegfried

2011-01-01

The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is developing a number of experimental prediction and analysis products suitable for research and applications. The prediction products include a large suite of subseasonal and seasonal hindcasts and forecasts (as a contribution to the US National MME), a suite of decadal (10-year) hindcasts (as a contribution to the IPCC decadal prediction project), and a series of large ensemble and high resolution simulations of selected extreme events, including the 2010 Russian and 2011 US heat waves. The analysis products include an experimental atlas of climate (in particular drought) and weather extremes. This talk will provide an update on those activities, and discuss recent efforts by WCRP to leverage off these and similar efforts at other institutions throughout the world to develop an experimental global drought early warning system.

Eddy Current Influences on the Dynamic Behaviour of Magnetic Suspension Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Britcher, Colin P.; Bloodgood, Dale V.

1998-01-01

This report will summarize some results from a multi-year research effort at NASA Langley Research Center aimed at the development of an improved capability for practical modelling of eddy current effects in magnetic suspension systems. Particular attention is paid to large-gap systems, although generic results applicable to both large-gap and small-gap systems are presented. It is shown that eddy currents can significantly affect the dynamic behavior of magnetic suspension systems, but that these effects can be amenable to modelling and measurement. Theoretical frameworks are presented, together with comparisons of computed and experimental data particularly related to the Large Angle Magnetic Suspension Test Fixture at NASA Langley Research Center, and the Annular Suspension and Pointing System at Old Dominion University. In both cases, practical computations are capable of providing reasonable estimates of important performance-related parameters. The most difficult case is seen to be that of eddy currents in highly permeable material, due to the low skin depths. Problems associated with specification of material properties and areas for future research are discussed.

An invitation to contribute to a strategic research agenda in radioecology.

PubMed

Hinton, T G; Garnier-Laplace, J; Vandenhove, H; Dowdall, M; Adam-Guillermin, C; Alonzo, F; Barnett, C; Beaugelin-Seiller, K; Beresford, N A; Bradshaw, C; Brown, J; Eyrolle, F; Fevrier, L; Gariel, J-C; Gilbin, R; Hertel-Aas, T; Horemans, N; Howard, B J; Ikäheimonen, T; Mora, J C; Oughton, D; Real, A; Salbu, B; Simon-Cornu, M; Steiner, M; Sweeck, L; Vives i Batlle, J

2013-01-01

With intentions of integrating a portion of their respective research efforts into a trans-national programme that will enhance radioecology, eight European organisations recently formed the European Radioecology ALLIANCE (www.er-alliance.org). The ALLIANCE is an Association open to other organisations throughout the world with similar interests in promoting radioecology. The ALLIANCE members recognised that their shared radioecological research could be enhanced by efficiently pooling resources among its partner organizations and prioritising group efforts along common themes of mutual interest. A major step in this prioritisation process was to develop a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA). An EC-funded Network of Excellence in Radioecology, called STAR (Strategy for Allied Radioecology), was formed, in part, to develop the SRA. This document is the first published draft of the SRA. The SRA outlines a suggested prioritisation of research topics in radioecology, with the goal of improving research efficiency and more rapidly advancing the science. It responds to the question: "What topics, if critically addressed over the next 20 years, would significantly advance radioecology?" The three Scientific Challenges presented within the SRA, with their 15 associated research lines, are a strategic vision of what radioecology can achieve in the future. Meeting these challenges will require a directed effort and collaboration with many organisations the world over. Addressing these challenges is important to the advancement of radioecology and in providing scientific knowledge to decision makers. Although the development of the draft SRA has largely been a European effort, the hope is that it will initiate an open dialogue within the international radioecology community and its stakeholders. This is an abbreviated document with the intention of introducing the SRA and inviting contributions from interested stakeholders. Critique and input for improving the SRA are welcomed via a link on the STAR website (www.star-radioecology.org). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

MIMIC II: a massive temporal ICU patient database to support research in intelligent patient monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saeed, M.; Lieu, C.; Raber, G.; Mark, R. G.

2002-01-01

Development and evaluation of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) decision-support systems would be greatly facilitated by the availability of a large-scale ICU patient database. Following our previous efforts with the MIMIC (Multi-parameter Intelligent Monitoring for Intensive Care) Database, we have leveraged advances in networking and storage technologies to develop a far more massive temporal database, MIMIC II. MIMIC II is an ongoing effort: data is continuously and prospectively archived from all ICU patients in our hospital. MIMIC II now consists of over 800 ICU patient records including over 120 gigabytes of data and is growing. A customized archiving system was used to store continuously up to four waveforms and 30 different parameters from ICU patient monitors. An integrated user-friendly relational database was developed for browsing of patients' clinical information (lab results, fluid balance, medications, nurses' progress notes). Based upon its unprecedented size and scope, MIMIC II will prove to be an important resource for intelligent patient monitoring research, and will support efforts in medical data mining and knowledge-discovery.

Expert elicitation, uncertainty, and the value of information in controlling invasive species

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Fred A.; Smith, Brian J.; Bonneau, Mathieu; Martin, Julien; Romagosa, Christina; Mazzotti, Frank J.; Waddle, J. Hardin; Reed, Robert; Eckles, Jennifer Kettevrlin; Vitt, Laurie J.

2017-01-01

We illustrate the utility of expert elicitation, explicit recognition of uncertainty, and the value of information for directing management and research efforts for invasive species, using tegu lizards (Salvator merianae) in southern Florida as a case study. We posited a post-birth pulse, matrix model in which four age classes of tegus are recognized: hatchlings, 1 year-old, 2 year-olds, and 3 + year-olds. This matrix model was parameterized using a 3-point process to elicit estimates of tegu demographic rates in southern Florida from 10 herpetology experts. We fit statistical distributions for each parameter and for each expert, then drew and pooled a large number of replicate samples from these to form a distribution for each demographic parameter. Using these distributions, as well as the observed correlations among elicited values, we generated a large sample of matrix population models to infer how the tegu population would respond to control efforts. We used the concepts of Pareto efficiency and stochastic dominance to conclude that targeting older age classes at relatively high rates appears to have the best chance of minimizing tegu abundance and control costs. We conclude that expert opinion combined with an explicit consideration of uncertainty can be valuable in conducting an initial assessment of what control strategy, effort, and monetary resources are needed to reduce and eventually eliminate the invader. Scientists, in turn, can use the value of information to focus research in a way that not only increases the efficacy of control, but minimizes costs as well.

Fresnel Lens Characterization for Potential Use in an Unpiloted Atmospheric Vehicle DIAL Receiver System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fastig, Shlomo; Deoung, Russell J.

1998-01-01

Acrylic plastic Fresnel lenses are very light and can have large diameters. Such lenses could be used in lidar telescope receivers if the focal spot is not too large or distorted. This research effort characterizes the focal spot diameter produced by a Fresnel lens with a diameter of 30.5 cm (12 in.). It was found that the focal spot diameter varied from 1.2 mm at 750 nm to 1.6 mm at 910 nm. The focal spot was irregular and not easily described by a Gaussian profile.

Flexibility of space structures makes design shaky

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hearth, D. P.; Boyer, W. J.

1985-01-01

An evaluation is made of the development status of high stiffness space structures suitable for orbital construction or deployment of large diameter reflector antennas, with attention to the control system capabilities required by prospective space structure system types. The very low structural frequencies typical of very large, radio frequency antenna structures would be especially difficult for a control system to counteract. Vibration control difficulties extend across the frequency spectrum, even to optical and IR reflector systems. Current research and development efforts are characterized with respect to goals and prospects for success.

Progress in the Development of a Multiphase Turbulent Model of the Gas/Particle Flow in a Small-Caliber Ammunition Primer

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-08-01

Maneuver Ammunition Systems is acknowledged for continued support of this effort. This research was performed while the first author held a National...the ignition system (i.e., the primer in small-caliber guns, the primer and flashtube in medium-caliber guns, and the primer and igniter-tube in large...primer model that is compatible with the ARL- NGEN3 IB code is the subject of this report. The conventional ignition system for a large-caliber (120 mm

Case Study Investigations of Large-Amplitude Inertia-Gravity Wave Environments and Mesoscale Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bosart, Lance F.

2001-01-01

The research effort supported by NASA Grant NAG5-7469, awarded to the University at Albany, State University of New York (UA/SUNY), comprises the following two projects: (1) the observational study of large-amplitude inertia-gravity wave environments over the continental United States; and (2) the definition of opportunities and issues in extratropical cyclone dynamics and related phenomenological studies that may be addressed using high-resolution global datasets produced by the Data Assimilation Office (DAO) at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

25th anniversary article: a decade of organic/polymeric photovoltaic research.

PubMed

Dou, Letian; You, Jingbi; Hong, Ziruo; Xu, Zheng; Li, Gang; Street, Robert A; Yang, Yang

2013-12-10

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology has been developed and improved from a fancy concept with less than 1% power conversion efficiency (PCE) to over 10% PCE, particularly through the efforts in the last decade. The significant progress is the result of multidisciplinary research ranging from chemistry, material science, physics, and engineering. These efforts include the design and synthesis of novel compounds, understanding and controlling the film morphology, elucidating the device mechanisms, developing new device architectures, and improving large-scale manufacture. All of these achievements catalyzed the rapid growth of the OPV technology. This review article takes a retrospective look at the research and development of OPV, and focuses on recent advances of solution-processed materials and devices during the last decade, particular the polymer version of the materials and devices. The work in this field is exciting and OPV technology is a promising candidate for future thin film solar cells. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Development of breeding populations of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) that are specific pathogen-free for rhesus cytomegalovirus.

PubMed

Barry, Peter A; Strelow, Lisa

2008-02-01

Development of breeding colonies of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) that are specific pathogen-free (SPF) for rhesus cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) is relatively straightforward and requires few modifications from current SPF programs. Infants separated from the dam at or within a few days of birth and cohoused with similarly treated animals remain RhCMV seronegative indefinitely, provided they are never directly or indirectly exposed to a RhCMV-infected monkey. By systematically cohousing seronegative animals into larger social cohorts, breeding populations of animals SPF for RhCMV can be established. The additional costs involved in expanding the current definition of SPF status to include RhCMV are incremental compared with the money already being spent on existing SPF efforts. Moreover, the large increase in research opportunities available for RhCMV-free animals arguably would far exceed the development costs. Potential new areas of research and further expansion of existing research efforts involving these newly defined SPF animals would have direct implications for improvements in human health.

Ion drift meter research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heelis, Roderick A.

1994-01-01

The final activity period for the DE project has been particularly productive. This period has seen the final delivery of geophysical data sets to the National Space Science Data Center, the granting of three Ph.D. degrees from cumulative work on the project, the operation of automatic data access and display routines for the data, and an increased effort in research and publication of the data. As before the research activities, largely devoted to studies involving the dynamics of the ionosphere, utilize data from the IDM and the RPA and thus the work is not easily attributable to one or the other of these separately funded efforts. In this final report we provide brief descriptions of the work accomplished in the final phase of the program. The Dynamics Explorer program has provided a significant opportunity for much of the community to participate in the data analysis and interpretation. The data, now residing in the national space science data center, are a great legacy that should continue to yield important results for many years.

A review of turbomachinery blade-row interaction research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Todd E.

1988-01-01

Analytical and experimental research in the area of unsteady aerodynamics of turbomachinery has conventionally been applied to blading which oscillates when placed in a uniformly flowing fluid. Comparatively less effort has been offered for the study of blading which is subjected to nonuniformities within the flow field. The fluid dynamic environment of a blade-row embedded within multi-stage turbomachines is dominated by such highly unsteady fluid flow conditions. The production of wakes and circumferential pressure variations from adjacent blade-rows causes large unsteady energy transfers between the fluid and the blades. Determination of the forced response of a blade requires the ability to predict the unsteady loads which are induced by these aerodynamic sources. A review of research publications was done to determine recent investigations of the response of turbomachinery blading subjected to aerodynamic excitations. Such excitations are a direct result of the blade-row aerodynamic interaction which occurs between adjacent cascades of blades. The reports and papers reviewed have been organized into areas emphasizing experimental or analytical efforts.

Glass Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, M. C.

1985-01-01

Research efforts span three general areas of glass science: glass refining, gel-derived glasses, and nucleation and crystallization of glasses. Gas bubbles which are present in a glass product are defects which may render the glass totally useless for the end application. For example, optical glasses, laser host glasses, and a variety of other specialty glasses must be prepared virtually defect free to be employable. Since a major mechanism of bubble removal, buoyant rise, is virtually inoperative in microgravity, glass fining will be especially difficult in space. On the other hand, the suppression of buoyant rise and the ability to perform containerless melting experiments in space allows the opportunity to carry out several unique bubble experiments in space. Gas bubble dissolution studies may be performed at elevated temperatures for large bubbles with negligible bubble motion. Also, bubble nucleation studies may be performed without the disturbing feature of heterogeneous bubble nucleation at the platinum walls. Ground based research efforts are being performed in support of these potential flight experiments.

Customer relationship management in the contract pharmaceutical industry: an exploratory study for measuring success.

PubMed

Kros, John F; Nadler, Scott; Molis, Justin

2007-01-01

Managing customer relationships is a very important issue in business-to-business markets. This research investigates the growing number of available resources defining Customer Relationship Management (CRM) efforts, and how they are being applied within the Contract Pharmaceutical Manufacturing industry. Exploratory study results using face-to-face and telephone questionnaires based on four criteria for rating a company's CRM efforts are presented. Data was collected from large Contract Pharmaceutical Manufacturing companies in the US market. The results and conclusions are discussed relating how the Contract Pharmaceutical Manufacturing industry is implementing CRM including some potential steps to take when considering a CRM initiative.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as predictors of work effort: the moderating role of achievement goals.

PubMed

Dysvik, Anders; Kuvaas, Bård

2013-09-01

This research explored the roles of intrinsic motivation (IM) and extrinsic motivation (EM) and the 2 × 2 model of achievement goals as predictors of increased work effort (WE). A cross-lagged field study was conducted among 1,441 employees from three large Norwegian service organizations across a 10-month time span. The results showed that the relationship between IM and increased WE was more positive for employees with high levels of mastery-approach goals. This observation suggests that having congruent goals may accentuate the positive relationship between IM and WE. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

Alzheimer disease research in the 21st century: past and current failures, new perspectives and funding priorities.

PubMed

Pistollato, Francesca; Ohayon, Elan L; Lam, Ann; Langley, Gillian R; Novak, Thomas J; Pamies, David; Perry, George; Trushina, Eugenia; Williams, Robin S B; Roher, Alex E; Hartung, Thomas; Harnad, Stevan; Barnard, Neal; Morris, Martha Clare; Lai, Mei-Chun; Merkley, Ryan; Chandrasekera, P Charukeshi

2016-06-28

Much of Alzheimer disease (AD) research has been traditionally based on the use of animals, which have been extensively applied in an effort to both improve our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease and to test novel therapeutic approaches. However, decades of such research have not effectively translated into substantial therapeutic success for human patients. Here we critically discuss these issues in order to determine how existing human-based methods can be applied to study AD pathology and develop novel therapeutics. These methods, which include patient-derived cells, computational analysis and models, together with large-scale epidemiological studies represent novel and exciting tools to enhance and forward AD research. In particular, these methods are helping advance AD research by contributing multifactorial and multidimensional perspectives, especially considering the crucial role played by lifestyle risk factors in the determination of AD risk. In addition to research techniques, we also consider related pitfalls and flaws in the current research funding system. Conversely, we identify encouraging new trends in research and government policy. In light of these new research directions, we provide recommendations regarding prioritization of research funding. The goal of this document is to stimulate scientific and public discussion on the need to explore new avenues in AD research, considering outcome and ethics as core principles to reliably judge traditional research efforts and eventually undertake new research strategies.

Alzheimer disease research in the 21st century: past and current failures, new perspectives and funding priorities

PubMed Central

Pistollato, Francesca; Ohayon, Elan L.; Lam, Ann; Langley, Gillian R.; Novak, Thomas J.; Pamies, David; Perry, George; Trushina, Eugenia; Williams, Robin S.B.; Roher, Alex E.; Hartung, Thomas; Harnad, Stevan; Barnard, Neal; Morris, Martha Clare; Lai, Mei-Chun; Merkley, Ryan; Chandrasekera, P. Charukeshi

2016-01-01

Much of Alzheimer disease (AD) research has been traditionally based on the use of animals, which have been extensively applied in an effort to both improve our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease and to test novel therapeutic approaches. However, decades of such research have not effectively translated into substantial therapeutic success for human patients. Here we critically discuss these issues in order to determine how existing human-based methods can be applied to study AD pathology and develop novel therapeutics. These methods, which include patient-derived cells, computational analysis and models, together with large-scale epidemiological studies represent novel and exciting tools to enhance and forward AD research. In particular, these methods are helping advance AD research by contributing multifactorial and multidimensional perspectives, especially considering the crucial role played by lifestyle risk factors in the determination of AD risk. In addition to research techniques, we also consider related pitfalls and flaws in the current research funding system. Conversely, we identify encouraging new trends in research and government policy. In light of these new research directions, we provide recommendations regarding prioritization of research funding. The goal of this document is to stimulate scientific and public discussion on the need to explore new avenues in AD research, considering outcome and ethics as core principles to reliably judge traditional research efforts and eventually undertake new research strategies. PMID:27229915

Ethical issues in research with children and young people.

PubMed

Matutina, Robin E

2009-10-01

This article, which concentrates largely on literature from the United States, discusses the ethical aspects of research with children, beginning with the historical ill-treatment of children and extending to the present-day protections. Researchers struggle to find the balance that would most benefit this vulnerable population. Children must be protected but society deserves the knowledge that can only be gained through child-specific research. Ethical questions arise through the presentation of historical and current cases of children involved in or excluded from research. Examples of ethical dilemmas are presented in an effort to allow the reader to learn from the past while seeking to provide research-based care today. Strategies are included to help safeguard the autonomy of the child who participates in research.

Dynamics Modeling and Simulation of Large Transport Airplanes in Upset Conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foster, John V.; Cunningham, Kevin; Fremaux, Charles M.; Shah, Gautam H.; Stewart, Eric C.; Rivers, Robert A.; Wilborn, James E.; Gato, William

2005-01-01

As part of NASA's Aviation Safety and Security Program, research has been in progress to develop aerodynamic modeling methods for simulations that accurately predict the flight dynamics characteristics of large transport airplanes in upset conditions. The motivation for this research stems from the recognition that simulation is a vital tool for addressing loss-of-control accidents, including applications to pilot training, accident reconstruction, and advanced control system analysis. The ultimate goal of this effort is to contribute to the reduction of the fatal accident rate due to loss-of-control. Research activities have involved accident analyses, wind tunnel testing, and piloted simulation. Results have shown that significant improvements in simulation fidelity for upset conditions, compared to current training simulations, can be achieved using state-of-the-art wind tunnel testing and aerodynamic modeling methods. This paper provides a summary of research completed to date and includes discussion on key technical results, lessons learned, and future research needs.

Loosening the Ties That Bind: The Limitations of Youth-Centricity in Higher Education Admissions, Research, and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iloh, Constance

2018-01-01

Much of what is known about college access, admissions, and student experiences is largely a result of studies and practices focused on "traditional-aged" college students. While these studies and efforts have provided substantial information to guide our field, they are inherently limited by their intentional and narrow focus on younger…

Implementation of the fire and fire surrogate study— a national research effort to evaluate the consequences of fuel reduction treatments

Treesearch

Andrew Youngblood; Kerry L. Metlen; Eric E. Knapp; Kenneth W. Outcalt; Scott L. Stephens; Thomas A. Waldrop; Daniel Yaussy

2005-01-01

Many fire-dependent forests today are denser, contain fewer large trees, have higher fuel loads, and greater fuel continuity than occurred under historical fire regimes. These conditions increase the probability of unnaturally severe wildfires. Silviculturists are increasingly being asked to design fuel reduction treatments to help protect existing and future forest...

A Strategy for Chapter I Planning and Evaluation in School-Based vs. District-Based Projects: Spinoffs from the School Effectiveness Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slaughter, Helen B.; And Others

Although many large districts have centrally organized their Chapter 1 (Education Consolidation and Improvement Act) compensatory programs at the district and project levels, elementary school improvement efforts are strongly tied to local school autonomy and principal leadership. This paper analyzes the Tucson (Arizona) Unified School District's…

Investigating the "Black Box" of Effective Teaching: The Relationship between Teachers' Perception and Student Achievement in a Large Urban District

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muñoz, Marco A.; Scoskie, Julie R.; French, Diana L.

2013-01-01

Given the international need to improve student learning, there is nothing more important than classroom teachers. Obtaining a deeper understanding of effective classrooms is a priority if educational reform efforts are to succeed in any educational system around the world. In the last decade, educational researchers have expanded the knowledge…

The Politics of Achievement Gaps: U.S. Public Opinion on Race-Based and Wealth-Based Differences in Test Scores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valant, Jon; Newark, Daniel A.

2016-01-01

For decades, researchers have documented large differences in average test scores between minority and White students and between poor and wealthy students. These gaps are a focal point of reformers' and policymakers' efforts to address educational inequities. However, the U.S. public's views on achievement gaps have received little attention from…

A Personal and Collaborative Journey of Change: Lessons Learned about Leadership, Mentoring and Motivation from an Educational Community's Work with Donald Graves

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jasinski, Barbara Plummer

2013-01-01

Change is often expected as the logical outcome of large scale investments in professional development, yet research studies (e.g., Tyack & Cuban, 1995; Lipson, Mosenthal & Woodside-Jiron, 2000; Schraw & Olafson, 2002) note wide variations in instructional practice despite such efforts. This qualitative inquiry was designed to…

Connecticut permanent long-term bridge monitoring network, volume 5 : wireless monitoring of the hung span in a large truss bridge - I-95 NB over the Thames River in New London (bridge #3819).

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-08-01

This report describes the instrumentation and data acquisition for the center hung segment in the largest : truss bridge in Connecticut, located on the interstate system. The monitoring system was developed as a : joint effort between researchers at ...

Problems of Applying Communication/Behavior Theories to a Program of Smoking Reduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, Samuel L.; And Others

Because the use of tobacco contributes to a large number of deaths each year in the United States, a current research project at the University of Iowa tests the application of a number of theoretical ideas--including social bonding, diffusion, and the spiral of silence--and attempts to develop new ideas in an effort to reduce smoking. The…

Data Storage Hierarchy Systems for Data Base Computers

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-08-01

Thesis Supervisor Accepted by ................................................ Chairman, Department Committee - /-111 Report...failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE AUG 1979 2. REPORT...with very large capacity and small access time. As part of the INFOPLEX research effort, this thesis is focused on the study of high performance, highly

Preparing the Next Generations of Technology Project Managers to Lead through Knowledge Sharing: A Case Study at a Large Transportation Company

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kargbo, Michelle

2013-01-01

The purpose of this research was to identify knowledge transfer gaps and current practices, prepare current project managers to accept the challenges associated with leadership opportunities that are coming available due to retirements through cross training efforts and succession planning, and to identify the proper management of knowledge…

Large eddy simulations and direct numerical simulations of high speed turbulent reacting flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Givi, P.; Frankel, S. H.; Adumitroaie, V.; Sabini, G.; Madnia, C. K.

1993-01-01

The primary objective of this research is to extend current capabilities of Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) for the computational analyses of high speed reacting flows. Our efforts in the first two years of this research have been concentrated on a priori investigations of single-point Probability Density Function (PDF) methods for providing subgrid closures in reacting turbulent flows. In the efforts initiated in the third year, our primary focus has been on performing actual LES by means of PDF methods. The approach is based on assumed PDF methods and we have performed extensive analysis of turbulent reacting flows by means of LES. This includes simulations of both three-dimensional (3D) isotropic compressible flows and two-dimensional reacting planar mixing layers. In addition to these LES analyses, some work is in progress to assess the extent of validity of our assumed PDF methods. This assessment is done by making detailed companions with recent laboratory data in predicting the rate of reactant conversion in parallel reacting shear flows. This report provides a summary of our achievements for the first six months of the third year of this program.

Pulse Shape Discrimination in the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haufe, Christopher; Majorana Collaboration

2017-09-01

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is an experiment constructed to search for neutrinoless double-beta decays in germanium-76 and to demonstrate the feasibility to deploy a large-scale experiment in a phased and modular fashion. It consists of two modular arrays of natural and 76Ge-enriched germanium p-type point contact detectors totaling 44.1 kg, located at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. A large effort is underway to analyze the data currently being taken by the DEMONSTRATOR. Key components of this effort are analysis tools that allow for pulse shape discrimination-techniques that significantly reduce background levels in the neutrinoless double-beta decay region of interest. These tools are able to identify and reject multi-site events from Compton scattering as well as events from alpha particle interactions. This work serves as an overview for these analysis tools and highlights the unique advantages that the HPGe p-type point contact detector provides to pulse shape discrimination. This material is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, the Particle Astrophysics and Nuclear Physics Programs of the National Science Foundation, and the Sanford Underground Research Facility.

Development of Experimental Icing Simulation Capability for Full-Scale Swept Wings: Hybrid Design Process, Years 1 and 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fujiwara, Gustavo; Bragg, Mike; Triphahn, Chris; Wiberg, Brock; Woodard, Brian; Loth, Eric; Malone, Adam; Paul, Bernard; Pitera, David; Wilcox, Pete;

Northwestern University Schizophrenia Data and Software Tool (NUSDAST)

PubMed Central

Wang, Lei; Kogan, Alex; Cobia, Derin; Alpert, Kathryn; Kolasny, Anthony; Miller, Michael I.; Marcus, Daniel

2013-01-01

The schizophrenia research community has invested substantial resources on collecting, managing and sharing large neuroimaging datasets. As part of this effort, our group has collected high resolution magnetic resonance (MR) datasets from individuals with schizophrenia, their non-psychotic siblings, healthy controls and their siblings. This effort has resulted in a growing resource, the Northwestern University Schizophrenia Data and Software Tool (NUSDAST), an NIH-funded data sharing project to stimulate new research. This resource resides on XNAT Central, and it contains neuroimaging (MR scans, landmarks and surface maps for deep subcortical structures, and FreeSurfer cortical parcellation and measurement data), cognitive (cognitive domain scores for crystallized intelligence, working memory, episodic memory, and executive function), clinical (demographic, sibling relationship, SAPS and SANS psychopathology), and genetic (20 polymorphisms) data, collected from more than 450 subjects, most with 2-year longitudinal follow-up. A neuroimaging mapping, analysis and visualization software tool, CAWorks, is also part of this resource. Moreover, in making our existing neuroimaging data along with the associated meta-data and computational tools publically accessible, we have established a web-based information retrieval portal that allows the user to efficiently search the collection. This research-ready dataset meaningfully combines neuroimaging data with other relevant information, and it can be used to help facilitate advancing neuroimaging research. It is our hope that this effort will help to overcome some of the commonly recognized technical barriers in advancing neuroimaging research such as lack of local organization and standard descriptions. PMID:24223551

Northwestern University Schizophrenia Data and Software Tool (NUSDAST).

PubMed

Wang, Lei; Kogan, Alex; Cobia, Derin; Alpert, Kathryn; Kolasny, Anthony; Miller, Michael I; Marcus, Daniel

2013-01-01

The schizophrenia research community has invested substantial resources on collecting, managing and sharing large neuroimaging datasets. As part of this effort, our group has collected high resolution magnetic resonance (MR) datasets from individuals with schizophrenia, their non-psychotic siblings, healthy controls and their siblings. This effort has resulted in a growing resource, the Northwestern University Schizophrenia Data and Software Tool (NUSDAST), an NIH-funded data sharing project to stimulate new research. This resource resides on XNAT Central, and it contains neuroimaging (MR scans, landmarks and surface maps for deep subcortical structures, and FreeSurfer cortical parcellation and measurement data), cognitive (cognitive domain scores for crystallized intelligence, working memory, episodic memory, and executive function), clinical (demographic, sibling relationship, SAPS and SANS psychopathology), and genetic (20 polymorphisms) data, collected from more than 450 subjects, most with 2-year longitudinal follow-up. A neuroimaging mapping, analysis and visualization software tool, CAWorks, is also part of this resource. Moreover, in making our existing neuroimaging data along with the associated meta-data and computational tools publically accessible, we have established a web-based information retrieval portal that allows the user to efficiently search the collection. This research-ready dataset meaningfully combines neuroimaging data with other relevant information, and it can be used to help facilitate advancing neuroimaging research. It is our hope that this effort will help to overcome some of the commonly recognized technical barriers in advancing neuroimaging research such as lack of local organization and standard descriptions.

NASA and Superalloys: A Customer, a Participant, and a Referee

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nathal, Michael V.

2008-01-01

NASA has had a long history of research and development in the field of superalloys. These efforts have continued today, where the latest advancements in turbine disk and blade technologies are being developed. Although NASA does support military flight systems, its predominant role is in supporting civilian air transportation systems, and thus has goals for improving fuel efficiency, emissions, noise, and safety of today s aircraft. NASA has traditionally served several distinct but complimentary roles as participants in multi-disciplinary research teams, as customers who fund research and development efforts at industry and universities, and as referees who can address broad issues that affect the entire aeronautics community. Because of our longer range viewpoint, we can take on higher risk, higher reward research topics. NASA can also serve as an intermediary between the basic research performed primarily at universities and the development efforts emphasized by industry. By interacting with individual companies, NASA can identify areas of general interest and problems common to a large portion of the aeronautics community, and devise programs aimed at solving these problems. In space missions, NASA is a direct customer responsible for developing vehicles. In the case of the Space Shuttle, NASA has worked with various contractors to design and build numerous components out of superalloys. Another fascinating area for the use of superalloys is in power systems for long life applications in space. Potential missions include providing electric power for deep space missions, surface rovers, including lunar and Mars, and stationary power generators on the lunar surface.

Federal R and D Reductions, Market Share, and Aerospace Information Usage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rocker, JoAnne; Roncaglia, George

2000-01-01

Reductions in federally funded research have a rippling effect over the entire aerospace industry. The decline in federal R&D spending in aerospace in recent years coincides with declines in U.S. aerospace market share, One of the lesser-understood factors in the declining U.S. market share may be the differing ways and intensity with which the U.S. and its competitors approach another trend, the increasing availability of large amounts of aerospace research information on the World Wide Web. The U.S. has been a pioneer in making research information available in electronic form, and the international community has long been a heavy consumer of that information. In essence, the U.S. contributes to the research efforts of its competitors, thus contributing to foreign aerospace consortiums efforts to gain market share in the aerospace industry, This may be a cautionary note to the U.S. aerospace industry to consider the use of R&D output in its own development and strategy because the foreign competition is using the U.S. scientific and technical literature.

Research and Technology 1997

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

This report highlights the challenging work accomplished during fiscal year 1997 by Ames research scientists and engineers. The work is divided into accomplishments that support the goals of NASA s four Strategic Enterprises: Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology, Space Science, Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS), and Earth Science. NASA Ames Research Center s research effort in the Space, Earth, and HEDS Enterprises is focused i n large part to support Ames lead role for Astrobiology, which broadly defined is the scientific study of the origin, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This NASA initiative in Astrobiology is a broad science effort embracing basic research, technology development, and flight missions. Ames contributions to the Space Science Enterprise are focused in the areas of exobiology, planetary systems, astrophysics, and space technology. Ames supports the Earth Science Enterprise by conducting research and by developing technology with the objective of expanding our knowledge of the Earth s atmosphere and ecosystems. Finallv, Ames supports the HEDS Enterprise by conducting research, managing spaceflight projects, and developing technologies. A key objective is to understand the phenomena surrounding the effects of gravity on living things. Ames has also heen designated the Agency s Center of Evcellence for Information Technnlogv. The three cornerstones of Information Technology research at Ames are automated reasoning, human-centered computing, and high performance computing and networking.

Decentralized Data Sharing of Tissue Microarrays for Investigative Research in Oncology

PubMed Central

Chen, Wenjin; Schmidt, Cristina; Parashar, Manish; Reiss, Michael; Foran, David J.

2007-01-01

Tissue microarray technology (TMA) is a relatively new approach for efficiently and economically assessing protein and gene expression across large ensembles of tissue specimens. Tissue microarray technology holds great potential for reducing the time and cost associated with conducting research in tissue banking, proteomics, and outcome studies. However, the sheer volume of images and other data generated from even limited studies involving tissue microarrays quickly approach the processing capacity and resources of a division or department. This challenge is compounded by the fact that large-scale projects in several areas of modern research rely upon multi-institutional efforts in which investigators and resources are spread out over multiple campuses, cities, and states. To address some of the data management issues several leading institutions have begun to develop their own “in-house” systems, independently, but such data will be only minimally useful if it isn’t accessible to others in the scientific community. Investigators at different institutions studying the same or related disorders might benefit from the synergy of sharing results. To facilitate sharing of TMA data across different database implementations, the Technical Standards Committee of the Association for Pathology Informatics organized workshops in efforts to establish a standardized TMA data exchange specification. The focus of our research does not relate to the establishment of standards for exchange, but rather builds on these efforts and concentrates on the design, development and deployment of a decentralized collaboratory for the unsupervised characterization, and seamless and secure discovery and sharing of TMA data. Specifically, we present a self-organizing, peer-to-peer indexing and discovery infrastructure for quantitatively assessing digitized TMA’s. The system utilizes a novel, optimized decentralized search engine that supports flexible querying, while guaranteeing that once information has been stored in the system, it will be found with bounded costs. PMID:19081778

VME rollback hardware for time warp multiprocessor systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robb, Michael J.; Buzzell, Calvin A.

1992-01-01

The purpose of the research effort is to develop and demonstrate innovative hardware to implement specific rollback and timing functions required for efficient queue management and precision timekeeping in multiprocessor discrete event simulations. The previously completed phase 1 effort demonstrated the technical feasibility of building hardware modules which eliminate the state saving overhead of the Time Warp paradigm used in distributed simulations on multiprocessor systems. The current phase 2 effort will build multiple pre-production rollback hardware modules integrated with a network of Sun workstations, and the integrated system will be tested by executing a Time Warp simulation. The rollback hardware will be designed to interface with the greatest number of multiprocessor systems possible. The authors believe that the rollback hardware will provide for significant speedup of large scale discrete event simulation problems and allow multiprocessors using Time Warp to dramatically increase performance.

Understanding climate-induced migration through computational modeling: A critical overview with guidance for future efforts

DOE PAGES

Till, Charlotte; Haverkamp, Jamie; White, Devin; ...

2016-11-22

Climate change has the potential to displace large populations in many parts of the developed and developing world. Understanding why, how, and when environmental migrants decide to move is critical to successful strategic planning within organizations tasked with helping the affected groups, and mitigating their systemic impacts. One way to support planning is through the employment of computational modeling techniques. Models can provide a window into possible futures, allowing planners and decision makers to test different scenarios in order to understand what might happen. While modeling is a powerful tool, it presents both opportunities and challenges. This paper builds amore » foundation for the broader community of model consumers and developers by: providing an overview of pertinent climate-induced migration research, describing some different types of models and how to select the most relevant one(s), highlighting three perspectives on obtaining data to use in said model(s), and the consequences associated with each. It concludes with two case studies based on recent research that illustrate what can happen when ambitious modeling efforts are undertaken without sufficient planning, oversight, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Lastly, we hope that the broader community can learn from our experiences and apply this knowledge to their own modeling research efforts.« less

Understanding climate-induced migration through computational modeling: A critical overview with guidance for future efforts

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

Till, Charlotte; Haverkamp, Jamie; White, Devin

Climate change has the potential to displace large populations in many parts of the developed and developing world. Understanding why, how, and when environmental migrants decide to move is critical to successful strategic planning within organizations tasked with helping the affected groups, and mitigating their systemic impacts. One way to support planning is through the employment of computational modeling techniques. Models can provide a window into possible futures, allowing planners and decision makers to test different scenarios in order to understand what might happen. While modeling is a powerful tool, it presents both opportunities and challenges. This paper builds amore » foundation for the broader community of model consumers and developers by: providing an overview of pertinent climate-induced migration research, describing some different types of models and how to select the most relevant one(s), highlighting three perspectives on obtaining data to use in said model(s), and the consequences associated with each. It concludes with two case studies based on recent research that illustrate what can happen when ambitious modeling efforts are undertaken without sufficient planning, oversight, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Lastly, we hope that the broader community can learn from our experiences and apply this knowledge to their own modeling research efforts.« less

Research impact in the community-based health sciences: an analysis of 162 case studies from the 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework.

PubMed

Greenhalgh, Trisha; Fahy, Nick

2015-09-21

The 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) generated a unique database of impact case studies, each describing a body of research and impact beyond academia. We sought to explore the nature and mechanism of impact in a sample of these. The study design was manual content analysis of a large sample of impact case studies (producing mainly quantitative data), plus in-depth interpretive analysis of a smaller sub-sample (for qualitative detail), thereby generating both breadth and depth. For all 162 impact case studies submitted to sub-panel A2 in REF2014, we extracted data on study design(s), stated impacts and audiences, mechanisms of impact, and efforts to achieve impact. We analysed four case studies (selected as exemplars of the range of approaches to impact) in depth, including contacting the authors for their narratives of impact efforts. Most impact case studies described quantitative research (most commonly, trials) and depicted a direct, linear link between research and impact. Research was said to have influenced a guideline in 122 case studies, changed policy in 88, changed practice in 84, improved morbidity in 44 and reduced mortality in 25. Qualitative and participatory research designs were rare, and only one case study described a co-production model of impact. Eighty-two case studies described strong and ongoing linkages with policymakers, but only 38 described targeted knowledge translation activities. In 40 case studies, no active efforts to achieve impact were described. Models of good implementation practice were characterised by an ethical commitment by researchers, strong institutional support and a proactive, interdisciplinary approach to impact activities. REF2014 both inspired and documented significant efforts by UK researchers to achieve impact. But in contrast with the published evidence on research impact (which depicts much as occurring indirectly through non-linear mechanisms), this sub-panel seems to have captured mainly direct and relatively short-term impacts one step removed from patient outcomes. Limited impacts on morbidity and mortality, and researchers' relatively low emphasis on the processes and interactions through which indirect impacts may occur, are concerns. These findings have implications for multi-stakeholder research collaborations such as UK National Institute for Health Research Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care, which are built on non-linear models of impact.

Activation of the cannabinoid system in the nucleus accumbens affects effort-based decision making.

PubMed

Fatahi, Zahra; Haghparast, Abbas

2018-02-01

Effort-based decision making addresses how we make an action choice based on an integration of action and goal values. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is implicated in allowing an animal to overcome effort constraints to obtain greater benefits, and it has been previously shown that cannabis derivatives may affect such processes. Therefore, in this study, we intend to evaluate the involvement of the cannabinoid system in the entire NAc on effort-based decision making. Rats were trained in a T-maze cost-benefit decision making the task in which they could choose either to climb a barrier to obtain a large reward in one arm or run into the other arm without a barrier to obtaining a small reward. Following training, the animals were bilaterally implanted with guide cannulae in the NAc. On test day, rats received cannabinoid agonist (Win 55,212-2; 2, 10 and 50μM) and/or antagonist (AM251; 45μM), afterward percentage of large reward choice and latency of reward attainment were investigated. Results revealed that the administration of cannabinoid agonist led to decrease of large reward choice percentage such that the animals preferred to receive a small reward with low effort instead of receiving a large reward with high effort. The administration of antagonist solely did not affect effort-based decision making, but did attenuate the Win 55,212-2-induced impairments in effort allocation. In agonist-treated animals, the latency of reward collection increased. Moreover, when the effort was equated on both arms, the animals returned to choosing large reward showing that obtained results were not caused by spatial memory impairment. Our finding suggested that activation of the cannabinoid system in the NAc impaired effort-based decision making and led to rats were less willing to invest the physical effort to gain large reward. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Clinical research in Finland in 2002 and 2007: quantity and type

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Regardless of worries over clinical research and various initiatives to overcome problems, few quantitative data on the numbers and type of clinical research exist. This article aims to describe the volume and type of clinical research in 2002 and 2007 in Finland. Methods The research law in Finland requires all medical research to be submitted to regional ethics committees (RECs). Data from all new projects in 2002 and 2007 were collected from REC files and the characteristics of clinical projects (76% of all submissions) were analyzed. Results The number of clinical projects was large, but declining: 794 in 2002 and 762 in 2007. Drug research (mainly trials) represented 29% and 34% of the clinical projects; their total number had not declined, but those without a commercial sponsor had. The number of different principal investigators was large (630 and 581). Most projects were observational, while an experimental design was used in 43% of projects. Multi-center studies were common. In half of the projects, the main funder was health care or was done as unpaid work; 31% had industry funding as the main source. There was a clear difference in the type of research by sponsorship. Industry-funded research was largely drug research, international multi-center studies, with randomized controlled or other experimental design. The findings for the two years were similar, but a university hospital as the main research site became less common between 2002 and 2007. Conclusions Clinical research projects were common, but numbers are declining; research was largely funded by health care, with many physicians involved. Drug trials were a minority, even though most research promotion efforts and regulation concerns them. PMID:23680289

Clinical research in Finland in 2002 and 2007: quantity and type.

PubMed

Hemminki, Elina; Virtanen, Jorma; Veerus, Piret; Regushevskaya, Elena

2013-05-16

Regardless of worries over clinical research and various initiatives to overcome problems, few quantitative data on the numbers and type of clinical research exist. This article aims to describe the volume and type of clinical research in 2002 and 2007 in Finland. The research law in Finland requires all medical research to be submitted to regional ethics committees (RECs). Data from all new projects in 2002 and 2007 were collected from REC files and the characteristics of clinical projects (76% of all submissions) were analyzed. The number of clinical projects was large, but declining: 794 in 2002 and 762 in 2007. Drug research (mainly trials) represented 29% and 34% of the clinical projects; their total number had not declined, but those without a commercial sponsor had. The number of different principal investigators was large (630 and 581). Most projects were observational, while an experimental design was used in 43% of projects. Multi-center studies were common. In half of the projects, the main funder was health care or was done as unpaid work; 31% had industry funding as the main source. There was a clear difference in the type of research by sponsorship. Industry-funded research was largely drug research, international multi-center studies, with randomized controlled or other experimental design. The findings for the two years were similar, but a university hospital as the main research site became less common between 2002 and 2007. Clinical research projects were common, but numbers are declining; research was largely funded by health care, with many physicians involved. Drug trials were a minority, even though most research promotion efforts and regulation concerns them.

Large wind turbine generators. [NASA program status and potential costs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomas, R. L.; Donovon, R. M.

1978-01-01

The large wind turbine portion of the Federal Wind Energy Program consists of two major project efforts: (1) the Mod-0 test bed project for supporting research technology, and (2) the large experimental wind turbines for electric utility applications. The Mod-0 has met its primary objective of providing the entire wind energy program with early operations and performance data. The large experimental wind turbines to be tested in utility applications include three of the Mod-0A (200 kW) type, one Mod-1 (2000 kW), and possibly several of the Mod-2 (2500 kW) designs. This paper presents a description of these wind turbine systems, their programmatic status, and a summary of their potential costs.

A Research Agenda for Helminth Diseases of Humans: Modelling for Control and Elimination

PubMed Central

Basáñez, María-Gloria; McCarthy, James S.; French, Michael D.; Yang, Guo-Jing; Walker, Martin; Gambhir, Manoj; Prichard, Roger K.; Churcher, Thomas S.

2012-01-01

Mathematical modelling of helminth infections has the potential to inform policy and guide research for the control and elimination of human helminthiases. However, this potential, unlike in other parasitic and infectious diseases, has yet to be realised. To place contemporary efforts in a historical context, a summary of the development of mathematical models for helminthiases is presented. These efforts are discussed according to the role that models can play in furthering our understanding of parasite population biology and transmission dynamics, and the effect on such dynamics of control interventions, as well as in enabling estimation of directly unobservable parameters, exploration of transmission breakpoints, and investigation of evolutionary outcomes of control. The Disease Reference Group on Helminth Infections (DRG4), established in 2009 by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), was given the mandate to review helminthiases research and identify research priorities and gaps. A research and development agenda for helminthiasis modelling is proposed based on identified gaps that need to be addressed for models to become useful decision tools that can support research and control operations effectively. This agenda includes the use of models to estimate the impact of large-scale interventions on infection incidence; the design of sampling protocols for the monitoring and evaluation of integrated control programmes; the modelling of co-infections; the investigation of the dynamical relationship between infection and morbidity indicators; the improvement of analytical methods for the quantification of anthelmintic efficacy and resistance; the determination of programme endpoints; the linking of dynamical helminth models with helminth geostatistical mapping; and the investigation of the impact of climate change on human helminthiases. It is concluded that modelling should be embedded in helminth research, and in the planning, evaluation, and surveillance of interventions from the outset. Modellers should be essential members of interdisciplinary teams, propitiating a continuous dialogue with end users and stakeholders to reflect public health needs in the terrain, discuss the scope and limitations of models, and update biological assumptions and model outputs regularly. It is highlighted that to reach these goals, a collaborative framework must be developed for the collation, annotation, and sharing of databases from large-scale anthelmintic control programmes, and that helminth modellers should join efforts to tackle key questions in helminth epidemiology and control through the sharing of such databases, and by using diverse, yet complementary, modelling approaches. PMID:22545162

Creation of clinical research databases in the 21st century: a practical algorithm for HIPAA Compliance.

PubMed

Schell, Scott R

2006-02-01

Enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) began in April, 2003. Designed as a law mandating health insurance availability when coverage was lost, HIPAA imposed sweeping and broad-reaching protections of patient privacy. These changes dramatically altered clinical research by placing sizeable regulatory burdens upon investigators with threat of severe and costly federal and civil penalties. This report describes development of an algorithmic approach to clinical research database design based upon a central key-shared data (CK-SD) model allowing researchers to easily analyze, distribute, and publish clinical research without disclosure of HIPAA Protected Health Information (PHI). Three clinical database formats (small clinical trial, operating room performance, and genetic microchip array datasets) were modeled using standard structured query language (SQL)-compliant databases. The CK database was created to contain PHI data, whereas a shareable SD database was generated in real-time containing relevant clinical outcome information while protecting PHI items. Small (< 100 records), medium (< 50,000 records), and large (> 10(8) records) model databases were created, and the resultant data models were evaluated in consultation with an HIPAA compliance officer. The SD database models complied fully with HIPAA regulations, and resulting "shared" data could be distributed freely. Unique patient identifiers were not required for treatment or outcome analysis. Age data were resolved to single-integer years, grouping patients aged > 89 years. Admission, discharge, treatment, and follow-up dates were replaced with enrollment year, and follow-up/outcome intervals calculated eliminating original data. Two additional data fields identified as PHI (treating physician and facility) were replaced with integer values, and the original data corresponding to these values were stored in the CK database. Use of the algorithm at the time of database design did not increase cost or design effort. The CK-SD model for clinical database design provides an algorithm for investigators to create, maintain, and share clinical research data compliant with HIPAA regulations. This model is applicable to new projects and large institutional datasets, and should decrease regulatory efforts required for conduct of clinical research. Application of the design algorithm early in the clinical research enterprise does not increase cost or the effort of data collection.

Engineering youth service system infrastructure: Hawaii's continued efforts at large-scale implementation through knowledge management strategies.

PubMed

Nakamura, Brad J; Mueller, Charles W; Higa-McMillan, Charmaine; Okamura, Kelsie H; Chang, Jaime P; Slavin, Lesley; Shimabukuro, Scott

2014-01-01

Hawaii's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division provides a unique illustration of a youth public mental health system with a long and successful history of large-scale quality improvement initiatives. Many advances are linked to flexibly organizing and applying knowledge gained from the scientific literature and move beyond installing a limited number of brand-named treatment approaches that might be directly relevant only to a small handful of system youth. This article takes a knowledge-to-action perspective and outlines five knowledge management strategies currently under way in Hawaii. Each strategy represents one component of a larger coordinated effort at engineering a service system focused on delivering both brand-named treatment approaches and complimentary strategies informed by the evidence base. The five knowledge management examples are (a) a set of modular-based professional training activities for currently practicing therapists, (b) an outreach initiative for supporting youth evidence-based practices training at Hawaii's mental health-related professional programs, (c) an effort to increase consumer knowledge of and demand for youth evidence-based practices, (d) a practice and progress agency performance feedback system, and (e) a sampling of system-level research studies focused on understanding treatment as usual. We end by outlining a small set of lessons learned and a longer term vision for embedding these efforts into the system's infrastructure.

Improving science literacy and education through space life sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacLeish, Marlene Y.; Moreno, Nancy P.; Tharp, Barbara Z.; Denton, Jon J.; Jessup, George; Clipper, Milton C.

2001-08-01

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) encourages open involvement by scientists and the public at large in the Institute's activities. Through its Education and Public Outreach Program, the Institute is supporting national efforts to improve Kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) and undergraduate education and to communicate knowledge generated by space life science research to lay audiences. Three academic institutions—Baylor College of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine and Texas A&M University—are designing, producing, field-testing, and disseminating a comprehensive array of programs and products to achieve this goal. The objectives of the NSBRI Education and Public Outreach program are to: promote systemic change in elementary and secondary science education; attract undergraduate students—especially those from underrepresented groups—to careers in space life sciences, engineering and technology-based fields; increase scientific literacy; and to develop public and private sector partnerships that enhance and expand NSBRI efforts to reach students and families.

Comparison of Aircraft Icing Growth Assessment Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, William; Potapczuk, Mark G.; Levinson, Laurie H.

2011-01-01

A research project is underway to produce computer software that can accurately predict ice growth under any meteorological conditions for any aircraft surface. An extensive comparison of the results in a quantifiable manner against the database of ice shapes that have been generated in the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) has been performed, including additional data taken to extend the database in the Super-cooled Large Drop (SLD) regime. The project shows the differences in ice shape between LEWICE 3.2.2, GlennICE, and experimental data. The project addresses the validation of the software against a recent set of ice-shape data in the SLD regime. This validation effort mirrors a similar effort undertaken for previous validations of LEWICE. Those reports quantified the ice accretion prediction capabilities of the LEWICE software. Several ice geometry features were proposed for comparing ice shapes in a quantitative manner. The resulting analysis showed that LEWICE compared well to the available experimental data.

TravelingGeologist: an online platform for dissemination of earth science to the masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spencer, C. J.; Hoiland, C. W.; Gunderson, K. L.

2016-12-01

To more effectively inspire the next generation of scientists, the earth science community's public outreach efforts must adapt to the changing technological and informational ecosystems in which young people interact online (e.g. blogs, social media, viral marketing, web-based education, etc.). Although there are currently a number of successful individual and institutional efforts to reach potential students through web-based outlets, many of these efforts fail to connect primary researchers directly to a lay audience, relying instead on intermediaries that tend to dilute the recruiting impact of "producer-to-consumer" interactions. Few, if any of these efforts appear to have reached a critical mass of contributing authors and subscribed followers; and there are few available detailed metrics on growth trajectories, impact, or lay reach. We offer data from the TravelingGeologist as a case study in successful direct-to-consumer science outreach and recruitment. The TravelingGeologist is a non-profit, web-based platform on which earth scientists share their experiences in the field with the expressed purpose of attracting and inspiring a new generation of scientists. The TravelingGeologist website is supplemented by various social media platforms that market the content on the main site. Because TravelingGeologist accepts contributions from a variety of earth scientists, it also provides an arena whereon research summaries and vignettes can be shared with the large lay- and expert audience. This gives contributing authors an additional opportunity to demonstrate to government institutions that fund their research projects that they are engaging in efforts to communicate their results to the wider public. Beyond the ability to inspire new students and communicate science to the general public, it is our intent that TravelingGeologist will foster communication and promote collaboration within the earth science community. We have demonstrated that through well-designed web-based media in a wide array of social media markets, earth scientists can disseminate their research to the public and inspire the next generation of earth scientists.

Ethical aspects of the mitigation obstruction argument against climate engineering research.

PubMed

Morrow, David R

2014-12-28

Many commentators fear that climate engineering research might lead policy-makers to reduce mitigation efforts. Most of the literature on this so-called 'moral hazard' problem focuses on the prediction that climate engineering research would reduce mitigation efforts. This paper focuses on a related ethical question: Why would it be a bad thing if climate engineering research obstructed mitigation? If climate engineering promises to be effective enough, it might justify some reduction in mitigation. Climate policy portfolios involving sufficiently large or poorly planned reductions in mitigation, however, could lead to an outcome that would be worse than the portfolio that would be chosen in the absence of further climate engineering research. This paper applies three ethical perspectives to describe the kinds of portfolios that would be worse than that 'baseline portfolio'. The literature on climate engineering identifies various mechanisms that might cause policy-makers to choose these inferior portfolios, but it is difficult to know in advance whether the existence of these mechanisms means that climate engineering research really would lead to a worse outcome. In the light of that uncertainty, a precautionary approach suggests that researchers should take measures to reduce the risk of mitigation obstruction. Several such measures are suggested. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Advances in the Biology and Chemistry of Sialic Acids

PubMed Central

Chen, Xi; Varki, Ajit

2010-01-01

Sialic acids are a subset of nonulosonic acids, which are nine-carbon alpha-keto aldonic acids. Natural existing sialic acid-containing structures are presented in different sialic acid forms, various sialyl linkages, and on diverse underlying glycans. They play important roles in biological, pathological, and immunological processes. Sialobiology has been a challenging and yet attractive research area. Recent advances in chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis as well as large-scale E. coli cell-based production have provided a large library of sialoside standards and derivatives in amounts sufficient for structure-activity relationship studies. Sialoglycan microarrays provide an efficient platform for quick identification of preferred ligands for sialic acid-binding proteins. Future research on sialic acid will continue to be at the interface of chemistry and biology. Research efforts will not only lead to a better understanding of the biological and pathological importance of sialic acids and their diversity, but could also lead to the development of therapeutics. PMID:20020717

Genomics Education for the Public: Perspectives of Genomic Researchers and ELSI Advisors

PubMed Central

Jones, Sondra Smolek; Markey, Janell M.; Byerly, Katherine W.; Roberts, Megan C.

2014-01-01

Aims: For more than two decades genomic education of the public has been a significant challenge. As genomic information becomes integrated into daily life and routine clinical care, the need for public education is even more critical. We conducted a pilot study to learn how genomic researchers and ethical, legal, and social implications advisors who were affiliated with large-scale genomic variation studies have approached the issue of educating the public about genomics. Methods/Results: Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with researchers and advisors associated with the SNP/HAPMAP studies and the Cancer Genome Atlas Study. Respondents described approach(es) associated with educating the public about their study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed by team review. Although few respondents described formal educational efforts, most provided recommendations for what should/could be done, emphasizing the need for an overarching entity(s) to take responsibility to lead the effort to educate the public. Opposing views were described related to: who this should be; the overall goal of the educational effort; and the educational approach. Four thematic areas emerged: What is the rationale for educating the public about genomics?; Who is the audience?; Who should be responsible for this effort?; and What should the content be? Policy issues associated with these themes included the need to agree on philosophical framework(s) to guide the rationale, content, and target audiences for education programs; coordinate previous/ongoing educational efforts; and develop a centralized knowledge base. Suggestions for next steps are presented. Conclusion: A complex interplay of philosophical, professional, and cultural issues can create impediments to genomic education of the public. Many challenges, however, can be addressed by agreement on a guiding philosophical framework(s) and identification of a responsible entity(s) to provide leadership for developing/overseeing an appropriate infrastructure to support the coordination/integration/sharing and evaluation of educational efforts, benefiting consumers and professionals. PMID:24495163

Genomics education for the public: perspectives of genomic researchers and ELSI advisors.

PubMed

Dressler, Lynn G; Jones, Sondra Smolek; Markey, Janell M; Byerly, Katherine W; Roberts, Megan C

2014-03-01

For more than two decades genomic education of the public has been a significant challenge. As genomic information becomes integrated into daily life and routine clinical care, the need for public education is even more critical. We conducted a pilot study to learn how genomic researchers and ethical, legal, and social implications advisors who were affiliated with large-scale genomic variation studies have approached the issue of educating the public about genomics. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with researchers and advisors associated with the SNP/HAPMAP studies and the Cancer Genome Atlas Study. Respondents described approach(es) associated with educating the public about their study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed by team review. Although few respondents described formal educational efforts, most provided recommendations for what should/could be done, emphasizing the need for an overarching entity(s) to take responsibility to lead the effort to educate the public. Opposing views were described related to: who this should be; the overall goal of the educational effort; and the educational approach. Four thematic areas emerged: What is the rationale for educating the public about genomics?; Who is the audience?; Who should be responsible for this effort?; and What should the content be? Policy issues associated with these themes included the need to agree on philosophical framework(s) to guide the rationale, content, and target audiences for education programs; coordinate previous/ongoing educational efforts; and develop a centralized knowledge base. Suggestions for next steps are presented. A complex interplay of philosophical, professional, and cultural issues can create impediments to genomic education of the public. Many challenges, however, can be addressed by agreement on a guiding philosophical framework(s) and identification of a responsible entity(s) to provide leadership for developing/overseeing an appropriate infrastructure to support the coordination/integration/sharing and evaluation of educational efforts, benefiting consumers and professionals.

What Are the Goals of Popularising Astronomy for Scientists and Society?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luridiana, V.

2005-12-01

This project addresses the reasons that may motivate efforts to popularize astronomy. Data relevant to this research question were collected by means of focus groups involving professional astronomers at a large Spanish research institute, followed by a questionnaire to the same group of people. The data showed that the main driver for astronomy popularisation is personal satisfaction. Motivations related to the public responsibility of scientists are also important, but less important than the personal ones. These results are discussed in the context of the Spanish Public Understanding of Science (PUS) policy.

We're off to see the genome.

PubMed

Reilly, P R; Page, D C

1998-09-01

We discuss some societal and legal ramifications of the human genetics revolution. Our reflections were stimulated by discussions among scientists, citizens and legal experts at a large public symposium. We outline key issues regarding oversight of genetic research on human subjects, banking of DNA data by governments and corporations, the potential impact of behavioural genetics and effects upon racial and racist thinking. We contend that, in some cases, well-intentioned but naive efforts to protect the rights of individuals and groups may hurt everyone by blocking the progress of useful research.

Special issue of Computers and Fluids in honor of Cecil E. (Chuck) Leith

DOE PAGES

Zhou, Ye; Herring, Jackson

2017-05-12

Here, this special issue of Computers and Fluids is dedicated to Cecil E. (Chuck) Leith in honor of his research contributions, leadership in the areas of statistical fluid mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, and climate theory. Leith's contribution to these fields emerged from his interest in solving complex fluid flow problems--even those at high Mach numbers--in an era well before large scale supercomputing became the dominant mode of inquiry into these fields. Yet the issues raised and solved by his research effort are still of vital interest today.

Prediction of response of aircraft panels subjected to acoustic and thermal loads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mei, Chuh

1992-01-01

The primary effort of this research project has been focused on the development of analytical methods for the prediction of random response of structural panels subjected to combined and intense acoustic and thermal loads. The accomplishments on various acoustic fatigue research activities are described first, then followed by publications and theses. Topics covered include: transverse shear deformation; finite element models of vibrating composite laminates; large deflection vibration modeling; finite element analysis of thermal buckling; and prediction of three dimensional duct using boundary element method.

Special issue of Computers and Fluids in honor of Cecil E. (Chuck) Leith

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

Zhou, Ye; Herring, Jackson

Here, this special issue of Computers and Fluids is dedicated to Cecil E. (Chuck) Leith in honor of his research contributions, leadership in the areas of statistical fluid mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, and climate theory. Leith's contribution to these fields emerged from his interest in solving complex fluid flow problems--even those at high Mach numbers--in an era well before large scale supercomputing became the dominant mode of inquiry into these fields. Yet the issues raised and solved by his research effort are still of vital interest today.

Student and Faculty Views on Process of Science Skills at a Large, Research-Intensive University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Addis, Elizabeth A.; Powell-Coffman, Jo Anne

2018-01-01

The Association of American Colleges and Universities ranks multiple process of science (POS) skills among the top-10 skills employers seek in college graduates. As part of an effort to explore and align the emphasis on POS skills in our science departments, we sought three things: (a) to determine if faculty and students felt enough time was…

Highlights of Conference on Using Student Test Scores to Measure Teacher Performance: The State of the Art in Research and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guarino, Cassandra; Reckase, Mark D.; Wooldridge, Jeffrey M.

2013-01-01

The push for accountability in public schooling has extended to the measurement of teacher performance, accelerated by federal efforts through Race to the Top. Currently, a large number of states and districts across the country are computing measures of teacher performance based on the standardized test scores of their students and using them to…

Educational Technology and the Restructuring Movement: Lessons from Research on Computers in Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kell, Diane; And Others

This paper presents findings from a recently completed study of the use of computers in primary classrooms as one source of evidence concerning the role technology can play in school restructuring efforts. The sites for the study were selected by Apple Computer, Inc. in the spring of 1988 and included 43 classrooms in 10 schools in 6 large, mostly…

Sine Qua Non: Indispensable Resources for Ed Tech Professionals. Part 1: Educational Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conley, Kate

2004-01-01

Because the field of educational technology is so broad and dynamic, it is extremely difficult to find time to keep up with the best practices, current research, and innovative ideas. In an effort to help readers keep up their knowledge of the field and to determine some of the most interesting and useful resources to date, a large body of…

RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, AND SERVICEABILITY FOR PETASCALE HIGH-END COMPUTING AND BEYOND

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

Chokchai "Box" Leangsuksun

2011-05-31

Our project is a multi-institutional research effort that adopts interplay of RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, and SERVICEABILITY (RAS) aspects for solving resilience issues in highend scientific computing in the next generation of supercomputers. results lie in the following tracks: Failure prediction in a large scale HPC; Investigate reliability issues and mitigation techniques including in GPGPU-based HPC system; HPC resilience runtime & tools.

Support for Development of Electronics and Materials Technologies by the Governments of the United States, Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

General Accounting Office, Washington, DC.

The governments of the United States, Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom each have large research and development efforts involving government agencies, universities and industry. This document provides a comparative overview of policies and programs which contribute to the development of technologies in the general area of…

Findings and Preliminary Recommendations from the Michigan State and Indiana University Research Study of Value-Added Models to Evaluate Teacher Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guarino, Cassandra M.

2013-01-01

The push for accountability in public schooling has extended to the measurement of teacher performance, accelerated by federal efforts through Race to the Top. Currently, a large number of states and districts across the country are computing measures of teacher performance based on the standardized test scores of their students and using them in…

A Flight Research Overview of WSPR, a Pilot Project for Sonic Boom Community Response

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cliatt, Larry James; Haering, Ed; Jones, Thomas P.; Waggoner, Erin R.; Flattery, Ashley K.; Wiley, Scott L.

2014-01-01

In support of NASAs ongoing effort to bring supersonic commercial travel to the public, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and NASA Langley Research Center, in cooperation with other industry organizations, conducted a flight research experiment to identify the methods, tools, and best practices for a large-scale quiet (or low) sonic boom community human response test. The name of the effort was Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response. Such tests will go towards building a dataset that governing agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration and International Civil Aviation Organization will use to establish regulations for acceptable sound levels of overland sonic booms. Until WSPR, there had never been an effort that studied the response of people in their own homes and performing daily activities to non-traditional, low sonic booms.WSPR was a NASA collaborative effort with several industry partners, in response to a NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Research Opportunities in Aeronautics. The primary contractor was Wyle. Other partners included Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Pennsylvania State University, Tetra Tech, and Fidell Associates, Inc.A major objective of the effort included exposing a community with the sonic boom magnitudes and occurrences expected in high-air traffic regions with a network of supersonic commercial aircraft in place. Low-level sonic booms designed to simulate those produced by the next generation of commercial supersonic aircraft were generated over a small residential community. The sonic boom footprint was recorded with an autonomous wireless microphone array that spanned the entire community. Human response data was collected using multiple survey methods. The research focused on essential elements of community response testing including subject recruitment, survey methods, instrumentation systems, flight planning and operations, and data analysis methods.This paper focuses on NASAs role in the efforts logistics and operations including human response subject recruitment, the operational processes involved in implementing the surveys throughout the community, instrumentation systems, logistics, flight planning, and flight operations. Findings discussed in this paper include critical lessons learned in all of those areas. The paper also discusses flight operations results. Analysis of the accuracy and repeatability of planning and executing the unique aircraft maneuver used to generate low sonic booms concluded that the sonic booms had overpressures within 0.15 pounds-per-square-feet of the planned values for 76 of t he attempts. Similarly, 90 of the attempts to generate low sonic booms within the community were successful.

X-ray techniques for innovation in industry

PubMed Central

Lawniczak-Jablonska, Krystyna; Cutler, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

The smart specialization declared in the European program Horizon 2020, and the increasing cooperation between research and development found in companies and researchers at universities and research institutions have created a new paradigm where many calls for proposals require participation and funding from public and private entities. This has created a unique opportunity for large-scale facilities, such as synchrotron research laboratories, to participate in and support applied research programs. Scientific staff at synchrotron facilities have developed many advanced tools that make optimal use of the characteristics of the light generated by the storage ring. These tools have been exceptionally valuable for materials characterization including X-ray absorption spectroscopy, diffraction, tomography and scattering, and have been key in solving many research and development issues. Progress in optics and detectors, as well as a large effort put into the improvement of data analysis codes, have resulted in the development of reliable and reproducible procedures for materials characterization. Research with photons has contributed to the development of a wide variety of products such as plastics, cosmetics, chemicals, building materials, packaging materials and pharma. In this review, a few examples are highlighted of successful cooperation leading to solutions of a variety of industrial technological problems which have been exploited by industry including lessons learned from the Science Link project, supported by the European Commission, as a new approach to increase the number of commercial users at large-scale research infrastructures. PMID:25485139

Film Fabrication Technologies at NREL

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcconnell, Robert D.

1993-01-01

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has extensive capabilities for fabricating a variety of high-technology films. Much of the in-house work in NREL's large photovoltaics (PV) program involves the fabrication of multiple thin-film semiconducting layers constituting a thin-film PV device. NREL's smaller program in superconductivity focuses on the fabrication of superconducting films on long, flexible tape substrates. This paper focuses on four of NREL's in-house research groups and their film fabrication techniques, developed for a variety of elements, alloys, and compounds to be deposited on a variety of substrates. As is the case for many national laboratories, NREL's technology transfer efforts are focusing on Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA's) between NREL researchers and private industry researchers.

Epithermal neutron beam for BNCT research at Washington State University

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

Venhuizen, J.R.; Nigg, D.W.; Wheeler, F.J.

1999-09-01

Veterinary radiation oncology researchers at the Washington State University (WSU) School of Veterinary Medicine have made major contributions to the understanding of the in-vivo radiobiology of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) over the years. Recent attention has been focused on the development of a more convenient and cost-effective local epithermal-neutron beam facility for BNCT research and boronated pharmaceutical screening in large-animal models at WSU. The design of such a facility, to be installed in the thermal column region of the TRIGA research reactor at WSU, was performed in a collaborative effort of SWU and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmentalmore » Laboratory. Construction is now underway.« less

Diagnosing Meteorological Conditions Associated with Sprites and Lightning with Large Charge Moment Changes (CMC) over Oklahoma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rivera, Lizxandra Flores; Lang, Timothy

2014-01-01

Sprites are a category of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) that occur in the upper atmosphere above the tops of Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs). They are commonly associated with lightning strokes that produce large charge moment changes (CMCs). Synergistic use of satellite and radar-retrieved observations together with sounding data, forecasts, and lightning-detection networks allowed the diagnosis and analysis of the meteorological conditions associated with sprites as well as large-CMC lightning over Oklahoma. One goal of the NASA-funded effort reported herein is the investigation of the potential for sprite interference with aerospace activities in the 20- 100km altitude range, including research balloons, space missions and other aviation transports.

Research training of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics fellows: a survey of fellowship directors by Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network.

PubMed

Wiley, Susan; Schonfeld, David J; Fredstrom, Bridget; Huffman, Lynne

2013-01-01

To describe research training in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP) Fellowship Programs. Thirty-five US-accredited DBP fellowships were contacted through the Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network to complete an online survey on scholarly work and research training. With an 83% response rate, responding programs represented 110 (87 filled) fellowship positions. External funding for fellowship positions was minimal (11 positions fully funded, 13 funded above 50% of cost). Structured research training included didactic lectures, web-based training, university courses, direct mentoring, journal clubs, and required reading. Of the 159 fellows described, spanning a 5-year training period, the majority chose projects relying on their own data collection (57%) rather than joining an existing research study and focused on clinical research (86%). Among 96 fellows with completed scholarly work, 29% were observational/epidemiological studies, 22% secondary analyses of large data sets, 16% community-based research, and 15% survey design. A limited number of fellows pursued basic science, meta-analysis/critical appraisal of the literature, or analysis of public policy. Barriers to successful fellow research are as follows: lack of time and money, challenges in balancing clinical demands and protected faculty research time, limited faculty research opportunities, time or expertise, and a lack of infrastructure for fellow research mentoring. The scholarly work of fellows in DBP fellowship programs has primarily focused on clinical research using observational/epidemiological research and secondary analysis of large data set. Barriers largely in faculty time and expertise for research mentoring and inadequate funding in programs that have high clinical demands and little resources for research efforts were noted.

Summary of NACA Research on Afterburners for Turbojet Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lundin, Bruce T; Gabriel, David S; Fleming, William A

1956-01-01

NACA research on afterburners for turbojet engines during the past 5 years is summarized. Although most of this work has been directed toward the development of specific afterburners for various engines rather than toward the accumulation of systematic data, it has, nevertheless, provided a large fund of experimental data and experience in the field. The references cited present over 1000 afterburner configurations and some 3500 hours of operation. In the treatment of the material of this summary, the principal effort has been to convey to the reader the "know-how" acquired by research engineers in the course of the work rather than to formulate a set of design rules.

Trade Studies for a Manned High-Power Nuclear Electric Propulsion Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

SanSoucie, Michael; Hull, Patrick V.; Irwin, Ryan W.; TInker, Michael L.; Patton, Bruce W.

2005-01-01

Nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) vehicles will be needed for future manned missions to Mars and beyond. Candidate vehicles must be identified through trade studies for further detailed design from a large array of possibilities. Genetic algorithms have proven their utility in conceptual design studies by effectively searching a large design space to pinpoint unique optimal designs. This research combines analysis codes for NEP subsystems with genetic algorithm-based optimization. Trade studies for a NEP reference mission to the asteroids were conducted to identify important trends, and to determine the effects of various technologies and subsystems on vehicle performance. It was found that the electric thruster type and thruster performance have a major impact on the achievable system performance, and that significant effort in thruster research and development is merited.

Translation in cardiovascular stents and occluders: From biostable to fully degradable

PubMed Central

Huang, Yingying; Wong, Yee Shan; Ng, Herr Cheun Anthony; Boey, Freddy Y. C.

2017-01-01

Abstract Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in developed countries. Most academic research efforts in cardiovascular disease management focus on pharmacological interventions, or are concerned with discovering new disease markers for diagnosis and monitoring. Nonpharmacological interventions with therapeutic devices, conversely, are driven largely by novel materials and device design. Examples of such devices include coronary stents, heart valves, ventricular assist devices, and occluders for septal defects. Until recently, development of such devices remained largely with medical device companies. We trace the materials evolution story in two of these devices (stents and occluders), while also highlighting academic contributions, including our own, to the evolution story. Specifically, it addresses not only our successes, but also the challenges facing the translatability of concepts generated via academic research. PMID:29313029

Cost-Driven Design of a Large Scale X-Plane

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Welstead, Jason R.; Frederic, Peter C.; Frederick, Michael A.; Jacobson, Steven R.; Berton, Jeffrey J.

2017-01-01

A conceptual design process focused on the development of a low-cost, large scale X-plane was developed as part of an internal research and development effort. One of the concepts considered for this process was the double-bubble configuration recently developed as an advanced single-aisle class commercial transport similar in size to a Boeing 737-800 or Airbus A320. The study objective was to reduce the contractor cost from contract award to first test flight to less than $100 million, and having the first flight within three years of contract award. Methods and strategies for reduced cost are discussed.

Current Barriers to Large-scale Interoperability of Traceability Technology in the Seafood Sector.

PubMed

Hardt, Marah J; Flett, Keith; Howell, Colleen J

2017-08-01

Interoperability is a critical component of full-chain digital traceability, but is almost nonexistent in the seafood industry. Using both quantitative and qualitative methodology, this study explores the barriers impeding progress toward large-scale interoperability among digital traceability systems in the seafood sector from the perspectives of seafood companies, technology vendors, and supply chains as a whole. We highlight lessons from recent research and field work focused on implementing traceability across full supply chains and make some recommendations for next steps in terms of overcoming challenges and scaling current efforts. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Electronic Records, Registries, and the Development of "Big Data": Crowd-Sourcing Quality toward Knowledge.

PubMed

Dewdney, Summer B; Lachance, Jason

2016-01-01

Despite many perceived advances in treatment over the past few decades, cancer continues to present a significant health burden, particularly to the aging US population. Forces including shrinking funding mechanisms, cost and quality concerns, as well as disappointing clinical outcomes have driven a surge of recent efforts into utilizing the technological innovation that has permeated other industries by leveraging large and complex data sets, so called "big data." In this review, we will review some of the history of oncology data collection, including the earliest data registries, as well as explore the future directions of this new brand of research while highlighting some of the more recent and promising efforts to harness the power of the electronic health record and the multitude of data co-located there, in an effort to improve individualized cancer-related outcomes in rapid real time.

Implementation Issues for Departure Planning Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansman, R. John; Feron, Eric; Clarke, John-Paul; Odoni, Amedeo

1999-01-01

The objective of the proposed effort is to investigate issues associated with the design and implementation of decision aiding tools to assist in improving the departure process at congested airports. This effort follows a preliminary investigation of potential Departure Planning approaches and strategies, which identified potential benefits in departure efficiency, and also in reducing the environmental impact of aircraft in the departure queue. The preliminary study bas based, in large part, on observations and analysis of departure processes at Boston, Logan airport. The objective of this follow-on effort is to address key implementation issues and to expand the observational base to include airports with different constraints and traffic demand. Specifically, the objectives of this research are to: (1) Expand the observational base to include airports with different underlying operational dynamics. (2) Develop prototype decision aiding algorithms/approaches and assess potential benefits. and (3) Investigate Human Machine Integration (HMI) issues associated with decision aids in tower environments.

Summary report of a workshop on phytoremediation research needs

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

Not Available

1994-12-01

Soil contamination is a national and global problem. A major challenge is the remediation of large sites contaminated with radionuclides and toxic metals, often present in relatively small amounts but above regulatory action levels. Despite the function of phytoremediation processes in nature for millenia, the technology of phytoremediation is, for the most part, still a concept. There are many different pollutants, plant uptake mechanisms, soil matrices, and plant species that need to be investigated, without overlooking the microbial participation in this technology. Developing actual practical applications will require a significant and coordinated research and development effort, due to the complexitymore » of both biological systems and the soil contamination problems. Research and development in this area must involve scientists and engineers in Federal and state agencies, foreign organizations and industry. The representation at the workshop of researchers from many disciplines, organizations and countries, augurs well for a cooperative and interdisciplinary research effort and the rapid application of this technology. The urgent needs for effective, low-cost technologies to clean-up contaminated soils, both in the US and around the world, suggests phytoremediation as a high national and international research priority. The availability of scientists trained in the interdisciplinary topics relating to phytoremediation will be a major factor in expediting development of this technology.« less

A Ground-Based Research Vehicle for Base Drag Studies at Subsonic Speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diebler, Corey; Smith, Mark

2002-01-01

A ground research vehicle (GRV) has been developed to study the base drag on large-scale vehicles at subsonic speeds. Existing models suggest that base drag is dependent upon vehicle forebody drag, and for certain configurations, the total drag of a vehicle can be reduced by increasing its forebody drag. Although these models work well for small projectile shapes, studies have shown that they do not provide accurate predictions when applied to large-scale vehicles. Experiments are underway at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center to collect data at Reynolds numbers to a maximum of 3 x 10(exp 7), and to formulate a new model for predicting the base drag of trucks, buses, motor homes, reentry vehicles, and other large-scale vehicles. Preliminary tests have shown errors as great as 70 percent compared to Hoerner's two-dimensional base drag prediction. This report describes the GRV and its capabilities, details the studies currently underway at NASA Dryden, and presents preliminary results of both the effort to formulate a new base drag model and the investigation into a method of reducing total drag by manipulating forebody drag.

NASA and Superalloys: A Customer, a Participant, and a Referee

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nathal, Michael V.

2008-01-01

NASA has had a long history of research and development in the field of superalloys. These efforts have continued today, where the latest advancements in turbine disk and blade technologies are being developed Although NASA does support military flight systems, it s predominant role is in supporting civilian air transportation systems, and thus has goals for improving fuel efficiency, emissions, noise, and safety of today s aircraft. NASA has traditionally served several distinct but complimentary roles as participants in multi-disciplinary research teams, as customers who fund research and development efforts at industry and universities, and as referees who can address broad issues that affect the entire aeronautics community. Because of our longer range viewpoint, we can take on higher risk, higher reward research topics. NASA can also serve as an intermediary between the basic research performed primarily at universities and the development efforts emphasized by industry. By interacting with individual companies, NASA can identify areas of general interest and problems common to a large portion of the aeronautics community, and devise programs aimed at solving these problems. In space missions, NASA is a direct customer responsible for developing vehicles. In the case of the Space Shuttle, NASA has worked with various contractors to design and build numerous components out of superalloys. Another fascinating area for the use of superalloys is in power systems for long life applications in space. Potential missions include providing electric power for deep space missions, surface rovers, including lunar and Mars, and stationary power generators on the lunar surface.

Assessing country-level efforts to link research to action.

PubMed Central

Lavis, John N.; Lomas, Jonathan; Hamid, Maimunah; Sewankambo, Nelson K.

2006-01-01

We developed a framework for assessing country-level efforts to link research to action. The framework has four elements. The first element assesses the general climate (how those who fund research, universities, researchers and users of research support or place value on efforts to link research to action). The second element addresses the production of research (how priority setting ensures that users' needs are identified and how scoping reviews, systematic reviews and single studies are undertaken to address these needs). The third element addresses the mix of four clusters of activities used to link research to action. These include push efforts (how strategies are used to support action based on the messages arising from research), efforts to facilitate "user pull" (how "one-stop shopping" is provided for optimally packaged high-quality reviews either alone or as part of a national electronic library for health, how these reviews are profiled during "teachable moments" such as intense media coverage, and how rapid-response units meet users' needs for the best research), "user pull" efforts undertaken by those who use research (how users assess their capacity to use research and how structures and processes are changed to support the use of research) and exchange efforts (how meaningful partnerships between researchers and users help them to jointly ask and answer relevant questions). The fourth element addresses approaches to evaluation (how support is provided for rigorous evaluations of efforts to link research to action). PMID:16917649

Communication Competence, Psychological Well-being, and the Mediating Role of Coping Efforts among Women with Breast Cancer: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Evidence

PubMed Central

Shim, Minsun; Mercer Kollar, Laura M.; Roberts, Linda; Gustafson, David

2015-01-01

Despite existing research identifying psychological benefits of patients’ interpersonal competence in various contexts, little longitudinal research has addressed underlying mechanism(s). To address this limitation, we examined both the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between cancer patients’ communication competence in close relationships and psychological well-being, as well as the mediating role of coping efforts. Data came from a larger project with women with breast cancer (N = 661), recruited from April 2005 to May 2007 at three large university-affiliated cancer centers in the U.S. to study the effects of an Internet-based system providing patients and families with a range of services. The present study focused on survey data at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks after the intervention (controlling for the possible effects of the intervention). Results from both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses indicated that competence in open communication between patients and their close support persons had a positive association with patients’ psychological well-being and that approach coping efforts partially mediated this association. We discussed the implications and limitations of the study. PMID:25793748

Basic and clinical proteomics from the EU Health Research perspective.

PubMed

Dyląg, Tomasz; Jehenson, Philippe; van de Loo, Jan-Willem; Sanne, Jean-Luc

2010-12-01

The European Union (EU) is one of the main public funders of research in Europe and its major instrument for funding is the Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7). The bulk of funding in FP7 goes to collaborative research, with the objective of establishing excellent research projects and networks. Understanding the functions of proteins is essential for the rational development of disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, therefore the EU has largely invested in proteomics, in particular for technology development, data standardisation and sharing efforts, and the application of proteomics in the clinic. The scientific community, including both academia and industry, is encouraged to apply for FP7 funding so that the EU can even more efficiently support innovative health research and ultimately, bring better healthcare to patients.

Memory mechanisms supporting syntactic comprehension.

PubMed

Caplan, David; Waters, Gloria

2013-04-01

Efforts to characterize the memory system that supports sentence comprehension have historically drawn extensively on short-term memory as a source of mechanisms that might apply to sentences. The focus of these efforts has changed significantly in the past decade. As a result of changes in models of short-term working memory (ST-WM) and developments in models of sentence comprehension, the effort to relate entire components of an ST-WM system, such as those in the model developed by Baddeley (Nature Reviews Neuroscience 4: 829-839, 2003) to sentence comprehension has largely been replaced by an effort to relate more specific mechanisms found in modern models of ST-WM to memory processes that support one aspect of sentence comprehension--the assignment of syntactic structure (parsing) and its use in determining sentence meaning (interpretation) during sentence comprehension. In this article, we present the historical background to recent studies of the memory mechanisms that support parsing and interpretation and review recent research into this relation. We argue that the results of this research do not converge on a set of mechanisms derived from ST-WM that apply to parsing and interpretation. We argue that the memory mechanisms supporting parsing and interpretation have features that characterize another memory system that has been postulated to account for skilled performance-long-term working memory. We propose a model of the relation of different aspects of parsing and interpretation to ST-WM and long-term working memory.

Influencing the Future: Special Considerations for IPY Education and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beitler, J.

2004-12-01

The International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-1958 created a valuable legacy, by not only advancing the sciences involved, but by also stimulating interest in and support for science, and by inspiring many to enter science careers. Successful education and outreach efforts in conjunction with IGY transmitted this energy to the public and helped researchers to create this legacy. The International Polar Year (IPY) for 2007-2008 again holds promise to generate new scientific insights and leave a similar legacy -- if the sciences are once again successful in connecting with the public. Despite the fine example of the IGY of 1958 -1959, the way forward for meaningful education and outreach for IPY isn't entirely clear. Every element affecting science education and outreach today is considerably more complex, and the distinct challenges and opportunities of today may not always be addressed by simply extending what has been helpful in the past. Whether a large research group or an individual researcher, whether working with a dedicated outreach staff or conducting outreach more informally, whether already operating successful outreach programs or starting from scratch, any project intending an education and outreach effort will significantly increase its relevance and effectiveness by taking pause to formulate specific goals and objectives for IPY. Such thinking shouldn't be entirely delegated to non-researchers. The engagement of the scientists themselves in setting objectives for education and outreach will provide the strongest outcome. This discussion analyzes the communication setting for IPY as it affects outreach and education efforts, and proposes a model for discussing and formulating outreach and education objectives. It poses the key questions that should be asked and answered in order to ensure that researchers take full advantage of education and outreach opportunities with IPY, whatever the scope of their efforts. Education and outreach programs that are thus informed by thoughtful objective-setting will have the best chance to be a valuable investment in the future of science and society.

The MICRO-BOSS scheduling system: Current status and future efforts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sadeh, Norman M.

1992-01-01

In this paper, a micro-opportunistic approach to factory scheduling was described that closely monitors the evolution of bottlenecks during the construction of the schedule and continuously redirects search towards the bottleneck that appears to be most critical. This approach differs from earlier opportunistic approaches, as it does not require scheduling large resource subproblems or large job subproblems before revising the current scheduling strategy. This micro-opportunistic approach was implemented in the context of the MICRO-BOSS factory scheduling system. A study comparing MICRO-BOSS against a macro-opportunistic scheduler suggests that the additional flexibility of the micro-opportunistic approach to scheduling generally yields important reductions in both tardiness and inventory. Current research efforts include: adaptation of MICRO-BOSS to deal with sequence-dependent setups and development of micro-opportunistic reactive scheduling techniques that will enable the system to patch the schedule in the presence of contingencies such as machine breakdowns, raw materials arriving late, job cancellations, etc.

Leveraging annotation-based modeling with Jump.

PubMed

Bergmayr, Alexander; Grossniklaus, Michael; Wimmer, Manuel; Kappel, Gerti

2018-01-01

The capability of UML profiles to serve as annotation mechanism has been recognized in both research and industry. Today's modeling tools offer profiles specific to platforms, such as Java, as they facilitate model-based engineering approaches. However, considering the large number of possible annotations in Java, manually developing the corresponding profiles would only be achievable by huge development and maintenance efforts. Thus, leveraging annotation-based modeling requires an automated approach capable of generating platform-specific profiles from Java libraries. To address this challenge, we present the fully automated transformation chain realized by Jump, thereby continuing existing mapping efforts between Java and UML by emphasizing on annotations and profiles. The evaluation of Jump shows that it scales for large Java libraries and generates profiles of equal or even improved quality compared to profiles currently used in practice. Furthermore, we demonstrate the practical value of Jump by contributing profiles that facilitate reverse engineering and forward engineering processes for the Java platform by applying it to a modernization scenario.

Demonstrating the feasibility of large-scale development of standardized assays to quantify human proteins

PubMed Central

Kennedy, Jacob J.; Abbatiello, Susan E.; Kim, Kyunggon; Yan, Ping; Whiteaker, Jeffrey R.; Lin, Chenwei; Kim, Jun Seok; Zhang, Yuzheng; Wang, Xianlong; Ivey, Richard G.; Zhao, Lei; Min, Hophil; Lee, Youngju; Yu, Myeong-Hee; Yang, Eun Gyeong; Lee, Cheolju; Wang, Pei; Rodriguez, Henry; Kim, Youngsoo; Carr, Steven A.; Paulovich, Amanda G.

2014-01-01

The successful application of MRM in biological specimens raises the exciting possibility that assays can be configured to measure all human proteins, resulting in an assay resource that would promote advances in biomedical research. We report the results of a pilot study designed to test the feasibility of a large-scale, international effort in MRM assay generation. We have configured, validated across three laboratories, and made publicly available as a resource to the community 645 novel MRM assays representing 319 proteins expressed in human breast cancer. Assays were multiplexed in groups of >150 peptides and deployed to quantify endogenous analyte in a panel of breast cancer-related cell lines. Median assay precision was 5.4%, with high inter-laboratory correlation (R2 >0.96). Peptide measurements in breast cancer cell lines were able to discriminate amongst molecular subtypes and identify genome-driven changes in the cancer proteome. These results establish the feasibility of a scaled, international effort. PMID:24317253

CRIMALDDI: a co-ordinated, rational, and integrated effort to set logical priorities in anti-malarial drug discovery initiatives

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Despite increasing efforts and support for anti-malarial drug R&D, globally anti-malarial drug discovery and development remains largely uncoordinated and fragmented. The current window of opportunity for large scale funding of R&D into malaria is likely to narrow in the coming decade due to a contraction in available resources caused by the current economic difficulties and new priorities (e.g. climate change). It is, therefore, essential that stakeholders are given well-articulated action plans and priorities to guide judgments on where resources can be best targeted. The CRIMALDDI Consortium (a European Union funded initiative) has been set up to develop, through a process of stakeholder and expert consultations, such priorities and recommendations to address them. It is hoped that the recommendations will help to guide the priorities of the European anti-malarial research as well as the wider global discovery agenda in the coming decade. PMID:20626844

Effect of Occupant and Impact Factors on Forces within Neck: I. Overview of Large Population

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaibani, Saami J.

2000-03-01

Scientific and medical data have been gathered for nearly 500 motor-vehicle occupants, whose dynamic response[1-2] was calculated to determine the forces generated at all potential injury sites. Particular attention was paid to the load within the cervical spine to examine the influence of certain variables relating to the occupant (height, weight, sex), the impact (magnitude, direction), and the neck itself (local vector, anatomical level). Exhaustive efforts were made to match the force with each variable using linear and logarithmic fits, but correlation coefficients were generally not high. These results might be influenced by the emphasis in this research to obtain the best statistics with large groupings of patients. Hence, a separate study with more detail is proposed as a significant continuation of this effort. 1. Proper Treatment of Complex Human Structures, Announcer 27 (4), 100 (1997); 2. Physics as a Key Element in the Complete Description of Dichotomies in Injury Distribution, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 44, 274 (1999).

Effect of Occupant and Impact Factors on Forces within Low Back: I. Overview of Large Population

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaibani, Saami J.

2001-03-01

Scientific and medical data have been gathered for nearly 500 motor-vehicle occupants, whose dynamic response[1-2] was calculated to determine the forces generated at all potential injury sites. Particular attention was paid to the load within the lumbosacral spine to examine the influence of certain variables relating to the occupant (height, weight, sex), the impact (magnitude, direction), and the low back itself (local vector, anatomical level). Exhaustive efforts were made to match the force with each variable using linear and logarithmic fits, but correlation coefficients were generally not high. These results might be influenced by the emphasis in this research to obtain the best statistics with large groupings of patients. Hence, a separate study with more detail is proposed as a significant continuation of this effort. 1. Proper Treatment of Complex Human Structures, Announcer 27 (4), 100 (1997); 2. Effect of Occupant and Impact Factors on Forces within Neck: I & II, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 45, 1018 (2000).

College vs. Unemployment: Expanding Access to Higher Education is the Smart Investment during Economic Downturns. Research & Occasional Paper Series. CSHE.21.08

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Douglass, John Aubrey

2008-01-01

In forming a strategy to deal with the severe economic downturn, President-elect Obama and his evolving brain trust of economic advisers should recall the largely successful and innovative efforts by the federal and state governments to avoid a projected steep post-World War II recession - in particular, the key role of higher education. Demand…

Analyzing Item Generation with Natural Language Processing Tools for the "TOEIC"® Listening Test. Research Report. ETS RR-17-52

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Su-Youn; Lee, Chong Min; Houghton, Patrick; Lopez, Melissa; Sakano, Jennifer; Loukina, Anastasia; Krovetz, Bob; Lu, Chi; Madani, Nitin

2017-01-01

In this study, we developed assistive tools and resources to support TOEIC® Listening test item generation. There has recently been an increased need for a large pool of items for these tests. This need has, in turn, inspired efforts to increase the efficiency of item generation while maintaining the quality of the created items. We aimed to…

Tuning In: Parents of Young Children Speak up about What They Think, Know and Need. ZERO TO THREE National Parent Survey Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zero to Three, 2016

2016-01-01

ZERO TO THREE, in partnership with the Bezos Family Foundation, conducted a comprehensive research effort, including a series of in-home discussions and a large national parent survey with a diverse range of parents of children from birth to 5. Our findings provide brand new insights about the challenges parents face, what they do and do not…

Army Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-01

are conducting research in areas such as networked Soldier helmet sensors . For mobility, we have a large effort in establishing Degraded Visual...will allow Soldiers to access information that they don’t have a sensor for, but because they are on a network or shared architecture, they will be...something we control. No one seriously wakes up saying, “Today, I will discover something.” However, we can increase the likelihood of discovery through

Military Compensation: Past, Present and Future. Volume 1. Executive Summary.

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-01-01

Chapter 3 provides an overview of the current military compen- sation system -- i.e., the military pay and allowances system. The major subsystems to...research efforts produced processes for control of shrinkageof wool fabrics. In the US textile industry, wooliteis are nowtreated by these processes...led to development of .4,4continuous dyeing. Ilodern dyeing facilities of large textile • actories throughout the world trace their basic technology

The Effects of Cornell Note-Taking and Review Strategies on Recall and Comprehension of Lecture Content for Middle School Students with and without Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baharev, Zulejka

2016-01-01

At the start of the 21st century large scale educational initiatives reshaped the landscape of general education setting rigorous academic expectations to all students. Despite the legal efforts to improve K-12 education, an abundance of research indicates that students entering college often lack basic learning and study skills. For adolescents…

A Description and Analysis of Evolving Data Resources on Small Business

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-09-01

and entrepreneurship in a wide range of settings, including corporate governance, employment law, consumer law, securities regulation and business...research on small businesses and entrepreneurship in the U.S. While business data has traditionally focused on large firms, an increasing number of... entrepreneurship . A secondary aim is to highlight gaps in available small and new business data to inform new or expanded data-gathering efforts and

Reliability issues in active control of large flexible space structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vandervelde, W. E.

1986-01-01

Efforts in this reporting period were centered on four research tasks: design of failure detection filters for robust performance in the presence of modeling errors, design of generalized parity relations for robust performance in the presence of modeling errors, design of failure sensitive observers using the geometric system theory of Wonham, and computational techniques for evaluation of the performance of control systems with fault tolerance and redundancy management

Do Effort and Reward at Work Predict Changes in Cognitive Function? First Longitudinal Results from the Representative German Socio-Economic Panel.

PubMed

Riedel, Natalie; Siegrist, Johannes; Wege, Natalia; Loerbroks, Adrian; Angerer, Peter; Li, Jian

2017-11-15

It has been suggested that work characteristics, such as mental demands, job control, and occupational complexity, are prospectively related to cognitive function. However, current evidence on links between psychosocial working conditions and cognitive change over time is inconsistent. In this study, we applied the effort-reward imbalance model that allows to build on previous research on mental demands and to introduce reward-based learning as a principle with beneficial effect on cognitive function. We aimed to investigate whether high effort, high reward, and low over-commitment in 2006 were associated with positive changes in cognitive function in terms of perceptual speed and word fluency (2006-2012), and whether the co-manifestation of high effort and high reward would yield the strongest association. To this end, we used data on 1031 employees who participated in a large and representative study. Multivariate linear regression analyses supported our main hypotheses (separate and combined effects of effort and reward), particularly on changes in perceptual speed, whereas the effects of over-commitment did not reach the level of statistical significance. Our findings extend available knowledge by examining the course of cognitive function over time. If corroborated by further evidence, organization-based measures in the workplace can enrich efforts towards preventing cognitive decline in ageing workforces.

Survey of lift-fan aerodynamic technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hickey, David H.; Kirk, Jerry V.

1993-01-01

Representatives of NASA Ames Research Center asked that a summary of technology appropriate for lift-fan powered short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft be prepared so that new programs could more easily benefit from past research efforts. This paper represents one of six prepared for that purpose. The authors have conducted or supervised the conduct of research on lift-fan powered STOVL designs and some of their important components for decades. This paper will first address aerodynamic modeling requirements for experimental programs to assure realistic, trustworthy results. It will next summarize the results or efforts to develop satisfactory specialized STOVL components such as inlets and flow deflectors. It will also discuss problems with operation near the ground, aerodynamics while under lift-fan power, and aerodynamic prediction techniques. Finally, results of studies to reduce lift-fan noise will be presented. The paper will emphasize results from large scale experiments, where available, for reasons that will be brought out in the discussion. Some work with lift-engine powered STOVL aircraft is also applicable to lift-fan technology and will be presented herein. Small-scale data will be used where necessary to fill gaps.

Crop Characteristics Research: Growth and Reflectance Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Badhwar, G. D. (Principal Investigator)

1985-01-01

Much of the early research in remote sensing follows along developing spectral signatures of cover types. It was found, however, that a signature from an unknown cover class could not always be matched to a catalog value of known cover class. This approach was abandoned and supervised classification schemes followed. These were not efficient and required extensive training. It was obvious that data acquired at a single time could not separate cover types. A large portion of the proposed research has concentrated on modeling the temporal behavior of agricultural crops and on removing the need for any training data in remote sensing surveys; the key to which is the solution of the so-called 'signature extension' problem. A clear need to develop spectral estimaters of crop ontogenic stages and yield has existed even though various correlations have been developed. Considerable effort in developing techniques to estimate these variables was devoted to this work. The need to accurately evaluate existing canopy reflectance model(s), improve these models, use them to understand the crop signatures, and estimate leaf area index was the third objective of the proposed work. A synopsis of this research effort is discussed.

Income inequality, drug-related arrests, and the health of people who inject drugs: Reflections on seventeen years of research

PubMed Central

Friedman, Samuel R.; Tempalski, Barbara; Brady, Joanne E.; West, Brooke S.; Pouget, Enrique R.; Williams, Leslie D.; Des Jarlais, Don C.; Cooper, Hannah L.F.

2017-01-01

This paper reviews and then discusses selected findings from a seventeen year study about the population prevalence of people who inject drugs (PWID) and of HIV prevalence and mortality among PWID in 96 large US metropolitan areas. Unlike most research, this study was conducted with the metropolitan area as the level of analysis. It found that metropolitan area measures of income inequality and of structural racism predicted all of these outcomes, and that rates of arrest for heroin and/or cocaine predicted HIV prevalence and mortality but did not predict changes in PWID population prevalence. Income inequality and measures of structural racism were associated with hard drug arrests or other properties of policing. These findings, whose limitations and implications for further research are discussed, suggest that efforts to respond to HIV and to drug injection should include supra-individual efforts to reduce both income inequality and racism. At a time when major social movements in many countries are trying to reduce inequality, racism and oppression (including reforming drug laws), these macro-social issues in public health should be both addressable and a priority in both research and action. PMID:27198555

Overview of the TriBITS Lifecycle Model: Lean/Agile Software Lifecycle Model for Research-based Computational Science and Engineering Software

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

Bartlett, Roscoe A; Heroux, Dr. Michael A; Willenbring, James

2012-01-01

Software lifecycles are becoming an increasingly important issue for computational science & engineering (CSE) software. The process by which a piece of CSE software begins life as a set of research requirements and then matures into a trusted high-quality capability is both commonplace and extremely challenging. Although an implicit lifecycle is obviously being used in any effort, the challenges of this process--respecting the competing needs of research vs. production--cannot be overstated. Here we describe a proposal for a well-defined software lifecycle process based on modern Lean/Agile software engineering principles. What we propose is appropriate for many CSE software projects thatmore » are initially heavily focused on research but also are expected to eventually produce usable high-quality capabilities. The model is related to TriBITS, a build, integration and testing system, which serves as a strong foundation for this lifecycle model, and aspects of this lifecycle model are ingrained in the TriBITS system. Indeed this lifecycle process, if followed, will enable large-scale sustainable integration of many complex CSE software efforts across several institutions.« less

A survey of informatics platforms that enable distributed comparative effectiveness research using multi-institutional heterogeneous clinical data

PubMed Central

Sittig, Dean F.; Hazlehurst, Brian L.; Brown, Jeffrey; Murphy, Shawn; Rosenman, Marc; Tarczy-Hornoch, Peter; Wilcox, Adam B.

2012-01-01

Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) has the potential to transform the current healthcare delivery system by identifying the most effective medical and surgical treatments, diagnostic tests, disease prevention methods and ways to deliver care for specific clinical conditions. To be successful, such research requires the identification, capture, aggregation, integration, and analysis of disparate data sources held by different institutions with diverse representations of the relevant clinical events. In an effort to address these diverse demands, there have been multiple new designs and implementations of informatics platforms that provide access to electronic clinical data and the governance infrastructure required for inter-institutional CER. The goal of this manuscript is to help investigators understand why these informatics platforms are required and to compare and contrast six, large-scale, recently funded, CER-focused informatics platform development efforts. We utilized an 8-dimension, socio-technical model of health information technology use to help guide our work. We identified six generic steps that are necessary in any distributed, multi-institutional CER project: data identification, extraction, modeling, aggregation, analysis, and dissemination. We expect that over the next several years these projects will provide answers to many important, and heretofore unanswerable, clinical research questions. PMID:22692259

Pika: A snow science simulation tool built using the open-source framework MOOSE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slaughter, A.; Johnson, M.

2017-12-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) is currently investing millions of dollars annually into various modeling and simulation tools for all aspects of nuclear energy. An important part of this effort includes developing applications based on the open-source Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE; mooseframework.org) from Idaho National Laboratory (INL).Thanks to the efforts of the DOE and outside collaborators, MOOSE currently contains a large set of physics modules, including phase-field, level set, heat conduction, tensor mechanics, Navier-Stokes, fracture and crack propagation (via the extended finite-element method), flow in porous media, and others. The heat conduction, tensor mechanics, and phase-field modules, in particular, are well-suited for snow science problems. Pika--an open-source MOOSE-based application--is capable of simulating both 3D, coupled nonlinear continuum heat transfer and large-deformation mechanics applications (such as settlement) and phase-field based micro-structure applications. Additionally, these types of problems may be coupled tightly in a single solve or across length and time scales using a loosely coupled Picard iteration approach. In addition to the wide range of physics capabilities, MOOSE-based applications also inherit an extensible testing framework, graphical user interface, and documentation system; tools that allow MOOSE and other applications to adhere to nuclear software quality standards. The snow science community can learn from the nuclear industry and harness the existing effort to build simulation tools that are open, modular, and share a common framework. In particular, MOOSE-based multiphysics solvers are inherently parallel, dimension agnostic, adaptive in time and space, fully coupled, and capable of interacting with other applications. The snow science community should build on existing tools to enable collaboration between researchers and practitioners throughout the world, and advance the state-of-the-art in line with other scientific research efforts.

Determining Dropout Rates in Large City School Districts: Problems and Accomplishments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frymier, Jack

As part of an effort to reduce high school dropout rates in large city school districts, Phi Delta Kappa, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Council of Great City Schools, and a group of large city school districts undertook an effort to determine baseline statistics in high schools in large cities by using standardized…

Effects of Hearing Impairment and Hearing Aid Amplification on Listening Effort: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Ohlenforst, Barbara; Zekveld, Adriana A; Jansma, Elise P; Wang, Yang; Naylor, Graham; Lorens, Artur; Lunner, Thomas; Kramer, Sophia E

To undertake a systematic review of available evidence on the effect of hearing impairment and hearing aid amplification on listening effort. Two research questions were addressed: Q1) does hearing impairment affect listening effort? and Q2) can hearing aid amplification affect listening effort during speech comprehension? English language articles were identified through systematic searches in PubMed, EMBASE, Cinahl, the Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO from inception to August 2014. References of eligible studies were checked. The Population, Intervention, Control, Outcomes, and Study design strategy was used to create inclusion criteria for relevance. It was not feasible to apply a meta-analysis of the results from comparable studies. For the articles identified as relevant, a quality rating, based on the 2011 Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation Working Group guidelines, was carried out to judge the reliability and confidence of the estimated effects. The primary search produced 7017 unique hits using the keywords: hearing aids OR hearing impairment AND listening effort OR perceptual effort OR ease of listening. Of these, 41 articles fulfilled the Population, Intervention, Control, Outcomes, and Study design selection criteria of: experimental work on hearing impairment OR hearing aid technologies AND listening effort OR fatigue during speech perception. The methods applied in those articles were categorized into subjective, behavioral, and physiological assessment of listening effort. For each study, the statistical analysis addressing research question Q1 and/or Q2 was extracted. In seven articles more than one measure of listening effort was provided. Evidence relating to Q1 was provided by 21 articles that reported 41 relevant findings. Evidence relating to Q2 was provided by 27 articles that reported 56 relevant findings. The quality of evidence on both research questions (Q1 and Q2) was very low, according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation Working Group guidelines. We tested the statistical evidence across studies with nonparametric tests. The testing revealed only one consistent effect across studies, namely that listening effort was higher for hearing-impaired listeners compared with normal-hearing listeners (Q1) as measured by electroencephalographic measures. For all other studies, the evidence across studies failed to reveal consistent effects on listening effort. In summary, we could only identify scientific evidence from physiological measurement methods, suggesting that hearing impairment increases listening effort during speech perception (Q1). There was no scientific, finding across studies indicating that hearing aid amplification decreases listening effort (Q2). In general, there were large differences in the study population, the control groups and conditions, and the outcome measures applied between the studies included in this review. The results of this review indicate that published listening effort studies lack consistency, lack standardization across studies, and have insufficient statistical power. The findings underline the need for a common conceptual framework for listening effort to address the current shortcomings.

Effects of Hearing Impairment and Hearing Aid Amplification on Listening Effort: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Ohlenforst, Barbara; Jansma, Elise P.; Wang, Yang; Naylor, Graham; Lorens, Artur; Lunner, Thomas; Kramer, Sophia E.

2017-01-01

Objectives: To undertake a systematic review of available evidence on the effect of hearing impairment and hearing aid amplification on listening effort. Two research questions were addressed: Q1) does hearing impairment affect listening effort? and Q2) can hearing aid amplification affect listening effort during speech comprehension? Design: English language articles were identified through systematic searches in PubMed, EMBASE, Cinahl, the Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO from inception to August 2014. References of eligible studies were checked. The Population, Intervention, Control, Outcomes, and Study design strategy was used to create inclusion criteria for relevance. It was not feasible to apply a meta-analysis of the results from comparable studies. For the articles identified as relevant, a quality rating, based on the 2011 Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation Working Group guidelines, was carried out to judge the reliability and confidence of the estimated effects. Results: The primary search produced 7017 unique hits using the keywords: hearing aids OR hearing impairment AND listening effort OR perceptual effort OR ease of listening. Of these, 41 articles fulfilled the Population, Intervention, Control, Outcomes, and Study design selection criteria of: experimental work on hearing impairment OR hearing aid technologies AND listening effort OR fatigue during speech perception. The methods applied in those articles were categorized into subjective, behavioral, and physiological assessment of listening effort. For each study, the statistical analysis addressing research question Q1 and/or Q2 was extracted. In seven articles more than one measure of listening effort was provided. Evidence relating to Q1 was provided by 21 articles that reported 41 relevant findings. Evidence relating to Q2 was provided by 27 articles that reported 56 relevant findings. The quality of evidence on both research questions (Q1 and Q2) was very low, according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation Working Group guidelines. We tested the statistical evidence across studies with nonparametric tests. The testing revealed only one consistent effect across studies, namely that listening effort was higher for hearing-impaired listeners compared with normal-hearing listeners (Q1) as measured by electroencephalographic measures. For all other studies, the evidence across studies failed to reveal consistent effects on listening effort. Conclusion: In summary, we could only identify scientific evidence from physiological measurement methods, suggesting that hearing impairment increases listening effort during speech perception (Q1). There was no scientific, finding across studies indicating that hearing aid amplification decreases listening effort (Q2). In general, there were large differences in the study population, the control groups and conditions, and the outcome measures applied between the studies included in this review. The results of this review indicate that published listening effort studies lack consistency, lack standardization across studies, and have insufficient statistical power. The findings underline the need for a common conceptual framework for listening effort to address the current shortcomings. PMID:28234670

WikiPEATia - a web based platform for assembling peatland data through ‘crowd sourcing’

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wisser, D.; Glidden, S.; Fieseher, C.; Treat, C. C.; Routhier, M.; Frolking, S. E.

2009-12-01

The Earth System Science community is realizing that peatlands are an important and unique terrestrial ecosystem that has not yet been well-integrated into large-scale earth system analyses. A major hurdle is the lack of accessible, geospatial data of peatland distribution, coupled with data on peatland properties (e.g., vegetation composition, peat depth, basal dates, soil chemistry, peatland class) at the global scale. This data, however, is available at the local scale. Although a comprehensive global database on peatlands probably lags similar data on more economically important ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, croplands, a large amount of field data have been collected over the past several decades. A few efforts have been made to map peatlands at large scales but existing data have not been assembled into a single geospatial database that is publicly accessible or do not depict data with a level of detail that is needed in the Earth System Science Community. A global peatland database would contribute to advances in a number of research fields such as hydrology, vegetation and ecosystem modeling, permafrost modeling, and earth system modeling. We present a Web 2.0 approach that uses state-of-the-art webserver and innovative online mapping technologies and is designed to create such a global database through ‘crowd-sourcing’. Primary functions of the online system include form-driven textual user input of peatland research metadata, spatial data input of peatland areas via a mapping interface, database editing and querying editing capabilities, as well as advanced visualization and data analysis tools. WikiPEATia provides an integrated information technology platform for assembling, integrating, and posting peatland-related geospatial datasets facilitates and encourages research community involvement. A successful effort will make existing peatland data much more useful to the research community, and will help to identify significant data gaps.

The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial and Its Associated Research Resource

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial is a large-scale research effort conducted by the National Cancer Institute. PLCO offers an example of coordinated research by both the extramural and intramural communities of the National Institutes of Health. The purpose of this article is to describe the PLCO research resource and how it is managed and to assess the productivity and the costs associated with this resource. Such an in-depth analysis of a single large-scale project can shed light on questions such as how large-scale projects should be managed, what metrics should be used to assess productivity, and how costs can be compared with productivity metrics. A comprehensive publication analysis identified 335 primary research publications resulting from research using PLCO data and biospecimens from 2000 to 2012. By the end of 2012, a total of 9679 citations (excluding self-citations) have resulted from this body of research publications, with an average of 29.7 citations per article, and an h index of 45, which is comparable with other large-scale studies, such as the Nurses’ Health Study. In terms of impact on public health, PLCO trial results have been used by the US Preventive Services Task Force in making recommendations concerning prostate and ovarian cancer screening. The overall cost of PLCO was $454 million over 20 years, adjusted to 2011 dollars, with approximately $37 million for the collection, processing, and storage of biospecimens, including blood samples, buccal cells, and pathology tissues. PMID:24115361

Delta smelt: Life history and decline of a once abundant species in the San Francisco Estuary

USGS Publications Warehouse

Moyle, Peter B.; Brown, Larry R.; Durand, John R; Hobbs, James A.

2016-01-01

This paper reviews what has been learned about Delta Smelt and its status since the publication of The State of Bay-Delta Science, 2008 (Healey et al. 2008). The Delta Smelt is endemic to the upper San Francisco Estuary. Much of its historic habitat is no longer available and remaining habitat is increasingly unable to sustain the population. As a listed species living in the central node of California’s water supply system, Delta Smelt has been the focus of a large research effort to understand causes of decline and identify ways to recover the species. Since 2008, a remarkable record of innovative research on Delta Smelt has been achieved, which is summarized here. Unfortunately, research has not prevented the smelt’s continued decline, which is the result of multiple, interacting factors. A major driver of decline is change to the Delta ecosystem from water exports, resulting in reduced outflows and high levels of entrainment in the large pumps of the South Delta. Invasions of alien species, encouraged by environmental change, have also played a contributing role in the decline. Severe drought effects have pushed Delta Smelt to record low levels in 2014–2015. The rapid decline of the species and failure of recovery efforts demonstrate an inability to manage the Delta for the “co-equal goals” of maintaining a healthy ecosystem and providing a reliable water supply for Californians. Diverse and substantial management actions are needed to preserve Delta Smelt.

Verbal Synchrony and Action Dynamics in Large Groups

PubMed Central

von Zimmermann, Jorina; Richardson, Daniel C.

2016-01-01

While synchronized movement has been shown to increase liking and feelings of togetherness between people, we investigated whether collective speaking in time would change the way that larger groups played a video game together. Anthropologists have speculated that the function of interpersonal coordination in dance, chants, and singing is not just to produce warm, affiliative feelings, but also to improve group action. The group that chants and dances together hunts well together. Direct evidence for this is sparse, as research so far has mainly studied pairs, the effects of coordinated physical movement, and measured cooperation and affiliative decisions. In our experiment, large groups of people were given response handsets to play a computer game together, in which only joint coordinative efforts lead to success. Before playing, the synchrony of their verbal behavior was manipulated. After the game, we measured group members’ affiliation toward their group, their performance on a memory task, and the way in which they played the group action task. We found that verbal synchrony in large groups produced affiliation, enhanced memory performance, and increased group members’ coordinative efforts. Our evidence suggests that the effects of synchrony are stable across modalities, can be generalized to larger groups and have consequences for action coordination. PMID:28082944

The evolving drug development landscape: from blockbusters to niche busters in the orphan drug space.

PubMed

Kumar Kakkar, Ashish; Dahiya, Neha

2014-06-01

Strategy, Management and Health Policy Large pharmaceutical companies have traditionally focused on the development of blockbuster drugs that target disease states with large patient populations. However, with large-scale patent expirations and competition from generics and biosimilars, anemic pipelines, escalating clinical trial costs, and global health-care reform, the blockbuster model has become less viable. Orphan drug initiatives and the incentives accompanied by these have fostered renewed research efforts in the area of rare diseases and have led to the approval of more than 400 orphan products. Despite targeting much smaller patient populations, the revenue-generating potential of orphan drugs has been shown to be huge, with a greater return on investment than non-orphan drugs. The success of these "niche buster" therapeutics has led to a renewed interest from "Big Pharma" in the rare disease landscape. This article reviews the key drivers for orphan drug research and development, their profitability, and issues surrounding the emergence of large pharmaceutical firms into the orphan drug space. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Visualising large hierarchies with Flextree

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Hongzhi; Curran, Edwin P.; Sterritt, Roy

2003-05-01

One of the main tasks in Information Visualisation research is creating visual tools to facilitate human understanding of large and complex information spaces. Hierarchies, being a good mechanism in organising such information, are ubiquitous. Although much research effort has been spent on finding useful representations for hierarchies, visualising large hierarchies is still a difficult topic. One of the difficulties is how to show both tructure and node content information in one view. Another is how to achieve multiple foci in a focus+context visualisation. This paper describes a novel hierarchy visualisation technique called FlexTree to address these problems. It contains some important features that have not been exploited so far. In this visualisation, a profile or contour unique to the hierarchy being visualised can be gained in a histogram-like layout. A normalised view of a common attribute of all nodes can be acquired, and selection of this attribute is controllable by the user. Multiple foci are consistently accessible within a global context through interaction. Furthermore it can handle a large hierarchy that contains several thousand nodes in a PC environment. In addition results from an informal evaluation are also presented.

A research feasibility study proposal for conducting experimental research in curriculum sharing via Communications Technology Satellite among institutions having large minority enrollments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, L., Jr.

1978-01-01

The applicability of the tele-conference method of curriculum sharing as well as the sharing of scientific research results between universities and industrial organizations was evaluated in relation to other techniques and methods. Ten universities cooperated with NC A&T State University in an effort to increase the number of minority scientists and engineers in the USA via the utilization of the communication features of satellites. Research activities, experiments and studies in curriculum sharing are described as well as the techniques, interconnections and equipment utilized. Suggested methods and recommendations for a continuation of innovative applications of satellite technology in higher education at NC A&T State University are included.

Remote Sensing of Ocean Color in the Arctic: Algorithm Development and Comparative Validation. Chapter 9

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cota, Glenn F.

2001-01-01

The overall goal of this effort is to acquire a large bio-optical database, encompassing most environmental variability in the Arctic, to develop algorithms for phytoplankton biomass and production and other optically active constituents. A large suite of bio-optical and biogeochemical observations have been collected in a variety of high latitude ecosystems at different seasons. The Ocean Research Consortium of the Arctic (ORCA) is a collaborative effort between G.F. Cota of Old Dominion University (ODU), W.G. Harrison and T. Platt of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO), S. Sathyendranath of Dalhousie University and S. Saitoh of Hokkaido University. ORCA has now conducted 12 cruises and collected over 500 in-water optical profiles plus a variety of ancillary data. Observational suites typically include apparent optical properties (AOPs), inherent optical property (IOPs), and a variety of ancillary observations including sun photometry, biogeochemical profiles, and productivity measurements. All quality-assured data have been submitted to NASA's SeaWIFS Bio-Optical Archive and Storage System (SeaBASS) data archive. Our algorithm development efforts address most of the potential bio-optical data products for the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and GLI, and provides validation for a specific areas of concern, i.e., high latitudes and coastal waters.

Using Sunlight and Cell Networks to Bring Fleeting Tracking to Small Scale Fisheries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garren, M.; Selbie, H.; Suchomel, D.; McDonald, W.; Solomon, D.

2016-12-01

Traditionally, the efforts of small scale fisheries have not been easily incorporated into the global picture of fishing effort and activity. That means that the activities of the vast majority ( 90%) of fishing vessels in the world have remained unquantified and largely opaque. With newly developed technology that harnesses solar power and cost-effective cellular networks to transmit data, it is becoming possible to provide vessel tracking systems on a large scale for vessels of all sizes. Furthermore, capitalizing on the relatively inexpensive cellular networks to transfer the data enables data of much higher granularity to be captured. By recording a vessel's position every few seconds, instead of minutes to hours as is typical of most satellite-based systems, we are able to resolve a diverse array of behaviors happening at sea including when and where fishing occurred and what type of fishing gear was used. This high granularity data is both incredibly useful and also a challenge to manage and mine. New approaches for handling and processing this continuous data stream of vessel positions are being developed to extract the most informative and actionable pieces of information for a variety of audiences including governing agencies, industry supply chains seeking transparency, non-profit organizations supporting conservation efforts, academic researchers and the fishers and boat owners.

Detection and Prediction of Hail Storms in Satellite Imagery using Deep Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pullman, M.; Gurung, I.; Ramachandran, R.; Maskey, M.

2017-12-01

Natural hazards, such as damaging hail storms, dramatically disrupt both industry and agriculture, having significant socio-economic impacts in the United States. In 2016, hail was responsible for 3.5 billion and 23 million dollars in damage to property and crops, respectively, making it the second costliest 2016 weather phenomenon in the United States. The destructive nature and high cost of hail storms has driven research into the development of more accurate hail-prediction algorithms in an effort to mitigate societal impacts. Recently, weather forecasting efforts have turned to deep learning neural networks because neural networks can more effectively model complex, nonlinear, dynamical phenomenon that exist in large datasets through multiple stages of transformation and representation. In an effort to improve hail-prediction techniques, we propose a deep learning technique that leverages satellite imagery to detect and predict the occurrence of hail storms. The technique is applied to satellite imagery from 2006 to 2016 for the contiguous United States and incorporates hail reports obtained from the National Center for Environmental Information Storm Events Database for training and validation purposes. In this presentation, we describe a novel approach to predicting hail via a neural network model that creates a large labeled dataset of hail storms, the accuracy and results of the model, and its applications for improving hail forecasting.

Clinical pharmacy academic career transitions: Viewpoints from the field Part 2: Understanding and balancing the distribution of effort.

PubMed

Thompson, Angela; Blackmer, Allison; Jeffres, Meghan; Glode, Ashley; Mahyari, Nila; Thompson, Megan

2018-02-01

The six authors of this commentary series, who have recently transitioned into or within an academic career, discuss challenging aspects of an academic career change. The authors represent faculty members teaching within a large, state-funded, research-intensive School of Pharmacy located within a large academic health center. The authors have various backgrounds and represent individuals making transitions at various points in their careers (from residency into academia, from a non-academic environment into academia, and from one academic environment to another). This is Part 2 of a three-part commentary series that focuses on understanding and balancing the distribution of effort. Parts 1 and 3 of this commentary series explore feedback, evaluation and advancement; and learning when and how to say yes, respectively. While the entire series is intended to be read in continuity, faculty, or those interested in pursuing a career in pharmacy academia, can refer to Part 2 as a reference to aid in understanding and balancing the different components and the distribution of effort associated with a position in academic pharmacy, specifically. Schools of Pharmacy may utilize this as a tool for new faculty members during orientation in order to help ensure faculty success. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quantification of fossil fuel CO2 at the building/street level for large US cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurney, K. R.; Razlivanov, I. N.; Song, Y.

2012-12-01

Quantification of fossil fuel CO2 emissions from the bottom-up perspective is a critical element in emerging plans on a global, integrated, carbon monitoring system (CMS). A space/time explicit emissions data product can act as both a verification and planning system. It can verify atmospheric CO2 measurements (in situ and remote) and offer detailed mitigation information to management authorities in order to optimize the mix of mitigation efforts. Here, we present the Hestia Project, an effort aimed at building a high resolution (eg. building and road link-specific, hourly) fossil fuel CO2 emissions data product for the urban domain as a pilot effort to a CMS. A complete data product has been built for the city of Indianapolis and preliminary quantification has been completed for Los Angeles and Phoenix (see figure). The effort in Indianapolis is now part of a larger effort aimed at a convergent top-down/bottom-up assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, called INFLUX. Our urban-level quantification relies on a mixture of data and modeling structures. We start with the sector-specific Vulcan Project estimate at the mix of geocoded and county-wide levels. The Hestia aim is to distribute the Vulcan result in space and time. Two components take the majority of effort: buildings and onroad emissions. In collaboration with our INFLUX colleagues, we are transporting these high resolution emissions through an atmospheric transport model for a forward comparison of the Hestia data product with atmospheric measurements, collected on aircraft and cell towers. In preparation for a formal urban-scale inversion, these forward comparisons offer insights into both improving our emissions data product and measurement strategies. A key benefit of the approach taken in this study is the tracking and archiving of fuel and process-level detail (eg. combustion process, other pollutants), allowing for a more thorough understanding and analysis of energy throughputs in the urban environment. Quantification of fossil fuel emissions, however, is one piece in a larger conception of cities as complex dynamic socio-technological systems and the Hestia effort is at the very beginning stages of connecting to the large community of research approaching cities from other perspectives and utilizing other tools. Through analysis of the three cities for which we have quantified fossil fuel CO2 emissions and recognition of the current threads emerging in urban research, we are attempting to offer insight into understanding cities via the mechanistic quantification of energy and CO2 emissions.

Outlook and Challenges of Perovskite Solar Cells toward Terawatt-Scale Photovoltaic Module Technology

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

Zhu, Kai; Kim, Donghoe; Whitaker, James B

Rapid development of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) during the past several years has made this photovoltaic (PV) technology a serious contender for potential large-scale deployment on the terawatt scale in the PV market. To successfully transition PSC technology from the laboratory to industry scale, substantial efforts need to focus on scalable fabrication of high-performance perovskite modules with minimum negative environmental impact. Here, we provide an overview of the current research and our perspective regarding PSC technology toward future large-scale manufacturing and deployment. Several key challenges discussed are (1) a scalable process for large-area perovskite module fabrication; (2) less hazardous chemicalmore » routes for PSC fabrication; and (3) suitable perovskite module designs for different applications.« less

Supersonic Aerodynamic Design Improvements of an Arrow-Wing HSCT Configuration Using Nonlinear Point Design Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Unger, Eric R.; Hager, James O.; Agrawal, Shreekant

1999-01-01

This paper is a discussion of the supersonic nonlinear point design optimization efforts at McDonnell Douglas Aerospace under the High-Speed Research (HSR) program. The baseline for these optimization efforts has been the M2.4-7A configuration which represents an arrow-wing technology for the High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). Optimization work on this configuration began in early 1994 and continued into 1996. Initial work focused on optimization of the wing camber and twist on a wing/body configuration and reductions of 3.5 drag counts (Euler) were realized. The next phase of the optimization effort included fuselage camber along with the wing and a drag reduction of 5.0 counts was achieved. Including the effects of the nacelles and diverters into the optimization problem became the next focus where a reduction of 6.6 counts (Euler W/B/N/D) was eventually realized. The final two phases of the effort included a large set of constraints designed to make the final optimized configuration more realistic and they were successful albeit with a loss of performance.

Research Driven Policy: Is Financial Capacity Related to Dangerousness?

PubMed

DeLeon, Patrick H; Paxton, Maegan M; Spencer, Tonya; Bajjani-Gebara, Jouhayna E

2018-05-22

Current Veterans administration policy directly links a Veteran's adjudged capacity to manage personal financial resources with their ability to purchase or possess a firearm, pursuant to the regulatory authority of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Preventing Veterans' suicide is a highly laudable public health objective. Effectively utilizing scientific research to "inform" public policy is equally important. The authors should be congratulated for their efforts. However, it is important in utilizing large set population-based data, especially social science data, to evaluate policy alternatives that there be substantial face (i.e., clinical) validity. Correlation does not necessarily represent causation.

Biological Databases for Behavioral Neurobiology

PubMed Central

Baker, Erich J.

2014-01-01

Databases are, at their core, abstractions of data and their intentionally derived relationships. They serve as a central organizing metaphor and repository, supporting or augmenting nearly all bioinformatics. Behavioral domains provide a unique stage for contemporary databases, as research in this area spans diverse data types, locations, and data relationships. This chapter provides foundational information on the diversity and prevalence of databases, how data structures support the various needs of behavioral neuroscience analysis and interpretation. The focus is on the classes of databases, data curation, and advanced applications in bioinformatics using examples largely drawn from research efforts in behavioral neuroscience. PMID:23195119

Confidentiality issues for medical data miners.

PubMed

Berman, Jules J

2002-01-01

The first task in any medical data mining effort is ensuring patient confidentiality. In the past, most data mining efforts ensured confidentiality by the dubious policy of withholding their raw data from colleagues and the public. A cursory review of medical informatics literature in the past decade reveals that much of what we have "learned" consists of assertions derived from confidential datasets unavailable for anyone's review. Without access to the original data, it is impossible to validate or improve upon a researcher's conclusions. Without access to research data, we are asked to accept findings as an act of faith, rather than as a scientific conclusion. This special issue of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine is devoted to medical data mining. The medical data miner has an obligation to conduct valid research in a way that protects human subjects. Today, data miners have the technical tools to merge large data collections and to distribute queries over disparate databases. In order to include patient-related data in shared databases, data miners will need methods to anonymize and deidentify data. This article reviews the human subject risks associated with medical data mining. This article also describes some of the innovative computational remedies that will permit researchers to conduct research AND share their data without risk to patient or institution.

The Challenge of Large-Scale Literacy Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levin, Ben

2010-01-01

This paper discusses the challenge of making large-scale improvements in literacy in schools across an entire education system. Despite growing interest and rhetoric, there are very few examples of sustained, large-scale change efforts around school-age literacy. The paper reviews 2 instances of such efforts, in England and Ontario. After…

Large-Scale Low-Boom Inlet Test Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hirt, Stefanie

2011-01-01

This presentation provides a high level overview of the Large-Scale Low-Boom Inlet Test and was presented at the Fundamental Aeronautics 2011 Technical Conference. In October 2010 a low-boom supersonic inlet concept with flow control was tested in the 8'x6' supersonic wind tunnel at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). The primary objectives of the test were to evaluate the inlet stability and operability of a large-scale low-boom supersonic inlet concept by acquiring performance and flowfield validation data, as well as evaluate simple, passive, bleedless inlet boundary layer control options. During this effort two models were tested: a dual stream inlet intended to model potential flight hardware and a single stream design to study a zero-degree external cowl angle and to permit surface flow visualization of the vortex generator flow control on the internal centerbody surface. The tests were conducted by a team of researchers from NASA GRC, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Virginia

Improving Service Management in the Internet of Things

PubMed Central

Sammarco, Chiara; Iera, Antonio

2012-01-01

In the Internet of Things (IoT) research arena, many efforts are devoted to adapt the existing IP standards to emerging IoT nodes. This is the direction followed by three Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Working Groups, which paved the way for research on IP-based constrained networks. Through a simplification of the whole TCP/IP stack, resource constrained nodes become direct interlocutors of application level entities in every point of the network. In this paper we analyze some side effects of this solution, when in the presence of large amounts of data to transmit. In particular, we conduct a performance analysis of the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), a widely accepted web transfer protocol for the Internet of Things, and propose a service management enhancement that improves the exploitation of the network and node resources. This is specifically thought for constrained nodes in the abovementioned conditions and proves to be able to significantly improve the node energetic performance when in the presence of large resource representations (hence, large data transmissions).

Data Collection and Harmonization in HIV Research: The Seek, Test, Treat, and Retain Initiative at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

PubMed

Chandler, Redonna K; Kahana, Shoshana Y; Fletcher, Bennett; Jones, Dionne; Finger, Matthew S; Aklin, Will M; Hamill, Kathleen; Webb, Candace

2015-12-01

Large-scale, multisite data sets offer the potential for exploring the public health benefits of biomedical interventions. Data harmonization is an emerging strategy to increase the comparability of research data collected across independent studies, enabling research questions to be addressed beyond the capacity of any individual study. The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently implemented this novel strategy to prospectively collect and harmonize data across 22 independent research studies developing and empirically testing interventions to effectively deliver an HIV continuum of care to diverse drug-abusing populations. We describe this data collection and harmonization effort, collectively known as the Seek, Test, Treat, and Retain Data Collection and Harmonization Initiative, which can serve as a model applicable to other research endeavors.

Blending addiction research and practice: strategies for technology transfer.

PubMed

Condon, Timothy P; Miner, Lucinda L; Balmer, Curtis W; Pintello, Denise

2008-09-01

Consistent with traditional conceptions of technology transfer, efforts to translate substance abuse and addiction research into treatment practice have typically relied on the passive dissemination of research findings. The large gap between addiction research and practice, however, indicates that there are many barriers to successful technology transfer and that dissemination alone is not sufficient to produce lasting changes in addiction treatment. To accelerate the translation of research into practice, the National Institute on Drug Abuse launched the Blending Initiative in 2001. In part a collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's Addiction Technology Transfer Center program, this initiative aims to improve the development, effectiveness, and usability of evidence-based practices and reduce the obstacles to their timely adoption and implementation.

NASA,FAA,ONERA Swept-Wing Icing and Aerodynamics: Summary of Research and Current Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Broeren, Andy

2015-01-01

NASA, FAA, ONERA, and other partner organizations have embarked on a significant, collaborative research effort to address the technical challenges associated with icing on large scale, three-dimensional swept wings. These are extremely complex phenomena important to the design, certification and safe operation of small and large transport aircraft. There is increasing demand to balance trade-offs in aircraft efficiency, cost and noise that tend to compete directly with allowable performance degradations over an increasing range of icing conditions. Computational fluid dynamics codes have reached a level of maturity that they are being proposed by manufacturers for use in certification of aircraft for flight in icing. However, sufficient high-quality data to evaluate their performance on iced swept wings are not currently available in the public domain and significant knowledge gaps remain.

Intra-reach headwater fish assemblage structure

USGS Publications Warehouse

McKenna, James E.

2017-01-01

Large-scale conservation efforts can take advantage of modern large databases and regional modeling and assessment methods. However, these broad-scale efforts often assume uniform average habitat conditions and/or species assemblages within stream reaches.

Recruiting and retaining low-income Latinos in psychotherapy research.

PubMed

Miranda, J; Azocar, F; Organista, K C; Muñoz, R F; Lieberman, A

1996-10-01

This article offers suggestions for recruiting and retaining low-income Latinos in treatment studies. Because Latinos underuse traditional mental health services, places such as medical centers or churches with large Latino constituents are suggested as useful alternative sources. To keep Latinos in research protocols, providing culturally sensitive treatments are necessary. Culturally sensitive treatments should incorporate families as part of recruitment efforts, particularly older men in the family. In addition, showing respect is an important aspect of traditional Latino culture that includes using formal titles and taking time to listen carefully. Finally, traditional Latinos tend to like interactions with others that are more warm and personal than is generally part of a research atmosphere.

Integrating multiple publics into the strategic plan. The best plans can be derailed without comprehensive up-front research.

PubMed

Peltier, J W; Kleimenhagen, A K; Naidu, G M

1996-01-01

The mission of a health care organization represents its vision for the future. The authors present an approach used to develop an organizational mission for a large multispecialty physician clinic. In implementing the strategic planning process, research objectives must be clearly stated that identify in advance how the data will be used. Failure to integrate strategic data from all relevant publics will likely result in a mission statement that misses the significant interests of one or more stakeholders and reduces the effectiveness of the strategic planning process. Although costly, comprehensive research can uncover some surprising differences in perception that, if ignored, might complete defeat strategic planning efforts.

Omics approaches in food safety: fulfilling the promise?

PubMed Central

Bergholz, Teresa M.; Moreno Switt, Andrea I.; Wiedmann, Martin

2014-01-01

Genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics are rapidly transforming our approaches to detection, prevention and treatment of foodborne pathogens. Microbial genome sequencing in particular has evolved from a research tool into an approach that can be used to characterize foodborne pathogen isolates as part of routine surveillance systems. Genome sequencing efforts will not only improve outbreak detection and source tracking, but will also create large amounts of foodborne pathogen genome sequence data, which will be available for data mining efforts that could facilitate better source attribution and provide new insights into foodborne pathogen biology and transmission. While practical uses and application of metagenomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics data and associated tools are less prominent, these tools are also starting to yield practical food safety solutions. PMID:24572764

Active cooling from the sixties to NASP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kelly, H. Neale; Blosser, Max L.

1992-01-01

Vehicles, such as the X-15 or National Aero-Space Plane, traveling at hypersonic speeds through the earth's atmosphere experience aerodynamic heating. The heating can be severe enough that a thermal protection system is required to limit the temperature of the vehicle structure. Although several categories of thermal protection systems are mentioned briefly, the majority of this paper describes convectively cooled structures for large areas. Convective cooling is a method of limiting structural temperatures by circulating a coolant through the vehicle structure. Efforts to develop convectively cooled structures during the past 30 years--from early engine structures, which were intended to be tested on the X-15, to structural--are described. Many of the lessons learned from these research efforts are presented.

A Flight Research Overview of WSPR, a Pilot Project for Sonic Boom Community Response

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cliatt, Larry J., II; Haering, Edward A., Jr.; Jones, Thomas P.; Waggoner, Erin R.; Flattery, Ashley K.; Wiley, Scott L.

2014-01-01

In support of the ongoing effort by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to bring supersonic commercial travel to the public, the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and the NASA Langley Research Center, in cooperation with other industry organizations, conducted a flight research experiment to identify the methods, tools, and best practices for a large-scale quiet (or low) sonic boom community human response test. The name of the effort was Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response (WSPR). Such tests will be applied to building a dataset that governing agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization will use to establish regulations for acceptable sound levels of overland sonic booms. The WSPR test was the first such effort that studied responses to non-traditional low sonic booms while the subject persons were in their own homes and performing daily activities.The WSPR test was a NASA collaborative effort with several industry partners, in response to a NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Research Opportunities in Aeronautics. The primary contractor was Wyle (El Segundo, California). Other partners included Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (Savannah, Georgia); Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pennsylvania); Tetra Tech, Inc. (Pasadena, California); and Fidell Associates, Inc. (Woodland Hills, California).A major objective of the effort included exposing a community to the sonic boom magnitudes and occurrences that would be expected to occur in high-air traffic regions having a network of supersonic commercial aircraft in place. Low-level sonic booms designed to simulate those produced by the next generation of commercial supersonic aircraft were generated over a small residential community. The sonic boom footprint was recorded with an autonomous wireless microphone array that spanned the entire community. Human response data were collected using multiple survey methods. The research focused on essential elements of community response testing including subject recruitment, survey methods, instrumentation systems, flight planning and operations, and data analysis methods.This paper focuses on the NASA role in the logistics and operations of the effort, including human response subject recruitment, the operational processes involved in implementing the surveys throughout the community, instrumentation systems, logistics, flight planning, and flight operations. Findings discussed in this paper include critical lessons learned in all of the above-mentioned areas, as well as flight operations results. Analysis of the accuracy and repeatability of planning and executing the unique aircraft maneuver used to generate low sonic booms concluded that the sonic booms had overpressures within 0.15 lbft2 of the planned values for 76 percent of the attempts. Similarly, 90 percent of the attempts to generate low sonic booms within the community were successful.

Assessing a Science Graduate School Recruitment Symposium.

PubMed

González-Espada, Wilson; Díaz-Muñoz, Greetchen; Feliú-Mójer, Mónica; Flores-Otero, Jacqueline; Fortis-Santiago, Yaihara; Guerrero-Medina, Giovanna; López-Casillas, Marcos; Colón-Ramos, Daniel A; Fernández-Repollet, Emma

2015-12-01

Ciencia Puerto Rico, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting science, research and scientific education among Latinos, organized an educational symposium to provide college science majors the tools, opportunities and advice to pursue graduate degrees and succeed in the STEM disciplines. In this article we share our experiences and lessons learned, for others interested in developing large-scale events to recruit underrepresented minorities to STEM and in evaluating the effectiveness of these efforts.

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

Shvedova, Anna, E-mail: ats1@cdc.gov; Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, WVU, Morgantown, WV; Pietroiusti, Antonio

The mounting societal concerns about possible and maybe even likely adverse effects of nanomaterials are reflected in a large and growing number of publications in the field of nanotoxicology. Indeed, today's search in PubMed reveals > 3700 publications on the subject denoted by (toxic + nanomaterials) – quite a growth over the last decade that began with only two dozens of them up-to 2005. - Highlights: • Major factors of nanotoxicology • Key directions for research efforts • Global representation of the authorship.

Nonproliferation and Threat Reduction Assistance: U.S. Programs in the Former Soviet Union

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-07-31

seeks to help Russia reconfigure its large - scale former BW-related facilities so that they can perform peaceful research issues such as infectious...opting instead for the construction of fast breeder reactors that could burn plutonium directly for energy production. The United States might not fund...this effort, as many in the United States argue that breeder reactors , which produce more plutonium than they consume, would undermine

Nonproliferation and Threat Reduction Assistance: U.S. Programs in the Former Soviet Union

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-26

large - scale former BW-related facilities so that they can perform peaceful research issues such as infectious diseases. The Global Threat Reduction...indicated that it may not pursue the MOX program to eliminate its plutonium, opting instead for the construction of fast breeder reactors that could...burn plutonium directly for energy production. The United States might not fund this effort, as many in the United States argue that breeder reactors

Intelligence-Led Risk Management for Homeland Security: A Collaborative Approach for a Common Goal

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

phases of research into a summary analysis of the risk management policy within the homeland security enterprise. The result of the multi-goal policy ...management and policy decisions with emphasis on social aspects and efforts to support local and regional decision making, and to avoid cascading...independent variables. The second order social and economic effects of terrorism have been largely overlooked so far in accounting for the risk from

Assessing a Science Graduate School Recruitment Symposium

PubMed Central

González-Espada, Wilson; Díaz-Muñoz, Greetchen; Feliú-Mójer, Mónica; Flores-Otero, Jacqueline; Fortis-Santiago, Yaihara; Guerrero-Medina, Giovanna; López-Casillas, Marcos; Colón-Ramos, Daniel A.; Fernández-Repollet, Emma

2015-01-01

Ciencia Puerto Rico, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting science, research and scientific education among Latinos, organized an educational symposium to provide college science majors the tools, opportunities and advice to pursue graduate degrees and succeed in the STEM disciplines. In this article we share our experiences and lessons learned, for others interested in developing large-scale events to recruit underrepresented minorities to STEM and in evaluating the effectiveness of these efforts. PMID:26770074

Effective Practices in the Delivery of Research Ethics Education: A Qualitative Review of Instructional Methods.

PubMed

Todd, E Michelle; Torrence, Brett S; Watts, Logan L; Mulhearn, Tyler J; Connelly, Shane; Mumford, Michael D

2017-01-01

In order to delineate best practices for courses on research ethics, the goal of the present effort was to identify themes related to instructional methods reflected in effective research ethics and responsible conduct of research (RCR) courses. By utilizing a qualitative review, four themes relevant to instructional methods were identified in effective research ethics courses: active participation, case-based activities, a combination of individual and group approaches, and a small number of instructional methods. Three instructional method themes associated with less effective courses were also identified: passive learning, a group-based approach, and a large number of instructional methods. Key characteristics of each theme, along with example courses relative to each theme, are described. Additionally, implications regarding these instructional method themes and recommendations for best practices in research ethics courses are discussed.

Supporting Research at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Through Focused Education and Outreach Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ireton, F.; Closs, J.

2003-12-01

NASA research scientists work closely with Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI) personnel at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) on a large variety of education and public outreach (E/PO) initiatives. This work includes assistance in conceptualizing E/PO plans, then carrying through in the development of materials, publication, cataloging, warehousing, and product distribution. For instance, outreach efforts on the Terra, Aqua, and Aura-still in development-EOS missions, as well as planetary and visualization programs, have been coordinated by SSAI employees. E/PO support includes convening and taking part in sessions at professional meetings and workshops. Also included is the coordination of exhibits at professional meetings such as the AGU, AAAS, AMS and educational meetings such as the National Science Teachers Association. Other E/PO efforts include the development and staffing of booths; arranges for booth space and furnishings; shipping of exhibition materials and products; assembling, stocking, and disassembling of booths. E/PO personnel work with organizations external to NASA such as the Smithsonian museum, Library of Congress, U.S. Geological Survey, and associations or societies such as the AGU, American Chemical Society, and National Science Teachers Association to develop products and programs that enhance NASA mission E/PO efforts or to provide NASA information for use in their programs. At GSFC, E/PO personnel coordinate the efforts of the education and public outreach sub-committees in support of the Space and Earth Sciences Data Analysis (SESDA) contract within the GSFC Earth Sciences Directorate. The committee acts as a forum for improving communication and coordination among related Earth science education projects, and strives to unify the representation of these programs among the science and education communities. To facilitate these goals a Goddard Earth Sciences Directorate Education and Outreach Portal has been developed to provide a repository and clearinghouse for upcoming education events, and a speaker's bureau. The committees are planning a series of workshops in the near future to expand participation, and further leverage respective Earth science education and outreach efforts through cooperative work with other NASA centers. Founded in 1977 as a minority, women-owned business, SSAI's staff includes a large and varied pool of scientists, E/PO employees covering a broad range of training and talents. SSAI provides support on a number of NASA related projects at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland ranging from science research to data acquisition, storage, and distribution.

Why is data sharing in collaborative natural resource efforts so hard and what can we do to improve it?

PubMed

Volk, Carol J; Lucero, Yasmin; Barnas, Katie

2014-05-01

Increasingly, research and management in natural resource science rely on very large datasets compiled from multiple sources. While it is generally good to have more data, utilizing large, complex datasets has introduced challenges in data sharing, especially for collaborating researchers in disparate locations ("distributed research teams"). We surveyed natural resource scientists about common data-sharing problems. The major issues identified by our survey respondents (n = 118) when providing data were lack of clarity in the data request (including format of data requested). When receiving data, survey respondents reported various insufficiencies in documentation describing the data (e.g., no data collection description/no protocol, data aggregated, or summarized without explanation). Since metadata, or "information about the data," is a central obstacle in efficient data handling, we suggest documenting metadata through data dictionaries, protocols, read-me files, explicit null value documentation, and process metadata as essential to any large-scale research program. We advocate for all researchers, but especially those involved in distributed teams to alleviate these problems with the use of several readily available communication strategies including the use of organizational charts to define roles, data flow diagrams to outline procedures and timelines, and data update cycles to guide data-handling expectations. In particular, we argue that distributed research teams magnify data-sharing challenges making data management training even more crucial for natural resource scientists. If natural resource scientists fail to overcome communication and metadata documentation issues, then negative data-sharing experiences will likely continue to undermine the success of many large-scale collaborative projects.

Why is Data Sharing in Collaborative Natural Resource Efforts so Hard and What can We Do to Improve it?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Volk, Carol J.; Lucero, Yasmin; Barnas, Katie

2014-05-01

Increasingly, research and management in natural resource science rely on very large datasets compiled from multiple sources. While it is generally good to have more data, utilizing large, complex datasets has introduced challenges in data sharing, especially for collaborating researchers in disparate locations ("distributed research teams"). We surveyed natural resource scientists about common data-sharing problems. The major issues identified by our survey respondents ( n = 118) when providing data were lack of clarity in the data request (including format of data requested). When receiving data, survey respondents reported various insufficiencies in documentation describing the data (e.g., no data collection description/no protocol, data aggregated, or summarized without explanation). Since metadata, or "information about the data," is a central obstacle in efficient data handling, we suggest documenting metadata through data dictionaries, protocols, read-me files, explicit null value documentation, and process metadata as essential to any large-scale research program. We advocate for all researchers, but especially those involved in distributed teams to alleviate these problems with the use of several readily available communication strategies including the use of organizational charts to define roles, data flow diagrams to outline procedures and timelines, and data update cycles to guide data-handling expectations. In particular, we argue that distributed research teams magnify data-sharing challenges making data management training even more crucial for natural resource scientists. If natural resource scientists fail to overcome communication and metadata documentation issues, then negative data-sharing experiences will likely continue to undermine the success of many large-scale collaborative projects.

Digital footprints: facilitating large-scale environmental psychiatric research in naturalistic settings through data from everyday technologies

PubMed Central

Bidargaddi, N; Musiat, P; Makinen, V-P; Ermes, M; Schrader, G; Licinio, J

2017-01-01

Digital footprints, the automatically accumulated by-products of our technology-saturated lives, offer an exciting opportunity for psychiatric research. The commercial sector has already embraced the electronic trails of customers as an enabling tool for guiding consumer behaviour, and analogous efforts are ongoing to monitor and improve the mental health of psychiatric patients. The untargeted collection of digital footprints that may or may not be health orientated comprises a large untapped information resource for epidemiological scale research into psychiatric disorders. Real-time monitoring of mood, sleep and physical and social activity in a substantial portion of the affected population in a naturalistic setting is unprecedented in psychiatry. We propose that digital footprints can provide these measurements from real world setting unobtrusively and in a longitudinal fashion. In this perspective article, we outline the concept of digital footprints and the services and devices that create them, and present examples where digital footprints have been successfully used in research. We then critically discuss the opportunities and fundamental challenges associated digital footprints in psychiatric research, such as collecting data from different sources, analysis, ethical and research design challenges. PMID:27922603

Digital footprints: facilitating large-scale environmental psychiatric research in naturalistic settings through data from everyday technologies.

PubMed

Bidargaddi, N; Musiat, P; Makinen, V-P; Ermes, M; Schrader, G; Licinio, J

2017-02-01

Digital footprints, the automatically accumulated by-products of our technology-saturated lives, offer an exciting opportunity for psychiatric research. The commercial sector has already embraced the electronic trails of customers as an enabling tool for guiding consumer behaviour, and analogous efforts are ongoing to monitor and improve the mental health of psychiatric patients. The untargeted collection of digital footprints that may or may not be health orientated comprises a large untapped information resource for epidemiological scale research into psychiatric disorders. Real-time monitoring of mood, sleep and physical and social activity in a substantial portion of the affected population in a naturalistic setting is unprecedented in psychiatry. We propose that digital footprints can provide these measurements from real world setting unobtrusively and in a longitudinal fashion. In this perspective article, we outline the concept of digital footprints and the services and devices that create them, and present examples where digital footprints have been successfully used in research. We then critically discuss the opportunities and fundamental challenges associated digital footprints in psychiatric research, such as collecting data from different sources, analysis, ethical and research design challenges.

An Investigation of Reliability Models for Ceramic Matrix Composites and their Implementation into Finite Element Codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duffy, Stephen F.

1998-01-01

The development of modeling approaches for the failure analysis of ceramic-based material systems used in high temperature environments was the primary objective of this research effort. These materials have the potential to support many key engineering technologies related to the design of aeropropulsion systems. Monolithic ceramics exhibit a number of useful properties such as retention of strength at high temperatures, chemical inertness, and low density. However, the use of monolithic ceramics has been limited by their inherent brittleness and a large variation in strength. This behavior has motivated material scientists to reinforce the monolithic material with a ceramic fiber. The addition of a second ceramic phase with an optimized interface increases toughness and marginally increases strength. The primary purpose of the fiber is to arrest crack growth, not to increase strength. The material systems of interest in this research effort were laminated ceramic matrix composites, as well as two- and three- dimensional fabric reinforced ceramic composites. These emerging composite systems can compete with metals in many demanding applications. However, the ongoing metamorphosis of ceramic composite material systems, and the lack of standardized design data has in the past tended to minimize research efforts related to structural analysis. Many structural components fabricated from ceramic matrix composites (CMC) have been designed by "trial and error." The justification for this approach lies in the fact that during the initial developmental phases for a material system fabrication issues are paramount. Emphasis is placed on demonstrating feasibility rather than fully understanding the processes controlling mechanical behavior. This is understandable during periods of rapid improvements in material properties for any composite system. But to avoid the ad hoc approach, the analytical methods developed under this effort can be used to develop rational structural design protocols.

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells for transportation applications

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

Springer, T.E.; Wilson, M.S.; Garzon, F.H.

1993-01-01

The application of the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) as a primary power source in electric vehicles has received incrming attention during the last few years. This increased attention has been fueled by a combination of significant technical advances in this field and by the initiation of some projects for the demonstration of a complete, PEFC-based power system in a bus or in a passenger car. Such demonstration pretieds reflect an increased faith of industry in the potential of this technology for transportation applications, or, at least, in the need for a detailed evaluation of this potential Nevertheless, large scalemore » transportation applications of PEFCs requim a continued concerted effort of research on catalysis, materials and components, combined with the engineering efforts addressing the complete power system. This is required to achieve cost effective, highly performing PEFC stack and power system. We describe in this contribution some recent results of work performed within the Core Research PEFC Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which has addressed transportation applications of PEFCs.« less

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells for transportation applications

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

Springer, T.E.; Wilson, M.S.; Garzon, F.H.

1993-03-01

The application of the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) as a primary power source in electric vehicles has received incrming attention during the last few years. This increased attention has been fueled by a combination of significant technical advances in this field and by the initiation of some projects for the demonstration of a complete, PEFC-based power system in a bus or in a passenger car. Such demonstration pretieds reflect an increased faith of industry in the potential of this technology for transportation applications, or, at least, in the need for a detailed evaluation of this potential Nevertheless, large scalemore » transportation applications of PEFCs requim a continued concerted effort of research on catalysis, materials and components, combined with the engineering efforts addressing the complete power system. This is required to achieve cost effective, highly performing PEFC stack and power system. We describe in this contribution some recent results of work performed within the Core Research PEFC Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which has addressed transportation applications of PEFCs.« less

Using tobacco-industry marketing research to design more effective tobacco-control campaigns.

PubMed

Ling, Pamela M; Glantz, Stanton A

2002-06-12

To improve tobacco-control efforts by applying tobacco-industry marketing research and strategies to clinical and public health smoking interventions, we analyzed previously secret tobacco-industry marketing documents. In contrast to public health, the tobacco industry divides markets and defines targets according to consumer attitudes, aspirations, activities, and lifestyles. Tobacco marketing targets smokers of all ages; young adults are particularly important. During the 1980s, cost affected increasing numbers of young and older smokers. During the 1990s, eroding social acceptability of smoking emerged as a major threat, largely from increasing awareness of the dangers of secondhand smoke among nonsmokers and smokers. Physicians and public health professionals should use tobacco-industry psychographic approaches to design more relevant tobacco-control interventions. Efforts to counter tobacco marketing campaigns should include people of all ages, particularly young adults, rather than concentrating on teens and young children. Many young smokers are cost sensitive. Tobacco-control messages emphasizing the dangers of secondhand smoke to smokers and nonsmokers undermine the social acceptability of smoking.

Engineering approaches to transdermal drug delivery: a tribute to contributions of prof. Robert Langer.

PubMed

Mitragotri, S

2013-01-01

Transdermal drug delivery continues to provide an advantageous route of drug administration over injections. While the number of drugs delivered by passive transdermal patches has increased over the years, no macromolecule is currently delivered by the transdermal route. Substantial research efforts have been dedicated by a large number of researchers representing varied disciplines including biology, chemistry, pharmaceutics and engineering to understand, model and overcome the skin's barrier properties. This article focuses on engineering contributions to the field of transdermal drug delivery. The article pays tribute to Prof. Robert Langer, who pioneered the engineering approach towards transdermal drug delivery. Over a period spanning nearly 25 years since his first publication in the field of transdermal drug delivery, Bob Langer has deeply impacted the field by quantitative analysis and innovative engineering. At the same time, he has inspired several generations of engineers by collaborations and mentorship. His scientific insights, innovative technologies, translational efforts and dedicated mentorship have transformed the field. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Evidence-based toxicology for the 21st century: opportunities and challenges.

PubMed

Stephens, Martin L; Andersen, Melvin; Becker, Richard A; Betts, Kellyn; Boekelheide, Kim; Carney, Ed; Chapin, Robert; Devlin, Dennis; Fitzpatrick, Suzanne; Fowle, John R; Harlow, Patricia; Hartung, Thomas; Hoffmann, Sebastian; Holsapple, Michael; Jacobs, Abigail; Judson, Richard; Naidenko, Olga; Pastoor, Tim; Patlewicz, Grace; Rowan, Andrew; Scherer, Roberta; Shaikh, Rashid; Simon, Ted; Wolf, Douglas; Zurlo, Joanne

2013-01-01

The Evidence-based Toxicology Collaboration (EBTC) was established recently to translate evidence-based approaches from medicine and health care to toxicology in an organized and sustained effort. The EBTC held a workshop on "Evidence-based Toxicology for the 21st Century: Opportunities and Challenges" in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA on January 24-25, 2012. The presentations largely reflected two EBTC priorities: to apply evidence-based methods to assessing the performance of emerging pathway-based testing methods consistent with the 2007 National Research Council report on "Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century" as well as to adopt a governance structure and work processes to move that effort forward. The workshop served to clarify evidence-based approaches and to provide food for thought on substantive and administrative activities for the EBTC. Priority activities include conducting pilot studies to demonstrate the value of evidence-based approaches to toxicology, as well as conducting educational outreach on these approaches.

Improving science literacy and education through space life sciences.

PubMed

MacLeish, M Y; Moreno, N P; Tharp, B Z; Denton, J J; Jessup, G; Clipper, M C

2001-01-01

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) encourages open involvement by scientists and the public at large in the Institute's activities. Through its Education and Public Outreach Program, the Institute is supporting national efforts to improve Kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) and undergraduate education and to communicate knowledge generated by space life science research to lay audiences. Three academic institution Baylor College of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine and Texas A&M University are designing, producing, field-testing, and disseminating a comprehensive array of programs and products to achieve this goal. The objectives of the NSBRI Education and Public Outreach program are to: promote systemic change in elementary and secondary science education; attract undergraduate students--especially those from underrepresented groups--to careers in space life sciences, engineering and technology-based fields; increase scientific literacy; and to develop public and private sector partnerships that enhance and expand NSBRI efforts to reach students and families. c 2001. Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving science literacy and education through space life sciences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

MacLeish, M. Y.; Moreno, N. P.; Tharp, B. Z.; Denton, J. J.; Jessup, G.; Clipper, M. C.

2001-01-01

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) encourages open involvement by scientists and the public at large in the Institute's activities. Through its Education and Public Outreach Program, the Institute is supporting national efforts to improve Kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) and undergraduate education and to communicate knowledge generated by space life science research to lay audiences. Three academic institution Baylor College of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine and Texas A&M University are designing, producing, field-testing, and disseminating a comprehensive array of programs and products to achieve this goal. The objectives of the NSBRI Education and Public Outreach program are to: promote systemic change in elementary and secondary science education; attract undergraduate students--especially those from underrepresented groups--to careers in space life sciences, engineering and technology-based fields; increase scientific literacy; and to develop public and private sector partnerships that enhance and expand NSBRI efforts to reach students and families. c 2001. Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spacecraft environmental interactions: A joint Air Force and NASA research and technology program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pike, C. P.; Purvis, C. K.; Hudson, W. R.

1985-01-01

A joint Air Force/NASA comprehensive research and technology program on spacecraft environmental interactions to develop technology to control interactions between large spacecraft systems and the charged-particle environment of space is described. This technology will support NASA/Department of Defense operations of the shuttle/IUS, shuttle/Centaur, and the force application and surveillance and detection missions, planning for transatmospheric vehicles and the NASA space station, and the AFSC military space system technology model. The program consists of combined contractual and in-house efforts aimed at understanding spacecraft environmental interaction phenomena and relating results of ground-based tests to space conditions. A concerted effort is being made to identify project-related environmental interactions of concern. The basic properties of materials are being investigated to develop or modify the materials as needed. A group simulation investigation is evaluating basic plasma interaction phenomena to provide inputs to the analytical modeling investigation. Systems performance is being evaluated by both groundbased tests and analysis.

Heteroatom-Doped Carbon Materials for Electrocatalysis.

PubMed

Asefa, Tewodros; Huang, Xiaoxi

2017-08-10

Fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and metal-air batteries are important energy systems that have started to play some roles in our renewable energy landscapes. However, despite much research works carried out on them, they have not yet found large-scale applications, mainly due to the unavailability of sustainable catalysts that can catalyze the reactions employed in them. Currently, noble metal-based materials are the ones that are commonly used as catalysts in most commercial fuel cells, electrolyzers, and metal-air batteries. Hence, there has been considerable research efforts worldwide to find alternative noble metal-free and metal-free catalysts composed of inexpensive, earth-abundant elements for use in the catalytic reactions employed in these energy systems. In this concept paper, a brief introduction on catalysis in renewable energy systems, followed by the recent efforts to develop sustainable, heteroatom-doped carbon and non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts, the challenges to unravel their structure-catalytic activity relationships, and the authors' perspectives on these topics and materials, are discussed. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Biological markers of generalized anxiety disorder

PubMed Central

Maron, Eduard; Nutt, David

2017-01-01

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a prevalent and highly disabling mental health condition; however, there is still much to learn with regard to pertinent biomarkers, as well as diagnosis, made more difficult by the marked and common overlap of GAD with affective and anxiety disorders. Recently, intensive research efforts have focused on GAD, applying neuroimaging, genetic, and blood-based approaches toward discovery of pathogenetic and treatment-related biomarkers. In this paper, we review the large amount of available data, and we focus in particular on evidence from neuroimaging, genetic, and neurochemical measurements in GAD in order to better understand potential biomarkers involved in its etiology and treatment. Overall, the majority of these studies have produced results that are solitary findings, sometimes inconsistent and not clearly replicable. For these reasons, they have not yet been translated into clinical practice. Therefore, further research efforts are needed to distinguish GAD from other mental disorders and to provide new biological insights into its pathogenesis and treatment. PMID:28867939

Integrating Research and Education in NSF's Office of Polar Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wharton, R. A.; Crain, R. D.

2003-12-01

The National Science Foundation invests in activities that integrate research and education, and that develop reward systems to support teaching, mentoring and outreach. Effective integration of research and education at all levels can infuse learning with the excitement of discovery. It can also ensure that the findings and methods of research are quickly and effectively communicated in a broader context and to a larger audience. This strategy is vital to the accomplishment of NSF's strategic goals of ensuring a world-class science and engineering workforce, new knowledge across the frontiers of science and engineering, and the tools to get the job done efficiently and effectively. The NSF's Office of Polar Programs sponsors educational projects at all levels of learning, making full use of the variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies in the polar regions to attract and invigorate students. An array of efforts from the Arctic and Antarctic scientific communities link research activities with education. There has been an advance from the beneficial but isolated impacts of individual researcher visits to K-12 classrooms to large-scale developments, such as field research experiences for teachers and undergraduate students, online sharing of polar field experiences with rural classrooms, the institution of interdisciplinary graduate research programs through NSF initiatives, and opportunities for minority and underrepresented groups in polar sciences. The NSF's criterion for evaluating proposals based upon the broader impacts of the research activity has strengthened efforts to link research and education, resulting in partnerships and innovations that infuse research into education from kindergarten through postdoctoral studies and reaching out to the general public. In addition, the Office of Polar Programs partners with other directorates at NSF to broaden OPP's efforts and benefit from resources and experience in the Education and Human Resources Directorate, the Geosciences Education program, the Environmental Research and Education program and others. This presentation will provide an overview of the direction of science education in the Office of Polar Programs and highlight some important and long-lasting ventures. It is intended to encourage the Arctic and Antarctic scientific communities to look for additional avenues to bridge their research with education.

Practice, science and governance in interaction: European effort for the system-wide implementation of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

PubMed

Stucki, Gerold; Zampolini, Mauro; Juocevicius, Alvydas; Negrini, Stefano; Christodoulou, Nicolas

2017-04-01

Since its launch in 2001, relevant international, regional and national PRM bodies have aimed to implement the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM), whereby contributing to the development of suitable practical tools. These tools are available for implementing the ICF in day-to-day clinical practice, standardized reporting of functioning outcomes in quality management and research, and guiding evidence-informed policy. Educational efforts have reinforced PRM physicians' and other rehabilitation professionals' ICF knowledge, and numerous implementation projects have explored how the ICF is applied in clinical practice, research and policy. Largely lacking though is the system-wide implementation of ICF in day-to-day practice across all rehabilitation services of national health systems. In Europe, system-wide implementation of ICF requires the interaction between practice, science and governance. Considering its mandate, the UEMS PRM Section and Board have decided to lead a European effort towards system-wide ICF implementation in PRM, rehabilitation and health care at large, in interaction with governments, non-governmental actors and the private sector, and aligned with ISPRM's collaboration plan with WHO. In this paper we present the current PRM internal and external policy agenda towards system-wide ICF implementation and the corresponding implementation action plan, while highlighting priority action steps - promotion of ICF-based standardized reporting in national quality management and assurance programs, development of unambiguous rehabilitation service descriptions using the International Classification System for Service Organization in Health-related Rehabilitation, development of Clinical Assessment Schedules, qualitative linkage and quantitative mapping of data to the ICF, and the cultural adaptation of the ICF Clinical Data Collection Tool in European languages.

Cloud-based Jupyter Notebooks for Water Data Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castronova, A. M.; Brazil, L.; Seul, M.

2017-12-01

The development and adoption of technologies by the water science community to improve our ability to openly collaborate and share workflows will have a transformative impact on how we address the challenges associated with collaborative and reproducible scientific research. Jupyter notebooks offer one solution by providing an open-source platform for creating metadata-rich toolchains for modeling and data analysis applications. Adoption of this technology within the water sciences, coupled with publicly available datasets from agencies such as USGS, NASA, and EPA enables researchers to easily prototype and execute data intensive toolchains. Moreover, implementing this software stack in a cloud-based environment extends its native functionality to provide researchers a mechanism to build and execute toolchains that are too large or computationally demanding for typical desktop computers. Additionally, this cloud-based solution enables scientists to disseminate data processing routines alongside journal publications in an effort to support reproducibility. For example, these data collection and analysis toolchains can be shared, archived, and published using the HydroShare platform or downloaded and executed locally to reproduce scientific analysis. This work presents the design and implementation of a cloud-based Jupyter environment and its application for collecting, aggregating, and munging various datasets in a transparent, sharable, and self-documented manner. The goals of this work are to establish a free and open source platform for domain scientists to (1) conduct data intensive and computationally intensive collaborative research, (2) utilize high performance libraries, models, and routines within a pre-configured cloud environment, and (3) enable dissemination of research products. This presentation will discuss recent efforts towards achieving these goals, and describe the architectural design of the notebook server in an effort to support collaborative and reproducible science.

The essential nature of sharing in science.

PubMed

Fischer, Beth A; Zigmond, Michael J

2010-12-01

Advances in science are the combined result of the efforts of a great many scientists, and in many cases, their willingness to share the products of their research. These products include data sets, both small and large, and unique research resources not commercially available, such as cell lines and software programs. The sharing of these resources enhances both the scope and the depth of research, while making more efficient use of time and money. However, sharing is not without costs, many of which are borne by the individual who develops the research resource. Sharing, for example, reduces the uniqueness of the resources available to a scientist, potentially influencing the originator's perceived productivity and ultimately his or her competitiveness for jobs, promotions, and grants. Nevertheless, for most researchers-particularly those using public funds-sharing is no longer optional but must be considered an obligation to science, the funding agency, and ultimately society at large. Most funding agencies, journals, and professional societies now require a researcher who has published work involving a unique resource to make that resource available to other investigators. Changes could be implemented to mitigate some of the costs. The creator of the resource could explore the possibility of collaborating with those who request it. In addition, institutions that employ and fund researchers could change their policies and practices to make sharing a more attractive and viable option. For example, when evaluating an individual's productivity, institutions could provide credit for the impact a researcher has had on their field through the provision of their unique resources to other investigators, regardless of whether that impact is reflected in the researcher's list of publications. In addition, increased funding for the development and maintenance of user-friendly public repositories for data and research resources would also help to reduce barriers to sharing by minimizing the time, effort, and funding needed by individual investigators to comply with requests for their unique resource. Indeed, sharing is an imperative, but it is also essential to find ways to protect for both the original owner of the resource and those wishing to share it.

Ten Steps to Conducting a Large, Multi-Site, Longitudinal Investigation of Language and Reading in Young Children

PubMed Central

Farquharson, Kelly; Murphy, Kimberly A.

2016-01-01

Purpose: This paper describes methodological procedures involving execution of a large-scale, multi-site longitudinal study of language and reading comprehension in young children. Researchers in the Language and Reading Research Consortium (LARRC) developed and implemented these procedures to ensure data integrity across multiple sites, schools, and grades. Specifically, major features of our approach, as well as lessons learned, are summarized in 10 steps essential for successful completion of a large-scale longitudinal investigation in early grades. Method: Over 5 years, children in preschool through third grade were administered a battery of 35 higher- and lower-level language, listening, and reading comprehension measures (RCM). Data were collected from children, their teachers, and their parents/guardians at four sites across the United States. Substantial and rigorous effort was aimed toward maintaining consistency in processes and data management across sites for children, assessors, and staff. Conclusion: With appropriate planning, flexibility, and communication strategies in place, LARRC developed and executed a successful multi-site longitudinal research study that will meet its goal of investigating the contribution and role of language skills in the development of children's listening and reading comprehension. Through dissemination of our design strategies and lessons learned, research teams embarking on similar endeavors can be better equipped to anticipate the challenges. PMID:27064308

An Overview of the Upcoming International Polar Year

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlson, D.

2006-05-01

The ICSU - WMO International Polar Year 2007 - 2008 has drawn extraordinary interest from scientists of many specialties and many nationalities. A cautious assessment prior to the IPY start shows more than 200 projects, each with at least10 and often 50 or more scientists from at least three different nations, addressing a wide range of physical, biological and social research topics in both polar regions. Adding students, engineers, technicians and all manner of talented support crew so essential to polar research, and accepting some limitations due to logistics and funding, it seems likely that IPY will involve several 10's of thousands of individuals from at least 60 nations. Much of the IPY research will represent redirection and new collaboration on the basis of existing funds, but several nations will implement substantial new research funding and enhanced logistical support during IPY. One of IPY's strongest scientific contributions will arise from a substantial effort to understand geophysical, biological, and even social linkages between northern and southern polar regions - these linkages will highlight the importance of polar science to global processes and issues. IPY will offer unprecedented data management and communication challenges and opportunities, internally among so broad a range of scientific disciplines and externally to science education systems at all levels and to the general public. Against a background of prominent and largely commercial events, including films, television series, museum exhibitions, and regular broadcast coverage, many polar institutions and individuals will consider local events, new educational materials, and new engagement strategies that can have an enormous impact on public perception of science. In its total science and outreach effort, IPY will provide a large step forward that AGU and other pre-eminent science organizations can use and should plan to sustain.

Basic Research of Intrinsic Tamper Indication Markings Defined by Pulsed Laser Irradiation (Quad Chart).

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

Moody, Neville R.

Objective: We will research how short (ns) and ultrashort (fs) laser pulses interact with the surfaces of various materials to create complex color layers and morphological patterns. Method: We are investigating the site-specific, formation of microcolor features. Also, research includes a fundamental study of the physics underlying periodic ripple formation during femtosecond laser irradiation. Status of effort: Laser induced color markings were demonstrated on an increased number of materials (including metal thin films) and investigated for optical properties and microstructure. Technology that allows for marking curved surfaces (and large areas) has been implemented. We have used electro-magnetic solvers to modelmore » light-solid interactions leading to periodic surface ripple patterns. This includes identifying the roles of surface plasmon polaritons. Goals/Milestones: Research corrosion resistance of oxide color markings (salt spray, fog, polarization tests); Through modeling, investigate effects of multi-source scattering and interference on ripple patterns; Investigate microspectrophotometry for mapping color; and Investigate new methods for laser color marking curved surfaces and large areas.« less

Utilizing toxicogenomic data to understand chemical mechanism of action in risk assessment

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

Wilson, Vickie S., E-mail: wilson.vickie@epa.gov; Keshava, Nagalakshmi; Hester, Susan

2013-09-15

The predominant role of toxicogenomic data in risk assessment, thus far, has been one of augmentation of more traditional in vitro and in vivo toxicology data. This article focuses on the current available examples of instances where toxicogenomic data has been evaluated in human health risk assessment (e.g., acetochlor and arsenicals) which have been limited to the application of toxicogenomic data to inform mechanism of action. This article reviews the regulatory policy backdrop and highlights important efforts to ultimately achieve regulatory acceptance. A number of research efforts on specific chemicals that were designed for risk assessment purposes have employed mechanismmore » or mode of action hypothesis testing and generating strategies. The strides made by large scale efforts to utilize toxicogenomic data in screening, testing, and risk assessment are also discussed. These efforts include both the refinement of methodologies for performing toxicogenomics studies and analysis of the resultant data sets. The current issues limiting the application of toxicogenomics to define mode or mechanism of action in risk assessment are discussed together with interrelated research needs. In summary, as chemical risk assessment moves away from a single mechanism of action approach toward a toxicity pathway-based paradigm, we envision that toxicogenomic data from multiple technologies (e.g., proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, supportive RT-PCR studies) can be used in conjunction with one another to understand the complexities of multiple, and possibly interacting, pathways affected by chemicals which will impact human health risk assessment.« less

Memory mechanisms supporting syntactic comprehension

PubMed Central

Waters, Gloria

2013-01-01

Efforts to characterize the memory system that supports sentence comprehension have historically drawn extensively on short-term memory as a source of mechanisms that might apply to sentences. The focus of these efforts has changed significantly in the past decade. As a result of changes in models of short-term working memory (ST-WM) and developments in models of sentence comprehension, the effort to relate entire components of an ST-WM system, such as those in the model developed by Baddeley (Nature Reviews Neuroscience 4: 829–839, 2003) to sentence comprehension has largely been replaced by an effort to relate more specific mechanisms found in modern models of ST-WM to memory processes that support one aspect of sentence comprehension—the assignment of syntactic structure (parsing) and its use in determining sentence meaning (interpretation) during sentence comprehension. In this article, we present the historical background to recent studies of the memory mechanisms that support parsing and interpretation and review recent research into this relation. We argue that the results of this research do not converge on a set of mechanisms derived from ST-WM that apply to parsing and interpretation. We argue that the memory mechanisms supporting parsing and interpretation have features that characterize another memory system that has been postulated to account for skilled performance—long-term working memory. We propose a model of the relation of different aspects of parsing and interpretation to ST-WM and long-term working memory. PMID:23319178

The invisible prevalence of citizen science in global research: migratory birds and climate change.

PubMed

Cooper, Caren B; Shirk, Jennifer; Zuckerberg, Benjamin

2014-01-01

Citizen science is a research practice that relies on public contributions of data. The strong recognition of its educational value combined with the need for novel methods to handle subsequent large and complex data sets raises the question: Is citizen science effective at science? A quantitative assessment of the contributions of citizen science for its core purpose--scientific research--is lacking. We examined the contribution of citizen science to a review paper by ornithologists in which they formulated ten central claims about the impact of climate change on avian migration. Citizen science was never explicitly mentioned in the review article. For each of the claims, these ornithologists scored their opinions about the amount of research effort invested in each claim and how strongly the claim was supported by evidence. This allowed us to also determine whether their trust in claims was, unwittingly or not, related to the degree to which the claims relied primarily on data generated by citizen scientists. We found that papers based on citizen science constituted between 24 and 77% of the references backing each claim, with no evidence of a mistrust of claims that relied heavily on citizen-science data. We reveal that many of these papers may not easily be recognized as drawing upon volunteer contributions, as the search terms "citizen science" and "volunteer" would have overlooked the majority of the studies that back the ten claims about birds and climate change. Our results suggest that the significance of citizen science to global research, an endeavor that is reliant on long-term information at large spatial scales, might be far greater than is readily perceived. To better understand and track the contributions of citizen science in the future, we urge researchers to use the keyword "citizen science" in papers that draw on efforts of non-professionals.

The Invisible Prevalence of Citizen Science in Global Research: Migratory Birds and Climate Change

PubMed Central

Cooper, Caren B.; Shirk, Jennifer; Zuckerberg, Benjamin

2014-01-01

Citizen science is a research practice that relies on public contributions of data. The strong recognition of its educational value combined with the need for novel methods to handle subsequent large and complex data sets raises the question: Is citizen science effective at science? A quantitative assessment of the contributions of citizen science for its core purpose – scientific research – is lacking. We examined the contribution of citizen science to a review paper by ornithologists in which they formulated ten central claims about the impact of climate change on avian migration. Citizen science was never explicitly mentioned in the review article. For each of the claims, these ornithologists scored their opinions about the amount of research effort invested in each claim and how strongly the claim was supported by evidence. This allowed us to also determine whether their trust in claims was, unwittingly or not, related to the degree to which the claims relied primarily on data generated by citizen scientists. We found that papers based on citizen science constituted between 24 and 77% of the references backing each claim, with no evidence of a mistrust of claims that relied heavily on citizen-science data. We reveal that many of these papers may not easily be recognized as drawing upon volunteer contributions, as the search terms “citizen science” and “volunteer” would have overlooked the majority of the studies that back the ten claims about birds and climate change. Our results suggest that the significance of citizen science to global research, an endeavor that is reliant on long-term information at large spatial scales, might be far greater than is readily perceived. To better understand and track the contributions of citizen science in the future, we urge researchers to use the keyword “citizen science” in papers that draw on efforts of non-professionals. PMID:25184755

Quantum Algorithms for Scientific Computing and Approximate Optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadfield, Stuart Andrew

Diversity and inclusion has been a concern for the physics community for nearly 50 years. Despite significant efforts including the American Physical Society (APS) Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) and the APS Bridge Program, women, African Americans, and Hispanics continue to be substantially underrepresented in the physics profession. Similar efforts within the field of engineering, whose students make up the majority of students in the introductory calculus-based physics courses, have also met with limited success. With the introduction of research-based instruments such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE), and the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM), differences in performance by gender began to be reported. Researchers have yet to come to an agreement as to why these "gender gaps" exist in the conceptual inventories that are widely used in physics education research and/or how to reduce the gaps. The "gender gap" has been extensively studied; on average, for the mechanics conceptual inventories, male students outperform female students by 13% on the pretest and by 12% post instruction. While much of the gender gap research has been geared toward the mechanics conceptual inventories, there have been few studies exploring the gender gap in the electricity and magnetism conceptual inventories. Overall, male students outperform female students by 3.7% on the pretest and 8.5% on the post-test; however, these studies have much more variation including one study showing female students outperforming male students on the CSEM. Many factors have been proposed that may influence the gender gap, from differences in background and preparation to various psychological and sociocultural effects. A parallel but largely disconnected set of research has identified gender biased questions within the FCI. This research has produced sporadic results and has only been performed on the FCI. The work performed in this manuscript will seek to synthesize these strands and use large datasets and deep demographic data to understand the persistent differences in male and female performance.

Assessment of the status of A National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship in the USA

PubMed Central

Pollack, Lori A.; Rodriguez, Juan L.; Hawkins, Nikki A.; Smith, Tenbroeck; Rechis, Ruth; Miller, Andy; Willis, Anne; Miller, Helen; Hall, Ingrid J.; Fairley, Temeika L.; Stone-Wiggins, Brenda

2015-01-01

Purpose There are currently more than 12 million cancer survivors in the USA. Survivors face many issues related to cancer and treatment that are outside the purview of the clinical care system. Therefore, understanding and providing for the evolving needs of cancer survivors offers challenges and opportunities for the public health system. In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Lance Armstrong Foundation, now the Livestrong Foundation, partnered with national cancer survivorship organizations to develop the National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship (NAPCS). This plan outlines public health strategies to address the needs of cancer survivors. To date, no assessment of NAPCS strategies and their alignment with domestic cancer survivorship activities has been conducted. Methods The activities of five national organizations with organized public health agendas about cancer survivorship were assessed qualitatively during 2003–2007. Using the NAPCS as an organizing framework, interviews were conducted with key informants from all participating organizations. Interview responses were supplemented with relevant materials from informants and reviews of the organizations’ websites. Results Strategies associated with surveillance and applied research; communication, education, and training; and programs, policy, and infrastructure represent a large amount of the organizational efforts. However, there are gaps in research on preventive interventions, evaluation of implemented activities, and translation. Conclusions Numerous NAPCS strategies have been implemented. Future efforts of national cancer survivorship organizations should include rigorous evaluation of implemented activities, increased translation of research to practice, and assessment of dissemination efforts. Implications for Cancer Survivors The results of this descriptive assessment provide cancer survivors, cancer survivorship organizations, researchers, providers, and policy makers with initial information about cancer survivorship public health efforts in the USA. Additionally, results suggest areas in need of further attention and next steps in advancing the national cancer survivorship public health agenda. PMID:23609522

Health Care Public Sector Share and the U.S. Life Expectancy Lag: A Country-level Longitudinal Study.

PubMed

Reynolds, Megan M

2018-04-01

Growing research on the political economy of health has begun to emphasize sociopolitical influences on cross-national differences in population health above and beyond economic growth. While this research investigates the impact of overall public health spending as a share of GDP ("health care effort"), it has for the most part overlooked the distribution of health care spending across the public and private spheres ("public sector share"). I evaluate the relative contributions of health care effort, public sector share, and GDP to the large and growing disadvantage in U.S. life expectancy at birth relative to peer nations. I do so using fixed effects models with data from 16 wealthy democratic nations between 1960 and 2010. Results indicate that public sector share has a beneficial effect on longevity net of the effect of health care effort and that this effect is nonlinear, decreasing in magnitude as levels rise. Moreover, public sector share is a more powerful predictor of life expectancy at birth than GDP per capita. This study contributes to discussions around the political economy of health, the growth consensus, and the American lag in life expectancy. Policy implications vis-à-vis the U.S. Affordable Care Act are discussed.

Micromachined microfluidic chemiluminescent system for explosives detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Yoon; Neikirk, Dean P.; Anslyn, Eric V.

2007-04-01

Results will be reported from efforts to develop a self-contained micromachined microfluidic detection system for the presence of specific target analytes under the US Office of Naval Research Counter IED Basic Research Program. Our efforts include improving/optimizing a dedicated micromachined sensor array with integrated photodetectors and the synthesis of chemiluminescent receptors for nitramine residues. Our strategy for developing chemiluminescent synthetic receptors is to use quenched peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence; the presence of the target analyte would then trigger chemiluminescence. Preliminary results are encouraging as we have been able to measure large photo-currents from the reaction. We have also fabricated and demonstrated the feasibility of integrating photodiodes within an array of micromachined silicon pyramidal cavities. One particular advantage of such approach over a conventional planar photodiode would be its collection efficiency without the use of external optical components. Unlike the case of a normal photodetector coupled to a focused or collimated light source, the photodetector for such a purpose must couple to an emitting source that is approximately hemispherical; hence, using the full sidewalls of the bead's confining cavity as the detector allows the entire structure to act as its own integrating sphere. At the present time, our efforts are concentrating on improving the signal-to-noise ratio by reducing the leakage current by optimizing the fabrication sequence and the design.

Beyond PARR - PMEL's Integrated Data Management Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burger, E. F.; O'Brien, K.; Manke, A. B.; Schweitzer, R.; Smith, K. M.

2016-12-01

NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) hosts a wide range of scientific projects that span a number of scientific and environmental research disciplines. Each of these 14 research projects have their own data streams that are as diverse as the research. With its requirements for public access to federally funded research results and data, the 2013 White House Office of Science and Technology memo on Public Access to Research Results (PARR) changed the data management landscape for Federal agencies. In 2015, with support from the PMEL Director, Dr. Christopher Sabine, PMEL's Science Data Integration Group (SDIG) initiated a multi-year effort to formulate and implement an integrated data-management strategy for PMEL research efforts. Instead of using external requirements, such as PARR, to define our approach, we focussed on strategies to provide PMEL science projects with a unified framework for data submission, interoperable data access, data storage, and easier data archival to National Data Centers. This improves data access to PMEL scientists, their collaborators, and the public, and also provides a unified lab framework that allows our projects to meet their data management objectives, as well as those required by the PARR. We are implementing this solution in stages that allows us to test technology and architecture choices before comitting to a large scale implementation. SDIG developers have completed the first year of development where our approach is to reuse and leverage existing frameworks and standards. This presentation will describe our data management strategy, explain our phased implementation approach, the software and framework choices, and how these elements help us meet the objectives of this strategy. We will share the lessons learned in dealing with diverse and complex datasets in this first year of implementation and how these outcomes will shape our decisions for this ongoing effort. The data management capabilities now available to scientific projects, and other services being developed to manage and preserve PMEL's scientific data assets for our researchers, their collaborators, and future generations, will be described.

Managing conflict between large carnivores and livestock.

PubMed

van Eeden, Lily M; Crowther, Mathew S; Dickman, Chris R; Macdonald, David W; Ripple, William J; Ritchie, Euan G; Newsome, Thomas M

2018-02-01

Large carnivores are persecuted globally because they threaten human industries and livelihoods. How this conflict is managed has consequences for the conservation of large carnivores and biodiversity more broadly. Mitigating human-predator conflict should be evidence-based and accommodate people's values while protecting carnivores. Despite much research into human and large-carnivore coexistence strategies, there have been few attempts to document the success of conflict-mitigation strategies on a global scale. We conducted a meta-analysis of global research on conflict mitigation related to large carnivores and humans. We focused on conflicts that arise from the threat large carnivores pose to livestock. We first used structured and unstructured searching to identify replicated studies that used before-after or control-impact design to measure change in livestock loss as a result of implementing a management intervention. We then extracted relevant data from these studies to calculate an overall effect size for each intervention type. Research effort and focus varied among continents and aligned with the histories and cultures that shaped livestock production and attitudes toward carnivores. Livestock guardian animals most effectively reduced livestock losses. Lethal control was the second most effective control, although its success varied the most, and guardian animals and lethal control did not differ significantly. Financial incentives have promoted tolerance of large carnivores in some settings and reduced retaliatory killings. We suggest coexistence strategies be location-specific, incorporate cultural values and environmental conditions, and be designed such that return on financial investment can be evaluated. Improved monitoring of mitigation measures is urgently required to promote effective evidence-based policy. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Annual Research Briefs, 1992

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spinks, Debra (Compiler)

1993-01-01

This report contains the 1992 annual progress reports of the Research Fellows and students of the Center for Turbulence Research. Considerable effort was focused on the large eddy simulation technique for computing turbulent flows. This increased activity has been inspired by the recent predictive successes of the dynamic subgrid scale modeling procedure which was introduced during the 1990 Summer Program. Several Research Fellows and students are presently engaged in both the development of subgrid scale models and their applications to complex flows. The first group of papers in this report contain the findings of these studies. They are followed by reports grouped in the general areas of modeling, turbulence physics, and turbulent reacting flows. The last contribution in this report outlines the progress made on the development of the CTR post-processing facility.

Eating Together at the Firehouse: How Workplace Commensality Relates to the Performance of Firefighters

PubMed Central

Kniffin, Kevin M.; Wansink, Brian; Devine, Carol M.; Sobal, Jeffery

2015-01-01

Cooperative activities among coworkers can provide valuable group-level benefits; however, previous research has often focused on artificial activities that require extraordinary efforts away from the worksite. We investigate organizational benefits that firms might obtain through various supports for coworkers to engage in commensality (i.e., eating together). We conducted field research within firehouses in a large city to explore the role that interacting over food might have for work-group performance. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, our field research shows a significant positive association between commensality and work-group performance. Our findings establish a basis for research and practice that focuses on ways that firms can enhance team performance by leveraging the mundane and powerful activity of eating. PMID:27226698

Key opinion leaders and the corruption of medical knowledge: what the Sunshine Act will and won't cast light on.

PubMed

Sismondo, Sergio

2013-01-01

The pharmaceutical industry, in its marketing efforts, often turns to "key opinion leaders" or "KOLs" to disseminate scientific information. Drawing on the author's fieldwork, this article documents and examines the use of KOLs in pharmaceutical companies' marketing efforts. Partly due to the use of KOLs, a small number of companies with well-defined and narrow interests have inordinate influence over how medical knowledge is produced, circulated, and consumed. The issue here, as in many other cases of institutional corruption, is that a few actors have accumulated the power to shape the information on which many others base their decisions. Efforts to address this corruption should focus on correcting large imbalances in the current political economy of medical knowledge. A sequestration of pharmaceutical research and development on one hand from pharmaceutical marketing on the other, though difficult to achieve, would address this and many other problems. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Fire investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomberg, A.

There was considerable progress made on several fronts of fire investigation in the United States in recent years. Progress was made in increasing the quantity of fire investigation and reporting, through efforts to develop the National Fire Incident Reporting System. Improving overall quality of fire investigation is the objective of efforts such as the Fire Investigation Handbook, which was developed and published by the National Bureau of Standards, and the upgrading and expanding of the ""dictionary'' of fire investigation and reporting, the NFPA 901, Uniform Coding for Fire Protection, system. The science of fire investigation as furthered also by new approaches to post fire interviews being developed at the University of Washington, and by in-depth research into factors involved in several large loss fires, including the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Finally, the use of special study fire investigations - in-depth investigations concentrating on specific fire problems - is producing new glimpses into the nature of the national fire problem. A brief description of the status of efforts in each of these areas is discussed.

Scientific workflows as productivity tools for drug discovery.

PubMed

Shon, John; Ohkawa, Hitomi; Hammer, Juergen

2008-05-01

Large pharmaceutical companies annually invest tens to hundreds of millions of US dollars in research informatics to support their early drug discovery processes. Traditionally, most of these investments are designed to increase the efficiency of drug discovery. The introduction of do-it-yourself scientific workflow platforms has enabled research informatics organizations to shift their efforts toward scientific innovation, ultimately resulting in a possible increase in return on their investments. Unlike the handling of most scientific data and application integration approaches, researchers apply scientific workflows to in silico experimentation and exploration, leading to scientific discoveries that lie beyond automation and integration. This review highlights some key requirements for scientific workflow environments in the pharmaceutical industry that are necessary for increasing research productivity. Examples of the application of scientific workflows in research and a summary of recent platform advances are also provided.

Research, monitoring and evaluation of fish and wildlife restoration projects in the Columbia River Basin: Lessons learned and suggestions for large-scale monitoring programs.

Treesearch

Lyman L. McDonald; Robert Bilby; Peter A. Bisson; Charles C. Coutant; John M. Epifanio; Daniel Goodman; Susan Hanna; Nancy Huntly; Erik Merrill; Brian Riddell; William Liss; Eric J. Loudenslager; David P. Philipp; William Smoker; Richard R. Whitney; Richard N. Williams

2007-01-01

The year 2006 marked two milestones in the Columbia River Basin and the Pacific Northwest region's efforts to rebuild its once great salmon and steelhead runs: the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and the 10th anniversary of an amendment to the Northwest Power Act that formalized scientific peer review of the council...

Employee responsibility in benefit change.

PubMed

Hart, Deb; Arian, Mark

2007-01-01

If employers want to move employees beyond superficial acceptance of benefit changes, organizations need to increase the focus on how they manage the change process and support employee decision making. This article describes how employers can help workers understand changes and, through effective change management and communication, successfully navigate in an evolving benefits world. Using recent survey research about large employer and employee attitudes, the authors demonstrate tangible proof that these efforts pay off, both in financial and cultural terms.

NASTRAN users' experience of Avco Aerostructures Division

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blackburn, C. L.; Wilhelm, C. A.

1973-01-01

The NASTRAN experiences of a major structural design and fabrication subcontractor that has less engineering personnel and computer facilities than those available to large prime contractors are discussed. Efforts to obtain sufficient computer capacity and the development and implementation of auxiliary programs to reduce manpower requirements are described. Applications of the NASTRAN program for training users, checking out auxiliary programs, performing in-house research and development, and structurally analyzing an Avco designed and manufactured missile case are presented.

Nonproliferation and Threat Reduction Assistance: U.S, Programs in the Former Soviet Union

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-26

reconfigure its large - scale former BW-related facilities so that they can perform peaceful research issues such as infectious diseases. For FY2004, the Bush...program to eliminate its plutonium, opting instead for the construction of fast breeder reactors that could burn plutonium directly for energy production...The United States might not fund this effort, as many in the United States argue that breeder reactors , which produce more plutonium than they

Extraction of Iodine from Source Rock and Oil for Radioiodine Dating Final Report CRADA No. TC-1550-98

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

Moran, J. E.; Summa, L.

This was a collaborative effort between the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Exxon Production Research Company (EPR) to develop improved techniques for extracting, concentrating, and measuring iodine from large volumes of source rock and oil. The purpose of this project was to develop a technique for measuring total iodine extracted from rock, obtain isotopic ratios, and develop age models for samples provided by EPR.

Chasing Ernst L Wynder: 40 years of Philip Morris' efforts to influence a leading scientist

PubMed Central

Fields, N; Chapman, S

2003-01-01

Study objective: To highlight strategies used by the Philip Morris tobacco company to try to manipulate the eminent scientist, Dr Ernst Wynder between 1955 and 1995. Methods: Systematic keyword and opportunistic searching of www.pmdocs.com for formerly internal tobacco industry documents concerning Philip Morris executives and Wynder. Available materials included reports, budget reviews, and correspondence. Main results: The emergence of smoking as a priority issue on the American public health agenda can be largely attributed to Wynder's research and publicity efforts. Philip Morris viewed Wynder as a prestigious scientist whose commitment to the pursuit of reduced harm cigarettes could lend legitimacy to its desire to position itself as a responsible company intent on addressing consumer concerns. Philip Morris courted Wynder with large equipment loans and grants for more than 30 years, and used its public relations agency to sanitise press releases to remove material unacceptable to the company. Wynder consistently failed to acknowledge industry support while routinely acknowledging other funding from the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society. In retrospect, Wynder realised the insidious effect of tobacco industry research support but failed to acknowledge this may have applied to his own association with the industry. Conclusions: Industry documents reveal a deliberate attempt by Philip Morris to pursue and manipulate Dr Wynder to legitimise their company positions. PMID:12883059

Proteomic Analysis of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) Seeds Reveals the Accumulation of Numerous Stress-Related Proteins.

PubMed

Krishnan, Hari B; Natarajan, Savithiry S; Oehrle, Nathan W; Garrett, Wesley M; Darwish, Omar

2017-06-14

Pigeonpea is one of the major sources of dietary protein for more than a billion people living in South Asia. This hardy legume is often grown in low-input and risk-prone marginal environments. Considerable research effort has been devoted by a global research consortium to develop genomic resources for the improvement of this legume crop. These efforts have resulted in the elucidation of the complete genome sequence of pigeonpea. Despite these developments, little is known about the seed proteome of this important crop. Here, we report the proteome of pigeonpea seed. To enable the isolation of maximum number of seed proteins, including those that are present in very low amounts, three different protein fractions were obtained by employing different extraction media. High-resolution two-dimensional (2-D) electrophoresis followed by MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS/MS analysis of these protein fractions resulted in the identification of 373 pigeonpea seed proteins. Consistent with the reported high degree of synteny between the pigeonpea and soybean genomes, a large number of pigeonpea seed proteins exhibited significant amino acid homology with soybean seed proteins. Our proteomic analysis identified a large number of stress-related proteins, presumably due to its adaptation to drought-prone environments. The availability of a pigeonpea seed proteome reference map should shed light on the roles of these identified proteins in various biological processes and facilitate the improvement of seed composition.

Designing a low-cost pollution prevention plan to pay off at the University of Houston.

PubMed

Bialowas, Yurika Diaz; Sullivan, Emmett C; Schneller, Robert D

2006-09-01

The University of Houston is located just south of downtown Houston, TX. Many different chemical substances are used in scientific research and teaching activities throughout the campus. These activities generate a significant amount of waste materials that must be discarded as regulated hazardous waste per U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is the state regulatory agency that has enforcement authority for EPA hazardous waste rules in Texas. Currently, the University is classified as a large quantity generator and generates >1000 kg per month of hazardous waste. In addition, the University has experienced a major surge in research activities during the past several years, and overall the quantity of the hazardous waste generated has increased. The TCEQ requires large quantity generators to prepare a 5-yr Pollution Prevention (P2) Plan, which describes efforts to eliminate or minimize the amount of hazardous waste generated. This paper addresses the design and development of a low-cost P2 plan with minimal implementation obstacles and strong payoff potentials for the University. The projects identified can be implemented with existing University staff resources. This benefits the University by enhancing its environmental compliance efforts, and the disposal cost savings can be used for other purposes. Other educational institutions may benefit by undertaking a similar process.

Adrenaline Rush: The Role of Adrenergic Receptors in Stimulant-Induced Behaviors

PubMed Central

Schmidt, Karl T.

2014-01-01

Psychostimulants, such as cocaine and amphetamines, act primarily through the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine (DA), norepinephrine, and serotonin. Although stimulant addiction research has largely focused on DA, medication development efforts targeting the dopaminergic system have thus far been unsuccessful, leading to alternative strategies aimed at abating stimulant abuse. Noradrenergic compounds have shown promise in altering the behavioral effects of stimulants in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans. In this review, we discuss the contribution of each adrenergic receptor (AR) subtype (α1, α2, and β) to five stimulant-induced behaviors relevant to addiction: locomotor activity, conditioned place preference, anxiety, discrimination, and self-administration. AR manipulation has diverse effects on these behaviors; each subtype profoundly influences outcomes in some paradigms but is inconsequential in others. The functional neuroanatomy and intracellular signaling mechanisms underlying the impact of AR activation/blockade on these behaviors remain largely unknown, presenting a new frontier for research on psychostimulant–AR interactions. PMID:24499709

Entomological Collections in the Age of Big Data.

PubMed

Short, Andrew Edward Z; Dikow, Torsten; Moreau, Corrie S

2018-01-07

With a million described species and more than half a billion preserved specimens, the large scale of insect collections is unequaled by those of any other group. Advances in genomics, collection digitization, and imaging have begun to more fully harness the power that such large data stores can provide. These new approaches and technologies have transformed how entomological collections are managed and utilized. While genomic research has fundamentally changed the way many specimens are collected and curated, advances in technology have shown promise for extracting sequence data from the vast holdings already in museums. Efforts to mainstream specimen digitization have taken root and have accelerated traditional taxonomic studies as well as distribution modeling and global change research. Emerging imaging technologies such as microcomputed tomography and confocal laser scanning microscopy are changing how morphology can be investigated. This review provides an overview of how the realization of big data has transformed our field and what may lie in store.

Adrenaline rush: the role of adrenergic receptors in stimulant-induced behaviors.

PubMed

Schmidt, Karl T; Weinshenker, David

2014-04-01

Psychostimulants, such as cocaine and amphetamines, act primarily through the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine (DA), norepinephrine, and serotonin. Although stimulant addiction research has largely focused on DA, medication development efforts targeting the dopaminergic system have thus far been unsuccessful, leading to alternative strategies aimed at abating stimulant abuse. Noradrenergic compounds have shown promise in altering the behavioral effects of stimulants in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans. In this review, we discuss the contribution of each adrenergic receptor (AR) subtype (α1, α2, and β) to five stimulant-induced behaviors relevant to addiction: locomotor activity, conditioned place preference, anxiety, discrimination, and self-administration. AR manipulation has diverse effects on these behaviors; each subtype profoundly influences outcomes in some paradigms but is inconsequential in others. The functional neuroanatomy and intracellular signaling mechanisms underlying the impact of AR activation/blockade on these behaviors remain largely unknown, presenting a new frontier for research on psychostimulant-AR interactions.

Large-Eddy Simulation of Aeroacoustic Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pruett, C. David; Sochacki, James S.

1999-01-01

This report summarizes work accomplished under a one-year NASA grant from NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). The effort culminates three years of NASA-supported research under three consecutive one-year grants. The period of support was April 6, 1998, through April 5, 1999. By request, the grant period was extended at no-cost until October 6, 1999. Its predecessors have been directed toward adapting the numerical tool of large-eddy simulation (LES) to aeroacoustic applications, with particular focus on noise suppression in subsonic round jets. In LES, the filtered Navier-Stokes equations are solved numerically on a relatively coarse computational grid. Residual stresses, generated by scales of motion too small to be resolved on the coarse grid, are modeled. Although most LES incorporate spatial filtering, time-domain filtering affords certain conceptual and computational advantages, particularly for aeroacoustic applications. Consequently, this work has focused on the development of subgrid-scale (SGS) models that incorporate time-domain filters.

Income inequality, drug-related arrests, and the health of people who inject drugs: Reflections on seventeen years of research.

PubMed

Friedman, Samuel R; Tempalski, Barbara; Brady, Joanne E; West, Brooke S; Pouget, Enrique R; Williams, Leslie D; Des Jarlais, Don C; Cooper, Hannah L F

2016-06-01

This paper reviews and then discusses selected findings from a seventeen year study about the population prevalence of people who inject drugs (PWID) and of HIV prevalence and mortality among PWID in 96 large US metropolitan areas. Unlike most research, this study was conducted with the metropolitan area as the level of analysis. It found that metropolitan area measures of income inequality and of structural racism predicted all of these outcomes, and that rates of arrest for heroin and/or cocaine predicted HIV prevalence and mortality but did not predict changes in PWID population prevalence. Income inequality and measures of structural racism were associated with hard drug arrests or other properties of policing. These findings, whose limitations and implications for further research are discussed, suggest that efforts to respond to HIV and to drug injection should include supra-individual efforts to reduce both income inequality and racism. At a time when major social movements in many countries are trying to reduce inequality, racism and oppression (including reforming drug laws), these macro-social issues in public health should be both addressable and a priority in both research and action. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Leadership Class Configuration Interaction Code - Status and Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vary, James

2011-10-01

With support from SciDAC-UNEDF (www.unedf.org) nuclear theorists have developed and are continuously improving a Leadership Class Configuration Interaction Code (LCCI) for forefront nuclear structure calculations. The aim of this project is to make state-of-the-art nuclear structure tools available to the entire community of researchers including graduate students. The project includes codes such as NuShellX, MFDn and BIGSTICK that run a range of computers from laptops to leadership class supercomputers. Codes, scripts, test cases and documentation have been assembled, are under continuous development and are scheduled for release to the entire research community in November 2011. A covering script that accesses the appropriate code and supporting files is under development. In addition, a Data Base Management System (DBMS) that records key information from large production runs and archived results of those runs has been developed (http://nuclear.physics.iastate.edu/info/) and will be released. Following an outline of the project, the code structure, capabilities, the DBMS and current efforts, I will suggest a path forward that would benefit greatly from a significant partnership between researchers who use the codes, code developers and the National Nuclear Data efforts. This research is supported in part by DOE under grant DE-FG02-87ER40371 and grant DE-FC02-09ER41582 (SciDAC-UNEDF).

Workshop on High-Field NMR and Biological Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scientists at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory have been working toward the establishment of a new Molecular Science Research Center (MSRC). The primary scientific thrust of this new research center is in the areas of theoretical chemistry, chemical dynamics, surface and interfacial science, and studies on the structure and interactions of biological macromolecules. The MSRC will provide important new capabilities for studies on the structure of biological macromolecules. The MSRC program includes several types of advanced spectroscopic techniques for molecular structure analysis, and a theory and modeling laboratory for molecular mechanics/dynamics calculations and graphics. It is the goal to closely integrate experimental and theoretical studies on macromolecular structure, and to join these research efforts with those of the molecular biological programs to provide new insights into the structure/function relationships of biological macromolecules. One of the areas of structural biology on which initial efforts in the MSRC will be focused is the application of high field, 2-D NMR to the study of biological macromolecules. First, there is interest in obtaining 3-D structural information on large proteins and oligonucleotides. Second, one of the primary objectives is to closely link theoretical approaches to molecular structure analysis with the results obtained in experimental research using NMR and other spectroscopies.

Substance Abuse among Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

PubMed Central

Carroll Chapman, Shawna L.; Wu, Li-Tzy

2012-01-01

Individuals with disabilities are a growing population that confronts multiple disadvantages from social and environmental determinants of health. In particular, the 7–8 million people in the US with an intellectual disability (ID) suffer disproportionately from substance use problems, largely because of a lack of empirical evidence to inform prevention and treatment efforts for them. Although available research could inform future research efforts, studies are scattered across disciplines with the last review synthesizing findings written more than five years ago. To consider more recent findings with earlier works, PubMed, PsychINFO, and Google Scholar were searched and produced 37 peer-reviewed texts across multiple disciplines, 15 from 2006 or later. While the prevalence of alcohol and illicit drug use in this population are low, the risk of having a substance-related problem among ID substance users is comparatively high. Gaps in the research and population subgroups that warrant special attention are identified, such as individuals with borderline and mild ID, individuals with co-occurring mental illness, and individuals who are incarcerated. Compared with substance abusers without ID, ID substance abusers are less likely to receive substance abuse treatment or remain in treatment. Research is needed to better gauge the magnitude of substance use problems, identify prevention strategies, and specify treatment components that meet the unique needs of individuals with ID. PMID:22502840

Commercial Research and Development: Power to Explore, Opportunities from Discovery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Casas, Joseph C.; Nall, Mark; Powers, C. Blake; Henderson, Robin N. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The technical and economic goals of commercial use of space are laudable, and are addressed as a high priority by almost every national space program and most major aerospace companies the world over. Yet, the focus of most organizational agendas and discussions tends to focus on one or two very narrow enabling aspects of this potentially large technological and economic opportunity. While government sponsored commercial launch activities and private space platforms are an integral part of efforts to leverage the commercial use of space, these activities are possibly one of the smallest parts of creating, a viable and sustainable market for the commercial use of space. Most of the current programs usually do not appropriately address some of the critical issues of the current, already interested, potential space user communities. Current programs place the focus of the majority of the user requirements on the vehicle payload weight and mass performance considerations as the primary payload economical factor in providing a commercial market with a stimulating price for gaining access to the space environment. The larger user challenges of transformation from Earth-based research and development approaches to space environment approaches are not addressed early enough in programs to impact the new business considerations of potential users. Currently, space-based research and development user activities require a large user investment in time, in development of new areas of support expertise, in development of new systems, in risk of schedule to completion, and in long term capital positioning. The larger opportunities for stimulating a strong market driven interest in commercial use of space that could result from the development of vehicle payload "leap ahead technologies" for users are being missed, and there is a real risk of limiting the potentially broader market base to support a more technologically advanced and economically lucrative outcome. A major driving force for strengthening the commercial space activities is not only the technological advances in launch vehicle, or newer satellites, but the myriad of enabling payloads technologies that could, as a goal, result in an almost transparent facilitation to regular CD a, -n access to space and microgravity environments by the future users from the existing Earth-based research and development organizations market segments. Rather than focusing only on developing high lift performance launch vehicles and then developing payloads to fit them, the real focus from a business model perspective should to be on the customer payloads requirements, and on designing launch vehicles and platforms systems for a space transportation and facility infrastructure to support all aspects of the business model for the user market. To harness the full potential of space commercialization, new efforts need to be made to comprehensively examine all the critical business model areas for commercial research, development, and manufacturing in space so as to identify specific products and efforts; to determine how such operations must be both similar to and different from current Earth-based activities; to evaluate the enabling technological devices, processes and efforts so that like efforts can be addressed in a synergistic fashion for maximum user cost effectiveness; to delineate the services that are both needed and can be provided by such activities; and to use this information to drive design and development of space commercialization efforts and policy.

Perceptions community residents have about partner institutions and clinical research.

PubMed

Kennedy, Betty M; Katzmarzyk, Peter T; Johnson, William D; Griffin, Willene P; Kennedy, Kathleen B; Cefalu, William T; Ryan, Donna H

2013-12-01

Engaging community residents to obtain their feedback in conducting clinical research, and including them as leaders in implementing applicable health advances is crucial for success and sustaining large center awards. Forty-four adult men and women participated in one of four focus groups. Two groups each (one African American and one Caucasian) were conducted in Baton Rouge and in New Orleans. In an effort to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs Louisiana residents have about the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science (LA CaTS) Center concept, four main themes emerged from focus group participants concerning the state's research institutions, and what it means to have these institutions operating under one umbrella to improve the quality of health of its people: (1) academic/research institutions of the State are uniformly widely recognized and held in high regard; (2) increasing awareness of clinical research is a necessity; (3) establishing the LA CaTS Center is an excellent idea; and (4) effective communication including delivery style is crucial to partnerships and especially to the community. Focus group discussions can provide insight into community residents' perceptions, beliefs, motivations, and patterns of behavior for strategically planning for large center awards. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

'Birdwatching and baby-watching': Niko and Elisabeth Tinbergen's ethological approach to autism.

PubMed

Silverman, Chloe

2010-06-01

Biographers have largely dismissed Nikolaas 'Niko' Tinbergen's late research into the causes and treatment of autism, describing it as a deviation from his previous work, influenced by his personal desires.They have pointed to the incoherence of Tinbergen's assertions about best practices for treating autism, his lack of experience with children with autism, and his apparent embracing of psychogenic theories that the medical research community had largely abandoned. While these critiques have value, it is significant that Tinbergen himself saw his research as a logical extension of his seminal findings in the field of ethology, the science of animal behaviour. The reception of his theories, both positive and negative, was due less to their strengths or faults than to the fact that Tinbergen had inserted himself into a pre-existing and acrimonious debate in the autism research community. Debates about the relative role of environmental and hereditary factors in the aetiology of autism, and the implications of both for the efficacy of different treatments, had political and material significance for the success of parent organizations' lobbying efforts and financial support for research programmes. Tinbergen's approach was welcomed and even championed by a significant minority, who saw no problem with his ideas or methods.

Global Collaboration in Acute Care Clinical Research: Opportunities, Challenges, and Needs.

PubMed

Marshall, John C

2017-02-01

The most impactful research in critical care comes from trials groups led by clinician-investigators who study questions arising through the day-to-day care of critically ill patients. The success of this model reflects both "necessity"-the paucity of new therapies introduced through industry-led research-and "clinical reality"-nuanced modulation of standard practice can have substantial impact on clinically important outcomes. Success in a few countries has fueled efforts to build similar models around the world and to collaborate on an unprecedented scale in large international trials. International collaboration brings opportunity-the more rapid completion of clinical trials, enhanced generalizability of the results of these trials, and a focus on questions that have evoked international curiosity. It has changed practice, improved outcomes, and enabled an international response to pandemic threats. It also brings challenges. Investigators may feel threatened by the loss of autonomy inherent in collaboration, and appropriate models of academic credit are yet to be developed. Differences in culture, practice, ethical frameworks, research experience, and resource availability create additional imbalances. Patient and family engagement in research is variable and typically inadequate. Funders are poorly equipped to evaluate and fund international collaborative efforts. Yet despite or perhaps because of these challenges, the discipline of critical care is leading the world in crafting new models of clinical research collaboration that hold the promise of not only improving the care of the most vulnerable patients in the healthcare system but also transforming the way that we conduct clinical research.

Space Technology: A study of the significance of recognition for innovators of spinoff technologies. A case study on the impact of the space technology hall of fame award

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This report represents the preliminary effort in studying the significance of recognition for innovators of spinoff technologies. The purpose of this initial year's effort in this area was to gather preliminary data and define the direction for the remainder of the research. This report focuses on the most recent recipients of the Hall of Fame Award, the developers of liquid-cooled garments. Liquid-cooled garments technology and its spinoffs were used as a case study to define and explore the factors involved in technology transfer and to consider the possible incentives in developing commercial applications including the Hall of Fame Award. Through interviews, views of award recipients were obtained on factors encouraging spinoffs as well as impediments to spinoffs. The researchers observed complex inter-relationships among the significant entities (government, individuals, large and small business), the importance of people, the importance of resource availability, and the significance of intrinsic motivation; drew preliminary conclusions pertaining to the direct and indirect influence of recognition like the Hall of Fame Award; and planned the direction for next year's follow-on research.

A Review of Studies on the System-Wide Implementation of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the Veterans Health Administration.

PubMed

Rosen, C S; Matthieu, M M; Wiltsey Stirman, S; Cook, J M; Landes, S; Bernardy, N C; Chard, K M; Crowley, J; Eftekhari, A; Finley, E P; Hamblen, J L; Harik, J M; Kehle-Forbes, S M; Meis, L A; Osei-Bonsu, P E; Rodriguez, A L; Ruggiero, K J; Ruzek, J I; Smith, B N; Trent, L; Watts, B V

2016-11-01

Since 2006, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has instituted policy changes and training programs to support system-wide implementation of two evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To assess lessons learned from this unprecedented effort, we used PubMed and the PILOTS databases and networking with researchers to identify 32 reports on contextual influences on implementation or sustainment of EBPs for PTSD in VHA settings. Findings were initially organized using the exploration, planning, implementation, and sustainment framework (EPIS; Aarons et al. in Adm Policy Ment Health Health Serv Res 38:4-23, 2011). Results that could not be adequately captured within the EPIS framework, such as implementation outcomes and adopter beliefs about the innovation, were coded using constructs from the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, maintenance (RE-AIM) framework (Glasgow et al. in Am J Public Health 89:1322-1327, 1999) and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR; Damschroder et al. in Implement Sci 4(1):50, 2009). We highlight key areas of progress in implementation, identify continuing challenges and research questions, and discuss implications for future efforts to promote EBPs in large health care systems.

Reducing the Analytical Bottleneck for Domain Scientists: Lessons from a Climate Data Visualization Case Study

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

Dasgupta, Aritra; Poco, Jorge; Bertini, Enrico

2016-01-01

The gap between large-scale data production rate and the rate of generation of data-driven scientific insights has led to an analytical bottleneck in scientific domains like climate, biology, etc. This is primarily due to the lack of innovative analytical tools that can help scientists efficiently analyze and explore alternative hypotheses about the data, and communicate their findings effectively to a broad audience. In this paper, by reflecting on a set of successful collaborative research efforts between with a group of climate scientists and visualization researchers, we introspect how interactive visualization can help reduce the analytical bottleneck for domain scientists.

Balancing grief and survival: Experiences of children with brain tumors and their parents.

PubMed

Eaton Russell, Ceilidh; Bouffet, Eric; Beaton, John; Lollis, Susan

2016-01-01

Psychosocial research about childhood brain tumors is limited because of varied abilities and prognoses, with children's voices largely absent. Research has focused on the impacts on families and their reactions; this qualitative study used constructivist grounded theory methods to explore experiences of childhood brain tumors from the perspectives of 12 children and 12 parents using semistructured interviews. Their stories illustrated efforts to maintain positivity and normalcy as they faced grief and uncertainty. The substantive grounded theory of balancing grief and survival offers a lens through which to view children's and parents' complex experiences, struggles, and coping strategies as integrated, dynamic processes.

AFRICAN-AMERICANS’ AND LATINOS’ PERCEPTIONS OF USING HYPNOSIS TO ALLEVIATE DISTRESS BEFORE A COLONOSCOPY

PubMed Central

Miller, Sarah J.; Schnur, Julie B.; Montgomery, Guy H.; Jandorf, Lina

2013-01-01

Although colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings can effectively detect and prevent cancer, a large portion of African-Americans and Latinos do not undergo regular colonoscopy screening. Research suggests that anticipatory distress can significantly hinder minorities’ adherence to colonoscopy recommendations. There is significant promise that hypnosis may effectively reduce such distress. The current study examined African-Americans’ and Latinos’ (n = 213) perceptions of using hypnosis prior to a colonoscopy. Overall, 69.9% of the sample expressed favourable perceptions of using pre-colonoscopy hypnosis, although there was notable variability. The results from this study can guide clinical decision making and inform future research efforts. PMID:26566440

Genomic insights into the evolution of industrial yeast species Brettanomyces bruxellensis.

PubMed

Curtin, Christopher D; Pretorius, Isak S

2014-11-01

Brettanomyces bruxellensis, like its wine yeast counterpart Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is intrinsically linked with industrial fermentations. In wine, B. bruxellensis is generally considered to contribute negative influences on wine quality, whereas for some styles of beer, it is an essential contributor. More recently, it has shown some potential for bioethanol production. Our relatively poor understanding of B. bruxellensis biology, at least when compared with S. cerevisiae, is partly due to a lack of laboratory tools. As it is a nonmodel organism, efforts to develop methods for sporulation and transformation have been sporadic and largely unsuccessful. Recent genome sequencing efforts are now providing B. bruxellensis researchers unprecedented access to gene catalogues, the possibility of performing transcriptomic studies and new insights into evolutionary drivers. This review summarises these findings, emphasises the rich data sets already available yet largely unexplored and looks over the horizon at what might be learnt soon through comprehensive population genomics of B. bruxellensis and related species. © 2014 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recent advances in the design of tailored nanomaterials for efficient oxygen reduction reaction

DOE PAGES

Lv, Haifeng; Li, Dongguo; Strmcnik, Dusan; ...

2016-04-11

In the past decade, polymer electrolyte membrane fuels (PEMFCs) have been evaluated for both automotive and stationary applications. One of the main obstacles for large scale commercialization of this technology is related to the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction that takes place on the cathode side of fuel cell. Consequently, ongoing research efforts are focused on the design of cathode materials that could improve the kinetics and durability. Majority of these efforts rely on novel synthetic approaches that provide control over the structure, size, shape and composition of catalytically active materials. This article highlights the most recent advances that have beenmore » made to tailor critical parameters of the nanoscale materials in order to achieve more efficient performance of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).« less

Active cooling from the sixties to NASP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kelly, H. Neale; Blosser, Max L.

1994-01-01

Vehicles, such as the X-15 or the National Aerospace Plane (NASP), traveling at hypersonic speeds through the earth's atmosphere experience aerodynamic heating. The heating can be severe enough that a thermal protection system is required to limit the temperature of the vehicle structure. Although several categories of thermal protection systems are mentioned briefly, the majority of the present paper describes convectively cooled structures for large areas. Convective cooling is a method of limiting structural temperatures by circulating a coolant through the vehicle structure. Efforts to develop convectively cooled structures during the past 30 years, from early engine structures which were intended to be tested on the X-15 to structural panels fabricated and tested under the NASP program, are described. Many of the lessons learned from these research efforts are presented.

2002 NASA Faculty Fellowship Program at Glenn Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prahl, Joseph M.; Heyward, Ann O.; Montegani, Francis J.

2003-01-01

While several objectives are served with this program, the central mechanism involved is the conduct of research assignments by faculty in direct support of NASA programs. In general, the results of the research will be assimilated by NASA program managers into an overall effort and will ultimately find their way into the literature. Occasionally, specific assignments result directly in reports for publication or conference presentation. Taken as a body, the assignments represent a large intellectual contribution by the academic community to NASA programs. It is appropriate therefore to summarize the research that was accomplished. The remainder of this report consists of research summaries arranged alphabetically by participant name. For each summary, the faculty fellow is briefly identified and the assignment prepared by the GRC host organization is given. This is followed by a brief narrative, prepared by the fellow, of the research performed. Narratives provided by the accompanying students immediately follow the narratives of their professors.

Nature Contact and Human Health: A Research Agenda.

PubMed

Frumkin, Howard; Bratman, Gregory N; Breslow, Sara Jo; Cochran, Bobby; Kahn, Peter H; Lawler, Joshua J; Levin, Phillip S; Tandon, Pooja S; Varanasi, Usha; Wolf, Kathleen L; Wood, Spencer A

2017-07-31

At a time of increasing disconnectedness from nature, scientific interest in the potential health benefits of nature contact has grown. Research in recent decades has yielded substantial evidence, but large gaps remain in our understanding. We propose a research agenda on nature contact and health, identifying principal domains of research and key questions that, if answered, would provide the basis for evidence-based public health interventions. We identify research questions in seven domains: a ) mechanistic biomedical studies; b ) exposure science; c ) epidemiology of health benefits; d ) diversity and equity considerations; e ) technological nature; f ) economic and policy studies; and g ) implementation science. Nature contact may offer a range of human health benefits. Although much evidence is already available, much remains unknown. A robust research effort, guided by a focus on key unanswered questions, has the potential to yield high-impact, consequential public health insights. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1663.